Tracking Santa

The NORAD Santa Tracker is back this year and we don't need the help of the NSA or secret wiretaps to do this. Simply point your browser to the Santa Tracker.

Santa ain't no slacker!

The Deal With Deal Or No Deal

I've now watched two episodes of the weeklong run on NBC of "Deal or No Deal." I'm torn between whether or not I like it.

NBC's description of the show at their website was far too simplistic. Here's my take. The contestant chooses a briefcase. It is opened to reveal a dollar amount which is eliminated from a list of all the available dollar amounts. Of course, the contestant would love for all the dollar amounts except $500,000, $750,000 or $1 Million to be removed.

After the contestant has made several choices, the "banker" will call to offer the contestant an amount of money to walk away from the game. Hence, the "deal or no deal." It doesn't get anymore complicated than that.

At one point in last night's episode, a woman was crying because she couldn't figure out what to do. There were four cases left, three had low dollar amounts attached to them and one had $1 Million. The "banker" offered her $201,000. Hmmm, either $1 Million or something like $5, $500, or $2,000. Yeah, take the deal. And she did, after several tense moments.

The next contestant had most of the high amounts eliminated from the game early on and I suspect he was continuing to play in order to get the banker to offer higher deals. At the end of his run, it was either continue to go for the $500,000 case or $99,000. He took the deal. It wasn't going to get any better.

I have to wonder though, who NBC is catering the show to. At one point during the second contestant's run, it was mentioned in a caption that there was "1 in 4 chance" of picking the $500,000 briefcase. Uh, duh, ya think?

Plus, the so-called "banker" is a hokey device. Just let the show's host make the offer.

That, of course, brings me to the host. Howie Mandel. He did such a poor job of acting with regard to talking with "The Banker" on a cordless phone that nobody was fooled. Even the contestants were making fun of "The Banker."

The show is also heavily edited and voices were overdubbed later in the studio.

"Deal or No Deal" has potential but I guess that once they tidy things up, it will be too much like "The Price is Right."

NYC Transit Workers On Strike

Yeah, to all those transit workers, I saw Santa's list and well, let's just say we're talking coal in the stockings. At least you can use the coal to keep warm this winter since your union is getting slapped with $1million fines each day you're on strike.

Coals!

I'm sure we all get the occasional Christmas Letter in which the sender reports highlights of things that happened over the previous year. I think they're great.

Lifehacker.com mentioned a weblog written for a 2 year-old boy that has a year in review article in which the 2 year-old son is interviewed by Ted Koppel. Funny and a great idea for future Christmas letters.

Read the blog here.

Curtailing Rude Movie House Behavior

On Sunday, I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia. It was an OK film. As a friend said, great epic battle but mediocre acting. It also probably didn't help that the past three Decembers were all about Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings.

Nonetheless, what really got to me while watching CoN was the kid sitting behind me who was constantly kicking the back of my chair. I don't understand this because there is a wide gap between the rows. Several times I turned around and asked him to stop. The father, sitting next to him, just smiled.

Then, someone down in the front row got a call on his cell phone. He had the volume set to low but that was still bad enough but it got worse. The thing with many cell phones these days is the backlighting. My Motorola e815, for example, could probably help get me home in the dark. And that was the case with this guy's cell phone. It pretty much lit up a small area around him.

The National Organization of Theatre Operators has been petitioning the FCC to block cell phone signals inside movie theatres in an attempt to curtail "rude behavior."

On the other side of the fence, the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association is trying to block this request, saying it interferes with the ability for the cell phone owner to receive emergency calls.

Personally, I really don't want more regulations. People just need to learn to be courtious and turn their cell phones off while the movie is on. It really isn't that hard.

Scrambled Eggs Unscrambled

We've all made scrambled eggs before, or at least I hope we all have. Here's a website with info on how to do scrambled eggs right. Just be sure not to make them your first meal after a fun evening of helping to ring in the new year.

Mr. Breakfast Makes Scrambled Eggs

Unsafe At Any Speed

Michelle Rodriguez may do a great job of acting on Lost but my oh my, she can't act properly in the role of car driver. According to TVSquad.com,

Michelle Rodriguez, who plays Ana Lucia on Lost, has paid nearly $1,000 in traffic fines in Hawaii since August of this year. Here's a rundown of her offenses:

• August, fined $197 for going 90 mph in a 50 mph zone
• October, fined $300 for going 90 mph in a 35 mph zone (!)
• November, fined $357 for going 83 mph in a 55 mph zone

Rodriguez just pleaded no contest to the November citation and paid the big fine. And, of course, she's still waiting for her court date on those lovely drunk driving charges from earlier this month. And, she was charged with 3 misdemeanors in in 2003 in LA for hit and run, drunk driving, and driving without a license.

One observation noted in the comments for the TVSquad.com story is that she never had a drivers license or learners permit before staring in The Fast and the Furious. Seems to explain a lot of things.

Charlie Brown Is Not A Blockhead

For a Christmas special that first aired in 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas still pulls in the viewers.

According to TVSquad.com,

A Charlie Brown Christmas, drew 15.3 million viewers, which was good for 8th place in the Nielsen rankings. It also ranked first in its time slot among kids aged 2-11 and adults aged 25-54 (jeez... what's wrong with those teenagers? Too cool for a little Chuck Brown?)

I think it is still one of the best special shows for Christmas and does a stellar job of conveying the reason for the season. I have it on DVD and will watch it Christmas Eve.

Out of stock? What do you mean, "Out of stock?"

Not to brag, but rather to make a point...I live in America where I can go to a store and choose between at least 20 different brands and types of toilet paper, several types of potatoes, whatever brand and type of TV but yet, amazingly, try to find certain items for Christmas gifts and it's out of stock.

Christmas comes once a year. Same date every year. We all know it's coming and yet some companies cannot properly plan stock levels. Best examples this year are iPods and the Xbox 360.

Argh!

There, I feel much better.

You Know You're Living in 2005 When...

You know you’re living in 2005 when:
1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven’t played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that
they don’t have e-mail addresses.
6. You go home after a long day at work and you still answer the phone in a business manner.
7. You make phone calls from home, you accidentally dial “9? to get an
outside line.
8. You’ve sat at the same desk for four years, and worked for three
different companies.
10. You learn about your redundancy on the 11:00 news.
11. Your boss doesn’t have the ability to do your job.
12. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see If
anyone is home.
13. Every commercial on television has a website at the bottom of the
screen.
14. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn’t have the
first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you
turn around to go and get it.
15. You get up in the morning and go on-line before getting your coffee.
16. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )
17. You’re reading this and nodding and laughing.
18. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this
message.
19. You are too busy to notice there was no # 9 on this list.
20. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn’t a # 9 on this
list.


SOURCE

Guide To Dating Geeky Guys

I found this site by way of tuaw.com.

Emily Hambridge wrote in her blog, a guide of sorts, about dating an Apple Developer. While I'm not a developer I do work with computers and electronic gadgets so there are pointers in there that apply to me as well. Pretty funny too.

Snow? Time to get milk, bread and toilet paper

Washington DC wasn't just supposed to get snow last night but a snow storm. Given how little snow the DC area normally gets, panic mode by the area's citizens ensues. Or at least panic mode sets in on the news media.

Paul Farhi, of the Washington Post, set out to look at salesof milk, bread and toilet paper, or, as he called it, MBTP. These are the staple items that are said to be what people rush out to buy at stores before a snow storm hits.

MBTP are supposedly what everyone runs to the store for at the first sign of a flake or flurry. More than staple commodities, they are the supposed bench marks of the region's ability to "cope" with a few inches of snow. Look! gawp the TV weather people, zooming in on denuded supermarket shelves, as if a Dupont Circle supermarket had suddenly turned into a Soviet supply depot. It's not really snowing until someone reports a run on MBTP.

He checked with records of area Safeway grocery stores and found that, compared to December 5, 2004,

...milk and bread sales roughly doubled Monday at Safeway's 100 stores throughout the mid-Atlantic region...Those two products were among the chain's best sellers...Then again, so were bacon, scrapple and eggs...along with fruit, water, soda, infant formula, Kool-Aid and boneless chicken breasts.

But toilet paper was not even amongst the top 50. Giant, another grocery chain, said that ice cream sold better than toilet paper. This is probably because, as the story noted and I can attest to, there is probably a more than adaquet supply of TP in the house. Trust me, when supplies get low and Cottonelle goes on sale, I'm all about it.

Gasoline should be added to that list. When our family lived in Illinois, we had to trek five miles into town to pick up milk, bread, fill the car and fill the can with kerosene for our portable heaters.

While State College PA gets its share of snow, the winters are nothing like what I experienced in Illinois and Iowa, people get into serious panic mode. As soon as the forecast says "Storm" the parking lots of all the grocery stores are filled and staple items make their way off the shelves faster than a kid asking his parents if he really, really has to shovel the driveway.

Harry Potter And His Millions

This weekend, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" took in $20.45 million. The domestic total thus far, is $229.8 million. The movie has brought in $560 million worldwide.

The current ticket prices helped, as did showing the movie on multiple screens. One local theatre boasted showings on the hour, every hour. I'm sure that will change as we move into this weekend with the release of "The Chronicles of Narnia," "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Syrianna."

King Kong will follow on the 14th. Steven Speilberg's "Munich" will have a limited release this month, no doubt to get in for the running for Oscars.

Good Xbox Hunting

My quest for an Xbox 360 continues although I think my search will slow down. The local Target got four in yesterday but shortly after their doors opened, they were sold out. If Hasbro tries to tell you that the latest Elmo doll is this season's hot toy, don't believe it.

On eBay, some guy was selling only the Xbox 360 box. That's right, someone bid $400 for the silly empty box.

After reading an online forum discussion where someone requested those lucky dogs who got an Xbox 360 to post the manufacture date on the back of their consoles, I'm convinced that Microsoft didn't necessarily artificially create a shortage. Owners posted dates anywhere between October 11, 2005 and November 17, 2005. The official US launch was November 22, 2005. So it seems the console went gold master very close to launch and production hasn't had a chance to really ramp up.

Then again, maybe I should be counting my blessings for not getting an Xbox 360 on November 22. I am leary of buying a product so soon into it's product life. All the manufacturing kinks still need to be worked out.

I think the launch has backfired for Microsoft. The Walmart here and some other stores have moved their Xbox 360 kiosks to the back of the store because they simply cannot get enough (or any) consoles to meet the demand. Receiving four in one week then nothing really doesn't help.

Black Sunday Has Nothing On Black Friday

CNN.com, in a story about Wal-Mart claiming to have had 2 million shoppers in one hour on Friday November 25, 2005, definied Black Friday:

The day after Thanksgiving is called "Black Friday" because it traditionally marks the period when retailers finally move out of the red and into the black, or profitability.

My definition is quite a bit different. It is the one day of the year that some normal everyday people turn into rude ugly monsters.

I went to Wal-Mart at 5am on a Black Friday once and swore I'd never do that again. This year I not only stood in line at Best Buy for their 5am opening in the 17°F temps (with gusty winds), I was standing in line with the hopes of scoring an elusive Xbox 360 videogame system.

There are rumors that Microsoft artificially created the acute shortage of units to increase the hype through March, when the Sony Playstation 3 gets released.

As we inched to the entrance, the guy behind me told us to look to our left, toward the parking lot, to see the people getting out of their cars and heading to the door too. Those folks figured to take advantage of how kind people are and squeeze in the door. I told everyone around us not to let them in. Yes, it wasn't a nice thing but my numb toes and fingers told me to not let the cheaters in. We all had been standing outside for over an hour, why should these folks make it in without enduring what we had?

And sure enough, there were people trying to cut in but there were about 10 of us who kind of deflected their attempts to squeeze in. One woman even went so far as to say "excuse me, I really need to get in." I told her she needed to get to the back of the line. Then she scoffed. She actually got mad that we wouldn't let her cut in line.

Once inside, I found that there weren't any Xbox 360s to be found. So as not to have my valiant efforts be all for naught, and to show I wasn't just shopping for myself, I checked off some of the items on my Christmas shopping list.

I also stopped by Circuit City, Target and Wal-Mart to see if I had a chance but no luck. The person working the electronics counter at Wal-Mart said, "We sold out of those Monday."

What kind of an answer is that? So I responded with a stupid question. "Wow, sold out? That was the last stock you'll be getting?"

She said more would come in stock and I should check back in every once in awhile. I guess it's fair to assume she didn't realize this is what I was doing since I don't shop there regularly (I'm a Target fan).

One Xbox related discussion forum member jokingly mentioned, after striking out on Black Friday as well, that he's looking forward to the [real] Xbox 360 launch. I think he has a point. I'm hearing of people having trouble with their Xbox 360s already so maybe when we get ours in January, February, March or June of 2006, we'll get the revised versions.

I'm now looking to order online since that seems to be the only way to reserve one. As much of a frequent customer as I am at Best Buy, I am not on the same level as basketball star Lebron James who bought 15 Xbox 360s with 15 sets of every available game and accessory. He had all this stuff loaded into his SUV in front of the line of people at the local Best Buy last Monday night waiting to buy an Xbox 360 of their own. He then drove off, then the doors opened for the pions and they all found there was a shortage of units for sale. Hmmm...

Lesson learned. Black Friday still sucks. Mean people suck.

George Lucas was recently interviewed by the Hollywood Reporter in which he discussed the future of the movie industry. here is the most provocative part of the interview:

THR: There are definitely some dynamics that are changing the economics of the business. What do you think of Mark Cuban's idea of releasing films simultaneously at home and in theaters?
Lucas: I think it'll happen -- it'll have to happen.

THR: Really? Because of the economics?
Lucas: Because of piracy. It's the only way you can stop piracy; there is no other way. You have to get a very, very aggressive enforcement program so that people do have consequences to stealing, but you also have to be able to offer it to them (in the home) for the same price they can get it on the street. It won't be DVDs -- DVDs aren't going to be around too much longer. If you can get it at home for $2, then why would you go on the street and get a bad version?

THR: What do you think will replace DVD?
Lucas: Pay-per-view.

THR: Something that streams in, not prerecorded media?
Lucas: It's the way kids do it today. It's how you do it on your iPod: They just download it. You pay 99 cents for music, and movies will be like two bucks. That will definitely change the economics of the business because (studios) are losing money now.

THR: Somebody was telling me that the studios' profit margins are only about 10%.
Lucas: I don't even think it's that: If you look at the (theatrical) divisions, I don't think they make any money. I don't think they've made money for five or six years.

THR: So it's basically a loss leader for DVD, television, etc.?
Lucas: Yup, all of the ancillary markets. For studios, the fact is that the theatrical film market is less than 10% of their business -- it's very, very small. I mean, you could chop that off in a second, and it wouldn't even bother them -- they're just doing it as a promotional thing.

THR: Do you think the industry will survive that way?
Lucas: I don't think the theatrical exhibition business will go away because I think people will always want to go to the movies, just as they go to the opera, they go to the ballet, and they go to football games. Football is a perfect example, where you can stay at home and watch it in the comfort of your own home and see a much better presentation, but people still sit out in the cold and cheer on (their teams) ... and you can't see anything because it's all distant. And now they have giant screens so you can watch it on television right there -- but they still fill up 100,000-seat (stadiums). We'll end up with fewer theaters with bigger screens and better presentations, and the theater owners will work very hard to make the whole thing an event.

Good analogy and I think Lucas is right on target. Interestingly, the movie industry and television broadcast industry seem to be embracing the new technologies faster and more willingly than the stinky pots over at the RIAA.

What's In Your Widget Folder?

I like the Dashboard in Apple's Mac OS X 10.4. What I don't like is how much screen real estate some of those widgets use. Unfortunately, Windows users don't know what I'm talking about since Dashboard is not Windows compatible. Check out Konfabulator. This program is similar to Dashboard and works with both Mac and Windows.

Both Dashboard and Konfabulator make use of widgets, tiny applications that do one or two things and those one or two things well.

The showcase widgets for both applications are the ones for showing you the weather. You can also get widgets that will update you on sports scores, play Asteroids or Frogger, show current gasoline prices in your area, et cetera.

Another difference beetween Dashboard and Konfabulator is how much space the widgets use. The folks who build widgets for Konfabulator get it. Their widgets don't take up as much needless space as Dashboard widgets.

Still, check out both Dashboard and Konfabulator. There are some great and fun widgets.

Food Thoughts

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the US and thoughts turn to food. Kinda helps that I am writing this while eating lunch.

- KFC is preparing advertising to focus on the Avian Influenza just in case of a widespread outbreak in America. The company said it does not import poultry from affected countries. There are something like 1500 KFC locations in China. Personally, I don't care what sort of advertising they come up with, if the bird flu hits here, that's just the perfect excuse to focus on steak. Doh! Mad Cow...can't win for nothing.

- Snapple has come out with pie flavored beverages. Just in time for the holidays and only for the holidays. They say you can really taste the apple pie, crust and all. Serve cold or hot.

- Want truly conversational food? Get some Marmite or Vegemite and have some blind taste tests. Trust me, commentary will be guaranteed

Love Hate Foods

A recent slashfood.com article discussed what foods you like in one form but really dislike in another form. Here's my list:

• Love tomatos in pizza, salsa, tomato sauce but hate it elsewhere.
• Love French Fries, boiled potatos, hash browns and baked potatos but not a huge fan of mashed potatos.
• Love corn bread and corn chips, hate corn
• Love chili hate beans
• Love spinach and arugula salad hate cooked greens
• Hot tea is OK occasionally hate hot coffee but love ice tea and the occasional ice coffee

My list probably gets more bizarre as we go on.

Sitting On The Beat

What's great about iTunes is the ability to create playlists and we all love playlists, known back in the day as a mix tape. The movie, "High Fidelity" centers around playlists/mix tapes.

What's cool about the iTunes Music Store are the celebrity playlists. It's always intriguing to read what sort of a playlist whatever celebrity would create and why each song was chosen.

I just finished reading the playlist created by Jeff Daniels, the actor. I learned that Daniels is a definite Blues fan and his description for each song is amazing. Here's what he said for inclusion of "Bring Your Fine Self Home" by Albert Collins:

One of my favorite blues songs. The passion behind the lyric, the build to the music and the story of the song all want Albert to take off, but he sits on the beat which only makes the song that much stronger.

His other explanations are just as descriptive and telling. Great stuff. There are 187 celebrity playlists out there at the iTunes Music Store. Check 'em out.

Here's my current playlist with very short notes:

• Come To Jesus - Mindy Smith: I love the lyrics and it helps that her voice works well with them.
• Loving In My Baby's Eyes - Shannon McNally: Her version of this Taj Mahal song is probably the best out there. Great jam.
• Things We Said Today - The Beatles: After all the years of listening to The Beatles, it comes back to this song. I read a musician's analysis of this song and am amazed at the actual complexity of the tune. This just might be the best example of the Lennon/McCartney collaborations.
• Hard Times - Eastmountainsouth: What a shame this group broke up.
• Drop Thumb Medley - Steve Martin: Comedian, actor, author and the one thing Steve Martin really really enjoys is the banjo. This shows he clearly is no slouch.
• Desire - Ryan Adams: I first heard this on "The West Wing." Ryan Adams is becoming a favorite of mine even though I'm not a huge fan of Country music. Proves that I can be attracted to a song despite it's genre.
• Just A Kid - Wilco: First heard on XM Radio. Thanks to XM, I am hearing stuff by Wilco and Beck.
• Stolen Car - Patty Griffin: Great take on a Bruce Springsteen tune. She obviously heard what The Boss was trying to do on "Nebraska" and made it her own.
• I Want You To Want Me - Letters to Cleo: Best cover of a Cheap Trick tune ever. Great song and I'm sure it's a blast to stand up on stage and play this tune.