My Kid the Producer

Fred has discovered the art of making movies. Tonight she set-up her doll house like "Big Brother" by borrowing Scoonie's camera (that also does video) and putting the camera on one side of the dollhouse so that she could film what the dolls did. The biggest difference between "Big Brother" and Fred's film was that the dolls knew where the camera was - after 7 minutes of dollhouse "Big Brother" the dolls broke into a fashion show - the ambiance was created by turning off the lights and turned on the spot-light (flashlight). Jr. and Fred then paraded their dolls for the fasion show and took turns jumping in front of the camera! 15 minutes of fun! The encore was a 9 minute space odessey filled with a trip to Mercury and a space fasion show complete with music!

Human Intelligence Tasks

I came across a random internet tool today. Human intelligence tasks (HIT's) are those tasks that only a human can do. Artificial intelligence can not replicate these tasks. Much like laws requiring Home Owner Associations to have annual audits of records secure jobs for accountants in Nevada, HIT's give job security to thousands of human beings throughout the world. So what are these tasks? How much do HIT workers get paid? The answer to these and other perplexing questions like "How do you place value on a human life?" Can be found on Amazon Mechanical Turk. That's right Amazon has a corner on this all important market and you can become a turk and earn between $.01 and $30 per completed HIT! Wow! Now I can quit my day job and really do something meaningful with my life...Thanks Amazon!

To Have Theme Music or Not Have Theme Music...

That is the question. I recently put a playlist on this page so I could have theme music for my blog; after all, life's better with your own sound effects and theme music.

However, I was told that some people can get seriously bothered by theme music on blogs. So I've added a "Poll" asking the all important question - "Should My Blog have Theme Music?" Let me know. You can post your qualitative answers here and also suggest the appropriate theme music for my site (if you think I should have theme music; if you don't think I should, leave some comments so I know why.)

The Sound of Music

Take a look at this -
I've got the coolest sound system in my office now! My eldest sister decided she no longer wanted this in her house and so I inherited it! The sound system was originally my grandparents'. It still plays records beautifully (don't ask about the eight track or the radio)! I'm in my office listening to the soundtrack to "The Man from Snowy River" and it's surreal! Thanks Big Sis; you're awesome!

My Night with Barry Obama and Dirty Harry (May 26, 2009)

For all those who don't know, I'm a registered Democrat (mostly because Scoonie chose to be Republican when we signed up at the DMV - this way we get to hear both sides). Anyway, a lawyer who works in my office is a Democrat activist. He offered to help me with a certain legal issue and, because of that, I offered to help out with some Democrat volunteer work. For instance, I walked for Andy Hafen a couple of weeks in a row. Andy was running for mayor of Henderson. Turns out, I am most-likely related to Andy as he has some St. George Hafen roots. Andy won by 45 votes by the way and I'm pretty sure it was because of all the walking I did, but I digress (oh, and you might see me in a florescent yellow Andy Hafen T-shirt and hat one of these days, so now you won't have to ask me where I got it).

Because of the work I did for Andy, I was able to be a volunteer for the Obama fundraiser for Harry Reid. I didn't have to do too much, basically crowd control, but I did get to see Obama and Reid close up.

Now before you go call the Republican missionaries, I'm not a totally lost soul, after all, I did vote for Bush twice...and yes, I know, I'm going to H. E. double hockey sticks for being a Democrat volunteer, but whatever your political allegience, you've got to admit that just to see the President of the U.S. this close (whatever political party he/she belongs to) is pretty cool. So enough with the blabber, here's my proof-



And not only did I see Barry and Harry, but I got to see these folks too:

Rita Rudner
Cheryl Crow
Bette Midler
Don King
Tom Collins (Clark County Commissioner)
Steven Horsford (Nevada Senate Majority Leader)
Dina Titus (US Representative)
Shelley Berkley (US Representative)
Dean Heller (US Representative)