http://blog.kidrobot.com/pencil-tip-micro-sculptures-by-dalton-ghetti/

This is nuts.  This guy can carve the tips of pencils into just about anything.  I can’t imagine how many times he’s had to start over after breaking off a tip.

This is some of the smallest origami you’ll ever see.  This is srz bzns.  He uses a tooth pick to create all the tiny folds.

http://www.visualnews.com/2011/08/18/a-tiny-world-of-nano-origami/

The Antikythera mechanism dates back to 150 BC by the Greeks.  It was a device that was built to calculate celestial positions with high accuracy.  Here it is recreated with LEGO gears.

Kallie and I went to see “The Social Network” yesterday, and I was surprised to see a lack of emotional tensity or even having the story being “Hollywood-ized”.  The story was fairly believable and down to earth.  I can’t comment on the accuracy of any of it, but from what I was already familiar with, it seemed like they got it as best as anyone could without breaking some non-disclosures.

I came home and did a little research.  On the drive home, I wondered, what ever happened to Tom?  Seems like he’s pretty much out of the limelight at this point.  The reason I thought about him though, was that Myspace turned out to be exactly what Eduardo Saverin seemed to be envisioning with facebook.  Ads.  Who gives a flying crap about Myspace now?  The corporation that owns it, that’s about it.

The movie puts emphasis on Mark Zuckerberg‘s stance on how things “should be” and not what will make him the most money.  To this day, Mark’s been offered upwards of 1 billion dollars by Yahoo! for facebook, but he has turned down every offer.  Why?  Because it’s his baby, he says.  He takes pride in it.  He’s not your typical money hungry entrepreneur.  He’s different, and that is why I respect him, despite any poor tactics.  In this New Yorker article (I highly recommend/require you read it), it’s not hard to deduce Zuck knew his actions were unethical from a legal standpoint, but I don’t question his motives.  To this day, he is showing that he did it because he was going to pour his heart and soul into it, making it his life’s work, and for that, there is nothing that can hold you back.

The movie also reminded me of one of my ideas back in Jan 2005.  Thinking about it more today, one of the latest crazes is to “check in” at bars and cool spots you go.  What if that data was tracked and indexed, especially large events like concerts, parties, sports games, etc.  You would be able to find out if you and someone else were ever at the same place at the same time.  Practically speaking, Kallie’s been to Pittsburgh before, I wonder if we “checked in” while we were here, how close we ever were to each other.

Anyway, this turned out to be not much of a review.  If you’re interested in the story of facebook at all, I’d say go see it.  Even though it’s really based of a book and the characters are stories are just augmented to fit, it’s a good depiction of what probably transpired in the creation of one of the most successful websites ever.  I’d label it inspirational to see someone be passionate about something they believe in, despite having extreme costs of losing best friends, girls, and a lot of freedom.

The list comes from CNN, but I went ahead and got the youtube links for each track.

1. “She Blinded Me With Science,” Thomas Dolby
   
2. “Dare to Be Stupid,” Weird Al Yankovic – Of course Weird all has to be there.  I’d actually put something like “All about the Pentiums” or “White & Nerdy” on the list instead of this one.
   
   Weird Al Yankovic – Dare to be Stupid
   Uploaded by bolton. – See more comedy videos.
3. “Nerdcore Rising,” M.C. Frontalot – There’s actually a pretty cool documentary called “Nerdcore Rising” with a lot of cool information on the genre of nerd core.  Certainly worth checking out.
   

1. “In the Garage,” Weezer – Something by Weezer needed to be on the list.  They would be the fathers of geek rock for sure.  Them with Ozma was a great tour.
   
2. “Through Being Cool,” Devo
   
3. “Code Monkey,” Jonathan Coulton
   
4. “Particle Man,” They Might Be Giants
   
5. “Add It Up,” Violent Femmes
   
6. “One Week,” Barenaked Ladies
   
7. “Weird Science,” Oingo Boingo
   

 - Does pizza count?  How about just american cheese?  I hate pumpkin, that’s for sure.

 - Straight from the container.

 - I just had some yesterday, so I’m going to go with Reese’s Pieces.  Although, I kind of feel like it’s cheating for some reason…

 - Funny you should ask.  I used to LOVE orange soda.  My favorite drink.  I loved having the orange stained upper lip afterward too.  I knew it was there, and i wore it proudly.  A little ostentacious, but I wanted everyone to know that I just drank the best stuff ever.

 - I have this Newegg tshirt i got for free, and I always thought it was too loud to wear in public, but the 2 times that I have, people have complimented me on it.  It’s more of just a geek factor compliment, but still.  So the last time I wore it was a month or so ago.

There’s a bunch of lists out there, and I’m sure you’ve heard how geeks are great lovers, but I think I have a few things to add to the list.  Geeks are great.

10.  Getting to know a geek is easy – just google their name…or sometimes, their alias…or aliases.  You can find pictures, blogs, forums, newspaper articles, anything they’ve done or been involved in.  Throw in some myspace and facebook stalking, and you’ve got a good sense of what they’re all about and their friends.  You can make a pretty good judgement of how interested you should be based on these alone, and you didn’t even have to meet them in an awkward place!

9.  It works both ways – rest assured, they’re going to do the same google stalker on you too.  Geeks want to know what they’re getting themselves into while satisfying their stalker tendencies.  Geeks are thirsty for knowledge, and this time it’s about you!  You should be flattered at how much they want to learn about you and be able to have a conversation with you right off the bat instead of just having small talk.

8.  They leave an audit trail – If your geek shows up with a tan one day…you know something is up.  They’re life is well documented, email use, text messages, new facebook friends and wall posts, twitter updates, blog posts, etc.  They great thing is, even if you can’t get an idea of what’s going on in their lives from all these things, if they stop activity…you know they’re distracted by something…

7.  They’re easy to please – All you have to do is smile at them and they’re in love.  If that fails, just buy them a new gadget like an iphone or some GPS thing-a-majig.

6..  They’re devoted – Geeks like reliability.  Once they spend all their time in building a new computer, they don’t want to see that hard drive crash.  They’re the same with their relationships.

5.  They’re connected – So you want to take a trip to London, but don’t have the money for a hotel?  Don’t worry, your geek probably plays World of Warcraft with someone from London, and you can crash at their place.

4.  They’re only 1 click away – Email, text, call, IM, facebook, and probably lots of other ways should make for an easy way to get in contact with your geek.  Alternatively, you can find out which one they check least often, and send a message there, then you can say, "oh, i facebooked messaged you that, didn’t you get it?" and you’re home safe.

3.  Full of potential (too) – Let’s face it, you’re geek spends a lot of time on his or her computer.  This doesn’t (necessarily) mean they’re an introvert or misanthrope though.  Chances are, they’re just waiting for someone else to come along and see if they want to do something.  They’ll probably be full of ideas of things to do that they read about on wikipedia or digg, and you can do them together!

2.  Mr Fix it – Yeah, they can fix your computer.  Yeah, they can figure out why your wireless router isn’t working.  Yeah, they can hook up your new HDTV for  you.  They can also do some awesome research on webMD or How stuff works or any other resource out there to do what you need done.  Like I said, they’re thirsty for knowledge because they believe human knowledge belongs to the world.

1.  Dropped connection – If you decide it’s time to end the relationship, just tell them that you’re going to South Africa to live in a hut and you won’t have any internet.  They’ve read stories about those places, and they don’t want to go there, or be with anyone who could live there.

I guess it’s time for one of these.  I didn’t post anything in may, so let’s see…

New job…is rough at times.  No the work itself, but the people I work with.  There’s some serious tension in the group, and I don’t see it getting any better until *something* gives.  It’s a little ridiculous and unprofessional at times.  Not to mention I didn’t get the raise I was looking for.  It’s work though, and it’s a good place to be to make a move when I decide the time is right.

I’ve decided to make a summer goal of getting in shape for the urbanathlon in new york on september 27th.  andy vargo did it last year in chicago, and it really piqued my interest.  It’s a 7.2 mile race, but throughout the course, there are obstacles like jumping over taxi hoods, and median barriers, and park walls and such, and then at the end you have to run up 52 flights of stairs at world trade tower 7, so it works out to some 8.5 miles.  Pretty intense, right?  I think it will be awesome.  I’m not trying to compete, just finish it.  If I can get myself in shape for this thing, I’m really curious to see how I’ll look and feel.  I really will be in the best shape I’ve ever been in.

I’ve also picked up fencing lessons in the past few weeks.  Chris Olivieri asked me how much of a geek I was when he called me one day, and I said high to moderate levels of geekiness were seen, and then he asked me if i wanted to take fencing lessons.  I busted out laughing.  It’s actually pretty intense and fun.  I do feel like I’m learning a new skill, and I’m definitely getting a leg work out.  I could definitely see myself keeping a set of foils and masks in my closet for some outdoors fencing with friends.  I’ve done 2 out of 8 classes, so next time I should have a better idea of how good I am.

As far as music goes, nothing formal done with the penguins games going on.  I’ll pick up some open mic shows next week and keep those going and I’d like to just have some jam sessions with redfield and see where things go from there.  We were asked to play the cornerstone kick off on sunday august 24th, and that will be awesome if everyone works out.  It would be right in the bellefield parking lot, right across from the towers in oakland, and our music would permeate all the dorms and such.  I’m hoping everything goes well.

Nothing too much planned for the summer, have some vacation time, but I don’t think I’ll go anywhere.  It’s time to save money, and I traveled way too much last year.  Time to work on the homestead and read some books and such.

well, got my cast off. I got this big ‘ol boot now though. It’s actually pretty nice though. It has a rounded bottom and lots of straps and it distributes weight load from my foot to my shin and lower leg. The doc said i should still stay off it and use crutches for another 2 weeks, but i vetoed that. What’s the permanent damage you speak of? I feel liberated! I probably will wear the boot for the rest of the month though. it’s still too swollen for shoes, and doesnt feel safe walking without added support.

UK trip for work is off. Found out that with my boss and his boss going, they were going to deplete the budget, so no trip for me. It’s cool though, i was prepared for it. I had made a mental decision that if i got to go, i’d be more dedicated to sticking around longer because they valued me. With another peer moving on to another department who has been in my position a month less than I have, which means he had to get manager’s approval, this after i was denied approval for a move back in november, i’m pretty sure i’ll be heading out sooner than later.

really behind on recording now. I don’t know when the next time i’ll be able to dedicate time to finish songs for this month. I have valentines this wednesday, have some plans for that in the works. I’ve never been one for valentines day, but that is usually because i’m expected to do something. With Rachel, it’s different. I know that she’d appreciate me if I did nothing at all, which makes me want to do so much more. heh. Hopefully the weather will hold out to make it an enjoyable night. I met her brother last week. Pretty cool dude. We had a lot in common. I don’t want to say he’s a geek, but he knows his IT, and that’s A-O-K with me.

Jordan’s moving out by the end of the month. Found a guy in chicago that seems nice enough who needs a place until april. So, it’s a band-aid, but it will buy me some time to find someone else, and also puts me in a better spot since people will be looking for summer housing.

So i have been trying to lose weight and get in shape and eat right and all that jazz. I usually eat one meal a day, and everyone was telling me that the key to good weight loss is to eat more small meals rather than large meals. They say to eat a breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The more i tried to change my eating habits, the more i realized that it wasn’t going to work. This meal plan is formulated for the average person who wakes up in the morning, and goes to bed at night. I wake up at 3:30am, go to work, come home at noon, go to bed from ~3 to ~6, up for a while and back to bed at ~12 to do it all over. so if we are supposed to have 3 meals a day, what constitutes a day in my case? bodies don’t know days and nights, and hours. They measure things with muscular exertion, how much rest they have had, and all that jazz. The only thing that has validity is the practice of not eating before you get to bed. With me though, I am never sure when to eat because i could go to sleep within the next hour or two at any time either than work. And all i do at work is sit on my butt, so it’s not like I want to eat before that and just sit there. My whole life, i’ve never really been hungry consistently, like i could go for 2 days without eating, and i don’t feel that hunger in my stomach, and i’ve done it before. Sometimes, i just forget to eat altogether. So far i’ve been trying to eat a bowl of cereal in the morning, and either eat as soon as i get home or later on when i wake back up, and it seems to be working. i’m down to 198 or so, and i want to get down to 190. I just find it interesting how people can put this blanket diet guide out there, but not really give any building blocks for those with alternative lifestyles to build their own structure. I know guys who live on the geek calendar of 36 hour days, what should they do?