wow.  I usually find the O'rielly is a bit of a bully.
But this Lawrence O'Donnell MSNB interview of Herman Cain is the most hostile interview I have even seen.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/10/lawrence-odonnells-offensive-interview-with-herman-cain/246328/

Many interviews that  were designed to be this hostile end abruptly when the target fails to engage or just refuses to answer the b.s. questions.  What's amazing to me is the Herman sits and calmly endures tall of this and ends by saying 'lets chat again soon'. Hah.

Though I was sometimes disagreed with the workmanlike manner in which he countered Larry, he gets crazy points for class. The most presedential thing about it was that he has a long enough view to sit and smile through this whole interview speaking to the MSNBC voters who he hopes to govern.   Nicely done Mr. Cain.

 I'm still going to hold O'Rielly to a higher bar that MSNBC, but I am likely to cut him more slack in the future.

Ok, This Wilco Album is at least the best  since Foxtrot.

Alex brags on foreign spas filled with mineral pools where all the molecules are massaged so they flow in unison, and the hands of the masseuses are encased in casts of paleolithic mud twixt sessions.  I don't know where the Grove Park Inn ranks in his world, but in mind it was the best spa experience I have ever had. But maybe that's just cause Karen was with me.

I do know that wilco sounds really good and the first song of this steaming concert bodes well for the new album.
http://www.cbs.com/late_night/liveonletterman/wilco/video/

sometimes i get into trouble sending a link before i actually check the link out. I hope this isn't one of those times.

I like the intro, and I like how J's age is c atchin up with his hair. It suits  him well.

I don't know what people mean when they say Atlanta is 'Racially Divided', so I don't know if this nytimes article about how Black people are moving to the south in record numbers, supports their position or debunks it. 

What's interesting to me is that this "reverse-migration" is happening within what Wikipedia says is a greater trend of "unique and drastic demographic increase in its white population"  happening "at a pace that outstrips the rest of the nation."

So , if your definition of "racially divisive" is that is that jim crow is still in affect, the new your times is calling you wrong. And if your definition of "racially divisive" is that Atlanta is that its become blacker and everyone else is fleeing it, well, math disagrees.

Anyhow, we spent the day at the Rivermeade pool.  I made Burgers , floated, and listened to Stevie Wonder, Buddy Holly, and Pitchfork's top tracks of 2010, all thanks to Rhapsody Music.  I have the world at my ear-tips and am still struggling to find new music. However, Laura Marling has a new album, and I discovered a Tallest Man on Earth EP, so I ain't feeling no pain.  Later this year there is wilco, yuck, fiest, and iron and wine.

Met the neighbors, and also, a bit later the neighbors' dogs came over on their own to check up on us, and pee on things.   One of the most endearing things about our neighborhood is how beautiful large dogs have free range.  It's anachronistic, I think, which I love, but it also makes me fear some kindly guy is going to open up a carnival glass shop down the street and everything is going to get weird.

At the Gorgia Tech career fair on Monday I ran into ex-colleague and Austonian Stormin' Norman. He had with him a colleague who prefaced what I imagine was going to be some anti-Atlanta comment with with the question:"Neither of you are from Atlanta, Right?". When I  disrupted her flow, saying that I was, she didn't hide her shock and distaste, pausing for a second to reformulate/choke down her intended statement, and responded, "Well,  I could never imagine living here".     All of this without any sort of baiting by me. In fact we hadn't really said a word to each other.

"Why is that" I asked.

She said that she felt it was too "racially divided'.   She is a women with clear latino heritage. (Reads: she looked mexican). I asked her what that means, and she didn't  have an answer. I asked her where in Austin she had even seen a black person, and she  didn't have an answer.   Austin has a huge mexican population judging by the quality of the Mexican food and the proximity to the border,  but I don't come accross it in the course of my day, and half the taco stands I visit are owned by rich white entrepreneurs.  What does "racially divided" mean?   I don't know.  Housing patterns?Atlanta beats out LA and new York, and I bet if Austin was big enough Atlanta would beat it too.
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/03/29/most_segregated_cities


I showed some mercy and asked her to give me another reason she couldnt' live in atlanta. She said the weather.   We are three weeks into some of the best fall weather I have ever lived in. Spring and Fall in Atlanta are long and magnificant. Fall in Austin is ...summer.  If it were a poker hand we would say that Austin is dominated.

So my question is, where do people get this shit? I mean really. Atlanta needs some better PR. Gonna start an ATLAttackWatch.com

I woke up today thinking that one of the reasons Austin seems great to so many people has to do with the dining culture.   They must eat out more frequently, I thought, perhaps because the city offers so many low-cost eateries.  

This report gives credence to my theory that it all comes down to dining, but beyond that, it confounds me. It says Atlantan's spend the highest PERCENTAGE of the food budget on Dining out, but that Austins have the highest total food budget.

I understand that Austin buys its groceries at expensive outlets like  WholeFoods and Central Market, but that still doesn't seem to add up to me.

I wonder if the report takes into consideration that in Austin people are buying Booze as a "Grocery" at the supermarket? Or, for that matter, bars and happyhours are inflating both sides of the Austin metric.

I wonder if , and this is touchy ground here,  Atlanta Poor eat out more than Austin Poor, or if that could even explain something like this.

http://money.bundle.com/article/food-spending-in-the-biggest-US-cities-11040