Javabeans!

Some of you may recall that I recently wished for a new television show, like American Idol, to choose and finance an independent candidate for 2008.

It turns out that a similar idea was actually aired back in 2004: clicky for 2004 show

Also, others have come up with a similar idea: clicky for another's idea

And now there is a real show planned by myspace for next year's election: clicky for myspace info

There are two potential problems with the myspace version: first, I believe it might be considered "free campaign air time" for the candidate, and I think there are rules about equal time for all candidates, or some such, so it could be very expensive for any network airing it (currently no network has picked it up). Second, the show will be owned (de facto) by Rupert Murdoch, which suggests possibilities for bias in the show.

EDIT: Here's a better article about the MySpace show, from variety.com

When we complained that you had a loud ass, we didn't mean your donkey...

Donkey's day in court

Old joke: How do you kill a circus? Go for the juggler.

A friend mentioned learning to juggle earlier today. At first I thought she meant it literally, and prepared to offer a little advice that was good for me when I first learned.

When learning to juggle, stand with a chair, table, or bed in front of you. This does two things: first, when you drop the balls (and you will!), they don't fall far, and are easy to pick up; second, the balls want to travel forward, getting away from you -- you can't chase them, they fall, you pick them up again, and continue.

When I actually read the post, it was not about literal juggling, but juggling of tasks, which can be just as impressive when you get good at it, but is just as difficult to master. Still, the same advice holds...when tasks start to get away from you, don't chase them, and if they fall, just pick them up and continue!

Of course, when the boss learns how well you juggle three or four balls or rings, they'll bring you the knives and flaming torches...

(before anybody asks, I can juggle three balls or hankies fairly well, but that's about it).

For a few years now, I've been trying to find the title of a movie that I saw in the mid-80s. Well I found it!

All I could really remember about the movie was that it was Gene Hackman as the boring dad of an angst-ridden teenage son, the two were in a cafe, when gunfire breaks out. The two get out of the cafe, and to the car, where the son says something like, let me drive, Dad, this is too much for you. Turns out, though, that the father had been playing the meek role for years, that he was really ex-CIA, and very action oriented, much to the son's surprise! Car chase ensues. I think the car they were in was a Mini Cooper. I also thought it was an older movie when I saw it (on videotape).

People would suggest French Connection (1971, Gene Hackman) or Italian Job (little car, 1969), but they didn't really seem right. Turns out the movie was new in the 80s, a 1985 flick called "Target" with Gene Hackman as the father, and Matt Damon as the son.

Now if I can just remember the name of that movie from the 70s -- all I remember is a large globular space station and swords made out of lasers. But that can't be right, can it?

There should be a way to tell one's fortune by their coffee. I don't mean looking at the grind in the bottom of their Turkish coffee, which has been done, and is in some ways like staring at tea leaves. Rather, I mean this:

The fortune teller would pour a cup of coffee into a clear cup, and ask the client to put in cream. The manner and amount of cream added would have meaning, of course. Rather than stirring the cream into the coffee, watch the patterns -- how fast the swirls dance, what direction they go. It's even more dramatic if you've got large flat pieces of ice in the coffee, and can watch the swirling through the ice. I'm sure there's predictive meaning in there somewhere!

I can't log in to my MSN account today. I don't know if the work firewall is blocking it, or if MSN is just taking a nap today. Any news?

Yesterday I ranted a bit about Mr. Tire.

Today, I'm a little less ticked. I think they've fixed the grinding problem with the front wheels, and they tightened my parking brake (it needed it, but I didn't ask for it, they just did it, didn't charge for it). They couldn't reproduce the "coughing" problem, and it only happened once to me between Annapolis and work, so maybe something got dust in it and it's finally being filtered out? They noted that the struts are shot (I knew that, but I'm not going to pay $1000 for them), and that I should replace the spark plug wires (I can do that myself). So in the end it all worked out, for the price I expected. I'm mostly just miffed that they did work before it was authorized, and that they didn't seem to listen to what the problems were. I think they're a bit like the dog in the famous Far Side cartoon showing what we say and what dogs hear.

What we say: please check the engine, let me know if it's OK. If it's OK, I'll get new tires of type TIRETYPE.
What they hear: please blah blah blah, OK, blah blah, new tires, blah blah blah.

Sigh.

Would I go back there? Yeah, probably, especially for oil changes, tire rotations (especially with lifetime free rotation with purchase of tires). But I'll make requests piece-meal. Ask for engine. After they get back to me, ask for tires. No mention of tires until they report.

UPDATE: I went to Starbucks to drink my lunch, and found that there is still some scraping sound when turning sharp left. It's not as bad as it was, but it's still there. Idiots.

Auto repair place is suggesting replacement of distributor cap and rotor. Is this a relatively easy repair that I could do myself? What's a reasonable price to have them do it?

Thanks!

silmaril is discussing the prefix "meta-" in her journal. One meaning is "beyond" -- for example, metaphysical is "beyond physical." So, if I use a particular diminutive of my name (Stophel), and then go beyond myself, would I be...

Meta-Stophelese
???

I want to see a prime time call-in voting show called "American President" dedicated to choosing an independent candidate for the next presidential election. Do it like "You're the One That I Want" -- the show that chose Danny and Sandy for the upcoming Broadway production of Grease. Have a diverse group of political experts (perhaps news reporters, college profs, etc.) narrow a set of candidates down to 16 based on the education, debating skills, experience, whatever (but not political views!), then have on-air debates, speeches, mock state-of-the-state addresses, Q&A sessions with real newspeople. America votes which candidate will run as an independent in 2008.

Thoughts?