Not much to report today. Monday was the first day of meetings. If the rest of the week is as good as Monday, the trip will be, um, "Worth Every Dollar". I learned more in one day than I could have learned in a month of reading. I'm really excited to get on the exhibit floor today. Now that I know some of the questions to ask, I'm ready to talk to vendors.
The weather is still beautiful. The announcers can't believe the heat. Yesterday it got into the low 70s. They are even saying that some people may need to turn on their air conditioners! Looking out over the bay bridge this morning, I don't see any significant fog, just some haze. It really is pretty here. I think I understand why people love to live here, but I'm sure the weather isn't like this all the time.
The Moscone Center, where my meetings are being held, is underground. According to their website, it was quite a challenge to meet fire codes. There have to be a lot of fire exits, and from underground that's a challenge. But they did it. Above it, they've built the Yerba Buena Gardens, a beautiful park. Every day, it's full of people laying out in the sun, doing exercises, or watching the ducks in the water. I'll try to get some pics today.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Morning Pun
On the news this morning, the announcer was talking about a tree that's a bit of a landmark in some town here in California. It's growing into the street and causing a bump, so the city is planning to cut it down. Many residents don't want it taken down. They've even named the tree "Tom".
According to the announcer, the city leaders have a name for the tree, too. They call it "Tim ... ber".
According to the announcer, the city leaders have a name for the tree, too. They call it "Tim ... ber".
Monday, August 20, 2007
San Francisco #2
Sunday afternoon, I went over to the Convention Center and picked up my badge and conference materials. I'm glad I did ... they gave me a really nice jacket and all the proceedings for all four days. I was able to bring that stuff back to the hotel rather than lug it around all day today.
In the late afternoon, my Missouri buddies called. We got the car and my camera was safely in the back seat. They took me sightseeing. We drove down the crookedest street in the world, then up to Coit Tower. On the way, we took a few streets that are just too steep to be believed. And pictures don't show it ... they tend to flatten things.
Coit Tower is atop one of the mountians right in the middle of town. We got tickets to go to the top. While we were there, the fog started to roll in off the ocean. Earlier in the day I had been regretting packing nothing but long-sleeved shirts, but by that time of the afternoon I was glad for them and my jacket. I'm used to fog that occurs when it's mostly calm, but this fog came with a stiff cool breeze.
We headed to the italian district, passing dozens of restaurants that looked unbelievably yummy. Alas, we could not find any place to park. It doesn't take you long to figure out why most people don't drive here. If you want to go somewhere, public transport and your two feet are the best choices. We ended up back at the hotel and set out walking. Not more than a couple of blocks down, we came across a little bistro with live jazz. One of my buddies said he had eaten there before, so we went in. The jazz show was excellent, and the food was filling. I had my tastebuds set for italian and I got chicken cordon bleu, but it was OK.
Today I start the conference that I came out here for.
In the late afternoon, my Missouri buddies called. We got the car and my camera was safely in the back seat. They took me sightseeing. We drove down the crookedest street in the world, then up to Coit Tower. On the way, we took a few streets that are just too steep to be believed. And pictures don't show it ... they tend to flatten things.
Coit Tower is atop one of the mountians right in the middle of town. We got tickets to go to the top. While we were there, the fog started to roll in off the ocean. Earlier in the day I had been regretting packing nothing but long-sleeved shirts, but by that time of the afternoon I was glad for them and my jacket. I'm used to fog that occurs when it's mostly calm, but this fog came with a stiff cool breeze.
We headed to the italian district, passing dozens of restaurants that looked unbelievably yummy. Alas, we could not find any place to park. It doesn't take you long to figure out why most people don't drive here. If you want to go somewhere, public transport and your two feet are the best choices. We ended up back at the hotel and set out walking. Not more than a couple of blocks down, we came across a little bistro with live jazz. One of my buddies said he had eaten there before, so we went in. The jazz show was excellent, and the food was filling. I had my tastebuds set for italian and I got chicken cordon bleu, but it was OK.
Today I start the conference that I came out here for.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
San Francisco Post #1
I arrived safely in SF.
Flight was on time. I met two guys on the plane who were going to the same convention, staying in the same hotel. They had a rental car reservation, so I rode with them to the hotel. Saved me lugging my suitcase on BART. They work for Shelter Insurance at the company HQ in Columbia.
We were driving up from the airport and passed Candlestick Park (where some team plays baseball). I grabbed the camera to get some pic for Norma (the baseball fan in the family). Just a bit ago, I went to get my camera to take some pics out my hotel room window, and it's not here. I have the darndest luck with cameras in California.
Anyway, I'm sure it's in the car, but all I know of the guys I rode in with is their first names. They're going to call me later and see if I want to get some supper, so I'll have them look in the car then. As long as the valet parker didn't steal it, I'm sure that is where it is.
I asked for the best view I could get, so they put me on the 17th floor. My window looks NE, and off to the side, I can just see one tower of the Bay Bridge between some buildings. Waay in the distance are the mountains on the far side of the bay. Mostly, all I can see are buildings, but they're all at least a block away, so it's not claustrophobic.
The weather is beautiful. Sunny and clear, and seems to be in the low 70s.
Flight was on time. I met two guys on the plane who were going to the same convention, staying in the same hotel. They had a rental car reservation, so I rode with them to the hotel. Saved me lugging my suitcase on BART. They work for Shelter Insurance at the company HQ in Columbia.
We were driving up from the airport and passed Candlestick Park (where some team plays baseball). I grabbed the camera to get some pic for Norma (the baseball fan in the family). Just a bit ago, I went to get my camera to take some pics out my hotel room window, and it's not here. I have the darndest luck with cameras in California.
Anyway, I'm sure it's in the car, but all I know of the guys I rode in with is their first names. They're going to call me later and see if I want to get some supper, so I'll have them look in the car then. As long as the valet parker didn't steal it, I'm sure that is where it is.
I asked for the best view I could get, so they put me on the 17th floor. My window looks NE, and off to the side, I can just see one tower of the Bay Bridge between some buildings. Waay in the distance are the mountains on the far side of the bay. Mostly, all I can see are buildings, but they're all at least a block away, so it's not claustrophobic.
The weather is beautiful. Sunny and clear, and seems to be in the low 70s.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Things I think up while mowing the lawn
It's not well known, but at one time in our history, the English language had no letter "E". Of course, that made it the Nglish languag, didn't it? One day, a lexicologist (I'm sorry, "lxicologist") of some repute at the local University had the brilliant idea of adding the letter "e" to the language. As he pointed out, the way things stood when one read about "Lak Ri", one could never be sure if one were reading about a rather spooky pond, or that big body of water near Clvland. It was all just too confusing without a letter "e" for clarity's sake.
Of course, many progressive thinkers jumped on the bandwagon, and the letter began popping up with considerable frequency. The local prists didn't care for this change in the way things had always been. They enlisted the help of the local Constabl, and the lxicologist was promptly arrested and jailed.
Their punishments meted out to the man were not quite as cruel as we might imagine, this having taken place in that period of time between the dark ages and the not-quite-light-yet ages. While it is true that he was incarcerated, they did give him plenty of paper and some pencils for doodling, and they put him up for the night in a room with a nice bed. They also fed him a wonderful meal. As you can tell, he was subjected to drawing and quartering. When he touched his meat at suppertime, it was so hot that it caused him pain, so you could say he was also burned at the steak.
But perhaps the worst punishment suffered by the man was that during the night, at random times and quite frequently, the jailer (ummm... jailr) would tap on a metal pipe three times rapidly, then pause, then three more times, ad nauseum. Of course, as any boy who was in Mr. Cross' PE class in 7th grade knows, this is Morse code for the letter "S".
(Precisely why Mr. Cross thought it advisable to teach us Morse code in 7th grade gym escapes me. Perhaps he thought we were all destined to live our lives in solitary confinement in some prison, and felt that he was teaching us a survival skill. If so, I thank him for his attempt, if not for his assessment of me and my classmates.)
Anyway, as you can tell, the lxicologist was thoroughly and mercilessly "S"-communicated.
Now at the same time, certain bands of other Anti-E activists were roaming about the area, painting out any "E" that they found on any sign. One man in particular (a Mr. d la Cruz) was a rabid defacer of any sign brandishing the letter, and he had actually been so successful that it was quite unusual to see an "E" anywhere in the area where he operated. This is, of course, the opposite of today, when it is the most common letter in the language. Mr. d la Cruz and his assistants (the "Cruz-aidrs") roamed far and wide taking care of the offending letter wherever it was.
In time they heard of a merchant, that era's equivalent of Sam Walton, who had posted an enormous sign on a hillside. Think about the "HOLLYWOOD" sign in California, and you'll get an idea of the size of this thing. I assume the sign spelled out the name of the store, but that bit of information has been lost to history. There was, however, one huge letter "E" in the sign. This would never do. But painting over it was out of the question, so they knew they would have to actually tear the sign down, or at very least knock it over.
It was a long journey to the sign, so as they walked along they began to sing marching songs. And this is the one part of the whole ugly scene that has remained alive to this day. For the song they sang, as they trod off on their mission was, "It's a long way to tip a rare E."
And now you know.
Of course, many progressive thinkers jumped on the bandwagon, and the letter began popping up with considerable frequency. The local prists didn't care for this change in the way things had always been. They enlisted the help of the local Constabl, and the lxicologist was promptly arrested and jailed.
Their punishments meted out to the man were not quite as cruel as we might imagine, this having taken place in that period of time between the dark ages and the not-quite-light-yet ages. While it is true that he was incarcerated, they did give him plenty of paper and some pencils for doodling, and they put him up for the night in a room with a nice bed. They also fed him a wonderful meal. As you can tell, he was subjected to drawing and quartering. When he touched his meat at suppertime, it was so hot that it caused him pain, so you could say he was also burned at the steak.
But perhaps the worst punishment suffered by the man was that during the night, at random times and quite frequently, the jailer (ummm... jailr) would tap on a metal pipe three times rapidly, then pause, then three more times, ad nauseum. Of course, as any boy who was in Mr. Cross' PE class in 7th grade knows, this is Morse code for the letter "S".
(Precisely why Mr. Cross thought it advisable to teach us Morse code in 7th grade gym escapes me. Perhaps he thought we were all destined to live our lives in solitary confinement in some prison, and felt that he was teaching us a survival skill. If so, I thank him for his attempt, if not for his assessment of me and my classmates.)
Anyway, as you can tell, the lxicologist was thoroughly and mercilessly "S"-communicated.
Now at the same time, certain bands of other Anti-E activists were roaming about the area, painting out any "E" that they found on any sign. One man in particular (a Mr. d la Cruz) was a rabid defacer of any sign brandishing the letter, and he had actually been so successful that it was quite unusual to see an "E" anywhere in the area where he operated. This is, of course, the opposite of today, when it is the most common letter in the language. Mr. d la Cruz and his assistants (the "Cruz-aidrs") roamed far and wide taking care of the offending letter wherever it was.
In time they heard of a merchant, that era's equivalent of Sam Walton, who had posted an enormous sign on a hillside. Think about the "HOLLYWOOD" sign in California, and you'll get an idea of the size of this thing. I assume the sign spelled out the name of the store, but that bit of information has been lost to history. There was, however, one huge letter "E" in the sign. This would never do. But painting over it was out of the question, so they knew they would have to actually tear the sign down, or at very least knock it over.
It was a long journey to the sign, so as they walked along they began to sing marching songs. And this is the one part of the whole ugly scene that has remained alive to this day. For the song they sang, as they trod off on their mission was, "It's a long way to tip a rare E."
And now you know.
Friday, August 10, 2007
It just keeps getting better!
A couple of days ago, I posted about an article on the Swedish news website "The Local" about the amount of money Sweden is making from people being fined for peeing in public. Today, although the story has moved off the front page, there's still a link to it. And the caption?
"Public peeing -- a golden shower for state coffers."
"Public peeing -- a golden shower for state coffers."
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Don't Vote!
I've often said that these "Get out the vote" campaigns are a bad idea. If people care enough, and are educated enough, they'll vote. Those who don't care, don't vote, and that's a good thing.
So I was pleased to find this site:
You take a 30-question quiz, and it tells you whether you should consider voting or not, based on your cultural literacy.
I'll be honest, I didn't score very well. For one thing, it must be aimed at people who get their news from TV. The questions are simply a photograph of a person, and you are asked who it is and what his or her position is. It's multiple choice, so that helps. But to be honest, someone like me who gets most of his news from the websites (BBC, Google News, Deseret Morning News) hasn't got much of a chance. I know who Ehud Olmert is, but I don't know that I've ever seen a picture of him. Same with Mahmoud Amadinejad, Robert Gates, Nancy Pelosi. Actually, I got Pelosi wrong ... I mixed her up with Dianne Feinstein. I know who they both are, and I know the difference, but I couldn't tell you which one is which from a photograph.
They also put in some ringers. There were pictures of Paris Hilton and some other pop culture figures. I had no clue. I honestly think it was the first time I had seen a picture of Paris Hilton, and I didn't even know it was her until it gave me the answers at the end. As I was going through, I got a little mad ... after all, what does knowing who Paris Hilton is have to do with being able to vote? Turns out they've thought of that. If you get that one right, you get one point. It's nine points for knowing who Condoleezza Rice is, and ten for knowing George W. Bush.
And I found one mistake: It shows Tony Blair as the Prime Minister of the UK. It does say that the test was last updated in January, so it's almost forgivable, but they really ought to get their act together.
Anyway, if you watch a lot of TV, take the quiz. If you don't get your news from TV, take it anyway, but don't worry too much about the score.
So I was pleased to find this site:
You take a 30-question quiz, and it tells you whether you should consider voting or not, based on your cultural literacy.
I'll be honest, I didn't score very well. For one thing, it must be aimed at people who get their news from TV. The questions are simply a photograph of a person, and you are asked who it is and what his or her position is. It's multiple choice, so that helps. But to be honest, someone like me who gets most of his news from the websites (BBC, Google News, Deseret Morning News) hasn't got much of a chance. I know who Ehud Olmert is, but I don't know that I've ever seen a picture of him. Same with Mahmoud Amadinejad, Robert Gates, Nancy Pelosi. Actually, I got Pelosi wrong ... I mixed her up with Dianne Feinstein. I know who they both are, and I know the difference, but I couldn't tell you which one is which from a photograph.
They also put in some ringers. There were pictures of Paris Hilton and some other pop culture figures. I had no clue. I honestly think it was the first time I had seen a picture of Paris Hilton, and I didn't even know it was her until it gave me the answers at the end. As I was going through, I got a little mad ... after all, what does knowing who Paris Hilton is have to do with being able to vote? Turns out they've thought of that. If you get that one right, you get one point. It's nine points for knowing who Condoleezza Rice is, and ten for knowing George W. Bush.
And I found one mistake: It shows Tony Blair as the Prime Minister of the UK. It does say that the test was last updated in January, so it's almost forgivable, but they really ought to get their act together.
Anyway, if you watch a lot of TV, take the quiz. If you don't get your news from TV, take it anyway, but don't worry too much about the score.
A man with my kind of sense of humor
The story goes that Mark Gubin was sitting on the roof of a large building he owns in Milwaukee one day, having lunch with his assistant. She commented on the planes flying approaches to the nearby airport, and suggested that they paint a large sign welcoming people to Milwaukee. He said, "You know what would be even better?", and the result is this:
Google Sightseeing Story
In case you can't tell, the roof says "Welcome to Cleveland".
Read all about it in the newspaper column:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=333812
Google Sightseeing Story
In case you can't tell, the roof says "Welcome to Cleveland".
Read all about it in the newspaper column:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=333812
Monday, August 6, 2007
There are days ...
There are days when the news reporters outdo themselves. From "The Local", Sweden's news in English:
"So far this year the Swedish state has earned 1.8 million kronor from people caught peeing in public. That's no piddling sum..."
"So far this year the Swedish state has earned 1.8 million kronor from people caught peeing in public. That's no piddling sum..."
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