Picture on Woot
Woot has this curious item for sale. I don't really care what it is, but the photo they are using is just hillarious. Everyone knows Betty White? Good.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Merry Christmas
Or whatever.
By popular demand, here's our Christmas tree, finally decorated.
Flickr is on the fritz, so this image is up here thanks to Blogger.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
WTF?!
What is wrong with people?! "India has killed 10 mln girls in 20 years". Yes, there's a bit of a hassle associated with bringing up a girl in India, such as the (banned) practice of dowry and social pressures that basically shaft women when it comes to education and finding a job. But you're "solving" this issue from the wrong end! How much sense would it make to demolish all roads, just so that people wouldn't get motion sickness while riding in a car?
China has similar issues. Boys are much more sought-after, so a large percentage of newborn girls mysteriously die. At the bottom of a ditch. The fact that much of China is rural makes disposing of children that much easier.
Ironically, one of the first steps is to change the world to one that welcomes women. Not with sand in the mouth and nostrils or being thrown into a ditch, but with open arms and acceptance. Or is that too much to ask?
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Ah, Microsoft
We were just told, at our weekly Dev meeting, to look up technical conferences and try to attend one. This includes any week-long game-related conferences in Hawaii. Which, of course, Dan was quick to mention. Ah, sweet, sweet injustice.
A true geek
You're not a true geek unless you participate in the great Trek-Wars debate.
Oh, and of course you get 100 additional points for being on the Star Wars side. But that's just obvious.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Star Fortune
See what the universe has in store for you. Click and ask a question.
Click expand to see the applet.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
A good evening or: how I feel asleep 20 minutes after downing 3 shots of espresso.
Today was a miss. In a life of hits or misses, this was a definite miss. Except for a few sparse and far-in-between instances of "whoo" and "yay" and even "hell yeah", this was a day to be erased. Sad and depressing are two words to describe it. Finally, to get over the failure that was today, or just to do something, I went to Tully's at around 8:10. Got there at around 8:20 and noticed that they are open until 10. Whoo. I'm still sick, so I decided to skip the usual bi-monthly espresso-and-Oreo shake and went with a large mocha. Good stuff, too. So, there I am, relaxing in front of the fire with Vonnegut's "Timequake". I begin to feel tired. And I fall asleep. I gotta say, this is one of the best sleeps I've ever had. I woke up warm, not knowing where I am and genuinely content. What else can you ask for?! Then, I had that shake that I first skipped. That sleep did wonders! I forgot about all my troubles and could concentrate on the moment. By the time they began to kick us poor bastards out, I put away a few more chapters of Vonnegut's strange-but-entertaining book.
I took the long way home. This included the 520, NE 8th street, NE 148th street and then 520 again. Did I mention that revving up my car makes me happy? While I was driving around, I came up with a few more things to say.
In "Replay", Jeff marries Diane, a socialite, born into old money and brought up with the explicit understanding that she was to be the wife of a rich man with excellent standing in the local country club. There was nothing else. She was brought up in this environment, taught, parallel to learning to walk, to think and act like what she would become later in life: the exact copy of her mother. She would have no "real-world" talents. Her hobbies include socializing, shopping in Paris or New York and arranging parties. Perhaps she would be slightly knowledgeable in the first profession. This is largely irrelevant. The point is that she is a wife that a member of the upper echelon is expected to marry.
Fast-forward from the late 1960's to 2006. My team is made up of a variety of family men. Men, because unsurprisingly Microsoft is a male-dominated community. My boss, Nik, has a baby on the way, due in February. Tad's first child was born at the beginning of September. Dan, my mentor, has two girls, ages 5 and 8. Chuck has a daughter who is 17. How many of the girls born into these families will be geek-wives? Similar to the nausea-inducing debutantes of high-society, these women can hold a game-themed conversation, are well-versed in high-tech lingo of the day and display an almost-real dislike for the competition of Google or IBM. Their knowledge of the first profession is most likely not irrelevant.
I am not suggesting that this is all but inevitable. But maybe it's already happening, right now, all across the Puget Sound area and Silicon Valley. Actually, what I speak of is not some fantasy or little bits of nothing that I happened to imagine. Doesn't the world abound with "trophy wives"? Maybe someday geeks will draw the attention of gold-diggers just like actors, sports stars and rappers have managed to do.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Meebo
If you're viewing this on the website, and not RSS (nudge nudge), you'll notice a nifty little feature on the right. It's a Meebo Widget. Meebo, for those who don't know, is a wonderful website that brings IM's to you without needing to install a multitude of clients. Now I'm trying out a little feature of theirs that allows people who visit this blog to talk to me if I'm using Meebo.
Still sick
Yeah, I'm still slightly sick and still too damn tired to write a good post. So, I'll just post a few gems of insight (IMNHO) that I wrote on QuestionSwap. Some of these are edited. Mostly it's places where I removed some personal tidbits from the question/answer.
Q. Do you believe in 'true love'?
A. Do I believe in 'true love' in the sense that somewhere in the world there is my one 'true love' and that when we meet everything will be alright and happily ever after? No, I don't.
I am an atheist. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in Fate. Either one of those has to exist for the concept of 'true love'. How else does one explain it that there MUST be that one person, living at the same moment as you (comparable ages, or at least close enough), who is perfect for you. How do you define a person who is perfect for you? There has to be some power that works to create the perfectly-balanced duo of Adam and Eve, where their combination is heavenly.
I believe we, as people, can find people with whom we 'work'. We find people with whom we can spend a long enough time and be happy. That's the ultimate point toward which I strive, happiness. Happiness, first with myself, then with another. How can you be happy with someone else if you cannot be happy with yourself?
Most people can be happy with most other people, if the cards are played just right. Walk into a crowded room and consider that you could live a lifetime of happiness with any one of these people, if only a few things had happened, or will happen, that will move you toward one another.
Personality-wise, we can be happy with just about anyone, as long as our timing is right. You could have been "best friends forever" with that kid in elementary school if only it wasn't for that unfortunate mis-understanding when you first met. Now, you sit at home and sharpen your pencils, hoping to "accidentally" poke him in the hallway. But enough about myself.
Q. I love you.
A. Thank you. I'm flattered. But I also realize that you don't really mean that. Certainly, you don't mean that you love me personally. Maybe you love the idea of me: a QuestionSwap user who gives you well-thought out answer, someone who's always there to answer your most embarassing questions, someone not afraid to speak their mind. For that, I thank you. I try and be that person. Sometimes, I succeed. It's good to know someone appreciates it.
Q. What makes you happy? Do you feel you could be a happier person?
A. My dog makes me happy. A good book. Some quiet alone time. Being with someone who wants to be with me. Rain. My car, revving up through a turn on a rainy night.
I could be happier if I stopped getting in my own way. The things that make me unhappy are usually caused by something I myself did.
Q. What's the easiest way to sneak a trunk full of cocaine through the Canadian border?
A. First approach is not to hide it in a trunk.
Second, packaging does matter. Wrap your cocaine in plastic. Tightly. Submerge it in a rapid river. Wrap it again. Repeat half a dozen times. This cleans the outside and makes sure there is no trace of cocaine for dogs to pick up.
Third, be original. Avoid going through an actual border post. Or go through the border post, but in an RV packed with three or four generations. Having grandma and the little ones will make you seem less suspicious.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Rainy piano
If you're an angsty-Asian, or have your sister's login information, and are able to sign in to Xanga, check out this beautiful piano piece.
I have it playing in the background whenever I don't want to listen to Sinatra or Rosemary Clooney, but still need some music in my life.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Sick
I think it was during that same dinner that I got sick. Boo! I'm certainly not going back to Claim Jumper for a while. Well, I'm not going anywhere, except MS, with this damn cold-sinus-whatchamacallit. My nose is stuffy and runny, my eyes hurt, my throat is dry and scratchy and I have no energy to do anything but watch Scrubs, complain about being sick in a blog and read Vonnegut. Hooray for life.
And this is the quote I am nominating for being the best quote in a TV show. Unsurprisingly it's from Scrubs. Like I said, I'm too weak to do much else.
Janitor: I remember the bordello being a little-bit bigger, and there were probably a few more prostitutes, but maybe I just remember it that way 'cause I was a kid, it was my twelfth birthday. I asked for a bike, I got a 48-year old whore.
PS: Doesn't it follow that The Janitor's name is actually Neil Flynn, from his confirmation that he's the cop on the subway from "The Fugitive"?
Monday, December 04, 2006
Best movie quote ever
Yesterday, over the course of dinner, I came to the conclusion that "The Proposition", a film seen by all of eight people in the world, has the best movie quote ever. Ever.
Samuel Stote: What's a misanthrope?
Two Bob: A misanthrope is a bugger who hates every other bugger.
Samuel Stote: Are we misanthropes?
Arthur Burns: Lord no! We're family.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
A comment - turned into a post
I was writing a response to the comments left on my previous post and it seemed to turn into yet another post, so here I am.
----
As long as whatever company steps up to the plate and makes a good e-book reader that's open to standards and, this is something I don't think will happen for a while, nice programming tools, I'll buy it. Wouldn't it be neat if you could (easily) program the multitude of consumer devices coming on the market? Imagine adding meat to the skeletal structure of the iPod, like the ability to play WMA's and OGG's or run games, without flashing the whole thing to the penguin OS.
The fact that Sony is being an arrogant asshole when it comes to standards is a flaw in the Reader, but I'd still buy the damn thing, if only there was a wide array of sci-fi available to purchase. As soon as I can buy Larry Niven's novels (only short stories are available so far) and Steven Gould's "Jumper", still my favorite after all these years, I'm walking into the closest Borders and slapping down 350$ and my dignity for the chance to hold that beautiful device in my hands.
[About there being many ebooks online, like at Project Gutenberg] Yeah... See, I'm not all into Dickens and Faulkner. At the moment I'm plowing through yet another strange novel by Vonnegut, but normally it's Heinlein and Niven (though I think I've read all of Niven). Next on my list is picking up the first of a trilogy by Robert Sawyer. Which, of course, isn't available in ebook form. Seems that either I change my reading habits and get the oh-so-cool Reader or continue to lug semi-weighty paperbacks around.
This is somewhat off-topic, but it's yet another reason I am avoiding ebooks: it's not standardized. I was just on Fictionwise, a place that actually has a fair amount of sci-fi, even if they are mostly short stories. But there's no set standard! Some books are in Palm format, others are in Microsoft's own format, and there are quite a few that are audio books, sold as 14-hour MP3 files. Blech! No thanks. This is coming back to that programmability thing I mentioned: once you can easily modify the software on one of these readers, someone will come up with an elegant (and illegal) program that allows you to read every single format without bothering to figure out what it is and how you're supposed to convert it to Sony's own format.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Is the future epaper?
I was just at Borders, doing a bit of holiday research. Yes, you're probably getting a carbon-based gift. Anyway. I saw the most beautiful (non-sexual) sight ever: the Sony Reader. The damn thing is just called Reader. Hey, corporate assholes, there should be a happy medium between the Reader and Wii. Try and find it! Wow, side-tracked again. OK, time to start a new paragraph.
The Reader is a portable e-book reader. The thing that sets this puppy apart from the readers of a few years ago, IMO, is epaper. See, I picked up this thing and thought to myself "hmm, not bad, though it would have been nice for them to put a real reader on display, not this plastic prop that's too light to be real and has this fake screen that looks like it's just printed paper under a cover". Then, the damn printed paper changed. This thing is light as hell, looks like it's actually printed on paper, is visible from every angle I tried and is tossable. See, that last part is something my dad remarked on: electronic readers will not be popular until you can toss them down like you would a paperback. He was talking about the e-readers a few years ago, the mostrosities that would crack if you dropped a feather on them. While I didn't try dropping it on the floor, it seems that this model can withstand more anger than anything before it. However, the best part of the whole deal is that the screen actually looks like paper, while allowing you to push a button and skip a dozen pages at a whim or rotate the page and read it in landscape mode.
I'd have bought the Reader right there and then, but something stopped me. See, it's something I like to refer to as reason. For all its pluses, and these are pretty big ones, the Reader does have quite a few flaws.
The first, and a semi-serious one, is the 350$ price tag. While the coolness and the high-tech factors almost make it a bargain, my wallet would hurt afterward.
Second, the fact that the Reader is made by Sony. See, Sony has this most un-nerving quirk about them: "proprietary standards" is tattooed into every employee's left butt-cheek. Sony can't help but to attempt to convert the entire consumer base to their brand of crap on every product release. Memory stick and minidisc spring to mind. The Reader is no different. While you can read PDF's, DOC's and TXT's, you first have to convert them to Sony's proprietary format. "Even TXT's?" you say? Yes, even TXT's. It's not that I have that big a problem with converting a couple files, it's the whole idea that makes me want to puke. Standards are good. Proprietary or closed standards are evil. It's that simple. Microsoft standarads are yet another breed of evil. And that's another type of post altogether.
Third, and this is the most important one, is the fact that I don't read main-stream books. You won't find "Da Vinci Code" in my library. Or Chrichton. Or Rowling. My favorites are Niven, Heinlein and Vonnegut, to name the most popular ones. Sony's Connect e-book service has 1 Niven (read it), 1 Heinlein (read it), and 3 Vonnegut's (read 1 of 3). Either I have to start in on Oprah's Book Club (*sound of me vomitting*) or develop a serious need to be accepted and load up on self-help books for idiots. That's not the "Idiots" series of books, BTW: I do mean self-help books that are written specifically for idiots. Go through a shelf of these next time you're in a bookstore and see if you can go 5 minutes without laughing or crying. Seriously, there are like 10,000 e-books out there, and very few of these are sci-fi. I don't want to change genres, I like what I read.
Honestly, how hard is it to release electronic copies at the same time as carbon ones? You already have the book in an electronic database somewhere, just convert it to PDF (or whatever) and you're practically printing money. It's the same rip-off as the cell-phone company charging a dime for every text message: the infrastructure is there and sending a piece of data costs you nothing at all. I'd like to see someone step up and offer my favorite sci-fi paperbacks and a way to download that same book in electronic format, once you've purchased the hard-copy. After all, does it make a whole lot of sense for me to have to buy the PDF's of "The Playboy Book: Fifty Years" and "Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense" when I already have them in hardcover?
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