stream of conciousness
Finally, the music websites that I frequent are starting to eke out the “best of 2008″ lists. Pitchfork silently rolled out their top 100 albums of 2008. And my favorite on-line radio station Woxy.com finally released their 97 best of 2008. They also released their DJ’s fav albums of 2008 which I found more interesting, because I typically agree with Matt Shiv’s list. This year, maybe not so much. But I did obtain copies of Mason Proper and Ra Ra Riot’s latest albums and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Too bad I missed these when they were released. Hey, better late than never.
In other news, look, someone else cares about the light bulb issue that I previously ranted about. Looks like LEDs are going to take us by storm. Please, please, please provide me with cheap LED lights now, Mr. Free-Market. This article tends to a have a flair for the dramatic saying “…what could be termed a benevolent tsunami, an irresistible wave, a solution to many global challenges currently faced by humanity…“ Let’s hope so.
Driving home from soccer this morning, I noticed that someone had a bumper sticker that said “Dissent is Patriotic in a Democracy”. And it got me to thinking, while I whole heartedly agree that dissent is healthy to our nation, we are technically not a Democracy in the classic sense. Did you know that? (or was I the only one asleep in my 10th grade social studies class?) Did I just blow your mind? Here in the United States of America we have a constitutional republic. Still some would argue that we still live largely a democratic system. Anyway, the author of that bumper sticker probably lived in ancient Greece where they had a true direct Democracy, yeah, that’s what it probably was. And… discuss.
I kegged a beer for the first time this weekend. The process took me less than an hour and was far, far easier than bottling. I’m still a bit iffy about the whole force carbonation thing – I mean, not having done it before I’m struggling with the physics of it. I mean, really? You can just hook up CO2 to a sealed keg of flat beer and it will just carbonate? Well, apparently yes – and apparently there is all kinds of cool sceince behind this too. The colder the beer, the better it will absorb the CO2. And for different types of beer, there are different temperatures pressures to set your rig to, to achieve that perfect level of carbonation. And after about 2-3 days it’s supposed to achieve good “lamination” where the CO2 literally is layered in the beer so that it doesn’t go immediately flat after dispensing. This hobby really does blend together two outstanding things, science and delicious beer. Can it get any better than that?
Speaking of science, our president-elect and savior, is establishing a stronger scientific team – breaking from the Bush tradition. Quote “The president-elect warned that promoting science is “about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology,” an apparent reference to the Bush administration’s response to research on global warming.” This makes me really excited for the future of this country. Thank goodness we have someone that will be making good, scientifically sound, intelligent decisions for this country. And even before he takes office! What a super guy.
December 27th, 2008 at 10:45 am
I also look forward to the “Best of” lists. My favorite recent one is where local musicians give a list of their favorite 5 albums of the year http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/the-year-in-lists/Content?oid=996319
I just download all of them and sort it out later.
January 8th, 2009 at 11:55 am
I’m not sure I had a real social studies class. What is the definition of a constitutional republic? My guess would only include the constitutional part…. I know what one of those buggers is. What exactly is a republic though?
January 8th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Literally speaking, Wikipedia says “A republic is a state or country that is not led by a hereditary monarch, [1][2] but in which the people (or at least a part of its people)[3] have an impact on its government (in the United States of America’s terms “by the people, of the people, and for the people”).[4][5] The word originates from the Latin term res publica, which translates as “public affair”.”
The US government is a republic. We have a head of state (the president) who is not a Monarch, he’s elected. And in a our republic, there is a sort of complex representative democracy that is not a pure democracy. And it’s not a simple representative democracy, but a constitutional republic in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law. Basically our government was designed to protect it’s people from… the government itself. Interesting stuff, right?