Matthew Dicks's Blog, page 666

The good, the bad, and the people who should shut up

After day one of  aaPodcamp Boston, a few thoughts:

1. Why didn't anyone tell me about Podcamp before now?  Many, many thanks to @AnnKingman for giving me the heads-up!

2. There are some very smart and engaged people making a living in new media, and they are more than willing to share much of their experience and expertise, and they are enthusiastic in doing so.  How many other industries can make this claim?

3. Content...

Danger. Old people crossing.

I understand this sign.

I understand this sign.

I even understand this sign.

But I saw this one today.  

Could someone explain the need for caution here?

Old people can't stay within the crosswalk?

They can't see oncoming traffic?

Senior citizens are as helpless as ducklings?

The elderly are down-right dangerous?

No wonder old people are crotchety.

Canine critic

When you have clever and amusing friends babysitting your dog, you get updates like this:

Kaleigh had a good night.  Hung out with us and watched Glee.  She found it a little derivative and melodramatic, but thought the characters were compelling and the storyline bold.

Bring it on

You thought the Super Talon was cool?

How about this handy piece of furniture?

Admittedly I keep an aluminum baseball bat beside my bed and have plotted escape plans with Elysha in the event of a home invasion, but a table like this might actually cause me to hope for a late night burglar.

Worst movie dialogue ever

I recently watched the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral. I saw it years ago, but this film is timeless.

Sadly, the excellence of the movie is tarnished by one of the cheesiest lines in all of cinematic history. At the close of the movie, Charles and Carrie are standing in the rain, together at last. The final few lines of the movie include this gem:

Charles: There I was, standing there in the church, and for the first time in my whole life I realized I totally and utterly loved one...

No murder in my heart

Yesterday, I almost threw away a plastic bag containing labels marked with my daughter's name.

A few days before, I nearly ran a silver knife through the dishwasher. 

In both cases, Elysha stopped me, telling me that she "would have killed me" had she not prevented these minor disasters.

But here's the thing:  I cannot recall a single instance in which I felt like I might need to kill her for something she did. 

Please don't get me wrong.  I understand that Elysha had no plans on...

No middle ground

The University of Edinburgh released a study that measured the intelligence of adult brothers and sisters and found no significant difference in the average IQ between the sexes.

However, they did find that men are twice as likely to be at the top and bottom tiers of the IQ scale.

As a man, I'm not sure how I feel about this.

Personally, I know that my thoughts, speech, and actions reflect of my shifting position to the top or bottom tiers of of the intelligence scale. In short, I can...

Can you have too much choice?

A new Aldi's grocery store has opened about a mile from my home.  The foundation is being poured this week.

I must ask:  Do we need a new grocery store? Within fifteen minutes of my home, the following grocery stores are available to me:

Stop & Shop
Super Stop & Shop
Whole Foods
Price Chopper
Roger's
Shaw's
Waldbaum's
Trader Joe's
Stew Leonard's
BJ's Wholesale
Sam's Club

And this doesn't count the small, local grocers and butchers like Hall's Market.

Do we...

My name affords exponentially more options

Lynyrd Skynyrd was named after a .  The band chose the name in mocking tribute to Skinner's enforcement of the hair length policy at their high school. 

I wonder what band name my former students might create in mocking tribute to my own name.  

Suggestions? 

Too clever for its own good

I know a lot of kids who would love this book, and I know even more parents who would never, ever buy it for their child.

See the disconnect?