Month: December 2009

And I actually got a picture …

Last month we were farting around on the coast, driving up some little road.  We were in Bob’s car, which is a modded G35 and made for driving that sort of road.  We got behind someone who did not like the curves, and they were going about half the posted speed limit.  To add insult to injury, every time there was a good (albeit probably illegal) opportunity to pass they would cross the line and straighten the curves by taking both lanes.   It was slow.  We gave up trying to pass and took deep breaths, instead.

This guy on a bike came up behind us and Bob muttered something about going so slow that we were going to get passed by a bicycle … and we did.  AND I got a picture of it for posterity.  Every time I see it I laugh, maybe you will, too.

Ftttt

Buggers, I am drunk on my ass.  Watching Wanda Sykes on HBO, “I’ma Be Me” show.  Killin’ me.  She is so funny she’s making me cry.   She is so funny I remembered a line and put it over in a text box there over on the right.  Yeah!  If you are female and over 30 you need to watch this, even if you have to sleep with someone to use their HBO for 2 hours.  Well worth it, even if they have a dick the size of your little finger (shades of Sex in The City).

I’m off until the 4th now and so happy I could just sh*t a brick.  No, really.  Glad.  Very.  Three days from hell this week, and now it’s over for 11 days, more or less.  I say more or less because I’m still on call but mostly, LESS.  Yes.

And, um, Merry Christmas or something.

Last minute Christmas Gift Guide for Slackers

Matthew Baldwin has come up with a great list of 10 things to buy last minute.  Definitely worth a read, here’s part of it:
There was a time when “Yankee ingenuity” meant inventing an airplane or splitting the atom, but that was before the eighth season of Laverne & Shirley reduced our national IQ to just a smidge over π (pi). The best we can do these days is to foist the world’s stupidest product on our former BFFs. Thus: Snuggie for Dogs!!! Yes, following on the heels of Binder Clip: For Cats!! and The Wire Season 3 DVD Box Set: For Ferrets!!, the makers of the all-fleece SfD!! would have you believe that shaving the hair off one animal and putting it on another isn’t just a hobby for the criminally insane. Still, if you know someone who (1) was dumb enough to have bought a Snuggie for themselves; and (2) refers to their mutt by some ridiculous portmanteau like “labradoodle” or “bullshihtz,” you probably can’t go wrong with this swatch of fastenable idiocy.

———————

As the paramount scholar of our time recently observed, “Earth saw clmate chnge4 ions;will cont 2 c chnges.R duty2responsbly devlop resorces4humankind/not pollute&destroy;but cant alter naturl chng” (that’s verbatim, God love ’er). How Sarah Palin packs so much thinkin’ into 140 characters is beyond me, but clearly we must harness her power for the good of mankind. And as most philosophers do their best cogitation while isolated, I suggest that we all chip in, buy her a 1.88-acre island off the coast of Alaska, and have her confined to her new home by law, armed only with a lifetime supply of moose jerky and a pair of red pumps. She’ll still need access to her Twitter account, of course, to ensure that her further proclamations on global warming receive the audience they deserve. 2010: “thx4 the iland guyz ur the best”; 2015: “izzit my magination or is this place gettin smallr?”; 2020: “halp I could use a ‘bailout’ lol.”

How’s YOUR holiday going? (warning, dumb quiz to follow)

Thanks, Az, for sharing this.


You Are Blissfully Content


During the holidays, you have a lot to be thankful for. And even if you are having a hard time, you do your best to express gratitude.
You are a glass half full type of person. You try to see life as a gift.

You believe that it’s important to stay positive and peaceful. Not just for your own mental health, but for also for the mental health of those around you.
The gift of optimism is the best thing you could possibly give. And you give it well.

The Future of Technology, and Women in the Computing Environment

Top Futurist, Ray Kurzweil, Predicts How Technology Will Change Humanity by 2020
New York Daily News (12/13/09) Kurzweil, Ray

Futurist Ray Kurzweil looks ahead over the next decade to project how humanity will be reshaped by technology. He predicts that between now and 2020, state-of-the-art technologies will spread “to every corner of the country and [begin] to make innovations once consigned to the realm of science fiction real for millions of Americans.”

Fueling this trend will be an exponential expansion in the power of information technology. Kurzweil forecasts that by 2020 memory devices will be integrated into garments, while smartphone displays will eventually give way to eyewear that can transmit images directly to human retinas.

 “That virtual display will be able to take over our entire visual field of view, putting us in a three-dimensional [3D] full immersion virtual reality environment,” he projects. “We’ll watch movies virtually and read virtual books. A lot of our personal and business meetings will take place in these 3D virtual worlds.”

 Another innovation Kurzweil envisions by 2020 is pop-ups in humans’ visual field of view that provide background information about the people and locales being observed.

 By 2020 the futurist also thinks that intelligent accident avoidance systems will be incorporated into cars, while self-driving automobiles will at least be undergoing experimentation.

——————————————————-
Of Girls and Geeks: Environment May Be Why Women Don’t Like Computer Science
UW News (12/14/09) Schwarz, Joel

A University of Washington (UW) study indicates that the stereotype of computer scientists as geeks who stay up all night coding and have no social life may be driving women away from careers in computer science. The study found that the stereotype can be invoked just by the appearance of the classroom or work environment.

 “When people think of computer science the image that immediately pops into many of their minds is of the computer geek surrounded by such things as computer games, science fiction memorabilia, and junk food,” says UW professor Sapna Cheryan. “That stereotype doesn’t appeal to many women who don’t like the portrait of masculinity that it evokes.”

Cheryan set up four experiments to examine the reasons why the proportion of women in computer science is dropping. In all four experiments, women were turned off by stereotypical items such as Star Trek posters, video game boxes, and Coke cans.

 “Instead of trying to change the women who do not relate to the stereotype, our research suggests that changing the image of computer science so that more women feel they fit in the field will go a long way to recruiting them into computer science,” Cheryan says.

 The media also plays a role by constantly portraying computer scientists as computer geeks, she says. The stereotype also may be turning off some men.

“We need to broaden the image of the field so both women and men feel more welcome,” she says. “In workplaces and universities we can do this by changing the way offices, hallways, and labs look.”

—-

I hope they don’t use that for an excuse to make things pink and fuzzy.  Or think that’s what all women want.

Chipmunk Gift :)

December 17: Chipmunk gift

A seemingly generous present that will benefit the giver as much as the receiver.

On an old Chipmunks Christmas album, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore give Dave a gift. He’s overwhelmed with their generosity until he discovers it’s an empty bag, which the Chipmunks say is for him to fill with presents and give back to them.

My friend gave me such a Chipmunk gift this year. She bought me a CD by HER favorite group and then asked to copy it because she’s too cheap to buy her own CD AND a present for me.

That back bedroom at my mom’s house is freezing! I hate staying there when we visit. Is it too much of a Chipmunk gift if I buy her a space heater for Christmas?

My husband took me to the Monster Truck Expo for my birthday. Jeez, what a Chipmunk gift. What was he thinking?