PSoTD

The news media is becoming a league of professional voyeurs, nothing more. When the police say this:

But Police Chief Tom Boren insisted Thursday that Sander's Internet activity had no connection to her disappearance.

"The issue of the Internet and the spinoff of that has been literally crippling our investigation," Boren said.

They mean, the news media is crippling the investigation, because they are the ones obsessing about this angle in Emily Sander's disappearance/murder.

Gonna have to remember this when we go to Italy next year.

Sorry, just have to vent.

We currently use a company called Velocity.net for a small amount of web hosting, and for whatever reason, they migrated their webhosting to OCHosting.com servers this week. I don't know if it was a business acquisition or a vendor choice or whatever, but what I do know is this:

The result was just freaking pathetic. Here's what they didn't do right...

Provide administrator logins to us, forcing us to call and wait through long hold lines to get that information.
Provide us with the same FTP logins/passwords so updates could be done seamlessly. OR ANY FTP.
Transfer any of our email addresses that existed.
Transfer any or our pre-existing DNS additions, such as MX records, in the transfer.

So... the web site worked, but anything affiliated with the domain - server access, email, administrative accounts - we had to call to get the information. This transfer, which occurred Tuesday with essentially a same day notice that it would occur, was a disaster. I tried calling Wednesday because of problems, there was a 25 call queue, and after 45 minutes it was still 19, so I hung up. I emailed their support email address, and nobody responded. They had a huge freakin' fire in their business, and they treated it as business as usual, with not enough support call staffing and ignorance of email. Finally, yesterday, I called and was 5th in the queue, waited it through for an hour, and even then they would not give me administrator login and password on the phone, but I had to wait for them to email them.

I bet you can tell I despise them by now.

We've had to many problems with Velocity.net in the past as it was, and we've been transitioning sites away from them. But this was over-the-top inept and incompetent and frankly, I don't see why anyone would want to continue service with a team that delivered such a pathetic effort. We won't be. We're leaving, ASAP.

Phil Lynott sure had a great voice. Hard to believe he's been gone over 20 years.

I would have thought that on the Internet, there would be WAY MORE than this many pages for the line
"I love the ladies".

We're looking to do our own photography for our family Christmas card this year. I'm looking for suggestions on Christmasy locations on the West Shore side of the Harrisburg area to drag the family for taking these pics. I've thought of Country Market, and there's the little public green area of Camp Hill that is decorated every year, but still not sold on those places. Suggestions?

Here's my less-than-evil plan - we're going to have a small New Year's Day get-together at our house, 5-6 families (with full child entourage) to celebrate the holiday, and part of it is my introducing to them the sandwich for lunch - breaded pork tenderloins. Although we make them ourselves, the breading recipe isn't quite up to what I've had at restaurants and through Western's Smokehouse.

The problem is, Western's is considerably more expensive than Amana Meat Shop, and I'm going to need a lot of these babies. The Amana tenderloins are slightly smaller (5 oz versus 6 oz) but I can get 30 of those for the price I can get 12 from Western's. So... I'm asking if anyone out there has tried the Amana tenderloins, and what they thought of them. I've read some reviews online which seem pretty positive about Amana, but comments here would be greatly appreciated.

$130K for zimbabwe.com? In the words of Mr. Spock, that's illogical.

Yeah, it might take you 5 minutes to complete, but maybe they can glean some useful trend information through the Blog Reader Project survey.

What a unique letter it is. Only one in our alphabet that takes more than one syllable to pronounce.

I agree, I don't think there is a constitutional right to sewer service.

Yeah, Cernig's links kick ass as far as generating visits are concerned, but what about us? Click this, CLICK THIS...

It must be Christmas when a product comes out that could mean that Maury Povich's career as professional paternity judge is over. It's a miracle I tell ya!

Nobody deserves to be harassed by idiots at their home. Not Ann Coulter, not you, not I. The Golden Rule isn't that hard to remember.

Bad news is a partisan ploy, according to Fox's flagbearer.

It does seem to be a particularly weak Baseball Hall of Fame ballot this year.

City boobs might be more dangerous than country boobs.

Is the rush to study Chinese a time-wasting fad? As Richard TPD alludes, you have to wonder if there's really any reason to listen to people who consider additional education as "time-wasting" in the first place.

It must take a while. I've been going to the YMCA 4-5 days a week now for about a month and can't say I have any more friends because of it.

Or maybe it's just me.

Two words: Colin Powell. Could she really be considering bringing back a proven political eunuch that helped push us into the most disastrous foreign/defense policy since, well, ever? Just the fact that she said it should be as good a reason as any ever provided to vote against her as a candidate.

Please, Democratic Party candidates, please point out the sheer banality of her suggestion.

What is the motivation to create a health insurance program by the State of Pennsylvania to insure government workers NOT employed by the state without consideration of private entity employees NOT employed by the state?

but I admit, these seem a bit too "Malibu" for our hot tub.

First off: I REALLY Like the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg for music performances. I haven't been to a performance there yet where the sound quality wasn't absolutely great, it's big enough to draw reasonably popular performers but very, very intimate - apparently it seats around 700.

I have a friend that complained once, though, that the performers they get are for the sixties crowd - decade, not necessarily age, although both can be the case. And that might be right, but if it is, it's because of Harrisburg's ability to fill the Whitaker for the price of their tickets. We do live in Pennsylvania, after all, one of the older population states in the country.

On the other hand, I realized that the decision maker(s) at the Whitaker have no possible way of knowing who I'd like to see perform there, except for returning artists that I've bought tickets for before. And I do seem to see a lot of return artists - good artists, no doubt, but folks that have been to the Whitaker before.

So, I thought I'd make my request here, and eventually I'll email it to them when I feel I have my list fully compiled - the artists that I'd like to see them get here if they possible can at some future date, and making my best effort to pick entertainers that won't be too small or too big for the venue.

To start:

The Tubes
Jim Gaffigan (comic)
Horslips
Graham Parker

Feel free to add your recommendations in comments.

Wake up on online auctions. This looks like pure money-grubbing. Wonderling's bill seems like the right approach.

It's surprising what you might see by taking a blind digital camera photo of your gutter drain.

Discovery.

On Facebook's part. Very, very, very shilly.

I really don't understand why online stores offer sales for a short period of time - say like 4 hours. NFLShop.com sent out this email yesterday that they were going to have a sale for only 4 hours, from 7 PM to 11 PM, on Sunday, November 25th. They sent it about 5 PM on the same Sunday. What is the point? Is it to see how effective the email advertising is? That's the only thing that makes sense in providing a sale that has such a short lead time in advertising, and a short time of effectiveness.

You'll notice that I didn't mention it until the sale was over. That's because I think this practice is stupid. If it were a brick and mortar store, I might see a point to a very, very short sale - you might expect traffic to be high, so you need to staff accordingly, and by doing so, increase the costs, so the owner might want to keep it limited. But online? Don't get it.

My wife spent a good part of yesterday putting up Christmas decorations around the house. It's a bit early for me - we'll go get the tree next weekend, and that's when we normally do this. I say we, although my decoration job ends with whatever we decide to put up outside, and the placement of the tree in the treeholder. My wife pretty much holds the internal decorating job by her choice, and she and the kids fancy up the tree. And so the season begins.

Details here.

Just keeps pushing the envelope.

For whatever reason, it occurred to me that I probably couldn't figure out where I've spent, specifically, even most of my 48 Thanksgiving dinners to this point.

But I figure I can be general:

1959-1970 - Primarily Marion, Indiana, where my grandparents lived, although it's possible that either Indianapolis or Muncie could have been the primary location.

1971-1983 - Pretty much Livermore, California, with one memorable trip to an Aunt's in Southern California, which became known as the "Windowshopping versus Notre Dame" controversy in our family.

1984-1989 - Various places in California. Rancho Cordova one year, Livermore for several of those years, probably Bakersfield, I don't really remember at this point.

1990 - Bahia, Brasil. I didn't have Thanksgiving dinner that year.

1991 - 2003 - Mechanicsburg, and then Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. We may have spent one of those holidays in DC, but again, not remembering much. Thanksgiving Day, 1991 was the day I proposed to my wife, and it is by far my most eventful and enduring Thanksgiving, and is the best reason I have to be thankful for this particular day.

2004 - Pittsburgh, PA - We all took a trip to goof around in the Steel City, and we had a lot of fun.

2005 - California. We decided to go to California for a couple week in November - my Dad was terminally ill, and it was a time for our kids to see him one last time before he passed. We had an early 70th birthday party for him at a local restaurant, there was a good number of family that flew out for it, and we all enjoyed our time together.

2006 - Camp Hill again - last year our house was torn up for remodeling, we ended up eating at Fire Mountain, a relatively decent buffet restaurant, before heading down to Colonial Williamsburg.

2007 - Camp Hill again.

We took the kids to see Disney's Enchanted last night. It was okay.

As far as Disney goes, not nearly as funny or creative as Shrek, but it did give viewers that have seen many of the Disney classics the enjoyment of trying to remember which film that a piece of animation, or a character, or a scene, etc. was intended to be compared with.

And the kids liked it, so they hit their primary target.

No More Broder.

A good enough song to repeat.

That our seven year old boy will enjoy well beyond its cost.

Now that's a great picture of the Ben Franklin Bridge.

Everyone's waiting to be shocked at Joe Paterno's annual salary amount.

I hope I don't know anyone who's planning on purchasing Scott McClellan's book.

The death of email? I don't think so. Not every message requires immediate gratification or public acknowledgement. Email is here for a long haul as long as spammers - and spamfilter designers - don't kill it by rendering it unreliable.

The Predatory Lending Association - more truth than humor, unfortunately.

Hey, this advice doesn't apply just to restaurant web site designers - it's pretty good general advice for many small business types.

What is the Function of Thanksgiving?

I don't think I'd buy that cookbook, either.

Will 2007 be the year that Hawaii gets the gift of the German yellow-jacket wasp?

I guess don't understand today's economy.

$$$ FOR MALE FARTERS

all we do at first is sit around, drink free, unlimited beer, fart, make money! easy enough? looking for possible wild pepople for upcoming jack-ass type movie. Please send a pic, and we'll send more info.

* Location: harrisburg * it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests * Compensation: upon audition

Happy Thanksgiving.

(photo by flaunted)

Zoning is not going to be how we alleviate the problem of sex offenses against children, and government officials who pretend that it's part of the solution are not serious in their approach to the problem.

especially since there's no national holiday such as Feces Day.

------------------------------------------------------ NBC Meet The Press ------------------------------------------------------ MEET THE PRESS WITH TIM RUSSERT

WEEKEND LISTINGS 11/25/07

JAMES CARVILLE

Democratic Strategist

MARY MATALIN

Republican Strategist

MIKE MURPHY

Republican Strategist

BOB SHRUM

Democratic Strategist

It may have the extra benefit of helping viewers heave up what they over-ate.

by frank-c

Dear news media:

99% of the country doesn't give a shit if the President pardons a turkey. Why you treat this like real news, devoting newsprint and airtime to such a dipshit story, is perhaps the real story. Here's what I'd like to see: real journalism about the motivations and sheer lack of effort taken by news media in running this canned calendar piece.

Only the names change.

2006
2005

Anyone halfway intelligent in the newsroom has to wonder about this - in a country of hundreds of millions of people, on the web site of the highest office in the land, they run an online poll to name the turkeys to be pardoned. How many votes?

28,000 votes. Doesn't that tell the news media something - something along the lines that America doesn't give a shit about this story AT ALL, and more to the point, maybe America would like to have Thanksgiving without the President sticking his head into the holiday with a dumbass stunt? That's not just Bush, but any of the Presidents. They have better things to do, we all know that, so quit shilling for the turkey farmers and Disney with the coverage of this event. And quit insulting American intelligence.

Science marches on.

Updating from a few weeks ago:

It looks like Central Pennsylvanians will have the chance to feel the dull evil that is Glenn Beck in person, on Friday in Camp Hill.

One of my favorite soundtracks, ever, is for Sid and Nancy. I wish there was a clip on YouTube of Joe Strummer doing this song - it's just a great listen.

This is New York boy
We wanna hear you talk boy
This is New York Boy
You ain't never gonna walk
Downtown they got some guy
Shot forty-seven people on a PCP high
Uptown they got a team from Queens
Busy beating people through a mean machine, yeoww

You had a shot at a thing called love
In the Hollywood hills
You can't help but follow that love
Even if it kills

This is New York boy
Murder one in court boy
This is New York boy
You ain't ever gonna walk

You were a rebel in a drum town son
Somebody loaded up the plastic gun
Seen that monkey got you shooting in your blood
Using bullets from the dum dum club

You had a shot at a thing called love
In the Hollywood hills
You can't help but follow that love
Even if it kills

You had a shot at at thing called love
Like shooting up on pills
You can't help but follow that love
Even if it kills

You can't make a deal son
Your life is ruined
You can't play with knives
The junkie's still alive

You had a shot at a thing called love
In the Hollywood hills
You can't help but follow that love
Even if it kills

You had a shot at a thing called love
Like shooting up on pills
You can't help but follow that love
Even if it kills

You gotta follow that love
You gotta follow that love
Just follow that love
Follow that love

Even if it kills
Even if it kills
Even if it kills

Are you wondering whether you're getting all your legitimate email? Couldn't hurt to email your ISP's support, and ask them a simple question:

What percentage of legitimate email is blocked by your spamfilter setup from being received by the intended recipient?

I'm betting that they'll either give you a totally invented percentage, or they can't answer it and provide a non-answer answer. Here's a way to find out if it's a BS answer - ask them how they determine that percentage.

This isn't that great of photo, but the fact it was taken where I went to Junior College adds some value to me.

from jeffboozer

Some posts you may have missed:

I don't think we have any strip club coffee shops around here. Central PA, always behind the times.

More war fears, war more fears, four more wars.

File under No Shit.

Have you gotten your flu shot? Laura has. So have I.

Just another sad misuse of money by the wealthy.

Getting hungry for Tofurkey?

Hey Lance Manion, I posted my snow pic first. So there.

Yeah, hi.

The birds saved from oil spills are just a fraction of the population that will be killed by them.

While hundreds of birds have been rescued from certain death, even more are expected to perish in this disaster. Jonna Mazet, veterinarian with University of California, Davis and an expert on oil spills, said for every one bird that is rescued, an estimated 10 to 100 other birds die at sea.

What this blog needs today is one great song ...

So... where are you going to be on Thanksgiving?

I guess I ought to admit it - I am burned out on political blogging. Not on blogging in general, but focusing on politics - and if you've been reading, you can probably tell by the recent past of this blog.

The biggest part of the burnout, I suspect, comes from the sinking sense that things are not going to change. Corporatist government is as strong as ever, the Democratic presidential candidates offer very little to get excited about, which means that at least the next 4 years, and likely the next 8 years, there will be very, very, very little progress towards governance that I actually can appreciate. The commercial news media is a playground of the very wealthy manipulating the most pathetic look-at-me personalities available to provide a coverage that serves as distraction from actual value, or worse, misinformation.

But the thing that burns the most is that not enough people care. They just don't. Too many treat politics as sports, rooting for their team against the other, accepting their team's cheers and slogans and opposing the other team's, without as much as thinking about what real solutions might be - or even what the real problems might be. And the political structure fosters that disinterest and shallow thinking, nurtures it, breastfeeds it and bottlefeeds it and finally ends up heaving tons and tons of slop in the stalls of America to feed that disinterest and shallow thinking, because it benefits those who have the power to do just that.

This is the way it has always been, with perhaps a few notable exceptions, in our history. That's the way it will be until we find that brief moment in our future which could be the next exception. I'd like to hope that I could be blogging politically when we reach that moment, but at the pace and direction we're going, I'll be long gone from memory before that moment comes.

by Karon

Since I take this medication, I'm interested in this story, although late getting to it. There sure doesn't seem to be much followup in the press.

A Barron's newspaper article Monday cited physician concerns that Abbott's cholesterol medicine TriCor might cause kidney and heart problems. But Abbott disputed the report on its fourth largest selling drug, and investors shrugged off the article.

Barron's referenced a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association earlier this year by Dr. Steve Nissen that raised questions about the drug's safety. The small study found that levels of creatinine, a substance produced by the muscles and eliminated by the kidneys, can be elevated in patients taking fenofibrate, marketed by Abbott as TriCor.

The concern is that the increased levels could be a sign of kidney function decline, according to Nissen, chairman of the department of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. Such a decline could lead to plaque buildup in the arteries that in turn could increase cardiac events, according to another cardiologist quoted by Barron's.

And starting to stick. Kinda fun and kinda NOT YET at the same time.

The play which ended it, in Week 11:

Last Play: 1-10-SEA 42(5:55) R.Grossman sacked at SEA 44 for -2 yards (P.Kerney). FUMBLES (P.Kerney) [P.Kerney], RECOVERED by SEA-D.Tapp at SEA 44. D.Tapp to CHI 47 for 9 yards (J.Tait).

Whee.

At the coffee shop this week, it turned out that the fellows hanging around there spent 8 months living in California, so we were talking about living there. Somehow the subject turned to hamburgers, and he proclaimed that the best hamburgers were at Sonic.

I've never eaten at a Sonic, so I don't know how good they are, compared to In-N-Out or Five Guys or Foster's Freeze or whatever. In Central PA, I don't ever recall seeing a Sonic. And if I do a search on the Sonic web site, I find that the nearest one is about 40 miles away. Now I'm very interested in trying one - I like hamburgers, and would enjoy the pursuit of finding the best tasting one, but I'm not going to drive that far out of my way just to give it a shot.

Of course, I spent most of yesterday in Morgantown, PA. And what does it say about Morgantown in Wikipedia?

Morgantown has the reputation of hosting the Sonic "America's Drive-In" location closest to New York City, at a distance of 106.82 miles away.

Doh. Well, maybe I'll get to try it in January. But they'll have to do a tremendous job to serve a better, juicier burger than the 34th Street Car Wash in Bakersfield, California.

It's waiting... and clogging up your refrigerator...

courtesy of brittny_lynne

Yep, took a listen again to David + David's Boomtown on tape. I still think it's a great album, and I tend to agree that it was a sleeper classic of the 1980s. I didn't know until I checked out this site what happened to the group after this album.

Did you receive a call but the caller did not leave a message and the Caller ID says "Unavailable"? Enter the phone number at 800Notes to find out who is using the phone number - and read the comments of others who have gotten calls from the number as well...

from Jesus H. Shatner.

All the leaves are green, and stuck up on the trees...

THE NEW CLIMATE: LEGENDS OF THE FALL Seasonally adjusted trees staying green longer The Globe and Mail Ontario, Canada

Still, observers agree it's been one strange autumn, and the trees - some bare, some ablaze and others summer-green - tell the tale.

"I'm not an arborist, but I certainly have come to the conclusion that the colour-change season and the leaves on the trees are very different this year," said David Phillips, senior climatologist for Environment Canada in Toronto. "And I also know that it may very well be related to the kind of weather conditions that we've had this fall, because it's been very unusual."

October, with an average temperature of 14.3, was the warmest ever recorded in Toronto. The previous record high average for the month was 13.6, set in 1963.

"That's almost a full degree warmer than the previous warmest October," Mr. Phillips said. "I mean, in my business, we break records in 0.1 of a degree."

The normal average temperature for October is 8.9.

Further, there was no night cold enough last month to produce a killing frost, the key precursor to falling leaves, Mr. Phillips said. As of yesterday, there had been only five days this fall - one in October and the rest this month - on which the temperature dipped below zero.

"Typically, by this time of year, we would have 12 of those days," he said, including some far colder than we've seen thus far. "So we haven't had many frost days, it's been record warm, and that probably is answering at least part of the reason why we've had the kind of leaf situation we've had."

The fact that this year has been the driest on record also meant many stressed trees may have compensated by hanging on to their leaves for nourishment, prolonging the green season.

Mr. Phillips, who lives in Aurora, north of the city, is among the many getting antsy about whether his own leaves will drop in time for that city's last pickup, which looms on Monday.

I remember listening to him doing radio broadcasts of the Cincinnati Reds games back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. One summer, I almost always went to bed with my little AM radio on, listening to the Reds game. Reds fans know how good they had it with Joe Nuxhall. RIP.

Call me old-fashioned but I'm a little unsettled that internet entertainment has devolved down to watching people eat poo. (And watching people throw up watching people eat poo.)

I suppose there is cinematic precedent for "Two Girls, One Cup" in John Waters' 1972 guerilla gross-out flick "Pink Flamingos". Dog-poo eating, chicken-choking and various other atrocities aside that movie displayed a perverse style which Waters eventually parlayed into credibility and mainsteam success.

Maybe one day, there will be a poo-eating musical on Broadway. But I sure hope not.

I know the odds of seeing much tonight from the Leonid Meteor Showers are pretty low, but it's a good excuse to be in the hot tub later.

Wow.

Photo from neushen.

I don't know if this is a general practice for any college team that has uniforms, but it seems like a very good idea - send them somewhere that they're needed and will be used.

This Way Down.

Wonder if this has anything to do with Don Imus getting back on the air?

SYDNEY (AFP) - Santas in Australia's largest city have been told not to use Father Christmas's traditional "ho ho ho" greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday.

Sydney's Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say "ha ha ha" instead, the Daily Telegraph reported.

"Ha ha ha", indeed!

Naked with octopi. Octopuses? I dunno, still naked though.

Good God, now there's a shaving meme going around. (Don't worry, I'm not tagging anyone...)

It's sad when we actually crow about a measly 29% turnout in Pennsylvania for last week's Election Day. I mean, I voted, and most of the races were not what I consider to be "THAT IMPORTANT", but still - that sucks.

Speaking of Pennsylvania, where's the best place to open up a new restaurant in this state?

Is Pittsburgh like Buffalo? Never been to Buffalo, but I like Pittsburgh fine.

A candidate for most disturbing tattoo, ever.

I always liked Ronnie Montrose, but never quite got into Gamma, although I made tapes of their albums from a friend who was a big fan.

Gamma 3 is pretty humdrum. I much prefer his work with his namesake band, Montrose.

By lisa5776

If you look around, you'll find plenty of folks complaining about how Comcast operates. This eventually leads to web sites, such as blogs like Comcast Screwed Us and consumer complaint sites such as this.

In the past, I've been very happy about my service with Comcast, but that's changing, and it's due to the quite arrogant and invasive way they set up their spamfilters to block legitimate email, and the customer doesn't actually get informed of it - only the sender. Their language is something like this:

Our filters have determined that email from the IP you submitted was blocked because it sent email to the Comcast domain with patterns characteristics of spam. Mail servers are typically shared by many users so it may be the case that another party using your mail server has sent spam, even if you have not.

Note the wormy language - they don't say it's spam, they don't say it's the sender, they just say it had some characteristics of spam, which was enough for them to decide to block it. Since it appears that Comcast is trying to be incredibly aggressive in blocking spam, that means items such as legitimate email forwards and group emails can - and are - blocked.

It's funny. Gmail.com, which is free, does, IMHO, a much, much, MUCH better job with how they deal with email and spam. Comcast, which isn't cheap, does as crappy of a job with email and spam as they can get away with in a marketplace they often dominate as the only game in town.

My advice - Comcast users should get a Gmail email account, and start using it. I don't expect Comcast to be doing any further favors for customers in this area anytime soon.

I'd definitely bookmark the Soakers Bible, which is a guide to hot springs and natural spas west of the Rockies.

The number of cards, letters and packages to be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The peak for cards and letters will be December 17th, which is the busiest mailing day of the year. Take THAT, April 15th!

This link even comes with a recipe. Both from LinderRox.

Certain parts of the country are enjoying increased sales because of it.

BILLINGS - These days, Ken Cyr's cash register flashes more color than a painter's palette.

The strong Canadian dollar has brought flocks of Canadians and their pastel-hued currency south of the border and into Hi-Line retailers like Cyr's Big Sky Images art studio at the Havre Holiday Village Mall. The Canadians love shopping in Havre because their money has gained so much purchasing power in the United States.

For the first time since Jimmy Carter was in the White House, the Canadian dollar, commonly known as the "loonie," is worth roughly the same as a U.S. dollar. The loonie, nicknamed for the common loon pictured on the face of the Canadian dollar coin, exceeded the greenback's value for the first time in late September. It has been trading at or near par ever since then. The loonie's rise represents a stunning turnaround from just five years ago, when it was worth as little as 60 cents. * "We've noticed the Canadian trade increase last spring around the Victoria Day (May 24) holiday," Cyr said. He guesses that his business with Canadian shoppers has increased by as much as 60 percent since the loonie's rise and the greenback's fall in international currency markets.

"It's been a real boost," Cyr said. "I mean, talking to other merchants in the mall, they're tickled pink."

At the Havre Sears store, manager Kemi Velk said one Canadian shopper recently bought two riding lawnmowers, declaring that they were half the price of what he would have paid in Canada.

"We sell a lot of appliances to Canadians. The shoppers say if you pay $800 for a stove here, it's $1,600 in Canada," Velk said.

She didn't know whether the exchange rate was the only reason for the price differential or whether other factors, such as the Canadian Goods and Services Tax or provincial sales taxes, factored into the higher prices in Canada.

"But the Canadians are certainly wondering why things are so much cheaper here," Velk said.

Finn Brothers.

This one is from the home state of Thanksgiving...kudos to Design42.

Late falling leaves are a problem here as well. Hampden Township's last leaf pickup is next Monday. I still have deciduous trees full of green leaves. I'm going to be bagging in December (if there isn't snow) and in March (because eventually there will be snow). We're not alone - here's Roanoke:

It’s an unusual site, Roanoke using rakes and leaf blowers to try and knock the leaves out of the trees.

“You can't control mother nature,” said Gretchen Van Tassel.

She took the pictures of her neighbors and a quick look around her neighborhood and you’ll see why. This leaf dropping problem is widespread.

“At least half are still in the trees,” she said.

All of this is far from an exact science. Some trees are already bare with the leaf piles to prove it. Others are losing theirs right now. And still others haven't lost one.

But, why do you care? Well, if you're a homeowner you know why. Raking leaves is an annual chore, one most dread. But it's eased by a little help from the city and its huge, moving leaf vacuum.

Starting Monday it will come around on a schedule, sucking up the leaves and leaving behind a neat yard. It’s a great service so long as your trees are cooperating. And if they’re not, you can pay extra for a second visit.

It’s unfair to some like Van Tassel.

“We're all paying the same taxes so then why should some of us later have to pay a 40 dollar fee,” she said.

DWayne D’Ardenne Works for Roanoke City and is in charge of the service that picks up an estimated 2,200 tons of leaves a year.

“It's a lot of leaves,” he says.

D’Ardenne admits that this year “Mother Nature hasn't cooperated very well.”

From Sign On San Diego:

LT_TCU(Q) Is rivers better than grossman?

NickCanepa(A) On the worst day of his life.

Canepa is supposedly the expert. You know, I'm not a big Rex Grossman fan, but Rex Grossman has been to the Super Bowl as a starting QB. I don't see any way that a team with Philip Rivers as a starter goes to the Super Bowl - seriously, why would you keep a GM that gets rid of Drew Brees in favor of Philip Rivers?

I'll admit, I've seen Rivers play in maybe 4 or 5 games so far. He's 100% for being terrible in those games, however.

Pundits should avoid ending any of their "punditry" with the acronym "fwiw" to avoid having readers jumping to this term.

Why don't the department stores sell men's ties that look like a turkey wattle?

C'mon, Macy's, give it a shot. It could be the new in look.

I'll try to post a turkey pic each day. Why? I'm losing my edge.

(posted by kenkomachi)

about the design - and I think the location - of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall in Washington, DC. But from my view, it's one of the most powerful-to-the-soul places this nation has ever created.

Don't freak somebody out, but if you get the chance, go hug a veteran today.

I've never really watched him as a coach before. Has he always mimicked a parrot so much in how he cocks his head during different sideline situations?

Hard to go very far without seeing these.

this state is completely crossed with railroad tracks. Photo by DarbiG14.

I guess I need to start using bigger words around here.

Be careful out there and try to avoid catching Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

They're not all martinis and bikinis.

What's in the water? Before you lower yourself into that steamy hot tub, think twice about what's living under the surface.

1. Hot tub "folliculitis" is an infection of the hair follicles that results from exposure to certain bacteria that live in warm, wet areas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pseudomonas appears as itchy bumps, sometimes filled with pus. It may then develop into dark red, tender nodules. The disease usually clears on its own.

2. Hot tub lung: Indoor hot tub users are vulnerable to a respiratory illness from inhaling mycobacteria, which can grow in tubs that aren't cleaned often, according to the Mayo Clinic. Symptoms include a flulike fever and chills, shortness of breath, a dry cough, night sweats and weight loss. Treatment may include antibiotics and prednisone; some sufferers have been hospitalized.

Heh, indeed.

Not vouching for quality, but there's quite a few linked here.

Some nice stories to brighten an overcast day in Central Pennsylvania:

I'm not saying I'm above wearing it, but still.

Are you right-brained, left-brained or just getting a headache?

Viking fans ought to figure out a way to support Troy Williamson. This is the kind of family-first behavior communities should want in their area.

The Vikings mean business in 2007. But few knew they would take it this far.

The team has informed wide receiver Troy Williamson that he will be docked one game's pay for missing three practices as well as last Sunday's game against San Diego in order to attend his grandmother's funeral.

Williamson stands to lose $25,588.24 of his $435,000 base salary, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported.

"It's really kind of out of my realm," coach Brad Childress said, according to the Star-Tribune. "It's a business principle, organizationally. If you don't show up, how does that work? We talked about that today."

Williamson, who returned to the team Wednesday, said he did not regret his decision to spend the time with his family.

"I'd throw this football thing away for my family," Williamson was quoted as saying in the newspaper. "I know it's a business and I know (the Vikings have) got other obligations when it comes to them and their family also.

"I know how I feel towards mine. ... I feel like I wouldn't have been overdoing it if I had stayed home a little longer but you've got other people and their opinions."

Williamson took charge in coordinating arrangements for the funeral of his maternal grandmother, Celestine Williamson, who died in Aiken, S.C. As many as 75 family members returned to South Carolina for the funeral, with Williamson funding the trips for nearly 30 of them.

It's hard to see how Williamson's behavior really hurt the Vikings, other than their ability to blindly follow structure. As for the "business principle", it seems really silly to not have acceptable leave reasons - almost every business has such.

There's a debate in Pennsylvania about whether government email should be available to the public.

A vote in the state House last week could prove to be a crucial litmus test on the commitment of York County's delegation to open government and legislative reform.

A heavy majority voted to keep government e-mail secret - unavailable to taxpayers looking for information about how their elected officials do the people's business.

Reps. Eugene DePasquale, D-York, and Steve Nickol, R-Hanover, backed openness. Figures. They're two of our delegation's best.

In this age of electronic communications, the rest of the county's delegation might as well have just voted to keep everything secret.

It seems to me that there has to be some recognition that there is informal email, and formal email, relating to the status of the ideas discussed. Much of email is conversational or the bouncing of suggestions back and forth, and I can't see that being that beneficial to have included in open records. In fact, I could see it as counterproductive - what if every citizen's email complaint or comment to an elected official was available for anyone to see? Is that really a good thing? Do we really need to see the unsolicited messages sent to local government?

On the other hand, there's too much official stuff getting done via email to allow it to sit in the "black hole".

I think this York newspaper editorial gets it about right - there have to be content standards, rather than format standards, that determine whether a document falls within public records.

I know, I know! I'll write about it!

So I received this email spam, apparently from Time Warner Cable, with the brilliant analogy:

which then follows with the question

So why go to different companies for your Television, Home Phone and High-Speed Internet Service?

So I thought I'd give some answers.

I also sit on a toilet, use toilet paper and then wash my hands after going to the bathroom. That doesn't mean I want to buy my toilet paper at Lowes or my water through Charmin.

Time Warner Cable isn't in the restaurant business, so maybe I should excuse their extreme ignorance, but... I won't. Going to a restaurant is about convenience - not having to cook, not having to clean up, not having to think about what to make. SO... if I'm looking for convenience, of course I wouldn't go different places for different items. That's just moronic. Is that who you think you're targeting? Those who might be swayed because you just suggested they're a smidge smarter than moronic?

My use of television, phone and internet services are based on my needs and cost assessment for all three of those items. You're not selling any message about bundling them that meets any foreseeable goal of "convenient". You, as a vendor, may see them as connected and more convenient for me to buy bundled. You have not proven it to me as a member of the marketplace. In addition, you provide a bundled price, heavily lauded in your email as discounted. Changing companies for all of these services is definitely not convenient, which means when you boost the price next year to something very close to the line as unacceptable, the inconvenience of changing might make me not bother to change to find what truly is a better deal. But then you're counting on that with this discount.

Here's my biggest complaint about your dumbass ad:

This e-mail is an advertisement. You're receiving this e-mail because you've opted in to receive information about television entertainment products and services. If you do not wish to receive e-mails like this in the future, please click here.

Time Warner Cable: Fuck you. I didn't opt in for any of your shit. Are you actually saying that if someone is interested in television entertainment products and services somewhere, that gives you license to spam me? You ought to be telling Take Five Solutions a big fuck you yourselves, because there's no way I'll be buying any of your crap, at least in part thanks to your reliance on a third-party vendor of email addresses.

If you haven't been to the West Shore YMCA since they've upgraded, and you're looking for a place to work out, play racquetball or hoops or swim, I recommend checking it out. It's a LOT easier to go every day and work out now than it was just a few years ago, mostly because you don't feel like you're burrowing into a hole when you enter the workout areas. I'm very impressed with what they've done with it.

Now if they can just improve their web site, which could use the effort.

Is anyone else bothered every time a corporation executive calls employees - particularly employees killed on the job - a part of their business "family"?

Three workers died after they were severely burned by high pressure steam when a water tube exploded on a boiler at Salem Harbor Power Station, authorities said today.

Dominion, the Richmond, Va.-based energy company that owns the power station, said the men were working on the ground floor near the boiler on Tuesday when the tube ruptured about 20 feet above and blew steam on them. The men suffered severe burns on their heads, hands, faces and necks.

Matthew Indeglia, 20, who has addresses in Lawrence and Townsend; Mark Mansfield, 41, of Peabody; and Phillip Robinson, 56, of Beverly, died after being taken to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, according to Salem police Detective John Doyle.

A hospital spokeswomen said the men died between Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.

The company said two of the men were operators and one was a mechanic.

"All of Dominion is greatly saddened at the deaths of these men," said Thomas F. Farrell II, Dominion chairman, president and chief executive officer. "They were valuable members of our Salem Harbor family. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families."

I think it sucks as usage. Kids don't replace their fathers. Mothers don't replace their daughters. Siblings can't replace their brothers or sisters. But employees and co-workers are replaced all the time. There's no real "family" concept at work - maybe some very close friendships amongst some coworkers, but to call it family is to cheapen the concept of family. It should piss people off that corporate executives feel they have the right to do it.

by William Bonilla

I painfully prepare, my deep Hot Tub
Adjusting the hottest water
I could stand
To soothe my achy body

That just recently
Greeted the morning sun.

With an achy body
Last night
I laid, to sleep
Hoping the sandman
Would have mercy on me
As he dusted my eyes
I seek relieve.

Too many interruptions
In my dreams
As I constantly wake
For several short journys
To drain the lizard.

In my Hot Tub I dream
Dreams
With open eyes
As my thoughts travel
Through
My youthful memories
Where pain was unknown
Unless you broke a leg.

Days when pain
Was, but a challenge
Of endurance
Pain was seek then
Not wanted
As every sunrise
Has for me.

I seek not pity
I blame non
The cards have been dealt
In a game of no return
As I accept, my hand.

For I am, but a man
Of flesh
My soul is energy
Slowing down.

My heart
Used to host a flame
Which in time has trickled
To a glowing ember
Waiting a slow demise
As it flickers dim.

The Reaper stands
At the edge, of my infinity
To gallantly gather
My ashen dust
I pray, he scatters them
Into the four winds.

May my seed, root deeper
As a tear may escape
While memories of me
Travel through their
Blest thoughts.

Somebody from costumes in the original movie production of Wizard of Oz should sue.

You hear all this tsk-tsking about how low election voter turnout is, particularly in elections like Tuesday, where no state or national office was being determined.

Here's a suggestion for an enterprising Pennsylvania state legislator: why not propose a law that requires any local government web site for a particular office or position to provide the date of the next election for any offices or positions within that local government, on their front page? It seems RIDICULOUS that local governments - counties, townships, cities, boroughs - aren't providing election information on the easiest place on their site to find it.

Vandalism as an action really pisses me off, and I think it really requires a more active role of the general citizenry to define it for what it is. There are lots of crimes on the books, and they tend to get generalized:

Crime of Passion
Crime for Profit
Hate Crime

etc. But we really have not focused on the pointless general destruction of property, goods and time that occurs with vandalism. It shouldn't be hard to generalize such crimes - just look at the following and what comes first to your mind?

Never tried the stuff, but a friend of mine insists it's essential for the best margarita. Looks pretty pricey. Any opinions?

I know where I'd go eat...

Larsen's Pub, located in Elk Horn, has been named the winner of the Best Breaded Pork Tenderloin Contest held by the Iowa Pork Producers Association Restaurant & Food Service Committee.

Larsen's Pub is owned by Brenda and Neil Larsen, took first among 42 other restaurants, cafes and taverns across the state.

I love breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches.

Damn, I have no idea how such a great song escaped my ears for so long.

Why doesn't Hampden Township's web site reference the election today? There is an election today, right?

I really wish Chuck Schumer had better logic behind his support for Mukasey. How many other laws will be required to be passed by the Congress to ban practices because Mukasey doesn't know if they're wrong or not?

A Schumer gem:

To defeat him would be to abandon the hope of instituting the many reforms called for by our investigation.* No one questions that Judge Mukasey would do much to remove the stench of politics from the Justice Department. I believe we should give him that chance.

But who is going to remove the stench of selling out by some Congressional Democrats? It'll take more than Glade.

*Chuck Schumer's Office is now known as the Center of Abandoned Hope.

The whole chore seems pretty mellow to me, I must be doing it wrong.

Even though raking does not utilize power tools or sharp blades, it can still cause injuries. According to 2006 U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission statistics, more than 76,000 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms, doctors' offices, clinics and other medical settings for injuries related to non-powered garden tools, including rakes.

"Many people consider raking just another chore, but it requires a lot more reaching, bending and lifting than most odd jobs," says Daryll C. Dykes, MD, PhD, orthopaedic surgeon and spokesperson for the Academy. "Raking should be treated like any other vigorous exercise. People should pay close attention to their arms and backs, being careful not to reach or stretch too far."

Seriously, though, there are good recommendations to warm up before raking to prevent such injuries.

Rosie O'Donnell is not interesting, nor particularly insightful. She's not a journalist. She lets her emotions get her into pathetically stupid public tiffs. So why is MSNBC interested in bringing HER in?

Curious about those teams you've never heard of making waves at the Big Dance in March? Almost every NCAA tournament some time surprises, and grabs all the underdog interest. Who might it be this year? You might know ahead of time with the Mid-Major Top 25 then...

Wow, what a disappointing bunch of nonsense she spewed in the Times. Frontrunners, this close to the election, should expect to be targeted for tough debate, tough questions, and hits on character. That's the way national politics are played. The character questions might be demeaning and less than valuable, but that doesn't make it sexist or racist.

"John Edwards, specifically, as well as the press, would never attack Barack Obama for two hours they way they attacked her," said Geraldine A. Ferraro, the 1984 vice presidential candidate who supports Mrs. Clinton. "It’s O.K. in this country to be sexist," Ms. Ferraro said.

"It’s certainly not O.K. to be racist. I think if Barack Obama had been attacked for two hours — well, I don’t think Barack Obama would have been attacked for two hours."

I'd say that Ferraro's comments are probably more damaging to Hillary Clinton, considering that she's a supporter of Clinton, than any of the Democratic candidates attacks on Clinton, including Edwards. I think it's a fair question to ask HRC whether she buys into what Ferraro said or not.

Really, if voters aren't going to require a "cooling off" period for elected and appointed officials to take before entering the lobbying profession, then they're going to get this kind of stuff. Large corporations can pay more for a government insider than government can, and they will, if they think the return is higher than the cost.

Gov. Butch Otter's top aide is going to work as a lobbyist for the company that owns Idaho Power Co., becoming the latest member of state government to skip directly to a private-sector lobbying post where he could be asking his former boss and colleagues for help.

Jeff Malmen, Otter's chief of staff and one of the state's most influential Republicans, will be senior manager of government affairs for IdaCorp, the holding company for the utility. Malmen, a chief of staff for former Gov. Phil Batt and former finance director under former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, had earned $120,000 annually under Otter — $15,000 more than the governor, the state's top elected official.

Idaho has no revolving-door laws that limit officials like Malmen from immediately going to work at private-sector jobs in which they could be asking for concessions from state government.

Malmen, who will likely start his new job in December, told The Associated Press that after IdaCorp approached him about taking the new position, he was careful to avoid conflicts while he's still a state employee. He said he's taking the job in part to have more time to spend with his family.

...

In the last 18 months, at least eight ex-lawmakers or staffers for Otter and former Govs. Dirk Kempthorne and Jim Risch became lobbyists. They include former House Majority Caucus Chairwoman Julie Ellsworth, R-Boise, who won a lobbying job on the recommendation of House Speaker Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale; former House Speaker Bruce Newcomb, R-Burley; and Lance Giles, Kempthorne's top adviser on his billion-dollar "Connecting Idaho" roads project. Giles went to work for the company that won the contract to oversee that highway work, Washington Group International.

It manifests itself in many ways. Clearly, the world knows about George W. Bush.

You can find a poem about almost anything by using the search engine at PoemHunter.com.

The leaves aren't quite ready this weekend, but the next two weekends ought to be good for a LOT OF RAKING in our neighborhood.

Old Men Playing Basketball

B. H. Fairchild:

The heavy bodies lunge, the broken language
of fake and drive, glamorous jump shot
slowed to a stutter. Their gestures, in love
again with the pure geometry of curves,

rise toward the ball, falter, and fall away.
On the boards their hands and fingertips
tremble in tense little prayers of reach
and balance. Then, the grind of bone

and socket, the caught breath, the sigh,
the grunt of the body laboring to give
birth to itself. In their toiling and grand
sweeps, I wonder, do they still make love

to their wives, kissing the undersides
of their wrists, dancing the old soft-shoe
of desire? And on the long walk home
from the VFW, do they still sing

to the drunken moon? Stands full, clock
moving, the one in army fatigues
and houseshoes says to himself, pick and roll,
and the phrase sounds musical as ever,

radio crooning songs of love after the game,
the girl leaning back in the Chevy’s front seat
as her raven hair flames in the shuddering
light of the outdoor movie, and now he drives,

gliding toward the net. A glass wand
of autumn light breaks over the backboard.
Boys rise up in old men, wings begin to sprout
at their backs. The ball turns in the darkening air.

Go tell John Micek he should link to only my posts. I'm sure he'll appreciate it... I know I will!

Or, short of that, tell him that every third paragraph about Morganelli should be changed to something about Lake Tobias or Clyde Peeling's Reptiland or something like that. They need blog discussion too!

They should just keep trading them for more picks and players. Angelo is pretty good at assessing later talent, but can't seem to pick a marquee first round player, although we'll see what Greg Olson can do.

For a franchise that has had to struggle through Salaam and Curtis Enis, watching Cedric Benson is bitter deja vu. For that reason, and if only for that reason, Benson has to go.

Okay, Harrisburg area bloggers, I'm going to start putting together a blogroll of bloggers of the West Shore. It's going to be indexed by the municipality of your home postal location, so if you live in any of the following municipalities (unless I forgot one) please email me or put up a comment with your blog and town, and if you don't live on the West Shore, just ignore unless you want to know who's here.

I'll be repeating this request about once a week, I suspect it's going to take a while. Let me know which category below you belong in.

Camp Hill Bloggers
Carlisle Bloggers
Dillsburg Bloggers
Duncannon Bloggers
Enola Bloggers
Lemoyne Bloggers
Marysville Bloggers
Mechanicsburg Bloggers
Mount Holly Springs Bloggers
New Cumberland Bloggers
Shiremanstown Bloggers
Wormleysburg Bloggers
Boiling Springs Bloggers
New Kingstown Bloggers

Swampland's Joe Klein gets it right.

I'm puzzled by all the neoconservative bloviating and war-whooping about Iran and the near deathly silence about the deteriorating situation in Pakistan . I mean, we have actual terrorist training camps in Waziristan that are just sitting there, ripe targets for the sort of quick special forces strikes that the Turks are laying on the PKK in Northern Kurdistan (with our not-so-tacit approval). But I haven't read much in the Weekly Standard about the need to act against Al-Qaeda-Not-in-Iraq. Bill K, N-Pod, you remember Osama, right? What gives?

...

Is it possible that the reason why the neos are so obsessed with Iran and relatively silent on Pakistan (which, you may recall, actually has nukes) is that--ok, I'll go ahead and say it--Israel is obsessed over Iran? Indeed, Israel has a right to be obsessed. It's not just because of--or even mostly because of--Iran's nuclear program, either. It's because of Iran's military and financial support for Hizballah, which fought the vaunted Israeli defense forces more successfully than any other Arab army in history during the summer of 2006 and continues to fester just beyond the northern fence.

I agree that Iran is a matter of real concern for us. But it is not our top concern. It is Israel's top concern. Our top concerns are resolving the disaster in Iraq and preventing a disaster in Pakistan--and trying, once again, to dismantle the hierarchy of Al-Qaeda-Not-In-Iraq.

Always tricky bringing Israel's interests into any discussion of American foreign policy. American and Israeli interests certainly dovetail but they do not always exactly match. And the Neo-Cons tend to keep getting them backwards - like they did in Iraq.

CalorieLab reports on the ultimate amusement park nightmare: Trapped in Disney's It's A Small World ride with angry fatties!

The Small World ride now must accommodate adults who frequently weigh north of 200 pounds, which it often cannot do. Increasingly, overweighted boats get to certain points in the ride and bottom out, becoming stuck in the flume.

The ride monitors attempt to leave empty seats on many boats to compensate for the hefty, but this routinely antagonizes the hundreds of paying customers waiting in line. When a boat does bottom out, a long line of other boats backs up behind it, their passengers slowly going mad from listening to the ride’s theme song.

The ride monitors must then track down the stuck boat and attempt tactfully to help a rider or two to exit at one of the emergency platforms, which the riders in question do not always deal with graciously.

I hate that song!!

Since Maria McKee was mentioned, I feel obligated to bring up her brilliant and unfairly out-of-print 1996 solo offering "Life is Sweet". Disdained by many of her fans as too experimental and deleted from the catalog soon after its release by Geffen Records, the record had more in common with glam-period Bowie than with McKee's customary country and R-n-B flavored rock. This is also said to be her personal favorite record.

Masterpiece or mistake? Decide for yourself ...

I actually also have this CD, but this tape was my first go-around with Lone Justice's second album, Shelter.

The band only had two albums released while they were together, and apparently only Maria McKee, the vocalist, was part of the band for both. They received critical reviews but couldn't sell enough albums.

I was hoping to find a YouTube video of their song "Belfry", which is probably the best song on the album, but no such luck.

Iron Chef Morimoto smokes?

I wonder which Executive Order(s) Sheldon Whitehouse believes Bush may have violated. I'm sure we'll find out eventually.

Somehow I missed the Top 100 Ways Global Warming Will Change Your Life, but I bet they missed some that we'll find out about too soon.

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting, even Mary Worth.

Here's your chance to be SRWU's friend. In Facebook.

It's getting harder and harder to join the Mile High Club. Ah well, it wasn't part of my top 100 goals, anyway.

I support Bush's impeachment. It's never too late to try to fix a horrible problem. And these words seem reasonable:

I support Bush's impeachment. It is my litmus test for any candidate for office to see how sensible they are. Shouldn't it be your litmus test as well?

I play hoops every Wednesday night in a 35 and older basketball league, and have been doing so for probably close to 10 years. Many of the guys in the league have been in for several years as well, although each season we get some new blood, some which stays with us over a haul, and some that don't.

I've posted before how much I look forward to this evening of sports. One of the things that has come to my attention as I've aged is the variety of "basketball characters" I can be, depending on the night. I can be Lazy Wayne, or Crappy Shooting Wayne, or Slow Wayne, or Sneaky Pass Thief Wayne, or Mister Outside Shooter, or Guy That Keeps Fouling Everyone, or Pass It To The Other Team Guy, or The Guy Stuck Playing Center Against Guys 5 Inches or More Taller Than Him, or Long Bomb Pass Dude, or on too rare of occasions, The Guy Playing Really, Really Well Tonight. And a whole multitude of other characters, and I usually play more than one during an evening, although one version of me usually dominates my opinion of how I played afterwards.

The funny thing is that I almost never know which ME is going to show up on a Wednesday night. It's a surprise, sometimes good, sometimes not so happy. And confidence, particularly in shooting and passing, is something that happens early or not at all.

Somebody asked me last week if I ever get tired of playing hoops with the same guys, because you get to know their game. Doesn't it become predictable? And the answer is no. I never know which ME is going to show up, let alone which version of THEM will be there. Teams change throughout the night, and the chemistry of play changes. It's always a surprise.

Alright, I have to go see this movie next week. I suspect I'll end up buying the soundtrack by Eddie Vedder as well.

Interesting paint color, formerly a fast food restaurant, been vacant for a few years now on the Carlisle Pike in Camp Hill. That paint color... we were trying to think of a business that would make sense in a location that color. A restaurant that only serves pumpkin dishes?

BUFFALO - Verb. "Orig. West. a. to intimidate or frighten, esp. by means of mere bluff

The American Prospect's Paul Waldman skewers the trivial bluster of Tim Russert.

If an interviewer forgets to bring up Buffalo, Russert surely will. Asked by Kurtz how he avoids getting an inflated ego when he spends time interviewing presidents (a softball question designed just for Russert; try to imagine Kurtz asking the same thing of Tom Brokaw), Russert responded, "If you come from Buffalo, everything else is easy. Walking backwards to school, for a mile in the snow, grounds you for life." When Bill Moyers asked Russert whether he relied too much on the word of Bush administration officials during the run-up to the Iraq War, Russert replied, "Look, I'm a blue-collar guy from Buffalo. I know who my sources are. I work 'em very hard. It's the mid-level people that tell you the truth." Any questions about his being too close to the establishment are met with "Blue-collar! Buffalo!", brandished like a cross before the vampire of accountability. Russert may be the only journalist in America who considers all his conversations with government officials off the record unless they request otherwise — an extraordinary gift to the powerful and an inversion of ordinary journalistic practice — but that doesn't make him an insider. Because he's from Buffalo.

Declaring that one is for Hillary Clinton for President in the Telegraph without giving any real good sense as to why her.

BTW, I would like to see Superman be elected MP for Henley. He has X-ray vision and can leap tall buildings. I cannot imagine Boris Johnson doing so.

Here's the point, Boris: Not being George W. Bush is not GOOD ENOUGH alone to be elected President. Being married to a former President is NOT GOOD ENOUGH alone to be elected President. Otherwise, Boris would find Laura Bush a credible candidate.

Wednesday's Cassette was from The Beat Farmers: Tales of the New West.

It's a pretty good album, more novelty than musicianship, with one of the more fun songs to sing along with from the 1980s - Happy Boy. Don't believe me? Check it out.

Educational AND Scary:

Some ASU students came to campus "trashed" for Halloween in hopes of winning a $500 prize for supporting a green cause at the Anti-Trash Costume Bash.

Five contestants faced off at the Memorial Union Wednesday, dressed in costumes made from recyclables, in front of a panel of judges who awarded them for their use of trashy attire to help spread awareness of roadside littering and recycling.

The best costume team was awarded $500, while second place took home $250 and third won a $50 ASU bookstore gift certificate. The team with the best costumes was awarded $500.

All winners were invited to have lunch with Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman.

"The scariest thing they thought they could do for Halloween is invite a politician," Hallman said.

The event, sponsored by the Arizona Department of Transportation, Maricopa Association of Governments and U-Haul, was held in an attempt to educate students about the growing problems with trash on Arizona highways, Hallman said.

"The trash looks a lot better on the students of Arizona State University than our freeways, believe it or not," he said.

The first place prize was appropriately set at $500, because that's how much a ticket is for littering on highways, Hallman added.

About 500 bags of trash are picked up on Maricopa freeways each day, amounting to more than 150,000 bags and $3 million per year in taxpayers' money, according to ADOT statistics.

Hey, Harrisburg Mayor Steve Reed - this sounds like a good idea for the city next year!

Lobbying in 2007, that is:

The Associated Press says these are the 10 companies and groups that spent the most on lobbying Pennsylvania state government in the first six months of 2007, with totals for each:

- Hospital & HealthSystem Association of Pennsylvania, represents about 250 hospitals; $933,011.
- Pennsylvania Medical Society, represents about 18,000 doctors; $604,908.
- Highmark Inc., major health insurer based in Pittsburgh; $502,600.
- Reynolds American Inc., North Carolina-based parent of R.J. Reynolds, the nation’s second-largest tobacco company; $477,473.
- Comcast Corp., the Philadelphia-based cable company; $407,943.
- The Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania, represents more than 200 commercial insurers; $358,809.
- Verizon Pennsylvania, state subsidiary of the national wireline and wireless service provider; $333,792.
- Pennsylvania Builders Association, represents 12,000 residential builders and associated companies; $328,960.
- Exelon Generation Company LLC, part of the corporation that owns three Pennsylvania nuclear power plants; $317,701.
- Energy Association of Pennsylvania, represents electric and gas distribution companies; $291,133.

Source: Pennsylvania Department of State

Read a few reviews at Horror Movie A Day.