Atomic Train!
Did anyone happen to see this movie a couple years back?
Plot Summary for Atomic Train
A waste disposal company has a Russian nuclear bomb to transport, and an employee decides to save money by concealing it on a freight train. The train, also loaded with hazardous and flammable chemicals, suffers a brake failure and becomes a runaway heading for Denver. A wreck would be bad enough, but much, much worse if the bomb goes off. A heroic NTSB investigator boards the train; he and the railwaymen try various ways to stop the train, but nothing works. Meanwhile Denver residents are struggling to collect their families and then leave town, despite rioters and gridlock. Will the train have to be derailed to stop it? If it does derail, will the bomb explode, and if it does, what then?
Greatest. Movie. Ever.
mike sold out at - 14:05
5.24.2004
Burning Question
I had a bad dream last night that I was attacked by a bear. This got me thinking. What would I do if I was attacked by a bear? More specifically, if I was smothered by the bear, which is what happened in my dream.
I'm thinking that I would try to shoot the bear, although if there was no space between me and the bear, I'm thinking that the heat and recoil and gas emissions of the gun firing would hurt me pretty bad too and cause bad powder burns.
What do you think?
Also a google search of the word "bear" turned up what appears to be pixelated ursine porn:
mike sold out at - 13:08
5.21.2004
Picture-a-rama
The MTA has proposed that taking pictures like the one below in the subway should become illegal. If that's not shutting down a public forum, I don't know what is.
Or shutting down a pubic forum [sic], that is.
mike sold out at - 17:02
5.20.2004
Bling-Bling Elections
In talking with folks, I had previously estimated that the money involved in the 2004 elections would approach 1/20 of a percent of the GDP, or about $600 million. Then I read this today and realized that I was only thinking about the presidential elections.
...the money chase by members of Congress has reached what Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, called "dizzying new heights." The Federal Election Commission reported that by the end of March, House and Senate candidates had raised $583 million -- one-third more than at a comparable point two years ago.
-David Broder, Washington Post
-David Broder, Washington Post
So what does the election $ really look like?
An overview of the money in the 2004 elections, as of April 20th reciepts
$583m - Congressional races
Presidential Race (source Open Secrets)
$185m - Bush
$85m - Kerry
$52m - Dean
$31m - Edwards
$29m - Clark
$21m - Gephardt
$19m - Lieberman
$10m - Kucinich
$16m - Other Candidates
$448m - Total Candidate Primary (!) Funds
$150m - Estimated Total Federal General Election Funds
$44m - Democratic Party
$116m - Republican Party
$160m - Total Party Funds
"Independent" 527 Committees (source Open Secrets)
$19m - America Coming Together
$15m - Media Fund
$1m - America Votes
$0.5m - Music for America
$36m - Total America Coming Together 527 Coalition
$110m - All 527 Issue Funds
$32m - Candidate/Party 527 Funds
$142m - Total 527 Funds
$1.483 Billion - Grand Total of Money Raised for 2004 Elections
and that's just to date.
The economy is $10.45 Trillion (2002 GDP)
Making the election 0.14% of the entire economy! I'm frickin amazed that this even registers on that scale. And that doesn't even count the money sunk into new voting machines this year...
mike sold out at - 10:04
5.19.2004
Getting Closer...
PRINCETON, N.J., May 18 - The cicadas are back. Or, since they've never actually left - just dropped out of sight - they're out again.
In the echoic thrum in the air in the deep woods, in the crunch of their discarded larval husks, in the spastic flight paths of giant insects that only just got their wings, the return of the 17-year cicadas has begun to be heard, and seen, in the New York region. [emphasis added]
From the New York Times
Anyone up for a trip to Princeton in June?
mike sold out at - 11:25
5.13.2004
Freeing the Friedman
It finally happened. Tom Friedman cracked and realized that an administration that plays the rankest form of politics with our democracy can't possibly establish a democracy in a fractured country such as Iraq.
This is important to me because ever since I read From Beruit to Jerusalem I've really respected his opinion and understood where he's coming from on globalization and Iraq.
An excerpt from the full column:
I thought the administration would have to do the right things in Iraq — from prewar planning and putting in enough troops to dismissing the secretary of defense for incompetence — because surely this was the most important thing for the president and the country. But I was wrong. There is something even more important to the Bush crowd than getting Iraq right, and that's getting re-elected and staying loyal to the conservative base to do so. It has always been more important for the Bush folks to defeat liberals at home than Baathists abroad...
I admit, I'm a little slow. Because I tried to think about something as deadly serious as Iraq, and the post- 9/11 world, in a nonpartisan fashion — as Joe Biden, John McCain and Dick Lugar did — I assumed the Bush officials were doing the same. I was wrong. They were always so slow to change course because confronting their mistakes didn't just involve confronting reality, but their own politics.
mike sold out at - 16:42
5.11.2004
If you grew up in the Mid-Atlantic, you might remember the 17-Year Cicadas. Guess what? They're back...
17-Year Cicada Mania!
mike sold out at - 15:22
5.10.2004
Broadway Here I Come
Does anyone want to help me write the score to the new Broadway musical "Ghengis!" about the life and times of Ghengis Khan?
Some of the hit songs would include:
Also went a bike tour of environmentally sustainable buildings in Brooklyn with Holiday and Smitty this weekend. One of the buildings (below) was totally awesome and may be the coolest loft in the borough. In addition to the view, it had solar panels, passive heating & cooling, a green roof, and salvaged construction materials. Glaven!!
Thanks to Smitty for the pic!
mike sold out at - 14:10
5.06.2004
Helpful Word Up Tips
How Do I Dispose Of...? for NYC residents. How to throw out/reuse/recycle/donate almost anything you can think of...
mike sold out at - 23:24
5.04.2004
Rock On Chicago, Rock Over Pensacola
Hey Abby- why exactly is it the world's whitest beach?
Props to Fifer for the card. Props.
mike sold out at - 23:17
5.03.2004
Do'h
Last month when I made a reservation to visit the family in Buffalo, I wrote down "USAir flight 4002- 10:05a JFK->BUF" in my planner for this past saturday. So Saturday morning I take the subway out to Jamaica, all excited to take the spiffy new AirTrain. I get on the AirTrain at Jamaica wondering "Hmm.. which terminal am I going to?" So as the doors close, I look at the list of airlines, only to not find US Air on the list. Starting to worry, I make a call and confirm that yes indeed, my flight leaves from LaGuardia, I wrote it down wrong, and that the flight leaves in less than an hour. Totally embarassed, I catch a cab at the nearly-deserted JFK terminal 4 (it's saturday morning) and make it to LaGuardia in 25 minutes, just barely making my flight.
Caffe Swish.
PS- The AirTrain is the coolest thing ever- it goes super fast and you can look out the huge front window.
