Just some space where I can rant and express myself, and share come cool links!
Monday, January 28, 2008
Super Cool
There are days that I really appreciate the artistic folks out there. Check out the stop-motion recorded version of Tetris with real people in theater seats below. This is the guy's website.
Maybe not, I do live in the Bay Area after all. Perhaps a bit of a conservationist?
It strikes me that I am too wasteful. One could certainly argue that I am too wasteful with my money, but I'm talking more about the waste I have to put out on the curb on a regular basis.
Like any good american, I am obsessed with stuff. Not so much because I'm competing with the jones's to have the biggest and best, but more because I am intrigued with gadgets, and stuff that will make life more organized or easier or safer to live. The result of this is that a bunch of the stuff that goes out to the curb is packaging. Mostly it's plastic and cardboard. Of course it gets recycled. Plastics go in the recycling bin that are probably not on the list of things they want to receive, but I figure if it's got a triangular symbol on it with a low number, then they outta take it, even if it's not in the shape of a bottle. :^)
ANYWAY, one of the things I'd like to do this year is reduce my consumption, and as a result reduce the amount of stuff I have to put in the bins. Along this line of thought, I would like to reduce the massive piles of paper that come through the slot by the front door. I am seriously considering electronic billing for all of my accounts that will support it, and signing up with GreenDimes to reduce the unwanted junkmail that arrives at my house. If you haven't already signed up or thought about it, this would be a great way to reduce your carbon footprint on the world.
A couple of weeks ago on a Thursday, our office network went down. Well, more specifically or connection to the outside world went down. It happened at around 9:00 in the morning and lasted all day. It was amazing to me how useless we became. I had access to my email, but nothing was coming in or going out. I didn't have access to any of our systems (which are all hosted somewhere else) so I couldn't do any scripting work. I couldn't surf the web, I couldn't check personal email. I was basically unable to work or play for an entire day.
It reminded me of when I was a kid in Eastern Oregon and we occasionally had snow days. Of course in an area where it regularly snows, a snow day is a significant deal. We're talking several feet of snow overnight. So much that the plows that have been plowing all night can't keep up. LOTS of snow.
Obviously in the temperate bay area, we don't get snow. Once every 20 years we get a little that sticks to the ground. Of course the idiots on the road are still going 75-80 and run into things left and right, but it's never enough to stop the world from moving. On the other hand, if we all lost connectivity, most of the tech industry would be at a standstill, just as I was a couple of Thursdays ago. Snow day.
A friend of mine said during an IM conversation that they would "I want it done right out of the shoot."
Being the pedantic soul that I am, I had to correct her and say that it's "chute" It made we wonder where it came from, and I found this. In the process I also found this site which I found very intriguing. No wonder the English language is so hard to learn. It's filled with sayings that on the surface make very little sense. It reminds me of a Star Trek episode where the inhabitants of the foreign world only communicated by referring to stories. A language based on something akin to the ultimate inside joke(s) - yet another euphemism.
ANYWAY, The other thought that came out of this - which would come as no surprise to the English majors in my vast readership - but it surprised me. Sir Walter Scott coined several common English euphemisms. If you ever get the feeling that no one person, (unless they are the son of god) can amount to much, take a look at how much the writing of this one person has affected the things you and I say on a regular basis. If Sir Walter Scott decided to be a taxidermist, giving someone the "Cold Shoulder" would involve an ice pack.
