Right Wing Nation

So I just got a report that even though tickets haven’t gone on sale, there is no parking anywhere. On top of that, there is just no way I can go to both games, come home, make dinner, eat, then make it to Vespers tonight at 6 pm. So forget Penn State hockey until next […]

Seen at the supermarket: Southwestern-style kielbasa.
I really don’t think so.

Gabriel relates this bit of intriguing news. The decision is a pdf file, so I’ll summarize.
A man bought a copy of the Declaration of Independence printed in 1776 for $475,000. Maine claimed that it was a public document, and sued to have the document turned over to them (with no payment, of course). The court […]

Har!
“say, is that a new clock?”
“no, no… it’s been mine for quite some time… don surber just cleaned it for me.”
“that was awfully nice of him. say, what’s that under your arm?’
“this? oh, this is my ass. while he was cleaning my clock, he also handed it me.”
“how polite of him!”
“indeed!”
The clock-cleaning is here.

Before you click, know that I was permanently traumatized by the photo.

That’s the only explanation for this, which Genghis found:
Can we split that?
The question — once considered a bit gauche in some circles — is now being asked by diners of all kinds at restaurants in every price range. With the economy still souring, splitting an appetizer, dessert and even an entree is becoming, for many, […]

where do you find this stuff?
A Romanian woman has made herself an entire wardrobe of clothes out of her own hair.
Ioana Cioanca, 71, from Bistrita Nasaud, grew her hair from the age of 16 until it was 40 inches long so she could weave it.
“Long years I had to wait for my hair to grow […]

Moskovskaya Kolbasa is amazing (and about half the price at the Russian grocery here as it is online).

The Ed Carnival is up.

you know how that goes. Unfortunately, it applies even where it shouldn’t.
For some really bizarre reason, I would solicit twenty test questions each from the other core faculty. I say “for some really bizarre reason” because, well, you’ll see.
Let’s take — oops –let’s call him John. John’s office was right next to mine in the […]

From JumpOut, a rhetorical question.
Isn’t President Obama hosting a fiscal responsibility summit at this point kind of like Jenna Jameson hosting an abstinence summit?

Shortly after moving here, I wondered where the barbers were. Dan has the answer.

From the Armed School Teacher:
Some college kid found a round-”a” as in ONE round–of .45 acp in a washing machine. After a moment’s break to soil himself and have a good cry, he apparently called the campus police, who shrieked like girls for the real police, who brought in “bomb-sniffing dogs” to search out […]

It’s up to 22, and that’s as warm as it’s going to get, so I’m off to pick up some things.

Yesterday, I got one of those digital read meat thermometers that mounts on your stove. There’s a lead attached to a probe. The probe goes in the roast, then into the oven, you tell it what temp, and it beeps when it gets there.
It was in one of those obnoxious clamshell packages, so I got […]

Is Fleury on some bad drugs, or what? If nothing else, we’ll see how good our new goalie is.
And these idiots on NBC are idiots.

Ken has a story about streamlining processes (we call that operations):
Last year, we used a scoring template built by a math teacher at one of the participating schools (a GREAT GUY!) which required sorting to find the individual and teams scores after. Being a bit of a “Spreadsheet Jockey” (dubbed so by a former coworker) […]

Not only was it Hockey Day, but I got to see the third period of the Pens game at the rink right before the Penn State game, and everybody in the rink knew who won the game from the cheering that went up when the clock ran out. Then, Penn State beat Oakland 5-3. […]

Today is the last game in the regular hockey season for Penn State (we’re playing Oakland, beat them 5-1 last night, despite having two of our strongest players in China playing for Team USA). I got a first row seat, right on the aisle, but in section B, not C, which is right in the […]

And it’s Hockey Day in Canada — and on the NHL Channel, starting at noon! Over 12 hours of hockey!
Wheeeee!

Water’s boiling. Time to eat electricity!

So we have Allergy warning! Contains milk! on cartons of heavy cream and half-and-half, and Allergy warning! Contains peanuts! on jars of peanuts, and that’s just about as stupid as it gets, right?
Almost.
Salt — you know, iodized granulated salt — now has Gluten free! on the label. Seriously.
Don’t you think that somebody who was deathly […]

Look who’s back!

I don’t know where Uncle finds this stuff, but another apocalypse is approaching! Untold atrocities, even!
Autonomous military robots that will fight future wars must be programmed to live by a strict warrior code, or the world risks untold atrocities at their steely hands.
I see somebody didn’t read Asimov, specifically, I, Robot, and therefore, doesn’t know […]

From Darren:
After trashing President Bush for not spending enough money for Katrina cleanup, President Obama signed a huge porkulus bill with not one cent dedicated specifically to Katrina cleanup.
Obama hates black people!

The Ed Carnival is posted.

There’s a story in today’s local rag, “Daughter’s devastating illness helps change professor’s perspective on Thon.” If you’re not local, you probably don’t know what Thon is, so let me tell you.
Thon, short for the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, is the largest and most successful student-run philanthropy in the United States. Proceeds go to […]

The ESCHL playoffs are here next weekend, and there are no advance ticket sales. Saturday’s tickets go on sale at 1 pm (on Saturday), and Sunday’s, at 11 am (on Sunday). I may not be very present in the blogosphere.
I didn’t check the Friday night game on the schedule. I just assumed it was going […]

They said on the radio it’s supposed to get up to 33 today. Uh, okay. It’s 20 now, and it’s noon. It’s also windy enough at times to knock you off your feet.
I could be wrong, but I don’t think it’s getting anywhere near 33 today.

I shall return shortly.

I really need a haircut. Really. Really bad. I’ve been putting it off, but I can’t any longer. At some point this morning, I’ll be sitting in the chair.

Note. Heh. Sorry about the unintentional pun.
If you’ve been following here for a while, you already know that I was raised playing the piano and own my mother’s Steinway. What you probably don’t know is that I used to be a piano technician, and in fact, tuning pianos went a long way toward paying my […]

Wozzeck has been burned to DVD, and as one always does after watching Wozzeck, I feel like slitting my wrists. Don’t get me wrong. It’s one of my favorite operas. But calling it a downer would be almost humorous.
Anyway, enough of that for one day. And would you be surprised if I told you it […]

Spurred by an article I saw last week saying that Pioneer had stopped making all Laser Disc players. Well, that, and because a friend said, “There’s this amazing production of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with Jessye Norman singing Jocasta, but it’s not available in any medium,” to which I said, “We have that on LD,” so […]

Jessye Norman, “Es gibt ein Reich” from R. Strauss, Ariadne auf Naxos, 1988 at the Met.

At least the freezing rain turned into snow. Just being my usual cheery self, I suppose.

Two colleagues and I were sitting in the office between classes, when an MBA student suddenly swept through the open door and interrupted our conversation.
“Can somebody who knows the material teach my class for me?”
“Come again?”
“I didn’t go to the teacher training seminar Friday, so I missed the material. Can somebody teach my class?”
“When?”
“Right now. […]

When the reboot of Battlestar Galactica began, I had no interest in seeing it. The original was godawful (my theory about why it has a following is that they are the people who were kids when the original was on), so why bother. I only started watching it during the summer after the first season, […]

Therrien got fired.

That nasty canned red enchilada sauce, that is, because it’s easy to make, and once you try this, you’ll never eat that canned crap again.
Tex-Mex Red Enchilada Sauce
1/2 large white onion, or 1 small white onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, diced
2 T. lard or oil
1 T. flour
2 T. good-quality chili powder, or make your own (grind […]