Light the Menorah!

http://students.oxy.edu/asarlin/lightthemenorah.mp3

Courtesy of the fine folks over at ashersarlin.com

That's worth an entire post.

Happy Chanukah! More after finals end, promise!

Thanks for the head's up?

Sorry for the brevity of this one, I promise I've got bigger stuff in the works, but I felt this deserved immediate attention:

GodisImaginary.com

It's a fifty-part proof of why God can't exist. I'm not sure I agree with it, but the premise is pretty interesting.

While I don't know that they're all legitimate and reputable (in my opinion, many cash in on the unrealistic nature of concepts most believe to be hyperbolic and metaphorical, anyway. No one thinks disobedient children should be stoned, which the bible says, so to attack that is like shooting fish in a barrel), it's an interesting concept. And I think introducing it as a series of organized arguments gives the claim at least some respectability.

Anyway, too volatile a topic for me to touch on right now while I'm busy and distracted. Ponder amongst yourselves.

xo

PS. If you missed the Republican YouTube debates and think this is interesting, check out the bible question from two nights ago, "Do you believe every word in the bible?" I enjoyed the spin and evasion... and Romney's general air of pompous douchebaggery.

We've got caucus fever!

The growing Iowa caucus excitement is officially the most invigorating event to hit Iowa since... the last presidential caucus. January is going to be nuts, people. NUTS. Cornfields will be blazing with enthusiasm.

Seriously though: Why does Iowa matter? DOES caucusing matter?

The first big event of the '08 election, Iowa's January 3rd caucus will spearhead the primary process. BUT it is not a primary. The Iowa caucus is pretty much a bunch of really stuffy and organized jam sessions where Iowans begin the stacking-doll delegate election that chooses county delegates, who will choose district and state delegates, who will choose national delegates, who will choose a candidate in the primaries.

Is your head spinning yet?

Lucky for us, Hillary lays it all out in the glorious "Caucusing is Easy":



(Bill Clinton! -er- His wife! for president. Seriously, you OPEN with Bill? Come on Hill, grow a pair. But I digress.)

So DOES Iowa matter? Some people say no. Its power lies in the fact that it's the first official indication of public opinion in the election (which the news junkies playing Fantasy Election will be drooling over). But Iowa's track record of picking winners isn't stellar. In '88 they paired Gephardt and Dole (good call, kids).

Now I wonder, why is Iowa first, if its weird caucus powwow hangout system is so crazy and doesn't seem to immediately affect, well, anything? Those eggheads over at Stanford explain that it's Iowa's very whacked-out nature that makes it helpful. Even if they're not picking winners, they're at least "weeding out the losers." And Iowans would be experts on losers, right? (still bitter about our football loss...).

So if you've bookmarked "I've got a crush on Obama" since it came out or you're the one whose been taping those Ron Paul posters to the ground all over campus, you'll definitely care. Otherwise... don't get your hopes up until at least the New Hampshire primaries. (And if anything, tune in to Tsunami Tuesday on February 5th, the insane day that 23 states are caucusing. To quote Willem Dafoe, it will be a firefight. And don't worry, Illinois doesn't pull any of that caucus bullshit. We keeps it real.)

Oh, and here's a calendar of the primary/caucus dates coming up. Trust CBS to give us something this awesome. After all, they bring us Bob Schieffer on a regular basis.

xo

As an aside, my plan to read 60 pages of philosophy a day to atone for the fact that I haven't done any reading all quarter has devolved into 10 pages of Atlantic Monthly, 30 pages of Cosmo, a brief obsession with parkour YouTube videos, and about a half hour of watching someone's ribcage get ripped out in Saw III. I am pretty good at college, let me tell ya.

Look Ma, I blog!

First of all, I take issue with the degeneration of the word "weblog" into "blog," which has in turn devolved into a noun and a verb. I know it's cutesy, but come on people, get creative.

Anyway, I've yet to encounter anything sufficiently interesting (though I'm sure riveting updates on shoes and food and who's-annoying-me-today are fast approaching), so here's a collection of the web junk that has kept me off task in college thusfar:

• FreeRice is the best way to waste your time; grammar nerds and hippies alike rejoice (which is awesome because I'm both). You match the vocab word they supply with the correct synonym, and for every right answer, the UN donates 10 grains of rice to a country in need. If you need some excuse for playing computer games until 2 in the morning on a Tuesday, this is it.

• Credit goes to Patrick St.Michel for finding this glorious example of why the internet is the best thing ever. Back by popular demand, some guy has rigged up his Christmas lights so you can switch them on and off to your sedentary little heart's content for one minute. I think this captures the essence of the holiday even better than A Christmas Carol.

• I'll admit that Blackle is probably a wholly ineffective stab at limiting energy expenditures, but I embrace its gimmicky goodness because, well, it's trendier-looking than Google. Plus it intrigues the annoying kids who stare at my laptop during lectures, so it's at least more interesting than campaign finance reform.
  
  
• And lastly, Jon Stewart tears Paul Begala a new one.

Hope this distracted someone else from productivity as effectively as it distracted me!

xo

Oh, and for the record, the title of this entry is not me cashing in on a terrible cliche. My mother is currently my readership. Thanks for doing my laundry over Thanksgiving!