Saturday Night Live – TV – Clinton – Obama – Politics – New York Times

Posted on March 13, 2008 by Silicon Valley Dazed

Saturday Night Live – TV – Clinton – Obama – Politics – New York Times

This article says some people believe SNL is supporting Clinton and denigrating Obama. Personally, since I don’t watch much network news, the funny thing is that every time I hear Barack Obama on the radio, I envision Fred Armisen talking rather than the real Obama.

Those complaints have only increased in subsequent weeks after two more election sketches have appeared, with Mr. Obama being played by Fred Armisen. That choice has raised a few eyebrows because Mr. Armisen’s ancestry is Venezuelan, German and Japanese but not African-American. Mr. Michaels said he was sensitive to that criticism but said Mr. Armisen simply had the best comic take on the character of Mr. Obama.

Categories: Comedy | Leave a comment

An Enduring Measure of Fitness: The Simple Push-Up – New York Times

Posted on March 12, 2008 by Silicon Valley Dazed

An Enduring Measure of Fitness: The Simple Push-Up – New York Times

Based on national averages, a 40-year-old woman should be able to do 16 push-ups and a man the same age should be able to do 27. By the age of 60, those numbers drop to 17 for men and 6 for women. Those numbers are just slightly less than what is required of Army soldiers who are subjected to regular push-up tests.

I did 27 push-ups after  reading this article last night (it wasn’t easy), but I don’t know personally of any woman that can do 16 push-ups – no matter what they’re age. Upper body strength helped me out recently on a run in Palm Springs. I tripped over a curb. and I stopped my fall with my hands and my right knee, If I hadn’t been fast or strong enough, I would have bashed my face.

Categories: Day to Day, Running | Leave a comment

Eliot Spitzer

Posted on March 12, 2008 by Silicon Valley Dazed

Even with the history of Cisneros, Hart, and Clinton, I’m still a little bit surprised about the recent revelations regarding Spitzer’s use of a high-end prostitution service. He had campaigned and based his career on being a hard-ass devoted to cleaning things up. It’s hard to be effective and stay in office when you betray your own ideals. You live by the sword, die by the sword.

Categories: Politics | Leave a comment

ParkZone Cessna 210 up in a tree

Posted on March 12, 2008 by Silicon Valley Dazed

I drove to Home Depot this morning in order to get a 10′ length of 3/4″ PVC pipe, a 3/4″ to 1/2″ adapter, a 3/4″ coupler and some 1/2″ couplers in order to get a ParkZone Cessna 210 Minium that I flew into a neighbor’s tree last night. That plane is FUN! I’m making a resolution right now that all RC plane flights will only occur at the local park instead of the street in front of the house since there are some pretty tall trees on my street. Kudos to Horizon Hobby for sending me a replacement Cessna 210 since my original one had throttle control, but I had no control over the elevator or rudder on the tail.

Categories: RC Airplanes | Leave a comment

Allergies

Posted on March 12, 2008 by Silicon Valley Dazed

My eyes are all dry and itchy, and I have sneezing fits during the day. I notice my allergies to pollen getting worse as I get older. I hope the air clears up soon of whatever’s irritating me.

Categories: Day to Day | Leave a comment

Gas Price Watch

Posted on March 12, 2008 by Silicon Valley Dazed

The Chevron on Fair Oaks in Sunnyvale had regular gasoline at $3.64 a gallon and premium at $3.84 a gallon. I think premium will break $4 in the local area some time in the next 3 months. I’ll have to ride my bicycle a lot more to work and drive a little slower while I’m on highway. I noticed on I-10 from Ontario to Palm Springs that my speed was regularly between 80 and 85 and many cars were going faster than me.

Categories: Day to Day | Leave a comment

Music and Lyrics

Posted on March 11, 2008 by Silicon Valley Dazed

Jennifer and I watched Music and Lyrics last weekend, and I found it a nice, sweet romantic comedy which tied things up pretty well. This is in contrast to Hitch which I saw on the hotel cable in Palm Springs. I feel it just got too talky at the end. I think Music and Lyrics really appealed to me since it ‘s based on a star whose heyday was in the 80s when I listened a lot more to pop music.

Categories: Movies | Leave a comment

Gebrselassie May Skip Olympic Marathon – New York Times

Posted on March 10, 2008 by Silicon Valley Dazed

Gebrselassie May Skip Olympic Marathon – New York Times

Concerns about Beijings pollution have dominated preparations for the games.Gebrselassie has had problems with his lungs in the past and is known to have a pollen allergy. Hermens said many racers who have performed in damaging conditions have never returned to their best.

It may be 1 or 2 percent damage, but that means a lot for such an athlete, Hermens said. And if you look deep into his heart, he wants another marathon record.

Gebrselassies record is 2 hours, 4 minutes, 26 seconds.

I can’t blame Gebrselassie for thinking of not doing the marathon. Anyone with his talents (2.14:26 marathon P.R.!!!!) has to think about his assets and longevity. I’ve read that a doctor assigned to the U.S. team has been fitting team members with masks that they could wear up to the time of their events, but China doesn’t want Olympic athletes walking around with masks since that would be horrible for public relations. I do hope the air quality is good for Beijing 2008, but I have a bad feeling there will be at least a few really bad days.

Categories: Running | Leave a comment

DX6 wont turn on (yes there is a battery, yes its in the ON position) – WattFlyer RC Electric Flight Forums – Discuss radio control eflight

Posted on March 3, 2008 by Silicon Valley Dazed

DX6 wont turn on (yes there is a battery, yes its in the ON position) – WattFlyer RC Electric Flight Forums – Discuss radio control eflight

This forum thread describes what hopefully is going on with my transmitter. My guess is that the fuse is blown, and I just have to replace it inside the transmitter. The reason I think this is probably the problem is that the transmitter comes one when connected through the trainer port to the Phoenix simulator.

Categories: RC Airplanes | Leave a comment

blog.pmarca.com: An hour and a half with Barack Obama

Posted on March 3, 2008 by Silicon Valley Dazed

blog.pmarca.com: An hour and a half with Barack Obama

One of the reasons Senator Obama comes across as so fresh and different is that he’s the first serious presidential candidate who isn’t either from the World War II era (Reagan, Bush Sr, Dole, and even McCain, who was born in 1936) or from the Baby Boomer generation (Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and George W. Bush).He’s a post-Boomer.

Most of the Boomers I know are still fixated on the 1960’s in one way or another — generally in how they think about social change, politics, and the government.

It’s very clear when interacting with Senator Obama that he’s totally focused on the world as it has existed since after the 1960’s — as am I, and as is practically everyone I know who’s younger than 50.

I think Andreessen hits the nail on the head for me with this point. I was born in 1966, and I’ve never been inspired by a presidential candidate until Barack came along. There’s a lot of baggage from the 60s, and Barack is free from that. His speech in Springfield brought tears to my eyes, and although I’m a cynic of the cult of personality, Barack also has the intelligence and credentials to be a great President.

Categories: Politics | Leave a comment