If everybody lived like you

How many Earths would be required to take care of humanity if everybody lived like you? Play Consumer Consequences and find out! I was disappointed to find out it would take 3.1 Earths but then I noticed it was actually well below average.

A conversation with a student

"Teacher, I got in trouble again. The suspended me for 2 days this time."

"What happened?"

"They caught me smoking off campus... but it's not fair, I have two kids, I should be allowed to smoke!"

"Well, it is still illegal for you to smoke. But at least you weren't smoking around your kids."

"Yeah, I know... but my kids are in foster care and I don't want to get caught up. I have to show them I can be a good mother."

Bass leadership

Last Sunday I read an idiotic op-ed in the LA Times about Mike Huckabee that claimed Huckabee's being a bass player shows he may not be a good leader of the nation because bassists are really just frustrated guitar players. Maybe it was written as a joke but it got some great letters in yesterday's Times (that they didn't publish online) that summed up my thoughts well:

1) lots of bassists can 'lead from the bottom' (one letter simply said 'Willie Dixon') and one could even write a similar opinion that said Huckabee's instrument gives him insight into what a functioning musical unit (and therefore a functioning political unit) requires.

2) the op-ed obviously reflects on the author more than bassists. Joe Queenan is the frustrated guitar player while most of us have embraced our role as essential parts that support the guitarists and sax players who are desperate for attention.

His remark about John Entwistle being a 'nonentity' is strong evidence for this article being a joke which makes me wonder why they couldn't find an op-ed that deals with Huckabee's desire to change the constitution instead. I don't think I'm hypersensitive about this topic; I can laugh well at the many good jokes that are told about bassists but this was just dopey.

Goat report, 1/15/08

Tough decision on which of these goat stories is the best: Illinois goat terrorizes church, coming soon to your grocery store: cloned goat, or goat brains: 'mushy and kind of bland'?

Jefito lives!

A couple of years ago I came across a music blog run by a fella calling himself Jefito. A few months back it fell off the map (probably due to all the bootlegs he'd begun to post there) and he'sfinally resurfaced with Popdose. He's brought a bunch of friends along (maybe hoping to spread out culpability) and while he's doing more streaming mp3s, rather than tempting me to fill up my hard drive w/ downloads, the same sharp eye is focused on pop culture. He's still running some of the same great features, like the Cassingle Vault (you know you want to hear Chynna Phillips' solo attempt) and Chart Attack (relive the hits of the 80s and 90s!) but I was surprised to see a decent article on torture porn.

Students' views of college

Kids at my school have a weird view of college. They've heard something of my extended trip thru higher education and are amazed that somebody could choose to stay in school for longer than all people are required to go to school. When they here I went to a big school they immediately light up and figure me for a former drunken party animal as they've heard how great those college parties are. I try to use the opportunity to tell them that, yeah, I had a lot of fun at some parties but it wasn't all the time; there was a lot of hard work to be done, too, and the partying came after that.

But the other day a student asked me, "Do you get into trouble if you get in a fight in college?" I explained that yes, you'd get in trouble with the police, but the question was just weird; the kid had no idea that the adult world is what he'll be in after high school. He gets into a fight at school now, he's home for a few days; why shouldn't college be any different?