Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
It's a Boy!
Labels: Life
Monday, September 24, 2007
Albums of 2007 Thus Far
Anyway... What are the albums of this year so far? I feel like there's been a bunch of good ones, by people whose previous album I liked better (Andrew Bird, Spoon, Beirut (I think, I just started listening to it), White Stripes...). I also liked Peter Bjorn and John's, but the only album that really stood out to me was Feist's Reminder. What about you guys?
Albums of The Year
Feist: Reminder
Overrated Albums
Any ideas?
Honorable Mentions
Spoon: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
White Stripes: Icky Thunp
Andrew Bird: Armchair Apocrypha
Peter Bjorn and John: Writer's Block
The National
Battles
The Field
Of Montreal
Deerhunter
Panda Bear
Arcade Fire
LCD Soundsystem
Okkervil River
Patrick Wolf
Labels: Music
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Things That Are Great
Monday, September 17, 2007
Stereotypes of Lesbians
Labels: Life
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Overthrows #12, #13, #14 (Panama, Afghanistan, Iraq)
Labels: history, overthrows
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Great Sports Names
Shawon Dunston (maybe doesn't belong, but I always just thought he had a very fun name to say)
And for a much funnier list of dirty sports names feel free to click below.
Labels: Sports
Monday, September 10, 2007
Overthrow #11: Grenada
Grenada's politics were very unstable. After getting independence from the British in 1974, they were led by a crazy guy named Eric Gairy who acted as a dictator and tried to convince the UN to investigate the Bermuda Triangle. He was couped by some commies, who then were couped by some uber-commies in 1983, who felt the other guys weren't going far enough.
2. Nicaragua
3. Chile
4. Iran
5. Honduras
6. The Philippines
7. Cuba
8. Vietnam
9. Hawaii
10. Puerto Rico
Labels: history, overthrows
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Find Out Your Ultimate President
Labels: Current Events
Monday, September 03, 2007
Sad News: Jack Passes Away
Labels: Life
Friday, August 31, 2007
Pet Peeves #13 - #16
15. The Extra 4 Digits of a Zip Code
I mean, is this really necessary? My letters seem to get to places just fine w/ the standard 5 number zip codes. Is my mailman going to be confused by the multiple 212 Pine Streets in area code 97214? And, if they're going to add more numbers for specificity, do they need 10,000 more possibilities?
OK, this is not actually a pet peeve, b/c this is the 1st time it's happened to me. But it's kind of weird. Yesterday, I'm setting up my room and I notice a bunch of hornets crawling around the window. I get closer + discover they're on the inside of it. Then I look up and see there's 20 more spread across the ceiling. Kind of disconcerting... Anyway, I get to have an exterminator visit my classroom today. How exciting!
Labels: Life
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Iron Cage Match #1,420
Quiznos so kicks Subway's ass. First off, the toasted subs? Yeah Subway's sticking them in a little toaster now too. But Quiznos was there 1st AND they have the super-cool assembly line style toaster. Way better. Secondly, Quiznos pickle bar is totally fucking awesome. I mean, I get to pick how many pepperoncini's I get? And I can choose banana peppers?
The only thing Subway has that's better is the outrageously charismatic Jared. And I'll give them that. I mean, does Quiznos even have spokesmen? But Jared really has no effect on the food, so even that's a pretty weak argument.
So yeah, it appears to be no contest. GO QUIZNOS!!!
Labels: Food
Monday, August 27, 2007
Overthrow #10: Chile
1. Guatemala
Labels: Current Events, overthrows
Friday, August 24, 2007
How'd I Do on My Summer Goals
1. Cooking Staples
I did alright finding some cooking staples. I started off well, with a big coup being my discovery of the website epicurious (not as exciting as it sounds). As long as I went to the popular section, I found fast and good recipes. Still, my cooking majorly lagged w/ grandma and uncle in town and then when my class started and things went into high gear for the approaching baby. At least I found the website though- that is going nowhere.
2. Car Registration
As you all know, I successfully reregistered my car. Who' the man? Now if I could just get my teacher's license redone before September 8th...
3. Take A Class
Successfully completed Modern Middle East History. Definitely liked it, but certainly a lot more work than when I take a teacher class.
Okay, so after all that talk about edging, I think I did it twice. Which is fine.
5. Putting Together the Basketball Hoop
Check.
6. Find Where the Moths Are Coming From
Well, the moths finally reached a tipping point where more than just 1 or 2 were flying out of the pantry. Wife and I throughout much and I cleaned + vacuumed the pantry. The moths are pretty much gone. One weird thing though, some were living even in closed jars. WTF?
7. Avoid Rush Hour
I did a very good job w/ this. No reason to mix in with all you working folks on the road. Until Monday that is...
Labels: Life
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
To All The Bloggers
Labels: Technology
Monday, August 20, 2007
Overthrow #9 : Vietnam
Labels: history, overthrows
Friday, August 17, 2007
How To Be a Music Snob
Labels: Music
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
The Worst of Portland
Worst Asian Food
Labels: portland
Monday, August 13, 2007
Fatherhood Worries
Labels: Life
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Technology I'm Not Into
Labels: Technology
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Ways to Go Straight To Hell
Labels: Life, Random Rankings
Monday, August 06, 2007
Overthrow #8: Guatemala - Fake Civil War
Now, the Guatemala overthrow was extremely fucked up. It happened in the early 50's during the reign of the democratically elected Arbenz. He was a nationalist who felt a little bit funny about the fact that their economy was ruled by foreign businesses who didn't pay tariffs (and often little to no taxes). The most egregious offender was the infamous United Fruit (which Sam the Banana Man started) who by this point owned 20% (about 1/2 a million acres) of Guatemala's arable land, 85% of which they didn't even use. Arbenz passed a bill that would allow the government to buy back the foreign-owned land that wasn't being used.
United Fruit was obviously not happy about this. Lucky for them, not only did many high-ranking officials in Eisenhower's administration own stock in United Fruit, but the Secretary of State at the time, Dulles, grew convinced Arbenz was a communist being funded by the Soviet Union (no evidence has ever emerged to support this). In 1954 Eisenhower, behind the forceful urging of Dulles, decided to secretly fund Operation Success: a 4.5 million CIA operation to overthrow Arbenz.
And this overthrow is nuts. They picked former army officer (is it always a former army officer?) Castilla Armas to lead the "revolution". They had him invade from Honduras, while flying planes over Guatemala City, and broadcasting "Voice of Liberation" radio (which was supposedly somewhere in Guatemala, but actually in Florida). This continued for several days, with the CIA planes shooting up the airport and the "Voice of Liberation" radio giving false reports of popular unrest. Basically, the CIA had created and was carrying out its own civil war. Many Guatemalans were now assuming a Civil War was happening. Arbenz did not and made this public statement, "Our crime is having an enacted an agrarian reform which affected the interests of the United Fruit Company."
After this statement, things began looking up for him and Operation Success almost folded. Instead, the CIA architects decided to take it up a level and called for more planes to cause more destruction to Guatemala City. Eventually, Arbenz saw no other choice and abdicated. Soon after, Castilla Armas became Guatemala's new leader. Within weeks, the Land Reform bill was revoked (along w/ banning political parties and outlawing "subversive" literature).
The next 4 decades would be terrible ones for Guatemala. America would send hundreds of million of military aid to support one after another military dictators. Guatemalan resistance would head to the hills and engage in a guerrilla warfare. Between the rebels and the Army's killing (I mean, disappearances) of suspected rebels, around 200,000 people will die in Guatemala during this time (an estimated 93% were killed by the soldiers). Guatemala is now at peace with a democratically elected President, but much of the country remains impoverished with crime being a major problem.
Ranking (Worst to Least Worst)
1. Guatemala
2. Iran
3. Nicaragua
4. Honduras
5. The Philippines
6. Cuba
7. Hawaii
8. Puerto Rico
I know it seems like I'm just putting whichever I read most recently at the top, but this one does stand out to me as possibly our worst overthrow (although we still have Vietnam and Chile to get through). Like Iran and Nicaragua, a democratically elected President was overthrown. But the aftermath was the bloodiest. And even though things are going better there, whereas Iran still has their backlash regime, having been their recently, I know how much Guatemala still is still recovering. So yes, Guatemala, I give you #1 status, and am not sure anyone is going to knock you off the thrown.
Labels: history, overthrows
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Yahoo For Me
Labels: Life
Thursday, July 26, 2007
The Home Run Chase Sucks
Innocent Until Proven Guilty
This is normally a statement I endorse, but Selig's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy to steroids has made people dependent on speculation. And you don 't have to speculate very much when a guy grows 2 hat sizes during his 30s.
But Pitchers Could Use Them Too
Yes, but they obviously didn't do as much good. Maris's 37-year record was broken 6 times in 4 years. I don't remember any pitching records being broken during that time.
Barry Bonds Was on the Hall of Fame Path Anyway
Yes, and that's why taking steroids took him to a ridiculous level. Kind of like if Superman started roiding. And if he'd have maintained his pre-roid pace, he'd be at about 650 homeruns, not 750.
It's Just Statistics
Records matter in MLB, or at least they used to. Baseball is obsessed w/ numbers, particularly career ones. And although there is some ridiculousness to this (different-sized ball parks, expansion...) the only factor that has made numbers literally uncomparable was the steroid epidemic. And for the sole reason of steroids, numbers may never again hold the same importance.
On a funnier note, here is Chris Rock's take on why Babe Ruth's homeruns should be discounted as well.
Bob Costas: Is race irrelevant?
Chris Rock: Ty Cobb's numbers are bullshit and Babe Ruth's numbers are bullshit.
Bob Costas: Because of segregation –
Chris Rock: Because they didn't play against black players. It's like saying I won the New York City Marathon but no Kenyans ran that year. Babe Ruth has 714 Affirmative Action home runs.
Labels: Sports
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Bumper Stickers
1. Blame Canada
And my favorite
2. If ignnorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?
How about you guys? Any favorite bumper stickers?
Labels: Life
Monday, July 23, 2007
Overthrow #7 : Iran
Labels: history, overthrows
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Great Song Lines
Labels: Music