I had nothing to do with this...

Theives in Wisconsin heisted a semi full of Miller products from a truck yard in Richfield. Click here for story. I swear I had nothing to do with this.

Katrina Waste

An article in the Sun-Times, from AP, states that over 1/3 of the emergency cash from the Feds went to folks who had already applied and received the aid in the first place. Click here for article. Up to 900,000 of the 2.5 million applicants who got emergency cash after Hurricane Katrina based their requests on duplicate or invalid Social Security numbers, or false addresses and names. It's scary, the lack of oversite which would allow somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,800,000,000 (900,000 * $2,000) to just go out. It shows just how unprepared the government was and how it simply threw money at New Orleans to show how it was caring.

I'm not as concerned about the rest of the story which lampoons the way in which people spent the money. This includes tattoos, condoms, handguns, adult entertainment, gambling and a diamond ring. Hey, the government gave the money no strings attached. If people want to squander their relief, its their own problem. I'm even less concerned about the fact that some people have sold the MREs they received onE-bay. I would be greatly concerned if they optained them through fraud or hording in a way that would prevent others from getting the food. But if everyone got them, who cares what they did with them.

However, the most interesting is the timing of the article. This seems to be related to the house audit which pointed to failures of all levels of government for the poor response to Katrina. It's almost as if the full story is "Sure the government screwed up, but they're nothing but a bunch of welfare cheats who would have squandered the money anyway."

Olympics much bigger in Norway

Every morning before I go to work I scan the webpages of the Trib, Sun-Times, The New York Times, The Scotman and the Independent. Sometimes I'm looking for a specific story, but usually I'm just browsing for interesting stuff to read and/or blog about. But with the Muslim uproar over the Danish cartoon, I decided to get a scandinavian point of view. So I looked up the Norway Post for their take on it, and I have been scanning it every other day just for fun.

The result of this? Norway is much more psyched for the Olympics. Most US papers aren't even having it on the main story page, while the Post leads with three Olympic articles. It's probably that the bi-athlon, cross country skiing and womens curling are not all that important to America. But those Norskys can't get enough of it.

Another family tradition handed down

This Friday, Nick and I joined my Dad and Paul at the Motorcycle Show in Rosemont. Nick had a ball. He loved sitting on the motorcycles and trying on helmets. In fact, the ever regimented Nick developed a task list to complete when he has put on a motorcycle. First, he would find the horn button and press it, since the bikes were not on they didn't sound. Second, he would find the gas intake. This was interesting because some of the intakes have decorative covers which he could move. Third, he would look to see if the motorcycle had a gas gauge, which most do not. He also liked the scooters because he could get on and off of them by himself.

It must have made an impression on him. Yesterday he was walking around the house with his bike helmet on and asking to look at the flyers we accumulated.

Another sign of Age

When Sarah and I were younger, we were able to say that we had seen all of the major movies up for Oscars, heard all of the major songs up for Grammys and seen most of the shpws up for Emmys. As time progressed we began to see less and less of these. A few years ago we noticed that we hadn't seen or heard any of the shows or songs up for awards.

Last week, in the wake of the Grammys, I lamented this fact again. Sarah responded that she hadn't seen anything that was up for a Grammy. Which means we are so far out of the mainstream that we no longer recognize the major awards. Oh well.

The problem of half and half

Well the new beer is delicious. Big maltly kick with a crisp hop finish. Bottled it tonight. The only problem is the color. When I formulated the recipe, I decided to split the grain bill between Pilsner Malt and Munich Malt. The good side is that it adds a nice complexity. The down side is that it ruined the color.

It's to light to be a Dunkel (Dark). And it's to dark to be a Helles (Light). I don't know what to enter it as. I'm leaning towards a light its still quite clear. Plus I think it might be over hopped for a dunkel.

Bad timing and a Blackhawk's win

I doubt I'll be able to collect from Tocchet, I bet heavy on the Blackhawks beating the Coyotes. Just my luck. Click here for story.

Seahawks lose Super Bowl

The Seahawks showed an ability to move the football, except in the red zone. And really poor clock management at the end of both halves. The Refs didn't help. But the best teams are able to win despite of the officiating.

Insert your own football analysis cliche here.

Beer Update

Lagering is complete. The Dunkel is back in Amelia's closet for the diacetyl rest. Will bottle on Wednesday. Should be ready for the Drunk Monk. Alas, no homebrew in the house until the dunkel is ready.

Olympic Break

Bad news: The NHL is shutting down starting this week as the Winter Olympics get started in Italy.
Good news: The Blackhawks will not lose.