Sandwich regulation (2) Feb 7, 2008
In what may be described as Hillary Clinton's most important contribution to the universe, she pointed out a disturbing fact about the wasteful and overlapping government agencies that inspect and regulate food production: 
"A ham and cheese sandwich on one slice of bread is the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which inspects manufacturers daily.  But a ham and cheese sandwich on two slices of bread is the responsibility of the Food and Drug Administration, which inspects manufacturers about once every five years."
All kidding aside, she actually made a good point in saying that the government has a lot of agencies that enforce a lot of rules, and the system could be made a lot simpler and more efficient.  Either way, it's funny that ham and cheese sandwiches are regulated by the government. #food
Antarctica facts Feb 7, 2008
Two facts I learned from a Snapple cap and later verified with Wikipedia: 
  1. In addition to being the coldest and windiest continent, Antarctica is the driest continent.
  2. Antarctica is the highest continent (has the highest average elevation).
Unfortunately, both sources of information are incredibly difficult to verify (aren't some Snapple facts false?), but like most things on Wikipedia, these facts sound believable and there's really no reason for them to be false.  Either way, quite interesting. #science
Hyphenated last names (11) Feb 6, 2008
Parents who give their kids hyphenated last names might as well just admit they're a couple of jerks.  What better way to screw up your child's life than by giving them a hyphenated and complicated last name that will cause them problems and give them grief for the rest of their life.  That poor child will develop carpel tunnel syndrome from signing their excessively long name.  Their computer login name will be completely screwed up.  Their passport will likely have significant problems being processed.  College applications, loans, job applications, and anything that requires a child to identify their parents will inevitably lead to phone calls asking, "So Bob Smith, are you the father of John Smith-Jones?"  It'd be nice if we lived a world where computer systems weren't set up with logic like this:  
if (child_lastname != parent_lastname) {
   epic_fail();
}
But alas, it is what it is.  It's interesting that parents who "hyphenize" their children happen to have long and complicated last names to begin with.  You don't hear about a Smith-Jones.  I've heard of a Jones-Drew, but he's a professional football player, so it doesn't count (plus he chose to hyphenate his name in honor of his father).  The three hyphenated names I can think of who I've either known personally or am separated by no more than two degrees of Kevin Bacon are:  Lichtenberg-Scanlan, Dewey-Mattia, and Ersner-Hershfield.  What a bunch of selfish, jerky parents. 

To be fair, I realize it's a serious sacrifice for a woman to give up her last name when she gets married.  I personally wouldn't want to do it, even though a name change wouldn't be entirely bad.  I periodically thank Wendy for kindly taking my last name.  It's almost like losing your identity.  If parents don't have any male children, their last name will pretty much end.  That's sad. 

But I think there are better ways of keeping a maiden name in the mix than by hyphenating a child's last name.  You could go for the middle name.  You could come up with some other idea because that's the only one I can think of.  But whatever it is, don't punish children by giving them a hyphenated last name.  What a travesty. #language
Product comparison matrices (1) Feb 6, 2008
Whenever I buy a new gadget, I make a product comparison matrix.  This might be one of the geekiest things I do, but it's also the best idea any human being has ever come up with.  It turns out I'm not alone:  One of the guys I work with does the same thing for camping gear.  I got Wendy into it when she was thinking about buying an iPod.  What can I say; it works. 

The system is simple.  All products have features, and all features have some sort of value.  Size, weight, megapixels, LCD size, storage space, price, etc.  Depending on the device and the user, each feature will have a different weight.  For example, I might place more emphasis on LCD size and less emphasis on megapixels.  So a 5-megapixel camera with a 3-inch LCD will be rated higher than a 10-megapixel camera with a 2-inch LCD.  The rating system is sort of fuzzy, or at least it can be.  Technically, ratings should have numbers, so the final choice will be as simple as picking the highest number.  But unfortunately, things don't always work that way.  It's hard to quantify my desire for a bigger LCD versus my desire for more megapixels.  I'll often make my final choice based on an array of time-sensitive and hard-to-explain reasoning, such as, "This one's the better camera, but that other one is $100 less for the next two days.  I'll get the other one." 

It turns out this is actually something I learned in college.  It's a way to choose a final design based on several choices.  I didn't realize I was using something I learned in school until I learned it again in another class.  Damn my education!  It stuck with me! 

It also turns out this method can be applied to choosing political candidates, as Wendy has figured out.  It's really the same idea, but with different "features".  Each candidate has a position on each issue, and each issue has a relative weight depending on the voter.  I might value government subsidies for poor, homeless, illegal immigrants (I don't) while another person might want to nuke the moon.  My point is not that politics is a big stupid waste of time (though it is), but that you can choose a candidate as easily as you can choose a digital camera. #products
Bible study resources online (4) Feb 6, 2008
I have one thing to say about Bible study resources online:  They're extremely lacking.  I think this is the only thing the internet lacks.  I previously found the internet to be no good for math and engineering, but things changed over time.  I'm hoping the same change will happen for Bible study resources.  All I'm looking for are simple, free, small group Bible studies for adults.  I realize they're available in Christian bookstores, but sometimes I don't have time to go to a Christian bookstore, and sometimes I don't feel like buying an entire book just for a one-time standalone study.  In my many [many, many] hours of internet travels, I've found a total of two websites that have even remotely useful stuff:  GodSquad and the Christian Arsenal.  Everything else either costs money or is so incredibly poor in quality and topic that it's useless as a legitimate tool to lead a Bible study.  I'd really like to see the internet pick up in this area. #religion
Baba ghanoush Feb 5, 2008
Baba ghanoush is a Middle Eastern dish made of eggplant.  The reason I'm writing this is because saying "baba ghanoush" makes me laugh. #food
Dover church Feb 5, 2008


First Memorial Presbyterian Church, Dover, NJ #entertainment
The world after people Feb 4, 2008
Life Without People was a History Channel production similar to the book The World Without Us, both of which discussed the idea of what earth would be like if people magically (or tragically) disappeared.  The encouraging thing is that plants and animals would likely take over relatively quickly, most of which would happen without even a second thought as to where all the humans went.  At least we didn't screw things up so bad that they can't be undone.  The interesting thing is that most, if not all, man-made "things" (buildings, bridges, cars, houses, books, computers, etc.) will likely pass away after a while (maybe a few thousand years) without even a shred of evidence that they ever existed in the first place. #science
Closed on Mondays Feb 4, 2008
List of establishments that are closed on Mondays: 
  1. Churches (sort of)
  2. Non-chain restaurants (apparently)
  3. Barber shops
#psychology
Bad back (1) Feb 4, 2008
Apparently, I can no longer laugh in the face of the warning "Lift with your legs, not with your back".  For the first 24 years of my life, I ignored this rule of thumb and saw no ill effects.  I lifted with my back all the time.  Sometimes I would purposely lift things without my legs just to prove how invincible I was. 

However, in the past two months, I've hurt my back bad enough to know that I'm no longer invincible.  For 24 years, I was fine.  Now that I'm 25, it's completely different.  It's all starting to go downhill. #health