Downed power lines cause electrocuted cows to explode.It is past Saturday here, but it is still my father’s birthday back home. I found this fascinating stop-motion feature created for the 1939 World’s Fair that I know he’d appreciate.
Then again, in this video they build a Chrysler… never one of Dad’s favorites. Regardless, the production quality is amazing given the era.
When I had a chance to ask a question of the Nobel Prize winning economist I asked a lame question about the value of the dollar.
What I really should have asked is, “So how does it feel to have a guy write a song dedicated to you?”
It's to walk away when thousands of caterpillars decide your car is home....I first thought this was an SNL video, but no, it’s real. RNC chair Steele asked for Republicans to appeal to hip-hop and this is what he got.
It’s sad when stereotypes are reinforced and this video may have set the “Let white people rap” movement back another decade.
The water was squiggied to the stairs and sent cascading down. Given the incredibly dry climate is was amazing how fast the floors dried.
The dye in her carpets bled. Cleanup is going to take a long time.
Tonight I had my first dinner guests (besides Ann and Mike eating off my coffee table). I hope to have many more once I get my dining room table and dishwasher I purchased at garage sales. 
I love chopping up red onions, sauteeing them and adding them to about anything. The problem is that the red onions here are tiny. It takes 3-4 to get as much as one onion back home. Fortunately, the problem is solved: A store here sells half a pound of finely diced red onions for $.75.
Guess who burned the bacon. This is tragic not only because of the $9/pound price, but also because there is no bacon to be had in the city, perhaps country. Upon the outbreak of swine flu they threw out all the non-frozen pork products. The stores have reopened with virtually no products to sell... and absolutely no American bacon.
I've been eyeing them in the freezer case for a long time, but held out. I'm having a few friends over for dinner tomorrow night and decided to get these to serve for dessert. Of course, I had to try one tonight.
Shopping here is like shopping at Sam's Club. You may find something you like and never see it again. Late last fall I found Dial soap at a store aimed at westerners. I bought a couple of packages. I also brought back to the UAE soap my niece sent as a care package.
I was talking to a colleague about how much I love the McArabia. I described it as "like a gyro, but with chicken." He was puzzled... I began explaining what a gyro was. He let me go on for a while before he smiled and I realized I was somehow making an ass of myself but not exactly sure how.
I used this picture in my post this weekend that proved I'm no Dr. Seuss. Someday I have to take pictures of my new neighborhood. Our apartments are the only apartments in this area. The rest of the housing is very large walled-off villas. Large extended families tend to live in these compounds. Last term I had a student describe her home as 11 siblings, two married with kids living in, grandparents, four maids and a driver "Traditionally the role of the Federal Reserve is to act as the stern parent telling financial institutions what they can't do. During Alan Greenspan's reign at the Fed the role switched from stern parent to designated driver. 'No matter how drunk we get, Uncle Alan will drive us home.'"OK, it didn't seem quite as funny as I wrote it out... but in the middle of a long talk on economics it was hysterical.
The MegaTrends conference was at the Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi.
Being the geek I am I was riveted by Krugman's 90 minute presentation. I took six pages of notes.
The best part came after the speech when he fielded questions in a small group setting. For me this is like getting a backstage pass at a rock concert.
I wondered, "Why, oh why, is there a tent on the street. It blocks traffic. It's not so neat." The tent sat for days and days. It blocked the traffic from both ways.
Then they put up flags and I knew the reason: Flags show it is time for wedding season.From 2002 to 2009, voters' partisan identification has moved from virtual parity -- 43 percent Republican and 43 percent Democratic at the height of George W. Bush's popularity in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 -- to a massive Democratic advantage today of 53 to 36, a 17 percentage point split, by far the largest difference in the past two decades.To me the most interesting tidbit from the Pew Poll is that now the average Republican is older than the average Democrat. That hasn't been true for a long time because the Great Depression Democrats skewed my party's average. Well, now they are dying, and the younger generation is more Democratic than ever. I suspect this trend will continue as long as Republicans remain tied to the social conservatives.
We see misspellings daily. Not all are as humourous as this.
What you are looking at are deviled eggs kind of mashed together and served like a salad. I took some and then wondered what the tiny black specs were. They kinda looked like seeds but I suspected they were something else. I decided to try them before I knew for sure. It tasted quite good and then I had it confirmed: It was caviar. 
I have never been a flowers guy. They look pretty for a couple of hours... a day at most. Then they start wilting and die. The joy of fresh flowers is exceeded by the sadness of watching them die slowly over the next week. My flowers from last night are already looking sad.P S: Find time to gift Mr. Steve with more flowers often, I was moved when he said that was the 1st bouqet in his life ;)Umm, please, no. One bouquet is enough.
Today I saw a tent in the middle of a street. The car in the picture was traveling down the street but was blocked... by the tent in the middle of the street.
In nearly 60 percent of union election campaigns, employers threaten to close the plant, half of employers threaten workers in one-on-one "sweat sessions," and in a third of the elections, they retaliate by firing workers.
Tonight was the final university-wide debate. A colleague and I helped the women in Business and Economics prepare. The topic for us was whether or not the UAE should place stricter controls on foreign culture. We had to argue that the country does need stricter controls. It was troubling me to help them prepare on a position for which I don't agree at all.
Regardless, our team was outstanding. They won not only the debate but the overall debate award.
Ann also sponsored a team that won their debate round. Good for them… but, cue the music…
This is the first time I’ve actually seen the video.
I wish I hadn’t.
A colleague and I have been coaching the women's debate team for our college. The women surprised us tonight with certificates of appreciation and bouquets of flowers. The students were surprised when I said, "This is my first bouquet!"
I felt the shakes coming on as I watched this video. Jesse Ventura making sense? Maybe it’s the heat here.
It’s gotta be the heat… Or Elisabeth Hasselback’s insanity.
I could go with either.
One way of looking at the value of a house is to compare the price to what the house would fetch if it rented out. The red line above is the US market since 1997. An obvious bubble. but look at Ireland, the UK, and Spain. Much worse... and unlike the US they are farther away from a full correction.
It's a construction zone sign that points down to a lane of traffic. It's not signaling the right lane to merge. I simply don't get it.
I can't remember where I got this photo and I don't know who the guy is... but what I really want to know is what is he eating? Click on pic to see it larger.
Last week I read that China was opening a sex theme park. It sounded like something I'd expect in Vegas, but hey, it would be the world's first and probably draw a lot of tourists.
Sam - the guy who has the duty of babysitting me the night before I leave the country because I'm, you know, a basket case - saw from the pic above that it was the symbol of Maserati. I had no idea the fancy car maker also made pens. That made me wonder how much the pen cost. I found it for $55. 
I'm a space junkie through and through. I think the best money NASA has spent has been Hubble. The pictures are incredible. At one time they were going to let it die in space in favor a stupid Mars trip (Bush's idea). Fortunately, they reversed course and decided to give Hubble one last mission. The tricky repairs on this mission were hampered by a handrail that the astronauts could not dislodge.
"From now on, just tell me the bullshit I want to hear," Pletcher added. "Tell me my savings are okay, everybody has a job, and we're No. 1 again. Please, just lie to my face."
"I'm a guy who doesn't see anything good having come from the internet."Hmm. Recent history shows companies that embrace new technologies rather than fighting old turf wars come out ahead.
Is it a new parenting trick to scare the hell out of your kid in order to make them appreciate their real parents? If I had seen this movie as a child it would have given me nightmares. I'm not sure it won't at 40. The premise is quite simple: a little girl is ignored by her mother and father and finds an alternate reality with a wonderful mother and father. There's a catch, of course, as the "other mother" turns out to be evil.
Remember the pretty flowers outside of my office?
This is what they look like now.
These were my favorites because I hadn't seen them before.
Now they look very, very sad.
I judged another debate and the women gave me this personalized pen in appreciation.
Ann, Mike and I belatedly celebrated Ann's birthday at the Stone Grill. It's the place in the fall where I had my one good steak in the Emirates. My memory was that it was outrageously expensive so I hadn't gone back until tonight. My memory was off. It was just expensive by Iowa "cheap great-tasting beef" standards. My steak was just under $30.
We ordered a cheese appetizer. Why don't more places in the US offer this?
What gives the Stone Grill its name is how they serve their steaks. The slab you see is super hot and frying the steak. See the steam coming off of it?
Ann refused to wear the bib.If your first reaction is "hire an electrician yourself" understand that I've been told that I cannot have anyone outside of the university do electrical or plumbing work.Dear xxxxx -
Please, please tell me what I have to do to get my light fixed. Place yourself in my shoes and imagine what it is like to know all day - EVERY DAY - there is a light on in your living room and you can't do a damn thing about it.
I have begged. I have asked for this to be fixed since April 6. I have no idea what more to do.
Honestly, I want to move out. This place is poorly constructed and was sold to us the way the Khabisi apartments were. We are buzzed by airplanes all day long and it is a 20 minute drive into town. We all agreed to come here because Khabisi was that bad. Now we are here and realize this place is only a step up in size. In every other way this place is the same, or in terms of location, worse than Khabisi.
I know the goal was to get us new people to shut up and stop complaining. I would *like* to stop complaining... BUT THERE IS A LIGHT ON IN MY LIVING ROOM THAT I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT SHUT OFF. What else can I do?
Sincerely,
Steve Kranz
“The Baptist school forbids dancing, rock music and hand-holding. School officials had warned Frost he would be suspended and prohibited from attending graduation if he went to the dance.”
An Ohio student gets suspended for going to his girlfriend’s prom.
My head is spinning. I’m having a flashback. Steady… steady. I see an incredibly young Kevin Bacon. I see John Lithgow playing the bad ass. My feet can’t stop tapping… hold on… hold on… I gotta cut loose. Footloose…
The most underpaid of all? The poor sap who sprays the glycol gel on the planes in winter to prevent icing. They work in a tiny basket perch in high winds in freezing weather(obviously). Invariably they get covered in the jelly like substance.Charlie Cook notes that "when Democrats lost their House and Senate majorities in 1994, polling for organized labor showed that the top issue for union members voting Republican for Congress was guns, something that had nothing to do with unions... It was the presidential loss in 2000, on top of the congressional losses in 1994, that convinced the Democratic Party to simply shut up on guns."Democrats haven't changed the way they feel about guns, they simply realize that this is an issue we can't do a damn thing about - thank you NRA - and by talking about it we are giving seats to the Republicans.
"Republicans need to think about this in terms of their emphasis on certain social and cultural issues. The GOP has turned away a large number of highly educated, economically upscale voters who would be a natural fit for the party were it not for these divisive subjects... Generationally, Republicans are killing themselves with voters who are now under 35, who see the party as narrow and intolerant. As Will Rogers used to say, 'When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.'"
"The unwillingness of Senate Republicans to stand on principle and break with senate tradition has revealed much about the vacuum of leadership in the Senate."And:
"Worse than the absence of any strategic or political victory on this issue in the Senate is the lingering possibility that when push comes to shove, many would rather protect legislative traditions than take a stand to protect traditional marriage. The Republican “leaders” in the Senate, and their caucus, must educate themselves on their Constitutional duties and make a decision to lead before the next legislative session."The signal is clear: Unless top Republican leaders do a full frontal assault on gay marriage there will be a war in the Republican party.
I wonder how it felt to have the number one diet pill appetite suppressant and then have a terrible disease given the same name. I remember these ads running long after AIDS had been named.
I have several pictures on my camera that I'd like to use for the blog but neither of my card readers are talking to my computer. I did find this picture from my trip to Atlanta in February. As much as I like to collect Coke products and wear Coke clothes, even I could not wear the pants on the left.
This came from my friend Matt….
Perhaps the guy from my hometown is trying to copy this guy.
My tiny hometown of less than a thousand people doesn't make the news very often and we like it that way.
But for a poor William Reese of Newhall, Iowa, his world will never be the same. The guy is a civilian employed by the county to work at the jail by day. At night he wanted to be a superhero. For some reason he was driving a deputy sheriff's car and he started pursuing a real deputy sheriff who was off duty. He was speeding through a school zone and the off-duty deputy refused to stop. The deputy drove to his house and called 911.
The entire incident was recorded on the in-car video system.
Cue the music. When this tape is released Newhall will become (in)famous.
Gallup has produced a very interesting graph showing party identification. Take those who identify as Democrats and subtract those who identify as Republicans. For the young and baby boomers the gap is huge. But for those between 37 and 46 the gap is pretty small. Why? I think it's the Reagan effect.
Facebook allows users to write status reports on what the user is doing. Some only post exciting things like, "Bungee jumping tomorrow at 2." Others like to write every mundane thing they do and update it many times every day. "Doing dishes," "Headed to watch son play soccer," "Avoiding housework," etc.
One of my friends uses his status reports to spread the word… these are posts from just the past week.
I am thankful for the recession. It has taught me a lot about me and more importantly Him!
Grateful for Grace.
Is thankful for the love, grace and mercy of the most high and most creative God.
He may not come when you want Him, but....
Don't magnify your problems, magnify your God.
Can this possibly be the same guy whose girlfriend in college went to the doctor because she wasn’t feeling well. During the course of the exam she was asked, “How many times have you had sex in the past 48 hours?” She thought for a moment. “25,” she responded.
I may be slightly off on the numbers but I know Sandy knows the story and will correct me.
My point: How does someone go from having so much sex with his girlfriend that she has to go a doctor to so religious that he makes posts like that on a daily basis in Facebook?
While in Nepal we met a couple that have been traveling the world since August 31, 2007. They have placed their travels on a blog. I've been reading it for the better part of a week and I'm still not through it all. It's an amazing journey they've recorded.
I got tired of sleeping on the mattress on the floor of my hallway. I'm having curtains put up Tuesday but until then aluminum foil will have to do the trick. When I worked 3rd shift in weather I wrapped styrofoam with aluminum foil and placed them in the windows. It worked very well.
Fortunately it was a cheap fix. Two 37.5 sq. feet foils plus one plastic wrap cost less than $3.
