Rants, Mumblings and Insane Blather

BYBS: The Gregory Brothers

2011-07-16T19:45:00.000-07:00

There are definite advantages to being shallow. One of them is that you are easily amused. For example, some people might consider a video that was created by taking another video where a girl discusses how much she loves cats and set to a pop song to be rather pointless. But then, none of these people read this blog. On the other hand, very few people read this blog period. At any rate,

BYBS: Cheeseburger

2011-06-26T20:11:00.000-07:00

Image from TheCulinaryGeek Flickr In keeping with a simple "things in life" theme (read, out of ideas), this posting is about the joy of eating Gelato while watching the river. Hmmm. OK, so I don't read my own titles. This post is actually about the joy of eating a cheeseburger while looking at the river. Image by Angela de Março Well, I really did have some Gelato (strawberry, and yes

BYBS: Cat Rambo/Fantasy Magazine

2011-06-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

Image from Fantasy Magazine This week's BYBS goes to (wait for it!) Fantasy Magazine and in particular a short story called the "Immortality Game" by Cat Rambo. Yes, that's the name that she apparently goes by. No, don't ask me. What does someone who calls themselves "Cat Rambo" look like, you ask? Well, here is a pic from her site: Image from Cat Rambo's site. Hair color aside, I am

BYBS: SMOSH

2011-06-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

They make such a cute couple (image from Smosh.com) Smosh, specifically smosh.com, is a couple of guys who make hilarious videos such as "Vader and Me." The first video of theirs that I saw was "Mortal Kombat," a strange and yet silly spoof of an old video game. My all time favorite is probably their "Pokemon" video which spoofs (you guessed it) Pokemon. But their skill does not end there

BYBS: Stupid JavaScript Tricks

2011-06-05T08:36:00.000-07:00

This week I learned something about working with JavaScript that made me happy enough that I'm going to blog about it. Rather than trying to explain this in some way that makes sense, I'm going to use the short version. This will not confuse any readers because a) I don't have any and b) anyone who stumbles upon this blog must already be a JavaScript gawd. OK, so suppose you are using Ajax to

BYBS: A Deepness in the Sky

2011-05-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Image from Wikipedia This week's BYBS is about the book A Deepness in the Sky by a favorite author of mine named Venor Vinge. The book takes place in the same universe as A Fire Upon the Deep and is about two groups that are interested in trading with a culture that only becomes active once every 200 years or so. The "good guys" are an outfit called the Qeng Ho, who have an enlightened

BYBS: TWIV HIV Episode

2011-05-18T18:54:00.000-07:00

Well, at least one word in this week's title isn't an acronym or abbreviation. At any rate, this posting is about a very cool episode of This Week in Virology (TWIV); in particular it is about HIV and some recent discoveries. From what I could gather from this episode... HIV is a retrovirus, meaning that it becomes part of the host's DNA when it infects them. Highly Active Anti-Retroviral

BYBS: Argh...and I Thought of it First

2011-05-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Now I'm running with the "in" crowd. I was just searching on the web for "argh" and I came across a post by Neil Gaiman. For those of you who don't know Neil, well...neither do I actually. But nevertheless, since he co-opted my favorite phrase, I think that it's only fitting that I should be able to call him by his first name. Now where was I? Oh yes, you see, I was using "argh" long before

BYBS:The Works of Steven Brust

2011-05-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Man in Black. Image from Wikipedia Steven Brust writes a swords & sorcery series about a fellow named Vlad Taltos. Vlad, and his wisecracking lizard sidekick Loiosh, go about on various adventures through the world of Dragerea. One of the reasons I like the books in the Taltos series is that Dragerea seems like a well thought-out place with its own rules and history that give the

BYBS: Blood Music

2011-04-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite books of all time has to be Greg Bear's Blood Music. It's about a guy who creates computers using cells, observing that cells have all the parts you would need to make a computer: DNA could be used as storage, various organelles could be used as processor parts, etc. The cells can infect people and, well, that's what the book is about. This is one of the books that got me

BYBS: Bacteriophages

2011-04-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

The structure of a typical tailed bacteriophage. Image from Wikipedia. Bacteriophages, or just phages as their friends call them, are viruses that infect bacteria. As such, they can be used in place of antibiotics for infections that have become resistant to the antibio. Due to a fundamental difference in the way that human and bacterial cells work, the viruses do not infect human cells,

BYBS: Fresh Air at Sea

2011-04-11T01:52:00.000-07:00

This past week a ran into a couple of podcasts that were both on NPR's Fresh Air; one was titled "Sex, Drugs and Sea Slime" while the other was called "Moby-Duck". The NPR story on the wild and slimy life of undersea critters can be found via this link, while the story on Moby-Duck can be found to via this link. The pictures lead to links where the books can be obtained on Amazon. The title

Microbe Power Grids

2011-04-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

I recently found this article from the cool, super cool, way cool geobactor web site. It details about how microorganisms work together to transmit electricity from the bottom of a pile of mud to the top of the pile. Yes, mud. Why are you looking at me that way? At any rate, I think this is uber-cool because it shows again how those little fellers can surprise us by doing stuff that one

Still Blathering

2011-03-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

mitchell! Just because I haven't posted in 3 or 4 months does not mean that I have abandoned this blog. Granted, it's a very goon sign that I have, but it is not definitive proof. Never the less, I still have more to blather about, so I'm going to keep...blathering. Or something. At any rate, the wonderfully positive thing for this week is Mystery Science Theater 3000 (or MST3K for

BYBS: Thanksgiving

2010-11-29T18:02:00.000-08:00

Image from PopCap's Plants vs. Zombies Let's get one thing straight: I have a lot to be thankful for. Roight? Roight! This means that, by singling out one thing, I am in no way diminishing my appreciation of the other things. Well, actually, I am. This is not the point you're looking for. I can go about my post. Move along! At any rate, I want to single out a cheesy computer game and a

BYBS: Discourse

2010-11-22T05:45:00.000-08:00

picture by smannion@flickr.com I'm a member of a book club and we just got finished discussing a book I had recommended. Normally, I am (ahem) somewhat less than thorough with respect to reading the book beforehand. This time, since I was the one who was supposed to lead the discussion, I felt more of an imperative to be prepared. I'm not a big fan of using stress to bring out the best in

BYBS: Presentations

2010-11-14T18:11:00.000-08:00

A more interesting talk than the one I gave. Photo by andyp uk This weekend I got a call from a friend because he heard about a presentation I am going to give in a few months. The nice thing about this was that I had not mustered the motivation to keep in touch and this whole presentation business got it done for me. So something good came of doing the presentation.

BYBS: A Decent Red

2010-10-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

Image from the Chateau Julian site While I might not be able to pick out a really good wine from a flock of mediocre ones, I can (hopefully) tell utter swill from something decent. I found this red for the unassuming price of $12 which seems pretty reasonable to me. As an aside, I am very aware of all the trouble that alcohol can cause. This post is not so much in praise of alcohol as

BYBS: A Beautiful Fall Day

2010-10-25T05:37:00.000-07:00

Photo by Dru! at Flickr There are days where it feels like the weather is trying to say "it's great to be alive!" I had one of these this past week and while the scenery was not as nice as this, it was inspiring. I find it somewhat odd and yet encouraging that a sour grape like myself can find inspiration from the world.

BYBS: Google Chrome Developer Tools

2010-10-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

Developer tools displaying the JavaScript for Yahoo! Since I have a complete lack of ideas for this week (note that I'm not talkin about good ideas, those waved bye-bye to me a long time ago) I decided to blog about something that I use every day. In particular, the JavaScript debugger that Google created with their chrome browser. I know, I know, you are now shouting at your monitor "But

BYBS: Zombies

2010-10-11T14:41:00.000-07:00

I know when it's my turn to be torn apart by zombies I will want people tophotograph the event. Photo by Laughing Squid As with many people who happen upon a scene of flesh eating zombies who are about to turn someone into a Big Mac, my first thought was "Hey! Maybe I can make this into a blog posting!" OK, so maybe that might not be most people's first thought, but up there in the top 10

BYBS: Dogs

2010-10-03T07:21:00.000-07:00

We think they're cute and they're thinking "You're next!" Image by diegodacal@flickr.com Filed under one of those things that I’m glad about but that make no sense are dogs. They are critters that seem to delight in the presence of people no matter what mood you are in. Being my lazy self, I don’t have a pet, but I have recently visited some people that do so I can take advantage of theirs

BYBS: Muse

2010-09-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Ancient Well by BlakJakDavy@flickr.com This is the place within each one of us where creative ideas come from. What does one call it? Creative spirit? Creative impulse? Your muse? Akira, an old Japanese anime, had an interesting way of putting it: A human being, you know, achieves a whole lot of things in a lifetime, right? Like discovering things and making things like houses and

BYBS: The Great Outdoors

2010-09-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

As you might expect from a total nerd, I don't spend a whole lot of time outdoors. Nevertheless, I do occasionally venture into the great outdoors. The past couple of weeks have been especially good for this so I thought I'd share an image or two from what I have managed to get out and see. Somewhere, up in the mountains, near a pond Somewhere else, up in the mountains, with some trees

BYBS: Meetup.com

2010-09-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Normally I don't promote sites but this week was different: I was desperate for a topic. At any rate, meetup.com is actually a pretty cool site, since it allows you to, well, meet up with other people who are interested in the same sort of stuff that you are. That is, face to face, in the real world meetings instead of any of this virtual stuff. Especially for people like me who are completely

BYBS: Geobacter

2010-09-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Geobacter Project is about Using electricity to create fuels via bacteria Using fuels to create electricity via bacteria This is a gross simplification of the details, but it is about how people used their cleverness for making the world a better place instead of blowing each other up or causing a financial collapse. Geobacter is about using naturally existing bacteria (for example, one

BYBS: The Drabblecast

2010-08-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Copyright (c) by Norm Sherman/drabblecast.org Yes, another podcast site. From the site description: To hear the latest and greatest in Strange Stories, by Strange Authors, for Strange Listeners (such as yourself), visit the Drabblecast at www.drabblecast.org. The description is actually pretty accurate - the stories are just plain weird. Not really all sci-fi like Escape Pod or

BYBS: Beneath Ceaseless Skies

2010-08-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

©2008 - 2010 Firkin Press, unless otherwise noted, All rights reserved. Image from the current issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Quoting their "About..." link Beneath Ceaseless Skies (ISSN 1946-1046) is a SFWA-qualifying, pro-rate online magazine dedicated to publishing the best in literary adventure fantasy. Beneath Ceaseless Skies is an online is a combination of podcast and print short

BYBS: This Week in Virology

2010-08-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

I guess it says something about me that I listen to a podcast about viruses for fun. You can find them on iTunes, by going to twiv.tv or by clicking on the image. Some of the things that i find interesting about this podcast include: Insight into the world of virology. Interesting tibits of information about viruses. The friendly banter between the hosts. Maybe listening to this show is

BYBS: Big Brain Book

2010-08-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Cover of the book, (c) Gary Lynch and Richard Granger 2008, published by PALGRAVE MCMILLAN 2009 This is a book about the evolution of the human brain. The book has some pretty interesting ideas. For example: What if there were no particular evolutionary pressure towards intelligence? What if the brain structures that are needed for intelligence were there all along? What if there were

Nigerian Scam Spam, Draft #3

2010-06-22T05:30:00.000-07:00

Last draft for the NSS. This one weighs in at around 200 words. Subject: Please take a moment to save a soul I am writing to you today on behalf of some people who made a few mistakes. While one mistake certainly deserves consequences, nothing is worth an eternity of suffering, but that's what they are looking at. But you can give some of them a second chance. As you have no doubt guessed,

Nigerian Scam Spam, draft #2

2010-06-18T04:38:00.000-07:00

This is draft #2 of my Nigerian Scan Spam contest entry hosted by the Drabblecast. In this draft I'm trying to get the word count down to below 300 Subject: take a moment and save a soulPlease remember that I'm asking you to help a few damned souls - I am not asking you to help me or in any way endorse me, my cause or what I stand for.Sorry for that but I feel I should be up front with you:

Nigerian Scam Spam Entry

2010-06-15T19:16:00.000-07:00

This is the first draft of my humble entry into the Drabblecast's infamous annual Nigerian Scan Spam contest for 2010. The idea is to create a typical "scam" email along the lines of the ones that proport to be from some general or other high official in a country torn by political strife. The message is supposed to try and get money or whatnot from the victim by asking for a bank account

BYBS: PodCastle

2009-11-11T19:53:00.000-08:00

PodCastle: Fantasy short stories in podcast form I had decided up front that I was not going to like the latest story from PodCastle, "The Small Door," but I ended up changing my mind. The story is about "...weirdos, children (the two are not mutually exclusive), and a very small door." In particular it is about the investigations of two young girls into what a rather strange

BYBS: Viral Gene Therapy

2009-10-12T06:37:00.000-07:00

After viral gene therapy, a monkey born without the ability to see red and green can now detect them.Science News, October 10, 2009 Now that we are heading into the flu season I thought it was appropriate to talk about how wonderful viruses are. Maybe they're not, but I thought it would be nice to talk about how wonderful some viruses are. Specifically, using the power of the little

BYBS: Coloring Books for the Soul

2009-10-06T17:47:00.000-07:00

While talking to a friend (a man can hope can't he?) about stories I mentioned how I would make up alternate endings or fill in character motivations. He asked if that was a big part of the story and I remarked in a rare moment of clarity that, for me, that sort of thing is the story. If a song is sad I tell myself why. If I find a character in a movie interesting, I might envision a few

BYBS: Brain Science Podcast

2009-09-28T05:54:00.000-07:00

Brain Science Podcast at http://docartemis.com/brainsciencepodcast So I was, as usual, trying to find a topic to blog about. It being Monday morning at 6am, and therefore just a wee bit past Sunday (though the whole BYBS thing is as much of an excuse to get me to do something as anything else, but that's another story) and I was debating whether to blog about a kick-butt Podcastle episode

BYBS: Oatmeal, Raisins and Black Tea

2009-09-21T06:11:00.000-07:00

Over here at the office for extreme cleverness and ideas for when you have nothing else to blog about, I've been researching a new substance that has the potential to bring about world peace and freedom in our time. Many people have asked me how this works. The answer is simple: it doesn't. So much for the bad news. The good news is that the byproduct, oatmeal with raisins using black tea

BYBS: Microbe World

2009-09-09T04:56:00.000-07:00

Last week (OK, it was actually the week before that, but still), I listened to a fascinating podcast called "Tiny Conspiracies" by Dr. Bonnie Bassler about how some microbes can talk to each other. I found this very cool because a) the little buggers aren't supposed to be able to do that and b) I could understand anything she said at all. As a veteran of listening to people who are not

BYBS: Escape Artists

2009-09-03T04:19:00.000-07:00

Escape Pod and its siblings, Podcastle and Pseudopod are podcast sites that deal in various fiction short stories. A podcast is like a radio show or a book on tape in a form that you can download and play on your computer, an MP3 player or an iPod (hence the name). Much to my surprise, I've never blogged about podcasts before, but that just means that I now have all my BYBS entries

BYBS/W: Solar Power

2009-08-19T06:32:00.000-07:00

Solar energy power generation systems. Image courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories. One of the things that I really enjoy in life is when people come together to solve a problem. It demonstrates humanity's ability to cooperate, and when directed towards what I consider to be an intelligent and noble goal, it makes me feel good to be alive. One problem that we face is the need for clean,

BYBS: Shared Emotion

2009-08-12T06:51:00.000-07:00

There is an interesting that I perceive in all human beings to, in some situations, to experience or feel the same way. People like to go to movies and laugh at the same joke or feel scared at the same scene or sad at the same point. Regardless of what you think of laugh tracks or music that underscores the emotional significance of a particular situation, such things are prevalent on TV

BYBS: Stuck in a Rut

2009-08-02T13:26:00.001-07:00

27-74Sertrack by Kibuyu There are some people who might think that being stuck in a rut is a bad thing. Then again, there are some people who would start measuring the thing to see if their furniture would fit. I, on the other hand, would have already moved in. Some days I have a hard time coming up with something to write for BYBS. I am pretty sure that taking a moment in my week and

BYBS: Chicken Breasts

2009-07-26T13:56:00.000-07:00

Checken Breast by Mrydd In keeping with the rather simplistic nature of my BYBS postings I thought I'd talk about chicken breasts. As I've mentioned in the past, I'm on a diet; and this means I'm miserable. Scratch that. What I was trying to say is that, in addition to being miserable, I try to get the maximum nutrients with the minimum number of calories. This being the case, I have

BYBS: An Uplifting Moment

2009-07-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

Turimetta Sunrise by Christopher Chan I had an uplifting moment last week. As I was walking through a parking lot to get to my car, the sun was shining brightly and it just felt good to be alive. Nearby plants were vibrant with life, the breeze was cool, the sun comforting and it just seemed like everything was right. Even the blazing heat of my car (you know, when the sun is beating

BYBS: Cookouts

2009-07-12T07:07:00.000-07:00

Counselor Cookout and Putt-Putt Party by ASCAA For someone that doesn't get out enough(tm), it's been good to go to a few BBQ/cookout/what have you style events. I get to see a bunch of people in a reasonably positive setting and eat some stuff that tastes good (even if it's not that good for me). I'm not the most social person in the world. I don't even live next to the most social person

BYBS: A Good Read

2009-07-05T08:07:00.000-07:00

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow is an interesting read for those of us who want something relatively light about internet style futurist societies. The actual plot revolves around (I'm not making this up) a struggle over who gets to control Disney Land. That Doctorow can get me to keep reading a book with that premise is a pretty impressive feat all by itself. The book

BYBS: Spiritual Exercises

2009-06-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

Two girls exercising by mikebaird There are lots of things that I do that do not have an immediate reward. Some of them are recognizable like dieting and exercise. I change my diet, but my waistline does not immediately shrink. If I eat a pint of ice cream, I don't expect to see my weight increase by 5 pounds over night. But over time these things have a very definite effect: though my day to

BYBS: Open Source Software

2009-06-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

Open source software has done a great deal to make the modern internet that I know and love possible. Over the years, I've used quite a few of these packages to do my day to day work. Here's a very quick glimpse of a tiny fraction of the packages out there that have helped me

BYBS: A Walk in the Mountains

2009-06-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

Rooiberg Mountain Pass by Martin_Heigan Went for a walk in the beautiful mountains today and chose this for my BYBS entry. Didn't have a camera, so this isn't what it really looked like, but you get the idea.

BYBS: Wikipedia

2009-06-07T12:36:00.001-07:00

I don't know how many times I've turned to Wikipedia for information, but it's a lot. The site consistently has very high quality articles on an unbelievable range of topics. What's more, the whole thing is put together by the very people who browse the web. In short, the site is a showcase for what I wish more of the web was like: people working together to help each other in an "ain't

BYBS: Bananas

2009-05-31T06:50:00.001-07:00

In addition to being tastee, bananas are also good sources of potassium. Like most fruits and vegetables, they have far fewer calories than processed foods of equivalent weight. Modern bananas became popular because the previous popular type of banana, the "Gros Michel," has been largely wiped out due to a fungus.

BYBS: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

2009-05-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

It was hard to find anything good to say today. This quote, however, made me chuckle: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,

A Good Host

2009-05-16T14:41:00.000-07:00

A strange host There is one school of thought that says that we are just hosts to ideas: that the ideas are the species and that we are a way for them to perpetuate themselves. While that casts human beings as mere beasts of burden, I always liked to think that we have more to say about what's going on than that. One way of looking at it is that we are hosts, as in "would you like

BYBS: Oranges

2009-05-10T08:37:00.001-07:00

Simple and yet delicious I find it remarkable that something so simple compared to other things that I enjoy can be so good. On a cold and rainy day, when the sky is overcast and gloomy, its nice to be able to gaze out from my warm hole with a nice orange.Photo by "Rock Paper Image"

BYBS: Help from the Web

2009-05-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

Despite years of working with computers I'm still undecided as to whether they actually solve problems or create new ones. In particular, I find myself confounded over and over again by problems of the form: Me: Move this from here to here. Computer: M: Why didn't you move the file? C: You didn't say "simon says." M: Alright - "Simon says." C: What? M: Move the file! C: You

VYSW: Rest in Peace

2009-04-30T06:59:00.000-07:00

I'm sure that someone will miss you... Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time, but I have created no Vent Your Spleen Wednesday (VYSW) postings in quite a while and it doesn't seem like the internet is exactly overflowing with people who want to join. Despite being #2 on Google for a search for vysw, I think it's time to like the mangey dog rest in peace. The good thing about

BYBS: Reasoned Discussion

2009-04-26T01:00:00.000-07:00

Copyright (c) threestooges.com I enjoy being able to talk seriously every once in a while about stuff like the nature of consciousness, whether honesty and accuracy are the same thing, and other, ultimately pointless topics. I'm grateful that there are other people that I can talk about this stuff with and that they discuss it seriously...at least some of the time. Part of the problem

The Impossible Dream

2009-04-22T11:59:00.000-07:00

Is striving towards an impossible but desirable and worthwhile goal a waste of time? For time out of mind there have been people who strove towards perfect meditative state, achieve world peace, or total knowledge. From a practical standpoint, these people know that their goal cannot be attained, or perhaps attained by them, yet they strove all the same; and what's more, people continue to

BYBS: Symbiosis

2009-04-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

Symbiosis usually describes a situation where organsims of different species coexist for mutual benefit. For example, bees and flowers: the bee gets food and the flower gets pollination. At least according to Wikipedia, this is actually a "mutualistic" relationship. At one end of the spectrum is parasitism, where one participant benefits and the other is harmed. The next

Erm...you're sure about this, right doc?

2009-04-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

I recently heard about a rather...unexpected medical therapy being used: using organisms that are commonly considered parasites to help treat certain conditions. I'd like to ask those of you who are easily grossed out to stop reading now. OK, I expect that most people, easily upset or not, are still reading, but just remember that I warned you! I am talking about the medicinal use of

BYBS: A Contribution

2009-04-12T06:23:00.000-07:00

My blessing for the week is being able to make a contribution to something that I feel has been of benefit to me. Over the years I've been able use the web to solve a number of problems. Many of these have been the sort of hair-tearing, swearing and gesticulating at the monitor sorts of things that cause people to question my sanity even more than they usually do. The

BYBS: Small Things

2009-03-29T13:26:00.000-07:00

Today's BYBS is going to center on "small" aspects that I am grateful for. This is partially because I'm lazy, but also because when I feel like the "big" things might not being going well, I have a hard time saying I'm grateful for them. I sometimes find it hard to decide if I am grateful for things like the ability to judge "right" from "wrong", but I can't argue about liking the

Linux: Finding the Crazies at the Asylum

2009-03-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine who went to West Point told me that the ones who went bonkers were the ones who tried to justify everything. After many years, I've come to the conclusion that Linux serves the same purpose in the context of computer geeks. So imagine you are running some school that churns out people that have the unhappy job of sending lots of young people off to be killed in horrible

BYBS: Flickr Rocks

2009-03-07T09:23:00.001-08:00

Japanese Rock Garden | (CC) | by vgm8383@flickr.com During the past couple of weeks I have discovered that Flickr kicks major fundament. I've needed some images for a talk that I've been preparing for some local professional groups. The subject of the images have ranged from two people talking over a "string and cup telephone" to a snail crossing a finish line.

BYBS: Neuroplasticity

2009-01-23T15:29:00.000-08:00

Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to "rewire" itself in response to training or experience. Up until recently, it was believed that the brain could not change very much after age 5 or so. It has been known that the brain of a person who was, for example, born blind could change so that portions of the brain that typically were used for vision could instead be used for

BYBS: Benefits of BYBS

2009-01-03T18:53:00.000-08:00

There is reason to believe that participating in BYBS may be, from a health standpoint, a good idea. The results of a study by Emmons & McCullough seem to indicate that keeping a "Gratitude Journal," which bears a striking resemblance to writing entries for Blog Your Blessings Sunday, can have a positive benefit on ones outlook on life. From the text of the abstract: The

BYBS: An Audience

2008-12-14T19:37:00.000-08:00

I recently embarked on another abuse of the English language. That is, I started writing another story. This one is called "Evening" and is a spoof of the "Harry Potter" series as well as the movie "Twilight." I had attempted to write this story before, but stopped when I found that I didn't like the premise as much as I thought I would. I'll hopefully do better this time because I'm

BYBS: Things I Haven't Achieved

2008-11-29T08:08:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I complain about how I haven't managed to achieve everything I've wanted to. OK, maybe I spend a lot of time complaining. In BYBS form, therefore, I came up with a list of things that I'm glad I haven't done: Become a drug addict. Become a drug dealer. Flunked out of college. Screwed over a friend. Killed anyone. Started a war. Bilked people out of large amounts of money (a

BYBS: Thanksgiving Edition!

2008-11-27T15:06:00.000-08:00

I came up with a special BYBS entry, it being Thanksgiving and all. VYSW will be back next week...at least in theory. As anyone who read too many comic books in their formative years, I'm a bit nervous about saying "life is great!" since that is the time that the writers choose to drop a 10 ton safe on the character as a reward for saying such a thing. However, I'm also a rather

BYBS: Meaning in the Clouds

2008-11-23T17:01:00.000-08:00

Consider clouds or oil on water. Some people will try to say that "it looks like a continent" or "the cloud looks like an elephant." The interesting thing to me is not so much whether some milk in a coffee cup looks a tree so much as that people strive for meaning in things have none. This led me to wonder what other sorts of things we assign meaning to. Seeing as I have something of a

VYSW: What I Do for a Living

2008-11-12T19:21:00.000-08:00

Vent Your Spleen Wednesday It's not always easy to explain my job to people. As a person who has worked in the field of all things computer, people sometimes ask me "how do the damn things work?" My answer is that they don't. I spend a huge amount of time working on some ridiculously simple aspect of a program, only to be told that what I have done is broken. You see if you

BYBS: A Profound Event

2008-11-05T19:46:00.000-08:00

Something profound happened the other day and I missed it. I was voting in the election and when I cast my ballot, the race of the candidates did not factor into my decision. I was more wrapped up in the issues at hand, whether the candidates could be trusted, etc. When I listened to the coverage of the election today, I discovered that the race of the president-elect had made a huge

VYSW: Nukewrap

2008-10-29T19:40:00.000-07:00

Vent Your Spleen Wednesday The thing that really ticks me off is traffic and those damn drivers who...oh...I already blogged about that. Alrighty, what drives me nuts are those stupid stat-counters that inevitably fail when you...fooie, did that one too. Nothing can match the feeling when I turn on the radio only to find...sigh. Nukewrap! I haven't blogged about that yet! OK

BYBS: Adaptability

2008-10-26T04:31:00.000-07:00

Adaptability is one of those things that I know about intellectually, but that I don't think actually applies to me. Specifically, when I started on a more healthy diet a few years back I did not expect my tastes to change the way they did. When I stopped eating as much red meat and added more fruits and vegetables to my diet, I was about as happy as a condemned man. The odd

VYSW: NPR Membership Drives

2008-10-22T19:38:00.000-07:00

Vent Your Spleen Wednesday Like everyone this time of year, I look forwards the Fall and the change of colors in the trees...who am I fooling? I look forward to getting an hour back with Daylight Savings time. OK, best to start again. One of the things that really ticks me off is turning on the damn radio and getting an NPR fundraiser. I realize this is public radio and needs

BYBS: Ian M. Banks

2008-10-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

I recently started reading Iain Banks and have been pleasantly surprised. I've read his Player of Games, a bit of On the Use of Weapons and right now I'm reading The Algebraist. So far I think Player was the best read, but I haven't finished Algebraist yet so you never know. The books I've been reading by Banks have had a "Space Opera" style to them. That is, planet hopping human

VYSW: Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves!

2008-10-16T19:23:00.000-07:00

Vent Your Spleen Wednesday Many companies think that they can improve matters by making their employees afraid; specifically by firing people and then pointing out that there are still more people left that they can remove. This does not make a whole lot of sense to me because I cannot stay scared indefinitely. When I'm scared, my heart beats, I sweat, etc. but only for a little

BYBS: Ozark

2008-10-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

A while back I had asked Ozark, the person who created the "Mind Flayed" webcomic, for an exchange: I'd write a short story about their characters if they would draw me a picture for one of my short stories. Recently I was saying hello the other day when they mentioned this and the result was the following pic: This is "Grandpa Sith" from the story Deathtalker 2 – a silly yarn set in

VYSW: Aggressive Drivers

2008-10-08T18:34:00.001-07:00

Vent Your Spleen Wednesday A major factor in the stress of driving for me are those drivers who seem to pounce on any opportunity to get cut in front of me. And what does this idiot get? 1 car length. Often times even that gain is erased since the other guy ends up at the next stop light or slow-down anyways. The worst of the worst are the ones who seem to be racing someone else.

BYBS: Sleepy Weekends

2008-10-05T18:31:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been especially sleepy for some reason. While one can argue about whether spending a weekend this way is really a blessing or not, my own opinion is definite: it's a blessing. It's so nice to just rest as much as you want to once in a while, especially when you spend a good deal of your time…stressed. Part of it is the rest itself and part of it, for me at least, is

VYSW: Blogrolling.com!

2008-10-01T18:18:00.000-07:00

Vent Your Spleen Wednesday And my very first VYSW post is about, of course, blogrolling.com --- the annoying twerp of a place that I first turned to in order to manage my blogroll! In the midst of trying to launch a meme, the damn blogrolling site decides to be difficult. It times out, it decides to ignore commands...I'd say a bit about blogspot and how their editor works but I'm

VYSW

2008-09-29T03:28:00.000-07:00

Vent Your Spleen Wednesday What is VYSW? VYSW is shorthand for "Vent Your Spleen Wednesday." The phrase "Vent Your Spleen" means to bitch, moan, rant, complain or otherwise commiserate about something that just really upsets you, whatever that may be. The purpose for the author of this particular meme is twofold: It gives the author another reason to write.It brings the "rant" portion of "

BYBS: Imagination

2008-09-29T01:16:00.000-07:00

Dibbler: "The world is full of little people with big dreams!" Victor: "What, you mean like dwarfs and gnomes and so on?" Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett Speaking personally, imagination has greatly enriched my life. In the mornings, I don't climb into my car to go sit in traffic for 20 to 40 minutes, I'm strapping into the Bandersnatch, my high-performance, interplanetary

BYBS: The Force of Self

2008-09-21T06:39:00.000-07:00

one of the worst results of being a slave and being forced to do things is that when there is no one to force you any more you find you have almost lost the power of forcing yourself. C.S. Lewis, "The Horse and His Boy" The above quote pertains to a situation where some people were being chased by another group and were debating how much farther to go. One part thought they

BYBS: The System of Life

2008-09-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

One of the things that fascinates me about life is that there are so many examples of species that work together. For example, if you took the DNA from a termite and created a clone, you would end up with an animal that would starve to death. Termites cannot digest wood without the help of some microorganisms. Note the use of the plural. The microorganisms themselves rely on other

BYBS: Algae Farms

2008-08-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

An algae farm near Rio Hondo, Texas The picture is an aerial photo (from Google Maps for the curious) of an algae farm near the border with Mexico. The farm is operated by a company called PetroSun to produce biodeisel, a product that can be used in place of regular diesel fuel. I like things like algae farms this because they show that humanity is clever. It shows that our

BYBS: CherryTV.com

2008-08-24T08:16:00.000-07:00

Cherrytv.com is a site that talks about sexuality from a woman's perspective. Most of their content takes the form of videos from round-table style discussions of topics like: Achieving an orgasm during penetrative sex. Communicating with your partner Benefits of masturbation Now all this might sound like ye basic porn site, especially when I mention the word "video," but this

BYBS: A Moderately Sane Country

2008-08-17T06:01:00.000-07:00

I'm glad I live in a country that is basically sane. This is not to say that the USA does not have its share of nut cases and wackos. Or that said crazies are even kept from holding public office or from, say, running a major company. I'm just glad that that they don't run things all the time. For an example of garden variety insanity, take a look at our healthcare system. I think the idea

Nothing. Everything.

2008-08-10T20:30:00.000-07:00

A long while back, I heard one of those zen-ish sorts of statements that stuck with me. It ran something like this: Want everything, have nothing. Want nothing, have everything. This cryptic statement came with an explanation. The idea is that you never have everything that you want. If you keep wanting, then eventually what you have seems like nothing. Therefore, if you want

BYBS: 10 More Things I Like About You

2008-07-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

This is a continuation of a previous BYBS posting that takes a more outward look than inward. Rather than blather about myself or how I see someone as being a blessing for me, I thought I would talk about things that I like about other bloggers/commenters/etc. The one: who can be awfully determined, has a memory that would make an elephant blink, and and has a postive outlook that

BYBS: Podcasts

2008-07-20T06:38:00.000-07:00

I like listening to stuff while I drive to work. Over the years, I've found myself gravitating to National Public Radio (NPR). Not sure if they are particularly objective - they are sometimes branded a "tool" of (insert affiliation here) by (insert other organization here), but they have interesting topics and shows. The most important thing for me is that NPR does not have an endless

What's all this "Singularity" stuff?

2008-07-15T19:47:00.000-07:00

The short answer: The Singularity is the idea that humanity, using technology, will become gods/super-powerful/whatever. I don't think this will happen because I believe there are limits to what science/technology can do and because I think that humanity will run out of motivation before we even reach that limit. The long answer: The way I understand it, the idea of a technological

Vernor Vinge

2008-07-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

The author of several popular "hard" science fiction novels, Venor Vinge is responsible for many happy hours spent reading and daydreaming. The theme of a "technological singularity" runs through many of his works. The technological singularity, or simple "The Singularity" is the notion that, if scientific advances keep coming at a faster and faster pace, then eventually you reach a

BYBS: The Aquatic Species Program

2008-06-29T03:44:00.000-07:00

According to the US Dept of Energy, it's possible to grow fuel like farmers grow rice. From the late 70's to mid 90's, a study called "The Aquatic Species Program" was conducted to investigate and optimize growing fuels. The outcome was that you could use algae and ponds to grow all the fuel you need. The basic problem with the approach was that, at the time, it was twice as

BYBS: Borrowing the Will of the Ball

2008-06-15T04:32:00.000-07:00

The 1990 movie "Awakenings," is about the experiences that Dr. Oliver Sacks has with people suffering from a rare type of catatonia. He discovers that they are able of responding to their environments in rather odd ways. For example, if he holds a tennis ball in front of their eyes and drops it, the catatonic patient will catch it before it hits the ground. He describes this behavior

BYBS: Silly Achievement

2008-06-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

Recently, I finally released a piece-of-crap application that I've been working on for a while. The name, what it does, etc. is not really important. What is important is that it involves gnomez…female gnomez…hehe, hehehe, hehehehehehe. What am I saying?!! I was trying to communicate that it's nice to have finally created a release. While it's not the world's greatest

BYBS: Learning

2008-05-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, I mentioned that exams were an experience in pain. I guess that is a specific example of the maxim: "With pain comes suffering." Hmm… that doesn't seem quite right. I know! It was actually "With suffering comes resentment!" No…that's not quite right either. Perhaps it was "The ends justify the means?" "Sometimes to save something you have to destroy it?" OK,

BYBS: Respect for the Beast

2008-05-18T14:43:00.000-07:00

A long time friend of mine had a cat named "La Bete" which he said was French for "the Beast." Many years ago, he and I found a sick bird. We put it in a shoebox and attempted to nurse it back to health. At least until the cat found it. "Why did it kill the bird?! I mean it has all the food it wants, but nonetheless it killed the poor thing!" In retrospect, I could have

BYBS: Roles & the Internet

2008-05-11T12:33:00.000-07:00

More specifically, I'm referring to taking on a persona or playing a role on the internet or a computer game. This also applies to things like discussion groups, chat rooms, etc. Social Psychology/Sociology has quite a few studies and theories regarding roles. What I think the internet and computer games brought to the table is the notion of a "virtual role." Things like "massively