Must Watch

Perhaps it's 'Two-fer Tuesday' but this is a must watch, just as Guernica, just in its own odd way.



Everybody gets on board, trust me.

Picasso's 'Guernica' in 3D

A rather amazing representation of Pablo Picasso's Guernica in three dimensions.



Somehow this makes the tragedy of the bombing in this small Basque region more impressive than history alone and is a great tool to visualize Cubism.

Hmmm. If only certain persons in my household agreed with this

Amen. 

Finally

A guide to know when to use and not to use.

Sesame Street Hits of the '70s

All of the goodness of the '70s is available at the following link; just click on the '70s tab at the bottom:
http://www.sesamestreet.org/onair/history/voteresults

If it were up to me, pinball (1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12) would be the best of all time.

Although, 'Near and Far', '2: The Mad Painter', 'H: Hand', 'Lady Bug Picnic', 'A Fly in My Soup', and 'Alligator King' are pretty sweet, too.

Cultural icons collide

Sesame Street turns officially turns 40 today and as someone who closely mirrors the classic 'edutainment' show in terms of preference and age I am pleased to draw your attention to Google's appreciation for what the Children's Television Workshop delivered to millions upon millions of kids across the world.

Kudos to Joan Ganz and the great folks who brought this show from concept to reality. 40 years is an epoch in terms of cultural relevance and an even greater testament to the show's calling that it remains on the air and one of Public Television's greatest contributions to TV.

Gimme Five

As Sesame Street begins its 40th season (!) here's a great musical number featuring David, Luis, Gordon, and Bob. Think of it as a funky alternative to 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12.

Brownsburg Junior Football League End of Season

The inevitable arrived - the dreaded end of season for the Brownsburg Junior Football League. The very first year of 'Rookie Tackle' was a huge success and many thanks to Hayes' wonderful coach, Stan Ritchison, for his great work with the boys. While the final game was won by the Titans 2 TDs to 1, it was a great ending to a fantastic year.

Go Colts!

Grapefruit

This is kind of neat; it is the cutting edge of what's becoming described as 'production as performance video' . My favorite part comes at 2'04"; as someone who admittedly listens to the original (yes, it's in my iPod) it's pretty funny.



Grapefruit = Pampelmoose

Sesame Workshop meets AMC

It's good to know the folks at Sesame Workshop, in preparation for their 40th season of Sesame Street, haven't lost their touch. Where else can you find a Don Draper muppet and the word 'sycophant' in the same sketch? (Be sure to scroll down that last link to see the Beaker vs. Conan O'Brien comparison.)



Ah; if only Henson had created a show for older audiences, like this one.

Colts vs. Raiders

No. 10 giving the assembled Raiders his own victory sign.

A few shots of No. 10 in a familiar pose - messing around with his mouth guard.

Page 2: NFL T-shirt gallery discount rack

From ESPN's Page 2 direct to my homeys in Michigan (I love that they're on the discount rack):

The Federal Commission of T-Pain - Auto-Tune the News

What do VP Biden, Michael Vick, Scott Van Pelt, Sen. Chuck Grassley, and Maggie Rodriguez have in common?

Auto-Tune the News. (More on Auto-Tune here.)

A nice bit of information regarding 'Pan and Scan'

Courtesy of the always good kottke.org, a short piece on how directors feel about 'Pan and Scan' versus the ratio actually filmed by the director and cinematographer.

Jeff Goldblum's Downward Spiral (A Work of Fiction)

It might be hard to stick with the entire article (after all, how long are you willing to watch 1999 Apple ads featuring Jeff Goldblum at half-speed), but it still works as a concept. Courtesy of The Morning News.

Jeff Goldblum's Downward Spiral (a story in 5 episodes)

These are actual Apple ads from 1999; they're just played at half-speed.

About, I dunno, 6 years late?

Thizzle quizzle brown fox jumpizzle ovizzle thizzle lizzle dog. Or, in English, the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

Translation courtesy of the Snoop Dog Translator. Now, if only they'd design a Quentin Tarantino translator.

Triumph Lives

Definitely NSFW that is, in a late night TV sort of way. I mean, it did air on network television but it still pushes the boundaries; hell you make the choice. And, yes, only dog lovers can laugh.

Fast forward to 12'10".

You just got Rick-Nirved

Gangster Style

This is nice.

Salmonella Outbreak in Michigan

Lansing, Mich. - Twenty people in Michigan are among those reportedly sickened in a nationwide salmonella outbreak.

Story link here.

Wait a minute. That's old news. Oh, well; time to throw the towels into the laundry.

No means no!

I'm sure the police report will list it as consensual but I think not. Remember, no means no!

http://www.fox6now.com/media/photo/2009-07/23976417637620-17124506.jpg

It's more like who he isn't

Further proof to buttress my argument Ricky Gervais is the antithesis of Jim Carrey:

Perhaps my favorite 'Celebrity Jeopardy' of all time. . .

. . .may be found here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/73362/saturday-night-live-jeopardy.

It really gets rolling at the 4'25" mark.

Someone's having fun over at Amazon

This item has wolves on it which makes it intrinsically sweet and worth 5 stars by itself, but once I tried it on, that's when the magic happened. 

From a customer review for a t-shirt at Amazon; don't read if you're easily offended. I wonder what Bezos thinks of this. (Perhaps he owns one?)

Why the hell not?

Beaker and The Electric Mayhem get 'Rickrolled'. 

50 Years

An article which heaps a healthy dose of crap on the English major's bible, 'The Elements of Style'. (I never knew it was that White.)

I've been known to have vivid dreams racing these

Unfortunalely, I can't translate for you but 'gas' and 'super' require no translation. Look for the new exhaust at 3'10".

"Where nothing happens?" Give me a break

A list of the "five great films where nothing much happens".

Meh; one of my all time favorites happens to be number 2. And, in case you're curious, a lot happens in this film. (Sort of.)

Films for the Masses

But especially for Jody and Josh. 

A link to the A/V Geeks film collection. Anyone ready for 'Everybody's Prejudiced' (1960)?

The McGangBang

Hard to pass up (well, actually, quite easy now that we stop and think about it), a new fan favorite from Mickey D's. Ugh.

Vanity Fair article on Bernie Madoff

This article appears in the April issue of Vanity Fair.

A heist story for Josh

Found this ealier today via an RSS feed:

http://www.wired.com/politics/law/magazine/17-04/ff_diamonds?currentPage=all

Enjoy!

The first (and so far only) funny moment on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Occured in the 18th minute of episode 3. Link here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/60903/late-night-with-jimmy-fallon-wed-mar-4-2009

It's a shame Sesame Street had to be involved.

Stem Cell Reversal

President Obama will reverse former President Bush's limits on stem-cell research on Monday with changes to federal financing. Link here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/07/us/politics/07stem.html?hp

Even more exciting is Obama's desire for politics to be removed from the realm of scientific research. I'm not holding my breath.

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Eh; not so much. I can't believe Conan had this rocky a start when he assumed the mantle in 1993. Let's hope Triumph, or something like it, is on the way.

Add another beverage to the 'real sugar is better' motif

Posted in the City Room section of today's NY Times is this article indicating Snapple is bringing back real sugar to its beverages.

Can't wait to try one.

For Josh (and anyone else who appreciates real sugar)

Looks like Pepsi is making a move in the right direction. Just like Mexican Coke (no, not that kind), real sugar is always better than high fructose corn syrup.

What I didn't know about, however, is Kosher Coke.

User Adoption

Time is relative, yes?

Education is really important, yes?

See this for some insight into the above.

Thinking about summer, already

Google Chrome: You're Killing Me!

It drives me nuts that due to incompatibility issues I need to use Firefox to blog via the Google acquired tool, Blogger. And now, this:

Yep - Chrome doesn't support Google Earth plugins. Why?

Working 9 to 5

This, apparently, is a real help-wanted ad. I kid you not. 

Scrapbooks: An American History

From today's The Morning News, a good read by all means.

For Scrapbooks: An American History (Yale University Press), graphic designer Jessica Helfand, who as it happens collects these meticulously bound oddities, has anthologized a broad array of samplings from over 200 scrapbooks, reaching back to the early 19th century and hurtling toward the present. The 400 images in this thoughtfully designed book are selected from private individuals as well as some well-known Americans: Zelda Fitzgerald, Lillian Hellman, Anne Sexton, Hilda Doolittle, and Carl Van Vechten.

Auditorium

Very, very nice game.

Via kottke.org

Photographs of the President

A great interview Opinion piece from the NY Times (25 January 2009). Errol Morris questions the head photo editors of the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and Thomson Reuters about photographs of the 43rd President of the United States. 

Well worth the time.

MST3K Live Performance - Jan. 28, 9pm EST

I kid you not. The MST3K guys will spoof a film before your very computer eyes. Catch it here as they slaughter the 1950 film Overcoming Fear.

I hope Josh isn't working the night shift.

Leave it to Microsoft

The first time I saw this product I just shrugged; now that I hear about it seemingly every 10 minutes I thought I'd investigate a bit more and found this horror:

Egads this one's bad. But, wait; there's more misery to be shared:

Make it stop, please!

Surprise 60th

We threw a surprise 60th birthday event for my mother in Baltimore last night. As of 10:30am, today, most of the dishes are done. Boy, am I tired.

Eric Holder's AG Confirmation Hearing. . .

. . .can be followed by the 'live blogging' of the NY Times. This is an intersting confirmation as Eric Holder served as Assistant Attorney General under President Clinton and was part of the very interesting 11th hour pardon of Marc Rich, the commodities trader. (Ah, the Guliani years.)

Finally, someone realizes $150/ticket isn't right

"The Tommy Tune of basketball"; not bad.

Before and almost after

The Bush years as depicted by a before and almost after image from The Atlantic magazine.

Shorting Stock

Towards the end of last year, through interesting manipulations in stock ownership and purchasing, Volkswagen briefly became the 'richest' company in the world based on its market capitalization. Lots of articles have been written to explain how/why/who but this explanation is quite easy to understand and, while frightening, is worth the read.

Bushims: A List

Ah, there are some things we will miss and here's a list of the 'Top 25 Bushims' as proclaimed by Slate magazine. My personal favorite is 18.

18. "Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness."—CNN online chat, Aug. 30, 2000

Tilt-Shift Heaven

I recently found a site that allows me to apply a tilt-shift technique to any of my existing photos. Here's one I took in Hawaii back in 2006. What a great way to waste time. (The tilt-shift site, that is.)

An Interview with the President-Elect

From today's NY Times, the transcript of an interview conducted with the President-Elect concerning his fiscal stimulus package and, towards the end, an interesting conversation about how he's not going to let go of his BlackBerry. 

(You can also listen to the interview, here; please note it's 28 1/2 minutes long.)

The Best (and Most Expensive) Software Ever?

From Fast Company, December 1996, an article on the software that enables NASA's Space Shuttle craft to do, well, pretty much everything.

But how much work the software does is not what makes it remarkable. What makes it remarkable is how well the software works. This software never crashes. It never needs to be re-booted. This software is bug-free. It is perfect, as perfect as human beings have achieved. Consider these stats : the last three versions of the program -- each 420,000 lines long-had just one error each. The last 11 versions of this software had a total of 17 errors. Commercial programs of equivalent complexity would have 5,000 errors.

The entire article, here.

Bread for Josh

This is what you get.

Recipe:

3C flour

2 1/4 tsp yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 C water

Place first three ingredients in a bowl. Add water and mix until dough is shaggy. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 4 hrs in 70° F location. After first rise, punch down and let rest for 20 mins. Preheat oven to 450° F. Oil large bowl (must have a corresponding lid) and allow to heat in oven for 15 mins. Place dough in bowl, cover with lid, and bake for 30 mins. Remove lid and bake an additional 15-20 mins until top is browned. You may add sweet or savory items to the dough as you like.

Not All It's Cracked Up to Be

From this morning's NY Times, an article on dog cloning.

Living Together - Beloved Pets Everlasting? 

Holiday Movies

As a general rule, I eschew any motion pictures dealing with the Holocaust; I do not wish to spend any more time in my life discussing genocide. I've not seen a picture since 'Schindler's List' but I find myself drawn to the film, 'The Reader', which, interestingly enough, stars Ralph Fiennes. Here's the trailer.

A Player Worth Watching

Take a quick read and let me know if you agree with the sentiment posted above; I'll be watching him this cactus season. Heck - the name alone is worth a look.

Clay Zavada

Local Commercials, anyone?

Okay; this one's worth your time if you hate the fact ESPN and the like carve out 60 seconds for the 'local market' commercials. Here's a group of five gone terribly bad. My favorite is number 2 in the list.

See all five here.

Cinema Quiz

Mostly for the cinematic Mugeles, but how do you score? I was less than 50%. (No surprise, eh?)

IMBD Top 250 Quiz

For my wife

Nanowar.

Just because

If you get it, you get it; if not, you never suffered.

An acapella tribute to John Williams.

Find the real artists here.

Great Board Games for the Holiday Season

From the Morning News - the best games of 2008.

I like the first one for Josh's family as well as the second one.

NYC Beekeeper Article

An interesting piece on keeping bees in NYC but the real gem is about 2/3rds of the way down where CCD is discussed. I'm still hoping to have bees in my Brownsburg backyard by next summer.

http://www.drawger.com/zinasaunders/index.php?section=comments&article_id=6518

Operating Environments - Spatially Defined

oblong industries is very close to making the UI in Minority Report a reality. Although Jeff Han demonstated a similar device at TED back in 2006, this one is a bit more mature, and a bit scary to some degree. Take a look:

g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.

The ABC3D Book

The video pretty much says all that needs to be said.

In a nutshell

Yep; this is pretty much me. From this article in The New Yorker, November 14, 2008.

The Big Picture

Above image, copyright 2008 Keith Vanderlinde/National Science Foundation

One of my favorite RSS reads is 'The Big Picture', a photojournalistic view of current events, put together by Alan Taylor, a website developer for the Boston Globe. Many times I cannot stand to look at the images; other times, like today, I am simply amazed by the beauty of nature. Take a look and see.

Final Electoral Vote Tally

Looks like one electoral vote for each day of the year went to President-Elect Obama. 

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/obama-wins-omaha-ne-electoral-vote.html

Sound advice for President-Elect Obama

Alice Walker's open letter to the next President of the United States.

Good advice, indeed.

Wave Field Installation by Maya Lin

The NY Times featured the architect, artist, and landscape artist Maya Lin in this weekend's paper; here's a link to a video on their website where Lin shares her thoughts on a recently completed series of landscape items, entitled 'Wave Field'. (To my family in Chelsea, the first in the series is at UM's School of Engineering.)

Ms. Lin is mostly known for her Vietnam Veteran Memorial in Washington D.C., a commission she was based on design she submitted as an undergraduate at Yale. In the article, she tells us she has attempted to shrug off the mantle of 'architect' and this piece introduces us to a far wider range of work.

See it here.

Say What You Will

But I belive in him and love the way he ran his campaign. If you're having trouble getting excited, this should do the trick.

Nels Ackerson for Congress

It's rare I tell someone what I think they should do. I am a strong propoenent of free choice - in all things - and while I enjoy engaging in conversation with repsect to religion and politics, and have ridiculously strong views of each, it's very uncommon for me to tell someone what they should believe or for whom they should vote.

So, that said, I implore those of you who live in Indiana's 4th Congressional district to vote for Nels Ackerson. There are many ways to describe Nels, his political views, and his agenda - all of which I believe in strongly. Let me say that Nels is the gentleman politician Thomas Jefferson had in mind when he discussed the model state representative. Nels deserves our vote and Indiana's 4th deserves someone who will voice the constituent's concerns as Nels will.

If you've not made up your mind, please vote for Nels. A vote for Nels is a vote for a better Indiana. 

And, if you're curious, my ticket looked like this today: Obama-Biden (D); Daniels (IN Gov, R); Nels Ackerson (IN 4th- D). 

Funniest thing I've seen this election cycle

Two teenagers, in my neighborhood, walking home from the bus stop. One faked spitting on our Obama yard sign (funny thing is, he failed to spit on the sign next to it advocating Nels Ackerson for Congress) and another had a "Nobama '08" t-shirt on.

At least they're involved in the process! (But, thankfully, not old enough to vote.)

Electoral Vote Prediction

I've been predicting my own electoral vote map for the past month or so; now that it's election eve I thought I'd share it with you.

I long thought 338 would be a huge, huge win for Obama and my call for NC to go to the Dems is what looks to be my biggest gamble. The only way I see McCain winning is to take FL-PA-OH-NC. On average, FL is +3%, PA is +7%, OH is +4%, (for Obama) and NC is a tie. 

My home state of IN, which is now -1%, would be the biggest switch state of them all. Bush had +21% in 2004 and +16% in 2000.

Hi-Tech Voting a Thing of the Past?

Touchscreen voting has been run through the wringer over the past 8 years of election cycles and it's not getting any better. For people who aren't techies at heart or at work, it must be frustrating to find 

From this morning's NY Times:

In states with early voting, there have been scattered reports of touch-screen machine malfunctions, ballot misprints causing scanners to jam and vote-flipping, in which the vote cast for one candidate is recorded for another.

Florida has switched to its third ballot system in the past three election cycles, and glitches associated with the transition have caused confusion at early voting sites, election officials said. The state went back to using scanned paper ballots this year after touch-screen machines in Sarasota County failed to record any choice for 18,000 voters in a fiercely contested House race in 2006.

Voters in Colorado, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia have reported using touch-screen machines that at least initially registered their choice for the wrong candidate or party.

"I pushed the Democrat ticket, and it jumped to the Republican ticket for president of the United States," said Calvin Thomas, 81, an Obama supporter who tried to vote early in Ripley, W.Va. "I’m a registered Republican, and I’ve voted in every presidential election since 1948. I don’t like seeing my vote do something I didn’t tell it to do. I take that real serious."

Sunday Morning Politics

As our group will attend the John McLaren roundtable at this year's Spirit and Place Festival I was given the luxurious chance to watch the Sunday morning pundits. Of particular interest to me were the following:

CBS Sunday Morning's piece on what it means to be a patriot. Needless to say, my views were more blue than red but I found it riveting that more Americans found it patriotic to vote (95%) than they did to serve in the military (87%). (It's toward the bottom of the article, video will be available later in the week.)

Over on FOX News Sunday (yes, normally FOX is on purely for NFC Football and The Simpsons) David Plouffe, Obama's Campaign Manager, made a rare TV appearance and made me want to be a better man. Of interest were Plouffe's comments regarding the get out the vote efforts currently underway and the rise of first time and African-American voters in this election. He made me proud in his comments regarding Indiana and how it remains in play just two days prior to the election. The best part of today's show was watching Karl Rove admit McCain's chances were 'steep' as a result of all polls showing him -5% to -9%. (Video will appear later in the day.)

As I've said before, this is my generation's Kennedy moment. I wonder how I'll feel on Wednesday.

One of my favorite sites during election season is electoral-vote.com. I'm hoping for 370 but think somewhere in the 320s is more likely. And, to scare me, look at the same data this day four years ago - remember how much of a mess that was? 

What's wrong with Higher Education, you ask?

From an anonymous liberal arts professor, tenured, who has decided to leave academia for good:

Higher education for too many undergraduates at too many liberal arts colleges has become a puffy sofa nestled with down pillows. For a few bucks and in a few hours, students can take a test and learn that they are language disabled, or mathematically disabled, or for a few bucks more, both. Students increasingly ask me during advising sessions if a class is tough or hard, or if the professor assigns a lot of reading, because they need to “lighten their load.” “I want to take a class with Professor So-And-So. I have a lot on my mind, and I don’t want to stress out.” “Don’t worry,” I say, “you won’t.”

The rest, here.

Courtesy of one of my favorite blogs, Marginal Revolution.

More compelling reasons

And now, a little music to that interview

From YouTube, of course It's a bit like watching Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.

This is the sort of thing I'd do if I had enough spare time

'Take on Me', by that great '80s band, Ah-Ha, where the lyrics have been changed to reflect the action in the music video. Oh, how funny it is. 

There should be more websites like this one

Why aren't there more sites like this one? Am I the only one to whom this sort of thing appeals?

I can't embed the videos due to code errors but check out the one on 'bulling' your shoes, how to shuck an oyster, and what part of the clove to remove before eating. Simply brilliant.

If it's not the goodness of '30 Rock' it's this

Oh - my - goodness; what a great impersonation by Tina Fey.

SNL Palin Clinton Show Intro
by gaijinhito

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition

"You will stay in the comfy chair until lunchtime! Confess! Confess! CONFESS!"

Fox and Liberal Colleges and Universities?

What is up with Fox's fascination with the Ivy League liberals? First, we had the rather thinly veiled 'Princeton-Plainsboro' teaching hospital for House, M.D. and the new show, Fringe, goes so far as to set up shop in the basement at Harvard. Egads. At least that fluff called Bones was satisfied enough to be set in the fairy tale world of the fictitious Jeffersonian Institute. (Sounds rather Democratic, eh?)

The point is -- all of these are rather non-Fox like schools of higher learning, eh? Really; where's the Fox show that's set at Oral Roberts? Wouldn't that be more in keeping with the news division? Meh.

12!

As a kid this was the best thing in the world (and I still sing it in my head at least once a week.)

With time, however, comes perspective. I never knew twelve could be so, well - phallic. (Check following the 30 second mark.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZshZp-cxKg

Really amazing science

From today's NY Times, an article discussing a recent medical study where researchers were able to observe human brain cells summoning a memory. 

Simply amazing.

That cashier's job over at Denny's must have opened up

I'm sure many have heard but Don LaFontaine passed recently and took with him one of the best English speaking voices on the planet. Who's Don LaFontaine?



And, perhaps, the best imitation of Don is by the mimic Pablo Francisco (who, I think, gives Frank Caliendo a run for his money).




And, finally, the three amigos together.

What is it about Rick Astley?

To the tune (bad pun) of my man Barack's speeches.

Let the Roll Call Begin

The roll-call for the Democratic presidential nominee just began at 5:50pm EDT. I wonder how many states will need to report before the necessary 2,210 are met for my man, Barack.

What?

I always understood one of the unspoken rules of journalism to be that an article's title should give you some idea of the story while catching your attention. The following Reuters headline certainly caught my attention but does it make any sense? Your thoughts, please, as to what it means before you read the article.

Hantuchova Swept Aside By Big - Serving Groenfeld

Okay, but what does the graphic mean?

Not helpful!

No kidding - I'd love to try this in person

From this week's New Yorker magazine. Yet again, I've missed my true calling when it comes to Olympic opportunity. (No bad skin, though, and I stopped biting my nails a long time ago - please tell Hayes.)

Graphic onscreen: Twenty-two minutes until John Kenney.

We see John Kenney in his office cubicle, listening to an iPod and looking really closely at the tip of a pencil.

AL TRAUTWIG: Twenty-two minutes now until we see John Kenney try to medal in the elusive sport of bi-monthly-status-meeting commenting. First time for this event, and one that’s unfamiliar to some of our viewers. Mary Carillo, you competed briefly in this event. What should we look for?

MARY CARILLO: Al, this is an event dominated by the Dutch, the Swiss, and, to a great extent, the North Koreans. These are active participants in bi-monthly status meetings, people who really prepare, whereas Americans— new to the sport—tend to be far more lethargic, taking it more as a pastime than as something to really prepare for.

A.T.: John Kenney.

M.C.: Indeed. Kenney has a unique approach to the sport. He appears, at first, almost completely ignorant of what’s happening in a meeting, often looking around with a puzzled expression.

A.T.: A cat-and-mouse game.

M.C.: No. He genuinely has no idea what’s going on.

A.T.: How does he catch up?

M.C.: He might borrow the minutes of the last meeting from whomever he’s sitting next to or even whisper to his neighbor, asking something like “What’s happening? Who’s this Phil guy?”

A.T.: He never attended college.

M.C.: No, not even close. And that’s the remarkable thing. He’s able to glom on to something someone said and repeat it as if it were his own thought.

A.T.: As only a true Olympian can. Mary Carillo spoke with the two women who spurred John Kenney on to meeting greatness.

A montage of photographs of John Kenney as a baby, a child, a teen-ager. In every one, he’s sitting at a conference table. In one photo, age four, he appears to be pointing to a staffing chart. During this montage, we hear the voices of two women.

MOTHER: The first words out of his mouth—

SISTER: I’ll never forget this—

MOTHER: His first words were “I’d like to speak to Ted’s earlier point on the Q1 numbers.”

We now see John’s mother and his sister, speaking to Mary Carillo.

MOTHER: We knew he was special.

SISTER: And very different.

A montage of John and his mother and sister eating unusually large waffles, playing cards, and playing miniature golf. Throughout, we hear Mary Carillo.

M.C.: John never knew his father, an out-of-work freelance U-boat captain. His mother had to make ends meet on her salary as the senior vice-president of global marketing at Brown Brothers Harriman. But, always, John loved meetings. So much so that one Christmas he asked only for a conference table, easels, and an overhead projector.

MOTHER: We never even knew that meetings were an Olympic event. But that’s when John met his social-studies teacher, Mr. Bluth.

A montage of photographs of young John with Howard Bluth.

BLUTH: He was just different from the other kids. And not just because he drooled a lot.

Howard Bluth being interviewed by Mary Carillo.

M.C.: What made him so different?

BLUTH: He was . . . weird. Odd. Quirky. A little annoying. Short. Very bad skin. No one liked him. Not even me. He was a horrible athlete, didn’t say much. In twenty-five years of teaching, I’d never seen a student with less energy, interest, or charisma. It was almost like he was catatonic. But then, when called upon in class, he was able, at an early age, to take a fresh, cogent thought that a classmate had made moments before and restate it as if it were his own. I knew then that he had the raw skills to become a truly great middle-management-meeting Olympian.

A montage of John Kenney in meetings over the years: Now looking lethargic, now biting his nails, now staring out a window, now spilling coffee on himself, now laughing out of context at something he thought was funny in his head. Followed by a montage of comments he’s made in meetings.

J.K.: Maybe let’s regroup in two weeks?

J.K.: I’m not sure I understand what Alan means when he says “profit and loss.” How can you have both?

J.K.: Larry’s point is an important one. I’d just like to recap what he just said.

J.K.: How about a round of applause for Tina’s thought about the outsourcing thing she was just talking about.

Back to Al and Mary.

A.T.: An amazing story, a bizarre sport.

M.C.: Like the trampoline, like beach volleyball, like archery in many ways, so few people understand why or how or even the point of bimonthly-status-meeting commenting. But herein lies the mystery—and the power—of this odd, odd sport.

A.T.: We take you now to the conference room, where the meeting is already in progress . . . .♦

Think the worst is over?

Courtesy of the NY Times Magazine, this past weekend's edition.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/magazine/17pessimist-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=magazine&pagewanted=all

@#$%&?!!!

Apparently, it's known as a grawlix, as evidenced by this blog. Who knew?

Nothing new under the sun

An article from the NY Times detailing the research of Dr. David Pritchard, an immunologist, focused on hookworms and auto-immune illnesses.

Saffron

More about saffron than you need to know. Simply amazing.

The Monster of Florence

A mesmerizing but highly disturbing article from the Atlantic detailing an American novelist's take on the Monster of Florence, a series of killings in Italy from 1974 - 1985.

A giant gets a new logo

Walmart (WAL-MART, WAL*MART, et. al.) has announced a new logo. Hmm.