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Congratulations on getting things back this far. I like the view from the Rattlesnake overlook.

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So far it looks great. Nice work!

Nice video, Ben. I remember us going over how subroutines can make your life easier. I think you were using GW-Basic as your language of choice at that time, probably running in DOS 3.0 or 4.0. Do you remember what GW stands for?

Nope, I forgot, so I looked it up...

There are several theories on what the initials "GW" stand for. Greg Whitten, an early Microsoft employee who developed the standards in the company's BASIC compiler line, says Bill Gates picked the name GW-BASIC. Whitten refers to it as Gee-Whiz BASIC and is unsure if Gates named the program after him.[5] The Microsoft User Manual from Microsoft Press also refers to it by this name.[citation needed] It may have also been nicknamed Gee-Whiz because it had a large number of graphics commands.[5] Other common theories as to the initials' origins include "Graphics and Windows", "Gates, William" (Microsoft's president at the time), or "Gates-Whitten" (the two main designers of the program).[6][7]

Nice work Ben. It's good to have your pictures back. I know it was only for a brief time, but I missed the pictures.

Seems like your top image could include a little character; for the Whistler mountains it should be "Skiier Ben" on the slope, for the Rattlesnake Mountain panaorama, it should be "Hiker Ben". Later you could have a road scene with "Biker Ben".

Ben,

 I find it hilarious that you posted this up.  I saw the original articale about the sign a couple of days ago and had to laugh, because swansea is the city my parents and I lived in when I was younger.  Fortunately for them, while the law makes them post everything bi-lingually like quebec, most of the people in Swansea proper are english speakers.  You have to get a little ways out of town before you might run into anyone that doesn't speak english.  And of course, when in wales, be sure to visit the quaint town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.  Bore dda.

Actually, if it is a British or Canadian writer, that is the correct spelling of apologizing/apologising.  It's the European version - much like adding 'u's to 'colour' and 'favourite.'

Stock options 33% less valuable are still better than no stock options at all :)

I am glad that you blogged on this topic. All this time I'd thought that there were little baked-potato-microwave elves that checked on the cooking tuber. I thought they were in some sort of union with the download-the-newest-podcast trolls. Thanks Ben!

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Well, Luke just dated his origins. The "little baked-potato-microwave elves" were used in the earlier versions of microwave technology. The little guys were even taught to give a little friendly wave, which sparked the now common term "Micro-wave".

However, as with all successess, there's always another entrepeneur that's keen on jumping on the bandwagon. Keebler came along and hired all the elves away from the rather confining and monotonous duties of the microwave, offering spacious trees to work in, with great views and aroma therapy as a standard part of every worker's environment. It’s a sweet deal.

Just curious, do you have a link to the meteorologist who found the five big years? Was it Larry Schick?

Thanks!

-jp

I couldn't find it when I wrote the original post, but I did some more searching and found it. It's Drew Jackson from Oregon. Here's the full post:

blog.traveloregon.com/.../wheres-the-snow-drew-jacksons-got-you-covered

Hey, thanks Ben!

My wife and I frequently go back to this topic, because while I agree with you, she takes the opposite view.  She will take and make sure to print out all of our digital pictures to be sure there is a hard copy.

Cute kid. Nice wheels. (The carpet makes me want to throw up!)

It took until week 12 before I got mentioned for something other than starting a defense on bye.  Go team!

Oh no-does that mean Pickles made it to the out bin?! Miss you- Jay, et al are playing catch phrase- funny listening! happy holiday!

I am sooo.. with you on this. Recently, I had to do a bit of business travel, and I had always try to not take Southwest. Try hauling two bags and a laptop bag will be insane. I do like the "Look mean" part. I should try it next time.

It was great to see you (as always). I'm sure David enjoyed seeing his Unca Bin as much as we did. :) I still wish I'd quit the slots when I was 50 cents ahead instead of a dollar behind!

Thank you for coming all the way to Toledo and missing your reunion. David loves looking at the pictures from that weekend and will point you out and say, "Unca Bin!" He knows you well. :o)

Having grown up in Canada with my very own ice rink in the backyard I thoroughly enjoyed your story. It brought back memories like the time my older brother hit me in the head with my figure skate.  Must've been an accident, although we were constantly battling for ice time, (hockey players vs. future olympic figure skating champion). That was some "toe pick"- and I still have the scar on my forehead to remind me!

Happy Holidays!

You know when i saw this in my RSS reader, I said what the heck is Ben doing at a Federal Prison in Kansas. Silly me to think you would be there.

I have one from Citibank that gives me Reward points and I can collect free stuff without annnual fees. There is one what I don't have is the Blue card. Looks interesting though.

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Rachel and I have the Costco AmEx card. We like the 3% on gas (which is on top of the Costco price). We get the reward in the form of a Costco check (which I like, but Rachel doesn't). Rachel would rather go with the cash back option.

Hey Luke, throw the game for me  and not only will you be my favorite person, I will give you a dollar!

First of all..allegedly threw a game. No evidence has been brought forth to prove otherwise. Second, if I am going to throw a game for Tim, I hope it goes the same way it did last time.

Sweet I'm going with you?

Well I wasn't going to name names, but yes, Tim explained the whole thing to me. This doesn't have to be a big deal. Let's just uphold the integrity of the league or else there's not much point in playing.

Depending on how much you charge each year and your buying habits, American Express Blue Cash may interest you.  For the first $6500 you charge each year you get 1.0% back on purchases made at supermarkets, drugstores, and gas stations, and 0.5% on everything else.  Once you hit $6500 you get 5.0% back on purchases made at supermarkets, drugstores, and gas stations, and 1.0% on everything else.  At the end of the year they credit your account with the reward.  I usually get on average about 2.25% back on my yearly purchases.

Thanks for the feedback! I ended up going with the Blue Cash card. I'm hoping I get something around that 2.25% number too.

Hey Ben, I'll give you my two cents on the issue.  Way back in 2002, when I was trying to figure out what the heck to do with my biology degree, I went on a tour of a chiropractic school in St. Louis.  I was very impressed with the quality of education that the students were receiving at the school.  They learned a lot of the same hard sciences that traditional medical students learn, ie, anatomy, genetics, molecular biology, and of course they also learned spinal manipulation.  

I've since decided to purse the traditional MD, but I still don't think that chiropracters are quacks.  There is a lot of disagrement on the issue within allopathic medicine, but at the end of the day, if a treatment works, it works.  Most MDs will tell you that they don't know enough to make a recommendation one way or another.  Everything is medical science is figured out by trial and error.  Even the most traditional medical treatments don't work on everyone.  I say, if the chiropracter helps you, stick with it.  Complementary medicine is just that, complementary.

Fat Tire! WOOOO!

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

Merry Christmas, Ben and Tyla! Oskar too! And happy anniversary! We are looking forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks.

Having just driven through Fargo yesterday, I can attest to the conditions and the fact that every road is snow/ice covered.  It is refreshing to be up there and not see piles of salt all over the place - sand does just fine.

Ben...the monster snowman was not created with machines or a supporting structure...it was MAGIC!  You better watch out...he might come visit you  :)

Yeah Ben!! I've many times enjoyed the memory of building that giant snowman with you. And remember that it was built on the north side of a big pine tree, so that it would be shaded from the sun and last a bit longer.

You can tell that this snowman was a couch potato; sitting down and doesn't have a great figure. Still he's more manly than 3 spheres piled vertically. The top of his head, in the sitting position, was 9 feet above ground level. His legs were another 8 feet in length. So, yes, if we had taken a picture while he was standing up, it would have been more impressive. (But our standards against taking picture in portrait prevented that photo from being considered.)

I'm really glad you found that picture, Ben. Good show!

Sounds like a spectacular year. Congrats!

Let's do it!

You would think I would have done all this research a long time ago, but I'm content to know every four years I'll see my birthday on the calendar.

What about the fantasy football bet??? Did he go through with it?

So what happens when they release 7? Do you lose the beta and have to revert back to your old OS unless you upgrade?

The beta has an expiration date on it. Once that expires you'll have to reinstall something else. Installing inside a VPC is a great idea if your PC can handle it. That way you get to play with it a little bit but you aren't wiping your existing OS until you're sure you are ready.

Here's another good suggestion for you to get your nephew:

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www.lakeshorelearning.com/.../ca%7CsearchResults~~p%7C2534374302094006~~.jsp

Ix-nay on the Ockheed-Lay

I've played with this a bit and have a fair amount of data.  I'd look at using speed as a potential way to determine if you're on a life.  I've found that virtually all lifts operate at the same pace within each class.  For example - off the top of my head 8.6mph being one speed.  If you were to evaluate speed over a period of time (say - 10 seconds) and it were constant, then you could assume they were on a lift.  Of course, it's not perfect - but may be something to consider.

I did write up a post on using a GPS while skiing for non-technical folks.

dcrainmaker.blogspot.com/.../how-to-ski-with-your-garmin-forerunner.html

Feel free to ping my alias internally as well...

I don't know if I could really blame her for feeling this way. I mean, who really wants to have a radar touching their body? Isn't that invasion of privacy or something? Do the HIPAA laws apply here?

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I think they should name a ship after her; DDG 5150. The ship's motto; We tingle when we touch.

I think you should break your alliance with MS and buy and iPhone.  You'd love it.  :P

I'd be happy to once they sell the iPhone on all carriers, support copy paste, run .NET apps, and have a slide out keyboard. Until then, it's an inferior option.

That first image is pretty cool - did your GPS software plot your runs down the mountain or did you do that manually?

Looks like an awesome trip!!

I edited that first picture manually. I did carry my GPS but I haven't even had time to pull the tracks off it yet. I do know that we did about 24K feet the first day and around 22K the second day.

Congratulations! That sounds like an interesting new endeavor. There certainly are a bunch of smart people on that team as well. Have fun.

Hey Ben, nice to see that your horizons are continuing to expand. And it's nice you can share more about what you're doing. Congratulations. I know you'll do a good job. I hope you enjoying growing into your new position.

When I interned in the mobile devices group, they went one better.  They had a GSM tower, that we were using to test the European phone models that we were developing.  And for some reason, it was necessary to create a virtual connection to europe for testing, so we could make calls to england for free if we wanted.

Congrats Ben.  May the new challenge be a rewarding one for you.

Well said! Something we need to remind ourselves throughout our lives, as our circumstances change.

There were so many things that my grandparents and parents told me when I was growing up, that I didn't hear until I was much older.

Talk is often cheap. Advice comes endlessly. Listening is work. And when we're young you have so many of your own ideas that you want to explore, rather than waste time absorbing someone else's.

How does it all make sense? By smoking weed, of course!

I mentioned this (how the weeks of February fit exactly into the four lines) to my co-workers and they thought it wasn't that exciting. But now I can tell them when it will happen next.

YES!!  My blog prediction came true!

Hey! Mr. Crocker! Why didn't you take to baking when you lived at home? The brownies sound yummy!

What? I don't get offered a ride...I see how it is.  See if I give you a ride in my car buddy!

Take it off any sweet jumps yet?

Nice ride, Congrats!

Once upon a time I had an issue with locking myself out of the car or house. Then I met a friend at college that taught me the value of a good paper clip. It's bailed me out a number of times. Are you sure we never talked about that or practiced that skill?

Congrats on the new bike! I'm sure you'll get a lot of fun times out of it. Now I only need to visit you in the warm months so I can go on my first motorcycle ride!

He was my favorite player as a kid. But I remember being unhappy when he left and also not liking the Reds when he switched to them. Every since he left the Mariners, he hasn't had many good seasons.

Which part of "top secret" do you not understand? There goes you Mom's edge in the upcoming Food Network "Secret Family Recipe Challenge." No wonder Lockheed shipped you to the west coast.

SHH!  Ben, let's keep those many perks a secret...we don't want to make the other girls jealous  ;)  

ps-thanks for the zune!

I'll pass on the old Zune.  Let Tyla have it.  If I had to date you to get the old one, I'll just go buy one myself.

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Thanks for putting that together Ben! I had a good laugh and did a lot of remembering. Thanks for brightening my day. You and Ryan crack me up!

OMG that clip at 5:14 is from 1993.  I was a year removed from high school.  I'm friggen old.

Great memories!  Great laughs!

That was lots of fun to watch, even though I wasn't in it!

Hahaha! You cut "I Love You Truly!" Thanks for posting this!

Hey! We should look for a few more "amazing feats of science"! OK, maybe not. Good memories though...

Too funny.  I just loved the Amazing Feats of Science.  I remember the giant Turtles too.  :)

Haha, good times! We were so cool back then. :o)

Yeah, when they play at bars and similar places that aren't specifically designed for playing music it doesn't work so well. When they lose their energy, they aren't half the band they are otherwise.

James Clark is also a friend of mine who is a Sr. Cal tech at work haha!

I will never forget that day either...Your face when you walked in the door said it all. I remember running to get Dad as I knew something horrible had happened. I have never been more thankful in my life then when I went with you the following day to take that picture and realized how close I came to loosing you. I won't forget that day ever! I still thank God for your safe return.

We're thankful that the Lord decided to let you stay with us instead of taking you home that day. Seeing that you were OK, the diffficult part then was trying to figure out how and why it happened, since it wasn't obvious that you had dosed off. It was some time before you and us together could conclude that your health was good and that this was "simply" your first (and almost deadly) encounter with falling asleep at the wheel.

You still get big kudos for handling the situation well. You could have been a ball of nerves and incapacitated by your fear. Instead you knew who to thank, you recovered, and you overcame the trauma so that you didn't even need to be helped home. We'd have been glad to rush to your aid, but you handled it. Even better, you learned from it.

And now given your past history on april fools day, I have no idea whether or not to believe this story.  There could be some other logical explanation for an old picture of you in a classroom set up outside...

Remember your lunches in grade school? ha ha! I wish I could have pac ked you a lunch today.

While here in Indy, we are getting snow!

Seinfeld. My voicemail pet peeve is when people have either long or immature voicemail messages. I am amazed by the number of a adults that I call that have recorded their favorite r&b/rap song into their message. Just because you like it doesn't mean that anyone else does. A voicemail message if often the first impression that someone gets of you.

What about calls late at night from Ticawa? Do those get answered? What if it's Crazy Annie?

I had a long rebuttal for you and I called so I could have one of those real time conversations, but you didn't answer your phone. Call screener.

Call screeners unite!

Good investment Ben. The books will pay for themselves many times over. Very entertaining!

That's incredible, and I'm amazed this is the first I've heard it in the 11 years I've known you.  It's funny what fate does.  Like my parents house.  It was struck by lightning shortly after graduation from Purdue and pretty much burned to the ground.  The irony is that while the house was being rebuilt, a tree fell on the house during the night, directly over my bed, with a couple of big study limbs leading the charge.  If we had still been in the house instead of in an apartment, I could very realistically been impaled and killed.  So essentially the house fire saved my life.

Excellent dish!  This is one of my all-time favorites.

Hey! That's really neat! Congrats!

Looks nice and clean Ben. I hope it helps a lot.

In all fairness to your LEGOs education, it wasn't just LEGOs, it was LEGO Technic education that really put you into the upper echelon.

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The tablets are dive-sided and white with a raised ?A? on one side of the tablet.

A nice ride, and it just keeps on getting nicer.

Thanks for the wonderful recognition!  But maybe another part of that hitsoric cornhole event was that Ben lost 3 games in a row! -From one corn star to another.

Ben, you, like many fans of the superstars, may sometimes be so excited to see the undoable being performed right before your very eyes, that you forget for just that one moment to apply logic and ask important questions. For example, did you ask Mr. Cornhole Superstar if he has recently received any special tubes of cream from ARod that have enhanced his ability to play this game beyond the realm of human expectation?

I'm so proud of you tim.

Sorry, I've only gotten like 16 hours of sleep since Friday.  I need my Dew.

I'm sure I didn't make the cut, but just in case I think I'll go and do about 15 quizzes in a row like "what sandwich are you" and another so if Barbara Walters ever asks me I'll know what kind of tree I'd be...

Haha you made the cut Ken. No worries :) I'd be surprised if anyone who reads this site isn't on the list of people I Facebook stalk.

I love the Y2K poll in the screen shot.

Response to your Heroes question from someone who wants 20+ hours of his life back: YOU MISSED NOTHING WHATSOEVER.

You'd be better entertained rewatching Season 5 of Lost :)

"I’m not a huge Trekkie" right.... coming from the guy who built this....

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Wow Ken, good one! I didn't make that connection :) BTW, the voice activation is unused on my photo frame right now. I had to replace the laptop when the old one died and this new one is very old and weak. Plus, the speech recognition got worse as time went on. I think it was "learning" from the noise that came out of the TV. It was a fun project though.

I'd be more concerned with whether that thermometer is calibrated.  What's the traceability?  (ok now I'm just using this as an excuse to use big words)  I have seen a lot of equipment that was brand new fail to meet specified tolerances.  Not too often do you have a post that can relate to my job!  So, not boring, Exciting! :-)

I'm pretty sure you just wanted to use that picture, so you wrote something to go with it...

When was the last time you vacuumed your coils underneath the fridge, or pulled it out from the wall and got the dust off the back? And no, I don't remember the last time I did either...but I know you are suppose to a couple times a year to keep it running efficiently.

You guys picked out a great toy. It's a beautiful little buggy. David will be enjoying it for a long time to come.

I have a new weight loss incentive. I need to lose enough weight so that I can drive the Power Wheels too! :o)

can't you keep the lens and use it on a digital camera?

Of all the digital SLRs I've looked at, none have been Minoltas. Plus I think this is already going to be hard to sell... selling just the body seems even more difficult. Maybe I'm wrong though. I suppose I could just post multiple listings on craigstlist and see what bites.

Congrats on making it through your challenge!

I had a great time this weekend!  Thanks for coming and putting up with all of us  :)

Good post.

My favorite reference for style and grammar is ethnicity.rutgers.edu/.../Writing

It's great.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!  

I am definitely going to tell Mr. Pleuss about this...

I agree with Superstar, WHAT?!

By the way, Luke gives you an A+.

David was looking at this post with me, saw the picture and said, "Ahh! That's friend Tyla!" He didn't say anything about you (Ben) though.  He is looking forward to seeing you both. Congratulations on the adoption. He looks so much like you.

They do look alike, don't they...  :)

See you in a few days! I hope your flights go well.

Hey Ben! It was so good to see you and Tyla again. David is already asking about when "Uncle Ben and Friend Tyla" are coming back. He has also gone back to asking if "Uncle Ben..." :o) It sure is fun to hear him talk about the weekend and everything he got to do with you!

I'm ready to go back for another trip!  I had a BLAST this past weekend--thanks everyone for putting up with me!  

scarier that there was enough experience randomly in a room for a non-governmental corporate agency to construct a guided nuclear icbm.

Reminds me of "Doc", one of my teachers at ITT.  No mater what conversation you were having with him, it would eventually come around to being about nuclear weapons.  

Thanks for the feedback. I will be happy to share it with the appropriate department. Hopefully it will be available soon. Do you mind letting me know the phone number on your account so that we can check availability in your area?

Regards,

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Comcast Corp.

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Tear and repair man!

A 15-20 minute light jog/brisk walk (on flat ground) the day after a hard workout helps get blood flowing through sore muscles. Also, you could take a Scandinavian bath, which is when you start in a sauna for a few minutes and then immediately hop in an ice plunge for a couple minutes and go back and forth a few times. This helps with blood flow as well as the blood rushes to the skin in the sauna and then rushes towards your organs in the ice plunge. You can do this in the shower too, couple minutes of really hot water and then a minute or so of really cold water.

The goal is to increase blood flow and reduce inflammation (eat some fresh ginger for this).

I don't know what it is, but I love the way it feels!

Not only did I survive the ride on Friday, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! I took almost the exact route

I was once in a traffic jam around Chicago in the lane next to a midnight blue Lotus Esprit V8.  We were standing still long enough for the guys in the suv in front of it to get out at and take a picture :)  Ended up taking about 4 hours to get home when it should have taken 2.  

HA HA HA HA HA! Oh David, you crack me up. Thanks for the perfect start to my day, Ben!

"A picture is worth a thousand words." A series of pictures can reveal so much more. Great post Ben!

It's interesting that when David scrunches up his nose, he looks even more like his daddy. (That's not an editorial comment, just an observation.)

In all fairness to David, if someone took a series of pictures of any one of us when asked to face into the sun, there's bound to be a bunch of phots that would get a laugh.

Perhaps David's scrunchy nose had more to do with someone (as David would say...) "tooting." It looks like he is smelling something horrible. Poor kid was about to pass out!

hmmm, great post

I love you!

You have had some really good blogs in the past 7 years! I hope you keep on blogging for another 7!

Congrats and keep it going Ben. It's been informative & entertaining. The Moblog feature was a great enhancement. I'm looking forward to the next 7 years.

From what I understand, companies/stores cannot raise prices to cover the cost of these fees. Usually its part of the contract agreement they have with the credit card company.

Pop? What is pop? Does it dispense soda?

Soda? Like that stuff they served in the 50s at soda fountains?

It's definitely pop.  I had this argument once today already :).  If you're still want a kegerator, a friend of mine at work has one and I think he is looking to sell it.  Let me know if your interested.  

There's a King County tailgate ban? I never knew. People have been tailgating at Husky games for decades and more recently at Seahawk games too.

Maybe it has changed, but this is the last info I got:

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As soon as I heard about this concert I knew I wanted to go....and my amazing boyfriend already had tickets for my birthday.  You're the best!!!!  I was ecstatic to see Lady Antebellum and Sugarland in concert!!

hmm....Someone at work mentioned KMPS had a tailgate contest.  we should look more  into this for nex year ;)

Nope, now that I've read this I'm going to drive the 2100 miles to check it out.  Shouldv'e kept it a secret.

Although you only took us to the entrance to the area you describe, even that was truly memorable. I'm wondering if the yacht stationed in/near the parking area is still there and if Capt'n Ben still mans the helm?

DCC!!  And the Bachelor  ;)

It seems to have been changed now, but last week if you searched for "Why is windows so expensive" you got results for "Why are Macs so expensive" on Bing.  Search the same question in Google and you get the results you were looking for.  I didn't just read about it on Slashdot, I tried it for myself.  That right there is enough for me to never trust Bing and I will not be using it in the future.  

Sorry Ben, I did your test and 3 out of 3 times I got Google.

Mom, don't be sorry. I'm fine if people use a search engine because they really like the results better.

Ken, go read about the way Google filters results in China and then tell me if they're still an ethical company. Or what about the "miserable failure" search on Google that would lead you to Bush? It's kind of hard to pick out a single search result that can be gamed by a group of people and write off an entire product.

PS. I'm feeling feisty because I just got a letter from PETA for something i wrote on my blog. Haha! I'll be posting it along with my reply.

I agree. Dog fighting is just wrong. I don't believe he deserves another chance. What about the dogs who were hurt after fighting deserve another chance to live too?

Hilarious.

I know I am getting one. Can't wait for it to come out soon. Not a big fan on the iPods.

One of the first things I did this morning was to forward this to our tech support department.

And yet I'm still projected to come in last.  Yahoo just doesn't see the brilliance in selecting Peyton Manning AND his top two receivers.

I've fallen in love with the Netflix streaming on my 360. I pretty much use it 90% of the time, and occasionally I'll get DVD's for things that aren't streaming yet... I long for the day when all of netflix's movies are digital.

I think the anti-twitter rules apply only to the coaches, players, media, and team personel.    Fans can twitter before/after/during the event all they want.  You didn't say it explicitly in your post, but after I read it I was under the impression you thought this applied to the fans too.  

According to the article, Ryan is correct.  Probably the big one they want to stop is the media.  The NFL (and others) sell the right to rebroadcast their games.  Thats their product, so they want to maintain tight control over anything that might disrupt their revenue from their product.

Now, lets turn it around and make it useful!  Like you say, search on tweets that appear to be coming from games, or just related to games.  Now you can follow those users temporarily (for the rest of that game) and start tallying how many users are watching each game.  Now we've just created a fan driven metric for which games are the most interesting.

Actually there are a number of places banning fans too. The SEC has done it:

www.faniq.com/.../SEC-Bans-Fans-From-Using-Facebook-And-Twitter-At-Games-Blog-28164

See, that hotspot ext to your ear is really just residual radiation from the last time you used your celphone...

You should've sent me the old camera, I've got a good track record for bringing electronics back from the dead.

Thanks Ben!

Thanks for a great time Ben. Hoh-pefully we will be able to do it again.

Hoh Hoh Hoh that was funny  :)  I love that the Hoh jokes aren't dead yet...

It is depressing. As of right now, if you play my team, it seems like you will have your best week. I guess that is encouraging, at least for others.

uy5g5ht7gh57gh58gh5h78r57h58uju5juymmiuuiodddavid

i.e. David says I am a winner

Maybe you'd do better if David set your roster.

I will have to just cheer you on.  I actually have a high-school weightlifting injury that prevents me from doing pushups.  A week of pushup workouts and my shoulder becomes pretty much useless.  It's strange because I hurt it while doing bench press, and I can continue to do as much of that as I want.

I'm in. I just did the initial test. Is resting allowed, as long I don't break form? Regardless I just did as many as I could without pausing, got to 50.

I just want to know where to find these mythical airplane graveyards.  

Thanks Ben! I can always count on you for this kind of stuff.

Tell your Bing buddies at work I love their product. I no longer Google..

It is embarassing. And I even had Steve Smith.

I wanted to rest my players, so I gave them a week off. And besides I'm busy with other priorities. My team understand.

There have been times I tried hard and came up with a full roster that produced less points than I had this week. So what do I get from the Commish for a partial roster that wins? The Deadbeat Award ... and a league standing that's just one game out of 1st place.

Congrats to the both of you.  Ben, nice execution of a well thought out proposal.  Tyla, good recovery on the response :-)

I was horrified when I realized the first word out of my mouth when I saw the ring box was NO!  And then I said yes without him even asking!  I guess I was more than a little excited!  :)

Congrats Ben! I am excited for you and Tyla and happy that you found each other. I am looking forward to having a daughter-in -law!

Congratulations Tyla and Ben!! I am really happy for you.

And I hope this doesn't sound selfish, but I'm happy for us and Tyla's parents too. You two not only make a great couple, but you each have your priorities straight too. I'm really thankful that you each put your Savior first in your life. With that in place, and the love you have for each other, there won't be anything you cannot handle. May God bless your life together, forever.

Congrats to both of you. Your mom has been keeping us up to date on your courtship.  2010 is going to be a very busy year. We wish you God's blessings and happy planning.

Awesome, Ben so happy for your engagement.  Your mom/dad keep us posted on you and what you are up too.  We are sure you will enjoy all the planning.  

It is alot of work but it is done with alot of love.....

Keeping the Lord #1 in your life and you will always be happy and content.

Thanks for sharing.... Schebel boys all say HI !!!

Saw this via Twitter from @WhistlerBlkcmb - Congrats! Cool place to go to do it too, love the little hikes around Whistler.

Congrats!!!  

Um.  I might be guilty of #6.  But I am NOT guilty of #10!

Crystal ball award?

Sorry, no Crystal Ball award this week. I use Stat Tracker to figure that out, but there is a bug in the app. On Tuesday morning it starts showing last week's score with next week's roster and it's all a complete mess. Until they fix it, I have to remember to check the crystal ball award on Monday night after the game is over before it switches to show next week's roster. It's a really small timeframe. Frustrating!

That's okay. The only reason I would've had the award was that all but my defense and a crummy TE had byes.

Congratulations to you both.  We're looking forward to meeting you Tyla and making some of these blog "introductions" come to life.  With regards to saying "No" as your first reaction to the ring...at least you didn't run away from Ben after not saying yes.  Heather said "just a minute" and had to run a quick errand before coming back to say yes.

Will keep you both in our prayers as you enter a busy & exciting season of your lives.

I work in an IT department for a law firm as a software engineer.  Just so happens I've got a cousin who is an attorney with the firm.  Well in my first couple of months on the job, we were rolling out new PCs to everyone, and I ended up with the task of migrating my cousins old PC to his new one.  I DESPERATELY wanted to prank him, and put one of those screen savers on there that looks like it's destroying everything.  I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have gotten me fired, but wasn't sure it set the best impression for the first week there.

cavetrolljim at hotmail.com

While it might be terrible, I would love watching what my fifth graders would do if I put them in charge for a day, or possibly a week.  I think it would be a very interesting experiment to see how they would organize themselves and what they would decide to work on (or if they could get organized and make decisions).

note: Starbucks doubleshots make me feel sick.  I don't know if it's all the caffeine or the other junk in it, but my brain goes all wacko when I ingest that stuff.  Most of Starbucks' other products sit perfectly fine with me, though!  

Alright, I'm a stay at home mom, so I don't know if I qualify for this or not. :o)

With winter coming, it means battling David into tons of bulky clothing and then stuffing him into the car seat. It can be quite the battle. When I'm through with that, I'm usually a little frustrated and more than tired. Typically, it takes to the point of just pulling onto the road for David to decide that he's too hot or wants something that has fallen out of reach onto the floor. I would like to be able to reach behind me, snap open the car seat belt, and let him roam about to take his coat off or pick up the stuff on the floor rather than stopping, unbuckling him, undressing him, fighting him back into the seat, and strapping him back in. This would not get me fired, per say, but it would get me a pretty hefty ticket.

Oh, and I can't drink coffee anymore, so I am playing to win for either Luke or Amy. That depends on wether or not Luke enters the contest.

Rum and Coke.

tim_schershl@hotmail.com

Hmmm....there are so many things that I would like to do at work - let's see....first off, tell the patients to GO HOME!  You are not sick...well, usually.  Second, quit defrauding the government and pay your own hospital bill - if you can afford an iphone and have your nails done and your hair done, then you obviously don't need Medicaid paying for your ER visit, when you simply could have gone to the doctor tomorrow.  Quit wasting my precious time and energy.  Last but not least, I would like to bring my kids with me to work so that I could keep earning a paycheck while I endure these next few months of single mommy hood.  So you see, I really need some Starbucks coffee to keep on going!!!  :)

oops - I forgot my email - jesssmilelots@Hotmail.com - but you should have known that!

I would LOVE to put a note on my door telling the MA's and front office staff to send all of my patients across the street so I could just curl up on a nice blanket on the floor and enjoy my book. :)

Musicmeg86@comcast.net

I still want free delivery!

If you'll excuse me a minute, I'm going to have a  cup of starbucks coffee.

brandttyla@aol.com

I can't really get fired from my job, because I volunteer, but I would like to purposely put mistakes in the church bulletin and news letter just to see if anyone reads it. Such as leave the "g" off of sing. And the song title would read Hark, the herald angels sin! Of course I have done that already and not on purpose either, but I did find it funny at the time and still do.

I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to crawl on top of my desk (which also happens to be the front desk at the office) and have a dance party.  Especially on Fridays.  Last Friday I had to settle on just singing "Yellow Submarine" from my chair.  But maybe next Friday you'll find me unleashing my dance moves from on top of the desk for all to see...of course that would be after waking up from my afternoon nap under my desk.

tumblinty@hotmail.com

When a parent comes and says "I didn't know Billy was doing poorly in math." I would love to say, "Really? Did you not look at their papers that come home? What about the website that you can see every individual assignment as well as current grades? You could have tried actually talking to your child and seeing how they were doing." However, I fear that would make me seem rude.

On the dealing with kids side of things, I think a simple group of voice recordings would be helpful. They could be like; "Did you look it up?" "What did the paragraph say?" "What is the ratio of sleep:video games/tv:homework in your life?" "Did you ask for help from mom/dad/mom's boyfriend/Dad's girlfriend/aunt/uncle/sister/brother/grandma/grandpa/guardian/caregiver/whoever is taking care of you today?"

I think all in all, a good mix of honesty and bluntness would do the trick.

lscherschel@hotmail.com

Ok ok ok. I know. I forgot. Here it is. bisquick0312@hotmail.com, although you should know that already since I'm your sister. :o)

Translated typing gibberish: I would have a day where I wear my pj's all day long, drink chocolate milk, and eat only goldfish and taco. I would sit and play pbskids.org for hours on end, only to be interrupted by taking a break to watch Dora and Diego movies from the library. I would not nap and would go to bed extremely late and would not get in trouble for being really cranky and tired and whiny. There would be no rules, so I could scream at the top of my lungs and pull the cats' tails. Ah, now that would be great.

bisquick0312@hotmail.com

Correction, you beat JIM by 3 points.  Not Tim.  I know, I was there.

There were about 10 big boxes delivered to the office today.  Someone suggested we build a fort with them...I thought it was a great idea and it made me think of this Starbucks contest!

I am dying to answer the phone with a fun name like Belinda or Helga. This would be excellent for the cases when I get a call from someone who wants a free pair of replacement shoes because the laces are half an inch longer on one shoe versus the other... Crazy shoe people! Buy a new pair of laces!

I'm waiting for a netbook version for my Asus eePc which is currently running JoliCloud. Linux is fun, but you still cant do everything windows can.

Is there still a specific netbookversion coming? I know for a while they thought about a verison that was limited to three concurrent apps but that got dropped. I don't know if they have another version coming that is specifically for netbooks or if you are just able to run regular Win7 on them.

I have a very physical group of students with some who are leaders, some who are followers, some who resist being led, and some who just are. While it is obviously morally wrong and I would not want my students to be harmed, I wonder who would come out on top in a survival of the fittest competition. I wonder if they would organize or just go at it. If they would make any alliances or go as individuals. And, I wonder, how awful is it that this has come to mind?

peanutbutterbieds@hotmail.com

If there are 3 of us in a tie for first, I'm thinking you have become schizo or that you're including Tyla in the total, or is there someone I'm not counting?

I'll enjoy that spot with you while it lasts, but I don't expect it to last long. I've been incredibly fortunate since I don't spend much time filling the roster, and I don't really know who's who. I hope to get to watch a little football sometime this year.

I must be completely missing something as well, because when I open it up, Ben would appear to be in a 2 way tie for third.  Last week was a 3 way tie, perhaps he composed this post before the rankings were updated.

Well, Jim, I'm thinking that Ben's a bit distracted and his posts are probably going to show that over the next few months. We'll just have to help him along and wish him the best.

Well if that's his excuse, then as wedding planning dissolves his mind into nothingness. I'm anxiously awaiting the post that reads:

"Sunday Come Go.  Manly football played.  Ben pick winners in magic box.  Tim buy tasty burgers."

I'm glad the more people care about the sheep than the mountain view. :o)

Hey, he did lead a couple of laps too. He needs all the help you can give him, Ben. The way he's running the past couple of years, I think the drink has more energy than he does.

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Wow...nice change of pace coming from a conservative. I thank you for putting this out there and shedding some light for those who may be misled by the so-called Internet Freedom Act.

My heart is full and cheers to you.

Hi Ben! I'm one of those ones who made the argument, "the company paid to lay the cable, so they should be allowed to do what they want with it."

I understand that "really gets you" but consider this: that's a fundamental underpinning of private property. If you purchase a shed so that you can store your stuff in it, should I be allowed to just walk in and put my stuff in it too? Maybe I have junk in my yard that needs storing. See? It's a "public good" to all of our property values if I get the junk our of my yard. As such, you must let me use your shed.

I dunno, for my part, I'm going to defend private property rights here.

Another thing... you paint a slippery slope saying "couldn't the telcos block this or block that if they wanted to?" Sure, I suppose they could. So the question you have to ask yourself is: Why *aren't* they already? (Or if they are, why is the perceptible difference in net traffic minute and ultimately immaterial?) Because there competition isn't doing it, that's why. Because they would lose more customers and revenue from putting arbitrary restrictions in place than they would from allowing you and I to go to any site we want to go to.

Finally, you speak of how this has already happened in "other countries." You're right it has - as a direct result of the government regulating the use of the internet. Everywhere you see a nation that can't get to any and every web page they want to you see a government behind the reason that page is inaccessible. China, Cuba, countless Middle Eastern countries, Scandinavian countries - the story is always the same. It's the government blocking access, not the telcos.

Ultimately, while I completely understand what you want as the goal, this Net Neutrality stuff will achieve the exact opposite.

Thanks for the comment BenS. Two things: 1) Comcast has already tried to block/degrade BitTorrent traffic but were told they couldn't by the courts. So yes, they are trying already. 2) The main country I was referring to was not China, Cuba, etc but Canada. I don't think anyone argues that we should have what China does. They do an large amount of traffic shaping/filtering already backed by what is basically their equivalent of the  "internet freedom act."

The bottom line is that this bill doesn't give government the right to filter the Internet. It says that NO ONE can filter the internet. All this talk about the government shutting down your website because of this bill seems like nothing more than scare tactics and FUD.

Are you seriously comparing the Internet Freedom Act to the Communist Chinese lockdown of the internet? I can't think of two things that could be more different.

Get the government in on something and I guarantee you they will start meddling. That's their track record.

Whoops! Bad editing. I added the China line after writing the paragraph. "They" == "Canada." Canada has what seems to be the internet freedom act.

OK, I honestly don't know much about Canada's situation, so that could be a fair comparison.

Interestingly enough, I just did a product search on Google. I couldn't remember the name of her book, so I just put in "Sarah Palin". When sorted by "Relevance", which is the default, the book actually written by her doesn't show up in the first 20 pages, at which point I remembered the title (it's "Going Rogue") and I gave up.

I know it's a slightly different issue, but where are the Net Neutrality people complaining about the liberals at Google clearly modifying the common sense search results to point to stuff that denigrates Sarah Palin rather than her only actual retail product? All bits clearly aren't created equal at Google. Do we need to craft legislation to make them be fair in their search results?

Perhaps surprisingly, I don't think so. If they want to have ridiculous and irrelevant results for a political purpose, that's their right as a private company.

How'd you do that?

Was A-Rod ever actually loved? It was a long time ago if he was.

http://twitterfeed.com/

It would be interesting to know the statement that is being made by the authors of the name "Insano". Are they speaking to the creators of this monsterous meal? To those who attempt to eat the meal? Or are they making this burger (is a multi-patty burger still singular or plural?) from angus who are suffering the effects of "mad cow" disease? And by the way, are they using the meat from black angus or red angus?

P.S. Warning: People who consume this product in excess are in a higher risk category of loosing their hair.

So what category do you fall into for this online review of online reviewers?

If Goofy can figure it out, so can you!

www.youtube.com/watch

Still no walking and public transit directions though? Is that at least in the works?

Is the Hardon Collider an triple-X version of the Hadron Collider?

@Jay - Best. typo. catch. ever.

When I read this article, I felt like the theory that was being preseted was not that WE were trying to go back in time, but that the Higgs Boson particle itself was trying to go back and prevent it's own formation.  You can call it the McFly theory, because it's like Marty pushing his dad out of the way of his grandfathers car.  Part of the article suggests that if the researchers were to all agree to not do the higgs boson experiment, then they would get the collider working again on the next try.  

Nice Ben, very impressive. I couldn't come close to that.

For all you ladies out there...I did the challenge with Ben. While I only reached 80 push ups, I was very happy since I started at 11! I took an extra week the 5th week and agree with all of Ben's comments about how fun it was at the beginning and how tired I was of the program by week 5. So ladies!! YOU can do it too. And to Ben...are you up to the 200 situp challenge? I think I'm going to try!

Another great charity site is AIDtoCHILDREN.com. It donates money to children in need through World Vision.

Check it out at http://www.aidtochildren.com

Wow.  Those cookies were DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!

Yay! Now Tim and I don't look quite so dumpy on my computer at work. :)

Nice.  Not having run it, will it set the saved file to the wallpaper itself, or do you still have to do that manually?  Should just be a reg entry...

I don't know about clinching the playoff berth  for certain, but I am feeling good about my chances since my last three games include the bottom three teams in the league.  Yes, this includes you.   As an added bonus, my two year olds favorite saying right now is, "I'm a football".  Usually spoken while running around the room.

Where's the chocolate ganache?

I haven't done a feature set comparison, but I have been extremely happy with Bluehost as my web host.  Specifically their customer support is incredible - always a live person on the phone within 30 seconds of dialing the number.

I wonder how a bag of popcorn compares tot he nauseous nine :)

HAH!  Now I know why you didn't eat any of my popcorn yesterday!!

Dominic the Donkey!!!!!  That's when I knew we were meant to be.  **sigh!!**

That is HILARIOUS!!!!

I was just listening to Calmer of the Storm last night. I agree with how fitting it is. Can we talk sometime?

LOVE - PRAYERS and safe travel to you and Tyla

I have my raincoat on!

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We're sorry to hear this news Ben, but as always, appreciate your perspective.  Heather and I will be praying for you and the family/Cowan's.

I do my best to provide comic relief to the world at large.  And you see no, I have to face those same 3 teams AGAIN, which probably means in 2 more weeks we'll all be laughing about how I'm dead last.

Long, long ago, in a land far, far away, you did see a 3D movie. (It was at Disney World, sitting next to Aunt Sandy.) But you are right, it was not a feature length film. I did enjoy the experience, however I'm totally in agreement with your observations & conclusions. The 3D market will never make in the world of HDTV.

I should have clarified. I meant that I've never seen one with the new 3D technology. It's not the red and blue glasses anymore (which I've used a few times.) They are electronic shutter glasses which are synced with the display. They close off one eye at a time so that the screen displays a different image to each eye. It happens fast enough that it doesn't make most people sick and provides a 3D image.

I've seen Up and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in 3D and I thought it was really cool and definitely enhanced the movie-watching experience (but I would have enjoyed them on a regular screen too I'm sure). But I think it works best for computer-generated animated type movies like these ones and not real life action. I think movie theaters will continue to have them, but I can't really see myself watching with the glasses at home.

I would be interested in some of those games, both Xbox 360 and Xbox games

My email is squirrilie@gmail.com

The games I was interested in are: both Halos and Crimson Skies for the Xbox and Call of Duty 2, both Ghost Recons, Gears of War, NFS: Most Wanted, NFS: Prostreet, Nascar 08, and grand theft auto(that is if my parents agree).

Email on which ones you still have!

HA HA!  That's not a hard choice at all!

At-a-girl, Tyla. Show those midwest chili whimps some coastal, seafood loving class! And Ben, the Oyster soup (minus the alternates) has been a tradition on my mom's side of the family for as long as I can remember (let's just say 50+ years). I must say that I was disappointed that no one in my family was even interested in trying the Oyster soup. Somehow I failed in that category of fatherhood.

If Tyla tries it, I guess that means that I have to also. I don't want my father-in-law to feel that he is failure. So if I try it does that mean that Tyla has to try it?

And so, it appears that in a multidimensional way, Tyla has truly found her beau.

The perfect post.

Good post, Ben. The new technology, whatever it is, has a certain gravitational-like pull that's hard to resist. It's really not a scam, but you're seeing the effect over time. The first tehnology I enjoyed for recorded media was vinyl discs. So I've been through the investment, reinvestment loop a few times myself. At at any point in time, there are reasons that some reinvestment makes sense. But duplicating my libraries with every new technology is like having a hole in your wallet. And my 8-tracks carry a lot of memories with them, even if I don't play them anymore.

I was just thinking that video games have to be next, and up on the news feed comes:

Gears of War coming to digital download www.joystiq.com/.../gears-of-war-now-available-via-xbox-live-games-on-demand

Twas a good season. Thanks for the weekly roundups!

You're getting free alcohol now?!

It was great! THANKS FOR SHARING!

I should get a prize like this for fantasy football.

This cracks me up!  Heather and I have been moving quite a bit of furniture around the house as we get settled into the new place.  I too inevitably end up yelling pivot a few times to lighten the mood.  That was a great episode of Friends!  Heather definitely has a better eye for getting pieces through tight spaces - she is awesome!

Having connected or ended a trip in 24 out of 33 of these airports, I would reorder them a bit.  Given that I met my wife at MSP, there is no question it is #1 on my list :-)

Psst!!  I love you Ben!  We've had an amazing year together, and I can't wait for April!!!!

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

I prepared to write this post by looking back through the photos I’ve taken and reading last year’s Year

Sounds more like a fantasy football runner-up prize. The champ gets a glass of milk, like at the Indy 500. (And it's more in keeping with your age bracket.)

We're all looking forward to that fabulous day!

We are our own harshest critics, so from an outsiders perspective, I think they look great!

Addressig some of your points:

Picture Framing - get a cheap Mitre box and a box saw.  This will help you cut perfect 45 degree cuts to get the edges of your frame to line up, and use a stainable wood filler in the cracks to clean it up at the end. (Also use the wood filler on all your nail holes)

Air Nailer probably wouldn't have helped in this situation (Not that I'd ever try to talk you out of GETTING one).  You'd have been just as likely to stray off your target path, but now with enough force to go straight through!  Since these were just to hold the pieces together until the glue set, you could have used shorter finish nails, or pre-drilled the nail holes with a small diameter drill bit to force them down the correct path when driving them in.

As for the center divider, I've seen a trick on TV where once you've got your fram up ad are ready to mark your holes for drilling, take a piece of scrap wood and line up the appropriate holes in it once, and then use it as a template to mark the (in your case 4) surfaces where you want to drill your peg holes.

I can vouch for how good this chili is! Ben made it for us a few years ago, and it has become the recipe that I use at home. I like a nice thick chili, which this is. For those who like a thinner chili add tomato juice until the desired thickness. It is also good with macaroni and lots of cheddar cheese!

Really good advice there, Jim. And I agree that the finished product looks very nice.

DROID!!!!!  I'm a bit biased, but I've been using mine for 3 or 4 months and honestly, it does start to replace real time on the desktop computer.  Try out the keyboard first - it is not as fast as the Q, but I'm seeing improvements as I learn the layout.

They may not be math wizards, but I'll bet they are much more well rounded in really important things like environmental awareness, diversity, and political correctness which knowledge you cannot replace with a calculator like you can with math. Besides, we can outsource math, science and related skills to someone in another country who still thinks that stuff is important.

"Even if it’s pouring down rain, I’ll still be married by the end of that day!"

Exactly right! There's a man that know how to maintain priorities.

So Im also looking for a new video camera Im fairly set on the zi8 but im still contemplating waiting till april for the playsport.  The other ones i've been looking into are the new sony bloggy that comes out in feb. great post!

Although Dudley's comment seems to be written in jest, there's a point that can be taken from it. I don't think this is as big of a deal as it appears.

First, 100-level science courses at the UW are typically designed for non-majors, students who will be majoring in some liberal arts field. Just because it's a science class doesn't mean the students taking the class have any desire to  work as scientists, mathematicians, or any profession that requires the necessary skills to ace Professor Mass's math assessment. If you think the problem is that we need to be producing a lot more scientists and mathematicians, well, that's an entirely different issue.

Second, I would fail this math assessment without a calculator or the internet. Does that mean I'm an idiot? Of course not. My skills are highly specialized and have nothing to do with algebra or geometry.

Another point: Give me a calculator and the internet and I'll score 100% on this math assessment in less than 10 minutes. On the other hand, give you an Arabic dictionary, the internet, and two paragraphs of 14th century Arabic commentary on Islamic law and I'd be astonished if you could translate the two short paragraphs accurately in an entire week.

Adam Smith understood the benefits of specialization and comparative advantage centuries ago, and I believe that they hold true today. I couldn't care less if a lawyer can calculate the circumference of a circle; it's irrelevant.

And lastly, today, even with our less-than-ideal education system, we're still producing unprecedented quantities of experts in a variety of disciplines, to include the hard sciences.

Heather recently started video Podcasts in her classroom, so I picked up a new video camera for us.  The D90 takes really interesting video, but the manual focus in video mode is not ideal for classroom presentations.  I opted for this one, www.bestbuy.com/.../9369729.p and took in a really aggressive price off the Internet for BBY to match.  They said no problem on the price match (it was a .com and not brick and mortar).  I too was thinking about doing the Kodak Zi8, but decided the difference in price to upgrade to the full-on camcorder was worth it.  The video quality is amazing!  I'm still partial to the 24 fps on the D90 with the various lenses, but that is more for play than function.  The lower frame rate gives the movies a true cinematic feel.

Are you able to mount the Zi8 on a tripod?  Is that important for you?

Thanks for another great video! It looks like you all had a great time. I wish Dad and I could have been there. I loved the ending...that's quite a purse that you have been entrusted with. Regift it wisely!

And how does Ford do it without government funding? Don't they need input from a Czar to know how to build a good car?

I, however agree with Ben and the professor. Something needs to be done with the school system in the US. Sending your technical jobs to other countries is not a valid solution.

Would we want to outsource a high profile military project to another country because it requires math and science? I am pretty sure the rest of the world would love that!

As we are in the an information age, looking everything online is great and all. But what happens when you lost an Internet connection (like that never happens, right?), what would you do then? Should all processes stop until we get the Internet back?

As for producing experts in the hard sciences, there has been a serious drop in graduates in the science and engineering programs countrywide in the past decade. It is a really big problem right now.  

Since I am also looking forward to being a parent in the next couple years, I understand your worries. Be sure to look into the schools around you now and do research before putting your kids in there in the future.

" 'crushed tomatoes' that I used had bits that swept through my body unmodified". There are some foods that serve multiple purposes and this one serves as a marker or perhaps you could think of it as a tracer round.

So already you are beginning to see, that when two become one, one must sometimes give up what one prefers in order to prevent the one from again becoming two. Sounds like leguminophobia will forever change your diet.

Try this..

www.carrollshelbyschili.com/carroll-shelby-chili-kits-m-120.html

I think what you want probably is a Cincicinnati Chili. The one that you can put beans after you add the chili to your food. Skyline Chili might be a good start with Tyla since it has good flavor and it is not spicy.

There is a recipe from Bobby Flay on food network for beanless chili if you want to try to cook it.

www.foodnetwork.com/.../index.html

I'd take it, mostly for frankensteining it in with my microcontroller projects.  I suppose if someone else actually wanted a phone, I would step aside.

We like this one, and it's very low on carbs if you watch that sort of thing.  We did tweak it a bit to kick the spice up with some extra chili peppers, but you could achieve the same with tobasco, just add it with the tomatoes.  Also, we like to let it simmer for at least an hour, to kick the spice up.  Very thick chili if it turns out right.

All-Meat Chili

Recipe By : Dana Carpenter 500 low Carb recipes

Serving Size: 6

Categories : Soup

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

-------- ------------ --------------------------------

2 pounds ground chuck

1 cup chopped onion

1 teaspoon garlic powder

(2) Large can tomatoes with green chilies -- 14 1/2 oz can

1 Large can tomato sauce -- 8 oz

4 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons cocoa powder (sounds weird but its good)

1 teaspoon paprika

chili peppers (sliced, de-seeded) to taste

Brown and crumble the beef in heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Pour off the grease, and add the onion, garlic, tomato's and chili's, tomato sauce, cumin, oregano, cocoa and paprika. Stir to combine

Turn the burner to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Uncover and simmer for another 15 to 20 minutes, or until chili thickens a bit. Serve with grated cheese and sour cream, chopped raw onion

Yeah, it's an offshoot of what used to be the AutoPC group.  You should talk to them, maybe they would make you a beta tester.  As for harware, you'd need a decent touchscreen but a nice Atom mobo and ram should stay under $150.

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Too bad you didn't invest in the Droid...maybe next time!  Are you sure the accelerometer is used to turn off the screen or is it a proximity sensor?  Just curious...

I like the sound of this. It would be great for going after squirrels.

Luke.  Do I sense some hostility towards those poor squirrels?

Hmmm. "At least he wasn’t juicing like those baseball players." And last year we thought Tiger was a family man, until proven other wise. Hopefully we won't be disappointed on all facets of his integrity, but frankly, what do we really know about these guys? Life in this world has it share of deceptions. And of course that is was the tool of choice when the bad guys started doing business in this world.

Man! Let the poor guy rest in peace. Oh! Wait! It's Brett that won't let us do that.

Clearly this guy makes many more good plays than bad. He has outstanding talent, and in the two cases you mentioned, his talent and confidence ended up being the fatal flaw. He's so used to looking for more yards and making something out of little or nothing. And in that moment against NO, he forgot the big picture, lost sight of what he had, and once again went for more. Farve took the Vikings to the playoffs and he took them home. He likes being in the spotlight. Enjoy it Brett. It's all yours.

I'll live with all the drama and mistakes Favre brings to the table.  The Vikings would've been 8-8 or maybe 9-7 without him this year.  

Typically, when using the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives, if the word is more than one syllable, you should use more or most instead of the -er or -est ending. There are times that you use the -er or -est with two syllable words, but they are the exception and not the rule.

Great pictures! There is no way I can pick a favorite! It will be fun to see what he does at the wedding! I would like a copy of the sepia picture from this post please!

I at place enjoyed reading your blog and catalogue it both educational and interesting.  I be converted into be decided to bookmark it and upon it as again as I can.

Thanks

Bernice Franklin

<a href=http://www.uggworld.eu>UGG Boots</a>

Thanks for dinner, it was DELICIOUS!!!!!!!  I love you too!

It sure is unsettling when this happens. Its strange our card numbers were stolen near the same time, but ours was for over $1000 and all online USPS charges. We have a Master Card with Universal Card, and while they have been okay in helping us (and they called when they saw the charges come through), we have lost faith in them and will be looking for a new card. This is the second time our number was stolen. The first time Universal encouraged us to keep our card as it was only a $100 online purchase and they felt it wasn't fraud but an entry mistake. Then 3 months later we have over $1000 to dispute! To hear that Chase caught a $5 charge and called you, really makes me unhappy with Universal!!! I will never assume a charge I didn't make was just an entry mistake again, and will cancel my card immediately. I guess we were a little stupid and believed people we shouldn't have.

To add to my comment above...our Universal card is with Citi and the charges were for close to $2000!! We don't get the charges taken off until we send in a form disputing them. I have really lost faith with Citi.

Was your Citi card a debit card? The dispute process is different for them and requires the completion of a sworn statement. Also, with a debit card YOUR money is gone, not the card company's. With credit cards, it's the card company's money that is gone since you do not have to pay disputed items until they are proven. For that reason, the bank I work at suggests that people not use debit cards online.

Our card is a charge card. We agree, don't use debit online! I suppose I'm just upset since we should have cancelled the card the first time. We didn't have to pay then, and I'm sure we won't have to pay now. There is just a lot paper work and its a slow process. Not to mention its unsettling.

Great post! I really want to say "Mind Boggling", but you explained it very well, so by the end of the article, no boggling remained.)

I think I need to get a phone like yours so I can take advantage of the free apps! (They would be free for friends and family, right?)

Why don't you put your nodes into a hashtable for quicker lookup?  You're loading all of this into memory anyway, yes?

Mine is on my right hand, where my bride placed it 33 years ago today.

right hand?

WOO!!  Imagine my excitement when I opened your blog to see a picture of my beautiful ring!  I can't wait till you get to wear yours too!!!

Haha Dad, look down at your hands. Hold out your thumbs. The one that makes an L shape is your left hand.

I look forward to seeing those rings up close and personal. Made reservations for Seattle two days ago.

Happy anniversary to "Dudley" and his bride.

Wow! Canada makes me look creepy.

((2x4)+(2x2))/4 = Average of 3 wheels per vehicle.

Sounds like you're not that far from the trike you started with. (I really wish I could post a photo here.) Of course if we could factor in average speed, there might be a difference.

Wow.  No wonder you suggested we play Boggle this weekend  :)

Make sure his computers are turned off before you play this guy.

Do you add your laundry soap before or after you add your clothes? Always add your soap first and make sure it is diluted or dissolved before adding your clothes. I'm not sure that is this problem, but the shirt on the left looks like a bleach mark, and laundry soap can do that even if it doesn't contain bleach on certain fabrics. It can also stain clothes but usually leaves a different kind of mark than the shirt on the right has. Frustrating and expensive for sure!

There are some facial cleaners like benzaclyne(sp?) that can do that as well.  In addition to what your mom said, liquid softener will also stain if added too early.

If you use bleach, do you pour the bleach into the water or a dispencer that is part of the wash machine. I have found that if I add bleach through the dispencer it leaves some behind and will ruin clothes in the next load.

If you stop wearing orange make up and dressing up like an Umpa Lumpa that won't happen.

Oh boy.  Good thing I love you  :)

You are the second couple that I know of who is getting married soon and the groom got injuried. She is a college friend of mine and he fell on the ice. You are definitely lucky because he need to have surgery and also to have a cast on throughout the wedding. Take care! And you got yourself a wonderful girl!

Bracket=Busted, but as Lloyd would say, "So you're telling me there's a chance."

I'm really glad it wasn't any worse and that you had good help, before, during and after your trip to ER.

So there goes my chance to buy you a complimentary copy of the '82 hit "Bad to the Bone"

On the day I was born

The nurses all gathered 'round

And they gazed in wide wonder

At the joy they had found

The head nurse spoke up

Said "leave this one alone"

She could tell right away

That I was bad to the bone

I just picked this up and I have a few questions if you don't mind;

1. class 4 or class 6? I'm new to all of this so I want to make sure I get the right card.

2. where can I find a lens cover (if there even is one) and a carry case for this camera? I'd prefer a case specially made for this or the ZI8, but it's not a big issue either way.

Dustin, I bought the Kodak 1047398 Pocket Video Case.

www.amazon.com/.../B002IVPUJA

I also recommend that you go with a Class 6 card. Class 4 might work but the price difference is not worth the potential hassle. I got the Transcend 16 GB Class 6 card.

www.amazon.com/.../B0015AOK1O

Thanks, I ordered the following case;

www.amazon.com/.../ref=oss_product

and decided to hold off on a flash card for the time being. The cheapass in me knows I can find an 8GB SDHC Class 6 for around $10-15 if I look in the right places/wait a week or two.

I did pick up a mini-tripod though;

www.amazon.com/.../ref=oss_product

Thanks again for the quick response. This camera is primarily for Anime North 2010 up in Toronto so I don't need anything fancy.

Looks great! Any particular reason you're using Windows to do striping instead of the mobo?

Are you sticking with the CPU cooling fan that comes with the processor?

If the mobo supports RAID0 then maybe I'll go there. Doing it in Windows is silly simple which is why I defaulted to that.

And yep, I'm planning to use the stock cooler unless someone says I shouldn't. I'm not going to overclock.

Thanks for taking a look!

I think this proves you're a geek.

looks like RAID0 is on the mobo's Does list: www.gigabyte.us/.../Products_Spec.aspx

Looks pretty good.  I have a GigaByte board and really like it.  Corsair makes good ram, but I don't know much about their power supplies.  I would suggest getting a power supply that has modular cables.  That way you can just use the cables you actually need and the extra ones wont be taking up room and ruining the airflow inside your case.  Antec makes really nice cases too.  They have nice big fans and a lot of them.  I don't know how cool the i7's run, but if you don't overclock you should be fine with the stock fan.  If you wanted to get a bigger one with a heat sink just be sure to check the size.  A lot of the time the memory or power supply is too close for a bigger fan to fit.  

Psst!  Thanks for all YOUR help!  I love you!

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Needs more cowbell.

The pictures are absolutely beautiful! I'm assuming that Heather is a professional photographer?

Would it be possible for me to get a copy of the picture of David and Mom? I like the one best where he's facing completely away from the camera. I have a feeling we're going to be buying lots of pictures once you get them from your photographer.

David is STILL talking about going on the boat. He also started showing me the different dance moves he was doing too. He had a blast. Thanks!

Nice video.  That second power cable powers the CPU.  The other runs everything else on the mobo.  For me it was getting over the fear of installing a dedicated video card.  I don't know how I ever lived with integrated graphics!  I got a few PC magazines that had step by step instructions, watched a few instructional youtube videos, and researched all the parts very carefully to make sure they would work before I bought them.  

"A girl named Tiger..." Is this a new nick name?

This is news to me!

Tyla and I named all the tables at the reception after places where we’ve had some of our favorite

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned I was about ready to pull the trigger on the new computer. That day finally

I think part of it is that there's a usual rate the hospital charges, and then there's the special low rate the hospital charges to your insurer because your insurer used their volume of customers to negotiate a better deal.   That could explain the delta between 1000 and 661 or 661 and 338.

But I could be totally wrong. As long as my number is zero, I don't ask many questions :)

Jonathon is correct in his thinking. Insurance companies negotiate with providers and set their APC. Each insurance company will have a different APC depending on the volume of customers. The providers will have to keep raising their prices so that they can at least make some money when the insurance company pays as usually the APC is a percentage of the real amount. Its really amazing when you have surgery and spend time in the hospital. The amount that the insurance pays is so low compared to what the cost truely is according to the hospital. So yes, your insurance company only paid $ 338, and you would have been charged $1000 if you didn't have insurance. Of course then you probably wouldn't have been able to pay so the hospital would have to eat the cost as they can't turn you away from the ER.  

When David was born, the total hospital bill was well over $30k. However, the hospital only received about 10 from the insurance company. Every time I go to see my neurologist, he charges the insurance company about $600, but he only recieves about $100. It's really nuts!

I also like the idea of the TouchSmart, because it can also act as your kitchen TV.  However what about the eee Keyboard from Asus?  It has the built in little touch screen and a full keyboard.  I don't know how well apps run in the little side screen, but if you could display a browser window there, it would be about right for a recipe.

Sounds like a great Christmas gift   :)

I can still see the sun rising over Lake Pepin on my wedding day, knowing God would bless this marriage. I remember so many special things about that day over 30 years ago. It is the memory of God's love on this special day that has gotton me through the hard times. God gave you and Tyla a beautiful day full of so many memories, take the time to remember year after year after year. God's Blessing forever.

Thanks, Ben! You are super speedy and I appreciate it. It was fun to relive the day and remember all the happy times.

Thanks for the cookies Ben & Tyla! They are delicous. I never had the Oh's before and the mint ones are great! I guess you didn't get my text on Friday when they arrived. I had a wonderful bday too! PF Changs was fun.

And she selflessly shared part of one of the Oh's. That is a fabulous, delicious cookie!! Congrats to the people at Liz Lovely who really know how to spread the goodness around. Also, thanks Ben & Tyla for a great gift, and to my wife for this incredible sacrifice!

I tried to get Rachel to just use sleeping bags zipped together.

Do not under estimate the effects of the passage of time and the shifting of priorities. Baseball brought you a lot of joy; playing, watching, and tracking. But it's not your vocation and you're not married to it. You can forever enjoy what the game brought to you without feeling guilty that it no longer holds the same priority in your life.

Beautiful pictures! It sounds like you had a wonderful trip.

How smooth was the ride on the ship?  I tend to get seasick, but on a ship that size maybe it wouldn't be a problem.  

I found it helpful to bring our own travel alarm clock so we had a clock in the room and didn't need to schedule a wake up call.  And don't forget the Aloe--we went through half a bottle during the cruise!

Facebook and Google have lost my trust with their default "opt in" practices. I have deleted all my Google accounts and found alternatives to all of their apps.

My Facebook account could be next. This might be a nice alternative to it. www.folkdirect.com/home

Bob

You get an A+ for you "Best Vacaation Ever" paper/post. :) It sounds wonderful. I understand the frustration you had with islanders trying to sell something. We experienced it too, when we were in Jamaica many many years ago. Have you ever told us how much weight you gained? I'm curious if that is really a problem if you don't pig out all the time.

Sounds like a great trip.  Did you consider any other destinations (ie Alaska, Europe, ect.) or were your minds made up that you really wanted to go to the Caribbean?  Also, in case you were wondering I was the one who voted that you'd loose weight.  Just in case you got one of those flu bugs that seem to spread like wildfire through cruise ships every once in a while.  On a side note, I wonder if they have any special procedures to keep that from happening now.  These are the things that keep me up at night... ;-)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE driving my dream car!!!  Thanks Ben!

The smile is radiant, pleasant, and appearantly a permanent option when Tyla is in her new car. I think it's the best part of the car!

Sometimes you sound like an old english woman when you write. Things like 'it was a bit small' or 'it was quite cold' before 'a brief stop at a market'. Did you get tea and crumpets?

I suppose this is obvious since I wrote the post, but Tyla and I will be there!

Ben, there doesn't seem to be a date on here.  I should be able to go.

I also use SpaceMonger a lot - a tool that displays your disk usage graphically, and helps to identify space hogs on your hard drives.  ALso, I switched to DAEMON tools lite for ISO mounting, they made the switch to x64 before Virtual Clone drive did.

Just so you know, my cousins who farm near lafayette really appreciate that system.

I called a bingo game at church the other day. It was exasperating. You kind of made a reference to this in your post, but all I could think of was, "how hard is it to listen and hear what numbers and letters are being called out." Now, I think I would enjoy playing bingo and I have always wanted to go to a big bingo hall, but only because so many people would be taking it so seriously....and I wouldn't be.

I'm guessing that by late summer when we usually visit you, it's down to a Category 2 or 1.

I'm somewhat skeptical of the premise of this book.  While the average of any given group of people might be smart, an actual crowd is not.  Exhibit A: The soccer fans at the World Cup...  

I guess I'll just have to read it for myself.

I heard MS was going to add iPhone development capabilities to Visual Studio.  Have you heard anything at the MS campus regarding this?

If you own a mac and an iPhone you can write apps for it.  You just can't distribute them wihtout Steve's blessing.  Although, if you want you can setup your own App Store like distrubution service.  Not sure how to do that but businesses can do it so it's posible.

Don't forget the can of mushroom soup!

That's awesome, even if it is a bot.  I remember in college there was one that was tied into a simpsons episode where if you sent it a message, homer replied with an applicable response to whatever you sent him.

Thanks for your blog, Ben! The line "...doing the things that are really important to you." was a good reminder that I am in control of what I do each day.

very very rich and very delicious

thanks for a wonderful fathers day

LOVED LOVED LOVED it!!

I have always wanted to get one, just to try it sometime. I will have to sneak it in an order next time I am on Amazon.

I like it. It would be good to have some training on survival, especially in green state that is so blue.

So did the family come up with new nick names for you? Sparky, Flash, Striker, Pyroman, Mr. Inferno?

I hope you can learn how to do the spindle & bow method too. I realize that takes a good cord of some kind, but if you could figure out how to do it with something like a shoe lace, you would be fire-enabled in even more circumstances.

I very much look forward to wathcing the 'shoe lace' fire on the next camping trip :)

Just remembering the hiking that we did on our summer vacations and now I can't get THE song out of my head! "I love to go a-wandering, Along the mountain track, And as I go, I love to sing, My knapsack on my back.

Val-deri, Val-dera, Val-deri, Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha Val-deri,Val-dera. My knapsack on my back."

You didn't do a super fantastic job of removing the links...

Some one in Seattle has shown that approaching a commonly crowded intersection with extra room can help bust up a traffic jam, but you'll have to Google it yourself; we don't have rush hour in Wapello.

I like 'A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for' - William Shedd

Happy Blogging Birthday!! We've all been enjoying the ride with you. I'm looking forward to many more days, months, and Blogging Birthdays with Studio711!

Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!

Keep blogging! It's always a good read. I love that I never know what to expect but it's always interesting.

I've always been fond of this method for cooling beer.

www.asciimation.co.nz/beer

What happens if you limit the program to N moves per second?  I'd love to see a graph of 10-20 game average score for N of .25, .5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.   ... And, of course, you probably won't have to choose to stop playing since Popcap will likely try to ban you.  :)

I say you take it one step further and stop talking to people all together. When someone comes into your office and asks you a question they are telling you 'I don't know what you're doing or how busy you are, but stop it and talk to me now'. It's a huge invasion of personal space. You should send a mass email to people letting them know that you don't have the time to talk.

David just got a Blue Angel foam plane from the dentist's office. It is right now sitting on top of the piano where it crash landed. I hope none of the ones you saw ended up on top of a piano.

You can buy those for any AWD vehicle.  I do think they require a minor mod to your car to make them work properly though.  I wanted some for my truck for years.

Linkage:  http://www.mattracks.com/

Its funny that you blogged about del.icio.us. I was just looking at your gift list the other day and thought I should ask you how to start my own list! Wow...its scary! Our minds are thinking a like! Next you'll be blogging that you are going to buy your mom a new car!

Your pictures are beautful! The views amazing and the blue sky is endless. I'm so happy that you made it to the Camp Muir. I wish I could.