Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag!Feliz cumpleanos!
Joyeux anniversaire!
Tanti auguri!
A world of cheery birthday wishes to you.
February 25, 2006
Happy birthday David
Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag!Feliz cumpleanos!
Joyeux anniversaire!
Tanti auguri!
A world of cheery birthday wishes to you.
February 24, 2006
Run
Your uplifting (or depressing) thought of the day:
"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows that it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows that it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It does not matter whether you are a lion or gazelle. When the sun comes up you had better be running."
from The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman
"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows that it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows that it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It does not matter whether you are a lion or gazelle. When the sun comes up you had better be running."
from The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman
February 22, 2006
Hopeless
You remember those cheesy "Love is..." cards? I'm going to start my own line of thoughts, "Hopefulness is...". And here's my first entry.
Hopefulness is...
checking my inbox even when no new message icon appears.
I could retitle it "Patheticness is..." but I don't think that's a word.
Hopefulness is...
checking my inbox even when no new message icon appears.
I could retitle it "Patheticness is..." but I don't think that's a word.
February 20, 2006
Worthwhile?
Is it worth your while to know the history of monetary values? If so, do check out How Much Is That. There you can compare values in current dollars or British pounds to values from yesteryear. You can even compare values from one specific year in past to another.
The HMIT is perfect for contextualizing those history lessons. The Louisiana Purchase cost US a fair amount way back when. What would it cost today?
In 2004, $15,000,000.00 from 1803 is worth...
$249,180,882.35 using the Consumer Price Index
$262,262,165.72 using the GDP deflator
$3,979,473,684.21 using the unskilled wage
$5,757,601,498.24 using the GDP per capita
$390,659,102,694.23 using the relative share of GDP
The natural follow up to above would be, what the heck's the difference between worth using CPI and worth using relative share of GDP? I'll get back to you on that one.... Uh, David, care to comment?
The HMIT is perfect for contextualizing those history lessons. The Louisiana Purchase cost US a fair amount way back when. What would it cost today?
In 2004, $15,000,000.00 from 1803 is worth...
$249,180,882.35 using the Consumer Price Index
$262,262,165.72 using the GDP deflator
$3,979,473,684.21 using the unskilled wage
$5,757,601,498.24 using the GDP per capita
$390,659,102,694.23 using the relative share of GDP
The natural follow up to above would be, what the heck's the difference between worth using CPI and worth using relative share of GDP? I'll get back to you on that one.... Uh, David, care to comment?
February 17, 2006
Silly
Have you been hearing about online movie spoofs lately? Brokeback Mountain has inspired a number of parodies, but the art form is certainly not new. An old favorite of mine is Store Wars; it's Star Wars told with health foods. There's Chewbroccoli and Darth Tater (who killed Organican Skywalker), and R2D2 is a cube of tofu--well, see it for yourself, it's just too precious.
The leader of the faux-trailer group might be this contest winning entry for Shining. It takes actual footage from The Shining, rearranges it with uplifting music, and voila, you've got a heartwarming family film. A funnier current one is Brokeback to the Future. It would work even better if Doc wasn't always bug eyed and crazed sounding. And lastly, I wonder about the people behind an online picture book using peeps to play parts in Lord of the Rings; check out Lord of the Peeps: Fellowship of the Peep. I think they're working on the entire trilogy, one chapter at a time.
And for an entirely different brand of silly, there's Katamari Damacy. It's the strangest video game ever, and now you can play a mini version online. Here's the official description: "When the King of All Cosmos accidentally destroys all the stars in the sky, he orders you, his pint-sized princely son, to put the twinkle back in the heavens above. The only way you can do that is by rolling everything on Earth into clumps so that he can replace what's missing in space. 'Everything' includes cookies, lawn mowers, lamp posts, sumo wrestlers, bulldozers, brontosauruses , cruise ships, and more." Come on, roll away, it's Friday.
The leader of the faux-trailer group might be this contest winning entry for Shining. It takes actual footage from The Shining, rearranges it with uplifting music, and voila, you've got a heartwarming family film. A funnier current one is Brokeback to the Future. It would work even better if Doc wasn't always bug eyed and crazed sounding. And lastly, I wonder about the people behind an online picture book using peeps to play parts in Lord of the Rings; check out Lord of the Peeps: Fellowship of the Peep. I think they're working on the entire trilogy, one chapter at a time.
And for an entirely different brand of silly, there's Katamari Damacy. It's the strangest video game ever, and now you can play a mini version online. Here's the official description: "When the King of All Cosmos accidentally destroys all the stars in the sky, he orders you, his pint-sized princely son, to put the twinkle back in the heavens above. The only way you can do that is by rolling everything on Earth into clumps so that he can replace what's missing in space. 'Everything' includes cookies, lawn mowers, lamp posts, sumo wrestlers, bulldozers, brontosauruses , cruise ships, and more." Come on, roll away, it's Friday.
February 16, 2006
Focus
Not that you asked, but...
My latest obsession is to monitor worldwide earthquakes via RSS feed to My Yahoo page. I've also recently been monitoring medal counts at the Olympics, but that's not really obsession-worthy. What obsessions are you harboring these days? Please don't tell me you have none, for that would throw me for a loop, and I need my focus today.
Cleaning out my desk this morning I came across an old fortune cookie. Instead of checking its staleness (bad idea) I decided to just chuck the thing (good idea--I'm practicing positive reinforcement on myself). But because I am irrationally superstitious (yes, there is such a thing as rational superstition) I pulled the fortune out. "You will soon get something special because of your charm." This begs several questions: Does a fortune become active only once it is pulled from its cookie, or is there some kind of fortune expiration after having received the cookie? And what if the recipient, in this case, is not charming?
My latest obsession is to monitor worldwide earthquakes via RSS feed to My Yahoo page. I've also recently been monitoring medal counts at the Olympics, but that's not really obsession-worthy. What obsessions are you harboring these days? Please don't tell me you have none, for that would throw me for a loop, and I need my focus today.
Cleaning out my desk this morning I came across an old fortune cookie. Instead of checking its staleness (bad idea) I decided to just chuck the thing (good idea--I'm practicing positive reinforcement on myself). But because I am irrationally superstitious (yes, there is such a thing as rational superstition) I pulled the fortune out. "You will soon get something special because of your charm." This begs several questions: Does a fortune become active only once it is pulled from its cookie, or is there some kind of fortune expiration after having received the cookie? And what if the recipient, in this case, is not charming?
February 14, 2006
Music
Today's random music selections have been particularly pleasing. Would you care to listen along?
Meat Puppets: Maiden's Milk
Morcheeba: The Sea
Travis: Love Will Come Through
The Magic Numbers: Love Me Like You
Don Williams: I Believe in Love
David Byrne: Glass, Concrete and Stone
The Coral: I Remember When
Slobberbone: Sister Beams
Secondhand Jive: San Francisco
Cordero: Vamos Nenas (Live)
Drive-By Truckers: My Sweet Annette
Unfortunately, if you mentioned half of the above artists to me tomorrow, I'd have no idea who you were talking about, more less recognizing that they are a band. This is what I get for downloading the iTunes free song at random.
Meat Puppets: Maiden's Milk
Morcheeba: The Sea
Travis: Love Will Come Through
The Magic Numbers: Love Me Like You
Don Williams: I Believe in Love
David Byrne: Glass, Concrete and Stone
The Coral: I Remember When
Slobberbone: Sister Beams
Secondhand Jive: San Francisco
Cordero: Vamos Nenas (Live)
Drive-By Truckers: My Sweet Annette
Unfortunately, if you mentioned half of the above artists to me tomorrow, I'd have no idea who you were talking about, more less recognizing that they are a band. This is what I get for downloading the iTunes free song at random.
Desires
Not that you asked, but...
Far be it from me to seek material amusements, and yet I do. David is hard at work on a Drupal version of our material wants list, which would be a tad less consumerist of me. In the meantime I post those items I desire (but do not require) to an assortment of Amazon wish lists.
Quote of the Day 1: I believe that I know the specific amount needed that would allow me to have or do these few things I can't quite afford, and if my income would increase by that much I would then be happy. Yet when the increase comes, I find that I am still discontent because from my new financial position I can now see a whole new set of things I don't have. The problem will be solved when I accept that happiness is a present attitude, not a future condition. --from Notes to Myself: My struggle to become a person by Hugh Prather
Quote of the day 2: A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation. --Adlai E. Stevenson
Happy Valentine's Day by the way. Let love be all around you.
Far be it from me to seek material amusements, and yet I do. David is hard at work on a Drupal version of our material wants list, which would be a tad less consumerist of me. In the meantime I post those items I desire (but do not require) to an assortment of Amazon wish lists.
Quote of the Day 1: I believe that I know the specific amount needed that would allow me to have or do these few things I can't quite afford, and if my income would increase by that much I would then be happy. Yet when the increase comes, I find that I am still discontent because from my new financial position I can now see a whole new set of things I don't have. The problem will be solved when I accept that happiness is a present attitude, not a future condition. --from Notes to Myself: My struggle to become a person by Hugh Prather
Quote of the day 2: A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation. --Adlai E. Stevenson
Happy Valentine's Day by the way. Let love be all around you.
February 13, 2006
Learning
When I was a kid I often felt that those closest to me in many ways knew the least about me. I behaved and was viewed as they expected. Inside I was an insecure mess, but to others I seemed confident and content with cockiness. I was bossy, stubborn, and lonely. Distance and secure environs and unconditional acceptance have stripped away many of the insecurities. But recently I've felt a bit of it coming back, and this seems to be oozing out into my blog postings. Reading over my archived postings I see that I have been a bit high and mighty ("A bit?!" you might ask). I need to work on that.
February 01, 2006
Meanings
What does it all mean?
Last night I had a dream in which I was out in gorgeous undeveloped rolling hills grassland, sort of Montana-ish, sitting with a small crowd in rows of folding chairs. At a podium up front was President Bush casually dressed. He was delivering a speech but just could not stand still or keep from smiling. He was in a jubilant, silly mood. Laura Bush, who was standing behind her happy hubby off to the side, kept having to redirect him to keep on with his speech and stay near the podium. She was very patient. He said he just felt like walking around while he spoke. I didn't listen to what he was saying because I was so fixated on the mooses and caribou in the hills just behind the President. There were dozens of them, evenly spread out, and one really large moose with comically large horns (antlers?) which had stuff kind of hanging from them (gigantic cobwebs? Xmas decorations?). Undoubtedly the timing of Bush's state of the union speech, my general observation of his constant little smile, and my introduction of Pavel (the rein-moose) to Virginia yesterday played a part in the dream. But is there anything more to dreams than just random synapses firing away?
Seeking meaning about dreams and other personal reflections, I took a personality test. Well, I took it because I was told to by my instructor. The results are not at all in line with how I view myself. Maybe lots of people have this reaction, because at the end, they give you a link to allow you to post your results for the world to see. So, am I really like that in your eyes? More importantly, do I care?
Last night I had a dream in which I was out in gorgeous undeveloped rolling hills grassland, sort of Montana-ish, sitting with a small crowd in rows of folding chairs. At a podium up front was President Bush casually dressed. He was delivering a speech but just could not stand still or keep from smiling. He was in a jubilant, silly mood. Laura Bush, who was standing behind her happy hubby off to the side, kept having to redirect him to keep on with his speech and stay near the podium. She was very patient. He said he just felt like walking around while he spoke. I didn't listen to what he was saying because I was so fixated on the mooses and caribou in the hills just behind the President. There were dozens of them, evenly spread out, and one really large moose with comically large horns (antlers?) which had stuff kind of hanging from them (gigantic cobwebs? Xmas decorations?). Undoubtedly the timing of Bush's state of the union speech, my general observation of his constant little smile, and my introduction of Pavel (the rein-moose) to Virginia yesterday played a part in the dream. But is there anything more to dreams than just random synapses firing away?
Seeking meaning about dreams and other personal reflections, I took a personality test. Well, I took it because I was told to by my instructor. The results are not at all in line with how I view myself. Maybe lots of people have this reaction, because at the end, they give you a link to allow you to post your results for the world to see. So, am I really like that in your eyes? More importantly, do I care?
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