I just finished I Am America (And So Can You!), Steven Colbert's book. I must say I was expecting more. There are quite a few funny lines, but I feel like in America the book it went from one funny thing to the next, but in I am America you're reading along and occasionally there will be something really funny. I thought maybe I was being a bit too critical, but then I got to the last chapter where he has the transcript of his speech at the correspondent's dinner and it was obviously much better than the rest of the book.
Well, I'm sure if you were going to read it you probably did already, but if you haven't yet you might want to browse through it a bit before buying.
Throughout the book Colbert is making fun of various policies, but all of the messages are pretty obvious. I guess part of the difference between the correspondent's speech and the rest of the book is the correspondent's speech had that extra element of oh wow he's actually standing in front of bush as he says that. My last comment on the book is that he has writing in the margins which is sometimes funny, but I think the reason the writing next to him when he does "the word" is so funny is it is clearly coming from someone else and often twist what he is saying. But the margin notes are just more from him.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
< 365 and whatever else I think of before pushing the publish post button
We are now less than 365 days from Bush leaving office (at this moment it is 358)! Hey if you get one of those $500 checks from the government that's almost enough for a bottle of $2 wine from trader joe's every day till he's gone, that should help ease the pain (although considering he's got another year to completely destroy the economy and dismantle social services, this may not be the moment to become an alcoholic). I think that in protest of the insane idea of giving out a few hundred dollars to make up for the economic crunch everyone should use the money to buy treasury bonds - wouldn't that mess with their heads...
Hm, well the attempt at political humor didn't work as well as hoped, so I guess I'll tell you about my weekend. I slept. Then I watched TV. Then I slept. Then I watched TV. Then I slept. Then I got my oil changed (I'm currently averaging 6,000 miles per year which means I use less gas than my prius owning co-worker). Then I watched TV. Then spent 30 minutes being told by a friend why I shouldn't vote for Obama (within the first minute I told him I already voted). And now I'm blogging. It's a bit early to sleep again so you can probably guess what's up next. When I actually do stuff I'm busy so I don't bother blogging, but when I'm doing nothing I have time to write about it - kinda sucks for you readers.
Next week I'm headed to ISSCC. It's a big integrated circuit design conference. I've never been to a real conference before so I'm excited about going to that. It is put on by the same IEEE society that publishes the JSSC which is the circuits journal I subscribe to.
It's been raining more than usual in SoCal which is a bit of a downer, but it does mean I feel less guilty about requiring a half hour shower every morning to wake up. It also means that all the brown hills have turned green. I was surprised by how fast everything turned green once it got a bit of water.
The rest of this post is about BSG so proceed at your own risk of boredom.
I've started watching the original series - it is a bit goofy but it is interesting to see where the new series got some of its ideas and characters. A lot of the names are from the original. Also in the original starbuck is a guy who is the top pilot and a womanizer and adama has a daughter that starbuck goes after. So that's kinda cool that they kept the character traits but turned starbuck into a woman. Also all of the ships in the new one are copies of the old one. In the fist episode they do a close up of a lot of the ships - it is a bit disturbing that for most of them I could think of either their name or function in the new series. Oh - and Tom Zarek is Apollo in the original (I just realized that - I knew I recognized him, but couldn't place it till now). Frac is also from the original.
I was looking around to see when BSG is coming back and found this article. It says that:
Sci Fi Channel's executive VP of original programming, recently promised TV Guide that the reveal of the final Cylon would surprise a lot of people. "The reveal will have great emotional resonance," he says, "and will make many things that happened in the past three seasons click into place and make sense."
So I've decided to make an official guess about the 5th Cylon cause if I'm right that will be so cool and if I'm wrong no one will remember or care (as I start writing this I have no idea who I'll pick so the following are my thoughts as they come). So Adama and Roslin are out. Roslin because of all the cancer stuff and Adama cause that just doesn't seem like it would fit - I was going to say he was out because they already took us through suspecting him, but I guess they also did that with the chief. Since the 4 gathered together on Galactica it seems like the 5th shouldn't have been there at that time, but that would eliminate practically everyone so I'm dropping that as a criteria. Apollo is a tricky one we'll come back to him. Obviously none of the cylons we know about are the 5th (wow, that would be a twist though). They already dealt with Baltar in what seemed like a definitive way (that would be like JD and Elliot getting back together after Turk's wedding - oh, wait...). They actually have more explaining to do if Starbuck is not a cylon so as a surprise she is out. It could be Helo, but then the half child wouldn't make sense and even more important it would make all of his character strengths just be lame - this is the one person I would be disappointed if it turned out to be. If the one human who is really understanding turned out to be a cylon that wouldn't be cool. Gaeta is an interesting one. The other four were the leaders of the insurgency on new caprica and he was the informant so it would fit that pattern. There's no strong reason to not be him, and he is the computer scientist of the crew. He also has a minimal back story. The one downside is he doesn't seem like a major enough character, but I'm keeping him in the running. Dualla is another possibility. She has a bit more back story, but not enough to rule her out. But it doesn't seem like anything would click into place if it was her. Dr. Cottle would be a cool choice, he's got a bit of a cylon side to him, but I don't think anyone has any emotions about him. If they brought back a resurrected Billy that would be funny, but he doesn't seem like final cylon material plus it would get kind of obvious when he showed up. Cally would be an interesting choice. I'd almost have to go with her since she would have to deal with so much hatred for Cylons, except for the whole half human kid thing. Although they could explain that away. Kat could have been a contender except the whole dying from radiation poisoning. Tom Zarek might be a good choice, although I don't see what it would really explain and I'm not sure people are attached to him enough to care. Also the other four fought for humans against cylons, but Tom did most of his fighting against other humans. Ellen would be an awesome choice, but again the death thing kind of ruins it. Same with Cain. I think the rest of the characters are too minor to include.
Ok, the top four are Apollo, Gaeta, Dualla, and Cally. While any of them would require some fancy footwork explaining I think Apollo just isn't workable with the whole his Dad being around thing - he's out. I think that if it was Gaeta or Dualla, Gaeta is the more interesting character and it fits better. Between Gaeta and Cally - I think Gaeta fits better, but Cally would be the bigger surprise and definitely would get a bigger emotional response, although I do admit things wouldn't click into place.
WINNER - CALLY!
Now just 3 months until I get proven wrong (well, that assumes they don't drag it out forever, which they probably will). I guess the other option is they could introduce someone new - like have the people of earth be the 5th cylon, but if you open it that wide there's no way to guess, so I'm sticking with Cally.
Um, if you actually made it this far - sorry.
Hm, well the attempt at political humor didn't work as well as hoped, so I guess I'll tell you about my weekend. I slept. Then I watched TV. Then I slept. Then I watched TV. Then I slept. Then I got my oil changed (I'm currently averaging 6,000 miles per year which means I use less gas than my prius owning co-worker). Then I watched TV. Then spent 30 minutes being told by a friend why I shouldn't vote for Obama (within the first minute I told him I already voted). And now I'm blogging. It's a bit early to sleep again so you can probably guess what's up next. When I actually do stuff I'm busy so I don't bother blogging, but when I'm doing nothing I have time to write about it - kinda sucks for you readers.
Next week I'm headed to ISSCC. It's a big integrated circuit design conference. I've never been to a real conference before so I'm excited about going to that. It is put on by the same IEEE society that publishes the JSSC which is the circuits journal I subscribe to.
It's been raining more than usual in SoCal which is a bit of a downer, but it does mean I feel less guilty about requiring a half hour shower every morning to wake up. It also means that all the brown hills have turned green. I was surprised by how fast everything turned green once it got a bit of water.
The rest of this post is about BSG so proceed at your own risk of boredom.
I've started watching the original series - it is a bit goofy but it is interesting to see where the new series got some of its ideas and characters. A lot of the names are from the original. Also in the original starbuck is a guy who is the top pilot and a womanizer and adama has a daughter that starbuck goes after. So that's kinda cool that they kept the character traits but turned starbuck into a woman. Also all of the ships in the new one are copies of the old one. In the fist episode they do a close up of a lot of the ships - it is a bit disturbing that for most of them I could think of either their name or function in the new series. Oh - and Tom Zarek is Apollo in the original (I just realized that - I knew I recognized him, but couldn't place it till now). Frac is also from the original.
I was looking around to see when BSG is coming back and found this article. It says that:
Sci Fi Channel's executive VP of original programming, recently promised TV Guide that the reveal of the final Cylon would surprise a lot of people. "The reveal will have great emotional resonance," he says, "and will make many things that happened in the past three seasons click into place and make sense."
So I've decided to make an official guess about the 5th Cylon cause if I'm right that will be so cool and if I'm wrong no one will remember or care (as I start writing this I have no idea who I'll pick so the following are my thoughts as they come). So Adama and Roslin are out. Roslin because of all the cancer stuff and Adama cause that just doesn't seem like it would fit - I was going to say he was out because they already took us through suspecting him, but I guess they also did that with the chief. Since the 4 gathered together on Galactica it seems like the 5th shouldn't have been there at that time, but that would eliminate practically everyone so I'm dropping that as a criteria. Apollo is a tricky one we'll come back to him. Obviously none of the cylons we know about are the 5th (wow, that would be a twist though). They already dealt with Baltar in what seemed like a definitive way (that would be like JD and Elliot getting back together after Turk's wedding - oh, wait...). They actually have more explaining to do if Starbuck is not a cylon so as a surprise she is out. It could be Helo, but then the half child wouldn't make sense and even more important it would make all of his character strengths just be lame - this is the one person I would be disappointed if it turned out to be. If the one human who is really understanding turned out to be a cylon that wouldn't be cool. Gaeta is an interesting one. The other four were the leaders of the insurgency on new caprica and he was the informant so it would fit that pattern. There's no strong reason to not be him, and he is the computer scientist of the crew. He also has a minimal back story. The one downside is he doesn't seem like a major enough character, but I'm keeping him in the running. Dualla is another possibility. She has a bit more back story, but not enough to rule her out. But it doesn't seem like anything would click into place if it was her. Dr. Cottle would be a cool choice, he's got a bit of a cylon side to him, but I don't think anyone has any emotions about him. If they brought back a resurrected Billy that would be funny, but he doesn't seem like final cylon material plus it would get kind of obvious when he showed up. Cally would be an interesting choice. I'd almost have to go with her since she would have to deal with so much hatred for Cylons, except for the whole half human kid thing. Although they could explain that away. Kat could have been a contender except the whole dying from radiation poisoning. Tom Zarek might be a good choice, although I don't see what it would really explain and I'm not sure people are attached to him enough to care. Also the other four fought for humans against cylons, but Tom did most of his fighting against other humans. Ellen would be an awesome choice, but again the death thing kind of ruins it. Same with Cain. I think the rest of the characters are too minor to include.
Ok, the top four are Apollo, Gaeta, Dualla, and Cally. While any of them would require some fancy footwork explaining I think Apollo just isn't workable with the whole his Dad being around thing - he's out. I think that if it was Gaeta or Dualla, Gaeta is the more interesting character and it fits better. Between Gaeta and Cally - I think Gaeta fits better, but Cally would be the bigger surprise and definitely would get a bigger emotional response, although I do admit things wouldn't click into place.
WINNER - CALLY!
Now just 3 months until I get proven wrong (well, that assumes they don't drag it out forever, which they probably will). I guess the other option is they could introduce someone new - like have the people of earth be the 5th cylon, but if you open it that wide there's no way to guess, so I'm sticking with Cally.
Um, if you actually made it this far - sorry.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
TV
Eric recently posted about how to enrich your brain by getting news and discussion of politics and science. So I'm going to discuss how to numb your brain by getting TV online.
If you are willing to pay then iTunes is great because you can get episodes as they come out (typically less than two day delay) and you then own the episode so you can watch it again. Video podcasts aren't really TV, but are also a good source of video.
I was going to say that youtube is too obvious to mention, but that would be silly so instead I'll just talk about saying it.
The most legal options are to go to the sites of the networks such as nbc, fox, abc, and cbs. These are nice because it is straight forward to go the channel's site and get their shows. However, you have to deal with commercials and they often only post a few of the most recent episodes of each show.
A good next step is to go to sites based on hulu such as openhulu and fancast. Ok, I have no idea what hulu really is, but shows on these sites are very similar to the sites of the networks, but often have episodes that the network sites don't. These sites are also great for watching older shows. The downside is you still have commercials, but everything about the sites is legal (or at least I assume it is or else showing ads is rather lame). Openhulu is better than fancast because all of its shows can be full screen, but many of fancast's cannot.
The next set of sites are all less legal than the above. I of course wouldn't use any of these, but I hear good things. One of the sites that would be my favorite if I wasn't so moral is watchtvsitcoms. From what I hear sometimes it takes a while to load the video so it is best to hit play and then once it starts buffering hit pause then wait for most of the episode to download before watching. This site has quite a few shows and no commercials. It also tends to have full seasons so you don't have to worry about episodes not being there or getting pulled down over time. If you are looking for south park then southparkzone is the place to go. If you are struggling to find a specific episode then you can try peekvid and alluc, but they are a bit of a pain and have a very random assortment of episodes so I consider them last resorts.
If there's anything I'm missing post a comment and let me know.
If you are willing to pay then iTunes is great because you can get episodes as they come out (typically less than two day delay) and you then own the episode so you can watch it again. Video podcasts aren't really TV, but are also a good source of video.
I was going to say that youtube is too obvious to mention, but that would be silly so instead I'll just talk about saying it.
The most legal options are to go to the sites of the networks such as nbc, fox, abc, and cbs. These are nice because it is straight forward to go the channel's site and get their shows. However, you have to deal with commercials and they often only post a few of the most recent episodes of each show.
A good next step is to go to sites based on hulu such as openhulu and fancast. Ok, I have no idea what hulu really is, but shows on these sites are very similar to the sites of the networks, but often have episodes that the network sites don't. These sites are also great for watching older shows. The downside is you still have commercials, but everything about the sites is legal (or at least I assume it is or else showing ads is rather lame). Openhulu is better than fancast because all of its shows can be full screen, but many of fancast's cannot.
The next set of sites are all less legal than the above. I of course wouldn't use any of these, but I hear good things. One of the sites that would be my favorite if I wasn't so moral is watchtvsitcoms. From what I hear sometimes it takes a while to load the video so it is best to hit play and then once it starts buffering hit pause then wait for most of the episode to download before watching. This site has quite a few shows and no commercials. It also tends to have full seasons so you don't have to worry about episodes not being there or getting pulled down over time. If you are looking for south park then southparkzone is the place to go. If you are struggling to find a specific episode then you can try peekvid and alluc, but they are a bit of a pain and have a very random assortment of episodes so I consider them last resorts.
If there's anything I'm missing post a comment and let me know.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Voting removed me from society
As I discussed last year - in California you can vote by mail even if you're not an absentee voter and actually if you do it once they just keep you on the vote by mail list. So a few days ago I got my ballet and voted. Also as discussed last year - sitting at home or work in front of a computer is definitely the way to vote. However, now that I'm done voting I feel a bit disconnected from society. Every time I hear someone discuss the election, whether it's someone I'm talking to or a voice on TV or a podcast, I initially perk up and then remember that I already voted. So no matter what they have to say I'm already done, no point thinking about it too hard. Obviously I care how the whole thing turns out, but that's a long time from now and as I learned in the 7 habits it's outside my sphere of influence so no point in worrying about it (ok, I probably didn't have to read a book to figure that one out).
Anyway, definitely go vote, but if you have a chance to do it early make sure you're ready to be emotionally detached from election discussions (well, unless you also plan on voting often).
Anyway, definitely go vote, but if you have a chance to do it early make sure you're ready to be emotionally detached from election discussions (well, unless you also plan on voting often).
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Vote Yes on C, 7 Habits, No more dinner
If you are going door to door telling people to vote no on a proposal to replace open land with housing and your main reason is it will cause housing prices to drop, you might not want to bother with apartment communities.
Oh yeah - if you haven't registered to vote it's time to get to it. If you are young just showing up actually counts for a lot.
Over the past few months I made my way through The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The 7 habits are be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win/win, seek first to understand then to be understood, synergize, and sharpen the saw. While stated in a list they sound like management buzz words, but the book actually makes some good points. I think the biggest thing I got from the book was it got me to stop and think about what I can and cannot influence and to think about how to influence others rather than expecting everyone to realize something is clearly the right answer.
The one part I really couldn't get into was the part where he wants you to write a personal mission statement and figure out your major goals in life. Not sure if it is just me, or my age or what, but I honestly have no idea what I want to do with my life.
Not sure that I'd recommend 7 habits to everyone, but if you are struggling with your work environment it might be worthwhile. The other part that was tough for me is a lot of his examples are about his marriage and raising his kids which I was not able to relate to.
At work they decided to cut work hours by one hour a day (become a normal 8 to 5 instead of 8 to 6). But that means they stopped bringing in dinner. So I'm trying to figure out how to keep from starving. Not that I feel I cannot overcome finding or cooking dinner, but it caught me a bit off guard this week. I think that if you are going to mess with someone's source of food you should give them a week's notice (or at least a weekend's to give them a chance to go to the grocery store). It's interesting because part of the change is encouragement that everyone be at work during a core set of hours so that they can collaborate. But what they don't get is that a lot of engineers (like myself) get most of their work done when everyone else leaves. I would go on and on, but that's enough venting for now.
Oh yeah - if you haven't registered to vote it's time to get to it. If you are young just showing up actually counts for a lot.
Over the past few months I made my way through The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The 7 habits are be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win/win, seek first to understand then to be understood, synergize, and sharpen the saw. While stated in a list they sound like management buzz words, but the book actually makes some good points. I think the biggest thing I got from the book was it got me to stop and think about what I can and cannot influence and to think about how to influence others rather than expecting everyone to realize something is clearly the right answer.
The one part I really couldn't get into was the part where he wants you to write a personal mission statement and figure out your major goals in life. Not sure if it is just me, or my age or what, but I honestly have no idea what I want to do with my life.
Not sure that I'd recommend 7 habits to everyone, but if you are struggling with your work environment it might be worthwhile. The other part that was tough for me is a lot of his examples are about his marriage and raising his kids which I was not able to relate to.
At work they decided to cut work hours by one hour a day (become a normal 8 to 5 instead of 8 to 6). But that means they stopped bringing in dinner. So I'm trying to figure out how to keep from starving. Not that I feel I cannot overcome finding or cooking dinner, but it caught me a bit off guard this week. I think that if you are going to mess with someone's source of food you should give them a week's notice (or at least a weekend's to give them a chance to go to the grocery store). It's interesting because part of the change is encouragement that everyone be at work during a core set of hours so that they can collaborate. But what they don't get is that a lot of engineers (like myself) get most of their work done when everyone else leaves. I would go on and on, but that's enough venting for now.
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