Good at presiding

I've been meaning to write about my favorite and least favorite past presidents, but this article by Robert Higgs echoes my opinions almost exactly.  I agree that Coolidge was the best president of the 20th century (because he did the least) and that the early presidents were the most admirable, especially Jefferson and Washington, because they still understood their constitutional limits.  Speaking of Washington, he had two on the vine.

Fashion for Nerds

The new Fashion4Nerds.com simplifies male fashion so that even engineers like me can understand how to dress ourselves.  It's like Fashion for Dummies, except dummies understand fashion better than nerds, which makes sense since fashion is hardly logical.  I'm sure O would love for me to memorize the whole site.

Unfortunately, it doesn't give advice on how to ask a stylist for a good haircut.  I've never figured out a way that always works.  Ladies?

Early presidential candidates

If the primaries were held today and I had to vote in each . . .

Republican: Ron Paul.  He's one of the only good guys in Washington, and if he won we'd have to change his nickname from Dr. No to Dr. Veto.  He stands firmly against monetary inflation, unnecessary war and powerful government in general. 
He actually won comfortably in the PajamasMedia straw poll last week (see February 19th) but was removed from this week's poll because he wasn't included in Gallup polls.  Gallup sucks.

Libertarian: Doug Stanhope.  He's only a semi-serious candidate, but I think he'd make an excellent president.  Seriously.  The other Libertarian candidates so far are uninspiring.

Democrat: Bill Richardson.  He seems like the least of the evils now that Mark Warner pulled out.  Actually, I wouldn't even have to hold my nose to vote for him:  The Cato Institute rated him one of the most fiscally responsible state governors.  But he's only the second-best governor of New Mexico of the past ten years:  They were lucky enough to have two terms of the anti-drug-war Republican Gary Johnson, who really should get back into politics.

Unfortunately, all of the frontrunners for president are scum.  No matter who wins, we'll likely see higher federal budgets and less freedom.  The best I can realistically hope for is a Republican Congress and a Democratic president who hate each other.  Vetoes are good for America.

Serenity

This morning I woke up from a dream that seemed so deep and meaningful and emotionally resonant that I felt a gentle, calm sense of loss not to be able to return to it.  I can still remember a few elements of the dream, but they don't have any real resonance for me any more, as if I'm remembering remembering the dream: memories of memories.  The only reason I remember anything at all is that I thought about the dream so much when I woke up, but the specifics don't matter.  The sublime feelings from the dream have come back in echoes throughout the day, and the sense of calm has lasted.  I've felt like I'm thinking about the life of a lost loved one—it's a similar bittersweet poignancy.  Today, with this almost Zen-like contentment, it's been easier dealing with the mundane.  If only I could have more dreams like it . . .

Welcome back Robert

My best friend from San Angelo finally started his own blog.  I used to enjoy the crazy ramblings on his webpage, which disappeared a few years ago, and I'm glad to have him back on the Web.  His first post is a rant on The Family Circus that makes me think of the one in the movie Go; it expresses a wish for more exciting strips.  Well, check out The Panel Project, man.  You'll love it.

Update on D*** in a Box:  It has now inspired a T-shirt from Busted Tees.

Uncritical

The producers of Epic Movie decided not to screen the film for critics.  That move must have paid off, because it was the highest-grossing movie in the nation over last weekend, despite currently earning a sad 3% on the Tomatometer (only one of the 34 current reviews on Rotten Tomatoes is positive).  It grossed more in a weekend than Pan's Labyrinth, which scored 96% and is a fantastic and challenging movie, has in five weeks.  In fact, all of last week's five top-grossing movies have a Tomatometer rating under 50%.

What does this say about Americans?  That they don't trust critics?  That all they want is mindless entertainment?  I don't know, but I tend to agree with the critics more often than with the American masses.