Isn’t it strange how we name different parts of our cities — particularly when done so with cardinal directions.

• North Beach – one of San Francisco’s neighborhoods
• South Beach – one of Florida’s well known beaches
• Lower East Side – a common response for New Yorkers answering where they live
• South Park – the potty-mouth cartoon
• When I was attending Cal, we had
• South side and North side – representing areas in relation to campus
• West Side (Story) – the well known musical that’s a take on Romeo & Juliet

They do have a good ring to them.

At the same time, I never hear:

• East Beach
• West Beach
• West Park
• or East Park

although a quick Google search reveals that they do exist.

However, I do note that Google’s results are thus:

• North Side – 36,800,000
• East Side – 44,200,000
• South Side – 93,800,000
• West Side – 53,500,000

South Side seems to be more popular (or populous on the web), as is South Park.

Anyway, something maybe to bring up if you find yourself caught in an awkward silence over Thanksgiving.

(Northeast Side exists, too, but has barely 800,000 results – so clearly, nothing to write home about).

Photo by Leo Reynolds

It’s been a while.

I’ve been busy with…cases that didn’t involve her. You know, cases of milk from Costco, cartons of cereal, and bags of vegetables — that kind of thing.

There was also the reams of paperwork, piles of junk mail — the usual suspects.

But yesterday, I came back to the office, just to check on things.

And there she was, my Muse.

She was lounging on the client chair — a wooden number that purposely not too comfortable, especially with that pose.

But I don’t think she minded.

The shimmery outfit she had on was light and airy, draping over her curvaceous form in just that way that makes men’s hearts flub-a-dub just a wee bit faster. The slits show off her legs, which were stretched out in long diagonals, crossed at the ankles, as she demurely rested her elbows on the back of the chair. She looked at me with sky-blue eyes as her lips curved into a small smile.

No, that pose certainly wasn’t too comfortable. But, I didn’t mind either.

“How’ve you been, darling?” she purred.

“Oh, busy.” I replied.

“Oh, I know–I know about that thing called life. But I meant up there,” she said, pointing to my head.

“Still sharp as ever, I guess.” How sharp it was before I didn’t know.

“I’ve been keeping your place tidy,” she said as she rose, and started walking around.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed. Thanks, but you didn’t have to.”

“Yes, but I wanted to,” she replied. She turned suddenly to look at me in earnest.

“Are you coming back to work, finally?”

“Well, I figured maybe ease in back to it, if you know what I mean.” I said, even though I wasn’t really sure.

“I see.”

There was one of those awkward pauses.

“Um…well, you look as lovely as ever…” I managed.

“Of course,” she said, “I always look great to anyone who finds me. You know that.”

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

“Well, I hate to chat and run, but–”

She came over to me without another word, and planted a soft kiss on my forehead.

“For luck,” she said, as she disappeared out the door.

How is it that gas companies can charge nine-tenths of a cent?

Does it really make that much of a difference?

Take a look at the sample pricing from last week (outrageously high pricing notwithstanding):

• $4.17 and 9/10 for Regular
• $4.29 and 9/10 for Plus
• and $4.41 and 9/10 for “V-Power”

Why can’t they say $4.18, $4.30, and $4.42, respectively? What if I buy exactly 1 gallon — shouldn’t I get one-tenth of a cent back? I don’t. So I end up paying $4.18. Multiply that by hundreds of millions and those one-tenths add up, don’t they?

Be Honest with Your Pricing

We should be more honest in our pricing, and I’m not just talking about gas stations, but everything in general. In fact, I propose a simple way to present more “honest” pricing — something along the lines of:

• Under $15, round to the nearest dollar, e.g. $1.00 per song on iTunes, not $0.99
• $20 to $100 – round to the nearest 5 or 10, e.g. $25, $90, $100
• $110 to $990 – round to the nearest 10, e.g. $240, $680
• $1000 – $9,900 – round to the nearest 100, e.g. $1400, $8,900
• $10,000 – 99,000 – round to the nearest 1000
• $100,000 – $500,000 – round to the nearest 5000
• $505,000 and up – oh, who cares at this point? You can go back to pennies, e.g. $99,999,999.99

Don’t you think that would help?

Have a great weekend!

Indiana Jones

Next to the original Star Wars Trilogy, Indiana Jones is probably my next all-time favorite movie franchise.

Whether or not the latest incarnation will be worthy of the original trilogy remains to be seen — I hope so.

Childhood memories

I remember being a teen, and watching The Last Crusade on the big screen. It was probably my first movie where I vivid recalled each and every scene afterwards, and this was only seeing it for one time.

Mind you this was first time I sat in a stadium-seating type of theater, with THX sound, etc., etc. so I think the whole experience simply blew me away.

Up till The Last Crusade, I was either too young and/or too poor to really go out watch movies on a regular basis, or to even appreciate the experience when I did. (I stayed home and played legos).

Inspiration

I know that Indiana Jones creator Geogry Lucas was inspired by the old serials of the 30’s and 40’s, and I’m glad that his creation serves as my own childhood serial

Key Points of Appeal

Here’s what appealed (and appeals) to me about these films:

• Good versus Evil – we get a clear delineation of good versus evil. Indy is good, and he’s always battling the bad guys. You can’t get more simple than that.
• Heroism – Indy normally tries to do the right thing. His sense of fairness and justice is usually right on the mark. He’s not the biggest bruiser out there, but he stands up for his beliefs and doesn’t normally back down from a fight. He’s also smart, and of course, has a bit of (movie magic) luck.
• Romance – there’s a romance to the series, and I’m referring to more than the onscreen flings that Indy might have. I’m referring to it being set in the period right as technology is beginning to come into its own. Today we have “steampunk” fiction, which is set in the Victorian or late-Victorian era: steam-power, the first “scientific fiction”, etc. Indiana Jones, being set in the 30’s and 40’s (at least with the first trilogy) allows us to experience the raw power of then-new technology, with no worries of environment/ecological impact and such
• Enjoying the Journey – sure each film has it’s underlying goal — the “MacGuffin”, as it were. But seriously, who didn’t enjoy the chase scenes, the (campy) Batman-styled fights, and exotic locales. (Speaking of locales, this is how I envision Casablanca would have looked like if it had been shot in color.) In the end, the Indy movies are a bunch of great roller coasters that we love to get on over and over again.
• Music – kudos to John Williams for composing yet another memorable theme — how many has he done? The rousing Raiders March — heroic, uplifting, epic — will live on in popular culture for a long time to come, to be recalled as easily as some of the other great themes — The Pink Panther, James Bond — or William’s own Star Wars or Jaws.
• Happy ending – all(?) of the films have a happy ending, at least of sorts. Things are resolved — Indy has saved the day (or the world). What more can we ask for? This is actually known as the Classic Hollywood ending where boy gets girl, and they live happily ever after. Of course, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen the original trilogy, but I do remember feelings of satisfaction from watching. That’s certainly not something I can say with the majority of movies out there.

In the end, I think it was every boy’s dream to grow up to be like Indiana. I still remember wanting a fedora for the longest time.

Source: WikipediaToday, online social network behemoth MyFacePlace.com announced its latest Web 2.0 technology, SHIPAT has gone live.

Having been under development since the advent of segmented baked leavened flour dough, this latest in a long line of social networking applications finally comes out of theta testing after a series of missteps that saw rival companies gain market share at the expense of MyFacePlace.

Technology blog YechTech.bla predicts that a large number savvy entrepreneurs will jump on the bandwagon to take advantage of what pundits all agree will be a paradigm shift in social networking.

According to MyFacePlace spokeswoman, O. Ly Kidding, the technology is nothing short of amazing.

“Frankly, we’re shocked no one has thought of this before. There’s just something almost natural-like to meeting a person in real life, shaking their hand — it’s an intimacy that really has no rival. There’s a raw energy to the entire process that elicits comparisons to Paleolithic tribal interactions. We think the concept is going to take off in big way.”

To date MyFacePlace has released the following applications:

• SHIPAT v1.0 – Shake Hands In Person And Talk
• UTIE v2.5 – Use the Telephone Instead of always Emailing
• FOHSSIRG v3.1 – FOr Heavens sake, Shave and Shower If you want a Real Girlfriend

Investors, ebullient with the news, pushed shares of MyFacePlace stock up 256% to an all-time high of $1,024 in after hours trading.

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Happy April Fool’s Day!

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I’m going to do a short review on the Artemis Fowl series of novels.

A New Take on a Popular Myth

Author Eoin Colfer has a wonderfully creative take on the world of leprechauns, sprites and pixies. In this series of novels, he mixes both magic and technology — beings living deep underground who have magical powers, as well as ultra-advanced computers technology and cool gadgets galore.

The Kid Factor

Throw into the fray a 12-year old boy, Artemis Fowl II — an evil genius in his own words — who uncovers the secrets of this hidden world, and you get a fun series that should delight a lot of readers, both young and old (assuming you like fantasy or science fiction). The use of a protagonist who’s not all on the up-and-up is a little different from norm, but we’re used to lovable rogues like Han Solo, or the vigilante Batman.

Action and Thrills

Artemis is aided in his exploits by his more than able-bodied bodyguard, Butler. And then there’s the true action-heroine, Captain Holly Short, a female elf who is a member of the LEPrecon — Lower Elements Police Reconnaissance — who’s a bit cocky, but has a “good head on her shoulders” as they cliché goes.

And because Artemis is not without his faults, Captain Holly puts him to the test, challenging his schemes and intellect, and teaching him some important life lessons in the process. And so throughout the series young Artemis slowly begins to change, to grow (up) and actually become “good”, even hero-like in his own ways.

The two characters butt heads in the first novel — in fact he captures her, but in subsequent novels, the two often team up, at first reluctantly, but later willingly.

Explaining Leprechauns

Colfer’s explanation for the existence of elves, trolls and other “fantasy” creatures, known in the series as “fairies”, is that they were driven underground by man ages ago, and today mostly live the underground metropolis called Haven. The LEPrecon forces are responsible for tracking fairies who accidentally or intentionally meet with humans, and wiping those humans’ memories. At their disposal are stealth technology to mask their comings and goings between the two worlds, advanced surveillance equipment and communications with Foaly, a centaur who the super-geeky IT guy of the underworld. Certain races, including the elves, have their own magic that can also be called upon.

Of course, we wouldn’t have a series if there weren’t any bad elements, both above and underground. Threats of exposure, harm to either worlds, and some very human subplots all make for very enjoyable yarns.

It’s not heavy reading in any sense of the phrase, but all in all, the Artemis Fowl novels is still a fun series — easy to digest for younger readers, and offering some care-free fun for the rest of us.

photo credit: furiousgeorge81

photo by Saudalf

I was a D&D junkie.

Actually, I lied. I was never obsessed with playing the games, but was more of a fantasy genre fan. The few games I did play were fun, but they ultimately gave way to way “cooler” computer games like, um…Telengard and Infocom text-based games like Zork.

Some five or 10 years later, I found myself playing games like Baldur’s Gate — now there was a RPG game!

Anyway, these days, with the popularity of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Harry Potter, I wanted to talk about one aspect that all role-playing games seem to share.

Character Attributes

Whether on paper or on a computer game, determining your character’s attributes was always one of the first things you do. The attributes describe the various skills and abilities of your character. In D&D, the attributes are:

• Strength – physical strength, comes in handy when you’re a Fighter
• Dexterity – hand-eye coordination, adroitness, etc., requirements for a Thief
• Intelligence – learning and retaining knowledge, critical thinking, crucial to spell-casting Wizards
• Wisdom – ability to make good decisions, common sense, comprehension, usually tied to spiritualism in D&D, represented by Clerics
• Constitution – physical endurance, health, toughness, enabling survival
• Charisma – level of personality, attractiveness, persuasiveness, almost a throw-away attribute when I played, but seems to be utilized more in computer RPGs.

How high certain attributes were helped determine the way a character makes his or her way through the role-playing world.

For instance, strength is the ability that allows one to prevail in physical combat. A character belonging to the Fighter class must possess a high degree of strength. A thief must possess a high degree of dexterity in order to ply his “trade”, and to dodge projectile weapons.

In the end, the application of attributes in the D&D gameplay can be seen as a extremely souped-up version of “rock, paper, scissors”. Add in (modifiable) randomness from dice rolls, a basic plot, and some imagination, and many hours can be whiled away.

Character Alignment

Alignment in D&D describes a character’s morality in nine possible ways:

• Lawful Good
• Neutral Good
• Chaotic Good
• Lawful Neutral
• Neutral
• Chaotic Neutral
• Lawful Evil
• Neutral Evil
• Chaotic Evil

There are two axes to alignment: Good — Neutral — Evil, and Lawful — Neutral — Chaotic

Good implies altruism, respect for life, sacrifice for others, etc., while Evil is the opposite. Lawful implies abiding law and order, while Chaotic means total freedom, anarchy.

How Attributes Apply in the Real World

In the games, your characters would have attributes that are higher than normal mortals, with a score of 9 as average, all the way up to 18. Different attributes would be higher depending on the class of character, e.g. fighter, wizard, thief, etc. Spells and magical items might boost any one of the attributes beyond 18, or even curse a character and “permanently” lower an attribute.

Let’s see how it would work with people in the real world:

• Police Officers and Firefighters – they ideally fall into the Lawful Good alignment. Inspectors would need high Intelligence to solve crimes, while your city’s Bravest need good Strength and Constitution scores to fight fires.
• Politicians – They would have high Charisma scores in order to get elected, and perhaps even some Intelligence, although it seems like sometimes that’s an afterthought. JFK, Ronald Reagan, even the “Governator” all have high Charisma. Not surprisingly, a couple were actors! Some politicians will be Lawful, but some are Chaotic. Despotic dictators would have a Chaotic Evil alignment. Many politicians, it would seem, have low Wisdom.
• Elite Athletes – Depending on the sports, we would expect to see high attribute levels in Strength, Dexterity and/or Constitution. In the NFL, linemen would have high Strength, while receivers have high Dexterity, etc. Someone like Terrell Owens would have high Dexterity and Constitution, but his show-y antics and brash personality indicates low Wisdom, while his disregard and disrespect for many indicate a Chaotic Neutral alignment.
• Scientists – Some of the best thinkers in the world would have high intelligence scores, such as Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin. Stephen Hawking also comes to mind, but he would also have a lower Charisma score.
• Actors and other Celebrities – these usually have high Charisma. In the case of Britney or Lindsey, their recent personal problems show low Wisdom, as well as a shift to Chaotic Neutral alignment.
• “Psychics”, TV Evangelists, and the like – they all exhibit high Charisma as well, with the ability to read, persuade and influence people, especially people who have lower Intelligence and Wisdom.
• Bloggers – good bloggers would also have high Intelligence, and perhaps Wisdom, in order to build and maintain an ongoing blog with remarkable content. By the nature of the medium, they could have average physical Charisma and still be very successful.

Charisma Important in Real Life

While in the games I played, Charisma was never that big of a deal. My characters usually used all the other skills to get through the game, and when I was divvying out points from my allotted pool to each attribute, I would usually not give any to Charisma (unless I wanted to be a Paladin).

In real life, however, it would seem that having high Charisma helps a lot. As we can see, many profession depends on it. Indeed, Charisma is one of the things that gets you job prospects such as by networking with friends, and then even through the job interview process itself. If a supervisor had to choose between two equally skilled competent workers to promote, she would probably choose the one with higher Charisma (ability to get along with others, to talk, to be a team player, etc.)

Of course, we also need our Intelligence and Wisdom, and depending on the job, Strength, Dexterity and Constitution in varying degrees. And we all have these attributes, and can work on improving many of them.

I just find it interesting to start looking at people in the way sometimes, just as a little exercise in character analysis, and a little bit for fun.

That’s what you say at a party if you:

• Work as an IRS auditor
• Work for the FBI, the NSA, or the DEA
• Make daily rounds on city streets as a TCO, Traffic Control Officer, aka “parking ticket/meter maid”
• Send young men and women to war
• Are a politician about to be recalled
• Used to pump iron and have an Austrian accent

(okay, I admit it, this is another post inspired by a comment on Barbara’s site)

Anything else?

photo by undronotto

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated with Legos.

Just think about it.

Two little Lego bricks (like the 4×4 squares in the photo above), when pushed together (the bottom of one to the top of the other) will stick together. Yet can be pulled apart. Yet can be stuck together. Again. And again.

Amazing.

What I love about Legos:

• They’re colorful and tactile – they appeal to the senses, as most toys do.
• They’re versatile – Once you’re done building the “prescribed” model, you’re free to tear it apart and build something else, and their design allows a multitude of designs.
• It teaches fine motor skills to young kids – I watched my younger boy struggle with it when he was 4-5. Now at age 6, he has no trouble building sets labeled for 8-12 year olds. (Ironically, they have larger “Mega Bloks” for preschool aged kids).
• They spur the imagination – CHiPs was one of my childhood favorites, and I built my own lego motorcycle to imagine my own chase scenes.
• Legos will last – They toy has stood the test of time, and today’s blocks are totally compatible with yesterday’s and tomorrow’s models.
• I know they appeal to boys, but I would say they are certainly girl-friendly – I’d be curious to hear my female readers’ experience with Legos.

Lego was not the first “erector” type toy but its success has spawned a number of copy-cats, including much “slicker”, “cooler” toys.

However, Legos still sits atop of my all-time favorite toys list.

I’ve been slowly exploring the excellent blog, Zen Habits — one of the inspirations for this blog — and author Leo Bautista has a wonderful post entitled Best All-Time Children’s Books. It’s an extensive list, and I agree with his choices, at least for the ones I happened to have read.

I thought I’d write my own little post on books that I recall first borrowing from the library:

• Henry Huggins – by Beverly Cleary. I distinctly remember reading this book in 4th grade, when I first got my very own library card. It was great fun to imagine the seemingly ordinary life of young Henry Huggins, where nothing happens until the day he comes home with a stray dog. The various situations he gets in are fun, yet filled with the kind of lessons every child should learn. I believe these were the first books where I became fully immersed in the world of the characters, feeling what they were feeling, and experiencing their challenges and how they overcame them. I read many of the other books in the series (such as the Mouse and the Motorcyle, and really became aware of how to find books by author. Zen Habits recommends the Ramona series, which I have not read, but it seems anything by Cleary is good. I noticed that many of Cleary’s books have been recently reprinted with new illustrations. I’m partial to the original, but still, I would highly recommend any of her books.
• The Mad Scientists’ Club – by Bertrand R. Brinley. I was enthralled with books that really emphasized independence from adults. It was a chance to escape into a different world, into a kid’s world, and to see things from their perspective. Since I WAS a kid at the time, it was easy, and appealing. And in this book and others in the series, I got to do that. It really helps that the title was really enticing: mad scientists as in bwah-ha-ha-ha, and a exclusive club — how much more of an invitation does a kid need? In this series, a band of kids often uses science as a way to pass the time but sometimes achieving something more. Whether it’s pranks or something heroic like rescuing, the series is truly entertaining. If you’re really interested in learning more, there are a couple of websites worth checking out:
  • www.MadScientistsClub.com – looks like the official website by the author’s son, Sheridan Brinley
  • www.PurpleHousePress.com – a site dedicated to bringing back great children’s books from years past
• Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint – by Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin. Here was another series of books that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on: Danny Dunn. With young Danny always being headstrong — his strongest trait — and always rushing into things, his friends Joe and (later in the series) Irene who help him, and Professor Bullfinch the absent-minded scientist who’s usually the raison d’etre for the invention or “MacGuffin” in each story, each book presented a fun adventure replete with scientific premises and what-not. It was really, really hard for me to put any of those books down.
  

It’s a short list for now, but I would say these stories are great for ages 9 through 13 or so. I think the key feature for all of them was how engaging the stories were, how each world drew me in. There are a lot of great books today, but of course these were the ones I actually read as a child.

I actually remember getting my own library card in the 4th grade, and always wanting to visit my local branch every week or so — one might be hard pressed to find kids like that in today’s world of high-speed internet and Nintendo and Playstations.

I happened to drop by my old neighborhood recently and popped into the library on a whim, and everything is so different now: computer terminals everywhere, and it’s quite a bit more noisy than in the ol’ days.

Anyway, I feel these books really helped shaped and developed my appreciation for fun, involving stories, and set the stage for my my burgeoning childhoold curiosity of science.

If you have some favorite childhood books, I’d love to hear about them.

I hope to continue writing about them as periodic topics in the future.