Yesterday morning, Becky and I took Robbie for a morning walk, and along the way, I snapped a bunch of pictures of the many pretty flowers that are growing in people’s yards in our neighborhood. Those who picture the desert as a barren wasteland are likely to be rather surprised. It’s gorgeous here this time of year.

Check out the whole gallery.

Also newly uploaded: photos of Andrew and Bea, and photos from a Friday-evening thunderstorm that produced an enormous, powerful outflow that blew 50+ mph winds — and a whole lot of brownish dust — into our neck of the woods.

Here’s an image of the Hartford Courant front page that my dad described in comments:

Here’s the Courant’s NCAA Tournament page. And here’s coverage from the UConn Daily Campus.

Andrew and Bea came to town Friday and Saturday, as advertised, on their way back to L.A. from Colorado. It was good to see them.

Andrew made a good point over lunch Saturday about the war on terrorism. I’m sure it’s been made before, but I hadn’t heard it, and he expressed it well. The basic thesis was that the biggest problem in our prosecution of the war is our insistence on “proportional response” and avoiding civilian casualties as much as humanly possible. Although it may be the “moral” course, it also puts us at a strategic disadvantage — perhaps an insurmountable one — because the terrorists know we are constrained (by morality, public opinion, etc.) from punishing them the old-fashioned way: murdering whole families, destroying entire communities, etc.

Terrorists might actually be deterred if we truly had an iron fist. But if all we do is kill the terrorists themselves, we can’t deter them because they’re suicidal anyway. In order to really respond with an iron fist — in order to make it not worth it for the terrorists, and the society that breeds them, to maintain the strategy of terror — we’d have to have far less respect for human life than we do. Which, come to think of it, means that the biggest problem in our prosecution of the war on terrorism is that we are morally better than the terrorists. I guess nice guys really do finish last.

I thought I made a decent point, too, about “values” in domestic politics. We were discussing the rise of supermarkets and Wal-Marts, and how they push smaller shops out of business. Becky was lamenting this, but Andrew responded that it’s basically just market forces at work. Then it occurred to me, the notion of preserving mom-and-pop shops from destruction at the hands of large corporations is just as much a “value” as conservatives’ pet causes in fighting “immoral” behavior (premarital sex, drug abuse, prostitution, gambling, etc.). It’s a different kind of value, but it’s a value nonetheless — a position based on a basically unprovable belief that one thing is “better” than another thing, because, well, it just is. And while using the government as a counterweight to market forces may be denounced as impractical, it’s really no more impractical than using the government as a counterweight to the base tendencies of human nature. In a sense, these are two sides of the same coin.

In both cases, what you (the hypothetical, plural “you,” that is) are really doing is advocating the use of the government to enforce — or attempt to enforce — a specific set of values, in spite of the obstacles. Liberals may not like this idea (”values” are a dirty word), and conservatives may not like the notion that liberal causes are just as value-based as theirs. But unless you’re a true libertarian — in which case you believe the government should keep its grimy hands off both your local neighborhood Wal-Mart and your local neighborhood hooker — odds are you believe in government enforcing your values in spite of “natural” forces pushing the other way.

If so, it isn’t sufficient to justify your positions by saying you believe in a “hands-off” or “laissez-faire” government. You might believe that in general (most people do, really), but you, like just about everyone else, make exceptions when it comes to your own pet issues. So instead of pretending your philosophy is values-neutral, stand up and defend your values, and explain why they’re more important than other values, and why the government should defend them even when it’s difficult. That’s what a real political discourse should be all about.

[stepping down from soapbox, resuming eating my lunch]

Almost missed the bus this morning. Spent too long blogging and link-whoring (I e-mailed Glenn Reynolds about my redesign and blogaversary); didn’t jump in the shower till 6:19 AM; didn’t give Becky her goodbye kiss till 6:29; didn’t run out the door till 6:31. At 6:40, I saw my bus approaching the stoplight where it turns left and rolls across the intersection to my bus stop. Luckily, the light was red, so I had a brief reprieve. Needless to say, I started sprinting. Cut across the McDonald’s parking lot, running like a bat out of hell (confusing several Egg McMuffin-eating customers, no doubt). I arrived at the bus stop just as the bus got there. A few more seconds, and I would have had a much longer morning. (If I miss the 6:41 bus, which is the last express bus of the morning, I’m guaranteed to be at least 90 minutes late to work.)

Well, at least my work week got off to an exciting note. Or something.

Just realized the category drop-down thingy above isn’t working. Sorry. Will work on it.

UPDATE: Category thingy fixed.

Keith Berry says some lefty bloggers are so outraged by the outrage over Kos, they “are downplaying how truly offensive Zúniga’s remarks were.” I think that’s right, and I think it’s sadly typical.

For the record, those who cry “free speech” when, for example, John Kerry’s website de-links the Daily Kos, don’t understand what free speech is. You have the right to say what you want — and others have the right to criticize you, organize boycotts against you, and even de-link you, if they want to. That’s free speech, too. Free speech is not a right to say what you want and avoid criticism. Free speech is all about the marketplace of ideas. And Kos’s ideas just saw their stock plummet, because they are bad, hollow, wrong-headed ideas.

As for the commenter who complained that he can’t adequately assess Kos’s comments because I didn’t link to them… I couldn’t link to the original post now, even if I wanted to, because Kos has yanked it offline. But I did link to this post, which features a screenshot of Kos’s original post. And I have consistently linked to people who were linking to the various Kos remarks and apologies — I just didn’t want to link to him directly, as a matter of principle. I have not made it difficult to find him, though. And anyway, Google exists for a reason.

UPDATE: Here’s a liberal/Democrat blogger who gets it:

Yes, Kos said something stupid. He made an indefensible statement and then did the worst thing possible, tried to defend it. An obvious mistake and one that causes people, including myself, to lose respect for him. Getting paid to be somewhere shouldn’t open you up to having your body hung from a bridge. If you think it should then you have some serious problems.

He’s sensible because he’s a Cubs fan. (Wait, that’s not right…)

NOTE: This post originally began, “Keith Berry says lefty bloggers are so outraged…” I have now changed this to “Keith Berry says some lefty bloggers are so outraged…” I apologize for the broad-brush-sweeping, which is representative of neither the truth nor Berry’s comments.

My careless wording was more the result of being rushed than of enmity toward the Left… and in fact, if I had taken the time to type the word “some” when I originally posted this morning, those two seconds might have made the difference between catching and missing the bus. :)

But, that said, I was wrong and I apologize. (And this without anybody complaining, de-linking me, calling me racist names [”That’s right, ya filthy Mick! Now get your bog-trotting arse back down to steerage!” –ed.] or anything! :)

“Wal-Mart sovereignty“?!?

Two UConn teams playing for the national championship… Wow! I may be 2,500 miles away from home, but right now, I am swelling with Connecticut pride!!! :)

The Husky men get the first shot at a national title later today, against Georgia Tech at 6:18 PM MST. Then the women, who beat Minnesota 67-58 Sunday, play (who else?) Tennessee for the championship at 5:30 PM MST Tuesday.

Forty-eight hours from now, there could be two national championship basketball teams from the state of Connecticut.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The last time (indeed, the only other time) that a university got both its men’s and women’s basketball teams to the national championship game, it lost both games.

Of course, there is one big difference: that team was Duke, and has been discussed here previously, UConn rules, Duke sucks. :)

Anyway… LET’S GO HUSKIES!!!

UConn Husky,
symbol of might to the foe.
Fight, fight Connecticut, it’s victr’y, Let’s go
Connecticut UConn Husky,
victr’y again for the White and Blue
So go, go, go Connecticut,
Connecticut U. Fight!

C-O-N-N-E-C-T-I C-U-T. Connecticut,
Connecticut Husky, Connecticut Husky,
Connecticut C-O-N-N-U. Fight!

UConn Husky,
symbol of might to the foe.
Fight, fight Connecticut, it’s victr’y, Let’s go
Connecticut UConn Husky,
victr’y again for the White and Blue
So go, go, go Connecticut
Connecticut U.

U… Conn… Husky!

The Living Room Times’s seventh annual women’s basketball pool will go down to the wire, with the outcome being decided by the UConn-Tennessee championship game on Tuesday.

If Tennessee wins, Ohio resident Scott Loomer, pool administrator Brendan Loy’s uncle, will win the pool. If UConn wins, it will be a three-way tie between Newington High School graduate Matt Kagan (who also won the men’s pool) and NHS students Danny Pilz and Conor Sullivan.

If that three-way tie occurs, Kagan, Pilz and Sullivan would all be considered co-champions, but the Pick 65 prize would be awarded on the basis of tiebreakers. Pilz would get the prize if UConn wins by five points or more; Kagan would get it if UConn wins by four points or less, and the total points scored is 125 or more; Sullivan would get it if UConn wins by four points or less, and the total points scored is 124 or less.

If Kagan wins the women’s pool prize, he will receive a Pick 65 wall clock instead of the standard tote bag, in order to avoid duplication with his men’s pool prize.

Get a load of what happens when you do a Google search for “Stop Nader.” Look who’s #5! Heh. Cool!

Speaking of which, on Saturday my dad posted a Nader Watch update. Check it out!

Well, I did it: I met my self-imposed deadline! The redesigned site went “live” just over an hour before midnight on my second blogaversary. Woohoo!

Welcome to the new and improved BrendanLoy.com!

There is still a lot of work to do, however. Some things are obvious: the relatively poor photo quality in the “random photos of me,” the “more to come” and “under construction” notes on the sidebar, the messed-up comment template, etc. Other things are less obvious, but suffice it to say, I will be doing plenty of tweaking over the coming days and months.

In the mean time, please let me know what you think!

Before I forget, I want to give a shout-out to Neil Turner, from whom I borrowed the basic framework of this new design.

Among the most significant changes: I’ve finally made the switch from FONT tags and the like to CSS stylesheets; I’ve switched from a centered blog-post format to a left-justified format, which allows me to use blockquotes instead of italics for quotes, as I mentioned ; I’ve added a “Brendansphere bar” at the top of the homepage, to make it easier to navigate to my family and friends’ blogs; I’ve signed up for a premium account at Blogrolling, which I am now using to organize my various lists of links; etc. etc. etc. There are a lot of changes. :)

In addition to the design changes, my 1999-2002 photos are back online, joining my iPhoto libraries from 2003 (a lot of work to do there yet) and 2004. Also back online is my 9/11 audio montage & patriotic anthem.

That’s the good news. The bad news is, I had to expand my web space from 850 MB to 1250 MB to make room for some of this stuff. I may create a tipjar soon; BrendanLoy.com’s annual operating expenses are probably going to approach $300 now. Heh.

Getting back to the design changes: you may be wondering if I am planning to institute this same redesign on the “blog-child” blogs (Jen, Tim, Mom & Dad, the SHA girls and the cats). As of yet, I haven’t, but I think I probably eventually will. Any “blog-children” with strong opinions one way or the other, please let me know.

Well anyway, that’s about it for now. I need to get to bed. But like I said, please wander around a bit, and let me know what you think of the new design!

UPDATE: The comment script thingy is working again. :)

Testing my new blog templates…

UPDATE: So far, so good. Stay tuned for further updates. (You can view the current hompage in its old form here.)

HOORAY!: This means I don’t have to use italics anymore when I quote an article!

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, no more squinting at ugly and hard-to-read italics.

Instead, let us all revel in the joy of the blockquote, also known as God’s gift to HTML.

Hip, hip, hooray! :)

Two UConn teams in the national-championship games!!!

WOOHOO!!! All hail Connecticut!!!

The Lady Vols pulled it out, winning another nail-biter. So, one half of another classic UConn-Tennessee final is set. Now the Huskies just need to beat Minnesota, don’t ya know.

If Minnesota wins, Scott Loomer clinches the LRT women’s pool. If UConn wins, Matt Kagan, Conor Sullivan and Danny Pilz stay alive, and it all comes down to the title game.

Today is my second blogaversary! Two years ago, at almost this very hour, I published my first-ever blog post. Its content was, of course, insightful, inspiring and utterly ground-breaking: “This is a test.” :)

BrendanLoy.com has certainly come a long way since then. Then, I predicted updates “at least every couple of days”; now, I set a new personal record last month with 363 posts, which is an average of nearly 12 per day. Then, a day of triple-digit traffic was the impossible dream; now, 400 hits a day is commonplace, and I occasionally soar into the quadruple digits when the links align just right. Then, I said I would mostly “be blogging in my traditional narcissistic style, babbling about inconsequential details of my life, as if anyone really cares”; now — well, okay, some things never change. :)

But anyway, 3,320 posts (and 4,110 comments!) later, I’m still having a lot of fun with the blog, and that’s the most important thing.

Dunno whether or not I’ll get the redesign up and running today, as originally planned. I’ll be working on it tomorrow. Will try my best. Stay tuned!