Disappearing bubble gum Jul 9, 2008
I'm an avid bubble gum chewer, and I have a bone to pick with the supermarkets, Walmarts, Targets, and other stores of our great nation:  Where the heck is my bubble gum?  At the checkout lines, there's only minty stuff and that sugar-free crap.  That's not bubble gum.  I'm talking about Bubble Yum, Bubblicious, and Hubba Bubba.  That's the real stuff.  Also, an occasional Bubble Tape and a Big League Chew wouldn't hurt.  I'm forced to go to convenience stores at gas stations for the sole purpose of perusing their candy aisle in the hopes of finding a bubble gum treasure.  But the food stores and "everything" stores seem to be done with the bubble gum industry.  Who's my congressman?  I'm gonna write him. #food
Up your nose (3) Jul 8, 2008
Babyzone, a website I frequent (kidding!), published a list of 10 things kids stick up their noses most often.  Not necessarily in order of frequency: 
  1. Crayons
  2. Beads
  3. French Fries
  4. Fingers
  5. Marbles
  6. Spaghetti
  7. Tissue
  8. Cheerios
  9. Small Toys
  10. Beans and Peas
A few of these are pretty personal for me, including beads and marbles.  I would even add a new one to the list:  M&Ms.  But spaghetti?  That's new.  I guess if the shoe fits, wear it.  Or more appropriately, if the object fits in your nose, put it up there.  You only live once, right? 

Common extraction techniques include holding the clear nostril while blowing through the clogged one.  In extreme cases, you can use some sort of suction device or go to an ear, nose, and throat doctor.  The article recommends to talk to your little one and reassure them that everything will be ok.  But nothing can calm that overwhelming fear that comes over you after you fail to get the object out on the first try and think, "I was just seeing if it would fit.  Now I have to live the rest of my life with a foreign object lodged in my nostril." #health
Three big things Jul 7, 2008
Three ideas that stuck with me for a while: 
  1. Ms. Scholl, not my second grade teacher, but the one in the room next to mine:  "The world is full of entirely too much packaging."  I was in second grade in 1989, but this idea has stuck with me since then, and has gained greater significance just recently.  If you stop and think about it for a second, everything comes in packaging.  And that packaging comes in packaging, which is further packaged, and so on.  Heck, there are people employed full-time in the art of packaging engineering.  And where does all this packaging go?  Landfills, where it will sit for eternity because almost none of it is even remotely biodegradable.  I was recently in the habit of eating frozen meals for lunch, which consist of a plastic tray, covered by a plastic film, all in a cardboard box.  The cleaning guy at work came to empty my trash one day and made a comment about how I produced the most garbage out of all the people in my office area.  I wasn't too concerned at the moment, but the more I thought about it (for the two years since), the more I notice it and am disturbed by it.
  2. My dad:  "A car is the worst investment you'll ever make."  It's true, but there really isn't an option where I live.  Every other major purchase you make will either go up in value or stay the same price.  Only with cars do we dump tons of money into monthly payments, then tons more money on maintenance and repairs, only to be left with next to zero return on investment.  The payoff for investing in a car is the privilege of sitting in traffic.
  3. Mrs. O:  "Leave it as it was."  This was in reference to nature, especially when we humans enter the wilderness for hiking and camping visits.  Don't break any branches or rip out any plants.  And especially don't add anything that wasn't already there (i.e. garbage).  Leave it as it was.  I still follow this advice 15 years later when I'm hiking.
#psychology
Tax it Jul 3, 2008
Former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss has this to say about prostitution: 
"Look, it's going to go on. You're never going to stop prostitution. The way to do it is to regulate it. Clean it up a bit. Make it fair--fair for the girls, fair for the clients. At the end the government gets money out of it."

(via Kottke)
Regardless of my views on prostitution or any other illegal activity (no, I'm not a client), I couldn't agree more.  Things like prostitution, drugs, and a host of other illegal activities will happen whether they're illegal or not.  Rolling Stone did a story on the drug war and estimated its cost at around $500 billion over its 35-year history, with the end result being that drugs are now even cheaper and easier to get.  The conclusion:  It was a total waste of money and the war on drugs failed.  If people want to smoke pot, they'll find a way.  And many pot-smokers will never get caught or go to jail or move on to harder drugs or kill their families. 

Getting back on topic, my point here is that instead of spending all this time and money enforcing laws like this, we should just legalize a few things, and tax them.  Can you imagine how many people would be in line for our nation's first federally-regulated (and taxed) Marijuana Store™?  Holy crap.  Or how about picking up a prostitute on the street corner ... of Times Square in NYC ... in broad daylight?  Of course she would need to be registered with the city, but the client wouldn't have to sneak around some back-alley red-light district and run the risk of getting shot.  So not only would our nation be saving money on enforcement (and with it, jail time in already overcrowded prisons), we'd be gaining money through tax revenue. 

I'll admit it's quite easy to come up with a counterargument to this, and here are a few: 
  1. Which laws would we abolish?  All of them?  How would we decide which laws were legitimate (cocaine trafficking) and which ones were stupid (j-walking)?
  2. Legalizing prostitution and drugs is a slippery slope.  How would our nation maintain any semblance of order or law?
  3. Illegal activities often go hand in hand with other illegal activities.  Won't legalized drugs lead to more gang violence?  Won't legalized prostitution lead to more sexual abuse and/or a general downfall in our nation's values?
These are all excellent arguments that deserve careful consideration before any decisions are made.  And even if a decision was made, how would it be enacted?  All of a sudden, certain things are legal?  That would lead to chaos and anarchy.  Nevertheless, I think it's an interesting proposition and I still support it.  If I ever run for president, this will be my platform:  Legalize It and Tax It. #money
Ripoff via convenience Jul 3, 2008
It's one thing to charge a lot of money for something you don't have a lot of and only offer to customers as a convenience, like a $5 toothbrush at a convenience store or a $3 bottle of water from a street vendor.  But it's an entirely different thing to charge $18 for a buffet breakfast at a hotel, simply because (a) you know most companies will pay for it, and (b) there's nothing else around.  This is directed at you, Radisson Hotel in Hannover, Germany.  You should be ashamed of yourself and your crappy overpriced breakfast. #money
Berlin Victory Column Jul 3, 2008
The Victory Column in Berlin is a structure that celebrates several Prussian (a.k.a. Germany before it was called Germany, sort of) military victories.  When American forces were stationed in Germany following World War II, it gained the nickname "Chick on a Stick". 



This might be the coolest picture I've ever taken.  I originally didn't include it in my trip recap because it didn't look that good on my computer screen at work.  But on my home laptop, it looked completely different, and awesome. 

The funny thing is that the picture was taken during our guided bike tour.  Our tour guide said to just pedal past it because we'd be coming back later to talk about it and take pictures.  I disobeyed the order because I could see rain clouds coming into the area, so I wanted to take a picture while it was still light.  The sun happened to be at a perfect position in the sky, so I used my point-and-shoot camera and got the picture.  Not bad for an amateur. #entertainment
Secondhand clothing myth Jul 2, 2008
Similar to the suggested myth that foreign aid helps end poverty in developing nations, PBS reports that secondhand clothing has effectually destroyed the firsthand clothing business in countries like Zambia.  We were just trying to help.  (via Kottke) #money
Undeserved influence Jul 2, 2008
I don't like people who use their celebrity status (whether pseudo or real) to influence other people's opinions on a completely unrelated topic.  A fine example is Spacedoc, who uses his status as a former astronaut to preach on the evils of cholesterol medication.  Yes, we find out later that he was, in fact, a doctor and so he might have at least an ounce of legitimacy.  But he uses his astronaut status to preach something that has nothing to do with being an astronaut, simply because he knows people will trust him because of his stint as a well-respected pioneer of the unknown.  That's total B.S. #psychology
Germany trip review Jul 2, 2008
The trip recap is here.  The trip review and commentary is as follows. 

Hannover is a German version of Boston.  We happened to show up for their summer solstice celebration, which meant tons of people, live bands, and the general feeling of a big town fair.  The above-ground trains and small city atmosphere made it feel exactly like Boston.  Except there was a single Irish pub, noted by its little Guinness sign.  The city center was easily navigable by foot, and many of the roads either didn't travel through the center or were diverted for the celebration.  Very cool place with lots of great little restaurants. 

Berlin was pretty cool and had a ton of history to go with it.  It's a shame that certain parts were destroyed during World War II (and probably by American bombs), but that's what happens when you kill millions of people and try to take over the world.  It was so cool that they can trace their history back to like 1000 AD and probably earlier.  That's like 5 times as old as America!  The guided bike tour was really cool.  Our American guide (a girl from Texas) supplied us with all kinds of information and history and famous sights, so it was totally worth the price.  And even though it was 85-90 degrees out, I didn't even break a sweat because the city is so flat. 

Bad Salzuflen and Lübeck were two little towns that probably don't get many visitors from America.  But their architecture and ambiance were a great way to experience authentic German culture.  Not many people spoke English, so hand signals and gestures were a must.  The celebration following the Germany-Turkey soccer game was truly amazing.  Germany has the largest Turkish population outside of Turkey.  Things didn't get out of control or anything, but people were celebrating in the streets and almost tipping cars. 

Because of Germany's latitude, it stayed light until about 11pm, and the sun didn't even go down until around 9:30.  It was good from a fit-as-much-as-you-can perspective, but eating dinner at 9pm because you lost track of time is a bit weird. 

Apparently, you can legally do the following things in public in Germany:  Drink and carry open containers of alcohol, smoke pot, urinate, and solicit prostitutes.  This was a bit of a change from what I'm used to. 

Concerning the language barrier, it was a barrier, but it was pretty easy to get past.  Many people, especially waiters and people in the big cities, speak English out of necessity.  And they speak it quite well.  They speak English better than most people can try to fumble with some German.  But in the smaller towns, many of the people didn't even speak an ounce of English.  At one restaurant, I had to point to a meal on a menu to ask for it, and I didn't even know what it was.  The cool thing is that I didn't have a single bad meal, so I was getting pretty confident that I could eat anything they brought out to me. 

I saw lots of dogs throughout the trip, but not one of them barked.  They were free to travel on subways and walk around the streets without a leash.  Dog owners seemed to treat their pets more as companions and less as slaves they keep locked up in their house all day then yell at when they pee on the living room carpet.  Also, the dogs weren't nosy and jumpy like American dogs.  Perhaps less stress means no barking and more calm? 

Germans don't j-walk, and the police enforce that law seemingly above all (or any) others.  Even if there are no cars around and it's a quiet intersection, if the walk light isn't green, you don't move.  Wendy's co-worker made the mistake of j-walking in view of a cop, and she got a stern, incomprehensible warning in German. 

Cops drive around in beat-up old minivans, and there are usually at least 5 or 6 cops in each vehicle.  This was in stark contrast to all the nice German vehicles on the roads, and also all the nice police cruisers paid for by our American tax dollars.  As I mentioned before, the cops stay away from the autobahns and tend to just cruise around the cities. 

There was a bidet in our hotel room in Bad Salzuflen.  I know the dictionary definition of the purpose of such a device, but I haven't the faintest clue how to use one.  Which direction am I supposed to face? 

I found that it was all too easy to stereotype people based on their nationality.  I read that Germans don't wear shorts, they wear all black, and they like designer clothes.  But that's like saying all Americans are overweight, like baseball, and drive SUVs.  It's true for some people but not everyone. 

Concerning the German language in written form (which I never studied and only learned from a guide book borrowed from the library):  When in doubt, capitalize and hyphenate. 

Concerning the beer:  I'm not a big beer drinker and I don't like dark beers.  But every beer I had in Germany, whether light or dark, was quite good.  The dark beers didn't have the normal bite to them that American (or imported) dark beers have.  I don't like to fight with my beer when I drink it.  In that sense, German beers were quite good.  On a related note, for a country that prides itself on its beer and for a continent that allows its young people to drink at an early age, I hardly saw any stumbling drunk people.  Even during the post-soccer game celebration, I saw about two people who were too drunk to walk straight.  But the rest of the thousands of people I saw weren't noticeably intoxicated.  Perhaps they don't abuse alcohol as much as Americans because they don't have to wait until they're 21? #travel
Tall Jul 2, 2008
I would hate to be extremely tall.  I have a buddy who's 6'8".  He's a monstrosity.  Even the most unobservant person would notice him and say, "Holy crap, this guy's a giant!"  And inevitably, every person who notices his immense height not only needs to mention it ("Wow, you're tall."), they need to know his exact height ("So how tall are you?").  It wouldn't matter if he had three noses, or if he was a brilliant rocket scientist, or if he was a she.  The only thing people notice about him is his height.  That must've gotten old a long time ago. #psychology