Sometimes I Regret Leaving Physics

But the truth is Physics was leaving me (behind)...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40819246/from/RSS/

for your viewing pleasure etc

Net Neutrality or Something or Other

It looks like I was planning on writing something on the "net neutrality" law that passed about a week ago, but it was like a week ago, so I'll just put up the shit ton of links i procured in preparation, then maybe write a little something.

TV's future: FCC decisions on Internet access, Comcast-NBC merger approaching

FCC set to enact new net neutrality rules

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/obama-fcc-caves-on-net-ne_b_799435.html 

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/12/fcc-rule/

And so it goes...

Clearly there do need to be some rules in place.  While the vast openness of the Internet is it's strength, without ANY regulation, it can quickly turn into a madhouse of spam, viruses, and unsavory material.  However, favoring the companies which supply the internet itself seems to be one of the dumbest ways to go about it (an alternative though, I cannot think of).  I do like the example of what will happen to Netflix, now that comcast can kill the bandwidth dealing specifically with streaming it in favor of their own on demand videos.

By giving control to the gatekeepers, they do in fact keep things under control.  By giving control to the gatekeepers, they give unilateral control to the Internet providers.  By giving control to the gatekeepers, an entire market is compromised and colluded.  By giving control to the gatekeepers, the creativity and ingenuity of the Internet may be reduced to the trickle speed given to off-market sites.

I guess we'll see how this plays out.  I don't think anyone was expecting true net neutrality in any case.

-- Knuttel

A Nation of Wusses

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5960674

"We've become a nation of wusses."

However inelegant, it is true, and perhaps my search for a more elegant explanation is evidence of my own wussiness.

Regardless, all of the circumstances regarding this affair just scream wussiness.

And why?  Brett Favre doesn't have any streaks to protect, the Vikings played in worse weather on an unheated field only a week or two ago, the storm itself had hardly even begun when kickoff was slated.

The Baby Boomers Are Dooming Us All

Indeed, they are...


http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/parenting-family/2010-11-18-boomerloathing18_CV_N.htm?csp=obinsite

I came across that article very (very) randomly (I do not subscribe to anything on parenting -- children are a precious resource, yes, but mainly for food).  Anyways, I decided that I, too, am tired of their shit.

It's all about "me", well you know what, who cares?

I guess, ironically (or not, I guess it's more coincidental), this disproves objectivism and other similarly minded philosophies, at least in the manner that I understand them.  I am no expert on objectivism or Ayn Rand (mostly knowing her from the works of Rush and the Bioshock video games, though I hear her prose is mediocre at best, and even objectivists dislike her arguments for objectivism, the school of thought she is seen as creating), and I have an outright disrespect for the intellectual dishonesty that is Friedman, but I guess I'm starting to get sidetracked.  I understand objectivism as the pursuit of self -- one ought to look out for ones own interests, doing what helps self, not what helps others, and eventually it all works out in the end.  Basically it's libertarianism and total free market economics as applied to morality.

cop-out

So I am backlogged like crazy in links that I bookmarked, therefore I shall merely dump them upon the site.  Maybe a witty comment or two, but that's not likely (I'm not that witty).  Honestly, I even think some of them I wanted to keep for personal use or sharing amongst friends, not to leave to the barren, cold, and unforgiving anonymous internet.  Whatevs, they're mostly in chronological order, in two parts (saved up on two computers), so here goes.

College Football SuperBus!!!!

Ok, so there's a shitton of college football shit, shit!  Here goes...

TCU Joins the Big East

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/ncf/news/story?id=5862368

I might do a College Football rundown later this week, if not next week, but until then I found this story humorous.

TCU is in Fort Worth, Texas (of Dallas/Fort Worth region fame).  It is WEST of the Mississipi river, usually the indicator of East/West in NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCES.

That's enough caps for now.

Oh, NHL Rules Committee...

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/With-Pronger-penalty-justification-more-NHL-rul?urn=nhl-289971

Yeah, this?  It doesn't fly.  Come on!

It's funny how everyday the NHL does something stupid like this to threaten it's own existence, when it was left comatose during the lockout year.  It should know better, and it should reprimand REALLY bad officiating in a case such as this (it would be counterproductive to reprimand bad officiating on a regular basis in any sport, examples must be made, however).

-- Knuttel

Facts Can't Get in the Way of What's Right, Damnit

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40426795/from/RSS/

Remember when McCain was a "maverick" of a moderate?  Now he just seems more like a dinosaur (literally) of a conservative (not quite paleo) everyday.

Moving on...

What would it take then to make this work, and allow openly gay citizens to serve in the military?  If the study had been done the other way around then McCain et co. could simply have stated that this should not have been done as a referendum, because policy decisions should be made top down.  Honestly, I think he secretly agrees with the way it was done, given the way he so quickly deferred, not to the study, but to the Chiefs of the individual branches of the Armed Services.

101 Dalmations remake?

You know Hollywood loves its remakes -- it prevents them from having to pay writers (like me) for doing actual work and creatively coming up with new ideas...

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/is-wearing-fur-acceptable-if-you-hate-the-animal-2413815/;_ylt=AqH8EYS12Ocsj4qC4ElOiw5pbqU5

 From what I understand, the difference is negligible.  My buddy, Bob Sacomato, he sells nutria hats down at the park.

-- Knuttel

IT'S A TARP

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40424612/from/RSS/

Awesome, so TARP, which was actually signed under Bush, not Obama (though it was during election season and both then-Senator Obama and Senator McCain bi-partisanly met up with Bush to get it done), is actually going to cost the American budget about 0 dollars (relatively speaking) and pretty much prevented the financial ruin from getting any worse (yes, it could have gotten much much worse, I could have been super-unemployed).

Ok, so it still cost a few billion dollars -- that's less than a percent of the total budget.  Can we stop bitching about TARP now, and start bitching about something productive?  Like, I dunno, the President that signed this bill was a total socialist...

-- Knuttel

Knuttel's Bitch-ass Weaksauce Salsa

So I've been given the task of making salsa for thanksgiving, but my last batch, I guess, was too hot for everybody.

So while I still plan on bringing some of the old salsa to thanksgiving, I had to make a new batch.

"Please, please, please, we want your salsa but it's too hot, the Knuttel," they told me amidst their tears (yes, my family calls me the Knuttel).

Making a bitching bitch-ass weaksauce salsa is no small feat, so I had to use a lot of thinking stuff to figure out how to make it work.  Here is the recipe below.  I'll put a post-script or something about how it actually turned out.

NCAA Football, week 13, 2010

Even though there is sooooo much more to be discussed regarding the elections (there were many referenda (that's plural for referendum), especially regarding gun rights, sections of the recent healthcare bill, and one pretty large one regarding the possible legalization of a recreational drug; oh, and the democrats picked Pelosi to be the minority leader, that happenned too; and screw governor's races) I think it's time for me to again shift gears and to talk about college football, everyone's favorite subject.

This just in -- the BCS sucks.

I'm not just saying this because Penn State is doing awful this year (well, by Penn State standards), I'm saying this because it is fact.

Election Day 2010: Take 3: the House

And so I finally get around to talking about the elections regarding the House of Representatives.

To talk about the numbers results briefly -- the Democrats had a decent majority, took a thorough thumping, and now are the minority party to the Republicans.

Democrats who lost were mostly moderates who won their seats in 06 or 08, in the process of voting out Republicans.  Not very many incumbent Republicans lost their seats.

Election Day 2010: take 2: The Senate

Part 2 of a bit by bit breakdown of this year's election results.

"The Senate"

The Senate, as we are used to thinking, is the senior chamber of Congress.  Each Senator must appeal to an entire state during their election process, a concept which would seemingly breed more moderate candidates and elections.  In addition the 6 year term would arguably make each Senator more independent, both of their party and the electorate they represent, as they face their wrath far less frequently.

That being said, that is not what happened this year, not at all.

Election day 2010: take 1

So polls have closed in a good part of the country, I suppose it's time to put a few cents in.

Democrats have taken a pounding thus far, whether deserved or undeserved.  But that is usual business for mid-term elections -- the party in power usually loses; 2002 was an apparition (dare I say because of 9/11).

I'll analyze actual results later, as they actually come in and are finalized.

Early cable news coverage was awful.  They did nothing but quibble over EVERYTHING, and loudly at that (true to form, I suppose).  Once network tv coverage began, the scene mellowed, and the coverage was more sublime.  I guess around this time the cable news began to lose SOME of its fury, but it still remains loud whenever they want and for no apparent reason.

Regardless, it looks like party structure in general will be in some sort of disarray/change.  Whoever adapts better would appear to be better suited in 2012, not necessarily who is more productive.

-- Knuttel

Bookmarks and Thoughts

I've had these windows open forever, and it's really dragging down my computer (downside I guess of running a brand new OS (linux) on a 6 year old laptop).

anyways -- I share:

The Separation of Church and State

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/19/AR2010101902501.html

God, I'd hope I'd never have to write anything about this.  I thought it would be common sense to ANYONE who has grown up in America that there is a separation between church and state within our government.  Apparently, it's too difficult to also remember all of our freedoms guaranteed by the first amendment, at least beyond speech (by the way, it's speech, religion, assembly, press, and petition, in no particular order).  Why not, I'll just post what the first amendment is, aka the easy amendment.

Deficit

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_exclusive/20101015/pl_yblog_exclusive/what-would-it-really-take-to-trim-the-deficit

There's all of this talk this election season about controlling the deficit, reducing the national debt, etc.

First -- definitions

The national debt is the cumulative amount of money the nation owes to other entities.

The national deficit is the amount of money the nation accrues in debt over the course of a year.

Only one President has ever gotten the debt to 0, Andrew Jackson. The last President to have a deficit of 0 was Bill Clinton, who upon the Internet boom of the late 1990s, began to pay back against the debt.

Moving on, both the debt and deficit have been big issues of this, and most, election years. Many want us to get rid of some/most/all of the debt to reduce dependence on foreign entities, namely China -- who actually only owns a plurality of the debt. Many have also seen deficit spending as one of the best ways to get the nation out of recession. The latter statement has been less popular since the passing of TARP, and most tend to focus on the other "half" of Keynesian economics -- tax cuts.

I wonder what the figures are on what the taxes would be currently, with the bush tax cuts, with the bush tax cuts for just those who earn under $250,000 a year, and without the bush tax cuts entirely. Sadly, I don't think anyone would make such a chart, and me being only 14-15 at the time the cuts took place, I am woefully unaware of what it was like financially pre-cut.

As the article states, I find it interesting that tax cuts are among the most inefficient ways to help the economy. I knew of the fact that upper-class cuts help the economy the least, but seeing as how they are the ones who control the media etc, the fact is easily ignored.

How have we really gotten so bad that tax cuts are the only way our politicians can campaign about fixing the economy, that not being for tax cuts is the equal of being against tax cuts?

The Republican plan, which was published earlier this year, in the summer I believe, only has rhetoric about cutting the deficit, while not doing much to actually reduce it in the meat and bones. The tea party contingent plans on cutting back the government as much as possible, except in the personal government project that helps each individual person.

The Democrats have not listed any plan besides letting the bush tax cuts above 250,000 expire, and keeping the rest (Obama pledged not to raise taxes on anyone who makes under that, and you'd be damn sure he's gonna keep that if he wants any shot at re-election, it killed Bush Sr.'s shot).

Honestly, raising taxes might be the only way to get out of it. With the current economic recession being largely caused by fiscal instability in people being unable to pay off their houses and credit cards, perhaps the country should look inwards and not become a parody of its people. We've spent more than we've had, but the projects can't be cut, people need them, they've come to rely upon them. So we need to suck it up, and make more than the minimum monthly payments.

-- Knuttel

The Marcellus Shale

The Marcellus Shale is a large natural gas reserve that will likely be developed soon, due to its size and the demand for natural gas. Most of this reserve lies in the northern Appalachian mountains, and thus what to do with it has become somewhat of an issue for this years Pennsylvania Gubernatorial race


So the main issue is ... should the energy companies be taxed for mining the natural gas? How should they be taxed, if taxed?

Passage of a bill looks eminent, so it looks as if the issue will be more rhetorical and theoretical than anything else.

I look at it this way. The natural gas is there. How much is there is unclear, but it's there. Unless the states decide to go to war with one another, or some country invades and takes over the Marcellus Shale, it will still be there, and it will still be in Pennsylvania. In this case, it is the job of the government to make sure minimal damage is done in order to extract the natural gas, or to ensure that what damage is done can be reversed. If it takes a tax to make sure this can be done within the state budget, a tax which is the similar in neighboring Marcellus states (which, by the way, because it's in shale form, cannot be a "my milkshake drinks your milkshake" scenario), then the tax must be enacted. It's the only responsible thing to do. Having the tax will not drive away business because the industry is fixed. The natural gas is where it is and it cannot move. In fact, it is the duty of the state to make sure it is getting its fair share for parting with its limited precious resources. Is not the state its own actor in this market?

Given the recent history of the energy mining industry (ahem, BP, ahem) I'm not so certain stasis can be trusted to the corporations. And to put it flatly, once the natural gas there is gone, so is the industry with the region. Recompense of some kind must be had.

RECOMPENSE!!!!

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20101012_On_Pa__natural_gas_tax__different_polls_yield_different_results.html

-- Knuttel

KA-BROOM

Question: What is the sound of a sweep?

The playoff future looks bright for the Phillies, with but one exception -- the offense looked rather anemic. That is to say, most of their offense was generated from defensive errors. This needs to be rectified.

Pitching was stellar.

2 complete games, 1 no hitter, and no runs surrendered by the bullpen -- against the NL's most potent offense of the year, no less. The Reds had the team triple crown, and their first baseman was close to getting a personal one.

The next series shall be interesting, and I hope they both exhaust eachother.

I don't know how I feel exactly about the possibility of a Yankees/Phillies rematch though. Sure, having the Phillies win would be awesome, but would that particular matchup be good for baseball?

-- Knuttel

The Modern Anti-Hero

The modern day anti-hero is in our midst, upon the TV screen: Jersey Shore's Angelina "Jolie" Pivarnick.

But Knuttel, one might say, how could this possibly be?

It's quite simple, really.

First off, no one on the program displays true heroic qualities. None of them have any explicit virtue or anything like that. They may display "jerk with a heart of gold" qualities, but that rarely ever extends beyond their "family" or anyone else allowed within their group. This too extends to Angelina.

So what does she do that makes her heroic, in an anti-hero kind of way?

She remains (or at least remained).

She was an early departure on the first season, leaving the rest of the cast to bond without her. Sure, she did an annoying thing or two (notably cock blocking Mike and Pauly D in an extremely obvious way), but the whole cast annoys each other really. They're all immature, annoying assholes. It's what they do.

So why then does Angelina get outcast as such? Sure, she wasn't there for the first season, but that didn't stop the cast from accepting other second season people, such as her friend Jose.

Week in and week out she continuously took shit from the rest of the cast. She slowly worked at gaining their trust, only to have it taken back in a quarter of the time for something usually trivial, something any other cast member would be just as likely to do -- in the hot tub with Vinny's uncle hitting the ball into Snooki's face could easily be an accident, especially with someone who would probably not be very athletic or coordinated, something that Snooki could have very easily done to Angelina (except she would've brushed it off as nothing and no one would have left the hot tub terribly upset).

Among other things held against her was Vinny taking offense to Angelina saying that JWoww is talking about how drunk Pauly is, saying it like, "she's talking shit," when it's closer to, "she's talking a matter of factly, with little inflection of criticism." This of course leads to a fight. Later after a long dispute between her and Vinny, they end up drunkenly sleeping together. Vinny later states this act as doing it so he has something against her. Let me say that again, Vinny slept with Angelina so he could later hold it against her. How evil is that? Anyways, this comes within a day of Angelina saying she slept with Jose, when she didn't, leading to the later vitriolic accusation of sluttery -- you slept with two dudes under 24 hours. Nevermind the fact that MVP (Mike, Vinny, and Pauly) are either aspiring to or successfully doing this with their respective opposite gender the entire Miami stay.

And then the hammer comes down on her in the form of Mike, formalizing his anger against her and urging every second for her exit. JWoww offers advice to just stay and deal with it, Mike is an asshole, but the damage is done. The pressure is too great, as Mike is a forceful asshole who believes his opinions are synonymous with those of the rest of the house, and besides the advice, she gets no support.

The impetus behind the final argument is a misplaced menstrual pad, though I suspect it was moved by MTV's cameramen or staff. While I believe she is a sloppy and dirty person, I have a hard time believing someone would purposely do something like that -- leaving the alternate hypothesis to be something accidental, like as if she threw it at the trash can, it failed to make it in, and she didn't look back (which is still very dirty). Either way she had deniability.

In any case, her only true crime is being herself. She refused to submit in a culture of misogyny. Simply look at the relatively subdued personalities of the other female cast members, as well as the very one sided accusations of slutty behavior (Mike, for instance, is never criticized for sleeping with many women, rather sleeping with ugly women).

In summary: she is ostracized mainly for not fitting in, and takes abuse from the other house mates on a daily basis for doing this. For refusing to be someone besides herself (when all options are rather morally neutral at best), she is the modern anti-hero. At the very least, she carries the hero's burden. She doesn't want to simply be another guidette, she wants to be Angelina the guidette, and for this she should be commended.

-- Knuttel

FIIIIIIFFFFFAAAAAA

Put Philadelphia in a world cup, why not

The downfall of western society: a Pixar story

So I finally saw Finding Nemo.

I was dissappointed, but not really. I didn't like it, but it was standard Pixar fare.

Without further ado, I shall now let loose my anger upon Pixar.

All they make are treacly little Oscar-bait pictures. The funny part, of course, is they'll likely never win any best picture Oscars for doing this, as animated pictures rarely ever win the best picture Oscar. Though animated Oscar-bait pictures are usually much more likely to make money than non-animated ones -- plus lower production costs; theyre running to the bank.

But my point is they don't challenge the medium in any way other than technical. They don't treat it like an art, they treat it like an exercise. All the stories are the same tug-at-your-heartstrings bullshit. Oddly enough, all the stories also have a very anti-human message.

I shall go through this latter part in list format, using the list of Pixar films made, according to wikipedia.

Toy Story, 1995 -- While the conflict is mostly between Buzz and Woody, it is brought up mostly by Andy the human kid's temporary taste in toys. Also, there's the kid next door who terrorizes and destroys all toys, though he would be considered a minor-antagonist. Add in the fact that humans aren't supposed to see the toys move ever, and really any human is an enemy of some kind in this movie.

A Bug's Life, 1998 -- I don't remember anything about this movie. It sucked too much for me. Plus it was a blatant knockoff of Dreamworks' 1998 movie Antz. Funny thing is when Dreamworks goes toe to toe with Pixar on films of comparable quality, Dreamworks usually makes the better film. This is the beginning of this trend. Are people even in this movie? Oh man, that's the most evil of all.

Toy Story 2, 1999 -- Already going into the sequel well on their third effort, the antagonist in this mediocre movie is the toy collector.

Monsters, inc., 2001 -- I don't really remember this movie, but I think the antagonist in this movie was the little kid that runs around the monster city.

Finding Nemo, 2003 -- The main antagonist in this movie is the Sydney dentist (how an ocean clown fish managed to survive the trip from the Great Barrier Reef to Sydney is beyond me). All the oceanic "enemies" were merely plot obstacles (were the jellyfish ever aware of their presence?). It is also one of the first movies to make a dramatic stand against people and what people stand for explicity, criticizing the "stealing" of fish from their natural environments, and really people "invading" upon any oceanic habitat. Also, anyone notice how the final "obstacle" was a fishing boat, of which the fish were at least aware of fishing grounds? Not to mention a clown fish would probably get tossed overboard during the sorting process as by-catch. Also, even though Shark Tales was decidedly mediocre, it was still better than this.

The Incredibles, 2004 -- The antagonist is, at first, the humans who ban superhero activities in public. This is used as a plot device to set up the main antagonist, a normal human who captures and fights superheroes with his robots.

Cars, 2006 -- I could only stand about 5 minutes of this crapfest. Too many awful car puns. Anyways, I don't even think humans exist in the "Cars" universe. What is the purpose of a car's existence then, if not to propel the driver? Thus, existentially, humans are, too, the enemy.

Ratatouille, 2007 -- The enemy in this movie is every human which attempts to stop a single rat's attempts at becoming a chef.

WALL-E, 2008 -- The antagonist in this movie is natural human sloth. As people develop better and better technology, they become lazier and lazier, ultimately turning earth into a trash pile. The robots running the ship realize this, using it as their reason to keep the humans away from earth, even though it can now "support" life. Kung Fu Panda was superior to this film in every single way, even in only the first five minutes.

Up, 2009 -- Never saw it, don't plan on seeing it, but I can bet you there's an indictment against humankind somewhere in there.

Toy Story 3, 2010 -- The third sequel of the Toy Story franchise, it improves upon the second one. Humans exist as the usual background foe, special emphasis placed upon the little kids who destroy and go through toys, not understanding their limits. The main antagonist is mob-boss of the daycare, Lotso Hugs, but all of the conflict in this movie is driven by abandonment issues the toys feel from their human masters.

So there you go, Pixar hates people. I expect a Pixar remake of Soylent Green, rewritten as a feel good story.

-- Knuttel

interesting op-ed articles

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/opinion/24krugman.html?_r=2&src=me&ref=general

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/opinion/24chernow.html?src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

i'll prolly synthesize the information later on, but i'll just stick it up for now

-- knuttel

The Demise of Politics

So the repealing of "don't ask, don't tell" failed miserably. Regardless of opinions of the matter, it showed a complete failure in the political process as it it practiced by today's Senate.

Instead of just proposing the bill as a straight vote on what would seem to be a straightforward issue regarding policy, it was attached to the defense spending bill. As the constitution states, the Senate can only affect the military by (officially) declaring war and ratifying treaties. However, the Senate can also control spending, of which the military requires to survive.

This means the bill is no longer about the issue of whether or not gays should be allowed to serve in the military. No, the bill is now the military budget, and includes something about repealing the policy.

This means that voting against taking away "don't ask, don't tell" is now "voting against the military."

Naturally, the Senate republicans want to pass the military budget, so in order to attempt a compromise, they ask for 20 amendments. What they are, I do not know, but Senate majority leader only included one of them in the final bill.

So now the bill needs 60 votes to pass, because the Republicans are threatening a filibuster if it goes to the floor. The bill looks like it will only get 59 votes, so it just gets dropped.

So misaimed politicking and exclusion doomed the actual passing of this, which by the way an overwhelming majority of Americans would support.

Maybe the moderate Republicans in the house would've voted to get rid of this, but because they were shut out of the discussion on an even larger matter, they refused to cooperate yet again. Of course, it's a given that cooperation is not guaranteed, but I can guarantee that John McCain filibustering a straight vote on an issue like that would not go over well for the entire party. A single action like that could have easily evaporated moderate and independent support in a very hyped election season -- really making the vote something more of an inevitability, a postponement.

Now with the rise of the tea partiers, and their subsequent foray into social conservatism (which, you know, really has a lot to do with their original libertarian stance on limiting government), this could remain an issue for longer.

Frankly I don't understand how "don't ask, don't tell" could even be supported in any context other than maybe the original context -- which was much more limited in scope (basically just don't go to a gay pride parade wearing your uniform) -- not if they are found to have a same sex spouse, or are found in the midst of a homosexual act, or have their emails and other private life items invaded to force one out of the closet and ending their career.

How can we turn away able bodied soldiers, or at the very least force them to live a lie (and hope they don't get caught) in order to serve and protect their country?

-- Knuttel

Stuff

I probably intended on using these as links/references for my last post, so I'll just haphazardly put them down now.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100915/el_yblog_upshot/tea-party-victory-endangers-gops-goal-of-retaking-the-senate

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/conservatives-trash-karl-rove-after-he-insists.php?ref=fpa

The latter I see directly correlating, however the former perhaps may have been an egg for a follow-up post. I dunno.

-- Knuttel

Division

Let's take a break from sports for a little bit. It's getting repetitive anyway.

There is a great political movement occurring right now, the tea party. When it first started, it seemed easy to write it off as a fringe movement, relegate it to third party status.

Instead of becoming a third party, they simply became something similar to a PAC. They either fielded or supported candidates from both parties, at least initially. Public figures, all of whom could be described in some manner as "Washington outsiders" started taking charge of the party.

The tea party grew increasingly on a more and more conservative base. Originally, it appeared to be made from libertarians who were fed up with being on the outside looking in as the government grew larger. Other right wing oriented groups latched on, also on the outside since the democrats took control of both electable houses of government in 2008.

And while the economic crisis continues, anger grows; more and more people become dissatisfied with the manner in which the country is run. The tea party becomes a symbol of those who feel ignored by the government, who feel even when they vote for the old party line, they vote for the same thing.

That is how Christine O Donnell beat Mike Castle for the republican senate candidate in Delaware.

By all accounts, Mike Castle had no reason to lose. He was a moderate republican in a Northeastern state. He had a long and competent service record -- currently serving as Delaware's lone house member, also served as Governor and Lieutenant-Governor. Aside from espousing the view that our President was born in the U.S.A., there shouldn't have been any issues, and he likely would have had the support of many democrats, winning the Senate seat.

But that's precisely why he didn't win. The tea party has taken over the right wing of the republican party, adding social conservatism along the way. Simply having a long government career was disastrous, no matter how long or esteemed. Not dealing well with conspiracy theorists also doesn't help when fringe movements close in on a party.

So now all of a sudden, Delaware is a race. What was sure to be a seat for Mike Castle and the republicans is now fair game to both parties.

O Donnel had previously run in the 2006 Primaries for Senate, and also ran on the main ticket in 2008 against Joe Biden. She lost on both occasions, but now has tea party steam backing her up. She's stood for some socially crazy positions, claiming to base it on religion (seeing as how I too am a catholic, I know she's full of shit), and etc, but I'm not gonna point that all out. I'll just direct you to a video which should be up in many places of her on a '90s MTV special when she was in her twenties.

I went to her website to try and figure out what exactly her positions are on anything, and well, I got this. Yeah, it just asks for donations, and doesn't say anything about her campaign or what she stands for. Even funnier, if you click to the next screen, it doesn't have her updated goal of $1,000,000 posted. For a movement that seems to have sprung quickly with the aid of the internet, I am really disappointed in a website like this one.

Why do I care about this? I don't live in Delaware, after all. Well, I live close enough. What happens in Delaware can effect me, and what happens in Delaware could also be a indicator of what is to come in southeastern PA politics. In addition, driving on I-95 in Delaware is already an unpleasant experience, and I do not want this to be even more unpleasant cos some crazy doesn't want to pay maintenance on it. I could decide it's fiscally irresponsible for me to pay car insurance, that doesn't mean I don't need it to drive my car, and doesn't reflect anything about fiscal responsibility.

Maybe conservatives want Obama, Pelosi, and Reid to be the figureheads of the democratic party in 2012, but I think liberals would likewise be interested to see Palin, O Donnel, and Angle as figureheads of the republicans.

What the hell ever happened to constructive lawmaking? You can't fix anything if you can't agree damnit.

Clarity

I should clarify, perhaps, how the two items in the previous article are related.

The NCAA is going after players who engage in activities which somehow correlate to them getting paid to play football. As an amateur organization, this is forbidden, and players will be dealt with accordingly (usually ruled ineligible, sometimes after the fact).

The NFL has no minor league or developmental league of any kind. Essentially, they draft players from the college ranks (with a few rare exceptions, defensive tackle Eric Swann comes to mind). With the NFL expanding its regular season to 18 games, and decreasing its preseason games to 2, it will be more difficult to ascertain how valuable these fringe players are on a roster. These fringe players are made up of undrafted rookies, late round picks, and career special teamers.

In order to actually develop these players, evaluate how they play in a professional environment, the NFL will have to develop some sort of minor league system. Having it a separate league entirely, such as the UFL seems troublesome and meddlesome. Every other league plays by rules that are either too different or simply doesn't draw the kind of talent required to garner attention. Expanding the practice squad to full size and have the practice squads play each other seems like a good idea, it could be like the reserve system in European soccer.

Frankly, I don't see why the college players aren't paid if they are making so much money for the school. I realize most of what colleges do simply doesn't make money, at least not real money. Research universities can draw in federal money for research grants. Even in this case the professors and research aides are all paid for their time.

Whatevs, I'm starting to get rambly. Time for me to move to other topics.

-- Knuttel

How is it?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/09/AR2010090906372.html?nav=rss_email/components

How is it the NCAA can get away with this?

I realize the specifics regarding this case are vague, but that's precisely what's leaving this player in limbo. I realize the main purpose of college is to provide education.

However, it is clear that in this case, the player will do little else immediately after graduation besides try to play professional football. His jersey wasn't sold for terribly more than it would be worth anyway (ebay that jersey, and it would probably get over a grand). And the NCAA sells his jersey anyway, and keeps all the money from it.

The fact of the matter is the major sports (football and basketball, usually men's but sometimes women's) make a shitton of money for the NCAA and their respective schools. The players, those who produce this money, see little of it.

Assume that a semester at a public university costs $20,000, including everything. That makes a full ride worth $40,000 plus a few field trips. Let's say it's a private university, and everything costs twice as much, that makes it $80,000 the university is giving them.

The NFL rookie minimum salary in 2007 was $285,000, and it has probably risen slightly since then.

Athletics is a field in which there is not much time to make your money. These players are forgoing prime (or developmental depending on the person/position, either way important) years of their life on what amounts to a 4 year internship.

Switching gears, the NFL has also recently stated the season will soon go to 18 games, replacing two of the four preseason games with regular season ones. This kills rookies and fringe players chances of making the team and understanding the game. The NFL would do well to create some sort of minor league to facilitate this development and retainment that they are otherwise sorely losing. The NHL has the AHL, and MLB has the minor league system, hell even the NBA has some semblance of a minor league system in the d-league. The NFL has none of that. They have other leagues that don't pay as much, and often play with very different rules and formats -- The CFL has 12 on 12 football with 3 downs to get 10 yards, the Arena Football League encourages iron-man style play with it's archaic substitution system, and the UFL eschews popular NFL rules such as the tuck rule and a different form of intentional grounding.

The NFL risks collapsing under its own weight if it doesn't make some sort of change regarding this. This has nothing to do with my personal squabbles and boycott of the NFL. If the NFL doesn't amend itself in this way, it can very well lose the relevance it so enjoys -- maybe even people will discover the variety of non-NFL football during a lockout, which could damage its brand (think people discovering faster-paced European hockey with NHL level athletes during its lockout year).

Something's gotta give

-- Knuttel

NCAA Week 2

So the second week of 11 on 11 football has come to pass.

-- Penn State needs to fix the run game somehow. Logic dictates that it shouldn't be Royster, but logic also saw the offensive line pass blocking very effectively. Pass blocking and run blocking aren't directly related, but they're close enough. Against 'Bama, they get somewhat of a pass, but they need to get their ass in gear.

-- Bolden, again, didn't look terrible. However, I get the suspicion that the coaches are unwilling to hand the offense over to him. His offense was very vanilla.

-- Newsome actually looked better than Bolden in the one series he played. The ball was turned over on a wide receiver reverse screen, so we didn't get to see if he could finish a drive, something Bolden struggled with mightily.

-- Speaking of which, Redzone offense sucked. One field goal is unacceptable, regardless of opponent. Scoring 3 points leaves you unlikely to win in any scenario.

-- Does Kevin Newsome have Allen Iverson syndrome? (Practice, you talking about practice? practice? I'm talking about the game!)

-- I see Penn State as a middle of the road Big Ten team this year, though recently they've usually been only upper mid-tier, so that's really not that much of a change. They're clearly not beating either Ohio State or Iowa, and could easily lose to a Michigan or Northwestern. Even an upset to Temple wouldn't be entirely unforseeable.

-- The ACC is looking terrible. Last week Va Tech lost to Boise State, which seemed like it could go either way. But this week Va Tech lost to FCS James Madison, Georgia Tech lost to Kansas, who lost to a 1-AA opponent to open their season, Florida State got trounced by Oklahoma, and Miami lost to Ohio State. Did I miss anything?

-- Virginia held in for longer than expected against USC. They have a shot at beating Va Tech this year for the commonwealth cup.

-- Boise State's victory against Va Tech has been sadly made more unimpressive by Va Tech's loss this weak. It's really a shame you never really know what you're going to get when you attempt to schedule strong out of conference opponents. They attempted to schedule tough and prove themselves, and their opponents haven't bothered as much to do the same. Other big name opponent, Oregon State, lost their opener to fellow mid-major powerhouse TCU.

-- NCAA division 1-A (FBS) needs to get a playoff system. It's not like it takes away the meaning of games anyway.

Interesting bit of info

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/09/AR2010090903780.html?nav=rss_email/components

Just some interesting bit of information. It's funny how sometimes when we try to forge ahead on our own and attempt to declare independence, we find ourselves ever more reliant.

Fun fact -- Incandescent bulbs are functionally obsolete. They are made in America. Compact Fluorescent bulbs (CFL's), those tubey looking bulbs that are replacing them are far far more efficient. They are also mostly made in China.

And while we're on all of this, when will people figure the hell out that it doesn't matter whether the car is powered by gas, electricity, or some combination of the two when the power source for the electricity also produces carbon emissions (this would also include coal, oil, and other fossil fuels). It's a lovely thought, it really is. It's just out of sight, out of mind, really. Not to mention the batteries that hold all this power are highly toxic (so are cfl's now that I think about it).

-- Knuttel

Sleep

So, I went to a bitchin concert Tuesday night.

Sleep has reunited for a fall 2010 tour. They broke up in 1997 after they had difficulty getting their album Dopesmoker released. It was made up of one hour long song. They tried again by cutting 8 minutes off, dividing it into sections, rewriting some of the words, and calling it Jerusalem. Both ended up being released in some way after the break up. They are mostly known for their landmark doom metal album Sleep's Holy Mountain, featuring sludgey Black Sabbath tinged riffs. After the break up, bassist/vocalist Al Cisneros and drummer Chris Hakius formed doom/tibetan chant outfit Om, and guitarist Matt Pike formed sludge metal group High on Fire. They have reunited for a few one off shows since the breakup.

Anyways, I found out about the show that morning, and decided I had to go. This was, after all, one of the two defining doom metal bands of the 90's (the other being Kyuss).

Opening was Iron Man. I was aware of this band, but not of the fact they still existed. When I first saw them on the billing, I thought it was merely a different band that had stolen the name, or some other copyright infringement of some kind. Anyways, they weren't bad. The singer reminded me of what Jack Black would be like at 50 if he had never made it as an actor.

Next on stage was A Storm of Light. They were a post-metal band from Brooklyn, so -- hipster noise metal. They were definitely the loudest on stage by volume. Interesting fact -- the band's frontman is the art/visual director for Neurosis.

Finally, what I was waiting for -- Sleep. They took the stage and just rocked the fuck out. No frills, just awesome riffage, awesome jamming, really just whole lots of awesome going all the way around. It's a unique experience going to a doom metal show, compared to other types of metal. Most metal shows would require or facilitate some form of aggression or moshing or something of that nature. Doom metal shows, on the other hand, if done right, just create a vibe, and everyone in the room is just feeling it.







This is a band that requires further listening.

-- Knuttel

The Knuttel dissects the first week of the NCAA football season

United States American Football is here, finally (the Canadian Football League has been going since June ... on a related note, already can't wait for the Grey Cup). Once again this means it is time for me to fully dive into the ameteur world of 11 on 11 football; I'll probably watch a few UFL games too, if I can find them, but the NFL boycott is still active (though I have a fantasy football team this year).

Anyways -- I bring to you, dear internet reader, a brief (haha, briefs) summary of the first week of action.

Penn State opened action against Youngstown State, so it was really just a tune up game. However, given certain circumstances, it requires more thought.

Robert Bolden, a true freshman, started the game at quarterback. This is notable for a few reasons -- A freshman hasn't started a game at quarterback for Penn State since redshirt freshman Zack Mills in 2001. A true freshman hasn't started any game for Penn State since Tony Sacca in 1988. What makes it even more remarkable is he did enroll early in the Spring Semester to get more practice (in, I suppose, what has become a more modern form of redshirting). He basically just walked in and took the job.

So how did he do? Well, Youngstown State isn't much of a test, but he never seemed under pressure or forced to make any bad decisions. He did throw one interception on what could be chalked up to a rookie mistake -- he stared the receiver down, who then fell on a curl route, leaving only the opposing corner in the area. We never saw his vaunted speed or athleticism -- I guess a mixture of not calling options to reduce the risk of injury and not seeing a decent pass rush. The Alabama game next week will really tell where he is.

The rest of the team -- defense looked solid (save one mental lapse that resulted in a long touchdown off a screen), so I'm not gonna bother going any further with that. The rest of the offense, however, may have some figuring out to do. The offensive line isn't settled, and it showed in the running game. Even Royster, heir apparent to the Penn State rushing record, looked ineffective for most of the game, though he did have a few good long runs. Blocking was likely a part of it, as the left guard position is still seemingly up for grabs. If Alabama is to be any kind of contest, this needs to get fixed immediately.

Onto the rest of the NCAA, in two games...

Boise State vs Virgina Tech

Boise State once again proves everything, and nothing, by beating a major big conference team on a neutral site. Every single time they line up against a big program, they bring their A-game, and usually come out on top, yet they aren't going to be taken seriously as a national title contender because their week in and week out schedule for the WAC conference is weak. Moving to the Mountain West in a year or two isn't going to help much. Frankly I don't see how it's that much different that Texas getting games against Iowa State and Baylor, Florida getting games against Kentucky and Vanderbilt, but these non-bcs conferences do lack depth at a much greater level.

The thing is, though, any given school has about zero control over how strong their schedule is going to be. You are in the conference you are in, and must play among these teams, regardless of strength, and out of conference games are decided years in advance by AD's. For example, when Penn State signed a deal with Syracuse for a few games, they were a good team. By the time came to play Syracuse, they were at the bottom of the Big East, usually regarded as the weakest of the bcs conferences.

Really, they should just have some sort of playoff to decide the national champion, then we don't have to worry about all this bickering about who could've beaten whom, cos they would've fucking played.

Moving on.

Ole Miss vs Jacksonville State

It is common practice for football teams to pick a decidedly weaker opponent for their first game. Usually they go to the mids and depths of non-bcs conferences, but they also go to div 1-AA (or div 1 FCS, as they now call it, admitting its superior form of selecting a champion). Playing these teams close is usually unforgivable; losing to them ... well, that just shouldn't happen (see Appalachian State vs Michigan). Well, it happenned again. Maybe the team in question wasn't as highly touted as Michigan was (I think they were in the top 25), but they were touted highly enough. In two overtimes they lost to a 1-AA school. They lost to a 1-AA school.

I'm not going to even go into detail on the game, I'm just going to say this much -- I don't want to hear any shit about how tough the SEC is this year. You blew it. Perhaps even for a few years, but hey, you guys can recover. Look at the Big Ten, Michigan lost, and the conference was looked down upon, but now it's looking brighter.

Knuttel Prediction: Last year's freshman sensation, Pittsburgh's Dione Lewis will suck it up this year -- not for any sort of sophomore slump, but rather because he was Lamar Smith-ed. Dave Wannstedt did it again, this time ruining a career before it could even begin. If he gets a good year of rest, he could probably recover, but given the offense, that is unlikely to happen, and Wannstedt will be looking for another freshman sensation to burn out within a year.

-- Knuttel

bear with me, hahaha

Ahhh, it was only 8 articles. only 8. here's the bear again, just for the hell of it



-- Knuttel

Middle Class Woes

Future hiring will mainly benefit...

So if future hiring will mainly benefit the top and bottom parts of the economy, what is going to happen to the middle?

An unhealthy middle class leads to an unhealthy national economy.

If anyone needs a refresher, the two major workers' revolutions in history (France and Russia) were both as a result of these countries lacking a solid middle class (though, I guess in irony, the middle class in Russia was kind of growing and its academia provided a solid foundation for the revolution).

Personally, it would be interesting to see if corporate America has any interest in returning the middle class jobs it shipped away, or if anyone would accept the government becoming the new middle.

I also find it interesting that I heard, it could largely be rumor, but the most available jobs right now are "skilled labor" (electricians, masons, etc), aka the job that parents worked so their kids would go to college and not have to do that kind of work for a living...

-- Knuttel

Wolves

Wolves

I thought we were just re-introducing wolves to certain parts of the wild. Why are we killing them then?

I'll just leave that at that.

-- Knuttel

Unfortunate news...

drugs, drugs, drugs

How is this happenning to us?

How are the drug companies able to wield so much influence?

While the cholesterol drugs are worrysome, what's really troubling me is how much the children are getting medicated now.

How am I sounding crazy saying all of this?

Worst of all, how is it legal to air ads on tv for prescription drugs? Over the counter, I can understand, but these are drugs that you need a doctor to prescribe.

You see these commercials, but you can't just walk up to a pharmacy and ask for a bottle of the stuff. No. You have to see a doctor and get him to fill a prescription. The doctor could see either the medication as unnecessary, or could even recommend a different medication that would do something similar, but the commercial has the idea planted in your head that this one is the one you have to take, and yet you can't full comprehend what it's going to do, all of the side effects, I doubt even all of the doctors and lab technicians could fully explain either.

So why is this happenning damnit?!

-- Knuttel

I guess there's egg all over their face...

Eggs

Yeah, so this story is old, so what.

Outbreaks like these shouldn't even be an issue. However, the industry itself failed.

Runny yolks should be safe to eat whenever. Runny yolks are a mainstay of soooooo many egg dishes, it's frankly just incredulous that the industry is even suggesting such a thing.

I'm not saying we should all be able to eat raw eggs whenever we want (it would be nice, a man can hope), but the fact that the industry is blaming its outbreak on how people prepared the eggs the industry shipped out, before hinting of such an outbreak, is evil and unreconcilable on so many levels.

Maybe I'll just grow my own eggs. I can get a chicken, and if it's a rooster, instead of laying eggs I'll excercise lil' jerry and put him in competitions.

-- Knuttel

Iraq, after the fact, perhaps during

Was Iraq worth it, 7 years after the invasion?

Personally, I think it is too soon to tell (not mocking the Chinese Premier quoted in the 16th paragraph).

I also found the quote in the third paragraph to be a little bit humorous:

"We don't want food," said Nooriya Khalaf, 39, pointing dismissively at the small bags with rice. "We want jobs."

I realize there isn't much America can do about something like that, but I can only imagine how offended many Americans would be if that were to be the government's solution to unemployment. While technically food stamps and unemployment checks are handouts in the literal sense, they become analogous to currency and credit; i.e., you use the food stamps to buy the bag of rice, but you could exchange it for something else if you like (perhaps a bag of wheat flour, sticking with the bag of grain theme).

Anyways, I think it's too soon to tell whether or not the intervention was beneficial. It's impossible to tell when (or arguably even whether) Sadaam and the baathists would've fallen. Even the information within the article basically says that.

Regardless of support for or against the war, the troops may have finally been pulled out for good. This leaves the fate of Iraq ultimately within the hands of the Iraqis. Maybe democracy was meant to thrive there, maybe it wasn't, but at least it's been tried.

-- Knuttel

Cuba

Some interesting changes for the Cuban economy

The tourism thing shouldn't affect the mainstream Cuban economy too much. It should mostly just create some strips of beach that will turn into tourism destinations. When all is said and done, this part of the change allows foreign investors to lease land owned by the government (really, all of Cuba); the government will not sell-out the people. If, however, we begin to see large-scale renovations in downtown Havana for the sole purpose of tourism, then I would be totally wrong.

The second part seems tied to the first, though I don't know how successful that would be. I see it as an opportunity to sell their produce to tourists, but I foresee these tourism locations could become walled off cities. I dunno, I, as an American, haven't been to Cuba.

Moreso than anything else, it would be interesting to sit back and watch how this would change Cuba and its economy.

-- Knuttel

Ah, the South

So, this summer a school in Mississippi decided to (finally) drop it's ridiculous race based school government election system.

Yes, it alternates.

Why?

Every other year, the race of certain student government positions alternates. While on the surface this promotes equality, it really only limits how students can get involved and when.

And yes, it only alternates between white and black. What about other races/ethnicities?

Whatevs, I have nothing further to say on the matter.

-- Knuttel

The mining debacle

Stand Back, and bear with me, as I attempt to clear out my bookmarks once again. This time, however, I likely shall write articles on each one.

Mineral Management Service

The article points out the difficulties a governmental organization can have when, by nature, it has a conflict of interest.

The mineral management service has had the dual task of forging partnerships with corporations for mineral extraction and exploration, while at the same time regulating said partnerships and projects.

Oddly enough it goes against the very nature of the federal government; it has no checks and balances. It should be structured so one government body deals with these corporations and forges partnerships for mining etc (I don't think it would necessarily fly in this country if the government itself did its own mining) and have another government body, entirely separate, that deals with if these mining sites are all up to standard and following proper protocols.

The article goes in length to describe how congress repeatedly blocked offshore oil drilling for most of the coastline. Sadly, this might have had the effect of forcing wells into deeper water within the western gulf region, the only region largely open to drilling.

Really, the issue with the BP well disaster was two-fold -- there was little to no regulation on a well that clearly was not up to code; the well was in deep water territory.

Deep water, by itself, wouldn't be that big of an issue. On the surface, it simply means larger operating costs (larger and deeper platforms) and longer trips to refineries. When something does go wrong, which should be very rare if proper regulation is in place, it means repairs must be done remotely (the water is too deep for scuba crews). Repairs, therefore, take much much longer to complete -- hence the long time-frame of the oil spill.

So what should the legal ramifications of this matter be?

Obviously, the well was not built within regulation, but the regulators weren't doing any regulating...

Should, then, the regulators be held responsible for this? Given the power and influence of a large multi-national corporation of British Petroleum, it's likely the regulators will get thrown under the bus, while BP gets away with so much as a slap on the wrist and a marred public image. Should they be put under criminal charges? Probably, especially given the ecological damage. The courts would be wiser to focus on the business impact of the burst well, lest they be cast off by conservative media outlets as a hippie court (liberal media outlets would likely support the prosecution regardless, though I wouldn't be surprised to hear a few legislators trying to focus on the environmental impact). I wonder if there is actually any precedent for anything like this, maybe some mine leaking waste water into a river, polluting it. I dunno.

This article likely edited out anything about this perilous relationship existing between congress and lobby groups (both left and right). It would be interesting to find a way to accurately fix this, seeing as how there are few other jobs for a voted-out congressman than to work for lobby groups close to whatever their cause happened to be. For former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, this turned out to be a healthcare related lobbying firm. This lobbying job then prevented him from becoming the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Anyways, I digress.

The Mineral Management Service needs to be split. Regulators must not have their favor curried if we expect the law to be carried out.

-- Knuttel

Taco Burgers

The taco burgers were created within a day or two of the first attempt at the salsa.

You may see, however, that this post is well after...

For that reason, even though they were a monstrous hit, I cannot give the specific recipe for the taco burgers. I can only give some key ingredients, and the background story, the inspiration.

It all began when I was watching a Totino's pizza rolls commercial, the one where they are eating the taco flavored pizza rolls, and the one kid takes a bit and exclains, "My pizza tastes like tacos!" Anyway, I took this to heart. If a faceless paste drunk/little kid food company can make one food taste like another, why can't us?

So I began with the obvious, to make one classic ground beef dish taste like another ground beef dish.

Basically I had to reconcile a few key differences. Tacos remain in ground-esque form and are placed in a tortilla of some kind. Hamburgers are formed into patties and placed inside buns.

I, therefore, had to make tacos that could be formed into patties and placed inside buns, if I in fact wanted this hamburger to taste like a taco.

To use a taco kit would be wasteful. I had no intention of using the pre-packaged tortillas, was going to make my own salsa, and would have liked more control over the seasoning process. This also eliminated the possibility of getting a packet of taco seasoning. Not to mention with the size of the event where these would be unveiled, I'd have to do some maths as far as how many and a half packets to use. Plus those things are loaded with unneeded salt (though I think I did use a fair share of salt in mine).

So there was step one. Make my own taco mix. Really, it's not so hard. Just get some chili powder, ground cayenne pepper, paprika, and perhaps most importantly, cumin (I guess those actually all are chili powders...). This is where I ran into another issue -- no chili powder in the house.

I had heard of this Mexican Grocery store near me, on Street road, in like Bensalem or something, so I go there, figuring I can find some good stuff. Digression -- This is the most dice place known to man. It is only like two aisles, YET THEY LITERALLY HAD EVERYTHING. In fact here is where I'd link their website if they had one. Anyways, I spend a lot of time browsing the store and all, and of course the store owners don't know any English, so they're trying to get me to move along, but neither of us understand each other. Really, it was kind of humorous. Anyways, I grab some bitchin' chili powder (with like a hint of lime in it, so dice), and I see in the bean section they got some re-fried black beans. At most of our gringo stores, I only ever see regular red/brown re-fried beans. Eu-fucking-reka. Black beans would make this thing just killer. The color of black beans would more closely resemble cooked beef than the brighter red/brown of other re-fried beans. I could blend this in perfectly, and those who don't notice the bean would only notice it tasting more taco-ish, those who do would appreciate the subtle touch.

I put a few other usual hamburger spices in (Worcestershire sauce, etc, you know the drill), make up the patties, and voila.

The only caveat I have is the beans may have affected their structure a little negatively. If one is not careful when flipping or moving these as they cook, they can, and will, crumble.

I have no pictures cos We ate them all.

The Knuttel attempts to make salsa

Hey, look, it's been over a month since I last posted. Whaddya know. Whatevs, working out shit and junk, guess some of it's cleared up. Some has become murkier.

Regardless, my garden has been spitting out a shitton (it's an actual measurement) of hot peppers, so I made myself a nice big batch of salsa.

Ingredients:
-Shitton Cayenne Peppers (green or red, doesn't really matter, in fact cayenne is simply a marker for the kind of peppers I've been producing)
-Pint of Jersey Tomatoes
-4 Large Bell Peppers (I used green, but etc etc)
-1 Vidalia Onion (added sweetness)
-4 - 5 cloves of garlic
-Olive oil
-2 Cans of Tomato Paste
-Lemon Juice
-Salt
-Pepper
-Powdered Cayenne Pepper
-Chili Pepper Flakes
-Chili Powder (I used this bitchin lime flavored one I got at the Mexican grocery store)
-Oregano
-Thyme
-Thai Basil

Step 1:
Roast or Broil tomatoes and all peppers (chili and bell). You can do this by placing them over a grill, but if you don't feel like setting up the grill for this short step, just pop them in the oven at a 500 degree broil. Don't worry about burning, as the skin will get peeled off, but keep turning them to make sure of an even cook. Like 5-10 minutes a side should be good.
Step 2:
Remove skins of tomatoes and peppers. The skins of these fruits often get in the way of getting a proper salsa texture, so removing them is highly recommended. To do this immediately, take fruit out of heat element and throw in a pool of ice water. Remove skins by rubbing it to get it loose and pulling away.
Step 3:
Dice peppers and onion. Pull apart tomato (this should be fairly easy without the skin). Throw in blender/food processor (though be careful not to liquefy it, you still want to be able to identify the ingredients)
Step 4:
Chop garlic and put in a pot with enough olive oil to cover the whole bottom. Throw some salt, pepper, pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, and chili powder in there too. Keep it moving, cos burnt garlic tastes like ass. Put the burner on high heat.
Step 5:
Put Pepper, onion, and tomato mixture into pot. Drop heat to low. Add Tomato Paste. Cover and let simmer for x time. Keep it moving.
Step 6:
Add herbs (thyme, oregano, thai basil (thai basil has a little bit of a spicier kick to it, i think, and is slightly better suited for this kind of thing than regular sweet basil, though sweet basil should work fine)) and lemon juice. Stir.
Step 7:
Check for taste and adjust accordingly (salt, pepper, etc). Cover back up and let simmer for like half an hour or an hour or so until you get the thickness you want (tomato acts as a thickening agent, see). Keep stirring.
Step 8:
Take off heat and let cool. Put in dishes and junk. Eat.


I only have a picture of it mid-cook, so, let's just say, it's pretty damn awesome. The only thing I can think of is maybe it would work better with only 1 can of tomato paste. I dunno, I guess I can try that out later. It's got a nice little hint of citrusy, some good tomato texture, and the heat is good but not overpowering, has staying power too (like any good heat should).

Next up, the Knuttel attempts to make "taco burgers" (burgers that taste like tacos)

-- Knuttel

On America

Today is July 4th, the day the declaration of Independence was signed way way back in 1776. Because of this, it is often held to be the "birthday" of the United States of America. Of course the revolutionary war had been going on for roughly a year by this point, and the declaration itself was written on the 2nd, and the original government charter for the United States quickly became obsolete, so really I guess you could even say the nation wasn't born until the constitution was written many years later.

But really, I digress.

What is it to be American then?

Given the nature of our nation's birth, it is directly within our right to question authority. Given the nature of our nation's democratic elections, it is directly within our right to hold our elected officials accountable.

But there is a line, and I think we all know it.

It is most often crossed by those who are they themselves losing an argument, simply wishing to carry everyone down with them. Once this line is crossed, they cannot win. It is a simple matter of fact. Frankly it just sullies the entire system of argumentation and debate. It makes the actual idea of democracy seem unwanted, unfeasible, or even unnecessary.

The line is absurd comparisons. Most often it takes the form of Hitler comparisons, but really it could any force seemingly radical. And both sides (left and right wing nuts) are incredibly guilty of it.

Let me put it this way. Hitler was a human being (shocking, I know), and he ran a functioning government body (horrible, but functioning). Naturally, perhaps by mistake, his government and he were bound to do things right once in a while, naturally he might have had some human tendencies, being a human.

It is known he tried getting into art school as a painter. Does this make painters evil? Is the medium of painting forever tarnished by his youthful dream of becoming a painter?

That's really just one example, and it would really be a painstaking chore to try and redeem him anymore. Frankly, I don't think it should be done, but I was just trying to make a point.

You compare someone or something to Hitler and/or the Nazis, and you lose the argument. It shows you've lost respect for the argument itself.

Let's try it a different way, shall I?

George Washington was a butcher who was responsible for the deaths of many many lives, and was potentially a self-hating racist because a lot of them were British (Washington himself being of some sort of WASP heritage, as most of the founders were).

Of course all of these were during the course of war, both the Revolutionary and the French and Indian War. Facts can lie sometimes. They love to lie when you take them out of context.

The shocking thing is no one seems to bat an eye when this happens.

Being loud doesn't make your point right, and maybe if you listen to the other side you'll learn something. Insularity breeds ignorance.

Maybe we should compare our president to Hannah Montana.

I dunno, just spit-balling. Maybe it's less apt because Hannah Montana (despite her name) has never been involved with any sort of governing bodies.

-- Knuttel

The final moments of Uraguay v Ghana according to Knuttel

dude handballed it, and he was all "not in my house" and then the ref was all like, damn straight, not in my house, and he redcarded his ass. then the ghana dude came in for the pk and was all like "AFRIIIIICCAAAAA" but he kicked it too hard so the goalie was all like, "yessuah".

then it went to pk's and they both made the first two, then uraguay makes it and ghana misses, and uraguay's all like "hell yeah", then the next chump for uraguay misses it, and ghana's like, "haha, shit yeah, motherfucker." but then the dude kicks it straight at the goalie and the goalie's all like, "ill be taking that" so then the fifth uraguay dude comes up and he's all amped up to take the PK, and he charges the shit out of the ball, and ghana's goalie is all like "oh shit, what the hell is this motherfucker doing" and then uraguay's dude just chips it past the goalie as he's leaping across the line, and he's just standing there, cool as a cucumber

-- from an interwebs conversation, trying to put into words exactly how nuts it was.

-- Knuttel

The Greatest Scientific Discovery Known To Man

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10461066.stm

Shit yeah

The largest whale has been discovered (at least so far as we know).

It is huge.

It is a toothed whale with more in common with the badass Orcas and Sperm Whales than the huge Blue Whales.

It is bigger than Megaladon, the largest Shark known.

Leviathan Melvillei and Megaladon were contemporaries.

I'm just gonna let this all sink in, and maybe read Moby Dick again.



epic song for an epic find

-- Knuttel

World Cup Stuff

World Cup Links

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/columns/story/_/id/5313701/ce/us/us-advance-win-algeria?cc=5901&ver=us

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5307472/ce/us/clint-dempsey-us-says-embattled-referee-had-encouraged-rough-play?cc=5901&ver=us

A Specter Hangs Over Pennsylvania

Ok, so the original line was "a specter hangs over Europe," but then it wouldn't be about Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter.

I guess it's about a month ago now (shit have I put this off) that Specter was defeated in the Democratic Primary for re-election to his Senate seat. Oddly enough, he had switched parties about a year earlier because odds were he wasn't going to win the Republican nomination. Damnit, Pat Toomey just had to run EVERY SINGLE DAMN TIME against him. What does he even do anyway, except act as nemesis? Whatevs.

Anyways, Specter's career in politics is hella long, as he is hella old. He started out as a Philadelphia democrat, then switched parties so he could win the position of Philadelphia District Attorney. Around this time he came up with the famous "magic bullet" theory for the assassination of Jack Kennedy. Yes, Arlen Specter is hella old, that has already been established. He eventually got into his Senate Seat in 1981.

Think about that -- Senator from 1981 - 2011. That is 5 terms. That is more terms than any other Pennsylvania Senator has held.

In this time he forged a path as a defiant moderate -- clashing with his own party on major topics such as Bork's Supreme Court nomination and President Clinton's impeachment hearings.

However, in the end, it seemed he started to lose his identity. While a major party switch would seem an identity defining moment for most politicans, his seemed more out of frustration, lashing out against a party that didn't seem to want him. The Arlen Specter we Pennsylvanians knew would have stuck out in his old party and kicked the whipper snappers ass, alas political climate has changed since the 80s and 90s, and primaries just don't care for moderates anymore. It would appear primaries hate America, by extension, or at the very least a working democratic process.

In the end, whoever takes this seat from Specter will have big shoes to fill. Toomey seems to have only an "anti" definition, which I don't usually like in electoral politics (when you're running for a position, I usually think you should stand for things, rather than against them). Sestak is unproven, I think. We don't really know what we'll get from him, politically speaking that is. He has a long and very illustrious career in the US Navy, where he attained the rank of Rear Admiral. His selection was possibly largely due to an overarching dissatisfaction with incumbents, as Specter had virtually every "established" endorsement a politician can get.

As he is old, hella old, I suspect his political career is over, much like Bob Dole's political career basically ended when he lost the '96 Presidential Campaign to Bill Clinton.

So here's to whatever.

-- Knuttel




I wish to someday be a chrono naut, how much more badass would that be than astronaut, cosmonaut, or even spacekanaut?

So there IS something in Afghanistan

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100614/ap_on_bi_ge/us_afghanistan_mineral_treasures

Woah.

Though the article doesn't give any numbers, granted, if it did, I wouldn't really know what to make of them.

But think about it. Now this is just like Iraq.

We can no longer claim the pure moral highground in this scenario, doing this purely out of the interests of the people in Afghanistan and abroad. Nope. If the west controls that area, they can mine it.

And don't say they won't, cos as soon as the war at least settles down a bit (like it was mid-decade, say) you know western mining companies are gonna be all up ons the ground there like a chipmunk on Tuesday.

Yes, instead of the oil richness in an otherwise desolate Iraq, there is the general mineral wealth in an otherwise desolate Afghanistan (unless you count the poppy fields).

That being said, why can't we just get this war over with and mine the hell out of it? American companies would be able to get into these minerals the quickest and most efficient, and it's not like we're digging up old growth forest here. There's like no forest. It's perfect for mining.

So do it already. End this war so we can get some new batteries damnit. Hybrids aren't gonna hold a charge themselves, you know.

While we're at it, we should detonate the state of Ohio and check it for mineral wealth. I think we'll be moderately surprised, and we also won't have to deal with Ohio. Of course, we may have to put down the native Ohioans first. I guess something will get figured out.

-- Knuttel

Knuttel Clears Out His Bookmarks

OK, so these are all things I bookmarked over the past few weeks with the intention of writing small or full sized articles on them (what's the difference, I dunno, I never wordcount anyway).

Yay, Cleveland does something productive, besides set their river on fire (again).
http://www.usatoday.com

Something on the Oil Spill, in a little more non-traditional way I guess.
http://www.washingtonpost.com

Stuff on Israel and it's recent handling of the blockades.
Washington Post
Washington Post

Shit, that's alot of Washington Post I guess.

-- Knuttel

P.S. if there are any bookmarks on any other computers in my house or whatevs, I'll put them up in like an edited post or something.

PUCK THE SYSTEM: A season in review

AAAHHHHHH. PUCK THE SYSTEM. AAAHHHH. PUCK THE SYSTEM PUCK THE SYSTEM.

I WANT TO PUCK THE SYS
I WANT TO PUCK THE SYS

So, I haven't been very good about maintaining this regularly. I briefly contemplated picking it back up during the playoffs, but the Flyers were doing well. I knew there was about a zero percent correlation, but it seemed like a good idea.

Anyways.

The season review will be as thus -- The Knuttel shall look at his pre-season predictions, and assess them

Prediction 1: Ovechkin will average more than one goal a game, and challenge for Gretzky's, if not Hull's, scoring record.
Assessment: Ovie finished the season with exactly 50 goals in 72 games. I do not recall if injuries affected his play in the games which he actually did compete, but that's still less than one goal a game, and not the full 82 games. Still he finished in third place for goal scoring. He also tied for second in overrall points, putting in a very good Assists total of 59. I would like to note right here that this is more assists than Crosby in his 81 games.

Prediction 2: Someone else will come close.
Assessment: Well, I guess this is more of a 1A type of deal here, but alas here goes -- Both Crosby and Steve Stamkos of the Lightning scored 51 goals. Both of them also played more games, but that's not the issue. These three were the only 50 goal scorers. Patrick Marleau of the Sharks was next in line with 44 goals.

Prediction 3: Malkin will end the season with 50 more points than Crysby, but everyone will still insist Crysby is the better player. They will both still refuse to play defense.
Assessment: Malkin had an injury shortened 67 game season, compared to Crysby's almost complete 81 game season. Malkin scored 77 points, Crysby 109. So Crosby had a more productive year. He also led the team in +/- with an unremarkable 15. Both still refuse to play defense.

Prediction 4: PHEONIX WILL MAKE THE PLAYOFFS
Assessment: Yep, they did. Wait a minute...

Prediction 5: hah, no they won't
Assessment: fuck

Prediction 6: Chicago will not compete for a playoff spot at all after making a decent playoff run for the first time in like 15 years last season.
Assessment: They ended up with the number 2 seed for the playoffs in the west, and won the Stanley Cup in 6 games over the Philadelphia Flyers. I couldn't have been more wrong than on this prediction. It will be interesting to see how they keep this young core together with the salary cap and all.

Prediction 7: Tampa Bay will have 2 40 goal scorers, but they will not win 25 games.
Assessment: They did not have 2 40 goal scorers. They had 5 20 goal scorers, however, including one 50 goal scorer. Two of these players also had more than 90 points. As far as 25 games, that was an exaggeration I suppose. The lowest number of games won by any team was 27 by Edmonton. Tampa Bay finished with 34 wins (34-36-12 80).

Prediction 8: The Toronto Maple Leafs will correct their grammar and go as the "Toronto Maple Leaves".
Assessment: Nope. The Maple Leafs refuse to use the President's English.

Prediction 9: Shit, these predictions are too mild. whatevs. wait for the season to actually start.
Assessment: I never made any further predictions after the season began.

Prediction 10: I refuse to make any predictions or write about the Canucks, Oilers, and Flames, due to their proximity to where nickelback is from. If the teams were to take it upon their own hands to eliminate this band, physically, I'll reconsider.
Assessment: I still have yet to write about these teams, and these teams still have yet to take up the offer. I guess that's a push.

So I guess that's not awful, considering how predictions rarely ever pan out, especially over the course of an entire 82 game season. I wonder if Puck the System will be back next year. I wonder if this was Gary Bettman's last year as commissioner. I wonder if NBC will expand its coverage of the NHL, or if VS. will reach an ESPN-esque level of viewership.

-- Knuttel

THE BCS IS DEAD, THE BCS IS DEAD

THE BCS IS DEAD

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2010/06/report-colorado-to-announce-move-to-pac-10-on-friday/1

Colorado has officially left the Big 12 for the Pac-10. This means Nebraska's bid to leave is very much legit and most of the Big 12 south will vacate to go to the Pac-10.

If the Big 12 dissolves, and the Big Ten and Pac-10 become "super" conferences, the BCS will become very meaningless, if not now, then within a few years at least.

My fear is the BCS may undergo a new moniker, such as its previous incarnations as the Bowl Alliance and Bowl Coalition, or whatever it used to be.

With these super conferences, and the huge wave of public support in a playoff system though, I think this is at least the path to something constructive.

-- Knuttel

PUCK THE SYSTEM:almost finale

AAAAAAAHHHHH. PUCK THE SYSTEM. AAAAAAAHHHHH. PUCK THE SYSTEM PUCK THE SYSTEM.

The season is now over.

It is not over because the Stanley Cup champion has been crowned, but rather because the Flyers have been eliminated from play. They just happenned to make it this far.

I shall later put up a post recapping the season, looking at my outlandish predictions, etc.

This post is for the Flyers.

The team hang in all year long. They were never outstanding, they were never awful, they just kept on keeping on.

The Flyers had a midseason coaching change and numerous goalie changes -- some due to injuries. Preseason single year contract goalie Ray Emery went down fairly early with a possibly season ending injury, worked his ass to get back, and went down for the count when the injury flared back up.

Brian Boucher, who's peak was in the earlier part of the decade, was just supposed to be a backup, a spot starter. Michael Leighton, league journeyman, was claimed off waivers mid season. Both came up HUGE in the playoffs. Which bugs me that I even ask the question "What if?" when thinking about the goaltending. What if Emery hadn't gotten hurt in the season and had been available in the post-season? Would they have made the post-season? What if Boucher hadn't gotten hurt in the series against the Bruins? He goaltended them into the playoffs and exorcised the demons of his rookie year, beating the Devils in the first round 4-1, losing the series in 2000 after being up 3-1. Not to mention the Flyers were in the middle of a series comeback against the Bruins when he got hurt. What if Michael Leighton had been better at plugging his 5 hole? He had 3 post-season shutouts.

In the end, it appears the Flyers hopes and dreams went along with their defense. When their defense played well, when Pronger stayed on the ice, they did well. The Flyers have 4 defenders that could be in any other teams top Defensive pairing -- Pronger, Carle, Timmonen, and Coburn. What if the other 2 had stepped up to the plate better? Parent had played well all season and post-season, until it was apparent he wasn't fast enough to keep up with the blackhawks, and was scratched from the rest of the series.

The forwards, I have no complaints about. Perhaps they had too much depth -- any game could have different 3 or 4th liners scratched. When Laperriere went down, Carcillo stepped into his role fine -- fine enough to raise questions when Laperriere returned, it was either Carcillo or Van Riemsdyk who had to not dress. Briere and Carter scored when the team needed points. Richards led the team hard, pounding both ends of the ice. Hartnell didn't stop, couldn't stop, won't stop.

In the end it just wasn't enough to win the cup, and that's fine. This team was the underdog in every single series they were in. They were almost swept in the second round by the Bruins, before they made one of the most memorable comebacks in sports history. The fact that they made it to the playoffs was an accomplishment enough, given they didn't have a berth until they beat the Rangers in a shootout on the last day.

The only bad coincidence is that the Phillies also made it to the Finals and lost (also in 6 games).

-- Knuttel

Big Ten continued

So I saw that during a break in Jeopardy, so I had to post it, but alas, I had no time to expound and elaborate. Isn't that what this website is about?

So anyways.

Let's assume that this is it for Big Ten expansion, that no more schools will come forward and join them.

-- An East/West division system is likely. The East will probably be Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, and Purdue. The West will probably be Illinois, Wisconsin, Northwester, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska.

-- The Pac-10 will likely move in and take a good chunk of the southern schools of the Big12. This will likely spell the end of the Big 12. Given numbers, this means the Big Ten will become the new Big 12.

-- The SEC may also open up to and bid for some of the Texas schools, sensing a conference collapse, and possibly seeking to reunite Arkansas with some of its former conference mates.

-- If no conferences take any further Big 12 schools, the Big 12 itself may seek to re-shift and get some other school to fill the 12th spot, and maintain that championship game. Possible candidates for this include TCU, or possibly even some former Southwestern Conference members. Either the new school will join the Northern division, or Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, or Texas Tech will. I see the former option more likely, from 15 years of playing in these divisions and building up rivalries.

If the Big Ten is not done expanding, this is almost positive evidence that they are also adding Missouri. Missouri seemed like a sure shot to join the Big Ten, and if Nebraska is jumping ship, then Missouri will likely follow. This also means that there probably will be another east coast team to balance out everything geographically. Rutgers, Syracuse, and UConn will open the conference to the New York market, and Pitt and West Virginia have geography and historic rivalries with Penn State. They may also contemplate another 2 teams on top of that, making a 16 team super group. The other two teams could really be any I've listed, plus Notre Dame, and maybe even Texas.

If the Big Ten and Pac-10 turn into huge 16 team conferences, the BCS will basically become useless. With the BCS useless, Notre Dame will have to join a conference in order to partake in this playoff system and have the chance at a national title.

If the Big Ten and Pac-10 turn into huge 16 team conferences, the SEC and ACC will likely follow suit, absorbing whatever schools are left over from the Big 12 and Big East.

The Texas legislature may be the biggest obstacle here. What power they have over these schools' conference alignment is unclear exactly to me, but they seem determined to keep these 4 schools in the Big 12 together. I guess because Rice, TCU, and SMU are private, they have no control over where they go, but Houston is not, and has not been with these Big 12 schools since 1996. Obviously Texas and Texas A&M are the two big targets here, being the two with the biggest football histories. Texas Tech has had some very exciting recent years, both in record and in play, so they are a target, however the coach responsible for these changes has been fired. Baylor seems like the odd one out. They're a team on the rise, so they may be able to compete in the Pac-10 or SEC. Not getting into one of these, however, basically amounts to relegation, which means less revenue, dramatically.

Notice all of the ifs in this post. This is all one writer's crazy speculation.

Orangebloods seems to be keeping up with this. Considering how theyre affiliated with Texas, I wonder if there's some ulterior motive.

http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1092612

-- Knuttel