Palin a Closet Democrat?!

Rolling Stone Magazine presents "The Truth About Sarah Palin", presented (not surprisingly) without citations.

What Caused Our Economic Crisis? pt.2

Larry Lessig comments on the takedown of the video I linked to the other day. Via BoingBoing.net

A side note (for those who have seen the video) -- I have heard the Community Reinvestment Act mentioned as a leading cause of the the sub-prime lending crisis but definitely not the only cause, and probably not the root cause. I am still doing research on this, but the basic economic principles of supply and demand still apply, and ignorance of (or interference with) those principles is the root cause of nearly every economic crisis our country has experienced. Ironically, it is those very laws (i.e. Capitalism) that liberals attack as the cause of our problems. More on this as I do my research...

US destroyer nears Somali pirates

According to an article in the BBC News, a US destroyer has made visual contact with a ship taken earlier last week by Somali pirates. The ship is laden with tanks bound for Kenya. A spokesterrorist for the pirates has declared that if attacked, they will defend themselves until the last one of them dies.

I'm thinking the Navy Seals might be the right people for this job.

Hurricane Hits Nova Scotia

Congratulations to the North Atlantic Canadian maritime province of Nova Scotia, which experienced a rare hurricane earlier today. Hurricane Kyle hit near Yarmouth, but no damage has been reported.

Pop quiz: read this article, and tell me how long Maine's first hurricane watch will last.

Worth Watching: What Caused Our Economic Crisis?

I've yet to do my homework on this, but it's food for thought.

New 35W Bridge Opens to Traffic

The new 35W bridge opened to traffic at 5:00 am this morning, over 3 months ahead of schedule. (Video footage on CNN.) Local politicians applauded the effort and patted themselves on the back, as if it wasn't their fault the old one fell into the river last August. In true Minnesota fashion, the first traffic jam on the new span followed at 5:01.

The Truth About the Recession

Read this, before it's not true anymore.

Too Good Not to Post

Courtesy of dougsploitation and BoingBoing.net

People Will Be Late Today

Thousands of Verizon customers who use their cell phones as alarm clocks will be late for work today after a software update turned off their Samsung u430 phones in the middle of the night. The Samsung u340 is the latest free phone from Verizon, used by budget-conscious consumers everywhere.

Undoubtedly this will increase the volume of speeders and reckless drivers during the mid-morning commute as half-awake people rush to get to school and work, resulting in an abnormally high number of accidents and likely more than one fatality.

Hear that Verizon? FATALITIES!

Six Random Facts About Me

I have been tagged by My Mother.

Rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. List 6 random facts about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
5. Let each person know they've been tagged by commenting on their blog
6. Let the tagger know the entry is posted on your blog

Facts:
1. My name is James Austin Teal III. If you Google me, this blog is the second result, which is unfortunate.
2. I enjoy art, music and film, and I also enjoy making fun of art, music and film. So don't go see a bad movie with me because I will laugh in the wrong places.
3. I punctuate everything I write, and must spell everything correctly. I do this so well that people pay me to make sure they've done it correctly too. (Well, that's not all I do at work, but I am gaining notoriety as a copy-editor, even though is not in my official job description.)
4. The celebrity I most resemble is probably Hugh Grant, because I am generally affable but occasionally moody and sarcastic, witty, somewhat old-fashioned in many ways and a perennial befuddled bachelor. Also I like tennis.
5. I occasionally leave things unfinished for quite some time, like my website.

Guitar Hero for Christians

Guitar Praise is here! Pre-order your copy now! (Not available for consoles.)

Serious News

From the Onion, Michael Phelps Returns To His Tank At Sea World.

2008 Logo Trends

Via Logo Lounge, 2008 Logo Design Trends.

Recession-Plagued Nation Demands New Bubble To Invest In

From The Onion:

WASHINGTON—A panel of top business leaders testified before Congress about the worsening recession Monday, demanding the government provide Americans with a new irresponsible and largely illusory economic bubble in which to invest.

"What America needs right now is not more talk and long-term strategy, but a concrete way to create more imaginary wealth in the very immediate future," said Thomas Jenkins, CFO of the Boston-area Jenkins Financial Group, a bubble-based investment firm. "We are in a crisis, and that crisis demands an unviable short-term solution."

the whole story

Tornado Hits Farmington

Well, my friend Dan finally got the "Tornadeous Nimbus" clouds he always wanted. It wasn't too bad -- mostly downed trees, flattened corn fields and one overturned tractor-trailer. Too bad he didn't get to see it, but at least he had a couple of downed trees to cheer him up. I left work early on Thursday to help him clean up, but I didn't take any pictures (sorry). Instead, here are some unusually small news photos from the Farmington Independent.

Obama = Bush

Job News

I have been made a full-time employee at one of the places where I was freelancing for the past couple months. Sorry I'm not going to post where this place is, because in my experience, blogging about anything work-related, whether good or bad, is not a good idea. Suffice to say, I'm contracting on-site for a large discount retailer. This means I can de-bookmark Craigslist, and never ever go there again! (Woo-hoo!)

MNDOT strikes again!

What in the world is wrong with the Minnesota Department of Transportation? I have driven thousands of miles of Interstate and I have NEVER seen ANY interstate highway completely shut down for resurfacing. What normally happens is they close one lane, resurface it, open it back up, close the other lane, resurface that one, then open it up again. Thanks to them, I didn't get to church Sunday morning. I wasn't late -- I couldn't even get out of the city!

Let's see how many ways MNDOT has angered me since I moved here.

1. Wavy roads. (I-90 westbound when you first enter the state.)
2. Snow accumulation that doesn't get plowed for hours, if at all.
3. Potholes big enough swallow up small cars. This could be one reason why Minnesota has more trucks than cars or vans.
4. Bridges that randomly fall in the river. (Well, one so far.)
5. Unmarked highway entrances.
6. Randomly closed highway entrances.
7. Poorly planned roads that spawn HUGE traffic jams, turning a 15-minute commute into an hour-long ordeal.
8. Northbound highway entrances with no corresponding southbound entrance.
9. Westbound highway entrances with no corresponding eastbound entrance.
10. Abnormally narrow lanes.

All in all, it's the worst state I've ever driven in. It's almost as bad as driving in Canada.

21 less-than-obvious ways to save the planet

There are many ways to save the planet. One recent planet-saving fad has been replacing traditional incandescent light bulbs with more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. But there are many far-less obvious and just as important planet-saving methods. Here are a few:

1. Go to bed as soon as it gets dark out. It should save you a bundle on electricity.
2. Use the stairs instead of the elevator. It's good exercise! 30 floors isn't that much! It takes a lot of energy to move that box up and down. Of course, you can always elevator-pool to save energy.
   
3. Drink tap water instead of bottled. It takes a lot of CO2 to get that stuff from Fiji!
4. Walk or bike to work! It's not THAT far.
5. Replace your electric guitar with an acoustic one. The less you have to plug in the better.
   
6. Read a book instead of watching TV. It must not be a new book, however. Those require trees to be cut down.
   
7. Hum instead of listening to the radio. If you really need to hear music, walk to the grocery store. They usually have music playing there.
   
8. Get your pizza delivered instead of picking it up. The delivery guy is going out anyway. You might as well save the fuel in your own vehicle.
9. Move to a warm climate. You'll save money by having no heating bills in the winter. (Air conditioning is for wusses).
10. Shorten your commute by moving closer to where you work. Bonus if you can work from home, or live in the same building as where you work.
    
11. Skip a meal a few times a week. Calories are energy too!
    
12. Send an email instead of writing a letter. (Use someone else's computer so you don't have to turn yours on.)
13. Watch church on TV instead of driving to one. You don't talk to anyone anyways, so why not? Bonus if you can watch it on someone else's TV. Radio is acceptable too.
14. Sleep as often as you can. You won't be needing the lights or appliances, and you can save on food by sleeping through mealtimes!
15. Grow a garden! Build a rainwater collector to irrigate it, so you don't have to use tap water. Freeze what you can't eat so there is no waste.
16. Eat whatever you can raw. That way you save the electricity you'd normally use cooking your food. If you need to cook something, find some dead leaves and twigs in your yard and burn them to cook your food.
    
17. Replace your electric alarm clock with a mechanical alarm clock, if you can still find one.
18. Live in a city. Cities consume less energy per person than small towns. Plus, they often have public transportation, which is a great way to meet people.
19. Don't be poor. Poor people often can't afford to adopt planet-saving habits. Remember, saving money is not the same as saving the planet! Saving the planet requires all of us to make financial sacrifices. You can't make financial sacrifices if you are poor.
20. Don't own any unnecessary animals, like chameleons, monkeys or cats. Dogs are okay only if they help you catch food so you don't have to drive to the store.
21. Die. Dying saves the planet by eliminating the CO2 emitted providing you with sustenance as well as preventing any further CO2 emission via respiration. Additionally, you restore vital nutrients to the soil. Bonus for dying before you get the chance to reproduce.
    

Sunset on Mars

Very cool. And not from BBC News.

UPDATE: High-res version here (like for computer desktop backgrounds)