Jason Brzoska

Wedding Bells Are in the Air

I'm off today to Daniel's wedding in New Jersey.

Mazel Tov, Daniel and Becky!

STP! STP! STP!

Ari's getting married in two months, and he and I did a bachelor tour this weekend... We saw Stone Temple Pilots at two festivals, the first on Saturday night in downtown Kansas City and the second on the outskirts of St. Louis. The shows were great, and we had a good time. STP is clearly back in form and enjoying themselves after nearly six years apart.

Scott Weiland was clearly going for a Jack-Nicholson-as-the-Joker look...

Scott Weiland as the Joker

They played the same setlist twice:

Big Empty
Wicked Garden
Big Bang Baby
Vasoline
Lady Picture Show
Lounge Fly
Crackerman
Sour Girl
Creep
Plush
Interstate Love Song
Coma
Down
Sin
Some jam I didn't recognize that sounded like a James Brown tune
Sex Type Thing
Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart
Dead & Bloated

Good setlist, but no real surprises. Greatest hits, basically.

Labels: Music, Personal, Travel

Zohan

Saw it tonight in St. Louis (part of Ari's bachelor thingie)... not as bad as I thought. Some genuinely funny moments, to be sure.

My question is, if I didn't have a Jewish background, would I have understood 75% of the humor?

Labels: Personal, Travel

Newark Sweet Newark

How many times in the last year have I been stuck in Newark Airport for three hours or more? Chalk up another.

And THIS time, they're charging me $25 each way for the additional bag I couldn't retrieve if I decided I want to drive to Albany.

This happens every time. It really would be faster if Continental replaced the plane from Newark to Albany with a bus.

Something is seriously wrong with this system.

Labels: Personal, Travel

Sign O'il the Times

Was filling up my tank today before heading to the airport in Phoenix, and this woman in her 30s came up to me asking for gas money...

She didn't seem poor or anything -- she was driving a kempt mid-90s Saturn.

I gave her five bucks.

Are we going to be seeing more of this sort of thing as gas prices go up? I noticed in L.A. that diesel, for instance, is well over five dollars a gallon everywhere.

In other news, Daniel is a child...

Yes, he paged me for no apparent reason.

Labels: Economy, Personal, Travel

All Over the Place!

Just a quick post before hopping a plane from Charlotte to Phoenix -- I'm going to be in a lot of places over the next 10 days or so -- Phoenix, Tucson, LA, DC, NYC, Kansas City, and St. Louis.

Labels: Personal, Travel

The Train, Boss, the Train...

For the third time since last Wednesday, I'm on Amtrak to NYC (got a last-minute invite to the annual Hillel gala and I've been told the food's going to be great!). I've really gained an appreciation for public transit in the last year or so. It's still a shame we don't have a high-speed rail between Albany and NYC; a European/Asian-style train would do the trip in an hour as opposed to two and a half. Unfortunately, Americans don't have much of a taste for trains and buses, and it really shows in our lack of such infrastructure.

Molly Ivors over at Whiskey Fire just did her first post in a summer-long series on the topic.

Speaking of Amtrak, the Herrick St. bridge in Rensselaer (the one that goes up to the train station) has been closed for a couple of weeks now. What does it say about the quality of the construction that they're doing bridge work only five years after the bridge opened?

UPDATE (10:34 AM): The train gets more and more attractive in light of stories like this:

American Airlines said Wednesday it will start charging $15 for the first checked bag, cut domestic flights and lay off workers as it grapples with record-high fuel prices. The nation's largest carrier said the fee for the first checked bag starts June 15 and that it would raise other fees for services ranging from reservation help to oversized bags.

American plans to cut domestic flight capacity by 11 percent to 12 percent in the fourth quarter. American had previously expected fourth-quarter capacity to fall 4.6 percent from the same period in 2007.

Labels: Personal, Travel

Radiohead Is Awesome (Duh)

Great show in Virginia! It was downpouring torrentially all night, and people were turned away from the show because the roads were so bad, but we made it in. Good setlist -- they played the entire new album.

Here's a clip I shot (my first YouTube!) of them performing Jigsaw Falling Into Place (someone posted a full version here:

I'm in NYC today, home tonight, NYC again Monday, NYC again next Thursday, and then I head out West on Memorial Day. (Whew!)

Labels: Music, Personal, Travel

Not One of Those Weeks

I haven't had a lot of time to post this week. I was in Baltimore and DC for a lot of it and was exhausted when I got home.

One thing to report, though. Most weeks, I don't walk down the street and run into the Pope. This, however, was one of the weeks where I did. I got to see the Popemobile and everything!

Labels: Personal, Travel

Yonkers, NY -- On the Road Again

I don't even think I mentioned it here, but I've been sick in bed with mono for most of the last month... but I'm back in commission now and on my way to NYC for the week.

Mono sucked, by the way, and it's good to feel healthy again. I think I may start blogging a bit more now. We'll see...

And yes, I'm following the primaries, and yes, I'm still supporting Edwards. His second-place showing in Iowa was pretty impressive, given that the media doesn't want to pay attention to him at all. I also think that Obama is just too conciliatory and fluffy... who the hell wants to make nice with the Republicans after what they've done the last 30 years? Not me.

Regardless, don't count any of the top 3 Dems out yet. Not at all.

Labels: 2008 Election, 2008 Primaries, John Edwards, Travel

San Francisco, California -- ... nia nia!

Where I'll be for the next week...

Labels: Travel

Denver, CO -- I HATE Flying

So, my flight was just delayed for the second time... my 11:58 AM MT departure became a 2:00 PM one; but that's OK, because my 8:35 PM ET one is now 11:45.

My rule of thumb used to be that if a drive would take less than 5 hours, I'd drive rather than fly. Lately, it's been 7-8 hours. Now, I'm pretty sure that when I go to the UJC GA in November in Nashville, I'm driving the 14 hours...

The situation keeps getting worse, and it can't get better until we modernize our flight traffic control equipment. But that isn't happening. We can spend trillions on war but can't spend enough to make the trains or planes run on time, to say nothing of sustaining our bridges and highways.

It's time to nationalize mass transit in this country. It really couldn't get any worse, and it's not like it's been particularly profitable.

I'm strange enough that I don't mind driving 12 hours a clip if I have to to get somewhere, but most people aren't. Someone who works for me just told me after a particularly horrid cross-country flight that she will never fly again, even if it means she doesn't get to see much of the world. I'm sure she's not alone. If people were to travel 25% less often, that would have to have a huge dampening effect on the economy. Keeping all forms of transit working quickly, efficiently, safely, and comfortably has to be a high priority for the federal government. It really hasn't been since what, the 1950s? It helps people, and it helps business.

As I type this, my flight was just delayed another 15 minutes...

Labels: Travel

Denver, CO -- Colorado Sunrise

My flight home is delayed an hour and a half... yuck.

Oh well, it lets me share this nice shot of the sunrise on the way from Boulder to Cheyenne from yesterday:

Labels: Travel

Cheyenne, WY -- Hi from Wyoming!

I'm paused at a Starbucks prior to my visit to the Wyoming State Capitol. I haven't seen much of Wyoming, as Cheyenne is only a few miles from the Colorado border, but boy was it a nice drive.

Cheyenne's kind of a cute town, but stuck in a time warp -- a lot of a little houses from the 1950s. It really reminds me of Helena, which I visited on this date two years ago!

More later...

Labels: Travel

Boulder, CO -- Two Years

As of today, it's been two years since I started this site. On August 8th, 2005, I was in Spokane, WA on the course of a long trip around the Pacific Northwest; On August 8th, 2006, I was in Durham, NC right after a tour of the Deep South; and today, I find myself in Boulder, CO at the end of a long drive from Albany. Tomorrow, I'm planning to check out Cheyenne, Wyoming. I've been a lot of places, and it's been a lot of fun cataloguing it for all of you who are reading the site.

There's more in store, I'm sure. I still have fourteen states left:

Alaska
Hawaii
Kentucky
Minnesota
North Dakota
South Dakota
Iowa
Nebraska
Texas
New Mexico
Louisiana
Oklahoma
Nevada
Utah

and many more places to see in all the ones I've already been to -- including lots more state Capitols (it's a terrible hobby, I know, but it's all mine).

Thanks for reading!

Labels: Travel

Strasborg, CO -- Blasts from the Past

While I was in Chicago, I headed down to Hyde Park to visit a couple of Albany friends that I hadn't seen in years. We're certainly older than we were in grade school (well, maybe not me):

David, me, and Adin

Labels: Travel

Deer Trail, CO -- Driving While Gay

K-hole and I drove through Kansas on I-70 on our way to Boulder today. Now, I-70 is one of the best drives I've encountered in the country; it's long and straight and you can do 90-100 with little fear of getting stopped. Unless...

As we reached about the halfway point in Kansas's 420-odd miles, we saw a police car, having pulled over a car. K-hole asked me, "Wow... what does it take to get pulled over in this state?" Passing by, we noticed that the car had a large rainbow flag on its antenna... I guess that's what it takes in the land of Brownback...

True story!

Anyway, I did get to check out the Capitol in Topeka. Uneventful, but I'll post my photos later.

Labels: Travel

Chicago, IL -- Ottawa Photos

I'm back on the road again, driving from Albany to Boulder (didn't I do this drive in reverse last year?) with K-Hole.

I figured I'd do the last post about my Ottawa trip before writing anything about this one.

The view from my hotel window gave me a good shot of the flag on top of Parliament:

My last night in town, I stumbled upon a light show being held on the lawn of Parliament... quite different from the states -- could you imagine thousands of random people gathered on the lawn of the White House with basically no security?

Click here for my 2007 Ottawa photo album, Part One

Click here for my 2007 Ottawa photo album, Part Two

Labels: Travel

Plattsburgh, NY -- Only One Road...

I missed my softball game this afternoon because I spent over two hours at the Quebec-New York border... absurd.

After I crossed, I checked my GPS to see if there were any other border crossings in the area. I found a Roxham Road in Champlain that looked promising, but no dice:

Does anyone know another way?

Labels: Travel

Ottawa, ON -- Farewell, Canada!

I had another nice stay in Canada. The healthcare was divine!

OK, fine, I didn't get any healthcare... but Ottawa is a nice, clean, safe city with lots of things to do.

If you recall, I was here in late 2005 and blogged a lot about it then. So, I wasn't going post any photos this time. However, I took a lot of them and they came out well, so I'll put them up in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, take a look at the albums from two years ago:

Ottawa November 2005, Album 1

Ottawa November 2005, Album 2

The only downside to the trip was that the Starbucks fruit salad I got for breakfast was inedible... blech!

Labels: Travel

Ottawa, ON -- Flint

Flint, Michigan, is one of Michael Moore's favorite subjects. It's a city where 80,000 auto workers used to live, but today there are fewer than 8,000. It's one of the most depressed (and depressing) places in the country, and that was apparent as I drove through.

There were plenty of empty lots to be seen:

But what's the one place that had customers? Wal-Mart.

Click here for photos of Flint, Michigan

Labels: Economy, Travel

Ottawa, ON -- Michigan State Capitol Photos

I'll be taking off for home this morning, but wanted to get in two more photo albums before I leave.

The Michigan State Capitol in Lansing

Michigan's Capitol had more examples of leaving out interesting facts in order to avoid controversy.

For instance, look at this entry on the Saginaw Treaty:

"utmost good faith shall always be observed towards Indians; their land and property shall never be taken from them without their consent." It doesn't tell us why the Saginaws gave up 6,000,000 acres, though it presumably was at gunpoint. I'm pretty sure they weren't happy to give it up.

How about the entry on Gerald Ford? It mentions that he succeeded Nixon after Nixon resigned, but it doesn't mention why Nixon resigned, or that Ford made one of the most questionable political moves of all time in pardoning Nixon. It would make for some interesting and engaging conversation on a school tour, but it's off-limits!

A Republican Magnet!

Click here for photos of the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing

Labels: History, Native Americans, Politics, Travel

Ottawa, ON -- Pennsylvania State Capitol Photos

Whew... the drive from Lansing to Ottawa took a lot longer than I'd expected. I stopped in London (which seems like a pretty cool city) at around 8 PM, and then plugged Ottawa into my GPS. 400 miles... Oops! I'd figured on 3-4 hours, and totally forgot that Toronto was in between. Oh well, I made it eventually, with some help from Red Bull.

So, to finally get a little bit of the Harrisburg leg of my trip posted (man, that was already back on Tuesday), I'll start by saying that James Loewen, of Lies Across America fame, has deeply affected the way I think about historical and government sites. Dr. Loewen feels that accounts at historical locations should contain, well, history, and not just schmaltz.

Well, as I was taking some (awful) shots of the floor at the State House of Representatives, I listened to a tour guide dish out schmaltz about the House. All she discussed was the art and architecture within. I didn't learn a thing about who debates there or what they debate, but I did learn that the large chandeliers are the weight of elephants, the small ones weigh as much as hippopotami, and that the girders are all made in gin-u-wine Pennsylvania steel.

Hippopotami hanging from the ceiling

At the end of her talk, she asked the standard, "Does anyone have any questions?" and of course, no one did. She didn't give them anything to ask about, and most people aren't trained to care anyway.

Oh well, on to the slideshow.

Click here for photos of the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg

Labels: Politics, Travel

Ottawa, ON -- Whew!

The drive from Lansing to Ottawa (561 miles) felt like the longest of my life... I'm happy to have made it here.

I stopped for dinner on the way in London, ON... seemed like a neat city, but I was only there for 45 minutes. Probably worth another trip sometime; it's a city of about 400,000 -- roughly the size of Cleveland and Miami, and it looked like all the bars were packed.

I have more to say about Canadian cities, but I'm wiped. Maybe in the morning.

Labels: Travel

Lansing, MI -- Cars

I've realized that around Detroit, except for Franklin, the area where the wealthy (read: "Jews") live, 95% of the cars you see on the road, especially on I-75, are American. In Franklin, there are lots of foreign cars (and, ugh, McMansions)... in fact, the guy whom I met with there has two Lexuses (Lexi?).

Speaking of Lexus, I recently replaced my old one. This one has the Lexus navigation system built into the dash (though I'll miss Marqueaux, my old Garmin Nuvi). The system sucks... not only is it wildly inaccurate at times, but it has this absurd safety system that will not allow you to plug in or change a destination while the car is in motion. I figured there must be a way to turn it off, so I Googled "Lexus navigation override." One of the sites that came up is the aptly named LexusIsNotMyMother.com.

There is apparently no way to turn the function off in the newest models (there was until 2006), but the proprietor of LexusIsNotMyMother.com is on the case:

Lexus' change in the car's operation lowers the bar for consumer rights:

1. Sometimes it is more dangerous to pull over and stop to use the system.

2. Lexus is treating operation of the car like software (even if you buy it, you don't actually own it, you only have a license to use it the way Lexus tells you to use it).

3. Lexus made a material change in vehicle operation and potential owners were not notified of that change before buying their cars.

4. Lexus is not my mother.

There's a website for everything!

Labels: Helpful Stuff, Travel

Streetsboro, OH -- Viva La Revolucion!

Liberals of the world, unite! Our moment is nigh! Hunter delivers our call to arms:

It is time, my comrades. Our plan for taking over the American government has nearly achieved fruition. Through the deviousness of our voting for people who are not ultraconservatives, our plans to hold dozens upon dozens of Republicans accountable for illegal acts that they themselves initiated, executed and profited from, and our mind rays that cause otherwise upstanding conservative legislators to seek the buggery of children, we have nearly won the day.

We shall not be defeated. Once the revolution comes, the American right will be crushed under the mighty weight of our agenda. We shall confuse them all by being nice to children and the elderly; we shall sap their resolve by allowing black people to vote unhindered. We shall confound them via our insistence that illegal actions even by rich people should be prosecuted. They will be wounded by our commitment towards health care for all, then we will double the injury by treating their wounds using the very same programs. Their lungs will burn from the oppressively clean air: their green, lush yards will be choked with our expanding forests. Freed from the toxic scourge of DDT, Bald Eagles will return to the countryside and crap on their cars. We will call it Freedom Crap, and it will contain fish bones of Justice and unidentifiable, jelly-like chunks of Liberty.

Soon our vast nationwide array of rooftop solar panels will be complete. These fools -- even now, they do not comprehend that government incentive programs have enabled us to build an interconnected grid capable of harnessing the power of the very sun itself! When our infrastructure has been completed, we shall move to phase two of our devious plan: at the designated moment, every one of us shall switch our solar panels on and off really fast, and that will make the lights in their house blink on and off and really piss them off when they are attempting to watch documentaries about Hitler on the History Channel.

Already, we are infiltrating the minds of their children. They have not realized the iPod conspiracy -- a fiendish device pumping subliminal messages of tolerance and equality into the ears of their impressionable youth. Using our technology, we shall create the foundations of a generation that knows not to be total dicks towards people of other ethnic groups and religions. Their children are listening to music by an unending stream of gay, bisexual, and even Canadian artists: now, they are ours. They will go dancing, and eat dolphin-safe tuna. They will install energy efficient light bulbs, and live next to brown people. They will feel a twinge of sadness about buying clothing made by enslaved and brutally mistreated children, even if Republican congressmen take time out from their industry-sponsored golf trips to say that it's all OK.

Our campaign to wipe out lead based paint has almost entirely succeeded. Without the knowledge of their parents, nearly an entire generation has been raised without eating paint that turns them stupid. Who is to say what wonders might unfold before them? Will theirs be the first generation to truly understand compound interest?

Read on, comrades!

Labels: Politics, Travel

Streetsboro, OH -- I Want My Baby Back Baby Back Baby Back...

So, what national chain has great ribs? Not Chili's.

I think I just ate an entire pig worth of Memphis dry rub at Ruby Tuesday. Delicious.

I just spent an evening on a wonderful street:

Pork Avenue

Labels: Travel

Streetsboro, OH -- How To Create an Angry American

I was going to post Harrisburg photos tonight, but I'm too tired.

Watch this video instead. Pass it around.

Labels: Politics, Travel

Altoona, PA -- I-99, The Final Frontier

Anyone that knows the first thing about the Interstate system would assume that I-99 would be somewhere like the northeastern tip of Maine. That isn't the case, though... it runs from Bedford, PA to Bellefonte, PA, running through Altoona and State College (where Penn State's main campus is) along the way.

Why? According to the always useful IHOZ Guide to the Interstates:

For those who do not know, Bud Shuster wanted to have an Interstate to service Altoona, PA. Not only did he demand it not be called I-980, but he wrote into law that it would called a number that he thought was kind of nifty. Do I have to rant about how I-99 should be east of I-97; it's west of I-81 for that matter. As if it's not enough that he got to use a valuable two digit number to serve the oh-so-busy Wingate-Altoona corridor, as if it's not enough that he got the bloody thing named after him, he also got to choose the number.

Who is Bud Shuster?:

Elmer Greinert "Bud" Shuster (born January 23, 1932) is an American politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from 1972 to 2001. He is best known for his advocacy of transportation projects that critics deride as "pork barrel" spending.

In Congress, Shuster was one of the opponents of the automobile airbag and ran for the position of Minority Whip in 1981, losing to Trent Lott. Shuster chaired the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure from 1995 to 2001.

During his time as chairman numerous transportation projects were funded, including Interstate 99, the only Interstate highway to have its route number (a violation of the usual Interstate numbering standard) written into law. The route was later named the "Bud Shuster Highway" by Governor Robert Casey. When the transportation authorization bill known by its initials as "BESTEA" was under consideration, his fellow members joked the letters stood for the "Bud E. Shuster Transportation for All Eternity Act" for its many "pork barrel" projects.

In 1996, Shuster was the focus of an ethics investigation by the Congressional Accountability Project stemming from the complex relationship between Representative Shuster and former Shuster aide turned lobbyist Ann Eppard, and Rep. Shuster's interventions with federal agencies on behalf of a business partner of his sons.

Republicans... they mess everything up.

(This post has been brought to you by the Jason is Boring Foundation)

On to Cleveland!

Labels: Politics, Republican Party, Travel

New Cumberland, PA -- Hellooooo Harrisburg!

I'm spending the night near the Harrisburg airport before visiting the Capital Building tomorrow and then moving on to Ohio.

Not much to say, but I'll leave you with Photosynth:

Labels: Travel

Albany, NY -- The World's Greatest Injustice

So, I was playing in my softball league today, and I could not believe the umpire...

He was twelve feet tall, if he was an inch! With eyes glowing yellow, and fangs! He tore apart our shortstop by his ribs, pulled out his heart, and ate it -- like one eats an apple! Poor Ira...

Well, not really, but he blew the last call of the game, which is just as bad, no?

We're now 0-6 as a team, and we're not nearly as good as our record would indicate. Oh well, there's always next week.

Anyway, I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon on one of my driving trips. I'll be heading through Binghamton to see Ari, who will be moving to St. Louis to start a new job this week. I'll eventually end up in Cincinnati, but I'll be checking out the State Houses in Columbus and Harrisburg along the way. I'm not quite sure where the trip will take me, but I'll be writing and posting pictures, of course.

Labels: Travel

HOME!!!

After a VERY long layover in Atlanta, I'm finally back in Albany. It's been a long time since I've been home, and it's good to be here. I've got an awful lot of TV to catch up on, especially the new season of Boston Legal. ABC's moved it out from the coveted slot behind Desparate Housewives, and I hope it survives.

I spent much of the first leg of my flight reading a couple of magazines cover to cover. This week's New Yorker has a great piece on Kinky Friedman's run for Governor of Texas. Among the campaign slogans for the former frontman of Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys is, "KINKY 2006: WHY THE HELL NOT?”

The New Yorker also highlights the retirement of televangelist Billy Graham and the ascendence of his son Franklin. The same article details the evolution of the Christian fundamentalist movement in the United States. Speaking of which, I've begun reading the Gospels, having completed Matthew, Mark, and half of Luke. I'm actually enjoying it -- it's much better reading than the Koran. Reading the words of these ancient writers from 50 or so years after Jesus supposedly lived is like following a kindergarteners' game of Telephone. Each has a somewhat different account of the same stories and teachings, and some are clearer in describing certain details than others. The woman sitting next to me on the plane, a Chinese convert to Christianity, struck up a conversation when she noticed the Bible in my hand. She kept trying to suggest that I'd "see the light" someday, but gave up when she realized that I knew more about Christianity than she did.

Labels: Christianity, Religion, Travel

Seattle, WA

I've seen the future, and it is Google Earth. This finalized version of what was Google Maps is just incredible. I'm convinced it will save humanity, I'm just not sure how yet, and the best part is that Apple snobs can't use it yet!

One of Apple's neatest innovations lately is a search indexer in newer revisions of Mac OSX. It indexes one's hard drive ahead of time so hard drive searches are indexed. Microsoft plans to do the same for Windows Vista, which is to be released in 2006, but Google Desktop has beaten them to it. It searches every document, e-mail, viewed web page, and online conversation for the keywords you enter. Incredible stuff.

Bush's approval rating is now at 43%, according to Rasmussen, his lowest to date. Some of this has to be due to Cindy Sheehan's ongoing campaign, which continues to pick up steam and press.

A number of Senators visited Alaska yesterday to view man-made climate change with their own eyes. They seem to be convinced, to a man, that we're altering ecosystems. According to my own Senator, Hillary Clinton, ""There are still some holdouts, but they are fighting a losing battle." Is she so sure? They remain in power!

The IDF has begun forcible evacuation of Gaza, and appear to be succeeding. This evening, I recorded a Podcast of my feelings about the withdrawal and what it's taught is about the Middle East crisis as a whole. Click here to listen.

Walking out of my hotel to revisit Pasta Freska, I overheard several people at the bar discussing the Gaza withdrawal. The Courtyard's bar is a great place, with a wide variety of people who spend a lot of time there. This has much to do with the fantastic bartenders -- Matt and Tiffany -- who truly go the extra mile to make sure that their guests have the best experience possible in Seattle. They also ensured that none of the evenings I was in town were spent inconveniently sober.

Labels: Helpful Stuff, Israel, Travel

Seattle, WA

A few news items on this evening's slate:

The Gaza withdrawal continues, and things are still fairly tame. However, a closer look on the NYTimes's great withdrawal tracking utility shows that the IDF has so far avoided the projected "trouble spots." What happens when they get there is anybody's guess. Our wonderful editorial team at MyJewishLearning.com, Daniel and Lili, have put together a great site lead this week about the withdrawal. Here's a background piece on Gaza for anyone who finds him or herself lost in the headlines.

In additional (kinda scary) Jewish news, Mayor Bloomberg is considering doing something about the ancient Ultra-Orthodox Jewish custom of mezizah be peh. Yes, the article is serious. I didn't realize it before a few months ago, but a few isolated do practice this really repulsive custom where the mohel, the man who conducts circumcisions, sucks the blood from the womb with his mouth. Mayor Bloomberg says, "It is not the government's business to tell people how to practice their religion." Does he not understand that this is an OLD MAN SUCKING A BABY'S PENIS??? This story was broken to me quite a while back by a blatanty anti-Semitic individual, but it checks out and, though rare, is disturbing.

Here's why we can't privatize Social Security -- the people who can't afford to risk their small monthly take for a potential higher return.

Wireless progress in San Francisco. I'm hoping this effort snowballs and influences other cities. Free or low-cost internet access is good for education, good for productivity, good for the economy, and excellent for overall quality of life.

And by the way, there is NO way that the two women at the bar from which I'm blogging are not prostitutes...

This post is brought to you by the California Avocado Commission -- Guacamole: Ain't nothin' wrong with that!

Labels: Judaism, Travel

Seattle, WA

I drove 60 miles south and back this AM to spend 45 minutes at the Capitol in Olympia (photo, photo, photo). It wasn't nearly as exciting for me as the other three Capitols; most seemed a bit too busy to chat and those who had time didn't have anything interesting to say. I spent most of my time in the governor's outer office reading histories of Washington's governors. One neat fact: The last territorial governor of Washington delayed its statehood for a week because he forgot (!) to sign its Constitution.

From today's Washington Post: Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek, says that we should be talking with Iran before acting rashly about their nuclear program. That's probably a good idea, because we've seen what the "military option" gets us in the Middle East.

Labels: Iraq, Politics, Travel

Seattle, WA

My day was more or less uneventful; I headed to the University of Washington to set up for a conference, then went back to the hotel and worked with my boss. UW has a neat college town near Lake Union, and I hope to post some photos of it tomorrow.

Last night, after I got to the hotel, I went to have dinner and a drink or two at the hotel restaurant. Shortly after I'd ordered my first drink (a rum and coke), I began to chat it up with the bartender, who'd recently relocated from Windham, NY, a ski town slightly south of Albany on I-87.He'd told me of an Italian restaurant nearby that he said was so good, that if they were open on Sunday night he'd take away my beverage and kick me out of the bar (what, with all of the experience I have this week at getting kicked out of places).

I ventured the four blocks on foot to Pasta Freska, which was pretty unassuming both inside and out. It was a rare experience -- the waiter comes to the table and asks you what foods you absolutely won't eat. He then brings out whatever the cook's whims dictate.

Piano jazz in the background, first on the "menu" tonight was a salad with a light caesar dressing, followed by eggplant parmesan in a spinach bechemel sauce with a hint of pesto served straight from the pan -- maybe the best eggplant I've ever had. I accompanied the first course with a Maradi beer, an Italian brew golden in color, smooth in texture, and just a little sweet. The second beer of the night was a Mac and Jack African Ale -- reddish hue, a little fruity -- not all that distinguishable from Sam Adams Summer Ale, one of my favorites. I'd had it back in Helena and liked it a lot. Next was spaghetti with marinara and feta alongside a piece of chicken roulade stuffed with ricotta and smothered in a delicious dark mushroom sauce. Scallops, halibut, mushrooms, capers and spinach in a tart white wine sauce. I had no idea, but the waiter pointed out that this dish was -- PICATTA!!!! If you don't get the reference, do yourself a favor and consult your local video store and rent Beavis and Butthead Do America, for the love of all that is good!

Of course, what Italian night out would be complete without a basket of garlic bread? For dessert, they served a plate with a small piece of fudge cake, a sliver of tiramisu, and a scoop of orange sherbet.

Pasta Freska's waiters refer to their dishes as "surprises", and this critic asserts that all of them were pleasant. Of course, to be a real critic, this poseur needs an alimentary vocabulary broader than "delicious."

Apparently, the Iraqi constitution is not going to be completed on schedule. This isn't all that surprising... the elections had a pretty high turnout because each of the factions that were surpressed under Saddam showed up in large numbers -- the Shiites because they saw their opportunity for power, and the Kurds because their leaders told them that the election was the first step towards an independent Kurdistan. Of course, the Sunni turnout was very low. The constitution needs to be agreed upon by all parties -- if 2/3 of voters in three of the 12 provinces vote "no," then the constitution is null and void. I'm just not confident that the different groups in Iraq are going to be able to think beyond their own interests, and the events of the last few days seem to support that.

The Gaza pullout is underway, and with a few exceptions, appears to be going as planned. I don't trust the Israelis so much, but getting the settlers out of Gaza and a few of the 120 settlements in the West Bank is a good start.

Harvard is starting a program to study the origins of life. Many religious types discount evolution because it doesn't sufficiently explain how the first life was formed, but that's not the point of the theory of evolution. I'm happy to see this effort, and it's certainly a reaction to the recent surge in support for the quack-science "theory" of intelligent design. I'd agree with the scientist in the article who says, "My expectation is that we will be able to reduce this to a very simple series of logical events that could have taken place with no divine intervention," but have a feeling that we won't find out the answers in our lifetime. It's no easy task to look back five billion years and find answers. It is, however, inexcusable to attribute something to God because we have no other answer. It's very much equivalent to when Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) asks his dad how the vacuum cleaner works, and he replies "Magic."

In today's More Cowbell, Sports Guy pleads Johnny Damon's case for some MVP votes. I agree with him completely. Damon's having a fantastic season, and his hair's gotta be worth at least some consideration!

Labels: Politics, Restaurants, Sports, Travel

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