Why all the laughing in the basement?

If you had come by Beemsville HQ this weekend, you would have heard persistent chuckles, snickers, and belly laughs floating up from the basement.  The basement, to which yours truly often retires to watch sports, less kid-friendly programming during kid hours, and to hit the PS3.  So sometimes you might hear shouts of frustration and occasional cursing (Illini football, losing at FIFA Soccer to some kid in France, etc.)

This weekend: laughter.  Why?

Easy.  IFC was running an Arrested Development marathon.  The first three seasons, back-to-back-to-back.  Surely you remember Arrested Development, yes?  Ron Howard-produced (and narrated), Michael Hurwitz-created, starring Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Portia De Rossie, Michael Cera, and others… (Hit the wiki.)  Maybe you don’t recall, because it never received much in the way of ratings, which is why we only saw three seasons.

 

Back from Hiatus

A little break was in order, mostly due to family vacation.  We’re back from hiatus now, however, and should have some new book reviews and other possibly interesting posts for you presently.

One reason for the break:  I was with the family on vacation.  People have sometimes asked me why the blog doesn’t include more about the kids – including photos.  My answer has always been that we don’t necessarily need our kids pictures out there on the wide open internet.  It’s also not necessarily a great idea to announce to the world when you’re out of town…

 

March Maladroitness

It’s that time of year!  And with our Fighting Illini back in the mix again, we will be following this year’s NCAA Tourney with the kind of relentless commitment that will make the wife sigh and roll her eyes.  Speaking of the wife:  she’s agreed to fill out a bracket this year and attempt to get into it a bit.  She probably hasn’t watched more than one or two basketball games all year (and then only begrudgingly in the background).  She will probably beat me like a drum.

I’ve really kind of given up trying to be all analytical and stat-driven about the tourney.  It never seems to work.  I also have to admit that I don’t watch as much college hoops as I used to, so my sample’s not as large.  I have watched a lot of Big 10 ball, though (ugly as it may be at times), and that’s one of my themes.

We’re all about the the themes.  This year it’s ‘B1G is legit’.  In past years it’s been ‘B1G is underrated’, etc.  I always pick too many from the conference.  I always pick against teams with coaches I don’t like.  I always pick some crazy upsets (sometimes it works).  So this year, I’m embracing these traits and themes.

 

Stupid Kabuki Theater

2.8%.   This figure is what we keep coming back to.  A 2.8% cut to the FY13 Federal Budget.  As in sequester.

Yes, we all understand now that the sequester doesn’t allow many federal agencies the discretion to cut where it makes the most sense.  Yes, it’s stupid dysfunctional policy designed to force some kind of eventual compromise.

But hold on a second…  The House sent up a bill that would give the President discretion to enforce those 2.8% in cuts.  Cut where you need to, just cut. He didn’t like that, though, because that puts the impetus for this thing on him.

The President’s proposal included another tax increase on the wealthy and the elimination of some tax loopholes.  The classic moving of the goal posts.  No-go for Republicans – they can’t abide another tax increase.  Meanwhile, no one can seem to agree on the amount of chaos and disaster the sequester cuts will truly cause.  Will 2.8% in cuts truly wreck things?  Even if applied stupidly?

 

The Young Poet

My son told his mother he was going to be a poet.  He explained how he was going to grow a goatee, wear his glasses, and always have his notebook handy for the writing.  I cannot confirm whether or not he intends to drape himself all in black; however, his current favorite jeans to wear are indeed black.  The boy is seven.

Now I thought this was a fantastic idea, other than the whole, “how-do-you-expect-to-make-a-living-from-the-humanities-in-the-21st-century” problem.  And this doesn’t come as a total surprise:  the boy likes Shel Silverstein and has had those books read to him and re-read them several times.  Like many, he was reared on Dr. Seus.

Also, he just likes words.  The telling of jokes, an early affinity for basics puns, etc.  We consider this a good sign.  His older sister has had a hand in this as well, having written (an illustrated) several stories for him and setting an excellent example as a constant reader.

 

2012 for the Beemsville blog

Happy new year from Beemsville.  We definitely slowed the pace with postings in 2012, but remained fairly consistent.  The top three topics were book reviews, Illini, and US Soccer.  Sounds about right.  And behold, the WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for the Beemsville blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 3,500 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 6 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

 

You don’t need an AR-15

We can’t watch the news very long the last few days without getting angry or depressed.  The politicization of the mass shooting in Newtown by both sides is disgusting.  The media coverage is manipulative and exploitative.  That said, the debate about gun control and the 2nd amendment is on.

A lot of people have changed their opinions.  Not me.  I haven’t understood why a civilian needs assault weapons for years.  I don’t agree with those who interpret the Second Amendment as rationale to acquire military hardware.  The combination of the Columbine massacre and my own experience shooting these kinds of weapons (in a legal, controlled environment) solidified this opinion. To repeat the title of this post:  you don’t need an AR-15.  They need to be restricted to the military and specialized police units, period.

 

Bowl Playoffs 2012

It’s that bowling time of year, and so we dismiss the BCS National Championship in lieu of a superior 16 team playoff scenario that everyone would like to see, the Beemsville Bowl Playoff Championship (BPC; TM still pending).  It’s our third annual BPC, so check out the 2011 and 2010 versions for fun.  Here’s how it works…

• Six automatic BCS conference qualifiers, The champions  from the six current BCS conferences:  SEC – Alabama, Pac 12 – Stanford, Big 10 – Wisconsin (groan), Big 12 – Kansas State, ACC – Florida State, and Big East (double groan) – Louisville.
• Two at-large conference qualifiers, the champions of the next two highest rated conferences.  This year that’s the MAC – Northern Illinois(!), and the WAC -Utah State.  This changes every year.  Last year we had Conference USA and the Mountain West in here.
• Eight at-large teams, selected from the remaining highest rated teams using the BCS formula.  No limits on the number of entries from a conference, and this year the SEC dominates with five.  At-large teams are: Notre Dame, Florida, Oregon, Georgia, LSU, Texas A&M, South Carolina, and Oklahoma.
• Teams are seeded according to BCS formula. #1 to #16 based on relative ranking.  Higher seeds host the first round; highest surviving seeds then host the second round.  Bye week after the second round.
• Semi-finals and the final rotate between the four BCS bowl sites. Jan. 1 is your semi-final date.  This year the Orange Bowl gets the championship on Jan. 12.

Click on image to view full size

 

Cyber Monday > Black Friday

There we were, coming back from turkey day at Grandma’s Thursday evening, and we passed a Walmart.  The lot was full – completely.  The time was about 9:00.  Thanksgiving Day.  Sorry, but this seems wrong to me.  All those workers, called into their retail jobs on the holiday.  All those shoppers, elbowing each other aside in search of $20 savings on a blow drier or coffee maker when they should be home annoying their in-laws.

Time was, Black Friday actually took place on Friday.  I can recall various family members getting up at 5:00 in the morning to head out for daybreak shopping!  Now, in our obsessive excessiveness, we have to start in the night before.  And at Midnight, 2:00 am, etc.  There ought to be a law:  Congress can’t tackle the tough items like the budget and immigration; how about we restrict Black Friday to Friday.  When the sun is shining.  (Beemsville recognizes this could be construed as anti-capitalist, but the President surely doesn’t care about such labels anymore and neither do we).

 

B1G… WTF?

Well, the Big 10 Conference (B1G for you noobs) has added Maryland and Rutgers.  Welcome, Turtles and New Jersey-ites…

 

Does anyone like this move?  Is anyone excited?  We can’t really find them.  Maryland fans don’t want to leave their regional ACC rivalries, but they understand why it’s a good move financially.  They’re broke after all and had to cut seven sports last year.  This is basically what ESPN talking head and Maryland alum Scott Van Pelt said on the radio:  ”don’t like it; understand it.”  Are you looking forward to that sub-500 Illini-Turtles football clash?  I know I am (we might be able to actually, you know, beat them).

Rutgers opinions are pretty similar.  They understand the financials and certainly understand the tenuous situation of the Big East.  On the other hand, they’re worried about winning games in football and basketball, and who can blame them.  Rutgers has been a lot better in football the last several years, but the Big East has also been substantially weakened.  It will be an uphill battle to bowl eligibility for them.  In basketball, well, good luck there.