Edwin MacPhisto

I just started working for a contractor that does lots of work in Iraq, primarily in counterinsurgency-themed opinion polling and media analysis. A friend of mine is working for the same company, but he's actually over in Baghdad. To quote a recent e-mail he sent me: "If, on a scale of 1-100, an ideal, functioning egalitarian democracy is 100, and Adam Smith's state of nature is 1, the US is about an 85, 87. Iraq is a 9." Iraq is a mess. It's overloaded with graft and corruption to an extent we can't even really conceive of here. The shit I read about at work everyday, the kind of stuff we're trying to fix, is absurd. It was a mess before we got there, but it's a different kind of mess now. The US isn't going to be able to make a serious impact over there without an even more massive amount of soldiers and something akin to martial law. I don't think that's going to happen. Leaving will ensure the country collapsing, but staying might accomplish the same thing, only with Americans getting killed. I, of course, voted that the US needs to stay, because I don't want to lose my job. Suckas.

Dude, did you watch the second half? Dirk with, what, 7 points? Barely any offensive rebounds? Eleven missed shots in a row? I buy MiB's notion that worrying about the fouls kept Dallas out of the lane a bit, but that's a psychological block and they didn't even push it tonight to see if they could play inside.

Dallas is playing stupid. Dirk turned into last-year Dirk for the fourth quarter, and it's gonna lose them a title.

I buy that complaint for game 5, but this game? The reason Dallas isn't getting foul shots is because they're putting up 10-15 foot jumpers four out of five trips down the court. It doesn't look good for the Mavs at this point. Every time they get something going, one of the Heat role players, be it Haslem or Mourning or Walker, steps up and makes a big play. Defensively, Miami is playing their best game of the series.

Those 2 minute with the floating camera were terrible. Right now, Dallas is just throwing the ball away left and right and no one's going to the lane. Dirk might have 20something points but he's really not feeling like a factor now. Where are you, aggressive Dirk?

You guys need to get over yourselves. The officiating has been poor in a couple of games, but that doesn't mean Miami didn't earn the title if they win it. Don't forget that Dallas guys have choked at the ends of the past few games when given many chances to put it away; bad officiating is a factor, but not THE factor, and there is no be-all end-all of deciding the outcomes of these games.

Mavs win game by about 8-10, I bet. They'll adjust.

I once had a copy of Doves' Lost Souls. It's the only CD to date that I've ever lost. I love the song "There Goes The Fear," and haven't endeavored to hear much else by them.

I highly recommend Klipsch Promedia 2.1 (with subwoofer) or 2.0 (without) speakers, if you're willing to drop between $80-$130. If not, Altec Lansing 2.1 systems are pretty good for a lower price.

I still can't believe that anyone seriously wants to get rid of Flip Saunders now. I mean, 64 wins and the conference finals. No, it's not losing in the NBA finals, but c'mon. Give the guy another year.

I think they should keep him, but I can see why they probably won't be able to. He's the best free agent in a weak class, and someone's probably going to give him a max offer or something very close to it. To play devil's advocate: is Detroit really going to want to commit $75 million to a player who's on the decline? His averages this season were the lowest they've been in his years in Detroit, and he'll be 32 at the start of the next season. I think he's such a good fit for Detroit that they'd do much better getting rid of Rasheed and finding a low-post guy to replace him, but it'll all depend on who they want to hold on to.

Cardeeeeeeeez nuts!

Western. I'll probably skip that one. But I'll definitely be around at least for Maryland and Miami. Maybe N.C. State too, if I'm feeling sporting.

Every generation has its hero. Thanks for the kind words, guys. Status update: I'm moving to D.C., and starting a job this Monday. Real full-time job thing. I wear ties, and commute. That makes me feel older than the actual turning 23. And then I'm gonna come back to UVA football games and push Supes down the bleachers.

You should bother with it. I think you'd love it. I've only listened to What's Going On once. This one might be closer to gtd's Hail to the Thief situation, because now I generally listen to the first two tracks and "Mercy Mercy Me." I also have never listened to all of disc 2 on New Order's Substance, but I'm not sure that really counts since it's just the b-sides.

Oh man. That guy on the radio is ridiculous. That shit is way funny. Here's the passport bit, since I had to kind of look for it in the CNN article: I'm not sure what the hubbub is. Huge-ass explosions. Passport flies a few blocks away. It's not like it was right in the center of everything. I don't exactly find it terribly damning.

It's pretty bad. If Joe Johnson and Michael Redd got max deals last year--good players, but in my opinion, probably not quite proven as max guys--you're probably going to get someone throwing 5 years and $75 million at Ben Wallace. I wonder if teams will be conscious of that this year, or if Bonzi Wells is going to get $10 million a year. The more interesting aspect of the offseason is going to be seeing who of the LeBron, Wade, Carmelo, and Bosh crew sign extensions. And I also really want to see with what the Clippers do with all their pieces.

The iTrip was a pain in the ass, but the Roadtrip is pretty cool. It's a lot more stable, and keeps a pretty consistent sound. It's basically a dock that plugs into the cigarette lighter. I can't recall if the sound is much better than the tape deck, but the fact that it holds the iPod in place and charges it as well is pretty nice.

No, you don't. I hate the slippery slope argument, especially here, when it's made so poorly. The connection between a one-to-one marriage and a one-to-many marriage is hazy at best. The notion of "I love this person and want to marry him/her" is the same whether you're talking man/woman or man/man or woman/woman. The polygamy thing is just a straw man thrown out there by people who don't want to be laughed at for saying "We could have people marrying dogs next!" Then there'd be different tax issues for multi-spousal homes, among other things. And honestly, I doubt I'd really care if people wanted a bunch of wives, as long as they take care of their kids and don't get huge tax breaks out of it.

The vast majority of jobs are at will. For ones that aren't, academic tenure jobs and sports contracts are the best examples I can come up with, and I think that's about it without going into minor exceptions.

Several. If your car has an RCA input jack--which, if you're asking, it probably doesn't--you can just get a dual male cable and run it from your iPod to your stereo. You can do the old trick people did with portable CD players and get one of those tape adapters to run from your tape deck to the iPod. And, finally, the most sophisticated things available are radio transmitters. My dad uses this one and loves it. With all of these, you still control music from the iPod. I'm sure you could also get a dock or something like it custom installed in your car, so you can run the iPod through your stereo controls. Probably would cost a few hundred dollars, though. I know Honda makes it as a dealer option on new Civics.

Even though it was the first time I saw Wilco, the jogging was such an obvious "I do this every night!" arena tour bit. Rest of the show was good enough to forgive that, though.

ahhhh "great musically" (terrible phrase) =/= "good songs" Not arguing with you on Cobain as probably the musician most remembered from the 90s. I loathe the notion that music has to be technically complex or have a weird time signature to be "great."

Your cell phone is your home phone if it's all you have. No one's going to complain about that. I need a new one, and I'm probably getting new service when I move up to D.C. in a week. I'm pissed that I'm probably going to have to ditch Alltel. They don't have stores in the northern Virginia area, and though the coverage is fine, I'd like to have a company store within, you know, less than 50 miles in case I run into a problem.

Wasn't expecting that. More Shield is good Shield, but I just hope it doesn't drag. It's gonna be hard to get in a more hellish place than it is now.