Monthly Archives: December 2006

BOCCE: Old Dirty Barristers Almost Win It All Again

Pals

We’re good. I know it. We only lost one game this season, and that one was in the finals against our arch-rivals BocceLism. They get to have the threepeat championship and we get to be second place for the second season in a row.

Next season we will have to go Tonya Harding on Lism.
Photos of our crew flamboastin and toastin when I get em.

Math Everywhere: How Many People at a Good Party?

Economics, Pals

Doing some last minute shopping for Sam and ran across Apartment Therapy’s post on Party Density.

Seems like they’ve got it down. I’m having a dinner party on December 25th, I’ll have to check the math for the space…

The unanswered question, of course is how many people you should invite to achieve good density of people who actually show up. One strategy of mine is to make my invitations personal if possible rather than sending out a mass evite. People I like will tell me if they are coming or not and I know what’s going on that night.

I don’t throw barnstormers in my living space anyway. I’d rather throw them at other people’s apartments and pay for food or liquor and they provide the space and the cleanup the next day.

NASA being slowly dismantled

Incentives, Money, Pals, Save.the.world

Thought my pals might want to read this entry I found from Bruce Sterling about the Planetary Society’s campaign to fight for the mission and budget of NASA . It was bad enough when this administration removed “to understand and protect the Earth” as a primary goal of NASA. It just gets worse, and because there isn’t a clear bodycount, it isn’t going to be big news.

Go check out that article and then maybe give the planetary society a donation and sign their petition. I’m going to give them $20 and sign the petition. If you email me what you’ve donated, I’ll also match what you’ve donated.

Vail Vacation

Pals, Snowboarding


Snow Waves, originally uploaded by snarkhunt.

Finally broke down and went to the hoity-toity Vail with some fellas.

Vail is really swank, really huge. We definitely went too early in the season because the legendary back bowls are packed snow. Coming here mid February when the bowls have been filled must be incredible and I’d be willing to go back here for a trip during that season. Even though we were here in the early season we were able to get some really good soft runs in through the trees.

Also – for the future – there are real, honest cliffs here that you can jump off of. I did not, because I am not that nuts.

In Praise of Lost Time

Pals

Here’s a common sci-fi trope. A character is obsessed with the future and science and all the advantages it could bring. This blinds that character so that they don’t see that they are losing their essential humanity.

Moral: All that dirty stuff that is unpleasant is also part of what makes us human.

I don’t buy it. My cube mate Yoni said to me a few days ago, “You’ll miss your body when it’s gone.” I don’t buy it. It seems to me that we can definitely point out the things that we don’t want any more of that are essential bits of humanity. Lets get rid of them even though they are essential bits of humanity.

Example: I just got 2 wisdom teeth pulled. How’s that for some unintelligently designed hardware? I didn’t stay awake for the procedure, even though that might have contributed to my character, even though those moments were mine, and they might have changed who I am…

I didn’t want those pain-filled uncomfortable moments. I’d rather trade them for other moments or just turn them down flat. And, thanks to the modern miracle of general anesthesia, I didn’t have to have those moments. Next, we’ve just got to nail down the details on the recuperation.