Cranezilla --Mark Crane's collection of rarely annotated links

2008-11-23T22:08:00.001-07:00

On 10/24/2000 I wrote: "There are a lot of really smart geek conservatives voting for Bush, and I just can't figure it out. Are they voting for the platform? Because the man himself just comes across as a real clueless gomer. Not that Gore has a personality."

2008-11-13T11:03:00.001-07:00

Our public library allows you any two of the following options: an outlet, quiet, or wifi.

2008-11-13T09:21:00.001-07:00

The great thing about Ping.Fm is that you can update all of your social networking sites at once, leading to a barrage of trojan friend spam.

2008-11-11T15:11:00.001-07:00

Working in the noisy section of the library, by an outlet. Earplug in one ear, candy wrapper jammed in the other.

2008-11-11T11:24:00.001-07:00

If I was Bill and Ted and brought Lincoln to the mall, I'd totally keep him out of the bookstore, especially the biography section.

2007-12-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

[my lawyer] asked me yesterday why it was that I never swore. He found me washing windows in this library, although nobody had ordered me to do that.
So I told my my maternal grandfather's idea that obscenity and blasphemy gave most people permission not to listen respectfully to whatever was being said.
I repeated an old story Grandfather Wills had taught me, which was about a town where a cannon was fired at noon every day. One day the cannoneer was sick at the last minute and was too incapacitated to fire the cannon.
So at high noon there was silence.
All the peole in the town jumped out of their skins when the sun reached its zenith. They asked each other in astonishment, "Good gravy! What was that?"
My lawyer wanted to know what that had to do with my not swearing.
I replied that in an era as foul mouthed as this one, "Good gravy" had the same power to startle as a cannon shot.

--Kurt Vonnegut, Hocus Pocus

internet stuff | Ask MetaFilter

2007-11-10T11:14:00.000-07:00

internet stuff | Ask MetaFilter

How to proxy and block internet sites for your kids' machine.

Course Readings

2007-11-06T13:36:00.000-07:00

Course Readings

New Media and Technical Writing

Locate and Share Bad Neighbors Before and After You Move

2007-10-31T16:07:00.000-06:00

Locate and Share Bad Neighbors Before and After You Move

Mattias Inks

2007-10-20T14:45:00.000-06:00

Mattias Inks

McCanna23.com

2007-10-16T20:13:00.000-06:00

McCanna23.com

Boardgamegeekery. Spreadsheets and such.

2007-08-15T23:20:00.000-06:00

2007-06-06T22:11:00.000-06:00

2007-05-24T19:41:00.001-06:00

2007-05-24T19:31:00.000-06:00

I just took apart our dishwasher, cleaned out the clogged food chopper, and reassembled it. Last time we paid a guy $80 to do it, but I watched and learned his secrets. I also have another secret weapon that I should use more often, even for mundane stuff like this. It involves invoking a higher power before beginning. This generally calms me down before attempting a stressful task. Finding a manual at http://applianceblog.com was also very helpful. I think that's a good formula for a lot of problems:

1. Pray for help
2. Read the manual
3. Send the kids out to eat at Wendy's so you can work in peace.
4. Learn from a pro.

Thu, May 12, 2005 09:12

2006-12-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

Thu, May 12, 2005 09:12
Originally uploaded by Craniac.

Desi is so cute!

2006-10-12T16:04:00.000-06:00

With YouTube, Grad Student Hits Jackpot Again - New York Times: "“I wish we could have kept him as part of the company,” Mr. Botha said. “He was very, very creative. We were doing everything we could to convince him to defer.”"

2006-09-04T08:28:00.000-06:00

BGG Thread: Making a copy of FMP from the files...: "Use a roller cutter or a chopping cutter to get the counters to be the exact same size. Clip the corners for a neater look. Then, once cut, spray a coat of Krylon Matte varnish--a couple light coats won't run the inks at all, even with ink jet printing. I prefer to use a matte photo paper for really sharp, nice-looking images on the counters. You'll end up with a very professional looking game."

2006-09-03T08:34:00.000-06:00

Understand - a novelette by Ted Chiang

2006-09-03T08:31:00.000-06:00

Fantastic Metropolis ? Division by Zero

2006-09-03T08:30:00.000-06:00

2006-09-03T00:49:00.000-06:00

UKULELE BOOGALOO presents "TONIGHT YOU BELONG TO ME"

2006-09-02T23:06:00.000-06:00

Comments on 5352 | Ask MetaFilter: "A man was driving down the road with twenty penguins in the backseat. A cop stopped him and said that he couldn't drive around with the penguins in the car and told him he should take them to the zoo. The man agreed and drove off.

The next day the same man is driving down the road with twenty penguins in the back again. He is stopped by the same cop who says, 'Hey! I thought I told you to take those penguins to the zoo.'

The man replies 'I did. Today I'm taking them to the movies.'"

2006-08-07T18:26:00.000-06:00

YouTube - somewhere over the rainbow

Wonderful ukulele medley and video.

2006-08-05T12:31:00.000-06:00

Internet Truthiness | MetaFilter: "I've always been a big fan of Al Gore's, and after years of observation, I get the impression that in a place deep down and well-insulated inside Al Gore is a man who wouldn't do a thing to oppose a violent, bloody and comprehensive revolution, if one were to start.

And I like that.

I can't wait to see if he makes an appearance in the upcoming Futurama episodes."

2006-08-02T09:38:00.000-06:00

token nature shot from the backyard.

2006-08-02T09:37:00.000-06:00

More Mirror Lake.

2006-08-02T09:36:00.000-06:00

Ezra at the rotary park.

2006-08-02T09:35:00.000-06:00

Christine with some of the kids in our raft (which has a slow leak now) at Mirror lake last weekend.

2006-07-19T14:27:00.000-06:00

8a9Ti5m

Kilby cd.

2006-07-19T12:18:00.000-06:00

I just bought four new Yokohama tires for our minivan online, after our "Big O" tires wore out after less than two years and 15k miles.

2006-02-16T11:16:00.000-07:00

THE LOTTERY IS RIGGED:

"We spoke with an
employee at a state lottery agency. We can not reveal his name or even which state, as some of the same gangsters who ran the numbers racket now run the lottery, and they would kill him.

Yes, I personally am involved in it. Lottery ping-pong balls have a small valve, like a basketball or soccer ball, only it's very tiny, and nearly invisible. We use a hypodermic needle to inject heavier-than-air gasses such as radon into the balls we don't want to come up. At first, we tried helium in the ones we did want to rise, but they jumped up so quickly that it was obvious. Lotteries are raking in much more than if the games were honest, and people don't know they have literally no chance! If you think about it logically, you certainly don't play anyway. You are betting that you can predict which six of 45 or more balls are going to come out of the hopper. In some games, the order even matters! It's a sucker's bet, and that's when it's honest! Most drawings are rigged, making the odds zero in infinity! The lottery is not only a tax on people who don't understand math; it is an unfair and unjust tax. Didn't we have the American Revolution over taxes like that?"

2006-02-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

QDB: Top 100 Quotes: "<[SA]HatfulOfHollow> i'm going to become rich and famous after i invent a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet"

2006-02-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

Charles C. Mann, 1491 : "Guided by the pristine myth, mainstream environmentalists want to preserve
as much of the world's land as possible in a putatively intact state. But
'intact,' if the new research is correct, means 'run by human beings for
human purposes.' Environmentalists dislike this, because it seems to mean
that anything goes. In a sense they are correct. Native Americans managed
the continent as they saw fit. Modern nations must do the same. If they
want to return as much of the landscape as possible to its 1491 state, they
will have to find it within themselves to create the world's largest garden. "

2006-02-13T09:03:00.000-07:00

Sunday. | Ask MetaFilter: "Me and my friends growing up used to have 'Sunday feeling'. It happens most often during the summer, but the winter has it too. It happens around sunset, this feeling of lethargy and melencholy would hover over us. It was like the ending of Stand By Me. We could have done something super important and accomplished so much in the morning, but by the end of the day...ugh.

I have never really been able to get rid of that feeling."

2005-11-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

Do It Now by Steve Pavlina: "During one of these sacred time blocks, do nothing but the activity that's right in front of you. Don't check email or online forums or do web surfing. If you have this temptation, then unplug your Internet connection while you work. Turn off your phone, or simply refuse to answer it. Go to the bathroom before you start, and make sure you won't get hungry for a while. Don't get out of your chair at all. Don't talk to anyone during this time."

2005-11-29T06:40:00.000-07:00

Do It Now by Steve Pavlina: "Trying to cut out time-wasting habits is a common starting point for people who desire to become more efficient, but I think this is a mistake. Optimizing your personal habits should only come later. Clarity of purpose must come first. If you don't have clarity, then your attempts to install more efficient habits and to break inefficient habits will only fizzle. You won't have a strong enough reason to put your time to good use, so it will be easy to quit when things get tough. You need a big, attractive goal to stay motivated. The reason to shave 15 minutes off a task is that you're overflowing with motivation to put that 15 minutes to better use."

2005-11-29T06:38:00.001-07:00

Do It Now by Steve Pavlina: "In college I was downright brutal when it came to triage. I once told one on my professors that I decided not to do one of his assigned computer science projects because I felt it wasn't a good use of my time. The project required about 10-20 hours of work, and it involved some tedious gruntwork that wasn't going to teach me anything I didn't already know. Also, this project was only worth 10% of my grade in that class, and since I was previously acing the class anyway, the only real negative consequence would be that I'd end up with an A- in the course instead of an A. I told the professor I felt that was a fair trade-off and that I would accept the A-. I didn't try to negotiate with him for special treatment. So my official grade in the class was an A-, but I personally gave myself an A for putting those 10-20 hours to much better use."

2005-11-29T06:38:00.000-07:00

Do It Now by Steve Pavlina: "Triage ruthlessly.

Get rid of everything that wastes your time. Use the trash can liberally. Apply the rule, 'When in doubt, throw it out.' Cancel useless magazine subscriptions. If you have a magazine that is more than two months old and you still haven't read it, throw it away; it's probably not worth reading. Realize that nothing is free if it costs you time. Before you sign up for any new free service or subscription, ask how much it will cost you in terms of time. Every activity has an opportunity cost. Ask, 'Is this activity worth what I am sacrificing for it?'"

2005-11-29T06:37:00.000-07:00

Do It Now by Steve Pavlina: "Use single handling.

Instead of using some elaborate organizing system, I stuck with very basic a pen-and-paper to do list. My only organizing tool was a notepad where I wrote down all my assignments and their deadlines. I didn't worry about doing any advance scheduling or prioritizing. I would simply scan the list to select the most pressing item which fit the time I had available. Then I'd complete it, and cross it off the list.

If I had a 10-hour term paper to write, I would do the whole thing at once instead of breaking it into smaller tasks. I'd usually do large projects on weekends. I'd go to the library in the morning, do the necessary research, and then go back to my dorm room and continue working until the final text was rolling off my printer. If I needed to take a break, I would take a break. It didn't matter how big the project was supposed to be or how many weeks the professor allowed for it. Once I began an assignment, I would stay with it until it was 100% complete and ready to be turned in.

This simple practice saved me a significant amount of time. First, it allowed me to concentrate deeply on each assignment and to work very efficiently while I worked. A lot of time is lost in task switching because you have to re-load the context for each new task. Single handling minimizes time lost in task switching. In fact, when possible I would batch up my assignments within a certain subject area and then do them all at once before switching subjects. So I'd do all my math homework in a row until it was all done. Then I'd do all my programming assignments. Then I'd do my general education homework. In this manner I would put my brain into math-mode, programming-mode, writing-mode, or art-mode and remain in that single mode for as long as possible. Secondly, I believe this habit helped me remain relaxed and unstressed because my mind wasn't cluttered with so many to-do items. It was always just one thing at a time. I could forget about anything that was outside the current context.

Failure is your friend.

Most people seem to have an innate fear of failure, but failure is really your best friend. People who succeed also fail a great deal because they make a lot of attempts. The great baseball player Babe Ruth held the homerun record and the strikeout record at the same time. Those who have the most successes also have the most failures. There is nothing wrong or shameful in failing. The only regret lies in never making the attempt. So don't be afraid to experiment in your attempts to increase productivity. Sometimes the quickest way to find out if something will work is to jump right in and do it. You can always make adjustments along the way. It's the ready-fire-aim approach, and surprisingly, it works a lot better that the more common ready-aim-fire approach. The reason is that after you've 'fired' once, you have some actual data with which to adjust your aim. Too many people get bogged down in planning and thinking and never get to the point of action. How many potentially great ideas have you passed up because you got stuck in the state of analysis paralysis (i.e. ready-aim-aim-aim-aim-aim...)?"

2005-11-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

kottke.org :: home of fine hypertext products: "This is the big sticking point for most people, I think. If you choose to have a family or focus on your career or pursue a costly photography hobby, you might not have the money or flexibility to travel this way. But that's a choice you've made (on some level)...and I would argue that if you're 30 years old, you can arrange to make an overseas trip once every 3-5 years, and that's about 7-8 trips by the time you're 60."

Nothing like having some childless, single jackass with no commitments or job telling you how free you should be.

2005-11-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

Notes On The PhD Degree: "A Doctor of Philosophy degree, abbreviated Ph.D., is the highest academic degree anyone can earn. Because earning a Ph.D. requires extended study and intense intellectual effort, less than one percent of the population attains the degree. Society shows respect for a person who holds a Ph.D. by addressing them with the title ``Doctor''.

To earn a Ph.D., one must accomplish two things. First, one must master a specific subject completely. Second, one must extend the body of knowledge about that subject."

2005-10-27T07:58:00.000-06:00

apophenia: my Friendster publications

2005-10-23T20:21:00.000-06:00

BGG Thread: Dungeoneer Sets, HeroScape & Expansions Up For Trade: "Dungeoneer Sets, HeroScape & Expansions Up For Trade"

2005-10-23T14:44:00.000-06:00

Oregon Camping YURTS: "JESSIE M. HONEYMAN

Location: Adjacent to north boundary of Oregon dunes National Recreation Area.
On U.S. 101, 3 miles south of Florence.
Attractions/Services: Campground near freshwater Cleawox Lake sheltered by towering sand dunes, some reaching 500 feet high; hiker-biker, group camps; boat ramps on Cleawox Lake and at Woahink Lake; this park has 10 yurts.
Off-season events: Fall Festival, September; Holiday Festival of Lights, mid-November-December 31 and rhododendron Festival, mid-May; Florence.
For more information: 541.997.3641 or 800.551.6949."

2005-10-23T09:35:00.000-06:00

What Matters Most Is What Lasts Longest: "Our family-centered perspective should make Latter-day Saints strive to be the best parents in the world. It should give us enormous respect for our children, who truly are our spiritual siblings, and it should cause us to devote whatever time is necessary to strengthen our families. Indeed, nothing is more critically connected to happiness—both our own and that of our children—than how well we love and support one another within the family.

"

2005-10-23T09:34:00.000-06:00

What Matters Most Is What Lasts Longest: "Rampant materialism and selfishness delude many into thinking that families, and especially children, are a burden and a financial millstone that will hold them back rather than a sacred privilege that will teach them to become more like God."

2005-10-09T08:16:00.000-06:00

SinceSlicedBread.com: "We're looking for fresh, new ideas for a better America. Do you have a common-sense idea that will improve the day-to-day lives of everyday Americans? Or an opinion on how working families can succeed in the new global economy?

You have until December 5, 2005, to submit your idea and to weigh in. A panel of judges will select the top 21 ideas. All of America will be able to vote on the finalists, and on February 1, one person will win $100,000—runners up receive $50,000 each."

2005-10-07T08:08:00.000-06:00

2005-09-02T14:33:00.000-06:00

Sufjan Stevens: Illinois: Pitchfork Review: "Stevens has a remarkable habit of being rousing and distressing at the same time, prodding disparate emotional centers until it's unclear whether it's best to grab your party shoes or a box of tissues. The gut-punching 'Chicago' cagily celebrates the innate (and deeply American) tendency to employ highways as escape routes, ditching old mistakes for new swatches of land, new plates of eggs, new parking lots. Impossibly propulsive, each calm, harmonized, Illinoisemaker cry of 'All things go!' pushes harder, promising liberation, by death or by automobile: 'If I was crying/ In the van with my friend/ It was for freedom/ From myself and from the land,' Stevens chokes, voice shaking over a haze of drums, strings, and shimmering keyboards."

2005-09-01T17:17:00.000-06:00

On July 29th, 2005, nine years after starting the graduate program at the University of Louisville, I finished my degree and defended my dissertation. I am $50k in debt, had four children during that time, and lived in four homes and two states. Three members of my committee left the program, and I learned more about academic politics than I ever wanted to know.

density of information.

2005-06-13T14:21:00.000-06:00

I'd like to take the entries for all of my different weblogs, auto-categorize them by blog, and then combine them all into one giant wordpress blog. Of course, I'd lose my awesome google ranking, which is dropping now anyway because I have not posted anything to Markzilla for a while, because I am not sure I really want people to know what I'm thinking.

2005-02-09T09:55:00.000-07:00

I must create a site structure for my brain.

2005-01-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

BleachSoft

2005-01-17T19:15:00.000-07:00

How I Learned To Pitch - A Seattle Mariners coach teaches me to throw a change-up, and much more. By Eric Liu: "Over the last two and a half years, I traveled across the country in search of life-changing teachers and mentors from all different walks. I met race-car drivers, Indian potters, ballet dancers, rappers, research scientists, law professors, Montessori teachers, aerobatic pilots, master carpenters, and many others. The book that emerged from those travels is called Guiding Lights. "

2005-01-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

Today we bought a Siamese Fighting Fish, or a Betta Splendens for my Joey's 1-gallon Christmas aquarium. Now all we have to do is get a white Persian kitten for Desi and I'll be almost ready to rule the world. I don't suppose they're going to change the name to "Iraqi" kitten any time soon.

All my neighbors have trampolines

2004-12-17T15:37:00.000-07:00

When I first moved to the desert subdivisions of Utah, I noticed that
almost everyone who had children had a trampoline in their yard. Some of
them were used more than others.

So today I bought a used trampoline for $75 from a coworker. So much for
agency.

2004-12-08T08:05:00.000-07:00

Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog: "'I'm filled with existential dread at the fact that your gramdmother withered so horribly with Alzheimer's that she could no longer recognize her own child, and am sorry for the howling abyss of grief you're going through, compounded by your impending divorce' may have been more factually honest in my case a few years ago, but I don't think you can truly fault anyone for the fact that they don't exactly make greeting cards with that sentiment."

2004-11-28T15:27:00.000-07:00

Coping with a life full of pain / Plaintiff uses medical marijuana every 2 hours, but doesn't get high: "Partially paralyzed, in constant pain from multiple disorders and desperate for help after trying nearly three dozen doctor-prescribed medications, the 30-year-old woman, a product of a conservative upbringing that made her recoil from illegal drugs, decided pot 'might be my last shot.''
It worked. Raich regained her appetite, felt less pain, got out of her wheelchair 18 months later and embarked on a career of advocacy for herself and other patients that has led her to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Monday, the court will hear the case of Ashcroft vs. Raich, a clash of federal and state powers that could determine the future of medical marijuana in the United States. "

2004-10-17T01:43:00.000-06:00

I am stressed right now as I try to finish chapter four of my dissertation before a looming deadline. It is a snarled mess, but there is some good stuff in there. As I try not to think of it this weekend, I find myself obsessing over weird things.

tuning my crosman air pistol obsessively
planning on building a full fairing for my recumbent, to replace my car
installing all sorts of weird little scripts and consolidation a lot of my data
learning radical, invasive new productivity methods that I don't have time to learn right now
withdrawing from real contact with spouse and family
Guilt, guilt, guilt!
renting too many movies
drinking milk again (the equivalent of taking up smoking for me)

2004-09-26T22:19:00.000-06:00

Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog: "I have a self-modded xbox too. I have a 130GB hard drive in it and used the exact steps that shepd described above to mod mine. With the exception of actually installing the mod chip, he left that part out and it wasn't easy.

I would never have anything else. For a little under $300.00 I can play new games I can never play on my PC now. A decent sound card and vid card would be way more. I have all of the older game emulators and ROMs I could ever want including MAME and the kids have their new stuff. Add to that a region-free DVD player and the ability to stream media from my network... I'm sorry I ever said a bad word about the xbox. But, like most M$ products, it's not so great until you tweak it the way you want it."

2004-09-24T16:27:00.000-06:00

OfficeMax.Com - Product Block Page

2004-09-10T22:27:00.000-06:00

CBS and Internet Fisking | Metafilter: "i'd live a life of sin without fear if i knew karl rove was going to organize and run the campaign to get me into heaven."

Scrubs guy has a weblog.

2004-08-13T09:38:00.000-06:00

The guy from Scrubs, who just made the movie "Garden State" has a
weblog, and its pretty funny at times:

http://gardenstate.typepad.com/

We took the kids rafting down the Jordan river at 7pm Wednesday.
Christine waited for us by the bridge. By the time I rowed all the
way to the bridge, it was just starting to get dark and Christine had
called the police. Joey was screaming, "I want to park the boat and
get in the white van RIGHT NOW." Other than that it was pretty cool.
We saw dozens of fish in groups of 4-5, swimming with their backs just
out of the water. When our little inflatable raft would approach they
would dive with a huge splash. I may get an electronic trolling
motor. 2 mph is much faster than I can row. Too bad they don't make
Kayaks that seat five.

2004-07-29T14:48:00.000-06:00

Google Search: jordan river utah : "Anyway, the thread on unique river hazards made me think of the time some friends and I tried to paddle the
Jordan River from its source in Utah Lake to the first major obstacle in the Jordan River Narrows in the south
end of the Salt Lake valley. I know the Jordan used to be a beautiful little stream, tree lined, home to
birds and fish and all sorts of nice clean critters. I know 'cause I'm an archivist and see photographs and
read accounts of what it used to be like. Well now its source, Utah Lake, is full of heavy metals from fifty
years of steel production and 100 years of agricultural chemicals and 150 years of sewage from Ovum, I mean
Orem, and Provo, Utah. The river as it goes through the Salt Lake valley has been a dumping ground for a
century and a half, and now instead of trees it has bridge abutments and old rebar, instead of nice fish it
has big greasy mutated carp that feed on offal from the meat packing plant, dead animals that people throw in
it, and the occasional poor transient who drinks too much thunderbird, falls in the river and dies. Ah, parts
of it are still pretty, but just when you think it's pretty nice you come around a corner and face a rapid
made entirely of shopping carts that hooligans have thrown in the river, or a bunch of kids giving you gang
signs and holding cans of spray paint. Just glad it wasn't guns."

2004-07-28T23:00:00.000-06:00

Atari Vector ROM Archive

2004-07-27T11:16:00.000-06:00

Testing out EctoI'm just testing out the Ecto app, hoping it can do offline posting.

I'm working in the Library in Lehi today. If I can finish up my current diss chapter, I get to play my new guitar, which has languished untouched for over a month. I'll also go see "The Bourne Supremacy". Childish, to be sure, but hopefully effective. Turning in this section will also release enough stress from my life that I'll be able to ride my recumbent in the morning before work.

2004-07-22T15:11:00.000-06:00

Tour de France - Daily Scoop (Stage 17): "Armstrong said today he is not the new Cannibal--a reference to Eddy Merckx, who rarely gave gifts to anyone and seemed to relish personally torturing his rivals by doing things like chasing down their stage win attempts or attacking while already in yellow.

Today's win, and Armstrong's stance, are an interesting contrast to the idea, first reported here, that Armstrong would not seek a seventh Tour win, but instead leave the Tour open to other challengers. Would that be a gift? Or is Armstrong simply ready to leave for other goals--the Giro, the Vuelta or the Hour Record? Likely as not, not even the man himself knows. Gifts, after all, are usually a surprise until they're unwrapped.
"

2004-07-22T11:02:00.000-06:00

Movies that "cleanfilms" won't edit:

25th Hour
8 Mile
Addicted To Love
American History X
American Pie
American Pie 2
American Wedding
Auto Focus
Bad Boys II
Blair Witch Project, The
Boat Trip
Cabin Fever
Dark Blue
Dirty Pretty Things
Empire
Far From Heaven
Fear dot com
Femme Fatale
Final Destination 2
Formula 51
Frida
Friday After Next
Gigli
Good Girl, The
Guru, The
Honey
Hot Chick, The
Hours, The
Jackass: The Movie
Life of David Gale, The
Mambo Italiano
My Boss's Daughter
Narc
Old School
Paid in Full
Possession
Real Cancun, The
Red Dragon
Resident Evil
Rules of Attraction
Scary Movie
Secretary
Silence of the lambs and sequels
Swept Away
Talk to Her
There's Something About Mary
Undercover Brother
Wrong Turn

2004-07-21T12:32:00.000-06:00

Technology Review: MIT's Magazine of Innovation: "he address cranema@complicity.uvsc.edu will be removed from the Technology Review marketing database. Please note that it may take a few weeks before you stop receiving messages."

What a bunch of boneheads. "a few weeks" to unsub someone from a list? Time to add them to my Google spam filter.

2004-06-09T00:20:00.000-06:00

An update from The Straight Dope to an earlier decapitation story. Creep city.

The Straight Dope: Does the head remain briefly conscious after decapitation?: "In one early series of experiments, an anatomist claimed that decapitated heads reacted to stimuli, with one victim turning his eyes toward a speaker 15 minutes after having been beheaded. (Today we know brain death would have occurred long before.) In 1836 the murderer Lacenaire agreed to wink after execution. He didn't. Attempts to elicit a reaction from the head of the murderer Prunier in 1879 were also fruitless. The following year a doctor pumped blood from a living dog into the head of the murderer and rapist Menesclou three hours after execution. The lips trembled, the eyelids twitched, and the head seemed about to speak, although no words emerged. In 1905 another doctor claimed that when he called the name of the murderer Languille just after decapitation, the head opened its eyes and focused on him."

2004-06-02T12:53:00.000-06:00
Michael B?rub? Online

"Interestingly, when I went to graduate school and, toward the end of my first year at Virginia, started playing with Michael Dean and Todd Wilson in a band called Baby Opaque, I never felt a moment's anxiety about performing; I was so consumed with graduate-school anxiety that I didn't have any anxiety left over for music. I would show up for gigs, set up, sound check, play, pack up, and go home, all as if I were fixing sinks or something. Then when Nick was born, when I was 24, I was so consumed with new-parent-anxiety that I didn't have any anxiety left over for my dissertation, and . . . you get the idea. By the same logic, surely one of the reasons that I didn't have too many assistant-professor tenure-track anxieties in the early 1990s was that I was far more worried about how to take care of a newborn with Down syndrome.

Blog anxiety . . . what a silly thing. Maybe I'll go play some music instead."

2004-05-27T15:42:00.000-06:00
Theories of Psychological Treatment | Theoretical Approaches: Psychoanalysis, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

"Prayer, although not much understood in the field of psychology, is an extraordinary—and I mean that literally: extra-ordinary, beyond the ordinary—form of cognitive-behavioral treatment. It can free you from all neurotic anxiety if you pray out of pure love, with all your mind and all your heart and all your strength as a renunciation of your social-psychological identity and pride."

2004-05-27T12:40:00.000-06:00
Miller showing his age: "AUBURN HILLS -- A 38-year-old man playing a young man's sport looked every bit his age Wednesday night. Though foolhardy to declare Reggie Miller null and void in any playoff series, since few players have produced postseason dramatics with his career-long consistency, the scrutiny exists."

Oh great. I turn 38 in August.

2004-05-27T12:38:00.000-06:00
TheFeature :: An Architect in the City of Bits: "What have you learned from the research so far?

Mitchell: The implications of location-awareness are far from obvious. The technology enables you to reconsider things as fundamental as, say, signage in a city. For example, we traditionally think of a stop sign as part of the fixed infrastructure of the city. But if you have a location-aware automobile, you can shift the stop sign to the dashboard so it pops up when you approach an intersection. If you have whole networks of location aware vehicles, the system becomes more elaborate. Perhaps the stop sign only pops up when there's another car coming from the opposite direction. You could even have elaborate intersection priority schemes. "

2004-05-27T11:17:00.000-06:00
The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > For Some, the Blogging Never Stops: "Sometimes, too, the realization that no one is reading sets in. A few blogs have thousands of readers, but never have so many people written so much to be read by so few. By Jupiter Research's estimate, only 4 percent of online users read blogs.

Indeed, if a blog is likened to a conversation between a writer and readers, bloggers like Mr. Wiggins are having conversations largely with themselves."

2004-05-20T14:01:00.000-06:00
USB webcam driver for Mac OS X: "Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can you include support in your driver?
A: Generally, no - not because we don't want to, but usually we don't have such a camera for testing available and we don't have the necessary developer documentation. If you can provide me with both, contact us. "

2004-05-20T11:05:00.000-06:00
quote to get us moving: "Sooner or later in life comes a time when it is performance that counts - not promises, no possibilities, not potentialities - but performance...the law of improvement is the law...of participation, of performance.
- Richard L. Evans
so we have to finish our theses... "

2004-05-19T11:01:00.000-06:00
1. get poster software on laptop
2. write a. about labs
3. record streaming radio (radio paradise) and look for mp3 slicing software.
4. audio hijack
5. two clips for crosman
6. optical sight question.
7. put assignments online, as well as Torino's response
8. download and respond to draft 2.
9. respond to bronwyn's note
10. use google for tasks and addresses, perhaps.
11. grab more dvds for trip. Connections.
12. Mark out good passages for presentation.

2004-05-19T10:54:00.000-06:00
Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog: "As the previous owner of used VWs - a Golf, a Jetta, and a Passat, I can answer that question with a hearty 'YES'. Go get a new car. Once a VW starts to go, it just sucks up money like a high-dollar stripper."

2004-05-18T14:12:00.000-06:00
Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog: "I'd walk away - I loved my 85 GTI, (and my family has owned an original Beetle, 5 Rabbit/Golfs and 2 Passats) but once it crossed 150K, it was just to expensive to continue the affair. The problem with a car that age (as scarabic has pointed out), even with a relatively young engine, is all the other stuff that doesn't even fail, per se, but just reaches the end of its useful life. Brake discs and rotors, shocks and struts, shift linkage, CV joints, instrument lights (you don't even want to guess the labor charge to pull apart a dashboard and replace a 50-cent bulb, not that it's a critical repair) and on and on.

If I had $6K and a car older than say, 7 or 8 years, I'd rent a Sawz-All, chop the roof off the existing car, drive my new convertible into the ground (we did this with a '79 Rabbit) and put my remaining $5950 down on a new car or something used coming off lease with a manufacturer's warranty. If the payment is still too high, I'd look for something else. $6K will buy you a mid to late '90s Honda Civic, for example."

2004-05-18T13:10:00.000-06:00
CarFilter: Pimp out my 88 VW Golf, or put $5k into a newer, more reliable car? [more inside]

I've got an inherited 1988 VW Golf. It seems like every three months I'm dropping $3-500 bucks on a repair--wheel bearings, front end work, o2 sensor dead, etc.

the average repair cost per month for this car is about $85, not counting mileage, tires, oil changes and other consumables. It gets 27 mpg on my 40 minute (one way) commute.

My practical need is to get something that won't require as much maintenance and get my to work reliably and reasonably quietly. I'd like to keep my loan payments to around $100-$150, so maybe a low-mileage Saturn or something will do the trick.

However, I'm 37, we own a minivan, first mortgage, etc. and I'd really like to get something a little more fun to drive, that corners well. Despite its age-related creaks and rattles, and the fact that the steering is getting mushier, I like the feel of the VW steering. Oh, and the VW has about 60k on a transplanted Scirocco engine (8 valve).

So, do I:

1. get the boring commuter car, and satisfy my midlife crisis needs with a good stereo,

2. Get a Geo Metro or Suzuki Swift, something with great mileage, and then tweak it into a snappy little autocross car/commuter

3. Put $5k into the VW, turning it into a reliable, funner car to drive.

4. See a therapist about trying to find fulfillment through consumerism.

2004-05-11T09:02:00.000-06:00
Soprano Ukulele - Geared Machines - Mahogany: "A New Ukulele superbly built from the finest woods. Clean workmanship and excellent fret dressing are the first things you'll probably notice. The necks are expertly shaped and finished in a satin lacquer for a professional easy playing feel. The tone is very close to those selling for those 6 times the price.

Satin Matte Mahogany Finish

Inlaid Position Markers

Carrying case included - a $13.95 value

Uke Parts

Compare up to $69.95 retail

But it Now for $18"

2004-05-10T15:30:00.000-06:00
The recent revelations about mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by inexperienced guards, anxious to please authority figures (such as interrogators, CIA, etc.) reminds me of the famous prison simulation conducted at Stanford in 1965, by Philip Zombardo and Stanley Milgram. Stanley Milgram strikes me as the Andy Kaufman of Sociology. He's the same guy who got people to electrocute strangers.

(the BBC reenacted the experiment a few years ago.)

2004-05-10T09:10:00.000-06:00
In some cultures, freewriting is used as a form of psychological torture. The North Koreans, for example, fully integrated writing as part of their brainwashing process. Right now I'm practicing freewriting along with my class, and frankly, I'm afraid of what horrible crap is going to gurgle out of my subconscious for all to see on this weblog. Driving to work today I listened to Marsha Sinetar's True Wealth. It's somewhat new-age-ish and cheesey, but it made a few great points about money. One of them was that if you feel uncomfortable or guilty about having money, you'll never get any, and that our attitudes about money come from our parents. My parents have the most screwed up relationship to money I can think of. Initially, I thought it was just that we were poor-ish, but upon reflection, everything they say and do about money is completely screwed up. Happy Mother's day, mom!

The computers in our room are completely hosed today, despite having been "deep freezed" and rebooted. This sucks, and gives people even more reason to hate technology, this class, and, of course, me.

This weekend I shaved my head. Why? Because I thought it would feel interesting. It feels almost the exact same as having a crewcut. I feel ripped off, and now I have to walk around looking like a chemo patient.

2004-04-14T14:12:00.000-06:00
Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog: "Realizing that every writer is idiosyncratic, I'll tell you what I do while acknowledging that it may, in no way, offer assistance to you.

Like a shark, I keep moving. Two hours at the library. An hour at a coffee shop. An hour in my apartment. Two hours at night, sitting in a cushy chair at Barnes & Noble. And so on and so forth. It's rare that I work six hours straight, or in one single location all day. But at the end of the day, I'll have put 4 to 6 hours into my work. I try not to pressure myself into writing more than a page or two at any of my 'locations'. Stil, 3 to 4 daily pages add up. I find that, by constantly repositioning myself, I'm never anywhere long enough to get bored, distracted, or tempted to reward myself with a '15-minute break' that stretches on and on. Granted, I'm a sitcom writer, so I suppose it helps to approach any project with a bit of ADD, as the perpetuation of ADD is sort of the unintended result of the work upon the viewer, anyway.

Finally, remember to never beat yourself up. There's nothing you write that can't be rewritten tomorrow, so quit agonizing over the perfect phrase or finding just the right sentence. I fall into the camp that a first draft of anything is like a wrinkled shirt, nothing that can't be fixed (and ready to be shown) so long as you're willing to do enough ironing."

2004-03-24T19:19:00.000-07:00
The Tetex installation has stalled:

rm -f /sw/src/root-tetex-texmf-2.0.2-1/sw/info/dir /sw/src/root-tetex-texmf-2.0.2-1/sw/info/dir.old /sw/src/root-tetex-texmf-2.0.2-1/sw/share/info/dir /sw/src/root-tetex-texmf-2.0.2-1/sw/share/info/dir.old
rm -rf tetex-texmf-2.0.2-1
Writing control file...
Finding prebound objects...
Clunk.

2004-03-24T19:14:00.000-07:00
Dang, I haven't posted here for a while. I'm revising two diss chapters and it's taking about four times longer than I thought and my good friend self-loathing is stopping by for an extended stay.

I'm also installing "Tetex" as a precursor for installing a structured postscript document processor called Lyx which is supposed to be an open source replacement for the quickly fading Framemaker.

2004-03-02T15:41:00.001-07:00
I think I will use this space to solve all of the world's problems. Because nobody else has the guts to do it!

1. Problem: SUVS are stinky, loud, and dangerous. Solution: remove tax credit. Begin massive meme infusion showing smart sexy people in smaller hybrids making fun of people in SUVs. Somehow equate truck driving with erectile dysfunction.

2. Problem: many of the people I work with lack basic social skills, and are frighteningly ambitious. Solution: send them spoofed email from assorted academic vice presidents that reads, "I'm watching you, and your social skills really, really suck."

3. Problem: Americans (including myself) are fat and lazy. Solution: hybrid automobiles that allow you to stand up and run in place to make them move. If you want to pass someone, you have to start running. Otherwise they cruise at 49 mph, or whatever the safest minimum speed limit is. Perhaps a good winter bicycle would fulfill this function.

4. Problem: a coworker overheard me saying something obnoxious and thinks I was talking about them (I wasn't). Solution: fill this person's office with polyurethane foam. From floor to ceiling.

5. Problem: cars pollute too much. Solution: massive tax credits for hybrids and hydrogen vehicles. Increased fuel taxes for single passenger/non-commercial vehicles. Take the pentagon budget and use it to build a massive network of light rail. Screw going to mars--let's make the Earth habitable. Note: I commute 25 miles to work each way, so I basically suck. Hybrids get their own lane. Always. And EMP guns that will destroy the electronics of any vehicle that gets in their way.

2004-03-02T15:41:00.000-07:00
My daughter, who is 2 1/2, refuses to sleep in her bed because she says she will turn into a monkey.

2004-03-02T15:40:00.000-07:00
followup on the icicle incident: I met the guy and he conveniently reshaped the story to make himself look less psycho, something he probably has a lot of experience with.

2004-02-11T14:47:00.000-07:00
My son, who is seven, and has lived most of his life in Kentucky, took an icicle to the bus stop because it was cool. A neighbor told him to drop it or he would "break it over his head." Then he yelled at my wife over the phone for letting our son bring a "weapon to school, and told her she had better take him seriously or he would "take it to the next level."

Sigh.

It's people like this that make tranquilizer guns filled with liquid prozac seem like a really good idea.

2004-01-29T19:55:00.000-07:00
Currently missing:

Cell phone (again) --but no big deal, because I am letting the service lapse.
Two dissertation books: Cynthia Selfe's, and Literacy and Computers. I just can afford the $100 to replace these right now. Where did they go? Arrrgh.

2004-01-10T08:10:00.000-07:00
I have a cold. It felt like such a small, wimpy little cold that I ignored my patented cold-busting regimen. Now I am hacking up golf balls of phlegm.

2004-01-03T20:30:00.000-07:00
Tasks that are occupying my buffer:

1. scheduling courses and instructors
2. Resolve complaint issue with Mr. X
3. Get mysql working. Please, oh please, why in the crap won't mysql ever work for me?
4. Check on status of labs. Install scanners.
5. Write review of blog paper
6. Contact CCCs.
7. Apply for travel funds
8. Build bench
9. Explore ramifications of New Year's goal which is: Increase energy levels
10. Find out why my left foot has been numb for months. Or at least the toes
11. Get Moodle working or buy Filemaker pro server.
12. Review lab budget
13. Return stupid Quark package
14. Write application for laptop (mid-semester)
15. Draw map of technical communications
16. Print out course calendar and add to syllabus.
17. Expand syllabus to include new, brutal attendance policy.

2003-12-16T13:24:00.000-07:00
bitter pill: it's like no cheese I've ever tasted?: "'Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid.' - Wolfgang von Goethe "

2003-12-15T12:50:00.000-07:00
I am grading today. I hate grading. Every semester I tell myself, "This will be the semester that I put all grading online, and refuse to accept late assignments, and fail everyone who misses class more than five times." Sigh.

2003-12-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

2003-12-10T12:58:00.000-07:00
Date: today
Subject: Miss Chick-fil-A Pickle Picker

Dear Miss Chick-fil-A:

The last three times that I have ordered a Chick-fil-A sandwich without a pickle, you went to the back and removed the pickle from an existing sandwich. How do I know this? Because, upon biting into the sandwich I could discern the distinct taste of what I like to call "pickle urine."

It's people like you that create customers like me.

2003-12-07T23:41:00.000-07:00
WebCT Login Page: "This server has been locked for maintenance by the WebCT administrator.
The server will be available at 10:00 pm on 12/07/03. Thank you for your patience and understanding."

It is now 12/8, 11:45pm. This is not unusual.