ScriptFlip Blog

A Brighter Day Will Come

2008-10-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

We hold this truth to be self-evident: it's time for Barack Obama to be President.

Obama '08 - Vote For Hope from MC Yogi on Vimeo.

McCain's a Liar.

2008-07-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

Now. Not then. Not later.

2008-07-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

It was about oil. Who knew?

2008-07-08T06:23:00.000-07:00

email as publishing tool

2008-04-28T05:20:00.001-07:00

Well, here it is.

Time Compression

2008-04-28T05:16:00.000-07:00

If I only had more of it. Hire a domestic worker? Driver? And why do I think a bigger living space would help?

Fitness Opportunities

2008-01-03T13:40:00.000-08:00

Since I started my family I have struggled to find time for fitness. Gone are the days when I could spend hours at the gym lifting weights, playing basketball, running, or practicing hot yoga. So I have to look for fitness opportunities throughout my regular daily life to keep up my baseline level of fitness.
Here are some of the hidden fitness gems I have discovered:

always take the stairs
stair workout breaks at 10am and 3pm
pull-ups at the playground
chasing my kids in a game of tag
morning push-ups before coffee
riding my bike or walking to work
a set of lunges or other plyos on my walk to a meeting

Some of these might be hard for those of you who commute long distances to work and some of these make you look goofy (lunges in the hallways). If you do drive, try parking as far away as possible and take a brisk walk in. If someone looks at you funny while you are on your 20th crossover lunge, just smile as you feel the burn.

Who you gonna vote for?

2008-01-03T10:32:00.001-08:00

If you are unsure, take this little quiz and find your electoral compass: http://www.electoralcompass.com/language/en

The Story of Stuff

2007-12-05T07:52:00.000-08:00

http://www.storyofstuff.com/
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view.

2008?

2007-11-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

Hitlery Clinton, a.k.a Bush Lite. Pass.
Adolf Guiliani, a.k.a Bush Extra. Pass
Kucinich: the one true democratic candidate. MSM says he doesn't stand a chance.
Ron Paul: Love the libertarian stand.
How about a Kucinich/Paul ticket? Now that would be awesome.

Sucks that money and loyalty to the Elite who really run things in the New World Order is what you have to have to get elected (or selected) President of the United States.

UCC 2007 - Retirement?

2007-11-08T13:25:00.000-08:00

I have now played competitive ultimate frisbee for 20 years. I went to UPA Club Nationals with HOSS (Wilmington, NC-based masters) in 2004 but we couldn't make it back in 05 and 06 so the team kind of disbanded for 07.

So I went to try-outs (52 candidates) and made the Boneyard 2007 Raleigh/Durham masters roster of 31. Boneyard beat Hoss in the 2/3 game to go in Pittsburgh last year and finished dead last at UCC 2006. This year the team was more serious with practices twice a week. I made a fair amount of these (the drive from Winston to Durham was never more than 90 minutes each way but still a pain).

My goals all year were to a) get to nationals, and b) perform my best mentally and physically while there. In years past I have often peaked too early in the season and have gone into regionals beat up from various injuries. This year I paced myself but doing light workouts between practices and not playing any other ultimate such as fall league and what not.

Boneyard went 4-3 at the UCC losing to the top 3 finishing teams and beating the top 4 finisher. Officially we took 9th place but we could probably argue an honorary 6/7 spot since our pool was so stacked.

I played 43 total points with 3.5 miscues (drops, throw-aways, or decision errors) and 4 fantasy points. Since I am a primary handler I don't get to throw many assists or catch many goals but if touches were measured I would be in above 150 range I would guess.

Boneyard was a fun team to play with and I learned a lot still. I am supposed to retire this year but if I move to RDU (or to a city with a good masters team) I could play again next year. I always like having something tangible to train for other than every day baseline fitness.

I'd like to do a few 5K runs this spring and perhaps a half marathon in the summer. Ah running. Hate it.

Money Saving Tips

2007-10-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

One of those headlines that is realy effective in getting me to click is anything to do with saving money. Since I don't have a whole lot of it I like to save as much as I can. Many posts say the same things like cut up your credit cards, negotiate a lower rate, grow a vegetable garden, use the newer lightbulbs, etc. I already do all that so I've decided to share my tips. Now I *am* cheap but not crazy cheap like washing dental floss to reuse. But I do think I have some good habits to share.

So here are "Andy's Top Ten Tips for Saving Money" a.k.a. "Pennies Make Dollars"...

Save money - simple really. Get a piggy bank. No need to buy an expensive piggy bank - an old soda bottle or shoebox works - but make sure you cannot open it without actually breaking it. Put your change in it. Everytime you want to go out to a bar or out to a nice place to eat, don't. Then put a $20 in the piggy bank and warm up last night's left overs. No more mysterious credit card receipts time-stamped 1:50AM from Big Shotz tavern the next morning. Bottom line: $200 every 6 months.
Thrift - shop at consignment and thrift stores. You will be surprised at the amount of gently worn and brand new (tag still on) items there. I buy just about all my wardrobe at thrift stores (except my underwear of course). I love finding a pair of Express or Banana Republic dress pants for $3.50 that were hardly worn by the sucker who paid $100 for them at the mall. Bottom line: $1000 savings per year.
Get rid of your "stuff" - take those hardly used items (sports equipment, camping crap, suits, jackets, etc) out of your closests and storage and take them to the consignment shop to sell. Don't get greedy by putting a high price on them cause they won't sell. Price them to move and put the proceeds in the aforementioned piggy bank. Donate stuff they won't take to the Salvation Army or DAV. Bottom line: $100 cash every 6 months; $100 in charitable tax deductions every year.
Shop ethnically - buy your ethnic foods at the ethnic stores. Those expensive yet healthy soba noodles at the regular american grocery are 4 times cheaper at the asian grocery. Get your tortillas at the hispanic grocery. And you would not believe the price difference on things like tofu, spices, and sauces! Bottom line: $200 per year savings.
Buy cheaper alternatives - you have to be creative on this one. But my big example is coffee filters. If you don't make the investment of a gold-plated permanent filter that lets all the oily goodness from the beans pass through, buy the cheapo paper filters (99 cents for 100 count) and fold them to fit your cone-shaped maker (the cone-shaped one are like $2.29 for 50 count). Yearly savings: $10. If you are really cheap you can wash the same filter and use it about 3 or 4 times before you throw it out. I do this when I'm on my last one and can't find time to go to the store for another pack.
Cut (or not) your own hair - I used to go to the "stylist" about every 2 months for about $30 a pop including tip. For the most part I got good results. Since that added up to some serious scratch, I downgraded to the "barber" for about $14 a pop, but results were not always acceptable and I usually found myself hacking away in the mirror when I got home. Eventually I got real good at shaping things up. For a while I just let it grow into a pony tail and forgot about cutting other than the periodic sideburn trim up. Now I just keep things trimmed up and my wife helps out a bit in the back. I'm happy with the results most of the time, and if I really mess it up I break out the Whal Homecut and sport the self-inflicted GI look for a few months. Yearly savings: $180.
Don't use the clothes dryer - all summer we hang our wash out on the line to dry. This year has been especially easy since there has been a long drought here in the south. The dryer eats a LOT of current so we're saving on the power bill. Clothes last much longer (that lint in the dryer trap is part of your clothes you know), and there is a certain Zen about hanging your wash on the line (time to clear your mind and all). Kinda looks like those Tibetan prayer flags too sometimes if you line up things by size and mix colors. Yearly savings: $240.
Iron your own clothes - forget the dry cleaners for your shirts and pants. MOst of the labels say dry clean only so you won't ruin the clothes in the wash and blame the makers for making cheap clothing. So while you are watching TV, break out the ironing board and the spray starch and get to ironing you lazy bitch! Yearly savings: $200.
Haggle - this is an art form and some just do not have the personality for it. But the more you negotiate prices, the better you get. And you'd be surprised how many places actually come off marked prices. When you buy a house, you generally make an offer lower than this asking price (unless you live in the San Fran Bay area), so why shouldn't you do the same for smaller things? I seek out businesses that are locally owned where the owner or manager is hands on and can make those selling decisions. Plus it is fun making deals. Results may vary as far as savings but you will save. Don't be too cheap though or you run the risk of insulting the seller.
Round up your mortgage payment - if you are buying your house, a great way to earn a return on your dollar is to add an extra $20 or so each month to your mortgage payment indicating that the overage should be applied to the principal. Each dollar you apply is one less dollar you pay interest on and gives you more equity in the house. After a few years the lender will re-amortize the payment schedule and reduce your monthly payment since the principal is lower than expected. Nice, safe investment assuming your house is not next to a nuclear waste site or outside the Green Zone in Iraq.

With us or against us?

2007-09-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

Democracy - There is hope yet still

2007-07-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

The Democratic debate by CNN and YouTube last night was proof that technology is bringing back democracy to the people. America - and the world - are plugging in to a more social, engaging, and participatory form of media for their news and information. The long tail of user generated video questions and living commentary from the world community is displacing the TV friendly sound bite. Questions live way past the event's 24 hour news cycle, and they are accessible by all citizens in the free world to view and respond.

The Republicans will have their debate of the same CNN/YouTube format in September.

The revolution will be YouTubed. http://www.youtube.com/debates

2007-07-19T05:41:00.000-07:00

Only people who were involved in the Durham, NC- based Internet start-up company KOZ.com would understand this to the fullest extent. But anyway...

The reason we failed was because we never answered the one question that was bugging us so much and because the market had not yet defined itself in terms of the protagonist with respect to communities.

That question: how do we define the ontology as Tester used to say all the time. We left that up to the provider of our software to hard wire if you will the structure of their community sites and yes, we used the term "channels". So the communities were stuctured from the top down to reflect their advertiser's target audience sectors.

The protagonist (if I'm using that term in the right way here): the user. Back then we thought of groups becuase that is how people define themselves in the real world - by belonging to groups and organizations. See, marketing to groups is more cost effective and if you can get people to congregate online for the same reasons you automatically create a great medium in which to market your advertiser's goods and services. But that was seriously flawed because critical mass of users would not be reached for another eight to ten years so little was known how users would bring the Internet into their lives.

Now we know both. The answers to both came from advances in social networking technology just in the past few years. Ontology, a more top-down approach, was replaced with member-generated taxonomy also known as folksonomy. Let the users posting content determine how it is categorized making the ontology arise organically and evolve as the community grows.

But we couldn't have seen this successfully either without flipping the script from group to user centric. The primary impetus for joining a social network is shameless self-promotion. Sure I will join virutal groups and participate as I can, but my primary focus is making sure MY webpages are updated. Why does this matter? Because it made communities successful and finacially attractive, and without that primary focus on me, myself, and I, users were not yet ready to flock to a set of tools so they could do more work (albeit more effectively) to promote their real-world groups. Now of course we have MySpace, Friendster, Hi5, Orkut, ..., but no KOZ.

Certainly there were many false moves that lead to bleeding cash back then, but we couldn't see the forest because the trees had not yet been identified. So let's chalk the whole experience up to KOZ being 2.0 way before Web 2.0 started linking people. We're so cool.

2007-07-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

Chuck "F*cking" Norris
http://marsupialmusic.net/stu/2007/01/chuck-norris-generator

Al Gore's Conscience

2007-07-12T10:57:00.000-07:00

So if he invented the Internet, he is also responsible for all those data centers. Data centers are the network infrastructure, all those servers, routers, switches, and trunks you hear about that keeps data streaming through the metaverse. I don't have figures but my guess would be that growth in data center energy consumption gives those little climate-controlled, raised floor structures purring with cooling fans a pretty big carbon footprint. So it makes sense Al is so passionate about zeroing out his.

2007-07-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

Fresh, Double Opted, Highly Segmented, Multiple Fields or "Fresh Doohizees"
How much is a verified fresh doohizee worth these days?

What is your list worth?

2007-04-05T07:09:00.000-07:00

2007-03-02T13:45:00.000-08:00

"Rethinking ourselves" with Web 2.0

2006-11-24T14:02:00.000-08:00

Says it all.

2006-11-13T11:46:00.000-08:00

Advertising -> Truth in Advertising

2006-11-01T10:41:00.000-08:00

Mortars -> Coffee maker from used mortar shells
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/11/01/coffeemaker_made_fro.html

black bush

2006-07-17T08:05:00.000-07:00


If only Bush were black!

2006-07-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

Billions of tons of trash -> Freecycle.org