I didn’t go. But I watched. Spain won, which is what the universe (and me) demanded. All is good.

I wanted to offer my own opinions on a couple of talking points I’ve heard about this world cup:

Read the rest of this entry >

Got this in my gmail this morning:

One guess what’s in the attachment.

I haven’t seen anything like this in years. Since I started using Gmail, actually. Every now and then Gmail just blitzes and crap gets through for a while. They have raised my expectations to unfulfillable heights, apparently.

I don’t want to hear about how bad the economy is.
I don’t want to know how tough it’s going to be for the new president.
I don’t want to hear about blocked confirmations, partisan opposition, or even Gaza.
At least for now.
May I have two days of happy ignorance, please?
Just a couple of days where all is right with the world?
Let me have this delusion for a moment.
I need it.

Top Italian court bars parents from calling son ‘Friday’

This is f’ed up for so many reasons of reasons. Here’s three:

1. It’s illegal to give your child a “ridiculous” or “embarrassing” name in Italy (Ima Hogg seems to have done okay). 

2. City officials in Italy are required to report such names, which means there’s some sort of ridiculous name bureaucracy to report it to.

3. The court went so far as to order a specific new name. That’s judicial activism that even this liberal can’t tolerate.

The Omnivore’s Hundred
(Propagated from Howard)

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

(Note: items linked are those I haven’t eaten and didn’t know what they were.)

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Just got back from a week in Nicaragua. Great time. It’s a beautiful country (at least during the wet season - I haven’t been there in the dry).

First off: No, it’s not run by a dictator, it’s not under assault by leftist guerillas, and it’s not plagued by kidnappings of Americans.

The president is a former Sandinista, and the government is run by them (used to be run by conservatives, but they were squeeked out in the last election - that’s right, election). They are largely a political party at this point, though one with a strong, enforced unity and with considerable amounts of patronage.

Note: we spent all our time on the Pacific side of the country. I understand that the Atlantic side is little more colorful - a vast expanse of swamp - undeveloped, unmanaged, lawless, and rife with drug trafficking.

The economy is not great, and there’s a lot of poverty, but the country is still trying to pull itself out of decades of civil strife. They’ve opened up considerably to tourism and foreign investment. There’s a lot of construction and some very well maintained natural attractions. Everyone we met was very nice and quick to talk baseball with you (not a lot of people speak English - it took us a while to figure out what “carreras limpias” was while watching the All Star game - fortunately we had an iPhone and a hotel with wi-fi - is there nothing that thing can’t do?).

We spent a few days in the South, near a town called Gigante (thus the title - they have a baseball team with uniforms modeled after the San Francisco Giants - please don’t tell MLB). Then we drove north, visiting an Active volcano on the way, to Jinotega - a town in the mountains. It’s a neat little town planted among green peaks. Since it’s higher up, the temperatures are always in the 70’s. There’s a couple of mountain lakes with some development going on. Soon it should be a good tourist spot.

All in all, it’s a great place. Relatively inexpensive to visit or buy property (compared to other beach destinations). Getting there is a little tricky - American Airlines sucks sucks sucks. Managua itself is not really worth exploring. But there’s plenty of nice beaches, mediocre beer (I recommend Toña as the best of your limited options), and good food (the chicken is especially good across the board, a lot places do beef really well, and local fish and small lobster are exceptional).

Those within earshot of me in the last couple of weeks have heard me complain about public transportation. My company moved its office recently to a swank Back Bay location and, in so doing, doubled my commute time.

I should say that they did not do this maliciously. I like my company. The new office is great. I like the location because I can smell the South End from here and I savor it like a former smoker in the company of others who still indulge (as I’ve been told by more than one ex-smoker).

At any rate, what I dislike is not the office but the getting there. It now takes me over an hour to get to work (this is not a pissing contest, so pipe down) on a combination of busses and trains. And twice during the six times I’ve taken public transportation so far, something has gone wrong on a train and that time has been increased to the neighborhood of two hours. If you’re keeping score, that’s 17% of all rides I’ve taken so far.

Thus I am in liberal poseur conscience conflict. I approve of and support public transportation. It’s necessary. It saves me a boatload of cash. And this is, I think, my point: it’s pretty darn good, all things considered. Sure, I reserve the right to bitch, but generally it’s pretty effective. I happen to live in a bad spot in this town. I’m a fair distance from the nearest subway stop, which means a bus ride. That’s my fault (though I moved before I got the job, so maybe the universe is to blame). The office happens to be on a different subway line than that which is convenient to me and that’s no one’s fault. You can’t please all of the people all of the time and I just happen to be in the small percentage of the city that gets displeased. So be it. For the sake of community harmony, I have decided to suck it up.

To end on a more appreciative note: the MBTA redesigned their web site a little while ago, and it’s f’in great. Good tools, Google Maps integration, and the mobile version is pretty darn good, too. Sure, try and figure out what the hell a Charlie Card is versus a Charlie Ticket or a Monthly LinkPass - but that’s not the web site’s fault (okay, part of that is, but that’s a completely different topic).