Urban Evacuation

This is a real problem. 

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Economic Prognostication

It is a very rare day that I read, much less rebroadcast, financial articles, but
this one
from CNN Money is particularly timely, understandable, interesting, and.....concise.

h/t microlesia

PSA: Glassbooth.com

This is a handy online tool that intends to help you learn which Presidential candidate is most likely to share your priorities with respect to the various political issues of our time. It is non-partisan and is based on a simple quiz format that takes about 5 minutes to complete.

I found the process kind of fun and the results a little surprising. According to the calculations, Governer Huckabee and I share an 80% consensus on the issues we consider priorities. Honestly, I wouldn't have thought that. Next in line was the unknown and unimportant Duncan Hunter and then America's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani.

Lately, I've actually found myself liking Fred Thompson more and more, but maybe that's just because he seems like such a likable guy and he doesn't mind slapping the press around when necessary. I met Governor Huckabee once, back in 1998, and he gave me an autographed copy of his book, "Character IS the Issue." Nice guy and a great book, but I really just haven't been swayed by his presidential aspirations to date.

Anyway, I suspect that the science behind this site is not terrifically complicated or unassailably definitive, but it is interesting and you may find it helpful.

Update: I've been thinking about this. This tool is, I think, effective at weighing the perceived importance of the most compelling topics of our time, but it doesn't cover everything. In every decision, large or small, emotion and intuition exert a significant influence. Our choice for who we prefer to be President will also be based on less tangible ideas such as our perceptions of their individual integrity, leadership capabilities, intelligence, resourcefulness, and personality. The impressions we form on those topics have little to do with the nuts-and-bolts social or political issues, I think, but are still important.

Which is probably why I think I'd enjoy having Thompson, Huckabee, or Obama over for dinner, but Clinton, Paul, and Biden make me uneasy.

Pioneer Woman and Chex Mix

When I was a kid, my Mom would always make Chex Mix at Christmas time. Always from scratch and always the classic recipe that you can find almost anywhere, including on the Chex cereal boxes. It is one of the most intense synaesthetic memories of my youth. The smell of this stuff cooking is almost as good as the taste when it's done. Now, of course, you can make this any time of the year, but it is really best at Christmas. It just is.

And whatever that dreck is that they sell prepackaged in the stores nowadays and call Chex Mix? That ain't it. It takes about $25 groceries to do it right, but it is worth it.

Here is a link to a great version of this recipe, complete with pictures and detailed instructions on a blog called The Pioneer Woman Cooks. This is a sub-blog, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Confessions of a Pioneer Woman blog which is authored by this crazy woman that lives on a ranch out on the Oklahoma prairie somewhere. She is an incredible photographer, a very entertaining writer, and, by all evidences, a fabulous cook. She's got a lot going on and her blog is extremely popular with some posts generating thousands of comments. Yeesh.

I'm going to be making up a big batch of this stuff this weekend to take to church and I will be including PW's secret ingredient in mine, too. Yum.

PSA: DVD vs. HD DVD - Compatible?

Public Service Announcement:

Today I needed to grok some low-impact, non-fat, lead-free, farm-fresh, semi-technical info about DVD's and HD DVD's and whether or not, or to what degree, the two formats were compatible. The bottom line is that you can play your DVD's on an HD DVD player, but not the other way around.

Here is a concise and easy-to-understand explanation of DVD and HD DVD technology at HowStuffWorks.com.

Okay, now back to online gift shopping.

PSA: Your printer cartridge is NOT empty.

Public Service Announcement

I just want to be sure everyone knows this. Just in case nobody has filled you in.

When your computer pops up a message telling you that your printer cartridge is almost out of ink, it is a big, fat, pernicious lie. You've got plenty of ink in there so leave it alone. Don't pull that old cartridge until the last page you print is all fadey and hard to read.

The people that make the ink cartridges are merely trying to get you to throw yours away early so that you'll buy more. They'll tell you they've got 8 kids and baby needs new shoes. They lie.

It is a scam. Kind of like insurance, atheism, and interest-free credit cards. Only not as bad.

PSA: Dover Publications Clip Art

In lieu of anything more substantive, here is a Public Service Announcement. Dover Publications has a free weekly newsletter email to which one may subscribe that I can recommend. They publish a wide variety of books, cards, and other paper and electronic materials. Their newsletter is a sales promotion tool, to be sure, but it is as polite and unoffensive instrument as you are likely to see, and it offers something cool in return.

Each week, the newsletter features a sampler page of free clipart images from their publications. Dover encourages you to download and use this material in any way you see fit. Each week there are at least a dozen different interesting images from a variety of sources. Many of the images are iconic or historic and feature a broad range of style and design. I have reproduced a few here.

Those of you with an artistic bent will really like this, I think, and I encourage you to check it out, and then sign up for their free newsletter.

h/t to Nancy for turning me on to this.

PSA - Music By People You've Never Head Of.

Public Service Announcement: Regular readers, and I am referring to both of you, know that one of my favorite things is new, fresh MBPYNHO (Music By People You've Never Heard Of).

Here is a deep and wide pool of it, with free live broadband concert video footage. Fabchannel features performances of many different flavors by artists who have appeared on the stage of the Paradiso, a nightclub in Amsterdam.


I really liked Emiliana Torrini a lot. Her music is both melancholy and happy, fragile and strong, innocent and experienced, all at the same time. The Whip was a fun listen, reminding me mostly of the Pyschedelic Furs, a punk-pop band of yesteryear of whom I very fond. I couldn't stand Late of the Pier...those boys can hardly play. Several of the techno/DJ acts were musically interesting. I haven't listened to anywhere near all of it, but there's metal, pop, folk, dance, blues, and much more to be seen and heard. And very nearly all of it is MBPYNHO.

Shawn Colvin does not qualify as an unknown artist by any means and her set is absolutely transcendant. She plays and sings so well. Be sure to check her out.

Public Service Announcement: How to reset your iPod

This is a handy bookmark. Every couple of months of so my wife's iPod locks up. Here is the quick, easy how-to-fix-it. Newbies need to note the difference between "reset" and "restore".

Heroes on NBC: Public Service Announcement

Here is where you need to go to watch all of the episodes of Heroes, the great new sci-fi show on NBC that has just finished its first season. My schedule is such that it was impossible for me to watch this at its broadcast time on Monday evenings, so I have watched the whole season on my PC. I don't watch much television and it is rare that I find much commendable to say about prime time programming, but I have really enjoyed this show.

There's no telling how long this will stay available online, and you won't want to miss the important early episodes, so go check it out.