The electric egg scrambler led me to mr_bits, a prolific writer of hilarious reviews on Amazon. Here's his take on AIA Guide to New York City:
While doing research for my inventions, I find that a good book is priceless. I believe this book to be one of the best metropolitan guides that I've ever run across. Complete detail of all five buroughs is at your fingertips here. There is alot of info based around the architectural style of the city, but what else defines a city more so than the edifices that line its streets? With a plethora of detailed pictures, you'll find that it's a lot easier to find your way around. This can be unbelievably crucial to your survival. I think you'll enjoy the bemusing stories that make the city more that just concrete, but rather part of a greater gestalt of people, stories and the lives that contain them. This book greatly accelerated the research of my latest project, "The Security Wallet-Pant". Once in New York I perused the pages of said book and quickly found the high crime areas I would need to test "The Security Pant-Wallet". "The Security Wallet-Pant" is a special Pant made entirely out of the soft, supple leather of used wallets. You'll notice I called them a Pant, not a pair of pants. I never liked the unecessary pluralization. I made the "The Security Wallet-Pant" out of necessity after having my wallet stolen 4 times. The idea behind "The Security Wallet-Pant" is to confuse would-be theives to the point of grand confusion leading to them ulitimately giving up. I strapped on "The Security Wallet-Pant" and made my way for the mean streets of the Big Apple. Within minutes "The Security Wallet-Pant" was being put to the test. Thankfully, New York City is one place where you can catch a cab, pant-less.
While browsing about on Amazon I came upon a most intriguing device, the Ronco ROES Inside-The-Shell Electric Egg Scrambler. Yes, it actually scrambles eggs in their shells. And it's only $24.99! Imagine the novelty of eating a boiled egg that has no pesky sulfurous yolk in the center. Sadly, it doesn't cook the egg for you, like some other more practical machines.
Curious though I may be about these egg cooking contraptions, I remain skeptical that any device can cook a soft-boiled egg as well as my father. He is the Egg Man. They come out of the shell whole, no egg cup required, but with a luscious bright-yellow yolk, cooked to a perfect al dente and surrounded by a white as soft as custard. Someday I hope to have the patience to match such perfection. I've followed his instructions, of course, but I'm convinced they must only apply at or below sea level. I always end up with either of two things-- non-boiled eggs that are half-raw and runny or too-chewy hard-boiled eggs with chalky green-rimmed yolks. Edible, perhaps, but hardly worth getting my hopes up that this time I've finally gotten it right.
This discussion on the future of the Democratic Party between Joe Klein and Robert Reich in Slate looks promising. Here's Klein:
Last week, Nancy Pelosi—the very sort of political anachronism the party should studiously avoid—launched her campaign for House minority leader with a self-delusional whopper: "The Republicans are the party of the special interests," she said. "The Democrats are the party of the people." What nonsense. It was the Democratic Party's obeisance to its special interests—specifically, to the public employees unions, the trial lawyers, and the AARP—that helped lose the election. Organized labor forced the party's disastrously witless position against the homeland security bill. The trial lawyers insisted that punitive damages be included in the terrorism insurance bill. The AARP has backed the Democrats' foolish and expensive prescription drug plan. (The Republican plan, which targets only those seniors who can't afford to buy their medicine, is, literally, far more progressive—as you know, Bob, a version of this plan has been successfully implemented in Massachusetts.)The point is, Democrats too often let their interest groups get in the way of progress and equity. The labor movement, once righteous, has become one of the most reactionary forces in American life. Labor's position against free trade would impose a massive, regressive consumer tax on the poor and middle classes (check out this piece in Foreign Affairs). The teachers unions protect incompetence and inflexibility in the schools. The trial lawyers' insistence on punitive malpractice damages fuels the rocketing cost of health care. The AARP favors robbing our children to pay our parents (and to pay us, baby boomers, soon)—obviously, benefits to the elderly, who are the most prosperous demographic group in the country, should be targeted toward those who need help most.
Can you imagine Slate ever fretting over the future of the Republican Party, though?
I got the new , sea change, the other day, and I can't remember the last time I so regretted a cd purchase. If it had come out fifteen years earlier, I might have worn it out, like my cassette copy of The Wall. But now that I'm out of high school and even have a car, I must admit that life is not so bad. If you don't feel enthused about wallowing in the once-ironic one's post-breakup misery, I cannot recommend buying it. Unless, that is, you might want to take this copy off my hands. Six bucks.
Houston Chronicle reports on the different responses the Universities of Texas and Houston had to recent challenges to their campus free speech policies. The controversies on both campuses stem from a large anti-abortion exhibit that pro-life groups at UT and UH sponsored. I saw the exhibit when it was here in Austin and wondered what the fuss was about. If you're in favor of abortion, why flinch at a photograph of what you're actually fighting for? The pictures were indeed somewhat gory, but one needs to understand the womb is a bloody place, period.
UH has not distinguished itself on this one, though. Both universities clarified their speech policies, but UH made its code more repressive. UT, on the other hand, has conceded that all of campus, like the rest of the United States, is a "free speech zone."
Please read this incredibly moving story of heroism from Operation Anaconda.