Vid's Space

Hello! You are visitor number 2204! A few years ago, this page would have been primarily autobiographical.  I may be a bit narcissistic, but these days I just don't have many interesting things to say about myself.  Then again, I haven't accomplished much that the general population can appreciate in the last few years. 

Suffice it to say I'm a 20-something bisexual nudist roadgeek with issues including but not limited to depression.  But again, this page isn't about me.  Instead, it's my space for random thoughts which I hope you'll find interesting or amusing.

Passing Thoughts

Billy Mays was a Loud-Mouth Schmuck

The following rant was written before Billy Mays died. It's actually not about just him, but all those TV pitchmen who sell things that "aren't sold in stores". I leave the rant here because it's still relevant.

He comes into my living room, shouting about this amazing product that I can only buy from him.  Then he says I can have four of them (an $80-dollar value) for just $9.95.  I'm sorry, but if the only place to get this amazing product is from him, and he's selling four for ten bucks, that means the product is only worth $2.50 each.  Eighty dollars my ass.  And why isn't it sold in stores?  Sure, that might involve a "middle-man markup" but it would also involve economy of scale, so I don't have to pay five bucks shipping and handling on a product only worth $2.50. 

Journeyman Rocked

Journeyman was a great show on NBC in the fall of 2007.  They should have picked it up for more episodes.  Do you know what made NBC great in the early 90s?  They stuck with shows that had potential, despite low ratings early on.  You know, shows like Seinfeld and Friends. 

Don't say "Standard Time" Unless You Mean It

I have seen, many times, people announcing some event on the Internet in terms of EST (Eastern Standard Time) or, slightly less often, PST.  In the winter, there's no practical problem with that, but for slightly more than half of the year, this terminology comes with a significant "gotcha".  See, chances are, whoever posted the announcement actually means not "Eastern Standard Time" but "the time in New York City – or, instead of "Pacific Standard Time," they mean "The time in Los Angeles."  The problem is that, from March to November, New York City doesn't follow Eastern Standard Time; it follows Eastern Daylight-saving Time!  When we change our clocks in the spring and fall, Standard Time doesn't change; rather, we switch between it and Daylight-saving Time.  So in the summer, while Eastern Standard Time still exists, nobody follows it (except for the west coast of South America, but they surely don't call it that).  Most of Indiana did until 2007, but not anymore.  And while Phoenix and Denver are both in Mountain Time Zone, only one of them is actually on Mountain Standard Time in the summer. 

There are a few solutions.  First and best, you could say EDT when Daylight-saving Time is in effect, and EST otherwise.  Or, especially when referring to geographic areas and not actual times, say ETZ.  The laziest way to specify what time zone you're talking about correctly, especially if you don't know whether DST is (or will be) in effect at the specified time, is to simply say ET if you mean the time in New York, and PT if you mean the time in Los Angeles.  (And of course CT for Chicago, and MT for Denver...)  I believe that's what CNN does. 

The bottom line is this:  If you are based in New York and announce some kind of deadline as "11:59PM EST on June 30", and someone submits something when your clock says 12:45 AM July 1st, that submission is not late, because on Eastern Standard Time, it's still only 11:45 PM.  Sure, you could argue about it, but it's just better to say what you mean in the first place and avoid any confusion entirely.

Cool People

Cool Famous People

Here are, in no particular order, some of my favorite people from movies and TV:

Cool Obscure People

Here are, in no particular order, some of my favorite people of whom you may not have heard:

Best of my LJ

You know how radio shows often run "best of" shows during the weekends or when the stars are on vacation?  Well, I haven't posted to my LiveJournal much recently, but there are some good nuggets from the past I thought I might share here.