Latest Blog Posts
7 New Wonders
On the latest podcast of Inside Europe there was a story about a new project in which individuals across the world can vote on the “new 7 wonders of the world.” Apparently, of the original 7 ancient wonders of the world, only one remains - the Pyramids of Giza. The Pyramids, by the way, are still in the list of the final 21 potential wonders, along with the Sydney Opera House and the Easter Island statues. The results will be made public on 7-7-2007. You can vote here. I’ll have to give this one some thought before voting.
Having Problems With The iTunes Store?
Are any other lincolnites out there having problems with the iTunes music store? I’ve been following the discussion on the Apple boards all weekend, since apparently tons of people around the nation, myself included, either weren’t able to access the iTunes music store or were able to access the store but had tons of problems and delays there. Well, the current hypothesis is that this isn’t an Apple issue, but a Time Warner Cable Roadrunner issue. Seeing as how TWC has nearly a monopoly here in town, I wonder if other Lincolnites have been experiencing similar problems (if it truly is a TWC issue)? Not getting my weekly download of The Office can cause some serious withdrawal symptoms.
Some decisions
Nelson v. Ricketts - Ricketts
Amendment 1: Support for nonprofit use of buildings - Yes
Amendment 2: Investing Lincoln’s community health fund - Yes
Amendment 3: Gambling treatment - Yes
Amendment 4: Probation and parole - Yes
Amendment 5: Early childhood ed - Yes
Amendment 6: Tax increment financing - Yes
Initiative 421: Video keno - Yes
Referendum 422: Repeal Class I school merger - No
Initiative 423: Spending cap - No
Joking about the Ricketts thing by the way
Dwight Schrute Phone Message
The “Snakes on a Plane” promo tactics have become a trend. I just got a call from Dwight Schrute, Assistant Regional Manager for Dunder-Mifflin. Yes, it seems now you can spend the next day or two harassing your “friends” with calls from Dwight. You can set up a call at this website.
In anycase, of all the new premieres and continuations of old shows that have aired this season, The Office has got to be the best so far (excluding shows on the cable premium channels) - impressive considering that a lot of very good shows have started this year. I have enjoyed the first 3 episodes of The Office even more so than last season’s episodes. Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson are awesome, and I like the fact that many of the actors are also writers for the show (Toby the HR guy, Ryan, and Kelly). Plus, they have added Ed Helms to the cast as well.
Your Departure is Well Noted
I’m not sure if Pretty Leo and Matt Damon can pull off the good cop/bad cop role with as much intensity and seriousness that Lau and Leung did in the original film that this Friday’s opening of The Departed is based on. Will Martin Scorcese finally do justice to a remake of the bestest HK shoot-em-up genre film since Hard Boiled? I hope so.
High Expectations
One of the more exciting things to look forward to in the upcoming November elections is the outcome over Nevada’s Question 7. The initiative would allow adults to purchase and possess a regulated amount of marijuana from stores, with tax revenue earmarked for alcohol and drug treatment and education purposes. Campaigns for and against the initiative have ramped up efforts recently.
Latest poll results from the Las Vegas Sun however indicate that a majority of Nevadans are opposed to the measure:
Question 7, which would allow adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, found support from 42 percent of voters, 51 percent were opposed and 7 percent were undecided.
Yesterday, a coalition of religious clergy endorsed the initiative.
Going Home
A few pics and notes from a recent trip to Washington. Here is what last weekend’s Lincoln air show looked like from the airport, where a bunch of Minneapolis/St. Paul bound passengers were waiting. It was pretty cool watching the WW2 era planes take off from the airport. When they started dropping faux bombs on the air field and explosions were going off, all of a sudden people rushed to the windows to see what was going on.
Mai Pen Rai
Just thought I’d share a few emails from expat friends in Bangkok about the most underwhelming coup in modern Thai history (so far).
Let’s see ... absolutely nothing in my life and daily routine has changed over the last few days. I haven’t even had the good fortune to see a single tank. The one minor change has been the appearance of about half a dozen camouflaged army soldiers with M16s milling around outside The Nation complex, as a precautionary measure for our security, presumably since there were pro-Thaksin protestors here for a few days earlier in the year, complaining about what our sister Thai-language publication Kom Chad Luek had printed in one quote taken out of context....
Priorities
From a darn good Bangkok-based food, travel and photo blogger: The universal constant is finding some tasty food...i.e. “A Coup Lunch” (post-democracy).
A Note on Strasbourg Cases Given Recent Events Part 2
How very timely that the case of Canadian Maher Arar has been making the news recently. Arar’s example is one myself and a colleague have noted in an upcoming article on extraordinary rendition and the application to European law. Long story short, this poor guy was arrested during a stop over at JFK airport, then shipped to Jordan and finally Syria where he was detained for a year and tortured. During interrogations, he broke down and signed confessions that he was a member of Al-Qaeda, trained in Afghanistan, etc. More proof that torture works? I wonder what amount of damages would compensate for what this guy experienced.
Very Strange New TV
Just watched the premiere of “Smith” on CBS. You’d think with this talent, they could pull something off. Apparently not. It was a mish-mash of Casino/Inside Man/Heat/United 93-inspired scenes with that “over-produced/in-the-can” look CBS uses for all its dramas. And there apparently was some cross promotional deal because the commercial breaks almost exclusively featured scenes from The Departed. Poor Ray Liotta - perhaps this is the closest he will get to working with Martin Scorcese again? (as noted by TV squad).
So Long Bum
Not only are you a person who has one of the squarest faces I know, but you also knew this was the only way you would/could get out after years of corruption and iron-handedness. Your prize is in the mail for sacrificing democracy in exchange for ego.
A Note on Strasbourg Cases Given Recent Events
Finally finished a paper this afternoon (around 2:12 PM) on an issue that might be a bit of a distraction for the 2006 elections, particularly given recent admissions about the CIA’s detention and interrogation system overseas and all the related hubbub. In this article, we took a look at the following cases and how they applied to liability exposure for member-states of the European Convention on Human Rights.
We took a look at a few known and unknown cases reviewed by the Strasbourg Court: Ireland v. The United Kingdom (violation of prohibition against inhuman treatment for deprivation of food and water, prolonged exposure to noise, prolonged placement in stress positions, etc.); Selmouni v. France (violation of prohibition against torture, beatings, sodomizing with baton); Ilascu v. Moldova and Russia (violation of prohibition against inhuman treatment within territorial jurisdiction, beatings, deprivation of food and water); Soering v. The United Kingdom (potential violation of prohibition against inhuman treatment for extradition to Virginia’s death row); Chahal v. The United Kingdom (potential violation of prohibition against inhuman treatment for extradition of separatist to India); Ahmed v. Austria (potential violation of prohibition against inhuman treatment for extradition of dissident to Somalia); Jabari v. Turkey (potential violation of prohibition against inhuman treatment for extradition to Iran for adultery).
If you have the time, read these cases. Wonder who is running the CIA. Celebrate.
John Bolton Comes to Town
So is anyone here planning on going to the Bolton thing tomorrow? We picked up some tickets today around 11 AM and they were running out fast. It will be carried via the web and you can also subscribe to the UNL podcast which will very likely have the speech as well. I hate to admit, as someone who watches a lot of CSPAN, I have been following the whole Bolton thing closely, particularly the drama in our Senate Foreign Relations Committee last year (the Chuckster is second highest ranking Republican by the way). I also do not believe his nomination is a good idea.
I do not know what the format of the talk will be. Though I doubt it will be anything close to the earlier hearings this year when Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) really pressed him (which surprised a whole lot of people). The hearings scheduled for today were postponed for some reason.
About the series in general, its also nice to see that one of the speakers this year actually is not originally from the USA (Azar Nafisi). I have been wondering about this for the past few years. You’d think that a high profile series “on world issues” might actually have people from other countries. So they finally were able to bring someone in.
By the way the picture above is by the other John Bolton – the graphic artist.
The Blogs
-
The blog that covers everything Lincoln
-
The home of the Wilsons
-
In which Mr. T mutters and muses
-
Local and national sports chatter
The Blogroll
The Archives
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005