Caddickisms

Well, another year has come and gone. In just a few hours it’ll be 2009. Lots of people all around the planet are gearing up for some serious, I-can’t-remember-what-I-did-last-night celebrations. Others are having a simpler party with friends at their house. Still others are just settling in at home for a night focused on the ball drop, excitement, and reflection.

My wife and I are going to put the kids to bed at their normal time, then watch a couple of movies. Maybe we’ll have some snacks. If the movie’s over, we might watch the ball drop. Or we might go to sleep. It’ll be pretty similar to most nights.

What can I say? We’re boring. But I like this plan. I like relaxing with my wife, not having to worry about being a host, or being a polite guest while trying to avoid stuffing my face with whatever party food is available (and failing at that). I like being able to fall asleep when I’m tired instead of having to entertain someone or drive myself home.

Besides, I don’t really see what’s so special about New Year’s Eve (beyond the fact that I get a couple of free days off work). My brother feels the same way about birthdays. With him they’re no big deal (for adults). “You survived another year. Whoopee.” I disagree with that, to a large part because the focus is on an individual who has very likely accomplished much within that year, and regardless should be acknowledged for being special (though, really, that should happen every day).

But I see New Years the way he sees birthdays. The earth didn’t blow up this time around the sun. Okay. Good. I’m happy about that. So basically, the sun is going to rise tomorrow… just like it did today. Nothing really changes, except the calendar. Same stuff, different day. Seems like it’s just an excuse to get together and set off some fireworks. I don’t have anything against that — I like fireworks, and parties are fun — but I don’t really see the point.

I used to go to/host parties every year. I had a good time. I enjoyed the ones where I hung out with a couple of close friends but as time went on I kind of lost interest in the whole global celebration thing.

Still, like I said, I get a couple of vacation days out of it, so I’m good.

What are you doing on New Year’s Eve, and why?

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That’s not a euphemism. I actually felt the earth move last night. We had an 3.4 earthquake at midnight last night, with an epicenter about 5 miles from my house. This is the second earthquake in this area that I’ve been able to feel in the last 15 years. The epicenter for the first one was about a 40-minute drive away, and it felt like a huge truck was driving past my window at about 60 miles an hour. The house rattled a bit. There was damage at the epicenter and surrounding area, but it didn’t cause any problems for me.

This one didn’t cause any damage anywhere, and was very different. There were at least three distinct “bangs.” The first two were reminiscent of one of my kids having fallen out of bed and knocking over something heavy on the way down – like a bowling ball that was on a pedestal. Then the big one hit. After that one, I got up out of my chair and actually looked out all of my windows to see if I could see the light from the fire that I assumed would be there from the tanker truck that must have just exploded down the street. In the back of my mind I wondered if it was an earthquake, but I had to look anyway. The rumble was so deep – not the sound so much but the vibration. It literally felt deep.

I was surprised at how quick and sharp it was, too. With the other one there were little aftershocks I felt like distant echoes. With this one, after those three rapid explosions it was over as if nothing had happened.

That 2 seconds, though, left me with a feeling of deep respect and fear, and the definite knowledge that if some larger earthquake were to occur here, there would be nothing to do but pray.

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…there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying…

Glory to God –

Merry Christmas to everyone!

(I’ve sung Handel’s Messiah a few times, and listened to it countless times, and I like it more every time I hear it. Pure art. Do yourself a favor and listen to some more.)

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I’m trying out a new theme. There are definitely pieces of it I really like, but it’s a radical change from what I’m used to. The biggest thing that might keep me from using it is that it’s a fixed width (size doesn’t change with your browser size). There are a couple other things that I’m not sure about, but generally I think it’s pretty clean and has potential.

I figured I’d check in with you all. Any opinions?

Do you like it the way it is? Do you prefer the previous theme? Would this be better if I tweaked it a bit (e.g., made it variable width)?

Or is this a topic that you couldn’t care less about if it was buried beneath 3000 tons of wet concrete?

UPDATE: Wow… not only are there pieces of this theme that I’d have to edit to make me happy, it actually BROKE MY WP STATS! I’ve apparently had zero hits since I put it up (which is obviously wrong, since I have comments and Google Analytics shows activity). As such, I’ve deactivated it and replaced the old theme. I’m taking the elements I like from the bad theme and looking for another that provides those features without breaking things in the process.

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I don’t know a whole lot about Wolverine’s origins other than what is in the X-Men movies. For some reason I never read the comics versions. I’m pretty excited to see this. Plus, it’s got Gambit. I know some people don’t like him, but he was one of my favorite X-Men from the TV cartoons.

Not sure how that helicopter thing is going to work out… that looks a bit cheesy in the trailer, but I’m willing to let it slide for now. Looking forward to this one.

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To get us through the winter repeats, some shows are giving us webisodes. That includes Battlestar Galactica and Heroes.

In both cases, the short series are meant to provide a lead-in to the new episodes, now still a month away.

Heroes picks up during the final moments of the “Villains” finale and focuses on one of the recruits for the injection program:

Battlestar Galactica’s offering seems to be following Felix Gaeta on a somewhat doomed trip.

And then there are shows that don’t give us full stories, but keep releasing new commercials to tantalize us. Smallville has just released a good overview of the second half of what will likely be its final season (though we’ve been saying that for two or three years now).

The surprise for me? The Legion of Super-heroes. I didn’t think they’d do that. Isn’t Kara supposed to be one of them? I didn’t see her in the group. Maybe I’m getting my Super-groups confused. Oh, and it looks like Lana is back for a least a couple more episodes. Oh well. At least she’s a bit more interesting these days. She apparently went to action hero school while she was gone.

All in all… looking forward to all three of these series to return.

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This show, loved by millions, and seen every year since it originally aired in 1965, would never be produced today in our politically correct world. It’s just too controversial.

This show has it all: small children berating each other every few minutes; greed; self-centeredness; exclusionary behavior; insensitivity…

(more…)

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Christopher Nolan, director of The Dark Knight, has stated that he’s in no hurry to make the second sequel to Batman Begins. He has reason to be cautious. Historically speaking, the third installment in a franchise has been, shall we say, lacking. Superman III, Spiderman 3, Terminator 3, Batman Forever, Rocky III, Police Academy 3… need I go on? Nolan’s got the right idea:

“I don’t know why they’re hard to do,” Nolan said. “Maybe there’s so much expectation to them. But I wouldn’t want to do one if it weren’t going to be as good as the first or second. That’s not respectful to the fans… The worst thing you could do now that you’ve gotten the plane back in the air is mess up the landing.”

Thankfully, Nolan is pushing back on Warner Bros., who want to jump ahead, to hold off until he has something worth making.

Interestingly, he also noted that the recently released DVD will not have any deleted scenes including Heath Ledger’s wonderful performance, nor will it have any outtakes. He said he’s not holding back, he just doesn’t have any deleted Joker scenes. He also feels that including outtakes is disrespectful to the actors, who work hard and trust the director to include their best work.

Finally, come January we may get the chance to see The Dark Knight on the big screen one more time. It appears that it’s being re-released to help generate Oscar-buzz and DVD sales.

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Speaking of sci-fi action franchises starring Christian Bale… the first full trailer for Terminator: Salvation has been released. Go see it!

It’s interesting to note that at some point John Conner says that “this is not the future my mother warned me about. Something has changed.” Maybe it’s that better Terminators have been invented than the ones that were sent into the past to kill her or him.  That would explain some of the stuff I’ve been hearing about the Terminator TV series (which I haven’t gotten around to watching yet, unfortunately).

This looks like it will be the darkest entry in the series, which makes sense given that this is the post-apocalyptic time period. All out war with the machines. It will be a special effects extravaganza. Hopefully the story holds up as well.

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If you know who Ron Moore (creator of the new Battlestar Galactica), Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog), and Seth McFarland (creator of Family Guy) are, you’ll love this Robot Chicken clip.

Oh, yeah… you also have to realize this is meant for adults, and that it’s way more offensive than most stuff I post here.

And you have to be in the US (sorry… nothing I can do about that. I don’t own Cartoon Network.).

So… if you meet all those criteria, enjoy this!

Robot Chicken pushes the envelope farther than even Family Guy. But I can’t deny it’s funny…

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Three years ago today, at 11:48pm, I wrote these amazingly insightful words:

Check it out…

Friday, December 9th, 2005

Looks like I am officially blogging. I am too cool for words. (Ironic, isn’t it.)

Thusly did this, my first blogging experience, begin. Pretty sad, really, but there you have it. Now here we are, three years and over 400 posts later, and I figure it’s about time I looked back to see if I’ve ever written anything worth reading. (I figure I must have said something worthwhile at some point. It can’t be complete inanity, can it?)

To that end, here is a list of the posts I’ve written over the last three years that I think are worth a second look, roughly broken by category.

Comics (not much to choose from here, really)

• An attache case, an underground government, and a Spider-Man on the edge

Corporate World/Learning (there’s too much overlap between these to justify separating them for this purpose)

• Technical writers, pay attention
• A series reviewing Oprah’s “A New World” online training with Eckhart Tolle: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3
• Alice: Through the Monitor (or Creating new worlds for Novices)
• How to leave a lasting legacy
• Corporate Gaming: Recruiting and Training – this is a subject I should actually get back to at some point.
• Media and Technology issues for Learning and Persuasion
• Re-igniting Passion – This is a personal favorite
• Fight trolls with math!
• e-Learning Glitz: Misunderstanding video games
• Instructional Design reminders – This one actually shows up in a resource list on The Learned Man

Movies & TV (includes Reviews & Sci-Fi)

• Doctor Who reviews: 2005 & 2006, 2007, and 2008
• The best cancelled shows
• Review: The Second Chance – A movie by Steve Taylor with Michael W. Smith in the lead? Could this possibly be good?
• 11 minutes ago – I still want to see this full movie.
• Review: The Spider-Man Trilogy
• Top 10 most quotable geek films
• Review: The Prince of Egypt (and a quick review of the trailer)
• Review: Crash
• Review: Superman Returns
• Review: Justice League
• Crusade: What would have happened

Music

Hmm… honestly this category is pretty new and I like almost all the posts. If I had to choose just three though:

• MTV Yearbook – where does it take you?
• Five songs that altered my perceptions
• I’m a prejudiced idiot

Other

• What futility doesn’t feel like
• C.S. Lewis on living by hope
• Some people have REALLY short fuses
• Stuck in the office (or your in-laws’ house) during Christmas week? – Christmas Specials!
• Look out for the edge!? What edge?
• Swiping a sirloin is certainly stupid
• What I’ve been thinking
• Pennsylvania Gas Prices – Find Cheap Gas Prices in Pennsylvania – I actually use this all the time
• Does a sex offender live near you?
• Impairment while driving on phone > drunk driving and the related Cell phones + driving = drunk Driving
• Bryce Zabel: Those who can, teach
• Traffic jams
• Humility
• Stop everything

Parenting

• Kids in the movie theater
• Facebook points to the past, and I consider the future
• Grilled cheese and the science of successive approximation
• Little Mommy moments
• Heroes?
• Little Mommy drops the… um… ball
• Bad parenting confessions
• The Silence of the Lamb – actually my wife wrote this one.

Personal Finance

• Why I don’t have a dog
• I want to end my life, but I’m too lazy
• Saving 12% in interest in 10 minutes and its off-site follow-up: Don’t make the Dr. Evil error of assuming
• Unexpected costs, things that have broken lately, and lessons learned
• Why I hate unions
• Is a meal preparation service a good deal?
• The Simple Dollar – and other personal finance links

Technology

• Fixing published audio problems in Captivate 2
• I’m a casualty of war
• Free music and sound effects for podcasts
• Video: Photosynth demo – awakening to the true power of the web
• Dynamic Image Resizing
• Web 2.0 applications / free conferencing
• Making MP3s playable on a website, the easy way
• A slow day in the world of computer usability reporting
• The disfiguration of beauty
• Podcasting for corporate training example – how I did it
• Wiki’s in a corporate environment

Well, what do you know… that list turned out longer than I thought. I probably wasn’t as judicious as I should have been in a couple categories, but I really think most of those posts don’t get the traffic they deserve – especially the Corporate World/Learning set, though I know the audience for that is limited.

Anyway… I hope you click through to at least a couple of them. It’s been a fun experience to write this stuff for the last three years, and I hope it hasn’t been too boring for you (but then, no one’s forcing you to read this… unless you’re my wife).

Also, if you have any suggestions for things you’d like to see here in the future, please let me know in the comments. I really do like feedback.

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Human Brain Transplantation Protocol Approved To Reverse Nerve And Brain Damage

This is one of the coolest science pieces I’ve come across ever.

You know why brain injury is so bad? Because cells in the brain don’t regenerate. Once you kill them, they’re dead. No healing.

Now there’s a workaround on deck.

While growing cells in petri dishes has been done for more than a century, this old technique is being applied in ground-breaking new ways, and with space-age equipment, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Neurofunctional Surgery Center. The goal is to produce cures for such previously incurable conditions as spinal cord injuries, stroke, epilepsy, and Parkinson’s disease.

The project was sparked by the recent discovery of human brain cells’ potential for regeneration, contradicting previous scientific assumptions. “While it is true that brain cells don’t regenerate in situ, we have found that a very small number of brain cells, harvested and placed into a special environment, can be stimulated to regenerate, and that regeneration continues when the cells are re-introduced into the brain…”

The article goes on to say that they think they can use this technique to cure degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease relatively easily because they’d only be working with a single type of neurotransmitter cells. Other problems, such as spinal cord injuries, are much more difficult due to the large variations in cells required for repair. Still they believe they’re only about six months off of treating such patients with this technique.

The next step, they say, is to learn how to stimulate the cells to regenerate while still inside the brain. That would eliminate, I assume, the need for two surgeries — one to harvest the required cells, and one to implant the regenerating cells.

This just has huge implications for treating brain injury and disease. Imagine that yesterday you had no hope for ever improving and saw your life moving in a downward spiral, physically. Then you hear about this. The potential for serious, life-altering treatment is about 6 months away.

This is absolutely tremendous. If I’m understanding this correctly, I can’t think of a bigger medical announcement that has occurred in my lifetime.

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