Month: December 2006

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White meat chemistry experiment

Last night, I had the urge to go to McDonalds. It happens every great once and a while. More likely than none, it’s after I’ve had an alcoholic beverage or two when the thought pops into my head. There’s the part of your brain, obviously weekend with stupid juice, that says, “you know, that does sound good.”

On the way home last night, we stopped by one of the three locations that are all within easy reach from our home, all separated by an average of four blocks in the downtown area. When that spark lites in your head, it’s pretty hard to detour around it. You’re too weak to tell yourself that you’ve seen Super Size Me[imdb] enough times to run away. However, the other side of you says Harold and Kumar[imdb] went to White Castle, and they had a wacky adventure. I can totally do this.

Hollywood… you have failed me once again. Miserably. I guess I could blame the lack of common sense, but we can all just assume that one, right?

No worries, though. I’m not completely sick, and no, it’s not the effects of the tasty beverages. I’m “experienced” enough to know what is and isn’t. I even get upset when Rebecca gets McDonalds, so you can bet that I am kicking myself doubly over this one.

It gets better though. Going to the McDonalds website, I decided to look up exactly what crap I put in my stomach last night that’s still making me feel like the Hamburgler has setup a refugee camp in my intestinal track.

White Meat CHICKEN MCNUGGETS: Chicken meat, water, modified corn starch, salt, chicken broth powder (chicken broth, salt and natural chicken flavouring), seasoning [(vegetable oil (soybean and/or canola), extracts of
rosemary, mono, di and triglycerides (from sunflower oil) and soy lecithin)]. Breaded with: water, wheat flour, yellow corn flour, modified corn starch, salt, baking powder, spices (white and black pepper, celery seed), wheat starch,
whey powder, sodium aluminum phosphate, corn starch, partially hydrogenated soybean oil (manufacturing aid), (par-fried in partially hydrogenated soybean oil, corn oil, TBHQ, citric acid and dimethyl silicone). Cooked in 100%
vegetable oil (Canola oil with added THBQ, citric acid and dimethypolysiloxane). [mcdonalds]

It all starts making sense within a few words, doesn’t it? Forget that the menu even lists them as being “white meat”. And “dimethypolysiloxane”? I tried to do a quick search on it and came up with nothing after just a few tries. If I can’t go to Google and come up with a fairly quick explanation, then you know that can’t be good.

What I did find mentioned dimethypolysiloxane as a polymer in some sort of environmental science study, and the other website listed it as an ingredient in some sort of skin cream for applying to areas of your body that had laser surgery. Wow! A million and one uses. And you can eat it, too!

Sadly, it doesn’t end there, but I’ll bypass the explanation as to what’s in the barbeque sauce. Yet another thing that I hardly, if ever, consume. I will say that if you have to have sauce with your nuggets, go with honey and steer clear of everything else. It only has three ingredients, and it doesn’t get more natural than the stuff that bees make. All your other options have ten or more. Who knows what science experiments or cosmetic products you can create with them.

I guess I could rephrase that opening thought. Last night, I had a horrible idea to go to McDonalds.

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The Crazy Canucks #10 – Hanging out at the Shark Club in downtown Vancouver

Fighting the pod fade, episode #10 is up and ready.

Ten episodes into the podcast, all of the members join up after the game against Edmonton for drinks and yakking about the Canucks. This was our first opportunity to have everyone meet face to face, and we had a microphone to record a little discussion. Some of us had been there a little while longer than the rest, and our blood alcohol level might have shown it.

Record as of this episode: 13-14-1 (3rd in the Northwest Division)

The Shark Club made for a very interesting atmosphere for trying to watch a unimpressive game, especially on a Monday night where the NFL takes precedence at one of the closest drinking establishments to GM Place. J.J. was still a little wiped out after returning from a vacation to Las Vegas and shares some experiences with catching a couple games in sin city. Dave brings up an interesting point about “we are all Canucks,” and Alanah had a backstage pass to the game that offers up a lot of great insights to the game against the Oilers. Rebecca brings up some good points about our lack of puck luck, and John starts to wonder about a conspiracy to our lack of scoring, but that could be the beer talking.

The Crazy Canucks

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No one and everyone is listening to podcasts

For me, podcasting is a lot like arguing over who is and isn’t listening to radio. For or against. It’s stupid, or it’s worthwhile. I get so tired of it. It’s like we’re back in 1995 and arguing over Mac vs. Windows. I learned a long time ago that it’s all a matter of preference. Whatever works for you, and you like it, then great. Go have fun. I’ll do my own thing in the meantime.

Last week, PC World wrote about how very few people in the world are listening to podcasts. Citing an article from the BCC, the numbers would tell you that this is true. And okay, I’ll buy what they are saying. The sad thing is that there will be media organizations who will look as this research and make a decision for not podcasting content. The study is there, and over paid consultants live and die by these things. In fact, PC World ended their article by asking readers if, based on this BBC article, they should do their own podcast.

Then you have an article from MacNewsWorld today. They report that the medium is doing great, but they base this off of the amount of content that is being created everyday. It’s on the rise, from amateurs to professionals alike. I also think that part of the article is just a way to advertise products for prospective podcasters, but the first portion of the post is what I’m mainly focusing on.

I lend more credit to this frame of thought. I don’t care about who is already out there that I can reach. Providing content and bringing in those who want to consume it, iPod owners or not, should be more important. If podcasting is dragged down by the name implying that you need an iPod to be apart of the fun, then use that as a marketing strategy.

Step out there and put out your content. If you can, then do it. You won’t know until you try, and you stand to bring in even more people who will check out podcasting in general.

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The slow moving, giant sloth that is Iowa Public Radio

Flickr: Public Radio daysWhen I joined the world of public radio in 2003, the general manager for the group of stations that were controlled and funded by Iowa State University issued a white paper calling for the creation of a statewide network for public radio within the state. What he wanted to do was to bring all stations from the three major university’s into a single network, the other two school’s being the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Iowa.

It was was in the first few days that this news came out of left field and made the whole place freak out. I was fresh to the whole public radio sphere at WSUI/KSUI, and it was within the first month of coming on board that people were telling me that I should consider applying for the full time position as assistant engineer. The thing is, no one knew if their jobs were going to be there if and when this consolidation took effect.

One thing that my time in college radio taught me was that bureaucracies work at an incredibly slow, painful, and sometimes ignorant pace. A motion like this would be a matter decided by a select group of people at the top of the institute of higher education food chain, the board of regents. It was no secret to anyone inside the stations that the guy who put out this white paper was licking his lips to be the one at the top of the organizational chart. Long story short, the process out-processed him. Not only did he not make it through the motions to be considered a finalist for the job, but he eventually left altogether.

Enter the era of the executive director of Iowa Public Radio, Cindy Browne. No matter how much everyone tried to put us at ease with the situation, there was never a worse feeling that treating this woman with ill manner would cost you your career. We were told that this wasn’t an era of consolidation, but an attempt at better cooperation. There would be an examining of how running all the stations under one network could save money, but anyone familiar with the way any media organization goes about such a venture knows what that means. The less people you have, the more money you can save. Continue reading “The slow moving, giant sloth that is Iowa Public Radio”

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The world needs more Don Cherry

Flickr: Don Cherry (Uncleweed)
Photo credit: Uncleweed on Flickr

Now, there are going to be loads of people who think I am full of crap for saying that. Truth is, I hadn’t seen or heard of Don Cherry[wiki] before moving to Canada. Being a hockey fan south of the 49th, you have to realize that there is this border of ignorance as to what goes on in Canadian media. Unless you know people up here or make an effort to find out for yourself, you don’t get exposure to what goes on up north. That’s the simple truth.

So catching the latest episode of the Canucks Outsider yesterday, DaveO mentioned that Don Cherry has started podcasting. This isn’t completely the truth, but you can catch him and Brian Williams in your ear buds. Basically you get a snippet version of Grapeline, ripped straight from the airwaves and put into podcast form. I’ve listened to a handful of them, and they’re not too bad. Under ten minutes long, super short ads inserted here and there, and entirely not enough content.

I would have to say that it’s a podcast of a radio program that sounds like radio. That’s kinda of sad. And truth be told, the feed hasn’t been updated since this past march. I can’t find a website telling me anything new or different, so I’m unsure as to if I have the right feed or the show is no longer being podcasted. I was originally excited to get more Don Cherry because we never seem to get him during Canucks games when they are broadcast on CBC. Sure, he’s more of an east coast guy, but I’ve been getting a kick out of him.

Hugh Laurie of House, poppin pillsNatives to his antics will probably say otherwise. I dig a guy who speaks his mind and ruffles some feathers, even if what he says is a load of crap sometime. I would even equate Cherry to watching the television show House[imdb]. Rude, blunt, and somewhat unforgiving for saying the things they say. Let’s all be thankful that Cherry isn’t in charge of saving people’s lives, but you can argue if the guy has some sort of addiction to pain pills and what not. In fact, I’d go as far to say that Cherry can make Hugh Laurie’s character on House appear sane.

Blogcritics made a post about Don Cherry today that sums up a lot of the love/hate relationship that many people have. No matter how you really feel about the guy, hockey would not be the same without him, not to mention the intense fashion sense the guy brings to the broadcasts. I think he’s the one guy in hockey that could wear glitter and completely get away with it. Chances are, he already has and I just don’t know it.

By the way, it took some good sleuthing in the iTunes podcast directory in order to find The Grapeline podcast. Here is the XML feed for it.