Here and There

I couldn’t have listed or said it better myself. No, really, the writing is really quite good.

Katherine Q. Seelye and David Kirkpatrick report for The New York Times.

I read a lot of news online, and listen to the radio some, I’d say. I don’t watch a lot of TV. I’m also 34 years old. Still, I’ve never heard a sufficient explanation for what a caucus is, and specifically, how does the one in Iowa next week work?

I’ve once again turned to wikipedia for the answer.

And by all means, if you’ve got another candidate in mind, work hard.

But here’s a list of offices the Obama campaign has already set up here in the Golden State.

From The Atlantic.

From Slate.

But the blowhard is blowing not quite so hard in his most recent column, musing on Senator John McCain’s chances of getting the Republican nomination.

Please don’t hate me for reposting a Bob Novak column, oh dear reader. Please?

* Please also excuse the self-conscious post. But, I mean, he’s Bob Novak!

The Washington Post reports on how the Arizona senator is hoping an uptick of support in New Hampshire can translate retroactively in Iowa, where he has consistently polled in the single digits.

I started thinking a couple weeks ago (around the time of the Are Jesus and Satan brothers? argument) that McCain, nutty as he can be, is seemingly the one sane candidate in the GOP camp.

No, I don’t suddenly like basketball, but I like Barack Obama (love how the shame robe has fallen by the wayside?), and this story is somehow charming.

A NYT Caucus post that asks the question: Why isn’t anyone (including this blogger) taking Joe Biden’s run for the Democratic nomination seriously?

Just got myself a new printer. It’s a decision I had struggled with for a few months. Finally, I needed to print some pages of documents I need to sign for a new job today, and I thought, Why not? I took it as a sign when I held onto a printer at last night’s white elephant for about three rounds, only to see it slip from my fingers (hey, I ended up with a fondue set. not bad), and woke up today determined to purchase this potentially soon-to-be-obsolete piece of electronics.

But I digress.

I want this post to be a simple comment on how freaking impossible it is to open almost all consumer electronics (and some products in other categories as well) these days. I spent the better part of five minutes slicing and dicing the USB cable (seriously, why don’t printers just come with those by now?), slicing and dicing some of my knuckles along the way. How do they want me to open it? Am I missing something?

Then I went to get some paper out of the package to start printing. No luck there, either. Only the far edges of the gift-package-like wrapping would come off, as the adhesive used to close the rest of it was just too industrial. What a mess.

I’m just wondering why these packages are so well beyond tamper proof, and closer to the realm of physical liability. Thoughts?

From The Washington Post.

As time goes by, it becomes more and more clear to me that The New York Times doesn’t particularly care for Hillary Clinton.

Updating WordPress and possibly changing the look and feel of the site. Stay tuned.

Making him 2008’s Ross Perot, minus the billions.

From The Washington Post.