aingeal is

amusing

2006-10-11T21:24:00.000-05:00

what a night

2006-10-04T01:12:00.000-05:00

i will never eat at menchanko tei again (131 E 45th St, between 3rd & lex). and i tell ya, i have also never been so motivated to review a restaurant:
the choices were standard japanese noodle shop fare, as the decor, as my expectations. it's a welcomed variety in midtown. BUT I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MANY ROACHES AT ONCE IN ANY FOOD ESTABLISHMENT (not even in chinatown). in the middle of consuming my noodle, a friend noticed one was on my napkin, inches away from my arm. i shook it off the table, and glanced over to the table to my right, and there was another one on the chair, sitting pretty. the staff reacted quickly enough to our points and silent calls for help by scooping the bugs off the floor and slapping the one on the chair flat. just then my friend pointed out another one crawling up the wall behind my chair, and the staff quickly slapped that one into oblivion as well. THREE ROACHES WITHIN ONE MINUTE FOUND. as you can imagine, we lost our appetites. what an unfortunate dining experience - i will never go back.

i have a crush on wang. marry me!

and damn you pythagoras.
And when you get the prizes, you’re often treated even worse. Men can tolerate a woman in physics as long as she is in a subordinate position, but many cannot tolerate a woman above them.

coming at you at snail speed!!!

2006-10-01T19:49:00.000-05:00

perhaps i should just do monthly updates :) it'll look a little something like this (cos baby, i've been workin' too much!):

923 was a special date: a friend got married. another got engaged. i got satellite tv :D

i attempted to throw myself at borat wednesday night. but there were too many younger, fresher, hipper, nyu students on line already.

i saw sufjan stevens as the magnificent chinese snowbird at town hall friday night. i find myself thinking that i should've tried to see him (as a cheerleader, construction worker, stars and stripes banjo plucker) earlier.
regretfully, i did not get to play with the squeaky blow-up superman (or santa claus), as the lucky folks in the orchestra area did. but i *really* *really* wanted to. exclamation mark.

are you ready? this upcoming friday is another special night. watch the webisodes now! huzzah!!

missing-ippi

2006-09-20T13:38:00.000-05:00

Obviously, no one wants to make irrevocable changes in the flow of the Mississippi River only to find out they cause more problems than they solve. Could that happen? “I think it’s possible,” Mr. Hanchey said.

through tough times

2006-09-01T11:42:00.000-05:00

hotlinked the pic, via gothamist.

and now for something completely different

2006-08-24T22:14:00.000-05:00

some nerd culture for ya.

mm

2006-08-03T00:32:00.000-05:00

stole this from ichiban: simple-iq.com. my IQ drops every year! maybe i need to play more sudoku :p

have you met chad?

2006-07-24T21:30:00.000-05:00

force grip!

diversion: cubicle war

2006-07-24T21:27:00.000-05:00

context - quoted quotes found

2006-07-07T11:01:00.000-05:00

via MR, by David Denby, The New Yorker, part of the review of "The Devil Wears Prada":
I'd like to see a film suggesting that you can be the boss without giving up your intellectual ideals, and that the alternative - rejecting power - has its corruptions, too.

via Alex Wright, by Chogyam Trungpa, from "A Buddhist Approach to Politics," 1976:
I think the Buddhist idea of a politician is not so much one of a con man or of a businessman who wins favor with everybody, but someone who simply does what is necessary... I think in this country [the United States], politics are based on a kind of bad-mouthing and trying to speak out, which is all right, but which usually amounts to not knowing what to say; one is just copying someone else's aggression. Then aggression starts to snowball.

From a Buddhist point of view, there is some sense of taking an interest, we could say for the sake of all sentient beings. This means we should take part. This does not mean to say you have to take part in riots or blowing up banks or anything like that. But it means to undertake some kind of process whereby you try as much as possible to at least eliminate the byproducts that you inherit. When you begin to do that, then you begin to have a feeling that a fresh start is taking place.

portraits done so far...

2006-06-27T23:43:00.000-05:00

since i had to fix these in photoshop, the contrast and colors are a bit off, but hopefully you get the general idea. i have one more drying up in the studio, will post in a couple of weeks.

for the ladies - timeless

2006-06-24T23:15:00.000-05:00

One morning the husband returns after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, and reads her book.

Along comes a Game Warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside the woman and says, "Good morning, Ma'am. What are you doing?"

"Reading a book," she replies, (thinking, "Isn't that obvious?")

"You're in a Restricted Fishing Area," he informs her.

"I'm sorry, officer, but I 'm not fishing. I'm reading."

"Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up."

"If you do that, I'll have to charge you with sexual assault," says the woman.

"But I haven't even touched you," says the game warden.

"That's true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment."

”Have a nice day ma'am," and he left.

MORAL: Never argue with a woman who reads. It's likely she can also think.

i've been..

2006-06-20T00:12:00.000-05:00

learning from Oldrich Teply at The Art Students League of New York is an interesting experience. his approach is to paint in blocks of color values (light to dark, dark to light) and not sweat the details too much. as you can see, he focuses mostly on contrast and does not shy away from a strong line demarcation between colors. he probably painted this within three hours:

Oldrich Teply, Helaine, oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches

watching Teply work for the first time was impressive to say the least. what takes me two hours takes him five minutes or less. when he stops by my easel and and 'fixes' my painting, i feel both inadequate and appreciative. so far i've completed two portraits (one per week), and i thought it'd take the entire month just to finish one. the class paints with a live model (no nudes yet), and even though it's blasphemy to paint from a picture, i think i'll try that on my own.

the medium oil is easy to blend and erase when one needs to fix a mistake, but it drives me mad that i can't work on something until it dries. i'm also not yet understanding the 'planning' part of painting with oil. despite the complaints, i'm addicted, and will probably continue studying at the League through the summer :)

cupcake elsewhere

2006-06-13T10:18:00.000-05:00

Ube Cupcakes with Bubble Buttercream by Chockylit
just a singular complaint from chockylit that the tapioca made the frosting slightly curdled, even with the added chewy texture. i personally think it looks fine, but if the appearance really bugs you, i'd try it as a filling.

gee, i speak as if i actually bake, which is far from the truth. chockylit has many other experimental flavors, a must-stop for all cupcake enthusiasts and enthusiasts-to-be.

poetry in motion

2006-06-13T09:19:00.000-05:00

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing
there is a field. I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase "each other" doesn't make any sense.

Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi - 13th century

oh joy oh joy oh joy!!

2006-06-12T23:21:00.000-05:00

epitonic is back!! featuring a playlist where you can actually choose the song you want to listen to, unlike pandora (not that pandora is bad, just that sometimes i really really want to listen to peaches' "f*ck the pain away" a million times), and epitonic radio by genre! and the editors actually know what they're talking about (unlike PFM)! go go now whachu waitin' fo??

*UPDATE* epitonic loves firefox (who doesn't these days) - which means! when you run the radio on non-firefox browsers it's buggy. gah!

neat new tool

2006-06-08T10:29:00.000-05:00

looks very promising, found this morning via BoingBoing:

Farecast predicts when plane tickets will be cheapest
John Batelle has a great writeup of a new service called "Farecast" that uses historical pricing data from the airlines to predict what the best time will be to buy a given plane-ticket. The service is in private Beta right now and only works for Seattle and Boston, but they're promising a full launch later this year with all cities covered.

leave your email in JB’s comments for an invite – he now has unlimited invites from Farecast founder Hugh Crean.

and just for fun, the ant world cup (also via BB):

natural urinals

2006-06-08T01:12:00.000-05:00

by Clark Sorensen. full selection here.

and you thought you were the smartest aleck there ever was

2006-06-06T23:38:00.000-05:00

balloon molecoles! full gallery here.

if you get bored of regular rock-paper-scissor (RPS-3), try the modified version with spock and lizard (RPS-5). and if you're bored still! there's RPS 7, 9, 11, 15, and 25.

roundup

2006-06-06T15:36:00.000-05:00

I thought New Yorkers are supposed to be efficient? We must be notorious procrastinators. Come on! Let’s get the city hooked up already!

The more bad experiences you have, the more gullible you tend to be. I tend to agree.

Google Spreadsheet takes off. What next, Google collage or community media editing?

The beginning of sperm donation regulation? With our political system, maybe in 10 years. (How long did it take to start regulating hedge funds?) A cautionary tale for all those considering going to the sperm bank.

Wind power is good for the earth, but bad for local ecosystems and community aesthetics. Die, bats, die.

And while we’re on energy, the NY grid is not looking so hot. Again, come on! Let’s get the city hooked up already!

elephants in Sri Lanka

2006-06-04T23:13:00.000-05:00

elephants in Sri Lanka
Originally uploaded by hobart65.

just what i was looking for.

#$%@#$ ennui

2006-06-02T09:32:00.000-05:00

this is what's possible when wealthy residents pay their taxes and politicians move things forward:

In Oakland, California, Bay Area Rapid Transit just finished a test of a system that used sensors embedded in a parking lot to keep track of available spaces. Commuters could reserve those spots online or by phone, while electronic signs next to a nearby highway let motorists know how many spots were open at any given time. BART is now evaluating whether to expand the system, which is also being considered by San Diego and other cities. [wired]

not much going on lately except i have a walking washer problem. i recently purchased a front-load high-efficiency washing machine and it's sitting comfortably in a nook in my kitchen. i didn't use it right away because i had to buy special HE detergent. nobody tells you about special detergent and a possible walking problem when you're shopping for a washing machine. so i'm hoping the walking can be fixed, because i really don't want my house to vibrate every time i do laundry for the next 5 years.

i've also been obsessed over decorating my pad. found some helpful tips and ideas through lifehacker, and will post pics if i ever actually get to them.

also, this saturday: fxcm expo, and movie marathon at kim's in jersey city. june calendar's not up for some reason, but the schedule is 12pm kamikaze girls, 2pm rize, 3:30pm oldboy, and 5:45pm junebug.

giggle

2006-05-19T08:22:00.000-05:00

a tid

2006-05-16T12:44:00.000-05:00

evidence that education slows you down. not to knock higher education, but it's a classic case of paralysis by analysis. when there isn't any significant barrier (economic, social, physical) to pursuing the goal, just forge ahead, man. it also makes a case for the doers - too much glory is granted to the thinkers sometimes.

morning eyebrow raiser

2006-05-11T08:21:00.000-05:00

Be Odor Free With Flat-D

Flatulence is part of life!
By Frank Morosky
Flatulence Guru

Flatulence ( fart, flatus, intestinal gas, breaking wind, SBD)- we all have it, and it is a normal part of life. It is a natural result of good digestion. Passing gas is a more familiar term to many people. Most of us try to make light of it so as to not be embarrassed by its occurrence. Gas pains can be uncomfortable and malodorous for many people but you can reduce the symptoms and find relief with proper diet control.

The average person expels gas 14 times every day. The amount of actual gas released ranges from as little as one cup to as much as one half gallon per day. Gas is made primarily of odorless vapors such as carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and sometimes methane. The unpleasant odor of flatulence comes from bacteria in the large intestine that release small amounts of gases that contain hydrogen sulfide.(sulfur smell) Contrary to popular belief, women have just as many passages as men, and older people, have no more gas than younger individuals.

more here.

apparently it's legit, and does well in customer ratings. it's a well known fact that activated charcoal deodorizes, but i guess it's the first time someone applied it to HBO.

We Feel Fine

2006-05-08T21:33:00.000-05:00

We Feel Fine by Jonathan Harris and

We Feel Fine is an exploration of human emotion on a global scale.

Since August 2005, We Feel Fine has been harvesting human feelings from a large number of weblogs. Every few minutes, the system searches the world's newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases "I feel" and "I am feeling". When it finds such a phrase, it records the full sentence, up to the period, and identifies the "feeling" expressed in that sentence (e.g. sad, happy, depressed, etc.). Because blogs are structured in largely standard ways, the age, gender, and geographical location of the author can often be extracted and saved along with the sentence, as can the local weather conditions at the time the sentence was written. All of this information is saved.

The result is a database of several million human feelings, increasing by 15,000 - 20,000 new feelings per day. Using a series of playful interfaces, the feelings can be searched and sorted across a number of demographic slices, offering responses to specific questions like: do Europeans feel sad more often than Americans? Do women feel fat more often than men? Does rainy weather affect how we feel? What are the most representative feelings of female New Yorkers in their 20s? What do people feel right now in Baghdad? What were people feeling on Valentine's Day? Which are the happiest cities in the world? The saddest? And so on.

Jonathan Harris also created Phylotaxis for Seed Magazine. It's pretty, go look at it.

comments

2006-05-08T12:55:00.000-05:00

Why I will be aiming for a January baby:

Since youth sports are organized by age bracket, teams inevitably have a cutoff birth date. In the European youth soccer leagues, the cutoff date is Dec. 31. So when a coach is assessing two players in the same age bracket, one who happened to have been born in January and the other in December, the player born in January is likely to be bigger, stronger, more mature. Guess which player the coach is more likely to pick? He may be mistaking maturity for ability, but he is making his selection nonetheless. And once chosen, those January-born players are the ones who, year after year, receive the training, the deliberate practice and the feedback — to say nothing of the accompanying self-esteem — that will turn them into elites.

Since I spent a good deal of my adolescence going to temple where I was constantly reminded that money shouldn’t affect the way people interact, I didn’t fully experience this phenomenon until college. My parents weren’t what you’d call rich, but they had all the semblances of a middle-class family that was doing decently financially – homeowner, two-income family, able to send kids to college, and working hard at it – so I was fairly sheltered from having to make that distinction. All my friends went to public school, so nobody was extraordinarily rich.

It wasn’t until college that I met “rich people”. At first I didn’t believe rich people led such different lives that they would wear an entirely different attitude, but I didn’t realize how rich they were. I wouldn’t get it when people would change wardrobes seasonally and donate their two-season old clothing to Salvation Army, when I sported my $10 loafers around all year. I didn’t buy a new pair of jeans from high school until senior year in college, when I realized I couldn’t go to paintball or the gym wearing my suit pants. I didn’t socialize as much because I didn’t want to spend money on eating out, because that money is supposed to go towards paying my tuition. At one point I was debating whether to participate in a group volunteer mission where each volunteer would pay her own airfare, and a woman made a naïve comment that it was only $500, that it wasn’t a big deal at all. I was bristled of course, for what kind of adult would make such a cavalier statement to a college student juggling work and school so she can continue going to school? She didn’t know of course, and it wasn’t her fault.

In retrospect, it would’ve been nice to be in her shoes.

Nowadays, my friends are still more or less in the same bracket. Those that made it in banking and finance are definitely better off, are able to take better vacations, check off tasks that involve money off their list faster, and can afford to take more time off when they’re feeling burnt out, or just want to return to school.

And this Pay-to-Surf for television is ridiculous. Why can’t they just do ad placements within the show? Or divide the screen to make room for scrolling ads on the bottom. If commercial were more entertaining, people would watch them. Or do purchase and/or schedule an appointment for services through Tivo. Lots and lots of possibilities here as an alternative to prevent users to fast forward through advertising. Or do what BMW did with the short film series.

controversy over art content yet again

2006-05-06T11:58:00.000-05:00

from Bloggy:

Brooklyn College MFA show shut down unexpectedly

On Thursday May 4th MFA students at Brooklyn College were surprised to find their exhibition shut down the day after a successful and well attended opening. MFA Students were monitoring the exhibition at the Brooklyn War Memorial when around 3:00 p.m. a locksmith arrived to change the locks, later a building supervisor insisted the students leave immediately. Later gallery director Maria Rand contacted Julius Spiegel, Borough Parks Commissioner, who said he had received complaints about 2 or 3 of the works' content. The show was scheduled to run through May 25th.

and from Crain:

Commissioner Julius Spiegel ordered the exhibit -- located inside the Brooklyn War Memorial Building in Cadman Plaza -- shut down Thursday afternoon after deciding that the content violated an agreement with the college that all exhibits remain family friendly.
...
Ms. Kotak says that three graduate students who were monitoring the exhibits, which included a watercolor featureing gay male sexuality and a sculpture of penises in a lightbox, were ordered to leave the premises and were locked out of the building on Thursday.

The exhibit had been approved by Brooklyn College faculty and the Wednesday night opening was attended by the president and Brooklyn College Provost Roberta Matthews. "The faculty knew ahead of time what was going to be in the exhibit," said Ms. Kotak. Still, Brooklyn College has opted to move the exhibit rather than fight the shutdown.

"In keeping with the public nature of the space, as well as its position as an honored war memorial, Brooklyn College has respectfully decided to move the entire student exhibit to our campus," said Ms. Matthews in a statement.

When asked if any other city officials were consulted prior to the shutdown, Mr. Johnston insisted that the commissioner "made the decision on his own."

someone forgot to read the agreement, it seems.

hmm :/

2006-05-05T13:58:00.000-05:00

i get nervous when people tell me i'm giving them good advice about relationships.

NYC-ish

2006-05-01T14:49:00.000-05:00

Lots going on round town – I love Spring! Too bad I’m stuck with setting up house over the next few months.

+ The Con Edison Plant next to United Nations is being torn down to make room for Sheldon Solow's office and residential towers. Demolition pictures here and here.

+ And speaking of United Nations, it’s still 'planning' to install sprinklers throughout the building. 'Plans' are held back by uncertain funding sources (the government, who else?).

+ There’s an unusual public art installation (building corner sticking out of the ground, I’d call that unusual) by Sarah Sze at 60th Street and Fifth Avenue (Central Park), who’s also speaking at the New School tomorrow. Online ticketing is a bit wonky, so I suspect it’s sold out.

+ And if you’re still wondering what the man in the water dome is doing at Lincoln Center, this will explain it.

+ New consumer tool (in development): Brokerate.com.

SketchUp - where the hell was i??!?

2006-05-01T09:27:00.000-05:00

From Google Blog:

A great day for 3D
4/27/2006 06:07:00 AM
Posted by Brad Schell, Product Management Director, Google SketchUp

Last month we told you that @Last Software had joined the Google fold. Today we’re releasing Google SketchUp, a free version of our 3D modeling software, which makes our long-time vision of making 3D accessible to everyone a reality.

We’re still offering SketchUp Pro 5 for design professionals like architects, designers, builders, art directors and game developers. Both Google SketchUp and SketchUp Pro 5 enable you to place models in Google Earth; Pro users get some additional features.

[more]

hapland series <3

2006-04-30T22:44:00.000-05:00

hapland 1, 2, and 3 by robin allen - only the best diversions ever. promises hours of hair pulling and dry eyes caused by staring at the screen too long. may reduce productivity at work of any kind and encourage shirking of responsibility.

walkthru for 1, 2, and 3 by jayisgames, after you've given up trying to figure this out.

brownstone + boxy duplex extension in carroll gardens

2006-04-28T14:30:00.000-05:00

Holy crap batman. I am completely baffled by the balcony action on all the new construction around town. Please does anyone live in one of these buildings and could they explain to me what they use the balcony for???

read more on the discussion here.

Goowy Launches Web Chat and Storage Products

2006-04-28T09:32:00.000-05:00

Goowy users now have Meebo-like IM funtionality built directly into their Goowy desktop, and 1 GB of free online storage.

***
My two cents: I've been looking for a meebo replacement (anon-proxy sites don't seem to support javascript too well) ever since they blocked it at work, and this looked promising. Unfortunately, the Goowy platform requires Flash 8 in the browser of choice (IE at work only has Flash 7 - foiled again!), and I do recall it being really slow when I tried in at home (I believe it works on Firefox, and you know how 10+ tabs in a Firefox browser slows the PC down). Goowy's still in beta phase, so I'm not going to knock it "that much" just yet. The interface is more design oriented (eye candy) than utility (communication), but it shows plenty of promise in this culture of design worship.

read more digg story

shrug

2006-04-27T09:48:00.000-05:00

You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational.

Cultural Creative

81%

Existentialist

69%

Materialist

63%

Postmodernist

56%

Idealist

50%

Modernist

44%

Romanticist

44%

Fundamentalist

25%

What is Your World View? (updated)
created with QuizFarm.com

when the going gets tough

2006-04-26T08:17:00.000-05:00

just think about 'steps'.

and stop being mean to women already (by jeffrey rowland of overcompensating).

'whoa'

2006-04-25T23:57:00.000-05:00

check out ms. ko's new (work-in-progress) site - very talented young designer who recently left the corporate world to pursue freelance endeavors. sounds like another brave soul i know.

bot also has a sample portfolio to his professional site.

seeing their work makes me feel unproductive and utterly uncreative.

woohoo flight 3!

2006-04-21T12:53:00.000-05:00

via CBR.com:

A few years ago at Comic-Con International in San Diego, an Image Comics anthology called "Flight" became the big buzz book of the show. Everyone seemed to be scrambling to get a copy, and with the release of the second volume, the excitement around the book has grown. The third volume of this anthology series, with each volume the size of a traditional trade paperback, is coming from publisher Ballantine Books this June, instead of Image Comics, and stands poised to conquer an even larger audience. CBR News spoke with the man in charge of "Flight," writer/artist Kazu Kibuishi, who explained why the crew moved to Ballantine... [more]

more previews here.

the pee wee fist

2006-04-21T00:09:00.000-05:00

i meant to post pics from pete fitzpatrick's show (of the pee wee fist), but i've been 'doing my taxes'. anyway, these are from the 3/23 show at Niagara:

pete tinkering away at the omnichord with ms. anna.

'deliverance'?

we passed by david cross (aka tobias funke in 'arrested development') as we were leaving the bar, and he looks just as skinny off camera ;) and cute!

pretty good for a first sewing attempt, i dare say

2006-04-20T23:37:00.000-05:00

i went to an intro to sewing class tonight at make workshop, and after fumbling with a sewing machine, i managed to produce this:

next up, pillow cases, bedding, and curtains, woohoo!

good excel reference

2006-04-20T08:47:00.000-05:00

for those whose fingers love to dance on the keyboard, here's a helpful excel keyboard shortcut list, courtesy of pearson software consulting services.

and on an unrelated note, i am swearing off benadryl.

humanism, tv turnoff, yellow reactions

2006-04-17T11:16:00.000-05:00

A fellow Stuyster (self-admitted biased towards Christianity) expressed his opinion on how the Christian worldview in the context of modern globalism is “basically the only worldview that works at all levels (philosophical, emotional and spiritual)”. My first reaction to reading this statement was to restrain myself from having an outright disagreement and remember to practice if not full acceptance, but tolerance at the very least, of others’ right to their respective belief systems. My second thought was, if I were to reject this statement completely, then I would be denying that aspect of all my Christian friends, and that would be a disservice to them. My third thought, I’m analyzing this way too much.

However, his post did enlighten me to the other branches of faiths, as characterized by Os Guiness (and I think it’s safe to say, by Christians at large): Eastern religions - Buddhism, Hinduism, New Age thought; the secular family of faiths - atheism, naturalism, and secular humanism; and the biblical family of faiths – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This triggered a curiosity about the secular faiths, for I’ve always regarded what’s considered secular as a non-faith. I mean, how can it be considered a faith, if there’s no deity or figure to remain faithful towards? Perhaps the faith is not towards a person, but faith towards a philosophy. I’ve always found that most agreeable, but that’s a matter of semantics and interpretation.

Anyhoot, here are wiki-links to humanism, naturalism, and atheism explained. I find the Humanist Manifesto vaguely similar to my own modified version of Buddhism. I know it’s bad practice to cherry pick beliefs, but it’s the current state of my constantly changing worldview.

Excerpts from the Humanist Manifesto III:
Life’s fulfillment emerges from individual participation in the service of humane ideals. We aim for our fullest possible development and animate our lives with a deep sense of purpose, finding wonder and awe in the joys and beauties of human existence, its challenges and tragedies, and even in the inevitability and finality of death. Humanists rely on the rich heritage of human culture and the lifestance of Humanism to provide comfort in times of want and encouragement in times of plenty.

Humans are social by nature and find meaning in relationships. Humanists long for and strive toward a world of mutual care and concern, free of cruelty and its consequences, where differences are resolved cooperatively without resorting to violence. The joining of individuality with interdependence enriches our lives, encourages us to enrich the lives of others, and inspires hope of attaining peace, justice, and opportunity for all.

* * *
Next week is TV Turnoff Week. Turning off the TV’s not so hard for me, as I’m likely to cheat by going to the other box: my PC. I don’t watch that much TV to begin with, being that I spend a lot more time (than before) in the kitchen and cleaning around the house, and I’m not happy about that!

* * *
Outrage in response to Adidas’ Yellow Series kicks, and a more deliberate response.

edibles

2006-04-17T00:50:00.000-05:00

i don't think i've seen rose topped cupcakes in real life yet, but it's almost a shame to eat them. i suppose eating them with my eyes will have to suffice for now :)
- pic from jinjur's flickr
- how to make icing roses
- how to make other cake decorations

convinced? convinced!

2006-04-16T00:11:00.000-05:00

cute proposal story

happy easter y'all

2006-04-14T09:12:00.000-05:00

courtesy of NPR, click here for recipe.

and if you ever want to make a giant chocolate creme egg, here's how.

*edit* haha i'm sorry mr pimpmysnack. i didn't realize i had that many visitors. do check out his giant cadbury egg!

this blog needs some pictures

2006-04-13T01:26:00.000-05:00

Ornate metal wallpaper for outdoor use designed by Susan Bradley.

Bendable Interior Objects stools by Form Us With Love.

u:b studio's hanging bookshelf, made of hangers that you rest books in - hook one into another to form a vertical shelf.

Dobbert Pankow Schoe's modular pendant light (all via Moco Loco)

do-si-dos and m.arch

2006-04-12T09:07:00.000-05:00

Seriously sleep deprived – It’s been a long time since I’ve felt that I might faint at any given time during my commute because I’m sleepy.

There hasn’t been much going on lately, other than the fact that I was home sick this weekend and still have yet to do my taxes. I don’t know when I’ll find the time, between catching up with sleep and pseudo-entertainment my house guests. That’s right, I have guests staying over. But I’m being such a bad host! When I used to stay over at my mom’s friends’ places when we visited, they’d cook the three meals for us, take us around town, and be our downtime entertainment. All I do is make sure they have everything they need (bedding, proper heating, kitchen access, television, keys) and they’re pretty much on their own. I don’t typically cook for others, and I don’t really know how to start either. Hm, next time I’ll have to do better.

I have girl scout cookies! I bought samoas, thin mints, and dosidos. They are addictive, and my pants are getting tighter.

Every three to six months I’d ask myself, “Should I get a Masters in Architecture?” Economically, the answer is and will always be “it’s not practical” (unless I come across a multi-million inheritance or win the lottery). I spoke to a few friends who got an undergraduate degree in Architecture how they feel about the field, and the answer was an overwhelmingly “only if you love love love love it” and “yes, if you know for sure you’ll become an architect”. Now, I know I’m not the only person who’s ever struggled with this question over the same factors, especially since architecture is extremely competitive and male-dominated – “can I really love this field enough to stick with it for 20, 30, 40 years?” In the end I decided to at least apply, and let whatever happens decide my next step. So there! Best case scenario, I apply and get accepted, finish the degree, get hired by an architecture firm, and make $35k when I’m 30. Worst case scenario, I apply and get rejected, go on feeling my way through the real estate industry, and when I’m 30, make much more than $35k. Not bad, eh?

In any case, I’ll have to take my GRE and start preparing a portfolio. I’m going to need all the motivation I can muster!

I had this thought last night when I was watching Scrubs: Why isn’t there a show about art students or architecture students? Is it because it’s just not that funny? Or is it because the target audience is too busy creating to watch TV? There’s “IT Crowd” and “The Office”, and a slew of shows about law enforcers. What about the Creatives? When do their lives get dramatized?

three from tee

2006-04-03T12:42:00.000-05:00

via nytimes:

1 betty paige and her lobster, dolphin, and monkey tubes!
2 new-wave origami by Robert J. Lang.
3 f*ckedmagazines, rest in peace.

none of this makes any sense.

2006-04-03T10:51:00.000-05:00

Lecture Groupie: How hard can it be to RSVP to a lecture? I’ve been hearing the busy signal for the last hour, trying to get a spot in Downtown Alliance’s Thursday lecture series. Last month, I called at 5 PM, thinking New Yorkers have better things to do than to crowd a lecture on a Thursday evening, and it was completely booked. Since the MTA sends all its employees a telephone bill for business and personal use (budget cuts – is this normal???) I’m using the mobile’s redial. This feels like trying to buy World Series tickets. Too many nerds in New York? I need a personal assistant for this nonsense.

*Update* Lecture is full! Within 50 minutes of opening the telephone reservations line. They really need to get a bigger venue, and I need to get myself into part of a group for this!

In Queue at the IFC: On a related note, it was the same deal with getting tickets to Drawing Restraint 9 last Wednesday. I really didn’t think it would be sold out by the evening, but Matthew Barney made a personal appearance – Q&A for the early show, introduction for the late show – and his celebrity is epic. I was even surprised at how long the line was for Friday’s early show. The movie itself can test the viewer’s patience. A few words to describe the movie so far: arduous, confusing, transparent, and squeamish. It is definitely visually and stunning, as the other Cremaster and Drawing Restraint efforts. I wouldn't venture into rating it, because ratings are for commercial endeavors.

While in the Virtual Realm: I haven’t checked NYTimes.com in awhile, but I like the new layout. It’s got that “soft focus” look about it ;)

Random Acquaintances:I saw a Trekkie this weekend! He was wearing his Trekkie pin! And all this time I thought they were an urban myth. At the same party, I met a modern Beatnik! Well, I can’t say for sure that she’s a Beatnik, just got the sense from her vibe. Urban Planning grad student that used to play the bass guitar, married to her partner for two years – I’d call that part of the Beat agenda for a first meeting.

Reaching Saturation: A friend tried to explain to me what Harmonym is. I got the sense that it was a self-healing technique, but since I already have a self-healing philosophy I found it hard to absorb. The existing mind-tenant refuses to make room for Harmonym :( And Harmonym is not on the web!!

good idea

2006-03-31T09:08:00.000-05:00

from thrillist:

April Fools PrankPost a classified on an Indianapolis-based website advertising Final Four tickets for sale. Include an unfortunate friend's phone number, and try not to laugh as he cluelessly fields calls from hundreds of eager strangers.

real estate fun

2006-03-31T00:42:00.000-05:00

there was property shark, then zillow, now RealEstateABC. the latest has a map and a neighborhood comparison on the same page. now that's making use of interface real estate.

the dubai tower. click for the awesome flash rendering, at least.

a friend recently told me that hong kong's public transportation system makes good use of advertising real estate. i commented that the MTA is moving towards that direction - if you pass through the major hub stations (times square, union square) you'll notice that the walls are now plastered with hsbc ads - even the columns are wrapped in them. in grand central, i thought it was unusual that no billboard space was constructed for the ads, and the ads were stuck directly on the walls. at times square and grand central, exclusive advertising campaigns involving light boxes with johnny walker ads dominate the passageway to and from the shuttle train. back during the holidays, the shuttle train was completely painted from the inside to resemble a broadway theatre audience. very soon the insides of the trains will be covered in ads in the non-conventional ad spaces (poles, seatings, car ceilings). when the technology becomes affordable, advertising real estate will expand to air space, where holographic images (a la star wars and A.I.) will interact with passerbys.

and speaking of MTA, i have no idea what's going on with the binding arbitration dance and the TWU. all this political stonewalling just makes me think that each side is looking for leverage. i've been reading the press clips, and i'm as confused as everyone else.

i attended a seminar today at NYU's Real Estate Institute - Commercial Space Definitions. i didn't expect the majority of the seminar to be about utilities - gas, heating, electricity, roofing, water, vapor barriers and computer rooms - but it was still enjoyable. i sat through anecdotes about how the professor convinced the owner to sell his building at a higher price than asking by giving him a private loan, raised the downpayment by asking the existing tenant to advance rent, and still own the building to date mortgage free. he's a razzle dazzler, speaking at the speed of a ww2 radio newscaster, and equiped with disarming blue eyes. 'these stories are dime a dozen,' he said, 'my real source of pride is the computer room that didn't turn off once in 36 years.'

there's a building being built on the corner of 42nd and 6th. i stood across it today, and just watched the contractors do their thing.

re: critical mass

2006-03-31T00:03:00.000-05:00

i concur. the political process, although long and arduous, is the process that results in reforms. critical mass raises public awareness about bicycle advocacy, but it generates both positive and negative publicity.

and you know what they say about publicity.

the horror - i'm normal

2006-03-29T09:40:00.000-05:00

apparently i'm not as much of a nerd as i thought i was :(

Joe Normal
47 % Nerd, 8% Geek, 21% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored less than half in all three, earning you the title of: Joe Normal.

This is not to say that you don't have some Nerd, Geek or Dork inside of you--we all do, and you can see the percentages you have right above. This is just to say that none of those qualities stand out so much as to define you. Sure, you enjoy an episode of Star Trek now and again, and yeah, you kinda enjoyed a few classes back in the day. And, once in a while, you stumble while walking down the street even though there was nothing there to cause you to trip. But, for the most part, you look and act fairly typically, and aren't much of an outcast.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
You scored higher than 31% on nerdiness
You scored higher than 3% on geekosity
You scored higher than 26% on dork points

The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test

recent musings

2006-03-15T10:51:00.000-05:00

Arrrrgggg!! Free Starbucks today and I bought some just 30 minutes before! From 10a-12p only.
I forgot it was Pi Day yesterday. Didn’t have any pie, but did take mom out to dinner at Roy’s with the spiffy $50 certificate I got from American Express. On the way to the restaurant I saw: Japanese percussion group (drums, banging, and some dude tap dancing on a piece of wood) and a collaborating passerby (dreadlocks attached) drumming the public garbage can with his long umbrella, a street prayer group in the Times Square passageway to 8th Avenue, FDNYs helping a sick citizen up from the floor, and a mess of construction (I saw underground wiring, wee~) across from the WTC site.
I still haven’t figured out how to access meebo from a web-proxy surfing thingie. I’m guessing it’s a Java-Script conflict. Any ideas?
Not having InterNews at home sucks (see #1). Not having Internet sucks too.
I now have to do my own laundry, cooking, grocery shopping, and bookshelf staining, like a regular adult. It doesn’t feel as different as I thought it would. A week living “by myself” and already I’m intolerant of roommates that refuse to give you your privacy.
Ta! Hope to be back (more or less daily) soon.

damnit, don't break up in front of my house

2006-03-07T08:48:00.000-05:00

i've moved in! halfway. my computer and tv are still at the old place, so that means i'm not loitering online when i get home. to cure the boredom and the quiet, i've started reading fluke by christopher moore. (werd, i didn't know he wrote the stupidest angel.)

first thing any neighbor said to us was 'don't drive over my (garbage can) lid.'

first thing i witnessed this morning was a couple breaking up in front of my house. well, i don't know if that's what they were doing, but the girl was crying, and the boy was trying to stop her from crying. it was just a tad awkward trying to lock my door, tune them out, and then tiptoe past them (they were about 5 feet away from me).

so i'll be disappearing for a few days. in the mean time, check out TEA MARIE and all its novelty tea-related products. until march 17, use this promotional discount code that gives you 10% off all purchases - FNFLCH10. happy shopping!

Yahoo Answers! in My Inbox

2006-03-04T13:37:00.000-05:00

Q: How do you know it's true love?

A: There's no drama.
(the hard way) you've already gone through all the difficult discussions about why your mate has annoying habits, and why the habits annoy you to begin with. you've negotiated and modified your behaviors to avoid the incidents that triggers said drama, and quite simply, you just know better. you've gotten used to living without the things you gave up for said true love. you've grown up. you no longer feel compelled to change the other person. both mates are reasonable and mature people that allow each other to have good and bad moments.
(the lucky way) you're made for each other!

A: You meet the family.
(kicking and dragging) 'i like you enough to check out who my potential in-laws are like'
(idealistic) 'i won't let my family hate you'

A: You're willing to do the things you hate.
(...) i think this is a recipe for how-to-build-resentment-towards-your-mate-slowly-but-surely, unless you're one of those that gets used to anything.

this is a twi'lek

2006-03-02T22:55:00.000-05:00

in response to g's question, twi'lek is a species in the star wars saga. they are highly intelligent, the tentacles protruding from their head are their brain tails, and for some reason, they make excellent doctors and entertainers (healer types). they are often scantily clad, cos their designers (scifi enthusiasts) like them that way.

this was my twi'lek in my star war galaxy days. saphirs was cute as a button, and almost always fully clothed ;)

betting (and profiting) from real life events

2006-03-02T09:47:00.000-05:00

congrats to nbat for getting a mention naplesnews.com!

This world of propositional betting extends the Oscar phenomenon past gambling sites to sites that specialize in trading futures. Sites like TradeSports.com trade contracts on the Oscars.

Stephen Roman, 24, a recreational trader and an analyst for a currency trading firm, explained how futures work.

“Let’s say Brokeback Mountain is trading at 80,” Roman said. “That means the market thinks it has an 80 percent chance of winning. So you can buy or sell. If you think the picture has a 50 percent chance of winning, you can sell at 80 and then buy it back once the price lowers to 50, and close out the trade with that profit.”

article here.

NY ComicCon!! 2006

2006-03-01T22:44:00.000-05:00

i wanted to go, but #@$! had to move :) highlights pulled from the flickr pool:

milla is glorious. she was there for 15 minutes to promote ultraviolet. i think she was also on wb11 morning either today or yesterday. GLORIOUS.

i think she's suppose to be a twi'lek?

strangest one i ever saw... all the other ones i know have TWO lekku.

grr

2006-03-01T09:29:00.000-05:00

wtf: meebo's blocked at work!! Reason: Found in Denied List (Anonymous Proxies).

found: gothamist's puny mta coverage.

in other news: have you had your bian today?

me: nvm that looks gross
him: ya seriously, i already have plenty of virility
me: do you know what bian is
him: do i want to???
me: oh it's just chinese for penis
me: its the formal name
him: bok bain :/
him: sick!
…
me: it's pretty (un)usual to eat that much bian at a time
him: i wouldn't know :/
him: : P you the expert?
me: i've never had bian
me: i think ppl i know are too young to need to eat bian
me: or too shy to admit it
him: do they have it in the US?
me: texas
me: bull schlong
me: thought it was a delicacy
me: its not just a chinese thing…
me: it was on road rules?
him: ohh rilly?
me: the ppl had to make bull penis smoothies
me: i really dont know how that works, but it looked really gross
him: smoothies are good! hmm, i'll think about it

countdown to Earth Day

2006-02-27T23:27:00.000-05:00

(Rock of Ages No. 15, Active Section, E.L. Smith Quarry, Barre, Vermont 1992)

When internationally-acclaimed photographer Edward Burtynsky won the 2005 TED Prize, he made a wish. That wish was to encourage a worldwide conversation about the planet, its problems and their possible solutions. Ed chose WorldChanging as the way to kick-start that conversation:

Every dollar you contribute will turn into THREE dollars that we receive. That's because two of our biggest supporters, Ed Burtynsky and the Sapling Foundation have both offered to match every reader contribution dollar for dollar, up to $50,000 apiece, until Earth Day, April 22, 2006.

wknd.

2006-02-26T23:57:00.000-05:00

you never know how much crap you have until you have to put them into boxes.

spirituality in corona.

what is psychotherapy?

subscription request from cali cali.

moving day

2006-02-25T22:09:00.000-05:00

this is illegal? sure is. should it be? depends on who's paying your bills . i think it's a fine environmental sculpture. verizon, might like it for the publicity, might not like it for the copyright infringement. and the city, might not like it because it missed out on the revenue.

this is the result of the collaboration between downey and darius jones, self-named environmental artists (a/k/a graffiti artists). the hood is their canvas, and their works don't dare to outshine the canvas. they're part of a group exhibit at the riviera called thoroughfare, march 2 - march 19. drop by if you're in willyburg. also part of the show, alex poneros, satirical pork advocate, and alex holden, who renamed his tears as salty weepings.

i also found an image of this irresistibly cute bumblebee finding other cute friends in the sky (by vinnie ray):

randomness wednesday

2006-02-23T00:13:00.000-05:00

1. yesterday i put kumquat sauce all over my tainan styled zongzi, and it was surprisingly good. kumquat sauce tastes really good with fatty meat! apparently it's also popular down under.

2. this week's nymag has an informative article on how to start your own business, profiling several business types by estimating typical startup costs, operating (rent, labor, inventory) costs, and breakeven sales objectives. interesting quote: “Nothing tests your political beliefs,” half-jokes Amy, “like being a small-business owner.” how true, how true.

3. we closed on the house yesterday, and my brother wants to bomb the house today.

jefferson and sprawl

2006-02-22T23:32:00.000-05:00

leonardo vazquez wrote an interesting criticism about how thomas jefferson's anti-urban policies encouraged sprawl. while i'm not endorsing vazquez's argument, i don't disagree. i just find it strange that he felt compelled to blame a modern phenomenon on a dead president. not to say i'm defending jefferson either (more of a scholar than a politician, yet closed the biggest real estate deal in the history of united states).

some background information: sprawl is 'bad' these days because it's a sign that land is not developed to its maximum utility. that acre of manicured lawn? wasteful. in its place can be rows of homes housing families that for whatever reason, have been priced out of being able to afford a shelter. in certain areas, sprawl threatens to encroach onto rural land, as sometimes it's cheaper to build outward, than to demolish existing structures and rebuild, resulting in fields of abandoned structures. a key metric for determining if the land is efficiently developed is per capita land consumption, which takes into consideration multiple social factors such as neighborhood amenities (jobs, recreation, religious and cultural opportunities, parking, transportation, education, government services, etc).

as with most public interest advocacies, anti-sprawl campaigns range from evangelical to reasonable.

best party ever

2006-02-21T23:59:00.000-05:00

joi ito invested in last.fm

2006-02-21T00:32:00.000-05:00

while trying to set myself up as a nyc metroblogger, i find joi ito's name on the author wiki for tokyo metroblog. click click led to this: last.fm has ito's endorsement! isn't that neat. i hope he doesn't find my post about my 2 minute crush on him (probably too busy hehehe)!

excerpt from Lamb - don't sue me

2006-02-20T21:53:00.000-05:00

after Joshua (a/k/a Jesus) achieved enlightenment, he became invisible, and said he would not return to the corporeal form. the monastic master Gaspar, slightly panicked, summoned him and his companion Biff (the narrator of tfhe book) to a meeting.

"Joshua," Gaspar said, "do you know what a bodhisattva is?"

"No, master, I don't."

"Gautama Buddha was a bodhisattva. The twenty-seven patriarchs since Gautama Buddha were also bodhisattvas. Some say that I, myself, am a bodhisattva, but the claim is not mine."

"There are no Buddhas," said Joshua.

"Indeed," said Gaspar, "but when one reaches the place of Buddhahood and realizes that there is no Buddha because everything is Buddha, when one reaches enlightenment, but makes a decision that he will not evolve to nirvana until all sentient beings have preceded him there, then he is a bodhisattva. A savior. A bodhisattva, by making this decision, grasps the only thing that can ever be grasped: compassion for the suffering of his fellow humans. Do you understand?"

"I think so," said Joshua. "But the decision to become a bodhisattva sounds like an act of ego, a denial of enlightenment."

"Indeed it is, Joshua. It is an act of self-love."

"Are you asking me to become a bodhisattva?"

"If I were to say to you, love your neighbor as you love yourself, would I be telling you to be selfish?"

There was a silence for a moment, and as I looked at the place where Joshua's voice was originating, he gradually started to become visible again. "No," said Joshua.

"Why?" asked Gaspar.

"Love thy neighbor as thou lovest thyself" - and here there was a long pause when I could imagine Joshua looking to the sky for an answer, as he so often did, then: "for he is thee, and thou art he, and everything that is ever worth loving is everything." Joshua solidified before our eyes, fully dressed, looking no worse for the wear.

Gaspar smiled and those extra years that he had been carrying on his face seemed to fade away. There was a peace in his apsect and for a moment he could have been as young as we were. "That is correct, Joshua, You are truly an enlightened being."

"I will be a bodhisattva to my people," Joshua said.

"Good, now go shave the yak," said Gaspar.

random thoughts

2006-02-20T21:32:00.000-05:00

i just customized my google home page, and realized i will not use it. i still like visiting the sites and seeing the graphics accomodate the updates. just another reason why i stopped using rss-aggregator services. call me old fashioned, but old habits die hard.

i'm still chipping away at christopher moore's 'lamb'. joshua (to be known as jesus) is now learning about buddhism and have achieved enlightenment in an uncommonly short amount of time.

this weekend i meant to take pictures of the pillow fight at union square, but thankfully, there are plenty of folks who actually did. good, cos i was home (again) with a nagging sore throat. instead i watched king kong (laborious), got up to speed on battlestar galactica, and broken flowers (also laborious, but at least it suits the genre, and it makes me want to buy alot of pink flowers).

i also meant to catch 'isolation' at the walter reade theatre, but alas, real life responsibilities. at the final walkthrough at the new home, and i find myself reluctant to move in. i kept finding flaws in the house - peeling paint, superfluous beams, rust, cracks in the tiles - blame it on the tendency to have unrealistic expectations. truth be told, i've lived in my current home for over 16 years, and even though the new hood is just a town over, it feels like a complete uproot. new neighbors, park, shopping options, bus line. logistically, i have to figure out how to rearrange all my furniture, and i don't like it :p tomorrow's the closing.

Question of the Week: LowerManhattan.info

2006-02-17T13:59:00.000-05:00

Q: What does the neon writing on streets and sidewalks signify?

A: The writing on the pavement is part of the Uniform Color Code. Before any digging commences on a project, workers mark the street with color-coded cues to ensure that buried utility lines are not accidentally cut. Here's a guide to what's buried beneath those scribbles:

White - Proposed Excavation
Pink - Temporary Survey Markings
Red - Electric; power lines, cables, conduit & lighting cables
Yellow - Gas; oil, steam, petroleum & gaseous material
Orange - Communications; alarm, signal lines, cables or conduit
Blue - Potable Water
Purple - Slurry Lines; reclaimed water, irrigation
Green - Sewers & drain lines

for past QoW, click here.

100th post - thinking about RFPs

2006-02-16T00:02:00.000-05:00

today Bloomtaki announced the issuance of Request For Proposals (RFP) for the redevelopment of Governor's Island. architect Santiago Calatrava was present to describe his aerial gondola concept connecting Brooklyn, Lower Manhattan, and Governor's Island.

This is an opportunity to make something extremely practical and logical, which at the same time tries to inspire the imagination in a way that can happen only here, in New York Harbor,” said Santiago Calatrava. “On a practical level, the design creates a new direct link to Governors Island for both tourists and Island workers from both Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. The system is very light, using only three supports, none of which stands in the water, so the shipping channels are left completely open. On the level of the imagination, the gondola cars will be round, so they are shaped a little like apples – and because they are transparent, they will offer a wonderful 360-degree view of the harbor.

wow. only three supports. there's also an exhibit of his works at the met until march 5th.

nyc pillow fight this saturday, and temporary graffiti

2006-02-15T14:37:00.000-05:00

scored two links today via gothamist:

pillow fight 2k6 - toronto youthster duo behind newmindspace organized a pillow fight at union square this saturday 2/18/06 from 2-3pm. now i have no idea if this thing is legal, but should be interesting :)

LED throwies as graffiti - LED+magnet+tape is essentially what these things are. find a magnet-friendly building, throw LED clusters in its direction, and voila! the building is tattooed with clusters of lights. this is temporary graffiti, so no landlords will be forced to pay for its removal. harmless fun, really, other than the issue of recycle and disposal. video here, instructions here.

FOUND in my inbox

2006-02-15T00:52:00.000-05:00

Listen, I'm writing you 'cause we are in a public place, you're so pretty it makes me shy, and hopefully it will mean more.

1. I've been heartbroken/celibate for a year
2. Tired of being lonely at times
3. I want a girlfriend, lover, best friend, someday wife.

So if you're not in love or married, let me win your heart.

I promise to give you lots lots x lots lots of orgasms.
I promise to give you lots lots x lots lots of caring.
I promise to give you lots lots x lots lots of loyalty.
I promise to give you lots lots x lots lots of good-heartd fun.

If you're interested call me [phone number], email me [email]

Don't think I'm some nut. NOT.

I just don't know pick up lines nor would I use them if I did.

I'm a good person. I have good Christian love.

And I am worthy.

- Blaine

---------------------------------------------------------------------
FOUND by Sara Corbett in a drugstore in Portland, Maine
---------------------------------------------------------------------

ghosts, robots, and marriage

2006-02-14T14:25:00.000-05:00

how bizarre. i managed to post jake dobkin's vday graffiti a day before gothamist does. they're getting mighty predictable, aren't they?

*edit* puahahah. nevermind! i thought i posted about the love ghosts. i only saw it. oh boy i'm getting old.

CMU graduates are obsessed with robots. OBSESSED. maybe that's why i like them. 'you had me at robot...'

gapingvoid has an excellent valentine's card. if a man proposed to me this way, i just might say yes.

some more geekery, promise i'll cut back

2006-02-13T22:18:00.000-05:00

i couldn't help myself. the cow was just too cute. rememberthemilk is a web tool, when stripped down to just the utilities, is a to do list combined with reminder systems for individuals and project groups. and it's cute. now if there was only a way to synchronize with PDAs (not that i have one), cos otherwise it's just making the user a slave of the web. here's a video demo of the service.

there's a general trend of moving software applications to a web interface. shifting to server side. wifi lobbyists. $100 laptops in third world countries. how long would it take to get the world completely networked? hm.

IE7 finally incorporated tabbed browsing (hallelujah! now it'll probably take 2 years before i get it at work, bah). i took a look at some of the screenshots, and this one is my favorite. thumbnail views of all tabbed pages, fantastic!

another browser also caught my attention, and that's the maxthon. it looks really powerful, and if i were geekier i'd probably install it just to tinker with. its version of the thumbnail view of tabbed pages is akin to MS Word and MS Excel's arrange window function. another cool feature is that you can reorganize the tabbed pages. that's one of the things that's been driving me mad about firefox, but i've learned to cope with it (inner calm, om, serenity now, people get used to anything).

here's the full article on the IE7 review.

happy preveeday

2006-02-13T15:58:00.000-05:00

photo cred goes to jake dobkin.

ma.gnolia beta

2006-02-13T14:54:00.000-05:00

so i finally managed to sign into ma.gnolia's beta, despite having received the invite weeks ago. it's very pretty - just look at the nifty avatars avail to a geekgurl wannabe:

in terms of function, there's not much distinction between this and other social bookmarkers. at this moment the community is still small, hence the smaller number of bookmarks. however, users can import de.licio.us tags and existing browser bookmarks (IE, firefox, safari).

which makes me wonder - how come de.licio.us never made their site cuter?

for all the suckers that went upstate this weekend to get good powder

2006-02-12T23:49:00.000-05:00

guangxi

2006-02-12T22:48:00.000-05:00

found through BLDGBLOG, photos of Guangxi. i'm guessing the photo creds belong to Feng Jiang's, as it's on his academic webspace.

snow day wow it really really snowed

2006-02-12T11:10:00.000-05:00

The Word of the Day for February 10 is:

catbird seat \KAT-berd-SEET\ noun
: a position of great prominence or advantage

Example sentence:
Nate and Brett want to buy a house but are waiting to see if the real estate market will change soon and put buyers back in the catbird seat.

Did you know?
"In the catbird seat" was among the numerous, folksy _expressions with which the legendary baseball broadcaster Red Barber delighted listeners. Some say he invented the _expression; others say that he dug it up from his Southern origins. But the facts may actually have an odd twist. In a 1942 short story titled "The Catbird Seat," James Thurber featured a character, Mrs. Barrows, who liked to use the phrase. Another character, Joey Hart, explained that Mrs. Barrows must have picked up the _expression from Red Barber. To Red, according to Joey, "sitting in the catbird seat" meant "'sitting pretty,' like a batter with three balls and no strikes on him." But, according to Barber's daughter, it was only after Barber read Thurber's story that he started using "in the catbird seat" himself!

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

lame i know

2006-02-11T23:01:00.000-05:00

well, at least they're pretty

2006-02-11T20:44:00.000-05:00

white men eating asian food

2006-02-11T20:32:00.000-05:00

check it out, found gridskipper, and a photo of someone eating a french fry encrusted hot dog! why didn't i think of that?? what's next, french fry encrusted mars bars and oreo cookies? delish!

Valentine for Perfect Strangers

2006-02-11T20:18:00.000-05:00

screenhead's pretty neat, part of gawker media.

coComment update

2006-02-11T00:38:00.000-05:00

kevin lim has an accurate review of coComment, read it here.

Blessed are the Merciful @ Feigen Contemporary 2/10 - 4/29

2006-02-10T22:18:00.000-05:00

a friend told me there was an opening at feigen contemporary tonight, and off i went. the first piece that attracted my attenion was this swirling funnel of unidentified fluid. the word is that it's diesel fuel, but i thought diesel usually has some color in it? there's also a well-hidden turbine somewhere in this sculpture.

Petroc Sesti, Event Horizon, 2005, black plinthe, turbine, glass, fluid

the next thing that caught my attention was this lightbox - it's as if the adult featured in the photograph is trying to recall a moment in her childhood (looks like a woman's hands to me) when magic still existed, and dreams were still illuminated.

Daniele Buetti, Blue Hands, 2005, perforated digital c-print on aluminum lightbox

then there was this plastic carton pyramid. plastic containers of various sizes were sliced open and carefully stitched together to create a canvas for the projected video. the video was a cross-section of the facade of a building, and the viewer can see people milling around inside the windows.

Samuel Rousseau, Plastikcity, 2005, video projection on plastic assemblage

the walls of this box was lined with mirrors with sufficient edge to create non-lines which were perpetuated through the endless reflections. the result? channeling kubrick's 2001: a space odyssey.

Dominic McGill, That Which is Good (detail), 2006, mixed media

this pencil drawing illustrates the end of the world, possibly as the mayans foresaw it.

Matt Marello, Apocalypse Now (detail), 2006, pencil on watercolor paper

the blue hands haunt me still.

are smarter people better at ignoring things?

2006-02-10T15:17:00.000-05:00

An interesting scientifically test shows that smarter people actually remember less details. They tend to focus on what's essential.

read more | digg story

all i want for vday is

2006-02-09T23:53:00.000-05:00

*edit* hmm, maybe i want this as well:

tech + fash = techion?

2006-02-09T22:12:00.000-05:00

so i've been looking through project runway's diana eng's blog , and goodness gracious, she's a nerd. firstborn daughter of an architect and civil engineer (i'm surprised they didn't make her become an urban planner or real estate developer), she studied spirolaterals under the guidance of her computer science/math teacher of a grandmother when she was 12 (i wish i had that kind of intellectual guidance when i was 12! instead i was still watching 'saved by the bell' reruns and crushing on screech). she was recently part of seamless v.2, MIT's version of a fashion+technology concept show (link to video stream of the show). her contribution was one of the more wearable pieces (epiSkin jewelry, Arabiia, Innerlight), though the concept of using mathematical series to dictate fabric construction would be lost on the laymen fashionista.

The technique would take me too long too explain, so I opt to describe the math patterns. The scarf uses a mixture of different odd number patterns spliced together. More interesting is the fringe of the knit jacket. I used the Fibonacci number pattern which naturally produces a ruffle. While other number patterns that increase will create a ruffle (sooner or later depending on how the pattern increases), Fibonacci creates a more pleasing one in correct porportions.

i can't say the same for the other designs - most seemed more like a showcase of the designers' eccentricities: bridezilla, elephant arms, hug scarves (this is pretty cute, actually), what-to-wear-when-there's-a-tornado-next-door, audio trojan helmet (bizarre! i'm too unsophisticated to appreciate this), a dress that gathers trash (roombas purchased separately), and this:

it's called 'exhausted', but it just looks like two women attached with an umbilical cord. when they press the vest together and pull apart (which creates an interesting visual, btw), the accordian in the cord makes a sound.

i suppose i should be glad that people are thinking these ideas up, but i'd like to see more practical applications of these concepts.

bid for real estate online - redfin

2006-02-09T14:34:00.000-05:00

Redfin, map listing of real estate data for Seattle, allows a visitor to buy a property online. Redfin, as a real estate brokerage company, automates the paperwork of making a bid and takes only a 1% commission as opposed to the usual 3%.

(via nytimes)

read more digg story

google chat reaction

2006-02-09T00:53:00.000-05:00

Befuddled by Caché? You're not the only one (spoiler)

2006-02-09T00:43:00.000-05:00

Caché (Hidden) is a thriller by Michael Haneke, starring Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche. Lots of viewers leave the movie feeling unsettled, yet not quite how to describe it. Here's a well written analysis of the movie by Chiranjit Goswami of notcoming.com.

Thanks to Rahat for the link.

read more | digg story

woot, zillow made it on digg

2006-02-09T00:34:00.000-05:00

Wow, Zillo is amazing! Use it to instantly see how much your house is worth, compare property values, or see what houses in your neighborhood have sold for. Simply enter an address to search for and see a map showing property values for every house in the area. Click on a house to see a detailed listing including property data and last sale price.

read more | digg story

zillow mania

2006-02-08T23:07:00.000-05:00

zillow's a neat new tool for buyers and sellers to check what's a 'fair' market price for their home. i finally got the chance to check it out today, and found good news and bad news. the property on the left (detached duplex 2-family) is the one i'm about to purchase, and the purchase price we settled on is higher than the zestimate! the one (attached 1-family townhouse) on the right is the one my family will be selling soon, and the zestimate looks mighty healthy!

i'm not sure how they get their numbers - seems a bit wonky to me. however, it's another research tool that i'll find useful in the future, so i hope it stays past its beta phase.

tracking the life cycle of a post - the power of digg

2006-02-08T22:25:00.000-05:00

here's the original link to Aerial Photographs of Mexico City, photographed by helicopter pilot C.O. Ruiz, first del.icio.us'd by toby, back in march 2004.

first time i came across it - BLDGBLOG's post "In the suburbs of self-similarity" on february 2, 2006.

second time i came across it - Marginal Revolution's post "Aerial photos of Mexico City" on february 8, 2006. Tyler Cowen came across it trolling digg.

14 hours after initial digg submission, 2657 diggs and 137 links to original photo page.

i blog too much nonsense

2006-02-08T16:41:00.000-05:00

video thanks to grace.

coComment

2006-02-08T00:59:00.000-05:00

wee the coolest new thing - track the comments you leave throughout the web at supported blogs: Blogger.com MSN Spaces MySpaces TypePad Wordpress Xanga.

it's still in beta test, which means you have to find yourself an unused invitation code at ballpark.ch to sign up at coComment. once you do that, install the toolbar button, and click it before you submit comments on supported blogs!

wee! making comment trolling way more efficient every day!

happy one month birthday, vincent and victoria!

2006-02-07T20:24:00.000-05:00

one of the kitchen volunteers at chan center recently gave birth to twins - a boy named vincent and a girl named victoria! i helped prepare the lunch that celebrated their one month birth anniversary, and got this pleasant surprise :)

there were three flavors: red bean, plum, and persimmon.

i've never had plum wagashi before, but after a taste i had this face :-9

ChatFu: Cartoonify Your IMs

2006-02-07T19:23:00.000-05:00

links: eye candy

2006-02-07T00:10:00.000-05:00

illustrations by jeremy fisher - i especially liked this:

printer on a roller - pixelroller - video of demonstration here.

PixelRoller is a paint roller that paints pixels, designed as a rapid response printing tool specifically to print digital information such as imagery or text onto a great range of surfaces. The content is applied in continuous strokes by the user. PixelRoller can be seen as a handheld “printer”, based around the ergonomics of a paintroller, that lets you create the images by your own hand.

foldable solar battery charger - green tech on the rise.

cutest tattoo ever, via INKEDblog:

i too would like to have a hippo that speaks of love followed by exclamation marks somewhere on my body :)

what live art should've been, fast and furious, via woostercollective.

how to make your own tape sculpture, via omg-i-forgot-how-i-found-this.