In the Loop: January 2008 Archive

Hold off on that gym membership!

Posted at 1:15 PM on January 2, 2008 by Sanden Totten (3 Comments)

When it comes to making New Year's resolutions, I like to keep it simple. This year my resolution was to finally see The Simpsons Movie . . . which I did . . . a full day before New Year's. Check and done!

But if you are one of those people who are slightly more ambitious about the New Year than I, achieving your goal may be a little tougher. Well, the Nintendo folks have a new product out to help people make good on one common New Year's resolution: getting fit.

Taking the idea of making everyday activities into games where you don't have to leave your house and going one step further, Nintendo now lets you skip the gym all together. Meet WiiFit. It's a new Wii game that programs exercise and balance training into your daily life. WiiFit has stretching, push-ups even WiiYoga.

Of course, just buying a Nintendo Wii console costs about the same as a 6 month membership at your local YWCA. And truthfully, these games don't look all that strenuous . . . but then again, there is an upside to WiiFit. No one will see you in your neon colored exercise tights, you can do your training at odd hours and being able to stay inside during months like January and February does have it's benefits. Just be sure to wear your socks when using the Wii balancing board. Athlete's foot is one part of the gym experience best left out of the home.

Comment on this post

Russell Baker...is ALIVE!

Posted at 11:11 AM on January 3, 2008 by Jeff Horwich

So...this is boring BUT...my father mentioned something about the old NYTimes columnist Russell Baker as the host of Masterpiece Theater. I said I thought Russell Baker was dead.

One Google search for "Russell Baker dead" later, I had the answer courtesy of DeadOrAliveInfo.com. What a handy site. The point is pretty basic: Confirm whether the person of interest is alive or dead (Studs Terkel? Barbara Billingsly? Robert Goulet?).

But it's most fascinating to surf through some of the lists they keep. I kind of marveled at People Who Died Before 30. It's amazing how young some of these famous folks actually were (Otis Redding was 26, Duane Allman was 24, Richie Valens was 17). You can also browse recent deaths to see what you might have missed. This is good, morbid Internet fun.

Something else interesting: This is basically an informal list of people we'd consider celebrities. Male listings: 5930. Female listings: 1807.

Victorian-era laptops and steam powered guitars

Posted at 11:15 AM on January 4, 2008 by Sanden Totten (2 Comments)

Recently I bought myself a used computer . . . it's okay. But I wish I had gotten this computer. --->

(photos courtesy of wired.com's steampunk gallery)

It's in a style called Steampunk. Steampunk started out as a literary genre that took Victorian-era aesthetics and spruced them up with modern science fiction story lines. Think League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or even Will Smith's Wild Wild West. The technology is usually as advanced as what we have today, but it is imagined as if it was made during the age of steam powered machines.

The cool thing about steampunk though is that it goes beyond books and movies. Serious fans have been crafting steampunk devices like that desktop above . . .or a steam-themed guitar or even . . .

a steampunk motor home. That one looks like something out of a Miyazaki film. Apparently the folks who drive it dress in things like pith helmets and corsets.

You can check out more steampunk projects here. And while you're at it, take a look at these pictures of Star Wars as re-imagined steampunk style.

Comment on this post

Some weird, weird moments with Bobby Knight

Posted at 2:30 PM on January 7, 2008 by Jeff Horwich

The Texas Tech coach brings his 21-month-old grandson to his post-game press conference. The headline is the expletive he lets fly with the kid sitting right in front of him (in response to some bland softball about "momentum").

But the bigger curiosity to me is just the utter awkwardness of the entire episode, born of his evident contempt for the press. Notice how totally silent the reporters are while Knight is playing his games. They are not digging the show.

We're just getting started

Posted at 12:45 PM on January 8, 2008 by Julie Siple

A week post-Iowa and just hours pre-New Hampshire, I’m buried in political news. I can’t walk four steps from my desk without someone speculating about, at minimum, a candidate and three possible running mates. And I’ve already seen my share of political ads.

The ads will only get crazier, I know. Soon I will regret my (fiscally responsible) decision not to get Tivo. The day is coming.

While I still have the stomach for it, I’ve been watching some old political ads. You can search for a slew of them at The Living Room Candidate. Course, the ones from 1964 are really wild. There’s the Daisy ad (which ran only once):

And the ice cream ad.

I’d like to think this year’s ads won’t have any sway over me, anyhow. Except sometimes, they can get under your skin. Ads are like that, and they don’t have to be political.

Maybe it’s the fact that sometimes, you’re not expecting them. Consider an article in this week’s Minneapolis Star Tribune. It’s about how girls who eat with their families are less likely to develop eating disorders. And at the bottom of the online version: an ad. “Lose 25 pounds fast!”

I know you will all join me in hoping Tivo offers a special sale.

Could robots be your new retirement plan?

Posted at 10:45 AM on January 14, 2008 by Sanden Totten (2 Comments)

Okay, say you're Japan. And say you're faced with a pretty difficult problem: you have a massive number of elderly people about to retire and not enough young folks to support them . . . what do you do?

Build robots of course!

There are actually some serious issues at stake here. For instance, critics argue that giving jobs to robots is a bad idea when plenty of women and immigrants are able and eager to work in Japan. The problem is that Japan's traditionally conservative culture isn't so keen on the idea of shaking things up like that. But in time, they may not have a choice.

But leaving all that aside . . . aren't those robots sweet?! Check out that exo-skeleton! And that violin playing nurse-bot! Mine will be programmed to play thrash music . . . oh, wait, that already exists.

So what do you think? Should robots be "employed" as the new care-givers in society? How do you think Americans would react?

Comment on this post

"A flippy-to-the-flippy-to-the-flip-flip-flop..."

Posted at 10:00 AM on January 15, 2008 by Jeff Horwich (3 Comments)

Sanden and I are going on vacations for a few days, but our old pals (and still honorary ITL producers) Larissa and Julie will stock the blog with some good tidbits in the meantime.

For now, let me leave you with a freshly produced video from one of our earlier shows. We're getting our heads in election mode (Super Tuesday's comin' up, ya know) and decided to pull the video of the (in)famous "Flipper's Delight" rap parody from the "Flip-Flop Fever" episode back in November. Add in a few images of your favorite candidates...stir...and enjoy.

This was recorded back in late October, pre "rise-of-Huckabee." Still, many of your favorites are represented: Romney, Clinton, Obama, Giuliani...

Comment on this post

Hand your better half a broom

Posted at 5:20 PM on January 18, 2008 by Larissa Anderson (5 Comments)

Did anyone else grow up with Free to Be You and Me?

Does anyone else remember Rosie Grier singing "It's Alright to Cry" or Marlo Thomas and Mel Brooks deconstructing gender stereotypes

or, one of my favorites, "Housework" with Carol Channing?

Little boys, little girls, when you're big husbands and wives,
If you want all the days of your lives
To seem sunny as summer weather,
Make sure, when there's housework to do,
That you do it together!

Well, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center, it looks like Channing was onto something.

Married couples now rank "sharing household chores" as third important for a successful marriage, behind "faithfulness" (no shock there) and "happy sexual relationship."

The study says

Back in 1990, fewer than half (47%) of adults said sharing household chores was very important to a successful marriage. In the 17 years since then, no other item on the list has risen in importance nearly as much. And this rise has come all across the demographic landscape – among men as well as women, among marrieds as well as singles; among old as well as young.

The Pew study cites research from the University of Maryland that suggests in 2003, men were doing more than double the housework they did in 1965.

So, what's the deal? Are we all so busy working all the time that one person just can't possibly do all the chores? Have Carol Channing's Free to Be children grown up?

Someone get a banjo. Sounds to me like we're inching ever closer to a land where "you and me are free to be."

Comment on this post

Nursing my double shot of espresso

Posted at 8:35 AM on January 22, 2008 by Julie Siple (1 Comments)

As you know by now, the markets plunged in Asia on Monday, and this morning the Federal Reserve suddenly cut interest rates. It's hard, for those of us who spent our college days reading Tolstoy rather than Keynes, to know exactly how worried to be. Some people say: It's going to be really, really bad. Others say: It's the fear that’s killing us.

Either way, there's a voice in my head telling me to stop spending so darn much money. For real this time. Just in case.

So it seemed like a good time to go back and take a listen to In The Loop's hour on “Why Am I Spending So Much?” What drives us to spend, and how can we stop, and what happens in tough economic times?

I did. Course, I’m still drinking espresso. But today I made it at home.

Comment on this post

The Final Frontier . . . brought to you by Virgin Mobile

Posted at 12:14 PM on January 28, 2008 by Sanden Totten

I was up early this morning. I couldn't sleep so I decided to read about Space Travel.

It seems there have been quite a few stories in the news lately about "the final frontier." Most notably, good ol' Richard Branson and his public space ship, cleverly christened . . . um, SpaceShip . . . number 2. Seriously, "Spaceship?" That's the name they came up with?

You can take a virtual ride by watching this video (scroll to about 4 minutes in to see the good parts):

It should be ready for test flights sometime this year. And for a mere $200,000 you too can join the ranks of William Shatner and Dave Navarro, who are already looking forward to getting high the expensive way. The video doesn't show anything about an in-flight movie or meal . . . but I bet I know what drinks they'll be serving.

Comfortingly enough, the designer of the ship claimed it will be at least as safe as the airplanes of the 1920's . . . which wasn't exactly an era known for aviation safety.

That being said, plenty of people are willing to take the risk. What about you? Is the novelty of "space" worth the potential hazard of dying in a fiery crash? Do you think this will really spark a boom of "space tourism" like Branson hopes?

Oh, and while you're pondering the great beyond, you may want to take a peek over at the Red Planet. Recent photos released from the Mars rover have the blogosphere in a frenzy. Could it be . . . life on Mars? And is that life . . . Bigfoot?!

Caucus...pRiMaRy...MADNESS!!!

Posted at 9:12 AM on January 31, 2008 by Jeff Horwich

You can now Stream or download (MP3 -- right click and save) the full Super Tuesday forum from the other night. Podcast subscribers will get it automatically.

Here's a peak at some particular goodies:

Think the Super Tuesday media hype might be getting out of hand?

(Right-click that link to download and save.)

And here's some of what Sanden and I found when we ventured out not long ago to test Super Tuesday's "brand awareness" on the streets of Minneapolis...