Hulu

I've mentioned before the online service of Hulu.com where you can watch a number of shows for free, all at one website.

I found today that they have all 4 seasons of Doogie Howser M.D. Now there is a trip down memory lane.

Olympic Thoughts

As you hopefully know, the Olympics are well underway in the great city of Beijing, China. One thing that has really struck me this year watching the Olympics is the athleticism of the competitors in the games. Of course this seems like a very obvious statement, but let me explain what I have been thinking.

First, being an athlete, especially one competing at this level means a lot of training. In my opinion, the biggest aspect of the training is gaining more control over your body and what it can do. This is especially noticeable in sports like gymnastics and swimming, but most Olympic events require some degree of adhering to form. Form, for example, is making sure every stroke in the freestyle swimming event is maneuvered perfectly, or in rowing making sure every motion of the oar is executed without mistake. The greater control you have over your body the better form you should have, and the better you should do. Of course, a certain level of physical fitness is required, but that is another aspect of getting your body to do what you want it to.

It is these minute aspects of form that allows Michael Phelps to win 8 gold medals, or allows a gymnast to hold herself hanging in mid-air on the rings for longer than what seems humanly possible, and I believe is what separates Olympic athletes from regular people (like me).

Mastering form is common place in many things we see everyday, and doesn't necessarily have to do with sports. It could be a bus driver being able to turn a tight corner and know exactly how much she has to move the steering wheel to avoid the line of cars, or the card dealer at the casino shuffling the deck with precision.

Here's a video showing slow motion HD video of skateboarders. It is really amazing what people can do with practice, and how they can make these pieces of wood with wheels move in the air.

skate - shot on red - 120 fps from opus magnum prod. on Vimeo.

Via kottke.org

Advertising With The Enemy

While watching a Foster Farms chicken commercial today it seemed odd to me that a company would use what is essentially the competition in their advertising.

If you haven't seen a commercial from Foster Farms, they basically consist of two larger than life chickens who strive to become 100% fresh and natural Foster Farms chickens even though they have a lifestyle that puts them at odds with the Foster Farms philosophy.

This means that this company uses a spokesperson that is the exact opposite of what they stand for. Is this a good strategy? Will people associate these unsavory chickens with the chicken that Foster Farms sells? They say that there is no such thing as bad publicity because people see something and remember it and not necessarily because it is good or bad.

We see this on tv in other commercials and especially at this time of the year here in the US. Political commercials often spend a majority of the time talking about the other candidates. It would be interesting to see effectiveness of this strategy in some kind of study.

Accent Game

As someone who has lived and traveled in and to multiple countries around the world, accents are very fascinating to me. I enjoy guessing people's accents, and so when I saw this game I thought I might be good at it.

I was not.

They give you 16 people saying different phrases from Rudyard Kipling's "If" and for each person you get to choose one of six countries given to you as options. I got 3 of 16 right. And what makes this more embarrassing is that I had 3 Americans and only guessed one of them correctly. I also guessed Canada and Scotland correctly. For some of the European countries I found it difficult because you get small ones like Slovakia, Belarus, etc. and you'd have to be pretty good to get those right.

My only other complaint about the game is that the phrases the people say are fairly short, and doesn't necessarily allow for much exposure to the intricacies of the person's accent. If the videos showed them reading a few sentences it might be a little easier.

I encourage you to check it out though, and see how you do.

Via Presurfer

Tight Pants

If you've ever been in public in the last couple of years, especially where junior high and high school kids hang out you have undoubtedly seen tight pants.

I want to be completely honest with all of my readers when I say, this is a terrible fashion idea. Whoever came up with this should have their fashion license taken away.

That is why this manifesto about why Tights Are Not Pants is so welcoming to me.

Enjoy.

Via Presurfer

Useful Phone Feature

While here in New Orleans my dad forgot his cell phone at the hotel while we left on a short walk through the french quarter.

It got me thinking that cell phone companies should have a feature where a person can call in to their voicemail and turn on their call forwarding. This would mean that if you forgot your phone somewhere (or went swimming with it) you could use a friends phone and easily call forward your phone so you don't miss any important calls.

In New Orleans

If you were following my Twitters throughout the last 14 hours or so (specifically throughout the night), you are aware of the "fun" I had with my flights. I won't bore you with those details because you SHOULD be following my Twitter feed.

Here are a few observations of New Orleans since I arrived here about 2 hours ago.

-I have met mostly very kind and hospitable people
-It is humid here, and even though I expected it, it always hits me
-I would imagine people who live here are sick and tired of visitors coming and asking the same question after question about hurricane katrina
-I love southern accents
-I am not sure if it is just today, but the weather is all over the place. One minute we are thinking rain and shortly thereafter we've got blue skies

Orbitz TLC

I am currently sitting here in Las Vegas Mccarran Intl Airport (LAS) and I am experiencing what I have been very fortunate to mostly avoid throughout my travels thus far in my life: airline delays.

My flight was supposed to leave for Dallas/Ft. Worth at 12:40am however it looks more like we will be leaving closer to 3:00am. One thing that has been really nice is Orbitz TLC.

I purchased my tickets at Orbitz.com and one perk is this Orbitz TLC program that alerts you of changes in your flights and your reservation.

So while most people waiting for this flight are oblivious to just how many times this flight has changed times, gates, and everything else I have been receiving almost real time updates to my phone in your both text messages and email. This is definitely a value added service.

Football Season

When I got home from work today Jonathan was watching the Hall of Fame preseason NFL game Colts vs Red Skins.

This means that football season will quickly be upon us! This week also will bring us the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing, which officially start on 8/8/08 (Friday).

This is a great week for the beginning of sports seasons.

Wake Up!

That is the text I have set to flash on my phone when my alarm goes off in the morning. I set both my phone and my alarm clock to make sure I get up in time for work. However, when I really need to wake up I will often set my computer to start "yelling" at me with some sort of jarring music.

Here is another option.

I have found that using my phone to gradually wake me up by setting the snooze to fewer and fewer minutes each time it goes off when finally my alarm clock makes me at least sit up and rush over to hit snooze works the best to wake me up. It is about a 20 minute process, and I think it is very useful during stretches like the one I am in right now. Working 14 of 15 days in a row right now... not so much fun.

I have also learned that if I keep my alarm clock right next to the bed, I will inevitably get to the point where I am able to hit snooze a number of times without actually waking up, thus canceling the effects of said alarm clock. I now keep my alarm clock somewhere where I actually have to exert some sort of physical energy to hit snooze.