Food ad comparison Apr 30, 2007
This site has an excellent comparison of advertised pictures of fast food versus actual pictures.  I'd say the Big Mac looks the most similar, but that isn't saying much.  (via Cynical-C) #food
Eating problems Apr 30, 2007
I have three small eating problems.  I wouldn't call them disorders because an eating disorder is an actual thing.  My eating problems are more like actions results from stupidity. 

My first problem is that I really enjoy eating things that taste good.  So whether I'm hungry or not, whether I'm just eaten an overly filling meal or not, whether I might die if I eat another bite, I'll continue eating because it tastes good.  This isn't a problem with foreign food or vegetables, because let's face it, these foods just don't taste good.  (I only eat foreign food to appease foreign people.  And while I like some vegetables, I eat them more for the health benefits and less for their amazingly good taste.)  But if I'm given the choice of eating a comfortable amount of food and an intestine-bursting amount of great-tasting food, I'll go with the latter.  I'm often compared to a dog or a goldfish, both of which will eat until they either puke or die, or both. 

My second problem is that I'm a social eater.  For whatever reason, whenever I'm with a group of people, I tend to habitually shove food in my face whether I'm hungry or not.  I think it's sort of like a defense mechanism or a nervous twitch.  Instead of talking to people, I keep filling my mouth with food to give the appearance of activity or busy-ness.  It's the same with drinking, which is why it's good I don't drink much anymore.  I find myself consuming way more than I normally would simply because I'm not paying attention to what's going in my mouth. 

My third problem is that I eat whatever is in front of me.  If there's a bag of chips, I'll eat that bag of chips.  If there's a bowl of M&Ms, I'll eat that bowl of M&Ms.  If there's a seemingly innocent tuna noodle casserole deviously laced with jalapeno peppers, I'll eat that casserole.  But the interesting thing about this problem is that it can be harnessed for good.  Whether there are M&Ms or carrots in front of me, I'll eat them.  So it's easy to trick me into eating healthy by putting healthy food in front of me. #food
Rock-Paper-Scissors Apr 27, 2007
I'm always amazed and pleased to read the plethora of online information about Rock-Paper-Scissors, the simple hand-gesture game used to make decisions and win wars.  Known as Reaux-Sham-Beaux, Rochambeau, or Roshambo (French and its variants) to dork minions professionals (yes, there are professionals), it's bigger than you could ever possibly imagine.  And now it appears there's a guy who's added several more gestures to the game, including Lizard, Spock, Fire, Water, Air, Sponge, and others.  What a fascinating sport. #sports
Types of categories Apr 27, 2007
It's sometimes difficult to categorize things I write on this website.  Some posts are clearly about a certain topic, so they belong in a specific category, like politics or driving.  But other posts aren't quite as clear cut, or they don't fit into any other major category that I've written about in the past.  These are usually the things I put in rant or thoughts.  I'm starting to do away with that little by little because those categories (and others like funny and wow) are more a description of the type of post, not an actual description of the post.  If I categorize something as funny, it's more of an opinion of what I think it's about, and less of a statement of what it's really about.  I'm splitting hairs here, but that's what I do best. #technology
Firefox bookmark favicons Apr 27, 2007
I just stumbled upon an amazing little feature in Firefox.  For websites that have favicons, it saves valuable space on the bookmarks toolbar to just show the favicon without also showing the title.  Right-click on the bookmark link, go to properties, and delete everything in the "Name:" field.  Now the bookmark just show up as an icon.  Awesome. #technology
Eco-friendly web colors Apr 27, 2007
This website created a set of eco-friendly colors (based on Energy Star recommendations) that can be used on websites to use less power when displayed on computer monitors.  (via Kottke) #technology
Bathing Apr 27, 2007
I don't think I fully understand the rationale behind taking a bath.  Showers I understand.  But a tub full of water that gets increasingly dirtier as it washes more dirt off your body?  I would speculate that a person is no cleaner when exiting the bath than when they entered.  If anything, their dirt is more uniformly distributed.  Now instead of having dirty feet but clean legs, you have slightly less dirty feet and vastly dirtier legs. 

My favorite thought on bathing is from Dilbert: 
[Image: dilbert19951124.gif]
#psychology
Batch files (2) Apr 26, 2007
I created my first batch file last week.  A batch file simply runs some DOS commands like starting programs or copying files.  It's useful for executing repetitive tasks, such as renaming or backing up files.  My batch file contains these commands: 
copy "c:\my documents\misc\imp.doc" docs
copy "c:\my documents\misc\money.xls" docs
The file resides on a USB stick and simply copies two files from My Documents to a folder called docs on the stick.  The reference to My Documents has to be in quotes because it contains spaces.  The reference to docs is an absolute path that refers to a folder on the stick.  This is important because drive letters for USB devices will change depending on which USB port they're plugged in to.  So if the batch file referred to "G:\docs", it would encounter an error if the USB stick wasn't plugged into the USB port that Windows calls "G:\".  I found this link helpful for creating the batch file. #technology
Mini blogs Apr 25, 2007
Several mini blogging websites have appeared recently, and I decided to finally write something about them even though I'm weeks behind all the cool internet nerds. 

Twitter is the big one, and it's been getting a lot of press lately.  It asks one simple question:  "What are you doing?"  Users can either use the form on the website or send a text message with their phone.  Each entry has it's own permalink, but there's no commenting functionality.  A big focus of the site is building community.  I'm not much of a fan of that idea, and I'm not too fond of the fact that I always feel compelled to simply answer the question, which more often than not consists of something like "Writing this dumb entry."  I guess I'm missing the point. 
My rating:  1/5 stars

Tumblr is a pretty cool thing that goes for the idea of a Tumblelog, or a stripped-down stream-of-consciousness blog.  It has different methods for entering different types of posts (normal, link, quote, conversation, etc.), and each entry has its own permalink.  An added benefit is that Tumblr entries can be hosted on your own domain, and it's apparently a pretty easy thing to set up.  Like Twitter, there's no functionality for commenting, which in my opinion kind of takes away from the whole point.  I mean, I'm all about voicing my opinions to the world without any thought of ever listening to responses.  But comments are open on my website, so I at least have the appearance of an open mind. 
My rating:  4/5 stars

Jaiku is the least known of the three.  It has most of the same features, with the added benefit of being able to comment on entries.  The rest of the site seems more like Twitter, where entries are intended to be text message length and answer the question of where you are or what you're doing at the moment. 
My rating:  4/5 stars #technology
Dull blog Apr 25, 2007
This website claims to be the dullest blog in the world (via Mental Floss).  I'd have to agree, except that I find it extremely entertaining. 
Standing in the middle of the room
I was standing at a central point in the room. The walls were all at approximately the same distance from me. I continued to stand there for a few moments.

Picking up my pen
I was sitting on a chair in the living room. My pen was lying on the table. I reached out my hand and picked up the pen.
The content is so incredibly uninteresting, it actually becomes interesting.  Plus, it's written in such a descriptive way that it seems like it's leading up to something good, only to lead to nothing at all.  And judging by the vast multitude of comments, other people enjoy it too. #technology