Random Acts of Blogging
A tale of two bridges…
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010Someone at work pointed this out to me the other day.
Here is the world-famous Sydney Harbor bridge in Sydney, Australia, which people travel from all over the world to see, climb, and photograph the surrounding scenery from, particularly the famous opera house:
And here is the not-at-all famous Bayonne Bridge in Bayonne, New Jersey, which people typically only think about if it’s mentioned on the local traffic report, and wouldn’t climb it unless they worked for the State of New Jersey and were being paid to paint or repair it:
Odd how differently we treat these two structures, given that they are almost identical bridges.
Just goes to show: context is EVERYTHING…
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | No Comments »
According to the Class of 2014…
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010It’s that time of year again – the new Beloit College Mindset List is out.
As in past years (2007, 2009), I direct you to the link above for the whole list, but will highlight my favorite items here:
Most students entering college for the first time this fall—the Class of 2014—were born in 1992. For these students…
1. Few in the class know how to write in cursive.
19. They never twisted the coiled handset wire aimlessly around their wrists while chatting on the phone.
25. Leno and Letterman have always been trading insults on opposing networks.
28. They’ve never recognized that pointing to their wrists was a request for the time of day.
32. Czechoslovakia has never existed.
36. Adhesive strips have always been available in varying skin tones.
46. Nirvana is on the classic oldies station.
50. Toothpaste tubes have always stood up on their caps.
58. Beethoven has always been a dog.
65. Michelangelo [has always been] a computer virus.
71. The nation has never approved of the job Congress is doing.
Last year’s list didn’t have as much of the intended shock value for me, but some of these are truly eye-opening.
For instance, kids aren’t taught to write in cursive anymore? Now that I think about it, I was taught in second grade. My older son is entering fifth grade, and while I think he was taught, I haven’t seen him do it in ages (he either prints or types now). My younger son is entering second grade and, to my knowledge, has not been taught yet. I understand that it’s a dying skill, but how strange that one day, fairly soon, there won’t be any people in the country that can write in script…
Similarly, my kids had “toy” wristwatches for a while (“toy” in quotes because while they were adorned with cartoon characters and such, they actually did work as watches). Today, though, they both have iPod Touch devices, and would likely turn to them to get the time than to an archaic device that is strapped to their wrist and only doesn’t do anything but tell the time.
As for adhesive strips, I’ll only add that when I worked a part-time summer job at Johnson & Johnson many years ago, I saw hundreds of letters that people wrote in suggesting that J&J make band-aids in different skin colors. At the time, J&J’s response was to make clear band-aids, which still strikes me as a better idea than what Beloit is saying exists today.
Finally, if it really is true that Congress has an eighteen year streak with approval ratings below 50%, then I think it says as much about the usefulness of this particular opinion poll question as it does about Congress.
That’s my list of favorites. Check out the whole list and share your favorites in the comments below…
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 9 Comments »
Can they *DO* that?
Monday, August 16th, 2010I came across a T-Mobile billboard ad the other day which contained a rather interesting disclaimer:
In case you can’t read it, here it is blown up:
…and in case you can’t read that, here’s what it says:
T-mobile and the magenta color are registered trademarks of Deutsche Telekom AG. (c) 2010 T-Mobile USA, Inc.
So, question: can they really trademark the color magenta? If so, I can see a class-action lawsuit against every kid who ever used a box of Crayola crayons coming. And you thought those RIAA folks were bad…
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging, The World Wide Weird | 5 Comments »
Presidential Quotable Quotes
Monday, August 9th, 2010Some kids memorize the words to Elmo’s World. Some kids know all of the Jonas Brothers’ names. Then there’s this kid, who’s parents have taught him to memorize some altogether different fun facts:
Categories: Political Rantings, Random Acts of Blogging | No Comments »
Greenberg’s Law
Sunday, August 8th, 2010In the spirit of everyone from Moore to Godwin, I humbly present:
Greenberg’s Law: On the Internet, any discussion, no matter how substantial its subject matter, can be completely derailed by the presence of a typographical error. For example, regardless of the veracity of the previous sentence, no one would discuss the point it makes if there were an apostrophe in the word “its.”
Also:
Greenberg’s Corollary: The person who brings up the typo, at the exclusion of the subject being discussed, concedes the argument.
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 3 Comments »
Who Do I Write Like?
Monday, July 19th, 2010I think I’m one of the last people to try this tool, which purports to analyze your writing style and determine which famous author your writing is most similar to. I must admit, I was skeptical, but I fed it three fairly different posts (my obituary of George Steinbrenner, my update on New York City’s Freedom Tower and my summary of the 2008 Financial Crisis), and all three of them produced the same result:
So, here’s the irony: I’ve never read a single word written by Cory Doctorow, with the possible exception of comments he may have left on John Scalzi’s Whatever blog. I guess I’ll have to go pick up some of his books and check out his awesome writing style. ;-)
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 3 Comments »
Barack Obama – Hogwarts Student?
Thursday, July 1st, 2010 |
| Barack Obama earns 50 points for his house from Professor Flitwick after successfully conjuring golden birds in both hands simultaneously |
NOTE: The above picture is not Photoshopped – the birds are actually on the top of flagpoles just behind President Obama. Click here for another, more revealing view.
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 3 Comments »
It’s that time of decade again…
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010That’s right, boys & girls – it’s CENSUS time! I’ve seen all the ads telling me how important it is that I fill out the census, but I didn’t know this until I got the envelope:
Required by law? Really? I wonder what the penalty is. And given that the letter is addressed to “Resident,” I wonder how they find me if I don’t fill it out. I mean, isn’t identifying me and the members of my household the whole point? If they show up to arrest me, haven’t they conclusively proven that they don’t need me to fill it out?
You heard it here first, folks – We need Census Law Reform!
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 5 Comments »
Things You Find While Packing
Sunday, March 14th, 2010OK, this post is about eighteen months late, but as they say, better late than never…
When we packed up our house to vacate before the renovation, I had to go through my basement and put everything in boxes. Along the way, I discovered some of those “oh, wow – I can’t believe I still have this” items, and decided to photograph them for posterity (i.e., for posting on Flickr).
The entire set is here, but here’s one to whet your appetite:
Yeah, that’s right. 45 rpm records. Not only that, but Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees, and I Write the Songs by Barry Manilow. The late 70’s were an innocent time, indeed.
If that piques your interest, click through to the whole set. We’re talking Mickey Mouse Club membership buttons, Star Wars trading cards, floppy disk write-protect tabs, and much, much more.
Consider it my personal contribution to the ephemera that is the Internet…
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 5 Comments »
Desarmes family to God: Missed us again!
Friday, March 5th, 2010Think you had a bad couple of months? Check out these folks:
SAN BERNARDO, Chile – The Desarmes family left their native Haiti two weeks after the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake, joining the eldest son in Chile for what seemed a refuge from the fear and chaos of Port-au-Prince. Their sense of security lasted barely a month. It was shattered at 3:43 a.m. Saturday when one of the most powerful quakes on record shook a swath of Chile.
All the Desarmes’ immediate family survived both quakes. But twice cursed, the family now sleeps in the garden of a home that the eldest son, Pierre Desarmes, found for them just south of the Chilean capital of Santiago. They fear yet another temblor will strike.
Pierre Desarmes, 34, [and the lead singer of a popular Haitian reggaeton band in Chile] managed to get his family out of Haiti thanks to personal contacts at the Chilean Embassy in Port-au-Prince and the Chilean armed forces. Nine members of his family — his parents, two brothers and their families, and three cousins — arrived in Santiago on a Chilean air force plane Jan. 23.
I don’t think I could blame them if they started to take this personally…
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 1 Comment »