A Very Special Editorial "Locks" - USF-BC National Championship Game to Torpedo BCS?

My first thought after watching the SEC and Pac 10 cannibalize themselves with Kentucky beating #1 LSU and Oregon State beating #2 Cal:

"If Ohio State loses a game, we could see a BCS Championship Game with Boston College vs. University of Southern Florida.

My second thought:

"If this happens, rabid SEC, Pac 10, and (misguided) Big 10 fans will immediately storm NCAA Headquarters (and possibly the White House and UN Headquarters) with pitchforks, torches, and giant foam fingers, demanding change."

And for once, they'd probably be right. USF and BC are having great years, and deserve their chance at the title, but if the monster SEC get's shut out of title game, they might secede again. And for better cause.

Ohio State has looked strong this year, but their schedule is ridiculously back-loaded. After feasting on the likes of Youngstown State, Northwestern, and Kent State, the Buckeyes have Michigan State, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan to close out the season. They'll be favorites by a touchdown in every game, but uneasy lies the head that wears the crown this season.

It should be fun to watch.

This week's picks:

• Tennessee +3 over TAMPA BAY
• New England -6.5 over DALLAS*
• GREEN BAY -3 over Washington.

* Cash in your 401k, borrow from your trust fund, and rob a 7-11 for this one. Tony Romo won't have to throw 5 interceptions to lose to Cobra Kai New England. But he will.

Last week: 0-2-1
This year: 6-7-1 (No worries. This is the 3-0 week that puts us back in the game. I hope.)

7 Day Summary...

If you haven't been reading, here's a list of our posts from the last 7 days:

• Maybe You Can Buy Friends

  Apparently Ticketmaster is giving away 5 free iTunes songs if you'll be it's friend on Facebook. I think one of the villagers with a) more free time than me and b) a Facebook account should do this and tell me if it works. And send me their voucher for free music. I think Ticketmaster is…

• Panhandle for Reparations

  Living in one of the last hippie bastions in the US, a place where a small minority thinks that the occupation of Alaska needs to end, always makes for entertaining news. On the front page of the metro section today was this. I guess this whole idea started on some artist's blog. I'm not…

• Blue eyes run the White House?

  I've started reading the Freakonomics blog , by the same guys who wrote the popular book . If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend it. The authors make correlations and causations between things and events that people normally wouldn't think of. For example, lower crime rates…

• Ed Hochuli is my hero!

  Although a USA Today is thrown at my various hotel room doors every morning, I always leave it in the hallway. But, not yesterday. Yesterday, my hero was on the front page (of course he would have a Wikipedia entry). The USA Today article starts out talking about how Mr. Ed "the weights in his…

• Texas Tech bans 'Vick Em' shirts

  An entrepreneurial Texas Tech student and Theta Chi member has been banned from selling t-shirts with a front logo reading "Vick 'em" ...a reference to the Aggies slogan "Get 'em"....for the Texas Tech v. Texas AM rivalry this weekend. The student was attempting to raise…

• Gmail Countdown Game

  I'm not sure about any of you unloyal readers out there, but I know my fellow VwWers use Gmail. As a user, I am fascinated by the gmail storage countdown/count-up. I propose we start a game to see who can guess to see when the storage limit will equal 3000MB. Yes, there are already other people…

• WebRunner can help you focus your web browsing...

  WebRunner is Mozilla (Firefox, Thunderbird, etc.) software based on the concept of Site Specific Browsers (SSB). SSB is "an application with an embedded browser designed to work exclusively with a single web application." Just a browser window, one website, no toolbars, nothing fancy. It…

• Silicon Alley's take on the Google acquisition of Jaiku...

  For those of you still hating on Twitter (ACOM) and thinking that the mini-blogging "Status" space hasn't gone mainstream, please read this article at Silicon Alley: LINK Here are the four main points, without the commentary from the article: 1) "Status" space has now gone…

• Why Al-Jazeera is good for America

  I'll start off with this: I couldn't care less if Google, YouTube, News Corp, GE, or Zamboni Inc. shared profit with Al-Jazeera. No matter what you've been told by any of the talking heads, politicians, or your next door neighbor, think again about what everyone says about Al-Jazeera. I…

• $500 for Me, $25 for (Each of) Thou

  Handsome devil that I am, it is difficult to understand why my list of acquaintances is limited to family and ex-frat guys. Neither group is renowned for fiscal or technical savvy. Thus, my referral bonuses for ING Direct Savings and ING Electric Orange checking remain (mostly) unclaimed. Whether…

• Free Credit Cards (kind of)

  So I was reading my Economist the other day and I came across this interesting article about math and credit card validation. I found it very intriguing and even mentioned to the other Villagers that I was going to do a post on it. I won't go into why it took me so long to finally post, suffice…

• Google bought Jaiku...

  LINK TO BLOG POST ABOUT ACQUISITION Why is this important? This may change my opinion on mini-blogging sites. I haven't done a comparison of the major mini-blogging sites in this blog ( Twitter , Pownce , Tumbler , Jaiku ), but I am signed up for all four of them and have been trying them out.…

• Office supplies in jello...

  Anyone who watches US version of The Office has seen the classic stapler or calculator in jello prank. Personally, I don't know many people who still use a real calculator (as opposed to Excel or the calculator program in Windows), but I guess it would be even funnier because of their rarity in…

• Every bathroom should have one of these....

  ...Electronic Vagrant's favorite bathroom item. Stall doors? Maybe. Shower? Sorta gross. Soap? Not totally necessary. Scale in the corner by the door? CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT . It is always good to come to the Nashville office because, in EV's honor, I can weigh myself before and after bathroom…

• Securities Law "Roe v. Wade"

  An interesting case is being heard tomorrow before the Supreme Court. The issue at hand is whether investor lawsuits can reach beyond the defendant company and target third party vendors. This is seen as a precursor to the lawsuits currently in motion with the whole Enron meltdown. The specifics…

• Google shares revenue with Al Jazeera...

  Ok, so my title is slightly misleading, but it is true. According to TechCrunch , last week, YouTube signed an agreement with Al Jazeera to share advertising revenue from the Al Jazeera YouTube channel . Interestingly enough, other than YouTube or obscure satellite TV , there are only two other ways…

• Things NOT to do with duct tape....

  One of the feeds I read, Do-It-Yourself Life , posted a DON'T do it yourself article. Do NOT duct tape a child to a wall or any vertical surface. Well, you could, but people might question your parenting skills. Even if this picture was taken on a white floor and made to look like it was a wall,…

• This week's rental car....(October 8th)

  This week, Avis gave me a Hyundai Santa Fe . So far, it seems like a decent vehicle. Yesterday, I looked up Sirius channels, but it ends up the Santa Fe has built in XM . I think I like XM better. I'm not a huge Howard Stern fan...or... Martha Stewart ....

• Organization I didn't accomplish this weekend...

  I have all of my electronics concentrated in the corner of my living room, below my TV. The TV is mounted on the wall, which provides cable clutter in itself since I'm not cool enough to have the wires running inside the wall. But, something I wanted to try this past weekend was to organize my…

• Big Ern's "My Proctologist Said 'That's one Eerie Canal!'" Locks of the Week

  Just when you thought it couldn't get any more contrived... This week's picks: Detroit +4 over WASHINGTON NEW ENGLAND -17 over Cleveland DENVER +1 over San Diego Last week 2-1 This season 6-5

• How taking the bus to work relates to marathons...

  So, my future wife, Meredith, is running the Marine Corp Marathon at the end of the month. The other morning while training, she was disgusted with the amount of people who drive to work and the ensuing exhaust that she was inhaling. As someone who either takes the bus/metro and/or the train to…

Weekly Del.icio.us links...

Here are 20 links from our del.icio.us account.
Next week, I promise to organize and have categories on each link. Sorry.

For more links of what we read, please visit our villager with wheel del.icio.us page:
http://del.icio.us/villagerwithwheel

• 10 Businesses Facing Extinction in 10 Years - Entrepreneur.com

• 15 Ways to Squeeze the Most From 15 Minutes

• Cheat on the Need to Sleep / Wired How To's

• Cover Story: Wal-Mart's Faltering RFID Initiative: Falling Short of Expectations

  Wal-Mart's Faltering RFID Initiative

• Create your own solar water distillation plant

• Dear Parents: Save Some Money, Use Kindersay.

• Death special: How does it feel to die? - being-human - 13 October 2007 - New Scientist

• Earth-like planets orbiting other stars on the horizon

• HDTV makes life hard for cable (CMCSA, T)

• Islamic terrorists damage giant buddha

• Make your own cruise ship origami towel animal

• Marshmallow Peeps Adult - Costumes

• Media Matters - On CNBC's The Big Idea, Coulter said that "we" Christians "just want Jews to be perfected"

• Neatorama » Blog Archive » Dove Onslaught

• Overcoming Shyness

  Something very few people I know need to read....

• Pollution cuts life expectancy in Europe - Yahoo! News

• Slashdot | Has Wikipedia Peaked?

• Ten Epic Halloween Costumes

• Wal-Mart (WMT) up 4% on raised earnings estimate

• Why Americans should eat more excrement. - By Kent Sepkowitz - Slate Magazine

• Delicious Links Builder by InternetDuctTape.com

  This list was created using Delicious Links Builder

Maybe You Can Buy Friends

Apparently Ticketmaster is giving away 5 free iTunes songs if you'll be it's friend on Facebook. I think one of the villagers with a) more free time than me and b) a Facebook account should do this and tell me if it works. And send me their voucher for free music.

I think Ticketmaster is right up there with my most despised organizations in the world, but free is free. I'd join NAMBLA if they were giving away keychains.


Link

Panhandle for Reparations

Living in one of the last hippie bastions in the US, a place where a small minority thinks that the occupation of Alaska needs to end, always makes for entertaining news. On the front page of the metro section today was this. I guess this whole idea started on some artist's blog. I'm not really sure why or how panhandling makes the reparations more feasible or if it's just a "white people can shame themselves for a while and give us some cash and everything will be cool and there won't be any ignorant fools left in America" kind of grand plan.

I don't know if I favor reparations, if I hate the idea, or if the only decision I've made is the Dave Chapelle sketch about reparations is really funny. Reparations to me are similar to furry alien invasions, taxes, and women's cyclical events. I try not to think about them. I feel bad even typing that because I should care, but I just have a gut feeling that whatever happens will be screwed up even more, so me not making a decision is the safest way to go. For those of you who really care and want to help out, I've included a guide to help you along the way.

Panhandling Guide

PS: I'm not kidding when I say that the panhandling for reparations article was beat out for the front page by the article detailing the stolen nude self-portrait rug.

Blue eyes run the White House?

I've started reading the Freakonomics blog, by the same guys who wrote the popular book.

If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend it. The authors make correlations and causations between things and events that people normally wouldn't think of. For example, lower crime rates and the legalization of abortion.

Anyway, in one of the latest blog entries, it is proposed that Fred Thompson will win the next presidential election because he has blue eyes. Apparently, every President since Richard Nixon has had blue eyes.

While men may not notice the color of another guy's eyes, women do. It was pointed out by female blogger, Noele Kensut.

The key to Kensut's argument:
"Today only 1 in every 6 Americans, or 16.7% of the population, has blue eyes. This percentage has been dropping in part due to immigration from non-European countries. A 2002 Loyola University study found that as many as 50% of Americans born in 1900 had blue eyes. The choice of an American with blue eyes for President may signal a voter preference for someone with deeper roots in America, vs. a relative newcomer."

It is also pointed out that John Edwards has blue eyes. But, since Edwards gets $400 haircuts and is generally more girly, he won't win. Then again, by that logic (being more girly), Hillary should win (although I'm sure there's an argument that even though she is female, she isn't more girly). Clearly, I haven't thought this through...

Another reason why Edwards won't win:

Ed Hochuli is my hero!

Although a USA Today is thrown at my various hotel room doors every morning, I always leave it in the hallway. But, not yesterday. Yesterday, my hero was on the front page (of course he would have a Wikipedia entry).

The USA Today article starts out talking about how Mr. Ed "the weights in his penalty flag are made of pure platinum" Hochuli prepares his crew before game time. Starting on Saturday, he hands out "awards", which are rubber ducks, bears, and plungers, as they go over the film from the previous week's game. Sunday, they make sure things will go smoothly with plenty of pre-game prep.

But, I'm not here to talk about the article.

I'm here to talk about the man, the myth, the "physique".

A recent on-field explanation made by Mr. Hochuli:
"There was no foul on the play, it was not a hold. The Defender was just overpowered."

A comment made last Sunday by Sam Rosen, a Fox TV announcer, about Mr. Hochuli:
"Is it me, or is he just getting bigger?"


There are websites dedicated to Mr. Hochuli:

afraidofedhochuli.blogspot.com - this one is more concerned with football in general, but has one of the quotes I used above...

whatwouldedhochulido.com - created by Jessica McCartney, a 34-year-old Chicago resident. Quote from another article in the sports section of yesterday's USA Today (left side of USA Today link from above, "REF'S PHYSIQUE TURNS HEADS"), "says she couldn't help but notice [Mr.] Hochuli's muscular arms when she watched games."

www.nfl85.com - created by Mr. Hochuli's son. It currently has a message board and a few links, but the site claims in the future it will:
* include updates of Ed's weekly schedule
* include photos
* outline the "Herculean" workout regimen
* take a video tour with Ed of his "crib"
Let's hope the site comes through with its promises.

Also, thanks to the wikipedia page (from above), here is a link to his profile from his law firm (Jones, Skelton & Hochuli, P.L.C.):
Mr. Hochuli's profile

You can e-mail him at - ehochuli at jshfirm dot com

In the USA Today article, it says refs make between "$44,000 to $130,000 a season." Somehow, I doubt Mr. Hochuli is worried about that. Although (also in the article), he says it is much tougher to be a ref than a civil trial lawyer. The pressure of millions of people watching his split second decisions is immense.

To end my post on the great Mr. Hochuli, I will use a quote from "50 True Facts About Ed Hochuli" from whatwouldedhochulido.com:

"Ed Hochuli calculated Pi to the 300th digit and then declared it ENOUGH."

That's just the kind of man he is.....

Texas Tech bans 'Vick Em' shirts

An entrepreneurial Texas Tech student and Theta Chi member has been banned from selling t-shirts with a front logo reading "Vick 'em"...a reference to the Aggies slogan "Get 'em"....for the Texas Tech v. Texas AM rivalry this weekend.

The student was attempting to raise money for his frat. The t-shirt depicted a football player resembling Mike Vick with the Texas AM mascot,Reveille (a dog), with a noose around its neck. The frat has since been suspended.

Three hundred shirts have sold (probably millions more had the sale continued).

This will only intensify the rivalry between the 2 schools:

"In 1999, after a Tech football victory, Red Raiders fans pelted Aggies players with batteries and taunts. Tech fans tore down the goalposts and paraded them past the Aggies' bus."

In 2001, about 1,000 Tech celebrants tore down the goalposts, marched them the length of the field and pushed them into the A&M section of the stadium. Aggies threw ice and a skirmish ensued.

Then there were the tortillas. In 1992, Tech fans began tossing them like Frisbees onto the field during games. A year later, hundreds of tortillas — many carrying unprintable messages — were thrown during an A&M game."

The 300 or so "Vick 'em" shirts have not yet appeared on ebay or craigslist...at least i couldn't find any.

More pressing than t-shirt fiasco, is the question whether its too soon to dress as Vick for Halloween.

Gmail Countdown Game

I'm not sure about any of you unloyal readers out there, but I know my fellow VwWers use Gmail. As a user, I am fascinated by the gmail storage countdown/count-up. I propose we start a game to see who can guess to see when the storage limit will equal 3000MB.

Yes, there are already other people dorkier than I who have started plotting the 3000MB achievement on graphs, but I trust Google to throw a wrench in that straight line of theirs.

My vote: March 21
AKA: K-Fed's birthday

My calculations came to June 18th 2008 at 2:25pm PDT, but I'm sure I'm off by a bit.

WebRunner can help you focus your web browsing...

WebRunner is Mozilla (Firefox, Thunderbird, etc.) software based on the concept of Site Specific Browsers (SSB). SSB is "an application with an embedded browser designed to work exclusively with a single web application." Just a browser window, one website, no toolbars, nothing fancy.

It has been called a "distraction free browser". So, if you are one of those people who opens up a browser either at home or at work and can get lost with the vast universe that is the world wide web (I can be one of those people), this might help.

After downloading and installing WebRunner (for Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X), you then download different "webapps" (under the previous link) for specific web sites.

That was probably a bad explanation, so I will give an example. I use the previously mentioned Todoist for task management. I downloaded the Distraction Free GTD pack for WebRunner from internetducttape.com (here is the actual download link).

In Windows, the .webapp files automatically associate with WebRunner. So, to run Todoist, I double-click on todoist.webapp and that is all I see in my browser. I don't have any other options, which can keep me focused. You can create shortcuts to your .webapp files for your desktop or quick launch bar and have multiple WebRunner windows open. An example of my todoist window is to the right. Click on it for a bigger view (my task management isn't totally efficient at this point).

A few notes...

There are webapp pages for many other sites (including sites that will not promote efficiency like Facebook and Twitter).

If you like to proxy everything, you will need to edit the config file.

I don't group windows in my taskbar and personally like Firefox to minimize to the system tray instead of the taskbar (Firefox extension: Minimize to Tray). So, to get my WebRunner windows to minimize to the system tray, I installed TaskSwitchXP. It seems to be free, but only works in XP/2003. It will also replace your default Alt+Tab and give give preview windows.


Lifehacker link

UPDATE: engtech, the creator of internetducttape.com, left a comment informing me the Distraction Free GTD pack has been enhanced, so I changed the link.

Silicon Alley's take on the Google acquisition of Jaiku...

For those of you still hating on Twitter (ACOM) and thinking that the mini-blogging "Status" space hasn't gone mainstream, please read this article at Silicon Alley:

LINK

Here are the four main points, without the commentary from the article:
1) "Status" space has now gone mainstream.
2) Twitter is still by far the dominant brand.
3) Twitter's value just soared. (dollar value)
4) Twitter's competition just increased exponentially, so the company had better skedaddle.

So, hopefully if Google gets moving with Jaiku, we should see more integration with external sites in both Jaiku and Twitter, and maybe even Pownce (which the article also mentions and I still have invites to). Also note the great use of the word skedaddle...

I feel even more vindicated about using Twitter....haters....

Why Al-Jazeera is good for America

I'll start off with this: I couldn't care less if Google, YouTube, News Corp, GE, or Zamboni Inc. shared profit with Al-Jazeera. No matter what you've been told by any of the talking heads, politicians, or your next door neighbor, think again about what everyone says about Al-Jazeera.



I will probably ramble for about 600 or so words, so if you don't have a few minutes or aren't fully awake, I'd save this one for later.

I believe Al-Jazeera has been misrepresented and its merits overlooked by many in the United States. Over the past few years, Americans have become accustomed to hearing about Osama's latest cave tape or a beheading video on Al-Jazeera or its MSNBC-esque stepchild Al-Arabiya. Unfortunately for us, and for Al-Jazeera, the American public associates these pan-Arab networks with terrorist propaganda. Al-Jazeera, or AJ as I will now call it because I'm already tired of finding the hyphen on the keyboard, is a network with questionable integrity and credibility, I won't argue with anyone on those points. Call them the Middle East version of "Hard Copy" or "A Current Affair" but without the celebrity gossip and much more gore.

I think it is important to look at the Middle East as a whole to better understand the benefits of AJ. Born in Doha, Qatar and funded by the ridiculously rich Emir, AJ was the first network in the entire Arab world whose chief doesn't worry about being dragged into the desert and tortured. This is otherwise known as freedom of the press. Think of what our hemisphere would be like if a free press had reached our shores in 1996. Opening up the presses in a neighborhood of the world home to the most brutal dictators, the largest earnings discrepancies between rich and poor, and the most intolerant strain of religion (Wahhabism, NOT Islam in general) gaining wide acceptance in the world today is a wonderful thing. AJ's greatest measure of success is the fact that nobody in the Arab world likes them. They've been thrown out of Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Bahrain at various times for reporting stories that those in power didn't find pleasing.

The fact of the matter is, AJ is getting news and divergent opinions out to millions of people who might never have gotten them otherwise. I'm not just speaking about the Arab/Muslim world either. If everyone got AJ in their homes and watched half an hour a day, wouldn't we as a culture be more educated about the geopolitics of the Middle East? I could use that argument for many areas of the world. I don't know jack about many of the pressing issues of Sub-Saharan Africa. If the world's poorest people had a voice, do you think that we would be allowing Darfur to happen? Our country would also be better prepared to fight the war on terror if we had a warrior class who knew less about Paris Hilton and more about Mohammed.

If any of you would like to see a different perspective, I would highly suggest that you check out Frontline's News War series. Frontline is awesome, and not just because you can watch all their episodes free online forever. There is also a great interview with Thomas Friedman for all of you neo-cons to read about how much he likes AJ.

AJ has obvious problems. They have suspected terrorists work for them (check the wikipedia page and look at the Spain header). They show footage that would make me sick. We could all add a couple more. But really, is it really worth it for the US to try to stifle a free voice in the position we're currently in?

$500 for Me, $25 for (Each of) Thou

Handsome devil that I am, it is difficult to understand why my list of acquaintances is limited to family and ex-frat guys. Neither group is renowned for fiscal or technical savvy. Thus, my referral bonuses for ING Direct Savings and ING Electric Orange checking remain (mostly) unclaimed.

Whether you stumbled upon Villager in pursuit of Japanese Pee or enlightened social commentary, you owe it to yourself to open one one or both flavors of account. With an invite from the gate keeper (me), you get a $25 bonus for opening an account with $250. If you don't have $250, I suggest borrowing it from your friendly neighborhood payday loan store, or betting against any or all of Big Ern's Locks.

If you want a referral (did I mention you get $25?) post your e-mail in the comments, and let me know if you want to open savings, checking or both. Alternatively, shoot your request to villagergmail dot zem at gishpuppy dot com. Note: all I get is you e-mail address. ING doesn't even tell me who signed up, all I know is that someone did.

Sign-up today, the number of referrals is limited:
Remaining savings referrals: 15
Remaining checking referrals: 25

Free Credit Cards (kind of)

So I was reading my Economist the other day and I came across this interesting article about math and credit card validation. I found it very intriguing and even mentioned to the other Villagers that I was going to do a post on it. I won't go into why it took me so long to finally post, suffice to say I'm an idiot, but the article is there for all of you to read.

Well, that's not the end of it. I spent an hour the other night figuring out that "reverse number" means reverse the whole credit card number. The Darkcoding site explanations right here and right here as well as the Wikipedia explanation here help clarify what is going on. The Darkcoding site is pretty neat, I'm sure Elroy will enjoy it. Meanwhile, with all that time on your hands, you can verify that the Bank of Nigeria card that your friend King William sent you with a $12 million credit limit really is fake.

Google bought Jaiku...

LINK TO BLOG POST ABOUT ACQUISITION

Why is this important?
This may change my opinion on mini-blogging sites. I haven't done a comparison of the major mini-blogging sites in this blog (Twitter, Pownce, Tumbler, Jaiku), but I am signed up for all four of them and have been trying them out. Here's an article with a side by side comparison.

I did have a post on how everyone should use Twitter. You can even follow villager with wheel on Twitter.

But, I love Google. I try to use everything Google. I am a Google fanboy (as if that wasn't obvious by my last two statements). I don't care that they have and will have years of info on me.

So, now I have to seriously consider Jaiku as my main mini-blogging tool.
But, I have feeds from my favorite blogs in Twitter. I can automatically update my facebook status via Twitter. There are Twitter Firefox extensions (TwitterFox, TwitBin). There are many other uses and tools...

There are ways to update all four of the previously mentioned mini-blogging sites, example in this LINK, but Twitter is the key to making that happen.


I actually saw the news about Google buying Jaiku in my Twitter feed...how ironic...Google is complicating my life....I am perplexed...

Hopefully, this isn't an acquisition that Google ignores. They could seriously blow Twitter away with some key integration to gmail, gcal, gtalk, etc...


P.S. Sorry for the link overload.

Office supplies in jello...

Anyone who watches US version of The Office has seen the classic stapler or calculator in jello prank.


Personally, I don't know many people who still use a real calculator (as opposed to Excel or the calculator program in Windows), but I guess it would be even funnier because of their rarity in the office. Maybe its just the offices I work in....

DIY Life has an article about how to put office supplies in jello. The step by step is actually at instructables.com....


Here's a longer clip (2:59) from The Office, featuring the ever engaging Dwight Schrute and his stapler. This clip also includes the video from above with Andy and his calculator:

Every bathroom should have one of these....

...Electronic Vagrant's favorite bathroom item. Stall doors? Maybe. Shower? Sorta gross. Soap? Not totally necessary. Scale in the corner by the door?
CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT.

It is always good to come to the Nashville office because, in EV's honor, I can weigh myself before and after bathroom breaks.

Securities Law "Roe v. Wade"

An interesting case is being heard tomorrow before the Supreme Court. The issue at hand is whether investor lawsuits can reach beyond the defendant company and target third party vendors. This is seen as a precursor to the lawsuits currently in motion with the whole Enron meltdown.

The specifics involves Charter Communication, a cable provider, that supposedly over paid Motorola and Scientific Atlanta for box sets and in return Motorola and S.A. bought advertising from Charter at inflated prices. Charter then added this inflated revenue to its books, inflating earnings and share price before the stock tanked.

Pro-business groups contend that even if these allegations prove true, Motorala and S.A. should be shielded because they did not inflate Charter's numbers. Charter itself is soley responsible for its deceptive accounting actions. Furthermore, these groups explain that an unfavorable ruling would dappen business, make the U.S. less competitive and hurt foreign investment into the U.S. with a wave of new lawsuits. In actuality, the companies are scared that they could be held liable for any business relationship they enter into even if they have no knowledge that their counterpart has some shady accounting practices.

While it makes sense to protect third parties in some respect, the memory of Enron still weighs heavily. Third party vendors including Merill Lynch appear to have deliberately aided in the inflation of numbers and should be held accountable. Its no suprise that investment banks are some of the biggest opponents of this lawsuit.

I'm not quite sure how I feel on this issue. On one hand, i agree that this could hurt business with blood-sucking lawyers filing lawsuits like its their job (actually it is there job..what am i thinking) against honest companies. On the other hand, if i was an investor and lost millions because an investment bank was aiding in downright fraud with the company i invested in, I'd want them held accountable.

Google shares revenue with Al Jazeera...

Ok, so my title is slightly misleading, but it is true.
According to TechCrunch, last week, YouTube signed an agreement with Al Jazeera to share advertising revenue from the Al Jazeera YouTube channel.

Interestingly enough, other than YouTube or obscure satellite TV, there are only two other ways to get the Al Jazeera Arabic news network, famous for broadcasting video statements from Osama Bin Laden:

1) Move to Toledo, Ohio and sign up for cable with Buckeye CableSystem
2) Move to Burlington, Vermont and sign up for cable with the municipal supplier

So, Google supports Al Jazeera while cable networks don't. Personally, I've never watched it. I love Google. Does this mean I should check out Al Jazeera? That may be some faulty logic...

Websites I probably shouldn't have visited, at work, while researching this post:

1) All of the above

In a not so related, but I think its similar website, visit:
Jihad On You

Things NOT to do with duct tape....

One of the feeds I read, Do-It-Yourself Life, posted a DON'T do it yourself article.
Do NOT duct tape a child to a wall or any vertical surface. Well, you could, but people might question your parenting skills.

Even if this picture was taken on a white floor and made to look like it was a wall, it is still somewhat cruel...although whoever did this had the decency to also duct tape the child's favorite stuffed animal to keep her company....

This week's rental car....(October 8th)

This week, Avis gave me a Hyundai Santa Fe.
So far, it seems like a decent vehicle.

Yesterday, I looked up Sirius channels, but it ends up the Santa Fe has built in XM. I think I like XM better. I'm not a huge Howard Stern fan...or...Martha Stewart....

Organization I didn't accomplish this weekend...

I have all of my electronics concentrated in the corner of my living room, below my TV. The TV is mounted on the wall, which provides cable clutter in itself since I'm not cool enough to have the wires running inside the wall.

But, something I wanted to try this past weekend was to organize my cables by using a towel rack:


LINK to original lifehacker post

Here are some other ideas:

Lifehacker - go cordless with clamps

Lifehacker - the cordless workspace (sort of)

I will post pictures if I ever accomplish this goal (probably not for another two weeks)....

Big Ern's "My Proctologist Said 'That's one Eerie Canal!'" Locks of the Week

Just when you thought it couldn't get any more contrived...

This week's picks:

Detroit +4 over WASHINGTON
NEW ENGLAND -17 over Cleveland
DENVER +1 over San Diego

Last week 2-1
This season 6-5

How taking the bus to work relates to marathons...

So, my future wife, Meredith, is running the Marine Corp Marathon at the end of the month.
The other morning while training, she was disgusted with the amount of people who drive to work and the ensuing exhaust that she was inhaling. As someone who either takes the bus/metro and/or the train to work, this gave her an idea.
She has decided (in an atypical liberal way) to place something similar to the following on the back of her shirt while running the marathon:

If I can run 26.2 miles, you can take the bus/metro to work.


Personally, if she wants to make a statement, that's fine with me. I take planes to work, so I am worse than all of those driving. But, this idea intrigues me due to the first potential opportunity for a www.villagerwithwheel.com sponsorship.
She has agreed, sorta, that if the blog pays for her shirt to be made (dry fit material with the statement screened on the back), she would be willing to have the address of the blog on the shirt also.

Clearly, any traffic obtained from this sponsorship probably wouldn't like my previous post poking fun at Al Gore. But, we could put up some hippie posts on saving the environment prior to the marathon to lure in potential tree huggers readers.


Then, right after we get them hooked, we could have OD guest blog with a stall quote (from our college frat house), similar to "stop throwing pennies at my boobs you effing jack@ss", but something much more offensive.....

But seriously, I think the sponsorship idea is money....

Human Search Engines....

Wikipedia defines a human search engine as:
"..a search engine that utilizes human participation to filter the search results and assist users in clarifying their search request. The goal is to provide users with a limited number of relevant results, as opposed to traditional search engines that often return a large number of results that may or may not be relevant."

Some examples of human search engines:

Bessed - built on a blogging platform
ChaCha - Cha means "search" in Chinese
Mahalo - according to their site, "search results only include great links"

Apparently, when search engines use humans to index pages, the results are more relevant. I can't say that I have tried any of them extensively, but maybe next time you are frustrated with Google, these are some alternatives.


I don't think Ms. Dewey is a human powered search engine, but check out the intro. It is powered by Microsoft Live Search. Also, if you are idle for 30 seconds or so, she yells at you. She's actually quite a character...hit the Best of Dewey button and she will probably put on a little show...

And the Horrible Pie Chart Truth Will Set You Free

Alternate title: Save Money, Lose Weight, Play More Video Games

After playing with Mint for a few weeks, and fixing some of the (few) mis-labeled transactions, 2 things became abundantly clear:

1. Owning and improving a home in the DC area is expensive as balls.


2. I am spending enough money on fast food and coffee to lease a Kia.

The home improvement isn't that troubling, assuming anyone ever buys or sells a house again. Ever.

But the fast food spending is killing me (quite literally) in several ways. First, there are many better ways to utilize $310/month than Panda Express and Starbucks. Second (and I haven't done the legwork on this) I suspect there are healthier dining options extant.

Enter the magic of the internets. Starting Columbus day (no time to grocery shop before then) I will harness the self-improvement (and waist-line reducing) power of Joe's Goals, ING Direct, and self-loathing to banish fastfood and Starbucks from my (weekday) life. This should help me save money (for to pay off credit cards and buy a 40GB Playstation 3) and bring sexy back.

I typically spend ~$5 on breakfast/coffee and $10 on fastfood lunch and dinner. My thinking is that I can replace $125/week of fastfood with ~$50 of groceries, saving $75/week. Tracking my (hopefully) good behavior on Joe's Goals, I plan on dumping the first $35/saved each week into a no-fun ING account that will go towards credit cards. The other (possible) $40 will go to fun.

I'll check back in a month and let you know how it's going. If you don't hear from me, I'm probably at Pentagon City mall gorging myself on Kung Pao and Orange Chicken.

Two headed turtle...

...has been purchased by a pet store in Pennsylvania; Big Al's Aquarium Supercenter in East Norriton. Oddly enough, I just saw this story on ESPN's First Take.

The turtle is apparently healthy and can live 15 to 20 years.

The little guy(s)/gal(s) has two sets of front feet, but only one set of back feet.

The turtle is a red-eared slider and can fit on a silver dollar. Quite small...

Link to the story:
LINK

Link to Big Al's website and address (in case you want to go see it):
Web Site - Address

Learn the internet from Kim Jong Il...

Apparently, everyone's favorite dictator, Kim Jong Il has proclaimed himself an "internet expert", according to Engaget.
He made this admission during talks with South Korean President, Roh Moo-hyun.

I'm convinced.

I wonder if he has a blog with tips on the internet....oh wait, The Economist once said that the "Chinese web which, for all its no-go areas, is a paradise of liberty compared with Kwangmyong" (Kwangmyong being the North Korean intranet). What does that tell you about internet access in North Korea?

"Hans Blix! I'm very busy man!"

BEST Halloween costume involving poop...

Boing Boing calls this the worst costume ever, but they are wrong.
Poopie Shorts! Just read the description:
"Two-Layer Butt Allows 'Diarrhea' to Flow without a Mess!"

Comes with "Theatrical Liquid 'Diarrhea'"!!

Maybe I could use this costume for more than one year.....

Here's a link to 10 Halloween Costumes That Are Just Sick and Wrong, where this comes from....

PT Cruiser - Day 3 - It is actually smarter than me....

No, I haven't figured out why the alarm goes off every time I unlock and open the door.
But, it does have Sirius satellite radio. I accidentally pushed a button while trying to turn up the volume and found out. I could have been imagining a fat whip (since I don't have to see the outside while driving) while listening to good tunes.
Boy, do I feel dumb....

PT Cruiser, please accept my humble apology.

Covestor now has $100 million worth of brokerage accounts...

....Zach and I are a small fraction of it.

TechCrunch highlights that Covestor users have a combined amount of $100 million in brokerage accounts.
We have previously highlighted Covestor (link to tagged posts) and just figured I would mention it since it seems to be a growing phenomenon.

As opposed to being a fantasy stock site that doesn't use real money, this site shows if you really can't spell stock or market...


And yes, the A/C unit on top of the car has nothing to do with the post...

Even Though I Plan on Voting For Her...

...I think the Hillary Nutcracker is pretty funny. Yours for the low-low price of $19.95.

Wal-Mart's employees drink haterade...

Haterade is defined by UrbanDictionary.com as, "a figurative drink representing a modality of thought. those who consume it are themselves consumed by the negativity which with they speak."

A recent article in BusinessWeek, as highlighted HERE by BloggingStocks.com, points out that Wal-Mart employees are extremely bitter towards their employer. Because of this resentfulness, employees treat customers like poop.
Some have suggested that Wal-Mart stop trying to up their rankings in the list of the World's Billionaires and actually treat their employees better.

My question is, will this actually encourage people who refuse to shop at Wal-Mart to become patrons?

People who currently hate Wal-Mart (i.e. Electronic Vagrant), probably have reasons other than bad customer service. How many people were so upset by their customer experience that they never went back? Humans are inherently cheap. So, they probably continue to shop there and just accept the fact that if they can't find something, they may be cursed at by the employee who "don't work in that department".

Are Target employees really that much nicer? Its not like minimum and close to minimum wage employees don't hate their low paying job because they work at Wal-Mart vs. Target vs. any other retailer. How often do you see a happy cashier or floor representative?

I worked retail all through high school and college. I actually worked for a Wal-Mart brand (Sam's Club) for two summers and a Christmas break. The unique thing about my Sam's Club experience? That store had the worst loss prevention because the front end employees, including supervisors, had a scheme to steal massive amounts of product from the store. I'm not sure if I call that bitter, but that action is definitely not based on a high level of job satisfaction.

My point is, Wal-Mart needs to change their corporate business practices for people to view it as an acceptable place to shop. Treating their employees better is a start, but not the end solution to bring back alienated customers.

Limiting goof off time...

Why?
If you use Firefox, like I do, there are extensions created to help you eliminate fun non-productive time. Here are a few examples:
MeeTimer - MeeTimer logs where you spend your time online, grouping it into activities, and actively discouraging time wasting.
I have it running right now. Although it isn't really set up to group or annoy me, I am in no way discouraged to surf the internet.
LeechBlock - LeechBlock is a simple productivity tool designed to block those time-wasting sites that can suck the life out of your working day. All you need to do is specify which sites to block and when to block them.
This assumes your corporate firewall doesn't already block them.
TimeTracker - Do you spend too much time on Firefox? Do you open tabs faster than you can close them? Cannot get things done? Keep track of how much you browse with TimeTracker.
I think all of these look at the glass as half empty.

Here's an online gimmick:
Timer - a browser-based egg timer. Counts down however many minutes YOU choose. Displays the running time in the browser title bar (or tab).

Why should I limit my non-productive time? Non-work time is fun time! Instead, try to be more productive so you can have more time to fool around.
Some positive productivity extensions for firefox:
Life-hack productivity extensions
Life-hack GreaseMonkey scripts - between the two lists, this one is better...

Previously mentioned by Zach, Todoist, which I have started using and paying for, really does help. Simple, yet efficient.
Another tool mentioned by Zach, which has a Firefox extension, Getting Things Done.

There are many tools, add-ons, and what not out there to make yourself a better cubicle worker (Lifehack.org, Lifehacker.com)...why not take advantage so you can be less of a cubicle worker?

So you can do stuff like this:

PT Cruiser - Day 2

The alarm on my rental PT Cruiser continues to go off every time I unlock and open the driver side door. Terribleness....
Anyway, last night the PT lead me to Miscellaneous Rodriguez, a store in Sharonville, OH. Although the name sounds intriguing, the patrons are mainly Hispanic, probably because it sells mainly Hispanic food.

I was hoping they would sell something crazy like Japanese Pee Powered Batteries.....

Brain-Eating Amoeba

My mother originally sent me an article about this, but since the Chicago Tribune has yet to make all its content free like the New York Times (and possibly soon the Wall Street Journal), I have to use a different but similar article.
This article from azcentral.com, highlights the recent death of a 14-year-old boy from a brain-eating bacteria.
Yes, the bacteria "Naegleria Fowleri" can travel up your nose via nerve fibers and eat your brain. The most likely result of such action is death in two weeks. Usually, the bacteria is contracted from warm shallow water. An underwater somersault might result in the bacteria getting into your nose and eventually moving into your brain, destroying tissue as it goes.
Although only 23 people were infected from 1995 to 2004, there have already been six cases this year and experts predict that infections will increase due to rising temperatures and therefore warmer water (future decades).
Symptoms include "a stiff neck, headaches and fevers." At later stages, there will be "signs of brain damage such as hallucinations and behavioral changes."
Here's a link to a CDC fact sheet: LINK

Personally, I am not a huge fan of bodies of water. This doesn't encourage me to go jump in a lake. This bacteria can also be found in swimming pools. That's not cool either.
Either way, I though it was interesting and slightly scary. I don't want a bacteria to turn my brain into an Old Country Buffet....

Kevin Federline vs. Britney Spears

As you may have seen by now, Britney Spears loses custody of her children, Sean Preston and Jayden James, at noon on Wednesday. It is (at the time of this writing) Breaking News on CNN.
So, in honor of Britney being a total screw up, I figured I would do a quick comparison in a few categories to determine which parent should have the honor of raising two children who will clearly be messed up no matter what.

	k-Fed		Britney	WINNER
Upbringing	Parents divorced at age 8.		I think her parents are still together.	Britney
Previous Parenting Experience	Has spread his seed previously…has two other children via Shar Jackon.		Sean and Jayden are her first two children.	Kevin
Parenting skills	Shar claims he is a great dad.		Britney is infamous for a few stunts with her children, including holding one on her lap while driving. She was also ordered by a judge to spend 8 hours a week with a parenting coach.	Kevin - Parenting coach? I didn't even know those existed. How do I get to be one?
Schooling	Dropped out of high school in 9th grade. Later got his GED		Not sure, but I bet she made it past 9th grade.	Britney - but no promises that I'm right.
Hit Songs	Clearly, k-Fed's best song was PopoZão, even though the CD did poorly. Go here for a sample.		In my mind, "...Baby One More Time" was her true classic.	Britney - although Kevin almost wins this category since PopoZão is a slang term for "big ass".
Sports	Participated in a few episodes of WWE's RAW. Rumor has it, people backstage actually liked him. I don't see how the crowd wouldn't want to see him get thrown around a ring.		Accomplished gymnast until the age of 9.	Britney - Being a former gymnast who was always told to be a wrestler, I have to go with Britney.
Movies	Appearance in "You Got Served".		"Crossroads".	Kevin - I didn't see Crossroads, but it could not have been good.
TV	Britney and Kevin: Chaotic, 1 vs. 100, CSI, Las Vegas, various others.		Britney and Kevin: Chaotic, SNL, Will and Grace, CNN, various others.	Kevin - Based on Britney's comment to Tucker Carlson on CNN, I have to give this one to Kevin.
Modeling	The line he modeled at Macy's was the top selling line.		She posed naked while pregnant.	I'm going to call this one a tie since I can't believe people would LIKE looking at k-Fed or a pregnant Britney.
Website	Has flash objects and music playing.		Is allowing fans to name her latest album, but other than that, her web site is terrible.	Kevin - obviously a great category to break the tie and determine who should have custody.

Obviously, some things I failed to mention that could have helped Britney were her hugely successful music career, Grammy Awards (although she also received a Razzie for worst song and actress and was nominated for some others), record breaking album sales, very popular line of fragrances, and other accomplishments...
But, I didn't want Britney to win my intelligently crafted comparison. So, I agree with the judge. He did the right thing in giving the kids to everyone's favorite backup dancer, k-Fed.

WINNER = k-Fed

P.S. Britney destroys Kevin on GoogleFight...

*edited for elroy*
P.P.S. Britney has won the wikipedia battle. In the midst of her sobs and the sight of her children leaving for K-Fed's trailer, she managed to update her wikipedia page almost immediately. It's pretty amazing that she can do all that HTML while high on whatever she's on.

Financial Freedom

Having trouble getting the money you need to buy that new Cheverolet? Are you tired of paying 20% on that credit you used to buy your green Crocs? Were you one of the millions of suckas who got a neg am loan with a 1.00% teaser rate that you thought was going to be the rate for the life of you loan? IF YOU ARE....NOW THERE IS RELIEF.

You've seen him fight people in the ring...now the 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair is fighting for your finances!

Why not to travel with children...

In the security line at the Cincinnati airport last Thursday, there was a family of 5 a few spots in front of me. Although the video doesn't capture it as accurately as I had hoped, one of the kids was screaming bloody murder the entire time he was in the security line. I captured part of the madness right after TSA took the family out of the security line due to the disruption.



Before this, he had sat at the beginning of the line with his backpack extended into the feet of oncoming people, slapped his mother in the face, almost kicked his mother in the head, and continually screamed "Don't touch me!" and "Get away from me!" to his parents.

Money quote from the mother right after he slapped her in the face numerous times:
"Maybe he's still too young to travel with."

Sounds like a sweet kid...

This week's rental car....

This week, I flew into Dayton, OH. AVIS was kind enough to hook me up with possibly the worst looking type of car they could find....the PT Cruiser:


This is a picture of the actual car I am driving. Also, the remote doesn't work and the alarm randomly went off twice this morning, once before and once after breakfast. The only way I knew to stop it was to start the car. But, first I looked like an idiot for 30 seconds while pointing the key at the car and mashing buttons on the remote. I went from a Chrysler 300 with Sirius, last week, to this. It is embarrassing to drive.....

Big Ern's "Pop and" Locks of the Week

Next week's title: "Big Ern's 'Running out of Puns' Locks of the Week".

After going cold turkey on the favorites last week, it's time to put one tentative foot down off the wagon.

Enjoy.

SAN FRANCISCO +2.5 over Seattle
New England -8 over CINCINNATI
Tampa Bay +3 over CAROLINA

Last week: 2-1
This year: 4-4