The InterBrain

I think we, or at least I, take for granted sometimes just what a staggeringly powerful and unprecedented resource humanity has in the internet. In many ways it functions as a fully accessible, completely searchable (thank you Google) repository of human knowledge. The important stuff and the completely irrelevant.

It's a trivial little search I do pretty frequently that got me thinking about this. Often I hear a song on the radio, and either because the DJ doesn't announce them or I have to leave the car before he or she does, I can't find out the song and artist names. So now, as a matter of habit, I commit a short but unique cluster of lyrics to memory. Later I look up that phrase with the word "lyrics" tagged on to the end, and find the song and artist nearly every time.

It's easy to take that for granted, but imagine trying to get that simple bit of information even 20 years ago. You'd probably have had to call the radio station. If they answered and were willing, you'd have to hope someone there could identify the song based on the lyrics you remember. Barring that they'd have to be willing to go over the play logs for the day and tell you the songs that aired around the time you were listening. That might work once or twice, but the stations management would likely tire of constant calls. In fact, frequent calls of this nature from multiple people would likely cause them to institute restrictive policies. So then you'd have to remember to ask friends or a clerk at a record store until you got an answer or forget the song entirely. Not very efficient.

With the internet, the answer comes quickly and easily, with links to band information, gig schedules, YouTube videos for the song in question, and chances to instantly download it onto your iPod.

Trivial in a sense, but in the grand scheme, enormous.

Now imagine what it would have taken 20 years ago to get a solid explanation for say the role of enzymes in the breakdown of industrial pollutants. Or the schedules for most of the known comets. Or train schedules in Glasgow. If you could find answers at all, the process would be laborious and far from instantaneous. Plus you'd have to leave your house!

The internet is just staggering.

Being Decisive

I like when I make decisions. I have lived a very indecisive life and I tend to still sway in that direction. But, when I do make a decision I grab onto it and I don't let go, and usually they end up being the best decisions I could have made. Like when I decided to change my major and my university and move up to Columbia, SC. I met some of the best people there and most are still in my life today. Then when I decided to work at the summer camp. Best job ever! Then I got up and moved to NYC, what a life adventure that was. I'm happy I've made such amazing life leaps, living life fully is what it's all about. The decisions I made yesterday about what rug to get for the hallway weren't very extreme, but they still made me feel in control. I like the independence and the confidence decision-making exudes. I haven't made a clear decision on what my next career steps are, but I feel confident that when I do they will be for the best.

Easy, Breezy Skirts

I love wearing skirts when the weather allows. It's probably the one really feminine thing about me, other than my makeup obsession. I got a few new skirts from the Jill's Giveaway, so now I finally get to wear them since the weather is perfect. I prefer to wear skirts instead of shorts. They are so easy and breezy. I am grateful that since Jill's generosity that I now known about 10 or so skirts. So I should not need a new one for a while, if I can hold off of course. Thanks again Jill. Off to run some errands.

Bye, Bye.

Being Happy With What You Have

Sitting here, plumbing for an entry idea, I was reminded of a conversation from our recent Cinco De Mayo party. Many of the attendees lived in our neighborhood, and hence all have the same basic home layout, save for minor differences. Radiators in different places, slight modifications to bathroom layout, closet layout, etc. One of the largest differences was the size of the inter-room wall openings on the first floor. House here either have very wide openings between rooms, to the point that the walls almost don't exist, or they have considerably narrower openings, though still much wider than a standard door.

What was funny was that, universally, or at least partysially, everyone wanted the layout that they didn't have. It's a classic case of "grass is always greener." Kate and I have the very large openings. I thought I liked them until we had to lay out our living room furniture. Then suddenly smaller openings were looking better. Plus, the houses with the smaller openings have rooms that feel cozier, and oddly, larger. But those with the smaller openings feel constricted by them, and wish for the more open floor plan.

But what's the point of pinning after something trivial that you don't have, and won't have, when what you do have is good in its own way? That "grass is always greener" mentality can help motivate people to improve themselves and their surroundings, but I think it also leads to unnecessary suffering. Constantly judging your stuff against the merits of other people's stuff can lead you to undervalue what you have and see only the negatives. But this sort of comparison thinking is hardwired into the human brain. Maybe a more useful way to use this pattern of thought is to compare what you have against what other people don't have. This sort of comparison generates a feeling of gratitude instead of jealousy. It makes you appreciate what you have instead of rejecting it. Plus it generates empathy and compassion towards those on the "don't have" side of the comparison.

The problem with "grass is always greener" is that it's an unending cycle. There's always another fence to look over, another yard to envy. You can't ever be satisfied. As soon as you plunder one yard, you'll be looking to the next, constantly moving forward with blinders on.

Instead, the next time you find yourself gazing longingly at someone else's lawn remember that at least you have one. Some people have to get by with bare dirt and scrubby rocks. Appreciate what you have.

The pleasure of giving

I love the good feelings you get after giving someone a nice gift. Something that says I'm thinking of you and love you. The gifts don't need to be huge or expensive they just need to come from your heart. When they're handmade they makes them even more profound.

I really want to start making a craft, then during the holidays everyone can get something I made. I really love that idea. I just don't know where to start on figuring out what to make. I should just go to Michael's and other craft stores and street fairs and get inspired. Maybe in July I'll make that my mission.

I love making people feel good, I know I don't have much money, but I'd rather spend the money I do have on the people I love rather than spend it on useless clothes for myself. Not to say I don't like to buy something for myself every so often, but I definitely would hold off if someone's birthday was coming up. Blake's birthday is at the end of the month, I'm still shopping around. They need to know that their Aunt Kate loves them and if getting them cool gifts on the birthday is the only way to reach them, so be it. Time to shop.

Move Over, Silicon

I just read something really cool, with huge implications for computing and electronics in general. Currently all computer chips and solid-state electronics are made from silicon. But silicon has limitations. At high operating frequencies, in the gigahertz range, silicon's natural electrical resistance generates a lot of heat. The faster chips become, the more heat has to be siphoned away from the components or you risk frying the chip. This tops silicon-based electronics out right where they are, in the gigahertz range, or billions of calculations per second.

But scientists are making impressive gains creating chips using another element, one much nearer and dearer (and the constituent element of) our hearts. Carbon. Carbon is 100 times less resistive to electricity, which means far less operating heat and the possibility of chips that can operate at terahertz frequencies, or trillions of operations per second. Chips that are a thousand times more powerful than the current state-of-the-art.

Here's the wild part. Carbon chips would be made from graphite, a form of carbon. More specifically, they're built from graphene, or a super-thin sheet of graphite only one atom thick. At one atom thick, graphene is essentially two-dimensional. Silicon's three-dimensional structure is monstrous by comparison. Graphene's nearly non-existent footprint will allow transistors only a few atoms wide, and chips infinitesimally smaller than today's lumbering silicon-based chips.

Imagine the computing power resident in today's super-computers, condensed into your cell phone. Or super-computers a thousand times more powerful than today's standard. With that much processing power, artificial intelligence would be right around the corner. Which is fitting and poetic I think. Our brains are carbon-based. How beautiful that the same element would make our digital progeny possible.

There are still some major hurdles to work through, but I'm optimistic.

Though "Carbon Valley" doesn't have quite the same ring.

The miracle beverage

Today I'm going to write about something I'm not suppose to have, my favorite soda, Ginger Ale. In moments like today it's the only thing keeping me alive. Let's just say I over consumed something last night, that I know I can't handle- liquor, this time it was Tequila. I had to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a few margaritas. I've loved ginger ale since I was a kid, It was the ultimate cure for most ailments. It's actually my top soda choice whenever I stop at the 711. I think I'm a big fan of ginger, and no that's not because I'm a red head. Seriously it's so needed sometimes, I mean I've been sick since four this morning, and I just drank some ginger ale and I feel 40% better and soon I'll finally get some sleep, wake up, and I'll be completely perfect. If I could give the creator of this fantastic beverage a kiss right now, I would. Okay, my eyes are starting to shut, goodnight y'all.

Cinco De Mayo

Cinco De Mayo is such a funny holiday. It celebrates an event of limited regional significance in Mexico that is of no significance to most of the world and now holds claim as a legitimate holiday based solely on the fact that in Spanish "the fifth of May" rhymes. I think it's safe to say that most people in the United States (myself included until I went to Wikipedia) have no clue what Cinco De Mayo commemorates.

But it doesn't matter. Cinco De Mayo is great for what it has become. An excuse to get together with friends and enjoy yourself. A reason to throw a party for party's sake, one that you likely wouldn't have thrown otherwise. Cinco De Mayo is sort of like National Tuna Fish and Pasta Day. It's a holiday of questionable importance that, if nothing else, exists as an excuse to be happy.

The outlook for our Cinco De Mayo's, for the foreseeable future, is favorable. Our neighbor three houses down started a Cinco De Mayo party last year, our first year in this house, threw it again this year, and now plans on making it an annual event. She, and her friends and coworkers are all great people, so it's a great time. And we can get a little toasty (or in Kate's case this year, a LOT toasty) and then walk home. What a great holiday!

Interested in the sordid history? Here's a quick synopsis. In 1861, Mexico stopped making interest payments to its major international creditors. In response France and a few other countries attacked Mexico to force payment. During the second major engagment between Mexican and French forces, on May 5, 1862 in the city of Puebla at the aptly named Battle of Puebla, the much more larger French army was defeated, an army that hadn't been defeated in 50 years.

Horray for Mexico! A deadbeat debtor filchs on its debt, wins out over a legitimate creditor, and much blood is shed. It's your classic underdog story. But it was all for naught. A year later the French attacked Mexico City, occupied it, and placed a puppet emperor on the throne. So horray for France! An imperialist power succeeds in subjogating a nation over cash, continuing its hard-nosed domination of world politics.

Either way you look at it, Cinco De Mayo celebrates a silly little blip in world history. Better to erase the historical significance, or at least your memory of it with a dozen or so Coronas and enjoy yourself.

The competitive nature

I do enjoy some friendly competition with some hostel undertones. I was brought up in a pretty competitive environment. My family loves sports and my sister and I were put in little league for basketball and softball at the age of 8 or so. We both continued playing both sports up to High School, then Kerri quit softball and continued to excel in Varsity Basketball. I never really excelled in any of the sports except for in small moments like that free throw I made in Middle School and my consistent under hand fast pitch in the rec softball league. But I still had a great time playing. I loved the comradery and the friends I made. I have my competitive moments these days with Wii, pool, and volleyball. I presented a friendly competition on Facebook a couple days ago when I sent a message saying "Whoever brings me the 4th Twilight book first, wins a drink on me". Mia and Maggie are now racing to the finish line. It's a win win, I get my book and get to have a drink with a dear friend. So even though competition can be ugly, it's really only as ugly as you make it out to be, it's your choice. Winning is cool, but having friends who care about you is better. So here's the 250 entry of our Positive Year blog! Eat our shorts Renegade Blog!

Imaginary Competitions of One

I think competition must be what motivates human beings to move forward. It drives free enterprise. It's why professional sports exist. Why American Idol is the most popular TV show in America. And why, in this economy, a job in hand, even if it isn't perfect, is worth three in the ridiculously overcrowded bush. That's just a empathetic shout out to all my unemployed friends. May you crush your competition in glorious combat.

Our urge to compete is so strong, so innate, we make up competitions, even if we're the only ones participating. Case in point. I contribute to my company's blog, "The Renegade Agency Confessional" (adagencyconfessional.blogspot.com) on occasion. It's been in existence for more than a year now, has a much larger readership than this humble blog, and has, up until this post, logged more entries. But I knew, at two posts a day, everyday, Kate's and my small cyberstake in the blogosphere would eventually overtake it's larger sibling. It's a silly competition, but I check its status often. It's important to me, and I don't know why. It's just fun to compete with something that doesn't know it's in competition with me and can't do anything to save itself from inevitable defeat. With this entry both blogs have 249 entries, and Kate's next post will push us over. It's beautifully poetic that such a nice round number as 250 would be our victory post.

So in your face...faceless non-sentient abstraction.

It makes sense that competition would be so deeply rooted in our primal brains. Our very existence was made possible by the most ancient of all competitions, natural selection. Millions of years and countless generations of small hairy voles fighting it out in dank holes for limited resources assured that some of them improved, developed opposable thumbs, a proclivity for tree tops and tools, and eventually became use. We're just a small cog in planetary competition machine that continues to sculpt and change itself through the millenias.

Granted the yang side of competition is sponsored by such lovely constructs as "war" and "jealousy" and "screw you, I'm gettin' mine!" But every positive has its dark underbelly. I do believe though that as humanity continues to evolve emotionally and fear and ignorance are stripped away, this darkness will slowly fade. Competition confers plenty of other benefits, and can drive us to be the best possible people we can be.

And has brought us to number 249. Kate, would you do the honors...

Thank you Seth

Seth MacFarlane is the man. He is the creator of shows like Family Guy, American Dad, and Dexter's Laboratory. He is also the voice of Stewie, Peter Griffin, Quagmire, Brian Griffin, Stan Smith, and Roger the Alien. What amazing talents! He has the power to make America laugh on a daily basis. I've got to run now, but first I just want to send out a big thank you to Seth for giving us all the raunchy humor we all need to survive this ever exhausting planet we call Earth.

When Things Do Work

For a reason as of yet unknown, iPhoto has stopped working on our Mac here. It seems like either our iPhoto library got corrupted or a few pictures got minced. I'm not sure which, if either, yet. I was trying to fix it most of the day yesterday, with no luck yet. Frustrating, of course. But it got me thinking.

Given the huge volume of technology we use today it's an incredibly positive thing that, most of the time, it all functions properly. Our lives are wrapped in a dense layer of "things that could break at any moment", but generally they don't. You've got your normal household appliances, plus your smaller, less frequently used gadgets like breadmakers and Jack LeLanne Power Juicers. There's your sinks and toilets and tubs and other lesser technologies. You've got the tools used to fix all that stuff when they stop working, which can themselves stop working. And then there's the layer of infrastructure that supports all those gadgets and household amenities, your electric and plumbing. Your heating and air-conditioning systems. Your computer. Here, not only do you have the computer itself, but the inordinate programs you install and run on a daily basis. Each program exists as its own separate potential for failure.

Then there's you car, your bike, your riding mower, and all the tech you use at work, etc., etc. You see what I'm saying? There's even the technology that you don't own which can break and impact your life. That is a lot of potential breakdowns!

Yet most of the time everything works. Try and remember that on the odd occasion that something does flame out in a fabulous firestorm of flaming failure. Just get it fixed and then keep cruising along in the world where things do work. You'll get a flat occasionally, but very rarely given the number of tires you're riding on.

This helps put things in perspective for me.