Romney winning Michigan is a little surprising, but then I say that as someone who picked him to win the state a few weeks back, only to later doubt my own pick. The reports said a lot of his votes came from the affluent Michigan suburbs, which would make sense because I really don’t see him ever connecting with middle-middle-, lower-middle- and impoverished-class voters. The dude is just way too inauthentic and screams “privileged guy” too loudly. I think the rest of the Michigan GOP must have been split evenly between McCain and Huckabee and allowed Romney to hook it up.
Opinion: Chuck Brown and Fugazi are the best musical acts to come from D.C. Your thoughts? Not that it matters, being that I’m right. I’ll make a possible exception for Minor Threat, but that was Ian MacKaye too, so in that case you’re just debating MacKaye-led bands.
The water heater died yesterday in our apartment building, so I had to heat up a pot of water and bathe with that, a washcloth and a bar of soap. I felt and smelled just as clean as I would have been following a regular shower, and the whole thing was strangely invigorating, which is probably because I was freezing my ass off as the water cooled between rinses. Still, if we someday have to go back to nineteenth-century life, I think I could handle it in the bathing department. Although if I did have to go back to the 1800s, I’d miss cryingwhileeating.com.
Jeremiah pointed to this a while back, but talking about D.C. made me remember that it won for coolest city flag. I happen to think Phoenix and Wichita should be ranked higher and Denver lower, and would like to ask what exactly Provo was thinking.
I got the good news on Friday: I’ll be heading this fall to the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan to be part of the class of 2010.
I mentioned this fall that application essays were sapping my blogging resolve, so now yinz know what that was about. I’m definitely relieved to hear I was accepted, and more than that, I’m psyched to start grad school. I’m also hoping I don’t revert too much back to undergrad, but I don’t think business school students tend to beard-out quite as much as your average 20-year-old junior. (Note: that photo is of Microsoft’s staff in 1978, but it’s so awesome that I had to link it.)
“But Stack,” you may be saying, “where’d this MBA idea come from? I thought you were a web media guy.” You’re right: I am a web-media guy, and on first glance, it might be confusing. But the longer I’ve been doing what I do, the more I’ve realized an MBA is a solid idea.
I’m all about the success of online media: the format is still new, and media companies are finding their way through the changed climate, so it can be a scary thing for those steering the media to where it needs to be. Good websites are built on three legs — content, technology and business — and having worked a lot on the first two, I knew that strengthening the third one would help me out in the field. There’s a lot of harsh rhetoric on both sides about who’s going to “win” in the new / old media divide, but non-suckas know that it’s a mutually beneficial relationship up in this. Both old and new media need knowledgeable people to help guide the industry along and use the web’s opportunities. That’s where I’m coming from.
Journalists have long believed very strongly in the separation of business and editorial, and I share that opinion. But I think there’s a definite role for website managers who can navigate both sides of the field: an appreciation for the vital democratic role of the media with the ability to keep the site economically thriving is what’s needed here, and in a nutshell, I’m going to b-school to play that role.
And for the record, I’m agnostic on the football question right now. Sure, Michigan will help with future success, but I lived in Columbus from ages zero to one-month, my mom’s family is all over Central Ohio, and I can hardly turn my back on the greatest NU football moment of all time:
I thought I would share this Yelp.com review that I wrote for the WMATA. I was particularly inspired after calling four times today to fix a Smartcard problem and never being able to reach a human being:
“You know, when I first moved here, I looked at the concrete archway stations and green/red lights that make up the Metro platforms and thought, “Wow, this transit system looks mad cool, like an early ’80s dystopian sci-fi flick in the vein of ‘Blade Runner’ or ‘Aliens’.”
But two years of Metrorail has brought the analogy full-circle: today I see the Washington Metro Transit Authority as a restrictive facehugger, wrapping its spiny appendages around the area’s commuter throat to spawn a series of acid-blooded delays, chest-burstingly high fares, and unresponsive customer service that makes you want to jump into a furnace only to be implausibly cloned 200 years later.
One extra star though for air-conditioned platforms. Those are nice.”
We’re now up to three Democrats who’ve dropped out — Bill Richardson having dropped yesterday, who was preceded by Chris Dodd and Joe Biden. So, I thought I’d state my preference now for Biden as Secretary of State should the next administration be Democratic.
Biden is pretty high on himself — note how often he appears on TV — and he did vote for that 2005 bankruptcy bill that helped out the always-needy credit-card companies. (Looking at the voting list, I note that Clinton didn’t vote one way or the other on that highly controversial bill. Interesting!)
But the thing is, every time I see Biden on TV, I find myself agreeing with nearly everything he says. The guy clearly knows his foreign-policy stuff, and assuming he actually means it, I like that he’s made noise about sparking a constitutional war-powers crisis should the President attack Iran. He also is down for a federalized pseudo-partition of Iraq, which I still think is the best hope for a settlement.
Biden would make an excellent Secretary of State. I think he probably ran for President for that exact reason: he’s got to be self-aware enough to know that he wouldn’t match up with the heavy hitters, but he got his name out there in the public eye as someone who’s serious about the executive branch. So let’s get all up on it.
The big story around DC, in the wake of Joe Gibbs’ retirement, has been the search for a new Redskins coach. People are mentioning Russ Grimm and Jason Garrett, but the name that’s getting the biggest play is Bill Cowher. There were three subway workers sitting behind me on a bench today, and they were discussing just how much they want Cowher as the new Skins coach.
Though Bill’s denying that he’ll come back in 2008, I don’t doubt that Dan Snyder is crazy enough to throw around the type of money that will make Cowher say, “You know, I’ll look like I’m completely going back on my word, but for $15 million per season, I’ll be happy to flash my new choppers around Jack Kent Cooke Stadium. Not to mention I get to coach Antwaan Randle El again, and enjoy the hilarity that is Clinton Portis.”
Should the Redskins ever play in Pittsburgh with Cowher as the Skins coach, there’s no question that Cowher will be booed unmercifully and at maximum volume. “But the guy gave them a Super Bowl victory and 21 playoff games in 15 years,” you say. Yes, but remember you’re talking about the “What have you done for me lately?” sports capital of the greater Rust Belt region. Once-popular-Steeler (and airplane homie of mine) Joey Porter was roundly booed this year, and he didn’t even leave the team of his own accord.
My question is for the non-Pittsburgh fans out there: is this unique to Pittsburgh, or would your fans boo a returning coach in a new uniform as well, even if the coach had won you a Super Bowl? Let’s say Brian Billick becomes the Bengals’ new coach: do the Baltimore fans boo and/or stab him?
On second thought, they’d clearly stab him, since they were glad to see him go and stabbing is what Ravens do. But you get the point.
Clinton’s win today is supposedly a shocking victory, but I had called that one in my work primary pool. (I also called Obama winning Iowa. What.) I think the “crying” episode put her over the top: humanization was clearly exactly what she needed.
Speaking of that video, am I the only one who doesn’t think she actually cried? The commentary I read made it sound like she pulled a “Leave Britney alone!”, yet after watching the video three times I still can barely discern the parts where her voice supposedly breaks:
I did find it to be strikingly emotional and personal for her, and that’s true whether you believe it was staged or not. (My vote: not staged.)
And how stage-managed do people really have to believe you to be when there’s a big debate as to whether you genuinely show emotion or not? If I got up on stage and punched a dude in the face, I’m pretty sure you all wouldn’t be like, “Well, did he actually not like the guy, or did he just do this as a ploy to show his fist-forming abilities to the masses? It’s hard to say!”
And did you know the “Leave Britney alone” commentator is a dude? I think I was the last person in the country to learn this.
McCain won. Good for him. And where is Giuliani? He seems to have assumed the Fred Thompson role of just hanging out and figuring he’s cool enough to get votes anyway. I know he’s gunning for later states, but completely ignoring the first two primaries is pretty weird.
I predicted in my pool that the two winners today will be the ultimate nominees. But, we’ll see.
I don’t know how many of you have played the newest PS2 installment of Guitar Hero, but it has this horrible feature called Guitar Battle where you play against a boss and win by sabotaging the other dude’s guitar. (editor’s note: ?) Take the concept of fun, turn it upside down, and that’s pretty much how this part of the game works.
Guitar Hero III does have a phat song selection, including the baddest-ass leftist protest song ever, “Bulls on Parade”. But as for the battle, I call it the worst offense toward an awesome video game franchise since Contra: Legacy of War.
Minneapolis is running a corporate 1-mile tonight. One mile? 8 hours ago
This shelf is all Irish whiskies. The Local is the best bar EVER. @ The Local http://t.co/YBEz7cDl9 hours ago
RT @grossdm: To: corporate america. If you've got a big trading loss, environmental disaster, or just want to fire your ceo - do it tomo ... 12 hours ago
I thought I would share this 
The big story around DC, in the wake of 
