27 September 2006

typographical error

if you leave the "i" out of "arise," it spells "arse"

26 September 2006

come on ride that train

I'm trying to get back on the horse - to get some kind of momentum generated to post here on a basis more regular than once in however often I feel like it.

This weekend I wrapped up the Great Wedding Tour of 2006, which started on August 12th in Charlotte and wrapped up on Sept 23rd in Cranberry Lake NY, with dates in Vermont, Atlanta, and Germantown MD.

It should be fairly self-evident, but somehow it seems that people continue to get wrapped up in the wrong things. Every wedding I went to was different, and every one had its own vibe - but they were all magical. Some were big formal affairs, some we smaller, and some were in between. One wedding I went to had a traditional Jewish ceremony and another included a naming ceremony and presentation of the couple's baby to the world. Some were destination weddings, some were at hotels, some were at lodges, some were in museums. Some had full open bars, one had a couple kegs and red & white wine. Some had full service meals, some had buffets, and some had family style platters at each table.

But they all had the only element that is really necessary to make a good wedding - the couples were in love and the friends and family were excited. Don't go to weddings for the food or the desert or the drink or whatever - go there to celebrate in whatever way the bride and groom want you to celebrate. Share in their enthusiasm and share in their wonder. Listen to the service and remember your vow to support their marriage when times are tough.

And when you plan your wedding, let it reflect your own enthusiasm and your own wonder and your own love and remember that the people who love you will have fun no matter what you do.

25 September 2006

18 September 2006

Legal quote of the Day

When special interests claim that they have obtained favors from Congress, a court should ask to see the bill of sale. Special interest laws do not have "spirits," and it is inappropriate to extend them to achieve more of the objective the lobbyists wanted. . . . What the industry obtained, the courts enforce; what it did not obtain from the legislature--even if similar to something within the exception--a court should not bestow. . . . Recognition that special interest legislation enshrines results rather than principles is why courts read exceptions . . . with beady eyes and green eyeshades.

Chicago Professional Sports Ltd. Partnership v. National Basketball Ass'n, 961 F.2d 667, 671-672 (7th Cir. 1992) (Easterbrook, J.)

13 September 2006

cash flow

"[bin Laden] understood that one tool he had in waging war against the United States was to drive us crazy, into bankruptcy, trying to defend ourselves against every conceivable threat,” Mr. Chertoff said at a hearing of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “We have to be realistic about what we expect and what we do. We do have limits, and we do have choices to make.” From http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/washington/13chertoff.html

I sure am happy people are starting to realize that we cannot be absolutely safe no matter how much we spend, or that even if we could, it would not be worth the sacrifice.

The next step is realizing that we cannot be absolutely safe no matter how many of our civil liberties we give up - no matter how much they tap our phones and watch our bank accounts. More importantly, the incremental increase in safety is not worth the sacrifice.




12 September 2006

shoping carts

I can't stand it when people puch their grocery cart out to their car and then just leave it sitting there in the parking lot. Is it really that hard to push it back? Then, of course, people push them most of the way back but leave them sitting on the sidewalk or curb. So what do people entering the grocery store do? Do they grab one of those carts and shop with it? Hell no. They walk by about 8 carts that are outside - they weave through a veritable obstacal course of shopping carts, and then grab a new one out of the stack of carts just inside the door.

These are probably the same people who refuse to bag their own groceries.

06 September 2006

fashion sense

We had a dress code at my highschool that prevented us from wearing pretty much any cool clothes that highschool kids like to wear. No t-shirts of any kind, much less a perfectly faded black Led Zeppelin t-shirt with the Swan Song logo on it.


. . . So one of the ways we would "beat" the dress code was to wear these types of t-shirts under a white or thin dress shirt so that the t-shirt graphic would show through. (incidentally, we would also go to school "crossed out" with our clothes on backwards - but that is neither here nor there).

Right now, as I sit in class, there is a guy at the front of the room wearing a dress shirt with a logo t-shirt underneath.... only rather than Led Zeppelin or The Doors, I can see the "Haliburton" logo showing through.

That pretty much sums up my school.

05 September 2006

Little Things, pt. 5

Of the many developments in technology in the world, one that goes under appreciated is the advecement of trash-bag science.

There is nothing worse than having an over stuffed trash bag that is too weak and when you try to tie off the top, it rips. Rememer twisty-ties? This things that you used to have to wrap around the top of the bag to keep it closed? Across america there are small town that sprouted up around twisty-tie factories, and now they law desolate and unemployed, praying for a Wal Mart call center to move in because now we have not only moved into the Cinch-Sack world with draw-strings built into the bag itself, but we have Flex-Force.



There are some things that just make life easier - that are worth spending a little more money on. When I saw the box of 70 bags on sale at Target, I jumped on the babies. You can stuff them full of broken coat-hangers, and it will stand strong. Taking the trash out sucks enough, so go ahead and spend a little more on the good bags.

03 September 2006

The rest is basic economics.

When I was a teenager, I don't remember a huge distinction between the people who where having sex, and the people who were having oral sex. One eventually led to the other. No one I knew was getting into either when they were twelve.

"When the price of Coca-Cola rises, rational cola-lovers drink more Pepsi. When the price of penetrative sex rises, rational teenagers seek substitutes. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that even as the oral-sex epidemic rages, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the percentage of teenage virgins has risen by more than 15 percent since the beginning of the 1990s. Those who are still having sex have switched to using birth-control methods that will also protect them from sexually transmitted infections. Use of the contraceptive pill is down by nearly a fifth, but use of condoms is up by more than a third. The oral-sex epidemic is a rational response to a rise in the price of the alternative."

Full article at http://www.slate.com/id/2148583/nav/tap2/