I know I haven't posted in a few days, and I just wanted to let you all know that I'm not in one of my semi-regular spells of blog moodiness. On the contrary, I have several topics I want to write about at the moment. It's just that there's a lot of family stuff going on right now, and I've been working nights at the cafe again lately, so there aren't a whole lot of spare moments. I'm hoping to be back in the saddle again soon, but until then, I leave you with this video of a dude solving the Rubik's Cube. In 20 seconds. With one hand.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Monday, August 28, 2006
Tidbits from baseball history
Perhaps the last objectively useful quality of ESPN.com* is its MLB Historical Index, which is a shame, because as far as I know, I'm the only person who knows about it. In an effort to change that, I present for your consideration some interesting tidbits about from baseball history.
I've always loved the triple; it's one of the most exciting plays in baseball (baseball haters, hold your "That's not saying much!" comments), requiring a rare combination of power, speed, luck, and guts. In this age where juiced baseballs and biceps have resulted in ridiculously inflated home run numbers, the triple remains a vestige of baseball purity.
And yet it's far rarer than the home run, for obvious reasons. Baseball has seen a player hit 40 or more home runs in one season 277 times, not counting the three players who have already hit 40 this season, but there has never been a 40-triple season in major league history.
Middle infielders routinely pop off for 30 or more home runs, but only three players in history have hit more than 30 triples in one season, and two of those happened in the 19th century. (Who knows how many of those parks even had fences?)
The last time a player hit more than 25 triples was 1925, when Kiki Culyer legged out 26 for the eventual World Series champs, the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In my lifetime, i.e., since September 1, 1977, only two players have hit 20 or more in one season: George Brett in 1979 and Christian Guzman in 2000.
So there you have it: the triple. Never again will you insult the honor of the three-bagger by thinking of it as merely the hardest-won hit in the cycle. Next time you are lucky enough to see a player hit one, stand up and cheer, for you will have just witnessed a little tidbit of baseball history.
*For more on my feelings about ESPN.com, see here.
I've always loved the triple; it's one of the most exciting plays in baseball (baseball haters, hold your "That's not saying much!" comments), requiring a rare combination of power, speed, luck, and guts. In this age where juiced baseballs and biceps have resulted in ridiculously inflated home run numbers, the triple remains a vestige of baseball purity.
And yet it's far rarer than the home run, for obvious reasons. Baseball has seen a player hit 40 or more home runs in one season 277 times, not counting the three players who have already hit 40 this season, but there has never been a 40-triple season in major league history.
Middle infielders routinely pop off for 30 or more home runs, but only three players in history have hit more than 30 triples in one season, and two of those happened in the 19th century. (Who knows how many of those parks even had fences?)
The last time a player hit more than 25 triples was 1925, when Kiki Culyer legged out 26 for the eventual World Series champs, the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In my lifetime, i.e., since September 1, 1977, only two players have hit 20 or more in one season: George Brett in 1979 and Christian Guzman in 2000.
So there you have it: the triple. Never again will you insult the honor of the three-bagger by thinking of it as merely the hardest-won hit in the cycle. Next time you are lucky enough to see a player hit one, stand up and cheer, for you will have just witnessed a little tidbit of baseball history.
*For more on my feelings about ESPN.com, see here.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Getting away
We're off to the Adirondack Mountains for a weekend of camping. That's right: black flies, ragweed pollen, and an overnight low of 37 degrees tonight! Hooray for camping!
I do love camping, even in cold weather. It's like I say, you can put always put on another layer, but you can only take so many off. The ragweed and black flies, on the other hand...let's just say I'll be about 5% Claritin and 5% Deep Woods OFF! by the time I get back to Rochester. But it will be much-needed time away from everyone but each other. No offense, friends.
I'll be back when the week is new, and I'll have more ideas for you.
I do love camping, even in cold weather. It's like I say, you can put always put on another layer, but you can only take so many off. The ragweed and black flies, on the other hand...let's just say I'll be about 5% Claritin and 5% Deep Woods OFF! by the time I get back to Rochester. But it will be much-needed time away from everyone but each other. No offense, friends.
I'll be back when the week is new, and I'll have more ideas for you.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Yippee, a new couch
If you've been to our house and sat on our couch lately, well, I'm sorry. It served us well, but it was definitely time for a new one. I think I reached my breaking point when I leaned over to get something off the end table and my hand went all the way down to the floor.
Here's our new one:
Come have a sit!
Here's our new one:
Come have a sit!
Another switcher in our midst
My friend Ben is the latest one of my friends to buy a new Mac. He went to the Apple Store last night and picked up a lovely new MacBook along with a nice new 30 GB iPod on the sweet education deal they run at the end of every summer.
This makes a small handful--I'd say four or five--of friends of mine who have switched since I did three years ago, with at least two or three more in the wings who plan to make their next purchase a Mac. This is not to say I'm responsible for it or anything; it's just interesting to me. I am a bit of an early adopter, I suppose. But I guess I find it somewhat affirming to see other people coming to the same conclusion I did and ditching Windows PCs in favor of OS X and Apple-built computers.
It's also interesting to note that I switched after looking over the shoulder of another recent (at the time) switcher, who has since had other friends of his switch as well. It makes me wonder if my anecdotal observation might be indicative of a larger trend, and if word of mouth is playing a significant but undefined role in some increase in Mac usage.
This makes a small handful--I'd say four or five--of friends of mine who have switched since I did three years ago, with at least two or three more in the wings who plan to make their next purchase a Mac. This is not to say I'm responsible for it or anything; it's just interesting to me. I am a bit of an early adopter, I suppose. But I guess I find it somewhat affirming to see other people coming to the same conclusion I did and ditching Windows PCs in favor of OS X and Apple-built computers.
It's also interesting to note that I switched after looking over the shoulder of another recent (at the time) switcher, who has since had other friends of his switch as well. It makes me wonder if my anecdotal observation might be indicative of a larger trend, and if word of mouth is playing a significant but undefined role in some increase in Mac usage.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Bob Ryan tells the truth about the Red Sox
From Bob Ryan's recent article in The Boston Globe:
It's full of good stuff, but in order to get the to most poignant statement, you have to read the final three paragraphs, which are not about the Yanks or Sox, but about sports in general. Give it a read.
"The truth is that the Red Sox made their big move against the (inferior) National League, and they weren't alone. The Red Sox, Tigers, White Sox, and Twins were a combined 61-11 against the NL. I know that looks ridiculous, but it's the gospel truth. The Red Sox are now officially .500 in their own league. Now we must accept the fact that they were never really that good."
It's full of good stuff, but in order to get the to most poignant statement, you have to read the final three paragraphs, which are not about the Yanks or Sox, but about sports in general. Give it a read.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Subaru wagon hatch (un)stuck
I like to post about little problems that I fix, always hoping that someone else will find my solution using a search engine and be able to use the solution. Let's see if I can sneak as many probable keywords as possible into this entry.
The problem this time was a stuck latch on my station wagon's rear door. I have a '98 Subaru Legacy, but I'm sure a similar mechanism is in the Outback, Forester, Impreza, and maybe even the B9 Tribeca. Once locked, the hatch would not open or unlock; it felt as if it were still locked when I pulled on the handle. (Even though I could hear it power-unlock.)
I found a solution that worked for me in an online forum. Apparently a rusty latch mechanism is fairly common in Subarus (as are bad clutches, as I have also learned firsthand), and sure enough, it was pretty rusty up behind the handle.
To open it, lock the hatch with the key. (Since I always use the keyless entry system, I didn't know which way to turn it to lock it, so I had to try both directions. Turns out you turn it to the left to lock it.) Anyway, lock it with the key. Then push the handle toward the car. Then unlock it and it should open. Apparently, corrosion of the pivot points in the handle impairs the mechanism that unlocks the hatch, so you have to push it back manually.
I suspect the healthy dose of WD-40 that I sprayed into the latch should keep it working for a while anyway. It seems to open and close and lock and unlock without problems, for now at least.
The problem this time was a stuck latch on my station wagon's rear door. I have a '98 Subaru Legacy, but I'm sure a similar mechanism is in the Outback, Forester, Impreza, and maybe even the B9 Tribeca. Once locked, the hatch would not open or unlock; it felt as if it were still locked when I pulled on the handle. (Even though I could hear it power-unlock.)
I found a solution that worked for me in an online forum. Apparently a rusty latch mechanism is fairly common in Subarus (as are bad clutches, as I have also learned firsthand), and sure enough, it was pretty rusty up behind the handle.
To open it, lock the hatch with the key. (Since I always use the keyless entry system, I didn't know which way to turn it to lock it, so I had to try both directions. Turns out you turn it to the left to lock it.) Anyway, lock it with the key. Then push the handle toward the car. Then unlock it and it should open. Apparently, corrosion of the pivot points in the handle impairs the mechanism that unlocks the hatch, so you have to push it back manually.
I suspect the healthy dose of WD-40 that I sprayed into the latch should keep it working for a while anyway. It seems to open and close and lock and unlock without problems, for now at least.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Sermon plug
This Sunday I will be giving a talk at Artisan Church (service at 5:00 p.m., check the website for details and directions), and you're all invited. It is part 3 of our summer "Artisan iMix" series, where each week's theme is based on a style of music. My topic is jazz, and in a follow-up to last summer's jazz sermon, I will be talking about understanding tensions (in both life and music) that seem unresolved or unresolvable. The presentation will include a live musical demonstration that will probably involve me trying to plunk out a jazz chord on a tinkly upright piano, so at least there will be some unintentional comedy.
And the best part is, all P.F. readers get in free! Hope to see you there.
And the best part is, all P.F. readers get in free! Hope to see you there.
A good benchmark
Attention, ladies in the cafe:
A good way to determine if your conversation is too loud is to ask yourself, "I wonder if the guy twenty feet behind me listening to Bach's Goldberg Variations on his iPod as loud as is physically comfortable can still hear my voice clearly?"
If the answer is yes...or even if the answer just might be yes, you are being too loud. Shh.
A good way to determine if your conversation is too loud is to ask yourself, "I wonder if the guy twenty feet behind me listening to Bach's Goldberg Variations on his iPod as loud as is physically comfortable can still hear my voice clearly?"
If the answer is yes...or even if the answer just might be yes, you are being too loud. Shh.
Uh, yeah...about that MacBook Wi-Fi hack?
Turns out the real danger comes only when you decide to use a third-party wireless driver instead of the one that ships standard on all MacBooks. Scary, isn't it?
Macworld reports:
Well, that's nice of them. Although presumably if a hacker had access to your laptop long enough to install third-party wireless drivers, he wouldn't have to bother with trying to control it remotely, huh?
Kudos to John Gruber for calling this B.S. from the start.
Macworld reports:
As it turns out, Maynor did not use the internal Apple wireless driver, but rather a third-party driver. SecureWorks' Web site has been updated since the demonstration to reflect that fact.
"Although an Apple MacBook was used as the demo platform, it was exploited through a third-party wireless device driver -- not the original wireless device driver that ships with the MacBook," says the company's Web site. "As part of a responsible disclosure policy, we are not disclosing the name of the third-party wireless device driver until a patch is available."
Well, that's nice of them. Although presumably if a hacker had access to your laptop long enough to install third-party wireless drivers, he wouldn't have to bother with trying to control it remotely, huh?
Kudos to John Gruber for calling this B.S. from the start.
Monday, August 14, 2006
I'm still here
Just wanted to let you all know I'm still around. I've just been tired, busy, distracted, and disinterested in blogging. No word on how long that will continue, but here are a few things to entertain you in the meantime:
1. The Amazon.com reviews of Tuscan Whole Milk. This is another Internet phenomenon, and probably a stupid one, but some of the reviews are pretty funny.
2. The national anthem sung by Marvin Gaye (awesome)...
3. ...and Carl Lewis (even awesomer).
1. The Amazon.com reviews of Tuscan Whole Milk. This is another Internet phenomenon, and probably a stupid one, but some of the reviews are pretty funny.
2. The national anthem sung by Marvin Gaye (awesome)...
3. ...and Carl Lewis (even awesomer).
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