"You're gonna make it..."

I was at hulu.com and decided to watch the pilot episode for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and you know, it's interesting... just watching the opening can make you feel, well, better. Yeah... good theme song--matches the show.

31Jan2009: I came across the first 3 seasons of MTM on DVD at Sam's Club (under $18--good price) and the 4th at Best Buy (about $20 on sale). Oddly, the remaining seasons aren't on DVD... yet--but soon they will be, and I'm definitely going to get them (probably my favorite sitcom of all time, with Frasier a close second).

Yes, I'm totally Sirius...

I like XM--lots of music channels worth listening to. But I never saw the value in spending that much money just to listen to music, especially given the plethora of choices that either cost nothing or only a little or that I already get as part of some other service. I used to have DirecTV, and when they changed over from MusicChoice to XM, I think that was an improvement**. I eventually dropped DirecTV because I wasn't willing to pay the state of Virginia a sales tax on the delivery of satellite signals (something they have no control nor say over... butt-holes... taxing the air we breathe).

At some point I started listening to XM via AOL using Winamp. Good stuff. Fairly good quality sound. Well, in only a few short weeks that relationship between AOL and XM will end. While I didn't make extensive use of the service, it was nice know it was there when I felt like listening--maybe a few times a month. And while XM is willing to give AOL members (which I'm not) a break in the XM Online price (about 50% off), it's only for a few months (6?). At $3/mo month, it'd be worth it; at $6/mo, it's not (to me, anyway).

Meh... I still have MusicChoice via Comcast, which I mostly turn on for background noise and to drown out neighborhood noise. Hey, it's only music... I've got hundreds of CD's that I've ripped to fb2k (flac) and can listen to whatever I want, whenever I feel like it, using playlists I've created or just random selection.

Music is only worth what you're willing to pay for it; and if you're not willing to pay anything for it, then it's worth nothing.

**Actually, there was one instance of displeasure with XM. Now, don't get me wrong... I'm not a big fan of disco, but when Top Tracks (XM46) started putting down other kinds of music in their promos (like playing a few seconds of disco or Carpenters and then a scratching record sound with statements to the effect that "that ain't music"), well, I was pissed. We all like what we like, and whatever that is, is just fine by me--everybody has the right to listen to what they want to and to like what they like without some dick-heads thinking they know better about "good taste" (or whatever). So, I sent them a nicely worded email to the effect that I like listening to rock & roll because that's what I like, but to (1) please remember that rock & roll includes both "rock" and "roll" and you (XM46) not liking or playing something doesn't make it unworthy, and (2) I don't want to hear this crap of insulting other musical genres... fine, don't play something, but don't come out against other music because it's not in your playlist. (And Karen Carpenter had one of the best--if not THE best--voices in all of ROCK & ROLL!) I mean, if you want to talk about "taste" and what isn't worth listening to, then just look at all of the crap (the 'c' is silent) coming out of the "music" industry these days. Like I said, if you want to listen to it, then fine. If you want to try and make me listen to it, too, then we gonna have a problem. If you want to crank it up, then you damn well better start wearing earphones, or there's gonna be a different kind of blastin' goin' on.

So, what are XM46's current promos like? "When it rocks, it rocks. And when it rolls, it rolls..." It's like they took my email and just turned it into copy for their promo. Good on me.

V?

I've been using RememberTheMilk (RTM) for some time now (not that I have that much to keep track of), and lately I've started playing around with IM. Just yesterday, I joined Twitter because it supports creating--among other things--tasks on RTM. Also, I've been watching Tekzilla since it began (in Miro now--great stuff!); used to watch DL.TV regularly, but not so much lately. ANYway... clearly, I've been following (not in the Twitter sense) the recent career moves by Veronica Belmont. It's really interesting that she has more "followers" on Twitter than RTM does, by almost twice the amount. That's just so very, well, cultish. :D

A.M. or P.M.?

Noon? Midnight? Which is 12 A.M., and which is 12 P.M.? Almost every calendar, clock, and what-not gets it wrong. (Luckily, most contracts side-step the issue entirely by saying '12:01'.)

To begin with, what do "A.M." and "P.M." stand for? The "M" stands for meridian. The "A" and the "P" stand for ante and post respectively, which mean before and after. Meridian means the middle, as in the middle of the day in this instance, as in noon. So, 12 A.M. is the "12" before noon, and 12 P.M. is the "12" after noon. What this means is that neither can actually be noon. Midnight is always either--and both--the 12 [A.M.] before the succeeding noon or the 12 [P.M.] after the preceding noon. Noon is just... noon!

Oh, well. This, however, just does not fit in with common perception, so A.M. is used for midnight (most of the time) and P.M. is used for noon (most of the time)... regardless of their true Latin meanings. Cicero would be proud (not).

Email: Remind others of todos with Monkey On Your Back - Lifehacker

Email: Remind others of todos with Monkey On Your Back - Lifehacker

"Fly my pretties, FLY!"

Catharsis

I saw this question recently on Yahoo! Answers, "Is an underhand serve legal in tennis?". The answers were "closed" by the time I saw it, but I have such a good answer (and some guy was dumb enough to say it isn't legal)... so here it is:

Of course, it's legal. The only requirements for a service motion in tennis are that you toss the ball in the air and strike it with the racket before it hits the ground, and that you strike the ball before touching any part of the court with your body (remembering, of course, that the lines are part of the court). You see players with a shoulder injury serve underhand all the time. The whole point of the overhead serve is to give yourself an advantage, especially if you're a serve and volley player. Of course, if you have a lousy serve, then it probably won't matter much how you do it. A player with excellent ground strokes who generally plays from the baseline could probably win just as well using an underhand serve all the time. In fact, the old drop-shot serve is a classic "catch 'em off guard" tactic since most players stay well back of the baseline when receiving. If you do serve underhand, then your best bet is to hit the ball directly at your opponent to (1) force him/her to "run around" the ball, and (2) because that will typically give you the best "angle" (depth of the service court line vs height of the net). And if you do try the drop-shot serve, then it's usually more effective in the deuce court (if you're right-handed, or ad court if you're left-handed). Unless you have a real killer of an overhead serve that will take you to world class tennis domination, it's unlikely that you'll be winning all that many service points due to your serve anyway. Ground strokes win--and lose--matches as a rule, not serves, when the players are evenly matched.

Now, isn't that a really helpful answer? (I used to teach a little tennis, as well as work in a tennis shop, as well as play in local and state tournaments; so I know a little bit about tennis... even if I haven't played in 25 years.)

Funny

I was at SnapFiles--noticed there was a new freeware dictionary/translator package. I went to the homepage for the package to check it out, as I am wont to do. Due to at least several spelling and grammar mistakes on their own site, I decided to pass. Of course, maybe they didn't use their own package when creating their site? Still...