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SOTU Recap
D | Tuesday, January 31, 2006
I only drank one beer because I simply couldn't keep up with all the "freedom" and "liberty" talk. All in all, I thought the speech was average. I give it a C+. He hit the marks he needed to hit and presented a lot of ideas I personally agree with. I like reforming entitlement programs, I like HSA and healthcare reform, and I like a 22% increase in funding to research alternative fuel sources. Having said that, I think it was Tim Russert who said there were no real ground-breaking ideas. I also like ambition and using the SOTU to present ambitious concepts and radical suggestions. In one sentence,the message I took away from the President was, "What we are doing is working and we must persevere down that (righteous? depending on your POV) path." Transcript here.
Favorite quote:
America rejects the false comfort of isolationism.
Moment of humor (followed closely by a true Bush-moment):
This year, the first of about 78 million baby boomers turn 60, including two of my dad's favorite people -- me and President Bill Clinton. (laughter, including my own)
Bush moment:
This milestone is more than a personal crisis (Bush silly smile and chuckle) -- it is a national challenge. (now serious)
Moment of embarrassment (for both parties):
Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security... (Democrats cheer like the crowd outside TRL in Times Square. There's a saying about winning and looking like you've been there before. I think Tressel uses it. Nonetheless, it is about class and this was embarrassing for the President and a shameful display of vindictiveness by my own party. Boo.)
In terms of the Democratic response, I'm still a little hazy about one thing... Can someone tell me if there is a better way? I do think the choice of a Washington outsider was an interesting strategic move. Whether it paid off or not? Who knows.
D | 1/31/2006 10:32:00 PM
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Win the Superbowl and drive off in a Hyundai with a busted speaker
D
It's true. My love for gold digging women destroyed my sound system. The Eclipse's center counsel speaker mounted above the clock is now toast, as in "1,2,3, toast" and "That reminds me Marty, you'd better not hook up to the amplifier. There's a slight possibility of overload." My speaker makes this lovely crackling sound anytime the sound gets above "regular" volumes. Damn you Kanye (I hear George Bush also does not care about playing his car stereo within acceptable limits).
So I decided to tackle this problem with a quick trip to Circuit City (I hear this a really nice place to work). I proceed to discuss my problem with the "gentleman" in the Car Stereo Department. Approximate transcript follows (embellished slightly for humor purposes):
D: Um, hello. I was wondering who I can talk to about replacing a blown out speaker in my car.
G': That's me, dawg.
D: Oh great. Well, what's the procedure? Can you guys replace a single busted speaker?
G': Sure man. What kind of car is it?
D: Mitsubishi Eclipse, it is...
G': (interrupting) Aw damn man, not that center speaker. In the dash?
D: Yeah, that's the one.
G': Damn dawg. (pause) We can't fix that. (adjusting his head covering; "do-rag" thing football players wear?)
D: What?
G': You gotta take that shit to the dealer.
D: Really?
G': Seriously, we tried to fix it twice before, one these other two Eclipses. And there are all sorts of wires and stuff in there and we couldn't get it back together. You gotta take that to the dealer.
D: Wires, huh?
G': Wires, man. (looking at me like I am now totally screwed)
D: Well, OK. Thanks for the help.
G': Later.
Initially I was flabbergasted that he knew exactly what I was talking about. I thought, maybe this is a problem a lot of other people have also had. A quick resolution was on the horizon. But those dreams were quickly dashed with the technician's confusion regarding "wires." You don't say, wires in there? Maybe connecting the speaker to, I don't know, the rest of the sound system. Needless to say, Ciudad del Circuitos will not be replacing this speaker. I will try good ol' Mejor Compra and see if they can fix it. He does make a good point which is that this speaker is in a strange location with a bunch of other complicated equipment surrounding it. Maybe the dealer is the best place to take this shit.
D | 1/31/2006 12:31:00 AM
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Oral skills, indeed
D | Thursday, January 26, 2006
I knew it. Sex improves relaxation and makes it easier to speak in public (or the courtroom, in my case). Quotes of the article include the professor who conducted the research, Dr Stuart Brody:
A growing body of research shows that it is specifically intercourse, and not other sexual behaviours, whether alone or with a partner, that is associated with a broad range of psychological and physiological benefits. And greater frequency of intercourse is associated with greater benefits. An alternative view was suggested by social pyschologist, Dr. Peter Bull:
You are probably better off thinking about what you are going to say, and preparing thoroughly, rather than having sex the previous night. Hogwash. What fun is "preparing thoroughly"?
(Hat tip: Boing Boing ; also from Boing Boing, but entirely unrealted - The Star Ship Enterprise Home Theater)
D | 1/26/2006 08:09:00 PM
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Go Go Gadget X-ray
D | Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Today was a day of simple self-improvement. I worked out. I got a haircut (as a quick aside, 1. I left my house at 8:17PM and 2. arrived home at 8:41 and 3. the hairdresser actually said, "Wow, this is looking a lot better. You really needed a hair cut."). And I went to the dentist today.
I haven't been to the dentist in about three years, not because I don't enjoy the dentist or take fright in the dental experience, I am just a)lazy b)poor c)only recently not a student and d)only recently living in Ohio where my dentist is located. It should also come as no surprise that my dental hygiene is not quite, how shall we shall, up to snuff. After finishing my cleaning, the bill I was presented quietly noted that the price to repair my lapse in oral care would be slightly over $1200. Let me just save you the comment questions: No, I don't ever brush my teeth. Ever. No, I don't ever floss. Clearly, I am not nuts about dental hygiene. No, I don't know exactly what they are fixing but I would assume cavity-type problems which appear to be rampant in my mouth (the doctor's fancy doctor term was "decalcification").
But, all this talk about my molars is not why I am wasting your time in making you read this. Today, at the dentist, I discovered something. Something surprising, to me, and probably not news-worthy to anyone else, so here goes.
The dentist's office is a hot-bed for the latest in technological gadgets.
There were so many things I wanted to play with. I'm not kidding. I'll elaborate (if I've already got your attention, great keep reading - if I don't have your attention, and you think movie quality surround sound is not the eighth wonder of the world, well then I promise to try to add as much humor as possible.)
-Coffee in the waiting room - yeah, not so much a technological improvement, but they never used to do that before.
-Every room has a brand new computer on a swivel mount, with a standard keyboard and wireless mouse and an un-standard 20+ inch flat screen monitor. As would be expected all the computers are hooked in the LAN and have scheduling features and patient history, but it's the other features that are impressive. Like...
-X-Rays. Then: done in a special room, by placing magic x-ray film in your mouth and blasting you with way too much unfocused radiation and an hour later your film was developed for the leader dentist to examine on a little tiny x-ray white board. Now: done entirely digitally in any room. The nurse places a receiver type contraption in my mouth, points the x-ray gun (still attached to the wall on a long arm, so there is still room for more modernization) at my check and fires. Instantly, my teeth appear on the large flat-panel screen. And viola, we have found a new and annoying way for the hygienist to say, "You're not flossing. See right here..." as she points to some apparent hole in my tooth. As she was putting the X-Ray device away, she got the cord caught on her shoe and knocked something over. In an off hand comment she said something like, "Opps. I said we should have got the wireless one. It was only $5k more." At some point in my life, I would like a portable wireless x-ray machine. To be built into my cel phone, right along side my speakerphone and MP3 player.
-After my standard cleaning, the hygienist gets out this tool about the size and shape of a thick pencil. It has a faint red laser beam coming out of the tip. I think this is some new cleaning doo-hiky. Much to my chagrin, it is another way to illustrate my poor brushing; it's a special camera. She moves the laser-pen-camera gadget around to each "problem area" and takes a picture, which also appears on the huge monitor and allows her to again repeat, "You see that right there? Probably someplace we want to brush a little more..." We? Like she's going to help later this evening when I brush? Up on this gigantic screen, my cavities are now the size of the maps we used in Boy Scouts when we were getting Orienteering merit badge. I wanted to say, "Well if only I too had a super magnifier camera thing-a-ma-jig, a map, and a compass, we wouldn't have this problem."
-Once we got done with the standard jazz, the head dentist came in to finalize my lecture on working harder at trying not to lose all my teeth. Actually the first thing he did was take my picture (with a $3k Nikon Digital SLR). I asked why he needed my picture. He said, "For the file." I said, "Ha, like a mug-shot." He did not laugh.
-Next he got out this small contraption which I can best describe as a cross between a musical instrument tuner, a stud finder, and the James Bond/Goldfinger laser. The main part of the device was about he size of a 6 inch Subway sandwich. It had a cord which connected the box to another pen shaped pointer which (again) shot a laser beam (dentists are apparently a big market for lasers; dentists and criminal masterminds who need some way to cut their gold bars). So into my mouth goes another pencil contraption. From time to time as he placed the device over each tooth, the device emitted a sound similar to the annoying whine of the stud finder. But this device is a cavity finder. He explains that the laser can coat the surface of the tooth and detect any imperfections. Of course in my mouth, this thing is going crazy, buzzing and beeping anytime he gets anywhere near me. I wanted to hold it over my arm and see if recognized my once broken bones, but alas, I wasn't allowed to touch it.
In reality, I really like my dentist and have never had a problem with ever going to visit. He's an OSU alum, so we both have some respect for that. But this particular trip, I was just astonished at how high-tech the dentist office has become. It was really impressive. To wrap up my adventure, I scheduled my next appointments and promised to come back for them to fix all my mouth-issues in a few appointments (3 to be precise) next week. Good times.
Not wanting to be outdone by all the dentistry technology, once I go out to the parking lot I popped opened my briefcase which quickly expanded into my flying car. Rut roe Rorge.
D | 1/24/2006 11:46:00 PM
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Well, this is bad on so many levels
D
-Sam
WW, Pilot
NBC has announced they will be canceling The West Wing at the end of this season. (Hat Tip: Brendan) After this season's move to Sunday, the show's declining ratings seem to have precipitated the cancellation. The show is claiming that the sudden death of John Spencer had nothing to do with the cancellation.
I am sad. All good things come to an end, true. But West Wing has become such a part of my life, it will be tough to go without new episodes. Thank goodness I have Season 1-4 (5 is available) on DVD.
Undoubtedly, some of my fellow Wingnuts will say this is move has been long overdue. Many thought the series should have ended with Sorkin's departure at the end of Season 4. I was displeased with some of the episodes immediately after Sorkin left, but I think the show really found its footing again in Season 7. Every now and then the show went way off the deep-end (Did we mention the asteroid or ending the trade embargo with Cuba?), but in my opinion the new presidential race was interesting and well done. Although the show would never be back to "normal," in my mind the show had almost returned to Sorkin-esque dialogue and witty banter.
Having said all that, I do think now is the best time to end the show. The show has always been about the Bartlet presidency and now it is coming to an end. Passing the torch would have been virtually impossible. Now is the right time to end it.
D | 1/23/2006 01:18:00 PM
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Am I the only one who thinks it's funny we're sending plutonium to Pluto?
D | Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Seriously? This is damn funny. No? I guess it's just me. NASA is sending this space craft out to Pluto which will be powered by Plutonium - The New Horizons Project (they had to postpone today's launch till Wednesday). While I think this is really cool, my views will best be presented as commentary to some points I read in the CNN article.
The New Horizons spacecraft will be the fastest ever launched, more than 10 times faster than a speeding bullet. About 42 minutes into launch and after it separates from its third stage, New Horizons will speed from Earth at about 16 kilometers per second, or 36,000 mph. New Horizons will reach a speed of about 47,000 mph (75,600 kph) during its 10-year trip to Pluto. According to The Physics Factbook, a bullet from a large-caliber rifle travels about 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) per second -- about 3,400 mph (5,400 kph).
+Something that will quite literally be traveling faster than a speeding bullet. Wow, this spacecraft has captured my geekdom in the way only science fiction can. Now if it only works as well as the Hubble telescope... er, um....no...um how about, the Mars Lander thingy... um, well you see....no. How about if it just works?
If all goes as planned, it will then execute a "gravity assist" maneuver, slingshotting around Jupiter to pick up speed.
+I know all about this "maneuver." I use it to slingshot past slow motorists in the Lytle Tunnel.
The maneuver will increase New Horizons' speed to 21 kilometers per second -- 47,000 mph, NASA said.
+Almost as fast as I travel on I-71 on my way to Columbus.
From there it will travel nine more years in more or less a straight line to Pluto.
+A "more or less straight line"? Sure because every Friday night it'll probably stop at the local tavern for a beer with its buddies and be forced to wobble, meander, and stumble its way to Pluto only to get pulled over around Saturn for SFWI (for non-nerds that's "space flight while intoxicated).
With the spacecraft containing 24 pounds of radioactive plutonium-238, the New Horizons launch is somewhat controversial. The craft is not directly nuclear-powered, but the decay of the plutonium generates heat to fuel a battery, which in turn will power the probe as it moves far away from the sun to the outer reaches of the solar system.
+Ha ha. Plutonium to travel to Pluto. The irony knocks me down.
Critics have expressed concern that an accident on launch could spread deadly plutonium over a wide swath of central Florida. In an environmental impact statement NASA was required to file before making final flight plans, the space agency indicated that a 1-in-620 chance exists of an accident on liftoff that would release plutonium into the environment.
+Basically, as I read this warning, if you live in the state of Florida, you have better odds of getting radiation poison for a botched NASA launch than winning the Florida Powerball. Gotta love our country.
....435,000 names placed on a compact disc that will be in the New Horizons spacecraft when it launches from Cape Canaveral on January 17 on a mission to Pluto and the outer edges of the solar system.
+It is carrying a disc with 435,000 names? If I lived on Pluto and found this space craft, or if we were in an episode of Star Trek, TNG (or the movie Contact), we would think that this disc was some monumental code and try to decipher it. Alas it is not, but we would find one, determine it was hostile in nature, and declare war on Earth (all 3 billion miles away). I did a search and my name, unfortunately, will not be lost on the way to Pluto. Will yours?
The inclusion of names in the spacecraft is part of a public relations campaign to generate interest in the launch to the last unexplored planet in the solar system.
+Highly unlikely.
D | 1/17/2006 07:07:00 PM
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15 on 15 - Top Books of All Time
D | Sunday, January 15, 2006
Derek's Top 15 Books of All Time*
15. Boy Scout Handbook, BSA
As I was discussing my list, it was brought to my attention that I never really "read" this book cover to cover. True. But I carried this book around with me for years and years. Also this singular book was a reference manual for everything from how to splint a broken arm, to how to use your pants as a personal flotation device, to how to properly identify a red maple. How could I leave off my list a book that has taught me so much?
14. Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
My favorite book as a kid. My parents would read this to me and I remember thinking that I wanted to be a "wild thing," just like the kid in the story. (Editors note: And look at the wild life I lead now - tonight Ashley and I bought a puzzle and worked on it while watching AFGM on DVD)
13. The Giver, Lois Lowry
This was one of my favorite reads when I was in grade school. My Mom convinced me to read it. It was probably the only book she suggested I read that I actually finished. I remember thinking that maybe I too was destined for something special.
12. Batman: Year One, Frank Miller
Technically not a comic book - this is a "graphic novel." Miller's work (like so many other Batman fans my age) is probably responsible for a lot of my love Batman. To me, this comic made Batman real. It made Batman interesting.
11. Long Days Journey Into Night, Eugene O'Neill
Simplicity. That's why I like this play. Simplicity and drinking.
10. Walden, Henry David Thoreau
You have to admire a guy who lives in the woods and spends him time just thinking deeply about stuff. If I didn't have any credit cards or student loans, you'd better believe this is what I would do with my life. And of course, I would write a book about it.
9. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
This is one which deserves another read from everyone, including myself. Abbey: You planned this all yourself? Bartlet: I'm like Gatsby but without the problems.
8. Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton
Even as good as Spielberg is, this holds true to the old cliche that - "The book is better than the movie." The rafting scene and the pteranodons would have been awesome to see on film.
7. Hamlet, Shakespeare
My favorite piece by the Bard (probably because I participated in a production of Hamlet at Ohio State and the people and production endeared themselves to me; I was Horatio). Three reasons to love this play: crazy women, sword fighting, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. And quotablity factor.
6. A Few Good Men, Aaron Sorkin
The movie is an extended version of Sorkin's original play. I believe (read this somewhere) that in the original Broadway cast, Bradley Whitford was Kaffee. Someone can look that up.
5. The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg
Every Christmas Eve, my Mom would read us this book. Some Christmas Eve in the not-so-distant future, I will read it to my kids. That bell gets to me every time.
4. Star Wars Trilogy, Lucas, Glut, Kahn
This is the book on my list that I have read the most times. It is an easy and simple read, with a story I can basically recite, but I just can't get enough. It's an addiction.
3. Inherit the Wind, Lawrence and Lee
Question: What could be better than arguing at the top of your lungs about Darwin vs. Jesus? Answer: Doing it in a courtroom. Welcome to the Scopes Monkey Trial in play form.
2. The Republic, Plato
My favorite piece of philosophy from my favorite philosopher.
1. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
I remember when I once told someone at work that this was my favorite book. The response, "You read the whole thing?" Yes, all 1,000+ pages. With my philosophy background, I loved how the book incorporated Rand's political and economic philosophy (objectivism) with the story of five or six characters and how their lives slowly intertwine. This book is not for everyone - come to think of it, I do not think I have ever recommend this book. Nonetheless, it will always be one of my favorites.
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Others receiving votes: Life of Pi, Yann Martel; The Hardy Boys, Franklin W. Dixon; Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck; To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee; Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes; Where's Waldo?, Martin Handford; Us Constitution/Bill of Rights, Jefferson; A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Others NOT receiving votes: Catcher in the Rye, Salinger
*I changed up the ordering this time, starting with 15 and working down to 1. I feel it is more suspenseful.
D | 1/15/2006 01:01:00 AM
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American Dreamz
The Dirty Dozen
Superman Returns
Pirates of the Caribbean II
Accepted
