Monday, March 19, 2007

The Last Ever Not Posting Here Again Post, Until the One or Two or Three Where I Remind You Update Your Links and Readers

I'm serious about that. This is the last post here, until I have to remind the bad children in the classroom to update their RSS readers and blog links. So please do that now!!

As for where we're moving, you can find us the new PBD:

The New PBD

Original, no? If you can't remember that, the dedicated link is redirecting traffic to the new place:

Psychobilly Democrat

Don't neglect your RSS readers: feed them.

Much of the content there is the same as here in terms of links and such, although moving did give us a chance to trim some fat. I've got a few more ideas for links, including a section for righties, so pay attention to those sidebars.

Why'd we move? Couple of reasons, but mostly convenience and performance. PBD v1 was suffering badly lagging load times, which was annoying. It felt constrained too: no labels, backtracks didn't work with blogs on B2, etc. Kicking and screaming, we felt compelled to change.

The convenience factor is huge too. I have a Google ID that can run the new PBD, whereas the old one was on some made-up username that didn't like my Google ID. Managing that system is now easier and all my content is a click from editing while logged in. What can I say, we're lazy.

Plus we've tweaked a clean and sleek 3-column template at the new place. Go stare at the beauty. Don't make me ask again.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Sunday Sports Roundup

Moments ago, Tennessee finished off Virginia, earning the right to play Ohio State in the Sweet 16. That game should be interesting. As much as I think Evil Bruce Pearl is Evil, I love the way his teams play: heavy on transition, attacking the rim, but not afraid to pop the three. Ohio State plays similarly, but Tennessee is Ohio State on steroids. Greg Oden can't be in foul trouble for this game. His interior presence will be needed to alter shots and force the Vols into settling for threes. The other key will be breaking down the Tennessee defense, which is average.

What the heck is Purdue thinking leading Florida by 4 (now 7) ten minutes into their game?

The boys are racing in Atlanta, the fastest of the short and mid-range tracks.

So many options today...

Random Notes on St. Patrick's Day

Random nuggets on this Green Saturday:
  • I didn't see all of the OSU-Xavier game, which is a shame. I did see the important part: the OSU comeback to send the game into overtime. I agree with Anthony: they'll come out of this game stronger and ready for more difficult opponents. The Buckeyes will play the winner of evil Bruce Pearl's Tennesse squad or Virginia next Thursday.

  • Although we decided to stay in tonight, the spousal unit bought a hunk of corned beef and put it in the crock pot this morning. Outstanding. The leftovers have been whispering my name for the past ten minutes...

  • Eventually, PBD will be moving to a Blogger 2 home. This site has just become difficult and cumbersome: loads slowly, back links never show up, feed takes to long to hit some readers, etc, etc. We'll also have a dedicated URL that will point to the Blogger 2 site. Details will follow.

  • We have CDs to review! Sometime in the next few weeks we'll cover the Offramps, Mellencamp, Son Volt, and Old Crow. Good times, all.

Friday, March 16, 2007

About That Big 10

The horrible, didn't deserve six bids, boring, "down" year Big 10 finished round 1 of the NCAA tournament 5-1, including wins from 2 of the three teams seeded lower than their opponents. The only loser was Illinois, the weakest offensive team of the bunch.

Illinois gave up the final 12 points of the game to Virginia Tech, but it wasn't a defensive collapse. No, Illinois couldn't handle pressure defense from VT that my junior high teams would have easily mastered (yes, we were good, but not that damn good). The Illini committed as many turnovers in the last 8 minutes of the game as they had in the first 32. Missing Deron Williams. As a fan, and even with a 23 win season, all I can say is "thank God this season is over". It's been brutal.

More importantly, it'll be fun to watch the talking heads continue to blast the Big 10 teams this weekend, feigning surprise with nearly every victory.

They do this every year seemingly. The last time the Big 10 was "down" this badly was in 2005, when Illinois played for the national title and Michigan State joined their conference brethren in the Final Four.

Hopefully, 2005 is instructive for 2007. As a fan of the conference, being "down" isn't so bad.

Kent Spent Almost $200k on Snow Removal

But the more amazing part is the transparency.

Why Brian Schweitzer Gets It

From Political Wire:
"Environmentalist -- that sounds like someone who lives naked in a tree and eats nuts with the big nose ring. But when you say, 'I want protect the places where you like to hunt, camp and fish' well, you bet [voters are] for that."

-- Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D), quoted by the National Journal.
The big tent of environmental politics needs to include the hook and bullet crowd. Otherwise, it is just a naked guy in a tree.

Why Wingers Like Coughlin and Zanotti Fight for Vouchers

Or "EdChoice" as they like to call it.

Pho gives us a real big hint why those two and others want to "help the poor":
There's a fair amount of evidence that the voucher program is serving middle class families rather than the truly poor. A Policy Matters Ohio study on the characteristics of students in the Cleveland program (with limited data available) found considerable evidence that the kids were coming from families that could afford private school without the vouchers. And an Indiana University study on the effects of the program on achievement had to adjust the results for class and race because "the voucher group had a greater proportion of White and affluent children."
That makes Coughlin's comment about Ted Strickland attacking his core supporters even more laughable.

Click through for links to the studies and to read the rest of the post.