10.06.2012

Next time, let's do this

The Republicans can have a big fundraising event–a bake sale would be nice, but any kind of event they want–and the Democrats can have their own big fundraising event right across the street. For a weekend, maybe. Something like that. And then at the end of the weekend, whichever party raised the most money can name the president. And we can use the money for something useful, like fixing the freakin' streets.

Here's looking at you

Here's looking at you by Ted Compton
Here's looking at you, a photo by Ted Compton on Flickr.

Kids must be learning something


“Before, there was no taste and no flavor,” said Malik Barrows, a senior at Automotive High School in Brooklyn [about lunches at his school]. “Now there’s no taste, no flavor and it’s healthy, which makes it taste even worse.” 
New York Times

Also: Where have you gone, brown bag?

10.05.2012

Seriously?

Yup. Today is International Bond Day.

Easy on the geek talk, American

American Airlines: "Gunk" partly to blame for loose seats - U.S. News

 

Gotta be a coincidence, right?

Barack Obama gets a post-debate boost as unemployment falls below 8 percent - Dale McFeatters

Just when President Barack Obama was in need of a post-debate boost, the U.S. economy came through for him.

Still it's the unemployment figure is the same as it was when he took office which was, I think back then, panic-inducingly high. 

But lower is always better. Sometimes.

Sometimes it pays to be downwind

All that hot air from Wednesday night in Denver arrived here today and we had a beautiful warm afternoon, with another warm day in the forecast before it starts turning October-chilly again.

Dude, if we can just keep those two guys talking maybe we can solve our heating problems right there, even turn some of it to steam.

Look! A miracle!

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. created a scant 114,000 new jobs in September, but the unemployment rate fell below 8% for the first time since President Barack Obama took office in a potential jolt to the election.

It's not all about the economy, exactly

U.S. President Barack Obama, the embodiment of "change" and "hope," approved an escalation of the drone strikes in Pakistan by giving the CIA and U.S. military control of the program.

CNN

In Haiti aid groups fight over peanut butter factories


"There's not enough local peanuts, and not enough need for this product in Haiti, to have two factories that hope to be sustainable into the future," says Wolff.NYTimes

Also there's no where near enough jelly.

10.04.2012

A follow-up from our Seattle bureau

Doom

Doom by Ted Compton
Doom, a photo by Ted Compton on Flickr.

Love your local nurse


Chuck Gijanto, the hospital’s president, said he would hope that nurses would provide the same quality of care to patients regardless of whether they were getting their regular or overtime wage. 
Greenfield Recorder

Local nurses are planning a 24-hour strike on Friday. They even have a strike headquarters down on Main Street (which tells you a little something about the value of storefronts these days).

Maybe the Chicago teachers and those nice, nice people up there in Wisconsin stirred the pot a little, ya think?

Next time we need a lot more popcorn

The first debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney, so long anticipated [Ahem -Ed.], quickly sunk into an unenlightening recitation of tired talking points and mendacity.

Editorial, New York Times

10.03.2012

No longer sleep deprived


DENVER (The Borowitz Report)—Millions of Americans lost consciousness on Wednesday night between the hours of 9 and 10:30 P.M. E.T., according to widespread anecdotal reports from coast to coast. 
The sudden epidemic of sleepiness prevented voters from watching more than a minute or two of the first Presidential debate between former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama, which the few observers who remained awake have called the most tedious in American history.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2012/10/millions-of-americans-lose-consciousness.html#ixzz28IOdgw3w

Maybe I should check the squirrels or the pinecones


8:31AM EST October 3. 2012 - Following a nearly snow-free winter last year, the 50 million Americans who live in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic should see a snowier-than-average winter, according to a forecast released Wednesday by AccuWeather. 
"The Northeast and mid-Atlantic will have more snow than they did last year," AccuWeather forecaster Paul Pastelok said.
So which is it? Snowier than average or snowier than last year's below-average amount?

(If it's any help, the Old Farmer's Almanac forecasts less snow this year than last.)

My personal prediction is, it'll do whatever it pleases.

It's banned books week. Or month. Or something.

The dictionary as banned book – really? Yes. The dictionary has been banned from libraries in California because it includes sexual definitions.



This would be a "memoir"…

Lena Dunham reportedly plans memoir
Christian Science Monitor

…written by 26-year-old.

Just mentioning.

10.02.2012

Peeping pols

How Obama for America gets to know Jane Q. Voter.

Colors of October

Beneath the maple tree by Ted Compton
Beneath the maple tree, a photo by Ted Compton on Flickr.

I'm looking for a blizzard-free zone




12:08PM EST October 2. 2012 - "Brutus bashes Buffalo" -- now there's a headline just waiting to be written.
Several decades after hurricanes first got formal names, some blizzards in the USA this winter will get their own names, too.
USA Today

Never mind Brutus, I don't want to be here for Alfonso.

Wait… They have Republicans in India too?


An Indian cabinet minister has come under fire after claiming wives lose their appeal with age.

And what a year it was

Fifty years ago this week, only 595 fans showed up at Wrigley Field for the opener of the Cubs-Mets series, the last time two teams with 100-plus losses faced each other.

10.01.2012

There's nothing I can do about this anyway, right?

Public Works Dept. by Ted Compton
Public Works Dept., a photo by Ted Compton on Flickr.

How much difference is there…

…between working remotely and remotely working?

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer gave birth to a baby boy Sunday night, the company and her husband said Monday.… 
Mayer will be “working remotely and is planning to return to the office as soon as possible, likely in 1-2 weeks,” [a] spokesperson added.
Wall Street Journal 
Just curious. From a work avoidance point of view.

Oh go ahead, Scott, tell us what you really think

Who are all these ‘real people’ who ‘create business and politics’? and of whose approval I should be so covetous? Do you mean grafters who keep sugar in their ware houses so that people have to go without or the cheap-jacks who by bribery and high-school sentiment manage to controll elections…

9.30.2012

So it begins

So it begins by Ted Compton
So it begins, a photo by Ted Compton on Flickr.

Stick a fork in it


CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has weighed in on the U.S. presidential race, saying he prefers President Barack Obama. 
AP

From the land of the famous spuds

Dissing the Donald

Were we to commit ourselves to making a master list of what New York City needs more of, it is fair to say that many of us would wear a third or fourth pencil down to the nub before settling on an 18-hole golf course and the increased presence of Donald J. Trump.

NYTimes