4/29/05 Cool Coincidences

I stumbled across a website called Cool Coincidences. My favorite is from Stephen Hawking:
"If the density of the universe one second after the Big Bang had been greater by one part in a thousand billion, the universe would have recollapsed after ten years. On the other hand, if the density of the universe at that time had been less by the same amount, the universe would have been essentially empty when it was about ten years old. "

While we're talking science, I also found The Hairy Ball Theorem. "The hairy ball theorem of algebraic topology states that, in layman's terms, "one cannot comb the hair on a ball smooth"."

A list of every Beavis and Butthead Episode ever made. The videos they watched are included. Additional commentary is also posted - Like every time they had to remove a scene because some dumbass kid set something on fire and blamed the show.

A couple of weeks back Google integrated the satellite images with their mapping software. Now there's a Google Map Scavenger Hunt. They post a picture of some location in the US and then post hints. You have to find the exact location using Google maps and submit your answer. If I wasn't at work, I'd be playing.

4/28/05 Trains

I showed up to work today, checked my email, and as usual, I had no work emails and nothing to do. Seriously, I have NOTHING to do. I can't even make anything up at this point. I'm on a team of 4. About 5 times a day my manager (who sits in an office about 5 feet from me) calls in the other members of the team, closes the door, and they discuss "the plan". Without me. I give it a week, max, before I'm off this project.

The reason I bring this up is that I decided to entertain myself today. As I was listening to Launchcast Radio, I noticed that I had back-to-back songs about trains. First I got "Locomotive Breath" by Jethro Tull, followed by "Crazy Train" by Ozzy. That got me to thinking - Songs about trains kinda rule. Over IM, my brother and I have started compiling a list of songs we could think of about trains. In addition to the two I've already mentioned, here's what we have so far:

• "Night Train" - Guns N Roses
• "Ghost Train" - My brother says it's on a Best of College Acapella CD. I've never heard it.
• "Midnight Train to Georgia" - Gladys Knight and the Pips
• "C'mon Ride the Train (Woo Woo!)" - Quad City DJ's (I'm not sure that's the real name of the song, but it was huge about 14 years ago)
• "Charlie on the MTA" - Will Holt (You know, the man who never returned)
• "Runaway Train" - Soul Asylum
• "Long Train Running" - The Doobie Brothers

Soul Train also kinda rules. We wanted a Top Ten songs about Trains list, but we couldn't come up with 10. So we're up for suggestions....

An article entitled "The Angriest Man in the World" offers up some neat insight into the life of comedian Lewis Black.

Nuclear Fusion has been created in a lab. Other than being a pretty cool beginning for a pollution-free energy source, my Nuclear Engineering Professor was quoted in the article. Professor Ruzic led probably the most fun course I took in college. I honestly took his course 'just cuz it sounded fun'. We made moonshine on the quad and he blew something up in almost every class.

Vector Park kept me entertained at work yesterday. I really don't understand it, but it sure was a fun distraction.

4/27/05 April Showers

In an upbeat article, ESPN's David Schoenfield explains why your favorite baseball team will not win it all.

ESPN also has an interesting take on how to spice up baseball. Make it like Texas Hold 'Em. From the article:

More percentages. More numbers. If the Cubs get the leadoff runner on base in the first inning, put a graphic up there that tells me the likelihood that he'll score is 56 percent. With one out, 37 percent. With two outs ... you get the idea.
If the Orioles are leading the Mariners 4-2 in the seventh, give me the projections up there next to the score.
Orioles 4 (77%)
Mariners 2 (23%)

Does the FBI have your fingerprints? They have 50,000,000 prints on record. Which is about 1 in every 6 people in the U.S. Yay for a safer America.

Ok, this page is fun. There's a 10 minute video of Weird Al Yankovic interviewing Eminem. Good stuff.

4/26/05 Ron Mexico

Are you envious of Michael Vick? Well, you might not be a super stud athlete and you most likely don't have herpes. But you can go incognito with your very own Ron Mexico Name Generator. Just call me Jeremy Bolivia.

Scientific American has a pretty cool article about "Paul is Dead", "Turn me on, dead man", and how the human brain hears what it wants to hear.

16-4. That's all I've gotta say.

4/25/05 Shut off the TV!

It's Shut off your TV week. For the 11th straight year, Washington, D.C.-based TV-Turnoff Network is encouraging us to de-zombify ourselves for a week. Hey, it's worth a go. Wait, the NBA playoffs are on. Maybe some other time.

"Emails hurt IQ more than pot" - From a British study posted on CNN.com.

Happy 15th birthday, Hubble Space Telescope.

4/22/05 NutraSweet

I've been reading a little bit about the negative effects of Aspartame (aka NutraSweet). I feel that it's my duty as a member of the human race to present some articles that I've come across.

Aspartame Warning
Aspartame Neurotoxic
Bad News about Products with Aspartame

From the articles:

"Aspartame causes headache, memory loss, seizures, vision loss, coma and cancer. It worsens or mimics the symptoms of such diseases and conditions as fibromyalgia, MS, lupus, ADD, diabetes, Alzheimer's, chronic fatigue and depression."

"Aspartame liberates free methyl alcohol. The resulting chronic methanol poisoning affects the dopamine system of the brain causing addiction. Methanol, or wood alcohol, constitutes one-third of the aspartame molecule and is classified as a severe metabolic poison and narcotic."

"METHANOL (AKA WOOD ALCOHOL/POISON) (10% OF ASPARTAME) Methanol/wood alcohol is a deadly poison. People may recall that methanol was the poison that has caused some "skid row" alcoholics to end up blind or dead. Methanol is gradually released in the small intestine when the methyl group of aspartame encounter the enzyme chymotrypsin."

"Methanol breaks down into formic acid and formaldehyde in the body. Formaldehyde is a deadly neurotoxin. An EPA assessment of methanol states that methanol "is considered a cumulative poison due to the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed. In the body, methanol is oxidized to formaldehyde and formic acid; both of these metabolites are toxic." The recommend a limit of consumption of 7.8 mg/day. A one-liter (approx. 1 quart) aspartame-sweetened beverage contains about 56 mg of methanol. Heavy users of aspartame-containing products consume as much as 250 mg of methanol daily or 32 times the EPA limit."

On the lighter side of things, take the Color Test. It's fun to test the right and left sides of your brain.

Now for something really fun. You can blow up any website you want.

4/21/05 Goonies Never Say Die

From Cousin Andy - June 3-5 is the official 20 Year Anniversary Celebration of the release of "The Goonies". It will take place in Astoria, Oregon.

From Poker Jason - Pirate Captain wins University Presidency. AARGH!

Scientists have solved the mystery of unpopped kernels. Still no cure for cancer.

Some see the Virgin Mary in an underpass stain. The majority of Chicagoans see continuing urban decay.

The Dairy Lama emailed me about sponsoring a nacho section on his website. It's a great site filled with cheese haikus. It's definitely worth a look-see.

4/20/05 Neil Diamond

I heard on the radio that Neil Diamond is currently on tour. Right now he's doing shows in Australia and New Zealand, but pretty soon he'll be coming to America. Ba dum, ching.

In honor of 4/20, President Bush expected to name new joint chief of staff.

Week 2 baseball power rankings are out. Once again the White Sox are sitting pretty at #2. I also heard a quick sound byte on the radio yesterday - "We're new in town, but weren't the Dodgers supposed to suck?". They're the #1 team for the 2nd straight week.

Probably the best movie review I've ever read - Fever Pitch.

4/19/05 Clogging Toilets

Some article about the uncloggable toilet. We'll just have to see about that. Challenge accepted.

4/18/05 Albert Einstein

It's been 100 years since Einstein published his first major paper and we haven't viewed our place in the universe the same since. The above article offers a great overview into the life of man whose genius comes around once in a century, at best. Einstein described relativity this way: "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity."

There's another article out today about The Next Einstein. One opinion is that education and training today is too specialized to breed another Einstein:
"Education is different, too. One crucial aspect of Einstein's training that is overlooked, says Notre Dame science historian Don Howard, is the years of philosophy he read as a teenager — Kant, Schopenhauer and Spinoza, among others. It taught him to how to think independently and abstractly about space and time, Howard says, and it wasn't long before he became a philosopher himself."

While I'm on the subject of great scientific achievement, I'll also write about some pseudo-science. Someone is claiming that the tsunami on December 26th was caused by the planetary alignment at the time. Doubtful, but interesting.

Finally, as my blog heads completely downhill, someone has calculated the number of F-Bombs dropped in HBO's Deadwood.
Season One - 1.23 FPM (F-Bombs per minute).
Season Two - 1.84 FPM.
F-Bomb Total - 1519.

4/15/05 Tax Day

Did you send in your taxes? I mailed mine a couple of weeks ago. The state of New York took all of 5 minutes before they cashed my check. But my Illinois refund check? That'll be a while, I'm sure.

Google Nicki sends this link. She says it's a cross between Google Maps and Craigslist.

That's all I've got. My laptop is still out of commission and I'm posting these at work. Speaking of which, I'm still here and I'm not leaving anytime soon. I bet retirement's great.

4/14/05 The Genographic Project

In a landmark study of human migration over the millennia, The Genographic Project was started. You can participate by paying $100 and giving a DNA sample on a swab from your cheek. According to the study, all humans lived in Africa until 60,000 years ago. This was followed by a series of migrations (you'll have to check out the site to see what I mean) to where you are today. Although intrusive (with the DNA samples), it sounds pretty frickin' cool.

I asked my brother what the plural of millennium is and he informed me that "eon" does not refer to a specific timeframe. It's just an indefinitely long period of time. Like "ages". I had no idea. He also says that there's a minimum, since "eon" is also defined as "the longest division of geological time, containing two or more eras".

After 1 week of baseball, Sports Illustrated has their first Power Rankings. And yes, the major league leading, 6-2 White Sox are sitting pretty at number two. I love number two.

4/13/05 Kover Me

Mike sends the perfect link for anyone who works in an office. It's called Kover Me. "Use this Widget to take a screenshot of your desktop while you're being productive. Later you can use a hot-key to quickly cover up your desktop with the screenshot."

Poker Jason sends a link to a pretty powerful commercial about youth soccer.

Jacob Luft of SI.com writes about the over-hyped pitching staff of the Cubs. From the article:

Would you buy a car from Kerry Wood? Maybe it's time the Cubs' "ace" take former broadcaster Steve Stone's suggestion that he adjust or go sell cars. Wood walked five Brewers in his first start of the season and is getting pummeled by the Padres today, allowing five runs in the first two innings. A little more than one week into the season, it appears the preseason hype surrounding the rotations of the Cubs and Yankees, just to name two, was a little overdone. The best rotation in the big leagues so far belongs to the Florida Marlins, who have three of the majors' five complete games this season. Here are the teams with the top five starters' ERAs heading into Wednesday's action:
1. Florida, 1.66
2. Chicago (AL) 2.44
3. Atlanta 2.83
4. Philadelphia 2.86
5. San Francisco 3.00
... 18. Chicago (NL) 4.82

4/12/05 Dude!

67% of Californians refer to their friends as "dude". Yup, I fit in perfectly.

From Google Nicki - Taking the Fifth. She was real excited about the headline. Unless you know me personally, it won't make any sense.

Take the Entertainment Weekly Quiz for 1993. I looked at the first 2 questions and gave up. Now if they had asked what band rocked out in their debut album "Ten", I would have done fantastically.

Somebody really, really doesn't like Carson Daly. Some language might not be appropriate for work.

Curses, Part II

The following NY Times article about the White Sox was sent by my Cousin Jeff...

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
The New York Times

April 3, 2005 Sunday
Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section BB; Column 1; Sports Desk; BASEBALL PREVIEW 2005; Pg. 3

LENGTH: 1438 words

HEADLINE: Worse Than Cursed? A Legacy of Losing in Anonymity

BYLINE: By BILL PENNINGTON

DATELINE: CHICAGO

BODY:


They are the cursed Sox nobody cares about, uncelebrated in pop culture, overshadowed in their own city and lacking a mythical nation of fans wallowing in their woe. They are the cursed Sox who have not won a World Series in 88 years, a drought longer than the one the now-resplendent Boston Red Sox endured.

They are the Chicago White Sox, the cursed Sox nobody wears, especially on the sleeve.

They were once a cornerstone franchise of professional baseball, a team with a storied, colorful past that included championships in the early 20th century, exploding scoreboards, zany uniforms with short pants, and a disco demolition promotion that ended with on-field anarchy. They had 17 successive winning seasons at midcentury, lorded over Chicago baseball and made historic, dogged pursuits of the great Yankees teams.

Oh yes, they are also the only team found to have tried to lose a World Series.

And yet the fact that the White Sox last won a World Series during World War I is an afterthought in baseball. The Red Sox had the Curse of the Bambino, a badge of honor dating to 1918, worn proudly in New England and known around the country. For years, New York fans mocked Red Sox players by chanting ''1918!''

The White Sox have not won since 1917, but no one bothers to chant the date at their players.

It may not register anyway.

Before a spring training practice in Tucson, White Sox pitcher Jon Garland was asked what he knew of White Sox history.

''Not much,'' he said.

Told that the championship drought extended to 1917, Garland replied, ''Been awhile, huh?''

The White Sox curse is so overlooked it does not even have a name.

''It is a real curse, tragic and ongoing,'' said Richard Lindberg, the White Sox' unofficial team historian and author of four books about the team. ''We're just off the radar -- in the flyover zone.''

Or, as Rick Lopatim, a 50-year-old lifelong White Sox fan, said as he surveyed his team's workout in Tucson, ''Maybe the curse is being a White Sox fan.''

The White Sox have not waited the longest for another championship. That distinction, famously, falls to the crosstown Cubs, who last won a World Series in 1908. There is little question that the White Sox suffer in comparison to the Cubs, who are perceived as losers so lovable it is as if they were plucked from a Charlie Brown cartoon.

The Cubs also have a name for their curse, which helps tremendously in the business of jinx marketing. During the Cubs' appearance in the 1945 World Series, Bill Sianis, the owner of a place called the Billy Goat Tavern, was turned away when he tried to bring a goat into Game 4 at Wrigley Field. Insulted, Sianis put a curse on the Cubs, saying they would never again win a World Series.

So the Cubs have embraced the Curse of the Billy Goat, and not insignificantly, they have had any number of ignominious near misses trying to make it back to the World Series. The heartbreak of getting close to doing something about a curse, but failing, does seem to be pivotal in building a curse's legitimacy. It was the trademark of decades of Red Sox teams.

The White Sox, who have gone to the World Series twice since 1917, have had limited exposure to postseason anguish. In 1959, known as the Go-Go Sox, they won the first game of the World Series, then lost four of the next five games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. They made it to the postseason in 1983, 1993 and 2000, losing each time in the initial round.

But the White Sox do have a World Series legacy that no team can match, albeit for its shame value: the Black Sox scandal of 1919.

Eight White Sox players were barred from baseball after being accused of fixing the 1919 World Series, which was won by the prohibitive underdog Cincinnati Reds, five games to three.

It is no minor moment in American sports history. Hollywood made one movie, ''Eight Men Out,'' about the Black Sox scandal, and in another film, ''Field of Dreams,'' a central character was Shoeless Joe Jackson, the best known of the eight barred players.

Maybe Chicagoans have missed an opportunity by not embracing this pox on their Sox. Could it be that Shoeless Joe, barred despite hitting .375 in that World Series, cursed the White Sox?

The White Sox, and their fans, are not buying it.

''It's not a curse,'' said White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen, who played 13 seasons for the team. ''It's just bad baseball.''

Outfielder Aaron Rowand said, ''Inventing a curse now would be an excuse.''

First baseman Paul Konerko said he did not think it would work anyway.

''There's only so much frustration one city can muster up, and Chicago has had plenty of it,'' he said. ''Our fans might be so numb to the fact that there hasn't been a winner for so long, they've just stopped talking about it. You can't make something up now.''

Besides, saddling the White Sox with a new official curse would be hazardous business in Chicago, because it smacks of something more suited to the Cubs. And it is the dynamic between the South Side White Sox and the North Side Cubs that may be at the crux of the White Sox' status as unheralded underdogs.

It was not always so, but in the last 20 years, the Cubs have come to dominate Chicago's sports culture. They are the most popular team in the city, and because their games have been televised for many years around the country on the cable channel WGN, they have also become a national phenomenon. They are owned by the Tribune Company, owner of The Chicago Tribune and WGN.

The White Sox acknowledge that they are the second citizens in the Second City.

''In the off-season when I'm home, someone I meet might ask me what I do, and I'll say I play baseball in Chicago,'' said White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle, who lives in Missouri. ''And they'll go, 'You mean?' And I'll say: 'No, not that Chicago team. The other team in Chicago.'''

It is generally conceded that the White Sox' ownership made several major missteps in the last quarter-century, weakening the franchise. One was to put the team's games on a paid cable television network in the early 1980's at a time when most baseball games were broadcast over the air for free. It was revolutionary, but the White Sox did it 10 years before it was widely accepted, and they paid the price with a diminished fan base.

Then, in August 1994, a strike shut down baseball with the White Sox in first place. Many White Sox fans, rightly or wrongly, have never forgiven Jerry Reinsdorf, the team's owner, who was singled out as a leading advocate of the hard-line stance taken by owners in the labor dispute.

The standing of the two franchises is evident all over Chicago. In Niketown, a multistory sports-apparel store in the heart of Michigan Avenue, Cubs and White Sox jerseys, T-shirts and caps are displayed. There are three times as many displays for the Cubs' gear.

The Wrigleyville neighborhood surrounding cozy Wrigley Field is active with numerous restaurants and bars: the Cubby Bear, Bernie's Tap and Grill, Casey Moran's, Murphy's.

For 80 years beginning in 1910, the White Sox played at Comiskey Park, the kind of quaint, quirky ballpark that modern retro designs try to emulate. But in 1991, the White Sox replaced Comiskey with a large modern stadium now called U.S. Cellular Field. The Bridgeport neighborhood enveloping the ballpark, which sits next to a busy expressway, has gone through a slow renaissance. But there are no restaurants or bars nearby. Vacant lots are common.

''The White Sox are really a small-market team in a big city,'' said the White Sox fan Rick Mikuta, 48, of Berwyn, Ill., as he ate lunch at Harry Caray's Restaurant in downtown Chicago in March. ''The Cubs have every advantage -- financial, media coverage, location.'' White Sox fans, stewards of the most unnoticed championship drought in baseball history, seem happy to leave their failures uncelebrated.

Sue Kuzlik, 45, a White Sox fan from Evergreen Park, Ill., drove to U.S. Cellular Field in March to buy dozens of tickets to several White Sox games for her and her family. As she left the ticket window, she was asked if she knew when her team last won the World Series.

''Um, 1917?'' she said. ''Just before the Black Sox scandal.''

Did she think her team was cursed?

''No,'' she said. ''No way.''

It was pointed out to Kuzlik that she was standing beneath a mammoth poster of Jackson, who was being honored as part of the White Sox' all-century team. On the wall next to the ticket window was a framed display of a ticket stub from Game 1 of the 1919 World Series.

Kuzlik shook her head.

''Leave that stuff to the Cubs fans,'' she said. ''Let them have their curse. We'll win in due time.''

4/11/05 Curses

Now that the Red Sox have won the World Series, the remaining curses lie squarely in Chicago. The Cubs last won it all in 1908 and the White Sox in 1917. That's 185 combined years of losing.

Oh Dear Lord! Mr. T telling me to be nice to my mom?

Archeological team digging up The House of the Rising Sun in New Orleans. Still no sign of Hotel California or Margaritaville.

I used to have to beg my mom to get Cliff's Notes so I wouldn't have to read a book. Kids today just have to go to MadNotes.com.

4/10/05 Let Me Explain

Let me explain my lack of postings lately.... My AC Adapter is broken for my laptop. In the meantime, I've been posting from work when I get a free minute.

So I called Toshiba on Sunday, April 3rd, who said the AC Adapter is under warranty. They said they'd ship back. Firsit to me UPS and that it would be at my apartment within days. The deal also included something on my part - that I ship my bad AC Adapter back to them within 15 days of the phone call. Seven days pass and no shipment. So I call Toshiba again. Every call I make has a crackle in the background with a pretty hefty delay and every representative I talk to has an accent and a fake Americanized name. But they claim to be in Toronto. I called at 10 pm PST, which would be 1 am in Toronto. I don't care that my calls are going overseas - Just don't lie to me about it.

But I digress. After searching my Case Number, they tell me that everything is in order but it hasn't been shipped. After a few more minutes of intense investigation, they tell me that the part is on backorder and have no additional information. They can't tell me when the part will be shipped, when they will get it in stock or why nobody told me during the first call that it wasn't in stock.

In a nutshell, until I can charge my laptop up I can't really spend much time on these posts. Nor can I work on making my poker fortune.

4/8/05 NBA MVP

Who's the MVP of the NBA? Steve Nash? Shaq? Tim Duncan? Does anybody care? Leave it to ESPN's The Sports Guy to put some comic relief into the subject. On a personal note, this article kept me laughing for 10 minutes and has made my morning.

I was looking up the lyrics to one of my favorite songs of all time - Mayonaise by Smashing Pumpkins - when I came across SongMeanings.net. Not only do they have lyrics for over 200,000 songs, but people can post interpretations, reactions, stories, whatever they feel like, about the song.

My brother just told me one of the saddest facts ever. The Guiness Book of World Records has a record for the loudest concert ever (due to screaming) at 140 decibels. The record holder is very, very disappointing.

4/7/05 Best Buy

To steal a line from Bill O'Reilly - The most ridiculous item of the day comes from Mike in Chicago. Read this story about Best Buy.

I'm sure the media will continue to turn a blind eye, but the White Sox have the best record in the American League. Yee Haw!

You talkin' to me?

4/6/05 The Karate Kid

I had a dream the other night that I was The Karate Kid. My dream started at the point where Mr. Miyagi was signing me up for the tournament and he stole the black belt out of the gym bag and handed it to Elizabeth Shue. Who, despite being in my dream, never made out with me. Even my fantasies are disappointing. At this point in my dream I started thinking about how I had never really used my karate in a competitive way... Ever. When I woke up, the whole movie just seemed ridiculous and stupid. How could a kid who has never practiced his skills in his entire life possibly go on to win a tournament?

The only thing I learned today is that you can look up NBA Salaries for the past 3 years on this USA Today site. It's almost amusing to see the Knicks' $94,000,000 sitting in last place in the worst division in basketball.

4/5/05 Google Maps

Google has once again raised the bar. For those who read this blog pretty religiously, you may remember when Google bought a company called Keyhole. Keyhole made map software and you could try it for free for a week or so. I was a big fan of it. Google has added the satellite technology from the software they bought and have incorporated it into their maps. Check it out before the government figures out what we're up to and takes it offline.

On a more personal note, I'm bummed about the Illini. The boys played their hearts out in the 2nd half and really came up 1 shot short of taking a 73-72 lead. That's quite an amazing comeback from a 40-27 halftime deficit. I also had a realization in the middle of the night. When I think about "my teams", there are really only four. The White Sox, the Bulls, the Bears, and the Illini. Those are the only four teams I feel some sort of positive emotional connection to. In my lifetime, before yesterday, "my teams" had been to 7 championship games. The Bulls were in 6 and the Bears were in 1. They won all 7. Yesterday was the first time in my life that one of "my teams" lost in a championship game. It sucks.

WHOA - Nachos can now lower your cholesterol!

4/4/05 Dirty Sanchez

Major League Baseball has busted its first player for using steroids. Alex Sanchez, one of the worst players on one of the worst teams has been caught. They may need to think about putting an asterisk next to his 4 career homeruns.

Additionally, 38 minor leaguers were suspended for using steroids. Of the 38, seven are in the Cubs' system. Not everyone can be the next Sammy Sosa.

4/3/05 Jacked Up

My computer has been all jacked up and therefore my posts have been few and far between lately.

So for the NCAA championship game I present The Final Game by the Numbers.

Go Illini!

4/2/05 Kool Aid

Everything you ever wanted to know about Kool Aid. And more. Much more.

Overclocking - It ain't just for computers anymore.

A man, a plan, a 17,259 word palindrome.

Taco Bell is getting creative? They now have sayings on their condiment packets.

I may have posted this before, but it still rules - Foosball Champs.

4/1/05 Cab Finder

Google now offers a way to find cabs in some major US Cities. Milwaukee too.