Mister Pterodactyl
Monday, January 23, 2006
 
Did I forget to mention
Iowa held it's midterm caucuses last week. I wanted to go to both parties', but they were held at the same time. The Democrats' caucus was more conveniently located, so I attended that. [No word on any Libertarian Party caucuses yet.]
Ho hum. Tables with letters from candidates, petitions for candidates to be added to ballots. Volunteers to help you register Democrat (they'll send in your registration if you join up, otherwise you have to do it yourself). I asked a couple questions and poked around. A local news channel had a camera set up, but they left about 15 minutes before the thing started.
I counted about 50 people right arund the (advertised) start time, but naturally a bunch of people arrived just prior and had to go through all the registering and reading and signing, so it started late. [The Republibots, I presume, start on time.] Fairly, shall we say, geriatric turnout, although there were a handful of kids (most of whom must have been there for a school project - no way were they old enough to vote). Maybe 120 attendees all told.
Speech by local official, henceforth to be known as the 'Republicans suck, Democrats rule, pass it on' speech. Various exhortations aimed, apparently, at increasing the number of people identifying Democratic in polls. Reminder to check Democratic on your tax return (what's that about? Stay tuned). Then: shall we read the submitted resolutions or would someone like to move that we send them to committee? Someone moves, someone seconds, and everybody says 'aye,' and it's time to break up into precincts.

I think, what resolutions? Can we get a look at the &%$#* resolutions? I ask around. The nice lady in charge of my precinct finds them for me and it's a good thing I didn't have mischief on my mind.

There were about a dozen people from my precinct; this is the part where people can 'stand up' for their candidate and they go through all that nonsense (short version: caucus results don't even reflect the preferences of the participants, much less the whole state), but it was quickly agreed that there wasn't much point. then it was mostly a matter of picking delegates to (I guess) the state convention.

Back to the resolutions. Members can fill out a form suggesting a resolution to be added to the platform. Of course there's an Impeach Bush and a couple withdraw from Iraqs. Among the more interesting ones:
-Remove the concept of 'corporate personhood,' which allows corporations to benefit by taking advantage of first amendment rights;
-Congress has a pretty nice health-care plan; it should be expanded to include all Americans;
-Use 'mean domestic payments' as a measure of the country's economic health instead of GDP. According to the resolution, MDP is a measure o the median household income and has been falling in the last 5 years while the GDP has risen;
-Withdraw from free-trade agreements until fair trade (referencing labor unions, safety, environment, etc) can be guaranteed.

Then, the woman moved to adjourn, a gent in the corner said 'what, we're not raising money?', the hat was passed and that was that. I bet these are more lively in presidential years.
I'll be checking on that tax-form thing and MDPs. If anyone's got anything, let me know.
- posted by Dactyl @ 3:07 PM 3 comments
Monday, January 16, 2006
 
Everybody seen the blonde joke that's been going around?
- posted by Dactyl @ 9:15 PM 5 comments
Sunday, January 15, 2006
 
Assorted football-related stuff
My #%Y^*%$ computer crashed and now I have to rewrite all this stuff.

Today the Indianapolis Colts scored a touchdown when the runner, his forward momentum already stopped, thrust his hand forward to put the ball across the goal line, thus 'breaking the plane' of the end zone. I think this rule should be changed. The etymology of the word 'touchdown' comes from the game that football (American football, don't give me that soccer crap) evolved from, in which a player had to actually touch pigskin to dirt inside the end zone to score. I think the NFL needs to adopt such a rule; the ballcarrier should have to place the ball on the ground or be in a position where he could demonstrably do so (i.e. both feet in bounds). Just my opinion.

Rex (the Bears still suck) Grossman looked so pale I thought the network was intentionally black-and-whiting him inside that helmet. Maybe the injury that kept him out most of the season was actually death, and he's a ghost.

There's been a commercial running today in which a guy, who apparently works for a computer-repair company, approaches an AOL executive in his office. His intent is to convince the exec to stop offering various AOL protection features, ostensibly so he can get more business. The exec rebuffs him, and he goodnaturedly goes on his way.
Now, I don't generally put personal information on my blog. [-You don't put anything on your blog lately. -Shaddap.] But here's a clue as to my profession: seeing this commercial, my first thought was "how the hell did this guy even get into the building?"

Further randomness: I predict that TMQ will not address any of these points; I can summon exactly zero excitement over the resumption of this '24' TV show; and having recently caught up on my Grandpa John I note that Steve has had a little debate with this gentleman. I may or may not weigh in later. For now, I say only that I fail to understand Steve's use of the word 'postmodern.'
- posted by Dactyl @ 7:04 PM 4 comments
Monday, January 02, 2006
 
Unrelated football post
While I’m at it, there’s a lot of people around here with shirts bearing cartoony hawks on them. Black and yellow ones. Now, if the team is the Iowa Hawkeyes, should the whole hawk be the mascot? I mean, you’ve got to have the hawk in there so people will know it’s a hawk’s eye (otherwise you’re just the Iowa Eyes, which does have a little ironic charm to it). Still, the eye ought to be featured somehow, like, have you ever seen someone look really close into a peephole, so their eye gets really big in proportion to the rest of their body? Something like that.

Y’know?
- posted by Dactyl @ 4:49 PM 11 comments
 
I hate to be all doom-and-gloomy here
But given Mike Sherman’s firing today, I am extremely pessimistic about the chances of Favre returning next year. New coach = new system. Favre’s already expressed reluctance to go through that. [Though perhaps if Mariucci were the new coach…] To me, this spells rebuilding. I expect they’ll come to an agreement and Favre will retire.

Waving goodbye to past glories and eagerly anticipating the glory to come. Eventually.
- posted by Dactyl @ 4:48 PM 8 comments

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