Halloween Thoughts...

How to Come Out Ahead in Daylight Savings Time

Every year on the Sunday before Halloween, daylight savings time ends. The nice thing about this time change is that you gain an hour. As is often the case in life, for every gain there's a loss, and for every loss there's a gain. So next April, we'll lose an hour as we go back to daylight savings time.

But I just found a way in this daylight savings time process where you could come out ahead. If you die between October and April, you end up gaining an hour without ever losing it. Thus, you come out ahead. Of course, there is that little detail of being dead...

I Have Some Bad News and Some Good News

I wonder if a doctor with a weird sense of humor ever told a healthy patient this:

I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that you are going to die (The doctor then would pause and let the patient get really worried.) The good news is that it probably won't be for another 30 to 70 years (May take the patient awhile to realize that this is true for every healthy adult.)

Unique, Simple, and Cheap Halloween Costume Ideas

For about 6 straight years I use to go to a Halloween party hosted by some co-workers/friends. I'm not the type of guy who's into elaborate costumes. My favorite costumes are low-key, simple, unique, and cheap. Here are some of the favorite costumes that I made during this time:

• Duct Tape Man - I used a roll of duct tape and an old black T-shirt and created a duct tape vest. On the back, I cut out the letters "Duct Tape Man". I kept it simple and cheap by justing making a vest. Of course, duct tape could be used in a full head-to-toe costume for those so inclined.
• Spider-Man - My version wasn't exactly the typical Spider-Man costume. Instead, I bought a package of rubber spiders and sewed them onto a T-shirt and a hat as if they were crawling on me. I also tied one to a long piece of thread and arranged it on my shirt so I could have it move.
• Toxic Mold Man - This was one of my most unique costumes. I took an old white T-shirt and used a black pen to dot the bottom half of it with patches of make-believe mold. This is also probably one of my most scary costumes. After that Halloween, two people at the party experienced toxic mold in their homes and had 30K to 50K of repairs done.

I did have one dud for a costume idea. One Halloween I attempted to create the costume "The Ant Man". My idea was to gather a whole bunch of real ants inside ziploc bags and tape these bags to my shirt and pants. I couldn't find any ant hills near my apartment so I attempted to create a bait. I placed Poptart crumbs on the balcony and waited for them to come. Well, not enough ants came, so I gave up that idea and reverted back to my old Spider-Man costume. I was probably better off without the ants. I don't think I would have been that popular at the party...

posted by Ken on 11:18 AM permalink and comments  

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Sunday, October 19, 2003

 

Sunrise and Sweet Madam Blue

Last weekend, I saw something that I have never seen before, a sunrise rainbow. As I was stepping out for my jog, the clouds had lifted enough to let the sunrise sun shine on the morning drizzle creating this amazing rainbow.

These kinds of sunrises often remind me of my favorite song, Sweet Madam Blue from the rock band Styx. It has great lyrics, great tempo, and provides a symbolism that I think will always be relevant to America. I particularly like the 60 second soft interlude in the middle of the song and how it ends in a high intensity, rythmic crescendo. It gives a feeling of energetic rebirth from a dark captivity, kind of like a glorious sunrise.

One thing that would be cool is if a Washington DC radio station would make it a ritual to play Madam Blue at every Sunday morning sunrise. Then as the sun rises over the national capital, the song could be heard on thousands of radios through out the downtown parks, playing in unison the song that symbolizes the dreams and hopes that people feel for America.

Yankees and Seinfeld

Baseball playoffs have reduced my viewing of Seinfeld reruns lately. Looks like the Yankees have once again made it to the World Series. One thing I've noticed while watching is the uniforms these days look more comfortable. Perhaps more cotton? Maybe George Costanza was on to something.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's Victory

The recall election in California was one for the history books. It'll be interesting to see how Arnold does as governor. There's one thing good for the nation: At least we'll be free of new Schwarzenegger movies in the next several years... Actually, I'm not really a hater of his movies. He has made some good action movies. However, T3 was a dissapointment for me. Wonder what they're going to do for T4 now that Schwarzenegger claims he's not going to do any acting while governor.

Even though Arnold is pretty inexperienced in government, there is one important trait that should help him. That trait is extreme determination. It's that trait that is required to be number one in any sport including body building. This determination, dedication, and winning attitude should be beneficial to a government leader. Of course other traits are also important like ethics, intelligence, and leadership. It should be interesting to see how things go.

Another point to note in Arnold Schwarzenegger is his social liberalism. Social liberal Republicans seem to be growing in popularity. New York also has such politicians in Rudolph Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg. Even though he wasn't a Republican, Jessie Ventura also seems to share similar beliefs.

I wonder if this can really change the Republican party. The best thing that could happen, in my opinion, is if this wing of the party formed a new party with a moderate libertarian philosophy which combines economic conservatism with social liberalism. A party with such a platform and with some strong and popular leaders could perhaps have some success.

I don't think a bottom-up approach from the current libertarian party is possible. I think it will take popular politcians leaving their current party and forming this new one. It could be similar to what Ross Perot did in 1992, but it will have to include many popular leaders who join together. Just like what Arnold did in California, it would definitely make things interesting.

David Blaine and Magic?

One thing in the news these days is the "magician" David Blaine and his "stunt" of 44 days of confinement over a London river in a transparent box. I suppose this stunt has some unique and interesting aspects. I guess supporters appreciate his mental fortitude to endure such an ordeal. Perhaps next year, he'll try for 88 days... Actually, 44 days seems kind of whimpish. How about 44 years? Now that would be impressive. That would be a life well lived....

You might have detected some sarcasm above. You might have guessed, I'm not a fan of this stunt. I think people have to be careful not to get carried away by unproductive goals. Of course what's productive and what's not is debatable. 44 days confined in a box just doesn't seem all that productive.

I would prefer David Blaine spend more time developing his old brand of magic with tricks and mind games that fascinate viewers and leave them wondering how he could have done that.

In my engineering job, we often spend a lot of time trying to figure out what's wrong with a chip or some software code. Sometimes, things just don't make sense. Things happen that just doesn't seem possible. But by carefully thinking things through, by eliminating definite impossibilities, and brainstorming new ideas, we usually figure out these issues.

Trying to figure out ingenious magical tricks is what I use to like about David Blaine. I think it's something that can make learning fun and inspire future problem solvers in science and government. Finding ways to do what seems impossible is the essense of good magic. Hopefully, Arnold Schwarzenegger has some of this training...

posted by Ken on 1:53 PM permalink and comments  

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