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I always see those big CEO salaries and figured you have to have some sort of talent to be able to ask for all that compensation. Maybe not.

Eziba (or maybe it's eZiba -- you're not a cool site unless you can't capitalize correctly) accidently mailed their catalogs to the wrong list of people. They were suppose to send them to people likely to order their stuff. Instead, they accidently sent them to people who don't want to order their stuff.

After a few days of silence on their switchboards, they realized their mistake. Turns out to be a fatal one because the company went bankrupt and sold itself to Overstock.com -- another Web winner.

What better way to say "I have nothing better to do than play dress up with Guinea pigs. Unless, of course it is sewing costumes for Guinea pigs.

We happen to have a long hair variety in our house -- thanks to my darling wife. Low ground clearance, long hair, and a high fiber diet don't mix. We gotta hose that thing off once per week. Somehow, I don't think clothes would improve matters any.

Yes, I did in Tiki Bar TV. How you may ask? Because it was the coolest thing on the Internet today, and I started watching it. As my son will tell you, Daddy doing something is by definition is uncool. Ergo, Tiki Bar TV was no longer cool and Lala probably has joined a convent.

On a lighter note, I finally went skiing. It was a cheap place in Pennsylvania with a Ski Lodge with all the charm of an elementary school. But, I strapped on a couple of skis, and slid down very icy hills at high speeds.

I actually did pretty good. I fell down only once and that was after I skied a couple of times down the real slopes. The truth is that the bar for doing "pretty good" in skiing is low. Basically, you don't fall down and break something, you're doing pretty good.

Today, I read an article in the New York Times Magazine about someone's memories when Tang was introduced in China (An excellent little essay. I'll wait here while you read it.)

That got me thinking. Was Tang really the official drink of NASA? Did our astronauts really have to drink that in space? And, what about Space Food Sticks? Were those dried toostie roll like snacks really what astronauts ate in space.

The answer is yes. According to RetroFuture, Tang was not only the drink of astronauts, but John Glenn specifically requested it on his return to space. Space Food Sticks was a bit different. The carmel, chocolate, and peanut butter snacks were "inspired" by the real space food snack created by Pillsbury. This snack was a high protein cereal bar, and not the sugary sweet candy sticks sold to the public.

For those who are either nostalgic or masochists, you can now order the original space food sticks.

If I wake up, and I see it's 5:30am, my first thought is "Dammit! I'm late for work!". I spend an hour and a half commuting to work each way and 10 hours at work. If I can make it back home before 8:00pm, I'm early. About the only good thing is the money.

Salon Magazine had a headline article about a particular job that pays well, is outdoors, and almost all of it can be done close to home. The hours are good too. The job is cleaning up after other people's dogs.

Of course, with all the crap that I put up with at work... What's the difference?

Naw, can't do it. As a good Jewish Boy, I learned that if you want a job where you work with your hands, you became a brain surgeon.

Yup. Another comment about The Joe.

From my sister's email:

I can just see his bumper stickers: "Sharkey For Governor: Why Vote for the Lesser of Two Evils?"

Darn. Why can't I think of things like that.

Various Cat related URLS:

• Cats in Sinks
• My Cat Hates You
• The Infinite Cat Project
• Stuff on my Cat

What does this tell us about cat owners?

I always knew there was something suspicious with Pasely!

The good news is we now know what to get John Sharkey for Fathers' Day.

The Tie of Satan!

Jonathan Sharkey is running for governor of Minnesota. Here's the question:

* Was this website built by Mr. Sharkey or by his opponent?

During my time as Governor, drug dealers and users will live in fear. I will introduce extremely harsh punishment for those who not only use illegal drugs, I will fight to make dealers serve life in prison, or better yet, impalement.

Any Terrorist who is caught in Minnesota while I am Governor, will find out what the true meaning of my nickname 'The Impaler' means. Right in front of our State Capital. Then Fed’s can take the terrorist’s body from the impaling stake.

Hmmm... Running on a "Tough on Crime" banner. Probably after the GOP vote.

I am a Satanic Dark Priest, Sanguinarian Vampyre and a Hecate Witch. My Magikal Path name is: Lord Ares.

I despise and hate the Christian God the Father. He is my enemy.

Well, at least he's not pandering to the Christian Right.

All Hail the Dark Lord, and future Governor of Minnesota Jonathan Sharkey

My sons are talking about attending a college like MIT, Harvard, Georgetown, or NYU. Well, just one look at this recruiting video will show them that Appalachian State University is Hot, Hot, Hot!

For Frame by Frame Commentary see Jon's commentary at Progressive Boink.

Alex Tew was a typical college student from a small town in England who wanted to get a lot of money without all that hardwork involved. So, he came up with a lame brain scheme of hosting a webpage and selling ads for $1 a pixel. All he had to do was sell a million pixels and he made an easy million. How hard could that be?

What a stupid idea! Who would pay some schnook to put an ad on his webpage? What makes him think there's an easy road to riches? Why didn't I think of it first? I want a million dollars!

You see, in just four months, little Alex Tew actually sold over $999,000 in ads on his Million Dollar Home Page, and is auctioning off his last 1000 pixels on eBay. Now he'll have enough to go to college AND date Jennifer Lopez.

Of course, there are lots of copy cats. In fact, Al Tew's biggest advertisers are other "Million Dollar Pages", but they're not quite as successful.

Anyone who doesn't live a hermit life already knows about "podcasts" (one of my favorites is "A Way with Words" which just shows you how little a life I actually have). However, Video Podcasts are beginning to gain popularity. I'm not too impressed with renting a 20 minute TV show for two bucks, and almost all of the free Podcasts are simply not worth it. Most are the same boring audio podcasts with a camera aimed at someone's head.

However, over the past few weeks, I have fallen madly in love with Lala. Lala is one of the stars of Tiki Bar TV. She plays the role of a tipsy bar-babe. The other two main characters are Dr. Tiki, an MD, PhD, and USB of tikiology, and Johnny-Johnny the "Mixologist" (aka Bartender).

Every week, some crisis happens at the Tiki Bar. The crisis is resolved by Dr. Tiki writing a prescription for some strange drink for Johnny-Johnny to fill. Everyone indulges and usually ends with mambo style dancing. It is a strange show with each episode lasting just under four minutes.

Although ptoduction can be rather amateurish, their is a raw, rough quality in its humor. The semi-serious tone of the actors and the strange situations remind me of the old Sci-Fi "B" movies. The show walks the fine boundary of seriousness and utter silliness. There is no real laugh lines in any of the episodes unless you count the explanation of volcanism involving migrating otters swimming under the earth to the east for the weekend. Even then, it was done in an absolute serious tone.

Tiki Bar TV has become one of the most popular podcasts over the last few weeks, and no one even knows who is involved with its production. There are no credits on either the podcast or on the website.

What makes this podcast so popular? Is it the dry humor, the nostalgia it invokes, the strange drink concoctions? My money is on Lala.

The Lovely Lala

For those who are lucky enough never to have heard of ISO 9001, let me explain what it is. ISO 9001 is a set of standards that are suppose to be met to issue quality. If you follow the magical procedures outlined by the ISO (which stands for the International Organization of Standards), you are guaranteed a top quality product. Take a look at almost all of your electronic play pretties, and you will find the ISO Stamp 'o Approval.

Now, the important thing to remember is not simply following the ISO 9001 guide lines, but making sure you are certified that you're following the ISO 9001 guide lines for quality control!

I am a Configuration Manager. I've been trained in ISO 9000 certification, Six Sigma, CMMI, and a few other "quality" practices. The whole thing is a bunch of hooey. Organizations get so caught up in these processes that they are more concerned with getting the certification than actually building a quality product. I've see a lot of crappy software that no one wanted and doesn't work produced by organizations certified to the highest levels of CMMI. Organizations -- so convinced that CMMI Level 5 certification is the magic portion that will turn their frog product into a real prince -- they forget that their job is producing a product and not getting certified.

Below is a picture of a product that has the ISO 9001 certification. Like my Motorola cell phone, my Palm PDA, and my computer, this product has thoroughly instituted a process that is guaranteed to please any ISO 9001 certifying organization. Unlike the other products, this one is editable.

This is a picture from a box of Yehuda Matzoh proudly displaying their ISO 9001 certification.