Being Overweight Isn't All Bad, Study Says - washingtonpost.com

Being Overweight Isn't All Bad, Study Says - washingtonpost.com: "data from decades of federal surveys concluded that people who were overweight -- but not obese -- had lower overall mortality rates than those of normal weight."

14886 Days till I die (if I'm lucky)

A colleague introduced me to this blog post today. I have placed a non-repeating appointment in my Google calendar for the day I die and will see, on a regular basis, how much time I have left to get my shit together and have a good time:

Conceptual Trends and Current Topics

Don't have TiVo? Want to know what you're missing on the web?

Couldn't help but to lift this chart from a good article over on Macworld.com
It's good for more than just the Mac too:

What’s streaming on the web

Site	Technology	Quality	What’s on
ABC	Move Video	Very good	Select prime-time shows including Lost, Desperate Housewives, and Ugly Betty; previous two to five episodes
BBC News	Windows Media, RealVideo	Very poor	Headline news updated 24 hours a day
CBS	RealVideo	Fair	Select prime-time and daytime shows, including the CSI franchises, The Unit, and As the World Turns; select episodes
Channelchooser	Windows Media, RealVideo	Poor	Live streams of television stations, including movie classics, cartoons
The CW	Move Video	Good	Select prime-time shows such as Supernatural and Everybody Hates Chris; four to six episodes per show
Dailymotion	Flash video	Fair to poor, depending on the source	Some television shows, including many classics from the 1940s and 1950s
Fox	Move Video	Good	Select prime-time shows, such as Bones, Prison Break, and Hell’s Kitchen; some with all episodes, some with select episodes
Google Video	Flash video	Fair to poor, depending on the source	Some television shows such as Charlie Rose, public domain films
Joost	P2P software	Very good to poor, depending on the source	Shows from a variety of content providers, including Babylon 5 and The Ben Stiller Show and movies such as Dragonslayer
MLB	Windows Media	Fair	Live baseball games, highlights
NBC	Flash video	Poor	Select prime-time shows such as Friday Night Lights and The Office; all episodes
NHL.com	Windows Media	Fair	Live hockey games, highlights
wwiTV	Windows Media, RealVideo	Poor	Live streams of stations from around the world, including movie classics, cartoons

Google Docs Is Inspiring

Kudos to the folks at Google for making this simple presentation on how to use Google Docs for simplifying the creation and sharing of and the collaboration on word processing, spreadsheet and presentation documents.

Watch and listen to this video for more. Even if you're not into Google, the presentation technique alone is worth the time:

Official Google Blog: Our feature presentation

I got a widescreen monitor at work and new software. . .

So, the boss decided that no one should be stuck staring at a CRT in the office anymore.

My colleague, David, was given a budget and the authority to eliminate as many CRTs as possible. I got a new wide screen monitor in the shuffle!

So, I read on LifeHacker about this free software for taking advantage of the valuable new space on the screen. Sizer let me customize the "resize window" options on my computer so I can click on a window and instantly set it to take only half of the screen width and reposition it to the left or right side of the screen. It's fast and, now that I have so much more screen space, I can have two different windows on my screen at the same time.

Unread Items in Google Reader Has Changed -- Finally!!

I always found it ridiculous that Google Reader did not show the count for unread items in my reader account for anything higher than 100. They would just show "100+" I noticed this morning that they now show the actual count.

So now I know how far behind I am on my reading and can also gauge a bit better whether I'm subscribed to too many feeds.

Not sure why I didn't hear about this on the blogosphere already. . .maybe it's because I'm behind on my reading!

Case Sensitive Name Attribute for Radio Buttons in FireFox

So a customer of mine discovered this problem for me today. I have a pair of radio buttons on some search fields for an AND/OR choice. When he clicked OR (the default is AND) the AND stayed selected and his search threw an error.

Here's a code example:

<input type="Radio" 
 name="search_recipient_group_ao" 
 value="And" 
 checked>
&nbsp;Or&nbsp;
<input type="Radio" 
 name="SEARCH_RECIPIENT_GROUP_ao" 
 value="Or" >

So, in IE, this works just fine--only one selection is allowed. In FireFox though, both can be selected at the same time. I'm guessing FireFox is relying on JavaScript for the functionality and is, therefore, case sensitive for form field groups.

Breast Feeding Extremism and Corporate Political Power

In this article, it sounds like the original ads promoting breast feeding contained some fairly extreme images. Women and families should have accurate information about the benefits of breast feeding--but they should also be free from the extreme guilt that so many La Leche League types proliferate. If a woman or her child experiences trouble when trying to establish a healthy breast feeding habit, postpartum is no time for mommy to be worrying about all the negative pressure that certain segments of society apply to this issue. Mommy and family should have the facts about the benefits of breast feeding and the, relatively low, risks of not doing so. The rest of us should shut the hell up, support and let mommy decide for herself what she and her baby are going to do about meal time.

Just as important, this article talks about another example of just how corrupt our government has become and how the power of corporate lobbying fucks up so much of what we call our American Democracy. Is it really that important for a government agency to change it's approach to a public health education campaign so that the sales of infant formula do not drop? If the original ads had run, would the economy have toppled? Maybe the formula companies would have defaulted on their mortgages and the entire world market gone down the drain? Maybe this wouldn't be so bad either.

HHS Toned Down Breast-Feeding Ads - washingtonpost.com

UPDATE: Here are the ads before and after the corporate lobbying efforts and an excerpt from the lobbyist letter:



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2007/08/31/GR2007083100089.html

12 Volt Battery Hack! You'll Be Surprised... Video

This guy saved $40 on watch batteries. Here's how:

12 Volt Battery Hack! You'll Be Surprised... Video

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/bellicose

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/bellicose

Synonym: The 2nd Bush Administration

Libby Given 21/2-Year Prison Term - washingtonpost.com

"Mr. Libby lied about nearly everything that mattered," obscuring his true role in the leak and those of other officials, while forcing investigators to waste resources probing his account. . .

Libby Given 21/2-Year Prison Term - washingtonpost.com

Golly gee Batman! Do you think he'll be pardoned? Zonkers, maybe that was the plan all along!

Cocoa (Kookalamookala, King of the Kookamunga!) 1994-2007

We'll miss you Cocoa and will never forget you!

Click for these photos of Cocoa (Kookalamookala, King of the Kookamunga!) 1994-2007

Fatherhood catchup and review volume II

From Back (in time...Click for photo album

I'm trying my best to get the story of Devin's delivery down for posterity before it's too much of a blur in my head. I'm assuming, based on the previous entry, that this won't be a truly chronological accounting throughout but, since I can't think of anything to rant about or anywhere else to start, today I start at the beginning.

When we visited the Maternity Center in Bethesda for week 39, Helen's blood pressure was unusually high--they checked twice because Helen was worried it might be a mistake. At the Maternity Center, the mother sees a different midwife on each prenatal visit. This way, hopefully, she will have seen every midwife one or more times before she went into labor at which time the midwife on call would help us through the labor. On this particular visit, we saw a midwife that Helen didn't really like. It was weird too because she was the senior most midwife who doesn't do deliveries anymore. This one had a problem with Helen's weight gain throughout her pregnancy--even though Helen started out overweight, passed two glucose tests during the pregnancy--ruling out the likelihood of gestational diabetes and everything else about Devin and Helen was perfectly normal and healthy up to this point with the high blood pressure.

After our visit I went back to the midwife's office to ask for clarification on something Helen was telling the front desk about. She told me that "just between you and me" Helen's weight was her biggest concern. She didn't bring that up to Helen during this visit. She had only told us about how we would proceed to test for pre-eclampsia and how things would go if Helen's blood pressure did not get and stay down in a normal range. This was when all the stress started. In the "just between you and me" conversation, she told me that Helen's body could only take so much weight and that the only cure was to have the baby--this last part being very true in the case of pre-eclampsia. I was pretty shocked that my wife's practitioner was telling me something that she did not want my wife to hear. Of course, I didn't keep it from Helen.

Fatherhood catchup and review

I am officially a father. Devin was born on April 14, 2007--just 3 days before my own birthday.

I'm sitting, writing this in the apartment-office of a colleague during my lunch break so that I can take the entire break uninterrupted. This is necessary for two reasons. First, with a newborn baby in the home, my wife and I cannot make our own schedules or do much that is not specifically for the baby--I can't use the toilet, eat a meal or brush my teeth when I want to! Second, at my job there is no real break room and if I try to take lunch at my desk, more times than not, I am interrupted by work that must be done right away. I don't mind it most of the time--I enjoy most of the work I do and the people I do it with and for--but, much like it is at home now, it is nearly impossible to get anything done per my own agenda while within 20 feet of my office. This said, I will probably compose this post in a few sittings and possibly even across a few different days in addition to posting multiple posts on the newest, most exciting topic in my life!

There is an interesting counterpoint here where the little time I have for myself while at home taking care of my two favorite humans on the planet plays against the time I am forced to take to take care of other peoples' software needs in order that I am able to provide, financially and materially, for myself and those two favorite humans on the planet.

So, here I am. Back at work after a full two weeks of paternity leave--the first two weeks of my son's life. It was very difficult, emotionally to leave my wife and child for the first time on Monday. A few fathers I know told me that it would actually be a welcome break for me to go back to work. I assumed that meant that most of these men were bad fathers and husbands--I didn't want to leave them and I don't think it's fair to expect my wife to go through all of this by herself while I am away. The more she and I spoke about having a baby, the more the topic came up of her limited choices after conception. She often pointed out that I, as a male, could escape this incubation, labor and delivery at any moment whereas, once she had decided to keep the child she could never escape any of it and could easily be left alone to deal with it. She and I both knew that this would never be the case--we do everything together and as full partners to the point of the absurd in some cases--but the possibility was still an emotional challenge for her and it helped her to talk about it. Back to the counterpoint topic--while I don't want to be at work right now, I am able to take a lunch break and I am able to do what I want with it. And what am I doing with it? Publishing a journal entry about the new slightly frustrating but infinitely rewarding home situation in order to share my experience with the tiny world of humans interested in knowing about it.

That's it for now. Pictures and more rants to come. . .

Libby Found Guilty in CIA Leak Case - washingtonpost.com

Buried in one man's conviction, another man's corrupt behavior:

Libby Found Guilty in CIA Leak Case - washingtonpost.com: "Testimony and evidence revealed that the vice president dictated precise talking points he wanted Libby and other aides to use to rebut Wilson's accusations against the White House, helped select which journalists would be contacted and worked with Bush to declassify secret intelligence reports on Iraqi weapons that he believed would contradict Wilson's claims."

Italy indicts CIA agents in cleric's kidnapping

LATimes.com

The trial would be the first to address 'extraordinary renditions'.
. . .
It is not clear whether Italy will seek the extradition of the Americans, and it is highly unlikely the U.S. government would comply. In fact, it is all but guaranteed that none of the Americans will ever appear in court.

Will be interesting to see how this pans out! Hopefully, there will at least be some serious charges, documentation and testimony to our illegal practices.

Joost beta for Mac

Found this on BoingBoing:

The developers of Joost, formerly known as the Venice Project, have just released the beta for Intel Macs.

Link.

If anyone has a membership with Joost already, I'm wait-listed, so if you could be so kind as to invite me, I'd love to get the beta and try it out! We're already enjoying watching our TiVo stuff on the new Macbook but I've been itching to try more web-based video outside of you-tube.

i am one-third misanthropic

I found this mini survey while reading one of my favorite blogs, "Adventures in applied Math:"

You Are 36% Misanthropic

You're a little misanthropic - but who isn't? Your reactions to other people are pretty normal. You enjoy being friendly with people you encounter, but if you're having a rough day, watch out!

How Misanthropic Are You?

Best Man, Toast to the Bride and Groom

My own best man, Jimmy, got married tonight and I was his best man. I have been so busy this week--with the bachelor party last weekend and the family reunion / baby shower my mother threw for us--that I was only able to sit down and write the toast this morning. I wasn't sure how it would be received, but it ended up with lots of laughs and compliments. So here it is:

I have been married to my wife Helen for 12 years and Jimmy was my best man.

It's ironic that I am married, that Jimmy was my best man AND that I am his today--when you consider the story he told Helen the first time he met her.

Back when we were both still school kids in Lakeland, Jimmy's parents let him go surfing in Cocoa beach with me. It was pretty cold that weekend, so to convince Jimmy to go, I told him that after I'd surfed a while, we could take turns using my wet-suit. Once we were at the beach, I came out of the water bragging about my surfing skills and Jimmy asked if he could use my wetsuit. I said, "take the surfboard, but leave the wetsuit .It's too cold!!"

I'm pretty sure the only reason Jimmy was my friend for a while after that was because I had a car and a surfboard.

All the years I've known Jimmy, I've never known him to get angry. I always had a hot and unpredictable temper. Whenever I would lash out at Jimmy, he would just laugh at me.

There is only one thing I can say about Jimmy's bachelor party last weekend--well, something just before the party. I asked Jimmy if I had ever made him really mad. He couldn't think of any time I had. He said it takes a lot to make him mad. That's when I decided to do my best to thoroughly embarrass him that night.

Jimmy is an honest, patient and kind man. He's generous and thoughtful too. Once, when he flew all the way to Maryland to help me move into my new house--in the middle of the move, when he learned I wasn't a whiskey drinker, he quickly produced a flask to calm my nerves. This very moment, I'm getting started on my second annual gift bottle of whiskey from Jimmy.

Jimmy and Rene, we all know you love life and you love each other. you love the food and the drink. You love to travel, to be around good people and to listen to good music. My greatest hope for you both is that you will always love each other as much as the other good things in life.

Take care of each other and no matter how rough things might get for you--actually, Rene, no matter how angry Jimmy might make you in the coming years, just laugh at him!

To the bride and groom!!

Tune in to imagebuoy for pictures from the wedding, soon.