PSoTD

And it's jam-packed with information.

He says:

ABC News' Jennifer Parker reports: A longtime friend of Sen. Hillary Clinton said it's "incomprehensible" that Sen. Barack Obama would choose another woman to be his vice-presidential candidate over Sen. Hillary Clinton.

"The selection of either one of those instead of Sen. Clinton I would find completely incomprehensible," said Lanny Davis of rumored Obama vice-presidential contenders Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill.

There is a clear, if perhaps minor, reason to select of these two as a candidate over Hillary Clinton - it greatly reduces the chances that we will continue to see Lanny Davis in any kind of public forum in the future. If there's ever been a political never-was masquerading as a has-been in his pursuit to become somebody remotely important, it's Davis.

May bird turds rain from the sky on the suits of executives that make decisions giving news priority or value to anything Lanny Davis does.

That we were on the threshold of winning the war on terror - as if one could even theorize that for at least a generation of peace - you would be right to call me a fantasist. Did World War I end global confrontations? Did the Civil War end racism? Did World War II end the dictator state?

This may be the theme song for personal transportation over the next decade:

Motor scooter sales are up, up, up:

EUGENE, Ore. - Gas prices may be creeping down, but lots of motorists are still looking for ways to beat the high cost of travel.

Many are making the move to small motorcycles, motor scooters and mopeds.

How does an average 80 miles per gallon going 60 miles per hour sound?

That's what you can do in a medium-powered motor scooter. All across the Northwest, more people are opting for these gas sipping two-wheelers.

Bill Cole runs a shop that sells bicycles and motor schooters. Sales at his Wheelworks shop jumped 300 percent in June, and July is trending the same way.

"We're thankful for it," Colse said, "but we didn't see it coming."

"I'm completely sold out of Piaggios except for some used one. This bike just sold the other day. We have some more coming in," Cole said.

When is the 2008 Annual Insect Field Day?

"I looked at that and I thought, 'Oh my that looks like Jesus on the cross.' It was just like wow," she says.

Family and friends agree with her. Her daughter says, "I thought it was pretty cool." But Kelly Ramey's friend, Sue Edelman, sees something different. "I looked again and I thought a horse head."

Kelly says her husband has a special name for it. "He calls him Cheesus."

I had been feeling uninspired about blogging recently until Cheeto Jesus directed me to spread his Gospel of Cheesy Orange Goodness!

Caught when I was skimming Bloglines...

As of January 2008 there were approximately 155,583,825 sites on the internet. That’s roughly 1 for every 42 people on earth. Where's my 42 readers?

I'm going to get around to this meme, but it is labor-intensive, creating your life soundtrack:

Basically, you start at the year of your birth, and pick the best album for each year.

When you're 49, that's a lot of music to consider.

Philosophers' Playground wants to know the best blogs you read that others may not know about.

You never know what kind of crowd you'll draw when you throw the word "nudity" in your post title.

I have found the way to get our kids to quit asking for us to buy them soda. Now I just have to buy some of this.

Interesting post about a study in 2003 that found that "the average pay in large firms was $39,721 while in small firms it was $31,655 or 20% less."

Patti Smith is cool, period.

What is the most fun beach in the Tuscany region?

If this Sacramento Kings - Houston Rockets deal goes through, it could be a win-win for both teams. Most of the analysis I see talks about the advantages of it for the Rockets, and I guess it makes sense to do so, since Ron Artest theoretically could put them over the top in the Western Conference... although I really don't believe it. But maybe.

But I think it's a great deal for the Kings, especially if they really like Donte Green. Bobby Jackson would be a decent backup, but the key is, of course, that first round draft pick for 2009. Geoff Petrie knows how to use those.

I've been trying it for about a week now. So far, I can't tell if it's really much benefit to me. Any opinion?

Ironically, a man who makes his living spewing words denigrates the spoken version as "just a speech". What has Richard Cohen done beyond turn into a cartoon character?

If I were God, I think I'd set aside a day where every bird within a 25 mile radius of Cohen took a dump on him. Of course, that might be difficult, considering there may be ostriches and emus at the local zoo, but heck, if I were God, I'd try to swing it anyways.

John McCain has good advice for Americans:

"If you ever have any slight discolouration, go to your dermatologist or doctor and get it checked," he said, while wearing a cap to protect him against the California sun.

Unfortunately, it's also a recommendation that is harder and harder to meet, because of the cosmetic, rather than medical, profit lines that dermatologists now try to fulfill:

Like airlines that offer first-class and coach sections, dermatology is fast becoming a two-tier business in which higher-paying customers often receive greater pampering. In some dermatologists’ offices, freer-spending cosmetic patients are given appointments more quickly than medical patients for whom health insurance pays fixed reimbursement fees.

In other offices, cosmetic patients spend more time with a doctor. And in still others, doctors employ a special receptionist, called a cosmetic concierge, for their beauty patients.

Dr. David M. Pariser, a dermatologist in Norfolk, Va., and the president-elect of the American Academy of Dermatology, said some practices did maintain preferential policies for cosmetic patients.

“The message is that the cosmetic patient is more important than the medical patient, and that’s not a good message,” Dr. Pariser said.

At a time when dermatologists are trying to advance the idea of a national skin cancer epidemic, such a two-tier system is raising concerns that the coddling of beauty patients may divert attention from skin diseases.

A study published last year in The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that dermatologists in 11 American cities and one county offered faster appointments to a person calling about Botox than for someone calling about a changing mole, a possible sign of skin cancer.

Ever try getting a "first appointment" with a dermatologist? Good luck. Try calling a dermatology practice to see if they're taking new patients - there's a pretty good chance that they're not, and if they are, the first appointment is likely to be many, many months in the future. Take a look in the phone book at their practice listings - you see terms like "cosmetic", "aesthetic", and the always happy "Botox" thrown around the yellow pages. They're turning their profession into an advanced Mary Kay industry, and I don't see any way that it can't impact those with medical needs.

Anyone that lives on the West Shore of the Harrisburg area probably has an opinion about New Kingstown. It's an odd little community, divided by the Carlisle Pike as it becomes more highway like, and actually has buildings in the large island area between the east and west lanes of the highway.

My opinion is more of a question - how does it keep surviving? I know that there's no way I would ever buy a house that essentially sits right on top of a highway, which many of the homes of New Kingstown do. I suspect most of the market feels similarly, which depresses market value. It's relatively prime land for development, well, except that there's already all these people living there, but it's sandwiched between the big commercial zone of the Carlisle Pike and the up-and-coming auto dealership and other large entity commercial zone that leads up to Cumberland Valley High School.

It just seems to me that economic and political pressure is going to grow to, well, I guess "move" that community somewhere else and use that land for other purposes. If you look at the recent history of the Carlisle Pike, you see this kind of thing happening over and over again. I'm not saying this should happen - just that it looks like it will happen.

Springsteen show, July 27, 2008.

Already over 25 videos from Sunday night's show posted on YouTube by Monday night.

Rule number one of our trip to the Meadowlands to watch Bruce Springsteen - don't get lost. Subset A of that, of course, was to, at no point and for no reason, go into New York City. It's not that we don't like New York City - it's just that we don't have maps of the City or GPS and to end up there would have been one of those horribly lost moments.

Rule number two of the trip - give ourselves plenty of time to enjoy the concert. Check. We arrived at the Meadowlands an hour before the gates opened, and what turned out to be 2.5 hours before the show started - but that was fine. We talked with other fans, and just checked things out - we've never been to Giants Stadium before, and they're tearing it down soon, so we'll probably not get back to this exact venue again. The time went fast.

The weather sucked as we drove into New Jersey, however, rain and wind and we were afraid it was going to return for the concert. We packed 99 cent ponchos in our pockets, just in case, but we never needed them - it sprinkled a smidge near the end, but for the most part, it was a perfect weather evening.

Which was appropriate for the love-in we got to see. I never saw the Grateful Dead, but I've never seen a crowd so in love with a musical artist - and the artist feeling the same for the fans - as I did last night in New Jersey for Bruce Springsteen. For me, rarely do crowds really enhance a concert, but last night was different. Half the songs were practically anthems with the crowd singing along with Springsteen, a sea of waving arms whenever Springsteen waved his guitar back and forth - it was a love fest, and it was great.

Springsteen played for 3 hours and 12 minutes, straight. If there was ten minutes total of non-music time I'd be surprised. 30 songs, and according to this, "the longest show time-wise of any show on this tour". Like I said - a lovefest. Here's the set list:

"Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"
"Radio Nowhere"
"Lonesome Day"
"No Surrender"
"Adam Raised a Cain"
"Spirit In the Night"
"Summertime Blues"
"Brilliant Disguise"
"Atlantic City"
"Growin' Up"
"Janey Don't You Lose Heart"
"I'll Work For Your Love"
"Youngstown"
"Murder Incorporated"
"The Promised Land"
"Livin' In the Future"
"Mary's Place"
"Working On the Highway"
"Tunnel Of Love"
"The Rising"
"Last To Die"
"Long Walk Home"
"Badlands"

Encores
"Girls In Their Summer Clothes"
"Jungleland"
"Born To Run"
"Bobby Jean"
"Dancing In the Dark"
"American Land"
"Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"

I have no real complaints about that list, although I would have liked to see him do "The River", but that's just nitpicking. I'm really surprised what ended up being my favorite performances of the night:

Rosalita (well, not really surprised about that)
Murder Incorporated
Mary's Place - I don't know what to say about this song. The band, Springsteen, and the crowd just kicked ass through this song - the crowd's singing was a big part of it.

But the biggest surprise for me is my top choice for song performance last night:

"Spirit In the Night"

I mean, it's a good little song, but somehow they elevated it yesterday in a way that I can't keep from humming it. I hope somebody YouTubed it with a good recording.

There was something else interesting in the crowd last night, the dynamic of when Springsteen spoke his 45-second or so piece about the last horrible eight years of the Bush Presidency (there was a guy nearby who was yelling at Springsteen to shut up, like that was of any use) and especially when he performed "Last to Die". There was a big shaved-head guy a couple of sections away that stood and gave the finger to Springsteen during the whole song, and there were male fans of Springsteen that were outraged by this and were pointing and angrily motioning at the guy to stop (of course they were at a distance and even though there could have been a fight, it never came close to that - the finger giver shrugged at those who were yelling at him as if to say it was something he had to do). Love hate relationship, the shaved-head paid his $100 plus to get in to see Springsteen, seemed to enjoy most of the show, but had to express his anger about the subject of this song. But afterwards, back to the love.

I saw Springsteen in Mountain View, California, in 1988, and it was a great show, but the audience, while into it, was pretty mellow. Last night the audience felt like a home sports crowd in a playoff game, and Springsteen and the E Street Band was their team and winning handily, and they were completely celebrating it. Completely different experiences.

I'm not sure if it's genetic coding or learned behavior, but I have found that I'm following a habit of my Dad's. When I was a kid, I didn't really participate in his regular practice but now I find myself doing so.

There's a time in the evening in the longer daylight days, not quite sundown but getting near, after dinner, when we usually have a relative stillness in our house. The kids are usually eating a snack and watching some television show or reading or playing on X-Box intently, part of the wind-down before bedtime. My wife is doing things to prep for going to work for the next day. I, on the other hand, usually take the opportunity to slip outside and enjoy our backyard for a few minutes.

Actually, it's not all of our backyard. Because of our position on our street and the next cross-street, there are three backyards that run together, almost as one, that over the years have somewhat grown separately yet similar in appearance, almost as if a park landscaper had intended for the entire area to look the way it does. The yards are bordered by fences on one side, and homes on the other, but are wide enough and long enough to keep both out of main focus when looking at the yards. There's always an abundance of natural activity going on in the back, from insects (lightning bugs, cicadas, crickets, butterflies, damselflies, you name it, if it's local you might see it) to vertebrates. At dusk is a good time to see the bats come out and swoop between the trees, catching the bugs that are starting to lift from the grass as dark approaches.

Rarely, other than my family, do you see people at this time in the backyards.

My Dad, in Livermore and in Bakersfield, used to like to go in the backyard for 10-15 minutes and just enjoy whatever he was enjoying, quietly. I tend to think I have a far wealthier view to enjoy, but I've found myself doing the same thing. It's more than just relaxing, there's almost a soothing music of sound and visual, and often of smell, that combines to provide a useful "reset" for me. It's not something that is as describable as it is experienced, but I think you have to be open to it for it to happen, because for many years I was not.

The front yard actually doesn't cut it for me as a view unless it's a thunderstorm. Then, I can sit in the garage, and get a pretty good view of the storm rolling in and the lightning cracking around and the reaction of people as they hurry to get out of the weather. It's still not the same, but it's enjoyable.

For me, the backyard is somewhat of a place where I can rejuice my batteries. How about you?

Obviously a gotta-play:

And here's a few blog posts I found interesting:

The escalators may not be working at Giants Stadium. Won't matter for us, we're not going up any escalators.

Cool, Nils Lofgren is definitely going to be playing tonight as well.

Apparently, Giants Stadium is going to be torn down in 2010, so these may be the last Springsteen shows there.

How much more will gas prices drop? They've dropped 30 cents per gallon in the past few weeks in the Harrisburg area, which is welcome relief. But it's up to all of us to keep the pressure on the price by being conservative in use, reducing demand. Plus, the annual stories of gas prices going up because of the need to create heating oil will soon be making the rounds.

I kinda hope this guy doesn't perform "Dancin' in the Dark" tomorrow night.

By others.

The Hall Institute of Public Policy actually looks into this.

I wonder why someone at Democratic National Headquarters is searching for "lydian asset management" and "lawsuit"...

You just never know what your neighbors might be doing with the video recorder on.

I wonder if there will be a time when certain continents have considerably greater bee populations than other areas with similar supportive resources, and if so, will we figure out why.

Technology will get us all.

I don't mind a Bible being in my hotel room. I just look at it as something the hotel is providing that is optional for use, kind of like the coffeemaker, half of the stuff in the free soap kit provided, a couple of the drawers in the dresser, etc. I just don't see it as an either/or option for any hotel. And I think it's stupid to toss the Bible in the trash, or remove it, just if you don't believe in God. It's an option for people, just like that phonebook, and just let people decide for themselves whether they'll use the option.

There's apparently 1, and only 1, MILF at Marineland.

Sometimes Tweety says things that are... almost... inspiring, but it happens way too rarely considering how many times he gets an opportunity.

What's the deal with the manholes?

I'm surprised that with his concert tour return to the United States, he's not a bigger blogging subject right now.

English posts that contain Springsteen per day for the last 30 days.

Get your own chart!

Seriously, the Patriot should email this page out every day, with live links, to anyone that wants it. At the very least, for anyone with a paid subscription.

I'm sure we'll hear this one Sunday night...

Any article premise that suggests that something could actually be better with a few more Robert Novaks makes it near impossible to read the article. I can only assume that Jonathan Martin means that the GOP needs more Robert Novaks, the drivers, to run down Democratic voters.

Here's your chance to catch up on some interesting stuff:

"Britain on alert for deadly new knife with exploding tip that freezes victims' organs." It's a legitimate item, clearly not for most people, but what is the alert about?

Have a great moving story? Mad Melancholic Feminista is looking for some.

One Million Served.

Ever see a 96-armed octopus?

Disbarment, obvious, is not enough, but it should come with the territory of those who get Bush pardons.

The termites are immediately back at the lobbyist disclosure provisions on gifts to lawmakers and staff.

If you're looking for the closest place to your barbecue to get your propane tank filled for your barbecue, check this search engine out.

Courtesy of Pen-Elayne, here's a fun little application to play around with...

We finally got around to watching the NetFlix-sent "I Am Legend" a few nights ago.

I think the best analogy is watching a mile race. An underdog runner comes from nowhere to lead the pack by a large distance, running at a pace that would be a new world record. In the middle of the final lap, however, the runner slows, dramatically, and then the other runners begin to pass the early leader, and finally the leader stops running and walks into the stands and eats a hot dog, never finishing the race.

85% of a great movie is still a bad movie if you paste an "and it all worked out after all" at the end.

Of course, we didn't watch the alternative ending (didn't even think of doing so) that was apparently on the DVD. I did watch it online yesterday, and am stunned that the producers didn't select it instead. Much, much better.

The Springsteen Clip Fest will go on through Sunday...

In case you're wondering when they are:

First presidential debate: Friday, September 26 University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS

Vice presidential debate: Thursday, October 2 Washington University in St. Louis, MO

Second presidential debate: Tuesday, October 7 Belmont University, Nashville, TN

Third presidential debate: Wednesday, October 15 Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY

At some point the 15% rule has to be destroyed and replaced with something more open and more effective for voters. One of the criteria for inclusion in the debates:

The CPD's third criterion requires that the candidate have a level of support of at least 15% (fifteen percent) of the national electorate as determined by five selected national public opinion polling organizations, using the average of those organizations' most recent publicly-reported results at the time of the determination.

One of these years there's going to be a candidate that comes close, but doesn't quite make, this arbitrary 15% number, and then CPD is going to look like the clique at the country club. This year we're destined to hear from Nader, Barr and others about the unfairness of this debate policy, and I suspect it will have a lot more resonance with voters after watching two primaries chock full of debates where the stage was crowded with candidates. The debate process still worked. The real benefit is that more ideas, and less posturing, came out when there were more candidates - the number of candidates required the candidates to focus on making themselves stand out as opposed to tearing down the sole opposition. Yes, there was some ganging up on the leader, but even that was kept in check by the candidates to prevent the perception of a candidate only being there to "pile on".

Fringe candidates prove themselves as fringe rather quickly. Passable ideas find acceptance amongst all candidates, and some common ground is determined. In the past I would have preferred otherwise, but now I want to see more candidates than two at the debates. CPD needs to figure out a new standard.

The dangers of it - in this case, not a financial institution, but domain registrars.

Such as:

Larry King shot dead at home

Madonna announces retirement, marriage to Alex Rodriguez

These fake "news alert" spams are VERY annoying.

And no comments on this post - anytime I mention spam, the blogspammers come out like the night humanoids of "I Am Legend".

to the Springsteen show...

Cartoon characters should probably keep their mouths closed about such topics. Oh, and I found Waldo, but time has not been kind.

Sounds like a profession that should get a television show like trucking does with Ice Truckers.

I wonder what percentage of new subscriptions for magazines such as Time, Newsweek, and Forbes come from such crew sales. Is there anything less enjoyable to open your door to than two cigarette-perfumed magazine sales people that give you the immediate sense that they'll say ANYTHING to get you to buy some magazines?

Dotster is a good domain registrar, but I tend to think that their second page after registering a new domain - the page which tries to sell privacy and server space and sets the default option as automatically buying it, and requires an additional action to get to the payment for the domain page - is pretty damn crappy. It appears to be designed to charge the inattentive some fees that are likely not to be necessary. Good businesses shouldn't do that. So, Dotster, you know what I think you should do... change the defaults to the non-paying options.

I just have to wonder how well The Mothman Festival is going to do in an era of $4.00 plus gallons of gasoline. Plus, I hadn't even heard of this West Virginia story before, but stumbled across it when I was looking at other web sites for a local retired entomologist.

But I am glad to find out...

MOTHMAN DOES NOT KILL PEOPLE

Whew.

Springsteen.

That's the value of this website according to Website Outlook.

I'm sure that's due to higher gas prices.

It's actually... within a 4 hour drive!

Note to Nickelodeon - we were unable to watch the Season 3 finale to Avatar, the Last Airbender, and the kids (AND I) want to see the final four episodes. We have truly enjoyed Avatar and we want to see this final episode. I don't see it on Nick's schedule this week - c'mon, quit holding out!

And it doesn't help to see so many bloggers say it was the coolest show, ever.

I may have gone my whole life without really considering the definition of the term "nanosecond" except our 7-year-old finds the whole nanosecond measurement idea pretty fascinating. Like in, "how many nanoseconds will it take for us to get to Hersheypark?"

For anyone that does web work, one of the pass-along costs that can really surprise is the price for stock photography. Don't get me wrong - it is a necessary and important product and people deserve to make a living building up quality libraries of images. But there's also a reality of value and budget on the web that sometimes doesn't feel "reflected" in pricing.

Which is why I like the pricing structure of iStockPhoto. When you're looking for a more "generic" image for a particular viewpoint or sentiment, it comes in quite handy. Sometimes you don't need a photo of a child holding a hat pointing at the Eiffel Tower, you just need a photo of a person pointing at a building.

With Potato Radio.

If this blogger caught photos of us when WE were on the Skyview yesterday at Hersheypark.

I think I really noticed them back on Monday... the cicadas.

I kinda wonder why nobody highlights anymore the drums and the percussion like War did in Lowrider... our kids LOVE that song.

It all began in 1865 with a horse drawn trolley...

How long do motion picture companies keep their movie web sites?

I don't know why The Kings weren't more successful.

You may know them better from this hit.

Eight year olds will be asking the question:

Grandma, what is this i-mod stuff? What did you use it for?

Wow, this seriously could be the worst effort to select the top 25 of anything, ever. I don't know who Rob O'Connor is, but he's destined to be the drivetime DJ of hell.

Like I said, I'm in my own little summer world right now, and I didn't even realize that Senator John Warner has reintroduced the idea (not a bill) of reducing the national speed limit. But where's the bill, Senator?

I had not even heard of Taca Airlines.

MoxieGrrl is winding down her blogging. There's a lot of that going on, I feel it too.

It would probably improve the ratings for the Summer Olympics, too.

Pantone doesn't own me!

Like everywhere else, you can go to jail for crack in Flint, Michigan. Not like everywhere else, the crack involved is from having your pants hang too low.

One of the first bloggers to blogroll PSoTD was Melanie at A Bump in the Beltway. She followed my transition to blogging from the original Political Site of the Day, and just added this blog without request.

The past few months I have not been reading other blogs as much as I used to - I think the anguish between the Obama and Clinton camps bothered me so much that I really reduced my blog reading to avoid the finger pointing - and somehow I missed this news earlier this month:

My friend Melanie Mattson died a few weeks ago. One week from today is her birthday and she would have been 54. (I’ll have a piece of cake for you, Mel.)

An original Daily Kos regular, she was the publisher of Just A Bump in the Beltway, one of the first wave of political blogs. She was also one of the founders of the FluWiki, a comprehensive resource for those studying pandemic flu, and a contributor at Effect Measure.

Melanie will definitely be missed by many bloggers, myself included. She made a difference, and it was recognizable online, and there will be others that will continue the efforts she started. But it's a sorrow that Melanie won't be there to pursue it as well. If there's an afterlife with Bloglines, I hope she realizes how many bloggers were touched by her.

Yeah, I have opinions on almost anything.

Original Productions, Inc., should be getting some serious Emmy consideration. Have you ever tried to turn the channel off of Deadliest Catch? It's remote dropping television.

On the other hand, this must be the absolute crappiest category in all the Emmy Awards:

Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality - Competition Program

Maybe that should be the epitaph for our television society -

American Television
We Actually Felt There Should Be An Honor Called Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality - Competition Program

And finally, I think there's clearly only one choice in the category of

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series

although I have to admit, I haven't seen all the programs listed, anyways. Still, I watch The Office, and there's no way to ignore:

Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute

Yeah, another year that I didn't make it. I do know a couple of people on the list - not well, but on a first name basis - but I have no clue how this list is constructed. What does it even mean?

That's local government planning.

In 12 years, Minnesota will have more retirees than schoolchildren. By 2030, one in five Americans will be at least 65 years old.

The graying of America is a given. The question is, will we be ready for it?

The Central Minnesota Council on Aging recently surveyed 156 cities and townships in 14 Central Minnesota counties to find out.

“What we were finding is that most communities are very surprised at current and projected senior population rates,” Lori Vrolson said. Vrolson is CMCOA’s executive director. “It appeared to be new information for many communities.”

The shift to an older population is unprecedented in this country. Advances in medicine and public health have brought U.S. life expectancy to an all-time high of 78.1 years.

The shift is being accelerated by the aging of the baby boomers. The first boomers retired last year. They will be followed by 80 million more in the next 20 years.

CMCOA wants communities to think about what that will mean for them.

“What types of impact is that going to have on a community’s infrastructure, and how are communities going to prepare for that?” Vrolson said. “We hope communities will look at seniors as an asset and a resource. If a community is designed to be a good place for an older adult to live, it’s going to be a good place for the younger generations as well.”

Our daughter goes to several week-long day camps in the summer - most of them are run by the local school district, and consist of a focus for a few hours each day on a particular subject. Last year she went to basketball, art, science, and chess camp. This year she has gone to two basketball camps, art, geocaching, and will go to a CSI camp later this summer.

Geocaching? So far it has proven to be the most popular camp to her this summer, other than basketball. The way we choose these camps, is that she chooses most of them, and then we choose one that we think might be fun and different, or at least mind-opening. She wasn't so hot on our selection of chess last year, and she was afraid that geocaching would be about as interesting. But she loved geocaching. Now the talk is about getting a handheld GPS navigation thingy, and she says this is a good family activity we can all do together. And there are lots and lots of caches - apparently over 2500 in the 17011 zip code alone.

I guess we made a better choice this year than last.

I can't believe there'd be much interest in a book with a premise of "imagining the First Lady’s sex life", especially the current First Lady's, and I kind of hope that sales are not good. This could open up a line of writing - historical figure porn - that seems to be WAY too inviting for struggling writers.

New category for my Flickr perusing - outdoor basketball photos. I liked this one.

From froghopper

Even if it's sometimes laced with an expletive.

Interesting blog post about buying local-grown produce in the Harrisburg area.

I have heard this place in Philadelphia is very good. Anyone out there have a personal recommendation?

Nothing like watching Charlie Rose late at night because you can't sleep, and watching two newspaper national economy beat writers throw the "D" word around. Not only did it make it harder to go to sleep, but now all the tortilla chips are gone.

Fans of old-time baseball know, but you have to read about the early sport IN THE LINGO of those who wrote about the early sport to see the term used. For example.

Man, I need one of those blue suits.

The happy talk has to go. You hear a LOT of people talking like they're going to retire with essentially the same standard of living as they had when they were at full earning capacity. And you hear a LOT OF FINANCIAL ADVISORS talk as if Americans should expect to save enough to meet that expectation.

Don't get me wrong. It does happen, people do it. People play in major league baseball and fly in space and win the lottery, too. Just because SOME people can do it, because of their circumstances, doesn't mean most people can do it, because the reality is, they won't... because they can't. The American worker can't support two economic engines at the same time - the process of saving as much money as possible for the future, and the processing of spending as much money as possible to maintain the economy of today. Some process loses. Look at the credit balances, it is pretty clear which one does.

So the happy fantasy talk of a rich retired future, whereby one lives at the same standard as they did when they worked and received value-based and cost-of-living raises, is going to end. Remember who tried to sell you this rich future bullshit, and don't listen to them anymore, because they weren't trying to accord reality with finance in their advice.

We manage to think of lots of ways to use government to prep Americans for adulthood, with schools and recreational programs and lots of laws to protect the unworking young. We really haven't done the same for the post-work protections - nor have we done nearly enough to figure out post-work population cost reductions.

There's a huge population just shy of retirement, that won't have enough money to support themselves without help from their families, and government hasn't done shit to figure out some ways to create revenue-building ways to provide more cost-effective supports, such as with housing. A lot of retirees are going to sell their homes to get their money out of it. Then they're going to need to live somewhere else and pay rent, or live at their relatives'. Why couldn't the government commit to building cost effective retirement communities that the government could generate revenue from, and that could reduce the economic pressure on retirees? Not the Del Webb live on the golf course kind of place, but nice communities with decent housing and convenient shopping and car-free options for transportation?

What do Bud drinkers have to say?

"It saddens me that a large, truly American company has become just a fraction of a larger, homogenized global corporation," said Michael Coakley, a Bud Light drinker from Hoboken, New Jersey. "However I doubt that quality or pricing ... will change much at all."

If I had to pick the worst beer in the world, it might just be Bud Light. Not that it's the absolute worst beer - I find it grotesque but I actually have had worst - but because it is so emblematic of America's Big Corporation beer swill. Bud sucks, Miller sucks, Coors sucks, etc...

It makes me wonder... why would a Bud Light drinker even think about beer quality?

I had a girlfriend back in the day that loved the Kinks, and in particular, loved this song...

CBS, who I think was the network that first brought the nation the sports monstrosity that is Brent Musburger, apparently has decided to replace Billy Packer with Clark Kellogg on NCAA basketball games. I just have to say, there is no earthly way as a fan I could see that as being an improvement. I like Packer, and I can't stand Kellogg's announcing. I guess I should be glad it wasn't Musburger instead of Kellogg.

Yawn. I cannot seem to get very interested in them anymore. It's so corporate feeling, with such a garish theme of expense, that it's become a big turnoff to me.

Wonder how the ratings will be...

It is amazing that people can claim that going to a location to follow the idiocy of completely moronic dicks is somehow a church.

Being a member of Westboro Baptist Church is basically saying that you have no problem associating with some of the biggest dicks - emotionally and intellectually, not physically - in the world. Do these people tattoo WBC on their forehead? Why not?

Has Retired!

Kinda sad to read that, really.

One of the sad realities of blogging is that bloggers die. EVERY time it happens a shock occurs to readers, and it ripples through the blogosphere. I wonder, as a blogger, if many bloggers have prepped a "last post" blog entry for use in case they end up, you know, expired.

Laurie Anderson.

At least in the area of faith...

Are Vermonters heathens?

Not exactly, but they are less religious than people in most other states, according to a national poll conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, which combines results for Vermont and New Hampshire, suggests that people in the two states pray less often, are less likely to attend weekly services and are less likely to believe in God with absolute certainty than are people in the rest of the nation.

Nationally, about 71 percent of the nearly 35,000 people polled said their belief in God or a universal spirit was absolutely certain. In Vermont/New Hampshire, the response was 54 percent — which while still a majority was considerably lower than the national rate.

Results show Vermont/New Hampshire consistently logging the lowest or nearly lowest levels among states in what the pollsters call religious commitment. About 23 percent of the Vermont/New Hampshire respondents attend religious service at least once a week, compared with 39 percent nationally. Thirty-six percent said religion is very important to them, compared to 56 percent nationally.

I was mulling through the Missed Connections section of Craigslist Harrisburg. How do any of these ever work? Here's the kind of thing that is posted there:

McDonald's on the Carlisle Pike. You were beautiful and had blonde hair and