Milk Challenge

Thanks to the internet, I can probably never run for a political office. There are too many strange aspects of my life cronicled here. For example, I ran across my college friend Patrick's website the other day, which included photos and commentary of me drinking too much Milk and throwing up into a bucket in my back yard.

HERE are the emails leading upto the event.
HERE are some photos and commentary.
And since everyone else is doing it, I've posted some photos 1 2 3 of the event as well.

Hubble finds moons around Uranus

Middle Schoolers, late-night talkshow writers, and I all delight in how easy the jokes will be for this one.

Bye Bye Bell

My dad has worked for a local telephone company in East Tennessee for almost 30 years. He's still got a few years until retirment. I used to think maybe the land-line telephone companies were going to make it at least until his retirement.

I doubt it now.

Almost weekly there is some news or new technology that puts us a little closer to unimitied, universal, FREE phonecalls... from anywhere to anywhere. Good thing my dad is the DSL expert... that at least has got a few years left in it.

As for the land telephone, I'm not sure why I still pay $35 per month for a system that only lets me call from my house, and extra charges if I call anyone outside of a 30 mile radius. Kinda silly these days.

NYC Strike

I don't claim to know anything about NYC. But I've been in the situation where it would really suck not to have public transportation. There aren't a whole lot of photos yet on flickr, but I liked this one.

What to do with Leo?

I'm a huge West Wing Fan. I've been watching it since the very early episodes (Martin Sheen's first term as President). The show always amazes me how they can create characters that are so noble.... Something that NOBODY thinks of when they think of real politicians. Even though the show has gone down hill the last season or two, I've stuck with it.

Late last week, John Spencer (aka Leo McGarry), one of the main actors in the show died of a heart attack. If he hadn't died, I actually had his character pegged as a future President of West Wing. Spencer's character is currently running mate of likely winner Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits).

Here was my big "what-if" senario:

Santos wins the election in the next few episodes.... there is an assassination attempt in the last few minutes of the season finale.... cliffhanger all summer on if he is going to die or not...... First episode of next Season, Santos dies leaving Leo President. THEN, Leo can bring Martin Sheen (President Bartlet) on as Chief of Staff (McGerry's role before hitting the campaign trail)... completing the roll reversal the two life-long friends have talked about since the beginning of the series! I know this had to be at the top of the possible senarios the writers had dreamed up!

That would have made for good TV. Oh well. Good luck to the writers now. They have gotten themselves into a mess. Who is going to be Santo's VP candidate now? And more importantly, how do you get rid of Spencer's character? Disappearing on an extended vacation or getting ousted from the political scene because of a scandal (like Toby Ziegler) just doesn't fit.

So why not just give him a sudden heart attack and let the character die with the actor (like they did with John Ritter in whatever show he was on when he died)? Well, I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure the first episode of this season had a flash-forward to about 3 years in the future that included Leo McGerry. So either they just ignore that, or they are going to have to get really creative.

Since the series is going downhill anyway... more toward the ER/SoapOpera Drama type show... it wouldn't surprise me if they just put him in a coma until the series ends. Too bad.

Freakonomics

I am facinated by the difference between correlation and causation. Some people call it econimics. I have even mentioned it in previous posts. Once you think about this kind of thing, you can see people making arguments based on correlation all the time.

I have been reading the book FREAKONOMICS, which is a bold attempt to take on social issues with the objective mind of an economist. Good stuff. The authors are excellent at finding appropriate control groups in the real world so their conclusions hold water.

Some of the conclusions: Roe VS Wade caused a huge, unpresedented crime drop; Sumo Wrestling is extreamly corrupt; and the invention of crack has done about as much bad for the black community as the civil rights movement has done good.

Here's an interesting article tackling the question of how much will it cost a woman to have a baby now or 1 year from now.

Math Trick

1. Grab a calculator

2. key in the first three digits of your phone number (NOT the area code)

3. Multiply by 80

4. Add 1

5. Multiply by 250

6. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number

7. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number again

8. Subtract 250

9. Divide number by 2

Do you recognize the answer?

Think smaller, think more legs.

On the radio today I heard a McDonald's commercial for the McRib. Apparently, they have decided to do away with it forever. The ad says it's been around since the mid-80's and has a huge cult following, and mentions the website mcrib.com. It's supposed to be a farewell tour.


From the look of the website, the execs at McDonalds must have seen the Simpons episode making fun of Krusty's "ribwich", which had to be discontinued because the unnamed animal it came from became extinct ("think smaller, think more legs"). As for the real McRib, the new campaign actually goes so far as to introduce a fantasy animal, the boneless pig.

What really makes me sick about this campaign, is that it works. Yeah, it works even on me. Damn McDonalds. I hate the place, but they are everywhere, their food is cheap, and for the most part, edible. And now that you can get fairly healthy food there, and they are using an ad campaign that basically says "our food is freakin' scary" (like the McGriddle and McRib campaigns), you've got to give some credit to the execs at McDonalds. If I had that hell job, I don't think I could do it any better. I want a McRib now.

FAT TIME

Oh yeah. Yesterday was my first EGG NOG MILKSHAKE of the year. God Bless Cookout. And I'd like to give thanks to whatever twist of fate put such wonderfull shakes within a 2 minute drive of my office. Fat time is here.