Monthly Archives: September 2008

Nope. Still not convinced.

I don’t know how I “landed” there (a little aviation humor), but I was at askmen.com this morning.

*pause for effect*

:-)

Not that I wanted to ask men anything, mind. I was interested in the article. (Isn’t that what most men say?)

Anyway, I saw this. I won’t link to them, but I’ll acknowledge that I am reproducing their article in part, and credit Ross Bonander for writing the boldface items. Here are the main points:

5 Things You Didn’t Know About Plane Crashes

  1. Surviving a plane crash is good for you. Apparently, people who survive a crash are emotionally and psychologically healthier for the experience. Something about having had some control over a dire situation.
  2. The first 90 seconds after a crash is known as “golden time.” In other words: don’t panic. Don’t try to save your iPhone from your carry-on. Don’t worry about modesty – rip off any clothing that’s on fire.
  3. Planes routinely crash because they’ve run out of fuel. That is pretty much unbe-freaking-lievable.
  4. Survival rates improve when the pilot ditches. Comforting thought.
  5. There is a .00001% chance your plane will crash. That means that next time you fly, you have a 99.9999815% chance of surviving it.

If only that were enough……

Fink, all ate up with the phobia

Blogging Guidelines (?)

I put a question mark in the title because I’m not sure there should be any. Maybe there should, but who’s going to care?

This post comes perilously close to another BTTH session, like 2 days ago. I’ve read a *lot* of blogs about blogging, and honestly, people need to relax about it. Check this out:

A Couple of Blogging “Rules” I’ve Read from Reputable Authors

  • “Don’t post about too many different subjects; it will confuse/alienate your readers.” Nonsense. First, I think most of my readers (except maybe D***d S**l) have brains. Second, my stats show that the majority of my readers are repeat visitors. I can’t tell anything more than their ISP name (like comcast.net) and the city in which the ISP is located (or which country – I get dozens of hits a day from outside the US), but they do tell me how many are return visits. RtB always shows up in Google/Yahoo searches, so I’m being indexed. Why change what I do? I heart my repeat offenders.
  • “If you don’t have anything specific to say, don’t post that day.” Wrong again, toots. I want to be a writer. I love to research. Love writing + love research = friggin’ FIND something to write about. That’s the fun of it for me. And when I don’t have any research handy, I think of something else. It’s amazing what the human brain can concoct when it’s called upon to think creatively. I used to think of myself as not particularly imaginative in the literary sense. I don’t think that anymore, simply because I’ve forced myself to manufacture ideas on demand over the last several months. Do that, and you get better at it.

Rat Fink’s Blogging Rules, or Advice from a Disreputable Author

  • Who’s paying the hosting fees, doing the research, or keeping the free blog space looking nice? You are. So write about whatever you want, whenever you want. If people are interested in what you say, they’ll come back. And chances are they’ll bring friends via email and word of mouth.
  • Give it time. I’ve written a blog post every day since 22 February. My hits started out around 5 per day. As of a month ago, I’m up to over 30 times that.
  • You should be a decent writer. Either that, or you have to not care how your stuff looks. But what I’ve noticed over the last seven months is that I’m getting better at it. It’s like any muscle; you keep flexing it and working it, and it’s going to get better/bigger. If you’re not a decent writer, work on it! You could…I dunno…start a blog.
  • To the people who say, “Who cares about what you write?” I say, “Um, I do.” ‘Nuff said. You’re worth the effort, so if you want it, go for it.
  • You have to be disciplined about it. No doubt. If you say, “Eh…I’d never keep up with posting,” you’re not a blogger. It’s like brushing your teeth: it needs to be part of your daily (or weekly or whatever) routine. Pick a schedule and stick to it.
  • Force yourself to research. I’ve heard the Internet is a cool place to find stuff. Learn what’s real and what’s bogus. Check and double-check your sources. If some guy’s blog says that the Wall Street Journal said thus-and-so, check it out before you link to him. Besides, research is fun.

Or…you could just read me every day to get your blog fix on. You could tell your friends to read me, too. Hey, Penguin Books! Simon & Schuster! How’s about a book deal? I’m real easy to work with and I don’t take up much space.

And now I’m really late. Arriving with no makeup on would be cruel & unusual for the 6th graders this morning.

Until tomorrow…and yes, Virginia, there will be another Finkpost. Gare-own-teed.

Heroic

So did you love the premiere of Heroes last night? I thought (unlike the disappointing second season) the storylines and action were both on par with the first season, when everything was crazy and you actually pulled for characters to win/discover/persevere.

Crusties: did you happen to notice William Katt playing the bit part of the tabloid reporter in the garage? Remember him on The Greatest American Hero back in the 80s? I loved that theme song.

Here is an interview he did about the two “hero” shows.

Ok, I’m going to be late for school. Post your reactions to last night’s premiere. I didn’t get to see the whole “red carpet” thing — BU had my attention until 9:00 when the shows started. Nice work on the 2-hour length, too.

Makes me pine for The 4400. For the record, I’m still mad about that.

FO

BTTH II

Little Announcement Before Today’s Finkness:

==== Mad Men – Emmy Winner, Outstanding Drama Series. Nice. ====

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I need to design an award for this. I call it Boot to the Head. It refers to things that are so cosmically dumb, I can’t think of any other response than to kick the people responsible for them.

Boot To The Head: Ghost “Reality” Shows

Uh-oh. Somebody got a chill in the basement. Call in the Sci-Fi Channel Ghost Hunters or the frightful folks of the Travel Channel’s Most Haunted. The night vision cameras make things look spooky, with people’s eyes all glowing & stuff. And the script is riveting: “Oh, my God!” and “%$(&^%!!” and “the energy in this room is very angry…”

Sheesh.

My personal fave is when they record things. They gather around the laptop and exclaim, “It sounds like he’s saying ‘yes!‘” *GASP *

You know…if you’re going to have a ghostie show, then show some friggin’ ghosties. Each episode ends like it begins: the mystery continues.

The Thriller defends the programs (which he watches regularly) by saying, “These people often come in to disprove claims.” Well, boys & girls, you are batting 1.000 so far.

To me, all these “horreality” shows point to a singular inspiration: The Blair Witch Project. Has that cow been milked dry or what? But the little home-movie-turned-blockbuster did bear out what old-timers in filmmaking (and people like M. Night Shyamalan) have always known: The power of suggestion can be frightening.

Blair Witch used no CG, no whirlygig special effects. So what did the deed? What scared folks to death in an age when 10-year-olds watch movies that realistically depict limbs being sawed off? It was the unknown; the monster in the closet that you know is there, but what never shows its face. The pure terror of a group of kids supposedly “ghost hunting” brought everyone’s closet monsters to life. “A-haaaa,” said the movie and TV producers. Scary reality programming = truckloads of cash. And the copycats began, eventually resulting in gems like Most Haunted.

The point is, this stuff is treated with almost a religious reverence; a macabre sense of wonderment. Like it’s all real, and we’re just along for the ride, when in fact, none of it has *ever* been caught on film to the exclusion of all doubt by researchers, or in any way scientifically proven. If you watch these ghostie shows for their entertainment value, then cool. If you watch because you expect something to be “revealed,” then you gots a long, long wait.

James Randi, a magician and paranormal skeptic of considerable renown, has offered a cash reward every single day since 1964 to anyone who could prove the existence of paranormal activity or gifts. This amount has grown from $1,000 in 1964 to one million dollars today. No one has ever done it, even though over a thousand people have applied (and are still applying) to win it.

I know, I know…the same could be said about the existence of God. But the God folks don’t claim to be “scientists,” using all manner of infrared meters and temperature sensors to monitor what may not even respond in the least to those instruments. If you want to say it exists for scientific purposes, then put up or shut up.

I personally wish they’d all select B.

BTTH!

PS – Here’s a clip of a docu about the time when James Randi outed Uri Geller back in the 70s. This is footage of his appearance on The Tonight Show when Geller meets his match. Uncomfortable, to say the least…

Photo credits: scifi.com; imdb.com

TBS Pipeline IV

(For those who may not know, TBS/TNT asked the Fink to write about their new stuff once in awhile. I’m still waiting for my present. I hope it’s a pony.)

Ok, I missed the premiere of Raising the Bar on TNT. But check out this preview of tomorrow night’s new episode:

Looks great. But Mark-Paul….the 70s Jesus hair helmet has *got* to go. And the color — yikes. Get rid of the mahogany and bring back the sandy blond.

TNT even made a game out of his character’s hairstyle.

Hey, Randy — Turner’s got you covered when you read the blog at work. If you see the boss coming, click here.

:P