Raymond Johnson @ downclimb.com

Why is a baker's dozen 13 of something? I think it should be 11. I realized this today as I was making cookies...for every 12 I put into the oven, only 11 made it into the cookie jar. Warm and gooey cookies are just too good to resist, and I wouldn't blame any baker for eating a few of them soon after they come out of the oven. Finishing with groups of 11 is easy - put 12 on the cookie sheet (which fits really well, 3 rows by 4 columns), bake them, take them out, eat one, and put the other 11 in the cookie jar. How could you end up with 13? Put 14 on each cookie sheet? What's that, 2 rows by 7 columns? That wouldn't fit most cookie sheets very well. A checkerboard pattern of 3-2-3-2-3 might fit pretty well, but that is exactly 13, so then you can't eat any of them. As the baker in this case, I find this unacceptable. I suppose you could just make as many cookies as the batch allows, then eat however many it takes to leave youself with a total that is a mu...

When you read, watch, and listen to as much daily news as I do, things like last night's State of the Union address take on an increased importance. Not so important that I missed any of "The Shield", but important enough that I recorded the last few minutes of the speech, the Democrat's response, and the ensuing debates on MSNBC's Hardball. So after watching Vic Mackey rough up the bad guys, I got caught up on all the stuff I missed. I'm not really into sharing my own personal political opinions, but I do enjoy the rhetoric of politics and the news. I've always been a fan of NBC. I don't know if it makes much sense to have an allegiance to one network over another, but I'm sure there are a lot of advertising and marketing executives counting on just that. Maybe it was because I was a child of the original "Must-See-TV" (Cosby, Family Ties/Different World, Cheers, Night Court, LA Law), or because Tom Brokaw is my favorite of the n...

Anybody see the Texas-Kansas game last night? By far the best basketball game I've seen this season, especially after watching that 37-point turnaround that Arizona had on Kansas just last Saturday. Yes, I'm a Kansas fan. I remember rooting for Danny Manning back in 1988, and although my dedication has wondered, they're still my favorite college basketball team. I'm from the same hometown as Nick Collison, so I pay more attention now than ever, and last night he played the game of his career - 24 points and 23 rebounds against a very good Texas frontcourt. Kansas isn't nearly as consistent this year as they were last year, but come tournament time I don't think any team will want them in their bracket. (The same can be said for about 15 other teams...isn't college basketball great?) Big win last Sunday for the UNI wrestling team as they beat Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum. ISU isn't exactly having their best year, but it's a high-quality win...