M. (hristine

At a beer tasting recently I spit a mouthful of "craft" lager into the wastebasket of the guy running the tasting. Ugh. How can people drink that swill. In a conversation yesterday I was explaining how repugnant it is to squander caloric intake with nasty beer.

Willy, would you kindly quit med school and write policy for this reform instead? I'm not interested in seeing government run hospitals a la the VA. I did find surprising the disparity in administrative costs between the private sector estimated at 20%, and 3% for Medicaid. OpenSecrets.org, has some illuminating numbers concerning lobby dollars: "Obama, who made health care reform a large part of his presidential election platform, brought in $18.8 million from the health care sector in the 2008 election cycle--far more than any other presidential hopeful. Money follows power as the indus

Former insider calls the health insurance industry's campaign against a public health care option "a duplicitous and well financed pr and lobbying campaign." My disdain for the health insurance and pharmaceutical industry is well documented in these pages, but regardless how you feel, this interview may open some eyes. I hope one day the lid gets blown clean off. http://video.pbs.org/video/1178899944 Thanks for posting this on teh fb, solace.

Add Shampoo to your list and you have the four pillars of 70s culture. It has been 20 years since I watched Coming Home, but Time Has Come Today and the climax of that movie are inextricably woven together in my mind. Not unlike the opening scenes in Apocalypse Now underpinned with The End by the Doors.

Hal Ashby was for me a definitive voice in the movies of the 70s. Might need to check this out.

Well.

See.

I sent this video to Sarah, my 13 y/o drummer: Sarah: Oh my God! My dad and I play this! I'm going to steal some of Spencer's runs. M. (hris: Who's the better guitar player? Sarah: Eh. My dad.

On carlos' recommendation. Just opened it for the first time today. I love that new book smell: "I followed the Abbey method (less a technique for thought and meditation than an opportunity for new possibilities and combinations): go to the wildest place you can find, alone if possible, open your mind, and walk."

Perhaps. His writing has never struck me as particularly biased. Those three stories seemed to tell themselves. Art. I reckon you can read it yourself and determine the ripeness. Those years between books has left plenty of time for the ice axes. And the money made unnecessary plying his prodigious skills in a dying industry. And Laura, I do too.

Sarah has been insanely jealous of a certain drummer being in studio with Beck.

Believe your own ears!

Two lovely autumnal weeks between St Louis and Chicago.

The murders committed in Under the Banner of Heaven occurred nine years before the book was published. The story was no less topical in 2003, and was effective prying the lid off that festering box of monsters. It's been 6 years. I'm ready to read about what Krakauer has been knee deep in.

I'm thinking those little gals should just start touring with the band. Epic set list. So wish I could have been there.

Hater. Hot timing had it been published a month before the election.

The original publish date was October 2008. Doubleday went through a major restructuring in November 2008, with a couple divisions eliminated. Purely conjecture, but I think the delay had something to do with that.

It got shelved. Official word was Krakauer was not happy with the manuscript. I think it was otherwise.

Street team pimping for one of my favorites... "The bestselling author of Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, and Under the Banner of Heaven delivers a stunning, eloquent account of a remarkable young man’s haunting journey. Like the men whose epic stories Jon Krakauer has told in his previous bestsellers, Pat Tillman was an irrepressible individualist and iconoclast. In May 2002, Tillman walked away from his $3.6 million NFL contract to enlist in the United States Army. He was deeply troubled by 9/11, and he felt a strong moral obligation to join the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Two

lolz. 'Tis a silly picture. It's strangely comforting to know Jeff's face can do that. His face is quite plastic, actually. This is also strangely comforting: "Stay tuned to Wilcoworld this week for more Fall show announcements."

This thread has gone rogue.

Is habit the same as choice? I work in a grocery store. I watch what employees eat for lunch. We all pay the same employee price, and get a choice of a salad bar, prepared food; Italian, Chinese, an 'American' food court and a deli. What do you suppose 90% of the employees choose to eat?

Oh and...