All Your Base Are Belong To Us — The Kip Lange Homepage

There, I said it. I like Barack Obama. Sue me. Not his politics — whatever they are, because he doesn’t really stand for anything except “hope” and uh…”hope” — but because he’s an engaging speaker willing to say certain things (in a calculated gamble) that you don’t always hear from a Democrat. And he speaks well. He ain’t no John Edwards.

Of course, if you look at this story right here about some of Obama’s recent remarks, you can understand why I might like the guy on a personal level.

Mind you, the only situation where I might end up voting for Obama is if we of the GOP are so monumentally stupid that we go ahead and nominate Mitty Romney. I hate Mitt Romney with a passion that is only shared by my hatred for Mitt Romney, the Stepford Candidate.

Are we really down to nominating people to positions of power because they have attractive hair?

Just passing this along, it’s a little newsletter I get from UC Berkeley as an alum showcasing some of the neat-o stuff they’re doing in the field of science. I really love Berkeley, I really do. Miss it a lot, sometimes. Whoops, off on a tangent. Anyway, the following contains links to some interesting articles on cutting-edge science issues…

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ScienceMatters@BerkeleyVolume 5, Issue 34
January 2008

Dear College of Letters & Science Alumni:

Happy New Year! 2008 promises to be a year of exciting new research and discoveries. Find out how Berkeley professors and researchers are in the forefront in ScienceMatters@Berkeley. We showcase scientific research taking place in the College of Letters & Science and the College of Chemistry.

This issue includes: • Souping Up Superconductors • Truth in Data • The Copy Machine of the Cell

Souping Up Superconductors Imagine a world where electricity was virtually free and the means to store it limitless. Alessandra Lanzara, a Berkeley professor of physics, sees a way to reach this goal: by restringing the power grid with high temperature superconductors.

Truth in Data When it comes to scientific studies, results can be deceiving, with claims that are more likely to be false than true. The problem, says Berkeley professor of biostatistics and statistics Mark van der Laan, lies neither with science nor data. He is researching methods to make studies more accurate and reliable, in particular those involving clinical trials that enroll hundreds or even thousands of subjects and can cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Copy Machine of the Cell When Berkeley professor of biochemistry and molecular biology Mike Botchan first began studying chromosome copying, basic questions about the process remained unknown. Over the past three decades, Botchan has been instrumental in piecing together the story of what he calls “the elaborate dance of DNA replication.”

ScienceMatters@Berkeley is published online by the College of Letters & Science at the University of California, Berkeley. The mission of ScienceMatters@Berkeley is to showcase the exciting scientific research underway in the College of Letters & Science and the College of Chemistry.
Visit us to learn more about the College of Letters & Science.

…but Wellesley is actually becoming more gentrified.

I loathe what they’ve done to Linden Street. For those of you who have no clue about Wellesley, the center of town runs parallel to Linden Street. Washington Street is the main drag for Wellesley.

Linden Street was sort of the back alley, and a little more of a place for townies. I used to take a walk all the way down to the end of Linden and back every day — it was peaceful.

Now, with two extra stoplights thrown in, a huge mega-complex strip-mall type thing installed on one side, and apartments being built on the other side…it’s turning into Washington Street. And I hate it.

I especially hate it because the yuppies who are moving here and fueling this are my age. They are every snot-nosed little over-privileged jerk I had to suffer through high school with. And I’m a snot-nosed over-privileged jerk myself, so you know these guys are bad.

On top of this, they’ve closed one of the last two diners in town (“Vidalia’s“, once known as “Popovers”, back in the day) which is driving me batshit; that was possibly the only place to get a decent lunch around here, except for the Maugus.

Instead, people want more restaurants like The Blue Ginger. You know, I once stood outside The Blue Ginger reading the menu, and the only thing I found that I could possibly stomach was a glass of water. I hate that faux–nouveaux cuisine crap.

As the title of the post says, I didn’t think it was possible, but Wellesley is becoming more gentrified, to repeat myself.

One notable holdout: Nino’s, otherwise known as “The Linden Store”, otherwise known as the best place on Earth to get a good sub, has not closed, moved, or changed. Oh, and just for the heck of it, I have to point out that the folks who run Nino’s, the LeBruns (“Nino’s” comes from Nino LeBrun, although the “official” name of the joint is “The Linden Store”), are truly great folks. The patriarch of the family is a great guy who has one of his son’s kidneys in him now (and is doing very well, last I heard). Hell of a thing for both him and tells you a little about his sons, too.

Then again, if any place was going to survive the “makeover” on Linden Street, it was Nino’s. The place is a license to print cash. But thank God it’s not gone, like Professional Pharmacy (ah, my youth flashes before me, I worked at Professional while I was in high school) — actually, Professional is even worse, because it didn’t go away, it just changed into a gigantic CVS.

Alright, alright, I’ll shut up, but you know, if you folks had kept Roy Switzler as a selectman, some of this development might not be happening; Roy always held the line against development while he was in there. Mind you, some development is fine, yes, but the current state of things…annoys the hell out of me.

Give me back the old Wellesley. Hell, go further back than my birth, back to when Wellesley was a Republican enclave, and give me that. Now it’s a giant sucking hole of white suburban guilt. The kind of people who support immigrants — until they hire one to clean their house, at which point they start worrying how much the person is going to steal from them.

But I guess this is all in vain. It would have happened eventually. Diehl’s lumber yard was taking up way too much incredibly valuable land, they were bound to sell out sometime (that’s what started the whole Linden makeover).

Doesn’t mean I have to like it, though.

So…after the first two rounds, we’re left with teams that weren’t supposed to be here (except for the Patriots). Of course, Manning (of the Peyton flavor) threw for over 400 yards against the Chargers and the Chargers still won.

I’m glad the Pats aren’t playing Indy, but I don’t know how glad. San Diego is a damn good team. Standard operating procedure would dictate that Belichick will attempt to take away their biggest weapon — namely, LDT. After that, force Rivers to throw. And Rivers has a lot of picks and the Pats have, I believe, the fewest turnovers in the league.

Which doesn’t make me feel any better. We have two games to go, and San Diego worries me, and, should the Pats make the Superbowl, well, Green Bay, with a smarter and less mistake-prone Favre — also scares me. At the very least I think both games will be very good ones — or, well, really, bad ones, meaning closer games.

Can’t we just crown the Pats now? The thought of them not completing the perfect season eats away at me. If they lose either the AFC Championship or the Superbowl, that 16-0 regular season won’t be remembered like the ’72 Dolphins were.

Either way, folks, enjoy the ride with the Patriots, because you ain’t seeing anything like this again for a while. Unless, of course, they do it again next year, which is highly doubtful, although they’ll still have talent (a little bit less, Samuel will most likely be gone, and so on) enough to pull it off.

But let’s face it; this is the year. It’s all up to the Pats now. Two more games. 120 minutes of football.

Game on.

Note: I did not expect the Giants to win, but they carried over an enormous amount of momentum from the end of the regular season and made it work. I will freely admit I underestimated the Giants.

Yet I’m going to write something about her. Oh yes.

I just read this off of http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/ (my comments in brackets):

Demi speaks up for Britney

[a headline like this, you know you’ve hit paydirt]

Hot on the heels of George Clooney, Demi Moore is apparently the latest star to speak out in support of Britney Spears – criticising the paparazzi who follow the singer night and day.The 45-year-old Indecent Proposal actress told V magazine: “It’s become something that has absolutely no boundaries whatsoever.

[Yes, because Britney keeps running around finding various ways to throw her career in the crapper and spend astonishing amounts of money on crap. You know how much money that woman has wasted? My tear ducts are still dry, here.]

“With the expansion of the internet and various blogs, it’s become absolutely out of control – at times very dangerous, certainly intrusive, and in many moments that I’ve personally experienced and that friends have experienced, it’s terrifying.”

[Well, when they actually dare you to blog it, you really should…but why is it I have a feeling that terrifying doesn’t mean the same thing to us in the hoi-poloi as it does for Demi and Britney?]

And the mum-of-three apparently confessed she too has found it difficult to deal with attention from the snappers. “It’s difficult when they hang out at the bottom of your street waiting for you to drive by. But no one has seen it worse than Britney Spears,” she added. “How can anyone see that and think that’s an okay way to expect anybody to live, no matter where they’re at in their life?”

[Okay, Demi, it’s true the paparazzi are assholes. I agree with you there. But it’s the price of fame. Another person in this situation would not be on track to lose all of his/her money. Which Britney is. Britney is going to spend every last cent…and that’s why the tear ducts still remain dry, because all the woman has to do is be marginally competent in using an ATM to basically live a very easy life…]

This is annoying me a great deal. John McCain, early leader in the primaries, is simply not electable. He’d be the oldest president (at 76, I believe) ever elected. Also note he’s the genius behind “campaign finance reform” that limits free speech and moves people who can fund themselves (like Romney — blech) into the limelight simply because of the size of their wallet. And rumors of McCain’s temper abound — and I don’t like an extremely temperamental guy in the White House (say what you will about Bush but he keeps grinning and going forward, not blowing up either way).

Giuliani is the guy. Trust me. Giuliani will give Hillary OR Obama a damn good run. McCain is a very very likable guy. I understand that. But we should not be electing based on likability. Which is why, frankly, Hillary deserves the Democratic nomination; her experience dwarfs that of Obama’s (two years in there?).

All I can hope for is that Rudy’s bet (to stay out of Iowa and New Hampshire and focus on Florida and Super Tuesday) works. These things swing back and forth a lot. It’s way, way, way too early to crown McCain or Hillary or anybody.

I would also like Chuck Norris to roundhouse kick John Edwards. I’d do it myself but the Action Jeans haven’t come yet.

Oh, hey, very interesting and very flattering, I’ve been linked as one of the top local bloggers by The Swellesley Report.

One good turn deserves another, so I’m going to put them on my side navbar. It’s a great site if you were born in the area. Let me put it this way: if you remember things like, oh, the bridge that used to say, “Aerosmith Rocks Natick!”, you’ll like the Swellesley Report.

Anyway, my best to them and my thanks.

There you have it. As I hit the sack, the projections are Huckabee and Obama in Iowa.

Begging the question: What the hell do they put in the water in Iowa?

And it’s just starting. Perhaps I’ll just support a media blackout.

Perhaps I’ll blow up the TV.

I had a disturbing conversation with an old friend of mine tonight. I can’t say who it is, but…well, my blog is my little space to vent…and I have to vent. Not anger, not frustration, but worry.

My friend is having severe problems. Okay, even though it’s grammatically incorrect, I will refer to my friend as “they” so I can remain neutral about gender. They cannot have their privacy compromised.

They have an addiction problem they can’t face. They have a recent incident in their lives that is (severely) adding more stress which is in turn fueling the addiction. They have a history of some mental illness, a topic which I am altogether too familiar with. I am worried the stress may be bringing some of it back for them.

Do me a favor. Just, for a second, wish my friend some luck. Some willpower. Wish them some goodwill. They need it right now. I was able to talk to them for a little while and get their minds off their problem, but…it was like putting a finger-sized band-aid over a buckshot wound.

Just…wish the dharma swings their way, wish the yin and yang are restored, wish my friend luck. Say a prayer. Call on St. Jude. Just think something positive. That’s all I ask. My friend doesn’t deserve this.

On the bright side, all of my other friends (including all those you see linked to here, which eliminates any of them, just to make those guys feel a little better) are doing great. As am I. I just hope maybe some of the good vibes spill over to my friend in need.

Sometimes life sucks, and sometimes life sucks for someone else, and sometimes that’s worse.

Vent closed.

SearchSerge.com is now linked on the right navbar.

Have fun.