Marvel Vs. DC

I'm not much of a comic guy. I do enjoy the occasional movie based on comic characters though. There's been some pretty funny videos about the DC and Marvel comic book charactors and their big screen adventures, using action figures and really cheesy voice overs. Highly recommended stuff: Here.

There's over twenty videos there. Here's the one that started it all seven months ago, as a parody of the Mac Vs. PC commercials.

Two stories, a bit funny and odd

It's not often that two news stories catch my attention, and never that this causes to write a third blog entry in one day.

First is the report that a society representing blind persons was conducting a protest today against hybrid cars because they are so quiet. Unfortunately, I can say that I think this is one of the most ridiculous protests I've seen in a long time. This is one group that is kinda missing the point. We all hafta adapt to the ever changing world. Things change. Paradigms of the past become out moded. This protest strikes me as a bit underthoughtout. Instead of protesting the quietness of a new car (which is preferred since it reduces noise pollution, among other reasons), they need to start working with cities about better city management of crosswalks and driveway entrances onto public streets. Also, discuss this matter with technology groups to get people to start investing in portable motion or metal detectors, or some other proximately alert system. Protesting the advancement of technology? Can anyone say "Amish"? It would be much worse to implement some arcane artificial function that would create stigma against the blind.

Another story that seemed a bit odd was recent industry comments regarding the Northwest Passage which will likely be opening up during summers within the next 20 years. It is the much fabled passage through the Northwest Territories of Canada that would shorten trips between Europe and Asia by several thousand miles. The route is currently frozen over most of the time. I'm commenting on an article that was highly critical of the idea of using the Northwest Passage once it opens up yearly during the summer months. The article made several points about its danger and unpredictability. The conclusion of this "news" article was that any use of the NW Passage would be unlikely. To this I say, what complete nonsense! The nature of industry is to take risk in the effort to make money! The more risk, the more money to be made. The challenge of the NW Passage isn't going to scare everyone away. It's going to be a magnet for profiteers looking for a new way to make big money in the shipping industry. Some of these dissers quoted in the article would likely be the first in line to take advantage of the NW Passage if it were to open up today.

flight home

On the flight home from Orange County last Friday, I was looking out the window and realized I was looking at contrails from above and close up. In the afternoon flight, there where three layers of partly cloudy skies. My flight was flying at about 56k feet, just skimming above the top layer of clouds. It was an interesting site that made me think of what it must've been like for WWII pilots duking in and out of similar cloud layers over the Pacific. That's when I started noticing the contrails of other flights that had been through the same airspace earlier in the day. It was the first time I've seen contrails close up and from above. The closest trail was prolly no more than a mile away. It strikes me just how common place flight is nowadays, and how extraordinary it really is. I know the basic principles behind flight, but it is just odd. I just assume that one day, air travel (or all travel for that matter) will not be aerodynamically dependent. For this short period in human history, we have this planes that relay of wings and massive rear thrust propulsion to work. I don't know that history has an simile that can compare to this thought. The white puffy clouds, blue sky above, partially visible ground below, and the contrails just kinda mesmerized me for awhile with such thoughts.

How many wars does it take?

U.S. cannot afford another war? Huh? Iran’s foreign minister recently commented on the U.S. ability to wage war against their country, stating that we couldn’t afford another war. There’s several problems with that statement. First, the U.S. isn’t waging any large wars right now.
I blame President Bush Jr. for fostering the incorrect notion that we are at war in Iraq. There, our forces are an occupational force as part of a much larger effort to restructure Iraq in a way that makes its existence favorable to U.S. policies. The Iraqi War itself is long over. It was over when the government controlled by the Bathe Party collapsed and Iraqi forces scattered, soon after the invasion. We’ve only been in Iraq four years. Compare that with Japan after WWII. That was a relatively peaceful occupation that lasted seven years. The occupation in Iraq is not peaceful. How much more is expected as a result? Yes, the occupation is a drain on U.S. resources. But honestly, this occupation is being funded with our economic surplus. Our economy is so efficient and vast that we can maintain a full scale occupation without adversely impacting our economy. We never had to switch our economy over from a peacetime focus to a wartime focus. We are currently in a peacetime economy. We can’t afford to wage “another” war? If the Iranian leadership truly believes this, they are kidding themselves in the worst possible way. If necessary, the U.S. could switch over to a wartime economy to wipe Iran off of the map (without the use of nukes). With that said, I don’t feel it is in the U.S. best interests to do so. In general, I am against the idea of war. I also think that anytime someone thinks it is necessary to kill another person, then that person needs to re-exam their thought processes. (Self-defense is one thing, but war is about control over resources, not normally self-defense.) So here, I’m just pointing out the obvious flaw in recent Iranian official comments.
Ok, we are also in another on-going conflict. It is arguable that the limited U.S. operations in Afghanistan constitute a war, but those operations are barely a blip on the radar. Those operations in no way limit our ability to wage a full fledge war.

Birthday surprize

I was out of town on a business trip for Allie's birthday. Well, to make it up to her, I planned a little surprize for her. She's been talking about music she likes recently. Several artist and sound tracks come to mind. I got the bright idea to just add to her music collection based on what she's shown interest. Additionally, I got her a little something nice too. I then wrapped and hid the items in rather an obvious spot that I know she wouldn't look at for no reason.

With the trap set, I called her up on the evening of her birthday from Irvine. I directed to the location of the gifts. I can say she was really surprized and enjoyed my thoughtfulness. It gave her something to brag to her mom and friends about for the remainder of the week (though I'm sure she wouldn't characterize it as bragging). It was a lot of fun to pull this on her.

Hyatt review and stuff

This past week I was in Irvine, CA at the Hyatt Regency for an educational seminar about plastics, hosted by the Society of Plastics Engineers. I was down there with Elvis. We had a couple of the classes together. One of the many things we agreed upon is that the Hyatt Regency in Irvine does hella nickel-and-diming. They charge over $200 a night for each room (though I paid less). There’s no free breakfast. I didn’t really expect any since higher end places don’t usually offer it. However, they charge at least twice the going rating for any restaurant food. Two tiny little milk pints cost $4.00. They charged for internet. Seriously, who charges for internet anymore, posh places or otherwise? The wet bar snacks where 5 times as expensive as market, plus 20% local tax and gratuity, which pushed their cost to 10 times the value club prices (which is where they likely get these items). Elvis tried to use the business center only to find out there was a huge time-based fee for that. The room service didn’t even leave new soap each day when the old soap was removed. About the only thing that was free was the daily local paper which didn’t cover national news on the front page.

The rooms themselves were very clean and tidy. The bathroom was a little dated in layout. The whole hotel (rooms and open areas) all had this floral scent that was just annoying. I couldn’t get away from it. It was supposed to make everything smell fresh, I think. But it just made me feel like I was supposed to be having a hay fever attack. Fellow seminar attendees also complained about service when they had issues with their rooms.

I’ll be looking at other hotels in the area for any other seminars held at a Hyatt in the future.