October 28, 2007
Miracle in Mississippi - Trinity 28, Millsaps 24 10-27-2007
13-lateral, 60 yard touchdown in the last 2 seconds
October 26, 2007
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two artists compete by drawing superheroes that cancel out the power of their opponent's previous hero
October 24, 2007
October 17, 2007
DC to Switch to Meters for District Taxis! The Tyranny of the Zone Taxicab System is over!
A Freakonomics Quorum: What Will U.S. Air Travel Look Like in Ten Years & Cory's Ninja Airlines
October 16, 2007
October 15, 2007
Ask the pilot: Airport congestion and flight delays are making travelers insane. A look at what will and won't solve the problem
People Getting Punched Just Before Eating
no middle ground here: you either think it is hilarious or stupid
History of Religion
NYP-WAS; WAS-NYP
Another travel day; New York Penn Station to WDC's Unions Station - to and fro the same day.
Not complaining; tomorrow should be a beautiful day.
October 12, 2007
Al Gore and UN climate body win Nobel Peace Prize
this should get the right-wingers frothing at the mouth
October 11, 2007
When Right-Wing Attacks Backfire
I just can't believe the amount of vitriol directed as a 12-year old kid by conservatives
October 9, 2007
I'm not a Yankees fan, but Torre has always been a consummate sportsman: Ever a Class Act, Yankees’ Torre Faces Final Curtain
October 8, 2007
The Indians win! The Indians Win! Oh my God the Indians Win!
How 'bout them apples, Yankees fans.
Nintendo Family Tree
Nintendo Family Tree by Nerdy Shits.
October 2, 2007
October 3, 2007
4 5in2 Day Two - Evening Flights
The day in KCMO is over, and my trip is coming to an end.
I had to detour around traffic this afternoon going into Kansas for a short 20 minutes. So I got out and walked around for a minute or so, so now (everything willing) as of tonight I will have set foot in Five States in Two days. The list, for those of you not following at home:
- New York
- Texas
- Missouri
- Kansas
And to come- Illinois (made it)
It was fun, but I can't wait until I can sit down in my own couch in my own State.
Later
OK, so I'm here in the Windy City, and all is safe. Time to eat and board yet another plane for my final flight home.
I can't wait until I pass through those doors and hear the honking of the cabs and the constant yelling.
4in2 Day Two - Morning Flight
Part Two of the 4in2 trip: time to navigate the strange waters of the insanely huge DFW airport, return my rental and be on my way to Kansas City.
4in2 Day One - LGA-DFW
Today is the first day of my Four States in Two Days travel.
Some thoughts:
- Even the locals call the area DFW - this is oddly strange to me.
- DFW (the airport) is freaking huge!
- I had to go by Downtown Dallas tonight and just had to go see the site of John F. Kennedey's Assassination. A white "X" marks the spot where the final lethal bullet hit JFK. Very strange to be walking around a location so tied to history and culture, which just happens to be in the middle of a working city.
- If you don't have an iPod adapter for your rental car, your radio choices in the greater DFW area are: God, Country Music, God and bad rock music. You've been warned.
- Free wireless at Amerisuites is awesome. Glad the original hotel had the flooded rooms.
- No one I met could stop talking about New York sports, especially the much-loved Cowboys victory over the Giants
- There is a Bennigan's just behind the hotel - I thought they were just figments of my friends imagination.
For now, sleep. Then Kansas City.
Four States in Two Days
I will be off on another jaunt amongst the inner states. Luckily two out of the four feature world-renowned barbecue and ribs.
September 27, 2007
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enough said
September 25, 2007
On the Little Rock Central High integration - Through a Lens, Darkly
September 24, 2007
A place to discuss world matters...
New smogr logo in honor of the 62nd United Nations General Assembly:
That is all.
September 23, 2007
Ahmadinejad is making Americans lose their minds
Dear America,
Look. I know that it has been a rough couple of years - with us bogged down in multiple wars and the economy going down the tubes.
But, can we all get a grip?
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to the United Nations and his speech at Columbia is apparently making everyone completely lose their fucking minds. Especially Fox News who on tonight's 10 PM broadcast labeled him the Iraq President. I know: some comments and pronouncements which I don't agree with, are factually inaccurate and are frankly abhorrent. He is basically a loony. My question is thus: if him visiting and speaking on US soil is so horrible and such a watershed moment, what does that say about the state of America? Personally, I think the US is strong and resilient enough to host a tin-plated near-despot.
What I don't get is the flap about Ahmadinejad visiting Ground Zero - Iran and Ahmadinejad had exactly zero involvement with September 11th. Can we grow up? Have we become a country of, for lack of a better term, pansies?
It is if the New York Post and every other tabloid on the planet is looking for this year's bogey-man. Last year it was Valenzuela's President Hugo Chavez which was the Great Satan. Look's like he is yesterday's news.
The best things to do is let him in, say whatever loony thing he will say and let him go. To try to protest his speech or interrupt it will give him a great propaganda victory.
So please America, can we just stand back and be grownups?
Sincerely,
The Grubbykid
Update - Watch the video of the speech live.
Update - that ended about as well as it could have. If there wasn't any of this foolishness from the Media then his banality would have gone unnoticed. Check out the New York Times live blogging and recap.
I'm opening comments up: what did you think of the speech, his presence at Columbia and the brough-ha-ha surrounding his appearance?
nope - I buggered the commenting engine, no comments available; sorry!
December 31, 2007
My Year in Airports, 2007
This is the complete list, as far as I can remember, of every flight I took in the year 2007.
- CMH-LGA
- JFK-LHR
- LHR-JFK
- JFK-LHR
- LHR-JFK
- LGA-MSP
- MSP-LGA
- LGA-CLT
- CLT-LGA
- JFK-LHR
- LHR-GLA
- GLA-LHR
- LHR-JFK
- LGA-MSP
- MSP-LGA
- LGA-MCI
- MCI-LGA
- JFK-MCI
- MCI-JFK
- JFK-MCI
- MCI-JFK
- LGA-CMH
- CMH-LGA
- JFK-LAX
- LAX-SYD
- SYD-MEL
- MEL-LAX
- LAX-JFK
- LGA-DFW
- DFW-MCI
- MCI-ORD
- ORD-LGA
- LGA-CLT
- CLT-OAC
- OAC-CLT
- CLT-LGA
- LGA-MCI
- MCI-LGA
- JFK-NRT
- NRT-PEK
- PEK-PVG
- PVG-HKG
- HKG-SYD
- SYD-BNE
- BNE-MEL
- MEL-HKG
- HKG-SFO
- SFO-ORD
- ORD-CMH
- CMH-LGA
September 20, 2007
Canadian Dollar Reaches Parity With Staggering U.S. Greenback
On getting photographs of your marriage proposal: Will You Marry Me? Say Cheese!
Yet another reason NYC is the place to be...
Got a text message from a friend that Beirut was playing at a bar in my neighborhood. So I walked over and saw an awesome free concert with a bunch of my friends from the neighborhood.
September 15, 2007
Australia, Day 07
On my way to the States, where water flushes the correct way.
I'll miss the place, but it was a good trip. I don't know if I'll miss the utterly confusing sports such as Cricket, Rugby and the sport known as Footy.
Australia, Day 05
Another day of walking around Melbourne and meeting people, doing top-secret work, and having a great time.
Favorite Australian sayings, so far:
- Knock On ("let's go", or "good luck")
- No Worries
- I'll give you a bell... (I'll call you)
If you are ever in Melbourne, you must goto Pellegrini's Espresso Bar - just look at the place! Excellent old-school Italian food served by old-school Italians.
Melbourne's tram system is great - there are so many tram lines that it gets confusing which tram you need to use to get back to your hotel.
Many touristy shops in Melbourne sell real, taxidermied, kangaroo paws for back scratchers. And kangaroo Scrotum's. Seriously.
Tomorrow is my last full day in Australia, then I'm on my way back!
September 14, 2007
Australia, Day 06
Long days of ocean roads and discussing plans of action.
Photos to come, but action first.
September 11, 2007
A Day in the Life of Oscar the Cat
Wow, just wow:
Making his way back up the hallway, Oscar arrives at Room 313. The door is open, and he proceeds inside. Mrs. K. is resting peacefully in her bed, her breathing steady but shallow. She is surrounded by photographs of her grandchildren and one from her wedding day. Despite these keepsakes, she is alone. Oscar jumps onto her bed and again sniffs the air. He pauses to consider the situation, and then turns around twice before curling up beside Mrs. K.
One hour passes. Oscar waits. A nurse walks into the room to check on her patient. She pauses to note Oscar's presence. Concerned, she hurriedly leaves the room and returns to her desk. She grabs Mrs. K.'s chart off the medical-records rack and begins to make phone calls.
Within a half hour the family starts to arrive. Chairs are brought into the room, where the relatives begin their vigil. The priest is called to deliver last rites. And still, Oscar has not budged, instead purring and gently nuzzling Mrs. K. A young grandson asks his mother, "What is the cat doing here?" The mother, fighting back tears, tells him, "He is here to help Grandma get to heaven." Thirty minutes later, Mrs. K. takes her last earthly breath. With this, Oscar sits up, looks around, then departs the room so quietly that the grieving family barely notices.
A Day in the Life of Oscar the Cat, has the uncanny ability to predict when residents are about to die, which doctors and nurses use to notify family of their loved ones impending death. Oscar also gives companionship to those without family who would have died alone. (via)
Another year, another remembrance
Tribute in Light, originally uploaded by plemeljr
September 12, 2007
Australia, Day 04
On the way to Melbourne, & saying goodbye to Sydney. More to follow.
Australia, Day 03
Beautiful sunrise today in the Land of Oz. How do I know? Because I woke up at 5 am because my plan at beating Jet Lag might have failed.
- Bondi Beach is really nice - even if it was too cold and windy to get into the surf
- Sydney really is pretty small and compact considering how sprawl-y it is.
- Australian television has very little good programming.
- Sydney nightlife would be more fun if I didn't want to fall asleep at 8 pm every night.
Tomorrow, Northern Suburbs and Manly.
Australia, Day 02
While this is the third calendar day since I left home, due to the wonderful International Date Line I've only actually had two days.
- Sleeping for fourteen hours on an airplane isn't as easy as it sounds, even with pharmaceutical help.
- So far, Sydney is the most laid back place I have ever visited. It is like San Francisco without the hippy pretensions. Even the security screeners were laid back.
- The Sydney CBD (downtown) is, because of APEC, a giant maze of concrete and steel. At least all the police officers were nice.
- Speaking of police officers, every last one of them told me that the President left yesterday. I wanted to tell them Australia could keep him, but I thought better of it.
- Get this: according to my Australian source, when Aussies go to the beach they bury in the sand items of value so they don't get stolen. "Oh, just put it in the sand" is apparently a commonly held social contract that anything in the sand is off limits; but things above, or on top of the sand, are fair game. Who knew?
September 7, 2007
Australia - Day 01
Some thoughts:
- The first day of travel, and I'm already behind schedule thanks to JFK's stellar traffic
- Wifi in airports is amazing, when can this happen in airplanes? Who can I give my money to for this?
- I fly all the time the time, to many different places in the USA and the world, and I've never seen a prettier, and more augmented, departure lounge than on this trip to Los Angeles.
September 5, 2007
Today's NYC Taxi Strike is real: on my way to JFK this morning I saw exactly 6 cabs and none queued up to receive new fares.
September 4, 2007
Strike cripples London Underground
so glad not to be in London this week
September 1, 2007
August 30, 2007
Katrina: Two Years On And Counting: Clayton James Cubitt interview & photos of survivors
August 29, 2007
I might be silent here, but you should check out over here, where I'm getting quite loud
Plus Nine
August 28, 2007
August 21, 2007
Aerodynamics 101:
Is it really true that, if you are in the dark or in a cloud and can't see the horizon (and are not flying by instruments), you will crash? Yes.
August 20, 2007
Back From KC, and Oz was Fun
August 14, 2007
Helvetica DVD pre-order (Deluxe limited edition)
if anyone wants to know what my Christmas list would include 4 months in advance, the Deluxe edition would be on that list
August 13, 2007
Karl Rove to Resign At the End of August
So many thoughts: Goodbye Turd Blossom; why didn't this come out on Friday?
August 10, 2007
August 8, 2007
New York Transit System Crippled by Flooding
guess I'm telecommuting today...
Bonds Breaks All - Time Home Run Record
and no one cares...
August 7, 2007
August 5, 2007
The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: Damn, I am so busted, yo - Fake Steve, outed by the NY Times as Forbes writer
August 4, 2007
Barry Bonds just hit homerun #755 against San Diego to tie Hank Aaron
the amount of booing almost outweighed the cheers
Barry v Hank v Babe
Notice the large fluctuations in Barry's yearly home run stats. I want to run some numbers on the top 10 HR players to see if any statistical banding occurs for other players.
July 31, 2007
July 30, 2007
Thoughts on Glasgow
In no particular order:
- Boy, everyone here sounds like Charlie Mackenzie
- Any city with a river named Clyde running though it is OK in my book
- Guinness really does taste better the closer to Ireland you are
- The city centre is quite easy to walk, with two main pedestrian only streets: Buchanan Street & the nearly-impossible to pronounce Sauchiehall Street
- Nowhere is the failure of unfettered free-markets more apparent than in UK train stations. Glasgow has six main stations, and London has 18 stations! Not that one giant station would be feasible, but the National Rail system has been undoing the Gordian Knot for the last 60+ years and there are lessons here.
- On the flight into GLA there was a whole bagpipe troupe returning to Scotland from a competition and the Australian national rowing team leaving Scotland after their competition. Think of the possible combinations of the two competitions!
- Charles Rennie McIntosh had a keen eye for proportion and material tectonics.
- How many mobile phone stores does a single high street need, anyway?
- A word: Haggis.
More later.
July 26, 2007
Faceball: your face, our balls
those Flickr people have all the fun
July 25, 2007
President Bush wants to take away uninsured children's government care
And their lollipops, too. The gumption!
July 24, 2007
Things have been quite around here for a bit since I've been working on a newer website: Smogr.com, an urban website of sorts
It is so web 2.doh it has an "r" at the end!
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The debate last night was supposedly GOATSE'd - but I think this is fake (no video or screen caps).
Vinokourov fails Tour doping test
OK, I've had about enough of this nonsense
July 21, 2007
If you, like myself, have never read a single Potter book and was wondering what exactly happens at the end, read Wikipedia's article, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and you can short-circuit 7 volumes of questionable literature
Hypothetical questions they should ask at the presidential debates
As you are flying home from Moscow—having told the world you will never deal with terrorists—hijackers, posing as reporters, seize Air Force One.... I'll start with Senator Obama. Do you negotiate with the hijackers in the hope of saving lives, or do you flee into the bowels of the craft, then pick them off, one by one, with makeshift shanks and your bare hands?
July 20, 2007
Thriller as performed by inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center & via JL Indian Thriller (later) sc reminds us of Robot Chicken's Michael Jackson
Far Away Clients, Projects
My day entails phone calls from the above time zones. Which makes the day very long.
July 19, 2007
July 18, 2007
July 17, 2007
Machinist: Tech Blog find complete final Harry Potter book leaked online, doesn't post any spoilers, or link to the website or to the book, and the
Potter fans freak outI'm waiting for the Snape killed Dumbledore prank to happen again
TSA and electronics: My Encounter with the TSA
Even when I take something as simple as a microphone through security, I get a dirty look. And some guy singing,
Microphone check, One, Two.
. Every. Time.
July 16, 2007
July 15, 2007
July 14, 2007
The 10 Best Moments from 30 Rock
Mind Grapes
makes the cut, but what aboutShe's so smooth!
?
July 13, 2007
On a lighter note, check out this insane view of the YouTube - 1990 Match Sprint World Championships:
I can barely ride straight half the time, and these guys bring their fixies to a standstill and hold it. Impressive.
Rationing health care: How I almost died waiting for treatment in the USA
People can STFU about rationing this, or market that. Insurance companies are inherently evil places created to do only one thing: minimize paying for procedures in order to maximize profit.
Calling all cars - Escaped Elephant
:Dispatch, the one outstanding elephant ... is just eating somebody's tree
The Canadian accents make this great...
Washington City Paper, Members Only:
Late Night Shots is herding the next generation of assholes through Georgetown bars. And you're not invited.
, or as Yglesias notes,...a DC social club for young conservative assholes.
BigMediaMatt on the irony of weather-dependent walkable cities
Progress
These are tough, tough boys here.
Geoffroy Lequatre, who lost the battle with a collision with a musette (food bag) bravley finished the stage 21 minutes after the penultimate finisher:
The crowd had dwindled away and not many people were there to witness the single bravest moment of stage five, 44 minutes after stage winner Filippo Pozzato nosed across the line and 21 minutes after the penultimate finisher.
His face contorted with agony, shorts ripped to shreds, thigh looking like a side of meat, and fingertips all stripped of skin, Lequatre crossed the line and simply collapsed in tears. These are tough, tough boys here.
Indeed.
July 12, 2007
A list of people who could bring Rudy Giuliani's campaign to the ground
this man is beyond bad...
July 11, 2007
Double Happiness to be renovated & reopened to the Boat & celeb crowd
sad...
Transport for London released fifth annual Congestion Charging Impacts Monitoring Report (download here)
Early Childhood Lead Exposure and Criminal Activity Later In Life
July 10, 2007
Rep. Brodsky Represents NYC's Wealthiest Car Commuters
Manhattan-bound drive-to-work constituents in Brodsky's Westchester district earn on average $176,231 annually—the highest of any New York county in the metropolitan area
- surprising...
archives
If you have gotten this far, why don't you check out the archives.