Carrie Fisher roasts George Lucas

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

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)

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

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.

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.

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.

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.