The Las Vegas Metaphor

David Sirota is the latest essayist to employ Las Vegas as a metaphor. He is right that Las Vegas is a mirror. As a community, it reflects the both the best and worst of our our nation. However, Sirota does no better than most who have come before him in understanding the city and why, as he puts it, "we all live in Las Vegas now." Vegas simply cannot be absorbed in three days and explained in 500 words.


View Larger Map

One can read Sirota's essay and surmise his visit to "Sin City." One of his flights came to or from the east in the daytime because he saw Lake Mead and its ever-growing bathtub ring, caused by the Colorado River's mineral-laden hard water. Given his complaints about the lighting, his room must have faced The Strip. He did not visit the buffets or showrooms, but did walk a few casino floors. He must not be getting press releases anymore, because Vegas abandoned the family-friendly, Disneyland marketing plan nearly 10 years ago. (Most of MGM's theme park is now condominium towers.)

Fundamentally, Sirota doesn't understand that the energy that runs Las Vegas comes not from coal or Hoover Dam, but imagination. Vegas allows its inhabitants -- both residents and visitors -- to pursue their dreams, desires, hopes, fears. However, Sirota begins to articulate the questions many wonder about Las Vegas. Can hoped-for dreams become sustainable realities? Can we reconcile our individual desires with collective goods?

Las Vegas embodies the paradox of the traditional American narrative. Sin City rebukes the Puritan values of hard work, moral conduct, and conservation in favor of leisure, hedonism, and decadence. Sirota notes that excess is not unique to Las Vegas, though he fails to see the problem of a well-lit Times Square. Even as we enter an Age of the Finite (as Sirota says), perhaps the solution is to repent: not from Sin City, but from beliving in the dichotomy. Together we must find the Golden Mean and live in moderation.

Ice formations

Two great links today.

NHL has a live webcam at Wrigley Field, host of the Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks. Watch ice (and a hockey rink) grow!

Earlier this week, the Columbus Dispatch had a great article about how ice is made and what makes it so...icy.

Finally, here's a timelapse of the ice being made at Nationwide Arena, home of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

2008: Year in Review

Smileycue wrote this for our annual holiday letter. Since we don't have everyone's address, we're posting it here. Enjoy!



Hello! Merry Christmas! We are always looking for unique Christmas letter ideas. This year we decided to keep a journal of events as they happened to us. Here are some of the more interesting things.

Friday, December 28, 2007…We are worried about Pakistan. Our international student, Ahsan, flew home over break, and their prime minister, Benazir Bhutto has just been shot. Hopefully Ahsan makes it back to Grinnell okay.

Thursday, January 3, 2008…We experienced our first caucus. We registered, went into a school gym, found our group and waited to be counted. Our group was not viable so we moved to a new group, and got new stickers. Dan signed up to be a delegate to the county convention.

Sunday, January 13…Last night Dan had an alumni event in Kansas City and Sara got to go along. The hotel where we are staying is hosting a Highland bagpipe/drum convention. On the way to breakfast this morning we passed by “Bagpiping 101.” Sara thinks she should go. Imagine a Dutch girl using an Irish name to play with Scots. “Got Kilt?”

Thursday, January 17…We are poor gerbil sitters. We were watching Miss Ian, a student’s gerbil, over the semester break. Yesterday when Sara left for school, Miss Ian was sleeping in a very cute position. When Sara got home the gerbil was still sleeping that way. Together, we determined that she died. We called the student and Sara made a casket for Miss Ian, which is now in our freezer awaiting Spring so we can bury the gerbil. In other news, we have a tenant in our condo in Vegas!

Saturday, February 23…Sara drove Jim the truck to school on Valentine’s Day while Dan was on week two of “Thesis Vacation” trying to finish up his thesis so he can graduate. Sara went in the ditch on the way home, and when she called Dan to see what she should do, he said, “I’ll see you at home.” So, she caught a ride with someone who stopped to see if she was okay. Lesson learned: don’t interrupt Dan when he is almost finished with his thesis.

Sunday, March 16…Sara finally got an email this week telling her that she will be offered a contract at Pella Christian Grade School for next year, but Sara won’t be teaching all of the bands. Given all that’s happened, she’ll turn in her resignation Thursday morning.

Tuesday, April 15…Dan’s thesis has been approved! Sara wishes we could go to graduation but we are going to Orange City with her marching band instead. He will receive a Masters in Journalism and Media Studies (talking a lot) from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Monday, April 28…Sara had two coffees before 8:30 this morning! Last Saturday Dan and Sara’s mom built a shed for our bikes. It looks like a zamboni.

Tuesday, May 6…Pella Tulip Time is over. Sara was in four parades. The band looked and sounded good, and it was nice to see family and people from our church in Grinnell there offering support. It is finally nice enough to go biking, and yesterday we even got a round of disc golf in.

Wednesday, May 21…We’ve almost recovered from Orange City. The kids did a great job, and got 2nd place and People’s Choice. The band got several compliments. It was fun having Joe and Katie Hoksbergen (thanks cousin and wife!) chaperone. Now Sara can give her Dutch costume back. Monday we went to the Grinnell’s commencement exercises to watch Jose, our international student from Paraguay, graduate.

Monday, June 9…We’ve survived! School and reunion are over, and we are catching up on the sleep we lost due to work and watching the Stanley Cup playoffs. We headed to Galena, Illinois for our 4th anniversary. A Grinnell alumnus invited us to visit, luring us with an offer to boat on the Mississippi. At one point during our boat ride we stopped on the Galena River. Dan decided to get off of the boat, and sunk to his knees in mud. We threw a rope so he could be pulled out of the mud, and he had to dig his shoes out. We were not thrilled with cleaning the mud out of everything.

Sunday, June 16…We’ve gotten several calls from friends around the country to make sure we aren’t in the midst of the flooding they see on TV. We assure them we are high and dry. We have been glued to the flood coverage by channel 9 out of Cedar Rapids, and have become fans of anchor Beth Malicki, who says whatever is on her mind, even if it lacks the gravitas of TV news. Iowa City looks like a war zone.

Monday, July 14…We had a great week at camp. Last year was very emotional and this year was more joyous. Sara slept all day Saturday when we got back.

Thursday, July 17…It turns our Sara is pregnant. Babycue is due on St. Patrick’s Day.

Tuesday, August 5…We just got back from meeting our friends Dan and Jenn in St. Louis for the weekend. We went to a Cardinals game and watched the Phillies win, and we toured Anheuser-Busch. It turns out Sara is allergic to prenatal vitamins because they are made with soy and soy makes her violently ill. Soy is in everything, and sometimes it uses different names, like mono and diglycerides, Vitamin E, or lecithin, making it harder to identify.

Monday, August 11…Our goal this week is to clean the house before Dan gets crazy busy with alumni events. But between exhaustion, nausea, and the Olympics, we aren’t getting much done. The Olympics are addicting. Sara got a job teaching music at a daycare one day a week. The pay is great, and Sara only has to do 7 classes in 4 hours, babies through preschool. Sara has also picked up several piano students.

Tuesday, August 26…Last week we met Aanchal, our international student from India. We did some serious new student shopping with her and her mom. Aanchal is very sweet.

Friday, September 12…The best part about the baby’s heartbeat is the ostinato it makes with Sara’s! In other news, Sara is a milk fiend, drinking two to three gallons a week now. Dan is officiating his first football game in Iowa tonight, and then flying to Indianapolis tomorrow to watch motorcycle races with his dad and brother. Happy Birthday Dan!

Saturday, September 27…Miss Ian, the gerbil, has been buried.

Thursday, October 23…Today we saw Babycue on the ultrasound, and it stuck its tongue out at us.

Thursday, November 6…Monday night we made cookies and took some to both the local Republican and Democrat headquarters. It was interesting to see how they reacted to us.

Tuesday, November 18…We played with the Grinnell Symphony Orchestra; Dan on cello and Sara loved playing bass drum! Babycue loves Verdi.

Tuesday, December 2…Sara was offered a job teaching music at Central Iowa Christian School today. It adds three more mornings to her week, but she’s excited to do it. We had a great Thanksgiving with an eclectic group. This week the college students will come over and do our Christmas decorations.

May your Christmas season be blessed, as well as your 2009.

Rivalries, scheduling, and fantasy sports

Nice write-up about NY-NJ rivalry games by Puck the Media.

The post reminds me of a second reason why football/baseball may have traction where hockey does not. Fantasy sports. Perhaps it’s the way each sport allows its fans to participate in the game through fantasy sports. Both football and baseball have a relatively clear schedule. The NFL is on Sundays. And Mondays. And Thursdays. Major League Baseball is played every day, except for the occasional Monday and Thursday. The NHL? Well…you see…

What if the NHL adopted a three night system, say Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday? An 82 game schedule could be played in 27 weeks. Toss in a few extra gamedays (New Year’s Day, Canadian Thanksgiving), and the schedule would fit within the current October-early April season. Game promotion would be more straightforward and fantasy leagues would not be subject to the occasional weeklong lull.

This idea needs some fleshing out, of course, but what are your thoughts? What are your thoughts about "NHL days?"

Proposition 8: the Musical

Before watching the movie, here's a little context:

In California, Proposition 8 passed during the election last month. A state constitutional amendment, according to the Secretary of State's website, Proposition 8:

• Changes the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California.
• Provides that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.

Regardless of your personal feelings about the proposition and its passage, I hope you find humor in the video below:

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... by Jack Black

2008 list of lists

Fimoculous offers a list of 2008 end-of-year lists. Fantastic!

(h/t to Will Leitch.)

Pop music explained

Marc Haynes summarizes 50 years of pop music with variations on a theme: "I want to do it."