Celebrity Christmas ornaments

You can make your own celebrity ornament, too! Go to
www.perryballard.com/holiday and follow the directions.

Kill and kill again! Kills 99.9% of Germs -- Sometimes - WSJ.com

Kills 99.9% of Germs -- Sometimes - WSJ.com: "Mr. Tetro showed the difference by testing three hand-sanitizer products for CBC News last month among eighth graders in Hamilton, Ontario. Three popular sanitizers killed between 46% and 60% of microbes on the students' hands, far short of 99.99%. Bugs that aren't killed by sanitizers aren't necessarily more dangerous than those that are. But the more that remain, the greater the chance of infection, doctors say."

Comment -- They key is "operator error." Few people wash/sanitize their hands for the required 20-25 seconds.

My video clip on TV-6 News

http://www.wlns.com/global/story.asp?s=11675745

This is the link to the TV-6 News video of me talking about the tight credit market for small businesses. I'm wearing my trenchcoat because I was had on a sweater instead of a coat and tie that day and I wanted to look a little more business-like.

See me on TV6 today at 5 pm

I talked with a reporter about small business access to credit. My storyline is that there are two things going on: tight credit standards and the poor economy. If credit rules were looser, more small businesses would qualify for credit. But it's also true that if the economy were doing better, more small businesses would qualify for credit. So, we need more lenient lending and improved economic conditions.
The way things are now, if you really really need a loan, there's no way you can qualify. Bankers only have money for people who are not in the market for credit!

Classic Christmas video

I used to watch Hardrock, Coco and Joe on TV when I was a really little kid in the 1950s. I think it's hilarious to watch it now because of the relatively primitive special effects. Nowadays they'd probably be cool because they are so retro. Do any of you guys remember seeing this?

Butt out of small businesses?

Smoke-free legislation cuts costs and improves health | detnews.com | The Detroit News: "Lawmakers need to realize that by passing smoke-free legislation, the state of Michigan, local businesses and taxpayers could save billions annually.

Repeated polling shows strong support for smoke-free legislation among Michigan residents. In fact, a poll conducted by Lansing-based EPIC/MRA and released in March found 66 percent of those interviewed favor smoke-free workplace legislation -- and 52 percent 'strongly favor' it."

Comment -- Actually, our organization has an official policy that opposes the smoking ban. We feel it should be left up to the individual bar and restaurant owners.

I'm disappointed that the legislation approved today by the state Senate exempts the Detroit casinos. That will end up concentrating smokers at those venues. But if they didn't exempt them, the player/smokers would flock to the Indian-owned casinos.

Examples of really creative billboards

First, let me apologize for the infrequent blogging. I've been really busy (being the holiday season and all.)

Click over to http://www.talentzoo.com/news.php/More-Like-Billboreds/?articleID=6242& to see more examples of creative billboards.

My pet peeve about most billboards is that a suprisingly large number of them are impossible to read as you drive by. What good does that do for the advertiser?

Me in the media

I'm in the Detroit News twice today!

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091203/BIZ/912030393/The-business-of-social-networking. Excerpt: Although social media has become a popular way for people to communicate with friends and relatives, the technology hasn't caught on with most small companies. A nationwide survey this year found that of 500 small business executives polled, 76 percent have not found networking sites to be helpful in generating business leads or for expanding their business during the last year.Although there's no data on how many Michigan companies use social media, it doesn't appear to be popular here, said Mike Rogers, vice president of communications for the Small Business Association of Michigan. Businesses' reaction to social networking today is similar to the mid-1990s, when the Internet was new and companies didn't see a need for it, he said.

Only 15 percent of small businesses in Michigan had an Internet connection in 1993. By 1998, 20 percent had a Web site, and now nearly all companies in Michigan have a site, Rogers said.

"Small businesses are learning (about social networking) as they go along," Rogers said.

And...

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091203/BIZ/912030394/1001/biz. Excerpt: There are so many applications that it can be too much for small business owners, said Mike Rogers, vice president of communications for the Small Business Association of Michigan.

"There are tremendous opportunities, but it can be overwhelming for small business owners who are already wearing so many hats," he said. "For those (entrepreneurs) who are adept (with technology), they can be useful tools, but they are so busy keeping their heads above water, that they can't always analyze" which applications are working and which aren't.

Finally...http://www.talentzoo.com/digital_pivot/news.php/Will-Cyber-Monday-Always-Be-As-Popular/?articleID=6206#. A brief quote in this article about Cyber Monday online shopping.

It was quite a sports weekend!

On Friday night Jennifer and I attended the MSU game and watched them beat Toldeo. Even to my untrained eye, it seemed like MSU turned in a lackluster effort -- an opinion that was echoed very strongly by Izzo in his postgame radio show.

But, the MSU players must have really taken Izzo's criticisms to heart because they responded Sunday afternoon with a smashing 90-60 win over a decent Valparasio team (a team that had earlier given North Carolina a pretty good fight.) The speed and agility of the MSU players is really breathtaking to watch. I continue to be amazed by Lucas. Every once in a while he simply turns on the jets and makes the defenders (all of whom are running as fast as they can) look like they are simply standing still.

So, those are the sports wins for the weekend. On the debit side:

• The MSU hockey team got swept by Notre Dame.
• Holt's football team got crushed in the Division I semi-finals by Detroit Catholic Central.
• The MSU football team played one good half and then got smacked around in the second half by Penn State.

And finally, Brandon and I lost our tennis match Saturday night 2-6, 3-6. But, it was still great fun to have a chance to play tennis with my son. Thinking back to when we first start playing together when he was just a little mutt, I'm amazed at the improvement in his skill, strength and speed on the court. But as good as he is, he could not fully compensate for my all-too-frequent brain freezes and bone-headed plays.

Still, I'm slowly getting better, I think. Team Rogers has one win and two losses for the season and I'm hopeful that we can pick up another win or two in our final three matches.

Bike at night with a mobile laser lane

The Best Designs of 2009: LightLane - BusinessWeek: "Bike lanes have proven to be an effective method of protecting cyclists on congested roads, yet they can be prohibitively expensive to install. LightLane provides an alternative. Using a laser, a rider projects a crisply defined virtual bike lane onto the pavement, giving drivers a familiar boundary to avoid. With this wider margin of safety, bikers will regain their confidence to ride at night, making the bicycle a more viable commuting alternative."

Comment -- What a cool gadget! But, I personally would never risk riding a bike at night, regardless of how much protective lighting I had.

Hey, even robbers want to get good gas mileage!

2010 Prius used as robbery getaway car by Tennessee football players | PriusChat: "Earlier this week 3 Tennessee football players were arrested in connection to an attempted armed robbery. The details of the attempted robbery don't really matter to Prius enthusiasts, save one: their getaway car was a 2010 Toyota Prius."

Comment -- Just in case you doubted the Prius has enough get-up-and-go to be a getaway car!

Weighty subject for Twitter tweets

What if friends won't follow you on Twitter? Therese Poletti's Tech Tales - MarketWatch: "A privately held French technology company, Withings, has developed a WiFi-enabled bathroom scale, and now it has a new feature -- it will automatically send out a Twitter message with your weight."

Comment -- The author of this article says the Twitter-linked bathroom scale is "appalling." But no one forces you to send messages about your weight, and none of your Twitter followers are forced to read your Tweet.

Want to follow me on Twitter? I'm mwrogers. But my tweets are also linked to my Facebook updates, so you can get my pithy messages there.

Basketball future looks bright for the Green and White

Recruiting: ESPN.com's class rankings could undergo a complete transformation in the coming week - ESPN: "If we had redone our rankings heading into signing week, the top five would remain relatively static. It would likely consist of Ohio State, Syracuse, Michigan State, Memphis and Illinois -- with the Spartans, who recently added big man Adreian Payne (Dayton, Ohio/Jefferson Township), being the only newcomer to the top five. North Carolina's two-man class likely would've dropped down."

Comment -- We're looking forward to Friday's regular season opener at Breslin.

MSU's perch in the top five recruiting classes for 2010 bodes really well for the future success of Spartan hoops. In fact, you could make the case that next year's team (assuming Kalin Lucas returns for his senior year) could be even better than this year's team. Raymar Morgan is the only senior, and we'll be replacing him with a ton of young talent. Go Green!

So smart and yet so tasty

Mirror, mirror, in my pen… - SmartPlanet: "“My, what big ears I have!”

OK, perhaps that wasn’t the first thought of the eight domesticated pigs studied by a team of animal welfare scientists at the University of Cambridge. But they were observant enough to look in the mirror, proud enough to check themselves out and clever enough to track down their food from its reflection.

According to the study, pigs (like others that can use mirrors—elephants, dolphins, gray parrots, some primates and humans) are able to learn what a mirror image represents and use it to obtain information. When put in a pen with a mirror in it, young pigs made movements while apparently looking at their image." (photo by shawnzam http://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnzam/)

Comment -- If pigs are so smart how come they're unable to avoid being turned into tasty pork chops and bacon? Ummmm...bacon...

On Sunday night Brandon and I won our first tennis match

It was tough! We lost the first set 2-6. But Brandon's really smart about tennis and he changed our strategy in the second set. He used his size and speed to attack the net and had me work at simply keeping the ball in play with lobs. After winning the second set 6-3, we fell behind 0-5 in the tiebreaker -- but then we reeled off six straight points, finally winning 10-6. It was really fun!

I continue to be amazed at the brilliant shots that Brandon makes. My main tactic is to keep the ball in play long enough for Brandon to eventually hit a winner.

I was sore after the match last night but I'm feeling pretty good today. Victory helps the healing process.

We play again on Sat. Nov. 21.

Cool ESPN video tour of Izzo's basement

Anti-fur and pro-ornament

At left, an anti-fur animal rights group stages a little propaganda stunt. It was so chilly that I bet those men and women on the cold sidewalk were actually glad to be wearing their furs.

The other picture is a stack of giant Christmas ornaments delivered downtown by Bronner's for the upcoming Silver Bells parade.

More expensive food is making us fatter?

Holding down food costs is making us fat - MarketWatch: "As the unemployment rate inches toward 10% and consumers find themselves increasingly strapped, they are turning to cheap but effective means to fill their families' tummies. And those who do have jobs are working longer hours, forgoing exercise and searching for foods that are not only economical but convenient. As a result, more consumers are turning to processed foods, either already prepared, frozen or canned and typically filled with fat-generating calories, refined grains and sugars. That's making more Americans chubbier and prone to obesity-related illnesses such as diabetes in what has been dubbed "recession fat."

Comment -- Two reasons this report tastes a little off to me. First of all, we just went through about 15 years of prosperity when consumers could presumably easily afford all kinds of healthy food, but average weights still went up. Secondly, for years "cheap" food has been blamed for contributing to obesity. Now, the high cost of food is being blamed for obesity?

Halloween Party photos

Builder Brandon and Jailbreak Jenny.

Pooh Bear and the Bear Hunter.

Really, really out in the middle of no where

Gallery - Where's the remotest place on Earth? - Image 2 - New Scientist: "It's official, the world's most remote place is on the Tibetan plateau (34.7�N, 85.7�E).

From here, says Andy Nelson, a former researcher at the European Commission, it is a three-week trip to the cities of Lhasa or Korla - one day by car and the remaining 20 on foot.

Rough terrain and an altitude of 5200 metres also lend it a perfect air of 'Do Not Disturb'."

Comment -- This article says that today there are very few places left in the world where you cannot travel to a city of at least 50,000 people within two days (by land or water, not airplane.) The article says that the Amazon seems remote, but its extensive river system lets you travel by boat to a city pretty quick. Likewise, the Sahara is crisscrossed with a good road network.

I guess Tibet is the last place (excluding Antarctica) where you can really get away from it all.

Some fall color pictures I shot this weekend in southwest Michigan

Colorful construction in downtown Lansing

This is the outside of the new Troppo restaurant under construction next to my office building. It's a terrific restaurant. The new location will give them more room and meeting space.

We use them for catering once in a while and the chow is yum yum yummy!

Planets all over the place

What does it mean if Earths are everywhere? - SmartPlanet: "European scientists, working at a facility in Chile, have announced the discovery of 32 new planets outside the Solar System, including several within the size range of Earth.

Reporters hailed the discovery of “super-Earths” especially the estimate that as many as 40% of all stars may have low-mass planets orbiting around them.

Scientists have now found about 400 “exo-planets” using telescopes, most in the size range of Jupiter.

It’s awfully exciting, but what does it mean?"

Comment -- Well, one thing it means is that back when I was a kid, just getting started in astronomy, I never would have imagined that I'd someday read that scientists have discovered 400 planets. Pretty astounding...

These new planet discoveries again raise the question: where is everybody? If planets are common, you would think that in the billions of years the Universe has been here that there would be a few other intelligent species arising. Yet, there appears to be "The Great Silence." Maybe something is going on that we haven't puzzled out yet. Perhaps Earth is quarantined, kind of like a remote Amazonian tribe?

My favorite explanation is that all civilizations, once they reach the technological singularity, upload themselves into virtual space and vanish from reality.

Planets all over the place

What does it mean if Earths are everywhere? - SmartPlanet: "European scientists, working at a facility in Chile, have announced the discovery of 32 new planets outside the Solar System, including several within the size range of Earth.

Reporters hailed the discovery of “super-Earths” especially the estimate that as many as 40% of all stars may have low-mass planets orbiting around them.

Scientists have now found about 400 “exo-planets” using telescopes, most in the size range of Jupiter.

It’s awfully exciting, but what does it mean?"

Comment -- Well, one thing it means is that back when I was a kid, just getting started in astronomy, I never would have imagined that I'd someday read that scientists have discovered 400 planets. Pretty astounding...

These new planet discoveries again raise the question: where is everybody? If planets are common, you would think that in the billions of years the Universe has been here that there would be a few other intelligent species arising. Yet, there appears to be "The Great Silence." Maybe something is going on that we haven't puzzled out yet. Perhaps Earth is quarantined, kind of like a remote Amazonian tribe?

My favorite explanation is that all civilizations, once they reach the technological singularity, upload themselves into virtual space and vanish from reality.

Sunrise and wedding

This is a picture outside my office window this morning. Yes, I was at work at the crack of dawn!

The other photo is Jennifer, Brandon, Jenny and me at Saturday's wedding. Kudos to Steven Dawdy for the fine photo.

Grape news about Traverse City wine country

Traverse City among Top 10 wine destinations Detroit Free Press Freep.com: "Add another salute to northern Michigan’s growing reputation among the country’s top wine country destinations.

Editors at TripAdvisor, an international travel Web site based near Boston, recently ranked Traverse City eighth among the top 10 wine destinations in North America. The rating was reported by Thomson Reuters news service.

The list is topped by the renowned wine-making regions of Napa Valley and Sonoma, Calif. Traverse City is the only Midwest city that made a ranking that includes wine-producing areas in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, New York and Virginia."

Comment -- What can I say other than...I'll drink to that!

We've been in Napa Valley and Sonoma. It will be a long time before Traverse City can compete with the hundreds and hundreds of fancy California wineries out in those regions. On the other hand, the Michigan wineries are close by and their wine is a lot more affordable.

Shrubbery being installed along the Grand River

Guess they are in a hurry before it starts to snow!

Interesting new dinosaur news

Pterodactyl fossil fills gaps in evolutionary tale - CNN.com: "The researchers say more study is needed to substantiate the idea of that evolution could occur relatively quickly, and that whole parts of a plant or animal's body could change at once."

"The combination of features indicates that the primitive pterodactyls evolved relatively quickly, and that certain groups of features changed at the same time. Traditional evolutionary theory suggests that one feature -- a tail for instance -- would slowly evolve over time. "

Comment -- This article emphasizes the validity of something I read (somewhere) along the lines of "Evolution is a fact; Darwin had a theory about how it worked (natural selection)."

It's cool that after so many years, scientists are still coming up with new questions about how evolution works.

Improvements in downtown Lansing's riverfront

At left, you can see the riverfront along the west bank of the Grand River where the new Accident Fund of America HQ is being built. There's a nice concrete riverfront walkway being built. A couple years ago this was a literal junkyard.

The other photo is the new Lansing City Market. It's on the east side of the river across from the Accident Fund. Budget constraints mean that the Market is only about half the size as originally proposed. But, it's a big improvement over the decrepit old City Market, which reportedly needed a million dollars worth of repairs.

From space telescopes to tennis balls -- I did it all this weekend!

At left, I'm at a reception Friday night in East Lansing for Frank Ceppolina, the engineer in charge of figuring out how to fix the Hubble Space Telescope. He spoke on campus that afternoon but I could not attend his presentation. Jennifer and I did go to this reception, which was a lot of fun.

I got to talk to Frank for about 10 minutes. I think the most interesting thing he said was in regards to the James Webb Space Telescope, the device that will replace Hubble in 2014. I noted that the Webb is designed to be inaccessible to repair crews. But Frank said "don't be too sure!" I think he has a lot of faith in his engineers to figure something out if they have to.

This next photo (cell phone camera so a little blurry) is Brandon and me at the Franklin Tennis Club on Saturday night. We lost our match 3-6, 1-6. However, it was still great fun (although it would have been even more fun if I could have helped Brandon on to victory.) We play again in a few weeks and I'm hopeful that we can start a winning streak.

Moon smackdown was a dud?

SkyandTelescope.com - News Blog - LCROSS Impact: It's a Hit — But Was Anything Seen?: "At a press conference 2� hours after the impacts Monday morning, NASA's LCROSS team members were upbeat. They reported that the spacecraft and its instruments all performed 'beautifully,' but warned 'It takes a while to comb through the data.' Anthony Colaprete, the LCROSS principal investigator, said 'we saw the crater' from the Centaur rocket-body impact and recorded other high-quality data, but he declined to say anything about water yet. (LCROSS was designed to detect an amount of frost in the soil as small as 1 part in 200.)"

Comment -- The idea was that this SUV-size rocket would smash into the Moon and throw up a plume of dust possibly visible from Earth. The plume, it was hoped, would show evidence of water (or at least frost.)

Alas, the rocket crashed and nothing apparently happened. No spray of dust at all. But, as noted above, there's lots of data that still needs to be analyzed. It's possible that something really interesting will still be discovered.

New solar system discovery

NASA telescope discovers giant ring around Saturn - washingtonpost.com: "The Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered the biggest but never-before-seen ring around the planet Saturn, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced late Tuesday.

The thin array of ice and dust particles lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system and its orbit is tilted 27 degrees from the planet's main ring plane, the laboratory said.

JPL spokeswoman Whitney Clavin said the ring is very diffuse and doesn't reflect much visible light but the infrared Spitzer telescope was able to detect it."

Comment -- Well, this was certainly unexpected.

No, I will not be able to see it through my telescope.

I'm going to be live on Detroit Public Radio at noon Wednesday

WDET 101.9FM

I'm part of a panel discussion on the current status and future prospects for small business in Detroit. I'll be on from noon - 1 p.m. Have to travel down to their Wayne State studios.

If you need a good laugh, try reading through these real children's science exam answers....

(Hat tip to my wife for passing these along.)

Q: Name the four seasons.
A: Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.

Q: Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink.
A: Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists..

Q: How is dew formed?
A: The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.

Q: How can you delay milk turning sour?(Brilliant, love this!)
A: Keep it in the cow.

Q: What causes the tides in the oceans?
A: The tides are a fight between the Earth and the Moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature hates a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight.

Q: What are steroids?
A: Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.

Q: What happens to your body as you age?
A: When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental

Q: What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?
A: He says good-bye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery. (The kid gets an A+ for this answer!)

Q: Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A: Premature death.

Q: How are the main parts of the body categorized? (e.g., abdomen)
A: The body is consisted into three parts -- the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain; the borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels A, E, I, O, and U.

Q: What is the fibula?
A: A small lie.

Q: What does 'varicose' mean? (I do love this one...)
A: Nearby.

Q: Give the meaning of the term 'Caesarian Section.'
A: The Caesarian Section is a district in Rome.

Q: What does the word 'benign' mean?'
A: Benign is what you will be after you be eight.

What are the odds?

Coincidences Can Be Expected - WSJ.com: "History isn't supposed to repeat itself in the lottery. But earlier this month, a 1-in-5.2 million shot came through in Bulgaria, as the same six winning numbers turned up in two consecutive drawings. And 18 Bulgarians profited by betting on recent history: They chose the winning combination of numbers from the drawing four days earlier -- which hadn't been selected by anyone the first time around -- and split the pot."

Comment -- This article notes that with lotteries held all over the world every day, it's not unbelievably impossible that the same six number would turn up two drawings in a row.

In 1986, a New Jersey woman won the lottery for the second time in two months. But Purdue statisticians found that the probability that somewhere in the U.S. in 1986 someone would win the lottery for the second time was about 1 in 10.

It just goes to show that with enough time and enough drawings, anything can and will happen.

Amazing clear skies this morning

I was up at 6 a.m. and went outside for a little while with my binoculars. It was cold (28) with frost all over the grass. The skies were very dry and transparent, which meant little water vapor to scatter lights around the atmosphere.

So, I got spectacular views of the "winter" constellations and objects, like the Orion Nebula and the Seven Sisters star cluster.

Maybe I'll get up early every morning! Yeah, right.

Where did the hurricanes go?

Wunder Blog : Weather Underground: "Quietest September in the Atlantic since 1997
Well, it's the end of September, and what is traditionally the busiest month in the Atlantic was unusually quiet. We had only two named storms this September, the first time since 1997 we've had less than three September named storms. There were only 6.75 days in September with a named storm, which ranks as the 4th fewest September named storm days since 1950 (only 1962, 1970, and 1994 had fewer). The Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) index for September ranked as the 6th lowest since 1950. The quiet period is likely to continue for at least another week, as there are no threat areas in the Atlantic to discuss today, and none of the computer models are forecasting tropical storm formation over the next seven days. I'll post my first-half-of-October outlook for the Atlantic tomorrow."

Comment -- Over the short term, weather is never "normal". It's only "normal" when you average it over long time spans. I guess you could say it's normal for weather to vary a lot!

Frost is predicted in mid-Michigan tonight. That may seem kind of early, but it appears that the earliest frost ever was Sept. 5 1997 (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/grr/history/?m=9).

Let there be (laser) light

Think you’re a real sharpshooter?

Hitting an object about the size of a minivan shouldn’t be a problem, then.

The catch? Your target is 250,000 miles away.

Oh, and it’s moving at 3,600 miles per hour.

That feat may be impossible for a single man, but NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center manages to achieve it 28 times per second. The target? Its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, which orbits the moon.

The target practice is part of the first laser ranging effort to track a spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit on a daily basis. The goal is to provide distance measurements accurate to 10 centimeters, or about four inches — far more accurate than current microwave stations, which track the LRO within 65 feet of accuracy.

Comment -- The thought that crossed my mind when I read this is that if NASA can hit a fast moving Orbiter with a laser, then the Air Force certainly has laser technology to hit a missile fired from Iran or North Korea.

Amazing pictures of Saturn

The Rite of Spring (NASA Cassini Saturn Mission Images): "Of the countless equinoxes Saturn has seen since the birth of the solar system, this one, captured here in a mosaic of light and dark, is the first witnessed up close by an emissary from Earth ... none other than our faithful robotic explorer, Cassini.

Seen from our planet, the view of Saturn's rings during equinox is extremely foreshortened and limited. But in orbit around Saturn, Cassini had no such problems. From 20 degrees above the ringplane, Cassini's wide angle camera shot 75 exposures in succession for this mosaic showing Saturn, its rings, and a few of its moons a day and a half after exact Saturn equinox, when the sun's disk was exactly overhead at the planet's equator."

Comment -- Never in history has anyone seen Saturn's rings from this angle. Pretty cool time to be a planetary astronomer!

Munch munch

More progress on the parking ramp demo.

It's always more fun to destroy than to create

I got a close up photo of the parking ramp demolition going on outside my office in downtown Lansing. They are about a third done.

The demolition is pretty noisy when you're close to the action. There's a giant steel jaw at the end of the arm that slowly munches away at the concrete and rebar. Every once in a while a huge slab of pavement falls off and crashes to the ground.

I was told that the demolition company has to be really careful in their work so that the ramp doesn't suddenly collapse and damage nearby buildings.

Life lessons from two recent sports meltdowns

This week I’ve been pondering what can be learned from two big sports meltdowns that happened in the last week: MSU’s upset football loss to CMU, and Serna Williams’ penalty-point ouster from the U.S. Open tennis tournament.

I think the big lesson is that lots of little mistakes can put you in the position where one more mistake becomes disastrous rather than inconsequential.

In the case of the football game, how did the Spartans allow themselves to be sunk by an improbably-recovered onside kick and subsequent game-winning field goal? They should never have found themselves in that position, but a game-long series of bad penalties, missed tackles and errant passes (i.e. mistakes) made them highly vulnerable to the improbable events at the end of the game.

Similarly, Serena Williams found herself in a tight match, had earned a warning earlier in the match for smashing her racquet, got behind in the last game, and so, when the very improbable happened (a foot fault) she made the additional mistake of losing her temper, screaming profanities at the judge and being assessed another point that lost her the match. Had she been well-ahead in the match, or if she hadn’t been on the judge’s bad side for smashing her racquet, she could have survived the penalty point.

So, since all of us obviously can’t avoid making mistakes from time-to-time, maybe the takeaway from all this is to avoid making a series of continuous mistakes – stop yourself before they get out of control. That helps you avoid getting into in a position – whether it’s in sports, financial or personal relationships – where a mistake turns into an irretrievable disaster.

Finally – when the coach says “be sure not to jump offside on this kick”, try extra hard to remember not to jump offside. And don’t smash your racquet.

I'm world famous (again)

Obama and Acorn - WSJ.com:

"Or at Least Agitated"
'Owner Outraged at Cat's Washing Machine Killing'--headline, Detroit Free Press, Sept. 15"

Comment -- I'm given credit in today's Wall Street Journal "Best of the Web Today" feature for contributing the witty quote above about the cat killed in the washing machine.

I certainly don't mean to imply that I think it's funny that a cat was killed in a washing machine. A microwave, maybe...but never a washing machine. However, I cracked myself up when I thought "I bet the owner was agitated!"

Below is how I'm credited. It's the second time I've been in "Best of the Web Today."

(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Tom Bemis, Jamie Extract, C.E. Dobkin, Hampton Stevens, Jim Tracy, John McGee, John Sanders, Matthew Hamel, Steve Prestegard, Mark Van Der Molen, Chris Scibelli, Nick Kasoff, Mordecai Bobrowsky, Glenn Rowan, Eli Bear, Daniel Mullen, Aaron Spetner, Mike Byers, Will Larson, Michael Segal, Bern Steves, Irwin Chusid, Stuart Creque, Tom Sommers, Joseph DeMartino, Doug Black, Stan Obenhaus, Kevin Hetherington-Young, Evan Slatis, Brian Smith, Michael Rogers, John Williamson, Ken Lawrence, Ed Jordan, Shawn Sarazin, Terry Holmes, Peter Iorio, Richard Haisley, Greg Askins, Ray Girouard, Kyle Kyllan, Phil Scott, Michael Ellard, Arlene Ross, Matt Smola, John Zimmerman, Bruce Goldman and Ross Firestone. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)

Except for July, it was actually a pretty normal summer for temperatures

Out-of-staters show summer love for Michigan | lansingstatejournal.com | Lansing State Journal: "It's no surprise to most people locally: The average Lansing temperature for June, July and August was lower than normal, according to the National Weather Service. July, in particular, was cold - almost 4 degrees lower than the normal average of 70.3 degrees."

Comment -- This sentence above is misleading. A chart in the print edition of the story shows that the actual observed temperature in June was only a tenth of a degree lower than the normal average temperature; the actual observed temperature in August was only two tenths of a degree lower than the normal average temperature. The real change, as noted above, came with a very chilly July.

New advice on what to do if you are caught in a Lake Michigan rip current

New Way to Beat Rip Currents: Tread Water - TierneyLab Blog - NYTimes.com: "If you find yourself being pulled away from shore by a powerful rip current, what should you do? The traditional advice has been to swim parallel to the shore in order to get outside the current. But after an extensive study of these currents — by using instruments and floating in them himself — Jamie MacMahan has concluded that your odds are better if you stay still and just tread water."

Comment -- Considering how chilly this summer has been, it appears that you are more likely to freeze to death in Lake Michigan than drown in a rip current.

Giant flag at state capitol in Lansing

Firefighters flew this flag from two ladder trucks today. I assume the occasion is to recognize the sacrifices of firefighters on 9/11. But, not sure why they did this on 9/10.

The Prius of boats?

Endeavour Green: "Say goodbye to the fuel pump. Endeavour Electric Boats can run all day long on a charge that costs only 11 cents. Maintenance is just minutes per month. Endeavour Green's new battery powered, zero emissions green boats rely on clean electric propulsion and will lead the way to a cleaner environment. The Endeavour Hybrid is built for long range cruising. The Endeavour Electric is the perfect eco tour boat, allowing you to get close to wildlife without spooking them. And imagine the busy Annapolis Harbor serviced by clean, quiet and efficient electric water taxis. This is a sustainable energy boat that when charged by solar, wind or hydro-electric, becomes a true zero carbon footprint boat."

Comment -- The Website says the boat only has a top speed of 6.4 mph, so I don't think it could haul a knee board and provide many thrills.

Barefootin'

Wiggling Their Toes at the Shoe Giants - NYTimes.com: "Recent research suggests that for all their high-tech features, modern running shoes may not actually do much to improve a runner’s performance or prevent injuries. Some runners are convinced that they are better off with shoes that are little more than thin gloves for the feet — or with no shoes at all.

Plenty of medical experts disagree with this notion. The result has been a raging debate in running circles, pitting a quirky band of barefoot runners and researchers against the running-shoe and sports-medicine establishments."

Comment -- To me, this seems not at all quirky. More like totally nuts.

I don't mind running on the tennis court -- it's actually pretty fun -- but I've never had much interest in just running for the sake of running. Still, I have the utmost respect for my readers who have completed marathons. I'd be interested in what you think about running barefoot.

Our next hybrid car?

BMW’s new turbodiesel hybrid concept car does 0 to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds; 75 mpg - SmartPlanet: "The tech behind the effort includes:

* All-wheel drive layout with an electric motor on both the front and rear axle.
* Acceleration from a standstill to 100 km/h (roughly comparable to 0-60mph in the U.S.) in 4.8 seconds
* Top speed 250 km/h (155 mph), electronically limited
* Fuel consumption in the EU test cycle was 3.76 litres/100 km (equal to 75.1mpg)
* CO2 emissions 99 grams/kilometer.
* If you’re into aerodynamics, the drag coefficient is an F1-friendly 0.22.
* Electric power is generated without the slightest increase in fuel consumption through efficient Brake Energy Regeneration. Energy is stored in 98 lithium polymer cells."

Comment -- 0-60 in under five seconds is very fast -- a heck of a lot faster than our Prius. Of course, if this car ever gets to the market it will likely cost five times as much as the Prius.

Wildfire could burn down historic California observatory

Mt. Wilson, JPL Threatened by Fire | Universe Today: "Wildfires burning in southern California are threatening the historic Mt. Wilson Observatory and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Overnight, the fire size more than doubled, and as of this writing over 85,000 acres have burned. The situation looks better this morning for JPL, but Mt. Wilson, which also is home to several communication towers, is still in danger. Firefighters have vowed to do everything they can to save it. The fires have been fueled by hot, dry weather, but one resident who had to evacuate his home shared with me that the fire has spread with minimal winds, and the situation would be even worse with windy conditions."

Comment -- Mt. Wilson is where Edwin Hubble made the observations that led to the discovery that the Universe is expanding. (Now, of course, we know that not only is the Universe expanding -- the expansion is accelerating!)

You can learn more about the fire's threat to Mt. Wilson by following Peter Plavchan's Facebook page. Peter works for JPL and was in Rory and Vanessa's wedding two years ago.

Mt. Stromlo Observatory in Australia burned down in a forest fire in 2002.

Amazing story about guy who caught two home runs in one game

Man Catches Two Homeruns in One Game at Yankee Stadium - Associated Content: "35 year old Alexander Martinez of Hartford Connecticut, however, managed to beat the long odds and catch two home run balls in one game. He accomplished this feat on August 5th, 2007 at Yankee Stadium"

Comment -- the article says the odds of this happening are 1 in 743 million.

I'm surprised that this happened in 2007 and I haven't heard about it until now.

Giant mech monsters invade downtown Lansing, eat parking ramp. Yum!

Nothing like a tasty snack of concrete and rebar.

I have an entertaining view of the process from my office window. At the rate they are nibbling away, it's going to take them a month to finish.

This was the ramp I parked in for 13 years.

Homrich, the company doing the demolition, is a member of SBAM.

Photos from Vanessa's choir concert

Here's the Stanford Church (on campus) where she performed.

Computer bugs

Green Beetle RealBug Mouse -: "This acrylic USB computer mouse features a green beetle embedded in the clear plastic. The actual specimens add an element of interest and excitement to your daily computer use, while adding some personality to your desk or office."

Comment -- Bleh! Who'd want to put their hand on this? You can also get a spider (double bleh) and a starfish.

Looking up in the world

ZooBorns: Double Giraffe Calves for the Binder Park Zoo: "For 13 years the Binder Park Zoo has been hoping for a baby giraffe. But within 48 hours between August 11th-12th, they welcomed two! The first baby was 6' tall and the second 5' 6', but what's six inches when you're almost two yards tall at birth? Enjoy these tall pictures of these tall 'little' boys!"

Comment -- Got to admit that this is a cute little fella'.

Tasty pork products

One of the highlights of our trip last week to visit Vanessa and Rory in San Francisco was a visit to a barbecue restaurant in Oakland. It was much more authentic than a place like Smokey Bones -- they smoked their own ribs on site!

For the three of us, we ordered a single slab of ribs, which came to the table as a huge pile of meat drenched in sweet barbecue sauce. As you can see from the photo, I was speechless in delight at this pulchritudinous pile of pork.

My quote in Crain's Detroit Business

Southeast Michigan jobless rates hit nearly double last year's levels - Detroit News and Information - Crain's Detroit Business: "In the small-business community, many businesses are “in survival mode,” said Mike Rogers, vice president of communications at the Small Business Association of Michigan.

He said access to capital needs to improve for those businesses that want to borrow money to help operations or expand, but many businesses “are hanging on by the skin of their teeth” and there's no major employment-picture improvement in sight."

Comment -- I hate to be negative with the media, but facts are facts and small business owners out there are really struggling. Not that there aren't a few who are doing okay, even thriving. Still, most of our members are trying to hang in there, at best. Yuk!

Prius progress

Sorry I've been tardy about blogging. It's been a busy week (again.)

Just wanted to update all of you that the Prius has been terrific. It's great to drive and we've been getting 50+ mpg on the highway. On my 9 mile drive to work yesterday I got 63 mpg.

It seems to have plenty of get-up-and-go. Of course, I've been driving the Trooper for a long time so any get-up-and-go is an upgrade.

I've also really enjoyed the JBL stereo system. It gives me a chance to listen to my collection of death metal CDs. Just kidding.

Old truck, new car

Cash for clunkers finally went through today and we traded the 1994 Trooper (15 mpg) for the 2010 Prius (50 mpg). The Prius is a beautiful car, but the Trooper was a trusty old friend for many years. Farewell, Trooper ole' buddy!

More coverage of the great Jupiter splat

Amateur Astronomers Are All Gazing at Jupiter - NYTimes.com: "In an age of “American Idol,” amateurs in every imaginable discipline seem to expect an eventual moment on the big stage, and Mr. Wesley certainly got his. A 44-year-old computer programmer in the town of Murrumbateman, outside Canberra, Mr. Wesley scooped the university observatories and government satellites when he noticed the black mark around 1 a.m. last Monday, his time, using the 14.5-inch-diameter reflecting telescope installed in his backyard, before retiring for the night to watch cricket and golf on TV, he told reporters."

Comment -- I have not seen the black mark on Jupiter. The planet does not rise until after midnight, and besides, it's been cloudy, cloudy, cloudy. It's one of the worst summers for observing that I can remember.

Besides, I'm not sure I'd be able to see it in my small telescope.

Low calorie bacon? Really, what's the point?

Futurismic - near-future science fiction and fact since 2001:

In a post entitled “The Neuroscience of McGriddles,” Jonah Lehrer (How We Decide; Proust Was a Neuroscientist) samples the “eerily delicious” McDonald’s product and reaches some dark conclusions:

…The most pleasurable thing about the sandwich isn’t the pancake or the bacon: it’s the calories. According to a recent paper in Neuron, the brain also receives rewarding input from metabolic processes that have nothing to do with the tongue. When you eat at McDonald’s, a big part of the pleasure comes from the fact that the food is sustenance, fuel, energy. Even mediocre food is a little rewarding.

"Indeed, even mice with an impaired sense of taste still prefer sugar water over both plain water and water with artificial sweetener. “What they enjoyed were the calories.” And humans’ desire for high-calorie food seems based on our evolutionary investment in a large cranium.

This is a troubling idea, since it reveals the very deep biological roots underlying the obesity epidemic. Let’s imagine, for instance, that some genius invented a reduced calorie bacon product that tasted exactly like bacon, except it had 50 percent fewer calories. It would obviously be a great day for civilization. But this research suggests that such a pseudo-bacon product, even though it tasted identical to real bacon, would actually give us much less pleasure. Why? Because it made us less fat. Because energy is inherently delicious. Because we are programmed to enjoy calories." (photo by shawnzam)

Comment -- How cool! I blog about neuroscience and bacon in the same post.

100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About | GeekDad | Wired.com

100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About | GeekDad | Wired.com

Audio-Visual Entertainment

1. Inserting a VHS tape into a VCR to watch a movie or to record something.
2. Super-8 movies and cine film of all kinds.
3. Playing music on an audio tape using a personal stereo. See what happens when you give a Walkman to todays teenager.
4. The number of TV channels being a single digit. I remember it being a massive event when Britain got its fourth channel.
5. Standard-definition, CRT TVs filling up half your living room.
6. Rotary dial televisions with no remote control. You know, the ones where the kids were the remote control.
7. High-speed dubbing.
8. 8-track cartridges.
9. Vinyl records. Even today’s DJs are going laptop or CD.
10. Betamax tapes.
11. MiniDisc.
12. Laserdisc: the LP of DVD.
13. Scanning the radio dial and hearing static between stations. (Digital tuners + HD radio bork this concept.)
14. Shortwave radio.
15. 3-D movies meaning red-and-green glasses.
16. Watching TV when the networks say you should. Tivo and Sky+ are slowing killing this one.
17. That there was a time before ‘reality TV.’

Comment -- There's about 85 more "things your kids may never know about" on the list in this post.