justdrew » Odd STuff

I hate organized crime…

Drew — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:21:34 +0000

For some odd reason, I have always harbored a deep loathing for organized crime and all its trappings.

The fact that it is glamorized in popular culture in the way of movies and television literally makes me sick to my stomach. No, I’ve never watched The Sopranos, and no, I don’t care how good you think it is.

The only reason this is odd (I think every person with a conscience should be repulsed by mobsters) and how strongly I feel about it has nothing to do with any direct personal experience. My only contact with a wise-guy is like most of us- movies and television.

There’s just something about the very notion of mafia-like organizations. The cruelty, the utter lack of a sense of fair-play (again, don’t give me the crap about ‘family’ and stupid shit like that. Even the most despicable of people loves their mamma and their own kids… while they kill and orphan those of others)

Anyway, I’m done with my little venting. I found this story quite disturbing… for obvious reasons.

ZDNet article

15 bucks for a super-sharp pencil

Drew — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:35:38 +0000

Yeah, it's for real...

Now you know what to get that someone in your life who has absolutely everything… everything BUT a super-sharp pencil. (pencil not included)

Double Rainbow, all the way

Drew — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 01:16:01 +0000

Lists and lists of lists…

Drew — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:25:43 +0000

In an interesting talk, designer Stefan Sagmeister shared a list he keeps of things he has learned in his life.

See the TedTalk video

I certainly agree with most of the things that made his list, but it strikes me that we only keep lists of things we’re still trying to learn- those we already know, it is not necessary to write down… unless we’re trying to teach someone else.

Here’s his list, though- I think it is good to make such lists of the things we haven’t yet fully grokked.

Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.
Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
Being untruthful works against me.
Helping other people helps me.
Organizing a charity group is surprisingly easy.
Everything I do always comes back to me.
Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on.
Over time I get used to everything and start taking it for granted.
Money does not make me happy.
Travelling alone is helpful for a new perspective on life.
Assuming is stifling.
Keeping a diary supports my personal development.
Trying to look good limits my life.
Worrying solves nothing.
Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses.
Having guts always works out for me.

I’m still working on my own list.

great information share + fascinating data

Drew — Sun, 17 May 2009 21:51:06 +0000

Always up for creative ways to render information.

I think we need a new phrase that reminds us, not only is a picture worth a thousand words, but some pictures can extend understanding and even stimulate new creative insights.

This article expands on it, but the graph could just about speak for itself… and let you take it from here…

Bonus: I posted this to ease my nerves as I watch a very close & exciting hockey game- and my team scores to go ahead in the 3rd: sweet! Go RedWings!

Watch us now! The power of collaboration.

Drew — Sun, 17 May 2009 17:05:44 +0000

This is the full movie (about an hour long), feel free to use the full-screen control to view.

Much of this is old hat to those of us who already grok collaborative systems, but exciting to see so many real-world examples and most exciting of all- that some day soon we (the people) may truly, not just figuratively or by proxy, rule ourselves. Government, corporations, services.

This film does a great job of driving some of these concepts home. Share!

Us Now from Banyak Films on Vimeo.

Small coincidence for me: during the community football management story, they reference Wrexham where I used to live.

Cool fuel efficiency project from our friends @ TopGear

Drew — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:00:03 +0000

If you’ve ever watched the show, you know the producers usually put the three hosts through a variety of vehicular-themed challenges (such as one when on tour in the deep south, USA where they each bought a car for under $1,000 and had to drive from Miami to New Orleans- leading to an unforgettable scene where they had to abort a tongue-in-cheek attempt to get eachother arrested or killed by painting offensive slogans on the others’ car… aborted as soon as they realized American southerners don’t do tongue-in-cheek and actually would physically attack someone for driving a car with offensive graffiti on it… whadda country).

This challenge, though is a much nobler one. (Though in fairness to the previous reference, when they arrived in N.O. instead of selling the cars as part of the challenge, they gave them away to hurricane Katrina survivors).

The latest project is to build a highly fuel-efficient vehicle for under $7,000– less than the price of a high-quality hybrid car battery.

Read the article on the Top Gear (USA) site.

UNIX 1234567890 on Friday 13th, 2009

Drew — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:21:37 +0000

Like, I’m totally not into numerology, but omigawd it’s just so neat when things like this happen… y’know?

Gizmodo Post on the subject

I really could care less, but it does tickle me the way some folks attach significance to very old superstitions. I’m sure this week we’ll see and hear a bit from some nut-jobs who take this stuff seriously (stuff == whatever they believe the numbers and the dates signify).

Trust me, as a person whose birthday has more than once fallen on a Friday the 13th, there’s very little that can go wrong on such a day that can’t happen any other day- and hey, you might get a new skateboard like the bad-ass one I got back in ’76!

Performing giant robot spider

Drew — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 17:32:21 +0000

Like any real American (by birth, at least) red-blooded man, I’m a big fan of performance art. I also like robots and spiders. Brewing up the perfect storm is this French group called La Machine who last year staged an expensive but interesting work in the (with apologies to all my Scouser friends) dreary city of Liverpool.

Here’s a photo-journal of the event, which is quite good.

I wanted to see video of it in action and of course, there’s some on Youtube, but suprisingly, the photos are better. The video is quite tiresome and dull. You get a feel for how nimble (or not) the machine is from just a few seconds of vid.

Now, put a decent controller on this thing and program in some walk routines; speed up groups of motion processes and make the thing friggin scurry! Now that would be entertaining… though highly dangerous. Wouldn’t want all those people standing around, but the effect would be chilling. Things that big normally don’t move as fast as a spider can. Scaling that up would be goosebump-inducing, to be sure.

Jeopardy is Wired

Drew — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:29:28 +0000

Cute, if somewhat awkward interview by a Wired writer who’s obviously more comfortable penning articles than interviewing, but this show is one of my guilty pleasures, so I’m always interested in behind-the-scenes things about it:

Jeopardy Technology Interview

When I first started getting into the show in the early 80′s, I was astounded at how much (what was to me, at least) obscure stuff people knew with such confidence. I had a long way to go, since I didn’t really start learning useless (and some, not-so-useless) trivia until I got a bit older.

What amazed me even more as I started watching the show regularly is the discovery that it is the most watched gameshow in history. Really? With all those esoteric facts and references to art, literature and world history (notwithstanding the occasional factoid gleaned from People magazine or the E! channel). If most Americans are so stupid (I find evidence to contradict this harder and harder to find), why are they all watching this show? Do they like to be reminded of how dull and ignorant they are?

Maybe someday I’ll find the answer to this puzzler. In the meantime, I’ll continue to enjoy this great quiz-show (second in my book only to the old British program Mastermind with the late, great Magnus Magnusson).

For me, though, the one critical piece of technology that enables me to truly enjoy Jeopardy: the DVR (I loathe the commercials and the insipid interviews with the contestants, let’s get on with it already!!)

Which is no doubt one of the awesome strengths of Mastermind. No dallying about pretending to care about the contestant whose aunt knits sweaters out of cat hair. It’s a quiz show, you ask questions and the contestants try to answer them. Simple as that.