Count me as one of the minority.  This is actually fascinating to me.

If 10,000 people see this link, 7-8 will think it’s very cool: Animate Sorting Algorithms.

The J-Walk Blog: Animated Sorting Algorithms.

I have never seen it before and I think its great.  On CNNs homepage they have linked to a PDF with all 110 pages of the draft of the House Bailout bill.  I’m posting it here as well just because I think it is a fabulous thing to see.  The fact that the file is out there, without embedded commentary or interpretation is something a real news organization would be proud to do.  (I’m looking at you Fox News).

I realize that this particular piece of legislation is getting a unusually large bit of public interest, but I hope the precedent starts a trend.  This is what we need in the world to help reign in some of our governance problems.  There are very few issues which woudl not be helped by more transparency in the process.

Douglas Rushkoff writes the most salient financial advice I’ve seen today.  Along with a concise summary of what has gone on with the government and financial markets in the last week or so.

If you’ve got no money and no debt, then just go about your business normally. I think the smartest long-term positioning is to begin looking at the goods and services you can provide to other people in your community without involving long distance transport or complex supply chains involving multiple creditors and borrowers. In other words, try to make what you do as real as possible. [emphasis added]

Bail In or Bail Out? – Boing Boing.

Amen brother!  That home based service industry business of my dreams looks better and better.  At this point I’ve stopped thinking about just computer services and am trying to figure out if there is money in dog grooming, tree trimming or similar pursuits.

Of course, this only applies to me partially.  Still retiring debt.  But that day is coming soon.

This week is Banned Books Week.  Please take some time to read a banned book.  You have a wide selction to choose from.

1. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
2. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
3. Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes
4. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
7. TTYL by Lauren Myracle
8. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
9. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
(Click here to see why these books were challenged.)

I saw 190 pounds today.  By the end of the week I will see 18x which will be a bit of a milestone.  Meaning halfway to my goal in just about a month.  Only two negatives to come out of this so far….

• While the elliptical trainer has been a great asset, I do enjoy running once a week or so.  Problem is that for two days after a run, my knee feels like someone hit it with a hammer.  Ahh the vagaries of age.
• My shoes don’t fit right anymore.  Not as much of a complaint as an oddity.  Who knew I had such fat feet?

Abe Vigoda is still alive?  He is now 87 years old and apparently still quite active.  Barney Miller and the Godfather seem like eons ago and he looked very much like a senior citizen then.

he’s still in good shape. For years, Vigoda was a top New York handball player, and he still plays.

Abe Vigoda is still alive, thank you very much – CNN.com.

It ended up being a pretty busy weekend around the house.  Probably the most activity that’s been seen for quite awhile.  So for the benefit of posterity,  here are the highlights:

• Friday Night: Co-workers’ birthday celebration at the Peanut to see Rockhill.  The band was excellent and the night also featured the cops showing up to handle a 20 something punk who managed to get bounced 5 minutes after entering the bar, apparently for an unpleasant interaction with one of the waitresses.
• Saturday afternoon: Worked a shift at the Symphony booth for the Plaza Art Fair.  The wife and kids spent their time at the Clay Guild booth.  Lots of interaction with the browsing public. Always good to tap into your inner carnival barker.
• Sunday afternoon:  Scored a goal for my indoor soccer team in the playoff round.  A lucky rebound of my own miss, but I am happy to take the credit for it.  We won the game 4-3.
• Sunday evening:  The wife landed her new ride.  A 2003 VW Jetta Wolfsburg edition.  I am envious.
• Sunday night:  Rolled to an almost certain dominating victory in Fantasy Football.  The Indifferent Fanatics are looking at 3-0 and finally hitting their stride behind some excellent work by the running backs.

I have generally refrained from political topics here because there is certainly already enough of that on the Internet but this one is just too much to pass up.  Senator McCain, while being interviewed by a Florida affiliate of a Spanish radio network seems to be totally at a loss about who the president of Spain is or, if taken another way, where Spain is at all.  This comes only a few minutes after the claim that he is more prepared than Senator Obama to lead because he is more familiar with foreign leaders.

After the interviewer presses him a couple times on the point and tries to focus him on the fact that Prime Minister Zapatero isn’t from Mexico and isn’t a drug lord either McCain comes back at her saying, “All I can tell you is that I have a clear record of working with leaders in the Hemisphere that are friends with us and standing up to those who are not. And that’s judged on the basis of the importance of our relationship with Latin America and the entire region.”

Talking Points Memo | Embarrassing.

Listen to the segment of the interview below.

My car is in deperate need of some PC love.  There have been others I’ve seen before but the fit-PC has the advantage of coming pre-loaded with Ubuntu.  Not much else to say about it here.  Mostly I’m just using the blog as my wishlist at this point.

There is personal theory of mine which I have tried to convey to others in my life, particularly women, regarding color selections and the general description of colors.  I may have seen this somewhere once long ago but if so, the source has escaped me and now I will claim it as my own.

The theory is thus…

A man’s coloring box contains only eleven colors.  They are:

• Black
• White
• Red
• Green
• Blue
• Orange
• Yellow
• Purple
• Gold
• Silver
• Gray

That’s it.  No more.

When speaking to men about colors, please be sure to use only those colors in his box.  There are a couple of rules I can add here that will make it possible to describe the world in terms beyond a kindergarten coloring book.

• It is permissible to describe something using combinations (i.e “The water was a  blue-green color”).
• You may also use adjectives to slightly alter one of the colors (i.e. “The fire truck was bright red”, “Her eyes were light brown”).
• In extreme circumstances, you may refer to an object instead of an adjective.  However, it must be a physical thing which can subsequently be looked up on the Internet for reference (i.e. “His shirt was charcoal gray”  although you may want to specify that you mean charcoal after it has been lit to avoid confusion).
• The only exception to the physical object rule is sports teams.  It is permitted (and even preferred) to use a college or professional sports team as an adjective (i.e. “The car was Jets green, not Packers green”).

That’s it.  Pretty simple.  Ladies, if you are trying to explain your favorite colors to a man in hopes of recieving clothing, drapes, dishes, towels or other items that you would like to fit in to your decor and or wardrobe, these rules will prove invaluable. If you would like a new dust ruffle for the bed and you tell him to pick up one in Sea Foam you will be sorely disappointed.  If instead you tell him to look for something that is “a light blue-green” or even better “a little lighter than the Dolphins home jersey” you will have much better luck.