Jane Lake Makes a Mistake

To make the Times Square experience more bizarre this year, Target figured out a new gimmick and is supplying the revelers with 3-D glasses so they will see the famous Target logo coming out of the falling Swarovski crystal ball in Times Square on New Year's Eve. I won't even address the commercial ridiculousness of it all.

I went to Times Square one New Year's Eve long ago and believe me once is enough. If you like to stand in the freezing cold for hours huddled around a TV camera with masses of people crushing up against you waiting to scream every time the red light goes on the camera then you have found your dream experience.

Now you get to wear cheap 3-D glasses that will probably give you a headache, will keep falling off and in the worst case scenario you will be seeing bull's eyes for the rest of your life.

Don't get me wrong. I will laugh with the rest of the country as some palooka from Minnesota will swear he is having the best time of his life as 50 people behind him jump in and out of the camera frame.

Happy New Year to all! May 2007 be your bestest year ever, and may 22% of your dreams come true!

Posted by L.I.D at 8:48 AM | Permalink | Comments

Everyone likes to play "What would you do if" games until they come down to the two tough basic questions.

1. Would you sacrifice your life to save your (mother, father, sister, brother, husband. wife, child, friend, stranger)?

2. Would you kill 1 person to save 10? 5 to save 100? 100 to save a million?

I will try to tackle these now.

The first question needs to be clarified. If it were a matter of pushing someone out of the way of an oncoming car, I feel instinct kicks in. You don't know for sure if you will be killed. I think if I were related to or knew the person my instinct would be to try to save them at my own risk. I'm not sure if it were a stranger,I would do anymore than yell "watch out!"

If it were the scenario of someone saying choose who dies you or the other person, I would refuse to answer even if that meant my own death. I would not be able to live with choosing the other person and I would feel choosing myself was tantamount to suicide.

The second question is the tougher one, but more clear cut from my perspective. I don't believe there is ever a justification for killing as one life is just as valuable as 100 lives. This is the hypothetical scenario that is used to justify wars, stem cell research, and a host of other evils. Nobody ultimately benefits from this as we have sold our souls to the devil to attain what we believe is a good result. Abortion is the extreme case of this as a life is sacrificed not to even save another life, but to just prevent a difficult or untimely situation.

Those are my answers and I hope I never have to make any of those decisions in my lifetime, but I feel it is always good to know in the back of your mind what your answer would be.

I entered this in the Philosophy Blog War. Pleases vote for my entry here:

VOTE FOR JANE!

Posted by L.I.D at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments

The 2006 Weblog Awards are over and I tied for last place! There is something quite nice about not owning last place. It was actually very fun being a finalist and congratulations to all of the winners and thanks to everyone who voted for me.

In regards to the cheating controversies, I will just say that if it can be done online it can be done in the real voting booths, so whoever wins the Presidency in 2008, we can just assume they cheated. And whoever ties for last place should be crowned the victor!

Just my humble opinion.

Posted by L.I.D at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments

Please vote for me in the 2006 Weblog Awards for Best New Blog. You can vote once a day!:

VOTE FOR JANE!

I am certainly one of the benefactors of the online shopping world.

I order food from FreshDirect. I order drugstore stuff through Drugstore.com. I order books through Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com (depending on price and coupons). All of my Christmas presents and Hanukkah presents were bought online.

True, I haven't left my bedroom since 1995, but its sooooooo comfortable.

I used to go into a large department store and within 10 minutes, I would be weak and dizzy. Maybe that's why I always needed socks and underwear. I never lasted long enough in the store to get them. I needed to prioritize when I went to a store. Only the first couple of items got bought as I faded out so quickly.

But now there is macys.com, bloomingdales.com, ninewest.com, and victoriassecret.com. The list is virtually endless (no pun intended!).

Malls and department stores still seem to be thriving but I have no idea why.

Now if I could just get cash online! No more ATM machines!

Posted by L.I.D at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments

Please vote for me in the 2006 Weblog Awards for Best New Blog. You can vote once a day!:

VOTE FOR JANE!

We all make mistakes and face the consequences. The challenge is in not trying to defend yourself. The choices you have when you make a mistake are to blame someone else, try to justify it, lie about it, deny it is a mistake, or own up to it.

Presidents face this issue in the most public of ways. President Clinton tried them all and found owning up to it actually got him off the hook. Yes, sometimes there are consequences to admitting a mistake, but I think it always brings you to a better place. I think President Bush made a mistake regarding Iraq and he is taking the deny it is a mistake route. He will own up to it twenty years from now I'm sure.

I have certainly experienced many mistakes in my life and have tried any and all of the above. Sometimes the hardest part is owning up to the mistake to yourself. After all, you are your own hardest critic. As we approach the new year, I need to make a note to myself to face up to my mistakes quicker and with more resolve next year. Keeping an internal clean slate keeps Jane healthier, hopefully wealthier, and definitely wiser.

Posted by L.I.D at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments

Please vote for me in the 2006 Weblog Awards for Best New Blog. You can vote once a day!:

VOTE FOR JANE!

I was never the best in popularity contests. The only office I have ever held was Vice President of my High School math club, and interestingly enough, I was out sick the day of the voting!

As the 2006 Weblog Awards progress, and I am scrambling to keep out of last place, I realize that getting votes in a small competition like this is a tiny taste of what it must be like to run a presidential campaign. When you are an unknown going into a race, it is at best a shot in the dark. But it does happen.

Now if I could just smear all of my competition on the front page of the NY Post!

Just kidding!

There is certainly some super quality and good looking blogs up against me. I will say in my defense that I have a certain style that sets me apart from the typical blogs that you see including my competition. If I could just convince a couple of thousand people out there to vote for me.

Hey, Howard Stern, could you plug me on your radio show? That should be good for a few hundred thousand votes. Hmmm...not a bad idea!

Posted by L.I.D at 8:29 AM | Permalink | Comments

Please vote for me in the 2006 Weblog Awards for Best New Blog. You can vote once a day!:

VOTE FOR JANE!


Deal or No Deal, 1 VS 100, and Show Me The Money are the next generation of game shows. Glitzy sets, big money, and attractive models set these new shows apart from the classics like Jeopardy! It is like Wheel of Fortune on Red Bull.

Deal or No Deal requires zero skill and allows contestants to make completely uneducated decisions and walk away with $100,000. Pick a suitcase from 1 to 26 from an attractive model (I aspire to hold suitcase 22!) and start getting offers to sell your suitcase from a mysterious banker.

Dumb, Corny, and not as fun as Lets Make a Deal, but if the contestant is wacky enough, it can be worth watching.

1 VS 100 is not long for this world. No attractive models, just 100 mob members that have included Ken Jennings (from Jeopardy fame) and Kevin Federline (from spousal fame). They have already changed the rules to try to revive it, but too many commercials, average intelligence of the contestants, and questions that are either too easy or too hard make it the Biggest Loser!

That leaves us with Show Me The Money! Hosted by none other than William Shatner, this show actually requires some intelligence from its contestants. Mr. Shatner has a history of being in the right place at the right time, and even though he is a bizarre host, this just might work. The Million Dollar Dancers are reminiscent of the Fly Girls from In Living Color (J Lo's launching pad!). You can't quit when you are doing well which makes it more interesting. If they can find great contestants I predict this one will be around for awhile and Jane Lake will someday be saying:

SHOW ME THE MONEY!

Posted by L.I.D at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments

I am a finalist for Best New Blog! I now know how Scott Savol felt on American Idol. I nominated myself as a lark, but didn't expect to make the finals. But now that I'm in it, I want to win it!

Voting starts tomorrow for 10 days. You can vote once a day, so please try to vote for me all 10 days as I think I will need that support to have a realistic chance to win.

You like me! You really like me!

Posted by L.I.D at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Comments

Is it me or did they stop making toys that don't overstimulate kids? Looking for Christmas presents that are appropriate for kids gets more difficult each year.

Toys like the yo-yo, the hula hoop, a jump rope, an etch-a-sketch, jacks, and marbles are eternal classics. Now if it doesn't talk, move, interact with TV, or sing it is BORING!

I remember as a kid putting a playing card in the spokes of my bicycle to make a cool noise as I rode. Now I would just press a button to sound like a jet plane, a motorcycle, or press another button to hear 1 of a hundred tunes (not that I wouldn't have an ipod in my ear anyway!)

I think we are creating a society of overstimulated technophiles who are losing touch with the ability to revel in the beauty of a perfect aggie. You hear a lot more about anxiety and depression today then you did 10 years ago. Could this be a result of the loss of simplicity?

Will toys someday have warnings on them from the Surgeon General saying "This toy may be hazardous to your psyche!" I think maybe they should.

I entered this in the Philosophy Blog War. Pleases vote for my entry here:

VOTE FOR JANE!

Posted by L.I.D at 8:03 AM | Permalink | Comments