Crocs™ For The King

A while back I wrote about how my wife and I love our Crocs™.

My wife really goes all out when she decorates hers. January 8th is Elvis' birthday. In honor of the occasion and in preparation for our visit to Graceland later this month, she decked out a pair of her Crocs™ in honor of The King. I think they turned out pretty well.

I think what amazes me most is that she can wear these decked out like this and they don't fall apart. The engineering which goes into these creations is really impressive.

Google's Approach To Language Translation

Machine Translations Have Been Pretty Iffy

In a former life I worked as a translator and an interpreter. That experience has made me quite skeptical of machine translated text. In the past, translations I've seen from some software packages have ranged from "OK" to outright terrible. In the past when someone needed translations done and were contemplating purchasing software to do the work, I always strongly advised against machine translations in favor of human ones.  The cost may have been higher, but it was certainly offset by the quality of the work.

To be sure, human translations are not always perfect. There are subtle nuances which can be overlooked when going from one language to another. If the translator is not familiar with technical jargon, mistakes are also quite possible. During my time as a linguist I embarrassed myself on more than one occasion by completely botching a phrase. But, on the whole, humans tend to pick up on things and refer to dictionaries where software could not, no matter how well the package was written.

I think the biggest failing of those software packages, though, was the lack of memory and processing power available. Even today's powerful home computers are not powerful enough to run the serious computations required for the abstract programming a good translation package requires.

Google Has The Tools To Pull Off Better Translations

This is where the folks at Google can shine in this area. A recent posting in the Google Research Blog by Shankar Kumar and Wolfgang Macherey touches upon this very subject. Google has a good approach to language translation. First, they look at translation as a search problem. This makes a lot of sense because much of the same thought process and algorithms which goes into selecting relevant web sites based on key words goes into selecting the appropriate words and phrases when moving from one language to another. Second, Google has the processing power to run very complex calculations. They have the power to run routines which would be impossible for an individual PC to handle.

Basically, the Google method pulls a large number of possible translations for a given phrase and narrows them down to the "safest" one which will cause the "least amount of damage. " There is a link on the blog post which leads to the details of their method. I won't even pretend to understand most of the calculations, but the basic methodology appears to be similar to the way a person might work though a translation - especially if there is time to mull over and check things over once or twice. I think this makes their translations far superior than  those previously possible by machines.

Google's Method Seems To Work Well

I have used Google's Language Tools to help me quickly go through articles in German and Czech (2 languages I at least used to know very well). From what I can see, their methodology works quite nicely. I've at least come to trust them enough to translate items from English to French for our Intranet when the items are shown in our Montreal, Canada location. I'm no Francophile, but from what I can tell at least the basic points are made in the translation.

I love the way Kumar and Macherey describe getting the best translation as doing "the least amount of damage." As I mentioned above, I've caused little bit of damage, mostly to my own ego, with some of my translation faux pas. Perhaps I'll regale a story or two on another day.

La Vita è bella - Life Is Beautiful

Last night we watched a movie I feel good about recommending. The 1997 film "Life is Beautiful" ("La Vita è bella" in the original Italian) is a fascinating story set in WWII Italy. The story is about a happy-go-lucky fellow named Guido (played by Roberto Benigni, who also directed) who falls in love and wins the heart of his lady with his wild, wacky and sometimes absurd sense of humor.

The first part of the story is set in 1939 and tells about the meeting of Guido and Dora when Guido moves into town to work with his uncle at a high-class hotel restaurant. Guido orchestrates a number of "accidental" meetings where he uses his sense humor to win Dora over. The plan works and they marry and have a son.

The second part of the story is much darker. Set in 1945, Guido and his family are targeted for harassment because they are Jews. Guido, his uncle and his son are carted off to a concentration camp. Though she is not Jewish, Dora joins them on the train and is put into the same camp as her husband and son. 

Guido uses his fantastic sense of humor to convince his son they are on a trip planned for his birthday and that the stay at the concentration camp is part of an elaborate game in an effort to win the "grand prize." He even takes the ruse so far as to pretend to leave when his son announces he's tired of the game and wants to go home. 

Although separated in separate male and female parts of the camp, Guido also manages to send special messages to his wife from time to time.

The story culminates when the war comes to an end. Guido hides his son and tries to find his wife to prevent them being carted off and executed by the retreating Germans.

This movie reminded me a bit of "Jakob The Liar" where Robin Williams portrays a Jew in the Warsaw ghetto during WWII who makes up stories about hearing radio announcements to keep up hope in his circle of acquaintances. It also brought back to mind "Closely Watched Trains" ("Ostře sledované vlaky"), the Czech movie about a rail worker in WWII Czechoslovakia.

"Life is Beautiful" is a great story, a jab at Fascism and a lesson in love and sacrifice. The dubbed version we watched streamed off Netflix web site was very well done. Check it out.

Donald E. Westlake

Sometimes books we read become like old friends. Those books are the ones we carry around with us wherever we move and pull off the shelf when we spot then and realize we haven't read them for a while. They are like the literary equivalent of comfort food.

"The Hot Rock" by Donald E. Westlake is one of those books to me. I don't remember where I got it. When I was young my mom and I read voraciously and would exchange paper grocery sacks full of paperbacks with friends and relatives as we read through the piles of books. I think that's where we got "The Hot Rock." Wherever it came from, it ended up on a shelf in my room and followed me all over until a few years ago. I read it many times, enjoying it each time.

(The movie, however, was very disappointing. It's often true that "the movie is never as good as the book" and that saying is true in this case. Read the book, you'll enjoy it much more.)

Donald E. Westlake passed away today. I'll have to get a replacement for my lost copy of "The Hot Rock" and read it in his memory.

The Mouse Wars Part 4 - The Saga Continues

The Mouse Wars Part 3 - One Gone

There has been scant sign of any mice in the apartment since I wrote Part 3 a few days ago. We've heard some scratching under the stairs and in the walls between the closet and the kitchen, but that's been the only activity. Perhaps sealing the gap in the stairs denied the rodents entry into the house proper.

Although we're standing down from high alert, we will stay vigilant for the next week or so just to make sure they don't find another way in.

In München Steht Ein Hofbräuhaus

Please vote for my dream vacation ...

Background

I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to live in Germany - twice. My first stay in Germany was in the beautiful Bavarian city of Augsburg. I came to love Bavaria; it's history, architecture, nature, and people. Although it's been many years since I was last there, I dream of going back there again. I was single when I lived there, so it would be wonderful to introduce my wife and three boys to this fantastic place.

Munich Is My Choice

While living in Bavaria, one of my favorite places to visit was Munich. Other than Augsburg, I think it's the most beautiful city in the region. There are a number of great "touristy" sights to visit such as the Marienplatz, the Englisher Garten and the Hofbräuhaus. In addition, there are also a lot of great things to see "off the beaten path."

Munich is also central to many other great places to visit like Augsburg, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Salzburg (Austria), Füssen, and much more; all close enough for a day trip by rail. This makes Munich the perfect base for a Bavarian getaway.

The rental I chose on HomeAway.com has enough room for my family and a few friends or extended family who might like to join us. It's close to many of the great places in Munich as well as the train station for taking off on day trips. The perfect place in the perfect location. If more want to come than this place will hold, HomeAway has many choices in the area which will accommodate more travellers.

The Mouse Wars Part 3 - One Gone

The Mouse Wars Part 2 - The Mice Find Another Way

We now know for sure there are (or were) at least 2 mice - we saw them both today. They were in the middle of the living room, and appeared to be scrapping. I scared them away when I entered the room and they went behind the couch. #3 son got the small blue garbage can ready and we watched. One tried to make a dash in the direction of the door when #3 son dropped the can on top of it.

I grabbed a piece of poster board and slipped it carefully under the upside down can. We slowly flipped the can over and took it outside. There is a large field on the other side of a wooden fence about 150 feet away from the house. We tossed the mouse over the fence. Hopefully, it's not like a dog and able to find its way back.

We chased the other mouse around for a few minutes. It ran into the kitchen under the refrigerator. When I pulled the refrigerator out it ran over my foot back into the living room. We eventually lost it under the couch again.

The gap in the stairs is about to be sealed. This will eliminate another hiding place for them. Perhaps with the loss of hiding places we can successfully catch the ones which remain and get them outside. Our only other hope is that they will eat the poison. So far I think we've had a couple nibbles at it, but no sign of any actual deaths.

The Mouse Wars Part 2 - The Mice Find Another Way

Read part 1: The Mouse Wars Begin

I appears, perhaps, the mice were not entering our apartment through the cracks in the back of the closet we found yesterday. The sneaky buggers were using the closet as a "way point" hiding place to get into the kitchen and/or the bird cage. It was a clever diversion, but one we won't fall for again.

Common wisdom tells us if we see one rodent, there are more. We think we have visual confirmation: a dark brown and a light brown mouse.

There is an alcove between the stairs and the closet in which we patched up the cracks yesterday. We saw a mouse sneak past the small Christmas tree we have set up in front of the alcove and then run around the corner into the kitchen. I followed, but I didn't see where in the kitchen it went. I suspect it followed the wall behind the trash can and the water dispenser, then under the refrigerator. 

Later, we saw what we suspect was another mouse sneak out from under the closet door and around the corner into the kitchen. I followed again, but it was too fast for me.

Upon closer inspection of the alcove and and stairs area we found a small gap between the bottom stair and the wall of the staircase. It's partially covered in carpet, so it was not easily seen while standing above it. This crack won't be as easy to patch as the cracks in the back of the closet. Here, we will probably need to wedge something in the crack to seal it. I'm thinking we could use a soft wood wedge, like those which come in a HAZMAT barrel patching kit.

In the meantime I did lay out some poison. I would still rather not kill it (them), but I don't see a way to catch them unharmed so I can release them outside. Perhaps if we can seal off all the entrances to our apartment, they'll go somewhere else. That would be fine with me. But, with the poor attention to detail which went into this place, there could be dozens of gaps and cracks around the walls. Today we'll concentrate around the alcove and the gap we found in the stairs. Afterwards, we'll have to deal with the situation as it presents itself.

The Mouse Wars Begin

What we've suspected for the past few days was confirmed last night: we have a mouse in our apartment.

Our suspicions started with the faint sound of scratching under the stairs. It was later reinforced when we heard it again just a little louder somewhere behind the kitchen cabinets. Last night, we saw the varmint. It was sneaking out from under a closet door and ran around the corner into the kitchen.

We suspect it's getting food from the bottom of the bird cage. Sidney knocks food down off his feeder shelf onto the floor of the cage so he can scratch around (it's a big cage - about 4 feet wide, 3 feet deep and 5 feet tall). There is a gap where the bottom door meets the frame of the cage which is too small for Sidney to squeeze through, but wide enough for a mouse.

Now the question is: how do we get rid of it? I called our apartment management the other day and the most they would do for us is give us some poison bait, so we're pretty much on our own. Mice have a very important part to play in our ecosystem - outside - so I really would rather not kill it. Unfortunately, I don't know of a way to catch it live for release. Mice are very good at avoiding traps but terrible at avoiding poisons. I can't recall ever seeing a live catch trap for a mouse.

We pulled everything out of the closet we saw it come out of and found some cracks where the skirting board along the back wall meets the skirting boards which go along the side walls. (The builders didn't really pay attention to detail when they built this place). We filled the cracks with silicone caulk and inspected all the boxes in the closet for signs of nesting. After we put everything back in the closet, we heard some scratching under the stairs - where the cracks in the closet led. Perhaps we've sealed it in and it'll have to find another way out - preferably outside.

For now we wait and watch.

Illegal To Be Annoying

City officials in Brighton, Michigan recently passed a law making it illegal to be annoying. It reads in part:"It shall be unlawful for a person to engage in a course of conduct or repeatedly commit acts that alarm or seriously annoy another person and that serve no legitimate purpose." The law was purposely written so that a police officer has the authority to determine what is annoying.

OK - now I'm annoyed. It's hard to understand what these folks were thinking. This gives the police some pretty extraordinary power to detain people based on their own opinion of what's annoying. This opens up the floodgates for people to be arrested and fined for picketing the city hall, for having a disagreement with a neighbor, or letting kids play touch football in the street. These may be "frivolous" examples, but that's where this kind of law can lead.

Bottom line: This type of law is unconstitutional. The good people in Brighton (and Royal Oak - where a similar law was passed) should be annoying their city leaders for passing this ridiculous law and demand it be repealed.

If you read the article linked below, you will also note the Brighton police chief used to work in Royal Oak and now works in Brighton. Coincidence? I think not.

Read the full story on Click On Detroit.

Short Twitter Survey

Recently, fellow tweeter Rick Osborne and I had a tweet-versation about how to best tweet blog postings and other kinds of promotions. I questioned him when he re-tweeted his own tweet about a blog posting on his site a number of times throughout the day.

He had good reasoning for posting as he did. He has several hundred followers who are spread in many different time zones. He was going under the assumption that his followers may only read the first page of tweets and therefore might miss the tweet about the blog posting.

When I go on Twitter, I go back and read all the new posts starting with where I left off during my last visit. My question to him was based on the assumption that most people use Twitter like I do, going back where one left off and reading all the tweets going forward. Under that assumption, repeated posts might be considered tweet spam.

I think we both have valid assumptions; but, since they are both based on how we do things I thought it would be a good idea to ask around and see how others read posts on Twitter. To that end, I've created the following survey to learn how others read posts in Twitter and what they might consider spam.

Please answer the following questions and help us learn about your Twitter habits. After a few days I'll share the results with everyone here. Please feel free to tweet this around your circle.

Live Tweets From A Plane Crash

This morning I read an AP story by P. Solomon Banda about the plane crash of a Houston-bound Continental airliner where someone actually live-tweeted about the crash. You can read Mike Wilson's tweets here: http://twitter.com/2drinksbehind. I don't think I would have the presence of mind to even think about Twitter, but Mike even took a photo on his phone and posted it.

I don't know Mike, but I have to say: well done. I'm glad you made it out OK and thank you for sharing about your experience.

Background:

For those of you who don't "tweet" Twitter is a micro-blogging site. It's a place where people can post their thoughts and observations. It's called "micro" because each post has a strict limit of 140 characters. It's a great place to connect with friends and family throughout the day.

I highly recommend checking it out. If you want an interesting experience, click on the "Everyone" link and read the posts. What you will read are the last 20 tweets posted to the site. You get a very interesting perspective of the stream of consciousness of people around the world.

Whataburger Love in Michigan

My mom enjoys Whataburger. The only problem is, there are none in Michigan where she lives. So, she's limited to visiting when she comes to Texas for a visit.

For the past couple of years, I've thought about getting her some Whataburger merchandise on a gift-giving occasion. I didn't do it until this Christmas, though. I ordered her a Whataburger mouse pad, which looks like one of Whataburger's ketchup containers, and a Whataburger 50th anniversary coffee mug.

Little did I know that my step-dad was a "Whatafan" too. He appropriated the mouse pad. Now I hear they are racing to the kitchen in the morning so they can be first to grab the Whatamug.

I ordered him a whatamug this morning. I can't have those two acting like a couple of kids, can I?

Ugly Scott

My friend Scott is anything but ugly. But, who am I to argue? Whatever he may call his blog, his point of view is unique, thought-provoking and entertaining all at the same time. I invite you to check him out at Ugly Scott.

I Have No Taste - Follow Up

I reported in an earlier post I was having trouble with my senses of smell and taste. You can read it here if you missed it.

I'm happy to report that since starting on the zinc and magnesium supplements my taste and smell are working rather well. I rarely get the burning smell which plagued me and I'm starting to taste things better.

Please remember, if you smell odd things which no one else does go see your doctor. Although rare, these sensations can be indicators of serious health conditions. It's nice to know, though, that if the odd smells are not from a serious health condition that treatment is available.

Beef and Blizzards in Deming

A friend of mine often insisted the World's best Dairy Queen was in Deming, New Mexico. Having never been to Deming, I didn't completely understand why. But, he insisted nonetheless, and was quite adamant about it. I remained neutral on the subject until I had a chance to stop there.

Deming was a small city (maybe it still is), on Interstate 10 between El Paso and Tucson. It's about 1/3 the way to Tucson, and about 2/3 the way to El Paso - depending on which direction you go. I was once on a four-day weekend and decided to drive to Tucson from El Paso to visit my friend. On my way, I had to stop to see what he was talking about.

View Larger Map

Coming from either direction, all the food places were on Pine Street, just south of the interstate. On the east side of town was the Dairy Queen, and on the west was the Arby's. Two of my favorite fast food places, what more could I ask for?

The Dairy Queen wasn't all that much different from the Dairy Queens found in Texas. I did find there were two things which made this DQ stand out: 1. it was in a great location to stop when travelling through the desert and 2. the people were very, very nice. 

When I got to Tucson, I had to tell my friend he was absolutely right about that Dairy Queen, it really was the World's best.

When my boys were small, even before #3 son was born, we loved to eat at Arby's. When we would drive there, I'd get them bouncing in the back seat (as much as one can bounce strapped into a child car seat or booster seat) yelling "Beef, beef, beef, beef, ... !" It was our favorite meal: Beef!

On another occasion, I was driving from Fort Huachuca, Arizona, to El Paso. My family had come to see me graduate from an Army school there and we were on our way back to visit my in-laws in El Paso until we flew back to Germany where we were stationed. During my six month stay at "The 'Chuc'" I drove to El Paso almost every weekend to visit my family. On those trips, I ate quite a few meals at that Arby's (and the World's greatest DQ). I was more than familiar with the road, and exactly how long it took to get to Deming going in either direction.

Heading west to El Paso, about 20 miles outside of Deming, the signs started to appear. They weren't large billboard signs, but smaller signs set just about eye-level, attached to the supports of the larger signs. The signs were shaped like the distinctive Arby's hat, and had the number of miles until the Deming Arby's printed on them. "20 miles to Arby's," "10 Miles to Arby's," "5 Miles to Arby's," (the anticipation is growing) "Arby's - Next Exit." We started bouncing and yelling at the first sign. For 20 minutes we were hollering out "Beef! Beef! Beef!" By the time we pulled into the parking lot we were in a carniverous frenzy and we'd worked up a big appetite.

There is one visit to that Arby's which really causes it to stand out in my memory.

On one of those weekend trips to El Paso, I was riding with an acquaintance who also had family in El Paso. We stopped at the Arby's (of course, I insisted). We got there about 5 minutes to 9:00 pm. I never lived in a small city like Deming, so it never occurred to me that they would be closing at 9. We walked in, ordered, and waited for our food. Then I heard someone back in the kitchen remark something like he'd just finished cleaning the fryer area. I asked, what time they closed? The person who took our order replied that they closed at 9.

Both of us tried to cancel our orders. We insisted, quite strongly, that they not mess everything up on our account. The workers in the place had already started preparing our order and insisted they would never turn away any customer before closing time. They even refused our request to change our "dine-in" order to a "to-go" one. I was very impressed by this, not so much because the entire crew chimed in agreeing that no customer should be turned away before nine, but more because there was not one real "adult" in the entire group. They all looked like high school kids, and most of them probably were. That really stuck in my head even after more than 10 years.

I don't have much call to drive through Deming any more. You can be sure, though, if I do I'll be having beef and Blizzards.

Ambidextrous

I was at the bank the other day with my wife opening an account. The lady helping us was ambidextrous. I watched as she moused with her right hand and wrote with her left at the same time. I mentioned to my wife what a time-saver that would be for me if I could do that. It's like the lady I know who can write with both hands simultaneously - and have what she wrote in both hands be perfectly legible.

What a handy skill (no pun intended). (Well, maybe a little pun).

I wonder if I could practice enough to master left-handed mousing and right-handed writing. Maybe I'll try that some day.

Hilton Hot Water Update

The week after I returned from the Texas EMS Conference, I used the contact us form on www.hilton.com to complain about the hot water problem I had at the downtown Fort Worth Hilton. (You can read more about that here and here).

I wasn't expecting too much more than an apology, so when I received a reply the next day from a Guest Relations Specialist in Memphis giving me a reference number for my complaint it was a bit of a surprise. Later that same day, I received another email from the Front Office Manager of the Fort Worth Hilton offering me 5000 HHonors points.

Naturally, I took the 5000 points, but also stressed in my reply that I told them about my problem so they would fix the hot water situation. Hopefully they will follow up and make some changes.

My group will be attending next year's EMS Conference, again in Fort Worth. If we end up staying there I'm still going to check the hot water as soon as we check in.

Local Radio Disappears

I don't live in a big city, so my choice of radio stations is somewhat limited. This is exacerbated to a large degree because many of the local radio stations are owned by one large national company.

I like to listen to talk radio, especially when the talk is about local happenings. The local talk station (also owned by the big conglomerate) features syndicated shows most of the day, but the morning and evening drive time show were local hosts talking to local people about local events. That is, until this past week.

The morning guy was let go. Granted, he was only doing radio part time, so he'll land on his feet. The real bad thing is now we have to listen to The Wall Street Journal Report. My goodness that is a bad show. It's like CNN Headline News for radio, only worse. I had to turn it off the other day because it was driving me nuts. They play ESPN Radio at night and on weekends. I'm not that huge a sports fan, but at least the people on ESPN Radio are interesting and entertaining. That would have been a far better choice.

I emailed the radio station yesterday to express my displeasure and disappointment at their choice of programming. I went to their web site and sent an email to the address shown on their contact us page. A few minutes ago I got a reply - the email bounced. No such domain.

Why is it that we have to put up with so much schlock? It's all very disappointing.

Please Help The Salvation Army

My sisters are in the process of kicking off a non-profit organization the purpose of which is to help raise money for other non-profit groups and to provide scholarships for those who wish to become firefighters to help pay their way through the fire academies. The group is called Chadderbox and is named for my brother-in-law, Chad Wessels, who was a firefighter killed in the line of duty a few years ago. Chad was the kind of guy who never met a stranger and liked to chat with everyone he met, thus the name "Chadderbox."

Much to my shame, their website at www.chadderbox.org is showing GoDaddy's domain parking page. Click on the link anyway, by the time you read this it might be up and running.

Thankfully, my lack of attention to the web site has not stopped me nor the other members of Chadderbox from fulfulling the mission to raise money for other non-profit organizations. 'Tis the season for the Salvation Army's kettle campaign and the Chadderbox folks have set a goal to raise $10,000 for the Salvation Army during the holiday season, and we need your help. Please consider donating to this worthy organization. I know how busy The Salvation Army was in Texas assisting those affected by hurricane Ike this past fall and I'm sure they'd like to be ready to help with disaster relief again when the time comes. Please click on the link below and give what you can. Thank you!

By the way, the web geek in me loves the Salvation Army's web site. It was very easy to set this campaign up, join, and create the widget which generates the link above. They are very web savvy. Hats off to them for making it easy and fun to help.