I got too curious, and I had to check out The Simple Life, a reality show where socialites Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie gets to live on a farm in the mid west, without their credit cards and servants and cell phones. So I rented the first season.
It's fun. Just in the first episode we learn that not only do the girls not know what "bottled water, generic" is, but they don't know what the word "generic" means.
Also, Nicole don't know what a Wall Mart is, and neither of them has seen one. The family is incredulous. In the country in the US, not knowing what a Wall Mart is, is like not knowing what a road or a roof is.
When they go shopping for the family, they get a few extra items and overshoot the fifty dollars they've been given, by fifteen. They don't understand why the store won't just give them the groceries. And they don't understand the term "soup kitchen" when the clerk says that the store isn't one.
They can't bring themselves to touch a dead animal when asked to pluck a chicken, and they totally freak out when there are small bugs in their room. The family's four-year-old boy kills the bugs for them.
They seem to be lovely people at heart, but they are every bit as spoiled rotten as you'd expect. In the beginning they go at a shopping spree before the farm trip. They buy accessories at prices like $1500 and $2000 a piece. And I'm sure none of them has ever done an hour's honest work in her life, and wouldn't have any idea of how much of it it would take for most people to buy a $2000 handbag. Not that there's anything wrong with luxury items as such, it's just the level of disconnect that's interesting.
It's not their fault. How can you understand something you've never been exposed to? How can you understand "I can't afford this jacket", when you've never seen anything in your life you couldn't just put on your credit card?
It's a hoot and a holler.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Escape
Two asylum inmates were escaping, via the roof. It was a foggy night, and one of them shone his flashlight across to the next building, pointed at the beam and said to his friend: "go ahead, you walk across first."
His friend said: "do you think I'm crazy? When I'm half across, you'll just turn off the flashlight!"
My dad told me that one when I was a kid. It was also used in the Batman comic "The Killing Joke" by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland.
That one by the way demonstrates why an artist should not comment too much on his own work: Alan Moore has stated that he did not think this was His Best Writing, or words to that effect. And this upset those fans who loved it, as well as the artist Brian Bolland, for whom it was a career highlight. See, no reason for that. If somebody loves something, who's to say otherwise, even the author? (I too thought it was good.)
Francis Francis X1 cappuccino machine
Look at all those bits and notes of instructions! You'd think I'd bought a nuclear reactor.
Update: Hey-Zeus friggin' Cripes, if I needed a new thing to be geeky about, this is it! I don't think there's any end to the refinements to the things to learn about making espresso/cappuccino.
Question is if it's relevant to me. For instance, coffee gourmets tell us that coffee must be totally freshly ground, and even freshly roasted (!) to be at its best. But so far in my life I've not been able to tell the difference. But then maybe I never had really fresh coffee. But do I want to learn? Maybe I'll be spoiled if it's really significantly better.
Update: Hey-Zeus friggin' Cripes, if I needed a new thing to be geeky about, this is it! I don't think there's any end to the refinements to the things to learn about making espresso/cappuccino.
Question is if it's relevant to me. For instance, coffee gourmets tell us that coffee must be totally freshly ground, and even freshly roasted (!) to be at its best. But so far in my life I've not been able to tell the difference. But then maybe I never had really fresh coffee. But do I want to learn? Maybe I'll be spoiled if it's really significantly better.
Leopard
Neener-neener-neener, I got Leopard early!
(How geeky can you get.)
Update: Aaargh! Disappointment. The new internal hard disk I got for installing Leopard on was broken. Durn it all to heck.
I wanted a new disk because I need a bigger one anyway, and because while it has been rare on my Mac that a system upgrade broke any apps, for some reason I got the idea it might this time, and a few of my mission critical apps don't have upgrades.
Update 2: Worse, there's some indication that my macro app, iKey, is not and may not even become Leopard-compatible. That would truly suck, I have invested so much time in that.
Later update yet:
I looked at the more advanced competitor macro app, QuicKeys, and to my surprise the interface is actually easier, so I'm going with that one. Probably a step up for me, it'll turn out.
I like the Leopard look-and-feel a lot, event the parts that some bitch about, like the see-through menu bar and the blue-grey folder icons. (I never cared all that much for the bright blue color of the old folder icons.)
... Apple's excellent Migration Assistant software is currently transferring all my old files and settings from the old hard disk. It seems it's going to take near four hours, even with direct hard disk interface! (About half a terrabyte of data.) I feel stranded without access to my email app.
(How geeky can you get.)
Update: Aaargh! Disappointment. The new internal hard disk I got for installing Leopard on was broken. Durn it all to heck.
I wanted a new disk because I need a bigger one anyway, and because while it has been rare on my Mac that a system upgrade broke any apps, for some reason I got the idea it might this time, and a few of my mission critical apps don't have upgrades.
Update 2: Worse, there's some indication that my macro app, iKey, is not and may not even become Leopard-compatible. That would truly suck, I have invested so much time in that.
Later update yet:
I looked at the more advanced competitor macro app, QuicKeys, and to my surprise the interface is actually easier, so I'm going with that one. Probably a step up for me, it'll turn out.
I like the Leopard look-and-feel a lot, event the parts that some bitch about, like the see-through menu bar and the blue-grey folder icons. (I never cared all that much for the bright blue color of the old folder icons.)
... Apple's excellent Migration Assistant software is currently transferring all my old files and settings from the old hard disk. It seems it's going to take near four hours, even with direct hard disk interface! (About half a terrabyte of data.) I feel stranded without access to my email app.
Hicks
It's just a ride and we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money, a choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your door, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one.
-- Bill Hicks
It's my opinion that Bill Hicks was a better philosopher than he was a comedian.
-- Bill Hicks
It's my opinion that Bill Hicks was a better philosopher than he was a comedian.
To stop being a victim
Article on how to forgive by Corinne Edwards. (I looked her up on the web after seeing on DVD a nice interview she conducted with Ken and Gloria Wapnick about A Course In Miracles, and it turns out she has a rather active blog.)
TTL comments:
But doesn't forgiving imply victimhood?
If you believe in100% personal responsibility, like I do, there is never anything to blame nor forgive others for.
Instead, you ask: Why did I do this to myself?
Over time it gets easier to answer the question, and, as a result, you don't repeat the incident. Quite liberating, actually.
Corinne Edwards writes: "No, it is not letting them off the hook."
In 100% personal responsibility, you specifically let the other person off the hook. You recognise that you are responsible from the event as it played out to you.
Of course, from the perspective of the other person, the same applies. Whatever happened in their reality is their doing it to themselves. For their own reasons.
Totally right. Forgiveness does imply victimhood. But if you think about, any time you feel bad, upset, sad, angry, this implies victimhood too! And so you have something to "forgive".
"Advanced forgiveness" (an Course In Miracles term) means to change your mind from that of a victim to that of cause. From conflict to peace.
I also agree that real forgiveness does include letting somebody "off the hook". If you still desire to see somebody punished, then you have not fully forgiven.
Update: Ms. Edwards herself visited, commented, and referred to this.
TTL comments:
But doesn't forgiving imply victimhood?
If you believe in
Instead, you ask: Why did I do this to myself?
Over time it gets easier to answer the question, and, as a result, you don't repeat the incident. Quite liberating, actually.
Corinne Edwards writes: "No, it is not letting them off the hook."
In 100% personal responsibility, you specifically let the other person off the hook. You recognise that you are responsible from the event as it played out to you.
Of course, from the perspective of the other person, the same applies. Whatever happened in their reality is their doing it to themselves. For their own reasons.
Totally right. Forgiveness does imply victimhood. But if you think about, any time you feel bad, upset, sad, angry, this implies victimhood too! And so you have something to "forgive".
"Advanced forgiveness" (an Course In Miracles term) means to change your mind from that of a victim to that of cause. From conflict to peace.
I also agree that real forgiveness does include letting somebody "off the hook". If you still desire to see somebody punished, then you have not fully forgiven.
Update: Ms. Edwards herself visited, commented, and referred to this.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Comments mails
Oh! Blogger finally allows you to sign up for emails when somebody makes follow-up comments on a blog entry (on somebody else's blog) that you have commented on. Excellent!
Thursday morning
Thursday morning: end of the week again already? Where does time fly?
---
King Zod says:
In my Kingdom the end of the week is "Friday." Thursday is simply Friday Eve.
eolake said...
King Zod: Quite so. It's a joke.
Not the funny kind, the other kind, as Neal Gaiman says.
---
King Zod says:
In my Kingdom the end of the week is "Friday." Thursday is simply Friday Eve.
eolake said...
King Zod: Quite so. It's a joke.
Not the funny kind, the other kind, as Neal Gaiman says.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
USB plugs
Every other time I plug in a USB plug, I waste several seconds because you can't see which way it's supposed to turn, and I do it wrong the first time.
Based on 100 such incidents per computer user per year, and three wasted seconds per time, and 200 million computer users, I get that this wastes 16 million man-hours per year. Just because the plug was not made asymmetrical.
---
Alex expands:
You think that is bad, at least it is keyed to be the right way around.
Have you ever considered how dangerous it is to have a connector which physically will fit either way round, but not so electrically. The amount of time I've lost because a connector was in backwards, not to mention the cases where this causes board damage.
There is an interesting JTAG/OnCE connector, for cost implemented as simply as possible, unhooded and unkeyed. It is used for programming chips, like Freescale DSP's. One programmer is made by McGraigor , and available from Freescale and direct from McGraigor. The one from Freescale has a pin embedded so the connector can only be used one way around. The McGraigor direct version is un-keyed.
All well and good until you see the Freescale reference design, and they do not show to use a keyed header, so you end up not being able to plug in directly.
I have found, on my laptop, that a 3.5mm audio jack will slip into the 7in1 card slot which is right below the audio ports. The power barrel connector will fit inside the ethernet RJ-45 socket too.
In the PreUSB days I found Apples DIN8 serial connectors to be hard to line up, and not all AppleTalk dongles had an indicator to show the top. Also PS2 mouse and keyboard ports, dammit, once the box is under the desk I can't see which way up, or which is Mouse and which is key!
Have you ever tried to connect a parallel printer with a DB25M to DB25F only to find it is a single RS232 with only 9 of the 25 wires.
Have you ever plugged in an ethernet cable only to find it is a crossover not a straight.
Have you ever tried to plug a PBX phone into the wall using a POTS cable?
I can't think of a single easy to plug in, unambiguous connector which does not rely on clear sight of where you are connecting it. heck, the other day I plugged a walwart into 110V a bench power strip only to see that physically I had one pin in the socket and the other hanging over the side, I'd missed by an inch!
Actually, I have had easy to use, absolutely positive plugs, all were in industrial applications, and each as big as a PC mouse. Still in answer to you comment, it must be many times the wastage if you take in all other connector types.
Oh, here is a tidbit:
So the type A plug is asymmetrical, the logo is on the top! I can't find docs on where the port is labeled on the device.
Based on 100 such incidents per computer user per year, and three wasted seconds per time, and 200 million computer users, I get that this wastes 16 million man-hours per year. Just because the plug was not made asymmetrical.
---
Alex expands:
You think that is bad, at least it is keyed to be the right way around.
Have you ever considered how dangerous it is to have a connector which physically will fit either way round, but not so electrically. The amount of time I've lost because a connector was in backwards, not to mention the cases where this causes board damage.
There is an interesting JTAG/OnCE connector, for cost implemented as simply as possible, unhooded and unkeyed. It is used for programming chips, like Freescale DSP's. One programmer is made by McGraigor , and available from Freescale and direct from McGraigor. The one from Freescale has a pin embedded so the connector can only be used one way around. The McGraigor direct version is un-keyed.
All well and good until you see the Freescale reference design, and they do not show to use a keyed header, so you end up not being able to plug in directly.
I have found, on my laptop, that a 3.5mm audio jack will slip into the 7in1 card slot which is right below the audio ports. The power barrel connector will fit inside the ethernet RJ-45 socket too.
In the PreUSB days I found Apples DIN8 serial connectors to be hard to line up, and not all AppleTalk dongles had an indicator to show the top. Also PS2 mouse and keyboard ports, dammit, once the box is under the desk I can't see which way up, or which is Mouse and which is key!
Have you ever tried to connect a parallel printer with a DB25M to DB25F only to find it is a single RS232 with only 9 of the 25 wires.
Have you ever plugged in an ethernet cable only to find it is a crossover not a straight.
Have you ever tried to plug a PBX phone into the wall using a POTS cable?
I can't think of a single easy to plug in, unambiguous connector which does not rely on clear sight of where you are connecting it. heck, the other day I plugged a walwart into 110V a bench power strip only to see that physically I had one pin in the socket and the other hanging over the side, I'd missed by an inch!
Actually, I have had easy to use, absolutely positive plugs, all were in industrial applications, and each as big as a PC mouse. Still in answer to you comment, it must be many times the wastage if you take in all other connector types.
Oh, here is a tidbit:
"A: The USB-IF does not allow the logo to be on the overmold of either the "A" or "B" connector of a cable assembly. The standard USB trident must be on the top of both plug overmolds as described in chapter 6 of the USB 2.0 specification. Any cable assembly found with the hi-speed logo on the plug overmold will be deemed non-compliant."
So the type A plug is asymmetrical, the logo is on the top! I can't find docs on where the port is labeled on the device.
Superman, Morrison/Quitely
Superman, Morrison/Quitely.
The best Superman comic book ever? That would indeed be something of a statement, after all Superman has been handled by scores of excellent writers and artists over his 70-year career so far. But I would rank it right up there. And not only is it excellent, it also accomplishes what I had given up hope of: a fresh take on Superman. And it's even really well written and superbly drawn, funny, and surprising.
And yet the best Morrison/Quitely collaboration might be the old Flex Mentallo mini series. Out of print, I think, but bizarre, inventive, and seminal.
Record Mac sales
Pessimists may have been worried that Apple's success with iPods could cause them to drop the ball on the Macintosh and endanger the future of their favorite computing platform. It does not seem likely, fortunately, in fact Apple just had record Mac sales.
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