December 2007 Archives

A few things that have caught my attention recently.

Neil Gaiman proposes. Probably helps if you're a fan of Gaiman's work, but this is as heartwarming a story as you're going to find, insofar as award-winning authors, fanboys and fangirls, and book signings go. Not ashamed to admit that reading this made me a little verklempt. Via Boing Boing.

Kottke points to a mystery solved, where end-of-movie whispers are digitally deciphered.

Fun stocking stuffer idea: Karma Checks.

Panic on the street of Minneapolis. Well, maybe not "panic," exactly, but click around a few of the cameras to see real-time near-whiteout, absolutely lousy traffic conditions throughout the day today.



And, yes, the irony is not lost on me that while I'm inclined to berate the local media for "breathlessly" reporting that there's snow in Minnesota, I'm hopelessly, helplessly fascinated with the stuff myself. Gonna get out of the office early today so I can take four times longer than normal to get home.

I love the funny error messages.



Halfway expected the message to say "To help to protect your computer, Windows has installed Leopard."

Best analogy I've heard so far -- regarding the fact that your team goes undefeated throughout the season but doesn't have an opportunity to play for the title -- is that if the Patriots run the table, they still don't get to go the Super Bowl because they play in such a weak division.

Hawaii is the only undefeated Division-I team in the nation this season, but because of some arcane BCS magic, they're relegated to a third-tier bowl game.

High school football has a playoff system. Division III and Division II both have playoffs. So does the NFL. There is no compelling reason for Division I football to hold onto an out-of-date and increasingly irrelevant bowl game format, when every year there are teams who should have an opportunity to play for the national championship, but don't.

Any ranking system that keeps an undefeated team out of the championship game is fatally flawed. Period.

Stay tuned to see how well reality lines up with the forecast. Today, we have approximately 0.0 inches of snow on the ground.



And in related news, I continue to be amazed when the media breathlessly reports that there might actually be snowfall in December (or thunderstorms in the spring, or heat waves in the summer, for that matter).

Update: not quite as dramatic as predicted, but still a good first snowfall to start the season,especially since the kids have a chance to play today, and we have a chance to clear the driveway before Monday's commute.