Frogs On The Moon

Jerry

2012-02-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

I know I said I never do this but I saw another really good online ad, it is a long commercial for new Acura with Jerry Seinfeld. I think this maybe in Super bowl. My reason for putting this here is to say, check this out it is pretty funny but it brings up another issue that has been bugging me.

Seinfeld should get the gang back together. Seinfeld was one of the best, if not the best, TV sitcom ever. Every important actor in the show is still alive. They are all still great actors. For them to deny the world more of what we all love is a crime. Why should he waste his talent on the Bee Movie and commercials. Curb is great but it is not Seinfeld. It would be like if Van Gogh or Monet just stopped painting at the hight of their career. Or if Paul McCarthy or Mick Jagger just said, I will never play again. I know they are all sort of worried it would not be the same but fuck, just agree to do 2 or 3 more seasons, give America something to be happy about. please

did you eat peaches with yogurt on them?

2012-01-12T07:56:00.000-08:00

I love this song and I love Kristen Hall. Her songs are so poetic and I love her voice and her guitar tunes are just perfect in the same league as Cat Stevens, James Taylor and other if you ask me. When I was at Emory, I heard her a few times and bought her first two albums(Real Life Stuff and Fact and Fiction). She was friends with the Indigo Girls and worked with them. I did not follow her career but I was sad to learn that she does not play anymore. Also, I don't know they whole story but she was one of the original members of the country band Sugarland (which of course became huge) but then had some sort of dispute and sued the other members of the band.

Here is a great quote from Amy Ray from the Indigo girls about Hall:

"the ultimate pop songwriter. She can use the same three chords in ten songs and it’ll sound completely different. The songs seem very simple when you listen to ‘em at first, but in reality the songs she writes are the hardest songs to write: catchy and sincere and not calculated.”

This piece has some good background on Hall who I still love and I can sing almost ever word to every song on those albums.

Rocking in a Sweater

2011-11-28T11:24:00.000-08:00

I think I have a thing lately for British female vocalists but I love this song, maybe more than the orginal. Kate Nash is awesome! Found her from my Pandora Lily Allen station.

I Maybe Watch One in Fifty Online ads

2011-11-23T06:28:00.001-08:00

I usually hate online commercials and pay no attention but this Red Bull one is interesting and kind of funny. I think the hook for me was, 1. I do like the stuff, and knew it was a Red Bull ad, 2. and then in the first few seconds you see the kid go to confess his sins which seems so problematic and probably offensive for a energy drink commercial and probably very inappropriate. Even as you watch it it seems like what the heck, how could they make an ad like this. I was not watching I was listening waiting for my video but it took 4 seconds or so for me to start watching, wondering, what in the world. I am sure the ad is offensive to some religious people but it is cute.

Outsource Comprehensive Sex Ed to Youtube

2011-11-21T08:58:00.000-08:00

I stumbled on a couple recent pieces about the problems with today's sexual education. This one, "Kids Are Learning Sex from Porn" in Slate by Amanda Marcotte is brief but make a good point. This long New York Times Magazine piece Teaching Good Sex, by Lauire Abraham profiles a pleasure focused comprehensive program in a liberal Philadelphia private school.

I agree there is a problem but before we all push our schools to put in place programs like this, why not replace the porn with something better but use the same medium, the Internet to do it. The cost to create a program like the one in the Times piece for every kid in a public school would be huge and it would push away more time from academics and other subjects. I am sure there is a benefit in being able to ask questions and dialogue with teacher and peers about this stuff but all that is inherently problematic for so many reasons in a classroom setting. I am sure there are lots of good resources for sex positive, feminist, factually sex education information online and all the school would have to do would be to send some links to each kid and they would be done. Planned Parenthood, Midwest Teen Sex Show, Dan Savage, all provide good information and I am sure there are tons of other real, funny, good resources beyond porn.

I am generally not a fan of online eduation but this may be best way to teach this type of thing. If you wanted to get more elaboate, you could incorporate online expercizes, make the students write up paper on what they learned or something but even just sharing the information with everyone would go a long way. While I am sure many teens may google, "how to give a blow job" I am guessing they don't Google "comprehensive, progressive online sexual education resources for teens".

How to Stop the Brain Drain

2011-11-16T12:04:00.000-08:00

Check out this long thoughtful piece on Huffington Post about why the best and brightest students from America's top school go to Wall Street for work. America's 'Brain Drain': Best And Brightest College Grads Head For Wall Street by Amanda Terkel. This has been going on for a long time and will continue for a long time to come I'm afraid.

A couple of reactions. The concept of a brain drain is sad, think of all the fields these people are not going into that would do so much more for society, education, public policy, non-profits, medical research, etc. It does however make perfect sense when you look at the math. Who would chose to work as a teacher making $35,000 if you were also offered a Wall Street job starting at 4 to 10 times that with huge room for increases. I got a taste of this when I was in Public Policy grad school and took a few classes in the Business School with the MBAs.

I hope that one positive outcome of this Occupy Wall Street thing is that some good people who care about the world and people may think twice about taking this path. Maybe they don't want to go home for Thanksgiving and admit hey just landed a job at Goldman Sachs. Also, if people do go into it, they will do so with some more thought about whether their actions may result in unintended consequences. More Ivy League Wall Street folks with a conscience. These guys are smart, they hopefully will study why the economy tanked and think when they are working on some new complicated financial instrument, will this lead to the collapse of the global economy.

Another part of this is, why are these firms able to make so much money that they can pay employees so much? There is something wrong with our economic system and the type of "business" they do that results in such huge revenues for these firms. What is the purpose of these Wall Street Banks and hedge funds?

Give the article a read.

Completely Inappropriate Titles for Blogs (Part II)

2011-11-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

Part of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur is getting forgiveness for your sins right? Well when I was sitting in services I scribbled some more completely inappropriate names for blogs or websites that someone may want to create. They were written in orange crayon on the temple program guide. What is wrong with me? Sarah Silverman would probably find these offensive. You can also use them for short stories, poems, children’s books, anything.

Blowjobs on the Bimah

Panera Crack Whores

Tax Law for Nymphos

Tax Law for Stoners

Noodles and Nymphos

Bialys, Bubbies & BJs

High School Rock Climbing Club Movie Night – 127 Hours

Campfire Stories for Cub Scouts – Into the Wild

Mohel pimps of Wal-Mart

Sexting during Kol Nidre

Used Sex Toys of Craigslist

Water Skiing in Adult Diapers

How many of your Facebook friends have you slept with

The Mohel doesn’t look Jewish

Weed, Prozac & Candy Corn

never heard this but I like it.....came up on my Pandora Lily Allen Station

2011-10-27T08:55:00.000-07:00

Meiko; Piano Song

perfect

2011-10-26T06:30:00.000-07:00

Two comedians walk into a bar…one is Jewish one is not…..

2011-10-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

Just listened to a new WTF Podcast with comedian Will Franken and they had an interesting chat about Jewish people.

For those who don’t listen to the podcast, Marc Marron, the host of the show is a Jewish comedian who has New Jersey roots but grew up in New Mexico. The show is usually him interviewing comedians. He is not an observant Jew and has some hang-ups about his faith but seems to have the usual Jewish pride, especially for someone in comedy. I am curious to know what my friends, (+ all my readers, groupies, fans) members of the tribe or not, think of this discussion and Franken’s comments as well as his tone. I have some opinions but wondering first what others think....

Marc has a few minute introduction before the interview and then the Jewish part of the chat is at the beginning of the interview. The rest of it is kind of deep for a comedy interview, the guy seems pretty messed up and kind of angry, they get into talk about drugs, religion, problem childhood, etc. you don’t need to listen to the whole thing. There are many which are much more interesting and funny but check out from like 10 minutes in until around 25 minutes. Discuss.....

old school

2011-09-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

I love this song and the video. The woman look so different than the chicks in today's hip hop videos. Also, the dance moves, the cars, everything rocks.....

Your daughters depressed we’ll get her straight on the Prozac But little do you know, she already takes crack

2011-09-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

enjoy

2011-09-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

I love this, I have totally enjoyed Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn together in Pomplamoose since I heard about them on NPR but now I am very excited to find that Nataly has some solo stuff up. Happy frog over here. I think it is interesting how these are guys who can make it big using the power of the Interwebs. Reminds me of Planet Money piece about Jonathan Coulton who has made it big by recording songs that rock the computer geek world. There is clearly a certain type of music that works for this post Naperster new world of music. Clear lyrics, covers of familier songs, visually appealing videos that are not abstract and artistic, more clever in a Rube Goldberg type of way (ie OK Go).

It is not "Driving and Crying"!

2011-08-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

This is pretty awesome, these guys could rock. Late Night with David Letterman. Drivin n Cryin "Fly Me Courageous" and check out Paul Shaffer rockin' out.

optimistic thoughts

2011-08-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

My reaction to yesterday’s recall election:

• It is always very hard to unseat an incumbent, our “democracy” has been flawed for years for many reason in favor of incumbents who have name recognition, power, money and non-competitive districts. This was a tough fight to win.

• These were all strong GOP districts.

• Most of these guys were elected in 2008 during the Obama race so they have pretty strong support.

• Many other vulnerable GOP senators were not eligible for a recall until next year because they were just elected in November and we should recall them with Walker. Some who barely won in 2010 who we should kick out Leah Vukmir, Van Wanggaard, Pam Galloway.

• The GOP attack ads were funded by outside private money and were vicious and nasty and contained lies and misinformation.

• Given that Dale Schultz appears more moderate (he did not support the budget repair bill) it will be good for us if the GOP has only a one seat majority.

• I am not discouraged about a Walker recall. A huge factor in who wins elections is based on turnout. In a statewide race there are huge numbers of democrats who would come out to vote against Walker. I am hoping many who voted yesterday feel, I like my senator but I don’t like Walker. His approval rating is down, Democrats have won statewide races before and with a strong opponent Walker can go down in 2012.

• The Democratic message for the recalls was too timid on the issue of the cuts to public employees benefits and limiting unions. They focused too much on the specific candidates and avoided talking much about the budget repair bill. I understand that the point, “Walker tried to get rid of unions” is not the best approach to motivate many voters but I think the message could have been much stronger about what the negative consequences were of the GOP Budget Repair bill: hurt public schools, worse public services, hurt local economies, big hit to huge number of lower and middle-class families, lower quality of life for all in WI.

• The GOP now knows that people are paying attention. They can not get away with whatever they want without the public knowing what they are doing as things used to be in the past. The balance of power aside, the public are doing their job in this democracy and will let their representatives know if they are not happy with their actions. We will not allow these representatives to just goof off any more. They will need to answer to voters.

• I hope that every GOP senator and representative in WI who runs will face strong challengers when they run (unlike the past) and will have to defend their record in debates and on TV. Times have changed. We won’t forget this and hopefully in 2012 change will happen.

And every time you feel like cryin', I'm gonna try and make you laugh

2011-08-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

The video is odd but I Love this song, with a capitol L.

Two Way All The Way

2011-07-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

The State Journal today reports that the city is considering (again) whether Johnson and Gorham on the isthmus should be changed from one way streets to normal two way streets. I strongly think they should be changed to two way streets as should almost every one way in Madison including University through campus. These one way streets through neighborhoods are not friendly for residents, bikes, homes, stores or walkers. They become little highways where people drive too fast. They are not normal streets in normal neighborhoods. The article also mentions the issue of rush hour parking restrictions. I agree with the point by Teena Browder that if you did that, it would be bad for parking but also it would create much of the problem that the 2 way switch would try to fix. That would hurt the businesses and make the street more dangerous for cars, bikes and people during those times. I used to live on Regent where they did this and it was a scary nightmare. Normal Streets Rock!

This Almost Makes Me Want to be a Teacher

2011-07-26T21:20:00.000-07:00

I have never seen this website before but this stuff is really funny. Several good belly laughs. Part of what makes it fun is that it hard to read what the kids are writing but when you see the funny part, just LOL. HappyPlace, Unintentionally offensive test answers from young children. A few are a bit offensives or dumb but the kids ones are all great.

Some Jews Go On Spring Break To Mecca, Love Ham and Cheese Sandwiches and Celebrate Easter

2011-07-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

Why on earth would the Wisconsin State Journal publish this story, "Some Union Members Pleased with Walker's Changes". There are over 200,000 public workers impacted by these cuts to our benefits and reductions of the unions power and the reporter only found 2 willing to speak out.

California Autism Twins Study - Suggested Future Research Idea

2011-07-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

A new study of autism has produced some interesting findings that birth environment plays a more significant roll than previously thought in impacting whether a child gets autism. The NY times had a good article on the study and here is another similar piece.

The study "Genetic Heritability and Shared Environmental Factors Among Twin Pairs With Autism" published in the Arch Gen Psychiatry looked at autism rates for siblings of fraternal and identical twins of kids with autism. While it has widely been know that hereditary factors play a roll this study finds that environmental factors before and during pregnancy, all of which a twin would experience at the same way as his or her sibling, play a significant roll as well. The part parents will find unsatisfying is they study does not tell us which of many environmental factors (some of which people can control and others you can't) really makes a difference. Some of the factors which the study suggests could play a roll include age of the mother, birth weight, maternal infections, and medications taken by the mother.

One possible study design that I think would yield some telling findings which could be conducted in a manner somewhat similar to this one would be to recruit two groups of families with autistic children which all have younger siblings. Then you would specifically look for families that moved into a new house in a new neighborhood or even new state after the autistic child was born and compare the rates of autism between the younger siblings. The reason that this difference would help isolate the environmental factors is that when mom moves, certain factors would remain the same while others would change. The kids who's parents moved would be exposed to different air quality both indoor and outdoor, different water qualify, different indoor toxins that could possibly expose the child from paint or other chemicals. This study would actually be easier to find volunteers for because twins with autism are still fairly rare but autistic children with younger siblings are far more common.

The hard thing to compare with studies like this (and I know researchers try) is what environmental conditions people are exposed to because it is impossible to really study what water someone drinks, what air they breath, what pesticides they are exposed to because these things change every day. While there is an increase in prevalence in autism in the US, luckily it is not so common yet so the necessary combination of environmental factors combined with hereditary factors that leads to autism are still relatively rare.

If such a study were conducted, you would of course expect that both groups would have a higher prevalence of autism in the sibling than a the general rates of autism. This is well know because there is a significant genetic factor. However if there were not any differences in the rates for siblings who's mothers moved/ vs mother's who did not, if the sample size were large enough you could reasonably conclude that those types of environmental factors that typically change when you'd move, do not significantly impact rates of autism.

One criticism of my suggested approach is that you could never control for all the other factors that would vary from one birth to the other that could impact likelihood of autism, maybe mom switched to an organic diet, gained weight, took over the counter medication during pregnancy, put new paint on her walls, got a new job, there are millions of factors. If the sample size were large enough, these factors would all even themselves out and there is not any likely corrialtion with any of these factors and moving.

And dream about a train that's gonna take me back where I belong

2011-06-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

don't love this video but love the song

Peak Inside The Brain of Joe Internet User

2011-06-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

Monday Morning Autocomplete LOL
If you want to have a little fun, go to Google. Type in the words "Why does my" and then try out different letters to see what pops up. For example....look at G. I think you can click on the image if it is too small to read. A peak inside the brain of the average Internet user.

Got Anger Problems?

2011-06-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

If you have not read it or listened to it already, you should check out the new book by Adam Mansbach Go the Fuck to Sleep. It is a funny take on a children's book that pokes the bear that is parents struggling to get their bundles of joy to go to sleep.

The book is cute and funny and has some great illustrations. The book however does reveal a bit about how many middle class/ upper class parents feel about their kids, their lives as parents, and their lives. While she has gotten flack for it, Katie Roiphe's piece in Slate about the book makes a lot of good points. "Why So Angry, Dad? Go the F**k to Sleep exposes yuppie parents' sexlessness, self-pity, and repressed rage."

The piece has received almost 400 comments many of which basically express the sentiment, chill out, lighten up, it is a funny book. Some of the comments also are the standard critiques of any yuppie parenting piece which are valid, however I do think Roiphe is on to something and the reason that people like the book is that they can relate.

Why have human parents been putting children to bed for thousands of years and it is not such a struggle for so many? And even if your kid stays up an hour past "bed time" why do we get so angry?

If a married couple never has any time together and does not talk about anything in front of the kids from 6 am until bedtime, it is not surprising they will be angry if the kid does not go to bed when they are "supposed" to. Maybe people should try to do what my parents did, let me play by myself and my friends so that they can have time to chill out, talk to each other, talk to their friends, so that at bed time they are not dying to have 2 hours of kid free time before bed.

he is calling you dude....

2011-05-31T08:38:00.001-07:00

so we started screamin'

2011-05-19T14:07:00.001-07:00

Wasabi Almonds, Red Bull and My Pee Smells

2011-05-19T14:03:00.000-07:00

not you but just sayin'......

2011-05-15T21:53:00.000-07:00

15,000 diapers and still counting

2011-04-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

I happened upon another one of those stories you see from time to time about how having kids is hard on a marriage. This one from the Wall Street Journal "So Cute, So Hard on a Marriage" was not bad. I know that Penelope Trunk has also noted this a few times before. Nothing too deep but for those of you who don't know, there have been several studies that have shown that babies are not really a bundle of joy for most married couples. This article takes it a step further and talks about how some counseling and training can help couples handle life with baby better.

A couple of comments:

- stories like these are good so that everyone makes a choice to have kids with eyes wide open. You are not going to find out what being a parent is really like from watching TV and many couples are not surounded by family and friends with children around them like days of old.

- part of the problem is still that modern couples struggle with a fair and reasonable way to divide up family responsibilities. The egalitarian marriage sounds good but most couples struggle to make this happen in a way where everyone is happy.

- this story focuses on babies but then at the end of the piece there is a joke from a mother in the story:

"I always look at the long-term," she says. "'Do I want this person as a companion in 15 years, because that is when I'm going to have him back? Are we going to be enjoying our kids' graduations?'"

The reality is that this is a struggle for many families for years and years. We have 3 kids and still are changing diapers and it can be harder to juggle older kids and their activities and needs with babies at the same time than just dealing with a new born. It is kind of funny that the two photos with the piece are of two parents with one baby, I can barely remember those days. To working parents with multiple kids, that seems like a walk in the park. While the training programs described in the story may help families get through the first year better and maybe that will lay groundwork for better communication for rest of the time but I am not so sure.

The Newest In New

2011-04-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

This is a really really smokin', bad ass, kick ass video. And it is too funny. I am not exactly sure what the deal is it says it is a preview for a longer video for a new Beastie Boys song for their new album coming out soon Hot Sauce Committee Part 2.

The video includes funny performances by awesome actors including Elijah Wood, Seth Rogen, Ted Danson, Danny McBride, Steve Buscemi, Susan Sarandon, Will Ferrell, Jack Black and John C. Reilly and a few more I think.

English Breakfast

2011-03-30T08:41:00.000-07:00

I heard a story on Morning Edition this morning on NPR about the federal budget and female host nearly said “tea baggers” when referring to tea party house Representatives. Hee hee. I was looking for clip but I can't find it yet.

The real people from the Wisconsin rallies

2011-03-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

Now that the noise at the Capitol has died down people are starting to deconstruct what happened, who, how, why, etc. What makes our country a wonderful place is that we are free to speak our minds. We can stand up and speak truth to power. That is what went on here in Wisconsin. I was there, but not nearly as much as many. Part of what bothers me however about this post rally analysis is that the right seems to want to paint a inaccurate picture of what these rallies were really about. Some including Ann Althouse, are trying to paint this whole thing as people who were the following, which is 99% not true. The people in the rally were not:

violent
hippies
from out of state
stupid
elitist
spoiled

This slideshow does a great job of showing the true faces of the free real people out there fighting for social justice and working families. Watch it.

Come Slide on My Slide, I am Lonely

2011-03-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

So my local school park told me today to come over to play because it is such a nice day. It is a nice day but social media can be funny sometimes. Specifically she said "Hey, come visit. It is a beautiful day for the park!" I am "friends" with the park because neighbors are trying to raise money to improve it but do I need a park to tell me when to come visit?

I also read today on Facebook that it plans to use our photos in ads to friends unless we tell it not to. Weird world we live in. I am going to take a walk and visit another park. So there.

that is how I feel today

2011-03-18T12:54:00.000-07:00

This adorable little potty mouth is not my kid but I wish she was.

:)

2011-03-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

Thank you to my friend Beth who put this on Facebook, most funny thing I have seen in a while.

No Thanks....We Can Get Fired Up Without You

2011-03-05T17:46:00.000-08:00

Don't get me wrong, I love Michael Moore. He is smart, funny, I agree with all his politics, he tells the stories no one has the balls to tell but I am not happy he came to Madison today to fire up the protesters fighting the unjust plan by our Governor, Scott Walker to make major cuts to all public workers benefits and to seriously weaken or possibly eliminate public unions.

The only way that we will win this fight is if many real WI voters, independents and Republicans stand up and say they do not approve this plan. Even if a million democrats show up at the capitol every day Walker or the GOP legislature will budget. It is sort of like Vietnam. Despite all the protesting, the adminstration still felt they had large numbers of people on their side.

The Isthmus account of Moore's visit makes it clear he fired up the crowd with some great lines but the problem is that many in America HATE Moore, not only the right but some moderate people have been very turned off by him. It is in large part due to the Right wing media folks like O'Reily and Rush but the fact is that if this is seen as a Blue Red issue, Walker will get what he wants. I would rather hear the Christian Walker voting teacher from Sheyboygan get up and talk about how this will hurt WI schools than Moore.

Fresh Cinnamon Roles in a Reflector Oven

2011-02-20T13:07:00.000-08:00

Every day we eat, from French fries to sugar snap peas from my garden. I am not a foodie, or a slow food guru. I struggle. I eat Oreos. What is the best food? The most politically correct food? The most healthy? I have eaten at some of the finest restaurants (not often but I’ve been to a few) but what is a wonderful meal? When do you enjoy something you really worked to put in your mouth.

I struggle to figure out what to feed my three little birds monkeys who call me Daddy. What is easy to make, in expensive, what will they actually eat, does not take too long to prepare, cleanup, etc. It is not an easy job and I commend the liberal homemade slow food real food parents out there who keep the organic pumpkin kale muffins coming out of the oven. I am not that parent. Once you go white/ processed it is very hard to go back to the organic natural side. I don’t give my kids Frosted flakes but not much better. Once they are used to Apple Cinnamon Cheerios and Special K with Strawberries, they don’t want to eat a boring low sugar whole grain natural cereal you’d find at the coop/ whole foods, or the like. I know friend who do it, they eat all natural 100% of the time. Those kids are probably healthier but it is hard to fight the system. I don’t have all the answers, I try to cook from scratch, cook with my kids, etc. with some success.

I love fresh baked goodies from a local place, they are awesome, especially La Brioche, omg everything from their bakery is so fricken good. But even better were the cinnamon roles we baked up in Ontario on a 3 week canoe trip. Almost completely away from civilization for 3 weeks, except for one stop midway for resupply of food, we camped out, paddles the lakes and streams. I can’t take credit, I was only 12, but some of my trip leaders were experienced wilderness bakers, and brought along all needed including an amazing invention, the aluminum reflector oven (see photo) that produced the most amazing roles I have ever had, even better eaten on a rocky island, unplugged from any power source, cell phone, tv, or and even weeks since we have seen running water.

(not my photo but from duroc2006 on Flickr)

Laughter and Tears

2011-02-09T12:29:00.000-08:00

In a matter of minutes (thanks to friends on Facebook) I was choking back tears to hear that Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords spoke. Wow. I am no doctor (and I don't play one on TV) but I would think that is a very good sign for her recovery. Not that she is likely to fully recover and will likely have some permant damage but it is positive that she is eating solid food and talking. I am not to the first person to think that if she can recover mostly she could be such a powerful voice. I hate to say this and we still don't know how she will be long term but I was worried she would be vegetable for the rest of her life.

The laughter is from this clip from Family Feud.

I don't want to be Mr. popular but.....

2011-01-19T09:23:00.000-08:00

I am spending some time today working and shaking my booty in my cube.

Let me ask, how does a Black Eyed Peas song have 61 million hits and this brilliant blog does not have 5o comments total in the 4 years that I have been writing it?

“I wouldn’t be wearing flip-flops. I don’t like it."

2011-01-11T08:28:00.000-08:00

God help this country if he really runs. Check out this Daily Beast story about Donald Trump who is considering running for president. If he did decide to run, I would think he would have a decent chance especially in this post Obama tea party time. He has tons of money of course and he is a house hold name. In the piece Trump talks about a lot of important policy issues including China, the Arizona shooting, & Iraq. He is independent and could be much more of a player than Ross Perot ever was and remember how many votes he got. If two large state's could elect Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura for statewide office, I don't put anything past the American people. We are dumb and could be easily convinced to blow in towards the Trump direction.

Ben Folds, Nick Hornby, & Pomplamoose VideoSong!!!!

2010-12-16T13:15:00.000-08:00

How Cool Is This!? Three of my favorite artisits together! So fun!

We're #1 - On another usless ranking of cities

2010-12-16T10:20:00.000-08:00

So I read to day in the paper that the Madison metropolitan area was ranked #1 for the "most secure places to live" in the country in the ranking of metro areas over 500,000. Yeah! Madison is the best! Yippie! wait.....what does that mean...most secure? Why it so secure. So the ranking done by Farmers Insurance looked at the following apples and oranges...

"Factors used to determine how secure a metro area is included crime, extreme weather, risk of natural disaster, housing depreciation, foreclosures, terrorist threats, environmental hazards, air quality, life expectancy and job losses."

One of these things is not like the other. I don't really see what one has to do with another. What is the point of such a list?

The other problem with this and many similar lists is the city/ suburb/ metro area differences. It says they ranked metropolitan areas so I assume they looked at these factors for the whole Madison metroplitan area, city and suburbs. The problem is that no one lives in a Metropolitan area, we live in homes or apartments in a town or city on a street. Some of the factors such as natural disasters, crime, environmental hazadars can vary greatly across a large metropolitian area. Folks along the river in St. Louis or in Malabu on the ocean cliffs may have greater risks of flooding or mudslides than people in other parts of the area. Just because there is high crime in Detroit, does not mean I don't want to open a business in Grosse Pointe.

Another tough one is job losses, for an individual this may or may not matter. If you have a stable job you would care less than someone looking for work.

I know these things are not about only an individual's choice where to move to but for busiensses, developers, city leaders, etc. but this one seems a bit off. Go Madison!

maybe I'll donate a little bit of money to you in 2030

2010-12-15T12:19:00.000-08:00

Great craigslist ad to the University who asked an unemployeed alumni for donation.

Missing the Point

2010-12-09T06:20:00.000-08:00

Being a traffic safety nerd and parent, I listened with interest to this NPR story about how long you should keep kids facing backwards in their car seat. The story was good in that it pointed out the larger point that way too many of us are killed in car accidents that there should be but it focused on the issue of car seats as the key to fixing this problem. The story points out that the leading cause of death in toddlers is car accidents. Five kids a day are killed in car accidents!

The article includes a great quote from a pediatrician who sums up my feelings well:

"I think we've become immune to this," says Ben Hoffman, a professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. "I think it happens so frequently and with such regularity that we've lost focus on how important it is. And I think that we're so reliant on cars to get us from Point A to Point B that we've sort of accepted it as the price of doing business. "

But my conclusion which I have written about before here and here is not, we need to keep kids rear facing longer, but that maybe we need to re think the way we live, where we live, work and play and how we get from Point A to Point B. If there is strong evidence to suggest changes in the way we use car seats, of course we should consider changes, but the larger point is not about car seats. The point of trying to keep kids rear facing longer I would think would need different types of car seats because my 1.5 yr old baby can't fit anymore in his rear one, his feet were too bent to fit comfortably. We should focus our energy on where we can get the most bang for our buck. I hate to say this but think about it, even in a few cases where there is a bad accident and the rear facing kid survives without a problem and he would have been injured with a front facing seat, what about mom the driver who was just killed. Shouldn't we try to prevent the accident in the first place!

Back to Dr. Hoffman, why do we accept this as a part of life in this country and why don't we devote a quarter of the energy we spent on fighting terrorism to trying to cut the amount of serious car accidents.

Crazy Idea.....We are all too serious

2010-11-10T11:13:00.001-08:00

How about this for a silly idea.....

An organized, sing along, karaoke bike ride.

I am a big supporter of biking and walking. I think we should do more to remind drivers that bikes belong on the road, save gas, reduce global warming, drive less, etc. I like events like Critical Mass, which I participated in a few times in Chicago. All this driving is killing our people (40,000 people each year in the US!) and our planet.

I also like a more fun way to take back our roads, and love the Madison event, Ride the Drive. Feels so great to ride down our big streets with 1000s of other bikes without fear that a big noisy truck is going to run me over.

How about this, on a nice Saturday, a large group would ride around Madison or any city, slowly singing songs. Somehow you would rig up a sound system on trailer that people on side of road could hear and riders could hear and the group would sing along. Could actually do this during the Ride the Drive or any time. No words to read, that would not be safe. Just songs people know, people can get music/ lyrics in advance if they want. What do you think?

Brave Awesome Super Mom

2010-11-04T06:42:00.001-07:00

Facebook friend sent out link to this blog I had not seen before, Nerdy Apple Bottom, about her son's halloween costume.

Boo

I voted

2010-11-02T06:29:00.001-07:00

Went to vote this morning at 7:30. I was #93 at my polling station a church and christian school. Kids were running the traditonal bake sale. There was no line really. Took about 2 minutes to get a ballot and then had to wait another 2 min for a free place to cast the ballot. The guy taking my name was hard of hearing but found me after not too long. Saw a few parents with kids voting, my daughter did not want to join me this morning. Maybe we can get her over there this PM with my wife. There were 2 election monitors standing behind the table where you get your ballots. One was a tall young guy with blond hair and he looked very tired. The other was shorter guy older with gottee. Both had ties on. They were just standing there. No glitches or problems.

Inappropriate Headline for Family Golf Game

2010-10-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

Looking at my charter email account and saw this pop up under "Games", I think someone had a good time coming up with that one.

Congress is a Serious Place

2010-10-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

Althouse had a link to this Isthmus article by Dean Robbins about a recent Chad Lee TV ad. Lee is the young GOP dude running for Congress from my district. I know that it is common in political ads to use the most unflattering video or photos of your opponent but this one is different. Tammy Baldwin is shown dancing and having fun! It makes you really think. We want our elected officials to take their job seriously and work hard but of course a healthily person can do that and have fun and let their hair down from time to time. I would rather have Tammy dancing like this than hike the Appalachian Trail or tap feet in a airport bathroom but I bet this ad will be effective. Kind of sad. But then I am going to a work 2 day training in a few weeks and I heard that there will be a DJ but I am tell you for sure I will not be on the dance floor in front of all my coworkers.

Check out the video of the ad (and I wrote this whole post without using the word breasts....oops)

E-Bay for Governor

2010-10-27T06:33:00.000-07:00

Do you think is is just a coincidence that today, a week before the California Governor's election, I open the NY Times web page and I see a huge prominently displayed E-Bay ad? The NY Times rarely has large ads at all from what I recall. I know they know I don't live in CA and I know Whitman doesn't work there any more but seems a bit fishy to me.

I believe that it's called al fresco

2010-10-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

"Hi, um, I'm just wondering, have you got any kind of, like, sort of punky, electronica, kind of grime, kind of like, new wave grime, but kinda maybe more like, broken beats, like, kinda dub-y broken beats, but a little bit kinda soulful? Like kinda drum and bass-y, but kinda more broken drum and bass, kinda broken beats, but break-beat, kinda broken drum and bass kinda, do y'know what I mean?"

Donuts and Cialis

2010-10-25T07:42:00.000-07:00

I don’t usually post anything personal on the old blog but here are a few random things I wanted to share:

Today is my birthday so I tried to keep up with the office tradition of bringing in treats but I was on my bike so I had to figure out how to get something good by bike. Too nice a day to drive, winter is coming. I eventually found a bungee cord and headed off to Greenbush bakery, I know they have great donuts and tough boxes, I could do it. Got there to find them closed, bummer, went to Lane’s Bakery and got 2 boxes of donuts and only dropped them once trying to get them on the bike (don’t tell any or my coworkers) and they did not look damaged at all.

I had two already! If it was not for years of budget cuts and staff reductions, those donuts would have been gone by now. If I get fat, I will blame the numskulls in the Capitol.

Went to a great show Saturday night, went to see Joan Rivers at the Overture Center. She was awesome and moved like a 30 year old even though she is 77! She offended everyone under the son and did not hold back. The only thing awkward about the evening was that I was there not with my wife, but with my in-laws.

On Friday, we said our good byes, see you on Thanksgiving and then Saturday morning, the call comes in, ‘we are coming up to see Joan Rivers.’ The next thing I know I was sitting next to them (and those who know then know how weird this is) listening to Rivers talk about old guys and their balls dragging on the floor and what happens when the old man takes Cialis, and keep in your mind that this joke was not just a sit on a chair tell a joke, she included her best physical comedy for this one. It was great to see one of the pioneering women in comedy.

LOL - Best of Craigslist

2010-10-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

I have just discovered the Best of Craigslist pages. OMG, these are really really great. There is something about the format that I love, it is not a short story or poem or blog post, these are posted on their system of free ads and that makes it so awesome. Some are just rants but that is ok, craigslist is not just a place to sell shit, they have all sorts of sections. It shows the complex nature of the people in our country, the creative ways people can express themselves, and who we are as a people.

Some great ones I found so far:

Adult child of divorced and remarried parents writes a note to her parents- I hope her parents read it:
"Bro and I played you little game for the last ten years, but I'm officially putting the kybosh on it today. I really do not care if you now hate each other with the burning intensity of a thousand suns; the moment your gametes merged and created a child, you got stuck with each other FOR LIFE. Deal. The. Fuck. With. It. "

Note to ladies who want to meet hip cats in Uptown in Minneapolis (which I find funny because I have spent some time in Uptown and rubbed elbows with the hip elite):
"when you take away the fixed-gear bike, the messenger bag, the scarf that's worn year-round, the ironic t-shirt, the dumb shoes, the pbr, the tattoos, plugs, and the stupid beard, we all look the same."

Litter box cleaning for pancakes

Naked in New York - Personal assistant for wealthy NYC couple that hang around house naked , this idea seems to funny to be real but the ad is not funny, very matter of fact.

can't get this out of my head

2010-10-07T13:32:00.000-07:00

MIA Paper Planes

Sanchez is no Mel Gibson

2010-10-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

I don’t think that Rick Sanchez should have been fired for his remarks about Jews and John Stewart. If you have not, you should listen to the whole discussion between Sanchez and Pete Dominick. Don’t just hear clips or read the selected quotes. You should hear the whole 20 minute discussion.

I do not doubt that Sanchez has faced some discrimination and bigotry in his career. He speaks about that and it is real. He starts off talking about how he doesn’t like Jon Stewart. He uses the word “bigot” and he probably uses it wrong but he is trying to say that Stewart doesn’t like people who are educated liberals. I can’t say if this is a bit true but Sanchez is entitled to his opinion. He does not make the Jewish connection with his views on Stewart.

He does later laugh at the notion that Jews are minorities who face discrimination, and this is the part that probably got him in the most trouble. While I don’t agree with him, I understand him having this point of view from his world view. We want to encourage a dialogue among American’s about cultural differences, Sanchez has a bit to learn on the matter, but I don’t think this view rises to the level of real anti-Semitism and should have gotten him fired. He works for some liberal, educated Jewish people at CNN, he had Jewish friends growing up in Miami. It is natural to form views about them based on his experience. My grandmother was a wonderful person but she was a bigot. From her 80 years living in Chicago, she formed clear views about black people based on her experience on the bus, at the library in the grocery store. From what Sanchez has seen has seen in his 50 year life, he has not seem many cases of Jewish people being discriminated against and has seen Jews at the top levels throughout American society. It is hard not to stereotype and form biases against a group of people if you have direct experiences with people from that group often.

I don't watch him much but I sense that Sanchez is an honest person and has an interesting perspective on the world. I sense that with some more dialogue and discussion he would see why his views are offensive. This step will result in everyone learning that they should keep their views to themselves and shut up about anything even remotely offensive and I don't think that will lead us towards improving our understanding of each other.

Perfect Halloween Costume or maybe Purim?

2010-09-22T06:40:00.000-07:00

I have a 16 month baby and last night I was supposed to be watching him. He has been getting into everything lately and he went into my bathroom and was looking through some drawers. I was not paying as close attention as I should and he found a mascara bottle. I thought, it must be closed tight, he won’t be able to figure out how to open it, how much harm could he do. Well a few minutes later I realized it was open and after I pried it out of the fingers of this crying munchkin I realized that he did manage to try it out. He somehow drew a single black line below his nose, resulting in a prefect baby Hitler impression.

Maybe I should get my car detailed?

2010-09-10T06:57:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you but I found this NRP story about the trombone player, Scott Bean, who was getting sick from mold in his instrument facinating. Doctors could not figure out what was wrong, but after 15 years of coughing and other problems he went on vacation without his trombone and felt well and one thing lead to another and they figured out it was mold in the brassworks.

A couple of take aways:

a smart person with a smart doctor could wrongly diagnose a medical problem and miss the cause of the problem in a serious way, this same thing probably happens to 1000s of people every day. Doctor thinks they have X but they really have Y. There is so much our modern medical system does not understand
Some people are very sensitive to materials in our environment. I sneeze everytime I come to work, why? This guy was having a reaction to fusarium and mycobacterium in his horn but are others being exposed to the same stuff in other places, in our air ducts, in their dishwasher, under our car seat, etc. What other molds, bacteria or chemicals are there lurking in corners of our world that could cause accute health reactions for people?

It is good that Mr. Bean got better but I fear there are so many other people suffering from health problems that they and their doctors just haven't figured out yet.

Time to Shake Your Irish Ass

2010-09-03T12:39:00.000-07:00

That's What She Said

I have said it before but the Saw Doctors may be one of the best live bands out there. Watch how their fans know all the words and love them. Here is a great version of "That's What She Said Last Night"
Would.... you .....please......... one more time

WSJ Piece is Moving in the Right Direction To Save Lives on our Streets

2010-09-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

Check out this well put article from the Wall Street Journal about how a great deal of attention is played in media and by policy makers to certain high profile traffic safety issues (Toyota acceleration problem, texting, etc.) and not enough effort and money is being put into real changes that could save many lives. "Do Some Traffic Hazards Get Too Much Attention" points out a recent "issues du jour" take away attention from things that can be done to make cars and roads safer.

I think it is a good article but it could get into more specifics of things that could be done and have been done in some places resulting in serious safety improvements. Also, I still think that beyond making cars and roads safer, there needs to be a new way of thinking about these issues. Anyone who cares about reducing the 100 deaths a day on our roads, needs to open their mind to how we can encourage us to live and travel in ways that reduce these risks. here are a few ideas to consider:

Are there people who are such bad drivers they should not be allowed on the roads?
Are there certain road conditions (fog, slick icy rain) that are so dangerous that people should not be allowed to drive or should only be allowed to drive very very slowly?
Should companies get tax breaks if they locate their business in a spot that reduces risk that employees and customers will not die on there way to work?

Big Mac Rip-off

2010-08-31T07:29:00.000-07:00

It is ridiculous that my tax dollars have to pay a local McDonalds franchise to compensate it for lost revenue due to a beautiful pedestrian bridge that partially obstructed a view of its ugly golden arch sign.

If you own a business in an older city, like the City of Madison, the fact that there may be construction that would impact the accessibility to your business for a short period of time is part of the cost of doing business. Older cities need to repair streets and sewers and that is part of urban life. Just like a ski resort has to plan for bad weather, businesses need to plan for construction. The city tries to provide access at all times and it sucks if you own a business in such a situation but such is life. If they city had to pay businesses every time customers had a slightly harder time getting to their business due to construction, we would have no money left for anything else.

I would suggest that in the long term, this bridge and the other expensive improvements to the area and West Washington will help this restaurant do better. The area looks much better and people will want to go there and eat. In the past people avoided this area because it was so rough and these improvements will attract investment, bringing more customers to the area. Even if they can document a decrease in sales, I’d suggest it could be due to other factors. Change in eating patterns, easier access to other restaurants across the street, etc.

There are so many stores and restaurants without large ugly signs in Madison and across the country that do fine. There are so many strip malls where I can’t even see from the road what is in there. There are McDonalds in many communties with strict signage rules that don’t have the large golden arches at all. I have gone to this McDonalds (we often stop on our way to Milwaukee or Chicago) many times throughout this construction and after the bridge and it has always been easy to get to. People know where they want to go and find a way to go there. While it may be an impulse for some folks to just turn in and eat there, that is not really something we want to encourage, people making a unexpected sudden turn off a busy street for a McNugget? If this sets a precedent, it will cost us for years to come.

Stinson Beach

2010-08-24T22:14:00.000-07:00

perfect peace......wish I could stay longer................

We did not go for the weed, we went for the sauna

2010-08-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

Around 18 years ago (I am old), I went to study abroad in the Netherlands. It was a great experience. I was in between Amsterdam and Utrecht. I read today in the New York Times that the Dutch city of Maastricht is trying to limit the amount of people from neighborhing countries who visit of the "coffee" houses.

The article reminds me of my visit to this fine city which had nothing to do with pot, we went to tour the sites, enjoy the cafes but the best part of our visit was to the best spa ever Thermae 2OOO which is very close to Maastricht. What I would not give for a day trip to this place right now.

Bottomless Cup of Vacation Time!

2010-08-17T11:35:00.001-07:00

I was very intrigued by the NPR story about companies that offer “unlimited” vacation time to employees. It describes how some high tech (Netficks) or professional firms let all their employees decided for themselves how much time away to take depending on their personal and professional needs. Sounds crazy at first, but actually makes some sense and could work if the employees are the type to put in the time necessary to do their jobs but are not crazy workaholics. It would seem that the system would work based primarily on peer pressure. If everyone works hard and it is not too cut throat, people will be supportive of people taking a reasonable amount of leave.

In some ways, some parts of state government (where I work) are like this in that many senior employees who have been here for years have many weeks of vacation, personal days, sabbatical leave and now required furlough days as well. The result is that people have more than 5 weeks or more of leave a year. The reason for this is that for years the state has offered tiny less than cost of living pay increases or no pay increases and have made up for that low salary by offing generous amounts of vacation for people with many years under their belts. Many hard working employees and managers don’t take all their vacation, it is too much for them to be away from work and they want to get their jobs done so they take only 3 weeks or so.

The problem with the current X number of vacation days a year approach is that some people focus on that number and think, I need to take that much and may be away longer than they would otherwise be. On the flip side, there is little flexibility in that a new employee in some government jobs or private jobs with unions can’t get more than the minimum regardless of the circumstances. I considered a job with another government agency (not state government) and was told that regardless of the amount of leave I had at my current job and my years of experience, I would start at 2 weeks of vacation and would not get more for 5 years. The other point in the story is that vacations are not all about sitting on the beach, life happens, carrying for family members, etc. Some of those things are covered by family and medical leave laws but not all and that usually only guarantees time off, not paid time off.

Do you think such a system could work at your job?

Don't let it rain on Christmas (Hippie Christmas)

2010-08-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

The time has come once again to Madison when all the renters have to move out of their apartments and move into their new ones, also known as hippie Christmas. Our sitter said she was up packing until 5 a.m.! Good photo of what I am talking about from cometstarmoon on Flickr.

It is a sad but fun couple of days as piles of junk fill out our downtown streets. I hate to see good stuff become trash and the worst is when it rains and all the salvageable stuff becomes waterlogged crap. I have written about this before and have a few ideas on how to reduce waste and encourage as much reuse as possible.

Idea 1. - Separate the junk from the real junk

Idea 2 - Real Carrots to Get Donations

Shop 'Til You Drop

2010-08-09T09:58:00.000-07:00

I quickly read the most popular NY Times piece “But Will it Make You Happy” and I'd guess that it is popular for two opposite reasons; 1) some relate to the message and would like to simplify their life, shop less, etc. 2) some think it is a ridicules elitist, liberal, piece about thirty somethings yuppies with nothing else to worry about in life that surfing and hiking.

The story full of academic research finds that shopping does not make us happy and people are starting to realize that and shopping less, living simper lives, and trying to spend our time and money on things that do make us happy.

One thing that bothers me about he piece is that the people profiled don’t have kids and life with kids is so different than life without. Tammy and Logan would need to make very different choices if they had to save for their kids education, find good schools for their kids, etc.
The parenting perspective aside, my wife and I both agree with the central premise that shopping does not make us happy.

We both have/ had parents who spent way too much time and money shopping and both concluded the same thing, there are much better ways to spend your time and money. Stuff is just stuff and I will not be any happier if I have a fancy TV, designer shoes, etc.

I would like to think that more American’s are realizing these truths and spending less time in Target and more time doing meaningful things. The problem I fear with this thinking however is that our economy depends in large part on people rich and poor shopping and buying crap. The economic livelihood of many unemployed families depends on Tammy and Logan going out to Wal Mart and buying the latest crap.

Your kid will be the coolest on the playground with a Torah silly band!

2010-08-09T08:15:00.000-07:00

Beyond "So it's sorta social...demented and sad, but social."

2010-08-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

Great list of 8 things you never noticed from the classic 80s teen film, The Breakfast Club (with photos). (from Althouse)

If Brad Pitt can get on light rail, then every city will have it

2010-08-03T08:08:00.000-07:00

Check out Tom Vanderbilt's new piece in Slate “Dude, Where's Your Car? How not having a car became Hollywood shorthand for loser” which describes how many movies depict characters who don’t drive or don’t have a car as nerds, losers or pedophiles.

It is pretty sad if part of the reason that we are married to our cars and don’t take public transit is because it is not cool not to have a car. The guy who doesn’t own a car should be a hero not a freak. There are obviously many American’s who could not live with out a car or without two cars for a couple but there are also many of us who could get by without one and still have a happy life or couples who could get by with only one car but have two. Just the cost of car ownership is a reason alone to make this move but people would think it crazy to ditch their car and occasionally rely on a rental car or taxi.

If movies helped making smoking cool and sell cigarettes, then maybe movies can help promote car sharing, walking, biking and public transit.

Governor Who?

2010-07-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

A critical factor in the upcoming race for Wisconsin’s governor that is missing from the solid Isthmus cover story “How Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett gets elected governor of Wisconsin - Though the odds are against the Democrat, a confluence of factors could work in his favor” by Marc Eisen is turnout. Obama won in large part because many young people and folks who usually don’t come out and vote were motivated and came to the polls.

The stakes are very high for this upcoming race but I am afraid many college students and other Obama supporters will not be motivated to get off Facebook and vote for Barrett. As a parent with skin in the game, I am terrified to think of what Walker would do to the school districts that need the state revenues. Barrett needs to get the troops on the ground working to support his candidacy or he will lose, the Tea Party fan club has a lot of energy at the moment. Walker’s facebook page has 26,000 fans compared to Barrett’s 12,000 which is worrisome given that democrats are typically younger and more web connected than the typical grandma in Wausau GOP supporter.

Apples and Oranges

2010-07-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

Had a nice summer drive to Milwaukee for a work meeting and got to hear a lot of public radio. Hear part of a program I have not listened to before called The Story. They did a great program which talked a lot about what it is like being black in America. Part 1 was an interview with Russell Goings, a guy I did not know about who seems like a fascinating renaissance man. He played pro football, had dyslexia, ran wall street investment firm, was good friends with painter Romare Bearden and now he has written an epic poem of black life in America. His stories reminds us of how recently racism was manifest in our schools and work places and is an inspiration of how to overcome road blocks on the way to success.

I also heard part of the next story about Rosemary Stewart-Stafford who is an interesting women who grew up with mixed race parents in the South many years ago. She described her experience growing up and then how went undercover at white supremacist groups. Both stories are very compelling and remind me how scary and strong the racist side of America recently was and still is in some places.

Then you compare those stories to the recent new about Shirley Sherrod. Consider what she was even accused of doing when the out of context clip was distributed. It appeared that she may have not helped a white farmer save his farm (as it turns out this is not the case). Even if true, this mild manifestation of racism is nothing compared to the Rosemary experience watching a black man get his head bashed in at the grocery store because he stepped in line in front of a Rosemary’s white mother or Russell’s experience being stuck in the closet with a dunce cap in elementary school. Given the years of explicit racism, it is a wonder that every black doesn't join the New Black Panther party.

This American Life is the Best Fucking Radio Show Ever!

2010-07-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

As readers of this blog know, I LOVE the public radio show This American Life. So,ten thousand people and I recently took a TAL podcast survey. TAL published the results here. http://podtrac.com/thisamericanlifesurvey/ Nothing too earth shattering, I would have liked to see the open ended ideas and comments from listeners which were not included in the published results. That aside, I am curious about how they should act in response to question the posed about bleeping swear words.

The question was “This American Life bleeps swear words on the podcast, but it’s not legally required. Would you like the show to remove the bleeps so you can hear the original language?” 1947 people checked “No, I would like you to continue to bleep the swear words in the podcast” and 8779 said “I would like to hear the original language in the podcast, swearwords and all”. What is to make of these results? I am frankly surprised that there are so many who want to hear the bleeps. Listeners to this show are adults and listen most often I would guess by themselves or with other adults so they are not likely concerned about kids listening. Maybe a few listen in the car or house while kids are in the background but I doubt that is many folks. They don’t mind the content and adult discussion enough to not listen despite the bad bleeped language. Who are these prude listeners and why are they so uptight?

What should TAL do in response to this result, I would recommend they leave it as is because you would possibly lose some listeners to the podcast if they become offended by the swearing they start hearing and I doubt you would pick up dirty talking public radio listeners by allowing the f-bombs to be out there. But, on the other hand, this is not a traditional business. This is art and not for profit art at that. The artists should be able to do whatever they want without considering its market share. What Would Ira Do?

Warning! Do Not Listen To Mike Birbiglia in Bed When Your Wife is Sleeping

2010-07-16T12:36:00.000-07:00

Was listening to This American Life episode #411 First Contact last night on the iPod while my wife was sound asleep. The Act 1 when Mike Birbiglia talks about his experience trying to make out with his crush as a young teen was LOL hilarious. If you were ever 13 you and want to smile you must listen. Don't drink coffee while doing so.

Best Day Ever For the 12 Year Old Me and Freakanomics Questions

2010-07-16T12:32:00.000-07:00

Went to gas station today and they had a fountain soda machine with big sign, 99 Cents any size! Even for the huge BIG JACK. I know that the cost of the actual soda and cups are not very much so it does not cost them very much to give a huge BIG JACK soda to me but still it seems like they can’t be making much on these; few men or boys would buy a small or medium if the super size is the same price. Funny because they still sell much smaller bottles of pop for $1.50, I love these retail economics oddities. They have all the data and know the science of this whole thing. I guess part of the plan is a bit of a loss leader approach, they make money on other stuff and less on the soda.

Also, the cool feature of this machine that would have made the 12 year old me jizz my pants was all the flavor shots you can add to your drink! Right in the soda machine. My friends and I would have gone nuts, who wants a lime cherry Dr. Pepper?

...if that happens to be the "The Da Vinci Code" or the Backstreet Boys, well, you know, good luck to you....

2010-07-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

Terry Gross did a great Fresh Air interview back in September with Nick Hornby, check it out. I have read several of his books and think he is a very funny interesting guy. High Fidelity is a great book about a music fan in Brittan and much better than the set in the USA movie.

The interview is mostly about his writing the screenplay for 'An Education' and his book 'Juliet, Naked' which I have not seen/ read yet but I think I must.

He also gets into a lot of other issues including the appreciation of books and music (see above quote which sounds better than it reads) as well as his 3 sons, one of which is severely autistic. I am inspired about his reaction to his son's problem, while he clearly cares deeply about him, he doesn't just give up his passions and the enjoyment of music and books because of his hard time with his son. Some may just think that pop music is a waste of time when you have such a serious problem in your life but he keeps going, writing, thinking about music fans and working despite his great personal challenge he lives with each day.

Another insightful part of the interview was his discussion of the differences between post-war Britton and post war USA and how that is reflected in the music of the 50s and 60s.

Hornby talking about how he has changed his view about good art, music and books since having kids and has become less of a snob about it.
"the position I've arrived at finally, is that anything that makes you feel more alive is good for you, and if that happens to be the "The Da Vinci Code" or the Backstreet Boys, well, you know, good luck to you. But if you feel more alert and more able to cope and more willing to communicate as a result of anything you might consume, then that thing is performing a valuable function in your life, I think."

Great Hair

2010-07-02T07:14:00.000-07:00

Check out this interview with Alison Scott about her saga that ended up resulting with her and her band (including my brother-in-law) opening for Bon Jovi. More Alison here.

Hope for Racine?

2010-06-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

Obama's speech to Racine - in word art. What could he say to a city that has had the worst economy and highest unemployment in the state for many years to make the people feel any better? The words that jump out to me are:

Government
Crisis
Know
Want
Energy
Economy

Pop Hip Hop Song For Everyone - I hate it but can't stop dancing

2010-06-24T11:10:00.001-07:00

I do like the Black Eyed Peas and I do like their big popular song I Gotta Feeling but the song bugs me for several reasons. First off, it seems clear this the group made this song to be a huge hit among everyone, even those who don't normally like real hip hop music (white 15 year old boys in Sheyboygen and the 45 year old mom from Omaha). It is clean, catchy and positive. None of the "I mix your milk with my cocoa puff, Milky, milky cocoa" sexy talk from My Humps. It seems they wrote the song intentionally to be played at ball games, graduations, weddings and Bar Mitzvahs. I am falling into the trap but it is irritating. These guys are laughing all the way to the bank.

Specifically the part that bugs me as a Jew is the lyrics that refer to my tribe. At one point they say "Fill up my cup (Drink) Mazel tov (Le heim)". Yes some Jewish phrases have made it into the main stream and are fun in certain contexts (Beastie Boys are Jewish so those rymes are clever and funny) but this one seems very intentionally to kiss up to the suburban Jews who needs some fresh tunes for the DJ to spin at the Bar Mitzvah or wedding. "Isn't that nice that tey say Mazel Tov....." I wonder who's idea it was to stick that in the song? Also, the both times in the song when they Mazel tov it is followed by some questionable lyrics. "Fill up my cup, mazel tov, Look at her dancing, just take it off " Much of the Peas music is sexy and wild and this line seems along those lines. To me this seems to suggest women taking off some of their clothes. Generally Mazel Tov and getting naked don't go together. I don't want my 13 daughter and her girl friends to take their tops off as they do the limbo at the bar mitzvah. You could suggest that it is more symbolic but I don't buy it.

I do like the song and the rhythm is addicting but I am on to their tricks.

Pure Gold - You and the Little Mermaid Can Go Fuck Yourselves!

2010-06-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

I have only listened to half of the This American Life program "Recordings for Someone" (it was an old one but was on again recently) but I loved the first story about the best phone message ever. Not only do I love the message, the story and how they track down Fred and Fred's mom, but the dialogue between Jonathan Goldstein and his buddy Josh is awesome. I love Josh. You just must listen to appreciate it.

Part of what I take from the story is how in this world of Email, Facebook, and Tweets, the thrill of actual talking and accents and real oral communication is lost. This was not about a funny email, if you read it it would not be nearly as funny, and the shit between Josh and Jonathan could not be done via email or texts. Pure gold. Diggy Do

Laughter and Tears

2010-06-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

I have been working out at local gym for a few months now and I think the multiple TV thing works for my scattered, multi-tasking ADD brain. So last night I watched highlights of Obama's speech and Last Comic Standing while I sweated on the elliptical machine. Obama's speech was strong, clear and good. Nothing too unexpected. A lot of war terminology which seemed to be what people wanted to hear. I like that he mentioned the part about how we need to get off gas and oil.

Much more fun was the Last Comic Standing. I have never really watched that show before but it was really funny. Even the bad ones were funny like the ventriloquist who covered his mouth with his hand when the dummy talked. One that I really liked was Roy Wood Jr. from Alabama. His first joke was ok but his joke during the live showcase was hilarious and timely. He made a joke about how our grandparents' marriages lasting longer because they didn't have Twitter, Facebook, etc. Recent news story found that many couples getting divorced these days site Facebook as a factor in the relationship problems. His examples were really good and his delivery is fresh. You can see it around 27-28 min. into the episode.

I am not sure my skin in think enough to be a prof

2010-06-11T13:12:00.000-07:00

I was just looking someone up on the Internet and unintentionally found their profile on RateMyProfessors.com. The four reviews I read of him were not very flattering. If I were a college professor, I would have a hard time not reading these and not being upset by bad reviews. I know several professors and am married to one (who is not on the website thank god) and looked a few up. As you would expect, some comments are very strong but others, yikes. Of course students complete evaluations of their professors but I would imagine that many students who fill out these in class (if they still do it that way) are hesitant to be really harsh with that format and those are not public. Because RateMyProfessors is so anonymous and easy, I would guess that is really brings out the highs and lows of student opinions. I know some profs don't care much about teaching anyway and don't have high regard of student opinions but for those who care, this website has got to be tough to read. It is interesting that here is one profession where one aspect of your performance is so out there for the world (your neighbor, cousin, friend) to read in such a brutally honest format. I am glad that no one other than my supervisor knows how well I do my job.

Robot Break Dance Break

2010-06-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

I am not sure why I have been on music video kick lately but this one from the Black Eyed Peas is pretty cool. Check out the 10 minute extended version of Imma Be Rocking that Body. What is not to love, robots dancing, fast motor cycles and phat beats. Must have been very expensive to make. I also love the dialogue at the beginning where will.i.am talks about making records without anyone having to sing or rap in the future using computers. Also, Fergie is looking good in this one.

Enjoyment of Music Sang in a Language I Don't Understand

2010-06-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

Perfect Japanese pop song for a not perfect day. Try not to boogie while you enjoy this PIZZICATO FIVE song, It's a Beautiful Day.

Free Market Foreclosure

2010-06-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

The NY Times article "Owners Stop Paying Mortgages, and Stop Fretting" about the increase in people choosing to not pay their mortgages is interesting on many levels.

I really don't consider this a moral issue it is really an issue of dollars and cents. In some ways I like the free market at work here, both for the banks and the borrowers. While the process is complex, borrowers can consider the costs and benefits of trying to renegotiate, trying to sell, struggling to pay it off and making an informed decision on what to do. If you know that your lender will not likely kick you out for a year and a half, think of all the money you could save. I would not be surprised if there are websites where people can get information about which lenders are likely to act quickly and which are slower, which states have which requirements, etc. How can you "milk the process" and maximize your free stay. I would like to know more about whether or not the banks could go after your other assets besides the home as suggested here. I don't think anyone who borrows money to buy a home thinks the bank could ever go after their other money.

I would think that most people would consider the effects on their credit rating and how that would impact their future plans for housing, employment, etc. If you were retired for example and have an OK fixed income, you maybe would not worry too much if you would not need future loans and could just rent later after getting kicked out.

If they have not done so already, the banks should push to change state laws to make it easier, quicker and cheaper for them to foreclose if they choose to do so. If someone owes $150,000, it may not be a top priority for the bank to foreclose on a home that is only worth $70,000 at most if the legal and transaction costs are over $20,000. If they evict but the place doesn't sell, the condition of the property could deteriorate and people could break in. Maybe the bank should wait until the market improves. There should be an easy way for people to sell and get out from the property free and clear but I doubt that will happen.

Part of what seems crazy about all this is that some banks who sold the loans off to one party and then another and another party services the loan and they may not even know which properties they have the loan on and you may not know who really holds the loan on your property.

I really love this song

2010-06-01T08:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI77iV68Le4&NR=1

La Boob Oscillator by StereoLab- I heard it on the High Fidelity soundtrack & just love it. Makes me want to dance in my cube, I don't understand a word but it just seems perfect and I like how after around 3 minutes it totally changes sound and melody, like it is a different song.

Farm Winds

2010-05-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

Had to travel for work yesteday and drove right through this very cool wind farm on the farms of Fond du Lac Country. I was surprised that there are farms, barns, homes and roads all through the farm. I did not take this shot but here is what it looked like. Seemed beautiful to me.

Chatroulette can be fun

2010-05-26T07:03:00.000-07:00

I must admit that I have been wasting too much time on Chatroulette. It seems mostly like a stupid way to waste your time but I have had a few interesting fun chats with folks (feisty, dirty mouthed beer drinking future psychologist from New Orleans and the 2 East coast women with cool hats who liked the Beatles and fashion of the twenties) but mostly just watching guys who look like they are looking for girls. One thing I have noticed is the lack of creativity, artists, and fun on the site. Unless you are Brad Pitt, how would one get noticed on this site. Life is boring enough, this site has potential for a very creative medium. I heard one guy play guitar very funny song and a jazzy trio which were both very nice. Who would just see your ugly mug and want to become life long fiends?

I have made a few attempts at creative fun and it was more fun for me that looking like a creep. Last night I put my Tweetle Bug on camera with a note that said “Blow me a kiss” and got quite a few smiles and kisses from guys and girls.

Chatroulette Ideas

2010-05-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

My first Chatroulette post was too long so I thought I would put up another with an idea of how this technology could be used for good and not exhibitionism. I tried it one more time and the current system is really flawed. Every solo dude looks creepy and like he is only intersted in "chatting with" women. So, even though a guy sitting alone may be cool and intersting, I have to assume he is Mr. Creep. Many of the users are young people who with friends who are pretty mean. They don't want to talk with an old guy like me and when the got me they were pretty rude, the site could be known as jerk roulette. That said, I really think there could be many variations of this which could be very interesting.

One simple approach would be to create a very similar simple site that requires you to register somehow with very limited information and then if you get 2 notices of inappropriate behavor, you would be kicked off. A clean nice chatroulette and another nasty anything goes chatroulette.

Another idea, combine the comments section of news websites and blogs, bloggerheads TV and Chatroulette. Currently many read or listen to interesting stories on NPR, NY Times, Huffington Post, etc. and want to discuss them or comment on them. You can comment on a website but how do you engage in any dialogue about what you read with 100 other people who read the comments at different times, etc. you don't. As I have said before, writing a comment on a popular article seems just as useful as writing a comment on a piece of paper and flushing it down the toliet. What if you finished listening to a great thought provoking NPR story, you click on "Want to Video Chat About this Story" and then you are brought into a chatroulette type screen where you and a stranger (or a few) can talk about the story (or anything else you want). This would be much more satisfying than typing a sentence into the black hole of the comment world and you could meet someone with a common interest. You could easily set up a system to kick out creeps, require registration, etc. which could keep people honest and polite.

What I am looking for and don't have as much of in my real life is a way to engage with people on topics that interest me. Between work and my kids I don't have much time for hanging at the bar with my buddies. I think many in the on-line world are looking for the same and the current medium to engage in dialogue about stuff is limited in many ways, I know there is a lot out there now that perhaps I should explore more. There are limitless ways to expand on this idea, include sports, movies, music, etc. You could record the chats, and other's could watch later, and much more.

Whatever ideas folks have on this front, it would be important to keep it simple because a system that is too complex would be difficult for many non tech people to use. It would also be good to keep the similar sites somewhat anonymous because of privacy concerns, part of the draw to chatroulette is that it is in someways totally anonymous because all folks see is your face and you don't even need to show that. While some people would not mind, I am not sure I would want to click "Want to Video Chat About this Story" if I knew the stranger on the other side could easily get my whole life story in a few clicks.

What an addictive stupid time waster – My first attempt at using chatroulette (and Tinychat and Omegle)

2010-05-12T06:22:00.001-07:00

(the photo is not me - just some photo of folks using it)Yesterday I read about Chatroulette by reading the big piece in the New Yorker by Julia Ioffe “Roulette Russian- The teen-ager behind Chatroulette” (which I found via Althouse). The piece is a really an in-depth profile of the young man, Andrey Ternovskiy, who created this site and less about the site. I have to admit that the description of the program sounded titillating. I read a couple of other articles about the program as well including one on NY Times and ABC News so I think I knew what I was getting myself into. I am always a bit late to hear about new internet hot things but I had to try it.

So I put my kids, my wife and my mother-in-law to bed and went down to my basement lair and hooked it up. As I expected, lots of guys with their cocks out. boring. I kept clicking and was a bit excited and scared to actually talk with anyone. You feel a bit rejected because almost everyone will “next” you. It is a weird type of thing because it can be completely non-sexual like having a pen pall across the world but it is very much a sexual game for many of the users. It is hard to switch gears in your mind. Is the old dude on the couch a professor in England or a creep looking for teenage chicks?

I felt pretty discouraged because I had very few conversations for a while. It was weird that some people did not have cameras on or had only dim rooms and others were right there, bright as day. There were many guys who looked like creepy dudes looking for some action. There were some with masks or helmets on. There were a few groups of people, a few college kids sitting together over their computer. The hard part for me seemed to be how to have a conversation (I did it w/o a mic) with someone who you know nothing at all about. Where do you start, everyone obviously is somewhat protective of their privacy so you don’t want to get too personal. I had a short chat with two college guys from northern Quebec who liked to smoke weed. I talked to a white guy and black girl who are roommates in college in New York. Both of these were pretty boring.

Oddly enough the two most interesting chats I had both related to Islam in very different ways. I don’t know any Muslims and don’t really have strong feelings about issues on that front but the first one was with a guy who had a hand drawn sign of a stick figure with an arrow that pointed to the figure and said “Muhammad”. I started talking with this guy by saying “bad” and then we got into a pretty in-depth chat about the whole South Park thing, I was not aware that the time square attempted bombing may have been targeting Viacom. I give the guy credit for taking on something more interesting than taking down his pants. The guy was in the dark shadow but then showed me his face when I asked him to. One comment this guy said was something like, I doubt very many Muslims use this website. Then a few minutes later I clicked onto a 25-35 year old Asian looking woman wearing a partial hijab. It showed her whole face but still. I was going to “next” her but was struck by the noise on her side. We had a long chat and as it turned out she was a teacher in the teachers lounge at high school in Indonesia. The noise was the kids and other teachers. She was very nice and seemed concerned that I seemed very tired and should go to bed. We talked about the US role abroad among other topics. I was surprised she would use this site given the NSFW content that she must have had to go through to find a normal person.

Despite all the crap, I see there is a real positive thing going on here and I agree with Ashton Kusher that they need to cleanup their act somehow. I actually think that a program like this for kids could be very fun. There must be a way to use a system like this with different groups of people somehow to seperate those who want to chat and those who want to strip. I also tried Omegle which is very similar, worked faster but made you click more to get rid of people. Also, Tinychat seemed interesting and I still don’t understand it very well but has potential because you can have chat with several people at one time. Some of the chat room discussions seemed stupid but a bit more fun that finding uncle Leo laying on the couch. I will probably try again but must resist the urge to keep clicking and go to bed.

I like the way that Shannon Donnelly from The Daily Beast sums up the prospects for this site:

"All Things Digital recently caught up with Andrey Ternovskiy, Chatroulette’s 17-year-old computer-whiz creator, while he was standing in line to buy an iPad. He said he was working on “changes to the ‘reporting people’ function designed to cut down on the male genitalia.”
If Ternovskiy does indeed manage to clean up Chatroulette, he’ll either transform an already intriguing site into a full-fledged social-networking hub with the potential to explode like Facebook and Twitter—or decimate his userbase."

A Taste of Heaven Past on Rye.

2010-05-10T10:56:00.000-07:00

Just had a big fresh made to order hummus sandwich from new Eclectic Earth café cart on the square. Pretty good and the rye bread and the large sandwich reminded me very much of a much loved long closed Madison institution, Radical Rye.

It is weird but eating the sandwich and thinking about it reminded me of the great times my wife and I had eating in the Radical Rye (pre kids).

The Ambiguously Gay Justice

2010-05-10T07:01:00.000-07:00

This may sound terrible but I wonder if Elena Kagen’s ambiguous sexuality is part of why she was selected. As you may have read, CBS put out a blog story by Ben Domenech, that said she was gay and then retracted the story. From the little I could find she is not married, has no children and is not openly gay. I wonder if the White House thought this personal story was appealing because it puts her critics in a tough position because they can’t really say anything without sounding anti-gay, sexist and mean. I am sure there will be comments about her appearance but those who say that will have no serious credibility and come off looking like bullies. Anyone who tries to dig into her personal life will come off like a jerk because this process is supposed to focus on her legal views and how she will act as a judge. An openly gay person would be another story because the far right family values crowd could directly attach that one.

EXTRA: After I posted the above, I read (via Althouse) Andrew Sullivan's piece on whether or not Kagen is gay. To some extent he kind of said what I wanted to write but was too chicken to put down here. I liked Sullivan's points but yikes, the Althouse readers are really really nasty when ever she mentions Sullivan and the comments on this article are no exception. No one seems to comment at all in support of Sullivan's point which is that it is somewhat problematic that this person may be a closeted homosexual and that it is not out of bounds or inappropriate to ask if she is gay or not.

I am going to tread here where I should not but I would rather have an openly gay or straight person on the Supreme Court and not a person who is either a closeted gay person, asexual or what ever she is. I am friends with gay people and very pro-gay and I know it is not easy to be a gay in this country and you could say she would not be where she is if she was openly gay but something about this bothers me. It seems that sexuality and family is a big part of who we are and if someone had to hide their sexual preference it seems like they would have some latent underlying stress. Just like we want to know about a President or Congressional candidate and their family life, we want to know about someone who is being nominated for the SCOTUS. These people are role models and young men and woman may aspire to be on the SCOTUS some day and it is hard to talk about these people without any discussion of their family life. I would be OK with her saying, I am not gay and I dated a few men but prefer to be alone and never found someone, blah blah blah. We shall see if this question keeps coming up and if she is forced to respond somehow.

Orbitz is Smart and a bit Creepy

2010-05-10T06:19:00.001-07:00

Got an email today from Orbitz telling me that the fare for plane trip that I had searched for a few days ago went down! If you searcheded a lot for trips this could get annoying but this is a trip we really plan to take to San Francisco. Thanks!

Betty White is Great!

2010-05-07T06:28:00.000-07:00

Check her out on Jimmy Fallon.

This is my kind of playground

2010-04-29T06:12:00.001-07:00

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

2010-04-27T06:42:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-26T07:37:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-19T06:27:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-12T13:29:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-04-12T11:00:00.001-07:00

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?

2010-04-09T11:36:00.000-07:00

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.....

2010-04-09T10:41:00.000-07:00

I think more guys would sign up.

Did you know that Barbie is a computer engineer?