some blog posts

Post after a long week

2009-11-06T20:48:00.000-08:00

What could be better than having a million things to do, than being necessary, than being called upon by others to accomplish tasks, than answering emails, than processing that which comes in and turning it into outgoing data? I don't know. I can't think of anything.

Wow, what a game!

2009-09-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

Well, it was a lot closer than I thought it would be. But, since I don't bet on football, the score means nothing to me. And we got the win in a dramatic finish reminiscent of the famous Bush push at Notre Dame a few years back.

My guests and I were screaming and hugging and jumping up down as much as ever before as Barkley and McKnight lead us down the field for the win. I live for games like that. Nothing else elicits that much passion from me. It's just unreal.

......

Also: It was a very solid day for the Pac. Oregon beat Purdue, UCLA beat Tennesse, and Washington whooped Idaho. Stanford's loss to Wake was the only blemish on the day.

Here we go, baby!

2009-09-11T23:16:00.000-07:00

It's wartime! Let's take it outside!

Huge game. Huge. But you what, I'm not worried. This is SC football we're talking about. SC doesn't lose big non-conference games. Not ever. Pete'll have us ready. Barkley doesn't have to win the game, not with our running game. All Barkley has to do is not lose it.

Prediction: USC 35, Ohio St 10.

P.S. If we lose, don't talk to me for at least a week. And keep me away from sharp objects, firearms, bridges and nooses.

What time of year is it?

2009-08-29T12:29:00.001-07:00

It's college football time!

Boise State vs. Oregon this Thursday. Oooh, I'm so excited!

In other news, Matt Barkley is the starting quarterback at USC. It's a worrisome development. I was looking forward to seeing Corp run around the field, but with that leg injury, he's limited in his mobility.

At the end of the day, though, I trust Pete's judgment. If Barkley's the starter, he must give us the best chance to win.

That UCLA Tennessee game was fantastic.

2008-09-04T19:29:00.001-07:00

Wow. Monday's game was what college football is all about. This Saturday doesn't feature many promising games, but there are a few I want to watch. And with CFB you never know. Right now, I'm watching the Vandy vs. South Carolina and it's turning out to be a really good game. I figured the Gamecocks would run away with this, but Vandy's hangin' tough like NKOTB.

The Season has Begun!

2008-08-28T18:01:00.001-07:00

My Pac - Ten picks for the week, without a lot of commentary:

1. USC beats Virginia 31-10.

This game will tell me a lot about this year's team. Right now, I'm predicting based on hope and intuition.

2. Cal beats Michigan St. 24-17

See comments above.

3. Tennessee beats UCLA 34-17

Injury riddled UCLA doesn't have a quarterback, and I'm just used to seeing them struggle offensively in recent years, so I think the Volunteers will win this one.

4. Stanford beats Oregon St 29-27

I think Stanford's going to be improved this year. Harbaugh accomplished a few things last year, and I know the talent and experience levels are higher this year.

5. Oklahoma St beats Washington State 28-14

Don't know anything much about the Cowboys this year, but I know Washington State stinks. By which I mean the Cougars are a lousy football team.

Not enough college football a serious health risk

2008-08-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

It is my professional opinion that not enough college football may cause cancer, constipation, anxiety and other serious health problems. Hopefully, we can all hold out for another few weeks.

Boy this is a good article - props to the brits

2008-08-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/06/0082039

Also, speaking of Brits, thanks Conrad for the comment. Not sure what Twitter is or does.

Music... yeah. I remember that. It has something to do with melody, right?

Most stressed out I've ever been

2008-08-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

I'm the most stressed out I've ever been. By far. I've got less than a week left to get the critical thinking book done, and it's hard. It's hard because I don't really know where I'm going with it. By contrast, I knew exactly where I was going with the grammar books. I knew the steps, in order. With the critical thinking materials, it's so much harder. I'm basically just throwing a bunch of stuff against the wall, seeing what sticks, and trying to figure out how to thread it all together into a cohesive whole.

I know there's a whole lot of missing back story here. But I presume that any regular readers have long since drifted away, so...

College football season's coming up though. I'll probably resume writing about college football once it does. I sure am looking forward to the season.

All due praises, G.G.

2008-03-06T05:21:00.000-08:00

Does anyone know a high level cleric - one who can cast Resurrection? Gary Gygax has died.

I played a lot of D&D as a kid. It captivated me so. Still, to this day, I like swords and magic stuff.

This is why people live in LA

2008-01-26T14:14:00.000-08:00

Today is about as beautiful as it gets. Snow on the mountains, brilliant skies, about 70 degrees. Just perfect.

went to dave's 40th birthday party last night

2008-01-20T16:05:00.000-08:00

We had a good time. It was chill; Can and I left early, but it was really great talking to Paul.

Stargate SG-1

2008-01-18T11:00:00.000-08:00

They're showing a stagate sg-1 marathon on sci-fi channel today. Man, what a huge and brilliant mythology. Beautifully written and consistently well acted by super likable people, this show kicks all kinds of ass. It's my live-action Naruto. And like with Naruto, just about every episode of SG-1 makes me cry at some point. That, for me, is something of a litmus test for great media.

'Profile' of Pete Carroll

2008-01-17T20:36:00.000-08:00

It doesn't matter if you like football, or college football, or USC. You will not be able to stop reading this great, great article about Pete Carroll.

Candice

2008-01-17T20:02:00.000-08:00

I sure do love Candice. She's awesome - my perfect woman.

RIP "fewer"

2008-01-10T19:54:00.000-08:00

You know what really bugs me? The death of "fewer." I have to concede that it is dead. People can now use "less" when referring to a plural noun, and almost no one considers it wrong. For example, I just heard a commercial say "less people experience tooth sensitivity." And I shouted out, "Fewer, dammit! Fewer people experience tooth sensitivity!"

But then I just felt sad, because I know that's no longer wrong. And that bugs me. I'll tell you why:

Let's say I have one dead deer, and I'm going to cut it in half, to share with my hunting partner. Let's further say that I cut it poorly, so that my friend gets a smaller piece than I do. He might then proclaim, "I have less deer than you!"

On the other hand, let's say this friend and I own a deer raising company together, but decide to part ways. We agree to split the herd in half. If I then do the split unfairly, my friend might say, "Hey, I have fewer deer than you!"

The moral of the story is this: we need "fewer" for those instances when plurality is not conveyed by the noun.

Desmond Howard

2008-01-02T06:05:00.000-08:00

Desmond Howard said on ESPN that Steve Sarkisian (USC offensive coordinator) "must have seen something on film" because Fred Davis, the tight end, and Stanli Havili, the fullback, caught so many passes.

That's a very ignorant comment. If Howard knew anything about USC football, he'd know that that those two have been featured receivers all year.* Fred Davis is, in fact, the leading receiver on the team, statistically.

*Havili did have injury problems, but when he was healthy, he was a go to receiver out of the backfield.

The Sun Bowl

2007-12-31T22:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I watched all the bowls today that I could. The Sun Bowl sticks out because Oregon looked so damn good. I picked USF to win that game; I didn't think the Duck offense could put any points on the board without Dennis Dixon. Well, they hung 56 on a very solid Bulls defense.

Score one for the Pac Ten.

I've got this plan...

2007-12-30T08:30:00.000-08:00

I plan to go camping and kill and eat a squirrel. But I'm really not sure if I can go through with it. Now, I eat a lot of meat. In fact, I eat practically nothing but meat, bread and cheese. And potatoes and onions and garlic and pasta and rice and some other things.

But the point is, I eat a lot of meat and I should therefore be able to kill a squirrel and eat it, like in those wilderness survival shows that I enjoy watching so much. But I keep thinking, what if I kill a mother squirrel, with babies dependent on her? Or, even if I don't, will the other squirrels miss the one I kill? Will they mourn it's absence? Or is that just absurd anthropomorphication?

The Alamo Bowl

2007-12-29T17:16:00.000-08:00

Penn State vs. Texas A&M - shaping up to be a pretty good game, so far.

Miss St. won the Liberty Bowl, BTW.

Liberty Bowl

2007-12-29T13:52:00.000-08:00

I've got UCF in this game, as do most others. The Knights* are big favorites. But Mississippi State is showing plenty of fight early.

*UCF was formerly the Golden Knights. Hawaii dropped the "Rainbow" from the Rainbow Warriors a few years back. This year, UCF dropped the "Golden." There appears to be some sort of conspiracy against colors.

Car Care Bowl

2007-12-29T13:14:00.001-08:00

Well, Wake came back and just dominated the second half. Wake wins, 24 to 10.

The Meinike Car Care Bowl

2007-12-29T11:25:00.001-08:00

Wake Forest vs. U Conn. It's halftime now and the Huskies are up by ten. I wouldn't be surprised at all, however, to see the Demon Deacons come back to win this one. U Conn is a very disciplined, lunchpail kind of squad, but Wake's much more explosive.

The Texas Bowl

2007-12-29T11:13:00.000-08:00

I didn't watch this one. Why not? It was on the NFL network, which Charter Cable does not carry.

TCU beat Houston, btw.

The Emerald Bowl

2007-12-29T11:11:00.000-08:00

Oregon State gives the Pac Ten it's first win of Bowl Season. It was a great game to watch.

Champs Sports Bowl - Mich St vs. BC

2007-12-28T14:30:00.000-08:00

It's on, and Dee's napping. Word up to that.

well, the Holiday Bowl disappointed a bit

2007-12-28T13:28:00.000-08:00

Texas beat Arizona State handily. But, on the plus side, Matt came over to watch the game and we drank a bunch of Greyhounds.

I've settled on a holiday greeting

2007-12-28T13:26:00.000-08:00

Festive Yuletide. That's my holiday greeting this year.

I buy whatever meat's on sale, usually

2007-12-27T09:46:00.000-08:00

Right now it's short ribs. They're really good, but you have to cook them in liquid. I tried straight grilling a package of them last night, and they came out kind of tough. They have a lot of meat on them actually.

The Holiday Bowl

2007-12-27T07:51:00.000-08:00

I'm really looking forward to tonight's Pacific Life Holiday Bowl. It's usually one of the best games of Bowl Season, and this year promises to be no exception. Arizona State against Texas.

I picked the Devils over the Longhorns, and afforded the pick quite a bit confidence.

So far I've watched at least a half of every bowl game played. I already know that I'm going to miss a couple. I'm going to the Rose Bowl on New Year's day, so I'll definitely not be able to see the Capital One Bowl (Michigan vs. Florida), for example. But hopefully I'll see at least 28 of the 32 games, and I'll put up a few lines about each one I watch, just to help me remember each game later on, during the prolonged college football drought (mid January - late August.)

Motor City Bowl

2007-12-26T20:47:00.001-08:00

Well, the Motor City Bowl played out much the same way that the Hawaii Bowl did. One team, in this case Purdue, dashed out of the gates to a big lead. Then the other team (Central Michigan) came roaring back to tie the game late, only to lose at the end of regulation to a field goal.

Something

2007-12-26T12:08:00.000-08:00

I'm watching the sportscenter stories of the year special right now. And this story of a little girl with a brain tumor comes on. She's about Delilah's age, and I can't help it. I just start weeping uncontrollably. So I get really mad at ESPN and change the channel, thinking, "that's so wrong, how dare they show me that?!"

Is that really selfish of me? I'm not sure how to interpret this.

I love cooking

2007-12-26T10:20:00.000-08:00

Right now I'm making: "short rib stew on the cue."

It's bubbling away out there. Way more liquid than normal, hence the "stew" in the name, but lots of veggies too, and I'm planning on letting it boil down as much as possible.

Boise St. vs ECU in the Hawaii Bowl

2007-12-23T18:45:00.001-08:00

Well, here we go again. I really think Boise St. has a good chance to pull off the comeback, down by 17 at the half.

UCLA pulls to within a point late against BYU in Las Vegas Bowl

2007-12-22T20:08:00.000-08:00

The adjective "gutsy" pushes to the front of the line.

Tonight's Pot Roast

2007-12-22T18:42:00.000-08:00

I'm making a pot roast right now on the barbecue (the best way to cook a pot roast, in my opinion.)

Get one of those big aluminum foil roasting pans for 2.99 at the market.

Put all of the following into the pan:

A little water.
Two shallots, smashed with a hammer.
A bunch of garlic, smashed.
A big anaheim chile, sliced.
Two small white potates, sliced.
Two granny smith apples, sliced, cored.
1 pear, sliced, cored.
A bunch of fresh dill.
A quarter stick of butter.
A 3 lb. roast - boneless.
Two roma tomatoes, sliced.
1 bottle white wine.
Some red wine.
Some guiness stout.

Let cook 3+ hours over a very hot fire.
(I used a whole 9 lb bag of charcoal - a third, add a third, add a third. Not all at once, because it has to cook for a long time and I want the same high intensity fire the whole time.)

Still cooking right now, I'll let you know how it turns out.
......................

Update: No immodesty intended, but it's farking delicious.

Last post on the New Mexico Bowl

2007-12-22T18:12:00.000-08:00

I'd watched Nevada a couple of times this year. And that pistol offense, and that freshman Quarterback Colin Kaepernick, looked seriously potent.

Then they come out today in their bowl game, against a Lobos team with a questionable resume, and get shut out.

I'm lucky I didn't assign more confidence points to this game. Because I really liked the Wolfpack in this matchup.

0 for 2

2007-12-22T18:05:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm 0 for 2 calling comebacks. (see here for the other one)

But I'm still convinced that I can tell when a big lead is suspect and when a comeback is likely. So if/when I see such a situation again, I'm calling it again.

Nevada vs. New Mexico

2007-12-22T14:01:00.000-08:00

New Mexico's up by 14 in the first quarter. I'm hereby predicting a comeback win by Nevada.

Sometimes I'm a slow learner

2007-12-20T23:57:00.001-08:00

I recently resolved to distance myself from an old friend. And though I found it a sad decision, I felt it for the best. But feelings being transient things, I relented, and made a try for reconciliation.

Now I'm too angry to sleep. And, really, I'd rather not feel like this.

The bottom line is that it doesn't matter who's to blame. The last few months, every time I interact with her, I end up angry and frustrated. What more information do I need than that?

Granted, it's a relationship with a lot of history. And there is definitely value in that. But at this point, for my own serenity, I just don't think it's a relationship I can continue.

Eric's Wildlife Encounter

2007-12-20T22:37:00.000-08:00

Well, this morning I had a really cool experience. Candice, Delilah and I were driving down the alley around 7:30 AM when we spotted a really big raccoon ambling along. I stopped the car and we just looked at it. All three of us, I think it's fair to say, were dazzled by this weird little bear. It looked right back at us. I think it wanted us to move along. And after a while, we did.

My bowl picks: Just in time for the Poinsettia Bowl

2007-12-20T20:57:00.000-08:00

Hello

2007-12-20T10:53:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a very interesting month. You might call it my "month of health problems." I broke my hand, then my mouth started killing me because of two infected teeth. (If you've seen my teeth, this should come as no surprise.) Then I got a wicked head cold, and etc.

Most folks probably wouldn't find this sort of adversity noteworthy. A month of minor health problems? Big deal, right? But for me, this represented the first time I've experienced any sort of extended body failure. It has been a real eye-opener. I'm not bulletproof after all.

Anyhow, I'm a somewhat changed man. I'm determined to excise a few of the less healthy aspects of my life. Tobacco, for example, has got to go. It's proving hard as hell, of course. But as Les Miles (LSU head coach) said the other day, we learn more from adversity than success.

e

Me and My Hand

2007-12-08T22:22:00.000-08:00

Well, I've gotten over feeling sorry for myself, I think. It's only taken three weeks. I'm now able to apply myself to small tasks like this, even though they are all absurdly difficult and slow.

Man, let me tell you. It's a two handed world. Can opener? Corkscrew? Forget about it.

November 27th Update

2007-11-27T20:16:00.000-08:00

Dearest Readers,

I am currently dictating to Elizabeth. My excuse for doing so is that my hand is still broken. More precisely it is still casted; hopefully, the break has begun to mend.

At any rate, I issue this memo to convey my frustration at being reduced to one-handed typing. And also, simply to indulge my urge to post, now 10 days thwarted by my useless right hand.

This experience ignites a longing for a full-time personal secretary. Dictation is an awesome way to accomplish text. For too long has this modality been reserved to CEO's and other fat cats. Ordinary guys like me should have girl typists at their disposal too.

Extraordinary Regards,

Eric Strauss
President/CEO
Some Blog Posts INTL

dictated 11/27/07: EJO

well i just broke my right hand

2007-11-16T08:33:00.000-08:00

yep. it is broken. typing this with my left hand. i may need to see a doctor and get a splint if this is to heal properly.

USC - 2 games left

2007-11-14T05:03:00.000-08:00

The Trojans don't play this weekend, but will participate in next week's Thursday night game against Arizona St. Then it's UCLA, and that's it before the bowl game.

If USC wins out and Oregon wins out and Kansas does not win out, the men of Troy should find themselves in the Rose Bowl, perhaps against Ohio St.

This would make me very happy. If we can land us any BCS berth, I'll consider it a fully successful season.

But first we must get through the Sun Devils and UCLA. I'm not too worried about Arizona St, frankly. I'm pretty sure the SC defense is going to eat Carpenter alive. The Devils don't have the offensive line to succeed against what's probably the best all around defense in the country.

I'm a little more worried about UCLA. We might beat the Bruins by 40 points. Or they might win a squeaker if they bring their "A" game. You just never know with UCLA what you're going to get.

Week 11 Results

2007-11-11T10:22:00.000-08:00

The only pick I'm unhappy about is Michigan. I knew Michigan was going to lose that game.

V-Tech looked anemic, offensively, the week before against BC (though the Hokies got the win.) So I had good reason to pick against them.

Texas Tech put up forty points in their loss to Texas. I'd have thought that would have been enough.

My picks for Week 11

2007-11-09T05:54:00.000-08:00

Poker

2007-11-08T07:35:00.000-08:00

One thing that I don't blog about much is poker. Which is strange, because Poker occupies many hours of my life. It is endlessly interesting. It's teaching me patience and self-discipline. The extent to which these learnings generalize to my life away from the table is uncertain, but I think they do generalize, at least somewhat.

BTW - Poker is a free activity for me, online. I only play freerolls. Sometimes I win a bit of money and manage to parlay it up into a little bankroll, which, heretofore, I have always eventually lost. My goal is to exercise better bankroll management next time I cash.

Planning

2007-11-08T06:47:00.001-08:00

I never planned anything in my life.

- cool hand luke

College Football Live - Malcom Kelly interview

2007-11-07T12:55:00.000-08:00

I just want to commend Oklahoma Sooner Wide Receiver Malcolm Kelly. They just interviewed him on CFL and I was amazed when he actually answered questions that people never answer.

1. They asked him why people weren't talking about one-loss OU as much as one-loss LSU and one-loss Oregon. People always answer this question by saying, "we're not worried about that, that's out of our control, we just need to take care of our business."

Kelly answered that OU had lost to unranked Colorado, while Oregon lost to Cal and LSU to... Kentucky? Right? I think so.

2. They asked: which team of the top four would you most like to play. People always refuse to answer this question, saying I'd be happy to play any of them, they're all great teams etc.

Kelly answered, "LSU," and then gave a number of very sensible reasons why.

How refreshing.

Candice took this picture at the SC game on Saturday

2007-11-06T09:18:00.000-08:00

Fight On!

My conflict with the spellchecker

2007-11-04T06:58:00.000-08:00

I refuse to spell "dialogue" without the "ue" at the end.

I refuse to spell "judgement" without the first "e."

But seeing the red lines drives me crazy.

I did pretty well - 46 points out of 55 possible

2007-11-04T06:14:00.000-08:00

From Diatribe to Discourse

2007-11-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

Regarding the post entitled 'have you heard about this?' and the whole 'scathing rebuke' thing.

I want to explain myself a bit. That kind of writing - I do it for two reasons:

(A little bit because of...) 1. The emotional juice of indignation. It tastes good, but its pulp is judgement and its seeds self-importance.

(But mostly because...) 2. I like to admire the slickness of my own text. It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but I like to read my words over and think 'wow that's snappy.' And since the snappiest text I write is the "thorough lambasting," well...

More on why I shouldn't do it? It's comprised entirely of lies. That whole second half of the post** is a great big 'reification fallacy.' It positions Christianity as an entity with will, intent and so forth. It wasn't just a straw man, it's bullshit head to toe. It's rhetoric for it's own sake, masquerading as reason.*

What prompted all of this confession? Well, I got a comment. From Bailey Stump, aka Probity.

So, anyhow, I'm thinking, Bailey - still working out a post in my head. But, in the meantime:

First Question:

Do you think that to have a good relationship with God one must use a certain name, like "god" or "jesus," and must ascribe to a specific narrative, such as "the story of the Resurrection?"
...................................

*I'll probably do that sort of thing again anyway, despite all those reasons not to. Also, I could come up with some reasons why it's not all bad, too, but that's not on topic.

**I stand by the first part. The jury did the wrong thing.

Leif Adams

2007-11-02T05:38:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning for some time now to write a post about my friend Leif Adams, of Pacific Recording Projects fame. I'm quite fond of much of his music. A couple of his tracks still get dragged and dropped into windows media player on a regular basis. Which puts him in an exclusive club. Very little catches my ear enough to warrant such treatment.

But today I want to talk about his visual art. I noticed on his GB page that his songs each had a cool little image. So I asked him about them and it turned out that he had made them. Then I asked how and I learned that he used Paint! Now, Liz also uses paint. And I used to think that was just crazy. Why not use Photoshop? But I thought about it and concluded that it can be a very good thing to employ an unusual tool, especially when making media digitally. Each app has it's own signature. My music, for example, used to sound like it was made in Soundforge.* It was a very unusual sound because nobody makes music using a wav editor. It's unnecessarily difficult and limiting.

The point is, Paint is cool. Like soundforge, it's unnecessarily difficult and limiting and nobody uses it to make images. Except a couple of people. Both Leif and Liz make really compelling stuff using the most primitive drawing program ever.

So I've included a taste of some Adams images in this post. But click this to see the whole progression. It's definitely worth the eye and finger movement.

*Now my music sounds like it's made in Acid. And I don't particularly love that loopy quality, but I can do actual multitracking so...

College Football Week Ten Preview

2007-11-02T04:51:00.001-07:00

Naturally, as soon as I started thinking of "The List" as a responsibility, it became irritating and I didn't follow through. Story of my life. But I've got a few things to say about the upcoming week. First, take a look at my picks.

Note how many home teams I picked? That's a sign that these are mostly all very tough games to call. When it's a toss up, I pick the home team. Here are some bullet points:

Alabama over LSU is my least confident pick. Honestly, I think LSU will win that game. But Bama's well coached and at home, and I hate LSU, so I just went ahead and picked the Tide.
One game where I picked against my heart is the big game of the weekend: I'd like to see ASU beat Oregon, but at Autzen? I just don't think it is going to happen. The Sun Devils are new to this undefeated thing, and the Ducks will be the best opponent they've yet faced. I expect ASU to get exposed this weekend.
I'll be at the Coliseum watching SC play Oregon St, so I won't be able to watch the ASU/Oregon game myself. You guys watch it for me, ok?
It's hard to fathom one football team beating another 43 years in a row. That's what Notre Dame has done to Navy. After Saturday, Navy will have beaten the Irish 1 year in a row.
I wasn't impressed by BC's win against Virginia Tech last week. I haven't been impressed by Florida St. either, of course, but I think Boston College is due to lose. They're one of those teams that is winning because of tons of breaks. They aren't nearly as good as everyone thinks, and this week they'll come into the game feeling like a big favorite. Welcome to a ranking somewhere between 10-15, Boston College. That's where you'll be after you lose to the Seminoles.
Is Kansas really still undefeated? If they were playing someone with a defense (Nebraska clearly has none), I'd pick against them. But the Cornhuskers this year are a lot better at husking corn than they are at playing football. Kansas wins it, but it'll be fairly close.

Colored Text

2007-11-02T03:33:00.000-07:00

I'm glad colored text is back! It was gone for a long time, after I switched from old blogger to new blogger.
Now, all of a sudden, it's back. Which is great. I actually searched the help a few weeks ago trying to find out what happened to it, with no luck.

And now here it is again.

Good job blogger.

That felt good

2007-11-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've really gone on the attack. I used to spend countless hours writing BBS posts. I'd tear people to pieces. Just the asswipes, mind you. Which doesn't make it ok, but, you know, I just went after my fellow 'pedantic loudmouths,' so it's less not-ok than if I had abused the nice people.

Regardless, I quit doing that a good while back. Occasionally, I muster some indignation on this blog, but mostly, nowadays, I aim to get my tone sounding "reasonable, wise and likable." (with mixed success)

Having said that.... I really do 'dismissive contempt' well, and it's fun. I can't help but wish I could get some serious Christians here to read it. Rattling swords is more fun when there's an opponent to rattle back.

have you heard about this?

2007-11-01T04:44:00.000-07:00

You can click the title and read the story, but here's a synopsis, made out of excerpts:

The Westboro Baptist Church was taken to court by the father of Lance Cpl Matthew Snyder, a marine who died serving in Iraq in March 2006.
Members of the church - based in Topeka, Kansas - have denounced homosexuality for years, initially targeting the funerals of Aids victims. But they later extended their pickets to the funerals of soldiers, who they say are being punished by God because of the US' tolerance of homosexuality. Last year they caused outrage when they attended the funeral of Matthew Snyder with signs reading "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "You're going to hell".
On Wednesday, the jury ordered the church and three of its leaders to pay $2.9m in compensatory damages, and an additional $8m for invasion of privacy and for causing emotional distress.

Have you ever encountered such unspeakable bullshit as this? It's critical that the biggest idiots be able to say whatever they want without being fined ten million dollars for offending someone. It's the most fundamental of human rights.

General Moralizing:
Look. We citizens really need to prioritize differently. You see, the jury that awarded these damages was trying to be just, on some level. The jury felt that the guy who buried his killed-in-action son was wronged by the Christian protesters. And I suppose he was. Certainly I don't like the Faithful hate-mongers. But the father's just one guy, forced to deal with a really emotionally volatile situation. Now, most jurors probably figured they had a clear choice: a.) get retribution for a justifiably outraged fellow or b.) hand victory to the brain-dead baptists. The thing is, that's not really the choice here. And it troubles me that, apparently, none of the 12 people understood this. The real choice here is between: 1.) the immediate, visceral satisfaction of sticking it to a very deserving bunch of morons and 2.) the long term, abstract satisfaction of knowing that, by standing up for the idiots' right to offend, you have protected the rights of us all. A sounds good next to B, but #2 sounds even better.

Was there no one on that jury willing or able to frame the discussion as I just did? If not, why not?

The Wickedness of Faith:
So, you've got an untimely death, an anguished father, a solemn ceremony, and themes of noble sacrifice coming up against true-believers. That's a mess for sure. Because, see, the truly Faithful are absolutely certain that they both know God's will and how He wants them to carry it out. This makes them immune to the sort of adjustments that reasonable people make. Empathy for mourners, for example, won't dissuade them. Nor will any amount of indignation, invective, or entreaty give them pause.

By definition, to have Faith is to sustain conviction over time despite contrary data and/or in the absence of confirming data. Faith is the decision to turn off all objective analysis regarding a position. Religious belief is a lifelong blood feud waged against a messy, uncertain reality in constant flux. It is the compulsive denial of uncertainty. To conclude this bit, I'll call on the most "right-on-the-nose-and-damn-you-nailed-it" 5 words I've ever written: Faith is a stasis fetish.

"Hardly!" exclaims the educated Christian. "I engage in rigorous analysis regarding my beliefs. I always seek a clearer understanding of God; my beliefs continually grow and change. Faith, you see, is truth-seeking for the immaterial world - it is how one grasps the ineffable. Faith is a personal relationship with the almighty!"

Nicely said, smart Christian. But it's complete horseshit, nevertheless. Religious belief is a depraved pantomime of truth-seeking. Smart believers co-opt the language of those who care about truth, and hide behind it. But their words are just that. Words. And the Faithful have a long history of trouble with words. For example, these Baptists think that God kills soldiers in Iraq to punish America because our culture is too tolerant of homosexuals. Seriously. The words sound like complete lunacy to just about anyone with a brain, but you have to understand: they have had tons of practice turning words into totems. They've spent years - probably their whole lives - training themselves to embrace, and to vigorously promote, all sorts of absurd nonsense.

To be fair, the vast majority of Christians condemn these protesters. But, to be honest, I don't think the homophobic protesters are so bad. Sure, they're hateful, but their's is a toothless, comical hate. Who's going to be taken in by their antics? What policy will they get changed? How many 'hearts and minds' can they win? No one, no policy, and very few are the answers. See, their kind of church is like sniffing glue. Cheap, dirty and not very appealing. Yes, it delivers a high, but getting others to take up that habit is hard.

Watch Out for The Quiet Ones - They'll Destroy Civilization Itself !
Respectable Christianity, however, is genuinely insidious. It offers a better high - no social stigma, no having to go out and hold up signs, no overt hate. Respectable religion feels a lot better. Most importantly, it enjoys widespread affirmation from the public at large, so it's easy to go along and there are social rewards if you do. But that's why it's so much worse. Take a look inside that nice suburban church. In between the pews and hymn books you'll see an earnest Christian soccer mom. She's sliding a needle into the vein of one young child after another, peddling a cut and dry fantasy world in which all meaningful questions were answered thousands of years ago by God himself and then written down in a single, completely true book.

"The almighty frees you from ambiguity," she whispers while searching for the little girl's vein. "The world is black and white. Salvation comes through faith, not action. So what course you take," the woman assures the child, "is not the important thing. What matters is that you let the Lord guide you. Only then you can be certain it is the right course. Indications to the contrary are only there to test your Faith. Persist in doing God's will and remember that he works in mysterious ways."

God help us if one of these kids grows up to be president.

the craziest play I've ever seen

2007-10-31T07:03:00.000-07:00

There's really no doubt about it. This is the craziest play I've ever seen, in any sport, ever.

Also, I'd like to commend the play by play guy for doing a spectacular job of calling the play.

I'm under assault

2007-10-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

...hackers funded by the Russian Mob are after me.

Yay!

2007-10-24T03:06:00.000-07:00

Hacking blogs is way fun!

-mjk

2007-10-21T09:07:00.001-07:00

HAHA! i got you back MotherFUCKER!

YES!

-l

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2007-10-12T15:19:00.000-07:00

Eric's College Football List - Week 6, 07

2007-10-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

10.

The list comes to you today wearing a black veil. USC lost To Stanford at the Coliseum. Let me repeat that: USC lost. To Stanford. At the Coliseum. Things have been weird in college football all year. If you are one of the 3 or 4 people who regularly read this blog, then you've heard me talk about the upsets before. But this is so completely impossible that it's a little disturbing. It's like the very fabric of the universe itself might tear apart in response to the improbability of the event.

9.

However, I must say that it kind of makes USC's season more interesting. The Trojans are facing serious adversity here. They are by no means out of the title hunt, however. If Pete Carroll can use this to straighten out his team and turn the corner, it's not a bad thing. If not, well then one online fan's comment on ESPN's College Football Live today may prove prescient. "Pete Carroll should have left for the NFL rather than stay and watch the dynasty crumble."

8.

ESPN's college football coverage is the heart and soul of college football. Let's not deny that simple truth. They do, overall, a fantastic job. Lou Holtz has grown on me to the point that I no longer hope they can him. Desmond Howard, on the other hand, should be canned forthwith. The man can't speak. Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, and Mark May are all pure gold. Outstanding sports media. Great job, ESPN.

7.

I'm currently watching the Pitt/Navy game. Navy is chewing throught the Pitt defense - statistically a very stout bunch - with a wishbone or "triple option" offense. It makes me want to address the question, "why don't more teams run the triple option?" Answer: It's an offense that you have to dedicate your program to. It requires an experienced quarterback who's fast and who can make good decisions on the fly. If you have a quarterback who seems to fit the bill, you might want to take your team in that direction But if you choose to do so, that's your team's personality, for years to come. College football doesn't allow enough practice time to work on anything else. Last point: the triple option is actually a quadruple option. Fullback, QB keeper, halfback toss, or pass.

6.

The Pac Ten is quarterback rich. Which means conference play is always an adventure. Here's a list within a list. Eric's top five pac-ten quarterbacks:

1. Dennis Dixon, Oregon: Fast, good decision maker, accurate passer - the complete package. Cal was lucky to escape Eugene with a win.

2. Rudy Carpenter, Arizona St: This guy's a little hot and cold, but when he's hot, he might just be the best drop-back passer in the country.

3. Nate Longshore, Cal: Rock solid, albeit unspectacular. The guy makes the right plays at the right time. He's just what his team needs him to be. Cal is not a team that relies on flashy QB play.

4. David Brink, Washington St: Perhaps the most polished, technically impressive QB in the conference. Wazzu doesn't have a good record, but they do have a great quarterback.

5. Jake Locker, Washington: I've talked about him before. Fast, powerful and athletic, he's still an erratic passer. Give him another year or two with Willingham though. He's the future.

Note who didn't make this list. John David Booty.

5.

Last weeks Illinois/Wisconsin game is revelatory regarding "the polls." Wisconsin entered the game at #5. Illinois was unranked. Nevertheless, Illinois was favored. Illinois won by approximately the number of points it was favored by. Many pundits found this indicative of some flaw in the polls. Specifically, it has been claimed that it's proof of how the polls are not an accurate ranking of "the best teams." That's true. That's not what the polls should do though. The polls are a means to determine which teams are most deserving of BCS berths. The best teams are not necessarily the most deserving. USC is probably better than most of the teams ahead of them in the polls. But, with a loss, they are less deserving of the high ranking than some of the teams ahead of them.

4.

Here's a tailgating tip: wrapping a potato in foil and bar-b-cuing it for a long time is the best possible way to cook a potato. Just add butter and salt.

3.

Interesting matchups coming in week 7? I'll mention three games that I'll be watching. #11 Missouri at #6 Oklahoma is marquee game of the day. The smart money is on Oklahoma in this one; that loss at Colorado wasn't an indication of anything about the Sooners beyond they're capacity to fall asleep on a lead. This season, though? Who knows? #22 Auburn at Arkansas should be interesting. These two teams have both had similar years. There both good teams with a couple of losses. Arkansas by a touchdown. #4 Boston College at Notre Dame. If Notre Dame could pull off this upset... Well, this season makes me think it just might happen. I'm picking Notre Dame over BC.

2.

I made a bet with my dad. 2 bucks. I have SC to cover the spread. SC's favored by three touchdowns. I may be out 2 bucks, but I'm not willing to lose faith in Pete Carroll quite yet. I think he's gonna turn this season around.

1.

Well, I got it out before the next Saturday. That'll have to do.

The list is still in progress.

2007-10-08T18:34:00.000-07:00

The list will be up pretty soon. Tomorrow probably. Right now I'm bar-b-cuing steaks and potatoes and working through a bottle of Syrah. Needless to say, that's my top priority right now. No one's ever accused me of not being self-indulgent.

BTW - there is a new PGL podcast up as of yesterday:

www.popgoeslethal.com/podcast

College Football Midday Report - The Upsets Keep Coming

2007-10-06T12:46:00.001-07:00

The upsets just keep coming:

*Kansas (5-0) beats #24 Kansas St (3-2).

I had no problem with Kansas being unranked at 4-0. They hadn't played anybody. But Kansas St. proved themselves somebody when they bent Texas over their knee last week. And Kansas just beat the Wildcats. So the Jayhawks have now earned the ranking they'll own once the dust settles. They'll probably enter the poll at #13 or #14, but they could be higher, depending on how the rest of today plays out around the country.

*Northwestern (3-3) beats Michigan St (4-2)

Michigan St was ranked and moving up in the polls until they lost by a field goal last week to highly ranked and then-undefeated Wisconsin. Now the Spartans lose to lowly Northwestern? I tell you, my "College Pick em" entry at ESPN.com is getting torn to shit.

*Illinois (5-1) beats #5 Wisconsin (5-1)

This one wasn't technically an upset. Despite being unranked, Illinois at home was favored by a field goal. But in my book, anytime an unranked team beats the #5 team in the country, it qualifies to be included in a blog post about upsets.

*North Carolina (2-4) beats Miami (4-2)

OK. To me, this one is the most baffling. Miami was 4-1. Year in and year out they recruit blue chip players. They've been a powerhouse forever, allowing for an occasional off year or two (last year, for example). North Carolina, on the other hand, sucks. They always suck. I can't think of a time when they ever didn't suck. They came into this game 1-4, having beaten only mighty non-conference foe James Madison. (James Madison, by the way, plays in the Colonial Athletic Association, a conference that features such teams as New Hampshire, Rhode Island and... Towson?) Miami, let me introduce you to James Madison. You guys have something in common - you both got beat by North Carolina.

Honorable Mentions:

On Thursday night, #11 South Carolina (4-1) beat #8 Kentucky (4-1), and on Friday, Louisville (3-3) lost AGAIN - this time to enigmatic* Utah.(3-3) And Louisville lost despite putting up a bunch of points AGAIN. That's three such games in a row. Man. How is it the Cardinals have a championship caliber offense and a defense that can't stop a turtle from flying? It's hard to say for sure, but it smells like bad off-season coaching to me. Someone should tell Steve Kragthorpe that he's allowed to recruit defensive players too.

*The Utes are a complete mystery. They're really good? They're really terrible? They're really moody.
............

Note: I'm still planning on doing a "Ten Things about College Football - Week 6" post later. I did one last week and discovered that it helped keep me to be compact and reader friendly. So I want to make that a regular feature. But I'd like to come up with a better name than "Ten Things about College Football." If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know in the comments.

Thanks,

e

Bananabread

2007-10-06T00:16:00.000-07:00

As you may know, I'm still on a bananabread kick. I've gone through cheese and poo and Frogtown and other things. Right now, I'm all about bananabread.

Lately, when I play poker, I will announce during the game:

"My real name is Viceroy Bananabread. But you can call me lazyeric if you like."
(lazyeric is my poker username)

Usually, this comment is roundly ignored. Occasionally, I'll get a "lol" in response. Can text laughter sound forced?

Me and DHP at the Doubletree

2007-10-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, Cohry and I went to the Podcast Expo. It thrilled me. I found it endlessly fun and interesting to meet people I knew only through text and audio. And it was exciting that many of them knew who I was too.

Last year, I wasn't podcasting and I didn't go.

This year, fate interceded on my behalf. I started making "little podcast," and DHP found it and left a comment. Emails were exchanged. He mentioned that he would be in Ontario soon. Why's he going to Ontario, I wondered. And why is he telling me? Oh! Ontario, California. Podcastaconfacon! Of course. So I made plans to go and meet the Creepiest Sleeper. Thursday night arrived. Several phone talks with DHP later, I readied to go. I made myself a name tag, grabbed a clipboard, and clipped some blank paper to it. (Yeah... I don't know why either.)

As I was getting into the car, Liz pulled up:

"Ontario?"

"Yes, Ontario." I said. "The podcast expo is on, and I'm going to meet one of my internet friends. Of course you can come with. Let's go!"
..............................

I'll be detailing my Podcontario adventures in manageable chunks, each with one picture. This is the beginning. All images courtesy of DHP.

I'm proud of this one:

2007-10-05T21:39:00.000-07:00

..........

Faith is a stasis fetish.

..........

Prediction! Make a note.

2007-10-04T18:55:00.000-07:00

There are ten minutes left in the 3rd quarter of the Kentucky/South Carolina game. The Cats are down by 14 to the Cocks. I'm predicting a Kentucky victory. The comeback will come, and the Cats will win. Thus far, they've been hurt by turnovers. But they're ready to explode is my best guess.

What happened was the announcers were talking like it was over already when South Carolina recovered a fumble and ran it back for 6. And I was all, "bullshit! Kentucky's gonna win this game." So I thought, if I don't make the prediction publicly, it's the same as never making it at all. Hence this post.

As for the game?

We shall see.

.....................

Kentucky picked up a field goal, got the ball back and then... Another fumble! It's really just hard to believe. It's like there's a hex on them. But I'm sticking with my prediction. There's still plenty of time, and Kentucky's having no trouble moving the ball.

.....................

Well, so much for my mystical powers of prophesy. I still think I called the situation right. Kentucky had great chances and they kept blowing them. Their D got three consecutive 3 and outs against the Gamecocks, and their offense generated a total of 2 field goals out of those three stops.
......................

Steve Spurrier's proving his coaching genius with this South Carolina team, I'll tell you. They aren't that good, in terms of talent. But they are now 5 and 1, and the loss was a respectable one to LSU. They kept it close.

Google really likes Cohry

2007-10-04T18:20:00.000-07:00

Cohry doesn't even need a last name. Google "Cohry" and you'll find that the first four full pages of results are all him. Crazy, crazy.

Revisiting a favorite topic of mine

2007-10-04T04:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I just posted this ridiculously long comment on the article that the title links to. My comment just grew and grew. So I'm putting it here. It's not a new topic, but I think I did a better job of tackling it this time than I did before.

The author of the article upon which I was commenting, did a bang up job with the topic himself. Click the link and check it out. Sam Harris is the guy's name. I guess he's a famous "rationalist." He wrote a successful book on the subject, apparently. Regardless, he writes really clean prose, and manages the flow of his text beautifully.
....................................................................................
To: Mr. Harris

Excellent piece of text, there, sir. I agree with what you say, pretty much across the board. I'd like to offer my own take on the same subject anyways, though. Hopefully, you'll find some new ideas in here, or, at least, some new ways of talking about old ideas.

My two-part thesis:

1. When it comes to practical matters, critical thinking (reason) is the most effective way to seek truth.

This is so because reason concludes only tentatively. Reason is a fair-weather fan. It sides with only the strongest positions - those most consistent with the data. As a result, "reason" is right much more often than "faith," when used to understand the material world.

2. Much of the world, however, is immaterial.

Most of what we do, and why we choose to do it, has absolutely nothing to do with reason. Intelligent people often dismiss the alternative truth-seeking methods people use to try to illuminate the immaterial world. I propose that to do so is to betray that which makes reason effective in the first place. Furthermore, I propose that it undermines discourse, escalates tension, and just generally makes things worse.

Here's a good example for part 1:

A girl who believes that she can't get pregnant so long as "she's on top," has drawn that conclusion via a truth-seeking mechanism other than reason. Likely, she has faith in the wisdom of her friends. Her friends all say with great conviction that gravity can, does and will prevent pregnancy. Besides, it just makes intuitive sense that "sperms can't climb uphill like that."

Alas, the girl's approach to truth-seeking has led her astray, hasn't it?

Such an example supports the perspective that if one "figures out the truth" by way of intuition, habit and trust in authority, one will incur some consequences. Most of the costs are nickel and dime things: the ten minutes you spent praying to God to help you find your keys can't be recouped, and you're still going to have to spend the same amount of time looking for them as you would have had you not prayed. Sometimes, as in the example of the misinformed girl, the costs might be more substantial.

Before we get to part 2, a Definition formatted like an equation:

(High tolerance for uncertainty in conclusions)
+ (Low tolerance for uncertainty in methodologies)
_______________________________________________
= (Reason-based thinking)

Translation: A 'reason-based thinker' will say/think the following:

"Do all the data gathering precisely, account for everything that might make your numbers less valid, and generally be near-perfect in your methodology. Then present your findings in very careful language. Assert only what you can back up. If you do all that, I might agree with your some of what you conclude, at least until more data comes along."

This is a great way to think, regarding matters both practical and abstract. It puts all the impetus on the guy making the assertions, which is where it should be, because to withhold belief is the most rational default. But there is a downside: the effectiveness of reason breeds among otherwise good thinkers a certain contempt for alternative approaches to understanding. This is not surprising; the text about the misinformed girl, in fact, was put there as an example of why people feel contempt for 'bad thinking.'

The Immaterial World

Objectively, the world is made up of both the material and the immaterial. One might take exception to the term 'immaterial,' but what else can feelings, for example, be called? A thought is a specific thing - really, it's a material thing. It has a limited scope, defined by the set of static meanings it contains. It has a beginning and an end, it is portable, and it becomes durable (persistent across time, like a physical object) and reference-able, as soon as it is written down. Unlike a thought, (the identity of which IS the set of words used to express it), a feeling exists before, and independently of, any words we might use to describe it. In some sense, then, a feeling is more 'real,' than a thought. A feeling has an undeniable existence beyond the symbols we use to communicate about that feeling. And yet while an "abstract thought" acts just like a "material thing," a "feeling" meets none of the criteria: it's scope is unmeasurable, it's nature indistinct. It cannot be called portable because it has no static form.

Still, feelings are definitely real. I mean they do exist, right? Yes, though they clearly aren't material things, they do exist. And it turns out that many people build their truth-seeking approach around their feelings.

Intuition, for example, is an approach driven by feelings. Intuition, though it's tough to define, is just as real as the feelings that drive it. And it's real for everyone. Even the most vigorous rationalist can't help but pick up on subtle cues and act upon intuition every once in a while. Now he might assert that his action was a rational one; he might claim that it is really just reason habituated so deeply that it appears reflexive and unconscious, and thus outwardly resembles intuition.

How can we evaluate such a claim? We can't look to the outcome to tell us whether a given action was actually undertaken by way of reason or by way of intuition. If the choice proves wise, after all, then it will look like a very "reasonable" course to have chosen. And while we might also say it was an "intuitive" choice, it's tough to pin down exactly what that means. "Reasonable," though, can be defined quite precisely. It means "the guy came up with reasons BEFORE deciding his course. Therefore, if the guy came up with reasons AFTER making the choice, we can conclude that no matter how reasonable the outcome may make that choice appear, the choice was not made via reason.

Reason is conscious by definition. It's what occupies the time between impulse and action. It deals in probable outcomes, using available information. The business of reason is strategy - achieving the best results through careful consideration. This is so even though people rarely, if ever, explicitly think, "Ah, I'll use Reason to tackle this one!" They just begin thinking critically about something.

Most of the time, however, for most people, reason spends little time in the driver's seat. Generally, folks are on autopilot. And even among those who don't mail it in, nobody thinks through every single thing they do. Everyone acts according to their feelings and habits at least sometimes.

More on the immaterial world:

Consciousness itself is immaterial. Do you now clamor for more precision? Well, unfortunately, 'consciousness' defies definition. Reason, armed only with symbolic-representations-of-real-stuff (words), fails time and again to meaningfully inform us about either the nature or the mechanics of consciousness. And that, in part, is why we can confidently call it immaterial. It possesses none of the qualities of a tangible thing - it will not - cannot - be pinned down by static words into a specific, accurate, and informative definition.

And what of compassion? All decent people act as though compassion is a universal moral imperative - even those who deny it in the abstract. Believers accept that compassion (or some other label for goodness) is, in fact, exactly such an imperative. God wishes for men to be moral, thus neither the universality nor the morality of the imperative need to be confirmed. They are accepted as facts, independent of evidence. And because God's the author, the whole thing automatically qualifies as "an imperative." (It's a perk of the office. When you're God, all your "memos" become "imperatives.") If further guidance is needed regarding exactly which moral rules one should adhere to, God has spelled it all out for us in whichever of his several books of gospel you favor. (Depending on which flavor of God you choose, you'll encounter different specific rules, but they all share some 'anti-violence' stuff and some 'anti-deception' stuff, and some 'respect property rights' stuff too. Also, he's insistent that all people worship him exclusively, which suggests that he may have self-esteem issues, but whatever. He works in mysterious ways, I guess.)

So, anyhow. Believers, at least on paper, have a much clearer moral road-map, it would appear. Road-map or no, however, the rationalists turn out to be just as moral and just as decent as the believers. And, as a bonus, the rationalists are less vulnerable to the wicked sin of zealotry. (If your static, well-defined moral code comes straight from God, on the other hand, it is OK to insist that others embrace it too.) Now some of the decent, rational people will persist in relativistic rhetoric despite being good in practice. They will explain away their own morality. But at the end of the day, these thinkers will still go home and love their children and help their neighbors. And they will do so not because they've intellectually embraced the model of the social contract, nor because of the practical benefits of kindness towards others. They will be good because they are good. They have goodness born of empathy. Their mothers loved them, so they wish others well and they lament suffering. No amount of reason can change that one bit. No amount of God can either.

What's the point here, Eric?

Well, for one thing, we easily forget that almost all of our critical thinking is directed towards media. We use it when accomplishing schoolwork (or work-work, depending on the job), or reading the news, or presenting or attacking a position. We might bust it out to help with logistics on occasion, too. But this is not to say that 'reason' really is a tool that we actively 'turn on and use' in certain situations. It's more like a part of a person's personality. Granted, sometimes we may draw upon the lexicon of reason when unmasking a specious argument:

i.e. "I count at least 6 different fallicies in this!"

More often, though, a person's 'reason' manifests simply as skepticism towards written assertions. (Working from the earlier definition, one might say as a high tolerance for remaining undecided about claims and conclusions others make in their persuasive text.)

Regardless, most of us rationalists are irritated when we come across an example of "faith-based thinking." It just rubs us wrong, at least some of the time. But note that no one is always upset by irrationality. We probably don't get upset, for example, by the woman ahead of us in line buying lotto tickets. Hell, we might buy a couple ourselves, laws of probability be damned. It would be a faith-based purchase for sure, but it makes for a few minutes of wish-fulfillment fantasies.

So when and why DO we get upset? Well, personally, I get mad when belief starts shaping public policy. It's one thing to believe in your lucky shirt and to wear it go play bingo. It's quite another to legislate that I must wear one too. But that's another topic, and I'd better stay on track.

Spiritual Thinking

The point of all this is that "Spiritual Thinking" doesn't have to be "Magical Thinking." To focus on the essence of one's humanity? To ruminate upon Quality and Beauty and Love? To recognize that existence is mysterious and that some of its truths are ineffable? These are meaningful doings, even though the value of undertaking any of them can be neither quantified nor proved. And these are SPIRITUAL doings, no matter how you cut it. I know the term sounds squishy, but that's because the thing it represents IS squishy. Spiritual endeavor reaches at fluid truths - truths that lie beyond the scope of words and beyond the static, specific meanings those words convey. The benefits of reaching toward said truths are entirely personal, but that does not mean they aren't real. It is time well-spent if he who is spending the time feels like he has spent it well.

You see, when it comes to spiritual matters, any approach, be it meditation, prayer, fasting, or whatever, might work for you or me or someone else. Even two contradictory styles of Spiritual Thinking can both be valid at the same time. How can that be? We must remember that regarding spiritual matters, actions cannot have their effectiveness objectively evaluated because "effective" means nothing more than "worthwhile in the mind of the agent doing the acting."

Thus, spiritual-action is the antithesis of reasoned-action.

Reason, at heart, is an informational beast. It requires that language obey the "traffic-laws of meaning." Contradictions must be resolved if a single, clear meaning is to be conveyed. Grammar must be consistent because word order and verb conjugation tell us who did what to whom and when. Conclusions must follow from an argument and be supported by evidence. Argument must be free from fallacious logic. And that's just to get to "valid." "True" is a whole other sack full of crickets.

Adjudicating (informally) those rules, in fact, is largely what "the process of reasoning" entails.

There is one "traffic-law of meaning," however, that is roundly ignored by just about every proponent of rationalism. It is the prime rule - the rule that determines which master reason serves - the rule without which all other rules become arbitrary. It was once considered the very foundation of good thought, but it fell from favor because it feels subjective and out of place in Reason's court. What is this rule?

It is the rule of intent.

Reason goes where it is pointed and it doesn't care who you are. It works as well for the flat-earth proponent as it does for the astronomy professor. People use logic to argue every position you can think of. "God exists," and "We should go see Transformers instead of that girl movie you want to see," are both positions that a person will argue. By 'argue' I mean: a person will say "You should agree with me about the Transformers movie BECAUSE..." and then provide 'reasons' intended to convince you that rationality sides against the girl movie.

So reason, you see, is a mercenary without scruples. Everyone can and does invoke the language, tone and processes of logic every time they wish to persuade about anything. They adhere to the traffic-laws that help them and they ignore the ones that undermine their argument. They can do this because, if their only goal is persuasion, all that matters is that the argument APPEAR to be well and carefully reasoned.

"Because I said so! Oh, come on! But I want you to agree with me!"
These statements will convince no one of anything.

Often, however, a nicely put together argument will convince people, even if it is built upon entirely faulty assumptions, and worth nothing more, in real terms, than "because I said so!" It's easy to see scaffolding, earth-movers, and cement mixers and to then conclude that the work is being done competently. It is more difficult, and less gratifying, to actually examine the foundation and discover that it has been filled in with pancake batter. But if your going to sign a lease for a place in a faith-based building, you have to learn to take it on faith that it won't fall down. Transubstantiation will turn that batter into cement, for sure. God said it, I believe it, that settles it.

So reason alone is nothing to celebrate. Politicians use it to better deceive the people. Reactionaries use it to explain why gays are dangerous. Tyrants use it to justify murder and oppression. The pious use it, selectively, to convince themselves that the absurd is sensible.

Reason becomes purposeful and worthwhile only when an agent honestly intends to use it to determine truth. Intention is how rhetoric becomes dialectic. And dialectic is how debate becomes discourse. And discourse is what we call it when two people collaborate to reveal much more truth than either could possibly uncover by himself.

Dismissiveness

What's the one thing that definitely won't bring anyone closer to the truth?
Dismissiveness - it won't help no matter how well-reasoned and researched it may be.

And even though I thought that was a key point, I'm inclined now to backpedal from it. I mean, let's not be too naive here, right? Often, the guy - let's call him "Homeboy Bananapants," or "Homie B" for short - will really deserve your sharp and well-crafted retorts. You will have found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of "littering the memescape" and of "aggravated screwy nonsense." To make matters worse, he's fraudulently trying to pass off his text as considered, reflective, and well-reasoned while simultaneously launching ad-hom's at anyone who thinks differently. In this situation, you've a tough call to make.

option 1: Let him off the hook gently, despite everything. Harsh, direct criticism will only put him on lockdown defense. On some level, he knows better, but he's painted himself into an ideological corner. Option one serves the greater good.

option 2: If the guy is a real asswipe, you might just have to say:

'Screw the greater good. Homie B is full of shit. He is so full of shit, that there is nothing else inside of him besides shit. Where his organs and bones should be, there is only shit. Even worse, he is arrogant about it, as if all that shit was just so much golden brown insight. His bombastic and sneering tone prove that he's the sworn enemy of real dialogue. He'd rather be 'certain and loud and wrong' than 'still thinking about it,' every single time.'

So, if you come across someone like Homie B, and find yourself thinking those things I just said, then, by all means, lay the lumber. Maybe nobody really deserves to be attacked, even in text. But hey, he misused the medium first and worst. You're human too, after all. And the human part of you is saying:

"I want to use words to highlight how thoroughly retarded this idiot is."

or

"Oh sweet Lord Jesus, please help me write a retort so goddammed snappy that this guy'll start coughing up blood when he reads it. He totally deserves it. Amen."

If you are saying either of those things, then should go right ahead and tear him to pieces. Consider it a form of meditation. For that matter, the satisfaction you find in your victory over the wicked/stupid may just be one of those ineffable truths of existence I mentioned earlier.

Thanks for reading some or all of the (far too many) words I wrote,

eric

Google favors this Eric Strauss

2007-10-03T02:02:00.000-07:00

Here's something that once would have made me ecstatic, but that now makes me concerned. For some reason, if you google "eric strauss," with or without the quotes, this blog and my myspace page are right near the top of the results. With the quotes, I'm 4 and 5. Without, I'm 4 and 6. On google. Out of all the Eric Strauss-es in the world, this blog is the 5th or 6th result? And my myspace page is four? What the fuck?!

Employers like to google people before they hire them, I'm told. This blog's generally pretty tame, but getting to less tame stuff is pretty easy from here or from my Myspace page.

Anyhow... I guess all this typing on this blog has raised my importance in google's eyes. If it has done nothing else (and I strongly suspect that's exactly what else it's done) then at least google thinks more highly of me.

e

College Football at it's best and most insane.

2007-10-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

Following what is broadly being dubbed "Insanity Saturday," I needed some time to process. I had a ton of things to say, but I couldn't write about it right away. It was just too good. I had to enjoy the post-coital glow for a while.

But now it's Monday, and I'm ready to coalesce all my thoughts into...

Ten things about the past college football weekend and the 2007 season in general:

10. USC, despite playing the worst game it could possibly play, won. Other teams should not look to that game and say, "Oh, SC is vulnerable." They should look at that game and say, "Uh oh. SC already played its bad game."
..........................

9. Despite #10, I think it's only right that LSU overtake USC for #1. I watched the first half of that Tulane-LSU game, and LSU looked very pedestrian. LSU, however pulled away in the second half, as they should have, while SC did not. Ergo, in my poll LSU is number 1.
..........................

8. #'s: 3,4,5,7,10,11,13,21, and 22 all lost. That's 9 teams from the top 25. Of those losses, only 2 of the ranked teams were beaten by other ranked teams: Then-#5 West Virginia was beaten by then-#18 South Florida, and then-#11 Oregon was beaten by then-#6 Cal. All nine losses, in some sense, were upsets. Oregon was actually favored in that game, despite being the lower ranked team.

That is one crazy day.
..........................

7. So out of all the mayhem, what was the biggest UPSET OF THE DAY?

Oklahoma getting beat by Colorado, hands down.

Oklahoma was on everyone's short list of "Top Notch Real Contenders." They had blown out everyone they had played. Colorado, meanwhile, was a spunky team that played hard but that had ultimately gotten outclassed by Arizona State. (I watched that game, believe me, that's what happened.) But Colorado pulled it off at home, and made me a believer in Dan Hawkins. (Hawkins is Colorado's 2nd year coach, formerly of Boise State. He went 2-10 his first year with the Buffs; this year he's coaching his son at QB, and they're now 3-2.)
..........................

6. Auburn beating Florida isn't as much of an upset as people think. I've had a chance to watch Auburn on several occasions this year, and every time I've seen them, they've looked snakebit. They've gotten bad breaks and compounded them with silly mistakes. I knew if they could play a clean game, they could give anyone a tough fight.
..........................

5. It's important to remember that this weekend is the culmination of a series of crazy upsets in the weeks preceding it. September 2007 will surely go down as the most upset-ified month of college football in history. (App St over Michigan, Utah over UCLA, and South Carolina over Gerogia come to mind from earlier in the year.
..........................

4. But what's the UPSET OF THE YEAR?

Syracuse beating Louisville two weeks ago. That was the least likely of all the upsets, as far as I'm concerned. Syracuse came into that game just about dead last in every offensive category. Louisville came into that game just about dead first in every offensive category. Sure Louisville's defense was weak, but surely they could hold Syracuse to say, 21 points, right? Wrong. The Orangemen hung 38 on them, and won by a field goal.
..........................

3. All the speculation about what the insanity means is silly. The upsets don't mean parity. They don't signal the start of is a trend. They're just the currency of a crazy year. Next year will be all chalk. Just wait and see.
..........................

2. The Pac Ten is on the rise: Cal is #3 in the land. I'm kind of sad that USC is going to have to beat them. I love to see two pac ten teams in National Championship contention. And really, Oregon isn't out of the running at all. Also, Arizona St. is undefeated behind a Rudy Carpenter who, when he's hot, looks awfully good. UCLA is by no means to be dismissed just on account of that debacle with the mormons. They're still a dangerous team. Washington will be a threat next year. Jake Locker is for real and he has the country's attention. Willingham will be able to recruit with Locker behind center. Even Stanford posted a blowout win this season (against San Jose St, but still...)
..........................

1. NFL fans, I point to this past weekend. Professional football is not one tenth as exciting, rich, big, unpredictable, or magical as college football. I don't see how any football fan could have watched the happenings of last Saturday and not been wholly captivated by what they saw.

The Weather

2007-09-28T13:47:00.000-07:00

Except for the fact that it's not rainy, it's very cold and rainy today.

This Story Made Me Cry

2007-09-27T08:36:00.000-07:00

If you want to know what sort of writing makes me cry, click the title of this post.

Week 4, Saturday the 22nd of September

2007-09-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

Ah, week 4 is here... Tonight, I'm going to the SC game. Yes, it's true.

Corona Beer

2007-09-18T23:19:00.001-07:00

I'm watching t.v. and I see a commercial for Corona Beer. It shows a woman on a hammock on some tropical beach, and it says something about how she's "relaxing," right? And then, when the commercial ends, I'm admonished to "relax responsibly."

What? Relax responsibly? What in sweet heaven's name does that mean?

Well, I know what it means. It means, "don't get too loaded and do stupid shit."

The question I have is, wouldn't we all respect the message more if it were expressed like that?

The Third Saturday in September

2007-09-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

Well, there are two games in particular today that I am looking forward to:

1. USC vs. Nebraska - this is a big one.

2. Washington vs. Ohio St. - I'm hoping the Huskies can pull off the upset. And I'm feeling reasonably confident that they can.

...

Washington lost. Washington quarterback Jake Locker looked really good, but still unpolished. He's fast as hell, though, there's no denying that. And he runs like a big halfback. No quarterback pussy stuff from this guy.

The bottom line on the game was that Ohio State's defense took over in the second half. The Buckeyes are clearly still a level above the Huskies. But I remain convinced that Washington's a program on the rise. Tyrone Willingham is a great coach in almost every regard. He's a proven program builder and his teams are fundamentally sound. But when it comes to offensive play-calling, he's way too conservative.

...

USC? I think I'll let ESPN's Mark May field this one:

Like I've said all along, the Trojans are the top team in the country. They were coming into this week, they are now and they will be next week. Pete Carroll and his bunch went into a raucous sea of red in Lincoln and came out with a decisive victory. Don't let the final score fool you -- this one was total domination.

college football

2007-09-09T09:47:00.000-07:00

Oh man, I watched football all day yesterday. It was great. It's shaping up to be a crazy season - thus far there have been many upsets. Highlights from yesterday:

1. USF upsets Auburn. Fantastic game, crazy missed field goals, overtime, USF wins AT Auburn. Crazy.

2. Washington, UCLA, Cal, Arizona St and Oregon all win. Oregon does so in convincing fashion, absolutely dismantling Michigan. Arizona St. also looked really good, once Rudy Carpenter got going.

3. South Carolina upsets Georgia AT Georgia (between the hedges, as they say.)

Great day, great games, best sport ever, hands down.

Sometimes I feel like...

2007-09-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like words are an infestation of bugs. They squirm all around me, and they are beautiful, in some sense, and complex, but also they are irritating as hell and impossible to get rid of.

I don't remember

2007-09-04T18:13:00.000-07:00

What was I going to say? I had something I wanted to say...

More from the TC school code...

2007-09-03T16:25:00.001-07:00

"Clothing which is likely to provoke others to acts of violence...may not be worn."

This is a very strange idea, it seems to me. Can clothing really provoke violence? And if it can, is the perpetrator of the violence somehow less culpable because the clothing provoked him?

I looked up "provoke:"

"To instigate, to cause another person to get angry or to do something."

Now it seems to me that only agents can instigate. Maybe words can too, I suppose. But what about "causing people to get angry" or "causing people to 'do something." Can clothing do that?

If it can, then shouldn't we arrest the clothing, if the "something" is an act of violence? After all, if the clothing 'caused' the crime, shouldn't the clothing do the time?

The point here is that I'm disturbed by the notion that it's not enough to just say, "no one may be violent at school, period." If my clothes piss someone off, that's their problem, right? Their responsibility not to come up and assault me is absolute, and any effort to get me to wear different clothes to minimize the risk of that happening should be seen as an affront to civilized society.

Favorite Books

2007-09-03T14:01:00.001-07:00

I edited my blogger profile this morning, and one thing I changed was my "favorite books." I put down Winesburg Ohio, by Sherwood Anderson and Ms. Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West.

195 other people have Winesburg down among their favorite books. Only 1 other person agrees with me about Ms. Lonelyhearts, on the other hand. I think that's interesting because I consider those two books to be equally well-known. And Wikipedia tells me that "Miss Lonelyhearts is widely regarded as West's masterpiece."* The public at large, alas, apparently disagrees.

*Interesting to note that wikipedia does not have one of those 'citation needed' notes regarding this statement. They're obsessive about that shit.

Constitutional Convention

2007-09-03T13:46:00.001-07:00

In arguing against an enumeration of rights (i.e. the bill of rights):

"Representative Theodore Sedgwick criticized the committee's inclusion of the right of assembly on the grounds that 'it is a self-evident, unalienable right which the people possess; it is certainly a thing that never would be called into question; it is derogatory to the dignity of the House to descend to such minutiae."

He illustrated his point as follows:

"If the committee were governed by that general principle, they might have gone into a very lengthy enumeration of rights; they might have declared that a man should have a right to wear his hat if he pleased."

Now to quote from the Temple City High School code of conduct:

"No hats, caps, hairnets, bandanas, or other headgear of any kind are to be worn or brought on campus."

I say, "no hats within a thousand yards of campus" would be better. I mean, the way the current rule is phrased, someone could very well walk right by the school with a hat on!

This is a relief

2007-09-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

Click the title to see the news story.

Basically it says that the injured Vols player from Saturday's Cal game just has a concussion. At the time, the sideline reporter said that he wasn't moving at all. I feared he would end up paralyzed. He's been on my mind since, though I'm not usually one to fret about things that are totally out of my control happening to strangers.

Anyhow, Xavier Mitchell, I'm glad to hear that you are going to be OK.

What my posts would look like if I were a Pokemon

2007-09-03T07:10:00.000-07:00

Eric eric eric. Ric eh eh Eric. Eric eric Eric eric Ric Ric Eh.

California vs. Tennessee - The First Saturday

2007-09-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

#12 Cal vs. #15 Tennessee - 5 PM, Sept 1, 07

1st Quarter, Tennessee will get the ball first.

The Cal game's underway, and I'm stoked to watch it.

...Zack Follett delivers a crushing blind side hit to Tennesse Quarterback Erik Ainge and forces a fumble! Cal linebacker Worrell Williams emerges from the chaos, scoops up the loose ball in full stride, and he's gone!

TOUCHDOWN CAL!

Cal 7 Tenn 0

...............

But this isn't going to be easy. Ainge comes right back with a beautiful long pass to the Cal 30. 3 plays later, as of literally 5 seconds ago...

TOUCHDOWN TENNESSEE.

Cal 7 Tenn 7

..................

Cal's offense takes the field for the first time after the TV timeout...

First play of the season for the Cal offense? False start. The second play is much better though... Justin Forsett busts a big run up the middle. We'll see if the O line can continue to open those kind of holes through the heart of the Vol's D-line.

Then Longshore drops back... Huge throw, huge hit, huge catch! I can't believe Desean Jackson held onto that! This is looking to be a very good, very physical game.

Cal's puts together a nice looking drive: a couple of good completions, two big runs by Forsett... A 2 yard quarterback sneak by Longshore converts the big gains into 6 points.

TOUCHDOWN CAL!

(Frankly, just about everything the Bears tried on that drive, worked. It remains to be seen if Tennessee is being outmanned or outcoached. Tedford is a great play caller, and right now, the Vol defense looks a bit confused.)

California 14 Tennessee 7

...............

Eric Ainge looks really, really good. He's a very polished quarterback with a ton of touch. I think he might to give the Bears' secondary fits all day.

TOUCHDOWN TENNESSEE.

Cal 14 Tenn 14

.............................
2nd Quarter
.............................

The Vols are moving, but the Bears shut them down on two consecutive short yardage plays,and Tennessee has to punt. They kick it to...

Desean Jackson - Musburger was talking about how he's among the most explosive punt returners in the country, then: Boom!

TOUCHDOWN CAL! Special teams deliver!

Cal 21 Tenn 14

..............

Another beautifully thrown ball, another big pass play for Ainge and the Vols. They're on the goal line, and I'll be surprised if they don't punch it in. Nope, I'm not surprised. They punch it in.

TOUCHDOWN TENNESSEE.

Cal 21 Tennessee 21

.............

Cal's freshman running back Jahvid Best then justifies the hype surrounding him. He's fast. He's crafty as hell. He just busted off a 36 yard run to the Vol's five yard line. Then a little screen pass from Longshore, and...

TOUCHDOWN CAL!

Cal 28 Tenn 21
Sheesh, this game won't let me rest. It's still the second quarter!

..............

Tennessee goes 3 and out. Tennessee punts, out of bounds this time, to avoid Jackson.

Cal gets the ball back, but only with about a minute left. Big run by Justin Forsett, deep into Volunteer territory. Then, two plays later, Longshore drops back, sees his big tight end alone in the middle of the back of the endzone, throws...

Oh, come on! You have to catch that!
Longshore put it right on the tight end's hands. That's a stone cold drop. I don't care what Brent Musburger says, that ball should have been caught. Another incompletion, and Cal settles for...

FIELD GOAL CAL.

California 31 Tennessee 21

.........................................................................

HALFTIME

.........................................................................

Cal receives the ball to start the second half, and gets things rolling with a couple of stupid penalties. They were penalized 5 yards, if you can believe it, because two players wear wearing the same number. I've never seen that penalty called before. Ever. And I've watched a lot of football.

But I guess I have no reason to complain. Man this Cal offense is crazy big play. It feels like Desean Jackson rips off 25 yards every time he touches the ball. Then Longshore to Hawkins for another 20. Hawkins again in endzone. Bam Bam Bam...

TOUCHDOWN CALIFORNIA!

California 38 Tennessee 21

(The Vols are starting to get run over here. If they don't answer with a score this drive, Cal may break this thing wide open. And if that happens, I'll just give the final score, and spare you the gruesome specifics.)

................

Well, the Vols aren't going to lay down and die, after all, it appears. On the back of another 30+ yard run, the Vols work inside the Bears' five. A missed throw from Ainge and a couple of great goal line stops bring up fourth and goal.

Cal holds! Turnover on downs!

This game looks like it's about over. Oops. I spoke too soon...

Tennessee ends up owning the third quarter, Cal's goal line hold notwithstanding. The quick version: Ainge and his orange clad friends methodically drive the ball down the field - not so flashy as the big play action of the first half, but effective. On the other side of the ball, the Vol defense smothers the Bears, forcing a succession of punts. So, third quarter...

TOUCHDOWN TENNESSEE.

FIELD GOAL TENNESSEE.

We enter the fourth quarter with the teams separated by only a touchdown, and Tennessee has the ball.

California 38 Tennessee 31

......................................................

FOURTH QUARTER

.................................................

OK, Cal looks to be in trouble. The Bears are nervous. They may very well fall apart here and it looks like they know it. I hope not, but that's what it's looking like. The Vols are moving the ball down the field again. ...Well, they were moving, anyhow. But this time the Volunteers stall, and have to punt.

The Cal offense is still sputtering. It hasn't looked good since halftime. But now Longshore finds open receivers on back to back plays - 15 yards down the left sideline, another 10 down the right. The nervous home crowd comes back to life, and the Cal players aren't looking so rattled anymore. ...A big pass play from Longshore to Robert Jordan takes Cal deep into the red zone - nice pass, nice catch. ...Justin Forsett gets the call; he finds the hole, straight up the middle... 13 yards! Screw the first down, because he's already in the endzone...

TOUCHDOWN CAL!!

California 45 Tennessee 31

...................

Cal kicks off, and Tennessee gets a decent return. But Cal's defense apparently has returned from where ever it went during the third quarter. Tennessee can't make any progress. Cal gets the ball back, and the offense mounts another 60+ yard drive, moving it all the way inside the Vol's five. A couple of old-school 'force it down their throats' running plays later: 3rd down and goal from the one...

...Oh come on, Longshore! He fumbles the snap. The score should be 52-31, but Longshore fumbles trying to sneak it in from a yard out. Doesn't matter. There are only 2 and a half minutes left, and the Vols trail by two touchdowns.

Tennessee receives the ball. Tennessee gives it right back on downs.

All that's left then is for Longshore's knee to touch the turf a few times. Done. Go ahead and write down the W in permanent marker!
..................

FINAL SCORE: California, Pac Ten Conference - 45 Tennessee, SEC - 31.

..................

Way to go Cal!

Liz made this picture of me

2007-08-31T20:59:00.000-07:00

Big ideas

2007-08-31T20:20:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you hear people talk about 'big ideas.'

I think, however, that all ideas are probably the same size.

Editorial by Mirthful Hilarity the Clown

2007-08-31T16:57:00.001-07:00

I'm a clown, not a science guy. We clowns have other things to do besides numbers and beakers and lab-coats. But I do know one science where we clowns outsmart old Mr. Bunsen Burner every time. We clowns are perpetual motion machines – perpetual E-motion machines, that is. Honk! Honk!

See, the great part about being a clown is that you have only one emotion your whole life. I'm lucky! I'm a happy clown. I always have a big smile! Can you tell? Honk! Honk!

Some of my clown friends always wear a big Clown Frown. Why? Because they are sad clowns. honk. honk.

But even sad clowns, though they can't be happy about it, can be, well, something - sad I guess - about the fact that they are living, breathing, hilarious, perpetual E-motion machines!

Recently, a Youngster wrote me and said, “Mirthful Hilarity, you must have the greatest job ever. You get to smile all day every day, no matter what. And you are always falling over and cramming into tiny cars, and riding little tiny bicycles up loop-de-loops! Everywhere you go people laugh and laugh at you.”

Sure, it sounds great, Youngster! And don't get me wrong, I am Happy for sure. You can tell by my huge smile! I only wish that sometimes I could fill up a bucket and pour water out of it instead of confetti. Boy wouldn't those circus-goers get a surprise then! It would also make washing my little car a lot easier.

Finally, let me correct a common misconception: being a clown isn't actually a job at all; it's a genetic disorder! Maybe we can get those scientists working on that problem, eh? Honk! Honk!

3 products I think are dumb

2007-08-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

Here are three products that I think are dumb:

1. Charcoal lighter fluid.

It costs about 3 bucks for a little squeeze bottle of fluid. I can get about a gallon of gasoline for the same price, and gasoline works better. Granted, you get the big 'Whoosh' effect with gasoline, which you don't get with fluid, but that's not a problem if you toss the match in from a foot or two away.

2. Laundry Detergent.

Why use laundry detergent? Liquid dish soap costs less, is much more sudsy, lasts longer, and is just as effective.

3. Cereal Straws.

Delilah was swayed by the commercials for these things and she pestered me until I bought her some. You know what they are? They're those cylindrical cookies - coated with chocolate on the inside, but hollow, like a straw. And what the company did was just repackage them as a breakfast food that one uses to sip the milk from one's cereal. But they get all soggy and gross in very short order, and they're just really stupid.

Pac Ten Rundown

2007-08-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

Here's my Pac-Ten picks for the year. I'll probably just get through number 1 in this post. I'll dribble out 2-10 thereafter, as the impetus hits me.

2007 Pac Ten Football: Eric's picks.

1. USC

I think this team is as loaded as any team in college football in recent memory. True, this year's squad does not have the star power that 2005's squad had, but I'm convinced that this team can/should/will be better.

Better than the Bush/Leinart squads? Are you crazy?! Why do you think that?
Here are a few reasons:

The Hype:

While USC gets a lot of hype, they've never had preseason hype like they have this year. Sure, it doesn't when games, but when everyone agrees we have a juggernaut on our hands, it probably means something. Everyone but a few faithful Cal students picks SC to win the Pac. In the AP pre-season poll, SC got 62 of 65 votes for #1 in the country. Enough said.

Defense:

SC's defense should be unspeakably good this year. The secondary may have a hole or two. (I'm sure somewhere in Carroll's gunny sacks full of blue chip recruits will be found talented players to plug those holes...) But the D-lineman are among the best in the country and the linebackers are the best in the country. This is a defense that will shut down an opponents' running game and force them to throw when they don't want to. And that's a recipe for turnovers.

Defensive Prediction: USC finishes the year number 1 or 2 in the country in turnover ratio. Last year, the Trojans didn't force many turnovers, but last year was the exception. Turnovers are Pete Carroll's specialty and this year, with this bunch of players, SC should be right back at the top of this statistical category.

Offense:

The offense will put up plenty of points. This is not the most dynamic offense USC has had this decade. Last year, the same core group of guys didn't show much in the big-play, three-touchdowns-in-two-minutes department. As far as that goes, I doubt we'll see another SC squad match the Leinart/Bush teams anytime soon. But while flashy highlights are nice, W's are what count. And this offense is very, very capable of putting together long drives, dominating time of possession, and just demoralizing opposing defenses. In doing so, of course, they keep our D fresh and functioning at maximum effectiveness.

Coaching:

Hands down, USC has the best coaching staff in the country. Normally, I'd be worried if my team has a ton of pre-season hype. A lot of teams can't handle that pressure. But Pete Carroll is at the helm of this team. And Carroll's teams don't fall victim to that shit. Period. The guy's a football/leadership god.

Bottom line:

The rest of the country can compete for second place. FIGHT ON!!!

An image homage to Katwl - 1/5

2007-08-29T21:11:00.000-07:00

I typically feel like if I put up an image, it should be brand new. But why? I've got bucketloads of very nice pictures sitting here already made. Some of them I've put up on the web elsewhere; others have never left my hardrive. Regardless, and without further ado, I begin the Image Homage to Katwl with this logo I made:

An image homage to Katwl - 2/5

2007-08-29T21:09:00.001-07:00

Here's a picture of Katwl (sans herself) that Liz drew:

An image homage to Katwl - 3/5

2007-08-29T21:02:00.000-07:00

Here a picture of Matt (non-bass guitar), Cohry (bass guitar) and Liz(Kono) (drums) that I did not molest in photoshop:

An image homage to Katwl - 4/5

2007-08-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of Kono and me that I did molest in photoshop: