I ask those who from time to time come to read this blog. Is it corrupt for the family of firefighters and their friends to spend an evening shooting off fireworks without fear of punishment, given it is illegal in NJ to do so? Are they, as active and visible citizens in their roles as firefighters (volunteers, but still), entitled to leniency when it comes to the rules, or should they be held to a higher standard as they may be considered role models?
In between the intensity of my project at work, I’ve had an opportunity to start enjoying some Netflix DVDs again now that the current tv season is finished. I just got through Mondovino, a 2+ hour documentary on the global wine industry. I’m still not sure exactly what to make of it all, so I’ll just throw out my key observations.
1) Jonathan Nossiter (or at least his cameraman) really, really loves dogs. They make an appearance continually throughout the documentary no matter what country / city he’s in, from the remote parts of Argentina and Brazil to cities in the US and Europe.
2) The French blame the Americans for “globalization” of the wine industry and the decline of French traditional control over the wine industry. Robert Mondavi and Robert Parker are locked in a gigantic conspiracy to destroy the French. They especially dislike the fact that Americans use a dirty tool called “marketing”.
3) However, the French applaud the work of Bernard Magrez, essentially a French version of Mondavi, who is spreading the same brand of global wine and has a similar up-from-the-bootstraps kind of story. Even though he’s basically cut from the same cloth, he’s ok because he’s French.
4) The Italians (or at least the many marquises interviewed) liked Mussolini, are split on the Mondavis, and were concerned about the Social Forum.
5) The global wine industry, like so many things, is heavily afflicted by racism and nationalism.
6) Everyone interested in producing competitive wine at an international level should just call Michel Roland.
Having watched CNN International’s broadcast channel while overseas, I’m even more appalled by the US version of the channel and the website. Just think of the total lack of “newsiness” there are with the following top stories on CNN.com right now:
Admittedly, when I imagine what is truly news-worthy, I rank stories by their potential impact from a regional, national and international level. A top story about a driver crashing in to a street festival is sad, but basically local news. What’s the impact, the larger importantance, of a car crash in D.C.?
The G8 protests, Castro’s TV appearance, a terror plot, the presidential debates, and militants killed in Somalia, all have a potential news-worthiness value, if the stories are given context and aren’t just the usual CNN dumbed-down smut product that is put out. Same thing is true for the Polish man who wakes from a coma, if the author of the article uses it to discuss the evolution of Eastern Europe from Communism to democracy and capitalism. Unfortunately, this kind of journalism seems to be far more than CNN, at least for their domestic audience, can handle.
Or take the G8 protests. What are these groups that became violent? What are their objectives, what goals do they have? What about the actual G8 summit? What discussions are taking place? What kind of outcomes are to be expected? What have been the objectives and participation in past summits? Have the desired results been realized from those summits? If so, why? If not, why not?
Unfortunately, the kind of news programming I’m looking for is becoming rarer, not more common. When John Stewart offers the most in-depth discussion on some of these topics, you know you’re SOL.
I found myself sitting on the flight from Amsterdam to Toronto with about 5 to 6 hours to kill, so I started up the video on demand system and browsed through the choices. Night at the Museum was not as bad as I expected, and provided a fun diversion. Moving on, I watched Rough, a Japanese love triangle-ish movie with a whole lot of plot potential that ended in a pretty conventional way. I did appreciate, however, that a live-action movie still used some of the tricks in regular Japanese TV and anime. Go figure.
And then there’s Bridge to Terabithia. I watched this movie adaptation of the book that I read easily 15 or so years ago. I actually hesitated before I watched the movie, knowing that the book had left me in a funk of its own after I read it all those years ago. And, yes, the movie was a fairly straightforward adaptation that tugged the exact same emotional strings the book did.
Exactly, I’m willing to admit, like that old mainstay the Fox and the Hound.
The tickets were a pain even before I left. Never, ever get paper tickets if you can avoid it. When I booked my trip back in October, at a phenomenal price of$255 round trip from YYZ-AMS-VIE-AMS-OTP-AMS-YYZ, I didn’t notice that I’d picked an Austrian Airlines flight that forced me to have a paper ticket. If I did, I might have reconsidered my flight choices.
In theory, this ticket was upgradeable with miles. In practice, paper tickets make simple things much harder. Like, three trips to the airport, a set of phone and e-mail conversations, and still having to again get the tickets reissued in Toronto right before the start of the trip complicated. But business class for an overnight flight does make everything better.
I’ll keep my thoughts on Vienna short. If you have an opportunity to spend a few days there, do it. It was a great, compact, historical city with architecture to die for and a certain charm and culture that easily matches Paris and London, only with lower prices. When the random street car conversations you overhear are discussions on the depth of various indie films playing at some theatre or other, you know what kind of place you’re in. And the Austrian countryside is pretty nice, as well, with some great biking opportunities.
Romania, on the other hand, was a whole other set of experiences that require some posting of their own.
So I’ve been maintaining my silence here on the blog, not for any specific reason such as a big change. In truth, up until last week I’ve been caught up in a new project at work with some extremely aggressive deadlines around Merck’s new SAP implementation, all while transitioning off my old project to a new project manager. That pretty much consumed all my time while I tried to bring some stability to the project, which I’m sure survived well enough without me while I was away this past week.
I’ll give an update in the not-so-distant future, I swear, after I’ve recovered from the sights of Romania and the movie version of Bridge to Terabithia.
Ther other day it returned. Yes, TD Ameritrade again appears to have leaked the e-mail address they have for me on file to spammers, resulting in such exciting pitches as below:
Did you get in on MBWC yesterday like we suggested?
If so I’m sure you Enjoyed the +25% gains!Expect more Superb action in days to come from this Hot High Tech
company! A highly anticipated Profit Report is soon to be released and
send MBWC off the charts!As with most small cap stocks,
you may need to call your broker directly.Get in on this breakout winner early!
deal with this as it comes down We understood the political pressure that was brought to bear Benjamin Crump an attorney for Andersons parents was in Panama City with the family Tuesday and didnt immediately return APs call for comment
Video: Teen forced to the ground
Videotape of the incident showed Anderson being forced to the ground by various methods
Now TD Ameritrade in my mind has a serious issue. I use a unique e-mail address for EVERY company or group I deal with, and don’t share or overlap these e-mail addresses. This makes it very, very easy to identify who leaks my e-mail addresses, since the spam comes to an address that contains your company’s name.
The first time this happened, I was willing to consider the idea that the leak could have happened anywhere or could have been a conincidence. I changed the e-mail address.
The second time this happened, I suspected that the leak was on TD Ameritrade’s side and forwarded the spam. I received a promise to investigate and was told that it could have been multiple causes. However, I also exchanged communication with another TD Ameritrade client over the Internet who has had similar issues. The suspicion was strong, but I changed my e-mail address to something pretty much unguessable, a pseudo-random set of letters and numbers.
The third time this happened, which started within the past two weeks, I had had enough. I forwarded my complait on to the SEC’s Enforcement Division, which I do hope will contact me back. I don’t care so much about the spam as I do the fact that a company with which I do business is either sharing my e-mail address with these spammers or does not have adequate controls in place to prevent someone from gaining access to my personal information. If someone can gain unauthorized access to my e-mail address, what other information can they access?
Update: Another customer complains of the spam and the useless response of TD Ameritrade.
I read with amusement that there was a ‘new’ Tolkein book being published, since the J.R.R. Tolkein himself hasn’t written any new material since 1973. Still, I will likely pick up a copy, having read several of the fragmented books put out previously by his son Christopher based off drafts of manuscripts and notes.
From the Only in Japan files…
My basement is drying as many of my nieghbors begin their cleanup efforts in earnest. Manville remains under a 9 pm curfew, and the police checkpoint at the entrance to my neighborhood will remain for at least a few days.
Nonetheless, I’m off for a long weekend, pre-planned even before the floods, to Arizona. The sunny weather and relaxing pace should provide a welcome boost.