Pattern Recognition

A good friend of mine (you know who you are) sent me a link to a very odd thing on Amazon. Uranium. That's right, you can buy Uranium on Amazon. Don't believe me? Go check it out.

Now, I'm not worried about people making nuclear explosives. I'm also not worried about dirty bombs. It's a very small sample of uranium. It's intended for testing Geiger counters. Most smoke alarms actually contain small amounts of radioactive materials. This is a relatively safe and harmless piece of uranium. And at the cost they are charging, it would cost an insane amount of money to get enough to cause trouble with.

Although it is still just odd. I mean, who would buy uranium on Amazon?

Well know what is even weirder than that? Scroll down about halfway on that Amazon page and check out the "Customers Who Bought Items Like This Also Bought" section. Well, now we know what sort of person would buy uranium on Amazon...

Best Birthday Ever

This year was quite likely the best birthday ever for me. My actual birthday I was at a conference in Oregon, but that's not what made it great. It was the weekend AFTER my birthday that was great.

We went to a Suzanne Vega concert in Seattle. It was at a club, not an amphitheater, which was great in my opinion. Standing room only. We were lucky enough to be very near the front. I think it's safe to say I was within spit wad distance (no, I didn't test that).

The music was great. She opened with Tom's Diner, a cappella. It was great! She gave some of the background story behind a few of the songs too, which was fascinating to hear. She talked about how New York is a woman (not always very lady like though) and asked if Seattle is male, female, both, androgynous... The response of the Seattle crowd was: "Coffee Bean!!!"

It was really wonderful to be surrounded by a bunch of folks that were just there for a great time. There were all types of people there. Hippies and people in business suits, and everything in between.

The next day I purchased her latest album off of iTunes, which was pretty good.

Here's some interesting little facts about Suzanne Vega that most people don't know... When the mp3 format was first being tested the benchmark was her song "Tom's Diner". Also, she was the first recording artist to perform live in the digital universe Second Life. Plus her music is just cool.

Foods my accent hates

I hate chipotle. I detest it. I love the taste of it though. Know why I hate it? Because my Midwest tongue can't pronounce it. Chipotlee? Chip o'lay? Chee... wait, what? Every time I try and order this somewhere, I somehow manage to slaughter it. I know, it's proper pronunciation is chi PO lay. Great. It comes out Chip O'Lay instead. It doesn't sound Mexican when I say it, it sounds Irish, like O'Malley. I hate it. Stupid gringo tongue.

How about Gyro? I have a scientific background... I think Gyroscope. Something that spins. So it would be Jy roe, right? Well, sorta. I mean, it's based on the latin word meaning to spin: gyro. But that's not really how it's pronounced. It's a softer G than the Midwest American G or J. Almost a Hyro. But not High Roe, you need to roll it more. Great, now let's see if I can say it again without sounding like I'm a German saying Cairo while coughing up a hairball.

I know! I'll pretend to be a mute! I'll just write down on paper "I want a Gyro with Chipotle sauce, thanks". Yeah!

Sandwich Folding - Not the Holtzman Effect

Yes, I know, I already blogged today. I know what they say, blogging twice in a day will make you go blind... But this simply must be discussed!

Sandwich folding. The simple task of taking one piece of bread, putting something in it, and folding it. Often times referred to as a single bread sandwich. Usually this is done with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or similar contents.

I am a side to side folder. When I fold a sandwich, I make it so that the left and right side touch each other. I had always assumed this is how everyone else did it, until I got married. My wife does not have a particular sandwich folding strategy. Sometimes it's top to bottom, sometimes it's side to side. When I asked a wise friend how he folds his sandwich, he simply replied that he does not fold sandwiches.

But when my wise friend cuts his two breaded sandwiches, he cuts them top to bottom. So if he did fold sandwiches, would he likely fold them side to side like me? Well, this can't be certain. My wife almost always cuts sandwiches top to bottom. And me, a dedicated side to side folder, will cut sandwich diagonally.

I can not judge my friend for not folding sandwiches though. Because I am so dedicated to folding that I will rarely have a two breaded sandwich. I will instead make TWO one breaded folded sandwiches. So his eccentricities with not folding can be excused in the light of my eccentric requirement for folding. It goes so far that often times I will fold sandwiches that do not lend well to folding, such as a bologna sandwich (which my friend declared as blasphemy).

As I mentioned before, if I do have a two bread sandwich, I cut it diagonally. Usually these are cooked sandwiches that are almost impossible to cook in a folded state. This then raises the question, does anyone fold their sandwich diagonally? I shall try it sometime, and see if it affects my sandwich in any way.

In the end, it doesn't really matter. I enjoy a sandwich regardless of it's folding, as long as it is folded. After all, it is just a sandwich.

And into November

Well, Halloween is over. I was a musketeer this year.

November looks to be an interesting month. I'll be traveling to a conference over my birthday. My wife starts her new job. Rise of Kunark comes out for Everquest 2. It's just a jam packed month! If I can get away with it, I might not celebrate Thanksgiving just to keep myself sane (although, I might still do the day after Thanksgiving shopping, yeah, I'm crazy like that). I'll be taking off this Friday just to get things done that I have not had the time to get done (like getting a new driver's license, changing my voter registration, boring stuff like that).

On a completely unrelated note, the blinker on my car broke. More accurately, the lever snapped off. The lever is dangling by a wire. The wire is meant to control my non-functional cruise control. When it broke I couldn't inspect it very well since it was dark out and the interior lights don't work. There is also that weird squeel from under the hood, I think it's a slipping belt. The rattle is nothing serious though, I know that's just the dashboard that's kinda loose. I would get these things fixed, but I think the cost of getting them fixed would be more than the value of the car. Not sure what they call cars like this in my new state... We used to call them the non-PC term of 'rez runner'.

An it harm none, do what ye will - Hacking

I don't tend to hack anymore. Not only is it dangerous, but it is also often times harmful.

I've never been a fan of any black hat hacking. Destroying stuff just because you can isn't cool. It's destructive. What are black hats trying to prove? Superiority? Intelligence? Well, it fails. It takes a lot of skill and talent to create something beautiful, but it doesn't take much creativity or talent to take a crowbar to it and destroy it.

White hat hackers are almost as bad as black hats. They do it out of some form of purifying. They hack to 'teach a lesson' to someone, who they judge as being deserving. They believe their actions, legal or illegal, are justified because they are on the side of 'right'. Do the ends justify the means? What about those that get caught in the middle, the collateral damage?

Brown hats are the ones that just can't pick a side. Are they the bad guys or the good guys? What do they hack for? Sometimes they break stuff because it's fun, sometimes they break something because the other person was 'a bad guy'. True Neutral? I doubt it. They are motivited by the same thing as most hackers, the desire to prove something, even if it's only to themselves.

That being said... there are reasons to hack. Today I hacked. I contemplated the hack. Would it even be considered a hack? I am pulling some files off of a server that I was not intended to have copies of, I am tweaking a little script to run outside of it's home... I am doing something with all of these that the owner did not intend. It required knowledge of code. It required knowledge of scripts. It required knowledge of servers. Was it 'Hacking the Gibson'? Oh heck no. This was a little thing. Minor. Small fry. It's a hack that many non-hackers could do. I often times wouldn't even refer to it as a hack.

So if I don't like the reasons most people hack, why did I just do a hack? Oh, simple really: it harmed none. Not only that, but I think it will be good for some. If I could have gotten a hold of the fellow that owned these files, I am pretty sure he would have gladly given me permission to do exactly what I did. His creative work will be shown to a group of people who really deserve to see it. They will likely love it, and it will probably make some of them cry with happiness and sadness both.

So for an event at a VFW that doesn't have an internet connection for their presentation: Here it is, comin at you Lo Tek style!

Digital Democracy

New Zealand has taken a new angle on democracy. Their current legislation is over 50 years old, and just can't keep up with the changing world anymore. It's been in need of a serious overhaul for many years.

So they built a wiki site, and are letting citizens help edit the new laws. At first this may seem a little shocking, but it makes sense. Who all will have a voice in the creation of these laws? Lawyers, taxi drivers, police, jaywalkers, criminals, and most importantly: law abiding citizens. They will ALL have a voice in how the law is written. They won't be just voting for someone that will hopefully have the needs of the people in mind.

Personally I think this is a GREAT thing. The universe may move towards entropy, but society moves toward stability. Humans want to live in safe places, and have laws that keep them safe while not being overly restrictive. But it has previously been impossible to ask EVERYONE for their input on EVERY topic. Allowing everyone to edit the bills that will become laws means that everyone CAN have a say, if they want to.

Of course there are downfalls to such a system. Most notably in my mind is the 'vocal minority' issue. If there is an issue that only a very small group of people actually care about, they can do some rather serious changes because no one else really thinks it's enough of an issue to vote (or edit) against. If the majority of the population is apathetic about a decision and abstain, then the vocal minority can still get the laws changed. Of course, it could also be said that politicians in other forms of democracy are the vocal minority, so perhaps this isn't as big of a problem as I think.

I think it's a very cool idea. I think it has the potential to work out quite well. I applaud New Zealand for being the brave people to take on being the test case for this. I do hope it works; it could make democracy fairer, more honest, and more tailored to the REAL needs of the people. Now it's just time to sit back and see what kinks NZ happens to dig up...

(Inspired by another blog post I read by someone else. I forgot to bookmark it though... but if I find it again I'll include a link here so that you can read their opinions on the idea too)