So one of K’s new-favorite-shows is Science/Discovery’s How It’s Made, which consists of 5-15 minute mini-documentaries of (surprisingly enough) how various items are manufactured, wrapped, etc.
I also have to recommend a slightly more upscale stuff-related documentary, “Objectified.” Check out the trailer here.
We re-learned two things today: first, that the NFL really doesn’t care about its players once they stop playing. Health benefits, pensions, long-term conditions, no matter – once the guy hangs up his helmet the No Fun League wants him to disappear into the ether/not get in trouble/not make the league look bad. I’ll stop now because this could be a whole series of posts.
Secondly, concussions are bad; even one can cook your brain significantly. When Tom McHale died at age 45, the Cornell grad was posthumously identified to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy – and yes that’s the same Encephalopathy that makes up the E in BSE/”Mad Cow Disease”.
I used to think that it was pretty silly that kids playing soccer are often required to wear head-padding very similar to what rugby players wear. Presumably soccer players are less likely to have their ears torn off, but given the negative effects of repeated heading of the ball (proven all over the place, I’m too lazy to look up a link right now), it’s probably not a bad idea.
More generally, humans were really only ’supposed’ to live until ~age 30, and now that we are doubling and tripling that we run into all sorts of maintenance errors – Alzheimer’s, cancer, etc. That’s probably stating the issue a little too simplistically, but still, today’s news is an important reminder: you wouldn’t go around sniffing asbestos, and you shouldn’t run around taking liberties with your neurons.
So, perhaps unsurprisingly, with only two+ weeks to go, the Digital switch-date has been pushed back until Jun 12th. Rants and insults are solicited… just click the little “comment” button below.
It’s almost a shame that I don’t use Verizon. Apparently, AT&T is rolling out something similar in the coming months though too.
So, what is this gadget? It’s not an amplifier or a rebroadcast system. It’s actually a miniature cell tower that sits on your shelf and uses your broadband connection to form a small low-power cell network. So, once people get them and figure out how to hack them, it means you could create your own cell service for your house.
Brett Michaels is a man-whore. That’s not to say that there aren’t people who like his music or that I don’t watch his reality TV show, but we have to call a spade a spade.
The quick recap from Rock of Love I and II is that, in the end, the skanky strippers got sorted from the ONE reasonable person in each season and the right person won. Jess was smart and smoking hot, which was probably the reason why she said “no thanks” right after she won. Ditto for Ambre, although she didn’t catch on to Brett’s doucheness until a little bit later.
Fast forward to the third season where, rather than putting the skanky strippers in a McMansion, they’re on tour busses following Brett around on his tour of small clubs. I mean really, why pretend, he’s looking for someone to bang on tour… he should test out the girls in their native environment. When one of the requirements for contestants are DD (at a minimum) implants, it’s pretty clear what you’re going to get.
The highlight of the first episode? It was when two of the girls thought they really needed to impress Brett. Everyone was drinking and it’s apparently very hip to do your shots out of test tubes. (Actually, I’m guessing that plastic test tubes are amazingly cheap and allow for easy portion control.) So, drunk girls with no underwear + a serious need to impress + no sexual qualms + alcohol in test tubes = insert tube in slot A and consume.
Wow.
Happy Chinese New Year! In lunar calendar, spring festival is to celebrate the beginning of spring. I hope spring is really coming, this winter is just too cold…..
Also a clip from China’s annual celebration live show. When I was very young, I liked this show very very much. Watching the show together with my family on lunar new year eve is one of the best memories of my childhood. My father used to record it for me and I would watch it over and over again till the next new year. Anyways, this year’s show is not bad, I especially like the way they used the big big screen.
It seems I can’t embed any video, so here’s the link for the clip.
City Variation.
I’m really curious about how Amazon actually choses to ship things. I placed an order for some big items on Sunday and got an email this morning saying that the largest and heaviest object would be arriving tomorrow thanks to FedEx. Now, this wouldn’t be surprising if I’d paid for overnight shipping, but I’d actually selected the free shipping option.
Datapoint two is a book that Kirsten ordered this summer. She was out in the front yard when a guy in a crappy Chevy Malibu pulled up, hopped out, and just handed her a small package with the book. The label on it said something like “Amazon Courier Service”.
So the question is, how many different shipping options does Amazon actually have and how exactly do they go about optimizing which orders get shipped which way? It is purely a price distinction? Or do they also figure in paperwork/warehouse employee time/any manner of other things?
