Dobrindts dot com...again

There was an article on Foxnews.com today about Zombie dogs. Yes, zombie dogs. You can read the article here or another one here.

Some key points from the article…

“In a series of nightmarish experiments straight out of a horror flick, scientists at a leading university have killed dozens of dogs — then brought them back to life…

…dogs of all breeds and sizes are put under, their veins drained of blood and filled with an ice-cold salt solution which drops their body temperature from a normal 101 degrees to near freezing…

…The corpses are then brought back to life by returning the blood to their bodies, giving them pure oxygen and applying electric shocks to restart their hearts…

…For a long time, the test subjects couldn't be brought back to life after more than two hours. But recently, the researchers added glucose and more oxygen to the blood and have pushed the maximum time the dogs can be dead to three hours…

…The lucky ones turn out to be perfectly normal with no brain damage — although other dogs are stricken with serious physical or behavioral problems.”

Now, when I first saw this I thought it was a joke. The article is…creepy. I thought of Pet Cemetery. And since I love zombie movies, well, I also thought about how this could be woven into a good zombie flick. Cinnamon or Shadow or Max or Pumbaa or Sparky or Zeus or Carl or Sam slowly walking around, drool falling from their mouths…they drool already so that wouldn’t work, a blank look in their eyes, seeking brains. Cat brains maybe.

Couple of additional thoughts.

- www.zombiedog.com and www.zombiedogs.com are taken. Too bad.

- According to the article, they want to start testing on humans. What kind of sick, twisted death wish lunatic would allow someone to put them to sleep (assuming they are put to sleep first), have their blood drained and filled with very cold salt water, then hopefully brought back to life. All without knowing if there would be any psychological or physical damage. If they offered up money or free food, I bet a lot of people.

- I still think this thing is creepy, but kind of interesting.

- Apparently Zombie Dogs is a video game. Good call on the game, wish I thought of it.

- Why not test on cats, or monkeys. Why do dogs always get the crap end in the research field.

- If the zombie dogs starting attacking each other, I guess it’d be a dog-eat-dog world. BAM! Thank you! You’re a great crowd. I’m here all week. Try the veal. Tip your waitress.

- When the Berlin Wall came down there were hundreds of German Sheppards that were used to guard the space between the two walls. The government had a program where they tried to socialize the dogs and have families adopt them. I guess it didn’t work out too well, after all the dogs were bread to attack people. Wonder if they will have a program for these dogs. Not sure if I’d let my kids play with the undead. But that’s just me.

- The more I think about it, the more creepy it is. Flatliners dealt with this. I kind of sucked. Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, Billy Baldwin, 1990. Good special effects but pretty week story line. “Today is a good day to die.” Actually, it was pretty good now that I think about it.

- If I told this to a complete stranger, or made up something even crazier like the dogs come back 2 inches taller or all dogs turn the same color, I wonder it they would believe me.

- I am having a hard time with the solution they put inject to preserve the dogs while they are dead. Ice cold salt solution? That’s it? That is what preserves the dead?? Salt water?? What about purple-ish synthetic mixture that is created in futuristic labs by droids? What about a liquid discovered at the bottom of a cave in some remote east African jungle? Or obtained from a pool on Mars. Not cold salt water. It has to be more interesting than that. The least they can do is rename it to something like ‘Life Vortex’. Help me out here.

- Do dogs dream in black and white?

- If the dogs are out for 2 hour, it must be 14 in people hours?

- Is 2 or 3 hours really that impressive? Is it? What about days, or weeks, or years. Walt Disney and Ted Williams must be turning over in their cryogenic tanks right now.

I am going to be watching this story, I think it has legs.

Posted by David at 05:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have been watching this TV show called Hell’s Kitchen. It’s a reality show on Fox. It’s not true “reality”, but most of the popular reality shows are not true reality. I think of reality as fly-on-the-wall like Cops or Real World. Shows like Survivor, The Amazing Race, The Apprentice and this new show are chatter-of-pop-culture, meaning they are what people talk about at the water cooler the next day. They have a more scripted base with contests and somewhat planned outcomes.

Anyway, I have been watching this show mostly because I have been in a hotel the past few Mondays and it is on late enough for me to be back in the room. It’s about this celebrity chef from England, voted the best chef in England 9 years in a row according to the opening credits, who is having a contest to see who can take his crap the longest and will get his own Blimpie franchise sandwich shop. I used to work in a restaurant as both a cook and a waiter, then later bartender and manager, during high school, college and grad school. It’s not the same as high end dining but I can understand the whole cooking- for- the-masses thing, sort of like playing softball allows me to relate slightly to MLB players. Well, that might not be a good example. Sort of like having a 15 minute segment on Ask This Old House allows me to related to Tom Cruise. Hmm, not a good example either. You get the idea.

So the show has this a** hole of a celebrity chef who berates, scolds, shouts at and humiliates a group of people who want to win this contest. Like Survivor, there are two teams who compete against each other and reap lame rewards for victory. The big contest each episode, just like the immunity challenge is the big contest each episode, is to cook dinner for a restaurant full of people. So far in all the episodes I have seen it has been a train wreck with the celebrity chef treating the contestants like bad behaving criminals. One guy actually told the chef off one episode and walked off the show.

Couple of things that bug me.

First, no one would ever be put into the position of those people without some sort of culinary training. Some of the contestants work in kitchens now so they have a base, but others are just hobby chefs. Because I can put a band aid on a cut would you let me operate on someone? Coordination and timing, prep, and other aspects of serving a large group of people eating at separate times is not easy.

Second, I hate this guy because he reminds me of so many people I know. Playing sports my whole life, working in a kitchen with people who were like that, working at a country club with a GM who was a jerk, etc. I know it makes great TV but there is a more effective way to get things out of people than to shout curses at them and throw food around.

Finally, the rewards have to be improved. Because one team made better home-made pasta they get to sit in some oversized canoe in a dirty polluted LA harbor and drink cheap wine out of plastic cups just doesn’t get me going. Send them to Costa Rica for a few days. Give them plasma TVs. Having a losing team clean the apartment is painful and boring. And having the self centered, egotistical, arrogant narcissistic chef eliminate one person each week is flat. Donald Trump can get away with it because Trump has a certain cache in the business world. People know who he is. No one knows this celebrity chef guy, other than the Brits I guess, so it doesn’t really mean much. Would you want to watch a show where I yell at college interns and let one guy each episode? Me either.

Anyway, just thought I’d share my opinion on yet another reality TV show.

Posted by David at 09:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have been in NY City this entire week for work. My hotel is near Central Park so I have been running in the morning or evening around the park. Yesterday was the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge, so I had to share with 35,000 other runners. I actually like running in the park. I found a good loop that goes around the reservoir. There are a huge number of others who are running, roller blading, riding bikes or just walking. Central Park really is a pretty park, at least the areas that I have seen. I heard that muggings have gone up, but I doubt anyone would try to take my $20 walkman or beat up Jets shirt I wear, especially with hundreds of other within eyeshot. Plus, who would mess with me, I look menacing and like a killing machine.

Speaking of NY, I have come to the realization that the New York Hilton, while having rundown and beat up rooms, doesn’t employe people who are rude to only me…they are rude to everyone. I have stayed at this hotel before and am amazed at how rude, inconsiderate and uncaring the employees can be. But a colleague who lives in the city made a good point. When I ask a clerk behind the counter if they have a Wall Street Journal that I can have, and he points outside and grunts “Newsstand”, he would have said that to anyone, not just me. And when I asked the concierge person for a running map of Central Park and she points at a kiosk with brochures for tourist attractions and some generic NY City maps, she would have done that to anyone. It’s not personal; it’s just the way they are. I like to believe they are kind, caring and gregarious in their personal life, and working with so many people day in and day out has hardened them.

One other thing that is interesting is that cab drivers are like NASCAR racers only with people in the way, and without the safety equipment, and with a stranger in the backseat, but they never seem to bump each other. They swerve in and out of traffic and across lanes as if they are in perfect unison. It’s like watching a large group of ballerinas perform a complicated piece where everyone knows exactly where they and others are supposed to be. It’s a little frightening as a passenger, and thrilling, but it seems to be safe.

Finally, I am amazed at how little actual earth you can see on the ground. It’s almost like it is on a floating man-made platform in the sky. Aside from an occasional portal that has a tree growing out, almost all of the visible ground at major sections of Manhattan has some sort of cement/brick/asphalt covering. With this is the unbelievable amount of buildings, shops, stores and other commercial space that Manhattan supports. There are thousands of large and small stores to support the millions of residents and commuters who come into the city. It really is an amazing city.

That’s it. Nothing special or insightful. Just thought I’d share.

Oh, there is one other thing. Billy Graham is in town for his final NY City show on Friday. There are some posters up promoting it. Billy Graham in NY City is as far away from a good fit as anything possible. Not hostile, just not real appropriate.

Posted by David at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I read about the new George Romero zombie movie Land of the Dead. For me, there can never be too many zombie movies. I love them. Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Day of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead (2004), Night of the Living Dead (1990), the great Sean of the Dead that my friend Paul turned me on to, Children of the Living Dead, and every other zombie-themed movie out there. I love them. Not sure why but I like post-apocalyptic stuff in general, end of the world nonsense like Reign of Fire. And it’s not that I root for the under dog zombies or anything, They come across as such villains it’s hard to care about them. But I do admit I like the flesh eating. I wonder what kind of zombie I would be. I saw a film school short movie about zombies where all they wanted was equality and to be treated like a normal member of society. It was a mocumentary with zombies sitting in talk show interview chairs and all. I wonder what kind of survivor I would be. Definitely have fun shooting the zombies in their heads. I would also love the scavenger part of being alive when much of the world is dead. See what interesting things I could find when I wasn’t fending off the un-dead.

I also thought it would be a neat idea to have a weekly television drama about zombies. My first thought was to have it focus on a band of survivors and the wacky adventures they get into. But then I thought it might be interesting to also have it about a band of zombies. Maybe an undercurrent of a romance or love story. I don’t know, I haven’t fully thought it through yet.

Just thought I’d share.

Posted by David at 05:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Senator Durbin apologized yesterday for comparing soldiers at Gitmo to Nazis. His apology reminded me of Hitler.

Posted by David at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was talking to a friend today about NASCAR, the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing, or as I call it, Asscar. I am not a fan, myself, but I know a lot of rednecks are. So I guess there is a debate right now which redneck drunk Podunk town to have Nascar’s hall of fame in. Atlanta will be a bigger draw and get more people, I guess, but more teams call Charlotte home. Atlanta races don’t require a restrictor plate so they are the fastest races on the circuit so some say it is the best place to sit on metal bleachers drinking beer and praying for a 25 car pile up. How do I know Atlanta doesn’t require restrictor plates you ask? Because Brian Williams, the NBC Nightly News pretty boy is a big Nascar fan and was on the radio a few weeks back talking about it. Riveting, I know.

Anyway, I find Nascar fascinating. I like fast cars as much as the next guy and my friend Bill says it is a great experience. He said you can buy radios and listen to the cars talk to their support crews. That would be kind of cool. I was on an American flight a couple of years ago and one of the radio channels was air traffic control and the pilots. I listened for like an hour and I think it would be the same with the cars.

NASCAR is actually a huge sport in this country. Here in the northeast it is not big, but elsewhere it is huge. Races get like 100,000 people to sit there in the blazing sun getting drunk and shouting to each other, asking if the Sharpie 500 is a better race than the Aarons 499.

Nascar is the number 2 rated sport on television if you can believe that. There are 75 million fans nationwide. It has a 10 month season which is the longest out of any pro sport. Teams don’t have a hometown so loyalty lies with the driver. And as we all know, it’s a giant marketing sport.

I tried watching it on TV a couple of times and got bored. It was fun looking at the fans with their RVs but that only lasted a few minutes. I have been told that being at an actual race is kick-a** so I want to try it, especially with the radio thingy.

So I guess I’ll give the races a shot one day. Not high on my list of things to do, but definitely on there. If so many fans are into it, and not all of them are drunk rednecks, then it can’t be too bad. Still, I can’t help but wonder. If I put bleachers on the side of interstate 95, I bet I could get Nascar fans to pay 50 bucks to sit there, drink beer and watch cars go by

Posted by David at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat out of Illinois recently compared soldiers at the Guantanamo Bay prison to the Nazis. Howard Dean, DNC chief, has been very open with is hatred of republicans and everything they stand for, even making his liberal brethren cringe. John Kerry keeps mouthing off about the election on Sunday morning news shows. So what does the Wall Street Journal report on today?

“Republican Unity Exhibited Symptoms of Strain in Several Areas.”

Major newspapers don’t have a liberal agenda?

Posted by David at 01:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was listening to WEEI radio today and I heard the following commercial. It’s not a transcript but it’s pretty close.

A bunch of guys were talking about going to Vegas. They were saying things like “yeah baby, we are going to party” and “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”. One of them was at work and was finishing up a project or something. Then they asked about their friend Darren and one guy said that Darren had “weekend kid duty” and couldn’t come and another one called him dumb or something and that the kid looks nothing like him. Then they said that for a guy with his MBA, he is pretty dumb, implying the kid was not in fact from his…DNA. The commercial was for a mail away DNA service to see if a child is actually yours.

I am not joking. This was an actual commercial and is an actual service. My first thought was that it was a joke. But it’s not. Fr $375 dollars you can get out of spending time with a child that might not be yours.

My second thought was why did they say he has an MBA? Because if it implies MBA guys get “stuck” with weekend kid duty, then count me in except without the stuck part. I like it. If it implies that people with MBA father children with mothers who might be less than scrupulous, then I am a little insulted. Patti has plenty of scruples. Who knows?

My third thought was that there are some mothers out there who are probably going to sweat this a little, that know they are making a person pay child support who is not the actual father.

My final thought was that the commercial is a terrible way to promote this service. Whether the child is yours or not, spending time with a kid who knows only you as a father is not a bad thing. Obviously you had sex with the mom at some point and the child could be yours. If someone takes this test to get out of being in a child’s life, that’s too bad.

20 years ago this would have been something out of a 1984-type movie. 10 years ago this would have been too expensive for people to do. Now it’s a mail away service whose tagline is getting out of child support. Nice WEEI, I guess you gotta get those advertising bucks somehow.

Oh, Happy Father’s Day on Sunday.

Posted by David at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There was an article in today’s USA Today titled “Warning: Your clever little blog could get you fired”. Two people sent me a note about it. Hmm, wonder why. You can read it here

Anyway, the article was about people who write about work on their personal blogs and get fired for it. Basically you have morons who write bad things about coworkers or give away company secrets or leak information about upcoming products. And they get fired. No (expletive deleted). What do they think? The article talks about how companies have to come up with guidelines about personal blogs, which is crazy because if you are dumb enough to write something really bad about coworkers you better be prepared to take the heat, just like if you gossip about someone. I mean if I write a Christmas news letter and complain about work, then it’s the same thing just with a less efficient method to get my point across.

So I found it interesting that people write bad things about work or complain about colleagues or do anything that they obviously have their name attributed to. Trust me, there are a ton of things that I would love to write about and if you know me, I am very opinionated about, but don’t. There are just some things that are too sensitive to talk about when the point of my blog is to entertain. I don’t write an op-ed piece and I don’t have a talk radio show. I don’t have a soapbox and my opinion is about as valuable as the next person’s. If you know me and read this often you can easily pick up crumbs of my true feelings, but I don’t evangelize. Well, that is not entirely true. I am very open about my feelings with air travel and the Red Sox, but both are pretty much in jest. Well, now that is not entirely true either. I really do think some airlines are staffed by minions of the devil, and I really do hate the Red Sox, but hey, I am right.

If I wrote out about politics, reparations, social programs, corporations, illegal aliens, gay rights, my job, environmental policies, religion, CEO compensation, tobacco companies, alcohol, oil, the middle east, war, migrant workers, wind farms, Canada, federal transportation projects, AIDs, animal cruelty, women rights, poverty, legalization of drugs, school prayer, our penal system, binge drinking, stem cell research, or any number of topics, well, then, I might offend someone who I like. I don’t mind offending complete strangers, after all I am allowed to have an opinion, but I worry about offending and insulting loved ones and people I respect.

I do have an opinion about almost everything and when I do bring up a topic that often has strong and contradictory sides, I try to do it in a way as to not offend. With my job, well, I find it (1) private, (2) boring, and (3) tiring to write about. If I poke fun at people I work with, like Brian from Watertown or Uncle Billy, I do it in fun and dish out the same serving size that I would in person. As for writing bad things about work related to compensation, work/life balance, bosses, professional development and company secrets, I don’t have enough cyber pages to cover everything, so I just leave it alone.

Just thought I’d share.

Posted by David at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

They Told Him Don't You Ever Come Around Here
Don't Wanna See Your Face, You Better Disappear.

I can’t even stomach coming up with funny lyrics to Beat It. I was going to parody that song, or some other well known MJ song, but can’t do it.

This (expletive deleted) case is finally over. It’s a joke. This entire mockery is a joke. The entire thing makes me sick. OJ Jackson, I mean Michael Jackson, is guilty and I am as sure of that as I am that the Red Sox are evil. The thing that really bugs me about this whole train wreck is the unbelievable attention it gets on the news. FOX News, CNN, MSNBC, the major networks, all spend an inappropriate amount of time covering this circus.

I really love those lunatics who spend day after day behind a fence by the court shouting out things like “We know your innocent!” and “We love you Michael!” and “I live in the garage apartment of my parent’s house and I’m 34 and in junior college with no job and I have never had sex, with a women, but I LOVE YOU! You’re innocent. I am fat”. Should the networks cover government hearings or showcase military families whose husbands are fighting for our freedom? Of course not. Let’s cover the trial of a FREAKSHOW WHO WILL GET AWAY WITH IT!!!

This moon walking pedophile is a 45 years old who gives boys alcohol and sleeps in the same room as them. Doesn’t that seem odd to you? No? Then there’s something wrong with you. I don’t mind the strange behavior, the plastic surgery, sleeping in an oxygen chamber, having a pet monkey (hell, I would have a pet monkey if I could afford it), or any of the other odds things he does. He is filthy rich and can do whatever nutball non-reality thing he wants to. I, on the other hand, cannot. But he can, good for him. But showering with boys who are not his own, and sleeping in the same bed, and the rest of the disturbing things he has done is not just rich eccentric behavior, it’s odd.

The trial of that crackhead pedophile who killed Jessica Lunsford will get about 30 seconds on CNN Headline news, if that. I bet we won’t hear about it unless we live in the actual town the court is in. But because Michael Jackson is world famous and a great entertainer, I am subjected to his disturbing face on every other channel. It’s a joke and I am sick of it. I hope this guy crawls under some rock, stops diddling little boys, makes an album or two, and gets lost in the afterthought of water cooler conversation. Even Bill O’Reilly is spending all his time with this nonsense. Ugh, what people will do for ratings.

Look, I understand that the news will focus on whatever sells advertising. And I know this country is filled with people who like to follow the lives of celebrities. I get that. Fine. Me, personally, I hope this thing doesn’t stick around like the stench of a rotting squirrel stuck in a storm drain. Let it end and let me stop hearing about it.

Posted by David at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Someone brought in a box of coffee called “The twelve coffees of Christmas” to the office today and left it in the kitchen by the coffee maker. It’s a sealed box with 12 flavors of coffee. I think on Monday I am going to bring in some festering turkey I left behind my shed last Thanksgiving. I do have a few bottles of non alcoholic beer from a 2003 Labor Day party that’s sitting in the corner of my garage I could bring in too. Or I am sure I have some Halloween candy I could find somewhere under my daughter’s dresser or deep in the dark corners of my pantry. That would be nice.

PS. If someone from work is reading this, I am only joking. I love coffee. Especially the twelve coffees of Christmas. Yum good. Brew it up and serve me a cup.

Posted by David at 05:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hi there. Nothing to exciting with this post. Nothing insightful and no meaningful wrap up. Just quick update on what we did over the weekend.

Had a BBQ on Saturday with kind of a Jamaica theme. We cooked up Jamaican jerk pork on the grill and had Red Stripe. It was in the 80s, really hot, so the beer was unbelievable, I had it (and the other kinds) in a big cooler with ice. Had about 20 or so people with little kids running around. I probably drank too much but what the heck, it was the weekend, I have been good lately and everyone was in a festive mood. It was the first really nice weekend this year and the first time we got some hot weather. We had a really rough winter and wet and cold May, so everyone was itching to get out. I have this image of a BBQ where the men sit on lawn chairs lined up in a row, drinking beer, telling stories, while the women tend to the ch’ren. Nope, not the case. Especially since most of us have two kids.

Sunday we went to the Aids Walk/Run along the Charles. I ran the 5K and Patti walked it. She was not feeling great but wanted to do it anyway. Patti’s mom drove up the night before to watch the kids while we did the event. After the race we hung out around the festivities. Strange mix of sponsors, tents and people. With the Aids charity you get a lot of flamboyant gay men and “earthy” products. Large charity events like this always have free food, balloons, music, etc so it’s fun to hang out after. It was in the 90s so by the time we made it back to the house we were wiped. I think at one point about an hour after getting home we had 4 out of 5 people in the house napping. Emily was the only one awake but colored and watched TV while Patti and her mom slept on the couches in the living room. I love hot, humid weather. The hotter the better. I like nothing than to put on a tshirt, pair of shorts and not worry about being cold. I didn’t place in the race but kept my time respectable, considering it was 10 in the morning, 90 degrees and I had a hangover.

So overall very eventful weekend. I am finding that the older Emily gets, the more fun it is to do things with her. We try to do one thing outside the house each weekend. Beach trips, parks, restaurant, etc. Emily is old enough now to really have fun and interact. Ethan obviously still needs constant attention but he is really good. He just hangs out, smiles, likes to be in the stroller, likes the swing, doesn’t really fuss much. The exact opposite of me, he is much more like Patti.

I like weekends like that. It’s a little exhausting but makes me feel like I am an active member of society. Contributing. Building my inventory of warm memories. And sharing time with family and friends, something I don’t have enough time to do. And I got to drink a lot of beer.

Posted by David at 05:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am not joking about this. The following is the first line of an introduction of a white paper I downloaded.

“This paper describes a new collaboration technology that is based on the support of lightweight, informally structured, opportunistic activities featuring heterogeneous threads of shared items with dynamic membership.”

If I had a nickel for every time I heard that.

So I thought I’d explore some more to see how even more confused I could get.

There was this…

“We explore the concept of social landmarks in complex, shared information and coordination environments.”

Ok, not too bad. I get that. Sort of.

Then there is this buzzword gem…“Contextual collaboration is a promising approach to embedding new collaborative features into existing applications.” Right with you, buddy.

When referring to someone named Picard and colleagues, another author had this to say

“I question two aspects of the work: the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) approach, and the use of psychophysiological measurements of emotion without a stated theory of emotion.”

Of course, I questioned the same thing last week.

Then there was this…

“The principle of information hiding has been very influential in software engineering since its inception in 1972.”

And this whole time I thought it was 1971.

“Chat Spaces are rich persistent chats that provide light-weight shared workspaces for small to medium-scale group activities.”

Are they talking about AOL Instant Messenger? Or not. Not sure.

And finally…

“We present contextual collaboration, an approach to building collaborative systems that embeds collaborative capabilities into core applications, and discuss its advantages.” …collaboratively.

I am getting a smurf has been smurfing smurf lately, that smurfy smurf.

Now I’ll go back to ESPN Page 2 and The Onion.

Posted by David at 05:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)