If you have any interest in Berlioz (yeah, I know we hate the French) get your bad self over to Byzantium's Shores. Jaquandor has a great series of posts in honor of Hector's big two-oh... oh.

Need last minute gift ideas?

Shy away from these. The AV Club just announced their Least Essential Albums of 2003. While I hope I never accidentally hear anything off the Creed tribute (hell I try not to accidentally hear any actual Creed), I may have to see if I can track down a copy of the Chuck Barris album on vinyl. For a friend. Really.

Research Volunteers Needed.

I have discovered an odd phenomenon. In the rap backs for at least one of my posts, there are two sets of comments. I think it has to do with the type of browser. But I'm not sure. I am also not sure if it is an ongoing problem, or has been fixed by BlogOut.

So here is what I am asking of you, yes both of you. Please leave a comment for this post giving your OS, and Browser info.

For your participation you will be compensated with a free one year, on-line subscription to this weblog, and a fee of $0.25 will be paid to you. To collect your fee, please e-mail a self addressed stamped envelope to the address at the bottom of your screen. Please allow four to six years for delivery.

Most excellent.

This story has been pissing me off from the get-go. First Janklow claims that he had to fly through the intersection at 70+ miles per hour because of a car in the oncoming lane. Excusemewhat? He maintained this story, despite his passenger never seeing this "phantom car." Then it turns out that he has quite a history of reckless driving, including almost hitting someone else running the same stop sign. Oh, did I mention this is not the first time he has blamed a phantom car? Then the judge decides that his driving history will not be admissible (with the exception of the incident at the same intersection). Why? How is it not relevant?

His story changes as the trial nears, and he claims that his running the stop sign was the result of low blood sugar. He claimed to have not eaten for 18 hours (he forgot to eat). At the time of the crash he was returning from a barbecue. Several witnesses testified that they had not seen him eat. Although at the time of the crash he told EMTs that he had eaten. OK, lets assume that he hadn't eaten, and his blood sugar was low. This still does not make him any less guilty. It is his responsibility to be sure he fit to drive. A tired driver is not absolved because of lack of sleep. A drunk driver is not absolved because of the alcohol.

Janklow will be sentenced in January.

OK, who decided that it was a good idea to let this guy drive anything?

Phneh indeed!

I was meaning to comment on this issue, but Jaqandor beat me to it. It seems that the are some individuals that are offended by the use of the terms "master" and "slave" in computer jargon. This has to do with having more than one device on a particular bus. One has its jumpers set to master and one to slave. But it appears that we should remove these words from the lexicon because someone has chosen to be offended by their use. These words are not racial slurs. Sure they could be used in an offensive manner, but we are talking about computer hard drives here. I don't think that hard drives are able to be offended, at least not yet.

While we are at it, can someone suggest a new word for me to use in describing the color of my car? A while back Krista, in her handling of all manners of office work for the music school for which she teaches, received a call from a parent who had a complaint about one of the teachers. It seems that this teacher was referring to the chalk board as a "black board." It was an actual black chalk board. This offended the woman (I cannot recall all of the details of this incident, so maybe Krista will rap at us). This made me crazy. To appease this woman are we no longer allowed to use the "black" as a descriptor? My car is black, Krista's is silver. When talking about our cars we refer to them possessively rather than by their color. But if we did refer to them as "the black car" and "the silver car," would somebody be offended? If they were, I think that might offend me. I'm not joking about that either. If someone were to claim that I were "racially insensitive" by using the word "black," I would not only be offended, I would be royally pissed-off. My friends and coworkers are not offended by the use of the word black, even in the context of race. Most refer to themselves as being black, not African American.

So why are some people offended? I think Jaquandor nails it. They choose to be. Read his relating of an episode of days of yore where one individual became offended by a word devoid of meaning, and it's manner of use devoid of context.

Bench Favre!

So, I wonder if the cheese-hat-wearing fans across the border are clamoring for Favre to be yanked after that wonderful Thanksgiving Day game.

Hopefully the Vikings will have a good game this Sunday in St. Louis, and the so-called "fans" will lay off my man Daunte. Kudos to Mike Tice for getting pissed off, and basically telling these "fans" where to stick it. After one off game two weeks ago, and a mediocre game this past Sunday, fans were booing when Culpepper took the field in the second half. Culpepper is the top-rated QB in the NFC, and third overall in the NFL. And some fans want him benched.

The real problem seems to be the offensive line not playing up to their potential. Culpepper is being hurried, and the running backs have nowhere to go. The good news is the defense is looking good, so if the offensive line can get their act together we'll have a real team again. And that's the key. Everyone playing at the top of their game all the time. The Vikings have real talent in all areas, and if they play the way the can, I think they can win a Super Bowl. But what do I know.

Oh, and to all you whiny fans, lay off Moss too. There have been a lot of people complaining about Moss not making more out of short passes. I don't know if you have noticed, but in these short pass situations there are usually at least three defenders on top of him the second he hauls the ball in. Just making the catch is good enough for me. But again, what do I know.

Check one two, check one two...

I know I have been lax in posting lately, and it will likely continue for a few weeks yet. I just wanted to take this opportunity to point out a strange google search that brought someone to ABOHO. The fact that ABOHO turned up in this search is not strange, but I thought that the search words were a bit odd.

Way to go R2! Watch out for that HAL cat though. He seems a bit hinkey.

I hear what the singer sings. It is my gift, it is my curse.



Peter Watts to my Frank Black pointed out this 80's lyric quiz the other day. I scored a whopping 123.5 (point 5?). I was just talking about earbugs (ok it was a couple of weeks ago) and this quiz reminds me as to why I am so susceptible to them. I often can hear a song once, and have a substantial portion of the lyrics down pat. This is particularly annoying with those annoying pop groups. I have to work with the music at work, and I am stuck with it for days. At least I am able to force my wife to share in my agony through my horrendous singing...

By the way, I hope that Jaquandor answered number 73 correctly. And I take a twisted satisfaction knowing that Dan will correctly answer number 19.

A couple quick space links...

So long Voyager.

Biggest solar flare ever...

Please stand by. Posting will resume shortly.

Come On...

You should have that checked...

Well, the coronal mass ejection is on it's way. Hold on tight to your cell phones. I'm sure my comments will be affected in some way, they seem to go down with the slightest breeze. A few years ago, Krista's pager service was knocked out for a couple of days by a solar storm, and this one sounds like it is going to be a biggie.

It looks like we will have cloudy skies here in the Twin Cities, but if you have clear skies tonight, get out and look for the Northern Lights.

How about catching the aurora in Cuba? Well maybe not this time, and not just because it would involve illegal travel. But back in 1859 the biggest solar storm ever recorded allowed just that, as well as causing a bit of trouble with the high tech contraptions of the time. Read about it here.

The image above comes from SOHO (The Solar and Heliospheric observatory). Here is a screen saver that provides near real-time images of the Sun from SOHO.

"I Love It!" She Said

Krista's new ride.

Oops!.. I did it again

Ever get an earworm? You know, those songs that get stuck in your head, sometimes for days? For the longest time Ms. Spears had a strangle hold on my brain. Chili's jingles also often plague me. For the exorcism of these malevolent musical maladies, I usually try to get a more appealing song to force the worm out. Too often though this humming to myself will not work, and I am stuck with it until I can gain access to a more apt aural antidote. The most persistent may require a full dose of Beck's Odelay.

Most of the time though, I don't mind the infestations, as they tend to be songs I enjoy (Mitsubishi commercials usually fall into this category). They can even help when there is no stereo around. Friendly earworms are always welcome on long motorcycle rides.

So what are some of your earworms, and how do you get rid of them?

(cross-poted to Collaboratory)

A couple of days ago Jaquandor posted a link to a test you all should take. Provided are 60 album covers, minus the titles and band names. How many do you know. I scored but 20.

You are Neo, from "The Matrix." You
display a perfect fusion of heroism and
compassion.


What Matrix Persona Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

This quiz brought to you courtesy A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy.

I Want to Tell You

Krista and I saw "Concert for George" last night. It was fab.

As a film, it was a nearly perfect mix of documentary and concert. It concentrated on the music, but threw in bits of interview at just the right time and of just the right amount. Eric Clapton did a wonderful job putting the concert together, and all of the performances were outstanding. Paul McCartney, Ringo, Clapton, Billy Preston, Jeff Lynne, a composition by Ravi Shankar, and many others. There were even a couple of appearances by Monty Python (minus John Cleese). One great moment was a shot of Ringo and Eric Clapton joking around during the rehearsal, but in the background was Dhani Harrison shaking his guitar in the air, top down, trying to get a pick out of the sound hole.

I smiled through the whole film. I don't think a recorded performance has ever given me chills before, but Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton singing "Something" did. If you love George Harrison, you must see this. If you are at all a fan of the Beatles, you should see this. And you can do so with my assurances that Jeff Lynne's heavy handed mixing is not present in the soundtrack.