Can you sing... backwards?

Watch the whole thing... a clever way to prove that he is actually singing backwards.

A healthy appetite

Guess which member of our family had the following breakfast this morning?

2 Eggs, scrambled
1 slice of toast
1 whole banana

That's right, our son (who weighs somewhere less than 25 lb.) is going for a record of eating his own weight in one day. Off to a good start...

Listening to an album

It occurs to me that with the ubiquity of digital music, people might not listen to albums straight through, beginning to end, ever again. Given, you can certainly do that on an iPod, but I much prefer to let the Shuffle function be my DJ.

For years, I listened to tapes and CDs as the artists made them. This resulted in an interesting phenomenon - when I heard certain songs, even out of context like on the radio, my brain expected the next song to be the song that followed on the album. One song just naturally let me to expect the next one in order.

Which leads me to a particularly odd moment. On occasion, after hearing Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down a Dream", the next thing on the Full Moon Fever album (CD version) pops into my brain. That is, Tom Petty's voice, speaking plainly:

"Hello, CD listeners. We've come to the point in the album where those listening on record or cassette will have to stand up, or sit down, and turn over the record, or tape. In fairness to those listeners, we will now take a few seconds before we begin side two. ... Thank you. Here's side two."

Sadly, that CD was among the several that I lost many years ago... so even if I buy the song download, I probably won't get to hear that extra bit (which wasn't a separate track on the album... just followed the song after a few seconds of silence).

Do you ever listen to an album straight through anymore?

Game-changer

If this is real, it's perhaps the most significant invention to date of the 21st century:

Everything that goes into Frank Pringle’s recycling machine—a piece of tire, a rock, a plastic cup—turns to oil and natural gas seconds later.

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, doesn't think it will stand up. But it takes more than a snake oil salesman to get featured in a legit publication like Popular Science.

The Flipper has landed [a job]

As I hinted at last Friday, I've been having a lot of conversations with a potential employer. I'm happy to report that today, I faxed back my signed [accepted] offer letter.

As of January 7, I will be working in Product Strategy for a medium-sized educational software company. I'm pretty excited about the opportunity, although it's a significant departure in terms of both industry and job function for me.

What does this mean for you, dear reader? There are several possibilities:
1. A happier, less stressed Flipper to blog about fun and amusing things
2. A busier Flipper with less free time to blog
3. A whole new source of blog material: office life!

Can't say which of these scenarios is most likely, but there will likely be components of all three.

Website design suggestions?

I'm looking for recommendations for website design software.

Last summer, we launched BookBonds.com - the website for the wife's startup family literacy class. Version 1.0 of the site is a very weak execution, created with MS Publisher. In fact, I'd prefer to think of it as Version 0.1.

In any event, we are starting to actually advertise BookBonds to drum up some interest in classes starting in late Spring. This will hopefully drive traffic to the website. So I'd like to replace what's there with a better execution.

Here's a list of HTML editors from Wikipedia. I'd certainly prefer a choice that has the magic word "Free" in the fourth column, but I'm open to those that have a two-digit price. If you have experience with any of these (or others), please offer your advice!

Babies and Laundry

Several observations on babies and laundry:

1. For the first year-and-a-half of marriage, we lived without our own laundry machine. There was a laundromat next door to our apartment building, so this was manageable. However, I cannot imagine living with a baby and not having your own washing machine. Got that, kids? First get married, then get a washing machine, then you may have kids.

2. Babies are the reason that washing machines have a "heavily soiled" setting. Unless you do your own car maintenance in the garage, you've probably never really needed that setting... until kids come along.

3. Washing new baby clothes is mandatory before putting them on the kid, to get rid of any trace chemicals used in packaging. There's an upside to this: a load of laundry containing brand-new children's clothing produces an incredibly soft, puffy lint in your dryer's lint filter. I'm not kidding. I'd like to save up enough new-baby-clothes-lint to stuff a pillow. What's softer than a baby's bottom? New-baby-clothes-lint!

Job update coming soon

That's right... not "job search update".

Not ready to share the news just yet, but hopefully after the weekend!

Happy Hanukah Chanukah Hannukkah Festival of Lights!!

Fun, relatively amazing online game

This may be a little outdated. With websites - at least those that have been around a while - you can never be sure if you've discovered a hidden gem, or if you're the last person on earth to learn about a popular trend. For example, I got laughed at by about 80% of my colleagues a couple of years ago when I recommended that people read The Onion. (Of course, the 20% who were even slower than me were very appreciative for the tip!)

In any case, play a few games of 20 Questions online. This is not only a fun and impressive game, it's also a great example of how a computer can learn from people. So many people have played the game that the software is prepared to discover practically any object you can think of within 20 questions.

You must be honest and give straightforward answers!

Click the link above, then "Think in American", then "Classic 20Q" at bottom-left. (It's built in frames, so I can't give you the direct URL to start the game.)

They also sell a 20 Questions ball, which is a good learning toy for kids. It's got the software built-in, so you can play anytime, anywhere.

Shirt for the meme-loving MOTs

Can't remember if I blogged about the launch of shirt.woot.com, but today's offering is one that deserves to be shared. Alas, it sold out before I could order one. Read the product description at the link above.

Merry Channukah!

I previously blogged about thisisbroken.com, which was discontinued, while the good experience blog continues to post occasional "broken" submissions.

They posted this gem yesterday: A clearly "broken" holiday promotion spotted by a reader at a Balducci's market in Manhattan.

Link to original post

Walk Washington!

Even though I live out in the 'burbs, this is one of the things I love about the DC area. Appropriate that Boston is #2, walkability was one of the things I liked there too.

The report ranks the Washington region first among the country's major metropolitan areas in the number of "walkable places" per capita

Read the whole article here.

The [Birthday] Boy

Today is an exciting day in our household. Seth, aka The Boy, is one year old today. Fortunately, he's mostly over his illness and back to himself.

It's amazing how much has happened in the past year. From the first smile to the first giggle to full-out belly laughs, from sitting to crawling to walking, from the first "Ga" to his current (and growing) vocabulary.

People often ask if the changes and milestones are perceptible to us, since we seem him every day and they occur so gradually. Today, the answer is "absolutely" - in retrospect, it's been so exciting and fulfilling to watch each new stage and each new achievement.

We're having a ton of fun, and it's awesome to see him appreciating more of the fun himself. He's a kid now, not a baby. Sure, he still needs his diapers changed and meals prepared. But he's become such an integral part of our family that Rachel and I wouldn't know what to do without him.

"Mmmm, cake..."

"Handle with Care" Hampton

This probably flew under your radar. Why? Maybe it's because it's football season, and everybody's thinking about BCS and NFL. Maybe because you aren't all rabid Braves fans. Or maybe, it's because this has become an annual occurrence, as newsworthy as leaves falling off of trees each autumn.

Yep - Mike Hampton is injured again. Pulled a hammy after pitching less than an inning of winter ball in Mexico.

The same Mike Hampton who is due to earn $15 Million in the final year (FINALLY) of the ridiculous (hindsight is 20/20, isn't it) $121 Million, eight-year contract that the Braves acquired from Colorado (via Florida). The same Mike Hampton who hasn't pitched in the majors since August of 2005.

Given, this looks to be just a minor injury. And I'd be thrilled to see vintage 2003-2004 Hampton come back next year and rack up the innings. But let's face it: He hasn't exceeded 200 innings since 2001, he's untested in the post-Mazzone era in Atlanta, and he's the most fragile pitcher in baseball. I'm not holding my breath.

Art in the eye of the keyboard

Some art is remarkable for its appearance, some for its ability to inspire. Still other art is noted for its craftsmanship.

It is into that latter category that Paul Smith's works would fall. Smith's works appear, at first, to be very attractive pencil or charcoal sketches. But Smith, who suffered from Cerebral Palsy, eschewed those media for the high-tech instrument of his day: All of his works were created on a typewriter.

Including this one:
For detail of the keystrokes that make up this particular work, see here, here, here and here.

Better yet, see his whole portfolio. Kinda makes those emoticons 8^D seem pretty lame, huh? [via BoingBoing]

Sharing is caring

This holiday season, share the rice.

From the people who brought you thehungersite.org, which donated food via the UN World Food Program in return for impressions of advertisers' banner ads, comes the improved, more interactive version: FreeRice.org.

It's very simple: Work on your vocabulary skills, while providing food to the world's hungry. A very clever and elegant interface make it a simple joy to use the site. And even though some of my readers may not have as much free time as, say, the unemployed (cough!), who among us couldn't use a little vocabulary work-out from time to time?

Illness...

With his first birthday only a week away, Seth decided to celebrate by getting sick.

I've often said that I feel like we won the baby lottery - not only is he an easy, happy kid, but he's managed to avoid most of the dreaded baby sickness that you'd expect from a day-care kid. Well, he made it a long time, anyway...

On Tuesday, Rachel picked him up at day care and received the report that he hadn't been himself - lethargic instead of his usual constant-motion, and mildly feverish. At home, we administered some baby Tylenol and he went to the doctor Wednesday morning, after a rough night.

Diagnosis? The dreaded ear infection. The doc prescribed a penicillin-type antibiotic, which we started immediately -- twice a day. Administering it is an exercise in baby torture, involving either a medicine dropper or a syringe, and physical restraining.

For the next few days, Seth wasn't himself. At times he was playful, but he was frequently upset and/or listless. Fortunatly, he mustered the energy to play at bit with his aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. His fever broke after a couple of days. But there were no uninterrupted nights of sleep for him, or us.

Then, on Saturday, he woke up with an obvious rash over most of his torso. Another trip to the doctor, and they decided he was having a reaction to the antibiotic, so they switched him to a different one. The rash spread from his torso to his legs, arms and face, but dissipated within a couple of days.

This morning was the first time in almost a week that he was acting normal. We still have to give him antibiotics, and it's not fun for anybody... but there's only a few more days of it. And last night, he woke up twice (11-midnight and 3:30-4), which wasn't bad by the standard of the past week.

I guess if there's any upside, it's that this came while he was home anyway - day care wouldn't have let him stay there while sick, but it wasn't an issue since we had him home for the holiday week.

So much to share!

Here's the laundry list of stuff I should write about for the blog. I'll try to cover each topic with its own post, but you can hold me to this list if I forget any.

• Job Search update - Connecticut is out of the running! But local options are looking good.
  
• Seth turns 1 tomorrow!
• Everyone in town for Thanksgiving, lots of family, lots of fun, lots of food.
• Seth came within a week of getting through his first year of life without significant illness, but then...

You can also use the comments on this post to request updates on anything else I haven't covered in a while.

And just for fun, here's a list of the sugary items that have entered our house in the last month:
1. Several pounds of remaining Halloween candy
2. Homemade pumpkin and pecan pies (now finished)
3. 2 Way-too-big fruit platters, leftovers of which are in the fridge
4. A famous chocolate shavings cake from New Jersey
5. Assorted cookies and rugelach that also made the trip from New Jersey
6. A lot of extra birthday cake
7. Several cans and bottles of soda, leftover from the week's events
Having a sweet tooth, I can honestly say I'm probably more at risk of Type 2 Diabetes now than at any previous time in my life.

Lawn Care Woes

Had I been blogging at this time last year, I certainly would have complained about autumn lawn-care responsibilities. But since I launched Flippish in April, this is my first chance to kvetch endlessly about this issue.

You see, we live in a magical house. Beneath our front yard, several feet below the surface, lies an enormous leaf-magnet. That's the only explanation I can find as to why our yard accumulates roughly ten times the volume of autumn leaves as most of our neighbors. Incidentally, I think the leaf magnet also attracts rodents, which dig various holes and caves in and around our yard. This in itself really isn't as upsetting as the residents that usually take over those holes once the rodents move on to trendier residences: Swarming, stinging yellow jackets.

But I digress. The problem this time of year is the sheer speed and volume with which our yard fills with leaves. Clearing it is both exhausting and relatively futile, with a new load arriving hourly, borne upon the wind.

This morning, I attempted to clear the yard in preparation for the onslaught of family coming in for Thanksgiving. (This, despite the fact that the leaves would doubtlessly reappear by Thursday.) First, I used our electric leafblower, which also converts to vaccuum up the leaves, mulching them in the process. A brilliant yard tool this is, at least in design. I should mention that this is our second one, the first having given out after a few weeks' use. The one I used this morning was given to us by the gracious B-dot and Mrs. B-dot, after they decided old-skool raking was more to their liking.

Suffice it to say, I discontinued use of the leafblower this morning when smoke began pouring out the side of it. I quickly unplugged it and moved on to other yard care tools.

Having cleared the areas with the heaviest saturation of leaves, I decided to try the lawnmower. The grass is long and in need of a trim, and the mower mulches - perfect for removing/reducing the leaves in the process. However, our lawnmower - cheap and underpowered, but fairly reliable for the past 2+ years - has, sadly, lost its will to live. I believe that a mechanical link in the throttle line somewhere has failed.

I resorted to raking a bit, but took a break to share these tribulations with you, dear reader. I'm now debating whether to spend hours raking, only to still have long grass, or to call a lawn service for a one-time maintenance.

Write your senator! Take action!

Folks, a terrible injustice is about to occur in our great land. An innocent party could be ruthlessly destroyed, flushed out of the system, if you will, never to be heard from again.

And this isn't just one innocent individual. There are quite a few involved, and several of them are stunningly extraordinary. Some are very elderly. It just so happens that they are all named Jack.

If we don't act fast, here's what could happen... in the words of the Associated Press:

Hundreds of bottles of Jack Daniel's whiskey, some of it almost 100 years old, may be unceremoniously poured down a drain because authorities suspect it was being sold by someone without a license.

Read the full article here.

Then write to your government officials, especially if you live in Tennessee. Prevent this travesty of justice. Our legal system is based in a philosophy of innocence until guilt is proven beyond reasonable doubt, not "guilt by association". The whiskey has done nothing wrong. It belongs in the custody of upright, law-abiding citizens who will appreciate what it has to offer. Or a bunch of drunk rednecks. Either way.

All those bad drivers? You're not imagining it...

According to a new report by GMAC Insurance, nearly 20% of US drivers would flunk the driver's license test if they had to take it today.

To anyone who's ever driven (well, 80-odd percent of us, anyway), this probably comes as no surprise. All those horrible drivers out there? You're right! They don't deserve to have a license!

I've long wondered why on earth we give out driver's licenses as a rite of passage. I guess the only answer is that parents are willing to make roads collectively unsafe in order to gain some convenience by not having to drive their teenagers around anymore.

Imagine that we've moved beyond cars, and aircraft become the standard for personal transportation. Would we give every teenager a pilot's license, after a pathetically simple test which requires about 2 hours' worth of preparation? No, we wouldn't, because when airplanes crash, they hit things like houses and office buildings. However, since cars can only kill a few people at a time, we accept the risk and entitle our high schoolers to operate these deadly weapons.

It makes no sense... I'm all for the American way of life, and I know how central the automobile has become to our feelings of independence. But for God's sake, shouldn't the test for a driver's license actually measure whether or not one is prepared for the responsibility of operating a vehicle on public roads? A driver's license shouldn't be a rite of passage. It should be a permit issued to those people who've thoroughly demonstrated an ability to safely handle an automobile.

Apologies

Dear readers,

I apologize for the weak quality of yesterday's blog entries. There are several possible explanations for yesterday's crap:

• I might have been feeling a little stressed and un-creative, pending a job interview in the afternoon
• Somebody much less clever than myself might have stolen my password and blogged as me
• Perhaps I was just supporting the WGA strike by showing what my blog would look like without clever, professional-quality writing
• I'm working on a theory that getting loaded up on Halloween candy puts one into a state of braindead giddyness (which I hopefully overcame before the aforementioned interview)

In any event, you have my sincere apologies. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Candy-coated chocolate

My favorite varieties of M&Ms, in descending order:

Crispy (blue package)
Peanut Butter (red package)
Mint (holiday season)

However, Halloween has made me nostalgic for a candy that used to make its annual appearance around this time: Sixlets. I loved these things. It's been years, but I really think they were better than M&Ms. Candy Direct still sells them, along with thousands of other hard-to-find items.

See if you can find any lost candies from your childhood on their site. Might make you hungry.

It's true: Wikipedia has EVERYTHING!

What do the following four items have in common?

• Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
• Beijing Opera
• GameFAQs
• 1880 Republican National Convention

They're the last four consecutive featured articles on Wikipedia!

Where else would those four concepts be found together? Nowheres, I tells ya! That's where!

Wikipedia is the best.

Cell Phone dilemma

I have the oldest cell phone in the Eastern United States. Okay, maybe it's not the oldest, but it's got to be close. It's a Verizon LG, and it's about 4 years old. In fact, I've had several people tell me "I had that phone three phones ago!"

I'm not crazy about it, either. It works fine, save for two major complaints:
1. There's an external button that cycles the phone between Normal, Vibrate, and Silent. On a daily basis, the phone squeezes against my keys or something in my pocket and turns itself silent, so that I'll miss all future calls.
2. The ringer doesn't get very loud. I've missed dozens of calls simply because I didn't hear it. In addition, "ring+vibrate" mode has never worked, so at all times I have to risk either not hearing it ring, or not feeling it vibrate.

On the other hand, it does everything I need it to. It's tri-band, so I'm rarely without signal -- although our house is in a signal-weak spot, so it's hard to use at home. I set up the one-touch favorite button to open up the calculator, which I use frequently. And although it's been through a lot over four years, including several drops, it still works. It's also my primary phone book (I know it's a bad idea not to have a backup...)

So here's my dilemma: I'm ready for a new phone. Verizon would be happy to give me a free phone, in return for re-upping my contract. However, it appears that they've discontinued our 500-minute family plan, so we'd probably have to move up to their current "base" plan, $10 more per month. This, even though we've never once exceeded our 500 minute monthly allowance.

I have no particular loyalty to Verizon, and I'm thoroughly won over by the iPhone, which is only available through AT&T. With wireless number portability, I could keep my number and move to any other issuer.

But here's the catch: There's a reasonable possibility that my next employer will require me to carry a company cell phone, blackberry, etc. Rather than carry two phones (been there, done that), I'd much rather have them pick up the bill for my existing wireless number. But not knowing who my next employer will be, I also don't know which wireless carrier they will use. I don't want to sign a 2-year contract with AT&T, and within a few weeks (or months) be told that I need to carry a company phone that's on the Verizon network. That would leave me the choices of (a) swallow an exorbitant cancellation fee to get out of my contract, or (b) go back to carrying two cell phones - my own, and the company's.

This is all to say: In addition to everything else, getting a new wireless phone is one of the many things that are dependent upon finding a job. Until then, old LG, please hold out!

Poor Man's Mocha

1 cup fresh brewed coffee, in an oversized mug
3-4 second squirt of chocolate syrup
1-2 ounces milk
Sugar or Splenda to taste

This probably would have cost me $4 at Starbucks. I can't imagine that the sum of ingredients used in the home version exceeds $0.30. Given, a coffee aficionado would probably take one sip and barf, but it's good enough for me.

Job update and other

I suppose that all of you fine folks are a little bit curious: Why does Flip blog so infrequently? What the heck* else does he have to do?

Well, you bring up a good point there. Unemployment does leave a lot of time for side projects, such as blogging. But I have been spending a good amount of time on legitimate pursuits, such as the job search.

And I'm happy to report that this week has (so far) brought calls from three different companies, each interested in bringing me in for interviews. Time to get the suit dry cleaned!

The three companies are totally different from one another, all in different industries. But I'm optimistic that this round of interviews could lead to a job offer or two. And although the Connecticut job is still very much a possibility, I'd much rather be weighing that option against offers in our neck of the woods. It would feel much better to have a choice of whether to relocate or not, with viable options on either side of the equation.

Non-sequitur alert...
1. Trick-or-treaters seemed to end around 8pm. Probably got 20-something kids, leaving plenty of 3 Musketeers bars that never got passed out. (That's 20-something as a quantity, not an age)
2. Had our annual furnace inspection today, and they detected trace amounts of carbon monoxide. That's not the kind of thing you want to hear. It's an 18 year old system and may be due for replacement. That sort of thing is easier to pay for when one is gainfully employed... (so it wasn't a non-sequitur after all!)

*The missus has been prevailing upon me to limit the usage of vulgarities, to prevent the sort of situation that occurred with the baby in Meet the Fokkers. So just in case Seth reads this, he shouldn't be scarred by the use of dirty words. After all, there are plenty of other reasons for him to be scarred by what he reads in this blog.

They say that nobody's face is perfectly symmetrical

...so let's just say I was going for a degree of realism when I carved this year's jack-o-lantern.

The dryer is trying to kill me!

Moving a load of laundry this morning, I noticed a warning label inside the door of our clothes dryer. It says:

No washer can completely remove oil. Do not dry anything that has ever come into contact with oil (including cooking oils).
...
Failure to follow these instructions could result in death or fire.

I can see how, in theory, disobeying these rules could result in fire. What I fail to understand is how it could result in death -- exclusive of fire. The "or" suggests that either possibility, death or fire, could happen independently of the other.

Now I'm terrified that next time I go open the dryer, there's going to be a shotgun inside there, aimed squarely at me.

The Nutmeg State

As my job search continues, a very enticing prospect has come up... in Connecticut. It's potentially a very interesting job, a great career step, and perhaps even a chance to work with a great colleague from a previous job. In addition, it might be the most lucrative job offer I'm likely to get.

But Connecticut? I have nothing against it - I've enjoyed the time I've spent there. I don't actually have as much concern about living in the Nutmeg State as I have about moving there. A lot of issues to weigh:

• We have great friends here
• We know very few people there
• We're generally very happy with the life we've found here
• It would be nearly impossible to sell our house right now
• We HATE moving

So, if a job offer is forthcoming from Connecticut, it'll be time for some serious soul-searching and very tough decisions.

Carbon-Fiber Sculpture

A number of historic automobiles have been deemed worthy of the label "art". Most notably, the 1960's Jaguar E-type was one of the first cars to be put on display in several art museums.

Now, Alfa Romeo is planning their return to the United States, having ceased sales of the Spider and 164 sedan by 1995. Next year, some lucky (and very wealthy) 99 Americans will become owners of the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. This will signal Alfa's return to the USA, with a variety of other sports coupes and sedans to follow within a year.

Although my chances of ever driving -- or perhaps even seeing - an 8C Competizione are incredibly slim, I am smitten. This car is stunning. And although it would be a crime for any of these to be denied a life of devouring twisty roads, there's no question that this car is worthy of a spot in any art museum.


More photos here. (Courtesy Edmunds)
I guarantee you won't find a bad angle.

The ultimate in flexible formats

A German company has invented a Compact Disk that has actual record grooves on its surface. So it's up to you: play your album on a turntable, or in a CD player.

Perfect for the Luddite who's almost ready to make the jump from 1940's technology to 1980's...

Next: a rotary iPhone...

Just because you're really, really smart...

...doesn't mean you can't be a racist a-hole.

And just in case you were ready to let him off the hook for being a little kooky and really believing in the scientific data, how does this quote rank on your bigot-o-meter?

"people who have to deal with black employees find [the notion of equal intelligence] not true"

I hereby move for future biology textbooks to attribute the discovery of DNA to "whats-his-name and Crick".

"Hi, Da"

Yesterday brought another one of those awesome, being-a-parent-is-so-cool moments. Rachel picked up Seth at day care as usual and brought him home. Walking into the house (well, being carried in), he saw me and said, "Hi, Da!"

Many of his words or mumblings are subject to interpretation. But this one was very clear. And very cool.

His vocabulary continues to grow. "Ga" means yes (yeah), and he says again, outside, mama, da, all done, okay.

Hold on tight

Colin McRae was an extraordinarily talented Rally car racer. He died last month in a tragic helicopter crash that also took the lives of his own son, his son's friend, and another adult.

In his honor, Edmunds included a couple videos of ride-alongs with McRae in their weekly video picks. Fun to watch him drive, amazing to listen to his calm demeanor, and ohh, that accent.

For your amusement

I've probably watched this a dozen times, and I still laugh out loud every time. You can watch the whole series of Eli's Dirty Jokes on YouTube - they're all pretty good, but this one takes the cake.

Talk like a Trucker Day!

Breaker breaker one-nine. This is Big Flipper coming at ya. You got your ears on, son? What's your 20?

Put the petal to the metal 'cause there ain't no smokeys in sight. Meet you at the next choke-and-puke, I gotta 10-100.

It's talk like a trucker day, and that's a big 10-4.

No deleting!

How different would electronic communication be if you couldn't use a backspace or delete key? Thihnk about it. What if typing was like writing in ink - once it's on the screen, the best you can do is strikeout.

Try this for a day, an hour, even just a single emial email or paragrpah paragraph. in case you're wondering <-s-> and <-/-s-> (remove the hyphens) are the HTML tags for strikes striketr strikethrough.

Can you imagint imagii imagine if we really had to deal with all of our typos and stupid stream-of-conv consciousness statements, rather than just hitting backspace?

By the way, I don't recommend trying this in an email or presentation intended for your boss. Feel free to give it a shot in a comment to this blog.

9/11 mentality in a 9/12 world

Great Tom Friedman column in the NYT. And I'm not just saying that because I once had brunch with him at my parents' house.

My issues with flossing

Yeah, this might be a little TMI, if you know what I mean. But if you don't use your blog for personal hygiene confessions, than really, what's the point?

I'm not a conscientious flosser. I was reminded of this during my dentist appointment yesterday. Numerous times. Not that I never floss, just I have a hard time keeping up the routine on a daily basis.

Here, in no particular order, are my issues with flossing.

• It takes too long. Between brushing, flossing, mouth-rinse, etc. I estimate that people are expected to spend over ten minutes per day taking care of their teeth. Why should that one body part require so much personal hygiene? I'd argue that no other individual body part requires as much time spent on hygiene on a daily basis.


• Self-inflicted bleeding. Let's just leave it at that.


• It makes me drool. Yeah, I'm leaning over the sink, but still.


• Popping the floss out from between two teeth and spattering the mirror with spittle/food particles. You know what I'm talking about. Then you have to clean the mirror.


• The environment. Yeah, that's right, I'm playing that card. It's the only part of the oral hygiene routine that creates additional trash. I don't throw out my toothbrush every day. Be the end of the year there must be literally hundreds of pounds of floss in our nation's landfills. And doesn't it get wrapped around the necks of seagulls or something?


• It's antiquated. Every other personal hygiene routine has grown more efficient through the use of technology - sonic toothbrushes, modern deoderant, etc. But flossing is still done the old-fashioned way. Why can't someone come up with something more efficient? I mean, can you imagine how George Jetson's personal hygiene conveyor-belt-machine-thing would have been slowed down if it had to floss his teeth??
  

I'll try to get over it and floss daily so that my teeth don't start falling out. But these are some legitimate gripes; wouldn't you agree?

I can assemble IKEA furniture.

Just so you know. I mean, not everyone can. And that's cool. But yeah, I can do that.

Top five signs that autumn is here

1. When I do laundry, I find that each load includes a bunch of socks.

2. Trees around the neighborhood have started posting maps and directions to make sure that every last leaf finds its way to my yard.

3. The annual appearance of Pigboy Willy's Pumpkin Patch (I kid you not) in a nearby strip-mall parking lot.

4. Walking down the sidewalk has a greatly increased risk of severe injury from slipping on hundreds of acorns. Of course, the squirrels still can't find them.

5. The inevitable feeling of disappointment knowing that there isn't much baseball left to watch.

The United States of Jesus

Forget everything you learned about the separation of Church and State. Forget that the Puritans fled Europe because of Religious inequality.

Apparently, the United States constitution establishes this as a Christian nation. At least, according to John McCain.

McCain also said he agreed with a recent poll that 55 percent of Americans believe the U.S. Constitution establishes a Christian nation. "I would probably have to say yes, that the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation," he said.

I've read the US Constitution several times, and I don't recall seeing "Christ", "Jesus" or "Christian" anywhere in there.

It's pretty disappointing to see how far McCain, long considered a moderate, is willing to bend over to appeal to the Christian base.

The beauty of all-wheel drive

Very clever ad for the grip of Subaru AWD with the rig pictured above cruising around the UK. Autoblog [via Edmunds]

Busy Weekend!

The Boy had a very nice weekend. Grandma & Grandpa (NJ side) were in town.

Seth was very happy and fun all weekend. He got so excited about his new firetruck, in fact, that he walked his first steps! He's been cruising for a while now (that's walking while using a table or other object for balance), and Saturday afternoon he cruised to the edge of one toy and took a couple of steps to reach the next one. It seems redundant to call them baby steps, but that's a good description. A couple of small steps, unsupported. We all responded by clapping and cheering, which might have confused him a little.

On Sunday, we took him to the zoo. He definitely "got it" more than his last zoo visit a month ago - he was interested in watching the animals this time. He had great face-to-face moments with a black-footed ferret and an orang utan. (According to the National Zoo, that's the preferred spelling nowadays.)

He's back at school today. Most of the kids in his classroom are walking, so he'll hopefully pick it up pretty quickly.

The frustration of the unknown

Steve Fossett and his Bellanca airplane have now been missing for over three weeks. Although the story has fallen out of the media's spotlight, a significant number of folks remain either interested in, or consumed by, the ongoing search.

It's amazing how quickly we've all become accustomed to the information age. The are no unanswerable questions anymore. Anything worth pondering can be explained with either a few clicks or by applying technology to new research.

Wonder what's the name of the flower that suddenly sprung up in the backyard? A couple of minutes searching Google and you should have your answer. Wonder what the surface of Mars looks like? Let's launch a rover and find out. Who was the MVP of the 1957 World Series? It took me about ten seconds to discover that it was Lew Burdette.

This is all in stark contrast to the vast majority of human history. If your uncle was a Roman ship's captain and went missing, you'd probably never learn what really happened to him. In fact, if you lived in Middle Age Europe, you'd never have had a chance to find out what other cultures existed in other parts of the world. Their science, beliefs, foods and languages were simply unfathomable.

That's why something like the Fossett case is so difficult to accept - we expect every question to have an answer, if we just look hard enough. Even twenty years ago, a missing pilot probably would have been written off as "presumed dead". But with modern scanning and radar equipment, satellite imagery, Amazon Mechanical Turk, etc... we just refuse to accept anything less than certainty.

Will there ever be another Amelia Earhart? For that matter, how long until somebody pieces together what really happened to the Amelia Earhart?

I'm cheating on you.

Don't take it personally. My wit is simply too dynamic to be confined to a single blog. This morning, I decided to launch the Poor Packaging blog, where I'll document all those idiotic gaffes made by well-intentioned marketers. Yes, the notion that this new blog might help me find employment did cross my mind. But really, it's just for the fun of it.

I'll continue to post off-topic stuff here.

Happy weekend.

Why it pays to go to Shul.

From the AJC:

Celeb in synagogue

Congregation Beth Tefillah in Sandy Springs had a notable worshipper in the synagogue during Yom Kippur services on Saturday. Bob Dylan, in town for a show with Elvis Costello at Gwinnett Arena in Duluth, was quietly seated in the rear of the temple. According to Rabbi Yossi New, the iconic singer's people called in advance to ask if Dylan (who was born Robert Zimmerman) might join other attendees in observing the holiest holiday on the Jewish calendar.

The singer, donning a dark suit and head covering as is customary, took part in the service by doing a blessing over the Torah before quietly returning to his seat.

"He wanted to be treated just like any other congregant," explained New on Monday. "I'm very proud of the [congregation]. No one bothered him at all. He was allowed to pray like anyone else. His presence really highlighted that, in the eyes of God, we're all the same."

Former 99X "Morning X" co-host Jimmy Baron, a member of the Beth Tefillah congregation, found the experience "a little surreal." Said Baron: "A few people wished him 'Happy New Year' on the way out but otherwise he was just another guy there observing the holiday. I'm sure there were a few cases of neck strain."

Rabbi New was one of my teachers in middle school. Good move going to Chabad, Bobby - minimal chances of anyone taking a cell phone picture or asking for an autograph as might happen at some shuls. Glad to see that the kehillah behaved themselves.

I wonder what his Hebrew name is (for his aliyah callup).

HT to B-dot for finding this.

I hope his name is Pegasus

Although the cargo compartment probably isn't as prestigious as having your own wings.

Horse flown on transatlantic flight in dog crate

Wasabi: Wassup with that?

I was munching on some wasabi-coated peanuts yesterday that I'd bought at the inimitable Wegman's, when I started to wonder how "hot" wasabi really is. Knowing that chili peppers are ranked for heat according to the Scoville Scale, I tried to discover where wasabi falls on the scale.

Alas, wasabi isn't typically ranked on the Scoville Scale. As wikipedia explains:

Its hotness is more akin to that of a hot mustard than the capsaicin in a chili pepper, producing vapors that irritate the nasal passages more than the tongue.

Reading further in the same wikipedia article, I found a shocking revelation: I'm not sure I've ever had wasabi!

Almost all sushi bars in America and Japan serve imitation (seiyō) wasabi because authentic wasabi is extremely expensive. Few people, even in Japan, realize that the wasabi that they consume is in fact an imitation. Although very hard to find, real wasabi powder (from Wasabia japonica plant) is a convenient way to experience true wasabi's remarkable flavor, but most commercially available "wasabi" powders contain no true wasabi at all. Most utilize a powdered imitation made from horseradish, mustard seed, and green food coloring (sometimes Spirulina). Whether real or imitation the powder is mixed with an equal amount of water to make a paste.

To distinguish between the true variety of wasabi and the imitation product, real wasabi is known in Japan as hon-wasabi (本山葵), meaning original, or true wasabi.

Have all of those Japanese restaurants been lying to us? I checked a tiny packet of wasabi leftover in our fridge from the last time we got take-out sushi (I think it came from Whole Foods) -- the first ingredient is "Japanese Horseradish", which implies that it's made with real wasabi. But I presume my nostril-burning peanuts are coated in something other than hon-wasabi, and I wonder how many times I've actually tasted the real thing in my sushi-eating experience.

Damn you, wikipedia! First you topple the conventional wisdom on peaches, and now this! Can't we go on in our blissful ignorance??

Car care 101

While we're on the subject of motoring, CNN Money has an excellent list of car care misconceptions.

Odd source for car care information, but these six tips are spot-on.

I especially like the tip about "letting your car warm up" before you drive. It's true that engines run their least efficiently when cold. But guess what? If your car is idling in the driveway, the engine will take about 10 minutes to warm up. If you just start driving immediately, it'll be warm in half that time. That means that your engine runs cold and inefficient for a much shorter period, saving a great deal of engine wear in the long-run. (Side note: if your engine is turbocharged, it may still be a good idea to let it idle for 30 seconds after driving before turning it off, to cool the turbo components.)

Mmmmm, trail rated

Chrysler Corp's new owners have shown a bold approach to marketing. From the people who brought you the lifetime powertrain warranty and the free car giveaway, the next great promotion:
Lick the chocolate off a Jeep.

No, that's not a hip new metaphor for some morally questionable activity (at least not yet). It's literal. Seven jeeps will be coated in chocolate, and the first to completely lick their assigned vehicle clean wins a 2008 Jeep Liberty.

The silliest part of this -- wait, let me rephrase -- one particularly silly aspect of this promotion is that the seven contestants will each be assigned different vehicles from the Jeep model lineup. My money is most definitely not on the guy who gets the Jeep Commander. [via autoblog]

A new talent

Check out the latest exploitation of our kid for your entertainment talent from The Boy.

Be sure to listen for Daddy's infamous schoolgirl giggle in the background, especially after the boisterous belch around 1:40.

Stacking the deck...

The following appears on a sticker, attached to the receipt from Rachel's recent oil change:

IMPORTANT
You may receive a customer satisfaction survey from Hyundai Motor of America in the next few weeks. If for any reason you cannot grade us "10" (completely satisfied) please contact [name withheld] at Fairfax Hyundai immediately. Your satisfaction is our No. 1 concern. Thank You. [phone # withheld]

This is just one example of a poorly-executed incentive program in the name of customer service. Clearly, the dealership gets some sort of incentive (cash or otherwise) from Hyundai of America if they achieve a certain overall score on their post-service customer surveys. (In marketing parlance, this survey would be called a Post-transaction assessment, or PTA.)

Many businesses try to solicit PTA data from customers, including the familiar note on your receipt from The Home Depot or Staples, prompting you to take a survey online or by phone. While many businesses provide an incentive to the customer to take these surveys, such as entry into a $5000 sweepstakes (or in the case of Fairfax Hyundai, coupons for free oil changes), an increasing number of businesses also provide an incentive to their branch locations to (1) encourage customers to take the survey and (2) achieve good performance on the survey based on customer feedback.

The problem, as if it weren't completely obvious, is that the Hyundai dealership's "No. 1 concern" is not your satisfaction, as stated on the sticker, but their own realization of an incentive from Hyundai of America. Read between the lines: the sticker is subtly suggesting that you fill out the survey only if you plan to grade them a "10" - otherwise, the implication is that you should call the dealership instead of filling out the survey. That way, they avoid having your survey results drag down their average.

How can you tell that their motivation is suspect? First of all, they ask you to call the service manager "if... you cannot grade us a '10'", not if you had a disappointing experience. Hello! Second, they are much more interested in your feedback via the survey data (as long as it's a 10) than in your real, honest opinion of their service. Otherwise, they'd put up a sign next to the cashier, stating:

If our service fell short of excellence in any way, our service manager would like to hear from you before you leave today.

The only thing more insulting than being on the receiving end of poor customer service is being taken for granted as a nameless contributor, helping people you don't know to earn an incentive they might not really deserve.

A video's worth a buncha words

Enjoy.


And L'shanah tovah tikatevu to those of you who understand that. To those who don't, happy September.

Conspiracy theories...

I don't fall for every conspiracy theory out there - for instance, I'm pretty confident that Oswald acted alone.

But when it comes to the disappearance of famed aviator Steve Fossett, consider me the leader of the tinfoil-hat crowd. He's been missing since Monday without a trace. His emergency beacon (set to become active after a crash) hasn't been detected, and nobody has heard from him despite having had aviation radios and a cell phone at the time of his fateful flight.

Here's my theory: He went out looking for dry lakebeds for his land-speed record attempt, as widely reported. But then he ventured a little too far to the south and got too close to the Nellis Air Force range, home of mysterious Area 51.

I'm not saying he was abducted by aliens or anything, but I'm sure that any unauthorized aircraft venturing too close to this area would be forced out of the air, either by military aircraft or more lethal means. This theory has been dismissed out-of-hand by several of the spokespeople for the search effort. But the restricted military range extends to within 130 miles of the Flying M Ranch, from where he took off. That's about an hour's flight in his Bellanca Super Decathlon.

If he did venture too close for the military's comfort, they probably forced his plane out of the sky - either getting him to land at the base, or more ominously, shot him down. Either way, the military could be biding its time and trying to figure out how to handle this major PR faux pas. Maybe they'll never reveal anything and just wait for the Civilian Air Patrol search to be called off...

(You heard it here first!)

Spaghetti and meatblocks

That's what we had for dinner last night. Well, rigatoni and meatblocks.

We had some frozen ground beef, and I decided to use it in pasta sauce without first defrosting it. Using a large chef's knife, I cut the frozen block into smaller blocks, added them to a pot full of tomato sauce, and let it simmer for almost an hour to make sure the meat not only defrosted but cooked too.

It wasn't terrible, but I don't recommend it. The meatblocks were very dense and didn't have much flavor. But if you're ever in a pinch, meatblocks can be used as a substitute for the more traditional meatballs.

Unemployed! (Finally!)

This, dear reader, is the last entry I will type from the keyboard of my Compaq laptop. You see, it doesn't actually belong to me: it belongs to my former employer. And today is the day that "my employer" becomes "my former employer".

In an hour or so, I'll be in the office for a final time, to hand in my laptop, cell phone, and ID badge. No tearful goodbyes, no montage of cheesey memories from cubicle 940B. In fact, the thing I'll probably miss most is this very laptop computer, since I'll now be relegated to our desktop in the disaster of a room that we call our office. No more working in the sunroom on nice mornings; from now on I'll be emplanted in a sticky cheap leatherette desk chair. Maybe I'll buy one of those $500 fancy breathable mesh chairs. Oh, wait, unemployed. Right. So I should probably hold off on the big ticket items for a while.

There are several irons in the fire, so to speak. So hopefully the unemployment tag may not be around for long. I had better find a job soon, before I get too comfortable with the retired lifestyle.

Overheard...

One of Blogger's "blogs of note" this week is Overheard Lines, where I found this gem:

Woman: "I'm a strict vegetarian! I don't eat anything that casts a shadow."
Friend: "So every other year you get to eat a groundhog?"

OVERHEARD BY JEFF

On an unrelated note, we had dinner tonight at a vegetarian restaurant. When we departed, we left the empty package from Seth's animal crackers on the table. Hope we didn't offend anybody.

Pimp my ride

This morning, I did about the most pimpin' thing I've ever done. I took my Kia Rondo to Tint Specialists and had the windows darkened.

I did this for a couple of reasons. Reason #1 is that the interior gets very hot when I'm parked in the sun. It almost feels cruel sometimes to strap The Boy into his car seat, even after opening the windows or running the A/C for a few minutes. The car has a lot of glass -- good for visibility, bad in that it acts like a greenhouse.

Speaking of visibility, that's Reason #2 for the tint-job. When I bought the car, they didn't offer a cargo cover for the stuff in the back. (Nor did they offer tinted windows.) Now there's a cargo cover available from Kia, but it retails for $250. And it's really only cosmetic, to keep your stuff out of sight. It isn't structural, meaning that anything stowed in the back could still become a projectile in an accident. So the tinted windows also serve a purpose of privacy. Whatever is stowed in the back is realatively out-of-sight unless you press your face against the glass.

Reason #3? Well, it looks cooler this way.

I located Tint Specialists, a local place in the back of an office/industrial park that offers multiple ways to pimp your ride. They don't have a flashy website or glossy brochures. In fact, the sparse seating in their office includes a rear bench seat extracted from some minivan. And to top it off, they offered me a significant discount if I had the work done today and paid in cash. But they do good work, and they're not a fly-by-night operation. They've been in the same spot for years and they aren't going anywhere if I need to bring it back with any problems.

How did I celebrate getting the ride pimped out? I did some of the most un-pimpin' things imaginable: Walked to Panera Bread, had a salmon salad*, and spoke to my mom on the cell phone. Bet I'm the first customer they've ever had who did exactly that series of activities while they were working on the car.

*As some of you know, salmon/fish on top of a salad is one of my favorite meals. I'm happy to report that Panera recently added this item to their menu. It comes with way too much syrupy-sweet dressing, which can easily be remedied by ordering the salad with a different dressing. I recommend Greek or Asian Vinaigrette.

Super Mari[Leg]o

Very well-done stop action combining two 80's favorites...

Courtesy of Collegehumor.

Macn Bacn!

I came across an article on "bacn", a newly-coined term for a category of junk email.

Spam is widely used to refer to unsolicited emails that are blasted to millions of people. Bacn is slightly different, in that it's legitimate marketing. Bacn is the result of giving out your email address to airlines, stores, etc: Those offers and email promotions that constantly show up in your inbox. Personally, I get Bacn from at least 3 different banks, 2 airlines, several retail stores, a few charities, and some ecommerce sites. Sometimes the Spam filter relegates it to my junk mail folder automatically, but most of the time it makes it through to my inbox unscathed. (Oddly enough, I find there is no pattern to this filtering - even emails from the same company can end up in either folder with no predictability.)

It's usually easy to unsubscribe from bacn - most legitimate marketers include an unsubscribe link in each email. But I just go ahead and tolerate the 99% that is not relevant to me, in the hopes that eventually the 1% of truly compelling and timely offers will show up. After all, how difficult is it to delete a few messages a day?

By far, the most unusual bacn that I receive comes from GE Appliances. I once used their website to request a service call for our refrigerator, and I've gotten about one email per month ever since. It includes recipes, and often sweepstakes. Each one just barely passes the bar to prevent me from unsubscribing.

What's your most unique (or annoying) bacn?

The Boy - he grows!

I haven't posted in a while about The Boy (or anything else, for that matter -- but I know there's a contingency out there with a particular interest in his life, particularly his grandparents).

He had his nine month checkup on Monday. They measured him at 29 inches, weighing 18lb, 10oz. Personally, I think it's time to drop the oz and just say eighteen and a half pounds. He was squirming mightily, so we suspect he might be a little longer than measured and we also think he would weigh more on a different day when he'd had more to eat.

On the subject of squirming, he's extremely active and fully mobile. He crawls everywhere, and can make it up the seven steps in our house in about 30 seconds. He pulls up on anything that's one-to-two feet tall, and is fully cruising. For the uninitiated, that means he can walk along next to a table or other surface, using one hand to balance on said surface. We're expecting him to be walking by the end of September.

He's still very good-natured. His energy is boundless - he is always happier crawling around than sitting still. Even when he's deliriously tired, he'd much rather be playing on the floor than sitting on someone's lap. With Mommy's return to work this week, he went back to day-care. He loves it there and comes home in a great mood every day. Lots of fun.

Job search update

Kudos to Daniel, who figured out that I wasn't going to post any more entries until somebody solved the 0.00 ERA challenge.

Okay, that's not exactly true - I've just been lazy.

Here's the update on the job search. Exactly one week from today, my former employer will officially cut me loose. This means a number of things: I no longer have an office to go to (given, I haven't been there in a month anyway); I will have to update this blog from our desktop computer after turning in my laptop; I will be back to having only one cell phone - and a very old one at that; I'll need to sign up for COBRA insurance (fortunately, still at the company-subsidised rate); and I'll be collecting severance. Oh, and I get to start saying I'm unemployed.

There are some hot leads right now that might develop into something. This morning, I had a very good interview with a tech/telecom firm. I'm still talking to a large hotelier, and I'm plugged into a couple of staffing/temp agencies. And Stephanie's sister, who has awesome initials, is also sending my resume to her old boss, which could potentially lead to a job within a few miles of home.

I'll keep you posted. If I had to guess, I'd say that the optimistic picture has me getting a job offer by the end of September, and probably ending up with a moderately lengthy commute. Anything under an hour is very reasonable by DC standards, so I probably can't complain.

Flippish Hen sighting!

Several of you have called me out for failing to follow through on my Flippish Hen promise.

Shappy correctly identified Ted Cox as the major league ballplayer who started his career with the longest streak of batting 1.000. Tangentially, I have to mention that I'm a little disappointed nobody has ever done better than 6 for 6. That's not even two straight games of perfect hitting. This is a record that's ripe for the breaking.

I know that Shappy isn't a man who is motivated by the glory of the Hen. No, he is happy to just know that baseball stats are being looked up and that google skills are being tested. But nonetheless, I'm a blogger of my word, and I promised a Flippish Hen.

So Shappy, here it is. Enjoy it. Savor it. And too bad you can't cook it this week, with the kitchen demolition and all.

PS - I'm still waiting for someone to find the pitcher who started his major league career with the longest 0.00 ERA streak.

Content Providers

Isn't that what life is all about: Content Providers?

The mailman provides content to my life in the form of junk mail, bills, magazines and the occasional handwritten letter. The phone company provides the content of my remote voice conversations. Heck, you could even argue that my friends and family provide content to my life.

In the traditional modern (is that an oxymoron?) meaning of content providers, it's usually taken to include internet service, TV services, etc: The electronic content that is piped into our homes. It is in this sense that we decided to reshuffle our content providers at home.

We had local and long-distance phone service ($0.05/min) with Verizon, Verizon FiOS internet, and DirecTV. Our Verizon bill averaged around $85 per month, depending on long-distance usage, and our DirecTV bill ran about $55 per month.

We chose to switch to Verizon for all of this content: Phone, FiOS internet, and FiOS TV. The primary reason for the switch was dollars and cents -- all three services bundled for $99/month, which really turns out to be around $110 per month with service for two televisions -- saving us at least $30 per month. But there were other benefits, too. Chief among them is the fact that this bundle includes unlimited calling within the USA. So expect us to call more frequently, if we like you. :)

Verizon came yesterday and set up the TV service, and I'm already hooked. There are a number of channels that were not included in our DirecTV service (ESPNU, Science Channel, Discovery Times, Military Channel, more MTVs and VH1s than a seventh grader would know what to do with), plus a few other nifty gadgets like Video On-demand, much of which is free, and weather and traffic widgets that are customized to your zip code and appear right on-screen.

I called DirecTV today to cancel our dish service. I feel no ill will toward them - I was very happy with our experience. But the service, which started out around $45 per month, has crept up to $55 per month - and offers fewer channels than Verizon. Their "retention specialist" didn't put up much of a fight once I explained the reason we were switching, although she did offer $10/month discount for a year.

Side note: Verizon and DirecTV must have an interesting business relationship. In most of their territory, Verizon offers phone service and DSL internet bundled with DirecTV, so they can serve as a single-source provider for all three services. However, in the few but growing places where Verizon has installed FiOS networks (and won the necessary approvals to offer TV service), they're probably stealing a good number of DirecTV customers. I wonder if the contract between the two companies offers any compensation to DirecTV when Verizon steals one of their customers.

She doesn't look a day over 112.

Yone Minagawa, the world's oldest person, passed away this week in Japan. Taking her place is Edna Parker of Shelbyville, Indiana, age 114.

This might not be blogworthy, except that Indianapolis' Channel 6 news favored us with this outstanding picture of Mrs. Parker with Sandy Allen, the world's tallest woman at 7' 7" -- who incidentally lives nearby in Indiana.

Cheney: US Should not invade Iraq, c. 1994

Funny how those little policy statements can come back to bite you. Here's Dick Cheney in 1994, defending his decision as Secretary of Defense not to invade Iraq.



He could have been Cindy Sheehan's speechwriter!

A tainted record...

Among the many baseball milestones/records that are falling this year, Bobby Cox will most likely pass John McGraw for the most ejections from games, barring a sudden onset of pacifism. I've noted this feat before, but Log's Blog asks: Can we really believe this record in the age of steroids?

The links between Cox and steroids are unavoidable; let’s start with his body transformation. Cox entered the league at a slender, 180 lb third baseman. ...I’d say he’s pushing 275 right now. That’s even more extreme than Bonds’ transformation.

Streaming video

Here's a novel way to check the sobriety of potential drunk drivers -- male ones, anyway...

FRANKFURT, Germany — A completely new twist on sobriety testing pairs urinals in public restrooms and a video driving game. The game screen is mounted above a urinal, and the driving game starts automatically as soon as the urinal is in use. Most innovatively, the player controls the direction of the game's cars with his urine stream.

(No, that doesn't say "Press" to Start)

Here's the full story, courtesy of Edmunds.com Inside Line.

I think this is a brilliant idea. Only problem is that major video game enthusiasts could end up making group trips to the restroom - and that kind of thing could turn into a big-time pissing contest. (Sorry, had to)

(And yes, I stole Edmunds' headline because I couldn't think of anything funnier.)

Simply Thrilling Part II

In case you didn't believe the veracity of the Philipine inmates performing Michael Jackson's thriller, here's a follow-up story on Cebu PDRC.

"If I was not in prison, I would not be famous," said Wenjiel Resane, the male inmate who plays the role of the girlfriend in "Thriller"

Into the black sky

Although space flight has become fairly routine -- except when it isn't -- I still find it fascinating. I'm fairly obsessed with flight in general, but the notion that people go up into space is quite novel to me.

That's the only explanation for the last hour-plus which I've spent watching the countdown to launch of the shuttle Endeavour (STS-118) on NASA TV.

It got pretty dramatic there for a while - they couldn't get confirmation that the door to the shuttle was latched correctly. Pretty embarassing, if you ask me. Kind of like my US Airways flight a few years ago, which got canceled after they couldn't start the airplane. (This is true.) Trouble closing the space shuttle door isn't exactly what NASA needs these days, with drunk- and jealous-lover-astronaut scandals. Then again, nobody's really watching right now anyway. Except the bored and unemployed.

I don't really understand why the countdown to launch has planned hold times. At T-20 minutes, the clock stops ticking for 10 minutes. At T-9 minutes, there's a 42 minute break. Doesn't this all defeat the purpose of a countdown? Is it just NASA's way of admitting that a 43-hour countdown simply isn't long enough?

Here's where you can see if/when the shuttle will be visible in the night sky in your neck of the woods. You can even host a Star Party!!

It seems odd to me that Seth will probably never remember seeing a Space Shuttle fly. They're scheduled to retire in 2010. Also strange to me is the fact that the replacement, the Orion spacecraft, isn't going to be ready until 2015 or so. That's a long time to go without any US manned spaceflight.

Anyway, kudos to NASA for maintaining a launch blog.

Legoman!

Somewhere, a car made of giant plastic blocks is rolling along without a driver.

Giant Lego Man Found in Dutch Sea [Reuters]

You're invited...

I received this email from Hertz yesterday. I'm a member of their #1 Club Gold program, courtesy of my [former] employer.

I was honored to receive this invitation to join the President's Circle, which in addition to forming a very long program name (Hertz #1 Club Gold President's Circle), also costs $450 per year!

Geez, must be such an honor to receive this invitation. I'm sure that if your average Joe offered Hertz $450 to join the super-elite double-secret superhero president's club, they'd turn him away because it's invitation-only.

PS - the graphic for the top of the invitation must have been corrupted as it never appeared in several openings and re-loadings of the email...

Freeze or you'll barf!!

From the stranger-than-fiction office at the Department of Defense...

The vomit-inducing light saber.

"The handheld device using light-emitting diodes to emit super-bright pulses of light at rapidly changing wavelengths, causing disorientation, nausea and even vomiting in whomever it's pointed at."

Hat tip to Mikey C... count on him to find the stuff on foxnews.com. :)

Minesweeper: The Movie

In this age of remakes, live-action versions of cartoons, and comic-book movies, how far will Hollywood avoid going in order to make an easy and predictable hit film?

That's the question that Collegehumor.com was answering when they came up with this trailer.

Thanks to Yael for noting this.

Losing a part of me

I just received some sad news and wanted to share it:

The Leukemia patient who received my stem cells passed away last month.

Back in March of 2001, before I -- or anyone else, really -- was blogging, I had a very unique opportunity to donate stem cells. Here's a lengthy summary that I wrote last year for a friend of mine who asked about it:

When we were in college, there was a sponsored drive to get people registered in the Bone Marrow registry of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). Normally, it costs money to get your blood drawn and typed for the registry but since this was a sponsored drive, it was free.

Skip ahead a few years, I'm out of college and working for Staples...

One afternoon, I got phone calls from both my mother and my mother-in-law saying that the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston is trying to get in touch with me. (Since I'd been in college when I got into the Marrow registry, they had my college dorm address, but I'd listed my parents and Rachel's parents as emergency contacts -- so that's how they tracked me down.)

I called and they told me I was a potential match for a cancer patient. They needed me to come into Dana Farber Cancer Institute (attached to one of the hospitals in Boston) for additional bloodwork to confirm that I was a match. I think I went in twice -- once for the bloodwork, and the second time for a complete (free) physical exam.

After all that (probably about 3 weeks have passed total), they told me that I was a match for a 57-year old male with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML). His doctors were requesting that I donate Peripheral Blood Stem Cells (PBSC) -- basically an alternative way to get the same stem cells that are found in bone marrow. They explained that PBSC transplants were still considered an experimental procedure by the FDA, so I had to sign that I'd agree to participate in the study. They explained that this is the way it would work:
I would come in a few days before the transplant to get an injection of filgrastim. It's a medication that they normally give to cancer patients to increase their stem cell production, but that for PBSC donation, it works really well to get more stem cells into the bloodstream of the donor. They also told me that healthy people sometimes reported bone pain and other side effects from filgrastim (although cancer patients usually report feeling better when they got it).

Anyway, they told me I'd have to come in for five consecutive mornings to get a filgrastim injection. On the fourth and fifth day, they would hook me up to a pheresis machine for 5-8 hours per day to collect the stem cells. The pheresis machine is the same one that's used by people who donate platelets -- basically, they draw blood from one arm, put it through the machine to extract the stem cells, then put the rest of the blood back into the other arm.

I remember they asked me to be very certain that I wanted to go through with the procedure before agreeing. Once I agreed to go through with it, they would start the cancer patient on a course of chemotherapy to kill off his cancerous stem cells (in preparation for giving him my own) -- and that if I changed my mind at the last minute, the patient probably wouldn't survive. Obviously, I agreed and they scheduled me for my filgrastim injections and scheduled the patient to receive the transplant.

I had pretty severe side effects from the filgrastim injections -- fever, nausea, bone pain. It felt like having the flu and being really sore. After the first couple days, I stayed home from work and had lots of Gatorade and chicken soup, pretty much spending the whole day in bed or lying on the couch.

The collection procedure wasn't bad. I've donated blood before so I could handle the needles. I had to lie on a gurney the whole time while I was hooked up to the pheresis machine -- I think it ended up being about 6 hours, for two days in a row. I had my own TV and they had a bunch of movies, plus lots of snacks. Several of my friends who worked near the hospital dropped by to visit throughout each day.

They don't allow donors or patients to share any personally identifiable information for 12 months -- so all I knew was that the patient was a 57-year old male. They wouldn't tell me where he was, but they did say that he'd receive the stem cells the same day I donated them. (well, the second day I was hooked up to the pheresis machine)

Although you can't share information, NMDP does allow the donor and recipient to exchange letters anonymously. In fact, they even censor the letters to make sure you don't say anything that could give away your identity. I sent a letter, and received several letters from the recipients' family. Since the matching traits are genetic, I guessed that the patient was probably of Eastern European Jewish ancestry -- several of the things in his family's letters also tipped me off. (Turned out, I was right)

Anyway, 12 months later, we finally did exchange contact information. His name was Marshall Kahan and he lived with his wife in Southern California. They have 2 kids and several grand-kids. He is a retired school-teacher.

We've kept in touch. Last year, I went to San Diego for work (and brought Rachel with me) and Marshall and his wife, Toby, met us and took us out for lunch. It was pretty amazing to meet him. His recovery has been remarkable -- I guess it's pretty rare to recover fully from AML. As of March, he'll be 6 years cancer-free. We still keep in touch via email -- in fact, they're on the distribution whenever we send out pictures of Seth. :)

So that's the big story. Oh, and since the PBSC procedure was considered experimental, they asked me to come in for bloodwork at 6 months, 1 year, and every year thereafter to prove that there are no lasting effects to the donor. I kept up with it for a couple of years, but after a while I told them I didn't think it was necessary anymore.

I'm sure you can find more about PBSC on these here internets if you really want to know...

Marshall died July 27th of Epstein-Bar syndrome, complicated by his weakened immune system. His daughter sent me a very kind email to share the sad news. Marshall lived six and a half years cancer-free, evidently a remarkable recovery.

Being a donor was an amazing experience. Imagine how much more likely people would be to donate blood (or platelets) if you got a thank-you letter from the recipient's family, explaining how you helped to save their life. Powerful.

Chompers on the way in

Seth's still his cheery self, but he's had a rough time with teething the last few days/nights. He's getting his top teeth to match the bottom pair he's now had since May. We've had to apply Baby Orajel to numb his upper gums each of the last few nights to help him sleep. He'd been waking up in pain -- not the usual baby-crying, but a distressed (and distressing) cry, complete with tears streaming down his little face. The orajel has helped, but we'll all be happy when those top teeth break through.

In the meantime, The Boy had his first taste of MEAT today. We had a barbecue (ok, we grilled) today and he got to try some hamburger. He liked it. Must have been my secret mix of herbs and spices...

He's now had all the food groups -- fruit, vegetables, grain/bread/pasta, dairy, meat/protein -- all except for cookies. We'll get to those eventually.

Baseball stats

With the various baseball records and milestones lately (A-Rod 500th HR, Bonds 755th HR, Glavine 300th Win), I've been spending some time on Retrosheet, a phenomenal archive of baseball statistics -- although it's not updated during the season.

However, one of the questions that crossed my mind doesn't seem to be easily searchable on Retrosheet -- or anywhere else, to the best of my Google searching abilities:

What is the record for most ABs maintaining a 1.000 batting average to start a career? There must be someone who hit safely in their first 5 or 10 consecutive ABs...

Corrollary: What pitcher holds the record for most innings pitched while maintaining a 0.00 ERA to start his career?

Flippish Hen for the commenter who finds the answer!

They're watching you...

Okay, so maybe they aren't watching you -- or maybe they are -- but you can watch them, too.

Thanks to the website Heavens Above, you can track which satellites will be visible in the night sky above your location. Search by city or enter Lat/Long coordinates, select the minimum brightness (3.5 is brightest). Then, head outside and look up -- it event tells you what altitude (degrees from horizon) and direction to direct your gaze.

It would be fun to do this in some remote location where views of the stars (and satellites) aren't limited by light pollution.

Lego Dictators!

Outstanding item found on boingboing.net

"The Saddam Hussein doll glows in the dark to indicate his posthumous status."

This Glavine guy has potential...

Don Sutton was impressed with a young Tom Glavine in 1989. So impressed, in fact, that he immediately thought Glavine (then 9-21 Career) might have an above-average career...

"I told him, 'I love your makeup, I love your discipline. I love your commitment. I think you have a chance to win 200 games.' Now I have to apologize for shortchanging him," Sutton said. "He is one of the most special people that I have gotten to know since coming into the game as a broadcaster." [Nationals.com]

The Mets bullpen cost Glavine his 300th win last night. His next attempt will be Sunday, against another former Brave, Jason Marquis.

Elsewhere in baseball news, we're taking the boy to watch a game tonight between two teams that are a combined 31 games under .500. Don't worry, Critter - there will still be plenty of sights and sounds to keep you entertained at the ballpark.

The job search continues...

I'm starting to reach the point of frustration with the job search. It's really not too terrible yet, but I just haven't found anything terribly exciting. When I see postings for something that (a) looks interesting and (b) I'm qualified for, I'll send (email) out a resume and cover letter. It's fairly easy to find (a) or (b) independent of one another - the trick is finding that rare opportunity where both are present.

And "interesting" is a notch or two below "exciting". Much as I enjoy adventure, I'm a big fan of stability. I don't like relocating and I don't enjoy the job search process. So I'm really hopeful to find a job and a company with good long-term potential. Not just potential for career advancement - also potential to be truly happy with the company and the work I do.

Deep questions

1. Is it wrong to call my son "critter"? (Consider, we do live in the South)

2. When did invite become a noun?

3. If an entire generation were raised as vegetarians, would anyone buy fake meat?

4. Am I stealing from Steven Wright, or is the ironic-question-as-[attempted] comedic device in the public domain?

5. Are there any wrong answers?

Broken is Broken.

I've had thisisbroken.com in my links list since launching Flippish, and I once blogged about my own submission to the site. But it's time for an update: thisisbroken is broken.

Well, not exactly broken, but no longer being used. It was owned/maintained by Mark Hurst, proprietor of Goodexperience.com and customer experience consulting firm Creative Good.

Instead of maintaining submissions at thisisbroken.com, they will now be listed occasionally in the Good Experience Blog, which will replace "Broken" in my link list. In addition, there's a flickr group for photos of things that are "broken".

Annoyingly, I still haven't found a way to make the links in my list Some Things to Click open in a new window. In my blog entries, I painstakingly insert the HTML code target="_blank" into each URL to make sure that they will launch a new window and not deprive you, dear reader, of the rest of my witty commentary... but when you go to Some Things to Click, unfortunately your browser window is taken over by the blogspot gremlins and sent away from Flippish.

Also - Woot! (also linked under Some Things to Click) recently launched shirt.woot, which joins the original as well as wine.woot. The original continues to offer electronics and related items on a deal-a-day basis, while wine offers change weekly and shirt operates only during the work week and offers witty and/or bizarre designs on high-quality t-shirts.

Wow, I might have just set a record for links within a single entry on Flippish.

Drive a Korean

Two maligned types of automobile come to mind when I see the letters "orean" -- DeLorean (properly, the DeLorean DMC-12, which sounds like the name of a movie theater) and Korean, like the two specimens currently sitting in our driveway.

Only difference is, the DeLorean brand disintegrated like a water balloon, while Korean brands are climbing in both popularity and reputation.

Edmunds Inside Line points out today that Hyundai is now the #8 "Best Global Brand" automobile, ahead of Nissan and Porsche, among others. Since this is a global survey, it's a strong signal that most of the world has caught onto the fact that Hyundai and its subsidiary, Kia, are building some first-rate cars these days.

For better or worse, the auto industry -- like so many others -- has entered the age of true globalization. Our Hyundai Sonata was manufactured in Alabama, as are some Mercedes Benzes. In a 2006 comparison between a Hyundai Sonata, Toyota Camry, Honda Accord and Ford Fusion, a major car magazine pointed out that the Ford is the only one of the quartet that is not manufactured in the USA. It's built in Canada, on a Mazda platform (Ford owns a controlling interest in Mazda).

So what does this all mean? A couple of things:

1. No more generalizations about the quality of a car brand based on the country it's from. German-based Mercedes has recently fallen near the bottom of most quality rankings, while some "cheap brands" (American and Asian) are in the top 10. Globalization means that every car company is capable of building top-quality automobiles, and each can also build clunkers. Modern Quality Control, not country of origin or location of corporate headquarters, is what matters.

2. What was true 20 -- or 10 -- years ago may no longer be the case. Most American car-buyers have come to the realization that American cars are no longer the most dependable on the market - far from it. But in more recent memory, many brands were associated with certain reputations, and those are quickly being shattered too. Hyundai was known for econo-shoeboxes like the original Elantra, and they're getting ready to release a V8-powered luxury sedan that will rival Lexus at half the price. Saturn, which came to be known as GM's flimsy division, is starting to sell mostly rebadged Opels -- the European GM brand, which builds some of GM's most exciting and well-designed cars in the world.

The rest of the world is quicker to dismiss their old notions and make really practical purchasing decisions. Europeans have caught onto the fact that there are some solid cars coming out of Korea, while Americans (by-and-large) are more inclined to spend big dollars on a brand with status, without regard to practicality or even reliability ratings. Car and Driver magazine recently suggested that Hyundai change their logo, in order to help the American public move past their old perceptions of the brand.

My advice to car shoppers? Make a list of the criteria that are important to you, like fuel economy, fun-to-drive, passenger space, safety features, reliability, etc. Narrow down your list of candidates based on your criteria (Edmunds.com is helpful) but with complete disregard for brand names. Then, test drive each candidate - even if it means driving a Saturn back-to-back with a Lexus. You may be surprised.