Moussaoui Wants To Withdraw Guilty Plea

After being sentanced to life in prison, Zacarias Moussaoui had his lawyers file papers saying he wants to withdraw his guilty plea and be granted a new trial because he lied on the stand about his involvement with the terrorist murderers on September 11, 2001. READ

There's speculation that he is trying to continue having his day in court or that he wanted to receive a death sentance, not life in prison.

I'm sure Moussaoui will not be granted his wishes simply because he pled guilty to the crime.

U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema summarily rejected Moussaoui's motion late yesterday, saying federal rules prohibit a defendant from withdrawing a guilty plea after being sentenced. "Because defendant was sentenced on May 4, 2006, his motion is too late and must be denied on this basis alone,'' Brinkema wrote.

Moussaoui can appeal her ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, but legal experts said such appeals are rarely granted and would probably require a grievous legal error by the judge.

While Moussaoui isn't insane in the legal sense, he's certainly a very high maintenance indivual, to say the least.

Even Moussaoui's attorneys acknowledged in a footnote yesterday that their motion could not be granted under federal rules, but they said they were filing it anyway "given their problematic relationship with Moussaoui."

The sentence Moussaoui received was something of an eye-opener for him:

He [Moussaoui] also offered measured praise for the U.S. legal system he has spent the past four years attacking. Moussaoui said he lied on the stand because he assumed he would be executed "based on the emotions and anger toward me for the deaths on Sept. 11.'' But he was "extremely surprised" at the jury's verdict, he said, and now believes "it is possible I can receive a fair trial even with Americans as jurors.''

At first I thought the life in prison sentence was indeed fair. Reading this story I've come to realize Moussaoui's sentence was fair on two levels. First, even though Moussaoui pled guilty, there are some doubts as to how big a role he served. Second, if you receive the death sentance, your case is automaticaly appealed. With a life sentence, it isn't. Thus, disallowing him from having his pulpit, he's really hurting. Plus, he doesn't get all those virgins after death. So sorry, bud.

John Lennon's BeatleBox, The First iPod?

Yesterday, Apple Computer, Inc. won the lawsuit brought on by The Beatles. Steve Jobs then invited Apple Corps to release The Beatles catalog on the iTunes Music Store.

Today, we learned that it was actually John Lennon who invented the iPod. There's even video proof.

Top Ten Professor Comments

Last Friday was the last day of final exams for the Spring semester here at Penn State. Graduation ceremonies are scheduled for this weekend. One part of the end of semester rituals is the student evaluation of professors. There is a website where students can rate and comment on their professors at campuses across the nation.

Here are the top twenty comments from students regarding their professors at RateMyProfessors.com:

20. You can't cheat in her class because no one knows the answers.
19. His class was like milk, it was good for 2 weeks.
18. Houston, we have a problem. Space cadet of a teacher, isn't quite attached to earth.
17. I would have been better off using the tuition money to heat my apartment last winter.
16. Three of my friends got A's in his class and my friends are dumb.
15. Emotional scarring may fade away, but that big fat F on your transcript won't.
14. Evil computer science teaching robot who crushes humans for pleasure.
13. Miserable professor - I wish I could sum him up without foul language.
12. Instant amnesia walking into this class. I swear he breathes sleeping gas.
11. BORING! But I learned there are 137 tiles on the ceiling.
10. Not only is the book a better teacher, it also has a better personality.
9. Teaches well, invites questions and then insults you for 20 minutes.
8. This teacher was a firecracker in a pond of slithery tadpoles.
7. I learned how to hate a language I already know.
6. Very good course, because I only went to one class.
5. He will destroy you like an academic ninja.
4. Bring a pillow.
3. Your pillow will need a pillow.
2. If I was tested on her family, I would have gotten an A.
1. She hates you already.

Beatles Told To Let It Be

There is a long history to the whole legal issue between Apple Computer, Inc. and The Beatles, or more specifically, their record company, Apple Corps (Yes, it still exists).

This latest legal battle between the two Apples stems from a 1991 agreement by Apple Computer, Inc. to not get into the music making business. The Beatles thought the computer company had done so with the iPod and iTunes Music Store. That legal agreement came after Apple Corps sued Apple Computer because the computer company was offering the ability for musicians to connect musical instruments to their computers.

Here's what the Justice Edward Mann said:

I conclude that the use of the apple logo ... does not suggest a relevant connection with the creative work," he wrote in his judgment.

I think that the use of the apple logo is a fair and reasonable use of the mark in connection with the service, which does not go further and unfairly or unreasonably suggest an additional association with the creative works themselves.

According to that BBC News report,

But Mr Justice Edward Mann ruled that the computer company used the Apple logo in association with its store, not the music, and so was not in breach.

The Beatles not only lose, but have to pick up Apple Computer, Inc.'s legal bill, some £2 Million. Alas, all is not over yet.

Apple Corps manager Neil Aspinall said: With great respect to the trial judge, we consider he has reached the wrong conclusion.

We felt that during the course of the trial we clearly demonstrated just how extensively Apple Computer had broken the agreement.

We will accordingly be filing an appeal and putting the case again to the Court of Appeal.

While the conclusion may seem obvious, it is official and these are highly technical points. I would be surprised if Apple Corps wins on appeal.

There is scuttlebutt that the cash-strapped Michael Jackson may put what Beatles songs he owns up on the auction block. What if a certain Steve Jobs were to buy said songs.

Until something like that happens, don't hold your breath over The Beatles songs appearing on the iTunes Music Store anytime soon. Too bad though, that would be a win-win for everyone involved.

Or, as a recent episode of The Office noted, a "Win-Win-Win."

Innertubing

CBS has launched it's own streaming video content website called innertube. The site will feature replays of CBS shows and some original content.

Predictions Of The Future

"The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a 'mouse.' There is no evidence that people want to use these things."

-- John C. Dvorak, San Francisco Examiner, 19-02-1984

ASCII Maps

Sure, Google Maps is a cool thing but now we have the ability to view the maps as ASCII art. This harkens back to the days when people would make pictures out of letters.

Check out ASCII Maps for more of what I'm talking about.

Original Star Wars On DVD

Way back when, record engineer Glyn Johns helped make The Beatles' "Let It Be" album. The project got shelved and for some reason, Capitol brought in Phil Spector to re-produce the album. Johns over the years said that Spector came in, took what he did and simply puked all over it. Listen to the originally released version of "Let It Be" and the recently released Glyn Johns version, "Let It Be: Naked," and you'll hear what we're talking about.

George Lucas pretty much did the same thing but with his own original Star Wars trilogy. Rather than simply transfer the movies to DVD, he redid many scenes and special effects. Die-hard fans viewed the re-working as garbage.

Rant no longer ye Star Wars fans for great joy is at hand! For a limited time only, September 12 through December 31, you will be able to purchase two disc sets of the theatrical release versions of the original three movies (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi). The first disc contains the theatrical release while the second one contains the re-tooled version.

SOURCE

No Place To Go With An iPod

I read at TUAW.com a report about two trapped miners in Tasmania. While they have been stuck down there for eight days, thankfully, rescue efforts are going well and the miners should be out in roughly 48 hours. In the meantime, rescue crews used a PVC pipe to send in food, blankets and clothes along with several iPods to help the trapped miners while away the hours.

"They remain in good health and have now received iPods so they can listen to their favourite music."

A digital camera was also sent down so the miners could take pictures to show their surroundings and what is going on.

So instead of wondering what songs or albums you'd want to be stuck with on a deserted island, it's all about being stuck 3 miles under the Earth. Hopefully they got iPods that can play video.

Let Your Fingers Do The Walking

In last night's episode of The Sopranos, titled "Johnny Cakes," Vito, who was hiding from Tony's gang, stole a cell phone belonging to a guest in the bed and breakfast he was staying at in New Hampshire to call his wife back in New Jersey.

Why steal a cell phone rather than using a public telephone? With cell phones anymore, there is no such thing as a long distance call. Of course, if Vito had a calling card, using the public telephone would not have been an issue. Nonetheless, this was yet another sign of the technological times.

So far, part one of the final season of The Sopranos has been excellent. Once again, HBO shines over most mainstream media programming. Exceptions, in my opinion, would be Battlestar Galactica and Law & Order (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is besting the original series, Criminal Intent and Conviction right now).

CNN Late To The Story

"Viruses catch up to the Mac" declared the CNN.com story about "what security experts call the first virus for Mac OS X." Only problem is, the reporter of this story was asleep at the wheel on several counts.

First, according to TUAW.com, the unnamed virus was the Ooma-Loompa virus that was first reported back in February. Second, the Ooma-Loompa virus was a proof-of-concept that a security leak existed, which has since been shored up. Third, the story only mentioned two people being affected by the virus, hardly newsworthy and sounding more like a couple of guys hanging around the house looking for a story to write to fill a quota of sorts.

This is yet another example of how the general news media (CNN and other broadcast networks as well as many newspapers) messes up computer related news stories.

Another example. There was a headline which talked about the Ipod. Uhhh, it's an iPod. Another story wrote about a computer company called Apple Computers. A little bit of research at http://www.apple.com would show that the company's name is Apple Computer, Inc. It's right at the bottom of the main page.

Indeed, grammatical and spelling errors occur. I'm guilty of them myself. But to see something of a pattern in regard to regular news media versus news media related to computers...argh!

TurboTax Blog

The Tax Man has come and gone this year but it's never too late to start planning for 2006 taxes. The Intuit folks have set up a pretty darn informative weblog for TurboTax that is seriously worth checking out.

If you have Quicken and TurboTax but haven't really delved into setting up all the various categories for transactions, now is also a good time to do so and tag all your transactions to help speed up the tax form process. TurboTax can import Quicken data. I've never done this before so that's definitely a project for me this Summer, aside from maybe trying to dig into the Lord of the Ring trilogy.

Killing The Revolution

Nintendo has been working on a new videogame system which has gone by the name of "Revolution." Today, they announced the product's release name....Wii.

Yeah, that's what I said too.

Wii as in We, not Wee or Why. Why? Because we like it...not. Revolution was a better name.

Trust me, the online discussion boards are ripping this apart and coming up with phrases to show this was a really bad idea. Some are simply too naughty to print here.

Best. Cereal. Toy. Prize. Ever.

When I was a kid, we'd buy cereal based on what the cool toy prize was inside. Based on that, I should be eating Cheerios, Cookie Crisp, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms. For a limited time, iTunes Gift Certificates will be included in specially-marked boxes. This is all part of General Mills' Big Groove promotion. (source)

Too bad I'm cutting down on sugar.

One should probably chalk this up to yet another sign of the times and another indicator that the iPod has reached commonality.

Another sign o' the times? Apple is warning of counterfeit iPods. (source 1) (source 2)

3-Iron

While channel surfing the other night, I stopped on one of the movie channels showing a scene in which a guy was picking a lock to a house in the proper manor (not in the usual movie fashion of using one lock picking "knife", You actually use several.) Intrigued, I contined watching.

The movie, a Korean film with English subtitles, is called "Bin-jip" and known as "3 Iron" or "Empty Houses" overseas.

The guy breaks into the house and stays there for a few days, while the occupants are away on vacation. He makes meals, fixes things, keeps the place clean but steals nothing. He does this several more times during the film.

During one break-in, he stumbles upon a woman, sitting and crying. She has bruises on her face. During their encounter, not a word is spoken. In point of fact, not a word was spoken in the film up to this point, that I had been watching. The guy befriends the woman, helps to cheer her up and she eventually joins him on his breaking-and-entry spree until he ultimately gets caught and sent to prison.

At first look, it is a very quirky film. On deeper viewing, it is very intriguing with a very sad and touchy romantic story. Readers at the Internet Movie Database, gave the movie an 8 out of 10. I definitely concur.

The last non-English film I watched was "Dark Blue World" about a Czech pilot flying for the RAF during WWII. Both are great movies and worthy of viewing, even if you have to do a lot of English subtitle reading.

What's In A Name? Everything!

I am of the mindset that when you name your kids, you have to put some serious, serious thought behind it. Put it this way, look at the names of some of the famous people out there: Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Oprah Winfrey, Susan B. Anthony, Georges Seurat.

General William Tecumseh Sherman's middle name comes from the name of a famous Native American chief and it's so strong that it's worthy to have the great general's name completely spelled out.

So what the heck is up with Hollywood folks? Tom Cruise and his wife gave birth to a girl and named her Suri. Brooke Shields gave birth, hours before Tom and Katie, to a boy named Grier Hammond, which sounds a bit more realistic than Suri.

I wonder if Dweezil or Moon Unit have second thoughts about the names their late father, Frank Zappa gave them.

Sure, it's probably all that creativity stuff but hey, if you're going to throw caution to the wind with naming the child, why not go for something like Ocean, Boat or even Disney?

UPDATE - From Tom and Katie's prepared statement..."Both mother and daughter are doing well The name Suri has its origins in Hebrew, meaning “princess,” or in Persian, meaning 'red rose.'"

I suppose the meaning is OK but I can only imagine Suri Cruise going through life known as Surly Cruise or Sordid Cruise. Ocean or Boat might have been better. Seriously.

BSG & HSB

Ron Moore, producer of SciFi Channel's Battlestar Galactica, has been answering viewer questions in his blog. Here's an interesting one:

"Ron, on another board we've been having a discussion about the comparisons between Galactica and Hill Street Blues, which just came out on DVD (Season One). How much of a conscious foundation is HSB for BG?"

Hill Street Blues was definitely something of an archetype we looked to for developing the structure of the series. I made explicit reference to the show in our series bible and talked about how we would strive to emulate their structure as much as possible. That structure was, basically, to have a self-contained A-Story that would begin and end each week, with smaller character-centered B-Stories that would take place over a few episodes, and finally long-running C-Stories that would arc throughout the season. It was a starting place for a lot of story discussions and script meetings, but we didn't strictly adhere to the form, as you can see from the experimentation we did throughout the first season. The first seven episodes of season two roughly follow this format, but then we varied again from that structure for the rest of the season. Why didn't we hew more closely to the Hill Street format? Partly it's a result of not wanting the show to get so serialized as to be inaccessible to new viewers, and partly it's a result of continually wanting to try new things on the show and mix up the story-telling.

Hill Street Blues was an incredibly innovative television series and can probably stand as one of the five best American television series. I bought the season 1 DVD set and found it remarkable as to how well the show stands up to today, except for maybe the 1980s hairstyles.

Is the new Battlestar Galactica amongst the 10 best ever? Hard to say but it is, of the current shows on television, in my opinion, one of the top 10.

I Didn't Say That Or It Was Out Of Context

I love it when politicians and celebrities blab and say something they really shouldn't have and then fall over themselves as they offer excuses whilst pulling that foot out of the mouth. Truly embarassing. Best example to date is when Michael Douglas said this to GQ magazine about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's romance:

“leaving that beautiful woman (Jennifer Aniston) to go hold orphans for Angelina. I mean how long is that going to last?”

Now, of course, Douglas claims he never said that.

“I didn’t say it,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “I spent a number of hours in that interview, a lot of it on tape and when I asked the reporter … to play back the tape for me, I was told the tape was turned off, and it was something that was written down, and I just don’t buy that.”

Yeah, whatever. Take some lessons from Pat Robertson or any of our various elected officials like Hillary.

Whatever happened to the good old days when you got in front of a microphone and instinctively knew that certain statements or thoughts were simply not for public consumption?

More iPod Good Stuff: Virgin Atlantic Podcasts

In the previous post, I discussed walk tours of Dublin that you can download to your iPod. While traveling to St. Louis in February, I read that Virgin Atlantic has several podcast tours of cities like Cape Town, Johannesburg, London and New York, along with several more.

Check them out here.

Great iPod Uses: Walking Tour O' Dublin

Going to Dublin this Summer? Have an iPod? Then download some audio walking tours of Dublin.

Walks are podcast audio guides to Dublin from Dublin Tourism. These convenient guides tell the story of Dublin as spoken by their author, historian and artist, Pat Liddy. There are eleven themes covering many fascinating aspects of the city. You can download the guides and use them as free walking tour guides to the city, or you can just listen to them to discover the fascinating story of Dublin.

Get them at the Dublin Tourism iWalks site or from iTunes.

DeLay Threatens Ethics Charges Against McKinney

According to a story at Outsidethebeltway.com, Tom DeLay (R.-Texas) is quoted as saying that if no one else does it, he will file ethics charges against Cynthia McKinney (D.-Georgia).

Oh, the irony, if that were happen.

Frequent Flyer Miles or Frequent Sleeper Points?

For my last trip to St. Louis, I used some of my frequent flyer miles from South African Airways to obtain a Delta Airlines ticket. The problem was, there were so many restrictions on what flights I could get or what airports I could fly out of. Not only that, when I was traveling home, I got put on some sort of double-secret standby seating assignment list in Atlanta.

I asked the customer service rep what was up, didn't get a direct answer. I saw a flat screen monitor which provided details regarding the flight and saw there was still a spot open in first class. I told him that I was definitely on that flight, even if it meant putting me in business or first class. I obtained those tickets at least a month before the flight and was told seating was available.

My mood was heightened by the fact that I really hadn't eaten dinner and the smell of steak sandwiches from the restaurant next door didn't help. Luckily, he found a seat in economy class for me. I ended up sort of babysitting two girls who were traveling without their parents.

I have come to the conclusion, after my two recent visits to St. Louis on US Airways and Delta, that if you are in First or Business Class, you get special treatment. If you are in Economy, you get decent treatment. Using Frequent Flyer miles in Economy/Coach? You may have a heartbeat but you are dead to the airline.

So really, what's the value in frequent flyer miles if you have so many hurdles to getting a flight, which will probably be a red-eye flight?

Timing was perfect as I saw at CNN.com, a Fortune magazine article about Best Travel Reward Cards.

Their advice gels with my thinking about frequent flyer miles:

It's because they give you little bang for your buck and limit your options. Airlines are flying fewer planes with cheaper fares, while a record number of people are accumulating countless frequent flyer miles. That translates to fewer available reward tickets that are worth less and less. Plus by earning miles on one airline, you're severely limiting your options for your next vacation.

Instead, the article reports, turn your attention to credit cards or reward programs that give you points toward free hotel stay.

'For some reason, people seem to forget they spend more on an average hotel stay than they do on their airline fare to get there,' says Randy Peterson, editor of Inside Flyer Magazine. 'It just makes more sense to be invested in a hotel rewards program.'

Not only would you really be saving money, the hotel reward programs are a bit more flexible than air mile reward programs.

But while hotel rates are setting record highs, they're also relatively easy to find free. At Starwood (Research), the parent company for such brands as Westin, W, Sheraton, St. Regis and Le Meridian, you can use Starwood Preferred Guest points for any available room. (It's also pretty easy with the other big chains like Marriott, Hyatt or Hilton, but many have minor restrictions.)

[...]

That's because not only will accumulated Starpoints work for any of the more than 800 Starwood hotels, they can also be transferred to 30 different airlines. And best of all, for every 20,000 points transferred to an airline's frequent flyer account, you get a 5,000-mile bonus. 'It's as close to the Swiss Army Knife of rewards cards as it gets,' says Tim Winship who publishes FrequentFlier.com. 'It all comes down to simple math.'

I remember my stay at the Westin Bonaventure in Loss Angeles back in May of 1996. What a great hotel. So yeah, count me in. Too bad none of the hotels at Cape May offer frequent sleeper rewards. Then again, maybe that's not such a bad thing. One of Cape May's best qualities is that there aren't any hotel or restaurant chains.

State Of TV

Here's a run-down of what I think of the shows I watch on television (mostly on the weekend thanks to my lovely DVR):

ER - Stagnating. This show could go on and on but I think the scripts have been very lacking. I'm still trying to decide when this show "Jumped the Shark." Probably after George Clooney and Anthony Edwards left.

Law & Order - While still top notch, it's sister show, Special Victims Unit (SVU), has been getting better twists in the storyline. It's moving through the water nicely.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - Good scripts, great cast. Definitely on the quality level of Hill Street Blues.

The Office - Brilliant. It has been a long time since we've had a really good comedy on the level of Seinfeld, Friends, The Mary Tyler Moore Show or The Dick Van Dyke Show. Rarely have I seen a TV series where each episode is better than the previous one.

Battlestar Galactica - The season finale for season 2.5 really solidified this series as being one of the best things on TV right now. As I've said before, I'm not a huge Science Fiction fan but this series is more than SciFi, very character-driven, which is what I like.

McLeod's Daughters - This is one of the top-rated dramas in Australia, about two sisters who run a ranch in South Australia. An honor that is very much deserved. The ensemble cast is probably one of the best I've seen and the stories are very positive. Not the usual nastiness you'd see on a regular soap opera. What I also like is the fact that the ranch the show is filmed on is actually owned by the network. They have a real station hand managing all the animals that live on the property. The series has been broadcast here in the States on Women's Entertainment Network (WE). Unfortunately, WE has decided not to bring any new episodes to our side of the ocean, cancelling the show. Instead, they'd rather show stupid stuff like "Bridezilla" or John Edwards' psychic talk show. Hopefully another network will see that this is definitely quality TV and add McLeod's Daughters to their list.

Couric to CBS?

Talk is rampant as Katie Couric's contract with NBC nears expiration. The big guess is that Couric will leave NBC and the Today Show and become the Evening News anchor at CBS.

This is more of a gamble than one would think. Couric is great as a co-host of a morning news show but as a evening news anchor? Since Bob Schieffer took over the anchor position from Dan Rather, ratings for The CBS Evening news have gone up. Schieffer, 69, however, has indicated that he does not want to keep the anchor job.

My guess is that since Couric is not a news anchor in the traditional sense, it seems that CBS may be wanting to change the format of the CBS Evening News, break away from the other two mainstream media broadcast networks and offer something oriented to a younger audience.

Right now, I watch the Fox Report with Shepard Smith. His style is not as dour as that of the regular broadcast network news. Sure, it's a little flashy but at least it's upbeat.

April Fool's Day at The Office

During last night's episode of The Office, there were several spoof "The More You Know" public service announcements that were very funny. Check them out here.

Remember, eat saltines responsibly.

iTMS TV Show Season Passes

According to TUAW.com, you are now able to buy iTunes Music Store season passes for television shows like Desperate Housewives, Ghost Hunters and Lost. In other words, pay one price, get all of the season episodes you can download to computer and iPod.

I agree with one person who commented, "A season is what, usually 22 episodes? So you would save about 10 bucks using a season pass over buying every show. If they do this with Battlestar Galactica next season (in fraking OCTOBER) , I would probably do it."

First, I'd need to buy one of the new iPods that can allow you to view video. I'm just waiting to see if some of the rumors I'm hearing about the "true" video iPod come true. Watching BSG on a boring plane flight would be so cool and watching on an iPod would be so much more convenient than using a laptop. Early birthday gift hint folks!

By the way, if you are puzzled about that word, "frak," it is spelled correctly and is a swear word used by the Battlestar Galactica fleet members. No, it is not a replacement for another certain F word that Lenny Bruce used to extoll on.

Battlestar Galactica Comic Book

SciFi's Battlestar Galactica fans like myself can rejoice. While we wait for season 2.5 to be released on DVD in September and season 3 to start in October, there will be a comic book version to help us bide the time.

Dynamite Entertainment will release a Battlestar Galactica series starting in May. In an interview, the main writer behind the series, Greg Pak, said the comic book events will occur during the middle of season 2 of Battlestar Galactica, before Battlestar Pegasus joins up with the fleet.

It has been a long time since I stepped into a comic book store (no one I know here in Pennsylvania plays Magic: The Gathering) but for Battlestar Galactica, oh yes.

The season 2.5 finale episode was so incredible; it's going to be a long wait until October.

Background music: Ode To Joy

Hollywood Has Lost Originality

A new James Bond film, bringing Dallas and Welcome Back Kotter to the big screen. Does anyone need further proof that Hollywood is running out of original ideas for movies?

Sure, I'll go see Casino Royale in November but I'm sure the typical James Bond movie formula will be followed. The movie will start with some sort of action sequence in which our villain does a nasty deed and we later see Bond evading capture or death in a different mission and possibly falling into a love seat with some beautiful woman. The credits will play with some silly Bond related song. Then we'll have Bond show up at the office, flirt with Moneypenny and show off his knowledge of whatever M wants to chat about regarding his new mission. Bond will then search for clues, meet beautiful women, get captured, escape two or three times, blow up cars and kill bad guys and then blow up the HQ of Evil Dude with the help of the British Royal Marines, U.S. 101st Airborne and end the movie floating on a boat in the middle of nowhere with some fair maiden.

Does Dallas or Welcome Back Kotter really need to move from TV series to movie screen? Can anyone really replace the original cast?

There is also talk of a Magnum, PI movie...without Tom Selleck. The saving grace I suppose is that there's a rumor that George Clooney or Vince Vaughn might play the role of Thomas Magnum. If Clooney were to do the role and Donald Bellesario was attached to the flick, I'd be mildly interested. I'd rather, however, see the original cast and Magnum's grown-up daughter (probably have some sort of plot with Magnum and friends rescuing his daughter from kidnappers). Then again, the series ended with Magnum re-enlisting in the Navy and walking away from the camera holding his daughter's hand.

But, come on Hollywood! Get original again! Did we really need a three hour kinda, sorta remake of King Kong?

The Best Ensemble TV Shows

TVSquad.com had a list of what a writer considered to be the best ensemble cast TV shows. Here are my picks:

1. Hill Street Blues - I've been watching the first season on DVD. Amazing how the show still holds up today, compared to Friends. Easily one of the five best TV series ever in America.

2. ER - The early years with Anthony Edwards, George Clooney, Juliana Margolies, Noah Wylie, etc.

3. The Sopranos - Paulie would have a fit if they weren't.

4. The Wire - Brilliant HBO series that has very deep stories and sometimes you really need to keep track of the characters but the whole thing just clicks.

5. The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

6. WKRP In Cincinnati

7. Newsradio - Phil Hartman is sorely missed. Easily one of the greatest comedians to grace the screen. So funny. I'll never forget the poker game episode.

8. Seinfeld.

9. Friends - Hard to say about this show because there was only really four ensemble members, compared to Hill Street Blues or The Wire.

10. Monty Python's Flying Circus - Probably cheating a little bit because you could then probably include the original "Not ready for primetime" troupe from the first several years of Saturday Night Live.

I would list MASH but really, the focus of the show was Hawkeye Pierce, played by Alan Alda. The same goes for Deadwood, focus for that show was on Al Swearengen and Seth Bullock.

My Cinderella

The NCAA Basketball Championship tourney tips off today at Noon. Oh yeah, there was the silly play-in game yesterday but I already have Villanova beating whoever that was...Monmouth State?

Back in 1999 I thought one team in particular would go all the way from the bottom of the pack as the Cinderella team. And the did get to the final eight. Gonzaga is probably not so much of a cinderella team this year because they've made it into the tourney several times now and they are a really strong team this year. Thus, my pick to win it all is Gonzaga.

Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated has this list of how a true Cinderella team should be defined. The only one I'd have to agree with is the first one. Think about Austin Peay a couple years back when they came out of the blue and beat the heavily favored University of Illinois Fighting Illini, only to lose in the next game.

1. First and foremost, a Cinderella should be able to pass the basic fan litmus test, which is not having the slightest idea where the school is located.

2. A team cannot be considered a Cinderella if it's reached the Elite Eight (No. 12 Kent State, No. 14 Xavier) or Sweet 16 (No. 5 Nevada, No. 11 Wisconsin-Milwaukee) within the past few years.

3. A team cannot be considered a Cinderella if it comes from a conference that's produced a recent Final Four team (No. 11 San Diego State and No. 13 Air Force of the Mountain West, Utah's conference).

4. A team cannot be considered a Cinderella if it was seeded in the upper half of the bracket just last year (No. 13 Pacific).

5. Finally, it goes without saying that no team from the Missouri Valley (No. 7 Wichita State, No. 10 Northern Iowa, No. 11 Southern Illinois and No. 13 Bradley) can be considered a Cinderella, seeing as the league was rated higher than the Pac-10 this season. (This, of course, does not apply to Nantz and Packer, who apparently consider anyone outside of the big-six to be in Division III).

Sadly though, given the powerhouses in men's collegiate basketball, I wonder if the idea of a Cinderella team winning the tourney is endangered.

Port Management For Sale

DP World said they are seeking buyers for the rights to manage six U.S. ports. Haliburton anyone?

Charles Schumer, D-New York said this:

'It now seems clear that this deal has finally been scuttled, and it is good news for keeping our country secure,' Schumer said in a statement. 'This announcement, once it is fulfilled, is exactly what we've been asking for. We will keep a watchful eye and our legislation at the ready until this deal is finally done.'

So what about the other ports managed by companies from other countries? There are a number of other ports managed by a different UAE company. I guess going after one company is good enough. Pat yourself on the back Mr. Schumer.

I hope the company that buys DPWorld's management rights is Haliburton. I want to see the stink that raises, even though it shouldn't. Haliburton is an American company and is best capable of such a job.

The Xbox 360 Is Back

I received my Xbox 360 back from Microsoft yesterday. That part is great. And so is the fact that after 30 minutes of game time, there were no lock-ups. The part that has me miffed though is the fact that Microsoft chose to send me a refurbished unit, rather than repair mine. The reason, as stated in the letter included in the body-box, was to allow me to get back to gaming right away.

As Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry once said, "Mighty White of you."

I received a brand new Xbox 360 as a Christmas and birthday gift and I get a used unit in return? Hardly seems right. I'd rather have my game console, not someone else's that looks a little worn out (the serial number info on the back was faded).

I'm sure the reason for not sending me a new console was because of the continued shortage of units for sale. More units are getting out into the world but that is happening slowly.

In other gaming news, Sony announced yesterday that the Playstation 3 system, originally slated for a March release, has been pushed back to November 2006. I doubt I'll get one right away. I'm busy doing the bleeding edge thing with the Xbox 360.

The Tale Of The Slow SUV In The Snow

Middle March, Early Spring Junk Weather.

This past weekend was warm and enticingly Spring-like but Mother Nature was in a cruel mood and decided to put Winter back in the mix. Overnight, we received about a quarter inch of snow, if that much. It must have warmed up because it was icy, slushy, snowy this morning. While the roads weren't terrible, there were patches of ice to be concerned about.

As I was driving up North Atherton Street to get to work, I saw a metallic brown Honda Pilot SUV driving more slowly than a car in a funeral procession, holding up many cars behind it. Most people buy SUVs with the assumption that it will do better than other vehicles on roads during adverse conditions. So here's a nice SUV (if I were to buy an SUV, the Honda Pilot would be my choice. Probably red or blue...) holding up traffic as the driver negotiated the roads, which were not all that bad. Ugh!

Most of the SUV drivers I've seen on dangerous roads usually fly down the road thinking they are invincible superhero types. I've often seen those Superman or Superwoman wannabes with their SUVs in the ditch at the side of the road.

Now I'm safely at work. I'm sure the Pilot owner was late.

Hayes Departs South Park

I read that Isaac Hayes quit South Park "citing the show's 'inappropriate ridicule' of religion." Matt Stone, co-creator of South Park, said Hayes,

...was upset the show had recently lampooned the Church of Scientology, of which Hayes is an outspoken follower.

"In ten years and over 150 episodes of 'South Park,' Isaac never had a problem with the show making fun of Christians, Muslim, Mormons or Jews," Stone said in a statement issued by the Comedy Central network.

"He got a sudden case of religious sensitivity when it was his religion featured on the show."

He added: "Of course we will release Isaac from his contract, and we wish him well."

South Park started out as a short animated film which took a satirical look at the Christmas holiday and Santa versus Jesus.

Sopranos Return, Finally!

No spoilers here but let's just say The Sopranos season opener was worth the wait the hype. I don't think HBO has to worry about ABC and Desperate Housewives. The goings-on on Wisteria Lane pale by comparisons to the deep story lines on The Sopranos. Not only that, the dark humor is far more effective.

I have to brush up on the cast because I haven't watched the show since Tony ran off, letting Johnny Sack get busted by the FBI in 2004.

There is one shocking scene (whew!) in this week's episode to remind you that this is clearly not for children. I don't care if you do let the kids see South Park.

The Simpsons, Live!

There is a live-action version of the opening credits for the animated Matt Groening television series, The Simpsons, floating around the internet.

According to TVSquad.com,

...the video is part of a...marketing campaign by UK broadcasting network, Sky. The network and its ad agency created the dead-on, live-action video as part of an on-air promotion for The Simpsons. They even had the blessings of Simpsons producers and creator Matt Groening. The ad gurus thought it was so cool that they decided to launch it on the internet and just let word-of-mouth go to work for them. Obviously, they were successful. The video is huge right now...

Youtube.com has it but the video quality isn't that good. Instead, go here to view the video in one of two different formats.

Barry Bonds? Steroids? Noooooooo Waaaaaaay!

Sports Illustrated has a photo gallery of Bonds' expanding physique.

If we can absolutely prove Bonds' drug use, his name should be stricken from the home run record. He doesn't deserve to break Aaron's record.

Then again, how do we know Aaron didn't use steroids? Just throwing the question out there.

Another thought. Bud Selig, baseball commissioner said it would be impossible to remove steroid users from the history books. Well, uh, if we focus on Bonds where's the difficulty? If Pete Rose can be punished for gambling, Bonds should be punished for drug use. The commissioner should be asking the umpire for some new balls.

So, Who Likes Cube Farms?

CNN.com has a story in which Robert Probst, the person who invented the Cubicle, thought it was a bad idea.

After years of prototyping and studying how people work, and vowing to improve on the open-bullpen office that dominated much of the 20th century, Propst designed a system he thought would increase productivity (hence the name Action Office). The young designer, who also worked on projects as varied as heart pumps and tree harvesters, theorized that productivity would rise if people could see more of their work spread out in front of them, not just stacked in an in-box.

The new system included plenty of work surfaces and display shelves; partitions were a part of it, intended to provide privacy and places to pin up works in process. The Action Office even included varying desk levels to enable employees to work part of the time standing up, thereby encouraging blood flow and staving off exhaustion.

But inventions seldom obey the creator's intent. "The Action Office wasn't conceived to cram a lot of people into little space," says Joe Schwartz, Herman Miller's former marketing chief, who helped launch the system in 1968. "It was driven that way by economics."

Businesses saw the cubicle as a way to cheaply build offices and cram people into those big rooms.

The upshot: A company could recover its costs quicker if it purchased cubes. When clients told Herman Miller of that unexpected benefit, it became a new selling point for the Action Office. After only two years on the market, sales soared. Competitors took notice.

That's when Propst's original vision began to fade. "They kept shrinking the Action Office until it became a cubicle," says Schwartz, now 80. As Steelcase, Knoll, and Haworth brought their versions to market, they figured out that what businesses wanted wasn't to give employees a holistic experience. The customers wanted a cheap way to pack workers in.

Propst's workstations were designed to be flexible, but in practice they were seldom altered or moved at all. Lined up in identical rows, they became the dystopian world that three academics described as "bright satanic offices" in a 1998 book, Workplaces of the Future.

Designer Douglas Ball, for instance, remembers the first installation of cubicles he created for a Canadian company in 1972. "I thought I'd be excited, but I came out depressed," says Ball, now 70. "It was Dilbertville. I'd failed to visualize what it would look like when there were so many of them."

My entire career, until I started work here in the College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State, has been spent in cubicles. Probably the most extreme use of cubicles I've ever seen was during my tenure at Gateway Computers in North Sioux City, South Dakota. There was one huge office just packed to the gills with a "cube farm." It was insane to see that many people packed into one room.

In the movie, Office Space, the hero used a drill to dismantle his cubicle. I just love that scene. If you haven't seen thise movie and you are an office place veteran, you owe it to yourself to see this silly movie.

My office may be in a computer network server room but it has four real walls and a door.

Office place nirvana.

The Mysteries of Airfare Pricing

I received the usual junk mail from Expedia.com about upcoming special airfare rates and there was this list:

From State College (SCE) to:
Atlanta (ATL) - $336.00
Boston (BOS) - $354.00
Denver (DEN) - $424.00
Atlantic City (ACY) - $680.00

My guess as to why flying to Atlantic City, which probably isn't more than 40 minutes by air, is so expensive may be because it's a direct flight. Or, they might do something inane like make you fly to Harrisburg, Pittsburgh or Philadelphia then hop on a connecting flight to Atlantic City. Which wouldn't surprise me.

I'm using frequent flyer miles for my next trip to St. Louis. Can't fly out of State College, need to drive to Pittsburgh, there's only two possible flights and they go to Atlanta, GA first before connecting to St. Louis.

When will airline companies get more consumer-friendly?

White Tea

Wen-Yi sent me some Ten Ren white tea to help keep me healthy. I've never had white tea before. Imagine green tea without the "grassy" taste but with all the healthy benefits. After an initial taste that told me this was really good stuff, I added a little bit of lemon juice and really love it.

On the other hand, I tried sugar-free Red Bull this morning. I don't drink coffee and I've sworn off regular soda because of all the sugar so maybe this would be the kick I need some mornings. Nada. The taste is one that is truly acquired. I'd much rather drink Coca Cola's Vault Zero or sugar-free Mountain Dew MDX. I really like the taste of Vault Zero. There's even a website devoted to Vault fans called Vaultkicks.org.

Obviously, I should, and will, choose white tea over soda.

Get BSG Free

You can get a free episode of Battlestar Galactica from the iTunes Music Store when you purchase the March 6 issue of TV Guide. The episode can be viewed either on your computer or iPod (the one that shows video).

I am normally not a huge science fiction fan but BSG is fantastic and, in the words of one reader at The Unofficial Apple Weblog, makes "Star Trek look like Sesame Street."

Another reader hit the nail on the head with this comment about the show:

Battlestar Galactica is one of the best shows on television. If you're staying away from it, because you are old enough to remember the campy 70's version, or because sci-fi is for kids, you are missing out! It's one of the best written shows I've seen since The West Wing!

It's more of a character driven drama, than a sci-fi show. It has more in common with Law and Order or ER, than Star Trek. Star Trek was a space opera. Law and Order is a Drama in a police setting. ER is a Drama in a hospital setting. Battlestar is just another Drama, but on a military space vessel, about real people dealing with survival.

It's got great actors like Edward James Olmos, and Mary McDonnel, and an amazingly talented young supporting cast.

I concur. It is set to be recorded automatically for me every Friday night on the SciFi Channel at 10pm.

Speaking of which, I need to ensure my DVR is set to record The Sopranos when it returns March 12, this Sunday, at 9pm. Welcome back Tony, nice to see ya!

Theatre Or DVD, That Is The Question

During the Oscars ceremony last night, the president of the Academy of Arts and Sciences went out on stage to talk about why the movie theatre is a better venue for watching a movie than at home on the DVD player.

Sure, that may be true at some top tier theatres across the country but don't tell me that if you haven't watched a movie in either of the two Carmike Cinemas here in State College, PA. The seats are worn out and uncomfortable, the heat is jacked-up, the floors are messy, the screens have tears and are very worn out as well as too small and the sound systems stink.

Then there's the people who are in the theatre. Some don't turn their cell phones off, talk during the movie or kick the back of my seat. Getting out of your seat to go to the bathroom can be a chore if the entire row is filled.

Additionally, tickets and concessions are overpriced and the popcorn is stale.

After seeing all three Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies, my biggest complaint is the lack of an intermission. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was close to four hours long, which really tested the patience of my bladder. Maybe I should show my discontent with this by bringing a big cup, filling it up during the movie and leave it at the manager's desk with a note thanking him for making us endure a four hour movie without intermission.

You don't have to spend a lot of money to set up your own home theatre. The reward is ability to have an intermission, watching with your friends, great sound, good climate control, healthy and fresh concessions. Best of all, if you have a family, things are cheaper. Not only that, if you have a nice widescreen TV, the video quality can be better.

Here's another plus for a home theatre most people don't think about. If you are hard of hearing or deaf, the DVD usually has closed-captioning. I've only seen one movie, ever, at a theatre, offer closed captioning for the deaf or hard of hearing and that was only at the 2pm showing.

The idea of a simultaneous theatrical and DVD release of a movie is a good one. I don't think theatre sales will suffer because for some movies, like Dances With Wolves or the Lord of the Rings trilogy, viewing on the big screen is best. Scary Movie 3 can be relegated to the DVD rental or viewing via one of the premium cable movie channels unless you want to just get out of the house.

SOURCE

The Problem With Headlines

CNN.com offered this as a headline for a top news story today:

Croat Serb leader commits suicide

This is another one I found at Newsvine.com:

Former Serb Rebel Leader Commits Suicide

While the second headline is a little bit more accurate both show the problem of headlines for news stories. Because of lettering constraints (usually in the traditional print medium), headlines may not be able to tell the proper story. Maybe the headline should have read as, "Convicted Balkan War Criminal Commits Suicide."

Incidentally, it was Foxnews.com that offered the best history of that scumbag's man's role in the horrible war in the Balkans.

Airport Security. It Works

When I recently flew to St. Louis, I made sure not to take my Swiss Army Knife and nail clippers, even though the Transportation Safty Administration has said such items can be packed in checked-in luggage. I just wanted to play it safe and would be unhappy if my Swiss Army Knife was confiscated.

I read the following news story and have lots of questions:

A 30-year-old Madisonville man was arrested at Louis Armstrong International Airport after security screeners found five knives, 44 rounds of ammunition and 8 grams of crystal methamphetamine in his baggage.
Screeners on Concourse B said they found the knives, bullets for a 9 mm and drugs in the lining of a bag belonging to Louis Bayhi III, along with several lighters, a can of lighter fluid and a "glass smoking device."
Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies said Bayhi was taken into custody Friday night and questioned but did not make any statement.
Deputies booked him at the East Bank Lockup in Metairie with possession of methamphetamine.

So many questions. Did he think he would honestly get the stuff through customs? Where was the pistol? All this just to celebrate Mardi Gras?

Oy!

Blogging The Olympics

I watched less of the Winter Olympics than I thought I would. Probably because there weren't enough stories about the venues themselves. Fortunately, some folks who are over there for the events have been blogging away and providing great info on Torino, Turin and Italian culture.

One blog is run by a NBC Sports crewmember, Little Lost Robot. I love his stories about venturing into the marketplace, behind the scenes stuff with the NBC crew and a great video of his driver.

When I visit Italy, I hope to head up to Torino.

Cold And Flu Supplies

I feel so guilty that during the past three weeks, I have gone through so much "facial tissue."

I say it that way because I use Puffs instead of Kleenex. The type of tissue you use can really make or break your comfort level while enduring a cold, fever or flu.

While I was in St. Louis two weeks ago, I had to use the tissues provided by the hotel which eventually irritated my nose. Wen-Yi gave me a packet of tissues to use and those were much better. The packaging said Kimberly-Clark Taiwan and the rest of the text is in Chinese script.

As mentioned last week, I've found that I really like the new Tylenol Cold & Flu Severe and Tylenol Cough & Sore Throat medicine. Both are in liquid form and offer an unusual almost instantaneous cooling effect in the sinuses. 

In the past, I've used Alka Seltzer Plus Cold, orange flavor, but the Tylenol stuff seems more heavy duty.

I need to restock on Puffs very soon. I hate killing trees to help me sneeze.

Hmmm...that rhymes.

Blogger Widgets!

Google showed support for the Mac by posting some new widgets. One for sending quick posts to your blog, another to read email and yet another to view your Google search history.

Get the widgets here:

http://www.google.com/macwidgets/

Freedom of Speech Will Not Be Stopped

The Danish cartoons Muslim extremists are protesting against can be found here:

Outsidethebeltway.com

michellemalkin.com

Both of these sites said they were victims of Denial of Service attacks to their websites because they continue to keep the cartoons posted at their websites. While that's a denial of Freedom Of Speech, I certainly wish that was the only thing the Islamic protesters were doing. At least people wouldn't be losing their lives in a DOS attack.

WInter Olympics Torino 2006 Opening Ceremonies

I watched most of the opening ceremonies for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino Italy last night.

My point of reference for the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies is the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Many people consider that to be the best Winter Olympics to date. The opening ceremony celebrated the history and folklore of Norway in a very imaginative way.

Here are some of my observations:

- As a guy, all the stuff with fire was pretty cool but I still don't understand what it had to with the Games or Torino Italy.

- Same goes for the Ferrari spinning around on the ice. Nice car but yaaawwwwwnnnn...

- NBC News anchor Brian Williams helped with announcing while the atheletes marched into the stadium. Instead of focussing on the atheletes or Olympic trivia, Williams noted the Muslim cartoon issue when the Danes walked out, China's human rights history and other political tidbits. It's a freakin' sports event. The Cold War is over and hey, let's focus on the athletes. TVSquad.com had the same opinion. Time to flip over to Battlestar Galactica.

- Oh hey, Alberto Tomba ran in with the torch. Finally, something related to Italy! Hopefully he wasn't partying the night before.

- Yoko Freakin' Ono? Uh, She's not Italian and she doesn't have anything to do with the Olympics and yet there she was, talking about world peace and John Lennon. Good thing I was chatting on the phone with my friend, Wen-Yi, at the time. Couldn't figure out who it was that then sang Lennon's "Imagine." I was too busy enjoying a nice conversation with Wen-Yi.

- The dancers climbing onto a wall and forming a huge dove was pretty cool.

- I loved the fireworks.

I watched from 8pm to 10pm but then I had to decide between watching the ceremonies or flipping over to the SciFi Channel to watch Battlestar Galactica. After hearing Brian Williams talk about current world events rather than Olympic history I focussed more on BSG.

As compared to the Lillehammer Games, I'd score these opening ceremonies as a C-. Hopefully the sports events provide the magic the opening ceremonies didn't.

Blogging The Commute

Saw this at TUAW.com this morning. Some guy has a video blog of his daily commute between his home in San Francisco and Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, in the morning and in the evening.

If you look closely at when he leaves work in the evening, you can see, as he drives on Mariani to turn onto de Anza Blvd, a building across the street with slanted concrete in front of the windows. That's the building I was in while working on Apple's eWorld project. My apartment was a few blocks behind that, on Stelling Road.

A side note, that building, now owned by someone else, was the first business building for Apple and was known as Mariani 1. The original Mac OS X project, Copeland, was on the second floor.

MacGyver Returns

Ever since the clever Mastercard commercial featuring Richard Dean Anderson reprising his MacGyver role was released during Super Bowl XL has been talked about quite a bit, especially on the internet.

If you aren't familiar with the show, MacGyver was this pretty darn resourceful guy who could do things like make a laser out of gum wrapper, a pin and his ever present Swiss Army Knife. When someone adapts and improvises things using various odd parts, that person is said to have "MacGyver'ed that."

Wikipedia.org has a great list of all the things MacGyver made on the show. This is one of the many reasons why I like Wikipedia.

By the way, all but one link in this post goes to a Wikipedia.org page. It's that cool a website.

The "Peaceful" Riots

The riotous protests by Muslims to the published cartoons featuring the image of Mohammend continues.

Michelle Malkin is all over this and includes a transcript from a Danish television interview of Alan Dershowitz. Like her, I don't always agree wth Dershowitz but he is on the money with his comments on the whole debacle.

The Iranian prime minister is calling on people to rename Danish pastries as Mohammed pastries. Go for it. I'd rather they did that than burn buildings or kill people.

It may not be PC to say this but man oh man, some people need to learn to relax.

Retro TV

Hill Street Blues has finally made it to DVD with the release of the first of six seasons last week.

So far, I've watched the first four episodes. Hill Street Blues was probably one of the finest television series ever and still holds up today. The only parts that look dated are the hairstyles (big 80s hairdos), eyeglasses (again, big was in) and the cars. The acting was brilliant and the scripts were superb.

I also bought the first season of The Rat Patrol. This series was only on TV for two years, 1966 through 1968. I watched it during 4th and 5th grade, while our family lived in Tempe, Arizona.

Also while living in Arizona, I would sneak out of my bedroom around 10 pm at night and watch reruns of The Wild, Wild West with Dad. The first season of that show will be released on DVD in June.

The final two seasons of M*A*S*H will be released on DVD this year (May and probably December).

With all these releases of old TV shows, it's no surprise that this segment of the DVD market is the most successful. Nostalgia always sells.

In my humble opinion, these are the best shows that have been on American TV:

M*A*S*H
Hill Street Blues
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Seinfeld
The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Pickles for Valentine's Day?

Slashfood.com was pushing pickles as a very romantic gift for Valentine's Day. Be it Pickle of the Month or a four month subscription to receive all of the flavors in Van Holten's Pickle-in-a-pouch.

Seems odd? Well, the writer of the story confessed to giving his sweetheart a jar of rollmops for Valentine's Day. Yeah, nothing says hot romance like a jar of herrings.

Observations From Super Bowl XL

Seattle has the "12th Man"? Uh, no, Texas A&M does, see ya in court, Slick.

Best ads were probably Mastercard's "A Narrow Escape" (featuring Richard Dean Anderson reprising his "MacGyver" role), Hummer's "Jennifer Loves the Robot," Budweiser's "Clydesdale American Dream," FedEx's "Stick," and Aleve's clever Leonard Nimoy ad.

Adelphia earned major bonus points for adding ABC HD to their lineup the Friday before the game. Pennsylvania, Steelers, Super Bowl, people wanting more HD channels on Adelphia, pretty much something that had to be done and by 5pm Friday February 3, it was a done deal. By the way, I watched the second half on ABC HD (my parents don't have HD) and it was friggin' nice.

As one sports website said, the Seahawks had enough good moments but not enough of them.

The problem with the Seattle Seahawks team colors is that the dark blue is nothing compared to the very noticeable Steelers yellow. The yellow Terrible Towels versus that odd muted yellow-green tinsel thang the Seahawks fans waved. The Steelers fans were far more noticeable.

Aretha Franklin was doing a duet with Aaron Neville for the National Anthem with Dr. John on piano? Very strange pairing but wow, Aretha certainly gives an incredibly emotional performance.

I missed the Rolling Stones halftime performance. But hey, with forty years of concert performances, I'm sure Mick, Keith, Charlie and Bill have the whole thing down and it was excellent. Still, to see a 63 year-old strutting around the stage like some teen sex symbol was odd.

Roethlisberger did score that touchdown in the first half. The football did touch the end zone. The ball briefly went onto the line before Ben pulled the ball toward his chest to prevent a fumble.

That play that had Randle El throwing the ball for a touchdown was probably the play of the game. It's one of those razzle-dazzle plays that rarely works but Randle El is a former quarterback and was able to beautifully pull the play together. I loved how Cowher and company gambled in this game to prove the old Bear Bryant saying, "Make things happen."

I thought Jerome Bettes would do something symbolic for his retirement announcement but when you are standing on a podium with so many millions of people watching and holding that trophy, that's enough. Bettes is a class act. Good luck on your future!

HMS Daring: iPod Enabled

Oh, so your new Honda Accord (as of 2005) or BMW allows you to connect an iPod to the stereo system? Bah! The British Navy has you beat.

The newly launched HMS Daring, is boasted to be amongst the fleet's deadliest ships:

Among the battery of state-of-the-art equipment is a new Principal Anti-Air Missile System, which can trace and destroy hostile objects as small a cricket ball travelling at three times the speed of sound. Its range is effective over a radius of several hundred miles.

Her PAAMS air defence missiles are the size of a public phone boxes, weigh
two thirds as much as a small car and from launch accelerate to a speed twice
that of Concorde in under 10 seconds.

Ah, but what about creature comforts for the crew?

HMS Daring's 230-strong crew should be happy too. She and her sisters will be the first "gender-neutral" warships to enter Royal Navy service, and the Hotel Facilities, as the living quarters are known, are the most opulent ever fitted in a British warship. Mess decks are replaced by individual cabins, each with their own I-pod [sic] charging points, CD player, internet access, five channel recreational audio and larger berths.

As TUAW.com put it, "I can almost hear the cries now, 'Damn the torpedoes, men, it's new music Tuesday!'"

Lord Nelson never had it so good.


SOURCE

Banned? But I Watched It Yesterday.

The Chinese government has decided, ahead of the planned February 9 release in that country, the movie Memoirs of a Geisha.

The problem with that ban is that many people in China have already seen the movie. This may be a little hard to believe given that neither the movie remains unreleased in China and the DVD for the movie has not been published anywhere yet.

Thank the huge amount of movie piracy going on in China for that ban having no strength behind it. According to Cinematical.com, roughly 95% of the DVDs available in the country are of pirated movies.

Ah, sweet irony.

Now maybe the Chinese government will finally start to really crack down on movie and software piracy.

Signs of the Time

Nikon said it will stop production of all film cameras except for two, the F6 and FM10.

Western Union, after 145 years, will no longer send telegrams. If you go to their website and click on the option to send a telegram, you will see this:

Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact a customer service representative.

Western Union is still here for awhile. They refocussed their business on money wire transfers years ago. According to the news story, "Revenues are now $3 billion annually."

Punxsutawney Phil "Predicts"...

Six freakin' more weeks of Winter.

New movie: "Kill Phil"

Read

Does Insurance Cover War Injuries?

This past Sunday, ABC News' Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were traveling with Iraqi security forces filming a news story. Their vehicle was hit by an Improvised Explosive Device, severely injuring both. They were evacuated to the US military hospital in Germany and arrived today in the United States for further treatment in Bethesda, Maryland.

Vogt is fairing much better than Woodruff, who is said to barely be opening his eyes. Woodruff was supposed to take over as co-anchor of ABC News.

So, what happens with Woodruff's medical bills? Will his health insurance provide coverage even though the injuries were sustained in an area where a state of war exists?

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Cool Little Apps

Once in awhile, out comes a cool little application that does a small thing yet does it well. That's the case with coconutWiFi.

This little app allows Mac users to quickly see a list of discovered WiFi networks in the computer's wireless range and select one to use. The program will also tell, through color-coding, which network is open or closed. Keep in mind however, that some states or local governments view using someone else's network without permission as tresspassing or worse.

This program was written by a 22 year-old student in Germany. Cool stuff.

The Ring For Singles

The problem with Valentine's Day is that unless you have a significant other you can hang with on that day for dinner or a nice, quiet evening at home, that day can really bug some folks. Then there are those who basically want to flaunt the fact that they don't have to buy chocolates, roses, dinner or naughtier items for their girlfriend or boyfriend.

Singelringen, a Swedish jewelry maker asked, at their website, if there are friendship rings, engagement rings, wedding rings, why not a ring for singles?

Yep, you got it, the Singles Ring. Get yours today!

Is there a divorce ring?

Try Not to Give Out Your SSN

Before Christmas, I received a letter from my mortgage provider saying that DHL lost one of their mainframe tapes that had my records on it. I was none too happy since just about everything needed to steal my identity was on that tape. The mortgage company offered to provide free credit checks for six or nine months (can't remember which) but that really didn't offer any sense of relief.

Just after New Year's, I received a letter saying they recovered the tape. Think I'll use DHL for shipping? There was definitely a sigh of relief.

If you are going to have any sort of New Year resolutions, make two to buy a shredder and shred confidential documents and resist requests for your Social Security Number.

This is no easy task. Chris Hibbert at totse.com offers some suggestions:

The guidelines for dealing with non-governmental institutions are much more tenuous. Most of the time private organizations that request your Social Security Number can get by quite well without your number, and if you can find the right person to negotiate with, they'll willingly admit it. The problem is finding that right person. The person behind the counter is often told no more than "get the customers to fill out the form completely."

Most of the time, you can convince them to use some other number. Usually the simplest way to refuse to give your Social Security Number is simply to leave the appropriate space blank. One of the times when this isn't a strong enough statement of your desire to conceal your number is when dealing with institutions which have direct contact with your employer. Most employers have no policy against revealing your Social Security Number; they apparently believe that it must have been an unintentional slip that you didn't give out your SSN.

Public utilities (gas, electric, phone, etc.) are considered to be private organizations under the laws regulating SSNs. Most of the time they ask for an SSN, and aren't prohibited from asking for it, but they'll usually relent if you insist. Ask to speak to a supervisor, insist that they document a corporate policy requiring it, ask about alternatives, ask why they need it and suggest alternatives.

There's much more at their website.

Music Industry Greedy? Surely you jest.

Here's further proof the folks running the music industry really don't know what they are talking about. This is from an article about folks in the music industry not being happy with Apple's pricing of .99¢ per song.

'I’m hearing that the artists aren’t happy, the publishers aren’t happy. Someone other than Apple needs to be happy for this industry to grow,' said Amit Shafrir, president of AOL’s premium services arm.

As someone at iPodlounge.com said, "Um… what about the customers, Amit… they seem to be happy."

'For the time being we all must work with Apple and make the most of iTunes,' said Eric Nicoli, chairman of EMI Group PLC, the world’s No. 3 record company. 'Single pricing is almost unique to the music industry,' Nicoli added. 'If you look at any other consumer category—including things like iPods—they sell at different prices.'

Uh, so you seem to be saying that an iPod shuffle should be the same price as the iPod nano or iPod? That all BMW models should be the same price? Dude, where did you get your MBA?

Basically, the music industry folks are just plain greedy. Apple has been turning in some nice sales numbers with the iTunes Music Store. Apple buys the songs at a certain price and are free to price it to customers as it see fit.

New Rules for 2006

Sometimes, George Carlin is just a cranky nut. Other times, he's a nut and then there are times when he's funny. That said, I couldn't pass this up.

NEW RULES for 2006 (George Carlin)

New Rule: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com. There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly like them. Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days: mowing my lawn.

New Rule: Don't eat anything that's served to you out a window unless you're a seagull. People are acting all shocked that a human finger was found in a bowl of Wendy's chili. Hey, it cost less than a dollar. What did you expect it to contain?

New Rule: Stop saying that teenage boys who have sex with their hot, blonde teachers are permanently damaged. I have a better description for these kids: lucky bastards.

New Rule: If you need to shave and you still collect baseball cards, you're a dope. If you're a kid, the cards are keepsakes of your idols. If you're a grown man , they're pictures of men.

New Rule: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: do you have two of them? Okay, we're done.

New Rule: There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket, water, but without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.

New Rule: Stop f***ing with old people. Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that's square, with a bigger label. And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures out how to open it, his ass will be in the morgue. Congratulations, Target, you just solved the Social Security crisis.

New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a "decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low and one NutraSweet," ooh, you're a huge asshole.

New Rule: I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering my PIN number, pressing "Enter," verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don't want cash back, and pressing "Enter" again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.

New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to "beef with broccoli." The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.

New Rule: I don't need a bigger mega M&M. If I'm extra hungry for M&Ms, I'll go nuts and eat two.

New Rule: If you're going to insist on making movies based on crappy, old television shows, then you have to give everyone in the Cineplex a remote so we can see what's playing on the other screens. Let's remember the reason something was a television show in the first place is that the idea wasn't good enough to be a movie.

New Rule: No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab. Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting.

New Rule: and this one is long overdue: No more bathroom attendants. After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint like I just had sex with George Michael. I can't even tell if he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish. I don't want to be on your webcam, dude. I just want to wash my hands.

New Rule: When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to know in months. "27 Months." "He's two," will do just fine. He's not a cheese. And I didn't really care in the first place.

Friends Coming Back?

There were rumors yesterday that NBC was bringing Friends back as four 1 hour specials. The folks at TVSquad.com found out that those were just rumors. This is what NBC Media Relations had to say:

'There are currently no plans to have any follow-up to Friends other than Joey, which is still a major part of our comedy line-up and we whole-heartedly support. The rumors started this weekend are just that; rumors. We wish the rest of the cast of Friends continued success in their careers, and would welcome them back at any time, but there are currently no plans for them to appear in their Friends roles.'

I guess that was a sigh of relief for the four people who still watch Joey, which is all but cancelled by NBC.

Readers at TVSquad.com either welcomed the possibility or chided NBC for dredging up the dead. Some readers were overly not enthused because Friends is in such heavy syndication right now that it's valued has diminished greatly.

The Baseball Player's Wife

Kris Benson was traded from the New York Mets to the Baltimore Orioles. Kris' wife, Anna, believed the trade was because of her outspokenness. During an interview, she said,

'I know baseball is a business. But if they really did trade Kris because of me, it would be sexist, it would be discriminatory, and it wouldn't be the right thing to do. They didn't seem to get equal value in the trade, and it would be irresponsible for them to weaken their organization by trading Kris because he's married to me.'

She said this while doing a sexy photo shoot for FHM magazine. She has said before that she believed her husband was being traded because of her negotiations to pose nude in Playboy. So much for sexist and discriminatory.

SOURCE

O Canada! Who Will Carry The Flag?

CTV.ca reported that headliner Canadian athletes have been turning down the opportunity to be the flag bearer for the country at the Torino Winter Olympics next month.

A number of Canada's star athletes have refused to carry the country's flag at the opening ceremonies for the Turin Olympics next month, saying they need to focus on their main events.

Duties for opening ceremonies and media interviews can last up to eight hours, and can be a drain on an athlete's time and energy.

Bobsledder Pierre Lueders, cross-country skier Beckie Scott, and speed skaters Clara Hughes and Cindy Klassen have all asked their associations not to nominate them for the ceremonial role.

Scott, an Olympic champion, is scheduled to defend her gold medal in the 15 km pursuit event two days after the ceremony. Her coach told reporters that the skier does not want to put an ounce of energy where it is not "productive."

Officials were looking at competition schedules as part of choosing a person to carry the flag.

There may be something else to all this.

Some athletes are hesitant to carry the flag because of a rumoured jinx that claims whoever carries the flag is bound to fail.

"The curse can be broken and it will hopefully be broken in 2006, if there is a curse," former Olympic skier Tami Bradley laughed.

In 1998, moguls skier Jean-Luc Brassard blamed his poor performance on the fact that he carried the flag in the opening ceremonies at the Nagano Olympics the day before competing.

Speaking on CTV's Canada AM on Thursday, Brassard said carrying the Canadian flag is a great honour. However, it takes a lot of time and energy, and can break an athletes' concentration.

"When you think you have only 20 seconds to justify all those years of training for some sports, or 10 second for other sports, there are absolutely no room at all for any other thought," he said.

"And you want to have your concentration and all your mind at the specific moment that you have to do."

Further in the story, it was noted that,

A look into recent Olympic history shows that flag-bearing isn't always a curse: Doan, the 2002 flag bearer, won speed skating gold.

One way to dismiss that logic is to look at what Bob Beamon said he was doing with his wife the night before his record setting long jump at the 1968 Olympics.

The night before the finals, Beamon had been concerned, his mind going over his personal problems. He had lost his scholarship at Texas El-Paso for participating, with other blacks, in a boycott of a meet against Brigham Young, a Mormon school whose racial policies disturbed them. He also wasn't getting along with his wife.

"Everything was wrong," he said. "So I went into town and had a shot of tequila. Man, did I feel loose. I got a good sleep." (source)

And athletes balk at carrying a flag?

Comfort Shows

There was another article at TVSquad.com about a variation on the theme of "comfort foods." In this case, "comfort shows."

We've all heard of "comfort foods," those foods that we always return to, the ones that we love and make us feel good and maybe even bring back good memories. But TV shows can be the same way. They might not be our "favorite" shows (though they very well could be), but they certainly make us feel so good we want to keep watching them (and now with DVDs, it's even easier).

The writer went on to list five of his "comfort shows." Here's mine:

• M*A*S*H (I have 9 seasons on DVD)
• Seinfeld (Timeless and funny stuff about nothing)
• Friends (starting to be a little dated but still funny)
• Hill Street Blues (Steven Bocho's masterpiece and it's finally coming to DVD Jan 24)
• The Dick Van Dyke Show (arguably the best comedy series ever)

Others I might include are WKRP in Cincinnati, ER, The West Wing or Frasier.

TV Character Real Life Salaries

TVSquad.com found a list of what the real life salaries would be for some TV show characters. For example, Carrie Bradshaw, a writer with her own newspapere column on "Sex and the City," is able to buy some pretty expensive shoes. In the real world, she would probably be making around $57,000 as a columnist, eating in and definitely not living in Manhattan.

Other characters and their real-life salaries:

• Homer Simpson, Nuclear Safety Inspector, The Simpsons: $64,000. He could so afford health insurance!
• Grace Adler, Interior Designer, Will & Grace: $40,700. No wonder she needs a roommate.
• Susan Mayer, Children's Book Illustrator, Desperate Housewives: $38,060. Alimony probably pays for that house on Wisteria Lane.
• Sandy Cohen, Lawyer, The OC: $94,930. Maybe they got the McMansion for free from Kirstin's dad.
• John "JD" Dorian, medical resident, Scrubs: $37,000. It's understandable that he can't afford an apartment on his own, what with those med school bills and all.
• Michael Bluth, Acting company president, Arrested Development:$140,350.
• Christian Troy, plastic surgeon, Nip/Tuck: $156,500.
• Sidney Bristow, spy, Alias: $50,000.

Wow! I wonder what James Bond and 24'sJack Bauer's would make in real life. I'm sure that in real life, Jack would probably say, after surviving a hail of bullets, something like, "I don't get paid enough to deal with this," or "This isn't in my job description."

Hey Laura, What's On Your iPod?

Laura Bush revealed in a Washington Times interview that her iPod "includes songs by Tina Turner and Dolly Parton." She also noted that her husband, "

...likes country music a little bit more than I do, although I actually really am very fond of country music, as well," she said. "One of the songs on my IPod that I love is Dolly Parton singing 'Stairway to Heaven.' So that's sort of a combination, country and pop."

Rock on, Laura!

What's the Worst Thing You Could Eat?

The folks over at slashfood.com have a list of what they think are the worst foods you could ever eat:

• Deep fried Snickers or Mars bars - This "snack" packs over 450 calories and about 30 grams of fat, and a king size will deliver more than 700 calories and 44 grams of fat. What's more disturbing is that some pubs plate them with a side of fries and call them lunch.
• Shelf stable “creamers” – Water, sugar or corn syrup solids and partially hydrogenated oils make up this shelf-stable faux cream. Need we say more?
• Pasteurized, processed cheese food - No, we don’t care how well they melt. These melty, spreadable, day-glo orange “cheeses” have to be labeled as “cheese food” because of the addition of preservatives and liquids. Yum.
• Burger King Chicken Fries – A tiny amount of chicken with four layers of breading, deep-fried in soybean oil 3 ounces of “fries” with dipping sauce, come up to 340 calories and 24 grams of fat, as well as 1020 mg of sodium per serving.
• Instant ramen noodles – Very high in both sodium and saturated fat On the plus side, there is little, if any sugar in these, though you’ll be reaching for something sweet to get the salt out of your mouth.
• Movie theater popcorn – popped in coconut oil and topped with “butter," a large size has about 20 cups of popcorn and almost three days worth of saturated fat.
• McDonald’s Sausage, Egg and Cheese McGriddle – only if you want to have over 50% of your recommended daily intake of fat, saturated fat and sodium in a 7 oz. (199 gm) sandwich.
• Super sized soft drinks – Huge drinks, like the 52-ounce X-treme gulp at 7-11, when filled with sugary sodas, can pack away over 600 calories each!

I'd probably have to say that Oreos laced with rat poison could probably be worse than the deep-fried Snickers bar. I wonder what that tastes like.

The San Francisco Burrito

While reading one person's blog about his trip to San Francisco and the Mac Expo this week, I saw mention of the "San Francisco burrito". There was even a link to a Wikipedia entry.

That Wikipedia entry reminded me of the couple of years I lived in Cupertino, just a few blocks or so down from Apple's headquarters. My friend Simeon introduced me to a great restaurant called Pollo's Mexican Rotisserie, just off of Stevens Creek Blvd.

They offered huge burritos filled with rice and freshly made chicken. Their salsa was handmade and there was a variety of hot sauces to choose from. Very fresh and great quality for a cheap price. Pollo's was a great place to visit Saturday afternoons.

I would have to agree that the "San Francisco style burrito" is probably the pre-cursor to the wrap sandwiches we see all over the place.

Other restaurants I miss from the San Jose area include Armadillo Willy's, in Sunnyvale, and Yoshinoya's, in Cupertino.

Bowled Out

The college football season is now done. I only watched the Orange Bowl and Rose Bowls this year.

Yes, Penn State won the Orange Bowl but heck, I'd rather remember the 1987 Orange Bowl. That was a much more impressive win over Miami. This year's game was an ugly mess.

Joe Paterno was sporting a really deep tan that could give George Hamilton a run for the money. Micheal Robinson, in spite of the pre-game hype by the announcers botched a snap, threw an interception and simply had trouble connecting with his receivers. Then there were all the missed field goal attempts.

Thank goodness for players like Austin Scott and Ethan Kilmer on the offense, and Paul Posluszny, on defense. Those guys did outstanding work.

The Rose Bowl was no myth as the national championship this year. It was great to watch two incredibly stellar teams play against each other. No. 1 University of Southern California Trojans versus No. 2 University of Texas Longhorns.

I lived in Austin, TX when the Longhorns last won the national championship, so you could pretty much guess who I was cheering for. Hook 'Em Horns, folks!

Vince Young, Texas' junior quarterback, just may be the best quarterback in the country. I have rarely seen a quarterback act so cool under pressure. I am amazed though that Texas did so well in spite of the number of fumbles they committed.

While I was cheering on Texas, either team deserved to be national champs.

Now to see how the Chicago Bears fare in the pro playoffs.

Girl Scout Cookies

Last Monday, I ordered six boxes of Girl Scout cookies from my niece, Alison. When I returned to work Tuesday, I saw signs all over the building by several co-workers asking people to order cookies from their daughters.

I ordered the Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Caramel deLites (probably the most popular) and Lemon Pastry Cremes. I should probably see if I can get the Lemon Coolers. Might help stave off cabin fever.

It's that time of year and now it seems that with the start of every Fall and Spring academic semesters, there's the usual onslaught of fund raiser purchase requests. Girl Scout cookies, trash bags, wrapping paper, magazine subscriptions, hoagies, etc.

Wikipedia has a great article about Girl Scout Cookies.

Exact details vary from Girl Scout council to council, as each council negotiates with the baker and sets their own prices. The individual troop selling the cookies typically receives about $0.40 to $0.60 per box. After the cookies are paid for, the majority of the additional monies go to the Girl Scout Council, and are used to pay for events and activities for the girls, maintenance of the council's Girl Scout camps and other properties, cookie sale incentives, and Council administration costs. Each council can provide a breakdown showing how cookie money is used in that council (this information is usually printed on the back of the girl's Cookie Order Form).

I love Girl Scout Cookies. The quality is consistantly excellent and it's really tough to choose a flavor since they are all good. The only problem is that they don't help if you are trying to maintain any sort of diet.

What surprises me is that the Girl Scouts of America prohibits sales over the internet. I guess the idea is to teach the girls how to interact with the public.