Your Mileage May Vary

Oh my Science indeed...

Background Noise:  South Pacific, Best Revival of a Musical. (Sorry, George)

Last Visited: reading the morning interwebs; mmm, tasty.

Random Thought: Happy Birthday, NPH!

Mood: crawling, slowly, into wakefulness

It took way too long for me to figure out if they were joking. Because we all know there are only five elements in the periodic table, indeed. Oh my i might have to own a few of these tshirts... if only they didn't actually say "teach the controversy" on them... someone might think i'm serious. Then again, that could be a good litmus test. 

In other news, the Ice Cream Grade in the Santa Cruz Mountains? I swear on sunday morning actually smelled like ice cream. Then i realized that was pretty much because i was skirting a wildfire, but that's not really the point; the point is the smell was enchanting. What an appropriately named road, i thought. A fun drive, too. Anyways.

... I might be redefining "scattered" today. Just fyi.

PS: Thrillist is my new 'net best friend; true this is on very little evidence, but they already hit it out of the park with the SF Beer Map and the heads up for Riesling Week... way to go, boys. Does it say something that i like the Men's Daily Candy better than, well, Daily Candy? Nah, i didn't think so either. 

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I want my html-only editor back

Background Noise: fox; i'm not too proud to admit it 

Last Visited: Did humans colonize the world by boat? I think the more interesting question is why would everyone put that option out of the realm of possibility? 

Random Thought: holy crap, crystal skulls aren't just a figment of Lucas's imagination 

Mood: thesaurus says: enervated 

I'm going to start by saying this isn't an apology, exactly. See, i've kinda fallen in to a bit of a black hole lately, pretty much being consumed by (a) work, (b) working out, (c) things that are on my calendar, (d) sleep, and when i feel the need to run away (e) in my car with my camera. Everything else in the realm of reality? Um, not in mine right now. 

This, honestly, makes me feel like an ass; i'm not returning emails as quickly as i should, i'm blowing off phone calls, i'm not responding to facebook notifications unless i have an extra 15 seconds... you get the point. Also, this makes me feel fairly boring; i haven't kept up on all of my news or gossip, and honestly, half the time i'm in a situation where i'm supposed to be conversant, i'm not focused and more over really just too tired to be charming. 

... But that isn't exactly an apology; it's more of a back handed explanation. I can't entirely be sorry because i need to be off the map for a bit right now. It happens. So, um, there. (I actually am kinda sorry though.) 

OT, Moment of Truth got renewed? Seriously? Please let me know that that particular fact isn't going to make it into the annals of history; i can just see some future Indiana Jones trying to decipher what that show indicates about our culture; it might rank somewhere around the gladiators in the colosseum. (And not in the fun, "boy isn't Maximus the man" kind of way, but the "oh, we're going to kill 10,000 people just because we're bored and it's funny" kind of way; though, by killing so many people i suppose the Caesars were just doing their part to stave off global warming...*). 

Oh, right, i was actually posting to say that i tried a new wide angle lens with my camera tonight, the results have been added to my Party, Horses gallery, and i'm trying to decide what i actually think of them. 

... now i need sleep. 

* please see The Black Plague may have caused the Little Ice Age

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Money, Spending, and Technology Adoption Rates

Background Noise: seems like a GG afternoon
Last Visited: Horseback riding near Bodega Bay
Random Thought: we can't be lost, we don't know where we're going
Mood: good

OMG, i got flowers for Darwin Day! awesome!!!

Darwin Day is an international celebration of science and humanity held on or around February 12, the day that Charles Darwin was born on in 1809. Specifically, it celebrates the discoveries and life of Charles Darwin -- the man who first described biological evolution via natural selection with scientific rigor. More generally, Darwin Day expresses gratitude for the enormous benefits that scientific knowledge, acquired through human curiosity and ingenuity, has contributed to the advancement of humanity.

Now that is a holiday i can get behind.

Sort of switching topics, i find this chart by the New York Times displaying how American's spend their money quite fascinating; want to know the breakdown of the lowest, middle, and highest income brackets? want to watch adoption rates of technologies over the last 100+ years broken out by income? what to see how the general population breaks up their budgets as a comparison factor for how you live? It covers a lot of ground, and i keep seeing new things each time i look at it. Anyways, happy Darwin Day!

ps: sigh, Senate Approves Telco Amnesty, Legalizes Bush's Secret Spy Program

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Westley, what about the R.O.U.S.'s?

Background Noise: NewFoundGlory
Last Visited: digg
Random Thought: very cool science
Mood: ready for poker

The world is an incredibly fascinating place as you approach Absolute Zero.

... and i do believe a one ton rodent qualifies as an R.O.U.S

In closing, a question: would you want to live 800 years?

... in Ecuador? Ok, Ecuador isn't a requirement of the extra long life - this isn't Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail, there is no great seal - but they are testing extending the life span ofhumans in Ecuador based off of these experiments done on yeast.

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Score One for the Surfers

Background Noise: angels & airwaves: I-Empire
Last Visited: facebook! barb's back!
Random Thought: i need new pjs
Mood: i am a camel.

We exist in a universe described by mathematics. But which math? Although it is interesting to consider that the universe may be the physical instantiation of all mathematics,^[1] there is a classic principle for restricting the possibilities: The mathematics of the universe should be beautiful. A successful description of nature should be a concise, elegant, unified mathematical structure consistent with experience.

-- A. Garrett Lisi, An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything, Introduction

"An impoverished surfer has drawn up a new theory of the universe, seen by some as the Holy Grail of physics, which as received rave reviews from scientists." -- digg

The theory proposed in this paper represents a comprehensive unification program, describing all fields of the standard model and gravity as parts of a uniquely beautiful mathematical structure. The principal bundle connection and its curvature describe how the E8 manifold twists and turns over spacetime, reproducing all known fields and dynamics through pure geometry. Some aspects of this theory are not yet completely understood, and until they are it should be treated with appropriate skepticism. However, the current match to the standard model and gravity is very good. Future work will either strengthen the correlation to known physics and produce successful predictions for the LHC, or the theory will encounter a fatal contradiction with nature. The lack of extraneous structures and free parameters ensures testable predictions, so it will either succeed or fail spectacularly. If E8 theory is fully successful as a theory of everything, our universe is an exceptionally beautiful shape.

-- A. Garrett Lisi, An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything, Conclusion

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A Numbers Game

Background Noise: Shiksa Goddess
Last Visited: brought to you by Digg, National Geographic, and... the creativity exchange?
Random Thought: spread the love, buy tickets to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Mood: feel like dancin'

You have to love National Geographic and the information it diggs up: like this map of the country detailing where the boys are:

*thanks to the Creativity Exchange for the picture

In other news, i never realized the size or magnitude of the vibrations i cause simply by sitting and working at my desk until i put $120 worth of alcohol up above my shelves... I'm suddenly having visions of that liquid gold falling and shattering all over me and my computers. Not that it wouldn't serve me right, but maybe i should just put them on my desk? Then again, that would be dangerous too. I'm sure they'll be fine....

Expression:

A Little Too Familiar...

Background Noise: Light In the Piazza
Last Visited: Kelly?!
Random Thought: ok, i work with two rockstars... got it
Mood: my jaw hurts? what?

So, yeah... this has actually happened to me.

... I still haven't quite recovered from the shame of it all....

But! My new contacts are in! Um... not really relevant, but there you go.

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Pi Tricks

Background Noise: Diamond Dolls
Last Visited: xkcd
Random Thought: When you say "xndcutydli" do you hear "undoubtedly"?
Mood: patience waning

Seriously, was this guy in my class when we learned this fun little trick? Because i'm pretty sure that was my reaction too:

So this guy is pretty funny - especially if you're into the occasional geeky humor. For example, if you've never heard the term "sudo" don't bother looking at this cartoon:

... if you're like me though, you'd be on the floor laughing, because that just rocks.

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Work with me, People

Background Noise: Come A Little Bit Closer
Last Visited: 104.3 WOMC Playlist
Random Thought: Today my oldies playlist is a little less pathetic than it was yesterday, but still is no where near where it needs to be
Mood: 3 sentences of ranting

So am I the only one who noticed that the proposed timeline for the Exodus and the proposed timeline for the destruction of Atlantis line up perfectly? Just me? Do i watch too much of the History Channel at night? And while i'm questioning, why is the History Channel's website so horrible?

Also, i'm glad that i'm not the only one who thinks America's "Most Beautiful City" isn't all that hot, architecturally speaking.

... and the real lesson of today? i should just pretend i have laryngitis when i'm this tired, at work, and am stupid open my mouth... or an aim chat session.

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Sorry, Pluto

Background Noise: Last Kiss
Last Visited: This weeks check in's RSS
Random Thought: this morning i remembered how much i like the Smashing Pumpkins' Tonight Tonight
Mood: coffee angels rock

If only all my bills looked like this:

PG&E energy statement (e-Bills) information
Amount Due: $3.77
Due Date: September 12, 2006

In other news, Pluto is no longer a planet. After much hemming and hawing, debate and apparent decisions that have since been over turned, we're back to an 8 planet solar system because Pluto made the mistake of having an oblong orbit and generally failing to clean up it's room. I guess the god of the underworld just wasn't up to this particular fight.

Though logic and reason did win out today because the FDA finally approved Plan B for over the counter sales. Of course, those who fought against it claiming it would "increase promiscuity" (seriously? promiscuity? that word is still... relevant?) won a minor point and restricted the OTC sales to women over 18 at drug stores that have a licensed pharmacist... but the real point here is that this very safe, very important drug is now widely available. Which is certainly a step in the right direction (no pun intended).

* just a note: i don't use the Science tag nearly enough; i should probably fix that.

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