So yesterday I was talking...

...with Cousin A initially, about t-shirts at ThinkGeek.com, because there was one in particular I thought she would think was funny...

But then somehow (how do I wind up anywhere in conversation?) I wound up mentioning to Kristen (MLW's cousin -- Hi Kristen!) that ThinkGeek also had two "Heroines of Science" tees -- one for Marie Curie (who I said is the "go to" female when anyone is asked to name a female science from... not the past century), but they also had Ada Lovelace (the first computer programmer). Kristen's point (I believe), was "what, they only have two?" And my point, was, "well, how many can the average person name... or even the average geek." I was not, of course, evaluating the "rightness" of there being only two shirts or even that most people could only name 1 or 2 women scientists...

What I did NOT know (an amount slightly smaller than the area of the Grand Canyon...) was that for the first month, ThinkGeek is donating a "portion of the proceeds" of the sales of these two shirts to The Girl Effect. What's that, you ask? (Or perhaps you are more aware than I am -- it's not hard to be so...) It sounds kinda like it's like OxFam but focused specifically on girls in the developing world... (Don't get on me about using the word, "girl," either, because they do...)

*sigh* I don't think I'm explaining this very well. A couple of months ago, MLW and I were watching TV (shocking, I know...) and it was either a PBS thing or The Daily Show, but something made me hit pause on the TiVo and I had what passes for a quasi-profound moment around here, and said something like, "You know, the world is only going to get better when all cultures realize that women should be treated with respect. [pause]. No, that's not the word I want... when everyone realizes that women should be valued as much as men." As with most of my quasi-profound thoughts, I didn't have the solution, just a slightly better grasp of the problem for a moment, and then an overwhelming despair at the realization of the scope of the thing...

I guess my point is, these folks seem to have the solution. So go to their site and take a minute to watch their opening video (really cool, yet simple and powerful), and then maybe buy a shirt or just throw them some extra dough. It's clearly a good cause.

Thanks for reading.

Awesome!

So many things to deal with... movie nights, parental visits, etc. But hey, in the meantime, check this out...

Mark my words, you're going to see Indy EVERYTHING...

SQ sent this one in... it's yet another spud based toy that we must have...

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Finally...

...this means that YouTube, now has everything on it. Repeat, everything is now on YouTube.

And I am, again, vindicated.

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Awesome!

Well, I know where my money's going in '08.... (Thanks to SQ to bringing this to my attention).

Long awaited update post coming soon (if MLW gets the pic's online).

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The Golden Compass...

...is coming out this weekend, and while other plans prevent me from seeing it, the movie looks pretty cool. And so is the website.

Check it out, my daemon is a female tiger (I hope this doesn't mess up the blog format...):



Apparently you can comment on how accurate a view of me that seems to be and the daemon might morph. Be nice.

This is totally awesome!

The first "official" Iron Man trailer to hit the web. (I caution you, it took me five tries to get it to download correctly, but I think that has more to say about the network at work than it does about anything else...)

But it is WAY cool. Check it out.

Hee-hee

I so enjoy seeing Bruce Campbell working. He's in a new series (in a supporting role) called BURN NOTICE on USA. Looks like it could be funny, and it seems quirky and somewhat original. Therefore it will probably be cancelled after 3 ep's, but hey, I can hope, right?

Bruce has a series of video interviews (short clips) that he did promoting the series, featured on the website for the show. Check 'em out.

Pay attention this week...

...Dear Reader, as I feel a posting mood coming on...

In the meantime, it's nice to know the Japanese are working on the prototype for my Mind-Control Helmet...

Ah, Japanese scientists... did anyone ever figure they maybe have too much time on their hands...?

Two weeks behind...

...(at least) on seemingly everything. Hell, that may just be my epitaph... All I can say is, work is keeping me super-busy. Don't really know why, exactly... doesn't seem to be one thing I can point to, just seem to be busy all the time. (Truly, it's a struggle to get to the gym or read.) It's not "bad busy" but it doesn't leave time for much else.

Anyway, at the risk of giving up my lunch or getting further behind in my email, here's at least two weeks worth of bloggables at once...

So it turns out that French and Austrian scientists (who apparently decided, you know, that all the rest of our problems had already been solved) were studying animals, and learned that petting them reduced their stress as well as our own. So score one for, um, science?

My mom sent me this piece like back at the end of February (Did I say two weeks behind? Clearly I meant months. Make that three. Months.) -- some sort of in memoriam of Mr. Rogers. Utterly random, but worth reading, I thought (presuming, of course, you can since it's in the Bergen Record, which probably requires registration...)

Here's a really cool site (and when I say "really cool" I realize, OriginalWebb, that not everyone will agree with me...) that debunks or sets straight many comic book urban legends. Didn't know their WERE comic book urban legends? Me neither. But I found out I believed some of them, and so this site helped me learn the truth.

For local folks, I found the Virginia Renaissance Festival (we always hear about the Maryland one which starts around August and runs through late October, but never a VA one), which sounds interesting. Maybe we'll go if it doesn't get too hot... They do have a Pirate weekend... (Arr!)

And speaking of pirates (see what I did there?), I have YET ANOTHER bone to pick with my high school Guidance Department -- NO ONE ever told me "professional treasure hunter" was a viable job choice! How cool would that be?! Answer: pretty damn cool. And apparently profitable!

What else is up? Saw Spiderman 3... I'm sure at some point I'll have an interesting conversation with JADO about that. Um... I'm not sure that's there's any other news of excitement. Oh, other than the murder up on the next street. (MDFA's parents don't read this blog, right?)

Back to work now. Thanks for reading...

Clear your calendars

MDFA after some subtle prompting was kind enough to look up the summer movie release calendar for me. Now that we're nearing the end of April, when for all intents and purposes the Summer movie season begins. So make notes, True Believers! We're soon headed to the cinema!

May 4th - Spiderman 3
May 18th - Shrek the Third
May 25th - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
June 8th - Ocean's 13
June 15th - Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer
June 15th - Nancy Drew (for MLW)
June 27th - Live Free or Die Hard (aka Die Hard 4)
July 4th - Transformers
July 13th - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
July 27th - The Simpsons Movie
August 3rd - The Bourne Ultimatum
August 10th - Rush Hour 3

I'm sure this doesn't represent ALL the movies coming out this summer, nor all the ones we will see, but hey, it's a start. If you haven't see the trailers for some of them, do check them out (the Simpsons' one had me laughing and laughing.)

More as we get closer to each individual one...

Turns out...

...Kryptonite is our Kryptonite...

Who knew?

Oh. Yeah, that's right...

That's the Akron Beacon-Journal...

...for all your DVD news... But seriously, folks... TV Shows on DVD is reporting that in an interview with the Akron Beacon-Journal (first in news for, well, Akron...) Robert Vaughn has more news on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. DVD collection.

Also, in other Robert Vaughn news, a reminder that his truly excellent show Hu$tle returns to AMC this very night (Wednesday, 10 p.m., AMC). Watch it, it's totally cool!

Mark your calendars...

Just saw this article from the AP saying that Spiderman 3 was going to be premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in Queens, NY (see, Peter Parker is from Queens... get it?) And apparently this event kicks off a week long Spiderman Week in NYC event. Kudos to Marvel for pulling this one off (though don't think it means I've forgotten about that Captain America thing...)

* * *

Incidentally, for those who asked, I'm waiting for MLW to get the photos of the plumbing episode and the NYCC uploaded to her Fliker site, before I begin those particular photo essays...

So busy...

...no time at all.

But this is still cool...

Mmmm....

...ice cream.... (and gambling -- two things that go great together!)

'Nuff said?

New Fantastic Four TV Commercial/Trailer.

New news on the (upcoming) Iron Man movie.

And as some of you may have seen during HEROES at some point (I'm so far behind it's not funny...) the 7+ minutes from Spiderman 3!

I had thought about giving you a rant on the whole Death of Captain America thing, but then I figured, why bother when this guy has more or less summed up my thoughts, and regardless of those thoughts, Marvel (Make Mine Money!) will continue to capitalize on it. (It's what they do now.)

Photo posts still coming soon...

The Ice Storm of DOOM!

Or at least that's what I've been calling it since yesterday. The birthday snow fizzled. And for that matter, so did the massive storm we were supposed to be getting. Although, if you ask me there were too many people ready for this one... so of course it didn't amount to anything. The weather folks are still playing coy, but I think they'll definitely have a forecast for Monday through Wednesday by something on Thursday...

A couple of amusing things sent in be various loyal readers (or something):

• WPE sent in this t-shirt, which for those of you who grew up in the 80s might appreciate.
• SQ sent in this piece about Swiss Army sunglasses, though I think it might be satire...
• As well as this other bit, about the biggest Lego set. (You readers of Robot Doom know that we need to keep an eye on those Lego folks...)

And I think that's about all I have right now. Gotta go skate outside and grab some lunch...

First Cousin, Once Removed!

So, lots to talk about in terms of work, and other exciting developments going on.

But trumping all that was today's development as My Dear Cousin A, gave birth to a bouncing baby boy (well, okay, he wasn't bouncing exactly... mostly he just kinda slept -- so it's nice that he and I have so much in common already) who we'll refer to as Baby Z. He was born at 4:07 p.m. EST, and weighed in at 8 lbs., 4 oz., and was 21 inches long.

Herewith are the photos, which have not been doctored to make anyone look nicer, I swear.

Cousin A with Baby Z. See, he's sleeping.

(L to R): My aunt (Cousin A's Mom), Baby Z, and Cousin A. (Note how he's still sleeping).

A disheveled looking JAM (I meant to shave, really), Batman shirt and Green Lantern ring and all, holding my first Cousin, Once Removed, Baby Z. I think I'm just going to let him call me Uncle. It's shorter and easier to explain. I did tell him I'd always have comic books for him, though. (Note how you can just sort see his eyes in this picture. They're really dark blue, not red as they might appear in this light...)

So, anyway, that's all for now. I'm tired. And I wasn't even there all day. Or in labor. Or really anything. But he seems cool. He made me laugh at this one point with a funny face, so that was cool.

We'll see how Day 2 goes tomorrow...

EVERY time I think I have a good idea...

...something comes along that shows me it can be better... (My thanks to SQ for shattering my meager dreams...)

Also, I figure I should mention somewhere that MLW is ecstatic that it snowed. Even though neither of us got to stay home, like dear cousin A. Did I mention it couldn't have been much more than an inch and a half...? *sigh*