Seinfeld wins 90s Poll, Branstad Far Behind
One of the shortcomings about my polls is that I never set a cutoff date. But votes have slowed to a trickle and in one sense at least the verdict is certain:
Terry Branstad, the former Iowa governor on the (maybe) comeback trail, may have done well in Iowa Republican's poll, but he lost this one by a country mile, way down with the Hammer pants and the late unlamented 5 1/4 inch floppy (360k is about 20 seconds of an MP3).
So it's not Stop! Terry Time. What did come out on top? We have a three-way split near the top:
Chinese Democracy notwithstanding, a return of the original Guns N' Roses lineup finishes third.
(Technically this is `88 but that's still the middle of Branstad's second term.)
The amazing thing is that all of the original five members are still alive, though Celebrity Rehab fans know Steven Adler is a mess. (You know you've got problems when you're kicked out for being too much of a junkie for Slash.) With Scott Wieland out, Velvet Revolver needs a new singer...\
Second place is (was) my hair. I was prepared to post old pictures if I won. Too late.
But the clear master of my domain is a Seinfeld comeback. Sorry, Terry: my readers say no soup for you.
6 Ağustos 2009 Perşembe
5 Ağustos 2009 Çarşamba
Bike Ban: Culture War on the County Road
Bike Ban: Culture War on the County Road
The "Citizens for Safety Coalition of Iowa" (sic) (CSCI) effort to ban bikes from Iowa's rural roads is about more than the accidents and the liability costs. It's an interesting bank shot in the culture war.
Sure, there are legitimate worries about bike vs. car safety. Though as a biker who's been hit (just a bruise), drivers need to worry more about liability while bikers have to worry about death.
But that's not why this is being pushed right now. Bikes are a cultural symbol with a lot of connotations. And it's the connotations that are unpopular with older rural voters--also not coincidentally one of the few remaining groups that leans Republican.
This culture war rhetoric goes unspoken in the "Safety Coalition" rhetoric. It doesn't need to be said. It's there between the lines. Bikers, mostly city folk riding out from the city then back, smell of the environmentalist, the do-gooders who gave us lower speed limits, smoke-free taverns and want to ban meat. (Tangent: my pet conspiracy theory is that PETA is secretly bankrolled by anti-environmentalists because their tactics and extremism give everyone green a bad name.)
Machismo plays its part too. Rural culture is a motor culture of trucks and tractors. A recreational vehicle is a camper or a four wheeler, and fresh air and the great outdoors is hunting. And bike clothes tend to be just a little bright and tight and, well, you know, flamboyant. Definitely not camouflage or even blaze orange.
One of the comments from the CSCI site Ed Fallon shares is telling: "I know I looked forward to turning 16 and being able to drive so I'd NEVER have to use a bike again!" To a lot of people, a bicycle is still seen as a child's toy, not a legitimate means of transportation or adult recreation.
Rural distances play a role. As a seven-year bike commuter I've found that, over short distances like a mile or two, the bike is actually the fastest door-to-door commute, once you take parking time into account. But once you leave the stop and go traffic and get out on the highway, you're at a disadvantage. Rural distances, even on the Lone Tree to Iowa City scale, are such that people assume every endeavor involves a car, and a mile behind a biker is a couple extra minutes.
And that's why there's nothing bikers can do to make rural motor culture happy. No safety training, licensing, or fees will help. No millions of dollars brought into the state by RAGBRAI will satisfy. To make the pickup truckers happy, bikers will need to go 60 MPH, and even Lance on the Tour de France is going about 25.
It seems CSCI literally wants bikes to go away, or at best back to the playground. And conservatives want this to be a rural-urban wedge. The petitions, ostensibly for a constitutional amendment, are in no way binding since Iowa does not have initiative. And nothing will get to the floor--Gronstal and Murphy will see to that for one thing, and anti-bike rage isn't a front-burner issue for most folks yet.
This is designed to throw at a handful of rural Democratic legislators, perhaps by setting up a procedural vote roll call that'll be featured in a mailing. "John Deeth" (hey, I ran in a rural district, and they didn't like bikes, as witnessed by that dead-end trail at Conesville)-- "John Deeth voted for big city bike riders (not bikers, that's reserved for Harley riders) over family farmers," it'll say, and they'll have my picture with infamous cyclists Joe Bolkcom and Ed Fallon.
Remember the periodic attempts to legalize dove hunting and portray a no vote as anti-gun? Watch for a day wasted on the bike ban about next March (silly season at the legislature) and the mailers in October. I'll bet my Trek on it.
The "Citizens for Safety Coalition of Iowa" (sic) (CSCI) effort to ban bikes from Iowa's rural roads is about more than the accidents and the liability costs. It's an interesting bank shot in the culture war.
Sure, there are legitimate worries about bike vs. car safety. Though as a biker who's been hit (just a bruise), drivers need to worry more about liability while bikers have to worry about death.
But that's not why this is being pushed right now. Bikes are a cultural symbol with a lot of connotations. And it's the connotations that are unpopular with older rural voters--also not coincidentally one of the few remaining groups that leans Republican.
This culture war rhetoric goes unspoken in the "Safety Coalition" rhetoric. It doesn't need to be said. It's there between the lines. Bikers, mostly city folk riding out from the city then back, smell of the environmentalist, the do-gooders who gave us lower speed limits, smoke-free taverns and want to ban meat. (Tangent: my pet conspiracy theory is that PETA is secretly bankrolled by anti-environmentalists because their tactics and extremism give everyone green a bad name.)
Machismo plays its part too. Rural culture is a motor culture of trucks and tractors. A recreational vehicle is a camper or a four wheeler, and fresh air and the great outdoors is hunting. And bike clothes tend to be just a little bright and tight and, well, you know, flamboyant. Definitely not camouflage or even blaze orange.
One of the comments from the CSCI site Ed Fallon shares is telling: "I know I looked forward to turning 16 and being able to drive so I'd NEVER have to use a bike again!" To a lot of people, a bicycle is still seen as a child's toy, not a legitimate means of transportation or adult recreation.
Rural distances play a role. As a seven-year bike commuter I've found that, over short distances like a mile or two, the bike is actually the fastest door-to-door commute, once you take parking time into account. But once you leave the stop and go traffic and get out on the highway, you're at a disadvantage. Rural distances, even on the Lone Tree to Iowa City scale, are such that people assume every endeavor involves a car, and a mile behind a biker is a couple extra minutes.
And that's why there's nothing bikers can do to make rural motor culture happy. No safety training, licensing, or fees will help. No millions of dollars brought into the state by RAGBRAI will satisfy. To make the pickup truckers happy, bikers will need to go 60 MPH, and even Lance on the Tour de France is going about 25.
It seems CSCI literally wants bikes to go away, or at best back to the playground. And conservatives want this to be a rural-urban wedge. The petitions, ostensibly for a constitutional amendment, are in no way binding since Iowa does not have initiative. And nothing will get to the floor--Gronstal and Murphy will see to that for one thing, and anti-bike rage isn't a front-burner issue for most folks yet.
This is designed to throw at a handful of rural Democratic legislators, perhaps by setting up a procedural vote roll call that'll be featured in a mailing. "John Deeth" (hey, I ran in a rural district, and they didn't like bikes, as witnessed by that dead-end trail at Conesville)-- "John Deeth voted for big city bike riders (not bikers, that's reserved for Harley riders) over family farmers," it'll say, and they'll have my picture with infamous cyclists Joe Bolkcom and Ed Fallon.
Remember the periodic attempts to legalize dove hunting and portray a no vote as anti-gun? Watch for a day wasted on the bike ban about next March (silly season at the legislature) and the mailers in October. I'll bet my Trek on it.
4 Ağustos 2009 Salı
Critter Catastrophe on Smallest Farm
Critter Catastrophe on Smallest Farm
Koni: "I saw that gopher again today and he's the fattest gopher ever." That's probably because he, or someone, harvested the Smallest Farm's corn crop before Farmer John could! All that was left of the first batch was broken stalks and some half-gnawed ears.
Hayden has a solution:
I swear to god that, verbatim, is what my nine year old wrote. There's some dispute as to whether the critter is a gopher or a beaver.
* Have I mentioned that the boys have seen Caddyshack?
Koni: "I saw that gopher again today and he's the fattest gopher ever." That's probably because he, or someone, harvested the Smallest Farm's corn crop before Farmer John could! All that was left of the first batch was broken stalks and some half-gnawed ears.
Hayden has a solution:
JOHN'S FURY PART 2
Once upon a time a beaver ticked off John. So John used C-4 explosives to kill it.* But it didn't work.
So he called Sarah Palin. She shot it like it was a moose and she got in a helicopter and flew away. The End.
I swear to god that, verbatim, is what my nine year old wrote. There's some dispute as to whether the critter is a gopher or a beaver.
* Have I mentioned that the boys have seen Caddyshack?
Tuesday Links
Obama Confesses: Not Born In USA!
Happy birthday to the president: The birthers have the details wrong, but Obama finally confesses!
Health care advocates, be ready for your congressional town meeting when (if) there's an August recess "district work period." The Teabaggers have their marching orders. I'm a free speech absolutist, of course, but in Pete Visclosky's Indiana district some simple steps let everyone get heard without a riot. The important part is BE THERE.
Whose fault is the Great Depression of Journalism? Why, Harry Potter's, of course:
Researchers first studied quotes from the first six books regarding the media, and based on the overall categorization of those quotes, they determined the three main frames in which media is viewed: Government Control of Journalism, Misleading Journalism, and Unethical Means of Gathering Information. Based on these frames, researchers argue the Harry Potter series does not put the media in a positive light. Because of this, children could potentially perceive the news media in general as untrustworthy and controlled by the government.
3 Ağustos 2009 Pazartesi
Fong has Campus Campaign Plan
Christian Fong, Big Man On Campus
O. Kay notes that GOP governor hopeful Christian Fong has recruited campus coordinators at 10 Iowa colleges.
He'd better have an absentee strategy, then. Iowa's early June primary is at about as student unfriendly a time as possible--almost as bad as a Jan. 3 caucus.
O. Kay notes that GOP governor hopeful Christian Fong has recruited campus coordinators at 10 Iowa colleges.
He'd better have an absentee strategy, then. Iowa's early June primary is at about as student unfriendly a time as possible--almost as bad as a Jan. 3 caucus.
Branstad Gives Me a 90s Flashback
Things To Bring Back From The Early 90s
Early August is the anniversary of my move to Iowa, 19 years now. Back then I had hair and was occasionally teased for an extremely slight resemblance to the then-governor.
This year I'm greeted by a deja vu to that era, as Terry Branstad takes a look at the comeback trail. (Aside: That era was my first career as a journalist and I talked to many of the leading Republicans. Grassley, Leach, Lightfoot and Nussle were all generous with their time... but we had a hell of a time getting Team Branstad to call back.)
I can't decide what I miss most from that era so I'll let you the readers help. (Write-ins welcome in comments.)
Early August is the anniversary of my move to Iowa, 19 years now. Back then I had hair and was occasionally teased for an extremely slight resemblance to the then-governor.
This year I'm greeted by a deja vu to that era, as Terry Branstad takes a look at the comeback trail. (Aside: That era was my first career as a journalist and I talked to many of the leading Republicans. Grassley, Leach, Lightfoot and Nussle were all generous with their time... but we had a hell of a time getting Team Branstad to call back.)
I can't decide what I miss most from that era so I'll let you the readers help. (Write-ins welcome in comments.)
1 Ağustos 2009 Cumartesi
Saturday Morning Smallest Farm Report
Saturday Morning Smallest Farm Report
I just realized I went the entire month of July without a Smallest Farm update, mostly because I was too busy DOING it to WRITE about it.
A typical day's harvest. Hayden wants to develop a video game called Growing Garden: "You have to run around all the different gardens and pick stuff or else the tomatoes explode." Throw in weeds and wabbits and you might have something there.
Hayden has also taken to writing stories about the garden which I'll include in my updates. Here's the first:
Here's one of those giant pumpkins, now larger than Ethan's brain.
Corn is juuuust about ready...
The long-sought purple pod pole beans are turning out more prolific this year than the classic Kentucky Wonders. The Asian long beans are also doing well. One of my transplanted volunteer squashes has grown from the south end of the north garden, all the way through the corn, and starting up the bean poles.
The perfect companion planting: eggplant and catnip.
These heirloom tomatoes are called Mr. Stripey--ugly but yummy.
Prolific cherry tomatoes.
Ethan took this shot of Mister Hoot Hoot. I think Voldemort did it.
I just realized I went the entire month of July without a Smallest Farm update, mostly because I was too busy DOING it to WRITE about it.
A typical day's harvest. Hayden wants to develop a video game called Growing Garden: "You have to run around all the different gardens and pick stuff or else the tomatoes explode." Throw in weeds and wabbits and you might have something there.
Hayden has also taken to writing stories about the garden which I'll include in my updates. Here's the first:
JOHN'S FURY CHAPTER ONE: THE RABBITS
77 years ago a young rabbit was really bad at getting carrots out of John's garden.
But the best rabbit would get pumpkins, giant pumpkins.
But John put up electric fences and all the rabbits got killed. John wins the garden from the rabbits. The end.
Here's one of those giant pumpkins, now larger than Ethan's brain.
Corn is juuuust about ready...
The long-sought purple pod pole beans are turning out more prolific this year than the classic Kentucky Wonders. The Asian long beans are also doing well. One of my transplanted volunteer squashes has grown from the south end of the north garden, all the way through the corn, and starting up the bean poles.
The perfect companion planting: eggplant and catnip.
These heirloom tomatoes are called Mr. Stripey--ugly but yummy.
Prolific cherry tomatoes.
Ethan took this shot of Mister Hoot Hoot. I think Voldemort did it.
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