Random thoughts, etc.
This is a great article from TIME magazine about the SS United States. I’d love to see the ship turned into a museum/hotel/dining/shopping complex like the Queen Mary out in Long Beach. Marianne and I had a blast visiting the QM. (Photos of that trip are here.)
The United States could be such a cool attraction at Penns Landing instead just sitting there rusting. It’s a piece of history that needs to be preserved.
More info can be found at www.ssusc.org.
Apparently it’s not enough that various scammers call my phone trying to convince me they’re from my bank or want to offer me a free home alarm system. Instead of handing over my banking information or home security details, I just hang up on them or occassionaly keep one on the phone for a while and have fun with them until they scream at me for wasting their time (yes, that actually happened last week and it was extremely satisfying). I don’t, however, expect to recieve the same nonsense when I go to my mailbox. I expect catalogs, advertisements and bills, but apparently my mailbox is yet another avenue for scams that are incredibly transparent, but could catch someone with a slightly less critical eye.
The postcard has an image of a guy in a uniform that vaguely conjures an impression of a UPS driver. It claims they’ve been trying to deliver a package to me. “They” is a supposed company called DMC Services. It gives a “tracking number” and an toll-free number to call. I didn’t call the number, although I may just give them a call someday when I’m bored and see how much of their time I can waste. I did however find an article online where the author did call. Check that out at http://bit.ly/ZayN0F. It’s kind of a silly scam. They want to survey you about your laubdry washing habits. I guess it’s either a really shady market research company or just someone who is going through an awful elaborate effort to satisfy his or her freaky laundry fetish.
Anyway, I hope this post at least draws a tiny amount of attention to one of many pathetic scams that we all have to put up with. Or if you get bored, give them a call and entertain yourself by annoying them with nonsense.
When you think of casual dining chain restaurants, you don’t usually think of heartwarming stories that make you feel good about humanity. However, this story is worth a read. It’s a little sad that a waitress at Chili’s treating an autistic child with care and compassion is front page news but on the other hand it makes you feel good to know that there are people out there who do care about brightening the day of a child just because they can. You can read the article on CNN.
In an earlier post I commented that my posts tend to be more plentiful during the Olympics. As it turns out, I was on vacation in Michigan for the entire second week of the London 2012 Games so I just finished watching all of the events that my DVR could hold plus the Closing Ceremonies. (For somehwat obvious reasons, I don’t mention online in any form when I’m on vacation.)
I did keep up with London 2012 while away thanks to constant alerts on my phone and a few nights of watching the games on TV. One of the cool things about being right near our neighbors to the north is that you can watch Canadian TV. So, I got to watch some of CTV’s coverage of the Olympics. It was fun to watch something other than just NBC’s coverage.
That leads me to the main topic of this post, NBC’s coverage of the games. Before I left, I wrote a post about the tribute to terror victims that NBC chose to cut out of the Opening Ceremonies broadcast and replace with, of all things, Ryan Seacrest interviewing Michael Phelps. (I’m not so much against an interview with the now most decorated Olympian of all time, but show it at some other time. You’ve got 2 weeks of shows ahead.) Add that to the fact that the supposed expert commentary consisted of Matt Lauer and Meridith Vieira demonstrating how clueless they are and I definately think it wasn’t NBC’s finest hour. That being said, I think the whole #NBCFail movement was a bit harsh about the tape delayed coverage. There’s a simple reason why the events were shown on tape delay. Very few people are at home to watch the Olympics at 2 pm Eastern. Personally, I was really glad to see that the overall amount of coverage was huge. Between 6 TV channels and the online streaming it was physically impossible to watch all of the coverage. I do, however, think that NBC should have live streamed events even if they were going to be on the “big show” in primetime.
This is the opinion I held all week as I watched the events I’d recorded. (Yes, I know the fact that I watched most events nearly a week late, makes me care even less about a 5 hour tape delay on NBC’s part.) Then tonight I watched the closing ceremonies. The coverage wasn’t bad. Even if we did have to listen to Ryan Seacrest a bit, at least we weren’t subjected to Matt and Meredith wondering who the Spice Girls were. But then as the ceremonies were winding down NBC found a new and creative way to piss off viewers. They broke away from the ceremony to air a full episode of a new show they’re premiering this fall. I was able to fast forward through it and see the end of the show, but it didn’t make it any less infuriating a commercial is one thing but a 44 minute show???
Speaking of commercials I did catch the commercial for NBC’s coverage of the Sochi 2014 Winter Games and it made me hope the next 2 years go fast. Here’s hoping NBC learns from their mistakes before then. I won’t hold my breath.
The Opening Ceremonies of the London 2012 Summer Olympics were impressive for many reasons. If the Beijing Opening Ceremonies represented how creepily impressive thousands of people all thinking alike can be, then the London ceremonies showed the world what can be accomplished when creativity and free thought are allowed and put to their fullest use.
While watching the impressive event on NBC, it appeared that we were seeing the entire ceremony minus the many commercial breaks. Apparently, that wasn’t the case. It’s now known that NBC edited out a 6 minute segment that represented a somber memorial tribute. It was not officially for the victims of the 7 July 2005 terror attacks in London, but it did feature photos of the victims of those attacks which occurred only days after London was awarded the 2012 Summer Games. The segment can be viewed in BBC One’s broadcast right here.
There’s a bit of an uproar online about this editing choice by NBC. I definitely disagree with the removal of this segment. When I watch the ceremonies I want to experience them as they were intended, not as NBC wants me to see them. I recorded them, so I could fast forward any part I didn’t want to see. The only thing (besides commercials) that I skipped over was Paul McCartney’s performance. (Sorry, I’m not a Beatles fan at all.) Additionally, I see nothing wrong with acknowledging the attacks. During the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, the attacks of September 11th were acknowledged.
The part of the outrage I cannot get behind is the comparison of NBC now showing the tribute segment to the IOC’s refusual to acknowledge the 1972 terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics that year. Obviously, I am neither pro-terrorist or anti-Israel, but I think the IOC made the right decision by deciding against holding anything more than the small gathering that they held in the Olympic Village. The 7/7 attacks took place in the host city, London, right after games were awarded. The murder of Israeli atheletes occurred 40 years ago in a different country. That does not make it any less of a tragedy, but there was also a bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics; should we acknowledge that too? Should every Olympic related tragedy be acknowledged at every opening ceremony? Just because you don’t mention something constantly, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen or that it wasn’t tragic.
I usually write many more posts in my blog during the Olympics than I do in the intervening years. The Olympics are also the only time (other than the occassional Phillies World Series appearance) that you’ll ever see sports of any kind mentioned on my website. However, usually I’m writing them as I watch the Games on television. This year that’s changing some. The more widely popular events are on the primetime broadcast and (my favorite) the late night broadcast. But what if you want to watch the women’s badminton preliminaries or for some odd reason, any fencing match. Then you’ll be glad (as I am) that NBC is live streaming every round of every sport at which they have a camera. While you can view it on their website, the best way is to download the NBC Olympics Live Extra app. (Fair warning: You must be a cable or satellite subscriber to view NBC’s online content.)
This article leaves me a almost speechless. I’m not a fan of political correctness to begin with, and even less so when it’s forced upon kids. I’m a firm believer that religion has no place in schools. However, trying to remove everyday words from kids’ vocabulary in a misguided attempt to avoid offending anyone who has ever believed in any religion is deranged.
The words that the school is banning are not words like Jesus Christ or god. I’d get 100% behind that. The words they are banning are things like dinosaur and birthday. My personal favorite is however, the horribly controversial word… wait for it… pepperoni. If you are offended by any of these words, you need to wrap yourself i bubble wrap, lock yourself in a room and turn out the lights so that you can’t be offended by the color of the paint on the walls.
If I had a kid in NYC schools I would immediately throw him/her a big dinosaur themed birthday party. And yes, you guessed it, I’d serve pepperoni pizza.
Hurricane Irene only left us a few hours ago and already I’m hearing people complain that the state/municipal governments did too much to prepare when the storm wasn’t as catastrophic as expected. If we all knew the storm wouldn’t be quite as bad as predicted, no one would have prepared. I’m not one to panic, but even I knew this was a serious storm. It’s the first hurricane to make landfall in New Jersey in nearly 110 years. I brought everything inside (including our very heavy furniture), filled the bathtub, filled water bottles, brought my grandfather here and every other precaution I could think of.
Just like I took every reasonable precaution, I expect the government to take every possible precaution as well. The same people who are complaining about the government spending too much time & money to prepare are the same ones who would be complaining if they weren’t made to evacuate and something bad happened.
The moral of this story? There will always be whiners. Thankfully, the people they whine about will always be there to save their butts.
If you live in the Philadelphia area, you’ve no doubt heard about the short-lived renaming of Philadelphia’s annual Christmas Village. Just in case you aren’t familiar, Philadelphia has, for the past few years, has put on a Chriskindlmarkt in Center City outside city hall. They don’t call it a Chriskindlmarkt. They instead call it a Christmas Village. Earlier this week, the city decided to remove the word Christmas from it to avoid offending people. This ridiculous move was met with a proper level of outrage from the public and Mayor Michael Nutter had the name restored.
While I think he made the right move, it’s insane that they ever changed the name to begin with. I don’t think he’s a hero for putting out a fire that the city started to begin with. I also don’t think this is the last time we’ll hear about this. So, I feel like I should get on my virtual soapbox and shout into the wind.
I’m not a member of any religion, Christian or otherwise, and I don’t care about what religion anyone belongs to any more than I care what race someone is. Whether you’re Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Pastafarian has nothing to do with the situation. I think the separation of church and state is extremely important and I think religion has no place in government. However, my argument is, and always has been, that there are really two Christmases. First, there’s the “baby Jesus Christmas.” I’m referring to the religious holiday that the Christians only celebrate. Then there’s the Christmas that’s for everyone, the “Santa Claus Christmas.” Yes, Christmas started as a religious holiday, but it has evolved into the secular version that most of us celebrate today. Christmas is about decorating, giving gifts & cards, being with family and friends and spreading goodwill. Those parts of Christmas are unrelated to religion. Christmas is my favorite time of the year and it sickens me when I hear of schools, businesses or anyone else referring to Christmas as “The Holiday” or “The Winter Holiday.” It just seems ridiculous. I’ve never read the Bible but I’m pretty sure that there’s no mention of Santa Claus, eggnog, candy canes or flying reindeer in there.
So, I’m very glad that the for once, the whiney minority was shut down by the sane majority. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s a sweet victory when it does.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s article regarding the Christmas Village debacle is here.
Some photos from previous visits to the Christmas Village can be found in the Photos section of this site.
I just updated my mother’s towel catalog for the first time in a while. Halloween, Fall, Thanksgiving and Christmas are all coming up and there are towels for each! Of course, the everyday ones make great gifts too! Take a look look at what’s available here.