Tonight I got an email from my boss that the next phase of building renovation is going to be on my floor (the third floor), so we are being kicked out. The email describes where several groups are going to be moved — those that have been surged to the second floor are getting moved out and many of the groups on the third floor to the second or other floors. Except my group is being moved to a yet to be defined location. Maybe I’ll do some hinting/lobbying for working from home…
As I was getting ready to leave for work on Thursday, I noticed a squirrel eating while perched on a stump very close to the front window. Assuming the cats would like to see the squirrel, I snatched them from the couch (where they were passed out) and put them in front of the window. While Chloe immediately focussed on the squirrel, Emma couldn’t care less — she just cocked her head and gave me an exasperated look before heading back to the couch. The squirrel could see the cats, but seemed to understand that they couldn’t get it — so it finished eating and then wandered off.
I came across this several months ago — and being a geek that socializes with geeks, I recognize all five of the Five Geek Social Fallacies:
#1: Ostracizers Are Evil
#2: Friends Accept Me As I Am
#3: Friendship Before All
#4: Friendship Is Transitive
#5: Friends Do Everything Together
These fallacies don’t start off as something that is necessarily bad or wrong, but when made into an absolute bad things can happen.
I am not very social. I have friends and I’m happy so I won’t rock the boat. So I am a carrier of a corollary of #1 — avoid conflict that might lose you friends. I hate personal conflict, and will most likely just ignore it or maintain blissful ignorance of the issue. And my lack of social interest turns me into the curmudgeon at the parties where someone with #4 is trying to get me to be friends with their better friends(*) — which causes tension that I don’t want to deal with. I have gotten a bit better … but that isn’t saying much.
* better friends: another person’s friends or family that aren’t part of my core group of friends.
Heh:
This is the way the European Union works. The Justice department for 450 million people is now to be run by a convicted criminal.
Watch the video it is quite funny.
Until today (on average) you’ve earned enough to pay your Federal, State, and Local taxes — you are now free to earn money for yourself. Of course I’m reasonably sure the true Tax Freedom Day for Seattle isn’t until May…
The Seahawks have released Shaun Alexander. I’ve been expecting this since last season. After the Hawks’ NFC Championship season, Alexander has been hampered by injuries — and has only occasionally performed when well. I wish him the best — he has always been classy and responsible — even now:
I especially want to thank the Seahawks fans. You made me feel proud every time I stepped on the field as a Seahawk. I look forward to hopefully returning to Qwest Field one day to play against the Seahawks, and the daunting task of facing the 12th Man —Seahawks fans are among the best.
On Friday, Snarkykat and I went to see 21. While the movie is enjoyable at times, the scenes in Vegas are completely unbelievable (very mild spoilage below):
* The team spends way too much time together in Vegas, so it would be simple to identify and flag them as a team. According to Snarkykat, in the book they all travelled to Vegas independently and *NEVER* talked.
* The “hot table” signal is horrible. It generally consists of the spotter obviously making eye contact and then obtrusively crossing her arms behind her. Even the dumbest pit boss would pick up on the signal.
* The “old Vegas” beatdowns are entirely unbelievable — can you say DNA evidence?
* The med school justification for the primary character is (according to Snarkykat) entirely invented in the screenplay and turns the story into a bad sitcom.
Don’t go to the theatre for this one ($14 bucks for two matinee tickets!?!?!), wait to watch it at home if you are really interested.
Bloons Tower Defense is pretty damn cool. After playing a half dozen times and dying about midway through the game, I tried a radically different strategy and was able to win. I’m now trying to win with all of my lives, but I keep missing some bloons in the mid game (~level 12).
Last week Google released “App Engine” which allows outside developers to develop applications to run on the Google infrastructure. I’ve downloaded the SDK and played around with some simple stuff, but it is quite cool. My only issue is that most of my current applications rely on the relations in a relational database so the datastore seems too primitive — but it is incredibly easy to develop a useful personal application. The video demonstration is quite accessible and quickly highlights the ease and power of the environment.
Reason highlights how governments around the world starve their populations by trying to “help”:
According to the UN FAO there are 200 million underfed people in Africa, yet average tariffs on agricultural goods between Sub-Saharan African countries are 34%.
Nigeria has actually banned imports of various staples at different times, including wheat, rice, maize and vegetable oil.
Average fertilizer use in poorer countries is 107kg per hectare. In Africa it is only 8kg (yes, eight). Tariffs on fertilizer imports are a major reason for this low use-rate.
The removal of subsidies to biofuels (including requirements to include a proportion of such fuel in petrol and diesel - such as those being implemented in the EU) would also reduce food prices and must be a priority for rich countries.
Some countries have recently imposed tariffs and bans on exports of foods. While such trade restrictions temporarily reduce local prices, they increase prices in importing countries, result in reciprocal bans, and reduce the incentives to produce those foods in the next season - leading to reduced global supplies.
Just remember the hundreds of millions that have died in Communist Nations because of their agricultural/political policies.