T-Mobile sues Engadget for using magenta in their logo

Seriously. No joke. See here. Apparently the higher-ups at Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile USA's parent company in Germany) don't want Engadget to use "their" color of magenta because such usage "could lead to confusion in the marketplace."

I'm not sure how many people are confusing Engadget Mobile with T-Mobile. Are people trying to sign up for cell service with T-Mobile through Engadget Mobile? If you are, you're stupid. Almost as stupid as the people who think people are that stupid. Like the higher ups at Deutsche Telekom.

Meanwhile, Engadget Mobile has taken a page out of my father in-law's book by taking it a step further. They changed their logo today to this:

Others have taken up the cause of thumbing their noses at Das Man by trying to get as many people as possible to use the color magenta that has DT's panties in a wad. Here's my contribution to the cause:

Thanks to Veronica for the tip.

Gmail introduces "Custom Time" - send e-mail to the past

Using Google's revolutionary "e-flux capacitor", you can "Just click 'Set custom time' from the Compose view. Any email you send to the past appears in the proper chronological order in your recipient's inbox. You can opt for it to show up read or unread by selecting the appropriate option."

Very handy indeed! Now on Saturday when I remember my dad's birthday was Friday, I can send him an e-mail and using Custom Time, have it show up in his Inbox like it arrived on his birthday! I can even "mark as read" so he thinks he looked at it and forgot!

For more information on this feature, click here.

Google, what will you think of next? By the way, what's the date today?

Irony: Hillary can't pay healthcare costs

Oh snap! Hillary owes $292,000 in unpaid health care costs for her campaign employees. (See above photo of her getting the bill.) And, yes, her campaign is about $8,700,000 in the hole. Yeah, she sounds qualified to turn the economy around. Vote Hillary in 2008!

This just in: Hillary Clinton's full of crap

"I was told we had to land a certain way, we had to have our bulletproof stuff on because of the threat of sniper fire. I was also told that the greeting ceremony had been moved away from the tarmac...Now that's my memory of it."

One time, when I was a kid, I was playing in this nature park near my house. There's a river running through it and my friends and I were throwing rocks in the river, or something, and this drowning kid comes rushing past us in the water. My friends freeze, shocked. Fortunately, I kept my wits about me and I jumped in.

Being an Eagle Scout, I was able to position myself behind her to keep her from dragging me under. The current was fierce and it was sweeping us down river - fast. I could hear my friends yelling as they chased us along the side of the river. I'm not sure what happened next (everything happened really fast) but somehow we made our way to the bank where my friends hoisted her ashore.

She wasn't breathing.

On the verge of panic, I gave her mouth-to-mouth and thankfully, it revived her. It was a frightening experience to be sure, but such a relief to know that everything turned out OK.

The little girl, Sarah, is now in a doctorate program at Johns Hopkins and is believed to be six to eight months away from finding a preliminary cure for diabetes. We still keep in touch with the occasional e-mail and text message.

Wait. Hang on. OK, she's not really at Johns Hopkins and, so far as I know, nobody is close to finding a cure for diabetes.

But everything else is true.

Except the part about the drowning girl in the river.

But that's irrelevant, because now that's my memory of it.

Android or iPhone? Discuss.

Knowing what we do about Android (see here for the SDK demo, if you can stay awake past Sergy's intro) and what Google has up its sleeve regarding national broadband via whitespace, would you rather have an Android-powered device or an iPhone with AT&T service?

The poll is on the right and the comments are open. Have at it.

CNN Headline: Snake eats family dog as kids watch

True story. Their yippy little Chihuahua dog was devoured by a 16-foot python. And, like any good parent, mom let the kids (5 and 7 years old) out in the yard to watch.



"Now see how the snake is squeezes tighter each time Yippy inhales? That way Yippy can't exhale to take a breath and will slowly die. Stop crying! This is nature!"



As if that weren't bad enough, the family knew the snake had been hanging out in their yard.



"It actively stalked the dog for a number of days," said Stuart Douglas, owner of the Australian Venom Zoo.



"The family that owned the dog had actually seen it in the dog's bed, which was a sign it was out to get it," he added.



Thanks for that tip Mr. Snake Expert.



If I'd seen a python coiled up where my dog slept, I would probably keep my dog (and kids) indoors. Then again, I'm a new parent so I'm probably overly-cautious about such things. Maybe once you have a few kids the idea of them playing in the yard with the dog and the scrub python isn't such a big deal.



CNN story here. Image from here.

Your medium is dying

Glenn Beck: Too bad, Michigan and Florida

Glenn Beck has written a fantastic editorial piece on how we, as individuals and a country, need to step up and follow the rules, and accept the consequences for our actions when we don't. Specifically, the leaders in Michigan and Florida.

From the article:

What do these stories all have in common?

A woman who says she lost more $1 million gambling in Atlantic City sues some casinos for $20 million, claiming they should've stopped her compulsive gambling.

People who bought houses they couldn't afford with loans they didn't understand want their lenders to change the terms.

Congress authorizes a war and then tries everything it can think of to get out of it.

Our country gets addicted to oil and then blames OPEC when it doesn't like the price.

These stories prove how personal responsibility has all but vanished in America, and our government is leading the way.

It's definitely worth reading the rest of the article here.

$5 bounty on stray cats? Sign me up!

So this city in Iowa is having problems keeping their stray cat population under control. The city council decided to pay alert, proactive, responsible citizens (you know, people who don't have cats) five bucks for each stray cat they bring in.

Unfortunately, it appears that you have to bring the cats into the vet alive so the vet can do what? Kill them. Seems like you could follow Jim's example (see above photo) and save some money - a .22 round is cheaper than a shot at the vet.

Dang it. I thought I could retire early. Rob, our dream will have to wait.

Photo from here. See the original CNN video here.

Woman Faces $1,000 Fine For Pink Poodle

Seriously. Joy Douglas from Boulder, CO decides to dye Cici, her poodle, pink to raise awareness for breast cancer. Unfortunately for her, the city's code states, "No person shall dye or color live fowl, rabbits, or any other animals." It's an odd law to have on the books, but apparently it's to keep people from dying bunnies pink at Easter. Whatever.

I have issues with this woman for a number of reasons.

1. She named a poodle "Cici".

2. She owns a poodle. Nobody takes people with poodles seriously.

3. I'm aware that breast cancer exists. Dying a poodle (or anything else for that matter) pink is not going to make me more aware. I also believe I am not unique in my awareness of breast cancer - most people have heard of it. In fact, I'd say awareness of breast cancer in the U.S. is probably hovering around the 99% mark.

4. I think the money spent on dying her dog could have been put to better use. Like, I don't know, contributing it to cancer research.

5. She got fined for the wrong thing. I don't care if she dyed her dog - wearing those tights has to be breaking some kind of city ordinance.

The article states that this isn't the first dog she's dyed. Apparently "Lulu" had been dyed before, but has since died, making Lulu a dyed dead dog. Did Ms. Douglas dye Lulu black for her funeral? We can only speculate.

Now some choice quotes from Ms. Douglas:

"I have a personal connection to my animal, I would never hurt my animal, I have a business full of little beautiful animals that are treasures for not only myself but the community."

"Cici is being stripped of her civic duty, and I don't plan to take it sitting down."

"The police department claims that we dye our dogs. We do not dye our dogs. We color the dogs."

This was the first time I'd been made aware that animals could have civic duties. Huh. For the original story, as well as some video footage of this staunch activist and her little dog too, click here.

Non-Photoshopped Hillary/Satan picture

Turns out the picture I posted earlier of Hillary at her campaign headquarters had been doctored by her crack staff of graphics experts. While they couldn't get Lucifer's Watermark out of the background, they were able to touch up Hillary a bit. Fortunately, I was able to get the original, undoctored version:

Creepy, I know. My sources tell me this picture was taken while she was channeling information from Beneath, something about her health care plan. More as this develops.

McCain, too, supported by Prince of Darkness

A quick-witted photographer (Tami Chappell, Reuters) snagged this picture of John McCain appearing at a press conference. From an eye-witness report:

"Everyone was waiting for for him [McCain] to show up when there was this popping sound and a dark flash. We all turned to the stage in time to see McCain suddenly standing in the middle of some kind of unholy black flame."

Boy, this is unnerving. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before similar pictures of Obama surface. I'll keep you posted.

Hillary Clinton endorsed by Lucifer himself

See below picture taken at Hillary's headquarters. I hear if she doesn't win the primary she's going after his job.

New poll: how do you prefer to dry your hands in public restrooms?

Just something I got thinking about while I was washing my hands just now. This is the kind of deep stuff I think about all the time. Really, I should be in some kind of think tank where they observe people's brainwaves to figure out how they think of such brilliant things. It'd probably have to be a government-sponsored think tank because my thought patterns could be a threat if they fell into the wrong hands. That's how radically advanced and ground-breaking they are. Seriously, the power I hold between my ears could revolutionize the world.

Also, I forgot to put on deodorant this morning.

How my friend was fired from KSL

As if getting canned via e-mail wasn't bad enough, check out what the guy said.

AT&T works in more places billboard - hacked

Freaking brilliant. Every day I feel better and better about unlocking my iPhone.

For those of you not in on the joke, click here.

Image from here via Digg.

Keming

Courtesy of here.

Southwest is at it again: were these girls "too pretty to fly"?

Oh, Southwest. What do you have against young, "attractive" women using your airline?

Recently, two girls (see photo, above) were escorted off a Southwest flight after pounding on a bathroom door ("HURRY UP IN THERE! I HAVE TO CHECK MY MAKEUP!"), yelling at another passenger and being generally obnoxious. After all this, the flight attendant only rebuked them, not the other passenger(s) involved.

Oh, yeah. And when one of them asked for bottled water when she got on the plane she was told she'd have to wait until they served the beverages to everyone else. *Pout*

Southwest says they were being disruptive and even went so far as to have them escorted off the plane by uniformed officers when they reached their destination. The girls say they were discriminated against because they were young, good-looking and (in one of the girl's own words), "Nobody else on the plane, really, looked like us."

The reporter asks, "Did being pretty get them kicked off the plane?"

Let me answer that question for you: HECK NO. Because at least one of the women involved looks less like she does in the first photo, and more like this:

Normally I try not to judge people on physical appearance. But when the whole incident is allegedly based on looks, you gotta take it into account.

You can see the full video at CNN's site.

Firefox memory leak: using 1 GB+ RAM to surf the web

This screen shot was taken today from my Core 2 Duo iMac with 2 gigs of RAM:

Yes, you're seeing that correctly. It's Firefox 2.0.0.12 using over a half the available memory on my machine. *sigh* I really can't wait for the final release of Firefox 3.

Top five reasons February doesn't suck

This brilliant list was pulled from the ShoeboxBlog (you know, Shoebox, that tiny little division of Hallmark).

The Top Five Reasons February Doesn't Suck:

1. The weather. No, that’s wrong.
2. Summer vacation is just around…no it’s not.
3. You can start wearing…wait. No you can’t.
4. Valentine’s Day was happy. If you were already happy.
5. It’s two days shorter than the other months. But not this year.

*sigh* At least in March Daylight Saving Time begins and we can start enjoying longer days.

Serbians torch our embassy, blame us

Turns out I was right: Serbians are jerks. They went and got their panties in a bunch (it's not widely known that most Serbian men wear women's underwear) over Kosovo's recent declaration of freedom from tyranny, terror and thongs. So what do they do? Blame it on us and storm our embassy!

According to my extensive background in international relations and diplomacy (*cough* Casino Royale *cough*) you aren't supposed to mess with other people's embassies. Especially when "messing with" becomes synonymous with "burning to the ground".

And you wonder why the good people of Kosovo wanted out? Fetchers.

Punctuation DOES make a difference

Courtesy of Duchess.

Hillary plagarizes part of her debate after bashing Obama for the same thing [Video]

Tsk, tsk Hillary. First Hillary calls out Obama for reusing part of a speech that was originally given by a friend of his. The lines were used with permission (and as a suggestion) by said friend. For me, a near non-issue: he should have credited the source.

Here's a video from last night's debate of Hillary using some lines from a John Edwards speech. Bad form Hillary!



It's amazing how much I can't stand this woman.

Original story here.

No. 500

This is it. My 500th post. Yep. It was going to be a big deal. I wanted to do something really special so I kept putting it off, waiting for some brilliant idea so I could really acknowledge the milestone in style, complete with fireworks and a visit from Lady Liberty.

I waited. And waited some more. It's been a few days and I have some ideas for posts saved as drafts, but none good enough for my glorious 500th post! So I continued to wait for the inspiration worthy of the occasion.

Then I realized I should just post something and be done with it.

So that's what I've done.

Happy 500th post, The Other Drummer. Here's to many more design changes, URL changes, posts about technology that nobody reads but that I love to write (anybody want a freelancer?), rants and the fictitious stories I kinda-sorta try to pass off as being legit (those are my favorite).

R.I.P.H.D.D.V.D.

The Second Format War has ended (the first being Beta v. VHS) with Blu-Ray coming off victorious. Toshiba, the main backer of the losing format, has bowed its head and backed out of the race after having lost millions in product development, promotion and advertising. (Hopefully Hillary will do the same.)

I was rooting for Blu-Ray if for no other reason than I like the name a lot better. "HD-DVD" is just too clunky to say.

I don't imagine this is going to drive a lot of new Blu-Ray sales. Of course, those waiting out the battle will be able to go out with the knowledge their purchase won't be for naught. Granted, they're sill paying a premium $300+ for the player and $30+ for each movie. Not something I'm ready to do. I'll wait until you can get players for less than a hundred and the movies come down to current DVD prices.

Of course, I will need an HD TV first. Hmmmmm.

P.S. This is post 499!

Thanks to Tombstone Generator for the pic.

Congraulations to Kosovo, the world's newest country

On behalf of America, or at least a few people I know, I'd like to personally welcome Kosovo and its citizens into the world. It's strange to think that yesterday they weren't Kosovoians. They were Serbians. And Serbia, as we all know, is entirely peopled with criminals. Apparently there were a lot of people who didn't want to be criminals. They are now Kosovoians. Good for them!

The downside of the whole "freedom and liberation from war lords and dictators" thing is that now I need to buy a new globe. *sigh*

I suppose it's worth it. Besides, check out the above picture! People joyously waving American flags in celebration! It's nice to see that everyone in the world doesn't hate us.

For more information on our former-Soviet-bloc brethren, see this CNN article.

TED Talks

I was recently introduced to TED Talks, although I can't remember by whom (Hugh?). TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It's an annual conference that, "Brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes)." Don't let the acronym fool you - it covers much more than those three topics and every speaker is remarkable.

More from the site: "We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other."

I can't recommend TED Talks enough - I've never listened to one and thought, "Eh. That was a waste of time." Quite the opposite. I've embedded one of my favorites here. It's a talk by Rick Warren, author of A Purpose Driven Life. It's insightful and thought-provoking. Please take a few minutes to watch it.



You can subscribe to TED Talks through iTunes, or you can download them directly from the site, TED.com. They're available with the full video or audio only.

I went and got me one of them iPhones

Yeah. So as I reported earlier in the year, my wife was kind enough to give me a 16 gig iPod Touch for Christmas. I returned it, and have now purchased an iPhone which I promptly unlocked using this very, very easy (and fast) program. Honestly, I set the iPhone on the dock, clicked "Free my iPhone" and two minutes later it was unlocked. I turned it off, put my T-Mobile sim card in and ta-da. An unlocked iPhone that works perfectly.

Yeah. It's pretty cool. No new activation fee. Same "low" monthly T-Mobile bill. No contract. It's a very nice arrangement.

So huge "thank you" to my generous wife who is far kinder and generous a person than I am afraid than I will ever be - and for many more reasons than this gift.

UPDATE: And a not-as-huge "thank you" to Danny for letting me use his Windows machine to do the unlocking.

Republicans aren't going to win

Looking at this article in USA Today we learn that Skippy Obama has been raking in more votes than BOTH the Republican candidates combined. So, if we assume the race is going to go to a Democrat, as a moderate Republican I face a hypothetical moral diwemma:

Do I vote for the person I may want to win (McCain), or do I vote against the person I don't want win (Hillary) by voting for Obama?

I say hypothetical because I need to do more research on where McCain and Obama stand on the issues, McCain in particular as his website is the less comprehensive of the two.

One thing is for certain, I think I'd vote for Big Bird before I voted for Hillary.

More choice pictures of The Nose Picker can be found here.

Blast and wretch! Some TV shows won't be back until Fall - and other news

Chuck, in particular, is said to not be returning until Fall. @!#$$@#! Chuck is the ultimate show for geeks and wanna-be-geeks, such as myself. Brilliant little references to stuff only a geek would know and love (like a mention of "backseat perking" while playing COD4) make this show one of my favorites.

While Chuck my have the summer off, reports are saying that The Office has a script or two almost complete which means it may be coming back sooner than others. Same with 30 Rock. Nice.

In other news, some friends of ours forced us, under duress, to watch the Lost pilot this weekend. Maybe it was the fact that it's been built up so much, or maybe it was that I'd heard enough tid-bits here and there to spoil it but...it was good. Not addictive good, but good. I know Matt will be thrilled to hear I watched it but gnashing his teeth in unholy rage that I didn't instantly become a believer.

In other-other news, I'm quickly approaching my 500th post for The Other Drummer (this is post no. 494). Yay me. My sister in-law said she wants to throw a very exclusive party in honor of the event, but since she's in Idaho at school I'm doubtful it will happen, although I appreciate the sentiment. To that end, gifts and cash donations are always welcome. (I don't yet have a PayPal account, but if you wanted to give me money I'd set one up.)

Jumping back a topic or two, which shows are you most excited to see back on the air? Leave word in the comments.

Chuck image from here.

Apple could take a note out of Microsoft's book

Apparently Microsoft announced special edition, red, 80 gig Zunes to be available just in time for Valentine's Day. (Who knew?) However, the players are more popular than expected and there have been some delays in shipping. Here's an abridged e-mail from Microsoft to those waiting on their oh-so-romantic Zunes:

We wanted to provide you with an update on your order status. Due to some issues in our fulfillment center there remains a chance we will miss getting your Zune to you by February 14th. We are working hard to get your order to you as quickly as possible...

Our goal is to provide a smooth customer experience for ordering, customization, and delivery. We sincerely apologize for not meeting that goal in this specific case. We will be refunding the entire amount of your order, which you should be able to see on your credit/debit card within 7-10 days. We hope you love your Zune and that you will accept our sincere apology.

Dang. An official apology, full refund and they get to keep the product? I didn't get that kind of love from Apple when my new iMac broke. In fact, I had to wait a month to get it back, without any updates, and in order to get any kind of reimbursement I had to write a letter to Stevie J. himself and work through their "executive customer service". Even then, my experience was nowhere as good as this.

Get the full story here.

Writer's strike may be over

According to this article on USA Today as well as some other rumblings around the Internet, it looks like the writer's strike could be over as soon as Monday. Unfortunately, many shows won't be on for another four to six weeks. Lame. I'm having Chuck and 30 Rock withdrawals. Not so much The Office for some reason.

Oh yeah. And that could mean we see an Arrested Development movie coming out within the next year or two. NICE.

A friggin' huge shark

"I have to admit after being down in a sub and spending time looking at video feeds from ROV's, the crazy animals I see from the deep start to become commonplace. That is why the below video is absolutely off the freakin' hook! Dr. Eric Vetter was in a submersible off the coast of Moloka'i when a 6-gill shark, at an estimated 17ft, swam within feet of the sub." - Deep Sea News

12 hour days with no end in sight

Lots going on you know. Long hours at the office this week - big pitch coming up in addition to being insanely busy to begin with. Didn't get home until about 10:00 last night and tonight's not looking any better. But while I always prefer to spend time with my family, there's definitely a satisfaction that comes from working long and hard on something. It feels good.

That being said, The Other Drummer has been neglected. Poor blog. There's no time to write about my first experience voting (doesn't seem quite as anonymous as I'd expected...but then again, the poll worker never asked to see my ID so who's to say it was really me who voted that way?) and last night's Super Tuesday primaries (I'm baffled that anyone is taking Hillary Clinton seriously).

I will, however, be making updates to my Twitter feed (it's much faster than writing a whole post) so check that out here or in the sidebar of this here blog under "What I'm Up To".

Meanwhile, here are some of my favorite posts: the place where I record the funny stuff we all say, the completely fictitious story about the first and second Thanksgivings, my fan mail, and my idea for a Broadway musical involving Don Cheadle.

Wish me luck, and see you on the other side.

Paperwork image courtesy of this site from across the Pond.

My five favorite Super Bowl Ads

In no particular order (although I liked the ETrade "Clown" the best):











Agree? Disagree? Check out all the ads at Hulu.com and let me know what you think.

Microsoft aims to buy Yahoo

Wow. Microsoft just kicked in Yahoo's door and offered them over $44 billion for their company. Three thoughts:

1. That is a LOT of money.

2. Does that mean Microsoft will screw up what Yahoo has managed to do well? Such as Flickr? And semi-well, like Yahoo Mail? I kind of like Yahoo. It's the one non-Microsoft and non-Google company out there and that, for some reason, is reassuring. Sort of, "If Google starts being evil, I can always jump back to a Microsoft alternative."

3. Isn't Microsoft a software company? Why the heck are they trying so hard to get into search? Granted, it can be a lucrative business, but it's not their business. Personally, I think they would be much better served by focusing on improving their software *cough* Vista *cough* and innovating in that arena than trying (repeatedly) to get into search. That's not to say Microsoft shouldn't have an online presence. They should. If I were Microsoft and saw what Google Docs was becoming, I'd be wetting myself on a regular basis trying to figure out a model to get their software to be available as an online app. But that's not search.

Here's a quote from Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, the guy who's going to replace Uncle Bill (or, as Fake Steve Jobs calls him, Beastmaster) when he retires:

"Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition." Let's stop there and think about who just said that. Microsoft, right? OK. Just wanted to clarify. Read on. "Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a credible alternative for consumers, advertisers, and publishers."

Soooooo... being a huge, dominant player who maintains its dominance in a market through acquisition is bad, so we (Microsoft) are going to offer to buy (acquisition) the second-largest search company (consolidation).

Pot. Kettle. You know.

Thanks to Engadget for the image. More reading can be found here or here or just about any news site on the Internet.

New site feature: see what I'm reading

For anyone who's interested, I've added a nifty little app in the sidebar that let's you follow what I've been reading in my RSS feeds. It doesn't show all of my feeds - only the latest five I've decided to share.

Check it out and if you have any sites you think I should be following, please leave word in the comments.

Much love,

Me

Get out of your AT&T Wireless contract free!

Looks like it's a drop-your-carrier-free-for-all now that AT&T is also raising the cost of their text, picture and video messaging to a whopping 30 cents each. I remember the good ol' days when incoming texts were free and outgoing only cost a nickel. *sigh*

Nostalgia aside, this bump in prices constitutes a materially adverse change to your contract which means that extra dime they're charging you for that text means you don't have to pay the $175 early termination fee if you want to bail and head to the next, less-evil carrier.

A couple things to note:

1. You can't have a text messaging package/bundle. If you have one, cancel it.
2. When you call to cancel your account, cite the text messaging hike as the reason.
3. Like my experience with Verizon, I'm sure they're going to try to make you feel cheap and stupid for canceling over a lousy dime per message. Remain firm. They have to let you out. And if it's not a big deal, why are they bother with the rate hike?
4. This may be a good way to negotiate a better deal on your plan. See what they can give you as far as retentions go.
5. There are a few more significant steps/details you should check out over at Consumerist.

Good luck. And if anyone decides to jump ship, please shoot me an e-mail/leave a comment and let me know how it went.

(I also covered this as a tip on my other site, LivSimpl.)

Death Star/AT&T logo courtesy of Gizmodo.

President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away

President Hinckley passed away tonight at about 7:00 pm. Details are slow in coming out, but I can only assume it's from old age - he was 97 years old.

My initial reaction is that, well, it's hard to believe. He's been the president of the church most of my life and it just doesn't seem real at all. One thing I am happy about though, is that now he's with his wife who died a few years ago and who he missed terribly. I can't imagine how lonely I'd be without my wife and we've only been married about three years. To be married for decades and then to be left alone - it must have been horribly difficult. Fortunately, families are eternal and I know he is with her again.

If you're unfamiliar with President Hinckley and his teachings, here is an excerpt from one of his talks, My Testimony, from the April 2000 General Conference. It's my favorite talk of his:

But of all the things for which I feel grateful this morning, one stands out preeminently. That is a living testimony of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Almighty God, the Prince of Peace, the Holy One.

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." He, the Son of the Father, came to earth. He condescended to leave His royal courts on high--where He stood as Prince, the Firstborn of the Father--to take upon Himself mortality, to be born in a manger, the humblest of all places, in a vassal state ruled by the centurions of Rome.

How could He have condescended further?

I have become His Apostle, appointed to do His will and teach His word. I have become His witness to the world. I repeat that witness of faith to you and to all who hear my voice this Sabbath morning.

Jesus is my friend.

He is my exemplar.

He is my teacher.

He is my healer.

He is my leader.

He is my Savior and my Redeemer. Through giving His life in pain and unspeakable suffering, He has reached down to lift me and each of us and all the sons and daughters of God from the abyss of eternal darkness following death. He has provided something better--a sphere of light and understanding, growth and beauty where we may go forward on the road that leads to eternal life. My gratitude knows no bounds. My thanks to my Lord has no conclusion.

He is my God and my King. From everlasting to everlasting, He will reign and rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. To His dominion there will be no end. To His glory there will be no night.

None other can take His place. None other ever will. Unblemished and without fault of any kind, He is the Lamb of God, to whom I bow and through whom I approach my Father in Heaven.

You can read the rest of the talk here.

It's my testimony that he was a prophet of God. He was a wonderful man who gave his life in service. And while I mourn his death, I know that the Lord will call a new prophet just as in Biblical times.

The work of God "will go forth boldly, nobly and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."

Ethanol may be back in the running as an alternative energy source

I'll quote some highlights from the article, then the link if you're interested in learning a bit more. But first, some background.

Ethanol (or E85 which is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline) was once looked upon as a possible replacement for oil - we can make it here in the U.S. reducing our dependence on foreign oil, it's renewable (most likely from corn) and it's burns cleaner than gasoline. Sounds swell.

However, it has a couple of negatives as well. It's been driving up the price of corn (which makes other things more expensive as well), it takes just about as much energy to make ethanol as using gasoline in a car so there aren't any real environmental benefits after all and there's the whole ethical thing of using corn to drive our cars while people in our country and around the world are starving.

Fortunately, a company called Coskata has come up with a way to create ethanol that's seven times more efficient than gasoline, only costs $1 gallon to make and you can use any kind of biomass material - a lot of the stuff you put down the garbage disposal or throw away in the trash. Remember Mr. Fusion from Back to the Future II? Kinda like that. But non-nuclear.

OK. Now on to the quotes:

• It's not five years away, it's not 10 years away. It's affordable, and it's now.

• Coskata's ethanol produces 84 percent less greenhouse gas than fossil fuel even after accounting for the energy needed to produce and transport the feedstock. It also generates 7.7 times more energy than is required to produce it. Corn ethanol typically generates 1.3 times more energy than is used producing it.

• If you're in Orange County, you can use municipal waste. If you're in the Pacific Northwest, you can use wood waste. Florida has sugar. The Midwest has corn. Each region has been blessed with the ability to grow its own biomass.

Sounds good, eh? Read the rest of the details here. Then buy some Coskata stock.

Corn image courtesy of here. Mr. Fusion image from here.

Cloverfield: eh.

Just got back from seeing Cloverfield. The premise of the movie was interesting: something attacks New York and we see it from some individual's point of view as compared to jumping around from the military to the Oval Office to whoever. I liked the storytelling aspect of the way it was presented as well as the fact that they didn't use any well-known actors so it seemed a little more believable that it was a real, first-person account.

However...I dunno. I just wasn't on edge all that much. Maybe my expectations were too high. Maybe it had been built up too much. I can't put my finger on what didn't impress me, but overall it was mediocre.

I wouldn't recommend anyone go see it who wasn't planning to in the first place, but if you are planning on seeing it, see it on the big screen.

Oh yeah. And you've all seen this in the trailer, so what the heck is the deal with the Statue of Liberty's head? Isn't it supposed to be a lot bigger? As in, can't people go up and stand in it? In the movie it looked too small.

There's this new thing all the kids are doing nowadays - it's called Twitter

While I've been on the Twitter bandwagon for a while now (1,300+ updates) I haven't really promoted it as part of this site, other than to have a feed in the sidebar which, I would imagine, goes quite unnoticed most of the time. I think I'm going to try to use it more extensively, so if you're interested, I'd love to have you follow me on Twitter. Here's the URL:

http://www.twitter.com/theotherdrummer

If you're not sure what Twitter is, here's the explanation from their site:

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

With Twitter, you can stay hyper–connected to your friends and always know what they’re doing. Or, you can stop following them any time. You can even set quiet times on Twitter so you’re not interrupted. Twitter puts you in control and becomes a modern antidote to information overload.

Good luck Twittering!

Meet the real "Delilah"

I really like the song "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White Ts - great writing. Who knew it was inspired by an actual girl named Delilah? Apparently the lead singer met Delilah (Columbia graduate and Olympic hopeful - she has a lot going for her) and was smitten. Despite her having boyfriend, he promised to write the best song of his career - the one that was going to make him famous - and dedicate it to her. Sure enough, it's been nominated for Song of the Year and a Grammy.

Here's the source of his inspiration.

Oh. And she agreed to be his date to the Grammys. Glad to see she's got a little class.

The Pillowig - the perfect Valentine's gift for narcoleptics everywhere

Ah, The Other Drummer, you schizophrenic site you! One day it's a post about a hard-hitting, controversial headline on CNN regarding race, gender and the presidential race and the next it's...this.

Joo Youn Paek is currently enrolled in NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program and came up with this beaut' as part of a guerrilla art project.

Interactive? Telecommunications? Art? Sure thing Joo!

From her site: [The] hand-made wearable pillow that comforts people during the tired moments in daily life.

Yeah. Or you could go to bed earlier. And what about people who sleep on their stomachs?

CNN: Black women are too stupid to look beyond race and gender

I am neither black, nor a woman and yet I find this headline (from CNN's homepage) offensive. Does CNN think the only difference between these two candidates is their race and gender? Apparently they think black women lack the intelligence to reason beyond "Hmm...he's black and I'm black. But she's a woman and I'm a woman. I really have no idea who to vote for!"

It's insulting to say the least.

When did this become a race about labeling people instead of a race about who is best qualified to lead this country? I find it hard to believe the candidates are known for being "the woman, the black one, the Mormon" etc. Should one of these "firsts" be elected to the office of President, their gender, race or religion should be a note after the fact, not a reason for the outcome. I would have assumed CNN was smart enough to realize that. It looks like I was wrong.

Maternal instincts

As I watched my wife do a full improvisational song and dance routine spanning genres from stage and the silver screen to the delight of my eight month-old son, I realized I could never be creative enough to be a mother.

Readers, you are the wind beneath my wings

After cutting me down, you, my faithful readers, are right there to lift me back up. First, you overwhelmingly tell me I look like a/the Yellow Wiggle. Then you immediately swoop in and buoy my spirits with comments such as these:

"Hey, a Wiggle isn't too bad...it could be worse."

"In another 20 years you may not look anything like him anymore. Thank you time."

"If you could somehow score the sweet looking Wiggle-mobile the look a likeness might not be a bad thing."

And my personal favorite: "Don't go and kill yourself over it."

Readers, thank you. I feel much better about everything now. Your (kind?) words have warmed my heart and comforted my soul. Thank you.

Poor, broken Moleskine

My poor, dilapidated pocket sized Moleskine notebook really broke recently when the cover parted ways with the spine. So sad. I can't say I didn't see it coming after the repairs I've already made with reattaching the bookmark and duct taping the little expandable pocket in the back.

Fortunately, a work friend of mine had some book-binding glue (fancy Rubber Cement, from what I understand) so I've tried my best to paste my little notebook back together so I can continue to use it (him? her? "it" just sounds so impersonal) until the last few remaining pages are scribbled on with my endless to-do lists and random thoughts.

I know some who've heard me expound on the virtues of these little notebooks will say, "Obviously the notebooks aren't any good because they're falling apart." So I feel it necessary to mention that my first entry in this little companion of mine was September 10, 2003 - over four years ago. Granted, I didn't use it much in the beginning, but I still carried it with me, it faithfully tagging along and dutifully earning the wear and tear it now brandishes so nobly.

Less than 20 pages to go. Will I be forced to replace it prematurely? Or will it endure? I'm confident in my little collector of thoughts and bits of memories. And when the time comes to retire it and inaugurate a new notebook - a stark, perfect and perfectly intimidating Moleskine - it will be with a hint of sadness that I'll empty the back pocket and place it on a shelf.

Sure, I'll say I'll revisit its pages often, but I know it won't be for years, if ever. And there it will remain. A small volume of the forgotten details of life.

Steve Jobs 90 minute keynote in 60 seconds

For those of you who want the skinny on what went down yesterday at the Macworld 2008 Stevenote, look no further.

Courtesy of Mahalo.

Still no iPhone

Turns out the iPhone I got which, according to the serial number, should have had the old 1.1.1 firmware didn't. It came with 1.1.2 out of the box which, as numerous pages on the interwebs declared, is unlockable.

*sigh*

So I'm out $40. Unless someone out there wants to buy an iPhone and not have to pay sales tax.

Macworld 2008 reaction - UPDATED

Good all-around keynote. Stevie J. had a little sumpin'-sumpin' for everybody: iPhone/iPod and Apple TV updates, new Time Capsule networking and the incredibly thin Macbook Air (seen above).

That's one fine lookin' lappy, but I won't be giving up my current Macbook anytime soon. I'm not sure why Apple thinks they can strip features away from a product and charge twice what it's worth. Then again, many would argue that's what they always do.

I'm disappointed Apple is charging early adopters of the Touch $20 to get the upgraded software that should have been included on the device to begin with. It seems like a slap in the face to their existing customers. Of course, they have a lot of experience with that.

Time Capsule is a cool concept, but it seems to me the same functionality should be available natively in Leopard without requiring and additional piece of $300 (or $500) hardware. You can get a 500 GB external drive and a wireless router for a lot less than $200.

All that being said, I'm going to unlock my iPhone tonight.

Photo courtesy of Gizmodo.

Crap. I look like a Wiggle.

What the heck? Fine. Are you serious?? Whatever. OK. So I look like the Yellow Wiggle. It's cool, it's cool. I just thought I would let everyone know that a very cutting-edge computer did a highly scientific analysis of my physical features and conclusively determined that you're ALL WRONG. That's right. According to said computer, I look more like Carson Daily, James Van Der Beek, Hugh Jackman, Marvin Gaye (who is black, mind you) AND Tom Cruise than the Yellow Wiggle. See here.

So there.

REAL ID has already failed. Just look at California.

For those of you who many not be aware, the Federal Government is currently in the process of creating a type of national ID card. Essentially, it's a more secure driver license "designed to make it harder for terrorists, illegal immigrants and con artists to get government-issued identification." There are three "security layers" states can choose to implement. And some already have.

"In California, for example, officials expect the only major change to adopt the first phase would be to take the photograph at the beginning of the application process instead of the end."

Perfect! Because everybody knows California has done a fantastic job managing illegal immigration! No illegal immigrants or con artists in that state! No siree!


Via CNN.com

Mormons in the media - part 2

Another great article was brought to my attention by my friend Mike. Here's a quote:

Nobody seems to mind when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says his religion "defines me." Or when Obama says his church guides "my own values and my own beliefs."

People worry that Romney will take his orders from his church leaders. They don't worry that Obama will take orders from his church, whose "10-point vision" includes two references to its "non-negotiable commitment to Africa," with no mention of America. Oh, and the church statement begins by noting on the Trinity United Church of Christ Web site, "We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black."

Check out the rest of the article here.

Mormons in the media

With Mitt Romney bringing my faith to the forefront of a lot of attention in the media, I've been rolling the idea around in my head of addressing it here but have never been sure of how to go about doing it. I found Ken Jenning's blog (yes, of Jeopardy! fame) and I think he says most of what I would, and definitely says it better, so I'll refer you there. Speaking of, here's a good quote of Ken's as he addresses the media:

After you get off a particularly good zinger at those gullible Mormons, try recasting your sentence so it refers to “those gullible Jews” or “…Catholics” or “…Muslims.” If...you think Mormon temple garments should be called “magic underwear” throughout your post, try substituting “magic beanie” for “yarmulke” or “magic Nilla wafer” for “Communion host” in a similar context and considering whether that’s journalism, or whether that’s even funny anymore. If you’re horrified by the result, it’s because bigotry is bigotry, no matter the target.

Good point. I'm not sure why it's OK to make fun of Mormons, or at least our religion (Utah's bizarre culture, on the other hand, is free game in my opinion).

Side-note: we lived in Ken Jenning's parent's ward for a while when we were first married. As you'd expect, they're incredibly intelligent folks. The kind of people that when you have a conversation with them, you can just tell they're brilliant. It should also be noted that they aren't socially awkward, as some uber-smart people can be.

That was kind of related so I thought I'd mention it. Anyhoo, the post I was referring to can be found here.

I'd be happy to take questions from anyone out there who has any questions about Mormons, what we believe or why we believe it. Just shoot me an e-mail: TheOtherDrummer at the gmail.

Salt Lake Temple pic via Wikipedia

Get out of your Verizon Wireless contract free!

They've raised their text messaging rates from 15 cents per message to 20 cents per message for those who don't have a bundled plan. This constitutes a "material adverse" change to a contract which means, in plain English, they changed the contract which means you're no longer obligated to uphold your end which means you can get out of it without paying the early termination fee of $175 per line.

This really works. I got my sister out of her Verizon contract last time they bumped up the rates. It was something like 75 cents more for one of those extra fees they tack on.

They said that it was so small, what did it matter? I said, "If it's such a small deal, why are you bothering to add it to my bill?" They offered to credit us the 75 cents per month back. I was insistent that it was a material change and we were tired of being nickled-and-dimed and we wanted out. I was nice about it, but firm. It worked.

So if you want to stick it to the man, now is the time to do it. Actually, the time to do it is 60 days within the time they send you notification. Better to do it sooner than later.

More details can be found here.

Cat cuts power to 12,000 Idaho homes

Fluffy the Wonder Cat curled up next to a transformer in an electrical substation and ZZZZT! The result? One well-done kitty and 12,000 homes and businesses without power. Riots ensued, PETA sued and some little girl in Idaho is crying today while her dad is silently rejoicing that someone else took care of the job for him.

Cat image courtesy of our friends across the pond. Full story here.

Avon CEO, Andrea Jung, joins Apple's Board

Andrea Jung, CEO of cosmetics giant Avon Products joined Apple's Board of Directors, it was announced Monday. Ms. Jung will head up a new sales division where fanboys will sell iPods door-to-door.

Yeah. We live in the ghetto.

Oh yeah. This is totally my neighborhood. Some dude tries to walk out of the store with some pizzas, is confronted by an employee who he stabs. Genius Pizza Boy then decides to leave his truck in the parking lot and run to his nearby apartment.

A police bloodhound tracked him down. Apparently those dogs can smell pepperoni for miles.

Now, I've had some serious cravings. There was this one time I crossed into another state to find these frozen burritos I used to eat in college. But I've never broken the law to satisfy a craving, and certainly not to the point of injuring someone or something.

Wait. Scratch that.

I did run over a cat once on a late-night run to Baskin Robbins. I yelled at it to move out of the road - or maybe I mumbled something, I can't remember - and it didn't listen and the place was about to close, so, yeah. Thud. But let me tell you, few things taste quite as good as a three scoop sundae of Quarterback Crunch ice cream covered in caramel with whipped cream and a few of those fake cherries on top. Totally worth it.

Baskin Robbins logo from here, original story on KSL here.

I'm told I resemble a "Wiggle"

The yellow one to be exact. But not up close. Only from a distance.

I've actually been told that by a couple of people. Not having any idea what a "Wiggle" was, but guessing it was something I wouldn't like, I decided to do some research to find out if I should be insulted or not. Here's what I found. Squint at it and tell me what you think.

Personally, I don't see it (picture of me here).Then again, this guy is the lead singer which, as we all know, is the where the coolest guy in the band is so maybe we have something in common even if it isn't our looks. Of course, it appears there have been at least two other guys who've played the yellow Wiggle (see here and here).

I really hope the past yellow Wiggles moved onto something bigger and better. It'd really be a blow to the ol' self-esteem to find out your were an incompetent Wiggle and were fired because of it. What do you tell people? I picture one of the former Mr. Yellow Wiggles sitting in a bar, still in costume, drinking his sorrows away. The bartender comes up and asks why he's so down. Put yourself in that situation. What do you say? "Ratings statistics show that kids hate me"? I'd probably turn to the bottle too.

Where does your career go from there? I can't imagine there are that many Wiggle positions open out there. Maybe, like, four.

What about dating? You muster the last shred of confidence you have and approach an attractive woman. She's nice enough so she doesn't blow you off right away. You're chit-chatting and she asks what you do. "Unemployed". Ouch. Strike one. But she's classy and thinks you look cute, kinda like that blogger Dave, so she asks what did you used to do.

"I was a Wiggle."

Oooo...strikes two and three. An awkward silence falls over the conversation. She just kind of looks at you in shock, her mouth moving up and down but no sound coming out. She turns and walks away.

Sad.

It's no wonder that suicide rates are highest among former Wiggles. No, I did not make that statistic up.*

Still, I don't know exactly what a "Wiggle" does. Based on the limited information I've gathered, it's some bizarre cross of Teletubbies and the guy from Blues Clues, but on acid. And there are four. Frankly, that's all I care to know about them.

What do you think? Do I look like the yellow Wiggle? There's a poll open in the upper right corner of the site. Let me know.

*Yes I did.

Reader question: How does my caucus work?

Faithful reader Heidi writes in and asks:

Dear Dave,

I'm from Iowa and I was wondering how the caucus in my state works. I asked my dad but he got all flustered and told me to ask my mom. I don't think he understood my question. Maybe you can help.

Thanks,

Heidi

Thanks for writing in Heidi! I'd be happy to give you a quick overview of how caucuses work.

How the democrats get their caucus on
They congregate in school gyms, churches and barns. Each candidate has a corner of the building and the supporters of each candidate stand in their respective corner. If their candidate gets more than 15% of the constituents in their corner, they proceed to the next round.

If you stood in the corner of a loser who doesn't get 15% (see photo above, left) your candidate is out and you get the chance to make your vote count by joining one of the winners.

So, really, you get to vote for two people: the person you secretly wanted in the White House but knew didn't have a chance, and then for the candidate who you knew would win so you can appease your conscious and still have bragging rights after the fact.

Sounds like something democrats would come up with.

Right after you leave the loser corner you can be lobbied again by representatives of the remaining candidates to come join the cool kids. But before they'll let you join, they may require you to undergo various hazing rituals, identify the calls of sixteen tropical birds, answer Jeopardy!-style questions or take the Physical Challenge.

This happens in each precinct. The total tally is kept hush-hush and only the percentage of delegates won by each candidate is released. So it all comes down to how many delegates each precinct has, not the popular vote.


How the Republicans roll
The Republicans put their vote on a ballot. The ballots are counted and the candidate with the most votes wins.


I hope that answered your question Heidi! For more details (and less sarcasm) see the original CNN article here.

Photo courtesty of here.

This year's resolutions

I'm guessing that based on the above photo you assumed my resolutions included getting chiseled abs, rippling biceps and perky pectorals.

Well, you'd be wrong. I had this statue of myself commissioned last year.

Here are some of my resolutions for 2008. The rest weren't fit for publishing.

• Stop offering kids candy from my car.
• Write more posts this year than last (at least 248).
• Continue with my other site, LivSimpl, at a rate of about three posts per week.
• Fill a large Moleskine journal.
• Stop trying to hit cats I see in the road (my wife's idea, not mine).
• Get 100% home teaching (and report it by the third Sunday).
• Really put some effort into getting my modeling career off the ground.
• Work out at least three times per week (maintaining this physique ain't easy).
• Go to bed and get up early.
• Go to the temple at least 12 times.
• Learn how to drive a car on two wheels. Preferably not my own.
• Be consistently reading a book.
• Vote in some kind of election. Maybe the presidential one. I'm still not sure.
• Stop urinating in the hot tub (when other people are in it).

Now you know what my next year will, and won't, consist of. Any other suggestions? How about your resolutions? Leave word in the comments.

P.S. I also resolve to use the word "jaunty" more in casual conversation.