Archive for December, 2007

Off to Rio…

Sunday, December 30th, 2007

We are packing to go away for a few days for New Year’s.  There are all sorts of weird customs that I think we might have to partake in, and I am excited to finally go to Rio de Janeiro.  I’ve been wanting to go for so long.

Of course, we have been warned numerous times about the crime etc., and we will be careful. So Happy New Year to everyone. Next post, 2008! (Yikes.)

The Departed

Saturday, December 29th, 2007

I broke my “Boycott of Hollywood™ ” to watch The Departed and it was terrible.

I figured, since it won the Academy Award that it would have to be … at least … ok. It was possibly the biggest waste of time in my life.

You could actually SEE the Hollywood muck-a-muck’s working their way through The Formulae

I’ve actually worked out the Formulae, and here it is….

(Jack Nicholson + Matt Damon + Leonardo DiCrappio ) * The Irish
+ Boobs
+ Gangsters + Cops
- Plot
+Guns
+Blood
+ Microprocessors ?!?! (”oooh… ” or some other vaguely techie thing, gotta please the nerds)
* 120 minutes
==Instant Hit !!!!

They should be ashamed. And if you haven’t seen it yet, don’t bother, towards the end I was watching it just to see how bad it could get.

The “Oh Shit” button.

Saturday, December 29th, 2007

For a while, I have been harping about how email should have an “Oh Shit” button.

Or also called UnDo or UnSend.

If you have ever sent an email to the wrong person, for example a client instead of your boss, or vice versa, or hit “reply to all” when you meant to only “reply to sender”, then you have had that brief but intense moment of panic when you wish you could “UnSend” the email. Actually, I would be impressed to find anyone who uses email and hadn’t needed this button at some point.

All you need is a lag of a few seconds, time to scan over the email after you hit “Send” and realize that you you had made a colossal mistake. (* You wouldn’t be able to unsend anything, but delay sending the email for a bit. Technologically there is no “unsend” but that is what goes through your mind when you realize that you screwed up. It happens in sequence, first “Oh Shit!” then “UnSend!”)

I think this feature will be coming in Gmail soon, and then when I am an old man I can bore my grandchildren with the story about how I had this idea… and you can ask so-and-so at such-and-such company and they will corraborate my story.

“I coulda been a contenda!”

And now the Wayback machine will hopefully bear witness…

Susi and Abraham Lincoln.

Wednesday, December 26th, 2007

Susi, as I may have mentioned, has a replica of Abraham Lincoln in her left eye. I have posted photos as proof.

I’m sorry that the photos are not of higher resolution, but I lack the technology.

Advice would be welcomed.

Candidates

Monday, December 24th, 2007

I spent the afternoon trying to figure out to vote for and I can’t tell the candidates apart.

Holiday Update

Monday, December 24th, 2007

Tomorrow is Christmas, and it has been a bit hard to get into the spirit, mostly because it is HOT.

There is no snow, and for santa to wear his suit he would have to be loco. But we have been eating a lot of meat to put on the mandatory holiday pounds and are going to go to Rio on the 31st for New Year’s Eve. That should be a lot of fun.

We are going to meet up with some friends from London and see the fireworks on the beach. And hopefully… go surfing. Then we are going to go on our trip to the North and to the Amazon.

I’ll write more when I have some specific things to report.

Pizza.

Monday, December 10th, 2007

This is the best pizza ever.

It is three flavours:picahnha, artichoke and ham and, finally, chocolate.pizza_2.jpg

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Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

Some recent events… (I’ve not updated the blog in a while)

So I am taking a full course load at Berkeley.

Well, sort of… I’m not going to get any actual credit. But I don’t particularly need a gold star by my name. One of the really interesting courses is called Geog 110 – Fall 2007: Economic Geography of the Industrial World. If you like that type of thing.  One of the interesting points that he makes is about China, and how they flex their muscles as a threat to the to the dominant hegemon, the United States. It is interesting to think about with regards to their current hacking enterprises.

This week in Porto Alegre is CONCURSO: Experiências em Inovação Social na America Latina e o Caribe sponsored by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) (Comisión Económica para América Latina (CEPAL) in Spanish)

Oh, and I broke my finger.
Rats.