Because it's Funny, That's Why

One of the reasons Steve Martin is viewed as such a comedy god is that he took comedy from the one-liner business ("I'm so boring, my girlfriend won't even buy me a down coat because I'd be wearing myself") into the story-telling business. Before Steve Martin, the jokes were simple and put together in no real order. Now, any comedy show is basically a one-hour monologue with no fourth wall.

One great example is part of his 1970s act called "Grandmother's Song."

Of course, modern humor has moved past the thinking man's world and into the realm of making fun of traumatized children at puppet shows. No complaints from me, mind you.

Actually, I think that might be me. So maybe I should complain.

Fashion Disasters

While we may often joke that Victoria has no Secrets left, there is apparently one trick left up her sleeve - rhetorically, of course. It appears that there have been a rash of cases of VS bras causing rashes.

I should start by saying that I will never, never suggest to a woman that she go bra-less. It's not because I want her to have firm support for the sake of comfort or modern etiquette, but simply because I like the modern brasierre. Beyond being a marvel of small-scale engineering (no, seriously, there is real math involved and everything), bras are, as the proprietary brand name suggests, very sexy. Heck, they're practically part of a complete NSFW breakfast.

And so this news worries me - I'm afraid it might case a ripple (jiggle?) effect throughout the world, with women going unencumbered because of fears that they'll get formaldehyde burns or hives or any one of a number of bad things. And while I understand their concerns, I can't help but think that the line must be drawn somewhere.

Victoria's Secret, fix this problem! The line must be drawn here.

Why We Need More Music Education in our Schools

Music education budgets are often the first or second thing to go when a school feels a financial pinch, but studies frequently show that music makes children better at math or more likely to score.

However, the real benefit of music education is that it leads to things like this video:


Very few videos really make me happy - but this one definitely does.

I've Been Purged

Backstory:
I moved to St. Louis City in 2002, and registered to vote there. Had no problems voting.

I moved to St. Louis County in 2004, and registered to vote there. Had no problems voting (the City and County are separate entities, making St. Louis one of the few independent cities in the country).

I moved back to the city in 2006, and registered to vote through the Motor Voter program when I switched my licences' address. However, I was not on the voter rolls in the 2006 primaries, because they had my address incorrect in the city voter rolls (they had me listed as living on Lindell Blvd in the Central West End neighborhood, where I had lived until 2004, rather than in South City, where my new address was).

I went to the city Board of Election Comissioners, filled out a change-of-address form, and had no problems voting in the 2006 general, 2007 city, or 2008 primary elections.

This morning I went to vote and discovered that I was not on the roster of eligible voters in my precinct.

I also discovered I was not on the inactive voter roster in my precinct.

After an hour of waiting in line for the one judge helping voters (there was quite a line, apparently this has been a minor but still semi-frequent problem today in the city), I discovered that my address had been "rolled back" in the city rolls to my county address. I asked why, and was told that "an automated system" had rolled my address back to the county. I did manage to vote, provisionally.

But this is still a freaking joke. Eight years after the nonsense in 2000 that illegally purged tens of thousands of voters, and this city, one of the oldest west of the Mississippi River, still can't come up with a decent system to track eligible voters.