April 2002 Archives

I would be pissed off too if my kid had to go through this. Why do we have teachers enforcing personal agendas at school functions? And why weren't any of the male students being checked?

Brett Hull broke away down the ice after receiving a pass from a teammate. Nearing the goalie, he lurches his body forward as if to take the shot, pulling the goalie out of position, pulls the puck back and continues to lose his angle on the net. Finally, at the last possible moment he fires the puck at the last moment, careening if off the far post scoring the team's second shorthanded goal on the same penalty. After lighting the red lamp, he looks back up ice to his trailing teammates and nonchalantly winks at them and mouths "Got one." How cool is that?

I really like seeing real and theatrical events through isometric screenshots. I wish I was this creative.

I have never owned a pet with personality (fish don't really count), but how much is one worth? The Hawaiian humane society has spent $50,000 trying to rescue a dog from an abandoned ship. They have raised $40,000 in donations to offset the costs, but where's the quality control to say 'One dog just is/isn't worth it to rescue a dog?' Did I mention that the dog only speaks Mandarin Chinese and is very shy, thereby confounding the rescue efforts?

Some people talk first, ask questions later. Others think first, and then speak. Charles Barkley (right now, arguably the most popular NBA sportscaster) chooses to do the former,rather than the latter. But that's what has made him so popular. And to top it all off, he gets 'it' better than many politicians.

Orisinal is one of the coolest uses of Flash animation yet. Very subtle and unobtrusive.

After watching this American Experience documentary, I realized what makes Ansel Adams' photography so moving. He was an environmentalist through and through, and his pictures proved it. The site debates whether photography is fine art, or merely documentary. But isn't documentary a form of art?

In the internet world of never ending pop-up ads, there is a serious struggle to keep these annoyances at bay. Why then when I exit from your weblog by following one of your recommended links does the new site open in a new window? Do I want to read more from your site? I thought I was done with it, that's why I'm leaving. I might come back, but most likely not if you continue with the pop-ups. Thanks for understanding.

I think I need to get a picture of me looking like this.

How long do you think this guy is going to keep his job?

I am on my bike waiting for the light to turn green, when an older man wearing headphones with "God's People" and "Love the Lord" hand-written all over his clothes walks right up to me, stands about a foot away from my face and shouts,

"Can I ask you a question?"
To which I reply, "You just did."
Not getting my joke, he continues, "What are two words that you can't use when talking to Mike Tyson?"
I thoughtfully pause and answer, "Bite me."
"You're right," he says and continues on his way.

Jim Caple of Page 2 @ ESPN.com finally writes down some of the unwritten rules of sports. Do you know any others?

Where's the common sense gone in our School Board? A loacal sixth-grader was suspended March 12 for bringing a serrated kitchen knife to school for a presentation. (He was going to cut an onion.) Last night, the board received a recommendation not to suspend him any further. Common sense tells you that a kid with straight A's and glowing reviews (his teacher's testified as such during the hearing) is not going to bring a serrated kitchen knife in to do some harm. He's smarter than that. He would have brought in something with a straight edge, at least six inches long and then he could've done some serious damage.

The same people in charge of the school board must be throwing out their tax return checks, too.

This has got to be the most geekiest, coolest thing around. Introducing, the Niles Monorail!!

1. What are the first things that you do in the morning to start your day? I hit the snooze button four time for more "sleep," shower, shave, dress eat a bowl of cereal, then walk or bike to work. 45 minutes and it's all over

2. What are the last things that you do at night before going to bed? Turn out all the lights and sometimes read.

3. What daily routine have you recently added to your day? I try to remember to take my digicam everywhere I go.

4. What routine do you wish you get rid of? I don't think I could get rid of one, they are all important. I would like to add some sort of daily exercise, but I'm a lazy procrastinator.

5. What's the one thing that makes you feel like something is missing if you don't do it some point within your day? If I don't connect with the internet or some other technology in some way.

I eagerly chomped into a butterfinger egg, and much to my dismay, it was not a whole butterfinger. Damn.

Have you ever noticed that when TV shows want to emphasize being quiet, they play a sound? The sound is usually many crickets singing in the background. If you can hear the crickets, is it really quiet? This is almost like "white noise" at work. You never really hear the air circulating until they turn off. Then it gets really quiet.

There's some truth in that being honest pays off. It's happened to me in the past, and it just happened again yesterday. Kris recently broke something, and we were in the store yesterday to see if they could fix it. She told them exactly what happened, and they said they could fix it for free. They waived their fee because she was honest with them. From what we could gather, that doesn't happen too often with their customers. A little bit of ownership of your actions can go a long way. Something to think about.

It's snowing here. Snowing on April first. Here's proof. It's the winter that had an indentity crisis. 60 degrees in January, snow in April. How cruel.

This doesn't sound like it's a April Fools Day Joke to me. A family is suing a radio station for $1.2B (Notice the B) in the death of the mother of a then 11-year old daughter.

I think there are two things worth discussing; 1) Is the radio station responsible or liable for her death? and 2) How does a monetary amount of $1.2B solve anything for the family?

My answers: 1) No. The radio station should not be held responsible for her death. This case in much like automobile crashes. Nobody makes you drive your car. State transportation agencies are found, many times, not responsible in death-related crashes if the roads are designed correctly. The blame either falls on others involved in the crash, or on the victims themselves, not the agency that provided the means. Nobody made the mother take her daughter to the radio station, they were there voluntarily. And the radio station did not make the people riot when they didn't get the joke. (The fact that fans expect for Britney to spend one-on-one time with them amazes me, anyways.)

2) It's tough to swallow, but she is dead. It is tragic to say the least, but $1,200,000,000 is not going to bring her back. All that will do is spoil a young girl who already is traumatically injured and will have to go through counseling the rest of her life. And the money would constantly remind her of that fateful day.

What are your thoughts?