Monthly Archives: May 2009

Liveblogging: 2009 NBA Eastern Conference Finals – Game Five

by Chris   –   May 28, 2009

Just so you know, I hope the Magic win.
1st 6:00
Well… can’t say much other than the Cavaliers are demolishing the Magic. The Cavaliers are shooting an incredible percentage from the outside, and playing excellent defense. Mo Williams is living up to his Guaransheed a game late.
End 1st
The pwning of the Magic continues. How do [...]

The license plate wars

by Chris   –   May 28, 2009

The Ohio license plate says “Birthplace of Aviation” because the Wright brothers were from Ohio and developed their airplane designs there.

The North Carolina plate says “First in Flight” because the Wright brothers’ first powered flight took place on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Now, I’m not saying that either state has a better claim to [...]

Nominee Sotomayor

by Chris   –   May 27, 2009

I haven’t read through any of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s rulings, so I don’t feel even remotely qualified to say whether or not she is qualified for a spot on the Supreme Court. But Obama, Clinton and George H.W. Bush think well enough of her.
Aside from them, my three favorite legal bloggers have also weighed in [...]

Looking to a future with less cars

by Chris   –   May 26, 2009

From the city of Muenster, Germany (h/t Richard Florida):

Bicycle – 90 sq. m for 71 people to park their bikes.
Car – 1000 sq. m for 72 people to park their care (avg. occupancy of 1.2 people per car).
Bus – 30 sq m for the bus.
Too much of our public policy is based on expanding highways [...]

Obama {hearts} indefinite detention

by Chris   –   May 22, 2009

I’m serious:
Obama broke the detainees into five categories. … With one category, he isolated to “detainees at Guantanamo who cannot be prosecuted, yet who pose a clear danger to the American people.” He promised “[w]e are not going to release anyone if it would endanger our national security, nor will we release detainees within the [...]

I know you were going supersonic speeds

by Chris   –   May 21, 2009

Please don’t slow down for exits from the highway that are a mile away.
I don’t care if you’re coasting, or you’re actually crazy enough to hit the brakes that far away, just don’t do it. It’s beyond annoying, especially when you drop below the speed limit by a good 10-15 miles an hour. At those [...]

The comic cowardice of Harry Reid

by Chris   –   May 20, 2009

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in a press conference yesterday:
QUESTION: No one’s talking about releasing them. We’re talking about putting them in prison somewhere in the United States.
REID: Can’t put them in prison unless you release them.
QUESTION: Sir, are you going to clarify that a little bit? …
REID: I can’t make it any more [...]

The quicksandyness of being poor

by Chris   –   May 19, 2009

(By the way, I know that headline is awful)
WaPo has a great article about how when you’re poor you end up paying a lot more for stuff in both time and money than you do if you’re middle class or rich.
Because you’re not likely to have a car, you’re stuck buying a lot of groceries [...]

Quote of the week nominee

by Chris   –   May 18, 2009

On torture (seriously, we’re you expecting something else?):
How dare we enforce laws against things which might possibly be permissible in some highly artificial thought experiment?  What if ‘24? is FOR REALS?!?  These are the sorts of questions which need to be shrugged at for 50 billion news cycles before we can even think about OH [...]

Kindle authors/publishers shooting themselves in the feet

by Chris   –   May 15, 2009

The Amazon Kindle ebook reader thingamajig©®™ has the ability to read your books aloud in one of those awful computerized voices. While I don’t think I’d use that feature often, I’m sure it’s great for people with failing eyesight.
So, of course, book publishers/authors (like Stephen King) have started disabling the text-to-speech feature for specific books. [...]