Entries Tagged 'webthings' ↓

Grackle trapped in Houston Hobby, far out of my reach

Recent report of a woman who remembers everything¹. Every detail of her life for every day, every hour, every minute. Sound like a useful trick? It’s also extremely unpleasant, apparently:

“But I also recall every bad decision, insult and excruciating embarrassment. Over the years it has eaten me up. It has kind of paralysed me.”

“Most have called it a gift. But I call it a burden. I run my entire life through my head every day and it drives me crazy!”

A few individuals with similar conditions have been studied through the decades (e.g., the Soviet neuroscientist Aleksandr Luria’s patient “S“, detailed in The Mind of a Mnemonist), and they generally find ways to use their memory powers for some kind of benefit. But they also tend to report unpleasant side effects, one of which is an inability to “filter” memories. This is Not a Good Thing.

Our long-term memory systems are massively self-organizing, and reducing the probability of recall for certain items is a key part of the organizational strategy. In other words, forgetting is very important. Also, apparently, it makes you happier.

Perhaps I’ll get started on some forgetting, right now. There are some past incidents I would dearly love to become less aware of.

1. Well, since she was 14, anyway [↩]

Oh man. I think pineapple juice just came out my nose. Does anyone know where this gorgeous work of genius came from? I found it on a couple of blogs, but it looked like they had ripped it off without crediting it. I wish I could give props to the awesome person who crafted this monstrosity.

I completely got sucked in to this. And loved it :)

(hint: MUPPETS! ANIMAL!)

The world sometimes gets better even as it gets worse:

#1: Author Clay Shirky’s interesting ideas on how the death of the sitcom (among other things) has freed up tons and tons of time and effort in our world, and some of those newly-liberated resources are being devoted to worthwhile projects (like Wikipedia, for instance).

#2: About. Freaking. Time.

I been said dat!

From the Clay Shirky Article:

Did you ever see that episode of Gilligan’s Island where they almost get off the island and then Gilligan messes up and then they don’t? I saw that one. I saw that one a lot when I was growing up. And every half-hour that I watched that was a half an hour I wasn’t posting at my blog or editing Wikipedia or contributing to a mailing list. Now I had an ironclad excuse for not doing those things, which is none of those things existed then. I was forced into the channel of media the way it was because it was the only option. Now it’s not, and that’s the big surprise. However lousy it is to sit in your basement and pretend to be an elf, I can tell you from personal experience it’s worse to sit in your basement and try to figure if Ginger or Mary Ann is cuter.

Rowan eats a Timbit, much as residential treatment facilities may eat children’s souls

USA Today has an article about deceptive marketing, poor staff training, abuse, and even death of children in “boot camp” residential treatment facilities around the country (including, unsurprisingly, Texas). I’ve been trying to follow developments in this area (as much as I can) for several years. My conclusion is: when you let corporations run your juvenile incarceration facilities, why are you surprised when they act like corporations?

When I cruise around online, and sites ask me for personal information, my standard practice is to lie. Really, it’s the only approach that makes sense. I make up names, give my spam-magnet email addresses, type in fake phone numbers, etc. Well, apparently I made up a particularly sarcastic fake name at one particular site, and it has come back to bite me. Is this what karma feels like? Oh, how I long to click the link and prove my non-fecality.

Facebook sliced me the unkindest cut, however. Remember the messages that you saw inside your m&ms  and Snickers wrappers, back in the eighties? You are Not a Winner. Well, yeah, but I don’t need my junk food habit to remind me.

Facebook seemed to feel that I needed similar self-esteem correction, today:

It wouldn’t be so bad if I had more friends in real life…

Apparently some armed Canadian forces stormed a Dutch seal-hunt protest vessel and arrested people. The head of the organization behind the ship called this an “Act of War.” Just between you and me, I suspect the Dutch government might not back him up all the way on this.

In other news, I listened to audio study materials for the EPPP exam while I walked to the grocery store today, with my big backpack. Google says it’s 1.6 miles each way. I shopped too much. In the future, I should probably remember that a good rule of thumb seems to be: $1 = 1lb. $50 is too much.

zo-ombie. zo-ombie. zo-ombie ee ee ee…

a) We re-applied for the pittance that was once our DHS grant, today. I knew a guy back in Montana (at the School for the Deaf and Blind) named Paul. He said he used to play singer-songwriter gigs in Seattle (this was when I was 13; I had never seen Seattle). He told me a story about entertaining himself as a child in the 1950s under some bridge or other in the city. He and his friends would toss pennies and nickels to the bums, and watch them fight for the coins. Well, I can imagine the struggle with one’s pride, then deciding that, yes, I still wanted the coin, after all, enough to fight for it. I mean circa-1955 homeless people no disrespect in comparing my plight to theirs.

b) I just read an irreverent, funny, occasionally offensive essay about gender. The thesis seems to be that if women ran the world, it would look remarkably like it currently does. Not that I agreed 100% with everything, but I had some favorite moments:

I’m not trying to say men are any better, because they’re not. They commit most of the murder and mayhem on this planet but frankly, I think that’s just because they have more time on their hands.

A little more thoughtfully (and thought-provokingly):

The exact same testosterone-fueled drive that makes men fight wars also makes them build bridges and tall buildings and computers.

And the slam-dunk to get me all righteously indignant:

I’d really like to know just what in the hell makes Sally Field think women love their children more than men do.

and finally, the piece of resistors:

Even if the best mother EVER was Queen of the Planet, someone somewhere would still need to have their ass kicked, and she’d have to send somebody’s child to do it.

Uno: There’s a cool video archive hosted by UT-Austin, of Mike Wallace interviews with all sorts of famous folks in the 1950s. Salvador Dali, a KKK clansman, the Governor of Arkansas who threatened military force to prevent racial integration of the schools, and on and on. The interviews are interesting. Wallace’s 1950s social and political views are noticeable, of course, but the more shocking element is the style of the interviews. The questions are well-researched, refreshingly intelligent, apparently less infused with open political agendas than I’m used to in my lifetime. The most jarring thing was that Wallace actually gave the guests time to respond to questions. Weird.

As noted above, I was impressed by Pearl S. Buck. I had to stop counting the awesome things she said, and the very cool way she said them. There were too many.

Dos:  This weekend is General Conference. I went to Priesthood session last night (after a long struggle with laziness), and got to hear President Monson speak (the highly beloved President Hinckley died last month). His speaking style has changed. And he’s the Prophet, for sure. Good to know.

OK, I saw a link to Christvertising. I clicked. I began to watch the content on the site. All I could think was, “Please, please, please, let this be a hoax. Puh-lease!” Continue reading →