I was talking with Rob today on our way to hit some golf balls at the range, and I was telling him why I have a roll of duct tape on the dash. Now, having duct tape in the car is a good idea regardless, but this specific roll is a donation-in-waiting to the corner homeless guy. Cash is always appreciated (of course), and sometimes I’ll share some of the NuGo bars that I carry in the car for kid (old and young) snack times, but I really believe that everyone can appreciate a roll of duct tape. Good for everything, and it travels well.

But, as Rob guessed, as Murphy and his Law would have it, as soon as I put the roll of tape into the car, I haven’t passed a single potential recipient. Ain’t that the way it goes sometimes…

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I don’t remember how I found out that Alex Kapranos (the lead singer of the band Franz Ferdinand) was writing semi-regular entries about food/etc while on his latest tour. But, once I started reading them, I enjoyed his style, the content, and his thoughts. Too bad that the tour (and the writing) have come to an end. I shall look forward to the book (and the next album…)

Here’s the last entry :: Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | End of the road

Here’s a link to all of the entries (start at the beginning…) :: Alex Kapranos on Guardian Unlimited

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Maybe that should be “catch-up”. Here’s a no-order list of stuff that I’m doing, have done, would like to do, played with recently, no longer playing with, etc etc.

Went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last night with Anne, Sharon, Amanda, and John. Movie was great (although significantly edited down from the book to fit into the “full-length feature” format, but not too bad), but even better was that we saw it in IMAX format. Fantastic - if you can go see this on the BIG screen, go for it. Well worth it…

Top links on my browser (which is the new IE7 Beta, btw, but I do have Firefox, so get offa it) are Tech.Memeorandum, Diggdot.us, and Netvibes. Del.icio.us is always a click away, but these are the links that I check regularly. Of course, bOING bOING is still my homepage…

I listen to KEXP in the car and online quite a bit, but also like using MusicMagicMixer to make mixes out of the MP3s I have at home.

Blah blah blah — see, I told you it would be random!

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NPR : There is No God

I heard this on NPR this morning - very well written (spoken?), and I enjoyed every moment of it. If you can, listen to the essay instead of reading it…

I have always considered myself spiritual, but certainly not in the organized religion sense of the word. I believe that what we believe is entirely up to us, and no should attempt to change that or tell us we’re stupid for believing it. We’re all equal here, and if I believe that there’s an elephant in Penn’s trunk, so be it. Funny how so many religious teachings at the core go along the same lines : tolerance of others, love thy neighbor, etc. get twisted by one organization or the other… Perhaps if we all believed that “there is no god” we might all start believing in each other.

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No, these are not my kids (although I’m sure something like this could/would happen).

(from the entertaining zip file I got one day entitled “Why Men Should Not Be Allowed to Babysit”. Apparently, this was Dad’s negligence on display here…

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Just watched 30 Days. a new “show” from Morgan Spurlock, the guy who did Super Size Me. Pretty good, definately worth watching (they cover the whole 30 days of Morgan and Alex living on minimum wage in Columbus, OH in 1 episode), and it makes me VERY glad that I’m not in that spot. But other people are. Watch it, and think about it.

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Pretty cool, new blog from the fine folks over at Gawker Media (you might have already read one of their other blogs. Lifehacker has tips and tricks for making your life (online and otherwise) easier. I was a bit turned off when I looked at the banner image and saw “Sponsored by Sony”, but hey - who isn’t sponsored by Sony these days…
This is their mantra:

Computers make us more productive. Yeah, right. Lifehacker recommends the downloads, web sites and shortcuts that actually save time. Don’t live to geek; geek to live.

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From seattlepi.com Buzzworthy: No ‘Wardrobe Malfunction’ ‘05
— pretty funny stuff, not sure that’s exactly how it happened, but really! do we need to pull this ad from the airways? What happened to being able to laugh at ourselves? This is getting silly…

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VERY funny Starbucks email prank via BB. Poor guy, but he kinda walked into it…

Reminds me of this other important Starbuck press release.

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I know home theater setups/recommendations are all very subjective, but I’m looking to replace my A/V receiver, and I’m open to suggestions. What I would ideally like (given the logistics of my living room), is a 5.1 receiver with powered Zone 2 outputs (or the ability to serve as a media center - MP3’s, Internet radio, digital video, etc.). Preferrably 100w per channel, with a good learning/universal remote, and one that’s not too deep (18″ ideally).

Suggestions?

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