Month: June 2004

Instant Results (valid for 30 days)

I participate occasionally in the Harris e-surveys. A friend of mine who is in the polling business doesn’t think that they are fair polls, because the participants are self-selected, and tend to attract better educated middle to upper-class people who are computer-savvy. That’s probably right, but I suppose that if they need results in a week, and that is the demographic that the client is looking for, I think for what it’s worth, it’s valid.

As for my partipation, I think that if I’m representing 121,494 people (U.S. population estimate of 293,407,909 divided by 2,415 — some random number quoted in one of their poll results that provides results within +/- 2% for the U.S. population), I might at well pick stuff that I like and further the APA cause. For example, I just took a bank survey, the results of which are quoted above. But the kinds of questions asked actually bring up interesting ones. Banks should be more involved in the community and charity. Yes, I actually would be upset if my customer support is outsourced overseas. I actually care if they can communicate in Asian languages even though I barely can. Well, at least I’m glad that they’re asking.

In other instant gratification, I’m munching on furikake, which is Japanese rice seasoning. Apparently the essential ingredients are seaweed strips, dried bonito flakes, and sesame seads. Often, dried fried eggs or dried fish roe are also added. While it’s supposed to be sprinkled over steamed rice, I’ve — for a lack of anything else to eat — have been munching on the furikake as if they were micro-chips. Recommended, although my sodium levels are probably off the charts.

One has to wonder if putting in new stuff in the blog but not actually writing counts as being “obsesed by blogging”.

Two new things:
1. You’re in control of where you are! Just select the correct category on your post, and the “Writing From” indicator in the upper right corner will update automatically!

2. To answer YC’s questions,
writers are on the same level, and so, yes there is nothing really stopping you from doing edits on each other’s writing. Hopefully you’ll exercise restraint.

Post Slug is meant to contain search terms. This was for backward compatability for those migrating from the Movable Type blogging system. You can pretty much leave it alone. FYI, “slug” is a printing term:

slug ( P ) Pronunciation Key (slg)
n.

5. Printing.
1. A strip of type metal, less than type-high and thicker than a lead, used for spacing.
2. A line of cast type in a single strip of metal.
3. A compositor’s type line of identifying marks or instructions, inserted temporarily in copy.

Definition #5 part 3 is the one that we are interested in. Nowadays, a “slug” in newspaper talk is the nickname for that article that would fit on lists and schedules.

Wednesday night – a rerun of the Jay Leno hanging out with the “Friends” post-series finale. Like, this just happened three weeks ago, and they’re already rerunning it? Eh?

A curiously interesting op-ed from NY Times’ William Safire – he’s advocating the end to the U.S. penny, because no one uses it, everyone loses it, and it’s useless. He says it’s only being continued because:

The answer, I think, has to do with zinc, which is what pennies are mostly made of; light copper plating turns them into red cents. The powerful, outsourcing zinc lobby — financed by Canadian mines as well as Alaskan — entices front groups to whip up a frenzy of save-the-penny mail to Congress when coin reform is proposed.

But when the penny is abolished, the nickel will boom. And what is a nickel made of? No, not the metallic element nickel; our 5-cent coin is mainly composed of copper. And where is most of America’s copper mined? Arizona. If Senator John McCain would get off President Bush’s back long enough to serve the economic interests of his Arizona constituents, we’d get some long-overdue coin reform.

What about Lincoln, who has had a century-long run on the penny? He’s still honored on the $5 bill, and will be as long as the dollar sign remains above the 4 on keyboards. If this threatens coin reformers with the loss of Illinois votes, put Abe on the dime and bump F.D.R.

Umm. Okay. Sure, Mr. Safire. Let’s see the penny really come to an end and go the way of the Indian-head coin.

Well, this was an interesting article in the NY Times on Ken Griffey, Jr., getting there as a star baseball player in his hometown team, Cincinnati Reds. One gets a flavor of his lavish lifestyle, frustrations with the slumps and injuries, and enjoyment at coming back (although he says he was never gone – understandably so – but he sort of was gone). Interesting…

All the stories in the news about the race horse Smarty Jones – it’s about to be horsey time in the NY area at Belmont Park on Saturday; will there be a Triple Crown??? Haven’t we had this story last year? Hmm. A Triple Crown remains to be seen.

What is not a rerun? – check out the strange Six Flags ads – Weird, Frail, Bald Old (WFBO) Man; family quibbling over when to spend quality time together; and then, cue the music; and WFBO Man is surprisingly able and energetic, dancing his way to lead everyone to Six Flags (Great Adventure in the East Coast USA). I got curious to figure out the music and went on-line – it’s “We Like to Party” by the Vengaboys. Ah. Knew it was too familiar. As the link above notes:

The surprisingly spry, bald-headed character featured in the television spots travels in a colorful retro style bus bringing his signature music – “We Like to Party” by the Vengaboys – and an irresistible invitation to leave the boredom, stress and pressures of everyday life behind, to families across America. He quickly has Dad dropping the rake, Mom putting down the garden hose, and Junior abandoning the lawn mower in an easy decision to take the short trip to Six Flags and a day filled with sheer enjoyment.

Okay. Yes, the music is great and catchy. But, I just think that WFBO Man looks a little scary. I can’t tell if he is actually WFBO or an actor with pretty good prosthetic make up. Anyway, check out the Six Flags website for the latest commercial. So goes life…

I saw a rainbow today… so did half of Brooklyn. After the miserable rains of the day, the bow arched over the Brooklyn House of Detention, joining Smith Street and Jay Street. You don’t see that happen every day. Pot of gold, anyone?

The weekend was quiet; for the photos of the Sunday wedding featured on today’s banner, look here.

Midnight riding the bus, billy joel playing. Wonder where this message leads.