Ask-Steve.com

Help solve the mystery of the excited ice cube

The mysterious excited ice cube. Click photo for a larger view. Alternate (more explicit) angle.

Sorry for the graphic photo, but I just have to try to find out what's causing random ice cubes in my freezer to behave this way. It doesn't happen every time I fill the tray and, as best I can recall, it only happens to one ice cube at a time.

Any ideas on what might be causing this? My best guess is that it's the combination of traces of Viagra and caffeine in our groundwater making it into our tap water...

What shall I do with this baby bird on my porch?

We watched this baby bird sitting in a tree in our backyard while it's mother brought it food this morning as we were eating breakfast. A few hours later I opened the door to take the dog for a walk and the little bird was sitting on the front porch! It started trying to fly / jump over the wall into the front yard, but it couldn't clear it. Fortunately my dog was too excited about going on a walk to notice the bird.

I just looked out a few minutes ago and it's now sitting in a tree pot on the porch—no doubt trying to avoid the hot sun. I'm really worried the parents don't know where it is. What shall I do? I'm inclined to just leave it alone for now so I don't get my scent on it and have the parents abandon it, but I'm worried it's not going to fare too well in this heat...

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Best sandwiches in Southeast Portland

I was very sad to see Bowers Bakery on Southeast Hawthorne go. They'll be missed for the good neighbors they were and wonderful sandwiches and baked goods they made.

I'm somewhat consoled by the arrival of the new East Side Deli that shares the parking lot with the upper Hawthorne liquor store at SE 47th & Hawthorne. I've been there for lunch three out of the last four days. My friend I was there with a couple days ago - who has eaten at Bowers and elsewhere - said hers was the best sandwich she's ever had. Yep. Try them out. Great prices and they use Boar's Head, Dave's Killer Bread, etc. They also stay open late some nights—as in until two or three AM or something crazy like that.

East Side Delicatessen
4626 SE 47th & Hawthorne
Portland, OR 97215
503-236-7313
www.pdxdeli.com

Flies are like tiny birds

Her: Flies are gross!

Me: Just think of them as tiny birds.

Her: They're not birds! They're maggots with wings!

It caused me to giggle.

Dixie Mattress in the news again

And this time it ain't my fault! I wondered why I was getting comments again on these old posts, and then a friend and fellow blogger (thanks Stephanie!) sent me a link to this story in today's Oregonian:

Portland shop defends its Dixie flags
Belmont Street neighbors support protesters who covered up flags with Martin Luther King Jr.'s image; owners call it vandalism

It's a great article—well worth a read.

[UPDATE: 2008.07.02] Be sure to check out the Mercury's write up, as well. They have photos.

Dixie Mattress Protest/Harrassment - Portland Mercury

Portland Hall of Shame: Dixie Mattress Co., Southeast Belmont

Portland Hall of Shame proves a hit with anti-hipster hipsters

Hillary's gift to America: President McCain

You haven't heard the last of Hillary Clinton. In fact, when you think over coming months that she sounds more like a broken record than ever before, you'll be right. The Republican National Committee will be laughing all the way to the polling booths over the fact that Hillary Clinton has handed them on a platter all the material they'll need to give Barack Obama a run for his money. The following is from a Houston Chronicle article today entitled, "Clinton sound bites will have added mileage."

Get ready for a special guest star in Republican ads criticizing Democrat Barack Obama: Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Months of bare-knuckled campaign fights, pitched rhetoric and debate jousting produced a treasure chest of sound bites and videos of Clinton ripping Obama as inexperienced, elitist or simply wrong on various issues.

Now that Obama has clinched his party's nomination, the GOP is ready to pounce. The Republican National Committee on Wednesday rolled out new ads quoting Clinton criticizing Obama.

In one, she is heard in a Democratic debate ripping Obama's stance that he'd meet with foreign dictators without preconditions if elected. In another, she says Obama has little experience in the Senate and suggests that he has little more to offer than nice-sounding speeches.

"There is no time for speeches and on-the-job training," Clinton says in that one. "Senator McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign. I will bring a lifetime of experience. And Senator Obama will bring a speech that he gave in 2002."

A Republican National Committee official said there would be plenty of similar ads to come.

Just when we thought—or at least hoped—there was nothing more she could do to fracture the Democratic party, tarnish its image and severely damage our chances of winning the White House this fall.

Congratulations on a great legacy, Bill and Hillary. Let's hope George W. Bush II does you proud.

Clinton sound bites will have added mileage  |  Houston Chronicle

Enough with the pathetic Sex and the City headlines!

I'm all for the occasional clever headline. I've employed a few myself—no doubt including some real groaners in the mix. But the rash of pathetic headlines meant to draw attention to otherwise unremarkable reviews of the Sex and the City movie are just... well, pathetic. Here's a sampling:

Eager for Sex? The Wait Is Nearly Over
Sex only part of weekend's boxoffice action
Moviegoers prefer Sex over Indy
Sex and the Recession
Sex A Pleasure For Sarah Jessica Parker
Women line up for Sex
Sex spells success at US cinemas
Sex Really Does Sell
Sex Secrets Revealed
Think You Know Much About Sex?
Sex lives
Quiz: How much do you know about Sex?
Sex in your city
Satisfying Sex
Sex Thoughts
Sex-starved women throng US movie theaters
Audiences pay for Sex with $56.8 million debut
Pop Culture Embraces Sex
Was it good for you? "Sex and the City" mines box office gold
Sex improves with age

samslist? Wal-Mart takes aim at craigslist

Wal-Mart continues it's relentless drive toward world domination — one unthinking, bargain-lusting, fellow shopper-trampling lemming at a time.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. quietly launched a free Internet classified service, as the retailer goes beyond selling its own offerings on the Web to posting the products, pets and paraphernalia of virtually anyone who wants to list.

The Bentonville, Ark., retailer debuted Walmart.com Classifieds last week through classified Web site Oodle.com. The service, which the retailer described as a pilot test, carries 30 million items, including foreclosed homes, basset hounds, Madonna concert tickets and a 1981 Ford Firebird, as Wal-Mart tapped into Oodle Inc.'s menagerie of listings.

The service doesn't charge the seller or the buyer and is accessible through Walmart.com, the site the company uses to sell its own products. Wal-Mart said the new offering "further connects our community of 130 million customers who shop the Wal-Mart brand each week."

Let's see... They already let RV's park in their parking lots overnight. I'm guessing next they'll start building trailer parks around their stores. You'd then have everything you ever need in life within walking distance, just beyond the smiling faces greeting you at the doors of Wal-Mart. The smiling faces of Americans sitting there because companies like Wal-Mart put them out of business, then hired them at a crappy wage that wouldn't let them afford to retire.

Wal-Mart. Pay Less. Until We Put Our Last Competitor Under. (Then You're Screwed)

Wal-Mart Adds Free Online Classifieds  |  WSJ.com

MetroFi calls it quits - finally

I received the following from MetroFi via e-mail last Thursday:

Dear MetroFi User,

It is with regret that we notify you of our intentions to discontinue offering the MetroFi FREE and MetroFi Premium services in Portland. We are in the process of negotiating with a 3rd party network operator to keep the network in place, and during this time your services will not be affected. As soon as we know the outcome of these negotiations, we will provide you with further information.

Thank you,
The MetroFi Team

Is anyone surprised by this? I'm amazed they lasted as long as they did considering the service was more or less worthless from day one and never got better. I wrote in July of last year that "instead of free wi-fi, we got a dial-up speed advertising channel. And for many (most?) of us, those ads come crawling onto our screens at the price of a $119 Wireless Access Gateway."

Let's hope their negotiations fall through so we can get back to supporting the folks that have been doing it right all along: the Personal Telco Project. (And no, I still don't work for Personal Telco. I just love what they do and how they go about doing it.)

Obama continues to take the high road, Clinton the low

Hillary Clinton is on a roll. But not the kind of roll she'd like to be on.

Her latest jaw-dropping gaffe:

"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know I just, I don't understand it."

There were cries of disbelief and outrage, and rightly so, from all over. How did her opponent react?

"I have learned that when you are campaigning for as many months as Senator Clinton and I have been campaigning, sometimes you get careless in terms of the statements that you make and I think that is what happened here. Senator Clinton says that she did not intend any offense by it and I will take her at her word on that," Obama told Radio Isla Puerto Rico.

It's very generous of Senator Obama to be so kind in responding to what many see as a thinly veiled reference to the possibility of his own assassination, but even if he's right I find this very troubling. I want someone who is not only ready to lead "on day one," as Clinton intones like a broken record, but someone who is still ready to lead on day 731. Not someone who is going 'get careless' in what she says and does as the President of the United States.

I can't help but wonder whether Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton and their supporters will see the light before they do irreparable harm to their careers, their reputations and the Democratic Party. And, by extension, the nation.

Analysis: Clinton's latest off-key remark

Overheard: At the new Albina Press on SE Hawthorne

Barista, walking toward two tables pulled together and covered with plates, cups, crumbs, paper, etc. (loud enough for the entire place to hear):

They probably bought 25 decaf drinks, tipped a dime and then left this mess for us to clean up. That's typical out here.

I was right with him until that last bit. I can't blame him at all for being annoyed at the slobs who left the mess, but way to insult not only your customers, but the entire neighborhood where you've just opened a new business.

And out here? Way out here in the remote badlands of upper Hawthorne Boulevard?

Anyway, funny stuff.

MySpace spamming former members

I'll never understand why companies like MySpace, with so much on the line, think it's worthwhile to engage in dirty and unethical business practices.

I deleted my MySpace account a while back. I have many reasons for deleting the account, but I'll save those for another post. Before I deleted the account, I unsubscribed from all their e-mail notifications, newsletters, etc. — just in case they didn't have the sense to stop sending me e-mail automatically after deleting my account. Apparently even that wasn't enough to prevent them from spamming me. Today I received another Member Newsletter from them. Of all the crap they might send, sending someone who is no longer a member the Member Newsletter seems pretty pathetic.

Annoyed, but wanting to get MySpace out of MyFace, I thought, "Fine, I'll unsubscribe again." I should have known they wouldn't allow that. Rather than having a one click unsubscribe option in the e-mail like real, ethical companies do, they instruct you to log in to your account to change your subscription settings. Well guess what. I don't have an account! So I have no way at all to unsubscribe from the MySpace Member Newsletter. And that is, without any doubt, by very careful design. If I want to truly rid myself of MySpace, I'm going to have to spend more of MyTime chasing down an e-mail address or phone number and haggling with someone.

If you want to know how trustworthy a company is and whether you should give them your time, information and/or business, take a look at how easy they make it to stop giving them your time, information and/or business. The harder they make it, the more you should avoid them.

McCain - Hillary 2008 - Update

McCain / Hillary 2008: We'll do whatever it takes to win

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McCain - Hillary 2008

McCain - Hillary 2008: We'll always find a way to win

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Photo: Flowers and snow

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