I wonder ...

This is like deja vu all over again.

2008-09-29T19:06:00.000-07:00

For the second year in a row, the New York Mets were eliminated from the playoffs at the last game of the regular season at Shea Stadium by the same team. At least they don't have to worry about a three-peat. Shea Stadium will be torn down soon. I wonder what's worst, that or not making the playoffs after being in the post-season for 13 seasons in a row. Yes, I am talking about the Mets' cross town rival Yankees. Before the just-ended playoffs run, the Yankees didn't make it into the post seasons for 13 years in a row. I wonder how many seasons the Yankees will miss the playoffs this time around. And yes, I don't wonder the same thing about the Mets since I have given up on them.

Saturday Night Live

2008-09-28T17:55:00.000-07:00

I liked the season premier of Saturday Night Live so much that I stayed up the next week to catch the show. I was disappointed that the show wasn't that good. So I didn't bother to stay up this past weekend. I figured I can always catch anything worth seeing afterward either on YouTube or nbc.com. Well here it is:

Amy Poehler will be leaving the show after this season. I wonder if this means the beginning of the end of SNL.

Deal Or No Deal

2008-09-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

First we have a deal, then we didn't. What's going on? While we wait for the government to come up with a bail out plan, yet another financial institution has gone under. This time it is Washington Mutual, the largest savings and loans in the US. As usual, the law makers are busy pointing fingers at each other rather than coming up with a solution. I wasn't too thrill about the government bailing the financial firms with the people's hard earned money. I think people need to learn from their mistakes. You reap what you sow. But the current crisis is affecting not just the people who sow the bad seeds. I know someone who used to work for Lehman who is now unemployed. I wonder how many financial firms have to failed before the law makers will get their act together.

Goooooal! x 82

2008-09-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

It is old news by now but I just can't get it out of my head. Slovakia defeated Bulgaria in the women's ice hockey European Olympic pre-qualifying tournament by the score of 82 to 0. The Bulgaria men's ice hockey team did much better and only lost to the Slovakian by a score of 20 to 0. I wonder why the Slovakia women team had to run up the score like that. What were they trying to prove? That they are just that much better than the Bulgarian?

Welcome back, SNL

2008-09-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

I stayed up Saturday night to catch Saturday Night Live because Michael Phelps was hosting the show. I got a very present surprise from the opening segment:

It reminds me of SNL during its golden age when I watched every week. The show is nothing like what it used to be so I don't really watch it now. I wonder if we are witnessing the rebirth of SNL.

Same Old, Same Old

2008-09-13T17:28:00.000-07:00

I was wondering if the presidential election would really be difference since both candidates claim to be the candidate of change. Judging by the campaign ads, it is politics as usually. So far all the ads that I have seen are negative attack ads. Why can't candidates tell us why we should vote for him/her instead of telling us why not to vote for the other person? I really would like to see a law banning negative campaign ads.

Bursting Bubbles

2008-09-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

I am sure at least some, if not most, of you remember the dot-com bubble. And everyone I know has been affected, in one way or another, by the bursting real estate bubble. It looks the the oil bubble may be about to burst as crude oil price is down to just over $100 a barrel. I wonder if the bursting of this particular bubble is good or not. Sure we can all use a break in the rising gasoline price. But I sure don't want this to stop the much needed energy conservation and environment protection that people are finally starting to pay attention to.

I wonder where will the next bubble be?

Tour de Dope

2008-07-17T05:03:00.000-07:00

Another Tour de France, another doping scandal. I guess we should be used to it by now. I guess the question isn't is any riders doping but how many riders are doping. I wonder if the riders are learning the wrong lesson from what happened to Floyd Landis last year. It looks like they are learning that you increase your chance of winning by cheating. After all, riders are caught doping every year. Last year it just happened that the one caught doping was the winner. I wonder if we would ever see a scandal free Tour de France again.

Wounded Knee

2008-06-19T05:11:00.000-07:00

Pretty much everyone knows that Tiger Wood won the US Open with an injured knee. But it turns out that he also has torn ACL and a double stress fracture on his left tibia. That shows why he is probably the greatest golfer the world has ever seen. But I wonder if his drive and determination is sending the right signal to the millions of kids who look up to him. Playing through pain is one thing, but doing so to further injure oneself, especially for kids when they are still growing, could result in some permanent damages. There has been a lot of talks about how fragile race horses are. I wonder if professional athletes should be put in the same category. Afterall, Yankee pitcher Ching Ming Wang injured his foot by simply running the bases.

The Fat Lady Is Singing (I Think)

2008-06-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

It looks like the long, interesting, and historic Democratic presidential primary is finally coming to an end. Most news outlet are now reporting that Hillary Clinton will be suspending her campaign this Saturday. I wonder why she stay in the primary till the end when she has little chance to winning the nomination, and now she is only suspending rather than ending her campaign. Some say she stayed in to raise money to pay off her campaign debt. Others say she wants the Vice President slot. But why would someone who has already been co-President for 8 years want to be Vice President?

Mega Fat Breakfast

2008-04-01T05:44:00.001-07:00

I guess I should have seen this coming. After Mega Fat sandwiches and Mega Fat fast food, you will soon be able to get a Mega Fat muffin in Japan. I wonder if fat will become the new tobacco. Do McDonald's really think that the Japanese are too thin?

Public Affairs

2008-03-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

Shortly after being sworn in to replace Eliot Spitzer who resigned due to a sex scandal, NY Governor David Paterson has disclosed that both he and his wife had extramarital affairs. I guess he is just being proactive and wants to preempt the chance of another resignation due to a sex scandal. I am more shock by his act of revelation than what he revelated. I wonder how many capable folks have stayed out of public service due to the face that they have skeleton in their closet. After all, on one is prefect. Where do we draw the line?

How The Mighty Have Fallen

2008-03-16T20:19:00.000-07:00

J.P. Morgan Chase is buying Bear Stearns for about $2 a share, which is the cost of a subway or bus wide in New York City.
Bear Stearns had closed $30.00 on Friday, after dropping almost 50% since it was running out of money. The dropped had seemed to have stabilized after Bear Stearns got an emergency injection of funds from the U.S. Federal Reserve through J.P. Morgan Chase. I guess $2.00 is better than nothing. Just ask people who had Enron stocks. For those curious minds, here is a chart of the stock price dating back to 86:

It looks like the subprime mortgage crisis may actually be a lot worse than what people have been willing to admit. Afer all the CEO had said on Wednesday that he was not aware of any imminent threat to Bear Stearns' liquidity. Oh how things had changed in just a couple of days. I wonder what he was smoking. More important, I wonder if Bear Stearns is just the first of many domino to fall. I certainly hope that's not the case.

Magic Mirror

2008-03-13T19:30:00.001-07:00

Have you been avoiding being in front of a mirror lately since your weight is not what you want it to be? Check this out. No, it is not yet another fad diet or weight lost gimmick. It is a mirror that will actually cut unwanted fat. So you can look like this:

Here is the product page for those interested.

I wonder if anyone is working on a mirror that would enlarge certain body parts. Judging from the spam that I get, there mighty very well be a big market for that.

Racism Vs Sexism

2008-03-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

Geraldine Ferraro is standing by her comments about Barack Obama which are considered racist by many. Here is what she said:

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

For those of you who had forgotten about Ferraro, she was the only woman to to be selected by a major political party for the position of vice president of the United States. I wonder if she was a man, would anyone care about what she has to say now since in that case she most certainly would not have been chosen as a vice presidential candidate back then. I wonder if Hillary Clinton would be a contender for the nomination if she was a man.

I also wonder if Ferraro and Clinton would consider what I just wrote sexist.

Client 9

2008-03-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has been linked to a prostitution ring. I was a little surprise when I heard the news even though politicians involved in scandal is quite common in the US. After all, New York's neighboring states New Jersey and Connecticut both had their governors resigned due to scandal in recent years. But Eliot Spitzer was supposed to be a clean politician. He made a name for himself while he was an attorney general. He even prosecuted prostitution cases. Everyone now is expecting him to resign but he has not make any announcement. I wonder what is he waiting for. Some say that his offer to resign as governor could be part of any package over what criminal charges the governor could face in a plea negotiation. Does it really make any difference to the prosecutors in this case if they are indict a sitting governor or an ex-governor?

Go Ahead, Make My Day

2008-03-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

Have you ever considered carrying some personal protection with you? Something inconspicuous but yet effective? Check this out:

I didn't think this was real until I after I saw the video. I wonder if this would ever be released as a product. If so, I guess some folks would not have a need for their trench coats anymore.

Positive Energy Building

2008-03-08T15:02:00.001-08:00

masdarhq
Originally uploaded by gundammsz010

More and more buildings are now being designed with a small or zero energy footprint. So it is just a matter of time before someone design a postive energy building. No we are not talking about good karma here. This building will actually generate more energy than it will consume. This building will be the centerpiece of the eco-friendly zero waste, zero carbon emission Masdar City, which is a $22 billion development outside of Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi also happens to be one of the world's largest producers of oil. Recently it has started to diversify its economy through investments in financial services and tourism. If an oil-producing country is doing that, the rest of the world should seriously think about alternative, renewable energy. I wonder if I would see such a shift in my lifetime.

Higher and Higher

2008-03-06T14:42:00.000-08:00

Oil hit yet another all time high again today. This is more than just another news item since most people (myself included) do feel the pain of the ever rising gasoline price. It now costs me more than $40.00 to fill up my car. When I bought my present car, I was also considering another model with a higher gas mileage. At that time gas mileage wasn't really a factor but it looks like it will be the next time I buy a car. $40.00 for a fill up is pretty bad. But at least I don't drive a huge SUV, some of which will cost twice as much for a fill up. I have always wonder why people would buy a huge SUV with space for nine adults and towing capacity of more than 8000 lbs when they mainly use it to commute to work all by themselves. I see plenty of these lone SUV drivers during my commute to work. I have actually been seeing less lately. I guess people with more than one car are leaving their SUV at home. So it looks like every cloud does have a silver lining. The only way to get people to change is to hit them where they hurt. Maybe now people will stop buying huge SUV that they don't need and stop polluting the environment.

What kind of car do you drive?

Shame On Who?

2008-03-05T14:38:00.000-08:00

Just days after saying "Shame on you, Barack Obama", Hillard Clinton has hinted that she is open to a possible joint Democratic ticket with Barack Obama. She said on national TV

Well, you know, that may be where this is headed.

when she was told that people would like to see them both on the ticket.

When asked about the same the subject, Obama responded with

I think it is very premature to start talking about a joint ticket … right now.

One thing that Obama did comment on was the negative attack Clinton has unleashed on him recently, saying that they had some impact and that he will push back against Clinton.

I wonder if we will ever have an election where the candidates tell us why we should vote for him/her instead of why we shouldn't vote for his/her opponent.

Worse Than A Woman Scorned

2008-02-24T11:47:00.000-08:00

Whoever said Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned has obviously never met a woman who is behind in the US presidential primary. Just two days after praising Barack Obama in a debate with the words:

And, you know, no matter what happens in this contest — and I am honored, I am honored to be here with Barack Obama. I am absolutely honored.

Hillary Clinton unleashed her sharpest attack on Obama so far, saying:

Shame on you, Barack Obama.

I wonder what pissed her off more, Obama's mailings in question or the fact that she went from the sure thing to trailing in both delegates and polls.

Who would you vote for, Cliton, Obama, or none of the above?

NOT your father's Transformer

2007-10-16T14:07:00.001-07:00

GX-23-box
Originally uploaded by gundammsz010

Just pick up the Soul of Chogokin GX-23 Zambot 3. It is not cheap but is worth every penny it costs me. I am too busy playing with it to write any more. You can read all about it at Collection DX or Robot Japan.

I wonder when, if ever, will American toys catch up to their Japanese counterpart. The Star Wars Transformer is a step in the right direction. But we have still got a long way to go, baby.

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen or ...

2007-08-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

An AC repairman once told me that he was working on an air-conditioned shirt for people who works in hot places like kitchen. Looks like someone has beaten him to it:

You can real all about the details at Yahoo! .
In stead of two small fans, the person was thinking about piping cool air into the shirt from an external AC unit. I wonder if anyone is working on a portable AC unit powered by a pocket-sized rechargeable battery pack.

The Nutcracker (not the ballet)

2007-08-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

I have always thought that Japanese games shows are the most entertaining. Now there is a game show in Japan where contestants have to say a tongue twisters or this will happen:

I wonder what the prize is for the last contestant left standing. It must be something good in order to get people to be contestants on the show. On second thought, make that very good.

Mega FAT Fast Food

2007-07-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

I was wondering if the Mega sandwiches would become a trend in Japan. Well, it looks that way as Pizza Hut in Japan has introduced a Mega Pizza:

In stead of plain old cheese, the crust is stuffed with sasuage and bacon. I wonder what's next. Maybe Mega Fried Chicken where the drumstick is made out of turkey drumstick, or Mega Fries made out of fried whole potatoes?

Live Earth

2007-07-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

Now that the Live Earth concerts is over, I wonder if someone is going to tally up how much carbon dioxide was produced from this event. In addition to all the energy consumed putting the show together (all the lights and audio/visual equipments), I am sure not small amount of carbon dioxide was produced from people watching it on their big screen TV. Moreover, I have heard that many performers travel by private jets to the concerts. I wonder how much of the ticket price will go to purchasing carbon credits. After all, that's how AL Gore justifies his house using 20 times more electricity than the average American home. But wouldn't it be much better not producing those carbon dioxide in the first place in stead of buying credits to offset them after the fact?

I wonder if Al Gore is going to purchase any speeding or marijuana credit for his son.

Made in China

2007-06-29T12:41:00.000-07:00

It used to be that one has to go to Chinatown to find products made in China. But now they are everywhere. Just go down to your neighborhood Walmart. I bet you most of the stuff you will find there are made in China. But as the number of Chinese products grows, so does the list of tainted, defective, and counterfeit Chinese products that could pose health and/or safety risks. The latest to join that list is farmed seafood, which has been banned by the FDA. Speaking of counterfeit products, have you ever heard about the counterfeit eggs that were made in China? Apparently, they look so real that people can't tell the fake ones from the real ones. Here's a link with pictures. I wonder if there is anything that the Chinese won't counterfeit.

Mega FAT sandwiches

2007-06-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

Apparently the McDonald's Big Mac just isn't big enough for the Japanese. So McDonald's has introduced the Mega Mac there. It weighs in at 754 calories and 45.9 grams of fat. During the first weekend after it was introduced, 3.32 million of them were sold, nearly doubling McDonalds' own sales prediction. It was such a big hit that the Mega Teriyaki, made with pork instead of beef, is now also available in Japan. The Mega Teriyaki boasts 903 calories and 64.3 grams of fat, and is actually currently out-selling the Mega Mac. I wonder if the Japanese has ever heard of the movie Super Size Me.

The 54 Million Dollar Pants, NOT

2007-06-25T17:01:00.000-07:00

The District of Columbia Superior Court has ruled against an administrative law judge who filed a $54 million lawsuit against his neighborhood dry cleaner over a pair of missing pants. I wonder which part should I be more outraged about, the 54 millions dollar for a pair of pants, or the fact that the lawsuit was filed by a judge. What's even worse than a frivolous law suit is one that is filed by someone who is supposed to uphold justise. I wonder what makes him think that a “satisfaction guaranteed” sign entitled unhappy customers to unlimited compensation.

First in Line

2007-06-25T16:41:00.001-07:00

Want to be first in line for the iPhone at Apple's flagship store? Too late. At least two guys are already waiting in line. I wonder if Apple will give them anything extra for being in line so early. Actually being in line at the Apple flagship store isn't that bad since it is open 24x7. I am guessing they would be able to go inside the store to relieve them from both boredom and the call of nature.

Take Your _ To _ Day

2007-06-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

Today is Take Your Dog To Work Day. You are probably more familiar with Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day. That actually started out as Take Our Daughters To Work Day before the political correct police had their way. I wonder how long it would be before TYDTW Day becomes Take Your Pet To Work Day. But then I know many people who treat their pets as if their pets were their children (pet day care, pet spa, etc). So wouldn't it be more PC to have a Take Our Daughters and Sons and Pets To Work Day? But how about folks who don't have children or pets? Would it be PC to leave them out? I guess we could have a Take Your <insert your favorite minority group here> Friend To Work Day. But what about people who are unemployed? Even if they have someone to take, they have no work to take them to. I wonder what sort of day would the PC police come up with to cover everyone.

President Bloomberg

2007-06-21T09:39:00.000-07:00

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is now a man without a party after dropping his affiliation to the Republican Party. Last time he dropped out of a political party, he did so to run for his current office. Even though he said that he is not a candidate for US president in 2008, it is obvious that he is at least testing the water. For his NYC mayoral election, he spent $100 per vote. I wonder how much he would spend for a presidential election. According to Forbes he is worth 5 billion so he does have some money to spend on votes. And if he is successful, I wonder if this will open up the flood gate since there are 33 people in the US who have more money than he does.

Equal Justice Under Law

2007-06-07T14:16:00.000-07:00

After serving just three days of a three weeks sentence, Paris Hilton has been released from jail and will be serving a 40 days home confinement instead. I wonder what is the medical issue that cannot be treated in jail but can be treated at home. I think she must have Billionaires' disease.

By the way, I think Lewis Libby should go visit Paris. Who knows, maybe he will catch whatever disease she has and serve his sentence at home.

The Prince Vs The Insurgents

2007-04-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

It looks like the British Army is still going to deploy Prince Harry to Iraq. I wonder why? What difference will he make in the war? Will he single-handedly change the course of the war? What do you think the insurgents will do when Harry is in Iraq? It doesn't take an expert to figure out that they will go all out to try to get Harry. So deploying the Prince will actually endanger the British troops as they will be subjected to attacks that would not been taking place if the Prince was not there. I understand that the Prince doesn't want any special treatment. But do you think the insurgents will not treat the Prince differently?

Guns Don't Kill People, People Kill People

2007-04-18T06:19:00.000-07:00

I wonder how many people the Virgina Tech gunman would have killed if he did not have a hand gun. When are we going to do something about the easy access to guns (both legally and illegally) and the violent video games that is readily available to our kids?

The Duke Lacrosse Players and The Central Park Jogger

2007-04-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

When I learned that all charges have been dropped against the Duke Lacrosse players, the one thing that keep coming up in my mind is the Central Park Jogger case. In the Duke case, three rich white young men were accused of raping a poor black woman. In the Central Park case, five poor black young men were accused of raping and beating a rich white woman. The Central Park five were convicted and sent to jail. But a judge later threw out the convictions after a convicted serial rapist and murderer told New York prison officials that he alone raped the jogger. DNA testing confirmed his story. I wonder if the outcome of either case would still be the same if the race and social standing of the accused and victim were reversed. Would the lacrosse players suffer the same fate as the Central Park five had they been poor black young men and the victim they were accused of raping a rich white woman? Would the Central Park five been wrongfully convicted had they been rich white young man and the victim a poor black woman?

What got Imus fired

2007-04-14T16:59:00.000-07:00

Radio shock jock Imus was fired for the remarks he made about the Rutgers Women Basketball Team. Even though he manged to kill two birds with one stone since his remarks were both racist and sexist, he had said things that were a lot worse before. So I wonder why this time is any different than before. Different enough to get him fired. I wonder what actually got him fired, the racist and sexist remarks, or what he said in one of his many apologies, that he will change. People listen to him because of the shocking things that he says. Afterall, he is known as a shock jock. Would anyone listen to a shock jock that's not shocking? Would anyone hire him as a non-shock jock? Apparently not, not CBS Radio at least.

Honey We're Killing the Kids!

2007-04-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

Finally a reality TV show that is worth watching. TLC is doing a show based on childhood obesity titled Honey We're Killing the Kids!. As we are making breakthrough in many different areas of medicine, childhood obesity remains a big problem in the US. It is about time someone shine a spotlight on it. One family featured on the show was on a morning TV show this week. Both parents are overweight and are suffering medical conditions due to that themselves. I wonder why it takes a reality TV show for them to do something about their children being obese when they themselves have firsthand knowledge of the negative effects of being overweight. Sadly I know parents who are overweight and are raising obese kids myself. I hope that this would be a wait up call for all of them.

First Gentleman/First Husband/First Spouse

2007-04-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

Hillary Clinton has raised an unprecedented $26 million in the first quarter this year for her presidential campaign. I probably don't have to tell you how important money is nowadays in presidential election. So her chances of winning her party's nomination and the presidency looked pretty good. I have always wonder how we would address the spouse of a female president. First Gentleman? First Husband? In this age of political correctness, I am very surprise that the spouse of the president isn't being addressed as First Spouse. I did some digging around and it turns out the the United States Mints has already done so.

But it looks like we may have more time to decide since it was made known yesterday that Barack Obama is almost neck-to-neck with Hillary and had raised $25 million in the first quarter. So Hillary doesn't look like the inevitable nominee that she was looking like the day before yesterday.

freedom of expression - what's the limit

2007-03-31T11:35:00.001-07:00

20070331chochrist
Originally uploaded by gundammsz010.

By now you have probably heard about the art exhit My Sweet Lord. It is a chocolate sculpture of a naked and anatomically correct Jesus. If that's not bad enough, I have also heard that the sculptor has invited art lovers to lick it and eat it before it was to be taken down on Easter Sunday. I have always considered myself a social liberal but this is over the line even for me. I wonder if anyone would actually lick and eat it. There are all sorts of people in the world so someone would probably do it.

BrakeLok - What's the point

2007-03-28T14:27:00.000-07:00

I am pretty sure you have come across great design that are not practical at all. I just came across one that may qualify if it was a great design. It surely fit the not practical part. The BrakeLok is a device similar to The Club except that you put it on the hand brake. I wonder if the designer has actually tried to see if this product actually works or not. I don't know of any car that will actually be immobilized by not releasing the hand brake. Do you?

SuperSuper Tuesday

2007-03-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

It looks like New York will be joining a growing number of other states which are moving the primary election in 2008 to February 5. So it is very likely that the winners of the primary election will be determined on that day. I have always wonder why there isn't a national primary election. There is a national general election so why not for the primary election. Wouldn't any argument against the national primary election be true for the general election too? What do you think?

Gotta What

2007-03-19T14:44:00.000-07:00

I have seen many Japanese gadgets and inventions that are way out there. But I think this one beats them all. It is called the Gotta Go Briefcase. I know I have said this before but this one you really have to see to believe. It is meant for business professionals who wants to better maximize time efficiency and encourage higher job performance. The manufacturer claims that it will offer an extra edge over corporate competitors. I wonder what kind of edge one will get after being seen using one of these by competitors and colleague.

The Other White Meat

2007-03-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

I have always wonder if the US government is still being as wasteful as before since nowadays you don't hear story like the $600 toilet seat that often anymore. Or maybe it is just not news anymore so people stopped talking about it. Well, according to the Pig Book, money is still being wasted, if at least not as much as before. I guess one can always look at the bright side. Every dollar wasted by the US government is a dollar earned by someone else. So the US government is just doing its part to keep the economy going.

(RED)

2007-03-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

You may or may not have heard of the RED Campaign. I have because one of my favorite companies, Apple, is a participant. Well, according to the Numbers column of the latest issue of Time, it has raised $18 million worldwide so far. You may say that is no small change. But it actually is when compared to the $100 million spent on marketing the RED Campaign by Gap, Motorola, and (yes) Apple (too). I wonder if they realize that their marketing overhead is that much more than what they are raising. I have a feeling that they do. But I guess it really shouldn't be considered marketing overhead since they are marketing both the RED Campaign as well as their own products at the same time. And they are spending their own money and not the money raised. But I wonder if any one of them had considered giving some of that marketing money to the campaign directly.

Japanese Gadgets

2007-03-04T07:10:00.000-08:00

I always wonder what gadgets the Japanese will invent next. I think they are way ahead of everyone when it comes to gadgets. That is terms usefulness, strangeness and plain weirdness. Well someone has make a list of top 12 weird Japanese inventions. You have to check it out. My favorite is the gardening tool. You have to see it to believe it.

Rats Backlash

2007-03-01T08:10:00.000-08:00

There now seems to be a rats backlash in New York City after video and photo of a rats infested Taco Bell/KFC restaurant hit big time on the web. Restaurant owners are complaining that they are unfairly targeted by the Health Department. None of them are actually denying that their restaurants have rats. They are saying they are now being tickets for conditions that existed before that they were ticketed for. I wonder what makes them think that it is OK to have rats in their restaurants.

Happy Birthday, Leap Day Babies

2007-03-01T07:59:00.000-08:00

I always wonder how people born on Feburary 29th celebrate their birthday. Do they do it only in leap year? Or every year on Feburary 28th or March 1st. I actually don't know anyone born on leap day so I have no one to ask. I have always thought that it is due to the fact that being born on leap day is small. Well according to the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies, the chance is 1 in 1461. Then I heard a report on the news radio that when a leap baby was born, the doctor asked the mother if she would like to put on the birth certificate either Feburary 28th or March 1st as the birthday. I wonder how many mother would do just that.

Jesus Tomb - Probably NOT

2007-02-26T14:54:00.000-08:00

Unlike The Da Vinci Code, which is a work of pure fiction, there are now a non-fictional book and a Discovery Channel documentary claiming a tomb has been found containing bone boxes of Jesus and his family. The author of the book claimed on The NBC Today Show that:

Now the debate is going to begin because statisticians say it is significant. DNA experts say it is significant.

I wonder why it took so long for him to come forward, since the tomb and bone boxes were discovered 27 years ago. Was there an effort to cover this up? Probably not since there isn't much to cover up to begin with. The DNA evidence turns out to be tests done on DNA from the "Jesus" and "Mariamene" bone-boxes that indicated that they were not related on their mother's sides. Therefore if this turned out to be a family tomb, the two would most likely have been hushand and wife. Man, that's a most likely following a big if. And I couldn't believe he actually tried to use statistic to prove his point. Just because something is not likely does not means that it is not going to happen.

Must See TV

2007-02-18T18:27:00.000-08:00

Police responding to burst water pipe in Long Island New York found a mummified dead body in front of a blaring television. Apparently, the man has been dead for more than one year. Many questions came to my mind when I read this news story. Why as the electricity still on when the bill has not been paid for over a year? How could a dead body mummified all by itself natually? But one keeps lingering in my mind. I wonder if anyone will notice if I am gone. I happen to believe that everyone do make a differnce, good or bad, in this world. I wonder if this person actually did not make any difference at all such that people did not notice that he was dead for over a year...

How Low Can You Go

2007-02-16T10:08:00.000-08:00

I have seen a lot of wacky/weird/tasteless gadgets lately:

humping dog USB drive

busty mouse pad

breast mouse pad(this one is for raising public awareness of breast cancer, but still...)

Axe Mousepad - I won't even try to describe it here. You have got to see for yourself.

I wonder how low they will go. I guess someone will sell whatever someone else will buy.

Apology NOT accepted

2007-02-15T10:22:00.000-08:00

Michael Waltrip has apologized for cheating at Daytona. I bet he is sorry alright. He must be very sorry that he got caught. First it was steroid use in the Major League Baseball, and now NASCAR. I wonder which professional sport will be next? What kind of examples are we setting for our kids?

iAlarm

2007-02-13T13:54:00.000-08:00

I have seen many different variations on the alarm clock lately, including and not limited to:

hello kitty alarm clock

flying alarm clock

sonic boom alarm clock

danger bomb alarm clock

The latest I have come across is the runaway alarm clock, which you will have to chase down in order to shut it off. This one may actually work for me. Since Apple is not not just a computer company anymore. I wonder what kind of alarm clock it will sell if it decides to sell one. Maybe one will all the features listed above but in a incredibly small package and a unique user interface. Oh of course it runs OS X.

We have a deal (or do we)

2007-02-13T05:46:00.000-08:00

It looks like there is finally a deal on the North Korea nuke.
But we would not need a deal if North Korea did not cheat on the Agreed Framework that they had signed. I wonder what's different this time. I wonder if there is anything in the deal to prevent North Korea from starting their nuclear program the next time they don't want to play nice.

I more I think about the whole thing, the more I feel that nuclear nonproliferation will never work. Why are some countries allowed to have nuclear weapons but not the rest of the world? The US may say that Iran and North Korea are rogue states. But how do you define rogue objectively? I think the only solution is to get rid of all nuclear weapons for everybody. And I do mean everyone. I wonder if we will ever get there. Sure, it will happen when mankind invents something even more destructive and makes nuclear weapons obselete.

Show Me The Money

2007-02-08T14:39:00.000-08:00

Free Money. No this is not a spam. Nor did I include these two words to trick people into reading my blog. Well, in order the receive the free money ($15.00), you do have to spent $30.00 or more and pay for it using Paypal. But if you regularly spend that amount with Paypal, it amounts to free money. I wonder how much this little promotion is going to cost Paypal. Maybe they are feeling some heat from Google Checkout. I am a long time Paypal user. But I did signed up for Google Checkout and used it once for a $20.00 off bonus. I have no loyalty to either Paypal or Google. My loyalty is with my waller. I wonder if this is the start of a rebate war between Paypal and Google. One can always hope.

Thou shall not bear false witness

2007-02-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

I really have not been following the Lewis Libby trail. But a thought came to my mind while I was reading an article in Time on the subject. Libby is on trail for lying under oath. He is certainly not the first government official being accused of doing so. Bill Clinton was impeached for lying under oath. Even though Clinton was acquitted, I really don't see how anyone can say that his infamous words:


I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.

was not a lie. Did he do so under oath? Well he did it when he was deposed in the Paula Jones lawsuit. I wonder if justice will prevail in the Libby case. Do you think that justice prevailed in the Clinton impeachment?

iLaw

2007-02-08T06:57:00.000-08:00

A New York state senator has proposed a law banning the use of electronic gadgets--including MP3 players and cell phones--by pedestrians using a crosswalk. I really don't think we can legislate common sense. There are other things that people do to endanger themselves. Can we outlaw them all? I wonder if someone would ever propose a law that bans walking and chewing gum at the same time?

Brain Training

2007-01-18T12:33:00.000-08:00

A bunch of brain training/fitness software is now available on the market ever since Nintendo started marketing its DS and the Brain Age game. There is even a sequel to Brain Age - Big Brain Academy. As I am getting older, I wonder if I should invest some time and money in this. If I am a gamer and own a DS, I would probably get Brain Age and try it out. But I am not and don't own a DS so getting Brain Age would be a bigger investment for me as I will need to buy both hardware and software.

But it turns out that a research done at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign shows that simply aerobic exercies like walking increases the brain's volume and may be a simple and effective way to reverse age-related brain deterioration. Now that's what I call a no brainer.

I, Inc.

2007-01-11T05:41:00.000-08:00

This week Apple Computer, Inc changed its name to Apple, Inc. Make sense since they are really not just a computer company anymore. I think a better name would have been I, Inc. Think about it. It all started with the iMac. Then there are iLife and iBook. And now comes the iPhone. I wonder what other iStuff Apple will come up with next. I can't wait.

What Price College Sports

2006-12-20T05:33:00.000-08:00

Would you believe a human life in one case. The Oregonian reported in a lengthy Sunday story about the mistakes made in the search for James Kim. The direct supervisor of the search-and-rescue coordinator ignored a late-night call from her about the case because he was watching an Oregon State football game on television. She was overwhelmed by the demands of the search. She failed to call for help from the National Guard, which meant that heat-detecting helicopters stayed on the ground in the crucial two nights James Kim slept in the forest. I have always wonder why Americans are so fanatic about college football and basketball. After all, there are plenty of professional sports year round for people to watch (and to bet on). I always think that this is bad for the kids since we are sending them the wrong signal, as indicated by the increasing number of college athletes leaving school early, and the number of high schoolers skipping college altogether. But it looks like the cost is a lot higher in some cases.

Red VS Blue

2006-12-14T05:43:00.000-08:00

Senator Tim Johnson remains in the hospital in critical condition. When he felt ill and was sent to the hospital yesterday, in-coming Senate majority leader Harry Reid went to the hospital to visit him twice. I wonder if Senator Reid would have done the same thing if his party's majority is more than 1 vote or the ill senator is a Republican. If Senator Johnson is unable to serve, then his replacement will be appointed by a Republician governor and will server until the next general election.

The 103 Million Dollar Man

2006-12-14T05:31:00.000-08:00

It cost the Boston Red Sox 103 million dollar to sign Daisuke Matsuzaka for 6 years.
I wonder if he will turn out to be a stud or a dud. There have been both for players coming from Japan. The Yankee's Hideki Matsui is definitely a stud, worthing every penny of his contract. But another Hideki (Irabu formerly of the Yankees) and another Matsui (Kaz formerly of the Mets) both did not live up to expectation. I wonder why the Red Sox decided to make a 103 million dollar gamble. After all, there are other quality pitcher available. The Yankees singed Andy Pettitte for less, and Barry Zito is still available and probably can be had for less.

Big Brother

2006-12-12T06:20:00.000-08:00

It turns out that the FBI has found a way to remotely activating a mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations. They don't need to get a hold of the phones. They simply download software to the phones remotely. And it works even when the phone is powered off. I wonder what other ways are used by the government to watch us without us knowing about it. If the government knows how to do it, I wonder how long it will take for the bad guys to gain this knowledge. That is if they don't already have it already. Do you know who is listening in on you?

snooze

2006-12-11T17:55:00.000-08:00

It turns out that even lung cancer isn't enough of a wake up call for some smoker with lung cancer and had surgery for it.

"Over 40 percent smoke at least at some point after surgery and about 37 percent are smoking regularly at one year. These are conservative estimates. We really think that over half the patients pick up a cigarette again after having their cancer surgery." said Dr. Mark Walker, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine.

I wonder if there is anything short of death that would make these smokers quit. This shows how addictive tobacco is. Most things this addictive and are also bad for us is now illegal. The latest of such substance is trans fat, which has been ban in New York City. I wonder if tobacco would be next. Probably not until the tobacco company can't make any more money out of it.

James Kim: 1971 - 2006

2006-12-07T06:23:00.000-08:00

The search for James Kim ended tragically with the discovery of his body. The only silver lining is that his wife and two yound children survived and are in remarkablely good shape physically. I have read some very heated discussion on the net on whether he should have stayed with his family or not. With perfect hindsight, we can all say that had he stayed he would have survived like the rest of his family. But none of us were there so we don't know what it was like. After all, he didn't leave to find help until after they had been out there for over a week. I wonder what I would have done if I was him. Authorities have described his efforts as superhuman. I just hope that I would be able to keep my family alive the way he did if I was ever in a similar situation.

If you would like to make a donation to the Kim family or send something to them, please visit this page.

End of Hunger

2006-11-16T05:35:00.000-08:00

Since we still produce enough food for the entire population of the world, ending hunger is still an achievable goal. But in reality the actual situation is not that good now. Many people still go hungry everyday, even in developed countries like the US. I wonder how mush worse it will be when the population has grown to a point where we can't produce enough food for everyone. The US government is apparently very serious when it comes to ending hunger. It is renaming the annual hunger report to the food security report. So as of now there are no hungry people in the US, just folks with very low food security. I wonder what the intelligence security of those folks who came up with this idea is.

If I Did It...

2006-11-15T09:14:00.000-08:00

Just when I though that we have heard the last from O. J. Simpson, he will discuss how he would have committed the slayings of his ex-wife and her friend "if I did it". I wonder why he would do such a thing. It turns out he has a very good reason. He is trying to sell some books. I guess some folks would really do anything for money. I wonder if this is just a start of a whole series of books like the dummies series. I am sure there are plenty of materials to write about that is of interest to a wide audience. A few that I can think of off the top of my head (in alphabetical order):

Barry Bonds - I did not use steroids, but if I did it...

Bill Clinton - I did not have sex with that woman, but if I did it...

Bobby Knight - I did not hit my player, but if I did it...

Anna Nicole Smith - I did not marry for money, but if I did it...

Humane Killing

2006-11-14T12:38:00.000-08:00

I wonder what took so long but someone finally invented a humane shellfish killing machine. You may ask why but apparently there are places with laws requiring humane killing of animals including crabs, lobsters, and crayfish. The inventor of this machine happens to be a lawyer. So I guess suing or defending inhumane shellfish killers in court weren't bring in enough money for him. I wonder which is more humane, humane killing by such a machine or death due to natural causes. By the way, I also wonder if humane killing some how make the shellfish tastes better. I doubt it since if it was the case the maker of the killing machine would be jumping all over that. Afterall, taste better is a much better marketing point than humane.

Robocall

2006-11-05T07:31:00.000-08:00

With the National Do Not Call Registry, I am no longer getting calls from telemarketers. But with the election just days away, I am getting robocall instead. I wonder if there will ever be a similar law to opt-out of receiving election campaigning related calls. Probably not since that would need the votes of people whose jobs are in many case dependent on it. How many people you know would vote themselves out of a job? There wouldn't be any gerrymandering if politicians don't but their own interest first above ours, would it? I wonder how long it would be before we can election related robo-email in our inboxes.

Mud Slinging

2006-11-02T06:25:00.000-08:00

Election day is less than a week away. That means it is time once again to be bombarded with campaign ads again. This time around, there are so many negative ads that I wonder if there are any positive (or at least non-negative) ads at all. I actually came across two. But both are from candidates so far ahead that they will be winning by a landslide. I heard an ad on the radio that is so low that I would not have believed it if someone had told me about it. A candidate is being attacked for investing in mutual funds that own stocks in Pfizer and Philip Morris. Do you check every day to see what stocks are owned by the mutual funds that you have invested in? I guess I shouldn't run for public office since I bought Pfizer stocks directly myself. I wonder how many good and capable people we have kept away from running for public office just because they don't want to be subjected to personal attacks.

Happy Birthday

2006-10-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

Today is the iPod's birthday. Five years and many supposedly ipod-killers have gone by. The iPod is still the best selling digital music player, dominating the market. The latest want-to-be iPod-killer is Microsoft's Zune. I wonder if the Zune will live up to all the hype and be the iPod-killer that Apple/iPod detractors are claiming that it would be. I don't think so. iPod is more than just a fad. It is 5 years old and it is still go strong. Long live the iPod.

The biggest flop

2006-10-22T18:43:00.000-07:00

A few of the sites that I visit regularly (gizmodo, engadget, and crave to name a few) all have coverage of 10 Biggest Computer Flops of all time. This is a first so I had to check the list out. I was very surprise as to what make the top two entries of the list. I wonder how many of the "flops" the author of the list has actually hand-on experience with. I had actually have the pleasure of working on the NeXT computer. No only was the hardware very fast, the OS (NEXTSTEP) is one of the best that I have ever worked with (and I have woked with a few since I have been working in the IT industry for a long time). Yes, commercally speaking NeXT was not a successful. But its technology is still around. It is the basis of Mac OS X after NexT was bought by Apple when Steve Jobs returned to save the company he founded. The only thing that was worse than puting NeXT at number two is to put the Xerox Alto at number one. I still remember the times when computer users all used terminals to connect to large, centralized computers (I told you I have been in IT for a long time). The Alto was way ahead of it times and praved the way for WYSIWYG, GUI, point-and-click computing. Yes, it didn't make Xerox any money. But it is research like this that makes the US the leader in high-tech. The transistor did not make AT&T (Bell Labs) any money, so is it one of the biggest flop in electronics? I would definitely not call them mistakes, they are actaully early versions (call them beta if you like) of two of the biggest successes in computing history. If anyone is going to start a list of the ten biggest flop in making a top ten list, I would like to nominate this list to the list.

BOOM

2006-10-19T07:08:00.000-07:00

After repeatedly being warned of grave consequences for nuclear testing, North Korea went ahead anyway. And there are indications that they may do it again. After not being able to stop North Korea from developing and testing nuclear weapon, the world is now warning North Korea not to export its nuclear weapon or know-how. I wonder why North Korea would listen this time. Even if they agree not to do it, they may just be doing it in secret anyway. After all, back in the days when the US was still talking to North Korea one-on-one, they signed the Agreed Framework. But North Korea cheated. I wonder what would stop them from cheating again. Since we can't stop them and we can't trust them, I wonder if there is anything anyone can do but to live with the fact the North Korea will have nuclear weapon and will sell that technology if they chose to. Or maybe we should just evacuate Seoul and bomb them back to the stone age. Since that's (the bombing part for sure, not sure about the evacuation part) what we are going to do when some terrorists buy an A-Bomb from them and set it on in the US anyway.

One Per Child

2006-10-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

The BBC is reporting that Libya has agreed to provide its 1.2 million school children with the $100 laptop. Note that it says school children. So I guess children not going to school are not counted. I wonder how close that is to One Laptop per Child in Libya.

Everytime I think about the One Laptop per Child project, I can't help it but wonder what good does a laptop do to a child who is lacking life's basic necessities. I am talking about the really basic stuff, like pottable water, food, and basic health care. According to the FAQ on OLPC's web site, laptops are:

are a wonderful way for all children to learn learning through independent interaction and exploration.

But what about children who are too thirsty, hungry, or sick to learn? Wouldn't it be better to channel our effort into projects like:

Pottable Water per Child

Food per Child

Basic Health Care per Child

Actually someone is working on pottable water, check out PlayPumps. Bringing clean water to 10 million people over the next three years is a pretty good start to pottable water per child.

superpower

2006-10-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

They say that after the Cold War there is only one superpower left. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of superpower is:

a: an extremely powerful nation; specifically : one of a very few dominant states in an era when the world is divided politically into these states and their satellites
b : an international governing body able to enforce its will upon the most powerful states

I wonder which country they are referring to as the superpower. If you ask me the United States does not fit the definition above since it is not very successful in enforcing its will up other states. The US has made it very clear that it does not want either Iran or North Korea to have nuclear weapons. Well, North Korea has just tested one, and Iran is on its way to getting one. Nothing the US has done in stopping them has worked. Along with Iraq, these two countries are labelled as the Axis of Evil by President Bush so I don't think the US isn't trying hard enough. One may argue that it still fits the first definition since it is extremely powerful. But if it is so powerful, why is it not winning the war in Iraq? Many people would actually say that it is losing that war. Maybe North Korea should be the sole superpower since it has been able to ignore what all the other nations warning and do the things that it was told it cannot do.

trans fat tax

2006-10-05T13:30:00.000-07:00

It seems to me the ban on trans fat is picking up momentum. I heard on the radio this morning that my home state, New Jersey, is considering doing so. I wonder where they will draw the line. After all, there are many things that are just as bad (if not worse) for us. How about a ban on tobacco? Tobacco is certainly worst since second hand smoke hurts non-smokers also. Oh yeah, I forgot about the big tobacco company and their lobbyists. The US had tried out-lawing alcohol before and we all know how that turned out. So how about if we following the tobacco example and impose a trans fat tax. Afterall, we are charging people so that they can get lung cancer. Why not also charge people so that they can clog up their arteries?