June 2002 Archives

I just found this today, MyBartender.com lets you pick the ingredients and then lists all drinks that you can make. Pretty Cool.

The world may view the US as egocentric, and maybe we are. But that's not the issue here. Let's take a few steps back, maybe a couple of light years worth, then the Earth is looking pretty egocentric in relation to our solar system. We, as Earth, seem to think that aliens have been here and gone. This article does a pretty good job at debunking the possibility of an ET's visit. Everyone, scientists included, seem to think that there is advanced life out there. How do we know, if there is other life, it isn't way behind us in advancement? Or, that they were advanced, destroyed themselves, and are starting the process all over?

Jim Caple has a nice editorial on the state of playground athletics and their respective administrators. I still contend the downfall of the playground started when they removed the wooden jungle gyms, and replaced them with the sterile plastic ones that generate so much static, I've seen sparks as kids ride down the slides. There was something about getting a four-inch sliver in your ass and the burns on your forearms from sliding down headfirst on the metal sides that taught you a valuable lesson: Don't do that again.

I am trying a new thing. Normally, I set my alarm for a half hour before I really have to get up and 'snooze in'. That is, I hit the snooze every nine minutes until it's really time to wake up. Then I stumble into the shower and start my day. I think that actually hurts more than helps. I really never give myself a chance to fully wake up.

So, now I am going to allow myself only one 'snooze in' a day. This morning was the first. It didn't really work out, cause I woke up four different times wondering why my alarm hasn't gone off yet. I am hoping with time I will get over this and fully enjoy waking up full of energy and vigor for the work day. (Yeah, right.) But at least I am trying.

This story tells that some geeks at NASA thought up the idea to fix global warming it just to move Earth away from the Sun a bit. Sounds like these are the same guys that thought it would be a good idea to put Bruce Willis on an asteroid to save humanity. The plan would be to deflect a comet or asteroid close to Earth and 'steal' some of its gravity, therefore increasing the Earth's speed around the Sun, causing the orbital distance to increase.

I know that on Space Shuttle missions, They use the Shuttle to increase the distance between the International Space Station and Earth. They do this because every time the Space Station orbits the Earth it slows just an insy-tinsy bit and gravity slowly pulls it back to Earth. They use the Shuttle to increase the speed of the Station, and therefore increase its altitude.

So, could the cause of global warming be from the slowing of the Earth? Are these scientists really that far off?

My Dad recently brought back eight rolls of film from his 111 mile hike on the Appalachian Trail. The first three rolls of file are presented here in preview format. Stay tuned for a more permanent page with all the pictures and a log of his thoughts.

Talk about sore losers. An Italian club owner cut Ahn Jung-hwan after he sent Italy packing in the 2nd round of the World Cup. Now the entire Italian team is talking conspiracy against them. They get a couple of bad breaks, and can't own up to it. I am sorry I missed the game, but plan on watching the US-Germany game on Friday. If the US loses, I don't think there will be quite the back lash. There always has been lots of international criticism that US will never match up to the rest of the world in soccer, or even the intensity of fans behind it. But after what Italy has showed us, maybe that's a good thing.

For some reason, I have always loved the quote Tristan posted Tuesday.

This is a great editorial on women's rights. I would encourage all women to read it and provides their comments. (via Kevin)

Have you been noticing in blogs the new way to put emphasis on a statement without using bold or italics? It's to put a period after every word or few words and separate it from the rest of the text. For example:

Oh. My. God. Look. At that. Girl's. Butt.

My alarm clock is as far away from my bed as I can get it. This is to provide maximum stumbling distance and to promote rapid waking. Otherwise, it's way too easy to reach over and turn the alarm off and never wake up. Also, my alarm clock is from 1988. It has been through countless moves, drops, spills, and power outages and still is the loudest one I have ever heard. It's great.

Yesterday, I set it for 5:28 to wake up early for a commute to Milwaukee. The next thing I know is that I am awake and notice the air conditioner is off. Thinking that it's before my time to wake up, I check the clock to see how much time I have left to sleep. It reads 5:37 AM. Huh? I check the time I set it for: 5:28. Did my alarm clock finally break? Nah. I check the time again, and sure enough, there's a little dot next to the PM. I set it for 5:28 PM. Damn, I'm stupid. But, my internal clock woke me up at the correct time. Or, did the air conditioner shut off, and the absence of noise wake me up and it just happened to be at the correct time?

Barry Williams, was performing at The Grand Avenue Mall today during lunch. He was there promoting Pizza Hut's Summer of Cheese. (Apparently-we didn't stick around-it was a contest to see who had the most 'cheesiest' talent.) But for Barry, does it get any lower than this?

While the west coast got to see slivers of sun, we got to see big rain drops and flashes of lightning.

For those of you looking for pictures who have family and/or friends on the AT that have met my Dad , I have not yet received the pictures. As soon as I do, I will post a link here to them. If you would like to be notified via e-mail, drop me a note and I will send an e-mail as soon as I post them.

Thanks.

Almost every year growing up, my family spent spring break at Cocoa Beach Florida, in the Wakulla Motel. Most years, the main attraction were the sun, sand and waves and which t-shirt design to choose from Ron Jon Surf Shop. But one year, there was a 'space shuttle' that was going to launch in the wee hours of the morning. That meant little ole me had to wake up at 2am for us to get the the launch site and nearby Johnson Space Center. After a few hours of travel, we were stuck in queue for a toll booth, when someone walked by saying that we weren't going to go anywhere. Dad made the u-turn across the median with the station wagon and we headed back to a clearing on the water that had a great view of the launch site. We waited and wondered what was going to happen, and then suddenly out from a gigantic ball of smoke, a shuttle atop a flaming candle rose steadily to the stratosphere. From what I remember that was the first launch of the Columbia, but I could be wrong. I can still remember my Dad saying to me that I might one day get to fly into space. With the rise of space tourism, I feel that one day I may get a chance. (I just need $20 million.) Anyway through technology, I can still enjoy the launches from my home computer. (But I would rather be on the beaches at Cocoa Beach.)

Jish has got a link to The Two Towers trailer. This looks way better than the first, and Episode II falls way short of this cinema epic. This would be a movie I would wait in line to see.

So there really must be nothing better to do in Buffalo than vandalize a zoo. Where do these people come from?