Saturday, April 28, 2007

I thought today was Friday



I feel as if a day of my life has been stolen.

I woke up today at 6:30 AM and set about my usual schedule. I managed a couple of hours of work before venturing to the office.

As I walked down Lexington approaching 110th, I heard a train pass. No worry, I thought, trains run frequently at rush hour. The station was empty considering the hour - the train took an entire ten minutes to arrive.

When it did come, I was able to cozy up against the back door. I could have sat down if I wished. When I arrived at 86th St. I was greeted by no mob. I realized then, it must be Saturday.

How did this happen? I was sure it was Wednesday on Thursday when I went out to dinner. Yesterday, an unusual number of people had asked if I was up for something - I demurred, seeking instead a quiet Thursday and an early Friday.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Beware of The Fountainhead




It will destroy your ability to do anything but read.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

The Cloisters

Sunday was a beautiful day - I took the opportunity to visit the Cloisters with my favorite art history buff.

The museum is well organized and spacious. Its focus is Pre-Renaissance European art and includes many religious objects, tapestries, paintings and carvings. I think I'd take a tour if I went again.

Its strange coming across a Medieval Castle in the midst of Manhattan - I've seen stranger things in my 3.5 years here.







Thursday, April 19, 2007

Perquisite




There's a television show called Cash Cab.

The premise is simple, according to the website: Unassuming people enter the "Cash Cab" as simple passengers taking a normal taxi ride, only to be shocked when they discover that they’re instant contestants on a Discovery Channel's game show.

I happened to be walking down Lexington Avenue this afternoon and saw the Cash Cab parked on 65th. The contestants were actively soliciting pedestrians - seeking help with a particular question.

This is known as a "Street Shout-Out". If they get stumped on a question, contestants can ask someone on the street for help.

Being New York, nobody would even stop to see what was going on. I spotted the camera man and realized this was indeed "The Cash Cab" and offered my trivia services.

The question: What is the word perk short for? Perk as in a benefit outside of one's salary. I guessed percutiary. I think I was going for pecuniary. The correct answer turns out to be perquisite, a word which I don't think I've heard before.

I was of no use to the contestants. I had to sign a waiver so maybe I'll get to be on television looking like a dumbass.

FWD: this is creepy!!!!!

First such email I've ever enjoyed. Thanks Jen.


This is creepy!

Think of a letter between A and W. Repeat it out loud as
you scroll down.
Keep going . . .
Don't stop .. ..
Think of an animal that
begins with that letter.
Repeat it out loud as you scroll down.
Think of
either a man's/woman's name that begins with the last letter in the animals name.
Almost there........
Now count out the letters in that name on the
fingers of the hand you are not using to scroll down.
Take the hand you
FIRST counted with and hold it out in front of you at face level.
Look at
your palm very closely and notice the lines in your hand.
Do the lines
take the form of the first letter in the persons name?!
Of course
not.......
NOW TAKE THAT HAND AND smack yourself in the head, get a life,
and quit playing stupid e-mail games!

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Bodily Symmetry and Intelligence



Your body's bilateral symmetry statistically predicts your health, probability of depression, number of sexual partners, and resting metabolic rate (particularly if you are male).

Prokosch measured the right and left foot width, ankle width, wrist width, elbow width, ear width, ear length, index finger length, middle finger length, third finger length, and little finger length of 78 male subjects. Each subject also completed standard tests of general intelligence.

The results showed that bodily symmetry was correlated with all the measures (except for digit span), and that the size of each correlation was related to how strongly each of these measures predicts general intelligence.

Body symmetry more strongly predicts intelligence than brain size, nerve conduction velocity, reaction time reliability, and a number of other measures.

Full Story Here

Sunday, April 15, 2007

A Confession



When I was a boy, I used to sneak down to the basement, watch television and eat fruit snacks.

I would eat package after package - one was never enough.

I'd hide the evidence behind the sofa cushion.

All those empty wrappers made me sad.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Douglas Cress Teaches Foreigners the Meaning of "Infidel"

I'm famous in India.

E-Vocab, a blog that uses other blogs as a guide to the English language, recently featured A Douglas Cress Production.

According to the site, E-Vocab uses
MNEMONICS as a tool. It instructs readers to
  1. split the words
  2. find some visual object out of it
  3. make a ridiculous relationship of that object with the meaning of the word
  4. visualize in mind
Is it any wonder I was selected for this word?

Dreaming of Pillows



I wandered into an upscale store which sold pillows. The most modestly priced model was $95. Upon inspecting it, I noticed it had run out of air. The salesman fetched another. It was a nice pillow, but I had lost confidence by this point.

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Socks


Is there any better feeling than returning from the laundry room to find all your socks have found their mate?

Monday, April 02, 2007

Facebook Invents Digital Knick Knack


A possession should simplify one's life, not complicate or clutter it. I only keep gifts I can use. And for better or worse, I'm not afraid to tell someone when a gift they give me is impractical or useless (just ask my family).

When Facebook (a social network that connects people with friends) introduced gift giving - tiny tokens of appreciation, that live on your profile - I was appalled.

Each gift costs one dollar and serves no purpose other than to look cute. Its a digital knick-knack, an e-Chotzke.


Its no different from the crystal figurine gathering dust in your grandmother's living room. I thought we, as a society, had grown beyond this.

Worse, each gift costs one dollar. That's money that could be donated to charity, money that could help or support people - not benefit a company which will gross $150 million in revenues this year.

To the best of my knowledge, there are no returns.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Matt Cutts' Blog Hacked?

I have a feeling this is an April fools joke. And its exactly the type of thing Matt would do - only a few weeks ago he was talking about Nine Inch Nails' viral marketing.

Aside from that, its an damn fine illustration of SEO.

The Dark SEO Team has allegedly hacked Matt Cutts' Blog. Matt is a leading blogger working for Google.



In an open letter dated October 2005 Dark SEO Team declares:

Dear Matt,

Sorry it falls on you! We at DarkSeoteam appreciate your blog, respect your work… and you look like a nice guy. But your blog looked like the perfect target. First because you don’t rely on it for income, second because, on the internet, there is no better proof than a punchy example.