Portugal Over Scotland This Evening

I captured this product of Portugal on sale some weeks back. Been waiting for the opportune time to sip a bit of it, as every now and then I get a strong hankering for some fortified wine. Tell your countrymen to keep it up, AA. Fonseca is great. It doesn't get great reviews here, but what the hell: I picked it up for something like fifteen bucks (like I said, on sale). And I'm uninterested in having others tell me what I ought to think about and taste from wine, beer and scotch.

You Hear That Rumble, JJ?: Bison EnRoute...

There's no sense in posting post-game taunts since pre-game taunts provide far greater satisfaction (or shame drizzled with depression, depending on the outcome). The NDSU Bison beat the living shit out of Southern Georgia in the December 2011 game leading up to this championship match in Tejas. I know ya'll are into non-Yankee football. But I couldn't resist the taunt. Click on the link. Also, pound for pound North Dakota does more with its universities than non-North Dakota institutions. NDSU beat Southern Georgia, something like 35-7, and NDSU's department of history is about 1/2 to 1/3 the size of Southern Georgia. Same situation with Sam Houston. Here we come: by the time we're finished, SHSU will be sent home in bodybags and Texas mothers will never let their sons play against North Dakota again — by Ole Odin Olson's North Dakota raven (and by the way, northern Great Plains steaks are better than that Tejas bullshit by a long shot).

Fargo III: the Beer Cans

Now the trilogy is complete.

Hey MFT! Go back to whichever of those states you're from

...or whatever! Is this football or basketball shit, anyway?

Fargo 2: The Okies Come to Cass County

The sequel (click on title link above) based on a true story too.

Bavaria Relocates to Grand Forks?..

Fargo, Ground Zero...

My uncle lives in Fargo, and I just received this e-mail from him regarding the flood, and potential for more flood. I thought I'd post it in the first comment section, as it represents an on-the-ground analysis rather than that of the national and international media that can, so often, start feeling generic. I found the "Code Red" civilian response force (see below) the most interesting, a sort of antithesis to Pepe's playland. And just the other day, a friend of mine who hails from Pittsburgh, and is readying to defend his doctoral history dissertation from U of Chicago, said, "Fargo's response to this flood, the entire community rallying, has literally restored my faith in humanity..."

We might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

From Bullets to Water

The threat of flooding from the rising Red River has city officials considering everything to protect the city — even a portable wall system that shielded troops in Iraq and Afghanistan from bullets.

An item that defends American soldiers from bullets, and American civilians from flood? We'll have to see with the latter. Hope it all works out as planned, though.

Fargo in contrast to New Orleans

Based on the reaction to natural disasters (flooding in this case), one might argue that Fargo doesn't have the raging humanity of a New Orleans.

North Dakota State University students are eager to sandbag in a situation like this.

Pepe and Rot, what do Tulane'ers and U of New Orleans undergrads and grads do during the prologue to a natural disaster?

Quick! More Google Searches!

Blow, Al Gore, blow. We need all the hot air we can get.

Mathematics Genealogy Project: Henri Paul Cartan

While academics understandably need to compartmentalize to get anything done, it's also interesting to keep that Bigger Picture in mind. Check out the link to the Henri Paul Cartan genealogy project. Note: this link is a collaborative effort, in part with North Dakota State University (based in Fargo -- insert "You-Betcha" here).

Fargo's Boozy Operation...

A sozzled plastic surgeon... After the third whiskey at lunch he said, "I can fucking do anything!"

Rudy gets a NoDak, "Oh-Yeah, You Betcha!"

I know Rudy is no McCain, AI, but at least still a Republican, eh?

Note the pic as The Meeting of the Mayors: Rudy of NYC, and Warford of Bismarck, N.D. I've met the latter a time or two, when I was a young and impressionable highschool student who volunteered from time to time at the North Dakota Republican Party HQ. Reality kicked in, though, and I got myself away from all that political racket. Go Rudy.

Fargo Police: "Oh-Yeah, You-Betcha, Right In Here!"

They came for a purported backstage pre-party with Ozzy Osborne. The Prince of Darkness never looked so dark, so cunning, to this group of 40 individuals.

Fargo Homage to AA...

Deep down, I know AA has a soft-spot for these next seven exits. South-bound, just north of Fargo on the I-29...