Real Kato Blog

Let me say this about John McCain. He's an honorable and decent guy. I appreciate it when he says he has respect for Obama and the Democratic campaign. I appreciate it when he admits that Republicans and Congress "lost the trust of the American people... when we valued our power over our principles". He has more class and humility than the rest of his party, who can seem to do nothing but criticize Obama for being charismatic.

It's really the Republican party that has lost its way. The party has embraced the ideals of its most far-right fringe elements. In the official party platform this year: abortion should be illegal even when a mother's health or life is at risk; there should be no path towards residency for illegal immigrants; gay marriage should be outlawed. These are all positions that McCain personally opposed in the past, but he since has capitulated to the Republican party (flip-flopped?) in order to win conservative support. A maverick? Maybe he was, once. But somehow, a good man has been dragged down by a party that is bent on a reactionary agenda.

It's an important thing to remember here: you're not just voting for a person when you vote for president, you're voting for a party and an administration, an executive branch with hundreds of federal appointees who represent their party interests. Sure, the character, charisma, and intelligence of the president himself are important. But you can't ignore the issues and the principles of the political parties when you cast your ballot.

Election day is Tuesday, November 4th.

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Posted by Ken in: politics

Republican National Convention Part II

Wednesday, 2008 September 3 - 9:58 pm

Okay... did they really start a "drill, baby, drill" chant during Giuliani's speech? Really? Really?

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: politics

McCain's Voicemail to Sarah Palin

Wednesday, 2008 September 3 - 3:49 pm

This is brilliant.

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Posted by Ken in: funnyhaha, politics

Republican National Convention Part I

Tuesday, 2008 September 2 - 10:08 pm

Just a couple of quick thoughts on the Republican convention.

First, it irks me that the crowd chants "U.S.A." so much. They might as well be chanting, "We're More Patriotic".

Second, I'm confused by the message. Is John McCain is a maverick that bucks is own party, or is he a standard-bearer for Republican values? Is Sarah Palin a "breath of fresh air", or is experience the most important issue in this election? Do we need to "shake up Washington", or are we supposed to rely on McCain's decades of Washington experience? Are we supposed to vote based on primarily on personal traits (i.e. vote for McCain because he's an honorable guy), or ignore them (i.e. don't vote for Obama just because of his intelligence)?

Third, the Republican view of world relations is staggering. Not only do they don't think it's important that the world has respect for us and our President, they actually see that as a negative quality. It's as if to say, "if the Germans like Obama, he can't be good for our country."

Don't get me wrong. I found many of the Democratic speeches to be equally irritating for the amount of pandering. But with the Republicans, it's hard to believe that anyone actually falls for it.

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Posted by Ken in: politics

Football Season Starts Boo

Sunday, 2008 August 31 - 3:04 pm

Michigan 23, Utah 25

This game was not as close as the score indicated. Utah utterly dominated Michigan, and if not for a couple of turnovers and a flood of timely Utah penalties, Michigan would probably have lost by three touchdowns.

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: sports

McCain selects Governor Palin as VP Nominee

Friday, 2008 August 29 - 10:39 am

Today, John McCain announced that Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, will be his running mate. Verrrrry interesting.

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: politics

Football Season Starts Whoo

Thursday, 2008 August 28 - 10:05 pm

Hooray football season hooray.

N.C. State gets off to its typically dismal start. South Carolina leads 27-0 in the fourth quarter right now, and State's starting quarterback went off the field on a stretcher. Ugh.

Michigan plays Utah this Saturday at 3:30 p.m. I'd like to put out a full preview, but I don't have the time (and sites like MGoBlog do that sort of thing much better). My prediction: 19-17 Michigan. Utah will keep it very close; Michigan will prevail on defense and special teams.

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Posted by Ken in: sports

Democratic National Convention, Again

Thursday, 2008 August 28 - 10:00 pm

Whew. Great speech by Barack Obama. He did what I'd hoped he'd do: he undercut what he expected the Republicans to throw at him next week. Very, very strong.

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Posted by Ken in: politics

Democratic National Convention

Tuesday, 2008 August 26 - 9:43 pm

Should I be live blogging the Democratic National Convention? Naah... I just don't have the energy to comment about every B-list politician and "ordinary person" who doesn't have any public speaking skills.

And anyway, many of the same comments apply this year as in years past:

speakers think they have to shout into the microphone to be heard
political delegates have absolutely no rhythm (and no shame)
everyone jumps at the chance to chant something

That being said, so far there have been a couple of highlights. Michelle Obama gave a great speech; the Obama kids were adorable; and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer just gave a pretty entertaining speech.

Hillary is coming on right now. Should be interesting.

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Posted by Ken in: politics

Obama Selects Biden as running mate

Saturday, 2008 August 23 - 10:21 am

Barack Obama selected Senator Joe Biden to be his vice presidential running mate this morning. This is pretty much in line with what I had thought the pick would be: male, older, whiter, with more foreign policy experience. However, I did think that Obama would lean towards someone more conservative. Texas congressman Chet Edwards was mentioned frequently in the last few days. Maybe Obama just didn't want the name "Edwards" anywhere near his campaign.

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: politics

New Zealand Anti-Drinking Ad 3

Monday, 2008 August 18 - 8:57 am

And, one more.

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Posted by Ken in: interesting, television

New Zealand Anti-Drinking Ad 2

Monday, 2008 August 18 - 8:56 am

Here's another one.

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Posted by Ken in: interesting, television

New Zealand Anti-Drinking Ad

Monday, 2008 August 18 - 8:52 am

I found the anti-drinking advertisement on YouTube. I had a few details wrong, but I had the gist of it. Here it is.

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Posted by Ken in: interesting, television

New Zealand Part III

Thursday, 2008 August 14 - 11:41 pm

On our final day in New Zealand, we went to the Antarctic Centre, and to the Orana Wildlife Park. The wildlife park was definitely a highlight of the trip. Pictures and videos after the jump.

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: life, travel

New Zealand Part II

Thursday, 2008 August 14 - 10:42 pm

Amy and I took one day to drive out and see some of the countryside, heading up to the harbor at Akaroa.

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: life, travel

New Zealand Part I

Thursday, 2008 August 14 - 10:18 pm

A couple of weeks ago, I went to New Zealand on a business trip. Amy came along for fun. I think we've mostly recovered from the jet-lag. Mostly.

New Zealand is a beautiful, beautiful country, even in winter. (Apparently, summer is winter in New Zealand. Also, left is right. For the first day or so, I even got up and down confused.) The locals tell us we got lucky when it came to the weather; it was mostly clear (or "fine", as they call it) with temperatures in the 50s (er, 10s).

It's just getting there that's the horrible part. Our trip there spanned thirty hours and four different flights... each way. The flight from San Francisco to Auckland (the third leg of the flight out) was nearly fifteen hours long. And the flight was completely full... full of about 300 Catholic teenagers headed for World Catholic Youth Day in Australia. (At least they weren't rowdy.)

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: life

Coining phrases

Thursday, 2008 August 14 - 7:47 pm

It's occurred to me that whenever I have a high-effort blog post to write (like, say, a recap of a trip to New Zealand), I put off writing it until I have a bunch of free time. (Which is practically never.) But I also avoid writing about anything else, figuring that I should be making the big post the highest priority item. So what happens is nothing ends up getting written. I'm trying to think of a word that properly sums up this blogging gridlock phenomenon: blogridlock? intestinal bloggage? Suggestions are welcome.

It's also occurred to me that I should probably create a way to micro-blog on this site. I want something sort of like Twitter, but I want it more of a place to put up a quick link or interesting story that I've found, rather than a place to let the world know that I'm about to go take a dump or something. I'd make the feed into a daily digest of these items, so it doesn't clog up RSS feeds with a bunch of tiny items. I need a name for this too, like "ittybittyblog". (I've already registered the domain name, natch.) Maybe I'll make it a service that others can use, hmm.

Anyway... I'll get started on my New Zealand post. It won't be perfect, but I need to get it out of the way.

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Posted by Ken in: bloggers, site-business

Happy July Fourth

Tuesday, 2008 August 5 - 10:41 pm

Er, August. Fifth.

Geez, I'm officially a month behind on blog posting. Now, granted, I spent a good deal of July out of town. But I feel like I should have at least micro-blogged or something. (The kids, they're all twittering these days.) So much has been happening, and letting it all just pile up has made it seem that much more overwhelming.

Anyway, I'll try to catch up.

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: life, travel

Back from the Future

Tuesday, 2008 July 22 - 10:26 am

Well, hello everyone. I've just returned from the future! Specifically, I just got back from New Zealand, where they are sixteen hours ahead of us. In the future, people talk with a different accent, they drive on the other side of the road, and they love rugby.

I'll have a full report, including pictures, shortly, once I've lifted the fog of travel and jet-lag.

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Posted by Ken in: life, travel

Hiatus

Wednesday, 2008 July 9 - 9:45 pm

I'm long overdue for a post, I know. Please bear with me... I've got lots going on right now.

Permalink Comment (1)
Posted by Ken in: site-business

Daisy, Daisy...

Saturday, 2008 June 28 - 9:49 am

The other day on NPR, neurological research Jill Bolte Taylor was discussing her experience of having a stroke. It occurred in the left hemisphere of her brain, affecting her ability to speak, read, and put events together in order. Because her logic was impaired, she had a hard time even recognizing that she was having a stroke, or figuring out what to do about it. She was barely able to call for help, having to match the "squiggles" on the phone against the printed phone number of a neighbor.

After the stroke, she was left without her memories and her sense of self for years. She had to relearn how to read and speak, and reestablish relationships with friends and family. But she did recover, for the most part, and has since written a book about her experience called My Stroke of Insight.

The reason I mention this story is because it touches on one of my greatest fears: losing my mind to the point where I lose my sense of self, whether it be due to old age, a stroke, Alzheimer's, or some sort of brain trauma. If I lost my identity, it'd almost be like dying. And aside from being mauled by a thresher, being buried alive, or being digested slowly in the belly of a Sarlacc, I can't really think of too many worse ways to go.

And here's the thing: I can already tell that I'm not as smart as I used to be, at least in some respects. It's like I'm the HAL9000 and I've lost a couple of computing modules. I can feel it. Compared to when I was in college, I'm not as able to absorb information and grasp concepts as quickly now. It takes more mental effort; I have to make analogies to things I already know, draw pictures and diagrams, and write things down. I know it's a natural process; I mean, that's just the way the brain works. Over the years, it's less capable of taking in raw data, but tries to make up for it by organizing information more efficiently... like, by making analogies.

But when confronted with a completely new idea, or when needing to memorize large amounts of information, I just can't do it as well as I used to. So I have to wonder: is this the start of the eventual decline? Thirty years from now, will I even realize (or care) that my mind is going? Maybe I'll look back on this blog entry and say, "What a load of hooey... and hey, look at that shiny thing!"

There are a number of times in my life when I wished I'd had a "Save as..." command on myself, preserving the ideas and feelings and abilities of my life at the time. This is one of those times. I have a happy marriage and great friends, and I want to preserve a snapshot of that. If I do have a stroke or something and I lose my identity, please don't let me forget all that I have.

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Posted by Ken in: life

The Middleman Premieres!

Tuesday, 2008 June 17 - 9:36 am

Did you catch it? Javi's new show "The Middleman" premiered last night on ABC Family. It's also available on iTunes... it was free for a while, but now it's the standard $1.99.

It's interesting because if you know Javi, you can almost hear him talking in the dialog. The show is very Javi-esque, which is a great thing for a number of reasons: it's witty and full of pop culture references, and it pays great respect to its comic book roots.

I did like Natalie Morales as the appropriately cynical Wendy Watson. And Matt Keeslar does a fine job playing the straight-laced Middleman. But I think it'll take them a few episodes to find their legs in the characters. As someone who's seen a lot of Javi's work, I can tell you that it takes a certain mindset to understand the psychology of Javi's characters, and to express that correctly as an actor. Every now and then they'll be given a line with a complex socio-political-philosophical statement in it, and they'll have to work to wrap their minds and their tongues around the dialogue. But I'm sure they'll be get it.

The best part of the episode was catching this poster in the background:

javi middleman

Rock on, Javi.

Permalink Comments (2)
Posted by Ken in: television

Woo New iPhone Woo

Monday, 2008 June 9 - 2:57 pm

The short version:

- 3G wireless
- GPS
- Improved battery
- Improved audio
- $199 for 8GB, $299 for 16GB
- Available July 11

I think I'm most surprised by the depth of the price cut. That's half the price of the previous generation 8GB model ($399), and one-third the price of the original 8GB model ($599). Apple must be working some serious magic with volume component discounts to get the price down that quickly.

Immediate question: how long will the iPhone remain AT&T-only?

I'll have more WWDC commentary shortly, covering the new MobileMe service (which replaces dot.mac) and the new iPhone applications.

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Posted by Ken in: techwatch

We Win! (Barack Obama Edition)

Wednesday, 2008 June 4 - 10:40 pm

So Barack Obama has essentially clinched the Democratic nomination for the 2008 presidential election. Combining the pledged delegates from the primaries (which FINALLY ended yesterday), and the superdelegate endorsements, Obama now has the majority of the delegates, and is finally really free to focus on the general election.

Big questions still loom.

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: politics

We Win! (Detroit Red Wings edition)

Wednesday, 2008 June 4 - 10:12 pm

Whew.

So Monday night, I suffered as the Detroit Red Wings gave away the game-tying goal to Pittsburgh with 34 seconds left in the game, and proceeded to lose in triple-overtime.

Tonight, Detroit was within inches of giving it away again, but managed to stave off the Penguins, 3-2, winning the series in six games. The eventual winning goal came because Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury sat on the puck after it trickled between his legs, and his butt squirted the puck into his goal. On the other end, as the clock expired, the puck went all the way across the goal mouth after getting by Chris Osgood, but didn't go in.

I'm amazed at the level of talent on this Detroit team. It finally all came together: offense, defense, goaltending. Henrik Zetterberg was amazing. I guess this makes up for the disappointing finish of the Detroit Pistons (who, by the way, fired Flip Saunders after three years of underachieving).

Congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings.

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Posted by Ken in: sports

Reversal of Fortunes

Monday, 2008 June 2 - 11:01 am

I normally try to avoid work-related posts here, but this one seems important. Reversing several years of downsizing, our company is now hiring software engineers. We have a number of open positions. I won't go into specifics here, but if you're local to the Raleigh area and you're looking for a job, let me know and I'll email you the details.

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Posted by Ken in: life

T-Shirts

Wednesday, 2008 May 28 - 7:47 pm

Each of these t-shirts would be great for my friend Brett when he goes to the Around the Corner Bar:

All available from T-shirt Hell. Here's an odd thing: the Entertainment Software Ratings Board is apparently suing for copyright infringement... and they're not suing T-shirt Hell, they're suing a gaming blog that wrote about them.

In other news, perhaps more useful to my female readers: I've been informed that the phrase "just like my vagina" is the new "that's what she said". Go. Use it.

Permalink Comment (1)
Posted by Ken in: funnyhaha

American Idol 2008 Week 14: Finale

Wednesday, 2008 May 21 - 6:55 pm

So here it is, the final competition. It almost doesn't matter how they sing any more; it's really down to popularity. So even before watching them, I predict David Archuleta will win, even though David Cook deserves it more.

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: television

That's What She Said

Tuesday, 2008 May 20 - 3:59 pm

I've had some pretty good "that's what she said" interjections over the last, oh, twenty years or so. So as you can imagine, I get a lot of enjoyment watching "The Office". Someone who's just as off-kilter as I am has compiled a collection.

Enjoy. (That's what she said.)

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Posted by Ken in: funnyhaha, television

Important Announcement

Tuesday, 2008 May 20 - 8:08 am

"The Middleman" premieres June 16th on ABC Family.

That is all.

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Posted by Ken in: television

Whatchew Been Up To? (Redux)

Saturday, 2008 May 17 - 4:04 pm

It's been so long since I've posted anything about myself, "whatchew been up to" is, I suppose, a legitimate question now. Unlike before.

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: life

American Idol 2008 Week 13: Top 3

Tuesday, 2008 May 13 - 8:03 pm

Jason went out last week. This week: judges' choice, producers' choice, and contestants' choice.

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: television

New iPhone "Imminent"

Monday, 2008 May 12 - 12:32 pm

Web sites are abuzz with the rumor that a new iPhone is imminent. The two latest signs:

The iPhone is out of stock in Apple stores all over the world, and the online store lists it as "currently unavailable".
AT&T has a new option for iPhone Black on its customer phone selection web page; this matches rumors that the new iPhone will have a black plastic backing instead of its current aluminum one.

Apple often makes product announcements on Tuesdays. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Permalink Comment
Posted by Ken in: techwatch

American Idol 2008 Week 12: Top 4

Tuesday, 2008 May 6 - 8:02 pm

Brooke went out in tears last week. This week: rock and roll hall of fame songs... that's right, more golden oldies.

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: television

Obama Wins North Carolina

Tuesday, 2008 May 6 - 7:21 pm

It looks like Obama will win the North Carolina Democratic primary handily. With 5% of precincts reporting so far, Obama is taking 65% of the popular vote. This doesn't surprise me in the least, as nearly every Democrat I know here is an Obama supporter.

Hillary looks to be leading in Indiana, though there's a geographic split in the state that's skewing the early results. The final results are likely to be close. In all, today amounts to a win for Obama; with each Obama victory (or near-victory), he moves closer to eliminating Clinton's case for staying in the race.

When Amy and I went to vote today, we couldn't help but feel a little bit of awe at the prospect of voting for the first African-American president in U.S. history... and this, in the heart of the deep South, the home of Jesse Helms. Amazing.

Permalink Comment (1)
Posted by Ken in: politics

We might have to go through with this thing after all

Friday, 2008 May 2 - 5:28 pm

Flush the bombers, get the subs in launch mode. The on-again, off-again Microsoft-Yahoo merger might be on again.

A lot has already been written about the proposed merger, and my overall take is that most business guys seem to think it's a great idea, and most technology guys seem to think it's a terrible idea. Both arguments have some merit. I figured I'd take a little time to explore the pros and cons.

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: techwatch

I Suppose That WOULD Be Annoying

Wednesday, 2008 April 30 - 10:08 am

At first I thought this was an article from The Onion.

People of Lesbos take gay group to court over term 'Lesbian'

ATHENS, Greece - A Greek court has been asked to draw the line between the natives of the Aegean Sea island of Lesbos and the world's gay women.

Full article here.

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Posted by Ken in: funnyhaha

American Idol 2008 Week 11: Top 5

Tuesday, 2008 April 29 - 8:29 pm

Carly was the surprise loser last week. This week: Neil Diamond. Way to be modern and relevant, guys. This is turning into "Senior Citizen Idol".

Also, NOTE TO ANNOYING FRONT ROWS OF AUDIENCE: STOP WITH THE RHYTHMIC HAND-WAVING, YOU LOOK LIKE IDIOTS.

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: television

Proof

Thursday, 2008 April 24 - 9:30 am

Remember this post, where I noted the recurring pattern of Apple's stock plunging after announcing first quarter results, only to have the stock completely over the course of the year? Remember when I said Wall Street investors must be idiots?

The day before the announcement, on January 22nd, Apple stock closed at $159.64. The day after, on January 23rd, Apple stock plunged to $139.07. The stock eventually hit a low just under $120 per share.

As of right now, Apple's stock price is $162.55.

Apple's second quarter earnings report indicated a remarkable rise in Mac sales. Though iPod sales were essentially flat compared to last year, I think the Mac sales number is more important; Apple will pick up a much larger "halo effect" as new Mac owners purchase more software, accessories, and upgrades.

Watch for the stock to rise considerably in the run-up to the rumored introduction of the 3G iPhone. And for those who are interested, a 3G iPhone has become a stronger possibility now that one of the two major obstacles has (according to the rumor mill) been resolved: Apple may have found a low-power chipset that will allow for 3G communication. I'm still not sure how they plan to address AT&T's poor 3G coverage; perhaps they'll still market the current iPhone for areas not covered by 3G, at a reduced price.

Permalink Comment
Posted by Ken in: techwatch

Best News of the Day

Tuesday, 2008 April 22 - 9:34 pm

Masturbation May Prevent Prostate Cancer.

Permalink Comment (1)
Posted by Ken in: funnyhaha, interesting

New Catch Phrase

Tuesday, 2008 April 22 - 8:16 pm

One of Amy's co-workers noted about me: "He's funny. Not too funny, but funny." Here's an example.

While watching the show "Captured", Amy made the observation that murder victims were almost always nice, friendly people. "It's always the nice ones that killed. Maybe I should be a bitch."

My response: "No, it's just that they don't put it on TV when the bitches get killed. No one cares. Ain't no milk cartons for the bitches."

Ain't No Milk Cartons for the Bitches. We laughed for, oh, several seconds about that one.

Permalink Comment (1)
Posted by Ken in: funnyhaha

American Idol 2008 Week 10: Top 6

Tuesday, 2008 April 22 - 8:04 pm

Observation: instead of Ryan Seacrest giving us his signature "THIS.... is American Idol" opening, I'd like to hear James Earl Jones do it.

Kristy Lee Cook went out last week, at last. This week: show tunes! Specifically, Andrew Lloyd Webber music. Expect a lot of, er, drama. I think Jesus Christ Superstar offers the best chance for the contestants not to seem overly theatrical.

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: television

American Idol 2008 Week 9: Top 7

Tuesday, 2008 April 15 - 8:04 pm

Michael Johns went out last week. This week's theme: Mariah Carey, guh.

Read more...

Permalink Comments (3)
Posted by Ken in: television

Learn Something Every Day

Tuesday, 2008 April 15 - 12:33 pm

It's possible to be allergic to water. Sort of. Maybe.

Specifically, there's a very rare condition called aquagenic urticaria (water-related hives) that causes a person's skin to react to water with rashes and blisters.

Supposedly, there was a famous case of this some years ago, where a girl named Heidi Falconer was diagnosed with the problem; she had to be treated with a Swedish foam product that created a waterproof barrier for her skin, so she could do everyday things like taking a shower.

This smells a lot like an urban legend, and there's very little reliable medical information on this condition out there on teh Internets. So I'm not really sure how real this all is. "Aquagenic urticaria" is more of a symptom description than an actual disease, and some suspect that hypersensitivity to chlorine is a more likely cause of the problem than water itself. Also, it doesn't appear to be a histamine reaction, like most allergies. So "allergic to water" might be stretching the truth a little bit.

Permalink Comments (2)
Posted by Ken in: interesting

Deep in the Heart of Taxes

Sunday, 2008 April 13 - 4:40 pm

During tax time last year, I was shocked into a temporary state of Republicanism when I found that my various sales of Apple stock caused me to owe several thousand dollars in capital gains taxes. After squeezing every drop of [legal] deductions out of my returns, I still got socked with a combined federal and state tax bill of about $5700.

This year was somewhat better. I'm actually getting some money back on my federal return. I still owe money on my state return. I blame this on the bizarre NC-4 tax withholding worksheet, which somehow told me I was eligible for eight exemptions on my state taxes. And I believed it. D'oh!

So between my federal and state taxes, and the stimulus-package tax rebate that'll be coming, my net is somewhere around... zero. Which is good, I guess.

There was a question on Yahoo Answers recently (more of a rant than a question, actually), that went something like this: if all the damn liberals are so much in favor of higher taxes, why not make an optional line item on the tax return, so liberals can voluntarily pay more?

I answered thusly: "Sure, sounds reasonable. Also, conservatives who want lower taxes should voluntarily avoid using taxpayer-funded services, like roads, public parks, and the military. If conservatives want to continue the war in Iraq, the should go fight there themselves.

"Or maybe, just maybe, we should all get together and try to do what's in our common best interests, rather than just trying to maximize our personal gains."

My response received a couple of thumbs-ups and a couple of thumbs-downs before the question was deleted by Yahoo altogether.

It does make me wonder, though: are Republicans, because of their anti-tax stance, more likely to cheat on taxes than Democrats? And if so, shouldn't they be audited more frequently?

Permalink Comment
Posted by Ken in: life, politics

American Idol 2008 Week 8: Top 8

Wednesday, 2008 April 9 - 8:18 am

Ramiele went out last week. This week's theme: Inspirational songs. Everyone sticks to songs they're comfortable with, and it ends up being a pretty good night.

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: television

Learn Something Every Day

Friday, 2008 April 4 - 1:48 pm

I'm a few days behind with factoids, so I'll post several today.

There's little scientific evidence that drinking 64 ounces of water every day is necessary or beneficial. No one is quite sure where the "8 8-ounce glasses" standard came from, but the new thinking is more like the old thinking: drink when you're thirsty.

The word "disquisition" means "an elaborate analytical or explanatory essay or discussion". I'm not sure if there's a Spanish translation for that word, but then again, NOBODY expects a Spanish disquisition.

There are three elements that begin with the letter "D": dysprosium (Dy), Dubnium (Db) and Darmstadtium (Ds). Of the three, only dysprosium occurs in nature. Also, there are no elements that begin with the letter "W", unless you count "wolfram", which is more commonly known as tungsten (W). These facts may help you if you're trying to name all the elements from memory.

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Posted by Ken in: interesting

April Foo

Tuesday, 2008 April 1 - 8:13 pm

Yeah, I was gonna do a big April Fool's post, but I just didn't have the energy to finish it. I did find a video of the best April Fools' joke ever, though. Be sure to watch until the end.

Permalink Comments (2)
Posted by Ken in: funnyhaha

American Idol 2008 Week 7: Top 9

Tuesday, 2008 April 1 - 8:04 pm

Chikezie went out last week. This week's theme: Dolly Parton.

Read more...

Permalink Comment
Posted by Ken in: television

Learn Something Every Day

Monday, 2008 March 31 - 11:17 am

Today's factoid: Fructose melts at 104°C (219°F). Dextrose and glucose melt at 146°C (295°F). Sucrose melts at 186°C (367°F).

The reason I'm interested in this is because I'm trying to figure out if the slow-cooking process I use for beef ribs will, in fact, allow me to use add barbecue sauce during the cooking phase. The sweetener in most bottled barbecue sauces is high-fructose corn syrup (a mixture of fructose and glucose). So presumably, if the cooking temperature reaches the melting point of fructose, you'll start to get carmelization in the sauce, and that will destroy the flavor.

Cooking at 200°F should be low enough to avoid that. But I think I may have to experiment with it before trying it out on my rib-loving friends.

Permalink Comment
Posted by Ken in: food, interesting

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