AKA Abraham Bacoln

So you know by now that usually I don’t post this kind of thing, but I’m pleased as hell with myself and thought I’d share. How many countries can you name in 5 minutes? I managed to get 69 which surprised even me.

[edit: I would have had 70 but couldn’t for the life of me remember how to spell Kyrgyzstan]

I just got sucked in to this article on using the Socratic method to teach kids how to understand binary. Seriously, leading third graders to actually comprehend a two-state system by only asking them questions? I was very impressed. Impressed enough that now I’m running late and gotta go bye

… this is why I love Creative Commons licensing. Makes me want to shift all my pictures from Attribution – Non-Commercial – No Derivatives to straight Attribution.

Today I asked a professor a work question and instead of answering he looked at me and said, “You grow a beard like I change shirts.”

I know that I have made fun of Sarah Palin (not here on this blog but certainly in real life) for the whole “not knowing that Africa was a continent not a country” thing. So as the title says, in the interest of not being a total jerk I’d like to point out a New York Times article that states the whole thing was a hoax made up by a phony expert.

And now I’d like to quote MeFi user chronkite who sums it up better than I could [¹]:

“And, it’s just too believable..when I originally read the Africa thing I thought, “Well, that’s just someone stretching the truth, then it gets distorted a little more in the game of media telephone…”, but the CORE of it doesn’t sound a bit more stupid than any of the things I’ve heard her ACTUALLY SAY.

It’s a weird kind of lie…kind of like someone pointing at a random guy and calling him a child molester..no matter whether it’s true or not, you start picturing it BEING true, and it tarnishes the guy.

Sarah Palin needed to be the kind of candidate that no one would ever believe this about, in order to be immune to it.

She wasn’t.”

I knew I loved Ze Frank before (because he has a crazy brain inside his head) but in my opinion this is the best thing he’s ever done:

From 52 to 48 with love

because by God that’s exactly the sentiment we need.

So let me just share with you, gentle and dear readers, those things that are right and good in my life.

– I am in my last semester of college.
– This last semester of college is only 12 hours and therefore I feel like I have it easy.
– I have a new job lined up in New Orleans immediately upon graduation doing fun and exciting things in the world of wine.
– My townhouse went up for sale and I got an offer within two weeks, and I’m now under contract to sell. Barring anything disastrous happening I can more or less consider it a done deal.
– I have an awesome girlfriend.
– It’s fall and the leaves and the air and the sun are all conspiring to make me feel fantastic every single day.
– Last but certainly not least my beloved country came to its senses and took a step away from the administration of the last eight years and for that I could not be more grateful.

And now let me just share with you, gentle and dear readers, those things that are wrong and bad in my life.

– Nothing.

So I talk about this with people sometimes, and then I realize I am never doing this article justice. Then one of my friends with whom I have shared this article wanted to find it again and couldn’t, and the first thing I searched was my blog, and apparently I have never linked it. She wanted to find it because when discussing it she couldn’t do it justice either.

I highly encourage you to read Have You Ever Tried To Sell A Diamond – it has everything from how the Ayer plan put the concept of “diamond engagement ring” into the public consciousness through Hollywood (after noticing decreasing diamond sales at the turn of the century) to DeBeers’ stranglehold quota system, and everything in between.

If you can read about how the industry players have suckered us into thinking that diamonds are incredibly precious yet have almost zero resale value and still want to buy a diamond, then go right ahead. It’s your money, right?

Okay, so first up: my townhouse is up for sale. I’m graduating in December and moving as soon as possible after that, and none of my close friends expressed interest in renting my place, so I’m finally selling. Because of that, you know, the whole “strangers coming to see my townhouse” thing, I have to keep everything neat and tidy, or neater and tidier than usual. And I’m a neat and tidy guy, but this is already feeling a little over the edge. I’m reluctant to cook because I’m afraid as soon as I get something going I’ll get that call: “Hey, so-and-so wants to show your place in about 15 minutes – would you mind just scootin’ out for a cup of coffee or something? You weren’t doing anything were you?”

I know I’ll get over that eventually but for now, guh, what a pain. Still, the end result will be worth it.

Okay so all that up there was to say that for various reasons – most of which revolve around scrambling to make my place ready to sell plus other obligations – I have not eaten breakfast at home in four days. Four days. Man, four consecutive days of eating fast food breakfast has made me feel like a pile of slug. I know there are people that stop in every morning for a sausage biscuit or a bacon croissant but how? This morning I actually dreaded that drive-through, I could feel my body rejecting my decision. I just wanted my bowl of cereal or some yogurt and a cup of coffee, maybe a little bit of fruit, but I had to vacate because there were people coming to see my place at 8:30 and everything had to be pristine.

So the point is that I’m old. I can’t survive on fast food. It makes me feel gross and like I’m killing myself, which in some way I’m sure I am, though it’d be a lot faster death to just not eat anything I guess, so perhaps fast food is just prolonging the inevitable.

I’m going to the grocery store tonight. There will be something not gross waiting for me for breakfast tomorrow.

And now the unrelated bit: a couple of semesters ago I decided that I was tired of lined notebook paper. In my opinion it’s partly stupid and partly worthless. I can write in a straight line. A lot of my classes involve graphs and notes and curves and tangents and formulas and none of that works well on lined paper. I went out and bought a pack of white copy paper with the 3-hole punch already done. That was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Now I can draw notes wherever, make lines and figures, write big, write small, and it all looks great. I’ve been doing it for months now and every day it just gets better and better.

You wouldn’t believe the looks I get, though. I mean it. People look over at what I’m writing on this nice bright white 3HP as opposed to dingy gray flimsy notebook paper and they say, “BUT THERE AREN’T ANY LINES!” or, “I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU WRITE SO STRAIGHT!” and I want to shake them and say, “Fellow man! Unburden yourself from the shackles of grade school! Let yourself be free, let your notes flow like the water and the wind, and never again permit the blue line of the oppressor!” but usually I just say, “Yeah, well, you know.”

I do enjoy when someone asks to borrow a piece of paper. They inevitably turn it over to check the other side.

It’s the simple – very simple – things in life that bring me pleasure. Like unlined paper. It’s a special freedom.

I don’t know who this guy is, but he’s pretty much changed my life:

(click to embiggen)