Geek chic

At last! Welcome to the age of the geek. I love it.

And yes, my boyfriend is a huge geek. As am I. We try to out-geek each other...usually I win. =)

"Actual" correctness

Hehe, I love this! Take that, Lawrence Summers.
I remember when I was a little kid I took a "science in the summer" course at the local library. At the end of the session, our instructor said, "Some day you may hear someone saying that girls aren't good at math and science. I want you to know that that's absolutely UNTRUE." At the time, I couldn't understand why he even bothered to tell us that; I couldn't imagine anyone actually claiming that girls can't do math and science. But as I've grown older (and immersed myself more and more in engineering), I'm so glad that the first time I ran into that stereotype was when I was told it was false.

Leaking Electricity

Well I knew that many electrical devices consume energy even when turned off (some up to 40% of their active energy use!) And now the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory has compiled a chart of various devices and the amount of energy they use while in standby mode. It seems like audio compact systems, cable boxes, and tv's are the biggest culprits...may I suggest unplugging these when not in use?

Susan Calvin

I've found that of all fictional characters, Susan Calvin is the one I relate to most. Which is kinda sad, because she's not really a totally likeable character. But she is very strong, very motivated, and very intelligent, so I can't complain too much. :-)

According to Asimov's stories, she was born in 1982. I was born in 1983.
She's a roboticist. I'm a roboticist.
She's often cynical and bitter. I'm often cynical and bitter.
She tends to spaz when things go wrong. I tend to spaz when things go wrong.
When she feels strongly about something, she has no problem being blunt. I have been known to state my opinions pretty bluntly...
She looks to technology as a fitting and comforting legacy for mankind. So do I.

And I found this description on wikipedia, which I think (hope?) might also apply to me. In the words of Harlan Ellison:
"She is a small woman, but there is a towering strength in her face. Tensile strength, that speaks to endurance, to maintaining in the imperfect world. Her mouth is thin, and her face pale. Grace lives in her features, and intelligence; but she is not an attractive woman. She is not one of those women who in later years it can be said of them , 'She must have been a beauty when she was younger.' Susan Calvin was always plain. And clearly, always a powerful personality."

Star Trek vs Disney

OK, so apparently Patrick Stewart has been offered 3 roles in 3 different Disney movies and turned them all down b/c of scheduling conflicts with TNG:

King Triton in “The Little Mermaid”

Cogsworth in “Beauty and the Beast”

Jafar in “Aladdin”

I could see him doing each of those. At the same time, I can’t picture anyone but Picard captaining the Enterprise D.

Thoughts?

Anagrams

Recently I've been thinking about anagrams, particularly with names. Probably because two really great tv shows have mentioned them:

Gregory House = Huge Ego, Sorry
Doctor Who = Torchwood


So I've been trying to come up with one for my name. Trouble is, there are 14 letters and only 4 vowels:

1 D
1 H
2 I's
1 K
1 M
1 N
1 O
2 R's
1 S
2 T's
1 U

Any suggestions? Leave a comment if you come up with something :-)

Being girlie

Sometimes I really hate being a girl.


Grr.
Oh wait, that's too aggressive. I didn't mean "grr" I meant "(sigh)".
Oh no, that's too weak.

How about "meh"? Nah, too apathetic...

Telekinesis

I just read a summary of the horror flick "Carrie." In brief, a socially-outcast girl discovers she has telekinetic power, and decides the best thing to do would be to use this new-found power to burn down the school and everyone in it.
Now, maybe I totally missed the point, but I feel like if I suddenly discovered I had telekineses, there are about a million and a half things that would be a better idea than burning down my school. Here are a few top contenders:

• Fly. I'd levitate myself all over the place.
• Go to an intensive care unit and cure diseases by pulling viruses, cancer, etc out of people without hurting them (I'm thinking like Magneto pulled iron out of that guy's blood in X2, except way less painful).
• If there were enough of us telekinetics, we could each take a portion of the world and move everyone's cars around with our minds. Oil problems solved! And everyone would probably be so happy to be saving gas money that they'd give us food and money for the mortgage, so this could be a full-time job.
• Redistribute fresh water so that the people without potable water can get their share.

Gosh, think of all the fun you could have. I mean, I could type with my mind and play cards with my hands at the same time. I could separate an egg without getting bits of shell in the bowl. I could rearrange the furniture in my room multiple times until I got the layout just right. I could talk on the phone and cook dinner (you know how you have to sort of perch the phone in that awkward position between your ear and shoulder?)
What would you do with telekinesis?

This makes me giggle

The lightsaber prop used by Mark Hamill in Return of the Jedi is currently on the International Space Station.
Which gives new meaning to "That's no moon...that's a space station!"

Ideal Sleep Schedule

I've been a bit sleep-deprived recently, so I've been trying to figure out the optimal way for me to get enough sleep. And I think I've determined my personal ideal sleep schedule: 1-5AM, then a nap from 3-6PM.
That's kind of an odd schedule, I know. But think about it: this way I'd get up early, exercise, go to work, then come home and take a nap. I'd wake up in time for dinner, then I could do my homework and have a little time left over to relax and watch tv or whatever.
Unfortunately, I don't really think this is a feasible schedule...

Bad Idea

You know what's a really bad idea? Reading the wikiquote entries about "The Daily Show" while you're on a conference call.
I was on a never-ending teleconference about benefits changes, and you know how it goes...one person starts to split hairs, then another splits another hair, and pretty soon everyone's arguing over minutiae and semantics. So I went to wikiquote and starting reading everything Jon Stewart has said in the past several years.
The problem occurs when you get called on to give input, because not only do you have no idea what the conversation is about, you're also breaking your ribs from efforts to not snort with laughter.
Thank goodness for the mute button.

If I won the lottery...

What would you do if you won the lottery?

A few rules: this has to be something totally selfish and frivolous. If I ever really won the lottery, I think a lot of money would be going to charities. But that's not the point of this question. This is "If you won the lottery, and had to spend all the money on yourself." Also, assume that you'd have enough money to do whatever you wanted. $10 gazillion, for example, with a gazillion being lots and lots of money.

If I won the lottery, I'd buy a nice place in New York, maybe 2 or 3 bedrooms. Somewhere in Manhattan, possibly, although I might also go with Brooklyn. What I'd really love is a cozy house in Brooklyn with views of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan skyline over the river.
And I'd buy a Tesla Roadster. Man, that car is sweet! 0-60 in 4 seconds, and totally electric. I mean, I guess if I were living in New York, a car would be pretty redundant (I'd be a straphanger), but hey, it's not like I'll ever be able to afford it anyway, so I'll just keep dreaming. :-) Or, maybe I'd buy a Segway!! Oh, that'd be neat. They're such a cool mode of transportation.
Then I'd go traveling. World tour. See all 7 continents. Get a scuba license and explore the Great Barrier Reef. Go whale watching. Be an eco-tourist and check out the rain forest. I'd also get my pilot's license and buy a plane (a small one; I love props!) so I could fly wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted.
Oh, and I'd definitely want to be a space tourist. One of the first things I'd do with $10 gazillion is book a flight on Virgin Galactic. Who knows? Maybe I'd even meet Stephen Hawking.
And I'd hire a personal chef (I can't cook).

What would you do?

Cubs!!

Saw this in the NY Times and had to share:

"i could hardly imagine any true baseball fan not smiling if, indeed, the cubs emerged as the world series champions. i honestly believe, whether you’re a cubs diehard or not, that crowning achievement could serve as a shining beacon of hope for a better world."

2nd law of the universe: Deep down inside, everyone wants the Cubs to win.

Go Cubs!!!

Geeky Guilty Pleasures

Once again, Cosmic Variance provides an amusing dinner-party-conversation idea: What is your geeky guilty pleasure?

Mine is re-reading Harry Potter, for the 19 thousandth time. Seriously, I should be reading something else. There is plenty of literature that I haven't read yet...Macbeth, Dante's Inferno, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol... But somehow or other I always wind up back at Hogwarts.

Salvor Hardin, part 2

Seriously, I love this guy. He's actually addressing the cause, not the symptom.

Fictional Characters

If you could bring one fictional character to life and marry him / her, who would it be? (book, movie, tv show, whatever) And why?

...just curious. :-)

Eating and Reading

I read this article in today's New York Times. It reminded me of one of the many reasons I love New York so much...it's perfectly acceptable to go out to eat by yourself and not be weird. I mean, if there's a professional yodeler down the hall and a woman on the next block who makes a living as a pet psychic, eating out alone won't raise any eyebrows.

And I also love to read as I eat. Though I agree with several of the commenters: eating requires light reading. (Harry Potter, a magazine, emails) My main problem is I have trouble when I'm supposed to stop reading...half a day later my cereal bowl is congealing and I'm still at the table promising myself "I'll stop at the end of this chapter."

Scientific Study

There was this scientific study they did where they determined that (shocking!) men tend to choose a prospective mate based on physical appearance. NPR was talking about it (Scientific American also had a paragraph on it). Apparently they made the subjects fill out a survey on what they were looking for (intelligence, sense of humor, etc) and then made them go through a speed-dating round. Even though the men had said that other traits were more important than being attractive, they all wanted to go out with the prettiest women at the end. One of the NPR people pointed out, "So we get yet another shocking result: MEN LIE."

No, I'm not making that up. I wish I were.

I Don't Exist

I love being told by a computer that I don't exist. Keeps me humble.

To explain...I'm starting grad school today, so the professor sent an email saying "Welcome class! Sign into webct and print off the course notes." I tried. The system said I was an unidentified user.

So I called tech support and explained the problem. After a few minutes of trouble-shooting, the guy on the other end of the phone mused, "Hmmm, that's interesting. According to our system, you don't exist."

Slightly befuddled, I explained that I do exist (at least as far as I can tell). The tech guy assured me that he had yet to meet any phone-calling ghosts, and that he'd put in a request to have the system recognize me.

I picture a bunch of tech guys in long robes, bowing and chanting in front of a server, "Oh great computer, we humbly ask you to deign to recognize this poor grad student..."

"How do you eat your candy?"

I laughed so hard when I read this post on Cosmic Variance.

As a major geek (and proud of it), I also have a slight candy neurosis. Specifically with M&M's, although I've also been known to do it with Skittles. I separate all the candies into sets of "rainbows" (i.e. every group has one red, one orange, one yellow, one green, one blue, and one brown M&M) arranged in a circle. I take the rest of them and arrange them in as-close-to-rainbow-circles-as-possible. (i.e. if I have a red, orange, yellow, green, and brown, but no more blues, I make a rainbow-minus-blue circle.) And I continue the trend until I'm down to the loners (for example, 3 extra yellows that don't have a rainbow-group to join).

First I eat the left-overs (the non-complete rainbows). And I eat my M&M's in order of loneliness. By that I mean, I eat all the singletons first. Then the pairs, then the triplets, etc, until I'm up to the full circles.

Then I'm left with pretty rainbow-circle-chocolates. :-)

Hey, at least now I know it's a geek thing, and I'm not just crazy. (Well ok, maybe I am, but at least I'm not alone.)

Leave a comment if you do something similar with your candy...

Cacti

I keep a couple of (small) cacti in my cube. Today, just as Sally (our housekeeper) was coming by, I looked at the cacti and thought, "Gee, they're looking a little sick. I wonder why." Then I realized that I haven't watered them in over a year. So Sally comes over to empty my trashcan and finds me pouring water from my water bottle into my plant dish. When she heard I hadn't watered them in over a year, she started giving me a hard time: "They're plants! You have to water them!" She even made me turn on my desk light to give them some sunlight. (She's a much better plant mommy than I am.)
My point is, I keep cacti because that way I don't have to worry about watering them. They just kinda sit there and take care of themselves. But apparently a year's worth of neglect is a little too much. Hopefully they'll spring back now that they've had their annual watering...

Economical Driving

Here's an article from howstuffworks (the best website ever!) that everyone should read.

Highlights: keep your tires properly inflated and put the car in neutral when you're at a stoplight. And try not to go above 3000 rpm. :-)

Salvor Hardin

OK, if you haven't read Foundation by Isaac Asimov, you won't know who Salvor Hardin is. Basically the smartest politician there ever was; alas he is a fictional character.

But this guy kinda reminds me of him.

eco-friendly computer

I was thinking of getting a new computer with Linux anyway, and, well, I am kind of an environmentalist, so this looks pretty good. I'll have to look at the company and figure out whether this will work for me (they're selling it as a "second computer" and I really need a primary computer, but maybe it'll work anyway). And this way I can customize with my preferred keyboard and monitor, etc. You know, get one of those ergonomic keyboards, a back-lit monitor (or whatever they're called.) And I can use my trackball! I'll never give up my trackball. No mouse, not for me, trackball forever!!

Cheney violates quantum mechanics!

OK, this was too good to pass up. I hope it makes you laugh as much as it made me laugh.

Vivoleum

I just read this. Wow.

(Thanks to Reuters for the laugh.)

Greatest Innovations of All Time

What do you think are the greatest innovations of all time? No, don't read any further; write your own list first. As many or as few as you like. (I did 10, b/c I'm boring that way.)

Now read this article from Business Week.

I'm not sure I agree with all their selections. Granted, they're Business Week, so their list was somewhat business-y focused. I'm an engineer, so my list was more engineer / science-y focused. Although I had several innovations related to language. Here's my list:

wheel
steam engine
transistor
optics
paper
moveable-type printing press
language
computer
internet
boats


Unlike Business Week, my list is in no particular order. Now the explanations:
Wheel: enabled us to move much farther (and spread information) much more quickly.
Steam engine: sparked the Industrial Revolution.
Transistor: according to my boss (a physics PhD), possibly the most influential innovation in electronics.
Optics: ok this one's a little harder to explain. I mean the first time someone realized we could bend light by manipulating a medium...glass, water, whatever. Gave us the ability to see the very small and the very far away.
Paper: gave us a more permanent way of recording information than oral tradition.
Moveable-type printing press: because of this, literacy went way up. Hence so did the general public's understanding of...well...everything.
Language: if we can't communicate, whatever knowledge we have is trapped in our own heads.
Computer: after the printing press, probably the next big way to share / capture information. Huge help in doing big scary math stuff quickly.
Internet: communication again. We can find information and learn so much more quickly than in the past.
Boats: why not cars or trains? I consider those outgrowths of the wheel and steam engine. Impressive, but not as innovative on their own. Boats required a learning of fluid dynamics and enabled us to expand our horizons beyond where we could walk.

So pretty much everything on my list enhanced information sharing or enabled us to learn more about our universe, increasing our wonder of what's "out there." My opinion is, our desire to constantly explore and increase our knowledge is part of what makes us uniquely human. And our ability to communicate that knowledge is what enables us to continue to build that knowledge base generation after generation.

I apologize if this post is a little disorganized. I just wanted to dash something off; what I'm really interested in is your opinion. What do you think were the most important innovations? (How did you define "most important," by the way?) And why?