Tom Brady minifigure Dec 27, 2007
In the brouhaha over the NFL Network being stupid, the Consumerist said something unrelated yet quite funny:  "...Tom Brady's hair makes him look like a Lego."  How true.  To demonstrate, I created a comparison picture using Lego's own Digital Designer. 
[Image: tombradylego.png]
He's a beautiful man and a perfect football player, but he does look like a Lego minifigure. #sports
The importance-vacation paradox Dec 27, 2007
I'll define the importance-vacation paradox as follows: 
The more important an employee is, the more vacation time that employee will earn, and the less time that employee will be able to use it.
I've known about this concept for a while.  My dad would tell me about all the vacation time he had to burn up by the end of the year, and I would think, "Burn up?  How can you possibly have trouble using vacation time?" 

As a working stiff, I see this more and more, especially around the end of the year.  But I haven't been in the game long enough to experience it.  Or, more accurately, I'm currently experiencing the other end of the paradox, i.e. "the less important an employee is, the less vacation time that employee will earn, and the more time that employee will be able to use it."  In other words, I don't get as much vacation time as my co-worker who's been here for 20 years, but I can think of about 10 million different ways to use it, the least of which even includes the word "vacation".  It's because I'm not important.  I haven't been working here long enough that everything would fall apart if I wasn't here every day.  On the other end of the spectrum, my co-worker who's been here 20 years is literally too important (or so he thinks) to take any time off, fearing the economy will collapse and the world will end. 

Even though I know about this paradox and understand it to an extent, I can't fathom it ever affecting me in any reasonable way.  I doubt I'll ever be so important as to be unable to stay home from work.  I doubt I'll ever run out of things to do when I'm not at work.  I don't know ... maybe I'm a little short-sighted at the moment.  But I have a hard time believing I'll ever be unable to use my vacation time. #business
Log file analyzers Dec 27, 2007
For my future reference, here's a brief listing and comparison of server log file analyzers: 
  • AWStats - The one I currently use.  Written in Perl.  Not too ugly.  Unconfigurable.
  • Webalizer - Kinda ugly.  Looks to be configurable.
  • Analog - The one DreamHost uses.  Kinda ugly.  Looks to be configurable.
  • WebTrends - The one that costs money.
I might try Analog again.  DreamHost added a bunch of configuration options that seem to fix what I thought was wrong with it. #technology
Medical myths debunked Dec 27, 2007
The British Medical Journal recently exposed seven common medical myths: 
  1. People need to drink eight glasses of water per day
  2. Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight
  3. Shaving makes hair grow back faster or coarser
  4. Eating turkey makes you drowsy
  5. We use only 10 percent of our brains
  6. Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death
  7. Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals
Some of the reasoning for the debunkage is a little tricky (e.g. stubble appears courser because it doesn't include the taper of normal hair), but otherwise it's pretty interesting. #health
Miller-Coors vs. Bud Dec 27, 2007
Important beer news:  Miller has agreed to merge with Coors by mid-2008 in order to compete with Bud.  This is big news, unless you only drink snobby New England beers or Yuengling. #food