Everyone used to laugh at my phone. It was one of the first "smartphones", which meant it was way too expensive, and was so confusing that everyone I lent it to for a quick phone call ended up throwing it back at me and calling me a dork. So this phone could work as a universal remote control, could convert light years to rods and I could install ( Read more... )

So let me preface this by saying that I'm a very compelling storyteller. Or so says my designated driver for the evening, who almost crashed into the LAPD on the I-5 as I worked through a narrative about dumping a vase full of flowers and water all over my boss's desk on Friday ( Read more... )

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It's often said that people achieve a certain immorality through the memories of others. I think it should also be noted that even before death, we get to experience perpetual youth through our own memories. I've relived some childhood memories enough that I've probably spent as much time recalling my youth as living it ( Read more... )

If you have any interest in war or the people who execute it, you must see The Fog of War. Easily one of the most interesting documentaries I've ever seen.

So far this year, Southern California has received more rain than Seattle.

I hate how modern browsers are so eager to store passwords for you. Firefox decided to remember my gmail password ( Read more... )

It's been a somewhat eventful week, so I think I recap is in order. This one has rats.

There is a pretty cool rental place in train distance, so I've been renting some crazy movies. Most worth mentioning are the two Japanese movies: Junk and Naked BloodJunk is a pretty typical, better-than-average Zombie movie, but it's worth picking up just to ( Read more... )

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Okay, I'm going to start using my livejournal differently now. I just got myself an account with Blogger.com, and moved all of the good stuff that wasn't "this is what I did today" over ( Read more... )

People don't like being oppressed, as a general rule. In order for people to accept overbearing authority, you really need to convince them it's a good idea. Thankfully, we send our kids to government-run schools for about a dozen years of their lives.

A recent study shows that a third of high school students think the First Amendment is ( Read more... )

It's Ayn Rand's birthday. Libertarianism, free-market capitalism, and atheism -- what's not to like about Objectivism? Well, I think I've got that figured out now: dogmatic egoism. Ayn Rand's Objectivism demands that it be swallowed whole and defines its principles as moral and everything else as immoral. I'm amazed to see such unapologetic ( Read more... )