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Is Stress Contagious? Studies Say Yes Well, fek.

via. Honestly for me I think creation is probably the point of humanity, especially as distinct from other animals.

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via Cracked - Man, that's so Evil Villain / Death Star looking - if we have literal Flat Earthers, there's gotta be some contingent who won't believe that the moon won't just rotate around once this is built and point a big laser at Earth... (more information from NASA)

"Are you sure about this?"
"Of course. I can do anything as long as it's just paying for something."

I usually remember that quote wrong, so I tend to misquote it as "What, I can just throw money at this? Why didn't you say so!" I'm lucky enough with my job and constrained enough in stuff like freetime that sometimes throwing money at something seems like just the ticket.

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My back had a twinge last week and so I developed a habit of stifling all sneezes. And now it's a weirdly hard habit to break! I want to sneeze again.

There is no moral to my life - I have none - except: 'Stand up and take it'. The rest is sentiment.

Ezequiel playing in the March for Science in today's NY Times; Andrew, Dave, and me behind

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It's cool how both the Boston Globe and the NY Times select photos with younger players front and center, and some taller folks backin' em up

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I've moved around 20 times in my life. You think I'd be a bit less crap at it by now...

We should probably get back to the theater- those pre-movie trivia questions aren't going to answer themselves, are they? ...actually they do.

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With Kristin L at Honest Weight Artisan Beer
Her name was Danuta Danielsson and she was originally from Poland. Her parents died in a concentration camp. The nazi was later found guilty of murdering a homosexual man. --via http://dogscantlookup.com/post/117158123091/combatbootsoftolerance-sonounsoffione-a-woman that talks about the controversies of proposing a statue in her honor.

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The Fear Will Never Go Away As I Continue to Grow

Continuing this self-help book kick I've been on. Not quite as tuned for my needs as the Albert Ellis, but certainly compatible in outlook, and with some useful thoughts even if I don't embrace it mantra-wise.

This concept is good though... if I'm a little nervous and anxious as I go through my day, that's a sign I'm doing it right. If I retreat to the low hanging fruits only, that's not so good.

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http://pando.com/2015/04/19/the-war-nerd-the-art-of-turf-war/ - The War Nerd on turf war. Major, "low-level" ethnic war is happening in South Africa. Gary Breecher's realpolitik view takes such a richer, more informed view of what's going on than the simplifications, and frankly, disinterest of mass media.

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Like if you want to understand the situation in Yemen Walked past a construction worker in Seaport- snuck a glance at the stickers festooning his hardhat, was braced for ideas I might not agree with, but foremost was a "Hardhats for Elizabeth Warren" sticker. Good lesson about not jumping to conclusions...

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I wonder how long I've been casually using the New England "wicked" to mean "extremely". I think at some point I may have been using it self-consciously and ironically, but now it's just a part of how I communicate.

"Hella" might be going down the same path for me... right now I'm very aware when I use it.
via

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Life's missed opportunities, at the end, may seem more poignant to us than those we embraced -- because in our imagination they have a perfection that reality can never rival.

I find solace in this thought, a way to temper the bittersweet nostalgia I'm blessed and cursed with.

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http://boingboing.net/2013/01/25/the-secret-to-feeling-like-you.html -- the secret to not feeling time starved is to have a feeling of awe.

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For two jobs, five of the last ten years, I worked a block or two from the end of the marathon... click to play:

microrail

(Decided not to embed the game since it starts out playing music...) This was my Ludum Dare 23 game, though the core idea and puzzles were generated by my collaborator Glenn Iba. I can't say it's so original, since Glenn has a very similar iOS game and a host of Lisp computer programs to make these puzzles, but still it was a nice exercise in UI and design.

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Love thy neighbour as yourself, but choose your neighbourhood.

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I want this to be the perfect date. I haven't had a real date since I was 13 years old.

via

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Wish I could communicate to kitty Rex that no kneading claws, random licking, and less up into our faces would make snuggles more welcome.

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In the fight between you and the world, back the world.

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A coworker says there's an ocean-based sequel to Avatar coming. My title idea: "Avatar 2: learn THIS language, nerds- 'blurgbuablublubgblurble'"

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Good advice given yrs ago by @atomiota, an old boss: "It may not work, but we're designers, so we try it anyway." I rmmbr that all the time.

--The Rotterdam Zoo has special glasses so Gorillas won't think you're making eye contact with them, which ticks them off. I kind of want a pair so it will always look like I'm trying to think of something. (via)

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http://www.kirksjerks.com/ - supporting UCF Men's Basketball. Who knew?

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http://lileks.com/bleat/?p=1908 - jeans and the joy of lileks Today I had a revelation. I was talking with Jeremy, the guy who works in the print shop in my office building, and I realized once upon a time I kind of gave a damn that Captain Kirk had a son. (And according to the novel only, he was doin' it with the vulcan Lt. Saavik) Guess that sort of gets overshadowed by the whole "Death of Spock" in those movies, the fun with the time travel and Whales in 4 (or maybe the heaps of junk that came later in the movie series...)

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Photos of the Moment
Today's Topic: Fakery in the Marketplace!

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Link of the Moment
So, returning to the Sci-Fi theme, the Sci-Fi Movie Bad Physics report card. Of course I'm still geek enough to know the counter-arguments, like Star Wars "lasers" aren't really lasers, but have some kind of physical element as well.

Not to sound too much like I'm trying for my martyr card, but there's that saying "friends help friends move, real friends help friends move bodies." I'd prefer to think of that second part as "real friends help friends spend whole weekends doing the Herculean tasks involved in going over a house full of the antique-ish knick knacks (and lead paint) of a lovely old lady who'd lived there for decades while smoking quite a bit, and working towards the goal of having it be a fit place to raise a one year old child." but that really, really doesn't scan.

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Politics of the Moment
I really liked this Slate piece on which presidential candidate is which stock?... John Edwards as Krispy Kreme is especially clever.

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Toys of the Moment

--Chris Deck's MINI Star Wars models are just small and brilliant and lovely.

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Quote of the Moment

"The reason I wear pajamas all the time is along the way I discovered I could get away with it."

Life made a little more sense when I realized that he wasn't the same guy as Howard Hughes, despite the alliteration. So the other day I decided to go catch the Boston Museum of Science Star Wars exhibit before it headed out of town, pay a bit of homage to the Trilogy that still has such a visceral grasp on my imagination, with Ksenia in tow. Almost missed doing an update today...which really would've been the first time in like 4 1/2 years. Well, I made it!

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Advice of the Moment

For the next few hours the old man revealed more of his ingredients for successful social living. Express gratitude. Give more than is expected. Speak optimistically. Touch people. Remember names. Don't confuse flexibility with weakness. Don't judge people by their mistakes; rather, judge them by how they respond to their mistakes. Remember that your physical appearance is for the benefit of others. Attend to your own basic needs first, otherwise you will not be useful to anyone else.

The book is pretty sophomoric but I like this passage. Thanks for all the feedback yesterday.

Actually, it's not so much that the "getting ready to move" vibe is made worse by the divorce reminder aspect; it's that there's the additional pressure of the "will my house sell well" anxiety to clean it up right.

Well, maybe it's not all that bad, though I do worry my real estate folks are pricing it high enough that we might not get enough nibbles before something happens to interest rates. But I don't think I'm in danger of owing on the mortgage or anything, and beyond that it's all funny money anyway.

Sigh.

Openhouse this Sunday. And it looks like some city workers are adding gravel so that the insane jutting rock (that was left behind when some of the other dirtroad material eroded somewhat 'cause of the recent monsoons) isn't quite so dangerous. Yay Waltham!

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Comic of the Moment

Stalin vs Hitler...with translations from the original Russian, and with annotations...great stuff.

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Quote of the Moment

I was the youngest of 8. All brothers. All lousy kissers.

But she did go on to make it across the rickety bridge with all these volleyballs being launched at her. An odd milestone today: I'm exactly twice as old as I was when my dad died, I've now lived for as long without him as I did with him. (I figured that out with my javascript date toy last summer, and then noted it on my palmpilot.)

(For me the calculation is a little weirder than that, since I have this odd theory that I wasn't fundamentally who I am now until sometime during middle school. It's a self-serving rule of thumb, makes me feel less close to "middle aged" than I am.)

With Santa...

My dad was amazing in a lot of ways. Minister, Counted-Cross-Stitcher (at a national competition level), Baker (when we lived in a small town, he'd announce he was baking bread, people would place their order and leave the money on the kitchen table, and on a related note, he never did reveal his double chocolate cookie recipe, or its source, which was a book in the town public library), Furniture Refurbisher, Registered Nurse (when he realized the ministry wasn't for him forever, he started attending a local college to get his degree), Art Collector (prints mostly; a few pieces from his collection were added to the Cleveland Museum of Art's permanent collection), Gardener (in upstate NY he set up a plot for vegetables), Historian/Collector (especially Salvation Army memorabilia). He'd find a new interest, like circus memorabilia, or folk art rugs, or cigar store indians, get some books, and become a bit of an expert on all those topics. He gained an amazing amount of sophisticated culture for a guy from his background, salt of the earth folk in the farm country of Ohio. (It took him a while though, one time on a school trip to the Cleveland Art Museum, he told the teacher "Teacher, you can see her...her things.") He was the epitome of champagne on a beer budget (and knew some accounting tricks to pull that off from studying finance in college). I really think that my appreciation for the finer things suffers tremendously in comparison to his, especially when you compare our backgrounds, all the cultural advantages I've had.

He was sick for 14 months before his death (though, tellingly, I first estimated it at 2-3 years)...Spinal Meningitis that knocked his nervous system, made him half blind and left him with extremely poor coordination and difficult speech. (It also took out his sense of smell...and having been trained as a nurse, his first professional diagnosis was "huh, when you get spinal meningitis, your farts don't smell!") He had been on a road of slow recovery, regaining the ability to walk, relearning how to read, when treatment for a tumor on his left gave him a setback from which he couldn't recover. The saddest moment I know of, my own personal "what to think about if I need quick tears for a stage role", came a few weeks before his death. Word of my grandmother Eva's death had arrived that morning (and, historically, they had not always been on super friendly terms, ever since he managed to polish the anniversary numbers off of her silver--) and I had just gotten up and walked by his bedroom (he was bedridden again) and he was there weeping and weeping. Weeping for Eva, and with a likely foreknowledge of his own passing. Trying to put myself in his place there gives me a sense of horror and foreboding that's hard to comprehend.

He was generous too. He thought it was important for a guy to have a little "scratch" money on him, and would often slip a little something into letters to some of his nephews. Another sad and horrific yet somehow beautiful thing I remember is when he had first gotten ill, had suffered these grand mal seizures, was in the hospital bed, he urged my mom to give me a little money, a five or something. Because of his slurred speech it took a while to understand what he was saying, about how what's supposed to happen is a son goes up to his father, says he needs a little money, and the father takes it out of his wallet and gives it to him. And it took me even longer to get a deeper understanding of what he meant by it.

Favorite Photo Pose

People who knew him then, and me later, say I inherited his sense of humor, and his walk. One time Judy Hill, who knew him back from Coshocton, OH, walked up behind me as I was searching through some sheet music in my church's band room, and she said something in my stance really reminded her of Jim. That really touched me.

I guess some of my biggest regrets are not being able to interact with him after I grew out of my graceless adolescent phases. So much of what I'm proud of in life (getting my act together in school, going to a good college, pulling off neat technological tricks, things I've written and websites I've started, finding and wooing Mo, stumbling into a decent career, settling into my sense of humor, such as it is) have happened since early freshman year in high school... (this ties into that "life begins at 13" theory of mine.) And who knows, maybe if he had been around, I might've been a bit more culturally attuned, not quite the barbarian I am now.

Sigh. More than sigh.

James Edward Israel, 9/9/1949 - 10/10/1988. Funny of the Moment

I know I shouldn't be talking about my problems on this show, but frankly, it's depressing to get to my age and realize that probably this is about as smart as I'm ever going to be. Probably I'll just go on doing what I do now, which is brain surgery. I've always been interested in the brain, and the recent changes in health care aimed at controlling costs have opened up the field of brain surgery to people outside of medicine, and what can I say? I've been the low bidder on a number of operations.
GK: How're we doing here? He looks asleep, doesn't he?
Tim: Looks asleep to me.
GK: Well I guess we'll know in a moment. Say, when it says "right side of the brain," does it mean his right or our right?
Tim: His right, I think.
GK: I think you're right. (FX:POWER DRILL REVS UP, DRILLING)

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Link of the Moment
Huh, the links haven't been too stellar lately...I think the quotes have been pretty decent, but I've been finding fewer cool sites.

Anyway, cool but in a math-geek way, Cut-The-Knot "Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles".

'Course, this I haven't really checked out that link for a while, and right now my 'net connection is really really lousy. But it has some cool java and javscript bits. Start my new job today. Guess I should get in the habit of writing this the night before.

Last night (errr, right now) I switched from my winter exercise gear (uhh, t-shirt and pajama bottoms and sandals) on the stairmaster to my summer exercise gear (black cutoff shorts a Scottsman gave me at summer camp, tank top, and sandals.) What a beautiful day it was all day.

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Link of the Moment
NASA's Solar System Simulator (via slashdot) sounds cooler than it is...it lets you get static images of stellar body A from stellar body B at time C. Good for stargazers, guess I was looking for something more like a dynamic toy...