It is begun. The World Cup opened this morning with a 1-1 draw between hosts South Africa and fellow high altitude dweller Mexico. The altitude at some of the sites is something I meant to touch on but always forgot. There are some stadia on the coasts, which, obviously, are at or near sea level. But in the central area of the country, it’s mountainous, way up, the air drained of oxygen. Even the fittest team are going to have trouble keeping up their energy for 120 minutes plus penalties. That might bode well for teams that...
Continue reading...June 2010
Florida Governor Charlie Crist vetoes anti-abortion measure
Wait, is this the new Charlie Crist? Because I think I like the new Charlie Crist: Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a Republican-backed bill that would have required women seeking a first-trimester abortion to pay for an ultrasound exam and, with few exceptions, view the image or have it described to them by their doctor. Crist, a former Republican who is running for the U.S. Senate as an independent, said in his veto message that requirement would put an “inappropriate burden” on women seeking abortions and violate their privacy rights.
Continue reading...Poem of the Week
I first discovered this poem freshman year of college in a Comparative Studies class that sometimes met outside (it was spring quarter). I loved that we would go outside, and that otherwise we would all sit around a huge table instead of at desks, but the class itself was only so-so. Still, thank you to the professor whose name I don’t remember for introducing me to Rita Dove. This poem is from Dove’s collection Grace Notes. And it definitely makes me yearn for tree-climbing days of yore. HORSE AND TREE by Rita Dove Everybody who’s anybody longs...
Continue reading..."The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave."
It\’s like bringin a knife to a gunfight, pen to a test Your chest in the line of fire witcha thin-ass vest You bringin them Boyz II Men, HOW them boys gon\’ win? – Jay-Z, The Takeover When I moved to Boston, I lived in East Somerville. It\’s a working class neighborhood full of Brazilians and Portuguese, and in any other soccer story, any other match preview, I might write about the sounds and sights of East Somerville in June 2006. But this is a story about tomorrow\’s match, the first US match of this World Cup,...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Friday, 11 June 2010
Good morning, everybody. The Donald wants Lindsay? Now, your morning constitutional: Psst. In case you haven\’t been paying attention: World Cup starts today in South Africa. With at least 17 languages being spoken by the teams, the challenge of enforcing rules against swearing in the World Cup. An effort by Sen. Lisa Murkowski yesterday to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon levels failed in the Senate yesterday, further making energy/climate legislation look harder to pass. Researchers double their estimate of how much oil has spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, now believing that over 40,000...
Continue reading...One of Us! One of Us!
So, for those of you who have been reading the group previews on the World Cup, I thought I\’d set up a prediction challenge on Yahoo! First prize is a post for you to write on the topic of your choosing, or for one of us to write a post on a topic of your choosing. Anyway, here are the relevant details: Group ID: 26433 Password: thedudeabides The system lets you edit your group stage picks until 5 minutes before kickoff of that particular match, so you only need to pick tomorrow\’s matches now(ish). Sorry that you...
Continue reading...On Women & This Week's Primaries
Rachael Larimore over at DoubleX is bemoaning the lack of excitement among feminists over the recent electoral victories for Republican women. She writes that “it is disappointing that many liberal women don’t even seem to want the GOP to have strong female candidates.” I don\’t think she’s got it quite right. It’s not that I don’t want the GOP to have strong female candidates, it’s that I’m not going to get giddy over candidates whose platforms I totally disagree with, regardless of their gender. Just like Sarah Palin doesn’t get points in my book for being a...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s from Nicholas \”The Dark Crystal\” Kristof, who in his column...
Continue reading...Mea Copa: Group F, Where F Stands For Exactly What You Think It Does
Just as yesterday I wrote about teams that find supporters due to reasons outside of nationality, success or other rational sources, so there are teams that foment anger and rage outside their in-game performance. There are folks who will not root for Argentina, Germany, North Korea, the US, and many other countries because of their political or military histories. There are some folks who won’t root for them because of individuals on the team: Cristiano Ronaldo on Portugal is probably the current poster boy for this effect, and personally, it’s Australia and Tim Cahill. There are folks...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Good morning, everybody. Katy Perry apparently doesn\’t care much for Lady Gaga\’s new video. Now, your morning constitutional: Women swept all the high-profile primaries yesterday, with Blanche Lincoln winning in Arkansas, Meg Whitman and Carly Fiona winning in California, Sharron Angle winning in Nevada, and Nikki Haley heading to a run-off in South Carolina. An actual shocker in results yesterday, however: The Democratic nominee for Senate from South Carolina will be unemployed military veteran Alvin Greene, who beat the presumed winner despite spending nothing on his campaign except for the filing fee and doesn\’t even have a...
Continue reading...
Recent Comments