google wave invites

I've got 6 invites left for google wave, if anyone wants one, first come first serve just leave a comment here... im pretty sure whoever I invite gets 8 invites... so we can ... cover eachother pretty well

Sorry, too late to mail. Happy Thanksgiving.

luck of the Irish

Ireland missed a chance to go to the World Cup losing to France in a playoff match. France's winning goal came off a blatant hand ball by Theiry Henry. They've already got a song parody in Dublin. ... Shades of Zidane's ignomious head but.

The humility is truly amazing

But when it comes to the 2012 race, Obama didn't discount the possibility he may sit out on a reelection bid.

"You know, if - if I feel like I've made the very best decisions for the American people and three years from now I look at it and, you know, my poll numbers are in the tank and because we've gone through these wrenching changes, you know, politically, I'm in a tough spot, I'll - I'll feel all right about myself," Obama told CNN's Ed Henry during an interview in China.

"I said to myself very early on, even when I started running for office, I don't want to be making decisions based on getting reelected, because I think the challenges that America faces right now are so significant," the president also said. "Obviously, if I make those decisions and I think that I'm moving the country on the right direction economically, in terms of our security interests, our foreign policy, I'd like to think that those policies are continued because they're not going to bear fruit just in four years."

But in the next breath the president quickly sounded like someone who would relish taking his case to the American people in 2012, saying he's tackling big issues like health care and Iran that he's confident will bear fruit in the future.

(taken from cnn.com)

Brew Party is a Go

Whoever is around in Pittsburgh Thanksgiving weekend stop by Mt. Lebanon for a Beer Brewing Party. There will be grilling, music, beer judging/drinking and brewing a new Harvey beer (we'll hopefully be making Root Beer as well). Not much is better than a cold beer and kabassi after a hard skate at Schenley.

Friday, November 27: 2-5pm

Affirmative Action for Dudes

The US Commission on Civil Rights is now conducting inquiries into preferential admissions policies for men in private colleges.

Here’s the problem. Women, having apparently bought into the female empowerment message, are now flooding our undergraduate schools. It is estimated that 60% of all undergraduate degrees in this country are awarded to women. There is no reason to think that this percentage will not keep rising. Already, in many major U.S. cities, women in their 20's are out-earning their less educated male contemporaries.

The imbalance in men and women present a difficulty for colleges and their ability to attract new students. Men feel intimated going to a college with too many women and women don’t want to go to a school where there are only slim pickins’ among the men. Plus, studies have shown that, as the percentage of men in an institution declines, so do their grades. So, do we now need affirmative action for dudes? See Probe of Extra Help for Men.

My thought about this is that the falling educational aspirations of men is just more evidence that men are simply ceding the field to women. The macho "I don't give shit" attitude, which seems to be the prevailing male approach to life these days, is essentially nothing more than, as Jon Zobenica of the Atlantic Monthly said in a slightly different context, "a way to take control of defeat by forfeiting the game rather than risk another losing effort."

Perhaps men kept women oppressed for so many years because they knew that, given the opportunity, women would end up outperforming them.

Message for John of Maryland

John, We got a call yesterday from the Prometric Testing Center. Your GRE is scheduled for Monday, tomorrow, 11/16 at:

Prometric Testing Center
1660 L Street, NW
Suite 204
Washington, D.C. 20036

The test begins at 1:30 PM. You're supposed to be there at 1 PM. You must bring your current drivers license. Although they said that they would supply everything else, like pencils. If you have any questions, you should call 202-833-2005.

Good luck!

My Favorite Thiings

What warms the cockles your heart more than gardening (especially you Hobbits), nanotechnology and the hydrogen economy? You have to love this.

Ice skating at Schenley

Schenley ice times:

Friday, Nov. 27, 8:30-10:30 AM

Wednesday, Dec. 30, 9:30-11:30 PM

Dutch Views on Same Sex Marriage

To stir the debate once more:

This is an interview from the New York Times magazine with my Economics professor from UMass.

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/how-the-dutch-work-same-sex-marriage/

Veterans Day

If you haven't already comer across it, going around the blogsphere-

How an American Soldier is Made is a 27 month photo documentary on Ian Fischer by the Denver Post. Awesome pictures and story.
(kottke)

This video is about a girl giving a school report on her father's current deployment in Iraq.


Tricked On Halloween - Watch more Funny Videos
(Sullivan)

Greatest Healthcare in the World?

The strident opposition to health care reform has always been puzzling to me, but what's really mind-boggling is the defense of our present system. Here's a recent column by Nicholas D. Kristof, Unhealthy America, which points out how alarmingly bad our present health care is.

Similar view put to music:



Why we can't go wrong with healthcare reform, from a Bob Dylan line: when you got nothin' you got nothin' to lose.

Halloween 2009

James, it was hard to top our creepy Venetian Carnival ritual, here is our attempt. Enjoy Theresa, Patricia, Kathleen, James and everyone else.

Update HD video-

the latest

Ellen is headed to Prague next fall!

Blog of Champions

Latest sport scores:
René Harvey and her teammates won the Pittsburgh Girls Soccer Championship in a very exciting game early this evening 1-0 over Allderdice.

Not to be outdone, Eddy Martin, and his teammates won the Pittsburgh Boys Soccer Championship in an equally exciting game 1-0 over Allderdice.

I just wonder what names will go on the cup.

(I also heard that Kevin and his teammates have advanced to the Semi-finals in WPIAL with a double overtime shoot out win.)

There's pain in Maine and plainly bias reigns (by George, he's got it)

If I'm blogging too much someone just say something, but some things are too good not to be shared.

In a recent blog entry, Ta-Nehisi Coates takes on conservative fellow blogger Rod Dreher, for suggesting that, given the large number of opponents to same sex marriage as demonstrated once again by the Maine vote, maybe there's something to the opposition besides bigotry.

First, as Coates rightly points out, numbers hardly mean anything. If civil rights had been put up to referendum in southern states, or even in northern states, it never would have passed in the early 60's. So, the fact that large numbers of people oppose gay marriage proves nothing about their motives, nor does it show that there's actually some meaningful principle involved.

Second, no one ever admits that prejudice is the basis for his position. There's always an enlightened reason given. Coates cites a National Review article published in 1957 which gives this defense for segregation and Black disenfranchisement: "It is more important for any community, anywhere in the world, to affirm and live by civilized standards, than to bow to the demands of the numerical majority." As Coates points out: "those who are known to be primarily motivated by ethnic prejudice were, in their time, seen by conservatives as guardians of civilization. Likewise heterosexuals now are presumed to be about something more than base prejudice."

Anyway, an interesting piece worth checking out: A Thought On Gay Marriage In Maine.

Lord of The Ring's Character Line Map

Enjoy-My favorite is Primer, One reviewer, "anybody who claims [to] fully understand what's going on in Primer after seeing it just once is either a savant or a liar.

Click on the Picture to enlarge and then zoom out to get the full picture.

another installment of the philosophy chronicle

First, this item from the other melancholy Dane: on the difference between clinical depression and spiritual despair. Kierkegaard on the Couch.

Second: for Catholics, the month of November -- when the days grow short and the entire landscape seems to wither and fade -- is a time to consider the last things including our own mortality. In keeping with this program, I offer Happy Ending, on why death is necessary for happiness.

For those who don't have facebook.

Thought some people may want to see the end product, nothing special, but I was proud of the work. My idea was based off the top picture.