Admitting It Is The First Step

From today's New York Times:

Business travelers sometimes jokingly call BlackBerry text-messaging devices CrackBerries because of the addictive powers of constant communication anywhere in the world. In what may or may not be the least successful intervention attempt ever, the Sheraton Chicago Hotel is promoting a program in which guests can turn in their BlackBerries to the general manager, Rick Ueno, who will keep them under lock and key in his office to help guests kick the habit — though the BlackBerry will be given back on demand.

File under "Signs of the Impending Apocalypse." Advice here.

And Now For Something Completely Different

This, it appears, is not a hoax.

It's Just A Cache, Man

THE LATEST SIGN of the impending apocalypse. Kate and I geocache some (usually when on vacation in the West). It's a great hobby if you love the outdoors,hiking, hide-and-seek, and geosynchronous satellite technology.

Technorati Tags: geocaching

When TV Rules The World

NO COLLEGE FOOTBALL ON NEW YEARS DAY?! I presume this is because the networks have worked it out with the NFL and the conferences that the NFL will "own" Sunday. It may be the capitalist thing to do, but it still seems un-American to me.

Technorati Tags: College Football, Apocalypse

$Genome$

ALTHOUGH I CAN'T EASILY ARTICULATE WHY, this disturbs me greatly.

FROM YESTERDAY'S USATODAY:

Bake sales, raffles and other fundraisers no longer bring in enough money for some Ohio high schools building new football stadiums.

So a handful in the state and elsewhere have turned to selling personal seat licenses just like the pros.

Boosters and longtime ticket holders are being asked to plunk down from $150 to $1,500 so they can reserve comfy seats in prime locations.

"It's an innovative way of raising money," said Art Bucci, athletic director at Fremont Ross High School in Fremont, Ohio. "Years ago, you just put some bleachers up and spray painted the field."

...

Seat licenses priced at $1,500 and $1,000 helped pay for part of a football-soccer stadium in Ravenna, Ohio. And Napoleon (Ohio) High School sold 784 seat licenses at $300 each for its stadium.

...

Fremont is planning to build a new stadium next year and will sell $600 seat licenses. Buyers will get seats with cupholders and their name engraved on the chair.

A few fans, though, have complained that they'll be moved from seats they've held for years.

"I sympathize with them," Bucci said. "You've got people on fixed incomes who've had the same seats for 30 years. They can't really afford to do that."

Where's the spin? Wait for it ...

The school will try to move those fans to spots near where they had before, he said. "We're not out to make a lot of money," Bucci said. "This is to build a facility and give it back to the community."

Yes: It's all about giving a facility back to the community ... that many in the community cannot afford.

Loss For Words

Spent a few moments searching for an apt title for this post but came up empty. The Alka-Seltzer U.S. Open of Competitive Eating. Brought to you by I.F.O.C.E.; televised by ESPN. Kate and I caught a few minutes of the coverage while having lunch at our local pub yesterday; truly deserving as a sign of the impending apocalypse.

"My God ... it's full of cheese fries ..."

Technorati Tags: I.F.O.C.E Gluttony

Ugh

I'm filing this in a new category: "Signs of the Impending Apocalypse." I understand it's medically and nutritionally innocuous, but really: why would any sane person, with any soul at all, want to tattoo the lush beauty of a ripe, vine-grown tomato?