Trivial Tuesday

In an episode of the Simpsons, Grampa declares the the metric system to be the work of the devil, saying "my car gets 40 rods to the hogshead." While the hogshead may not be quite so easy to define (it is around 50 or 60 gallons, but varies depending on what is measured), the rod was a standard measure of distance. Just how far was his car going on a 40th of a hogshead? (Put much more simply, how long is a rod?)

And yes, Grampa's car got really, really bad mileage.

Who Could It Be?

Believe it or not, it's just...



...Mii

Oscar Thoughts

I'll probably be unconscious long before any of the big awards are given out. After all, it's time for another dose of Robitussin with codeine fairly soon.

However, I just saw Ratatoullie win for Best Animated Feature and feel the need to point out that Brad Bird is a genius. Also, I was really hoping to see Norbit win an Oscar.

I haven't seen many of the nominees, but if I had to guess, I'd expect Daniel Day-Lewis and There Will Be Blood to drink the milkshake of all the other nominees.

Trivial Tuesday

Haven't done this in a while. Let's see if anyone's still out there...

In the Fox television show House, Dr. Wilson has movie posters up on the walls of his office. One of them is for Vertigo, but the only one I ever seem to notice is the other poster, for this film-noir classic.

Think you know what it is? Then maybe you should tell us in the comments section.

Update: Congrats to Brian who came through with the correct answer Touch of Evil.

Survey Says

Surprise. I'm out of interesting things to say again. (Fine, "interesting") Rather than come up with something to say, here's a meme that originated as an email.

Welcome to the new edition of "getting to know your friends". OK, here's what you're supposed to do: (try not to be lame and spoil the fun!) Just copy (do not forward) this entire e-mail and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you.
Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you. Some of you may get this several times that means you have lots of friends. (Or, you know, some sort of similar rules that apply to blogs instead.)

1. What is your occupation? I am a quality control microbiologist, but don't let that title fool you, I spend most of my day sitting in a chair, staring at a computer and complaining that everyone is stupid but me.

2. What color are your socks right now? Given that it isn't the weekend, you can pretty much be sure that they are black.

3. What are you listening to right now? The clicking of my keyboard as I type.

4. Can you drive a stick? Yes, but I haven't in many years.

5. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Seriously? That's the question? Let's see...How about brown; it's useful but no one really gets too excited about it.

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Someone at work, about work. I don't even remember who anymore.


7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Well, considering that I am supposed to send this to that person as well as a bunch of other friends, it would be fairly rude and spiteful to say "no," wouldn't it? Fortunately, for the sake of our marriage, the answer is yes.

8. How old are you today? 11,468 days. Sure I could have told you that I was 31, but the question asked about today, so I figured it wanted specifics.

9. Favorite drink? Coke Zero.

10. What is your favorite sport to watch? College football.

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? I don't think so. Maybe I did for a Halloween costume when I was younger, but I can't remember ever dying my hair.

12. Pets? 2 dogs, but if you read this blog very often you already know that.

13. Favorite food? Oh yeah, ask the fat guy what his favorite food is. That's not a question that will take weeks or even months to answer. I don't have one favorite food. It varies from one day to the next.

14. What was the last movie you saw? I guess it was probably No Reservations.

15. Favorite day of the year? That's a tough one. I'd have to say April 25th, because it's not too hot and not too cold. All you need is a light jacket.

16. What was your favorite toy as a child? Hard to choose just one. Let's just narrow it down to G.I. Joe and Star Wars action figures.

17. What is your favorite: fall or spring? Fall.

18. Hugs or kisses? Kisses. Hugs are the ones with white chocolate swirls.

19. Cherries or Blueberries? Cherries. I don't like blueberries too much unless they are in a pie.

20. Do you want your friends to email you back? If by email you mean post this on their blog, sure go ahead, but I'm not exactly going to be disappointed if no one does.

21. Who is most likely to respond? Whoever wants to update their blog, but is out of ideas or energy to post anything more interesting than this.

22. Who is least likely to respond? People with recently updated blogs.

23. Living arrangement? I live in a house with my wife and two dogs. (Is this getting repetitive or is it just me?)

24. When was the last time you cried? About 5 questions ago when I realized that I still had a long way to go to finish this quiz.

25. What is on the floor of your closet? Some clothing and a dog bed, I think.

26. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this? I'm sorry was this originally written in some other language? It looks like someone wrote it and then used Babelfish to translate it through about 5 different languages before returning to English.

27. What did you do last night? Watched The Simpsons then went to bed on time to try to prevent myself from getting sick (or more sick or sicker).

28. Favorite smell? Cookies baking.

29. What inspires you? I'm not sure which bothers me more: that I can't come up with a funny answer to this question or that I can't come up with a serious one.

30. What are you afraid of? Many things, but most of all failing the people who are important to me.

31. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? As long as you make the burger well, it's good no matter which you choose, but if I were to pick only one, I'd go with a green chile cheeseburger.

32. Favorite dog breed? Norwegian Lundehund (Ok, I've never even seen one of these in person, and I don't have a favorite breed. I just wanted to show of that I know about a dog that has six toes and was bred to hunt puffins.)

33. Number of keys on your key ring? 3

34. How many years at your current job? 6

35. Favorite day of the week? Saturday.

36. How many states have you lived in? 4: Alabama, New Mexico, Illinois, Michigan. I also was in school in Tennessee for a while but didn't technically live there.

37. What are you doing this weekend? It's Monday. How can I possibly be expected to know what I'll do this weekend?

38. Ever driven a motorcycle or heavy machinery? Not a motorcycle, but I did learn to drive in a full-sized conversion van. Does that count as heavy machinery?

39. What's your full name? Look, you either know it or don't by now, so we'll end here.

Lost Season Four Premiere, A Belated Review and Discussion

Reader and commenter lbeth asked what I thought of Lost, and because I am lazy, busy or both I haven't posted anything yet. Now, just about in time for the next episode, my thoughts on The Beginning of The End.

It's been many, many months since we last saw any of our beloved castaways, and the last time we checked we were watching a dual timeline where Jack the savior contacted the freighter to get everyone rescued and Jack the bearded weepy drug addict was (a couple years in the future) screaming that they had to go back. Dramatic irony, it'll get you everytime.


We started off seeing a car chase on the news and watching Jack (not yet bearded, weepy or drug addicted, but drinking a bit early in the morning...something tells me the hospital would frown on a pre-work screwdriver) realize that it's his old buddy Hurley in the car running from the cops. Looks like Hurley gets off the island, too. Unfortunately, while he may be off the island, he also appears to be off his rocker, seeing images of a drowning Charlie telling him that "They Need You." After a chat with Big Mike, partner of the mistake formerly known as Ana Lucia, it's off to the looney bin with Hugo. Again.



On the island, it's more of the same. Locke is crazy, Jack can't listen, and the boat people still aren't who they say they are. This time, however, the split in the Losties is not simply figurative, as half flee to "safety" with Locke and half go with Jack to the beach to await "rescue."



If this was all there was to the episode, it would have been a pretty short premiere, but there was so much more. Hurely saw Jacob's cabin, where Christian was sitting in the rocking chair. Jack came to visit Hurley at the mental institution to make sure that he wasn't "gonna tell." Hurley was visited by a creepy dude who claimed to be from Oceanic Airlines, but couldn't provide any proof. Hurley told Jack that it wanted them to go back, and Jack insisted that they were never going back. (Yep, it got you again, Dr. Shepherd.)



The best lines of the night pretty much went to Ben (as is often the case) with his 1-2 punch of "Better call the boat. Tell 'em she's getting a big bundle of firewood." and "Ok, I probably should have told you that I saw her take the phone, but you beat me up Jack." With an honorable mention to Rose for declaring that she's "not going anywhere with that man," summing up the feelings many of us have for Locke, who, whether he's right or wrong, is a complete nutjob.



Was this my favorite episode? No, but it was still a very good episode. I loved seeing the different side of the post-rescue Jack. I loved the hints of things to come. The realization that "Oceanic Six" may mean that only six people leave the island. The fact that the split of the islanders is real, but that going with Locke doesn't mean someone stays and going with Jack doesn't mean that they leave. The fact that Charlie was seen by another patient and isn't just a figment of Hurley's imagination, but that he is definitely dead. The introduction of the creepy Matthew Abaddon, who helped to inspire my latest not yet hashed out all-encompassing theory which is certain to be wrong.



My questions from this episode:



Why are only some people off the island?



Why does Hurley want to go back already?



What makes Jack change his mind and go from confident quasi-celeb to suicidal?



How does Hurley go from hiding with Locke's group to leaving the island?



Who does Charlie want Hurley to help?



How is he supposed to help them?



Who was the creepy dude visiting Hurley?



What exactly is he offering?



What does he mean "are they alive?"



Why does he have a last name pulled from Revelation 9?



And most importantly, what was Jack's dad doing in Jacob's cabin? Seriously, Christian gets around a lot for a guy who's been dead since before the show started. (For more mind-bending strangeness involving the elder Dr. Shepherd, check out the Missing Pieces "mobisode" #13, entitled "So It Begins.")



I'm sure there are a lot of things I'm forgetting, but I think that's more than enough for now.