Tretakoff Musings
Friday, April 25, 2008
Charge Your iPhone, Wirelessly
I've been waiting for this one for a while: WildCharge has finally released their pad-based charging system for small electronics: simply lay your device on the pad, and, courtesy of a special case, it immediately starts charging. No wires, no cords: Nada. and, of course, the next device it will work with? Yep, you guessed it: the iPhone.
The $100 or so it costs ($60 for the pad; $35 for the case) is a bit steep, but I have to think it will come down. And, of course...how cool is this?!??!? For more, check out WildCharge.
I've been waiting for this one for a while: WildCharge has finally released their pad-based charging system for small electronics: simply lay your device on the pad, and, courtesy of a special case, it immediately starts charging. No wires, no cords: Nada. and, of course, the next device it will work with? Yep, you guessed it: the iPhone.The $100 or so it costs ($60 for the pad; $35 for the case) is a bit steep, but I have to think it will come down. And, of course...how cool is this?!??!? For more, check out WildCharge.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Frakking Bastards
Comcast adding SciFi to their HD lineup: good. Ability to watch the last season of Battlestar Galactica in HD: great. Comcast compressing the HD signal to the point of my DVR acting like it's had too much caffeine in trying to keep up with the compressed signal: Bad. Comcast once again admitting that they throttle bandwidth, but refusing to tell anyone why or under what standards they apply it to: Horrific.
You'd think they would learn, as they are facing $100 million in fines from the FCC on their broadband throttling. But messing with people's HDTV? I can see a big boost for Verizon, AT&T, and DirecTV...
Comcast adding SciFi to their HD lineup: good. Ability to watch the last season of Battlestar Galactica in HD: great. Comcast compressing the HD signal to the point of my DVR acting like it's had too much caffeine in trying to keep up with the compressed signal: Bad. Comcast once again admitting that they throttle bandwidth, but refusing to tell anyone why or under what standards they apply it to: Horrific.You'd think they would learn, as they are facing $100 million in fines from the FCC on their broadband throttling. But messing with people's HDTV? I can see a big boost for Verizon, AT&T, and DirecTV...
Sunday, April 20, 2008
In Praise Of Hulu
I'm usually one of the first people to simply roll my eyes at the efforts of traditional broadcast media companies to adapt to the new paradigms of online penetration. Witness the debacle of various networks as they hemmed and hawed about putting their shows on iTunes, only to pull them off over perceived pricing disputes. Or watching movie studios and television networks turn on their ardent consumers who would gladly pay to watch their content on alternate devices (iPods, laptops, etc.) by suing them. I have been patently disgusted with the 19th century approaches most have taken in the past, so months ago when I read that NBC and Fox were planning to respond to the constant "piracy" of having their shows show up on YouTube by building an online site dedicated to video streaming, I snorted in derision, and passed it off as another lame attempt to convince less knowledgeable viewers that they truly were "cutting edge."
Ok, I can admit it: I was dead wrong.
Hulu.com is the result of this effort, and I have to say after a couple of months of use, I am absolutely floored. Let's start with the basics: it not only offers all of the current episodes of the major TV shows from both networks, but is stocked with classic series, to boot. Miss Studio 60? Got 'em. Hankering for a little 1980's TV? Check out Airwolf and the A-Team. How about catching up on those series that everyone's been talking about, but you missed the start of, so you don't want to come in halfway? Say hello to Heroes and Battlestar Galactica. I mean, the list goes on and on. And it doesn't stop with TV: movies, movies, movies. The Usual Suspects, Dude, Where's My Car...impressive selection.
The streaming is flawless. I don't know how they do it, but it starts playing instantly, and none of the dreaded buffering that plagues YouTube. The interface is elegant, simple and functional: from the concept of "lowering the lights" to darken everything else on the page, to perfect positioning. And the full screen is amazing. Hear me out: most sites, when they stream video, you go full screen, and you might as well be looking at a Roy Lichtenstein painting, with pixels the size of baseballs. Hulu somehow gets it at even better than broadcast quality.
Let's talk ads. Obviously, this has got to be paid for, right? So Hulu inserts ads at logical points of the stream. On TV shows, when the commercial break happens; movies, at scene transitions. The ads are usually what drives me away from streaming, but here, they are extremely well done: not more than 30 seconds, with a counter indicating when the ad will be over. And the ads are actually good: non-intrusive, rich in quality. I can say I have watched more ads on Hulu in the last 2 months than I have watched on TV in the last 2 years (my DVR lets me skip them all). Even better, Hulu is experimenting on ads: on some shows, they will start by giving you an option to watch the show with the inserted ads, or choose to watch a 2 minute movie preview to start, eliminating all ads. It's your choice. Very cool.
Now, why would you use this? First, most TV's being sold now are flatscreens: LCD or Plasma. They are, essentially, big computer monitors that you can plug your desktop or laptop in. In our kitchen, we got a flascreen. Comcast came out, couldn't figure out how to get the TV wired up on the wall we have it without draping wires all over the kitchen. Instead, I opted to pick up a small HP Windows Media Center desktop, popped in a WiFi adaptor, and voila. At first, I was watching shows I had downloaded (ahem), but quickly realized what a pain that was. I added a SlingBox to watch our cable/DVR in the kitchen, and while it works well, it has some occasional connectivity issues. I'd tried streaming some video from ABC.com and Fox, but the quality was not there, and their "players" were buggy. Hulu was a hail Mary, and it paid off like a perfect Doug Flutie pass.
They've added a number of new features since exiting beta, such as favorite subscriptions, and a community function, but the core is still as good as ever. The major complaint about Hulu has been the scattershot depth of content. For instance, we just started watching Hell's Kitchen on Hulu, but they only have episodes from this season, not the previous 3. They claim to be importing new content as fast as they can, and they have already sold out of online ad inventory from their advertisers, so I'm prepared to say it looks like a bright Hulu future.
Ok, I can admit it: I was dead wrong.
Hulu.com is the result of this effort, and I have to say after a couple of months of use, I am absolutely floored. Let's start with the basics: it not only offers all of the current episodes of the major TV shows from both networks, but is stocked with classic series, to boot. Miss Studio 60? Got 'em. Hankering for a little 1980's TV? Check out Airwolf and the A-Team. How about catching up on those series that everyone's been talking about, but you missed the start of, so you don't want to come in halfway? Say hello to Heroes and Battlestar Galactica. I mean, the list goes on and on. And it doesn't stop with TV: movies, movies, movies. The Usual Suspects, Dude, Where's My Car...impressive selection. The streaming is flawless. I don't know how they do it, but it starts playing instantly, and none of the dreaded buffering that plagues YouTube. The interface is elegant, simple and functional: from the concept of "lowering the lights" to darken everything else on the page, to perfect positioning. And the full screen is amazing. Hear me out: most sites, when they stream video, you go full screen, and you might as well be looking at a Roy Lichtenstein painting, with pixels the size of baseballs. Hulu somehow gets it at even better than broadcast quality.
Let's talk ads. Obviously, this has got to be paid for, right? So Hulu inserts ads at logical points of the stream. On TV shows, when the commercial break happens; movies, at scene transitions. The ads are usually what drives me away from streaming, but here, they are extremely well done: not more than 30 seconds, with a counter indicating when the ad will be over. And the ads are actually good: non-intrusive, rich in quality. I can say I have watched more ads on Hulu in the last 2 months than I have watched on TV in the last 2 years (my DVR lets me skip them all). Even better, Hulu is experimenting on ads: on some shows, they will start by giving you an option to watch the show with the inserted ads, or choose to watch a 2 minute movie preview to start, eliminating all ads. It's your choice. Very cool.
Now, why would you use this? First, most TV's being sold now are flatscreens: LCD or Plasma. They are, essentially, big computer monitors that you can plug your desktop or laptop in. In our kitchen, we got a flascreen. Comcast came out, couldn't figure out how to get the TV wired up on the wall we have it without draping wires all over the kitchen. Instead, I opted to pick up a small HP Windows Media Center desktop, popped in a WiFi adaptor, and voila. At first, I was watching shows I had downloaded (ahem), but quickly realized what a pain that was. I added a SlingBox to watch our cable/DVR in the kitchen, and while it works well, it has some occasional connectivity issues. I'd tried streaming some video from ABC.com and Fox, but the quality was not there, and their "players" were buggy. Hulu was a hail Mary, and it paid off like a perfect Doug Flutie pass.
They've added a number of new features since exiting beta, such as favorite subscriptions, and a community function, but the core is still as good as ever. The major complaint about Hulu has been the scattershot depth of content. For instance, we just started watching Hell's Kitchen on Hulu, but they only have episodes from this season, not the previous 3. They claim to be importing new content as fast as they can, and they have already sold out of online ad inventory from their advertisers, so I'm prepared to say it looks like a bright Hulu future.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Jailbroken...and Happy
I have a confession to make: I am now officially a fugitive. Last weekend, after a cross-country trip, I vowed to Jailbreak my iPhone. Not familiar with the term? It refers to a process that unlocks your iPhone so you can install programs on it, extending the functionality. Now, Apple is already moving this way with the release of the SDK, and I will be very happy to reap the benefits, but I'm a tinkerer at heart. My PC's always have custom skins, I have hacks and shortcuts in my browsers, and more. That, combined with the need to have local games (not a lot of WiFi at 30,000 ft.), sent me on a collision course with Steve & Co.
First, how do you Jailbreak an iPhone? It's surprisingly simple. First, I downloaded ZiPhone, a Windows application that made it as simple as double clicking. A couple of iPhone restarts, and I was free as a bird. The unusual part of Jailbreaking is how you get the applications after you've Jailbroken: you can really only download them with a new program on your iPhone, called Installer. It allows you to browse the applications out there, even see previews, and then download and install right from your iPhone. You can multiple sources to browse, but the ones it comes with are pretty comprehensive. Ok, so what's now on my iPhone?
- Twinkle. It's a Twitter client for the iPhone. "A Twitter client?" You say? "Why would you need that, when you can just use Twitter's spiffy iPhone online interface, or just use SMS?" All true. But Twinkle does a couple of nice things. First, it uses the iPhone's Locate Me functionality to determine where you area, and tags your Tweets with your location. You can also see people who are tweeting nearby. This was really fun when waiting for the ferry this week, and seeing tweets from other Twinklers expressing the same frustrations. Also, Twinkle allows you to upload a photo with your tweet; of course, only other Twinklers can see them, but still, there's hope for the future.
- Fring. What's the iPhone painfully missing, besides an installed version of eWallet? An IM client. Well, Fring claims to be that, and to be fair, it is. It does AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Google Talk, Skype, ICQ, Twitter...the list goes on. And, it also supposedly handles VOIP calls through SIP or Skype; I haven't tried it. The interface is OK, there's definitely a lag on sending and receiving, but it's free and it works. However, I've actually disabled most of this now, for one major reason: there is no way to control the volume of the notification when a new message comes in. As a result, when I'm riding the bike, listening to a podcast, suddenly there is a sharpened steel spike being shoved through my eardrum as Fring helpfully tells me that a new message is here. Of course, I can't read it, as I have crashed on the side of the road, gripping my skull in agony, convulsing...but hey, minor details. ;-) I do keep it on the iPhone for emergencies, though; you never know when you might need to IM.
- OK, let's talk about the best one: Genesis4iphone. Yep, travel back to the late 80's/early '90's with a perfect emulator of the classic Sega Genesis videogame system, right on your iPhone. With helpful links to ROM's, you have the entire catalog of games available. Installing them to the iPhone is not so easy; you need to download what is essentially an FTP client for your computer to install them; this video walked me through every step of it, while this video walks you through installing the games. Now, I have such classics as Lakers Vs. Bulls, Sonic the Hedgehog, Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, and both X-Men games at my fingertips, with hundreds more available. Oh, I bet you're worried about memory, right? Don't: the games are usually less than 500K, so you could install them all and still have days of music and video.
- I love skins, and even though the iPhone UI is probably the best ever, I can't resist making it better. Summerboard lets me load in custom skins, like the Time Machine one on the left (it's the one I have running right now). There are tons more, ranging from the typical "make your iPhone look like Windows" variety, to the truly sublime, like this one.
- Wouldn't you love to manage your Netflix queue with an iPhone interface? Drag movies up, shift them around, etc? iFlix has your back, and makes queue management cool.
- Volume Boost 1.1.4 lets me finally make my iPhone a little louder at the top end. When you are bombing down a hill at 40 mph on the bike, and the wind is roaring, sometimes you need a little boost to hear those Buzz Out Loud folks.
Of course, there's far more, but I can honestly say that, while I'm happy to have Jailbroken my iPhone, I expected more. Here's a note to Apple: all you would have needed to give me was an eWallet interface, a shopping list application, and games, and I probably would have stayed a happy prisoner. As it is, I'm footloose and fancy free, and browsing my Installer to see what's next.
I have a confession to make: I am now officially a fugitive. Last weekend, after a cross-country trip, I vowed to Jailbreak my iPhone. Not familiar with the term? It refers to a process that unlocks your iPhone so you can install programs on it, extending the functionality. Now, Apple is already moving this way with the release of the SDK, and I will be very happy to reap the benefits, but I'm a tinkerer at heart. My PC's always have custom skins, I have hacks and shortcuts in my browsers, and more. That, combined with the need to have local games (not a lot of WiFi at 30,000 ft.), sent me on a collision course with Steve & Co.First, how do you Jailbreak an iPhone? It's surprisingly simple. First, I downloaded ZiPhone, a Windows application that made it as simple as double clicking. A couple of iPhone restarts, and I was free as a bird. The unusual part of Jailbreaking is how you get the applications after you've Jailbroken: you can really only download them with a new program on your iPhone, called Installer. It allows you to browse the applications out there, even see previews, and then download and install right from your iPhone. You can multiple sources to browse, but the ones it comes with are pretty comprehensive. Ok, so what's now on my iPhone?
- Twinkle. It's a Twitter client for the iPhone. "A Twitter client?" You say? "Why would you need that, when you can just use Twitter's spiffy iPhone online interface, or just use SMS?" All true. But Twinkle does a couple of nice things. First, it uses the iPhone's Locate Me functionality to determine where you area, and tags your Tweets with your location. You can also see people who are tweeting nearby. This was really fun when waiting for the ferry this week, and seeing tweets from other Twinklers expressing the same frustrations. Also, Twinkle allows you to upload a photo with your tweet; of course, only other Twinklers can see them, but still, there's hope for the future.- Fring. What's the iPhone painfully missing, besides an installed version of eWallet? An IM client. Well, Fring claims to be that, and to be fair, it is. It does AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Google Talk, Skype, ICQ, Twitter...the list goes on. And, it also supposedly handles VOIP calls through SIP or Skype; I haven't tried it. The interface is OK, there's definitely a lag on sending and receiving, but it's free and it works. However, I've actually disabled most of this now, for one major reason: there is no way to control the volume of the notification when a new message comes in. As a result, when I'm riding the bike, listening to a podcast, suddenly there is a sharpened steel spike being shoved through my eardrum as Fring helpfully tells me that a new message is here. Of course, I can't read it, as I have crashed on the side of the road, gripping my skull in agony, convulsing...but hey, minor details. ;-) I do keep it on the iPhone for emergencies, though; you never know when you might need to IM.
- OK, let's talk about the best one: Genesis4iphone. Yep, travel back to the late 80's/early '90's with a perfect emulator of the classic Sega Genesis videogame system, right on your iPhone. With helpful links to ROM's, you have the entire catalog of games available. Installing them to the iPhone is not so easy; you need to download what is essentially an FTP client for your computer to install them; this video walked me through every step of it, while this video walks you through installing the games. Now, I have such classics as Lakers Vs. Bulls, Sonic the Hedgehog, Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, and both X-Men games at my fingertips, with hundreds more available. Oh, I bet you're worried about memory, right? Don't: the games are usually less than 500K, so you could install them all and still have days of music and video.
- I love skins, and even though the iPhone UI is probably the best ever, I can't resist making it better. Summerboard lets me load in custom skins, like the Time Machine one on the left (it's the one I have running right now). There are tons more, ranging from the typical "make your iPhone look like Windows" variety, to the truly sublime, like this one.- Wouldn't you love to manage your Netflix queue with an iPhone interface? Drag movies up, shift them around, etc? iFlix has your back, and makes queue management cool.
- Volume Boost 1.1.4 lets me finally make my iPhone a little louder at the top end. When you are bombing down a hill at 40 mph on the bike, and the wind is roaring, sometimes you need a little boost to hear those Buzz Out Loud folks.
Of course, there's far more, but I can honestly say that, while I'm happy to have Jailbroken my iPhone, I expected more. Here's a note to Apple: all you would have needed to give me was an eWallet interface, a shopping list application, and games, and I probably would have stayed a happy prisoner. As it is, I'm footloose and fancy free, and browsing my Installer to see what's next.
Labels: 80's, iPhone, Software, Video Games
Monday, April 07, 2008
Dark Side Of The Sun
Not sure if Yahoo is reflecting on their dark mood after Microsoft's ratcheting of the takeover bid, but my Yahoo Widget Engine weather widget apparently is either forcecasting a black hole, an eclipse, or the end of the universe today. Or it just forgot it's daytime. :-)
No worries; the sun IS still shining here. YWE obvious is trying out the new "mood ring" function.
Not sure if Yahoo is reflecting on their dark mood after Microsoft's ratcheting of the takeover bid, but my Yahoo Widget Engine weather widget apparently is either forcecasting a black hole, an eclipse, or the end of the universe today. Or it just forgot it's daytime. :-)No worries; the sun IS still shining here. YWE obvious is trying out the new "mood ring" function.
Mobile TripIt...Just In Time
Great news, just in time for my upcoming trip: instead of the innovative, but practically dubious, previous "mobile" TripIt access, TripIt itineraries are now truly mobile. Great news, following right on the heels of my installation of Remote Calendars, allowing me to sync any iCal feed to Outlook; I was using it to sync my TripIt itineraries.
If you are a TripIt user, head on over to m.tripit.com and see for yourself.
Great news, just in time for my upcoming trip: instead of the innovative, but practically dubious, previous "mobile" TripIt access, TripIt itineraries are now truly mobile. Great news, following right on the heels of my installation of Remote Calendars, allowing me to sync any iCal feed to Outlook; I was using it to sync my TripIt itineraries. If you are a TripIt user, head on over to m.tripit.com and see for yourself.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
The Icarus Effect
This morning's news started with the latest grim proof of overdevelopment in a tough sector: SkyBus Airlines shut down, less than year from when it started. Never heard of Skybus? Not surprising; they chose to focus on trips from Ohio to the West Coast for ridiculously low fares. Yes, you read that right: the airlines' unique niche was that they focused on trips from Ohio.
Was air travel such an amazingly profitable business that we needed that much segmentation and focus? Of course not. A year ago, when Skybus was just getting off the ground (har har), fuel costs were at an all time high. United was still in bankruptcy; Delta, a fellow airline with a major hub in Ohio, was just exiting Chapter 11. And yet, "irrational exuberance" led investors like Nationwide Mutual Capital, Huntington Capital Investment Co., and Battelle Services Co. to ignore the obvious signs of risk, and dive into what was a dubious investment. Today, they, and the passengers who were lured by low fares, and the workers lured by the chance to try something new, are all grounded and scrambling.
This is the latest in a string of "should see it coming" moves among business. This week alone has been absolute carnage for the airline sector: earlier this week, Aloha Airlines ceased service after 60 years, and ATA Airlines took a permanent vacation. In the case of Aloha, it was a case of musical chairs on inter-island travel that did them in, as they fought to compete against the better financed go! Airline, along with their historical rivals, Hawaiian Air and United. Add the new low cost Hawaii Superferry, and the writing was on the wall. ATA was different, as they tried to carve out a niche in the low-cost vacation travel routes, while underwriting by providing the military with charter flights. With the recession, vacation travel drops off, fuel costs rise, the military contract ends...and ATA falls. What's worse, this is not the first time ATA has fallen: it had previously been bankrupt.
It's not just the airlines, either. The Sharper Image, the iconic symbol of 1980's retail, is in Chapter 11, betting their entire exit on cost reductions and sales of a bizarre $600 laser synthesizer; if there was a way to bet that this strategy is fraught with peril, I'd put it all down on Chapter 11 going to Chapter 7, with savvy online retailers just bidding on the brand name. RedEnvelope, the niche online gifts retailer, who grew up from their playful 911 Gifts start, also ceased operations this week. Once considered a darling of the new e-commerce business, they pushed through over $100 million in venture capital, and never turned a profit. With periodic re-invention, they managed to convince everyone that change was always right around the corner, but last week, the doors were closed and hundreds of people were out of work.
So, now the question is: who's next? My bet, which you are all welcome to wager on, is Circuit City. Best Buy is eating their lunch, internet retailers like ZipZoomFly and Newegg are nipping at their heels, and the best they can come up with is a new store format? Sorry, no way. Who do you think is next?
This morning's news started with the latest grim proof of overdevelopment in a tough sector: SkyBus Airlines shut down, less than year from when it started. Never heard of Skybus? Not surprising; they chose to focus on trips from Ohio to the West Coast for ridiculously low fares. Yes, you read that right: the airlines' unique niche was that they focused on trips from Ohio.Was air travel such an amazingly profitable business that we needed that much segmentation and focus? Of course not. A year ago, when Skybus was just getting off the ground (har har), fuel costs were at an all time high. United was still in bankruptcy; Delta, a fellow airline with a major hub in Ohio, was just exiting Chapter 11. And yet, "irrational exuberance" led investors like Nationwide Mutual Capital, Huntington Capital Investment Co., and Battelle Services Co. to ignore the obvious signs of risk, and dive into what was a dubious investment. Today, they, and the passengers who were lured by low fares, and the workers lured by the chance to try something new, are all grounded and scrambling.
This is the latest in a string of "should see it coming" moves among business. This week alone has been absolute carnage for the airline sector: earlier this week, Aloha Airlines ceased service after 60 years, and ATA Airlines took a permanent vacation. In the case of Aloha, it was a case of musical chairs on inter-island travel that did them in, as they fought to compete against the better financed go! Airline, along with their historical rivals, Hawaiian Air and United. Add the new low cost Hawaii Superferry, and the writing was on the wall. ATA was different, as they tried to carve out a niche in the low-cost vacation travel routes, while underwriting by providing the military with charter flights. With the recession, vacation travel drops off, fuel costs rise, the military contract ends...and ATA falls. What's worse, this is not the first time ATA has fallen: it had previously been bankrupt.
It's not just the airlines, either. The Sharper Image, the iconic symbol of 1980's retail, is in Chapter 11, betting their entire exit on cost reductions and sales of a bizarre $600 laser synthesizer; if there was a way to bet that this strategy is fraught with peril, I'd put it all down on Chapter 11 going to Chapter 7, with savvy online retailers just bidding on the brand name. RedEnvelope, the niche online gifts retailer, who grew up from their playful 911 Gifts start, also ceased operations this week. Once considered a darling of the new e-commerce business, they pushed through over $100 million in venture capital, and never turned a profit. With periodic re-invention, they managed to convince everyone that change was always right around the corner, but last week, the doors were closed and hundreds of people were out of work.
So, now the question is: who's next? My bet, which you are all welcome to wager on, is Circuit City. Best Buy is eating their lunch, internet retailers like ZipZoomFly and Newegg are nipping at their heels, and the best they can come up with is a new store format? Sorry, no way. Who do you think is next?
Labels: business
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Sweet Team Spirit
With the Olympics looming large, there's been a lot of discussion on my daily ferry commute about the rise of China in the international stage, and, of course, the debate if the USA has already gone past it's nadir as the pre-eminent international power. In other words, has the USA already begun its decline, like the great empires before it? Many factors lead to this possibility, primarily the lack of investment in a manufacturing base: when a society becomes so wealthy that they find it less expensive to send work to another country, or to employ illegal aliens, no matter how trivial or important the work, I maintain that it is officially on the decline.
As part of this exercise, we look at key indicators that might represent the telltale signs of when the USA "jumped the shark." For the Roman empire, it might have been the gladiatorial games and vomitoriums; the British empire saw the East India Company become it's de facto ambassador to the world. What might the USA have to offer? Well, you could argue Madonna's new video, watching her re-embrace her more sexually liberated self as she gyrates alongside Justin Timberlake (does this guy love cougars, or what? Janet Jackson AND Madge?) might qualify. Or, you might take a more serious note and find that the manufactured war of Iraq might be a key indicator; it's about as obvious as Madonna.
Me, I like to look at more subtle things. Exhibit A: you can now buy M & M's with your favorite baseball team's logo on it. Not just the logo, mind you: the M & M's are your team's colors, and there are three variations of the logo imprinted in delectable M & M sugary goodness. What's the part that makes me convinced this harbinger of our international descent is here? My first thought on seeing this was "Wow, if they only had the NFL teams and Dallas Cowboys ones, $269.95 isn't a bad deal for a 10 lb. Box."
My fellow Americans, I have seen the road to ruin, and it is paved with M & M's. For those who want a smaller taste of the decline, $13 will get you a palatable 7 oz. portion. I'm off to weep at my own moral decay.
As part of this exercise, we look at key indicators that might represent the telltale signs of when the USA "jumped the shark." For the Roman empire, it might have been the gladiatorial games and vomitoriums; the British empire saw the East India Company become it's de facto ambassador to the world. What might the USA have to offer? Well, you could argue Madonna's new video, watching her re-embrace her more sexually liberated self as she gyrates alongside Justin Timberlake (does this guy love cougars, or what? Janet Jackson AND Madge?) might qualify. Or, you might take a more serious note and find that the manufactured war of Iraq might be a key indicator; it's about as obvious as Madonna.
Me, I like to look at more subtle things. Exhibit A: you can now buy M & M's with your favorite baseball team's logo on it. Not just the logo, mind you: the M & M's are your team's colors, and there are three variations of the logo imprinted in delectable M & M sugary goodness. What's the part that makes me convinced this harbinger of our international descent is here? My first thought on seeing this was "Wow, if they only had the NFL teams and Dallas Cowboys ones, $269.95 isn't a bad deal for a 10 lb. Box."
My fellow Americans, I have seen the road to ruin, and it is paved with M & M's. For those who want a smaller taste of the decline, $13 will get you a palatable 7 oz. portion. I'm off to weep at my own moral decay.
Labels: 80's, Dallas Cowboys, ferry, fun, gifts, music, Politics, silly
Friday, April 04, 2008
Yer All Wet
We may, as a society, disagree with many things, but there has been one truth we all seem to instinctively agree on: drinking lots of water is good for your health. However, as with all good maxims, it's occasionally important to test them for reality. And, according to the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, this wives' tale is all wet.
Turns out, drinking more water not only does not improve skin tone or reduce appetite, but actually can even be harmful, possibly causing kidney damage. The irony of this to me is not that yet another accepted truism has fallen by the wayside, but more that this was forecast by the most unlikely of prognosticators, Lewis Black. He of the waggling finger, and apoplectic screaming fits, the man predicted this very thing years ago in his HBO Broadway special, Black on Broadway, as well as a hilarious and wry look at the history of this admonition, as well as it's possible origin.
Take 10 minutes, sit back and prepare to laugh.
Turns out, drinking more water not only does not improve skin tone or reduce appetite, but actually can even be harmful, possibly causing kidney damage. The irony of this to me is not that yet another accepted truism has fallen by the wayside, but more that this was forecast by the most unlikely of prognosticators, Lewis Black. He of the waggling finger, and apoplectic screaming fits, the man predicted this very thing years ago in his HBO Broadway special, Black on Broadway, as well as a hilarious and wry look at the history of this admonition, as well as it's possible origin.
Take 10 minutes, sit back and prepare to laugh.
