The Grassy Knoll

Last week was the 40th anniversary of JFK's assassination. They had a bunch of JFK specials on TV. One on ABC detailed the history behind the assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald, and all the conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories abound. I remember when I stayed in Dallas early this year. I happened to have a hotel at the Hyatt overlooking the grassy knoll and the book repository. It was amazing how much of a landmark this has become. Guys walk the street around there telling stories and selling books on the assassination.

Personally, I don't give conspiracy theories much weight. They may be interesting, but the evidence is shaky. These types of conspiracies are what I consider "extraordinary claims", and in the words of Carl Sagan, "extraordinary claims, require extraordinary evidence." Although Carl Sagan was usually referring to alien life, many other "extraordinary claims" exist such as these conspiracy theories.

Also last week, PBS had a great documentary series on the Kennedys that started with Joseph Kennedy and ended with Ted Kennedy's failed 1980 run for the President (web site link). The family definitely had more tragedy than the average family. JFK's oldest brother was killed in World War II and his older sister was killed in a plane crash after the War. Another one of his sisters was quietly moved into a mental hospital after a failed lubotomy that was intended to improve her mild retardation. In the sixties, Ted barely survived a plane crash early in his Senate career. Then of course the assassinations of John and Robert. The family was rich and powerful, but that can only do so much.

Coincidentally, I happened to borrow a DVD of the movie "In the Line of Fire" from a friend a few weeks ago. Clint Eastwood stars in this movie and plays an old secret service agent who was on duty at the JFK assassination. His regrets about "not taking that bullet" comes back as he tracks a new assassin played by John Malkovich. The movie was one of Clint's best action thrillers.

The Magic Loogey

Discussing about the grassy knoll, reminded me of the classic Seinfeld episode with Kramer's grassy knoll experience. This was a two episode series when Keith Hernandez became friends with Jerry. Kramer and Nueman believed Hernandez had spit at them after a game as they were walking out to the parking lot. But Jerry doubted this "theory" and provided a scientific analysis of the events to debunct it. As Jerry described it, the trajectory of the spit would require it to be "some magic loogey".

Shocking World Events and the Stock Market

One interesting thing I was wondering about was the short term impact to the stock market after shocking world events like the JFK assassination. Below is a list of shocking world events in the last 70 years, the close of the Dow right before the event and the close a few days after.

• Pearl Harbor 12/7/41: Dow on 12/5: 116, Dow on 12/10: 109 (-6%)
• N. Korea invasion of the South 6/24/50: Dow on 6/23: 224, Dow on 6/29: 207 (-8%)
• Sputnik 10/4/57: Dow on 10/3: 466, Dow on 10/11: 441 (-5%)
• Cuban Missile Crisis 10/22/62: Dow on 10/19: 573, Dow on 10/23: 558 (-3%)
• JFK Assassination 11/22/63: Dow on 11/21: 733, Dow on 11/22: 712 (-3%)
• Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait 8/02/90: Dow on 8/1: 2899, Dow on 8/7: 2711 (-6%)
• 9/11/01: Dow on 9/10: 9606, Dow on 9/21: 8236 (-14%)

posted by Ken on 8:10 AM permalink and comments  

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Sunday, November 16, 2003

 

GLC Must Live On!

Just watched another great Seinfeld rerun. It was the Frogger episode in which George finds he still holds the high score on the Frogger video game in the old Pizza place where he and Jerry use to hang out as teenagers (His initials GLC still are at the top of the list in the video game). To preserve the GLC legacy, he buys the video game and tries to move it while keeping its power on so his high score won't be lost (Good thing they didn't have that major blackout back then...).

George asks for help from Kramer in recruiting help in moving the machine. During George's conversation with Kramer, George had this classic quote:

Kramer, listen to me. I'm never going to have a child... If I lose this Frogger high score, that's it for me.

In a hilarious ending, George plays a "real" game of Frogger in trying to cross the street with the machine. But, unfortunately, his luck runs out.

Do Graphics Really Add All That Much to Video Games?

The Frogger episode reminded me of something I've been thinking about regarding video games and their ever improving graphics and CPU power. Does this increase in performance really improve the basic quality of a video game? Sure, the game might look "more realistic". But does this really increase the long term enjoyment of the game? In my opinion, it does not.

Fancy graphics are definitely important in selling games. But in the long term, I don't think they are all that important. The qualities that make a game a classic are not graphics, but the mental aspects of the game. It doesn't matter if you're controlling a realistic running dinosuar or the hopping of a handful of dots made to look like a frog. It's the game's objective and its mental and physical challenge.

So for Christmas, buy some inexpensive classic games instead of the latest overpriced graphic intensive video games. Feel free to use the above argument. However, it will probably take some more work to convince the younger ones....

Extreme Cheapness

Bankrate.com's Frugal U. collects tips from people on ideas to save more and spend less money. The best tip each month receives $100. Most tips offer some reasonable ways for people to save a little. For laughs, they just recently created a list of the more extreme submissions. These are tips only for the most extreme tightwads. Many are pretty funny. Here are my favorites:

• To save money when washing your car, use the squeegee at the gas station
• Unplug clocks in your house while sleeping
• Never buy sandwich bags or storage bags again. Use the liners from cereal boxes and newspaper wrappers.

posted by Ken on 1:02 PM permalink and comments  

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