August 2008

From CNN.com: Still mired in debt, Clinton seeks cash

Days after the New York senator announced she would award one contributor a trip to the convention with her, husband Bill Clinton is out with another fundraising appeal Monday encouraging supporters to join the contest.

In an e-mail to potential donors Monday, the former president promised one contributor would have a memorable week with his wife, though he took care to reiterate Obama is the Democrat who the party will nominate for president.

I can’t imagine what it would be like to spend a week with Hillary.

Hillary’s inability to fundraise out of her debt shows how shallow and fleeting her support is from her so called 18 million supporters.

From NYTimes.com: Phelps Wants to Help Swimming Grow

The night before the medley relay, Hansen, who swam the breaststroke leg, stopped by Phelps’s room in the athletes’ village. Phelps’s seven gold medals were hanging from the curtain rod.

“It looked like a freaking wind chime,” Hansen said.

Still waiting for the obligatory Sports Illustrated cover with Michael Phelps wearing all eight gold medals at the same time.  Until then, a picture of the gold medal wind chime would be pretty cool.

I’ve started upgrading my the software that runs my blog to Movable Type 4.2.  Movable Type 4.2 adds aspects of social networking, so I’m kind of interested to see how it works.  It’s supposed to also have easier templates which should make redesigning my blog a little easier.

I’m just going to apply the upgrade to the live site, so some things may be acting a little weird over the next several days.

From NYTimes.com: Clinton’s Name Will Be Put in Nomination

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s name will be placed into nomination at the Democratic National Convention, a symbolic move approved by the Obama campaign in an effort to soothe a lingering rift with Clinton supporters.
…
So how will Mrs. Clinton, who is a superdelegate herself, vote? Associates say she will throw her lot behind Mr. Obama and ask her supporters to follow suit. To see if it unfolds as the Obama campaign hopes – free of acrimony – tune in on Wednesday, Aug. 27.

I know that nothing will happen and this is all procedural, but something about this just makes me nervous.  Very nervous.  Is Hillary orchestrating hoping for an August surprise?

UPDATE:
Maureen Dowd’s OpEd NYTimes.com: Yes, She Can

Hillary’s orchestrating a play within the play in Denver. Just as Hamlet used the device to show that his stepfather murdered his father, Hillary will try to show the Democrats they chose the wrong savior.

Her former aide Howard Wolfson fanned the divisive flames Monday on ABC News, arguing that Hillary would have beaten Obama in Iowa and become the nominee if John Edwards’s affair had come out last year — an assertion contradicted by a University of Iowa survey showing that far more Edwards supporters had Obama as their second choice.

Hillary feels no guilt about encouraging her supporters to mess up Obama’s big moment, thus undermining his odds of beating John McCain and improving her odds of being the nominee in 2012.

From NYTimes.com: Behind the Opening Ceremony, a Paralyzing Fall

A talented, 26-year-old Chinese dancer was seriously injured during a rehearsal for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic games just 12 days before the show, and faces the prospect of being paralyzed for the rest of her life.

Pretty sad story.  As breathtaking as the opening ceremonies was, a lot of it seemed to be quite dangerous and I was wondering how they could do all that without someone getting hurt.  Especially with all the wire work.  The torch lighting with Li Ning “running” around the top of the stadium was amazing, but seemed a bit dangerous.  I can’t imagine an American athlete being asked to do that.

From LATimes.com: Chinese fast-food chain Panda Express thrives on orange chicken

It is an empire largely built on the thighs of chickens — the dark meat.

When other fast-food chains started to offer white-meat chicken nuggets and sandwiches in the late 1980s, Panda Express figured out what to do with the rest of the chicken. And it has paid off.

The chain started using boneless and skinless dark meat cooked in a light flour batter to hold the moisture. Then it drizzled on top an orange sauce that Panda executive chef Andy Kao described as “a little sweet, a little sour and a little spicy.”

By 1991, it had become the chain’s biggest seller. Now, 4 out of 10 people who walk into Panda Express include orange chicken in their orders. Panda Express sells 45 million pounds of orange chicken annually.

Orange Chicken, fried rice, and an egg roll.  That’s the ancient Chinese secret to healthy eating!

From Profootballtalk.com: JOHNSON WANTS TO BE OCHO CINCO, LEGALLY

To avoid getting fined, Johnson hasn’t done it since then. But Johnson now has a plan for how he can get away with having “Ocho Cinco” spelled out over the “85″ on his back.

We’ve learned that Johnson has taken the first steps in the state of Florida toward legally changing his last name to Ocho Cinco

Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water again, up pops crazy Chad Johnson again!  Actually, if true, this is actually kind of amusing and a pretty clever way to market himself as a brand.  I wonder if a player sold his naming rights to a corporation like Nike, could the NFL stop them from putting the corporation’s name on the back of the uniform?

From People.com: PHOTO: Lynne Spears’s Book Cover Revealed

I’m hoping this is a “how NOT to” book on parenting.
I still think the cover I made last year is a little better! (picture below)

For those of you in Indianapolis looking to go the Bodies the Exhibition, here’s some information that you might like to know.

Bodies are used without the consent of the deceased and may include bodies of executed Chinese political prisoners.

20/20 showed in their story on Bodies the Exhibition that the bodies may have been purchased on the black market.  The processing factory is a dilapidated building on the outside of Dalian, China, not a medical university as Premier Exhibition claims.

20/20 Video from YouTube
Part 1

Part 2

For much more information visit
Boycott Bodies the Exhibition Cincinnati
NoBodies4Profit
Stop Body Worlds and other exhibits of plasticized bodies
The Anti-BODIES Virtual Protest Site

My original article when I heard about Bodies the Exhibition was coming to Cincinnati.