Lincolnite

I suppose I shouldn't poke fun at others' inexperience, but this article about a San Francisco tornado struck me as funny. It's probably as funny to us as an article about a violent 4.2 earthquake would be to Californians.

The whirling cloud — which meteorologists from the National Weather Service believe was a tornado...

Uhh, you think? The article includes some brilliant factual reporting:

Tornado winds can reach 100 mph.

Somebody should have told that to this storm.

Actually, I decided against finishing the da vinci code by Dan Brown this weekend. I've already wasted 10+ hours reading up to where I am now. Enough is enough. This book is so bad I'm actually angry at myself for spending 10+ hours reading it so far. It is truly trash. The only reason I don't throw this away now is because I borrowed it from my mom last fall and should return it. (by the way my mom's taste in reading truly sucks...sorry mom) Otherwise, I would use this book for toilet paper. Anyway, if you want a quality historical thriller about religion in medieval Europe pick up The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. This was actually made into a movie of the same name starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater that was actually quite good, despite being a very superficial treatment of the novel. Eco also wrote Foucault's Pendulum, about the Knights Templar, which I believe must have served as the inspiration for Dan Brown to write the da vinci code. At least when Tarantino rips off Hong Kong films he usually comes up with a quality production, but the end product of Brown's ripping off of Eco is what I would call "negligence per se" - i.e. so bad that it doesn't even have to be proven that its bad - its very existence is negligent. Oh yeah, oddly enough, this horrible work of fiction is evolving into an international cultural monstrosity with its release next year as a film starring Tom Hanks, Jean Reno and Audrey Taotou (star of one of my favorite films of recent times Dirty Pretty Things) By the way, if you're looking for a one-stop review site of books, movies, and music, check out meta-critic.

Texas may ban "sexy" cheerleading. You know, the kind where "they're shaking their behinds and going on, breaking it down." That's according to Texas Rep. Al Edwards. Not one to disguise his paternalism, Edwards notes that the bill is designed to benefit "mostly dads and boyfriends." I, for one, can't wait to read Edwards' bill. It ought to be hillarious to read how an uptight twit defines "those kind of gyrations" involved in "sexually oriented" cheerleading.

Republicans continue to assume that they can micro-manage America just because they have won an election or two. So much for federalism and small government. Principles be damned, eh Republicans?

Today's Lincoln Journal Star is a classic example of biased media reporting. An article (not available online) on the front page is titled: "Oil vs. the outdoors: So far, oil is winning." Hmm, I guess we know where the LJS stands on the ANWR issue. The implicit bias in that sort of headline is bad enough. But not only is it biased, it's wrong. The ANWR issue isn't "oil vs. the outdoors." The LJS, like many anti-drilling types, is presenting a false dichotomy. The LJS wants you to think "Oh no! Big Oil and all of his friends are going to destroy our precious natural areas!" Which is, of course, false. The faster Big Oil screws up nature, the faster the public will get ticked off and eschew oil (and oil-based products) in favor of products that don't harm the environment as badly. It isn't in Big Oil's interest to coat Alaska in black goo. The ANWR matter is no more complicated than "drilling for new domestic sources of oil vs. not drilling for new domestic sources of oil." But then, phrasing it that way doesn't have the nice visceral effect on readers that the LJS's preferred wording has.

I just ate 17 tacos at Knickerbockers, breaking the previous record of 16 here at my workplace. I am very, very full.

The Memphis - Louisville game rocked. But because I am Mysterio (ie a dubious bastard), I am not telling what happened.

Please pardon my exuberance. I just learned some very good news. Some very, very good news. Very good news. I'll tell you more sometime in the next few days. Meanwhile, I'm off to do a happy dance.

On the way into work this morning I saw a van. On each of the van's two back windows were the words "Do it." On one of the van's side windows were the words "Hot Pants." I'm stumped.

For those six of you out there who read this blog, if you happen to work in downtown Lincoln, you no doubt are familiar with the "Skymart" on the 3rd floor of the Energy Square building. The Skymart is one of a few other skywalk eateries available in downtown, the others being "Norm's" and also the "Plump Tomato." Well, it appears that the Skymart has just changed owners. I went their today. Instead of that charisma-challenged zombie guy/owner normally there, there were actually two people - a different guy making the food in the back and a younger woman up front decked out in a sweatsuit and "hoe" make-up. The place was also set up a bit different, and I remarked about this to the young woman. She said that they were new owners and that "there will be a lot of changes shortly." Well I did buy a taco from them and noticed that it was completely different from the ones I had purchased from them before. Overall, the menu looked the same, but the woman seemed to insinuate that it will be changing very soon. I'm not expecting smoked salmon crepes or crab stuffed shrimp or anything, but it would be nice to have someplace in the skyway that would give Norm's a run for their money for all us downtown employee drones who are too busy (or lazy/obese) to walk outside for lunch.

Actually that is an overstatement (or a complete falsehood depending on your point of view). But one thing is for sure - Omaha has California Taco (33rd and California), which has the best fish taco I have ever had. I went out of my way to visit there this afternoon after attending a meeting in Omaha. Believe me, even taco del mar - which obviously specializes in fish tacos, along with wahoos - cannot compete. Why? Because at California Taco 1) the fried fish fillet you get is much bigger than what you can get at wahoos or taco del mar, and 2) its not just a corn tortilla, but a fried flour shell (i.e. akin to Taco Hell's "Chalupa" fried bread). Of course, you pay for quality. A California Taco costs $3.99. It comes with a lemon, tartar sauce if you want, and a choice of red tomato salsa or hot chili salsa verde. Together, it is a deep fried delicacy. In other Mexican fast food news, although this time closer to home: De Leon's is apparently opening on North 27th, and it looks like there will be a dine-in area. De Leon's also has fish tacos although I have yet to try theirs. I usually go for their carne asada burritos or tacos. In anycase, a dine-in area is good. Their drive-though only service at west O st. was simply too slow of a wait. I am pumped up for this one.

For those of us who have spent hours and hours (and hours) performing the much lauded, romantic job of waiting tables, breaking news/word is in Houston that this restaurant is looking for employees.

In an attempt to "go down in history," this week CBS evening news - or rather - Dan Rather - is featuring a "Reporter's Notebook" marking the end of his stint as CBS evening news anchor. Tonight, to further all the self-tooting, he slipped in the fact that he will also be appearing on David Letterman tonight. If "The Osborne's" proved anything, its that no matter how much air time you get, more doesn't always equal good. I'm definitely not a member of the right wing the-media-is-controlled-by-liberals crowd, but its clear that he goofed up with the memo gate incident big time. He'll never go down in history as another Walter Cronkite figure. But the blame doesn't stay with him. Rather, O'Reilly - the whole lot of them - have all sort of lost the plot in the quest for ratings. Don't get me wrong. There are many many journalists out there who deserve the utmost in respect for what they do, and at times, some of them lose their lives reporting the news. Its just the egomanical folks at the top who kind of, well, drive me nuts sometimes.

Vatican: Pope Progressively Improving Is it just me, or is it hillarious to see anything about the Pope described as "progressive?"