This was the show's best episode so far. All the Jeff stuff was hilarious, the Missile Command stuff was great, and I also really liked the way they juxtaposed Jeff looking back at his life and Chuck looking ahead.
The only criticism I have is that they got what a kill screen is wrong, as they treated it like a regular video game ending, rather than the game breaking down because of hardware or software limitations.
Also, Tony Hale didn't get too much to do in this episode, so I was happy to see that he'll be back as the new assistant regional manager.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Kookaburra Licorice
Ok, so I've wanted to try Kookaburra Licorice for quite awhile, ever since Mindy Kaling blogged about it over a year ago. Well, with her recently restarting her blog again, I figured that now is a good as time as any to finally try it, what with the economy collapsing and all. So I spent several years' candy budget to get a few tubs of both the strawberry and black licorice from Kookaburra's website. A few days later I got it from UPS.
My first impression of the licorice was not good. The first piece I tried was tough, and it had basically no flavor until you chewed on it for almost 10 seconds, at which point a good strawberry flavor finally revealed itself. I tried a few more pieces and they were the same.
The next night I tried another piece, and it was like a whole new candy. It was not tough at all, and the strawberry flavor was there from the first bite. What happened was that when I first tried the candy the day before it was still cold from sitting in the delivery truck and waiting outside. At room temperature it is much, much better. The flavor reminds me a lot of strawberry gushers, without the gush, obviously, which I haven't eaten in years and years, but still have vivid and fond memories of eating while playing WCW Wrestling for NES.
My first impression of the licorice was not good. The first piece I tried was tough, and it had basically no flavor until you chewed on it for almost 10 seconds, at which point a good strawberry flavor finally revealed itself. I tried a few more pieces and they were the same.
The next night I tried another piece, and it was like a whole new candy. It was not tough at all, and the strawberry flavor was there from the first bite. What happened was that when I first tried the candy the day before it was still cold from sitting in the delivery truck and waiting outside. At room temperature it is much, much better. The flavor reminds me a lot of strawberry gushers, without the gush, obviously, which I haven't eaten in years and years, but still have vivid and fond memories of eating while playing WCW Wrestling for NES.
Bill the bomber is a dud
Electoral-vote.com reports that Rasmussen Reports recently asked questions about William Ayers in their polling, and found that Palin & McCain's guilt by [weak] association strategy against Obama is a miserable failure:
While the unprecedented smear campaign against Obama primarily by Palin and also to some extent McCain should never have occurred in the first place because it's dishonest, dishonorable, and just plain ridiculous, now there's proof that it's bad politics, too.
While McCain recently repudiated a woman at a rally in Minnesota about Obama, saying to her, "No, ma'am, he's a decent family man, a citizen, who I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues," he and Palin have yet to do so to a national audience. Since it doesn't seem likely that they'll do so before election day, it is important that both he, and to an even greater extent Palin, very clearly reject and repudiate the smears they've made. I assume they'll try to pass the blame it on the supporters for connecting the dots of their statements, similar to the way Bush acted sheepish several years ago when he came out and said, "This administration never said that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al Qaeda," despite the numerous insinuations of exactly that that he and others in his administration made in their campaign for war.
Rasmussen Poll on William Ayers
With the McCain campaign talking about 1960s radical William Ayers all the time, Rasmussen ran a poll to see what people think about him. Not surprisingly most people have an unfavorable view of Ayers that cuts across gender, age, ideology, income, race, education, and everything else. Ayers is not going to win the camper-of-the-week award. However, a more interesting question is whether all this talk of Ayers helps or hurts the McCain campaign. Republicans think it helps the campaign by 2 to 1 while Democrats think it hurts McCain's campaign by 8 to 1. Independents thinks it hurts by nearly 2 to 1. In a similar vein, 47% of self-identifying conservatives thinks it helps the campaign vs. 29% think it hurts. Among liberals the numbers are 7% and 79%. Among moderates 20% think it helps and 58% think it hurts. Thus among moderates, talk of Ayers hurts McCain by nearly 3 to 1. There is no correlation with income or education. So why does McCain keep harping on this point? Is it trying to solidify his base and doesn't give a hoot about the independents? The numbers show this is a terrible strategy as it plays to the people who are already going to vote for him but it works badly with the critical independents he desperately needs. Could it be that Steve Schmidt has drunk his own Kool-Aid and really and truly believes that talking about Ayers helps him? Surely he has the same numbers Rasmussen does. Sometimes ideology gets in the way of running an effective campaign.
While the unprecedented smear campaign against Obama primarily by Palin and also to some extent McCain should never have occurred in the first place because it's dishonest, dishonorable, and just plain ridiculous, now there's proof that it's bad politics, too.
While McCain recently repudiated a woman at a rally in Minnesota about Obama, saying to her, "No, ma'am, he's a decent family man, a citizen, who I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues," he and Palin have yet to do so to a national audience. Since it doesn't seem likely that they'll do so before election day, it is important that both he, and to an even greater extent Palin, very clearly reject and repudiate the smears they've made. I assume they'll try to pass the blame it on the supporters for connecting the dots of their statements, similar to the way Bush acted sheepish several years ago when he came out and said, "This administration never said that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al Qaeda," despite the numerous insinuations of exactly that that he and others in his administration made in their campaign for war.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
"A referendum on reality"
On Tuesday John Hodgman's new book More Information Than You Require was released. It's a follow-up (the second in a trilogy) to his hilarious 2005 book The Areas Of My Expertise. Over the last week he's been doing some publicity for the book and so far it's been highly entertaining.
In a fascinating interview posted yesterday at The A.V. Club, he laments that it was Stephen Colbert and not himself who coined the word 'truthiness'. Well, he should feel better since during his recent appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show he perfectly summed up this year's presidential election in 4 words: "A referendum on reality." Video of the interview:
After almost 4 months since his last appearance on The Daily Show as the resident expert, he appeared on the show Monday to promote his book and also deconstruct the guest promoting a book interview. Video:
While this segment was my favorite part of Monday's episode of The Daily Show, the entire episode was stellar. Here's a streaming version of the entire episode.
I got my copy of the book today, but I haven't yet started it. If it's half as entertaining and interesting as the publicity he's doing for it, it will easily be one of the best books of the year.
In a fascinating interview posted yesterday at The A.V. Club, he laments that it was Stephen Colbert and not himself who coined the word 'truthiness'. Well, he should feel better since during his recent appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show he perfectly summed up this year's presidential election in 4 words: "A referendum on reality." Video of the interview:
After almost 4 months since his last appearance on The Daily Show as the resident expert, he appeared on the show Monday to promote his book and also deconstruct the guest promoting a book interview. Video:
While this segment was my favorite part of Monday's episode of The Daily Show, the entire episode was stellar. Here's a streaming version of the entire episode.
I got my copy of the book today, but I haven't yet started it. If it's half as entertaining and interesting as the publicity he's doing for it, it will easily be one of the best books of the year.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Manipulation in prediction market for president
Over the past month irregularities in the InTrade prediction market for president have been reported on by multiple sources. As far as I know it was first written about by Nate Silver on September 24 at FiveThirtyEight.com (if you've never been there before here's fair warning that it's pretty addictive), here:
Intrade Betting is Suspicious by Nate Silver
Well these suspicions have now been confirmed by InTrade CEO John Delaney:
Price Variances on Intrade Political Markets by John Delaney
From the message:
Interesting stuff, but in hindsight not all that surprising. I'm just glad that no one in the media was naive enough to report the manipulated numbers as meaningful.
Oh, wait.
Intrade Betting is Suspicious by Nate Silver
Well these suspicions have now been confirmed by InTrade CEO John Delaney:
Price Variances on Intrade Political Markets by John Delaney
From the message:
The trading that occurred during these times may be summarised as follows...
1. Multiple large volume Buy orders placed and matched rapidly caused the McCain market to move significantly above the previously prevailing market price by up to 10 pts.
2. Multiple large volume Sell orders placed and matched rapidly caused the Obama market to move significantly below the previously prevailing market price by up to 9 pts.
3. The market prices of the contracts then seemed to represent discrepancies between overlapping Intrade markets, and also between Intrade markets and similar markets on other platforms for some time thereafter.
Interesting stuff, but in hindsight not all that surprising. I'm just glad that no one in the media was naive enough to report the manipulated numbers as meaningful.
Oh, wait.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Good and bad emails to start the day
Last Monday my day got off to a pretty good start when I checked my email and got a news alert message from the New York Times that Paul Krugman had won the Nobel Prize in economics. While I'm not that familiar with Krugman's academic economic work, I'm a huge fan of his Times column, to the point that a few years ago I subscribed to the ill-fated Times Select for a year. I rationalized this that with 2 columns a week it was about $0.50 a column, which seemed reasonable, plus the added value of the other columnists and access to the Times archives, which I remember using a lot during my subscription, although I've rarely used it since. One recent column that I particularly enjoyed was this one from a couple weeks ago:
Health Care Destruction by Paul Krugman
Krugman's recent popular book The Conscience of a Liberal is incredibly illuminating about the current political landscape, how we got here over the last 70 years or so, and where we might and should go from here. Definitely one of the better political books I've read. And finally I'd be remiss if I didn't post this hilarious column after Krugman won the Nobel:
Krugman Could Turn into Massive Douchebag, Colleagues Fear by Andy Borowitz
Ok, so that was a good email to start the day. This morning I got a bad one:
God. Damn. It.
Hooverphonic is one of my 5 favorite current bands, and this news is the worst. I have no problem with Arnaert pursuing her solo career, but why couldn't she continue singing for Hooverphonic as well?
Hooverphonic's first album, A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular, which featured singer Liesje Sadonius (I wonder if they've considered bringing her back...), was very good and shows that they can make great music without Arnaert, but every one of Hooverphonic's subsequent 6 albums (5 studio and 1 acoustic) with Arnaert have been better. I'm not at all optimistic that they can find another singer nearly as good as Arnaert, and while I guess a mass email to their fans might turn up some possibilities, although I'm sure they're searching through a variety of ways, it does seem kind of unseemly considering their accomplishments. And the idea of Hooverphonic having a male singer is nothing short of scary.
As far as Arnaert's solo career goes, I don't really know what to expect. She obviously has an amazing voice, but since I can only assume she's leaving Hooverphonic in order to do a different style of music, then who knows. The 2 non-Hooverphonic songs I've heard from her are hit and miss: Strange Lit Star with Ozark Henry is fantastic, but Comin' Back For More with New Cool Collective is unimpressive, because I don't care for the musical style.
Considering how great a match Hooverphonic with Arnaert is, and also Arnaert with Hooverphonic is, unless they've had a big falling out or something, I hope that they'll find a way that Arnaert can do her solo stuff and still be able to sing for Hooverphonic's albums.
---------
I was just getting ready to post this and I got another good email this morning:
Not a total surprise like the other two messages, but welcome news nonetheless.
Health Care Destruction by Paul Krugman
Krugman's recent popular book The Conscience of a Liberal is incredibly illuminating about the current political landscape, how we got here over the last 70 years or so, and where we might and should go from here. Definitely one of the better political books I've read. And finally I'd be remiss if I didn't post this hilarious column after Krugman won the Nobel:
Krugman Could Turn into Massive Douchebag, Colleagues Fear by Andy Borowitz
Ok, so that was a good email to start the day. This morning I got a bad one:
Hooverphonic newsletter
Hooverphonic is sad to announce you that Geike will leave the band by the end of 2008.
Alex and Raymond will definitely go on with Hooverphonic!
They are therefore looking for a new singer (male or female).
If you're interested, please send us your updated CV, as well as an MP3 and a recent picture of yourself
Candidates do not necessarily have to come from Belgium, we are open to cross-border collaborations.
God. Damn. It.
Hooverphonic is one of my 5 favorite current bands, and this news is the worst. I have no problem with Arnaert pursuing her solo career, but why couldn't she continue singing for Hooverphonic as well?
Hooverphonic's first album, A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular, which featured singer Liesje Sadonius (I wonder if they've considered bringing her back...), was very good and shows that they can make great music without Arnaert, but every one of Hooverphonic's subsequent 6 albums (5 studio and 1 acoustic) with Arnaert have been better. I'm not at all optimistic that they can find another singer nearly as good as Arnaert, and while I guess a mass email to their fans might turn up some possibilities, although I'm sure they're searching through a variety of ways, it does seem kind of unseemly considering their accomplishments. And the idea of Hooverphonic having a male singer is nothing short of scary.
As far as Arnaert's solo career goes, I don't really know what to expect. She obviously has an amazing voice, but since I can only assume she's leaving Hooverphonic in order to do a different style of music, then who knows. The 2 non-Hooverphonic songs I've heard from her are hit and miss: Strange Lit Star with Ozark Henry is fantastic, but Comin' Back For More with New Cool Collective is unimpressive, because I don't care for the musical style.
Considering how great a match Hooverphonic with Arnaert is, and also Arnaert with Hooverphonic is, unless they've had a big falling out or something, I hope that they'll find a way that Arnaert can do her solo stuff and still be able to sing for Hooverphonic's albums.
---------
I was just getting ready to post this and I got another good email this morning:
Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Sunday, October 19, 2008 -- 9:25 AM ET
-----
Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell Endorses Obama
In an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, former
Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Senator Barack Obama
for president.
Not a total surprise like the other two messages, but welcome news nonetheless.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
The Craziest Thing
The other day I posted that even though it's been 6 months since the last update, I'd keep my subscription to the Things I've Bought That I Love blog in case Mindy Kaling decides to ever update it again. Well, today I deleted the subscription. Why? Because the blog is back is now at a new address - ThingsIBoughtThatILove.com, and it also has a new update.
The first new post is awesome, even though like usual I'm not interested in the product written about, which is some hand soap. She mentions not liking Listerine as a kid, but her parents made her rinse with it. Whenever I rinse with Listerine I always mix it half and half with water. At half strength it's barely irritating at all, so you can easily rinse for a minute. I would think that's about as good as rinsing at full strength for 30 seconds, but I don't know. At least it doesn't turn your teeth brown.
The first new post is awesome, even though like usual I'm not interested in the product written about, which is some hand soap. She mentions not liking Listerine as a kid, but her parents made her rinse with it. Whenever I rinse with Listerine I always mix it half and half with water. At half strength it's barely irritating at all, so you can easily rinse for a minute. I would think that's about as good as rinsing at full strength for 30 seconds, but I don't know. At least it doesn't turn your teeth brown.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Blogs & Stuff
It's now been 6 months since the last update to Mindy Kaling's Things I've Bought That I Love blog. It used to be updated pretty regularly, but not anymore. Over the whole time I read the blog, I think there was only 1 thing she ever blogged about that I was actually interested in, Kookaburra Licorice. That was over a year ago and I still haven't gotten around to trying it yet. But even though I was rarely interested in the things she was writing about, her writing was always very entertaining and made things I wouldn't normally be interested in at all interested enough to read about. But I'm leaving my Google Reader subscription in case she ever decides to start it up again.
Speaking of Google Reader, the other day I unsubscribed from MetaFilter & Penny Arcade. MetaFilter has probably 20 new items a day and I only found probably 1 item a week interesting enough to click on. I think I might enjoy Penny Arcade if I was more into video games, but I'm not.
Back to Things I've Bought That I Love, I got an idea for a kind of copycat blog that I could start that wouldn't be nearly as interesting or well written (somewhere around 1/∞ for both):
Food I've Bought That I Hate But Eat Anyway Since I Don't Want It To Go To Waste
A few possible blog topics:
1. Town House Light Buttery Crackers - Wheat
2. Santitas white corn tortilla chips (or for that matter probably just about any other brand of tortilla chip, white or yellow corn)
3. Sunflower seeds
4. Wild Oats vanilla creme sandwich cookies (Normally these are pretty good, but not during the time period when Wild Oats was eliminating trans fats from all their foods, and I got a couple packages with some experimental replacement that had gone rancid before I had even opened the package, although at the time I didn't know that's why they were so awful, and I ate half the package before figuring it out.)
Fascinating, right? Actually, I have a hard time imagining a sincere blog that's more unappealing. Well, except this one.
Speaking of Google Reader, the other day I unsubscribed from MetaFilter & Penny Arcade. MetaFilter has probably 20 new items a day and I only found probably 1 item a week interesting enough to click on. I think I might enjoy Penny Arcade if I was more into video games, but I'm not.
Back to Things I've Bought That I Love, I got an idea for a kind of copycat blog that I could start that wouldn't be nearly as interesting or well written (somewhere around 1/∞ for both):
Food I've Bought That I Hate But Eat Anyway Since I Don't Want It To Go To Waste
A few possible blog topics:
1. Town House Light Buttery Crackers - Wheat
2. Santitas white corn tortilla chips (or for that matter probably just about any other brand of tortilla chip, white or yellow corn)
3. Sunflower seeds
4. Wild Oats vanilla creme sandwich cookies (Normally these are pretty good, but not during the time period when Wild Oats was eliminating trans fats from all their foods, and I got a couple packages with some experimental replacement that had gone rancid before I had even opened the package, although at the time I didn't know that's why they were so awful, and I ate half the package before figuring it out.)
Fascinating, right? Actually, I have a hard time imagining a sincere blog that's more unappealing. Well, except this one.
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