Category Archives: the U.S.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Play It!

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I think just about everyone wants to try one of the quiz-type game shows for real some time, you know, just to see. Walt Disney World’s Disney-MGM Studios USED to give people a chance to try it for themselves. I say used to because the attraction closed last year in the middle of August (the one in California Adventure at Disneyland Resort closed before then). I turned out to be one of the last to sit in the “Hot Seat” before it closed.

To get to that seat one needed to choose the correct order of four items before anyone else of up to 500 people in the audience. The one that got me there was choosing the chronological order of four songs from the 1960′s. I knew three of the songs, but I was not sure of the exact order. Since speed is of the essence, I did my best, pushing a couple of them at random. The next thing I knew, my seat number was flashing and my mug was on the big screen. They had a host as personable as those you’ve seen on the TV versions of the game, and she did a fine job. The game is played much like the one you see on TV, but they are a bit more relaxed in the first round of five questions. I found all of those to be as easy as you would expect.

The big difference in this version of the game was that they did not offer cash for prizes. After answering the first five question correctly, the prizes were five trading pins and a baseball cap based on the game. The second round of questions was almost as easy, but I needed to “ask the audience” on a Prada design question. The 32,000 point level yielded a polo shirt, another five pins, and a pin-trading strap.

I needed to answer five more questions for a Disney cruise to the Bahamas. I got the next question right; four more to go. The twelfth question was a stumper: What was the name of the submarine in the movie “Atlantis: The Lost Empire?” I missed that one when it was making the rounds (did anyone watch that movie?) This provided a chance to use a lifeline different from that of the TV show: “Ask a complete stranger.” When that one is used, they dial a number that goes outside the studio somewhere. The cast member who answers the phone finds an unsuspecting passerby who then attempts to help the contestant. The woman who helped (thanks for doing that!) didn’t sound too sure of her answer (did anyone watch that movie?) I used up the 50-50 lifeline which got rid of two answers, including the one offered by the passerby (I made the right move). So now I just had to choose the right one of the two. I picked one, and a bunch of audience members applauded. I thought I got it, but unfortunately it was the other.

Bummer that I didn’t get to go further, but I had a blast giving it a try. I would do it again in a second.

Service Review: Comcast Cable III

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Just like clockwork, Comcast shut off our TV and Internet services here again in South Florida today. Since it happens so often, I will try to get the timing of these outages down to the minute. 7:03 am seems to be the usual shutoff time, as it was here again today. It went back on at 8:04 am. One hour? That may be a new record!

I’m wondering if anyone else around here is fed up with this kind of service? I see some satellite dishes around the area, so I imagine that some have made the change already.

The New U.S. Dollar Coin

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The U.S. government is making still another shot at releasing a one-dollar coin. This one will be in a series depicting U.S. presidents, starting with the first. The design will basically follow the one for Sacagawea, with some notable exceptions, so that they will work in vending machines.

The potential economic value of this move is big as long as there is follow-through to remove the dollar bill from circulation. As I understand it, the coins cost $0.20 to make and last around 30 years. Paper dollars cost only $0.04 to produce, but they last only 2 years. In Japan the smallest bill is ¥1,000 (around $8.20 at this writing). There are ¥500, ¥100, ¥50, ¥10, ¥5, and ¥1 coins to handle smaller denominations. There has been some talk to get rid of the ¥1 coin because of its small value.

Here’s to George Washington and his success on the new coin!

Everglades National Park

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In the summer of 2005, when we were checking the Fort Lauderdale area out as a place to live, we headed west to the Everglades side of the state. I cannot remember the name of the place we went, but it was right out of a movie depicting the “swamps” of South Florida. Since it was in the rainy season, the Everglades were full of water and the airboats were running.

Saturday, we went much further to the huge area that is the Everglades National Park. The first place to go once at the Park is at the visitor center near Homestead. They have nice displays of the local flora and fauna, a small bookstore, and friendly staff. We picked up a map and paid the $10 for one car for one day.

We hadn’t really planned for lunch, and there was no restaurant at the visitor center. The staff there pointed us to the Royal Palm building where they have some snacks (it turned out to be junk food, soda and bottled water; we later learned that we could have waited until the end of the road where there is a better shop for sandwiches and other food).

This place was cool because there were lots of tame cormorants, a heron (we think) chasing some of the cormorants, and several alligators, one of which you can see here which stayed right in front of us. There are a couple of trails to take you out farther, but there were lots of people, and we passed on that this time. After our munch, we headed south and stopped here and there to read the signs and walk around. Since it was not the rainy season, the whole area looked a lot different from our previous trip.

The end of the road is literally the south end of the State of Florida (not counting the Florida Keys). There is a camping area, boating area, a the small the Flamingo Visitor Center. They have some of the food I mentioned, a gas station (possibly needed if you didn’t plan to drive so far), a place to rent canoes, and a great view. We saw several keys of various sizes, one so small that it had just one mangrove on it. We were there in the middle of the afternoon and the weather was great (you need something to keep the mosquitos off if you’re there later or in the summer). We saw

three BIG alligators sunning themselves, and

an osprey feeding her young. They were cheeping loudly when we got there. We were they long enough for her to be able to feed herself. It was really an amazing experience!

I haven’t counted recently, but I think that takes me up to around 20 World Heritage sites so far. Lots more to to.

Service Review: Comcast Cable

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Well, we’re just about fed up with the service at Comcast in South Florida. For some reason, the company does all its maintenance starting at 7:00 am in the morning, just when people want to watch the news for the day, or, as in my case, get to work with the broadband hookup. Two weeks ago, it was off twice for several hours (including a cutoff late on a Saturday night during a movie); last week, it was off for three and half hours. Today, it was off for five and half hours. At $122 a month for TV and broadband, turning off service during the day is highway robbery. Take a lesson from the cable folks in Kumamoto, Japan, Comcast: they do all of their maintenance between 3:00 am and 5:00 am. In the five or so years we used the cable in Kumamoto, there were only a couple of interruptions, and one of those was because we changed computers. My recommendation for people new to the area is to check out the satellite dish options.

Unhappy Meals & Nutritionism

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This is probably the most readable and practical article on nutrition, or more accurately, nutritionism, that I have ever read. Reading it will require free registration, and waiting more than The New York Times’ limited reading time (it’s a week or two) will require a fee. Read it now, and enjoy your balanced meal without gorging yourself. Great job, Michael Pollan!

So begins the sabbatical…

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Well, I locked up my office and said most of my goodbyes for the next year. Here starts the adventure of going on sabbatical for a full year. After living in Japan for 90% of the past 20 years, I am looking forward to jumping back in to American life.

Of course, the main event is writing the dissertation, and I will strive to share what I can when I can. The Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences at Nova Southeastern University has a great program that has been flexible enough for me to survive the courses from as far away as Japan. Now, I’m looking forward to digging into the box of books I just sent as well as those in the The Sherman Library.

That box also has some of the books I plan to read to retool my English language courses. I teach English to science students, so the focus will be on that population. Look for book reviews and ideas for teaching and learning.

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