What is she UP to, anyway?

Busy Elsewhere

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:35:00 +0000

These days I'm mostly posting here: Something Beautiful I Saw Today.

We Call Them Animals

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Okay, this is completely insane.

I very much doubt that this is how elephants actually see the world.

BUT: someone was able to train an elephant to do this. And the precision and alacrity with which the elephant completes the work suggests to me that this complex task is being done with willingness and care, if not necessarily comprehension of its indexical meaning.

C'mon, no matter how you slice it, this is mind-boggling.

Stuck at home, sick, bored...

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:57:00 +0000

So I decided to take up one of those design memes that pop up every now and then. Here, we're supposed to use a title drawn randomly from Wikipedia with images from Google's Life archive found using words from the title as search terms, to make a fictitious book cover.

And... here ya go.

Typefaces: Tom's Headache and Handwriting-Dakota.

Who's The Dummy Now?

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:31:00 +0000

Do not be fooled by this ridiculous IQ Test.

It's just a scam to get you to subscribe for $9.99 a month (!!!). Shameful.

Awesome "Evolving" Algorithm

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:06:00 +0000

Ooo this is spiffy!

Looks like the beginnings of a new compression scheme... among other interesting possibilities.

Where have all the acorns gone?

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:38:00 +0000

It's hard not to feel apocalyptic when you learn that oak trees seem to be on strike. Read the Washington Post article.

Steady, steady, steady...

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:50:00 +0000

Be like the chicken.

If this did not make you laugh hysterically, well, I just don't know.

What He Said

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:05:00 +0000

I don't understand either.

Holy Mackerel

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:40:00 +0000

Look what the President-Elect's team had waiting in the wings...

Change.gov

Yes We Can!

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:43:00 +0000

Wow, someone I voted for actually got elected! It's been a long time since that happened, and in general it's been rare.

Our President-Elect has huge challenges ahead of him, as do we as a nation. But I am cheered and optimistic, and more proud than ever to be an American.

I wish to hell California had defeated Prop 8, though.

Belly Laugh of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:06:00 +0000

At the risk of becoming Stupid Meme Central over here, I gotta say that this made me laugh hysterically.

From Fail Blog.

Who's competent, and how do you know?

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:42:00 +0000

People who lack the knowledge or wisdom to perform well are often unaware of this fact. That is, the same incompetence that leads them to make wrong choices also deprives them of the savvy necessary to recognize competence, be it their own or anyone else's.

It's worth reading the whole article in Salon.

Another money quote:

In short, smart people tend to believe [wrongly, according to context ~ N.] that everyone else "gets it." Incompetent people display both an increasing tendency to overestimate their cognitive abilities and a belief that they are smarter than the majority of those demonstrably sharper.

I am ur hauz pwning ur hallwaiz

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:33:00 +0000

Too funny!

Because it's better to laugh...

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:02:00 +0000

Okay, maybe a tad silly and mean-spirited, but I couldn't resist this:

Sarah Palin Baby-Name Generator

Yours sincerely,
Tarp Lazer Palin

So, so ahead of the curve

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:11:00 +0000

In order to cement your status in the cultural elite, you want to be already sick of everything no one else has even heard of.

...If you can do this, becoming not only an early adopter, but an early discarder, you will realize greater status rewards than you ever imagined. Remember, cultural epochs come and go, but one-upsmanship is forever.

I will spare you the long list of items that I "discovered" well in advance of the madding crowd. Or the brilliant predictions I made which were ignored or pooh-poohed at the time, but which could have made someone (including me) huge portions of fame and fortune had we been bothered to follow up on them.

Bah.

Go read this article by David Brooks, it's amusing. (Thanks for the pointer, David!)

Tired

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:35:00 +0000

Gah.

When I took my car in for service a few weeks ago they told me I needed to replace three of my tires (namely, the three that hadn't blown at high speed on the highway last summer). I knew this was important, I knew it was urgent, I knew I should do it promptly.

Did I do it urgently and promptly? I did not.

Everyone who doesn't see this coming, raise your hand right now.

No? Nobody?

I thought not.

Yeah, I'm an idiot. The only good thing about this story is that the flat was a) on a BACK tire and b) half a mile from home. So, ninety reimbursable bucks later, the spare is on and the shot wheel with its snazzy rim is in the trunk.

Me, I'm still an idiot. I'm not a DEAD idiot, however, and that's gotta count for something. No more highway driving for me until I get this tire business sorted.

iPhone v.2 Software

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:00:00 +0000

I don't know why anyone was surprised by the SNAFUs around the release of iPhone 2. You remember what I went through when I got my original iPhone last year? Horrible, horrible experience.

So I waited until the reports of server frustrations died down, and then ~ in the wee, small hours of the morning ~ I downloaded and installed the new software uneventfully.

Yeah, there are some spiffy new features (although STILL no cut-and-paste, and still no mass mark-as-read in email). Everyone will have his or her favorite, but in my view the best is the simplest. Now, when the phone rings, you do not have to "swipe" to answer the phone, just tap an "accept" or "decline" button. This is a lot easier to do in a hurry, or one-handed, and a major UI improvement.

Frankly, I'd wish they'd allow you to answer a call by pressing the "home" button. But you can't have everything.

Dust to Dust

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:53:00 +0000

My trip to Boston, the memorial service for my father, and other family matters went about as well as I could have hoped.

We mingled my father's and mother's ashes together, as he had wished, and planted a small hydrangea bush on a strip of land right near their former studios in their memory. My brother and sister-in-law were headed to the cape, and were supposed to scatter the ashes in the ocean.

Life is fleeting, friends; show your love as completely as you can, while you can.

Tagged!

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:32:00 +0000

Oh dear, a meme, what shall I do, what shall I do?? Kelly tagged me:

So, I'm supposed to share a quotation and dedicate it to three other bloggers. This is a toughy. I don't have a lot of pithy little quotes hanging out inside my head. So instead of something short and sweet, you get the only poem I know by heart. I memorized it in my sophomore year of high school, and it's with me still.

Shakespeare's Sonnet 94

They that have power to hurt and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow,
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces
And husband nature's riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others but stewards of their excellence.
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

I don't know a lot of people with blogs. So: two friends, Molly and Abbie, and one stranger, Shreve, consider yourselves tagged.

Mighty Service

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 22:46:00 +0000

So I was having this little problem with my Mighty Mouse: it would scroll every which way but down. And, unfortunately, down is the direction you mostly want to scroll when scrolling is called for.

I looked up all the troubleshooting procedures online and applied them all, to no effect. So this afternoon I toddled over to the Clarendon Apple store and hoped I could get helped without an appointment.

After ascertaining that my description of my problem was indeed accurate, the helpful guy at the Genius bar asked the magic four-word question: "Do you have AppleCare?"

Why yes, yes I do. Five minutes later I walked out with a brand new Mighty Mouse.

AppleCare: buy it. Worth every penny; it's already more than paid for itself.

Sick as a Dog

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:09:00 +0000

I've got some kind of stomach thing, or a flu, or something. My entire body aches and I'm as week as a newborn kitten. I feel like DEATH.

I had horrible indigestion all night, and the mere thought of eating is nauseating. I can barely take a sip of water.

This one is nasty, folks. I hope you don't get it.

What must it be like?

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:44:00 +0000

Just now on my way to Starbucks I passed two young ladies carrying grocery bags. The first startling thing about them was their height. They were both well over 6 feet tall ~ and probably closer to 7. A second glance made it clear they were sisters. A third glance (more of a double-take, actually) made it clear they were identical twins.

Being a jerk, my first insta-cliche thought was, "There goes two-thirds of a scarily well-coordinated women's basketball team."

And then I thought about how many bad jokes and stupid insensitive questions and rude stares and general obnoxiousness these two pleasant-looking young women have probably already endured, and I was ashamed.

JetBlue Totally Rocks

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:27:00 +0000

If JetBlue were a dude, I would totally marry him. Seriously, I am now going to look into buying JetBlue stock, because they have achieved something close to miraculous in this day and age: they have made air travel tolerable, even mildly pleasant. Their customers are not treated like cattle. They leave promptly and arrive early. Their personnel are friendly and helpful. Their seating is humane. Even their snacks are good. It is impossible for me to believe that a company doing so many things right for customers shouldn't -- barring terrible management or bad externalities -- prosper and thrive.

Hey, I was right about Apple, wasn't I?

Update: Well, I arrived in DC just fine (early) but my bag didn't. Hmf. In fact, the early departure from Las Vegas meant my bag never got on the plane. However, unlike my experience with USAirways, someone helped me promptly, took my report, promised my bag would show up later today, and gave me a $30 voucher for future travel. So I am somewhat mollified, if aggravated that my seamless experience was effed up.

All Quiet at Dulles

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:59:00 +0000

No lines, no crowds, no waiting. I positively zipped through security. I find myself with almost two hours to kill before my flight. An amazingly low-stress experience. Hard not to see it as a good omen. Wish me luck, peoples!

Slipslidin' Away

noreply@blogger.com (NT) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:57:00 +0000

Be careful out there folks. I took a cartoon-character lift'n'splat fall on some invisible ice just now, resulting in a giant wetpatch on my thigh and what will undoubtedly be a couple of colorful and fancifully shaped bruises.

Proceed with caution, because falls are better when they're metaphorical.