November 2012
1 post
2 tags
Running on Shutdown
When you leave a computer on for days and days, it’s going to start to run slow. Even the best hardware on the best software will run in to rogue processes and clobbered RAM with no discoverable cause. (Sidenote: OK, Linux guy, put down your pitchfork.)
The solution? Shutdown.
Sometimes, though, I want to know how long I’d been running a machine before I shut it down. This can come...
September 2012
1 post
The Bus Couple
I found myself in the middle of a SoCal Summer, which is a cute way of saying the heat was, once again, indomitable. I left the bank, rent check in hand, and headed to the bus stop.
I’ll leave the anecdote about the young girl in the driversed.com car for another time.
Today, I focus on the couple sitting at the stop:
In which I creep
Like many things in life, the shade of a bus stop is a...
August 2012
2 posts
2 tags
Distinction Without a Difference
It was a year ago today that I recieved summons to head to the Bay Area for a few weeks. There were many reasons for me to be happy to comply; perhaps the most demanding, however, was that we were in the middle of an interminable heat wave. Southern California is known for its fantastic almost-year-round weather. Having lived here my entire life, I feel the same way about it as I do about living...
2 tags
Starbucks ♥ Square
It’s been almost two years since I quit working at Starbucks, though I can say with a certain amount of pride that most of the process of the business hasn’t left me. This isn’t idle self-congratulation, either: I’m internet famous from a post of mine on Quora detailing some of the lesser known factoid minutiae of Starbucks’ operations.
The winded preface
When I first started, the biggest...
January 2012
5 posts
On Learning
The core tenet of existentialism is observing and analyzing the self in the now. A corollary follows that being able to define oneself is, essentially, the bane of the existentialist. By defining myself (I am smart; I am dumb; I am weak; I am strong), I forever limit, and quite severely, all future actions, barring them against the possibilities not covered therein.
Having this knowledge...
MURK AVENUE: I FOUND ICE CUBES 'GOOD DAY' →
murkavenue:
CLUE 1: “went to short dogs house, they was watching Yo MTV RAPS”
Yo MTV RAPS first aired: Aug 6th 1988
CLUE 2:
Ice Cubes single “today was a good day” released on: Feb 23 1993
CLUE 3: ”The Lakers beat the Super Sonics”
Dates between Yo MTV Raps air date AUGUST 6 1988 and the release…
1000 Words
There’s something powerful about the way a picture can tell you so much more than an entire book ever could. Even a budding amateur’s photograph can capture 1000 tiny ideas into a single still frame.
You glance at it in passing and despite the brevity, you understand.
The way the sun abides silently in the rear, ever so slightly above the horizon, casting a fleeting orange tint...
Where Do We Go?
The year is 2012. It has been long enough since Y2K for a child to have been conceived, born, raised and gain rational thought. You can measure the time since Michael Jackson’s death in years. Our nation’s first black president is about to reach the end of his first term.
This year we saw the downfall of the likes of Osama Bin Laden, Muammar Ghaddafi, Saddam Hussein and even Kim Jong...
Welcome to 2012
Back in college, I spent a semester studying existentialism. One of the core tenets is a focus on observing the self from a point slightly ahead of…the self. It is the emphasis on existing in the moment and maintaining awareness of the moment that really struck me and sucked me in to the topic. I find that it’s very easy to accept certain habits and define oneself thusly; to say...
October 2011
1 post
RIP Steve
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/10/05Statement-by-Apples-Board-of-Directors.html
The world lost an amazing visionary today, a tremendous force that single-handedly shaped our ideas of the possible and devoted himself to removing the boundaries of the impossible. He crafted an entirely new level of hero; it is for his work that I wake up every morning.
And while humanity is collectively...
September 2011
2 posts
2 tags
A Tale of Two Trilogies
If you hang around the internet long enough, you can learn some really interesting, extremely esoteric things. For instance, the other day, there was a post on Reddit :
“The Bielefeld Conspiracy is a running gag and meme among German Internet users, especially in the German Usenet. It is generally considered a satirical story rather than a hoax or an urban legend.
The story goes...
3 tags
August 2011
4 posts
That's the Point -- Life Isn't Fair
Act 1
“So, in other words, this is the last class I’ll have to take. If you don’t let me take it this semester, I’ll be here for another semester, and I’ll have to pay the same fee for a single class. I’ve done this before and there was never an issue; I’d really like to just graduate, finish and get out of here.” I said this last bit as a quip, as...
6 tags
[Dystopia, Utopia, Myopia](Pick Two)
Hollywood is prone to convey two starkly contrasting pictures of the future.
There’s the requisite doomsday future wherein humanity destroys itself, potentially with the help of robots and automated systems, and an emphasis on how damned we were from the start.
Then there’s the future wherein humanity has settled in to a Romanesque culture with robots as slaves and humans as...
Pinpoint - Link Anywhere
Just last night, I was racking my brains trying to figure out how to link to a web page, but only to a specific part halfway down (this being the location of the only relevant statement of the linked article). Nowadays, journalists treasure brevity, so they don’t provide a Table of Contents (using <a name=”“> or some other half-baked solution) for easy sub-navigation.
...
3 tags
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 2
Human culture is determined to have begun around the time humans began searching not solely for sustenance, but for pleasure. It was when we had successfully achieved the power of free-time that we realized we desperately needed some form of entertainment to pass the minutes. The first written word is said to have stemmed from (roughly) this same time period, and was used to document all sorts of...
July 2011
6 posts
On North Korea
Western world depicts modern day North Korea as a gross mixture of technological stagnation, economic poverty, and a brainwashed culture that worships the flagstaff of communism: Kim Jong Il. The short news blurbs of the country appear in between clips of U.N. resolutions denouncing the Korean People’s Army’s testing of long range missiles, celebrating a single defector / refugee, or...
2 tags
Russell Brand on Amy Winehouse's Death
Russell Brand is a brilliant comedian and actor. And, apparently, a highly cogent writer.
He penned an editorial today for The Guadian U.K.. Choice clips ensue1:
The opening thesis…
When you love someone who suffers from the disease of addiction you await the phone call. There will be a phone call. The sincere hope is that the call will be from the addict themselves, telling you...
Podcast Quote: "Back to Work" ep. 23
Dan Benjamin: "You just were hoping you didn’t get your thumb glued to the rest of your hand when you were mixing that hot silver.”
Merlin Mann: "Man I’ll tell ya. You would not believe how many people can’t pick things up because today if silver-thumbs… Farm injuries are funny."
@danbenjamin and @hotdogsladies on failing, from “Back to Work” ep. 23
1 tag
My Last on Netflix (for now)
Ok, so I’ve harped on this Netflix thing a bit much, but here’s a quote from tech columnist David Pogue from his interview with Netflix Spokesman David Swasey.
On the company’s upcoming financial forecast:
”* Netflix knew that there would be a nasty backlash, and has already taken the subscriber defection into account in its financial forecasts. It still figures it...
1 tag
More on Netflix's Pricing Move -- This time backed...
Last night, I posted some baseless speculation as to why Netflix has decided to segregate their two services and rile the collective Internets’ wraths with the second price-hike in a year. I was deeply disturbed by not having some concrete information, and then it dawned on me: Netflix might actually be a publicly traded company.
And it is.
Numbers
According to Netflix’s 10-K...
2 tags
On Netflix's Recent Pricing Changes
Let’s just get this out there: Netflix has intentionally and deliberately forked their service plans. Streaming and DVD plans are forever separate, and the price to acquire both is now greater than it was before. Internet mouths across the board have been quick to denounce the changes and, as consumers are wont to do, are threatening to jump ship for a (presumably) superior service.
Can I...
May 2011
1 post
There comes a time in life when you look at yourself and all you can think is “I give up. I’m over it.” For me? That feeling comes at least twice a day. I’ve learned to give up on the little things, like asking for no guacamole on my Carne Asada fries or giving up beer in favor of less calorie-intensive means of destroying myself mentally. Some days I give up trying to be...
April 2011
3 posts
Merlin Mann: "Cranking" →
Merlin Mann is renowned in the geek world for his work in the GTD (Getting Things Done) field and his posts about Productivity as related to Time, Attention and Creative Work. Most notable is his work on Inbox Zero. He had a hand in shaping the wonderful program OmniFocus (Mac and iOS) and co-hosts an absolutely inspiring show on Dan Benjamin’s 5by5.tv network called “Back to...
2 tags
“I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good...”
– Lord Henry Wotton, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde
3 tags
“For the record, I dislike the term “social media.” It is a misnomer...”
– Gary Vaynerchuk, “The Thank You Economy” 