Marriage needs a lot more explainin' than just saying it's 'man and wife'

John Kelso, in the Austin American-Statesman, gives the first persuasive argument I've seen against same-sex marriage:

I can sort of see where these people are coming from because, well, you know how guys are when they get together and the problems that can lead to, when you don't have a woman around to lay down the law. Two guys get married and instead of yard work, being guys, they just want to go out to the lake and drown some worms. And pretty soon the front yard looks like hell's half acre.

I can state without equivocation, based on my own experience, that he's right. This is why we have a yard guy.

Hey, if two-guy couples tend to hire yard guys and cleaning ladies, does that imply that same-sex marriage leads to higher employment? And if there were such a trend, would lesbian couples offset it or reinforce it?

Gee, I wonder what box How to Lie with Statistics is in. I think I've hit a fit topic for it.

Ashcroft the Optimist

From the text ofJohn Ashcroft's resignation letter, as reported by CNN: "I take great personal satisfaction in the record which has been developed. The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved."

Now there's a sweeping generalization for you. I guess that means they'll be taking down the barriers along the back driveway to the VA hospital here, and letting people meet arriving air passengers at the gate...

On the other hand, it appears that the widely reported rumor that Ashcroft thinks calico cats are a sign of the devil is false. Snopes.com is a wonderful thing.

Now there's one for the law of unintended consequences...

...except I'm kinda sorta semi sure that this isn't an unintended consequence. The Washington Post (registration required) reports that it's the highest achievers who are most likely to leave underperforming schools under the "No Child Left Behind" law:

Eight-year-old Umaid Qureshi does math problems for fun and reads most nights before bed. His mother thinks her son might become a doctor, like her. Or maybe he will follow his father's lead and become a software consultant.


So when Fairfax County sent Shafaq Qureshi a letter in August explaining that Umaid's school -- McNair Elementary in Herndon -- fell short on standardized test scores and that any McNair student could transfer to a better-performing school, she decided there was no reason for him to stay.

Bigger, better, faster, more....

Several months ago when we moved into this house, RoadRunner said something to us about faster cable internet access being right around the corner.

Well, Ron called them up earlier this afternoon, and while they're not advertising or documenting this access in any easy-to-find way, they will sell it to you if you qualify. I dunno what that means, but evidently we did, because we have the new service up, as of about 10 minutes ago. And it's noticeably faster.

This doesn't do me much actual good, because I don't need a lot of speed in my day-to-day work, but Ron spends a lot of time in a web-based database application and he's very happy. So, good.

Life's simple pleasures, yuppie homeowner division

The yard guy, who's supposed to mow every 2 weeks this time of year, decided to take the week off last week. This means that it's been 3 weeks since my lawn was mowed. The shrubbery is also long overdue for trimming.

So he's finally here right now. It's surprising how happy I am about this.

Kinky Friedman for Governor--2006

From the Kinky Friedman Official Site:: "The professionals gave us the Titanic, amateurs gave us the Ark."

Kinky Friedman is running for governor of Texas in 2006.

He won't win, of course: as far as I know, he's never held office before; he's an independent; and he's not an evangelical Christian (as his campaign logo implies, he's not any other kind, either).
I think it's a mistake to write Friedman off as a joke, though; campaign slogans like "How hard could it be?" and "Why the hell not?" are perfectly reasonable questions, considering the records of some previous governors, and I don't just mean the two most recent.

Kerr County Early Voting Statistics

To follow-up on my item yesterday on early voting,here's a report from the Kerrville Daily Times:

According to the voter registrar’s office, 13,028 citizens participated in early voting last week, which ended Friday. That number reflects only the appearance votes and does not include mail-in ballots. These numbers indicate that more than 39 percent of the 33,124 registered voters in Kerr County took advantage of early voting opportunities.

It's interesting that the Democratic party worker quoted in the story says Democrats are hoping that Republicans will split their tickets and vote for Kerry. I've heard little that suggests this is a reasonable possibility.

Texas Early Voting Statistics

Early Voting stats from the Texas Secretary of State show that in the 15 most populous counties in Texas the cumulative percentage of registered voters who have voted early as of last Friday (including absentee voting) is 29.66.

I hope this means a large turnout tomorrow.

Early voting in Kerr County

I've seen a number of news reports and blog entries from around the country to the effect that early voting, where available, has proved to be so popular that lines are several hours long.

It's not quite like that here, although I should point out that most of the reports I've heard are from large metropolitan areas and the population of the county I live in is about 40,000.

Last Monday, Ron and I went out about 4 pm to vote and waited in line for about 20 minutes. Thursday, about 9 am, I took my parents to vote. They vote in the same precinct I do, and there was no line at all.

Harmony in my head, part 2

Today the song running through my head is "Cabin-Essence," from Brian Wilson's Smile. That's a vast improvement over the song I was thinking about when I woke up: "Hair," by the Cowsills.

Yesterday's song was "Museum," a Donovan Leitch song recorded by Herman's Hermits, which tied in with a peculiar dream I had about a strange Herman's Hermits best-of which contained no familiar titles at all.

Clear times on the editing scene

A sentence from an otherwise admirably clear and straightforward marketing document:

This helps reduce the risk of a successful and profitable project for all our clients.

Gee, I'd hate our clients to run the risk of having successful projects. Actually, that's the best one of those since Moses Hadas wrote of a book he didn't care for that it filled a much-needed gap in the literature.

Harmony in my head

A week or so ago I had the misfortune of hearing the song "Today" by the New Christy Minstrels in passing, and since then it's stuck obstinately in my head despite liberal applications of everything from Prokofiev to Brian Wilson.

It's bad enough to have one sappy ersatz folk song in my head, but something about the lyrics (starting off "Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine/I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine" and going downhill from there) reminded me of that other phony anthem to hedonism, "We'll Sing in the Sunshine." and now I've got both songs fighting for airtime in my head. Sheesh.

Lord help us...

One more reason people outside Texas might (and maybe ought to) think Texans are hicks, from the Austin American-Statesman(registration required):

AUSTIN — Republican Gov. Rick Perry refused to honor United Nations Day, even as President Bush signed a U.N. proclamation, because doing so would be inconsistent with the governor's views, his spokeswoman said.

Sad days for rock fans

Word comes that the influential BBC DJ John Peel has died at 65, and American rock fan, publisher, and record label owner Greg Shaw has died at 55. Both were early champions of innovators in rock, and both will be missed.

Self discovery through somebody else

From Into the Cove, by Randy, whoever he is: "I don't wake up quickly and well. I tend to choose only one."

Uhh, me too.

Ashlee Simpson and That Lip-Syncing Feeling

Lisa de Moraes in the Washington Post (registration required):

Oh, and here's one of those little ironies that make covering TV such an interesting and rewarding career choice: The director of that 'SNL' telecast from hell, Beth McCarthy Miller, was director of the infamous Super Bowl halftime show in which Janet Jackson's costume 'reveal' turned into a 'wardrobe malfunction,' thereby revealing her breast and leading to the moral decay of the children of America. Live television is a very rough racket.

You mean it's not part of some kind of media conspiracy?

Terror suspect Hicks Harry Potter fan

From The Advertiser, via Heidi McDonald's The Beat:

Investigators thought a series of numbers next to [Australian terror suspect David] Hicks' name on a cellblock roster were part of a secret coded message between Mr Al Halabi [a translator and librarian at the Guantanamo Bay prison] and Hicks.

The 'code', however, was the reference numbers for Harry Potter books in the library.

Aw, crap

From the Houston Chronicle: No World Series for Astros as season ends with loss to Cards

V.O.T.E.

Two of my very favorite artists, Chris Stamey and Yo La Tengo, have collaborated on this timely message. Don't miss the three alternate versions of the PSA, especially the Old AM Radio Version--it channels the spirit and sound of the Cyrkle better than anyone but Fountains of Wayne.

There's an associated CD, also called V.O.T.E, a mix of covers (including the Yardbirds' "Shapes of Things," Television's "Venus," and Les McCann's "Compared to What") and originals. The CD won't be in stores until after the new year but you can download it now from iTunes.

Uh-huh, yeah, right...

From The Cincinnati Post:

Some absentee ballots distributed to Hamilton County voters do not include the name of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, local election officials confirmed today.

A bit further down:

"It's a screw-up," said Tim Burke, chairman of the Hamilton County Board of Elections. "This just feeds the paranoia that's out there. The tragic thing is that even though I think we will have a very fair and accurate count here, this will cause people to question the accuracy of our operation."