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December 28, 2003

Mallomars

If you have never experienced the sweet, holy, pure goodness that is the Mallomar, you have not yet lived.

The thing is, if you live outside the great city of New York, chances are, you don't even know what I'm talking about. This Nabisco product proudly proclaims on the back of the new packging, that more than 70% of Mallomars sales are generated in the shadow of the Big Apple.

Apparently, New Yorkers conspired with Nabisco to do everything possible to keep this precious secret from the rest of the country and the world. It doesn't even show up on Nabisco's designed-for-a-three-year-old's-attention-span website. It is indeed quite rare to find a box outside of Gotham. And out of the country... fuggedaboutit. I tried in vain to find them in Shanghai last year, and the closest I got was the Orion Pie. But it's just not even close.

The world should know the goodness of this treat.

PGP Signed Entry

December 24, 2003

New Pix

In the theme of winter, I thought I'd put up some thoughts of cold...

  1. Dusk on the Wenatchee, Western Washington, USA, November 2003
  2. Castle at Dawn, Aosta, Italy, January 2003
  3. Mount Fuji in the Clouds, Japan, December 2002
  4. Snowshoeing in the Alps, Aosta, Italy, January 2003

PGP Signed Entry

You've been Favred

I've been a Chicago Bears fan my whole life. So it's been with some disdain that I have watched the meteoric career of Brett Favre over the past decade or so. Every time the Packers meet the Bears, I wish he'd call in sick or something. He's the kind of player that you want to hate, but you can't, because he commands respect. In that way, he's in a class with players like Walter Payton.

Yesterday night's performance was just another example of the consummate professionalism of this man. Passing for 399 yards and 4 TDs just a day after losing his father suddenly is an amazing performance, but it's more than the way he played on the field. You'd better believe that if you were a Packer in that locker room before the game, you swore to yourself that you'd give it everything that night. That's the difference one man can make to his team... a truly great player never does it alone, and Brett Favre has the respect and admiration of not only fans, but coaches and players. He inspires others to be better than they thought they could be.

Brett Favre, I may still jeer at your when the Packers play the Bears, but you've earned my respect. Peace.

PGP Signed Entry

December 21, 2003

Dean/Gore '04

What would be so wrong about a Dean/Gore ticket in 2004?

Al Gore was, and is, a great pragmatist. He has years of experirence in Washington, and would be the perfect bridge-builder to bring Howard Dean's vision together with the mechanics of Washington and international politics.

The question is, will a man so battle-weary and arguably wronged be able to overcome and rise to the occasion if and when asked to serve again?

At the very least, as vince put it, he would make a good secretary of state.

The whole point, though, is that we've wasted the many and wonderful talents of this man for the past four years. It was an understandable break... wouldn't you have wanted to remove yourself from politics after enduring that firestorm? But now is the time to bring Al Gore back into politics, and in a big way.

I voted for him in 2000. On a ticket with Dean, I'd vote for him again today.

PGP Signed Entry

December 19, 2003

No, You don't get it! Got it?

Recently, the Dean campaign has been taking on a lot of heat, from all angles within the establishment. He is taking heat from Bush, he is taking heat from fellow Democrats, and he is taking heat from the corporate interests. It's heating up around here because the slow behemoth that is your government and the shadowy interests behind those in power have finally come to the realization that Howard Dean is the greatest threat they have ever faced.

The reason he has become such a great threat is not because of one man, or one set of positions, but rather because through Howard Dean's campaign speaks the voice of the people. He represents the democracy as it was meant to be before the establishment perverted it with the ways and means to control it outside the auspices of the people which it is meant to serve.

Since the beginning, the establishment has been acting to consolidate its power. The electoral college is certainly the most relevant example of this. Rather than trust the will of the people, the founding fathers (read: Establishment) decided that they needed a safeguard to make sure that they could override the will of the people in certain cases. In 2000, this came to pass.

Then, the people did not have a conduit through which they could constructively channel their disatisfaction. And this was, again, the way the establishment wanted it. But finally, technology is catching up to the will of the people. Howard Dean energized the country into action through the actions of individuals like you and me, starting a decentralization revolution in the process.

The establishment fears him. Because he speaks with your voice, and mine. We will take our country back, one blog entry, one meetup, one caucus, one primary at a time.

PGP Signed Entry

December 17, 2003

100 Years of Flight

A century ago, the human beings took the last trepidacious steps before leaving the surly bonds of earth and discovering the magic of flight.

Within twenty years, the delivery of mail and the face of warfare were changed forever by the application of this discovery. Twenty years after that, another war saw the advantages of flight changing the face of naval warfare. And soon after that war, the public began taking to the skies with greater frequency, launching the air travel industry.

About twenty years later, the jet engine changed the nature of flight itself, bringing it to more people and inspiring ambitious plans for the conquest of outer space.

And still twenty years after that, stealth technology again changed the rules of war.

Today, there are still innovations to come in flight. There is exciting talk about pilotless airplanes, hypersonic transports, and ever more efficient designs.

Thank you, to all the engineers and dreamers who looked, and are looking, beyond the horizon.

PGP Signed Entry

December 16, 2003

Snow Bunny

Went skiing with the iPod for the first time at the suggestion of one of my hardcore snowboarding friends. Quite the experience.

I was a bit apprehensive about the idea, because I'm not a particularly accomplished skier, but I figured the thing was protected well enough in the inner layers of my clothing that if I took a spill which might actually damage it, it would be the last thing I'd be worried about damaging.

Let me just say how awesome it is to be carving your way down the mountain while lsitening to your favorite music. It's way better than driving with a good soundtrack. Better than running; in some ways better than just sitting there enjoying the music in the dark with your eyes closed.

I mean, it's totally about just being in your own world. It's almost on the order of achieving a new level of consciousness.

Now one of these days I should pick up snowboarding and then it'll be all over.

PGP Signed Entry

December 10, 2003

Good Day for the Dean Campaign

With Howard Dean's campaign picking up a lot of speed these past few days, I thought now would be a good time to remind Americans to register to vote. With the first primaries and caucuses only weeks away, this is the time to make sure you're able to vote in these very critical stages of the process.

Al Gore gave his nod to Howard Dean yesterday, and that is a huge deal. You've heard it before, but this campaign is about empowering people. To me, it represents a coming of age for the Information Age. People are educating themselves and more so than ever information is available from an unprecedented variety of sources. And this campaign proves that this information can become action. In the naescent stages of this campaign, it was word of mouth and blogs and the power of individuals coming together that gave the Dean campaign momentum. Momentum it is still building, and with information turned into action, we will be able to defeat conglomerates and special interests, no matter how powerful they think they are. Because their power comes from you and me, and we can choose not to give it to them.

Register to Vote Now.

PGP Signed Entry

December 7, 2003

Intersections

If you drive an SUV, minivan, truck, or other "large" vehicle, please be more observant and considerate of drivers of cars with better gas mileage at intersections.

Specifically, if you are making a LEFT turn at an intersection with traffic lights, and the light is RED, please stop BEHIND the line and do not inch forward needlessly. This allows people making right turns to see around the large obstruction that is your vehicle, in order to safely make their turn.

You gain absolutely NOTHING by inching forward and blocking off the view. The light is not going to change any faster, and you are, in fact, creating a hazardous situation for those around you at worst, and at best, a nuisance.

I'll have more tips on driving later, including a little bit of applied game theory. But this one is just plain applied common sense.

PGP Signed Entry