- Listening to: Tristeza - Paisajes
- Drinking: Ryan and the Beaster Bunny
- Easting: Leftovers from Nick's and Homeroom
- Reading: Dai Sijie - Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
- Earlier in the day:
- Coffee at CRO
- Doughnuts at Doughnut Dolly
- Breakfast at Homeroom
- Biking up Cyclotron road (demons bested!)
- Swimming in Roberts Pool
Jun 2, 2013
'twas a good day
May 27, 2013
pre-retraction
So I was about to embark on one of my unsolicited rants re: the whole BBQ thing and how I don't get why it is such a popular phenomenon when most barbecued foods are kinda meh etc., when E reminded me that this is probably because I don't eat meat. Oh yeah - good call. I guess barbecue makes a lot more sense when meat is involved. I got nothing.
Apr 23, 2013
non-gate
Oh
man. The conspiracy theories are starting to fly again. In response, I
give you the words of Alan Moore:
“The main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory is that conspiracy theorists actually believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is chaotic. The truth is, that it is not the Jewish banking conspiracy or the grey aliens or the 12 foot reptiloids from another dimension that are in control. The truth is more frightening, nobody is in control. The world is rudderless.”
–Alan Moore, “The Mindscape of Alan Moore” (2003)
I am a big believer in incompetence ultimately triumphing over any well-orchestrated secret plan. Over time, stuff goes wrong and things come out. If anything, the age of the internet has proven that there are no secrets. There is always a whistle-blower, always an anonymous tip that makes it impossible to hide anything for very long. This is not to say that conspiracies don't happen. It is just that incompetence and dysfunction are often better explanations than any grand unified theory of whatever. I've seen all sorts of badly photoshopped images trying to link the Boston / Sandy Hook / 911 etc. to a government cover up, when the reality (botched foreign policy over time leading to radicalization) is more complex and harder to actually fix.
I generally find conspiracy theories to be far too simplistic and neatly tied together i.e. made up. Real conspiracies, more often than not, look nothing like the theories surrounding them. We're at a point where any given major event (good or bad) evokes a set of conspiracy theories without a lot of critical thought going into [i] whether said theory makes any sense, and [ii] whether the conspiracy theory actually detracts from a very real underlying problem. For example it is a lot easier to claim that climate change is a conspiracy and much harder to deal with the reality that we may have irreparably fucked our ecosystem.
Which is all really just a longer-winded and less articulate version of Alan Moore's quote.
(cobbled together from a longish Facebook thread)
Apr 12, 2013
schadenfreude
[Warning: Sports related post ahead]
Top 10 schadenfreude inducers
Top 10 schadenfreude inducers
- The Utah Jazz (BTW - can we all agree that this is the most ill-fitting team name of all time?)
- Ryan Lochte
- Skip Bayless
- Clay court tennis specialists (Rafa leads the charge on this one)
- Smokin' Jay Cutler
- Atlanta Sports Teams (Is it just me or do all Atlanta sports teams blend into one? Like a giant ball of slightly above-average mediocrity)
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- The Dallas Cowboys
- The New York Jets
- Tim Tebow (the Tebow-NYJ nexus has been schedenfreude heaven)
Mar 29, 2013
Mar 12, 2013
dst
Some Observations:
- People are not happy about Daylight Saving Time.
- (Some) people are finally catching on to the proper spelling: Daylight Saving Time - no trailing 's' in 'Saving'.
- Be honest now, people. Don't you like having an extra hour of sunlight in the evening? Also, you can look forward to that extra hour of sleep when November 3 finally rolls around.
Feb 23, 2013
expiration date
This needs to be a rule: Technical articles and blog posts *must* have a date. Always.
I was looking around for articles on how to merge my Twitter feed with Blogger. I found a ton of outdated information, that was, of course, *not* actually dated, making it was impossible to gauge relevance. I think I poked around the internet for about half an hour before stumbling upon something that worked.
(Solution that works as of 2013/02/24: Embed the code snippet generated by https://twitter.com/settings/widgets into your blog layout HTML)
With rapid release cycles and constantly evolving software, blog posts have limited shelf-lives and often only apply to specific versions of the product. It is incumbent on anyone that seeks to document or write about software to understand this. The crazy thing is I've seen this on Wired, Salon and a bunch of other reputable publications. A Google search for "add twitter feed to blogger" yields a surprisingly high number of outdated AND undated results.
Now part of this is Twitter's fault for messing with their API and terms of service. But this is unfortunately the way things are when software isn't completely open. The end user is held hostage by the folks controlling the software. OK - Now I'm starting to sound like RMS. Which probably means I should sign off.
But seriously - software really does need to be open.
I was looking around for articles on how to merge my Twitter feed with Blogger. I found a ton of outdated information, that was, of course, *not* actually dated, making it was impossible to gauge relevance. I think I poked around the internet for about half an hour before stumbling upon something that worked.
(Solution that works as of 2013/02/24: Embed the code snippet generated by https://twitter.com/settings/widgets into your blog layout HTML)
With rapid release cycles and constantly evolving software, blog posts have limited shelf-lives and often only apply to specific versions of the product. It is incumbent on anyone that seeks to document or write about software to understand this. The crazy thing is I've seen this on Wired, Salon and a bunch of other reputable publications. A Google search for "add twitter feed to blogger" yields a surprisingly high number of outdated AND undated results.
Now part of this is Twitter's fault for messing with their API and terms of service. But this is unfortunately the way things are when software isn't completely open. The end user is held hostage by the folks controlling the software. OK - Now I'm starting to sound like RMS. Which probably means I should sign off.
But seriously - software really does need to be open.
apologies for 2012
So I never did post a best-of list for 2012. I listened to a lot of music, but somehow very little actually stuck. In the end I felt like I could throw something together but it would be the equivalent of fakin' it.
There was certainly some interesting music. Fiona Apple and Neneh Cherry put out some pretty cool weird-good records (mad newfound respect y'all!). I mean, you can't go wrong with a name like "The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do". And Ssion did a wonderful Erasure reprisal.
But ultimately, the record that completely and totally rocked my socks off, and made the infinte-repeat playlist for the year was something that was released in 2011. Wax Idols - "No Future" on Hozac. It made a best-of list completely meaningless because nothing in 2012 came close. Yes - it is that good!
The good news is that 2013 is already starting out pretty solid - MBV, Veronica Falls, Eat Skull, Matmos ... and we're only in February.
<full disclosure>I still haven't properly listened to the Frank Ocean album, and I should pretty much stop talking about music until I do that.</full disclosure>
There was certainly some interesting music. Fiona Apple and Neneh Cherry put out some pretty cool weird-good records (mad newfound respect y'all!). I mean, you can't go wrong with a name like "The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do". And Ssion did a wonderful Erasure reprisal.
But ultimately, the record that completely and totally rocked my socks off, and made the infinte-repeat playlist for the year was something that was released in 2011. Wax Idols - "No Future" on Hozac. It made a best-of list completely meaningless because nothing in 2012 came close. Yes - it is that good!
The good news is that 2013 is already starting out pretty solid - MBV, Veronica Falls, Eat Skull, Matmos ... and we're only in February.
<full disclosure>I still haven't properly listened to the Frank Ocean album, and I should pretty much stop talking about music until I do that.</full disclosure>
Dec 21, 2012
the new thing
This blogger thing has a new composition thing. I think I like it. Dare I post an unmediated opinion without seeking affirmation from the internet first?
Oct 7, 2012
safety net
I'm having lots of thoughts and feeling vaguely non-confrontational which means ixnay to the acebookfay.
So I now know at least three people that have given TEDx talks. More power to them. Really - I'm quite happy for them.
On the other hand they all seem to come from fairly privileged backgrounds, where there is a pretty massive familial safety net. I'm really curious about the demographics of the average TEDx speaker. Yes - it is really cool to see folks breaking the mould and scratching their itches and generally inspiring people to do/make/say/think interesting things. But it is much easier to go out and do these things when the price of failure is pretty low. When the worst that can happen is that you end up doing something else.
I'm really curious about what the numbers say. A TEDx talk on the demographics of TEDx mayhaps?
So I now know at least three people that have given TEDx talks. More power to them. Really - I'm quite happy for them.
On the other hand they all seem to come from fairly privileged backgrounds, where there is a pretty massive familial safety net. I'm really curious about the demographics of the average TEDx speaker. Yes - it is really cool to see folks breaking the mould and scratching their itches and generally inspiring people to do/make/say/think interesting things. But it is much easier to go out and do these things when the price of failure is pretty low. When the worst that can happen is that you end up doing something else.
I'm really curious about what the numbers say. A TEDx talk on the demographics of TEDx mayhaps?
Feb 16, 2012
Reflections on the Eve of XXXV
Roman Numerals. You like that? I am on the verge of becoming ancient. Pre-historic even. I am about to be aged out of a critical demographic. After tomorrow, I will no longer be of interest to marketers targeting that oh-so-key 18-34 demographic. As the bald spot on my head grows increasingly prominent, I must confront the possibility of a looming mid-life crisis.
Am I too old for <insert thing i am supposedly too old for>? Should I have done something significant with my life by now? Am I going to fall into a reverie lamenting my place in the world, while simultaneously coming to terms with life, the universe, and everything by having a sudden epiphany about how glorious it is to be the parent of an amazing and wonderful 5 year old? (Whoa - I think that last sentence actually held together!)
This is going nowhere fast. I only have two more hours. I think I'm going to do something more productive. Like opening up a fine bottle of Mikkeller Monk's Brew. The only epiphany here is that my beer gets fancier as I get older.
Am I too old for <insert thing i am supposedly too old for>? Should I have done something significant with my life by now? Am I going to fall into a reverie lamenting my place in the world, while simultaneously coming to terms with life, the universe, and everything by having a sudden epiphany about how glorious it is to be the parent of an amazing and wonderful 5 year old? (Whoa - I think that last sentence actually held together!)
This is going nowhere fast. I only have two more hours. I think I'm going to do something more productive. Like opening up a fine bottle of Mikkeller Monk's Brew. The only epiphany here is that my beer gets fancier as I get older.
Dec 31, 2011
clocking in
There, there - you didn't think I'd leave you hanging without a bit of year-end list action, did you now?
Here we go:
2011 Top 10 Tings (since lists of random things seem to be in vogue these days)
Here we go:
2011 Top 10 Tings (since lists of random things seem to be in vogue these days)
- 1. Celebrating NYE on East Coast time
- Parenting is all about tricking the mind into believing insane things.
- 2. Kolaveri Di
- Translation: "Why This Murderour Rage, Girl?"
- 3. Google Plus
- even if I am one of the only 6 people using it.
- 4. Spotify
- 5. Food Trucks
- 6. Folding laundry while watching sports
- or is it Watching sports while folding laundry? Either way - I've discovered the most effective use of my Sundays.
- 7. The importance of the chamois patch, as it pertains to bicycling.
- 8. Megan Rapinoe to Abby Wambach
- 9. Reconnecting
- Managed to reconnect with a lot of old peeps this year. Feeling warm and fuzzy just thinking about it.
- 10. Words With Friends
- More exciting than Scrabble; better FB and mobile apps.
Jun 19, 2011
Jun 8, 2011
shiny and new
Just got a new macbook pro. I am loving the speed - 8GB RAM, quadcore, Solid State Disk. And silent. As in - "Real G's move in silence; Just like lasagna".
Anyway here is what I'm putting on there over the base install (It already comes with MS Office, Firefox, Thunderbird and Parallels).
GUI Applications
* Chrome
* TextMate
* Cocoa Emacs
* ITerm
* Dropbox
* Seashore
CLI Stuff
* Homebrew
* RVM + ruby 1.9.2
* git
* node.js
Python Stuff
* pip
* Django
* virtualenv
* yolk
Anyway here is what I'm putting on there over the base install (It already comes with MS Office, Firefox, Thunderbird and Parallels).
GUI Applications
* Chrome
* TextMate
* Cocoa Emacs
* ITerm
* Dropbox
* Seashore
CLI Stuff
* Homebrew
* RVM + ruby 1.9.2
* git
* node.js
Python Stuff
* pip
* Django
* virtualenv
* yolk
Oct 21, 2010
Oct 15, 2010
dusting off the cobwebs
Hello there! Yes - serious cobwebage around here. (There is a 'web' pun in there somewhere, but we don't want to force it now, do we?)
In my quest for self-improvement I've started thinking about what I want to start doing better. I'm asking myself - what do I want to learn, as I head into the middle ages?
I've always been really bad at tinkering with mechanical things. I'm just not a very good fix-it-up kinda chappie. Some of this is not having the right baseline knowledge. But much of this comes from good old fashioned mental blocks. A kind of learned helplessness.
So I'm taking the horns by the bull. Or is it catching the tail by the tiger?
Pardon the digression, but really - who doesn't love a little Fraggle Rock in the middle of their epiphanies? As I was saying, I'm trying to fix my mechanical inadequacies. I've also become increasingly interested in bicycles lately (bicycles might just be replacing motorcycles as the symbol of the new urban midlife crisis, but that is a whole post in itself). Ah - bicycles! The simplest of machines - pure Newtonian physics at work. And sexy to boot.
So my new project is to get better at fixing bikes, working my way towards putting together my very own road bicycle. And hopefully, I'll learn a little about tools and grease and how mechanical things go together. Not shooting for genius level wizardry here - I'd be happy if I can simply achieve basic competence. And maybe I can start to have half a clue when my dearest beloved starts to throw down her handygrrrl skills.
In my quest for self-improvement I've started thinking about what I want to start doing better. I'm asking myself - what do I want to learn, as I head into the middle ages?
I've always been really bad at tinkering with mechanical things. I'm just not a very good fix-it-up kinda chappie. Some of this is not having the right baseline knowledge. But much of this comes from good old fashioned mental blocks. A kind of learned helplessness.
So I'm taking the horns by the bull. Or is it catching the tail by the tiger?
Pardon the digression, but really - who doesn't love a little Fraggle Rock in the middle of their epiphanies? As I was saying, I'm trying to fix my mechanical inadequacies. I've also become increasingly interested in bicycles lately (bicycles might just be replacing motorcycles as the symbol of the new urban midlife crisis, but that is a whole post in itself). Ah - bicycles! The simplest of machines - pure Newtonian physics at work. And sexy to boot.
So my new project is to get better at fixing bikes, working my way towards putting together my very own road bicycle. And hopefully, I'll learn a little about tools and grease and how mechanical things go together. Not shooting for genius level wizardry here - I'd be happy if I can simply achieve basic competence. And maybe I can start to have half a clue when my dearest beloved starts to throw down her handygrrrl skills.
Sep 1, 2010
the scenic route
This was a bag I had shipped from SF to Oakland. Fedex decided to ship it through San Leandro by way of Sacramento. The sad thing is that the company that makes the bag is all about zero-waste and even mails it to you in a reusable canvas mailer that you return to them upon delivery. Sigh!
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