Jim Medding’s Blog

With the 2012 presidential campaign in full swing, I’m frequently reminded of the following scene in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It has always been one of my favorites, but now it seems to have taken on an additional meaning.

Bedevere: Why do you think that she is a witch?
Peasant: Well, she turned me into a newt.
[Bedevere gives him a disbelieving look]
Bedevere: A newt?
[Silence]
Peasant: Well, I got better.

Many small towns have a local newspaper and the one I live in is no exception. Once a week someone throws a paper onto the end of my driveway expecting that I’ll read it and patronize the local businesses who advertise in it. As you can imagine, there isn’t much worthy of being read in something produced with such low expectations. However, I have found that the police reports provide the most entertainment value.

Oh those wacky things my neighbors will do.

Occasionally, one can draw deeper value from the reports. Consider the following report:

Weapons violations: Three male juveniles were playing “war” with Airsoft guns in an abandoned lot. Two of the juveniles… had been warned the day prior about playing with Airsoft guns in the city limits… The guns were taken…

And then, 50 some minutes later:

Sex offense, other: Police received a report of four juvenile males “mooning” traffic by exposing their bare bottoms and honking their vehicle’s horn to get attention.

Well, it’s pretty obvious what happened here. After the police took their Airsoft guns away, they got with their friend who owns a car and went out to entertain themselves.

Maybe the toy guns weren’t so bad.

We’ve all seen them – “international” icons used to communicate a message without using written words. Some work and some don’t.

Since moving into a new building at work, I’ve been puzzled about the icon used to communicate evacuating the building during a fire. It just didn’t seem quite right. I though more about casually dancing down the stairs than about fleeing a burning building.

Care to cha-cha-cha your way out of the building?

No thanks, “aaaah , runaway!” seems more appropriate for the moment.

Then, I found an icon in an older building.

Yep, that’s it.

A recent text message exchange between my wife and myself has convinced me that perhaps it’s time to consider a cell phone upgrade.

Wife:

I found some glasses today and they are on order. They were reasonably priced although I am looking at some pricey sunglasses.

Me:

Ugh! Ok thanks for the warning

Wife:

I like the way you only respond to the last part of the message. Aren’t you glad I found glasses?

Me:

Txtg on stoopid phne hurtz. Am hppy much

Unfortunately, our current cell phone service provider has decided that any phone that can make sending text messages pain free should also be featured up so as to require a data plan. The idea of sending more money that the wad I’m already sending to the bozo’s who concocted such a stoopid idea has convinced me to continue to endure the hurtz.

Even though it’s one of the most famous motorcycle races in the world, the Isle of Man TT get’s very little attention here in the States. Well, perhaps outside of the motorcycle racing world here in the states. Then again, motorcycle racing just doesn’t get any attention here in the States.

I’m not quite sure why. Whenever I happen upon a televised race on some obscure cable channel, I’m always amazed at how riveting it is. Man perched on top of raw horsepower with nothing between his fragile flesh and hard unyielding objects but a thin piece of leather.

It kind of looks like this.

Recently, a date encoding in an auto-generated e-mail subject heading caught my eye. It was an interesting pattern. Being the type of person to see the street number of a house and think “I like that number” before realizing that it’s my birth date, I decided to treat myself and ruminate on the pattern. The curious date encoding was almost a binary number; next year it would be a binary number. But there’s a date code next year which is binary and it has a repeating pattern – 101010. Repeating patterns are even better.

“Nice to look at, but is there anything else about this date pattern which is interesting?” I thought.

“Hmm, I wonder what that is in decimal.”

The Answer is – 42.

So, we don’t have to wait 7.5 million years for a supercomputer to calculate the meaning of life. It has its own date which comes around every 100 years. Spread the word.

10/10/10 is the Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything Day. Don’t miss it.

Recently, after I shared one of my favorite racing videos with a coworker, he responded by suggesting that since I liked old racing videos, I might like this one:

On an August morning in 1978, French filmmaker Claude Lelouch mounted a gyro-stabilized camera to the bumper of a Ferrari 275 GTB and had a friend, a professional Formula 1 racer, drive at breakneck speed through the heart of Paris early in the morning. The film was limited for technical reasons to 10 minutes; the course was from Porte Dauphine , through the Louvre, to the Basilica of Sacre Coeur.

No streets were closed, for Lelouch was unable to obtain a permit.

The driver completed the course in about 9 minutes, reaching nearly 140 MPH in some stretches. The footage reveals him running 20 real red lights, nearly hitting real pedestrians, and driving the wrong way up real one-way streets.

Upon showing the film in public for the first time, Lelouch was arrested. He has never revealed the identity of the driver, and the film went underground.

Wikipedia describes some of the facts about the video a bit differently, but it still leaves you using my daughter’s favorite expression – OMG.

The feature article in the Fall 2009 edition of Eagletter, which I was able to borrow, from the National Eagle Scout Association is an interview of Mike Rowe the host of Dirty Jobs. While the whole interview is well worth your time to read, I found a couple of quotes exceptional.

When asked about the highlights of his time in Scouting, Mike responded with this list of familiar activities.

I remember experiences more than accomplishments. Summer camp at Broad Creek in Maryland. Playing ridiculously dangerous games like “swing the thing” and “British bulldog.” Whitewater rafting. “Capture the flag” in the dark. Going to Philmont. Riding horses in New Mexico. Singing songs. Hundreds of campfires. Really bad freeze-dried food. Spam. Lots of Spam.

Asked to compare “Dirty Jobs” to the merit badge program, Mike said:

Both have required me to work in areas outside of my comfort zone. And both provide endless variety. However, the context is different. The merit badge program is designed to reward accomplishment and instill a sense of consequence. You meet the requirements; you get the badge. Otherwise, no badge. On “Dirty Jobs,” my only obligation is to make an honest effort and do the work at hand. The work itself (aside from my paycheck) is the reward. I am probably the only person working who is paid to try.

Well said, Mike.

In a recent news event, it was mentioned that any e-mail sent to the White House must be retained, by act of Congress, forever. It occurred to me that this was a really cool feature which would allow you to send a message into the future for your decedents.

I mentioned this in passing to my son Greg who is, apparently, a bit more devious than I am. He realized that it was a great way to back up your term papers.

Now, the obvious thought one would have, is, sure you can have your data backed up, but how do you get it back?

No problem; it’s called the Freedom of Information Act.

In a recent conversation with my son, Greg, he was telling me about a processor with 3 cores. We both agreed that there was something wrong about having 3 cores, but couldn’t quite figure it out. Then it came to us – you can’t have a processor with 3 cores because that’s a prime number. And furthermore it’s not a power of two. Geeze, why didn’t they think this through before they brought it to market?