Friday, June 29, 2007

own world.

"See that red boat over there? Isn't that weird?"
"What boat?"
"You didn't see the boat?" (Sighs loudly.) "Honestly, sometimes I think you live on a different planet than me."
"And what planet would THAT be?"
"Me? I live on the same planet as everyone else. YOU live on some other parallel planet that exists only in your head."
"But my planet is more fun?"
"Only to the extent that it appears to populated by ponies, puppies, and singing gnomes made from gummy bears."

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

would you Jimi?

Have been in the process of reviewing a few products for GGG. My first review--of the Jimi Wallet--is now up.

Jimi is a small company that manufactures recycled, recyclable plastic wallets. What makes them particularly special? "Like more and more small businesses out there, Jimi is about doing business in a way that is concerned not only with their customers, but with the world their customers live in. And not just as an afterthought. With Jimi, you get a sense that environmental and social impacts is a key concern around which their business is built."


Please check it out!

the goodness of life.



Feeling bogged down by school work and much in need of a change of scenery, I opted to spend the weekend visiting a friend. Two days spent together of quiet and studying, and fabulously mooching internet and swimming in the pool. It finally and really feels like summer--and time for barbeque chicken and popsicles, both of which have been in generous supply over the past two days.

The weekend has allowed me to finally get a little caught up on all my school assignments, an exercise in learning about spatial data set matching, topography, and raster data sets. If this sounds painfully dry to you, believe me, it IS. (Which perhaps in part explains why I am so behind in this class to begin with.)

But then I stumbled across a little gem of algebraic topology called the theorem of hairy balls. To know that we live in a universe in which such a theorem exists, is bound to make just about anyone's day a little better. At least, it did mine.

A hot day and the smell of chlorine and wet cement, wet towels and melting popsicles. The goodness of life is often in the small things. Oh, and the small, unexpected, round things. Small, unexpected hairy theorems of joy.

Friday, June 22, 2007

cynicism.

E: Think we could take over the world by making $25 micro-loans?
Me: More likely, we could help the micro-finance company take over the world by making $25 loans.
E: Good point. We should start a site that gives out $25 "loans."
Me: Ah, thus making world domination in $25 increments much more likely.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

when factual accuracy isn't enough.

So, let's put aside the fact that: no, I have not posted in almost a month, and yes, you have emailed me to bug me about it.

Instead, let's focus on this bit of nerdy marine science humor:

We pass by a promo poster for the new Disneyland ride for the movie Finding Nemo. You know, the one about the adventures a cute, lost, presumably Australian clownfish who must find his way back to his overprotective father and the relative safety of his reefy, CGI home. And all those anemones.




"You know, I don't think you typically find clown fish swimming out in the open like that," says scientist friend. "They live symbiotically with several species of anemone."
"That would be an interesting observation..."
"Would be?"
"Would be. If that weren't, like, the entire premise of the movie."

I told him the only way it could have been nerdier is if he used the latin name for clownfish.

To which he gave his professional, scientific retort: "Whatever."