another great idea by me

So I am huge fan of the TV show Mythbusters. The show has robot/movie special effects builders scientifically testing myths like "Is it easy to shoot fish in a barrel?" I bought tickets when the hosts Adam and Jaime came to talk at the U. I wrote them a letter the next day or so, suggesting they do a show on MacGyver. My idea was that the two main hosts could compete against each other in MacGyver like escapes.



Then last night I am watching several episodes of the show on my Comcast DVR (I am switching to DirecTV [thanks to Bob's advice regarding land lines] and need to purge my old DVR). Anyway, I saw a teaser for a MacGuyver-themed episode! Seems like they listened to my idea, even if they will never give me credit.





Happy December and happy snow day everyone.

the votes are in

Many of you have expressed what I was thinking: that "private" isn't every really private when you are posting to the internet. In my thousands of posts, I have said things that were wrong or inaccurate based on faulty information or overly optimistic expectations, and I appologize for those. But I don't seek forgiveness for my opinions or analysis as I believe I have been proven correct much more of the time than people who get paid to blabber on TV or in a newspaper column.

I do this for fun. Or really because I love to share my view with you dear readers. But I don't know how to continue my previous style while not being involved in politics. I can't give money, or support a candidate in any outward way (even a lawn sign). And that's a good thing in the long term. The branches should be separate and the one I work for should be beyond reproach.

In the short term, I am going to have to find another outlet. Any suggestions are welcome and keep me on your list for events where I can continue our conversation offline.

That isn't to say that this blog will be a ghost town for a year, but it does mean that if you though I had been guarded this month, it is going to get even more toned down.

I have enjoyed the last five years of blogging. But what I have enjoyed the most is not the writing, but the sharing with and getting to know other people that I would have never encountered but for the blogosphere. I am confident that the next five will be even better.

going private?

Dear Readers,

After some careful thought and reexamination of old posts, I think it may be wise to take this blog to the invite-only relm. Not because I crave exclusivity, but because I fear that some of my recent posts might be misconstrued as favoring one party or candidate or elected official over another. What I am intenting is to point out stories in the news where I think the reporter failed to provide additional context that I feel is necessary to understand what is going on.

That is, my goal is more news analysis and media critique than bashing a politican. What bugs me is not when politicians say dumb or misleading things, but when the reporters covering the story fail to call the politican on said things. Of course, I get more upset when I see such errors on topics where my personal opinion differ from the speaker, but that is mainly due to the fact that I am more sensitive to such arguments.

At any rate, I wanted to survey you, the reader, to see what you think of the prospect of going private. The upside would be a more frank writing style, the downside would be a narrower audience and by request that you not disseminate things that I write.

If you strongly believe this blog should remain public (and my hope is to make this private era a brief one), you must counter that with the prospect that my posts will not discuss the burning issues of the day in nearly the same fashion.

Please vote in the comments. If we decide to go private, I will have a separate open thread for people who would like to be invited.

Huntsman's theory of relativity

Jon Huntsman Jr. comes back from Iraq and says everything is hunk dory...sort of.

The governor said security is better in Iraq after the troop surge, describing what he saw as a "sharp improvement" over his previous visits. Still, he said while the daily death toll from bombings and other violence is down, there are still problems.

"These things don't go from bad to good. They go from bad to less bad," Huntsman said.
[...]
It was the governor's third trip to Iraq since taking office in 2005, and his second with McCain. Unlike most Utahns, Huntsman is backing McCain for president and has repeatedly hit the campaign trail for him.

Huntsman said McCain asked him to come because of both their friendship and the perspective he could offer. Governors serve as commanders in chief of the National Guard, many of the troops being deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East.

He first traveled to the region in March 2006 with another delegation led by McCain and then again in November of that year with other governors at the invitation of the U.S. Defense Department.

The rest of the delegation on this trip, which began last Wednesday and ended Saturday, were Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.; and John Barrasso, R-Wyo.

I am glad that group was so diverse in its membership with every single elected official invited on the trip still supporting the Iraq War. In fact, two of these invitees want to go war with Iran too. Because everything is going so well.

McCain's assessment of the situation in Iraq is "coincidentially" exactly the same as Huntsman's. "If there is no political progress over the next three months or so," McCain said, "some very tough calls would have to be made." So I guess are supposed to give McCain and Huntsman another half-Friedman.

Do these war supporters really expect us to take them seriously when they say essentially the same thing over and over again, moving the field goals every Friedman or so? And if your judgment is so off on such an important issue (whether or not to go to war, whether or not to continue with the occupation, etc.) why should the voters give you a promotion to the Presidency in the case of McCain or a cabinet post in the case of Huntsman.

And I was planning on writing a post about how great it was that Huntsman did those global warming ads with Montana's and California's governors.

Jay-Z teaches us search and siezure law

I know this is a relatively old song and nothing new, but the song finally came up on my iPod's shuffle and I thought I would share this concise lesson on what to do when you get pulled over by the police, set to a rhythm:

So I...pull over to the side of the road
I heard "Son do you know why I'm stoppin' you for?"
Cause I'm young and I'm black and my hat's real low?
Do I look like a mind reader sir, I don't know
Am I under arrest or should I gas em up?
"Well you was doin fifty-five in a fifty-fo' "
"Liscense and registration and step out of the car"
"Are you carryin' a weapon on you I know a lot of you are"
I ain't steppin out of sh!t all my paper's legit
"Well, do you mind if I look round the car a little bit?"
Well my glove compartment is locked so are the trunk in the back
And I know my rights so you gon' need a warrant for that
"Aren't you sharp as a tack, you some type of lawyer or something'?"
"Or somebody important or somethin'?"
Nah, I ain't pass the bar but i know a little bit
Enough that you won't illegally search my sh!t
"We'll see how smart you are when the K9 come"
I got 99 problems but a b!tch ain't one

From the song "99 Problems" on "the Black Album" by Jay-Z. Sorry about the swearing and derogatory language towards women, but I wanted to say true to the lyrics.

Here's the music video. Have a lovely Sunday and get home safely.