Linkage II

After the elections, San Francisco free-lance journalist Rose Aguilar decided "...to leave my liberal bubble and travel to the so-called "Red States" to find out why people vote the way they do and what they think about politics." She hit the road in April, and has been blogging her encounters at Stories in America. She has a nice way with her conversation and is only occasionally (and probably unintentionally) condescending. It's fascinating stuff. (Via Digby's Hullabaloo)

The year's decision by the Kansas Board of Education to give "equal consideration" to Intelligent Design alongside evolution spawned the creation of another religion demanding equal consideration: Pastafarianism, a religion dedicated to the Flying Spaghetti Monster. One of their more novel beliefs or insights is to link the rise in global temperature to the worldwide decline in the number of pirates. Take a look at this droll article in the Guardian, too. (Via Michael Froomkin at Discourse.Net)

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who wonders about things like this. At the economics focused website Marginal Revolution, Tyler Cowan tries to figure out why there are so many framing shops, and why frames are so expensive.

I attend LA Galaxy matches with the LA Riot Squad, a supporter group which sometimes uses "strong language". Within the group, I've been an advocate of having at least some limits. But as a group, we've received static for violating the "family atmosphere" of the stadium, "ruining" the experience for all those AYSO teams who come once and miss most of the match running up and down the aisles and standing in concession stands. I've often wondered where we got the idea that a professional sporting event is meant to be just another place to take the kids once they've outgrown Chuck E. Cheese. In this article, Washington based writer Ian Penderleith makes my point better than I could.

A little bit of unintended irony: seems a "female dancer" (stripper?) was involved in a Miami Dolphins rookie hazing event. Seems somebody told the press, and that somebody mentioned that the dancer took special interest in Dolphin coach Lou Sabin. Sabin responded that things like this were "family matters" and that he will cut whomever told the press. Interesting definition of "family matter".