Quick update

In case anyone is wondering, I far prefer the Facebook to the MySpace (links to both at right). And don't ask me why it's "the Facebook" and "the MySpace." I just like it better that way.

No new updates on the baby front. Kristie goes to the doctor again tomorrow morning and is now done teaching for the duration. Of course, last time that still left nine days before any real action.

(If you ever get real, real bored, or if you're new to the blog and you want to know what I've been up to lo these many years... click on one of the archived months. I'd suggest April 2004 for a contrast between my mind then and my mind now.)

Also, stay tuned for possible news on a professional blogging opportunity for yours truly.

Cubs quote(s) of the day

As if the headline of this ESPN.com story doesn't say enough... Dempster thinks Cubs will end drought, take World Series... here's some actual excerpts:

"I think we are going to win the World Series. I really do," (Ryan) Dempster said. "Funny when people make predictions or they say things and people are like, 'How could you say that?' Like you believe it, you really do. Enough of all the ... you know the curse this, the curse that, the goat this, the black cat, the 100 years, whatever it is. We're a better team than we were last year, I truly believe. And last year we made it to the playoffs."

And this from Lou Piniella:

"I like our team. I really do. We know the players a lot better, the players know the staff a lot better and that's a big advantage for us. But at the same time, that's a bold prediction. We just got to get it done on the field. ... Don't put that pressure on you, you worry about this year's team. Don't think about 100 years, think about this year here. And that's all you can do. ... You can't do anymore than that."

So there you have it. Baseball season's under way...

The first great day of the calendar year

Column originally published Feb. 12, 2007

If you notice me walking with an extra spring in my step tomorrow, there's a simple, four-word explanation: Pitchers and catchers report.

Usually the date is marked on my desk calendar for weeks, to let me know when the Cubs spring training complex in Mesa, Ariz., comes to life as pitchers and catchers arrive for their first mandatory workouts. This year the main red-letter day in February is our baby's due date É but the start of spring training runs a close second.

Pitchers and catchers reporting means the first spring training game -- a Thursday, Feb. 28, contest against San Francisco -- is barely two weeks away. It means the Monday, March 31, season opener against Milwaukee is tantalizingly close. It means I can look forward each day to fresh stories from training camp telling me how well Kosuke Fukudome is adjusting to American baseball and how some young prospect looks like the second coming of Ernie Banks.

It means I no longer have to get my sports fix from "American Gladiators" and the "Real World-Road Rules Challenge." I'll still watch those, of course, but now it's just for raw entertainment, not a crutch to get me through the dark time that begins with the end of the World Series in October.

Continue reading "The first great day of the calendar year."

Jack's first report card

Jack brought home a "Child Progress and Planning Report" in his backpack Friday. Here's what his preschool teacher had to say about him:

Social/emotional development: Jack treats arrival as a routine part of the day. Uses self-help skills with prompting. Participates in classroom activities with prompting.

Cognitive: Jack notices similiarities and differences and imitates counting behavior.

Physical: Gross Motor: Moves with direction and beginning coordination. Fine motor: Manipulates objects with hands.

Language: Jack plays with words, sounds and rhymes. Uses simple sentences to express wants and needs.

Next steps at school and home: Continue to work on cutting skills. Also, continue to take compromise from peers or teacher.

So, basically... he's a three-year-old. Which is good, I guess. Nothing about setting other kids on fire.

Answering questions, addressing misconceptions

Column originally published Feb. 5, 2008

Let's start by clearing up a few things I've been asked in recent weeks.

The main definition of salmagundi, the name I've given my newspaper column since I graduated college, is a mixture of chopped meat and pickled herring, with oil, vinegar, pepper and onions. Some call it a pirate stew, which is nice because I have a few good (but off-color) pirate jokes as part of my main repertoire.

But the main reason I use the name is a secondary, more simplistic, nonfood definition: a collection containing a variety of sorts of things, an assortment. It was the name of Orville and Dorothy Zilly's column in the Elizabeth Weekly News, which my father read as a child in the 1950s and 1960s. He always liked the word and, since the paper is defunct, suggested I could borrow the title.

Another thing to clear up is my relationship with Troy Holland, an assistant state's attorney in La Salle County. In short, there is no relationship. I've met the man once and he seemed pleasant. But outside of a last name, we've nothing in common. In fact, the only Hollands I'm related to in La Salle County are my wife and son.

The question came up in online comments posted to one of our stories last week about the encounter Judge Cynthia Raccuglia had with Peru police late last month. Some readers saw my name linked to the story and openly wondered if I had a connection with Troy Holland that would somehow cause a conflict of interest with the way The Times handled the story.

Continue reading "Answering questions, addressing misconceptions."

New camera has arrived

Well, we're slowly navigating ourselves through the world of digital photography, thanks to the arrival of our new Sony CyberShot. As you can tell if you click on some of the photo links, we're shooting stuff in 7 megapixel format, which makes for some absolutely HUGE photos and file sizes (2-plus MB per). We have a 1 GB memory card, so we're not in danger of filling up too fast. But... the computer's hard drive is only so big, which means we'll probably be burning CDs on a semi-regular basis. And we're still hooked on actual film prints and tangible photo albums, so we'll be trekking to the store every 25 shots or so as it is.

The difference is the wheat can be kept and the chaff destroyed, so maybe it won't be too overbearing. I could aim for a smaller file size, but what if we capture that one perfect image that deserves being reproduced at poster size? Wouldn't want to be caught off-guard on that one.

I can still do what I've always done with the film prints put on CD... open, crop and resize for Web sharing so it doesn't take forever to upload with the dial-up. The good news for you folks is that I sometimes will be able to get prints on the blog before we have the hard copy in hand. And I can stop paying for Wal-Mart CDs and instead only burn when I actually have 800 MB worth of stuff to preserve.

Fetus watch

For all but the laziest among you, the kitchen calendar should read "February" at the top. If you stop by our humble Ottawa abode, you'll notice on the 20th, in Kristie's handwriting, the words "Baby! ... maybe," which pretty much sums up our prevailing sentiments these days.

Odds are, Baby Two is arriving sometime this month, closing the door on Phase 8 of our lives together, which started in August 1998. And, in case you're wondering (which clearly, you are, if you're bored enough to read this far), I break the phases down as such:

Phase 1: Casual acquaintances (8/98)
Phase 2: Sort of dating (9/98-10/98)
Phase 3: Clearly exclusive (10/98-3/99)
Phase 4: Long-term potential (3/99-4/00)
Phase 5: Effectively engaged/engaged (4/00-6/02)
Phase 6: Newlyweds (6/02-8/03)
Phase 7: Expecting Baby 1 (8/03-4/04)
Phase 8: Family of three (4/04-2-08)

There's some fuzzy numbers in there, maybe Kristie would shift the months around. Somewhere I evolved from "She's cute" to "I really like her" to "we're in love" to "we could be together forever" to "we will be together forever." Phase 5 lasted a long time (in my brain, anyhow) before we were officially engaged April 29, 2001. After that, everything is crystal clear, from "I now pronounce you husband and wife" to "It's a boy!" But I digress...

Our first due date was Feb. 20. The last ultrasound shifted the due date to Feb. 29. Kristie's doctor has asked for another ultrasound sometime soon, probably because she's, in the medical parlance, friggin' huge (an overripe melon on two legs). But, she's handling this with grace and is markedly more upbeat about the ninth month of Baby Two than she was about the final pre-Jack days. Perhaps not teaching 45-plus hours a week has something to do with that...

She just successfully navigated a few days in Peoria for the annual All-State Music Festival, mainly in pursuit of continuing professional development units, but also a pretty sweet crossword puzzle tie added to my wardrobe. Jack stayed with her parents in Fulton for a few days, and we're here now to haul him back to Ottawa so he can go to preschool tomorrow.

Honestly, if he had his way, he'd probably move in here and tell us to pound sand in a rat hole. But I bet after a month or so he'd start to wonder "Hey, where's that tall guy and fat lady who keep yelling at me to poop in the potty? I haven't seen them for a while." Plus, we have the Noggin Network on our satellite system, and How is stuck with just Nickelodeon, so we have a clear advantage in that department.

I'll try to be good about posting baby updates as much as I can. Last time around this was all brand new, plus I was posting far more regularly, so a gap of a day or two was a clear sign of something fishy. Now I know I go at least a week sometimes, so that isn't much for my 18 loyal readers to base their guesswork off of. (Apologies for the bad grammar -- it's the weekend.)

The other change between this time and last is our geography, specifically being nearly two hours away from the nearest grandparent. Since we don't especially want Jack in the delivery room, and since I'm reasonably sure Kristie wants me in attendance, we've had to devise a system of supervision that will allow everything to run smoothly.

My mom has offered to be "on call" for a few weeks, agreeing to more or less drop everything when we alert her to Go Time. Based on the time of day and day of week, Libertyville is an hour and 45 minutes from Ottawa. Based on when the blessed event begins, we'll determine how soon she needs to arrive to watch Jack whilst we get down to baby-makin'.

If Jack already is in preschool or day care, he have some hours to play with. If it's before 8 a.m. or after 4 p.m. (or a weekend), then the rules are different. The good news is two of my good friends from work live extremely close to us. One, who feeds our cats when we are away, is walking distance even in January weather (sprinting distance if it's really cold). The other is close enough that when she had to borrow my lawnmower this summer, we just pushed it down the sidewalk instead of loading it in the car. Both have agreed (if they remembered doing so) to help bridge the gap between "Honey, I think it's time" and whenever my mom can arrive.

If it happens to be a midnight run as it was with Jack, Kristie said we probably just need someone to come sit in our living room long enough for me to drive her to the hospital and get her checked in, then perhaps I can go back home and wait for K. Unless, of course, the delivery proceeds faster than the first time, in which case I'm not leaving her side (unless I get hungry or sleepy or really have to pee).

All of this is just for the delivery, which is beyond unpredictable. Once that actually happens, we settle in for the long process of getting everyone on board with the idea of having a new baby in the house. Millions of people over the course of history have brought a newborn into a home with a pre-existing three-year-old. I'd guess that in the vast majority of those cases, extreme tragedy was averted. But none of those people have been me, and I don't think I'll feel good about the situation until after it starts.

As you can see from my earlier phase chart, Phase 8 is by far the longest. Jack has gone through 47 phases in that time (and if you want a breakdown, buy a child-rearing book), but Kristie and I have been "parents of one." As excited-nervous-scared-thrilled as we were to move into Phase 8, we're the same with Phase 9. But I really, really like Phase 8, and even though I'm sure I'll really, really like Phase 9, I can't say it isn't a little bit intimidating.

Well, thanks for being my sounding board. You may proceed with passing judgment on my innermost thoughts.

YouTube fun

I've been waiting for this to show up on YouTube for quite a while. Apologies to those with dial-up (maybe it's just me...). The best part, for my money, starts about two minutes in.

Drifting back to Januaries of yesteryear

Column originally published Jan. 29, 2008

During idle office chat recently, the fact I will be turning 29 in August came to light and figuratively slapped me across the forehead.

Maybe it's the increasingly difficult battle to keep my weight where I want it or the rapidly approaching due date of Baby Two (less than a month away), but these days I find myself focusing a lot on my age. I'm only getting older one day at a time, but somehow it seems faster than that.

I'm just more comfortable seeing myself as a younger person. When coworkers are discussing the impact of a recession on their 401(k) accounts, my mind tends to drift. When I can talk with the younger set about last night's episode of "American Idol" or "The Gauntlet III," I'm in my element.

Ten years ago today I was a college freshman, coming to the end of my first experience with January Term, a now-defunct tradition at Coe College. The concept was to enroll in one class that met two hours each day for about four weeks, rather than the traditional four-course load students tackled in fall and spring terms.

One advantage was the opportunity for professors to try "outside-the-box" approaches to teaching and for students to enroll in classes outside their general study areas. Another was for the student activities department to schedule a month full of events to keep us occupied the 22 hours each day not spent in a classroom. Yet another was that students who took an overload in either traditional semester could skip the entire month and remain on track for graduation.

Since I graduated, J-Term became May Term. While the nontraditional experiences remain available, putting the semester after graduation and making it more optional has changed a lot of what I came to know and love and -- most of a decade later -- truly miss.

Continue reading "Drifting back to Januaries of yesteryear."

Feeling like a tourist in my own back yard

Column originally published Jan. 22, 2008

Taking advantage of an oddly warm January Sunday, I headed off for a brisk walk. Unable to find an AM radio station broadcasting a football playoff game, I dialed in a Chicago talk show.

The hosts put out a simple question for their listeners: When hosting out-of-town visitors, what is one thing you make sure to show them? Callers listed their hometown and its defining feature. None of them were especially memorable (otherwise I'd cite some examples), but I was amused by the caller from one suburb who was disenfranchised with his own town and instead recommended Galena and Dubuque, Iowa, both places I'm familiar with since my dad grew up in nearby Elizabeth.

But the question got me thinking — where would I take a visitor if I was trying to show them quintessential La Salle County? Having been here less than a year, I don't really have any hidden gems like someone who's made their home here for decades. I've enjoyed some good meals in Streator, Ottawa, Naplate and Marseilles, but you can only go to so many restaurants.

Of course, I had a hard time thinking about where I'd bring someone in any of the other towns I once called home. Around Libertyville I'd show off the places I spent a lot of time growing up — the Presbyterian church, my old schools, the Little League complex, Lake Minear — and requisite restaurants like the Picnic Basket, Fodrak's and Mickey Finn's.

Continue reading "Feeling like a tourist in my own back yard."

Distracted driving is a way of life

Column originally published Jan. 15, 2008

Driving Danger?

That two-word, 80-point headline from Saturday's front page and the accompanying story and photos are sure to elicit passionate responses from people who fall on either side of a hot-button issue: whether or not people should be allowed to talk on a cell phone while driving.

On one end of the spectrum are the people who truly are concerned about safety. They see people of all ages driving with a phone on one ear and wonder what possibly could be so important that it can't wait another few minutes. Shouldn't 100 percent of that person's attention be focused on the road?

Perhaps. But who among us has our attention 100 percent on the road every time we get behind the wheel?

The safety wonks say distracted driving is a real problem — few go so far as to say it's as bad as drunken driving, but certainly some folks would make that leap. While it's tough to argue that most calls made or received while driving are essential, the level of distraction brought about by a cell phone is eminently debatable.

Continue reading "Distracted driving is a way of life."

Family photos

Pops and K got Jack a junior digital camera for Christmas. (That's right... he has one and we don't). It can take 20 pictures at its highest resolution and about 200 on the low setting. Works best in natural light, obviously, and if you don't have your thumb over the lens. Here's some of our finest work so far:

Where it's at

No, I have neither two turntables nor a microphone. But I do have a house strikingly near Starved Rock State Park, often a great way to explain to non-Ottawans where we live.

And now I have the Chicago Tribune's travel folks compiling a list of Starved Rock area stories and links so you all can come up with good reasons to visit other then to tell us how perfect our almost-born baby is. You can say nice things about Jack, too, we just know now that he's far from perfect. Cute, sweet, mostly nice and weirdly polite, sure. But the perfect ship has sailed...

Anyhow, here is a link to the Starved Rock resources the Trib compiled over the last few years.

Attention ex-Libertyvillians

Apologies to you, loyal readers, for neglecting to post this in time, and to me (can I do that?) for forgetting to DVR the darn show last Friday when I wasn't doing anything of importance:

TruTV will air special on Rouse killings

A television special on the 1980 murders of Bruce and Darlene Rouse airs tonight on TruTv, formerly known as the CourtTv network.

The special, called "House of Secrets," was filmed this summer and includes archive footage from the scene of the June 5, 1980, shotgun murders of the couple in their house outside Libertyville. The program features interviews with those involved with the case and dramatic recreations of some of the more important moments in the investigation.

Included in the show are interviews with Lake County Undersheriff Charles Fagan, Chief Deputy Michael Blazinic, former state's attorney's office investigator David Ostertag, Deputy State's Attorney Jeff Pavletic and others involved in the investigation and reporting of the crime.

The couple were murdered by their then 15-year-old son, William Rouse, who confessed to the killings in 1996 while in police custody in Key West, Fla., on bank robbery charges.

The show will feature the first television showing of segments of Rouse's videotaped confession, given to Fagan and a Florida investigator. In it, Rouse said he killed his parents because of ongoing conflict with his mother over his drinking and drug abuse.

Rouse, who was convicted in August 1996 and sentenced to 80 years in prison, squandered his share of his parent's $1 million estate and wound up a derelict living in Florida prior to his arrest.

The special is part of the network's "Dominick Dunne: Power, Privilege and Secrets" series, which returns to the air tonight.

Read the full Daily Herald article here. Here's hoping I can find it again, though I can't imagine TruTV has so much programming it won't reun the special.

(Side note to those who are paying really close attention -- yes this did happen the day my precious wife was born.)

Things you didn't know

Maybe you don't randomly check this site when you've got nothing better to do just to come across nuggets of wisdom from people who aren't me. But then again, maybe you do. From this week's Tuesday Morning Quarterback:

TMQ Futures Up in Heavy Trading: After the tech-stocks bubble burst in 2000 and dragged down Wall Street, everyone claimed it was obvious all along that this would happen; though, mysteriously, most who claimed they knew all along nevertheless failed to sell before the market collapse. After the housing bubble burst in 2006, everyone claimed it was obvious all along that this would happen; though, mysteriously, most who claimed to have known all along failed to sell their real estate when the market was high or even merely to re-fi to a fixed-rate mortgage. With the benefit of hindsight, investors, economists and pundits always say bubbles were "obvious." Though mysteriously, they fail to notice at the time!

So what bubble is inflating right now, to be deemed an "obvious" bubble after many shirts are lost? Gold has been up for seven straight years, rose at 31 percent in 2007 and already has risen several percentage points in 2008. The metal is now selling for $863, versus about $600 in 2004, and the price rise appears unrelated to any increase in the underlying economic utility of the commodity. Gold has little functionality beyond jewelry and dental fillings -- almost all those who buy gold plan to hold their purchase and sell at a higher price, rather than use the gold to make something. That is, they are counting on market psychology to make their purchase more desirable, rather than adding value to it themselves. Just a word of advice: THIS IS THE CLASSIC PATTERN OF A BUBBLE! Tulip bulbs, Web start-up stock, nutria, Florida condos: If the price is rising fast and buyers are jumping in solely with the goal of flipping, a bubble is in progress. Last week, gold futures rose to their highest level since January 1980, which is when the last gold bubble burst. Don't say you weren't warned! But after the gold bubble bursts, do feel free to say this was obvious all along.

Read the full column here.

Caucus coverage brings back Iowa memories

Column originally published Jan. 8, 2008

Though I'm sometimes ashamed to admit it, I lived, studied and worked in Iowa for the better part of 10 years, from August 1997 to last Feburary.

There's nothing patently wrong with Iowa — in many ways it's indistinguishable from Illinois — but after growing up in the suburbs, I always felt like a displaced Illinoisan during my time in the Hawkeye state.

Still, working the political beat during the 2004 presidential election cycle was a memorable experience. Seeing all the media attention thrust on Iowa last week reminded me of those days — shaking hands with John Kerry, John Edwards, Dick Gephardt and others (not including Al Sharpton, who never approached my coverage area), watching Howard Dean flip pancakes in a middle school gym, wondering why actor Ed Asner was stumping for Dennis Kucinich, applying for White House security clearance to be allowed to stand several hundred feet from President Bush — and how eye-opening the events were for a young journalist.

One of the most important things I learned was how a caucus works, which sets me apart from a good majority of Americans — heck, a good number of Iowans. Caucuses are for the die-hards, the party loyalists who are deeply committed to grassroots politics. They happen every two years, but the national media pays no attention if there's not a presidential campaign brewing.

Continue reading "Caucus coverage brings back Iowa memories."

Need your help

Thanks to some generous Christmas contributions, Kristie and I are ready to jump into the world of digital camera owners, and not a decade too soon.

Anyhow, I have a pretty good idea what I'm looking for, but I thought I'd turn to you -- my loyal readers -- for advice.

What features are worth paying for?
What features are useless?
Is it cost-effective to print at home?
Is it cost effective to print through an online service?
What's one thing you wish you had (more memory cards, a battery charger, etc.)

Any other advice you can think to offer would be most helpful. Your reward, of course, is more pictures of my cute kid on the blog.

Making New Year's resolutions easy

Column originally published Jan. 2, 2008

Well, happy New Year. By the time you read this, 2008 will be about 40 hours old, and many of us already will have defaulted on our resolutions.

Not me, though, because I have a fail-safe, two-phase plan.

Phase one: Make only resolutions you can guarantee are attainable. For example, this year I've resolved not to play left tackle for the Cleveland Browns. Since I'm so confident in meeting that goal, I've also resolved not to start making ethanol in my basement.

Phase two: Make resolutions for other people. Remember: It's always more fun telling someone else what to do than actually getting off your own butt and making something happen. With that in mind...

The executives of Hollywood movie and television studios should resolve to come to some sort of an agreement with the striking writers guild. I know, it's easy to be on the side of the workers and oppose the evil corporate giants. But really, I'm not sure I care who's right or wrong so long as I get my fill of "Dirty Sexy Money," "Aliens in America" and "Desperate Housewives."

The people running for president should resolve to forego television advertising, instead spending the millions of dollars on causes important to them. That way, rather than us hearing them say what they believe, we could see them put it into practice.

The governor of this fine state should resolve to stop being a walking punchline.

Continue reading "Making New Year's resolutions easy."

Life with toddler

Update on our holiday schedule:

On Friday, Dec. 27, we went to Libertyville. That Sunday night, I cam back to Ottawa to work a half day Monday. Then it was back to Libertyville for New Year's Eve, then back to Ottawa the afternoon of Jan. 1. the next day, while I was at work, Kristie and Jack went to Fulton, where they ended up staying until just before lunch Saturday.

So... I hadn't seen Jack for several days until yesterday, and I spent my first few minuts with him hearing him whine about how he needed his grandmother. That was pleasant.

Eventually he came around and we had a pretty good night, although he wanted to cuddle with mom before he went to sleep instead of me (he was more than happy to let me read him books, of course, since he always gets two from me and just one from Kristie). But the topper was the way things went this morning about 7:30.

Jack: Mom! (pause) Mom! I need my diaper changed!

(repeated a few times with increasing urgency.)

Me: I'm coming!

Jack: Mom! I need my diaper changed!

(repeated while I'm putting on clothes and trudging downstairs for a diaper then coming back upstairs and entering his room.)

Jack: I want Mom!

Me: Mom is sleeping.

Jack: (Taking his plug out to be sure he's clearly heard) But I didn't ask for you, I asked for Mom!

Fortunately with Jack, I just changed him anyway and he seemed to be fine. A few minutes later a switch in his brain went off and reminded him on weekend mornings he gets to sit in the recliner with me and watch Playhouse Disney while I feed him fruit and cereal. The food requires no chewing... all he has to do is sit limp in the chair and slightly move his mouth for about five minutes. Hard to believe it's the same kind who, at 726 McKinley, is running laps around the house with the puppy a few moments after sunrise.

Things you didn't know

Maybe you did know this already, but I found it fascinating nonetheless. From this week's Tuesday Morning Quarterback:

How Can We Learn From the Past When We Can't Remember What Happened Yesterday? Included in a headline from last week's New York Times: "Schools Could Learn From the Past." You can't learn from the future! Cullen Murphy's important new book "Are We Rome?" -- which asks whether the United States is becoming the Roman Empire at the point of its decline -- actually argues that you can't learn that much from the past, either. Murphy notes that European leaders who made mistake after mistake before and during World War I were all well-schooled in the historical mistakes made by ancient Greek leaders in similar situations. The most troubling contention of "Are We Rome?" is that Washington, like the city of Rome when the decline began, has a hugely exaggerated view of its own importance while refusing to believe other nations possess power or insight.

Read the full TMQ here. But first, another TMQ item I found interesting:

In Case of Fire, You Can't Break the Glass: Recent movies including "Mission: Impossible III," "X-Men: The Last Stand" and all the Bourne flicks featured characters smashing through the glass walls of skyscrapers. In "MI3," Tom Cruise runs through the glass wall of a Shanghai office tower and parachutes away. In "X3," the mutant Angel smashes through a skyscraper's glass wall and flies away. (Angel has wings and can fly, but otherwise is normal -- he has no super-strength.) In one of the "Rush Hour" movies, Jackie Chan kicks the bad guy, who flies backward through the air 10 feet and smashes through a skyscraper window, falling to his death.

Here's the problem -- not only could you not run through a skyscraper glass wall, odds are you couldn't break one with a sledgehammer. Skyscraper walls employ extremely strong structural glass, precisely to prevent breakage. In April 2007, two window washers became stranded on the outside of the 37th floor of a Manhattan skyscraper; firefighters used kickboxing moves to shatter the glass wall of the building, then rescued the workers.

Not! Actually, what they used was a diamond-studded industrial saw that the New York City Fire Department keeps on hand because it is capable of penetrating the strong structural glass used for skyscraper exteriors. When stunt men film scenes of action heroes leaping or smashing through glass walls or skyscraper windows, what appears to be a window may be a film of plastic or sugar, or if it is an actual window, has tiny explosive charges attached. People have died in building fires because they have been unable to break the windows to get out; treating skyscraper windows as easily smashed is just another of the many ways in which Hollywood becomes silly.

Now go read the rest yourself.