PSoTD

I love the tournament, I really do. It is my favorite televised sporting event of the year. But I do wonder if the event has a problem.

Because for me, it is anticlimactic.

The first weekend is pure basketball pleasure. Sixty-four teams, 48 games, a fair amount of upsets, a bunch of buzzer beaters, a few overtimes... the joy of watching experts eating their words, and know-nothings leading their company tournament pool... it is a feverish period. If there's a week where our nation goes basketball-crazy, it's that first four days of the NCAA tournament. It is as close as the sport of basketball gets to the fever of football's Super Bowl in the U.S.

But... the second weekend is no slouch, either. Still 16 teams, 12 games, still a few Cinderellas with the promise of the big surprise... still the question of whether the top seeds really are for real, or just this year's facade about to have holes poked into it... Sure, it's a bit of a letdown, but not much, and not surprising, because the first weekend was SO MUCH BASKETBALL PLEASURE.

But here we are, the final weekend. Two games Saturday, and a game that means something on Monday. No real underdogs. No incredibly interesting side stories. Just the best of the best, and only three games of it. It's been built up, and before the final jump ball is tossed, I already feel some letdown. Every year. Why is that? Is that what other folks feel, too?

If so, I'm not sure what can be done about it.

This is Joe Michell Elementary School in Livermore, California. I don't have much memory of it. I only attended for four months - we moved from Indiana to California in February of 1971, and this was my first stop in CA. Our classroom was a one room portable building with a ramp to the door, I remember that. And that's about it.

I mean, don't we know this yet?

Okay, if you don't feel like tackling that one, how about this:

What is this a photo of?

(no cheating)

About biofuels.

By the time we reach early 2008, and survive the next 12 months or so of Bush scandals, Democratic hearings, Bush vetoes, Democratic responses, and over hyped media coverage of the top tier of Democratic contenders, including the upcoming sandbagging of Hillary and ongoing smearing of all things Clinton, do you really think that Hillary will still be Number One? I have been kicking this around in my mind over the last week, and I just can’t get inspired at the thought of Hillary as our standard-bearer heading into the convention next year, especially after the weekly drubbing she will go through with the media.

Is anyone looking forward to a Rudy-Hillary race?

I know some people may say that this is some sort of fear talking, but I don't agree - I think it's an accurate assessment of political reality. My gnawing suspicion is that the Democrats have the greatest potential for losing the Presidential election of 2008 by nominating Hillary Clinton. This isn't to say she shouldn't be President some day. But she has some big issues that other candidates do not have, namely Iraq and everything-negative-about-Clinton. Time may reduce those issues, but it hasn't been reduced enough yet, nor will it by 2008. In addition, in 14-plus years she's not indicated much ability to be dynamic nor inspirational, and it sure seems to me after the past 8 years that people are looking for that. Doesn't that explaim Obama? So will Hillary Clinton be able to close the deal with the American people in November 2008? My heart and brain says no. My heart says no, because Steve Soto is right - I want a clean break, I want new executive branch leadership, I want change, in Iraq AND in America, and I don't see Hillary pointing us in the direction I want to America to go. And my brain says that if I'm so disturbed by a Clinton candidacy at this point - to the point that I'm blogging like this about it - then there's something wrong. I should be an easy sell for her. She's had 14 plus years to convince me. But it hasn't happened. How many other Democrats like me are out there? Too many, I'm afraid.

You see a lot of bloggers with the same kind of angst out there. That should make Hillary Clinton nervous - not because we're a force against her campaign, but because we're a visible symptom about her campaign.

Just because I can, but don't expect this to be a regular feature. Recent beer belly highlights around the blogosphere:

The Dressing Room:

Picture this: A room a skinny glamazons, partying the night away. Each dresses completely indivual and each and every one of them looks amazing. All that is except a man in a neon pink sparkly jumper which boasts a rather hugeee beer belly.

Gaijin Tonic:

The walls of watering-holes in Japan are decorated with beer posters, featuring nubile women spilling out of yellow bikinis and holding foaming pints of lager. Now, beer and half-naked ladies are two of my favourite things, so these pictures are always guaranteed to bring a grin to my face. Of course, if such a girl were to regularly knock back pints of beer, the resultant beer-belly wouldn’t be too great for her modelling career, but I don’t worry about these details too much.

Subaruman and Sidekick Willy

This portion of the dream freaked me out a bit. Apparently the voice was aware of my freakedoutedness. It comforted me with a view of another zero. Half of the zero was highlighted in red and the voice said, "Look, half a zero is the shape of Willy's beer belly."

My "Detox in a Box":

I have always loved my beer, as you can see from my photos; I have a fantastic beer belly, which has cost a fortune over the years.

Qoutes:

This isnt a beer belly....its a gas tank for a sex machine!

Maybe those with beer bellies need to blog more about them. Build them up with blogstature, as it were...

But not fishheads, fishheads, roly poly fishheads...

If it could be transported in time, would today's news media have exposed the Watergate scandal as the media did in the 1970s?

What do you want for breakfast, kids? How about a hot bowl of Indian meal moths?

From the Center for Rural Pennsylvania:

The Center for Rural Pennsylvania Board of Directors has approved a study to measure inter-generational wealth transfer. The work will result in county level estimates on the amount of personal wealth likely to be transferred from one generation to the next. It will cover a transfer period of 50 years, and the study will be conducted on all 67 counties in the commonwealth. The methodology for the study is based on Boston College research, which found that more than $41 trillion of wealth in the United States will pass from the current generation to the next during the first half of the 21st Century.

Center staff will work with Don Macke of the Rural Policy Research Institute’s (RUPRI) Center for Rural Entrepreneurship to conduct the study. Macke and his RUPRI colleagues have assisted in similar studies in 10 other states.

For Pennsylvania, this work will result in useful information on the amount of wealth Baby Boomers and their parents will likely leave behind. For community foundations and other locally based organizations, tapping into this wealth through estate planning and bequeaths could provide the needed capital for a variety of programs and services that support a better quality of life. In Nebraska, for example, where the Nebraska Community Foundation handles the administration of 179 small foundations, funds have been used for schools, 4-H groups, parks, playgrounds, hospitals, libraries, and economic development.

The Pennsylvania analysis project is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2007 and conclude within a year.

When was the last time you heard anything about it?

Maryland has a program. Does your state?

I'll need this after I buy my Lamborghini

which, of course, will be never...

Master Lock Co. of Oak Creek will market and sell a biometric finger-activated garage door opener under the Master Lock name after signing an agreement with a New York company.

The garage door opener, which uses a high-tech biometric sensor to identify a user, will be sold as the Master Lock smartTOUCH GDO. The opener and the technology was developed by bioMETRX Inc., of Jericho, N.Y.

Okay, you're in a town you've never been in before, you and your companions are hungry, the town has every restaurant chain you can imagine available and your companions insist on a chain restaurant. And they let you make the determination, so...

What restaurant would you pick?

Good thing to have if you're posting files for download on the web.

I've had this article bookmarked for a few weeks and I'm not sure what to do with it. It's an opinion piece about what makes men fall in love, and in general I hate these kinds of opinion pieces, because it's one person's opinion and the subject is wide open to probably as many interpretations as there are people.

On the other hand, I found myself agreeing with some of the highlights. When I hear my friends grumble about their wives (which fortunately isn't very often) it's usually about "guy time" or "guidance issues". (btw, "wife grumbling" isn't a very useful or enjoyable practice, for anyone considering it as a hobby) In our household, sometimes we have disagreement with this as well. So, like all opinion pieces, there are kernels of truth in it, but the kernels likely vary from person to person.

Just think of this: when surveyed, 34 percent of the homeowners had no idea what kind of mortgage they had. There's an awfully ignorant 34 percent floating around out there.

Just one of those stories that makes you wonder how little humanity a person can have in them...

Lester J. Zimmerman, owner of Rumors Night Club in East Pennsboro Twp., pleaded guilty today in connection with a food theft scam.

Cumberland County Judge Edward E. Guido promptly sentenced Zimmerman, 65, of Mechanicsburg, to 6 months probation and fined him $300 on his plea to a count of criminal solicitation to commit retail theft.

Authorities said Zimmerman was encouraging drug addicts to shoplift hams, steaks and seafood from local supermarkets and sell the food to him at a drastic discount. Stolen food was found in the meat locker of his bar, investigators said.

Using everyone.

From Keystone Politics:

Former state Sen. Robert C. Jubelirer lost his seat in the November election, but he'll still collect a yearly pension of nearly double the state's median household income.

Mr. Jubelirer, an Altoona Republican who served 32 years, will collect $90,934 a year, plus a lump-sum payment of $191,804, the State Employees' Retirement System said yesterday. As Senate president pro tem, his salary was $108,722.

Why can't we tie policy to pay a "retired" state legislator an annual retirement pension to the average annual pay for the workforce in his or her district? That seems to me to be both fair and incentive-based for performance by the legislator...

John at the Donnybrook admitted he was a little surprised that Gonzales lasted the weekend. New revelations on Monday. Yet, at this point, no resignation.

Does anyone believe this is just political foolishness on the part of the President, a stubborn trait gone awry? I know I don't. I think it's a political assessment, and for whatever reason, keeping Gonzales as A.G. is more beneficial than the open bleeding he currently presents to the administration. It's not like this is some sort of partisan deal at this point - conservative bloggers are clearly upset that Gonzales is still there and tainting everything. (Well, make that about the 13th coat of taint by this administration.)

So... what happens if Gonzales leaves? Why is that worse for Bush than leaving him twisting as A.G.? Are there protections available to Gonzales relating to testifying today that would not be available to him if he testified as a civilian? Or is this just about keeping everyone close in order to keep stories straight, because once somebody leaves Camp Bush, the whole thing is going to fall apart on this one?

I hate them. They are a bane to the small home-based office.

The FCC gets thousands of complaints, so don't expect quick results. Between July 9, 2005, and July 9, 2006, for example, the FCC received 47,704 junk fax complaints representing 102,004 alleged violations. According to FCC statistics, it has addressed about 85% of the alleged violations.

I have a very hard time understanding how junk faxes actually work as marketing or advertising. I have five in front of me that have come in over the last few days, and none - NONE - specify the company's name purporting to do business. They all look like scams to me, from "Affordable Life Insurance" to "Bahamas Cruise" to "Cut Your House Payment in Half!"... What morons actually call the phone numbers advertised on the faxes? They are the people that are actually costing the rest of us, because if there was absolutely no return on junk faxing, then it wouldn't be done.

Do you hate catblogging?

I personally don't think it is wise for a government to be designating such a person, but regardless of that, Gilberto Gil is a damn interesting - and talented - person to have in such a position.

Honestly, she could ask many of the same questions of anyone serving in Iraq that she asked of the Edwards. "You're putting your work first, and your family second." Doesn't anyone who serves in the military do that during their service? Couric just won't quit with the dipshit, semi-accusatory questions, either.

Maybe CBS should have had someone else other than Katie Couric do this interview...

Our six year old is playing T-ball this year, and so we went Sunday to buy him his first real baseball glove. We found a reasonably priced one. He's a lefty, so he couldn't use his sister's old glove. We also bought a T and a T-ball bat because he wanted to practice hitting. I can tell he's getting into the idea of playing T-ball.

On the way home, I told him we'd now have to "break in" his glove. To that end, I told him about tying it with twine and sleeping with it under his pillow.

"I'm supposed to sleep on it?"

"Yes," I said.

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of!"

I had to laugh. I explained to him that I did it with my new gloves, and his sister had done that, and even if it didn't do any good, it was tradition.

Last night, he proudly showed me it under his pillow. Good boy.

But I thought I'd share a few thoughts from other bloggers around the web. The more I think of the short worthless "Presidential" candidacy of Tom Vilsack, the more disgusted I am over what seems to me to be his strategic end game of it.

First of all, I wrote this over at Susie's:

Vilsack’s three month candidacy for President should severely diminish any value his endorsement should give Clinton.

There are similar sentiments out there. Crooks and Liars:

Schmidt said Vilsack might be angling for an appointment as vice president or a cabinet member if Clinton wins the presidency. The professor likened the endorsement game to investing. If you want to land a big return, you invest early, he said.

New Hampshire Primary 2008:

But, that’s just at the state level. Out in Iowa, former governor and former Presidential candidate Tom Vilsack has announced that he’s supporting Hillary. How many "formers" are you allowed to have and still be relevant?

Exactly.

Popconservative:

Remember when I said that Tom Vilsack would be my guess for Hillary Clinton's VP candidate? Well, he is endorsing her after his early exit from the race. Suspiciously early, like maybe the Clinton campaign told him as much. Anyway, having the former governor of the state with the first primary (caucus, whatever) in your corner has to be a good thing. Obama will probably try to play up his Midwestern-ness as much as possible in Iowa, something Clinton cannot do (especially after she threw away her Arkansan cred with that ridiculous fake accent), so she'll need the help.

Century of the Common Iowan:

Like Chris at Political Forecast, I was surprised to hear that Tom Vilsack is planning on endorsing Hillary Clinton this early. Vilsack ran his short Presidential campaign being outspoken against the Iraq War, calling for the withdrawl of troops out of Iraq, opposing Bush's attempt to escalate the war with a troop surge, and even ending funding for the war.

Copeland Institute for Lower Learning

The don't-blink-or-you-missed-it Democratic presidential candidacy of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack must have really been about trying to be vice president, because he's already come out and endorsed Hillary Nothing-But-Ambition Clinton. For shame, Mr. Vilsack.

I just can't shake how politically crass Vilsack's "campaign" seems at this point, even in today's environment.

We watched that movie on Saturday night. Can't say that I thought that Will Ferrell was very good in the movie. Can't say the movie was much better than an "nhhhhhh" - middling.

But I have to say, I really liked Maggie Gyllenhaal. I've never seen her act before, but quite an attractive performance.

FedSpending.org has listed Federal Contract Awards by Contractor State. There's a lot of ways to look at the data, but one thing surprises me - why does Wyoming have so little contractor action? Guam and Puerto Rico supposedly surpass Wyoming in annual total. I would think that with several years of Republican Congressional representation, with Republicans in the Executive Branch and Dick Cheney a previous Wyoming Congressman, you'd think that the firms there would have some juice for federal contracting.

That they didn't offer degrees in comedy when I was in college.

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Working on the web, I find these kinds of domain quirks interesting.

Another elementary school I attended was Crook Creek Elementary, in Indianapolis, Indiana. I went there in first grade, and until high school, was the only place where I had a crush on my teacher. (Of course, it was nothing like the crush I had on Miss Wolfe in high school...) The only memories I have of first grade are a book reading contest, taking the bus for the only year of my public education, and the nicest teacher in the world, Mrs. Walker.

If I was a Governor in the Democratic Party in an early primary state, I think I'd be very interested in seeing what, if anything, Vilsack's endorsement provides Clinton in voter support. My gut feeling, and it is just a gut feeling, is that it isn't going to make much difference now, and will make less difference as time goes on. Too early for any real impact, particularly an endorsement from a Governor that probably couldn't win his own state's primary next year. Maybe it's about money and access to Vilsack's contributors...

But if this endorsement falls flat on its face in poll impact, I would think that some Governors might be more likely to hold their cards a bit longer before endorsing.

Secondly, what was the entire point of Vilsack's campaign if he's going to throw his weight behind another candidate so quickly after dropping out and so far away from the election? Was he really so close to Clinton in views that he could make this decision so quickly and easily? It really lends itself to an easy acceptance that the Vilsack Campaign, although short, was ridiculously worthless for advancing anything of content.

If you're looking for the biggest list of Pennsylvania political blogs, I think a good place to start would be the blogroll of A Big Fat Slob. He's compiled quite a list.

Guess who it is? (Hint: It's not Yao Ming)

Yeah, I have to build one. My pain is now yours - here's a little info about them:

Drywells have a limited life as they fill with soil that gets in them so it is important to make them as big as possible. The perimeter of the hole should be lined with concrete blocks set on edge, so the holes in them are horizontal and will let water reach, and be absorbed by, the soil of the walls. The blocks should be stacked to the level of the bottom of a new pad, which needs to be built on a form resting on the blocks and reinforced with steel re-rods. A drain should be set in the middle of the pad, and the concrete must slope from the perimeter to the drain for it to function properly.

Do you pour it into a cup before you put it in your mouth, or do you just swig it directly from the bottle?

This is just TOO GOOD...

Avedon has further discussion about blogger traffic and visibility. Some of the comments are pretty interesting as well.

I guess this scandal doesn't reach Republican members of Congress.

The FBI is investigating whether Alaska political appointees improperly punished state regulators who tried to enforce environmental rules against oil companies operating in Alaska, according to people contacted by investigators.

The inquiry, which is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney's office in Anchorage, is connected to an ongoing criminal investigation of BP PLC for allowing pipelines it operates to corrode enough to cause a large oil spill on Alaska’s North Slope in 2006. Similar pipeline corrosion discovered later that year forced the shutdown of Prudhoe Bay, the most productive oil field in the United States.

Now, the actions of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, which is responsible for overseeing oil operations in the state, have come under scrutiny from federal investigators, though it’s unclear whether current or former state officials would face criminal charges.

Critics of the department say senior political appointees are partly to blame for the state’s environmental woes, such as last year’s oil spills. They say these appointees repeatedly shielded oil companies from enforcement actions that would have required better maintenance and oversight of the industry’s facilities and pipelines.

“We’re aware of the allegations, and we are looking into it,” said FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez. He declined to comment further.

One incident that has caught investigators’ attention occurred in December 2001, when the department shifted responsibility for oil-spill prevention and response on the North Slope. Michele Brown, who was then the department’s commissioner, took away that job from Susan Harvey, a civil servant, and gave it to a person appointed by Brown. Environmentalists have long claimed that Harvey’s oversight of the North Slope was stripped because Alaska oil producers complained that her interpretation of the state’s environmental rules was too harsh. Conoco Phillips and Exxon Mobil Corp. hold major stakes in Prudhoe Bay, which is operated by BP.

Harvey resigned in March 2002, convinced, she said, that its leadership wouldn’t allow her to enforce environmental laws against the oil industry.

I can't buy them, or else I end up eating the whole box. They are addicting.

And although I don't agree with the premise, here's your chance to sign the Petition to Kellogg/Sunshine, the company that manufactures Cheez-Its, to request that they create a new "Slightly Burnt" variety of their original Cheez-Its. Good luck!

I was clueless.

Betting on American Idol has become the largest non sports related wagering event of the season. TheOnlinewire.com, in cooperation with Bookmaker.com, provides daily updates and the latest wagering odds on American Idol Season 6.

Is there any hope for anything else good to come out of his musical future?

George W. Bush would probably not be in political hot water if U.S. Attorneys were unionized...

Ultravox.

From their best album, Systems of Romance, imho.

A lot edgier than you might expect... Their last album before Midge Ure replaced John Foxx on vocals.

I wonder what is going on with this?

This is, after all, the territory within which I have been known to imbibe a beer or two.

Heard last night. Big sister to little brother:

"There's a special place in my heart called 'Babyworld' and you're our top employee."

Bush has a pretty strong case of it, and from the way his press conference went off tonight, it looks like there's a reason he's scared - that their story won't hold up if Rove and company testify under oath, and more importantly, if the "White House only" documents concerning the 8 U.S. Attorneys have to be provided. Bush is hanging to dear life to the "White House - Justice Department" communications thread. Subpoena the White House...

Incidentally, I should say that I think the increasing focus on a two-way Clinton-Obama war this far from the primaries augurs very well for John Edwards since he's maintaining his "likeability," doing his thing in the early states, and is perennially well-positioned to sweep in at any moment and say "Hey! Look! A white male southerner with progressive views -- that's how you spell 'electable.'"

If you've been to many, there's probably one that stands out: What is the most boring conference or convention you've ever attended?

Of course, I somehow missed all the hubbub about duct tape being a cure for warts.

Daddy Democrat has some thoughts about my PageRank and blogging post of yesterday. I recommend you go read it. I think he taps into an essential part of blogging - the extension of discussion on a subject across many blogs. This isn't necessarily the unconnected discussion of various bloggers seizing upon a Washington Post article and blogging about it, but the mining of content-rich veins of discourse by bloggers who develop some expertise and knowledge about that subject, and the linking back to other bloggers with posts that serve as reference posts on the same topic. When food websites link to your blog, Google recognizes the value of your "Tacos Blog".

Which brings me to a separate wonder... how often do bloggers "coordinate" a topic or point to be blogged about at a given time? Often enough or too often, or just right? I've been in on a couple of these, but they've been in the vein of "What Does Labor Day Mean to You" or "Favorite Recipe" and not anything approaching a campaign or general pounding of some kind of talking point. I can't think of any examples off of the top of my head, but sometimes when I check Memeorandum, I think, there's a lot of bloggers that have put a lot of thought into posts TODAY about a subject, and I really don't see why they all chose that topic TODAY, particularly when the posts reference an article that is several days old.

June 12, 1987:

General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

Today nations are building walls like crazy. Brazil confirmed that it will build a steel and concrete wall along the Paraguayan border to help combat contraband in the Triple frontier area where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet. There's the US fence/wall for the US-Mexico border. Pakistan is building a fence. Maybe states can get into it too, and we can have the Great Maryland/West Virginia picket fence or the Michigan/Indiana hedge.

Point is, whatever Ronald Reagan was driving at has been lost over time. Apparently the world has decided that Reagan was wrong, and East Germany and the Soviet Union were right.

Rox at Rox Populi at least temporarily stopped blogging at her blog as of January 31, and nearly two months later, she still averages considerably more traffic than I do. Why? It's not direct links of blogs to her blog, but Google results, based on the strength of her PageRank.

Should robots be allowed to run for public office?

Second biggest debacle in American history, that's all. (First place has to go to the American Civil War, although it will work out that it ended quicker than this war)

On Saturday, March 10, 2007, at 3:13 PM Eastern Time, I made the following post:

Nude Ann Coulter Yes, I'm mean. Made you think of this.

But next weekend I'll let you know about the search results. Consider this bloggerpaper...

By March 11th, at 2:59 PM, I had my first visit to that post from a referral by the Google search engine. Not the Google Blog search engine, but www.google.com.

Since then, I've had over 100 Search Engine entries into my site for the terms nude ann coulter. I just did a search for "ann coulter nude" on Google. That post on PSoTD was the 11th shown result, with a reported 338,000 results findable by Google.

The point of this post isn't to show off my remarkable ability to bring visitors by posting about nude conservative hacks. Obviously, it isn't remarkable at all. Do I really want people looking for naked shots of Coulter on my site? Probably not. No, the point is to raise a question to all liberal political bloggers -

How did my post rank so highly on such a search, and so quickly?

The answer? PageRank.

And how does PSoTD have a decent PageRank?

I *think* it's from the links on blogrolls from much more highly linked blogs, like Firedoglake and Suburban Guerrilla. And from all the other blogs that link to PSoTD as well. It's cumulative and weighted, and every little bit of real linkage helps increase the PSoTD PageRank result. But in general, more "linked to" sites linking to your blog helps more in PageRank than less "linked to" sites.

There's been a lot of discussion about blogrolls over the last several years. And a lot of complaining about whether one blogger links to another blogger, etc., etc., etc. It all gets so personal, and we lose sight of the advantages of linking to others with our blogs - beyond the visitors we may send directly to that site through our blog, we also provide that site with a link value that Google and other search engines prioritize when creating programs for search output. Do any search on Google you want. It's very unlikely you won't find a wikipedia entry and several blog posts within the first twenty documents referenced. I did a search on tacos. . Results in the top twenty include a wikipedia post (first) and a couple of blogs. Before Taco Bell or Del Taco or Old El Paso... and it's because of the comparable strength of links to all these sites.

At some point, we have to start thinking about blogs beyond the day-to-day interest value and within the historical reference value, and when that time comes, it will impact how we do blogrolls. Who do we want to have content popping quickly within a search engine's output? Bloggers actually have some control over that at this point in time. When Eschaton links to something, the visibility of that site can improve considerably in search engines. When Eschaton links to Suburban Guerrilla, and Suburban Guerrilla links to PSoTD, PSoTD gets PageRank benefit from that as well. There's a food chain. It is distributive.

I have my blogroll to the right. I haven't used it much recently, and doubt I will use it much in the future. I've loaded all those blogs into my bloglines account, and I read their posts through there. I guess I could come up with something else to put in that web "real estate" and remove the blogroll, but I won't do that, because most of those blogs linked here and I think it's fair of me (as a relatively small blogger) to link back in kind, and secondly, I want them to have whatever "Google PageRank benefit" I can give them as well. This is easy for me to say, because I don't have thousands of bloggers linking here. I wouldn't expect a blogger with that kind of incoming link traffic to think this way - it's too much labor. But I do expect them to have some kind of a blogroll as a return gift of the distributive nature of the Internet for bloggers of interest. Other than that, it's up to each blogger to figure out their "blogroll policy".

All I want is for bloggers to keep in mind the impact on the search engines.

One last note - even though I have had over 100 visitors to the site searching for Ann Coulter Nude in little over a week, in the whole potential scope of internet searching, that isn't very many. I think that's a good sign for our society.

I went to a lot of public schools when growing up - when we lived in Indiana we moved around, and when we moved to California I was just in time to go to three different schools for the end of elementary, junior high and high school. All told, I went to 7 different public schools.

So, I figure I have seven weeks to highlight each of them on a Monday, if I can find a photo of one. I wish that below I could show a photo of Wilbur E. Sutton Elementary in Muncie, Indiana, where I went from third grade through half of sixth grade - my longest stint by far in any elementary school. It was a pretty darn good school, even though it was a mile or more walk from our house, and in those days no school bus option. In 5th and 6th grade I served as a crossing guard for the route as well, complete with the belt and the badge and the bamboo flag stop sign.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a Sutton Elementary photo online that showed the school. Kind of a shame.

Mithras gives a review of the new cop show Raines which stars Jeff Goldblum. We watched it the other night too, I didn't find it particularly good, but I don't really know why. It was quirky, though, so maybe there's some hope. However, watching Jeff Goldblum run as a cop after a suspect is one of the most unbelievable bits on television in recent history. I'm not sure what the issue is, but Jeff Goldblum runs very, very awkwardly.

Lie more aggressively.

No contest. Snow geese.

Somehow, the passing of Bowie Kuhn passed under my radar. May the ballfields be green where he goes...

I spent almost all day yesterday in the gymnasium of Central Dauphin East Middle School coaching my daughter's team in this tournament. Despite the big snow event of the day before, and the fact they needed to rejigger the schedule to allow for a later start of the tournament because of that snow event, it went over VERY smoothly. Our girls did pretty well considering they had only one practice for 3-on-3 at this point, and had a lot of fun, and although the tourney only promises 4 games at the minimum, our kids were able to play 6. I'm sure all the girls slept well last night, a very tiring day, even for me.

Thanks to the folks that run Big Jim's 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament - we had a lot of fun!

The hype continues.

Yup, Meri Wilson.

Old town downtowns - small ones - have a real economic challenge. This example of Hanover, Pennsylvania discusses part of it.

But one thing not mentioned much is the balance between useable economic space, and roads, and parking. Building an economic base in a downtown at this point unfortunately relies on cars. Either it will be stores, drawing shoppers, or employers, drawing employees... or a town needs to find an employer base that brings economy to the town and somehow doesn't draw cars.

But old downtowns have small roads and usually have little parking area beyond what is available on the road.

When we moved to Harrisburg 15 years ago, Harrisburg was one of the saddest downtowns I'd ever hung out in. The Spot, which I know is revered in this area, was the primary culinary highlight.

The city focused on developing business and parking, and the city has flourished the past 5-10 years. Now, Harrisburg's focus on restaurants and bars can't be for everyone - Harrisburg does have a major advantage with all the lobbyists, legislators, and government employees looking for lunch and something to do after work - but the parking was very important. Nobody wants to walk in slush for 5 blocks to get to a restaurant on Saturday night. Now, in Harrisburg, you don't have to.

Pennsylvania is full of these small downtowns. They do need to have a plan to avoid becoming dead shells creating greater cost to a small city or borough. Good luck to Hanover.

As our six year old demonstrates, it starts early in our family. I am the man! Down with the Man!

Is it broadband-over-powerline technology?

Stanford did not deserve an at-large bid. Told you.

On a sidenote: I'm not saying this is my dream job, but sitting in a nice bar, drinking beer, watching every NCAA Tournament basketball game going on and writing about it sure seems like a good way to earn money.

Who is your favorite musician or band from Ireland?

I'm hopeful that this might be evidence that the message is filtering up in the Democratic Party. For many voters, including myself, Hillary's stance on the Iraq War and the lenience she has given the Bush Administration in general has made her a nonstarter as a candidate. I don't care how much money she can bring in and spend as a candidate.

But to make this clear: for me, it has NOTHING TO DO WITH BILL CLINTON. It has to do with how she has positioned herself on major issues. In many ways, it's not much different than how I feel about Joe Biden.

This sounds like it'll be a lot of fun.

I've been wondering that perhaps the NCAA tournament does their brackets wrong. There should be two brackets:

1 for Conference or Conference Tourney Champs
1 for "At-Large" Teams

Within those two brackets, teams are seeded. The Championship game pits the victor of both sides. Any "play-in" games would only include "at large" teams. Or the "at large" can have an unbalanced number of entrants.

If you were going to send one living journalist to join the White House Press Corps, who would you send?

His job approval goes up.

America to George W. Bush: Go Away.

I really thought more folks knew about Memeorandum.

Keep in mind the National Frozen Pizza Institute. Because according to the Washington Times, sometimes strict regulations can hurt the quality of frozen pizzas, and that's where the National Frozen Pizza Institute steps in.

For example, one former USDA standard specified there should be at least 12 percent cooked meat or 15 percent raw meat on a frozen pizza for it to be called a "meat pizza."

In 1999, the National Frozen Pizza Institute asked the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service to reduce its regulations on meat content, arguing that restaurant pizzas had less stringent regulations.

"They were handcuffed from an economic standpoint and from a nutritional standpoint," said Rick Frank, a senior policy attorney at Olsson, Frank & Weeda P.C., a Washington law firm that represents the pizza group.

The USDA relented and changed its standard in 2003 to let frozen pizza companies sell their pizzas with a minimum meat content of 2 percent cooked or 3 percent raw meat.

Don't laugh, American is expanding its belt line on frozen pizza. Supermarket sales have increased more than 60 percent during the past five years. Is it because of the new meatlessness?

Not really sure I'd call the White House web site redesign an improvement. It is interesting that they are highlighting "podcasts".

I said "later" to my briefcase yesterday.

I have used it sparingly - maybe twice a year - for over a decade. I've had it maybe 15 years, and at one time it was a daily companion as I took it with me at work to meetings. But the past 10 years, with my home office, I have felt less and less need to use it for the occasional meeting, and finally, yesterday, I was cleaning out the closet in my office, and there it was.

Sitting on the floor. Taking up space. And hiding pens from their proper use at my desk.

I emptied the case of some old notes and ancient business cards, and took it down to the basement with some other items. We have a neighborhood garage sale in a few months, and I'm planning to sell it then, for a quarter or fifty cents. It's a decent, although not fancy, briefcase, and maybe somebody will want it. If not, then it's off to Goodwill, because I don't really think I'll be needing it again.

The weather's warming up. So what's your favorite thing to cook on the outdoor barbecue?

The snow hasn't quite finished melting here, but already the following state legislatures have finished or are nearing finish of their regular sessions: Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.

I think as a general rule of thumb I'll post no more than two youtube videos on the front page. Maybe it's my imagination, but it seems to slow loadtime intermittently if there are more than two.

Talk Left has weighed in. Hey, I'm not afraid. Here's my prediction of the Final Four:

Florida, Kansas, Ohio State and Texas.

And here's my underdog pick to make the Elite Eight: Wright State

And now... about Jay Bilas, who I find rather discouraging to read this year. He seems to have a bias.

The cases of Drexel and Appalachian State I feel badly for Drexel, because the Dragons are a good team and they played their guts out all year long. However, I also feel badly for Appalachian State, which played equally as hard and well this season.

The truth is, it is reasonable to leave those two teams out because you do not believe them to be among the 34 best at-large teams. The committee's charge is to select the 34 best teams after the automatic qualifiers are in, not the 34 "most deserving" teams, or the 34 teams that make us feel good about ourselves, or the 34 teams that provide the best story lines.

The bottom line is that this shows a big-conference bias. We don't know if Drexel or Appalachian State are among the best 34, because they don't get to play Duke and Syracuse and Alabama during the regular season. We can "believe" what we want, but that's the point of the tournament, to find out. Last year the mid-size conferences did spectacular in the tournament, and what was their reward? Less at-large bids this year than the past 4 or 5 years.

And I'm sorry, this is bullshit about the committee selecting the best 34 rather than than the best 34 story lines. That is part of some of these matchups. Immediately after the pairings were made. Former coach versus his old team? Former assistant coach versus his old mentor? C'mon. That's the freakin' point of some of these matchups.

Oh good, maybe we can have more ridiculously harsh and overpriced music now.

Starbucks Corp. said on Monday it has formed its own record label, Hear Music, to develop records for sale both in its coffee shops and through traditional music retailers.

Starbucks' influence as a music retail outlet has grown in recent years. It posted its biggest success with the Ray Charles album "Genius Loves Company," a co-production with Concord Records that won eight Grammy awards. Concord is also partnering with Starbucks on the new record label.