Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Spoiler
These are supposedly the song choices for the women tonight:
1. Carly Smithson – “Crazy On You” by Heart
2. Syesha Mercado – “Me And Mr. Jones (changed from Mrs. to Mr.) by Billy Paul
3. Brooke White – “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon
4. Ramiele Malubay – “Don’t Leave Me This Way” by Thelma Houston
5. Kristy Lee Cook – “You’re No Good” by Linda Ronstadt
6. Amanda Overmyer – “Carry On My Wayward Son” by Kansas
7. Alaina Whitaker – “Hopelessly Devoted To You” by Olivia Newton-John
8. Alexandrea Lushington – “If You Leave Me Now” by Chicago
9. Kady Malloy – “Magic Man” by Heart
10. Asia’h Epperson – "All By Myself" by Celine Dion
1. Carly Smithson – “Crazy On You” by Heart
2. Syesha Mercado – “Me And Mr. Jones (changed from Mrs. to Mr.) by Billy Paul
3. Brooke White – “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon
4. Ramiele Malubay – “Don’t Leave Me This Way” by Thelma Houston
5. Kristy Lee Cook – “You’re No Good” by Linda Ronstadt
6. Amanda Overmyer – “Carry On My Wayward Son” by Kansas
7. Alaina Whitaker – “Hopelessly Devoted To You” by Olivia Newton-John
8. Alexandrea Lushington – “If You Leave Me Now” by Chicago
9. Kady Malloy – “Magic Man” by Heart
10. Asia’h Epperson – "All By Myself" by Celine Dion
If I Had to Pick a Bottom Three this Week
It would be Luke Menard, Jason Yeager and Danny Noriega.
Listen: David Archuleta obviously stood out with his rendition of Imagine, a song I've hated ever since it was recorded. But David did it quite well and with poise. Michael Johns, Go Your Own Way, Robbie Carrico, Hot Blooded and Chikezie, I Believe to My Soul (never heard that one before) were all adequate - nothing special, not particularly bad - middle of the road. None of the three had the "wow factor" if I may use the cliche.
On the other hand, I liked Jason Castro's rendition of I Just Want to Be Your Everything, though it actually took me a few minutes to identify the song. It's one of those songs I'm happy to never hear again. However, Jason's version had a David Gray-ish feel to it, and I think that it was a good performance. I suspect Randy was right when he said that without the guitar, the vocals would have been week.
David Hernandez, Papa Was a Rolling Stone was one I mostly missed due to boredom with all the commercial time - I think more time was devoted to hawking products than singing last night. What I did hear of it was pretty good.
David Cook, All Right Now, was throwback all the way. He doesn't seem very comfortable on stage and doesn't come across as particularly personable. But he handled the song and guitar quite well. The rest can come with seasoning.
That leaves the first three I mentioned.
Danny Noriega is a bit too winsome for me, too foppish. He didn't do anything special with Superstar, so it came across as strictly a Carpenters cover.
Luke Menard did not do Killer Queen any favors. The real irony there was that as a singer in an a capella group, he said his vocals had to be perfect all the time. He should have picked a song that didn't have so many vocal gymnastics.
Jason Yeager, Long Train Running, I loved the song when it came out originally, and Yeager's version was passable. But it wasn't really much more than a Holiday Inn cover band version.
Overall, there seems to be a better level of singing talent among the guys this year, but less personality. Can't really find one I like a lot.
Same is true with the women.
Listen: David Archuleta obviously stood out with his rendition of Imagine, a song I've hated ever since it was recorded. But David did it quite well and with poise. Michael Johns, Go Your Own Way, Robbie Carrico, Hot Blooded and Chikezie, I Believe to My Soul (never heard that one before) were all adequate - nothing special, not particularly bad - middle of the road. None of the three had the "wow factor" if I may use the cliche.
On the other hand, I liked Jason Castro's rendition of I Just Want to Be Your Everything, though it actually took me a few minutes to identify the song. It's one of those songs I'm happy to never hear again. However, Jason's version had a David Gray-ish feel to it, and I think that it was a good performance. I suspect Randy was right when he said that without the guitar, the vocals would have been week.
David Hernandez, Papa Was a Rolling Stone was one I mostly missed due to boredom with all the commercial time - I think more time was devoted to hawking products than singing last night. What I did hear of it was pretty good.
David Cook, All Right Now, was throwback all the way. He doesn't seem very comfortable on stage and doesn't come across as particularly personable. But he handled the song and guitar quite well. The rest can come with seasoning.
That leaves the first three I mentioned.
Danny Noriega is a bit too winsome for me, too foppish. He didn't do anything special with Superstar, so it came across as strictly a Carpenters cover.
Luke Menard did not do Killer Queen any favors. The real irony there was that as a singer in an a capella group, he said his vocals had to be perfect all the time. He should have picked a song that didn't have so many vocal gymnastics.
Jason Yeager, Long Train Running, I loved the song when it came out originally, and Yeager's version was passable. But it wasn't really much more than a Holiday Inn cover band version.
Overall, there seems to be a better level of singing talent among the guys this year, but less personality. Can't really find one I like a lot.
Same is true with the women.
Monday, February 25, 2008
When Cooler Minds Prevail
From: http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=332289
Forget global warming: Welcome to the new Ice Age
Lorne Gunter, National Post Published: Monday, February 25, 2008
Snow cover over North America and much of Siberia, Mongolia and China is greater than at any time since 1966.
The U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported that many American cities and towns suffered record cold temperatures in January and early February. According to the NCDC, the average temperature in January "was -0.3 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average."
China is surviving its most brutal winter in a century. Temperatures in the normally balmy south were so low for so long that some middle-sized cities went days and even weeks without electricity because once power lines had toppled it was too cold or too icy to repair them.
There have been so many snow and ice storms in Ontario and Quebec in the past two months that the real estate market has felt the pinch as home buyers have stayed home rather than venturing out looking for new houses.
In just the first two weeks of February, Toronto received 70 cm of snow, smashing the record of 66.6 cm for the entire month set back in the pre-SUV, pre-Kyoto, pre-carbon footprint days of 1950.
And remember the Arctic Sea ice? The ice we were told so hysterically last fall had melted to its "lowest levels on record? Never mind that those records only date back as far as 1972 and that there is anthropological and geological evidence of much greater melts in the past.
The ice is back.
Gilles Langis, a senior forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service in Ottawa, says the Arctic winter has been so severe the ice has not only recovered, it is actually 10 to 20 cm thicker in many places than at this time last year.
OK, so one winter does not a climate make. It would be premature to claim an Ice Age is looming just because we have had one of our most brutal winters in decades.
But if environmentalists and environment reporters can run around shrieking about the manmade destruction of the natural order every time a robin shows up on Georgian Bay two weeks early, then it is at least fair game to use this winter's weather stories to wonder whether the alarmist are being a tad premature.
And it's not just anecdotal evidence that is piling up against the climate-change dogma.
According to Robert Toggweiler of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton University and Joellen Russell, assistant professor of biogeochemical dynamics at the University of Arizona -- two prominent climate modellers -- the computer models that show polar ice-melt cooling the oceans, stopping the circulation of warm equatorial water to northern latitudes and triggering another Ice Age (a la the movie The Day After Tomorrow) are all wrong.
"We missed what was right in front of our eyes," says Prof. Russell. It's not ice melt but rather wind circulation that drives ocean currents northward from the tropics. Climate models until now have not properly accounted for the wind's effects on ocean circulation, so researchers have compensated by over-emphasizing the role of manmade warming on polar ice melt.
But when Profs. Toggweiler and Russell rejigged their model to include the 40-year cycle of winds away from the equator (then back towards it again), the role of ocean currents bringing warm southern waters to the north was obvious in the current Arctic warming.
Last month, Oleg Sorokhtin, a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, shrugged off manmade climate change as "a drop in the bucket." Showing that solar activity has entered an inactive phase, Prof. Sorokhtin advised people to "stock up on fur coats."
He is not alone. Kenneth Tapping of our own National Research Council, who oversees a giant radio telescope focused on the sun, is convinced we are in for a long period of severely cold weather if sunspot activity does not pick up soon.
The last time the sun was this inactive, Earth suffered the Little Ice Age that lasted about five centuries and ended in 1850. Crops failed through killer frosts and drought. Famine, plague and war were widespread. Harbours froze, so did rivers, and trade ceased.
It's way too early to claim the same is about to happen again, but then it's way too early for the hysteria of the global warmers, too.
lgunter@shaw.ca
Forget global warming: Welcome to the new Ice Age
Lorne Gunter, National Post Published: Monday, February 25, 2008
Snow cover over North America and much of Siberia, Mongolia and China is greater than at any time since 1966.
The U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported that many American cities and towns suffered record cold temperatures in January and early February. According to the NCDC, the average temperature in January "was -0.3 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average."
China is surviving its most brutal winter in a century. Temperatures in the normally balmy south were so low for so long that some middle-sized cities went days and even weeks without electricity because once power lines had toppled it was too cold or too icy to repair them.
There have been so many snow and ice storms in Ontario and Quebec in the past two months that the real estate market has felt the pinch as home buyers have stayed home rather than venturing out looking for new houses.
In just the first two weeks of February, Toronto received 70 cm of snow, smashing the record of 66.6 cm for the entire month set back in the pre-SUV, pre-Kyoto, pre-carbon footprint days of 1950.
And remember the Arctic Sea ice? The ice we were told so hysterically last fall had melted to its "lowest levels on record? Never mind that those records only date back as far as 1972 and that there is anthropological and geological evidence of much greater melts in the past.
The ice is back.
Gilles Langis, a senior forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service in Ottawa, says the Arctic winter has been so severe the ice has not only recovered, it is actually 10 to 20 cm thicker in many places than at this time last year.
OK, so one winter does not a climate make. It would be premature to claim an Ice Age is looming just because we have had one of our most brutal winters in decades.
But if environmentalists and environment reporters can run around shrieking about the manmade destruction of the natural order every time a robin shows up on Georgian Bay two weeks early, then it is at least fair game to use this winter's weather stories to wonder whether the alarmist are being a tad premature.
And it's not just anecdotal evidence that is piling up against the climate-change dogma.
According to Robert Toggweiler of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton University and Joellen Russell, assistant professor of biogeochemical dynamics at the University of Arizona -- two prominent climate modellers -- the computer models that show polar ice-melt cooling the oceans, stopping the circulation of warm equatorial water to northern latitudes and triggering another Ice Age (a la the movie The Day After Tomorrow) are all wrong.
"We missed what was right in front of our eyes," says Prof. Russell. It's not ice melt but rather wind circulation that drives ocean currents northward from the tropics. Climate models until now have not properly accounted for the wind's effects on ocean circulation, so researchers have compensated by over-emphasizing the role of manmade warming on polar ice melt.
But when Profs. Toggweiler and Russell rejigged their model to include the 40-year cycle of winds away from the equator (then back towards it again), the role of ocean currents bringing warm southern waters to the north was obvious in the current Arctic warming.
Last month, Oleg Sorokhtin, a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, shrugged off manmade climate change as "a drop in the bucket." Showing that solar activity has entered an inactive phase, Prof. Sorokhtin advised people to "stock up on fur coats."
He is not alone. Kenneth Tapping of our own National Research Council, who oversees a giant radio telescope focused on the sun, is convinced we are in for a long period of severely cold weather if sunspot activity does not pick up soon.
The last time the sun was this inactive, Earth suffered the Little Ice Age that lasted about five centuries and ended in 1850. Crops failed through killer frosts and drought. Famine, plague and war were widespread. Harbours froze, so did rivers, and trade ceased.
It's way too early to claim the same is about to happen again, but then it's way too early for the hysteria of the global warmers, too.
lgunter@shaw.ca
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
American Idol - 60s Night - Guys
Actually a pretty good night overall. No major blips, an even spread of ability with some standing out from the others. A kind of homogenous crowd at this point; don't see a lot of strong style differences. Hopefully those will surface eventually.
Here's a few thoughts about last night: (Without having taken any notes and being sick to boot, this is all from memory. Maybe that's not a bad thing. See who stands out and why)
Chikezie - hate the one name name (re: Mandisa). Good singer, took a song I didn't think much of and stylized it - fit the mood (unlike what Simon said).
Colton Berry - don't like. Hope he's gone soon.
Danny Noriega - projects himself as a very unlikeable person. Won't be around long.
David Archuleta - I didn't think as highly of his performance as the judges did, but I've always contended they see something different live than we do over a TV screen. Overall, though, he has pipes and he's likeable and it's a good start.
David Cook - don't remember, don't think I saw his.
David Hernandez - don't remember. If he led off, I thought it was pretty good.
Garrett Haley - hate the hair, hate the voice. Too 70s effeminate.
Jason Castro - liked his guitarship and singing. I could see him heading a band after some seasoning.
Jason Yeager - I know I saw his and I can't remember what it was.
Luke Menard - good looker, good voice, dull.
Michael Johns - charismatic, great stage sense, excellent vocal tones. May be the #1 guy.
Robbie Carrico - missed his performance.
That's all for now.
I don't know how much I'll be doing this this year. I'll just go with whatever flow comes my way.
Ryan Seacrest has a wicked small head.
Here's a few thoughts about last night: (Without having taken any notes and being sick to boot, this is all from memory. Maybe that's not a bad thing. See who stands out and why)
Chikezie - hate the one name name (re: Mandisa). Good singer, took a song I didn't think much of and stylized it - fit the mood (unlike what Simon said).
Colton Berry - don't like. Hope he's gone soon.
Danny Noriega - projects himself as a very unlikeable person. Won't be around long.
David Archuleta - I didn't think as highly of his performance as the judges did, but I've always contended they see something different live than we do over a TV screen. Overall, though, he has pipes and he's likeable and it's a good start.
David Cook - don't remember, don't think I saw his.
David Hernandez - don't remember. If he led off, I thought it was pretty good.
Garrett Haley - hate the hair, hate the voice. Too 70s effeminate.
Jason Castro - liked his guitarship and singing. I could see him heading a band after some seasoning.
Jason Yeager - I know I saw his and I can't remember what it was.
Luke Menard - good looker, good voice, dull.
Michael Johns - charismatic, great stage sense, excellent vocal tones. May be the #1 guy.
Robbie Carrico - missed his performance.
That's all for now.
I don't know how much I'll be doing this this year. I'll just go with whatever flow comes my way.
Ryan Seacrest has a wicked small head.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
I'm Really Beginning to Hate Doctors
Doctors have annoyed me for a long time.
I grew up with a long history of ear infections. I know when they're coming on and what's going to happen.
When I was in the Army - basic training to be exact - I had to go on sick leave for an ear infection. (Leave, in this situation, just meant you got to leave your barracks area to go to where the medical building was located). The NCO writing down the reasons for peoples' sick leave requests asked me why I wanted to go. I replied I had an ear infection. He asked me how I knew. I told him I had a lot of them growing up, so I was quite familiar with them. He asked me if a doctor had already diagnosed it (which is a silly question as I hadn't gone on sick leave yet), and I said no. Then he asked me again how I knew it was an ear infection. Seeing the futility of staying on this very witty course of logic started by the NCO, I immediately stated, "I don't know Sgt." That seemed to turn a switch off, and he gave me the pass I sought.
I figured it was just someone being a jerk to us lower enlisted which would be typical in basic training. But the doctor, himself, was no better.
In fact, we almost had the same conversation verbatim. Then, once I said "I don't know Dr." he sat back and informed me I had an ear infection.
Turns out civilian doctors aren't much better. I've run into similar situations before, the most recent was today.
I called the doctor's office to ask if he would prescribe me an antibiotic as I had a draining ear infection for a couple days now. The receptionist told me I would have to come in and be seen by the doctor. I suppose there are good reasons for that, but it's not like I was asking for oxycontin or codeine. Just amoxycillin.
When she told me that, I asked, a little piqued, "So he can tell me I have an ear infection that's draining?"
She said, "Yes."
There has got to be a better way. It's not as if I have something that is masquerading as an ear infection and really involves my pancreas in a secretly destructive deal with my liver. But all I can see is the medical establishment (yes, I know how they are trying to cover their rear ends from litigation at every turn) collecting the office visit fee because they refuse to acknowledge, from their records, that this sort of thing isn't uncommon for this particular patient!
Frankly, it's why I don't go to the doctor much.
At least one of the reasons.
I grew up with a long history of ear infections. I know when they're coming on and what's going to happen.
When I was in the Army - basic training to be exact - I had to go on sick leave for an ear infection. (Leave, in this situation, just meant you got to leave your barracks area to go to where the medical building was located). The NCO writing down the reasons for peoples' sick leave requests asked me why I wanted to go. I replied I had an ear infection. He asked me how I knew. I told him I had a lot of them growing up, so I was quite familiar with them. He asked me if a doctor had already diagnosed it (which is a silly question as I hadn't gone on sick leave yet), and I said no. Then he asked me again how I knew it was an ear infection. Seeing the futility of staying on this very witty course of logic started by the NCO, I immediately stated, "I don't know Sgt." That seemed to turn a switch off, and he gave me the pass I sought.
I figured it was just someone being a jerk to us lower enlisted which would be typical in basic training. But the doctor, himself, was no better.
In fact, we almost had the same conversation verbatim. Then, once I said "I don't know Dr." he sat back and informed me I had an ear infection.
Turns out civilian doctors aren't much better. I've run into similar situations before, the most recent was today.
I called the doctor's office to ask if he would prescribe me an antibiotic as I had a draining ear infection for a couple days now. The receptionist told me I would have to come in and be seen by the doctor. I suppose there are good reasons for that, but it's not like I was asking for oxycontin or codeine. Just amoxycillin.
When she told me that, I asked, a little piqued, "So he can tell me I have an ear infection that's draining?"
She said, "Yes."
There has got to be a better way. It's not as if I have something that is masquerading as an ear infection and really involves my pancreas in a secretly destructive deal with my liver. But all I can see is the medical establishment (yes, I know how they are trying to cover their rear ends from litigation at every turn) collecting the office visit fee because they refuse to acknowledge, from their records, that this sort of thing isn't uncommon for this particular patient!
Frankly, it's why I don't go to the doctor much.
At least one of the reasons.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
AI 2008
Kyle... is he this year's Sanjaya or Chicken Little?
Have to see if he makes it into the top 24.
I'm betting he does.
UPDATE: None of the "Top 24 leaks" I've seen include Kyle's name, so apparently he didn't make it? They are just rumors, but, hey, you never know.
If it's true, it's too bad. Every season needs a Mr. Goofy IMO.
Have to see if he makes it into the top 24.
I'm betting he does.
UPDATE: None of the "Top 24 leaks" I've seen include Kyle's name, so apparently he didn't make it? They are just rumors, but, hey, you never know.
If it's true, it's too bad. Every season needs a Mr. Goofy IMO.
Friday, February 8, 2008
McCain?
Guess I'm going to have to sit this one out
or
write in the name of a friend of mine. Hey Micah! Want a vote for President?
I mean, really, all the best candidates have dropped out on the Republican side leaving only McCain and Huckabee. What a choice! I'd rather burn my tongue on hot coffee.
I guess Paul is still in the running, too. But he's barely a blip on the radar screen. No delegates for him!
On the other side of the aisle is Obama and Clinton, and I frankly don't see any good choices from either party running now. More's the pity.
I find McCain bothersome because he claims he wants to reach across the aisle and work with the Democrats. Well he's been doing it so long now already that he may as well move in with them. C'mon John, you make that claim but seem to forget G.W.B. doing the same which brought us the ludicrous "No Child Left Behind" with old Teddy.....
and they still ended up stabbing W in the back.
What's wrong with you McCain? All you seem to want to do is cozy up to the opposition party. You are no maverick, despite what you may giddily consider yourself. You aren't really a Republican, either. At the very least, you are no conservative.
The whole selection process for Pres has become a parody of itself. And the candidates are nothing more than puppets, getting more and more puppetier as we close in on the conventions.
I think you really have to have a lust for power to run for President. I can't see any other reason to do it any more.
or
write in the name of a friend of mine. Hey Micah! Want a vote for President?
I mean, really, all the best candidates have dropped out on the Republican side leaving only McCain and Huckabee. What a choice! I'd rather burn my tongue on hot coffee.
I guess Paul is still in the running, too. But he's barely a blip on the radar screen. No delegates for him!
On the other side of the aisle is Obama and Clinton, and I frankly don't see any good choices from either party running now. More's the pity.
I find McCain bothersome because he claims he wants to reach across the aisle and work with the Democrats. Well he's been doing it so long now already that he may as well move in with them. C'mon John, you make that claim but seem to forget G.W.B. doing the same which brought us the ludicrous "No Child Left Behind" with old Teddy.....
and they still ended up stabbing W in the back.
What's wrong with you McCain? All you seem to want to do is cozy up to the opposition party. You are no maverick, despite what you may giddily consider yourself. You aren't really a Republican, either. At the very least, you are no conservative.
The whole selection process for Pres has become a parody of itself. And the candidates are nothing more than puppets, getting more and more puppetier as we close in on the conventions.
I think you really have to have a lust for power to run for President. I can't see any other reason to do it any more.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Super Bowl XLII
Give the New York Giants' defense their chops.
They won the game.
Strahan and company held the Patriots to 14 points for four quarters. Only two touchdowns.
The Patriots defense didn't fare badly. The 17 points they allowed the Giants was by most accounts beatable based upon all the other games played this year.
But the Giants harassed Brady, penetrating the offensive line time and again forcing Brady to the ground or at least to throw garbage. The Patriots looked tired. They looked like old men at the end of a long, grueling season.
Many of them are old men by NFL standards.
It's OK. The Patriots have their share of ribbons and trophies and glory through this millennium. However, Super Bowl XLII made them look like mere mortals.
I doubt they will win it again.
They won the game.
Strahan and company held the Patriots to 14 points for four quarters. Only two touchdowns.
The Patriots defense didn't fare badly. The 17 points they allowed the Giants was by most accounts beatable based upon all the other games played this year.
But the Giants harassed Brady, penetrating the offensive line time and again forcing Brady to the ground or at least to throw garbage. The Patriots looked tired. They looked like old men at the end of a long, grueling season.
Many of them are old men by NFL standards.
It's OK. The Patriots have their share of ribbons and trophies and glory through this millennium. However, Super Bowl XLII made them look like mere mortals.
I doubt they will win it again.
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