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January 05, 2007
Long Time No See
[On location in Cumberland, Wisconsin]
So much for snow cover. It had been steadily melting since New Year's Eve anyway, but with above-freezing temps and a bit of rain this morning, it's all gone apart from some tiny little spots here and there. Depressing. But there is a ray of hope on the horizon, in that a few models (including some on Penn State's e-Wall) are indicating an intrusion of cold air (well, it'll feel cold compared to now but in reality will be just a little below normal) next week into the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. Hooray! Maybe I'll have to find space in my suitcase for my winter coat after all. The Climate Prediction Center is still predicting above-normal temps for the Midwest and Great Lakes for the next 1-3 months though (even with below normal temps creeping into the Midwest next week), so who knows what's gonna happen.
Yesterday afternoon I drove down to Saint Paul to go visit Dan W., a friend that I hadn't seen in quite some time. We tried to figure out when the last time was that we'd seen each other, and we decided it'd been 7 years, when I drove over to Green Bay to visit him (after one of my "carnie" jobs at the shaved ice stand at a pow-wow in nearby Keshena). Now that's a long time! We'd kind of lost contact with each other, but last spring he called my parents asking for my address so he could send a wedding invitation, so since then we've been talking a bit more. :-) We just sat and talked and caught up on everything for two and a half hours or so, and I also got to meet his wife Holly for the first time. Hopefully now it won't be another 7 years between visits. But getting to see and catch up with both Dan last night and Scott last week (and meet their wives for the first time), both of whom are old friends I hadn't seen in years, were two of the things I most wanted to do while I was home for break. Check and check. :-)
Back in State College when I was packing to come back here for break, I was an idiot (again) and didn't pack any nice clothes that I could wear to Brooke's wedding tomorrow evening up in Hayward. So I took advantage of yesterday's trip to the Cities to swing by Rosedale and pick up some stuff at JCPenney. Sigh. I did the same thing in forgetting to bring nice clothes back on Thanksgiving break for my Mom's "day out" and had to go buy some. My suitcase is gonna be really, really full with all the extra stuff I'm bringing back to PA on Sunday. Hopefully I have enough room...
Hmm, I brought home nine journal articles to read over break. Guess how many I've read so far? If you guessed a positive non-zero number, go lower. I've very much needed these last couple weeks off from research, but maybe this afternoon I'll try to dust off at least one of the articles I brought home. That and since 2007 started Sue's emailed out three additional articles that just came out that she wants us to read. I have a feeling that that's what I'll be doing a lot of next week, reading journicles.
A few random thoughts:
Annoyed at all the corporate sponsorship of college football bowl games, and with how long the bowl season drags out now? Blame the 1984 Fiesta Bowl between Miami and Penn State, the ultimate battle on the gridiron between evil (Miami) and good (Penn State). And I'm not just saying that because I'm a grad student at PSU, read the article to find out more.
If anyone cares to find out how beholden Micro$oft has chosen to become to the movie and music industries with its new Windows Vista operation system, read this. After reading that I won't ever purchase Vista if I have a choice. (Hat tip: Kieran.)
Some Muslim taxi drivers at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport have been refusing service to passengers who carry alcohol or have service dogs with them, on the basis of religious grounds. As a result new rules are being proposed that would revoke airport taxi licenses for 30 days on the first offense, and 2 years for a second offense, if drivers refuse service on the basis of anything other than safety. So of course a bunch of imams Islamic groups are loudly protesting this "injustice," but how come they don't come up with a different solution: If you are going to have a problem transporting certain people, then don't be a taxi driver!
An ESPN columnist has a very pointed article about the trend of black athletes getting shot (most recently Darrent Williams of the Denver Broncos), and what the ultimate cause probably is: a glorification of violence among young African-American males. It's well worth reading.
And with the new Congress taking power, one of the first issues they'll take up will be increasing the minimum wage. But just how much will that actually benefit people or the economy?
And there is hope on the horizon that the US Supreme Court will take a campaign finance case involving Wisconsin Right to Life so that they can clarify their muddled opinions on CFR. One can only hope that they will rightly strike down the completely unconstitutional, free-speech limiting McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act. McCain-Feingold was supposed to "get the money out of politics," but have any of you noticed any such change during the last two elections? If anything, there's more money! That aside, any law that prevents people from speaking or airing advertisements before an election (or at any time) is an egregious violation of the 1st Amendment and should not be allowed to stand. It's sad that we even have to wonder whether the Supreme Court will decide to side with the US Constitution.
Posted by Jared at January 5, 2007 02:21 PM