This is my kind of playground

Very cool photos and info about a playground in Belleville Park near Paris that is not for babies designed by BASE. It could be called an adventure playground because it has more risky unique climbing areas that your average park in the US. Looks totally fun but not sure the city lawyers/ park's insurance company would allow such a thing here. My daugther would love this.

I needed this book when I was 12

The Wrong Way to Do Pop Culture Business Technology Tie-In Marketing

I never ever click on ads on-line. I almost did click on this one that came up on Pandora until I read it more closely. I am not a big comic book guy but did like the first Iron Man movie and will probably see this one. At first I thought this seemed like a safe fun thing that may be cool and not take too much time. But then I saw the line "choose your own path against cybercrime"?!? I am not clear if that means the comic will be some public service type ad for Norton products (lame) or if that is just an ad tag line not related to the comic but I don't want to waste my time finding out. A short comic that is visually interesting and a tease for the movie would be cool and I would not care if there is a separate ad at the beginning or end but this line killed my interest. I know that the point of all on-line ads it not only to get you to click on the thing, I already got the Iron-Man and Norton brand in my head without any clicks but a very slight change in the ad would have gotten me into their world.

I would only check out an ad online if: I know it is totally safe (won't get me on any list, they won't get my information, virus, etc.), I suspect it will not take much of my time to see what they want to show me, I am interested in the content and there is some cool hook to something I like.

A Spoonfull of Oxytocin on Your Corn Flakes Will Make You Want to Makeout With The UPS Guy

Very well done NPR story about 9 year old girl named Isabelle with Williams Syndrome. I had never heard about this rare genetic disorder that causes a range of problems including causing children to love people and have no fear of strangers. At first you may think this is no big deal but as you listen to the personal story you realize how big a life problem this could be.

Minor critique, I would have liked a bit of context on how rare it is (how does it compare to Autism or ADHD for example) and some sense of whether Isabella is typical of kids with this or if she is higher or lower functioning. This bit of info would help teachers, doctors and others who may encounter kids like this.

While they probably did not have it, I have met a few kids lately who do seem strangely friendly to me, a strange man in the pool or playground. One girl at the water park recently was talking my ear off and hanging out with me and my baby for a long time and I had no clue where her parents were.

This story makes me think about this specific aspect of human development and whether or not the variation you see in shyness, fear of strangers, or outgoing behavior is somehow related to the same system that causes this problem. There are some kids who are super anxious of talking to new people and fearful of strangers, maybe this is due to some problem with their limbic system and their oxytocin levels. It is amazing to think about how so much of human behavior is not only related to how you are raised but about the chemical soup your brain is stewing in.

This compainion story gets into this issue in more depth. This is scary: "Zak (professor) began spraying oxytocin up the noses of college students to see if the hormone would change the way they interacted with strangers. It did. Squirt oxytocin up the nose of a college kid, and he's 80 percent more likely to distribute his own money to perfect strangers. "

Good Review

Check out the good review of my brother-in-law's band, Alison Scott's performance at the Bon Jovi show.

NPR PR for Pomplamoose is Well Deserved

I am sure I am one of thousands of people who are watching this video today due to the NPR story. Despite the fact that this is a cover and is not that different that the orginal, I love it. I love her voice and look and fun simple nature of the video. There is something great about their fresh take on familier songs.

One funny thing however about this is that part of the story here is that they made it big off of YouTube and have been able to make a living off of the online sales of MP3s and ads from YouTube but when I looked at this and their other videos on YouTube, I did not see any ads accept ads for them and their songs. Here is another great one, If you think you need some lovin'. This is an ultimate fuck up for YouTube, they should have ads today if all days.

How Much Cash Could There Be in the Tip Jar at Food Court?

Sad desperate times when a dude tries to grab the tip jar from Stir Fry 88 Chinese Restaurant at East Towne Mall. He almost got away with it. I am not sure employee would chase after crook if he took the register drawer but tips are another story.

Imagine getting a call at noon informing you that John Bon Jovi asked for your band to open for him that night?

This is what happended to my brother-in-law yesterday. Read these two articles for the whole story. He plays base in the band for Allison Scott.

#1 - Band finds out they won contest (yeah! happy) and then gets call telling them there was a mistake, they did not win and will not open for Bon Jovi. Sad.

#2 - Mr. John Bon Jovi reads story #1 and then calls his people and.....at 7:00 pm last night, Allison Scott and her band rock the Xcel Energy center in St. Paul!

If this is what women in computer science looked like.....

I think more guys would sign up.

Did you know that Barbie is a computer engineer?

"Get into trouble around the world, sleep with women of all sizes, colors and religious persuasions and everyone is happier then when I arrived."

"What better job is there than that?" from great interview with Lemmy Kilmister from the band Motorhead. Check out either the audio or somewhat awkward video of the Sound of Young America interview with Lemmy from South by Southwest. Jesse also interviewed, Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski, the two guys who made a documentary about Lemmy. I am not a big metal fan but I have always loved The Ace of Spaces since I heard it while studying abroad in the Netherlands. You may enjoy this even if you hate this type of music, it is just a great interview.

I love how the video shows the orginal interview but the radio audio version edits out a bunch of the weird answers and when Lemmy's phone rang. Both are awsome.

photos of everyone on Facebook

Once again I am struck by the lack of privacy on-line and specifically on Facebook. The latest example involves photos, most people set their privacy settings for photos so that friends of friends can see them. I am not sure why (is this the default setting when you create a new album?) but it is sometimes useful/ fun to see photos of acquaintances or if your friend comments on their friends photo, you can see the photo they are commenting on. The result of this however is that if you want to be nosy, you can see lots of lots of baby photos. If I am friends with 100 people and each of them is friends with 100 people and everyone sets their settings so that friends of friends can see photos, then I can look at 10,000 people's photos, most of whom I am not FB friends with.

Althouse suggests new Apple Ad - Don't Print it, iPad it.....

I find the Althouse critiques of environmental conservation efforts very irritating lately. In a few recent posts she has pointed out flaws with well intended initiatives aimed at saving energy, resources, money, etc. I have written about this before. In today’s post she critiques an innovative idea from the UW Green Bay to save money on toner/ ink by switching fonts used in email to one that uses less toner when printed. There is a better piece on this from NPR than the one she links to.

She raises good points on printing at all and the use of other tools (iPad) to reduce the environmental impacts. While I agree with her that a singularly focused effort that becomes a requirement may have unintended consequences and may not be the best way to be green, her tone suggests that no government, no business, no person should take any action to help use less energy, generate less waste, etc. Her conservative fans eat this stuff up and seem to love an excuse to say, screw the environment, environmentalists liberals are idiots. To expect more conservation by just hoping people do the right thing will not be enough; we need more. I am sure she would argue that is not what she is saying and that her points are more nuanced, that is the message many readers get. Well thought out requirements, carrots, sticks, subsides, taxes, private efforts, public efforts combined can result in big reductions in pollution, GHG emissions and more environmental benefits.

I switched my email font today but I may rethink which one to switch to with more information.

Who would forward these ridiculous emails anyway?

The NY Times article about the couple who run Snopes is interesting and a feel good American dream, Internet success story we like to hear about. The whole idea also seems fun, debunking misinformation.

After reading it however, it occurred to me that despite spending a lot of time "on line" I almost never see or get anything that includes the type of misinformation they debunk. I don't have any friends or family at all who would consider sending one of these emails. I don't look at any website that would post anything like that and I don't just look at mainstream media sites. Is there a large educational split with folks out there in the cyber world or some other explanation as to why there is this huge chunk of America who would send or believe such a thing and those, like me, who never even go there?

Just Play Golf

I don't care much for Tiger Woods these days but I like him a bit less after hearing this NPR story today on his Master's press conference. Why does he even have to answer questions during a sports interview about his personal problems. The part that really bothered me was this "emotional" bullshit answer:

"What people probably don't realize is that because of the time frame of it, I missed my son's first birthday, and that hurts, that hurts a lot. And I vowed I'd never miss another one after that. I can't go back to where I was. I want to be a part of my son's life and my daughter's life going forward, and I missed his first birthday. I mean, that's that was very hard that day and something I regret and I probably will for the rest of my life."

He is trying to make you feel bad for him. Given the number of women he has been with, he has been gone from his wife and kids a huge amount since the day they were born. This is a dad who has to be gone a ton already due to his career, promotions and ad shoots, etc. He must have never been around given how many ladies he had in every port. I am sure he was getting his dick sucked when his kids took their first steps. Just play golf.

Awesome, Funny, and Inappropriate Blog Titles

From time to time a phrase pops into my head or I hear my kids say something with a nice ring to it that I think would make a good title to a blog, website, or rock and roll band. I will add more here as I think of them. Please add more and feel free to steal them if you wish for your next novel. Here are a few:

Chocolate Chip Guacamole

Peeling Carrots in the Toilet

Uncle Irving's Hot Tub

Beer and Benadryl

Boca Bubbe Brunch

Eating Yogurt in the Elevator

New Look Same Crappy Taste!

NPR on Meth

Poop in the Closet

" I'm proud of my association with the Tea Party folks"

While the Tea Bagging, Glen Beck loving side of the GOP are a loud energized group these days, it would be a big mistake for this energy to push Marco Rubio into the race for Senate in Florida. I have not followed the race closely and I don't love Crist from the little I know of him but, every voter in a primary should not just think about who they want to win but who would be most electable against the likely opponent in the general election. This good article from the New Republic covers Crist's challenge well. Would Rubio actually appeal to the middle of the road Bubbee in Palm Beach? I know things have changed, but Obama won Florida.

As a Democrat, maybe I should hope for these type of races nationwide. If the right nominates far right tea baggers, I predict we will have no trouble holding on to the majority in the House and the Senate in 2010.

The title quote is from Rubio dancing around the Tea Party people. I think it will be fun to watch GOP pols around the country do the same dance the tea party over the coming year.