I’m probably just preaching to the choir here, but here’s another reason why Maine is good: “Maine Auto Insurance Rates Lowest in Nation.”
The president of the Maine Insurance Agents Association, Chris Condon, says, “It’s a real proud culture.” In most disputes, Mainers tend to seek fair treatment rather than big money.
“People are less likely to sue than they might be elsewhere,” Condon says, “I think that impacts those rates over time.”
Here’s the full list at Insure.com.
The Freakonomics blog over at the New York Times had a good post yesterday about money in the United States – specifically what to do with the dollar bill and one cent piece. It’ll never happen, but it’s still a good thought: “Cutting the Currency Gordian Knot.”
If you missed last night’s episode of Travel Channel’s No Reservations that was in Maine it’s available to purchase on the Apple iTunes Store now.
Mine’s downloading as I type …
I don’t know where I saw this the other day, but it’s awesome and odd at the same time.
What if Bar Harbor had a subway?
Genius.
Five years ago this week I took an overnight trip to NYC for work (see New York City).
Here are a few of the photos from that trip:
Times Square at 4:35 am looks pretty much like it would at midnight, sans a few hundred people.
The highlight (or lowlight, as it may be) of the trip was my having to move a 15 foot Ryder truck in the middle of Times Square at 8:45 am due to an error on the part of one of my co-workers.
As you can imagine, parking is tough to come by at that time of day.
Parallel parking a beast like that is also not an easy task.
That was decidedly not fun.
Shortly after I almost hit a rollerblader.
Unfortunately I don’t have any more of the photos, they were on a work computer and who knows what happened to them. But that Times Square shot has always been one of my favorite pictures, it brings back so many odd memories …
I could care less about Sex in the City 2, I really could.
But last summer I mentioned how they wanted to shoot the flick in Dubai, and Dubai naturally balked at the questionable content (see Sex And A Different City).
So now I guess the movie takes place … in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi.
Weird.
See Abu Dhabi is less concerned about image than Dubai. More conservative, even. If they were brothers Dubai would be the flashy one with a fancy car – like a stupid-expensive Lamborghini. Abu Dhabi would have a more stoic Bentley.
Thus it seemed really odd to me that they’d let them film in Abu Dhabi. So I did a little research.
Apparently the production filmed in Marrakech, Morocco as a double for Abu Dhabi.
I can only assume that they called it “Abu Dhabi” instead of “Dubai” out of spite? I mean, Dubai is still better known. And glitzier.
And if you’re playing that much with reality, shoot, go film it in Epcot and save some money.
Anyway, here’s the trailer if you care:
I can’t wait – the No Reservations episode they filmed back in January (see No Reservations Portland and More On Bourdain) airs on Monday.
Here’s a clip:
The Freakonomics blog over at the New York Times is always an interesting read.
The other day they had a good post about the speed limit, and how, according to a recent scholarly paper “the lifting of the federal 55 mph speed limit in 1995 was responsible for 12,545 deaths between 1995 and 2005.”
So slow down, speedy.
Last week the show Fringe had a plot that took place in an alternate reality 1985.
Of course, the guys who write and produce the show are genius, so they threw in a little time travel joke that only a geek could love:
Back to the Future, as we all know, was released in 1985, but many non-geeks out there might not realize that Eric Stoltz was Marty McFly for the first month of filming, until he was replaced by Family Ties’ Michael J. Fox.
Don’t believe me? Here’s a photo of Stoltz as McFly:
Damn are those Fringe guys clever …
Wow, this roils my blood: “Not satisfied with U.S. history, some conservatives rewrite it.”
I wonder if these people are just plain stupid … or nefarious?
Here’s a direct quote from Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN):
“FDR applied just the opposite formula [than cutting taxes]: the Hoot-Smalley act, which was a tremendous burden on tariff restrictions. And of course trade barriers and the regulatory burden and of course tax barriers.”
Nowadays anyone with wikipedia can verify facts in about four seconds – unless you purposefully change the words. It’s tough to find anything on the internet about “Hoot-Smalley” if the real name was Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act.
And yes, that was passed by President Coolidge, a Republican. Shit, Smoot and Hawley? Also Republicans.
At least Bachmann knew that the act was a disaster. She just blamed the wrong side.
Wow. This irks me so.
I’ve been tweaking the Commenting feature on the blog – they should be open now. The reason I closed them for a little bit was the huge amount of spam that I was getting on each post. Not cool.
I think I have it taken care of now, but if it’s goofy for the next week or so, I’m probably just fiddling with it.
Thanks.
That ‘GeekDad’ website, from which I got yesterday’s Disney Cruise article, is actually pretty cool.
Check out this LEGO kitchen: “Build Your Kitchen With LEGO.”
Bonus points to the author for capitalizing the LEGO brand name. Sadly, his usage isn’t perfect as the LEGO brand name must never appear on its own; it should always be accompanied by a noun, i.e. “LEGO set” or “LEGO bricks.”
I may not be a dad, but I’m still a geek …
Forget April Fools’ Day, it’s Census Day in my world today. I think I’ve told you my affection for the decennial census (which is Constitutionally mandated – Article I, Section 2, you Tea Bagging-haters). Anyway the census is a snapshot of every household today, April 1, 2010.
We filled out ours last night and we had a revelation – see, for 36 days of the year Liz and I are the same age. April 1 is one of those days.
On the census form Liz and I the same age.
Weird, eh?
Wow, I guess I’m glad that I don’t have an iPhone: “The Scary Truth About Your iPhone.”
Naw …. I still wish I did.
Here’s a light but interested piece on the new Disney Cruise ship that’s in the works – specifically from a technology point of view: “5 Ways Disney’s New Cruise Ship Will be Wired for Family Fun.”
Sounds kind of cool.
As you probably have heard, the 44th and current President of the United States Barack Obama is going to be in Portland, Maine tomorrow.
Today Liz stood in the rain for two hours to try and get tickets to his speech at the Expo but they sold out.
I still might go, just to get a glimpse of this epic man.
Thank you all for your birthday well wishes yesterday. Thirty-four feels very similar to thirty-three so far, which is nice.
That being said, no matter how you slice it this will be my last year in the ‘youth’ demographic; I’ve got to make my important purchasing needs known in the next twelve months before I’m a dreaded 35-54 …
On Sunday I mentioned how one of Abu Dhabi’s Sheikhs has gone missing in a glider accident (see UAE President’s Brother Missing).
The search in Morocco is still on, but now it’s affecting the television schedule in the UAE; the final episode of Million’s Poet scheduled for tonight has been postponed.
Million’s Poet (I hope the name sounds cooler in Arabic) is like American Idol, but with Nabati poetry instead of singing.
Probably more modest dress, as well.
Check out the Khaleej Times’ article: “Final episode of ‘Million’s Poet’ postponed.”
UPDATE: Rescuers found the sheikh’s body on Tuesday. Abu Dhabi will observe three days of mourning.
I feel the New York Times is missing half a headline today: “Large Hadron Collider Finally Smashing Properly; Black Hole Imminent.”
Ten bucks says they create a strangelet and we all blink out of exist–
Articles like this make me want to throw up: “Overqualified? Yes, but Happy to Have a Job.”
Josh finally lives in Maine again
after four years at Boston University, a stint in Southern California with
Walt Disney Feature Animation,
and two years in Dubai, UAE,
where he created and wrote
Newlywed in Dubai.
