andrew.leahey[.org]

Jan 27 / 5:04am

Cultured

Has anyone else had enough of hearing about languages that have no word for "no"?

You are usually told this little tidbit in some sort of pseudomotivational yes-you-can moment; but, are we really supposed to believe there is a culture out there that has developed beyond swinging from the trees, and has no way for one member to indicate to another that he is not interested in being the guinea pig for the new arrow-tips?

I also don't want to hear about how many words they have for "yes"! Anything more than a few is just unnecessary redundancy. Clearly these people are not sophisticated enough to separate the wheat from the chaff, and are just incorporating everything into their lexicon. I am not impressed by this culture.

Finally and in closing, while we're on the subject of cultures, have you ever noticed whenever someone on the Discovery Channel or TLC claims that a culture was "advanced" or "technological", they are always referring to a group of people that no longer exist? I'm not talking about Atlantis nonsense, I'm talking about real societies. I think its to counteract the superiority complex we have as being one of the cultures that "made it". The Mayan expert or whatever he is wants to bring us down a notch, knock us off our high horse. Just because the Mayans were wiped out by heavy rains or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or whatever it was, doesn't mean they weren't an exceedingly advanced culture.

Also, we're supposed to believe they were capable of predicting the end of the world in 2012 but not capable of spotting their own demise and avoiding it? I call bullshit.

Loading mentions Retweet

Comments (0)

Jan 26 / 12:41pm

List of Day-Enders

I was walking to class yesterday, soaked to the bone from the torrential rains Philly was enduring, and I got to thinking...while being soaked from rain isn't one, there are a number of things that, once having happened, indicate my day is over. What I mean to say is, there are certain things that will immediately put an end to my excursion. Should they happen, I would turn right around and go home. These are a few I thought of:

Any sort of spilling on to the groinal region. If I drive to the train, get the train, start walking to class and fumble with my coffee, spilling it on the front of my pants...my day is over. Right there on the street I will turn right around and go home. Theres just no recovering from that. I don't carry a spare pair of pants in my backpack and I can't pull off the sweater-around-the-waist thing.
Vomiting. I don't drink, so I've never incorporated vomiting in to my normal routine. I could be in a spaceship about to dock at the International Space Station, if I vomit, this adventure is over. Close the hatches and notify the groundcrew, I'm coming home.
Bleeding. Anything larger than a papercut and this day is done. Not only that, depending on the location, I may not be leaving my house for a while. I see people with, like, fresh scars with the stitches still in them walking around. You've got to be crazy. I'm in bed softly sobbing and trying not to move.
Crime Victimization. Robbed or mugged, and to home I go.
Lapsing in to unconsciousness. Day. Over.
Bitten by a human. If I get on the train, and a dwarf that had been hiding under my seat rolls out and sinks his sharp little teeth in to my calf, I'm done. I'll get off at the next stop, wait for a train taking me back, and immediately return home.

Loading mentions Retweet

Comments (0)

Jan 17 / 11:27am

PhACT Lecture - 1/17/2010 - Ken Biddle

I attended yesterdays Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking lecture. It had it's interesting portions, to be sure, if it was a bit long overall. The most interesting aspect was the look at the K2 meter, which, if you have ever watched any of those crap ghost hunter programs, is a staple of the more "technological" hunting crowd. Well the demonstration pretty well showed what the K2 was: an overly sensitive magnetic field detector. The lecturer, Ken Biddle, demonstrated setting the K2 meter off from about 20 feet by keying the mic on his 2-way radio. Cell phones, fluorescent bulbs, conduits, and electrical wiring all set the thing blinking like a ghost was having a seizure.

That, coupled with the fact that there is no reason to believe ghosts emit EMFs, makes it really implausible that these things are good for detecting anything but signs of civilization (surprise, surprise). The interesting aspect for me, though, was the realization that the K2s do not rhythmically flash on their own, so if you were to see one being used in a question-and-answer kind of scenario with a "ghost", there has to be some conscious dishonesty involved. Someone is keying their 2-way, fumbling with a cell phone or fiddling with the meter itself. I guess I had always thought the ghost-hunting programs were staffed by true believers that were just deluded in to believing they were really witnessing something paranormal. I wasn't quite jaded enough to think that they were consciously forging so much evidence.

As I said, portions of the lecture was interesting. The speaker, Ken Biddle, was however a believer of sorts and this came through in parts of his talk. A quick look at his website will find the usual pattern for the "skeptical believer"; first he demonstrates how thorough his methods are, and he debunks a lot of fake evidence. Then, at some point, he indicates that despite his rigorous scientific methods, some things he has come across remain unexplainable (in Biddle's case, he uses the phrase "holds up to [his] scrutiny").

I really find these types of statements to be incredibly counter productive towards promoting skepticism vis-a-vis the whole paranormal movement. The ghost-hunting brigade has built their entire industry around promoting the idea of "unexplainable by us" as being "unexplainable", and furthermore, "unexplainable" as "paranormal". A statement such as that made by Biddle can, and will undoubtedly, be re-purposed and used to promote woo. It can further be used to undermine the term skeptic, the movement, and any of the precepts therein.

A few weeks ago there was a magician at dinner that did some tricks I can't explain -- however, I don't think any of them involved the paranormal.

Loading mentions Retweet

Comments (0)

Jan 4 / 9:02am

Addressing Gettysburg

What a weekend! On Saturday Gina and I drove out to Gettysburg, PA. It was her anniversary present for me! Really fantastic trip, and expert planning on her part. We took the auto-tour of the battlefield, and did a little hiking on it as well. The wind was unbelievably strong, and I think we both agree we have never endured cold quite like that before.

Neither of us had ever been to Gettysburg before, and what struck us was the sheer size of the battlefield. On one of our side-trips to a museum, it was stated to be 10 miles square. Absolute insanity. Speaking of museums:

The museum in Harrisburg, is the National Civil War Museum, and wow. It is chock full of seriously disturbing realistic human exhibits. Additionally, it is situated on a mountain on the outskirts of Harrisburg, giving you an amazing view:

Take a look at a panorama we shot.

It was a really terrific trip, and a definite a must-revisit.

Hopefully Gina will post speaking of our dinner-theater experience!

Loading mentions Retweet

Comments (0)

Dec 25 / 8:18pm

Here's a Year-End Wrapup for You

So as 2009 comes to a close I feel compelled to write one of these self-aggrandizing year end wrap-ups. These things always crack me up when written by other people. They list the things they're thankful for, they say what they've learned. They usually rattle off one or two bad outcomes, but ultimately culminate their post by saying they're grateful for even these bad things, because it helped them "grow"; or "mature" or "recognize what they have".

Bullshit.

I managed to skirt all the potential catastrophes in my life for yet another year. I'm not saying it's all due to me, certainly not, those around me have, yet again, gone above and beyond to make my life as good as it is. I appreciate them, and all that they do, immensely.

I know how lucky I am and I don't need some kind of frickin' volcanic eruption of catastrophe to spew its molten goo of angst upon my life for me to appreciate it. I don't need to be run down by a runaway forklift or have one of my relatives shot by a deranged bow-hunter to mature as a person. I'm just fine the way I am, thank you.

Furthermore, I don't have any New Years Resolutions! You know why? Because if I identify something I'm doing that is harmful to myself or those around me, say in like, mid-May...I try to handle it then! I don't furiously scribble myself a message to stop slashing my neighbor's tires come December 31st. I'm never going to stop doing that. Too much fun.

So to conclude, in 2010 I am going to do pretty much the same things I did in 2009; sure there may be a few errant tweaks here or there, but nothing major. I find the entire resolution thing immensely disturbing.

Loading mentions Retweet

Comments (0)

Dec 17 / 9:23am

Tiny Pandora is Tiny

For those of you who use Pandora, but use it on a slower machine and/or just don't need or want the bloat of the full version, I made a quick link to the slimmer version created for the Windows Sidebar:

http://bit.ly/tinypandora

Complete with easy-to-remember URL.

Protip: Use Google Chrome to create an application shortcut, resize the window to just the size needed for the player, and have a quick and easy desktop-version of Pandora.

Loading mentions Retweet

Comments (0)

Aug 30 / 11:08am

Windows 7 on the Dell Mini 9

Having tested Ubuntu Netbook Remix on my Mini 9, I decided it was worthwhile giving Microsoft's latest Windows incarnation a go. I had previously run XP on the machine, and it ran reasonably well. However, Windows 7 takes up considerably more space on the 8 gig SSD, and thus I had to undertake some install-slimming measures to get it down to a reasonable footprint.

I utilized Rick's thorough howto guide for installing and using vLite, as well as the Microsoft WAIK (Windows Automated Install Kit). This cut out a significant chunk of uselessness: language support, Windows Help, etc.

I have a usable amount of space remaining of my 8 gigs, with Windows 7 installed, and all the (my) necessary applications.

As far as performance goes, I'd rank the machine's speed with Aero enabled and most of 7's bells and whistles turned on as well above XP. It boots up quickly, applications are snappy, and is generally exactly what Vista should have been.

Loading mentions Retweet

Filed under // dell mini 9 geek mini9 tech windows 7

Comments (2)

Aug 29 / 5:52pm

Gina's iPhone Surprise

So, thanks to Gina, I am officially a member of the iPhone brigade. For my birthday, which occurs in exactly 1 month, she engaged in a most elaborate ruse to gift me my new favorite toy (depicted below).

Gina had the element of surprise for sure, with my birthday being a month away, but her execution was absolutely flawless. Deducing from the end product, what she did was take a photo of herself holding her iPhone. Caption it to say "Happy Birthday!", and set it as the contact photo for her, on my new phone. Are you following? She then met me at a Starbucks on a lazy Saturday afternoon, and excused herself from the table after we said our hello's and updated each other on our days. Before leaving the table, she asked me to watch her pocket book, which isn't out of character, or anything that would arouse my suspicions.

After leaving the table, Gina called my iPhone, which is sitting in her purse. OH, and she had set the ringtone to be our song! (Sorry, this entry is entirely stream-of-consciousness). The phone began ringing in her purse, loudly. I have this thing about rooting around in her stuff, so being faced with this dilemma, I mutter an "Oh Goddddd" and try to close the top of the purse tight enough to muffle the sound. I am a little bit confused, as I knew Gina had set the song to be the ringtone when I call. I find it strange, but not strange enough to open the purse and investigate. The ringing stops, whew, people were looking. *Music Plays* "Oh mannnn!" I open the purse, quickly find the phone, and am greeted by this screen:

I am still clueless! It's not my birthday, and as far as I can tell I am holding Gina's iPhone in my hand, that I have just pulled from her purse, and now am about to answer it. I'm pretty sure this is crossing all sorts of boundaries. I answer. "Happy Birthday Love!!!!" Happy Birthday?! Whats up?! Whats going on?! I kind of glance around the Starbucks, as I still am not understanding that the iPhone I'm holding is not Gina's (what is she using to call me?) and is my birthday present. I'm relatively certain a barbershop quartet is about to come in and sing, or Homey the Clown is going to pound me over the head with a sock full of flour. I briefly consider whether its possible poor Gina has flipped her lid. Then she returns to the table, holding her iPhone.

OH! Now I get it!!!

I bring the phone down from my ear and understand everything, and I realize the level of awesomenessitude this surprise has reached. The scope and scale of this epic surprise pull-off. The planning. The flawless execution.

I truly have to say I have heard about these sorts of elaborate birthday surprises, but have sure never been on the receiving or (in all fairness), giving end of one of such magnitude. Gina has set an incredibly high bar for Christmas!

Loading mentions Retweet

Filed under // birthday gina iphone

Comments (1)

Aug 25 / 12:27pm

To Gina's

Click here to download:

to-gina-s-kiyklFopsxJErkenHmtc.zip (2905 KB)

Loading mentions Retweet

Filed under // gina patco picposterous

Posted from Cherry Hill, NJ and Philadelphia, PA

Comments (1)

Aug 21 / 9:54am

Most Interesting Playlist I Sync

Protip: To get Smart Playlists to update with a new batch of songs: Select All within playlist > Delete. You won't be deleting the songs themselves, just removing them from the playlist, forcing iTunes to reload with a new set.

Loading mentions Retweet

Filed under // playlist

Comments (0)