PSoTD

Or more like dropping one, in Mechanicsburg, tonight.

If only Colby College had worn a condom.

It's hard to figure out who to blame for Joe Klein. But I wish somebody would just accept it and get rid of him from the national pundit stage.

4 road wins. Yep, four.

Jacksonville over Pittsburgh.
Washington over Seattle.
New York Giants over Tampa Bay.
And the biggest upset of all, Tennessee over San Diego in "The Return of The Glazed Eyes of Norv Turner".

I wish I could say that I never read Parade Magazine, but I will admit it - I check it out every Sunday, just to see what mindless entertainment they print. But yesterday's edition was too much - the cover of our mindless President, and the ensuing "interview", is too much. And so, here's my one resolution for the upcoming year - I won't read Parade Magazine in 2008.

Find Out Who's Gone from Congress to K Street.

I saw NBC's footage of the Bhutto shooting last night, and felt intense anger at the Pakistan government for what seems to be an outright official lie concerning her death. I can't imagine how much anger towards the government actual Pakistanis might feel at this point.

Is your professor juicing?

I always appreciate a good Peggy Noonan description:

What a joke to see Noonan claiming to speak for the grown-ups of America when she in fact belongs to the elite cadre of arrested adolescents that dominate the major media. She's the voice of those favored few who have reduced the public dialogue to the level of teenage girls trading childish barbs over boyfriends. That they get to drive the political discourse is not funny at all.

I actually don't think you want to use dollar bills to wipe your butt. Have you seen how dirty money actually is?

3900, and it didn't even make a blip in the news.

Or, what Santa brought Larry Bird.

For whatever reason, I always thought Erasure was "Christian pop". (I don't think I'm the only one) But other than a gift of an album of theirs many years ago, I haven't listened much to them.

Pumpkinhead today asked the following of Barack Obama:

MR. RUSSERT: But if you don't win this time, would you run again?

Russert absolutely wasted a minute - the last minute of his program today - on the worthless question of whether Obama would run again if he lost this time. It's December, 2007, and no primary has occurred yet. Despite that, Russert already wants to know what Obama would do in 4 or 8 years. Is Russert that bored of the issues of this election?

Russert might tip the scales at over 250 pounds in real life, but in the world of assessing political gravity, he's weightless.

Everyone makes lists for the end of the year. I've decided to jump on that wagon - here it the exciting story of...

Ten new things in my "blogging space" (office) that weren't here in 2006, in no particular order.

New sound system that actually has pretty good sound.
A new calendar - I actually have the 2008 one I received for Christmas up.
The wireless network.
All these coffee "sip hole cover" stickers now decorating my desk.
Winning Hoops' "Blackboard Strategies" book.
A whole slew of used data CDs that clients have sent me work on over the course of the year.
The new MP3 player I received for Christmas.
Grand Canyon baseball cap.
A jar of potassium supplements.
New indoor basketball sneakers.

I'm actually not a big fan of annual lists, particularly the ranking sort. Generally, they are simplistic and ill-positioned efforts to define a time period that requires a little more distance before results can actually determine value or importance.

That's not to say I can't look at 2007 and say it was or wasn't a good year (My personal 2007 was great and very enjoyable, even though we watched the country continue to drown in poor leadership). I know 2007 was happier for me - during that period of time - than 2006 was, but only the future course of events will actually help me determine whether it was "better" for me. So there's really no reason to try to judge it on those terms.

from ranzino

Oh, and if you think people are animals too...

It's against the law for animals to mate in the city limits of Dibble, Oklahoma.

They tried. They didn't have to, it didn't necessarily help them for the playoffs, but they didn't give up, they took their chances, and for that the rest of the NFL's fans ought to be appreciative.

I'll admit, I don't live in the urban landscape, and I suspect I don't have much of an inkling about everything doormen do beyond what I see on Law and Order or other New York City based programs. But I guess I don't understand what is to prevent technology from replacing the on-site human element in this profession. I'm sure there's some comfort in knowing there's somebody at street level that can help you if you need assistance.

On the other hand, it sure seems like bored web developers and bored doormen might have a lot in common.

Doesn't sound like it is a vocation that will be around much longer.

The Harrisburg area has a shortage of hotels with jacuzzi baths in the room.

Don't do this.

I actually heard this while surfing the car radio the other day. Measure your chin drop.

DJ: You're listening to 94.1, your number one rock and roll station. After the break, we'll play nine straight rock classics, starting with Gerry Rafferty.

I don't really remember the station numbers, I guess it must have been the shock. And yes, I had to stick around just to confirm - it was Baker Street.

I mean the price.

Planning a party and thinking about having helium balloons? It may cost you more to have them.

A helium shortage has prices rising.

Helium is used for a whole bunch of things from cooling medical equipment to welding projects.

The experts say there is a shortage because demand is exceeding supply.

Peggy Faraos is planning a big New Years Eve party at her bar where there will be lots of party favors and dozens of floating balloons. She's well aware she'll be paying extra for helium that will make those balloons float.

“I don't mind at all. I like to give my customers a good time and what I am doing I am doing for my customers,” Faraos said.

The experts say helium is going for a premium this year because the U.S. is running short on supply. Demand is up and industries that use helium like hospitals and factories are at the front of the line. Party supply stores are at the back.

Managers at Bartz say the price the pay for a tank of helium has tripled in the last year alone. Because of that, they say they've had to increase the cost of a balloon by a nickel to meet the rising costs

I wonder how long she takes poofing up her hair before she goes on television.

America: anyone that scares Peggy Noonan with populism must be worth a closer look.

One of the gifts I received for Christmas was a small MP3 player so I can listen to tunes while working out at the YMCA. Now I'm in the process of figuring out the songs I want for working out.

So far, only one obvious choice - perhaps the greatest work out song of all time: Panic in Detroit, by David Bowie. I don't know what it is - the beat, the angst of the voice, the intensity of the guitars - but for whatever reason, that song is good for lifting or running.

What happened yesterday in Pakistan magnifies the sense of a world out of control. There are no Presidential candidates running that provide a sense that they can actually gather the reins. Frankly, I don't believe it is a capability of an American President at this point of time, but is the responsibility of all nation's leaders to tamp down the pressure, both domestically and internationally. There probably was a time in this century where the actions of one good American President could have reduced international pressures considerably at a benefit for the United States, but unfortunately, we haven't been graced with a good American President in this century.

Citizens of the world probably feel a LOT of anxiety after what happened to Benazir Bhutto yesterday. I know I do. I'd like to see my government work towards reducing that anxiety. I'd like to see Presidential candidates say something that indicates they see that as a priority as well. But I'm not really seeing anyone do that. And I know we don't have an American President that has any ability to do that currently. The world feels like it is sitting on the precipice of something far disastrous than the last horrible 6 years, and there are no statesmen or stateswomen available to draw the world away from the edge.

Interesting site.

I'm still looking for a peace sign design for a tattoo. If you have any links that use the peace symbol shown below, please feel free to link. Not the leafy green or anything, just that kind of peace sign.

ThePoliticalCat tagged me the other day with this - and now I'm doing my part to make the holiday last.

Da Rulez

1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share Christmas facts about yourself.
3. Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Welcome to the Christmas edition of "Getting to Know Your Friends."

1. Wrapping or gift bags?
Gift bags, although I have a tradition of wrapping at least one gift for my wife with Sunday newspaper comics.

2. Real or artificial tree?
It depends on how we feel. I have one of those 1960s silver aluminum trees, with the color wheel, that I inherited from my Mom, and every once in a while that's fun.

3. When do you put up the tree?
First or second weekend in December.

4. When do you take the tree down?
New Years Day weekend

5. Do you like egg nog?
Yes, I'm normal.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Electric football.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
I think we have a small one around here somewhere.

8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
One of these days I'll write about how my MIL destroyed a brand new Christmas collectible hobby my wife and I were embarking on by getting us practically everything we could think of.

9. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail. Mail. Mail. And early, so that the holiday is spread over December.

10. Favorite Christmas Movie?
It's a Wonderful Life.

11. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Early December.

12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
I love the Christmas cookies.

13. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Either.

14. Favorite Christmas song(s)?
We Three Kings.

15. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
I hate traveling at Christmas. When we moved to Pennsylvania, we went to California for Christmas for the first four years to be with family. We ended up sick every time, plus you feel like Christmas is on an agenda. I much prefer being home with the kids, going slow, and playing all day.

16. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Yeah.

17. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Star.

18. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning?
Both. We all open one gift on Christmas Eve, the rest the next morning.

19. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
Crowds.

20. Do you decorate your tree in any specific theme or color?
No.

21. What do you leave for Santa?
Cookies and milk.

22. Least favorite holiday song?
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.

23. Favorite ornament?
The Chicago Bears ornament! (and they played Santa all year long, giving away games)

24. Family tradition?
Opening a present on Christmas Eve came from my Dad's side of the family. We have the Santa hat as well, which one person must wear when they are distributing gifts on Christmas morning.

25. Ever been to Midnight Mass or late-night Christmas Eve services?
Yes. But I don't make a habit out of it.

Hmmm ... Who to tag? How about Audacity, BearWaller Hollar, cannablog, Dizzy Dayz, Fiat Lux, Waiting for Dorothy, and Out of My Mind in Mechanicsburg.

Because the day after Christmas, they spam you.

If you need quick cash to expand your business or increase inventory, don’t miss this opportunity to let your home’s equity work for your business. While interest rates are still low, lock in a guaranteed fixed rate you can count on with a Capital One® Home Equity Loan.

• Fixed APRs from 8.42%1
• Loan amounts available from $20,000 to $500,000
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Like there was a need - or a chance in the world - that I would do that.

I'm sorry, but the Vatican needs to work much harder to make this a newsworthy item for every day. This "on the holidays" approach seems rather unsuccessful.

or Polar Bear Club, or whatever you call it where you live... New Year's Day is coming up, and it'll be time to jump in.

I know that just about everywhere you go in the United States, the traffic around Christmas time becomes considerably worse, jam-packed with traffic that is distracted by the errands at hand and the time restrictions they have to do them. We have that here in Central Pennsylvania, but as an "outsider" that has lived here for 16 years, there's another traffic issue here that I don't remember from my life in California - the fearful, irregular older driver. There are a lot of advantages to living in a population where more than 15% are over the age of 65. Average quality of driving doesn't seem to be one of them. I believe that age can, and inactivity behind the wheel does, erode the ability to drive. The driver, if wise to this erosion, can become more and more conservative in their driving - cutting down their driving, driving when there is less traffic, choosing roads lesser taken, and removing all "chance" of their driving ability getting them out of self-created mistakes.

Unfortunately, none of this wisdom helps much at Christmas. Everyone goes to stores, there isn't a time when there isn't heavy traffic near stores in December, and the speed of traffic requires a more aggressive driving approach to get in and out of traffic. What can further frustrate everyone on the road is the driver that is moving 10 miles per hour less than everyone else, that slows to a crawl when making a turn and exiting the right of way, that refuses to keep up with traffic, and forcing 3 or 4 cars that normally might make a traffic light to wait another cycle during what is basically rush hour traffic before continuing on their way.

At this time of year, it seems like it's always older folks in older cars, clearly nervous behind the wheel and intimidated by the traffic, that are behind these occurrences. They, like everyone else, feel they need to get to the stores, do their Christmas shopping, and they take their chances. But I wonder. Sometimes doing things that work against everyone else's impatience is dangerous. Does my impression of the risk of these drivers actually show up as statistically evident? Are drivers over the age of 70 more likely to have an accident in December than any other time of year?

Yeah, I really don't understand the "NBA on Christmas Day" tradition either. And I actually like the NBA.

Just wanted to revel in that feeling for a bit. Thanks for indulging.

Enjoy the beat of the holiday.

We wish you the gift of illumination on this Christmas Eve.

So... what is your favorite Christmas drink?

It's not my family, but I thought it stirred something in the heart.

There's some commercial out there that mentions "explosive diarrhea". After my son went to the bathroom today, he asked me if there was such a thing as explosive diarrhea. I said yes.

He then asked that if you had it, would it blow you up?

It happens.

When my parents were alive, the hardest person to figure out a Christmas gift for was my Mom, because she was a frugal person as it was, she lived in an apartment with limited space for storage or display, and she never really said anything about "wanting" anything. When I was in my late 20s, I decided one year to try "time and place" as gifts, as opposed to things, and one year I gave her and my brothers a weekend in San Diego, and we had a great time there, and after that, the issue was resolved, and I tended to give both my parents such gifts after that. A gift of a good time is hard to beat.

Today, my wife holds the place of toughest to shop for during the holidays. There are several reasons - first of all, I do want my gift(s) each year to be spot on for her, because it should be, and also because I've given her my share of duds in the past. I have a hit-and-miss history - either they are great gifts, or they're in the "what was he thinking" category. On the other hand, we're able to get pretty much anything we want or need within reason anyways, so a lot of potential gift ideas don't work just because they're either already owned or already judged to not be that important.

I hate the years where I feel pretty uncertain about the specialness of my gift(s) to her. This year I feel pretty confident I have a winner. I hope so. I just want to avoid that sensation of a lead dirigible plunging into your house, the one I had when I got her the camping stove for her birthday.

Yeah, they could play Christmas songs, too.

This is a pretty handy site to check for IP email blacklists.

Posted by sweetpea515:

Floating around in the news today:

Men are naturally more comedic than women because of the male hormone testosterone, an expert has claimed.

I'm not about to claim that this is true, but I will agree that I will be using this blurb to pester my wife considerably this weekend.

Another thing about Christmas characters, so many seem to be in need of medical attention. Tiny Tim, Rudolph's Rosacea, the Grinch's heart condition...

If you could pay for medical attention for a Christmas character, which one would you try to cover, and for what?

I've never thought about it much, but when you drive around Pennsylvania at night you notice how many churches have outdoor lights - the big, bathe the church in light type kind - on at all times at night.

Do faiths require their places of worship to do this? It seems to me to be a rather wasteful use of energy, particularly churches that have no one at that location at night. Just wonderin'.

Now that this cursed Chipmunks movie is out, perhaps you want to know who to blame for the whole Chipmunks thing in the first place.

Yeah, I'm on the road to eternal damnation, but so be it...

Here's your question of the day - combining two of America's favorite pasttimes, sex and Christmas. What fictional Christmas character is the sexiest in your opinion? It seems like pretty slim pickings. No main characters - the kind you see most often in advertisements or decorations - come to mind. And it is a male-dominated holiday, as far as characters are concerned, with only Mary and Mrs. Claus really part of the first tier.

Seriously, the term "War on Christmas" should offend everyone, whether they celebrate the holiday or not. And anyone who uses it as if it were somehow a legitimate context ought to be paraded in the town square as the buffoon they apparently are, including any newspaper writer/editor who thinks it is somehow worth expanding the idiocy of the concept by either inflating or deflating the rabblerousers who push it.

Wikipedia has competition from the content-free universe.

Will 2007 be remembered in the blog world as the year of conglomeration of bloggers? Seems like everyone is joining a group blog these days, to the eventual sacrifice of their individual blog.

Why do people need temporary email?

This website provides you with disposable e-mail addresses which expire after 15 Minutes. You can read and reply to e-mails that are sent to the temporary e-mail address within the given time frame.

Posts you may have missed:

Why Now? remembers what happened December 17, 1903 - did you?

I'm hoping I get a digital photo frame for Christmas for my office, so I can clear some desk space. This post was timely.

No kidding. We're not absolute idiots.

Does anyone listen to Bob Beckel anymore? I thought he used up his quote of banal commentary long ago.

"The Top 10 Data Breaches of 2007".

I actually think this is a good electoral politics decision. What can Tim Russert do for Mike Huckabee at this time? Pretty much nothing good, I suspect, so why bother using the resources to go on his show?

Is the "mo" going to Edwards now?

Sure seems like it.

I'm sure there's going to be a debate about the pregnancy of this 16 year-old girl, and I think that's a healthy thing. It happens a lot - too often - and there is rarely any television programming that deals with the issue.

Here's a chance for Nickelodeon to do just that. They now have a popular program with kids that has a pregnant teenager as the star. What will they do? Write this into the story, or absolutely ignore the reality of the situation? It's a chance for Nickelodeon to be a responsible citizen with an important issue of the time that is happening on their very lot, and we'll see if they're up to dealing with it like adults.

It's piling up a lot of pre-Oscar awards.

Updating from a few weeks ago:

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. If I received your request, you should show below:

Boiling Springs Bloggers
Camp Hill Bloggers
Content
Halushki

Carlisle Bloggers
Dillsburg Bloggers
Duncannon Bloggers
Enola Bloggers
Lemoyne Bloggers
Marysville Bloggers
Mechanicsburg Bloggers

Out of My Mind in Mechanicsburg

Mount Holly Springs Bloggers
New Cumberland Bloggers
New Kingstown Bloggers
Shiremanstown Bloggers
Wormleysburg Bloggers

This is my final respects for epix.net, an ISP in Central Pennsylvania that I started using back in 1995. I hosted Fig Bar Man for President on that site, and The Lunacy Catapult, and other bizarre personality manifestations for a while in the 1990s. Those were heady days, where anything on the web might be popular for a day, and I actually ended up doing some radio interviews for Fig Bar Man in 1996. Weird, weird times.

But, I haven't used dialup for years, yet kept the epix account as a backup email account. Earlier this year Frontier.net bought Epix, and has been transitioning their email operations, and it appears that Frontier is dumbshitting their email operations with spamfilters in a way that somehow allows ONLY spam to get through at this point. Ugh, don't need more of that kind of behavior, since I get plenty with Comcast. So - since it isn't epix anymore, anyway, I have no sorrow about leaving Frontier, except that I'm sure I have some old contacts out there that only have that email address for me. Unfortunate.

It has a catchy name.

I can't claim to understand the pathetic personality needs or relationship abilities of somebody who gets married and two months later files for divorce, but frankly, serial abusers of marriage such as Pamela Anderson probably need a better support system to prevent their abuse of the process, and their crappifying of the conceptual pool of "marriage" in the public eye.

Hampden Township ought to be paying attention to this, since the problems involved have to do with the length of time a community is "mature" in their development.

Lieberman to endorse McCain

There's not much to add here. I'm not sure anyone really cares who Joe Lieberman endorses, actually. If one of the big pollsters did a "Which Senator's guts in the U.S. Senate do you hate the most?" survey, I suspect Lieberman may very well win.

I really don't see any way that McCain is going to win the Republican nomination, which makes me wonder what Lieberman really thinks he is accomplishing here.

Click on any thumbnail to go to the blogger who works there.

It sure would be nice if the thumbnails would load for everyone, but they don't. Takes yer chances.

First of all, those stickers on the desk drawer - the coffee shop I frequent puts one on each cup to prevent coffee from leaking out of the "sip hole". I take them, and either hide them on various things in the kids room, or on my wife's underwear (which goes over big, believe me), or, after learning my lesson not to do these things, they get stuck on the drawer.

You can catch a glimpse of the secret stash of Cheezits that had been forgotten in the other side's bottom drawer for who knows how long - after I took this shot, I checked them out, and they were beyond stale. Imagine Civil War Hard Tack with a cheese flavor. They were tossed.

Photos of the kids and wife are scattered along the desk. Lots of paper, the remote is for the mini-stereo, and, of course, the obligatory coffee cup.

Lots of limbs down from the ice storm we received in Cumberland County last night and this morning. In our back yard, our neighbors' pines cracked and groaned and dropped a lot of wood. One of the pines is now half a tree.

It's not you. It's no one. It's just better.

I watched Bill Clinton on Charlie Rose last night as well. I thought most of the interview was actually pretty boring, since it was so much horserace about Hillary, but at some point Charlie Rose should have just come out and said "Of course you think that she's the best candidate for President. You're her husband, if you believe in her, of course you believe that. But why should the rest of the country believe it?" Because that was the seeming nub of Rose's questions all night, and Bill Clinton never came close to answering it.

There does seem to be a sense in the news media of a panic in the Hillary campaign - and a sense that there should be a panic. Olbermann was hammering this case last night. I'm wondering if we're watching her candidacy dissolve under the scrutiny of the claim "most experienced" in balance with the question of whether she's really electable, and whether "most experienced" is what we really want, anyways. The Senate is full of very experienced Senators, and yet the changes they have enacted for this country are pretty depressing for many in this country. Most experienced may very well translate into least acceptable.

Why do the free email providers, such as Google and Yahoo, eat your lunch as far as how they apply spamfilters to incoming email?

If I were an ISP, I think I'd be heavily considering subcontracting email services to Gmail. They seem to do a better job than practically any ISP.

Unfortunately, it sounds like maybe more of the same is ahead of us. From Al Morrison:

This just in: too late, Nintendo. We bought an XBox instead. Kids don't like opening up a present on Christmas Day to see an IOU. And parents don't like doing that.

Based on the blizzard of Elf Yourselfs I've received from easily amused friends, some OfficeMax marketing dweeb ought to have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Interesting article about home builders, and the atmosphere they're now working in:

One mid-sized private builder told a friend of mine that potential customers coming through their model-home doors are openly hostile. They’re not just looking for good deals; they’re looking for payback.

Apparently some of today’s new homebuyers blame the builders outright for the current housing predicament. They are telling unwitting sales reps that they are to blame for running up prices and foisting untenable loans on clients during the latest housing boom. Buyers are telling the sales people stories of how rudely they were treated during the boom, how they were told that if they didn’t want to take the deal they could stick it, because there was a line of buyers right behind them.

I can say that I've felt the attitude by builders and realtors on new builds as well - felt like we were treated like livestock. 3-4 years ago, my wife and I had decided to build a new house in a new development. The first round of properties were gone, and we went on a waiting list for the next series of lots to become ready for building. We were told they would call us when the next series of lots were available, and the real estate agent informed us that at that point, we could start planning on our next house.

About 8 months later, I get a call from the real estate agent, saying that the lots were now available. This was a Wednesday. They wanted us to pick our lot by Friday, and to put a downpayment down on the lot, or they couldn't promise us a lot. It was March, and the roads weren't down in the new area, so it meant trudging through mud just to check out the lots.

There was a big difference between the drawings and the actual lot because of the hilly terrain. We had been told there would be some flattening, but it was minimal, and the lots we thought we wanted were no longer our choice, because they had steep slopes and very unusable yards for kids to play in. There were a couple of flatter lots, and we put down a deposit for one and on Friday we were informed we had reserved it.

The following Monday we were also informed that we had 30 days to decide on the house we wanted to have built. We were going to have to use the builder and the designer provided. None of this information had been provided to us before our downpayment, and it hadn't occurred to us to ask about this. I explained to the real estate agent that I couldn't work this way with the biggest one-time expense in my life, and would need a longer time to figure out what we wanted, and was told that the best we could get was another 30 day extension. They were going to give us 60 days to figure out everything about the house we were going to have built for us.

This felt like a big dump taken on our birthday cake, and we decided pretty quickly that we couldn't do business with either a real estate company or builder that treated brand new customers in such a manner - regardless if it was some sort of mythical "standard". We pulled our money out, and I'm glad we don't live in that development now. We chose to remodel and stay where we're at, and it's worked out pretty well so far.

Didn't know this...

Ever since Akron announced late last week that it was going to use a dash of beet juice in its road salt, drivers have been thinking the worst.

The city says nothing will be stained and nothing will be hurt. Not cars, not clothes, not people.

For starters, this stuff is actually a brownish color, not beet red. And it's so diluted that it's barely noticeable.

As for damaging your vehicles — well, the opposite is true. Beets cancel out some of the corrosive properties of salt. With beets beating salt, our clothes, cars and concrete should all last longer.

But the key to the switch is that beet juice allows the salt to work at temperatures as cold as minus-60 degrees, rather than salt's normal low of 17 degrees.

The stuff Akron is dumping on its streets is 5 percent beet juice, 10 percent calcium chloride and 85 percent rock-salt brine.

So... what exactly does your blogging space look like, anyway? You know, the place where you actually sit and blog? Is it an office, a laptop at a coffee shop, some special setup in the hot tub? This is your chance to show the world, by posting a photo of the area on Sunday. I know I will, and now I'm challenging the following bloggers to do the same:

42 --- 100 monkeys typing. --- 750 Volts --- A Big Fat Slob --- A Bird and a Bottle --- A Grand Illusion --- above average jane --- After School Snack --- Agitprop --- Akkam's Razor --- alien & sedition. --- The All Spin Zone --- alphabitch --- The Alternate Brain --- amahchewahwah --- America's Hometown --- An Examination of Free Will --- An Old Soul --- Ang's Weird Ideas --- The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat --- Annie's Annals --- Audacity --- Ayn Clouter's Blog --- B12 Solipsism --- BARBARIAN Blog --- The Barefoot Bum --- Bark Bark Woof Woof --- BearWaller Hollar --- Berks Democrats --- Big Brass Blog --- Blah3 --- Blankbaby --- Blanton's and Ashton's --- blogenlust --- The Blogging Curmudgeon --- BlogNetNews: Pennsylvania --- The Blog Report --- Blog with a View --- Blue Girl, Red State --- Bootstrap Analysis --- Bradford Plumer --- Bread and Roses --- Brian's Political Donnybrook --- Byzantium's Shores --- cannablog --- Can't Keep Quiet --- Capitol Ideas --- The Centrist --- Coffee House Studio --- Collective Sigh --- The Command T.O.C. --- Comments from Left Field --- Content --- Copeland Institute for Lower Learning --- Creek Running North --- The Crone Speaks --- Crushed by Inertia --- cuddlefish --- The CultureGhost --- Cup O' Joe --- The Cynic --- Daddy Democrat --- The Daily Background --- Daily Kos --- Debsweb --- Declaration of Pride --- Dialogic --- Dispatch from the Trenches --- The Divided States Of bu$hmeriKa 2 --- Dizzy Dayz --- Dohiyi Mir --- Dr. Forbush Thinks --- Drinking Liberally in New Milford --- Eccentricity --- Edicts of Nancy --- Effect Measure --- Eschaton --- Evil Mommy --- Excuse the Mess --- Fact-esque --- Fester's Place --- Fiat Luz --- firedoglake --- Fixer and Gordon --- Frank --- Froth Slosh B'Gosh --- The Funny Farm --- The Galloping Beaver --- Geeky Mom --- Good Nonsense --- Gort42 --- GOTV --- Granny Insanity --- Greatscat! --- The Grumpy Forester --- Guys from Area 51 --- The Hackenblog --- Halushki --- The Heretik --- Howard-Empowered People --- I See Invisible People --- If I Ran the Zoo --- The Impolitic --- Impractical Proposals --- Incertus --- Independent Bloggers' Alliance --- Intrepid Liberal Journal --- It's My Country Too --- I've Made a Huge Tiny Mistake --- jobsanger --- John's Blog --- Jon Swift --- Just A Bump in the Beltway --- Keystone Politics --- Lab Kat --- The Lady Speaks --- Last Left Turn Before Hooterville --- The Left End of the Dial v2.0 --- Liberal Oasis --- LJ's Blogorific --- Macswain --- MadKane --- Making Conservatives Cringe since 1977 --- memeorandum --- Middle Earth Journal --- Mike the Mad Biologist --- Mister Anchovy --- Mixter's Mix --- A Mockingbird's Medley --- The Moderate Man --- The Moderate Voice --- Monkeyfister --- MoxieGrrrl --- My Thinking Corner --- Neverending Rainbow --- New Pairodimes --- Newscoma --- The NewsHoggers --- Newsrack Blog --- Night Bird's Fountain --- No More Apples --- No More Mister Nice Blog --- Norwegianity --- Off the Kuff --- Ole Blue the Heretic --- OnBackground --- The Online Magazine Formerly Known As Rob's Blog --- The Opinion Mill --- The Osterley Times --- out of my mind in mechanicsburg --- Pacific Views --- Pam's House Blend --- Pandagon --- Paperwight's Fair Shot --- Pen-Elayne --- Pennsyltucky Politics Blog --- The Pennsylvania Progressive --- Perception Managers --- philly --- Philly Future --- Pinko Feminist Hellcat --- Plucky Punk's Happy Land --- The Political Cat --- PoliTits --- Poverty Barn --- Preemptive Karma --- Progressive Society Blog --- Rants from the Rookery --- Radical Hapa --- The Reaction --- Real's World --- Rook's Rants --- Rox Populi --- ScaramoucheBlog --- Seeing the Forest --- Shakesville --- The Sideshow --- Simianbrain --- Skippy the Bush Kangaroo --- Speedkill --- The Spinning Goth --- State of the Day --- The Strange Death of Liberal America --- Stump Lane --- Suburban Guerrilla --- sumo merriment --- T. Rex's Guide to Life --- The Tattered Coat --- Tholos of Athena --- Toad in the Hole --- TommyWonk --- Uncle Horn Head --- Upon Further Review --- Upper Left --- Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy --- Very Simple --- Waiting for Dorothy --- Wampum --- Welcome to the Revolution --- What Do I Know? --- Why Now? --- Witness for the Prosecution --- Worlds --- The Yellow Doggerel Democrat --- You Forgot Poland! --- Young Philly Politics

C'mon - you know you want to show your blog space.

Freezing rain. Yuck.

Yep, Cumberland Valley just announced there is no school today. You can always go to ABC27 for cancellations and delays around here.

I will admit, during their heydey of the 70s and early 80s, I was not the biggest fan of Led Zeppelin, or anywhere near that status. I had a lot of friends that saw them as the greatest band of all time, and Stairway to Heaven seemed to always be mentioned as the greatest rock song of all time, and although I liked them alright, I just didn't quite get the all-out dedication of their fans.

My first year in college I lived in the dorms, and we went to the midnight movies in Sacramento a lot over the course of the year, usually after an evening of various kinds of partying. The favorite choice by almost everyone was "The Song Remains the Same", which has great LedZep music but does require some sort of mind-altering substance to appreciate much of the visuals. I'm not sure if "appreciate" is the right term, perhaps accept is more accurate. I was always a supporter of seeing "The Kids Are Alright" instead, but I think of our group, only a couple of us were true "Who" fans at the time, although about a year later that turned around when we all saw them in concert in Oakland.

And yes, I know, the visuals in The Who movie aren't any more entertaining than Led Zeppelin's flick.

Anyway, in honor of their big day earlier this week I thought I'd ask the musical question - do you have a favorite Led Zeppelin song or album, and if so, what is it?

The Mirror UK reports ...

We know celebrities sometimes bend the rules - but if you're Paul McCartney you can get away with any thing.

The Beatles legend was spotted with what seemed to be a, er, herbal roll-up, but discreet staff turned a blind eye as Macca, 65, puffed away.

One over-zealous worker gushed: "Don't worry, you're a legend." Earlier that evening he'd decided he needed a swift drink - or two - and rocked up to the bar where he ordered two pints just 15 minutes before the opening number.

Hey, I don't think I could make it through a Led Zeppelin reunion concert straight either.

Stunning, ain't it?

Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.

Also, more government contractors worrying about state revenues.

The housing slump impacted revenue in 24 states this year and 18 say they are “concerned” about their revenue outlook, triple the number from last year, a new report released Dec. 10 shows.

The glum assessment from the National Conference of State Legislatures echoes similar concerns about state finances issued last week by the nation’s governors. The governors predicted as many as 20 states will have to patch holes in their budgets in 2008.

20 seems low. Florida's problems might get kinda ugly.

Ever been to Summerdale Plaza? You might not remember, it is very nondescript. It's not a destination you might generally intend to go to - unless, of course, you caught a CAT bus route there. I've been there a few times, driven past LOTS of times, and there's always lots of empty spaces in the parking lot.

Which makes me wonder - did Willner Realty and Development have a good reason to suddenly be totally dickish to folks who used the CAT Park-and-Ride? Because being totally dickish is the only way to describe this action.

The Republicans are bickering over diabolical dogma.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, asks in an upcoming article, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"

The article, to be published in Sunday's New York Times Magazine, says Huckabee asked the question after saying he believes Mormonism is a religion but doesn't know much about it.

Crazy Mormons! Everybody knows Satan is a red dude with horns and a tail who lives in a hot place in the middle of the earth. I've seen him on South Park.

Snark aside, there's an interesting diary at Kos on Southern Baptist - Mormon tensions.

Professor Joseph G. Grzywacz of Wake Forest University School of Medicine reports in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine ...

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - A flexible work life, including telecommuting and job shares, is good for your health, researchers said on Tuesday.

They found that if people have the ability to work from home and to compress work weeks, they are more likely to make healthier lifestyle choices, to exercise more and to sleep better.

This is why we're a poor but healthy bunch at PSoTD!

I want something universal to express my displeasure with careless driving while talking on cell phones. How about a middle finger pointed straight down while vigorously thrusting your hand up and down? That could work.

Also I'd like a gesture for drivers who navigate the wrong way down parking lot rows at the mall. The spaces are angled for a reason, genius. And see those arrows painted on the pavement? Right now, I'm blocking their way and glaring at them until they back up. Merry Effing Christmas, putz!

Is it because we expect people in nursing homes to be depressed?

Nursing home residents with proper eyeglasses enjoy life more and are less depressed than those with uncorrected vision problems, a study has found. Obvious? Perhaps, but nursing home residents have three to 15 times higher rates of uncorrected vision impairment than seniors living independently.

Before testing their vision, researchers led by opthalmologist Cynthia Owsley scored 150 nursing home residents on scales of quality of life and depression. "Some of the people had no glasses at all," says Dr. Owsley, a professor at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. "Some had glasses at one time, but they got lost. And some had glasses but the wrong prescription."

Half of the residents had their vision tested and corrected immediately with proper glasses. Two months later, both groups were retested for depression and how much they enjoyed life. Then, the second group had its vision tested and corrected.

The study, published in the Archives of Ophthalmology, found that those receiving glasses did better on follow up, reporting much less difficulty reading, looking at magazines, playing cards, watching television and reading a clock, Dr. Owsley says. "They also had less psychological distress and were more socially interactive."

I think the big question is - what will nursing homes, and the medical care and finance community, do about this?

It ain't pretty.

Thank you, Lovie. This is a good choice - time to get some clues about upside on Kyle Orton.

Some posts to entertain or enlighten...

Should the Philadelphia Duck Tours quiet down? There's a poll.

Isiah Thomas must know what it's like to be in the Bush Administration - obviously incompetent yet unfired.

Is now the time for our neighborhood to act in unison to deliver Christmas unto Michael?

Them Southerners, with their warm weather and less clothing and all...

grannyinsanity blogs about your odds of dying - and terrorism is almost negligible in the odds.

Rachel Maddow gets MSNBC tryout. I like her, she's well worth giving a shot, but for whatever reason I have my doubts she can carry a television show. But I'd love to be proven wrong.

I don't get all the Oprah news, I really don't. I don't understand why people care what she thinks in the Presidential election, or what she does to support a candidate. She's 21st Century Merv Griffin, building an entertainment empire and smiling while doing it. That's it. Is that what impresses people so much?

I don't dislike Oprah, but I dislike all the news coverage about her helping Obama - because it's styronews. No substance, just packaging.

Sure seems pretty delayed in delivery today to me.

It's the last day to participate in the voting at Philly's XPN.org (and maybe win an IPOD). I had an extremely tough time narrowing it down to a top ten but here's what I came up with.

1. Jesse Malin - Glitter in the Gutter
2. Film School - Hideaway
3. Kaiser Chiefs - Yours Truly, Angry Mob
4. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81
5. Young Galaxy - Young Galaxy
6. Maximo Park - Our Earthly Days
7. Voxtrot - Voxtrot
8. Dinosaur Jr - Beyond
9. Sounds Like Violence - With Blood on our Hands
10. Justice - Cross

If you don't have ten of your own, feel free to slip a few of these in. There are at least another ten or fifteen records that might have made my list on a different day. It's really been an outstanding year for indie music!

Do people still cyber-flirt?

It sure seems to me that a "balanced budget initiative", however defined, should be tied to legislator, staffer, and Presidential pay. No balanced budget? Vouchers, not cash, payments for members of Congress.

But I don't think I've ever heard anyone running for office say this. Anything short of a penalty on legislators - not the country, but legislators - for failing, isn't a serious proposal.

I'm not even arguing that I support a balanced budget amendment, because how it is defined makes all the difference in the world as to whether it will be useful or constraining or window dressing. But until such an amendment puts real pressure on members of Congress and the President to do the job by making penalties personal for them, I don't see it working.

Every day on the ride to work I pass a billboard from a plastic surgeon offering to fix "ba-donk-a-donk" butt. But according to the Urban Dictionary, it doesn't sound that terrible.

Any ba-donk-a-donk sufferers out there who can clear this up?

I know that in the early days of the Web, there was a belief that such kinds of "portals" would be lucrative business centers, but does anyone really go to pizza.com to find a pizza place?

This one is much more like you might expect. Expect the expected!

PennBots, of course.

Downloadable signs from

Romney
Paul
McCain

Or any of the other Republican candidates. Maybe there is a God. In our area, this is somewhat a surprise, as Republicans outnumber Democrats considerably, and in the past have been active and early supporters of their party's elections. Of course, the Pennsylvania primary is quite a ways away still, but in the past I've seen signs earlier. I suspect the Central Pennsylvania Republican community is like their counterparts around the country, basically depressed about the status and condition of their party and less than convinced about the particulars of any of their candidates.

It seems like most candidates offer a free "download" version of marketing crap, and then have a store for the odd people who actually want to buy marketing crap. But not Rudy Giuliani - it appears there's none of that free download crap from him.

Leads to violence against people.

A smashed Santa and a decapitated snowman led to a shooting in Polk County Friday.

A violent confrontation happened in Central Florida over Christmas decorations, WESH 2 News reported.

Polk County deputies said Matthew Lankford drove over his neighbors' front-yard Christmas display in Winter Haven, crushing an inflatable Santa and knocking the head and magic hat off a snowman's head.

Neighbor Douglas Sheldon went to confront Lankford, and wound up with a bullet in his leg. Police said Lankford shot Sheldon.

Bo Sheldon, the victim's brother, said there's a trail of blood and destroyed decorations on their front yard.

Lankford faces attempted murder charges.

From March 21, 2005:

Though executives at high-flying luxury home builder Toll Brothers Incorporated insist the so-called housing bubble is not ready to burst, the recent actions of company co-founder and chief executive Robert Toll could be interpreted to indicate otherwise. He and his brother, Bruce, sold $241 million worth of Toll Brothers stock when the shares hit an all-time high last month. The company's chief financial officer insisted to The New York Sun that the shares sold were part of Robert Toll's estate planning and portfolio diversification plans and that he still has almost $1.1 billion in company stock.

Many investors, who argue that senior corporate executives use their superior company knowledge to make profitable stock purchases and sales, closely watch these trades. This scrutiny often becomes acute when a company's stock price has a year-long run like Toll Brothers, as the stock went to over $91 from $36. Robert Toll's sales were made at $87.74 and $88.60; the stock closed Friday at $77.13.

Toll Brothers CFO Joel Rassman said that Mr. Toll sold the shares for several reasons, including repaying lines of credit that he used to pay his 2004 tax bill. He said the stock sold included a sale of 500,000 shares by his adult children from a trust that bore his name, but over which he had no control. Mr. Toll, as the owner of about 18% of the stock outstanding, also "felt a need to diversify his assets slightly," said Mr. Rassman. Moreover, Mr. Toll has taken his bonus in company stock for the past nine years, he said, and hadn't sold a share. Finally, Mr. Toll, according to Mr. Rassman, approached the board of directors and renegotiated his 2004 total compensation down to $30.4 million from the $49.8 million he was originally entitled to under the board's executive compensation plan. "It was too much money. We take appearances seriously, plus, he didn't really need the extra $20 million."

The company, seen by many investors as a bellwether for the fortunes of publicly traded homebuilders, had an epic 2004, with its net income doubling as low mortgage rates fueled consumer demand for the company's high-end homes. However, as the Federal Reserve continues to hike interest rates and housing prices continue to rise, short-sellers - who borrow stock and sell it, on the view that they can make money buying the stock back at a lower price - have been betting aggressively that Toll Brothers' customers are going to get squeezed, hurting company sales. An unusually large amount of money has been bet by short-sellers, with nearly 15% of the company's available stock sold short, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Mr. Toll dismissed the short-sellers, declaring in a February 21 CNBC interview, "They will get crushed," just days before his stock was sold. Mr. Rassman took a more conciliatory tone, and said of Mr. Toll's comments, "They were off the cuff." Still, he added, "When we give investors guidance that we are looking at around 60% income growth for next year and the short position grows, you wonder what's going on."

One short-seller of the company, as well as other home builders, Seabreeze Partners founder Doug Kass, said he had none of the traditional short-seller concerns about unethical corporate management or hidden losses about Toll Brothers. "They are a great company, but the stock is too high and the home builders have economic fundamentals against them at this point," he said. He said these include the fact that the company depends on sales to higher-income buyers, which are going to decrease in number as the economy slows down. "Look at the stock's drop since the bond market started selling off. Think of higher mortgage costs and less disposable income. That's why I'm short."

If you come to Harrisburg via air, you'll get this view eventually. Courtesy of seyrah:

The Hampden park pool budget also provides $843,000 for construction of a new tot pool and bathhouse renovations, which are expected to be completed by May, and $12,000 in additional minor improvements.

No pool membership or admission fee increases are proposed for 2008.

According to Kurt Andersen ...

Bob Marley so loved the theme to The Banana Splits that he incorporated it into "Buffalo Soldiers."

Tra la la, la la la la Tra la la, la la la la

became

Woy yoy yoy, yoy yoy-yoy yoy! Woy yoy yoy, woy yoy-yoy yoy!

I have to admit, I'm digging the new Life series on NBC. Damian Lewis as the lead character is very different than just about any cop you've seen in a crime drama. And Sarah Shahi definitely catches the eye every time she's on screen. Very promising so far.

How much does the United States spend on electricity for Christmas lights each year, I wonder?

Hungary's electricity consumption record has been broken twice in the last week: On Wednesday it reached 6565 megawatts, surpassed by 6602 megawatts on Thursday, Mavir Zrt. general manager András Vinkovits told Napi Gazdaság.

After the decrease in Hungary's electricity consumption in the nineties, it is now growing consistently. Vinkovits said that the company is prepared for the growing need of electricity, and covers extra demand with imported energy. Most electricity is consumed in December, due to the extra consumption of Christmas lights.

This is one of the weirdest web map applications I've seen. Orgasmap? Who jumps out of bed to enter their data?

Lovie Smith - it's time to find out what Orton can do with the offense this year for the Chicago Bears. The hunt for the playoffs is over. Griese is clearly not the long-term answer. Grossman is hurt.

And I'm sorry, I don't think I can agree that QB is the top priority for the offseason for the Bears. As bad as the offensive line is, any new quarterback is likely to get injured over time as well. It must be improved. Same with the defense. It has sucked this year.

Maybe it would help him if he had Tommy Tutone perform a song with whatever phone number he wanted to give out as a solution.

Too bad you can't still shop from the classic Ward's, Sears and J.C. Penney's catalogs posted at WishbookWeb. You're guaranteed to find something there that was once under your Christmas tree.

I'm not usually one to make comment about someone's appearance, but somebody should pull Joe Klein aside and suggest to him that there's some combination of his head shape, his beard and whatever makeup he wears when he goes on television that makes him appear to be a drag king - the kind from those cheezy 1960s sitcoms where a female character plans to go undercover as a man for some reason. I think it's the beard.

Not that there's anything wrong with looking like that.

Then you're younger than TV's Rudolph. Happy birthday to Yukon Cornelius, Hermey, Rudolph and the gang.

I still think this is the most beloved of all the television Christmas programs made, although A Charlie Brown Christmas and The Grinch That Stole Christmas probably give it a good run.

The President's weather satellite is missing. (Not exactly, but there apparently is a problem with the GOES-East satellite.)

Saddam Hussein dominated Yahoo searches for 2007.

It's a wonderful life, and a fun question to ask: What's the Best Christmas Movie Ever?

Asheville Drinking Liberally is celebrating their two year anniversary. I remember some guy talking about setting up one of these around here, but that's about as far as it got, I think. Apparently we don't have enough liberals on the West Shore.

Goodbye, pay phones.

Bad kissers don't get to second base. Practice, practice, practice.

So Arlen Specter doesn't like being called one of Bush's puppets. Waa, waa, waa. Most of us don't like what Specter does when the strings get pulled, either.

There's a good article in the October/November 2007 issue of The Brasilians about Ecotourism, specifically in the Pantanal region. (They do need to work on their web formatting, however)

I was at Iguacu in 1990, and someday I want to take our whole family there and then on an ecotour of the Pantanal. Butterflies galore.

We get two inches of snow yesterday, it stopped by early yesterday evening, and still the schools have a two hour delay this morning?

Pick any baseball player - but my advice is to pick a player that played a long time for many teams - as a starting point. Cal Ripken, Jr., will end your game immediately. Go to that player's web page at BaseballReference.com. At the bottom of the page you will see the transactions that the player was involved in - and you'll be using the trades to link to your next player.

Your goal is to follow a trail of trades to make your Baseball Team. You need 1 starting pitcher, 1 relief pitcher, and 8 position players. That's 10 players. But you can only follow the transactions - and specific trades - to get your player, and if you link forward to a dead end, and have to backtrack to the prior player, that is as far as you can go. You can only go back one step. You can't replace who you select, either.

Here's my example - if I start with

Mike Pagliarulo, Third Baseman

here's what I end up with:

Walt Terrell, Starting Pitcher

Lee Mazzili, First Base

Bucky Dent, Shortstop

Oscar Gamble, Outfield

Johnny Callison, outfield

Jack Aker, Relief Pitcher

Johnny Romano, Catcher

Rocky Colavito, Outfield

Jerry Lumpe, Second Base

Not a bad little team, although there's a generation of time between these players.

It requires a bit of knowledge of which baseball players have been traded a lot, otherwise you'll find it easy to get stuck with a position having no player.

76ers fired Billy King.

It costs more this year.

The township of North Bergen better hope for a mild winter with as little snowfall as possible.

That's because the cost for the salt used in snow removal increased significantly since last year, from $50 per ton to $61.32 per ton.

...

"They said that the increase was due to a hike in the cost of fuel," said township administrator Chris Pianese.

So... does Harrisburg have enough money to plow the roads if we have a heavy snow year this winter?

Is this a common practice at football stadiums?

Calling all shovelers to Lambeau Field.

The Green Bay Packers say they're going to need some help tomorrow with snow removal.

The team's facility operations director Ted Eisenreich says they'll need about 300 shovelers beginning at 8 a.m. and continuing throughout the day.

The Packers will provide the shovels. You must be 15. You'll get eight bucks an hour when you're done.

Green Bay plays the Oakland Raiders Sunday at Lambeau.

According to cantankerous Philadelphia Daily News columnist Bill Conlin

The only positive thing I can think of about Hitler’s time on earth–I’m sure he would have eliminated all bloggers. In Colonial times, bloggers were called “Pamphleteers.” They hung on street corners handing them out to passersby. Now, they hang out on electronic street corners, hoping somebody mouses on to their pretentious sites. Different medium, same MO.

I like Conlin and this is a "satiric" comment taken out of context from an email exchange about Jimmy Rollins MVP award - so don't jump down his throat!

But just too good a quote to pass up.

I can't say I quite understand this area's fondness for Chuck Rhodes the weatherman, but it is noticeably real. He might be the most popular guy around here after Joe Paterno.