I’ve been planning since I was young to live to 120. I was figuring 20% genetics (I had a great-great-grandfather who lived to be 102) and 80% advances in medicine. Really hoping for those vat grown organs that appear in Neuromancer and Blade Runner, and if stem cell research pays off, we may have them in my lifetime. But the older I get - and I just turned 37 ten minutes ago - the more implausible 120 seems. Therefore any research on life extension catches my eye, and this talk at TED seems to offer some simple lifestyle guidelines based on good research. In fact, I think I’ll go for a walk right now.
[Note: the video embedded below might not show up on your news reader.]
This lady is awesome. I once sold a 1988 Nissan Sentra with 265K miles. She’s got me beat twice over. A great (and short) story for any gearhead or car buff.
Kids these days are missing a big part of shared experience: commercials. When we were growing up, there was no DVR. We had VCRs, sure, and fast forwarded through commercials if we taped something, but we rarely taped anything. We watched everything when it aired, and we only missed commercials to get food or take a leak. So there are commercials that are simply part of the DNA of the people who watched them over and over and over. Here are a few that come to mind.
Note: you’ll notice that some (most?) are regional. I’m sure they ran on local affiliate and independent stations at cut rates, during reruns of whatever syndicated show my brothers and I were watching for the millionth time.1
So I’m hoping it’s allergies, but I may be coming down withI have a cold. I figured it was a good time to do a little research and update my assumptions with facts. I found out some interesting things and thought I’d share as we head into cold and flu season.
Prevention
There are two proven ways to help prevent colds:
Vigorously wash your hands every 2-3 hours and avoid touching your face, especially your eyes, nose, and mouth. You can also use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer like Purell. However, this just kills what’s on your hands, it doesn’t provide any protection afterward.
Get a full night’s rest. People who get 7 hours of sleep or less are three times more likely to contract a cold than those who get 8 or more hours!
As for vitamin C helping, there doesn’t seem to be strong evidence supporting that. However, It appears a vitamin D deficiency will make you more susceptible. But you should be taking a daily multivitamin anyway.
And you might have already heard this, but staying out of the cold won’t help. In fact, one of the reasons there are ore colds during winter is that everyone is staying out of the cold, and staying inside in close proximity to each other. There are fewer places to pick up viruses outside.
Treatment
Again, the answer here is simple:
Stay hydrated. I know some like taking tea, but tea is a diuretic, which can dehydrate you. Just drink lots of water.
Get lots of rest. You’re gonna be tired, anyway.
Take an analgesic (Tylenol, Advil, etc.) for fever
Beyond this, nothing is really proven. Normally when I’m first getting a cold, I’m not sure if it’s a cold or allergies, so I take an antihistamine - Claritin. If that doesn’t help, I know I’m getting a cold. The only antihistamines that help are the old school ones that make you drowsy (like Sudafed Cough & Cold or “Nighttime”), as they affect the sinuses directly. Unfortunately, anything that says “may make you drowsy” puts me a fugue state for 36-48 hours and does more harm than good. You may have better luck.
Another surprise was the harm milk causes - or rather, doesn’t. I was always told that milk makes mucus and phlegm, so never drink it when you have a cold or an allergy attack. Now, you can certainly be allergic to milk or dairy products. But a couple studies have been done to see whether milk increases mucus production during a cold and they did not find a link.
They did find something interesting, however. Both studies asked participants whether they believed drinking milk would make things worse. One study found that those who did had higher mucus production regardless of whether or not they drank milk. The other study found no connection, either, but noticed a psychological connection to the texture of the beverage. Their participants thought they were making things worse even when they drank soy milk. My guess is that some people have overactive sinuses, and it seems like any little thing you do makes them worse. But if the thought of drinking milk seems nasty when you’ve got a cold, skipping it won’t hurt anything.
There’s been opposition to the President’s plan to broadcast a “do well in school” message to the American student body. In and of itself, the message is probably harmless and probably a good idea; who is better able to motivate our students than a good-looking, young President Obama?  Why are people making a fuss and opposing the president at every turn? The problem lies in that it is being encouraged (some would say pushed) onto the American school system.
Officially, it is a voluntary program. But we remember other “voluntary” programs like prayer in schools. In that instance, any kids that refused to pray with all of the others were either ostracized or branded as atheists.  So I’m sure that any kids that opt out of the President’s inspirational message will be similarly affected. I personally do not mind being branded a discontent at age 10, but it does affect your chances to get hired at the local hardware store for the summer when you turn 14.  That’s a heavy burden to bear.
The President should bear in mind other efforts to inspire young people without a chance for other voices to be heard. This one-party messaging could eventually morph into something akin to Hitler’s propaganda machine. One of their weirder efforts was this coloring book exhorting the Young German to do something that was probably decent and helpful. But when a commendable exhortation turns into “obey my orders” and “kill Jewish people” then we have a little problem.1
Hitler's Coloring Book
Just to make sure my message doesn’t get lost: Hitler was a bad man and killed a lot of innocent people. We don’t want to be like him [↩]
So about 5 years ago, I wrote about how you didn’t need to add your cell phone to the National Do Not Call Registry, and how rumors that the gov’t would allow telemarketers to call them were BS. Well, recently I’ve been getting calls from telemarketers on my cell phone, but when I went to complain, they wouldn’t allow it because my phone number wasn’t registered. There was no “this is a cell phone” box to check. Thank you, bastard politicians or shortsighted bureaucrats, whichever the case may be. So go register your cell number before they get you, too.
BTW, these weren’t 800/866/888 numbers, they were local (310) numbers I didn’t recognize. I didn’t answer, they didn’t leave a message, but I Googled the numbers and found them on 800notes.com. Pretty handy site.
Here we are, back in the fray. This time, we are discussing the arrest of prominent Harvard professor (of African-American culture) Gates; he was questioned and arrested as he was trying to get back into his home after an extended overseas trip.
A diverse coalition arrests Prof. Gates
My credentials to address this issue, and why I’m a better commentator than the person holding the highest office in the land, President Obama, are here, in a previous post. President Obama weighed in on this issue and lent it an aura of importance and substance that it probably does not merit.
Let’s go ahead and dissect this one with our racial-bias-free scalpel, shall we?? Prof. Gates has just gotten back from China (14 hour flight) and is probably tired and just glad to be home. But then he notices that his front door is jammed. Turns out his home was broken into during his absence. While getting his front door unjammed, a neighbor calls 911. So far this sounds reasonable. Biased? No. I would have called 911 even if only 2 white people or 2 white females or 2 white female models were trying to force my front door open (in the latter case, I would have gone in and joined them).
Police arrive and question Prof Gates. Biased? No. The police’s job is to ask questions. And there was suspicious activity at the front door, even if it was the owner of the house trying to force his way in.  Prof. Gates refuses to show ID. Biased? Yes. If he believes that he is being asked for ID only because he is black, he is mistaken. Period. A good cop would ask for ID even if it was President Bush found in the house1.  Prof. Gates starts asking for the officer’s ID. Biased? No. We have a right to know our officer’s name during an investigation. And don’t forget, the police are also there to investigate the previous break-in as well. Instead of starting charges of racial profiling (Biased? Yes. Big time.) Prof. Gates should have filed the police report on the break-in right there. The police are a service that he and all of us in the community are paying for. And yelling at the police is never a good
idea, even if they deserve it. Showing deference, or at least cooperation to a man with a gun is always a good idea. And don’t forget that you paid to give him the gun.
Mistakes made? Plenty, but mostly by Prof. Gates, from what is being reported.
Mistakes Made by Policeman: Police should never walk into your home without being invited by the owner. They need a court order to come in unless you invite them in; there may have been some words issued by Prof. Gates that could be construed as an invitation, so be careful what you say.
Mistakes made by Prof. Gates: The owner should never leave the safety of his home and follow the police outside. You are giving up some of your rights by entering a public venue. Don’t shout at a policeman and berate them in public. You can show your displeasure by ammending the police report and complaining at the station house. He should have started break-in investigation as soon as police arrived. This really throws suspicion off of you, when you are aiding police. And police are a service that you are absolutely paying for, so use it. Don’t bring up race. But if your teaching specialty is hammers, everything around you starts looking like a nail. Automatically bringing up race dooms us all.
Mistakes make by President Obama: President Obama’s outrage is OK. After all, Prof. Gates is a personal friend. Any of us would automatically take the side of our friend in a dispute against a cop. I believe the words “rogue officer” were unfortunately uttered by someone in the fray. But as President, Mr. Obama must put down his personal feelings and keep the debate cordial and race-neutral. By quoting statistics that blacks and latinos are disproportionatly arrested (it’s true) he fueled the fire. A President must weigh his words carefully and keep personal emotion out of his statements. In this case, the arresting officer is clean and the President will come out looking badly.
Incorrectly regarded as a mistake:
Arresting a middle aged man that walks with a cane is perfectly OK. So is arresting an elderly woman walking in crutches. Or a teenager in a wheelchair.  All of these folk could constitute a danger to a policeman and any of them could pull out an exotic home-made weapon from cane, crutch, wheel chair. A good ninja can make a weapon out of eyeglasses or a toothbrush2 so everyone should be treated the same way: handcuffs and extreme vigilance.  I remember from “The Fugitive” that Federal Agent Tommy Lee Jones removes Harrison Ford’s handcuffs once they are back in the squad car and offers him an ice pack for his wrists. I’m not sure if this is standard procedure, but I guess once you’re in the squad car you are more manageable and less likely to try to start a getaway attempt. And the ice pack is just a nice touch from a really cool, tough Federal Agent.
In conclusion: Archangel summed it up nicely when he said that a tired, weary Prof. Gates probably reacted inappropriately when confronted with a stressful situation. Also, the arresting officer has a super-clean background in racial sensitivity and even taught on how to avoid racial profiling.
Circumstancial evidence points to Prof. Gates being at fault. But now that his friend Prez Obama has taken his corner, it will be difficult to find a reasonable solution that does not include the signing of a non-agression pact at the White House’s Rose Garden. Such is life.
Given our current liberal climate, has President Bush been cleared of from the initial break-in of the house? I’d like to know [↩]
this is a good topic unto itself, for a different article [↩]
Race relations are a big topic this year. From the office of the Presidency to the next Supreme Court Justice to the selection of Surgeon General, race would seem to be a central factor in selection. Not that these folk are not good, smart people; they seem to be good enough to do what their positions require. But were they selected because of their overwhelming qualifications, or because they held some promise and they also advanced the color-blind American agenda?  Don’t get me wrong: it’s a good agenda.
Just witness the statue of Justice; it is blindfolded, ready to go into combat with that really big sword. Another blind entity dispensing martial arts justice1.
Disclaimer: I am not a Caucasian, if that is even important. Most dwellers of the Russian Caucasus region look nothing like your typical redneck person (sic) from the Deep South. I could not pass for White, whatever that means.
But I have to take issue with the case of the alleged discriminatory Swim Club in Pennsylvania. Much has been made as to how a daycare class of minority students was run out of the club by just-awful white racists. I think that the swim club is being harassed unfairly, by a day-care practicioner that has a chip on her shoulder. Look at the facts, in a color-blind way: Was the group large? Yes. Did the group create a crowd that is unusual for the club? Yes. Did the crowding enhance the ability to swim laps in the pool or to enjoy a quiet swim? No. Just for those reasons, I would have ended my contract with the daycare program: our facility is just too small to accommodate you. There were 2 other groups that received the same reasoning for termination of contract; they are not making any waves (sorry, I could not resist) about it.
Cute kids, ugly situation, flawed decisions.
But this one person decided that the swim club was too exclusive to be allowed to exist. Exclusivity being defined as having the need to swim in a calm environment without 65 kids jumping into the pool. Trust me, I have small kids, it gets very loud. So she took the comments of some of her students and decided to bring a lawsuit against the club. Allegedly, some daycare kids heard others at the swim club make derogatory remarks, eg:watch the dark skinned kids or they’ll steal your towel and don’t they ruin a perfectly good pool outing. Although I never automatically take a kid’s word above a trusted adult, this is what this unknown person did. And now the swim club may have to close, since it cannot afford to mount a legal defense.
Did the swim club err? Yes. They should have kept their contracts and notified members that certain swim periods would be crowded, since the club was assisting daycare groups that no longer had access to a regular swimming pool. Did club members have the right to complain? Yes. They had paid their dues and expected access to a swimming pool that was normally uncrowded. Did they have the right to make racists remarks? No. The club leadership should have used this opportunity to educate their members about life in the 20th, er, 21st Century. Should they have used the words “[the kids] changed the atmosphere and complexion of the club?” No. These are perfectly good English words, but they do sound like the color of the kids’ skin had something to do with the decision. Stupid word choice.
Solution? Have the swim club institute racial sensitivity classes for members (including its President); apparently they need them. Have the daycare come back to use the pool and drop its legal case.   Contact between the swim club members and the general population is a good thing and would foster understanding between people.  But now that the news shows have shown the swim club as a “bad” place and placard-wearing losers are using this as an opportunity to appear on those news shows (don’t they have jobs?), this mess will move to its sad conclusion: the swim club will close and those very stereotypes that should be destroyed will be reinforced. Oh yes, everyone out of the pool !!!
PS> The daycare is seeking punitive damages against the swim club. I’d hate to think that the daycare program is trying to shake down the swim club for money over this incident. A lot of good daycare programs are receiving reduced funds nowaways, and this may be a tragic way to raise money. I will continue to think that it’s only the sad interaction between flawed people that has gotten us to this point. That, and the eagerness of a lawyer to get some cash from (maybe) affluent people.
Windows 7 actually appears to be worth the upgrade. I got a firsthand account from my roommate, who says it’s combines Vista features with XP efficiency. And for a limited time that upgrade is cheap: $50 for Home Premium and $100 for Professional.
To make it easy on the consumer, each version of 7 has all the features of it’s lesser brethren - no more Home Premium vs. Business vs. Ultimate BS. E.g., since Premium includes Media Center, so does Professional, even though it’s targeted at small business users. Here is a good article comparing the different versions. I think Professional is a pretty clear win (at least for me).
To ease the minds of upgraders, Professional and Ultimate include a fully licensed copy of XP SP3 that runs in a virtual machine. There is one big gotcha, though - not all Intel CPUs support Intel VT (Virtualization Technology), required for this XP compatibility mode. Here is a list of supported (and unsupported) CPUs.
Please comment if you’ve had any luck (good or bad) with Windows 7.
The Violent Femmes have covered Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy, payback for Gnarls covering Gone Daddy Gone. It’s pretty frickin’ great. It should be played on KROQ, but they’ll probably just play Blister In The Sun for the trillionth time.
In other news, the Violent Femmes still exist, and Gordon Gano’s voice hasn’t changed a lick, thank goodness. I’ll admit, I don’t know why I dig his vocals, but want to punch Billy Corgan in the throat. That’s just the way it is.
If you want a great read, check out the Violent Femmes Trivia section on their site (you have to scroll down). It is filled with humorous and embarrassing gems from a long career in rock, and includes items like:
Victor DeLorenzo met insane Beach Boys genius Brian Wilson at Summerfest in Milwaukee. Wilson pointed to Lake Michigan and asked Victor, “What ocean is that?”
Brian Ritchie went to Femmes booking agent Frank Riley’s office. Upon leaving he entered the elevator where he was joined by actor Sly Stallone. The elevator door did not close immediately, which visibly agitated Stallone. Rather than pressing the ‘Door Close’ button Stallone issued the following instruction,”Fuckin’ door, CLOSE!”
Teen actress Mayim Bialik of the show “Blossom” told Gano, “Don’t get married until I reach the age of consent.” Gano did not comply with this request.
When former Talking Head Jerry Harrison produced the Femmes, Gordon was shocked to find him drinking from a little bottle clearly marked,”For External Use Only.”
OK, enough for now, you read the rest. And oh yeah, here’s the song.
One is a prominent Latina female.  The other is trying to get into the Supreme Court. You be the judge as to who will have a longer lasting effect on the American people.
    VS. Â
My vote is with Zoe. She is from the Dominican Republic and is a living embodiment of the richness of African culture that came to the Caribbean and still influences the culture there. And she looks extremely hot in the Starfleet issue miniskirt and booties. A worthy successor to the lovely Communications Officer, Lt. Nichelle Nichols, and I believe Zoe speaks fluent Spanish.
On the other hand, we have an outspoken, intelligent Latina female, Sonia Sotomayor. She has been called a “racist” by the right-wing but I do not concur. From her isolated comments, I make her out to be more of a mysandrist1 But she is going into a Supreme Court slot that is being vacated by another liberal-leaner, Justice Souter, so her positions2 should not make much of a difference in upcoming court decisions. She will be outspoken, though, so it will be nice to hear a strident counterpoint to the pontificating statements of conservative Justice Scalia.
My score:Â
Zoe Saldana (1) for a fantastic Star Trek franchise debut.  Â
Sonia Sotomayor (-1) for inflamatory statements that were issued when she was not open to micro-scrutiny as she is now.  Once she gets coronated as a Justice, I’ll reset her at (0).    I’ll give her (+2) rightaway if she trounces Scalia at the weekly Supreme Court Poker game. 3
Definition: a hater of males. In this case, white males. [↩]
Normally, I would now digress into positions held by Zoe Saldana, but I’m not familiar with her record : ) [↩]
Always bet your hidden aces; do not try to trap or you’ll get your dream pair cracked by trip deuces or some such tripe [↩]
From the Cracked team comes an article on the unlucky seven - seven people with the worst luck in history.
Well, the answer to the titular question would be yes, for if you believe in angels then you must also believe in their counterparts, the demons. And of course if you don’t have a spiritual bent, then this whole article is moot and you can just skip it and go see the new movie. I suppose this is similar to watching the Star Wars movies: I don’t believe in The Force powering up the Jedi Knights, but it sure makes for an entertaining 2 hours at the cinema.
But if you do believe, as I do, then let me get back to the discussion we started in part 1. I am going to relate the first part of the argument that was started so long ago in the back of a church bulletin:
(Read 1 Timothy 4:1-5)1 This passage describes the great Apostasy that is to come. Do you think the Bible teaches that Demons are active? Why don’t we hear much about Demons here in the United States?
The scripture passage is copied here, for your convenience (verses 1-2):
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,
Well, I think the Bible has tons of passages showing that Demons are active. Even without a Bible degree, I recall a couple of times in the old days when people would foam at the mouth and throw themselves into fires, while under the influence of demons. In today’s newspapers, there are plenty of stories of people doing similarly unexplainable things (like killing their entire families or trying to kill all of their co-workers). So if the equation is demons = crazy behavior then we can safely say that demons are still active. But why don’t we hear more about them in today’s world?? How come the angels grab all of the attention and show up in all the movies and books and holiday cards?2
 As I said earlier, if you believe in Angels, then you must also believe in Demons.  I believe that you don’t see much demon activity because we do live in a society ruled by science, which has disproven the existence of demons (if you could ever prove a negative, which a lot of experts believe is a lot harder than we think). If our society no longer believes in demons, then you can be sure that they have a lot more flexibility to act in our daily lives. If you have ever found yourself in a terribly emotional state (rage, depression, etc.) then who is pushing the chemicals and hormones around in our brain?? Could someone be pressing on your adrenal gland at just the right time?? If our bodies are masses of cells, what leads them to start behaving in some fashion that we have not initiated with our mind??
I’ll play the rational scientist and respond that our bodies have been conditioned to pump hormones into our bodies at times when our very existence is threatened.  Quick, get that adrenalin shot in your system so that you can outrun a woolly mammoth and survive to procreate another day !! So when we are in a situation that demands action, our bodies sometimes respond inappropriately and send the chemicals flying into our bodies, possibly making us go cuckoo and go grabbing for the nearest blunt object, projectile weapon, etc. But as I recall, we also have been programmed for “fight or flight”  so why is it that most of the time we take this 50-50 choice and go for “fight” against our very loved ones??
Who pushed the balance to the side that drives us to want to ram our truck into our neighbor’s house because his dog will never quit yapping?? That’s the “fighting” side that’s winning.
I’ll stop here, but if you want to read verses 3-5 of the Bible verse go ahead. It is even more apropos since it talks about men advancing the cause of Demons by spouting heresy3 or in the case of the movie “Angels and Demons” by spouting half-baked ideas about secret societies and giving it the veneer of truth. This is OK when a movie bills itself as escapist entertainment, but the film-makers have gone out of their way to give credence to the theories in the film; this helps the box-office but it does not advance the cause of truth.   And you thought Chariots of the Gods in the 1970’s was a hoot; this new film goes one better.
Angels don’t have a prayer when you have CGI on your side.
Stay tuned for Part 3:Â Â Demons, a distressing spirit.
Beelzebub wishes you Happy Holidays — now there’s a card I’d like to send a friend [↩]
In this case the issue was abolishing marriage and incorrectly having to abstain from sinful foods — more reason to skip the cheesecake tonight. But go ahead and propose to your girlfriend; it’s OK [↩]
I just had an awesome time playing Munchkin, a card game that humorously pokes fun at Dungeons and Dragons. There are cards for races, classes, gear, buffs, curses, and, of course, monsters. Players race to be the first to get to level 10 by defeating monsters with your cards or selling gear to buy levels. Players can gang up to fight monsters they wouldn’t normally be able to defeat, which can lead to much shrewd negotiation. The flip side is that since the first player(s) to hit 10 win - thus ending the game - there is a lot of incentive to gang up on the strongest players to keep them from winning. Alliances are made and broken from turn to turn. In this respect, I hear it’s great for those who love Survivor.
We had 5 players and the game lasted about 4 hours; this included learning the rules. It starts out deceptively slow (partly due to so many new players), but as the game progresses you get more cards in play, accelerating your leveling. As a counter balance, the playing field is leveled whenever someone gets ahead, as everyone teams up to knock him down a few pegs. I have to say this is one of the most balanced games out there. I got to level 9 twice and was knocked down each time. Another player was wiped out a few times, but at the end was one of a few players tied at 9.
I highly recommend it, even if you’re not a regular player of D&D.1 A lot of the humor is based on generic fantasy settings,2 so if you liked Lord of the Rings - or better yet, Monty Python and the Holy Grail - you’ll have fun. If you don’t like the setting at all, there are pirate, gothic horror, space opera/sci-fi, espionage/007/MI, spaghetti western, martial arts, superhero, and even Cthulu themes! The themes can be combined for you genre-benders out there. Remember those westerns where, for some ridiculous reason, a samurai shows up? You can do that!
One caveat: some of the humor is adult-oriented. It sounds perfect for spirited family competition until you need to explain the jokes about altar boys and knee pads and hey kids! let’s see what the excitement is about those German board games!
The game and expansion packs (I think we used 1-4) at Amazon:
Notice that I did not use the familiar phrase: Nobel Prize Winner.  That is because Doug Prasher is a victim of circumstance, Nobel prize rules and a slowing research environment.  You can read his full story here as provided by NPR, but the gist is that he was a scientist that provided a vital link in the research that culminated in this 2008’s Nobel prize win. However, because his funding ran out at a succession of research jobs, he is now under-employed as a courtesy shuttle driver in Hunstville, Alabama.Â
But he is a hero, because he did the unselfish and ethical thing: he shared the fruits of his research with other scientists and helped them to get to the Nobel prize. Heck, if the prize committee did not have the 3-person rule for awards, Doug might have found himself with winfall cash and an invitation to Sweden (do they pay for the airfare??) .
My advice to Doug: sell and write your story to Hollywood. If they could make a crummy movie about the guy who invented the windshield wiper, they can certainly make a movie about your story. I am hooked already, and have found your persistence and courage inspiring. You are not only putting your kids through college but also providing a vital service in our community. I can only hope that the added attention to your tale brings about a job offer in the scientific field where your contributions can make our economy grow (are you listening, President Obama??)
Now, the auto industry is slowing down; nobody is buying cars.  I hope this does not result in further unemployement for our hero; the auto dealership should trump up the fact that a Nobel prize researcher works there. This could result in upscale clientele — people that don’t care if the new Toyota SUV only gives you 10 miles per gallon. Better yet, someone hire Doug to invent a car that runs on hot air; there’s plenty of that blowing around our state and federal government centers as they try to get their hands on our (and our children’s) money using the recession as an excuse…….
UPDATE: Our hero will be going to Stockholm after all !! The Nobel prize winners invited Doug and his wife to travel with them to Stockholm and be at the ceremony, where he will be thanked for his contribution.  That’s how a real scientist behaves; kudos to all involved.  Now don’t get me started talking about Rosalind Franklin and how Watson and Crick scammed her out of their Nobel Prize for their so-called discovery of the DNA double helix !!
“…the average I.Q. of a person in 1917 would amount to only 73 on today’s I.Q. test. Half the population of 1917 would be considered mentally retarded by today’s measurements…”
By my calculations, based on personal experience, I think we’ve lowered that figure from one half to about 48%. Good job, America!
But seriously, there are some interesting ways to trick kids into raising their IQ. And yes, a couple methods that don’t involve subterfuge.
As I am wont to do, I was reading about nutrition in an effort to procrastinate on… well, everything, but one of those things was actually working out. This effort was successful, even though it does motivate me to actually work out just so I can apply what I’ve learned.
In this case, I’ve determined best protein shakes to take post-workout,1 which isn’t as simple as you might think. The basic answer is whey, because it’s absorbed the quickest.2 When you finish your workout, your body can use protein right away to optimize recovery. But whey is still a vague answer, since there are so many different types and brands.
It turns out the best form of whey is called whey protein isolate (WPI), which is better than the concentrate. Anything that says “blend” is suspect. Not bad, per se, but not optimal. After that, you want to make sure that the protein is undenatured, which is kinda like saying it hasn’t been damaged during the collection process. If you see that the protein is manufactured via ion-exchange, the protein is denatured. Technically, you get more protein per scoop this way, but it’s less effective protein. Ironically, you’ll find several companies bragging that they use 100% ion-exchange WPI. What you’re looking for is some form of low temperature filtration process. You might see cross flow micro-filtration (CFM) specifically.
After that, I look for little to no soy, since soy inhibits testosterone production and can lower sperm count. I also want as little sugar and fat as possible. Note that you do want carbs post workout, so the protein is used for building muscles and not replenishing your blood sugars. And fats are important for generating testosterone. But I want control over what types of carbs and fats I eat.
Of course, it should also taste good, but that’s subjective. Some taste good in milk, but bad in water, but others are good all around. Using skim milk isn’t bad, but can double the calories. I suggest you start out with a small container, or find a place with a money-back satisfaction guarantee. I think most nutrition shops offer this, but ask. Once you find something you like, look for a bulk discount online.
Here is the list I came up with based on label information, supplemented with forum opinions. It’s not comprehensive, but I think I have most of the quality brands. There may be other products from the same brands that use the same protein, but double check.
All The Whey - Whey Protein Isolate
This is my preferred choice. I tried vanilla with the Micellar Casein,3 and it has a very light taste. Almost too light. When I added frozen berries, I needed to add a tablespoon of raspberry syrup. Cupcake Batter is sweet enough so that no syrup was necessary. I’ll add frozen blueberries and have a blueberry muffin smoothie, or frozen strawberries and make it strawberry shortcake. Another great flavor is Cinnamon Bun. This tastes more like cinnamon coffee cake, but I love that, too. One of my favorite new post workout shakes is cinnamon bun whey, skim milk, 1/2 an apple (cut up and frozen), and a packet of instant, steel cut oatmeal with flax. It’s like drinking an cinnamon apple cake! But it’s also the best flavor to drink with just skim milk. And I’ve heard some people add it to their hot oatmeal, which I’ll have to try.
Allmax Nutrition - IsoFlex I picked this up in Chocolate. Later, I noticed it the label said “with real chocolate chips” and thought, wouldn’t they just sink to the bottom? They sink to the bottom. I guess it’s good if you’re throwing it in the blender with ice, otherwise you just eat them at the end, which does leave a better taste in your mouth. Yes, it does mix in water, but it doesn’t taste that great that way. I had to either use skim milk, or use water but add a splash of fat-free half and half. So far, Muscle Milk is the only thing that tastes decent in water, but it also has a lot of fat and sugar.
Or other athletic activity, preferably within 30 minutes. [↩]
There might be some super-protein out there that’s better, but I couldn’t find any overwhelming evidence pointing to anything specific. The data backing whey, however, is pretty extensive. [↩]
I picked up casein mainly to curb hunger, but then I read that whey is better for that. Makes sense, since it’s digested faster. [↩]
Agent Assassin brings to our attention a recent NASA poll to name a nodule (what you ground dwellers would call a room) on the International Space Station. The existing nodules are named Unity and Harmony, and the 4 choices were Earthrise, Serenity, Legacy, and Venture. However, write-in votes were also accepted. When Xenu, the genocidal alien dictator from the world of Scientology (I am not making that up) became the number one write-in, Colbert joined the fray and his viewers made him the number one overall. Voting is closed and that’s where it stands today.
I like Colbert, he’s funny, but I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, he does publicize things you name after him (or things he wants named after him). I’d rather the nodule be named after Stephen Colbert than after any genocidal dictator, fictional or not (I would also be against naming it after Hitler, Stalin, or Darkseid). And it’s better than naming it after companies, a couple of which are also in the top 10.
The question I have is whether Serenity was an option because the other rooms are Unity and Harmony, or because NASA has fans of the series cult sci-fi series Firefly. The spaceship in Firefly is named Serenity and you may have seen the movie of the same name. It should be because of the show, but knowing NASA, both were factors.
My perspective comes from working in aerospace for 12 years, with two enjoyable years spent at a major NASA research center.1 I think that NASA has a responsibility to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists, and embracing the pop culture proclivities of future NASA geeks greatly aids this. From that perspective, NASA did this all wrong. Here’s what they should have done:
Chosen 4 names directly from sci-fi. Serenity is great, then pick 3 others.
Spread the word through blogs and fan clubs and the press.
Have Americans choose the name they like best.
After the votes are cast, have an essay contest related to space exploration. Spread the word through high schools.
The winners of the contest are invited to the launch, along with the cast and producers and the press.
Record the event and put the edited video footage on the NASA web site and YouTube.
You may not get as many votes, but you’ll get the right people voting.
With the upcoming release of the fictional “Angels and Demons” (or as I call it DaVinci Code part deux) I have to ask the real question: Are there real demons?? Are they walking among us as seen in the movie “Constantine?”
We have plenty of fictional film evidence to show these demonic beings (Constantine, again) but now I think we’ve had enough evidence in the news programs to proceed with a real discussion:
  * Alabama shooter kills 10
  * German shooter kills 10
  * Oakland shooter kills 3 cops.
  * and on and on……
Yes, I understand that out of a billion inhabitants a few people out of their minds is normal. But what drove them out of their minds? 99.99999 percent of the population can neutralize the instict to kill their enemies/ loved ones/ strangers on the street, so what tips these .00001 percent over the edge?Â
My answer: demons.
And not the run-of-the-mill demons that make you go for that extra slice of pie for dessert or make you lie to your friends about missing their party last week.  I’m talking about the true evil that makes you contemplate flying yourself and a plane full of fuel into a building. Demons that can literally drive you out of your rational mind and do something indescribable.
Some time ago I attended a church that printed a series of questions on the back of their bulletin. These were questions that could be used to initiate discussions about ethics, morals, spirituality, etc. Aptly enough, this section was called “The Back of the Bulletin” 1 For some reason, I was attracted to keep their discussion titled “Demons, Are They Real?” but never got a chance to start this investigation. The time for that investigation is now.Â
Over the next few weeks, I will post each new question from The Back of the Bulletin on this blog, and hopefully a spirited (sic) discussion will follow.  Just to give you my background:  I’m an engineer and not attracted to the artifacts of the world beyond the veil (those things we cannot see) such as spirits, ghosts, demons, etc. I’ve never seen a UFO or experienced anything that cannot be explained by science, physics, chemistry, gaming theory. I do believe in God and therefore must believe in Satan. For whatever reason, they both feel that they need entities to carry out some actions, so therefore I believe in angels and demons. I don’t believe that demons make you cheat on your taxes or grab extra food at a buffet; these are behaviors that can be easily explained by our background as opportunistic hominid foragers more than by the spiritual world.
But when a rational person (and millions of years of evolution has resulted in a fairly stable brain) goes on a rampage, I have to believe that there was an extra spiritual push in there, somewhere.  I will discuss the mechanics of the brain and how it can be gamed to see/feel/experience something extraordinary, but there’s been no proof that the deranged individuals that we are discussing were under the influence at the time of their terror sprees. Sherlock Holmes would not settle on demons as the underlying influence2 but we may surprise ourselves when we start eliminating all other factors from the equation.
Better than what you usually find there: Bulletin sponsored by You’re Next Funeral Home [↩]
Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth. [↩]
Paul Bogan has a piece on the failure of big box retail, followed by a chilling list of chains with store closings. Notables (to me, at least) include Barbecues Galore, Dell (their kiosks?), Loews, Office Depot, Sprint/Nextel, and Starbucks. Check it out, the list is huge! If this keeps up, that $79 for Amazon Prime will easily be worth it.
Every once in a while I get to post something very Crack Team-y. This is one of those times.
I was forwarded this video on lock bumping and wanted to share it with our few loyal readers so they could protect themselves. Apparently you can buy something called a bump key that easily allows you to bypass many (most?) types of locks. According to the video, bump keys have been around for about 50 years and are well known to locksmiths (who are often the only ones allowed to own them), but the interwebs are making it easier for criminals to obtain them.1 So if unlike me, every realtor in town can’t get into your house already, $80 or so for a secure lock seems like a great deal.
There was a shooting in a theater on Christmas, and what’s most interesting is what isn’t being discussed. Here’s what went down: a family was laughing and talking very loudly during Benjamin Button, which annoyed other theater goers. Words were had, then popcorn thrown, then fighting broke out, then gunfire.
Here’s another way to put it: an Italian guy shot a black guy in a South Philly movie theater because the black guy’s family wouldn’t keep quiet and the Italian guy is clearly unhinged1.
And nobody is mentioning any stereotypes here. I’ve read several articles, and comments on those articles by people who did not have to pass any tests to comment, and still no mention of race, ethnicity, black, white, stereotypes, etc.
I think this is progress. But I’m not 100% sure.
After the shooting cleared the theater, the shooter sat back down to enjoy the rest of the film. Ah, peace and quiet! [↩]
Sometimes, the Universe surprises me. Karma balances out and all is well with the world.
I was pleasantly surprised on New Year’s Morning to find out that Stephanie Edwards is back as co-host of the big Pasadena Rose Brou-ha-ha. As you may recall, she was unceremoniously dumped several years ago to the surprise of many traditionalists and to the detriment of the local KTLA parade coverage.  I covered the outrage here and others also picked up this story.   Here she is, soldiering on under one of the few rainstorms to hit the Rose Parade (2006):
But now she is back and her replacement was moved to the sidelines in an ironic turnaround that makes for gossipy good fun. And for good measure, she returns to a higher-paying salary; payback is a bitch.
This article lists the times taken for the moves of game 12 of the 1972 World Chess Championship Match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.
Game 12, August 8-9, 1972
Fischer        Spassky
White          Black
(ar)Â Â (0:09)
1. c4Â Â Â Â (0:10)
(Spassky arrived 30 seconds after Fischer's clock was started and then disappeared until five minutes after Fischer made his move.)
1. ...            e6   (0:05)
2. Nf3Â Â Â (0:11)Â Â d5Â Â Â (0:06)
3. d4Â Â Â Â (0:11)Â Â Nf6Â Â (0:06)
4. Nc3Â Â Â (0:11)Â Â Be7Â Â (0:06)
5. Bg5Â Â Â (0:11)Â Â h6Â Â Â (0:06)
6. Bh4Â Â Â (0:12)Â Â 0-0Â Â (0:06)
7. e3Â Â Â Â (0:12)Â Â Nbd7Â (0:06)
8. Rc1Â Â Â (0:17)Â Â c6Â Â Â (0:09)
9. Bd3Â Â Â (0:20)Â Â dxc4Â (0:09)
10. Bxc4Â Â (0:20)Â Â b5Â Â Â (0:10)
11. Bd3Â Â Â (0:21)Â Â a6Â Â Â (0:11)
12. a4Â Â Â Â (0:40)Â Â bxa4Â (0:12) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken for game 13 of the 1972 Fischer - Spassky World Chess Championship Match in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Game 13, August 10-11, 1972
Spassky        Fischer
White          Black
(ar)Â (-0:02)Â Â (ar)Â (0:06)
1. e4Â Â Â Â (0:00)Â Â Nf6Â Â (0:07)
(Spassky left when he made his move and returned 2 minutes after Fischer made his move. )
2. e5Â Â Â Â (0:02)Â Â Nd5Â Â (0:07)
3. d4Â Â Â Â (0:02)Â Â d6Â Â Â (0:07)
4. Nf3Â Â Â (0:03)Â Â g6Â Â Â (0:08)
5. Bc4Â Â Â (0:05)Â Â Nb6Â Â (0:08)
6. Bb3Â Â Â (0:06)Â Â Bg7Â Â (0:08)
7. Nbd2Â Â (0:23)Â Â 0-0Â Â (0:14)
8. h3Â Â Â Â (0:25)Â Â a5Â Â Â (0:22)
9. a4Â Â Â Â (0:33)Â Â dxe5Â (0:25)
10. dxe5Â Â (0:33)Â Â Na6Â Â (0:26)
11. 0-0Â Â Â (0:47)Â Â Nc5Â Â (0:35)
12. Qe2Â Â Â (0:50)Â Â Qe8Â Â (0:51)
13. Ne4Â Â Â (0:58)Â Â Nbxa4 (0:54) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken for the moves of Game 11 of the 1972 Fischer Spassky World Chess Championship Match.
Game 11, August 6th, 1972
Spassky       Fischer
White         Black
(ar)Â (-0:01)
1. e4Â Â Â Â (0:00) (ar)Â (0:03)
1. ...           c5   (0:04)
(When Fischer arrived, Spassky had already made his move and disappeared, not returning until 6 minutes after Fischer made his first move.)
2. Nf3Â Â (0:06)Â Â d6Â Â Â (0:05)
3. d4Â Â Â (0:06)Â Â cxd4Â (0:05)
4. Nxd4Â (0:06)Â Â Nf6Â Â (0:05)
5. Nc3Â Â (0:06)Â Â a6Â Â Â (0:05)
6. Bg5Â Â (0:06)Â Â e6Â Â Â (0:06)
7. f4Â Â Â (0:07)Â Â Qb6Â Â (0:08)
8. Qd2Â Â (0:08)Â Â Qxb2Â (0:08)
9. Nb3Â Â (0:08)Â Â Qa3Â Â (0:08)
10. Bxf6Â (0:08)Â Â gxf6Â (0:08)
11. Be2Â Â (0:08)Â Â h5Â Â Â (0:20)
12. 0-0Â Â (0:09)Â Â Nc6Â Â (0:21)
13. Kh1Â Â (0:13)Â Â Bd7Â Â (0:24)
14. Nb1Â Â (0:43)Â Â Qb4Â Â (0:38)
15. Qe3Â Â (0:45)Â Â d5Â Â Â (0:44)
16. exd5Â (0:48)Â Â Ne7Â Â (0:44)
17. c4Â Â Â (0:53)Â Â Nf5Â Â (0:53)
18. Qd3Â Â (0:54)Â Â h4Â Â Â (1:20) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken for the moves of game 14 of the 1972 Fischer - Spassky World Chess Championship Match.
Game 14, August 15th, 1972
Fischer       Spassky
White         Black
(ar)Â (0:07)Â Â (ar)Â (-:01)
1. c4Â Â Â (0:07)
(Spassky appeared one minute before the game was to start. By the time Fischer arrived and made his move, Spassky had left and did not return until 3 minutes later.)
(ar)Â (0:03)
1.               e6   (0:04)
2. Nf3Â Â (0:07)Â Â d5
3. d4Â Â Â (0:08)Â Â Nf6Â Â (0:05)
4. Nc3Â Â (0:08)Â Â Be7Â Â (0:05)
5. Bf4Â Â (0:08)Â Â 0-0Â Â (0:11)
6. e3Â Â Â (0:08)Â Â c5Â Â Â (0:14)
7. dxc5Â (0:08)Â Â Nc6Â Â (0:15)
8. cxd5Â (0:09)Â Â exd5Â (0:20)
9. Be2Â Â (0:09)Â Â Bxc5Â (0:20)
10. 0-0Â Â (0:09)Â Â Be6Â Â (0:23)
11. Rc1Â Â (0:11)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â (0:27)
(Spassky was gone for 4 minutes and so took only 9 minutes for his 11th.)
11. ...           Rc8  (0:36)
12. a3Â Â Â (0:12)Â Â h6Â Â Â (0:47)
13. Bg3Â Â (0:16)Â Â Bb6Â Â (0:56)
14. Ne5Â Â (0:24)Â Â Ne7Â Â (1:08)
15. Na4Â Â (0:45)Â Â Ne4Â Â (1:17) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times spent by Fischer and Spassky on the moves of the 10th game of their 1972 World Chess Championship Match in Reykjavic, Iceland.
Game 10, August 3-4, 1972
Fischer         Spassky
White           Black
(ar)Â Â (0:07)
1. e4Â Â Â Â (0:08)Â Â Â e5Â Â Â (0:05)
2. Nf3Â Â Â (0:08)Â Â Â Nc6Â Â (0:05)
3. Bb5Â Â Â (0:08)Â Â Â a6Â Â Â (0:05)
4. Ba4Â Â Â (0:09)Â Â Â Nf6Â Â (0:06)
5. 0-0Â Â Â (0:09)Â Â Â Be7Â Â (0:06)
6. Re1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â b5
7. Bb3Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â d6
8. c3Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 0-0
9. h3Â Â Â Â (0:10)Â Â Â Nb8Â Â (0:07)
10. d4Â Â Â Â (0:15)Â Â Â Nbd7Â (0:09)
11. Nbd2Â Â (0:15)Â Â Â Bb7Â Â (0:12)
12. Bc2Â Â Â (0:15)Â Â Â Re8Â Â (0:14)
13. b4Â Â Â Â (0:16)Â Â Â Bf8Â Â (0:32)
14. a4Â Â Â Â (0:18)Â Â Â Nb6Â Â (0:39)
15. a5Â Â Â Â (0:26)Â Â Â Nbd7Â (0:41) Read the rest of this entry »
Relax, I haven’t become a tree hugger, nor am I swearing off oral sex. My problem is that every damned time I go to the men’s room, there’s somebody in the other stall humming.
And it’s not always the same guy, either. Different people. It’s really disconcerting when you’re trying to pinch a loaf and there’s someone 2 1/2 feet away just getting to the bridge of “My Heart Must Go On.” I mean, really now. Is this necessary? I can still detect (how could I not) what smells like you’ve dragged a rotting corpse into the stall with you, and I can still hear, over the humming, what sounds like a fireworks display, or like you’re violating the aforementioned rotting corpse. Enough, already!
On that note, I’m off to find the Times and a set of earplugs.
This article lists the times taken for the moves of game 15 of the 1972 Fischer - Spassky World Chess Championship Match.
Game 15, August 17-18, 1972
Spassky        Fischer
White          Black
(ar)Â (0:04)
1. e4Â Â Â Â (0:00)Â Â c5Â Â Â (0:04)
(Spassky left after making his first move and returned 3 minutes after Fischer made his move.)
(ar)Â Â (0:03)
2. Nf3Â Â Â (0:03)Â Â d6Â Â Â (0:05)
3. d4Â Â Â Â (0:03)Â Â cxd4Â (0:05)
4. Nxd4Â Â (0:03)Â Â Nf6Â Â (0:05)
5. Nc3Â Â Â (0:03)Â Â a6Â Â Â (0:05)
6. Bg5Â Â Â (0:04)Â Â e6Â Â Â (0:05)
7. f4Â Â Â Â (0:05)Â Â Be7Â Â (0:05)
8. Qf3Â Â Â (0:05)Â Â Qc7Â Â (0:05)
9. 0-0-0Â (0:07)Â Â Nbd7Â (0:05)
10. Bd3Â Â Â (0:07)Â Â b5Â Â Â (0:10)
11. Rhe1Â Â (0:07)Â Â Bb7Â Â (0:12)
12. Qg3Â Â Â (0:07)Â Â 0-0-0 (0:43) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken for the moves of the 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Chess Championship Match.
Game 9, August 1st, 1972
Spassky        Fischer
White         Black
(ar)Â (0:10)
1. d4Â Â Â (0:00)Â Â Nf6Â Â (0:12)
(When Fischer appeared, Spassky had already left and did not come back until 4 minutes after Fischer's move.)
(ar) (0:04)
2. c4Â Â Â (0:04)Â Â e6Â Â Â (0:13)
3. Nf3Â Â (0:05)Â Â d5Â Â Â (0:14)
4. Nc3Â Â (0:06)Â Â c5Â Â Â (0:22)
5. cxd5Â (0:07)Â Â Nxd5Â (0:22) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken for the moves of game 16 of the 1972 Fischer - Spassky Match.
Game 16, August 20th, 1972
Fischer       Spassky
White         Black
(ar)Â (0:09)Â Â (ar)Â (-:01)
1. e4Â Â Â (0:09)
(Spassky appeared a minute before play was to begin. When Fischer arrived and played his move, Spassky had gone. He returned two minutes later.)
(ar) (0:02)
1.               e5   (0:03)
2. Nf3Â Â (0:09)Â Â Nc6Â Â (0:03)
3. Bb5Â Â (0:09)Â Â a6Â Â Â (0:03)
4. Bxc6Â (0:10)Â Â dxc6Â (0:03)
5. 0-0Â Â (0:10)Â Â f6Â Â Â (0:04)
6. d4Â Â Â (0:10)Â Â Bg4Â Â (0:06)
7. dxe5Â (0:10)Â Â Qxd1Â (0:06)
8. Rxd1Â (0:10)Â Â fxe5Â (0:06)
9. Rd3Â Â (0:16)Â Â Bd6Â Â (0:06)
10. Nbd2Â (0:20)Â Â Nf6Â Â (0:07)
11. Nc4Â Â (0:27)Â Â Nxe4Â (0:11)
12. Ncxe5 (0:29)Â Â Bxf3Â (0:25) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times for the moves of game 17 of the 1972 Fischer - Spassky World Chess Championship Match.
Game 17, August 22th, 1972
Spassky         Fischer
White           Black
(ar)Â (0:05)
1. e4Â Â Â Â Â (0:00)Â Â d6Â Â Â (0:05)
2. d4Â Â Â Â Â (0:02)Â Â g6Â Â Â (0:05)
3. Nc3Â Â Â Â (0:06)Â Â Nf6Â Â (0:09)
4. f4Â Â Â Â Â (0:07)Â Â Bg7Â Â (0:09)
5. Nf3Â Â Â Â (0:07)Â Â c5Â Â Â (0:24)
6. dxc5Â Â Â (0:12)Â Â Qa5Â Â (0:24)
7. Bd3Â Â Â Â (0:13)Â Â Qxc5Â (0:25) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken for the moves of game 18 of the Fischer - Spassky World Chess Championship Match.
Game 18, August 24-25, 1972
Fischer       Spassky
White         Black
(ar)Â (0:08)
1. e4Â Â Â (0:08)Â Â c5Â Â Â Â (0:02)
2. Nf3Â Â (0:09)Â Â d6Â Â Â Â (0:02)
3. Nc3Â Â (0:09)Â Â Nc6Â Â Â (0:03)
4. d4Â Â Â (0:09)Â Â cxd4Â Â (0:03)
5. Nxd4Â (0:09)Â Â Nf6Â Â Â (0:03)
6. Bg5Â Â (0:10)Â Â e6Â Â Â Â (0:04)
7. Qd2Â Â (0:10)Â Â a6Â Â Â Â (0:04)
8. 0-0-0 (0:10)Â Â Bd7Â Â Â (0:05)
9. f4Â Â Â (0:10)Â Â Be7Â Â Â (0:06)
10. Nf3Â Â (0:12)Â Â b5Â Â Â Â (0:06)
11. Bxf6Â (0:13)Â Â gxf6Â Â (0:07)
12. Bd3Â Â (0:18)Â Â Qa5Â Â Â (0:30) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken for the moves of game 19 of the 1972 Fischer - Spassky World Chess Championship match.
Game 19, August 27th, 1972
Spassky       Fischer
White         Black
1. e4Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Nf6
2. e5Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Nd5
3. d4Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â d6
4. Nf3Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Bg4
5. Be2Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â e6
6. 0-0Â Â (0:04)Â Â Be7Â Â (0:05)
7. h3Â Â Â (0:06)Â Â Bh5Â Â (0:06)
8. c4Â Â Â (0:08)Â Â Nb6Â Â (0:08)
9. Nc3Â Â (0:08)Â Â 0-0Â Â (0:08)
10. Be3Â Â (0:16)Â Â d5Â Â Â (0:27)
11. c5Â Â Â (0:22)Â Â Bxf3Â (0:27)
12. Bxf3Â (0:43)Â Â Nc4Â Â (0:27) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken for the moves of game 1 of the 2008 World Chess Championship Match between Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik in Bonn, Germany.
Game 1, October 14th, 2008
Kramnik       Anand
White         Black
1. d4Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â d5Â Â Â (1:59)
2. c4Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â c6Â Â Â (1:59)
3. Nc3Â Â (1:59)Â Â Nf6Â Â (1:59)
4. cxd5Â (1:59)Â Â cxd5Â (1:59)
5. Bf4Â Â (1:59)Â Â Nc6Â Â (1:58)
6. e3Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â Bf5Â Â (1:57)
7. Nf3Â Â (1:58)Â Â e6Â Â Â (1:56)
8. Qb3Â Â (1:56)Â Â Bb4Â Â (1:54)
9. Bb5Â Â (1:55)Â Â O-OÂ Â (1:53)
10. Bxc6Â (1:48)Â Â Bxc3+ (1:52)
11. Qxc3Â (1:48)Â Â Rc8Â Â (1:52)
12. Ne5Â Â (1:48)Â Â Ng4Â Â (1:46)
13. Nxg4Â (1:41)Â Â Bxg4Â (1:46)
14. Qb4Â Â (1:40)Â Â Rxc6Â (1:42)
15. Qxb7Â (1:36)Â Â Qc8Â Â (1:26) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken for the moves of game 2 of the 2008 Anand - Kramnik World Chess Championship Match.
Anand         Kramnik
White         Black
1. d4Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â Nf6Â Â (1:59)
2. c4Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â e6Â Â Â (1:59)
3. Nc3Â Â (1:59)Â Â Bb4Â Â (1:59)
4. f3Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â d5Â Â Â (1:57)
5. a3Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â Bxc3+ (1:57)
6. bxc3Â (1:59)Â Â c5Â Â Â (1:56)
7. cxd5Â (1:58)Â Â Nxd5Â (1:56)
8. dxc5Â (1:58)Â Â f5Â Â Â (1:54)
9. Qc2Â Â (1:56)Â Â Nd7Â Â (1:45) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times for the moves of game 20 of the 1972 Fischer - Spassky World Chess Championship match in Iceland. This was Fischer’s last game as White.
Game 20
Fischer       Spassky
White         Black
1. e4Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â c5
2. Nf3Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Nc6
3. d4Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â cxd4
4. Nxd4Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Nf6
5. Nc3Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â d6
6. Bg5Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â e6
7. Qd2Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â a6
8. 0-0-0Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Bd7
9. f4Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Be7Â Â Â (0:04)
10. Be2Â Â (0:09)Â Â 0-0Â Â Â (0:14)
11. Bf3Â Â (0:26)Â Â h6Â Â Â Â (0:42)
12. Bh4Â Â (0:30)Â Â Nxe4Â Â (0:45)
13. Bxe7Â (0:40)Â Â Nxd2Â Â (0:46) Read the rest of this entry »
This article contains the links to the times for the moves of the Anand - Kramnik World Chess Championship Match in Bonn, Germany, from October 14th to October 29th, 2008. Our Agent Chronicle was in place and covered all 11 games:
The management of time played a significant role in the match, as can be seen in Games 3 and 5. Kramnik responded to new positions successfully, but took a lot of time with his early decisions. As a result, he had to hurry his moves later, made decisive mistakes, and lost both of these game. These two losses turned out to be the margin of defeat at Bonn.
Remember the time factor; it always comes into play in the end, and this match was no exception.
For more on time management at the World Chess Championship level, please view our notes on Fischer - Spassky 1972, which provides information that has been unavailable for 36 years.
This article contains links to the times for the moves of games 3-21 of the 1972 Fischer - Spassky World Chess Championship match. In addition, there are some notes on the match and how the times came to be recorded.
I’ve received an automated notification that if I don’t contribute to the blog soon, I risk losing my rank as “commander”. I sure as hell don’t want to be demoted to a measly “admiral”.
Truth is I didn’t think I had anything relevant or topical to add lately, but that is unfair to the crackteam organization. There’s always something relevant if you think hard enough!
THREE THINGS I’VE LEARNED ABOUT MY WIENER THIS YEAR.
number1 No matter how sure you are you didn’t get any on your hands, never “handle yourself” after using Ben-Gay.
While not completely uninteresting, the cooling sensation will last for hours. It can be especially uncomfortable in the winter.
number2 No matter how careful you think you are, never use your crotch to secure your drilling site.
Sounds like an obvious one, yet there I was holding vinyl shutters on top of my legs while sitting on my front steps. I drilled about 20 holes before it happened.
As soon as I broke through, the drill bit drove into my pants and twisted up everything on it’s way down. While not breaking skin, I still had to reverse the drill to release the tool from my tool all while trying to maintain the look of “nothing to see here. I know what I’m doing” because the only thing worse than drilling through your crotch is looking like a fool to the neighborhood.
Moving on…
Number3 Sometimes it’s best to sit when you pee.
Follow with me here. It’s a complicated one.
I was trying to remove some stickers from a control panel. They are stuck on using a permanent sticky glue. It’s worse than sap when it gets on your hands. It’s meant to stick to anything and I had gotten some of it on my fingers.
Later I had to pee, so there I was standing over the toilet after I was done with the stickers. I pulled my johnson out long enough to make sure the aim was correct, then tried to let go. I TRIED to let go. But I wasn’t letting go. The glue was forcing me to maintain hold of… myself and I ended up spraying all over the walls of the “executive” bathroom while trying to shake myself free. So a 30 second wizz turned into a 15 minute scrub down.
Well that’s it for now. I’ll be sure to get back to you next year when I learn all kinds of great new things about my wiener.
This article lists the times taken by Anand and Kramnik for the moves of the 11th and final game of their 2008 World Chess Championship Match in Bonn. Anand needed a draw to win the match; he got it today.
Game 11, October 29th, 2008
Anand         Kramnik
White         Black
1. e4Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â c5Â Â (1:58)
2. Nf3Â Â (1:59)Â Â d6Â Â (1:58)
3. d4Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â cxd4 (1:58)
4. Nxd4Â (1:59)Â Â Nf6Â (1:58)
5. Nc3Â Â (1:59)Â Â a6Â Â (1:57)
6. Bg5Â Â (1:58)Â Â e6Â Â (1:57)
7. f4Â Â Â (1:58)Â Â Qc7Â (1:56)
8. Bxf6Â (1:56)Â Â gxf6 (1:56)
9. f5Â Â Â (1:56)Â Â Qc5Â (1:51d)
10. Qd3Â Â (1:42)Â Â Nc6Â (1:49)
11. Nb3Â Â (1:38)Â Â Qe5Â (1:47d)
12. O-O-O (1:34)Â Â exf5 (1:36d)
13. Qe3Â Â (1:17)Â Â Bg7Â (1:11d) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken for the moves of the 21st and final game of the World Chess Championship Match between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer. Fischer won this game to go 4 games ahead with only three to play.
Game 21, August 31st-September 1st, 1972
Spassky        Fischer
White          Black
(ar)Â (0:03)
1. e4Â Â Â Â (0:00)Â Â c5Â Â Â (0:04)
2. Nf3Â Â Â (0:01)Â Â e6Â Â Â (0:04)
3. d4Â Â Â Â (0:02)Â Â cxd4Â (0:04)
4. Nxd4Â Â (0:02)Â Â a6Â Â Â (0:04)
5. Nc3Â Â Â (0:04)Â Â Nc6Â Â (0:05)
6. Be3Â Â Â (0:05)Â Â Nf6Â Â (0:10)
7. Bd3Â Â Â (0:15)Â Â d5Â Â Â (0:14)
8. exd5Â Â (0:29)Â Â exd5Â (0:16)
9. 0-0Â Â Â (0:39)Â Â Bd6Â Â (0:19)
10. Nxc6Â Â (0:53)Â Â bxc6Â (0:20) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken by Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in the 6th game of their 1972 World Chess Championship Match in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Game 6, July 23rd, 1972
Fischer       Spassky
White         Black
1. c4Â Â Â (0:08)Â Â e6Â Â Â (0:02)
2. Nf3Â Â (0:11)Â Â d5Â Â Â (0:03)
3. d4Â Â Â (0:11)Â Â Nf6Â Â (0:03)
4. Nc3Â Â (0:11)Â Â Be7Â Â (0:03)
5. Bg5Â Â (0:11)Â Â 0-0Â Â (0:04)
6. e3Â Â Â (0:12)Â Â h6Â Â Â (0:04)
7. Bh4Â Â (0:13)Â Â b6Â Â Â (0:08)
8. cxd5Â (0:13)Â Â Nxd5Â (0:08)
9. Bxe7Â (0:14)Â Â Qxe7Â (0:08)
10. Nxd5Â (0:14)Â Â exd5Â (0:08)
11. Rc1Â Â (0:14)Â Â Be6Â Â (0:09)
12. Qa4Â Â (0:14)Â Â c5Â Â Â (0:12)
13. Qa3Â Â (0:14)Â Â Rc8Â Â (0:16)
14. Bb5Â Â (0:15)Â Â a6Â Â Â (0:19)
15. dxc5Â (0:19)Â Â bxc5Â (0:23)
16. 0-0Â Â (0:20)Â Â Ra7Â Â (0:36) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken by Anand and Kramnik for their moves in the 10th game of their 2008 World Chess Championship Match in Bonn.
Kramnik keeps it alive with his first win.
Game 10, October 27th, 2008
Kramnik       Anand
White         Black
1. d4Â Â Â (1:58)Â Â Nf6Â Â (1:59)
2. c4Â Â Â (1:58)Â Â e6Â Â Â (1:59)
3. Nc3Â Â (1:58)Â Â Bb4Â Â (1:59)
4. Nf3Â Â (1:57)Â Â c5Â Â Â (1:58)
5. g3Â Â Â (1:57)Â Â cxd4Â (1:58)
6. Nxd4Â (1:56)Â Â O-OÂ Â (1:58)
7. Bg2Â Â (1:56)Â Â d5Â Â Â (1:58)
8. cxd5Â (1:56)Â Â Nxd5Â (1:57)
9. Qb3Â Â (1:56d)Â Qa5Â Â (1:55)
10. Bd2Â Â (1:54)Â Â Nc6Â Â (1:54)
11. Nxc6Â (1:54)Â Â bxc6Â (1:54)
12. O-OÂ Â (1:54)Â Â Bxc3Â (1:54)
13. bxc3Â (1:54)Â Â Ba6Â Â (1:54)
14. Rfd1Â (1:53)Â Â Qc5Â Â (1:53)
15. e4Â Â Â (1:53)Â Â Bc4Â Â (1:53)
16. Qa4Â Â (1:52)Â Â Nb6Â Â (1:53)
17. Qb4Â Â (1:52)Â Â Qh5Â Â (1:53)
18. Re1Â Â (1:52d)Â c5Â Â Â (1:38)
19. Qa5Â Â (1:51)Â Â Rfc8Â (1:34)
20. Be3Â Â (1:51d)Â Be2Â Â (1:20) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken by the players in Game 9Â of the 2008 World Chess Championship Match between Anand and Kramnik in Bonn.
Game 9, October 26th, 2008
Anand         Kramnik
White         Black
1. d4Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â d5Â Â Â (1:59)
2. c4Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â e6Â Â Â (1:59)
3. Nf3Â Â (1:59)Â Â Nf6Â Â (1:59)
4. Nc3Â Â (1:58)Â Â c6Â Â Â (1:59)
5. Bg5Â Â (1:58)Â Â h6Â Â Â (1:59)
6. Bh4Â Â (1:58)Â Â dxc4Â (1:58)
7. e4Â Â Â (1:58)Â Â g5Â Â Â (1:58)
8. Bg3Â Â (1:58)Â Â b5Â Â Â (1:58)
9. Be2Â Â (1:58)Â Â Bb7Â Â (1:58)
10. Qc2Â Â (1:57)Â Â Nbd7Â (1:57)
11. Rd1Â Â (1:57)Â Â Bb4Â Â (1:47d)
12. Ne5Â Â (1:49)Â Â Qe7Â Â (1:43d)
13. O-OÂ Â (1:40)Â Â Nxe5Â (1:35) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken for the moves of the 8th game of the 2008 World Chess Championship between Anand and Kramnik in Bonn, Germany.
Game 8, October 24th, 2008
Kramnik       Anand
White         Black
1. d4Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â Nf6Â Â (1:59)
2. c4Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â e6Â Â Â (1:59)
3. Nf3Â Â (1:59)Â Â d5Â Â Â (1:59)
4. Nc3Â Â (1:58)Â Â dxc4Â (1:59)
5. e4Â Â Â (1:58)Â Â Bb4Â Â (1:59)
6. Bg5Â Â (1:57)Â Â c5Â Â Â (1:58)
7. Bxc4Â (1:57)Â Â cxd4Â (1:58)
8. Nxd4Â (1:56)Â Â Qa5Â Â (1:58)
9. Bb5+Â (1:54)Â Â Bd7Â Â (1:57)
10. Bxf6Â (1:53)Â Â Bxb5Â (1:57)
11. Ndxb5 (1:44d)Â gxf6Â (1:56)
12. O-OÂ Â (1:39)Â Â Nc6Â Â (1:56)
13. a3Â Â Â (1:27d)Â Bxc3Â (1:55)
14. Nxc3Â (1:25d)Â Rg8Â Â (1:43d) Read the rest of this entry »
Bonn, 2008.
The 12 game 2008 World Chess Championship match is between Viswanathan Anand of India, the titleholder, and challenger Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, a former World Champion, who beat Kasparov in a 16 game match 8 years ago.
After two draws at the start, Anand won game 3, and after another draw, won two in a row, and leads, 4 1/2 to 1 1/2. It was referred to as “a major tragedy in the making” by one of the German commentators.
Up to about 15 years ago, these matches were for 24 games. The shorter length makes it more difficult to catch up after losing a few early games. This is because of the high percentage of draws in chess at the grandmaster level.
Vladimir is sounding discouraged, talking about just winning one game, before considering his chances of winning the match.
Tragedy or comedy? That is the question.
The writers here at CrackTeam.org gave it some thought. The tasteless result is below.
Read at your own risk. You have hereby been warned.
* * *
“Ladies and Gentlemen: at the Bonn Chess Comedy Club, from the USA, let’s welcome our guest comedian!”
“Hey, it’s great to be here. Thanks for the welcome. Wow! Thanks for the applause. Thank you.”
“Yeah! A great audience! Thank you, thank you!
“All right! Thank you. Thank you!”
“Hey! If you love me before I even open my mouth, how do I know it’s not just PHYSICAL?”
Th-boomp.
“Bonn’s a crazy town. I came in here, thinking that the big match was too SHORT. The way Kramnik feels right now, he’s thinking the match is too LONG!”
This article lists the times taken for the moves of Game 7 of the Anand - Kramnik World Chess Championship Match in Bonn, 2008.
Game 7, October 23rd, 2008
Anand        Kramnik
White        Black
1. d4Â Â (1:59)Â Â d5Â Â Â Â (1:59)
2. c4Â Â (1:59)Â Â c6Â Â Â Â (1:59)
3. Nf3Â (1:59)Â Â Nf6Â Â Â (1:59)
4. Nc3Â (1:59)Â Â dxc4Â Â (1:59)
5. a4Â Â (1:58)Â Â Bf5Â Â Â (1:59)
6. e3Â Â (1:58)Â Â e6Â Â Â Â (1:58)
7. Bxc4 (1:58)Â Â Bb4Â Â Â (1:58)
8. O-OÂ (1:58)Â Â Nbd7Â Â (1:58)
9. Qe2Â (1:57)Â Â Bg6Â Â Â (1:57)
10. e4Â Â (1:57)Â Â O-OÂ Â Â (1:56)
11. Bd3Â (1:57)Â Â Bh5Â Â Â (1:55)
12. e5Â Â (1:56)Â Â Nd5Â Â Â (1:54)
13. Nxd5 (1:55)Â Â cxd5Â Â (1:54)
14. Qe3Â (1:55)Â Â Re8Â Â Â (1:54d)
15. Ne1Â (1:49)Â Â Bg6Â Â Â (1:51d)
16. Bxg6 (1:47)Â Â hxg6Â Â (1:45d)
17. Nd3Â (1:46d)Â Qb6Â Â Â (1:39d) Read the rest of this entry »
I was flipping through the OC Weekly “best of” issue and couldn’t help but notice the various Halloween costume ads. One that immediately jumped out at me was a rather modernized Hogwarts schoolgirl uniform. If only Dumbledore weren’t gay Hermione Granger would be walking around looking like this:
I really hope this will be a popular costume at the Halloween party I’ll be attending. And if you’re thinking, “That’s all wrong! There’s certainly not a star at the end of their wands!” then I’ve got a guy named Albus I’d like to introduce you to.
This article lists the times taken for the moves of Game 6 of the 2008 match between Anand and Kramnik for the World Chess Championship.
Game 6, October 21, 2008
Anand         Kramnik
White         Black
1. d4Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â Nf6Â Â (1:59)
2. c4Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â e6Â Â Â (1:59)
3. Nc3Â Â (1:59)Â Â Bb4Â Â (1:59)
4. Qc2Â Â (1:59)Â Â d5Â Â Â (1:59)
5. cxd5Â (1:59)Â Â Qxd5Â (1:58)
6. Nf3Â Â (1:58)Â Â Qf5Â Â (1:58)
7. Qb3Â Â (1:57)Â Â Nc6Â Â (1:58d)
8. Bd2Â Â (1:56)Â Â O-OÂ Â (1:54)
9. h3Â Â Â (1:55)Â Â b6Â Â Â (1:47d)
10. g4Â Â Â (1:45)Â Â Qa5Â Â (1:45d)
11. Rc1Â Â (1:28)Â Â Bb7Â Â (1:41d)
12. a3Â Â Â (1:15)Â Â Bxc3Â (1:40) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken by Anand and Kramnik for the moves of the 5th game of their 2008 World Chess Championship Match in Bonn, Germany.
Game 5, October 20th, 2008
Kramnik        Anand
White          Black
1. d4Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â Â d5Â Â Â (1:59)
2. c4Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â Â c6Â Â Â (1:59)
3. Nf3Â Â (1:59)Â Â Â Nf6Â Â (1:59)
4. Nc3Â Â (1:59)Â Â Â e6Â Â Â (1:59)
5. e3Â Â Â (1:59)Â Â Â Nbd7Â (1:59)
6. Bd3Â Â (1:59)Â Â Â dxc4Â (1:59)
7. Bxc4Â (1:59)Â Â Â b5Â Â Â (1:59)
8. Bd3Â Â (1:59)Â Â Â a6Â Â Â (1:59)
9. e4Â Â Â (1:58)Â Â Â c5Â Â Â (1:58)
10. e5Â Â Â (1:58)Â Â Â cxd4Â (1:58)
11. Nxb5Â (1:58)Â Â Â axb5Â (1:58)
12. exf6Â (1:58)Â Â Â gxf6Â (1:58)
13. O-OÂ Â (1:58)Â Â Â Qb6Â Â (1:58)
14. Qe2Â Â (1:58)Â Â Â Bb7Â Â (1:58)
15. Bxb5Â (1:57)Â Â Â Rg8Â Â (1:58)
16. Bf4Â Â (1:56d)Â Â Bd6Â Â (1:57)
17. Bg3Â Â (1:43d)Â Â f5Â Â Â (1:53)
18. Rfc1Â (0:59d)Â Â f4Â Â Â (1:43) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken by each player for the moves of game 8 of the 1972 Fischer Spassky World Chess Championship Match in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Game 8, July 27, 1972
Fischer      Spassky
White        Black
(ar)Â (0:10)
1. c4Â Â Â (0:10)Â c5Â Â Â (0:01)
2. Nc3Â Â (0:11)Â Nc6Â Â (0:02)
3. Nf3Â Â (0:13)Â Nf6Â Â (0:13)
4. g3Â Â Â (0:15)Â g6Â Â Â (0:14)
5. Bg2Â Â (0:16)Â Bg7Â Â (0:14)
6. 0-0Â Â (0:16)Â 0-0Â Â (0:14)
7. d4Â Â Â (0:16)Â cxd4Â (0:14)
8. Nxd4Â (0:16)Â Nxd4Â (0:14)
9. Qxd4Â (0:17)Â d6Â Â Â (0:16)
10. Bg5Â Â (0:25)Â Be6Â Â (0:24)
11. Qf4Â Â (0:25)Â Qa5Â Â (1:23) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken by Anand and Kramnik for the moves of the 4th game of their 2008 World Chess Championship Match in Bonn, Germany.
Game 4, October 18th, 2008
Anand        Kramnik
White        Black
(ar) (1:59)
1. d4Â Â Â (1:59)Â Nf6Â Â (1:59)
2. c4Â Â Â (1:58)Â e6Â Â Â (1:59)
3. Nf3Â Â (1:58)Â d5Â Â Â (1:59)
4. Nc3Â Â (1:58)Â Be7Â Â (1:59)
5. Bf4Â Â (1:58)Â 0-0Â Â (1:58)
6. e3Â Â Â (1:57)Â Nbd7Â (1:58)
7. a3Â Â Â (1:55)Â c5Â Â Â (1:57)
8. cxd5Â (1:55)Â Nxd5Â (1:57)
9. Nxd5Â (1:54)Â exd5Â (1:57)
10. dxc5Â (1:54)Â Nxc5Â (1:57)
11. Be5Â Â (1:54)Â Bf5Â Â (1:49)
12. Be2Â Â (1:49)Â Bf6Â Â (1:48)
13. Bxf6Â (1:33)Â Qxf6Â (1:47)
14. Nd4Â Â (1:27)Â Ne6Â Â (1:44) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken for the moves of Game 3 of the 2008 Viswanathan Anand - Vladimir Kramnik World Chess Championship Match in Bonn, Germany.
Game 3, October 17th, 2008
Kramnik       Anand
White         Black
1. d4Â Â (1:59)Â Â Â d5Â Â (1:59)
2. c4Â Â (1:59)Â Â Â c6Â Â (1:59)
3. Nf3Â (1:59)Â Â Â Nf6Â (1:59)
4. Nc3Â (1:59)Â Â Â e6Â Â (1:59)
5. e3Â Â (1:58)Â Â Â Nbd7 (1:58)
6. Bd3Â (1:58)Â Â Â dxc4 (1:58)
7. Bxc4 (1:58)Â Â Â b5Â Â (1:58)
8. Bd3Â (1:58)Â Â Â a6Â Â (1:58)
9. e4Â Â (1:57)Â Â Â c5Â Â (1:58)
10. e5Â Â (1:57)Â Â Â cxd4 (1:57)
11. Nxb5 (1:57)Â Â Â axb5 (1:57)
12. exf6 (1:57)Â Â Â gxf6 (1:57)
13. O-OÂ (1:56)Â Â Â Qb6Â (1:57)
14. Qe2Â (1:56)Â Â Â Bb7Â (1:57)
15. Bxb5 (1:45)Â Â Â Bd6Â (1:56)
16. Rd1Â (1:22)Â Â Â Rg8Â (1:51) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken in Game 7 by Fischer and Spassky.
Game 7, July 25th, 1972
Spassky      Fischer
White        Black
1. e4Â Â Â (0:00)Â (ar)Â (0:05)
1. ...          c5   (0:06)
2. Nf3Â Â (0:01)Â d6Â Â Â (0:06)
3. d4Â Â Â (0:01)Â cxd4Â (0:06)
4. Nxd4Â (0:01)Â Nf6Â Â (0:06)
5. Nc3Â Â (0:02)Â a6Â Â Â (0:06)
6. Bg5Â Â (0:04)Â e6Â Â Â (0:06)
7. f4Â Â Â (0:05)Â Qb6Â Â (0:07)
8. Qd2Â Â (0:07)Â Qxb2Â (0:07)
9. Nb3Â Â (0:08)Â Qa3Â Â (0:10)
10. Bd3Â Â (0:12)Â Be7Â Â (0:19)
11. 0-0Â Â (0:20)Â h6Â Â Â (0:28)
12. Bh4Â Â (0:55)Â Nxe4Â (0:37) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken by Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky for their moves in Game 5 of their World Championship Chess Match in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1972.
Game 5, July 20th, 1972
Spassky       Fischer
White         Black
1. d4Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Nf6
2. c4Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â e6
3. Nc3Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Bb4
4. Nf3Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â c5
5. e3   (0:02)  Nc6  (0:07)
6. Bd3Â Â (0:04)Â Â Bxc3+ (0:07)
7. bxc3 (0:04)  d6   (0:07)
8. e4   (0:09)  e5   (0:07)
9. d5Â Â Â (0:17)Â Â Ne7Â Â (0:09)
10. Nh4Â Â (0:20)Â Â h6Â Â Â (0:16)
11. f4Â Â Â (0:40)Â Â Ng6Â Â (0:27)
12. Nxg6Â (0:55)Â Â fxg6Â (0:28) Read the rest of this entry »
This article lists the times taken by Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky for their moves in Game 4 of their World Championship Chess Match in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1972.
Game 4, July 18th, 1972
Fischer       Spassky
White         Black
1. e4   (0:07)  c5   (0:00)
2. Nf3  (0:07)  d6   (0:00)
3. d4   (0:07)  cxd4 (0:00)
4. Nxd4 (0:07)  Nf6  (0:00)
5. Nc3  (0:07)  Nc6  (0:00)
6. Bc4  (0:08)  e6   (0:01)
7. Bb3  (0:08)  Be7  (0:01)
8. Be3  (0:16)  0-0  (0:02)
9. 0-0  (0:16)  a6   (0:02)
10. f4Â Â Â (0:18)Â Â Nxd4Â (0:03) Read the rest of this entry »
I find this applicable to most (all?) of my endeavors, both art (screenwriting) and craft (software development):
The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot -albeit a perfect one - to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.
Unfortunately, I find myself all too often in the perfectionist camp, holding not dead clay but detailed sketches of ideas never pursued. I highly recommend reading more excerpts from Art & Fear. It sounds like good advice for life in general.
Well, I just submitted my application to the Astronaut Candidate Program at the Johnson Space Center! It’s unlikely that I would be the 1st TCT asset in space but I figure it will be a really damn cool rejection letter to have as a keepsake!
I’ve never been happy with salary.com, as they go by title and location, but there are just too many titles and everything seems scattered. Enter Glass Door. They let users post salaries, reviews, and ratings of their employer. It’s all anonymous, which is how we like it here at TCT. They even withhold salary listings for titles until they have a few.
Like match.com, you have to post before you can browse, but it’s worth it if you’re switching jobs or think you might be underpaid. Of course, their big drawback on salaries is that location isn’t included in the report; at my company, that’s a HUGE factor.
For now I posted my salary, but I’ll post a review on my way out. It won’t be pretty. Honest, but not pretty.
My grandfather had to drop out of high school during the Great Depression. He eventually got his GED, but said that most people he spoke with assumed he had a college degree. He was a very bright man, but he credited this to reading The New York Times every day, cover to cover.
Seth Godin writes about how business is poor at The New York Times, while standards and focus are slipping. Recent articles include two stories on Barbara Walters and her new book, and a review of The Olive Garden. Yes, The Olive Garden. After reading this, I have serious doubts as to whether someone could repeat what my grandfather did.
I remember growing up hearing that The New York Times was “the paper of record“. I looked up that term in Wikipedia and found there is resistance to that venerable term by Western newspaper editors, especially those at NYT:
Daniel Okrent, at the time the public editor of The New York Times, wrote on April 25, 2004 that his paper is no longer a newspaper of record, and that this change is to be welcomed. In his view, the journalism of a “newspaper of record” is “as much stenography as reporting, as much virtual reprinting of handouts (in the form of verbatim transcripts of unexceptional speeches) as provocative journalism.” John Geddes, the managing editor of The New York Times, expressed this even more strongly: “I don’t think there can be a ‘paper of record’. The term implies an omniscient chronicler of events, an arbiter that perfectly captures the significance and import of a day in our lives. I don’t work at that place.”
Killing Joke’s tourdates appear to be firmed up finally for the US. Stops are as follows:
10/9: House of Blues, LA (8pm)
10/11 and 10/12: Fillmore East (the venue formerly known as Irving Plaza), NYC (9pm)
10/14: House of Blues, Chicago (7:30pm)
(nb.: Tickets for the Irving Plaza show are SRO, and are priced $25; not sure about the others, as I don’t live within striking distance of Chicago or LA)
Today I read an amazing article in Wired about Piotr Wozniak, the inventor of software that uses spaced repetition to help you learn things permanently. Spaced repetition is where you learn something, then relearn it right at the point where you’re about to forget it. Each time you relearn it, you remember it for a longer period of time. The concept is simple, but requires a computer to determine the exact point at which you need to relearn something.
Wozniak created software called SuperMemo (SM) to implement the spaced repetition algorithm. In essence, it’s the ultimate flashcard program. It allows you to use images, HTML, and sounds, too. His latest feature is “incremental reading”, where you grab a bunch of documents from the web (or email, etc.) and throw them into SM. You prioritize the documents as you insert them; when you have time to read them, SM determines the order. As you read the document, you pull out info nuggets that you don’t want to forget, and these get added to the flashcard stack. Interesting, but it sounds like a bit of work.
Although it can be used to learn anything, the killer app is language learning. Indeed, in Wozniak’s native Poland, SuperMemo has been used extensively by students of English who wish to study abroad. There’s also rampant piracy and use in China and other countries. However, piracy is unnecessary, since Wozniak writes openly about the algorithms he uses, and open source alternatives have arisen.
One standout is Mnemosyne. It also offers support for HTML, images, and sound. One interesting feature is the 3-sided flashcard, which is particularly suited to language learning by including written form, pronunciation, and translation.
Another free program I saw recommended was OpenCards. It is based on OpenOffice Impress, a free PowerPoint alternative. As such, your flashcards can contain anything that can go into a PowerPoint slide, such as background images, animation, video, sound, etc. OpenCards runs on all major operating systems.
One issue I had with this super learning system is that, other than language, I couldn’t think of much that I wanted to keep in permanent memory. It did occur that in addition to foreign words, this is a great way to retain a large English vocabulary and keep it sharp. In On Writing, Stephen King recommends expanding your vocabulary by reading good authors and looking up words you don’t know1. I already do this, but now I can retain them indefinitely. That’s pretty cool.
If I was in school, however, this would be a fantastic way to retain knowledge for tests. I did a lot of cramming, which they tell you not to do. Cramming helps you pass quizzes and tests that cover recent lessons, but when it comes to the comprehensive final, it fails2. High school students who use this system diligently can demolish memorization-heavy AP tests. Not to mention the vocabulary-heavy SAT. Heck, this could make even high school language courses worthwhile! And all of this would lead to a clear advantage in college, where the same system should also work wonders. Later in life, you can brag about graduating magna cum laude - in French! - even though you studied something you never ended up using.
Update/Clarifications (4/23/08)
In case I didn’t sell this strong enough, the Wired article explains how cognitive psychologists and memory researchers are completely baffled as to why everyone isn’t using this technique. They equate it to using torches when light bulbs are available.
Although there is an obvious use for high school students, it occurred to me that placement in accelerated classes starts as early as 3rd grade. In my school system, you had to be placed there by 7th grade if you wanted to take the most advanced math classes in high school. So parents probably should start their kids as early as 2nd grade.
You don’t need to leave your computer on all the time - it will save your progress to disk However, it is important to use the software daily. Skipping several days can set you back quite a ways.
Another free program is Anki. While it’s a general purpose spaced rep. program, it has extra features for learning Japanese, English, and Russian. Students of Japanese can also try Reviewing the Kanji. It was also suggested in the Lifehacker forums that Pimsleur language CDs (which are available at your local library if you don’t want to buy your own copy) could be converted to OpenCards decks for optimal aural learning.
Update (6/15/09)
I should have mentioned that Anki is my main program now. I find that it’s the most usable at this time. However, for practicing your pronunciation of foreign languages, Rosetta Stone is pretty good.
As opposed to going out of your way to pillage the thesaurus, or using some other list of vocabulary words without a relevant context. [↩]
How bad it fails is related to how well you learned it the first time, the difficulty of the material, the strength of your short term memory, etc. Before you argue that cramming works, consider that you may be a genius, or, perhaps, you went to a shitty school. Just saying. [↩]
I am currently renting a house that is for sale. The rent is dirt cheap and includes most utilities, so I can’t complain about that. But I think I may have stumbled across a shady realtor practice.
First, some background info. The owner won’t take less than $700K for the house, and most believe the market will not support that price1. My hunch is that the selling agent agrees, although she has told the owner she fully believes the house will sell for that price.
Before getting the listing, she said she’d have an open house every other Saturday. After the papers were signed, she has held an open house every weekend.
It is important to note that there are two types of open houses. A broker open house is only open to real estate agents. They get to take a good survey of the house and decide whether it is right for their clients. This directly helps out the homeowner, because it increases the number of people selling his house.
Then there is the public open house. Here, every Tom, Dick, and Sally can come off the street, check out your house, and paw through your stuff while you’re trying to figure out what to do for the next 4 hours. This typically has little benefit for the seller, because most people walk into the house, look around, and then ask things like, “How many square feet is this?” or “What’s the price?” or “There aren’t any ethnic people in this neighborhood, are there?” Usually, the answer is not what the buyer wanted to hear. However, the showing agent can now get their contact information and what they’re looking for, adding them to their client list.
The house I’m in appears to be major client bait. It borders 3 streets, one of which is fairly busy. The agent has stated that they get a lot of visitors during public open houses. So many, in fact, that she’s decided to hold one every Saturday and Sunday, from now until the house sells. Oh yeah, she’s got a 6 month contract.
As a renter, this really sucks. In fact, I’d say it borders on harassment. I doubt she’d do this if the homeowner were living here, and if I moved out it would be a big win for her.
But as a homeowner, it doesn’t help, either. First, the selling agent isn’t running the open houses; it’s going to some random agent in the office. My network of Crack Team spies have confirmed that the agents do absolutely nothing to sell the house. Rather, they sit in the corner and collect names and phone numbers. I confirmed this lack of motivation again today. As I was scrambling to get things ready (I was given zero notice this time), I spoke with the showing agent. It became immediately apparent that she had no knowledge of the house or owner, nor did she care to. Clearly, she had no plans to sell the house.
If you find yourself in this situation, there are a few things you can do. Obviously, you can limit open houses. You can also get open house reports asking about the solid leads they’re generating. You can be lied to, sure, but this only works for so long. Then the agent looks like she can’t close since she loses so many solid leads. But most importantly, be realistic about your selling price. Maybe it’s time to call it quits.
For the curious, it is a townhouse less than a mile from the beach with extensive upgrades using only the very best materials. However, it is small, located on the entrance to the development, and those upgrades were inexpertly installed. Horrible craftsmanship. [↩]
Coolio was on Kevin and Bean this morning, promoting Cookin’ With Coolio. They asked him if he’d do weddings, bar mitzvahs, etc. and Coolio said yes. When they were surprised at this, Coolio clarified: “Everything is for sale, it’s just not on sale.” I dig it. He’s no different from Jay-Z, Sir Elton John, and every other superstar who accepts ridiculous fees to do private parties. It’s just a matter of negotiating the price.
Tim Ferriss of 4-Hour Work Week has an article on “hacking” sleep. I’m a night owl, which I don’t consider a problem, but some of his tips might help you if you suffer from insomnia.
The most interesting one to me was the caffeine nap: you down a shot of espresso like it was vodka, set the alarm for 20 minutes, and take a nap. When the alarm hits you’re refreshed and the caffeine is working. It reminds me of Agent Bladerunner’s method, which he learned from a founding father: nap in a chair with a spoon in your hand. Right when you’re about to hit REM, you drop the spoon and wake up. If you do go into REM, you probably need to stay there in increments of 90 minutes or you’ll be really groggy.
Once again I’m preparing to make my top 10 film list for last year. So far, it looks great, way better than 2006. Again, I’m using the list of films eligible for an Oscar. Below are the ones I have not seen yet. Feel free to shout out ones you think I am stupid for not seeing already, or stupid for even speculating that they might be top 10 material. Thanks!
Note: please forgive the caps. I cut and pasted from the oscars.org list, and I’m too lazy to retype them.
ATONEMENT
BLACK BOOK
DEATH AT A FUNERAL
DEDICATION
EAGLE VS. SHARK
GOYA’S GHOSTS
THE GREAT DEBATERS
THE HOAX HOT ROD1
THE HUNTING PARTY
INTERVIEW JUNO2
THE KINGDOM
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL
LUST, CAUTION
MARGOT AT THE WEDDING
RESURRECTING THE CHAMP
THE SAVAGES STARDUST3 SWEENEY TODD THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET4
TALK TO ME
THERE WILL BE BLOOD
WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY
WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY
Agent ThinkTank1 recently asked for my opinion about Maya 2012. This is when the Maya Long Count calendar ends, and some people have predicted the end of the world. It is important to note the facts, so I set out to find some. Turns out, facts about Mayan culture are pretty easy to come by. They are also brutally boring. This is because scholars of Maya have completely left out the part about the world ending when the calendar ends. Only the astute new age weirdos have uncovered this. Fortunately for us, the mainstream press regards both equally, and has a very broad definition of scholar.
But Maya civilization lost steam in the 10th century, so as far as they’re concerned, the world ended when the Spanish finally beat them into submission in the late 17th century.
Here is my explanation as a computer scientist. The calendar was invented around 6th century BC. There are two forms, and the first (short count) can handle 52 years. Through The Crack Team’s extensive global network, I have obtained and translated a text that documents the creation of the long count calendar. It is a conversation between Tikal, a royal historian, and Oaxaca, a royal pain computer scientist.
Tikal: Our calendar only covers 52 years, but the king is planning on living longer than that through the magic of human sacrifice. Got any ideas? Oaxaca: Hmm. How long is he planning on living? Tikal: Long. He’s planning on sacrificing, like, a shitload of people. I’m guessing at least a couple hundred years. Oaxaca: Geez. We better plan an escape route after this… But OK, I think I got something. Our society has been around for how long? Tikal: About 1300 years. It’s hard to say when your calendar only goes to 52 years. Oaxaca: Right. So the new calendar has to go back that far. Tikal: Mmm, maybe farther. The king has been thinking about telling people that he’s a couple thousand years old. And that he’s a god. Then everyone will have to say, “Seriously??? You look so young!” And if they don’t say that, he’ll sacrifice them. You might want to remember that. Oaxaca: OK. Well, I came up with a system that will cover the last 2,500 years, and go 2,500 years into the future. Tikal: Ooh, he’ll like that. What happens after that? Oaxaca: I don’t know. It resets, I guess. Tikal: Huh. Won’t that fuck things up when that happens? Oaxaca: Who gives a shit? That’s 2,500 years from now! We’re in our 20s, so we got, what? Five more years before we die of old age? I don’t see anybody sacrificing people to keep us alive. It’ll be somebody else’s problem. Tikal: True dat.
Think about it. 20th century programmers used a date format that would only last to the end of the century, less than 40 years. Who would question 2,500 years?
It’s around this time that you’re thinking, “I thought he was going to tell us the exact date of the apocalypse, instead he’s talking about computer dating.” Don’t worry, I am, and the computer preceding transcript factors in.
Now, some of you read “Maya 2012 apocalypse” and didn’t blink an eye. “According to my calculations,” you thought, “Jesus isn’t Mayan. We’re safe!” And you would be right.
What, you expected an argument from a guy named Archangel?
Before I continue, to borrow a saying from ThinkTank1, what I know about the Bible could fit on the head of a pin and still leave room for the angels to dance. But if you’re as ignorant as me this will sound very plausible, so I’m going to say it.
People worried that Y2K might mark the end of days because it was a significant date - 2,000 years after the birth of Christ (or our best guess) - and because of the looming computer date problem.
But if you’re going pick important dates or anniversaries, the resurrection is far more significant than the birth. Despite what retailers would have you believe, Easter is the holiest holiday, not Christmas. Wouldn’t two millennia after the resurrection be more significant?
Now our best guess for that date is sometime between 2030 and 2040. We don’t know the exact date of the first Easter, but we can search for significant events that will occur in that decade.
This is the point in the movie where everybody is in the library, searching through old texts and manuscripts, microfiche, and the Internet.
Uh, guys? I found one. It’s… it’s big.
January 19, 2038 03:14:07 UTC
It’s known as the Year 2038 Problem. On that day, certain computer clocks will flip and they’ll think it’s 12/13/1901. It affects computer systems that internally represent dates as the number of seconds since (or before) January 1, 1970 (the epoch), and stores that number in a signed 32-bit integer. This is the standard (POSIX) in an incredible number of computer systems, and fixing it is way tricker than fixing the Y2K problem. And the Y2K problem cost us about 300 billion dollars.
We basically have to upgrade everything to use 64-bit operating systems. Many systems are already using 64-bit dates, but that still leaves many millions, including embedded systems that don’t upgrade without a fight. Yeah, we got 30 years to do it, but we had that long for the Y2K problem and we left it to the last minute and freaked everyone out.
I suspect, at best, a repeat performance in 2038. End of the world? You decide.
If you’re looking for a good way to kill some time, check out FreeRice. It tests and improves your vocabulary while donating rice to starving people. So you improve your vocabulary, raise your karma, and procrastinate all at the same time!
As I get older, some recent world history starts seeming like ancient history.This is not a good thing.I date myself when I recall programming with punch cards, real-to-goodness pieces of paper with little holes in them. I date myself when I say that I miss the sound of my old LPs playing on a phonograph. And I am dating myself when I long for those brave pioneers of the early Internet Commerce Experiment (ICE): 800.comI still remember when the world of electronic commerce offered untold riches to anyone who was willing to dream up a new enterprise and pay outrageous sums to web developers to make it a WWW reality. There were offers galore from all sorts of outfits; I naturally gravitated to those offering cheap and discounted DVDs. Don’t forget that we early DVD adopters had to pay upwards of 20.00 for each of our shiny movie discs (my most expensive DVD purchase was 21.99; I paid that for the “Lost in Space” movie DVD which included –wonder of wonders– two commentaries and tons of supplementary material. Wow. I recently saw that very same disc in the discount bin at Fry’s Electronics for 4.99. Wow. )
So I spent my early surfing days looking for discounted and free DVDs. I found 800.com to be a good place for price and selection. Their first sale was 3 DVDs for 1.00 and I quickly took them up on their offer. Yet there was a better draw on their site: they had a film blog and weekly writing contests for free DVDs. I could tell that they loved film and I envied their adventure into online commerce. What could go wrong with selling the films you admired and rewarding good writing from your customers??
Alas, 800.com is no more. They were victims of the Disastrous Internet Bubble Burst (DIBB) and went the way of the dodo, along with Pets.com eToys.com and other worthy endeavours. But I was lucky/talented/geeky enough to win a couple of their contests.� Here are some of my entries, see if you can guess which ones won prizes.
I see many things during my travels along California’s 405 freeway during my daily commute. Not too long ago I saw this car and snapped a pic with my cell phone. It was made up to look like an x-wing fighter and even included R2-D2 in the back.
RateMyDrawings is an online drawing competition that allows artists and illustrators to draw online. Users submit drawings by using a Flash based drawing software tool, and people rate drawings a score from 1 to 10 (A masterpiece or disaster piece). [From RateMyDrawings.com]
I’ve signed up and done a few portraits. Here’s a recent one of Elliott Smith:
Setting up a profile is free! Monthly contests are held and prizes are given. Although, the prizes don’t seem worth the effort besides the recognition. Grand prize winner(s) get a blown up version of your art piece printed on canvas. I imagine the resolution and final image can’t be all that great. But, I still think the site is a great way to create and share your artwork.
Speaking of “Art”, I think it would be a PERFECT addition to the list of categories here.
LifeHacker has an interesting story about how Jerry Seinfeld motivates himself to act daily. His advice is simple: get a yearly calendar that has a box for every day, and make a big red X with magic marker every day you make a positive step towards your goal.
“After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.”
“Don’t break the chain.” He said again for emphasis.
“But Archangel,” you say, “calendars are so expensive!” Well, I’ve got two solutions for you.
I grew up a PC guy. Any time anyone mentions Mac or Apple I have a built in vomit response and a look of disgust. That didn’t go over well with my girlfriend when she got her shiny new Macbook. I began to try to figure out why I had all this inner hatred. After all, even though I don’t own anything made by apple, all my friends have iPods and they look pretty darn cool.� Even the aforementioned Macbook seemed pretty good. I even have a friend with an iPhone and that’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. Maybe I had this Apple thing all wrong. Was it time for a new paradigm?
Wait a minute. I just read the letter posted to the apple website by CEO Steve Jobs. I’ve been bitten by the early adopter curse in the past as have many of the people who undoubtedly purchased an iPhone. That’s more or less par for the course, although, most people prefer if price drops happen more than 66 days after a product is released. What surprised me the most was the attitude in the letter. Maybe it’s just me but it seems like Apple just sent out a big “Tough Shit” letter to some of their most loyal customers. The best part is that the $100 they are giving everyone back is a store credit to the Apple store. Since most items there cost over $100 they are asking people to spend even more money at Apple.
Maybe I will stick to not owning any Apple products for a while longer. It hasn’t caused me any grief so far. In fact, I am probably stronger carrying my ancient brick MP3 player than I would be if I “carried” an iPod around.
Ever since I was a child I have dreamed of watching a space shuttle launch in person and my opportunity finally came last week on a visit to Florida. After several changes to the launch date NASA finally settled on August 7th for the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-118). We were able to obtain congressional passes from Representative J. Sestak through non-Crack Team personnel and viewed the launch for free from the NASA causeway viewing area.
Several things happened the week before the launch which conspired against my chances to see a successful launch. 1st, NASA was having trouble launching the mars probe Phoenix. They needed to get this probe on its way before its launch window closed or they would have to wait 2 years for the next window to open. NASA said they would probably delay the shuttle launch until after Phoenix was launched. Then, the orbiter failed a pressure leak test due to a poorly installed pressure seal. Thankfully, Phoenix was launched on August 4th and NASA got the faulty seal replaced. They only had to move the launch date 1 day to August 8th.
We arrived at the Merrit Island Mall to meet the bus for Kennedy Space Center. The bus took us to the parking lot of the visitors center where we went through the dumbest security inspection I have ever seen. We were asked to leave the bus and bring all of our smaller belongings but were allowed to leave larger items like folding beach chairs on the bus. Why we were allowed to leave items about the size and shape of a shoulder launched missile on the bus is beyond me. Once off the bus, we put our bags on a table and passed through a metal detector. The security guard ran his wand over my bag and when it squawked he asked me what was inside. After telling him I had a camera and a lens inside he said “ok” and I got back on the bus without the guard actually looking to see if I was telling the truth. The same thing could have been accomplished much faster if the guard just popped his head on the bus and asked if we were carrying anything not allowed on the launch site, except we were never told what we weren’t allowed to bring and we were nowhere near our cars if they decided something we had was not allowed.
After we got back on the bus we were driven to the NASA causeway viewing area. I have to give it to NASA for getting something right. With very little information to go on I had feared the worst. The temperature in Florida at the time was over 100�F with the heat index. I assumed we were going to be dropped off onto an empty field and left there until after the launch. When we arrived there were chairs covered with tents, vendors selling food, and water stations where you could refill water bottles for free. There was a light breeze so the temperature wasn’t too unpleasant and there were very few, if any, mosquitos. Also, all the busses that took people to the viewing area stayed there with their air conditioners running so you could hang out on the bus until just before the launch if you wanted to. I got the impression that, unlike Universal and Disney, NASA actually wanted us to survive the experience.
I spent several weeks prior to my trip arranging to have an acceptable amount of photographic equipment on hand and in hindsight I would have done things a little differently. I own a Canon 5D and borrowed a Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L zoom lens and rented a Canon EF 2.0x II teleconverter. This gave me an 800mm f/11 lens which I mounted on my Manfrotto 3021 tripod. In addition, I unwisely used both a haze filter and a circular polarizer which made the viewfinder very dark. I took a meter reading through the camera and then set it to manual at ISO 400, f/11, 1/250s so the bright exhaust from the solid rocket boosters wouldn’t cause incorrect exposures during liftoff. I also turned off the image stabilization on the lens (which gets confused on a tripod) and the autofocus (which wouldn’t have worked anyway). The launch was on SLC-39A which was about 6 miles from the viewing area and it was a very hazy day. I was lucky for the launch to be on the southern pad which is about 2 miles closer than the northern pad. The launch was scheduled for 6:36:36PM EST and as the sun went down the haze cleared up a bit and it offered a nice off angle light source behind and to the left of the viewing area. I was able to take this photo at approximately T+5 seconds.
If I ever get the chance to do it again I would pay the cost of renting the Canon 400mm f/2.8L telephoto lens to use with the teleconverter. I would get the same focal length but would have an aperture large enough to let my camera auto focus and could have used a lower ISO for less noise in the digital image. I had a very hard time manually focusing with the viewfinder so dark from the small aperture and the setting sun and the circular polarizer. If I did get stuck manually focusing again I would at least replace the viewfinder screen in the camera with one designed for such a purpose.
There was 1 technical issue during the countdown where they werent sure if the hatch was properly sealed or not but they got it straightened out during the built-in countdown holds and there was no delay to the launch, which was nice since there was only about a 5 minute launch window and I didn’t think I could bear the heat again the next day.
There was a PA system at the viewing area so we could hear the public affairs officer doing the final countdown and everyone in the crowd started counting along with him at T-10 seconds (is it possible to resist counting down a rocket launch?). We could see the cloud of steam that rises when the main engines fire at about T-6 seconds and it completely engulfed the orbiter. AT about T+2 seconds you could see the nose of the external tank poke out above the steam and then the rest of the orbiter appeared. I have watched many shuttle launches on television but seeing the exhaust from the solid rocket boosters is completely different in person, even from 6 miles away. It’s hard to estimate how high off the ground the orbiter was when we heard the sound of the main engines firing but it was at least several hundred feet. Then a few seconds later we heard the roar of the solids which was unlike anything I have ever heard, or felt. You could feel the sound in your chest and it was louder and more powerful than any base at any concert or club I’ve been too. It was simply amazing.
With a pair of Canon 8×23 binoculars I was able to track the orbiter fairly easily and saw the solids separate at about T+124 seconds. I looked away for an instant to see what the solids looked like without the binoculars and was never able to reaquire the orbiter. By this time all that you could see was an extremely bright dot in the sky that was getting fainter as time went by.
During the ascent several pieces of foam broke off the external tank and cause a gouge in the heat shield on the underside of the orbiter. NASA officials currently believe that it won’t present any danger to the orbiter during re-entry.
It was an amazing experience that I will remember for a lifetime and I even ended up with a great photograph which will find its way onto my wall at some point.
Now that Facebook is open to the public, I’ve joined up and wandered through. I’m a social software buff, so I thought I’d share my thoughts.
Networks and Exclusivity
Facebook started out as an exclusive network for college kids, and that still shows. It is still divided into networks based on schools, workplaces, and geographical regions (the last of which anyone can join). To get into the school or workplace networks, you need an email address that proves your affiliation. I don’t have one for my alma mater, and I’m not terribly keen on adding my work affiliation.
Profiles and Access
The clean profiles are more reminiscent of Friendster than MySpace. On the one hand, there’s less customization and personalization. On the other hand, you’re not constantly pulling up some garish vision of Hades, a cacophony of top 40 vitriol that will forever haunt your dreams. So you got that going for you. The message seems to be, “We’re a bit more civilized over here, a bit more mature, as evidenced by the many photographs of my alcohol drinking escapades, which is what grownups do.”
You can only see the full profiles of your friends and those in your networks (and there are ways to further restrict your profile). To clarify, you can verify the existence of just about everyone on there, using browse and search features. But if they’re not in one of your networks, you only see a thumbnail and are limited to sending them a message or adding them as friends. So even though there are millions of members, I can only see the profiles of those in my regional network, which has about 50K people. You can switch regional networks, but only once every 60 days. This is especially annoying for those like me who live on the border of another regional network. I can switch, but I can’t be in both.
This is probably another reason why Facebook has been called a “walled garden” and the AOL of today. In addition to the general Internet public being kept out, virtual walls exist between the different internal groups. It seems I also can’t see the profiles of those in my regional network who are underage. There are various search/browse filters that can weed them out for you, but I still appreciate the extra layer of protection, because you really can’t tell by the photographs anymore, and Facebook is filled with HS kids.
Identity
Once you start browsing profiles (or just looking at your own), you realize there is virtually no anonymity. Just about everyone goes by their full name. It also makes it much easier to find people by name, especially when compared to sites like MySpace.
I think this also affects how you craft your identity on the site. You’re probably a bit more cautious. Not as cautious as you would be on LinkedIn, but still… Age, of course, is a factor; the younger the person the “riskier” the profile. This happens a lot: you’ll see a thumbnail of a hot chick in a bikini, instinctively click on it, and see the profile is blocked because she’s in high school. Perhaps this behavior stems from when the virtual walls kept all non-students out, most importantly parents and younger siblings. Or maybe there are just a lot of young girls with poor decision making skills, as Masterchief would say.
Social Focus
The user base skews young, as you’d expect from a site that was students-only until a few months ago. I’m pretty far from ancient, but after uploading my Outlook contacts file it only found two friends already registered. I’ve also seen other user data that shows most members are in school or within 5 years of graduation. You also see a mix of people like me with very few connections, and college students or recent grads with over 100 friends. You hear a lot of buzz about how this is going to be the next big network, but if so, it’s going to start with students and move forward. A lot of people will have more friends on MySpace, and that will continue until the current teens and 20-somethings start aging.
It also has more of a dating feel than MySpace (closer to Friendster, I guess). Probably because the basic profile questions are similar to sites like Match.com. At the same time, it doesn’t go nearly as far as a dedicated dating site, and seems a little strange to use it as one. I did find a rather brilliant 3rd party application called Matches. It allows you to anonymously communicate your interest to someone. They get notified they have a secret admirer, but your identity isn’t revealed until they indicate they’re also interested in you. If this sounds familiar, I blogged about this feature earlier when American Singles added it.
Perhaps because of the dating feel, it feels weird to include work related info - like mixing business and pleasure. I’ll leave the professional networking to LinkedIn, which I’m also on.
User Communication
There are a few ways to interact with other users without resorting to messaging them. Networks have message boards and something called “The Wall”. Walls are like MySpace comments, and your profile has one too, but you’re not prevented from writing on your own wall - a nice improvement. And there are groups, but they’re listed alphabetically, so it’s hard to find popular, active groups, unless it’s a top 10 group in your network. That’s included in the basic network stats.
3rd Party Apps
Garnering recent buzz in the developer community was the Facebook Platform, which allows you to create plugins (”applications” in Facebook parlance) for Facebook users. So far the popular ones include those that display your music playlists, what states/countries you’ve been to, a virtual white board for visitors to scribble graffiti, and the aforementioned Matches app.
Conclusion
It’s interesting, and I can see how it’s a must for college-oriented people. As these people continue to enter the workforce and interact with older peers, membership will grow. Right now, I’m not sure that all regions have reached the critical mass to offer a real community experience, and you may find you want to switch to an outside region just to have access to more people. Or you can just stick with MySpace until I build something better for the rest of us.
AbbyShot is a company that makes replica costumes from famous movies (although not always in an official capacity, judging by the names, or lack thereof). Some interesting stuff. And you don’t have to wonder if you’d look silly in them. AbbyShot uses real scifi geeks as models, removing all guesswork!
If you’re hung up on Uma Thurman (and I know some of you are), you can get the jacket she wore in Kill Bill. They also have Neo’s coat from The Matrix, which looks really cool, but I’m concerned about the response I’d get if I tried to wear it. “Holy shit! Agent Smith ate Neo and stole his coat! You’re dead, you fuckin’ coat stealer!” pummel pummel pummel
I’ve recently been building a new computer system and one of the things I have been trying to work out is the overclocking of the system.� In my search for benchmarks and stress tests I came across a popular benchmark in the overclocking community that I thought was pretty neat.� Ever wonder what the 21,865,285th digit of PI was?
Super PI is a program that will calculate PI to various numbers of digits (up to 32M).� The standard benchmark is to run it for 1M digits and compare your time to other computers.� My current CPU (Intel E6600�@ ~2.9GHz) did it in a little over 17 seconds, and my 64-bit workstation at work (Intel Xeon 5150 @ 2.66GHz)�does it in 19.781 seconds.� I’ll add a comment to this once with my final�1M time once I finish overclocking my system and�verify its stability.
There is also a wikipedia entry on the program here.
For a while now, I’ve wanted a super-simple time tracking facility to track the various ways I throw my life away. Something where I can just add tasks, then hit a button to start and stop a timer, adding a comment when finished. A very short search unearthed Time Tracker, which provides exactly that. It’s also great if you’re doing consulting, working on different projects for different clients. And you can export your work log in XML or Excel (CSV). I hoping it will really motivate me, seeing just how little time I spend on the important things, like disco dancing, archery, and rape.
This is hilarious, and Dr. Tran has 3 syllables, making it Crack Team approved. It’s not safe for work, of course. Thanks to Masterchief for bringing this to our attention. And there’s more at Lone Sausage Productions.
Heck, here’s great followup. I can’t wait to hit that thrill park! Seriously, these guys are genius.
For pretty much saving my life 20 minutes ago. I was on the 405 South near Cerritos, meditating on religion, when I realized cars don’t usually make U-turns on the 405. It looked like the car attempting this was not very successful. Then I noticed a pickup in front of me in my lane, only it’s perpendicular to the dotted white lines - SWERVE LEFT. The U-turn car is now in the left lane - STAY RIGHT. Another car has turned itself around in the right shoulder and - CRASH - CLANG - it knocks over a freeway street lamp - THOSE FUCKERS ARE BIG - into my lane - SWERVE LEFT. And old, dark blue pickup, rear end smashed in, drives on in front of me. Did it cause the accident? An uninsured motorist? Drunk driver? Innocent victim? I have no idea.
“Is it safe?”
“Yes, it’s safe, it’s very safe, it’s so safe you wouldn’t believe it.”
Ordeal over, I call 911. All operators busy, everyone else beat me to it.
So I’d like to thank God for interrupting my conversation with Him, and keeping me cool through everything. In my mind, at least, I was Matt Damon in The Bourne Identity. But without Franka Potente riding shotgun, sadly.
I’d like to thank Subaru for making the Impreza WRX capable of swerving around the random obstacles materializing in front of me while going 65+ MPH. It’s like one of those BMW commercials, except BMW can suck my balls.
I’d like to thank Goodyear, and it’s fine Eagle F1 GS-D3 tires, which did not complain as I broke, accelerated, and swerved around various cars and freeway paraphernalia.
I’d like to thank Starbucks for keeping it’s Hollywood and Highland location open to 12:30am (although 1am would be more appropriate at that location on a Saturday night), and it’s fine Caramel Macchiato beverage, for keeping me alert.
Normally, spammers will try to change their subject and email address to something unrelated to their wares. Well, I just got spam from somebody trying to sell me cholesterol medication, and true to form, their email address was totally disguised. It was 1bigsetofnaturalbreasts@1bigsetofnaturalbreasts.com. You fooled me again!
I had a thought the other day that sort of blew my mind somewhat. When I talk to people about whether or not they believe in aliens they tend to fall into 3 categories. The first camp says “absolutely not, we are the only living things in the universe”. The next says “Yes! And they routinely visit!”. The last says “I think it’s possible that something is out there somewhere but I think the chances of anyone finding us is so small that it doesn’t really matter if they exist or not”.
I tend to fall into the third group. Given what I know about the size of the universe (as humans perceive it) and what I know about probability I will confidently say that there is some non-zero chance that there is life of some sort elsewhere in the universe. The second half of group three’s argument is essentially based on the fact that there is a lot of space in space. The probability of two races finding each other by pure random chance in something as large as the universe are so close to zero that you could safely believe that we would never make contact with extra-terrestrials and the whole discussion is moot.
But what if it’s not driven by pure random chance? Since taking a recent position as a satellite designer I have been introduced to just how many people in the world are actively looking for “habitable” planets around other stars. Scientists claim to actually have discovered almost 200 planets so far and there are several missions either recently launched or currently in design which expect to find dozens of planets that may be capable of holding life. For the sake of argument, lets assume that those scientists are really smart guys and know what they are talking about. So, if they tell me that a planet 1 parsec away has an atmosphere capable of sustaining life, I will believe them.
Given what I know about technology and how fast it tends to advance, I think I can safely assume that as time goes by we will be able to see any discovered planets with increasingly better resolution. Also, our ability to measure a planets mass, chemical makeup, and atmosphere content will only get better with time.
Now lets fast-forward in time to the day we have the technology to build a ship capable of inter-stellar travel. Where do you suppose we would go? I can only imagine that the first destination on the list would be the planet that we have rated as the most likely to contain some form of life on it. That would eliminate all the random chance from the equation. We would have detected what we think might be life and then set out on a mission to go check it out. If we didn’t find anything we could keep bouncing around to the next place we think there might be life… and so on.
Granted, this would not happen any time in the near future… but the universe is a very old place. What if something else out there detected us a few (hundred?) thousand years ago and are already on there way… or have already been here?
Skype popped up an invitation to swap contact info with the someone who sent this message: “I AM VICTOR FROM HARBIN China
the place where is world famous for ice sculpture. wanna make friend with you.I like Yaoming of Huston Rocket.” I declined. I got another one of these a while back, from Ireland, I think. When did Skype go from internet phone to global chatroom?
The topic of the Pasadena Rose Parade is far afield from the fare on the CrackTeam (CT) website. But I think there are enough mitigating circumstances to include the Parade in our website this year: George Lucas is the Grand Marshall, Star Wars floats on the road, 501st Stormtrooper garrison marching, CT members working just a couple of blocks from the parade route, Pasadena JPL and its role in the birth of CT, etc. etc.
I have to address one of the cruelest moments in the parade. No, it was not the disgraceful sight of Darth Vader ambling down the street waving at the crowds. Embarrassing. The Lord of the Sith should have more comtempt for the crowds; perhaps he could have pelted them with LucasFilm (TM) merchandise and completed the spectacle.
No, the cruelest moment was the comment made by Bob Eubanks while the U.S. Marine Mounted Color Guard was parading for the cameras. He mentioned that the horses are periodically retired, much like “aging commentators on TV.” He was of course referring to the absence of Stephanie Edwards from the coverage this year. Stephanie is a victim of the ol’ double standard: guys age gracefully and look more distinguished, gals just age. She was probably also experiencing the Star Trek Maxim: a new series (TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise) comes up every few years because the more established actors get paid lots more and expect the salaries to keep on going up every year with a successful series. Stephanie and Bob are probably very expensive to keep, and that’s the first place you cut (according to management).
But this is a prime example of management “not having a clue.” In TV-Land you are supposed to extract as much viewer interest as you can, for the money you are spending. I would have done a couple of “Farewell” type broadcasts and engaged the audience in that way. Having Stephanie say her goodbyes last year in the pouring rain was just NOT the way to do it. And the bad blood between KTLA and the viewers is not a good thing.
But perhaps Bob was referring to the fact that his option is coming due soon, and that perhaps he would also be let go. That would be a shame. He and Stephanie were a fixture on New Years Day morning and should be accorded some respect. But I’m sure he’ll get the Fond Farewell option (accompanying harp strings and wavering video effects, please).
One final note to KTLA management: if you want to bring the viewers in, please feel free to manipulate us. A “Final Farewell” broadcast with the old commentators would be a ratings hit. And I’d be the first dupe watching. For now, I recommend the ABC local broadcast feed; it’s the best HD feed after the KTLA offering.
I hope all agents and friends of The Crack Team had a safe holiday (a belated Happy Christmas, Merry Kwanza, and Joyous Hanuka to you all) with minimal casualties, and all mission targets saved and/or destroyed as needed. And if Santa brought you got a game console, may you enjoy it without throwing the controller through your television set.
I know there are agents out there that love Texas Hold ‘Em. It’s nice to just… get together with friends and have a drink or two. Steal each others’ money. It’s great, just great.
But since there haven’t been that many games going on, I started looking for free Texas Hold ‘Em online. So far, the best place I’ve found is the Hold ‘Em Poker tables at Yahoo! Games.
Of course, you need to be registered at Yahoo! but who doesn’t already have an account with them? It’s free. You can sign up here.
First off, it’s nothing short of bitmap graphics. It’s obvious this wasn’t made to evoke some glamorous lifestyle but it gets the job done. There are plenty of skill levels to play with and tables to target them. Or you can play socially, since every table has chatting enabled. But one feature I was hoping to use is the option to create a private table and invite whichever players you want. You can’t set the limits or the wages, though, that’s the only downside.
So, if anyone’s interested, post a comment and let me know what your user name is. Maybe we can schedule a night to log on and play. Everyone starts with $1000 and if you go below, you just owe the bank. I’ve seen players with -$7243. I haven’t the heart to tell them they have a problem.
There’s some nice animated Christmas icons for when pages load and some cool translucent graphics throughout the tabs and text fields. The candy cane scroll bar is a nice touch. Well, at least I can enjoy this for the next week and then it’s back to default.
Microsoft has become proactive about fighting obesity in their company [BusinessWeek]. They’re paying for 80% of the cost of a $6,000 clinical weight-loss program. And they’re getting a 1:1 ROI as their employees use expensive healthcare services less often. Of course, this doesn’t count the added benefit they get from happier, grateful employees.
Turns out that Brick, NJ, hometown to several Crack Team agents, is the safest city in America. Mission Viejo, CA, not far from my current residence, is also in the top 5. While neither city is particularly exciting, the country’s most dangerous city, St. Louis, MO, is no fun factory, either. Compton is also on the most dangerous list, but at least it has better weather.
I been encouraged to post this clip of my daughter Haylee, everywhere I can.
It probably won’t “hit home” unless you have kids of your own. Otherwise, it may help you avoid having kids altogether.
I took this video about five months ago, shortly after her 5th birthday, to show what we go through dressing our daughter.
Here’s the rundown:
Haylee thinks the matching shirt is too big for the pants “Mommy brought me the biggest one of all!”
The pants are on too tight, pressing against her so that she can’t push her belly out. Yet if loosened one notch, they are too loose because she can see her underwear. So indead she wants to wear a “Trina” which is her word for “dress”.
So Automobile Magazine just put out an article entitled The top 25 Most Beautiful Cars of All Time.
I’m an proud owner of the second-generation 300zx (90-96) which made the list.
I’m taking a lot of heat for this in the forums since everyone has their own idea about which cars belong on the list. Stock 300zx
I agree that the list is lacking many favorites, but the real issue is that it’s too hard to make a list of only 25. The list should be “Top 100″ to be more fair.
One point people have made is that the list lacks “muscle cars” when they were in their prime. However I feel these cars were far from beautiful. (Badass, yes. But not beautiful.)
Many feel the 300zx doesn’t belong on the list. This is where I point out such facts as: The 90-96 300zx won Car and Driver’s ten best cars list EVERY SINGLE YEAR it was produced, as well as many other awards from other publications.
One forum fellow argued that if a 300zx were to pass by today, nobody would even give it a second look.
This is my point exactly! The 300zx was introduced with such a radical design from it’s previous edition (84-89) that it looked more like a concept car than a production car. It took years for other manufacturers to follow suit.
I believe the 300zx single handedly converted the auto industry’s styling from the dart-style of the 80’s to the bubble-look of today.
Don’t believe me? Do a search for ANY other car from the early 90’s and compare it to the 1990 300zx.
Mustang? RX7?
Or how about non-sporty cars that are popular today.
Civic? Accord?
It took years for the other manufacturers to catch up.
1992 Camaro
1993 Mustang
So in a way, the forum-fellow is correct. The 300zx wouldn’t get a second look today because this 16 year-old car still fits into to today’s styling.
Not to mention the upgrade potential! Modded 300zx
Recently, my addiction to golf has been getting worse. I now play during the week twice in addition to going to the range several times to practice. Since I am not able to get out to the course until after I put in a 10 hour day at work, it starts to get dark by the time we get to the end of a round. Even though one of the courses I play at is lighted, the amount of illumination between the tee and the green leaves quite a bit to be desired. The greens are generally well lit, so if you hit the green every time you will have no problem finding your ball. However, if I was capable of hitting the green every time, my co-workers would have single word names like �Tiger� and �Vijay�. A few weeks ago I was playing with a random golfer who had a ball that would start blinking when you hit it. This was the product I was looking for! It�s just too bad I didn�t ask him what the name of it was or where he got it.
The next day I ran out to the local Golfsmith and the salesman at the counter, after laughing at me, explained that he had never heard of it. He also commented that he didn�t think the balls would spin very well. Not wanting to sound like a total noob I just smiled and said, �yeah, you�re probably right�. I more or less understood what he meant but I am certainly not a good enough golfer to care how much a ball spins or even to know what to do with said spin. Besides, when you can�t see more than 10 feet in front of you without a flashlight, does it really matter how much your golf ball spins? I think not. Since I pay for the holes whether I play them or not and generally don�t even bother keeping score, the whole point here is to try to get those last few holes in rather than simply going home. I then took my search to where I should have gone in the 1st place� the internet.
Enter the Twilight Tracer (www.twilighttracer.com). This ball is designed to start flashing a very bright red once you hit it so you can find your ball in the dark. It is an 80 compression ball with a multilayer surlyn cover and is the same weight and size as a regulation ball. I ended up with the 3 pack which goes for about $28 depending on where you find it (I was only able to find it online). It is a touch on the pricey side for me but in the grand scheme of things in the golf world probably not that expensive. The balls last for about 40 hours so, since they blink for roughly 5 minutes at a time, that means you can hit it about 480 times. I was worried that a decent amount of the lifespan of the ball would be lost to getting knocked around during shipping but when I got the balls home and tested one, merely dropping it did not set it off. In fact, it took a moderate amount of force to actually get it blinking, though nothing compared to the force generated during a full golf swing. I feel confident I will get my money�s worth out of each ball.
On the golf course, the 1st one I pulled out of the box to hit made a nice �thwack� sound as it hit a tree off to the right side of the fairway but, unfortunately, there was no blinking involved before it hit the tree. It was a defective ball and amazingly wasn�t one of the two that I had tested at home. I sent a quick email over the weekend to the company that makes them and they got back to me 1st thing Monday morning asking me for my address so they can ship me a replacement ball, no questions asked. They will have my business in the future just for that. On the next hole I tried a different ball (after throwing it into the ground first to make sure it worked) and this time I hit a nice shot right down the middle of the fairway and onto the edge of the green. I could see the ball in the air the whole time (which is VERY cool!) and could easily see it sitting on the green from about 175 yards away. In fact, on a later hole I hit the ball about 225 yards and to the right of the fairway into some 1� thick rough and could still see it from the tee box. While I have no real way of comparing the spin rates of this ball to a regular ball, it did seem to bite into the green fairly well and it left a pretty good ball mark, although, the greens were very soft and starting to get soggy from dew so maybe it had nothing to do with the spin.
The two differences between the tracers and a regular ball that stood out the most was the lack of distance and the very different feel off the club face. Using a metal wood with a graphite shaft I couldn�t really feel a difference but you could hear a much different sound with the tracers than with a regular ball. With an iron and a steel shaft you can feel the difference in your hands in addition to the different sound. The ball �feels� much harder than the balls I typically use (Nike Precision Power Distance � Super Soft) but that could be just due to the fact that the Nike�s only have a 60 compression core and a soft cover. There was also a definite lack of distance with the tracers over my regular ball using everything from my driver to my 60� wedge. What it boiled down to is that I had to take one club more than I normally would (or a harder swing on a short pitch) in order to get the distance I needed. I have only played one type of ball in my short career so I am not sure if the difference I see is simply due to the balls I use or due to the characteristics of the tracers. The difference was enough that on my shorter approach shots I switched to a regular ball since my aim on such shots is pretty good. I did not try to putt with these balls but my guess is that I would not like it. I saw that the company is coming out with a ball specifically for putting but they don�t have much information on it other than the fact that it comes in different colors.
All in all, I consider this to be a great product at a reasonable price and have already recommended it to several of the people I golf with. I am sure that as I play on the course in the evenings I will start to get more and more people asking me why my balls are blinking.
Now, if only something could help me find my balls in the daytime��.
Very cool. I just loaded it yesterday and did a couple test runs with Agent Hulagun - kudos to him for his part in the vital mission. Overall, it was pretty simple. You have to click download a few too many times, but eventually you get there. When running the installer, remember to click the [ Options... ] button and make sure everything’s kosher.
I had a slight issue due to a non-standard microphone configuration. I have an Audigy 2 ZS card with an I/O plate for the front of your case. It has a 1/4″ mic input with preamp, into which I have plugged in a Shure SM58 mic (pretty much the most famous ball mic ever). This shows up in audio/sound programs like Audacity as “Line-in 2/Mic 2″, but most programs just show the sound card or “windows default” (or something like “system”) as an option. This requires you to use the control panel to select that mic as the system default. Problem is, programmers who think they’re oh so clever will change the system default to “Microphone”, and this is very frustrating when troubleshooting!!! I had to uncheck an option in Skype that says something like, “Let Skype mess up my options that I’ve taken a while to get right”. I am paraphrasing to accentuate truthfulness. When that was done, though, it worked.
And it works really well. Granted, I’m using a $100 mic and $60 headphones, but it’s pretty clear on both sides. And of course, totally free. There is a slight chance that Yahoo! Messenger with Voice will also work with my setup, but it doesn’t have a “don’t screw things up checkbox”, and it definitely screws things up when you use the voice setup wizard. I’ll have to find another test subject to troubleshoot that.
I recommend either a headset or mic/headphones combo. Using a speaker will turn it into - surprise! - a speakerphone. And those are annoying for both parties. However, you probably want to be able to unplug the headset/headphones easily; I know my computer will mute speakers when headphones are plugged in. You can uncheck that option, but then you’re driving both at the same time, which seems like kind of a waste.
I originally wanted this set up to communicate with East Coasters without burning up all my cell phone minutes. If I call them 9pm their time, it’s still 6pm (primetime) for me. Of course, this also works for locals with only cell phone access.
So feel free to add me using my Crack Team email address. If you don’t know it and can’t figure it out, email me and I’ll clue you in.
I have a gigantic mess in my washing machine right now. It consists of hundreds of tiny pieces of Vellux blanket. Those are the comfy, spongy blankets you see in hotels all the time. I had mine for years, no problem. I noticed it started to get a little dusty, so I threw it in the wash. But that wasn’t dust. That was total fiber breakdown. I opened the washer to find a nylon mesh and what was formerly attached to it. I’m going to need the shop vac to clean it all up, and I’m worried it might have clogged the washer’s drain. Hopefully anything that can get through the small holes in the cylinder won’t be enough to do damage.
Anyway, I just wanted to warn others. If your Vellux blanket seems just a tad ratty (maybe some frayed edges), a piece falls off of it, or it seems unusually dusty, just chuck it. Not worth risking your washer, or the enormous pain in the ass it is to clean it up.
I just noticed that the Weather Channel web site has improved my local weather page. They added a pulldown menu called “On the Spot” that allows you to select conditions at nearby intersections, parks, schools, event venues, etc. Nice for those places that get much hotter, colder, or wetter than the rest of town. Man, I wish we had A/C.
It seems like my luck with food is roughly the same as my luck with television. On the one hand, I pride myself on having simple, but good, taste; on the other, any time I find myself starting to like something, it gets yanked or cancelled. And for every “Andy Richter Controls the Universe,” or “Boomtown” that’s out there, there’s a corresponding food that I’ve enjoyed–some prepackaged, some not–that you can’t find any more to save your life. So here’s my top five:
Snapple sodas: It used to be you could get something fizzy made “from the best stuff on earth.” Creative flavors, too. In addition to having a credible root beer (ie. good, but not as good as Stewart’s), they had flavors like Peach Melba, Cherry Lime Rickey, and Chocolate soda. Now that I think of it, any chocolate soda I’ve liked, from the Snapple to the inferior one put out by Arizona for a short time, has vanished from the shelves.
Doritos flavors: It’s bad enough that they changed the formula for Doritos, so much so that they now taste closer to every other nacho chip out there. What’s worse is some of the past types that they don’t make any more. Some varieties’ passing–eg. pizza–I can’t say that I minded so much. But others, like Jumpin’ Jack flavor (much better than the current Pepper Jack) I really miss. The other old favorite, referenced in song* and story, is Taco flavored Doritos. They come and go like an old flame. They’re there for a bit, just long enough to get your hopes up, and then they vanish again, leaving you feeling cheated and just a little pissed.
Peanut Butter Boppers: I’m not sure quite how to describe these. Think of… uh… well, it looked like a turd festooned with cookie crumbs. Maybe somebody was raiding the Keebler Elves’ outhouse or something. But still, they were tasty, and for a couple of years, I went through them like I now go through cigarettes… probably the reason that I am the fine, strapping specimen that I am now.
Chicken Gyro, circa 1996: I’m not saying that you can’t walk into practically any place owned/run by Greeks or anyone else from the vicinity of the Mediterranean and get a chicken gyro. I’m saying that this chicken gyro would have made God Himself salivate uncontrollably. This, you see, wasn’t just a bunch of mechanically separated chicken,** formed into a cone and sliced onto a pita with some wilted lettuce, sad onions, and tomatoes stiffer than this morning’s erection. Oh, no. This was marinated chicken chunks, fresh greens, hummus, tabouleh, and tahini, expertly piled onto the pita by some Algerian guy in a little place in East Rutherford that became substandard Sushi takeout soon after. This was the sandwich-as-religious-experience.
Dinner at Grandma’s: Whether it was fish dinner on Fridays (what do you want from a family of Irish Catholics?), her rice pudding, or a spaghetti that I have tried to duplicate but couldn’t (and this even using the same ingredients, as far as I can remember), I think that this is the one I miss the most. This isn’t to say that my grandmother was Julia Child; but I’ll miss those potato pancakes long after the taste of all the supposed “fine dining” has faded.
*Song, at least: “Fish On” by Primus.
**Like they use in Slim Jims. I shit you not; read the ingredients.
I just took Amazon up on their offer for Amazon Prime. If you haven’t ordered from them lately (they pop up the offer every time you check out), it’s basically free 2-day shipping on almost every product (maybe no big appliances?), with no minimums, and you can upgrade to next-day air for $4.
It’s nice to not have to pad your order with crap you don’t need, just to come up with the $25 minimum for free shipping. And then get annoyed that instead of using a slower delivery method for free shipping, they’re delaying shipment for several days. It’s more frustrating to see your stuff sitting in a warehouse than it is to see it being slowly delivered.
The cost for Amazon Prime $80/year, which might not be bad if you’re splitting it among your family. The free trial lasts 3 months. If you want the service, there is a gotcha! If you read the fine print, at the end of your trial, if you don’t quit, you are automatically upgraded to 12 months of service. This means your service is extended by 9 months, not 12, but you still pay the full amount. So take the time to quit before your trial ends, then pick it up on your next order. Then you get 15 months for $80, not just 12.
A recent comp sci grad (BSCS), who was having trouble finding work due to lack of experience, decided to register for a masters degree (MSCS). He asked what I thought about it, especially in light of the dot com bust, and the recent push into offshoring. My response is generally positive.
The fact is, after the dot com bust there was a paradigm shift in recruiting. Previously, companies were just looking for smart, capable people with a solid grasp of the fundamentals. They knew that as technologies changed, so did your job description. When the bust happened, there was an embarassment of riches (i.e., available employees) for recruiters. They started asking for exactly what the position required at that time, usually the exact experience of the person vacating the job. And because of the times, they got it (this famously led some to ask for developers who worked on a technology before it existed). Although things are heating up again, the recruitment practices haven’t changed. I’m looking around now and am running into similar issues, because my experience has been equal parts s/w dev. and project management. Odds are I’ll have to specialize in one or the other before moving on.
There is hope, though. In the ’90s there was an aeropace bust; massive layoffs across the industry. Agent Assassin was an aeronautical engineering major (aero for short). When my school hosted a career fair, with over 100 companies, every one wanted a comp sci major. Only 4 wanted aeros. This led to a collegiate exodus of aeros; many chose a more general major like mechanical or civil engineering (or comp sci!). Now, aerospace companies are having a hard time filling positions with good engineers. The schools weren’t producing them, but the engineers were still retiring, resulting in a seller’s market. The competition is driving up salaries, and my employer is proactively raising salaries for certain employees in order to stay competitive.
Our industry’s bust came around 2000, and I’ve read many articles about comp sci departments not being able to find students. In time, even with the offshoring, we will have a shortage of good software engineers.
I think that for many, getting an MSCS is the right thing to do. For a while now, engineers have found the MS to be a professional standard, while scientists required a PhD. But advanced degrees were often a curse for software developers, with employers valuing real world experience above all. I think that’s going to change over the next decade. Offshoring is driving US companies to be innovators, keeping the more advanced/important work here. So getting a masters will help you compete globally.
Right now, it can be hard to find an entry level job. This because if you have a good, well rounded CS education, you are a tech generalist. And they’re unemployable until they get 20+ years of experience, at which point they’re really experts in everything! So an MSCS is a great opportunity if you manage it well. But that requires knowing the real reason you’re there, a point which escapes many grad students.
When my manager got his MSCS at USC, he noted he could have chosen classes for the entire degree without learning anything new. This is because for many schools, once you graduate with a BS, you are a “grad student”. You are not allowed to get a second BS, you must get a graduate degree. Since this could very well be your first experience with CS, they allow you to get a general education covering the fundamentals. If you have a BSCS already, obviously that would be a waste of time and money. Instead, you want to specialize in something you are passionate about. By specialize, I’m talking about things like:
Networking
Databases
OOAD/Design Patterns (perhaps even this is too general)
Embedded Software
AI
Human Computer Interaction
You know the drill - the major topics under the CS umbrella. That expertise will be your key to employment. As much as possible, your graduate education should mimic real world experience from a well managed career. And that experience will probably be focused.
This means that if you have a choice between creating a thesis, and taking extra classes, always go for the thesis! At the very least, you can tell people you are a published author. More importantly, you will have a concrete project to show to employers. Even better, doing a thesis (that you chose yourself, instead of taking the first thing your prof. suggested) is an awesome way to create the ultimate class, learning what you’re most interested in. I think that passion is critical for success. It’s cliche, but enthusiasm is contagious, and employers love it. It will come across in interviews when you start talking excitedly about your work. And they’ll want that enthusiasm - and expertise - on their team.
MSN has a map mashup that displays the cheapest gas prices in your area. In my area, there was a 8-12 cent price difference, depending on the grade. With prices so high, I wonder if it matters.
I think this is a great example of the “good from far, but far from good” principle. All you have to do is stand back from your monitor about 8-15 feet while looking at the image. The email credited Phillippe G. Schyns and Aude Oliva of the University of Glasgow as the creators.
It is interesting to note that the thumbnail preview of this image has the faces switched, and moving closer or further from the screen does not change that. Also, I can see the switch somewhat by removing my glasses; I am nearsighted with an astigmatism.
The Turbo S model can pull under 5 second 0-60s.
I know there are plenty of cheaper cars that can keep up with that.
(WRX STI Mr ArchAngel sir)
However, you gotta give it credit for having sort-of a wagon/SUV style body…
I’m not typically a Porshe fan, but I am not ready to argue with 520 horses either.
Since we seem to have a few car buffs on here I thought I’d mention the news about the Dodge Charger becoming the new NYC police “cruiser”. It’s going to look pretty badass, I think.
I also read that they are testing the Dodge Magnum as a replacement to the SUV support vehicle class.
I think that would be a brilliant choice. How do I figure that?
Here, I’ll show my work.
(Cargo space) minus (rollover factor) plus (beef) equals cool.
In honor of my old team lead, the most revered GroundHog prognosticator, seer and fan.
He holds a Groundhog lunch (tasty!) every year and was a great boss to work for.
And kudos to Pat Chang, who learned to play the piano at age 45 after
watching this movie; it’s never too late to live.
Groundhog Day (1993) was an exceptional motion picture.
Punxsutawney, PA founded in 1850s
Population 6800 (or 6782 in the movie)
Named after Ponkies or “sand flies” in area.
Celebration began as religious Candlemas Day.
First GroundHog Day celebration 1886
First celebration at Gobbler’s Knob, 1887
Phil sees shadow -> six more weeks of winter
Phil was named after King Phillip.
Phil previously known as Bre’r Groundhog
Phil is cared for by the gentlemen of the Inner Circle.
Groundhog nomenclature is Marmota Monax, order Rodentia
Groundhog lifespan is 6-8 years.
Baby Groundhog is a kit/cub.
Average groundhog weighs 15 lbs, 20 inches long.
Poor Phil Connors relives Groundhog day, everyday at 6:00AM
He wakes up to “I’ve got you, babe” from Sonny and Cher
Movie directed by Harold Ramis
Movie actually filmed in Woodstock, Ill.
Best diner in town is the Tip Top Cafe.
Movie playing in town, everyday, is “Heidi II”
Phil likes to be called ‘Bronco’ when wearing a serape to the movies.
Nancy Taylor is from Lincoln High, Pittsburg. Mrs. Walsh’s English class.
She makes chipmunk noises at the most intimate of times.
Robin Duke plays Doris the waitress.
Ned Ryerson is Phil’s insurance-selling school pal.
Phil Connors works for WPBH channel 9, Pittsburg.
He’s a weatherman.
George Fenton and director co-wrote theme song “Weatherman”
And surely Phil got pretty sick of hearing the “Pennsylvania Polka!”
Larry drives the TV van.
Rita produces the TV news segment.
Rita’s favorite ice cream is Rocky Road. And she hates fudge.
Rita’s favorite drink is “Sweet Vermouth on the rocks w/twist”
Rita majored in 19th century French Poetry (what a waste!)
Phils pays $1000 for each of his piano lessons.
Phil plays “Rachmaninoff’s variation on Theme from Paganini” at the party.
Bill Murray actually learned to play that *one* piece for the movie.
A lot of male viewers report this as a “life-changing” movie.
A lot of female viewers wonder what’s wrong with the male viewers.
[NOTE: This author has plans to learn to play the piano in the near future.]
OK. Here it is in as short a manner as I can manage: the Truth behind the whole silly argument. Well, it?s actually only my opinion, but it reflects both the hard science in my engineering brain as well as the Godly love that I feel in my heart. As I see this fight playing out on the nightly news, I lean back and wonder what the fuss is all about. What if everyone is right?
Start with a kaleidoscope. You played with it as a child; it was a single cardboard tube with a mirrored insert, plus assorted plastic beads and colored glass bits that produced complex patterns as you rotated the tube and looked through one end of it. As you kept on rotating the tube up to the light you delighted in the unique, non-repeating patterns that you observed.
Now think of the Universe as God’s kaleidoscope. He puts in a ton of hydrogen and free energy and starts rotating the tube. Fusion ensues in the hydrogen eddies pooling in some gravimetric nooks and crannies of space and starts producing the heavier elements and eventual carbon that coalesces into the known worlds and you and me. The amino acid laden primordial soup that created life was but a stage in this turning of the tube. The background radiation that resulted from all the burning plasma in the Universe and which jump-starts the initial combinatorial changes in the chromosomal pool is just another bit of plastic and glass that resided in the tube.
And the continuing evolution of Earthly life in its many forms is just a pleasing pattern of Creation that was started so long ago.
Did God create the tube? Definitely. Can you explain where all the matter and the initial energetic deposit came from, otherwise? And it was a pretty large deposit, too. Does God know that we were coming when the kaleidoscope was put together and started turning? Definitely; that?s one disadvantage of omniscience, you can never be surprised by the Future.
So what is the point of this exercise, this eons-long turning of a cardboard tube? It is pleasing to God and He derives the greatest measure of satisfaction from it (I also enjoy watching crystals grow, but I certainly don?t have the patience for a longer endeavour). But unlike a child watching the ants crawling around in the Ant Farm?, the Creator interacts with His Creation and knows the name of His creatures. We are not pets, but part of the Creator?s family and given part of the family inheritance. Does this violate the Star Trek non-interference rule? I don?t know that God would limit himself to the laws of nature and physics that He himself created. He decided in which direction Time?s Arrow would point, and He can change the infinitesimal characteristics of the tube?s contents when He desires.
So to answer the burning question: Creation or Evolution? I can say ?both.? One does not deny the other. We can acknowledge the mechanism and the Creator of the mechanism. To those that propose the randomness of the process I can only say: It?s random because our small minds cannot grasp the larger pattern. If we had a fast enough computer and limitless storage memory, we could predict tomorrow?s weather. God?s memory is large enough to hold and to view and influence the eventual fate of His Creation.
Recently I attended the funeral for my maternal grandfather. Due to his service in the military shortly after World War II he was cremated and interned at a military cemetary in Ohio. At the ceremony a regiment from the local V.F.W. was there to fire a 21-gun salute in 3 volleys of 7 rifles, followed by the playing of Taps. On the flight home I started to wonder about the symbolism behind the 21-gun salute and the playing of taps and how it all got started. In researching this on the internet it seems like no one else knows either. Both the gun salute and the playing of Taps seem to have many origins associated with them.
Taps seems to have originated as a derivation of a french song and was played prior to the final bugle call at military installations basically to signify “last call” for alcohol. I found at least 3 different stories as to the origins of the playing of Taps at a military funeral but all seem to occur around the time of the civil war. Army regulations by around 1891 required the playing of Taps at all military funeral ceremonies. Today, Taps is played at military funerals and to signify the “lights out” command at the end of the day. The words to the song are:
Day is done, gone the sun,
from the lake, from the hill,
from the sky.
All is well. Safely rest,
God is nigh.
Thanks and praise, for our days,
neath the sun, neath the stars,
neath the sky. As we go this we know.
God is nigh.
The origin of the gun salute is even more confusing. Back in the days when ships still had cannons, gun salutes were seen as a symbol of great honor. By firing all of its guns, a ship or port was essentially left defenseless due to the long reload time of the cannon. Firing the gun salutes in 3 rounds is said to date back to a time when armies would stop fighting to clear casualties from the battleground and then fire 3 volleys to signal to both armies to resume fighting. Many countries used the gun salute to honor heads of state and each country used a different number of guns. In 1875 the united states adopted the use of 21 guns, which was also used by other countries at the time. I found several different explanations of why the number 21 was chosen including one explanation that said that no one actually knows the real reason.
I still don’t feel like I know what the symbolism behind these things are. If anyone does know the actual reason and has references to back up the explanation, I would love to know about it.
I recently donated to the Red Cross through my employer, since they match employee donations dollar for dollar, and 50 cents on the dollar for retirees. I hear we gave $2.3M collectively, not including their matching, or the $1M they donated separately. But we’re huge, so that’s reasonable. (And I’m not mentioning them, since like so many other corporate employers, they don’t like employee blogging. Someday I’ll have to pay to retain my privacy for this domain, and cut down on spammers).
I just came back from Vegas where I found a new favorite place to play craps: Casino Royale. It’s situated between The Venetian and Harrah’s, and is well known for having the best odds on the strip. This is certainly true for for their craps game. We’re talking 100x odds and $2 minimums! This allows you to play very close to an even money game. I used the 5-count from the Frank Scoblete craps books, putting come bets after the 2-, 3-, and 4-counts, so I was up on 3 numbers by the 5-count, when I placed my odds bets: $20 on the 6 and 8, $10 on the other point numbers. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to play as long as I wanted. I’ve found craps isn’t a game for those pressed for time.
I should also point out that it’s clean and much more pleasant than the downtown casinos; they have lower minimums, but aren’t worth the cab fare.
I also wanted to try $2-$4 poker, but as I’m allergic to smoke, that won’t happen until they open a non-smoking poker room. I doubt that will happen anytime soon.
It seems there’s an email going around, warning people about a cell phone directory for telemarketers. I’ve even heard a rumor at work that Congress is going to pass a bill allowing telemarketers to call cell phones. Both appear to be bogus, more or less.
It’s true that Verizon is making a cell phone directory, for use only by their customers, listing only those who have given their express permission. Other mobile phone companies have no plans for a directory. As for Congress, they know that stopping telemarketers is a big hit with voters. Why would they undo the law stopping cell phone telemarketing, which exists because you pay per-minute charges on incoming calls? Doesn’t make sense.
The half-truth is that the National Do Not Call Registry does accept mobile phone numbers, and always has. So if you’re paranoid, it won’t hurt to register your mobile number, too.
The Wave Magazine has an article on the top 10 geekiest hobbies. I’m guilty of #10 and #9, so I’m not too far gone, or so I tell myself. The article helpfully provides statistics on each hobby’s capacity for public humiliation and its affect on your sex life. On that note, I wonder how I’d look in big bear costume…
Businessweek has a good article that explains why you should avoid accepting a counteroffer from your current employer. By “good”, I mean it agrees with what I have been saying for years, because I’m wise like that. I’ve heard bosses express that, sometimes, they feel like you’re holding a gun to their head in order to get a raise. The article has several other good reasons, too.
Bank of America doesn’t carry my Looney Toons checks anymore, and doesn’t put current check designs online, since they don’t need more money. So I had to check out (pun intended, bitch) third parties to find something cool. And something cool I found: X-men checks! They kick ass, and demonstrate my mutant banking powers. I also found a bunch of other cool checks:
There are many checks for those young and old. If you’re 8, and somehow have a checking account, there’s Spongerobert Rectangulartrousers. And if you’re over 40, and live with as many cats, you are golden. There are so many lame check designs that your head will explode. I recommend Strawberry Shortcake riding a pegasus that’s f#cking a unicorn (set of four scenes).
A coworker is going to be out for knee surgery, and said he’d be back on Monday. Our secretary insists he wants to be back on Friday. No he doesn’t. He doesn’t even want to be here Monday-Thursday. Or weekends. He comes in because he has to, just like the rest of us. But you can skip all that if you just take my advice and win the lottery.
Lottery winners get craploads of money, and it only costs a dollar. So it’s totally worth it. You just gotta make sure you get the right ticket. Trust me, it’s easier than it sounds. Some tips…
Don’t pick a previous winning number. Have you ever heard of the same number winning twice, in any lottery? Me neither. You can get the winning numbers off the internet - for free! This cuts out thousands of useless numbers. If you don’t do this, you’re just wasting money.
Bribe the 7-11 guy. Obviously, this guy’s already won, or else he wouldn’t have a 7-11. Don’t tell me you come fresh off the boat and say, “I need a 7-11″, and they just give you one. Those things are freakin’ expensive. You gotta win the lottery first. So a lot of foreigners know how to pick the right numbers. But don’t ask a foreigner who’s selling oranges, or writing software, ’cause they haven’t figured it out yet (oranges and computers are cheap, compared to 7-11s). Also, don’t think they had money when they came here, ’cause if you had mad fat stacks of cash - 7-11 money - you’d be big pimpin’ back in your third world hood, with all sorts of fly honeys. Not running a 7-11 in the States, that’s for sure.
Get a job cleaning the lotto machine. Those machines work by blowing ping-pong balls around, and grabbing the winning balls from the top. Just tell them you need to wash the balls, and then inject the non-winning numbers with something to weigh them down, like heroin. You probably already have that in your needle, anyway. And you can always get more heroin, ’cause you’re gonna win the lottery. In fact, you might even win a few lotteries in a row, before everyone catches on. If you do this, ignore the rule about not picking previous winning numbers.
There are other ways, but they might be illegal, so I won’t talk about them here. Remember, rich people make their own luck. But that’s another topic for another time.
Apparently a fellow Westminster resident and waitress was displeased with a couple customers hitting on her. Allegedly, she followed the standard protocol in the restaurant industry, which is to call your thug boyfriend and have the customers killed. This took place in the Hawaii Cafe in Garden Grove, now closed for “remodeling”.
I saw an unopened letter today, addressed to my roommate. You could tell by its lack of sender that it was unsolicited. But instead of luring you to open it by false claims of importance or time sensitivity, it appealed to your sense of compassion. “Please, do not discard,” it read. I felt a certain sense of weariness in the words, a surrender. The cheap envelope offered little privacy to its contents, which I could see proclaimed “0.0%” in a large, black font. That, too, seemed defeatist. “Please, just take it. It’s free. If only you would, out of kindness, not discard this letter.”
Welcome to the online headquarters of The Crack Team! This is an anonymous weblog where Agents post and comment using their codename to protect their right to free speech without retribution.
However, it is important to use the software daily. Skipping several days can set you back quite a ways. 
