All about me

Yeah, and they taste worse, too:

McDonald's french fries are now trans-fat-free in all its restaurants in the United States and Canada, the fast-food restaurant chain said Thursday.

Way to ruin one of life's small pleasures.

It's going to be a long, long, looooong season for IU basketball fans:

Add Brandon McGee to the list of Indiana University basketball players who will not be returning next season.

IU coach Tom Crean announced Thursday that McGee, a 6-7 sophomore forward from Chicago, had been dismissed from the team for "academic and team guideline negligence."

Way to go, kid:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Quick: Cochabamba is the third-largest conurbation in what country?

Your answer might be, "Huh?" But 11-year-old Akshay Rajagopal answered "Bolivia" to clinch the 20th annual National Geographic Bee on Wednesday.

A conurbation is a large, densely populated urban area — and Cochabamba is the third-largest one in the South American country.

No, no, no, I am the stupid one.

Harl Delos, who's become a frequent commenter here, on his blog refers to my rant on the meaning of effete, but only in passing, which is probably the attention it deserves. It's in the middle of a nice, thoughtful essay about relationships and marriages:

If one result of the Democratic primary is that the country is going to speed right by the perceived need to atone for its sexist past and deal with the more urgent problem of atoning for racism, a side effect will be that those concerned with sexism will feel slighted, maybe even a little bitter. This has been made pretty clear from comments by Hillary Clinton and some of her supporters, and now Susan Estrich ups the ante, playing the sweetie card:

Sadly, I didn't buy any "forever" stamps. I had 26 41-cent stamps left over from my roll of 100, so I had to swing by the Post Office yesterday for the 1-centers before mailing off the bills I did on Sunday. Not smart smart planning, and not exactly thinking of the future:

Do the math: In 1970, a first-class stamp cost only 6 cents. Since then, there have been 17 rate changes, amounting to a whopping 700 percent price increase.

I keep thinking about the Kindle. The $400 price is the main drawback, but reviews like this one might put me over the line:

I missed the big "Welcome Home, Vietnam Vets" service in Indianapolis on Saturday, and I do like a good pity party:

For many veterans, there were no welcome-home parades or other celebrations. Hahn, instead, remembers getting off a plane in Chicago after spending two years in Vietnam and being spat upon by a woman protesting the unpopular war.

Those gourmet hamburgers in the Red Robin commercials always looked good -- until I found out they cost $10 each. That's insane, I think -- I'll stick with the Thickburger. Now, there's this:

Chef James Locascio, of Rittenhouse Square's Barclay Prime, created Philadelphia's "haute" cheesesteak, an upscale version of the sandwich that includes butter poached lobster and shaved truffles.

"It's every ingredient you want to try in a lifetime in one," said Locascio.