So are any of you dressing up today? I gave some thought to it myself as my current job is fine with the idea, but the only thing I could pull together quickly would’ve been the Renaissance garb I just wore a week ago for a wedding and I didn’t feel like wiggling into it again. We weren’t sure whether or not to pick up any candy for any potential trick-or-treaters tonight as we’re in an apartment complex once again and the last one we lived in didn’t tend to attract the kids despite the potential bonanza it offered with all the doors so close together. Perhaps the kids in Ann Arbor will be a bit braver so it’s a good thing my in-laws dropped by yesterday with some extra candy they had for us to hand out if anyone should scream outside our door.

With money being as tight as it is we’ve not really decorated the house much for the holiday. I don’t even have a proper Jack-o-lantern. It doesn’t help that a lot of the decorations are packed away in boxes from the move yet and some of those boxes are still in my in-law’s basement. We do have two Halloween themed place mats though. That’s something I can stick in the window at least. So, yeah, Halloween is a bit pathetic at our house this year. Maybe it’ll be a bit better next year.

What are you guys doing for Halloween?

If you’re visiting the site directly instead of reading it via RSS then you’ll be happy to see the various Halloween themed pics of yours truly are once again in the sidebar. A random image will load with each page view so sooner or later you’ll see all five of them.

If you only read via RSS then you’ll just have to imagine what they look like. Or visit the site directly. Or just live with the soul crushing unfulfilled curiosity that ignoring this entry will bring you.

Whatever works for you.

I so wish I had the talent to come up with stuff like this:

Fortunately the guy who did make that projected video, Mark Gervais, is selling it on DVD so lesser talented people like me can scare the crap out of kids on Halloween. He uses a simple white sheet, a standard digital projector, and a good sized window. The results look great and are just the right level of scariness that most kids won’t be too afraid to approach your door.

I have to admit that when I first read this news item...

NEW YORK (AP)—It wasn’t the gruesome costumes or gory masks turning up at Lisa Bruno’s front door that spooked her on Halloween. It was the pudge lurking beneath the costumes.

“The kids were just so huge,“ Bruno says.

So five years ago, she was scared into changing her holiday handouts, giving out toys instead of candy. Other households do the same, offering stickers, pencils, Play-Doh or glow sticks, to mixed reviews from candy-loving children.

“I thought, here I am trying to take care of my health,“ says Bruno, of Des Plaines, Ill. “I felt a responsibility to my community to take care of the kids around me.“

... my initial reaction was: You can’t do that!! That violates the whole point of trick or treating! That was the ten-year-old side of my personality winning the initiative roll. Then the sensible-41-year-old side stepped in and said: Well, we are getting to be pretty fat as a society. I should know, I’m overweight myself. I carry it well and most people wouldn’t say I’m fat, but the truth is I am and all you have to do is take a look around you to see that I’m far from being alone in that regard.

Halloween holds a great number of fond memories for me as much for the joy of coming up with a costume and making it real as for the excitement of rushing from house to house to show it off and get free candy. I trick or treated well into my teens and after my peers had quit because it was something little kids did. I got around being asked “aren’t you a little old for this” by adults by utilizing increasingly clever costumes that impressed enough to distract people from my age and accompanying younger kids as a sort of chaperon. Most years the haul was so good that I’d still have Halloween candy left over well into December because we never were allowed to gorge ourselves on it all at once. Halloween night saw us eating a fair amount, but we learned early not to make ourselves sick on candy. Halloween candy was something you savored for weeks after the event and each time you dug in it brought back sweet memories of a plan well executed and a haul legendary in its proportions.

Even back then, though, there were people who substituted other stuff for candy. There was the dentist who thought handing out toothbrushes would somehow go over well one year. It didn’t and his house was roundly TP’ed by the next morning. The next year he was still handing out toothbrushes, but he was including a package of Dentyne gum with them so as to “sweeten” the deal. That worked a bit better. A couple of houses always gave out pennies instead of candy so there was always some random amount of change jangling around in the bottom of your pillow case by the end of the night. Never enough to get a decent piece of candy on your own ‘cause it usually added up to 13 cents or so. Sometimes you’d get those McDonald’s coupons good for a free hamburger or fries or something which meant you had to talk your parents into taking you to McDonald’s which wasn’t a common destination in our family. Those houses were the exception to the rule. Most homes gave out candy or other decent snacks such as chips or pretzels.

The rest of that news article talks about how some families are letting their kids go trick or treating and then getting them to give up some or all of the candy they collect in exchange for money or toys:

Halloween is the one night when Jennifer Taggart’s 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter get to eat whatever treats they want. Then they decide what’s going to be left for the “switch witch,“ who comes at night like the tooth fairy and takes the kids’ candy, leaving toys in her wake.

“The more candy they put out, the bigger the toy,“ says Taggart, of Los Angeles. “So far, my son has put out all of his candy every Halloween to get the biggest toy.“

[...] After her kids enjoy some candy while trick or treating, Julie Schoerke, of Nashville, Tenn., buys back as much of it as she can, offering a nickel for each piece of candy they like but don’t love, and a dime for each piece of something they love.

“They could decide how much to keep,“ says Schoerke, whose kids are 12 and 15. “Both would rather have the money, so they kept very little candy.

“I didn’t want them to have as much candy as they would get,“ she said. “They got huge amounts, and I knew they’d consume it until it was gone.“

I have to admit those are clever ways to deal with the issue and it leaves the choice up to the kids as to how much they want to keep. The last example they cite is the one that we used in our family: rationing. We usually had to ask before getting into our Halloween candy and then we were limited to four or five pieces at the most. That could still result in a helluva sugar high when there were Pixie Stix in the bags, but that was only a problem for the first couple of days as the really good stuff got consumed.

As an adult Halloween has been a bit of a disappointment mainly because the places we’ve lived in the last decade or so haven’t seen much in the way of trick or treaters. I thought for sure when I moved into the Canton apartment that we’d have a ton of kids dropping by. What kid wouldn’t take advantage of the fact that each apartment had its own entrance? One stop could net four handfuls of candy if all the apartments on one side of the building were participating. So I bought a metric ass-ton of candy thinking we’d never get a chance to close the front door. By the end of the night we still had a metric ass-ton of candy left cause we saw all of four kids the entire night. I was so disappointed that I didn’t bother buying candy the rest of the time we lived there. Living with the in-laws was a little better, but even then the visitor count was low because the house was way back off the road with lots of trees covering the driveway making it not only difficult to tell if the porch light was on, but pretty damn scary to walk up to the house.  Now we’re in a town home which again has an individual entrance and a back door. No idea if we’ll see any kids this year or not, but we’re going to check with the complex and find out if kids drop by on Halloween. If they do then we’ll try to have some candy to hand out. This naturally makes me long for owning a home of my own in a nice neighborhood. Not only would I love to hand out candy on Halloween, but I’d love to have a yard I can decorate the hell out of in honor of the occasion. Not to mention Krismas being not too far away and all the yard decorating I could do for that as well.

So, yeah, I suppose I didn’t really discuss what the news article was about all that much. That happens often when something jogs nostalgia loose in my brain. I spend more time remembering how awesome something used to be that I never actually get around to thinking about the article itself. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that I think it would be a shame if the trend to make Halloween candy-less becomes widespread. Perhaps it would be healthier, but I feel like it would lose something in the process. Though I suppose if that’s they way people choose to go then I’ll just have to learn to adapt and hang on to those cherished memories from my youth.

This is the day when Undead Zombie Jesus shuffled out of his tomb and started wandering the countryside hiding colorful eggs to lure small children out so he could eat their brains. The children soon became wise to Undead Zombie Jesus’ ways and stopped hunting for the colorful eggs because they were just eggs with pretty paint on them after all. That’s when Undead Zombie Jesus hit upon a foolproof idea and started putting out baskets full of candy and addictive chocolates shaped like whimsical rabbits. This would ensure that he’d have enough young tasty brains to feed on that he only needed to do this once a year, which is a good thing because it’s a lot of work for an Undead Zombie Jesus who doesn’t move as fast as he used to. So now he spends most of the year preparing his baskets of goodies and colorful painted eggs until the wonderful day of feasting arrives!

So have a Happy Undead Zombie Jesus day!

^{No, I’m not trying to make a particular point. I was just bored with writing Happy Easter for the sixth time since I started this blog.}

It’s my mother’s birthday today. She’s 73 years old and still going strong. Stop by her blog and wish her a Happy B’Day.

I hope I’m doing half as well as she is when I get to that age.

And just what is Darwin Day you ask?

Darwin Day is an international celebration of science and humanity held on or around February 12, the day that Charles Darwin was born on in 1809. Specifically, it celebrates the discoveries and life of Charles Darwin—the man who first described biological evolution via natural selection with scientific rigor. More generally, Darwin Day expresses gratitude for the enormous benefits that scientific knowledge, acquired through human curiosity and ingenuity, has contributed to the advancement of humanity.

The Darwin Day Celebration website provides resources and publicity for individuals and institutions across the world to celebrate science and humanity every year, on, or near, February 12, Darwin’s birthday. In addition to information about the life and legacy of Charles Darwin, this website provides practical examples, advice and templates for organizing and publicizing Darwin Day events. It also provides a directory of events where you can find celebrations taking place near you or register your own event for others to find.

You can find a listing of various events being held in honor of Darwin Day by clicking here. I doubt I’ll be able to make it out to any of the various events happening here in Michigan, but I’ll probably raise a glass or two in honor of Darwin’s birthday just the same.

We spent most of New Year’s Eve watching the Tansformers movie and didn’t bother switching over to watch the ball drop in New York City until about 10 minutes before it was due to happen. So I missed all the hype around the fact that the even marked its 100th anniversary and that the ball has become more energy efficient:

The new 6ft (1.8m) ball, weighing about 1,100lbs (500kg), is covered with 9,576 light-emitting diodes that use the same amount of electricity as 10 toasters.

The LEDs are more than twice as bright as the previous bulbs and are capable of creating a palette of 16m colours.

The original ball was dropped down the flagpole at One Times Square in 1907.

Made of iron and wood, it was 5ft in diameter and lit with 100 25W light bulbs.

That’s pretty cool and shows that LED lighting is probably going to be a growing trend this year. It’s already well underway as I noted there were a lot more LED Christmas lights being offered this season over the last one and for less money too.

On a related note it just so happened that when we paused the movie to watch the ball drop we landed on ABC’s Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Years Eve or whatever the hell it’s called. I had gotten up to use the bathroom when the switch over occurred so I first heard Dick Clark prior to actually seeing him and I thought for a moment that he must be drunk based on his slurred speech. I was completely unaware that Clark had suffered a stroke back in 2004 and, in fact, missed that year’s broadcast of the show (Regis Philbin hosted it instead). Since then the show has been co-hosted by Ryan Seacrest who has, in my humble opinion, all of the charisma of fish bait.

Apparently I’ve not bothered to watch the show since Clark had his stroke as this was the first time I’ve heard him speak and I felt bad for the guy. He really looked like he was having a hard time of it and my only thought was that they should just let the guy retire instead of dragging him out every year to co-host what is really a big hype machine for standing around in Times Square in the cold for 60 seconds of excitement at midnight. I’m told, however, that Clark wanted to participate and that his speech has actually improved quite a bit since his return to the show for 2006. So I suppose that’s a good thing, but I still felt for the guy.

Word has it that once Dick Clark is incapable of hosting the show any longer (presumably because he’s dead) that Ryan Seacrest will officially replace him. Maybe that is what’s driving Dick Clark to keep doing the show despite his condition. He’s trying to save us from that lameness that will be Ryan Seacrest’s Rockin’ New Years Eve. In which case, may the non-existent deity bless you Dick Clark.

Happy New Year to you and yours. Here’s hoping this one will be a big improvement over the last one in so many ways. If nothing else it’s the last year of the Bush Administration and that’s reason enough alone to feel optimistic about it.

Personally I’d like to thank all of you folks who stop by here on a regular basis and help to make SEB the community that it is. I’ve learned so much from having you guys leave comments or drop me an email pointing me towards new knowledge and fun things to write about. You make the effort very worthwhile. I never thought I’d still be at this six years later and I’m still humbled by the breadth and depth of the folks who drop by everyday.

My family and I still aren’t quite back on our feet since that first layoff over two years ago now, but I have a good feeling about the new year and I think this time next year will find us in a much better place. Good or bad you can bet I’ll be here shooting my mouth off about it as the days pass.

Christmas has come and gone for another year and true to form it was a pretty good holiday full of laughter, love, and presents. Personally this was a Doctor Who Christmas as no less than three of the gifts I received were DW themed. First I got a pair of Sonic Screwdrivers, one from my mother and one from my mother-in-law, which made for a cool bit of synchronicity.  The first was a Sonic Screwdriver pen that is a full-scale model of the Doctor’s favorite tool. The bottom cap can be removed to reveal an ink pen and the top end extends and lights up making the well-known buzzing noise when a button is pressed on the side. The ink tip on the bottom can be replaced with a different one that contains “invisible ink” which glows under UV light, which is exactly the sort of light that the top end produces, so you can write secret messages. This kit also came with my own sheet of psychic paper which you can write on and then wipe clean. The second Sonic Screwdriver is much less fancy and smaller in scale, but is a bit more practical because it’s actually an LED torch (flashlight). It doesn’t make any sound and it doesn’t extend and it’s about 70% of the size of first one, but it lights up with a blue light that’ll at least let you walk through a dark room without tripping over the cat. I’ve found it’s helpful when peering into darkened computer cases.

The third DW item I got from my wife and it made me squeal like a small child once again. It’s an official Doctor Who Radio Controlled Dalek Robot. Melvin is less impressed with it than I am. Probably because I’ve been chasing him around the house with it. You have full control over its movement and as it trundles along the dome head swivels around and it randomly says one of 7 different typical Dalek phrases.

I got a cool camera tripod called the “Gorillapod” because the legs are made up of little ball joints that allow you to bend the legs so your camera can grip onto surfaces. Straighten the legs out and it’s a traditional style tripod or you can wrap them around a tree branch or latch them onto a fence making the number of places you can set up your camera almost unlimited. It gives me the option of using the timer on my camera to allow me to get into some of the shots, or just for vainly taking pictures of myself without one arm stretching out of the frame holding the camera.

I got three new books to read including one on the making of A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever, and The Night Before Christmas in Michigan. I got The Bourne Ultimatum on DVD and the Die Hard Collection on Blu-Ray making that my official first high-def movies which look great even though we don’t have an HDTV to view them on. My only complaint about the Die Hard movies is that it doesn’t include the unrated cut of Live Free or Die Hard so I’ll still have to pick that up separately. The games I received were The Orange Box (Half-Life 2, HL2: Ep. 1, HL2: Ep. 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2), Gears of War for the PC, and Assassin’s Creed for the PS3. My mother-in-law also knitted me a new pair of slippers and bought me some pajama bottoms. The last time I wore pajama bottoms I was thirteen years old so it was a somewhat nostalgic experience to put these new ones on. One of my sisters-in-law made me a custom t-shirt and I got some Christmas cookies. Lastly I got The Barenaked Ladies are Men on CD.

I think that pretty much covers everything, though I have a nagging feeling I’m leaving something out. Oh yes, my wife bought me some cologne because I said that if she told me what kind she preferred then I’d wear it on occasion. I’m not much for cologne myself, but anything that makes me smell a little better for my sweetie is worth it. Finally, here’s a pic of me with some of my goodies taken early Christmas morning. Note the bed-hair is in full effect.

Click to embiggen!

So what did you guys get?

Presenting Melvin: The Official SEB Cat with his annual holiday message to you all:

And that comes from the heart. Really. He means it.

Some folks find it hard not to go overboard at Christmas time. This is one of those fellows:

When UK-based electrician (go figure) Alex Goodhind found that he couldn’t make a cup of tea when his massive Christmas display was turned on, he decided to shell out £700 ($1385) to install a factory-strength 145-amp power line to his home. The display took five weeks to put together, and it will run him about $1000 in additional electricity costs over the course of three weeks.

Be sure to click the picture of a larger version. Found over at Gizmodo.

And it looks like they’re keeping up with the times with a massive update to the NORAD tracks Santa website. This year’s page looks quite a bit better and makes use of Google Maps to show not only where Santa currently is but also to provide you with educational links on the places he’s been to so far. They’re also making use of YouTube to post updates from the Santa Cams and Google Earth for folks who want to track Santa right on their own PCs. For you traditionalists out there the site also lists the official NORAD tracks Santa phone numbers so you can call and talk with someone who’s job is normally to shoot down invading alien aircraft to ensure that they don’t accidentally blast Santa out of the air.

Man, as a kid, I would’ve eaten this sort of thing up like so much sweet candy. I found it very easy to get swept up in the excitement back then and this sort of website would’ve just driven me over the hyperspastic edge of joy.

It seems every year more and more people are syncing their Christmas light displays to music. Two years ago we had the guy who did a display set to Wizards of Winter by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The last year we had another display set to the same song by a different fellow. This year brings us something a little different in terms of music, but no less impressive in the way of a display:

By the way, a sure sign that this fad has caught the attention of Christmas decoration manufacturers is the fact that you can plunk down $200 for a set of three Christmas trees that come with their own synchronized light show and loud speaker to annoy the neighbors with. No where near as impressive as the above, but much less work involved. Just a shame it doesn’t include an FM transmitter so you don’t bug the neighbors (most of the DIY projects broadcast on a low-power FM signal to your car).

Got a package the other day that I thought was one of the gifts I had purchased for my wife, but it turns out upon opening it up today that it was for me. SEB member Lost Alaska was kind enough to send me some books from my wish list: Spook Country and Pattern Recognition by William Gibson and The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce. Had I know they were gifts I would’ve waited until Christmas day, but I’m not complaining about getting them a little early. Thank you very much, LA.

Now I just need to figure out where that last package for my wife has gotten itself off to…