Horror! The Movies

I went to dinner and a movie on a Friday night with my wife, sister, and brother-in-law. Realizing it was Friday night, we thought we would be crafty and go to the 7:20PM showing of Dan in Real Life. If you don't know, its a romantic comedy about a widower advice columnist with three kids who takes his kids up to New England for an extended family get-together. This seemed like the feel good movie with emotional depth that teenagers might pass up.

Not... the... case. My wife turned to me and said "The previews should start any minute now". I was surprised at how quickly time had passed and questioned her for the exact time. I remember 7:17 because that was when the first wave hit. Hordes of mindless driveling pre-adolescents swarmed the theater. It all happened so fast, what was once a serene scene of adults quietly discussing their droll lives was quickly turned into pre-teens yammering on about the latest gossip, and flipping open their mobiles to pass the information on down the line via text message. If I weren't trying to enjoy a movie, the incessant incandescent glow of mobile phone screens lighting up the theater like oversized fireflies might have been construed as beautiful.

Their were so many things that shocked me about the experience, not the least of which was that we were hit by three waves of 15-20 13 year olds between the times of 7:17 and 7:25. I suddenly realized the despair the Germans must have felt in France, for it was much like watching Omaha beach get stormed. I am also beginning to understand why boarding school is so much a part of upper class culture.

About Face?

Apparently, Facebook feels the need to press you the user, into advertising, whether you like it or not.

As I understand it, if you buy a Cormac McCarthy novel off Amazon.com or some new outerwear from L.L. Bean, an ad will pop up on your friend's page with whatever picture of you has been downloaded to Facebook to demonstrate your love of the product to your social network.

This could be okay, as I like to know what things are happening in my friends' lives, but I don't see where the restrictions can be limited. If one of my contributors happens to buy something inappropriate online, I don't need to know about it (or have my imagination run amok with how these "things" might be used).

Thoughts?

Post-MSNBC Dem Debate aftermath

Two thoughts about the Democrats, both from The Kansas City Star. First on the frontrunner, HRC -

Trying to deflect the barbs and focus elsewhere, by debate's end, HRC said "Bush" 25 times, more than her six rivals combined.

Next from my personal favorite (for style and Iraq policy), Biden -

Joe Biden says Giuliani's sentences consist of "a noun, a verb, and 9/11. I mean it sincerely. He is genuinely not qualified to be president".

Poor Hillary is getting whomped on because she did too good of a job early on. People apparently cannot see a difference between her and Obama/Edwards. So the two of them are relegated to attack dog status in an attempt to cut her lead. As for Biden, I always enjoy when intelligent people fall way behind in polls. They ease out of political mode and move directly to saying what they think. Its much more entertaining.

F'ing Ethanol Again!!!

Food prices are soaring. Cats and dogs sleeping together. The world is probably coming to an end.

I blame Ethanol, as do Becker and Posner this week.

"Microsoft Launches HealthVault Medical Record Manager" (Lifehacker)

Lifehacker writes:

Today Microsoft unveils new web application HealthVault, a medical records manager that will let users—and their doctors—store and track personal health information online. ... You willing to entrust the big MS with your medical records?

The prevalence of sloppy methodology and biased funding has pushed the current state of medical research somewhere between embarrassing and scandalous.

I'm less worried in the privacy risks, and more excited about the impact on medical research. Maybe a large body of unmanipulated health data such as this one could help open up medical research, making results more easily obtained and verifiable without disgusting amounts of funding for large studies that leaves researchers beholden to corporate interests.

My secret hope:
MS does maintain such a database, and that it does get hacked, and that the hacked information is widely distributed amongst independent researchers around the world.

I know some folks on this blog care more about privacy than me, so maybe there's a debate to be had in the comments?

Tipping

I often cannot bring myself to tip poorly, it makes me feel like I’m personally insulting someone who works in an unforgiving industry. Even if I've had terrible service, I usually blame the cook or the other customers before I would turn on my server.

It’s perhaps this flood of guilt that makes me find tipping systems thoroughly disgusting. Some argue that the tipping incentive leads to better service, but accounts from those I know in the food service industry confess it actually leads to triage.

On a busy evening, a server necessarily prioritizes their attention. There’s a customer eating alone in a shabby coat, and there’s a group of couples wearing expensive looking clothes. The guy in the shabby coat gets poor service, regardless of how well he actually tips.

Concerns about prejudice aside, it’s a sleazy way for restaurant owners to hide prices from customers and wages from employees, reminiscent of the most despicable corners of capitalism: used car sales, intro-rate credit cards, bribery of officials, ....

Is there any other field where the manager of the business tells you after you buy the product that you might want to kick in something for the underpaid workforce as well? And if you don’t, you’ll look like a bastard, while the manager doesn’t?

Defenses of tipping in the comments?

Hypocrisy Stings!

I know everyone loves Al Gore, but Gregg Easterbrook had some interesting insights into the Live Earth concert stressing conservation (I have copied and pasted the important information below, as it is a small piece of an NFL column on ESPN.com that I assumed most readers would not find interesting):

Madonna, Sting join hands to demand that others do what they will not
In July, numerous pop musicians and celebrities flew in private jets, then rode limos to the Live Earth concerts, where they demanded that others conserve. Some 150 acts performed at the event's various venues. Suppose half the acts flew commercial, half aboard private jets. Flying a private jet a transcontinental distance generates greenhouse gases equivalent to driving a Hummer for a year. So that's 75 Hummer Years of greenhouse gases caused by the Live Earth acts that arrived by private jet. (TMQ proposes that henceforth, environmental hypocrisy be measured in Hummer Years.)


If the other acts flew commercial, assuming the average act has five performers and crew and flies a medium distance, that would translate to about 550 tons of greenhouse gases, which is another 60 Hummer Years of global-warming emissions. Now factor in all the spectators and staff attending the various Live Earth concerts. John Buckley of Carbonfootprint.com estimated that around 35,000 tons of greenhouse gases were caused by spectators and logistical support for Live Earth -- converted into HYs, that's about the same as driving a Hummer for 4,000 years. Four thousand years' worth of Hummer emissions for an event demanding conservation! And we're just talking about one day of screeching guitars and slurred lyrics, not about the many pop stars who live the private jet lifestyle the year long. As Marina Hyde of London's Guardian newspaper pointed out, Sting's wife recently charted a helicopter to fly her to an environmental meeting.

Yea Hollywood!