Oh man, this candy tastes like Asse.

Whoever named this candy didn't do enough research. I guess this is somewhat analogous to Ford selling the Nova in Mexico under the same name ("No go").

Video-game-themed Marching Band Show

Check out this halftime show from the 11/3/07 Cal Football game.

Although it would have been cool to get one shot from the student side, I guess Cal students don't know how to use video cameras and editing tools and have never discovered YouTube. Yes, that must be the reason I can't find one from the right-side-up perspective (or I'm just lazy).

It has music and formations eliciting Pong, Tetris, Mortal Kombat, Pokemon and Super Mario Bros. A true delight for an old video-gaming fart like me.

EDIT: I watched the Cal band playing this in the much ballyhooed Big Game for their half-time show as well.

'Tis the Season for huge electricity bills

Christmas lights are a tradition that, while exposed to in my youth, I did not fully experience until an adult. I remember thinking during my freshman year in college that a "hay ride" through neighborhoods festooned with Christmas lights was dorky and gay at best, but actually having gone on said "ride" I must say it was actually pretty entertaining. I would have balked at caroling and wassailing, but hot apple cider and fanatical light shows are surprisingly satisfying.

That said, I never saw anything that comes within even spitting distance of this display, found on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3MdmLpDpP4

It's a Christmas light show set to the disco tune "A Fifth of Beethoven."

Newt Migration!!

Wow ~ ok, the east bay does have some cool events after all. Apparently they close a road in the Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley for a NEWT migration. It's kinda sad that when i put in Newt migration in the google video plug in, it brought up Newt Gingrich, but since Newt is (thankfully) not associated with our great State, putting "california newt" in the plugin seemed to have popped up some ok-looking links instead of an irrelevant demagogue.

Anyway, back to the salamanders ~ I remember when we found one when I was in middle school back in Cupe-town. We brought it back to our science class and put it in a terrarium where we fed it those grubs. Then it swelled. I don't think it got fat because it was quite turgid. It might have been fat, but in any case, newts aren't supposed to look like that, so our teacher (Ms. Schiros, bless her surreptitiously-smoking heart) supposedly returned him/her/it (or, "the newt") to its natural environment. Or maybe she didn't. Who knows?

Anyway, it's cool seeing these newts are spared the rigors of the road as well as seeing that the East Bay has more than cows and tract housing.

In Soviet Russia, "In Dog We Trust"

Here's a CNN article on 10 dogs that changed the world. My favorite is an account of how Pope Clement VII was bitten by Cardinal Wolsey's dog and subsequently refused to grant the divorce of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.

By the way, the article overplays the roles of the dogs rather egregiously ~ for instance, the refusal to annul Henry's marriage was an extraordinarily sensitive political decision involving threats from Catherine's brother, the Holy Roman Empire ~ it's kinda funny reading about these forgotten canines from other ages.

Earthquake

I didn't even think to write about the mild earthquake on Tuesday night. The only reason I'm writing now is because I read an article in the NY Times website and it mentioned some blogger who was "sleep-deprived" because of worry of aftershocks. As a native of coastal California, I know the threat of earthquakes is real, but losing sleep over it seems sad. Que será, será.

Just get your earthquake kit in order and confirm you live in a building that meets the safety codes. Worrying about the 9.0 earthquake that buildings aren't designed to handle is like worrying about spontaneously combusting (Hey, supposedly it happens!). Of course, I don't have a safety kit prepared so I guess I'll probably be one of those victims on TV holding up a crudely painted sign to the news chopper above saying "Send help!"

Sharks and Tasers

Dual post today ~ one vexation and the other vindication.

First, the story is that a shark was caught in the Euphrates River about 200km from the sea. Locals blame the U.S. military for placing the shark in the river: "Tahseen Ali, a teacher, said there was a '75 percent chance' Americans had put the shark in the water. 'This is very frightening for us. Our children always swim in the river and I believe that there are more sharks. I believe that America is behind this matter,' said fisherman Hatim Karim." I hope that they found the most paranoid teacher and deluded fisherman to quote, because if these types of assumptions are commonplace in Iraq, then we are apparently seen as three-headed demons there.

Second, the funny tasering incident returns with what I believe to be the proper result. Mr. Meyer avoids further charges by apologizing to the University for breaking the rules of the forum and agreeing to 18 months of probation: "I'm so sorry that I lost my control in that auditorium," he wrote. "I went there to ask an important question. The question of voter disenfranchisement in America cuts to the heart of our democracy, and my failure to act calmly resulted in this important town forum ending without the discourse intended. For that, I am truly sorry." He seems much more intelligent when he's not hijacking a Q&A to turn it into his own personal soapbox.

Note to self: follow the rules and you won't be tased

Perhaps my favorite incident this summer was when Andrew Meyer was yelling, "Don't tase me, bro! Don't tase me! ~~ YAOAOWOOOAOW!!" The exquisite schadenfreude of an overzealous moron getting zapped is a mystery of the human psyche, but dammit if I don't enjoy it.

I'm glad to see that the peace officers that attempted to enforce the rules of the Q&A session and ended up tasing Mr. Meyer were cleared of wrong-doing. Of course, I am not unsympathetic to Mr. Meyer's plight. It's gotta suck being tased after a politician dodged your questions. Zzzzzzap.

Osama =/= Obama

I know Mitt Romney is a busy guy, and I know that sometimes what political rivals do can be mystifying and hard to comprehend sometimes. Sometimes I wonder what ultra-conservatives are thinking, and I'm sure they wonder when liberals will be scourged from the earth in a sea of hellfire. I kid (kinda). But regardless of how busy you are, there's really no excuse for confusing a leading Presidential candidate with the grand-poobah of our enemies.

Basically, Romney thought that it was Obama, not Osama, that had put out a tape yesterday. Because that's how Democrats spread the word: with recordings made in caves and released over the internet. Sure... It was no slip of the tongue either. He actually brought it up while talking about Democrats and corrected "Osama" to "Barack Obama" in mid-speech.

Some people probably think, big deal, anyone can mistake the two names. Yeah... maybe if the names were of Paulo and Pablo, two random dudes in Brazil. But these are two of the most famous people in the world with ideologies diametrically opposed. If you can't identify friend (and as Americans we are all friends regardless of our differences) from foe when you have no power, I don't want you having any power.

Awesome imagery for the day...

A flaming squirrel lands on a car's engine compartment, which subsequently explodes. Terrorist/kamikaze squirrels have new martyr. Story here.

Fun Google Statistics

According to this Reuter's story, Italy leads in searches for "Viagra" and Chile leads in searches for "gay." Other word stats included, too, like "Kate Moss" and "burrito" (Ireland and the U.S. respectively lead).

WWII Gun Battery Reopens in Marin

I remember hiking in Marin Headlands in 6th grade as part of a week-long school field trip and seeing some very impressive concrete bunkers left over from before World War II. There were also Nike missile batteries, as I recall, although I may be confusing that with Angel Island's missile batteries. Anyhoo, flat concrete slabs from a Cold War missile battery are not nearly as impressive as concrete bunkers hewn from the hillside with views out over the sea. Missile hatches do not elicit the awe that gun anchorages meant to secure 16-in naval guns into the hillside do.

Reading about a recent re-opening of "Battery Townsley" in Marin makes me want to go up there and take a look around. Maybe it will remind me of that trip in the 1980s as an 11-yr-old.

"In Rainbows"? only from another's perspective

I'm currently in queue to download Radiohead's "In Rainbows." How much do I plan to pay for it? Exactly $0.

Am I heartless? Do I not wish to support artists? Do I merely dislike Radiohead?

The answer to all of these is NO (well, at least the last two). I have enjoyed Radiohead's music immensely in the last two decades. Ordinarily, I would have no compunction against paying for their music. However, this whole "pay what you want to" mechanic smacks of some idealistic experiment in socialism ~ kind of like wearing hemp clothes you grow in a commune.

I think that the danger of socialism happens when people confuse the successes of socialism (yes there are successes!!) with some deduced conclusions about human nature that are untrue. The conclusion people might draw from a successful online sale of "In Rainbows" is that people are in fact willing to pay for music online in general, instead of the conclusion I would argue: people are willing to pay for Radiohead's music when it's distributed in an experimental format that conforms with how they would like the music industry to function.

Anyway, I would call myself liberal, but I don't like experiments that are, in effect, exercises in socialistic masturbation. [Edit: I do not, to be clear, think that Radiohead's online sales mechanic is necessarily masturbation, only that it is in danger of being used as such.] I'm probably over-thinking this, but hey, I just got "In Rainbows" for free!

Gold-digging the Wrong Way

If sincere, a self-described "spectacularly beautiful" woman threw herself to the wolves of the internet last week by posting a bald-faced request for a sugar-daddy on Craigslist. She confessed dissatisfaction with her current businessman s.o. (earning a meager 250k/yr) which would not even get her into Central Park West! She was aiming for a goal of 500k/yr, which apparently is not overreaching because the "middle class" in New York is 1M/yr.

Someone claiming to fit her bill responded with some cold, hard economic analysis of her situation: "plain and simple a crappy business deal." Concluding that as her companionship, based mainly on her beauty, is a depreciating asset coupled with significant and steady or increasing liabilities, he would much rather lease than buy.

Oh, if only love were as rational as this. Sight unseen, gold digging sounds moronic, but guys aren't known for rationality when faced with spectacularly beautiful women. Herein lies her error ~ don't ask for rational advice when peddling irrational goods.

Gatorland gapes anew

The plucky folks at Gatorland in Florida are rebuilding after a devastating fire last November that destroyed some of their tourist complex, including (with tragic pic) the gaping "gator" mouth entrance.

I remember visiting Gatorland years ago and being very much impressed with how many gators died there to fill their store with gator products and their restaurant with gator burgers. That mouth-entrance was an iconic memory of my trip to Florida, so it's good to hear they're putting it back!

How to raise political zealots in one easy step

Since me and hermit Eric Rudolph were the last two people in the country not to have cable TV, it's been hard keeping abreast of trends. Luckily, the intarwebz are here to save the day. I've been watching the Daily Show with John Stewart at Comedy Central dot com and the recent video "One State, Two State, Red State, Blue State" with John Oliver (originally aired Wed. Oct. 3) is good stuff.

Apparently there are book publishers out there who peddle politically indoctrinating books for children. Now, the way we raise our children is usually our own business, but I think these books border on child abuse:

REAL titles from the publishers:

• Help Mom! There are Liberals Under My Bed! - with such classic children's story characters as a Ted Kennedy-esque liberal hitting a lemonade stand for sales and income taxes (by holding out "his meaty hand"). As John Oliver so astutely observes: "Finally! A response to the universal healthcare manifesto, Everyone Poops." The publisher touts jokes in the book like "Teddy's Carwash," because then parents can explain that Ted Kennedy was suspected in a murder decades before they were born and they can all chuckle to the partisan humor in familial harmony.
• Help Mom! The 9th Circuit Nabbed the Nativity!
• The Sky is Not Falling: Why It's OK to Chill About Global Warming

And they found a liberal publisher too! Of: Why Mommy Is a Democrat.

Not to be left out, the Daily Show mocked up some childrens' books of their own: Help Mom! The Liberals Gutted the Patriot Act and Now There's a Suitcase Bomb Under My Bed! and Heather Had Two Mommies; Now Heather is a Prostitute.

Will they? Oh please, will they?

After some recent major third-party candidates that impact Democratic candidates (I'm looking at you, Nader), reading this article about Christian conservatives chafing about the possibility of Massachusetts Mitt or "Abortion-on-demand" Rudy being the Republican nominee fills me with an unseemly glee.

Apparently, Christian conservatives, who liberals and moderates alike consider to have heavily influenced the Republican party in the last 20 years, think that they have been treated as a "mistress" (love-you-but-don't-talk-to-me-in-public) by that party. I laugh.

Yes, please, endorse a far-right candidate! I think it's a great idea.

Too annoyed to put up anything

President Ahmadinejad (sp?) of Iran's visit to New York is the type of event that I suppose I should comment on in this blog, but I'm too annoyed by him to sift through the news reports and such to pick one to put up. The statement of my annoyance should be sufficient commentary, I suppose.

Eaten by cats

Reading the first bit of this article on the aging of Japan makes me want to sign up at an online dating website, if only so that instead of being found as a dusty sack of bleached bones, I might be found before rigor has set in.

Riddle me this

What's wet, covers 70% of the Earth's surface, and can burn at temperatures of up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit?

Yeah. This story is unbe-frickin-lievable. It's not April 1 either; weak sauce, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I'll believe it when my car's radio runs the alternator and not the other way around.

The main question I have is how much energy are the radio waves using compared to the energy can you pull out from the water? Actually the main question I have is, "are you s----ing me?"