General Stuff

15 posts

New word: Inegression

Occasionally I think up new words, in the vein of Sniglets. Today’s new word:

Inegression (n):
1) The state of momentary bewilderment when one attempts to open a door used for both entrance and exit, only to have it suddenly open and be face to face with a stranger;
2) The impasse created when both people are too polite to pass through said door.

Here’s an old one I came up with years ago, but I don’t appear to have posted it before so I hereby lay claim to it as well:

Coattailgate (v):
The act of following so closely behind someone else, that when a kind person allows them through traffic, they have no choice but to let you through also.


Retro TV is da bomb

I can’t tell you how thrilled I am about the relatively new Retro Television Network. As a kid growing up in the 70s and 80s, I was glued to the TV watching such “reality” shows as Emergency! and Adam-12

A few weeks ago we started getting WMFP again (in the Boston area, formerly UHF 62 and I believe currently DTV 18.1), after it had joined RTV. Now I can watch Emergency! and Adam-12 all over again. For those unfamiliar with these shows, they were often more real that a lot of the reality fare nowadays. Especially with Emergency! Shows weren’t necessarily edited for dramatic effect – characters appear to be really doing the tasks they are shown doing – fighting fires, performing rescues – I even noticed in an episode recently one of the doctors changing the recording tape for the calls – why would they even show that? That’s valuable advertiser time nowadays. But it made it real…in a way that I don’t think is even possible with today’s TV. It’s too bad that there will probably be nothing like Emergency! again.

Now, the antics on Adam-12 would probably get Reed and Milloy indefinitely suspended a hundred times over nowadays… 🙂


Sony misses the boat with the Playstation 3

There was a lot of hype when the Playstation 3 was released…along with a lot of media coverage of shootings and near riots outside stores with people in long lines waiting for a shot at one. Few made it to U.S. shores (some say it was an intentional shortage). A second shipment close to Christmas sold out pretty quickly. Today I was at the local Big Electronics Store. I had noticed in the morning in their advertisement that they were to have at least 25 PS3s per store in stock today, and would give out tickets an hour before the store opened. I didn’t go to get one (needed some parts to hack a DirecTiVo), but I looked for one and didn’t see them. I did see someone at the register purchasing one. When I commented to the saleskid, he said it was “one of fourteen”. I said, “is that all you got?” His response? “No, we got fourty. We only sold 14.” This was about 3 hours after opening. So, if you want one, go out and get one. They shouldn’t be hard to find. Why? The buzz has died down (partially stolen by the quite interesting Wii) and the cost is high. However, if you want a Blu-Ray disc player, its $400 less than the Sony Blu-Ray disc player, and it plays games too. Not sure why you’d get the player at all…


If Vince McMahon ran Major League Baseball

Back when the Red Sox were playing the Rangers and there were discussions between the team and a certain currently unemployed former pitcher that I won’t name yet, I imagined this scenario, which is how things would have happened if Vince McMahon of the WWE were running Major League Baseball. I sent it to the Sports Guy, but he didn’t post it, so here is an expanded version… Continue reading


Random thoughts…

In the tradition of sister-site Red Sox Chickie, here is just a few random thoughts running through my head…

  • Now that “Bennifer” is over, can the speculation about A-Rod finally end? It’s over, folks!
  • I want the Patriots to play against the Buccaneers, just so we can run over Warren Sapp with the team bus with a sign on the back saying “Yeah, but who won the Super Bowl, Bubba?”
  • Wayne Brady wins Emmys for his talk show (2) and for Whose Line is it Anyway?. His talk show gets the shaft and Whose Line is on “hiatus” (with 20-something episodes in the can and no plans to air them). What the hell are these TV execs thinking? They actually think Tony Danza can do a better job? Next we’ll hear that Peter Jackson wins 20 Oscars next month, and is banned from Hollywood.
  • I hate NutraSweet-ened soda, so I’ve never really liked diet sodas since Diet Sprite switched from that “cancer-causing” (in lab rates given doses no human could consume in a lifetime) saccharin. That is, until Coca-Cola discovered that Diet Coke sucked and added flavors – first Lemon (passable), Vanilla (better than the non-diet), Cherry (haven’t found it yet), and now Lime, which I actually like better than Lemon. I can finally get rid of my 500-calorie-a-day habit now, so long as the CVS by my office keeps it in stock. Thank you, Coca-Cola.
  • When is this “global warming” actually supposed to make a difference? I’m freezing!! 🙂
  • Is it me, or does everyone use the line “The King is dead…long live the King!” wrong? I mean, does it make sense to wish a long life on someone who just died? I believe the phrase is meant to convey a wish of long life to the successor of the late monarch – perhaps a queen. In fact, it was used correctly by the herald at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. But anytime some era ends, someone blurts out the double King reference, and I feel like smacking them…