The ethnicity for which I have the greatest admiration is undoubtedly the Lebanese. Descendants of the greatest traders of classical times, the people of this miniscule country have established outposts across the globe. They even play in Peoria.

I bring this up today because I was reading an article in the NYT about Road Rules done Al Arabiya style. Near the end of the article, there's a quote from the broadcasting director of the Middle East Broadcasting Center, Mazen Hayek. "Hayek?" I thought, "that's odd that a middle eastern television producer would have the same last name as a celebrity born in Mexico. I bet Salma Hayek's of Lebanese descent." Bingo.

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This Slate article about the TV show Top Chef mentions that Padma Lakshmi is the host. What it doesn't mention is that Padma is also the wife of Salman Rushdie.

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"Barbaro's Battle Ends," reads the NY Times headline. Click on the link to read reader opinions. My favorite:

i hope the horse is in a better place. personally i am happy that i won’t be getting anymore depressing updates on the horse’s well being. isn’t there enough depressing news already without dwelling on one horse’s miserable state?

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I'm home cuz I feel like crap and I have a shit day tomorrow. After gettin' my ivory on I turned on the TV, going back and forth between Spike TV and public television and reached two quick conclusions.

• Marlon Brando shouldn't sing
• You could cut the sexual tension between Powers Booth and C. Thomas Howell with a knife

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Thank goodness for YouTube. I'm a little curious how the JBs ended up looking like some kind of funktastic jedi knights here, but maybe that was reference material for Samuel Jackson's recent Star Wars work.

Also, this list is pretty cool watching. Even if the solos don't excite you (I'm talking to you, Stardust Cowboy lovers), seeing Lou Reed circa 1974 in a mesh shirt is, um, thrilling in its own way. Thanks Linkfest at TheStreet.com. And no, I'm not embarrassed that I get musical links from my financial news service. And yes, just to keep things exciting, I will throw down with anyone that thinks Crossroads by Cream isn't the best rock and roll song ever.

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The NYT will publish an article in Sunday's paper examining the how the changes in the way people look at Robert Moses. The New York Sun, however, has been talking about the importance of Moses and how his reputation has changed for years.

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TMQ this week references a UVA study that examines the health impacts of simulated transoceanic flights on mice. In my mind, I see researchers at UVA creating little security checkpoints for mice, the inevitable delays in the cute little mice airports, and mice in cute little customs uniforms checking the cute little mouse passports of other mice.

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Words fail me.

While I'm not convinced, here's proof that it may be real. Though the list of gay bands includes Ghostface Killah? And lyrics that say "To enter heaven, there's no backdoor." So I'm back to parody.

From The Stranger and Gawker.

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Steve's C-Town has started carrying my favorite brand of yogurt. I don't know how Cascade Fresh does it, but they're able to make a great tasting yogurt that only has 110 calories and doesn't use Aspartame.

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From 1864 to 1867, the the French controlled Mexico and named it the Empire of Mexico. Apparently, Cinco de Mayo was not created to celebrate Jose Cuervo, but to celebrate a Mexican victory over the French.

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The WSJ had an article recently that the most important thing for Democratic primary voters is "electability". Three years ago "electability" was also foremost in Democratic primary voters' minds and we ended up with John Kerry as the candidate. While Howard Dean's electability is debatable, Kerry's campaign proved that he had zero electability.

I agree with the writer of this letter to the editor in the NYT. Democrats should focus on the candidate that they want to win, not who they think can win. For me, that means being open to the the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. As an unrepentant Clinton Democrat and Tommy Thompson Republican, I like Senator Clinton's politics, boy does she give me the heebie jeebies.

Read about Hillaryland in TNR.

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Following the success of Revenge of the Return to Groundhog Island, the slug household will be hosting the annual celebration of charasmatic megafauna on Sat., Feb. 3. As we have no friends here yet, and a real guest bedroom, it would be a great year to come.

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This Washington Post article quotes James Turber as saying that the Senate ethics reform bill "will change lawmakers' behavior and lobbyists' behavior as well, and it will bring more transparency to lobbying." I'm sorry, but this quote just doesn't have the zing of Thurber's other quotes.

Interesting note: the James Thurber quoted by the Post worked with KU professor Burdett Loomis to create Setting Course: A Congressional Management Guide. Loomis is now on leave from KU to serve as the administrative communications director for Governor Sebelius.

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From my inbox tonight:

Hey Carlos,

Caught your blog post from the 12th about NYC having the biggest muffins [link by Mr. Guapo], and I wanted to give you a heads-up on another thing we're about to have the biggest of: M&M'S. Starting tomorrow morning, a 50-foot tall Statue of Liberty M&M is going to be cruising around the harbor, stopping at South Street Seaport and Chelsea Piers. Totally worth checking out if you get a chance, or I can send you some pics a friend of mine is taking at the event.

This event is kicking off the launch of http://www.becomeanmm.com/, a new M&M'S website that lets you make an M&M in your likeness and play games online with it. Feel free to play around with it and let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Damien

Damien Ragsdale
Account Executive
Weber Shandwick / screengrab
640 Fifth Ave.
New York, NY 10019
t: 212-445-8315
c: 203-521-4638
dragsdale@webershandwick.com
www.webershandwick.com

What's the proper response? Should we kick his ass?

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I'm currently reading Roger Osborne's Civilization. It's interesting, but he clearly views the history of western civilization as one where individualism and autonomy are the motivating forces that have resulted in its dominance. Nonetheless, it's a nice stroll through the history of western Europe and its offspring.

On subway this morning, I read an interesting fact: it wasn't until the 18th century that silent reading became common. Thus, when a PBS documentary shows Galileo or whoever writing a letter and a voiceover reads the content of the letter, it should actually be the actor reading the letter aloud. It's interesting to think of the most intelligent individuals of classical history reading in a manner that we strongly associate with children.

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When I first read this NYT article about schools issuing obesity reports, I was struck by the photographs of 6-year-old Karlind Dunbar sitting morosely at the kitchen table (see more in this audio slide show). I find them hilarious because they purport to show the negative impact that the reports can have on the psychological health of children, but she looks so over the top sad in the photographs that I can't help but feel she was exagerrating for the photographer. I mean, how can the presence of a photographer from a national newspaper who is there to shoot how sad a six-year-old feels at the table not affect how the six-year-old acts at the dinner table?

Karlind looked so sad sitting at the table in those photographs, that I was struck by this photograph of a couple torn apart by an art lamp. It's hilarious: the woman sitting there, teary eyed with the man sitting behind her looking concerned and the starcrossed art lamp sitting on the table. I, for one, am definitely going to keep an eye out for more sad people sitting at tables in the NYT.

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I was getting ready for work this morning when I caught part of an NPR report that government officials had placed the country on an unusual high alert on Tuesday night, appealing to citizens for vigilance and saying that the government had been informed by “foreign partners” of a possible terrorist act with a warning that "was at once detailed and vague."

The announcement stated that law enforcement was checking information about a possible attack on public ground transportation or subway systems, but it did not specify in what city an attack was feared, or when. Furthermore, an unidentified antiterrorist official also urged that “the population take this information seriously, raise their degree of vigilance, render necessary assistance to law enforcement structures and, in the event of coming across what appear to be suspicious signs, to notify security and law enforcement agencies immediately."

"Uh-oh," I thought, "Homeland Security is at it again." Well, the good news is that Homeland Security wasn't responsible for this announcement. The bad news is that the way Homeland Security acts is indistinguishable from the way Russia acts.

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This is worse than Sam and Diane. When will they realize that they're just meant for each other?

Mrs. Clinton did not take questions from reporters as she walked into the Senate chamber for a series of votes on Tuesday evening. At one point, she and Mr. Obama were barely a foot apart, but carried on conversations as though the other was not there.

As he left the Senate floor, Mr. Obama smiled when asked about the dynamic of the rival senators. “For me, at least,” he said, “I actually think it could be fun.”

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The Leonard Lopate show yesterday on WNYC was really entertaining from start to finish. It began with an hourlong gospel tribute to MLK that segued into a discussion with the author of This Is Your brain on Music and ended with with an entertaining conversation about pigeons.

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A stoner hits "The Price is Right"

The Wikipedia entry on 420 highlights what's so great about Wikipedia, rivaling the entry for goatse.

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Deep into a NYT article about food at Starbucks, this interesting bit of information is thrown out:

His other prediction for the American breakfast? “In Seattle, where they really drink a crazy amount of coffee, we are seeing the breakfast cookie — it’s bigger, less sweet and more fiber, like eating just the top of a New York muffin,” said Mr. Miner, who is based in Chicago.

A New York muffin? Is that like a New York minute?

“It’s an industry term,” he said. “Everyone knows that New York has the biggest muffins, but no one knows why.”

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Find the MP3 here and sing along with this funky classic:

San Diego Super Chargers,
San Diego Chargers!
San Diego Super Chargers,
San Diego Chargers!
Charge!

We're coming your way,
We're gonna dazzle you with our super play.
The time has come,
You know we're shooting for number one.
With thunderbolts and lightning
We'll light up the sky,
We'll give it all we've got, and more
With the Super Charger try!

San Diego Super Chargers,
San Diego Chargers!
San Diego Super Chargers,
San Diego Chargers!
Charge!

We've got a plan,
We're gonna do it for our super fans.
All we seek,
Is the goal line to victory.
We'll ignite you, excite you
With high voltage play.
We won't let up a minute,
We're going all the way - all the way!

San Diego Super Chargers,
San Diego Chargers!
San Diego Super Chargers,
San Diego Chargers!
Charge!

We're coming your way
With the Super Chargers' play.
We're coming at you.
Now we're coming through!

San Diego Super Chargers,
San Diego Chargers!
San Diego Super Chargers,
San Diego Chargers!
Charge!

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It's that sad moment of the year when I swear that I am not going to let the student evaluations get to me and I do.

This is not [STATE WHERE I USED TO LIVE]. Nobody here cares about prairie turnips (1). The enthusiasm shown for these subjects is good and reflects lots research but these kinds of topics don't exactly keep the attention of the class. The eating various plants, lichens, jelly fungus, and who knows what else during labs has an overall negative effect on the class (2). Perhaps further adaptation to the interests of people from [STATE WHERE I LIVE] (2.5) will result in the better relation of classroom material.

Even though Ms. PLANTNERD is a DR., she does not show much of an expertise in this course (5).

I feel that this course was a waste of my time and money. I was looking forward to this class with PREVIOUS PROF. Dr. PLANTNERD taught subjects of her interest, rather than ecology as a whole (3). Other subjects that she did touch on, she didn't have very much knowledge about and she contradicted herself frequently. It was also very evident that Dr. Castle had formed her own negative opinion of forestry majors from day one (4). She was also a very immature professor, treating us like children. In my opinion Dr. PLANTNERD would be a better primary teacher than a college professor.

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This Jacob Weisberg article in Slate mentions an interesting idea to bring down troop levels in Iraq: setting limits on the number of tours of duty a soldier may serve in Iraq. By saying that after, say, five tours of duty in Iraq a soldier can't be sent overseas any longer, the Democrats will be able to cast themselves as being on the side of the the soldiers who are serving their country while forcing the Bush administration to develop a plan to accommodate a reduction in the number of available troops.

Of course, counting on the Bush administration to actually develop a plan may be asking a little much...

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I spent the last two nights at the Westin Southfield in suburban Detroit. Yes, that's right -- on the other side of 8 Mile, homeys. Whenever we pass that street, I turn inward for a sec and amp up "the street." There's slouching involved.

It's the most expensive hotel I've stayed at in a while. On my last business trip I stayed in an extremely cheap hotel. So cheap that the WiFi and coffee were free. Not at the Westin Southfield. In fact, the hotel didn't skimp in offering the best in revenue-generating goods and services.

• Hanging behind the bathroom door was a plush cotton robe. If I wanted, I can take it home, said the tag, for the low price of $99
• Free WiFi? Not here, pal. This is high class. $14.99 for six hours
• Water, two bottles of it, helpfully placed beside the TV. Yours for just $4 each
• Coffee, in packets, by the coffee maker. Also helpfully placed. Also $4 each.

I'm a traditionalist. I bypassed the new revenue-generating experiences and went straight for the venerable minibar.

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I'm teaching Invertebrate Zoology this semester. I would like to assign each of my students (about 20) a pop culture invertebrate character which he or she would somehow report on throughout the semester. The problem is that I know even less about current pop cultural icons than I do invertebrate zoology, (I'm called plantnerd for a reason). Any suggestions? The primary requirement is that character be an actual animal, whether or not it looks like the creature (e.g. Sponge Bob will do for sponges and the 4 legged ants from A Bugs Life will do) and the secondary hope is that my students will have heard of these characters.
So far I'm looking at Sponge Bob, Finding Nemo (neither of which I've seen), Little Mermaid, and A Bug's Life but am very open.

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The Grateful Dead of the 90's was fronted by a dude named Earnest?

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Slate has the Saddam execution video on its front page, which kind of creeps me out and I'm not sure I like. Right now, I don't think it's something that I want to see mainly because it strikes me as one step removed from watching a snuff film.

Has anybody here watched the video and how did you feel about it?

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GM Adds to Celebrity Line-Up for Style Event

(FYI, I will attend this. Envy me, suckas.)

DETROIT, Jan. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Just days away from one of the largest gatherings of stars and cars Detroit has ever seen, GM has confirmed three celebrity additions to its runway for the Saturday, Jan. 6, GM Style event.

Widely touted for her breakout performance in the film "Dreamgirls" and an "American Idol" favorite, Jennifer Hudson will strut the catwalk at GM Style as one of the featured celebrity models.

Famed film and television star Christian Slater will also grace the runway at the unique event.

Late night television host Jimmy Kimmel of ABC-TV's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" will act as emcee of the GM Style red carpet providing up-to-the-minute interviews and commentary from the moment they walk through the door.

Other talent slated to participate in GM Style include actress Carmen Electra, "Dancing with the Stars" favorite Mario Lopez, Emmy-nominated actress Cheryl Hines, supermodel Petra Nemcova and actress Vivica A. Fox. DJ Momjeans -- aka "That 70's Show's" Danny Masterson -- is on board as guest DJ. A final list of celebrities is slated for release this week.

In addition to some of the hottest names in entertainment, GM is bringing an array of classic designs and will unveil a new concept vehicle. (More information regarding these concepts can be found at www.media.gm.com.)

About GM Style

The first-ever invitation only GM Style will showcase 17 GM vehicles paired with celebrities and the latest fashions. GM is finishing a pavilion just east of the Renaissance Center on the Detroit Riverfront to host this salute to style. The pavilion, the first of its kind, will be longer than a football field, climate controlled and able to accommodate a runway for cars and stars.

About GM

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, employs about 318,000 people globally. Founded in 1908, GM has been the global automotive sales leader since 1931. GM today has manufacturing operations in 33 countries and its vehicles are sold in 192 countries.

SOURCE General Motors Corporation
/CONTACT: Michael Albano, 586-986-5143, or Rebecca Harris, 313-665-0319, both of GM Communications

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WNYC had a couple of interesting stories yesterday about the low prices of produce in Chinatown. I was immediately sucked into the first story because I knew the first stand she profiles, at Forsythe and Canal, well.

When I was riding a bicycle, my starting point each day was the brick wall on Canal by the Sara D. Roosevelt soccer field right across the street from the stand. The bicycle path exit from the Manhattan Bridge has a blind corner and I've seen more than one bicyclist nearly taken because they weren't expecting the heavy foot traffic at that corner.

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While the passing of Gerald Ford hasn't resulted in the same level of hyperbolic panegyrics from conservatives that the death of Ronald Reagan received, the Bush White House been quick to seize on one aspect of the coverage of Ford's death:

"He always put the needs of his country before his own and did what he thought was right, even when those decisions were unpopular,'' Bush said. "Only years later would Americans come to fully appreciate the foresight and wisdom of this good man.''

Cheney also stressed the point that this deeply unpopular president wasn't hated when he died in his eulogy:

In politics it can take a generation or more for a matter to settle, for tempers to cool. The distance of time has clarified many things about President Gerald Ford. And now death has done its part to reveal this man and the President for what he was.

The White House, though, is misreading the general desire to say kind things about nice, old people like Ford was and the recently deceased as history absolving Ford of being a bad president. I have the feeling that history is still going to be pretty tough on Ford.

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