Check out these hauntingly amazing photos from the recent California wildfires.

Care to know yours? Answer a few questions here to find out. I got a 14, and “if everyone lived like [me], we would need 3.2 planets.” Ouch.

Now, I’m no expert in anti-trust legal affairs, but doesn’t the cell phone industry with their exclusive contracts and back room deals smell of monopoly-esque activity? Like, for instance, Apple and AT&T’s exclusive deal for the wireless carrier to be the sole provider of service for the iPhone. Isn’t that akin to Ford or GM saying only BP or Mobile gasoline will run their cars? That sad thing, though, is we’ve come to accept these exclusive wireless deals. But why?

Macnn.com ran an article on this topic a couple days ago:

Lashing out at the wireless carrier cadre, Walt Mossberg says that the United States federal government has been duped into allowing AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and others to lock consumers into terms unprecedented by any other industry.The problem lies in two areas: the US government did not set up a wireless standard when it needed to a few years ago, so there are two competing networks: CDMA and GSM. This means that switching to a new provider often requires a new, compatible phone. Second, the government allows the GSM carriers to ‘lock’ their phones, “so a SIM card from a rival carrier won’t work in them, at least for a period of time.”

Mossberg argues that lifting these restrictions and standardizing the network would result in cheaper, unsubsidized phones and the elimination of draconian contract cancellation fees.

Paul Potts’s “Britain’s Got Talent” audition:

Just like every other year, Cleveland sports fans are left saying to each other “maybe next year.” The Indians were up in the series against the Red Sox three games to one. All the Indians had to do was win one more game. And they were given 3 chances to do so since the Red Sox forced game seven. Of course, like a true Cleveland sports team, the Indians choked and were outscored in the last three games five runs to the Red Sox’s thirty. Absolutely embarrassing. I was hoping for a Indians/Diamondbacks World Series, and now I have neither the Indians nor the Diamondbacks in the World Series.

Thanks, though, for a great season, Cleveland.

Here’s to next year….

This is easily the coolest rendition I’ve seen of the popular spot-the-differences game, which tasks you to locate the differences between two seemingly identical pictures.

A quick look at the numbers for environmental programs in Bush’s FY2008 budget:

• 90% of the Department of Energy’s funding increase is directed toward research in fossil fuels and nuclear power, rather than towards developing new renewable and efficient technologies.
• $400 million cut from the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget, dropping it to its lowest level in nearly 10 years. This includes cutting EPA’s clean air and climate funding by $22 million, and a 12% ($6 million) cut to the popular Energy Star program.

(Nod: ThinkProgress)

On Monday, Drew Carey began his new job as host of The Price Is Right, taking over from Bob Barker, TV legend. Given the enormous challenge, Drew did an adequate job, but certainly nothing spectacular.

While watching the show, I jotted down a few notes. Here they are.

• The new set design looks good. A little more coherent and cohesive than the old design, but still firmly stuck in the 70s.
• There was a new music arrangement of the theme at the beginning and end of the show and whenever the audience was shown while going in and out of commercial breaks.
• And speaking of commercials, everyone should be pleased to note that a majority are still are tailored to 80-year-olds.
• Drew was most definitely nervous. He continuously played with the little flaps of fabric that cover his two side pockets in his suit jacket. But who wouldn’t be nervous taking over this role? It was reassuring to see a big, confident Hollywood-type visibly nervous. They’re regular people after all.
• Drew, like Bob, uses a stick microphone, but Drew’s doesn’t have a cord like Bob’s did. Just not the same.
• Both times the game prize was a car, Drew began asking where the contestant came from and then said “maybe you’ll be driving home” before Rich Fields did his “A NEW CAR!!!” line. Drew’s saying that, I think, steals some thunder from that famous, surprise-inducing line. I hope he stops that.
• And during the game “One Away,” where the contestant must rotate numbers to guess the correct price of the car to win it, the line the contestant asked to verify how many numbers were correct used to be “Ladies, do I have X numbers right?”. For whatever reason, it was changed on Monday to “Oh mighty sound effects person, do I have X numbers right?” What was wrong with the ladies?

One other new thing was an updated logo. The type didn’t change as far as I can tell, but two shapes were added to the background. These new shapes give the logo a greater sense of coherency. Well done.

Give Drew some time and see if he grows into the role. That’s what I plan on doing. But after the first show, he left a wrong price impression. Too much chit-chat and not enough classy swooning. I’m sure as he becomes more comfortable in the role, he’ll find his groove, and I hope he does. He’s still no Bob Barker, though.

One final thought I was left with: after now 36 years on the air, how many miles has the Big Wheel gone around?

(Photos: cbs.com)

An Oscar. An Emmy. And now something new. Congratulations to Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore. Perhaps he can keep his prize in his lockbox.

I went back to Ohio last weekend for my cousin’s wedding, and while standing in the line for security in the Cleveland airport, I realized how well we as humans are socialized to follow rules and, literally in this case, stay in line.

The line to move through security screening at the Cleveland airport, like most airports I assume, has a line for first class and a line for everyone else. The line for the common-folk, naturally, snakes around ten times or so, and the wait is around twenty minutes. Then there is the “elite” line which goes around the edges of our line, bypassing all the snaking and the wait altogether. While the common-folk line is jammed-pack, the elite line is empty, saved for the occasional “special” person every few minutes.

The part about our socialization process enters here. Common sense would dictate that all of us in the common-folk line are fools for waiting in this line and not jumping into the empty express line. But our socialization process dictates otherwise. Because we’re taught to follow the rules, stay in line, and obey the authority figures, we simply do as we’re told and stay in the common-folk line. There is nothing stopping any of us from getting into the elite line — no barriers, no special ticket screening at the entrance of the line. At any point, any one of us could have simply moved under the railing and gone into the elite line. And had we done that, would the TSA agents checking our boarding passes and IDs said, “hey wait a minute, you aren’t first class — go back to the end of the line you belong in and wait”? No, they would have likely just passed us through like normal without questioning why we came from the first class line without a first class ticket.

Yet no one did this. Why is that? Why do we not disobey the rules when there is no apparent consequence for breaking the rules? Why do we still stay in line even when there is apparent reward for not staying in line? This is a very curious human socialization process question. Think about this next time you’re waiting at the airport.

Designed by: Imaginary Forces
Year: 1999

So I received my iPod Touch this morning, and I’m actually typing this post from my iPod! I’ve only played with it for about twenty minutes, but I think it’s awesome so far!