« Debatespeak »

People who have already decided Bush or Kerry shouldn't have to watch the political debates. These debates are not about changing people's minds, they are about helping undecided voters make a decision.

People set in their ways will watch the debates in a one-sided manner and will not get the full effect. Spend your time more constructively, there is no need to reinforce your decision time and time again.

[At this moment, the author realizes nobody ever reads this.]

- posted by Suss @ 2:04 PM | Permanent Link To This Post

 
« Elimination, Week 3 »

Obligatory post saying Zach Baker rules. Broncos beat the Chargers.
Teams he's used up: St. Louis, New England, Denva.

- posted by Suss @ 2:01 PM | Permanent Link To This Post

 
« Timmy's back in town »

I missed Heywood Banks in Toledo, as did many of us. But Tim Cavanagh's return to T-Town won't be missed.

Almost a year to the day, he comes back for a weekend at Connxtions Comedy Club in Toledo. This brings back memories of my opportunity to interview him and write a column about it.

- posted by Suss @ 2:43 AM | Permanent Link To This Post

 
« Chiming in on Whetsel-Ribeau, adding to Google »

Every blog post will add to the search engine's already immense database.

Paula Whetsel-Ribeau, wife of BGSU president Sidney Ribeau, was as the interim assistant to the vice-president of Student Affairs. No job search, but she appears to be qualified.

Let's compare leads from two different stories. First, from the Toledo Blade:

"In the midst of a hiring freeze, the wife of Bowling Green State University President Sidney Ribeau has been selected for a $66,000-a-year job whose duties include accompanying her husband at university events."

Now from the BG News:

"In an e-mail directed to faculty and staff, Sidney Ribeau, University president, decided to let others know why he thinks spousal hires are acceptable and why his wife, Paula Whetsel-Ribeau was hired this year."

When you compare the two approaches, you can see that the Blade clearly isn't in approval of the hire. Given the piddly facts they received? I don't blame them. But it was shoddy journalism to say there was a hiring freeze when the BG News reported the "selective" freeze was lifted a month before she was hired.

The byline of the Blade article said "Her duties include going to functions." This depicts a very poor judgment. The story lists many duties, including "developing and implementing BGSU staff diversity training, as well as so-called 'first lady' responsibilities." Diversity training sounds important. Why wasn't that listed in the byline? Maybe it doesn't sell as well.

Blade staff writer Kim Bates did a substandard job on her article, as did Roberta de Boer in her P.O.S. column.

BG News editor-in-chief Carrie Whitaker did a remarkable job on her article. Then again it's easy to say that because I have two classes with her.

I could say more, but meh.

- posted by Suss @ 1:02 AM | Permanent Link To This Post

 
« Not News, Week 4 »

Another fantabulous week of humor and charades. I love that Not News Editor, who wrote a crime drama based in Bowling Green.

This weekly segment ensures at least one post a week, which is ambitious.

If I had more to say I'd say it here.

- posted by Suss @ 1:58 AM | Permanent Link To This Post

 
« One man game »

Matt Cary picked Washington over the Giants, and Joel Hammond selected Green Bay over da' Bears. They both put their seal of approval on teams that lost.

Zach Baker went for the against-the-Cardinals tactic and it paid off for him. Now he's used up St. Louis and New England, and we'll just watch him see how far he can go.

He wins. I have no money for him.

- posted by Suss @ 1:33 AM | Permanent Link To This Post

 
« Jules Verne is laughing, too »



There is finally consistency in the John Kerry campaign. Both objects portrayed here have the same temperature air inside of them.
- posted by Suss @ 8:20 PM | Permanent Link To This Post

 
« Why life is hard for me »

Elimination Week 1 results:
Matt Cary: Practically cheated the game when Byron Leftwich threw a last second touchdown to lift the Jaguars over the Bills.
Zach Baker: Smartly picked the Rams over the Cardinals.
Joel Hammond: Really? The Giants lost to Philly? Wow.
Matt Sussman: Ravens couldn't beat the Browns. I suck at life. I'm out.

Late entry, Chelsea Snyder: No choice but to pick the Panthers over the Packers in the Monday night game.

Anyone welcome to join this stupid little game can do so but they have to pick the Panthers or the Packers. After that, you're not part of the club. Unless you're for frilly toothpicks.

- posted by Suss @ 2:48 AM | Permanent Link To This Post

 
« Eliminator, Week 1 »

So far, the entries are:

Sussman: Ravens over Browns
Matt Cary: Jaguars over Bills
Zach Baker: Rams over Cardinals

You still have time to make picks up till 1 p.m. EST Sunday (except for the Colts-Pats and Fins-Titans). Send your Week 1 pick to: hail2thesuss@yahoo.com

You can also leave your pick as a comment on this post. It's free.

- posted by Suss @ 5:27 PM | Permanent Link To This Post

 
« Stolen ideas, stomped feelings »

After going 5-0 in college football predictions for the BG News, I figured my predicting abilities would land me on a spot of a thing Zach Baker had yet to think up — making NFL football picks.

Well, I did want to put something nerdy-football related on here. So I'll do one of those Eliminator tournaments on my blog.

Each week you pick a team you think will win. However, you can't pick the same team twice to win in a season. If the team you pick to win loses, you're done for the season.

Tomorrow I'll post the contestants and who their first game is (you can't pick Patriots/Colts, obviously, and that's a dumb game to use on your first week anyways).

Interested persons will be screened and potentially part of this free game, if they e-mail me (hail2thesuss@yahoo.com) soon.

- posted by Suss @ 5:11 PM | Permanent Link To This Post

 
« Wanna know what's lovely? »

Making posts to your blog, and not having them show up until days later.

Sweet.

- posted by Suss @ 2:50 AM | Permanent Link To This Post

 
« Not News, Issue 2 »

Here we go again. Who can find the obvious disrespect in this humor column? (By me)

How about this one? (By newcomer Jim Levasseur)

A great Not News issue this time around, or at least the second best one we've had.

You might want to look at the PDF (page 5) to get the full Not News experience. (Warning, file is almost 2 MB. I weep for the dialup nation.)

- posted by Suss @ 1:50 PM | Permanent Link To This Post

 
« How not to rob someone »

Six guys in the island of Fiji tried to rob someone — a black belt.

Needless to say, he wasn't robbed.

Priceless story exerpt:

Nordstrand tried to give his attackers a warning. "Do you want karate?" he asked.

One of the robbers did, but it was a bad mistake.


- posted by Suss @ 10:55 PM | Permanent Link To This Post

 
« Those smart Jesuits »

It's nice to keep up with my alma mater. Saves me from having to give them money.

They're offering an Intro to Engineering class, a first in the NW Ohio region. As if they needed any more help developing smart young Christian scholars, they seem to be doing great on the scholar part, not so much with the Christian thing.

They really don't need my money.

- posted by Suss @ 3:56 PM | Permanent Link To This Post

 
« Blindsided Political Rant, Pt. 1 »

It's on. Actually, it's been on since January.

At the Republican National Convention, every elephant is slamming the donkey hard. John Kerry's record is being ripped to shreds by President Bush supporters.

Negativity — something people say they hate to see on TV. They don't like political ads that bash candidates without any facts. And there are the GOP's, doing what people hate to see.

Guess they won't convince any voters to think otherwise. After all, they've already had their negativity nestled in their brain since the 2000 election, when their disdain began for Bush when Al Gore didn't become president.

First it was Bush supporters and anti-Bush supporters. Whoever was running against Bush, they'd vote for. Hey, it's their right.

To some, John Kerry is the only sensible alternative to Bush. To everyone else, Bush is the only sensible alternative to John Kerry.

So instead of "Bush or Not Bush," it's "Not Bush or Not Kerry." That's a lot of nots, and I'm not including Not News.

So you're on one side or the other. This is nothing new. All the people who were still undecided after the Democratic National Convention might now be swayed by the RNC, since it happened a month later than the DNC. The rest of the undecided will then vote for Ralph Nader, a scrawny little whats-it who went to Las Vegas and condemned the gambling industry. I believe he may be the first third party candidate to run with two broken knees.

So negativity's everywhere. For all the starry-eyed who say they're sick of the negativity, you started it. You hated Bush and blindly went to the Democratic candidate's side. Supporters of Bush aren't even giving Kerry a second chance because they don't know anything about him.

Both sides are stubborn, and it comes down to the swing voters, i. e. the college-aged stoners who will vote if they remember to. Perhaps Kerry should invest in some Visine to hand out during his campaign stops.

But don't give me this bull about not wanting to hear negativity. That's what's gonna help either Not Bush or Not Kerry win the election.

One thing's for sure though — it's Not Nader. You can bet on that.

- posted by Suss @ 12:34 AM | Permanent Link To This Post

 
« Not a blog post »

Last night the second page of the BG News I was working on was done at 7 p.m. Unfortunately, I wasn't out of there till midnight.

I guess technically I wasn't done because the last thing I had to do was print out the damn page.

Yes, it took me five hours just to figure out why it wouldn't print out. Everyone was stumped, everyone had suggestions, none of them worked.

Thankfully shop night editor Ben Swanger tried something very tedious: taking each object from the old page and pasting it onto a new one. One at a time. Should I mention that he printed it out after every object placement, even if it was just a vertical or horizontal line?

Anyways, I have those printed papers as a reminder of that night. It's kind of a historical flipbook to commemorate the occasion.

Was it the second page of Opinion? Not really.

The reason it was so important to me was it was the first page of my very own section. I revived the humor page that was taken away in 2000. At the time it was called "Page 3," but now it's just called "Not News." It's cool to see your name in print, but to see your section in print is something else. I wrote an introductory sermon about Not News, and that way all the answers you seek will be thine.

- posted by Suss @ 11:21 AM | Permanent Link To This Post