Land of Oz

Taiwan Bound

The other day we started our trip to Taiwan to meet my inlaws. The flight was originally scheduled for 20 hours from Toronto to New York to Anchorage to Taipei. However, lucky us, it was delayed for almost 6 hours in New York and for another hour or so in Anchorage. It took us roughly 24 hours to finish the trip. I have to say though that China Airlines did everything they possibly could to make things not so bad. We get a free pass into the VIP lounge for the 6 hour wait. There was all the food you could eat and even alcohol drinks if you wanted. I managed on some tea and cheese and crackers and a pretty good ham and cheese sandwich.

Once in the air the flight went pretty well. It was long, but not too rough. There was a lot of room, so it wasn't cramped. We had a whole row for ourselves and managed to get some pretty good sleep along the way. We had some icing problems on the layover in Anchorage, but after an hour or so we were back on our way. All-in-all, not a bad way to spend 20+ hours traveling. China Airlines really offers some good service.

Snow

We got some snow last night - actually, we got a lot of snow. It started about 7:15 last night as rain and soon turned into big old heavy snow flakes. By 8:30 it was really coming down. It seemed to pause around midnight, but then must have gotten its second wind early in the morning. All-in-all about 8-10 inches of wet, heavy snow. While I usually like to shovel snow, this kind of heavy wet stuff is a pain in the back to handle. It was right about 32 degrees with a lot of sunshine today so the snow was just at the point of melting. Some of the that stuff was almost pure water held together with a bit of ice. Nothing you could easily toss around - not like that soft dry stuff you get when it's in the teens.

I did go out around 11am to get a haircut. Our street hadn't been touched by a plow so it was interesting going. Our city is so broke they don't plow the secondary streets until spring. Thankfully, we get a thaw now and then that cleans them up. Speaking of cleaning up. What is wrong with those idiot drivers that seem to like to drive from inside a snowball? I can't tell you how many cars I saw today that were moving with just a couple of windows barely cleaned. There was one car that had about 8-10 inches of snow on the hood and roof - with just the front window cleaned. I don't see how they could see over the snow drift on their hood. Stupid people.

NFL

Our newspaper had as its sports section headline, "Cowher backs NFL officials." This was of course in response to the interception/fumble/whatever call the refs made in the Steelers - Colts game. How much you wanna bet he'd have a little different point of view and be not quite so forgiving if that last field goal hadn't been wide.

And this line is to get some extra hits from all the NFL fanatics searching the Internet over the next couple of weeks. Super Bowl.

Stardust

No, it doesn't get in your eyes - at least I hope not. Here's something pretty cool. Nasa's Stardust mission ended this Sunday after 2.9 billion miles and 7 years of cruising the solar system.

If you don't know about, the mission went out and visited the comet Wild 2 in January of 2004. (Trivia note - it's not pronounced like "Wild Thing" but like "Vilt 2.") While it passed by, it snagged some particles with an aerogel loaded device. Today it brought back those particles and landed in Utah. Think about this for a minute. This little craft went trucking around for 7 years and then landed back on earth right where it was supposed to. I have more trouble than that finding where my car is parked.

On the other hand, if you're an old timer like me, you might remember a movie called The Andromeda Strain which played back in 1971. In it a satellite crashes in New Mexico and it was carrying an alien virus that was deadly to mankind (no surprise in a movie). In the movie, the virus kills some folks, threatens mankind as we know and in the end is done in by a thunderstorm. That satellite (if I remember correctly) was mistakenly contaminated by alien particles. In Stardust we went after the stuff on purpose. I sure hope their clean room facility is more leak proof than Washington D.C.

Religions

If you've read this blog before, you know I'm not too high on organized religion in general, let alone specific religions. That being said, it seems to me that Muslims have more than their share of idiots (Pat Robertson not withstanding). Without having to mention stonings, acid throwers and the almost daily bombings (ok - I'll mention them), they can't even seem to handle a religious celebration among themselves. The latest news says at least 345 Muslim pilgrims die during the stone-throwing ritual at the Hajj in Saudi Arabia. It seems to me that this happens most every year - although the news does say this is the highest in 16 years.

Come on people. Isn't there enough ways to die in this world without you guys coming up with religion specific extras? The only good thing about this is that it seems to be targeted at themselves and not other religions for a change.

Another One

McLeodUSA exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy today and eliminated about $677 million in debt. They also zeroed our their stock value. Oh, and by the way, in 2002 their comprehensive recapitalization eliminated $3.0 billion in high yield bond debt, $60 million in bank debt, and more than $300 million in annual interest payments.

This kind of stuff really pisses me off. Here's another company that just writes off their debt. Just makes it disappear. And then keeps on going to do it again. How many college funds, retirement plans, and dinners at Outback have these kinds of businesses ruined? It's bad enough they have to ruin their own business, but they also ruin so many others lives. The CEOs and executives get their bonuses and enhanced severance packages and go on to ruin another company and some more lives.

And you know what's worse? They won't have any problem getting more people to invest. I think that part baffles me even more. A company doesn't make a profit, has multiple bankruptcies, is still in debt, yet finds more investors to sink more money into a sinking ship. And you know what else? Some of those investors - the ones already rich - will somehow make money. Through one smoke and mirrors labyrinth or another they'll turn the loss into a profit. While the peon idiot who's sunk his kid's college fund into the company will end up working in Wal-Mart to help buy college books for his kid. It just ain't right...

Table saw Blues

If you are one of the few, the proud, the seriously leisure seeking challenged, you may have wandered over to my hobby site. I'm an amateur woodworker - the emphasis on amateur. If you haven't done much of this type of stuff, it's full of whirling and whizzing sharp stuff.

In general, I'm a pretty safety-minded guy. I've got fire extinguishers, eye goggles, gloves, push stick and such scattered all over the shop. I have a metal trash can with lid and any time I have a oil or solvent soaked rag, it goes outside until it dries. Be that as it may, the mind sometimes wanders.

Wander the roads, not your thoughts. I was at the end of cutting a bunch of little pieces on my table saw and my mind wandered. Next thing I know I'm having a close encounter of the worst kind with my table saw blade.

Count yourself lucky when all you end up with is a wide but shallow scrape - whew....

Some soap and water, Bactine, antibiotic cream and bandaids later, I'm taking a break.

Pat Robertson

The following are all pretty well documented statements by this guy. Even if some are incorrect (he didn't actually blame Ellen Degeneres for hurricane Katrina) someone really needs to smack this idiot up-aside his head - hard.

--In August, Robertson suggested on "The 700 Club" that American agents should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has long been at odds with U.S. foreign policy. Robertson later apologized for his remarks, saying he "spoke in frustration."

--Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for "dividing God's land."

--In October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device. He has also said that feminism encourages women to "kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."

--Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town Thursday that disaster may strike there because they "voted God out of your city" by ousting school board members who favored teaching intelligent design.

--In 1998, Robertson warned the city of Orlando, Fla., that it risked hurricanes, earthquakes and terrorist bombs after it allowed homosexual organizations to put up rainbow flags in support of sexual diversity.

Scary

I just read the following which should scare you as much as it scares me.

The Congressional Research Service has prepared a detailed
evaluation of Bush Administration legal claims regarding
Presidential authority to conduct warrantless electronic
surveillance within the United States.

A final determination on the matter is impossible, they note,
"without an understanding of the specific facts involved and the
nature of the President's authorization, which are for the most
part classified."

Basically, I read this to mean that anything the president feels he needs, he can do it and then classify the reasons, which means no one but someone he wants to can read those reasons. Or in other words, "I can do whatever I want and I neither have to tell you what it is nor why I want to do it."

Then and Now

Your $165 television isn't working.
Then:
1. Look up phone number on pad next to phone
2. Pick up the phone
3. Dial 278W2 (this used to be my phone number)
4. Ask the person who answers when can they come out to fix your TV
5. They show up, fix the TV and charge you $25

Now:
1. Pick up the phone
  1.1. Flip open the case
  1.2. Press 4 buttons to find number
  1.3. Press button to dial number
  1.4. Get charged extra for "Roaming" outside of your area plus assorted city, state, federal taxes and fees.

2. Computer answers phone. You:
  2.1. Answer "Yes" for English
  2.2. Answer "Television"
  2.3. Computer doesn't understand
  2.4. Answer "Customer service"
  2.5. Computer doesn't understand
  2.6. Answer "Help"
  2.7. Computer doesn't understand and switches you to another menu
  2.8. Computer describes 9 choices
  2.9. You press number 9 for more
  2.10. Computer describes 9 more choices
  2.11. You don't hear what you need so you press number 0
  2.12. Computer doesn't understand and switches you to another menu
  2.13. You finally find a choice for "Customer Service Representative
  2.14. You get to listen to 25 minutes of Kenny G interspersed with commercials
  2.15. When a representative finally answers they tell you it will cost you $30 for shipping, $40 for troubleshooting, and there's a $100 minimum service and parts charge

3. You throw TV away and buy a new one for $400

Success/Failure?

I wonder how a commercials success is measured? Is it strictly memorability or does the product have something to do with it. One of my favorite TV commercials right now takes place in a small geeky office with one guy sitting on a table playing a portable stereo and two of his compatriots dancing nearby. A supervisor type comes in and complains, wondering where some guy is, how much of something they have when something is due.

The radio gets turned off, a couple of calls are made and it turns out they have x number of items, so-and-so is in the airport and I forget the last -- and that back to music and dancing. Anyway, it's memorable from the music to the characters. However, I'm not sure what the product is. I'm guessing it's either IBM or a cell phone company and if it's a cell phone company I haven't the foggiest which one. And if it's neither, it wouldn't surprise me either.

So I'm guessing that either IBM made a memorable commercial, a cell phone company made a good commercial, but not too successful, or some other tech company made a good commercial that wasn't successful at all.

I'll have to watch out for it again and see just what the hell it is they're selling.
Update: I did some web digging and it's Nextel (1.6 MB .mov).

New Years

Well, it's 2006. If last year seemed long, it was - there was a leap second added. Anyway, I'll not waste any more time and get to bitching right away. As you know, driving gets my goat. It started about three blocks from my home. In the handicapped parking space at the library was a van - no handicapped plate of course. And it was filled to the seat backs with garbage! Old boxes, bags and fast food wrappers. And the inside rearview mirror was missing. You get in an accident with that vehicle and you'd have a hard deciding whether to call Waste Management or the police first.

About five blocks further I going north and some guy heading south decides to turn left across two lanes of traffic to get into a gas station. Not only does this nitwit turn in front of two cars, he doesn't even make the entry to the gas station so he has to back up and try again. Back northbound I get behind two vehicles driving about 30 in a 40 mph zone. Naturally they're driving side-by-side so that no one can pass them.

I make it to the Post Office and some car is parked in front of two - not one - "No Parking" signs in the parking lot. They're there because parking there can block the parking lot exit. I manage to squeak by with a couple of inches to spare. I'm at the Post Office to drop off a letter in the drive-through mail box. Naturally yet another idiot is parked in front of the boxes - sitting there. I toot my horn a couple of times, but it's about 5-10 minutes before she pulls away. How about getting your mail ready before you get to the mailbox. That's as bad as people who decide to do their bookkeeping at a driveup ATM instead of pulling ahead and letting the next one in.

Welcome 2006

P.S. I just read this "Were chain stores able to protect profitability in the face of fierce competition from Wal-Mart, and how quickly will shoppers spend an estimated $18.5 billion worth of gift cards?" in an article about Wal-Mart not making its predictions for sales. The question I have is how much of that $18.5 billion in cards won't be used? That unused credit in extra money in the retailers pockets. Not only do people forget about them, most cards also have built-in administration fees, read penalties, when not used quick enough...