Monthly Archive for February, 2007

Craig Ferguson on Britney

Published
by
Mark
on Thursday 22nd February 2007
in TV
. 0 Comments

I thought this was interesting. After Britney’s crazy weekend checking in and out of rehab, shaving her head and getting tattoos, Craig Ferguson says he won’t joke about Britney. He explains why in his monologue:

In a much shorter interview with The Early Show’s Giuliana DePandi, Ferguson explains further why he isn’t poking fun at Britney:

Green lantern

Published
by
Mark
on Thursday 22nd February 2007
in Entertainment, Hardware and Technology
. 0 Comments

No, this post isn’t about the comic book character. Blendtec has been posting videos on YouTube of their Total Blender blending all sorts of things, from marbles to iPods. Here’s one for the MacGyver crowd: blending glow sticks!

That’s one hell of a night light, if you ask me.

Bloomingdale restaurant alert

Published
by
Mark
on Thursday 22nd February 2007
in News and Work
. 0 Comments

A co-worker recently discovered fraudulent charges on his credit card statement. One of the charges was made at PoxNora.com, a gaming web site. After getting in contact with someone at Octopi, the developer behind PoxNora, they revealed something interesting. They are currently having issues with fraudulent credit card charges made by someone who has been stealing credit card numbers from restaurants in the Bloomingdale area. The list of restaurants TGIFridays and Chili’s, among others. So, if you have been to a Bloomingdale area restaurant and paid with a credit or debit card in the past six months, check your statements for charges from Octupi or PoxNora. If you find fraudulent charges, call your credit card company or bank to report them. Also, be sure to visit AnnualCreditReport.com to find out how you can monitor your credit report for free annually.

And I thought I was a bad cook

Published
by
Mark
on Thursday 22nd February 2007
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

At my.9rules I ran across Richard’s (different from Ravings’ Rich) post about bad cooking experiences, and I was floored. Perhaps it’s the design of kitchen appliances on the other side of the pond, but I am amazed that someone could destroy a toaster not once, but twice! I found his post in a comment he left to a post about cooking for your girlfriend.

Do you have any bad kitchen stories?

3rd anniversary

Published
by
Mark
on Tuesday 20th February 2007
in Entertainment
. 3 Comments

I am planning my third wedding anniversary. The theme is Wicked, and we would like to see the show with some of our friends on one of the weekends around our anniversary. I know there are a few of you who have been wanting to see the show, and I thought that would be an excellent time: mid-summer, post-Taste and in lieu of a big party.

The two weekends were are looking at right now are July 13-15 and 20-22. We want to know what day(s), time(s) and price level(s) would work out best for our friends to join us. Comment below to let me know what you think. I would like to try to order tickets by mid-March, the earlier, the better. Pass this info along to those in the group who don’t read my blog. I’ll try to remember to inform people as I see them.

Almost finished painting

Published
by
Mark
on Monday 19th February 2007
in Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

painting_05We’re almost finished painting. It’s been a hectic weekend, but we’ve accomplished something with the help of our friends. In just one day, we cleared out the living room and family room, taped off edges, removed the old baseboards, painted the ceiling and primed the walls. Today, we taped off different edges, changed electrical outlets and switches, touched up some of the primed walls and painted the walls. All that’s left for tomorrow is cleaning up the edges. Next week we’ll be painting, cutting and installing the baseboards and crown molding. I can’t wait until this is all done.

$incest = YUCK

Published
by
Mark
on Saturday 17th February 2007
in News
. 9 Comments

I was telling Rich, Brad, Scott and Chris at dinner last night about research I read that studies why we find incest disgusting. From the CNN article:

Researchers who wanted to find out why it is not only taboo to kiss your sister, but also disgusting, said Wednesday that they have discovered why in a discovery that challenges some basic tenets of Freudian theory.

The instinct evolved naturally and cannot be taught, John Tooby and Leda Cosmides of the University of California Santa Barbara wrote in their report in the journal Nature.

Spending time in the same household and watching your mother care for your brother or sister is all it takes. This is all subconscious, of course, reported the researchers, who worked with Debra Lieberman of the University of Hawaii.

"We went in search of a kin-detection system because some of the most important theories in evolutionary biology said such a thing should exist," Cosmides said in a telephone interview.

"It should regulate both altruism and incest disgust."

Humans have an inbuilt system that does both, they found.

The researchers questioned 600 volunteers, mixing up the questions so that the volunteers did not know the subject of the research. Whatever this kin-detection system is, it appears to be all sub-conscious. It is not seemingly affected by blood relation, either; half-siblings and step-siblings were equally affected as full-siblings by the same factors.

I never took a psychology course, but it is my understanding that Freud taught about sexual feelings towards one’s own mother and siblings. He thought that incest was natural, and society fought those natural urges. Cosmides has her own thoughts on Freud:

Cosmides said Freud had a possible reason for his own feelings — he had a wet nurse who cuddled and breastfed him: "Who their brain thinks is mom is different from who they consciously believe is mom. For them it is quite reasonable that they have an attraction to their mothers."

It is definitely some interesting research. What do you think?