September 30, 2004

The Semantic Web

Andy Carvin is blogging the MIT Emerging Tech conference. His coverage of Tim Berners-Lee's keynote is the best description I've seen of The Semantic Web.

[Crossposted from TECHPopuli]

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:02 AM

Ah well...

Credit where credit is due. Yesterday was a good day for the Yankees. They won both games of their double-header, and the Redsox lost. So the Yanks' magic number went from 4 to 1.

Posted by jackhodgson at 06:53 AM

September 29, 2004

Hey, *I* was a high school debating coach...

One of the winners of the current round of MacArthur "Genius" Grants is a high school debate coach. So was GE Pal Sherman, and he would beat me out.

Tommie Lindsey, an exemplary teacher of competitive forensics (the discipline of public speaking, presentation, and debate), is changing the landscape of opportunities for at-risk students. In his program at Logan High School in Union City, California, Lindsey instills in his students the importance and power of persuasion, based on clear communication, reasoning, and mastery of the facts.
Posted by jackhodgson at 07:07 PM

Not really a debate

There's a lot of talk on CNN today (which I have had on to see the SpaceShipOne updates) about the ground rules for tomorrow's presidential campaign debate.

My take on all the crazy restrictions, is that they were created to keep the 'debate' from being a real debate. For years now these things have really just been simultaneous press conferences, and a chance for the campaign's staffers to do spin. But there's little or no interaction, or debate.

It's not a debate.

Posted by jackhodgson at 02:54 PM

Holding Short

ap_wea_airportPJ_58tKinda cool, kinda disturbing pic of some aircraft stranded by hurricane flooding.

Posted by jackhodgson at 02:54 PM

Digital Photo Skills

TidBITS has a very good overview of the tools and techniques for improving your digital photographs.

Posted by jackhodgson at 02:09 PM

SpaceShipOne gives us a scare...

ss1image765Unofficially, Burt Rutan's suborbital space system achieved the required altitude to accomplish part one of the X-Prize, but not without a lot more excitement than was expected.

All proceeded according to plan until the craft was rocketing straight upward to its altitude goal, when it began to continually roll in a way that was not expected by observers.

Watching it on TV I was very concerned for the safety of Mike Melvil and the craft. When the rocket engine cut off, and the tail feathered, I initially thought that it was an early transition, and that the flight was being aborted. But I was mistaken. Unofficial reports are that in spite of the difficulties, the craft exceeded, by far, the required altitude.

Mike returned safely to the ground without any further apparent mishaps. Now we are awaiting the formal press briefings, and the result of the post flight tech analysis.

Posted by jackhodgson at 12:13 PM

September 28, 2004

Tomorrow's the big day.

Tomorrow morning, at around 9am eastern time, SpaceShipOne will attempt the first of the two flights required to win the X-Prize.

Houston Chronicle:

As maverick California aircraft designer Burt Rutan sees it, there's little left to prove — just an impressive $10 million prize and an attractive trophy to collect.

He'll attempt that this week as SpaceShipOne becomes the first of 24 spacecraft teams to compete for the Ansari X Prize, winnings offered to the first private three-seat spacecraft to launch twice within two weeks.

I'm expecting the flight to be covered, at least to some extent, on CNN.

Posted by jackhodgson at 05:12 PM

Keeping an eye out for the big one.

Thanks to Wil Wheaton's blog, here's a webcam pointed at the Mt that may be about to blow.

Posted by jackhodgson at 04:39 PM

September 27, 2004

Seismic Rumblings

I don't care what anyone says. I think there's a connection between this and the arrival of Dave Winer in the Pacific Northwest.

Posted by jackhodgson at 11:17 PM

Baseball Math

Well, good news, but it's kinda odd. Even though the Redsox' Magic Number is still just 1, the sox have actually clinched the Wildcard.

If I'm understanding this right, the way it works is this. Even though, in the head-to-head race, the Angels could catch us if they won all their remaining games, doing so would cause them to move ahead of Oakland, and into the lead of their Division, thus taking them out of the wildcard race. And in that case, Oakland would fall far enough in the process to be behind us in the wildcard.

Make sense? Whatever. We're in the Playoffs!!

Posted by jackhodgson at 11:11 PM

Tuna Jones

geishaAwhile back I wrote about Odd Todd's Tuna survey. Lots of people have sent him samples.

Posted by jackhodgson at 08:41 AM

Some baseball notes

If the playoffs started today, we'd play Minnesota in the first round. Astroturf, yuck!

The Redsox' 2004 regular-season record against the Yankees was 11-8.

Our magic number in the wildcard race is now 2.

Posted by jackhodgson at 08:19 AM

Woot!

Q: What is woot and who's behind it?

A: woot.com is an online store and community run by the employees of a 10 year old consumer electronics distributor that focuses on close-outs and generally buying stuff cheap. Since the distributor doesn’t sell to end users, Woot, Inc provides us with an employee-store slash market-testing type of place. Hopefully the boss won’t take notice. We anticipate profitability by 2043 -- by then we should be retired; someone smarter might take over and jack up the prices.

Q: I see only 1 item, do you sell anything else?

A: No. We sell 1 item per day until it is sold out or until 11:59pm central time when it is replaced (see next entry for details). However, each item we sell is in stock and ready to ship that day. Our warehouse manager thinks we are insane.

[Thanks j-walk]

Posted by jackhodgson at 07:50 AM

September 26, 2004

Best Boss

Over on the TECHPopuli site I just wrote about local Vermont Macintosh business Small Dog Electronics.

Posted by jackhodgson at 11:04 AM

September 25, 2004

Internet Deprivation Study

This is me.

Participants in the human experiment were deprived of the web for 14 days, and found themselves quickly succumbing to "withdrawal and feelings of loss, frustration and disconnectedness".

Full story in the Register.

Posted by jackhodgson at 11:29 PM

Very satisfying!

12 - 5

Posted by jackhodgson at 11:05 PM

Lots of trees

Good morning from VT. We arrived safely last night after a really nice drive along a route that was new to me.

We drove up Rt100 from the south through Rochester, VT. Very beautiful narrow valley following a river/stream up hill. Near the "summit" of the valley we stopped to check out a cool waterfall that drops about 60 feet from the steep rocky hill just to the side of the road. I took some pics which I'll try to post later.

I'm posting this from a friend's computer. I'm hoping to have my laptop online later, which would allow picture posting.

I had expected the fall foliage to be further along up here near Montpelier, but it's very pretty nevertheless.

Later this morning I'm headed over to the local airport to see what there is to see.

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:04 AM

September 24, 2004

Northbound

I'm about to shutdown and head off for the weekend in Vermont. If I can get online, I may blog some from there, otherwise, I'll be back online on Sunday night.

BTW, did you see that the new Forum got it's first comment SPAM today. I thought I could hide out longer. Time to add some more protections.

Oh yeah, and, GO REDSOX!

Posted by jackhodgson at 02:55 PM

ChiliFest

Portsmouth Herald:

The Prescott Park Arts Festival will hold the 16th annual WHEB Chili Cook-Off on Saturday, Oct. 2, with 16 of the Seacoast’s best chili makers competing. The event begins at 11:30 a.m., and continues until the chili is all gone.

The event is the finale for the 30th anniversary season at Prescott Park, on the Piscataqua River at 105 Marcy St. in Portsmouth.

Posted by jackhodgson at 12:02 PM

Survivor Vanuata - Ep #2 "C'mon, give me a little hug!"

s9logoPosted after Ep #2, September 23, 2004. This post, and its comments, may contain spoilers....

Previous Survivor: Vanuatu reports:
1: An Age Imbalance.

Notes written while watching the episode:

Well, this season is turning out to be a little bit of a slow starter. I'm not seeing any characters rising to the level of hero or villain.

At the start of tonite's ep... The men are getting desparate. They're eating worms! And they almost manage to make fire, and then it starts to rain. That lucky rock is really working for them.

Over at the women's camp, Dolly says "it's really rough." Awwww poor Dolly. It's only day 4 for cripes sake! And they're already moaning!

It was probably just mispeaking, but when somone, i don't know who, and travis, were talking, the first asked who travis voted for in tribal council, and travis asked, "this past one [tribal council]?" Well we've only seen one TC. Is this clip out of sequence? My guess is that Travis was shocked by the question, and was stalling for time to think how to answer.

At the end of this little one-on-one, the first guy (possibly jp or brady) gave travis a look that could kill. Just cause Travis said that everyone is a threat.

Reward Challenge: Balance Beam Hug

I wouldn't put it past producer burnett to create a challenge that puts greater pressure on one tribe, and this may be one of those. After last week's failure of Chris to be able to balance on a beam, they have another balance beam contest. And it's made worse for the guys, cause it involves hugging.

When the challenge and prize are revealed, the looks on the men's faces is like they've already lost.

Halfway through, the men ARE getting killed, and it looks like they are very uncomfortable with the physical contact of the challenge.

An Aside: These "Pringles moments in survivor history" are really lame. We have to watch the commercial, then we get like 7 seconds of images from a past season.

After the challenge, Rory is pissed about the women's victory celebration. Sarge is saying be cool, it was just them being happy.

The women are chasing a chicken, hoping for dinner. I wonder if there are wild pigs on this island?

Did she really think she could kill the chicken by throwing a rock at it?

Finally, one woman can't bring herself to stab it with the machete, and it gets away. Alright, she did finally stab it, but her reluctance certainly contributed to its escape.

They did get its eggs though. five small eggs for nine women. And then while boiling them, they spill into the fire. I didn't catch whether they were lost or not.

A loosely defined old vs. young alliance seems to be forming with the women. But there's a lot of back and forth. Are they as confused as we are?

It seems that amy leann scout twila and dolly have joined forces. twila and dolly make a pinky pact.

There are a lot of bats in this ep.

The men are trying to appease the lucky stone. They set it up on a post... then it starts to rain. rory thinks the two are related. "This is a magic place," he says.

Immunity Challenge: Blindfolded Puzzle Hunt

dolly sits out for the women, scout is eyes for women, sarge is eyes for men.

Sarge's loud voice and command experience may be helping the men here.

Scout screws up and misses one in the water. even though one woman (blindfolded!) was telling her that a piece was still there.

men start puzzle first, but women catching up... but men hang in and win

After the challenge, dolly is playing both sides of the road... lots of wheelin and dealin

I'm still having a hard time keeping track of who's who. We were spoiled by All-Stars cause we knew everyone from the very start. Now we're back to having to spend the first couple of eps figuring out who's who.

I don't think we saw the men after the challenge.

At TC:

Dolly wearing her hat backwards/sideways is hot!

FYI: Scout looks like a woman I dated once. (mary w.)

Dolly says, "I'm the deciding vote"

Vote result: leann 4, dolly 5

wow! dolly out... and she was the girl-next-door cutie.

# Latest tribe list

# Yasur
Scout, 59
Lisa, 44
Twila, 41
Leann, 35
Ami, 31
Mia, 30
Julie, 23
Eliza, 21

# Lopevi
Lea ("Sarge"), 40
Rory, 35
Chad, 35
Chris, 33
Brady, 33
Travis, 33
John P., 31
John K., 22

# Challenges
1 -- Obstacle Course Immunity & Reward -- Yasur Tribe
2 -- Balance Beam Hug Reward -- Yasur Tribe
2 -- Blindfolded Puzzle Hunt Immunity -- Lopevi Tribe

# Order Out:
1 -- Brook, 27
2 -- Dolly, 25

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:36 AM

An interesting question...

The always fair-minded, Union Leader newspaper, had this story this morning:

A Londonderry [New Hampshire] High School senior may wind up suing the district after the administration denied his request to use a picture with a trapshooting gun on his shoulder as his yearbook photo...
Posted by jackhodgson at 09:17 AM

The Harvest Moon

Space.com:

The Harvest Moon Moon is the one that comes the closest to the September equinox, so this year it falls in September, although in one out of three years this title can be bestowed upon the October Full Moon. The 2004 version of the Harvest Moon comes relatively close to the equinox -- slightly less than five days after it -- although it can occur as early as Sept. 8 (as in 1976) or as late as Oct. 7 (as in 1987).

...

What sets Tuesday’s Full Moon apart from the others is that farmers at the climax of the current harvest season can work late into the night by the Moon’s light. It rises about the time the Sun sets, but more importantly, at this time of year, instead of rising its normal average 50 minutes later each day, the Moon seems to rise at nearly the same time each night.

Posted by jackhodgson at 08:19 AM

September 23, 2004

What's the hurry?

Over at "The Frog" MGA ponders his, and others', commute.

I still can’t figure out why everybody is in such a hurry to get to the place they don’t want to go. Going home I could understand but why such a hurry to get there? Driving down along 125 is more fascinating than an Interstate highway drive and it’s not just the construction workers staring at you as you weave through their coned mini-minotaur traps trying to avoid the oncoming WIDE LOAD prefab with three feet extended over into your windshield. You also get to look at the collection of autos like the hand painted bright blue VW Rabbit Pickup or the maroon Model A complete to its shiny little hub covers or this (we’ve gone through 30 years of wind tunnel research to make something as aerodynamic as a WW2 army infantry ambulance. Who’d a thunk it?).
Posted by jackhodgson at 10:19 PM

Big week coming up.

Burt Rutan, and his SpaceShipOne, got a lot of publicity for his first flight, and for the upcoming X-Prize attempt next week. But another X-Prize competitor will be making their attempt next week too.

It could be a big week for civilian space travel.

Posted by jackhodgson at 05:59 PM

Mahatma Gandhi

"If you don't find God in the next person you meet, it is a waste of time looking for him further."

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

Posted by jackhodgson at 04:21 PM

September 22, 2004

Curt Sets The Big Show Straight

BostonDirtDogs: "Curt Gets Stern with Butch"

The BDD sites has a transcript of Curt Schilling calling in to WEEI Radio to set the record straight about his relationship with Pedro.

I HAVE nothing but the utmost respect for Pedro. I think he's probably one of the best pitchers I've ever pitched with. He's a great guy. We get along awesome. Because you don't see us playing grab-ass on the field doesn't mean a thing. Don't say something stupid and something ignorant like that. (BS: Alright Curt, I understand, and I'll apologize for that, but can I ask you a question?) No. Here's my problem. If I don't call up you don't apologize for it, you don't retract it, and somebody calls and you make it a bigger deal than it is (BS: I'm not trying to make it...) It's a stupid idiotic comment to make. It's irresponsible. And you know what it's ignorant, because you don't know, obviously you just made it up (BS: I didn't make anything up) Sure you did.

...

You're assuming Pedro is 'some people.' Pedro is not 'some people' Pedro's one of the five best people on the planet at what he does. People like that tick differently than people like you. You have to. The top five in the world at anything they do and they're going to be so vastly different people than you are, or that most normal people are. Yeah, they're human. They have emotions, but you know what? You get here doing things differently than most people do.

Posted by jackhodgson at 09:40 PM

Still here...

People are complaining to me that I haven't posted much in the past few days. Which is funny cause the other thing I get all the time is that I don't have a life so I post here too often. Ah well.

Here's a recap of the past few days.

• The other day was the final VLAP water testing session of the year.

• The Redsox are making me a little nervous. Last night's nail-biter was a little "too" for me. I prefer to roll over the competition. Bring back August.

• I got a little crazy and rode my bike all the way around the lake. About seven miles, many hills. More on that later.

• I've been cooking a lot. Trying new things. I'm remembering how much I like garlic.

• Headed off this weekend for a visit to the Vermont brother. I hear they have broadband now, so I may get online while there. Maybe I'll post some pics of trees.

Posted by jackhodgson at 06:56 PM

September 20, 2004

You didn't hear it here

Michael Fraase is attending a conference at the Media Center in SF. He is required to abide by this gag-order:

A note about our seminar ground rules: Media center seminars and discussions are considered off the record. What’s said in the seminar should stay among the people in the room. That means the members agree they won’t publish anything based on what they hear in the seminar. But they will be taking copious notes for internal presentations in their companies and they’ll want to apply as much as they possibly can. The Media Center may publish summaries or accounts of presentations in our seminars, but if we do so we will always follow up and request permission from discussion leaders to make sure we aren’t publishing proprietary or other information they woudl rather keep private.

Let me rephrase:

You can't publish what you hear here. You can't even write anything that results from what you learned here ("based on"). You can write about this for publication within your company. And what your co-workers can do with the info is not clear. Oh, and we might publish what happened in the session, including things you said, without your permission or compensation.

Posted by jackhodgson at 11:38 AM

September 19, 2004

Not what we planned...

Disappointing performance by the Sox against the Yankees. Erik S. may take this as a sign that it's all unravelling. But I'm staying relatively optimistic.

FWIW, Anaheim lost again, lowering the Redsox' wild card magic number to 9 8.

Posted by jackhodgson at 09:27 PM

Kitty Kelly on President Bush

Kelly has a reputation of being a sensationalist biographer, but could she be wrong on everything?

From an interview with Salon, quoted in the Guardian, about the upcoming book on the Bush Family:

...nothing will stand in the way of these people winning. Nothing. You start out looking at the Bush family like it's The Donna Reed Show and then you see it's The Sopranos.
Posted by jackhodgson at 10:53 AM

September 18, 2004

Well, that was ugly

14-4. Let's not do that too often, OK?

Mercifully, during the top of the 2nd inning, the power went out in our neighborhood. And by the time I decided to abandon the TV, and head to the Mall, tuning in the game on the radio, the second was over, and the bulk of the damage was done.

Anyway, I'm glad we've gotten that out of our system. Tomorrow Petey will step to the mound and move us back to 2 1/2 back. Move on.

Posted by jackhodgson at 11:49 PM

Counting Sheep

sountingsheepI made a note of this one from the J-Walk blog over a week ago. I almost forgot about it. How does he find all these things? Take a look.

Posted by jackhodgson at 09:00 AM

Redsox beat Yankees 3-2!!!

What a great victory! And what a great ninth inning.

I was convinced this game was going to be abandoned back in the 3rd when it was raining. And then for most of the game it seemed that it wasn't in the cards for us. But what a lot of heart these guys showed in the ninth, taking advantage of Rivera's bad outing. And then Foulke shuts them down in the bottom of the ninth.

Great win!

Posted by jackhodgson at 12:00 AM

September 17, 2004

Upper deck?

The Redsox have announced that they will soon reveal a plan to add 2,000 new seats to Fenway Park.

I've said all along the it might be possible to add an "upper deck" to the first and third baselines in such a way that the construction wouldn't interfere with ongoing play.

From a story about the plan in today's Globe:

The latest information was more specific than remarks principal owner John Henry made to the Globe in May, when he said that a ballpark expansion would bring park capacity to no more than 40,000 fans. Henry said the team was considering adding to the four rows of seats now on the roof on both the right-field and left-field sides of the park.
Posted by jackhodgson at 04:21 PM

Bring it on!

Here's the way I see it...

The redsox went on a tear for most of August and into September. The excitement of this streak, climaxing with the wins against Anaheim and Oakland, finally took their toll with the mediocre play against Seattle. So the Tampa Bay visit to Fenway basically became a rehab series.

The first game was pretty ragged, but it ended with the momentum resuming homer by Trot Nixon. Game two was still a struggle, but the sox put all the pieces together to win it in the end. And the third game was the Redsox returning to form by dominating 11-4, and gaining Schilling his 20th win of the season.

Back in good form, we head to NY tonight for game one of the first half of six games against the dog-assed Yankees.

They're saying that tonight's game is expected to be the highest rated, regular season, local telecast ever.

Bring 'em on!

Posted by jackhodgson at 03:52 PM

Ryder Cup

The morning round of the first day of the Ryder Cup has finished and the USA is doing pretty poorly. The current score is Europe: 3 1/2, USA 1/2.

The biggest news from the morning is that the USA dream team, of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, were beat 2&1 by Colin Montgomery and Padraig Harrington.

TV coverage all day today on USA Network.

Posted by jackhodgson at 01:31 PM

High ground

John Harrigan writes, in the Union Leader, about past visits to a now abandoned fire tower.

Those were my distance-running days, and I’d half walk, half trot to the top. Like most tower lookouts, Roger did a lot else besides look for fires. He kept data on weather. He relayed search and rescue messages. He noted passing aircraft. He kept track of wildlife.

“Two golden eagles this spring,” he said one year. He also kept a log-book for visitors, and played affable and informative host to people from near and far.

Fire tower lookouts are great public relations for state government, which is why I hate it when the bean-counters win another round and shut down towers in favor of aircraft patrols.

The firetower here on Pawtuckaway Mt. was abandoned for many years, but it is staffed once again, for at least part of the year. The ranger, Kevin, is a terrific ambassador, amateur naturalist, and tourist guide for the Pawtuckaway area.

He will tell you about the Red Tail hawks that visited recently, point out near and distant sights from the tower's high viewpoint (including, on really clear days, the very top of the Hancock building in Boston!), and he's labeled many of the area trees so the visit turns into a mini-class on nature identification.

He says the funding for his staffing of the tower is at risk of being cut in next year's budget. If you think that's a bad idea, call your state rep.

Posted by jackhodgson at 12:22 PM

Sketching

16153I love watching people draw. This is nearly as good. DoodleBug.

Posted by jackhodgson at 12:11 PM

Let's review...

Did you know that the full content of all Cliff Notes is available online, free?!

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Students from junior high to grad school have been turning to CliffsNotes to save study time since 1958. Now more than ever, you need to get the most out of your busy schedule, and we're still here bringing you trustworthy study guides written by real teachers and professors.

Posted by jackhodgson at 12:04 PM

Survivor Vanuata - Ep #1 "An Age Imbalance."

s9logo

Survivor Vanuata - Ep #1

Posted after Ep #1, September 16, 2004. This post, and its comments, may contain spoilers....

Notes written while watching the episode:

• They must go through "native" initiation ritual

• Who was it that tipped over his canoe?

• At the start of the ritual, the black guy, Rory, was not threatened by the locals. Is he "favored" somehow?

• Brady is the "Fed" that my sister likes so much. Apparently others agree with her.

• Brady successfully climbs the pole to get the Lucky Rock.

• As always, Burnett presents awesome production values: Ceremony at night on the native beach, even after the pouring rain starts.

• They were all so excited to finally find their flags on the beach! It's as if they don't realize that much greater challenges are coming.

• "Sorority Chicks"

• One of the guys referred to the Lucky Rock and the "Immunity Rock"

• "Obstacle Course" Immunity & Reward. Women win! Chris blows it by being unable to cross the balance beam. You would think that he is doomed now for the first Tribal Council.

• But no! An old vs. young alliance springs up. An attempt to pick off the young guys. Usually the strong are protected at this stage of the game, as being useful for winning challenges. But this time the older guys, the "elders", decide to strengthen their position from the start, by targetting the young. Was Sarge/Lea the one to initiate this strategy?

• At TC, Chris makes a strong plea that they all will make blunders, and they all have strengths that will be useful, and that his performance in the Challenge shouldn't eliminate him.

• Travis, "Bubba", defends the women at TC.

• The vote:
Chris 3
Rory 1
Brook 5

Voting for Brook:
[According to the Survivor website, Brook got these six votes. But he really only got five. I'll update this list when I get the corrected data.]
Chad, Chris, John P., Sarge, Rory, Travis

• The five oldest Lopevi tribe members voted together to eliminate the 2nd youngest member.

# Latest tribe list

# Yasur (Avg age: 34.3)
Scout, 59
Lisa, 44
Twila, 41
Leann, 35
Ami, 31
Mia, 30
Dolly, 25
Julie, 23
Eliza, 21

# Lopevi (Avg age: before vote: 32.1 after: 32.8)
Lea ("Sarge"), 40
Rory, 35
Chad, 35
Chris, 33
Brady, 33
Travis, 33
John P., 31
John K., 22

# Challenges
1 -- Obstacle Course Immunity & Reward -- Yasur Tribe

# Order Out:
1 - Brook, 27
Posted by jackhodgson at 08:04 AM

September 16, 2004

To Boston and back

Not much posting today as I was down in Melrose assisting with a family matter. I'm back now for the S9 premiere.

Forecast is for a rainy next three days, so I'll probably do some catching up on my websurfing and blogging.

Posted by jackhodgson at 07:37 PM

Nine

Well here we go. A new season of Survivor starts tonight.

I was looking at the website today and there are some interesting castmembers.

Lea, the gunnery sergeant who is also a nuclear weapons specialist; Dolly, the Daisy-Mae-looking blonde who is a member of the NRA and a devout christian; and Scout, the 59 year old, motivational speaker, Doctor, rancher, lesbian singer/songwriter.

My sister Beth seems all excited that one of the cast is a "Fed" but I can't figure out who she's talking about.

I'll report back later.

Posted by jackhodgson at 07:31 PM

September 15, 2004

End of the Eighth

Tonight's win against Tampa Bay marks the end of the eighth inning (if the season were a nine inning game).

Inng  W-L  above .500
1st  12-6  (+6)
2nd   9-9  (+0)
3rd  10-8  (+2)
4th  10-8  (+2)
5th   9-9  (+0)
6th   9-9  (+0)
7th  14-4  (+10)
8th  14-4  (+10)

We matched our season high result from the 7th inning, with another 14 wins. We were on track to do better, but the mini-slump against Seattle and the first TB game, held us even with the 7th.

Now for the big finish!

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:55 PM

Renewal

The Redsox just took the lead in the bottom of the first, 2-1, against Tampa Bay.

Toward the end of last night's game, when Trot Nixon hit his pinch hit homerun, I thought that even if the Sox lost the game, that moment would mark the end of the team's mini-slump.

I see Bellhorn's 2-run homer tonight to be a continuation of that.

Posted by jackhodgson at 07:33 PM

I want to be Jim Cantore

twclogo_60X45Jim is one of the guys on the Weather Channel who gets to go out and stand on the beach in the path of hurricanes and other extreme weather events.

Today he is in Destin Florida, on the barrier islands of the panhandle, watching Ivan arrive.

What a great job.

(The other person who has a great job is Jeannie Most on CNN, who does all the really offbeat, weird people and things, stories.)

Posted by jackhodgson at 03:35 PM

Look out 20-somethings, here I come

It's been a little while since I updated you on my fitness program.

Today is the end of five weeks since I started on the SBD and an active exercise program. As of this morning I am down 16 lbs from the start.

I've been pretty honest about following the food rules, but I did decide it was OK to eat a little more freely over Labor Day weekend when all the family gathered. As a result, last week's weight was a slight increase from the previous. But amazingly, in the week since I've been back on the program, I'm not only be losing again, but I seem to have made up for the increase, and my weight is where I would have expected it to be even if I hadn't cheated.

So I'm pretty happy about the whole deal.

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:08 AM

September 14, 2004

Get used to it.

I was coming out of the Barnes and Noble earlier today.

You've seen these doorways where there is an inner door and an outer door, separated by about eight feet. As I was passing through the inner door, a woman was coming in through the outer door.

I paused, holding open the inner door, and I smiled at this attractive twenty-something woman. At the same time, she paused, holding her door, and smiled at me, the guy who, she probably thought, looks like her father.

After an awkward moment it was clear the "being nice to the old guy" prevailed over "being nice to the pretty girl". I let go of my door and let her hold the outer for me.

Getting old sucks.

Posted by jackhodgson at 04:18 PM

September 11, 2004

Makes my head hurt.

Watch this animated image. Count the people before, and after, it moves around. How many people are there?

12or13

What's up with that?

[Thanks J-Walk]

Posted by jackhodgson at 07:34 PM

New York looking for reason to be hopeful

Hot on the heals of the Yankees' 14-3 loss to Baltimore (hmmm... losing 14 to 3 must be one of the worst Yankee losses ever... oh yeah... 22-0!) they seem to be grasping for reasons to not be freaking about the upcoming Redsox visit.

New York's Newsday whistles through the graveyard:

...rotations have emerged that should have the Yankees with three of their top four starters and the Red Sox without Curt Schilling and Tim Wakefield when Boston rolls into town next Friday.

Orlando Hernandez is on schedule to start the opener of the three-game series, with Jon Lieber starting the second game and Mike Mussina the third in what could be another classic matchup with Pedro Martinez.

Posted by jackhodgson at 02:00 PM

Could it be Napa?

I always figured that if I ever moved back to the SF Bay Area, I would consider living in the North Bay. Santa Rosa, Sonoma, up there. But here's a piece about the town of Napa.

But lately, there's been reason to linger a bit longer in this once sleepy town at the stem of the Napa Valley wine country. With hip eateries, a contemporary art museum on the revitalized riverfront and a 19th-century opera house now featuring a series of world music performances, downtown Napa has become a destination in its own right.
Posted by jackhodgson at 01:45 PM

Not Erik, Todd.

tuna_prod_114This series of Odd Todd stories about tuna fish have led me to conclude that Sherman and Todd are the same person. Here are some excerpts, but read the whole of each post, they're short.

Part One: Tuna Fish Fallout

But recently me and tuna haven't been getting along. Last week I opened up a can of tuna (Bumblebee Solid White in water is my brand) and it smelled really bad. Like too strong and fishy. I figured it was a fluke can and chucked it out. Then I opened up another can. It smelled just as bad. Like gross fishy gross ew. I chucked it out too and ate a peanut butter and jelly. I wrote it off as whatevery.

Two: Quest for the Best Tuna of All Tuna

OK. So today I went food shopping and decided to give a new brand of tuna a try (recently I wrote about how I had a big falling out with tuna). I didn't know which one to go with so I bought four different kinds.

Three: BumbleBee Conspiracy Theory!

I'm on to you BumbleBee! With your new fancy tuna! I know what you did! You took your regular Solid White and made it grosser and cheaper somehow and then took the good tuna that you used to put in the regular can and put it in the new fancy can! And pretend it's new and improved and 'premium'!
Posted by jackhodgson at 08:55 AM

September 10, 2004

What a softy

Tough guy, and gewf forum pal, MGA thought he could privately reveal his softer side over on the, much neglected, Concrete Frog blog.

Dad and Boy both slept for a little while with Dad waking first, getting a chance to appreciate Boy with his straight blond hair and it's small baby wave in the front and the rhythm of Boy's sleepy breathing.
Posted by jackhodgson at 06:49 PM

Experience Marketing

The players aren't the only one's very good at their jobs, the people who run the Redsox' business are also very good at what they do.

The Boston Globe:

So at Fenway these days, a fan is given the chance to sing the National Anthem on the field before every home game. Other fans throw out the first pitch, children are picked from the stands to come down to the field and yell "Play ball!" For each one of them, it's an indelible experience. And when they tell their friends and family, it provides the best word-of-mouth marketing money can't buy.
Posted by jackhodgson at 10:53 AM

A Gaggle

I just saw something that I've never seen before. I saw five loons together.

The most I've ever seen was three. I wonder if these are just passing-through on migration? Or are they local residents bonding?

Posted by jackhodgson at 09:40 AM

September 09, 2004

Sherm could have a field-day

Last week we talked here about custom postage stamps. This week, GE pal RobH calls our attention to customized M&Ms.

Posted by jackhodgson at 02:03 PM

Low Carb Meatloaf

My sister and I are looking for a good lo-carb meatloaf recipe. This one is the best so far. I particularly like the bacon part.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 lb ground pork or veal
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 eggs
2 slices low carb wheat bread, crumbled
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup Walden Farms Original BBQ Sauce
4 slices bacon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine ground meat in a large bowl. Add crumbled bread and chopped onion. Add 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce—mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the two eggs and heavy cream—add salt and pepper to taste—and beat with a hand mixer until frothy. Add to meatloaf mix and combine well. If the mixture seems too dry, add a little more cream or BBQ sauce. Form into a loaf and place in an oven safe baking dish. Spread the remaining BBQ sauce over the top of the uncooked meatloaf. Drape the 4 slices of bacon over the top of the meatloaf. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Remove from oven, drain fat and serve.

Serves 6
3 grams carbs per serving

Posted by jackhodgson at 01:38 PM

Odds 'n Ends

Today's Word of the Day is "bricolage"

Something created using a mix of whatever happens to be available.

That would be a great name for a blog.

Posted by jackhodgson at 01:20 PM

Sweep

I'm mostly posting this to show Sherm that I CAN stay up this late.

Good game, although I did think it was a bit premature -- tempting fate, and the gods of the thing -- for Francona to change out so many players in the 8th inning. But it all turned out OK.

I watched all game to get a glimpse of Sherm and Erik S. bonding in the stands. But no-joy.

One of my favorite moments was in the 9th, when replacement third baseman Kevin Youkilis made a nice play to first, and the crowd, in this visitors park, began chanting "Yoooooook!" just like they were all back in Fenway.

It's a Redsox Nation.

Posted by jackhodgson at 01:21 AM

September 08, 2004

Genesis Crashes to Earth

Sadly, the Genesis solar observation craft, that was to be snagged by helicopter over the Utah desert, has fallen all the way to the ground without its parachute opening. Initial reports are that the mission could be a total failure as a result.

Posted by jackhodgson at 12:11 PM

Daily Andy

One of my favorite blogs has always been Andy Ihnatko. Andy was one of the BCS*Mac gang back in the day. And he's a wonderfully, strangely, creative guy.

He's had a blog for years, but he only wrote in it sporadically. But he's made a resolution to post something to it every day in September. I just caught up on the first seven days. I need to move it to my list of daily reads.

An example:.

But there comes a time when you realize something important: in a creative endeavor, there are no rules. You don't get points for technical perfection. Either it works, or it doesn't work. There comes a time when you get serious enough about your work that have to start defending it and defending your choices, and in the end, I decided that I'd rather build my own unique style than maintain a shot at becoming class valedictorian.
Posted by jackhodgson at 11:51 AM

September 07, 2004

But where is Eric Larsen?

In the Forum, Erik Schwartz wrote: "I'm in California this week, going to all three Sox games in Oakland."

And Sherman wrote: "Got tix for Wednesday night's game with Pedro pitching."

We want a pic of them together.

Posted by jackhodgson at 12:05 PM

New Years Day

For most of my adult life, I've felt like Labor Day was like the beginning of the new year, more so than Jan 1st.

Vacations are mostly over, people are getting back to work, the weather (at least here in NE) is becoming civilized again.

It's a good time for new beginnings.

Posted by jackhodgson at 11:59 AM

M-cubed

From last night's Redsox game. David Pinto:

This has to be one of my favorite plays of all time :
Athletics seventh. D.Miller grounded out, third baseman Mueller to first baseman Millar.
Posted by jackhodgson at 11:49 AM

September 06, 2004

Heart Surgery

Back on Saturday, before President Clinton's surgery, Dave Winer remembered his heart surgery a few years ago.

Before they carted me away I had to go into the lavatory and wash everything I could reach. That's when I fell apart. Sobbing, crying, wanting to get out of there.
Posted by jackhodgson at 07:37 PM

September 05, 2004

Hey, my parents are away on vaction.

Not much blogging this weekend. All five of us kids, and the families, are here for the weekend. It makes for a pretty full house, but it's fun.

A big part of the weekend is preparing and sharing meals. This morning I made omelets for everyone. We are now just finishing supper of burgers and dogs.

Last night, after the kids were all tucked away, we had some fun with adult beverages. Wouldn't you know that us kids, the moment our parents are away on vacation, we throw a party.

Gotta go get the TP out of the trees. See ya later.

Posted by jackhodgson at 07:31 PM

September 03, 2004

Ahhhhh!

coffeemugFor the first time in over three weeks I had a cup of real coffee this morning. Coffee with CAFFEINE! It was good. I don't care what others say, I can taste the difference.

I limited myself to one cup, now I'm brewing a pot of decaf. Don't want to OD on my first day back.

The main reason for going back today, is that my brother and his wife arrive tonight for the holiday weekend, and they are serious coffee drinkers. I couldn't stand the shame of drinking decaf in front of them.

Posted by jackhodgson at 09:31 AM

September 02, 2004

Phone Home

This is cool.

Reuters Science via Yahoo!News:

An unexplained radio signal from deep space could -- just might be -- contact from an alien civilization, New Scientist magazine reported on Thursday.
Posted by jackhodgson at 08:43 PM

About Fenway

ballparks.com:

Fenway Park opened on April 20, 1912, the same day as Detroit’s Tiger Stadium and before any of the other existing big league parks. It held 35,000 fans then, and today it holds 34,218. The Red Sox fit 47,627 people into Fenway for a September 22, 1935, doubleheader against the New York Yankees. Fire laws in the 1940's ended that type of overcrowding and the biggest postwar crowd was 36,388 for a game against the Cleveland Indians in 1978.

Can you tell that I'm really getting excited about the Redsox.

Posted by jackhodgson at 12:23 PM

You read it here first

Just for the record...

I believe that the Redsox will overtake the Yankees for first-place in the American League East. It's a lock.

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:17 AM

Hey, they needed the money.

jghstampThe US Postal Service recently started a program where you can order personalized postage stamps. Send them a digital pic and they will send you a sheet of genuine first class stamps with that image on them. They do say that "objectionable" pics will not be allowed. But The Smoking Gun website did a test, and although some pics were rejected (Lee Harvey Oswald, Salvatore "Sammy Bull" Gravano, and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski), they did manage to get stamps with some pretty questionable pics on them:

[We got] stamps honoring Monica Lewinsky's blue dress (the one splattered with Bill Clinton's DNA); Linda Tripp; deposed Yugoslavian ethnic cleanser/war criminal Slobodan Milosevic; MIA labor racketeer Jimmy Hoffa; executed Romanian dictator/Communist oppressor Nicolae Ceaucescu; New Jersey Governor James McGreevey and alleged gay lover Golan Cipel; and high school and college yearbook photos of Kaczynski, who used the postal service to deliver his homemade bombs. We put one of the Kaczynski stamps on an envelope and mailed it to our office, so click here to see the cancelled result.

[Thanks NewMediaMusings]

Posted by jackhodgson at 08:56 AM

September 01, 2004

It's not the Net

Mark Cuban has written a compelling essay about how hi-quality video can, and should, be distributed in the future. He makes a strong case for investing in external Firewire/USB drives.

I decided to buy a portable 20gbs USB 2.0 drive that was about half the size of a pack of cigarettes. Cost me 150 bucks. I also bought an external 80gbs FireWire Drive for under 100 dollars. I loaded a full 2 hour [Hi-Def] movie on the cig sized drive, and all the episodes I had of our HDNet Word Report.

Connected to my laptop, the cig drive couldn’t quite keep up. It had a couple hiccups, but it was close. If I had used any compression at all on it, no doubt it would have kept up no prob. After copying to my laptop hard drive, it played no problem at all.

Posted by jackhodgson at 06:08 PM

Writing Tips

Gareth's Tips on Sucks-Less Writing

[Thanks SteveG]

Posted by jackhodgson at 12:35 PM

Granny D

Now I know who I am voting for Senate here in NH.

UPDATE: Here's an interesting Boston Phoenix article on GrannyD.

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:16 AM

Mayday, Mayday! Hostess Cupcakes in danger!

hcupcakesMy all-time favorite, junky, snack-food is Hostess chocolate cupcakes. With the white squiggle across the chocolate frosting, and the creamy filling.

And now they are in danger of disappearing. Oh no!

They're out of bounds for me right now, but they are sure to be one of the guilty pleasures that return to my menu in the future.

[Yes, I recognize the irony, that this diet I'm on is the major reason why Hostess is in trouble. But hey, I want to have my cake, and eat it too.]

Posted by jackhodgson at 09:02 AM

Happy day

Today is the textbook definition of a good day in Redsox Nation. The Sox decisively defeated their wild-card opponent, Anaheim, to move 2 1/2 games ahead in that race. And the Yankees lost 22-0, their worst defeat ever!

Gordon Edes, Boston Globe:

There was also this: the most delicious piece of scoreboard-watching in recent memory, the one in which the person behind the green wall kept replacing the metal numbers next to "CLE," the team above the "NYY." First, there was a "6" after the second inning. Then a "9" after three, a ridiculous "15" after five -- and still more! -- a "16" after six, and a history-making, can-you-believe-it "22" in the ninth, mocking the "0" next to "NYY."

Just like that, the Yankees' lead, on the first day of September, is only 3 1/2 games, the Sox in only 16 days lopping an astonishing seven games off what had been a seemingly insurmountable 10 1/2-game edge. Fasten your seatbelts, Nation, for what is promising to be one of the wildest rides in the 103-year history of the Olde Towne Team.

Posted by jackhodgson at 08:44 AM