Politics on my mind

I put up a new Annotated Debate, and I also just had dinner with Will, who's pro-Bush. This, plus some other things, has me wondering about politics.

I still wonder if it's possible to create a place for reasoned, evidence-based, point-by-point political discussion online. Something like REALM (results here - I wish I could maintain this better!). Perhaps not. Nobody seems to change their mind or act on the basis of reason, anyway. Then again, maybe voters are just stupid or incompatible.

Or maybe part of the problem is that, unlike ketchup or soda, voters don't have enough choice. Spoiled by segmentation and the long tail, we demand Diet Kerry or Caffeine Free Bush With Lime. On Leno the other night, the audience clapped loudly at the suggestion they deserved more choices. Leno egged them on, noting both candidates were rich white Yalies, while Chris Matthews noted (rightly, I'd think) that the candidates offer the starkest political choice than in recent memory.

Bad weekend for wallet, good weekend for tummy

Catherine got a Zagat, which led to us hitting up Meskerem, Mexicana Mama, and Cho Dang Gol. All three had tasty vegetarian options.

I also finally bought a bookcase and rocks glasses and the REM Album. Also found a promising place to buy curtains, West Elm. It's very exciting to only have 3 boxes left to unpack.

An experiment

I wrote a little hack that matches Fact Checks up against the body of the past two debates. Anyone think this is good? Bad? Any other places to draw from? (Other than blogs, which would be cool, but a lot of work. ;-)

• Bush-Kerry Part I
  
• Cheney-Edwards
  

Television...villain that thou art

Just when I was patting myself on the back for avoiding getting sucked into The Apprentice this season, I've found a new addiction.

Also on television, the debate. I feel like Kerry made some good points, but should learn to repeat them. Did he miss the fact that George Bush seems to dupe America in large part by repeating falsehoods ad nauseum? (Not that Kerry is innocent, either.) In order to understand conservatives better, I will try to read more conservative blogs. You should, too. (Sadly, I missed the real action.)

I also need to read up on North Korea, since I had no idea what they were talking about.

How do you shop?

So I'm on the hunt for window curtains and a bookcase (and a lamp and a couch and...). Because my window is weirdly long and I'm anti-tacky and pro-hip, those is proving surprisingly difficult. So far, Ikea is the leading contender, but their curtains might be too small. Meanwhile, there are hundreds of bookcases, none of which have really set off sparks. But, as I've been looking around online, I've been keeping lots of tabs open and praying my computer doesn't crash. Of course, since I have all these tabs, I can't restart and install the latest Windows patch. Does anybody else keep lots of tabs and windows open while shopping? I also end up emailing half the links to Catherine. Surely there's a better way?

Speaking of online shopping, Hold Everything has a moderately snazzy online catalog. Crate and Barrel and cb2 also have surprisingly hip stuff.

Today I found out...

That the K numbering of Mozart compositions comes from Köchel, which sounds a bit like my name. Apparently, he was a writer, composer, botanist and publisher.

Speaking of classical music, I went to the Chamber Music Society opening night last night thanks to Evan. Although I liked the Wagner piece the best, the dance to Renard the Fox was bizarre and entertaining.

Random thoughts

- REM tickets are on sale, but I have nobody to go with!
- Apparently, in old apartments, switching the boiler for winter makes brown water briefly come out of the taps.
- All Verizon cell phones seem to suck in some way.
- Extra-wide shower curtains are surprisingly difficult to track down.
- I still need to get Richard to fix Gallery and MT-blacklist.