A Comparison of Bush and Obama

As Obama spoke to over 100,000 cheering people recently in Berlin, I couldn't help remember what happened when President Bush spoke in Germany. A couple days before I arrived in Germany in 2005, Bush had visited. Though I didn't hear much about it in the US, once I got to Germany, I heard that thousands of people showed up to protest his official visit. I have a feeling that these protests were only minimally covered in the American media as I spent some time searching and had a difficult time finding an article about it in English. As reported in the German magazine Spiegel, about 12,000 people protested to show their displeasure with the American president. Turns out that Germans have built a tradition of protesting Bush on every visit he made over the last six years (article in English), until his visit this past June, when the Germans gave up. American foreign relations has come a long way in the last few months.

Education in America

I just wanted to direct you to a good piece by David Brooks in the NY Times about the slide of education in America over the last 40 years. He terms it "The Biggest Issue." Let's hope he really considers it the biggest issue when he votes this November:

If you look at Barack Obama’s education proposals — especially his emphasis on early childhood — you see that they flow naturally and persuasively from this research [on the importance of early childhood education]... McCain’s policies seem largely oblivious to these findings. There’s some vague talk about school choice, but Republicans are inept when talking about human capital policies.

Nozzle Rage

A little video about gasoline:


via: Essays and Effluvia

New Yorker and Obama

Lost in all of the hoopla surrounding this week's controversial New Yorker cover is the fact that the article inside about Obama is quite interesting. The sprawling article discussing Obama's entrance into and ascension in Chicago politics, which is a topic I've heard little about. It hasn't always been easy for the golden boy, and he even lost a congressional race. But, as far as I can tell, he has seemed to be pretty ideologically consistent throughout. I'd recommend reading the physical magazine rather than the piece online just so that you don't have to stare into a computer screen for too long.

Picken' Green Energy

Looks like oilman and corporate raider T. Boone Pickens is doing something good and honest at age 80. His efforts to invest in green energy are impressive and I hope he has enough sway to pull some other oilmen and energy lobbyists in with him. I'm rather impressed that someone who funded the Swiftboating of John Kerry is going green; quite a turn around, and let's hope that he can keep it real.

Marilyn Einstein

Check out this cool effect: if you look at the picture from up close, it's Einstein. If you back up 15 feet, it's Marilyn Monroe. Crazy. How does someone go about inventing this or get the idea for this? Why does it work? It's fun to back up and watch Einstein's moustache disappear into Marilyn's mouth.


via Random Cool Stuff

Jesse Jackson and Obama

Oh news anchors:

via: NY Times humor

Warning: yet another Obama post

I found this article by Bob Herbert to be pretty representative of a lot of the concerns I've had (along with many others) about Obama lately. As Herbert sums it up, "the Iowa caucuses seem a very long time ago."

How Wine is Marketed/Purchased

A little anecdote followed by a link to the article:
The story is told of a sales call that Ernest Gallo made to a New York customer in the dark days of the depression. He offered sample glasses of two red wines - one costing five cents per bottle and the other ten cents. The buyer tasted both and pronounced, “I’ll take the ten-cent one.” The wine in the two glasses was exactly the same. Clearly, the customer wanted to buy an identity - the image of someone who wouldn’t drink that five-cent rotgut- even if he couldn’t actually taste the difference.

They always buy the ten cent wine, Ernest Gallo said.

Article can be found here.

Ira Glass on Hard Work

via 43 Folders

I feel the same way about this blog and other projects of mine. I know that the quality isn't great, but I feel it's a sort of working space to develop certain skills.

Bush Surveying Damage

From the Onion

John McCain is Computer Illiterate

Frankly, I would have a hard time believing this, but it's in the tape:


I'm worried about potentially electing a president who seems to not even use a computer, much less know how one works.

Credit Report Companies

Terry Gross talks with Elizabeth Warren in a very eye-opening chat about the dirty credit-rating industry. Turns out that you might have a terrible credit report because these companies make mistakes all the time, and there are few mechanisms in place to prevent errors, or even easily correct errors. About 1/4 of reports have serious mistakes that hurt someone's credit rating. I highly recommend this episode of Fresh Air.

I love the subway too

Post on little boys who love the subway. Very cute.