http://blog.agdarosen.com Mindless drivel from one who should know Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:17:34 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I recently became aware that this my 100th post to his blog. Having started this as a lark back in February, I have been pleased to see the readership of this blog nearly double since the first post (thanks, Mom). I was thinking of the best way to celebrate this ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/08/05/auspicious-post/ My family deserted me this weekend. Well, not so much deserted me as escaped to the Adirondaks for a long weekend. There are two things that their departure means for me: More pork products and lots of golf and bicycling. So Friday night, I made Bucatini all’Amatriciana from a fabulous ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/08/03/how-do-you-spell-hubris/ Cute article in the New York Times, entitled "10 Things to Scratch From Your Worry List." In it, John Tierney, the excellent science writer for the Times, details 10 things that he "I wouldn’t spend a nanosecond of my vacation worrying about." I think he sort of ran out of ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/07/31/be-not-so-very-afraid/ I've been pretty much off the blogging trail for the past few weeks. The sad truth is that I have been cheating on my blog. Well, technically it isn't really infidelity because I never promised this blog anything. But as I mentioned in an earlier post, I have joined the ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/07/24/im-back/ I've been fortunate enough to have a number of excellent mentors in my life. Today I want to talk about one of them: my graduate school advisor, Victor H. Denenberg, who passed away this weekend at the age of 83.I first met Vic when I was in the process of ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/07/21/mentors/ By all accounts, Apple's and AT&T's introduction of the iPhone 3G yesterday did not go smoothly. There appeared to be a perfect storm of product introductions and lack of planning by Apple that ended up causing a number of customers leaving the Apple store less than satisfied with the shopping ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/07/12/its-a-phone/ A great bit of reporting by the folks at Media Matters. In an article entitled: Fox News airs altered photos of NY Times reporters, they report a disturbing use of Photoshop to digitally alter the pictures of a reporter and editor at the New York Times who had written negatively ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/07/07/have-you-no-shame/ Joe Cocker is, shall we say, a "unique" performer. I remember the first time I saw him on the Tom Jones show, and was amazed at the vocal pyrotechnics of this gyrating Englishman. I also was a little concerned for his mental state, as I didn't understand a single word ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/07/05/why-subtitles-are-helpful/ The Onion provides their own unique take on the recent US Open Golf Championship in an article entitled "Man Who Used Stick To Roll Ball Into Hole In Ground Praised For His Courage." SAN DIEGO—A man who used several different bent sticks to hit a ball to an area comprised of ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/07/02/another-take-on-the-us-open/ Another dead-on column by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times entitled Anxious in America. His makes the point that the economic problems we are having as a country will soon supplant Iraq as the major issue in the current campaign, and basically says that nation building should begin at ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/07/01/what-is-the-real-threat/ As everyone who is anyone knows, the iPhone 3G is slated to be released on July 11. This is an event that I've been waiting for since the release of the original iPhone almost exactly 1 year ago. I won't be one of those get-a-lifers queuing overnight in front of ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/06/25/whos-a-phoney/ I realize that it is not for me to say, but I think I've done a pretty good job as a parent. More often than not, my children were given food and shelter, and when their services weren't required at home, they were allowed to attend school. But the truest ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/06/24/sportsman/ A very strange story appeared in the Daily Record in Scotland, entitled "Woman sat dead in front of TV for 42 years." I am quoting most of the story here because it is short. The remains of a woman have been found sitting in front of her TV - 42 years ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/06/20/whats-wrong-with-this-story/ I love my TiVo. For me, it is a truly transformative technology. Why? Well, first is the notion of time-shifting. I don't know the last time I watched a non-sporting event on TV in real time. When I tell people I know that The Daily Show and Colbert Report ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/06/17/tivo-giveth-and-tivo-taketh-away/ Perhaps one of the more interesting YouTube videos are those that involved the combination of Mentos® and Diet Coke®. All you need to do is to go to YouTube and search for those foodstuffs, and you'll find hundreds of them. For my money, this is the best one. Although I ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/06/12/why-mentos-are-good-for-the-world/ Another very clever Daily Show take on current events, this time a look at how we can improve the lot of Guantanamo detainees. http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/06/11/guantanamo-makeover/ I am not too proud to say that I have developed the uncanny ability of giving the illusion of being helpful. This has served me in good stead over the years, as I have made it my goal to avoid any tasks that would require removing myself from my ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/06/08/music-man/ The number one most emailed story in today's New York Times, is one entitled New Hints Seen That Red Wine May Slow Aging, by Nicholas Wade. This article revisits some of the previous research demonstrating that one of the active ingredients in red wine, resveratrol, has been shown to prolong ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/06/04/more-red-wine-nuttiness/ Absolutely lovely op-ed piece in the New York Times today by physicist Brian Greene entitled "Put a Little Science in Your Life." There are, of course, lots of reasons why science matters. Perhaps even more so in today's world where certain leaders so determined to ignore evidence and base their ... http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/06/01/why-science-matters/ I was listening to some podcasts on the drive up to Montreal today, and someone mentioned the video seen below, which answers the question: What would happen to Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" if there were no birds? Dutch artist Martijn Hendriks knows. http://blog.agdarosen.com/2008/05/31/less-is-more/