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Main
| April 2006 »
The only reason I'm writing about this is because I wanted to write the headline "Baker to hit Petaflop in '08." It sounds like some sort of political campaign platform, doesn't it? But, sadly, no. Baker is the code name for a computer system in development by Cray, Inc. The computer won't be done until 2008, but it's expected to break the petaflop barrier - 1 quadrllion floating-point operations per second for those keeping score at home. That's quadrillion with a Q. (Note to Alert Reader and Typo Pro Susan: I found the typo in the source article! And now, after noting this, I'm sure there will be several of my own in this post.)
In any event - just try to wrap your brain around 1 quadrillion floating-point operations in a second. A second is like...this. This. Th. Th. T. That's a second. T. And a quadrillion is 1,000,000,000,000,000. It comes after trillion, so this is a very timely discussion since we'll need to familiarize ourselves with quadrillions soon to discuss the national debt.
Of course, if all of these numbers aren't dizzying enough, here are two more items to consider. First, the Japanese announced back in 2005 that they're working on a computer that will do 10 petaflops. It would be done by 2011. And second, how fast is the human brain? While it's hard to really estimate, some folks put it around...yes, you guessed it, 10 petaflops.
Pretty soon humans will never beat computers at chess. And hopefully that will be the extent of any problms.
Western Australia didn't fare too badly, as Glenda missed major population areas. Glenda also missed some more bananas, which is good news for Australia (and banana lovers everywhere.)
Here's a short article on the New Orleans recovery, which quotes the Bush Administration's Gulf Coast recovery coordinator Don Powell as saying the complete recovery of the city could take five to 25 years.
No one apparently asked him the obvious follow-up question: how likely is it that New Orleans would be hit again in that time? And the obvious follow-up to that follow-up: Can New Orleans, as a city, survive another hit? That seems unlikely...
I think that every person possesses a unique set of gifts and talents. I even think this about myself, but it's been an area I've struggled with. How do you identify your talents? Which ones should you be using, and how? And then there's always Talent Envyitis. That's where you see someone else using their unique gift/set of gifts and you wish that you could do what they do. Maybe I can make pretty pictures, but can I code from scratch and make it 100% compliant? Or the pictures I create might be nice, but what about animating them? Or web design is great, but it's not brain surgery or cancer treatment or "fill in the blank."
I'm not sure I have any good answers to these questions (I did mention that I struggled with this) but I've found a terrific role model. Zan.
Zan is one half of the Wonder Twins, of course. He and his twin sister Jayna were busy saving the world back in 1977. When both twins touched and spoke the phrase, "Wonder Twin Powers, Activate!" Jayna could take the form of any animal, and Zan could take the form of...water. So Jayna could become a Giant Ixian Flame Dragon and Jan could become a puddle, or a wave, or an ice pick (that is, a pick made out of ice.) But did Zan ever complain? Nope. He knew what his gift was and he used it. He didn't spend time whining about not being able to turn into a sloth, or a groundhog, or a Venusian worm swoggler. He turned into a puddle and if the super villain slipped on him, well so much the better. If the Super Friends' Pepsi® was cold, he was all over the ice cube thing. Was he upset that Gleek carried around a bucket, just for him to fill up when the team needed to travel? Not Zan. He had a great attitude about everything. No doubt he spent hours dreaming up unusual tools made out of ice for different circumstances and various super villains. (Lex Luthor? Form of an ice club! The Joker? Form of an ice club! Barry Manilow? Form of an ice club!)
I think I need to be more like Zan. And no, I don't mean by wearing a purple spandex suit.
 Once upon a time I saw Caddyshack. I was much younger, and not nearly as mature as I am now (pause for laughter) and I loved it. I saw it again, and again, and maybe a fourth time. I memorized many of Carl Spacker's lines. It's hard to pick a favorite, but I loved this one:
So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-galunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.
I'm not sure I can explain why I like this scene so much. I think part of it is just the way Bill Murray delivered it, pitchfork in hand. There's also the use of the words "gunga" and "galunga." And of course, the mental image of the Lama golfing in the Himalayas.
In any event, I saw the film again years later and was generally disappointed. It's interesting - you get older and (hopefully) a little wiser and things you once found funny seem crude. Many of the scenes with Bill Murray and his fight with the gopher, though, still make me laugh when I think about them.
The reason I mention any of this is because I recently designed a logo for an organization that had some connection to the Lama. I forget exactly what the connection is. Either the Lama is on some sort of advisory board, or he is answering phones, or maybe he's just an at-large golf partner. (He's a big hitter, the Lama.) I designed the logo after seeing a plea for logos on Craigslist. I love designing logos, and so I usually get sucked into these sorts of things even though this was framed as a "logo contest" which I normally deplore. It's the whole pro-bono-can't-say-no thing. I thought it turned out nice, though, and they liked it.
I can just picture it on the Lama's flowing robes. Or maybe, on some Titleist golf balls.
Glenda has battered and lashed the coast as the category 4 cyclone came ashore. This ABCNews Online article has some good guest-submitted photos and video. It appears (to my untrained layman's eye) that flooding will be the biggest concern. You can find updates on AccuWeather's site here. The BoM has a good forecast track feature and updates here.
Doing what tornadoes do: being naughty, and flinging debris here and there. This was from an F3 tornado back on March 12 at Bentonville, Ark. Here's the link. I can't play it because it's from the FeedRoom and "optimized" not to work on Macs.
Mission: Europe is proceeding according to plan. Here's a Blog Map™ from this morning:
Blog Map™ showing locations of various Blog Hero Sidekicks™
We appear to have picked up a few more European readers. I have no idea who that guy (or gal) in Finland is. But if they have fjords in Finland I hope whoever it is will take a picture; I'd love to feature the fjords on the blog.
I'm also at a loss as to who would be reading from Muscat, Oman. That's really cool though. If they have any fjords in Oman I hope whomever is reading from there will take a picture. I've been told that the fjords of Oman run black with oil. But that's probably, you know, one of those fanciful tales they tell kids to get them to grow up and join the Petroleum Industry.
You can find a run-down by the Australian BoM here. Gusts are expected to reach 265 kph (164 mph) when the eye hits.
I'm not very familiar with Australia, but this doesn't look like the kind of place that you want a hurricane running ashore. (Link to FlashEarth map.)
Well, it appears that the Japanese Mafia successfully tested out their Russian Made Cold War Era Blot-Out-The-Sun Machine. What they'll do with this new found power is beyond me, but you can be sure that it will probably involve ruining Major League Baseball's day games. (They are, after all, out for revenge over the whole Hiroshima thing.)
Alert Reader Erika, who may or may not be related to Alert Reader Mark who shows up on the Blog Map™ from time to time in Costa Rica, sent in some amazing astronomical-type photos today. I just wrote her to say Thanks and to note that I wasn't feeling well yesterday, and there was no way I was going to get up and see the eclipse streamed live at 5 a.m. So I was a little disappointed, but when I got these photos I perked right up.
This is from way back on June 8, 2004. That little dot in front of the sun is Venus in transit.
This is the eclipse yesterday as seen from Zurich, Switzerland. © Professor Markus Noll
TIME Magazine Covers. Left: 01/31/77 (Art Shay) Right: 04/03/06 (Photo by ARCTICNET--NCE) Copyright TIME Magazine, courtesy the TIME ArchiveA little bird told me that you could find all of the TIME Magazine covers on their site. You can also find article snippets and other goodies. Above are two covers of the magazine dealing with the weather. And here are the excerpts from the cover stories:
January 31, 1977 Why had the rain turned white? Startled millionaires wintering in their baronial mansions in West Palm Beach, Fla., peered closer last week at the miracle that was falling from the skies and discovered-could it be?-yes, the substance was snow, the first ever reported there. Since mid-November, pedestrians in Dallas, unaccustomed to such hazards, have been slipping on sleet-slicked sidewalks. Meanwhile, a series of blizzards has smothered Buffalo this winter with an astonishing 126.6 in. of snow. From the Dakotas and Minnesota, across the icy Great Lakes of the Middle West and down the...
April 3, 2006 Polar Ice Caps Are Melting Faster Than Ever... More And More Land Is Being Devastated By Drought... Rising Waters Are Drowning Low-Lying Communities... By Any Measure, Earth Is At ... The Tipping Point
Now I am NOT trying to say anything. Not at all. It's just when I woke up this morning I wanted to use the word "juxtaposition" and when this opportunity came up - well, I seized it. I think this is a cool juxtaposition. There, I can cross that off my list for today.
NOT Glinda, the good witch, but Glenda, the bad cyclone. She's headed for "Oz" if I can extend my bit of irony. (Why people call Australia "Oz" is beyond me. I get the "Aus" and "Oz" sounding similar thing, but it still strike me as a little weird.)
Here's a story on the cyclone with gusts of 235km/h (146mph) and pushing cat five status. Keep in mind that storms are graded a bit differently in the south Pacific by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Wind gusts are used instead of sustained speeds, and the numbers for each category are a bit lower.
Sorry, dating myself again.
There's going to be a total solar eclipse tomorrow visible from somewhere on the planet Earth. I can never figure these things out. I know it usually means that I have to hop a plane to Nepal or something if I want to see the eclipse, which can only be viewed safely if you've duck taped your eyes (with the black duck tape) and put a heavy down comforter over your head. Spaceweather.com, found - oddly enough - at Spaceweather.com, has some great resources. Among those great resources you'll find links to sites that will be streaming the eclipse:
Of course, to figure all of this out you'll have to do the time-math conversions to make sure you're checking in at the right moment. If anyone's going to be in Nepal or Africa tomorrow, get some good pics! (Keep in mind that you should have your head duck taped and under a blanket or your eyes will burst into flames.)
UPDATE: Here's some Eclipse Time Help. (Sigh. Why'd it have to be 5 a.m.?)
It's curious how little press the "U.S. Senate Bill 517 and U.S. House Bill 2995" are getting. You wouldn't even know what they were about, probably, if it wasn't for the title of this post. This bill would allow weather modification - presumably by the government. I haven't read the bill yet, so it could be about turning rain into chocolate for all I know, which would be kinda cool the first or second time it rained. After that it would just get old, as in "Great it's raining chocolate again - kids, go outside and get grandma and bring her in."
There's an article here that talks about some of the potential "challenges" with weather modification. I'll save you some time and sum up what the article suggests the challenges are: We don't know what we're doing. That's basically it.
I'm really not sure what sort of an authority the site "foodconsumer.org" is. I note that all of their links have periods interspered in them. That seems to be an attempt to prevent people from finding them via an online search. Hmm. Who are they worried will find them? The Japanese Mafia, perhaps? If so - sorry guys, they'll probably get to you via this blog now. If they do find you drop me a note and I'll put periods in my post in we.ird pl.aces so that they can't f.ind y.o.u.
In the meantime, tonight I may do a little more research on the bill. Now I'm curious.
Alert Reader KRK sent in this URL on the German Tornado, which leads to an article that is in German. But she also provided this translation:
"On Monday evening a tornado in Hamburg cost two people their lives, and left masses powerless and in devastation. According to the police and firefighters, the tornado moved through Hamburg shortly after 7 PM. At a construction site in the Harburg district three to four cranes fell in a row on the building. The crane operators were still sitting in two of the cranes, and fell to their deaths and were lost."
The Earth has finally struck back, launching its first attack in what will be a long, drawn out battle to solve the Global Warming Crisis once and for all.
Scary story here. (Note: Includes picture that is not for the faint of heart.)
A so-called "funnel cloud" went after some inflatible playground equipment, complete with kindergarteners, at Central Fellowship Christian Academy in central Georgia on Friday. (What's with the tornadoes all of a sudden?) The equipment apparently weighs 800 pounds and was staked to the ground. It traveled the length of two football fields (I assume that's 200 yards.)
It sounds like those hurt are doing okay, although one child was admitted. Article here.
I really should get rid of the stats thing because I spend way too much time looking at it. But whoever is reading from North Hollywood, California, drop me a note so I can send you on a top-secret Disney mission.
If you're reading from North Hollywood, California, and you already work for Disney, then you get 45,000 points and don't have to contact me, unless you personally know Mickey. (Keep in mind that the points don't mean anything. That's right; the points are just like dropping nukes on a category 5 hurricane.)
(If you're readying from North Hollywood, California and you're Mandy Patinkin, I love your work and I'm going to get me some Crestor just as soon as my cholesterol is bad. Really.)
Two people were killed in Hamburg, Germany by a rare tornado. Reuters has the oddly-worded article here. I say "oddly-worded" because it's not clear if two people died or four people. The way I read it - four people died; two in Hamburg and two in Harburg. But is that Harburg a typo? If so then two people died. It's early in the story cycle; I'm sure this will be cleared up by later this evening, and I'll post an update.
UPDATE 1: I suspect that Harburg is a part of Hamburg, which means that the two people killed in Hamburg are the same two people killed in Harburg, which would make everything make sense. I think. I tried a few Google searches (don't really have time right now) and everything is in German, and all I know in German is Vie Gehts!
A ginormous iceberg, code-named D-16, has freed itself from an island near Antarctica and is headed straight for New Orleans, scientists said Monday.
The iceberg, which is being described as "ginormous," "huge," and "not too shabby," is moving due north at .02 miles per hour. While scientists are certain that it's headed straight for New Orleans, these same scientists are also pretty certain that global warming will have long since killed all of us before D-16 makes it to the city limits.
"We're pretty certain it will take a long time to get here," an unnamed scientist remarked. "Based on it's current speed, it will be here around October 12, 2114. Global warming will likely melt it long before then. Global Warming will also have melted everything else as well, putting New Orleans under 23 feet of water."
Scientists are not sure why D-16 broke away and started moving northward. Some Internet websites have suggested that the Japanese Mafia is using a Cold War Era Iceberg Control Machine to break away ginormous icebergs and steer them towards the United States in retaliation for the bombing of Hiroshima. No Japanese Mafia members responded to a request to be interviewed for this article.
You can find more details here.
Who's reading from the United Kingdom? Is my stats thing freaking out? Or should I know who this person is? If you're reading this from the United Kingdom and you're not afraid to admit it, drop me a note. Not that you SHOULD be afraid to admit it, I'm not suggesting anything there. I'm on a quest to get a reader from every country in Europe, so if you know anyone in France, Germany or Switzerland - where the Schaads hail from - send them an email and let them know that I have a great blog that is completely, 100% in English. But they can visit anyway.
In a case of not "using your powers for goodness and niceness," scientists have created pigs that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids.
I'm just going to pause and let that sink in.
It's my guess here (and yes, this is only a guess) that a bunch of men were behind this. Only men would look at a pig, realize that it's not exactly the healthiest food, and instead of just giving up on eating pigs would decide to experiment on pigs in an attempt to make them healthier.
I guess one day you'll be able to have your pig and eat it too. (Sorry, had to be said.)
Article here.
Disclaimer: If someone who was involved in this Frankenstein experiment well-meaning scientific endeavor is reading this, and is a woman, I fervently apologize. I got that whole men thing completely wrong then.
Well THAT'S weird:
The Maui News/Scott Qualls
This photo was taken at 4:45 p.m. on Sunday local time. The tornado was only on the ground briefly. You can find more here via the Maui News.
This post is probably going to be more embarrassing than most, but it's a good story and embarrassing myself has never given me pause before.
I was watching TV recently (see, that how these things start) and there was a commercial on for a drug called Crestor. Crestor is apparently a cholesterol-lowering drug. The commercial had this guy on that looked a lot like Mandy Patinkin. And I thought, "These guys are brilliant! Hire someone who looks like Mandy Patinkin and save a few bucks but get everyone thinking, "Wow that guy looks like Mandy Patinkin." Seeing this guy, who looked an awful lot like Mandy Patinkin, hawking Crestor got me wondering, "What's Mandy up to now, anyway?" I loved him in The Princess Bride. So I started poking around on the web...
You know where this is going, don't you?
...and it turns out that Mandy has been busy...making commercials for Crestor.
Now, I want some slack because I don't watch TV that much and I haven't seen Mandy Patinkin in a long while. In fact, I deserve some credit for actually realizing that the Crestor guy looked like Mandy. There are probably people out there that STILL don't realize that's Mandy telling them that they can lower their bad cholesterol and possibly even raise their good cholesterol.
Hello! My name is Inigo Montoya. You raised my cholesterol. Prepare to Die.
For Christmas Cassie got a DVD of Sky High. It's a Disney film but I didn't buy it for her. Actually, I didn't even know it was on her "Christmas List." Her grandparents got it for her. She ended up watching it over and over again and loved it. I actually got sucked in during one of the showings, and I have to say it's a great movie. It's cute, fun and clean - apparently a rare mix these days.
One night while I was surfing I looked up Sky High and didn't recognize any of the kids in the movie. That made me curious, and I hunted around and ended up at Danielle Panabaker's website. Danielle was the co-star of the movie, playing the romantic interest of the main character. She was also a super-heroine that could control plants. (Ah. Super-heroes, you say. It all makes sense now...) The website was good but I thought I could make it look a little cleaner. So I found a contact and emailed, offering my "pro-bono" services.
A quick aside: this is proof, Alert Reader Tammy would say, of how I would never stop working if I hit the lottery. Of course I won't since I don't play the lottery, but that's another story. She insists I have this "work issue" that crops up like this from time to time. I say that it's more of spotting a need and filling it. Of course, there are a lot of websites out there so I probably won't be finished any time soon.
In any event, the contact wrote me back to take me up on my offer. So I started working on a site, and suggested I could redo her sister Kay's site at the same time - which I did. Meanwhile, both Danielle and Kay sent autographed pictures to my kids, which they were thrilled about.
I finished the sites recently. There's are some screen captures below, and you can find Danielle Panabaker's site here and Kay Panabaker's site here. In addition to being gifted actors, they're both apparently brilliant. Kay, for example, has a college degree at 15. At 15 I think I hit 1,000,000 points on Activision's Laser Blast. I even took a picture of it and got the Commander's Patch. Okay you can stop laughing now.
Sweet, innocent Cassie prepares to run-through her opponents
First, sorry for the lack of posting Friday. Staying up past 3 a.m. every night finally caught up to me, and Friday I did the Bare Minimum and then went to bed and slept 11 hours. That was great, except for the getting up part, which was okay. Posting was light today because it was Fencing Tournament Day for our daughter.
Before I go into this, I want everyone to know that I am an extremely supportive Dad when it comes to these sorts of events. Okay I made that up. I'm a pretty supportive Dad. It's just that I have the attention span of an eight-year-old and a 4+ hour fencing tournament is very difficult for me. So I freely admit I don't do well in these sorts of situations.
While at the tournament I spent some time observing and trying to understand What Was Happening. The tournament consisted of kids from grades 4-8, and while some of them showed off some decent fencing skills it was, for the most part, kids charging each other, swinging their foils/sabers/rapiers wildly, and waiting for the referee to yell "Halt!" and render a verdict on who scored. I could never tell who scored unless it was a situation where opponent A tripped and fell backwards, and opponent B yelled "Hai!!" and leapt upon him, striking blow after blow about the head and chest. And since that situation never actually happened I was completely in the dark about scoring. (That's really a shame, too, because I would have loved to have seen that sort of thing.)
I also spent time studying the parents. I determined that there are three kinds of parents at Fencing Tournaments:
First, there are the Engaged Parents. You can identify these parents from their multiple cameras (usually one digital camera and one video camera,) from their t-shirts/sweatshirts bearing the names of their child's fencing team, and from their incessant clapping and cheering. I have to confess, I had always viewed Fencing Tournaments in the same light as chess matches. Not exactly the place I would cheer and shout for my child. But that probably just means I'm a poor fencing parent.
The second type of parents are the Fanatical Parents. You can tell them from the gear they bring to the tournament. They have a special water bottle enscribed with their child's name, which they rush to the child after each dehydrating two-minute bout; their child has their own fencing jacket - usually with something like "Born to Fence" or "Fence Free or Die" embroidered on the back; and they had a special foil/saber/rapier made of the finest tungsten money can buy - so fine in fact that they had to name it "Mookie" as in "Keep Mookie straight!" and "Now! Unleash Mookie! Now!!"
The third type of parents are the Committed Parents. These folks were at the meet two hours early, making their child do push-ups before the match. (I'm actually not making up the push-up thing. My son asked me why kids were doing push-ups before a Fencing Tournament, and I answered "So they'll be good and tired" because I really didn't have a good answer.) These parents also have their faces painted in team colors, and their child's water bottle is filled with Gatorade.
Why type of parents are we? We're basically your Tired, "What time is it?" parents. During one of our "What time is it?" discussions my son overheard that we were going to be there from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. or so. He got this panicked look. "They're selling snacks, right?" he asked. Then he looked better. (Well, he was still as white as a sheet but he stopped shaking and sweating.)
In any event, even though we are Tired, "What time is it?" parents we were happy to support Cassie in her big tourney (That's Fancy Talk for "tournament.") This was only her second year of fencing, and she was placed in the individual tournament instead of team competition. Individual tournaments are difficult, to say the least, because they have a variety of tasks that the kids have to compete in. It begins with a timed test to see how fast you could take off your fencing glove and slap a fencing dummy across the face. You're awarded a bonus five seconds if you can insult the dummy in French, or at least with a french-sounding accent. Next, you have to jump out of a closet and yell "A-HA!" You're judged by a panel of three Fencing Greats on style, authenticity and poise. After that, you have to cut a rope holding a heavy chandelier, grab the rope, and as the chandelier falls get pulled up to a balcony that you have to jump on to. This is the most time-consuming part of the tournament, because they have to keep re-positioning the chandelier, and there's occasionally a judge not paying attention/too slow but I'm told they heal up real quick.
Okay I made all of that up too. Cassie fenced with a number of kids and ended up with a losing record. To say that she was crushed was an understatement. I bought snacks for the kids to keep the entire event from being a downer, which Connor was all too happy about because that meant Food and Eating. Cassie's part of the tournament was probably over by 2:30 p.m. We spent the time until 5:00 watching the other tournaments, intending to stay and see the medals ceremony. We may be Tired, "What time is it?" parents but we like to support the team. Well okay my wife does. I like to imagine descending upon tripped foes, striking blow after blow about their head and chest.
In addition to watching the remaining bouts I spent some time people-watching. One thing I saw that was amusing was a young lad, maybe 11, with an extremely short haircut except for a pencil-thin 2' long braid. I had to suppress the natural urge to pull out a pocket knife. I wondered what that was all about until I saw his father - with the EXACT SAME HAIRCUT. That pretty much explained it for me. (Disclaimer: I'm just stating a personal preference here; if you, or a member of your family, or Uncle Bill, the mailman or your supervisor have this haircut well then I suggest you get our your pocket knife.) (Sorry just kidding it's late.) I also observed a few matches where opponent A was about a foot and a half taller than opponent B. I'm not sure how this works out, but it seems like the taller person with the longer reach usually wins. It happened every time except for that one fencer whose foil/saber/rapier shot out oil, blinding his opponent. He was disqualified for that though. (Well, I thought it was clever, anyway.)
We almost DID leave before the medals were awarded, because we were tired and our son was in a fetal position, rocking back and forth singing "We Will Rock You" by Queen, which they had been playing over and over again at the tournament. (Yes that seemed a little odd.) But we stayed. And wouldn't you know it - Cassie won the silver medal for her category, and a bronze medal which was awarded for the entire team's performance. Tammy and I just looked at each other. Of course the camera was packed away because we're not very good Fencing Parents, nor are we terribly prepared (but we ARE usually tired.) Cassie later said she was thrilled that she had won anything. She had been praying the entire time they were announcing the awards that she could win a medal, but had reconciled herself to not winning based on her bouts. We're not sure WHAT happened, but I had noted during her matches that the kids she had defeated (nay, crushed) were the best kids, so I can only assume it was some sort of weighted scoring thing. Just amazing.
So all in all it was a big day for the Schaads, particularly Cassie who now will need a new nickname - something like "En Guard" or "Touché."
I missed this, primarily because of the word "Early" which makes me break out in hives. But Joe was on the CBS Early Show this past week talking about his hurricane forecast. Did anyone see it or TIVO it? Just curious. He was quoted as saying:
"Within the next ten years, (the Northeast will) get hit once or twice by a Category 3 or greater, probably sooner than later. I'm very worried about this year, just looking at the initial data."
There's an article on all of this which you can find here. In addition to the swell picture, below, of Joe in a tie, there's some good stuff on his take concerning the upcoming season.
I'll probably write about this topic a number of times in the coming months. Everyone living in Boise and Moab and points north and west can tune out, if you'd like. But everyone else, particularly people living in the Northeast who are not accustomed to thinking about hurricanes, should tune in.
I'm just going to start with: DO YOU HAVE A PLAN? People like to plan at the last minute. I personally am extremely adept at planning at the last minute. This is because Human Beings are crisis management focused. There is so much stuff going on, life is so busy, that all we have the time and energy for are the things that need to be done NOW. The phrase "tyranny of the urgent" comes to mind. This is why there's a rush on bread, milk and toilet paper when winter storms threaten. It's not because people think that they'll be snowed in for six weeks and, well, you really don't want to run out of toilet paper in that time. It's because THEY'RE ALREADY OUT! And given that it's going to snow, everyone who needs those items are forced into a little funnel of opportunity and all show up at the store at the same time.
But waiting until the last minute to figure out how to board up your house, or where you need to drive in order to evacuate your city, or where you'll even go - these are not things that can or should be done when a category 5 storm is two days away. So I'm officially urging everyone who lives near the coast (and I don't mean among the sand dunes) to set aside some Family Time in the next week to start planning. Just commit to ten minutes and start by making a list of the things you need to know. Inertia is the enemy of preparation - but inertia can be defeated just by taking the first step. And after your initial family sit down, commit to investigating at least one thing on the list in the next week and get together again. Once you have momentum you'll be amazed how quickly you can get ready.
One last note here - Flood Insurance. A surprising number of people aren't aware that their homeowner's policies don't cover flood damage. Furthermore, you can't buy flood insurance the day before and expect to be covered. Most flood insurance policies have a delay before going into effect - this can be anywhere from 1-3 months. If you're not covered seriously consider looking into it. A good resource for this is the FloodSmart site by FEMA.
I'm happy to field questions and comments about this, although I'm not an expert. While it would be unlikely to have a hurricane season more intense than last year, all it takes is one big storm in an area like the Northeast U.S. to put Katrina to shame.
By now you've no doubt heard about the cruise ship fire that occurred today on the Star Princess. The ship was carrying 2,690 passengers and 1,123 crew for a total People Count of 3,813 assuming my math is good. Any fire on a ship of that size with that many people has the makings of a horrible disaster.
Unfortunately one passenger did die. Richard Liffidge, 75, of Georgia died after suffering cardiac arrest. I know the sentance you just read is a "statistic" but behind there is a widow and other family members who thought Richard was going on a wonderful vacation and now they're mourning his loss.
Although the cause of the fire is under investigation, many media outlets are reporting that it was started by a cigarette. That makes the whole thing even more tragic in my opinion. I'm staunching "anti-smoking" although I'm not suggesting we ban it or anything. (I'm well aware of the slippery slope that one starts sliding down when that is done.) However there's really little that can be said in smoking's defense. A question I have that I can't find in any of the articles (and this really annoys me because you would think it's a journalism 101 thing) is what sort of sprinkler system do these boats have? From the looks of the damage caused by one cigarette I'd say not much of a system:
 I just listened to a Walt Disney World Podcast today. I had stumbled across them recently and set up my RSS reader to let me know when the next one came in, and it did this morning. Actually, it has come in nineteen times so far with no signs of abating. I'm not sure why that is; there's probably a good technical explanation for that. (Other than someone REALLY wants me to listen to it.)
While I really enjoyed the podcast (I mean hey! It's Disney!) there was something odd about it, and I didn't realize what until near the end. Then it hit me: it was perfect. By perfect I mean not one single "um," "ah," "yeah," and so on. It sounded like everyone was reading from a script. Now, it may be that no one WAS reading from a script and that these people are just that good. Or, it could be that they were reading from a script. Does it matter? I think so...but you can skip the next paragraph if you don't want to here my pseudo-geekish explanation of why it matters.
And why does it matter? Isn't "Practically Perfect" the goal? It could be. I'm no podcasting expert. But I think that when you're doing social networking on the web, of which podcasting is a part, that the ultimate goal is to connect with people. And people don't relate as quickly and easily and warmly to perfect, because people aren't perfect. I found myself listening to the podcast and, in between day-dreaming about walking around Animal Kingdom, found myself longing for someone to just say something that sounded real. Like it had come out of a human being's mouth during a chat over lunch, not right off of a press release. Just ONE "um" would have been great.
Anyway, this is probably why I'm not in charge of Disney's social networking web program (yet.) If you're interested you can find their Walt Disney World podcasting page here. I have to say I DID have huge smile on my face when they concluded the podcast with the following:
"Ladies and gentleman, please wait until the podcast stops completely, then collect your belongings and watch your head and step."
Well done.
A compatriot of mine (whom I won't name but his first name rhymes with Bleve and his last name starts with "M" and ends in "ummey,") and I designed a flash app for the new Discovery Channel series "Perfect Disaster" which coincidentally also describes my work study, finances and auto mechanic skills. I've never trademarked it though, so I suppose they're free to have it.
You can find the app and information about "Perfect Disaster" (the Discovery Channel series, not my finances) on their website here. I'm working on getting permission to let people freely use the app on their site. It's pretty easy; you just need a little code.
Screen capture only to spare you the flash load :)
Check out the AccuWeather.com Video Player today, as we've added a number of blooper videos. I particularly enjoy Bernie's bloopers; I'm not sure why.
Alert Reader and Vacationer Carol took this picture during a recent trip to Moab. I'm always amazed by photos from out west. In Pennsylvania all you see when you look in any direction are large, tree-covered "hills." Nothing like this. Thanks Carol!
Photo submitted by and wholely owned by Alert Reader Carol - nice work!
The blog would like to award Carol with 3,000 points for this photo. Although, as Drew might say, the points don't matter. That's right, they're like the GFS on day 15. They just don't matter.
Have any neat pictures you'd like to share? Send 'em in!
No, I'm not talking about Mayor Nagin, stop that. I heard this saying for the first time this evening, and thought it was hilarious. Not the part about the hamster being dead. I suppose that's a bit sad. Why did that little fella die anyway? I guess the amusing part was that this saying was used to describe someone and, well, I've met more than a few people that this describes perfectly.
There are a number of humorous, pithy sayings that fall into this category. A few of my favorite, which you've no doubt heard:
He's a little too tall for his blood supply.
He's a few sandwiches short of a picnic.
He's a few fries short of a Happy Meal.
The lights are on, but nobody's home.
The cheese slid off his cracker.
He's a few clowns short of a circus.
He fell out of the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down.
In the pinball game of life, his flippers are a little further apart than most.
And, of course:
He's a few eggplants short of a parmesan. (Long story.)
Let me know if I missed anything, and my sincere thanks to Kelli for the tip!
Updates: I like this one sent in by Alert Reader Brandi: "He's one float short of a parade" Alert Reader Lisa sends in the classic: "His elevator doesn't go to the top floor." (Who IS this guy?)
Not exactly gripping TV, but still interesting to watch a tornado form on live TV. Take a look at the video here.
Mayor Ray Nagin has given the all clear to allow people to rebuild in New Orleans. CNN has an article here. I suppose the controversial part of what he had to say is that New Orleans will allow people to rebuild anywhere in the city, even if it's an area that's vulnerable to flooding. In other words, some parts of the city are probably likely to be re-flooded if there's ever another hurricane hit. New Orleans is saying they won't stop people from building (or rebuilding) there. (In fact, the Mayor notes that some neighborhoods will be vulnerable for two years while repairs are still being made.)
I have mixed feelings about this. I'm all for the free market and people having the freedom to do what they want with their resources. So in that respect, I can understand the decision to let them rebuild there if they want to. However, the practical side of me wants to fly down there and shake somebody. Having a home on the coast below sea level is one thing; rebuilding your flooded home on the coast below sea level seems to be inviting disaster. And if someone does rebuild in a vulnerable area, should insurance be mandatory? What if they can't afford insurance? Should the government (local, state or federal) provide any assistance to someone who rebuilds in a vulnerable area and gets hit again?
What do you think?
Why does this look familar?Oh, yeah.
Hey! It's only been gone a week! Sigh.
I'll have more to say about this tonight.
Okay, it's tonight. Joe Bastardi and the team at AccuWeather have done some extensive research for the upcoming hurricane season. The research has shown that there appears to be a big correlation between active hurricane season hits in the Gulf and hits in subsequent seasons in the east/northeast. Given the new, more active cycle we're in, this historical correlation and the fact that statistically speaking the northeast is way overdue, Joe is sounding the alarm that a big ticket item may be only a few years - or a few months - away.
Here's one of the key graphics. You can see that years with a Gulf hit were often followed by a big east coast hit. You can read the entire article at the link above. Additionally, I understand that JB has been making the media rounds. If I see any sort of schedule I'll let you know. He appeared on FOXNews today with Shepard Smith (I think, I did not catch it) and is likely to spring up a few more times. (For some reason the "Forecaster Sees His Shadow" post just came to mind. Ah, well.)
More media coverage:
Reuters |
Newsweek |
Newsday |
Palm Beach Post |
Ireland On-line
"It looks like an atomic bomb hit the place," Innisfail mayor Neil Clarke told Australian television.
That, according to this CNN article. And yet, there are no reported fatalities - just 30 people who have suffered minor injuries. If that's not the definition of "miraculous" I'm not sure what qualifies. (I know I'm ignoring, for the moment, the $350 million dollars worth of bananas killed but I'm not any sort of banana bigot or anything. Really! I love bananas, and had two just this past weekend. My heart goes out to the bananas and their families.)
Too much weather happening tonight, once you start looking.
A massive winter storm which is going to spread snow (on the first day of spring, no less) from Colorado to (eventually) the east is well underway. Here's a great picture from a Colorado DOT Cam:
You can find a list of cams on this page, in case you want to experience winter vicariously through the Internet, like I'm forced to. Normally pictures from these "highway cams" don't turn out as nice as this one did. Watch the home page of AccuWeather.com for more on the winter storm.
NOTE: Apparently the CO DOT is using some sort of dynamic URL for the cams page. Here's a new link, but I have no idea how long it will work. You can visit their home page here and click on the "road conditions" link.
 I got an email today with the subject, "Gnome Silver." Boy was I excited. I mean, c'mon - Gnome Silver! I thought for sure that this would be some sort of offer for a map to a deep, dark, underground labrynth where the gnomes kept their silver. There would probably be bars and bars of the stuff, just sitting in an open room with nothing more than an old, drunk, sleeping gnome guarding it. I could probably help myself - everyone knows that gnomes have tons and tons of silver and would probably never miss a few dozen bars. And Gnome Silver is among some of the purest on earth - approaching 99.99999-102.00 percent pure. I pictured paying off all of my debts and still having enough left over for a quick trip down to Disney.
But then I double-clicked on the email and it turned out it was spam. How cruel is that?
Sigh.
Larry is said to have devastated Australia's banana industry. I didn't even know that Australia HAD a banana industry. But apparently the cyclone dealt a $350 million dollar blow (I assume that's Australian currency) and put up to 4,000 people out of work. I suppose if you live in Australia and you love bananas you should go to the store tomorrow. (Today.) An amazing 80% of the Australian banana crop is on the ground, according to estimates.
Article here.
The NWS has a report of a tornado in Texas this evening:
UVALDE, TX: CONFIRMED TORNADO TOUCHDOWN. POWER LINES DOWN. TRAILERS TURNED OVER. SOUTHEAST SIDE OF UVALDE. (EWX)
You can find the report here although this is a page that updates frequently, so this link may not be good after a while.
Folks in Texas should have their radios on and a plan ready in the event of severe/threatening weather. There's a pretty solid line of severe weather crossing the state, which you can track on this AccuWeather.com radar. San Antonio will get hit soon (it's 12:52 am eastern as I write this and no I don't know why I'm still up.)
News and photos out of Innisfail and surrounding areas seem to be sparse. Here's an update including some damage photos. No word on casualties yet.
Here's an article that mentions the agricultural impact I mentioned earlier:
The storm has already devastated the region's banana and sugar-farming industry. "The crops are all gone, bananas are all flattened, cane's flattened. It'll kill us for 12 or 18 months," said George Pervan, deputy mayor of the local council.
In addition, up to 50,000 homes in the region were without power.
A quick shout out to Alert Reader Roger who recently had an operation for a brain tumor. He has a blog chronicling the event which you can find here. To say I admire his attitude would be like saying I like Baskin-Robbins Chocolate Chip ice cream - it just doesn't quite cover it. I tried to leave a comment on the blog but there appear to be some issues there. I would just publish his email address here but that's the sort of thing I would want clearance for first. So I'd just recommend keeping an eye on the blog, and keep them in your prayers.
Super Cyclone Larry smashed into northeast Australia with winds of up to 180 mph. It's not clear if that's gusts or sustained winds. A category five hurricane has sustained winds of 156 or more. Early reports say 20 people may have been killed, and houses in Innisfail are being dismantled by the winds. You can find an article here, and a Google News Search here.
Source: Bureau Of Meteorology
I doubt we have any readers from Australia but I hope everyone's safe.
Additional stories here, here, and here. That last link says that Larry may plunge Innisfail farmers into financial ruin.
More: Cyclone "track map." (It's odd to see a storm moving inland due-west like, since we in the states are use to them hitting and curving.
I came across Alert Reader Jeffrey's photography the other day and he graciously agreed to let me show something here and link to his site:
Take a look through Jeffrey's portfolio here; there's some great stuff in there. If you're like my you'll make a bee-line to the winter section and imagine what could have been.
First, a few house keeping items. I'm still tinkering with the branding of the site. Hopefully that won't mean I change the logo every three days. This is where the perfectionist comes into play. He usually jumps out of my linen closet - where I try to keep him - and starts in on me about a specific aspect of the brand, or typography, or color choice. I try to stuff him back into the closet which usually involves hitting him repeatedly with the Swiffer Mop™ and spraying him in the face with 409.
Another item is the map link thing at left. I found this fascinating Google Maps locator application that plots on a map where everyone is visiting from. Before anyone freaks out (like my aforementioned Digestive Track/Gut of Doom) it doesn't actually know exactly where you live - it's making a good guess based on IP information. This will help me immensely because I'll be able to make wry comments about this city and that. For example, someone stopped by from Denver or thereabouts - please FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S GOOD GET SOME SNOW PICTURES! Sorry. Anyway, you can expect that sort of thing occasionally.
Mmmmm, Spring.
Spring is coming. Well, technically it's almost here. It will be spring tomorrow, Monday, eastern. There's an interesting infographic of this on AccuWeather.com. Granted, there's no UFO on the graphic, but you can't have everything. (Note that this graphic will get overwritten at some point, so if you click on this and it's actually a graphic about Salsa, or something, IT'S NOT MY FAULT.) While you're visiting AccuWeather.com let me know what you think about the new Spring Header™, good or bad. You can find more than you'd ever want to know about the Vernal Equinox here.
Finally, two other house keeping items. This page is getting kind of long; I'm going to start breaking it up into random-length time periods. This is the easiest way for me to manage it until I get some sort of blog software installed. The other item is that a lot of the photos I'm using here are coming from stock.xchng and are completely free to use (if you visit, make sure you check each photo's license as some do ask that the contributed be contacted first.) I love the site; as a photo geek it's like being allowed to run amok in a toy store.
I didn't get very much accomplished today. My digestive tract, alternately referred to as my digestive system, gastrointestinal tract and Gut of Doom, decided that it would completely freak out today. I'll spare you some of the details. But the pain started somewhere around 3 a.m. and continued most of the day, with other more exciting symptoms piling on beginning around 10 a.m. or so. I'm still queasy but I'm going off to bed soon. I'm chalking this up to the much-maligned "stomach bug." I say much maligned because whenever someone's digestive tract freaks out there's usually only one of two reasons: a stomach bug or poisioning by the Japanese Mafia. And, well, we know how often the latter occurs. So although I have no proof that the stomach bug caused my distress, I'm going to risk a defamation suit and blame it anyway.
There has been some movement on the pet front. We tentatively made a Pet Decision and started looking for a pet of that type. Of course, I was in a weakened state all day and my other family members no doubt saw this as an ideal opportunity to pounce. At this point our search has come up empty. But as we make progress I'll let you know. What? What did we decide? Well, c'mon - that would ruin all of the fun!
I had lunch at the Olive Garden with a friend today, who may or may not be Alert Reader Jim. Since I was off-site (that is, not on-site,) I was able to explain a few things about the blog to Jim. (See, now if all of you take me to lunch I could do the same with each of you.) During the conversation, which was had over an extremely hot and wonderfully prepared Tour of Italy, I made mention of Alert Reader Tammy as well as a few other things.
At the end of the meal, our Waiter ("John," who did an exceptional job, particularly with my glass of water as I tend to drink a lot) delivered the bill and asked if he could pose a question. He then noted that I was wearing a Disney shirt, I had not ordered a Pepsi, I had mentioned "Tammy," and so asked if I blogged. He then went on to say that he missed 38below.
Now, that's pretty sharp. Of course, I had my picture on 38below, so I suppose I'm fairly recognizable in that regard but I still give John huge kudos. He's also the first to recognize me in public, which would probably get him a t-shirt or a Nerf® bat or something if I wasn't in exile (I mean that in a good way, of course.) Alert Lunch Purchaser Jim offered that I had a personal blog now, and I told John he could email me for the URL, but when I got back to the office I realized that all 38below requests are being redirected so unless he was a good Google Sleuth™ it would be hard to find my email. So tonight right before I ended up getting cheese on my plain hamburger from McDonalds (I kid you not) I stopped by Olive Garden and dropped off a business card with the URL scrawled on it. Never let it be said that I didn't go out of my way for my audience! (Both of you.)
(Incidentally, I would normally have checked my hamburger for cheese, but I was checking the kid's food for buns and cheese, and it turned out that both of those were messed up, so I figured that I was victorious having caught those problems. However, they were merely a ruse to distract me from my own food. Very clever...)
We have a few vending machines at AccuWeather. The kind that I usually "shop" from stresses me out. You see, the food items are in these little "corkscrew-like" rows. Once you make your selection, the corkscrew thing (CT) starts turning. The idea here is that the CT turns but stays in place, thus forcing the food forward, until it's completely free, screams "BONZAI!" and drops like a rock to the bottom where you can open a long drawer and retreive it.
Now, you're probably thinking that my stress occurs during the drop. After all, if you have something crushable like potato chips, and it has to take that twenty-foot plunge, well that's pretty nerve-wracking. I mean, chips aren't known for taking drops like that and staying intact.
But no, that's not the source of my stress. And it's not the high-pitched "BONZAI!" scream either. (Although that IS unnerving.)
No, my stress comes when the CT starts turning. Because during the ensuing eight second wait, you're not entirely sure if your food is going to make it. It's like watching some slow-motion horror movie. Will the chips make it? Or will the CT stop too early, leaving them dangling there, on edge, never to leap off into the vending abyss? I have been burned many times. The CT turns, and turns, and the seconds tick by slower than when you're at the symphony, and then FREEZE FRAME. It all stops and your food is still in the machine which is making this low gurgling noise as it digests the coins you fed it nine seconds ago.
Man that stresses me out.
I had an interesting lunch; if I don't post about that tonight someone please email me and remind me. It was too weird. (But in a great way.)
First, a quick 38b update. All of the pages now redirect to the blogger's page, so if you've been trying to get there to read some long lost post I think you probably won't be successful. If anyone has some favorite post, or you're going to that site to see something, let me know and I'll see if can post it here in some capacity. I'm working on a new set of photos but that will take some time.
And here's a posting I've wanted to make for some time: Feel free to check out my portfolio here. There are some amusing parts in there, particularly the Kudos piece and "Mr. Bucket" (you can find these in the "Attic" section of the portfolio.) I'm also proud of this 9/11 Newsweek piece for AmeriCares. It was a very small contribution, but I was glad to make it.
Limited edition, soon to be gone forever, winter IGAR shirts
The little man inside me was secretly delighted that I rhymed "shirt" and "alert" since that's not easy to do at one in the morning. Of course, it wouldn't be one in the morning if I hadn't spent an hour and twelve minutes (and every available brain cell) thinking of words that rhymed with "shirt."
Anyway, the reason for this post was not to showcase my Rhyming Powers™ (formidable though they be) but to let you know that I'm shutting the 38below "stores" down on CafePress. I'm sure the more cynical among us would probably point out that this is a ploy to sell more shirts. Of course, the shirts are all set to the base price on CafePress, which means no one sees any money (except, I suppose, CafePress.) So if this IS a cynical shirt-selling ploy well, then, I'm a bigger moron than we all thought.
The less cynical among us would hopefully see that this is just my way of making sure everyone out there (a much smaller audience than about a week ago) has a shot at getting something before it's all gone. The IGAR shirt may reappear in the winter in a new Blog Hero store. But I don't make any promises, mostly because if you're like me you know that keeping a computer file handy for that long is tough.
So if you want to do any shopping please do so before Sunday. I'll leave the products up until then. The store will still process orders that are "in the pipe" after that, so no need to be concerned there. To review, the shirt on the left ("IGAR") can be found here. The shirt on the right ("I Got A Rock") can be found here. These shirts have a design on the front only, and are blank on the back (CafePress apparently can't put something on the back of the black t-shirts.) The complete product list is available here, here, here and here. If, for some reason, you are dying to have a 38below, Blue Norther or IGAR product that is not available, (See CafePress products here) drop me a note and I will consider making something and putting it on the store at cost for you to purchase. I can't promise anything but I could probably do that.
Thanks!
I can't imagine being without power for up to three weeks. There are all of the little "convenience things" that require power, such as your Mac G5 for blogging, or the PS2 for destroying bug-eyed aliens. But what's really vital the "basics" like refrigeration, electric stoves, and air conditioning. But 500 homes and businesses in Amarillo, Texas are without power because of damage caused by wildfires.
In fact, Xcel Energy reports that the fires have destroyed 275 power poles. They're calling for outside help.
Additional information available via the Texas Forest Service.
If my American Made 21st Century Blogging Machine was working, this article would be filed under the "My Mind is Blown" category. Physicists have announced that they have evidence that the universe went through an extremely rapid expansion right after the "Big Bang."
How rapid?
Well, try to imagine this: It went from the size of a marble to larger than all observable space in less than a second. Well, no. Actually, make that less than a faction of a second. How fraction? Try a trillion-trillionth of a second.
Now only a physicist would ever be quoted measuring anything in a trillion-trillionth of a second. Not only am I incapable of conceiving of a period of time that is that small (I mean, isn't that basically instantaneous? Zero?) I'm also incapable of imagining something going from a marble to the size of "all observable space." But when you COMBINE those two things. I mean, come on. How can anyone think that's an accident? I mean, that takes a lot of faith.
A trillion-trillionth of a second.
Mind-blowing article here.
Please excuse the little things that pop up (like the comments and categories below.) I'm trying to get the blog template down pat so that my (eventual) transition to Movable Type (i.e. the 21st Century Blogging Machine) will be a smooth one. Thanks!
Congrats to Alert Reader Mark who found the four leaf clover in the header above. That's not a naturally-occurring four leaf clover, just something that I did with Photoshop. I thought it was fitting given the context, and tomorrow's "holiday." If for some reason you can't find it and it's killing and as a result you're doing nothing but staring at the computer screen, ignoring all other responsibilities such as taking out the trash or cooking dinner, and you can't sleep at night, and stuff like that, email me and I can...give you Alert Reader Mark's email address :)
NOTE FROM THE DISTANT FUTURE: Header changed, sorry about that. There WAS a clover in it though. Before now.
I confess I'm not a huge Star Wars fan. I mean, I've never ONCE dressed up as a wookie, and I don't own a Lightsaber™ and I haven't sat down to watch all six movies at once, in a row, without getting up except to go to the bathroom. But a Star Wars television series sounds intriguing.
Link to Story about Intriguing Star Wars Television Series.
What I don't understand is that the series is supposed to take place during the early years of Luke's life. This would be between movie 3 and 4. But I thought that was the quiet, boring time? I mean, Luke was some sort of farmer, right? I personally would like to see something that pre-dates 1 (maybe something about Yoda, or one of the other early Jedi) or a series that comes after 6, with some new, scary menace surfacing and the next generation rising to meet the challenge. But a farmer shooting womp rats on Tatooine? I dunno.
Harrison Ford made some comments recently about the upcoming Indiana Jones 4 movie:
"Steven Spielberg and I now have a script in hand that we both like. I believe that we can start with the filming soon."
Full article here.
I'm a huge Indy fan. Even after the second movie I remained a fan, and if you've seen the second movie you know that wasn't easy to do. Raiders of the Lost Ark is probably my favorite of the three, primarily for the nostalgia factor. (It IS hard to beat Harrison Ford and Sean Connery in the same movie.) Raiders came out in 1981 - 25 years ago! - and was the first movie I saw wherein some guy's face melts off. That's a pretty good deal. The movie was also full of very important safety tips, especially for a young impressionable lad who was thinking about archaeology:
• In archaeology, there are a lot of snakes
• In archaeology, there are a lot of well-armed nazis
• The U.S. government has a warehouse full of all sorts of cool, secret things
• Never, EVER, open the Ark of the Covenant if you find it (unless you want to see your face melt off)
And although I am looking forward to Indy 4, I wonder: can Harrison Ford pull it off? He's 63 now. I'm not quite sure... Fans apparently aren't sure either, as his latest movie Firewall hasn't done as well as hoped. What do you think? Can he pull it off?
The short answer is probably "I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul:"
The slightly shorter answer is "I like it." I enjoy writing because, like design, you can take a blank nothing and turn it into an interesting something. In this case, I can take a blank web page and arrange a bunch of letters and turn it into a page that tells a story. Sometimes a funny or entertaining story, or a sarcastic, witty story or even a poignant, teary-eyed story. A few years ago I would have thought that telling stories would have been for the author's (that would be me) benefit. Since then I've come to realize that they benefit the reader just as much. That's been a difficult leap for me, because it all gets rolled into that "you're admitting you're a good writer" thing which is a challenge for me. I blame it completely on my INFP predisposition.
But as Calvin suggests above, many of us who have the writing bug have it bad. It's a fundamental part of us, buried somewhere deep inside (near the spleen I think.) It's something that cries for attention and use, like a petulant child, nagging until it gets its way. It's not always easy. And it's not always enjoyable. But it's often very rewarding, particularly when someone responds to something you've written with a smile, a laugh, or a nod - as if to say, "That's right. I've been there before."
Of course, it's not as cool as finding frogs or weird bugs.
(This post brought to you by the words poignant, petulant and the number 3.)
I wanted to thank everyone who has written. I know that my announcement was sudden and a shock to a lot of people, and I regret that. I really can't go into much detail, so I'll have to remain a little mysterious about it. Sorry again.
Until I have the 21st Century Blogging Machine up and running I'll post an occasional note here. Eventually this URL will change, but when I change it the new one will be posted here as well. So this is your best way to keep in touch with me. My personal email address will be BlogHero@carlschaad.com. Please drop me a note at that address so that I know you've found me. When the 21st Century Blogging Machine is running, everyone should have the ability to post comments, which will be nice. I think it will definitely feel more like a community then. Or maybe more like a dysfunctional family. I'm not sure which.
Finally, I'll be toying with some different designs, so things will probably morph now and then. Please excuse the dust, and any suggestions you have would be welcome. Bookmark this page and tell your friends :)
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