29.06.05
new blog: waiterrant
just discovered this via ady: waiter rant. a little touchy-feely, to not say 'wimpy', but still well-written and funny.
if you read only one post, read this one.
a.d.d lightbulb
this joke made me laugh out loud while sitting alone in my office :
- How many folks with ADD does it take to screw in a light bulb?
- Let's go on a bike ride.
in mass: more drug deaths than road deaths
this fact surprised me this morning: drug deaths have trumped traffic deaths in massachusetts in 2003 by 574:521.
still, only a 0.008% chance, but surprising nonetheless. and if you like statistics: in 13 years narcotics deaths have risen 13-fold. which is a lot. like 1200% or so.
according to the article, a bag of heroin can be purchased for as little as $4. also smack is becoming
[...] increasingly suburban, middle-class, and young.
As suburban parents began to recognize that the users of heroin and OxyContin looked a lot like their own children -- and that, sometimes, they were their own children -- that changed the political dynamics of substance-abuse treatment, Healey acknowledged.
''In the past in America, when there have been drug-abuse problems, it has been the government vainly trying to draw attention to why this is a problem for society," Healey said. ''Parents are extremely concerned that this is now a middle-class, upper-class issue."
25.06.05
massis bakery
thanks to ayah i discovered the wonderful massis bakery in watertown, an armenian-lebanese bakery and store a stone's throw from cambridge.
their fresh maamoul are heavenly, their kibi (kube) just like homemade. the huge bunches of mint fresh and meaty, their labneh delicious, they have sesame rolls just like in the corner stores in israel, and i could go on and on.
the main reason for my visit there was knafe, which ended up not being the right kind (they use wheat bran instead of filo dough), but was still delicious, especially with the rose water that came with it. so i still have to go to my secret brooklyn location to try to get something more familiar tasting.
i also still have to try their tahini and yogurt that i bought there, but i have a feeling i won't be disappointed. this place is a haven for nostalgia stricken eastern mediterraneans, and i could easily spend a lot of money at massis.
one word of advice, though: the hummus is not worth the trip, and - like any other place around these realms - the pita bread is dry and tasteless. so don't go there for that. better make it yourself.
(i know, i know - i still haven't posted my recipe yet. will do at some point)
Sat, 25 Jun 2005 17:40
there are a LOT of great middle-eastern places in watertown...you should hang out there a bit more.
- cynthia
Sat, 4 Aug 2007 15:19
Where is the secret Knafe in Brooklyn???
- Avital
Sat, 4 Aug 2007 15:17
It's a place called tanoreen, in bay ridge. The rest of their menu is amazing, too. Although the Knafe was as good as or even better than any I've eaten back home.
- guy
24.06.05
u.s reaction to irani elections
let me just get this straight. the united states is disappointed that iran elected a hardline, conservative, religious candidate?
the united states government? that, what? prefers more of an appeasing, liberal, atheistic philosophy?
Sat, 25 Jun 2005 11:11
the u.s. approves of hardline religious governments only if they are christian, silly.
- cynthia
22.06.05
lord of the rings: the reverse culture shock
in tolkien's words: 'there are some wounds that can never be wholly cured'. in mine: going back is never really an option. time and experience only really flow one way.
Thu, 23 Jun 2005 09:50
I've come back after 3.5 years. True, things can never be the way they used to, but then again - they wouldn't be the same even if I stayed here... Time and experience would have flown here too.
It's still home. Coming back is an option for you too.
- Ady
Fri, 24 Jun 2005 21:56
I felt similarly when I came back to the US after being away for a couple of years. I was convinced I'd feel like a foreigner in my own country forever, but it got better.
- Paulette
Sat, 14 Oct 2006 22:02
funny, i've just had the reverse-on-reverse experience, visiting new-york for the first time in five years. guess i was mostly missing the me that was there some 5 years ago.
(hope it's ok i'm writing - Udi sent me a link, and i just went on reading. i like what i've read)
- dikla
20.06.05
honey, give it to me hard. for the geeks
gotta hand it to the register, with this story about women shutting off their brains during sex.
while the story is only mildly interesting, the account of it is, as so often, brilliant.
There was no mention of whether the results may have been affected by the fact the couples were being watched by a bunch of geeks in white coats while at least one partner had their head connected to a machine that goes bing.
Mon, 20 Jun 2005 23:03
how did you choose that article over this one?
- udi
Tue, 21 Jun 2005 03:42
oh yeah, i liked that one too when it came out. that was three weeks ago, though...
- guy
Tue, 21 Jun 2005 22:48
the article seems to be suggesting that only men imagine someone other than their partner during sex.
- cynthia
Wed, 22 Jun 2005 00:55
that is correct, why do women do that too?
- guy
Wed, 22 Jun 2005 09:20
of course not, we are so loyal, you know. (the secret society of women requires that i say that.)
- cynthia
19.06.05
the land of the free, the home of the brave
anyway, as always when i see horses, i can't help but wonder what the first human who decided to tame this animal for riding was thinking, and how he could have survived this stupid idea.
Mon, 20 Jun 2005 10:09
Funny, the first thing I noticed about that photo was the shit next to the horse's hooves. I guess shit happens.
- Ady
Mon, 20 Jun 2005 10:49
it definitely does. it's always funny to see a police officer look all tough while his horse is taking a dump on the sidewalk as if it's the most natural thing in the world. which, i guess, it is.
how come the police don't have to clean up after their animals?
- guy
Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:13
who ever wote this artical is somone who has never realy got the chance to ride a horse i bet i think you commint is very rood i ride on a daily bacis and i think the peolpe who domesticated this animal should my praced for it but i tataly agree on the polic not having to clean up after ther animals it kind of a fixed law
- mia
18.06.05
new addition to film list
word origins
stumbled across a site called word origins. it seems a quite thoroughly researched and detailed resource for etymology geeks like me.
15.06.05
mysterious voice mail
things are getting stranger around here, and i promise, i'm not making this up. but on tuesday morning i found this voice mail message on my cellphone (radio safe version).
the woman on the other line is seriously disturbed by her cleaning robot 'looking at her funny', and 'conspiring against her'. also she has apparently been abducted by aliens which caused her to get evicted. all that while she has to tend to 6 or 7 children (she can't remember how many), which is damn hard 'while you're up there in the spaceship'.
not everything is intelligable, but this is what i managed to transcribe so far.
from what i understand, she was trying to contact iRobot, the m.i.t spinoff that brought you the 'roomba' vaccum cleaning robot, and is also busy designing robots for the u.s army.
Fri, 17 Jun 2005 12:53
man this is so weird. i am starting to weave theories of time travel.
- ram
Wed, 29 Jun 2005 09:53
ohmygd, I'm sending this to my friend at irobot....
- lis
Thu, 30 Jun 2005 09:31
i think i found my dream girl
- mr
11.06.05
tel aviv craigslist
this is news to me: craigslist has opened its tel aviv chapter. the earliest post i found was from may 2, so it's been around for over a month now.
that and google sniffing out our little pond...tel aviv is getting some internet love these days.
Sun, 12 Jun 2005 13:09
I wonder how well it supports hebrew posts. I have a feeling that this won't catch on if people don't feel comfortable posting in Hebrew.
- udi
Sun, 12 Jun 2005 13:29
well a
little test shows: poorly
- guy
Mon, 13 Jun 2005 00:58
I doubt it'll go anywhere then.
- udi
Wed, 29 Jun 2005 10:16
i since got a spam email based on that posting, saying 'i thought your post was really interesting, blah blah' - my post made up of all question marks was apparently interesting to this spammer.
- guy
midnight bike race
attended the mignight crit last night at mit. some bikes were intensely made up, and the riders were pretty hard core. the police broke it up just at the finish, adding a nice touch of blue strobes to celebrate the winners.
- 'buddy, you better break it up now, before we check who has headlights, who has helmets, and who is engaging in disorderly conduct here'
update: jesse sent me a link to these videos of crazy bikers around boston and new york. breathtaking, really.
von on von
late last night, right a friend slipped us a pre-release dvd of von von von's self-documentary, 'von on von'. pretty damn hilarious. it's not even clear if you could call this a mockumentary, because this dude's whole life is like a mockuography.
von von von is supposedly the same dude who wrote a much-quoted college essay.
some quotes from 'von on von' (paraphrased):
i mean 40 million is comfortable, it's nice to have a limo idling outside, but you still have to look at the bill when you buy your girlfriend a new house. i wanted the kind of money where you don't have to worry about it anymore.
...
writing songs in new york is easy. they just come floating up from the streets. (pointing out the window of his penthouse) hey, there's one over there.
...
early in my life i realized that what i wanted to do in my life was to fly around the world and make love. then it struck me that a pop star does exactly that. that's when i started to take my music seriously.
3 things to make me happy
since my mom claims that my blog entries have become 'detached from popular culture', 'incomprehensible', and 'obsessed with things nobody cares about', here are three simple things that took me out of my bad mood today:
1. dave's fresh pasta is an adorable italian-american pasta and sandwich store in somerville that has dozens of small sweet candies and a rosemary focaccia that really made my moody afternoon.
2. the dig, picked up and read at said dave's, as usual didn't fail to bring a smile to my face. i like the dig and its writers. once more, the editor was on the money:
I think of Portland, OR, long credited as the most bike-friendly city in America, and it seems incredibly dull. Riding a wide, clean path through a park to work every morning? Where's the challenge? Where's the risk? There are few things more gratifying than screwing down a city street jammed with cars after a stressful day. Dodging cars, doors, potholes, pets, other cyclists. It's like skiing. It clears the mind.
3. amon tobin's nightlife, listened to at said dave's while reading said dig. i like music that's cinematic, and nightfire is like a short film. just add eye-closing.
damn. did i get intellectual again?!
Sun, 12 Jun 2005 12:23
hey your comments aren't working, i'm trying to comment on the post below this one but when i click it, it only opens up a comment box on this post.
- cynthia
Sun, 12 Jun 2005 12:23
whoa it looks like it put the comment in both posts.
- cynthia
Sun, 12 Jun 2005 12:48
i think it's fixed now..sorry. which post did you want to comment on?
- guy
Sun, 12 Jun 2005 12:52
this one. i wanted to say that being the recipient of my first text message from my new cell phone should be on this list too!
- cynthia
10.06.05
research 'fudging'
a study released in 'nature' claims that a large number of scientists engage in questionable scientific conduct, even if it falls outside of official misbehavior (the globe, elsewhere).
from personal experience (in an unrelated field) i can see how the academic environment, career path, and funding system encourages such behavior.
from personal experience as well, i can also see how this very study could be lacking scientific method itself, and how the media representation of this will take it totally out of context and proportion.
please. stop.
sigh. another one. this time it's 'break. through.' what is it with copy writers being so enamored with the cheap pun of taking a phrase and splitting it up into two one-word period-separated demi-sentences? does it really enhance the effectivity of sale?
or is it just some people think they're smart with words? it's become one of the most annoying trends in advertisement. we get it. you're smart.
and while 'forward. thinking.' still made some sense, 'break. through.' is just plain stupid.
make your own (not two-word) slogan.
Fri, 10 Jun 2005 22:11
ha i wrote about that. once. also. http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ceerock/2004/02/20#a353
- cynthia
08.06.05
apple switching to intel
anybody who has been working with cross-platform code must tip their hat to the fact that everything from hd video to image processing, to networking, opengl, file access, audio streaming, database indexing, etc all just runs on a pentium on the day of the announcement. without blue-screening in the middle of the presentation.
Thu, 9 Jun 2005 06:01
I beg to differ - Windows2003 server is a significant new O.S.
- vlvl
Thu, 9 Jun 2005 09:09
i know nothing about it. how is it significantly different?
- guy
06.06.05
dance troupe video
sergeant, i am assuming that is a rethorical question
a paper i was reading about breakdowns in communication between computerized systems and human users, had a few amtrak automated ticketing systems, and also some military simulator dialog systems as examples.
i particularly liked the following hilarious dialog featuring a military trainee acting in a simulator as a lieutenant trying to communicate with a whole host of artificial agents, among them his hard-of-comprehending sergeant.
the dialog, which takes a bit of slow reading to follow, is situated during Eagle 2-6's evacuation attempt of a mother's injured son, while another detail (Eagle 1-6) is under enemy fire somewhere nearby.
The trainee is commanding over Eagle 2-6. 'medevac' is the medical evacuation helicopter. in previous dialog the lieutenant told the sergeant to set up a landing zone for the medevac. to no avail.
05.06.05
shagster
the latest in the social networking trend is the one we've all really been waiting for. shagster not only helps you remember who the fuck you really fucked back in the early nineties, but may also serve as a good warning signal for how large the pool of your potential s.t.d sources really is. especially for those who feel that - yeah - i sleep with people without a condom, but it's ok, it's only with nice people i trust. er, right, nice people they trust who have a habit of not using condoms.
it's like in that old h.i.v radio p.s.a: 'when you sleep with your boyfriend, you also sleep with your boyfriend ex-girlfriend, and with her ex-boyfriend, and with his girlfriend, etc. do you really trust all of these people?'
the only sad thing is that because of privacy, shame, and other inhibitions, most people will not admit to many of their sexual interactions, which will leave this database impoverished and unreliable.
and also the fact that fuck if i can get the email address of those girls from the 90s. maybe this whole thing is more suited for the younger generation who lost their virginity after aol and time warner merged. but then it also seems that they have more guilt associted with their sexual encounters, so it's a deadlock really.
Sun, 5 Jun 2005 12:41
tips-n-tricks?
when you first wrote about OkCupid you categorized it as "cite" and "useless".
I'm wondering how you choose these categories.
- udi
Sun, 5 Jun 2005 14:54
i'm wondering that myself sometimes. at times it's easy and at times i have no idea. 'useless' is a particularly mood-dependent label. i changed it to 'flesh' which is my sex and food related label.
- guy
Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:32
yaa , good...
- ravi
04.06.05
that was quick
in conclusion, the press release finally gives in and mentions the mac mini by name, shrugging off any conspiracy-like allegations that this pc was modeled to compete with it as 'ironic, considering that the Mac mini was designed to compete in exactly that market.'
ah, the irony.
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content here by guy hoffman .. as seen times since march 2004
Fri, 1 Jul 2005 15:49
Interesting choice. I love Waiter's blog, but the post you chose is really not representative. Most of his posts are less "heavy" and really funny. This post was actually quite touching...
One of my favorite blogs, overall, though (after yours, naturally).
- Ady