The top four finalists for the Heisman were announced today, with Tebow, McFadden, Daniel and Brennan making the cut. Of course, you may have noticed the glaring absence of Dennis Dixon (Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year), to which I give a hearty BOO-URNS. It’s not exactly unexpected, since Dixon missed the last three games, but it would have been nice. Oregon fans, of course, think it’s a grave injustice, but Dixon’s also getting some love from unexpected supporters.
Not to make a shameless plug, but this article from Thursday’s News Register will be interesting for you stoners out there. Oregon’s many narcotics teams are honing their skills of busting DTOs (drug-trafficking organizations); plant seizures are up 85 percent in the state from this time last year. State agencies believe they are slowing the surge of growers who have ventured north from California to Oregon, where the soil and weather are primo for growing grass and there is lots of shade to hide under.
California growers are feeling the heat, so are moving north. The push began several years ago in Southern Oregon timber country, but has begun to move on north into Oregon’s Coast Range timberlands.
A group (of white guys) has been distributing (actually selling for $10 a year) information regarding race tensions and social injustice in America. They had a number of provocative posters regarding political issues one of which read, “Free the Jena 6”. Needless to say, I was intrigued.
I walked up and engaged two of them in conversation:
Me: “So, what are you guys all about?”
Young Angry Kid: “Ending the social injustices of America and supporting black people in their plight.”
According to this Daily Tech blog entry, they have discovered a flaw in the NASA study that reported 1998 as the warmest year on record. In response, one of the NASA scientists who did the study admitted they screwed up, and the newly-corrected data now shows that 1934 is the warmest year on record, and five of the ten warmest years on record occurred before World War II.
“Global warming” has to be the one of the few topics where large groups of people blindly accept the results of studies often without independent confirmation or even peer review. Hopefully this revelation will result in a serious attempt at peer-review of popularly-accepted (I’m looking at you, Al Gore) climate studies.
I found thisstory on ESPN.com. Basically a rugby player in Australia went to the doctor’s complaining about headaches and the eye infection he had developed. After running a couple of tests, the doctor found the tooth of another player had been embedded in his head. The story ends with this quote:
“I can laugh about it now, but the doctor told me it could have been serious, with teeth carrying germs…I’ve got the tooth at home, sitting on the bedside table. If he wants it back he can have it. I’m keeping it at the moment as proof that it actually happened.”
Dress up. According to the Southern District of Florida Blog, the jurors in the Jose Padilla trial showed their patriotic fervor (if not their commitment to giving Mr Padilla a fair trial) by dressing up for work yesterday. Apparently, one row of jurors dressed entirely in red, another in white and the third all in blue. What better way to prove you aren’t on the terrorist’s side? (Hat Tip: Volokh Conspiracy)
Pardon someone. Thanks to President Bush’s deep and abiding commitment to the principles which made this country great, Lewis “Scooter” Libby will have plenty to celebrate this independence day. As usual, Blogometer has a ton of blogosphere reactions, ranging from KLo’s renewed enthusiasm for the Bush presidency (ugh), to Earl Blumenauer’s comparison of Libby to Paris Hilton (double ugh). Get some perspective on the issue by checking out the Families against Mandatory Minimums list of people who actually deserve commuted sentences (via Hit and Run)
I found this amusing series of pictures while wasting time on the Internets today. Watch as some Ruskies get a pig boozed up and shoot it into the sky. Hilarious!
Sadly, after some Googling, I found that the images are from a Russian mockumentary. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Russians–or our government, for that matter–actually shot animals from cannons in pre-Space Race experiments.
Someone left a dead newborn deer dressed up as a baby in a basket outside of a downtown theater. The outfit included a bib that read, “You think I’m cute? You should see my aunt.”
Eeesh. It seems like the stress of the city might be getting to someone. Also, this morbid stunt sounds like something right up Nice Pete’s alley.
In today’s Dirty, a Eugene resident named Mark Frisbee helps university/city relations by insulting college students. Now, why would a resident of the community insult college students? Could it be that the resident has problems with the parties that happen? Or the stench of multicultural groups as they whine and cajole about the latest Jesse Jackson stunt they’ve pulled? No, all he is complaining about is the opinion of one man on the plight of food.
The column in question was written by Tyler Graf, who talks about the culture of food and how the “food police” are basically spoiling it for everyone out in the world. Mr. Frisbee responds to Graf, stating “If it were not for you destroying the planet we share and inhumanely and unnecessarily taking the lives of animals simply to satisfy your taste buds, I would leave you to your own slow, artery-clogged death.” So, Frisbee starts off by citing the issue of the environment and connecting it with the direct consumption of meat by humans. Very Carrie Packwood-Freeman-ish, and also so very wrong.
The kicker in this piece, however, is the last sentences of the piece: “Get used to the “Food Police” being in your face. For as long as there are slow learners like yourself running around, there will the members of the “Food Police” there to guide you down the right path.” *gasp* Oh NO! The Food Gestapo is going to come and take me away for eating a steak in front of a vegan. Oh the humanity! Oh the horror!
The issue brings up a pet peeve of mine: other people telling me that I cannot eat what I want to eat because it affects others. Yes, I know that what I eat can affect others, but I do not care. I eat because I can. I eat because I must, in order to survive. I eat meat because I like it. For me, there is nothing like hickory-smoked venison, a side of yukon gold potatoes, some lightly steamed green beans, and a glass of red wine.
It is people like Mark Frisbee on this issue, Tipper Gore on the music industry, and others who are the problems…attempting to restrict people rather than letting them be individuals.
Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for me to kill a fish and have some sushi.
Barbara Handley, a local self-described “hardcore enviro-hippy-anarcho- primitivist-poet-goddess” steps outside of the standard Eugenian hippie dogma to support shopping at Wal-Mart. Well, to be more precise, she doesn’t endorse satisfying all your consumer needs at the big box retailer, but rather she points out that the local Wal-Mart Supercenter on West 11th Avenue provides a wide variety of organic and local foods. More importantly, these products are available at affordable prices, which is ideal for families living on limited incomes:
On[e] of my pet peeves, which I’ll be ranting about one of these days, is the way sustainability and healthly food are luxuries for the affluent in the U.S. Organic food is terribly expensive, bicycles and trailers for a family cost far, far more than an old beater car, and supporting small local shopowners may not be a realistic option for families who truly have no slack in their budget. Wal-mart makes it possible for people with lower incomes to buy locally produced organic food at prices that are comparable to conventional food. I’m quite honestly in favor of anything that makes sustainable options available to a larger group of people.
Barbara also provides a categorized list of all the organic and local foods found at our local Wal-Mart.
It seems like capitalism and radicalism can find some common ground here in Eugene.
Holy smokes. If you showed this video to any group of straight male freshmen here at the University, I think you’ll see a doubling, nay tripling, of journalism and French double majors. Does the J-school coordinate any international internships with French television?
The Oregon Commentator has received a $750 “Balance in Media” grant from the conservative organization, The Leadership Institute. The grant will be used, in part, to complete our computing upgrade.
Let us take a break from our discussion on college football and turn our attention to bees. Yes, bees. Ever thought about how honey is made? Yeah, it is kind of gross.
Fortunately, this post is not concerned with honey. It is about bees. More specifically, it is about bees, fire and explosions. Enjoy.
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Barbara Handley, a local self-described “hardcore enviro-hippy-anarcho- primitivist-poet-goddess” steps outside of the standard Eugenian hippie dogma to 
