Here’s a tribute to Steve Allen for his best work, but that which he was least famous for: Meeting of the Minds , a TV series that “pitted Socrates, Marie Antoinette, Sir Thomas More, Tom Paine, Karl Marx, Attila the Hun, Emily Dickinson, Galileo, Charles Darwin, and other historical figures in dialogue and disputation.” Brilliantly written, it was axed by TV executives as being “too thoughtful” for the American public. His writing here led to the publication of several books, including an epic critical analysis of the Bible and western morality, and his latest, to be published next Spring, a call to raise the standards of popular culture.

You’ve heard about the George Dubya Bush DUI by now. You may have heard about when he, while Governor of Texas, was called for jury duty to hear a DUI case. (A question on the form that asked if he can ever been accused of a crime was left blank. An oversight by a staffer, we were told.) He was excused by the attorneys due to a possible conflict of interest (the defentant would have had to ask for a pardon from someone who convicted her). The TV Press in Texas was all over the story back then, due to the novelty of a Governor getting called for jury duty. GW expressed joy “at having done his duty.” Before he was dismissed, a reporter asked him if he was tempted to just pardon the defendant and go home. He replied, “No, I probably want to hang him and go home.” DUI – a hangin’ offense. Why isn’t this footage getting shown outside of Austin, Texas?

The report into the histories of 51 victims of vCJD, the human version of “mad cow disease” is out, and – surprise, surprise – the was no statistical link between vCJD and eating beef. One victim was not a beef eater. The rest ate beef with the same frequency as the population as a whole. Of course, just because there was no statistical link doesn’t mean that they didn’t get the disease from eating beef. They may have just gotten unlucky. And the non-beef eater had certainly eaten something with beef broth or beef by-products without specifically being aware of it.

Japan claimed to have the oldest stoneware ever found, but that claim is now in serious doubt as the laeading researcher was caught red-handed burying pottery he later “discovered”. He has confessed to faking most of his work, which covers a surprising amount of the total paleolithic research done in Japan.

A while back I linked to the Build Your Own Meat, the create-your-own Red Meat cartoon site. Someone has used it to create Meat Wars, an adaptation of Star Wars to the Red Meat universe.

Lessons learned in a cubicle jungle.

Interesting Poll analysis: the Democrats right now are bemoaning that as Ralph Nader surges in the polls in key swing states, he’s taking votes away from Al Gore, thus throwing the states and the election to George Bush. It sounds logical, and the press has run with the coverage. But MSNBC has rolling poll results from five key swing states, and I’m just not seeing it. As Nader climbs, Gore stays steady (see Washington), falls (Florida), or even climbs (Pennsylvania). And where he falls, it’s George Bush has climbed by almost equal amounts. I can see no correlation at all between Nader and Gore. None! My conclusion, based on the data from these five states, a vote for Nader is NOT a vote for Bush. Nader’s votes are, for the most part, from people who would not have voted for either other candidate anyway. (Note: I fully realize that there are more than three candidates. But right now, the others don’t matter. It was nice to see Browne finally crack 1% on CNN’s polls, though.)

When summer turns to fall my consolation prize is soup. Culinary talk from CNN.

I’ve gone on here about roasting my own coffee beans at home. Without exception, all the people who have tasted my freshly roasted coffee has said it’s the best coffee they’ve ever had. You can roast at home, too, without spending a couple hundred dollars on fancy roasters or other equipment. All you need is a hot air popcorn popper, and if you get really fancy, a special coffee roasting attachment. The Mountanos Home Coffee Roaster Company is giving them away over the web in an effort to promote their mail order green coffee bean business. If you’d rather not go to that much effort, you can get a spendid roast in your wok or skillet, as I found out last week when my electric roaster lost its motor.

A paleontology professor here in town survived the Singapore Aitlines crash.