There's Tufsyn, and Retsyn, and Acrylan too, and Marfac and Melmac and what else is new?

I've got some quirk to my personality that makes it hard for me to notice an advertisement even when I'm going out of my way to notice them, so even though for a rare change I actually did see most of the Super Bowl -- man, I must have seen like twenty fumbles and turnovers returned for touchdowns, unless that was just instant replays -- I didn't actually notice any of the commercials. In particular despite the news radio going wild talking about the idea that rank amateurs with no background or experience in marketing might be able to come up with an advertising approach at least as brilliant as Goya Beans's old ``Goya. Oh Boya'', only for free. But I did catch some news channel or other this morning, as my dad (I'm guessing) ratcheted up the volume in the hopes of getting me to wake up. Apparently everyone in the world was fairly bored with this set of Super Bowl ads, and a reporter was commenting on that, mentioning that it was surprising to have a lackluster bunch of commercials since this was, after all, ``like the Super Bowl of ads.''

I'm glad that not everything I say is doomed to be written down, pointed at, and laughed about online. Not that I'd sound so very bright if you listened to what I actually said. It's just the reporter broke that slender line separating metaphor from tautology.

Were you aware that Daylight Saving Time in the United States starts a couple of weeks earlier this year than it has in previous years? I remember some mention of it and I wasn't much worried about it since I generally like Daylight Saving Time but don't see that it needs much of my attention. (I'd mentioned that while in Singapore I was either on perpetual or never on Daylight Saving Time, depending on how you want to view things.) News radio 88 was really harping on this today, though, that older computers might have the change-of-time hard-coded in and they wouldn't adjust the two or three weeks (whatever it is) earlier, and this could ... cause ... inconveniences. They had a guy from Rutgers whose name sounded vaguely familiar on to reassure that this probably wouldn't bring about the death of civilization, but the afternoon anchor was noticeably more worked up about it than the noon anchor was. Me, I've left my computer on Singapore time for absolutely no good reason except it baffles my bank's online banking system.

Trivia: In 1880 Proctor & Gamble lead the United States in national magazine advertising with a budget of under $12,000. Source: Advertising and the Transformation of American Society, 1865 - 1920, James D Norris.

Currently Reading: Project Solar Sail, Edited by Arthur C Clarke.