Cyclic Synchronicity

Just one of countless examples of how the press gives a free pass to Bush administration distortions and untruths. It happened every time it repeated the claim that voting will be unsafe in only four of Iraq's 14 provinces in this week's election -- but neglected to point out that those "mere four" account for half the country's population. Another "detail" which should have been up in the lead in every Iraqi election story: Virtually no candidates have campaigned, out of fear for their safety.

1:56:00 PM

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Local Man: he's everywhere, Washington Post reporter Peter Carlson says. Carlson explains the psyche of Local Man.

(Tip Romenesko.)

1:21:00 PM

Carnival of the Vanities #123: Binary Circumstance on Ayn Rand's Objectivism and the justification for the war in Iraq, and help La Shawn Barber name her business.

Next week: Ken Sain.

1:05:00 PM

Also at the Onion, Joanne Cohen wants to copyedit the great American novel. She offers a look into the mind of a copy editor:

Some people edit copy because they choose to. I copyedit because I must. It isn't merely a matter of making a living. If it were that, I would have been line editing years ago. No, I've been fascinated by the almost mathematical questions of copy since the summer of my 15th birthday, when I found a leather-bound diary hidden away in the cupboard of an old abandoned farmhouse. In the diary, a young housemaid recorded her hopes, fears, and aspirations.
That summer, I spent many hours poring over the handwritten book, pen in hand, correcting grammar and writing "sp" next to words. I urged paragraph breaks, provided omitted words, and indicated improper capitalizations with a short double-underline. I wrote "stet" in the margins when I made a mistake. Even though I knew Miss Charlotte would never see the notation, I wanted the text to be flawless.

9:49:00 AM

The Onion AV Club looks to "Family Guy" creator Seth McFarlane today.

O: You came up with Family Guy's voices before the character designs, right?

SM: Yeah. For the most part, at least for the characters that I voice on the show, that's usually how it works. I find it easier to come up with the personality first, figure out who the character is, then do the drawing after the fact. Stewie's head, for example, is shaped the way it is for no particular reason other than that was how the voice sounded like it should look. It's usually the voice and the personality that comes first.

O: He sounded like he should have a football-shaped head?

SM: [Laughs.] I sat at my desk, trying out different designs and different bizarre-looking head and body shapes. That one emerged as what the character sounded like he should look like.

9:43:00 AM

Championship Weekend Pick Results.

Postseason Week 1: 2-2; 50%
Postseason Week 2: 3-1; 75%
Postseason Week 3: 1-1; 50%
Regular Season: 156-100; 60.94%

Overall: 162-104; 60.90%

9:05:00 AM

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

I need to read these articles about the second and third waves of feminism for my gender and media class.

7:16:00 PM

Monday, January 24, 2005

Chris Hedges on a commitment to truth in journalism.

Balance and objectivity have become code words to propagate the insidious and
cynical moral disengagement that is destroying American journalism.

(Tip Romenesko.)

1:24:00 PM

Apparently, teaching grammar doesn't do a whole lot of good, at least in terms of educating young students. Letting them write, however, does do good. Who knew?

(Tip ArtsJournal.)

1:20:00 PM

Friday, January 21, 2005

Carnival of the Recipes: Start your ovens and learn the ABC's of cooking.

Epicurius has Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic.
One Happy Dog Speaks gives us Easy Feta Chicken Bake.
Scottish Style Meatloaf? Laughing Wolf chimes in.
Starving Student Staples from Baboon Pirates.
And Peppers Steak with Rice; awesome, says Feisty Repartee.

Kin's Kouch hosts the next carnival Jan. 30.

11:23:00 AM

NFL Championship Weekend Picks.

Atlanta at Philadelphia
New England at Pittsburgh

10:20:00 AM

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Noel Murray talks with Los Bros Hernandez.

1:35:00 PM

When threesomes go bad.

(Tip Romenesko.)

1:31:00 PM

Glenn Reynolds threw in some Uncle Scrooge comics to bring his total up at Amazon (for free shipping, of course). But, he got some feedback from readers who offered some interesting links.

1:15:00 PM

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Carnival of the Vanities: ready to go. Next week: The Raving Atheist.

Highlights:

Brewtown Politico points to an interview with President Bush.
Bloggledygook offers optimism.
What about traditional sexual attitudes among collegians? Coyote explains at Sounding the Trumpet.
Warren Meyer at Coyote Blog wonders if iTunes will kill albums.
Rob Findlay looks at "The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear."

10:11:00 AM

Divisional Weekend NFL Picks.

Post-season Week 1: 2-2; 50%
Post-season Week 2: 3-1; 75%
Regular Season: 156-100; 60.94%

Overall: 161-103; 60.98%

10:07:00 AM

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

More comic blog contests in the news. This one sounds like a lot of fun; deadline is Jan. 31.

(Tip Thought Balloons.)

2:46:00 PM

Try this round-up of potential election fraud in the Wisconsin presidential race.

(Tip Instapundit.)

2:31:00 PM

Monday, January 17, 2005

During the Jets-Steelers game, commentator Dan Dierdorf said, about a defensive back hitting Jets receiver Santana Moss, "Excellent job, hitting Moss on the shoulder just as the ball got there. Yes, it may have been a nano-second early ..."

So was he early or not?

Dick Enberg, Dierdorf's colleague, kept calling Jeff Reed "Josh."

3:26:00 PM

It seems as if I would have been a good case study for this: "The Effect of Adolescent Experience on Labor Market Outcomes: The Case of Height, Third Version."

10:31:00 AM

Friday, January 14, 2005

NFL Divisional Playoffs Picks.

N.Y. Jets at Pittsburgh
St. Louis at Atlanta
Minnesota at Philadelphia
Indianapolis at New England

9:33:00 AM

Now available: Carnival of the Recipes 22.

9:24:00 AM

Everyone in the comics blogosphere is having a contest, or so it seems. Laura (Tegan? I'm not sure of the preference, sorry.) at Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog has a Colonia: Islands and Anomolies micro-essay contest (which expires Jan. 20); Ferret Press is offering a Strangehaven: Arcadia TPB first-indie-comic-experience contest (I assume entries must be made in January); not to mention Joanna's contest, which ended a couple of weeks ago.

9:20:00 AM

This suit is great, and I really love this coat.

9:12:00 AM

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Vanities and Recipes: I knew about those carnivals, thanks to Glenn. But I never knew there were so many other offspring.

3:44:00 PM

I missed the Carnival of the Vanities yesterday, so here it is, with an Adult Swim theme. Check out The People's Republic of Seabrook for it next week.

3:15:00 PM

The University of Minnesota offers an Assignment Calculator; pretty neat-o.

10:14:00 AM

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Joan Houlihan, a Boston Comment columnist, offers a series of essays on "How Contemporary American Poets Are Denaturing the Poem."

UPDATE: The Boston Comment is not a publication; rather it is the title of a column under which Houlihan posts her essays and runs on the site Web del Sol.

1:18:00 PM

Wildcard Weekend NFL Picks.

Post-season Week 1: 2-2; 50%
Regular Season: 156-100; 60.94%

Overall: 158-102; 60.77%

1:00:00 PM

Last week's Carnival of the Recipes is available.

Highlights include Chicken Spaghetti, Cowboy Chili, Enchilada Lasagna and Irish Potato Stew. One Happy Dog Speaks hosts next week's carnival.

(Tip to Instapundit.)

12:20:00 PM

Thursday, January 06, 2005

Wildcard Weekend NFL Picks.

St. Louis at Seattle
N.Y. Jets at San Diego
Denver at Indianapolis
Minnesota at Green Bay

9:58:00 AM

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

RIP, Will Eisner.

(Tip to NeilAlien.)

10:55:00 AM

Monday, January 03, 2005

Now that the regular season of the NFL is over, I can go back and look at my predictions, which haven't fared too well:

AFC East
New England Patriots
New York Jets
Buffalo Bills
Miami Dolphins

AFC North
Cincinnati Bengals
Baltimore Ravens
Cleveland Browns
Pittsburgh Steelers

AFC South
Indianapolis Colts
Tennessee Titans
Jacksonville Jaguars
Houston Texans

AFC West
Kansas City Chiefs
Denver Broncos
Oakland Raiders
San Diego Chargers

NFC East
Philadelphia Eagles
Dallas Cowboys
Washington Redskins
New York Giants

NFC North
Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
Detroit Lions
Chicago Bears

NFC South
Carolina Panthers
Tampa Bay Buccanners
Atlanta Falcons
New Orleans Saints

NFC West
Seattle Seahawks
St. Louis Rams
Arizona Cardinals
San Francisco 49ers

Of my predictions, some were pretty accurate. Most importantly, I nailed the order of the NFC North division and included which teams would make the playoffs. I got the AFC East correct, too, only I didn't have the Jets down as a playoff team. The NFC West I got right, except that I didn't have the Rams as a playoff team.

All the other divisions were off, although some of the individual playoff teams were correct.

All told, I got three out of eight divisions down pat (if you don't include playoff teams). Not too bad.

Wildcard Weekend
Tennessee Titans def. Cincinnati Bengals
New England Patriots def. Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers def. Dallas Cowboys
Green Bay Packers def. Minnesota Vikings

Divisional Games
Kansas City Chiefs def. Tennessee Titans
New England Patriots def. Indianapolis Colts

Seattle Seahawks def. Green Bay Packers
Carolina Panthers def. Philadelphia Eagles

Championship Games
Kansas City Chiefs def. New England Patriots

Seattle Seahawks def. Carolina Panthers

Super Bowl
Seattle Seahawks def. Kansas City Chiefs

Now some of that is just plain funny, but we'll see how the post-season plays out.

1:50:00 PM

Are You Sure It's Not a Gas or Liquid?

I was watching the QVC network for a few minutes and the item for sale was the 3-qt. Electric Deep Skillet with Grill Plate on the Cook's Essentials. One of the men selling the product described it as such: "It's cast aluminum, which means it's solid cast aluminum."

Well, thanks.

1:44:00 PM

Week 17 Metro Milwaukee Televised Football Games.

Noon:
CBS: Pittsburgh-Buffalo; extra coverage to New York Jets-St. Louis Rams
Fox: Green Bay-Chicago; extra coverage to Minnesota-Washington; more extra coverage to New Orleans-Carolina

3 p.m.:
CBS: Indianapolis-Denver

1:43:00 PM

Sunday, January 02, 2005

Week 17 NFL Pick Results.

Week 1: 9-7; 56.25%
Week 2: 9-7; 56.25%
Week 3: 10-4; 71.43%
Week 4: 8-6; 57.14%
Week 5: 8-6; 57.14%
Week 6: 8-6; 57.14%
Week 7: 10-4; 71.43%
Week 8: 8-6; 57.14%
Week 9: 7-7; 50%
Week 10: 6-8; 42.86% (My first losing week.)
Week 11: 11-5; 68.75% (My second best week.)
Week 12: 12-4; 75% (My best week.)
Week 13: 9-7; 56.25%
Week 14: 12-4; 75% (Tearing it up since Week 11.)
Week 15: 12-4; 75% (Continuing on my late-season push.)
Week 16: 9-7; 56.25%
Week 17: 8-8; 50%

Overall: 156-100; 60.94%

11:15:00 PM