Sam's L33t Journal

Going through my notes, I found this little list of Erica's (past?) interesting ways of phrasing / pronouncing some things, which I record here for posterity (I mentioned a few of these before):

"ember" - To recall
"rememories" - Things recollected
"ceero" - Either "cereal" or "Cheerios" specifically
"load(s) down" - Gather data onto a computer from elsewhere
"a brave" - Hair collected into interwoven strands
"geanz" - A food consisting of (to quote the source of all knowledge) "the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae", which Erica likes in many forms, but a favorite might be cold straight from the can
"structions" - Directions followed to accomplish some task
"funny goose!" - Expression of amusement
"intertresting" - Opposite of boring

Thursday night, I woke up at 5AM with that lost-dream sensation, that sensation where you're trying to remember something that's just slipped from short-term memory, but have no idea what. I got the sense that something important was churning through my mind.

I went back to sleep, and woke again at 7AM, bolt upright, moments before I became aware of my ringing alarm. That was also a strange sensation, since my conscious awareness of my reaction to the alarm ringing definitely preceded my conscious awareness of the ringing alarm, and my awareness that the alarm rang before I woke up followed that (as a matter of conscious perception/recall, not just logical inference). It was like I could observe my mind hastily revising its account of events. Kind of cool.

This night (that is, Friday night / Saturday morning), I did not sleep well at all. Slept from midnight to 6AM poorly, then was in that state of "still tired but very awake".

Other things: Eris' newly-acquired standing ability is a bit nerve-wracking, since it really increases the number of moderate hazards present, just in terms of opportunities for unplanned vertical transitions. Seems like it would be easy for her to misjudge her endurance or her footing and make sudden acquaintance with the floor. She hasn't taken too many bumps so far, though.

Eristic improvements: Reverse peek-a-boo, first tentative attempt to move forward with the baby walker (something like this).

My mom was in town this weekend, due to a lucky confluence of last-minute cheap flights plus both of her new grand-nieces in the same place. And me and Julie, too! Really enjoyed the visit. Was really excited to meet Stella (David and Abby's new daughter, one of my new little cousins). Excited enough to distract me from properly catching up with my older cousins. Sorry, you guys! But I think I'll see them at an extended-family Hanukkah party tomorrow.

Other things to relate:

My PS3 broke. I'm getting it repaired.

Postmates (yet another "the Uber of X" business, this time the X is delivery) is pretty nifty.

For Xave's tabletop roleplaying group, Andrew is running a round of My Life with Master, which casts the players in the role of villainous minions (like Renfield to Dracula or Igor to Frankenstein).

I'm going to the Olin Fall Expo tomorrow as a visitor from Google! First time I've attended that as a guest, so I'm excited.

Work was pretty productive this week. I'm looking forward to vacation.

My shipment of Soylent (Rob Rhinehart's crowd-funded future-food) arrived earlier this week, and I'm drinking my first glass now, as I write this post.

It's a little thicker than milk and just a tad powdery. Flavor is very mild, like milk with some sort of bland biscuit, mild yeast and vanilla. (Now that I think about it, it tastes really, really similar to rice milk, which is unsurprising, since the protein is from brown rice.) Not at all bad, but not super appealing, either. In culinary terms, it seems to be in the same league as other commercial protein shakes I've had.

It still could make a decent snack (or small meal) substitute for those times when I'm deep in the middle of some work and want something filling, but don't want either prep work or decisions. But I doubt I'll want to do the work required just to keep the stuff on hand. (Maybe if it's successful, they'll come out with a bottled version and work will stock it, haha.)

The ITA acquisition has entered the "second request" phase, which means the DOJ is asking for more documents for their investigation of the likely effects of the merger on the competitive environment.

Here's a short talk about how happiness works. Among other things, having the option to go back on a past choice consistently makes people less happy.

Victorian BMX. Death on a bicycle!

An essay on Omelas.

The National Inflation Association defends their predictions against the question of Japan. Why did Japan not face hyperinflation in the face of a huge debt-to-GDP ratio and ultra-low-interest loans?

An Overthinking It post on Old Spice ads, Norse gods, and the end of the world. Especially awesome because it discusses one of the better bits of futurism from Infinite Jest, about the end of television advertising.

Speaking of futurism, it's pretty amazing how much Arthur C. Clark got right, he pretty much called the rise of satellite television, GPS, and global cell-phone networks in a letter written in 1956.

Here's one on a summer camp based on Greek mythology as told by Rick Riordan. I was going to say I posted this for Melissa, but I realized I'd emailed it to her ages ago.

Philosophical Zombies: The Movie.

A video on racism and rhetoric.


Finally, to clear your brain, a few bonuses: A visualization of my foursquare checkins. And this mashup.

Another IM relay bot has been pestering me lately, this one going by the AIM handle 644642289. I'm surprised there are any of those things left wandering around.

Did you know that there is a store online selling nothing but socks? Also one that sells customized chocolate bars? On a completely unrelated to anything note.

Last weekend was also completely awesome. Friday evening, went to the City of Cambridge Dance Party with Michelle. Saturday had lunch with DJ, got fitted for a tux, went to Comedy Studio with Julia. Sunday helped Xave move furniture, went to Jonathan Richmond's tea party, met DJ for dinner, spent some time hanging out with Patti.

Glad this summer isn't all rain, but there are drawbacks to real summer weather, too.

One more week, then I'm off to Sandy Island with my family. And then I'm out of town at least part of every weekend this month.

There are some very loud mockingbirds around my neighborhood recently, with a rather interesting repertoire of calls. Last time I noticed one, I decided to download an audio-recording app and record a bit. (Recording is from the sidewalk on a side-street near Davis Square in Somerville, mid-way through a couple walks by and tries to scare the mockingbird off, without success.)

I was conversing with theheritic in a post about tarriffs and whether US policy is likely to take a turn towards protectionism when he made a curious prediction: That Obama would be a one-term president but that the Democrats would win the 2012 election.

Now, I can see either of those things happening, but not both at the same time. I think it would take some pretty extraordinary circumstances for the Democrats to be in so much trouble as to abandon an incumbent, but not in so much trouble as to lose. (There are a few scenarios in which that could happen, if the Democrats are disgraced but the Republicans are split, for example, but I don't think any of those are very likely.) Still, it's an interesting and specific prediction, and I'm a fan of interesting and specific predictions.

Another community member asked asked if an incumbent American president had ever failed to secure their party's nomination, and I had to do some digging to figure out the answer. (Starting here.) I thought what I found was interesting enough to clean up and repost on my own journal:

- Two past presidents failed to get their party's nomination after serving two terms, stepping down (in the tradition of Washington), and then coming back one term later: Ulysses S. Grant in 1880 and Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 (at which point he decided to form his own party, splitting the Republicans in that election)

- Three failed to get renomination after being elected vice president, then becoming president when the president died: Millard Fillmore in 1852, Andrew Johnson in 1868 (after being impeached and nearly thrown out of office), and Chester A. Arthur in 1884. (Lyndon B. Johnson doesn't fit in this group, he was elected to a full term in 1964 and didn't seek reelection in 1968.)

- James K. Polk didn't seek renomination in 1848 because he was dying. He died on June 15, 1849, three months after finishing his term.

- Rutheford B. Hayes was elected by one electoral vote (while substantially behind in the popular vote) in 1876. Hayes had promised in 1876 not to seek a second term in 1880, and he didn't.

- James Buchanan almost fits. He didn't seek renomination in 1860, but by that point his political party was split and he was disgraced.

- Only Franklin Pierce matches the scenario perfectly. He sought and failed to attain renomination in 1856, but his political party still won that election.

The numbers: Of the 42 people who have served as president, there are 33 who were elected president. (Four presidents died in office, four were assassinated, one resigned, the current president is the 44th but Cleveland counts twice.) 31 were elected with both the popular and electoral vote in non-disputed elections, of that pool two failed to get the renomination for political reasons, in one of those cases their party still won. Of course, that doesn't tell you much about probabilities with regard to Barack Obama, at least not without asking something about how the level of political volatility at present compares with that just before the Civil War.

Saturday, got a new exercise routine at FT, then spent some time with Ames. Also started playing Persona 4, which is a nifty game once you get past the slow start (and addictive, which has meant quite a few late nights for me since).

Went to the healthcare reform rally on Monday and marched with SEIU and others. After, rewatched The Girl Who Leapt Through Time with Xave.

Yesterday, wrapped up one of my major bugs at work.

Today, life is a drag. I'm trying to figure out a new bug at work but still in the high confusion stage.

Now, taking a break and going to the gym before I get hungry for dinner.

On an unrelated note, have a comic: