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Slain blogger's final post links murderer to the crime
Posted on May 25, 2005 at 02:10 AM
Filed from the Debbie Downer Dept. here at JoeSchmidt.com
Simon Ng, 19, and his sister Sharon, 21, were brutally murdered in their Queens, NY apartment on May 12th by Sharon's ex-boyfriend Jin Lin. The final post on Simon's blog talks about his encounter that day with his sister's ex-boyfriend. An excerpt:
Anyway today has been weird, at 3 some guy ringed the bell. I went down and recognized it was my sister's former boyfriend. He told me he wants to get his fishing poles back. I told him to wait downstair while I get them for him. While I was searching them, he is already in the house. He is still here right now, smoking, walking all around the house with his shoes on which btw I just washed the floor 2 days ago! Hopefully he will leave soon
It's creepy to read the entry knowing that he was murdered shortly after it was posted. Even creepier was how nonchalant he was about the ex-boyfriends presence, joking about how the guy was treading across his recently cleaned floor and how he'd like to get back to writing his Japanese report.
Police later found Simon's blog and the entry placing Jin in the apartment at or around the time of the murders. When confronted with Simon's blog entry, Jin realized the alibi he had given the Police was busted and confessed to the heinous crime.
I think it's a definite possibility that if Simon hadn't posted about his encounter with Jin this crime may have gone unsolved. I must say this was some very good investigative work done by the NYPD.
I won't get into the grizzly details of pair's untimely demise or the asinine motive behind Jin's actions. If you wish, you can read more about this over on the New York Daily News website.
I can see it now, next fall on one of those crime investigation TV shows like Law and Order. They'll have an episode based on the events of this case with their cliched teaser "Ripped from the headlines".
Rest in peace Simon and Sharon.
Posted by joeschmidt at 02:10 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us
Things that don't exist
Posted on May 23, 2005 at 01:18 AM
Things that don't exist is a website that maintains a rapidly growing list of things that, well... don't exist. The site is populated by reader contributions and allows for comments to be left by others to agree with or dispute a claim. Ratings can also be applied to each contribution.
The idea for this site originated from a comic and later a movie. And even though it has only been actively seeking contributions for less close to a month, the list already has almost 12,000 entries. They range from the nonsensical and completely improbable to general observations. Hell, there's even a song.
Things I've found on the list that actually do exist:
The sound of one hand clapping
Chocolate-covered bacon - This is something you could probably get at any waffle house.
Here are some interesting, non-existing things I found:
a free lunch - heavily debated
An air freshener that smells like marker pens, only non toxic. - A million dollar idea waiting to happen.
October 5-14, 1582 - This was true only in Catholic countries. In Britain, September 3rd-13th 1752 never existed. (via the wiki)
Tyler Durden - I am Jack's medulla oblongata.
Of course I had to add my two cents:
exact number of licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie pop
a lawn that doesn't need mowing
answer to the operation of dividing by zero
Posted by joeschmidt at 01:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us
Site Update
Posted on May 20, 2005 at 01:44 AM
Notice something different? Yes, I've updated the layout and content of this site a bit. One thing some of you will notice is that I put the date and time of each post directly under the post's title. This is so my wife doesn't have to hunt for what time I came to bed.
A few other things I've added:
People - This is a section for people I know with blogs. If you know me (and your blog doesn't suck) let me know and I will add you to the list. How do you know if your blog doesn't suck? Well, if you have to ask then....
David Kadavy - co-worker/friend/kitchen pass antagonist
Lisa (Maltarich) Park - an old high school friend whose blog I just recently found. She is married and living in Dallas, Texas and writes about cooking lessons, her garden, and life in general.
Jamie Hiner is the former head of the Omaha web design meetup group. I say former because Meetup.com just started charging $19 a month per meetup group to maintain a presence on meetup.com's site. Seeing that there were 3 of us at the last meeting, I can understand that coming up with the cash just to sit around and B.S. isn't really plausible.
He also develops some really cool software called GrowthTrak. And I've heard through the grapevine he is conjuring up some dashboard widgets for the Mac as well.
Rollin' - added a few new sites to my blog roll, got rid of some that I don't read anymore.
Guilty Pleasures - These are blogs some people won't admit to reading but are quite enjoyable nonetheless. Hence the name guilty pleasures.
Various Reading, Listening, Watching lists - In order to combat my acute blogfluenza, I've recently picked up a few new books. I also plan on stopping by the next Swanson Library Book Sale to see if I can pick up some classics I've been wanting to read.
All the links in the lists are to Amazon.com, so if you see something you like you can pick it up.
Worth mentioning: the legal department is down with The Killers so you know it's good.
I've also added a new feature called Gadget of the Week. By no means is this any type of advertising and I'm not getting paid for this (although it would be nice). It's just that I sometimes find unique gadgets and thought I would share them with you. I'm not too sure on the title "Gadget of The Week" but it will remain for now. This weeks Scrolling LED belt buckle is a doozy. But for $30 how can you go wrong? Feel free to submit any gadgets you find by sending me an email.
Lastly, I've added sidebars to my archive pages. I found that when you read the archives without sidebars the sentences tend to get really long and hard to follow. Plus if you want to bail, you have a few more options to click on.
I was going to add a section for Omaha blogs but, seeing that I've already listed the only two Omaha blogs I read, it was kind of a moot point. There is one other Omaha based blog I read, but it will not be making a list on this site unless I create a trainwreck category. You bet.
Posted by joeschmidt at 01:44 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us
Pure Joy
Posted on May 17, 2005 at 01:40 AM
It's not often that you bear witness to a milestone in someone's life. As a parent you are lucky enough to experience quite a few. Birthdays, the first words, first steps, but nothing is quite as awe inspiring (or scary) as watching your child learn to ride a bike on his own.
It takes you back to a time when you were that age. Free from the stresses of adulthood. No job or bills to worry about. Just you, the bike, and the open road. It's one of the first signs that your "baby" is starting to grow up. He no longer needs training wheels to keep him steady and is now free to go where ever the road takes him.
It is true foreshadowing of what lies ahead in the years that soon follow (If you're a parent, just think of yourself as the "training wheels").
The following video was taken on Nick's second day of riding a bike, sans training wheels. It's amazing how quickly he's picked it up. Sure there's been some wrecks, nothing a few hugs and kisses won't heal. But after every spill he pops right up ready to get back in the saddle. I think we can expect to spend quite a few more nights up at the parking lot.
Technical Information: The following video is about 8MB. If you have a high speed internet connection, you can click on the image below and the movie will start playing. Otherwise, I recommend you right click on the picture, then click "Save Target As" to save it to a location on your computer. You will need Microsoft's Windows Media Player in order to view the video.
So, without further adieu, I give you Pure Joy.
Posted by joeschmidt at 01:40 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us
My blog gets mentioned on Adam Curry's podcast
Posted on May 13, 2005 at 01:44 AM
A few days ago I sent and email to Adam Curry, one of the founding fathers of the juggernaut known as Podcasting (The Podfather for short), in which I was looking for some information on the Millennium Vault 2000 time capsule located in Guildford, England. I was doing research for my post on the world's largest time capsule so I thought Adam, being a Guildford resident, might be a good resource for information on the subject.
Turns out he hasn't been there yet but is going to do one of his famous soundseeing tours on the subject. I only wish I could be there, but seeing as England is half a world away I don't think I'll be making the trip.
Here's a link to the May 12th Daily Source Code podcast that mentions my email to Adam. (clicking on the link should automatically start playing the podcast). And here's a link to the show notes.
For those of you wondering what I'm talking about (yes Mother I'm talking to you) Podcasting is a new way of creating audio content using the web for distribution. Basically think of a Podcast as time-shifted radio. Someone with a computer, a decent mic, and something to say records their thoughts in mp3 format and makes it available for downloading on their website. No stinking transmitters, no expensive radio studio equipment, no FCC to regulate what you say. You create the content and the world can download and listen to it whenever they want.
Podcasting's name is dervied from Apple's iPod music device. Adam et al wrote the software called iPodder which automatically downloads new podcasts and loads them into iTunes where they will then be transferred to your iPod.
A common misconception about Podcasts is that you need an iPod to listen to them. This is false. All you need to listen to a podcast is any computer software or portable music device that can play mp3s. It's that easy.
Adam's Podcast (known as The Daily Source Code) is by far the most popular and best produced podcast out there to date. In fact, his podcast is doing so well that Sirius satellite radio is going to have Adam produce a podshow for one of their music channels.
I could go on about podcasting but it would be better if I cut this short and give you a link to Wikipedia's article on podcasting. It's a good resource to get you started.
One thing I would like to ask Adam is how his life has changed since he started his podcast and if can even think back to a time when podcasting didn't exist.
And for those of you who might be wondering why the name Adam Curry sounds familiar? Take yourselves back to a time when Mtv actually played videos. Yes, now you've got it. That Adam Curry.
Posted by joeschmidt at 01:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us
Memo to wife and neighbors: You've been warned!
Mowing the yard is a chore in which I loathe. Sure you can get someone to mow it for you, but that costs money. Or, you can just put it off, letting your grass grow so tall that small animals and children get lost in your yard. But that will only force the wife to do it herself, thus shaming you in front of the neighborhood. So I figure why not make mowing fun?
Our yard isn't big enough to have a riding lawn mower. Although that doesn't seem to stop my drunken neighbor from whipping around his yard in a 30yr old, sherman tank-style controlled (think levers), riding mower. So I figure why not try the remote control mower route? I even found a good resource for building your own RC mower.
The other option would be to puss out and order a RCLM2006S from Evatech Inc. It'll only set you back $2300.
Posted by joeschmidt at 01:15 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us
High winds topple crane
Posted on May 12, 2005 at 01:09 AM
Whoops.
Tuesday nights high winds toppled a construction crane at the new Holland Performing Arts Center in downtown Omaha (Click here for a more detailed picture). The remaining facade of what was known as Frankie Panes, which neighbors the site, was left unharmed.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the history of this site, Frankie Panes was a bar that sat adjacent to the proposed site for the new performing arts center. The city imploded the former resident, a sad looking Campbell Soup factory, and in the process severely damaged Frankie Panes 100+ year old building.
I remember going downtown the day of the implosion because the site is only a few blocks from our office. We were concerned that the blast might cause problems with the electrical service to our building, resulting in possible power outage or surges. So as a precaution I shut down all of our servers until the raucous was over.
The bad thing was that city officials told the owner of Frankie Panes that his business, which sat mere feet from the building that was to be imploded, was in no danger. Upon hearing this news, the owner didn't remove any of his possessions from the building.
What made matters even worse was that the business also served as his home (he lived on second floor of the building). Once the dust from the implosion settled, all that remained was the ghostly facade of a once historic building and a lawsuit filed against the City of Omaha.
The city official who made that call can be seen weed whipping trees in Gene Leahy Mall from 8-Noon on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Posted by joeschmidt at 01:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us
Do you have a secret?
We all have secrets. Some big, others not so big. For those of you dying to let it out, there is a blog called postsecret where you can send in a homemade postcard displaying your deepest, darkest secret. Some posts may not be deemed work-safe, so proceed with caution. But you're not reading this from work right? I will look for your postcard telling the world of your scandalous habit of surfing the internet while at work.
Some posts are disturbing, some introspective, others hilarious. I find it captivating to see how creative the people are who contribute their secrets. A lot of work went into some of the postcards and shows some really good design.
Secrets are updated every Sunday. There's no archive to keep track of past secrets, so once they fall off the front page they are gone forever.
Here are a few samples of what you might find:
Posted by joeschmidt at 12:04 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us
Nebraska Sightseeing with Google Maps: An Update
Posted on May 10, 2005 at 06:44 AM
One other interesting thing I found, but is really hard to see on the map, is the world's largest time capsule in Seward Nebraska. Built in 1975 by local resident Harold Davisson, the time capsule is filled with approx. 5000 "artifacts". Items range from children's letters, a 1975 Chevy Vega, a Kawasaki motorcycle (both with zero miles) to a leisure suit. It was the time capsule creator's hope that when the capsule was opened on July 4th, 2025 someone would wear the leisure suit while riding the motorcycle. The time capsule can be seen in the image below. It is the tiny white square in the middle of the picture.
The capsule itself weighs 45 tons and measures 20' by 8' by 6'. The pyramid you see in the picture was added in 1983 and contains a badly beaten up 1975 Datsun.
I initially questioned the fact that Seward Nebraska could be home to the world's largest time capsule. Someone in the last 30 years has had to of built something bigger. Which brought me to the Millennium Vault 2000, a 100 cubic meter vault constructed in the side of a hill on the grounds of Guildford Castle in southern England in the year 2000.
The Millennium Vault 2000, which won't be opened until the year 3000, contains thousands of 20th century souvenirs, which are a gift to the future residents of Britain, in order to give them a better idea of what life was like at the beginning of the millennium. A sample of the items within its confines would be a Mini Cooper (specially treated to withstand time, a Sony Walkman, a collection of jokes (which given British humor probably aren't funny now, but might be hysterical in the year 3000) and letters to the future British people from personalities like Prime Minister Tony Blair.
So which time capsule is the world's largest? Let's do a straight comparison based on volume:
Seward Time Capsule:
20' x 8' x 6' = 960 cubic feet / 27 cubic feet = 35.556 cubic yards
Millenium Vault 2000:
100 cubic meters = 130.79 cubic yards
So based on the previous calculations it looks like Guildford England is home of the worlds largest time capsule. Sorry Seward, but at least you'll be able to don a leisure suit and cruise around in a Vega in about 20 years.
Posted by joeschmidt at 06:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us
Soccer Moms?
Posted on May 09, 2005 at 01:04 AM
What a let down.
As you may know, I was asked to review a new TV show this past Saturday and give a telephone interview of what I thought of it. I couldn't have been more disappointed.
The show was entitled Soccer Moms, it starred Kristin Davis of Sex and the city fame as DeAnn, a suburban housewife, who partners with Jamie (Gina Torres) as private investigators. Jamie is an ex-cop with two kids and a husband who is in jail who becomes a P.I. in order to make ends meet. DeAnn is her friend who assists her in solving cases. They officially become partners at the end of the episode when Jamie realized she can't do it without DeAnn's help.
The character of DeAnn could really be summed up by that of Charlotte in Sex and the City. You know, the well dressed, mild mannered, prudish, goody two shoe? Take Charlotte out of her 5th avenue world and plop her down in suburbia and presto, you have DeAnn. Not much of a stretch for Kristin Davis.
Instead of being called Soccer Moms this show should be called "Sex and the City: The Latter Years" (minus Carrie, Miranda, and Samantha of course) The show evens uses the voice narration of the main character DeAnn, just like that of Carrie in Sex and the City. Total rip off.
I won't bore you with the plot, as it was convoluted and a real snoozer. The "highlight" was at the end of the show when Jamie is being held at gunpoint by an illegal alien maid. DeAnn saves the day by grabbing a can of Pam and leaps in front of the gun woman, spraying it directly in her face (all in slow motion) temporarily stunning her. Then DeAnn uses her self-defense skills to disarm the gun toting maid. Very compelling, not.
The show lasted only 33 minutes, not the 40-50 minutes previously relayed to me. I couldn't have been more thankful.
The interview started promptly at 4pm and was conducted by a company called TNS. The interviewer asked what seemed to be about 100 questions. Ranging from have you seen the stars in other shows, would you like to see more of this star in the show, to whether I liked future plot scenarios.
One future plot involved DeAnn and Jamie having to repossess a car not knowing the car had a cat inside of it. This of course not being your ordinary cat, but a champion show cat. And the owners of the cat were connected to the mob, putting the lives of Jamie, DeAnn, and their families in jeopardy.
Who writes this crap? Hell, I could write better this. Somebody call my agent.
As you can probably tell I bagged the show during the entire interview. I like Kristin Davis and always watched Sex and the City on HBO (I am comfortable enough with myself to admit that), and stated I would watch the show if someone else wanted to watch it, but definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone else. This show will make prime time TV based solely on the star power of Kristin Davis but will fail if the writing doesn't improve.
Also, change the damn title of the show. You won't get anyone sans uterus to watch the show with a name like "Soccer Moms". What's the first thing I think of when I hear the words "Soccer Moms"? Overweight, frumpy, fast approaching middle-aged women, adorned in bedazzled jogging suits, driving mammoth SUV's, guzzling Starbucks like it was going out of style (if that's possible).
Towards the end of the interview they asked how much of the following shows I watched per month:
Hope and Faith - nada
Alias - nope
Extreme Makeover: Home edition - occasionally
According to Jim - vaguely familiar
Desperate Housewives - Are you kidding me? I'll stare at Terri Hatcher for about a minute but then it's time to move along.
They then asked if I was a fan of the following shows:
Hart to Hart - Remembered seeing it, but how many 9 year olds would really be into a show like this?
Remington Steele - Again, remembered it but wasn't a fan.
Moonlighting - Total fan. Bruce Willis, pre Die Hard, with Cybill Shepherd. Great show.
So I can kind of see where they are going with this show, two friends, suburban setting, kind of opposites when you compare their personalities, mixed in with investigating/bringing down the bad guys, all in time to take the kids to soccer practice.
Obviously they got the wrong focus market when they chose me. If it isn't on the Discovery Channel, TLC, HBO, or on before 10pm I'm probably not going to watch it.
Posted by joeschmidt at 01:04 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us
The next Seinfeld?
Posted on May 06, 2005 at 12:38 AM
A few months ago I received a call asking if I would be willing to participate in a TV survey. The survey would consist of watching a TV pilot at home and then answer a few questions after the show is over. Easy enough.
Months pass, and finally last Wednesday I get a call. The show will be airing on Cox channel 3 this Saturday, May 7th, from 3-4pm. No details were given about the show other than it is for "Major Prime Time" TV and will be aired commercial free.
What I am curious about is if this will be available to just me or all Cox cable subscribers? So if you've got nothing to this Saturday around 3'ish and subscribe to Cox cable (in Omaha) tune in to see if you can watch as well. If it isn't available for you, then I apologize in advance for you possibly having to watch those freaks on TBN. You know what I'm talking about, that channel with the old people who sit in those fabulously fake golden chairs, that scary lady with Tammy Fae Baker makeup and purple hair, or that guy with a really bad comb-over that claims to heal people through the TV.
Still not sure what I'm talking about? Maybe this will refresh your memory.
Posted by joeschmidt at 12:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us
The enchilada fiasco of '05
Posted on May 02, 2005 at 01:31 AM
Filed from the Department of Culinary Arts here at JoeSchmidt.com
Does something look out of place here?
Can you tell what it is?
What usually goes with fresh corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, and hot dinner rolls? I'm thinking something to do with meat? Maybe Turkey? Oh, I know, chicken and cheese enchiladas! Yeah that's it.
Not quite.
For those of you who have ever cooked a turkey, you know that the cooking instructions on the label of the turkey bag aren't always accurate. It clearly stated that for a 6-8 pound turkey you must cook it at 325 degrees for 2 hours and 45 minutes. Our bird weighed in at 7.29 pounds so it clearly fell within the specified weight limit.
Working off that assumption, the rest of the meal was prepared to coincide within that timeframe. After approx. 2 hours and 45 minutes, the bird was checked but was clearly not done, yet the corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, and rolls were ready to be served. (We later found that the turkey would take another hour of oven time before it would be edible.) Meanwhile, the head of the legal department was starving and ready to go supafly T-N-T if he didn't get some food quickly, so some concessions had to be made on the part of the executive chef. What is something that could be substituted for turkey, yet could be prepared in a matter of minutes? How about frozen enchiladas?
The executive chef was quoted as saying,"Actually, if you think about it, corn can be a Mexican dish, and if the mashed potatoes were in the form of Potato Oles, then the enchiladas wouldn't be out of place. So TECHNICALLY the mashed potatoes are out of place."
All was not lost, though. There was enough mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, and dinner rolls left over to go with the un-eaten turkey, so tonight's meal is basically already prepared.
During what is now known as the "enchilada fiasco" I mentioned to the executive chef that things could be worse. I didn't get a response, only receiving "The Look" in anticipation of what would come out of my mouth next. I said,"It could be Thanksgiving." This comment, though accurate, did not have an effect on the disposition of the aformentioned "Look" wearer.
Posted by joeschmidt at 01:31 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us
