20 Questions Tuesday: 169 - News

So, last night, in my genius I decided to go for some walking exercise... “Walking?” you ask. well, yes, walking. I have my grandmother’s feet and she has been dead for years. So, instead of running I briskly walk. Last night it was about 6.5 miles in about 1.5 hours... I was hauling it. The issue with the walk is that I don’t like the walking in the night-time, mainly because the bike trail that I walk on is not really that well lit, and I am scared of the muggers and big-guy-rapers out there.


Anyway... I sent out the call for questions this week and got a resounding response on the topic “News.” Thanks this week go to Lord Pithy, Capt McArmypants, Brav, and Nadolny. Let’s get to it!


1. Do you see the Kindle Fire as a final product, or preamble to something called the Kindle Inferno?
I do not see it as a final product, but I also do not see the Kindle Inferno being their named product... It will probably by the Kindle Fie-Yah!


2. Should people have to apply for a license before buying a model plane?
ummm... no? Not sure I know why one would need liscensure to construct a scaled down in-operable version of a plane.


3. How was your world affected by the Netflix/Qwikster announcement?
My world wasn’t really affected by it, mainly because I am not a subscriber to the services. However, I do listen to a long list of tech podcasts, so I had to hear a shit-ton of moaning and bitching on those podcasts... and that was annoying.


4. I hear Dr. Murray may be taking on new patients soon. Who would you send to him?
hmmm... who would I mark for death? Who would I like to get hooked on prescription narcotics and then die? I honestly can’t say that I could wish that on anyone.... (Cast of Jersey Shore)


5. What odds do you give the Simmons/Tweed marriage?
Well, we don’t know the operating conditions of the marriage. If the terms of the marriage are similar to the terms of their previous relationship, I give it good odds. Mainly because I think the marriage is done only as a property rights and visitation contract.


6. As you get older do you find you watch the news more and/or believe it less or the vicey-verser?
I watched the evening news everyday as a kid. Local and national... every night. I don’t really watch news anymore. Sometimes I try to watch the BBC... not often though.


7. Ticker tape thingy at the bottom of most News channels. Best thing ever or worst thing ever?
One of the worst... such good potential that just hasn’t panned out. Things I would love to see scrolling along the bottom of the screen: news headlines, sports scores, ingredient lists, nursery rhymes, recipes, school class attendance rosters, the periodic table of the elements, etc...


8. Have you ever had a personal involvement with a "newsworthy" story where what was reported, be it through simplification or embellishment or straight up they have no effin clue what happened, was nothing even close to the facts? If so please share..... and feel free to embellish and over simplify.
Nope, but I have been on the news for the nasal flu vaccine. I am a star.

I was watching FoxNews in the airport last year and it looked like the Miss USA pageant (By the way, mad props to the NILF skit from the Daily Show). Disturbingly, all around the nation the reporters/anchors just keep getting better and better looking. The only known exception is the local ABC affiliate in your own home town.

So:
9. Do you disapprove of this trend?
Make’em whiter and blonder or I don’t want to see your news. Get all of those missing drunk college chicks in the Caribbean that matter (the white ones with blond hair from the USA, not the darker ones who go missing who live on the islands) and make them your news casters.


10. If so, does this in fact make Pam Huff a thing of beauty?
No... No it doesn’t. Is she still on the air?


11. Do you think your personal karma has had an effect on the flooding throughout Asia?
Well, since I have never been to Asia or Australia, I cannot think that MY karma is the one affecting the flooding in Asia... I would suggest that someone living in Thailand who once was part of the USMC might be more of a karmic black hole, causing the suffering and desolation of others in Asia.


12. Who is your favorite sports team (if any) and why?
I would have to say the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer, because it a local team and a soccer team... Two things that tend to make me a fan... My surrogate soccer teams that I am trying to follow are Fulham FC in the English Premier League and the Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer as well (because of a friend’s fanship of them)... (if Halifax had a team, I would follow them as well)


13. If you could change WHAT they report on in the news, what subjects should get more focus and/or what should get LESS focus…?
I think the news needs to be a bit more balanced as far as positive and negative news. That being said, I understand that positive “news” stories do not compare in magnitude to the bad news stories. I understand that an earthquake in Japan causing a nuclear meltdown is orders of magnitude larger than volunteer tutors helping kids having issues with math. I just think they need to sprinkle in some positives with the negative. Maybe in between the “household chemicals in you closet that will kill you” story and the latest natural disaster information they could throw in a story about how a random stranger paid for someone’s groceries.


14. Do you watch news on TV, or get it through an Internet website, or elsewhere?
Pretty much Internet sources only. That being the case, all over the place on the Internets, but I find that the Twitter is a pretty credible place when you meticulously curate who you follow.


15. Do you like to see a preview for a movie before you see the movie?
I live for previews. Love them LOVE. THEM. It is true though, that the trailer either has nothing to do with the overall movie, or completely ruins it... but I love them anyway.


16. There is a new 3 Musketeers movie out, are you a fan of the originals? The ones I’ve viewed are: the one where Gene Kelly was Dartanian, the 3 and 4 Musketeers (2 movies made in the 70’s), the cartoon from the Banana Splits show in the 60’s, and the Charlie ‘Tiger’sBlood’ Sheen version?
I am a fan of the 70’s movies. Those are great. The 90’s version was horrid.


17. How about them Wall Street protesters?
I am glad that this protest is going on... it should be getting better coverage than it is in the US. To find good information on it you have to look to the CBC, BBC, and Al Jazeera English, and that is pitiful.


18. Do vertical versus horizontal stripes really make people look fat or thin, or does being fat or thin make them look that way?
It really depends on the width of the stripes and spacing of the stripes. Thin stripes with medium spaces have a “contouring” effect and whether vertical or horizontal tend to make fat people look fat. Very wide stripes (vertical or horizontal) can slim to an extent. That being said, thin looks thin.

19. Do you find the goatee hot in the summer months?
Not especially, even though a full beard is warmer in the wintertime. Odd that.


20. Do you think goats are hot in the summer months?
Yes, and I believe they are cold in the winter... specifically in places that are cold... Goats do not get cold in the winter in areas where it does not get cold in the winter, needless to say.




To recap:
Sent off an invoice to Job #2 yesterday
Pretty sure almost all of it will go to Uncle VISA
I have a Boba Fett hoody
It is pretty great except for the jet-pack art on the back
It would have had a more striking design without the jet-pack
If anyone wants to get into the questioning, let me know in the comments section
You are only an email away from asking me questions regularly
My kids ate all my yogurt
Now, I only have granola bars and sadness for breakfast
I have a battery of eye tests on Thursday
Not looking forward to he headache that will induce
I was diagnosed with Convergence Insufficiency
Basically, I cannot focus my eyes too well close in
You know at a useful distance for reading and such
But, I can do those Magic Eye posters like a Mo-Fo
So, while my head hurts after reading
And I lose visual focus fairly often at red lights and watching the TV
I can resolve 3-D images embedded in visually and aesthetically annoying posters that were made in the early 1990’s at the drop of a hat
Who is kicking ass now?
Jealous much?
Have a great weekend everyone