Energized Spider-Man!

While checking out iFilm in geeky anticipation of the new "Spider-Man 3" trailer, I found this commercial for Energized Spider-Man.



I got this toy for Christmas in 1978! He had a "web" you could pull out of his hand and hook onto a clamp that you'd attach to a table or bookshelf or whatever. Then watch him climb!

The other big gifts that Christmas: my spiffy "Star Wars" jammies, a Kenner X-Wing fighter and an Oscar Goldman doll (he was the Six Million Dollar Man's boss--he came with an exploding briefcase).

Bank of America: The Musical

Oh my God. Do things like this actually happen where people work? I swear, this is like a scene right out of "The Office." This might as well be Michael and Dwight on stage (or David and Gareth if you prefer the British version).

This video appears to have been taken at some sort of Bank of America conference, where an emlpoyee gets up and sings about their merger with MBNA to the tune of U2's "One."

A glimpse of the future

Here's a great quote from Stephen Colbert, by way of Couric & Co.:

"Tomorrow, you're all going to wake up in a brave new world, a world where the Constitution gets trampled by an army of terrorist clones, created in a stem cell research lab run by homosexual doctors who sterilize their instruments over burning American flags. Where tax and spend Democrats take all your hard earned money and use it to buy electric cars for National Public Radio and teach evolution to illegal immigrants. Oh, and everybody's high!" -- Stephen Colbert, a national treasure, on last night's Colbert Report.

The Sky's the Limit

Hey, "Heroes" fans...I spotted this T-shirt for sale on Television Without Pity.

The times, they are a changin'

George W. Bush has really let down so many people who were once on board with him.

I was convinced invading Iraq was the right thing to do at the time. I was pleased he was re-elected in 2004 (although I still don't think Kerry would've been good). But now we all know better and it's clear his "stay the course" (non) policy has cost his party control of Congress (Katrina sure didn't help either).

Nice job, George.

Let's look at the Sweeney-Gillibrand race (which is not my district). Sweeney didn't lose because of allegations of domestic abuse. That may have been the final nail in his coffin, but Gillibrand never should have been in striking distance in the first place. And she wouldn't have been if it weren't for the war.

The war is a mess and it motivated the Democrats like never before. They saw an opportunity and poured money into races that otherwise would have been no contest (like New York's 20th district). George Bush cost Sweeney his seat (although Sweeney certainly didn't help matters). And that was the case all over the country.

Now the Democrats have the House and could still wind up with the Senate. How will things change? Here's an excerpt from today's editorial in The Daily News...

The people's sentiment is crystal-clear on the war. They simply want out of the conflict - if there is a way to get out. But there isn't...

...But the bring-the-troops-home-now bunch has largely been marginalized; reasonable souls understand full well that this war, however disagreeable it is - and it sure is - cannot just be walked away from. For now, the anti-war fervor of this newly reconstituted Congress runs smack into the ugly reality that giving up the fight in Iraq will leave behind only catastrophe.

Which means soldiering on with a President, now decidedly lacking in political capital, while hoping for the best.

I'm sure there will be much flaming in comments. So let 'em rip, you guys...

Don't vote for Billy

Those "out of hand" political ads I mentioned? They've spread to our nation's schools!

Short term memory

There has been much talk about the nastiness of this year’s political ads. A lot of people keep remarking about how they’ve never seen it this bad before.

But here’s the thing—this is exactly how it has been for the last 230 years. Mudslinging is as old as our nation.

And yet, somehow every two years the nastiest campaign ads ever are produced. It’s kind of like how every year our Christmas tree is “the best tree we’ve ever had” and how every holiday is “the busiest travel day of the year.”

Granted, the Sweeney-Gillibrand race has been pretty dirty. We’ve had our share of political fist fights in the past, but not many get as “personal” as this one has.

Nonetheless, you watch—two years from now there will be a new crop of nasty campaign ads and I guarantee people will be scratching their heads asking, “Wow, when did it get this bad?”

Anyway, don’t let any of this keep you from the polls. Voting is one of the most important things we get to do! I was still undecided on a few races down to the wire, but in the end I made my decisions. Tonight we’ll see how things turn out.

Rocketeer

Nolan and his friend Chris attended a Cub Scout campout today. We weren't able to spend the night since the boys also had their last soccer game of the year this morning. So we just went for the day.

The big activity for the scouts was launching some Estes Rockets.

We were very fortunate--only one rocket got stuck in a tree. All the rest were recovered intact. That inludes Nolan's rocket, which shot high in the sky and then sailed down into the woods. But the "recovery team" went charging into the woods and quickly found it on the ground.

John Kerry's poor simpleton soldiers

The "uneducated" fighting men and women of America are reaching out their hero from Massachusetts...

'I don't recall'

We are approaching the 20th anniversary of the day news of the Iran-Contra scandal broke--Nov. 4, 1986.

The whole story provided me with an excellent civics lesson, teaching me what the 5th Amendment was all about.

There's an interesting post on the Daily Nightly today about what it was like when the story broke. They've also included a video clip of the NBC Nightly News from that date.

There is also this observation from NBC News Senior Investigative Producer Robert Windrem...

The scandal also resonates now in ways that couldn’t be imagined back then. Today, the Lebanese magazine that broke the story would be online. Experts and journalists with responsibility for the region —- not to mention bloggers -- would have found it almost immediately and pushed it out a lot quicker. And what few recall is that the scandal unfolded in large measure because of the White House’s nascent e-mail system, a prototype electronic mail system from IBM called the Professional Office System (PROFs). As North and countless others have learned since, e-mail leaves a long digital tail that lives on even after being deleted.

Does CTU know where you are?

Thanks, joevideo.

Trick-Or-Treat

We’re gearing up for Halloween. Today Kris and Thomas carved pumpkins…



Friday night there was a Halloween part at Nolan’s school. That gave the kids a chance to try out their costumes. Nolan is going as SpongeBob SquarePants this year. Thomas is (surprise, surprise) Thomas the Tank Engine. Kris made the costumes herself and did a fantastic job…


At the party people who saw Thomas kept saying things like, “Hi, Thomas!” and “Look, here comes Thomas.” And I kept wondering, “How do all these people know him?” Yeah, that dad’s a real sharp one, isn’t he?

High tech communications

I meant to blog about this yesterday, but alas, I got too busy.

Anyway, here’s a history lesson: Oct. 26 was the anniversary of the opening of the Erie Canal. It was on that date in 1825 that New York Gov. DeWitt Clinton traveled on the first vessel to make the journey on the canal from Lake Erie to New York City.

Here’s the cool part that I learned yesterday…soon after Clinton departed, people in Manhattan knew he was on the way. The route was lined with cannons, spaced just within earshot of each other. They were fired, one after another, to spread the word. It took just 80 minutes for the signal to reach its destination.

Here’s how George Condon described the cannon telegraph in his book Stars in the Water, the Story of the Erie Canal…

“[The] first gunner lighted the fuse … fearsome enough to be heard by the next, unseen, gunner down the line because it seemed as if the echoing boom from the northeast came so quickly as to step on the lingering reverberations of the first roar … it rolled through the country of the Mohawks, the Senecas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, the Oneidas, and the Tuscaroras … moved east, through the Niagara Country, the Genesee Country, the Montezuma swampland, through the Mohawk Valley, past the Catskills, and down the Hudson… It took the cannon telegraph relay only one hour and twenty minutes to reach the island of Manhattan and deposit its historic word before turning about for the return relay to Buffalo.”

Telecommunications sure have come a long way.

Some other facts about the canal that was known as Clinton’s Ditch: it was 360 miles long, 40 feet wide, and 4 feet deep—just deep enough to float barges carrying 30 tons of freight. It was built by European immigrants—mostly Irish—who were paid $10 a month. They were also given whiskey, which was stored in barrels along the construction site. No mention of any mules named Sal.

Falling leaves

I went for a run this morning through Central Park and so many leaves were falling to the ground. It was so pretty to see the different colors falling through the sky. This fall seemed to be nice and gradual, with temperatures slowly dropping. But I think the end is near with 26 degrees on the thermometer this morning and day light savings approaching this weekend. I'll be running in the dark pretty soon.
People ask me what's new and I really get lost in the many activities we have to say what so I end up saying not much. But the kids are constantly doing something and seem to have smiles all the time. Thomas loves preschool. If you ask him, he will say no because he loves the controversy. But he asks if it's a Kiddie Car day and cries if it isn't. He still has trouble separating when Chris brings him there, but he quickly changes his tune and goes with the flow afterward. The fire truck came this week. Thomas also has fun at story hour at the library and a social program in Colonie called Toddler Tales. We're trying to get him some boy friends so he can have some play dates. Nolan, on the other hand, is play date central. He's had a lot of boys over from school. He is finishing up soccer this weekend, has a Creepy Crawly Ball at the school tonight and is getting ready for his first Cub Scout Campout. He has a computer class he takes after school on Mondays too. So I guess that's what's new in a nutshell.
Be sure to watch the leaves before their gone. That's true of your kids too!

Still searching

That M&M's game I blogged about before has a timer built into it, so you can tell how much time you've cumulatively wasted between saves. At the 1 hour mark, I've figured out 45 of the 50 movies.

The last five are driving me nuts. I know there are sites where you can look up the answeres, but I don't want to cave.

'The Google'

It's always interesting to ask a president (of either party) if they know the price of a gallon of milk and see how they answer (I think that was part of a "West Wing" episode once).

Yesterday, CNBC's Maria Bartiromo interviewed President Bush and asked him the 21st century equivalent of that question: "Do you ever use Google?" Here's his answer:

"Occasionally. One of the things I've used on the Google is to pull up maps... I forgot the name of the program, but you get the satellite, like I kind of like to look at the ranch... reminds me of where I want to be sometimes."

As I've mentioned before, I also use the Google for many of my needs on the Internets.

Tick-tock

Speaking of “24,” while setting up the link to Fox’s “24” site for my previous post, I couldn’t help but notice the message that the season 6 trailer is going to debut tomorrow. Check out www.24trailer.com at 3 p.m. ET Tuesday for a first glimpse of what’s in store next for Jack Bauer.

The trailer will also air during the World Series tomorrow night.

'Save the cheerleader...Save the world'

NBC's “Heroes” is easily my favorite show on TV right now. I so look forward to sitting down in front of the TV every Monday night and satisfying my inner comic book geek.

My favorite character on the show has to be Hiro—because he is a comic book geek who embraces his new abilities and adventures with such wide-eyed enthusiasm. It's what every kid with a comic book collection dreams of.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do in January when “24” returns on the same night and time.

Exploring the dark side

Here's a great time-waster, courtesy of PLANET3RRY.

To promote their new dark chocolate M&Ms, and to tie in to Halloween, M&Ms has launched a clever online game. This picture contains images that represent the titles of 50 "dark" movies. When you think you see one, click on it and type your guess in to see if you're right.

How many can you find? I've been working on this for a while now (you cansave your game and come back to it later) and I'm stuck at 35 out of 50. Some of them are pretty obvious. Others, not so much.

Not it!

I thought this was pretty outrageous when I first read about it earlier in the week. But at the time I thought it was limited to just one kooky school in Massachusetts.

Now it seems there are more schools banning "tag" and other playground games that include any sort of physical contact. Another school in the Bay State as well as schools in Wyoming and Washington are worried about lawsuits if a child is hurt in a contact game.

Never mind the jungle gyms, swing sets and slides.

If one of my kids was somehow hurt playing tag, suing the school would be the last thing I'd think of. When I was in the seventh grade I broke my arm playing football on a playground. No lawsuits were filed, nor were they even considered. Accidents happen.

Officials at one school say they've ordered kids to come up with other games to play.

"What we require is that children do not touch each other," said the principal at one of the schools.

Where do we draw the line? Is duck, duck, goose out? You know, someone could suffer a head injury!