Obviously, posting has been somewhat sparce. Believe it or not it's not for lack of things to post about, or necessarily even time (though that's certainly a factor). I'm sharing my computer at work and the Internet has mostly been down for the past week.

Whether I miss (a) Internet, (b) heating, or (c) a working shower most is a close call, but the lack of all three have me spending very little time at the apartment - and Eel's computer has a version of IE that detests Nucleus. So I have access to the Internet for less than an hour a day or so, which is not conducive to posting.

Anyway, posting will hopefully pick up soon. I'm working on a way of getting more (and better) access to the Internet. With any luck, I'll have a pretty big political post up before election day and I have a host of other things I'll try to eek out if I can.

Bass, Drums, Piano - Mourning the passing of Ben Folds Five.
This is a dated article written when Ben Folds Five announced their break-up. This article is particularly important to me because it turned me on to the band in a big way. I probably wouldn't be the Ben Folds fan I am had the National Review (of all publications) written on it.

Libertarian Party Founder Endorses Bush
Like most capital-L Libertarians, he's quite the goofy sorts. I don't agree with all of his points, ut I do a number of them.

Web Server Takedown Called Speech Threat
An update on a not-so-new story about Indymedia's servers being turned over to international authorities. Rackspace, the web host that turned over the drives, is a Texas-based company that hosts, among other things, The Onion. On another note in the article, what is it about a company (any company) claiming to be a "good corporate citizen" that makes me chuckle?

Advertisements Get More Play in Video Games
This is a no-brainer. I was thinking while watching my football game play when they said, "We'd like to take this time to remind you that this game is brought to you by EA Sports"(the maker of the game) that such advertising could probably rake in some extra money by taking that moment to announce that the game was brought to you by Snickers or something. If a doof like me who almost never plays video games can figure this out, it stands to reason that the big wigs would, too.

Trading Family Values: How the old conservative/liberal stereotypes break down when it comes to parenting.
An interesting look at the Bush, Kerry, and Gore households. It seems to be making "discipline" and "getting good grades" to be somewhat interchangable, which both underscores the point they're trying to make and somewhat distorts the picture. That said, an interesting read.

Good news from Iraq, Part 13
Yes, there is some good news!

Return of the 'Law' man
I never took the liking to Chris Noth's character that I did to some of his successors (and his former partners, for that matter) on L&O, but it's nonetheless good to hear that he might be returning to the fold.

Kerry Pushes Plan to Re-Import Canadian Bacon (Parody)

The best deal on soft drinks out there comes in neither a can nor a bottle: it comes in a cup. With pumps full of the stuff, the marginal costs to convenience stores (and, for that matter, fast food joints and restaurants) are so minor that the more money they can get you to pay, the more money they make almost regardless of how much you drink.

That said, I'll generally pay more for less to get it in a can or bottle so that I can carry and drink it at my convenience. Besides, the marginal utility of the drink goes down for me somewhere after 16 ounces or so. Simply put, the more I have, the less more I want.

That said, I am a sucker for a good deal and generally get my money's worth when I'm at a fast food joint and drink more than I should to rectify the money I spent. Or even better, when it's free. We have a free soda fountain at work with a Mountain Dew spigott. After three months of employment, I can safely say that it will be a long, long time before I ever like Mountain Dew again.

Having said all this, demonstrating my glottony and how utterly health unconscious I am, I really have to wonder what in tarnation many consumers out there are thinking.

What do I mean?

I mean the 100-ounce jug. That's what I mean.

Being the good capitalist and glutton that I am, when I first saw those behemoth jugs, I thought about getting one. More. More! MORE!

But why? What possible use do those jugs have? Who can possibly drink 100 ounces in a single sitting? On a single drive? With a single meal?

Who?

Unless you're drinking at hyper speed, it's going to go flat by the time you drink it. It's not a particularly good product for sharing. Just passing that thing around full would cause a wrist strain, it seems. Maybe for water at sporting events? But even then wouldn't a jug be more worthwhile then a mug?

I mean, I guess I could get 100 ounces and see how much I could drink before it goes flat, gets warm, or makes me sick to my stomach.

Yeah, that's certainly worth it.

I could put it in the passengers seat on long drives to keep me company, stopping every four miles for a pit stop.

I truly, honestly don't understand what the use of this product is.

Does anyone out there own one of these things? If so, how do you use it? I may sound hostile, but I'm honestly more genuinely confused.

Can someone help enlighten me, please?

"People love Christmas movies, which makes no sense to me. Having been constricted by seventy years of traditional X-mas plotlines, Christmas films have to continually reassert the joys of loving your fellow man and acting unselfishly, which may be a fine way to live your life, but it really makes for boring cinema." -Pete

Update: And let's not forget, of course, Christmas music.

Mainstays

Tulane Green Wave 59 (2-4, 1-3)
UAB Blazers 55 (5-2, 3-1)
Without a doubt the shocker of the week, UAB's defense is crushed by the Green Wave. UAB's defense hasn't been particularly strong all year, but who would have guessed that it would break against Tulane, who scored their first I-A win of the year this week. UAB's offense but up some outstanding numbers, outgaining the Wave both in the air and on the ground for 649 yards, but some penalties and good ball control by Tulane kept them one step ahead of the Blazers.

Cincinnati Bearcats 49 (3-4, 2-2)
Memphis Tigers 10 (5-2, 2-2)
Coming off two straight losses (the latter to the previously winless Army Black Knights), this is exactly what Cincinnati needed. The Bearcat offense controlled the air and the ground while their defense kept an offense that ran up 90 points in the last two games to just over 200 yards and 10 points. Memphis still has an impressive 5-2 record and still has the chance to regroup with a week off, but they've got Louisville and Southern Miss back-to-back after that. Cincinnati, meanwhile, still has three of the top four teams in the conference to play (TCU, Southern Miss, and Louisville) and it would almost take a miracle for this inconsistent team to get in to a bowl.

Southern Miss Golden Eagles 51 (5-1, 4-0)
East Carolina Pirates 10 (1-5, 1-3)
Southern Miss extends their conference winning streak to 13 games with the help of a strong running game and a couple turnovers (including an unsuccessful fake punt trick play). ECU lost this one everywhere, but particularly on the line, giving up seven sacks and rushing for negative yardage with thirteen tackles with lost yardage. Southern Miss still has a tough schedule in front of it, but one that inexplicably does not include Louisville. Absent a trip-up by the Cardinals, Southern Miss may well be headed for an undefeated season in the conference and a 10-1 record without a trip to the Liberty Bowl.

Texas Christian Horned Frogs 34 (4-3, 2-2)
Houston Cougars 27 (1-6, 1-3)
TCU will leave Conference USA without having lost to their only in-state conference rival. Houston went down in style, but couldn't get within a touchdown until there was no time left to score it, in the last few seconds of the game. Nonetheless, Houston managed to come numerically closer to winning this year than they did last, and in a year of constant lows, that's... something. With the combination of this game and their impressive showing against Southern Miss two weeks ago, they may... no, really, this season is has just been a disaster. TCU, meanwhile, brings their conference record to 2-2, but a bowl game is going to be a challenge with Cincinnati, Southern Miss, and Louisville still on the schedule.

Outgoing

#18 Louisville Cardinals 41 (5-1, 3-0)
South Florida Bulls 9 (2-4, 1-3)
This one was not as close as its score makes it out to be. Louisville QB Stefan LeFors through 21/26 for 242 yards, replaced intermittently by freshman Brian Brohm, who himself threw for more yardage than South Florida did all game.


Incoming

Navy Midshipmen 14 (6-1)
Rice Owls 13 (3-4)
The good news for Rice is that they were one botched extra point away from taking a now bowl-eligable team in to overtime. The bad news is the botched extra point and their first losing record of the season. Making a bowl this year is nigh impossible, making keeping their last bowl appearence over forty years past.

UTEP Miners 44 (5-2)
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs 27 (4-4)
With Houston's utter collapse, UTEP is truly positioning itself to be the power of the New Conference USA's west division. This is particularly impressive given that they are the first team to beat Louisiana Tech that isn't a BCS powerhouse. Even more impressive, UTEP's toughest games are behind them and they're almost certain to be bowl eligable. Whether the West-centric WAC will give them a bowl, on the other hand...

Nevada Wolf Pack 54 (4-4)
Tulsa Golden Hurricane 48 (1-6)
Tulsa took the game in to overtime and came within a whisker of their first I-A win of the season and almost did it against a decent Nevada team. Combine this with their near-miss last week against Boise State and Tulsa may be able to pull a couple wins out of the weak remainder of their schedule (which includes, incidentally, all three teams that will be joining Tulsa in the upcoming C*USA West).

Marshall Thundering Herd 48 (4-3)
Buffalo Bulls 14 (1-7)
Marshall extends it's winning streak to four games, outstripping their prior 3-game losing streak for their first winning record of the season. Marshall's languishing offense finally came alive - albeit against one of the worst teams in I-A football. In any case, Marshall is positioned to put up another respectable year, though they'll probably be spending Christmas at home for their last year in the bowl-anemic MAC.

Miami (OH) Redhawks 43 (5-3)
Central Florida Golden Knights 7 (0-7)
Central Florida has lost it's last 11 games now and have only won 2 of their last 17 games. Last week they gave Buffalo their third win in three years. The Redhawks haven't been able to replicate the success they had last year - but against UCF, did they really need to?

[Click below for the conference standings]

[Read More!]

I've Sold Out; So What Else Is New?
Frank J has a humorous anti-Bush/Halliburton ad for those of us bemused by the left's fixation on the subject.

Captionfest:
George W. Bush
John F. Kerry
Creative capturing with pointless, inane, and sometimes funny captions with pictures of the presidential candidate. My favorite is the "racist joke" one that took me a couple minutes to get.

Record Labels Said to Be Next on Spitzer List for Scrutiny
Gotta beef up my anti-establishment cred by linking to this. New York's attorney general is going after record labels and radio stations for the new "payola" - except that it's 20 years old, the biggest media bohemith (Clear Channel) has discontinued the process, and what will really be accomplished here? But down with the man!

Sperm suffers when man's too fat or too thin [via Chris]
Chris Elam's take is probably more funny than the article is interesting.

It's the FLU, not Ebola
Flu Shot Hysteria
What wimps we have become!

Secret Weapon for Bush? [via IP]
Since I have an impassioned disdain for IQ tests, I'm not inclined to make political hay out of this. But the ones most likely to believe that Bush is stupid are also the most likely to buy in to IQ tests in general, so the notion that Bush's may be higher than Kerry's is quite amusing to me.

Arena Football team gives away toilet paper? [via Fark]
You have to appreciate a front office that knows where their product stands.

Has anyone experienced either of the following problems with Mozilla Firefox?

1) Pop-up Ads: Generally speaking, Mozilla squashes pop-ups, but it seems like lately more and more are getting through. It used to just be University of Phoenix stuff, but lately others are as well.

2) Slow load-up times: It seems to start up pretty slow, particularly just after the computer has been rebooted. While my laptop is a bit low on resources (and not the fastest computer around), my computer at work is 2+GHz and with 500+MB of RAM and my main computer at the apartment is 1.4GHz with 768 of RAM and it starts up slow on all three.

Internet at the apartment is still down, so I was pretty much out of commission Friday and over the weekend.

Back to using breaks and lunches to post.

Arrrrh!

I am instinctually distrustful of anybody that is in an established marriage (newlyweds get a pass) that does not have a picture of their significant other and/or children (if they have them) on their desk at work (assuming it's permissable).

Is that weird?

Update: I should probably clarify a bit. The word "distrustful" is really stronger a word than I mean, but I couldn't find a better word. Skeptical? Aversion?

It's more of a negative early impression. It's a bit analogous to someone who uses unnecessary abbreviations in chat (how r u 2day?). Different impression, but similar in kind insofar as I am less likely to warm up to the person as immediately as I do others.

Not to say that I can't warm up to them - I suspect Adam and I or TP and I would hit it off if we met tomorrow, despite their differing view on the subject - just that it creates a negative initial impression. If for whatever reason I don't get the chance to know the person, that impression will likely stick.

Vote Swingers - Suddenly Politics Is Hot Again. Sometimes, Really Hot. [via Volokhs]
If this is where a lot of Kerry's poll numbers are coming from, this could be very good for the Bush family - it would likely result in the sort of flame-out that Howard Dean had in the Iowa caucuses. But whatever it's implications - and whatever your thoughts of the views expressed - it's quite an interesting article.

Courting Confusion
A good look at one of the threats facing the court system: It's not liberal versus conservative, nor is it originalist versus living documentism. It's upholding one point while making a ruling contradictory of said point. A good read.

Judge marries young couple as 'reward' for completing sentence
In Houston, a judge made a deal with a drug user that if he went through rehab, the judge would marry him and his girlfriend without cost. It's a sweet story.

Analysis: Clinton eyes U.N. post
My thoughts are that an American president will never be in charge of the UN due to fear of American hegemony, but the article's analysis suggests that his real roadblocks are in America. The "critics" criticisms of the UN are somewhat mischaracterized: it's not that the UN is impotent, it's that it's populated in large part by tyrants.

Why I'm voting for Bush
Conservative Frisco columnist Debra Saunders explains her support for the President.

The Daily Dodge
A critical look at Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show." A lot of people both left and right applauded his behavior on CNN's Crossfire, but I found it analogous to being invited to a dinner party and going just to cause a scene criticizing everyone for being such yuppies. Whatever points he made (and I don't like "Crossfire" and agree with most of them), I found it to be more rude than funny or daring.

Book of Mormon to Come Out in Comic Book Form [via Fark]
Since the Movie is apparently a bust, maybe this will be better. Not being particularly familiar with the material, I don't know whether the story is better suited for low-budget film or comic books, but I suspect the latter. I'd think about picking it up, but Idaho should be longsince in the rear view mirror before it runs to completion and my incentive will decline.


Queen fail to convince court they are British
That would be Queen the band, not the one with the crown. I had to do a double-take with the title, though. Even so, pretty funny stuff. Apparently, according to the German courts, once you become an international band, you forfeit EU citizenship.

This is a test post

Update: Any time I intend to work on the blog and write a bunch of posts, the Internet connection at the apartment is down again. At some point between starting on making some much needed template/skin changes and being ready to post them, the connection went bunk. Well, not completely bunk cause this post is going through, but it took until now to get this much. I still can't update the template and it won't stay up for more than a few minutes before going down again. Not completely down, mind you, just down enough to time out 3/4 of the time all the while giving me false hope.

Yes, I would love some cheese with my whine.

I love cheese.

Wanted: Dead or Alive
The Fate of Osama bin Laden
Arguments in favor and against the proposition that Osama bin Laden is dead. The pro-dead argument is convincing, but the skeptic's argument is even more so.

U.S. Has Contingency Plans for a Draft of Medical Workers
I'd be pretty stunned if this came to pass, though (a) there'd probably be slightly less overall resistence to this since most people wouldn't be directly affected and (b) there'd probably be a higher level of compliance - I know for my part if they explicitly needed computer people over there, I'd be much less resistent than if they were to make me a foot-soldier (I'd be a really lousy one). On one hand, it's good that the Selective Service folks are looking at contingencies. On the other, it's still disconcerting however unlikely.

Kerry Off the Leash
NYT's David Brooks does a solid (negative) writeup on John Kerry the candidate.

Cinemocracy 6 Month Review: Voices, Interests, and the Image
A good look at imagery and campaigning. For the party that is less artistically inclined, it'd be pretty impressive to be winning the image war as the author suggests.

Still Bush's To Lose
While I'd put Bush's chances of winning at about 40%, RCP still believes that it's, well, still Bush's to lose (as the title suggests). He puts forth a good argument and I hope that he's right.

The Price of Seduction
An excellent look at Tennessee's health care system, which has national implications because it's similar to the one that John Kerry plans to implement if he were election. TennCare is doing so poorly right now that the Democratic governor is calling for a major rehaul just to keep it together.

Swearing can make men impotent
It can also make women take on more masculine features. I can't help but wonder whether it has less to do with swearing and more to do with testosterone levels. The bit about the water having memory is pretty cool, though.

Anne Linehan over at blogHOUSTON posts on some complaints at UH regarding Chartwells, their managed food provider and links to a Daily Cougar article where students are registering their protests:

I'm not a huge, huge fan of Chartwells, but to be honest I can't rally behind their current set of complaints. Of course, I'm not a clean freak and I couldn't find bottled soft drinks for 99c to save my life.

Mostly, though, I had to endure the company that handled food at UH before when they were on their way out.

From all I'd heard, the company was bad to begin with. It was bad enough that it became pretty obvious that their contract was not going to be extended and they were very unlikely to get a bid (Adam, who was in the RHA at the time, may be able to elaborate on this). Once the company realized that they were serving us on borrowed time, they simply stopped serving us.

For example:

The sandwich place would run out of bread on Thursday and wouldn't replenish their stock until Tuesday.

If someone called in sick, they wouldn't have anyone fill in. Increasing absenteism during exam season meant that a lot of places were closed a lot of the time.

Not only would they not have anyone fill in, they wouldn't make people working at other places help out - even if they were sitting their twiddling thumbs working at the sandwich place without any bread.

They could do all this with impugnity because they knew they weren't getting a contract and residents had to have a meal plan, so they were getting their money anyway.

So when Chartwells came in, they were like a white knight to our rescue. The personnel problems cited in the Daily Cougar didn't exist, the one really good guy from the previous company was held over, and they enlarged the convenience store and had better stock.

The honeymoon didn't last (for me, anyway). The all-you-can-eat cafeteria ceased being all you can eat and the prices of the different plates basically meant that you could have one helping for the same price that you used to have a buffet for. The last straw for me was when they discontinued breakfast.

I wrote a column in the Daily Cougar making this point:

If the purpose of the restaurants is to serve the student population, then we ought to move to a completely capitalistic system where we buy what we want and subsidize the vendors, who pay rent to the University. But if this is to be the case, then we should not be required to buy a meal plan to live on campus. I should not have to shell out more than $400 and then lose that money if it is not spent.

If the purpose is to serve the student residents, then the eating places should at least be open for three meals a day, five days a week, even if there is no profit to be made. The University should also replace any dysfunctional equipment and do whatever needs to be done so Chartwells can do its job (or face the consequences of not doing it without anything else to blame). It's getting to the point that I am waiting for Chartwells to announce it can only serve food between 1 and 1:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

I don't know who is to blame. Chartwells rightfully points out that it has inferior equipment and a disinterested student body. Students point out how everything is being taken away from them. However, the administration and Chartwells need to figure out something or give up, rent the space out, and give me my $400 back.

With the student population of UH being relatively small (4,000 or so, I think) and increasingly sprawled, I don't know whether a more capitalistic system would really work.

But the current system isn't working either. Chartwells's predecessor and Chartwells then and Chartwells now all demonstrate this. But if UH wants to become less of a commuter campus, these problems have to be addressed.

I have a big head... in more ways than one.

But what I'm most concerned about is the actual size of my mellon. I stopped wearing caps a long time ago in part because none of them fit. You know those one-size-fits-all ones? Yeah, they don't fit all. It's been like this since high school or so. I have one mountaineer/cowboy hat that I didn't bring up, but for simplicity's sake I would like an actual regular ballcap to wear on days that I don't want to mess with my hair.

But I can't order one if I don't know what the size of my head is. Most of the time I see hat sizes somewhere between 5-7ish, but I'm not sure where that is derived from.

I took a tape measure thingermabob and the circumference of my head is about 25," which obviously isn't my head size since my head isn't that big. If I measure temple to temple, it's a little over 8", which sounds like it could be right. On the other hand, a size-12 shoe isn't actually 12" and I'd hate to buy a hat assuming that it's inch-for-inch if it's not. I've not actually had a cap that fit to use as a gauge.

Sooooo... anyone have any ideas? Is temple-to-temple measuring correct? Is there a way to tell that I'm missing?

In all seriousness, any advice you can give me in this regard would be greatly appreciated.

I'm almost sheepish to ask these questions, but I need a starting point:

1) Believe it or not, it's been a long time since I've purchased a modem. I've had high speed Internet since I was in college and the few times I didn't have it I could use my laptop. However, recent events compel me to go ahead and purchase a modem. Does anyone have any recommendations (or negative recommendations)?

2) I need computer screws. Tons of them. Of all kinds ranging from case screws to hard drive screws to spoilers. Where can I get a ton of screws?

I wouldn't bother with it except that I had to put my gut feeling down on paper for my Elections 2000 class four years ago and I guess I'll keep the tradition going by doing the same this year. With any luck, my prediction will be as off-base this year as it was last:



Kerry: 51%
Bush: 48%
Nader: <1%

Senate:
Republicans: 52
Democrats: 47
Independents: 1

My feeling for the past couple of months has been that Bush would need to be ahead in the polls by at least 5% in order to stay close enough in the popular vote to pull enough states into his corner to win. Of course, share of the popular vote does not translate in to more or less states, but though I can't remember the exact numbers, once you're talking about a 2% differential, it becomes really really tough for the EC to swing the other way. This is particularly true of Bush, who is set to carry only one large state by a substantial margin (while Kerry will have two).

My reason for the 5% needed is that I believe that increased turnout on the Democratic side coupled with what I believe a last-minute tilt away from the President among undecideds (as usually occurs in an election with an incumbent) will give Kerry a better showing than the polls indicate just prior to the election. The couple of caveats are if Bush pulls away by more than 5% or Bush hovers at or above 50% in polls, then this map is useless (well, it's already useless, but you get the idea :))

Now, having said all this, it's important to note that my gut was very wrong last election. Click below for the last map. [Read More!]

Mainstays

UAB Blazers 41 (5-1, 3-0)
Texas Christian Horned Frogs 25 (3-3, 1-2)
The Blazers continue their breakthrough season. Hackney through for well over 300-yards for the second time this year, scoring five touchdowns in the first half. TCU managed to rack up some impressive yardage of their own, but they were unable to convert first downs into enough touchdowns to keep up (and field goals are not an option this seeason - except for the 26-yarder Lococo managed to put through). UAB comes out of this game 5-1 with their only loss against the Seminoles in Tallahassee while TCU has a losing record in the conference with Southern Miss and Louisville still to go. Luckily for them, they're up against TCU next week. UAB is roughly as fortunate as they head to New Orleans to play Tulane.

Memphis Tigers 49 (5-1, 2-1)
Tulane Green Wave 24 (1-4, 0-3)
The Tigers scored before their offense even touched the ball, opening up what was an averagely spectacular scoring game for this offense that has averaged in the ballpark of 40 points a game. Tulane remains winless against I-A opponents on the year and that's unlikely to change next week against UAB. Memphis heads to Cincinnati to play the erratic Bearcats.

Alabama Crimson Tide 27 (5-2)
#25 Southern Miss Golden Eagles 3 (4-1, 3-0)
The Crimson Tide put Southern Miss in their place, racking up yet another homecoming win against the Golden Eagles as well as their first win against a ranked team in two years. The Eagles put up a paltry 171 yards with only 23 of them in the air. Having struggled against Houston and being embarassed by Alabama, Southern Miss gets the chance to regroup against East Carolina next week.

Outgoing

#17 Louisville Cardinals 38 (4-1, 2-0)
#3 Miami Hurricanes 41 (5-0)
Louisville came within a hair of pulling off what might have been the top-25 upset of the year, but fell short in the final minutes of the game, losing a 17-point lead in the second half of play. As the Houston Oilers taught me: what one team can do in the first half, the other can do in the second... plus 3. Louisville played an outstanding game against one of the league's best (to say the least...) and are truly setting themselves up to be a powerhouse in the new Big East.

Army Black Knights 42 (2-4, 2-3)
South Florida Bulls 35 (2-4, 1-2)
Less than a week after staring down TCU, South Florida gives Army it's first winning streak in seven years. For homecoming, no less. USF ran for an extraordinary 367 yards, outgained their opponents, and still couldn't hold on to the lead. Army has a week off and a decent chance to increase their streak to three against East Carolina the week after. USF has a tough road ahead with Louisville next week and UAB the week after, but so far the only I-A team they seem to be able to beat has been a conference leader, so who knows?

Incoming

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs 41 (4-3)
SMU Mustangs 10 (1-6)
Don't let Louisiana Tech's record fool you, they are poised to be bowl-eligable this year with all three of their losses coming to BCS powerhouses. So in that vein SMU's loss can't be taken too badly. The fact that SMU has only been able to hold two teams below 35 points, however, is quite troubling. Ironically, one of the only two teams they've held below that is offensive powerhouse Texas Tech.

Boise State Broncos 45 (6-0)
Tulsa Golden Hurricane 42 (1-5)
Boise State manages to pull another win out of it's magical hat, making this three of the last four games being too close for comfort. Tulsa managed to make a game out of it and act like a I-A team after going 0-5 against I-A opponents on the year (their one win against Southwest Missouri State). A tough last-minute loss, to be sure, but it at least gives them hope that the whole season may not be a loss.

Nevada Wolf Pack 45 (3-4)
Rice Owls 10 (3-3)
Rice managed roughly 60 passing yards. They had a better game on the ground, but not enough to stay competitive in this one. The Owls have lost three of their last four and are not poised to have as good a season as I was thinking a few weeks ago.

UTEP Miners 51 (4-2)
Hawaii Warriors 20 (2-3)
UTEP managed to stay ahead of the Warriors all game and pick up their third impressive win in as many weeks. With San Jose State, SMU, and Tulsa still to play, the Miners are in a decent position to go bowling. First, however, they have to face a so-far impressive Louisiana Tech team.

Marshall Thunder Herd 27 (3-3)
Kent State Golden Flashes 17 (1-6)
Kent State started strong with two touchdowns in the first seven minutes, but the Thunder Herd managed to shut them down in the second half to pull off an unimpressive win where neither team managed over 250 offensive yards.

Akron Zips 26 (3-4)
Central Florida Golden Knights 21 (0-6)
The Golden Knights put up some impressive numbers and had an outstanding passing game, but were killed by four turnovers. They attempted a comeback in the last quarter, but fell just short. As far as MAC teams go, Akron isn't bad, but UCF remains winless in one of the two weakest conferences in the NCAA.

The Myth of 'Squandered Sympathy'
A good take-down on the notion that the world loved us before they hated us. At the end, it comes down to doing things their way or being denigrated mercilessly by our allies. 9/11 simply couldn't erase all of our strategic and moral differences.

The making of the terror myth
Al Qaeda doesn't exist, Communism was just drummed up as something to fear, and Straussians and Islamists are two ends of the same stick. Or so says a BBC documentary. The Guardian article presupposes that most of their audience already agrees with some of the premises, which considering the Guardian's readership is probably right, but doesn't help those of us that don't tend to follow that line of logic understand where the director is coming from. I'm actually interested in seeing some of this.

Comic Book Superhero Gets HIV-Positive Sidekick
The hero would be Green Arrow, one known for political edginess over the years. I'd be more impressed with this if it didn't just scream of the desire to be politically relevent without being even modestly controversial.

Mobile Phones
As more and more people get cell phones without landlines, polling is going to be more difficult. It could be a good thing if it weens us from the horse-race mentality, or it could be bad if it just handicaps the race.

Bush v. Gore, Ticking Bomb
George Will, one of the more sober conservatives out there, takes a look at the what the implications could be for this election -- he's not particularly pleased and the prospects and puts forward a strong case.

Editorial: Oil for food: A scandal
It's surprising to me how ignored this scandal remains in the media. I don't post on it because a bazillion other bloggers do, but it's worth a mention every now and again.

John Eisenhower: Why I will vote for John Kerry for President
The son of the former president on why he's supporting John Kerry.

Paper: Expletive Hidden in Campaign E-Mail
Between things like this and the incident at the Chronicle where some wisecracking web editor named a JPG depicting a little girl in pro-bush decoration "brainwashed.jpg," companies and campaigns are going to have to be more careful about the lattitude web programmers are given.

Bobby Fischer vigorously defends his manhood
Bobby Fischer as in the famous chess player. Manhood as in... well... yeah... that.

Kevin gave me a GMail invitation a few weeks back and I've been just loving it. I've still got some things to figure out (how do I delete emails?!), but I'm sure that will come with time and experience.

Google continues on the warpath now with what looks to be a really cool file-searching program:

Google Inc. (GOOG) on Thursday became the first tech heavyweight to tackle the daunting task of uncluttering computers, introducing a program that quickly scours hard drives for documents, e-mails, instant messages and past Web searches.

[...]


"We think of this (program) as the photographic memory of your computer," said Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer Web products. "It's pretty comprehensive. If there's anything you once saw on your computer screen, we think you should be able to find it again quickly."

[...]

Currently compatible only with the Windows operating system, Google's 400-kilobyte desktop program requires about 10 minutes to download on a dial-up connection and takes some five or six hours to index a computer's hard drive.

[...]

Google's desktop search still doesn't work with the company's new e-mail service, called Gmail. If desired, the program automatically saves all AOL instant message conversations and creates a cache of all Web pages surfed by a computer.

OUtstanding!

The fact that Microsoft Windows has yet to come up with a fast and competent search program is nothing short of pathetic. I honestly prefer the search mechanism from Windows 98 to that of 2000 and XP (it's probably 98s only advantage).

I haven't been this excited about a computer program since City of Heroes. Except unlike COH, I'm actually going to get this one!

A professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette apparently completely lost it in class:

Student Kacie Spears said professor Louis Houston lost control right after class began Wednesday morning and was yelling obscenities.

"Then he told us if we got out of our seats he's gonna kill us. He went on the black board and wrote "911 now", so we were really in fear for our lives," Spears told KATC-TV.

Spears said Houston slapped a student and then told his class he was God.

Bizarre.

The authorities are taking it pretty seriously. The building was evacuated and bomb dogs were sent in. They're talking about involuntary commitment into a psychiatric hospital. It's apparently not the first time he has burst out in class.

One of my favorite professors completely lost it at UH. S/he yelled at us for about ten minutes about how worthless we were (we'd just screwed up) and how we were never going to cut it in the real world.

Incidentally, I actually saw this professor at an Insane Clown Posse concert. One of the reasons s/he was one of my favorite professors.

ESPN has a mechanism where you can get the play-by-play on the website. I'm using it for the Miami-Louisville game.

Which would be cool, if it actually told me the play as it was happening. Instead, in it's "AutoRefresh" mode it's jumping around in the game. One second Miami is about to score in a 31-21 game, the next Louisville had the ball on their own twenty with over three minutes added to the clock.

Then Miami is about to score again.

Then it's not even half-time and the score is 17-14.

Then Miami scored to make it 31-24.

Now the game hasn't even started yet.

Update: On the other hand, their baseball version is working, so I got to watch the Astros disintegrate accurately. Oh, joy.

Update II: Down by four with five seconds left on the 49 yard line and they rush it up the center?!?!?!?!

Oh wait, we're in the first quarter now.

DEATH OF KEN CAMINITI: Ex-ballplayer's final night out [via FatGuy]
An eerie account of the former Astro's last day before he died.

The Sprint to the Finish Line
A sober and non-partisan look at where the presidential race is (or was before last night's debate)

Chinese man cannot name son '@' [via Dustbury]
You know, I've complained a good deal about some of the stupid names that Americans give their kids, but apparently we have nothing on some of the Chinese.

Study: One in 100 adults asexual
Back in high school we used to joke with my friend Brian about his lack of interest in girls. I got hit many-a-time for bringing up the "a" word. It was a phase he outgrew, but apparently it's not that uncommon. My favorite part is the fact that they already have an interest group. Can "special episodes" of sitcoms about asexuals coming out of the closet be far behind?

Things that Make You Go Hmmmmm...
The Conversation
Some speculation on the exchange between President Bush and Senator Kerry at the end of their debate last night.

Doubts raised over King Olav's lineage
That would be King Olav of Norway. The speculation is that he might have been a product of artificial insemenation.

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” -Jewish sage Hillel

An American in London
An absolutely horrifying account of anti-Americanism (and anti-semitism) in England.

Wrestler Accused Of Stabbing Opponent 14 Times In Florida Match
Who says wrestling is fake?

Teen Who Survived Car Crash Alert
She survived stuck in a crashed car for eight days - saved in part by her dehydration.

U.S. Seeks to Stop a Spyware Operation
While I'm not a big fan of passing anti-spyware laws, but I've no problem with those that throw the book at spyware companies that break existing laws. Especially spyware companies peddling anti-spyware software.

Call in Sick or Go to Work? Here's Some Advice
Good advice, probably, that I will never take.

Jagged Little Pill
Interesting innovations on birth control for men. I'm inclined to agree with the author that the market would probably be there, though I'm not as sure when it comes to shots or Norplant-style devices.

Love at first sight
Either extraordinarily romantic or disturbingly unsettling. Take a pick.

The Republican Congress is hard at work, taking on our onerous tax code:

Included in the measure are a buyout for tobacco farmers and tax breaks for NASCAR track owners, native Alaskan fishing companies, restaurant owners, importers of Chinese fans, and foreigners who pick winners at U.S. horse and dog race tracks.

Though the Republicans campaign on simplifying the tax code since I've been following politics, I guess I can understand this slight deviation. One cannot underestimate the value that fans imported from China add to our economy.

I went down to the famed coke machine today and noticed that the RC Cola "out" light wasn't on. While I was planning to make due with some strawberry soda, I know a good deal when I see it. So I took out fifty cents, put it in the machine, and one came out.

Then nothing.

I tried putting the can back in and taking it back out.

Nothing.

I punched the button again.

Nothing.

So I put in my fifty cents and got one coke.

What's up with that?

Braves lose in first round for third straight year
What a stupid title: The Astros win their first playoff series in the history of the ball club and we're supposed to care about the Braves getting knocked off? Okay, enough being indignant and time to be celebratory! On to St. Louis!

Whose Military Vote?
Peter Feaver writes an outstanding column simultaneously (a) debunking the idea that military men and women have turned on Bush and (b) explaining why we really shouldn't put the preferences of the military men and women in the middle of the presidential contest to begin with. Note to self: write about why the opinions of expats shouldn't matter more, either.

Millionaires for Bush, Billionaires for Kerry
As the title suggests, the wealthy support Bush and the wealthier support Kerry. It's not news, but a good cursory look at "why?"

France May Allow Jamming of Mobile Phones
This is great! Can places do this in the US? The other day Eel and I were in Tater Falls eating at Chili's and I saw a woman talking on her cell phone for almost the entire 45 minutes we were there. She was there with her parents and two children (her husband joined half-way through). I actually considered writing a little note and tossing it on her table when we left: "Get off the %@#& phone," but refrained. Not that I expect Chili's to do anything like this, but gosh that would be great for movie theaters and the like, wouldn't it?

Vatican buries the hatchet with Blair and Bush over Iraq
It's sad when my first thought when reading this was "Thank heavens this didn't happen right after the election."

'Here I Come to Save the Day...'
Some Oklahoman paid a couple of kids to assault his estranged wife so that he could come to her rescue. It didn't work out so well.

Couple allegedly has sex at the Alamo
The title pretty much says it all.

Kerry Says Do-Not-Terrorize List Would End Nuisance (Parody)
Reminds me of when former Senator Ernest Hollings (D-SC) suggested shortly after 9/11 a warning sign to potential terrorists: "Try to hijack, go to jail.''

Just out of Gate City is an Indian reservation. I'd say "Native American" reservation except that on their billboards they call themselves an Indian reservation so I'm inclined to respect that. I've been there a couple of times to take advantage of their tax-free commodities, but haven't partaken in the gambling for reasons monetary (can't afford it). The reason that they have gambling in a state where it's not allowed outside the lottery is because it's technically federal land and/or a sovereign nation.

Whenever we pass through, Eel and I joke that we're leaving Idaho. I mean, of course it's Idaho. They even have the county markers ("Now entering such-and-such county") in there!

It's not a joke, really.

Mr. Cordova, whose real last name I did not know and whom I had assumed Hispanic, is of Shoshoni ancestry and, unsurprisingly, has some friends out there. Also unsurprisingly, considering that he is a resident of Thrifthaven, he has had some skirmishes with the law and is out courtesty of the Parole Board.

Was out, anyway.

One of the conditions of his parole was that he was not allowed to leave the state of Idaho. He was visiting some friends out at the reservation and was stopped for a minor traffic violation out there.

The minor traffic violation turned into something considerably more serious because it was incurred outside the state of Idaho, he violated the term of his release that he wasn't allowed to leave the state without first notifying his PO.

So Mrs. Cordova and the kids have moved out, leaving me to play my music as loud as I want and leaving me without the constant fighting between the couple so long as I don't bother Jesus Boy, who now occupies the room of re-re-incarcerated Dundee.

Kerry Opens Three-Point Lead on Bush
Bush Leads By Five...
Well that certainly clarifies things.

Electoral College Update (Wisconsin-Ohio Swap)
This is a much more helpful look at the Electoral College and what Bush and Kerry need to do in order to win. Slight advantage to Bush, though statewide polls always lag national ones.

Beaumont students watch 'Fahrenheit 9/11' in class
Less than a week after I post on a Bush picture on a display getting a teacher fired, a principal in Beaumont sees nothing wrong with a teacher showing a class Michael Moore's (Rated-R, to boot) propaganda. As commenter Kavey said, "schools have never been neutral."

Obituary: Caminiti admitted steroid use, fought drug problem
To me, this is bigger news than the death of Christopher Reeve. Caminiti was a big deal round these parts before he parted due west.

Bush campaign to base ad on Kerry terror quote
The quote being that terrorism is a 'nuisance.' The problem? That's not what Kerry said at all. I don't agree with what Kerry did say, mind you, but the difference between saying that we want to get terrorism down to being just a nuisance and saying that he views it as such already is not not marginal and the Bush campaign is disingenously taking a quote out of context to make a point.

Key U.S. Ally on Iraq Wins 4th Term in Australia
I agree with the other right-leaning commentators that if Prime Minister John Howard - a Bush ally - had lost, it would be considered bigger news than it has been. But such is life and the bigger deal is that we can still count Australia as one of our most loyal allies.

Meatloaf sees off wild boars
Yes, as in Meatloaf the singer. Yes, as in wild boars the wild animals. They are, apparently, not big fans of big guy.

Mainstays

Southern Miss Eagles 35 (4-0, 3-0)
Houston Cougars 29 (1-5, 1-2)
Houston put together a pretty impressive game, but came up short in overtime, giving Southern Miss their 12th straight conference win and first season since 1982 to start out 4-0. The Cougars offense put up a season high 345 passing yards, which should give Cougar fans some hope that last year's stellar passing offense might not be MIA all season. They're going to need some of that to stay competitive with TCU after next week's bye. Southern Miss goes to Alabama to play the Crimson Tide in a non-conference match-up next week.

East Carolina Pirates 27 (1-4, 1-2)
Tulane Green Wave 25 (1-3, 0-2)
The good news for the Pirates is that they managed to break their Army-doesn't-count losing streak, the bad news is that it was against a pretty hapless Tulane that have themselves fallen on some pretty tough luck the past couple of seasons. Nonetheless, a turnaround has to start somewhere - and that means not losing games against weak teams. Next week Tulane looks for its first I-A win against Memphis and East Carolina looks to continue on their success against Southern Miss. I wish them both luck - they're going to need it.

UAB Blazers 27 (4-1)
Mississippi State Bulldogs 13 (1-5)
The Mississippi State Bulldogs have been far from impressive this season with their only win against Tulane in Sylvester Croom's debut as the first black coach at MSU. That said, UAB has chalked up yet another win, putting them within one of their last-season total. With Tulane, Army, and Houston left to play they are almost certain to make their first bowl appearence in school history. Next week, though, they're going to have to prove themselves against a rested TCU Horned Frogs.

Outgoing

Army Black Knights 48 (1-4,0-3)
Cincinnati Bearcats 29 (2-4, 1-2)
I guess I don't have Army to kick around anymore. All three of the longest losing streak's were broken this year, but none as impressively as Army's. Yard for yard, the teams performed equally, but Army was the beneficiary of a couple of helpful turnovers. Cincinnati has a chance to prove themselves after a bye by taking on an impressive Memphis team, but without an easy win in sight, they'll be lucky to match last year's 5-7 season as they head off to the more competitive Big East.

Incoming

Rice Owls 44 (3-2)
SMU Mustangs 10 (1-5)
Were it not for their victory against San Jose State earlier in the year, SMU would almost certainly have picked up the "nation's longest losing streak" moniker from Army. Insterestingly, while SMU convincingly beat San Jose State and Rice lost in last week's record-breaking heart-breaker, Rice pounded the Mustangs into oblivion without the benefit of their starting quarterback or, for that matter, a passing game at all. The Owls passed for only five yards, but with some great running by their backup QB ran for nearly five hundred.

UTEP Miners 24 (3-2)
Fresno State Bulldogs 21 (3-2)
Fresno State managed to beat Washington and Kansas State only to lose to consecutively to Louisiana Tech and UTEP to start their WAC season 0-2. UTEP, on the heels of crushing New Mexico State and biting at Boise State's heels, turned in an impressive game against on of the non-BCS's best. With three wins, they already have accumulated the most wins since their 8-4 season in 2000.

Marshall Thunder Herd 16 (2-3)
Ohio Bobcats 13 (3-3)
In what will probably be the last game against these two rivals for a while, Marshall managed to hold on to a game they probably shouldn't have won when Ohio's kicker missed a 32-yard kick in the closing minutes of the game. Marshall has managed to keep every game close - even against BCS powerhouses Georgia and Ohio State, so it remains to be seen how this season will pan out for the Thunder Herd.

Northern Illinois Huskies 30 (4-2)
Central Florida Golden Knights 28 (0-5)
The bad news is that the hiring-a-big-shot-coach plan that appears to be working in El Paso isn't taking hold in Orlando as the Knights fall to an 0-5 record. The good news is that they gave an impressive NIU a coronary by nearly coming back from a 21-point deficit in the second half. Next week they'll try again against Akron.

So yeah, I watched it this time around. I don't get any television in my apartment so I had to watch it streamlining over the Internet. The connection wasn't great, as the video would lock up, the audio would cram, and periodically it'd have to restart.

As for the debate, both candidates looked great. Kerry's transformation from the undead senator I saw at Bush's SotU a couple of years back to Kerry the candidate is nothing short of miraculous. I can increasingly accept looking at Kerry as my president. He just doesn't grate as he did.

Too bad everything he had to say came out hollow.

I didn't see Bush in the last debate, but I can only assume that it was nothing like this one as Bush came across as very personable and serious at the same time. He seemed comfortable in his own skin even in the face of some extremely harsh "questions" and he stood tall and evaded the questions as skillfully as Kerry evades a clear stance.

Too bad everything he had to say came out hollow.

There was one really, really great part of the debate. The connection quit for a split second and the buffer had to reload. When it did, for about five minutes or so there wasn't any audio. I just watched them prancing around in their expensive suits, make all of the hand motions and take all of the cues that they've been training for, and playing their respective roles with good skill.

I thought about cutting and redoing the feed connection, but I realized that I liked the debate better that way. The sound eventually caught up, but that was by far my favorite part of the debate.

Kittens Are World's First Cloned Pets
This is an old article, but apparently I was so out of the loop that I missed it, so here it is for anyone else similarly out of the loop. It's an extraordinary scientific achievement put towards one of the pointless goals imaginable.

A Public Policy Failure
Virginia Postrel writes an outstanding explanation for the failure of the Robin Hood school financing re-distribution system in Texas.

Musical youth fault today's political music as long on Bush-bashing
I have some respect for the musicians that are going out there and putting on music shows for their candidate (or more precisely, against my candidate). It certainly beats injecting their views into a non-political show. In the last few days I've even heard a political song or two that I've liked (though I disagreed with). But I get some satisfaction from some blowback from people that are tired of hearing it, don't want to hear it, and recognize that a lot of it just isn't very good.

The Kerry Enigma - Pelosi captures the Democratic nominee unplugged.
While the idea that John Kerry is rather dull is not a particularly new one and is, incidentally, a lousy reason not to vote for the man, this is still an interesting (and unfavorable to the Senator) comparison of Kerry with other presidential candidates (including his Democratic rivals).

Mayor to propose ban on restaurant smoking
From a pure ideological standpoint, I oppose any smoke ban on private businesses. From a practical standpoint, I really can't get too excited about this one and am thankful that it doesn't ban smoking in bars. But as Kevin points out, doesn't Houston have better things to be doing? Why yes, yes it does.

Kerry-haters for Kerry Main Page
Priceless.

"In this case, I am not a young girl, nor have I ever been, and so how would I know if one would like it? Of course, that's exactly the objection I get in e-mails from young readers, who complain that no one like me can possibly like a movie like this. They are correct. I have spent a long time, starting at birth and continuing until this very moment, evolving into the kind of person who could not possibly like a movie like this, and I like to think the effort was not in vain." -Roger Ebert, reviewing Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.

According to MSN Money, more and more banks are charging debit fees:

Swipe your debit card at the checkout register and there's an increasing chance that more than the purchase price and tax will be subtracted from your checking account.

A fee for using the debit card also may be deducted. Debit-card fees have been around a long time, but they used to be rare. Now they're much more common.

The catch is that the fee is assessed only if you treat the purchase as a debit and use your PIN to authorize the transaction. Press the "credit" key, sign your name on the receipt and no fee is charged.

After reading this article I went online and looked at my bank statement (it's amazing how much easier it is to muster up the energy to look at a bank statement when you have a job and it's not depressing anymore) and found an odd $1 fee assessed today for "CHECKCARD ACTIVITY" accompanied by an "ATM/POS ACTIVITY" charge of the amount of my purchase plus $10 cashback.

No previous charges assessed for using my debit card or for cash back or for any transactional fee (as long as I use my banks ATM, of course, otherwise the ATM fees add up to upwards of $3).

Odd.

It's still labeled as "pending" so it might disappear from the bill. Here's the catch, though: I don't get any itemized statements from my bank. If they've just started charging, then I was not notified of the charge (notification being a subject in the MSNM article). If it's always been there, then why have I only been charged the fee once?

Anyone else here use Wells Fargo? Anyone else seen the charge? Anyone notified of a charge?

Encarta Webster's Dictionary Reflects 9/11 Language
Not just 9/11, but some of the comparisons made since for "Spain's 9/11" and "Russia's 9/11" and such. Probably the most important change to a dictionary since they added Homer Simpson's "D'oh."

Texas economy slowly gets back on its feet [via blogHOUSTON]
Audrey mentioned a couple weeks ago that things seemed to be starting to look better in Houston and this article seems to bear it out. An interesting look at Houston's - and Texas's - economy.


Take My Music . . . Please
A handful of artists decide to give Creative Commons licensing a try. While I'm not sure about this particular plan, I do think that trying new things is definitely a good thing for artists and record companies to be trying new things.

Science prize celebrates fish flatulence, hula hoops
Interesting science far prizes.


For younger workers, family matters [via Judd]
So the question is whether or not we're bucking our Gen-X stereotype by not being apathetic about family... or whether we are living up to our stereotype of being lazy that we're so uninterested in work our families are more important by default.

Pro-Kerry Forces Invade GOP Victory Center
Protestors Ransack Bush/Cheney Headquarters In Orlando
Swastika Burned Into Grass On Bush-Cheney Supporter's Lawn
GOP workers claim intimidation by labor protesters in 3 Florida cities
Good grief, what's going on? Karl Rove couldn't have come up with something better for Bush's campaign than this.

Authorities consider probing National Guard memos given to CBS
While I'm certain that some on the other side of the aisle will suggest that this proves how vindictive the White House (or the GOP in general) is, laws were broken here.

Porn film crew catch armed robbers

Bush Replaces CIA with CNN, Thanks to Edwards (Parody)

Mainstays

Memphis Tigers 41(4-1, 1-1)
Houston Cougars 13 (1-4, 1-1)
Memphis was one of the few teams to absolutely manhandle Houston last year and they repeated the performance this time around in Memphis. The only really notable thing about this game is that Memphis running back DeAngelo Williams broke the school record. Memphis managed to rebound after last week's unexpected loss to UAB. Houston is now 3-9 in their last twelve games and facing Southern Miss and TCU in the next two games, they don't look poised to improve on that.

#22 Louisville Cardinals 59 (4-0, 2-0)
East Carolina Pirates 7 (0-4, 0-1)
One of these two teams is likely going to become a dominant force in a BCS conference next year. The other has a coach with a 1-15 record trying to contend that you're not a failure if you keep trying. Louisville is wondering if they can beat Miami next week. ECU has to be wondering if they can slide by Army or Houston to improve on last year's 1-11 record thanks to a shorter schedule. In case you're wondering, I'm not talking about the game because except for a fleeting moment or two in the second quarter, there apparently wasn't one.

Southern Miss Golden Eagles 27 (3-0, 2-0)
South Florida Bulls 20 (2-2, 1-1)
USF tried to make a game of it, but fell short in the second quarter and couldn't quite stage a comeback. The Bulls had some trouble with the pass game, throwing the ball over 40 times with just 150 yards. Southern Miss dominated the clock and managed to keep the Bulls at bay whenever the game got too close. South Florida has won 24 of their last 27 home games and will almost certainly improve on that against Army after next week's bye. Southern Miss, meanwhile, looks to extend their conference winning streak to 11 games against Houston.

UAB Blazers 30 (3-1, 2-0)
Cincinnati Bearcats 27 (2-3, 1-1)
The Blazers keep chugging along, picking up their second conference win, despite being dominated by Cincinnati's defense. A couple turnovers, some penalties, and a blocked kick helped seal Cincinnati's fate. Whether UAB can make it over the hump remains to be seen. Their only loss is to Florida State, but TCU is waiting just around the corner after their game next week against Mississippi State. Cincinnati has proven that they beat the losing teams, so it's a good thing they're playing Army next week.

Outgoing Teams

Texas Christian Horned Frogs 21 (3-2, 1-1)
Army Black Knights 17 (0-4, 0-2)
TCU comes in to this match-up with a two-game losing streak and nearly came out of it extending it to three. Army jumped out to an early lead with touchdowns on each of their first two possessions. TCU responded with... nothing, at least until half-way through the third quarter. A couple touchdowns there and a third in the closing minutes of the game extended Army's losing streak to 19 games. Congratulations to TCU kicker Peter Lacoco, who managed to go 3 for 3 on extra points. Quite the accomplishment for this kicker.

Incoming Teams

Boise State Broncos 38 (5-0)
SMU Mustangs 20 (1-4)
Boise State manages to unimpressively beat another unimpressive team from Texas leaving for C*USA next year. SMU managed to avoid a blowout, but not much more than that. Barely over 300 yards for the day, but their improvements over last year are undeniable. An actual win last week, a decent game against a Big XII competitor, and keeping Boise State dissatisfied beats their 0-12 season last year.

San Jose State Spartans 70 (2-2)
Rice Owls 63 (2-2)
4,000 fans crowded into Rice Stadium to watch two schools that are such powerhouses that both talked of discontinuing their football programs over the summer. That's actually not fair to Rice, whose only loss coming into this game was against a ranked and (for a couple more days, anyway) undefeated Texas Longhorns. Except... Rice lost. To a San Jose team with only two Division I-A victories in this season and last. You gotta give SJSU ctredit for winning a game on 49 plays in under 18 minutes of possession, an outstanding special teams effort and a quarterback that's third on the depth chart due to injury that passed for 347 yards. Records Rice broke or tied: Most points by a losing team in regulation, most points by a losing team including overtime (tied), and a school record 100 plays for 634 yards. Combined, the two teams had the highest combined score of any game in regulation play and the most touchdowns ever in a regulation game. Unreal. With more than 4,000 could have seen it

UTEP Miners 45 (2-2)
New Mexico State Aggies 0 (1-4)
UTEP demolished the opposition in their first victory against a I-A opponent under Coach Price and they did it against New Mexico State, who in their most recent game two weeks ago beat Troy, who beat Marshall and Missouri the two preceeding weeks. Is college football great or what?

Hawaii Warriors 44 (1-2)
Tulsa Golden Hurricane 16 (1-4)
Tulsa managed to make a game of it until getting blown out in the second half, but with an 0-4 record in DI-A I don't think Tulsa coach Steve Kragthorpe should be waiting by the phone for the better job offers he's reportedly seeking. With any luck, they'll follow fellow WAC-turning-C*USA teams and make give Boise State a hard enough time that BSU will be kicking themselves for another insufficient victory.

Marshall Thunder Herd 33 (1-3)
Miami Redhawks 25 (2-3)
Marshall finally manages to pull off a victory against defending MAC champion Miami of Ohio. A solid victory (late comeback attempt by Miami withstanding). With losses to powerhouses like Ohio State and Georgia, it's tough to gauge how they'll do this year, but it gives those in the C*USA looking at Marshall as the conference's savior can at least take some hope.

Buffalo Bulls 48 (1-4)
Central Florida Golden Knights 20 (0-4)
Buffalo is one of the worst teams in Division I-A. Their starting quarterback is indefinitely suspended and their back-up - a red-shirt freshman - helped lead their team to a 48-20 victory. Conference USA may not be the Big East, but the eastern division is going to be the tougher one and I don't know how UCF will even remotely be able to compete. On the bright side for Golden Knights, they will be in the same division as East Carolina.

Other Games of Note

Utah Utes 28 (5-0)
New Mexico Lobos 0 (2-3)
And Utah keeps rolling on. With five decisive victories against 2 BCS teams and 2 MWC teams every last one of which by two touchdowns or more, Utah is in better shape to be a legitimate non-BCS national contender than any I've ever seen. If they can keep this up, there is no reason that they shouldn't be in a BCS game and, depending on the circumstances, under consideration for a national championship big. That's a big if, though.

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs 28 (3-2)
Fresno State Bulldogs 21 (3-1)
In the Battle of the Bulldogs, the underdogs win. Fresno State's hopes of breaking into the BCS are dashed and the only WAC team in the central time zone that the C*USA didn't take is the only one with a winning record.

As near as I can figure, the proposals to charge drivers by the mile instead of by the gallon is a solution in search of a problem. Actually, that's not quite true. It's a solution to solve problems outside the scope of its purported aim:

As my initial comment suggests, I am very doubtful that it will be an either-or between gas taxes and mile taxes. If we allow for a mile tax, then it will be both.

Some legitimate points are brought up such as that as cars become more environmentally friendly with hybrids and such, gas tax revenue will drop. The most obvious answer would be to increase the gas taxes. However, since raising gas taxes are unpopular I suspect that the mile tax idea is being floated as a back door way to recoup the losses (or, until such losses occur, generate more revenue).

I'd personally prefer higher taxes from fewer sources than lower taxes from a plethora of tax streams. I believe that we ought to know exactly how much of our money is subsidizing that, I believe that the more revenue streams that exist out there the harder it becomes to figure out, and I believe that those that support opening more tax revenue streams know that and support opening such streams because it will allow for higher taxes and more government.

My first thought on reading about it is that this is another example of that.

But even if I take mile tax supporters word for it that this will be a replacement instead of an addendum, I am wary of other motives behind making this change. Charles Kuffner, for instance, argues:

It's not clear to me that this is a loser from a conservation perspective. It seems to me that one intended effect of a miles-driven tax would be to encourage people to live closer to where they work and play. I've got coworkers who have 100-mile round trip commutes. I don't care what car they drive, they're using a lot of gasoline. If a mileage tax could be graded in the way that (say) home electricity usage is, so that you pay a higher amount the more you travel per day, this would be an improvement from a revenue-collection and public-policy perspective over a gas tax.

I don't know if I've just completely joined the tin foil hat brigade here, but I can't help but believe that the primary motive here is the increased ability to influence people's personal activity.

The Chron mentions the possibilities:

Researchers love the idea that driving taxes could be adjusted to promote or discourage certain actions. The system could charge more per mile during peak hours, for instance, or add a surcharge for heavy trucks and sport utility vehicles.

Ding, ding, ding!

Heavier trucks and SUVs are already penalized by gas taxes. If we so desired, we could penalize them further at purchase. So that rationale is a non-starter. But by being able to track people what roads people use, when they're driving, that opens the door to countless charges and fees used as much to dictate behavior as to raise revenue.

Peak hours are just the begining. They can target commuters from the icky suburbs because it's not the way that they think that people should live. If you're driving a route that is covered by light rail, you could be charged extra for that even if you have reasons for doing so.

Even if all of these were worthwhile targets for taxation, a "road utility bill" would get really complicated really quickly. The more complicated a bill is, the easier it is to slip more and more charges or rebates to the point that it becomes as convoluted as the tax code.

And the last problem I have with it may earn me lifetime membership in the tin foil hat brigade: The privacy issue.

Kevin points out that many Texans already have trackers in their car (EZ Tags) and all but calls the privacy issue "moot."

That's not to suggest that Transtar is doing anything untoward with personal data. But it IS to suggest that the idea we shouldn't allow GPS or transponder technology into our cars because of privacy concerns is already moot. The technology's already being used, to some extent, right here in Houston.

There is, in my mind, a tremendous difference between voluntary and involuntary systems. You can opt out of the EZ Tag system. So if they start, for instance, using EZ Tags to ticket drivers for speeding, you can simply take your EZ Tag off and pay the full toll fair. EZ Tag would face pretty immediate repercussions as more and more people chose to opt out.

If GPS recievers are mandated so that the charges can be fairly assessed, then there's nothing to stop them from making a $5 charge every instance that you exceed the speed limit or if the GPS knows that you didn't come to a full and complete stop at this place or that.

It could generate a lot of revenue or make driving a heck of a lot more expensive. There are people that have no problem with either of those issues, but I'm not among them.

All of this accomplishing what, exactly? I see it opening the door for a lot of bad things that admittedly will probably not happen, but I just don't see the upside. The only advantage I can see is a more user-fee approach to taxing road usage, which is good, but it's either going to be a flat rate (which goes us what good exactly) or it'll vary from road to road and jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Think of the last speed trap that you got nailed in while driving through Texas. Imagine giving that same town the power to determine how much it costs every single driver to use their portion of the road. Citizens of Riesel would never have to pay taxes again.

Don't get me wrong, I applaud Texas and the other states that funded the study for looking into more efficient ways of taxation. This one appears to be a loser, but the next idea they run across may not be.

But this one sure is.

I had everything wonderfully planned out last night. I was going to leave work, get home, spend a couple hours watching EA and testing computer parts. When I finished testing computer parts, I was going to set up Maverick as the main computer and write the C*USA Wrap-up, write a couple other posts that have been swimming in my mind for the past couple of weeks. I was actually going to be setting the computer up solely so that I could get caught up on intended posts.

Twas not to be. The complex's DSL was, shocker of all shockers, down.

Until it gets back up, I can't do the C*USA Wrap-up because sports sites are blocked at work (so far, interestingly, they're the only ones that are filtered out). I also can't do some of the posts that require pictures. And honestly, I'm not enthusiastic about spending all my lunch and break time posting.

So the C*USA wrap-up and Jenna storylines will be posted soon, but not as scheduled.

After some extensive parts testing, it appears that the computer meltdown a week or so ago was limited to the power supply. I mixed and matched motherboards with Heineken, my mostly-working file server, and both motherboards work in the file server's case, but neither in Doral's case.

This is actually a first for me. In the past even when the source of the breakdown is the file server, the moboard takes a hit as well.

So it looks like I will only need to spend a fraction of the money I budgeted for replacements. I'm a little disappointed that I won't be getting a 2+GHz processor like I have at work, but you know what? I'll deal.

In my RAW Links post yesterday, I mentioned a middle school teacher in New Jersey that was fired for refusing to take down a picture of the president.

I said the following:

The unanswered question in this article is "which presidents were up there with President Bush's?" If it was Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Bush that's different than Bush up there with ten different ones. Given the current political climate, that was probably not wise. But whether you like him or not, Bush is the president. He may not be for much longer, but that's somewhat beside the point.

In the comments section I added:

I'm a bit suspicious of the teacher because of her decision to refuse to take the picture down. If the administration said that it was inappropriate to have a picture of Rutherford B. Hayes because it was really Sam Tilden that won that election, I'd think they were goofy but I'd comply. There are fights worth fighting and there are fights that aren't. That she chose this particular one suggests that she has an axe to grind.

Well, my question was answered and my suspicions appear to be warranted.

I assumed that the teacher in question taught government or social studies and it was part of a lesson or the subject's specific atmosphere, but I was reading the Daily Cougar staff editorial and discovered that it's an English teacher. I looked further into it and discovered that the display in part had pictures of George Washington, Ben Franklin (who was a founding father, but not a president), and the U.S. Constitution.

I don't doubt that the teacher's heart was in the right place, and my "axe to grind" wording is probably more harsh than I meant it to be. She probably meant to use the display to promote civic involvement and the Constitution. Bush is the president and there's ordinarily nothing wrong with including a picture of the president in the display.

But this is an election year, and I can honestly say that if I was an administrator and I got some parent complaints, I'd probably do the same thing that the administration did and ask her to either take it down or put Kerry's picture up there, too. While Kerry is not and may never be president, Kerry's not exactly incidental when it comes to the Constitution. The presidential election is a part of the process that the Constitution set up. The teacher demonstrated a blind spot by not recognizing that and compounded it by either not recognizing an opportunity to add to the civics lesson or by ignoring that opportunity in favor of partisan politics in front of a bunch of kids too young to vote.

Considering the futility of the latter point (trying to convince a bunch of kids that can't vote to support Bush), I assume that it was poor judgment on her part as opposed to partisan positioning.

But that poor judgment became something more serious when she defied her superiors. While I think it's insane for a teacher to lose their job over this, that was a choice she made when she chose to play victim instead of resolve the situation. I can't think of anything else they could have done except allow a teacher (if unintentionally) to inject politics into a classroom where it doesn't belong.

Chicago raises the bar for living in public housing [via Judd]
'Hard-working' job ad banned to protect the lazy
In one of these stories, one of the nation's largest cities is demanding that people that take advantage of public housing work. In the other, a jobcentre in Britain the phrase "hard-working" is banned because it discriminates against the less industrious. God Bless America.

Netflix and TiVo hook up - Not necessarily a good thing
Chris collects a couple of links regarding a proposed alliance between two of the most innovative entertainment companies out there. While I don't pretend to know how well it will work out, I find it odd that on one hand skeptics are arguing that the model won't work and then on the other that once they do it, everyone else is going to flood the market.

Stratified for your protection
CG Hill and Francis Poretto take a look at coersion the legitimacy of government.

Containment v Engagement
Mr. Cross takes a look at engagement and containment, arguing that engagement has its limitations. He makes a good point, though ultimately I disagree with his conclusion.

Bin Laden Deputy Thanks Kerry for 'Great Ideas' (Parody)


I really want to write on the following topics, but I'm not sure I'll be able to as it's going to be another rough week posting wise while my computers are deconstructed on my apartment desks and tables. The following are things I hope to get to post about.

The Good Wife - According to Desperate Housewives, most women lead lives of quiet desperation.
Slate deconstructs the latest anti-suburbia television show. My take: Critics of suburbia aren't nearly as clever, revolutionary, or even liberal as they think they are.

Per mile instead of per gallon
GPS, EZ Tags, Transtar, and other concerns
There are proposals floating around to replace the gas tax with a mile-based fee for road usage. My take: Conflicted, but I must say that those that think it's going to be a mile tax "instead of" the gas tax as opposed to "in addition to" are fooling themselves.

[Note: this post was edited. The last entry was translated from typoese to English]

Astros earn final playoff spot, all matchups set
Must be pretty hard to be Jimy Williams these days. He gets fired and the Astros make the playoffs. That can't look good on a resume. Considering that I've felt that Williams was always more interested in looking like a good coach than in being one and winning games, I can't garner (no pun intended) too much sympathy there. Congratulations to Coach Phil Garner for turning things around.


Opinion Polls Show Bush and Kerry Equal
I missed the debate, but conservatives are calling it a draw and liberals have been partying pretty much since the debate ended. A lot of people thought the debates were Bush's to lose, but from the debates I've seen from Kerry's past, this doesn't surprise me. Watching Kerry's 1970's Vietnam debate with O'Neil, I discovered that Kerry really can be charming and convincing when he either wants to be or lets himself. Sounds like he captured some of that.

Middle School Teacher In Trouble Over Presidential Photo?
A teacher in Florida put up President Bush's photo along with other presidents. The unanswered question in this article is "which presidents were up there with President Bush's?" If it was Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Bush that's different than Bush up there with ten different ones. Given the current political climate, that was probably not wise. But whether you like him or not, Bush is the president. He may not be for much longer, but that's somewhat beside the point.

Top Court Upholds Do-Not-Call Registry
The court didn't exactly uphold it as much as refuse to hear it, but the effect is the same. I disagree with the notion that unsolicited calls fall under "free speech," so I don't shed a tear for the telemarketers here.

The soft drink explosion among kids
From the "no duh..." files.

Your College Major=How Long You Live?
Not surprisingly, medical students are near the top of the list of longest living. Lawyers are closer to the bottom. The numbers seem to corrolate more with career tracks that smoke than anything else, but there's a lot of interesting tidbits of information in this study.

Vibrator closes airport
This reminds me a bit of a scene from "Fight Club."

[Note: This post has been revised. A link and item that was not intended to be posted was removed.]

This has obviously been a pretty light week, posting-wise. There's a lot going on right now that I'm trying to get a handle on, so I haven't had time for the niceties of the blog or the video game at all this week.

Things are calming down and should return to normal this upcoming week.