November 2002 Archives

Currently, the Space Shuttle Endeavor is docked to the ISS. I love to get caught up in watching the missions on NASA TV and catch glimpses of the world speeding by below them. To see the space station in the night sky, there's a cool applet that will calculate when and where to look to see the ISS pass overhead. Very cool.

I get so enthralled, because I still believe my Dad's prophecy that tourist space travel will be available in my lifetime. I know that $20 million could get you a trip right now, as Dennis Tito did and Lance Bass tried to do. Although, I could apply to be an astronaut, I think being a tourist is the best way to get there. But I don't have $20 million to go. But $20 million was 10% of Dennis' worth, and I think I would be willing to part with that much in order to get to see the earth glow night, and the glowing blue of the oceans in the sun.

Lego is sponsoring a contest for kids in grades K-12. If you fit the profile, go to the entry page and submit your name and short essay by January 31, 2003. If you do submit a name, come back here and let us know what you picked.

Earlier, I thought it would be a bad idea to film a jury's deliberation. An appeals court agrees. And so do 14 of the 110 possible jurors were dismissed when asked if a camera would affect their decision making. Heck, even CourtTV doesn't film jury deliberations, and is against doing so.

Richard Picciotto wanted so bad to be a hero among heroes. Unfortunately, he is so confused about his role that fateful day, his book is under some harsh criticism. Even the reviews on the Amazon.com page for his book are scathing, saying, "I would not recommend this book to anyone, unless you are a young fire officer and want to learn what NOT to do and say about the men you lead..." and "While taking pot shots at the upper-FDNY management, the Chief comes across as a bitter firefighter, and just adds to the 'hero-worship' attitude of the book." Is this a case of a 'hero' trying to capitalize on emotions, and the large wallets with them, or is he really confused in his role, making up stuff to fill the holes? Maybe it's both.

Big Brother strikes again. A Texas judge O.K.'d PBS' Frontline to video tape a jury's deliberation during an upcoming death penalty case. The story discusses that other jury's have been taped as well. Really? I didn't know that jury deliberations public knowledge. Is there anything that isn't sacred from the news media? If I were a juror, I can't say that I would be comfortable being taped during deliberations - especially for a death penalty case.

My gut reaction to the idea of a database of your life is bad. The developers talk of the "giant shoebox problem," where photos get filed into a shoebox in a haphazard manner. This would lead to some confusion and frustration when looking for a specific photo later on, but isn't that part of the fun? Don't you get caught up on other photos, recalling the details of where it was taken and when? Those trips down memory lane are what make those photos special. We all say we'll organize them later, but who really does? With the digital camera, I can organize my pictures upon 'developing' them to my computer. By doing so, I am more organized so I can find them later, but I lose the opportunities do go down memory lane, like we did for the wedding. Expanding the organization to the rest of my life (conversations, e-mails, phone calls, etc.) would be over consuming.

But on the other hand, one advantage could be the reduction in the 'fading memory' as time where's on. But the memories that flood in after seeing the old videos and pictures make it that much more special.

Bill Simmons finally comments on the fiasco occurring at Augusta National. Bill summarizes the differences between men and women from a sports view, points out some great hypocrisies with Title IX and chivalry, and summarizes female bonding as such:

We can't just say "let's go to dinner," gab about our lives for two hours, glance through some photos, get bombed on two glasses of Chardonnay and call it a successful night.

According to Yahoo! News, here's the literary teaser:

"Thirty-eight chapters ... might change ... longest volume ... Ron ... broom ... sacked ... house-elf ... new teacher ... dies ... sorry."

I have to say, I have always liked Dallas Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban. He definitely stands up for what he believes is right, and isn't afraid of a challenge. Now, things are going his way, and it's been 11 straight games that the Mavs have won, and and he hasn't been fined yet.

On a side note, is this the same person?

This is a picture my dad took. I am edumacating him on how to blog. Frustrating.

The weather prediction for last night was grim: cold, rainy, and cloudy. Until I heard that, I was planning on venturing out to view the Leonid meteor shower. The closest I got to viewing was our front porch in my PJs for three minutes before I went to bed. From the sound of it, it wasn't as impressive as last year. However, in cased you missed it too, heres a 2002 Leonids Meteor Gallery provided by Spaceweather.com.

I just signed up to be a secret santa. You should, too. It will be fun.

It's going to be hot here on Tuesday. Just check out the forecast.

I can remember when our cereal selection was based solely on the prize hidden in each box. Then, in earnest, we would vie to be the first one to open the box. But, the unwritten rule was to have only one box of cereal open at one time. Once the opened box was finished, the cereal with the best prize would be opened next. After the first bowl was poured, usually enough volume was removed so that the box could be tilted horizontal and shook gently so the cereal lay flat, and the prize would appear. A steady hand could reach the prize without crushing too much of the cereal, but usually was just out of reach for a firm grasp, not unlike the crane games you see in arcades today. A couple of shakes and the prize was yours. Invariably my brother would beat me too this, and not share whatever the prize was. It wasn't that he wanted to play with it more, it was that I couldn't use it if he had it. It made me very jealous and upset that I couldn't use "Made in Taiwan" 2-cent prize in the bottom of the box.

This morning, a purple plastic spoon of one of the characters from the new movie, Treasure Planet, fell out of the box and into my bowl. I didn't even realize that I had selected one with a prize. I threw it out without a second thought.

Improved Clinch: "...the day you start accepting what you watch on TV as justification for your actions, is the day you've surrendered your mind's critical faculties and deserve what ever consequences come your way."

I was commenting on Adam's post about SpamNet when I got to thinking about how much junk mail we receive. Why doesn't the US Postal Service offer removal of junk mail from your mailbox? It could be totally voluntary, but it would save the mail carriers considerable energy (just think how much lighter their bags would be) and time. In fact, I would be willing to pay a nominal fee ($5 or so) to have the post office remove anything with a bulk mailing stamp on it. For bills, keywords could be required on the envelope that would bypass the filter. And maybe the post office could e-mail you a list return addresses of the mail that was removed. If anything was incorrectly sorted, you could request it be delivered. With time, I am sure a good, efficient system could be worked out.

That's what a license plate on the road said tonight. We wondered, "Because of him?" Who really could 'him' be? What did he do? Is it God? Jesus? Or, better yet, a guy that left which led to a nervous breakdown and the purchase of a $30,000 SUV? Or, did 'he' win the lottery and give a gift? What was BCZOHIM?

When I first read about a father suing a hockey league demanding that his son be named the MVP, I thought "here's another parent ruining the sports experience for his kid." But I read the article, and it sounds like he's got a beef. But, does he have to sue, and for $200,000 no less?

I don't think I have ever seen Billy Mays more uncomfortable in an advertisement for FoneFree. Everyone knows Billy Mays (He's the new RonCo) mostly by his trademark monotone shouting and avid hand gestures. When he's driving the thee miles per hour in the infomercial, his hand rarely leave the 10 & 2 position while he confirms his appointment. Most people make hand gestures while they talk, and many of those rely on it to enhance their communication. Billy seems lost with his hands on the wheel. It's like he can't really sell the product, because he can't point at you. It was very strange watching it.

Have you realized that the same letters spell 'weird' and 'wired'

Turns out, J.Lo is a big time J.Ho. Old acquaintances aren't allowed to speak about her without her permission. But, kids are upset because she won't sign autographs or donate money to rebuild their broken down basketball courts. She's making 12,000,000 smack-a-roos for her next movie with her rumored to be fiancé. Her reps state they don't know if she releases information on an donations. Hmmm....It must take a bunch of money to shut old friends up, eh? [ via Bambino's Curse ]

Update: So it worked. Finally. So here's the new look. I will be updating everything over the next few weeks, but most of the main pages are done. The colors were inspired by local Qdoba restaurants. From what I know, only Opera users won't get the full use out of the site. It is entirely without tables, using CSS exclusively and validates HTML 4.01 transitional. Please let me know if there are any bugs and if you like the new layout.

This page should look different. Unfortunately, it doesn't match the rest of the files. (Listed on the right.) Blogger PRO isn't saving the template that I am uploading. It only saves the old one, which I want to change. It's very frustrating, because there's no real "help-line" to contact with acute emergencies such as this.These continuous problems are driving me closer and closer to switching to Moveable Type for my content management. The only downside is I would have to find a new hosting service.