Stuff I just thought of

A little of this and a bite of that (with cranberry sauce):

-- I know I'm a little bit behind on this but, word has it that Deb Feinen may be considering a run for the Champaign City Council. I've never been much of a Feinen fan (raise your hand if this surprises you), but if she runs against Marcie Dodd, she'll probably get my vote. So far, Dodd's been a waste of good oxygen.

-- Nice to see in the News-Gazette that the Champaign School Board has found a way out of its money problems. I'm not sure I like the idea of issuing working cash bonds to cover the district's shortfall, but as a longtime supporter of all the education we can handle, I like the idea of cutting anything (but administration) a lot less. Of course, if we could somehow cut the Texas-to-Champaign pipeline that's flowing pretty darned freely, things might not be in such bad shape. I just wonder if Culver looked, he could find qualified administrators a little closer to home... save a bundle on moving expenses.

-- Sports Illustrated's college basketball issue lists UI as the No. 19 team, well behind two-loss Michigan State. It also doesn't pick Dee Brown as an All-American. Can you say credibility gap? If you saw Tuesday night's game against Texas Southern ... I don't care who the opponent was, that was a whuppin'.

-- Saw and enjoyed the new Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire yesterday (aren't afternoon matinees great?). People who are strict Potter book constructionists may be a little disappointed, but, hey, how are you gonna do 734 pages in 2 1/2 hours? There was at least one complete subplot from the book that was missing and the World Cup - and its assorted themes - was given pretty short shrift. Not a house elf to be found anywhere. Still, the effects were spectacular, the movie was eminently entertaining, and you gotta love Rita Skeeter and Mad-Eye Moody.

-- I didn't know the Vatican had an astronomer. Don't know why the Vatican needs an astronomer. But you gotta like the guy. First thing I've heard come out of that little patch of backward thinking in years that I agreed with. According to the Associated Press :

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican's chief astronomer said Friday that "intelligent design" isn't science and doesn't belong in science classrooms, the latest high-ranking Roman Catholic official to enter the evolution debate in the United States.

The Rev. George Coyne, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, said placing intelligent design theory alongside that of evolution in school programs was "wrong" and was akin to mixing apples with oranges.

"Intelligent design isn't science even though it pretends to be," the ANSA news agency quoted Coyne as saying on the sidelines of a conference in Florence. "If you want to teach it in schools, intelligent design should be taught when religion or cultural history is taught, not science."

Got that folks. It's not science.
Not.
Not.
Not.

-- Is there any logic to the fact that this weekend, purportedly the busiest travel weekend of the year, gas prices in C-U are at a year-long low? I've seen at least 2 stations today with the price at $1.89.9. Makes no sense. But is it supposed to?

And so it goes.