Mathman

A few years back a couple friends of mine and I were up late talking. Somehow we got to the topic of TV shows we watched when we were kids. One that we remembered was Square One and in particular Mathman. I remembered that conversation tonight when I was listening to the Relevant Podcast and they talked about Mathnet on Square One. Did a quick search and, thanks to Wikipedia, I came across a site with clips from the show.

For your viewing pleasure, I offer up a clip of Mathman.

ExxonMobil Has Record Proftits 3rd Quarter

This came as no shocker to me. ExxonMobil had its best EVER quarter in terms of both profits and sales. This past quarter their PROFITS were $9.92 BILLION!!! Let me write that out: $9,920,000,000. That’s a lot of zeros. In the 3rd quarter of 2004 their profits were $6.23 billion.

Hmm . . . where did they make all the money??? This year, gas prices averaged between $2.50 – $3.00 for most of the 3rd quarter compared to $1.80 – $2.00 last year. That’s 50-75% higher than last year’s prices. Pretty simple math in my head.

My point is this. I really believe that ExxonMobil profited by using the Hurricanes as an excuse to raise prices. They said that production costs would be higher, so they had to raise the price. If they were simply trying to maintain profits, that would be one thing. But when the post RECORD PROFITS & SALES, that’s a whole ‘nother story. They used a national tragedy to pad their wallets and they should pay.

I propose that we all write a letter to express our disgust with the company and our intention to NEVER buy gas from any of their gas stations again unless they do something MAJOR to apologize for what they did. To me, this is a textbook example of price gouging at its worst.

Here is their contact info:
Exxon Mobil Corp.
5959 Las Colinas Boulevard
Irving, TX 75039-2298
Phone: 972-444-1000
Fax: 972-444-1348
Web Site: http://www.exxonmobil.com

Once I’ve sent my letter, I’ll post a copy of it as well as any replies that I receive from them.

Appearances and the NBA Dress Code

This past week, the NBA officially released their new dress code for players. The general policy is business casual when they are “engaged in team or league business.” In addition, when a player is at a game but not in uniform they are required to wear a sports coat and dress shoes.

There’s been quite a bit of initial reaction written to the policy. Much of the discussion has centered on whether or not it’s racially biased. Clarence Green wrote to the USA Today saying, “I cannot help but also wonder about the NBA’s reasons for banning items more commonly worn by the African-American players, such as flashy neck jewelry. The new rules seem racist . . . and to threaten a guy’s career with a dress code rule is just over the top.”

Charles Barkley of all people had a really great response on the Jay Leno show. He supports the new policy. He said, “If a well-dressed white kid and a black kid wearing a do-rag and throwback jersey came to me in a job interview, I’d hire the white kid. That’s reality. That’s the No. 1 reason I support the dress code.” That’s not racism. That’s business.

Every business in the country has a dress policy. If you don’t follow it, you don’t work there. The business wants to portray a certain image, and they have every right to choose what that image is. The reality is that people form opinions on others based on what they wear. If you’re in shorts and a t-shirt, you’re not going to thought of as a professional. Also, if you’re wearing a suit people notice.

I’ve had personal experience with this at my church. Whenever I wear a suit, which is not very often, I get a number of comments from people along the lines of “Looking sharp,” “Whoa, what’s the occasion,” or “Thanks for dressing up today!” I find it funny, but it’s reality. In 1 Samuel 16:7, God told Samuel, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” It’d be great if we could see each other for what we really are, but we can’t see another person’s heart. If we could, it wouldn’t matter what we wore. But since we can only see the outward appearance, we need to realize that others will make assumptions on us based on what we wear.

Tomatoes, Drive-Thru, and Hot Sauce

I must confess something. I hate drive-thrus. I know it might sound weird coming from someone spent two and a half years working at a place that has one, but I do. The main reason I hate them is because they’re so frustrating. Today, Brea and I went to Taco Bueno after church and of course went through the drive-thru. I wanted a combo and with no tomatoes. You would think that I asked for a Big Mac. As soon as the word “combo” comes out of your mouth, they immediately reply “What drink would you like?” Have we never been through a drive-thru before? We know the process. A combo comes with a drink. Don’t worry. We’ll let you know what kind of beverage we want. Heaven forbid we’d want to make a modification to our combo before we let you know what drink you want. Not only that, but how hard is it to figure out that when we say “Combo # 5 with no tomatoes” we mean we want no tomatoes ON THE ENTIRE COMBO!!! If we only wanted no tomatoes on one item, we’d say that. Every freakin’ time they have trouble unwrapping this mystery of the no tomatoes order.

With Taco Bueno in particular, I really don’t think they really listen to what you say. When you’re finished placing your order, they ask if you want hot sauce. It doesn’t really matter what you say here. You’re getting hot sauce. I can’t remember one time that they haven’t given me hot sauce, no matter what I say.

Ok, I feel a little better now. I’ll probably order from a drive-thru again.

Computers are Smarter Than Me

I’ve been improving the countdown timer file that I have displayed on the left and I was getting frustrated. In Swish, I have to type in the date and time for the event I want the timer to countdown to. It was off by an hour when I had my computer’s clock set correctly. But if I advanced the timer to the day of or before the event (in this case, the Mavs opener) it would be right. Did I mention I was getting frustrated? Well, I thought about it for a minute. Why would it be wrong today, but right in a couple weeks? Then I realized. Daylight savings. The freaking computer knows that daylight savings is coming so it adjusts the timer accordingly. Amazing. I wish I would have thought of that a couple hours ago.

Vote For Shelby!

KLTY, the contemporary Christian music station in Dallas/Fort Worth is having a Rising Star Talent Search. Shelby Pride, a student at Dallas Christian College, has been selected as one of the top 5 finalists in the competition. She has led worship at Valley View at various events (30 Hour Famine and Youthquake 2004) so if you’re part of the church you might remember her. She will be performing at the Plano Fall Women’s Expo & Holiday Bazaar at the Plano Centre October 29, 2005! If she wins, she will receive $5,000 worth of recording time at a studio.

Vote for her at KLTY.com
Listen to one of her songs here.

Hurricane Rita and Public Insanity

I was watching the news earlier today here in Dallas and I can’t help but be amused by how much people freak out. I don’t want to minimize the hurricane. It’s a serious threat on a lot of levels to a lot of people. The news story channel 8 was running was people getting gas here in Dallas and the long lines that people have had. I don’t blame people for wanting to get gas now, with reports of the price jumping to $4/gallon if Rita takes down the refineries. But the reporter said that bottled water was flying off the shelves too.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good idea to prepare. But come on people. We’re freakin’ in Dallas!!! When the storm hits us, it won’t be a hurricane anymore. At worst, it might be a tropical storm. Even at that, there would only be sporadic flash flooding. Not widespread destruction.

New Orleans was a unique situation. It was surrounded by levies and sat below sea level. I don’t know if it’s possible, or at least likely, for flooding like that to happen at any other major city in the country.

Let’s all just take a deep breath, say a prayer for those who are left at the Gulf Coast, and don’t panic. This is another storm that may or may not cause a lot of damage. Either way, bottled water will be readily available at Costco stores all over Dallas. And that should make us all smile.

Wish You Were Song

Some people have been asking me about this song, so I’ve decided to post it here. Feel free to download it for yourself. If anyone can find out who this is or was, please let me know. I found the song on mp3.com in the late 90s and haven’t been able to figure out who it’s by.

Download the song here.

My Next Car

This is both scary and extremely cool at the same time. GM will be launching the Opel Vectra in 2008 with a self-driving system. It supposedly can navigate through traffic and read signs even at 60 mph. I wonder if the cell phone laws while driving will apply?

Opel Vectra