Wednesday, 05 October 2011

Today, out by the tree in our front lawn, I found a discarded tampon. “Huh,” thought I. “That’s weird. And gross.”

At least it appeared unused, which is something I can’t say for the one that was waiting for us on our front lawn when we first moved in. I don’t want to dwell on this topic, but, um, who walks down the sidewalk and just thinks, “Yeah, I think I’m done with this tampon now”? Removing it from my property was a disgusting task. Want to hear the details? Okay, fine, I’ll spare you.

In a related story: the other day I was cleaning out the downstairs bathroom and I found an empty bottle of Summer’s Eve. It smelled pretty bad. Getting rid of it was another task I’m sure you’d rather not hear about.

My hope is to find a someone else’s condom laying around somewhere on my property. Then my life will be complete.

Thursday, 06 October 2011

So, the big news on NPR today was Steve Jobs passing away. He died of pancreatic cancer yesterday, and NPR talked about how influential he was. One reporter even went so far as to say we wouldn’t have personal computers today if it wasn’t for Jobs.

I don’t know about that. I think the technology was trending that way, he just happened to get in on the ground floor. It’s like saying we wouldn’t have light bulbs if Edison hadn’t lived…no, I don’t think so; I think, if anything, they just might have come along a tad later.

I’ve been an Apple user for a long time. My first experience with computers was in my elementary school’s library. They had a computer nook – consisting of one computer (an Apple IIe) – and I loved it. In fact, in my copy of My Book About Me, on the page that says “What I really want most of all,” I wrote “an Apple IIe.”

When the mid-1990s rolled around, and I was finally able to afford my own computer, I did what nearly everyone at the time was doing: I bought a Windows-based computer with Windows 3.1 on it. Later, I upgraded to Windows 95.

But a couple of years later, I tried Windows’ software for editing videos, and it was terrible, I couldn’t even make a 30 film without the audio and video becoming out of sync.

My friend Ryan, who was always the most knowledgeable computer used I knew, showed me his new iMac. Specifically, he showed me the program iMovie. I loved it – especially the fact that it actually worked. It was a little surprising, however, because I had assumed Apple had gone out of business. “Nah,” Ryan assured me, “they’ve been around the whole time, they just haven’t been doing so good. But they’re gonna rebound in the next few years.”

Man, was he right.

But not at first.

At first, our computer was a novelty. Besides Ryan, I knew no one else who owned an Apple, and most of our friends and family had no idea what that thing was that was sitting on our desk. Jennifer and I loved to point out iMacs we spotted on TV shows and in movies, and we kept wondering when other people would get interested in them, too.

In fact, about a year later, when one of our friends expressed interest in buying his first computer (with the express purpose of editing movies), we extolled the virtues of Apple. My wife’s sister, however, was passionate about Apple being an inferior platform that had limited options. She even started crying about it. In the end, though, our friend bought an Apple and, eventually, so did my sister-in-law.

Nowadays, it doesn’t seem to make as much of a difference. I use a Windows computer at work, and I swap files between it and my home computer all the time. And during the last five years or so, I’ve seen homemade movies created on Windows software and, well, they’re synced up!

Here’s a super-inspirational speech from Jobs.

Anyway, RIP Steve Jobs. Thanks for the great computers, competent software, and PIXAR.

Monday, 03 October 2011

Twice now in the past few days, I have been presented with information on Boy Scouts. I guess my son is at the age where he can join this club. The club engages in many great activities, and I’m sure my son would try his best to get every single little merit badge the club offers. The club appears to support some great ideals, too. From their website:

The Boy Scouts of America provides youth with programs and activities that allow them to

• Try new things.
• Provide service to others.
• Build self-confidence.
• Reinforce ethical standards.

However, there are a few problems.

First, as my wife noted, it’s a boys-only club. This didn’t bother me, really, because I pointed out that there is an equivalent club for girls (it’s called Girl Scouts), but my wife says this club is not affiliated with the Boy Scouts – it was formed in response to the Boy Scouts, since the Boy Scouts left out girls. So, I’m not sure on this one; maybe it’s an issue, maybe it’s not.

More importantly, the club requires all new members to recite (and, apparently, follow) the Scout Oath. The Oath is as follows:

On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

What, you may ask, is the Scout Law spoken of in this oath?

It’s basically a list of attributes that members are to embody. There are a number of good qualities encouraged on the list, including being honest, brave, and courteous. The final quality mentioned is reverence, with this accompanying explanation:

Reverent – A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others.

The idea of being reverent (deeply respectful) to a non-existent being is just plain silly, but even if the god of the bible exists, I don’t see why he’d be deserving of reverence. It’s hard to see how my son could do his “duty to God” when there’s no clear definition of what this is. The god of the bible made some pretty bizarre and cruel requests of his followers, and so I wouldn’t want my son following this god reverentially without first requesting a rationale for the duty. The first Boy Scout handbook stated that no one was good unless they believed in God which, of course, is complete bullshit (by this definition, all babies are bad).

Of lesser concern is the commitment to do one’s best to do “my duty” to the country. Unlike God, the country is real and it actually has bestowed some benefit on a number of people. But again, I don’t like the idea of blind allegiance. America was formed by rebellion and dissent, and there are a number of national policies that I think do not deserve “my duty” – I would much prefer my son swear an oath that he will follow his conscience or that he will try his best to make his country a good place for its citizens to live in.

Finally, no gays allowed.

The official site doesn’t appear to say anything about this, but this Wikipedia page does indicate the Boy Scouts have had a history of discriminating against homosexual members and parents.

Tuesday, 04 October 2011

This evening, Owen and I watched the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode “Albatross.” In it, the Dramians (a weird kind of aliens) accuse Dr. McCoy of having unleashed a plague upon their planet 19 years earlier. The Dramians claim the plague had a 100% mortality rate. McCoy is ordered to stand trial. While investigating the case, Captain Kirk meets up with a Dramian who survived the plague and can therefore testify on McCoy’s behalf.

When the show was over, Owen asked to see the list of Star Trek episodes. (Yes, I keep a list of Star Trek episodes handy. You never know when you’re going to need it.) I took it down off the shelf and he asked me which episode was called “Survivor.” Surprised he had remembered the episode (we watched it back in July), I pointed out that it was episode #6. Owen then asked: “If they are on a five-year mission, then how come the show said that McCoy helped the survivor 19 years ago?”

I thought this was an awesome question. First, it shows he really pays attention. Second, it appears he is already on the path of nit-picking science fiction, which is great fun.

I explained that the survivor from episode #6 is not the same survivor that was in the episode we just watched. I defined the word “survivor.” This had the added benefit of showing him why the reality show Survivor is so named. I next pointed out that, while McCoy is on the Enterprise as part of a five-year mission, he must have been part of other missions, on other ships, in the past, and that is probably when he originally met up with the Dramians.

Owen crinkled his eyebrows and thought about it for a while. I think he thought I was just feeding him a bogus answer. Finally, he accepted my explanation and asked if we could watch another episode. I said no; it was time for bed.

Friday, 30 September 2011

Today we walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner. The establishment was very family-friendly: they gave out plastic fireman’s hats to the kids and there was free popcorn to snack on while we waited for our meals. Owen’s meal even came with a sundae (the kids’ menu said that all kids who clean their plate get a free dessert).

I’m pleased that we live so close to so many restaurants. In our previous dwelling, there were only four eating establishments within walking distance, and one of them was Burger King, which only barely qualifies as an ‘eating establishment’ and which we never stepped foot in the entire time we lived nearby.

Our current home has at least ten places to eat within six or seven blocks, and there might be more…we haven’t walked down every street yet.

Saturday, 01 October 2011

Today we had our first house guests (excluding people who came over solely to help us move). My sister and her husband came over for dinner.

My sister wanted to order pizza. She lives way out in god’s country (where ‘god’ is defined as ‘about an hour south of the cities’), and is to far away from any pizza place to get delivery. So, we ordered pizza. I guess it was a big deal for those country folk.

And though they didn’t come over to help with making our house more livable, my brother-in-law was able to figure out the built-in stereo. Yeah, our house came with a stereo built right into the walls. The problem was, there is a speaker outside, and I could not figure out how to shut off that speaker, and I had no desire to blast our music to the whole neighborhood (if we listened to hip-hop, of course, blasting our music for the whole neighborhood would be compulsory, but we don’t). I played around with the buttons both inside and outside for about a half hour yesterday and couldn’t get that stupid speaker to shut up. My brother-in-law figured it out in about one minute, which just confirms my theory that I have a laughably low level of common sense.

Sunday, 02 October 2011

Today I finally finished reading John Rawles’ book The Matter With Us. It took me over a month to read the book (come on, it’s been a busy month), but I polished off the last ten pages this morning.

This was an amazing book, and I’d be interested to talk with anyone else who’s read it.

Rawles subtitled his book A Materialistic Account of the Human Predicament, and that’s an apt subtitle. First, he spends several chapters detailing the matter (meaning ‘stuff’) we are made of. He explores the big bang, provides an overview of the evolution of life over the eons, and even addresses some of the problems with evolution. (Yes, there are problems with evolution.) He then points out some of the highlights of human history, and how we use metaphors to explain the world around us.

After establishing how we have arrived at this point in time, Rawles next turns his attention to the matter (meaning ‘problem’) at hand: the many ways in which human civilization could be headed for disaster. He explains why we have these problems, even using a recent British Prime Minister to demonstrate the foibles in our thinking. He ends with a chapter that he titles both “Epilogue” and “New Chapter?” to depict both of the ways the near future could play out. Summing up civilization’s biggest problems into nine interconnected issues, Rawles makes a deft case for why these are the most important issues facing us now and what we – on an individual basis – can do about them.

I received the book free with the condition I submit a book review. It’s going to be a good review, that’s for sure. It was an amazing book and, like I said, I’m curious to know if anyone else has read it.

Tuesday, 27 September 2011

I’ve successfully managed to get the flow of water on my fridge’s tap to dispense at a decent clip. When we first moved in, it took about 5 minutes for the dispenser to fill up a glass; now it’s more like 20-30 seconds. I think that’s a significant improvement.

My next problem concerns the ice. By all appearances, the freezer should manufacture ice and dispense it into a holding tub where it then can be dispensed into a glass. I can not figure out how to get this to work. I’ve taken to manufacturing ice the old fashioned way: putting water in trays, allowing it to freeze, and then twisting the trays until the ice cubes fall into said tub. This gives us enough ice to last a few days.

I’ve printed off the instruction manual and my plan is to take a closer look this weekend.

Wednesday, 28 September 2011

The biggest news at Billboard today is that the number one album is Tony Bennett’s Duets II. He’s had some #1 singles (including back-to-back hits in 1951), but it’s hard to believe, but Tony has never scored a #1 album before.

Tony becomes the oldest person to hit the top of Billboard’s album chart. He’s 85 years young, and his new record blows right past the previous record set by Bob Dylan back in 2009 when he was ‘only’ 67 years old.

I’ve always appreciated Tony for being one of a handful of artists that seems able to continually reinvent himself and keep his music relevant for decades (Paul Simon and Brian Wilson also come to mind).

When I was a kid, my paternal grandparents frequently used to play crooner music from the 1940s and 50s. They pretty much plated music from two artists: Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra. Old Blue Eyes was played, I estimate, about 90% of that time. They insisted he was the better of the two artists, I insisted otherwise.

Fun fact: Tony – whom my grandparents assured me was ‘actually’ named Anthony Benedetto – went to high school with my grandfather.

Thursday, 29 September 2011

Here’s a fascinating video:

What would other bodies in our planets look like if they were the same distance from us as the moon? It gets really trippy when the Earth spins by (the Earth as viewed from Earth? Wow…), but otherwise it’s cool…

Really makes me appreciate that Jupiter is King of the Planets. Another thing to note is that Earth is spinning the wrong way, but I suppose that’s not the point of the video.

The one downside to living in the city (well, there are several downsides, really) is the light pollution. I often bring my telescope when I go camping, as it gives me a chance to check out the night sky unencumbered by street lights and house lights. I’ve heard there are telescope viewing parties around the Twin Cities. Every once in a while, I think of joining up with them. But come on, how nerdy do you think I am?

Sunday, 25 September 2011

Season 19 of The Amazing Race started this evening.

Among the ten other couples beginning the race are Ethan and Jenna. I was really disappointed to see them because, as you may know, they have both already been on Survivor. Not only that, but they’ve both won the game of Survivor.

I really prefer to see all new people playing these games, but both The Amazing Race and Survivor seem bent on culling from their own (and each other’s) pasts to find contestants. Are there not enough applicants for these shows?

This season of Survivor, for example, features both Wade and Ozzy, two people who have also already played. Twice, in fact.

And this isn’t the first time these shows have done this. I think Survivor is making this a new theme: For the past three seasons, they have invited back two players from prior seasons. And The Amazing Race has likewise used repeat players.

Boring.

I’d be more interested in seeing new people. In the meantime, I’ll root for these repeat players to leave the game ASAP.

Monday, 26 September 2011

Update on finding money this year: I’m up to $9.21.

I found a dime at work today.

Now that I’ve progressed this far in the year, I wish I had kept all this free money in a sequestered envelope or jar, and then spent it at the end of the year. I could’ve gone out to lunch, or bought a tank of gas, or a new car (depending on the final total, of course). Instead, I’ve dropped most of it into Owen’s piggy bank, tossed some of it into my car’s ash tray for spare change, and even spent some of it almost as soon as I found it.

By mid-year (02 July), I was at $6.53, and being just over nine dollars is keeping me on track for finding about $13.00 for the year. I was kind of hoping I would find more money during the year than I make in an hour, and, well, that’s just not looking likely (yes, I make more than $13.00 an hour).

On the other hand, I never know how much I’m going to find. On at least three occasions in my life, I’ve found more than $15 at one time. So who knows? I could double my total haul by tomorrow.

I better start looking.