Daniel Tosh drops some Wild Knowledge

I was able to catch Daniel Tosh's Comedy Central special this weekend:

Words I would NOT use to describe Daniel Tosh: a reverent and PC performer, family-friendly viewing material, someone to bring to your church function (especially on football Sundays).

Words I would use to describe him: Friggin Hilarious! (assuming the first non-descriptors still make you want to take a listen)

He - in his own words [paraphrased] - starts out a joke with mass appeal and then stream of consciences it down to the point where only 6 people know what the heck he's talking about. Sadly, I was one of those six. I haven't laughed that hard in a while.

One of the trivia pieces he drops (during a joke regarding dating his teacher in high school...while he was home schooled - yeah, it's that kinda show) is around a Leopard being able to carry twice it's own body weight into a tree. Really, you say? I concur - as does wikipedia: They, in fact, insist that it would take 3 olympic weight lifters to equal the tug-of-war of one 100 pound jungle cat. Now that's pretty strong for a cat.

New Sports: Thumb Wrestling and Sepak Takraw

I was flipping through channels this weekend and landed on "the Ocho," or our version of it anyway. What were the sports of the day? Thumb Wrestling and Sepak Takraw:

Sure, we're all seen Thumb Wrestling - with it's regional rules, fouls and stakes. But I've never seen a thumb wrestling ring before. That's right, there's an actual ring for Thumb Wrestling. Two thumbs, ropes, turnbuckles - The whole sha-bang! It was a full tournament - Karate Kid type brackets with logos. 1980's fantastic! At least there was none of that Stallone-with-a-backward-hat, Over the Top chicanery. That's what I always had to deal with in college late night competition.

That was the competition when we couldn't see outside enough for Hacky Sack. Want to turn that up a notch? Let's take Hacky Sack, combine with volleyball and soccer, and add ridiculous gymnastic style athletes. You've got Sepak Takraw - sometimes called "Kick Volleyball". 3 on 3 competition with service, volley, hardcore athletes. Rules are similar to volleyball. Service area delivers to their teammate, soccer ball contact rules apply, three hits per side...wow. I thought the cradle was difficult. I would need about 15 weeks worth of continuous stretching just to be flexible enough to make some of the easy moves these people do. That's why I stick to Web Analytics. I know where my strengths lie.

The Singularity - AI, and T3+

I was catching up on my Tivo this evening, and I was watching the Sarah Connor Chronicles. It's a newly launched TV series based on The Terminator. A bit disjointed while establishing character profiles and relationships, but pretty good so far.

Here's today's Matt Lesson: The Singularity. Wikipedia refers to it as Technological_singularity - It's a concept that someone may come across (or stumble across accidentally - big bang style) an Arificial Intelligence scenario that may be able to improve itself to the point of self awareness and self protection. To the point that it will potentially act against potential threats. Not a new concept I know, but now it has a name for me.

This is a lot of reading for me now (still going through it)- and a lot of philosophical discussion (which I'm a huge fan of). Let's spark the topic:

Should Arificial Intelligence be considered a life form. If so, what rights would it have against the human race if conflict were to arise?

High School Tournament Seeding Process

I was able to assist my wife at work. Something I highly recommend to any spouse out there - go see them in action at their day job. Things that are simple to us may confound them (and vice versa). My wife is a High School Athletic Director. The high school hosts a girls basketball tournament (with teams that her school is not part of - for the sake of evening the home court advantage bit).

You ever wonder how they come up with the seedings? For those of you who may have no idea what I'm talking about, seeding is how teams are ranked relative to their competition within a tournament group. So how does it work? You figure they go by the record, rank the teams, assign the seeds, set up the games and go, right? Yeah, that's what I thought too... boy was I off.

Let's use 14 teams as an example. There will be 16 slots and 2 first round byes (auto advances to the next round without having to play a game in the first round). 8 first round games, 4 second round, 2 third round games, then a final... With me so far?

So let's start with the seeding. First, the 14 teams come together in the same room and put their records on the wall. Here's where everything I thought went out the window. For the sake of simplicity, I'll number the things that were new to me:

(1) The records are broken out by division - makes sense in hindsight, but something I never thought about (we were 1-2 against division 1, 3-2 against division 2 teams, etc) then the total record - by the way, some coaches aren't so good at math... : )
(2) Each team then says a blurb about themselves to justify their record, or explain issues, or promote themselves. I was hysterically amused by the coach who said "We're 2 and 12, that pretty much says it all (they ended up with the 13th seed).
(3) Then they vote for each seed. First for the 1 seed - each coach writes down their vote, hands it in, then each is written, tallied (that was my job) and totaled. Whoever gets the most votes gets the seed. Ties are revoted on, then a coin toss if the tie continues (OHSAA rules here).

Now where were we - oh right, I was contributing. I can count to 14. Go ME!

(4) Then once the seeding is done, they have go bracket up! Again I figured it was a 1 and 2 seeds get the bye, 3 plays the worst seed, etc - like in the NCAA tourney. Not so much. Each team (in order) picks their spot (open lines in the bracket).
(5) and the best teams don't always pick the bye slots! Astounding!!! Apparently some teams don't want to get rusty. Others want to make sure they don't have to play against certain teams that give them trouble and put themselved in different parts of the bracket.

Eventually, everyone had a position, the brackets were set, and we braved the cold home. Wow - what a bunch of new twists to what I thought I knew about that little superscript number next to the team name on the bracket.

Bacon! Bacon! Bacon(ish)! 6 degrees of (pork) separation.

We're catching up a bit due to some connectivity. So there will be a few new posts today since each deserves it's own spotlight.

First, we have Bacon. Now that I have your attention: There are multiple types, styles of preparation and curing, origins, names... the list goes on and on.

Specifically, today's post is around Bacon (as you know it), Pancetta and Prosciutto. OK, prosciutto is more of a ham than a bacon, but I'm gonna give it some leeway since it's my blog ; )

Few times have I seen as much devotion to a breakfast plate accessory as with this perfectly palatable pork product. I mean, it has it's own fan club. Seriously? Well, I guess I can understand why.

I have some preferences where these delicacies are concerned. Today we'll focus on uses. I just finished up dinner. Fantastic fried chicken breasts using fried onions instead of breading (so tasty - Thanks Jill!), sided by mashed potatoes. Not just any mashed potatoes, but garlic, bacon, chive mashed potatoes. Bacon as an ingredient (when not covered in maple syrup next to pancakes) is my personal favorite use.

Prosciutto I like more as a wrap or a topping (like on good authentic Italian pizza). I created an treat over the holiday that was mozzarella and sliced tomato wrapped in prosciutto, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with oregano. Then I baked them (about 350 degrees) until the prosciutto was just crisping. They didn't last 6 minutes.

Pancetta I appreciate more as a main ingredient. Thick pancetta squares (about 3/4" to an inch cubed) pan fried, with vegetables and a bit of gnocchi - fantastic! It makes it one of the most versatile grouping of tasty treats to come from the same animal where a grill isn't involved.

Any other good dishes where this is the theme?

Umami and Recording the Beatles

I was reading up on this new taste-sense this weekend I had heard about. It's called Umami. Per the Today show article:

You probably eat umami all the time: It's that meaty, savory, brothlike, full-flavor taste we get from things like Parmesan cheese, mushrooms and red wine. Generally speaking, the more "mature" a food is (say, a Parmesan cheese versus a "younger" cheese like mozzarella), the more umami flavor it will have...

Conventional wisdom used to tell us that there were only four basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Now, in the last decade, umami has been established as the "fifth" basic taste, and is gaining in popularity and influence.

It enhances the essence of other items. Interesting, now how do you get it? That, my friends is for another day.

Speaking of the Essence of things... I came across an interesting book for you audiophiles, you Beatlemaniacs. It's called Recording the Beatles Recording the Beatles. Now, I'm a Beatles fan, but Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew are fanatics! This is all about the equipment, the engineers, the effects, all of the things that made the music we still love todeay. Really innovative stuff some of these guys came up with. It's a bit pricey, but it also is remarkably detailed. I'm putting in an order as soon as they are available again (April of 2008 per the site). Want a lessen in putting the new marketing tools available today to work? Check out how these guys published this themselves, created their own market, and made a boatload of cash in the progress. Job well done gents.

Random Knowledge, Trivia but still posting...

It's the weekend, so a small one today:

Wikipedia does a Random Page deal where you can pull up new items randomly generated (hence the name). Today's page?

Burvixese: The Burvixese were a fictional race of sentient, turtle-like aliens native to Arcturus I that are mentioned in the PC game Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters.

Wow, um... something I definitely would not have stumbled across on my normal paths. And that's what it's all about.

Maxamine and DVR of the Order of the Pheonix

I went through training for Maxamine today. It's basically a web super-crawler. You can find out a ridiculous number of things about a site by running this tool against it. Broken links, parameters from analytics tools, search term validation. Tons of stuff. I'm looking forward to getting this working on some of our clients so we can continue to help them out. It's like magic!

And as Magic goes, I'm currently watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix on DirecTV PPV - these sets get more theatrical with every movie. I was able to order it from my laptop after I figured out how to attach my DirecTV HD DVR (that's a lotta letters) to my wireless network. I learned how to set up, connect and configure my wireless network to link up with my DVR.

Anybody know how to view saved material on your laptop?

Social Media and Buck O Nine

I had breakfast with some folks from work this morning (including my sister - who got me started on this blogging gig). The topic of discussion was social media. Being the consultant types that we are, we're trying to figure out how the new social media trend is going to be leveraged by corporations in the near and far future.

It was an interesting discussion, but the overarching sentiment was that there's not much the corporations can do. It's in the hands of the people now. (Isn't this what the 60's was all about?) And where are all the people? Short answer? Everywhere!

Linkedin, plaxo, facebook, myspace, ning, digg, twitter, blogspot (a personal favorite), personal web pages, forums, newsgroups, dogster, catster, hamster (not really)... the list goes on and on. I was ASTOUNDED to hear the list of social networking and social media vehicles that have infiltrated everyday life. I can barely even keep up posting on my own blog (and it's only been about 10 days) I have no idea how people engage in social networking on a regular basis. I'm able to do the occasional check with new links at former employers. And make a couple of business contacts in the process, connected with some family who left the area, caught up with a couple high school buddies... but the energy of some people... Unbelievable!

So I'm going through a few of these today following up on discussion topics and I come across a name I hadn't heard of in a long time: Buck O Nine. They're a ska band that I got into when I was in college and I haven't been able to find anything of theirs since. Who has it today? Amazon, of course.

What other off-beat artists come to mind? Oh, I don't know... The California Raisins, DaVinci's Notebook, Maybe some Ray Stevens? Yeah. I'm out there. I once put in an order to BMG (back when they had these things called "CDs") the contained Aerosmith, The Three Tenors, 2Pac, Jim Croce, Van Halen, Save Ferris, Miles Davis and Garth Brooks (that last one was a gift for someone) the calamity goes on and on.

In the words of Johnny Carson - "Weird and Wild Stuff"

The Brew Kettle and the my Future Beer Tree

Today's post is beverage and backyard related. I've brewed beer 3 times now. 4 times now. Once with a buddy from a past job at my house, once at a place called the Brew Kettle, and twice with Jerry. I used to work with Jerry and figured I'd better keep in touch if I was going to get any better at this gig.

So I was trading notes with Jerry yesterday about an unrelated matter and Good Eats was on - the beer brewing episode. He got to talking about hops and barley (words that make me take notice). And I started thinking of the herb garden I started last year (the prices at the grocery being too high for my taste) and decided to expand things a bit this spring.

My folks got me a Chia Herb Garden for Christmas (yes, I requested it) and the set up to do a huge garden in the backyard. The starters are already sprouted pretty good - I just hope I get enough sunlight to keep it going. So then I start thinking about combining the two. What if I grow all of the things (or most at least) that I'd need to do my own beer. "Great Idea!" I say to myself. To which I reply, "I know!"

Here's an excerpt from Jerry's mail - I like to quote sources whenever possible:

"Last summer I planted a beer tree - so far nothing has grown...is the garden going to be in full sun? if so, then ANY hops will grow. now, in order to grow hops correctly, you'll need FULL sun and southern exposure. also, you'll need something for the vines to grow up. I've seen people plant them along houses, with trellises going up to the second floor of the house. Other people will use cable strung from poles...here's a pretty good link on how to grow them:

http://www.freshops.com/garden.html

now, any variety of hop can be grown. what you'll need to do is buy some rhizomes of whatever variety you want (I can make some suggestions if you'd like) in MARCH. they sell out fast! you'll probably have to plant them in a pot and transplant them after last frost (May 1, I think). remember, rhizomes are "runners" and are a [PAIN] to remove if you ever want to get rid of them. from what I read, you won't get much at all the first year, but after that, they'll be fine. good timing too, because I don't know if you know it, but there is a SERIOUS hop shortage. six months ago, 1 oz of hops used to cost about $1. now it's about $6!

my recommendations:Cascade, Magnum, Centennial, Chinook and maybe Nugget. last year they cost about $5 each, and many places had minimums of 2 of each variety.

now, barley is tougher. it can be grown, but remember, after it's harvested it has to be malted. that is a ton of work! but, if you REALLY want to do it, we can give it the old college try!"

I'm all for it Jerry. Thanks for the Knowledge Drop!

Those kids and their internet time

Had an interesting article forwarded to me at work today from OnlineSPIN. It seems today's kids love their internet:

"A whopping 93%, according to a recent study by The Pew Internet & American Life Project. In fact, the Internet is said to be a part of a teen's social life where they can share creations, tell stories, and interact with others..."

"The study finds teens (12 - 17) to be "super communicators" who have a host of technology options for dealing with family and friends, including traditional landline phones, cell phones, texting, social network sites, instant messaging, and email.
Among the latest survey findings:

• 39% of online teens share their own artistic creations online, such as artwork, photos, stories, or videos, up from 33% in 2004.
• 33% create or work on Web pages or blogs for others, including those for groups they belong to, friends, or school assignments -- a stat basically unchanged from 2004 (32%).
• 28% have created their own online journal or blog, up from 19% in 2004.
• 27% maintain their own personal Web page, up from 22% in 2004.
• 26% remix content they find online into their own creations, up from 19% in 2004.
  

In addition to those core elements of content creation,

• 55% of online teens have created a profile on a social networking site such as Facebook or MySpace.
• 47% of online teens have uploaded photos where others can see them, though many restrict access to the photos in some way.
• 14% of online teens have posted videos online."

Wow - I didn't realize I was so far behind the times. Aparently about 20 years behind. Oh well. Better late than never, I guess. But with all of this stuff here's the one I thought was the most interesting:

"The use of email is diminishing in this group[teens]. Only 14% say they email daily."

That struck me as weird at first. But then, when you're in that age group, you're in school. And you're either with your friends all day long, or you're on one of the social networking sites. Want to read a good book on using new marketing tools and how to use them? Check out Seth Godin's ""Meatball Sundae."

It's a great read (and I'm pulling some of my new found knowledge from what I read from there). Pick up a copy!

Kumite of the Onions

I caught a show on the Discovery Channel called Fight Quest. Basically, these two guys go around the world, learn new fighting techniques, get the snot beat out of them during training, then go through some challenge against the experts they train with (called a kumite). These guys are tough. But how long can this show run? How many fighting styles can there be?

So I go to my trusty sports reference book that a buddy of mine gave my wife and I (yes, it was for both of us). It's called The Sports Book - The Games - The Rules - The Tactics - The Techniques. This book Rocks - the cover is even made of that fake lawn/carpet/turf that my cousin's grandmother had on her porch for 30 years. I used it to check out the list of combat sports. Here's the list they supply:

Boxing, Fencing, Judo, Sumo, Wrestling, Karate, Taolu Kung Fu, Sanshou Kung Fu, Ju-Jitsu, Tae Kwon Do, Kickboxing, Sombo and Kendo. All of these have variations, different rules, different weapons, styles within the style. Fascinating stuff.

Flip back to the showing of one of my favorite cooking shows. Paula Deen is messing with her Macaroni and Cheese. I couldn't imagine her improving this meal. Then I saw this recipe - Put it in a casserole dish, chill it, cut it like rice krispie treats, wrap the square in bacon, and deep fry it. My cholesterol just went up about 10 points typing that.

But she got into another recipe where she was talking about different foods in the onion family. Some items I didn't know were considered there. Of course there are your standards (yellow, red, white, sweet, spanish, etc, etc) but then there were some other items closely related that I hadn't thought of. Green onions, chives, garlic, leeks, scallions and shallots. Good to know. Check out the full list here

Watershed Moments behind a Fiero

Short post today:

First of the newly discovered music posts. I have a buddy in Columbus who knows someone in the Columbus group Watershed. It's sold out, and I'm expecting it to be pretty good show. Check them out. Let me know if you have other good music.

So on our way to Columbus, we passed a car with Collector plates on it. I was a bit shocked to see it was a Pontiac Fiero. Seriously? That's a) old enough to be a classic car and b) something somebody is going to collect? To each his own, I guess. I mentioned this to some folks at work and they didn't even know what a Fiero was. I weep for the future. This is, of course, the same group who didn't know who Captain Kangaroo was. I must really be getting old (or everyone else is getting younger).

Provo, Utah loves Rice Pudding

Well, they like Rice Pudding at least. In fact, Provo likes it enough to have an ice cream parlor style Rice Pudding shop. I met one of the owners of Pudding on the Rice during a lunch meeting today. They apparantly are now a franchise with more than one location. (Congrats Brian!) What was most interesting about this to me is not necessarily the fact that they sell Rice Pudding - in fact, I've never even had Rice Pudding. The interesting thing to me is around some of the in-store personalization they are able to do.

I'm a "Consumer Insights" guy during the day. We take information that web analytics and channel measurement tools give us and show companies how to improve marketing messages, operations, relevance of offers, etc. So the cool part of what Pudding on the Rice has done combines RFID tags (embedded in frequent buyer cards), with personalized-website-type information that is then served up on flat screens in the shop.

So you walk in with this card in your wallet, it recognizes who you are and puts up a message like "Welcome back Matt, where have you been? Try the Red Rum flavor!" Think Minority Report, only with dessert and with less retinal scanning. So they're able to track physical visits to their store (in part) as they would a visit to their site. Pretty cool stuff.

Anybody out there been to this place? Know of any other places doing stuff like this?

Béchamel, Mirapoix, Remoulade and other Tastiness

I'm hungry. I blame Alton Brown and DVR. Alton is the host of a show called Good Eats on the Food Network. He did a show the other day where he spoke about the variations on Mirapoix in French, Asian, etc cultures. I started to think of the French words that I hear on many of the cooking shows (I'm a Food Network junkie). So let's go through my top 3:

Béchamel: One of the 5 mother sauces - these are the sauces that all other sauces are purported to be a derivative of (thanks Sisler!). It's a cream/milk sauce used in the creation of other tasty goodness... There's one.

Mirapoix: Here's another favorite french food flag (Thanks to Emeril for introducing me to this one). It's a combination of Carrot, Celery and (2 parts) Onion (traditionally). Used as a set of aromatiques to become a flavor base for a wide number of dishes. Translation: Base crunchiness that gives whatever you put on it some base flavor. Fun stuff. Make sure you sweat them vs saute them (again per Alton - good show). Releases the flavor - doesn't lose the moisture.

Remoulade: A typically Mayo based concoction that is sometimes used as a condiment. Quite tasty. I'm going to try a couple of recipes this weekend that I came across looking for links to this.

Tastiness abounds. I've worked a lot on entrees over the last couple of years (Meats, vegetables, not much of seafood guy myself). I've also lived in Italy for a year during college... so I'm a fan of rich and tasty foods. So this year I'm going to expand my Sauce knowledge. Please send any recipes for sauces that you like. I'll start taking pictures of what I work on and post them as I expand my knowledge in this new area.

Pork and the Primaries

I had the opportunity to eat at a local place called Lola last night. One of Cleveland's finest Bistros. Have you seen the new American Iron Chef? Mike Symon? Yep, his place. Now, I'm a wannabe foody and an OK cook for someone with no training. Lots of Food Network TV. Lots of trial and eating. (mmmmm... eating...). The table got appetizers (Crab Gnocci, Chilled Lobster, Crispy Shrimp, Berkshire Crispy Bacon, etc) which I was able to try all of... Then I got to the main course - The Smoked Berkshire Pork was unbelievable! Amazing. I highly recommend going to any of Mike Symon's restaurants. Check out his blog SymonSays if you get a chance - he offers recipes, stories, etc. Good stuff.

It was interesting to go from dinner there to see the true extravagance in american politics. I was reading somewhere yesterday (can't remember where it was) that it costs from $50mm to $100mm (yes, millions) to run a Presidential primary campaign. Ridiculous numbers.

So I figure I better start understanding what's happening in the races. So I jump onto my College buddy's blog: Suitably Flip: On Money, Politics, and Life's other Frivolities (a 2007 Weblog award finalist) to see how things are going. Now I know who's zoomin who on the East Coast.

Thanks for the updates Flip!

Dog Knees and ACSI Money

Interesting day so far. That necessitates an interesting Title.

First off - I'm pretty sure my 93 lb yellow lab needs ACL surgery. This would be her second in the last 4 years. Yes, that's right - the other knee this time.

This poor beast has worse luck than a third round center from Georgetown. She was running around the yard with her pup-older-brother and the yelping started. We got her into the vet this morning and they have her now - they're leaning toward surgery needed. Apparently it's pretty common for mid to larger dogs. Didn't think it was this common. So I'm thinking to myself as my wife gives me the call "there goes the vacation fund" as these surgeries and the associated rehab (yes, there's rehab for doggy surgery - water tank treadmills no less. I wish I was making this up). Then I go into a meeting with a potential partner and the trip to North Carolina may not be sunk just yet.

Anybody familiar with the American Customer Service Index?

It's basically a group that rates customer satisfaction of major corporations done through the University of Michigan which makes use of a algorithm designed by Klaus (Schwab? - not sure I caught the last name correctly) and owned by ForeSee Results, to give folks an idea of how happy the consumer world is with an organization's execution.

So what does this have to do with my dog's knee surgery? Here's where it get interesting. Apparently the guy who came up with this algorithm is some sort of financial/math/etc genius. He developed a hedge fund based on companies within the ACSI ratings. Those on the rise he bought stock in, those falling he sold short - made a pretty penny. It has typically outperformed the stock market since it's inception.

So we're going to take the vacation fund and put it all on this! No, not really. I would like to do a trial run on some of the stocks and see how it works before dropping real money on it. Anybody have a free "try your hand at investing" site I can try?

My vacation may be saved! My dog thanks you, and my family thanks you in advance.

Here we go - Matt's Continuous Improvement Project

One of my credos in life has always been "If I didn't learn anything today, it's a day wasted."

I apparently say it enough that some people I engage with regularly have taken to asking me "So, what did you learn today?" Sometimes it's something substantial and life changing (though that's rare), some days it's trivia or statistical, and others still it may be something that I begin to incorporate into my regular routine. No matter the level of affect it has on me, it's something I didn't know when my head hit the pillow the night before.

This blog will be my effort to document my learning on a day to day basis. We'll shoot for 5 posts per week (my outlook calendar will be amended with a reminder - probably a Monday post for everything from the weekend). Though with a busy job, an even busier wife, two kids, two dogs, and a ridiculous number of interests, I may falter - feel free to call me out if you're looking for new stuff more often.

The topics will be widely varied - family life, music, cooking (one of my most recently developing talents), business, trivia, architecture and art (my degree is in the former), the web, bartending, sports (very seldom), movies and tv... pretty much anything that hits me as interesting.

My request: Please comment. I welcome the improvement of my newly found knowledge. If something is incorrect, please enlighten me. If you have a variation on a recipe/technique/knowledge item that is posted, please let me know. Also, if there's something you have an interest in that I've not posted in, let me know that as well. Per the name of the blog I'm always looking to learn new things. We'll see what happens from there.

However, I will review each response before posting. I do welcome challenges and debate. I will not be so hospitable to vulgarity, name calling, unintelligent babble, and personal agenda propogation. If I think the comments and links you're proposing are worthwhile to the conversation, I'll post them. If not, then not so much.

This is always a work in progress - as are we all, so let's get going.

By the way - Today I learned how to set up and post a blog. Big step in the grand world of the web for me. Here's hoping that the next set of posts can help whatever readers may be interested add to their knowledge base.

Please send responses to MyNewKnowledge@gmail.com

Happy Learning

Matt