Stuck Between Stations

Mark Spitz, former American Olympic swimmer, gives the U.S. a bad name

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:52:39 -0400

Mark Spitz, former American Olympic swimmer, gives the U.S. a bad name: “I never got invited. You don’t go to the Olympics just to say, I am going to go. Especially because of who I am.”

That trademark sound

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:34:57 -0400

If you were to name the 17 most recognizable sound bytes, how many would be the same as the ones mental_floss listed?

1. NBC’s musical notes G, E, C played on chimes. NBC was the first to trademark a sound for its radio broadcasting services in 1950.
2. MGM’s lion’s roar
3. The song “Sweet Georgia Brown” for The Harlem Globetrotters
4. Tetris’ “electronic Russian folkstyle tune,” owned by Elorg Company
5. Intel’s 5 note ding
6. “D’Oh” spoken by Homer is owned by Fox
7. The 9 bars of musical chord in the key of B Flat that typically opens a Twentieth Century Fox movie
8. Looney Toons Theme Song, owned by Time Warner
9. The spoken letters “AT&T” with a music in the background
10. “Cha-Ching,” owned by Checker’s Restaurants
11. “Yahoo!” sung in a yodeling style
12. Nokia’s default ringtone
13. Mister Softee’s Jingle
14. “Hello and Welcome to Moviefone,” owned by America Online
15. The sound of the crowd & bell from the New York Stock Exchange’s trading floor
16. TiVo’s popping sounds (in 2 and 6 tones)
17. Pillsbury Doughboy’s giggle

To be honest, I only knew about 70% of them. Could be because I don’t have a TiVo…

We as a nation have got to ask ourselves, “What the hell...

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:57:21 -0400

We as a nation have got to ask ourselves, “What the hell is going on?”

A lady is amazed at the sight of a rainbow in her backyard sprinkler. She insists that there is something oozing from the ground, and that it’s time to “wake up” and notice that this wasn’t happening 20 years ago. File this under “Misinformed American of the Day.”

from Boston.com’s “Big Picture” series of the...

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:23:00 -0400

from Boston.com’s “Big Picture” series of the Olympics’ opening ceremony in Beijing. Click here to see the picture full-size.

Breaking: Atheist finds no religious figures in his toast!

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:18:32 -0400

Breaking: Atheist finds no religious figures in his toast!: When this type of humor ceases to exist, so will I.

from today’s (above average) PostSecret collection. I also...

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 09:51:04 -0400

from today’s (above average) PostSecret collection. I also especially like the one about Mike wanting to be called simply Mike.

Moving plates in the Golden State: is it great that we knew the date? Let's debate

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:55:00 -0400

About a month ago, Twitter emailed me to let me know I was being followed by EQAlert, a k a the Earthquake Alert Guy. I followed him back, knowing that with the next major earthquake, he would be in the mix and I’d get to see if he lived up to his claim: he has apparently “had accurate EQ Alerts out before all major earthquakes for practically ten years now!!!”

There is no way to accurately predict earthquakes, according to my Dynamic Earth professor. There are indicators, but no foolproof way to know where and when one will hit. The times people are right, he says, are the times they are lucky. Hmm.

Yesterday, at 5:39pm, an update from EQAlert showed up in my twitterstream:

They are getting a lot of foreshocks around the Pacific Tectonic Plate. Honshu is due for Beulah resultant 7.6 and watch West Coast. EQ Guy

And watch the West Coast I did. At 11:42am, a strong, 5.4 magnitude earthquake hit the L.A. area and was felt in Las Vegas. Luckily, there are no deaths so far—just minor damage to some buildings and some power outages.

So, EQ Alert Guy did a pretty good job of giving a heads up. He said that we should watch the West Coast. But, he didn’t know when or specifically where an earthquake would happen. I’d say his update was “accurate,” but not remarkably helpful. I could say “watch the west coast of South America this week!” and probably be right on the money.

I am going to stick with my professor’s opinion until I see people predicting locations and timing of earthquakes consistently and nearly exactly. EQ Alert Guy: if you’re here, just know that I am pretty impressed. Like 5.4 out of 10 impressed.*

*Note: earthquake magnitude measurements are not “out of 10” — in fact, the ratings can be very misleading. An earthquake with a “5” rating causes 10 times more shaking and releases 32 times the energy of an earthquake rated “4.”

Image: Inland News Today

UPDATE 8:54p July 30: EQAlert posted this twitter message about noon today:

There was a letter to California Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council or CEPEC, that I started but never sent dated July 23. 2008

I wonder how seriously they would have taken this supposed letter.

"Before the comment wall and discussion board were taken offline, more than a few users appeared to..."

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:16:00 -0400

“Before the comment wall and discussion board were taken offline, more than a few users appeared to take up that call. And the backlash also caught the attention of the Obama campaign. As Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Mr. Obama, put it: “I agree with the first comment thread on their discussion board: ‘The site is lame.’””

- from a New York Times blog post about BarackBook, a RNC-funded Facebook parody site that caused immediate controversy when it went live today. I was surprised at Mr. Vietor’s funny and frank commentary about it.

Be sure to click here to see the full size version. Not only is...

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:43:09 -0400

Be sure to click here to see the full size version. Not only is it an awe-inspiring view of Obamamania, but it’s also a very real example of the spread of digital cameras. (Flickr user ScriptingNews | via Twitter)

"My review is too long to be posted here. Go to: Yelp and search: “Apple Store Oakbrook.”..."

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:23:32 -0400

“My review is too long to be posted here. Go to: Yelp and search: “Apple Store Oakbrook.” Darn the 2000 character limit!”

- from a “review” of my local Apple store on Citysearch.

"…[W]hile we must accept blogging into the historical archives, we must also realize that we..."

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:20:09 -0400

“…[W]hile we must accept blogging into the historical archives, we must also realize that we may have lost another unique form of communication and historical information — personal correspondence. Why “may have”? Well, people wrote those letters under the impression that they were personal and private. And then, after they died, the letters were made public, put into collections, sold for profit, and displayed for all the public to see. What makes you think that something similar will not happen with people’s email?”

- from a comment I wrote on a recent Blurring Borders post about the shift in what historians will use as primary sources. Read the post and the other comments here.

Can The Girl Effect work? I really don’t think it can, and...

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:28:00 -0400

Can The Girl Effect work? I really don’t think it can, and I’m a fairly optimistic person when it comes to these causes. (Side note: I found this on Global Giving, a wonderful site that you should explore.)

I could not agree more. (source)

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:14:00 -0400

I could not agree more. (source)

"I think a big part of the reason old-school Letterman is so hard to find these days is that talk..."

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:03:01 -0400

“I think a big part of the reason old-school Letterman is so hard to find these days is that talk shows are ephemeral by design. Hosts begin with a monologue referencing current events and celebrity happenings that are quickly lost to the ages, then interview stars of the moment plugging projects that, more often than not, will quickly be forgotten. Is the world really hungering to see, say, Bobcat Goldthwait (whom I happen to think is enormously talented) plug Hot To Trot on The Tonight Show 20 years after the fact? Or Donna Mills jabber on insipidly about whatever the hell it is Donna Mills was once mildly famous for?”

- from a recent edition of Ask The AV Club. I think the answer to that question is: no, the whole world is not hungering to see some has-been from 20 years ago talk about a new project on Letterman. But, someone in the world is. As my friend Kevin Donovan would say, there is a limitless amount of digital storage space and because the long tail exists, it can be productive and profitable.

I know I’d enjoy seeing clips of George Carlin in the early 1980s, of Barenaked Ladies’s first Letterman performance, and of the first joke about the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Officespeak: Phrases you hear around the office and what they really mean

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:21:49 -0400

Officespeak: Phrases you hear around the office and what they really mean: Leave your favorite office euphemism in the comments. (If you can’t think of a workplace-related one, leave your favorite euphemism in general.)

Appreciation

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:15:30 -0400

I just finished a 65-hour work week. I am exhausted, stressed out, and I miss spending time with my friends and family.

It really gives me an appreciation for the folks who work 65-, 75-, even 100-hour weeks to feed their families. I really don’t know how they keep going with the amount of help they get (or, more accurately, don’t get).

"The [No Child Left Behind] accountability system, as practiced at urban schools like Douglass, tends..."

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 15:24:00 -0400

“The [No Child Left Behind] accountability system, as practiced at urban schools like Douglass, tends to operate like a merry-go-round; principal turnover rates in Baltimore are very high. School leaders get on board, ride until they get dizzy and stumble off, and then new leaders come aboard.”

- from Sarah Reckhow’s guest column in The Eduwonkette. Teach For America had her stationed at Douglass, a struggling school in Baltimore. Her column makes the argument that the focus needs to be on what schools are doing right (certain after-school programs) rather than on what they are doing wrong (poor retention of already generally low-quality teachers).

I think it would be wise to focus on recruitment and training of new teachers: if they want kids to stay after school, they are going to need an assertive, high-quality teacher that serves as a role model and instigator of change in students’ lives. The heartwarming front-page-gracing success stories may come from unique after-school programs, but the vast majority of the real grunt work happens in classrooms with dedicated, qualified, and influential teachers.

Does Facebook's five-year plan include me?

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:32:00 -0400

I just clicked on an advertisement in my Facebook NewsFeed (for the new The Hold Steady album) and it opened iTunes. Not only is that obnoxious, but it also frightens me to think of what else they and others could open via unmarked links without my consent.

I am consistently amazed with Facebook’s inability to squash bad ideas like this in their meetings and planning sessions. People bash Google for things I usually don’t even consider “being evil,” but nobody even holds Facebook to that high “don’t be evil” standard.

It’s like we expect Facebook to suck. We expect them to share our private information, leave sections of their site unchanged for years, abuse our somehow-easily-earned trust, and think of users only as sources of money and data.

I, for one, could potentially use Facebook (and Google) for my entire life. With such a lock on me and millions of other people, these companies should make it their business to think not only about their five-year plans, but about what they can do to ensure we’re there in five years.

Ever seen a Toys R Us T-shirt?

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:08:00 -0400

Is a car’s decal more for the car company or the car owner?

Similarly, is the “Abercrombie” text on one’s shirt more for the seller or buyer? The LV on a handbag? The Bose on a speaker?

Another thought on customers and the seller-buyer relationship: I think one major indicator of a company’s future success and appeal is whether or not there is a demand for t-shirts with their logo on them. Chipotle sells tons of t-shirts. So does The Salty Dog Cafe.

I was there.

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:51:15 -0400

I was there.