Awesome Video Saturday CLXXIX

Most of you may have seen this, but it's a great video.

A War on Beef

I am fond of calling myself a meatacheesatarian. I like meat and I like cheese, so it is an apt description. Lately I've been mostly a leanmeatcottagecheesatarian, but it still works.

While at the HiddenOakChick-fil-aSpiritNight, Joseph noticed that Chick-fil-a now has an iPad app. Joseph is adept at convincing me to add apps that appeal to him, and I thought, why not add this one? I love their delicious chicken and waffle fries. I like that they close on Sundays. The cow thing is a good gimmick. I agreed to download it and we decided to check it out at bedtime.

Included in the app are several comics featuring superhero cows. We received a few of these last year when they were part of the kid's meal. In my recollection they were pretty innocuous, so we read Gristle Missile first. I didn't realize how strong their message was. Mr. Cathy, the CEO and son of the founder want us to believe that the moral of the story is to have initiative. The true, hidden meaning is that eating beef is evil.

I had to answer uncomfortable questions tonight:

"Daddy, why is he taking the hamburgers?"
"Why doesn't he want people to eat meat?"
"Is he going to break into our house and steal our beef?"

The last question actually hasn't come up- yet. Do you see where I'm going? In Decibell, the evil mastermind is the proprietor of a "beef buffet," whose aim is to hypnotize the city into eating only his food.

Just as with celebrities with pet causes, I'm looking at you Bob Barker, I don't want to be told what to think. I want to be ENTERTAINED. I want to have a culinary experience at Chick-fil-a, not be preached an exclusionary, anti-hamburger message.

Just make me my chicken. I'll do the rest.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

TV Review: The Sing-Off

After the blessed miracle of getting all the kids in bed before 8PM, Lacy and I settled down to watch a little television. We settled on the NBC show, The Sing-Off.

The show started, and there were a lot of people on the stage, in fancy clothes, hair-dos and happy faces. They sounded pretty good too. Then something started to happen... I remembered that I generally don't care for a capella groups.

It's not that I don't respect the talent required, or enjoy the occasional performance. I think it stems from this period when I was at BYU and a capella groups seemed to spring from everywhere, unbidden. It's the cutesy, themey, look-at-me aspect that annoys me.

Fortunately, Lacy decided that the over-long intros of the judges was boring, and I agreed. 5 minutes in and we were done. I hope you have enjoyed my review.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Austin

For the purposes of this post, the game which took place in Provo last night did not occur. I prefer my happy memories.

We recently returned from Austin, TX, where we watched BYU play Texas in a close game, and I thought a travelogue was in order. We were fortunate to have our friends Matt and Amber Nielsen with us. They have been great friends for a long time, and Matt and I go back to freshman year at BYU over 14 years ago.

Austin is a great town. As soon as we arrived, we went to see the Texas State Museum. Did you know that Texas was once it's own country? If you didn't, you would after about 1 minute in that museum. and if you missed that mention of it, you would have an opportunity to hear it again every 10 steps or so. Texans do not do small. It was a very nice museum, with some very nice artifacts.

We were hungry at that point and headed to a restaurant that I found on Urbanspoon- Curra's Grill. We had an outstanding meal with excellent service. Each of us ordered enchiladas, choosing from something like 15 different sauces. I chose a Mole sauce that was fantastic. We had great tamales and guacamole. We were very full.

After that we watched the bats feed underneath the Congress Bridge near downtown. It was interesting, but anticlimactic given how highly it ranks as a tourist attraction. There were a lot of bats.

We had breakfast the next morning at The Magnolia Cafe. Delicious. Seemed a favorite hangout of many of Austin's quirkier citizens. We met some very friendly Longhorn fans.

We enjoyed visiting some off the quirky shops in the SoCo (South Congress) area, especially a candy shop, the name of which I don't remember. I learned that there are many, many, many used boots for sale in Austin.

We then toured the state Capitol, which was more interesting than the museum. Did you know Texas was once it's own country?





We had a decent lunch before the game at Darrell K. Royal Stadium. It is a giant stadium, and we were at the very top. Here we are, with a fortunate backrest.



The fans were great, very welcoming, and despite the sad outcome for BYU it was a great trip. I hope to return.

We were fortunate to have my sister and brother-in-law welcome our three kids into their family of 6 for the weekend. We were grateful to know that the were in such good hands.

Awesome Video Saturday CLXXVIII

A born storyteller:



Arcing, sparking, blowing up.

01 to 11

I love The Boston Globe's online Big Picture series. They pick a theme, in this case photos of Ground Zero from 9/11/01 to 9/11/11, and tell the story in pictures. Often these are breathtaking and moving, and the edition I've linked to above is no exception.

Legooooooo!

This a great video about a guy who loves Legos, and has made a career of it.

More than Football

Coming off an exciting day of college football, I have enjoyed this article about the men who were playing for Army and Navy on Sept. 11, 2001.

They would take their fight to real battlefields soon after, and their stories and reflections are worth reviewing as we contemplate the legacy of that day.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Awesome Video Saturday CLXXVII

Four Pinnochios

That is the verdict on a claim that President Obama made the other day, in a speech on jobs and the economy.

According to The Washington Post "Fact Checker," Obama's claim that he helped engineer the "biggest middle-class tax cut in history" is untrue. They come down especially hard on him given their belief that this was a willful twisting of the truth.

Be prepared for more of that in this evening's speech.

Moon Junk

It looks like we made a mess on the moon. Or at least left some of our junk behind.

The cool thing is that now you can see it, for yourself, through the eyes (lens) of the Lunar Observer.

Click the link for more.

Unforgettable

These images, taken by James Nachtwey and featured on TIME's website, are a haunting reminder of what happened on September 11, 2001.

It is hard to believe that ten years have passed.

There's Good in the World

My friend Irene posted a fantastic story on her blog. Check it out.

Backsliding?

I watched the Miami Hurricanes lose a close game tonight. On Facebook, a friend commented that the Canes are my drug, that I should quit, but I can't. There is some truth to this, at least in terms of my relationship with college football in general.

I had a turning point during a 2003 game, Miami vs Virginia Tech. Complete annihilation by a hated rival left me convinced That I was too affected by the outcomes of these games. I've made a concerted effort since that time to divorce myself from the emotions of the game, with some success. It is interesting that the emotional relapses are that much more jarring as a result. The contrast is mor extreme.

A few games come to mind, including BYU's 2009 loss to FSU and last year's loss to Utah. Tough losses, but fortunately not as bad as that 2003 game against VT, or the 2001 BYU loss to Hawaii, or worst of all, Fiesta Bowl 2002.

So yeah, I'm still hooked, but I'm functioning. For now.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Nothing to Show

That might not be fair actually. After nearly three years in office, President Obama did authorize the mission that ended Osama Bin Laden's life. Other than that? Meh.

He continues to use his credibility and capital unwisely. The latest example is his upcoming jobs speech. Michael Barone looks at the kerfuffle over its scheduling. To me it is another example of the president's leadership failings.

Believe it or not, I wanted the president to succeed. He has had some significant challenges. More often than not, he has made the wrong choice. This is especially evident in his economic stewardship. We are paying the price for that.

Huntsman

This is a very interesting article about John Huntsman.  I have to admit that I have been dismissive of his candidacy. This article challenged my assumptions about him. Whether he has a chance will depend almost entirely on the New Hampshire primary. I think I'll reserve my judgement until that point, but he's caught my interest.

More to the Story

I'm convinced that there is more to the situation at the University of Miami than meets the eye. I do think that significant violations occurred, which will result in probation and scholarship reductions among other things. But I think that some of his accusations will eventually show themselves to be false.

For some columns taking this more cautious side of the story, read Jason Whitlock. He's used his Twitter account to challenge Charles Robinson, the author of the Yahoo! Sports story, to an appearance on his podcast. Robinson has not accepted, which is his right, but I think it weakens the credibility of the story. Either way, this will be a long, difficult season for Miami.

Back?

I haven't been blogging much lately. It's been due to a variety of things, including a lack of time in the evening AND a lack of inclination when free time rolls around. It's not that I haven't had things that I wanted to write about. Just that nothing has filled me with urgency. But now that the college football season is upon us, and the presidential primaries are not far away, the fire is igniting. Still, the tentative nature of this post's title reveals the truth that life will trump the blog at some point, again.

Awesome Video Saturday CLXXVI