Xark!

Three of My Favorite Sings

Given the date, I thought it appropriate to provide my three musical recommendations from 2006.  Be clear that this is not a “Best of the Year” list mainly because (A) I don’t listen to near enough music anymore to make such a judgment, and (B) my musical interests are, like everyone else’s, fairly limited.  So, why do such a list?  First, because I don’t know how many years we have left in which artists will produce “albums” or full CDs in the traditional sense.  Indeed, even though I love the concept of a full CD, I mostly put my CDs on the IPod and keep it on shuffle.  However, given that I am a middle ager who grew up on vinyl, I want to take advantage of making such a list while I can.  Second, because it’s fun to talk about music, especially that music which makes one groove.  Third, because I’m trying to help Janet (and the rest of us) by adding XARK content that will eventually push Santa in panties off the page.

OK, so from what perspective are these CDs being judged?  From that of a 43 year old guy who had vast punk/alt music enthusiasm as a young man and who now buys only 2-3 CDs a month.  What do I buy now?  Honestly, I’m still buying up multiple reissues from my youth (e.g., this month, I bought two of the Queen reissues), traditional jazz (both old and new) and contemporary music, but only when enough “mystical” elements lead me to do so (e.g., early this year, I had two friends on the same day mention the Raconteurs; then, a few weeks later when I was house shopping with my Bonnie, we actually ran into Jack White and Brendan Benson, who were looking at buying one of the houses we were interested in.  At that point, I felt I was being told to buy their record).  So, with those considerations, my top three CDs (in no meaningful order) with a 2006 trademark:

Superhero personality test

So it turns out that I am Ironman, but this is probably only because Neutron Man* has a lousy publicist...

Your results:
You are Iron Man

Iron Man 80% The Flash 80% Spider-Man 65% Green Lantern 65% Hulk 65% Robin 55% Catwoman 55% Supergirl 50% Superman 45% Wonder Woman 40% Batman 40%

Inventor. Businessman. Genius.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

(via Scripting News, where Dave Winer is Ironman, too...)

Germfree: A Brief Rant

A few weeks back, a friend sent me a link to yet another article about the hipness of germaphobia in U.S. culture.  Listen up, all of you:  I don’t mind your touchless toilets, faucets, and towel dispensers.  I’ll put up with standing in long lines at the sink while you repeatedly wash your hands.  I’ll buy all the antibacterial lotions my son’s school suggests I send in with him.  However, my gym has made a move that is taking things one step too far.  While it is customary to spray down and clean the cardio equipment (elliplitcals, treadmills, bikes, etc.) because people perspire heavily while using them, we now have individual towels and spray bottles at each weight machine.  So, despite the fact that I place a towel on the seat before I use the machine, despite the fact that I’m not heavily perspiring when I lift weights, now I have to spray down and clean each machine, or get death stares from my prissy fellow patrons?  I can’t imagine the lengths of cleanliness we’ll be reaching for in 10 years.

There goes another one...

Well, this sucks. I really dug Fox Trot.

Only the good burn out. The truly awful just keep chugging along...

What is "Best for My Child?"

Like many of you, I visited members of my extended family over the holidays.  As these things often go, while I had a more than pleasant time, I helped maintain the pleasure for everyone by holding my tongue several times when topics arose which normally call forth my argumentative instincts.  While it is axiomatic to say that one should not discuss “religion” or “politics” in polite company, I would argue that the touchy topic par excellance, is children, or child rearing issues.  My topic here, while certainly about politics, is also very decidedly about children, specifically about the education of children.  Be forewarned:  while I don’t have solutions or answers to the questions I raise here, I certainly think these are questions which parents often either ignore or ask in the wrong way.

 

Here’s the situation:  Like all parents, members of my family are facing the public school/private school question.  The question often goes (and went this weekend) something like this: “We have a bright and gifted child; we have the resources to send them to a very good private school; private schools will answer to our concerns because we’re paying clients while public schools are not accountable to parents; hence, shouldn’t we then send them to a private school rather than a public school?”  I want to deal with this question on two levels: first, I want to query the meaning of the phrase “best for my child,” and, second, I want to think about the metaphoric relationship we should have between child/parent and educational institution.

Week 17 NFL Picks

Here's what I wrote a week ago:

Lots of difficult games to project this week, and I've got less confidence in more picks this weeks than I've had all season.

Well, that turned out to be prophetic. I sucked those proverbial donkeys last week on my straight-up picks, going just 6-10 on winners. The only bright spot? My against-the-spread picks, on which I finished 10-6. But if you look at last week's picks you can almost see it coming: I ranked only two games as "confident," while 10 of the remaining 14 got ranked as "Just Guessing." Clearly I just couldn't buy a clue.

The sad part is that my dismal performance finally brought my season average back below 70 percent again (.681), although realistically, that's probably a much more appropriate number. Batting .700 is just gaudy -- it's not something I can expect to do week-in and week-out. So while I was sorry to see the winning percentage go, I'm more relaxed now.

If memory serves, Week 16 was my second losing week of 2006 and undoubtedly the worst week I've had all year. Week 17 is notoriously unpredictable (ask any fantasy football player), but hope springs eternal...

THURSDAY A.M. UPDATE: ATS picks are filed. This week's Best Bets: Seahawks as a road dog, Texans at home (last week's Best Bets went 1-1, and my combined Best Bets record is just 3-4, so clearly this feature hasn't been successful since I started experimenting with it).

Week 17 NFL Power Rankings

These final weeks in the regular season return some strange results -- some of the predictable, some of them not. What we're witnessing now are teams moving in radically different directions. Some, like the Vikings, have already started their rebuilding programs. Others, like Chicago, are tuning up for the playoffs.

And then there's Atlanta. What the HELL was that?

Flashback: The Data Age

It's time to write a fond epitaph for the Information Age. Like it or not, we've entered the Data Age, the era in which we recognize that a glut of information doesn't make us smart, just like buying a dictionary doesn't make us Shakespeare.

Because Janet can't look at the previous post

Janet said I had to put up something else because she couldn't stand looking at Santa in whitie-tighties in our previous post.

So here's the logo I put on coffee mugs and gave out as Xmas presents this year...

Santa porn, elf sex & panties

And happy holidays to all our first-time Xark visitors who just arrived here via these search terms...

For more hot, exotic pseudo-intellectual action, bookmark Xark! Because: "You Can't Spell Sex Without 'X,' and 'X' Is The First Letter In Our Name! (Hat tip to Blue Gal. When you think panties, think Blue Gal.)"