Vanity

Not to be overly vain, but I am guessing the "Juneau" vs. "Juno" pun will be recycled endlessly in the coming weeks. Mark my words - you read it here first! :)

Is Schadenfreude Something So Horrible? Am I bad for feeling it?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/01/palin.daughter/index.html

As you probably know, by the time you are reading this blog, GOP VP Candidate Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol is five months pregnant. Bristol is a senior in High School, and she is unmarried. Right now, her plans are to keep the baby and marry the father. From the perspective of one whom feels we should afford all women reproductive rights, I cannot help but giggle a bit at this.

Why? Well, like so many things, it’s a confluence of various factors. For one, Governor Palin and the GOP’s stance on abolishment of reproductive rights are predicated on “Abstinence Education,” or a lack thereof being the root cause of unwanted pregnancy. Of course, Pregnant Bristol most assuredly grew up in a home with an undoubtedly intense amount of abstinence education, being her mother’s religious-right stance on reproductive rights. In the face of that wonderful education on “waiting,” her daughter, one from an affluent family, became prematurely pregnant—being unmarried and not yet having graduated from High School.

From a second point, one can assume that Bristol was reticent to disclose, or perhaps fully kept her sexual activity from her parents. Perhaps that’s not a safe assumption, but one can doubt that her mother would allow for her to proceed with a sexually active relationship being unmarried and still in High School. Predicated on the current administration’s positions on the Birth Control Pill (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hillary-clinton/an-outrageous-attempt-by_b_114064.html), one can assume with McCain holding his hand over his face in response to the same topic, that Gov. Palin feels the same way as Bush and McCain towards reproductive health--even the pill.

Right now, we have an administration, which wants to diminish women’s reproductive rights. We have a party, presidential and vice-presidential candidates, whom run in lockstep with the same policy, one of whom has a teenage daughter pulling her best version of Juno, and not just because she lives in the city of Juneau!

Go for it McCain and Palin, most assuredly every woman I know is going to vote for you because of the gender diversity of your ticket! Is it wrong that I laugh in the face of that?

PS - what's even more entertaining is the thought that McCain's campaign "knew" of this... do we think so? Or did they vet Palin that poorly, or was she dishonest? Hmmm... It sounds as though it's safer to say we "knew," but do we believe that? Honestly?

Commonality

You know, it’s interesting, having a common name; it’s always evolved into something a bit more colloquial. That can be, both a blessing and a curse, as I am sure anyone can imagine. It’s one of those things that I sometimes take for granted. For instance, I don’t recall anyone ever mispronouncing my name or having to ask how to spell it. No – nothing of the sort has ever transpired. At the same time, however, there are the disadvantages.

“I know someone named Matt Johnson.” “Matt Johnson was a teacher of mine.” “Matt Johnson committed a crime in my town growing up,” etc… Like I said, it is both a blessing and a curse. The following is part of an email to the woman organizing programs for my church. I am co-leading a Confirmation/Teen “Sunday School,” this year, which should be fun. Like volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club, I enjoy teaching and helping kids learn. As I derive a nice amount of self-satisfaction out of the process, I don’t think I earn altruistic points, but with that, it’s great there is nothing better than a good win-win.

I should note, on the side, with Isaac and Aaron being co-leaders, I think I am going to have to start going by "Matthew," in order to keep things appropriately biblical. I am not sure how to put it otherwise. Isaac and Aaron both have the solemn tone and name-recognition associated with the Old Testament. Sure Matthew is a Gospel, but come on, every other kid in the Eighth Grade at North Middle School goes by "Matt," "Matthew," "Matty," or worse yet "Mattie."

I'd change my name to Mark, John or Luke, but I think I am beaten in those directions as well. Shucks, with Nathanael being from Bartholomew, I might have to start going that direction. Of course, then that lends itself to Simpson's references.

Can I be called Moses or Noah? I like Noah; that has sort of a Hollywood screenwriter feel to it...

Yeah, that’s it!
Best,
Noah

Jim Leach's Convention Speech

http://www.clipsandcomment.com/2008/08/25/full-text-former-us-rep-jim-leach-speech-to-democratic-national-convention/

Like the Republicans will have a former Hillary Clinton supporter speak or be around in their convention, we can expect to see converted on both sides. Nevertheless, Jim Leach’s speech last night made me quite happy, largely because the Republican Party misrepresents what it has done with its power. GOP, this is why your brand has been destroyed, because this abominable president you’ve provided us, marketed under the guise of “conservativism,” has been anything but.

Former U.S. Rep Leach sums it up nicely:
“The party that once emphasized individual rights has gravitated in recent years toward regulating values. The party of military responsibility has taken us to war with a country that did not attack us. The party that formerly led the world in arms control has moved to undercut treaties crucial to the defense of the earth. The party that prides itself on conservation has abdicated its responsibilities in the face of global warming. And the party historically anchored in fiscal restraint has nearly doubled the national debt, squandering our precious resources in an undisciplined and unprecedented effort to finance a war with tax cuts.”

I can’t add anything better than that, and were the Republican Party campaigning on redemption of these principles, they’d be worth considering this November. They blew this since that confluence of Rush, Delay, and W. Sorry GOP – you can scratch me off your rolls.

Cafestol and Kahweol - Two Reasons You Should Give Up Espresso

Cafestol and Kahweol are two nasty little oils, which cause elevation of one's cholesterol levels. Rather than type a whole lot in this regard, I'll simply cite the following: "TOXICOLOGICAL SUMMARY FOR CAFESTOL AND KAHWEOL" (Raymond Tice, Ph.D., Integrated Laboratory Systems, October 1999):

9.0 TOXICOLOGICAL DATA
9.1 General Toxicology
9.1.1 Human Data
A direct relationship between coffee consumption and total cholesterol has been
demonstrated (Thelle et al., 1987). The cholesterol-raising effect of boiled coffee has been
associated with the diterpenes from coffee oil (Heckers et al., 1994; Mensink et al., 1995; Urgert
et al., 1995a; Urgert and Katan, 1996). Paper-filtered coffee does not elevate cholesterol since
the lipid content (including diterpenes) is negligible (van Dusseldorp et al., 1991; Ahola et al.,
1991; Ratnayake et al., 1993; all cited by Urgert et al., 1996). In a 2-year cross-sectional study
of Norwegian subjects controlling for possible confounding variables such as body mass index,
number of cigarettes, and physical activity, boiled coffee increased serum cholesterol by 8% (18
mg/dL; 0.47 mmol/L) in men and 10% (21 mg/dL; 0.55 mmol/L) in women (Stensvold et al.,
1989). For those drinking filter coffee, the effect was only significant for women.
More than 20 epidemiology studies have been conducted. The effects of cafestol and
kahweol on cholesterol, triglyceride, lipoprotein, and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity
levels from some of these studies are given in section 9.10.2.

If this is interesting to you, I suggest reading the entire paper, which you can find via the NIH: http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/htdocs/Chem_Background/ExSumPdf/Cafestol.pdf

I've personally given up everything above and beyond drip coffee, and have seen my LDL levels drop substantially. Aside from better health, it's added dollars and cents to my wallet, as drip coffee is substantially cheaper than the more upscale coffee drinks.

Diligence – on the Tunes

In the interest of diligence, I should note, I preeminently confess that my perspective is quite subjective. That subjectivity is twofold: one, I am happier here in Boise than I was in Chicago, which provides for a happier attendee, hence a warmer experience; two, because there aren’t as many shows, it doesn’t provide for the space to become apathetic. About those two factors, there is no question. I confess that I am most definitely affected by those two factors.

However, I have to qualify that admitted subjectivity. To hear the set lists I have in Boise, with the exception of the local Built to Spill set list, they have involved rarities that one would not hear from these same bands in a larger more frequently played market. Moreover, the crowd shares my enthusiasm, providing for no apathy, which feeds into the performers’ performances—e.g. Wilco’s “Longcore.”

Either way, be it in the “eye of the beholder,” or be it objectively accurate, it is what it is. I’ll take it, just like the traffic, or lack thereof—I am in love with living in Boise. Shhh—don’t tell anyone.

Shows in Boise

Moving to Boise, while it has not been perfect in every way, has a large number of advantages. Many of those advantages I’ve written about are the things I use to make myself feel better when I long for more and diverse restaurants, a greater number of eligible single young educated women, or diverse viewpoints. One further advantage to living here in Boise, which never ceases to delight me, is that Boise is infrequently visited by big national touring acts.

I know – I know, that is counter-intuitive, e.g. Matt, if you love music, you had to love the music scene in Chicago. Big bands played there all the time. Boise is small enough acts don’t play there very often. That’s what one would think, but evidence thus far has proved to be the contrary. Case and point, the last two shows I’ve seen in Boise, Robert Earl Keen and Wilco.

I saw Wilco play the neatest show I’ve seen them play, perhaps ever. That is no exaggeration. They played two encores, and had a great amount of fun. Of course, the venue was a winery converted into an outdoor venue. The stage was at a rather low height for an outdoor venue, with a flat gallery from which to watch the band. Jeff Tweedy commented he could “die” playing in Boise, on that stage, because of how comfortable he felt in the weather.

Prior the show, I’d not bothered to do any research about past Wilco shows in Boise, but Tweedy announced during the show that they’d not been in Idaho since “this small band for REM opened for us. We helped them get their start.” Of course, I could go into further detail on the set list, but that is unimportant. The only important thing to know was that I had more fun and enjoyment listening to Wilco in this beautiful setting, and Wilco was having a lot of fun playing for folks they’d assumed hadn’t heard them live for ten-plus years. As such, they dug into their back catalog, and played a few songs from “Mermaid Avenue,” etc…

Were I a bigger Robert Earl Keen, I could note the same sort of well loved seldom played “rarities,” but I’ve not seen enough of his shows to know better. Seeing Keen, however, proved a wonderful experience. Again, like Wilco, Boise not being a place he plays often, removed any apprehension he might have with him in Austin, or something.
The point is simple, while iterations are less frequent, when we get them, the shows are all the better. Apathy is lost in the beautiful setting with the enthusiastic crowd, leaving bands no choice but to put on an amazing show. Needless to say, I am most looking forward to seeing the Hold Steady in November!