Pardon me..

While I do a little year end site maintenance.

Comments and trackbacks will be spotty while I test some new tools for fighting spam. I will also be adding some new tools for commenting, such as twitter.

I think I shall also be updating my blogroll for the first time in about 3 years too.

Posted @ December 23, 2008 11:02 AM | Comments (0)

my 'moment of zen'

I have a teenage son. Back in the 70's, I was a teenage boy and I was also a complete and utter hellion as well. So it is that context that I can relate the following parental "moment of clarity":

Every day, as I strive to come to terms with effort and patience that is required to raise my son, it is only now through this struggle that I have come to fully understand just how much it was that my father loved me. The proof for one persons love for another is always suspect to those outside the relationship, but the truth of it is, you don't put up with this much hell for someone you merely "like".

I hated the teenage years and I hated every moment of being a teenager. It was the most miserable part of my life and I was never so glad as I was the day I turned 21. Until now, I only thought about how bad being a teenager was for me, I never gave a thought to how it was for anyone else. I find myself now having gone full circle, witnessing my 'little crimes' all over again but now I'm forced to pass judgment on them from the bench. Where once I thought I stood in my defiance as a "brave rebel against the system" , I now see just a scared little boy, all too cool and proud to be bothered to take the simple, straightforward and worthy advice of "doing his homework".

It's Gods little joke, the "teenage" years. Its the years of your life when you are most in need of the advice and council given by your parents, while at the same time you find you are in possession of a brain chemistry that makes you completely incapable of doing so.

You just cant argue with the genius behind that sense of divine symmetry.

Posted @ December 18, 2008 11:06 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

For your Viewing Pleasure: The Blue Max

Remember when Flyboys came out recently? Remember how you went into a rage and flipped over the popcorn maker in the lobby of the theatre? Remember when you grabbed a perfect stranger and asked him "Does every single German plane in this movie have to be a Fokker Triplane - A RED FOKKER TRIPLANE!!!". Well here's a real movie using real airplanes to remind you just how good an aviation themed movie can be. Be sure to catch Ursula Andress's highly-improbable-but-safe-for-1960's movie-audience "Towel Dance" near the end.

Tv on the web? Well sure, happens all the time. Give some of these a whirl:

Joost.com
Hulu.com
usanetworks.com
ABC
CBS
NBC

Look at that. 5 minutes of HTML and I already have better programming than your local cable provider.

Posted @ December 18, 2008 08:33 AM | Aviation | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Name is Destiny?

Bernard Madoff...hmmmm

Bernard "Made Off"? As in Bernard 'ran away with the swag'? I wonder if his family name was "Abscond" before they had it changed at Ellis Island?

That said, I think the descendants of Charles Ponzi can have their name back because 50 Billion Dollars! earns him the new shorthand name of "schemes to defraud". As of now, its no longer a "Ponzi" scheme, its a "Madoff".

Say what you want about Darwin, there really is a sucker born every minute. Mr.Madoff and his victims are yet another proof of that theory.

Posted @ December 16, 2008 03:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Hey whats it gonna take to get you folks into this car?

Used Cars - A 1980 Kurt Russell movie, where the protagonist, a used car salesman, tries to buy a senate seat.
Coincidence? You decide.

You've been there. You go to buy a car, you walk on the lot and before your second footstep, a human remora has attached himself to you. Helpful to the point of annoying, the ballet begins where handshake, names, cards and pleasantries are exchanged. Well, lets be serious, the remora is the only one doing the exchange, you are looking for a handiwipe.

You continue in your quest, looking for a specific model, and a specific car. Of course that car and model doesn't actually exist. Yes, you've seen the advertising, youve seen other people driving that very car in that very color but you cant find it here at the dealer. Your remora finally guides you towards some other car that you don't like nearly enough but to get the remora to shut up, you tell him its ok. You find yourself being pulled back to his office, which is really a desk sitting in the lobby with all the sense of permanence of a used paper cup.

Your interest dropped off hours ago but the remora insists. Help him out, let him see if he can make you a deal. Be a pal. Paper begins to fly about the desk and improbable numbers begin to appear on the improbable contract paper. The paper is shoved in front of you.

"Is that a great deal or what!" Says the remora with a smile that looks more painful than happy.

You couldn't care less. Your hands are attached to your side as if they were stapled there. The remora reluctantly goes back to work,moving the improbable numbers about the page of paper that looks like it might be legal and contractual. The paper slides back across the table with small imperceptible changes in the actual numbers.

Your reaction is the same. You don't want the car, you never did. The car you actually want and the whole reason you came to the lot in the first place isn't on the lot and any discussion of the car you want is met with "impossible","doesn't exist" "not as good as you think" and my favorite " Wait till you see the XXX model, now that's a great car, but your car is actually the better car".

You then decide that the show is over and get up to leave. Panic ensues. As you get out of the lobby door and suddenly a new character arrives. He's the "sales manager" he ensures you that the car you came to get is actually here after all. He tells you that your remora is new and he's just training and now the "sales manager" wants to help you directly.

The dance begins again. "You want this car?" he says. You say no. He says that you will after you see the numbers. You see the new numbers. Your reaction is the same. You get up to leave. Panic ensues yet again. You sit down and another round of improbable numbers appear on oddly contractual looking paper. You are shocked. The numbers are about half of the original improbable numbers. "Oh, see you do want the car after all!" says the "sales manager". You say no, you're just stunned by the numbers. you begin to look closer at the improbable numbers. You begin to notice that the improbable numbers are describing a completely different car with completely different set of options.

Again, you get up to leave and panic ensues. As you leave the lobby another character arrives. He's the "vice president of sales" and hes glad to make your acquaintance. He's very impressed with the car you wanted to get, the one that's not on the lot because "I've got one of those too! I love that car!". He seems like a genial fellow who's somewhat disconnected and aloof from the all the spittle and sweat that covers the sales floor.

You make your case, you want the car you want at the price you want. He says that seems reasonable, "so if we can get you in that car at that price we can make a deal, right".

Then you make the first mistake of the night.

You say "Yes".

You move to the executive office, a secretary gets you coffee. She likes you, you can just tell. Improbable numbers cross the desk on improbable paper that somehow looks all official but you cant actually read the text, but the deal somehow seem more reasonable. Yes, the model isn't exactly the same but you are assured by the "vice president of sales" that its close enough that no one but you can tell. He tells you some slightly related story that gets your attention because he tells it so well. You think your important, hes talking to you and he's a vice president.

The dance goes on but the show begins to draw to a close. 2 hours later and moments before the place closes for the night, you sign the deal, you get the keys.

Your nose begins to anticipate the wonderful scent of "New Car Smell".

And that's when you discover that instead of the 2008 Challenger, you actually bought a 1984 Dodge Colt. Worse, you paid twice what the Colt was worth when it was new in 1984. Worse still, a week after you get home, you get a call from the "improbable finance company" telling you that they need another 1500 bucks to make the deal or they will have to take back the car and no, the car you traded in is gone so you cant have it back. You signed the contract sir, you should've have thought about all this before you bought the car...

What's all this mean? Well, I realized this morning that all this negotiating that's going on in Washington for the "Car Bailout" was nothing more than a macro version of the basic "car sale dance" that occurs in showrooms across the country. Everyone knows its going to happen, everyone knows it will cost more than everyone says. Everyone knows that 6 months from now, once we are all on the hook for 16 billion in wasted money that the argument will be that we cant let that go to waste and we just need to spend a little bit more and after all whats another 10 billion to ensure the jobs of America?

And this is why everyone hates the deal. We've all been there and we all know where this is going.

Posted @ December 16, 2008 08:15 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (2) | TrackBack (1)

New software holds the key to mapping your dreams

Apparently there is someone out there who has decided to map your dreams.

Naturally, as a software practitioner, this makes me wonder. I think if you hooked me up to this contraption, the 'map of my dream' would look something like this:

Kinda takes your breath away, doesnt it?

The only thing better than being lucky enough to have seen a Connie in the air is actually having been in one while it was in the air. Ive done both and yes, I still dream about her. What a machine...

Photo from 'Flyings Golden Age' The colors are much more vivid in my dreams...

Posted @ December 12, 2008 06:39 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

Its going the be the four most interesting years in human history

hehehhheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh.

Everyday, every single day since the election, I find more and more of these moments where I just fall over laughing.

Posted @ December 11, 2008 06:46 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2) | TrackBack (1)

Jerry mahoney - Call your Office!

In this post on the WSJ, I had to take a second look at this photo, because it looks like Daschle is so small that he's a ventriloquist puppet sitting on Obamas lap:

Wow, Who knew!

Tonight episode of 'Winchell-Mahoney Time' is sponsored by Studebaker trucks and your local Kaiser-Frasier dealer.

Posted @ December 11, 2008 02:21 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (4) | TrackBack (1)