Ides of March

Ah, the Ides of March. Not a bad day for anyone not named Ceasar.

Top 10 Coolest Alarm Clocks

I'm one of those people who has an uncanny ability to develop an immunity to whatever alarm clock I have trying to get me up in the morning. I've been through all the motions: moving the alarm clock across the room so I'd have to get up to turn it off, randomly changing the time the night before to make it an unknown number of minutes fast, even putting a box around it so I can't simply hit the snooze button in the morning.

Well, there are new and creative solutions out there for people like me. Behold, the "10 Coolest Alarm Clocks", according to HiptechBlog.com.

There are some interesting ideas here. I think it a good move to get the waking mind to solve some sort of puzzle right away, just enough to get the fire going in your brain. This works based on the assumption that you won't get frustrated and break the thing, of course.

Oh, and imagine trying to find the alarm clock to hit the snooze after it has cleverly hidden itself away somewhere in the room? Aaargh...

Thanks to M for the heads up on this.

Rollie Theodore Sakers

Ok, back to less heavy topics.

I came across this site, one dedicated to Rollie Theodore Sakers, who was featured on one of my favorite albums of all time, Sublime's "Robbin the Hood". His rants are infamous.

On the site, you can hear a full half hour of his "semantic blockage" rant, recorded while he was in a halfway house somewhere in California (there's a link to download it to), along with what is supposedly the only known picture of him. He doesn't look like what I expected; I sorta thought he was more Charlie Manson-ish based on his voice. I dunno.

WARNING: This guy is ridiculously foul-mouthed, so if there are kids around, move them :)

Imette St. Guillen

I can't describe the horror and sadness I and many others who knew Imette St. Guillen and her family feel upon learning of her violent murder in NYC. Our hearts go out to you, Ale and Maureen.

We will all miss Imette very, very much. -sp-

February 28, 2006 - Boston Herald
Grisly slaying of Hub native stuns NY cops
Gifted student 'could have done anything'

March 1, 2006 - Boston Herald
'Sunshine' taken from lives of loved ones
Family pleads: Help us find her killer

Grammar Point

Ah, the things that people care to talk about...

A question arose recently concerning the rules in English grammar to show possession. I'm sure many of you discuss the English language often ( hehe ), but this question did generate some interest, apparently. So....

The question revolved around how to write the possessive of a proper name that ends in "s" or "z", like Sanchez or Miles. One thought was that if a word ended in "s" or "z", there is only an apostrophe. Another thought was that if you heard and extra "s" sound in the possessive, you added the 's, like James's.

From "A Writer's Reference" by Diana Hacker:

Possessive nouns usually indicate ownership, as in Tim's hat or the lawyer's desk. Frequently, however, ownership is only loosely implied: the tree's roots, a day's work.

When to add -'s
1. If the noun does not end in -s, add -'s. (driver's side, children's money)
2. If the noun is singular and ends in -s, add -'s. (Lois's sister)
EXCEPTION: If pronunciation would be awkward with the added -'s, some writers use only the apostrophe. Either use is acceptable. (Sophocles' plays)

When to add only an apostrophe
If the noun is plural and ends in -s, add only an apostrophe. (both diplomats' briefcases)

Joint possession
To show joint possession, use -'s (or -s') with the last noun only; to show individual possession, make all nouns possessive. (Joyce and Greg's new camper, John's and Marie's expectations)

Compound nouns
If a noun is compound, use -'s (or -s') with the last element. (father-in-law's sculpture)

I tend to agree with this general definition, with the exception for awkward sounding singular nouns. I think the right way to show possession of a proper name is to add the -'s, unless it sounds too awkward..

It does seem as though the best rule of thumb is to listen for the es sound and use a -'s if you hear it. This rule even applies to words that end in a silent-s, too, like Illinois. What about words that end in an es sound, like experience or science? Is it an -s' or an -'s?

Why do I care?

Yanker Elimination

It looks like the newly declared Lowell Spinner mission to eliminate all trace of the precious Yankee club nickname from youth league teams across New England is gaining notoriety. Though the Spinners maintain that this is all "in good fun", the movement's waves are being felt across the country, most importantly in the Rotten Apple. One Yanker fan talks of getting leagues in the NYC area to remove the name "Red Sox". There are 2 reasons this won't work: Yankee fans are too fairweather to care, and they're mostly in New Jersey, not NYC.

Our Lovable President

From The Onion Radio News
(from Wednesday).

"...but, I think we can all agree that he [Bush] is a lovable president who doesn't mean any harm."

Though they jest, imagine how crippling a truth it would be if this is the primary reason he was re-elected into office. Pay attention to policy people!

Better Folding

No, this post doesn't explain how to get a better night's sleep. Nor does it have anything to do with poker, coughing, nor hyperspace travel. Very simply, this post is about something I remember my mother always yelling at me to do correctly:

Folding clothes.

Why post about such a seemingly trivial and unimportant topic? The short answer is, I happened across the site fold-your-shirt.com, got excited and actually want to go grab a shirt and try this myself. Check out the vid, and you'll laugh at yourself for actually being impressed...

Multi-touch Interaction Technology

Damn, if Apple really is planning on using this kind of technology in the future, watch out. This is phenomenal. It definitely reminds me of the interfaces used in "Minority Report", but much less technical looking and much more intuitive. It seems to me that this type of interface makes for an environment that fosters productivity and minimizes the buffers between mind, hands, and result.

from Vic Divecha's Official Tech Blog

Red Sox Equipment Truck Left Today

Well, its about time. That weird period between the end of the Patriots season and the beginning of the Red Sox season is almost over, as the Red Sox Equipment truck left for Spring Training today, something that I think is news only in places like Boston.

Spinners Say "Yankees Suck"

The Lowell Spinners, the single-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, came out with a press release today that announces their new mission to replace all "Yankees" teams in youth leagues in and around Red Sox Nation with "Spinners" teams. To me, this boils down to the Spinners saying "Yankees Suck" in their own special way.

Hey...Go Spinners.

They make a convincing argument, describing the turmoil many kids go through when waiting to find out to which youth league team they've been assigned, hoping that they go to any team BUT the Yankees. I can understand this...I certainly wouldn't be very excited to have to play on a team with that name, and may have dropped the whole little league thing all together, given my droughthers. "When you are a kid playing baseball it is pure fun, and worrying about what team you are on should be the least of your concerns," says GM Tim Bawmann, and I think he's right. Furthermore, I think it's time we removed big league club names from the youth leagues althogether. I would like to think people are creative enough to come up with some team names other than those such as "Orioles", "Giants", and "Astros". They all have connotations as well; don't you think a kid from Boston may be somewhat partial to playing for the "Red Sox"?

Lastly, one might ask themselves, "what about those kids who WANT to play for a team called the Yankees?". The short answer is:

TOO BAD.

Renameborhoods

Over the course of the last few months, I've noticed a trend where various real-estate agents and other property related types have been taking the liberty of renaming some of Boston's neighborhoods. There has been such a large negative reaction to it that it seems to be dying down a lot. Hallelujah.

Now when I read articles about neighborhoods, I don't see "SoWa" (South Washington), "SoHa" (South Harrison) or, the worst one ever, "EaBo" (East Boston). It's bad enough that these names sound like Star Wars Characters ("Commander Eabo, I've got Rebels closing in, 5 o'clock"), but what's more disturbing to me is trying to figure out what the rationale was to rename them in the first place. Were the old names not good enough? Was it that what the old names are affiliated with isn't desirable to the clientele the real estate people are trying to attract? In effect, the changing of a neighborhood's name consequently affects that neighborhood's identity and culture. So who are these people to rename them?

EVERYONE I've seen interviewed on the news or with whom I have spoken about this has had a mixed reaction of laughter and confusion. Some, even anger. The whole situation is so ridiculous, it prompts me to fight back.

From now on I'll be sending mortgage payments to my MoCo and paying condo fees to my CoAss.

Stay Tough, the Union

My co-workers first words to me this morning about the President's State of the Union address last night were his opinion that he thought Bush was "trying to sound like a liberal". Interesting observation....I wonder if others thought the same thing.

I read over the transcript at the White House's site, and was not surprised to read that "the state of our Union is strong", yet again. Well, if you say so, prez...

It looks as if last night's speech was the same old "stay tough, the union" speech we've heard at least 3 years in a row now. One of the scary things is, I've actually heard people who take this mentality to heart, saying things like "yeah, we'll take them (Iran) over, then we'll move onto the next country", and "Let them (Korea) try to fuck with us, we'll kick their ass too". At what point, exactly, did I become a citizen of The United Bullies of the World, anyway? It seems as though none of these zealots will stop complaining and threatening until the world is under US control, and even then, I'm sure they'll still have the itch to pick a fight.

It is said that...our government failed to connect the dots of the [9/11] conspiracy. We now know that two of the hijackers in the United States placed telephone calls to al Qaeda operatives overseas. But we did not know about their plans until it was too late. So to prevent another attack...I have authorized a terrorist surveillance program to aggressively pursue the international communications of suspected al Qaeda operatives and affiliates to and from America.

Couldn't connect the dots? What was the title of that report, Ms. Rice?

I also love how he implies, without saying so exactly, that 9/11 happened because we couldn't wiretap people, and worse, that it will happen again if he's not allowed to do what he wants.

If the whole "Tough Guy" tactic isn't enough for you, there is another classic strategy of control: Fear. I thnk I first learned about it when I was studying the propaganda of Nazi Germany.

Lincoln could have accepted peace at the cost of disunity and continued slavery. Martin Luther King could have stopped at Birmingham or at Selma, and achieved only half a victory over segregation. The United States could have accepted the permanent division of Europe, and been complicit in the oppression of others. Today, having come far in our own historical journey, we must decide: Will we turn back, or finish well?

Wow! Lincoln? MLK? As another friend of mine so sarcastically put, "He [Bush] is clearly the next Martin Luther King".

So, next time you want to move others to your way of thinking, remember this cue form Bush. All you have to do is start talking about famous and revered figures in our history, throw in a lame attempt at tying in something you did recently that is loosely related to the argument, at best, then present a dichotomous choice (and sometimes ultimatum) like this one here: "turn back" (clearly negative, you wussy) or "finish well" (clearly positive, as opposed to finishing poorly or not at all..."stay the course").

Why do I THINK at all when my government is so ready to do it for me? I had no idea that every decision the President needed to make was so easy and clear cut...what an easy job! And the bonus is (according to some heavy pushers of the Republican agenda / religion), the President is never wrong...

...but damn, does he talk tough.

Cable Sox

It is with somewhat of a heavy heart that I report to you the end of free Red Sox games in the Boston area. Though I pay for cable and can watch them at home, there was something nostalgic about watching them on TV38, albeit only on Friday nights for the last few years. I remember when they first made the move to NESN years ago, and my father shelled out something in the neighborhood of $12 a month to Cablevision JUST to get that station and watch his games. With rising ticket prices and even faster rising cable costs, it seems that being a Sox fan is getting expensive these days.

At least I can read about them online.

Oh, yeah, that costs money too.

Gender Bias, My Ass

This story is great. I kid out in Milton is trying to say that the school system is gender biased towards female students. I can't get enough of him. I'll start out with a quote:

The system is designed to the disadvantage of males...From the elementary level, they establish a philosophy that if you sit down, follow orders, and listen to what they say, you'll do well and get good grades. Men naturally rebel against this.

Thankfully (or unfortunately, depending on your view) this isn't this kid's only point. Can you imagine a world where we try to instill discipline into the youth? But let's not judge too harshly or too quickly; maybe he has a point. Could it be that he is identifying something valid but isn't quite saying it right? Maybe what he's really pointing out is that much of what determines one's success in school does NOT come from academic achievement, but rather from simply following rules.

I think he's just making excuses for not doing well. He says he wants to get into Holy Cross, and this seems to me to be a feeble attempt by this kid (and probably his father, who is a Boston lawyer) to somehow explain away why he doesn't have the grades to do it.

Not surprisingly, this kid has support among other students in the school. Amazingly, however, even the female senior class president back several of this kid's ideas.

You can't expect a boy to buy pink paper and frills to decorate their notebooks.

What she's essentially claiming here is that because one teacher offers extra credit to anyone who "decorates" their bookcovers, this equates to using glitter and feathers. It may be just a way in which that teacher is getting kids to cover their books, something that prolongs the life of the book so as not to have to buy new ones any time soon. In the same breath, the president complains that the same teacher requires students to type up reports, which is somehow girly. Wow...typing, what an unneeded life skill.

Many of the other points this kid raises seem to have nothing to do with academics at all, and could actually be testament to favoratism towards girls in his school. If teachers are asking boys for passes in the halls and not girls (one of his claims), it could be that they like girls more....OR it could be that it has nothing to do with gender at all, and those people who are asked for passes have established some precedent for the inquiry, and this kid (I love calling him that) is simply trying to conveniently generalize it to fit his whacko theory.

To top off this kid's list of ridiculous suggestions, he poses the idea that boys should not be made to fulfill the community service required of all high-school seniors to graduate, saying it is "another burden that will just set off resistance from boys, who may skip it and fail to graduate as a result"...this kid could care less about the community apparently. His father should be ashamed of himself for raising such a child (and that's exactly what he is) and in fact encouraging this type of mentality.

The fact is, this kid has no idea what it is like to be discriminated against. He's a white guy who seems pretty well off and will be provided for regardless of what he does (or more acurately, doesn't do) in whatever school he ends up going to. Daddy, it seems, will make sure of that.

I enjoyed the other things boston.com readers posted in response to this story. Read them here.