35,000 last night outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The more I see things like this, the more angry I get at the Michigan Democratic Party for excluding us from all of it.

Quoted: "This is a defining moment in our history. Our nation is at war. Our planet is in peril. Our economy is in recession…. [M]ost of all, we’ve lost faith that our leaders can or will do anything about this; we don’t believe that anyone in Washington is listening to us, or standing up for us, or fighting for us. That’s why this election is our chance to declare our independence from the broken politics of Washington, the cynical politics that puts spin ahead of solutions and the special interests ahead of our interests; the politics that’s all about tearing each other down when what we need is to lift this country up. "

My sister in the latest issue of Baltimore Magazine, discussing Teach For America and the Baltimore City high school she has been assigned to for the past two years.

Quoted: Take Sarah Orao. In her first year of teaching 10th grade government at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School last year, her class had the highest pass rate in the school on the Maryland High School Assessment test (HSA). Of all the government-class students, 92 percent of those taught by Orao and fellow Teach For America corps member Cristina Duncan Evans passed the HSA. Even more impressive than test scores, though, is the way Orao and her colleagues convert struggling students into enthusiastic learners. “I teach government, which I love, because this class teaches you how to take control of your life,” says Orao. She aims to make lessons as relevant and meaningful as possible to her students’ lives. They particularly enjoy the judicial unit in which they study the O.J. Simpson trial. And this year, Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has spurred lots of discussion.

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A nifty bit of footwork from Sylvain Ebankes-Blake vs. Charlton this past week.

Quoted: Sylvain Ebanks-Blake scores a sublime goal for Wolves

You can now stream every episode of South Park online for free. But not in Canada.

Timmay!

I got a homebrew kit for Christmas. Saturday marked five weeks since the brew date, and last night I finally opened a bottle. I am happy to report that it turned out very well. Nothing was contaminated and like I was led to believe, this ingredient kit turned out very similar to Newcastle Brown Ale.

Quoted: Consider the Northern English Brown Ale: drier, cleaner, less fruity and sweet, and slightly hoppier than their southern counterparts (like our Nut Brown Ale kit). These beers actually have quite a bit in common with ales from Scotland as well, but don't try to tell them that in Newcastle. This kit yields an easy-to-drink, easy-to-like ale with a clear, deep garnet color, light sweet malt and fruit flavors, undertones of burnt caramel, chocolate, and toffee in the finish.

Cool pictures of the Alaskan countryside in the evening, courtesy of soosh, a member of TotalFark.

Awesome. Of course I'll be done with the first season on DVD by the end of this weekend, but it will be nice to see some more people have a chance to get into a great show.

Quoted: CBS, seeking to fill programming holes left by the writers' strike, said on Monday it will rerun the entire first season of the crime drama "Dexter" from Showtime, its sister cable channel, starting next month.

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I am not entirely certain if I believe this, but I'll store it in my inner MacGyver database anyway.

Quoted: Website: http://householdhacker.comIn this episode we show you how to charge your iPod (or other mp3 player) for up to 20 minutes using electrolytes derived ...

Great news. I thought for sure this one might get the axe, simply because I have a bizarro Midas touch when backing first year TV shows.

Quoted: Another show has joined the thus-far small ranks of new series to earn a full-season order: ABC's forensic fairy tale "Pushing Daisies."