Monthly Archives: April 2002

Why the lottery really is a tax on ignorance

Posted on April 22, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Jeff Jarvis has been on an anti-lottery rant recently, challenging economists to prove that lotteries are not actually depressing the economy. Calculate the total amount of income — income at its most spendable — drained from the economy; how much … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, science, and math | 1 Comment

McCain for President?

Posted on April 22, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Kyle Still has his say about John McCain’s theoretical candidacy in 2004. He also points to Mark Byron‘s interesting number crunching on this subject. Byron concludes that McCain would be better off running in 2008 when he likely won’t have … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | 3 Comments

Why satire is on life support, chapter 683

Posted on April 22, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Mac Thomason pokes fun at the proposed new ABC drama about the CDC. At this rate, they’re going to run out of government agencies and departments pretty soon. 2003: Customs 2004: D.O.E. 2005: Postmaster! 2006: Joe Collins, FDA Inspector 2007: … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | Comments Off on Why satire is on life support, chapter 683

Real Men Don’t Get Intimidated

Posted on April 22, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Real Men Don’t Get Intimidated is the name of this excellent Bruce Feirstein piece which was written in rebuttal to Maureen Dowd’s silly column that claimed men were intimidated by powerful women. It’s smart and funny and well worth your … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Websurfing | Comments Off on Real Men Don’t Get Intimidated

My last words on Cynthia McKinney

Posted on April 22, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

I think I’ve not done a good job of expressing my disagreement with Avedon Carol regarding Cynthia McKinney. I’m going to take one more shot, then I’m going to move on to other things. I have no problem with the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | Comments Off on My last words on Cynthia McKinney

How children learn

Posted on April 22, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

From my inbox, an article from 2000 about how slum children in India learned to use computers and surf the Web without any formal instruction. It’s an interesting read and has some implications for how we could be doing a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Around the world | Comments Off on How children learn

Dream Team beneficiary

Posted on April 21, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Tim Fleck of the Houston Press thinks the main beneficiary of the state Democrats’ “dream team” ticket will be John Sharp, the Anglo candidate for Lt. Governor. I think turnout is going to decide these races, and I think the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2002 | Comments Off on Dream Team beneficiary

Olympic hosting update

Posted on April 21, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

San Francisco and Washington, DC have modified their bids to resemble that of Houston. Mostly, that means consolidating event locations so everything is closer to the central site. 2012 is a long way off and I may feel differently as … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | Comments Off on Olympic hosting update

Debating McKinney, take 2

Posted on April 20, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

A blogger named Atrios disagrees with me regarding Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and Avedon Carol‘s defense of her. First, he defends the congresswoman’s statement: What the [WaPo] article does, and what most people have done, is conflate two entirely separate points … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | Comments Off on Debating McKinney, take 2

We must never forget

Posted on April 19, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Seven years ago today, a bomb exploded outside the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. It killed 168 people, many of whom were children at the building’s day care center, and injured hundreds more. At the time, it was … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | Comments Off on We must never forget

Stupid Texas tricks updates

Posted on April 19, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

The show may go on after all, as the cast of the now-cancelled showing of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is thinking about finding another place to perform. Break a leg, y’all! Meanwhile, the Houston area’s most famous Stupid … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Comments Off on Stupid Texas tricks updates

Can I get a schmear with that?

Posted on April 19, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Read about my dad the bagel tester, as reported to our old hometown newspaper. Continue reading →

Posted in See, I do have a life! | Comments Off on Can I get a schmear with that?

Now that that’s out of my system

Posted on April 18, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Now that that’s out of my system, I’ll say something nice about Avedon Carol’s weblog, which is certainly worthy of praise. This piece about why David Brock is credible is right on. I’ve had the same thought all along but … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other punditry | Comments Off on Now that that’s out of my system

It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it

Posted on April 18, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Avedon Carol has been kind enough to mention my blog a couple of times lately, so I regret that my first mention of her blog is a disagreement. Regarding Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and her much-criticized remarks about what the government … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | Comments Off on It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it

Why piracy isn’t the problem

Posted on April 18, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Britney Spears. Mariah Carey. Coming soon, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. And movie executives blame piracy for profit worries? Who in their right minds would pay any price for this crap? Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | Comments Off on Why piracy isn’t the problem

Stupid Texas tricks, part deux

Posted on April 18, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

The director and almost all of the cast of a Conroe production of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” have quit after the theater’s board of directors demanded that they trim naughty words out of the script. There were also … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Comments Off on Stupid Texas tricks, part deux

Stupid Texas tricks, part I

Posted on April 18, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Tom DeLay thinks that Baylor and Texas A&M are too liberal, and that parents who want to protect their young’uns from the pernicious effects of premarital sex and evolution should look elsewhere. At Friday’s gathering, DeLay said his daughter attended … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Comments Off on Stupid Texas tricks, part I

Girls and glasses

Posted on April 17, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Salon has an article about how women who wear glasses are indeed sexy. I couldn’t agree more. I got glasses when I was ten. A couple of years after I got them, I noticed a framed, autographed photo of 1979 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Society and cultcha | 1 Comment

And at 3 there’s a lecture on supply-side economics on the Lido Deck

Posted on April 17, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

After reading my post below, Duncan Fitzgerald emailed me to point me to this ad by The National Review for “the National Review Post-Election Mexican Cruise”, where you can rub elbows and consume fruity rum drinks with the likes of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in General snarkiness | Comments Off on And at 3 there’s a lecture on supply-side economics on the Lido Deck

A fine Australian whine

Posted on April 17, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Matt Welch points to an interview with his buddy Tim Blair about life, the bloggyverse, and everything. Blair’s a funny guy, and the interview is largely amusing, but Blair seems to suffer the same tired sense of victimization that many … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other punditry | Comments Off on A fine Australian whine

Creating innovative revenue streams

Posted on April 16, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Wal-Mart is praised far and wide, including in blogdom, for its innovation, its selection, its low prices, and its shareholder value. Indeed, Wal-Mart is now ranked first in the Fortune 500 for all of these reasons. Turns out Wal-Mart is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness | Comments Off on Creating innovative revenue streams

Who wants to be a mathematical millionaire?

Posted on April 16, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

This morning on NPR’s Morning Edition, I heard a story about how a British mathematician claims to have solved one of math’s great unanswered questions, the Poincare Conjecture. You can listen to the story here. They spoke to Arthur Jaffe … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, science, and math | 2 Comments

Dennis Hopper

Posted on April 16, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

joins the cast of 24 for the remaining five episodes of the season. Strangely, he’s been cast as a psycho bad guy. Whoda thunk of that? Anyway, the article failes to mention Hopper’s previous experience with star Kiefer Sutherland, though … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | Comments Off on Dennis Hopper

Why Texas politics is such fertile ground for writers

Posted on April 15, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not new information, but until I read today’s Chron I didn’t know that Land Commissioner and Republican candidate for Lt. Governor David Dewhurst worked for the CIA in Bolivia in the early 1970s. There were some bad things going … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2002 | Comments Off on Why Texas politics is such fertile ground for writers

Home sweet home

Posted on April 15, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

The domino chain of closings fell in its prescribed order, and so without an excess of hubbub we are the proud owners of our new home. We managed to move everything yesterday without breaking anything (that we know of), and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in See, I do have a life! | Comments Off on Home sweet home

Movin’, movin’, movin’…

Posted on April 13, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Well, tomorrow is moving day. The house is almost completely packed now – boxes as far as the eye can see. You really don’t appreciate how much crap you actually have until you remove all of it from its normal … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in See, I do have a life! | Comments Off on Movin’, movin’, movin’…

Not feelin’ the love

Posted on April 12, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Well, I wasn’t given a cute nickname by the warblogger watch guy. I wasn’t outed as a profiteer by this guy. I suppose having a tip jar would increase my odds of getting money from this page. I figure it’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Comments Off on Not feelin’ the love

Love thy neighbor as thyself

Posted on April 12, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Craig writes about Israeli doctors giving a life saving bone marrow transplant to a Palestinian boy, asks if we could imagine the reverse, and quotes an on-point passage from The Fellowship of the Rings. Reading the cited story reminded me … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Around the world | Comments Off on Love thy neighbor as thyself

Cynicism and polling

Posted on April 12, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Charles Dodgson disputes Josh Marshall’s take on the Joshua Green story about how much Team Bush has spent on polling. Says Dodgson It’s not as if I’ve been any particular friend of the Bush administration, but complaining that it’s “cynical” … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Comments Off on Cynicism and polling

I forgot to mention

Posted on April 12, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

I forgot to mention yesterday that Rob and his wife Jenn, whom I met at Wednesday’s Houston bloggers happy hour, are neighbors of mine here in the Heights. The Heights-area Axis of Left-Leaning Bloggers grows ever stronger! Take a moment … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Comments Off on I forgot to mention

Freeway expansion challenge

Posted on April 12, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve written several times about the plan to widen I-10, known as the Katy Freeway, here in Houston. This has attracted the attention of some folks who agree with me that there are quite a few questions which should be … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Comments Off on Freeway expansion challenge

Right on cue

Posted on April 12, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Former stripper and ousted mayor of Georgetown, Coloradao Koleen Brooks announced that she has posed for Playboy. An article and photos will appear on Playboy.com today. Says Ms. Brooks “Depending on how many hits I get will determine my fee”, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | Comments Off on Right on cue

Buy me some traditional vegetarian ballpark food…

Posted on April 11, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

PETA has released its top ten list of vegetarian friendly ballparks, and our own Ballpark Formerly Known As Enron Field made the Top Ten. PETA especially lauds our hometown boys for offering veggie dogs, a culinary treat that I must … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | Comments Off on Buy me some traditional vegetarian ballpark food…

Another Houston blogmeet

Posted on April 11, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Another Houston blogmeet last night in which pizza was consumed, beer was imbibed, and a good time was had by all. Quite a few people came this time, and it looks like we will have regular get-togethers. Take a look … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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