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Showing posts from November, 2007

Never Say Anything You Wouldn't Shout..

Across a crowded room. In competition, individual ambition serves the common good?

The Lesson of Lonelygirl15

Here is an interesting situation. Suppose there is someone you really like, and you want to +have their children!!++ <-- assume voice of second city television comedienne No seriously. Lets say, as we always start out here, that you're just a single cell in the sea and suddenly there she is. The protozoa of your dreams. Her cilia blowing in the breeze. The sunlight catching her translucent body. She has curves in places that aren't even places, on other protozoas. You say to yourself. Wow. What a protozoa! Whoa.. Alright. So now you want to drift your life over to hers, somehow, in a sea containing 9 billion others of both you and her. Violet Blue wrote alot about the reality of sex on the internet. Alot of people are using the internet as a means of connectivity (facebook/myspace, et.al.) . Here's something I found thats fairly neat - on youTube, there is this attractive , sort of asian looking girl called lonelygirl15 that would, to an average male, be irresista

Man of Constant Sorrow - Soggy Bottom Boys

Thoughts on a Female President of the US

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Hillary Clinton is tracking now to be the first Female President of the United States. There are a lot of liberal views on what that means, however I'd like to offer an independent view. I have blogged alot about Richardson, but thats because I'm actually cool in real life. This person below is who is going to win. First, lets establish the one thing she will probably get done in her tenure. She will work out a Government takeover of health insurance, or at minimum, get a universal health plan out there that will be so price competitive every business and individual in the United States will likely switch to it. This is not by a long stretch of the imagination; in her tenure as First Lady, she just about got the job done and was shut down by the GOP ( paradoxically enough ). Health Insurance and in general, the markets for healthcare in America are really, really effed up - with procedures and billing going through the roof in terms of costs, driving up premiums and brin

Welcome to the Boomtown - David + David

What Teachers Make

He says the problem with teachers is, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers: Those who can, do; those who can't, teach. I decide to bite my tongue instead of his and resist the temptation to remind the dinner guests that it's also true what they say about lawyers. Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite company. "I mean, you¹re a teacher, Taylor," he says. "Be honest. What do you make?" And I wish he hadn't done that (asked me to be honest) because, you see, I have a policy about honesty and ass-kicking: if you ask for it, I have to let you have it. You want to know what I make? I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor and an A- feel like a slap in the face. How dare you waste

What I want to be, when I grow up

I want first, to be able to hear what people have to say, and know what they're thinking and feeling. I want to be able to know someone's heart - not have it replace mine or be swept up in what they feel necessarily - but I want to really be able to listen to someone. All the great men I look up to could do this. Thomas Jefferson. P.A.M. Dirac. Albert Einstein. Von Karajan. Bono. All great listeners. Then, I want to be wealthy. Not just money, but also family and , for lack of a better term - in love. I want to have a big heart. I want to be like old Fezziwig, in Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol". I want people to enjoy themselves at my home. I want to play music that they like, and not creep them out by playing some three chord song about pain and death. Fun stuff like "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". .... just checking! :-) I want to be wise. I want to have the fear of the lord in me - for all of you atheists out there (ok,at least I know th

Space Oddity - David Bowie

Purple Heart

Ran about a mile today, and it felt great, and I was fast. I think I've finally cracked the code. The reason I've been doing marathons this year was that my triathlon 10k - I hit that run at the point of swim/bike/run and it looks just so huge - I really was getting down - it was looking like a hill too far. So I took a year off, dealt dope down at denny's restaurant keeps a table in the back.. oh wait a minute. Wrong song. So, I ran marathons this year and they taught me +precisely+ what it means to have a hill too far I know now that my whole run thing was mental. I was afraid of getting injured. One of my friends told me that sometimes you're going to have to just give it 120 percent and just really leave nothing of yourself for the finish line, once and then you'll be able to do it. I couldn't even walk after the marathon, for like. Two days. Definitely an injury but I recover fast it seems. The wind was cold today , I was viking. My cool neighbor

Made it.

Marathon's over. I finished. I am happy. I am tired. I am proud of myself. I am thankful for lori, and sara , who ran with me. What a buzz. Blew the hamster at 17 mile. Fought to the finish line. Had a great time at the half, well good enough. Like, 2:15. or something like that. But at mile 17. Pain. This was an exercise in sheer tenacity. I was cold, in pain and i could barely even walk. Made a slow run to the finish line. I am buzzed right now like you would not believe. And also. Quite honestly. I am in amazing pain. Update 11/23: Wow, what a night. I spent the whole night just writhing in pain. It was like a fever dream, like one of those muscle cramps that wake you up? 3:00 am was the worst then the fever broke. I was at mile 17 at a time of 3:00 hours, totally on track for a sub five hour finish. At 2:15 at the turn, my finish would have been 1:48, assuming I slowed down to a 12 minute mile / for a finish of 4:48. My time total was 6:10, which is after they pick

Ye Olde Day Before Ye Olde Marathonne

Ok I am in a fully de-trained state and I am going to do a full olympic distance marathon tomorrow. I am scared to death. My very cool neighbor, that just moved in a couple of months ago because I live on a bike trail - is training for a full ironman in Switzerland early next year, and I have started training with her. I am tired of being (in the words of one of my friend's dad when I lived in florida..) "Slower than a herd of fertile turtles". I can smoke anyone on the bike trail, keep a 24 mph pace without dying (I just feel like dying), I can find your favorite darkness in the swim (you will be floating face down if you try to catch me). The run. To give you an example of how bad, on my 10k I paced 12 minutes per mile. Let me explain. The run is where I literally, at one point, wanted to jump up on the back of the runner in front of me and have him carry me across the finish line. When you have thoughts like that, you have to wonder whats going on. I'm not

Noah - Bill Cosby

Google TV

Apparently Google is working on a secret project: their dead giveaway hiring people who are skilled in TV backgrounds. The move seems to be related to an internal initiative to find the ways that people can advertise for TV and deliver video on demand. You can do the same thing with the DJIA if you just watch transport stocks, when they dive that means the next quarter retail will take a hit coz they're shipping the shelf merchandise. (did I ever mention I traded for a season?) What is the role of search, in energy driven networks of molecules? Surely we all have preferences for what we want to see, whether its in a mate, or in content we download from the net, or whatever. And if we are talking about an iterative process that can punctuate itself over thousands of years, in fits and starts - we are talking about similiarity and complement in that affinity. We can search for the things that attract us, or the things that annoy us. So that search capability is part of the driv

Acceptable Use Policy

I have heard of a blog entitled "Acceptable Use Policy". Its a great double entendre, if you had met the person - who also seems to be a quite eloquent and pleasant individual at first impression. Its a cool name, but this calls up a post I made earlier (last month ) that was a send-up of a talk given by Violet Blue. The blog name is completely blown away in search result, by results that point to the canonical form of "Acceptable Use"; a legal document that is signed by end users, which clarify and define the acceptable uses of a given network. What Violet said (way more fun than what Barry Said!), about the reality of sex on the internet in this case - holds true. The terms don't line up and people cannot self-identify here. She said that the ability to search for something on the net, as it relates to sexual terms, can be the difference between safe, healthy sexual encounters (which are part of the adventure of being an adult), and/or possibly somethi

Hurt - NIN - Johnny Cash

The Mystery of Anesthesia and Disease

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Why is it that there are substances we can take, that change the way we feel, or organisms in the world that can for all intents and purposes change who we are? Today I scrubbed a virus off a workstation, that had interrupted DNS services on the machine. It was an "enhancement" to the browser that an end user had installed. So, if you think of the body as like a kind of program executing code, virus code re-writes part of it, running within the body in a similiar, parasitic manner to virus code on workstations. It was really interesting that the uninstall for this virus was on another machine. If our lives are like loops, this is kind of like saying to get over someone you would need to rebound first. Which is, in other words, a way of saying that the virus is set up not to be removed. Any software you want to get rid of, that will let you get rid of it - will have an uninstall. Its easier to develop and test. Like people you think are fake, alarm systems go off when some

Desert Rose - Sting - Aishwarya Rai [AMV]

What Barry Said

Alright. You've likely seen this before; - The clip below entitled "What Barry Said" by Knife Party . I grant that its conclusions are alarmist the chances of the US attacking its - own ally are admittedly remote - however the key thing here is perhaps content is still relevant, and that is the significance. Does anyone remember the doctrine of "Pre-emptive Self Defense" ? "The smoking gun, should not become a nuclear mushroom cloud?".. I try to keep my criticisms simple and very specific. In this case, if what you see here is still ringing true, then after the jump, you'll have a solution for it . But first. If you haven't see this already.. Here's "What Barry Said": ... Still relevant? Thats the scary part. A player change gives you just a chance, nothing more - to fix it. The rhetoric here in this electoral season is still status quo. What can you do? BAR. Ban anonymous riders. Millions have been spent so far keeping th

A Riddle For You

A riddle: .. Once in a land of the first age, there was an angel soldier and a king. A hero, and a princess. The king had many loyal subjects, but the princess, the very mistress of life, was more beautiful than the sunrise. Now this young princess was to be given in marriage to the hero who had secretly won her hand and her vow. And the news disturbed the land The soldiers of two countries plotted against the union, for it would mean the corruption of their perfect bloodline. A woman with blonde hair, and pale skin said "he is the devil himself my lord, do not let this marriage stand. it is blasphemy". And so the king, was corrupted by this, and he and his angel soldier set upon a course to remove the young lord from the hand of the princess. He took two cards. On one, was a picture of a golden, shining ring. On the other, was a picture of a blackend cross. And then he and his Angel soldier, quietly took another card with a blackened cross in his sleeve. The King

Thin Red Line - Love and War

Rick Rubin (What I've Learned, Esq. Magazine)

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Rick Rubin is a record producer who lives in Los Angeles. He has produced Albums for U2, Johnny Cash , the Wu-Tang Clan and many others. This was from Esquire, p. 98, Jan 2007. My Job is to look for balance. I have a theory: What seems in balance, to us, whether aurally or visually, comes from a distant , primal memory of something in nature. When something rings true, its because it harkens back to some moment of truth in the universe. You just know it when it happens. With Artists, you can see it happen. A band will be playing and something starts happening and everyone starts looking at each other in a certain way. It's by no means an exact science. It's just a feeling that is.

Serenity -Bring Me To Life - Evanescence

How to Help with the Drought

My friend had a simple idea how to help with the drought. He said to get a rain barrel (like a big plastic garbage can) and set it down on the downspout of your house eave and use your roof as a great big rain collector. He said that an 1/8th of an inch of rain can produce 200 gallons of water but I disagreed. I think the average rainstorm is going to go, with about 50 gallons of water. Then again, he's an idealist. >.) and I am not. Think that has something to do with the fact that at about 5:00 this afternoon, I'm going to have one of these things set up? >:)

The Ghost of You - Evangelion [AMV] - MCR

This is also a song that I can't stop singing. Isn't it funny how doing some things, makes you want to hum a tune to yourself?

2008

If Richardson is , in the end, chosen as Secretary of State, we'll all have won. That sense of inevitability doesn't mean much at this point, and he's still playing to win. What I am saying here, is that if he does, our priorities might get a much needed update in the foreign policy sphere. We may end up being not only the first country with a commercial spaceport for space travel, but also a country that can save itself from the impending fiery hell of oil based economic breakdown..(thanks, cosmic variance for the link!) The POTUS is going to be Hillary/Obama or Obama/Hillary but the sideshow amongst a set of republicans that are trying to assemble a conservative outlook from the shattered fragments of the Bush Republicans, is IMHO worth taking a look at. Guiliani is running on his record of his work in New York City. He did a good job, even if nobody remembers that he cut the budget of the FBI team who was working on tracking down Osama Bin Laden, and made th

America- Simon and Garfunkel

The Word Up Post

Ok there was this lame band called Cameo a long time ago that had this hit song called "word up". The guy was given to performing the song in this codpiece , a big red thing. So, like most performers who wear oversized red codpieces, he had a manager. And I met him. He tried to sell me some real estate on a wedding day. And therein, as the bard says. Lies the tale.. I have a very powerful, very rich and damnit-younger-than-me cousin who is a hot shot lawyer in Tampa. He looked up to me when he was growing up, and now the little son of a bitch looks down on me. Needless to say, I am completely overjoyed that a life devoted to the arts and sciences is paying off about one third as much as a life devoted to politics. Grr.. And of course he is getting married to this +hot+ looking italian woman, and he invites me down. I get to sit at the table with the other black sheep, but I still get to go play prince for a day in Agincourt. So this is also a story about where I draw t

Steve Martin - The Smothers Brothers (70's)

Privacy / Does it Need an Update?

Today Ex-CIA official Kerr called for an update to Privacy . This 4th amendment territory has been pretty hot over the past few years. It underscores the maxim that the defense of liberty is eternal vigilance. His position is that we should not have anonymity on the net. Kerr stated : "Protecting anonymity isn't a fight that can be won. Anyone that's typed in their name on Google understands that." -Kerr, 11/11/07 I disagree completely. Anonymity is a huge part of freedom. It traces all the way back to when the federalist papers were written under psuedonym, for fear of treason / death by hanging. As tBS I am free to write about dominance and submission, soft bdsm, betty page (she is so hot), call centers, domestic violence, evil, good, tattoos, and as one of my colleagues has kindly pointed out, even whether or not yoga is porn. I can also talk about my government, bush republicans, over the top responses to terrorism, complicity in our system to the institut

Stormy (Lost Pup 11/11/07)

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Found a dog yesterday, a small puppy. This was near the silver comet rail trail, during my long run yesterday (11/11/07) at about 4 in the afternoon. Brindel color; Wow. What a wonderful little dog. Here's an image. The fact that this dog (by its teeth) is about six months old and has the basic commands of come/sit/stay directly imply a previous owner. Pup (I call her stormy short for Stormwind because she blew out of nowhere and is now wrecking everything) is also well taken care of, no fleas, immaculate coat. This dog looks like a pureblood but I am quite at a loss to say what breed. I am getting an unreal number of hits on this blog; if anyone knows the breed of this dog (!) or, knows anyone who on Sun. 11/11/07, lost their dog at or around mile 1.3 on the silver comet rail trail at about 4 in the afternoon, please feel free to post a comment or tell your friends. I am going to take her to the vet to have her chip read. - Note: if no one claims this dog she'

Classical Gas - Mason Williams

I know him. He's cool. He still plays, he's good friends with Tommy and Dick Smothers, and my Mom. His son is strange, he used to walk around on tiptoe (autistic). But still fun

Dial Tone

Every conversation, as Michael Cohen says, is a transaction with a hidden set of mutual expectations. These transactions consist of loosely written rules. They are, however, rules. You can find them. In general, the best way to understand them without a computer assist is to remember they won't be on the X-Y axis zeroed at the origin. They will change. One of the easiest ones to think about is inflection. Lets say the rule is, that you inflect the question. "Would you like a coke?". Is a good example. The word coke inflects up. Can you think of a question, when the inflection goes down? If you've called one of those Automated Speech Recognition systems, you've probably noticed that they're sensitive to background noise, and they fail. An ambitious system was installed by South Pacific Railways, Inc. National Telecommunications company. A company that started off running fiber optic alongside their railroad lines. This company took the daring approach of

Star - BMW Films

These films were really great, BMW made them. Memories flood back. I owned a 750il with modified chipset. Loved that car. Sold it to a kid who eventually got his entire family one and now listens to clips of ferrari engine sounds on his ipod. >.) Enjoy the ride. Hit Count 4,965. 21/day ave. New countries: Amazon River Basin (Rio Roosevelt), Brasil. , Sea Island, Ga. Egypt, Canada.

Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's is great. I mean that, its the most fun I've ever had in a grocery store. I am a bargain hound. price per weight. the whole nine. I would truck over to some Japanese food store to pick up edamame beans (soy beans) for 2.99 a bag. Trader's got 'em for 1.49. A whole bag! Cheaper than the japanese! Ok. Soy Milk. Love it. won't pay for it. 3.99 a gallon, at my nearest place. 2.49 over at the trader. And regular milk is about the same price, but its organic. There are unreal things being put into dairy cows these days. Organic milk is really expensive. You can get a gallon of milk, for the same price as in the store. But its organic. Actually thats probably the sneaker deal right there. And I like to make homemade pizza (I first worked at, then ran a pizzeria to pay my way through college.) The secret to a good pizza is the cheese usually. The Mozarella. The best. And like, 2.99 a bag! Get out of here! Organic health food at a comparable price to par

Undertow

I am just a worthless liar I am just an imbecile. I will only complicate you Trust in me and fall as well I will find the center in you I will chew it up and leave trust me Pick me from the lava tube take my body on the sand cut the leash from my leg put me in a body bag I will tell you where to lay me underneath the redwood tree trust me Suicide is not an option Too many people want me dead I won't do the job for them I will run a marathon Jesus blows his fucking whistle Starting everyone on time EPS One symbols as we cross the finish line These are the times that try mens souls and the souls that time mens tries They are Waiting in the river Ripping their way from the beach silent, still and even stronger underwater , out of reach teach your kids to swim across me remind them to relax and breathe give them the simple key parallel to shore they're free Lash the deadman's tiller three times fast around the boom never let the sto

Unravel - Björk

Memory

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The brain relies on large populations of neurons acting in concert to represent and form a memory of an organisms experiences. Our brains are designed to extract information from salient events and use that knowledge to guide our responses to similiar situations in the future. This ability to learn from past experience allows all animals to adapt to a world that is complex and ever changing. Neuronal populations involved in encoding memories also extract the kind of generalized concepts that allow us to transform our daily experiences into knowledge and ideas. The rules that the brain follows to convert collections of electrical impulses into perception, memory, knowledge, and ultimately , behavior are a kind of holy grail. There's a group that found that the brain relies on memory coding cliques to record and extract different features of an event. They are organized in a sort of pyramid way, with the general idea of the event at the base and then more detail until you get t

The Deadline

There will be a glowing neon sign that will fade and go dark moths will take up residence the cracks will appear the lights that shine on the trees at night will go black and the trees will die all of them their tall blackened trunks will fall over in the snow at night one by one and the snow will come greyed by ash the themed you-will-have-fun shopping centers will be swallowed in kudzu that will turn brown and die you can sense it with your intuition it speaks to you quietly it drives you on you know this to be true not some religious epoch some silly story it is a genetic memory the epigenome whispering to you of the end

Skateboarding

Done: The car tow. To Do: All the rest.

What I Am Doing

I am a fly buzzing around in your head starving to death I am Sauron, Gorthaur the cruel crossdressing as an elf I am the forge of your dreams building new suburbia I am the ghost of you folded space I am alpha and omega in your portrait I am order from chaos a single cell in the sea I am the solution to your problems thats why you hate me

India Outsourcing

A. D.

A. Dream. I was on the shore, you and your new husband and child were there. A therapist dressed up as a big bunny rabbit to be the "kid". They wanted to know if you could accept your kid. You seemed to be unable to accept your own child. I was there. I saw the bunny and chased after it. And played with it. The bunny rabbit had razor stubble. This was the first dream I have ever had of you. You were polite, we met as friends. The little one was running around. You were slightly indifferent to the child. The child saw me and liked me. But at first , was skeptical. I remember thinking in the dream, that I have never seen you here before. I woke up just wanting to tell you that you seemed to still be the same person, and that for some reason, I am friendly to you. And that we meet, in honor. I guess its up to you. You can forget about me. Your husband seemed... whats the word.. kind of distant and soft. And slightly uninteresting, but not so much so that you would

Students ...

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