Drinking whiskey clear!
I just wanted to say a quick “Thank you!!!!’ to all the veterans out there that served their country with honor and distinction. Your noble sacrifice is appreciated!
Here’s an ESPN video about Vietnam veteran and Pittsburgh Steeler halfback Rocky Blier that will surely warm your heart:
– Corporations might sometimes seem like heartless, impersonal monoliths. But the fact is, even the largest corporations get their inspiration from little guys every now and then. You might know that the Big Mac and Egg McMuffin were invented by individual McDonalds franchisees. Well, you can now add Subway’s $5 footlongs to that list. The idea behind them was hatched by a struggling franchisee in Miami. Read the (surprisingly interesting) story of how $5 footlongs went from one guy’s crazy idea to save his business into a national sales model and annoying jingle at businessweek.com here.
– Speaking of business, Pabst Brewing Company – a “virtual brewer” who contracts all their actual brewing out to Molson – is up for sale. Although Pabst doesn’t brew their own beer any more, they do own a line of iconic beer brands, such as Pabst Blue Ribbon, Old Style, Ballantine, Lone Star, Olympia, Schaefer, Schmidt, and Stroh’s. PBR’s resurgence in the marketplace has led folks to tag the company’s worth at over $300 million!
– A big THANK YOU goes out to the Belmont Fire Department, whose swift action saved the lives of 8 puppies yesterday morning.
– Tibet is a mountainous country where the ground freezes too hard to bury people and the scarcity of firewood prevents cremation. So how do they get rid of the bodies of the deceased there? By paying monks to smash up the bodies and leaving them for the vultures! It’s called an “sky burial”, and you can read more about it here (warning: gruesome pictures included!).
– And lastly, if you like your humor with a side of intellectualism, you’ll probably enjoy the Nietzsche Family Circus, which pairs a random Family Circus cartoon with a quote from one of Germany’s most famous philosophers. The results are usually pretty funny (refresh the page to see a new one).
I know my blog seems like “all TV all the time” lately, but really it’s just that the Mad Men recaps were leaving me little time or energy for anything else. Hopefully now that season 3 is done, things will get back to normal around here.
Having said that, I did want to link to an update about season 3 of Ashes to Ashes. This post over at Cathode Ray Tube has some interesting info about the filming of season 3. It’s light on the spoilers, but a good read nevertheless.
Can this really be the end of season 3? Sadly, it is. But this was one hell of a season finale! Let’s get right into it, shall we?
This episode begins with Don waking up… on the twin bed in Gene’s old room. He wakes up and coughs several times. We then see him walking in to a meeting with Conrad Hilton, where the hotel magnate drops a bomb: McCann Erickson, a large ad agency, is buying Putnam Powell and Lowe (and therefore, Sterling Cooper). Hilton further states that he’ll have to drop Sterling Cooper as a conflict of interest. Don then says that they’ll all be fired. Hilton says that Cooper is definitely gone, that he’s unsure about Sterling’s future, and that Don is a “prize pig”, and that he’ll get more stock and money from the deal. Don calls McCann a “sausage factory”, and tells Connie that he turned down a job offer from them three years ago. Hilton says that it’s “just business”. Don then says that Hilton “doesn’t give a crap that my future is tied up in this mess because of you.” Conrad says that he got everything he has on his own, and that’s made him immune to people that cry because they can’t. He then says that he didn’t take Don to be one of those people. Conrad and Don then agree to “try again” one day.
We then see Don walking in to Sterling Cooper. He’s in a daze, and he slowly looks around the office. When one of the office girls crushes a piece of paper into a ball, he has a flashback: the price of wheat has collapsed, and Archibald Whitman is bucking the wishes of his co-op by refusing to sell for 69¢ a bushel. A young Dick Whitman looks on as his father tells the other members of the co-op that he’s prepared to build a silo and store the grain until winter, when he can get a better price. The others wonder how he’ll pay his mortgage without selling the wheat now. Archibald then orders the other farmers to leave his kitchen.
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If you’ve ever seen the film Trainspotting, you’re probably familiar with the song “Born Slippy”, as it was featured prominently in the film.
The song has an interesting story behind it: the original version, by electronic band Underworld, was completely instrumental. The b-side of the single had lyrics, and was known as “Born Slippy .NUXX”, allegedly from a computer error which appended the NUXX extension to one of the tracks in the song. The lyrics are supposedly the “internal dialog” of an alcoholic (band member Karl Hyde was a functional alcoholic at the time). The band didn’t give the tune much thought until director Danny Boyle used it in Trainspotting, which caused the tune to hit #2 on the British charts.
This version is a cover from the German band Get Well Soon. It’s very slow, with a haunting piano line running throughout. To me, the original is a dancy, almost poppy tune. You can easily ignore the lyrics while gyrating on the dance floor or driving around at top speed. But this version forces you to listen to the desperation and sadness of the lyrics. It’s not something you want to cue up on the iPod at at party… but it is something you’ll listen to while lying on your bed with the room spinning out of control later on that night.
Have a listen and tell me what you think:
[audio:bornslippy.mp3]
Ah… such childhood memories we had together. Just you and me, alone in the world. All the hours we spent together, all the joy we shared.
I wish you were still around, Choco-Lite bar!
When Microsoft was developing Windows 7, many of us in the IT field hoped that there would only be one version of the operating system, compared to the mess that was Windows Vista (Windows Vista Starter, Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Ultimate).
Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. But Microsoft did meet us halfway: aside from netbooks which run Windows 7 Starter, most Americans will be using Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate. And, thanks to a simple hack, you can easily create a “universal DVD” which can install any version of Windows 7 on a computer:
All you need to do is delete a single file – ei.cfg – from any Windows 7 installation CD.
The easiest way to do this is to use an ISO tool like PowerISO to make an image of the installation DVD, then delete the ei.cfg file from the “sources” directory of the image, then burn the edited image file to a blank DVD. When you install Windows 7 on a computer using the edited disc, you will be prompted with the screen above to choose which version of the operating system you want to install.
Note that this hack will not let you get a free upgrade: your license key is tied to the particular version of Windows 7 you’re licensed for, so if you try to install Ultimate using a Home Premium key, you’ll get an error message. So this hack is really for support people who have to install a variety of versions of Windows 7 on people’s computers.
Also, 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 come on separate discs, so you’d need to repeat the process if you need both versions. It would be really cool if you could create a “Ultimate Universal DVD” that had both x86 and x64 versions on it… but that’s above my pay grade.
This episode begins with Pete asleep on the sofa in his office. Hildy, in a heavy coat and mittens, wakes him up with hot cocoa. It seems that the heat is off in the building. Pete complains that the cocoa is instant; Hildy says that it’s from the diner and asks how he can tell. He says that it’s made with water, not milk. Hildy also says that Lane wants to see him in his office. Pete, obviously annoyed by the lack of heat, apologizes to Hildy and says that the cocoa is helping.
Inside Lane’s office, Pete gets the bad news: Ken Cosgrove is being made “senior vice president in charge of account services”, while Pete is being made “head of account management”. When Pete asks why the decision was made the way it was, Lane says that Pete has excelled at making the clients feel that their needs are being met, but that Ken makes them feel as if they have no needs. Lane says that they’ve upgraded his title so he won’t feel so bad. When Pete asks if Roger and Bert know about this, Lane says that it’s been done “under my authority”. Pete walks back to his office, dejected, and sees a carefree Ken helping an office girl with a space heater under her desk. Pete walks into his office, grabs his briefcase and walks out. When Hildy asks where he’s going, he says that he “doesn’t feel well”.
This episode begins with Betty packing her bags. Thankfully, she’s not leaving Don, she’s only traveling to Philadelphia to deal with Gene’s house. Sally asks Don about pre-made costumes at Woolworth’s. Don says that they’ll only wear the costume once, they’re made out of cheap plastic and “they’re crap”. Sally says that she’ll always love Minnie Mouse. Betty tells the kids to go upstairs and get their bags. While they’re gone, she tells Don that she only had $40. He tells her to swing by the bank, that she should have $200 in her account. She asks him again if he’s sure he has no extra money on him. He kisses her on the cheek and tells her to be careful.
A little while later, we see Bert sitting on the sofa in his office with Annabelle Mathis, an old flame of Roger’s and the owner of a dog food company named Caldecott Farms. Don and Roger walk in the office and introductions are given (it’s obvious that Roger and Annabelle have a past). After Annabelle and Roger do some catching up, she says that Caldecott Farms is in dire straights after it was made public that the company used horse meat in its dog food products. She says that she’s in town visiting ad agencies. What she really wants is a new word for “horse meat”; she says that the ingredients and the brand name cannot change. Don says that it’s a “tall order” but they’ll do their best.