COMensarations
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
The Power of the Blogs
Interesting observations on how the blogs are changing the way politicans are having to answer questions.
Glenn ’Instapundit‘ Reynolds, a.k.a. the BlogFather, has an interesting insight into a recent exchange between Paul ‘Powerline’ Mirengoff, another blogger, and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). In it he calls upon, i.e., links to, an article by Stephen Spruiell of National Review Online (NRO), which is another blog, albeit more like an online magazine.
The thrust of all this is that politicans are being kept on their toes by bloggers, who are more and more turning out to be people who know more about the subject they are asking questions about than your run-of-the-mill reporter, who has to be something of a jack-of-all-trades. The bloggers who are asking the questions tend to be more like subject-matter-experts. Not only that, but they are not particuarly beholden to any publisher, so they’ll more than likely speak their mind on the matter at hand.
This has its advantages as well as its disadvantages. The advantages are obvious; no higher-level management censoring their work so it’s more likely they’ll write exactly what they feel. Meanwhile the disadvantages are lurking in the wings. If they can’t write well, they’ll not get their point across. They could well irritate people to the point that very few will pay much attention to what they are saying. But that’s what anyone can expect in any situation. Another threat is that of misinformation. It’s true that many are working without the benefit of ‘editors’, such as traditional news organizations enjoy. However, over the last few years we’ve all seen some really outstanding examples of how having editors doesn’t seem to help much either. The Rathergate ‘fake but accurate’ scandal is one that springs immediately to mind. There have been several others since then that are equally interesting, albeit not as widely known.
Still and all, the Mirengoff v. Durbin incident is an interesting indicator of what I hope will be another tool to help people know what their politicans are up to and keep them accountable, as they should be, to the voters.
Monday, February 06, 2006
SciFi Quiz Cute
Just who are YOU? And what do you WANT, anyway?
 | You scored as SG-1 (Stargate). You are versatile and diverse in your thinking. You have an open mind to that which seems highly unlikely and accept it with a bit of humor. Now if only aliens would stop trying to take over your body.
Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com |
This is unexpected. I thought I’d come out more of Babylon 5-esque than Stargate-esque. Although I enjoy both of them. I see Babylon 5 as being akin to Lord of the Rings in space. An epic that has finally been brought into it’s own, thanks to modern movie technology and a visionary producer/director. But Babylon 5 did it first. The computer animation. The visionary approach to doing an epic. The producer, J. Michael Straczynski, could well have been the inspiration for Peter “Lord of the Rings” Jackson.
Stargate has it’s unusual and unexpected and the heroes and heroines face it with a droll sense of what-the-heck humor that is very strongly found in Babylon 5. Every episode I’ve seen has been uniquely interesting.
I just wish the unexpected wasn’t happening all so often in regular life....
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Thanks, Syria
Justification to attack Syria.
Seems that the people who attacked, sacked and burned the Danish and Norwegan embassies in Damsacus, Syria, may have given legal justification for the United States forces across the border in Iraq to invade Syria.
As someone points out, Article V of the NATO treat, of which Denmark, Norway and the United States are all signators, says that an attack on any of the members of NATO is an attack on ALL the members. And embassies are considered the territory of the country they represent. Therefore, depending on how much complicity Baby Dictator Assad’s government had in the attacks, we’d be justified to change their government as well. Just like we did in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I don’t think we’ll do it just yet. Not immediately. Maybe around March-April timeframe. The weather is better then. Right now its a still a bit chilly.
I’m confident we’ve been well aware that Syria has held Saddam Hussein’s WMDs since before the invasion of Iraq and his overthrow. This recent business of it being reported by members of his former government has only been part of the slow build-up of justification for our going after Syria.
Then there is the fact that a lot of these outsider illegal combatants that keep cropping up in Iraq are coming there through Syria. We had several engagements with them. And, as I recall, one with Syrian military forces, along the border. Eliminating Syria’s Ba’athist government will be a big step in eliminating trouble-makers getting into Iraq.
I expect that there will be a near-simultaneous action by Israel to deal with Iran’s growing nuclear weapon program. Once the Syrian airspace is clear of hostile aircraft and SAMs, it’ll be a clear shot to Iran from there. I do believe that is why they bought all those ‘bunker-buster’ bombs from us about the time of the Iraq invasion. Additionally, the Israelis have procured long-range attack aircraft capable of delivering such weapons to Iran. They are well prepared to deal with another surgical strike, similar to their strike against Iraq to forestall Hussein’s nuclear weapons program back then.
If I’m reading things right, Iran is hoping to have its first nuclear weapon sometime this year, unless they are stopped. And if, after such an attack by the Israelis, Iran’s government decides to attack the US force in Iraq for an action that Israel took, it’ll be too bad for Iran. I think the Navy and Air Force can eat them alive if their forces show themselves as intent upon attacking US in Iraq.
A key indicator that things are going to get hot in the not-too-distant-future will be a signficant increase in Naval and Air Force assets to the area. I suspect there will be some ancillary incidents to justify this sort of build-up.
The snit that the Moslems have got themselves into over some cartoons has played VERY well into the hands of anyone who wants to take out Syria. And likely Iran as well. So well that I’d wager someone will accuse Karl Rove of orchestrating it, as far back as last Summer.
Should be another interesting year....
UPDATE ‘Not So Fast’ [061702 Feb 06]: Seems that Article V of the NATO Treaty specifies that attacks must be perpetrated against NATO members or their forces ONLY in certain geographic locations, e.g., within the national boundaries in Europe, somewhere in the North Atlantic or the Mediterranean Sea, etc. Attacks on overseas embassies do not qualify.
Oh well. In due time, I’m confident we’ll see that too. I have little confidence in the Muslims being able to rein in their more obnoxious members. And I think the latter are gaining more adherents everytime nobody does anything to counter them.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Good Gravy
Advancements in toaster-ovens. Or how to rotisseire a small bird in Winter, without firing up the outdoor grill.
Yeah. Pretty mundane stuff that. Small kitchen applicances are so blasé. However, a several months ago, I noticed a new form of toaster-oven at Bed, Bath and Beyond. It was a toaster-over that was also a rotisseire. This one was made by Euro-Pro, the people who bring you the charming line of Shark hand-held vacuum cleaners. We have several of them scattered throughout the house.
I didn’t think much of it at first, as we had a toaster-oven. A Black & Decker thingie we’d had for a long time. And I don’t make toast that often anyway. However, the B&D was showing it’s age AND the toast button would not function properly UNLESS you held down an additional button to get its attention so that it would work properly. Then there was the annoying tendancy to not toast a second batch properly unless it had cooled down to room-temp before doing anything else.
I got to thinking about it. I remembered how good a rotisseire-cooked chicken tasted. And I attributed the excellent flavor and juicy texture of the meat to the rotisserie approach. Oh. Sure. You can back a chicken and get something like that, but the rotisserie technique is continually basting the meat. That’s an important part of good cooking. Keeping the meat propelry moisturized. Rotisseire does that better. With less time and effort on the part of the cook.
So, I got to thinking about this and decided we should get one. Not just for the cooking of chicken, but for other things as well. I’ve got a killer barbeque sauce for pork based on a Virginian recipe from the 18th century. I like pork. Especially done this way. But doing it for two and firing up, i.e., wasting, the gas of the outdoor grill for a small meal just doesn’t sit right with me. Therefore, I had two reasons for getting this dingus.
I talked it over with the distaff a couple of months ago and she acquiesed.
Off to Bed, Bath & Beyond. Guess what. They were ‘sold out’. Heavy sigh. But they were planning to restock.
Yesterday, we tried again. Only THIS time to be told the item was discontinued. And, just to make things more irritating, no other toaster-oven offered had the rotisserie. Talk about flumuxed. Guess I’d have to order it ont he web. [Note: Isn’t it interesting that all too many things you want to buy these days have to be bought on the web? I’d invest in FedEx and/or UPS, if I played the market.]
So, as we trudged through the rest of the store, as the distaff had noticed a lot of things were on sale, we were picking up things here and there; flannel bed-sheets; cotton is TOO cold when slipping between the sheets on a cold Winter night. At the end of the circuit, I was standing beside a large rack of clearance items and what do I see—the toaster-oven-rotisserie. The display item. Sure. It has not box. It has no manual. It seems to be missing the pizza stone. Heck, it might not even WORK. But it’s half-off the original price.
I grabbed it like Larry Byrd does a rebound, before heading for his goal.
Well, we got it home and, along the way, we got a roasting chicken.
Set the dingus up. It fits perfectly in the space the old toaster-oven sat.
I prepped the bird; dousing it with rosemary-garlic seasonings. Trussed it onto the spit. Put it into the oven cavity. Fired it up. The dingus worked!
I cooked the bird at 350°F for two hours. Occasionally, I’d baste it, as I wanted to make sure the seasonings were continually applied to the skin, which was dripping them off like a drip coffee maker.
The bird was GREAT! Better than Safeway and Sam’s. Probably because I’m pleased with my own cooking. But, what the heck. I don’t see either of them offering rosemary-garlic rotisseire chicken anyway.
However, another thing I was impressed with was the amount of gravey I was able to generate from one chicken. There was 3/4 of a cup of oil in the drip pan. All flavored with the rosemary-garlic seasoning. I put that into a saucier and added an equal amount of white flour; making a roe. To this I added the water drained from the mashed potatoes I’d intended to have as a side dish. I added additional water until I got the consistency I was looking for. I wound up with almost two quarters of superb gravy.
What to do with all this gravey? I think I’ll get some extra chicken breasts from Sam’s and some mixed veggies too. And make chicken pot pies.
I’ve missed chicken pot pies, since Sam’s stopped carrying the Pepperidge Farm line. Those were good pot pies. Great for when you were in a hurry and need a tummy-warming meal, which can be frequently in Winter.
So, bottom-line. If you’re current toaster-oven is going south, I highly recommend you get a toaster-over-rotisserie when you get to the point of replacing your current system. In the long run, if you cook yourself, you’ll end up saving money; all the way around.
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Defining a Problem: Graduation Rates
Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.
The Drudge Report carries a story today that Senator Al Gore claimed on NBC television that only 53% of our children graduate from high school. A lot of folks, including the Drudge Report and the Census Bureau, dispute this statement.
Let’s bear in mind that Mr. Gore’s vocabulary skills are so weak that he thinks “invent” and “use” are synonyms, e.g., “I invented the internet.”
In fairness to Mr. Gore, however, let’s look at this statement and see if it could possibly be true. (We will ignore the implication Mr. Gore is trying to make that, if true, this is a problem for the federal government and not the local school boards, which would be another example of his ignorance.)
First, what does he mean by “children?” If he means everyone who was ever conceived, then, considering that 30% to 50% of all conceptions end in miscarriages (according to my gynecologist), then it could be true that only 53% graduate from high school.
If he is defining children as persons under 18 years of age, and considering about half, or more, of all high school seniors are 18 years of age at the time they graduate, and are technically adults, not children, then about 53% graduate as children, the others graduate as adults.
What does he mean by “graduate from high school?” Home schooled youngsters don’t attend high school and therefore, technically, don’t graduate. Many other youngsters eventually test for a GED, and don’t, technically, graduate, although it is acknowledged that they know everything they should have learned in high school. If he means the high schooler went through the graduation ceremony, then you have a certain percentage of people who don’t participate in the ceremony, even though they finished the requirements and received a diploma. Others miss out on getting their diplomas because of things like unpaid library book fines, not because their academic requirements are incomplete.
What SHOULD we call the percentage of graduates? In fairness to our schools and our parents it should be the percentage of persons who start school or home schooling who are still alive and healthy at, say, age 21, and who have met all the academic requirements for a high school diploma or who have received a GED. This means that those children who do not complete school because of death, accident, disease, or deliberate harm aren’t held against schools and parents in the graduation rate.