While Mark Dayton's place in the Senate was not strong by 2001, his actions afterwards did nothing to prove he was a worthwhile successor to Rod Grams. I particularly loved when he closed his Washington office during the anthrax scare, though no other senator closed office. Clearly any terrorist will choose the weakest senators to kill first (just like wolves attacking sheep). In any case, he isn't planning for reelection maybe we can get another senator to complement Norm Coleman.

-Trevor

There is some good news in the world, unfortunately it will not bring my wheel back. A couple days ago, one of my colleagues noticed a scene outside of McClelland (the building the department is housed in). He noticed that a man was being arrested after being caught stealing two bikes from the same rack where my wheel was stolen. That of course does not necessarily imply that he was the same man, but is kind of a neat to see that the likely thief will at least get a record (though little will come out of a bike theft, but anyways...). On another note, all of my midterms are complete and now I only have finals left and of course, the prelim exams.

-Trevor

Like most things, there is an end. I'm referring to my school year and there is only another 58 days until my final preliminary exam (51 until the first). I am nervous, but definitely excited to finally be done after a very busy year. However, this means I will be very busy and thus may ignore you more than I am currently, so please do not take offense. Shortly thereafter I will be heading back to Minnesota for a period, depending on whether I passed the exams the first time. If all goes well and I pass the first time around, I will be around Minnesota until mid-August, otherwise I will leave around early July.

-Trevor

While not exactly Salem, this story seems like a story of an overly zealous response to a possibly tragic event. For those who haven't been keeping tabs and I will admit I haven't paid much attention to this story, a woman at a party (who was black) was allegedly raped by white men from the Duke Lacrosse team. The school decided they would pull a guilty until proven innocent stance by dismantling the team and basically forcing the coach to resign in disgrace. All the white guys on the team had to give DNA samples and even after there was no evidence that their DNA matched those found at the crime scene, the prosecutor decided that he will proceed with the case after all.

If the woman was truly raped I really do hope that those responsible will be prosecuted to the fullest extent, but this seems to have more of the makings of a "race-related" travesty than a true investigation. I love how they mention how three white guys raped a black woman. Why is it that if white guys rape white women that those stories do not make national news? If we are all equal, a raper should be indifferent between raping a white, asian, hispanic, black, or the occasional green woman. While I do not believe this is the intent of the woman, this case seems to show that there seems to be highlighting some reverse-racism. I always wonder why if a person of one racial group or gender hurts someone of another group, it makes the crime magically worse. I always thought the constitution said that each person was equal under the law, but what is a law without its exceptions?

I feel sorry for this poor woman who has to go through this tragic ordeal. However, I also feel bad for the Lacrosse team and all of Durham because this did not need to become a national spectacle that it has become annd I am certain that the majority of the Lacrosse team (if not all) were not responsible of the actions of the rapists. All of these people have a permanent smear on their lives that will be hard to erase.

-Trevor

I always enjoy my Minnesota news fix, thus when I find an article about Minnesota with this level of media bias that you all know I love, I really get a "Warm Fuzzy". According to this article some Minnesota lakes are becoming increasingly polluted with phosphorus (from fertilizer) and thus are being clogged with algae and other plants and are no longer as clear as they had been. On a side note, my experience with "Arguing Creatively to Save the Planet" has kept me in touch in how arguments may be formed to help the cause of always unbiased environmentalists.

According to the article the reason for the pollution: Agriculture (oh and some houses, but we don't see that right away). Just wait one second, agriculture is making lakes green only now after a couple hundred years of agriculture in Minnesota? Let's analyze this story a bit further... So where are most of these lakes located? Twin Cities suburbs. What is unique about suburbs? Maybe suburbians like green grass. What do they do to get green grass? They use fertilizer, and lots of it (when compared to per acre usage of farmers). But of course the article lists the top two reasons as related to agriculture and that is complete crap. So while it is not implicitly bad that people want green lawns, however, they have to be aware that their actions have consequences and must be willing to accept them. This article is not properly informing readers of the consequences and even steers away from what some of the solutions may be. The end is insightful, but still the article left me thinking that it is giving farmers an almost no ability to defennd themselves.

These articles are sometimes the scariest as they seem to be preaching a universal message that a healthy environment is good (which it is). The bad part is that it usually implicates the wrong group. So sure, we can stop fertilizing our crops, but as long as we have clear lakes (which isn't necessarily going to happen if farmers stop fertilizing), why should we care if the price of corn and soy beans jump due to a decrease in supply? There seems to be a clear causality in this case, over-fertilization of grass, but of course I have been known to be wrong before.

-Trevor

Baseball's first week is always exciting. I finally get to see all of my favorite players again in action. Unfortunately, the Twins seem to be undecided if they want to actually hit the ball. Clearly the Tigers are happy to get rid of Rondell White because their offence is certainly not any worse because of the loss of him. Look at Christ Shelton above. I am almost certain few outside of Detroit have heard of him, but is currently the league leader in BA, 3B, and HR. Not too bad. To be fair, Rondell White raised his average up yesterday to a cool 0.105, up from 0.063, thus if he can keep it up, his batting average will soon be respectable. That goes for Morneau and Batista, both hitting under 0.200. Anyways, it is certainly surprising to see Detroit and Milwaukee both be the last undefeated teams in MLB, but I will certainly take that any day over seeing large market teams such as the Yankees or Red Sox dominate. I just hope that either Minnesota or Seattle will finally decide to produce some offense this year.

-Trevor

I was working on game theory at my department last night and after walking out I noticed something odd about my bike. Some bastards decided that they were going to permanently borrow my rear wheel. I guess I should be glad that they didn't take the frame, but I shouldn't have to be glad that they didn't rob me blind like the low life scum that they are. There is little resell value in rear bike wheels in Tucson, thus I see little incentive to take it for money. So I think the Jewel lyrics are appropriate: Who will save your soul if you won't save your own.

-Trevor

After reading this article, I laughed. I thought I was done laughing, and then I laughed some more. I'll start you off with a quote in reference to an evangelical group that met in San Francisco: "they're loud, they're obnoxious, they're disgusting and they should get out of San Francisco." - Mark Leno, D-San Francisco.

Now I'll have you read this paragraph from the referenced news article:

City leaders prepared for the battle earlier this week, when the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution condemning the "act of provocation" by an "anti-gay," "anti-choice" organization that aimed to "negatively influence the politics of America's most tolerant and progressive city."

I could almost end the post there, but I am wondering where the city leaders get the nerve to call themselves the most tolerant city. Now I certainly dislike evangelical sects with the best of them, however, no government has the right to officially condemn a religion (think Bill of Rights). The thought that officials can say these same statements on the same subject is absurd and I can't believe that they can get away with this bs. I never understand how a group that supports some groups from being persecuted can easily condemn other groups. Besides, San Francisco is now just asking for trouble as they are almost inviting real hate groups such as the KKK and neo-nazis to rally in San Francisco for the national attention.

-Trevor

Genre: Drama / Musical / Romance
Rating: PG
Starring: Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley, & Paul Blackthorne
Released: 2001

Read more!

Genre: Drama / Romance
Rating: R
Starring: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz, & Jason Lee
Released: 2001

Read more!

Macalester Students in Minnesota have recently been protesting Coca-Cola over the death of union workers at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Colombia. They recently voted to ban all Coke products on campus, following the lead of Carleton, University of Michigan, and NYU. They claim that Coke is working to disrupt unionized workers in Colombia.

Never of course do they consider the possibility that in addition to being extremely dangerous in Colombia, there are other elements in Colombia that do not want organized labor. Pleas of mercy from Coke fall on deaf ears of those who's main argument follows like this: Multinational Company implies evil practices. Never mind the fact that union officials from all over the world have claimed that these proposed boycotts are unsubstantiated. These protests are being sponsored by an organization called, Killer Coke (clearly an unbiased source).

I particularly enjoy the quote by a student at Macalester: "People tend to feel helpless when confronting these multinationals," Forman said. "But the truth is that they need us, we don't need them. ...No union leaders have been assassinated in Colombia since this campaign began. That to me is proof we are having an impact."

Let us take this logic to another subject to show the absurdity. Everyday since I have been born, the sun has set after I have woken up, thus this is proof that the sun setting is dependent on me waking up. I wonder if I can take advantage of this power over the sun. I will now call myself, Apollo Kollmann.

Anyways, I do not think these protestors have fully thought about the conclusions if they preceed in banning Coca-Cola to the fullest extent that they wish. Thousands of union workers are directly and indirectly employed by Coca-Cola in the United States, none who would have jobs if Coca-Cola products were truly banned (Click here for a list of products produced by Coke). Some of these union jobs were even created by Cesar Chavez (think California grapes). I can't believe he wouldn't turn in his grave if he heard that left protestors cost his union workers jobs.

-Trevor

I have yet to read the DaVinci code, but I am yet undecided on whether or not it is worth my time to read after viewing the trailer (Just look at the graphic nature of the movie). The trailer contained action cliche after cliche (sorry for the non-accented e), and Ian McKellen reminded me too much of Gandalf to be anything but humorous. While the book was definitely popular, a recent trip to a forum discussing the Name of the Rose indicated that those who read both found the DaVinci Code much too simplistic in comparison. So I don't know, I shouldn't make these snap judgements, so I think I will sleep on my decision to read the book, and then to make the decision to see the movie.

-Trevor

You poor fools. I laugh at all of you who will lose one hour of sleep tonight due to Daylight Savings time. Even Indiana has fallen this year to accepting this practice (Thus making Arizona and Hawaii the last of the enlightened states). Of course I don't make this argument in the Fall, but whatever. Actually I was thinking of proposing a new system to help all of the sleep deprived. Instead of "Spring Forward, Fall Back", I was thinking it should be, "Spring Back, Fall Back". This would be adopting a policy similar to what the French do when fighting in a war.

-Trevor

I have yet to see the construction of the new Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, however, people are already starting to grumble about it costing too much money ($125 million) and will be too difficult to maintain financially afloat. While these are potentially real problems, I just have to wonder why no one brings these questions to the table before the construction process is nearly complete. I don't know, but I guess these things need not be considered in the world of art.

In any case, the overall design looks like it could add to the respectable Minneapolis skyline and thus should put all the patrons in awe before seeing a play. I am looking forward to having a chance to go see it when I make it back to Minnesota in June (the theater opens in June as well), thus I will be able to see it in all of its glory.

-Trevor

So one of my friends down here went to the Papa John's in our student center to get some buffalo wings. The student working told him that he can get five wings for $3.75 or individually for $0.50. So like everyone of Indian descent, he can do math pretty quick in his head and noticed a bit of a price discrepency. So my friend asked if he could get five wings individually, the woman said, "That'll be $3.75". Then he asked, "Could I get four instead?" The woman replied, "That will be $2.00"

Hmm. Let's think about that for a second. Why does the fifth wing cost $1.75? Sometimes it is just better to not ask questions, but we have decided to go back and see if we can go back and buy four wings and then after paying go right back and try to buy another individual wing and see what price they will charge. Now I'm not a management major, but that makes absolutely no sense.

-Trevor