A Letter to His Son
Seeing a web nerd speak from the heart, for the whole world to see, is not all that common. I was pleasantly surprised when I came across this post on zenhabits. The author has written a letter to his 3 year old son, giving him advice on being happy in life's journey. Note all of the positive comments that follow the post. I wouldn't suggest that web nerds make a habit of this, as it would cease to be special, but it's a nice break from the mundane "how-to" articles.
A Collection
I've no time lately to write anything interesting, so I'll present a list of interesting things that others have produced...
I'm very tempted to hand over $10 for this...
SomethingStore is a fun new website that operates simply: We will send you something, an item selected randomly among many things from our inventory, for $10 (free shipping) and you will find out what your something is when you receive it.
Update: I bought something. I'll post again when I find out what I bought.
A brilliant, yet simple, invention! Easy PB&J Jar
You're not so cool after all...
10 Items You Think Make You Cool, But Don’t
CNN doesn’t know if calling Obama a monkey is racist or funny
I've actually been following this. To my amazement, most people outside of the U.S. and a lot of younger Americans have never heard of using "monkey" as a derogative term. Maybe the future is bright after all.
Overheard in PDX
What do random people talk about in Portland?
Part voyeur daydream, part sad commentary on life as we know it, Overheard in PDX is a never-ending stream of the strange things that come out of other people’s mouths, submitted by people who were lucky(?) enough to hear them.
Example:
At the main library downtown, waiting for a computer, a guy (mid-to-late 30's) shamelessly (and embarassingly) attempting to flirt with an 18 year-old PSU freshman (who says her R's like W's):
He: Wow, that's an amazing accent! Is it British?
She: Actually, it's a speech impediment.
- Overheard by Ellen
When Obama wins
Starbucks will stop referring to their smalls as talls.
Your recycling will sort itself and magically appear by the curb.
Charlie Brown will finally kick that football.
Your cell phone won't work in your car, at the movies, or while you're ahead of me in line for coffee.
People will have more picnics in the park.
Kids These Days
Centennial High School has dropped its ban on eyebrow shaving... that's right, the kids are shaving their eyebrows. I guess there's a trend in which kids shave designs into their brows. Unfortunately, a well known East Multnomah County gang does the same, which caused a bit of confusion and concern in this particular high school. I remember back when I was in school. It was the eighties, and the more over the top you could be, the better. My high school banned things like mohawks and certain colors of hair. I thought it was silly at the time and I still do. I think blue hair in high school would have made me a better person.
Infinity
I've been reading The Infinite Book: A Short Guide to the Boundless, Timeless and Endless, which so far is a history of theories on infinity. Infinity is something that I've always been interested in, but I had never read theories predating Hawking. I came across an article on the web today called A Brain Cell is the Same as the Universe. I'm afraid a brain cell is not like the universe. The universe is another name for infinite space and time. The web site claims that the universe is billions of light years across, which doesn't make sense to me. Since when is the universe a finite structure? I just don't see the comparison.
Portland is Awesome
Just in case someone doesn't already know, Portland is awesome. Some of our local techies and bloggers have started a new web site where various citizens of P-town can express why they think our city is cool. I was wondering if they would get enough authors to make it worthwhile, but sure enough the articles keep on coming.
If you are interested at all in the culture and general environment of Portland, I would recommend reading PortlandIsAwesome.com regularly. Maybe one day I'll even contribute.
Everything is Stranger in Texas
I'm off to Texas tomorrow morning to visit family and see my new niece. I regularly keep up with Texas news, but I casually read it and move on. Today I came across an unusual story... well, unusual to those of us in the North. A man in Brazoria was routinely pulled over for making an illegal u-turn. The police found a 6 foot alligator and a water moccasin in his car, both alive. The snake had already bitten the man, but that didn't keep him from driving along as if all was normal. And there's more...Read the full story here. The funniest part is the comment by the Brazoria Chief of Police, who says, "Just a typical day in Brazoria."
Beaumont’s Black Problem
From the Beaumont Enterprise (in Texas, where I grew up):
West Brook High School administrators on Wednesday defended a black-male-only mentoring session that has prompted a recent inquiry by the American Civil Liberties Union.
So, this high school in Beaumont decides to call an assembly of students to address issues such as education, test scores, crime, family and gangs. Good for them, except... they only invited black males! Now the ACLU is mad, and the school district is puzzled. A lot of people are trying to justify the assembly based on crime statistics, but, as The Bayou pointed out, if school organizers are being surgical with their message, why include ALL black males, some of whom are already model students? I don't think it can be justified, and I think the ACLU should be all over them. I'm glad they are trying to address a problem, but come on - use a little tact.
Google App Engine
Hmmm, the Google App Engine is all over the "blogosphere" today. I first read about Google's new service yesterday, so I promptly signed up to be a beta tester. Today, I was invited to join 10,0000 other programmers to give the App Engine a trial run.
The App Engine is being greeted with mixed feelings by the developer community. Personally, after reading the documentation and API, I can't think of a good reason to use it. It has some benefits over other application hosting options, but it sacrifices flexibility in return.
Search Google for plenty of buzz.
