Fluorescent Dreams Wax Cylinders

13:12 - What am I thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I'm deeply thankful for:

- My wife, Elizabeth. She is a blessing in my life. She has accomplished much -- this year, she graduated with her J.D. -- and she will accomplish much, much more.
- My job. In these times of 10% unemployment, any job is good, but I am very lucky. My work will preserve electronic texts long after the death of their publishers.
- polymathwannabe and _counterculture. The bestest boyfriend and girlfriend in the world!
- Having a brain that's (over) full of ideas. And a book to put most of them into. (I've restarted my textbook about statistics for programmers.)
- All you you readers!

Have a great Thankgiving. Stuff yourself full of good food. Live, love, and enjoy!

Take care, all.

14:33 - Sad news.

She didn't pass.

No, I'm not explaining more. Comments are turned off.

22:10 - One Rat Short

Ten minutes long. A beautiful story.

One Rat Short from atach on Vimeo.

22:43 - FYI: hackers.org was hacked...

Dear all,

A long while ago, I mentioned the website "hackers.org"; despite its name, it was dedicated to programming puzzles.

Today, I discovered that it itself had been hacked; all usernames and passwords on the site have been released.

(I used my 'I don't care about security' password and my "spam me please" email on that system. Thank heavens.)

If you followed my link to that website, and if you created an account on that system, then you might want to change passwords on other systems. That cat is out of the bag.

Grumble.

-- Chip

15:48 - Girl by D. C. Simpson...

D. C. Simpson is trying for Comic Strip Superstar with a comic called Girl.

I'm too cynical. I read the sample comics, and I remember the jokes when she originally drew them in Ozy and Millie.

Good luck, Dana!

17:03 - Are newspapers really doomed?

I just noticed something:

Average number of readers for the twenty-fifth largest newspaper, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times: 240,147 weekday, 370,050 Sunday. These are physical copies of the newspaper, not website visits. (Source)

Average number of viewers for CNN: 202,000. (Source)


If that's unfair -- if you want to compare the largest against the largest...

Number of viewers for the most popular program on any news channel: Bill O'Reilly on Fox News: 881,000. (Same source)

Average number of readers for the Wall Street Journal: 2,024,269. (Same source)


I'm not saying that the newspaper business isn't having problems. It is. I am saying that newspapers have much more power than common wisdom currently thinks.

What do you think? Take care, all.

20:07 - SteamCon 2009: Five photos

Here's five photos from this year's SteamCon. As usual, click on them to get more detail. Enjoy!

	Queens of the air
	Robert and Daniel from Abney Park
	Back... to the future!
	No, I did not turn into stone.
	This isn't your father's fashion show. It's your grandfather's.

22:52 - Happy birthday to me!

As a birthday gift, I'm traveling to Seattle for a week. (Yaaaaaaay!)

As usual, every year, I'm selfish, and I ask for presents. But I'm not expensive...

I need more happiness and joy in my life. So, this year, I ask you:

What has given you the most happiness and/or joy over the past year?

*smile*

Take care, all.

13:56 - emoburd is evil, evil, evil!

I want to report to the whole world that emoburd is evil, evil, evil! I told him a deep, dark, horrible secret about myself, and he... broadcast it to the world!

Though Emoburd has started a funny comic (Funniest are Emu Comix #4, #8, and #15), he can't be trusted with your secrets.

If he tries to sell you a ticket to Burning Bird Art Festival, don't buy one! Unless he drops the price below $400.

Take care, all.

21:28 - Family Guy...

Brian: You know, it's really nice to get out of the house and to walk along the beach. The fresh air, the sound of the ocean...
Peter: Oooooh! Lookie! I think it washed up! *runs to something grey on the beach*
Brian: Don't touch it, Peter. You don't know what it is, or what it has....
Peter: Brian, I'm poking it with a stick! See? (In a sing-song voice) Poking, poking, poking...
Brian: Peter! It might be alive.
Peter: *heh*heh*heh* You're just a scardie Brian. See me poke it with my finger. (In the same sing-song voice) Poking, poking, poking...
Brian: (Hesitantly) I'm no ichthyologist, but that looks like a shark to me...
Peter: Brian, lookit me! I put my whole hand on it!
Brian: I wouldn't do that, Peter...
Peter: Watch me, Brian! I can leap over the shark. Wouldn't that be cool? I'll bet the Fonz was never that cool. *steps back three paces to make a running start*
Brian: Actually....
Peter: Loookit meeeeee!

And thus did Family Guy officially and undeniably jump the shark.

EXPLANATION: If you don't want to click the links at the bottom of the entry, Family Guy is doing a half-hour special, sponsored by Microsoft, about Windows 7.

17:34 - Happy Coming Out Day!

That's me, above "U". In a Shanghai newspaper.

8:10 - Nobel Peace Prize...

The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to President Barack Obama.

I'm going to agree with the Freakonomics blog: Congratulations, but it's too early.

What do you think?

18:51 - World music is sounding a little familiar...

I love world music.

And sometimes, world music gives me... a big shock.

Wasta Pyar Da, by Atif Aslam (If your work allows soundstage music videos, it's very safe.)

(The series is a great mixture of Pakistani music and Western music. All the songs in the series are available for download.)

9:50 - Seattle: October 21-27

Dear all,
I will be in the Seattle area from October 21 through October 27.

If you're in the Seattle area, and you'd like to get together with me, here are my plans:

October 21: Arrive around 2:30pm. Otherwise, I'm available to meet people!
October 22: Drive to Bellingham (IIRC) for a wedding. Available in the evening.
October 23: Drive back from Bellingham. Opening night for SteamCon, but I should be available in the evening.
October 24: SteamCon's main day. I will be at the Abney Park Concert that evening.
October 25: SteamCon's final day. I should be available.
October 26: Available most of the day.
October 27: Leave Seattle at noon.

Take care, all!

22:09 - From the Castro Street Fair this weekend...

This weekend was impossibly busy: I went to the Castro Street Fair.

As usual, click on the photos for much higher resolution.

	I think he wanted me to be the next one married...
	One of these people is not like the others...
	It's a HAPPY penis!
	The family that yogas together, stays together.
	Because normal cross-dressing is so last week.
	Fans of Dr. Seuss!
	Cheerleaders!
	He took a pie in the face for gay marriage. I don't understand it, either.
	Three members of Smash Up Derby, a loud punk-80s-mashup band.
	Three members of Wonderbread 5, as tongue-in-cheek as they come.

20:25 - Because there's not enough giraffes in the world...

One Million Giraffes

Make a giraffe, but not on a computer.

Only 694,458 giraffes to go.

UPDATE: My giraffe I am not an artist.

7:17 - Why Arabic is hard...

In the early seventh century, Mohammad (MHHNBS) heard the voice of Gabriel and created the Koran. It was written down a few decades later in the language of Mohammad's tribe, the Quraysh.

Islam spread very quickly: one hundred years later, Muslims controlled the Arabian peninsula, North Africa, and large parts of southwest Asia. Often, the only part of Arabic that the new Muslims knew was the Koran. So in their spoken language, they mixed the spoken language that they knew with the words of the Koran

A written language changes more slowly than a spoken language: before sound recording, what someone writes usually survives longer and spreads further than what someone says. The written language became more "logical": new combinations of old roots and old patterns created new words.

The written and spoken languages diverged quickly. Few spoke the written language, and the spoken language wasn't much written. Though radio, television, movies, and the Internet are bringing the spoken languages closer together to each other, they're not bringing the spoken and written languages together.

In short, Arabic isn't hard because the language is difficult. Arabic is hard because, in order to speak it, someone needs to learn at least two languages: the written language and at least one spoken language.

Take care, all.

22:18 - How to change people's minds

(This post came from a discussion that I had with orv.)

Every person operates from her or his world view -- a simplification of reality. Some parts of these worldviews come from personal experience; other parts come from what we've heard from other people; still others come from deductions from the other two sources.

Every belief comes about for many reasons. Spending time to understand that person is sometimes the only way to find out what those real reasons are.

For almost everyone, the most important foundation for their beliefs are their experiences: their experiences override what others say, their experiences override deductions. Ask most Fundamentalists why they believe in God, and they'll answer: because they feel God's presence, or because God changed them. No logic can change that, because their experiences are more fundamental: logic only happens after experiences.

How do minds change? Experience.

Straights who know gay people usually become more accepting. People who know others of different races, cultures, or languages usually become more accepting. People from cities are usually more open-minded than people from small towns; they've usually had experiences with a wider variety of people.

Therefore, if you want people outside your group to accept your group more -- whatever that group is -- then spend time with people outside your group.

What do you think? Take care, all.

18:57 - Five photos from the Chinese New Moon Festival...

I just came back from the New Moon Festival. Tired but very happy.

	Getting ready for a performance...
	The world's most serene musician.
	Sugar cane juice. Tasty!
	Yes, the festival was crowded.
	Dragon dancer relaxing. Everyone loves kettle corn!

9:39 - Am I still in the closet?

Bi-bi, Baby: A Shout of Support for Our Bisexual Brothers and Sisters

I'm famous in Shanghai!

(Yes, that's me, above the 'U' in "Bisexuals".)