Gas Prices

With Gas prices falling more and more people may be planning holiday road trips. I just found a really cool service provided by AAA that will calculate gas prices for your trip. this allows you to compare the different travel options and see which is most cost effective.

http://www.fuelcostcalculator.com

Enjoy.

GM CEO says more digital advertising. Chrysler linked to Cerberus, not necessarily Hades

The grilling continues on Capitol Hill. Yesterday it was the U.S. Treasury daddies, today it is the CEOs from the big three automakers. We just got done listening to the Senators from both sides of the aisle grilling the CEOs for flying to the hearing on a private jet. The argument being that if they are going to start restructuring their business and cutting costs that they should start at the top.

At one point the CEOs were asked to raise their hands if they had flown to the hearing on commercial flights, none did. Then they were asked if they would consider selling their jets today and flying back to Detroit on a commercial flight, not one raised his hand. The congressional panel just gave these CEOs a great oppotunity to demonstrate their leadership, and no one stepped up. Not one had the salt of Spartacus. How did they become CEOs?

The star of the hearing is Nydia Velazquez (congresswoman from the 12th district of NY) who just asked Waggoner, the CEO of GM, if they would be running a $3 million dollar (for a 30 second spot) Super Bowl ad next year to which he replied, "No we are not going to do a Super Bowl ad this year ...but we will be moving more of our advertising to digital which is less expensive and more efficient."

After more questions from Velazquez, Chrysler CEO Nardelli confirms that 80% of Chrysler is owned by Cerberus Capital, a company whose members include former Vice President Dan Qualye. As you probably know Cerberus is a figure from Greek Mythology. Specifically, Cerberus is the three headed dog that guarded the gates to Hades and was killed by Herakles (Hercules).

Is this strange to anyone else? Why would you name your company after the guard dog of Hades? Shouldn't an investment firm sound secure, innovative and strong. Not scary. Whoever developed their corporate identity must have been watching too many Keanu Reeves movies, or banging their head against the ceiling too much, or maybe it was just Dan Quayle's idea.


Here is a link to Cerberus Capital's homepage.

Writing an Effective Promotional E-Mail

I just read a great short article on crafting an effective promotional e-mail message on PCmag.com and thought I should share it. The author offers some great, simple steps that anyone can implement when promoting products or services. Some of the tips include: personalize the message, start with a question and don't use large images.

Make certain that you are maximizing the effectiveness of your e-mails. Don't Spam. For rules on what constitutes SPAM read the CAN-SPAM act. This is the FCC regulation that defines what is and is not SPAM in the U.S.

Click here to read the article on PCMag.com.

Why is this food so fast?

I was talking with one of my advertising classes the other day about the nature of advertising to children, specifically food products. While there are regulatory bodies in place (The FCC, FDA etc.) there remains a significant gray area in regards to most standards. Ultimately leaving the decision of what is ethical messaging up to the advertising agency and/or producer of the product.

We specifically addressed the ever evolving McDonalds Menu, and came to a consensus that it is good that McDonald's wants to at least give people a healthier alternative to their standard fare by offering items like salads and apple slices. Skepticism remains as to weather or not this is just a marketing ploy, an attempt to capitalize on popular trends, a change made out of a sincere concern for the customer's health or some combination of these factors.

Here is an interesting article about 10 things that the food industry does not want you to know (from Yahoo) click here

Funny Motivational Posters

I love the new Battlestar Galactica - not necessarily because of the CGI (which is the best ever produced for TV) but because of the intricate storyline(s) and the depth of character development not to mention the stellar acting. When you get sucked into this show you will forget that you are watching TV and actually identify with the characters and issues. A very difficult task to accomplish in any medium especially Sci-fi for TV.

You may have seen some funny motivational posters floating around on the Internet. A friend of mine recently sent me a great collection from www.demotivateus.com, and I had to share a few. Thank you to whoever created these, you made me laugh.

Books to read: Ender's Game

I just finished Orson Scott Card's masterpiece "Ender's Game", and let me tell you I do not use the word masterpiece lightly. The story has depth and meaning often lacking in popular fiction, it is amazingly easy to read, and although it is the story of responsibility thrust upon a child the writing is assessable but not childish in any way.

"Ender's Game" is the story of a boy-hero, Ender Wiggin, burdened as the saviour of mankind. Ender's trials to become the ultimate commander, achieving balance between the harsh realities of war and the compassion to preserve life, comprise one of the most realistic and poignant coming of age tales ever written.

I don't want to be a spoiler - just read the book and/or graphic novel coming out via Marvel Comics this fall (2008)

Grand Canyon Pics

Looking for things to do in Las Vegas besides gamble? You can book excursions to the Grand Canyon if you are looking for something more adventurous than doubling down on 11.

There are a number of different packages from a few local tour companies. Check out http://www.alllasvegastours.com/ for a good comparison. I did the helicopter, lunch package, it is a 45 minute ride out to the Grand Canyon vs. a 2 hour+ bus trip, flying over Lake Mead, The Hoover Dam, and Lake Las Vegas on your way there.

The views are amazing during the entire trip but once you reach the canyon everything else is minuscule in comparison. You fly into the canyon and have lunch on a plateau just above a bend in the Colorado river. A fantastic trip and would definitely recommend doing this trip in the morning to minimize the effects of the desert heat.

Here are a few of the 440 pics I took:

The Colorado River and Grand Canyon

The Colorado River and Grand Canyon (with some Photoshop enhancement - replaced and augmented colors, removed reflection from windshield and made the Colorado River blue)
Lake Mead

Lake Mead - Colorado river mouth with some Photoshop enhancements

This is the same picture as above with more Photoshop enhancements. Adjusted the curves to give the shadows more detail. Adjusted the saturation to give the color of the mountains more complexity/hyper realism)

Aerial shot of the Las Vegas Strip

Buying and selling the right to pollute

Did you know that there is an exchange for pollution rights where the right to pollute is traded like a commodity?

The Chicago Climate Exchange offers member organizations the right to buy and sell pollution credits. Do you think this is right? Should the depth of one's pockets determine how much they should be allowed to pollute?

Pretty much every major chemical, oil, auto and manufacturing company is a member. Click here for a complete list.

My first WSOP - part 2 -Single table satellites to WSOP events

So I am knocked out of the Cesar's mega stack when my TT runs into AA. NEH - Vegas sucks. I decide to head over to the RIO, scope out the room and perhaps play a satellite to try and pay for some of my entry to Event 31. The satellite room is across from the main tourney room in the Rio convention center. I visited the Rio during the $50k HORSE event last year so was prepared for the rush and excitement that permeates the main room. Last year I was taking pictures with the stars, this year I was there to beat them.

I got my seat card for the next 10 person sng satellite, $275 buy in, winner take all (they pay approx. $2500 in tournament lammers which can be used to buy in to a WSOP event). I did a lot of research prior to this trip and decided to play in one or two of these expecting at least a chop was +EV if I could get down to heads up in at least one. The satellite got going within 15 minutes and I surveyed the table to see what I could gather about my opponents.

I was seated in the #9 spot. A nerdy, mustachioed man sat directly to my right and was talking my head off about how he had played in four of these single table satellites already today and chopped two of them. The guy to my immediate left was a senior who looked like a rock but ended up playing like a donk. The requisite crazy older Asian man was sitting in seat #1 and an Asian kid from Cali in seat #5 made the point of introducing himself to the table to which I said, "I'm not really expecting this to develop into a long term relationship so excuse me if I don't remember your name in 5 minutes." Damn, I am and ass sometimes. I think his name was Mike or Ike.

The last person to take his seat was this sunburned redheaded man who I will assume to be from either the Great Britain or Kentucky. He didn't say a word the whole time so there is no way of knowing since the dress and mannerisms of the residents of Great Britain are very similar to those found in the peoples of Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee (no offense to anyone from anywhere).

The mystery man with the sunburned face was bouncing around the room like a pinball prior to the start of our tourney. Once the tourney started he transferred all that built up kinetic energy into the worst 15 minuted of play I have ever seen. He was so excited that he got two cards every hand he played almost every one. He was all in before the second blind level preflop with 76 against AK and didnt improve. A Frenchman and a quiet man in Oakleys were the next to go. Both were victims of the crazy Asian man hitting an open-ender. Then the old man who had played like a rock the entire time, decides to reraise all-in after the flop (but for only 1/3 of the total pot) with K-high against the crazy older Asian guy, who calls with A high and a flush draw and takes out our rock/donk in fifth place.

The blinds were at 100/200 and I had been stealing the occasional pot from time to time and did not have to show down a hand when I picked up Qc9d on the button and decided to limp in, with about 1800 behind me. I had the Crazy Asian in the big blind and the younger Asian dude had limped in early position.

The flop was 992 with two clubs. Pretty close to the dream flop for Q9. Both players check and I check to disguise the strength of my hand. The 6c spikes on the turn. Now I may no longer have the best hand. Both players check and I fire a bet of 400 into the 600 pot. Part feeler, part value bet as I am pretty sure I have the best hand but the flush is out there and if another club hits I may be in trouble. I do have the Qc which may be good, but probably not if the other person calls this bet.

The crazy old Asian man instantly raises my bet of 400 to 1200, the younger Asian man folds faster than the Lakers without Kobe, and I have a tough decision to make. I consider my opponent and what his possible range is (ATC) and decide I have to go with this hand. I repush all in and he flips over J9 no clubs. Pretty much the hand I wanted to see. Domination. 1 card left, 3 outs. I guess you know what the river was.

The man apologized to which I said "Nonsense. I pushed, it happens. I wanted to get the money in there more than you did."

Random events are just that - random, unpredictable.

I left the Rio satellite room slightly disappointed, deciding it was pointless to play more of these satellites -but hopeful that I could still perform well enough in the WSOP event in two days to make this all seem like the bad joke that it was.

My first WSOP - part 1

So i can't sleep (again) and have finally convinced myself that a recap of my first WSOP is in order.

I decided earlier this month that I should try to win an event in the World Series of Poker. I did some research, evaluated the 50+ events and decided that event 31 (NLH - 6 handed) was my best shot at earning my first bracelet. The field size the previous year was just over 800, significantly smaller than any of the $1500 buy-in events.

So I looked for plane tickets, arranged a place to stay for the week (Thanks Mr and Mrs S) and got my final table outfit ready. All the while I was studying Mike Caro's videos on poker tells and playing a couple of tourneys a day at local casinos to hone my reading abilities. Unfortunately I wasn't winning any of those local tourneys to bolster my bankroll or my confidence.

I arrived in Vegas on Friday the 13Th. What was I thinking? It was the only reasonably priced flight into Vegas because no one going to the land of luck wants to arrive on the unluckiest day of the year. I was hoping that my total disregard for the luck factor in poker would be welcomed by the poker gods and rewarded with lock hands galore. Boy am I dumb.

But I wasn't playing on the 13th so I should be safe...should being a relative term.

I decided that the best way to prepare for a WSOP event would be to play in some of the mid size tourneys that the other casinos are running. So I signed up for the Cesar's Mega Stack on June 14th at noon. The event gives participants a 10k starting stack with 50 minute blind levels for the $350 buy in. Sounds like a good deal. I am catching average hands for the first hour and manage to donk off about 1/4th of my stack chasing a straight draw. Then I pick up KK in the small blind after pretty much the entire table has limped in. The blinds are at 100/200 and I have approx. 6K in chips remaining. So of course I bump it up big time. I raise to 900, 4 callers, flop is 334, seems harmless enough. I don't think anyone called my monster preflop raise with baby cards so I continue bet my overpair, no subtlety here, 2500 is the bet. Two relatively quick calls with a weird glance from the tightest player at the table who is last to act.

Two callers? 2500 bet and I get two callers? Immediately the red phone starts ringing and we are moving to defcon 2. The turn pops the A of spades (ref. Motorhead - Lemme) and I know that I am done. If I wasn't beat already then I surely am now. I check and hang my head in defeat. Meathead Canadian guy bets out 3k, tightest player at the table calls, I dump KK into the muck. Action gets even crazier on the river. Turns out meathead had 44 in the hole, flopping the boat, and the super squeezer dude had 33, flopping quads. So the A on the turn didn't kill me, I was already pretty dead. The A may have actually saved me a bet or two.

An hour later I get TT and move it in first to act on a 9 high flop. The comedian at the other end of the table calls after a moment of deliberation and then flips AA which holds up to knock me out. Remember this hand for later. TT on a 9 high flop is not always as good as it seems. So I went to get a massage to relax and convince myself that I was getting all of the coolers and bad beats out of my system before my WSOP debut.

The lies that we tell ourselves are often the worst.

The steel mill: ultimate finale location or just overused?

I was watching one of my favorite films today and had a startling revelation. The film, Black Rain, stars Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia, as NY cops tracking a crime boss back to Japan. Black Rain is a great film that manages to infuse the typically stale anti-hero cop drama with explorations of cultural identity and racism directed at gaijin or foreigners.

The revelation: the steel mill is the most overused location in action films.

There I was watching Black Rain, a movie I have seen at least 10 times. And just as the climactic third act is getting underway our hero finds himself tracking the bad guy to a steel mill. And that is when it struck me. I could immediately think of three or four action movies with a steel mill as a featured location. In fact a steel millwas the finale location in: Terminator 2, Star Wars Episode III, One of the Highlander movies and probably twenty more that I cant think of right now.

What drives our love of steel mills in movies? If you visit a real steel mill are there bad guys conducting clandestine deals or duking it out with their nemeses around every corner? I'm just wondering why the steel mill is the ultimate finale location in most action director's minds. Is it the machismo associated with the steel worker? Or just all those cool ligthing effects your get from the molten steel?

Florida Aquarium Part 2

Florida Aquarium - pt 1

Some short vids of the Florida Aquarium I took on a recent visit. The quality is not the greatest as I took them with my camera phone.

Connecting the Social Graph: Member Overlap at OpenSocial

Interesting article on the overlap of the user population of various social networking sites and how Google is trying to bridge the gaps with their Open Social project.

read more | digg story

Doug Liman still waiting for Web equivalent of 'Swingers'

LAS VEGAS--Director Doug Liman (Swinger's, The Bourne Identity) believes the quality of content on the Internet does not live up to expectations, and I have to agree with him. There have been some interesting experiments with the format, like the "lonelygirl" series. But as I have never tuned in to that particular program I can't talk about its strengths or weaknesses.

What we have not seen is the application of great storytelling to the web released film or serial. Sure all the major networks stream their content via the Internet, but what about the independent filmaker really utilizing the power of this free (or at least relatively inexpensive) distribution channel called the web? Why am I writing this, I've got the web film of the century to work on...peace.

Click here to read more of Liman's comments on the state of online video content. digg story

- originally reported on news.com -

Funny Ninja Baby

Another funny video courtesy of Aika. I think this baby is in Ninja training or something.

Grand Central Station Photocollage

I did this photocollage of a bunch of pictures I took in the main atrium of Grand Central Station NYC. I took about 20 exposures during a 3 minute period from roughly the same vantage point (except for the american flag shot).

I then brought the pics into Photoshop, where I layered them and adjusted the transparency, erasing sections of photos until I achieved a feeling of the hustle and bustle of this classic american crossroad. The photo editing took about an hour and a half over two separate sessions. Let me know what you think. I especially like the guy in the lower right hand corner, representing the viewer, or the tourist, watching all these busy people dart from one destination to the next.

Funniest Business Card Ever

Aika sent me this and it made me laugh - so i figured i'd share.

Bombastic new mix by DJ Craze and the boys at Ninja Tune

Just had to share this amazing mix. Click here to listen, there are various options but the play (windows media audio) works best for me. I dont think this mix is added to their podcast RSS as of this writing. I have seen Craze perform numerous times and actually had the opportunity to bring Craze to Tampa and DJ with him a couple of years back, and I have to say that he is the best technical and crowd rocking dj i have ever seen. And the boys at ninjatune are always on top form. Probably my favorite music label of all time.

Simply amazing.

Here is the tracklist.

Date Broadcast: 14/3/2008

PART 1 _ DJ Craze

Beanie Sigel _ You Ain't Ready for Me _ Rocafella
Swizz Beats _ Money in the Bank _ Full surface
Khaled _ Holla at Me _ Terror squad
Freeway _ Lights Get Low _ Rocafella
Lil Wayne _ MIA _ Terror squad
Breakwater _ Release the Beast _ Phantom sound
Gaz _ Sing sing _ Salsoul records
Pitbull _ Go Girl _ TVT Records
Connie _ Funky little Beat _ Sunnyview
Freez _ I.O.U. _ Streetwise
Shannon _ Give Me Tonight _ Emergency
Siedah garrett _ Do You Want It Right Now _ Island
Armand van Helden _ I want Your Soul(Crookers remix) _ Southern Fried
Sexual Eruption _ Sounds Better With You _ Virgin
Unknown _ One More Rainforest _ Unknown
Treasure Fingers _ Come True Tonight _ Unknown
M.I.A. _ Come Around (ELi remix) _ Interscope
The Get Funky Crew _ Shake them titties _ Vision
Blaqstarr _ Shake to the Ground _ Mad Decent
Shala _ The Great Chicago Winter(Zebo remix) _ Unknown
Basemnt Jaxx _ Nifty _ Atlantic


PART 2 _ Caspa & Rusko

Asbo _ ASBO 1 _ Unknown
Caspa _ Rubber Chicken _ Pitch Black
The Others _ Champagne Cocktails _ Dub Police
Rusko _ Tonkas _ 2nd Drop
Rusko _ Jahova _ Sub Soldiers
Benga & Coki _ Night _ Tempa
Wonder _ What (Caspa remix) _ Wonderland
Cotti & Clue Kid _ Flash Back _ -30
N-Type _ Way of the Dub (Caspa remix) _ Dub Police
Skream & Clue Kid _ Sand Snake _ Disfigured Dubz
The Bug Feat. Killa P & Flowdan _ Skeng _ Hyperdub
The Others _ Invasion _ Dubplate


PART 3 _ Coldcut

Vintage Solid Steel 1993 _ Playlist unavailable _ Kiss FM

PART 4 _ Coldcut

Vintage Solid Steel 1993 _ Playlist unavailable _ Kiss FM

Great Kierkegaard Quote

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards”
- Soren Kierkegaard

Kierkegaard's quote is alot more dynamic than the old standby, " Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."

Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher in the 19th century who wrote about a wide range of topics. His most famous work Either/Or is a treatise on what he considered the two primary states of existance for man: the hedonist and the responsible man. We each have parts of both and it is the struggle between our two sides which defines our morals and values. Think about that for a minute or two.

I "beat" Assassin's Creed - now what?

So I just beat the game "Assassin's Creed for X-box 360 and to say the least I was a bit underwhelmed. Overall it was a good game, with great graphics, decent gameplay, a really interesting storyline and tremendous attention to detail.

When I first popped in the game and was transported to a historically based, sci-fi, mystery featuring the Knights Templar, the Holy Crusades and pretty much the best graphics I have seen thus far on the X-box 360 I was hooked. I played the game consistently for the next three weeks. Every couple of days I would complete some investigations, scale alot of buildings, do a leap of faith or two and assasinate some bad guys.

(SPOILER ALERT)

The further I progressed through the game the more I learned about our character's history and the more ambiguous the story got. None of the bad guys really seemed that bad, as in evil or difficult to kill, and both the character and myself were going through a bit of an identity crisis. Were we really working towards peace in the middle east circa 1190, or were we just another part of the problem?

Ubisoft, the makers of the game, assured me that Assassin's Creed was created by a diverse group of individuals from different ethnic and religious backgrounds, so I could go on killing people without fear that I was being prejudiced or commiting hate crimes. But the character, Altair/Desmond, needed a bit more convincing so he keept going back to the leader of the Assasin's Guild for reassurance and clarifaction regarding his tasks. I tried to get him to realize that his master was the bad guy but he just wouldnt pull his blade on his Obi Wan until the end when it is almost too late.

So I wont ruin the whole game for you as it was an overall enjoyable experience, but the end leaves so many open ends (hello sequel, movie, etc...) and raises some new questions with regards to the mysterious writing on the lab floor that I had to do some poking around on the internet to figure out what it was all about. For a full analysis of the writing that appears at the end of the game check this article out. I wasnt really in the mood to try and break the codes at 5 in the morning after a 6 hour session or gameplay, but the one word I recognized was Yonaguni. Earlier that day I had been reading about the submerged Yonaguni pyramids off the coast of Japan, weird.

The entire game was a setup for the sequel, with a mediocre ending and pretty weak bosses, despite the fantastic graphics and interesting exposition of the story. I probably will get the next one, but how about a bit of a tighter ending next time Ubisoft.

8 Web design mistakes

Click here to read an interesting article that compares the programmer's and designer's roles in and biases towards developing quality web pages. Some great guidelines are illustrated throughout the article, my personal favorite: "I dont need to ask for opinions", it's a trap all succesful designers and programmers fall into at one point or another, being self-confident to the point where they can no longer see or consider alternate approaches.