Erik Eckel

"Up" Is Kind Of A Downer

2009-06-14T12:11:00.016-04:00

Pixar's latest film "Up" is a downer. Any time other patrons are openly weeping it's a sign the film is tilting toward the depressing side. I was disappointed.

I'm not alone, as can be witnessed here, here, here and here.

Most problematic, for me, was my mistaken belief "Up" was a movie for children. At the time, I didn't realize the film was rated PG, so that's my fault. But, I had help. The trailers heavily promoted the fun, daring and quirky expedition theme involving Carl and Russell, the two main characters whose friendship must span a 70-year gap. But the trailers gave no hint to the movie's dark interconnected themes of loss, failed dreams, bitter righteousness and evil so sinister and blinding as to corrupt an intelligent, respected but apparently egoist adventurer.

The movie's lessons and animation are outstanding, as is typical for Pixar. But like the studio's early Red's Dream short, it's reminscent of an admitted Blue period.

Disney and Pixar Chief Creative Officer John Lassiter has famously joked that Red's Dream was popular in Europe. No doubt, "Up" is likely to prove successful overseas, too, as it deserves to in the states as well. But make no mistake, Pixar's latest film is no lighthearted tale of friendship and expedition. Like with Wall-E, Pixar's creative team is intent on presenting complex life lessons, some of which are already all to real to many adults.

Sad News For Pontiac Fans

2009-04-28T20:14:00.006-04:00

By now everyone's heard GM is moving to kill the Pontiac brand. Car and Driver has a nice take, in case you want more history and details.

Whether it was GM mismanagement, changes in world markets or just plain lack of interest, the brand had been slipping for years. Pontiac's failure certainly isn't a sudden event, nor should anyone feign surprise. The division has been struggling too long. But it wasn't the economy that ended the Pontiac line. Any such claims are an excuse.

Ultimately, it may be a case of too little too late. The new Solstice was a nice-looking car with sweet lines that deservingly won awards. The Vibe was a quality compact supplied by Toyota as part of a joint venture in Fremont, California. So the company deserves credit for trying.

But there were too many Aztecs (one of Time Magazine's 50 Worst Cars of All Time) and too many Montanas, which lasted only a handful of years. And where were the F bodies, abandoned after 2002 (answer: Pontiac execs chose to focus on more profitable SUVs, instead, even though that flew in the face of the brand's rich history, character and personality)?

When Pontiac killed the Grand Prix (last year), I knew that was it. This is especially true because I debated purchasing an '08 model. But with the options I wanted, I would have had to pay $30K or so. For a Pontiac that would depreciate 35% (approximately) when I drove it off the lot? It didn't add up.

Regardless of the cause, it's a sad event. I grew up with Pontiacs. My dad and grandmother owned Grand Prixs and Trans Ams (complete with screaming chicken decal), respectively. Friends owned LeMans, Firebirds, Grand Ams and Bonnevilles. I remember lazy summer days as a kid scrubbing my old man's Grand Prix whitewalls and cleaning the maddening spoke wheels. So, too, do I remember the bark of the massive 6.6-liter that powered the late 70s Firebirds with the gaudy brushed-aluminum dashboards.

Those days are gone, though. And so, now, is Pontiac.

Booklist

2009-04-26T15:53:00.003-04:00

I've been working too much to pay much attention to the Reds (they appear to be holding steady at .500) or the Bengals (leveraged the draft to stock up on linemen, which is fine and good).

I've been able to knock off a couple books, though. I finally finished Undaunted Courage, the mammoth book on Lewis and Jefferson by Ambrose. I recommend it, definitely.

I also finished Orson Scott Card's Shadow Puppets and Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers.

Shadow Puppets was OK, but I've found myself losing interest in the whole Ender saga. I guess a couple books was enough but four was too many, maybe, for me.

I found Outliers interesting, but most any undergraduate could easily invest hours debunking some of its methods and conclusions. That said, some breezy pop nonweighty nonfiction is needed every now and then.

Just Finished Anathem

2009-03-29T11:49:00.006-04:00

After several months of on again, off again reading, I've completed Neal Stephenson's Anathem. At 900+ pages, I'm glad I stuck with it.

I'm not sure how much I liked it, though. I believe, as one reviewer mentions on Slashdot, the novel was way too long. I suspect (and I base this thought on years of professional editing experience) the book could have been cut by some 300 or 400 pages.

But that's to be expected, anymore, with Stephenson. His "Baroque Cycle" spanned three volumes. Cryptonimicon, too, required stamina, courage and willpower.

While Anathem has great characters and a compelling story line, I felt at times as if I were plowing through an assignment. Passages required dedication, focus and commitment I often associate with reading Proust. That's asking too much of today's science fiction reader, I fear.

Still, there were rewarding moments. Here are my top quotes from the book, all of which will stick with me (and plan to see these showcased within the movie trailer if the motion picture rights are ever sold):

Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs," I said. "We have a protractor.

And...

Nothing is more important than that you see and love the beauty that is right in front of you, or else you will have no defense against the ugliness that will hem you in and come at you in so many ways.

Then there was this anticorporate nugget, as well:

So I looked with fascination at those people in their mobes, and tried to fathom what it would be like. Thousands of years ago, the work that people did had been broken down into jobs that were the same every day, in organizations where people were interchangeable parts. All of the story had been bled out of their lives. That was how it had to be; it was how you got a productive economy. But it would be easy to see a will at work behind this: not exactly an evil will, but a selfish will. The people who'd made the system thus were jealous, not of money and not of power but of story. If their employees came home at day's end with interesting stories to tell, it meant that something had gone wrong: a blackout, a strike, a spree killing. The Powers That Be would not suffer others to be in stories of their own unless they were fake stories that had been made up to motivate them.

Now it's on to Wallace's Infinite Jest. Out of the frying pan into the fryer, I suspect.

DiskInternals Denies Its Own Guarantee!

2009-03-14T11:22:00.006-04:00

Check this out.

Bought a piece of software after the evaluation version said it would recover lost files. Note the clearly worded guarantee "If you can preview images, you are guaranteed to be able to recover it."

When the software failed to recover the displayed file, I called the company's fulfillment provider to request a refund (as instructed on the DiskInternals' Web site). The company I reached at the number DiskInternals said to call told me it doesn't manage issues with this product. OK.

So I contacted the company's support technicians and customer service staff. Here's what they told me (keep in mind the clearly posted guarantee from the above screenshot of the company's software):

"The product was guaranteed to recover files for which thumbnail images displayed." Where did you see that? There is no such guarantee.

Precious stuff. I'll have my credit card company dispute the charge on Monday. No big deal. But I post it here so other technicians and computer users will know of the DiskInternals experience I had.

Cards Win Big East Title!

2009-03-08T10:14:00.003-04:00

Following losses to Western Kentucky, Minnesota and UNLV, I didn't think this year's Louisville basketball team would reach its lofty potential.

I'd told several friends that, if the Cardinals did play to their abilities, they were scary good. But then came disheartening losses to mediocre teams, which left me believing this would be yet another year of "oh, so close."

I need to have more faith. The Cardinals, despite a few rough patches, managed to win the Big East college title, no simple feat, seeing the Big East conference is almost unanimously viewed as the toughest, most competitive division in NCAA Men's Basketball this year.

Now the real stress begins. March Madness assumes a whole new meaning of importance when a team plays as well as this group is capable of playing.

Best of all? It takes pressure off Coach Kragthorpe's efforts to rebuild the struggling football program. That's just what he needs, as I continue believing he's the right guy for the job.

Go Cards!

Shoemaker's Children: Prepare For New Shoes

2009-02-13T23:32:00.005-05:00

It's often said the shoemaker's children have no shoes. The phenomenon was proving true for me, so I finally took action.

My main office systems are over four years old. As most all statistics reveal, the costs of supporting a PC beyond four years exceeds the expense of a new computer.

So, the antiquated Sony Vaio Pentium 4 3.2GHz CPU (with an incredible -- at least for the day when it was bought -- 2MB of L2 cache, 1GB of RAM and 100GB hard disk) will be relegated to test system duty, exclusively. In its place will sit a Dell Vostro. Powered by a simple but fast Intel Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz CPU (with 6MB of L2 cache and a 1,333MHz FSB) and 4GB of RAM, I've spec'd the new box out with two disks (one for backup) and a terabyte of storage (to house the dozens of disk images and ISOs I keep on hand for clients).

Next I'll replace my aging laptop. If it didn't get so beat up in the field, I'd be tempted to order an Apple Mac Book Pro. Due to the extensive usage (and subsequent beating) the laptop experiences each day, though, I may opt for a MacBook. But that'll have to wait for another day (the old G4 is still plenty fast).

Notes On My Hometown

2009-02-04T20:50:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago I came across an Internet photograph of a historic building in my hometown. Incidentally, I grew up across the street from the house in that photo.

Since then, I've spent some time searching out other items of interest regarding Perrysburg, Ohio.

Here's a nifty one: Perrysburg is one of only two cities in the United States planned by the federal government. Care to guess the other?

The Reading List

2009-02-03T21:18:00.006-05:00

I almost started reading Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow tonight. But I've been working on Neal Stephenson's Anathem for awhile, and I guess I should stick with it. I like it well enough, but as a work of experimental fiction, it sometimes requires a little effort.

I'm also halfway through Steal This Computer Book 4.0. And Jack Wallen's passed me his copy of Battle Royale, which looks very intriguing. My brain's tired, though, and I'm not sure I could keep the characters straight tonight.

Oh well.

So far this year I've only read two books: Douglas Coupland's The Gum Thief (it was OK, but no comparison to Microserfs) and an abridged version of Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage. I so enjoyed Undaunted Courage (the story of Lewis and Clark) that I'm now working on the complete book (19 CDs) in the car.

Some 13 texts currently sit on my on-deck bookshelf. Highlights include Chernow's Alexander Hamilton, Isaacson's Einstein, McCullough's Mornings on Horseback and David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.

John Updike, 3.18.1932 - 1.27.2009

2009-01-27T13:55:00.008-05:00

We have lost a brilliant author whose insight, writing and thought are unmatched by contemporaries. John Updike has passed away. He was 76.

If you haven't read the Rabbit series, I recommend you do. Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich and Rabbit At Rest are incredible, outstanding, thought-provoking works that captured American small town life and middle class angst better than any other material I've encountered. That said, these novels are not for the young or especially sensitive or easily offended.

The series, now available in a single Everyman's Library text, displays tremendous insight into the human condition, as English majors so often say. Even the late Rabbit Remembered, which wrapped up the entire epic, proved worth reading.

Updike's observations of a couple whose husband had read Proust's entire In Search Of Lost Time series prompted me to begin reading all of the renowned but lengthy classic. I still remember Updike's commentary in which the wife's Proustian commitment was questioned due to her having read only Swann's Way, the first volume of the seven-work set.

If an artist is ever awarded a national holiday, this man's work, legacy and spirit should be among the very first recognized.

Pad See Ew

2009-01-21T19:04:00.005-05:00

I've long been a fan of Pad See Ew, an outstanding Thai noodle dish that's often made with a black bean sauce. Here's the best recipe I've come up with, yet.

Ingredients:
4 Teaspoons regular soy sauce
6 Tablespoons mushroom flavored soy sauce
4 Teaspoons sugar
1 Tablespoon black bean sauce
4 Cloves garlic, minced
1/2 Block tofu, cubed
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
16 Ounces (2 cups) broccoli florets
8 Ounces dried wide rice sticks (or 1 pound chow fun noodles)
1 Chicken breast, cubed
Canola oil

Directions:
1. Boil water for cooking rice sticks. Cook rice sticks (noodles) and drain in colander. Rub in some canola oil to prevent sticking and set noodles aside.
2. Lightly whip 2 eggs and set aside.
3. Create sauce by combining soy sauce, mushroom flavored soy sauce, sugar, one clove minced garlic and black bean sauce. Stir until sugar is dissolved and set aside.
4. Add 2 tablespoons canola oil to wok and place on high heat. When oil begins smoking, add broccoli florets and stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Set broccoli aside.
5. Add 2 tablespoons canola oil to wok and return to high heat. Add tofu and 1 clove minced garlic. Stir fry 3-4 minutes (until tofu browns). Set tofu aside.
6. Add 2 tablespoons canola oil to wok and return to high heat. Add cubed chicken and 1 clove minced garlic. Stir fry 3-4 minutes. Set chicken aside.
7. Drizzle egg into wok and cook over high heat (approximately 1-2 minutes). Scramble egg in wok, then add to wok noodles, broccoli, chicken and tofu.
8. Add sauce and stir frequently, mixing all items together.

Thai Sweet Corn Cakes

2009-01-11T13:06:00.008-05:00

Long my favorite appetizer, Thai Sweet Corn Cakes combine three of the best culinary ingredients available: corn, eggs and cilantro. Here's the recipe I recommend:

Ingredients:
2 cups drained canned, thawed, frozen or corn kernels
3 eggs
3 tablespoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup cucumber, diced
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
Vegetable oil, for frying
Sweet Thai Chili Sauce *

Directions:
1. Remove 2 cups of fresh corn kernels from cob (or prepare 2 cups of frozen or canned kernels).
2. Dice cucumbers and set aside.
3. Chop cilantro and set aside.
4. In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs lightly. Add cornstarch, salt and white pepper. Mix.
5. Add corn, onions and garlic. Mix.
6. Place a wok or stir-fry pan over medium heat. Add vegetable oil to ¼-inch depth. When oil is hot, place corn batter mixture in pan using ¼-cup. Cook uncovered for approximately two minutes. Turn once and cook uncovered for approximately two more minutes.
7. Remove corn cakes from wok using spatula or slotted spoon and place on paper towel.
8. Let corn cake drain for 30 seconds, then transfer to serving plate.
9. Top with cucumber and cilantro and serve.

* Sweet Thai Chili Sauce – Can be sprinkled atop corn cakes when serving or can be used as dipping sauce. Look for Blue Dragon Thai Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce (available from Paul’s Fruit Market in Louisville and other grocers), or you can make your own.

What's Your Rule On Finishing Books?

2009-01-10T10:06:00.002-05:00

I read 42 books last year. It could have been more.

On several occasions I began a lengthy novel (or biography) that, once 100 pages in, I felt compelled to finish. Sometimes, though, I lost interest part way through some of these texts. Still, I pushed on.

Granted, it paid off. I completed dozens of books in their entirety. Yet, I found myself on many occasions with some time wanting to read but not wanting to read one of the current books I had underway.

What to do? Is it OK to bail on reading a book even though you're 100 pages in?

I used to think bailing was unacceptable, but now I'm not so sure. Here's why.

Over the holidays I began reading Jaroslav Hasek's The Good Soldier Svejk. Some 120 pages later, I found it dark, depressing and just silly for my current mood and taste. So I abandoned the novel in favor of Douglas Coupland's The Gum Thief, and I'm glad I did. I'm finding it much more poignant. And, every time I swing by the table where it sits, I'm reminded I want to steal some time to kick back in the easy chair and open its pages.

Weighing New Year's Goals

2008-12-28T12:52:00.012-05:00

The end of a year, and beginning of another, is always a good time to set new goals. What better time to reflect on what's gone right, what hasn't worked so well and the changes you might implement to better yourself, your family and/or your career?

Obviously, that's why weight loss, exercise and fitness products sell so well this time of year.

The trick with New Year's Resolutions, however, is to be realistic. Resolving to lose 40 pounds or get out of debt, and failing to make any long-term fitness, diet or spending changes, almost always results in business as usual come the first of February, if not earlier.

As a result, for years I've always set quantifiable goals. I always felt objectives should be easily measured, thereby eliminating slippery loopholes that might enable one to cheat. For example, instead of saying "I resolve to read more this year," I'd say "I resolve to read 26 books this year."

2009 is going to be a little different, though. One official resolution I'm already weighing? Resolve to cook quality Thai food at home. That'd be a good one, no?

The Big Red Box: A Christmas Story

2008-12-14T19:53:00.003-05:00

Early, this Sunday evening, I walked down the street to meet my daughter at the neighbor’s. With Christmas only two weeks away, she’d been making gingerbread houses the better part of the day.

My arms and shoulders ached from raking leaves in the cold mid-December afternoon wind. The same stiff and frigid breeze still blew as together my daughter and I walked side by side. We made small talk as we returned in the waning daylight.

In her arms, tucked carefully against the front of her blue coat with pink stripes and matching hood, she held a delicate gingerbread house thoughtfully placed by her playmate’s mother inside a paper bag turned sidewise. This holiday craft was the reward of hours of patience and perseverance, two qualities hard to master regardless of age, but especially so when tempted and tantalized by warm, fresh-from-the-oven cookies topped with cool sweet white icing, not too mention piles of red licorice twists and potent mint green gumdrops.

These candies were among those my daughter and neighbor friends employed in building their edible holiday homes. As my daughter stole a peak inside the paper bag, it hit me. Right there, on the bleached gray and cold concrete sidewalk looking over my neighbors' spent trees and red, gray and tan brick homes, I experienced a full-on nostalgic reminiscence.

I have my own Christmas baking memories. Most all of them center around a big red box my mother faithfully stored year-round with the rest of the holiday decorations in our basement.

Maybe two feet wide by twelve inches deep, and but three inches or so tall, the solidly constructed rectangular box held a treasury of glass bottles. They don’t make boxes like that any more, the way they did in the fifties, which is when I’m guessing this kit was produced.

Inside, each four-inch tall glass bottle with removable glass rubber-sealed topper, possessed its own storage bay. They were accessed by lifting the wedding-gift quality lid. You simply pulled it straight up. Then there, inside, were a dozen different colored and flavored confections.

All colors of the rainbow were present, from deep blue sprinkles to cherry red sparkles. My favorite were the verboten silver BBs, which I always tried to sneak but was inevitably discovered mid crunch, then warned I’d crack a filling.

I ate them anyway. I distinctly remember worrying we’d consume all our supply. Then, where would we possibly find suitable replacements?

With John Denver Christmas carols playing on the family’s eight-track stereo, a crackling fire in the fireplace and more likely than not cold Lake Erie winds blowing snow outside the windows, those were the issues that worried me in 1975. Little did I know my interest in baking Christmas cookies would fade so soon, or that my fascination with the big red box and its colorful, flavorful candies would so quickly fall by the wayside, replaced instead with thoughts of girls, cars, internships and, someday later, a career, marriage, children of my own and then the closing of my parents’ estates.

But back in my childhood home, Christmas wasn’t Christmas until the sugar cookie dough was kneaded, the cut out forms in the shape of snowmen, Santa and the like retrieved from the old coffee can in which they were stored and these, the magical ingredients necessary for topping off the white icing, released from the grandeur that was the big red box.

Developers Take Note

2008-12-06T07:37:00.004-05:00

My cousin, who's much smarter than I am, figured out a way to build a cool new kind of book that provides program language and API translation information for developers and programmers. I don't believe there's another book like it available.

If you write any sort of code for a living (or just for fun), you might want to check it out, especially as it's written for those programming on the Windows, Mac and Linux platforms.

His website, which explains more about the concept, can be found at ProgramPhases.com. You can find the book on Amazon, too.

Google Labs Adds Calendar Gadget In Gmail

2008-11-12T13:49:00.002-05:00

Google Labs have created a new widget that enables viewing and accessing the Google Calendar directly from within Gmail. I've found the new gadget quite helpful. If you're a Gmail or Google Calendar user, you can read more here.

Large Hadron Collider Created Blackhole!

2008-10-25T12:26:00.003-04:00

Wonderful little letter to the editor in this week's The Economist:

Can it really be a coincidence that within weeks of the Large Hadron Collider being switched on for the first time a financial black hole has appeared in the universe?

-- Barclay Price, Edinburgh

Hawpe's Hot, And Rightfully So

2008-10-22T15:28:00.006-04:00

This time it's not something Mitch McConnell said, nor is it an incendiary Anne Northup comment. No, The Courier-Journal's David Hawpe is taking issue with comments University of Kentucky head football coach Rich Brooks made following the "greatest comeback in University of Kentucky football history."

When Brooks was asked if he understood why so many fans left the Wildcats game early, in which the team scored two miraculous and improbable touchdowns in the game's waning moments, he answered he didn't, but "that's their prerogative."

That's what set Hawpe off. And, rightfully so.

Who are today's coaches and players (Wildcat QB Mike Hartline supposedly shook an angry fist at the stadium's empty seats) to call fans out? If I want to leave early, I shouldn't have to justify that action before a board of regents.

The same trouble is brewing in Cincinnati, where the winless (0 and 7) Bengals are having trouble igniting any enthusiasm among its fan base. No one better call me out for failing to attend any games there this year. I've been dealing with Bengals losses and futility for 40 years. 40 years! There's not a player on the team now that was even alive when I began rooting for this club to win.

So, just as fans are required to have patience, so too should teams understand people are human. If you're playing poorly, and it's cold, don't get mad when folks fail to show up or leave early. Instead, let your play do the talking. Play so well and with such intensity that you actually sustain winning over a period of years, not months. Earn fans' respect. Then you'll find a fan base willing to sit through the tough times.

On Capitalism And Free Markets

2008-10-15T19:40:00.007-04:00

I am not an economist. Nor are the members of the band Cake. But the band posted an interesting quote, attributed to British economist John Maynard Keynes, last week.

Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.

That's what Keynes wrote. And, that's what Cake brought to my attention, which got me thinking.

Then today I pick up the new copy of The Economist that arrived in the mail. What do I read inside the back cover but an incredibly intriguing collection of answers by prominent thinkers to the question "Does the free market corrode moral character?"

Chess impresario Garry Kasparov answers "Yes, but other systems are worse."

I rather like Princeton professor emeritus Michael Walzer's response. I think it's the most honest. He says "Of course it does."

You can read more online at the John Templeton Foundation. Interesting stuff.

Favorite Windows Flavor

2008-10-10T16:55:00.003-04:00

At any given time I have three or four desktop and laptop PCs on my workbench. These systems are almost always Windows XP boxes, with the increasing exception of Vista machines and the occasional Macintosh.

This week, though, I received a Windows 98 machine. The PC required a new hard disk. The client did not wish to replace the system with a new XP system, which was my recommendation. Thus, I was taken back to the days of installing Win9x. Yikes. Painful. In fact, drivers proved so troublesome I upgraded the client to Windows 2000 Professional (as I had a retail box copy available).

Wow. Installing Windows 2000, something I haven't done for years, reminded me just how fast, graceful and stable that Windows' flavor was. It's a shame Microsoft provided this sleek OS with such a short shelf life.

In particular, I'm amazed at how fast Windows 2000 runs. And its windows; they're very clean. With just 128MB RAM, the Celeron PC was quick to boot, lightning fast to open windows and fast to access email, install Office, etc. Oh, how I miss it.

Am I the only one?

How Appropriate

2008-09-28T18:27:00.004-04:00

How appropriate that the Cincinnati Bengals go 0-4 on the same day the Reds end the season with an 11-4 loss (and a dismal 74-88 record).

I'm left wondering, after essentially a decade of futility by both teams with only rare occasional glimpses of hope (or simple flares of improbability), why I became a Cincinnati Bengals and Reds fan. Proximity by birth (and now residence) are the only factors, other than the fact that the mid-70s Reds rank among the best baseball teams ever. And, I'm fortunate to have seen the Big Red Machine play with my late father.

All that said, both of these franchises are suffering. Worse, with no serious pitching prospects (for the Reds) and likely lingering elbow disability for Palmer and no defense to speak of (for the Bengals), there's not much cause for hope.

Sad.

Thankfully, Louisville basketball starts soon. That should help satiate my sports appetite.

Meanwhile, I won't even bother attempting to dissect the trouble Louisville football is experiencing. There's always next year, right?

UPDATED: Just how bad are the Bengals? A single-seat ticket for the Pittsburgh Steelers, which was selling for a minimum $200 two months ago, can now be had for 40 bucks. That's bad.

How Much For A Lenovo Docking Station?

2008-09-26T20:24:00.003-04:00

So, I was considering ordering a new Lenovo ThinkPad. I was customizing the system when I found Lenovo's apparently raised its price on the accompanying docking station. Normally the Advanced Mini Dock runs about $170. Tonight the price was a little higher: $8,799! What a deal! That's on sale from $9,999.00!

I think I'll wait.

Google Chrome Due Soon

2008-09-01T18:50:00.003-04:00

I suspect Internet Explorer errors (and vulnerabilities, holes and instability problems) could soon become archaic issues of the past. But I doubt it.

Prepare for hubbub, anyway. Apparently Google will soon introduce its own Web browser. Called Chrome, I'm sure the browser will include RSS feeds, Google searches, GMail synchronization and more.

A few years ago I would have said such an announcement is game changing. Now, having worked with so many small businesses and home computer users, I know few are truly willing to adopt alternative browsers. Rarely do I encounter Safari, Firefox, Opera or other browsers in the real world.

That said, it'll be neat to see what Google's engineers can do with a Web browser.

Book Review: The Ridiculous Race

2008-08-13T17:10:00.006-04:00

Spoiler alert! Some surprises are revealed within this review.

Just finished reading The Ridiculous Race. Written by two former National Lampoon editors (including one of the co-writers for My Name Is Earl), the book tells the tale of two writers who race around the world (all for a bottle of Scotch). The only rule is no airplanes.

Although authors Steve Hely and Vali Chandrasekaran write light-heartedly, occasionally you bump up against very serious and emotional statements and observations. Those moments, while few, are sufficiently presented to get you seriously thinking about the United States' role in the world. These sobering passages, mixed with silly tales of seemingly juvenile pranks played worldwide, also prompted me to reflect on how well off Americans are, even in a down economy while an unpopular war continues overseas.

Just when you think the book may be falling to simple, predictable jokes, you encounter an observation that proves telling. Which is good, as one of the authors cheats. When I first read of his jetting across the Atlantic, I feared the book's whole premise was spoiled, thereby rendering the entire "race" a joke in itself. But I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did.

In concluding what he learned from his whirlwind world trek, Hely intriguingly summarizes America's standing:

I got to thinking that America isn't like a bully, or a jock, or a cool kid. In the high school of the world, America is like one of those girls that's just effortlessly beautiful. So beautiful you can't even have a crush on her. A girl that isn't deliberately mean, it's just that she can't possibly understand how lucky she is. And people always do what she wants, without her even realizing it, so she never bothers becoming smart, or savvy about the other kids in school. Just with her airhead remarks, she's always accidentally screwing up the whole order of things. She doesn't even realize it.

Now, when you have a girl like that, the other kinda-pretty girls sort of like her but sort of hate her. That's maybe Germany, or France. And the ugly girls talk about her in the locker room, but are still totally afraid of her. That's Venezuela and Iran. The regular-looking dudes can't help but be awed by her. Maybe they try to woo her with poems. That's Great Britain. And the real twisted kids develop unhealthy obsessions about destroying her, just because they're infuriated at how unfair things are.

That's insightful, at least in my book.

Chandrasekaran, meanwhile, injects arresting moments of his own, including moving stories of sites and people he visits in Berlin, Palestine, Moscow and Cambodia.

All told, The Ridiculous Race was well worth $15. I read it in three days or so (that's how light it is).