This includes the social impact of entertainment, but not books, media, and TV shows reviews—that stuff should be in arts and letters.
It’s interesting how self-context can change a city.
Last time I visited Amsterdam, I was in a terrible relationship, living in South Bay and I got robbed leaving Schiphol. Three years later, I’m single living in San Francisco and am a tiny bit wiser.
This time, for instance, I found out that Amsterdam smells a lot like San Francisco.
(Back then, I thought Patchouli was pot, so what did I know?)
[Amsterdam women after the jump]Continue reading
As I mentioned before, everyone in my family but me is an expert at statistics. It’s hard to explain…
When my brother was angry that O.J. got away with it, my dad calmed him down by pointing out that in was a natural consequence of our legal system minimizing Type II error.
When my mom pointed out how unfair it was that her children were the highest rated teachers in their departments and she was the lowest rated in hers, my brother joked, “That’s just mean reversion, mom.”
I won’t get into how many times we’ve seriously argued about what the proper null for our discussion was…
Which brings me to last night’s dinner after Spontaneous Drinking Night, with my geek friends:
(Sometimes I think I’m living in an xkcd comic.) Also apologies to Benjamin Disraeli…and my family 😉
Overheard over dinner.
Girl: “I’d like to order some expensive beer but I can’t finish it.”
Boy: “Don’t worry, honey, I’ll chug this equally expensive beer and help you with yours later.”
Now that’s love right there.
I was pointed to this Paul Krugman article, which is a sequel to this piece. The Bear Stearns buyout is what touched it off. To which, someone wrote:
“Ahh, GOP capitalism—where profits are privatized and losses are socialized.
Conservative blogs start quoting Paul Krugman and the Times… You hear that? That’s the sound of the pendulum swinging back to reality.
I started writing after the 2004 election—the disaster we have wrought. But sometimes, we have to have a little faith. So, even in the face of futility, we send our words into the ether, the internet, this community we are a each a citizen of.
Nobody loves a recession, but four years was not a long time to realize our mistakes… and our social obligation to right them.
While researching the previous article, I came across this hilarious quote:
This is a far cry from 1966, originally the Klingons were scotch tape Asians (Fong, 176); White actors given slanty eyes. The Klingon race incarnate all the characteristics that most scare White America. The Klingons are violent, ill tempered, lustful, and drunk. They are on a mission to destroy the peaceful Federation and take over the universe. Finally, they fight to the death preferring death to defeat or capture. One scene from an episode entitled The Trouble with Tribbles almost mirrors a scene from the 1944 film Dragon Seed. In both scenes the evil Asians show up at a restaurant and demand liquor, when they are denied they go on a violent rampage. Often, they are shown eating large hunks of meat off the bone Gengis Kahn style.
—“As-liens: The Final Frontier in Depicts of Yellow Peril in Popular Cinema”
I’m so going to have to do this at the next geek event.
I stopped by XYZ Bar to say bye to Joel B. Sacks, formerly of AdBrite and CNET. I came late and couldn’t stay for long.
Nikon D3, 14-24mm f/2.8G
1/6 sec @ f/2.8, iso 6400, 24mm (24mm)
Andrei left me my SB-800 so I did get to try out my new camera and remind myself that I need to relearn flash photography and crack open the manual sometime.
I had never been to XYZ Bar before. It is right across from the convention center and has a restaurant is on the first floor while the bar is on the second floor.
Nikon D3, 14-24mm f/2.8G
1/30 sec @ f/2.8, iso 1100, 14mm (14mm)
[three more photos after the jump.]Continue reading
S—: Hey, Terry. She broke up with me last night.
Me: I didn’t know you were dating someone.
S—: Can I join your Afraid-of-Women club?
Me: You have to be the one to break it off first. It’s like Whac-A-Mole
[More relationship strategery after the jump.]Continue reading
Just now, Mager messaged me:
“I am excited for Lunch two dot oh—I don’t say “point-oh” anymore.
Flashback.
…
In the summer of 1992, a friend was reading me a geek purity test he got from USENET.
One of the questions was:
Do you pronounce “*.*” as “star-dot-star?”
Of course, since he was reading it aloud, I heard:
Do you pronounce star-dot-star as star-dot-star?
Needless to say, I was quite confused. 😀
[More geek after the jump]Continue reading
I’ve been a big supporter of Zivity.
My PHP friends tease me about this because Zivity is built on Rails.
Well, I got an invite to Zivity Beta the other day, so I figured I should subscribe to their blog. Today, I just wanted to link this great article from Forbes when I ran across this…
I mean it’s just a friggin’ blog! 😉
[Ruby stats after the jump.]Continue reading
