Here's a quick, completely subjective survey of language frequency heard on top of the Empire State Building in order of descending frequency:
Then a bunch I didn't recognize. Surprisingly, little to no Cantonese, Hindi, Urdu, or Punjabi...
2008-07-20
2008-07-18
Dirty, Dirty Cities
I've now been to NYC. I must say as fun as it is it is still a dirty, dirty city. Inspired, I will now present a list of dirty cities:
- New York
- New Orleans
- Gary, including East Chicago, Whiting, Hammond, and 90% of Lake county
- Binghamton, NY
- Los Angeles
- San Francisco
2008-07-17
Radio Shack
I used to like Radio Shack. It was kind of a nerd haven. You could find all matter of useless stuff in there. Piezo buzzers? Check. Random resistors? Double check.
But I went into one last night and it was a shadow of its former self. The shelves were mostly cell phones, cell phone power chargers, cell phone headsets, and two Xbox 360s. Its like RS is trying to be like Best Buy. But BB can leverage its size to offer a wide variety of goods. RS could never compete especially since their stores are so small. What in the world is going on here?
But I went into one last night and it was a shadow of its former self. The shelves were mostly cell phones, cell phone power chargers, cell phone headsets, and two Xbox 360s. Its like RS is trying to be like Best Buy. But BB can leverage its size to offer a wide variety of goods. RS could never compete especially since their stores are so small. What in the world is going on here?
2008-07-05
Timecube
There's a bizarre site on the web (as if there was any other type of site) called Time Cube.
The page is disjoint and difficult to read. Whoever authors it might very well have some kind of schizophrenic or schizotypal disorder. But he takes this all very seriously. I would know because I mocked his site in an email to him during my undergrad years and he responded about where I could stick my four-cornered head... His basic premise has something to do with time, but you'll have to get through the anti-semitism to find it.
On the page you'll also find a claim that he will debate his theory with anyone anytime. I did read a criticism that suggests Time Cube's arguments are semantically meaningless and not worth debating (read: they don't make sense). I think Time Cube is just plain wrong. The reason is because Time Cube still relies on the same meta-physics that it purports to deny. Therefore, in trying to deny the very meta-physics on which it relies, Time Cube is just another form of nihilism and not worth debating. There's your four-pointed word for you.
The page is disjoint and difficult to read. Whoever authors it might very well have some kind of schizophrenic or schizotypal disorder. But he takes this all very seriously. I would know because I mocked his site in an email to him during my undergrad years and he responded about where I could stick my four-cornered head... His basic premise has something to do with time, but you'll have to get through the anti-semitism to find it.
On the page you'll also find a claim that he will debate his theory with anyone anytime. I did read a criticism that suggests Time Cube's arguments are semantically meaningless and not worth debating (read: they don't make sense). I think Time Cube is just plain wrong. The reason is because Time Cube still relies on the same meta-physics that it purports to deny. Therefore, in trying to deny the very meta-physics on which it relies, Time Cube is just another form of nihilism and not worth debating. There's your four-pointed word for you.
2008-06-25
Battlestar Delaytica
I went to watch Battlestar Galactica last Friday night and imagine my surprise to not find a new episode. Turns out that there won't be any new episodes until early 2009! It already took them about eight months to get season 4, the final season, up and running. And now they're throwing another six month delay? This is the kind of tomfoolery that made me lose interest in Lost's season 3.
2008-06-07
Gardening Day
Today was gardening day. Well, not really because I only had one task to do, and it was to smite this monstrosity:
I don't know what it is or where it came from but all those three feet of growth happened in the last three months. One glance there was nothing and another glance there was this! So I made the executive decision that it must die.
That was easier said than done. There were three stems and each was a quarter to one half inch in diameter. Turns out they were all part of a common root system. A little ways down I found where they all converged: on a bulb at least six inches across. That took some hacking and prying but it eventually succumbed to my manly prowess... And as a parting gift it left behind a few roots that were each at least a half inch in diameter. Now that's crazy.
As an aside, I thought I'd include this shot of our butterfly bush:
The red line is where I hacked it down to before spring began. We've had a lot of rain and you can see how its more than doubled in size. There's actually a light somewhere back in there. I swear you can't kill this thing.
I don't know what it is or where it came from but all those three feet of growth happened in the last three months. One glance there was nothing and another glance there was this! So I made the executive decision that it must die.
That was easier said than done. There were three stems and each was a quarter to one half inch in diameter. Turns out they were all part of a common root system. A little ways down I found where they all converged: on a bulb at least six inches across. That took some hacking and prying but it eventually succumbed to my manly prowess... And as a parting gift it left behind a few roots that were each at least a half inch in diameter. Now that's crazy.
As an aside, I thought I'd include this shot of our butterfly bush:
The red line is where I hacked it down to before spring began. We've had a lot of rain and you can see how its more than doubled in size. There's actually a light somewhere back in there. I swear you can't kill this thing.
2008-06-04
Domain to Ya'll's
I've been dabbling with the idea of setting up my own Windows domain at home. The benefits of a roaming profile are that you could have multiple users on the same machine (not simultaneously) with their own files, and that you can take your files to any machine that is a part of the domain.
Now, the downside to all of this is that the you need either Windows 2000 Server (Professional won't do) or Windows 2003 Server. Both of those are hundreds of dollars. That's hundreds of dollars more than I want to spend. So its Samba to the rescue! In case you don't know, Samba is an open source, reverse engineered implementation of the SMB protocol on which Microsoft built their domain system. Samba's free, and it lets you do fancy things like domain and roaming profiles. I've actually just gotten the domain part working after several tries. It sure ain't simple. Next I'll implement the roaming profiles. Maybe I'll even have time to post a tutorial. But for now: it works!
Now, the downside to all of this is that the you need either Windows 2000 Server (Professional won't do) or Windows 2003 Server. Both of those are hundreds of dollars. That's hundreds of dollars more than I want to spend. So its Samba to the rescue! In case you don't know, Samba is an open source, reverse engineered implementation of the SMB protocol on which Microsoft built their domain system. Samba's free, and it lets you do fancy things like domain and roaming profiles. I've actually just gotten the domain part working after several tries. It sure ain't simple. Next I'll implement the roaming profiles. Maybe I'll even have time to post a tutorial. But for now: it works!
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