Tonight is a LOST blow-out at our house. Combine that with UNC vs. Boston College and a halftime/pre-lost game of Mario Strikers (DAVE) and you have the recipe for an incredible night.

I'm still mad that the writers' strike killed half the season. Does anyone know if they are planning to dismiss the skipped episodes, or will they add another half season to the end of the series?

Via Tall Skinny Kiwi, I stumbled on the site of a guy who has used data sets from the Bible to make some pretty cool images. The image below is based on the frequency and average positions of names in the Bible. To see a larger version (but only medium res!), click the image below. To read about his methods, and to see some other examples, go here.

Last night, Brooklynne and I watched Capote. I expected the movie to be good, but it was actually much more entertaining than I thought it would be. I guess I make that distinction alot. There are movies that are great works of art, but you would only watch them if you intend to "appreciate" what the filmmaker is doing, without really being entertained. On the other extreme, there are movies that are extremely entertaining, but have little or no greatness other than their entertainment value.

Well, Capote was dark and depressing, but it scored high on substance, and better than average on entertainment. I'll give it a B+.

We also recently watched Training Day. I knew nothing about this movie going in and I would not recommend it to anyone. This film is dark and depressing too, but there's nothing redeeming about this one. The movie offers nothing new in its substance and is overly violent and terribly pessimistic. At the end, I wished that I could have those two hours back, as well as any good feeling I might have had when I began watching. To me, if a movie has no uplifting qualities, it better be a fine piece of filmmaking. I give Training Day an F.

So, two questions for my readers: what makes a great movie, and if you just wanted a no-thought movie for a fun, relaxing Saturday night, what would be your top pick?

Also--for Brian--will you be having your annual Oscar pool this year? 

I mentioned this before, but here is the official flier. As the flier states, registration is free and if you preregister, you can have a free lunch provided. The festivities begin at 8:15 (sign in, bagels, openning remarks, etc.) and I will be presenting in Session I, which runs from 9am to 10:30. If you want to go, let me know.

 

I usually don't recycle pictures from Brooklynne's blog, but today I could not resist.

Brian has linked to this article initiating the speculation over potential vice presidential picks. I personally would have no problems with Tim Kaine or Brian Schweitzer, but I don't know much about the other guys. Interesting that Mark Warner did not make the list.

Rulesofthumb.org was brought to my attention via the JOHO blog, and I found it to be quite interesting.

Also, I'm considering starting a new bi-weekly web cartoon. As many of you know I have drawn comics over the years for the Pirate's Hook, Daily Tarheel, and The Exponent. Now, I feel that this creative outlet has all but dried up. But recently, I've been inspired by xkcd.com and Buttercup Festival, and I realized that the web could be a good stage for reviving this lost world of mine. Stay tuned for more details....

I occassionally look at the most common referals for my site, and other than my friends' websites and feed readers, the overwhelming majority of random visitors to my blog come from search engine queries for "Jason Ray" and "Kenny George." I get the feeling that a Kenny George website would do really well.

Also interesting: a fair number of the Kenny George searches are from Europe. Everyone's been talking about his future in the NBA, but I think I see him heading east.

1. The Red Cross is coming to my office today for a blood drive, in which I would normally participate, but I gave the heart study 180cc 10 days ago. Do any of my nursing friends know if I have enough juice left in the tank to contribute?
2. The Tarheels looked pretty good last night.
3. Over the weekend I saw the "final cut" of Blade Runner, which is now playing at the Carolina Theater. I had never seen it before, but I had heard that it was greatly influential, but generally slow and not really entertaining in a hollywood way. I think I would agree with that. The future world that's portrayed in the film is one that has been reproduced over and over in other movies, and seems to be a departure from the futures depicted in previous movies (maybe because it envisions a near-future, rather than a far-future?). But I thought the characters were mostly flat, and the unicorn revelation adds a depth that would have been nice if it had been included earlier in the movie. On the other hand, I work in a cubicle, not a film studio. I'm looking forward to reading Greg's review.
4. We enjoyed playing Super Phase 10 with our friends, the Darrows, on Tuesday. Brooklynne won... again. Super Phase 10 is much more competive than the regular variety. Also, there have been rumblings for a game night sometime soon. How many readers would be up for such an adventure?
5. I applied for a part-time job blogging for American Heritage Magazine. I don't know anything about the magazine, but the combination of blogging, history, and date money sounds good to me.
6. I was talking about taxes yesterday and I realized that I don't begrudge paying taxes because I certainly get my money's worth. And when I pay my taxes, I feel even more motivated to participate in other areas of government (i.e. campaigns, voting, volunteering, petitions, attending meetings, etc.), because that is the only hope for shaping the way those dollars get spent. I think alot of people lose sight of the investment-return relationship and the corporate (as in communal, not big business) aspect of paying taxes. I wonder if people in the colonial and new republic eras had a better sense of that idea?
7. Halleigh is now consistantly saying "baby" and "dog." Whatever happened to Mamma and Dadda!!!?

Today I'm participating in a family heart study at Duke. As you know, matters of the heart have become important to Brooklynne and I, so I'm glad to help out, but the study also pays, so that's icing on the cake. For the study, I have to wear a heart monitor and blood pressure cuff all day, as well as recording my feelings and activity level, etc. It's only 8:30 and I have already had my blood pressure taken 8 times including the calibration tests at Duke this morning. With all the wires I have to wear, I feel like the bionic man!

In honor of the snow this weekend, I dug up this old clip from the winter of 2004. This was our first winter with Kona Bean and she looks so tiny! This trail was about a half hour drive from our house in MT.

 

One more reminder to please observe the ground rules of this discussion when commenting.

Edwards says the right things.

Edwards has an image problem. He's constantly running through his story as the son of a mill worker and a letter carrier, and the main issues that make him different from the rest of the crowd are initiatives designed to help the poor. However, the millionaire white guy and former big money trial lawyer who gets $400 haircuts and invests in sub-prime lenders is an image that's hard to shake. Still, I think Edwards is genuine on most issues that are important to him, and many of those are issues that I care about also. The problem is that he seems to be willing to shift his other positions to make himself more palatable to a larger range of voters. I liked him in 04, but I'm not sure about this time around. I'll revisit that thought if Edwards remains viable after the SC primary on Saturday.

Things you never knew about Edwards

Holds a bachelor's degree in textile technology from State
Rated 0% by the Christian Coalition (0%!!!?)
Helped author the first anti-spyware legislation
Was already on the short list to run as VP with Gore in 2000
Originally went to Clemson

Bonus Points: genuine concern for the poor.

Minus Points: so many changed positions that it is hard to know where he stands.

Most interesting links I found: 

NYT article on his experience as a trial lawyer

Plan to Build One America

In response to Erin's comment from the last post, here's an updated reprinting of the pizza recipe we like to use. The original post can be found here, but I've added some changes below. 

1) Optional: Preheat oven to its lowest setting (180 degrees?) with an oven-proof container of water inside (See step 6 below).

2) Dissolve one pack of dry active yeast by letting it stand 5 minutes in 1 1/3 cups of warm water (when I'm getting "warm" water, I stick my finger under running water and try to get it to the temp. that would be comfortable for a hot bath). During this step, I usually add a small spoon full of sugar to get the yeast going also (maybe 2 tsp.?).

3)Once the yeast is dissolved (if you used the sugar it should smell bready), add

1 tbsp. salt,
1 tbsp. sugar,
2 tbsp. olive oil,
3 3/4 cups flour.

4) Mix this for a minute or two until everything is mixed together well and then kneed the dough until it is smooth (we use a mixer with a dough hook).

5) This is important! Turn off oven if you preheated it in step 1.

6) Then, put the dough in a bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place for an hour (you should probaly put some olive oil in the bowl and roll the dough in it to make sure the dough doesn't stick to the bowl). Your dough will have a particular temperature/humidity that will make it rise the best, so you can experiment with various places in your house. I've found that my dough rises best in the warm oven environment created in steps 1 and 5, but be sure to turn off your oven while the dough is rising.

7) Once the dough has risen, it will make one thick-crust or two smaller, thin-crust pizzas. If you are making two pizzas, divide the dough at this point.

8) Preheat the oven to 475. Don't forget to put the pizza stone in the oven while it preheats, if you have one.

9) Punch the dough down and roll it out. In the original post, I said to roll it out on a floured surface, but Brooklynne and I have realized this usually makes our pizza taste dusty from the flour that sticks to the bottom of the pie. Instead, we recommend using cornmeal. You can also try pressing the dough between two lightly-greased, round cake or pie pans (the method we used in the pizza crust factory where I used to work) or tossing your dough, but I haven't figured that one out yet.

10) Take the hot pizza stone out of the oven carefully and put the dough on the stone. Again, a little cornmeal will keep the dough from sticking. If you don't use a stone, any cookie sheet will do. Turn up the edges and dimple the raw crust to keep it from bubbling. Sometimes, Brooke and I like to put narrow slices of cheese at the edges and roll the dough over the cheese for "stuffed crust."

11) Put on your desired toppings, and bake for 12 minutes. If you like thin crusts, and you only need one pizza, instead of halving the ingrediants, you can make two crusts, leave the second untopped, and freeze it after baking.

1. UNC looked soft in the game against GaTech last night. Tech maybe better than they appear on paper, we were playing on the road against a team that has beat us there regularly, we always get everyone's best game of the season, and one of our key players had an off night, but at some point we are going to have to start imposing our will on other teams defensively, or our season will be shorter than expected.
2. My (Miles's) cousin, Cory, landed a job at Nortel and will be moving to the area. Awesome.
3. Halleigh has gotten to the age where she finally wants to play with you, not just around you.
4. I will be pulling for the Chargers and the Packers this weekend, but whoever wins, I'll be pulling for the NFC in the Superbowl.
5. Many of you know of our fondness for Tajikistan. We had some friends in Montana who were students in an exchange workers program and Tajikistan got a special place in our hearts. Unfortunately though, we did not know much about the country at all until I stumbled across the Global Voices blog, which is now linked in our sidebar. Global Voices is a good resource if you want to find other bloggers from specific countries. Anyway, I was blown away by this travel photo-diary which shows the beauty of the Tajiki people and landscape. Reminds me very much of Montana (see the picture above), except in MT there are fewer old guys riding donkeys or Soviet-style art. Here and here are two more interesting reads on Tajikistan, the first being a Tajiki blog and the last one having an incredible video and account of flying in central Asia.
6. Brooke and I have gradually improved our pizza crust recipe, but we still need a good recipe for the sauce. Any ideas?
7. I'm glad it's raining. I'm over the drought already.
8. What's up with the lawsuit over the Las Vegas caucuses?

When I wrote my free and open source post a few days ago, I left out one really nice application that I use alot: 7-zip. 7-zip is a free file compression archiver that can zip your files into a number of formats including ZIP, TAR, GZIP, and their own format 7z. The 7z format is self-extracting so, for instance, if you needed to compress a large file to email someone, they would not need a special app to unpack the file after receiving it. If you are running windows like me, the install wizard automatically puts an action link in your right-click menu so using 7-zip on any file requires just 2 clicks. Awesome. You can download it here.

Friday night, Brooklynne and I acted on a whim and invited our new friends, Matt and Amanda, on a last-minute dinner outing. After dinner, we realized we were enjoying the conversation too much to part ways, so we moved the party back to our house for a great game of Settlers. It was really fun to be spontaneous and to spend time hanging out with and getting to know new friends. Sometimes it seems like everyone is so busy, it's hard to get together on short notice like that. 

Fresh off that fun night, Sunday we got to catch up with more friends. Hailey and Kristen called Saturday night to make sure we would be around, and then stopped in for a visit on their way from Seattle to Norfolk. Hailey is one of Brooklynne's best college buddies, who you may remember from this post and this post about her vet school graduation last May (sorry, no pictures because I haven't reloaded them from the old host yet). She now works with dairy cows in Vermont. Kristen is her younger sister, and she is currently enlisted in the Navy. Recently, her home station switched from the west coast to Norfolk, so Hailey flew out west and drove with her cross-country. That brings back memories.... Anyway, the girls arrived late Sunday and stayed until this morning. Activities included: lunch at the Thai Cafe (which I will soon add to the where it's at map), a short shopping trip to Morgan Imports and Brightleaf, ice cream at Marble Stone Creamery, pilates at the Y (not me--I stayed at home with Halleigh), and a late night of pizza, buffalo wings, cheese sticks, hot tea, and card and dice games. Much fun was had by all.

What all this reminds me of is how great it is to have unexpected visits. So to all our friends who read this blog, this is a standing invitation--the door is always open.

After thinking about Hillary and snow covered mountains, I was looking at this today, and I was surprised by the feature that got me the most excited. I bet you can't guess. 

Ok, let's make this a game. (Brooklynne hates when I do this...) Don't cheat or it won't be fun--click the link above, make a guess about what got my heart going, and then follow the "continue reading" link to see the answer.

I heard the news last night that Sir Edmund Hillary had died.

I kind of resent the attitude of many mountaineers that idolize extreme achievements. They train in ultra-modern facilities, spend tens of thousands of dollars on high-tech equipment, and then push themselves to the brink of death for what often amounts to little more than bragging rights.

But there are a few who are different. And I get the impression that Hillary and Tenzing were two of these. Clearly, Hillary did not see the summit of Everest as the crowning point of his life achievements, but instead became compassionate about the impoverished people of the Himalayas and devoted his life to bringing them education and health care.

In my life, I hope to always find small adventures of my own, but I hope my biggest adventure will be investing in the people around me.

If you are at all fascinated by the mountaineering world and the characters it produces, I would like to recommend a very good book, Eiger Dreams by Jon Krakauer. A very good read, and a very good listen too, if you can find a copy of the audiobook (Brooklynne and I listened during a NC to MT road trip a few years back).

While researching McCain, I came across the Sparrowblog which has alot of very interesting information about the potential first children. In general, I think the press (and bloggers) should not put children under the scrutiny of their parents, but this site seems to offer light-hearted, noninvasive, and freely offered info about the kids. One recent interesting post links to several first children blogs. Here are the links:

http://fivebrothers.mittromney.com/
http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=693
http://blog.johnedwards.com/Cate
http://mccainblogette.com/

I'm giving the report cards another effort, but I will only be covering the folks who look truely viable (McCain, Huckabee, Edwards). A reminder to please observe the ground rules of this discussion when commenting.

McCain = Authenticity

I think the quality that came through most in my research on McCain is that the guy wears his true self on his sleeve. He is not trying to fool or coddle anyone, and I like that. He is 100 percent authentic as far as I can tell, and though I don't see eye-to-eye with him on many of the issues, at least he's a know quantity. He's old, he's old-school, and (did I mention?) he's just plain old. But his ability to think for himself, break from party lines when it makes sense, and his straight talking approach are a refreshing break from the political yoga practiced by others (Romney, Clinton, etc.).

But, is this the kind of personality that would be winning in a president? Are straight talk and fiercely independent positions compatible with building relationships, forging agreements, making progress together?

McCain's record is a mixed bag of success that suggest it can work at times. But how well?

Things you never knew about McCain

1. His grandfather and father are the only father-son pair to become 4-star Admirals in the US Navy
2. Born at an airbase in Panama
3. Graduated 5th from bottom of his Naval Academy class
4. Besides being a Vietnam fighter pilot, he also served aboard the carrier that imposed the blockade of Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis
5. He cannot lift his arms above his head unassisted, due to torture as a POW
6. Was faulted for interfering in the savings and loan investigations of the 1980s
7. He has 7 children and step-children

Bonus Points: Ability and willingness to cross party lines.

Minus Points: Head-strong diplomatic style, and general hawkish worldview.

Most interesting links I found: There's not a lot of meat in this story about the negative campaigning that included false attacks against McCain's adopted child, but I think it makes the drama of the upcoming SC primary even more intriguing.

Brooklynne and I have had computer problems off and on over the last 5 years or so, and I feel like these problems have forced me to keep a constant eye on the market during that time (right now, our computer situation is great). I've noticed that although computer hardware is becoming cheaper and cheaper, the software you need to do anything on it is not. When Brooklynne and I got a new computer a month ago, I realized that I would probably never be able to afford to put a legal copy of Abode Creative Suite and Macromedia (which I have on our lappy) on our desktop.

What has happened, though, is that the quality and availability of free and open source software is growing by leaps and bounds. So, instead of running Photoshop and Illustrator, I've installed Gimp and Inkscape. I was playing with Gimp last night, and I was really impressed (again) by how little difference there is in the quality of the program. How does Adobe get away with charging so much for a tool that is not significantly better as far as I can tell? I also realized that there are probably alot of people who don't even know these things exist, but might use them if they did.

Therefore, here's a list of free and open source software that I use regularly or might be of use to others. If you have another favorite program or a good tip or suggestion, add it in the comments.

 

More after the cut....

I just came across a very interesting post by Terry Jones via the JOHO blog that I read. Jones is very concerned about the alienation of metadata from content, and that's what his business is apparently trying to remedy. Jones is probably alot smarter than me on this topic, and thus I'm not sure I understand what difference the location makes as long as it is findable and accessible. But here's the problem about metadata that I would like someone to address: how do we know the metadata is right? This may seem contrary to what many people assume, but isn't a great deal of metadata ultimately subjective? If you have a piece about the American Revolution, should it be tagged as politics or history? Of course it could be tagged both ways, but in more complex situations, addding every conceivable tag could become self-defeating.  

Imagine this. Using the example of clay tablets from the Jones article, if you give 10 people a stack of 1000 tablets and ask them to create tags for the info pressed into those bricks, you will probably get 10 similar, but different, sets of tags. So which set of tags is right?

I have had a paper accepted for presentation at the NCSU Graduate History Conference in mid-February. The paper argues that the African American exhibit at the 1900 Paris world's fair was intended to serve the same purpose as the European colonial exhibits. So, if any of you want to hear me present a spin-off paper from my Master's thesis, the conference is free and open to the public. Let me know and I'll give you the deets.

In other academic news, I have also been invited to give a presentation at the Army Research Office (where I work) for black history month. When I get invited to speak to crowds of non-academic-history folks--or in this case, non-history academic folks--I always feel pressure to challenge what people thought they knew about history. The problem is boiling all of black history into one discussion, which is even more daunting than boiling it down into one month, which is dumb in the first place (and admittedly not the purpose of black history month, despite that widely held misconception).

I think at the end of the ARO presentation I'm going to give people a black history suggested reading list. And since I have been thinking about reading lists alot lately, here's the first few that will be on my ARO list: 

For Christmas, I got a pair of tickets to the UNC-Clemson game in Chapel Hill next month. About halfway through the second half last night, I told Brooklynne those tickets were looking better and better.

Despite renewing my faith that we're never out of a game, last night's squeaker did not reassure me about the fate of the team this season. Our defense was aweful at times, and there were points when I thought we were lucky to score.

But there were positives too... we took what was available, so when Clemson clamped down on Hansbrough inside, Ellington had a big game. I think this is one of the biggest positives of our team this year. If Ellington has a bad night, Green steps up. Often it's Lawson. In at least one or two games this year, Ginyard will need to score more than 4 or 5, and he will. We are no longer one-demensional like we have been at times during the last two seasons.

On another note, I've watched Dook a couple times this season (including a little last night), and they look incredibly unpredictable. It seems like they could go either way now that the ACC season is underway. But I hope--here comes a statement that I think my readers will find highly controversial--that the blue devils will be as good as they can possibly be when we play them on February 6. Give me a classic. I want a top-ten matchup. I want a thriller. I don't care to beat up on a weak Dook team with a schedule rittled with losses. My plead to this year's Dook team: be really good. Comments anyone?

Recently, Brian posted his votes for the 2008 baseball hall of fame ballot over at his old blog, which can be found via his new blog, The Jersey Snore. I thought I would offer an abrieviated reply to his votes here. I'll only comment where I think there room for thought or where we might have some difference in opinion.

*First a disclaimer though... I am a baseball fan in the sense that I follow the current seasons as they go by, but I'm not a baseball fan-historian like some people are. I didn't know who many of these people were when I started this review. If they played before the mid 1980's, I probably don't know much about them.*

1. I can see a case for Harold Baines. But how much weight should we give clutch performance?
2. Dave Concepcion may be the victim of the offensive bias in baseball.
3. Shawon Dunston - No.
4. Mark McGwire - Yes, but not because you have to vote all or none for steroids era standouts. I don't agree with that reasoning at all.
5. Dale Murphy - No. I thought about giving Brian's Shawon Dunston vote to Murphy for the late 80's seasons when the Braves couldn't have beaten the ground with a stick and Murphy was the only bright spot. Nice guy, but ultimately too short of a prime.
6. Robb Nen - YES. My father-in-law swears I look just like him. Lucky guy.
7. Tim Raines - Not sure about that. I don't see where his numbers match Ricky Henderson.

Do any of my readers remember any of these people specifically?

Last night, Brooklynne and I watched another movie--Match Point. Has anyone else seen this movie? It's a recent Woody Allen film. I had heard good things about it and my cousin, Rich, who was over last night, recommended it (I think he's a Woody Allen fan in general).

The movie was not enjoyable for me. I don't like movies where people get tangled in impossibly bad relationships and there was an hour in the middle of the movie that could easily have been boiled down to a 5 minute mantage played to Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name" without loosing one bit of the plot.

But what I did enjoy about the movie is that Allen comes into direct dialogue with Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (one of my favorite books of all time and a must-read in my opinion) and offers a thought provoking reply to the book's central question. If you want more than that, you'll have to read the book and watch the movie. I'm not spoiling anything here.

Has anyone else read/watched both? What did you think?

Also, I brought up must-reads. If you had to make a must-read list of at least 5, and no more than 10, novels, what titles would make your list? Here's mine (in no particular order):

1. Crime and Punishment
2. A Hero of Our Time
3. This Side of Paradise
4. Moby Dick
5. Beloved
6. The Catcher in the Rye

(I struggled over CITR because I hated it when I read it in high school, but I came to love it on a second reading in college. Also, MD is certainly one of my favorites--personal top 3?--but it is hard to call it a must-read for everyone, because many people just don't have time to appreciate it. Honorable mentions: Mama Day, The Hobit, Treasure Island, The Bell Jar, Lord of the Flies.)

I'm really quite excited that election year is finally here. Many of you probably know that there was a time in my life when I would have liked to be president. Now, I think I would be happier as governor (you get all the benefits--live in a mansion, attend galas with the "first lady," be your own boss working for an agenda you direct--with none of the drawbacks--no calling for missle strikes, no secret service for the rest of your life, and when you go out of state on vacation, no one recognizes you).

Really, I doubt I'll ever be in politics, but I do enjoy following it, seeing the rhetoric and the strategy evolve, predicting a winner, etc. Watching this is like watching Ricki Lake, except that everyone watches it and then talks about it nonstop for months. Wow.

I've been off the blogging map for a few days. I suddenly got busy over the weekend, so I didn't have the chance to finish the blogging year strong like I wanted. Still, 2007 saw 164 new TWJ entries and 437 comments. Way to go commenters! My goal for 2008 is to better both of those marks and keep pushing up my readership. In December, I had more than a thousand visits, and more than 3000 page views (which is pretty lame by web standards), and I'm aiming to make 2000 visits and 6000 page views per month by the end of the year.

Does it matter? No. I don't really care. I would get alot more hits if I indexed my site with technorati or used more extensive tagging, but its not really worth the effort since I'm not selling anything here. We used to be the only ones who read our blog, and I was still happy to do it. But I like having something to aim for, and it's fun to watch the stats. So there you have it.

In other news, Brooklynne and I watched Stardust, Closer, and Ocean's 13 this weekend. I'll give them grades A, B-, and B respectively. Stardust was very good as long as you enjoy that genre (which I do), Closer was like a more contemporary Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, without the happy ending and with really explicit, fake dialogue (no one really talks like that), and Oceans 13 was entertaining, but had a much weaker plot than either of the previous two Ocean movies. Closer did make me want to tell Brooklynne I love and appreciate her more....

British nukes were protected by bike locks.