| Official Google Blog: Google Voice invites on their way |
[25 Jun 2009|03:57pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 excited |
] |
Official Google Blog: Google Voice invites on their way
Sweet! I hope I can get one of these for a local Boston number. I wish I had one now, given that I have three numbers and my cell doesn't work at home and it's flaky at work. I could set up a time schedule for ringing phones based on work days.
Still, it'll be nice if only for the online voicemail and transcriptions, even if my cell phone works everywhere. I want a local Boston number when I move anyways, so it might as well be a Google Voice number.
|
|
| California! |
[19 Jun 2009|01:03am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 tired |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Led Zeppelin - Going to California |
] |
I'm in Northern California all weekend. Capitola-by-the-Sea right now. San Francisco on Saturday and Sunday. I don't know what I expected, but it's not what I've found so far. We'll see... Maybe when I'm less exhausted from the three-hour time change and traveling for eight hours.
|
|
| Spike Bike! |
[29 May 2009|04:40pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
amused |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
The Sword - Ebethron |
] |
The next time you're frustrated at a slow cyclist not giving you room to pass on a busy road, just take a deep breath and calm down. Don't do anything stupid because it might just be... Spike Bike!
|
|
| So Strange |
[26 May 2009|12:24am] |
|
It's strange to be back in central New York. What am I doing here? I have no idea. It's cold tonightj too chilly to be prancing around in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, though some locals might disagree.
What wouldn't be strange, though? Being in the Air Force? Living in a loft in downtown Montgomery? In a crackerbox apartment in East Memphis? I don't know that either.
I do know what is strange, and it's living in central New York.
This will wear off in a day or two. The strangeness is a familiar sensation. It goes away as everything else becomes familiar again.
|
|
| Yankeeism! |
[24 May 2009|10:20am] |
|
Oh no! My parents caught me saying a word, "box", with a Yankee accent for the first time!
|
|
| Attack of the Killer Mosquitos |
[23 May 2009|09:02pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 embarrassed |
] |
Note to self: When meditating outside in the Alabama summer, take a citronella candle to gaze into.
|
|
| New Credit Card Rules |
[20 May 2009|11:06am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 angry |
] |
I pay my credit card balances each month. I use them for convenience and the reward programs, not for their interest rates. When I learned that I'm termed a "credit card deadbeat" and that the companies might turn to charging me fees and cutting back my rewards, I had the opposite reaction to the knee-jerk fear such intimidation was supposed to provoke. Instead of crying about how I'm being forced to pay for other people's mistakes and government socialism, I instead thought about where the money to pay for my Amazon.com gift certificates and 1.5% cash back comes from.
The money for MY rewards comes from interest and fees paid by people who can LEAST afford it. People who aren't responsible spenders and have let their credit card debt get out of control and start ruining their lives (aided and abetted by the credit card companies and their practices) are subsidizing my responsible habits.
I've been one of those people, and I know how easy it is. I've also seen the toll that credit card debt has taken on many of my friends.
Therefore, my credit card rewards are wholly unethical for me to take advantage of, and I will be switching back to my debit card for all of my spending post haste. It's a move I had already considered making for various other reasons, but I'm accelerating the timetable. I probably won't cancel my cards unless they actually try to charge me an annual fee, but they'll be relegated to my desk drawer instead of my wallet.
If you're one of those people with credit card debt, I suggest destroying your cards and consolidating your debt with a loan from a locally-owned credit union or banking co-operative. Then you can at least be assured that your loan will eventually be paid off if you stick to the payment schedule, and your interest payments will go to your community instead of credit card company shareholders.
Lifehacker - What the New Credit Card Rules Mean for You - Credit Cards
|
|
| Story of Stuff |
[11 May 2009|03:39pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 indescribable |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Creed - Illusion |
] |
If ya'll haven't heard of or watched The Story of Stuff, you're missing out. I highly recommend it.
Renee sent it to me a while ago, but I just now got to it because an article about it came up on the New York Times, and I was even further intrigued.
Video Warning of Pitfalls of Consumption Is a Hit in Schools - NYTimes.com
Interestingly, and thankfully, the website includes an annotated script with footnotes and references.
I dug deeper and found a cool write-up of Victor Lebow, including a scanned copy of his 1955 paper that's quoted in the film.
I knew a lot of the stuff in this video already from my own personal growth over the past few years, but there were a few things that I hadn't either thought through or come across yet.
In particular, I was horrified by the notion that human mother's breast milk is the very tip-top of the food chain (unless you count the breast-milk of cannibal mothers?), wherein the very highest bio-concentrations of toxins can be found. The same effect is found at lots of different levels of the food chain. Fish was the one I was most aware of. Tuna, for example, are predators who eat smaller fish, who in turn eat smaller things, that in turn eat smaller things. At each step of the chain, the next rung up accumulates all of the toxins (heavy metals, pesticides, etc.) that each individual thing on a lower rung had eaten. In general, it's safer to eat lower on the food chain. For example, it's safer to eat catfish than things that eat catfish.
Applying the same logic leads inexorably to the conclusion that mother's milk, in terms of bio-accumulated toxins, is the most dangerous stuff around.
Also, I knew that our current suburban consumer culture was a deliberate product of post-war re-purposing of the economy in the 1950s, but I had no idea just how deliberate the efforts were and are to create an ever-accelerating consumer-based culture. The whole idea is astounding to me. In hindsight, it looks so incredibly stupid and ugly. How could they possible have thought this was a good idea for humanity?
In the cold light of hindsight, it's easy to dismiss them as villains: greedy, short-sighted, stupid, wasteful... I'm sure the reality of their motivations is far more complex. I can't help but be amazed and dumbstruck.
Even Victor Lebow seems to have had second thoughts, judging by his later publication, Free Enterprise: The Opium of the American People
|
|
| Fun Wired gaming pun puzzle |
[29 Apr 2009|09:38am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 accomplished |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Ambulance LTD - Ophelia |
] |
I got 17 of these. How about ya'll? :)
From: http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/magazine/17-05/puzzle6
Game Changers: Brainteasers for Hardcore Videogame Fans
By Mike Selinker Email 04.20.09
Many a videogame has been followed by a lame knockoff that apes the original. Something's surely missing from each imitator described here—specifically, one letter of each game's title. (Tip: The digits in parentheses indicate the number of letters per word.) For example, the clue "This toe-tapping rhythm game is all about survival of the fittest (5 5 9)" would net DANCE DANCE EVOLUTION. The omitted letters spell out a description of these releases.
1. This action game's archaeologist-heroine robs Brokaw, Skerritt, and Bombadil. (3 6)
2. This old-school shooter lets you blast athletes' syringes into atoms. (8)
3. This Japanese RPG features Pooh's feline friend bouncing through time. (6 6)
4. This shooter with chainsaw guns requires great powers of hearing. (4 2 3)
5. In this arcade classic, you race around a maze, gobbling up Dell and Gateway machines. (2-3)
6. In this driving game, you get hit with insane government fees. (5 3)
7. In this action-adventure title, you can buy Iran—if you have the cash. (5 2 6)
8. In this puzzle game, your bagel's salmon keeps exploding. (4 3)
9. This IQ booster features continuous helpings of fiber-rich content. (4 3)
10. This space-combat title lets you rise to the rank of Admiral of Fake Hair. (3 9)
11. This art deco shooter involves wielding electricity on Jupiter's moon. (7)
12. In this music game, it's always ladies' night. (6 3)
13. In this MMORPG, you're looking for the mother of mankind. (8)
14. This lightgun title takes place in your father's domicile. (3 5 2 3 3)
15. This classic FPS lets you attack with miniature Hawaiian guitars. (3 5)
16. In this sandbox game, you're stealing cars for South African cash. (4 5 4)
17. In this platformer, you play a huge fan of actresses Ryan and Tilly. (3 3)
18. In this fighting game, your cartoony characters fight with waistbands. (5 4 4.)
19. In this RPG, your character's got a Norse god's sidearm. (6'1 3)
20. This RTS lets you helm a boat carrying a cargo of viscous black liquid. (8)
Click here for the answer key.
Game Changers: Brainteasers for Hardcore Videogame Fans
|
|
| Earth Day |
[22 Apr 2009|11:45am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 contemplative |
] |
Happy Earth Day!
|
|
| Willpower through Manners |
[17 Apr 2009|11:37am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
calm |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Blind Melon - Holyman |
] |
My friend Andrew sent me this article from 1995 that compares the American of then to the America of 1939. Without necessarily idolizing the past, he attempts to uncover why a cache of dynamite in downtown Manhattan could be guarded only by a simple board fence and sign that says (DANGER DYNAMITE STORED HERE). His thesis by the end is that the continual practice of society's rituals and formalities (formal dress, the wearing of hats, ritualized small tal, etc.) help build the willpower and focus to maintain the same outlook when confronted with larger decisions at well.
Dynamite, Manhattan, 1939 by David Gelernter, City Journal Spring 1995
This dovetails perfectly with some research I've come across recently, both in reading and at my recent course at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. The current conception of willpower is that it's sort of like a muscle. It gets tired when you use it, but you can actually increase your strength through practice. I hope you'll pardon me, however, if I pursue this through meditative practice and being polite in comments on blogs and forums instead of starched collars, ties, and suits. I am intrigued by learning the correct way to wear and use a hat, though...
How to Boost Your Willpower - Well Blog - NYTimes.com
Tighten Your Belt, Strengthen Your Mind - New York Times
I know that NY Times articles aren't exactly peer-reviewed research, but I'm having a hard time actually finding the source papers mentioned in the news articles. Newspapers are terrible about citing their sources.
|
|
|
[08 Apr 2009|04:23pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
accomplished |
] |
 Dear William: The Graduate School of the College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern University is pleased to accept you as a student in our Master of Science program in Computer Science for the Fall 2009 Semester. We are sorry to report that we are not able to offer you a graduate assistantship position. We hope you will find another way to finance your graduate studies. ... Thank you for your interest in our program. We look forward to receiving your admission confirmation and to your arrival. Sincerely, Agnes Chan Associate Dean and Director of Graduate Studies College of Computer and Information Science |
|
| French Press Coffee |
[08 Apr 2009|12:12pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 awake |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Linkin Park - In Between |
] |
I've actually done this a few times with my backpacking model that fits my nalgene bottle.
I'd kind of like to add some ritual and mindful effort to my mornings. Grinding beans and making French press coffee would work, but I'd need a burr grinder instead of the blade grinder I have now.
I've also considered switching over to loose leaf English breakfast tea. I think reducing my caffeine intake and getting a milder buzz might be a good idea. Lately I've been feeling kind of jittery in the mornings after my coffee.
Press Pots: Coffee Worth the Effort - The Atlantic Food Channel
|
|
| Guidance Office: Answers About Financial Aid, Part 2 - The Choice Blog - NYTimes.com |
[07 Apr 2009|11:45am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
excited |
] |
Woot, confirmation that I'm doing the right thing by going to school full-time and only looking to work at most 20 hours a week:
Most students will find it very difficult to work their way through college these days. There’s a lot of research that shows that working a full-time job while in college hurts your grades and makes you less likely to graduate. Working 10-15 hours a week improves grades, since it forces you to learn time-management skills, but working more than that leaves insufficient time for studying. It is better to accept financial aid and minimize work than to try to avoid student aid entirely.
Nevertheless, students should try to minimize their debt. Live like a student while you are in school so you don’t have to live like a student after you graduate. If you find yourself needing to borrow more for your entire education than your expected starting salary, look for a less expensive
Guidance Office: Answers About Financial Aid, Part 2 - The Choice Blog - NYTimes.com
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
thugkiwi's journal