Lost Remote is reporting that NewsBlues is reporting that NBCU has "unofficially won" the Weather Channel bidding war (their primary competition was said to be Time Warner) for a cool (no weather pun intended) $3.5 billion (with a B) dollars.

Landmark, the parent company, had originally sought $5 billion (again, with a B) and so the bid - if final - is a bit lower than what they were looking for.

On a related note, Blog Hero is also for sale for $5 billion (with a B) dollars although Blog Hero's financial team (Sven) will entertain offers for less than $5 billion, or less than $3.5 billion, or even maybe less than $1 billion (with a B.)

Posted by Carl at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Alert Blog Reader BJ points out that Subway has launched a new page concerning their writing contest and home schooling: Subway Cares.

Although I had a little fun with the title of this post*, kudos to Subway for responding to the concerns of the home schooling community (and others, I'm sure) by providing an explanation for the initial "gaffe" and offering a solution. The solution appears to be the creation of an additional contest "in which home schooled students will be encouraged to participate."

There's a great marketing lesson here if you dig past all of the angst and political trauma: Subway's contest probably received much more attention that it would have otherwise garnered if they had included home schoolers. Now that their oversight has been widely examined, the challenge for Subway is how to turn this into a win. By responding fairly quickly, offering an explanation and promising an opportunity for a level playing field (if you'll pardon the pun) I think they end up coming out on top.

Alert Sandwich Eater Tammy has stepped down to DEFCON 4 and is once again considering what sort of sub to get. (Full disclaimer: Subway may or may not be the closest sandwich shop to the Schaad Casa. I'm just saying.)

*The title of the post was too clever to pass up, but I want to point out that I'm not actually suggesting that the title of the Subway page actually says "Subway Caves." (See below.) I'm something of a typography geek, and something of a marketing geek, but even on my best day am probably not a threat to anyone in either category. But Subway should exercise extreme caution with their messaging moving forward, since so many people will be looking at this carefully.

Posted by Carl at 9:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've been searching the web high and low for a decent poll. I'm actually willing to pay (a little) (okay, very little) for something that works well. So, in the next few days feel free to vote on whatever I'm testing.

This is a test of a Constant Contact poll. Mmmmm gas prices.

(Test over, thanks!)

Posted by Carl at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An article in the Wall Street Journal tonight (Oil Prices Prompt Four-Day Week) talks about a group of smaller towns and community colleges switching to four ten-hour work days, and how larger local governments are showing interest as well:

I was thinking about this very topic only yesterday, when Alert Reader and BBQ Genius Jim mentioned a four-day work week. The price of oil and gas are the main drivers (no pun intended) (no, really) of this, and the savings could be considerable:

And work commutes are not the only thing on the American chopping block: this CNN article cites Department of Transportation figures that show Americans drove 11 billion fewer miles in March 2008 than March 2007. 11 Billion. With a B. I checked online and it's only 746 million miles to Saturn. So Americans drove less than more than the distance to Saturn in one month. (Sorry, it's getting late.) That seems pretty amazing.

I suspect four-day work weeks, telecommuting and video conferencing are all going to be looked at as possible solutions to mitigate the cost of gasoline, which is soon going to be somewhere between $4 and $18 a gallon, depending on the news story you're reading.

What do you think? Would you jump at a four-day work week? Or telecommute one day a week?

More at the WSJ (behind a subscription wall)

Posted by Carl at 9:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I bookmarked this article a while ago hoping to get back to it in a more timely fashion, but I was jumped by a ruthless gang of rodeo clowns and have spent the last few weeks driving a small rainbow-colored rodeo clown car while rodeo clowns jump in and out, spraying seltzer and pelting me with pies. Where was I? Oh, the aliens.

'Aliens Are My Brother' is the name of an article in the Vatican newspaper by the Pope's chief astronomer wherein he says intelligent beings created by God may exist elsewhere. I'm not sure what's more unbelievable here: that the Pope has a chief astronomer, or that the Vatican has a newspaper.

If you think about this for a few minutes, you'll probably ask yourself some of the questions that I'm asking myself: Does the Vatican paper have an online edition? Is there a comics section? If so, does it reprint Marmaduke? And how likely is it that there are really aliens working on the Vatican newspaper (maybe at the sports desk?)

Update: On a fluke I searched on Google for Vatican Newspaper English Edition and, well, there you go.

Posted by Carl at 1:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Normally I don't wade into this sort of thing, because being all sardonic about anything even remotely political is annoying. Well, annoying to people who are reading it. But I thought this was worth a quick post.

As you've no doubt heard already, particularly if you home school, or live in the Untied States, Subway is holding a story writing contest. You can find the contest here. The contest, "Every Sandwich Tells a Story, Except Those Eaten by Home Schoolers," is a contest open to "only to legal US residents, over the age of 18 with children in either elementary, private or parochial schools that serve grades PreK-6. No home schools will be accepted." (Emphasis mine.)

The idea is for your non-home schooled child to write a story that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The story should include "Random Acts of Fitness" so it's fortunate that home schoolers can't apply given they are sitting on the couch watching TV, unlike those athletic public school types who are busy wrestling alligators and participating in their local Ironman Triathlon*.

If you scroll down the page to the bottom, you'll also see this part: "Contest is open only to legal residents of the Untied (sic) States who are currently over the age of 18 and have children who attend elementary, private or parochial schools that serve grades PreK-6. No home schools will be accepted." That's an unfortunate typo, I suppose - we live in the United States, not the Untied States, but anytime you decide to exclude home schoolers from a contest it's wise to make sure everything is spelled correctly, particularly the name of your own country as home schoolers are fairly competent spellers (if not sardonic.)

So we know the beginning and middle of this story, but what will the end look like? If you are a preschool student of the public school system you could no doubt write the end, since that's what the contest requires of the three-year-olds who enter. My guess is that Subway will face a very vocal backlash from those who home school, and those who support home schooling, and those who live in the Untied States (incidentally that's in the Caribbean somewhere, I think) and they'll have to rework the contest. I for one will be boycotting Subway until they correct this issue because Alert Home Schooler Tammy will pound me into jelly otherwise, and because there are plenty of places to get a sandwich that don't "discriminate" against my children. Tuna is tuna, after all. (Except for that brand of tuna that's actually chicken from the sea, but that's another post.)

What do you think? Leave a comment either way, I would love to hear more about this, even if you do hail from states that are untied.

*This is one of those sardonic parts. Sorry about that.

Obligatory screen captures in the event something is changed and I look like a total idiot for saying one thing and pointing people to another:

And a great post on this here.

Posted by Carl at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Vacation withdrawal has set in. It's similar to Christmas withdrawal, which usually sets in around January 3rd as you head back to work and pass everyone's Christmas Tree dragged out to the curb, some shrouded in plastic bags, or tinsel, or tied up with biodegradable hemp-like twine. It usually takes about a week after arriving home to get a full-blown case of VW - the intervening week is good for recovering from the ridiculously long drive, unpacking goodies and going through all of the spam email you received while away.

It may be that VW is exacerbated by the digital photo revolution too. Previously, you return home after the vacation with dozens of rolls of film, or instant cameras, and you were too broke to get any of them developed. As a result, you had no photographs to pine over. Now, with digital cameras, you can see your photos instantly. I'm still going through my photos - my thought at the time was to take as many as possible in the hopes that some would turn out okay. (Assuming I could get one good photo for every 20 shot, and I wanted 40 good photos, I would need to take 800...) I have an awesome camera now - a gift from Tammy's parents - and it takes photos very quickly. So I ended up with quite a few pictures, some of which even came out nicely.

So how do you treat VW? I'll likely go through all of my photos, play with the new Shutterfly account I've created and browse for half-price Disney goodies on ebay.

Posted by Carl at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Remember to spread a little cheer today, even if it's just an e-card from Hallmark. Just do it! :)

Posted by Carl at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I wanted to lead by example and let everyone know that I made my online purchase for someone else just now. I sent a Ghirardelli chocolate gift basket, quite possibly the best chocolate in the world - a chocolate so good it was probably given to us by Aliens millennia ago. The person(s) I sent it to I have never met, but we've chatted via email over common web design interests. I'll let you know what, if any, reaction I get.

So, there you go. It's pretty easy,,,and I feel really good about it. I've seen Cassie cheer up maybe hundreds of Disney Cast Members merely by engaging them, asking for their autograph and giving them a few miinutes, at least, to feel like a star. It's a great thing to watch. And while I am unlikely to ask the local townsfolk for their autographs, I don't think I'm ready to give up that feeling of seeing someone hit with "Disney Magic" and so I'm going to explore similar options. A gift-giving-just-because holiday seems like a good start.

Any other suggestions would be warmly welcome! Maybe it would make a good book.

Posted by Carl at 1:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was going to pick out a day to observe NOSFSED National Online Shopping For Someone Else Day but then I realized that an online shopping day should be on a day (night) when not much else is going on. So I decided to pick the third Wednesday in May.

The basic idea of National Online Shopping For Someone Else Day is to do something totally random and unexpected and cool for someone else. This could be for someone you know well, like a parent or sibling or co-worker, or it could be for someone you don't know as well, like your boss or local convenience store clerk or cheese merchant, or it could be for someone you don't know at all such as, well, I can't say because it would be someone you don't know at all.

That's basically it. Some of you will want even more details, so I've put together a small FAQ below:

1. Do I HAVE to shop online?
Well, no, I suppose not I won't be checking or anything. But you should shop online for a few years at least to help out the cause. We're just getting started here.

2. Okay, well who do you suggest I send something to?
That's a great question even if it ended in a preposition. I think you already know the answer. In fact, I bet as soon as you read the first few sentences here someone's name popped into your head.

3. No, really, no one popped in there.
That's not actually a question, but if you're still looking for ideas think of someone who might need a pick-me-up. You can even do this anonymously if you'd like, although since it's online shopping you would probably have to send the gift to yourself and then give it to the person in a secret, anonymous, ninja-like way.

4. How much do I have to spend?
I wasn't even going to address this until you brought it up. The point here is to spread a little unexpected joy. It's entirely up to you to decide how much you want to spend. You don't have to send something large to someone to brighten their day and make them feel special.

5. Okay, I think I know someone who I'd like to get something for. Where should I shop?
Where you choose to shop is entirely your choice. I personally love Amazon, iTunes, 1-800-Flowers, and Harry & David. Oh, and of course Disney and Ghirardelli.

I think that about wraps it up. If you have any other questions email me at nosfsed@carlschaad.com. Media inquiries can be made at mediainquiries@carlschaad.com. If you participate let me know how it goes. And have fun out there!

Note: Blog Hero, Blog Hero Enterprises, Blog Hero LLC, Inc., and Blog Hero's legal team (Sven) receive no kickbacks from Amazon, iTunes or any of the other merchants mentioned in today's post. But if they would like to send kickbacks that would be more than acceptable. Also note that while participating in the National Online Shopping For Someone Else Day is encouraged, the Blog Hero respectively requests that you not purchase gifts for the Blog Hero, or Sven, or anyone on the enormous Blog Hero staff. Sven says he has enough chocolate to last at least until Thanksgiving and he just got back from Disney.

Posted by Carl at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Alert Reader and Ruby Tuesday Connoisseur Tammy and I went to, ah, Ruby Tuesday tonight. We were standing in the entryway where people who are not being help stand, waiting patiently to be helped, when a man approached us. He made eye contact with Tammy and said:

"Are you being helped?"

He continued approaching us as he said this, and Tammy responded:

"No."

Still walking towards us (reminiscent of the "castle charging" scene by Sir Lancelot the Brave in Monty Python and the Holy Grail) he nodded a small nod of recognition as if to say "Sorry about that I'll seat you now" and then walked right past us and out of the restaurant.

* * *

I actually laughed out loud when the door shut behind him. It was partially from being bemused - because, really, who doesn't laugh when bemused? - and partially from the oddity of the whole thing. Who was this man? Did he work there? Or was he just a complete random stranger? Where was he headed?

While that entire situation was confusing it's not as confusing to me as something President Bush apparently said to the World Economic Forum. He told the Middle East that they were running out of oil, and that they (presumably the people in the Middle East with oil) had better get ready.

I really have no problem with that part. But keep in mind this comes on the heels of his Saudia Arabia trip wherein he asked the Saudis (wait for it) to pump more oil to ease prices.

So on the one hand they're running out of oil but please pump more and faster so that we'll have cheaper prices. Does that make any sense at all? If you've been reading here for any length of time you've probably surmised that my own politics lie right-of-center. But not even I can understand how this works, and I'm a political geek of the first order.

I'm entirely open to the possibility that there's some sort of Jedi Mind Trick at work here but I can't see it. It's like someone who asks you if you're being helped, and upon finding out that you're not promptly leaves the building.

Or as Sir Lancelot might explain:

Sir Lancelot: We were in the nick of time. You were in great peril.
Sir Galahad: I don't think I was.
Sir Lancelot: Yes, you were. You were in terrible peril.
Sir Galahad: Look, let me go back in there and face the peril.
Sir Lancelot: No, it's too perilous.

Posted by Carl at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We saw Prince Caspian on opening day - I enjoyed it, although I think I may have enjoyed The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe more. A few notes about the two films:

1. Wardrobe had Tilda Swinton*, who did an amazing job (I thought) as the White Witch. Conversely, Caspian has an animated mouse who is very entertaining. And short.

2. Wardrobe is a better known story, I think, than Caspian. Although all of us die-hard fans have read each of the books several times.

3. Caspian had some intriguing bits with Susan that I think begin to lay some ground work for her character development moving forward. I don't want to write anything that's a spoiler, so for now I'll leave it at that.

4. I have to say that the water and tree computer animation in Caspian is amazing. And Aslan looks so real you don't even think of him as a computer-generated character. Or even a lion. (At least, I didn't. But then again, I was entertained by the mouse and the squirrel.)

If you get a chance definitely go see it. Weekend BO is being described as weak. My theories about that is that Iron Man siphoned off some business because it's a similar demo (fantasy/sci-fi and generally family fare) and because of it's running time (147 minutes although Wardrobe was a similar 143.) I expect that Caspian's worldwide gross will equal or exceed Wardrobe, but we'll see.

Here's an article at CNN about Caspian's box office (complete with an erroneously-titled caption) (see, even the professionals make mistakes!):

*I could write (and probably will, one day) a post or two about the conflict I experience when I judge an actor's performance in a movie against their own personal views and lifestyle. If you support the performance does this mean you are lending support (even tacitly) to the actor's personal views or lifestyle? Ms. Swinton has turned in a number of unusual, if not critically acclaimed, performances and some of her personal views are not those I would share. It terms of acting skill, though, her brief appearance in Caspian had a great deal of power and weight that I thought was missing from the rest of the cast.

Well, except for the mouse. And the squirrel.

Comments welcome.

Posted by Carl at 8:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I know, you are probably wondering how I find this stuff. I obviously can't say as it's a trade secret.

The Sci-Fi channel has an "original movie" airing soon. Here's a screen capture from their site:

In case you missed that bit at the bottom which explains what this movie is about, it reads: "She's an ex-model. He's an elite commando. They're going to solve global warming - by stopping the aliens who are causing it!" There are a couple of take-aways here that you'll want to note:

1. Global warming is real. Never in the description is global warming in doubt.
2. Man is NOT causing global warming. This is a huge relief. We can all go back to our SUVs and air conditioning and flatulating cows now.
3. Aliens exist.
4. Aliens are causing global warming. I have no idea why they would do this but one can assume it's because aliens dislike us, our planet or our flatulating cows.
5. The aliens are no match for an ex-model and an elite commando.

I for one will be rushing out to get TIVO so that I can make sure I don't miss this new Sci-Fi channel documentary.

Posted by Carl at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

USA Today has an interesting article on a new Google Earth feature that will let you "walk" around Disney parks in 3D. I've wondered in the past why Disney hasn't done something like this; for example they had webcams in some of the parks years ago but those seem to have vanished. I assumed it was a problem either with liability or controlling their brand (I can't imagine the latter, but who knows.) You can find the article here: It's a small world, thanks to Google Earth. I'm still trying to find the software; I suspect this isn't launched yet. If anyone finds it first let me know.

Posted by Carl at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's a little after ten o'clock as I write this. I wanted to jot down a few post-trip observations before stepping over and around the post-trip luggage, which seems to have exploded everywhere, and make my way to bed.

The first observation is that I have to write a different book. My current, six page unfinished Disney book was very unhelpful. One of my tips was to have a hot fuge sundae at Ghirardelli's. This is a great tip - if Ghirardelli's isn't closed for refurbishment. Another tip I had was to run to the store that sells the name badges and buy one, have your name inscribed there upon, and walk around with it displayed so everyone can call you by name. That's a great tip - if Disney hasn't stopped selling name tags. (I kid you not.)

The second observation is more of a question. As in, "What time do I go to bed?" I find that every time we go away I end up going to bed at a "decent" hour. So now it's just after ten and I'm exhausted, whereas normally I stay up until two. I suppose over the next week I'll ease into the 2 a.m. rut again, but I always wonder if I should try to stick with a reasonable hour.

Lastly, have you ever noticed that right after you get home you end up needing something at the store and so you drive over but you're still in Highway Warrior Mode and so you find yourself driving 98 miles an hour with both hands clenched on the steering wheel? I mean, that never happens to me - but it probably happens to you, right?

It's 10:21 now - I'm off to think about going to bed now, assuming I can circumnavigate the luggage.

Posted by Carl at 9:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some people are wondering, "Why did you choose to go to Disney now?" That's a great question - thanks for wondering that!

Of course, the answer is that any time is a good time to go to Disney World. My main criteria for determining when a time is good or not is: Will this take me outside of Pennsylvania? If so, it's a pretty good time and in general passes the "Is this a good time to go to Disney World" test.

But there's actually a bonus reason to go during the time we went: The EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival. We got to see all sorts of flowers and gardens up close - I have many pictures because flowers and gardens are colorful and don't move, so they make great subjects (unlike, say, my kids - which while colorful in their own way tend to move more than flowers, unless you're checking for movement right after I say something like "Clean your room." Then you see very little movement, not unlike a flower.)

Not only are there flowers and gardens to take pictures of of which to take pictures, there are all sorts of weird things made out of extra garden bits. For example, here's a dog we found wandering in China (the EPCOT China, not the real China, as we weren't there) (in the real China) (sorry if this is becoming difficult to keep up with)

As you can see, this dog is not only made of spare garden parts, it is creepy as ALL GET OUT. So that's an example of the kind of bonus you can get at Disney World this time of year.

(I should also note that following this garden bean dog was a sign that read: "DOG: Born in 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958*, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006. The Dog will never let you down. Born under this sign you are honest, and faithful to those you love. You are plagued by constant worry, a sharp tongue, and a tendency to be a fault finder." Whatever THAT means.)

*Congrats to Steve who was the first to note that the mathematical series above was, ah, flawed. Nice work Steve!

Posted by Carl at 9:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I confess I don't know what that would be (the sound of a sigh caught in a black hole) but I thought the phrase would make a great blog post title. It seems very deep, like the "sound of one hand clapping" until you think about it and realize that it's completely meaningless. I suppose a sigh caught in a black hole would sound like siiiiiighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. There might even be a pfffft! right at the end there when it crosses the event horizon. For more on sighing and black holes and event horizons consult your local wikipedia.

Some of you have wondered why I haven't been posting as regularly as in the past. Some surmised I was in a terrible corn canning accident. Others have suggested that the Japanese Mafia finally caught up with me late one night at Wal-Mart, during an ill-fated Twinkies and Pepsi run. A few inquired about my health, given all of the bionics from poorly waged light saber battles and my diet of Twinkies and Pepsi. All good guesses, of course, but in truth I was on vacation at Disney World for the last six months.*

As proof I offer this photo snapped at EPCOT. It is part of the current Tin Toy exhibit being held in the Japan section of EPCOT, right behind the Japanese Mafia booth - which I carefully circumvented while dressed in my Speed Racer disguise. I think this is a Tin Godzilla, desperately in search of some Tin Japanese Soldiers to stomp on. He had just stomped on the Mach 5, Speed Racer and his box office receipts - but was still hungry.

*Okay, I made that up. I can hardly afford to put gas in my well-made but gas-guzzling SUV let alone vacation at Disney World for six months. But vacation is, after all, just a state of mind.

Posted by Carl at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)