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February 9th, 2010
12:09 pm - Thank goodness for the internet
Having some food-court Chinese food (have taken to the steamed rice plus one dish, usually vegetable-heavy or vegetarian, and getting some fruit after...) it occurred to me to wonder what was more expensive, a plastic fork or disposable bamboo chopsticks. (Not asking the question about materials, environmental cost, etc).
Well, thanks to NexTag and some other research, I have concluded that the bamboo is nearly twice as expensive to supply, weighing in about 2 cents per pair, as opposed to about a penny for the fork.
Before the internet, what would I DO with such questions? Hold on to them for a research trip to the library? Satisfy myself with half-baked opinion-based answers? Call suppliers on the telephone for quotes? Or (gasp) stop wondering about such useless trivia?
Whew. The internet... enabling me since the late 80s.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/amused.gif) amused
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February 8th, 2010
03:39 pm - Considering some Continuing Education this year
I was looking through the UW course catalog, and I didn't see anything for AJAX.
One of the projects I'm working on (not nearly as effectively as I'd hoped, sorry to the DF crew!) is going to need it, and learning it on my own drive is proving more of a challenge to me than I had expected.
Anyone have any recommendations of courses, or (second-best) good books on the subject?
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03:37 pm - Perspective
I was just recalling something that one of my profs said in University. It was about another disaster, another tragedy for tens of thousands. I don't recall whether it was one of India's previous Earthquakes, or the Bhopal accident some years previous. I'm certain we were discussing his home country, India.
Which disaster we were talking about wasn't the point, though, anyhow. He made a quiet illustration about world population growth. He paused after having described the sad events, and concluded by observing that the world population curve was such that the people lost to that tragedy had been replaced (from a callous headcount perspective) before the rescuers had even begun the excavations to search for survivors.
I did the math just now on Haiti. Nearly a quarter-million dead. Given a 1.3% annual population growth rate, and an estimated seven billion people on earth, how long did the population curve take to recover from the dip? I leave it as an exercise for the reader, since I think doing the math can bind one to the realization even more than just reading the figure.
Sometimes numbers can be quite chilling.
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February 7th, 2010
08:46 am - Yesterday - Good Medicine
Started off yesterday expecting to go shooting. Great idea for an archery event, it sounded like. Got up at the crack of dawn on a weekend, even! Then, however, I heard the rumour that the East Coast's "Snowmageddon Weekend" was invoking some pretty chilly and drafty climes in the areas around my home not protected by a huge bubble of smog.
Went to the forecasts, yup, -12 with fairly high winds, "real-feel of -20". Bleh. Merci, mais non. I can just imagine: "Well, the wind is screwing up my shots, but at least my fingers are frozen when I go searching for the shafts downrange".
So I stayed indoors most of the day, did a little housework, connected with some friends, did some computer stuff, and later in the evening went out to catch Saidah Baba Talibah ( http://sbtmusic.com ) for free down at Harbourfront.
Yeah, I could totally have use a month of days like that.
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February 5th, 2010
05:14 pm - I can't resist
8x - 6i > 2(4x - 9u)
Solve for i
(Sorry mozai, nikita - I just wasn't satisfied with the complexity).
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10:19 am - Icon Idea
I have an idea for an icon I think I'll really adore. Now I just have to execute it.
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February 3rd, 2010
01:31 pm - Writer's Block: Roommate from Hell
Heh. I think I might have BEEN more of a nightmarish roommate in my youth than I ever HAD one.
I did have the roommate who copied some of my drafting assignments (eventually I just stopped even going through the motions of throwing them out) and eventually (after my term) severed the tendons of his hand jamming steak knives into someone else's ceiling at a party. And the housemate who read me the riot act for leaving the TV remote near the sofa (as opposed to on top of the TV), and for doing dishes after an evening workout instead of right after supper. And the housemate who offered me lifts in 40-below weather, but only with a hefty pricetag paid in my great inconvenience. And the housemate who handcuffed the back of another housemate's pants the bathroom door and left her there, for a lark. And the housemate who had a monthly budget for repairing/replacing his amplifier rather than learn how to use it carefully and within its limits.
But honestly, these stories aren't nearly as bad as some other stories I know happened to those around me over the years. ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) chocolatecoffee, I'm looking at you here, amiga. :)
And when I was young and still fairly self-important, I have my own share of thoughtless things I did (or forgot to do) that caused a bunch of difficulty and grief for some of my own housemates. In the end, I'm going to call it a "push".
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/nostalgic.gif) nostalgic
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01:07 pm - Business Buzzwords and Metaphors
I don't mind the use of business buzzwords... I don't even mind the overuse of buzzwords. Usually. Maybe sometimes. Whatever.
I do tend to have a nervous facial tic when exposed to misused business metaphors.
I humbly offer, for the benefit of people who will probably never read this and will anyhow remain nameless, the first in what I hope will not become a series of lessons on business metaphors.
Cradle to Grave - lovely, if morbid, metaphor. Used correctly, this indicates that a process intends to manage, provide for, account for, or in some way be involved with a product from its creation or purchase or arrival to the end of its useful life.
Valid uses: A new car company is contemplating introducing cradle-to-grave support for their cars, meaning they will be offering support throughout the service life of the car, as well as providing disposal facilities to minimize the impact of retired vehicles and parts (such as oil, tires, and other waste). My current client's infrastructure team wants to begin having a cradle-to-grave approach to their asset management, meaning they want to be involved with procurement, deployment, repair, redeployment, retirement and eventual reclamation/disposal. This might perhaps involve cost accounting, professional services, and storage of all their assets (like desktop computers maybe, and/or telephone sets), all being supervised and directed by a single department.
Here's how to make me twitch: $Consultant tells $Client that their solution-development process involves a Cradle to Grave approach, meaning $Consultant will help $Client design a solution, will build the solution, will train $Client to use the solution, and will then walk away. (Is $Consultant really intending to leave the impression that the solution will be a metaphoric corpse?)
...
Smaller note: If the consultant's presentation features a lovely background that shows off a small boat's deck and railing, backdropped with a watery horizon, do be sure to take advantage of the chance to plant the image of the customer's team being the ones to sail off into the sunset as a result of the project's successful completion ... NOT the consultant's own team. This doesn't give the sort of impression I think you want.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/confused.gif) perplexed
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12:02 pm - good thing h didn't get this one!
"you and your wife will be happy in your life together" -- manchu wok fortune cookie.
Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com
Current Mood: amused
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February 1st, 2010
11:30 am - Quite a morning
Workplace efficiency WIN!
Which makes my life way more difficult than I can actually handle this morning.
Sigh.
I fended off someone who was here to repossess my office computer equipment, that's how efficient they are! :)
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January 27th, 2010
11:56 pm - A good good day
So today went really well.
I'm struggling with a few things that are getting me down, but thanks to a lot of good discussion of what Confidence means to different people has let me check my own beliefs and I think I'm standing by my original general belief. Confidence to me is a blending of efficacy and faith-in-self. It's grown from a field fertilized with successes, and it's tested and hardened by failures. I choose not to confuse it with courage, or stubborn determination, which I think colour some of my friends' views of Confidence.
In any case, I managed to focus better today. I stayed until after 10pm which certainly didn't hurt in terms of keeping a focus. I really do get more distracted when I'm surrounded by people, even if most of them don't work directly with me (I don't sit with my immediate team, just on the same floor). When folks go home, I get a bit more tunnel-vision, and things start getting DONE. Done is beautiful. Done is success. Success is the seed of Confidence. I focus on these things as I check items off my Pomodoro to-do list.
Further, I'm getting to the stage with a few personal projects that I'm getting close to being able to call milestones reached, where I'll be able to stand back and look, and whistle in admiration. Well, assuming I learn to whistle correctly, which is probably not a great assumption. Yup. Can't whistle.
I haven't done any MORE work on the little art project I resurrected this week. But I did do some and it felt good. Very good.
Ok, this post had a point when I started. I need to sleep soon... I only got 3 hours last night, had to drop someone off at an airport (hi, H!). (yawn). Wasn't able to conjure sleep after. I've nodded off several times since I started writing this, in fact... so I guess it's time to call it a night, right... NOW
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/tired.gif) tired
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January 13th, 2010
11:02 am - Repairing jacket pockets
So I'm looking at my old leather varsity jacket, and noticing that the lining has worn and torn away from the pocket edge.
Has anyone ever tried to repair this sort of thing? I'm assuming I'd need to somehow unstitch the leather around the pocket, make and insert a new pocket liner, and then re-sew the leather "hem" of the pocket to lock in the liner. I could be hugely mistaken of course.
Advice and tips welcome. eHow and other sites have failed me, mostly providing tips on adding outer pockets (i.e. just a sewn-on single-sided pocket-shaped patch) to pants, shirts, or jackets.
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January 11th, 2010
12:39 pm - Borderlands
Thank you Paul! You finally got my off my duff and got me playing the game I'd shelled out a few bills for last month (or was it two months ago?)
Borderlands is fun... the art style reminds me of the webcomic "The World Wasn't Meant" http://worldwasntmeant.com/ which I actually rather like. It's also relatively merciful on my terrible television (which I haven't yet replaced because I've been dragging my feet on the cabinet. I need to follow up on some emails later today about that).
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January 8th, 2010
03:53 pm - For the Gamers: How do you deal with mounts?
Ok... something I've always struggled with in the fantasy RP genre.
Mounts.
In D&D, Paladins are a special holy-warrior character type that eventually earns this fancy special mount... it's celestial, divine, a spirit-horse. It appears when they call for it, disappears when they don't need it, and so on.
The other characters get to buy ponies and mules and dappled mares and probably a wagon or two for hauling junk back from wherever they end up.
Except... when they GET there, you know... to the collapsed ruins of the ancient lizard-people's underground capital city with the utterly unpronounceable name, all that baggage train effectively vanishes, reappearing only and exactly when they need it again. I can't really make it work in my head any other way... no player wants to go through the hassle of arranging their camp, or stabling their horses at the closest town from their destination and hoofing the last 20 miles in and out, or hiring people to babysit the horses while they go spelunking. Do they? Who wants to THINK about that? Why not just introduce tax forms for the players to fill out when they get back home? (Edit: Why not, indeeeeed? Hmmmm)
I wonder how other campaigns handle this sort of thing? Do mid-level characters just dedicate "retainers" to this sort of babysitting work? Sure they can fend off smaller wildlife, but what about anything significant? Do DMs cackle with glee as they sometimes force their characters to flee the caverns via another exit and forge through the wilderness for days and days to find their way back to camp before the horses perish, or does the DM get tempted to make the horses a tasty treat for a band of oogie-boogies, or a prize for a travelling group of scoundrels?
I mean, there ARE a lot of story ideas there, but it seems like employing them would result in encouraging the players to spend WAY too much energy setting up their pickets to thwart a recurrence. (I recall once, when I was younger, when I'd found something too big to bring with me into the deeper cave, and too valuable to just LEAVE, I spent what must have been a half-hour detailing a hiding spot protected with alarms and exploding traps ... it wasn't the most enjoyable portion of that game-session to be frank, for any of us, but the DM refused to just play the "I promise it will still be there when you get back" card, since it was kinda fun and done in-character).
Does thinking about this detract from the storytelling and the gameplay? Or does the opposite hold true, does brushing it under the carpet take people out of the story? (I know, asking the players is the only way to answer THAT question... and I might get some on each side).
So in the meantime, I'm asking for feedback and input. I know I have a bunch of gamer friends who read this from time to time. Even if it doesn't apply to my current game, I just like having some options and other opinions of what has worked for other groups.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/curious.gif) curious
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10:54 am - Byzantine Lycanthropy
http://medievalnews.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-byzantines-dealt-with-werewolves.html
So... I'm reading this article:
Lycanthropy is a status of melancholy
Meaning at the same time misanthropy.
You recognize the affected man
Running around the tombs at night time
Pale, dry, sad and careless of his appearance.
And I'm thinking: Hm. I've known a few gothboys like this. :) Who knew? A THIRD branch of Goths in the Byzantine Era? ;)
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January 7th, 2010
10:04 am - Mii - I don't get it.
I have two Miis on my "Mii Parada". Only two. And they're nobody I know, either. Rolli and Junebug.
Weird? Weird.
They're not some kind of "sympathy parade" that Nintendo provided so you didn't feel completely alienated and pathetic, are they?
Edit: They've been joined by "Beth". Who?
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January 4th, 2010
02:52 pm - A fun riddle
You have nine apples and four grocery bags.
Can you arrange it so that each of the four bags contains an odd number of apples? (You may not cut the apples, or use any other items not mentioned above)
Comments are screened to prevent spoilers. I will un-screen comments after some time.
( Hint behind the cut )
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/devious.gif) devious
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December 29th, 2009
09:45 am - Gorodki
Playing "Parlour Games" on the Wii and they include Gorodki, a game I vaguely knew as Skittles but obviously this is more in line with the traditional Russian/Finnish.
I am filled with questions, and the English-language sites (and my lack of cultural awareness of this game) don't fill me in.
Okay, not filled. But I have a few...
Are there strategy guides? :)
Why is there a little diagonal tape mark in the middle of the court?
Why is one quarter blue? (Edit: have found the answer to this... this area is called the Suburb, and the front edge is evidently a penalty line... new question - what is the penalty for letting your bat touch before it reaches the penalty line?)
Is it in fact legal to knock a gorodok forward into the (edit: Suburb) zone? Does that count as knocking it out of the city?
(Here's the English site I found most helpful for my edit http://www.strangelove.net/~kieser/Russia/RussianImages/gorodki-photo_tn.jpg ... there's also a Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorodki )
Current Mood: curious
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