What is she UP to, anyway?

We Call Them Animals

2009-01-03T14:30:00.004-05:00

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...

2008-12-11T19:57:00.003-05:00

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?

2008-12-10T18:31:00.001-05:00

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

2008-12-10T06:06:00.001-05:00

Ooo this is spiffy!

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

Where have all the acorns gone?

2008-11-30T15:38:00.002-05:00

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...

2008-11-26T17:50:00.001-05:00

Be like the chicken.

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

What He Said

2008-11-13T07:05:00.000-05:00

I don't understand either.

Holy Mackerel

2008-11-07T14:40:00.002-05:00

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

Change.gov

Yes We Can!

2008-11-05T15:43:00.002-05:00

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

2008-09-26T16:06:00.003-05:00

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?

2008-09-26T13:42:00.002-05:00

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

2008-09-17T12:33:00.000-05:00

Too funny!

Because it's better to laugh...

2008-09-16T15:02:00.001-05:00

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

2008-08-08T12:11:00.000-05:00

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

2008-07-17T17:35:00.002-05:00

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

2008-07-12T11:00:00.004-05:00

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

2008-06-06T15:53:00.005-05:00

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!

2008-03-27T17:32:00.004-05:00

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

2008-03-13T17:46:00.003-05:00

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

2008-03-05T17:09:00.003-05:00

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?

2008-02-28T15:44:00.002-05:00

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

2008-02-23T06:27:00.005-05:00

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

2008-02-17T17:59:00.002-05:00

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

2008-02-12T16:57:00.000-05:00

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.

Great Feature, Stupid Limitation

2008-01-18T11:38:00.000-05:00

Like a good little Apple fangirl, I promptly updated my iPhone to 1.1.3, and happily and quickly customized my home screen(s), added webclip icons (including making a custom one for THIS blog, check it out you iPhoners!), and thrilled to the *reasonably* accurate location finder in Maps.

Software updates: yay!

But. As we speak I'm downloading a rental of The Simpsons Movie. I'll load it up on my iPhone so that I'll have something to watch on my bus ride this weekend if I get bored of listening to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me while the scenery rolls by. The catch is that once I start watching it, I have to finish watching it within 24 hours. So, for example, I can't watch half the movie on my way out of town and the other half on the way back.

THAT IS JUST STUPID. Let me repeat: the 24 hour window to watch a rental that is available for 30 days is STUPID. In case I failed to be quite clear: this restriction is DUMB, IDIOTIC, and downright BRAINDEAD.

I cannot see how this limitation solves any concern that either Apple or the movie studios might have about piracy. It's just pointless. And aggravating.