Another round of Plus!Minus!(Riff!Raff!)

I found this interesting mostly because it's almost a game. That, and the vague distraction provided by clicking a point on the grid and watching the sequences go is actually better than what's on television right now, which apears to be how to make marinara sauce.

I, personally, am a fan of the "buy it" school of marinara preparation.

Now, because I feel like doing it, another round of Plus! and Minus!(or Riffs! and Raffs!, as per Rory's suggestion)

Plus! (Riff!)
The American Conservative Union and ACLU for releasing advertisements encouraging the fine people of Pennsylvania to call Arlen "Magic Bullet" Specter to get him to vote against the Patriot Act's expansion. Regardless of what my views on the Patriot Act are, I appreciate that they apparently purposefully left off Rick Santorum. That's how you know you've gone off the deep end on the right of the political spectrum. When the American Conservative Union won't even try to elicit calls to your office, because they know you're a lost cause.

Plus! (Riff!)
My sister, for graduating from High School. Good for her. And good for the "little tiny champagne bottle popper celebration" industry. Who made an approximate $300 from the senior class of one little high school in near-rural Pennsylvania.

Minus! (Raff!)
Mike Tyson is is finally retiring. You're now asking yourself, "Why is this a minus? He resorts to cheap trickery anymore and is a complete psychopath." Because a good sideshow is interesting every now and again. Because even though the man admitted to beating a former wife with a telephone during his "Beyond the Glory", there's nothing quite like watching a man who's clearly lost his mind.

Minus! (Raff!)
Mike Tyson's eventual return. Call it a preemptive strike, but I'm going to say right now that if celebrities are going to retire, they need to learn what "retirement" means and not just take a break.

Minus! (Raff!)
The Freedom High School graduates who showed up to the graduation ceremonies on Friday with Confederate flags one day following an incident in which a Confederate flag and dead deer were found on the school's flagpole. Which is insane in its own right. I know the arguments for considering the confederate flag a part of Southern Heritage rather than a symbol of hate,including that the U.S. Civil War was about many, many things other than slavery. But those students who brought the flags to school know how they're perceived particularly the day after something that looks like a threat out of the 1940's. While I support their right for freedom of expression, and would not seek to criticize them for that, tact comes in to play here. Besides which is the fact that they're in Pennsylvania, which adds to the Southern Pride Confusion.

Plus! (Riff!)
Valid criticism of the mentality that is overjoyed when the Pirates break the .500 mark with 102 games left in the season. Doubly valid in light of the Pirate loss to the Devil Rays today, marking only the fifth time this year the D'Rays have won without being at Tropicana Field.

Plus! (Riff!)
For a salad I had at 7:00 AM this morning, for being surprisingly delicious.

Minus! (Raff!)
For the waitress that filled my coffee cup twice during my hour long stay at the Eat 'n' Park. It seems less free that way and makes me sad.

That's enough of that.

I feel obliged to bring the tone back to normal after that round, so I'm happy to announce that I may, finally, have a shitty summer job until I can get to Chicago.

Yay!