I typically prefer the body art where, if you squint and zoom enough, you can see nipples. But this is really clever and even safe for work.
Category Archives: Everything Else
How to Live Beyond 100
I’ve been planning since I was young to live to 120. I was figuring 20% genetics (I had a great-great-grandfather who lived to be 102) and 80% advances in medicine. Really hoping for those vat grown organs that appear in Neuromancer and Blade Runner, and if stem cell research pays off, we may have them in my lifetime. But the older I get – and I just turned 37 ten minutes ago – the more implausible 120 seems. Therefore any research on life extension catches my eye, and this talk at TED seems to offer some simple lifestyle guidelines based on good research. In fact, I think I’ll go for a walk right now.
[Note: the video embedded below might not show up on your news reader.]
Wanted: 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente
This lady is awesome. I once sold a 1988 Nissan Sentra with 265K miles. She’s got me beat twice over. A great (and short) story for any gearhead or car buff.
Commercials In Our DNA
Kids these days are missing a big part of shared experience: commercials. When we were growing up, there was no DVR. We had VCRs, sure, and fast forwarded through commercials if we taped something, but we rarely taped anything. We watched everything when it aired, and we only missed commercials to get food or take a leak. So there are commercials that are simply part of the DNA of the people who watched them over and over and over. Here are a few that come to mind.
Note: you’ll notice that some (most?) are regional. I’m sure they ran on local affiliate and independent stations at cut rates, during reruns of whatever syndicated show my brothers and I were watching for the millionth time.1
Please post your own choices in the comments (you may need to log in to embed).
Continue reading Commercials In Our DNA
- That’s a topic for another post: what shows did we watch in syndication that kids still watch today or – amazingly – don’t? [↩]
Cold Prevention and Myths
So I’m hoping it’s allergies, but I may be coming down withI have a cold. I figured it was a good time to do a little research and update my assumptions with facts. I found out some interesting things and thought I’d share as we head into cold and flu season.
Prevention
There are two proven ways to help prevent colds:
- Vigorously wash your hands every 2-3 hours and avoid touching your face, especially your eyes, nose, and mouth. You can also use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer like Purell. However, this just kills what’s on your hands, it doesn’t provide any protection afterward.
- Get a full night’s rest. People who get 7 hours of sleep or less are three times more likely to contract a cold than those who get 8 or more hours!
As for vitamin C helping, there doesn’t seem to be strong evidence supporting that. However, It appears a vitamin D deficiency will make you more susceptible. But you should be taking a daily multivitamin anyway.
And you might have already heard this, but staying out of the cold won’t help. In fact, one of the reasons there are ore colds during winter is that everyone is staying out of the cold, and staying inside in close proximity to each other. There are fewer places to pick up viruses outside.
Treatment
Again, the answer here is simple:
- Stay hydrated. I know some like taking tea, but tea is a diuretic, which can dehydrate you. Just drink lots of water.
- Get lots of rest. You’re gonna be tired, anyway.
- Take an analgesic (Tylenol, Advil, etc.) for fever
Beyond this, nothing is really proven. Normally when I’m first getting a cold, I’m not sure if it’s a cold or allergies, so I take an antihistamine – Claritin. If that doesn’t help, I know I’m getting a cold. The only antihistamines that help are the old school ones that make you drowsy (like Sudafed Cough & Cold or “Nighttime”), as they affect the sinuses directly. Unfortunately, anything that says “may make you drowsy” puts me a fugue state for 36-48 hours and does more harm than good. You may have better luck.
Another surprise was the harm milk causes – or rather, doesn’t. I was always told that milk makes mucus and phlegm, so never drink it when you have a cold or an allergy attack. Now, you can certainly be allergic to milk or dairy products. But a couple studies have been done to see whether milk increases mucus production during a cold and they did not find a link.
They did find something interesting, however. Both studies asked participants whether they believed drinking milk would make things worse. One study found that those who did had higher mucus production regardless of whether or not they drank milk. The other study found no connection, either, but noticed a psychological connection to the texture of the beverage. Their participants thought they were making things worse even when they drank soy milk. My guess is that some people have overactive sinuses, and it seems like any little thing you do makes them worse. But if the thought of drinking milk seems nasty when you’ve got a cold, skipping it won’t hurt anything.
President Obama and Hitler’s coloring book
There’s been opposition to the President’s plan to broadcast a “do well in school” message to the American student body. In and of itself, the message is probably harmless and probably a good idea; who is better able to motivate our students than a good-looking, young President Obama? Why are people making a fuss and opposing the president at every turn? The problem lies in that it is being encouraged (some would say pushed) onto the American school system.
Officially, it is a voluntary program. But we remember other “voluntary” programs like prayer in schools. In that instance, any kids that refused to pray with all of the others were either ostracized or branded as atheists. So I’m sure that any kids that opt out of the President’s inspirational message will be similarly affected. I personally do not mind being branded a discontent at age 10, but it does affect your chances to get hired at the local hardware store for the summer when you turn 14. That’s a heavy burden to bear.
The President should bear in mind other efforts to inspire young people without a chance for other voices to be heard. This one-party messaging could eventually morph into something akin to Hitler’s propaganda machine. One of their weirder efforts was this coloring book exhorting the Young German to do something that was probably decent and helpful. But when a commendable exhortation turns into “obey my orders” and “kill Jewish people” then we have a little problem.1
- Just to make sure my message doesn’t get lost: Hitler was a bad man and killed a lot of innocent people. We don’t want to be like him [↩]
Do Not Call For Cell Phones
So about 5 years ago, I wrote about how you didn’t need to add your cell phone to the National Do Not Call Registry, and how rumors that the gov’t would allow telemarketers to call them were BS. Well, recently I’ve been getting calls from telemarketers on my cell phone, but when I went to complain, they wouldn’t allow it because my phone number wasn’t registered. There was no “this is a cell phone” box to check. Thank you, bastard politicians or shortsighted bureaucrats, whichever the case may be. So go register your cell number before they get you, too.
BTW, these weren’t 800/866/888 numbers, they were local (310) numbers I didn’t recognize. I didn’t answer, they didn’t leave a message, but I Googled the numbers and found them on 800notes.com. Pretty handy site.
We are Doomed… Part 2
Here we are, back in the fray. This time, we are discussing the arrest of prominent Harvard professor (of African-American culture) Gates; he was questioned and arrested as he was trying to get back into his home after an extended overseas trip.
My credentials to address this issue, and why I’m a better commentator than the person holding the highest office in the land, President Obama, are here, in a previous post. President Obama weighed in on this issue and lent it an aura of importance and substance that it probably does not merit.
Let’s go ahead and dissect this one with our racial-bias-free scalpel, shall we?? Prof. Gates has just gotten back from China (14 hour flight) and is probably tired and just glad to be home. But then he notices that his front door is jammed. Turns out his home was broken into during his absence. While getting his front door unjammed, a neighbor calls 911. So far this sounds reasonable. Biased? No. I would have called 911 even if only 2 white people or 2 white females or 2 white female models were trying to force my front door open (in the latter case, I would have gone in and joined them).
Police arrive and question Prof Gates. Biased? No. The police’s job is to ask questions. And there was suspicious activity at the front door, even if it was the owner of the house trying to force his way in. Prof. Gates refuses to show ID. Biased? Yes. If he believes that he is being asked for ID only because he is black, he is mistaken. Period. A good cop would ask for ID even if it was President Bush found in the house1. Prof. Gates starts asking for the officer’s ID. Biased? No. We have a right to know our officer’s name during an investigation. And don’t forget, the police are also there to investigate the previous break-in as well. Instead of starting charges of racial profiling (Biased? Yes. Big time.) Prof. Gates should have filed the police report on the break-in right there. The police are a service that he and all of us in the community are paying for. And yelling at the police is never a good
idea, even if they deserve it. Showing deference, or at least cooperation to a man with a gun is always a good idea. And don’t forget that you paid to give him the gun.
Mistakes made? Plenty, but mostly by Prof. Gates, from what is being reported.
Mistakes Made by Policeman:
Police should never walk into your home without being invited by the owner. They need a court order to come in unless you invite them in; there may have been some words issued by Prof. Gates that could be construed as an invitation, so be careful what you say.
Mistakes made by Prof. Gates:
The owner should never leave the safety of his home and follow the police outside. You are giving up some of your rights by entering a public venue. Don’t shout at a policeman and berate them in public. You can show your displeasure by ammending the police report and complaining at the station house. He should have started break-in investigation as soon as police arrived. This really throws suspicion off of you, when you are aiding police. And police are a service that you are absolutely paying for, so use it. Don’t bring up race. But if your teaching specialty is hammers, everything around you starts looking like a nail. Automatically bringing up race dooms us all.
Mistakes make by President Obama:
President Obama’s outrage is OK. After all, Prof. Gates is a personal friend. Any of us would automatically take the side of our friend in a dispute against a cop. I believe the words “rogue officer” were unfortunately uttered by someone in the fray. But as President, Mr. Obama must put down his personal feelings and keep the debate cordial and race-neutral. By quoting statistics that blacks and latinos are disproportionatly arrested (it’s true) he fueled the fire. A President must weigh his words carefully and keep personal emotion out of his statements. In this case, the arresting officer is clean and the President will come out looking badly.
Incorrectly regarded as a mistake:
Arresting a middle aged man that walks with a cane is perfectly OK. So is arresting an elderly woman walking in crutches. Or a teenager in a wheelchair. All of these folk could constitute a danger to a policeman and any of them could pull out an exotic home-made weapon from cane, crutch, wheel chair. A good ninja can make a weapon out of eyeglasses or a toothbrush2 so everyone should be treated the same way: handcuffs and extreme vigilance. I remember from “The Fugitive” that Federal Agent Tommy Lee Jones removes Harrison Ford’s handcuffs once they are back in the squad car and offers him an ice pack for his wrists. I’m not sure if this is standard procedure, but I guess once you’re in the squad car you are more manageable and less likely to try to start a getaway attempt. And the ice pack is just a nice touch from a really cool, tough Federal Agent.
In conclusion: Archangel summed it up nicely when he said that a tired, weary Prof. Gates probably reacted inappropriately when confronted with a stressful situation. Also, the arresting officer has a super-clean background in racial sensitivity and even taught on how to avoid racial profiling.
Circumstancial evidence points to Prof. Gates being at fault. But now that his friend Prez Obama has taken his corner, it will be difficult to find a reasonable solution that does not include the signing of a non-agression pact at the White House’s Rose Garden. Such is life.
We are doomed… Playing The Race Card
Race relations are a big topic this year. From the office of the Presidency to the next Supreme Court Justice to the selection of Surgeon General, race would seem to be a central factor in selection. Not that these folk are not good, smart people; they seem to be good enough to do what their positions require. But were they selected because of their overwhelming qualifications, or because they held some promise and they also advanced the color-blind American agenda? Don’t get me wrong: it’s a good agenda.
Just witness the statue of Justice; it is blindfolded, ready to go into combat with that really big sword. Another blind entity dispensing martial arts justice1.
Disclaimer: I am not a Caucasian, if that is even important. Most dwellers of the Russian Caucasus region look nothing like your typical redneck person (sic) from the Deep South. I could not pass for White, whatever that means.
But I have to take issue with the case of the alleged discriminatory Swim Club in Pennsylvania. Much has been made as to how a daycare class of minority students was run out of the club by just-awful white racists. I think that the swim club is being harassed unfairly, by a day-care practicioner that has a chip on her shoulder. Look at the facts, in a color-blind way: Was the group large? Yes. Did the group create a crowd that is unusual for the club? Yes. Did the crowding enhance the ability to swim laps in the pool or to enjoy a quiet swim? No. Just for those reasons, I would have ended my contract with the daycare program: our facility is just too small to accommodate you. There were 2 other groups that received the same reasoning for termination of contract; they are not making any waves (sorry, I could not resist) about it.
But this one person decided that the swim club was too exclusive to be allowed to exist. Exclusivity being defined as having the need to swim in a calm environment without 65 kids jumping into the pool. Trust me, I have small kids, it gets very loud. So she took the comments of some of her students and decided to bring a lawsuit against the club. Allegedly, some daycare kids heard others at the swim club make derogatory remarks, eg:watch the dark skinned kids or they’ll steal your towel and don’t they ruin a perfectly good pool outing. Although I never automatically take a kid’s word above a trusted adult, this is what this unknown person did. And now the swim club may have to close, since it cannot afford to mount a legal defense.
Did the swim club err? Yes. They should have kept their contracts and notified members that certain swim periods would be crowded, since the club was assisting daycare groups that no longer had access to a regular swimming pool. Did club members have the right to complain? Yes. They had paid their dues and expected access to a swimming pool that was normally uncrowded. Did they have the right to make racists remarks? No. The club leadership should have used this opportunity to educate their members about life in the 20th, er, 21st Century. Should they have used the words “[the kids] changed the atmosphere and complexion of the club?” No. These are perfectly good English words, but they do sound like the color of the kids’ skin had something to do with the decision. Stupid word choice.
Solution? Have the swim club institute racial sensitivity classes for members (including its President); apparently they need them. Have the daycare come back to use the pool and drop its legal case. Contact between the swim club members and the general population is a good thing and would foster understanding between people. But now that the news shows have shown the swim club as a “bad” place and placard-wearing losers are using this as an opportunity to appear on those news shows (don’t they have jobs?), this mess will move to its sad conclusion: the swim club will close and those very stereotypes that should be destroyed will be reinforced. Oh yes, everyone out of the pool !!!
PS> The daycare is seeking punitive damages against the swim club. I’d hate to think that the daycare program is trying to shake down the swim club for money over this incident. A lot of good daycare programs are receiving reduced funds nowaways, and this may be a tragic way to raise money. I will continue to think that it’s only the sad interaction between flawed people that has gotten us to this point. That, and the eagerness of a lawyer to get some cash from (maybe) affluent people.
- remember the TV show Kung Fu? [↩]
Windows 7 (Get It While It’s Cheap)
Windows 7 actually appears to be worth the upgrade. I got a firsthand account from my roommate, who says it’s combines Vista features with XP efficiency. And for a limited time that upgrade is cheap: $50 for Home Premium and $100 for Professional.
To make it easy on the consumer, each version of 7 has all the features of it’s lesser brethren – no more Home Premium vs. Business vs. Ultimate BS. E.g., since Premium includes Media Center, so does Professional, even though it’s targeted at small business users. Here is a good article comparing the different versions. I think Professional is a pretty clear win (at least for me).
To ease the minds of upgraders, Professional and Ultimate include a fully licensed copy of XP SP3 that runs in a virtual machine. There is one big gotcha, though – not all Intel CPUs support Intel VT (Virtualization Technology), required for this XP compatibility mode. Here is a list of supported (and unsupported) CPUs.
Please comment if you’ve had any luck (good or bad) with Windows 7.