JAYanthem blog

First Glenn Beck at a tea party:
Then Janeane Garofalo “analyzing” the tea parties:

Janeane Garofalo calls teabaggers “racist rednecks”

The difference is pretty amazing. Who is talking down to us and who is talking at us?

Very impressed by this list of the Top 10 Universities on IEEE’s patent scorecard. We are definitely in good company and even over some very strong players. I love my school…

1. MIT
2. Cal Tech
3. Cal
4. Harvard
5. Rice
6. Texas
7. UCF
8. Ga Tech
9. Stanford
10. Wisconsin

http://today.ucf.edu/blog/2009/04/16/ucf-no-7-in-research-power-ranking/

I’m sad to report that my wonderful grandfather passed away on Jan 4th. He was just an incredible man, the type that doesn’t come around too often in this world. When I was young I spent a ton of time with him and my grandma. In the summers I practically lived at their house in Sanford when my aunt Pat and her 5 kids were down for weeks at a time. Then later my grandpa, grandma, and I would drive up to spend a month+ of our summers in Indiana. I learned a lot from him, especially on those road trips…but what I take from him the most is his commitment to family. I think he was at his happiest when the entire family would get together and he had grandma at his side. We have so many great memories to cherish.

Sadly he was my last grandparent left, luckily though I have incredible parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, friends, and my wonderful wife to help fill the void. I made a photo montage for him that we played the the memorial that I figured I’d share with my blog readers although most of you probably have already seen it. This actually is an “alternate” ending from what was shown at the memorial as I made the ending how I originally wanted it now that I had a little extra time.

Remembering Grandpa from Jason Jacobs on Vimeo.

Let me tell you about this great blog I found recently called Sanford365. This is a must read blog for anyone interested in restaurants and events in the Sanford area. Although really the scope of this blog goes beyond Sanford as the blogger has covered anything from the Wine Bar in Winter Park, to bowling alleys in Casselberry, to clubs in downtown Orlando. If you are interested in finding new places in the area I recommend you subscribe to it and start exploring!

I found out about Wednesday Trivia Night at the Black Swan in downtown Sanford from the blog, so this past week we headed there with some friends and had a great time. She also just had a hugely informative post on Affordable Central Florida Holiday Events detailing events around time that won’t break your budget.

Check it out!

Not being a veteran I can’t speak much on this, but I can say what I heard my father say. He said that he was always told that when he leaves the service he’ll really miss saluting the flag, and he said that was absolutely the truth. Well now he doesn’t have to…

WASHINGTON – A change to federal law allows U.S. veterans and
military personnel not in uniform to render the military-style hand
salute during the playing of the national anthem.

The law took effect earlier this month, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs news release.

“The military salute is a unique gesture of respect that marks those
who have served in our nation’s armed forces,” Veterans Affairs
Secretary Dr. James B. Peake said. “This provision allows the
application of that honor in all events involving our nation’s flag.”

To read the full article, click here.

You gotta love the folks over at Google. To me this is brilliant! How does it work, here is what Google says:

“We’ve found that certain search terms are good indicators of flu activity. Google Flu Trends uses aggregated Google search data to estimate flu activity in your state up to two weeks faster than traditional flu surveillance systems.”

Check it out, right now Florida is in low risk.

I don’t care who you voted for, anyone with sense should be horrified that something like this happened in one of our schools. These kids are 4th graders!

Regardless of whether you voted for him or not, it’s time to unite and stop the divisiveness as it does no one any good. We all want a better America! Also thanks to Senator McCain for his unquestionable service to this wonderful country, he gave a very classy and gracious speech in defeat.