Quite possibly the most amazing scaled image I have ever seen!

I recently stumbled across this the other day from the following website. It is a graphic that is drawn to scale showing the features of the planet from the highest point on Mount Everest down to the lowest point of the Oceans. It is meant to depict how deep the Deep Water Horizon drilling rig was actually drilling for oil before its accident. That in its self is pretty incredible, but this graphic also has lots of facts and bits of information about the rest of the planet. I think it’s fascinating.

TIP: Try saving the image, opening it up in a separate window, zoom out on the image and view it all at once. That really puts the incredible extremes of our planet into perspective!

I think this also sets a personal record for me… physically the LONGEST blog post EVER!

Episode #1: STFU already!

This is the first edition of something new I am going to try. You know how sometimes there are just certain voices in the world that just keep spouting off to the point where all you want to do is shout "STFU already!!!"? (That's STFU = shut the fu#@ up, for those of you not down with the abbreviations.) Well, here's a column (with hopefully many episodes to come) dedicated to those special people

1. Helen Thomas

Telling the Jews to "Get the hell out of Palestine." Oh my! Could you think of anything more controversial, racial or antisemitic to say? Now I know you are like 320 years old and probably pretty senile, but with all that experience being in the press corps, shouldn't you be better at being an unbiased reporter of the news? Though your stellar record indicates otherwise. So please...

STFU already!!!

2. Paul McCartney

Recently won an award from the Library of Congress (The Gershwin Prize) and upon accepting the award stated how after the past 8 years "...it's great to have a president who knows what a library is." HA HA HA... HA HA HA... oh, look at the celebrity make fun of President Bush's intelligence. So edgy and fresh. We've never seen that before. Except isn't Bush's wife Laura a librarian and a teacher... and didn't President Bush graduate from Yale, which I am pretty sure you need to know how to read in order to be accepted. Come to think of it, Paul, you never even went to college! You're no comedian Paul, so stick to writing songs (though thouse kind of suck anyway).

STFU already!!!

3. Arianna Huffington

According to you the Gulf oil spill was "...a thousand percent Bush-Cheny's fault." OMFG! Thousands of people blaming Haliburton and Bush/Cheny for the spill... really does nothing to solve the problem now does it? How far are people going to push this passing of the blame concept? Gulf oil spill... Bush/Cheny's fault, We're stuck in Iraq... Bush/Cheny's fault, I failed my math test... Bush/Cheny's fault, I have a paper cut on my finger... Bush Cheny's fault.

STFU already!!!

4. Barack Obama (Honorable Mention)

Not too long ago I herd a sound bite where President Obama gave a warning to the Jonas brothers about making a pass on his daughters. "I have 2 words for you... Predator Drones." OK, I am going to have to give the President props here. I withhold my STFU already! and instead deliver a Pretty damn funny! You know there are other fathers worried about their daughters out there who would love to have some Predator Drones at their disposal. he he he.

I can't believe I am compelled to write commentary about a spelling bee.

Neetu Chandak, 14 year old Seneca Falls student was recently eliminated from the Scripps National Spelling Bee when she spelled the word paravane incorrectly (incorrectly spelled p-e-r-o-v-a-n-e, for those of you keeping score at home). Incorrect, very sorry, good job, try again next year, end of story... right? Not exactly.

Mom stepped in and protested that her daughter was "mislead" when the judges told her that the word was of Greek origin. O.K., I suppose I understand since the Merriam-Webster dictionary has the etymology of the word placed in French and English origins, but one could argue that if she knew how to spell the word properly to begin with, the judge's actions would not be an issue. Does the average 14 year old even know how to spell this word let alone know if it is Greek, French or Swahili in origin?

I want to give the competitor the benefit of the doubt but this strikes me as a manifestation of society of coddling, entitlement and general protection from failure that some children are raised under. It's not just children doing this though. How many baseball fans this week bitched and moaned because Bud Selig would not (at the time of this post) overturn a botched call that would have given Detroit Tigers pitcher a perfect game?

Also buried in this article is this line:

"The audience gasped, shoulders slumped, and speller after speller was escorted offstage to the comfort room as the 48 semifinalists were whittled down..."

Comfort room?

I've played my share of competitive sports (mainly baseball for 9 years, didn't really get into the competitive spelling scene). I was on teams that had losing seasons (losing every single game) and winning seasons (winning every single game). There was no "comfort room" to retreat to when you lost. You just learned how to shake it off, dust your self off, learn from mistakes made and try harder again next game. Loosing was tough, but it made the winning moments so much more coveted and appreciated.

What are these kids going to do when they get into the real world where there is no "comfort room" to retreat to when bad things happen? There's no comfort room for when you lose your job or your business fails. There's no comfort room to retreat to when you are a surgeon who loses a patient on the operating table due to a mistake. And no amount of protesting from mommy is going to fix life's inevitable bumps and failures. You just need to learn from it and figure out how to move forward.

Maybe I am being too harsh, but perhaps learning from failure is a passing concept.

2010 JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge

RIT is commonly known as "The Brick City", but at least once every year RIT becomes "Tent City" as companies from the Rochester area move in for the 3.5 mile JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge Race. I of course was there.

The massive tiered starting line to accomodate the estimated 9,100 runners.

Our company getting ready for our team picture before the race.

The race its self was a perfect culmination of conditions. It was near 70 degrees, cloudy and just as the race began, it started to rain. The rain tapered off and gave way to sun at the exact moment I crossed the finish line. This was the fourth time I ran this particular race, so I knew what to expect. I was thoroughly acquainted with the course having run the RIT loop dozens of times while in graduate school. I did everything right during the race (lifted knees, kept head up, good splits, etc.) It all came together for a great race time (by my standards) of 25:53.

I have been very happy with my results all day today.

Memorial Day Weekend 2010 Recap

Started off the weekend with an evening walk around the Erie Canal to enjoy the sun set.

We continued with a lot of good food and wine.

Lots of visiting with family and friends and their several dogs. All together a total of 5 were at the house.

Jon finally came out of hiding after a couple of months!

And of course... our new nephew Tyler was making the rounds, mostly in Emily's arms.