How I've been killing time while re-loading L's MP3 player, which sadly defaults to USB 1.0 speeds if you're not using Toshiba's craptastic software:

Hedgehog Launch!

My record so far:



I think it might be possible in 6 days if you get lucky. My first time through it was more like 27 days, so don't feel bad.

Just got back from Indiana Jones 4... I won't even acknowledge the title, since the premise was beyond stupid. Apparently Indiana Jones follows the inverse of the Star Trek sequel rule -- only odd numbers are worth watching. (Only mild spoilers ahead, and really, if you go to an Indy movie for the big surprises, you deserve this.)

What's a shame is that the movie did start off with enough promise -- sweeping Spielberg landscape shots and a couple of cracking chase scenes.

Somehow Spielberg and Lucas forgot that Indy is best when he succeeds at the highly improbable, not the utterly absurd. The wheels fell off right around the time they decided to get a few laughs from some shots to the 'nads, moved into laughable range when James Dean decided to make like Tarzan, and lost any pretense of plausibility with the waterfalls.

It's a shame when you see so many good names attached to a project like this, that had been through so many re-writes, and realize none of them put the brakes on and said "wait a minute -- we're on the verge of making something as bad as Temple of Doom here -- maybe we should go back to what worked in Raiders and Last Crusade?"

Found via Jack Bog:

From today's Target ad... holy crap! They didn't have these when I was growing up.



Well, you'd definitely be the coolest kid on the block.

A children's album from Barenaked Ladies! Life is good!



I really should get into writing kids' songs.

So I'm watching the teevee.

Observation: If you thought Tracy Flick from Election was a caricature, it's only because you haven't watched The Paper on MTV.

I'd like to call it entertaining... but it's mainly embarrassing.

So I sent a link to the Freakonomics guys about this article on Slate that looks at why so many more MLB players are born in August than July.

Lo and behold, I got personal replies back from BOTH Levitt and Dubner. Guess they actually read their inboxes!

But we're still off the grid, so your congratulations will have to wait.

OK, this is fun... and quick. Not to mention difficult.



(Link here if the embed doesn't work. I got 25,796 points.)

Love it.

It's not every day that someone you know gets lumped in with Ethel Merman, Mary Martin, John Raitt, Patti LuPone, and Mandy Pantinkin... in the NY Times, no less.

Review roundup: NY Times, AP, USA Today, Bloomberg.

Mommy, why is there a Server in the House?

Awesome.

I'm playing today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday) from 5-7 pm.

Then Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday next week, I'm back at the 10 am-2 pm shift.

The following weekend (22nd & 23rd), I'll be doing the 5-7 thing.

If you've never experienced Washington Square at 5 pm one or two weeks before Christmas... you're wiser than I.

Good stuff. Ben Folds covering The Postal Service.

Piano time! I'm at Washington Square today, tomorrow and Friday from 10 'til 2. Santa says hi.

It's that time of the year -- the only time anyone wants to hire piano players during the day. Once again, I'll be playing your holiday favorites at Washington Square Mall.

This week, I'm playing Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm. I don't accept tips, but do accept slices from the Cheescake Factory. Drop by and say hi.

Both cars are in the shop, so we're on bikes. In Vantucky. Looking at pianos. It's damn cold out. On the upside, McMenamin's has hot cider with caramel ale sauce.

An impoverished surfer has drawn up a new theory of the universe, seen by some as the Holy Grail of physics, which has received rave reviews from scientists.

Dude.

The paper's only 31 pages including references. (PDF link.) It integrates gravity without resorting to untestable string theory. Best quote:

Lisi's breakthrough came when he noticed that some of the equations describing E8's structure matched his own. "My brain exploded with the implications and the beauty of the thing," he tells New Scientist. "I thought: 'Holy crap, that's it!'"

Once it's online, the Large Hadron Collider should be able to test the predictions of the theory, so unlike string theory, we'll know if this is worth spending time on sooner rather than later.