February 2012
1 post
January 2012
1 post
December 2011
1 post
2 tags
Please stop the ride, I want to get off
Many people write about what it feels like to be depressed. Some of them even do it well. But few people write about the experience of mania.
This is not surprising, on reflection. Outside of those afflicted with bipolar disorder or methamphetamine addiction, most people will never experience mania. It is rare – thank goodness – and is thus naturally marginalized. But unlike other marginalized...
August 2011
2 posts
3 tags
On Whyday and the Celebration Thereof
This year’s Whyday has come and gone with a minimum of fuss or fanfare. If you’re not familar with _why the lucky stuff, he was – and I use the tense advisedly – a prolific Ruby programmer, author of projects such as Shoes (a GUI toolkit), Camping (a microframework), and Hackety Hack (a Ruby environment and tutorial aimed at beginners to programming). In 2009, he deleted his blogs and...
3 tags
According to Merriam-Webster, the most-frequently defined English words are, in descending order:
pretentious
ubiquitous
love
cynical
apathetic
conundrum
albeit
ambiguous
integrity
affect/effect
This list utterly delights me. It seems a remarkably human sort of list: no scientific or technical terms are present. Rather, these words – ‘pretentious’, ‘ambiguous’,...
July 2011
1 post
1 tag
Of Tabloids and Utilitarianism
I’ve always had a morbid fascination with supermarket tabloids. It never fails to impress me that people can make a living based on publishing almost1 entirely fictional stories about sordid and debauched behavior by celebrities.
I am, of course, referring to the actions of American tabloids. Because English libel and defamation laws are so broad and wide-ranging, it is impossible for...
March 2011
2 posts
1 tag
Manila: A Keynote Theme
I am a big fan of the following things:
Black text on a soft-yellow background
Helvetica Neue
As a result, I bring you Manila, a Keynote theme I made featuring black Helvetica Neue on a soft-yellow background. I’m about as far from a designer as one can possibly be, but I’ve used this theme in the past and people seemed to like it.
Download it here. To install it, place the file...
February 2011
1 post
On Being a Member of the “Dumbest Generation”
If author Mark Bauerlein is to be believed, my generation – the generation that grew up with the Internet – is hopelessly stupid, trapped in narcissism and solipsism by smartphones, Facebook, and Twitter.
This is complete horseshit.
Compared to other generations, ours is the most supportive of equality for gays and lesbians, the least fettered by religion, the most supportive of...
December 2010
3 posts
The Best Debugging Story I've Ever Heard
Back in the early 80’s, my dad worked at Storage Technology, a now-defunct corporate entity that made tape drives and pneumatic systems to drive these tapes at high speeds – for that period of time.
(Used under license from Laughing Squid. The original is available here.)
They had hacked engineered the tape drives such that you could have one central drive – the ‘A’ drive –...
WatchThis took me an hour to build.
It’s probably a good thing I went in for computer science rather than electrical engineering.
October 2010
7 posts
Jay-Z – Renegade (ft. Eminem)
Of all of the great songs on The Blueprint, this might just be my favorite (followed closely by H.O.V.A. and Takeover). However, Jay is not the star of this track. His first verse is solid, if a little uninspired:
Motherfuckers - say that I’m foolish, I only talk about jewels
Do you fools listen to music or do you just skim through it
See, I’m influenced by the ghetto you...
2 tags
“There are few things more disrespectful you can do to a person than to assume...”
– My roommate Joalton, displaying a degree of insight that I can only hope to have someday.
Worldview Distorted, Mission Accomplished
Me: What's on your mind?
Nathan: Your link to that David Foster Wallace speech.
Nathan: Stop posting things that mess with my worldview!
The Myth of Over-Medication
Let’s get my thesis out of the way first: anyone who says that today’s children are over-medicated is either ignorant or dishonest.
Let’s rewind a little. Make yourself comfortable, because this is one of those Tiresomely Cathartic Blog Entries.
My childhood was a strange experience. Having learned to read before preschool (thanks, Mom, for not allowing a TV in the house!), I...
September 2010
3 posts
What Rap Means to Me
My first exposure to hip-hop came in the form of the Slim Shady LP. It was a revelatory experience – here was music that was unafraid to express the anger, sadness, and frustration that I felt (and still feel) but somehow could not express. The authority figures in my life condemned it as violent, misogynistic, homophobic, and antisocial. And I freely acknowledge that rap can be all of those...
Disturbingly Perceptive
My roommate’s father, during a conversation with said roommate, inquired after me recently, and made some comments about my state of mind:
“And how’s your roommate Pat? Man, that kid? That kid’s tortured. Like an artist. He feels too much.”
This is an amusing statement on its own, but it is made hilarious by the fact that all of my roommates heartily agree with...
