The fool who is angered, and who thinks to triumph by using abusive language, is always vanquished by him whose words are patient.
Category: allthethings
On Altruism in the New York Times
We were sitting in Grant’s office one afternoon talking about efficiency, when he said: “The truth is, I don’t care how many articles I publish or how many words I write. Productivity is an imperfect way of indexing how much I’m contributing, how I’m using my limited time to make the most difference.”
It wasn’t until I was transcribing the conversation a few days later that I realized that when he referred to his limited time, he wasn’t just talking about a busy schedule; there was a more existential tug in the phrase. I brought it up with him by phone.
“It’s the kind of thing I almost never talk about,” Grant said. “But my responsibility is to be open.” Mortality, he said, was the one subject that gave him something like panic attacks. He had always felt that way, since he was a brainy, sensitive kid playing basketball in his driveway, staring at the sun, suddenly terrified of what would happen when it burned out. That was why he first wanted to be a scientist — before he realized biology bored him and he would never reinvent physics — so he could help figure out how to extend life, or at least design the spacecrafts that he is sure, even now, will take us to safer planets if this one runs dry. Mortality, he said, is “something I can’t fix. I can’t do anything with or about it.” He can’t let himself think about it too much; he has lost days at a time to his anxiety, “to the point that it’s the equivalent of extreme physical pain.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/magazine/is-giving-the-secret-to-getting-ahead.html?_r=0
Inside old Aberdeen Theatre (now a church)
Dale: Let’s start a ska band 10:35 AM
Me: Can we buy dark suits from the Goodwill and spraypaint vertical white stripes on them? 10:36 AM
Dale: Only if mine are diagonal 10:36 AM
Me: What? No way, I am the frontman. You’re playing maracas or something. 10:38 AM
Dale: I am not gonna lie. Maracas would be great in a ska band 10:39 AM
Me: K, band name? How about These Delightful Makeshift Possums. 10:48 AM
Dale: Ten Foot Squire 10:51 AM
Me: Not dramatic enough. How about Tower of Asses 11:11 AM
Dale: Sounds stinky. Walter Cronkite and the Anchors 11:14 AM
Me: Wait, aren’t we supposed to put the word SKA in the name? Making it Walter Cronkite & the Skanchors 11:15 AM
Me: How about: Delicious Beat 11:20 AM
Dale: What about Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch 11:21 AM
Me: Skanky Skank and the Skanky Bunch, and you got a deal. PS: We need to have 30 members. 11:24 AM
Me: Any ska band I’m in BETTER be larger than the audience. 11:24 AM
Dale: Large and poorly dressed. This is Ska. 11:26 AM
Me: These are good ground rules. I would suggest we add: no more than 4 Kanye West covers. 11:29 AM
Dale: That may be negotiable 11:36 AM
Me: It’s not, actually. 1:14 PM
Esther the Stone Fox
Constella
Constella project notes
- building I wanna be able to build a space station, dammit.
- multi-crew ships Players can sign on to crew ships for each other, ala Artemis. I mean, like, HUGE ships.
- terraforming Players can claim and – if the have the gear / $ – terraform a planet, and invite settlers.
- farming Why terraform? Turn a planet into a huge food source, to fuel your food supply lines or sell on the intergalactic market.
- dynamic economy If someone else starts supplying a planet, the value of that commodity being shipped there drops.
- procedural system creation Go exploring. Sure, it takes a long time, but discovering new terrain can result in financial rewards. The universe just keeps expanding.
- road building Invest in setting up trade lanes ($$) or jump gates ($$$$$$), and bring traders and easy travel to your system.
- r&d Research new technology results in efficiencies in manufacturing, farming, engines, shields, weapons, etc.
- taxes & tariffs Own a system, or a trade lane? Impose a fee to use it.
- hacking When your R&D gets stolen, or competitors inject inefficiencies into your business.
Steal from Freelancer
- music Freelancer’s music is atmospheric, lacking clear beginnings and endings. It swirls around, only coming to the foreground during a dogfight.
- tradelanes The idea of space highways that speed up travel, at the risk of being hijacked – brilliant.
- jumpgates See above, but for connecting different solar systems.
- piracy I love how the nomads, outcasts, rogues, lanehackers, junkers etc all attack.
- reputation A players rep determines ease at passing through different system
Why Is My Life Not More Like This
lemon juice
Most underarm odor is caused by bacteria on the skin and living in the arm hair. Bacteria can’t live when the pH level drops too low. An acid like lemon juice will do this – lemon juice typically has a pH of 1 (lower than vinegar, even). Fresh lemon juice kills body odor.
dogeball
The Angry Badgers dodgeball team representing the Staff at Grays Harbor College.
rringtonez
Two R’s for a double dose of ringin’
These are all ringtones I have made for my personal use. You can use them, too, because that’s also my personal use.
Text notifications
Tinger Fall
Made with a MicroKORG analog modelling synthesizer.
Tinger Tone
Made with a MicroKORG analog modelling synthesizer.
Ringtones
StarCrash – Stella Star + Akron
“So you can see into the future! Why didn’t you tell me?”
ASDF’s Mineturtle “Hellow”