Nick and Jessica
Did you see that Nick and Jessica broke up? Who saw that one coming! I'm not sure if Nick fully understands where he fits in this scenario. As I understand it, when they got together, Jessica Simpson seemed to be the third best female pop star in her genre (behind Britney and Christina) and Nick was in arguably the third best boy band. A wedding between these two third-string stars created a tier one couple, of which Jessica was able to capitalize and propel her actual career into the top spot with movies and additional music. Nick, not so much. I imagine Nick can ride this for a while longer, but he'll probably be bartending in Cincinnati five years from now.

But I'm hoping things work out OK for Nick since he is probably the most famous alumni that Miami of Ohio has now.

Matthew McConaughey
Did anyone happen to pick the "Sexiest Man" People Magazine recently that had Matthew McConaughey? I was at the Dentist the other day and happened to stumble across it and leaf through it. Well, OK, actually I bought it for my wife who likes him, and I have buying her a lot of little presents recently for reasons that I'm not quite ready to make public. He always came across as a pretty cool dude, if you judge by his performances in Dazed and Confused, A Time to Kill, and well, maybe just those.

Anyway, what a complete egomanic. His answer to the question, "Who is your hero?" was "Me, in ten years." Huh. OK, more power to you dude. The whole interview was a public relations disaster in my mind; both my wife and decided he seemed like tool.

Flu Shot
I don't recall ever getting a flu shot as an adult. It never really occurred to me until last year when all those flu shots went bad and they made a big stink about it, and even then, I didn't really care. Some folks at work were coordinating last week to go get a flu shot and I snickered under my breath. Saps! Shmoes! Flu shots are for kids and the elderly, and weak and sickly ones at that.

Well sure enough, I was awake all last night as a punishment for hubris.

Motorcycle Diaries
Allow me to use this space to brag that I watched a movie with subtitles and actually kinda liked it. See, I'm cultured! This movie was even about filthy communists and I actually felt kinda sorry for them, for a second or so.

I think Motorcycle Diaries was a pretty good flick. It's a story of that Commie bastard Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his buddy Alberto Granado touring South America in 1952 by motorcyle, foot and boat. It's kind of a coming of age type movie; we see these two upper-middle class guys get exposed to some injustices along the trip, and this affects what they want to do with their lives. It's also kind of interesting because Che is pretty likable and you empathize with him, but you know that he turns out to be a pretty bad apple in the end.

Torture
Here’s a smart post over at Marginal Revolution by Alex Tabarrok about torture. It’s kinda hard to be for torture, and that Bush is threatening to use a veto for the first time in support of it’s use makes me question his sanity. Granted in a "ticking time bomb" scenario it would be justified, but who get’s to decide when the time bomb is really ticking:

But it does not follow from the "ticking time bomb" argument that torture should be legal. The problem with making torture legal is that the government will abuse its powers. I do not trust the government, any government, to use this power responsibly. Leviathan must be heavily restrained, especially when it comes to torture.

Here is where economics can make a contribution. By making torture illegal we are raising the price of torture but we are not raising the price to infinity. If the President or the head of the CIA thinks that torture is required to stop the ticking time bomb then they ought to approve it knowing full well that they face possible prosecution. Only if the price of torture is very high can we expect that it will be used only in the most absolutely urgent of circumstances.

So if the "ticking time bomb" really is torture-worthy, I'm sure the jury would cut them some slack.

Drug War
I've always liked that Nick Gillespie over at Reason and here he says something that I've mentioned less articulately about how the war on drugs will be viewed years from now. Regarding Jacob Sullum's award for journalism in the field, Gillespie said:

At some point in the future, when the drug war hysteria is viewed with the same sort of derision and distance as the Salem Witch Trials, their work will be even more lauded for its role in questioning an ongoing moral panic that is as obscene as it is destructive to decent society.

Back to Work
Well that went by fast. I really do like those South Carolina Beaches, well at least Hilton Head, Kiawah and Seabrook. They are really wide and have that fine sand that packs down so that the surface is perfect for walking, running or biking. Probably not so great for sitting on the beach and sunning yourself, but my pale skin can't handle that anymore.

Oh well, back to work. Jees is Thanksgiving really next week? What happened to this year?

Vacation
I'm headed out of town for a week tomorrow with the wife. We'll be in Kiawah Island, SC and in the Charleston, SC, area for most of it. We haven't taken a real vacation in a couple of years for whatever reason, and this one is just an 8 hour drive away. So instead of sitting around on a beach which neither of us like, we'll be up chasing around tennis balls, which we both like. They have this tennis package that we are doing: lots of clinics and ball machines.

We are supposed to be gone until next Saturday, but I'm one of those people who, by Wednesday, will be missing my dog and about ready to be back sleeping in my own bed.

Clinton
He'll just never learn.