View-Master scenic reels being discontinued

viewmaster_1-300x200Remember how I was waxing nostalgic about View-Masters last year? Word comes today that Mattel has stopped making the View-Master scenic reels, only leaving the animated ones like Dora and Shrek.

Listen to this moronic analyst:

Toy industry analyst Sean McGowan with Needham & Co. said View-Master has been in decline since its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s.

“That’s not what the kids are looking for in the back seat of the car,” he said. “They’re looking for a DVD that plays on the back of Daddy’s seat.”

Yeah, kids aren’t looking for books in the back seat of the car, either, but that doesn’t mean books are endangered.

I believe the View-Master is in decline because it hasn’t been marketed at all. It’s a device that has entertained children and adults for generations – and would continue to do so, given the chance. It needs no electricity, you can drop it and it still works, and what other 3-D toys are out there, seventy years since its invention?

Someone should buy that business from Mattel and run it properly.

MT.Net Lair?

fryingpanshoalslight12_thumbThis would be the perfect place to launch my diabolical schemes to rule the world: the Frying Pan Shoals Light Tower. It’s done its job protecting sailors from the dangerous shoals but now it could be mine for $515,000.

The problem, of course, is that I don’t have a half a mil to throw away on a decrepit, rusting hulk 25 miles offshore. And, with real estate being what it is, I can’t really place the value on a property that I can’t land my helicopter on or climb onto because the ladder is missing. Then there’s the fact that you can’t really run real estate comps on a property with no homes within 25 miles of it. Then again, it does has amazing, unobstructed ocean views. Hmm.

I think I’ll stick with hatching my evil plans to take over the world from the comfort of my own home.

Raleigh to host international web conference next year

I’m pretty excited to learn Raleigh will host the 19th annual International World Wide Web Conference at the Raleigh Convention Center next year. A number of people who helped give birth to this thing we call the Internet will be in town collaborating with other techies to plot the future of the Web.

The conference will be a wonderful showcase for our area’s technology and talent. I’m psyched about it. Plus, the esteemed webmasters of the WWW2010 conference website obviously know a fine photograph of downtown Raleigh when they see one.

Mary Anning (1799 – 1847)

A song about pioneering paleontologist Mary Anning: how awesome is that? Pandora does it again.

Mary Anning (1799 – 1847)
Artichoke

do you know Mary Anning? born on a southern shore
her father Richard was a cabinetmaker
and Richard died too early and left the Annings poor
but lucky Mary Anning found an icthyosaur

by circa 1820 she ran a fossil store
she put the bones together for the collectors
and science was the province of men of noble birth
but I’d take Mary Anning over those stuffed white shirts
ancient life that sleeps as fossil

she was walking the cliffs on her own by the sea
she was wondering if there were shapes underneath
there were men with their cash but that’s not what it took
she could read every line on the ground like a book
she assembled the bones of the past in cement
and she sold them in town for a couple of pence
and she showed all the men how the bones could connect
though at first some would scoff they would grow to respect

(repeat first verse)
how did you get in here? show me what you found dear
hello isn’t that queer do you have any more?

Snow dusting

We awoke to a world blanketed with an inch of wet snow. The expected 2-4″ did not materialize, though fortunately the 10″ didn’t, either. I waited an hour later than my usual departure to give time for the idiots on the road to find their respective ditches, then I drove into work with no issues at all.

Tomorrow might be a good work-from-home day as the day should begin with temperatures well below freezing.

Paul Harvey

As a kid I traveled with my family on many road trips to Florida, listening to squabbling siblings and the crackling of whatever AM radio stations we could pick up in the family car. Inevitably, a familiar voice would crackle through the radio: that of Paul Harvey. I was sad today to hear Harvey died yesterday. He was 90.

I didn’t always agree with his politics, but Paul Harvey always had something interesting to say. He was a blogger decades before blogs.

Good day, Paul.

Cookie and Coco update

Here’s a Washington Post Express article giving more details on the Cookie and Coco story.

I’m glad the dogs have a new home but it really puzzles me how the animal activists could be so mean to her. Read this comment from the article link above:

Thank you for finding out the real story. However, I would hate for this woman to get any financial gain from giving up her dogs when millions of dogs lose their lives in shelters every day.

I mean, WTF? This woman tries to find a home for her beloved dogs, happens to gain a lot of attention for it completely by accident, and now she becomes the target of hate? She’s the reason thousands of dogs are euthanized every day? Wait just a doggone minute!

What these activists should be doing is learning from her. There are 10,000 people who responded to the dog ad: that’s 10,000 potential homes for needy dogs. Instead of dissing her, these activists should be asking her for that contact information so other dogs can find homes. Spreading hate is no way to win people to your cause.

I love critters, too, but some of these animal activists should learn how to become social with humans first.