1. Give us the option to have embedded videos start at a defined point. You can do this in a link to Google Video by adding #1m25s to start the video at 1:25. But I'd like to be able to do that with embedded youtubes, so I don't have to post the embed and then add "The part I'm talking about is at 5:00" and then my users have to wait for it to load and scroll around to find 5:00.
2. Let us mark a video as "This doesn't need to be a video!" For example, today I found a video that was essentially a list of sentences. They appeared as text on the screen while irrelevant music played in the background. It was five minutes long, and I could have read it as text in 10 seconds. This is inappropriate use of the medium! Or, if you want to be more positive, how about letting us mark videos as "Transcription requested." Then the person who posted it or a friendly volunteer user could post the transcript in the comments, thus increasing googleability, helping viewers who have trouble hearing every word (poor sound quality, strange accents, lyric-deafness), and saving people having to sit through a five-minute video when a simple text list would do.
3. Or, barring that, how about a fast-forward button, so we could play the video at 2x or 4x speed to skim through and see if we want to actually watch it?
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
How to do a reverse apology
Via Language Log, some guy walks around New York City apologizing to people who bump into him.
That took a minute, didn't it? We all do that automatically, it a basic part of Canadian etiquette.
The problem is, the guy in the article is overdoing it. His reverse apologies are really pointed and come across as passive-aggressive. A proper reverse apology has to come across as perfectly automatic, as automatic as saying thanks when the cashier hands you your change. It needs to be non-specific. "Sorry" or "Oops, sorry" will do just fine. "Sorry you dropped my apple" is petty and passive-aggressive. However, even if you are just saying the word "Sorry" and saying it automatically as soon as the incident occurs, you also need to say it like it's no big deal. Imagine you're walking through a subway station, busy day, a lot on your mind, striding briskly towards the platform (the train isn't there yet so you aren't running) and you bump into someone else. No big deal, no one is hurt, really your bag just hit their bag, no need to break stride, you say "Oops, sorry" and continue on your way, the encounter forgotten two seconds later. That's the kind of tone you need. In my corner of the world, that will elicit a sorry of equal or greater value. Doing anything bigger or more pointed for a minor incident in which you are not at fault will come across as passive-aggressive and put the other person on the defensive.
It would be interesting to repeat this experiment with someone who is fluent in reverse apologies, who does it automatically, and who isn't so actively seeking to change behaviour. Canadians who are currently in New York City (I'm sure there are some Canadians in New York City at any given time): spend a day apologizing like a Canadian and blog your findings!
That took a minute, didn't it? We all do that automatically, it a basic part of Canadian etiquette.
The problem is, the guy in the article is overdoing it. His reverse apologies are really pointed and come across as passive-aggressive. A proper reverse apology has to come across as perfectly automatic, as automatic as saying thanks when the cashier hands you your change. It needs to be non-specific. "Sorry" or "Oops, sorry" will do just fine. "Sorry you dropped my apple" is petty and passive-aggressive. However, even if you are just saying the word "Sorry" and saying it automatically as soon as the incident occurs, you also need to say it like it's no big deal. Imagine you're walking through a subway station, busy day, a lot on your mind, striding briskly towards the platform (the train isn't there yet so you aren't running) and you bump into someone else. No big deal, no one is hurt, really your bag just hit their bag, no need to break stride, you say "Oops, sorry" and continue on your way, the encounter forgotten two seconds later. That's the kind of tone you need. In my corner of the world, that will elicit a sorry of equal or greater value. Doing anything bigger or more pointed for a minor incident in which you are not at fault will come across as passive-aggressive and put the other person on the defensive.
It would be interesting to repeat this experiment with someone who is fluent in reverse apologies, who does it automatically, and who isn't so actively seeking to change behaviour. Canadians who are currently in New York City (I'm sure there are some Canadians in New York City at any given time): spend a day apologizing like a Canadian and blog your findings!
A hamster eating broccoli
I'm very tired and cranky today, and am going to be doing some cranky blogging as soon as I get less cranky (cranky blogging isn't nearly as effective until I'm post-cranky, but the material still needs to be blogged). But this made me melt, so I'll share it. That way if you're reading my blog from the top down you'll get a smile after all the crankiness. (If you're reading chronologically, you've been warned.)
(via the awesome Malene Arpe)
(via the awesome Malene Arpe)
Monday, November 17, 2008
In re: today's Corner Gas
1. Brent Butt has had his teeth whitened to TV standards. Perfectly normal thing to do if you're going to be on TV (I'd totally get it done if I had to be on TV even once, but I'm insecure that way), but it looks WAY out of character. Brent would never get his teeth whitened.
2. My mother's lasagna recipe totally involves the food processor. I can't figure out how you'd make lasagna without one.
2. My mother's lasagna recipe totally involves the food processor. I can't figure out how you'd make lasagna without one.
Generosity
I think true generosity isn't giving people things or money or time. I think true generosity is giving people the benefit of the doubt, and not begrudging them whatever good fortune they might have.
It's hella hard and not nearly as personally rewarding. Dropping a quarter in the tip jar at Tim Horton's is way easier than thinking "Poor girl, she must be having a rough day" when they mess up your order after you've already waited in a line that goes out the door. Spending an afternoon sorting cans a the food bank is way easier than thinking "Good for them, that's a much-needed increase" when you hear about social assistance rates going up while you sort through paying the bills after a long day at the office. Picking something pricey off the wedding registry is exponentially easier than convincing yourself to be genuinely happy for them even though you were supposed to get married first. Generosity of time and money get noticed, get thanks, get people thinking of you as generous. Generosity of attitude goes unnoticed.
But I really think if everyone could just somehow figure out how to muster up benefit of the doubt and non-begrudgeal of good fortune, the world would be a far better place.
It's hella hard and not nearly as personally rewarding. Dropping a quarter in the tip jar at Tim Horton's is way easier than thinking "Poor girl, she must be having a rough day" when they mess up your order after you've already waited in a line that goes out the door. Spending an afternoon sorting cans a the food bank is way easier than thinking "Good for them, that's a much-needed increase" when you hear about social assistance rates going up while you sort through paying the bills after a long day at the office. Picking something pricey off the wedding registry is exponentially easier than convincing yourself to be genuinely happy for them even though you were supposed to get married first. Generosity of time and money get noticed, get thanks, get people thinking of you as generous. Generosity of attitude goes unnoticed.
But I really think if everyone could just somehow figure out how to muster up benefit of the doubt and non-begrudgeal of good fortune, the world would be a far better place.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
For the person googling for the definition of "stanaist"
"Stanaist" is a typo of Satanist. :)
Dear Google: You might want to add this to your autocorrect thingy.
Dear Google: You might want to add this to your autocorrect thingy.
From PostSecret
An email commenter said that they did this too, and several other people in the community agreed. And, it feels bizarrely personal to admit, my first thought after he was elected was to wish that I was able to pray so I could pray for his safety. Later on I did try to pray, but I'm still incapable of it. I'm still just empitly going through motions, even though I actually wanted to be able to do it.
But it occurred to me, this might be the one thing in the history of the world that has inspired the most atheists to attempt to pray. That would be...kinda weird, kinda cool, kinda sad, kinda scary.
Things They Should Invent: garbage bins that are too small to be too heavy
I've recently heard of people whose green bins or blue bins weren't picked up by the garbage collectors because they were too heavy (the bins, not the people).
Simple solution: make the bins small enough that they won't be too heavy even if they're full, and give each household two or more bins. It seems to me that the weight of organics and recyclables should be relatively predictable. Assume each bin is completely full of the heaviest possible materials that might go in that size of bin, adjust bin size accordingly, issue each household a sufficient number of bins.
Simple solution: make the bins small enough that they won't be too heavy even if they're full, and give each household two or more bins. It seems to me that the weight of organics and recyclables should be relatively predictable. Assume each bin is completely full of the heaviest possible materials that might go in that size of bin, adjust bin size accordingly, issue each household a sufficient number of bins.
Outside my window, October 27, about 4:30 p.m.
I know the buildings look overexposed, but the colours actually are just about accurate. A massive rainstorm was heading out to the east (i.e. the direction the camera is facing) and bright sun was shining in from the west, lighting up the buildings.
Things LJ Should Invent: have locked posts show up in feeds
I don't actually check my LJ friends page that often because it's such a very small part of my overall internet rounds. I've added some people's feeds to my Google Reader, but that doesn't show friends-locked posts so I miss stuff.
To solve this, LJ feeds should show the presence of friends-locked posts. Not the contents, of course. Just show that there is a post there. Then people could click through, log in, and read the post. That would accomodate both the internet's general shift to feed readers and LJ users' need to maintain some privacy.
To solve this, LJ feeds should show the presence of friends-locked posts. Not the contents, of course. Just show that there is a post there. Then people could click through, log in, and read the post. That would accomodate both the internet's general shift to feed readers and LJ users' need to maintain some privacy.
Things They Should Invent: limited number of "offensive" votes per user per day
I've noticed that people in newspaper comment threads (yeah, I know) are way overusing the mark as offensive option. In some threads, nearly every post has been marked offensive.
Each user should only be allowed to mark one or two things offensive per day. Things that actually are offensive would still get marked, but it would stop people from marking everything willy-nilly.
Each user should only be allowed to mark one or two things offensive per day. Things that actually are offensive would still get marked, but it would stop people from marking everything willy-nilly.
Open Letter to Rogers
Dear Rogers:
If you're experiencing higher than usual volumes that mean it will take nine days for you to respond to my email, you might want to change your autoreply so it no longer promises me a response within 24 hours. A realistic timeframe would be nice, or just have the autoreply tell me you've received my email and it will be handled in the order received. I wouldn't be disgruntled at your response time if you hadn't promised me 24 hours.
That said, a reply saying nothing more than that my issue needs to be handled by phone is unacceptable. I sent email in the first place because I don't like the phone, so you need to give me a good reason why this has to be done by phone. It only takes like 30 seconds to do this. If that channel actually isn't part of my package, as my readers have worked out faster than you could, you can tell me that in an email. If it is part of my package but for whatever reason you can only activate it by phone, you need to tell me that in the email. Ideally you should put some note on my file so when (if) I call, the phone person will know right away why I'm calling and I don't have to go through the whole story again. (If you want to be really awesome, set up something so that people who have contacted you already by email only to find that they need to call get bumped to the front of the queue.)
In any case, waiting nine times the promised wait time only to be told I need to call is unacceptable. You could very easily do better.
If you're experiencing higher than usual volumes that mean it will take nine days for you to respond to my email, you might want to change your autoreply so it no longer promises me a response within 24 hours. A realistic timeframe would be nice, or just have the autoreply tell me you've received my email and it will be handled in the order received. I wouldn't be disgruntled at your response time if you hadn't promised me 24 hours.
That said, a reply saying nothing more than that my issue needs to be handled by phone is unacceptable. I sent email in the first place because I don't like the phone, so you need to give me a good reason why this has to be done by phone. It only takes like 30 seconds to do this. If that channel actually isn't part of my package, as my readers have worked out faster than you could, you can tell me that in an email. If it is part of my package but for whatever reason you can only activate it by phone, you need to tell me that in the email. Ideally you should put some note on my file so when (if) I call, the phone person will know right away why I'm calling and I don't have to go through the whole story again. (If you want to be really awesome, set up something so that people who have contacted you already by email only to find that they need to call get bumped to the front of the queue.)
In any case, waiting nine times the promised wait time only to be told I need to call is unacceptable. You could very easily do better.
Famous people twittering
It seems John Cleese and Stephen Fry are both actually and legitimately on Twitter. (This is confirmed on their official websites.) What surprises me is that other users, who seem by all appearances to be just regular ordinary people, are sometimes replying to them, and sometimes they reply back! I envy that confidence, to think that of course you're allowed to reply to a famous person just because they're on Twitter!
Of course, if I had the confidence to think I'm allowed to talk to famous people, I'd probably end up like Mel on Flight of the Conchords.
Of course, if I had the confidence to think I'm allowed to talk to famous people, I'd probably end up like Mel on Flight of the Conchords.
Ratings and censorship
Lately I've been noticing how much things like movie ratings and censorship are focused on protecting children from adult concepts. This is odd, because that's such a small portion of your life! Before the age of, say, 8 you're more into child-focused media, and by the age of about 16 you can handle adult concepts well enough that you don't need to be protected. It's also starting to annoy me a bit, because I keep coming across things that censor things that are so massively unlike anything from which I need to be protected, and the censorship is way more obvious than the offending concept would be if left alone. For example, I saw a youtube of Christina Aguilera performing Candyman on TV, and they censored the word panties. (The line, as part of a descriptoin of a charming and seductive man: "He's a one stop shop, makes my panties drop, he's a sweet talking sugar-coated candyman".) I saw a video of Nickelback's Rockstar where they censored the word pills (The line, as part of a laundry list of sterotypical rockstar behaviour: "I'm gonna pop my pills from a pez dispenser"). Actually, they also censored the word drug in "Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed-dial," which is ridiculous because "Everybody's got a * dealer on speed-dial" means exactly the same thing! I also somehow ended up with a censored version of Hate Me by Blue October (I think I got it from a Big Shiny Tunes album), where they censor the word fucking (line: "I'll drive so fucking far away that I'll never cross your mind"), but they kept the line about cockroaches leaving babies in your bed. I don't need to be protected from the word fucking, but I certainly wouldn't mind being protected from the image of cockroaches leaving eggs in my bed, thank you very much!
I wish it was possible for us to choose more specifically what does and doesn't get censored in the media we consume. For example, I don't want to watch rape scenes, but I don't need happy sex scenes to be censored. (I don't mind if they tone them down to protect the actors' modesty, but I don't need them toned down to protect my delicate sensibilities.) I don't mind blood, but I'm completely squicked out by broken bones or eyeballs. I don't mind snakes or monsters, but bugs will give me nightmares. Profanity I don't give a fuck about, but I don't want hate speech unless it really is absolutely necessary in the broader context. Remember that V-chip thing they were talking about in the 90s? Wouldn't it be awesome if you could fine-tune it to censor only the precise things you don't want to see?
I wish it was possible for us to choose more specifically what does and doesn't get censored in the media we consume. For example, I don't want to watch rape scenes, but I don't need happy sex scenes to be censored. (I don't mind if they tone them down to protect the actors' modesty, but I don't need them toned down to protect my delicate sensibilities.) I don't mind blood, but I'm completely squicked out by broken bones or eyeballs. I don't mind snakes or monsters, but bugs will give me nightmares. Profanity I don't give a fuck about, but I don't want hate speech unless it really is absolutely necessary in the broader context. Remember that V-chip thing they were talking about in the 90s? Wouldn't it be awesome if you could fine-tune it to censor only the precise things you don't want to see?
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Are people with white earbuds really more likely to be mugged?
A piece of information that is often repeated in the media is that you should get headphones other than the distinctive white ipod earbuds, because people like to steal ipods and the headphones are a big flashing sign showing that you have an ipod.
I find myself doubting whether this is actually true.
I see a lot of headphones walking around in my daily life, so one day I decided to count the number of ipods. On my walk from the subway to my apartment, I saw 30 confirmed ipods (either I saw the ipod itself, or I saw the ipod earbuds). I'd previously counted that I cross paths with 100 people on the same walk. (I haven't counted how many of those 100 people were wearing some kind of headphones that couldn't be confirmed as an ipod, because it's diffcult to keep multiple running tallies at once.)
So given that level of market penetration, wouldn't it behoove the thieves to assume that any headphones they see are attached to an ipod? And why would they only want ipods anyway? I haven't done extensive research (at the time when I bought my ipod the ipod was the best device for my own personal needs, but I haven't researched since), but the ipod has been on the market for seven years, surely other brands are generally competitive by now?
I find myself doubting whether this is actually true.
I see a lot of headphones walking around in my daily life, so one day I decided to count the number of ipods. On my walk from the subway to my apartment, I saw 30 confirmed ipods (either I saw the ipod itself, or I saw the ipod earbuds). I'd previously counted that I cross paths with 100 people on the same walk. (I haven't counted how many of those 100 people were wearing some kind of headphones that couldn't be confirmed as an ipod, because it's diffcult to keep multiple running tallies at once.)
So given that level of market penetration, wouldn't it behoove the thieves to assume that any headphones they see are attached to an ipod? And why would they only want ipods anyway? I haven't done extensive research (at the time when I bought my ipod the ipod was the best device for my own personal needs, but I haven't researched since), but the ipod has been on the market for seven years, surely other brands are generally competitive by now?
Things They Should Invent: an economy that doesn't need to constantly grow
The economy needs to grow. If it doesn't grow, bad things happen.
This doesn't seem sustainable. We need a new system where life can continue to be good for everyone even if there's no economic growth.
No, I don't have any specific ideas.
This doesn't seem sustainable. We need a new system where life can continue to be good for everyone even if there's no economic growth.
No, I don't have any specific ideas.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Maybe this is why older people frustrate me
It's not that all older people frustrate me, of course. The vast majority of my interactions with older people are perfectly unremarkable. But when they do frustrate me, it's always because they aren't smarter enough than me. It's an annoyance because it's very difficult to keep up the appropriate level of respect (yes, believe it or not I don't always want to be a disrespectful little shit) when telling someone decades my elder that they're completely wrong, and it's also scary because it makes me wonder if I'm going to stop learning at some point - there's no way half the older people I deal with have spent a lifetime learning at the same rate I am.
But this might explain why:
My entire adulthood has taken place in the 21st century. The vast majority of my adolescence happened on the internet. I've been constantly intaking these huge quantities of information for nearly half my life without even noticing. I feel egregiously underinformed about buying real estate, but I have more information than my parents did when they bought their first house. I mention that the problem with translation is it isn't very organized as an industry, so I don't really know how exactly I'd go about finding a translation job next time I need a job. My older interlocutor says, "Look in the classified ads in the newspaper" as though that's the solution to all life's problems, as though translation jobs have ever been advertised in the classified ads in the newspaper, as though jobs were just advertised instead of us having to access a hidden job market and incorporate ourselves so we can bid on government contracts and educate prospective employers who want bidirectional translation AND conference interpretation AND by the way you're also responsible for organizing the whole conference all for $28,000 a year. But maybe that really was what the world was like last time my interlocutor looked for a job, and they haven't had to look for a job since so they aren't aware that his is unapplicable. Maybe they really think they have all the information because that was the quantity of information they needed last time around.
It's still very frustrating though, because I find myself unable to evaluate whether I'm exponentially more informed or egregiously ignorant. For example, suppose I read in my morning paper "The Prime Minister's economic plan will protect us from this financial turmoil." So I go and google up what exactly the economic plan is, I find commentary supporting and opposing, I do some quick research on the trickier concepts, I post my remaining questions here and maybe some of you nice people answer them. Then I finish my coffee, put on some pants, and go off to work. I don't quite feel well-informed, but I feel like I have a decent overview. Later on I find myself talking about this to an older interlocutor who has been thinking about economics since before I was born. I mention that the information I could find on the economic plan seems to be rather lacking in specifics, and one or two commenters have pointed out ways in which the lessons of the past are not applicable here, and there are some pieces of ideology they have expressed in the past that could be disastrous if implemented here. "Don't worry," my interlocutor tells me, "the Prime Minister's economic plan will protect us from this financial turmoil."
So are they saying this based on their decades of financial experience, of having watched the rise and fall of several economic cycles? Or are they saying this because they read it in the newspaper this morning and are now accepting it as fact?
But this might explain why:
My entire adulthood has taken place in the 21st century. The vast majority of my adolescence happened on the internet. I've been constantly intaking these huge quantities of information for nearly half my life without even noticing. I feel egregiously underinformed about buying real estate, but I have more information than my parents did when they bought their first house. I mention that the problem with translation is it isn't very organized as an industry, so I don't really know how exactly I'd go about finding a translation job next time I need a job. My older interlocutor says, "Look in the classified ads in the newspaper" as though that's the solution to all life's problems, as though translation jobs have ever been advertised in the classified ads in the newspaper, as though jobs were just advertised instead of us having to access a hidden job market and incorporate ourselves so we can bid on government contracts and educate prospective employers who want bidirectional translation AND conference interpretation AND by the way you're also responsible for organizing the whole conference all for $28,000 a year. But maybe that really was what the world was like last time my interlocutor looked for a job, and they haven't had to look for a job since so they aren't aware that his is unapplicable. Maybe they really think they have all the information because that was the quantity of information they needed last time around.
It's still very frustrating though, because I find myself unable to evaluate whether I'm exponentially more informed or egregiously ignorant. For example, suppose I read in my morning paper "The Prime Minister's economic plan will protect us from this financial turmoil." So I go and google up what exactly the economic plan is, I find commentary supporting and opposing, I do some quick research on the trickier concepts, I post my remaining questions here and maybe some of you nice people answer them. Then I finish my coffee, put on some pants, and go off to work. I don't quite feel well-informed, but I feel like I have a decent overview. Later on I find myself talking about this to an older interlocutor who has been thinking about economics since before I was born. I mention that the information I could find on the economic plan seems to be rather lacking in specifics, and one or two commenters have pointed out ways in which the lessons of the past are not applicable here, and there are some pieces of ideology they have expressed in the past that could be disastrous if implemented here. "Don't worry," my interlocutor tells me, "the Prime Minister's economic plan will protect us from this financial turmoil."
So are they saying this based on their decades of financial experience, of having watched the rise and fall of several economic cycles? Or are they saying this because they read it in the newspaper this morning and are now accepting it as fact?
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Question for GTAers who have Rogers Cable
Do you get channel 163?
I have Extended Basic and Timeshifting and I don't get it, which is strange because it looks like it's another PBS station, so I should be getting it with all my other US timeshifting channels.
I have Extended Basic and Timeshifting and I don't get it, which is strange because it looks like it's another PBS station, so I should be getting it with all my other US timeshifting channels.
Plot hole in Ugly Betty
They could have just told the press that they couldn't get the call through to the printers in time.
Also: Dear Cliff, c'mere and I'll cheer you up! (Don't worry, I take my makeup off and I'm manlier than Marc.)
Also: Dear Cliff, c'mere and I'll cheer you up! (Don't worry, I take my makeup off and I'm manlier than Marc.)
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The spammers are invading my dreams
Last night I dreamed that the spammers were coming to my door to deliver their messages in person. Someone would knock on my door, I'd answer (I never answer IRL unless I'm expecting someone), and they'd try to sell me penis enlargement or fake diplomas.
At one point the Chinese guy from Ocean's 11 was at the door holding a printed-out email, and told me (in English) to read it when I was drunk. I said, "Sorry, I'm not drunk right now," and slammed the door in his face. Then I started drinking vodka.
At one point the Chinese guy from Ocean's 11 was at the door holding a printed-out email, and told me (in English) to read it when I was drunk. I said, "Sorry, I'm not drunk right now," and slammed the door in his face. Then I started drinking vodka.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Senate reform
One of my favourite translation tools uses the Hansard as its corpus. I type in a word or phrase and it shows me every sentence in the Hansard that contains that word or phrase, along with each sentence's equivalent in the other language.
In the House of Commons Hansard, I can identify which party the speaker of any given sentence belongs to about 75% of the time, because of how much party politics seeps into every utterance. In the Senate Hansard, I've only been able to identify party affiliation a handful of times.
This is why I think we need to be very careful about any move towards Senate reform. In the House of Commons they are constantly playing politics. There is constant awareness of the party line and the need to be electable next election. There is rhetoric, there is pandering, there is showmanship, there is jockeying for soundbites.
There isn't nearly as much of this in the Senate. It is, like they say in the motto, sober. It is dull and sensible. Because they don't need to be electable they don't need to play the games, and our parliamentary system is better for it.
Any attempts at Senate reform should take this into consideration and make sure that the new Senate structure continues to have these advantages.
In the House of Commons Hansard, I can identify which party the speaker of any given sentence belongs to about 75% of the time, because of how much party politics seeps into every utterance. In the Senate Hansard, I've only been able to identify party affiliation a handful of times.
This is why I think we need to be very careful about any move towards Senate reform. In the House of Commons they are constantly playing politics. There is constant awareness of the party line and the need to be electable next election. There is rhetoric, there is pandering, there is showmanship, there is jockeying for soundbites.
There isn't nearly as much of this in the Senate. It is, like they say in the motto, sober. It is dull and sensible. Because they don't need to be electable they don't need to play the games, and our parliamentary system is better for it.
Any attempts at Senate reform should take this into consideration and make sure that the new Senate structure continues to have these advantages.
Open Letter to the grocery store customer satisfaction survey people
Dear grocery store customer satisfaction survey:
If you're going to ask how much of my total household grocery spending is spent at your store and ask for a response in dollars, you also have to specify over what period of time.
If you're going to ask how much of my total household grocery spending is spent at your store and ask for a response in dollars, you also have to specify over what period of time.
Could Google possibly be listening to me???
A couple of weeks ago, I suggested that Google Blog Search should index blog entry contents only.
Now they do.
Dear Google, if you're listening, thank you and I love you! If you're interested, here is the rest of my wishlist:
1. Don't localize search results to the interface language, or at least give us the option to turn it off. (Example: compare the search results for éléphant in the English and French interfaces of google.ca.) Localizing to interface language makes life difficult for people who work multilingually, especially since you are accent-blind (which we love and adore and appreciate more than you can possibly imagine!)
2. Make iGoogle a separate thing rather than simply an alternate interface.
3. Let me mark messages as read from Gmail Notifier. I can see from the notifier that it's just the email telling me I've made an ebay bid. I don't need to read it, so I'd like to be able to make the notifier stop telling me I have a new email rather than having to go all the way to my inbox to mark the email as read.
Edit Nov. 12 6:30 p.m.: And now it's giving me results from tag clouds again. Dear Google: WTF?
Now they do.
Dear Google, if you're listening, thank you and I love you! If you're interested, here is the rest of my wishlist:
1. Don't localize search results to the interface language, or at least give us the option to turn it off. (Example: compare the search results for éléphant in the English and French interfaces of google.ca.) Localizing to interface language makes life difficult for people who work multilingually, especially since you are accent-blind (which we love and adore and appreciate more than you can possibly imagine!)
2. Make iGoogle a separate thing rather than simply an alternate interface.
3. Let me mark messages as read from Gmail Notifier. I can see from the notifier that it's just the email telling me I've made an ebay bid. I don't need to read it, so I'd like to be able to make the notifier stop telling me I have a new email rather than having to go all the way to my inbox to mark the email as read.
Edit Nov. 12 6:30 p.m.: And now it's giving me results from tag clouds again. Dear Google: WTF?
Monday, November 10, 2008
Things that are completely unlike video games cannot be used as a viable substitute for video games
There has been a lot of anti-gaming sentiment in the media lately, and a lot of it has been suggesting things that parents could have their kids do instead of gaming - sports, outdoor activities, family board games, etc.
The problem is that these activities don't do for the user what video games do.
Video games occupy part of the brain while letting the rest of the brain roam freely. It's an indoor activity that you can comfortably do in any weather and in any clothing. Because it's indoors, children don't require immediate adult supervision so can be given some modicum of privacy. It's a solitary activity, so you can use it to unwind from the stress of a day full of social interaction (especially helpful for introverts). If you're playing a multi-player game, it's something you can enjoy with people you have stuff in common with.
The proposed alternatives don't do these things. While gaming lets me think by occupying the part of my mind that would get bored from just sitting and thinking, sports occupy just enough of my mind that I can't think freely, while not providing me with any significant entertainment. Gaming can be done indoors in any clothes and in any weather, but outdoor activities require that you get dressed appropriately for outside and make yourself suitably presentable. Video games can be done in privacy from one's parents, while outdoor activities require supervision and family activities have parental involvement. Gaming can be done alone, but sports and family activities must be done with others, thus making them draining instead of re-energizing for introverts. Multi-player gaming is done with your online friends, whereas organized sports and family activities are done with a group of people whose composition you have no control over.
None of these activities provide users with the same benefits as gaming. They are completely different things and no substitute for gaming. If so-called experts feel the need to propose alternatives to video games, they should come up with alternatives that users would enjoy the same way as they enjoy video games.
The problem is that these activities don't do for the user what video games do.
Video games occupy part of the brain while letting the rest of the brain roam freely. It's an indoor activity that you can comfortably do in any weather and in any clothing. Because it's indoors, children don't require immediate adult supervision so can be given some modicum of privacy. It's a solitary activity, so you can use it to unwind from the stress of a day full of social interaction (especially helpful for introverts). If you're playing a multi-player game, it's something you can enjoy with people you have stuff in common with.
The proposed alternatives don't do these things. While gaming lets me think by occupying the part of my mind that would get bored from just sitting and thinking, sports occupy just enough of my mind that I can't think freely, while not providing me with any significant entertainment. Gaming can be done indoors in any clothes and in any weather, but outdoor activities require that you get dressed appropriately for outside and make yourself suitably presentable. Video games can be done in privacy from one's parents, while outdoor activities require supervision and family activities have parental involvement. Gaming can be done alone, but sports and family activities must be done with others, thus making them draining instead of re-energizing for introverts. Multi-player gaming is done with your online friends, whereas organized sports and family activities are done with a group of people whose composition you have no control over.
None of these activities provide users with the same benefits as gaming. They are completely different things and no substitute for gaming. If so-called experts feel the need to propose alternatives to video games, they should come up with alternatives that users would enjoy the same way as they enjoy video games.
Things They Should Invent: custom-made birth control pills
Picture this:
They take some blood, analyze its hormone content, then use that information to come up with the doses that will work best for you - either by choosing from commercially available pills or by compounding a new one. They could consult with the patient on the desired side effects and proceed accordingly.
Doesn't that sound like a much better system?
They take some blood, analyze its hormone content, then use that information to come up with the doses that will work best for you - either by choosing from commercially available pills or by compounding a new one. They could consult with the patient on the desired side effects and proceed accordingly.
Doesn't that sound like a much better system?
Sunday, November 09, 2008
The difference between La Senza and Victoria's Secret bra sizes
The bra I liked best at La Senza was discontinued and I saw one that looked identical in the Victoria's Secret catalogue, so I ordered one in the same size I wear at La Senza.
The band of the Victoria's Secret bra is a good inch longer, and the cups are smaller. The arc of the wire is identical on both bras, but if you lay the Victoria's Secret cup on top of the La Senza cup, the La Senza cup has about a centimetre more material the cleavage side and on the armpit side. The result is if the La Senza bra contains your entire breast, the Victora's Secret one will create cleavage or uniboob or quadboob (assuming you distribute your assets so that all the fleshy lymph-nodey part of your breast on the armpit side is always contained inside the bra cup).
I don't know which bra is closer to true size (i.e. the size you're supposed to be if you measure yourself and plug the numbers into the chart) because I'm infuriatingly nowhere near a true size.
This is something that annoys me about the bra industry. People always say that all you need to do is get a really good professional bra fitting and then you'll know what size you really are and live happily ever after. Now I have no doubt that a really good professional bra fitter can help you find a good bra. (Assuming you get a proper professional bra fitter, not one of those people who just takes a tape measure around your ribs and then around your bust and runs the numbers through the chart and says "Okay, done!" But since the sizes don't seem to be reliably the same from store to store, this isn't going to help you find other bras. Even if I go to Secrets From Your Sister and let them spend like 45 minutes doing their voodoo and they come up with the perfect bra, that isn't going to help me buy bras from other places if the sizes aren't going to follow the rules. I don't want professional assistance every time I buy a bra, I want to be able to pick something off the rack and have it fit. What's the point of measurement-based sizes if they aren't going to do this?
The band of the Victoria's Secret bra is a good inch longer, and the cups are smaller. The arc of the wire is identical on both bras, but if you lay the Victoria's Secret cup on top of the La Senza cup, the La Senza cup has about a centimetre more material the cleavage side and on the armpit side. The result is if the La Senza bra contains your entire breast, the Victora's Secret one will create cleavage or uniboob or quadboob (assuming you distribute your assets so that all the fleshy lymph-nodey part of your breast on the armpit side is always contained inside the bra cup).
I don't know which bra is closer to true size (i.e. the size you're supposed to be if you measure yourself and plug the numbers into the chart) because I'm infuriatingly nowhere near a true size.
This is something that annoys me about the bra industry. People always say that all you need to do is get a really good professional bra fitting and then you'll know what size you really are and live happily ever after. Now I have no doubt that a really good professional bra fitter can help you find a good bra. (Assuming you get a proper professional bra fitter, not one of those people who just takes a tape measure around your ribs and then around your bust and runs the numbers through the chart and says "Okay, done!" But since the sizes don't seem to be reliably the same from store to store, this isn't going to help you find other bras. Even if I go to Secrets From Your Sister and let them spend like 45 minutes doing their voodoo and they come up with the perfect bra, that isn't going to help me buy bras from other places if the sizes aren't going to follow the rules. I don't want professional assistance every time I buy a bra, I want to be able to pick something off the rack and have it fit. What's the point of measurement-based sizes if they aren't going to do this?
The Globe and Mail has a strange concept of thrift
The Globe and Mail on thrifty vintage dressing.
Those prices are pretty much what I pay for regular clothes at the mall or at Winners. I'm no fashion plate, but for those prices and with no effort whatsoever and within walking distance of my home I can find clothes that I wear instead of them wearing me and that don't make me look fatter than I am. Those prices certainly aren't worth the effort of scouring vintage stores! You want thrifty? Thrifty is a $10 prom dress from the Amity.
This is actually a symptom of a broader problem I've seen. There is a shitload of stuff in the media lately about how to save money, and I find that none of it applies to me. Either it's stuff I'm already doing (e.g. I already buy the cheapest store brand products unless there's a specific reason why the name brand product meets my needs better) or it's stuff that's completely irrelevant (e.g. I don't need advice on how to save on gas mileage since I don't have a car). Why has there been absolutely nothing that is relevant to me? I'm not in a position where I desperately need to come up with ways to save money, but there's no possible way that I'm managing my money as optimally as humanly possible - I'm terrible at financial stuff!
Those prices are pretty much what I pay for regular clothes at the mall or at Winners. I'm no fashion plate, but for those prices and with no effort whatsoever and within walking distance of my home I can find clothes that I wear instead of them wearing me and that don't make me look fatter than I am. Those prices certainly aren't worth the effort of scouring vintage stores! You want thrifty? Thrifty is a $10 prom dress from the Amity.
This is actually a symptom of a broader problem I've seen. There is a shitload of stuff in the media lately about how to save money, and I find that none of it applies to me. Either it's stuff I'm already doing (e.g. I already buy the cheapest store brand products unless there's a specific reason why the name brand product meets my needs better) or it's stuff that's completely irrelevant (e.g. I don't need advice on how to save on gas mileage since I don't have a car). Why has there been absolutely nothing that is relevant to me? I'm not in a position where I desperately need to come up with ways to save money, but there's no possible way that I'm managing my money as optimally as humanly possible - I'm terrible at financial stuff!
Sheet music
In classical music, standard practice is for musicians to use sheet music while performing. In rock music, that would be laughable. In jazz, sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't.
So at what point in musical history did it become normal not to use sheet music, and why did this happen?
So at what point in musical history did it become normal not to use sheet music, and why did this happen?
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Friday, November 07, 2008
I'll verb anything as long as it's concrete
Stephen Fry says:
I hate actioned, and it is ugly. But I don't hate it because it's ugly or because it's new, I hate it because it's abstract and non-specific. I'm fine with googling, blogging, commenting, twittering, youtubing, facebooking, texting, zaprudering, microwaving, dustbusting, shower-massaging, swiffering, PDFing, mp3ing, vasectomizing, tubalizing, essuring, LOLing, ROFLing OMGing WTFing and puppy-head-tilting. In every one of those cases it is completely obvious what the verb means, and in most cases it can only mean one thing (googling is obviously searching with google, although facebooking could be doing any number of things on facebook).
But with action as a verb, it's not clear at all what you're doing. In fact, it varies widely depending on context. It feels like the writer doesn't want to give any thought to what exactly needs to be done, so they're sticking the word "action" in and making me figure it out myself. I once received an email containing some information, followed in close succession by another email saying "That first email was for information only, you don't have to action it." Boy was I glad I didn't have to action it, because I had no idea how I might have "actioned" that email. It wasn't clear to me at all what might have needed to be done.
Now I'll be the first to admit that I may well be feeling this way because I'm a French to English translator. French verbs tend to be far more abstract than English verbs. In many cases (e.g. effectuer, favoriser, intervenir), you can't even translate the French verb or things will get ridiculous. You have to read and understand the entire situation and describe it in clear English, with the verbs being no more helpful than the blank in a game of mad libs.
After spending your entire workday making abstract verbs more concrete and vague verbs more specific, the last thing you want to do is go action something!
New examples [of nouns becoming verbs] from our time might take some getting used to: ‘He actioned it that day’ for instance might strike some as a verbing too far, but we have been sanctioning, envisioning, propositioning and stationing for a long time, so why not ‘action’? ‘Because it’s ugly,’ whinge the pedants. It’s only ugly because it’s new and you don’t like it. Ugly in the way Picasso, Stravinsky and Eliot were once thought ugly and before them Monet, Mahler and Baudelaire.
I hate actioned, and it is ugly. But I don't hate it because it's ugly or because it's new, I hate it because it's abstract and non-specific. I'm fine with googling, blogging, commenting, twittering, youtubing, facebooking, texting, zaprudering, microwaving, dustbusting, shower-massaging, swiffering, PDFing, mp3ing, vasectomizing, tubalizing, essuring, LOLing, ROFLing OMGing WTFing and puppy-head-tilting. In every one of those cases it is completely obvious what the verb means, and in most cases it can only mean one thing (googling is obviously searching with google, although facebooking could be doing any number of things on facebook).
But with action as a verb, it's not clear at all what you're doing. In fact, it varies widely depending on context. It feels like the writer doesn't want to give any thought to what exactly needs to be done, so they're sticking the word "action" in and making me figure it out myself. I once received an email containing some information, followed in close succession by another email saying "That first email was for information only, you don't have to action it." Boy was I glad I didn't have to action it, because I had no idea how I might have "actioned" that email. It wasn't clear to me at all what might have needed to be done.
Now I'll be the first to admit that I may well be feeling this way because I'm a French to English translator. French verbs tend to be far more abstract than English verbs. In many cases (e.g. effectuer, favoriser, intervenir), you can't even translate the French verb or things will get ridiculous. You have to read and understand the entire situation and describe it in clear English, with the verbs being no more helpful than the blank in a game of mad libs.
After spending your entire workday making abstract verbs more concrete and vague verbs more specific, the last thing you want to do is go action something!
Thursday, November 06, 2008
No smoking, no drinking, no talking
The year is 1994. I'm about to start Grade 9. High school, all new, Big And Scary.
One day, shortly before school is to start, my then-best friend calls me. "We have a problem," she announces. "The gym teacher...is a lesbian."
I was shocked and horrified. She's a lesbian! She likes girls! But she's allowed in our locker room??? Apparently her OFFICE is IN our locker room???? Why is this even allowed? I felt like someone should tell a grownup or something, but I didn't tell my parents for fear they might lock me in my room forever for knowing what a lesbian is or for having a course schedule that puts me in the general vincinity of an alleged lesbian or something.
So off I went to my doom. Not just high school, not just gym class, but high school gym class with a lesbian. And when we got there she...taught us gym. And then the next day she taught us gym. And every day after that she taught us gym, perfectly competently, with the occasional glimpse of humanity. Then the semester was over and I never took gym again and she became irrelevant.
Other things were happening around that time, in the background, in the media. On Friends, Ross's ex-wife was a lesbian. And she was...there, sometimes, when the plot demanded it. Ellen DeGeneres came out, and she was...there, on TV, I wasn't paying much attention. I found out Graham Chapman was gay, and that...didn't change anything, actually. And so it continued, every once in a while I'd find out someone was queer, and, except for the people who ended up being my friends, they'd just go on being ultimately irrelevant, like most people in the world end up being.
This is why the situation in California surprises me so much.
I can see how people who have never been exposed to same-sex marriage might arrive at the visceral "OMG THAT'S WRONG!" reaction. That's how I thought in Grade 9, and the reason I thought that was was because homosexuality had only ever been presented to me as a problem, so I had no reason to think that it might be anything other than a problem. What it took for my homophobia to go away was not happy rainbows and sensitivity training, but rather the sheer innocuousness of every queer person that I ever encountered IRL or in the news.
But in California, they already have this. They had legal same-sex marriage for several months. And, after a brief flurry of "OMG George Takei! OMG Ellen and Portia! OMG octogenerian lesbians!" it just became irrelevant to everyone who isn't immediately involved. So why do they still care after months of evidence that it's harmless?
I thought I understood the thought process, but this has me flummoxed. They do know that it isn't mandatory, right?
One day, shortly before school is to start, my then-best friend calls me. "We have a problem," she announces. "The gym teacher...is a lesbian."
I was shocked and horrified. She's a lesbian! She likes girls! But she's allowed in our locker room??? Apparently her OFFICE is IN our locker room???? Why is this even allowed? I felt like someone should tell a grownup or something, but I didn't tell my parents for fear they might lock me in my room forever for knowing what a lesbian is or for having a course schedule that puts me in the general vincinity of an alleged lesbian or something.
So off I went to my doom. Not just high school, not just gym class, but high school gym class with a lesbian. And when we got there she...taught us gym. And then the next day she taught us gym. And every day after that she taught us gym, perfectly competently, with the occasional glimpse of humanity. Then the semester was over and I never took gym again and she became irrelevant.
Other things were happening around that time, in the background, in the media. On Friends, Ross's ex-wife was a lesbian. And she was...there, sometimes, when the plot demanded it. Ellen DeGeneres came out, and she was...there, on TV, I wasn't paying much attention. I found out Graham Chapman was gay, and that...didn't change anything, actually. And so it continued, every once in a while I'd find out someone was queer, and, except for the people who ended up being my friends, they'd just go on being ultimately irrelevant, like most people in the world end up being.
This is why the situation in California surprises me so much.
I can see how people who have never been exposed to same-sex marriage might arrive at the visceral "OMG THAT'S WRONG!" reaction. That's how I thought in Grade 9, and the reason I thought that was was because homosexuality had only ever been presented to me as a problem, so I had no reason to think that it might be anything other than a problem. What it took for my homophobia to go away was not happy rainbows and sensitivity training, but rather the sheer innocuousness of every queer person that I ever encountered IRL or in the news.
But in California, they already have this. They had legal same-sex marriage for several months. And, after a brief flurry of "OMG George Takei! OMG Ellen and Portia! OMG octogenerian lesbians!" it just became irrelevant to everyone who isn't immediately involved. So why do they still care after months of evidence that it's harmless?
I thought I understood the thought process, but this has me flummoxed. They do know that it isn't mandatory, right?
How to use the strike at York to your academic advantage
I was at York during the 2000-2001 strike, which lasted about three months, and here's what I learned:
Keep doing your coursework.
Even though you have no classes, keep doing the same number of hours of homework a day no matter what happens. (If you don't plan your work that way, half an hour of work per class per day is a good guideline, at least it was back in my day.)
Get caught up on all your assignments (it's November, you're feeling the crunch now anyway), study the fuck out of your December exams, then start doing next semester's reading for your full-year courses. Don't stop until you've finished every single word of reading and assignments that you can possibly extrapolate from your syllabuses and studied all the material so well you're certain you'll get 100% on every exam.
You obviously don't have enough information to identify every bit of work you'll have to do between now and April, but you have some of it. So do the part that you have now, and it will ease the workload when you go back to class. Those of us who did this during our three-month strike found that it was like taking a half courseload in terms of stress and busy-ness and time to dedicate to each class. And for those of you who are worried about the school year being extended and thus cutting into your summer job time, getting ahead now will let you do your year-end assignments ahead of time, so worst case you can just leave early at the end of the year.
Keep doing your coursework.
Even though you have no classes, keep doing the same number of hours of homework a day no matter what happens. (If you don't plan your work that way, half an hour of work per class per day is a good guideline, at least it was back in my day.)
Get caught up on all your assignments (it's November, you're feeling the crunch now anyway), study the fuck out of your December exams, then start doing next semester's reading for your full-year courses. Don't stop until you've finished every single word of reading and assignments that you can possibly extrapolate from your syllabuses and studied all the material so well you're certain you'll get 100% on every exam.
You obviously don't have enough information to identify every bit of work you'll have to do between now and April, but you have some of it. So do the part that you have now, and it will ease the workload when you go back to class. Those of us who did this during our three-month strike found that it was like taking a half courseload in terms of stress and busy-ness and time to dedicate to each class. And for those of you who are worried about the school year being extended and thus cutting into your summer job time, getting ahead now will let you do your year-end assignments ahead of time, so worst case you can just leave early at the end of the year.
Teach me about non-bankable sick leave
Apparently the City of Toronto wants to stop making workers' sick leave bankable, and according to the comments on the article (I know, I know) that's apparently a bizarre and outrageous thing that doesn't happen in The Real World.
This has me flummoxed. Every job I've ever me that has sick leave has bankable sick leave. Not all jobs have sick leave, of course, with some jobs you lose a day's pay if you stay home sick. But my jobs, my friends' jobs, my family's jobs, the jobs of the grownups who were around me when I was growing up, they all either had bankable sick leave or no sick leave whatsoever. I have never in my life encountered the middle ground.
So talk to me about how this works. What happens if you get hardcore sick? With bankable sick leave, the understanding is you aren't going to use all your assigned sick leave in any given year, but you save up the extra and then years from now when you get cancer you'll have weeks or even months banked. Or even what if you get the flu and you need a week off, but you're only allocated one day for that particular month. What happens then? Doesn't the fact that you haven't taken any sick days for the past eight months count for anything?
This has me flummoxed. Every job I've ever me that has sick leave has bankable sick leave. Not all jobs have sick leave, of course, with some jobs you lose a day's pay if you stay home sick. But my jobs, my friends' jobs, my family's jobs, the jobs of the grownups who were around me when I was growing up, they all either had bankable sick leave or no sick leave whatsoever. I have never in my life encountered the middle ground.
So talk to me about how this works. What happens if you get hardcore sick? With bankable sick leave, the understanding is you aren't going to use all your assigned sick leave in any given year, but you save up the extra and then years from now when you get cancer you'll have weeks or even months banked. Or even what if you get the flu and you need a week off, but you're only allocated one day for that particular month. What happens then? Doesn't the fact that you haven't taken any sick days for the past eight months count for anything?
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
New Rule
Everyone in California who voted to eliminate people's right to marry anyone of any sex is hereby required to change their name to Doris.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Things They Should Invent: TVs that turn on automatically when something of interest happens
My eyes are killing me and I don't know if anything else I'm interested in seeing live is going to happen. I wish I could just go to bed and have my TV make the decisions for me.
Explain US politics to me please
1. Is it normal to have hours-long line-ups to vote? If so, why don't they get more people or equipment? If not, what's up today?
2. What's up with voter registration? Why does everyone need to be registered, and what is complicated about the process that they need organized drives to do it? (Where I'm coming from: I'm automatically registered via my income tax return, and if I don't show up on the list for some reason I register on election day by showing them appropriate ID.)
3. From Joe Fiorito's latest column:
Exactly: huh? Or, since the Star is a family newspaper and this isn't a family blog, WTF? Why can't they put everyone on one ballot? What if you want to vote for an independent/fringe candidate? What if you want to vote for some reps and some dems (I think they're generally voting for more than one office)? What if they run out of one kind of ballot?
4. There's this yes/no to Prop 8 thing rattling around the blogosphere, and every time I read about it I have to pause and scrunch up my brain and try to figure out which side is which. So why don't they give the Prop (Proposition? Proposal? Propeller? Prophylactic? Propaganda?) a descriptive name so the answer will be obvious?
5. What's up with the people who are against elitism also being against wealth redistribution? If you're not elite, you don't have wealth and therefore would benefit from wealth redistribution. If you would be hurt by wealth redistribution, you have wealth and therefore are elite. What am I missing?
2. What's up with voter registration? Why does everyone need to be registered, and what is complicated about the process that they need organized drives to do it? (Where I'm coming from: I'm automatically registered via my income tax return, and if I don't show up on the list for some reason I register on election day by showing them appropriate ID.)
3. From Joe Fiorito's latest column:
I know a woman who lives in Mississauga. She is an American. In order to vote she said she had to go to her embassy where, after supplying her ID, she had to state whether she wanted a Democratic or a Republican ballot.
Huh?
Exactly: huh? Or, since the Star is a family newspaper and this isn't a family blog, WTF? Why can't they put everyone on one ballot? What if you want to vote for an independent/fringe candidate? What if you want to vote for some reps and some dems (I think they're generally voting for more than one office)? What if they run out of one kind of ballot?
4. There's this yes/no to Prop 8 thing rattling around the blogosphere, and every time I read about it I have to pause and scrunch up my brain and try to figure out which side is which. So why don't they give the Prop (Proposition? Proposal? Propeller? Prophylactic? Propaganda?) a descriptive name so the answer will be obvious?
5. What's up with the people who are against elitism also being against wealth redistribution? If you're not elite, you don't have wealth and therefore would benefit from wealth redistribution. If you would be hurt by wealth redistribution, you have wealth and therefore are elite. What am I missing?
Monday, November 03, 2008
I think I have the weakest nickel allergy in the world
At least I assume it's nickel. When I spent an extended period of time holding my cellphone, and when I wear one of my necklaces made of an anonymous (and presumably cheap, since they were $2 each) silver-coloured metal, I get vaguely uncomfortable. Really, that's the best description, vaguely uncomfortable. My muscles tense up a bit. I get a touch edgy. My joints crack a bit louder than usual. I find myself sort of idly mindlessly scratching - I don't feel actively itchy, I'm not uncomfortable, I don't see any discolouration on my skin, but when my hands are unoccupied they end up lazily scratching. Then I put down the phone or take off the necklace and it stops.
It does piss me off that cheap jewellery is an irritant though. I want to wear jewellery, but I'm no good at it. I have no sense whatsoever of what works and what doesn't, so I have a lot of experimentation to do and I can't afford to experiment with real jewellery. Once I've gotten my look together I'll totally buy better stuff, but right now I'm still at the "Hey, this necklace length doesn't work with my bone structure. Who knew that could be a problem?" stage.
Plus, lurking over all this in the shadows, is the problem that with some metal allergies you can't get Essure...
It does piss me off that cheap jewellery is an irritant though. I want to wear jewellery, but I'm no good at it. I have no sense whatsoever of what works and what doesn't, so I have a lot of experimentation to do and I can't afford to experiment with real jewellery. Once I've gotten my look together I'll totally buy better stuff, but right now I'm still at the "Hey, this necklace length doesn't work with my bone structure. Who knew that could be a problem?" stage.
Plus, lurking over all this in the shadows, is the problem that with some metal allergies you can't get Essure...
Childfree for Dummies
Suppose I was standing before you with a pregnant belly, or with three preschoolers like my grandmother had at my age, or with my 10-year-old daughter like someone I went to high school with has right now. Wielding my sprog, I announce "I know what's best for my children!" A critical mass of humanity immediately rallies behind me, don't they?
That's exactly what I'm doing now. I do know what's best for my children, and that's that I don't have any children.
Suppose I have a child, and I put arbitrary limitations on this child in order to protect them. They have to be in bed by 8:00. They can only go trickertreating on these two streets and they have to be back by 7. They can't go to a friend's house unless I've met that friend's parents. Even if these limitations might seem overprotective or potentially hinder their fun, it's still being a good parent, isn't it? After all, I'm the grownup, I know more about what the world is like than they do, and it's my job to calculate the risk. I only want what's best.
That's exactly what I'm doing now. Knowing what the world is like, I've made the decision to keep my ova inside my ovaries. It is true that there is more potential for fun outside the ovaries, but I'm the grownup, I've calculated the risk, and they're staying inside my ovaries. I only want what's best.
Of all the people in the world, I'm the one who knows the most about my genetics, my personality, my strengths and weaknesses, and everything else about my reality. After all, I live inside it every day, while everyone else is just looking in from the outside. I am the most qualified person to decide whether this is a situation worth subjecting an innocent child to.
And if for whatever reason you think my judgement is so bad that I can't evaluate my reality nearly as well as you can, why on earth would you want an innocent child completely at the mercy of my judgement for at least nine months, with repercussions that would last their entire lifetime?
That's exactly what I'm doing now. I do know what's best for my children, and that's that I don't have any children.
Suppose I have a child, and I put arbitrary limitations on this child in order to protect them. They have to be in bed by 8:00. They can only go trickertreating on these two streets and they have to be back by 7. They can't go to a friend's house unless I've met that friend's parents. Even if these limitations might seem overprotective or potentially hinder their fun, it's still being a good parent, isn't it? After all, I'm the grownup, I know more about what the world is like than they do, and it's my job to calculate the risk. I only want what's best.
That's exactly what I'm doing now. Knowing what the world is like, I've made the decision to keep my ova inside my ovaries. It is true that there is more potential for fun outside the ovaries, but I'm the grownup, I've calculated the risk, and they're staying inside my ovaries. I only want what's best.
Of all the people in the world, I'm the one who knows the most about my genetics, my personality, my strengths and weaknesses, and everything else about my reality. After all, I live inside it every day, while everyone else is just looking in from the outside. I am the most qualified person to decide whether this is a situation worth subjecting an innocent child to.
And if for whatever reason you think my judgement is so bad that I can't evaluate my reality nearly as well as you can, why on earth would you want an innocent child completely at the mercy of my judgement for at least nine months, with repercussions that would last their entire lifetime?
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Things They Should Study: who establishes the greeting protocol?
I have some family members with whom I hug and/or kiss as a greeting. This wasn't my idea, I was never consulted, and I don't hug or kiss other family members with whom I have the same degree of relationship (some of whom have the same degree of relationship as me to the huggers/kissers).
Someone should do some research into how these things develop.
Someone should do some research into how these things develop.
Pissed off
If I could change just one fact of life, I would make it so that whenever you put time or effort or resources or hard work into doing something, it always ends up better than when you started. There are few things more frustrating than trial and error situations where you still have to put in all the work but the end result is worse than if you had done nothing at all.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Things Google Blog Search Should Invent: search only in blog entry contents
Google Blog Search seems to be getting increasingly polluted by results where my search terms appear elsewhere in the blog other than in the entries, like in the tag cloud or the blurb or the title of the blog itself. This is problematic. If a blog has one of the search terms I monitor regularly in its tag cloud, for example, that blog turns up in my Blog Search results every time it is updated, regardless of whether the updates have anything to do with the subject in question.
They should fix this.
They should fix this.
For the record
On Ugly Betty, I find Betty's neighbour-boy's interactions with her presumptuous. The way he borrowed her umbrella a propos of nothing (although keeping your umbrella in the hallway is weird too) and the way he insisted on helping her bring her groceries into her apartment both seem very Gift of Fear to me. I don't know if anything will come of this or if the writers are just being lazy in establishing a realtionship, I'm just posting it for bragging rights in case I end up being right.
Things They Should Invent: free full-time full-service advisors for entrepreneurs
On last week's Ugly Betty, it came to light that Hilda doesn't have a business licence for her salon. She just got a chair and started cutting people's hair. This makes perfect sense to me! I have looked into the process of starting one's own business (not because it interests me, but because my job search experience suggests that I can't assume employers will hire me even when I'm perfectly qualified and capable, so I may well have to go solo at some point) and I find it nearly impenetrable. I can find all kinds of government websites that link to all kinds of other government websites that give infuriatingly vague and perky advice, but there are so many types and levels of regulation involved that even if I read every word I could find, I wouldn't feel certain that I was aware of all my obligations. And I'm accustomed to reading and finding information in government websites, I use them for translation research all the time! I was initially surprised that Hilda had seemingly managed to navigate the process, and found it so much more in character that she'd just skipped it entirely. And because the process is so difficult, I wouldn't dare start my own business - not just because I prefer a steady paycheque even if it is smaller, but because if I start my own business and mess up or miss some step in the process, I'll end up charged with fraud or something.
Entrepreneurship is supposed to be a good thing. It boosts the economy and takes people off the unemployment rolls. They were really pushing it during the last recession, so I assume they'll need it again during this one. So what they should do is create a free, government-funded service of full-time advisors for entrepreneurs. Every entreprenteur would be assigned an advisor, and they can ask the advisor for any help they need during, say, the first year of running their business, and get a limited number of hours of help during, say, the next five years.
The advisors would have to be far more useful than the government websites, which is certainly quite possible and precedented when you're working one-on-one with a real person. I had my wallet stolen once, and ended up calling 1-800-O-CANADA to find out where to replace all my ID. The guy I spoke to was so incredibly helpful! He gave me specific websites and phone numbers and addresses for getting everything replaced - not just the ID under federal jurisdiction, but the province-issued documents too! - and after I'd gone through everything I could remember in my wallet, he went through a list of things that people generally keep in their wallets to make sure I hadn't missed anything. He solved my specific problem and anticipated my needs, and I completely understood what I needed to do when we were finished. They need to do the same thing for entrepreneurs. They need to be able to call someone up and ask "Do I need a lawyer? Do I need an accountant? How do I get one? And what on earth do I do come tax time?" and the advisor needs to be able to answer all these questions with specifics that pertain to the client's situation, plus anticipate things like "So you're running this business out of your desk in your living room? Okay, here's how it might impact your renter's insurance." They'd hold the clients' hands throughout the entire process until the clients find their feet well enough to take a few steps on their own.
I'm sure a lot more people would start businesses if something like that was available.
Entrepreneurship is supposed to be a good thing. It boosts the economy and takes people off the unemployment rolls. They were really pushing it during the last recession, so I assume they'll need it again during this one. So what they should do is create a free, government-funded service of full-time advisors for entrepreneurs. Every entreprenteur would be assigned an advisor, and they can ask the advisor for any help they need during, say, the first year of running their business, and get a limited number of hours of help during, say, the next five years.
The advisors would have to be far more useful than the government websites, which is certainly quite possible and precedented when you're working one-on-one with a real person. I had my wallet stolen once, and ended up calling 1-800-O-CANADA to find out where to replace all my ID. The guy I spoke to was so incredibly helpful! He gave me specific websites and phone numbers and addresses for getting everything replaced - not just the ID under federal jurisdiction, but the province-issued documents too! - and after I'd gone through everything I could remember in my wallet, he went through a list of things that people generally keep in their wallets to make sure I hadn't missed anything. He solved my specific problem and anticipated my needs, and I completely understood what I needed to do when we were finished. They need to do the same thing for entrepreneurs. They need to be able to call someone up and ask "Do I need a lawyer? Do I need an accountant? How do I get one? And what on earth do I do come tax time?" and the advisor needs to be able to answer all these questions with specifics that pertain to the client's situation, plus anticipate things like "So you're running this business out of your desk in your living room? Okay, here's how it might impact your renter's insurance." They'd hold the clients' hands throughout the entire process until the clients find their feet well enough to take a few steps on their own.
I'm sure a lot more people would start businesses if something like that was available.
I think delayed gratification is different depending on whether you have witnesses
A while back there was a study that showed that children who could delay gratification had greater success later in life. They tested this by leaving the kid alone in the room with a treat for 20 minutes, and telling them they could have two treats if they didn't eat it until the adult came back.
My four-year-old self would totally have been able to wait the 20 minutes, but my motivation wouldn't have been the second treat. It would have been the praise from the adult about how good I was for being able to wait.
I've found I operate this way IRL. Using the broadest and pettiest possible definition of delaying gratification to achieve a goal, I'd say I succeed in 100% of the cases where my achieving the goal actually affects other people, 90% of the cases where other people will see whether or not I achieve the goal, and maybe 50% of the cases where no one but me will see whether I achieve the goal. For example, my current goals for this weekend include getting my translations done on time, buying a birthday card for a friend, and washing my windows. The translations will definitely get done because the client needs them. The birthday card will most likely get bought unless something goes egregiously wrong. The windows may or may not get washed, depends what happens. I'm not going to blow off the translations or the birthday card in favour of gaming or reading fanfic or otherwise being a lazyass, but the window washing I might.
I don't know how this affects the relationship between delayed gratification and success i nlife, but it seems like something worth studying.
My four-year-old self would totally have been able to wait the 20 minutes, but my motivation wouldn't have been the second treat. It would have been the praise from the adult about how good I was for being able to wait.
I've found I operate this way IRL. Using the broadest and pettiest possible definition of delaying gratification to achieve a goal, I'd say I succeed in 100% of the cases where my achieving the goal actually affects other people, 90% of the cases where other people will see whether or not I achieve the goal, and maybe 50% of the cases where no one but me will see whether I achieve the goal. For example, my current goals for this weekend include getting my translations done on time, buying a birthday card for a friend, and washing my windows. The translations will definitely get done because the client needs them. The birthday card will most likely get bought unless something goes egregiously wrong. The windows may or may not get washed, depends what happens. I'm not going to blow off the translations or the birthday card in favour of gaming or reading fanfic or otherwise being a lazyass, but the window washing I might.
I don't know how this affects the relationship between delayed gratification and success i nlife, but it seems like something worth studying.
My very very favourite thing about the xkcd Discovery Channel comic
Everyone has already seen this.
I just felt the need to mention that my very very favourite thing about the comic is the exclamation mark on the sign in the bakery that says "PIE!" That exclamation mark is the single most efficient supplier of teh awesome ever.
I just felt the need to mention that my very very favourite thing about the comic is the exclamation mark on the sign in the bakery that says "PIE!" That exclamation mark is the single most efficient supplier of teh awesome ever.
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