Cuz We Said So

Who's the toughest?

Some accidental experimentation has led me to the following observation: Black ants can stand at least 3 minutes minutes on high in a strong microwave oven.

Out of something in the neighborhood of 12 ants that came in on a kid’s bowl, not one dead ant was found after a 3 minute run in the microwave.

If ants could survive that long, I wonder how long the roach, as most likely to survive a nuclear holocaust, would last? Unfortunately my wife frowns on roaches in the kitchen.

Obama-Nation 2: Judgment

Why am I writing in opposition to Obama instead of writing in support of McCain?

Quite simply, McCain is a known entity.  There's lots of reasons not to like him, and they're all scattered about the public record for all to see.  The guy is pretty much WYSIWYG.  It's a waste of time to write about him.  But Obama is a mystery, an invented fantasy character.  He has no virtually no public record and in fact has never held a job other than a few years as Senator (state and federal).  The fascination with him is astonishing to me.

Moreover, I'm a contrarian.  I don't just get in line with the popular people to do the popular things because they're popular.  And when I see people going along with the popular things, I get suspicious.  Sometimes, in the case of Apple fans, the popular people are snotty pricks, but they're right.  Other times, as with the Ridiculously Large SUV craze, people are just plain dumb.

Thus the series on Obama.

This installment is about judgment.  One of the Obama campaign's top selling points is judgment, probably because they know they're screwed on experience.  We're supposed to believe that Obama's track record of making sound judgments is a key differentiator in his favor.

But is it?

David's Del.icio.us Links for 2008-07-30

• Eel Drink Goes On Sale For Japan's Hot Summer
  Can't say I'm sorry I missed this little delicacy when I was in Japan...
• Diners Flock to Flooded Restaurant
  Okay, that's a little weird... (via Digg)

David's Del.icio.us Links for 2008-07-29

• 'Scrabulous' disappears from Facebook after Hasbro suit
  As I said the other day, unsurprising...  Too bad, though.  The Hasbro Scrabble game, while loud and flashy, isn't as usable as was Scrabulous.  It's still in beta, though--it may yet improve.
• Bennigan's, Steak & Ale Close, File for Bankruptcy Protection

David's Del.icio.us Links for 2008-07-26

• Rice professor: Granite countertops may cause you harm
  And check out the reason: radioactivity

David's Del.icio.us Links for 2008-07-25

• scrabble - dictionary/dict
  A nice little online dictionary and word builder from the Hasbro folks
• Hasbro sues, seeks to ban Scrabulous from Facebook
  They filed a DMCA takedown notice, so it wouldn't be surprising if application will go away soon, regardless of the final outcome of the lawsuit.
• The Libertarian Law and Economics of Batman
  A serious analysis--useful, in case some billionaire out there decides to become Batman for real.  (Bill Gates just retired... and you actually buy his cover story about how he's going to be spending more time doing charity work?)
  

2008 Blockbuster 13 "The X-Files: I Want to Believe"

You may have noticed I've been carpet bombing CWSS with movie reviews. That's because I'm catching up. And I want to catch up because I got a free pass to a sneak preview of this, the second X-Files movie! Yes, I am just that cool.

2008 Blockbuster 12 "Mamma Mia!"

Cheesiest Film of the Decade! And I still liked it!

Ouch

This makes my brain hurt... but in a good way.

David's De.icio.us Links for 2008-07-24

• snopes.com: Cheesecake Factory Serves $1.50 Slices on July 30 for 30th Anniversary
  Happily, this rumor is true!