Today the cell phone is 25 years old.

Happy Birthday

I have watched or listened to both of them and I have one question: Where is the debating? All I saw was alternating stump speeches.

Yes I debated in High School and I wouldn't expect regular people to even be able to follow one of those debates. The participants speak at breakneck speeds attempting to get the most information out in the alloted time. In these debates you are actually supposed to use evidence to back up what you say. I know it's crazy, but you actually had to use FACTS to prove that you were right, and then the other side had to use more facts to prove that your plan isn't a good idea.

We carried huge tubs of information regarding the topic at hand. It can't be that hard to have a slip of paper that says how many troops were in Iraq at various times. That way when Palin claims that we are back at pre-surge levels Biden could say, “no we still have 13,000 more then we did pre-surge.” Or Palin could tell Biden that McCain didn't refuse to sit down with the government of Spain, he just didn't commit to anything. Would that be so hard?

Sure we can go to places like FactCheck.org and get a summary of what information was correct and what wasn't, but most people don't. People just hear the soundbytes.

The first debate between Obama and McCain was supposed to involve the candidates addressing each other. Jim Lehrer, the moderator kept trying to get them to do that, but they both went back to the camera.

Popular Mechanics has a list of the 100 skills every man should know. There are also videos and a quiz. I assume they mean the gender neutral “man” as in mankind.

The List

So when I graduated from high school (1999) I weighed 175lbs. By the start of my second year of college I was up to 205lbs. The combination of college inactivity, high speed internet, and all you can eat dorm food was not good for me. I eventually got up to 210-215lbs.

In 2005 I dipped below the 200lbs mark, so Bridgit broke from being a vegetarian and had a BLT. For a long time I wavered in the 200-205 range. The other day we got a scale and to my surprise I was at 189lbs (fully loaded with phone, wallet, knife, multi-tool, keys, etc). Last night I got on the scale without all that stuff and I was right at 185lbs.

To get down to 200 I used the “say no to thirds” diet, and was able to loose 10 lbs fairly quickly. I have been eating that way since (most of the time) and it seems to be working.

Woot!