Tuesday, April 28, 2009

The bacone

Pronounced “bay-cone”, as in “bacon cone”, as in, “get the paddles ready and warm up the defibrillator , I am taking a bite.” And here it is in all of its splendid glory.

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If you are very quiet, you can here angels having massive coronaries.

This lovely treat comes to us via baconcamp. Its basically a cone of bacon filled with scrambeled eggs and topped with sausage gravy and a biscuit! Get the full recipe and “howto” here.

Michael Jackson, a photo psychoanalysis

Paul Sheer went to the Michael Jackson auction and took photos. Weird. I would love to hear what a psychiatrist would  say about these items. Head on over to Paul Sheer’s flickr album and take peek into the tormented soul of Mr. Jackson.

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PaulC loves Wil Wheaton

Its true. But I hate Wesley Crusher. ZOMG, that smug little bastard. Wil Wheaton on the other hand is just a funny dood with a great blog who just happened to play a snotty kid on ST:TNG.

Wil Wheaton is Andy in like 10 years, and since Andy is my godson, you KNOW that I think that he is super cool! Well, that and the fact that he is super cool ( I mean Andy, not Wil, but as I said, Wil is pretty cool too.) Check out this video of Wil being interviewed by the LA Times and tell me that you don’t think “hey, is that Andy?”

Anywho, Wil has a blog over at “WWdN: In Exile” its always funny, and frequently interesting.

YARTLTS

Welcome to the first, and almost certainly last, article on “Yet Another Reason To Love The Swedes”.

There are many reasons that we love the Swedes, Sverker Lindbo, Martin Alsen, ABBA, Nobelpriset (Nobel Piece Prize), pickled herring (I can’t prove that pickled herring originated in Sweden, but work with me). Well we can now add another item to the list.

This clip from Knäckebröddansen Talang 2009. Now keep in mind that this is from a show that was televised in Sweden. ON THE AIR. Can you imagine the cries of outrage that would ensue if this was ever on network television in the U.S.? Never happen. Seriously, what a great clip. I can not imagine the uptight American population ever allowing this on TV. <sigh>

Saturday, April 25, 2009

RIP Aunt Deanna

It is with a heavy heart that I write this blog entry. I received an email from Dawn that Aunt Deanna passed away Thursday. Aunt Deanna was 70 years old and the believe that she died of either a stroke or a heart attack.

The wake will be Monday April 27th from 4-8pm at White Funeral Home in Farmington MN.

PaulC gets hit. Dammit!

First, I am ok, nobody was hurt. Not me, not the other driver, not her 3 year old daughter, not her unborn child. NOBOBY was hurt.

SO, I was cruising through downtown Concord MA on the motorcycle on my home. If you don’t know, Concord STRONGLY enforces the pedestrian crosswalk law (as they should). So, when I saw the woman in the crosswalk, I stopped for her. I was at a complete stop with my feet on the ground.

THEN it started. I heard the squealing tires, the bustin’ glass and my bike shot out from under me, heading straight for the pedestrian! Luckily, the bike feel over on its side before it hit her, that would have been SO bad!

I fell off the back of the bike on my butt, and just sat there all pissed off for a second. :( Then the driver gets out of her car and stands about 10 feet in front of me making sounds, she MAY have been talking, but I think that she was just babbling. She was clearly pretty scared. So safetyPaulC made an appearance.

I stood up and said “Look, I’m fine, don’t cry, don’t worry, I’m fine. Don’t take this personally, but I am going to swear now.” Having given her what I considered to be fair warning, I swore. But really, given the situation, not very much.

She said (any number of times) that she was sorry. She had just said to her daughter that there was a motorcycle in front of her and that they would have to be extra careful. Fucking Karma. :) (actually that’s the fates) the funny thing is, that’s exactly the kind of thing you would say to your 3 year old as idle banter. <sigh>

WAIT! Your 3 year old!? I look in the car, and there is her daughter in the car seat, none the worse for wear. Mom goes to pick her up, she is still fine, then *I* say something and she cries. :( (the child, not the mom) Which is weird because kids usually love PaulC, must have been that I was super stressed and it showed.

SO, she says again how sorry she is, tears start to well up in her eyes. Great, I am making a pregnant woman cry. Nice. So I tell her again that I am fine and that if she has a problem with her pregnancy because of the stress of the accident that I will NOT be fine, so please calm down. That's right, its all about PaulC. :)

The cops show up, the firemen show up, the paramedics show up. The firemen leave, the paramedics leave, the police officer does the paperwork. The driver gets a written warning for “failure to observe the proper precautions while operating a vehicle” or something like that. Now before any of you shit house lawyers start getting uppity about it and say that he should have thrown the book at her, lets look at the facts.

The woman was with her daughter in the car, she was probably distracted and hit me. *I* am fine, EVERYONE is fine. SHE felt like SHIT. She felt so bad that it made ME feel bad. She was a very nice person and clearly she will punish herself much more than the $100 fine that the officer could have given her. AND her insurance premiums will probably go up.

Now, if she had been a doofus and not concerned at all, then I would say that she deserves the maximum that the officer can level at her. And in fact, the officer said as much.

Anywho, I am fine, and will be motorcycleless for a bit. I hope not too long…

Friday, April 24, 2009

First transgenic dog…

And it glows in the dark.

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Well, it glows under ultraviolet light, FTA “She and four other beagles all produce a fluorescent protein that glows red under ultraviolet light.”

They mixed the beagle with a sea anemone. Read the article its pretty interesting. The cool part is that they used a retrovirus! ZOMG! StarGate Atlantis FTW! (Season two by the way.)

This day in history

I get an email every day that lists all of the important events for the given day in history. Clearly the list is flawed as it does not mention that on this day in 1966 I gleefully popped out of theMom, took one look at the attending doctors zipper in the down position, and have had zipper problems ever since.

Other notable events on this, the 43rd birthday of PaulC:
1800 - The Library of Congress was established. President John Adams approved the appropriation of $5,000 for the purchase of "such books as may be necessary for the use of congress."

1962 - MIT executed the first satellite relay of a TV signal.

1981 - The IBM Personal Computer was introduced.

1967 - Vladimir Komarov, Soviet cosmonaut, and the first confirmed human to die during a space mission.

And of course, the MOST auspicious

1974 - Bud Abbott, American actor and comedian died.

Carrie Fisher roasts George Lucas

It turns out that Carrie Fisher is pretty damn funny. Maybe I’ll finally read one of her books.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Andy’s new blog

Andy’s new blog “Thor’s Unemployment Blog” is now online. The name is a bit short sited though, what happens if/when he gets a job? Kids.

Fair winds Andy.

Oh, and thanks for linking back to TeamPaulC. (jackass)

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Elizabeth Warren on TARP

Elizabeth Warren, a very smart person, is the Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel fro the U.S. banking welfare program bailout. She was interviewed by John Stewart and she has some excellent observations.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M - Th 11p / 10c
Elizabeth Warren Pt. 1
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Economic Crisis Political Humor

And after the commercial break:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M - Th 11p / 10c
Elizabeth Warren Pt. 2
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Economic Crisis Political Humor

Saturday, April 18, 2009

1001 rules for my unborn son

I just found this great blog
1001 rules for my unborn son
The rules are short, valuable, and to the point. A few of my favorites:

325. When excusing yourself from the table, you need not give a reason.

So true. “Please, excuse me” will do fine. No need to point out that you need to relieve yourself.

330. Give credit. Take the blame.

Good call, everyone should take that to heart.

334. Unless you served, no fatigues.

Agree, 100%.

But some are just confusing, like:

324. Once a mime, always a mime.

While I believe that its true, its just weird. :|

So check it out here.

Sweet Ricotta Pie

Nanna/Lee/Uncle Ricks mother makes a GREAT sweet ricotta pie that is
to
die
for.
Melanie likes it scrambled, so when Lee is removing the pie from the oven Melanie likes to pinch her to make her drop it. Not cool Melanie, not cool.

BUT, what IS cool is just how easy it is to make the pie. When I went to AllBunny on Easter we had dinner at PaulAndJoann’s and I helped Lee make the pies. It was so easy, that I just made two for myself. Here’s the recipe.

2 lbs of ricotta cheese
8 eggs
1 cup sugar
some vanilla (what eves, just poor in a couple of teaspoons)
Mix it all up with your hand whisk.
Put the mixture into 2 frozen pie crusts.
Bake at 400 for 30-40 minutes.
Cool.
Eat.

You SHOULD cook them in a water bath so that the outside edges cook as fast as the inside. But I don’t, its too much work. :) You end up with a really nice “cheesecake” type dessert.

Friday, April 17, 2009

RIP Mark Fidrych

Recently I had breakfast at Chet’s diner in Northborough Ma and AGAIN I forgot my camera, so no photo with Mark Fidrych. <sigh> Its a great diner, right out of the 1950’s. Walking into Chet’s is like walking into your Mom’s house. Its comfortable, loving, happy, and warm. Nancy, the matriarch, is always there either making corned beef hash, the best on the planet, or sitting at the counter and chatting while her daughter Ann cooks. There are a few framed photos on the walls of Chet and Nancy in the ‘70s, one of them includes their kids. One wall has the issue of “Rolling Stone” magazine from the 70s with Mark Fidrych on the cover. (First Athlete ever on the cover of Rolling Stone)

Nancy’s daughter Ann (Mark Fidrych’s wife) is working the counter, her granddaughter, Ann and Mark’s daughter, Jessica (Samantha’s age) is waiting tables. Everyone is happy to see me and they all yell “HI!!!”. They don’t bother taking my order, its always Nancy’s homemade corned beef hash with two eggs over easy and wheat toast with a glass of cranberry juice. If I’m lucky Mark Fidrych will serve my breakfast. Yup, its true. I have had my breakfast served to me by none other than Mark Fidrych. Its a joy that I will miss. He was always happy and made everyone smile. My favorite story is the time that Mark served breakfast to an 8 year old boy and his father. It was spring and the kid asked Mark if he was going to Florida to try out for the Red Sox this year.

“Well” Mark said, “I ‘m not sure, do you think I should?”

“Oh, yes!”, replied the kid “The Sox could really use your pitching!”

So Mark flashed the kid and his dad a big smile and said “Well then, I just may head down to spring training.”

The kid smiled so big that I thought that his face would split open. “DAD! Mark is going to tryout for the Sox!”

I’ll still go to Chet’s for the best corned beef hash on the planet. For the 30 minutes that I am there, they will still make me feel like a part of the family. I’ll still flirt with Ann, give her a big smile and a wink, I’ll still over tip Jessica (and hope that she spends it on college.) When I leave, I’ll still yell “Have a nice day Nancy!” on my way out. But I’ll never get a big wave and smile from Mark again. Never here Jessica yell at him that he’s “too SSLLOW, customers are waiting!” Chets will probably be a little bit less warm for awhile, a little bit quieter, but that will just make it even more homey. And in the end, Ann will still roll her eyes at Jessica when she gets too loud, and Nancy and the girls will keep making corned beef hash and serving it, but now when I look at the picture of Mark Fidrych on the cover of “Rolling Stone” hanging on the wall, I wont feel quite the same. I’ll still remember the big goofy bird that talked to the ball and groomed the pitchers mound, I’ll still remember reading the Sports Illustrated in 1977 that introduced me to him. But it just wont be the same.

This site has a really nice bio on Mark.

Originally posted 4/13/09, but had to repost.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Now THAT’S talent

You know that PaulC does not go for the “American Idol” type shows. BUT, Bob just sent me this and its just such a dam cool clip that I had to post it. Its from “Britains Got Talent” and I am sure that many of you have seen it, but I think that EVERYONE should see it.

What a treat.

DOH! They disabled embedding, click here to watch it on youtube. While you are watching it, click "more info..." on the right for the lyrics.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Moon trailer!

There’s lots of buzz around about the new trailer for “Moon”. Some good, some bad, but my favorite is

“You know there needs to be a movie where, for once, humans and robots are fighting because its the humans who go crazy and the robots are just trying to defend themselves.” PaulC agrees!

While the trailer does feel a bit “2001” to me, I will reserve judgment until I see the movie.

The lead is played by Sam Rockwell who you may recognize as Zaphod Beeblebrox, he also played the disco dancing bad guy in “Charlies Angels” and opposite Angelica Huston in “Choke”, funny movie. Anyway I like Sam and am looking forward to the movie, here’s the trailer.

Oh, and look for the flowbee. :)

Marketing 101

So, your company name is “Cyberdyne”. Yes, THAT Cyberdyne. Wikipedia says this about Cyberdyne

“The Cyberdyne Systems Corporation is a fictional company depicted in The Terminator films, as well as various novels and comic books all taking place in the Terminator universe. They are responsible for the genesis of the supercomputer Skynet, the primary antagonist of the Terminator series, and its armies of machines.” You know, they created these:

Ok, so you like the name, its no big deal, you can call your company Cyberdyne.

Then you come out with a product. An exoskeleton.

Ok, this is not cool man. You should really consider better marketing. But no, instead you name the product “HAL”. Yes, HAL. You know, the Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer that went paranoid and killed the crew in “2001: A Space Odyssey”. Now in fairness, he had a good reason, HAL was programmed to give "accurate processing of information without distortion or concealment". (Clearly Clarke adhered, at least loosely, to    "Three Laws of Robotics", would you expect anything less?) But THEN he is told to keep the existence of the monolith a secret, so he is required to lie, OR, he could just kill the crew. So he kills the crew. THAT HAL.

So to recap: CYBERDYNE has created an exoskeleton and named it HAL.

“Mr. Christen, I have a Mr. Nostradamus on line 2, he wants to talk about the coming apocalypse.”

“Ask him to hold please, I’m cleaning my gun.”

Jim Hensons Resident Evil

Hmm, interesting, muppets AND zombies!
I just finished World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War , and now I have Zombies on the brain. :)

Pretty funny video.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Proper way to execute a fireman’s carry

I always wondered how to set a person down that you pick up with a fireman’s carry, now I know.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Isaac Asimov is dead

And in fact has been since this day in 1992. I wont do an Issac Asimov tribute, I don’t feel that I could possibly do it any justice.

BUT, I would suggest the following video, its an interview form 1986 and its wonderful. Even if you don’t like Asimov, you should check out the video and note the hair on the female interviewer, its pretty awesome! :)

Update: Her name is Marilyn Mach Vos Savant, in 1986 she was rated the most intelligent person alive, apparently her IQ was something like infinity plus one (167-230).

Saturday, April 4, 2009

YAPR #4

Or “Starbucks Lingo”

Sorry Andy, this is not a BSG post. :)

I had coffee with my friend Steve the other day at Starbucks, I got there a little early so I decided to grab a coffee and read while I waited. So I was in line to order coffee and there was a short Hispanic gentleman in front of me and it was his turn to order. I really don’t care what he is getting, so I automatically tune it out, but about 10 seconds  into his order process I realize that this is taking far too long so I tune in.

Barista: Well, would you like strong coffee, something more mild, or…
Customer: Uhh, mild I guess.
Barista: Leave room for milk?
Customer: SSSSure, why not?
Barista: Tall, Grande, or Venti?
Customer: Excuse me?
Barista: Tall, Grande, or Venti?
Customer: What?
Barista: Would you prefer a Tall, Grande, or Venti?
PaulC: Excuse me. (to the customer) Small, medium or large?
Customer: OH! Medium please.

So I order my “Grrrrrrrande Latte”, they put a top on it like they always do, I go to  throw it away, like I always do, and there at the coffee  condiments stand is the Hispanic gentleman. I say “excuse me” while I reach past him to put my lid in the garbage. He says, in broken, but understandable English “Oh, no problem.”

I go sit down to drink my coffee and ponder this situation.

I have never liked the Starbucks affectation of made up size categories and this situation perfectly exemplifies why. The customer had never been to a Starbucks before, English is not his native language and he is asked seemingly random questions about his coffee. Now some of the questions are just cultural noise, for example “would you like room for milk”. Uh, really? Just leave room and don’t ask. But by far the more interesting random question was the “what size would you like” fiasco. The barista did NOT say “What size would you like; Tall, Grande, or Venti?” thus giving our intrepid foreigner a clue as to the nature of the question, that fact alone is worth noting, but far more interesting are the choices. What was the poor man thinking?

Let us assume that his native language was Spanish or based on Spanish. He is in a foreign country, so he has had at least some exposure to other cultures. The barista says “Would you like tall, grande, or venti?” Lets jump into his head, shall we?
”hmm, I am only  5’-4”, by no means tall, so I don’t want anything made for a tall person. Grande? No, that sounds too big and I am still traumatized by that ‘big gulp’ that I had yesterday, I just want a coffee. Venti? Hmm, no, I want one cup of coffee, not 20!”

So the barista, seeing his confusion, hearing his accent, repeats herself, again with no clue as to what these three unrelated words mean. Now THATS helpful. She could have said “Would you like needle, cow, or jet?” and had the same impact. And in fact, why not? Jets are bigger than cows, and cows are bigger than needles. So why not use that for size nomenclature? Because its stupid and would require that customers understand your secret language. And in fact, that’s exactly what Starbucks wants, and that is why they use “Tall, Grande, Venti” it sounds so European! But “needle, cow, jet” makes me think of possibly farmers, but really it just sounds ludicrous as there is no obvious connection between the objects. Don’t get me wrong, “Tall, Grande, Venti” is pretty stupid too, but it makes customers feel European and “in the know”. Great marketing.

So, when you are at Starbucks, order a grande as if you are an 18th century Spanish courtier, and just roll the shit out of that “r”. I mean if you say “grande” and it takes you less than 5 seconds, you aren’t rolling it enough. When they look at you like you are insane (and they will) just say “Hey man, its your affectation, not mine, would you prefer that I order a medium?”

There are, as of today, 3 Starbucks’ near me, that when I walk in, the barista yells “grrrrrrrrrrrande latte!”. Spread it.