Friday, June 29, 2007

What Happened to the Beans?

Since spring, I've noticed an abundance of corn fields this year - and a dearth of soybean fields. "Where are all the soybeans?" I've been wondering.

About, say, 10 or 15 years ago, Illinois used to have about half corn and half bean fields (at least that's the way it seemed to me). This year, because of increased demand for ethanol, the balance has shifted mightily toward corn. How much? This much:

U.S. farmers are on track to grow their biggest corn crop ever, an astonishing 12.8 billion bushels, a government report said...

In Illinois and Iowa, the two leading corn and soybean states, growers cut soybean plantings by a total of 2.1 million acres from 2006.
I've also seen quite a few wheat fields this year. I hadn't seen a lot of wheat fields since I was a kid.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Cool Weather



Check out the weather today. All those little storms, everywhere from New England to Texas.

Cool.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Just Like Me: 1992-1995

The only difference is, unlike this guy, I wasn't under a court order not to have a girlfriend.

My advice: Buck up, muchacho, it can be done.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Refreshing Idealism

This junior senator we have in Illinois, Mr. Obama, always surprises me with his idealism. He is at it again in a piece he wrote for the Washington Post.

I don't know if it's possible to be both: A) an idealist and B) president, but at the very least it's refreshing to hear somebody saying those sort of things.

"A Drinking Song"

... by W.B. Yeats, courtesy of Writer's Almanac:

Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That's all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.
Nice.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

I've Always Wanted To Know

And now Slate answers the eternal question:

"Does a racehorse really pee like a racehorse?"

Short answer: Yes, about 1.5 to 2 gallons a day (about 6-8 times more than an adult man).