Which is more painful my sore shoulder or the embarrassment of a ping-pong injury? I would say my shoulder because it is really sore, but the more it hurts the more embarrassing it is.
When is the security line for all gates not for your gate? When your flight to the east coast is in the international terminal.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
The Egyptians
Well, the title sounded appropriate and there are lots of pictures so I picked up The Egyptians at the used book store. It covers ancient egypt from about 5000 BC to 600 BC in 200 pages which is a bit ambitious. Also when I was reading it, I kept getting the feeling that the author expected me to know a lot of stuff I don't know. Unfortunately I was also reminded that I find straight history a bit boring.
But there were a few things I got out of the book. The main thing was some info about the great pyramid and it also helped me realize just how old it is. So around the 27th century the first step pyramid was built in Egypt. After that step pyramids were built for a while. Then the Pharaoh Snoferu added to a step pyramid to give it straight sides. Then he had a pyramid with straight sides built, but it was a bit off so the angle had to change near the top, it is called The Bent Pyramid. Well that was no good so he had another one built, and this time they got the straight sides right, it is called The Red Pyramid. Then his son Kheops came along and built The Great Pyramid in 2560 BC which remained the tallest man made structure in the world for 3,800 years. After that Pharoahs backed off on the size of the pyramids and eventually switched to rectangular buildings for their burial locations.
So let's put 2560 BC in perspective. When the Western Wall (as part of the second temple) was built, the Great Pyramid was older than the Western Wall is now. When the first segment of the Great Wall of China was built, the Great Pyramid was 2000 years old. Stonehenge, which is cool and mysterious, but is really just some big rocks in a circle was built within about +/- 100 years of the Great Pyramid.
Way back around 5000 to 3500 BC before farming along the Nile had really been figured out, people lived out in the desert and looked to rainmakers to get it to rain. As farming was figured out people moved close to the Nile and the Nile delta area. There they depended more on how much water the Nile brought each year rather than how much it rained. The position of Pharaoh had its origins in being the guy who could control the flow of the Nile. Pharaohs who ruled during droughts didn't stick around for long. Early on the Pharaoh was considered a God himself. As time went on the position transitioned into someone who had more direct contact with the Gods and eventually became more of a warrior king kind of position. Measurements of time, including both lunar and solar calendars, were figured out to know when the Nile floods would come, when to plant food, and when to harvest. Figuring out writing and mathematics did a lot to allow the centralization of power. One major task was figuring out property rights each year after the Nile flooded and knocked down walls and other indicators. There is a significant division between North and South (or Upper and Lower Egypt) and the Pharaoh had two crowns to represent ruling the two areas. Nubians are the people who live on the southern end of Egypt. They live in the area around what is now called Aswan which has Elephantine Island. The borders of Egypt moved around some over several thousands years, but the southern border was generally around Elephantine Island which had a fort.
I'm getting some mixed messages from the book and what I've seen online. Because there definitely were slaves in Egypt, but at the same time it sounds like it wasn't slaves who built the pyramids, but rather paid workers. And it sounds like those workers had lives that were just as good if not better than those of farmers.
But there were a few things I got out of the book. The main thing was some info about the great pyramid and it also helped me realize just how old it is. So around the 27th century the first step pyramid was built in Egypt. After that step pyramids were built for a while. Then the Pharaoh Snoferu added to a step pyramid to give it straight sides. Then he had a pyramid with straight sides built, but it was a bit off so the angle had to change near the top, it is called The Bent Pyramid. Well that was no good so he had another one built, and this time they got the straight sides right, it is called The Red Pyramid. Then his son Kheops came along and built The Great Pyramid in 2560 BC which remained the tallest man made structure in the world for 3,800 years. After that Pharoahs backed off on the size of the pyramids and eventually switched to rectangular buildings for their burial locations.
So let's put 2560 BC in perspective. When the Western Wall (as part of the second temple) was built, the Great Pyramid was older than the Western Wall is now. When the first segment of the Great Wall of China was built, the Great Pyramid was 2000 years old. Stonehenge, which is cool and mysterious, but is really just some big rocks in a circle was built within about +/- 100 years of the Great Pyramid.
Way back around 5000 to 3500 BC before farming along the Nile had really been figured out, people lived out in the desert and looked to rainmakers to get it to rain. As farming was figured out people moved close to the Nile and the Nile delta area. There they depended more on how much water the Nile brought each year rather than how much it rained. The position of Pharaoh had its origins in being the guy who could control the flow of the Nile. Pharaohs who ruled during droughts didn't stick around for long. Early on the Pharaoh was considered a God himself. As time went on the position transitioned into someone who had more direct contact with the Gods and eventually became more of a warrior king kind of position. Measurements of time, including both lunar and solar calendars, were figured out to know when the Nile floods would come, when to plant food, and when to harvest. Figuring out writing and mathematics did a lot to allow the centralization of power. One major task was figuring out property rights each year after the Nile flooded and knocked down walls and other indicators. There is a significant division between North and South (or Upper and Lower Egypt) and the Pharaoh had two crowns to represent ruling the two areas. Nubians are the people who live on the southern end of Egypt. They live in the area around what is now called Aswan which has Elephantine Island. The borders of Egypt moved around some over several thousands years, but the southern border was generally around Elephantine Island which had a fort.
I'm getting some mixed messages from the book and what I've seen online. Because there definitely were slaves in Egypt, but at the same time it sounds like it wasn't slaves who built the pyramids, but rather paid workers. And it sounds like those workers had lives that were just as good if not better than those of farmers.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Someone who gets other people killed. You can look it up later.
If they kill Mohinder does the absurd narration go away? Cause I'm totally willing to make that trade. Especially if the pseudo-science explanations stop too.
Isn't it weird that Marlo Stanfield shows less fear and is more of a bad ass than Knox?
And why is Cameron so much more attractive than River Tam? And why is the robot more interested in guys than the troubled teen?
Isn't it weird that Marlo Stanfield shows less fear and is more of a bad ass than Knox?
And why is Cameron so much more attractive than River Tam? And why is the robot more interested in guys than the troubled teen?
Sunday, November 16, 2008
No God but God
No, this post isn't about the book No god but God, I already covered that. It is about the book No God but God - notice the difference?
I picked this up somewhat by chance at the library, but it turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. It discusses the rise of Islam in Egypt from about 1970 to the late 1990s. It was released in 2000 so it doesn't cover the last eight years. But I tend not to trust anything written about Islam that came out from 2002 to around 2005 (I figure anything in that time period is going to be too reactionary) so it is hard to do better than a release date of 2000.
If you're not going to be in Egypt in a couple months not sure how interesting it would be, but I found it interesting so this post will probably end up way too long. The one downside of the book is it seems like the chapters were written separately so there is a bit of repetition of facts.
The main thing I learned is that the relationship between religion and the state in Egypt is in many ways inverted from other countries in the Middle East. The government is secular and has been fighting against the rising power of Islamist, such as banning niqabs and hijabs for students at various times as opposed to forcing women to wear them.
The other big message I took away is that there's not a clear good guy or bad guy (well, the militants are bad guys). The government is secular, "democratic", made peace with Israel and generally tries for good relations with the West. However, there is some serious corruption and obvious vote rigging. Since 1956 when Nasser took over the presidency (partially by putting the previous president under house arrest), there have been three presidents. Sadat took over when Nasser died of a heart attack and Mubarak took over after Sadat was killed by Islamic militants (notice how no one was ever voted out). The government also occasionally rounds up suspected Islamic militants, jails them, and often tortures them. It also some times passes laws to prevent Islamist from getting elected to lead unions and student groups. While the Islamic movement pushes for censorship that doesn't fit its morals, the secular government also uses censorship to protect itself. The government also works hard to look good in the West partially because America provides 10% of the Egyptian GDP in aid money. This can lead to over reactions and getting the wrong people to confess to crimes in order to maintain that image. And passing laws against female circumcision, but not enforcing them. It also helps to explain why the government is so protective of tourists (other than tourism being a major industry).
There is a militant portion of the Islamic movement. Although the majority of the movement has been peaceful for several decades. There is a push for women wearing a veil and for female circumcision. Although many women, even rich and well educated women, volunteer to wear the veil, even against the wishes of their husbands. The female circumcision is a bit odd because it is actually an African tradition, not Islamic, but has been incorporated into Islam in Egypt - well female circumcision is horrible, not odd, but its introduction to Islam is one of the odd things about it. Along the same lines, the requirement of women wearing a veil is also questionable. In the Koran it was only the Prophet's wives who had to have a sheet separating them from men, but since then has been interpreted as a requirement for all women to wear a veil. But on the other side, members of the Islamic movement who have been elected in unions and student groups have broad support, even among secularists and Coptic Christians, because they work hard to look after their member's economic and social situations, which the government has largely failed to do. Unlike in the US, the unions are also for middle class professions like engineers, doctors and lawyers. Many people in these middle class professions are displeased with the government because Nasser pushed to educate the country to fuel its economic growth (seems like a good idea), but when people came out of school with advanced degrees there were no jobs and they were making less money than taxi drivers.
The other pattern that was interesting is that when the government tried to suppress the Islamic movement, the movement got stronger and when Sadat supported the movement for a while it got stronger and eventually assassinated him. Although through all of this the militant side slowly lost support. And the militant side's last major act, the Luxor attack in 1997, caused it to lose almost all of its popular support.
The book also confirmed a lot of The Yacoubian Building and the Golden Chariot as realistic stories.
I guess the biggest message for me is in addition to avoiding taking a Menorah, I should also avoid taking a Qur'an on the trip (not that I was planning to take either, but you get the idea).
My last comment is - if a young man supports a movement, especially one that is uptight about sex, torturing him in jail and humiliating him sexually - probably is not the best policy for steering him away from violence. Just a guess.
I picked this up somewhat by chance at the library, but it turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. It discusses the rise of Islam in Egypt from about 1970 to the late 1990s. It was released in 2000 so it doesn't cover the last eight years. But I tend not to trust anything written about Islam that came out from 2002 to around 2005 (I figure anything in that time period is going to be too reactionary) so it is hard to do better than a release date of 2000.
If you're not going to be in Egypt in a couple months not sure how interesting it would be, but I found it interesting so this post will probably end up way too long. The one downside of the book is it seems like the chapters were written separately so there is a bit of repetition of facts.
The main thing I learned is that the relationship between religion and the state in Egypt is in many ways inverted from other countries in the Middle East. The government is secular and has been fighting against the rising power of Islamist, such as banning niqabs and hijabs for students at various times as opposed to forcing women to wear them.
The other big message I took away is that there's not a clear good guy or bad guy (well, the militants are bad guys). The government is secular, "democratic", made peace with Israel and generally tries for good relations with the West. However, there is some serious corruption and obvious vote rigging. Since 1956 when Nasser took over the presidency (partially by putting the previous president under house arrest), there have been three presidents. Sadat took over when Nasser died of a heart attack and Mubarak took over after Sadat was killed by Islamic militants (notice how no one was ever voted out). The government also occasionally rounds up suspected Islamic militants, jails them, and often tortures them. It also some times passes laws to prevent Islamist from getting elected to lead unions and student groups. While the Islamic movement pushes for censorship that doesn't fit its morals, the secular government also uses censorship to protect itself. The government also works hard to look good in the West partially because America provides 10% of the Egyptian GDP in aid money. This can lead to over reactions and getting the wrong people to confess to crimes in order to maintain that image. And passing laws against female circumcision, but not enforcing them. It also helps to explain why the government is so protective of tourists (other than tourism being a major industry).
There is a militant portion of the Islamic movement. Although the majority of the movement has been peaceful for several decades. There is a push for women wearing a veil and for female circumcision. Although many women, even rich and well educated women, volunteer to wear the veil, even against the wishes of their husbands. The female circumcision is a bit odd because it is actually an African tradition, not Islamic, but has been incorporated into Islam in Egypt - well female circumcision is horrible, not odd, but its introduction to Islam is one of the odd things about it. Along the same lines, the requirement of women wearing a veil is also questionable. In the Koran it was only the Prophet's wives who had to have a sheet separating them from men, but since then has been interpreted as a requirement for all women to wear a veil. But on the other side, members of the Islamic movement who have been elected in unions and student groups have broad support, even among secularists and Coptic Christians, because they work hard to look after their member's economic and social situations, which the government has largely failed to do. Unlike in the US, the unions are also for middle class professions like engineers, doctors and lawyers. Many people in these middle class professions are displeased with the government because Nasser pushed to educate the country to fuel its economic growth (seems like a good idea), but when people came out of school with advanced degrees there were no jobs and they were making less money than taxi drivers.
The other pattern that was interesting is that when the government tried to suppress the Islamic movement, the movement got stronger and when Sadat supported the movement for a while it got stronger and eventually assassinated him. Although through all of this the militant side slowly lost support. And the militant side's last major act, the Luxor attack in 1997, caused it to lose almost all of its popular support.
The book also confirmed a lot of The Yacoubian Building and the Golden Chariot as realistic stories.
I guess the biggest message for me is in addition to avoiding taking a Menorah, I should also avoid taking a Qur'an on the trip (not that I was planning to take either, but you get the idea).
My last comment is - if a young man supports a movement, especially one that is uptight about sex, torturing him in jail and humiliating him sexually - probably is not the best policy for steering him away from violence. Just a guess.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Loop Gain
A lot of people are 5 to 10 pounds above their goal weight.
A feedback system measures the difference between the output of the system and the goal and amplifies the difference (well, in the most simple of feedback systems). After the system stabilizes the output is approximately equal to the input, but there is an error equal to the output divided by the gain of the system.
It is reasonable to figure that the further people get from their goal the harder they try. So they are always doomed to be a bit above their goal. Perhaps lots of people have a loop gain that pushes them just enough to maintain their weight when they are 5 to 10 pounds over.
I guess all this leads to the Dr. Cox view of weight loss - once you are happy with your body you lose.
I've heard that expression about a person with a hammer seeing everything as a nail, but it doesn't apply to me because I have feedback analysis, not a hammer.
A feedback system measures the difference between the output of the system and the goal and amplifies the difference (well, in the most simple of feedback systems). After the system stabilizes the output is approximately equal to the input, but there is an error equal to the output divided by the gain of the system.
It is reasonable to figure that the further people get from their goal the harder they try. So they are always doomed to be a bit above their goal. Perhaps lots of people have a loop gain that pushes them just enough to maintain their weight when they are 5 to 10 pounds over.
I guess all this leads to the Dr. Cox view of weight loss - once you are happy with your body you lose.
I've heard that expression about a person with a hammer seeing everything as a nail, but it doesn't apply to me because I have feedback analysis, not a hammer.
Friday, November 14, 2008
So close
From this NYT article:
Chief Justice Roberts took issue with both restrictions. The Navy had agreed to shut down its sonar if marine mammals were sighted within 200 yards. The appeals court’s requirement that it increase the zone to 2,200 yards, Chief Justice Roberts said, would “expand the surface area of the shutdown zone by a factor of over 100,” given “the exponential relationship between radius length and surface area.”
So close to sounding smart and yet so far. Well, at least he got the numbers right.
(x^2 is a polynomial, 2^x is an exponential function, the area of a circle would get really big really fast if it was an exponential function of the radius)
Am I being really petty? Yes.
Chief Justice Roberts took issue with both restrictions. The Navy had agreed to shut down its sonar if marine mammals were sighted within 200 yards. The appeals court’s requirement that it increase the zone to 2,200 yards, Chief Justice Roberts said, would “expand the surface area of the shutdown zone by a factor of over 100,” given “the exponential relationship between radius length and surface area.”
So close to sounding smart and yet so far. Well, at least he got the numbers right.
(x^2 is a polynomial, 2^x is an exponential function, the area of a circle would get really big really fast if it was an exponential function of the radius)
Am I being really petty? Yes.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Dear 2008 (a response to Dear 1970s)
Dear 2008,
Let us say this in a way you will understand - chillax.
So what do you consider a good sci fi movie? The Matirx? A movie that combines the fight against AI and philosophy/mysticism. Sounds familiar, oh, but we see, you've replaced classical music and inspirational visuals with rock music and fighting. Way to go - that's some progress you've got there.
And what do you consider good sci fi tv? Battlestar Galactica - gee we wonder where you came up with that idea. Only we see you've replaced goofy fun with a bleak vision of the future and more realistic violence. Sure our version had some silly looking robots and a really lame explanation for where they came from. But you just made the robots human - that's not even trying! And your explanation for how they came into their current form is - no one, including the robots, knows? How long did it take to come up with that idea? At least we can all agree on laughing at the 80s version!
Ok, Firefly and Serenity are cool ideas, but they're only half sci fi and barely anyone has even heard of them. Plus, a movie about the power of belief written by an atheist - no wonder people had to watch the commentary to get the message. You might think our movies spoon fed the point to the viewers, but at least we didn't encourage them to watch the movie a second time so we could describe scene by scene what is happening. And why is it you can't make it through five minutes of music, but you love listening to what each actor was feeling during every scene?
Yeah, our movies might be hard to get through if you're watching after your third trip to starbucks, but maybe you should put the caffeine down and enjoy the movie! If you insist on filling every single second put two TVs next to each other. On one play the 70s movie and on the other play a loop of people getting beat up. That way if you get tired of being inspired you have something to look at.
Sincerely,
The 1970s
PS We will admit your graphics are awesome.
Let us say this in a way you will understand - chillax.
So what do you consider a good sci fi movie? The Matirx? A movie that combines the fight against AI and philosophy/mysticism. Sounds familiar, oh, but we see, you've replaced classical music and inspirational visuals with rock music and fighting. Way to go - that's some progress you've got there.
And what do you consider good sci fi tv? Battlestar Galactica - gee we wonder where you came up with that idea. Only we see you've replaced goofy fun with a bleak vision of the future and more realistic violence. Sure our version had some silly looking robots and a really lame explanation for where they came from. But you just made the robots human - that's not even trying! And your explanation for how they came into their current form is - no one, including the robots, knows? How long did it take to come up with that idea? At least we can all agree on laughing at the 80s version!
Ok, Firefly and Serenity are cool ideas, but they're only half sci fi and barely anyone has even heard of them. Plus, a movie about the power of belief written by an atheist - no wonder people had to watch the commentary to get the message. You might think our movies spoon fed the point to the viewers, but at least we didn't encourage them to watch the movie a second time so we could describe scene by scene what is happening. And why is it you can't make it through five minutes of music, but you love listening to what each actor was feeling during every scene?
Yeah, our movies might be hard to get through if you're watching after your third trip to starbucks, but maybe you should put the caffeine down and enjoy the movie! If you insist on filling every single second put two TVs next to each other. On one play the 70s movie and on the other play a loop of people getting beat up. That way if you get tired of being inspired you have something to look at.
Sincerely,
The 1970s
PS We will admit your graphics are awesome.
Dear 1970s
Dear 1970s,
We get it, it is an emotional, grand moment, but the key word is moment. We don't need five minutes of classical music and what you consider impressive special effects every time you want to make a point. If you show a ship moving for 10 seconds we'll go ahead and extrapolate from there that it is continuing to move, you don't need to keep showing us.
We get that your vision of "advanced computers" and your ideas about racial interactions are a bit off, you're doing your best on special effects, and of course the fashion sense has become outdated. That's fine, we can get past all that. And you have some decent ideas so we can learn a lot by watching your movies. But we don't understand why you have to bury a half hour of good content in a two hour movie. And not just on occasion, but for every single movie. Of course it hasn't worked out too poorly for you since we tend to just remember the half hour where stuff actually happened. So there is still a lot of respect for your movies, but it doesn't seem right to do this to us when we want to see what is remembered so fondly.
Sincerely,
2008
PS Turns out AI is not that easy to create so you can stop being so paranoid and insecure about what will happen to humans when computers get smarter.
We get it, it is an emotional, grand moment, but the key word is moment. We don't need five minutes of classical music and what you consider impressive special effects every time you want to make a point. If you show a ship moving for 10 seconds we'll go ahead and extrapolate from there that it is continuing to move, you don't need to keep showing us.
We get that your vision of "advanced computers" and your ideas about racial interactions are a bit off, you're doing your best on special effects, and of course the fashion sense has become outdated. That's fine, we can get past all that. And you have some decent ideas so we can learn a lot by watching your movies. But we don't understand why you have to bury a half hour of good content in a two hour movie. And not just on occasion, but for every single movie. Of course it hasn't worked out too poorly for you since we tend to just remember the half hour where stuff actually happened. So there is still a lot of respect for your movies, but it doesn't seem right to do this to us when we want to see what is remembered so fondly.
Sincerely,
2008
PS Turns out AI is not that easy to create so you can stop being so paranoid and insecure about what will happen to humans when computers get smarter.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Election
Yay Obama!!!
I want to be super excited about Obama, but being happy about that win was dampened a bit by prop 8 passing (making same sex marriage unconstitutional in California). While same sex marriage is far from my top voting issue, it does amaze me that at the same time the first non-white president was elected that the California constitution was changed to specifically deny a group of people a right. Of the group I hang out with at work, the one other person who can vote in the US felt the same way so the mood wasn't a cheery as it could have been otherwise. Although last night it was interesting as people gathered in each other's cubes to watch the map change colors (favorite map moment was when NYT had colored Texas blue). Favorite (paraphrased) line of the night was when two Americans and two Iranians were in my cube:
American: "Do you think they'll re-elect Ahmadinejad next year"
Iranian: "Not sure, they might"
American: "But don't they think he's crazy"
Iranian: "Well, some do... but Bush got re-elected"
The CA ballot measures (other than 8) lined up basically how I was hoping - including funding for a fast train from SF to LA (I don't know if it is good for the state or not, but I voted for it because I want one!) And the abortion bill was defeated (although just barely).
Both of the crazy San Francisco measures were defeated (unfortunately I'm in a different county so I didn't get to vote on them). One was to legalize prostitution. Not in a controlled way like in Amsterdam, but cops would just stop arresting them. And the San Francisco sewage treatment plant was not named after George W Bush (largely because the workers did not want to work at a place named after him), but I think it is awesome that they tried.
I thought this Joy of Tech comic was only ok, until I got to the bottom left - HA!
And just in case you want to know how to say hello and thank you in Egypt (at least according to the tour book):
Hello: sa-lam'a-lay-kum
Thank you: shu-kran
I want to be super excited about Obama, but being happy about that win was dampened a bit by prop 8 passing (making same sex marriage unconstitutional in California). While same sex marriage is far from my top voting issue, it does amaze me that at the same time the first non-white president was elected that the California constitution was changed to specifically deny a group of people a right. Of the group I hang out with at work, the one other person who can vote in the US felt the same way so the mood wasn't a cheery as it could have been otherwise. Although last night it was interesting as people gathered in each other's cubes to watch the map change colors (favorite map moment was when NYT had colored Texas blue). Favorite (paraphrased) line of the night was when two Americans and two Iranians were in my cube:
American: "Do you think they'll re-elect Ahmadinejad next year"
Iranian: "Not sure, they might"
American: "But don't they think he's crazy"
Iranian: "Well, some do... but Bush got re-elected"
The CA ballot measures (other than 8) lined up basically how I was hoping - including funding for a fast train from SF to LA (I don't know if it is good for the state or not, but I voted for it because I want one!) And the abortion bill was defeated (although just barely).
Both of the crazy San Francisco measures were defeated (unfortunately I'm in a different county so I didn't get to vote on them). One was to legalize prostitution. Not in a controlled way like in Amsterdam, but cops would just stop arresting them. And the San Francisco sewage treatment plant was not named after George W Bush (largely because the workers did not want to work at a place named after him), but I think it is awesome that they tried.
I thought this Joy of Tech comic was only ok, until I got to the bottom left - HA!
And just in case you want to know how to say hello and thank you in Egypt (at least according to the tour book):
Hello: sa-lam'a-lay-kum
Thank you: shu-kran
Sunday, November 02, 2008
iWink uWink we all Wink for iceWink?
Apparently many of my half formed thoughts have a liberal twist, hopefully that will tone down in a few days.
Julie is right, lately I have tended to skip the items actually worth blogging about. Anyway, yesterday I went to uWink with a few others. It is a cool idea - they have two touch screens at each table, one facing each side. In addition to ordering your food on the touch screen you can play games. But it all felt a little forced. Having a menu organized by category and big pictures of each item seems good, but makes it hard to scan. The games were ok, but a bit cheesy - well maybe it is just that my side of the table lost to the other side. You can customize your order but the options are limited. Seems like a good idea for a bar if they reworked it a bit. Also seems like a good place to go on a date that is expected to go poorly (no need to talk or even really look at each other). Given all that, I did enjoy the meal - although that may have had more to do with being in a group where I was in the bottom 50% of LOTR fans.
After my previous post about fight club I thought it would interesting to watch it again. I'm watching it right now and it is like a whole new movie. Partially because of world events - it is a lot more attention grabbing now when they say "ground zero" and "weapons of mass destruction" in the first scene (did they predict the future or were those just phrases that were ready to be used at the time? I guess it is unlikely, but possible the movie actually helped with putting the phrases in everyone's mind.). But even more because now it is my life they are making fun of and rebelling against (only I like that life). And of course watching them build a terrorist network has a whole different feel now (especially one that is a network of loosely connected independently operating cells made up of young adult males disappointed with their place in society and looking to take down the American financial system!).
Julie is right, lately I have tended to skip the items actually worth blogging about. Anyway, yesterday I went to uWink with a few others. It is a cool idea - they have two touch screens at each table, one facing each side. In addition to ordering your food on the touch screen you can play games. But it all felt a little forced. Having a menu organized by category and big pictures of each item seems good, but makes it hard to scan. The games were ok, but a bit cheesy - well maybe it is just that my side of the table lost to the other side. You can customize your order but the options are limited. Seems like a good idea for a bar if they reworked it a bit. Also seems like a good place to go on a date that is expected to go poorly (no need to talk or even really look at each other). Given all that, I did enjoy the meal - although that may have had more to do with being in a group where I was in the bottom 50% of LOTR fans.
After my previous post about fight club I thought it would interesting to watch it again. I'm watching it right now and it is like a whole new movie. Partially because of world events - it is a lot more attention grabbing now when they say "ground zero" and "weapons of mass destruction" in the first scene (did they predict the future or were those just phrases that were ready to be used at the time? I guess it is unlikely, but possible the movie actually helped with putting the phrases in everyone's mind.). But even more because now it is my life they are making fun of and rebelling against (only I like that life). And of course watching them build a terrorist network has a whole different feel now (especially one that is a network of loosely connected independently operating cells made up of young adult males disappointed with their place in society and looking to take down the American financial system!).
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Grab Bag of Half Formed Thoughts
Apartment rent rates in California should have two different daily values, the insanely high one we pay now for when it doesn't rain and a midwestern rate for when it does rain. Charging normal apartment rates in California on days when it rains is like an ISP charging for days when internet access goes down. I'm cool with paying the mortgage on a 4 bedroom house and getting a 600 sq ft apartment with an outdoor walk to the washer/drier, but only if it comes with sun shine.
If cops can fine me for driving too fast on a sunny dry day with few other cars on the road, why can't I fine them for tail gating when it is raining?
Gas is $3.05! That's like free here. I'm going to start pouring a bit on the sidewalk for Elijah. If it gets under $3/gal I'm going to have a gas fire party at my apartment. Come to see the gasoline in a barrel burn and stay to see if the wooden apartment complex goes up in flames. Drill Baby Drill! Not to toot my own horn, but this is why I've been saying environmentalists shouldn't combine forces with other causes (oil independence, price of gas...) - if you say save the earth and save money on gas and then gas gets cheap it is easy to forget the core message. And if you push oil independence then more drilling starts to sound like a good idea (well, it still isn't, but it sounds like it). Of course on the other hand I don't like the new environmental commercials that show kids and scary music. I mean sure, it is all about the kids and you should be scared, but I think we can do better than scare tactics. And why do environmental groups send letters asking for money? Isn't that what they are campaigning against?
Why is it that when I spend $22 on organic chips and salsa at whole foods I worry about getting the $0.05 discount for bringing my own bag?
Am I a Palin certified real American? Almost all indicators point to no (such as my last comment). But I did grow up in the suburbs in Kansas and Ohio. Sure I'm skipping over the time in Paris and being raised Jewish and that since I turned 18 I've lived in Boston and California. But I really feel like where I grew up gives me a running chance of at least having been a real American even if I'm not now. Although is Overland Park real America? Or is it an island of fake America in a sea of real America? Seriously if you're from Overland Park I'm curious if you think it counts as Palin certified real America or not? I'd also throw in that while I did not do a lot of manual labor while I was growing up, I would count myself as hardworking when it came to school. Kind of ironic that being a hard working real American is what led to me becoming a costal elitist.
So a real American is someone in a small town working hard, especially someone working a salt of the earth job like farming, just to scrape by and putting in those long hours so their kids can have a better life and don't want the government getting too involved in their life. Hm, apparently the realest Americans are illegal immigrants.
If you are looking for new podcasts the first on my list would be the Bugle (Eric gets credit for introducing me to it). I think the first half is often funnier than the daily show. John Oliver definitely comes across funnier in the podcast than on the daily show. A podcast I picked up recently is The Moth. It is a bit more hit and miss, but if you're looking for podcasts it is worth checking out. It is real people telling real stories and some of them are amusing.
Why doesn't anyone specify that fivethirtyeight.com has to be spelled out? I've spent so long wondering why the hell 538.com is such a big deal!
If cops can fine me for driving too fast on a sunny dry day with few other cars on the road, why can't I fine them for tail gating when it is raining?
Gas is $3.05! That's like free here. I'm going to start pouring a bit on the sidewalk for Elijah. If it gets under $3/gal I'm going to have a gas fire party at my apartment. Come to see the gasoline in a barrel burn and stay to see if the wooden apartment complex goes up in flames. Drill Baby Drill! Not to toot my own horn, but this is why I've been saying environmentalists shouldn't combine forces with other causes (oil independence, price of gas...) - if you say save the earth and save money on gas and then gas gets cheap it is easy to forget the core message. And if you push oil independence then more drilling starts to sound like a good idea (well, it still isn't, but it sounds like it). Of course on the other hand I don't like the new environmental commercials that show kids and scary music. I mean sure, it is all about the kids and you should be scared, but I think we can do better than scare tactics. And why do environmental groups send letters asking for money? Isn't that what they are campaigning against?
Why is it that when I spend $22 on organic chips and salsa at whole foods I worry about getting the $0.05 discount for bringing my own bag?
Am I a Palin certified real American? Almost all indicators point to no (such as my last comment). But I did grow up in the suburbs in Kansas and Ohio. Sure I'm skipping over the time in Paris and being raised Jewish and that since I turned 18 I've lived in Boston and California. But I really feel like where I grew up gives me a running chance of at least having been a real American even if I'm not now. Although is Overland Park real America? Or is it an island of fake America in a sea of real America? Seriously if you're from Overland Park I'm curious if you think it counts as Palin certified real America or not? I'd also throw in that while I did not do a lot of manual labor while I was growing up, I would count myself as hardworking when it came to school. Kind of ironic that being a hard working real American is what led to me becoming a costal elitist.
So a real American is someone in a small town working hard, especially someone working a salt of the earth job like farming, just to scrape by and putting in those long hours so their kids can have a better life and don't want the government getting too involved in their life. Hm, apparently the realest Americans are illegal immigrants.
If you are looking for new podcasts the first on my list would be the Bugle (Eric gets credit for introducing me to it). I think the first half is often funnier than the daily show. John Oliver definitely comes across funnier in the podcast than on the daily show. A podcast I picked up recently is The Moth. It is a bit more hit and miss, but if you're looking for podcasts it is worth checking out. It is real people telling real stories and some of them are amusing.
Why doesn't anyone specify that fivethirtyeight.com has to be spelled out? I've spent so long wondering why the hell 538.com is such a big deal!
I'm a cooking genius!
First - I noticed that flour has a "best by" date (a mere 3 years late).
Second - Put a bit of oil in a pan then some instant oatmeal and about 1/3 the water you would normally use to make oatmeal. Set stove to about 4 (out of 10). If a lid is near by then cover. Let it cook for about 5 to 10 minutes - goal is not wet, but not crispy or burnt. Put on a plate and cover with raspberry preserves. You now have the 80/20 rule version of raspberry cobbler! Way better tasting than looking - I was sure it was a mistake until I tasted it.
Second - Put a bit of oil in a pan then some instant oatmeal and about 1/3 the water you would normally use to make oatmeal. Set stove to about 4 (out of 10). If a lid is near by then cover. Let it cook for about 5 to 10 minutes - goal is not wet, but not crispy or burnt. Put on a plate and cover with raspberry preserves. You now have the 80/20 rule version of raspberry cobbler! Way better tasting than looking - I was sure it was a mistake until I tasted it.
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