Archive for April, 2008

There is no doubt that the internets have entangled themselves into our lives. NPR has a fascinating interview with Jeremy Bailenson of Standford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab about how a person’s virtual persona (ala Second Life type virtual realities) affects their everyday life from gaining confidence to losing weight.

NPR’s Learning from the virtual you audio clip

I don’t have experience with Second Life version of me other than my Nintendo Wii mii, which looks a lot like Mr. Garrison crossed with Elton John crossed with David Cross - let me tell you, that is great for my self esteem :} I do think the internet has affected me in other ways, some for the better, some for the worse. The most apparent thing that sticks out to me is that I don’t read the same as I did 10 years ago. I tend to skim looking for bullet points and quick understanding rather than ruminating on points and trying to really understand the nut of a passage. Obviously, this is not a good thing. On the positive side, the internet has truly influence my position on intellectual property by observing remarkable people share their hard work for free. That truly amazes me in many, many ways, but I’ll digress from that for now.

My question to all of you is how has the internet changed/enriched/affected you?

Article about starting and quitting smoking.

For those of you that have problems keeping your inbox clean and would like to be dickhaus’d, this video talks about methods of getting things done with your email. You can skip the first 10-11 minutes, it is fluff. Alupa, you know about fluffing, right?

Happy Earth Day.

Here is a nice stop raping the Earth video from Rocketboom!

Maybe the government should step in and start a “packaging tax” to stop the gratuitous package that companies are forcing upon us customers. If company’s can’t clean up their own act, then it is time for some good old fashion regulation through taxation. Who’s with me?

Food riots!

NYTimes Eat

Here’s a fun quiz for a Friday at work.  It’s relatively emusic (download subscription service) friendly (artists they have), but cool at the same time.

www.mymusiciq.com/

I scored a 117.

Let us know your score (no cheating)…

So I’m a nerd.  We know this.  I sent out the first chapter of the Tao Te Ching today to people at work.  Why?  I’m not sure, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

My email:

<<So on this last day of drops, how about a little Tao Te Ching?

1. The Way
The Way that can be experienced is not true;
The world that can be constructed is not true.
The Way manifests all that happens and may happen;
The world represents all that exists and may exist.

To experience without intention is to sense the world;
To experience with intention is to anticipate the world.
These two experiences are indistinguishable;
Their construction differs but their effect is the same.

Beyond the gate of experience flows the Way,
Which is ever greater and more subtle than the world.

More confounding wisdom here:  http://www.chinapage.com/gnl.html>>

The response I got from our office manager, and for the record I really like her:

<<Ok.  That requires too much thought.  Not good for me this a.m.  Maybe some time when I’ve had a Dr. Pepper (ha-ha).
But, I do know one Way, and one Truth, and one who is greater….

John 14:6 of the King James Bible says:
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.>>

Heaven forbid we need to think about our belief structure/faith, alas.

“Hello, I’m laid back singer-songwriter Jack Johnson. Hacky sack!”

“I have to say that was an unfussy groove”

It’s not on youtube yet…I’ll post in the comments when it is. Makes fun of Dave Matthews and John Mayer, too. The humor’s a little shallow (I can think of lots more to make fun of), but it’s worth seeing. Might be here, among other good clips:http://andysamberg.blogspot.com/

Hemingway’s bar gives discounts if you’re needy.

Great article commemorating the end of Prohibition.

Amazing picture and analysis here.