On a sad note, one of Nadeesha's good friends for many years -- a recent PhD graduate, husband, father of a three-year-old boy and a two-year-old girl, and a model of a kind, decent, wonderful human being if ever there was one -- tragically passed away in a car accident last week. Obviously it's hit his family tremendously hard, and it's a shocking reminder of how precious life is.

I only met him a few times and regret that I could not have gotten to know him better. As may be familiar to all of you, he was a down-to-earth, passionate, nerdy type of person that was easy-going and unpretentious. I've no doubt that he would have gotten along famously with all of you.

On behalf of his family, in this difficult time, I'd ask that you consider donating to his children's trust fund. I know you all don't know him, but it would mean much to us.

http://www.alandesilva.org/

As evidence by previous animated GIFs, I'm really liking Nail Yakupov. (There may be an element of wanting him to succeed and stick it to the anti-Russian bias in the media.) It's hard to pick favorites with the young guys on the team right now, but Yakupov's catching up to Hall in my book. This quote in a recent interview really helps:

AO: Earlier this season you managed to score two almost identical goals on the Kings and Coyotes, swatting the puck in out of mid-air. Is it something you work on at practices?

NY: Well, we do have a table tennis set up in our locker-room. We play it every day. Perhaps, I learned something from there? (laughs) I don’t know, really. It just sort of happened. I just really wanted to score so I skated in the slot, because, basically, that’s where the most goals come from. And then I just calculated the trajectory of the puck and scored.

I assume the motorcycle is a Triumph Bonneville?

March 30th:

Your Sunday read: The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food :

On Page 83 of the report, a thin blue line represents the amount of Dr Pepper flavoring needed to generate maximum appeal. The line is shaped like an upside-down U, just like the bliss-point curve that Moskowitz studied 30 years earlier in his Army lab. And at the top of the arc, there is not a single sweet spot but instead a sweet range, within which “bliss” was achievable. This meant that Cadbury could edge back on its key ingredient, the sugary Dr Pepper syrup, without falling out of the range and losing the bliss. Instead of using 2 milliliters of the flavoring, for instance, they could use 1.69 milliliters and achieve the same effect. The potential savings is merely a few percentage points, and it won’t mean much to individual consumers who are counting calories or grams of sugar. But for Dr Pepper, it adds up to colossal savings. “That looks like nothing,” Reisner said. “But it’s a lot of money. A lot of money. Millions.”

The soda that emerged from all of Moskowitz’s variations became known as Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper, and it proved successful beyond anything Cadbury imagined. In 2008, Cadbury split off its soft-drinks business, which included Snapple and 7-Up. The Dr Pepper Snapple Group has since been valued in excess of $11 billion.

Watch this all the way to the end. It's awkward and painful, but oh so funny...

I love the dialogue at the end of the clip.

Nothing spells fun like realizing that "maybe I don't want to do that job, even if it does sound kind-of cool". ... SIGH. WTF should I do with my life?

... but I'm still going to apply.


That dog valentine is awesome.

Also, I thought this Valentine is hilarious:

Birthday weekend was a break (Carnaval = awesome good times and maple taffy too) but fun. Sadly our long weekend is not the same as the rest of the country's ("because then the ski lift lines would be too long" -- no joke.)

Glad the first impressions are good; I'll be making some small additions over the next few months but it's nice to just get this out there finally. I do, every once in a while, like to peek at The Wayback Machine to see how far we've come. It's pretty crazy...

Indeed. I also like it. ... although, I do miss the dinosaurs. But I'm always resistant to change, so you should probably take my grumblings with a grain of salt (as always).

And... because February is a whirligig of excitement and activity... Happy belated birthday, Par. I hope your website revision launch activities were part of an enjoyable long weekend of turning 30.