More cool stuff

George Best was like the fifth Beatle. The guy had tremendous footwork and could score goals from just about any angle.




Another great scene from the wire...


By the end of five seasons, each one of these "pawns" is dead.

The Economist: It's time (Endorses Obama)

The Economist says America should take a chance and make Barack Obama the next leader of the free world. A strongly written and reasonable endorsement that makes the case, while slapping how McCain ran this year..

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A few of my favorite things

Everybody knows how I like to preach the gospel about The Wire. Here's some other stuff that I like:
www.accuradio.com Listening Post and Future Perfect Radio



How can you hate Robert Duvall's performance here. It's inspired lunacy. "You either surf or fight...If I say it's safe to surf this beach, it's safe to surf this beach." Apocalypse Now Redux (a longer version) has more footage about him pursuing Capt. Willard and Lance for stealing his surfboard.

Does God really protect the stupid? Watch this video:



Some people go out of their way to prove Darwin right.


Yeah, I'm voting for Obama. I want us out of Iraq. I tend to agree more with the Libertarians. Take a look at its platform here. Zimmer and Lautenberg are not getting my vote for Senate -- Jason Scheurer is.


I like news shows that take the piss out of Bush. See Keith Olbermann's Countdown.

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More cool stuff about the wire

Omar testifies in court against Bird, who is accused of killing a court witness in a murder trial, and manages to upstage Bird's lawyer. More about Omar here. My favorite characters are Det. Lester Freamon, Bunny Colvin, and Stringer Bell.

Cool stuff

One of the many reasons why "The Wire" is better than the "Sopranos" or "Mad Men."

Financial crisis heralds era of ''new seriousness''

A down market and people start eschewing all the status symbols and bling ... This article points out slowing sales for Porsches and how some execs think it would be bad form to flaunt status in the current marketplace. Remember, this is what people were saying after 9-11. I'll give this trend a year and then we'll resume our conspicuous consumption again.

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Joining a first aid squad

When I was younger, I had a very weak stomach. Many of my car trips were spent with my head out the window splashing what I ate for breakfast down the side of my parents' orange '72 Chevy Nova as we drove from Point Pleasant to Red Bank. Seasickness was an element of every fishing trip when I was 8 or 9. My breakfasts often served as chum for the fish. After emptying my stomach, I would have to rest inside the party boat's cabin. Even into early adulthood, changing diapers sometimes would test my stomach. When I joined Metuchen EMS, my family was stunned. They weren't stunned by my willingness to volunteer for an organization or that I wanted to help sick people. They were stunned that I was willing to test a weak stomach in such a fashion.

I wanted to do something involving health care. I like the intellectual challenge, but I didn't have the grades for medical school. I did better in my English classes than my science classes, however, and started a career in journalism, eventually becoming a health care reporter. I also worked as a copy editor at the Daily Record. As the slot editor, I had to edit the obituary page. You can take stock of one's life and commitments when they try to boil it down to a few paragraphs. When it comes time to write mine after I'm in my 80s, I don't want it only to say "Bill thought South Park really kicked ass." I also don't want it to serve as some simple regurgitation of my resume. When the kids get older, you need to do other stuff to keep you busy. Those commitments outside the job may as well be worthwhile -- whether it's community service or just doing stuff that makes you happy.

This is ultimately about karma. Give and expect nothing in return except the feeling that you helped someone at their moment of greatest need. I'm not independently wealthy where I could do this full time, since EMTs make less per hour than an average Costco worker. I'm not one of those starry-eyed idealists who think they can save the world and cure hunger, fight disease and right all of the world's wrongs. I'm too old for that idealism and I have to cut the grass. However, I can get off the couch one night a week and the occasional weekend to ride on an ambulance. Metuchen is not as busy as some of the Edison squads, but there are still calls in the middle of the night.

I've been taking EMT classes since early September. Every weekend I spend 8 hours learning about how to respond to diabetes emergencies, cardiac, and respiratory emergencies. We take exams every few weeks. In a few weeks, I'll be doing clinical time at an emergency room in Perth Amboy on a Friday and again on a Saturday. It should be a real test and a definite change of pace from Metuchen.

Gawker's proto-feminist take on Mad Men finale

Gawker notes a maturation of the women characters in Mad Men's Season 2 finale. The show is a character-driven examination of life at an advertising agency in the 1960s that serves as much as a time capsule of that era in terms of appearance and mores. Season one examined who is Don Draper, the head creative executive at Sterling & Cooper, with only moderate attention devoted to other characters on the show. Gawker noted how the power of the show shifted to women in the second season finale, which was set against the Cuban Missile Crisis as the backdrop. Betty Draper, Don's wife who was child-like in the first season, went through a painful adolescence/early adulthood this year as she separated from her husband. Peggy, the young, talented copywriter, has started to assert herself more in the workplace with her own office, winning the Popsicle account, and dropping the bomb on Peter about their child. The only real extension of season 1's storyline about Don Draper's identity, which was stolen from another man during the Korean War, into season 2 came during a trip to California. His trip to California was to attract defense clients, but he met with the widow of the man whose identity he stole. The show overall is paced more like a novel than most other shows and admittedly lagged during the first five episodes during the second season, but the characters are drawn with fine lines and are very much human and a reflection of that era. I'm looking forward to season three.

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Fortune calls Medco Health one of the most innovative companies

Yep -- Medco's a client, but it's pretty cool to see some of your efforts recognized. It also helps when a company is looking at advancing a science and having an eye on what will happen in the world in five years. Too many companies manage quarter-to-quarter and they end up getting slammed (as our banking system proves).

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