Animated Ricky Gervais PodCast

Some very funny creative person put some clips for the funny Ricky Gervais podcasts and drew cartoons to go with them. Great stuff.

One good one

another - monkey news

This just in - a new Wal-Mart!

Wow, big news, a new wal-mart in Monona.

Point 1 - why does the paper need to give them free PR.

Point 2 - it is good that the article clearly identifies the criticism of the store

Point 3 - this part of the story seems notable:

Shoppers who descend on the 227,000-square-foot Supercenter in the coming holiday frenzy will discover an abundance of sustainable efforts.

Looking for traditional, watered-down laundry detergent? It's not here, only concentrated brands. That saves million of gallons of water that would have been injected into bottles, says Lisa Nelson, a Wal-Mart senior manager for public affairs and a former member of the Monona City Council.

Nelson began working for Wal-Mart soon after leaving the council in 2006. She was on the city's Planning Commission when the project was approved and was a "very strong supporter" of what she calls a "special store."

I don't know anything about Ms. Nelson but I can't believe that someone who would serve on a plan commission would be hired by WalMat. It sounds like Monona was successful at getting a better than most store for their community because they demanded it. Their MO is to shoot for the cheapest lowest quality planning and construction unless the city demands more. How could someone who knows anything about good planning and design support a company that behaves that way. I wonder if she is the public affairs manager for just this store or a broader area. You voluneer to serve on the plan commission and run for city council because you care about your community. This is not the philosphy of Wal-Mart.

I saw a program on Channel 5 where a monkey brain was still alive and it was stuck on a stick!

Name the source

Pumpkins

Pumpkins
Originally uploaded by officialthisamericanlife

Intersting This American Life talked about this guy who was doing unusual maps of his NC neighborhood including this one of pumpkins at homes on Halloween. He said there was a correlation between pumpkins and how often homes were mentioned in the neighborhood newsletter.

Neighborhood brouhaha

There is quite a lot of strong feelings this week in the my neighborhood over a plan for Old University Avenue. Wow! Check out the article in the Cap Times and read all the comments. The RNA board meeting I attended on Wednesday was well attended and many neighbors had very harsh words for the plan and the process. Some very nasty comments and some good points. Similar emails were sent to the neighborhood listserv.

I was one of the people who came up with the idea to do a neighborhood plan in the first place but kind of dropped out of the effort due to the time commitment.

Did you know that Bush's Crawford Ranch is Green

I was not aware that the "ranch" was built with passive solar, geothermal and more. Who would have guessed. I wonder if Al Gore's home is as green?

My new podcast made me blush

I signed up for the Savage Lovecast. I was sitting on the bus and wondering if people could hear what I was listening to. It sounds much more dirty to hear that kind of stuff said out loud vs reading it in the Onion. Check it out! So far, It is better than the written column. I would have guessed that Dan Savage may have been more timid or therapist like when describing these things but he does not hold back and describes thing is very vivid ways. Not for children - NC17 for sure. One interesting thing is that people leave their messages with their questions and he sometimes will call them to discuss the problem and play the call. While Dan may not be shy talking about these things, I am not sure I would want to talk with the world listening about my sexual problems.

Mitt had a good line

I am surprised he is exposing Hillery's Achilles heal at this point. I agree that Obama, Edwards and Clinton share this major weakness.

"I don't want her as commander in chief," he said. "She hasn't run a corner store. She hasn't run a state. She hasn't run a city. She has never run anything."

That is why I think they are not strong cadidates and Richardson is.

Maybe they should get bigger hearing rooms?

I was not aware of this practice.

the common practice in Washington of lobbying groups paying "line-standers" to go to the Capitol early on the days of congressional hearings. Then, moments before the hearing starts, the lobbyist shows up, pays the line stander $70 to $90, and takes his or her place at the front of the line, thus guaranteeing a seat at the hearing.

Who runs our country? This seems silly in a way because it seems that the hearings are theater anyway, the deals and votes are agreed upon in the back room. You could have 200 people line up to protest a bill at a hearing and the elected folks will vote how every they want.

The Richardson of the GOP Field

I think that Mike Hucklebee is the one qualified real candidate running for the GOP seat who is not given the media attention he should. David Brooks thinks so too. Brooks points out the main point that I feel applies to Richardson, the media is key to the whole thing and if the media doesn't highlight a candidate, they they are not going anywhere. The top candidates from both parties have some major weaknesses which would make them very vulnerable in the general election. Americans should rise up and demand that the media fairly cover the best viable candidates in a fair way. Do people forget that Clinton was the governor of Arkansas.

I think that a Governor is automatically a stronger candidate than a senator.

It appears to be a stupid media horse race no different than Angelina vs Jennefer or Britney vs Lindsey.

No Respect

The editorial from Paul Krugman confirms my worst fears about Gore winning the Nobel prize. It seems that any Democratic politician talking about environmental issues almost hurts cause they are trying to discuss. Gore talking about global warming makes it a political issue and since have of the country doesn't like Gore, then half of America doesn't support efforts to address global warming.

This opening is very upsetting but true.

On the day after Al Gore shared the Nobel Peace Prize, The Wall Street Journal’s editors couldn’t even bring themselves to mention Mr. Gore’s name. Instead, they devoted their editorial to a long list of people they thought deserved the prize more.
And at National Review Online, Iain Murray suggested that the prize should have been shared with “that well-known peace campaigner Osama bin Laden, who implicitly endorsed Gore’s stance.” You see, bin Laden once said something about climate change — therefore, anyone who talks about climate change is a friend of the terrorists.

What really makes me sad reading this article is that it reminds me how divided and hostile the feelings are in this country.
Blue state/ Red State
Right/ Left
Rush L./ Keith Obermann
It makes me very upset to live in a country where there are such strong negative feelings across the political aisle. Can't we all just get a long?

Braun Mitzvah

Sport radio guy held a Braun Mitzvah in Milwaukee to rally support for Ryan Braun the 3rd baseman who is up for rookie of the year.

Check out the photo of the cheesheads wearing Yarmulkes

Congratulations Al Gore

Congratulations on Winning the Nobel Peace Prize!

While I think he is a good guy and this is not a bad choice, I personally do not think he has always been a true environmental leader. He was too chicken when he was VP and running for President to really take a hard stand on any environmental issue in a serious way and only started to say the truth after that was over. I hope he does not run for president again.

The right will have a field day with this because they don't like international things like this, they don't believe global warming is real and they don't like Al Gore.

Dumb Business Decisions that Make Lawyers and Wall Street Happy

Too bad that Miller and Coors are merging. While they both make bad beer, I don't see how this will help them. I assume they will still make the standard products and will need to sell and distribute it in a similar way to how they do now. While I don't like the beers, Miller is a sort of cool Wisconsin company with a long history and likewise for Coors. I think that part of why people drink it is the connection with Milwaukee/ Colorado. Dumb name too

Health Threats from Pollution is Real

Two recent radio stories really point out how people can be seriously impacted by pollution. While we have made progress, these issues are still real.

1. Asbestos in Montana - while the point of the story is about the lawsuit, the most disturbing point is that 200 people have died and 1800 people have been made sick from the asbestos!

2. Polluted Groundwater in Texas - ugggh - truely upsetting story about two small towns with terrible pollution.

See - "Don't Drink the Water" - Wednesday - October 3 - The Story

Drop in New Housing Sales

For a while now I have been reading about a drop in sales of new homes. The stories focus on the economic reasons for that and the economic impacts but none of the articles about that topic mention the fact that almost all new homes are in the sprawing burbs far away from the city center and far from even the mall. Yes there are some in-fill homes and condos. I would think that a huge part of the drop is that people don't want to be a half hour, hour or maybe 2 in a big city from downtown. Even in little Madison most new subdivisions are pretty far from downtown, UW, Hospital, etc.

Smelly Rock

Last night I was taking a late night stroll around the 'hood and got a strong solvent type smell and realized that it was Edgewood students spray painting the big rock. What is funny to me about the rock is that it used to be on Monroe and a few years ago it was moved around 50 feet inside the fence. Probably so it would be safer but it is funny that they would make a conscious decision to move a big rock so that kids can continue to spray paint it in the middle of the night. I guess this is safe vandalism.

Goldwater-Miller '08

Today on Stephine Miller, she announced that she and CC Goldlwater are running for President/ VP. It is a joke but could get some good PR. Check out their website. For those of you who don't know, CC's grandfather was Barry Goldwater who ran for president with Stephine Miller's father. Stephine is much more articulate, funny and smart that CC from what I can tell. While I know the whole thing is a joke but I wonder if there are any actual campign laws they need to follow or formal steps that they may need to take. I hope they work this up in a fun but serious way because it could help to identfiy some of the problems with the GOP today. If Jessie Ventura and Arnold Schwartzinager can be elected, who knows, I bet they could get more votes than Dodd.