August 31, 2006
The Queen of Zanzibar
I had no idea that Freddie Mercury had such a colorful heritage and childhood. He was born in Zanzibar when it was a British Protectorate (it is now Tanzania) and was educated in India. He and his family then moved to Britain in 1964 when Tanzania became independent and immigrants of Indian and Arab descent were driven out.
Freddie Mercury is in the news because the 'Mercury Restaurant' (named after him) in Zanzibar is planning a huge beach party in honor of his birthday. A Muslim leader has declared that the party must be stopped because Mercury was gay and "violated Islam with his flamboyant lifestyle" and added "That's why he was branded a Queen," Ummm...yeah.
Source: Coming Anarchy
Technorati Tags: Freddie Mercury, Zanzibar, Coming Anarchy
Posted by JB at 7:46 PM | Permalink | TrackBack (0)August 30, 2006
Loving The Alien
The theme of the block party was 'Star Wars'. Some of the girls dressed as Princess Leia. A few adults had Star Wars T-Shirts. This gentleman had the best costume of all....
Technorati Tags: photo, block party, Alien, Spaceman, Costume
Posted by JB at 11:37 PM | PermalinkAugust 29, 2006
Dog At Liquor Store
Took this photo while I was waiting to get a pizza at Acquafredda's Pizzeria Sunday night. BTW, the pizza was pretty good.
Technorati Tags: photo, Acqufredda's pizzeria
Posted by JB at 9:38 PM | PermalinkHidden History
Here is a video piece that I really liked from artist Alex Itin, who I met through Flickr. Nick Cave was never used better.
Technorati Tags: Alex Itin, Hidden History
Posted by JB at 4:03 PM | PermalinkAugust 28, 2006
Business Advice From The Sports Page
There was a Detroit journalist on CNBC this morning defending a story he had written. In his article, he said that the American consumer was to blame for the failure of the U.S. auto industry because they are not buying American cars. (I tried 'Googling' for the story and came up blank.) I hear this 'blame the customer' reasoning a lot in sports when a pro franchise cannot sell tickets. Rather than putting together a team people will pay to see (in most cases - a winning team) or in the case of automakers - building cars people actually want, they blame their customers for their failure.
On Sunday, ESPN writer Buster Olney had a case in point on this subject and illustrated how silly blaming the customer is.
Catcher Matt Treanor said on Saturday that fans in South Florida "should be ashamed of themselves" for not showing up in droves to the Marlins' games this year.
I baked bagels during my college years, first at the Bagel Stop in West Lebanon, N.H., and then at the Nashville Bagel Company, on West End in Nashville. Business was pretty slow at times. Look, I was much better at baking and delivery than at dealing with customers over the counter (To this day, I can't stand lox), but I can say, unequivocally, that standing out in front of the stores and telling those who passed by that they should be ashamed of themselves for not buying our bagels would not have been a good business move.
Plus, I would've looked like an idiot standing out there, with raisins smeared on my smock.
Coming up with a more enticing product is probably a better business strategy.
Fans are not obligated to buy tickets; teams are not entitled to have thousands of people laying out hundreds of dollars to watch them play. You come up with a product that people want to see, and they'll pay. The reasons for fans not showing up at Marlins games began compiling long before Treanor became part of the organization.
Treanor has had a good year, but his words may rank among the most ill-chosen of the season. What a way to win over hearts and minds.
This 'blaming the customer' reasoning really gets my goat, because the White Sox used to use it for years before they figured it out. White Sox management used to be famous for blaming the fans for the low attendance in the years after the strike. Even more infuriating, they would in so many words, say 'if you start coming out, we'll put together a better team'. Finally the White Sox figured it out when they hired Kenny Williams as General Manager. He and the organization stopped blaming their customers and started putting together a winning product. Now they have a championship and the seats are full.
Ford, GM and their apologists in the press (as well as the annual losers in professional sports that are too numerous to mention here) need to take some business advice from the sports page. Don't blame your customers as you are not entitled to anything from them. Build a better product.
Technorati Tags: Buster Olney
Posted by JB at 10:16 PM | Permalink | TrackBack (0)links for 2006-08-28
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A Big Part Of The Reason Most People Find Cat Chat Rooms Boring
August 24, 2006
Jay Williams Invited To Nets Camp
Remember Jay Williams? Chicago Bulls first round pick (#2 overall) from Duke in 2002? The Jay Williams that played for one promising season and then nearly lost his leg when he crashed his motorcycle into a light pole? Yeah, that Jay Williams. The Bulls ended up taking the high road and bought out his contract (rather than just cutting him loose) and that was the last we heard of him.
Turns out he has been trying to make a comeback, playing in charity games and holding workouts for several NBA teams. His comeback is
progressing as the New Jersey Nets have given him an invitation to attend their training camp. No contract has been signed and Williams is considering the offer. It would be a non-guaranteed contract, so he could be easily cut but it would give him some good exposure if he is fit for NBA play.
Jay Williams seems to me to be a good guy who made a bad mistake, not a self-destructive goofball. Hope it works out. You can already feel the clamoring for the story rights if it does.
Technorati Tags: Jay Williams, Chicago Bulls, New Jersey Nets
Posted by JB at 4:13 PM | PermalinkThe Terrorist Truck Vs. The Steel Pole
Jalopnik has a must-see video posted today. It shows what would happen if a terrorist drove a truck full of explosives into a pop-up security post.
Technorati Tags: Jalopnik
Posted by JB at 10:09 AM | Permalinklinks for 2006-08-24
August 23, 2006
Mariscos
Posted by JB at 10:30 PM | Permalink
August 22, 2006
Another Movie To Look Forward To - Sunshine
Warren Ellis says that Sunshine is going to be 'the geek catnip of summer 2007'. I couldn't agree more.
Posted by JB at 11:06 PM | Permalink
August 21, 2006
Another Man-Child In Baseball
A few days ago, I posted about the S.F. Giants giving a signing bonus of $2.1 million on a 6'3" 16 year-old from the Dominican Republic (and my betting that they were throwing their money away). Compared to Aaron Durley on the Dhahran, Saudi Arabia team in the Little League World Series, he might as well be a jockey. Aaron Durley is 13, but is 6'8" and 256 lbs., growing four inches since last years LLWS. At the rate he is growing, if he makes the big leagues he should be the tallest player ever, passing Randy Johnson at 6' 10".
The thing that is really scary is that the same Dhahran team that Durley is on, also has two other players measuring in at 6'3" and 5'9"! You would get the feeling that these little giants would dominate when they come to the plate, but from what I've read it doesn't seem to be the case. When these giants come to bat, it's like when Eddie Gaedel made his plate appearance. but in reverse. They walk a lot.
Technorati Tags: Aaron Durley
Posted by JB at 9:11 PM | PermalinkVAIO Trivia
Picked up an interesting bit of trivia from a post in Gizmodo.
The Sony VAIO logo is an illustration of the transition from analog to digital (The 'V' and 'A' form the waves of analog, the 'I' and 'O' the 0s and 1s of a digital signal).
Technorati Tags: VAIO, Gizmodo
Posted by JB at 8:49 PM | PermalinkAugust 20, 2006
links for 2006-08-20
August 19, 2006
S.F. Giants Give Man-Child $2.1 Million Bonus
The San Francisco Giants signed 16 year old third baseman Angel Miguel Villalona of the Dominican Republic and gave him a 2.1 million dollar signing bonus. Villalona turned 16 last week and already measures in a 6'3" tall and 200 lbs. He is signed for the 2007 season and is supposes to report to the instructional league in a month.
Everything between the lines in this story reads 'Giants Throw Away $2.1 Million On Kid Won't Live Up To The Hype".
Posted by JB at 9:36 PM | PermalinkAugust 18, 2006
links for 2006-08-18
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First cat to stay awake until Noon.
Illness Communication Exaggeration Curve
Thursday's The Show with ZeFrank introduced the world to the Illness Communication Exaggeration Curve.
Posted by JB at 12:40 AM | PermalinkAugust 17, 2006
links for 2006-08-17
August 16, 2006
New Planet Standards - Q & A
There is a lot of hullabaloo in the news the last few days about planets. Is Pluto a planet or not? Are there now going to be 12 planets in our solar system? What is a pluton? BBC News has a nice Q&A of the new planet proposal to make everything a little clearer.
The most surprising thing I walked away from the story is that there has never been an agreed upon definition of a planet. Thought that the scientific community would have hammered that out a long time ago.
Posted by JB at 10:11 PM | PermalinkThings Just Aren't Right
I have been having some minor technical difficulties lately with my posts. The problems mainly seem to be with the software that I use to put entries into Movable Type called Ecto. The old version of the Ecto that I was using, wasn't playing nicely with the latest upgrades of Movable Type. The new version is giving me fits trying to get it to do what I want. This entry is being done directly in Movable Type as a test to confirm some issues.
So, if things look a little different from post to post, it's just things getting back in sync.
Posted by JB at 9:46 PM | Permalinklinks for 2006-08-16
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"Copperfield is coy about his reasons for the Fountain of Youth claim, but the man best known for entertaining with grand deception insists his archipelago also contains the legendary waters that bestow perpetual youth. Seriously."
Sounds like a setup
Posted by JB at 1:20 AM | Permalink
August 15, 2006
Children of Men
Came across an upcoming sci-fi film that looks like it has a chance of being worth an over-priced movie ticket.
Children of Men is scheduled to come out this Christmas, starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine. The basic premise of the movie is that humans have lost the ability to reproduce. The youngest person on the planet has just died at age 18 and the world is going to hell in a hand basket as people lose hope for the future.
The premise of the story reminded me of a book I read a few years ago called Darwin's Radio, but it turns out that it is based on a
book of the same name by P.D. James who also wrote the screenplay.
Check out the trailer and see what you think.
Posted by JB at 11:37 PM | Permalink | TrackBack (0)links for 2006-08-15
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Singer Boy George has been sweeping streets in New York as part of a five-day community service sentence.
August 14, 2006
Arlington Million and Blimp
Sure, the Arlington Million is the biggest day of year for Arlington Park and Arlington Heights (at least until the Breeder's Cup comes back) with the parties downtown and the national television coverage, but the Arlington Million means one thing to me...blimps.
Parties and high stakes races are fine, but I get a kick out of the blimp that slowly flies over our house. Every year about an hour before the race, the blimp doing aerial shots of track passes over again and again. It's not loud; sounds like a distant helicopter that steadily drones on as it slowly pushes over. This year it was the Met Life blimp, last year it was Sanyo. There are usually a few low passes, but I think the winds forced them to stay higher.
The Mane Event drew an estimated 12,000 people to the party downtown.
The races went off without incident. Last year's winning jockey, Kieren Fallon, was denied his racing license application. His license was revoked in England because of a charge of 'conspiring to defraud bettors'. Gorella won the Beverly D. Showing Up won the Secretariat. Eight year old Tin Man won the Arlington Million.
Continue reading "Arlington Million and Blimp"
Posted by JB at 11:13 PM | Permalink | TrackBack (0)links for 2006-08-14
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An interesting little tidbit. I knew there was a portion of the sale of blank cassettes that went to the record industry, but never realized that it extended to CDs. What a bunch of crooks.
August 13, 2006
American Jesus T-shirt
Something for all the 21st century crusaders out there; a new t-shirt by changethethought. (original post: Warren Ellis)
Technorati Tags: American Jesus, Changethethought, t-shirt
Posted by JB at 10:19 PM | Permalink | TrackBack (0)August 9, 2006
Stowaway Mushroom
Somedays I can't stop using my little pocket camera.
This odd mushroom popped up on one of Inga's potted plants. The plant has never been outside so she suspects it originated from the potting soil. Can't say I've seen a green mushroom before.
Technorati Tags: photo, mushroom
Posted by JB at 10:07 PM | Permalink | TrackBack (0)Slogan
The seal on this faucet box says 'He Who Toils Here Hath Set His Mark - Kohler'. It's a powerful slogan in a marketplace full of cheap and disposable products.
Technorati Tags: photo, kohler, slogan
Posted by JB at 10:02 PM | Permalink | TrackBack (0)August 8, 2006
links for 2006-08-08
August 7, 2006
links for 2006-08-07
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A crisis with a cat having to bury it's poop...
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The conclusion of a cat/poop crisis. Fido to the rescue!
August 6, 2006
The Program
Inga reading the program before the Saturday's performance of the The Dutch National Ballet Project.
Technorati Tags: photo
Posted by JB at 10:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBack (0)August 3, 2006
Watch 'The Amazing Screw-On Head'!
Attention all steampunk, Hellboy, zombie, vampire, Mike Mignola, comic and animation fans (and all combinations of those realms of fandom). The Sci-Fi channel has put a pilot episode for an animated series called 'The Amazing Screw-On Head' on their website for people to check out and give feedback on the show. Don't let the title put you off, it's damn funny while still having plenty of action with the undead and prehistoric demons. Mignola's art translates very well to animation and is put together real well. Features the voices of Paul Giamatti, David Hyde Pierce and Molly Shannon.
Here's a blurb from the site to give you an idea of what the show is about:
In this hilarious send-up of Lovecraftian horror and steampunk adventure, President Abraham Lincoln's top spy is a bodyless head known only as Screw-On Head.
When arch-fiend Emperor Zombie steals an artifact that will enable him to threaten all life on Earth, the task of stopping him is assigned to Screw-on Head. Fortunately, Screw-On Head is not alone on this perilous quest. He is aided by his multitalented manservant, Mr. Groin, and by his talking canine cohort, Mr. Dog.
I hope putting pilot episodes on the web takes off. Seems like a better way to create a buzz about a show and give some good concepts a chance before getting killed by t.v. execs like 'Global Frequency',
Technorati Tags: The Amazing Screw-On Head, Mike Mignola
Posted by JB at 8:50 PM | Permalinklinks for 2006-08-03
August 2, 2006
9/11 Live: The NORAD Tapes
Vanity Fair has an interesting story on their website called '9/11 Live: The NORAD Tapes'. Using newly released NORAD tapes, author Michael Bronner, pieces together 9/11 as events unfold, from the view of the U.S. Air Force and shows how the Pentagon tried to cover-up the confusion during the 9/11 hearings. The story online is unique in that you can listen to embedded audio of actual conversations within parts of the USAF and between the USAF and FAA air traffic controllers as you read along. You can hear how frustrated everyone was getting slow and partial information and always being a few steps behind the events. An interesting read and listen.
Technorati Tags: 9/11, Vanity Fair, NORAD Tapes
Posted by JB at 9:53 PM | PermalinkAugust 1, 2006
Gunnelpumpers go to the Ballet
It's a big weekend for the Gunnelpumpers and for founding pumper, Doug Johnson.
This weekend the Athenaeum Theatre will be hosting The Dutch National Ballet Project, a collaboration between Dance Chicago and the Dutch National Ballet . The show features pieces put together by local choreographers and dancers from the Joffrey Ballet, River North Chicago Dance Company. The hope is that the Dutch Ballet will take some of these pieces back to Holland as part of their repertoire. Gunnelpumper Douglas Johnson has written the music for one of the performances; “Into the Agape”, in collaboration with choreographer Altin Naska.
That alone is quite an event and worth the ticket price. Add in the Gunnelpumpers performing as the house band before and in between the acts of the ballet and you have the entertainment bargain of the summer! Tickets are only $35 dollars so get out, enjoy the cooler temperatures this weekend and impress your partner with ballet tickets.
Technorati Tags: Gunnelpumpers, Douglas Johnson, Athenaeum Theatre, The Dutch National Ballet Project, Dance Chicago, Altin Naska
Posted by JB at 9:54 PM | PermalinkThought of the Day
Mel Gibson is about 6 to 12 months away as being outed as a total loon, a la Tom Cruise. He's been in the 'closet creep' category in my book for years and now he's coming out...
Technorati Tags: Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise
Posted by JB at 9:51 PM | Permalink
