The Dictator

Not sure how many people saw “the Dictator” dump an urn on Ryan Seacrest the other night at the Academy Awards but I noticed  a few things.

 

One: I thought it was hilarious. The absurdity of asking 100 pompous people who they are wearing being interrupted in such a manner was hilarious. Ryan was good on his feet and as testimonial of his power in the city there were almost no such new stories reporting anything about it.   

 

I bet next year there will be a delay and we will miss some goodie.

 

I wonder how much of  a delay you can have and still call something Live? 

All Things Equal?

It seems like a lot of the rhetoric surrounding the coming election has to do with making things equal or relative and part of me actually shivers at the thought. The truth is some lifestyles are more successful than others. A person who workout everyday, avoids alcohol and saves more then they spend is going to be more successful then someone who doesn’t. That is truth at least if you measure success by being healthy and financially sound.

 

I have a problem with using legislative measures to set lifestyles to equal. It creates a disincentive for getting healthy or being financially prudent more over it usually comes at the expense of the people who have chosen wisely from the beginning. Now I understand some people have obstacles to being able to choice correctly but looking at the world from our point of view today how can it make sense to legislate equality?

Public Opinion

Quote of the day a few days ago..

"One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways." -- Bertrand Russell 

Perspectives in the Land of Cheese

Listening to Andrew Zimmerman on MPR. He had an interesting perspective on what is normal.  After taking some calls about all the “interesting” things he has eaten and how different other cultures are he said, “In Africa they wonder why we let perfectly good milk rot and then cut it into little blocks and eat it.”

 

Maybe it is because cheese is such a way of life here but I never thought of the consumption of it from that perspective before and it was kind of interesting. 

Crazy Warm Weather and Missing NHL Players

Crazy Warm Weather and Missing NHL Players The last few days have been downright beautiful in Minneapolis. Although besides the obvious victims of this year’s winter ski hills, snow plowers, snow mobile sale folks etc.

 However walking past the open water on lakes and the empty hockey rinks I can’t help but wonder if this winter didn’t also claim the life fulfillment of at least a few potential hockey players.

There is a rule of thumb that if you want to be great at something you need to put in 10,000 hours practicing that something. What if this winter and closing of hockey rinks and outdoor play causes a play to miss just enough ice time to not be good enough for the NHL?

 A random event unknowing shaping the potential of the future passes unnoticed. But I guess they all do don’t they..

Habits

Looking down at my expanding mid section I realized there is more truth to the adage, "We form our habits and then our habits form us." then I thought.

Hunger Games

Ok I ripped through this series and I was going to type some long post justifying why I enjoyed them so much. Something filled with gauging popular cultures tastes and some other overly intellectual bs but the truth is I just like it. It was a good series. Being good is good enough doesn't have to be some bigger reason. That said I wish the ending was a little less fairy tale'ish but I guess it is a kids book after all.

Voter I'd Cards

I must be missing something here. We require Id to buy smokes, enter bars, buy lottery tickets or beer. I mean you have to show your Id for tons of age restricted items. Why would voting be any different? This just seems like such a silly thing to fight over, I must be missing something?

Modern Wedding Symbolism

Place this ring on her finger as a sign of a penis going into a vagina.

Tattoo Printer

Why couldn’t you build a tattoo printer? One that worked just like a laser printer with a needle? You stick your arm in a sleeve and 10 minutes later you have a sleeve. Seems like if we can build a printer that can create organs we should be able to do tattoos?

Happy Childhood

"A happy childhood is the worst possible preparation for life" - Kinky Friedman

You Should Pay Me

“Sorry if you put your advertising on me you have to pay me, not the other way around.” I have never really put much thought to this one before but it is pretty true. If a company wanted you to wear their logo as a temporary tattoo on your forehead you would expect them to pay you for using you as a vehicle for advertising their product. Yet for some reason when it comes to clothes we pay a premium to be able to turn ourselves into a walking billboard for a company. Strange…

Ratio of What

I wonder what ratio you would come up with if you took the number of people who signed up for military service and divided it by the number of people who tried out for a reality show? I wonder what that ratio would tell you if you monitored it over time or what it would actually say about the America. My assumption in posing this question is that the target audience of military service and reality show (American Idol, X Factor, Real World etc...) is probably about the same age group?

New App #25321 – Motion Pass through Window

We have all done this, you now see it daily. People walking and checking emails at the same time. What if we designed an app that used the camera of the phone to project a small window in the top right of your screen so you would not have to look up when you are walking? You would need make the camera “right side itself” so it is always projecting an image of what is in front of you regardless of the camera. The red box below would be the viewfinder of camera. You would never have to look up again.

Can one be prudent in the age of Facebook?

A prudent man, remembering that life is short, examines his friendships critically now and then. A few he retains, but the majority he tries to forget. - H. L. Mencken Interesting quote in a era when collecting friends seems to be a part time job.

Kindle and Book Signings

I was going through my book case recently and noticed a few books that I have had autographed over the years. I couldn’t help but wonder what will happen to the book signing when most copies are digital? Does the autograph market guarantee that a certain amount of books will always be print? Does a stylus tracing over an Ipad have the same market value as a signature? Same emotion appeal? Pondering the future of a signature in general. Does a digital signature make you less emotionally committed to a contract?