December 2008
50 posts
Update
Well, I have managed to work out the last two days, but the getting up early thing hasn’t been going so well, mainly due to my getting distracted by Monster. I’ve been going to bed at 7-8am and waking up at 3-4pm, but tonight I’m going to stay up and finish the series. Then, I’ll go to bed a bit early tomorrow (around midnight, which is early for me) and get up at 7 to...
“Simple tools encourage complex behaviour. Complex tools encourage simple...”
– User swombat @ Hacker News
No More Slobbing
The last few days weren’t terribly eventful (Christmas stuff, so I mainly sat around and toyed with gifts), so I’ll just give a quick summary. On Thursday, I got up, opened presents (a hard drive, a Go board, some books, some cash, a lotof candy, and snow chains for my shoes, and a couple of other things); I played with mine and my family’s new stuff; I watched more of Monster. ...
Sleep
I didn’t sleep last night, but I also didn’t wake up yesterday until about 4pm. Based on my average waking time of about 18 hours, this means that I should be crashing right aboutttttttttttt tawgopaeh;f
“The priest said he had never intended to hurt anyone, but it was his duty to...”
– Priest ‘ruins Christmas’ for kids
“READ CAREFULLY. By [accepting this material|accepting this payment|accepting...”
– ReasonableAgreement.org | The Small Print Project
“Lots of people can talk about what they’d like to be, very few can...”
– RyanHoliday.net: | Means to an End
"My iPhone"
First, I should resolve the obvious titular discrepancy: no, I don’t have one (nor do I really want one, though I do wish I had bought one early on to write software for). I just wanted to point out something that, while perhaps a bit obvious, just dawned on me with regards to branding. Normally, when someone talks about his cellphone, he refers to it as “my cellphone”. He...
Christmas Eve and Other Stories
I finally finished my homework! Well, I do still have one thing to go. Unfortunately, I had a “case of the breakdays” today, by which I mean that I slept until three again. Of course, since I didn’t go to sleep until 5ish, that’s not too bad; it’s the same as going to bed at midnight and sleeping in until 10, which seems quit acceptable to me.
If you’re...
Goals and Homework Update
First, a quick homework update:
I haven’t done any. But I’m going to tonight, I promise!
As for goals, here’s my plan for break. I’m going to take this week as a sort of transition period in which I’ll allow myself to sleep, watch a little TV, eat a little too much at Christmas gatherings, etc. (Though I do still need to do some Christmas shopping, in addition...
Travel
Here’s what happened: I got to Albany, my flight was cancelled due to the weather, my parents bought me another ticket, that flight got delayed, then it got cancelled, I slept in the airport, my flight got delayed again, I finally got to Baltimore, my flight got delayed again, and I finally got into Dallas thirty-nine hours after I started my trip.
Here’s what really happened: I got a...
“History suggests that, all other things being equal, a society prospers in...”
– After Credentials
I don’t know if “history suggests” this (I’d like to see some evidence), but the underlying point, though often made, is interesting nonetheless. Inheritance kills markets. By inheritance I don’t simply mean the passing of money and property upon...
“If at Halloween you’re invited to a TV- and movie-themed party and she dresses...”
– Does She Love You?
Find Me Guilty, James Bond, and Other Morning...
I actually managed to get up at a decent hour this morning (thanks to a wakeup call from my wonderful girlfriend), but I guess I didn’t make the best of my time—I ended up flipping back and forth between Find Me Guilty and The World is Not Enough.
I didn’t watch all of Find Me Guilty, but I found it pretty good. It stars Vin Diesel as Jackie DiNorscio, a New Jersey mobster who...
24 ways: Ghosts On The Internet →
Quick Day Summary
As I only started the whole log-my-activities thing today, and I took the day to recover from school and travel, I don’t have a lot to report. I slept until 4pm-ish. I watched some TV for the first time in a while, I read some stuff on the internet (mainly from Steve Yegge), and I did just a little bit of homework. I ate some leftovers from the Moore family Christmas gathering, which I...
The Second Coming
Jamila: oh, did i tell you
Jamila: i might witness the second coming of christ...
Me: ???
Jamila: hehe
Jamila: i lost the baby jesus in my nativity set
Jamila: but if i find him...
Jamila: it'll be the second coming!
Intercession Activity Report
I’m currently on my first real day of intersession, which for me is the month-long break between the fall and spring semesters at my college, Simon’s Rock. I’m going to be using this blog to keep track of what I do over the break. There are a few reasons I’ve decided to do it:
Posting this online will encourage me not to waste my time;
For helping future historians to...
StickyScreen.com
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Modista: browse for shoes and handbags by visual... →
I’m really, really impressed with this. I hate shoe shopping (really, shopping in general) but this just makes it easy, especially when you use the “Refine by” feature to set your shoe size and price range.
Scientists extract images directly from brain →
ZOMFGWTF?!?
Nice Translator - The fast, easy to use online... →
Very well made. The translations (to German, at least) seem to be fairly good, and the interface is much more pleasant than usual.
“A Department of Agriculture made sense 100 years ago when 35 percent of...”
– Op-Ed Columnist - Obama’s ‘Secretary of Food’? - NYTimes.com
“I thought I’d host an end of the world party, but the media might take it...”
– Stephen Hawking
Austenbook →
“Elizabeth Bennet is improving her mind by extensive reading.” Priceless.
Watchswissmiss: Science Commons and Why They Matter in 120 Seconds.
Military: Video of Multiple Kill Vehicle Test... →
scares the bejeezus out of me. Maybe it’s the way it moves combined with the stuttering sound, but it certainly looks deadly
Green Any Site - Turn Your Online Shopping Into... →
This is a pretty cool idea. I haven’t done any research on this, but it seems legitimate.
15 Tips for Writing Effective Email |... →
Boltzmann brain →
Huh. I don’t know that the I buy that it is a paradox, because it seems that it would be more likely for random fluctuations to cause an evolutionary process than to create a brain directly (evolution requires very little to exist, whereas a brain from nothing is a big jump), but it’s an interesting idea nonetheless.
“Most people’s time is eaten up by things like school and work. Obviously...”
– Aaron Schwartz - HOWTO: Be more productive
Free Web Plan Being Pushed by FCC Head →
I’m not sure if this is the best plan. Regardless, I don’t think that the filtering is; since when has filtering software worked or been useful?
Laugh and the World Laughs With You: How Happiness... →
WatchInteractive Video Object Manipulation on Vimeo (via Vimeo)