When I was a kid, there were five channels that you had to pay to get - HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz, and the Disney Channel. We only got the Disney Channel, needless to say. My parents thought it was educational or something, which perhaps it was back then. Since it was funded by viewer subscriptions, it didn't have commercials...except for itself. Unlike HBO, which at least gave you an unbroken movie experience before telling you what else was coming up, the Disney Channel would routinely break in the middle of a program to let you know how awesome the Disney Channel was and what else was on it that you could try to watch before getting a similar interruption.
I guess this business model didn't pan out for them, and eventually they moved to their current commercial/Miley Cyrus plan, which makes more sense anyway. If you're going to have commercials, I'll like you less. If I'm already paying for your programming, chances are I want to watch your channel without being blasted with your shameless self-promotion.
A similar thing happens when I'm listening to Major League Baseball on the radio - they'll pause for 'station identification.' This just means a shorter than normal commercial for the network you're already listening to. But they can't call it that because nobody likes commercials. It's as if they think we'll just get blown away by the changing winds of the radio dial, and be utterly unable to find our way back. It would make a lot more sense for them to advertise their station on someone else's, during another network's broadcast of a different game. Then if we don't like what's playing, we know there's another option out there. They could still call it Station Identification. Just not for the station you happen to be listening to.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Ministry of Funny Walks
I don't know if any of you followed the UK elections (I don't know why you would), but if not, this was by far the most interesting part.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Different Story, Same Intersection
This week I had another cycling incident at the same intersection as last week. This time I just stopped at the red light and waited for it to turn green. There was another cyclist on the other side of the intersection. I made sure to signal very conspicuously that I was turning right. He still didn't seem to notice until we'd both started pedaling, though. When he looked at my signal, he also gave a right-turn signal. However, by this time we both had too much momentum to turn in front of one another, so we both yielded as though the other were going straight, then went ahead and turned right behind each other. I've illustrated it in a quick Paint image above if my description is inadequate.
My brother Spencer often thought of odd exceptions that should be incorporated into the rules of the road to make sure everyone should pay better attention. Maybe this is an option?
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Biking Codes
On my way home today, I stopped at a red light. No one was coming, so I proceeded into the intersection, signalling right and began turning (although going through red lights on your bike is slightly less socially acceptable in Britain, this particular light has a major bike path coming onto it, so lots of people run it, if not everyone). As I began turning, another biker zoomed past me on my right (a right turn here is like a left turn in the US, in that you have to cross another lane to do it). I braked, but my front tire bumped his back tire, and my bike fell over. I landed on my feet while the man yelled at me in a Scottish accent, "JEEESUS! Yeh deedn't ee'n look behin' yeh!"
I apologized, got back on my bike, and finished turning (luckily there were still no cars around). I was feeling at fault because of his berating, but as I thought about it, I'm not sure what I did wrong. I probably didn't give a big enough signal, but the guy was nowhere near me when I stopped at the light. He must have been going fast, and clearly didn't stop at the light at all. Granted, I was going through a red light and am therefore somewhat at fault, but he did that while not stopping, so I'd like to allocate him more of the fault.
I remember in Chicago thinking there was something of a biker's code about how to run red lights, but unwritten codes don't work in situations where not everyone knows them. I guess the obvious answer is to just wait for the light to turn green. Anyone have any thoughts on how the biker's code would deal with this?
I apologized, got back on my bike, and finished turning (luckily there were still no cars around). I was feeling at fault because of his berating, but as I thought about it, I'm not sure what I did wrong. I probably didn't give a big enough signal, but the guy was nowhere near me when I stopped at the light. He must have been going fast, and clearly didn't stop at the light at all. Granted, I was going through a red light and am therefore somewhat at fault, but he did that while not stopping, so I'd like to allocate him more of the fault.
I remember in Chicago thinking there was something of a biker's code about how to run red lights, but unwritten codes don't work in situations where not everyone knows them. I guess the obvious answer is to just wait for the light to turn green. Anyone have any thoughts on how the biker's code would deal with this?
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Honor Societies
xkcd hits it right on the money here. Pretty much sums up my feelings about NHS in high school.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Conan
I don't know how closely any of you have been following the Jay/Conan/NBC battle, but I thought I would share my thoughts on it. I've been keeping up to date with American news now more than I did when I lived in America - it's odd how much little things can mean when you're completely displaced from the familiar.
I'm sure everyone has different thoughts on it, but beyond just assigning blame to people, the entire thing has me very sad. NBC was always my favorite network, from its news to sitcoms to late-night lineup. But Conan's show was always a special point in that for me - starting in junior high, I would always watch him before going to bed. Most people I knew didn't watch him, and that made it a kind of haven for the persecuted outcast, seeing a tall, awkward nerd get up on camera every night being funny and enjoyed.
I suppose I just figured that, even though Conan would have to tone down his style of humor for the Tonight Show, that I would still have that same basic haven to go back to for years to come. I know he'll probably get a show with Fox, but after leaving the Tonight Show, it's never going to seem as perfect as it did in my mind. Maybe that's just the persecuted 7th grader in me talking, though.
Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
I'm sure everyone has different thoughts on it, but beyond just assigning blame to people, the entire thing has me very sad. NBC was always my favorite network, from its news to sitcoms to late-night lineup. But Conan's show was always a special point in that for me - starting in junior high, I would always watch him before going to bed. Most people I knew didn't watch him, and that made it a kind of haven for the persecuted outcast, seeing a tall, awkward nerd get up on camera every night being funny and enjoyed.
I suppose I just figured that, even though Conan would have to tone down his style of humor for the Tonight Show, that I would still have that same basic haven to go back to for years to come. I know he'll probably get a show with Fox, but after leaving the Tonight Show, it's never going to seem as perfect as it did in my mind. Maybe that's just the persecuted 7th grader in me talking, though.
Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
Monday, November 16, 2009
A Strange Dream
I went to bed at a decent hour last night (about 10:30), and I woke up around 4:15 am from a really weird dream. I was pretty emotional about it when I first woke up, as I am from time to time with dreams. Only nothing really deeply emotional or personal happened in the dream. Here's what happened, and I'll try my best to paint the whole picture, though some of it will be ridiculous and won't make sense...
For some reason (these words are usually used quite a bit when describing a dream) I had some kind of dangerous job. I don't know if I was a hitman or an assassin of some kind. All I know is that my job involved traveling and laying low wherever I went. On this journey I am in Sweden and I'm staying with one of my old babysitters. His name is Marshall, and he was an important adult figure to me when I was really young. He was one of my models for father type figure. But he's never lived in Sweden and I doubt he ever will. Regardless, he had his own place in Sweden and it was in a pretty typical sub-division. I'm staying with him for a couple days and during that time we had a couple of talks about where I was headed in life and what I wanted to do. I didn't really have a good answer or plan, and I told him that I was basically just taking it one day at a time and doing my best to come up with something soon. He said that was fine and I could stay with him as long as I needed.
So one day he leaves for work and I'm at his house alone. I'm basically just sitting around, mixing drinks, and watching TV. Out of nowhere this girl arrives. I don't remember if I let her in the house or if she'd been there the whole time. In the dream I just accepted that she was there now. She looked like Ellen Page (the girl who played Juno), and of course since I think Ellen Page is beautiful I thought the same of her. She sits on the sofa with me and we start talking. It turns out her name is Katie. All of a sudden a gunshot rings out and a bullet shatters the big glass sliding doors in the room and explodes the couch cushion next to me. She screams and we both dart behind the sofa. I know that there is a sniper outside and off in the distance, and he's trying to kill me or anyone associated with me. I'm sure he has a great view of the room we're in right now because he's up on a hill that overlooks the subdivision. Basically, I know we're fucked, and she's freaking out. I tell her to stay calm and that I'm going to get us out of this situation. We're still hiding behind the sofa as I take off my White Sox jersey and throw it across the room. A bullet explodes the wall on the other side of the room as the sniper attempts to hit my jersey, thinking its me. Meanwhile, me and Katie take off running in the other direction towards the garage part of the house. We're getting shot at the whole time but we make it.
Once we get into the hall, I ask her if she has a car there. Katie says that she does, but her car is very "different". I tell her it doesn't matter. As long as the thing has four wheels and moves at speeds greater than 40 mph, I don't care how "different" the car is. We get into the garage and we find her car. It is very tiny, has only two seats, and is black. But I don't question it at all. I climb into the passenger side and she takes the wheel. She explains to me that it is some kind of electric car, but it requires me to provide the electricity. I look down at my feet and there are pedals that look like they would be on a paddle boat or a bike. It only takes a few rotations to get the car fully charged, but you still have to do it manually. So I pedal for about a minute and she starts the car up. We escape the house and we only hear one more shot get fired during our escape. She's still a little freaked out, but she's calmed down quite a bit. So as she's driving this car I'm pedaling to provide the power for it. She asks me where I'm from and what I'm doing in Sweden. I explain where I'm from and tell her that I'm kind of like a secret agent, but I can't go into many details. She accepts this.
It becomes dark very soon, and we hit a section of road known as the "Swedish Tunnel". It's basically just a large underground tunnel with orange overhead lighting that goes on for many, many miles and has four lanes of traffic. We keep driving, and I can tell that she's a little smitten for me. Probably because I saved her life, but I can't be sure. All I know is that I'm attracted to her as well and we start to flirt a bit. One thing about the car... you can't pedal when you're turning. She's in control of the steering wheel, the brakes, and the gas. But occasionally when she was making slight turns I would be in the process of pedaling. Supposedly this damages the car a little bit when you do it, but I kept fucking up and pedaling at bad times. This upset her a bit and I kept apologizing, but she was very understanding of how weird all of this was to me. I ask her if there's anywhere fun that we can go, and she says there is. But she also seems very shy or hesitant to show me. I ask why and she tells me that it's because it's not THAT much fun.
After a bit her car breaks down. I feel really guilty and responsible for it, and while she's upset about it, she doesn't blame me for it. We put the car in neutral and push it off the road and into this weird train station/roller coaster loading area. It's for such occasions when your car breaks down. It's a separate track that will pull your car to wherever your destination is (ridiculous right?), and it's run by the Swedish police. Well as we're loading her car onto the track, a policewoman approaches me and hands me two tickets. One is for $89 and one for for $35. I'm not sure what they're for, but I'm assuming it's something related to me fucking up the pedaling system while Katie was driving. So I accept this, and Katie and I get back in her car as the track drags us to her "fun place".
It turns out that this place is just a very large casino/shopping mall. I'm holding hands with Katie as we walk around. They keep the area pretty dark because they want to show off all of the pretty flashing lights of the different shops and tables in the casino area. We haven't done anything yet, but I'm already having a great time. I tell Katie there was nothing to be ashamed of here, and that I was just happy I was with her. She blushes at this and we continue to walk around for a while. The whole time I'm trying to figure out a way that I can either stay in Sweden or bring Katie back to the U.S. with me when I return home. I don't want to leave her, even though I've only known her for about 2 hours. Eventually we go up and we start to shoot some craps at a table with a few people.
We're having fun and laughing with some strangers. I turn around to look behind me, and standing there looking around confused is my best friend Garrett Callender. I walk up to him and surprise him. We hug and I ask what he's doing in Sweden. He says he's there for something regarding college and Jane Grote. I can't remember what. I introduce him to Katie, and Garrett acts surprised when he sees her as well. He says he already knows her, and this baffles me considering I just met her a couple hours ago and he's probably been in Sweden just as long as I have. But they don't talk much. I comment on how weird it is that we're in the same foreign country at the same time, but Garrett doesn't see it as that big of a deal. I tell Katie and Garrett that I have to go to the restroom, and I leave them for a moment. I head down this well-lit hallway that looks very similar to a hallway in Dunham Hall at SIUE. I go into the bathroom and approach the urinal to do a #1. Sitting near the sink is a stack of bowling score cards that are done with green ink and have the Ghostbusters logo on them. I finish pissing and wash my hands before commenting on how cool that is. I steal a few of them, stuffing them into my pocket, and head back out into the hall.
As I step out of the door, I look up to see Kevin Nash. Yes, the professional wrestler. I'm surprised/thrilled to bump into him, and he was a really nice guy. I talk to him for a few minutes and tell him that he was one of my favorite wrestlers while I was growing up. He thanks me and we discuss wrestling from the late 1990's for a bit. I get my picture taken with him (I had a digital camera) and we say our goodbyes. I return to the casino area to meet up with Katie and Garrett, but I can't find them. I look around for a long time and I finally find Garrett. I ask where Katie is, and he says he doesn't know. But he has to leave, so I say goodbye to him and tell him to call me when he gets back to the states. I go looking for Katie and I find her sitting alone looking very sad. I sit beside her and ask what's wrong. I think she's pissed about her car, but she tells me that she's confused about what she's doing with her own life and she's not looking forward to me leaving her. Just as I'm about to give my response to this...I wake up from my dream...
I laid there in bed for a few minutes trying to remember as much about this dream as I could. Then I quickly got on here to write it all down. I don't know why I felt inclined to make sure THIS dream got written down, but I did. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, and I'm sure I'll remember certain parts and forget certain parts over the next couple days. But please, if you've taken the time to read this whole messed up dream, please leave me a comment on what you think of it and what you think it means.
For some reason (these words are usually used quite a bit when describing a dream) I had some kind of dangerous job. I don't know if I was a hitman or an assassin of some kind. All I know is that my job involved traveling and laying low wherever I went. On this journey I am in Sweden and I'm staying with one of my old babysitters. His name is Marshall, and he was an important adult figure to me when I was really young. He was one of my models for father type figure. But he's never lived in Sweden and I doubt he ever will. Regardless, he had his own place in Sweden and it was in a pretty typical sub-division. I'm staying with him for a couple days and during that time we had a couple of talks about where I was headed in life and what I wanted to do. I didn't really have a good answer or plan, and I told him that I was basically just taking it one day at a time and doing my best to come up with something soon. He said that was fine and I could stay with him as long as I needed.
So one day he leaves for work and I'm at his house alone. I'm basically just sitting around, mixing drinks, and watching TV. Out of nowhere this girl arrives. I don't remember if I let her in the house or if she'd been there the whole time. In the dream I just accepted that she was there now. She looked like Ellen Page (the girl who played Juno), and of course since I think Ellen Page is beautiful I thought the same of her. She sits on the sofa with me and we start talking. It turns out her name is Katie. All of a sudden a gunshot rings out and a bullet shatters the big glass sliding doors in the room and explodes the couch cushion next to me. She screams and we both dart behind the sofa. I know that there is a sniper outside and off in the distance, and he's trying to kill me or anyone associated with me. I'm sure he has a great view of the room we're in right now because he's up on a hill that overlooks the subdivision. Basically, I know we're fucked, and she's freaking out. I tell her to stay calm and that I'm going to get us out of this situation. We're still hiding behind the sofa as I take off my White Sox jersey and throw it across the room. A bullet explodes the wall on the other side of the room as the sniper attempts to hit my jersey, thinking its me. Meanwhile, me and Katie take off running in the other direction towards the garage part of the house. We're getting shot at the whole time but we make it.
Once we get into the hall, I ask her if she has a car there. Katie says that she does, but her car is very "different". I tell her it doesn't matter. As long as the thing has four wheels and moves at speeds greater than 40 mph, I don't care how "different" the car is. We get into the garage and we find her car. It is very tiny, has only two seats, and is black. But I don't question it at all. I climb into the passenger side and she takes the wheel. She explains to me that it is some kind of electric car, but it requires me to provide the electricity. I look down at my feet and there are pedals that look like they would be on a paddle boat or a bike. It only takes a few rotations to get the car fully charged, but you still have to do it manually. So I pedal for about a minute and she starts the car up. We escape the house and we only hear one more shot get fired during our escape. She's still a little freaked out, but she's calmed down quite a bit. So as she's driving this car I'm pedaling to provide the power for it. She asks me where I'm from and what I'm doing in Sweden. I explain where I'm from and tell her that I'm kind of like a secret agent, but I can't go into many details. She accepts this.
It becomes dark very soon, and we hit a section of road known as the "Swedish Tunnel". It's basically just a large underground tunnel with orange overhead lighting that goes on for many, many miles and has four lanes of traffic. We keep driving, and I can tell that she's a little smitten for me. Probably because I saved her life, but I can't be sure. All I know is that I'm attracted to her as well and we start to flirt a bit. One thing about the car... you can't pedal when you're turning. She's in control of the steering wheel, the brakes, and the gas. But occasionally when she was making slight turns I would be in the process of pedaling. Supposedly this damages the car a little bit when you do it, but I kept fucking up and pedaling at bad times. This upset her a bit and I kept apologizing, but she was very understanding of how weird all of this was to me. I ask her if there's anywhere fun that we can go, and she says there is. But she also seems very shy or hesitant to show me. I ask why and she tells me that it's because it's not THAT much fun.
After a bit her car breaks down. I feel really guilty and responsible for it, and while she's upset about it, she doesn't blame me for it. We put the car in neutral and push it off the road and into this weird train station/roller coaster loading area. It's for such occasions when your car breaks down. It's a separate track that will pull your car to wherever your destination is (ridiculous right?), and it's run by the Swedish police. Well as we're loading her car onto the track, a policewoman approaches me and hands me two tickets. One is for $89 and one for for $35. I'm not sure what they're for, but I'm assuming it's something related to me fucking up the pedaling system while Katie was driving. So I accept this, and Katie and I get back in her car as the track drags us to her "fun place".
It turns out that this place is just a very large casino/shopping mall. I'm holding hands with Katie as we walk around. They keep the area pretty dark because they want to show off all of the pretty flashing lights of the different shops and tables in the casino area. We haven't done anything yet, but I'm already having a great time. I tell Katie there was nothing to be ashamed of here, and that I was just happy I was with her. She blushes at this and we continue to walk around for a while. The whole time I'm trying to figure out a way that I can either stay in Sweden or bring Katie back to the U.S. with me when I return home. I don't want to leave her, even though I've only known her for about 2 hours. Eventually we go up and we start to shoot some craps at a table with a few people.
We're having fun and laughing with some strangers. I turn around to look behind me, and standing there looking around confused is my best friend Garrett Callender. I walk up to him and surprise him. We hug and I ask what he's doing in Sweden. He says he's there for something regarding college and Jane Grote. I can't remember what. I introduce him to Katie, and Garrett acts surprised when he sees her as well. He says he already knows her, and this baffles me considering I just met her a couple hours ago and he's probably been in Sweden just as long as I have. But they don't talk much. I comment on how weird it is that we're in the same foreign country at the same time, but Garrett doesn't see it as that big of a deal. I tell Katie and Garrett that I have to go to the restroom, and I leave them for a moment. I head down this well-lit hallway that looks very similar to a hallway in Dunham Hall at SIUE. I go into the bathroom and approach the urinal to do a #1. Sitting near the sink is a stack of bowling score cards that are done with green ink and have the Ghostbusters logo on them. I finish pissing and wash my hands before commenting on how cool that is. I steal a few of them, stuffing them into my pocket, and head back out into the hall.
As I step out of the door, I look up to see Kevin Nash. Yes, the professional wrestler. I'm surprised/thrilled to bump into him, and he was a really nice guy. I talk to him for a few minutes and tell him that he was one of my favorite wrestlers while I was growing up. He thanks me and we discuss wrestling from the late 1990's for a bit. I get my picture taken with him (I had a digital camera) and we say our goodbyes. I return to the casino area to meet up with Katie and Garrett, but I can't find them. I look around for a long time and I finally find Garrett. I ask where Katie is, and he says he doesn't know. But he has to leave, so I say goodbye to him and tell him to call me when he gets back to the states. I go looking for Katie and I find her sitting alone looking very sad. I sit beside her and ask what's wrong. I think she's pissed about her car, but she tells me that she's confused about what she's doing with her own life and she's not looking forward to me leaving her. Just as I'm about to give my response to this...I wake up from my dream...
I laid there in bed for a few minutes trying to remember as much about this dream as I could. Then I quickly got on here to write it all down. I don't know why I felt inclined to make sure THIS dream got written down, but I did. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, and I'm sure I'll remember certain parts and forget certain parts over the next couple days. But please, if you've taken the time to read this whole messed up dream, please leave me a comment on what you think of it and what you think it means.
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