Ouch My Eye

I just passed an establishment on 1st Avenue between the two stadiums named Ouch My Eye. I was unable to determine the nature of this business, however would guess some sort of art gallery since there are a lot of galleries in that area and many of them are painful on the eyes. I'm proud of this one being honest though and commend them on an entertaining name.

Quote of the Day

From The Onion's stock watch:

Comcast
$1.29 $18.78 (up 7.4%)
Traders reacted positively to news that the cable company was cutting its losses and discontinuing its failed 11-year experiment with customer service.

It's funny because it's true.  I've heard that Sprint has abysmal customer service, but I've never personally dealt with a company worse than Comcast. 

Chili Grenade

The Indian military is developing a new non-lethal weapon meant to incapacitate enemies - the chili grenade.  Made from the hottest pepper known to man, the ghost chili - which is also the coolest pepper name - the grenade will choke the enemy and force him from his hiding place and allow him to be captured alive for interrogation. 

Research into this new weapon has been taking place at Indian restaurants worldwide for decades as unsuspecting patrons have had plates on inhumanly hot food placed in front of them.  My experiences must have been in the earlier phases of development as they left me teary eyed and feverish but otherwise still functional.  Now that I'm aware of this project I will be on guard on future visits to Indian dining establishments.

258 MPG Volkswagen?

Not quite.  Recently I started seeing rumors floating about the internet touting a Volkswagen that gets an impressive 258 miles per gallon and will sell for an unbelievable $600.  Like all things that sound too good to be true, a little research straightened this out too.  I can't seem to pinpoint where the 258 mpg rumors originated, not the $600 price tag but both are erroneous.  According to Wired, the actual fuel economy is a still impressive 170 mpg, but significantly lower than the reports that accompanied the concept photos.  I lost the link now and can't find it again, but the expected price point I saw was a much more believable $26,000. 

The Volkswagen L1 is expected to hit the market in 2013 and when it does it will be far and away the most fuel efficient vehicle on the road, but I still question how well it will sell.  It is an exceptionally small car and while VW touts it's safety design as a top priority, it's still hard to imagine that it would fare well in an accident.  Further more it is so narrow that it looks like a roll over risk.  And with a top speed of 74 mph and a very small engine, I don't know that it is high enough performance to sell well in the US.  Still, I am interested to see how it sells.  It's actually not a bad looking vehicle.

A Month Of Kurosawa

This month, in honor of what would be acclaimed director Akira Kurosawa's 100th birthday, TCM is featuring a Kurosawa marathon every Tuesday.  It's only halfway through the month and my DVR is already full.  I just finished watching Scandal, which was quite good, to try to clear up some room, but I've got a lot of watching ahead of me with all of the classics scheduled for next Tuesday.  March 23rd will feature no less than 13 Kurosawa films, including 6 I haven't seen before.  If you are even slightly interested in classic cinema, you owe it to yourself to watch at least Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and Rashomon.  If you're not already aware, Seven Samurai was remade into a western titled The Magnificent Seven, and Yojimbo was remade into the Clint Eastwood film Fistful of Dollars.  As it turns out, samurai turn into cowboys pretty well. 

Unfortunately I missed the first Tuesday of the month and 2 of my favorite films, Throne of Blood - Kurosawa's translation of MacBeth - and Hidden Fortress - best known for being borrowed heavily from by George Lucas for Star Wars.  I recommend renting those, but possibly my favorite Kurosawa film will be airing at the end of the month on th 30th - Ran.  It is a retelling of King Lear set in feudal Japan and is a true masterpiece.  Watch as many as you can, who knows when an opportunity like this will arise again.  I'm going to have to watch a movie a day to keep my DVR from hitting capacity.

Fatigue

I have been feeling extremely fatigued this week.  Too fatigued even to complain about the F$#$ing daylight savings time.  Too fatigued to even comment on Jonathan "The Impaler" Sharkey, a self proclaimed vampire in (you guessed it) Florida who claims to be a decendent of Dracula and has announced plans to run for president.  I haven't heard his platform on federal spending or balancing the budget yet so I am withholding my support until I do. 

In addition to losing an hour of sleepy time this week, I have been plagued by an insidious cold for about a month now.  It keeps going away for a week and then coming right back again.  This latest round is the mildest attack yet, primarily consisting of occasional 10 minute bouts of coughing.  Since these keep waking me up at night, I have not been getting much sleep and as a result haven't been my usual cheery self.  Yes, I've been even more belligerent and misanthropic than usual if you can imagine that.  I have had almost no physical stamina and even less mental patience and really don't know how much longer this can last before I take a life. 

Being juiced up on cold medications for the better part of the last several days hasn't helped either.  These 'day time' medications just make me feel groggy and jittery at the same time.  They use the same medication as the night time stuff that puts you to sleep, but just throw in some stimulants to counteract the depressants.  The result is the same inability to concentrate and desire to fall asleep combined with the feeling of having just polished off a pot of coffee.  I don't like it.  At least it's doing something though, unlike placebos like Airbourne and echenacea.  I've had enough.

Quote of the Day

"A gentleman should be able to cuss for 3 minutes without repeating himself."  George S Patton

Derek Anderson Released

A day after signing perennial back up Seneca Wallace, the Cleveland Browns released Derek Anderson.  I still recall that it wasn't that long ago that the timely acquisition of Anderson saved my fantasy football season.  He was brilliant that first year he got a chance to start and was rewarded with a pro bowl appearance.  I still contend that Braylon Edwards cost him his starting job.  Edwards had hands comparable to Koren Robinson or Darius Haward-Bey.  It's my opinion that Derek Anderson's demise has been a result of incompetent pass catchers and an ineffective running game.  I would love to see the Seahawks pick him up and, with some decent receivers to throw to here in Seattle, revive his career.  I think his signing would allow us to be able to draft more pressing needs (OL, OL, and more OL) with our first round picks.  With a re-stocked offensive line, both our running game and passing game would be improved.  Anderson would be afforded the time to find receivers, a luxury he hasn't had in Cleveland the last 2 years.  If the Seahawks still want to draft a QB, having Anderson on the roster would allow them to pick one later and develop him for a couple years.  I really don't see a down side to this acquisition, particularly since it doesn't require the Seahawks to give up anything (other than salary) in return.  Any Seahawks executives reading this, make it so.

Question of the Day

Today I find myself trying to understand why it is that the human head is the only place in the animal kingdom where hair will continue to grow if left to it's own devices.  Hair on the remainder of the human body, as well as hair on every plant and animal I know of grows to a specified length and then stops.  Why should the head be any different?  I don't see how it serves any real biological purpose other than to allow greater individuality and to fuel the hair care industry.  Don't get me wrong, in these troubling economic times, I'm not looking to put any hair stylists in the unemployment line or cripple the shampoo and gel conglomerates.  But saving that few minutes of grooming time each morning would allow me extra sleep and cutting hair care expenditures from my budget would be nice.  But before I get any further off track, I need answers.  Keep in mind that the more scientific the explanation, the more plausible it will seem.