Blog, Paradoxically

The Inexorable Flow of Time

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:38:57 -0500

I just remembered the time capsule that my 4th grade class buried outside our classroom in 1999. Was it after 10 or 20 years that we were going to unearth it? Does anybody else remember?

Maybe it won’t even be there; the land has changed owners at least twice since it stopped being Armstrong Academy. I wonder: what would I do if I accidentally dug up somebody’s time capsule? I sure hope we put a letter in there saying, “Please return to …”

I’m quite curious to find out what my 8-year-old self had to say back in 1999.

Why I Hate Android

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:37:16 -0500

Why I Hate Android:

The open spectrum enemy, turned Net Neutrality enemy, became Google’s bedmate thanks to a business deal. Straight up. Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. We got all of this thanks to Google’s desire for Android to take over the world. I commented earlier that they signed a deal with the devil — I wasn’t being facetious. They actually did! And they got away with it!

I’ve been trying to express this sentiment since ditching Android in early 2011. I’m glad that somebody else found the words for me. One point of disagreement: I dislike the OS as well. Hopefully it has changed significantly since 2.2, but it was pretty awful back then.

I want to take this cat back to Boston with me, but I would have...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:48:42 -0500

I want to take this cat back to Boston with me, but I would have to fight my sister for her.

Because I want my sisters to have the same opportunities that I...

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:14:18 -0500

Because I want my sisters to have the same opportunities that I do.

Photo

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:53:40 -0500

"NEWT REX PLOT: It is 2020 and Congress has just amended the Constitution, allowing President..."

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:46:09 -0500

“NEWT REX
PLOT: It is 2020 and Congress has just amended the Constitution, allowing President Gingrich to run for a third term, unchallenged. President Gingrich is also his own vice president, the only man he trusts. During his momentous run as President, Gingrich has narrowed the executive cabinet down to the Departments of War, Crime Fightin’, and Jesus. The “Soylent Green” program is both a profitable and successful way to feed the poor, who all have jobs digging graves for each other. The national debt is nonexistent, because the Federal government is a subsidiary of the largest company in the history of the world—Lockheed Exx-mart. After a brief and relatively harmless exchange of nuclear arms, China is now the 51st state. Gay marriage is against the law, but fashionable men may still brunch behind closed doors. Climate change, however, was confirmed as a national scientific fact, and it is now the official policy of the United States government to encourage the creation of new beach front property. ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” is the national anthem. The book ends with President Gingrich’s marriage to his fourth wife, his former intern.”

- Devore, John. “New Republic: Newt’s Alternative Autobiography.” NPR : National Public Radio.

A Sister's Eulogy for Steve Jobs

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:02:35 -0400

A Sister's Eulogy for Steve Jobs:

“What distinguishes Steve Jobs is that he existed in layers from exceedingly public, second hand, apocryphal to private.”

— comment on this beautiful eulogy by Steve Jobs’ sister, Mona Simpson

Sysadmin: There's a real serious hardware problem with your server, Stolichnaya.

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:01:06 -0400

Sysadmin: There's a real serious hardware problem with your server, Stolichnaya.
Coworker: Put it on ice!
*awkward pause*
Coworker: That was a pun.
Sysadmin: So about that server...

"The rational cortex … is the new kid on the block, presuming on the older wisdom of instinct..."

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:50:50 -0400

“The rational cortex … is the new kid on the block, presuming on the older wisdom of instinct and impulse. Well-dressed, clean, mannerly, the cortex becomes the natural target for the mind’s ruffians, who always taunt and bully someone who is not like them. So the older brain bullies the more refined cortex, as well as seducing it with nostalgia, the siren song of a simpler, less conscious existence.”

- Macrolife: A Mobile Utopia

"People tend to explain such confusing behavior with stupidity, creepiness, neurosis, or any other..."

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:04:06 -0400

“People tend to explain such confusing behavior with stupidity, creepiness, neurosis, or any other traits we associate with the mentally ill. With Occam’s Razor in perspective, these careless judgers are statistically the mentally ill ones. Their model being flawed is much more probable than their housemate going insane.”

- “How to understand people better”, Less Wrong

Photo

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 10:29:14 -0400

Is this discussion really happening?

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:52:50 -0400

Is this discussion really happening?:

“No, it’s a proxy indicator. A 50-year-old can be hot if she takes care of herself (TV is full of people like this these days, hell the streets are too). Just as they have stopped caring about their appearances, they have stopped caring about customer service. If you doubt this, just try flying United long-haul.”

The Real Zack Morris: The State of the Art is Terrible

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:23:03 -0400

The Real Zack Morris: The State of the Art is Terrible:

zackarymorris:

I stumbled onto this post the other day through Hacker News. Basically Ryan Dahl (the guy who wrote node.js, a web framework that makes running web servers easy with javascript) called out the deplorable state of software today.

I fully agree with him.

And here’s why - I’ve seen…

THIS

"Gamers are not a cringing minority but the same scornful, entitled males you’ve been dealing..."

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:46:43 -0400

“Gamers are not a cringing minority but the same scornful, entitled males you’ve been dealing with your entire life. And this particular breed—fancying themselves unappreciated, intelligent, and more worthy than other males of female attention—is in no mood for rejection. Despite their pretention to a higher morality when it comes to women, they will repay rejection with cruelty and scorn.”

- Geordie Tait, “To My Someday Daughter”

An IM from my mother

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 23:07:29 -0400

Mom: Hello! I made it home fine.
Mom: It is always nice to talk to you. Please keep in touch while on your trip. Have a super time. All my love always and forever.
Mom: Your mom
Me: Mom, you know this is live, right?
Me: You're talking to me right now
Mom: Yes you are live and I am alive!! Whew!
Mom: I have never had a live chat or IM you call it. xoxox
Me: haha. I can tell.

I’m still fascinated by North Korea. Just as they’re...

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 12:14:49 -0400

I’m still fascinated by North Korea. Just as they’re conditioned to hate us, we’ve been told to hate them.

Gidon Kremer: why I quit the celebrity ratrace

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 11:14:10 -0400

Gidon Kremer: why I quit the celebrity ratrace:

“I simply do not want to breath the air, which is filled by sensationalism and distorted values. Lets’ admit – all of us have something to do with the poisonous development of our music world, in which “stars” count more than creativity, ratings more than genuine talent, numbers more than…. sounds.” (Click through for full article)

This quote causes me great concern

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 11:20:56 -0400

“… for an average total viewing time of four and a half hours per person. (Let’s keep thing in perspective: That’s still less time than the average American spends watching regular TV per day.)”

Who has the time to watch 5 or more hours of television per day? Perhaps I’m just naïve because I haven’t watched cable TV in two years. But seriously: wtf, guys?

STFU, Conservatives: BlizzandZen pointed out that I made a slight mistake in this post. The...

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 08:08:56 -0400

STFU, Conservatives: BlizzandZen pointed out that I made a slight mistake in this post. The...:

stfuconservatives:

BlizzandZen pointed out that I made a slight mistake in this post. The wise man explains:

“If we raise the debt ceiling, we authorize the government to spend more money.”

Almost, but not quite, and this is the primary point that has people confused. Spending the money has already been…

Wonderfully said.

Crap…

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 15:39:17 -0400

Crap…