Happy New Year

I'm wishing everyone a happy New Year. I hope that 2007 was good to you, but I hope that 2008 will be great to you.
Now if you will excuse me, I have to go watch the annoying New Years party in New York.

Has Netscape finally passed?

I can't say that I'm surprised by this news, I have been waiting for it to happen; the only thing that surprises me is that it took so long.

Happy Winter Solstice

I want to wish everyone a happy Winter Solstice, and a great New Year.

NaNoWriMo - Wish me luck

Okay, it's official, I have signed up to participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). In signing up for this, I have decided to write a 50,000 word (~175 page) novel by the end of November. This means that I will have to write an average 1,667 words per day.
I think the most difficult thing will be trying to leave all of the editing till I have written everything.
During the month I will try and give updates - but please feel free to send me an email to ask how things are going.

Here is the link to the site:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/
Here is the link to my profile (word count):
http://www.nanowrimo.org/user/240190

Personal Tests Results - October 2007

Here are the results of my October 2007 personal tests:
03 - 09: 47.6% average
10 - 16: 40.6% average
17 - 23: 50.14% average

Microsoft wants your health information

Microsoft recently launched a new beta, called Health Vault. It is a place to conveniently store your health records. Now I'm not sure about you, but I don't think that I will be trusting MS with my medical information. What are your thoughts?

Personal Tests

I just had an "Oh duh!" moment. I was going to create a web page for this, then I remembered that I have a blog. I must be tired.

I recently ran into an interesting idea. It is called Personal unit tests. Follow the link for more info. I'm not sure why, but I loved the idea, and decided to shamelessly copy it for my own ends. I was keeping a daily todo list, but never provided the feedback about how I was really doing over a length of time. Following this I can make a spreadsheet and track how I'm doing over a length of time. Plus with the todo list I would be tempted to fudge things so that they would match what I wanted, rather than what I truly did; with this it is either pass-fail, yes-no. And this seems that much more geeky ^_^.
I decide that I would attempt to post the results of this daily to my Jaiku account (it's just easier). Yesterday I did a measly 39%.

Here are the tests:

01 Brush Teeth (Health)
If I brushed my teeth twice yesterday
02 Deodorant (Health)
If I put on deodorant yesterday
03 Lies (Mind)
If I told five or fewer lies yesterday
04 Meditate (Mind)
If I meditated twice during the day
05 Shower (Health)
If I showered in the morning
06 Sleep (Health)
If I got a full eight hours of sleep the night before
07 Stretch (Health)
If I stretched twice the day before
08 Check Feeds (Computer)
If I checked my feeds the day before
09 Check all notes (Other)
If I checked all my notes the day before
10 Check eMail (Computer)
If I checked my eMail the day before
11 Clean (Home)
If I worked on cleaning the house the day before
12 Journal (Mind)
If I wrote on my journal the day before
13 Budget (Home)
If we stayed on budget the month before
14 Family (Family)
If *I* contacted family members anytime the previous week
15 Trash (Home)
If I took out trash on Monday
16 Blog (Mind)
If I posted to my blog in the last seven days
17 Track weight (Health)
If I tracked my weight on Monday
18 Replace razor (Health)
If I replaced replaced my razor head on Thursday

Hotel key cards and internet information

This morning I ran into a guest who insisted that she needed to keep her key card (I work in a hotel), due to the *fact* that we have her name, address, and credit card number on there. Apparently she read a rather long article about it, of all places, on the internet. I would like to make a couple points here:

1. Hotels do not encode personal information onto key cards, doing so would be just plain foolish.
1. It is a major liability issue for the hotel, and the lock manufacturers.
2. Hotels have no reason to encode that information.
3. In about half the hotels that use key cards the encoder is not even attached to the computer.
2. People are not using common sense when they receive information from the internet. The internet makes in extremely easy for people to give information, and to receive information; this does not make every bit of information on the internet true, in fact in makes the information on the internet less reliable than information that you would receive in person.
1. Repeating false information, that you received on the internet, in real life only makes you seem more foolish than the original article.
2. When you receive information from the internet that claims to be absolutely true, do some research. You will be surprised at just how often the information is false.
3. If you receive an email, that contains false information, from someone be sure to send back an email explaining what was inaccurate.
   

it’s how he treats his inferiors

As I was driving to work this afternoon I passed a semi full of pigs. This semi was shoved full, to the point that you could see that the pigs had to stand on each other. I find this more than disturbing.

I can not help but find it amusing that most humans (in my experience) seem to feel that they are superior to ever other living thing on Earth; yet we treat these living creatures as if they don't matter. It makes me wonder how we must look to any alien species out there.

“You can’t get the gauge of a man by how he treats his peers, it’s how he treats his inferiors that shows his true character." -Dumbledore

Yes, the quote is from Harry Potter, but I think it is very true.

Nebraska Senator sues God

It's about time! It's not for the reasons that I would really prefer, but it will be interesting to see where this goes. I love the last sentence of the article, take a read.

Nebraska state Senator Ernie Chambers, who represents legislative District 11 in North Omaha, has filed an unusual lawsuit on Friday. According to court documents obtained by Wikinews, Chambers has decided to sue God, looking for a judge to issue a "permanent injunction" against the highest power.

Chambers says in his suit that god has spread fear across the globe causing "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants. [God also caused] fearsome floods, horrendous hurricanes, earthquakes, plagues, famine, genocidal wars, birth defects, terrifying tornadoes and the like" and he wants the courts to order God "to cease certain harmful activities and the making ofterroristic threats."

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Nebraska_Senator_sues_God

Micro-Blogs

Today I took the plunge into "micro-blogging" (I had some extra time). First I played with Twitter, the service that you hear so much about, next I played with Pownce, then I played with Jaiku. For my hour of use (about 1/3 of an hour each), I have found that I prefer Jaiku. Below I will rate each site on the things I was looking for.

Love at first sight
This is my ranking on first impressions of the site, and ease of signing up.
1 - Jaiku -- The site did not appear cluttered, and signing up was extremely easy (you can even sign up through IM).
2 - Twitter -- This site had the most cluttered feeling of all three, but signing up was still fairly easy.
3 - Pownce -- The site was not overly cluttered, but signing up is a pain in the @$ (invite only).

IM going to be using this
The only way that I could use a micro-blogging site consistently, is if it easy to post - I feel that IM (instant messenger) would be the best way for me to do so.
1 - Jaiku -- Jaiku makes good use of IM. It is not as easy to setup as Twitter, but once you have it set up, you can do many things with it. Jaiku only uses Jabber (GTalk) naively, but you can use AIM, Yahoo, and MSN through another service. In addition to the normal set of commands, you can also use IM to loggin, logout, create an account, delete an account, and a bit more. The largest problem is that the IM account they use always shows as off line, so it doesn't show on my list.
2 - Twitter -- They make it easy to setup the IM features. You can use AIM, Jabber (GTalk), LiveJournal, and .Mac.
3 - Pownce -- You can download their software (run by AIR) and use that, no other options.
Twitter and Jaiku really are tied in this section, Twitter is easier, but Jaiku has more features.


How very utilitarian of you
1 - Twitter -- Wins hands down in this department. The number of utilities that have been developed for Twitter is staggering. The default utilities are the best that I have seen so far. A running "badge" that you can easily put into a blog, or site. The API means that anyone can make a utility, so things will only get better.
2 - Jaiku -- A few utilities, not much to talk about (that I could find anyway). They do make "badges", and they do look nice, but don't work as well in my blog as the ones from Twitter. Jaiku released their API as well, so things will get better as well.
3 - Pownce -- A distant third again. No API, no utilities that I could find - only their desktop software (see above).

Let me send that to you
1 - Pownce -- Their big advantage is that you can send files to people.
2 - Jaiku -- No file transfer.
3 - Twitter -- No file transfer.

Keep Talking
The only reason I can see to keep using *any* micro-blogs, is so that I can talk to people, I have a real blog to express my thoughts.
1 - Jaiku -- They have the most community minded service out there. People can comment on your posts, and it is easy to follow. They also have channels, which are communities. They make doing all of that dead easy.
2 - Twitter -- You can reply to posts, but it feels more like a quick add on, rather than something they intended from the start.
3 - Pownce -- You can reply, not much else.


I will be using Jaiku mostly, but will play around with Twitter as well. If I'm lucky, Twitter will adapt some of the things that Jaiku already has.

What the **** is an intrasitive verb?

Come on, I dare anyone to give me a good explanation. While you are at it, maybe you can explain to me why it wasn't covered in school; I would have thought it would have been in there with nouns - of course the education system is pathetic.

Oh, for those of you who don't know:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intransitive_verb

V...Vac...Vacation?!

I had an entry started, and was doing some research on the topic, when I found a press release. The press release, included below, explains why vacation time is important, and has some good stats included. I also attached a rather telling image (the US is the smudge on the bottom).



Something I want to bring to peoples attention, is the concept of a working vacation. I'm sorry to say that those are not vacations, they are just a new work environment. When I took vacations, when I was working, I would be required to take my phone with me, and check my work email (that includes replying to the calls and emails); I quickly found that you could not enjoy yourself, and recuperate, when you were having to keep your mind on work. A vacation is a time away from work, but in the current environment (connected 24/7), it is easy for work to follow you almost anywhere, and expect you to answer. I propose that when taking a vacation, make work an out of bounds area, no calls to or from work, no email, nothing to do with work period, that is the only way that anyone is going to get some rest.

Some of you out there are worried that you will appear not to care about your job and that you will be replaced, but if you are a truly valued employee, then that will not be the case - and if it is the case, isn't it better to find out now so that you can get a job where you are valued, and can take some time away? Others will be thinking about the amount of money that will be lost if you take time off ... I'm sorry to say, but money is not as important as your health (mental and physical).

The definition of vacation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacation

Here is an interesting report on vacation time (PDF): http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/working_time_2007_05.pdf

From: http://www.timeday.org/press-release-050107.asp

'TAKE BACK YOUR TIME' LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN FOR VACATION LAW -- LEADERS HOPE TO MAKE THE ISSUE PART OF THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

Seattle, Washington, May 1, 2007:

The Take Back Your Time campaign called today for members of Congress to enact national legislation guaranteeing at least three weeks of paid vacation for all American workers. They pointed to statistics showing that vacation time is of proven benefit to employers and employees, but is being reduced or eliminated by many American companies. The United States is the only industrial nation that fails to legally protect its citizens' vacations.

American workers receive the least vacation time among wealthy industrial nations. Take Back Your Time (www.timeday.org), a national organization with about 10,000 members that also supports paid childbirth and sick leave legislation, has decided to make the campaign for a national vacation law its top priority for 2007-2008.

"What we're asking for is quite modest when you consider that residents of most industrial countries get five or six weeks off and that the absolute minimum in Europe is twenty days of paid vacation after the first year on the job," said Take Back Your Time's Executive Director Lisa Stuebing."

"Take Back Your Time calls on every member of Congress to stand up for Americans' health, family life and happiness, by making sure that all Americans are given the benefits of paid time off from work," declared Take Back Your Time's national coordinator, John de Graaf.

"Together, we can put together a movement that makes this issue part of the discussion in the 2008 presidential campaigns," added Jerome Segal of the University of Maryland. "I think any presidential candidate who gets out front on this will find a huge reservoir of public support."

AMERICA NEEDS A BREAK

"America needs a break," said Joe Robinson, author of Work to Live and founder of the Work to Live Vacation Campaign, "Job stress and burnout are epidemic. People are caught in this vise grip of spiraling workweeks and shrinking vacations. The average vacation in the U.S. is now only a long weekend. President Bush knows the value of vacation time. He enjoys his trips to his ranch. He ought to be the first to step up and say, 'Send me this bill and I'll sign it.'"

Robinson pointed out that vacations in the U.S. are vanishing. Last year, 25 percent of American workers got no paid vacation at all, while 43% didn't even take a solid week off. "Many employees in a climate of job insecurity are afraid to take their vacations for fear they'll be seen as slackers, something the lack of statutory validation for vacations fosters" adds Robinson. "Because there's no legal validation or protection for vacations, vacations are seen as not legitimate, somehow illicit."

Back in 2002, Robinson brought 50,000 signatures from Americans supporting a paid vacation bill to Congress. "This is not about slacking, not about being lazy," Robinson added. "Vacations are as important to your health as checking your cholesterol or getting exercise. They're the antidote to runaway stress. Research shows that an annual vacation can cut the risk of death from heart disease in women by 50% and in men by 32%. Vacations can also cure burnout, the last stage of chronic stress -- but it takes two weeks for the process of re-gathering crashed emotional resources to occur."

BUSINESS WILL BENEFIT FROM A VACATION LAW

Business also gets a big dividend from vacations. "Three week vacations have proven to be a boost to productivity and profits at enlightened American firms with that policy. Performance goes up when people come back from a vacation," said Robinson. "In the knowledge economy, the source of true productivity is a refreshed and energized mind."

Companies that have implemented three-week vacation policies have found it a win-win for employees and sales. At the H Group, a financial services firm in Salem, Oregon, profits have doubled since it adopted a three-week policy. At Jancoa, a cleaning services company in Cincinnati, sales increased 15 percent, a staff turnover problem was eliminated, and performance improved so much that the company was able to get rid of overtime.

"Unfortunately, most employers have been reducing time off in the interest of short-run profits," Robinson says. "That's why we need a law, like the 127 other countries in the world that have one."

LOSING VACATION TIME

Compared to 1970, a third fewer American families take vacations together. Professor William Doherty, a family studies expert at the University of Minnesota, says many adults remember childhood family vacations as the happiest times in their lives, a time when their families really bonded together. "But the family vacation, a couple of leisurely weeks spent camping, for example, is really disappearing," Doherty said, "and our families are suffering from the loss."

Two other organizations, Work to Live and the Adventure Travel Trade Association have joined the campaign. "We're a dedicated group, but we're small," added Cecile Andrews, the author of Slow is Beautiful. "We can't do this on our own, so we're looking for partners on this campaign, groups like the AMA, the Sierra Club, travel companies, health providers, labor unions, enlightened businesses -- there's really something in this for everyone."

"We really need this" argued Shauna South, who has signed on as Take Back Your Time's vacation campaign volunteer coordinator in Utah. "There's so much stress out there."

"We need to ask a simple question: What's the Economy for, anyway?" said John de Graaf. "Is it just about the Gross Domestic Product or is it to help us lead happy, healthy and sustainable lives? If it's the latter, then vacations are essential. There's no present like the time."

TO SPEAK WITH ANY OF THE PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE, PLEASE CONTACT LISA STUEBING AT: 206-524-6788 (Seattle) / lisa@timeday.org

Apple Crumble recipe

This is the recipe that I used to make some apple crumble last night, thought I would share it. The crumble topping came out nice and crisp (it was still crisp the next morning), I took the attached image the next morning.

---

Apple Crumble

Categories: Crumble/Crisp
Yields: 8
Preparation Time: 00:30

1.5 cups White Sugar
1 cup White Flower
7.25 tbs butter
0.5 tsp cinnamon
0.25 tsp nutmeg
7 apples

Preparing the Apples:
1. Peel and core the apples. Dice them into chunks.
2. Add the apples, 1 cup of sugar, the cinnamon, and nutmeg into a pot and stew over low/medium heat, stir with a wooden spoon often, till the apples start to soften. Do not let the apples get mushy.
3. Put the apples into the serving dish and allow to start cooling.

Making the Crumble:
1. Mix the flour, remaining sugar, and butter with your fingers till it becomes a breadcrumb consistency.
2. Preheat the oven to 300F (150C).
3. Cover the apples with the crumble topping, making sure not to press down.
4. Bake the crumble in the oven for about 30 minutes.
5. If the crumble is not golden brown after the 30 minutes, set the oven to broil till golden brown.

Oddly named fireworks

While surfing the net, I found this most precious image from The Consumerist. Don't you just love the 4th?

http://www.consumerist.com/consumer/unacceptable-products/we-have-no-comment-about-the-name-of-this-box-of-walmart-fireworks-275365.php

Young bendable minds

I ran into this post from Diet Blog. I think it goes to show how much children learn from their environment. When you consider that a child's mind is basically a sponge that will absorb everything, then isn't everyone's job to set a good example?
No one is perfect, not by a long shot; most of us have habits that we would prefer that the next generation not pick-up (Smoking, finger nail chewing, vanity, etc.). From the time that a parent finds out that they will be taking care of a new life, they need to find what habits they are not proud of, write them on a list, and work on not showing them to the next generation. That is not an easy process, but it can be a rewarding one. People will find that in the process of not showing the next generation those listed habits, that the habits in question will start to disappear. Children aren't the only ones with a bendable mind.

http://www.diet-blog.com/
http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2007/07/01/positive_body_image_your_kids_are_listening.php

Simple Strawberry Lemonade Directions

Today I made strawberry lemonade, it was nice and refreshing. I thought I would describe how I did this, trust me, it was easy.

You will need:

• 1 glass
• enough lemonade to fill the glass
• 1 medium strawberry per 8oz of lemonade
• 1 knife – sharp
• 1 fork or spoon
• ice cubes (optional)

Directions:

• Cut the strawberries, over the glass, into small slices
• Use the fork, or spoon, to mash the strawberries into a slightly chunky mush
• Pressing the strawberries into the side of the glass is a great technique
• Add ice cubes, this will keep the strawberry pulp from floating to the top
• Add in the lemonade
• Enjoy

New Lunchbox on Wheels

Something to keep you entertained.I created this imagine while playing in Gimp. The original image is from http://www.scionconnection.com/index.htm

The new Google Docs

Google recently added new features to their Google Docs, they also gave it a visual overhaul.As you can see the layout is different. It appears to be much easier to follow, there are new icons, and they renamed the famed "labels" to "folders".

Making a folder:
Making a folder is a rather simple process, that almost anyone can follow.
Step one: Click on the "New" button on the top, and click on "Folder".

Step two: Notice the large writing area that now appeared, that is where you write the folders name.

Step three: Add an optional description or status to the folder. This will show up when you click on the folder. Though I just prefer a descriptive name.
Just a quick note, you can not make sub-folders.

Managing your documents:
You can sort your documents into folders in two ways, either by dragging the document to the appropriate folder, very similar to how you would on any modern desktop, or by manually assigning the document to a folder, just like you did when things were called "labels" rather than "folders".

Dragging your document:

This is by far the easiest way for a novice user to file their documents, it is quick, has great visual feedback, and allows you to move a document from one folder to anther with great ease. If I have a document that only belongs in one folder, than this is how I would handle it.
One of the great features of Google Docs, is the ability to have a document with two different labels (now called folders), but that is not possible when you are dragging and dropping a document into folders. When you drag a document to a different folder, it will remove any associations it had with other folders. For example, say I had the document "Kama Sutra for Dummies" in both my "Personal" folder and in the "Recreation" folder; but I wanted to add it to my "Woohoo" folder, if I dragged the document to the "Woohoo" folder, than it would no longer be in my other two folders. You can avoid this by:

Manually assigning the document to a folder:


As you can see, by checking the document, then clicking on the "Add to folder" button, I can assign a document to two or more folders. This is exactly how the previous version of Google Docs functioned with labels.


This is much more powerful way to sort your documents. This allows for a document to be in two different places at once. Take my "Kama Sutra for Dummies" example from above, if I add the document to the "Woohoo" folder in this manner, than I can access it from any of those three folders. Hopefully Google will get the point where you can search for documents that reside in multiple folders, to help narrow down your results.

Google Desktop on Linux

Well, the day that some people have been waiting for has arrived, Google Desktop is now available for Linux. It isn't the Google Desktop that you see for Windows, you don't get the Google Gadgets, but you do get an indexed search of your computer.
Some people are not impressed with this. And you can see why when you think that Linux has Beagle and Srigi, both of which do the same basic thing (though they don't index you gmail account).
I for one am happy to see this. I don't care about getting Google Desktop on my computer, though I am testing it out. One thing that is different about this, versus some of Google's other Linux offerings, is that it does not require Wine to run. I see this as a good thing, hopefully other companies will see this as an example, and try to follow with some other products.

Cash and food

Well, I'm unemployed (have been for the last month). Which means I have no cash coming in. This means that my previous eating habits are not something I can indulge in.

Previous eating habits:
Okay, here is a quick breakdown of my previous eating habits, this is when I had a job and cash coming in. Often times when Jana and I wanted something to eat we would run out and grab it, either from a restaurant, or a fast food joint; it was just plain easier. I have noticed a few things since I haven't been able to do that. When eating out, you get larger portions, and you paid for the food so you are damn well going to eat it - after all there are children starving in Antarctica; plus it is costly. None of that is good, it's not healthy (for your body or your pocket book).

Current eating habits:
Now that I'm not having any cash coming in, Jana and I have to watch our eating habits carefully, that means no running out for fast food. No running out for fast food means that we have to cook at home (I'm fairly sure that is what we got the oven for). Cooking at home has many advantages over eating out, you're eating food that is better for you (no high fructose corn syrup as the first ingredient), you eat smaller portions (smaller plate, but that is more of a personal thing), and don't forget that it's cheaper. Eating at home dose have it's share of difficulties (extra time, dishes), but I'm finding that those difficulties are not as bad as they would seem, and become less of an issue the more you cook at home.

This change in eating habits has some great results. I'm feeling better, less stressed (though that could be due to meditating everyday and not working), my bowel has settled down, plus the knowledge that I can eat at home and be happy about it.

Linux fun

I've had a bug up my butt for a while, so I finally took the plunge, and reinstalled Kubuntu. I put on Gutsy Tribe 1. Before a did any of that, I backed up my information to an external hard drive - that took about an hour. All in all, the install was rather painless, it took about an hour from the time I put the CD in, to reboot, for everything to install - but then again I did take a small break in there for a sandwich.
After the install I had to go through, and reconfigure X though - it doesn't like to work with my display the first time (I had the same problem with Feisty, so I knew what to do this time). I got NDISwrapper to work for the first time with this system, never been able to get it to work before; so now I can use the internal wireless. I did have a strange problem though, this morning when I went to use my wireless, I just could not get it to work, so I pulled out my trusty 50' CAT5, plugged it in, pulled down kwifimanager, then suddenly knetworkmanager started working. All my settings copied over fine. Oh, and OpenOffice works now - maybe I can work on my resume again.
One of the problems I was having with Feisty, was that sometimes the computer would overheat, hasn't happened with Gutsy yet. Or maybe that is because I removed Vista from the HDD as well.

DAMN

DAMN is the only word that describes how I'm feeling right now. J and I just got back from a Hy-Vee where we used a Coin Star machine to cash in some extra change that we have lying around. I did not realize that we had so much damn change. Before taking it to Hy-Vee, I decided to weight it here at home - it came it at 40lbs (~18kg), try carrying that in your pocket. The Coin Star machine keeps count of how many coins you put in, broken down by type. Here is how it broke down for us.

3942 pennies - $39.42
778 nickels - $38.90
1389 dimes - $138.90

For a total of $197.89 (Coin Star charges a 8.9 cents fee per dollar). It took about 15 minutes to get all done.

You should have seen the look on the cashiers face when I went to get the cash.

Facebook - MySpace and a Class Divide

Today a ran across an interesting paper about Facebook and MySpace, and signs of a possible class divide between the two. Here is a couple paragraphs from the paper:

The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes, or other "good" kids are now going to Facebook. These kids tend to come from families who emphasize education and going to college. They are part of what we'd call hegemonic society. They are primarily white, but not exclusively. They are in honors classes, looking forward to the prom, and live in a world dictated by after school activities.

MySpace is still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, "burnouts," "alternative kids," "art fags," punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm. These are kids whose parents didn't go to college, who are expected to get a job when they finish high school. These are the teens who plan to go into the military immediately after schools. Teens who are really into music or in a band are also on MySpace. MySpace has most of the kids who are socially ostracized at school because they are geeks, freaks, or queers.

I'm not even going to pretend that I understand all of the paper, or many of the factors that it is talking about, but I do know what I see. I also know that for some odd reason it seems to be human nature to want to fit into groups. People will often times go with the group that makes them feel the most comfortable - and regrettably, many times, not always, that involves going with people of the same social class as your family (kids with rich parents feel comfortable with other kids who have rich parents, people of the same faith, etc.). One thing that I have yet to understand is why social classes seem to have different preferences, is it due to the class, or is it more of a personality thing (that's a topic for another time).

I have used, and viewed MySpace often, but Facebook I have only started to explore. There are differences between the two, Facebook is cleaner, easier to follow, but much more limited on what changes you can make to it, overall the same display for everyone. MySpace on the paw is endlessly changeable, you just have to know how, but things get difficult to follow, it's difficult to wade through all the "bling" on the site, and often times will make it ugly. So which one do you use, I guess it depends on who you know on either site, and what your tastes are - which I guess can depend on what social class you happen to fall into.

http://www.danah.org/papers/essays/ClassDivisions.html
http://www.facebook.com
http://www.myspace.com

The great flood

That is a picture of the street in front of my house. You may not be able to tell from the pic, there is a small river running down the street, and the sidewalk. I took this pic about 10 minutes after the first bit of rain. Today was a nice day, except for about an hour when the skies opened up and dumped the Pacific Ocean onto the world.

Food

I'm currently unemployed - it has been rather relaxing actually. Since I'm not working, and I don't have the money coming in that I had before, Jana and I have been very careful about what we eat; I have also been watching my portions much more closely. In the time that I have not been working, I have started to eat smaller portions; with the exception of the first week, I haven't had a problem with feeling hungry all the time. Now I can eat a piece of chicken, and some rice, and feel satisfied for hours. Tonight, after the rain storm, Jana and I went to Target to get some groceries, on the way we stopped at Burger King for a quick bite to eat. I had a larger meal at BK that I have been having for the last couple of weeks - and for some odd reason, I feel like I'm starving. I'm not sure if it is due to me eating a larger meal, or if it is because of where I ate. I hope this feeling doesn't persist, I don't want to go through another week of feeling hungry.

Summer Solstice

Happy Summer Solstice!

Why I'd sooner vote for a seven year old

What can you say, he's right. We have lost our fire, society as a whole. Take a look, it will make you think.

http://aseigo.blogspot.com/2007/06/why-id-sooner-vote-for-seven-year-old.html

How ironic

Today I was cleaning out the folders from my Yahoo Mail, I removed about 0.5 gigs of emails - I'm on a cleaning streak lately. Once I get done, I happen to see a cute little animation that shows I now have unlimited storage. I thought it was rather ironic.

Jediism, impact of books, kind of wondering post

Jediism

A few days ago Jana and I had a Star Wars marathon (over a three day period we watched each episode in order 1-6), that was rather fun. One thing I have always wondered about the Star Wars universe is how the Jedis' got their start. What was their beginning? After the marathon I decided to search the internet for the answer. I haven't found the answer to that question, though if someone knows where I can find the answer let me know in the comments, but I did find something a little closer to home that is just as interesting.

As everyone knows, the internet is home to many things, it is a giant meeting place for people with similar interests. On my searches, I found a movement of people who wish to be Jedi.

If you are not familiar with Jedi, then I suggest you stop reading this right now, go rent Star Wars, and do some research into the subject - don't worry, we'll still be here when you get done. Okay, everyone familiar with the Jedi religion, as told by the Star Wars films? Good. Now imagine people on good ol' Earth who wanted to be a part of that (hey, they are cool). You will end up with a community of people who are trying to live up to standards of the film (and book) Jedi.

I'm not here to say if that is good, bad, or somewhere in the middle. Though I will go out on a limb and say that from what I have seen, it is rather harmless (they don't have light sabers, nor can they throw you across a room with their mind), it seems to be more about living up to the values that the Jedi embody (which happens to mirror certain eastern religions).

Okay, there is the background, on to the next part.

Books, Movies, Games, etc.

I'm sitting here looking at the Jedi phenomenon, wondering something. Is it possible for a book, movie, or game to be realistic enough that people will start to believe in it, even try to duplicate it?

Let us take Dracula for example, did anyone truly believe that a person could turn into a lizard, suck blood, and was supper strong as night, *before* the book came out? How many after the book came out? How about Harry Potter, how many people looked into witchcraft as a result of reading the books, or seeing the films? I don't have the exact answer to those questions, but I'm willing to bet that we would all be surprised by the answers.

No matter how you look at it, stories, either told to us, shown to us (books), or acted out for us (movies) have a big influence on how we see the world. Sometimes they expand our world view (the people who decided to learn about the Wiccan religion due to Harry Potter), sometimes they make our world seem more frightening than it really is (Dracula).

What does any of my above rambling have to do with anything? Well let me ask you a question - what kind of impact did the best selling book of all time* have on people (and society) - did it expand our view of the world, or did it make life seem more frightening that it really is? Did it result in people trying to duplicate parts of it?

If the Jediism movement catches on, what kind of impact will it have on the future? Will it be the next big religion?**

I think I lost my train of thought somewhere in there...

* The Holy Bible is the best selling book of all time. Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books

** Please note that I'm not picking on people of the Jediism movement, but rather using it as a way to help people understand my thinking.

Cleaning

Today I did something very strange - I cleaned. I know, where did the real Duane go? Feel free to have a heart attack now - I'll wait.

...

...

Done?

It took me about four hours - including the 1/2 hour for lunch. I cleaned out the computer room - mostly - the desk is still a mess, but you can now walk in the room without trying to walk on the ceiling. Next I cleaned the library, let's just say that once I got done with that room I could not help but yell "I CAN SEE THE FLOOR", enough said. I found more than enough cardboard to fill the tinny recycle bin that we have - I may need to make a trip to the recycling plant soon.

I'm tired now - too bad I have to go to the gym tonight. :-)

I would post some pics, but I didn't take any before shots.

Bookmarks

Hi, my name is Duane, and I'm a bookmarkaholic. I can't stop bookmarking sites that I find interesting - even if I'm not likely to return to the site. I finally took the time to get my bookmarks organized.
Here is a picture of my bookmark toolbar before I started (>200 unfiled bookmarks before):
To get everything organized I did the following:

• I moved all my bookmarks into one master folder called Sort.
• From that point, I worked through all the unfiled bookmarks; I either deleted them, or moved them into an appropriate folder.
• Next, I worked my way through all of the existing folders that I had; also deleting the bookmarks that I didn't need.
• Once a folder was cleaned out, it was then moved to another called Done (for rather obvious reasons).

I now have about 1/16 the bookmarks that I started with - much cleaner.

• Next I moved the bookmarks that I use the most frequently into the Bookmarks Toolbar Folder.
• The rest the bookmarks got moved into a folder called Others.
• To finish the job, I created a folder called Note Pad (named after Netscape 9's extension).

As a plus I use two extensions

1. Sort Bookmarks (which I can't find the current link to)
2. 2 Pane Bookmarks

All of this gives me a rather cleaner look, and much less clutter:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1928

Creation Museum Field-Trip

Really I'm just reposting a link to an article. Here is a quick excerpt from the article:

Presumably to avoid labels of anti-Semitism, the museum takes it easy on Judaism. So far, no surprises. But then we get to its handling of the science and truly step through the looking glass.

The Flickr slide show is an interesting look at the museum. All in all, worth a quick look.

Looking through the images, I can see how this would be a fundamentalist's wet-dream. You have to love how facts can be twisted to fit any agenda you may have.

Links from the post above:
http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/ars-takes-a-field-trip-the-creation-museum.ars
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drjonboyg/sets/72157600301874014/show/

Critical Thinking

Everyone knows them, those people who just can't seem to think for themselves. You have to hold their hand and lead them to the answer, often times having to give it to them. These people are an example of what I consider to be an epidemic in the US, a lack of *critical thinking* skills.

For those of you who do not know, I have worked in hotels for the last nine years. In that time, I have trained a lot of people on the various computer systems (called PMS - Property Management Systems in hotels) that hotels run. Thinking back, I have found that I employed two different kinds of training; the first kind I used was what I call the "What do you think" system, and the second being the "Let me walk you through" system. The "What do you think" system was where I would show someone how to do something, then the next day I would expect them to do it; often times in this system people would not know the answer, so I would ask the questions that should be going through their head (how, what, where, and why) "How do I get to my desired result?", "What will get me to my desired result?", etc. The "Let me walk you through" system was where I would continuously walk someone through the situation and show them the answer. The two systems gave different results, the second one resulted in more phone calls from staff that ran into a situation that I trained them for, but came at them in a different way; the first system resulted in fewer calls, and a more competent set of staff.

I'm sure you are asking how this all relates to the US as a whole. Simply put, people are not *taught* how to think critically, they are not taught to question. This means that many people in the world are just waiting for someone to give them the answers.

The current war, taking any old example. People were led by the hand into wanting the war. We were shown images, we were fed lies - the thing is, most people did not think about the information critically. Would critical thinking have stopped the war, no one can say for sure, but people would not have been so eager.

Religion; from the ripe old age of 14 days many people are introduced to religion. From that age people are taught to respect and fear religion, but never taught to truly think about it. Maybe if people were taught to critically think about religion, then there might be more atheists in the world.

The problem: Critical Thinking is not taught.
My solution: Teach critical thinking in every grade level. Teach the teachers how to alter their teaching methods to integrate it into the existing curriculum.

Critical thinking, the anti-drug.

Dasher part 2

Now back to Dasher. This is too fun not to play with! Okay now onto some work with this program.
Yesterday I started using this program just as a thing to play around on, now I'm finding that I almost prefer to use it, when I compare it to a regular keyboard. While I can't get the words out as quickly I do like it for the following reasons:
1) It feeds my natural geek.
2) I seem to make fewer spelling mistake than when I use a normal keyboard (because I can see each possible word in front of me and the most probable spellings are the largest things on the screen, rather than having to guess how it needs to be spelled)
3) It's fun to feel like you are driving a word.
4) I can use while holding the cat in my lap.
Time for me to explain a bit about how the program works. Imagine a racing game where you know approximately where the next turn was going to be, but that the track was all was changing - now imagine that the track has an infinite number of possible routs for you to follow, but only one will get you to where you want to go. With me so far? I didn't think so , it is rather difficult to explain - though if you try it everything I just wrote will make perfect sense. Here try it: http://www.dasher.org.uk/TryJavaDasherNow.html Iknow that it is a bit small but it should give you some idea of how Dasher works.
I'm sure you are asking yourself how anything like that could ever be useful to anyone, but just imagine that you broke your arm, this would provide a quick way for you to be able to quickly type out long documents with very little practice, now imagine that you had a more debilitarting problem this would be an absolute lifesaver.
This could almost be the first step towards that 3D computer environment that sci-fi writters like to write about, a guy can dream.
Yes I only used my mouse and Dasher to write this post.

Dasher - not the reindeer

Well, I'm trying out a program called Dasher http://www.dasher.org.uk , I even had a nice message all "typed” out about what exactly Dasher is and my experience with it so far - but the program crashed when I was almost done, needles to say I am a bit annoyed. I will try to write it out again tomorrow. For now I'm off to bed.

Sleep

I read a rather interesting article on the BBC site: Article Link

I have been interested in sleep for a while; you know, how much is needed, when the best time to sleep is, etc. One thing that I have concluded (rather unscientifically), is that everyone is different. I can't see two people having the same exact *perfect* sleeping patterns (though there are a lot of people in the world).

For example, if I was left to my own devices, then I would go to sleep around 4 or 5 am, and sleep till about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. So, I'm a night person, who needs about 10 hours of sleep to feel perfect throughout the day; most people think I'm crazy for needing that kind of schedule - I think they are crazy for not needing that.

Now another interesting topic is polyphasic sleep, where you take multiple short naps, rather then one long sleep. I have been wanting to try that - but it just doesn't fit into my work schedule.

After all this posting about sleep, I'm ready for bed.

Women of Faith

Every year that I have worked in hotels in the Des Moines area, I have encountered people coming in for the "Women of Faith" conference. Every year I'm surprised at just how rude the women are who come in for this event. I have not had one year that I haven't caught at least one of the women lying to get a lower room rate, or some sort of discount; yes lying, and obvious lying as well.
I could say that I'm the only one who has ever noticed this, but I'm not. Coworkers see it, people from other hotels see it, even a waitress at a local restaurant commented on it to me (without me bringing it up first).
I would just like to say, if these are the people who represent women of faith, then I don't want anything to do with their faith.

Okay, that particular rant is over - thanks for listening.

Tomorrow starts it all

Well, I start my new job tomorrow. I guess you could say that I'm a bit on the nervous side; I don't know anything about the company, or the people in it. Wish me luck.

Abstinence

Recently I have come across multiple reports of abstinence programs not really working; one was on the TV (CNN I think but I can't recall), and another was on a recent news article http://www.rxpgnews.com/health/Abstinence_Education_Programs_Have_No_Impact_on_Sexual_Beahviour_23770.shtml or http://preview.tinyurl.com/2thgc8 Both of these reports got me thinking about these programs, why they seem to have difficulty working, and what would be a better alternative.

The programs*
These programs teach about the the possible consequences (pregnancy, STDs, etc.) of pre-marital sex. Many of them will involve signing a contract, where the person signing states that they will not have pre-marital sex. Some of them will even give out a token (ring, necklace, etc.), that the person can wear to show that they are pro-abstinence.
These programs having been receiving increased government funding, now at $204 million. These programs can be presented by a religious organization, a school, general public organization, and possibly others.

The Problems
Many problems with these programs exist. Let me point out a few:

• These programs teach abstinence in exclusion of anything else. That means the programs basically say "Don't have sex before marriage", and that is it.
• These programs do not teach how to properly handle a situation where you do have sex before marriage.
• Many of these programs are taught to children in elementary and middle school, and are not brought back up in high school.
• High school is when many teens would start to have pre-marital sex.
• Many of these programs are voluntary, and don't reach everyone.

Possible solutions

• Let's teach abstinence, in *addition* to teaching these kids how to be smart about sex. After all, sex isn't a disease, it is a wonderful thing - but like anything else in life, you need to be smart about it.
• Teach the use of condoms, and how to properly use them.
• Teach about the use of birth control pills
• Teach the statistics of how likely you are to acquire a disease or get pregnant if the two things above are used, and if they are not.
• We send kids to school to learn, not to have information withheld from them.
• Start sexual education early in life, and keep it going till they die.
• In other words, start teaching children about sex, why it's good to wait, and how to handle it properly if they can't wait - but make sure that the education continuesat least through high school.
• Make the programs mandatory. I *had* to learn American history, and Home Ec. this needs to be one of those classes that people have to attend. And no, I don't think teachers should be able to say that their children can't attend (they are as likely to have sex as anyone else).
  

*Please keep in mind that I have never attended one of these programs, so my knowledge on them is purely what I have heard, not what I have personally experienced.

UPDATE: A new article appeared in the USA Today - read it here:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-04-15-sex-education-grants_N.htm

Good news

Well, I finally have some good news, I have a job. Well, it's kind of good news - as good as it can get when you consider that I have to work (after all, who really wants to do that). I will be the general manager of a hotel in Ankeny. I hope that the job is going to be fun for me, I will know on Monday when I start. This will help with the bills and such.

I feel like I was going to write about something else, but I can't think of what it is - so if I think about it, I will post it later.

Peeps

Well, today I found one of the best sites on the net. http://www.peepresearch.org with a text like

Most people think that Peeps are primarily sugar. We all know that sugar dissolves in water. This means that Peeps should dissolve in water, right?? Wrong!

how can you not think this site is great? Give it a try.

Getting Things Done

I ran into a new idea (okay, not a new idea, just new packaging), called "Getting Things Done" - well it's new to me. As near as I can tell it's about dumping all the info in your head and life into a medium that can remind you (what medium doesn't really matter). It's also about sorting out your tasks and projects into an easy to work with form so that you know what you have to do, and what step(s) needs to be completed next.
For the longest time I have been searching for a way to organize my life (mainly work), so that I can get everything done - and have time to do it. One of the main things preventing me from doing that is I'm forgetful of anything that does not interest me. This way of Getting Things Done seems like it is custom built for me to get things done. I can't wait till I start working again to try this out for a true test - but for the time being I will just have to use it at home; I even found an extension for Firefox and Gmail to help with that.
On my searching for info on GTD (Getting Things Done), I found an interesting article - which is loosely related to that, here is the link Firefox OS.
Okay, I think that is it for now.

Been a while

Okay, so it's been a while since I have written. First there wasn't much to write about - bad weather, working, etc. Then about three weeks ago, things changed; the weather got better, Jana and I paid off many bills, and I got let go from my job. I can't begin to tell you how all three things just seem so much better to me. The weather is a rather obvious thing when I say it is better, as are the bills; the odd thing is the job, the job I had was not really that fun for me, I would work 11 hours a day, see Jana maybe 3 hours a day if I was lucky, and be on call 24/7/365. Needless to say I was upset the first hour after I was let go (the day before didn't go so well either), but after that, I could explain why but I was just so happy, all smiles, and jokes. I don't blame the hotel, or the staff, it just happened. My only real annoyance with it is the timing - I would have preferred that it happened after the vacation that I had planned for May.

The first week I just sat around, and worked on my resume here and there, the second week I went out and started hitting the pavement to get my resume out there. I'm finding it difficult to find good places to drop it off at (I've been rather picky), by the end of last week I had four interviews, and I'm having another tomorrow.

On a positive note, Jana and I got a membership to a 24 hour gym near by, and have been exercising almost everyday since. I know I'm starting to feel better, and I think Jana is too. I had Jana take a picture of me today (with no shirt on) so that I can compare it with a photo of myself after three months.

Well that is all for now - wish me luck with the workouts. :)

Winter Roads

Today has been an interesting one. I got off work at 7am, and after defrosting my car for about an hour, was headed home (finally). The roads were not in the best of conditions today, in fact they were rather crappy. At first when I hit the interstate I was able to go about 45mph, that speed steadily declined till it was about 15mph at my exit. On the way, I saw about 12 cars go into the ditch, I saw one car that must have gotten turned around driving the wrong way on the interstate, and almost go hit by two different cars. I started to swerve at one point, but was able to quickly fix my driving to correct it.
I'm not sure what it is about some drivers, but they seem to think that they can drive like the roads are perfect, and seem surprised when things go wrong. Most of the cars that I saw go into the ditch were the 4x4s.

I want to make this post longer and a bit more detailed, but I'm having trouble concentrainting, I have a really bad headache that just came on. At some point I might have to take a small nap tonight, I'm not doing very well.

Stranded in Iowa - Part 2

I got up nice and early this morning, after having a short rest at the hotel. I then came back to work, since I was scheduled at 7am. I come into work only to find out that the person who was suppose to work the late night shift had to go to the hospital and would not be in - guess who gets to work the shift now. I called Jana and told her that I had to work the shift, needless to say, this was another time I disappointed her. I feel like a jackass.
Despite being tired, at 15:00 (3pm) I will go to a room, sleep, come down to work at 23:00 (11pm) and try to find some time to eat in the middle. Come hell or high water (I've always wanted to type that) I'm heading home at 7am tomorrow. I need to see Jana and Fozzy, I would like to feel comfortable for a while, oh and be able to change clothes (I think I'm starting to smell funky despite a shower).
Last night I was afraid that I would have trouble waking up, which was not the case, so I set three different alarms. Let me tell you, they all work well enough to wake me up on their own. I used the room alarm clock, my cell phone, and the laptop.

Stranded in Iowa

I got off work about 21:00 (9:00pm), and attempted to head home. Regrettably the weather is not so good here, and I was not able to make it. I would drive for just a bit, and the window would completely ice up. I was able to get a room at the hotel next door, so that I don't have to chance a drive home - too bad it has the added benifit that I don't have to worry about getting to work tomorrow.
I can tell that Jana is disappointed, I know I am. I'm going to miss Jana and Fozzy tonight.
Well, I guess I will study my Esperanto, then head to bed. I have to be up early to get to work - woohoo, extra woo.

Disappointed in myself

For the past week, I have been proud of myself - I have stuck to eating well. I have had more veggies a day, I have not eaten the bad foods (considered bad no matter what diet you are on). I have felt better, slept better, gotten up before the alarm clock and felt great through out the day (though I have been wanting a nap about half way through the day)
Last night I did something stupid. After eating healthy all day, and feeling good - I broke down and had some of those bad foods, that I mentioned earlier, as a midnight snack. This morning I woke up later then my alarm clock would have been set for, I feel like I'm dragging, I have no motivatirn9877777777777777777778 (sorry cat came by) motivation to get anything done today, I only want to sleep. All in all, I feel like I cheated on myself, now I'm depressed. Oh, and I gained weight.
The only thing to do is to suck it up and continue on. As I told my coworker (who is quitting smoking), there are bumps just don't let them turn into mountains. I need to get back on that horse. I need to figure out why I did what I did, and fix it so that it doesn't happen again.

2007

Well it has been 2007 (Central time) for just over 44 hours, and so far I feel much more comfortable in 2007 then I ever did in 2006. I know that the change was purely arbitrary, and not really accompanied by any real change in my life - but despite that, I feel better in 2007. Really, I the change is all in my head. Or maybe it's the goatee - yeah that's it, it must be the goatee. ;-)