Frank Rich

I read his column in today's NYT. Since I learned he bashed Gore in 2000, I no longer trust his judgment. He may have some interesting things to say these days, but, now as he rails against the Bush Administration, he's still inescapably a player in the whole mess of getting George Bush elected in the first place.

It's too late for Frank Rich to redeem himself, and I'd like to think there's some special circle in Hell in which our irresponsible so-called journalists, who've been so derelict in their Constitutional duty when it comes to giving the people the truth, will receive their eternal and well-deserved torment.

Saturday Night

Tonight we get back the hour they stole from my sleep regimen last spring. I hate Daylight Savings Time.

I recorded the death throes of "Search for the Next Elvira," which we ended up watching after "There's Something About Miriam" (she's transgendered, with a boob job--on hormones but still has her male stuff. I hope she doesn't get a hard-on while trying to lure the unsuspecting [?] macho males onto a date). (This is a British show--pretty up-front about sexuality. We need more of that here.)

Back to Elvira, I think April deserved it (though we didn't vote in the finals). Did you know that Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) was born in 1949 in Manhattan, Kansas? Check out her bio on Wikipedia. I figured she had to be a bit up there in years, since I watched her horror movie show way back when, and she was fully developed then. By the way, she is a fan of Stephanie Miller and got Stephanie an appointment with her doctor to help out with Stephanie's sleeping problems, which seem to be abating (on their own, thank God).

Tonight was kind of tricky writing in the Nielsen Ratings journal vis-a-vis the time change. We had to record in a separate section the extra hour of TV viewing, which consisted of both real-time viewing and recorded viewing (another tricky aspect). I'll be glad when the week is over and we mail back our journals.

Well, the Sunday New York Times headlines just came through on email. I'll check them out now.

"Rudy's bogus healthcare stats"

Read the story by Joe Conason here. Paul Krugman also wrote about it on Friday:

“My chance of surviving prostate cancer — and thank God I was cured of it — in the United States? Eighty-two percent,” says Rudy Giuliani in a new radio ad attacking Democratic plans for universal health care. “My chances of surviving prostate cancer in England? Only 44 percent, under socialized medicine.” . . .

You see, the actual survival rate in Britain is 74.4 percent. That still looks a bit lower than the U.S. rate, but the difference turns out to be mainly a statistical illusion. The details are technical, but the bottom line is that a man’s chance of dying from prostate cancer is about the same in Britain as it is in America.

So Mr. Giuliani’s supposed killer statistic about the defects of “socialized medicine” is entirely false. In fact, there’s very little evidence that Americans get better health care than the British, which is amazing given the fact that Britain spends only 41 percent as much on health care per person as we do. . . .

P.S. Love the mink!

We're a Nielsen Family This Week

We were chosen to record our television-watching habits this week for the Nielson Ratings people. B. is doing a better job than I--I'm muffing up the booklets with mistakes. I need some white-out.

This is kind of tedious (for me) and I'm glad it lasts only a week. They sent us $10 in cash to do this. I would charge more. :-)

Well, TGIF. Have a long weekend since I'm taking Monday off also.

So the latest political controversy is the Mukasey nomination. Here's my considered opinion on that.

Watched Lisa Williams tonight. Pretty impressive.

Only In Miami

Yes, I know "Colon" means "Columbus" in Spanish.

"Hillary Stumbles At Debate"??

I didn't watch the debate last night but I read this recap on The Left Coaster. I highly recommend it. After seeing how the media treated Al Gore during the 2000 elections, I no longer trust them. The minute I walked into the house after work today and turned on the CBS News, I was rather surprised to see this. Please do read the Left Coaster piece.

Continuation from Previous Post (see "Monday Night" Below)

I hope we've all learned, by having this essentially illegitimate presidency, that the media is not doing its Constitutionally-mandated job (for whatever reason) and we have to be especially vigilant as a democracy, on account of our media's dereliction of its duty, and get out and vote in big numbers. The media, I seriously think (and I'm not the only one), is solely responsible for this administration being and continuing to be in power. What a disaster when the media doesn't live up to its Constitutional duty. That's truly un-American.

Family Values Crowd in Australia Has Its Problems, Too

Heard this morning on The Stephanie Miller Show: "Candidate drops out of election over nude photos on gay sites". Priceless.

More Downtown Miami Pix

The Metromover passes through a new condo building. Unless I have time to walk (and it's not raining), I take the "Mover" from the bus stop at Miami Community College to my office.

Tents are set up and ready to be moved into place for the Book Fair at Miami Community College (across the street at right).

The balloon from the Metromover.

I always liked the multifaceted top of this building (now the Wachovia Financial Center). This is the tallest building in Florida.

At this time of year, you'll usually see giant buzzards circling the top of the building. (They fly down every year from Ohio.) Today was apparently too windy for them to be out (Hurricane Noel is in the area).

Monday Night

Had a good weekend (wasn't on call--always good). I did make a load of goulash, plus the meatloaf. The goulash turned out great. It's very similar to that shown in the video (below), but I made a much larger batch, with 3 1/2 lbs. bottom round (I carved up a whole roast into cubes).

As for politics, I'm so glad George Bush's administration is winding down and the Democrats are on the ascendant. I heave a huge sigh of relief. I'm just worried about what this administration plans to do in Iran--go out with a bang? (It would be just another mistake by this bungling administration that's so out of touch with the American people. Ideological (vs. realistic) thinking doesn't serve this or any other country well. You'd think we'd have learned that.) I hope we've all learned, by having this essentially illegitimate presidency, that [TO BE CONTINUED--my brain is crashing. I'm tired.].

"The Perfect Meatloaf"

Trying (and failing) to make it has been the bane of my existence (!), but I think tonight I hit upon it. I've been trying to recreate my aunt's crusty meatloaf for years. Here's my recipe. (Yes, this blog is turning into a cooking show--I'm so tired of politics). The recipe is pretty simple, too.

2 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef
1/2 - 2/3 large onion, finely chopped (I use red onions)
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup Italian-seasoned bread crumbs
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons horseradish
1 1/2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic power

Mix thoroughly by hand in a large bowl (take your jewelry off first) and bake at 400 degrees for one hour or so (till it reaches an internal temperature of 170 degrees) on top of bread slices in a shallow roasting pan. Then remove the bread and broil the meatloaf till crusty. (The measurements are approximate. I just threw it all together--in somewhat of a Bacchic frenzy--without really measuring anything.)

Sexy Goulash Recipe

Video here. He says he made the goulash while he was naked (see the end).

Friday Pix

It was rainy today. Fortunately I didn't get wet.

Slide Mantra with balloon in the background.

Challenger Memorial. Hotel Intercontinental at left, new apartment buildings, Miami Center office building.

A Foggy Day In...

One of the bad photos from this afternoon. Camera lens clouded over from the humidity after leaving the air-conditioned office. The balloon is there, but you can't see it. In the foreground is a spiraling white marble slide designed by Isamu Noguchi, who designed the park in its present incarnation. I'll try to get a better shot of that, too. Believe it or not, the slide was blown apart a couple of years ago during one of the hurricanes and eventually restored. Below is a similar slide in Sapporo, Japan ("Black Slide Mantra").

Miami Balloon To Be Safe

Again, from the same Herald article:

"They should not have flown," Funnen said of the incidents. "If a pilot in a jumbo jet receives a severe weather warning, he's not going to take off."

To avoid similar problems, SkyLift hired an operator with eight years['] experience running another Lindstrand balloon. Three engineers from the British company are conducting safety inspections.

At the Bayfront site, a ground operator will monitor computerized weather data, including reports from the control tower at Miami International Airport, Funnen said. With a generator, back-up winches and even a manual crank for the steel tether, Funnen said workers can get the balloon down even if equipment fails. . . .

Balloon Horror Stories

From the same Herald article (please see post below):

The stakes are high: When 50 mph wind gusts caught operators of a similar balloon ride by surprise three years ago in Baltimore, 17 people on board were trapped for nearly two hours as the gondola thrashed in the air and hit a nearby building. The ride -- made by Lindstrand, the same British manufacturer that sold SkyLift its balloon -- never reopened, according to media reports.

Less than seven days later, a tourist fell to her death out of the gondola on a similar Lindstrand tethered balloon in Lucerne, Switzerland, when it was caught in an unexpected wind gust, according to a Swiss government report. . . .

Balloon Over Miami

I work in downtown Miami, and I'd been wondering what this thing was, sitting on the fountain in Bayfront Park. So I dug up an article in the Miami Herald archives:

New York has the Empire State Building, Seattle the Space Needle. Now investors are weeks away from bringing Miami its own spot for a bird's-eye view of the city: a helium balloon floating 50 stories in the sky.

Workers inflated the 73-foot-tall Miami SkyLift Balloon last week at its permanent home atop the Bayfront Park fountain, where a steel cable will bring it up and down four times an hour.

About 30 people can ride the gondola as it climbs 500 feet into the air, an altitude near the top of the downtown skyline.

Already the SkyLift balloon looks like a giant Ping-Pong ball come to rest in Bayfront Park. But once the 15-minute rides begin in the next several weeks, the owners predict the spectacle of a white orb above the city will make SkyLift a must-do for vacationers. . . .

(Article by DOUGLAS HANKS, 9/14/07)

Apparently this has been in the works for years. (I also found a Miami Today article from 2005.) I just don't read the local papers anymore, much less subscribe to the Herald, as I used to. I was tired of getting my hands dirty, plus I get all the information I need these days over the Internet (including archived Herald articles).

Needless to say, I won't be going up in the balloon. That would be torture. [Note to George Bush: Threaten to put me in a balloon and I'll say anything you want.] I assume they've figured out how to secure it when a hurricane comes.

Tomorrow I'll take my own shot of the balloon sitting in the fountain. I think it looks cool. [Update: My picture inserted above. I took it this morning before getting to the office. I tried to take some shots when I got off work, but the lens was clouded over from the camera's sitting inside the dry A/C all day and then hitting the humidity outside. I would have waited around for the lens to clear up but my bus came along right away. I'll try again another day.]

Dancing Cockatoo

Check it out! (Sent to me by Sophia.)

Saturday Was Cooking

Even though I was on-call today (always a bummer), I managed to get back into my element (i.e., cooking in my great kitchen). Last night and today I made some killer barbecued pork out of a Boston Butt roast (on sale), which I all but cremated in the crock pot overnight and today picked apart, excising all visible fat, and mixed with barbecue sauce and served for lunch. B. loved it (with a side dish of Publix Southern-Style potato salad doctored up with some lime juice and dill relish).

I also made a load of guacamole today. One of B's customers had given us some large avocados (not the small California kind, though they're OK). (I grew up in Florida with avocado "pears," as they were called--enormous, smooth-skinned, green [on the outside, vs. black] avocados.) I used one of those, along with two rather small "ugly tomatoes" (more expensive than the pretty ones but a helluva tastier and bright red on the inside), half a red onion, a clove of garlic, a lot of fresh lime juice, a lot of chili powder, some hot sauce, black pepper, and salt. Put it all in the food processor and made it into a smooth cream. It came out fantastic. I ate half of it for dinner, with white corn chips. [We also used it on tacos the next day. We prefer the Old El Paso taco kit.]

I also made a load of vegetable beef soup. (For some reason, B. hates soup, so it's his loss.) I used three pounds of stew beef, cut up into smaller, bite-sized pieces; a large can of crushed tomatoes; two cans of double-rich beef bouillon plus two cans of water; a bag of broccoli slaw; one leek, white and green part (cleaned of dirt [seriously]) sliced; one parsnip sliced; one turnip diced; one carrot sliced; one stalk of celery sliced; 3/4 tsp. marjoram; 3/4 tsp. thyme; a bay leaf; about 4 tbsp. chopped fresh dill; 1/4 cup dried beans; lots of salt; some ground pepper; and water to cover. I added about 1/2 cup pasta at the end and let that get tender, along with more fresh dill. (I used to add Locatelli Peccorino Romano cheese to this but it tastes just as good without the added fat, calories, and cholesterol [still I suggest it].) Came out great.

Guacamole Recipe

The video. As long as I've been googling recipes, I never came across a video before. I was impressed!