| Duh!!! |
[Dec. 15th, 2008|02:44 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  awake | ] |
| [ | music |
| | It's the most wonderful time of the year | ] |
From CNN.com
A man identified as an Iraqi journalist threw shoes at -- but missed -- President Bush during a news conference Sunday evening in Baghdad, where Bush was making a farewell visit. In Arab culture, throwing shoes at someone...is considered an insult.
Really?
In what culture, pray tell, is than NOT an insult? |
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| Housing Crisis |
[Nov. 12th, 2008|11:19 am] |
OK< so it's been a year since I've posted. It's been busy, and I'll try to say more as I get back into it, but I wanted to record this idea I had for solving the housing crisis. I've already sent it to President-Elect Obama at www.change.gov, which I recommend you do as well with any good ideas you have.
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I have an idea for relieving the mortgage crisis. This is not wholly my idea, it is an amalgam of things I've heard on the radio and the internet, with my own thoughts. I also do not claim to be a brilliant economist (of whom, I assume you staff many), but I am a pretty smart guy who knows a smidge about economics.
As I see it, here are the things we want to see in a solution.
- It should slow or reverse the fall of housing prices.
- It should reduce the number of people who are getting kicked out of their homes
- It should provide a disincentive to those who would game the system (whether they be banks or homeowners).
- It should ease the burden on homeowners' mortgage payments
- It should recognize that mortgages have been sliced and diced into other monetary instruments, so it is difficult if not impossible to negotiate with the owners of these debt instruments.
- It should be revenue neutral or better for the government.
Here then, is my solution.
1) Add a government imposed extension to the foreclosure process (if necessary) to allow time for the additional steps here.
2) Create an agency whose function is to allow people who are being foreclosed on to re-buy their house with government money.
3) When a homeowner gets a notice of foreclosure, they can apply with the agency for funds to re-buy their house. Really, a government owned mortgage. Whatever you do, keep the application process simple and open. Don't worry so much about people who are borderline to pay. They already got approved for a much higher payment (rightly or wrongly), and the last thing you want to do is drag out this process. Instead, focus on trying to catch people who are scamming the system (watch out for people who took a second mortgage and the are allowing it to foreclose and run off with the equity).
4) Accept that it cannot be perfect, and no matter what you do, some innocent people will get screwed out of participating, and some scammers will skate away with hundreds of thousands of government dollars. Try to minimize this and prosecute the guilty, but don't make the system so unwieldy that it's useless.
5) Once the owner has secured the government mortgage, allow the foreclosure to commence, with the current owner allowed to make an offer on the property (and only that property). You'll have to include a window to ensure that other buyers have an opportunity to make fair offers on the property.
6) In order to balance the load on different parties, and the incentives between buyers and sellers, it may be valuable to explore offering the government mortgages at interest rates higher or lower than the market rate (but still above prime). Whether or not this is a good idea is a question for people much smarter than me, but it is another know to turn to tune this operation.
7) It is the current owner's responsibility to ensure that they can make their payments under the new loan. If they can't, they will not be eligible for the program again.
8) The government can hold the mortgages, or sell them on the open market.
As I see it, this solution answers the above requirements in the following ways.
A) By still selling the house on the free market, but increasing demand by adding a seller, you raise prices, which alleviates the burden on loan holders, and helps stabilize the market.
B) For homeowners who were--through predatory lending practices or otherwise--unable to make their payments, they have an opportunity to not get kicked out of their home, and to use the market to "negotiate" a reduced payment.
C) Because a homeowner is still foreclosed upon, and they aren't allowed to use the system more than once, it should be challenging to try to game the system. Auditing and enforcing should do the rest, as much as possible. The other thing that we'll have to watch out for is the owners taking advantage of a known buyer to manipulate the price. Maybe we can make it blind. I don't know, maybe someone else does.
D) All the government is doing is providing loans for purchase at a slightly inflated market price. If the loans are good, the government will make money on them, and if they default again, at least the government should be able to resell the home at close to the price of the loan, as the loan value was presumably near the fair market price.
I hope this helps, or at least provides more fodder for thought. |
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| Movies Hollywood will never make |
[Sep. 6th, 2007|04:25 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | humor, musings | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Linkin Park - What I've Done | ] |
A high-powered young executive with a promising career in front of him opens the door to his midtown apartment one day to find a baby with a note on his doorstep. It turns out that he had a one night stand a year previously, and this baby is the result. The mother has run off and begs him to take care of the baby. At first, he resists this intrusion in his life, but eventually he accepts his new daughter, and moves on to a life of solitude, destitution, and misery, as the responsibilities of fatherhood leave him bereft of his job, his house, and his friends.
A young woman works in an unlikely industry, trying to pay the bills for her broken family. In a predominantly male environment, she is constantly passed over, marginalized, and harassed. Fed up, she sets out to fight the system. But it turns out she can't.
A hard-boiled cop with a history of being a loose cannon stumbles onto a massive conspiracy. Try as he might, he can't convince the department to investigate, so he takes matters into his own hands...and ends up violating the constitutional rights of dozens of innocent citizens and upstanding pillars of the community.
An elite team of soldiers is sent to capture a pointless objective in a far off country. Facing insurmountable odds, they are eliminated to a man. Nobody hears their story.
A young girl dreams of being an Olympic athlete. She trains for ten years, only to find out that she just isn't good enough.
Scientists announce a major breakthrough: By channeling the neutrinos from a fusion reaction into a perfectly aligned crystal, they can open a gate to anywhere in the universe. After celebrating their success, they realize the risks involved and destroy their invention without using it.
A hitchhiker is murdered outside a sleepy mountain town, and buried in a shallow grave by the side of the road. Years later, a truck carrying radioactive waste crashes and spills its contents over the grave site. That evening, the tormented spirit of the hitchhiker rises again and lurches towards the town, searching for his killers to enact revenge. Before he makes it to the town, his body is torn apart by wild hyenas.
A young girl has a crush on a boy on the soccer team. In order to be with him, she joins the team, disguised as a boy so that he won't know it's her. Her disguise works.
An evil Duke lords his power with an iron hand over his demesne. He taxes his people into poverty, conscripts them to fight in far off wars, and takes the best of their food for himself, leaving them only scraps. This makes them very unhappy.
A young married couple is starting their new life together. They are excited by their new house, their new business that they built from the ground up, and their new baby that is only two months away. Still, they have time to enjoy their love for each other without a care in the world. One rainy evening, a dark and mysterious drifter knocks on their door and asks to spend the night. They put him up in the guest room as the storm makes the house howl and shudder. In the morning, they make him pancakes and he goes on his way.
In rural Alabama, in the fall of 1954, three black students try out for the (formerly) all white high school football team. Throughout the grueling tryouts, they are taunted, spit upon, even threatened. Eventually, they quit, having learned a valuable lesson about their place in the world.
By a fluke happenstance, an earnest, naive, good-hearted man is elected to congress. When he gets there, he learns that the only way to get things done is through back room deals, cronyism, favor trading, and the Machiavellian manipulation of his constituents, his compatriots, and the media is the only way to get anything done. |
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| In defense of the combover |
[May. 25th, 2007|04:01 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | health | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Pop! - Pop goes my Heart | ] |
Last weekend, as I was leaving Best Buy, I saw a guy with the WORST COMBOVER EVER!!!!
Allow me to paint a picture. This man was mid-forties, with dark hair. He was obviously in the late stages of classic male pattern baldness. He had full hair all around the sides, but on top he was completely bald, except for a one square inch patch at the top of his forehead. The hair from this patch was grown out long and combed straight back to his hairline.
Allow me to digress for a moment. I have been steadily thinning on top for about 5 years, and although when I was younger I swore that I would accept this eventuality with equanimity, I face it now with some consternation.
I will miss my hair, but when its time has finally come I will let it die with dignity. I won't try to keep it alive on eternal life support. In the meantime, though, I have a problem, as do 100 million other American men. With the exception of a year or two when I was shaving my head (early practice), I have had the same basic hairdo since I was 10. Now, like a river undercutting a cliff, all the support for the top layer is being eroded away. At some point, it will pass the point of no return, and I'll move to the 'Captain Picard' or a full on 'Kojak'. Until that happens, I can look forward to 5 or 10 more years of "hey, isn't that 'same old thing' getting a bit wispy on top?"
Let me say, to you fortunate few whose genes have protected you, and the foolish majority who mock us from youth: "Most of us know that the combover is coming, and it's not the GQ cover look that you think we think it is. We're just in an awkward transitional period. We can't go back to our young hair, but it's premature to commit to the chrome dome. What we have may appear to be suboptimal, but it's the best we can do without laying carpet up there. When the time comes, we'll do the right thing."
That being said, allow me to return to my original story and simply say:
"Dude, it's time to let go" |
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| An open letter |
[May. 23rd, 2007|05:26 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | irony | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Young MC - Bust a Move | ] |
Dear Star 98.7,
I realize that your whole marketing strategy revolves around being hip and edgy, while also being widely accessible. It's an admirable goal. Here's the thing, though:
1) You are owned by Clear Channel.
2) Your playlist is the top 40.
I don't think you can get away with calling yourself "Alternative" any more. It's time to let go. You are the definition of "Mainstream" |
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| Creativity |
[May. 21st, 2007|11:26 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | writing | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  hopeful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Moosbutter - Star Wars | ] |
Work sucks.
To be fair, considering how long I've been gone, and how overwhelmed The Company is (I like putting that in capital letters, seems ominous), they've been quite reasonable about managing my load. The problem is, I'm having a devil of a time getting back up to speed after being gone for a month on my honeymoon. Emotionally up to speed. I realized that I've been staring at a never-ending wall of work for over six years now. (Well, five years. The first year was pretty easy.) We never get to stop and celebrate. A project is never "done" when we ship it - It'll be a minimum of a year and more likely two before whatever we just delivered launches, and in the mean time there are numerous opportunits for one failure or another to bring it back into our lives, usually accompanied by a torrent of stress and a total upheaval of whatever we were working on. We (as a company) are desperately clawing our way towards maturity. I never thought I would believe so much in the importance of documents and processes, but I see how valuable they are. So much of our floundering now is because we didn't have good processes two years ago, which is a large part of why we're too busy to implement good processes now. And the cycle repeats.
I'm tired.
It's becoming painfully clear to me that this job is not what I'm meant to do. Unfortunately, I'm in that classic bind: right now I need to have the stability of this job to pay the bills, and the mortgage. I can't quit and go find my dream job right now. There are too many things that will get upset by that. There's too much risk and too far to fall right now. I hope that I can hold out as long as it takes...not more than another year or two hopefully. Or I just want to get out of feeling like I'm on a death watch for my job. I could be happy here, if I were just on the other side of this big albatross which has taken up residence in my cubicle. I don't think this can ever be the place that I'm meant to be in, but I don't have to be miserable.
On the bright side, my darling wife installed final draft on my computer, and I started (for real) writing my first screenplay. Who knows how it's going to go. But it was really nice to lie down for an hour and try to find that creative space in me. It's been sadly neglected lately. I just hope I can maintain the discipline to finish. |
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| MPG |
[May. 16th, 2007|04:08 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | world | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  recovering | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby | ] |
I was reading an article on how the price of gas isn't keeping people from driving. I was quite amused by this quote. Emphasis mine for ironic effect
"I drive 55 miles each way to work every day," Sandy Colden, of Medford, N.J., said one recent morning while loading groceries into her Honda Pilot SUV. "So I really don't have a choice, unfortunately."
To pay homage to (blatantly steal from) Bill Maher...
New Rule:
People who drive SUVs are not allowed to bitch about the price of gas. |
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| Protest street signs |
[May. 7th, 2007|12:57 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | amusement | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | phase shifted | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Rednex - Cotton-Eyed Joe | ] |
I was driving back to work from lunch today, when I saw a street sign. An altogether common occurrence, in fact I would be far more impressed (or possibly terrified) if I were able to drive to work without seeing a street sign. Nevertheless, this particular one struck an amusing train of thought.
I imagine a mob of hippies by the side of the road holding signs and chanting
"End Road Work NOW!!!"
"Hell no, we won't slow"
"One, two, three, four. We don't want that concrete poured."
Urban naturalists will petition city hall, trying to preserve the natural habitat of homo commuterus.
Incidentally, there didn't seem to be nearly as many street signs in Europe as there are here. Maybe they don't do as much road work as Americans do, so that the local chapters of Citizens Against Roadwork (ironically, CAR) can't make their membership quotas. |
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| Studio 60 |
[Oct. 3rd, 2006|06:35 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | tv | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  quixotic | ] |
Hey everybody,
Just wanted to recommend to the millions of people who read my blog that you really need to be watching "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip". It's the latest brainchild of Aaron Sorkin and is a perfect cross between his two previous shows "Sports Night" and "The West Wing".
It's everything you expect from Aaron Sorkin. Witty, well written, drama with a heft of comedy (or maybe the other way around), and highly, highly intelligent (which I sincerely hope is not its downfall).
It's easily one of the top 5 shows on TV right now quality-wise, but its ratings are tanking. If you like smart TV, please take a look at it. If you don't, it might not be around. Pray that NBC has the wisdom to let this grow legs. |
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| First They Came for the Jews |
[Oct. 3rd, 2006|11:32 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | politics | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  discontent | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The House Jacks - Tear Down the Walls of Funk | ] |
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
-- Pastor Martin Niemöller
Last week, congress approved a bill to outlaw the playing of online poker.
http://www.cardsquad.com/2006/10/02/us-congress-torture-good-online-poker-bad/
http://www.pokerplayersalliance.org/alerts/Port_Security.pdf
Whether or not you play poker yourself, whether or not you think it's OK to gamble, it should be clear as day that this is yet another case of the so-called party of smaller government telling us what it is and is not acceptable to do in the sanctity of our own home. In a clear sop to the conservative right, and quite possibly a grab for election year votes as well, the Republican government of this country has told me that I'm a bad person because I want to spend a couple bucks a month to have the regular poker game that I can't have at home (which would be perfectly legal).
Hold on a sec. Am I crazy? Am I really comparing a poker prohibition to the Holocaust? Am I really that insensitive?
In order: Probably. Only indirectly. Maybe, but people only recognize Fascism after the fact, and I'm afraid that we've already started down the trail that ends with Pastor Niemöller's quote.
This is not about poker. That's just about another small freedom that's being taken away from us. Sure, most of you won't care. You never play. Some of you might think I'm irresponsible or immoral of me to take in a game now and then. Whatever. That's not the point. Every time a law is made, a little freedom is taken away. Every time.
Fascists do not take power in an overnight coup. They are given power because we are afraid or angry. Then they wave the flag of patriotism and we give them more because we don't want to look unpatriotic. Then they take a little more, to "protect" us. Then they start taking it from marginalized groups because nobody cares. Then they take it from wholesale swaths of the population because nobody can do anything about it. Then we all wake up and find ourselves living in a police state!!!
Am I overreacting? Maybe. I hope so. Ask me again in another five years. At this point I'm so frightened and angry that I'd rather overreact than underreact. To many people have underreacted over the course of history and too many other people have suffered because of that silence. And all I'm doing right now is talking.
This country was founded because we wanted King George to stop meddling in their lives.
Well, we've got our own King George now, and I want him and his party to get the fuck out of my life.
First they neutered the press and installed their own.
Then they came for the gays.
Then they trivialized the scientists.
Then they silenced all those who would disagree with them.
Then they locked away the foreigners.
Then they started picking off little groups they didn't like.
Who's next? |
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| Ugly Betty Premiers Today |
[Sep. 28th, 2006|10:22 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  excited | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Tripod - Gonna Make U Happy Tonight | ] |
Hey All,
For those few of you who don't already know, my fiance is a staff writer on a new TV show called "Ugly Betty". The show is based on a Colombian telenovella that's so popular it's already had spinoff shows in Mexico and Russia. It's the story of a n ugly (by Hollywood standards) young woman who gets a job at a fashion magazine. Because she doesn't fit in, all of the stick-thin and "pretty" people there are horrible to her. Nonetheless, because of her intelligence and her good heart, she rises to overcome it all. That description sounds like it could be depressing, but actually it's funny, upbeat, has a quirky sensibility, and wields a powerful message about what beauty really is.
I've seen the pilot and can tell you that it is really good, and has the potential to be fantastic as a series. I'm sure you've seen advertisements for it, because it's getting rave reviews and ABC is really pushing it.
The show airs tonight and every thursday at 8pm on ABC. I wanted to invite all of you out there to watch it, both to support her, and because I think you'll all enjoy it.
Thanks |
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| Requiem for a Volvo |
[Sep. 19th, 2006|04:15 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | life | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  nostalgic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Tom Lehrer - The Elements | ] |
I had to say goodbye to my car today.
She was a good car, and I've known her for a long time. 14 years, in fact (17 if you count the years my parents had it). Now, tired and worn down, she's off to a farm in Montana where she can play and frolic with all the other old cars.
She had seen better days. Her upholstery was ripped and worn; thanks to LA smog and sun, Her paint would leave red streaks on your clothes if you weren't careful; and she had accumulated the detritus of years of use without cleaning (my bad).
Still, she served me well, and I could always count on her.
Sure the radio knobs had been stolen. That's just a funny story I can relate to friends.
Sure her windshield was cracked and covered with spit. Well, I'm a vocal percussionist, what do you expect.
Sure the A/C had long ago given up the ghost. I grew up in california without an A/C. That's what windows are for.
In recent times, she really took a turn for the worst. There was a failed smog check because of a missing hose (where did that hose go anyway?). That made registration a problem too. Then there was the accident. Not so bad on my side (love that Volvo steel frame), but still a broken headlight, a hood that wouldn't open, and the as yet unknown radiator leak. Still valiantly she struggled on; surging up the hills with gusto, if not power; slinking along the freeway hoping that the cops wouldn't be drawn to the missing headlight and body damage and then notice the expired registration.
At last, in a dark and dangerous part of town, with the sun setting low and smoke rising from the hood, the moment of truth came. Though it would take several months yet, I knew the time had come to move on. A worthy replacement had to be found.
I remained true in spirit, if not in body. I found a new Volvo, younger, prettier, but still the same solid stock that has earned my family's trust for generations. Still, much time was necessary to bring the newest coddler of my posterior into the fold, and while I waited, my old reliable was there for me. Coughing and sputtering, spewing smoke and steam she shuttled me to and fro, always there when I called for her. Always faithful.
Now though, it is time for her to rest. Her heart and spleen and liver to be doled out to give other cars another chance at life (all proceeds to go to the AIDS research alliance of America). Her bones to return to the slag pit from which new bones will be drawn. Maybe in her next life she'll be an airplane, or a submarine.
I waved goodbye today, and took pictures as she was driven off. I didn't cry, but I felt the tears gathering. A great part of my history just drove off into the late-afternoon sun. 88% of my driving life was with her, and though I was ready to move on; though I saddled up my new mount with anticipation, expectation, and even glee; I will dearly miss my broken, faded, wheezing, ugly, faithful, trusted, boxy, beautiful car.
My new car treats me well. He's still on his best behavior. All the features work, and I'm well spoiled. I can cool my face while I heat my bottom in the supple leather seats. I can roll up the kids' tinted windows while I open up the sunroof. I can fiddle with the radio while the automatic transmission shifts for me. I know that someday not everything will work. Switches will become sticky, the smooth ride may get bumpy, parts might even fall off. But it won't matter. He will have earned my trust long before then. He'll be the one that took me to the airport to fly off on my honeymoon. He'll be the one who dragged all my earthly possessions to a new life in a new part of the world. And he'll be the one that kept my kids safe as I picked them up from school.
As one thread ends,
another begins.
The circle of cars. |
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| ...ding dong, the bells are gonna chime... |
[Aug. 23rd, 2006|05:33 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | life | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  bouncy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | My Fair Lady - Get me to the Church on Time | ] |
You ever build something up so big in your mind that when the event actually arrives, it's a nearly guaranteed anticlimax?
That happens to me all the time.
Fortunately, it didn't happen to me last week. After much anticipation--and more than a little trepidation--I asked derphantom to marry me. And you know what? It was everything I expected and more. I didn't overthink things. I didn't miss the moment because I was too detached to be in it and feeling. I got to live it and embrace with both arms the love of my life and the joy of our life together.
I spent a month and a half looking at rings and diamonds. I spent two weeks planning how I was going to ask (with three backup plans). I wanted everything to be perfect. More importantly, I needed to do those things. The process of getting ready physically and logistically really went hand in hand with the process of making the decision mentally and emotionally, and each helped the other along. I ran into some problems. The ring I wanted was going to take an additional two months, and I didn't want to wait for that, so I got a temporary ring...and it ended up being exactly perfect. I had a bit of a freak-out one day, and ended up getting wonderful advice from my Dad, as well as the most important and meaningful conversation he and I have had probably ever. In the last two days, it seemed as though around each corner someone or something was waiting to spill the beans, but she never caught on.
Everything came into alignment for a perfect proposal. And (as I knew would be the case) in the end all that didn't really matter. We love each other. She's perfect/I'm perfect/so we're perfect together. And now we've moved even closer together.
In the end, it was all so simple, and yet I feel changed in a way I can't enumerate. And happy. I'll never be alone again.
To the future. |
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| I love the stock market |
[Jul. 12th, 2006|04:57 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | economics | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
| [ | music |
| | ??? - Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch | ] |
I have always loved the degree to which the stock market separates money from reality.
Case in point from this article on CNN.com:
Credit Suisse First Boston speculated that Apple could warn that its fourth-quarter profit and revenue will miss forecasts. Apple Computer (down $2.69 to $52.96) shares lost close to 5 percent.
Now, it would be disingenuous to imply that this speculation was the sole reason for Apple's decline, especially since this is a day where the stock market as a whole took something of a hit. Nonetheless, the article does present it as an explanation.
Let's examine the logic of this: Some market analysis firm is speculating that Apple's fourth quarter financials might be enough below their projections that they would issue a warning to this effect, and that is enough (according to the article) to tank the stock 5%, despite the fact that even if the financials do come in under projections, they will still almost certainly (the way Apple has been doing the past few years) show growth across all of their product lines.
Wait until they actually release their financials. I'm buying AAPL, because everybody else is probably selling it. |
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| Once in a lifetime quotes... |
[Jul. 10th, 2006|10:27 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | sports, thoughts | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  refreshed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Shania Twain - You're Still the One | ] |
Did everybody see the World Cup Finals last night?
If you didn't, stop reading...I'll wait
OK, first of all, let me just say something that I hope many others will agree with. Will soccer PLEASE get rid of the stupid penalty kick tiebreaker rule. This is supposed to be the world's premier sport, and yet at the pinnacle of their greatest event, they stop playing the game and start shooting free throws. Let 'em play. This sport is supposed to be about endurance and pure athleticism as well as skill, so let's see two broken and battered teams, barely able to stand in the 317th minute, muster together the energy to finally score in sudden death. Tell me that wouldn't be more exciting. Since some minor sprains and injuries will be inevitable, give the coaches one extra sub for every hour of overtime completed.
To quote my favorite sports columnist, King Kaufman at Salon;
I wish the World Cup were still going on.
I don't mean I wish there were more games. I mean I wish the final between France and Italy were still going on, in the 2,053rd minute of extra time, exhausted players dragging themselves up and down the field until, finally, someone summons that last ounce of energy to make the steal, the pass or the run that leads to the golden goal.
And while we're at it, can we please give up with the "Golden Goal" phrase which has crept up in the commentariat in the past few years. What's wrong with the blunt and evocative "Sudden Death Overtime"?
Finally, I heard one of those priceless phrases that you can get in a live broadcast from people who are used to speaking in soundbites and cliches. While discussing the fact that this was the final game for French star Zidane (well before he made an ass of himself with the classless and uncalled for headbutt which earned him expulsion from the game), the announcers were marveling at how great it was that he (like John Elway and others I don't remember) got to retire from the game after playing in the finals of it's greatest championship, and that we got to watch it.
His thoughts: "How many times in your life do you get to see a once-in-a-lifetime event like this?"
Hmm....
Let me think about that one for a while... |
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| Catholic guilt |
[Jul. 5th, 2006|04:59 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | musings, religion | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  restless | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Meatloaf - Heaven Can Wait | ] |
Now, as most of you know, I am not at all religious. Furthermore, I make no claims to have anything more than a passing knowledge of most organized religions, and I am sure that what I do know is riddled with errors and wrong assumptions.
With that disclaimer out of the way, allow me to present two pieces of a puzzle that clicked together in my head yesterday.
Piece #1) According to wikipedia, one of the Distinctive Beliefs and Practices of the Catholic church is that of the "Reconciliation of the Penitent". In short, commission of a sin distances you from God. To return to God (presumably a pre-requisite for things like eternal bliss in Heaven and salvation from hellfire and damnation), you need to:
a) have actual contrition for the sin
b) confess to a priest
c) receive absolution from the priest
and
d) perform penance to make some reparation and as a medicinal means of strengthening against further sinning (technically a prerequisite for part 'c', but usually done afterwards)
It's this fourth part that is interesting to me. From my experience with penance (strictly limited to what I've seen on TV, film, and in a few books), it appears to generally be of the form of "For your sin of coveting your brother's wife, clear your head of jealous and lustful thoughts, and every morning recite 20 'Hail Marys'". I am not attempting to make light of confession or penance, as I said before I have little experience with them, but from what I have seen, penance tends to involve (in one form or another) the recitation of a number of prayers. This to me seems to straddle an interesting line between punishment and indoctrination. It's the spiritual equivalent of writing "I will not throw darts in class" on the chalkboard 100 times.
So, we have this simple progression: Commit a sin->Distance yourself from God->Confess your sin->perform penance->receive absolution.
Piece #2) The excellent book Freakonomics described an interesting phenomenon that was observed at a daycare center. Parents were occasionally late to pick up their children at the end of the day. This was a problem because teachers or administrators had to stay late in order to watch over the children until they were picked up. This incurred additional expenses and inconvenience to everyone involved. In an attempt to curb this problem, the daycare center started instituting late fees for parents who were not on time. The result? The lateness problem got worse. A lot worse Why? There are always forces that are going to push parents towards being late, but one strong force kept most of them on time. That force was guilt. Parents knew it was wrong to be late, and felt guilty for the inconvenience they were causing. In attempting to 'punish' the parents for their tardiness, the message that actually got to the parents is "if you pay this fine, it's OK to be late". The fine became a fee. Punishment became permission...
The remainder of this logical train of thought is left as an exercise to the reader...I have to go put on my flame-proof suit. |
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| Viva Las Vegas |
[Jul. 5th, 2006|11:06 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | fun, poker, travel | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | recovering | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Posse Trois - Dude your mom is hot | ] |
So, on a whim, and in a (successful) attempt to recapture the reckless spontaneity of youth, derphantom and I decided to go to Las Vegas for the holiday weekend.
First of all, let me just say that it was awesome!!!
A number of thoughts in no particular order:
- The buffet at the MGM Grand is fantastic.
- We went to see "Zumanity", an "adult" themed Cirque du Soleil show. First of all, it was fantastic. Secondly, MAN that's a lot of boobies. Thirdly, instead of theater seating, there's the option to buy loveseat seating.
Cirque du Soleil shows generally have scantily clad performers in skin tight outfits. They were just a little *more* naked, that's all. It's far too high class to be called porn, but it definitely falls under "erotica".
- The pool at the Tropicana actually ran out of towels. How are they not massively overstocked on something so basic.
- The tower rooms at the Tropicana actually have mirrors over the bed.
- We were lucky that both days we were there, it was overcast, so the temperature was only unbearable. Still, it's so dry that I woke up with a hangover from dehydration without having drunk anything alcoholic the previous night.
- The Comedy Stop at the Tropicana was one of the best comedy clubs we've ever been to. We highly recommend it. It's a flat $20 charge which covers admission, one drink, tax, and tip (so it's cheaper than most clubs out here). Additional drinks are really cheap (a rum and coke is only $3.50!!!), and the drinks were REALLY STRONG (I was pretty buzzed off of two fairly small glasses). Most importantly, the comedians were FUNNY...laugh 'til your face hurts funny (which is only one step below laugh 'til you pee funny, the highest possible level). Plus, the 8pm showing is smoke free. Well worth it all around.
Finally, let me say that I am now officially addicted to poker. I was playing only my second real money game ever. It was quite scary to start off. It was a $1-$2 No Limit Hold-em (for those who know the terminology) table, and there were people with some big stacks. The guy next to me had a pile of $400 that grew to about $600 by the time I quit, so I felt a little threatened with my $100 buy in. A lot of the betting would go "2 dollars, call, call, call, raise to $15..." so any time I wanted action, I knew I would have to play beyond my "gulp limit". I almost bailed, but at last, I decided to give it a go. For a long while, I played it very tight, folding almost everything that I got. I won a few small pots when I had a hand and made a move that scared everyone away, and I made a few bluffs that lost me some big chunks of money, but I was able to stabilize around $70-$80 for a while and just be happy playing conservatively and learning how these things flow. I finally got both a playable hand (A-Q of spades) and some action from other players. I flopped top pair on a queen high board with no straight or flush threats. So, I put out a medium sized bet of ~$15, one guy raised my $30 back, and after some contemplation, I went all in. He thought for a long time, and then made a horrible call (he must have thought I was bluffing, or that he could get a draw) with an ace-king and no pair. I held up on the turn and the river and won the ~$160 pot.
That sounds all calm and collected, so here's the truth. From the moment I went all in, my heart was beating like a dance-techno remix of "This is the Moment" on 78 rpm, and by the time I raked in the pot, my hands were shaking like I just survived a head-on car crash. The adrenaline high made the game really fun, and I won one or two more decent sized pots, but the difference between playing with my own money and playing with other people's money that I had won was night and day for my confidence and aggressiveness. I ended the night up $71, and it could have been much more if I were a better player (I lost a $80 pot that I could have won if I had been more aggressive on the betting and knocked the other player out before she made a flush on the river). Given that my training has consisted of reading a few poker blogs and watching a lot of late night World Series of Poker and Celebrity Poker Showdown, I am quite pleased with my performance. Also, thought I was initially scared by it, I am now a huge fan of the $1-$2 No-Limit Hold-Em tables at the Tropicana. They're really cheap to just sit around and wait for good cards, which allows a good tight player to take advantage of the generally open and aggressive play there. I'll definitely be back.
Current Poker log: Ahead $91 |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 8th, 2006|10:10 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | groggy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Mozart - Requiem: Rex Tremendae | ] |
I was passed by an ambulance on the freeway today. I noticed that the side of the ambulance is a two toned abstract motif. There's red on the bottom and white on the top. The boundary traces out an EKG trace going from flat-lined to a heartbeat...
...on the left side of the vehicle, that is.
Since the paint job is oriented back to front, on the right side of the vehicle, it shows the EKG going from a normal heartbeat to a flatline.
Am I the only one a little disturbed by this? |
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| Some day, I'll be four fifths of the man I used to be |
[May. 18th, 2006|07:07 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | upbeat | ] |
| [ | music |
| | No Mercy - Where do you go | ] |
My family and I are starting a dieting competition, as we all need to lose 20-40 pounds. Obviously, this is an "everybody wins" kind of situation.
Five years ago, I weighed 210-220 lbs, which I consider to be a good weight for me (I'm 6' 5"). In 2001, I took an engineering job, and at the same time, the high intensity competitive club volleyball team that I was on disbanded. Also, I had just crossed the threshold into 25+ years old. Before then, I'd always had the metabolism of a teenager, and been able to eat anything with no obvious effect. However, the combination of age, sedentary work, lack of exercise, and teenaged eating habits took their toll and I've gained ~10 lbs per year since then (I'm thankful it wasn't more, considering).
Anyway, I'm not good at really dieting, but I eat so much as it is, I don't think I need to do anything extreme. Therefore, my strategy is twofold:
1) Exercise
2) Moderation
Wish me luck.
Yesterday (start date): 258.5
Today: 257.0 |
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purple_baron's journal
pissed off