Ok, the title may be a over-generalization, but today McDonalds did file a patent application for what they call the "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING A SANDWICH". I kid you not. They're even covering "cocktail sandwiches", i.e. burger bites etc.
Who knows exactly who McDonalds plans to go after with this one, as my understanding of patents is that if even one thing is different, it isn't actionable. So if Burger King decides to "apply appropriate condiments to [the] appropriate compartment" before they "assemble sandwich fillings and hot garnishes in [the] tool", they'd be fine. Mickey D's lawyers can't be that stupid - there has to be some kind of terminology in there that they think is bulletproof; there's too much prior art to make this thing fly.
Happy Birthday Dad. In honor of your acute understanding of the English language and your persistent adherence to its syntactical rules, I hope you enjoy your gift: the NYT bestseller, Eats, Shoots & Leaves. The back of the book sells it nicely (and a big hint from TLM helped too):
A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires teo shots into the air.
"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."
The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds and explanation.
"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."
So, punctuation really does matter, even if it only occasionally a matter of life and death.
"TorrentFreak reports that Toyota's lawyers have recently contacted computer wallpaper site Desktop Nexus in a blatant example of DMCA abuse. Toyota issued a blanket request to demand the immediate removal of all member-uploaded wallpapers featuring a Toyota, Lexus, or Scion vehicle (citing copyright violation), regardless of whether Toyota legally holds the copyright to the photos or not. When site owner Harry Maugans requested clarification on exactly which wallpapers were copyrighted by Toyota, he was told that for them to cite specifics (in order to file proper DMCA Takedown Notices), they would invoice Desktop Nexus for their labor."
Ridiculous. Oh, and by the way, doesn't it behoove companies like Toyota to not suppress but rather encourage fan art? It's free marketing, no?
Just for that I'm taking a picture of the Matrix and making a new wallpaper...
It's been mentioned before, and over the last week it's gotten a moderate redesign. So, in a shameless act of cross-promotion, today's highlighted blog is "Too Much Taxi" (backstory too complicated), where TLM contributes and whose focus is mainly on clothes, shoes, and other things from the world of fashion. They also have random posts on TV, celebs, etc - topics somehow complimentary to content found here (minus the obits and holiday shout outs, of course :)
Speaking of which, make sure you thank a veteran today...
Ah, coffee - I love it, and I drink what is probably an unhealthy amount of it daily. But which brand is best? Some might say Starbucks, others Honey Dew. For me, I'll drink almost any kind, but my hands down favorite is, and has been for years, good ol' Dunkin' Donuts. I remember half-kiddingly going online to investigate how to get a franchise, just so I could feed my addiction a little easier (as if having a D&D on practically every corner wasn't enough).
My days of buying medium regulars are now over (ok, slight exaggeration) thanks to a member of my family landing a job at D&D corporate. Now I can bring home a FIVE POUND bag of coffee for a fourth of what it costs me for a fill up at the gas station. Too much? Maybe, though I can pretty much guarantee none will go wasted here. It's all about pacing myself...
Ok, enough is enough. Time to get back to some posting.
Today is of course February 29th, referred to by many these days (especially those at LeapZine.com) as "Leap Day". When this changed from "Leap Year's Day" I'm not sure, but the new version seems more fun to say for some reason.
Just a few days ago TLM and I were talking about the family with something like 4 children born on a leap day. Well, it turns out it was only 3 siblings from Norway, Heidi, Olav, and Lief-Martin Henriksen (only 3...come on!) born in 1960, 1964, and 1968 respectively. Is this a freak example of probabilities gone haywire (I mean, the day only comes by every four years or so, depending on the century), or is it instead a masterful example of premeditated and well-timed reproduction? You tell me.
Whatever the case, there are lots of other interesting and/or famous people whose birthday falls or fell on February 29th. For example, as if being a leap year baby wasn't enough, one set of parents in Germany decided to take baby naming to another level in 1904 by naming their son:
Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenberdorft Sr.
See the pattern? He had a name that began with every letter of the alphabet, in order, up to his last name (which wasn't exactly that short either, btw.). He could have used a different name almost every day of each month, or maybe based on how he was feeling that day. He apparently did have a shorthand version: Mr. Wolfe Plus 585 Sr., though I haven't figured out where the 585 comes in.
Oh...and is that a Sr. I see at the end? Does that mean there was a Jr. running around at some point with the same name? Had he been born somewhere like 60-68 years later, he may have opted to go with the classic Big Bird word that wasn't (see below in case you have no idea what that means).
Some other Leap Day babies include rapper Ja Rule, Pedro Zamora from Real World San Francisco, motivational speaker Tony Robbins, and Lyndon Byers, the infamous Bruins enforcer who can still be seen now and then in and around Boston bars and nightclubs. Below is an example of LB's handiwork, and one of the few times you'll see a hockey fight broken up before someone hits the ice.
I was reminded recently of one of my favorite books, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, a staple in any business school's required readings and a must-read for anyone who works with people. Its usefulness extends to anyone, however, and though nothing in the book is necessarily new information, it is presented in a way that comes across clearly and insightfully.
Some might say it's a compendium in basic human psychology, while others might see it as manipulation 101 (the inclusion of the word "Influence" in the title is certainly suggestive). I look at it much more innocently and take it for what it is: one man's advice on how to interact with others. Without a doubt, I recommend reading it, no matter who you are.
The book is broken down into four major sections, and in each one Carnegie presents ideas that seem old-hat, then hammers them home with tons of examples that firm up the real power behind them. At the end of each section he lists off those ideas in a summary he calls "In a Nutshell", meant for easy review. I've been meaning to list these off somewhere for a while now, just so I have somewhere a little more convenient than the book itself to look them over again. So, here are Dale Carnegie's "In a Nutshell" summaries as listed in his book:
Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
Don't criticize, condemn or complain.
Give honest and sincere appreciation.
Arouse in the other person an eager want.
Six ways to make people like you
Become genuinely interested in other people.
Smile.
Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
Talk in terms of the other person's interests.
Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.
Win people to your way of thinking
The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say, "You're wrong."
If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
Begin in a friendly way.
Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.
Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
Appeal to the nobler motives.
Dramatize your ideas.
Throw down a challenge.
Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment
A leader's job often includes changing your people's attitudes and behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:
Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
Let the other person save face.
Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise."
Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.
A while back I came across an interesting factoid about clock faces: when packaged for selling they are most often depicted at or near the time 10:10 (a quick Froogle search will help make my case if you don't believe me). There are other pages that try to answer this question and lots of theories that revolve around why this is so, ranging from the idea that 10:10 is when Abraham Lincoln died (not true) to the notion that 10:10 is the most aesthetically pleasing formation of the clock's hands (partially true).
Timex says the hands on timepieces are placed at 10:10 so the company logo on the face will be framed and not blocked by the hands. Timex says the industry standard used to be 8:20 but that looked too much like a frown and created an unhappy look.
Timex says in its ads, the clock hands are placed at 10:09 and 30 seconds, exactly.
So, at least for Timex, it's important to not obfuscate the company logo in an appealing way. Since they maintain that 8:20 "looked too much like a frown", I think it's safe to say 10:10 looks like a smile...that sounds like "Happy Time" to me. So next time you look up and see that the time is 10:10, pause for a moment and smile, like your clock is doing.
In my meandering across the web for yesterday's post about Futurama, I came across lots of images and stills from the series. I also came across some original artwork, like the image above by "Satomi-Chan", that portrayed the show's characters as if they were anime. I was particularly impressed with the less-bubbly work of "spacecoyote", and her vision of the Futurama world (and also the Simpsons world), as seen below. Both galleries, hosted at deviantart.com, are definitely worth checking out.
TLM and I just got back from seeing "Mamma Mia!" (my first musical) at the Colonial Theater in Boston. I'm still gathering my thoughts on this one, though I can at this point ask: who knew there were so many ABBA fans?
UPDATE 12.16.07 As I went to the ABBA website to get some more info for a more substantial review, I noticed two things: today is Benny Andersson's birthday (he's one of the ABBA guys), and their question of the month is "Do you listen to ABBA every day?", a question to which 67% of responders said "yes". Read into that what you will, but it sounds like ABBA fans are pretty obsessive. When were they big? the 70's?
As for the show, I was taken aback at first. As I'd mentioned before, I'd never been to a musical, never mind one that featured music I'd only heard previously on "best of" anthologies and classic rock stations (classic already in the early 90's).
The set was simplistic yet effective. Two big pieces of faux-stone background that would be positioned in a variety of ways actually led to mostly-believable settings. Yes, I'm giving props to the props.
The story was simple and original and actually wasn't that bad, albeit profoundly predictable. There was frequent humor, though much of it, however harmless to the writers, I don't think was meant for children. In fact, I think it was clearly written for a particular generation of people, specifically those in their late teens or early twenties when ABBA hit this part of the world.
What struck me as unusual was the (often distracting) crowd activity. At times I felt like I was at the Rocky Horror Picture Show, minus Meatloaf and people throwing rice at the wedding. At the end of the show was nothing short of an homage to ABBA. Three of the main characters came out dressed in the spacesuit costumes of the time and led the bopping crowd in a rendition of "Dancing Queen", an image now forever ingrained in my head.
The singing was fine, and the dancing is what I imaging it to be...just a stone's throw from the "showtunes" pieces put together for "So You Think You Can Dance". What they do they do well, and I do respect that.
Overall I had a good time, and I give the show a B.
We decided it was time to give our facelift, and so last weekend we went out, got some paint and some tiles and went to task. Who knew vinal tiling was this easy?
TLM even found a nice replacement for the whiteboard. Note the coat hooks, er, mega key rack on the bottom.
So I stumble upon this site called BustedTees and almost immediately my inner adolescent manifests itself and I'm thinking not only about which of these I'd wear, but also of all those shirts I used to own. I had quite a collection, albeit in high school. Among those I can remember were a black Huckleberry Hound shirt, a "Don't Have a Cow, Man" Bart Simpson tee, a Speedy Gonzales shirt...I even had an original black Phillie's Blunt shirt (that wasn't telegraphing anything to the police, noooooo).
As I'm about to add to my cart a red shirt featuring a chimp in a beret with the words "Viva La Evolution", TLM walks in. I think to myself, "Great"...who better to enjoy a little online shopping with me? Instead, I'm told "I would rather you get something more age-appropriate. You can quote me on that." (see below!). Well, all it took was another look at their online catalog until we found something she thought was worth buying: a tee that read "Jesse and the Rippers", a reference (obviously) to the band John Stamos fronted in the TV show "Full House".
"I would rather you get something more age-appropriate." -TLM
So, is TLM right? Are these shirts meant to be worn only by high-schoolers and people born in the 90's? There were definitely some that I would guess people that young wouldn't understand, yet still there does seem something weird about wearing something that said "Leave Lindsay a-Lohan" or had a picture of William Shakespeare and the phrase "Prose before Hos". Should I live with reckless abandon and buy a few?
Hmmmm....maybe I'll just buy a few as "Christmas presents"...
I posted over on the TRintuition blog today about using its workBench to create scavenger hunts for a "basic computer use" class, an activity akin to what I used to use back in the late 90's.
(byugh...that feels like yesterday but was really about a decade ago).
No long or complicated diatribe here. It's been 6 years since that day we remember all too well. We have our own stories, complete with vividly detailed timelines, and have shared these with countless others since that day in 2001 and countless more to come.
Forget the politics and conspiracy theories, and just remember what happened, how you felt, and those people we lost whom you may have known on that, the scariest and saddest day in our generation's collective life thus far.
TLM and I are officially tying the knot. We spent a nice few days in Cape Cod and, after making sure to get the blessings of her parents, I found myself on bended knee Friday night, trying to get through something I had been preparing in my head all week. The good news is I did get the question out. The great news is that she said yes.
When I was a kid out shopping with my mother at a store a toy section, I would always ask her for a Transformer. "No", she would always reply, followed by an excuse like "that's too expensive for a toy" or "I just got you a He-Man" or "I am philosophically opposed to toys that can change shape". Ok, I made that last one up, but after a few Christmases and birthdays of Go-Bot pacification, I promised myself that when I was old enough, I would buy all the Transformers I wanted to.
Well, with the super-CGI Transformers movie about to hit screens, Hasbro has released their new series of the popular toys....and I made good on my promise, as showcased below. I even got the Optimus Prime, Mom, and it cost me over $40. Ha.
Wait...is that too expensive for a toy (for a 31 year old man)?
You find yourself walking around on a nice day in some European city and realize you have to go to the bathroom. One's initial reaction might be to look around for a gas station or restaurant....but wait, what's this? A shiny, mirrored rectangular oasis right in the middle of town square. That's right, pictured above is the most stylish public bathroom in the world.
Ok, maybe that's a bit of a bold statement, I grant you. But if it isn't the most stylish public bathroom, it is cetainly one of the most original, and not just for its external presentation. Once inside, as you can see below, one realizes that the mirrors are only half of the novelty and, in a way, only half mirrors. Building a public bathroom whose walls are one-way mirrors is not only creative, but also an interesting experiment in psychology. Would you be able to go when you can see everyone, even though you know they can't see you?
Looks like the cleanest publc bathroom I've ever seen, too.
Content found on The Neoteric is of no particular genre, topic, or focus, other than it was all at some point, in some way, interesting enough to me to write about.
