Oh Christmas Tree..

It seems like more people are getting artificial Christmas trees this year than ever before. I've never had one, but I can see the appeal - they're leaps and bounds easier to maintain than a live tree; open the box, the branches flop down, plug it in (for a prelit one), and you're set - just add presents and stir. Instant Christmas!

But I think we can do better than that.

Lights that flash on and off are cute, but why not add a bit of rhythm - have the lights flash to the beat of your favorite Christmas carols? I'm talking about a "Christmas MP-Tree" - just connect the supplied cable to the headphone jack of your iPod™ (or other non-trendy MP3 player - iRiver, Zune, etc), hit play, and start rockin' to the holiday classics in sync with a light show from your tree.

Apparently I wasn't the first one to think the audio output jack of an MP3 player can drive something other than a pair of earbuds. That award goes to the folks at OhMiBod, for their Music Powered Vibrator. I can't help but wonder whether there are millions of women in France who now regret that their ipods are volume limited.

Gone Phishin'

I decided to bite the bullet and do most of my holiday shopping online this year - out of laziness mostly, but some of the things I wanted weren't available anywhere else.

The other day I ordered a Dora the Explorer thing online at Toys "R" Us. I must have ordered something from them before, because they knew my email address. The site asked me to change my password, so I did. After I finished my order, they sent me a confirmation email with the order info. So far so good.

They also sent me a confirmation email that I had changed my password, with the password, in clear text. Uhm, hello? Are you fucking idiots? Do you know how many places that password went betweeen the time it left your server and the time it got to me? Do you know how many people might have seen it? At least you put vague text in the note:

Thank you for visiting Toysrus.com. Your Toysrus.com account password has been changed successfully.

Your new password is: ...

(I deleted the password)

Who needs phishing scams when we have merchants like you..

Iraq Study Group Report

I just went through some of the highlights of the Iraq Study Group Report, and can't help but wonder why the most obvious resolution to the war was left out. Time travel. Let's just go back in time, before "Mission Accomplished", before the invasion itself, perhaps before President Bush was elected, or even before he was conceived.

I know, I know, time travel exists only in science fiction right now, but I'm sure if we put our minds to it, we'll come up with a time machine long before the Iraq debacle thing is resolved.

Reality Bites

I should preface this by saying that I'm not the world's biggest reality TV fan. Sure, I watched a bit of Road Rules and Real World "back then" (I stopped when Gladys was kicked off the show; missed the whole Ruthie thing). And I've never really gotten into Survivor, nor Dancing with the Network Stars.

But there was one reality show that I did watch - The Amazing Race. I'm not sure what it was that attacted me to it at first (maybe that it's name was catchy - like "Amazing Grace"). It wasn't much different than the other reality shows, but it was different enough that it was worth watching. Maybe because the "challenges" were not always physical challenges, but were sometimes, dare I say, intellectual?

But that was many years ago (and now it's the disco, but not for Lola?), and, sad though it is to say it, it seems that Amazing Race has gone the way of the rest of the reality shows - not worth watching.

In an effort to appeal to "people other than me," the challenges have been dumbed down - instead of a cryptic/challenging "find the star of hong kong," contestants are asked to "jump off this building" or "eat this food, puke into this bowl, then continue eating."

And the teams themselves - whoa.. A few seasons back, we had Rob and Amber, from Survivor - I guess there's a "reality show circuit" that some people are on? Just going from one show to the next? Interesting career choice. Or Lori and Bolo - who can forget when she said "it's so cold I think my implants froze."

Or, more recently, Rob and Kimberly. She's overly sensitive, with a whiney tendency. He is an aneurysm waiting to happen, all but slapping her around every week. And yet somehow, I know that when the show ends and they show up on the Today Show, he'll propose and she'll accept, and no doubt be divorced in 6 months.

Don't get me wrong, there are some great teams - Edwin and Godwin this season were cool. They're gone though - they were nice, and got screwed for doing so. And season 9's winners, BJ and Tyler, the hippies - they were fun to watch. But two out of hundreds doesn't cut it.

I'm sorry to say Phil, you have been eliminated.

In the news

It was an interesting week in the news. Two stories in particular caught my eye.

In New York, the police apparently got into something of a shootout. The way the story goes is something like this - a bunch of guys were at a strip club for a bachelor party. The club they were at was also being investigate by the police for drugs and prostitution, apparently by seven or so undercover officers. The party goers got into an argument outside the club, an officer heard someone say something about a gun, he followed the party goers, they got in a car, tried to drive off, hit him and his car, and the shooting began.

So, here's the thing... Why were there seven police investigating at the club? I can see one, two, even three, but seven? Are we sure they were investigating something? This sounds more like they were hanging out there. And, while I know nothing whatsoever about police procedure other than what I see on Law & Order, if the officers were undercover, why'd they blow their cover and start shooting up the place? Tubbs and Crockett would have never done that. Sounds a bit fishy to me. Were they drinking too? Oopsie.

Also in the news, the White House seems to be taking a new approach in its foreign policy. Rather than the "spare the rod and spoil the child" approach that hasn't panned out so well in Iraq, they're going with a more traditional "no dinner, go to your room" approach. Instead of dinner though, they're cutting off North Korea's iPod supply (and Segways and plasma TVs).

Yeah, I can see that working. I've heard that their soldiers are patroling the DMZ on Segways while wearing iPods. Once we cut them off, they'll be forced to walk, and without music. Yeah, they'll give in to the boredom. Another victory for the good guys! Kim Jong-il, you're on timeout, go to your room, now!