Unhealthy salad Feb 16, 2010
I realize that by putting an equal mass of non-salad ingredients atop a mound of lettuce, it pretty much negates the health benefits of eating a salad in the first place, what with all the added fat and calories and wonderful sugar-encrusted things.  But honestly, (a) I don't give a crap, and (b) the salad still contains vegetables, which I'm always told I need to eat more of.  So even if my vegetables are covered in sugar, I'm still eating vegetables. #food
Olympics coverage suggestions Feb 16, 2010
I've been watching some of the winter Olympics lately, and I have just a few suggestions for, well, NBC, since they're the TV network that won the coverage rights: 
  1. Standardized scoring.  I have no idea what a 27.34 means.  I have no idea how good a 6.1 or a 2.71 is.  These numbers mean nothing to me.  What would be helpful is to at least say what the highest possible score is for each competition, and put that number right next to the score each competitor got.  Or you could go one step further and just divide each competitor's score by the highest possible score and list everything in percentages.  A number like 94% is something I can understand, regardless of how many style points were awarded by the judge from Russia.
  2. Speed.  I watched people skiing moguls and thought, "I wonder how fast they're going."  I watched people speedskating and thought, "I wonder how fast they're going."  I watched people luge-ing and thought, "I wonder how fast th -- kilometers per hour?  What the hell does that mean?"  Yes, I know the Olympics are taking place in a country where the metric system is in full force.  But the coverage is on an American TV network.  Therefore, give me information I can use.  The internet tells me I can convert kph to mph by multiplying by 0.62.  Just make it easy on me and give me English units.
  3. Height and length.  I know this isn't the point of skiing moguls or luge-ing, but I want to know how much height they're getting off the jumps and how far they're traveling overall.  This information makes no difference in the outcome of the competition, but it just helps me better understand what's going on.  When I see a guy in tights on a little sled sliding down an ice hill at 140 kph, it would help me to know (a) that 140 kph = 87 mph, and (b) he traveled 4000 feet in 45 seconds, or about 4/5 of a mile.  I understand that information, as unimportant as it is.
Chop chop. #sports