Author: Dan Oshinsky

In 5th grade, John Chapman nearly won the Wood Acres Elementary School election after promising to add Coca Cola, Diet Coke and Sprite to the drinking fountains. Jeff Luse won the student government presidency instead when he promised to bring Cal Ripken to school. Cal, it should be noted, never made that visit.

This Spring, I watched as Spain’s José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy argued for 10 minutes in a Presidential debate over a chart that showed some sort of correlation between potatoes and prices in Spain. The chart, however, was unlabeled, so it was unclear whether it was showing the change in potato prices in relation to time or something else, like the number of goals scored by Fernando Torres on Wednesdays during a full moon. So the two men yelled at each other over this chart, without anyone being sure exactly whether or not prices were going up or down, or even when these prices had changed. The debate was hailed the next day as a major step forward for Spain’s still-growing democracy, but I’m still waiting to see Zapatero’s first measures on the potato problem in his country.

Tonight’s debate reminds me again that while debates really can be a positive step forward for democracy, it’s almost impossible to keep up with all of the facts/less-than-facts referenced in such a format. It’s tough to judge these things until these guys take a closer look at what was said tonight.

Of course, I wouldn’t expect the networks to wait quite so long to make their call on who won.

John McCain isn’t wearing a flag pin during the first debate. Will commentators question his commitment to America tomorrow?

A few days ago, I read this New York Times story about the effect of new technology in our everyday lives. The Times article references one recent piece from The Atlantic, but I thought instead of another article from the same magazine, published last fall. It’s about multitasking, and how people aren’t very good at it. (Me, especially.)

So why is it that all of my friends are going out and buying an iPhone or a Blackberry? (Does any college student send out so many emails to warrant the use of a Blackberry?) Why have I set up Adium to show me AIM, Gmail chat and Facebook chat simultaneously? Why is it that new acquaintances are amazed to hear that I’ve survived the last two years without text messaging? (Apparently, we should actually be polling the youth vote via text.) Why is it that yesterday, when reading a book while riding a bus home from campus, a few kids actually asked me how I found time to read?

We’re inundated by new technology that should be simplifying our lives, but instead, I’m seeing friends as distracted as ever.

What ever happened to minimalism?

Now here’s a great website: TheGreatSchlep.com. It’s encouraging young Jews to call or visit their grandparents in Boca and tell them to vote Obama. The Jewish Council for Education and Research is behind this ad campaign, and it’s simple and funny. Video from Sarah Silverman? Check. PDF file of why Obama ♥’s Israel? Check. And most importantly: a giant link to their Facebook page? You bet.

This made the rounds on Time‘s The Page this morning, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it get more coverage later this week.

So a psychological research journal has a new survey out ranking the states (plus D.C.) in five categories: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness. I’m a bit surprised to see that my home state of Maryland ranked last in terms of extroverts.

This did not surprise me however: D.C. ranks first in openness and second-to-last in agreeableness.

Alaska was the only state to rank lower than D.C. in the agreeableness category. No word yet on how the numbers compare to the years before Sarah Palin became governor.

For anyone who’s ever tried to nap while traveling long distances on trains or buses, this just makes entirely too much sense.

The skies above Columbia, Mo., yesterday.

Check out more images from Columbia and parts elsewhere via Flickr.

The state of Missouri is very clear in their stance against torture. Which makes me wonder: why exactly are mid-Missouri residents forced to watch both a Chiefs and a Rams game every Sunday?

Above, that’s the Water Cube, home to the swim and dive events. A full set of photos from Beijing can be found at this link.

From Fire Joe Morgan:

Daniel Oshinsky of the Rocky Mountain News reports from Beijing that FJM is inaccessible in China.

I find this to be excellent.

What’s the matter, China? Can’t handle EqA? Big fans of bunting over there? Love Livan Hernandez, hate Johan Santana?

We will not stop blogging until every Chinese citizen has the right to read curse-filled nonsense about Dusty Baker. And that is a kind-of promise!

From Soccer American:

Columnist Dan Oshinsky has been trying to work out the U.S. equivalent to China’s first Olympic track and field gold medalist, Liu Xiang. And then he came up with an answer — the men’s national soccer team. Liu shattered for the Chinese “the stereotype that they cannot compete in any sprint-type event. Chinese regard him as a symbol of progress here, perhaps even a symbol of China’s future as a superpower in many new, diverse regions of economics and politics.” Bob Bradley’s boys could do the same for the USA.