Thursday, March 29, 2007

MC Rove

This turns from sick to ridiculous. I have rarely seen someone embarrass himself so thoroughly.



The video is from the annual Correspondents' Dinner–the one Colbert did last year. Note that when FoxNews showed the video, they cut the part where Rove says he ripps heads off of small animals.

Math Makes Pizza Better

So the other day, I made one of the dumbest decisions of my life. My wife and I are at a pizzeria, and I notice the price of a 8" pizza is 1/2 the price of a 14" pizza. I brilliantly suggest we get two 8" pizzas because we'll get more for our money. Why is this not true?

Math Review
Remember that the area of a circle is πr(squared)


The area of the 8" pizza is:
π x 4(squared)
π x 16
16π
50.24
The area of the 14" pizza is:
π x 7.5(squared)
π x 56.25
56.25π
176.625

So the 8" pizza is 50.24 square inches of food
and the 14" pizza is 176.625 square inches of food.
The 14" gives you three and a half times as much food!

Hopefully you won't make the same mistake I did.


Monday, March 26, 2007

Obama's Pastor Blasts NY Times

I meant to post this last week. My friends at BrainShrub turned me on to this.


March 11, 2007
Jodi Kantor
The New York Times
9 West 43rd Street
New York,
New York 10036-3959

Dear Jodi:

Thank you for engaging in one of the biggest misrepresentations of the truth I have ever seen in sixty-five years. You sat and shared with me for two hours. You told me you were doing a "Spiritual Biography" of Senator Barack Obama. For two hours, I shared with you how I thought he was the most principled individual in public service that I have ever met.

For two hours, I talked with you about how idealistic he was. For two hours I shared with you what a genuine human being he was. I told you how incredible he was as a man who was an African American in public service, and as a man who refused to announce his candidacy for President until Carol Moseley Braun indicated one way or the other whether or not she was going to run. I told you what a dreamer he was. I told you how idealistic he was. We talked about how refreshing it would be for someone who knew about Islam to be in the Oval Office. Your own question to me was, Didn't I think it would be incredible to have somebody in the Oval Office who not only knew about Muslims, but had living and breathing Muslims in his own family?

I told you how important it would be to have a man who not only knew the difference between Shiites and Sunnis prior to 9/11/01 in the Oval Office, but also how important it would be to have a man who knew what Sufism was; a man who understood that there were different branches of Judaism; a man who knew the difference between Hasidic Jews, Orthodox Jews, Conservative Jews and Reformed Jews; and a man who was a devout Christian, but who did not prejudge others because they believed something other than what he believed.

I talked about how rare it was to meet a man whose Christianity was not just "in word only."

I talked about Barack being a person who lived his faith and did not argue his faith. I talked about Barack as a person who did not draw doctrinal lines in the sand nor consign other people to hell if they did not believe what he believed.

Out of a two-hour conversation with you about Barack's spiritual journey and my protesting to you that I had not shaped him nor formed him, that I had not mentored him or made him the man he was, even though I would love to take that credit, you did not print any of that. When I told you, using one of your own Jewish stories from the Hebrew Bible as to how God asked Moses, "What is that in your hand?," that Barack was like that when I met him. Barack had it "in his hand." Barack had in his grasp a uniqueness in terms of his spiritual development that one is hard put to find in the 21st century, and you did not print that.

As I was just starting to say a moment ago, Jodi, out of two hours of conversation I spent approximately five to seven minutes on...

... Barack's taking advice from one of his trusted campaign people and deeming it unwise to make me the media spotlight on the day of his announcing his candidacy for the Presidency and what do you print?

You and your editor proceeded to present to the general public a snippet, a printed "sound byte" and a titillating and tantalizing article about his disinviting me to the Invocation on the day of his announcing his candidacy.

I have never been exposed to that kind of duplicitous behavior before, and I want to write you publicly to let you know that I do not approve of it and will not be party to any further smearing of the name, the reputation, the integrity or the character of perhaps this nation's first (and maybe even only) honest candidate offering himself for public service as the person to occupy the Oval Office.

Your editor is a sensationalist. For you to even mention that makes me doubt your credibility, and I am looking forward to see how you are going to butcher what else I had to say concerning Senator Obama's "Spiritual Biography."

Our Conference Minister, the Reverend Jane Fisler Hoffman, a white woman who belongs to a Black church that Hannity of "Hannity and Colmes" is trying to trash, set the record straight for you in terms of who I am and in terms of who we are as the church to which Barack has belonged for over twenty years.

The president of our denomination, the Reverend John Thomas, has offered to try to help you clarify in your confused head what Trinity Church is even though you spent the entire weekend with us setting me up to interview me for what turned out to be a smear of the Senator; and yet The New York Times continues to roll on making the truth what it wants to be the truth.

I do not remember reading in your article that Barack had apologized for listening to that bad information and bad advice. Did I miss it? Or did your editor cut it out? Either way, you do not have to worry about hearing anything else from me for you to edit or "spin" because you are more interested in journalism than in truth.

Forgive me for having a momentary lapse. I forgot that The New York Times was leading the bandwagon in trumpeting why it is we should have gone into an illegal war. The New York Times became George Bush and the Republican Party's national "blog." The New York Times played a role in the outing of Valerie Plame. I do not know why I thought The New York Times had actually repented and was going to exhibit a different kind of behavior. Maybe it was my faith in the Jewish Holy Day of Roshashana. Maybe it was my being caught up in the euphoria of the Season of Lent; but whatever it is or was, I was sadly mistaken. There is no repentance on the part of The New York Times. There is no integrity when it comes to The Times. You should do well with that paper, Jodi. You looked me straight in my face and told me a lie!

Sincerely and respectfully yours,
Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. ,
Senior Pastor
Trinity United Church of Christ

Friday, March 23, 2007

1984: Two great videos

I hope you have watched the 1984 YouTube video portraying Hillary Clinton as Big Sister. If you haven't, watch it now.



Clinton 1984 Review
On Slates political gabfest today, John, Emily (my favorite), and David have an interesting conversation about the piece. They agreed that it really strikes at the heart of what is so annoying about Sen. Clinton: her calculating nature. She is such a juggernaut during this campaign that even Tom Delay said he thinks she'll win.*

John Dickerson asked if the video would smack of sexism to women who are sensitive to the double standards constantly applied to women. David Plotts made a great point, which was that the Obama/ Clinton showdown is reminiscent of the Apple/ Microsoft competition. Obama is the fresh and creative Apple to Clinton's establishment position.

Another note about the video. It was made by the employee of the company, which hosts Obama's website. The creator did not have anything to do with the Obama campaign or any work the company did for Obama. He was fired from the company.

I think it's an ingenious video. ParkRidge47 used video from Hillaries website and turned it around on her to be a liability. I don't remember the 1984 Apple commercial, but using it claims the spirit the average user as a person, not a programmer. Also, replay the part when the woman throws the hammer (0:50), and you will see she is wearing an iPod attached to those eighties shorts. I missed that the first few times and haven't heard anyone mention that.

The other 1984 Video
I once heard a word for things that one comes across when searching for something else (i.e. like the word sternutation when I looked up stentorian). Well, I found this jewel when I searched for the 1984 Clinton video. It's a demonstration of the first Macintosh by Steve Jobbs. You have to watch this.



Please leave a comment after you watch it. You can leave an "anonymous" comment if you want.

* He said this on Hard Ball with Chris Matthews. He used this as evidence of why conservatives needs to stop mousing around and find a real conservative candidate.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Dieu est grand

Yesterday, a close friend told me he is getting divorced. He and his wife love one another tremendously, but other life events are forcing the separation.

This news reinforces the importance of remaining vigilant with our marriages and relationships. Even good intentions between two honest people do not equal a life together. Being open with one's partner and compassionate in conversations does not guarantee all dilemmas, or even the more important ones, will be resolved.

Just as humbling as getting married is the realization that the endurance of our relationships is not entirely in our control. Life throws some nasty curve balls. Regular and sincere communication keeps our eyes on the ball, but we can still swing and miss.

Spiritual advancement is the reason why we are temporarily on Earth. Sometimes moving forward requires heartbreaking decisions, sometimes it requires giving up freedoms. Our role is to handle each situation with our highest consciousness. The rest is out of our hands.

Dieu est grand.