Pandemic Silver Linings

The pandemic has been horrible in so many ways. Lives have been lost. Jobs and businesses have been lost. Education gaps have widened. Friends and loved ones have been isolated from one another. 

But allow me to call out a few silver linings:

Seeing Heroes: Nurses. Grocery store workers. Truck drivers. Meat packing plant workers. Farmers. Restaurant staff. The list goes on and on. The rank and file is full of under-appreciated heroes who have stepped up during this crisis. These are the heroes who are pulling us through this -- not our venerated athletes or CEOs.

Appreciating Missing Critical People: Many parents now have much better understanding of what every teacher deals with every day. What about people who clean houses and cut hair and so many other tasks that we value, but were put on hold? During the lockdown, we have been living the old adage that you don't properly value what you have until it is taken away from you.

BLM: George Floyd wasn't the first. Black and brown people have been victims of police brutality before, so why did these protests really gain traction? I think we can thank the pandemic. 

1. Logistics: Traffic is light and parking is easy. 
2. Free Time: Movie theaters and gyms and most other athletic/entertainment venues are closed. Plus, unemployment is around 20%.
3. No Distractions: There are no sports or new movies or other distractions to replace it in the news cycle. The BLM movement is flourishing in the open space created by the pandemic.

Inspiring Change: The wheels of progress in education grind incredibly slowly. The pandemic has the potential to add a big jolt of innovation as schools and educators try to figure out how to make virtual and blended learning work. I imagine that necessity is driving innovation in other areas as well. 

Seeing Flaws in Our Systems: People who depend on their low-paying jobs for their healthcare are either showing up when sick (e.g., Smithfield plant) or losing health coverage. Many CEOs and Presidents and other leaders have made it explicitly clear that they care more about money than they do about the health of the people who toil to enrich them. The pandemic is a stressor that helps us see the flaws in our systems. It doesn't point the way to fixing them, but understanding that something is broken is the first step.

None of these silver linings provide succor to those who have lost loved ones or businesses or jobs or security or comfort. As a society, I am hopeful that we will make changes to our mindsets, relationships, and systems so the legacy of the pandemic will include some good outcomes.

Kennedy Center Honors: Led Zeppelin

A friend at work sent me a link to a video from Heart's tribute to Led Zeppelin at the Kennedy Center Honors:

Heart Performs Stairway to Heaven

The Washington Post's Chris Richards' Led Zeppelin: Rock-and-roll’s most magical formula, struck me as remarkable. The best music critics can put into words that which you or I can only feel, but not articulate. Chris Richards has done just that in this article. Richards also has an interview with the surviving members: Kennedy Center Honors recipients Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones on Led Zeppelin’s fabled chemistry and unwritten future.

I'm not Chris Richards, so I will keep this short: From the first time I heard Led Zeppelin, it seemed like an echo of some tribal rhythm that had always been there. What's remarkable to me is that it still feels the same way. So many of their songs seem to plug directly into my soul.

On Nostalgia and Repetition

Chuck Klosterman's article Nostalgia on Repeat at Grantland struck a chord with me.

Like Klosterman, I had a limited set of albums and cassettes when I was a kid. When I lived in Sierra Leone between the ages of 4 and 6, we had no television, and radio was pretty useless. All I did was listen to a short list of albums:

• Easy Rider (motion picture soundtrack)
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, by The Beatles
• ABC, by The Jackson 5
• The Sound of Music (motion picture soundtrack)
• 1812 Overture, by Tchaikovsky
• Carnival of the Animals, by Saint Saens

That's it. I listened to those albums pretty much every day for easily a year and a half. I put a lot of time in listening to these albums, and thus listening to anything from them brings back feelings that are out of proportion to the quality of the music (though you gotta admit that it isn't a bad list of albums. It could have been a whole lot worse, right?).

The great mathematician John von Neumann said "Young man, in mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them." As a math educator, I interpret this as a call to practice, practice, practice. I wonder if this idea can apply to music as well? Perhaps the key to really appreciating music is to listen, listen, listen.

I still sometimes get into a mood where I listen to the same album (or short list of albums) pretty often in a short time. The good new is that I'm pretty sure that Boy Kid does the repetition thing, too. The bad news is that his list of albums isn't nearly as good as mine was. One step at a time.

Grantland

Grantland has me hooked. I stumbled onto Grantland when checking scores at ESPN, which employs Grantland's editor-in-chief Bill Simmons. The articles drew me in.

• The Greatest Paper that Ever Died is the first article I read. It is LONG, but fascinating. I dimly recall The National (a failed attempt at a national sports newspaper), but this "article" brings it to life in a unique way. It is a series of quotes assembled as a transcription of an oral history of the endeavor. Really, really good and interesting.
• Space, Time, and DVR Mechanics was eerie. It's like Chuck Klosterman was staring straight into my soul.
• It's Time for LeBrondown, Part II rings very true.

Check out the articles. It's an online magazine I can really get into. The look is uncluttered. The writing is interesting.

Video Series: Look Around You

I have seen many educational videos in my day, but these are the best. The series is called Look Around You. Here are some examples:

• Maths: The round curve that meets up with itself (if it only had a name)
• Germs: The mitotene germ incubation
• Music: "Number 9 of the series" (nice Beatles reference)
• Iron: "We are working with AC/DC because it's heavy metal"

I am so much smarter now. Other topics include Ghosts, Sulpher, Brain, Calcium, Water, and Computer Games.

Horrid Movie; Great Poem

I recently saw Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanimo Bay. I liked the original Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, so I figured what the heck?

The movie was spectacularly bad, but had two good parts to it. Here is a guide to watching the movie if you have it on DVR or some other linear medium that does not allow scene hopping, but does allow fast forward.

Start the movie and immediately hit fast forward. If you have 3 fast speeds, choose speed 3. If you allows yourself to hear the beginning of the movie, you can't say I didn't warn you. It starts out rather vile, then generally oscillates between being nasty and banal.

When you see the men in white sheets, get ready to hit the play button. Once Harold and Kumar start flagging down the little red/orange car, hit play. The scene is a bit ribald, but only thanks to some language. Neil Patrick Harris is great as "himself" in both Harold and Kumar movies. If you are clever with searching YouTube, you can find the two clips that combined make up NPH's time in the movie. One has "Takes Shrooms" in the title and the other has "Brands a Ho."

Once NPH exits the brothel and is done trying to get in the car (you will know when his attempt is done), go back to fast forward.

When you see Harold and Kumar falling from a rather high place, get ready to hit the play button. When the groom walks back up the aisle and past the bride, hit play. Here is the good part and here is the text of the poem: The Square Root of Three.

That's it. You have seen the best parts of the movie. Actually, you could probably same some effort if all you do is watch the clips at YouTube, but suit yourself.

Another Sick Day: Steve Saves the Day

A couple years ago, I posted about playing Tiger Woods on my PS2 while sick. Today I was sick, but actually did a fair amount of work. I was in meetings and reviewed some documents, but during a couple times when I felt particularly miserable, I turned on the TV. I was looking for Jerry Springer, but couldn't find him. On a total lark, I tried the Steve Wilkos Show.

I had never heard of this guy, but figured I'd give it a try. Turns out Steve is the guy who used to run security for Jerry. His show is pure gold! It has the freshness that Jerry had 17 years ago. Here is an IM exchange I had with a friend from work:

RestonKid: today's episode: "Best Friends, Who's the Dad?"

Tex's Mom: LOL

RestonKid: results of DNA tests

Tex's Mom: those are my favorite shows

Tex's Mom: the "baby daddy" shows

RestonKid: "Brandon, you ARE the father."

RestonKid: "when are you gonna grow up?"

RestonKid: "you better stop now! stop bringing kids into the world you aren't going to take care of"

RestonKid: "ok, my young friend with your cocaine troubles and not being able to keep his ____ in his pants can get off my stage."

RestonKid: immediately followed by a plug (with Steve's voiceover) for http://www.dnacenter.com

Tex's Mom: LOL...i need to stay home and watch some daytime TV

Tex's Mom: i am so missing out

RestonKid: this has renewed my faith in mankind

RestonKid: you need to send me updates on the Steve Wilkos Show when you are out with Tex

RestonKid: upcoming episode: Moms Confront Prostitute Daughters

Check out his Ask Steve page on the Steve Wilkos site. This guy is the best. I know this says really shameful things about me, but so be it.

If it were a documentary or a news story, it would make me mad or sad. As a matter of fact, I have friends who have had crazy situations in their romantic lives. Frankly, if they lived in trailer parks, some of them are crazy enough situations to fit in with Maury or Jerry or Steve's shows. For my friends, I truly have nothing but sympathy and compassion. But when people go on a show to air their issues, I just sit back and enjoy. Context is everything.

Mr. Tony Returning to His Show?

I have never been a morning zoo radio guy. Howard Stern, Greaseman, Don & Mike, and their like have generally not been appealing to me.

On the other hand, I am a big fan of Tony Kornheiser's radio show. Why do I like Tony? I dunno. He's kinda funny, he's pretty smart, and he has great guests. Also, it's not exactly a morning zoo, but I do like his crew: Jeanne McManus, Sally Jenkins, Liz Clarke, and Tracee Hamilton all make for interesting foils for Tony and his ample neuroses. The topics they discuss are generally interesting:

• Sports: Tony has a bunch of great sports writers as guests on his show. Tim Kurkjian, John "Junior" Feinstein, Mitch Albom, Sally Jenkins, and Richard Justice to name but a few. These people know their stuff.
  
• Music: Tony's knowledge of music is amazing. Some of his musical taste skews slightly old for me, but I like music and like to listen to people who are passionate about music.
• American Idol: I don't watch American Idol, but I enjoy listening to Tony and his guests (including Lisa de Moraes) analyzing the show.
• Current Events/Tony's life: The dude is neurotic, but I like his stories and his take on things.
  

Why do I mention this today? On washingtonpost.com, Dan Steinberg's D.C. Sports Bog had an entry Kornheiser Getting Ready for Radio Return. Oh happy day! I won't really believe it until I see the press release from WTEM that includes a specific start date and time, but this is definitely reason for optimism. Once he is back, I will watch Satchmo's show on News Channel 8 for:

1. Updates from the front lines of the animal revolution
2. Haikus
3. The OPN
   
4. Old Guy Radio

And remember. If you're out on your bike tonight, do wear white.

Random Observation: George Jetson, Time Tourist & Mailman

This is absolutely the most random comment I have ever typed.

I was watching Magilla Gorilla with Girl Kid recently and I noticed that the mailman delivering a package to the pet shop looked familiar. It was George Jetson! What the heck was he doing walking on a street in the 1960's? Was the mailman simply George's doppelganger, or did George travel through time? Actually, maybe the entire Magilla Gorilla series was actually on a holodeck in some futuristic amusement park. My mind was boggling. The scientific and even philosophical implications are too intense.

As I was coping with the possibilities, I suddenly noticed that Mister Peebles looked suspiciously like George's boss Mister Spacely. That sealed it. It couldn't be a coincidence. George and Mr. Spacely clearly mastered time travel. Note that the Magilla Gorilla show started filming after The Jetsons' run was mostly done.

It turns out that I am not the first to notice that Mr. Spacely had an alter ego, but maybe I am the first to notice that George was moonlighting as well.

Wow. As I get older, I see that life is full of rich connections.

TED Talks, Volume 4: Uncertainty

Here is another talk from TED. I enjoy wading through and looking for talks that bring me new connections or ideas. Listening to bright people with innovative ideas provides much-needed fuel for my brain.

Topic: We all have to make decisions under uncertainty just about constantly, and we stink at it.

Dan Gilbert: How we are deceived by our own miscalculations of the future
Note that this also ties into the topic of happiness.

Peter Donnelly: How juries are fooled by statistics
Lawyers and statisticians can make data say what they want.

This topic is near and dear to my heart. I think that everyone should have to take a decent course in probability and statistics. The goal isn't to create more positions for math teachers, but rather to educate people so they can be good citizens.

Was the Press Fair?

Over the past 5 years, press coverage of Britney Spears has been more negative than coverage of Beyonce Knowles. I don't have statistics to back this up, but I feel confident in the statement. Does this reflect a bias toward one performer, or does it reflect decisions each performer has made?

Similarly, I am always cognizant of the liberal slant the press often has, but I don't agree with pseudo-conservatives who see the bias everywhere. Pseudo-cons complained about the amount of negative press for McCain, but have they thought about the ways that McCain brought it on himself?

• McCain shut off access to the press corps, so all they could do was look for their own stories. When you cut off access, you give up your chance to help the media craft the story.
• It was clear to many people that Palin was a spectacularly desperate pick. Once nominated, she was cutoff from most of the media. She was not well-known and was embroiled in her own series of dramas. She also lied and kept on lying (e.g., about her opposition to the bridge to nowhere). Basically, she was a never-ending drama factory and that is going to attract negative attention like Britney attracts paparazzi.
  
• When the economic crisis hit, McCain tried to do something bold, but instead, he just looked like a flip-flopper who alienated many members of his own party.

On the other hand,

• The race for the Republican nomination was finished long before the Democratic race. No race means no news. Obama stayed in a hotly-contested race for a longer time, so he kept on being in the news.
• There seems to be a statute of limitations on old dirt. The press didn't play up Biden's old plagiarism issues any more than they played up McCain's old infidelity issues.
• The Dems seemed to recognize this statute of limitations on old dirt, but the GOP didn't. All four candidates had old dirt, but only the Republican candidates decided to use it and that strategy smelled like desperation.
  
• Biden is a known quantity who made mistakes in the past, and fessed up to them. He isn't without faults, but most of them were old news.
  

Anyway, I recognize that there is a liberal bias in the media, but I don't see that bias as the primary reason for the imbalance in this year's coverage of the Presidential race. It accounts for the imbalance in positive stories, but not the imbalance in negative stories. The Republicans brought much of that negativity upon themselves.

Donklephant has this post about this topic.

Web Stuff Friday: Scary Bunny Movies

Angry Alien Productions has a series of 30-second movies starring cartoon bunnies. Their creator calls them "movie parodies in bun-o-vision." Most of these re-makes of famous movies are quite fun. Here are some of the great scary bunny movies. There are other scary movies at the site and several other non-scary movies, but these are just the scary ones I have seen.

• Alien
• The Exorcist
• Night of the Living Dead
• ...and the great one: The Shining

I've watched a couple bunny movies for films I never saw, but they didn't really work for me. When you've seen the movie, the bunny re-make is a nice reminder of what made the movie so great (or so bad).

BTW: One friend at work does a great job of impersonating the bunny saying "sometimes" like Linda Blair in The Exorcist. She knows she'll get a chuckle out of me when she does. It's one of those gifts that keeps on giving.

Bob Costas' Hair

I know this blog has covered an incredibly broad list of topics, but today we will sink to a new low.

What's the deal with Bob Costas' hair? I noticed it while watching the olympics last night, so I googled "bob costas dyed hair" (no quotes) and came up with some hits.

• Is Bob Costas hair getting darker as the games progress? at SpartanTailgait.com
• Olympics: Michael Wins at Sioux City Journal's BruceBlog
• a poll at CycloneFanatic.com asks "What do you think of Bob Costas?"

Anyway, it's comforting to know I wasn't the only one who was taken aback.

I've always given women a hard time for dying the grey out of their hair, but it's no better when a man does it. Why fight it? A bad dye job runs the risk of making you look like you are desperately trying to hang on to your lost youth. It's like a bad combover. Just don't do it.

Farewell George Carlin

George Carlin passed away Sunday night. I wanted to provide a retrospective in video, but the problem is that I try to keep this blog clean.

It took a while to find a couple really clean and funny ones. I could find plenty of clean ones and plenty of funny ones, but bits that were both were not easy to find. Here are a couple of his cleaner funny bits:

Newscast:


Baseball and Football:


George was an incredible commentator on our society. He was absolutely fabulous for years and years and years. He wasn't just funny; he was very insightful. I usually felt that when I listened to one of his routines, I ended up thinking even more than I laughed.

He was also really good at cursing. He didn't just throw curses out. He used them really effectively. His routines weren't about the bad words (except for his very famous one about the seven words you can't use on TV), but he used them as tools. In this way, he was very much like Lenny Bruce who also did lots of really on-point social commentary and really good cursing.

George did lots of cursing and lots of railing against conservative America, corporate America, and religion. As far as I could tell, his later years were all about these curse-laden diatribes as he became even more political than he was in his youth. Some of this stuff was funny and much of it was an important part of the discourse, but I prefer his earlier stuff. With George Carlin and Richard Pryor gone, we no longer have a really funny man from that era (the 60's and 70's) who can also enlighten us and get us to think. Chris Rock is great, but he is of a different time. I can only hope we can find others to continue the tradition that Lenny Bruce started.

Soundtrack: Etta James (At Last!), William Shatner (Has Been), Stan Kenton (Kenton on Hi-Fi)

Music Monday: Crash into the Car Wash

Mrs. Kid and I watched Crash last night and I realized that it is really a re-make.

• A day in various intertwined lives in Los Angeles
• Racial tensions between blacks, whites, and hispanics
• Tensions amongst blacks, some of whom are more militant and some of whom are trying to get along and make it in the white-man's world
  
• Socio-ecomonic conflict between "haves" and "have-nots"
• Musicians being actors
• Cars

Crash is just a slightly more serious version of Car Wash (in which the recently-deceased George Carlin acted.)

Opening scene including Richard Pryor and intra-racial tension


Closing scene with narrated credits

Web Stuff Friday: Great Movie Trailers

It's been a long time since I saw all three of these movies. I just don't remember them being like this.

The Shining Recut: So uplifting.


Mary Poppins Recut: That's one scary movie!


Top Gun Recut: Pair this with Brokeback Mountain.


Now to update my Netflix queue.

The Global Pool of Money and the Dalai Lama

This American Life had a show on the mortgage/credit crisis called The Giant Pool of Money. Wow. Listening to how all this happened is really scary.

Studio 360 had a show about a guy named Pico Iyer who has known the Dalai Lama for years:

One thing that struck me about the interview was Pico's observation that the Dalai Lama doesn't want people to convert to Buddhism without understanding it completely, but rather would like people to take from it what makes sense to them without leaving their own traditions. Getting some insight into who the Dalai Lama is as a person was really interesting.

Kudos to John Favreau

Mrs. Kid and I saw Iron Man this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. Robert Downy, Jr. was a good choice for the MIT-educated, brilliant playboy who dons an iron suit as he finds he really does have a conscience. The movie was good, but the ending is really good.

** Spoiler Alert -- Plot Details Follow **

The movie's climax has your basic epic battle between the good guy and the bad guy. It's standard "how will he survive this against such terrible odds?" stuff that makes for a satisfactory ending. Once the climax has ended, a brief denouement wraps things up, but just as you are calmed down and ready to just saunter out of the theater, Tony Stark (who is standing at a podium for a press conference) announces "I am Iron Man" and then the ending credits roll accompanied by one of the great comic book inspired songs of all time.

Other comic book movie adaptations have theme songs by Danny Elfman (Batman, Dick Tracy, Spider-Man, Hulk, etc.) , but Iron Man is different. Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath did the ultimate song for Iron Man years ago and it still works today:

When Tony Stark says "I am Iron Man" and then the movie kicks straight into the Black Sabbath song for the closing credits, I was ready to watch the movie all over again. It brought it all full circle and tapped into my adolescent love of the song's primal heavy metal drive that seemed to dovetail so nicely with the comics I enjoyed as a kid.

Soundtrack: Black Sabbath (Iron Man), Led Zeppelin (Houses of the Holy), Menomena (Friend and Foe), The Crystal Method (Legion of Boom)

Vivid Pictures of Information

The Washington Post had an article in the Sunday paper that really did a nice job of laying out some of causes of the current world food crisis. It had an illustration that really works for me:

The Global Grain Trade: The Haves and Have-nots

This image makes it easy to see where the food supply problems are.

Another nice piece is this little interactive about Reasons for Rising Food Prices. It's nice when there is lots of blame to go around.

Note: these pieces aren't as affective as Charles Joseph Minard's graphic of Napoleon's Russian campaign, but they are pretty nice. Minard's illustration is a cold, futile journey across Europe. Just looking at it makes me cold and tired.

Visual designers who use really good information architecture can create graphics that do more than present information. They can tell compelling stories that help us all understand situations or events.

Music Monday: What Is That From?

Music can really make a commercial work. Here are a few of my favorites. See if you can remember the product that was sold. Answers are at the bottom of this post, but you have to select the text to see them.

Royksopp: Remind Me (a light, catchy tune that gets stuck in my head, but I'm ok with that)
(this is a different mix, but the videos with the right mix have the brand in their titles)


Carl Orff: O Fortuna, from the opera Carmina Burana (epic operatic masterpiece)


Nick Drake: Pink Moon (the commercial sold lots of albums for this late, tragic British folksinger)


ELO: Mr. Blue Sky (great rock tune)


Iggy Pop: Lust for Life (one of the great sell-outs of all time)


And the king...
Moby: Find My Baby (all 18 songs from the Play album were licensed for commercial use. This is how Moby got his music heard)


Answers (select the text below to see a partial list of products for the above songs):

Royksopp: GEICO (caveman in airport)
Carl Orff: Guinness beer, Old Spice, Reebok, Pringles, etc.
Nik Drake: VW Cabrio
ELO: Sears, VW Beetle
Iggy Pop: Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
Moby: American Express (Tiger Woods playing golf in a city)