Well, it's snowing. For the first time this year, we're getting snow in Louisville and the thing is, it's not sticking to the ground. As per norm, they're already warning of bad road conditions, even though they don't exist. At least we haven't had the salt storm yet.

I'm posting from my friend Steff's apartment in Columbus, OH today as I slowly make progress towards Pittsburgh for a friends wedding tomorrow. To top it off I'm running on about an hours sleep in the last 28 hours. But I'm not about to complain as the reasons I've been up have definately been worth every minute of it.

A few random notes:

1. LOTR: Two Towers Extended Edition - it was great and fixes/minimizes a lot of the issues people have been having with it.

2. Dodd Harris just celebrated his third blogiversary. If you haven't been reading his site, you should start.

3. Driving for three hours after going 22 hours without sleep can be a whole lot of fun.

Neil Cavuto: Cordially speaking, I hate you!

Well, another fraternity is possibly in trouble for a drinking competition. But wait, it's not alcohol, but a water drinking competition.

A 21-year-old student at Southern Methodist University remained hospitalized in critical condition Monday after chugging water in an off-campus competition with fraternity members.

Yes, that's right. Water. Good ol' H20.

Excessive consumption of water can be fatal, causing pulmonary edema, a condition where water enters the lungs, and hyponatremia, a sodium imbalance brought on by excess fluid consumption.

The average person can consume up to 15 liters of water in a 24-hour period, but drinking too much, too quickly can swell brain cells and cause head pressure, said Dr. Greg Blomquist, an emergency room doctor at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

Ok, now I know this isn't a laughing matter, but this is just plain nuts. If it's not one thing, it's another. . . It just further proves to me that alcohol on campus isn't the problem, it's the admissions standards. Too many schools are admiting absolute morons and the morons that join greek orgs do stupid stuff that manages to get put into the papers.

I'm not exactly sure what happened yet, but as the links on this page show, blogrolling appears to have been hacked. I have no clue who Laura is and hope this is sorted out soon. I've checked around and it appears to have effect every single blogroll in the system.

This is going to cause problems for a lot of bloggers today. I know many of them us it like I do, as a way to keep track of who's posting more often (to a point) and our own personal reading list. I don't even remember half the web addresses of the sites in my blogroll anymore to rebuild it because of how reliant I've become on it at least. Because of this I might just have to leave blogrolling altogether, which would be sad as it's been a good service overall up to this point.

UPDATE: Well, it turns out they really were hacked. Glad to see it back up and working properly.

The site might be going up and down to some people due to a problem I'm having with DNS. You can reach the site via the IP if need be, 69.56.173.103.

I was reading Saturday's CJ and saw this in the paper.

We have pushed for greater funding, for postsecondary education reforms and for the Bucks for Brains appropriations. We have supported U of L's research agenda, the McConnell Center for Political Leadership (although not the secrecy of its funding), the partnership with United Parcel Service and many, many other successes. (U of L and The C-J)

I didn't know they supported the McConnell Center in any form. It's not really a key point to the editorial, but I've never seen them do anything supportive and this really stuck out to me so I wanted to make sure.

I went to Lexis-Nexus and did a search of the CJ for any articles mentioning the McConnell Center for Political Leadership. Since June 30, 1999, the oldest entry that Lexis returned, there have been 65 articles with the McConnell Center mentioned in the article. Out of these there were a few that mentioned some major speakers that the Center brought to Louisville (Powell, Byrd, Thomas, etc...), one story about a few students at the Center that didn't really show any support for it either, a few Readers' Forums that mentioned the Center (one of which was remotely positive by making a suggestion to a CJ columnist, see more), and all the rest which amounted to about 50 of the articles discuss the Center's financing. Now, I'm wondering how the CJ supports the Center. Even the majority of the news stories on the speakers still contain some sort of swipe at the Center. Now, admitedly, this only goes back to 1999 and the Center was formed in 1991. So, maybe the support the CJ is talking about came during that time period. So, if you know of an article showing CJ's support, please let me know. I'm sure they'd like a framed copy of it down at the Center too.

July 3, 2001
CJ Readers' Forum
Baye's tax refund

Betty Winston Baye's June 21 column, "Bush Dollars,'' did its best to denigrate the $300 tax refund she will receive from the IRS. She offered no credit to President Bush and the Republicans for the refund, but indicated she will keep the money.

If this money so offends her, why not donate the entire $300 to the WHAS Crusade for Children or the McConnell Center for Political Leadership?

A $300 donation to the McConnell Center would allow The Courier-Journal to know the name of at least one contributor. On the other hand, she, too, may want to keep her contribution secret.

CARL KNEPP
Madisonville, Ky. 42431

I just noticed this link over at White Noize. The DOJ Office of Legal Policy has a site tracking Judicial Nominations.

Most of the quizes I've run across in the past week have been pretty dull, other than the always fun time wasters over at emode.com. But now, thanks to my usual source, I've found this one.

cuddle and a kiss on the forehead - you like to be
close to your special someone and feel warm,
comfortable, and needed What Sign of Affection Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Who doesn't like to feel warm, comfortable, and needed?

(via Classical Values)

Thomas Sowell has an article discussing the basic economic problems with things such as price controls on pharmaceuticals at Townhall.

Politicians who claim to be able to "bring down the cost of health care" are talking about bringing down the prices charged. But prices are not costs. Prices are what pay for costs.

No matter how much lower the government sets the prices paid to doctors, hospitals, or pharmaceutical drug manufacturers, none of this reduces the costs in the slightest.

It still takes just as much time, equipment, and training to turn a medical school student into a doctor. It still takes just as many hospitals to care for the sick. It still takes just as many years of scientific research and clinical trials to create a new medicine.

Those who are dying to control the prices of pharmaceutical drugs are oblivious to the fact that other people may be literally dying unnecessarily if they succeed. There is no free lunch, even though politicians get elected by promising free lunches.

RTWT.

Like promised, Tuesday Morning Quarterback has returned over at Football Outsiders.

To funny. . .

(via Ipse Dixit)

For one of the few times in the past six months I'm at peace. I like this feeling. I wish I had it more often and I'd like to thank my new friends at church for helping me find it by acting as what I believe to be God's agents.

Gregg Easterbrooks Tuesday Morning Quarterback will be returning to the web on November 11. I never read it that often, but I know some of my friends and readers of this site did. So, keep watch at that site for more information.

(via Ipse Dixit)

and there's no way that you'll proof to me that I am stubborn. Just forget about it.

You are a black cat, stubborn yet friendly, you
stick to your values and preferences, and no
one can convince you otherwise! You are the
legendary cat of mystery.

What color of cat are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I sometimes wonder where I'd find all these quizes if it wasn't for...

(via Classical Values)

Election Results for 2003 General Election.

• Governor & Lt. Governor
• Secretary of State
• Attorney General
• Auditor
• State Treasurer
• Comm. of Agriculture

For a complete list of results go here. Early results look pretty much the way I expected. Republicans are winning the Governor's and Ag. Comm. races while the Democrats are winning the rest. A couple of them are close though, so we'll see at the end of the night.

UPDATE: Here are the uncertified results with 100% of the precincts reporting:

For the judicial elections, still go to the link above.

Remember to vote today.

Well, I decided to go to church this morning instead of coming home and sleeping after work. I'm really glad that I did, especially after bible study. The Church of Latter Day Saints was the topic in the study today and those that know me know my love for this group. This cult has managed to get a large number of my extended family.

After the study I went to lunch with a portion of the group. It's always interesting to hear the stories of some of the people in my class. There are a lot of new christians in the singles/young adult group and a lot of single parents.

But due to me going to church/study/lunch I ended up staying up until around 5pm, which translates into me being awake at 5:30am now. At least I've had a chance to work on fixing some problems I've had with the computers, while listening to Frank, that I haven't been able to do here lately.

That wacky Dennis Miller. With bits like this, it's no wonder the California Republican Party wants to recruit him as a candidate against Barbara Boxer (D-PRCA).

The ACLU worked to postpone the California Recall, is fighting to get rid of public displays of the Ten Commandments, fighting against the Boy Scouts and for NAMBLA (search), the North American Man-Boy Love Association. Working to defend their rights! In short, on the wrong side of almost every issue. The American Civil Liberties Union is imploding and the wide array of life options it endorses seems to no longer include a belief in the traditional American way.

...

And they always bring up our forefathers and say they were civil libertarians. C’mon, our forefathers would have never tolerated any of this current-day crap. For God’s sake, they were blowin’ guys' heads off because they put a tax on their breakfast beverage! And it wasn’t even coffee! Imagine how nuts they would have been on a 4-shot espresso.

Let me get this straight. We don’t hate people who prey on children anymore? Did I miss a meeting? Well, if we’re not gonna go sling blade on predators just tell me cause if that’s the case I’m gonna go live in Alec Baldwinia.

Well, the ACLU doesn't hate anyone but us gun-toting conservatives. But I'd still skip on moving to "Alec Baldwinia."

From today's Business Digest in the Courier-Journal:

Norweigan court rejects smoker's suit

Norway's Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the tobacco industry was not responsible for a smoker's death from cancer in the country's first tobacco compensation lawsuit. Robet Lund died at age 67 in October 2000 from lung cancer. Before his death, he sued Norway's biggest tobacco company, Tiedemanns Tobaksfabrikk AS, alleging the company was aware of the health risks its products caused. He started smoking in 1953, more than 20 years before Norway banned tobacco advertising and required health warnings on packages in 1975. When lower courts rejected his claim, saying he could have quit smoking after he learned of the dangers, his widow, Unni Lund, appealed to the Supreme Court. In its unanimous ruling, the high court said knowledge of the risk of smoking was so widespread after 1964 "and was given so much attention in the media" that Lund must have known the dangers. The court said it remains up to the individual to decide whether to smoke. Tiedemanns spokesman Jan Robert Kvam said they were satisfied with the ruling, because it confirms that they sell legal products and that the ruling is likely to prevent a possible flood of similar cases. Lund's daughter, Jorun Elisabeth Lund , said the family was surprised and disappointed.

Now, it's nice to see some sanity exhibited by an overseas court. However, it just makes the idiocy of our own courts when it comes to tort litigation all the more evident. Since when did anything about personal responsibility ever come up in a Europe, the bastion of the nanny-state.