Man I hate to bash anyone but I’ve got to warn you all against Yellow Cab in the immediate D.C., Maryland, Virginal (i.e. Beltway) area. Historically I’ve traveled a lot for business and pleasure. I’ve racked up a considerable number of miles, hotel i, etc… and I’ve had my share of cab & car rides. And despite the reputation of cab drivers in popular media for “taking you for a ride” I’ve never really had the experience of getting taken for “a ride” until this week. Unfortunately I’ve taken several cab rides in the last few days which lead me to this very unfortunate post. (Disclaimer: Most cab drivers are independent contractors and my recent experience, could statistically represent an anomalous series of events).

Of the cab rides I’ve taken with Yellow Cab in the D.C. area, I’ve been taken out of my way, or had a cabbie “negotiate” the rate and not start the meter 3 out of 4 times. That’s right, 75% of my cab rides have involved “unethical” behavior and all of them were Yellow Cab drivers. I gave one of them extra slack because I know Beltway traffic can be brutal and I was riding during rush hour but the rest were well outside of normal driving hours and really had no excuse.

So how did I know I was getting taken for a ride? First, this should serve as a warning to all cab drivers tempted to take patrons for a ride; we have smart phones with GPS & Google Maps. I simply turned on Google Maps and watched our course. I added the traffic layer in 2 instances but on all occasions tracked our precise course. In each instance, it wasn’t simply a matter of an off road here or there, but rather it was secondary and sometimes tertiary side roads that did nothing but add distance.

I really hate to be negative on anyone but I have to seriously recommend against Yellow Cab in the DC area until they address this problem with their drivers, independent or not.. If you have to take Yellow Cab and have a smart phone, turn on Google Maps, and watch your course, there’s a good chance you might be going for more of a ride than you expect.

It’s fair to say that I’m not a gamer anymore than someone who’s taken a single guitar lesson is a musician. But I grew up with video games and still enjoy some occasional downtime in front of my XBOX 360 playing a little Halo or Modern Warfare. My girlfriend is entirely too generous and understanding of my occasional geekdom and fortunately was fond of saying that “geeks are the new sexy” before it became popular to think that way. So this past weekend she got us tickets to see “Video Games Live” at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. Now before you start getting all judgmental on the state of my nerdia, indulge me in why this was a pretty cool experience then ridicule me the comments if you want.

Vide Games Live is an immersive concert experience featuring video, smoke machines and a bit of a video game carnival atmosphere. The concert features a full symphony orchestra, choir, vocal soloist Laura “Flute Link” Intravia (who also plays solo flute exceedingly well) and the host and co-creator of “Video Games Live” Tommy Tallarico playing electric guitar on a few of the pieces.

“Video Games Live” takes you on a tour from the early days of video games (Pong anyone?) to the modern cinematic video games we once could only dream about. There is a lot of interaction from the audience during the show, which is encouraged, and it’s a casual symphony experience which is a great way to introduce kids to the art.

I was also a little shocked at how many girl gamers were there. Now I know that a lot of girls play games but I was surprised that the ratio of boys-to-girls seemed to be about 50/50, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if the guys were out-numbered, of the 8 seats in our box only 2 of us were male. (Notably they also had a live Frogger playoff between two audience members and the Girl won pretty soundly).

It was fun to relive the music of Donkey Kong and Frogger from my quarter dropping youth but without a doubt the highlight was the truly majestic and cinematic scores that often accompany modern video games. Scores from games such as Diablo, Halo and the ever popular Final Fantasy can easily rival all but the best film scores in their depth and quality. There were a number of games I didn’t recognize but whos musical pieces made me want to go buy the soundtrack. Chrono-Cross (I think, and which I’ve never heard of) was a particularly beautiful and melodic piece.

It was also fun to watch the videos and see, side-by-side, just how far things have come. We owe a debt of thanks to the video game industry for pushing computers and graphics, and giving us the awesome computing & entertainment options we now have.

If you think video games are just for kids consider this:

• The release of Halo 3 was the largest single day event (from a revenue perspective) in entertainment history.
• Games can cost tens-of-millions of dollars to produce, Halo 3 was reportedly in the $40 – $60 Million range.
• Halo 3 employed over 300 people to produce.

Those sound like big-boy numbers to me!

Even if you’re still skeptical listen to a few of the pieces below, you might be surprised at how beautiful the music is!

Asteroid Impact Courtesy NASA

I’m a big geek about a lot of things but astronomy has always been close to the top of the list. So while looking for an excuse to break out the telescope and see something new I decided to look up the Near Earth Object Program and see if there were any known objects that might be visible anytime soon.  What I found was NASA’a list of known objects with earth crossing orbits giving them an at least marginal chance of impacting us. From there the data geek kicked in and here is what I’ve found:

All numbers are approximate.

• There are 300 objects with a chance of hitting us (that we know about).
• There are 46 that could hit us in the next 10 years.
• Of those that might hit us between now and 2010 all are 0 (zero) on the Tornio Scale (the likelihood of “consequences” if an impact occurs, lower is better).
• The largest asteroid with a chance of impacting us is in 2014 (named 2008 VS4) and has a diameter of 1.2 kilometers and has a velocity of 14.05km/sec (31,428 miles per hour). Actual probability of this one hitting us is 1 in 384,615,000).

According to the Spaceguard Survey, in the case of 75% of the asteroids 1 km and larger, individual chances of dying in the event of an impact are about 1-in-720,000. About the same chance as dying from a fireworks accident or amusement park ride.

By way of comparison, the Tunguska incident in Siberia in 1908 the object was probably between 20-100 metres (65-325 feet) across and the Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona was caused by something about 30 meters in diameter. Then of course there is the famous dinosaur killing asteroid that was about 10,000 meters (10km) wide.

For now we’re pretty safe but new objects are being discovered all the time so keep your eyes on JPL and on the sky!

By the way, the  object most likely to hit us is 2006 JY26 with a 1 in 172 chance of causing a bad day starting sometime in 2073, but at a paltry .007 meters in diameter, I would’t sweat it.

Have a nice day!

I don’t live in Indy anymore but I did grow up there, and since it will always be “home” I usually get a little nostalgic this time of year when the city is gearing up for the Race. May is arguably one of the best months of the year in Indy, the weather is typically nice, the race is about to happen, sometimes the Pacers are in the playoffs, the Indianan’s are playing… there’s just a lot going on and it’s a ton of fun.

This year my friend John P. from Onemansblog.com has a press pass to the Indy 500 and will be road tripping up to Indy to shoot pics and video of the race. I’m expecting some spectacular shots (ahem!)

So for John, and anyone else heading to Indianapolis for race weekend, or any weekend here are 6  Things You Should Do While in Indianapolis. They’re not race specific but they’re distinctly Indianapolis. Many of these are also “photography” focused so lot’s of good picture opportunities.

1. Have dinner at St. Elmo’s Steakhouse

Established in 1902 and still in its original location (125 S. Illinois Street in Downtown Indy) this is the place to dine in Indy. Fantastic steaks and seafood, a killer wine selection and when things are going on like the 500 your likely to spot plenty of celebs (though that is the last reason to go). St. Elmo’s just oozes history so don’t miss it.

2. Take Cool Pictures Along the Canal

The canal runs from downtown out to White River Park (largely through it) and has lot’s of great photo-ops along the way. I’d definitely take pictures of the Medal of Honor Monument (pictured above) and the Indy skyline from the canal. There are great opportunities for night shots as well.

3. Visit the Children’s Museum, 3000 N. Meridian Street

The largest children’s museum in the world this was a favorite outing as a kid but isn’t lost on adults either. My favorite was the T-Rex skeleton and mummy but there are floors of stuff to see and do. I can only imagine what they’ve added since I’ve been there!

4. Visit the NCAA Headquarters, 700 Washington Street

You’ll probably want to spend most of your time in the Hall of Champions but it’s a beautiful structure with plenty to see. And it would be an absolute shame to visit the amateur sports capital of the world and not go to the NCAA HQ!

5. Visit the Indiana War Memorial, located on the 400 block of Meridian just north of Downtown

The War memorial is a beautiful building and a striking tribute to Indiana War Veterans. The shrine room is particularly impressive.  It’s well worth your time to walk among the artifacts and history.

6. See Monument Circle

This one goes without saying but the 238ft tower smack in the geographic center of the city is just plain nice to see. It’s also iconic in that it literally rests in the middle of Indianapolis and everything diverges from there. Any without doubt any sporting event broadcast from Indy will feature aerial shots of Monument Circle. Go see it and say you’ve been there!

Apparently Congressman Hank Johnson representing the 4th district of Georgia doesn’t watch the Discovery Channel or he’d know enough about basic geology to realize what a moronic statement this is. I realize we can all make stupid mistakes from time to time, like this one time when I was 14 and ..well.. no need to go there right now, we aren’t talking about me!,  but is anyone besides me just MORTIFIED that this man is a US Congressman? People, this is who votes on matters as important as health care. Someone voted for him, besides Congressman Hank Johnson. I wonder if in his campaign he promised not to capsize Georgia.

You have to watch this painful video to believe that he is actually serious. I feel bad for the 4th district of Georgia, and I grew up in Indiana when everyone prodded Dan Quayle for spelling potato(e) wrong. Seems mild, hell, even I can’t spell but I know that dropping off some Marines and their families won’t turn an island over.

I went to the Houston Rodeo this weekend. If you know me you probably wonder WTF I was doing there since I’m only slightly more “country” than Donald Trump. Well, the answer is I was invited by some very nice people who treated us to a first class experience. I won’t tell you who they were because I don’t want them to have to admit they know me but I can tell you that Houston society knows how to throw down, are very gracious and totally know how to make a yankee feel welcome.

I also went because I dig different cultural experiences and it’s just one of those things you should do if you are ever in Texas. Besides, I was kidnapped but it’s all good now because I was fed well and had plenty to drink. Anyway, the rodeo is something to behold because the cowboys that participate are certifiably insaine, which for some reason makes for all the best sporting events (race car drivers, hockey players, you get the idea… ). I also think “Psychotic Cowboys” sounds like a good name for a heavy metal band.  I mean really, if it isn’t possible for someone to get killed it just doesn’t feel like a sport. Of course you don’t want anyone to actually get hurt but if the mere possiblity doesn’t exist I’m not sure it’s a real sport. So on to the cowboys in the Rodeo.

They’re nuts.

Allow me to frame this for you: a roughly 5’5″ man weighing about 150lbs climbs on a 1800lb animal with horns and tries to stay on for 8 seconds. But apparently that’s not crazy enough so they put a strap around the bulls balls to really piss him off (it’d piss me off).  Awesome!

Now if you might think that “you can do anything for 8 seconds, it can’t be that hard” should really think again, or go out for the rodeo and find out the hard way. You can also watch the little video I call “52 Seconds Of Madness”. As soon as the cowboy falls off the clowns have to run over to the bull to pull the strap off it’s testicles. I’m pretty sure these guys are even crazier than the coyboy that just fell off his bull.

Of course the rodeo has lot’s of beer, boots and more cowboy hats than I’ve ever seen in one place and I felt a little naked without one but I think they could all tell I’m a yankee even though I have some good boots so they didn’t make fun of me.

If you are ever in Texas during a rodeo you should try it. No, I’m serious, open your mind and give it a whirl, just once… but if someone walks up to you with a leather strap slung over their shoulder and a gleam in their eye, RUN!