Soundtrack:
Grampa: "I just had a nightmare that I was back with your mother."
Homer: "Oh, how I hate her."
Subtitles:
Grampa: "I just had a nightmare that I was back in England"
Homer: "Oh, how I hate them!"
I desperately want to know the story here.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Teach me how to use a curling iron
So I wrap my hair around and around and around the curling iron, all the way up to the scalp because I want the whole length to be curled. I hold it for the requisite 10 seconds. I squeeze the handle to get the curling iron out. The tong thingy does loosen, but the curling iron doesn't come out of my hair. It just stays there stuck. I have to unwrap it most of the way before it will come out, thus negating the curl.
What am I doing wrong? How do I get the curling iron out of my hair without completely unwrapping the curl?
What am I doing wrong? How do I get the curling iron out of my hair without completely unwrapping the curl?
Things They Should Invent: financial vs. political/social generosity calculator
I've known people who every xmas make generous donations to the charity of their choice, then spend the rest of the year encouraging politicians to weaken the social safety net.
Someone should come up with a way of calculating how much a person needs to give to charity to mitigate their anti-socialist actions and ensure that no net harm is done to society.
Or, if you don't like my presenting this with the socialist position as default, someone should calculate how much political action is needed to outweigh lack of donations to charity.
Someone should come up with a way of calculating how much a person needs to give to charity to mitigate their anti-socialist actions and ensure that no net harm is done to society.
Or, if you don't like my presenting this with the socialist position as default, someone should calculate how much political action is needed to outweigh lack of donations to charity.
My subconscious doesn't want me to shop
Last night I dreamed I was shopping for shoes. When I took of my own shoes to try on a new pair, the store had someone steal them so I'd be forced to buy new ones. The problem was none of the shoes in the store fit me, so I was left shoeless. The store also had an inconsistency between their website and their actual stock: everything was in reality running shoes, even if they looked like boots or sandals on the website.
Possible clue in the Vitamin D & acne mystery
A while back, I started taking Vitamin D supplements and found that it significantly worsened my acne. I experimented a bit and determined that the Vitamin D was in fact the cause (or at least confirmed the correlation), then stopped taking Vitamin D.
Recently I started taking Vitamin B supplements, and my acne worsened significantly. The B is the same brand as the D - Life brand naturally sourced (i.e. the ones with the white label instead of the green label), so I theorize that it might be something about their specific non-medicinal ingredients or some other characteristic of the brand. Thing is, the only non-medicinal ingredient these two have in common is magnesium stearate.
The internet tells me magnesium stearate has no impact on acne, but then it also tells me that Vitamin B and Vitamin D are both supposed to help with acne.
I'm going to stop the B and let my skin return to normal, then I might take my findings to a pharmacist and see if they have any insight about whether another brand might not cause these side effects.
Recently I started taking Vitamin B supplements, and my acne worsened significantly. The B is the same brand as the D - Life brand naturally sourced (i.e. the ones with the white label instead of the green label), so I theorize that it might be something about their specific non-medicinal ingredients or some other characteristic of the brand. Thing is, the only non-medicinal ingredient these two have in common is magnesium stearate.
The internet tells me magnesium stearate has no impact on acne, but then it also tells me that Vitamin B and Vitamin D are both supposed to help with acne.
I'm going to stop the B and let my skin return to normal, then I might take my findings to a pharmacist and see if they have any insight about whether another brand might not cause these side effects.
Open Letter to my hair
Dear hair:
I will braid you for sleeping. That is non-negotiable. Your last-ditch attempts to look gorgeous and sexy when I'm getting ready for bed despite being limp and apathetic all day will not change this. So why not be gorgeous and sexy earlier in the day, then get limp and apathetic at night when you're about to be braided anyway?
I will braid you for sleeping. That is non-negotiable. Your last-ditch attempts to look gorgeous and sexy when I'm getting ready for bed despite being limp and apathetic all day will not change this. So why not be gorgeous and sexy earlier in the day, then get limp and apathetic at night when you're about to be braided anyway?
Saturday, March 21, 2009
I do not think it means what you think it means
I was looking at the signatures on a PetitionOnline petition, and there were some people who signed it and then left a comment opposing the thing being petitioned for. Clearly they've confused the concepts of "petition" and "comments thread". But they still count towards the signature count. FAIL!
are they going to tell us when the economic crisis is over?
Can we expect the news media to tell us when this economic crisis is over? I don't remember ever hearing specifically that any previous recession was over (I remember hearing that the dot com boom was happening, but not that the early 90s recession was over) but my ability to read and understand financial news is only a few months old so more often than not I'd skip over economic news before.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Things They Should Study: universality of waving your hands around when talking
The source text was poorly written. Strictly speaking it did not say what the author actually intended, although realistically it was one of those "Meh, you know what I mean anyway" situations. So my co-worker and I were verbally hashing it out, lobbing it back and forth, waving our hands around, trying to clearly articulate the meaning that was intended but not said.
We were stuck on one particular concept that was entirely non-tangible. It was a purely abstract idea. There is no physical element to it. It did not involve shape or size or motion, not even symbolically or metaphorically.
But when we were trying to articulate this concept, we both waved our hands around in gestures that involved shape, size, and motion. And we both, independently and simultaneously, landed on exactly exactly the same hand gestures, with exactly the same shape, size, and motion. The gestures did nothing to actually clarify the concept. If we'd been trying to explain it to an onlooker who couldn't read the source text, they would have no more information with the gestures than without. And yet we landed on exactly the same gestures.
Someone needs to study this. Get people to explain intangible concepts that cannot be communicated more effectively with gesturs than without, and videotape them doing so, then see if there's any consistency in the hand gestures used.
We were stuck on one particular concept that was entirely non-tangible. It was a purely abstract idea. There is no physical element to it. It did not involve shape or size or motion, not even symbolically or metaphorically.
But when we were trying to articulate this concept, we both waved our hands around in gestures that involved shape, size, and motion. And we both, independently and simultaneously, landed on exactly exactly the same hand gestures, with exactly the same shape, size, and motion. The gestures did nothing to actually clarify the concept. If we'd been trying to explain it to an onlooker who couldn't read the source text, they would have no more information with the gestures than without. And yet we landed on exactly the same gestures.
Someone needs to study this. Get people to explain intangible concepts that cannot be communicated more effectively with gesturs than without, and videotape them doing so, then see if there's any consistency in the hand gestures used.
Things They Should Study: are subway mice universally cute?
I think the little black mousies that live in the subway tracks are cute. So does everyone else I've ever discussed subway mice with.
Which is really weird if you think about it. They're mice. They live in the subway tracks. Technically they're an infestation, and they're probably covered in unspeakable filth. I've been living here for nearly nine years(!), someone should have expressed revulsion about subway mice in my presence before. But no one has, everyone thinks they're cute. I'd say a good half the time I see a mousie on the tracks, some random person on the platform goes "Oooh, look, mice!" (in an OMG CUTE! voice) or goes for a closer look or is otherwise watching them with pleasant interest. I've never seen anyone squick, although surely some people somewhere must.
It would be interesting to do a comprehensive survey and see what percentage of the population thinks the subway mice are cute, and how that compares with the population's feelings about mice in general.
Which is really weird if you think about it. They're mice. They live in the subway tracks. Technically they're an infestation, and they're probably covered in unspeakable filth. I've been living here for nearly nine years(!), someone should have expressed revulsion about subway mice in my presence before. But no one has, everyone thinks they're cute. I'd say a good half the time I see a mousie on the tracks, some random person on the platform goes "Oooh, look, mice!" (in an OMG CUTE! voice) or goes for a closer look or is otherwise watching them with pleasant interest. I've never seen anyone squick, although surely some people somewhere must.
It would be interesting to do a comprehensive survey and see what percentage of the population thinks the subway mice are cute, and how that compares with the population's feelings about mice in general.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Things They Should Invent: serious/urgent only breaking news feeds
Some news media have RSS or Twitter feeds that give you breaking headlines as they happen.
The problem is the vast majority of headlines you don't need your day interrupted for. I want a feed only of things a person might plausibly need their day interrupted for, things that might be actionable, things that might not wait until you get home. Things where you have to reschedule or check that your loved ones are okay. Things like "OMG, giant propane explosion in North York!" or "The whole subway is closed and your commute is going to be seriously fucked up" or "Giant earthquake somewhere with tens of thousands dead." This feed shouldn't be constant, there shouldn't necessarily even be a post every day. Just as needed and when urgent and requiring action.
I don't twitter, but I would totally join and sign up for text messages if I could get only the truly important things.
The TTC has a thingy where you can get text messages when there is a subway delay. They don't send them every day, they don't send you reassurances that the subway is fine, they don't send you fluffy little fun facts on days when the subway is running smoothly and there's nothing to tell. They just inform you when there's a problem and leave you alone otherwise. I want the equivalent for news feeds. Existing news feeds, even "breaking news" feeds, are like receiving an hourly text message telling you the subway is running smoothly.
The problem is the vast majority of headlines you don't need your day interrupted for. I want a feed only of things a person might plausibly need their day interrupted for, things that might be actionable, things that might not wait until you get home. Things where you have to reschedule or check that your loved ones are okay. Things like "OMG, giant propane explosion in North York!" or "The whole subway is closed and your commute is going to be seriously fucked up" or "Giant earthquake somewhere with tens of thousands dead." This feed shouldn't be constant, there shouldn't necessarily even be a post every day. Just as needed and when urgent and requiring action.
I don't twitter, but I would totally join and sign up for text messages if I could get only the truly important things.
The TTC has a thingy where you can get text messages when there is a subway delay. They don't send them every day, they don't send you reassurances that the subway is fine, they don't send you fluffy little fun facts on days when the subway is running smoothly and there's nothing to tell. They just inform you when there's a problem and leave you alone otherwise. I want the equivalent for news feeds. Existing news feeds, even "breaking news" feeds, are like receiving an hourly text message telling you the subway is running smoothly.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Extreme sheep
You MUST watch this. Seriously. If you only ever watch one youtube that I post, make it this one.
(shamelessly yoinked from Antonia Zerbisias)
(shamelessly yoinked from Antonia Zerbisias)
Useless mnemonic
I already have a useful mnemonic for entomology vs. etymology: ent is close to ant, so that's the one with the bugs.
But I just randomly thought of another:
eNtomolgy: N for NO
etYmology: Y for YES
But I just randomly thought of another:
eNtomolgy: N for NO
etYmology: Y for YES
Google makes me look like an idiot
Google appears to have postponed voting on Project 10^100 again. This is a bit frustrating for me, because in the interim one of the ideas I submitted has become obsolete.
Intellectually I realize there was hardly any chance of my submissions making it as far as the voting anyway. Like 90% of the other submissions I've seen people post publicly are better than mine, and a lot of people submitting ideas were professionals, whereas I'm just some random who takes long showers. And intellectually I realize that even if my idea had made it as far as voting and made the top 20, Google wouldn't have chosen it since they would have the resources to figure out that it was only a few months away from obsolescence.
Back in October, my idea looked new and interesting and innovative. Best case it was a solution to a major problem that only needed a functional prototype, worst case it was a perfectly valid and rather clever idea, especially seeing as it came from someone completely uninvolved in related research.
But now it looks like it's coming from some idiot who doesn't keep up on current events.
Intellectually I realize there was hardly any chance of my submissions making it as far as the voting anyway. Like 90% of the other submissions I've seen people post publicly are better than mine, and a lot of people submitting ideas were professionals, whereas I'm just some random who takes long showers. And intellectually I realize that even if my idea had made it as far as voting and made the top 20, Google wouldn't have chosen it since they would have the resources to figure out that it was only a few months away from obsolescence.
Back in October, my idea looked new and interesting and innovative. Best case it was a solution to a major problem that only needed a functional prototype, worst case it was a perfectly valid and rather clever idea, especially seeing as it came from someone completely uninvolved in related research.
But now it looks like it's coming from some idiot who doesn't keep up on current events.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Putting in a requisition a crystal ball
I want a crystal ball that will tell me whether something will go smoothly or not. I don't even need to know precisely how it will go wrong if it's going to go wrong, just whether it's going to go smoothly or go wrong.
If I walk into a situation with the assumption that it's going to go smoothly (which I don't usually do) and then it ends up going wrong, it messes me up. Introvert brain prevents me from recovering gracefully, and I get a wee bit paranoid about everything in the future until I gather enough empirical evidence to suggest that life in general will go as predicted.
But if I'm assuming a situation will go wrong, I'm carrying around a lot of stress and more often than not I psych myself out.
I just want to know ahead of time which things are going to go wrong and which things I don't have to worry about. Is that so much to ask?
If I walk into a situation with the assumption that it's going to go smoothly (which I don't usually do) and then it ends up going wrong, it messes me up. Introvert brain prevents me from recovering gracefully, and I get a wee bit paranoid about everything in the future until I gather enough empirical evidence to suggest that life in general will go as predicted.
But if I'm assuming a situation will go wrong, I'm carrying around a lot of stress and more often than not I psych myself out.
I just want to know ahead of time which things are going to go wrong and which things I don't have to worry about. Is that so much to ask?
iTunes Genius has lost its memory
Earlier today I was playing with iTunes Genius, and it only gave me a 13 song playlist for Amy Winehouse's You Know I'm No Good, even though I asked for 100 songs. (It didn't even bother to pad out the playlist with the rest of my Amy Winehouse.)
I hadn't updated iTunes in a long time, so I decided to do that and see if it helped. After the update, it didn't recognize You Know I'm No Good at all, as though it's not in the database any more!
WTF?
I hadn't updated iTunes in a long time, so I decided to do that and see if it helped. After the update, it didn't recognize You Know I'm No Good at all, as though it's not in the database any more!
WTF?
Sunday, March 15, 2009
My only problem with the plot of today's Simpsons
How did Lisa know which key to play Heart and Soul in?
More information please
According to a nearly-unrelated article in the Star: "just a third of Canadians set to retire in 2030 are saving at levels needed to meet basic household expenses."
Interesting! I wonder if I'm one of those one third of Canadians? (I'm not set to retire in 2030, but that's the year I turn 50 and my parents retired around that age so it gets me thinking.)
Guess what, I have no idea if I'm saving enough, because I have no idea what kinds of savings are required today to meet basic household expenses decades from now. I have a nice little system that sounds all impressive and organized and some nice numbers that look pretty on paper and I could convince just about anyone that I'm being all good and diligent, but I have no idea how to actually extrapolate whether this will be sufficient decades in the future.
Since someone seems to be able to do the extrapolations, it would be helpful if they'd share this with us.
Interesting! I wonder if I'm one of those one third of Canadians? (I'm not set to retire in 2030, but that's the year I turn 50 and my parents retired around that age so it gets me thinking.)
Guess what, I have no idea if I'm saving enough, because I have no idea what kinds of savings are required today to meet basic household expenses decades from now. I have a nice little system that sounds all impressive and organized and some nice numbers that look pretty on paper and I could convince just about anyone that I'm being all good and diligent, but I have no idea how to actually extrapolate whether this will be sufficient decades in the future.
Since someone seems to be able to do the extrapolations, it would be helpful if they'd share this with us.
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