Kurt's Thoughts

My dad sent this to me and for some reason I find it quite meaningful.  I don’t think I have to say anything else to say about it.

A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to

Leave the examination room and said,  

‘Doctor, I am afraid to die.  

Tell me what lies on the other side.’  

Very quietly, the doctor said, ‘I don’t know.’  

‘You don’t know?  You’re, a Christian man,  

and don’t know what’s on the other side?’  

The doctor was holding the handle of the door;  

On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining,  

And as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room  

And leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.  

Turning to the patient, the doctor said,  

‘Did you notice my dog?  

He’s never been in this room before.  

He didn’t know what was inside.  

He knew nothing except that his master was here,  

And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.  

I know little of what is on the other side of death,  

But I do know one thing…  

I know my Master is there and that is enough.’ 

This is one of the reasons I love Craig Ferguson.

Craig Ferguson on himself: “I don’t have a drinking problem, I have a thinking problem.”

Just another reason why I’m liking Texas more and more by the day.  Whoever it was that was controlling the Dallas Cowboys Stadium LED screen played some Gears of War 2 and as you can see in the video, Halo 3.

More from Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/20/giant-cowboys-stadium-led-wall-caught-playing-xbox-360-during-do/

I just became a fan a Shia LaBeouf. 

I think you can tell a lot about someone based on the video games they play.  Check out this interview he does with BigDownload about video gaming, growing up with a video game-hating father, the kinds of games he likes and most interestingly, his opinion about the the Nintendo Wii.

Some choice quotes from the interview:

• “Last night I spent all night playing The Godfather II game. It’s solid. I like that game because I like Godfather. I really like the map. My problem with Grand Theft Auto is the map is too large. It takes too much transit time to get into action. Godfather, it’s large enough to be interesting and have variety, but not too large to where you feel like you’re driving the whole game.”
• Responding to the question: “What’s the last game that really impressed you?”
  Sid Meier’s Civilization.
• Responding to the question: ‘You play everything including real-time strategy?’
  Buddy, I’m a gamer. Not just the fake ones you read about.
• “I don’t mess with the Wii, to be honest with you. It’s kind of an amateur console. I’m not into the Wii thing.”
• “This is how in a simple way you can find out if it’s a gamer you want to play with. Ask them if they have a Wii. If they say yes, get the f*** out of there.”

LINK: http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/06/18/interview-transformers-shia-labeouf-loves-civilization-iv/

In case anyone is looking for a convenient, high fidelity, low-cost, WIRELESS, black & white laser printer, may I make a recommendation?

• Brother HL-2170W Wireless Laser Printer ($109.00)
  http://amzn.to/3SCGR6

For basically only a hundred bucks, you get a blazing fast 23 ppm, 2400×600 resolution black & white printer that connects to any wireless network. (Or wired)  Installing drivers on other machines in your home is totally cake and you can print to the printer locally even while you’re VPNed into work.  Install the driver, it auto-detects your printer on the wireless network, and you’re good to go in less than 30 seconds.  And with 32MB of memory, the printer does a great job of “print serving” on its lonesome even on larger Powerpoints.

And what about toner?

• Brother TN330 Black Toner Cartridge – 1500 pages ($32.00)
  http://amzn.to/arSp7b

It ain’t fancy but it’s the cheapest, most reliable hunk o’ junk I’ve ever bought in the past two years (since I ditched my ol’ HP printer) and the driver install/wireless capability is incredibly convenient.  It just sits off in the corner of my home office (remember… no cables needed!) and has never jammed, never failed, and only beeped when it’s out of paper for 2 years now.  It’s faster than the printers at work and it’s so cheap it’s practically disposable. 

Perfect for when you need a printout on the way to customer or a paper copy of a map/email/directions on your way out the door.

Adam Sessler couldn’t be more right about Metacritic.

OH.  MY.  GOD.  BEST.  VIDEO.  EVER.

I’m going to write a blog dissertation on the research I did around the topic of “why fathers have children”.  I really did ask a hundred plus men over a period of two years or so why they decided to originally have a kid, if they still agreed with their rationale, and what they feel they got out of it.  I think the reasons might be very interesting to you… and they’re often very different from what women say.

But until then, I thought I’d introduce you to my new little buddy.  Meet “Kyle”.

I call him our little ‘sleeping burrito’.  He’s the reason there will likely be a complete slowdown/halt of posts to this blog over the next month or so.

You can read about Kyle’s Saga on my Twitter page at http://twitter.com/kurtsh.

So awesome.

Steve Wiebe is the Redmond, WA gentleman that one day decided that he’d try to beat the world record for points in Donkey Kong, a game that is largely considered by many arcade game enthusiasts as the most difficult and notorious arcade game to master.  Unbeknownst to him, neither the current world record holder at the time, a Floridian named Billy Mitchell, nor the “video game world record community” was willing to exactly welcome him with open arms.

THE KING OF KONG
He found himself in a battle almost based on principle alone.  When he was denied the world record under somewhat sketchy circumstances, he became embroiled in a fight that spanned several years to be recognized as the best Donkey Kong player in the world.

THE DOCUMENTARY… AVAILABLE ON DVD, G4, & E3!
The subject of a documentary, “King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters”, Steve Wiebe has found sudden fame.  Having his quiet effort documented by video cameras has made him a recognizable face arcade gaming circles.  After having taken the Donkey Kong world record, then losing it, Steve was asked to make the attempt to win it back on live TV on G4, during the E3 Video Gaming Conference in front of a live audience.

Unfortunately, he didn’t accomplish his goal.  After making 3 attempts (and having lost the power on one attempt) Steve managed to get ~980,000 points and show the audience an actual “kill screen”, or the screen at which point the video game will no longer function due to “a lack of memory”. (256th level, if I remember correctly, which sounds like a problem with enumeration in a register)

ALL IS NOT LOST… DONKEY KONG JUNIOR TO THE RESCUE!
It turns out that earlier in the month, Steve had taken the Donkey Kong JUNIOR high score record and was recognized publicly for that accomplishment on stage at E3.

And what’s amazing is that he seems to be the nicest guy in the world.  Nary a egotistical statement, never a bad word.  It’s hard to believe someone could fake “nice” for this long a period which leads me to believe that the guy’s a real gentleman.

So he might not be the World Record holder in Donkey Kong… but I think the smiles and cheers he gets from the E3 & G4 crowd on live television this month are a bit more important.

And hopefully he gets a cut of the DVD revenue, ‘eh?

• Steve Wiebe’s World Record Attempt at E3 2009
  http://e3.g4tv.com/videos/38750/Steve-Wiebes-World-Record-Attempt-/
• G4TV’s Facetime interview with Steve Wiebe
  http://e3.g4tv.com/videos/26109/Facetime-Steve-Wiebe/
• Twin Galaxies conversation with Steve Wiebe
  http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=43&id=1743

Y’know, I know they’re the big bad ass of eCommerce sales online to consumers, but I never expected Amazon to beat the crap out of every other Pet Medicine e-Store online.

Check this out:  I needed to buy a bottle of 120 count SynoviCre 500mg tablets for my dogs joints and arthritis.  Easy enough.  I typed “synovicre dog” into our beloved new “BING” search engine and this is what turned up:

* 1800PetMeds doesn’t sell 120 count bottles of Synovicre for some reason and only sells 90 count.  Hypothetically, the 120 count bottle would sell for around 79.93 based on ratio.

What’s even better is I have Amazon Prime so not only would the shipping have been free even if I didn’t have Prime, but since I do, it arrives in 2 days at no extra charge. 

Yes, I’ll be buying from Amazon.com for my dog’s meds from now on, but additionally…

• CHEERS for MyPetDrugStore.com.  Not the best price because of the shipping but at least they’re reasonable relative to everyone else.  I’ll definitely check them out first from now on for things I can’t get on Amazon being that they seem to at LEAST be in the ballpark with prices and they focus on pet medication.
• JEERS to 1800PetMeds.  What a ripoff!  Even comparing apples to apples, Amazon lists the 90 count bottle at $31.99, again leaving 1800PetMed’s price of $59.99 in the dust by $28!  No wonder those guys can afford those national TV commercials – their additional margin is a ludicrous ~60%-90% over Amazon.com!  People buying from 1800PetMeds are conceivably paying close to TWICE than what they would pay at Amazon or MyPetDrugStore.com!

Uh oh.  Looks like there’s blood in the waters around USC Athletics and the media sharks are beginning to circle their next meal.  Anyone else get the feeling that someone’s about to get a long overdue visit from the oversight committee of the NCAA?

• CBS SPORTS:  Double trouble lands USC atop era’s cheat sheet
  “…This is the most scandalous athletic program of this era … and that’s saying something.”
  http://www.cbssports.com/columns/story/11746214

  CBS SPORTS:  Basketball troubles could pour over to USC’s gridiron
  ”The loss of 15 scholarships over three years, a postseason ban, forfeits including a Pac-10 title and… ripping that 2004 national championship.”
  http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/11746785

• SEATTLE TIMES:  Building a case to take down Tony Soprano, I mean USC
  “…all signs indicate they’ll be punished to the brink of irrelevance for quite a while.”
  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/jerrybrewer/2009217849_brewer14.html
• YAHOO SPORTS:  USC probe centers on control
  “Yahoo! Sports has identified 17 individuals who have been interviewed at least once – and some multiple times – by the NCAA. However, that number is believed to only be a small portion of those who have met with NCAA investigators in connection with the USC probe…
  Two sources also have confirmed the NCAA has spoken with the FBI…”
  http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news;_ylt=AnGwZEVGNR5Cxn.2YRfN9m_EnZF4?slug=ys-uscprobe051209&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
• FOX SPORTS:  NCAA needs to throw the book at USC
  ”If you can’t put the University of Southern California in jail, you might as well close up shop. Declare amateur athletics dead. And get rid of your most beloved rules, which wouldn’t mean anything anyway.”
  http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/9569020/NCAA-needs-to-throw-the-book-at-USC
• ESPN:  Mayo investigations going strong
  ”Memphis Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo has communicated with the U.S. Attorney’s office amid allegations that federal laws may have been violated when Mayo’s former adviser gave him money and gifts during his high school and college career, according to a source with knowledge of the case.”
  http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4165378
• BLEACHER REPORT:  O.J. Mayo Took Money While at USC—Can’t Say I’m Surprised
  ”The Trojans are obviously delving into shady tactics with their recruiting efforts in all their athletic programs.  What will it take for the NCAA to actually step in and say something, or are they too scared to touch the golden boy that is USC?”
  http://bleacherreport.com/articles/174209-oj-mayo-took-money-while-at-usc-cant-say-im-surprised
• LOS ANGELES TIMES:  Did USC’s Tim Floyd pay for O.J. Mayo?
  ”Attorney Salerno said of Floyd: "It will be interesting to see if USC now backs him or throws him under the bus. . . . They can say, ‘Maybe we were negligent with Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo getting money, TVs and all that, but in no way can we condone what has happened here.’"

“The NCAA investigation alone may have already caused USC to lose another top basketball recruit, 6-10 power forward Renardo Sidney of Los Angeles Fairfax High. Sidney, who is ranked among the nation’s top senior big men, had announced his intention to accept a scholarship from USC, but the school later stopped recruiting him.
The Times reported that school sources, speaking anonymously because of the sensitive nature of the situation, said questions about the Sidney family’s finances had prompted school administrators to instruct Floyd to withdraw a scholarship offer.”
http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/basketball/la-sp-usc-mayo13-2009may13,0,5808708.story

You know what I think is particularly sad?  The number of fans like this guy who constantly drag out the ridiculous argument that “all teams do it” and “there’s no way to control student behavior"… without even realizing that they’re admitting that even they believe their beloved USC is corruption-laden and about to find its head on the NCAA chopping block.  To these folks, apparently, since “everyone does it”, that makes USC just like everyone else.

And last I checked, “everyone else” didn’t have a rap sheet that looked like this:

• USC Athletics Program’s Long Road to an Aggregated, Unified NCAA Investigation
  http://kurtsthoughts.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!97895BBB8AD10F37!1465.entry

Cesar Millan’s special episode of

The Dog Whisperer:
Inside Puppy Mills 
Friday, May 8 @ 9:00 pm ET/PT

…on the National Geographic channel

Every year, more than one million purebred and "designer" dogs are born and bred into puppy mills – often packed in tiny wire cages, neglected, dehydrated, dirty and chronically sick with little or no human interaction or affection- and then sold legally to pet stores throughout the country. 

In a powerful new Dog Whisperer episode, Cesar Millan goes undercover with Last Chance for Animals’ Special Investigation Unit to witness the horrors of puppy mills firsthand and works to rehabilitate these dogs who have never known the world outside their overcrowded cages or learned how to interact with humans.  Watch Cesar teach the LCA team how to rehabilitate the traumatized dogs from the moment they are rescued out of their cages.

"We are from two different points of rescuing," Cesar says of LCA, "They do the physical rescue, I do the psychological rescue.  So together it’s a team, it’s a good pack.  When you bring a dog into your life, please do your homework and don’t buy a dog from a puppy mill.  Visit a local shelter or rescue group instead."

Check out the premiere episode Friday, May 8th at 9pm ET/PT!
(Also airs Sunday, May 10th at 6am & Friday, May 15th at 2pm)

Meet our beloved dog, Sheepa.  We adopted him about 4 years ago a little after my wife and I got married.  Back then he was about 10 years old and he was very much "alone”.  His appearance was very poor, his fur a tattered mess, and next to the newborn puppies and prettier dogs up for adoption at the local shelter, he didn’t stand a chance.

So of course we adopted him.  And today, he looks ‘fabulous’.

Today, Sheepa, my wife and I went to the Century City shopping mall to run some errands and as we were walking along to the Papyrus store to buy some Mother’s Day cards and Thank You cards, I took some pictures of Sheepa and my wife “on their day out”. 

We ended up passing by the “Paris Hilton” store.

And as we’re walking along the outskirts of the store, Sheepa stopped and… well… the photos should be self-explanatory:

One word:  PWNED.  We love our adopted dog!  Go Sheepa go!

There have been a few times in my life where I’ve done something relatively nice and it later somehow came around back to me like a karma-tic boomerang. 

THE FOURTH GRADE RED-HEAD
When I was in 4th grade for example, I was the only person in the 4th grade class that would talk to the “new red headed kid”.  I tried to console him but he was miserable and cried constantly.  I told him it would be alright but he just couldn’t handle the new environment.  He eventually transferred back to his original school. 

6 years later, I was entering high school (it was a public school, which was vastly different from the private academy that I’d been at for two years prior) and I was meeting new kids and talking to this one guy and he said, “I remember you.  You were the only kid that talked to me back in elementary.  Thanks for that by the way.”  And he proceeded to introduce me to the other kids in the high school.  If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have known anyone on day one of school.

JOE THE MASTER BARBER
A few months back, I went to Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Expo.  While there, I realized I was sporting the ol’ Billy Ray Cyrus mullet hairdo, and that just won’t do.  So I started to scout out professional barber shops in the city and I stumbled upon a remarkable store called Truefitt & Hill which was a really nice experience.

So I wrote them up in Yelp.  And as my friends know, I can write one helluva review in Yelp:

• Kurt’s Review of Truefitt & Hill at Caesar’s Forum Shops in Las Vegas:
  http://www.yelp.com/biz/truefitt-and-hill-las-vegas#hrid:4oz3aXBmJzsX7ml3n-SJcA

For those without the patience to read the review, basically, my barber was a fella named “Joe” who was a 67 year old master barber from Sicily, Italy.  And he gave me truly the best haircut I’ve ever had in my life.  It’s hard to describe because it was unlike anything I’d done in Vegas before.  It was just a very serene, masculine, quiet, sort of… ‘time’.  It was sort of a guys spa, I guess:  No frilly stuff.  Just a clean, well done haircut that ended up being a very worthwhile experience.

Well, fast forward to today.  I took a look at my message box at Yelp (I haven’t written much in the past couple months for a number of reasons) and I read the following:

 Kurt,

My name is Elliott and I am the owner of Elliott and Co. for men in Las Vegas. I wanted to thank you for the really nice review that you wrote witch featured Joe La Spisa. A couple days after I read your review about Truefitt and Hill and Joe, I received a phone call from a soft spoken barber with an Italian accent telling me that Truefitt had closed and that he was looking for a nice shop to work in that was close to his home. A day later I met with Joe and while I was talking with him all I could think of was your review, which was spot on I might add. Joe has since come to work in my place and he is a great barber and a real pleasure to work with. Your kind words about Joe were one of the biggest factors in bringing him on. Thank you! I hope the next time you are in Vegas you make the trip to Elliott & Co. and pay Joe a visit. I know you both will enjoy it.

Warm regards,
Elliott

Now how cool is that?

(And yes, I’m going to Vegas sometime before the kid is born and I’m going to try to get over the Elliott & Company.  It’s quite a ways from the strip near as I can tell but if I want a good haircut, it’ll be worth it.)

This just made my day. This is, like, 119 of some of the best photos ever taken by mankind.

• NFL Cheer
  http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/27068610/displaymode/1247/

Y’know, no matter how lousy you feel (and after a day of volunteering at a pet adoption fair, I ache all over and feel generally pretty awful) I challenge any guy to flip through these slides and not have a smile on their face by the end of all 119 photos.  I don’t even care how much I hate Tom Brokaw and the insanely biased NBC newsroom:  After this photo spread, I say, “All hail NBC Sports!”  These are the kind of things that make the Sport Illustrated issues irrelevant.  Cripes – this actually makes me wanna go to see an NFL game.  At least for a moment.  Then I wake up and decide the Internet is cheaper than paying $120/ticket.

BTW:  The photographer must have something going on with the girl named “Ryann Murray” because her photo shows up an interesting number of times, with a citation of her identity and everything.

Me?  Based on the photos, I think this is gonna be a great year for Houston Texans & Tampa Bay Buccs fans.  You lucky dogs, you.

This is amazing.  I don’t know how these folks do this, considering the expense involved.  They must have some serious benefactors behind them or a major Federal Grant.

UPDATE:  Aha.  I found it on their web site:

In January of 2007 the Catnippers team secured grant funding from PetSmart Charities, the Found Animals Foundation, Best Friends Animal Society and several private donors to launch the very first full-time spay-neuter clinic in Los Angeles dedicated primarily to serving feral cat caregivers and implementing TNR county-wide. Our new program is a separate 501(c)(3) organization, FixNation, Inc., which has been in operation since July 16, 2007.

One of my favorite comedians of all time, Richard Jeni, passed away a while back.  The fact was that he was apparently very depressed and committed suicide… a decidedly unfunny thing from a notoriously funny guy.

I’ve written about my opportunity to sit down with him and talk with him in an airport back in 2000.  We sat down with drinks and laughed about… among other things… airports. And we chatted for over an hour. Yeah, he was a great comedian then and he still is now.

And now, I guess his estate has figured out that there are people like me who are still interested in seeing the bits he used to do.  Stuff that isn’t available on his CDs or videos.  Things he did on TV, like Platypus-man, and other bits.

So they redid his web site and lo and behold, there’s some great stuff there.  Check it out if you’re a fan of comedy.

WEB SITE:
http://www.richardjeni.com

OMG.  How many people feed their dogs Nutro these days?  This is a REALLY popular food billed in national chains as one of the healthier foods.

FDA Confirms Probe of NUTRO Pet Food Deaths, Illnesses

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has confirmed that the agency is investigating NUTRO pet food, following a series of unexplained illnesses and deaths."

"Today, the FDA’s Division of Freedom of Information confirmed the agency has an ongoing investigation into NUTRO — and said that investigation could be criminal or civil in nature."

"The investigation came to light when the FDA denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by ConsumerAffairs.com seeking a list of complaints and lab results the agency has collected regarding NUTRO pet food. The agency denied the request and said that releasing the information could hamper “prospective or ongoing” action by law enforcement."

More on this announcement here:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/04/nutro_foia.html

For information on unhealthy ingredients for your dog, visit the Dogfood Project at:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients 

Man, this guy annoys me.

Valleywag reports that CNBC’s Jim Goldman is a shill for Apple.  I flat out think he’s a media mouthpiece for Apple’s Public Relations group based on his reporting.  Not convinced?  Check out Valleywag’s research:

• http://gawker.com/5133232/a-puffed+up-reporters-puffed+up-sources
• http://gawker.com/5124074/how-steve-jobs-turned-cnbc-into-apple-touts
• http://gawker.com/5131654/cnbcs-state-of-denial-on-apple-ceos-health

Well, normally his bluster is just that:  Bluster.  However this time, he’s really gone way overboard.  We’re talking transparent-Jack-Thompson-nutjob overboard.

He’s flat out making up stuff to defend Apple.

Goldman’s Ludicrous Apple Hype… Gizmodo weighs in
After Jim Goldman “reported” on the supposed cost/value differences between a PC versus a Mac, and publicly made the claims that:

• Macintoshes come with Photoshop; PC’s don’t.
• Macintoshes come with iTunes; PC’s don’t.
• Macintoshes come with iPhoto; PC’s don’t.
• Macintoshes “don’t need” antivirus software; PC’s need to buy some.
• Macintoshes have 4x the battery life compared to PC’s, have faster processors & better screen resolution

…the technology folks a Gizmodo cried out, SAY WHAT? and called CNBC flat out “ridiculous”.  (http://i.gizmodo.com/5220277/cnbc-is-ridiculous-macs-come-with-photoshop-pcs-need-600-extra-to-perform-as-well-as-a-mac)  Gizmodo gets VERY specific about how ludicrously wrong Jim Goldman’s slanted Apple view was, citing such examples as:

• Windows can get AVG, Avast!, BitDefender, or any number of commercially available free antivirus software
• Windows can get iTunes, Zune, Windows Media Player, and any number of free music software
• Windows can get VCW Photo Editor, Paint.net, Photoscape, or any number of free photo editors
• Windows can get photography managers like Windows Live Photo Gallery or Picasa or other free tools

…and BTW:  Macintoshes do NOT have “4x the battery life”, “faster processors”, or “better screen resolution”.

Goldman can’t even COPY other people’s work correctly
The crux of Goldman’s incorrect comparison apparently originates with his source material:  It looks like Goldman ripped off someone else’s article, which compared a MacBook Pro to a specific HP laptop model… then he extrapolated the facts to encompass ALL Windows laptops versus ALL Mac laptops.

Yep – in a hilarious case of ‘cribbing’, Jim Goldman, apparently not satisfied with just shilling for Apple, allegedly copied his information directly from a BusinessWeek article written by Arik Hesseldahl who has since publicly accused Goldman of ‘borrowing’ his article.   Valleywag/Gawker highlights the “cribbing” activities of Goldman:

“The duplication of six data points between the BusinessWeek story and Goldman’s CNBC segment would be enough, on its own, to give away Goldman’s cribbing. But the real tell that Goldman didn’t do his own work was his sloppy copying of BusinessWeek’s comparison: Hesseldahl wrote that a PC buyer would need Adobe’s low-end Photoshop Elements to match the Mac’s built-in iPhoto. In the CNBC graphic, Goldman rendered this as "Photoshop" — a much more expensive program that doesn’t come with a PC or a Mac. (Hesseldahl has now accused Goldman of "borrowing" his column, and pointed out other errors.)”

For an interesting bit of investigative journalism, read the complete article.
http://gawker.com/5220979/how-apples-pet-reporter-stole-his-talking-points