International Human Rights Day!

Well, it turns out today is the 57th annual International Human Rights Day! So if you were planning to oppress anyone today (Big A!), please don't. In case you're wondering what this actually means, well, wikipedia it you lazy bastard. That's what I did. But to spare you the effort, I'll summarize for you. It's a High Holy Day for the UN, "normally marked by both high-level political conferences and meetings
and by cultural events and exhibitions dealing with human rights issues." So this is a good day for you to have that high-level diplomatic junket you've been planning, although if you didn't send out your invites well ahead of time you're not likely to be able to grab any major world leader's time. Still, it's probly worth checking their Outlook calendars just in case.

Also, consider giving some scratch to your local international Human Rights organization. Amnesty International is a great one, as are my US favorites of the ACLU and HRC.

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Cosco Busan Spill Litigation Proceeding

So you may remember from a month or so ago the oil spill that happened in the SF Bay. A ship carrying a really nasty blend of oil derivatives rammed the Bay Bridge and spilled some 58,000 gallons of oil in the Bay. Clean-up is still proceeding, though the bulk of it has been completed.

The good news is that litigation is proceeding against the ship's owner, its insurance company, and the pilot who guided the ship into the bridge support pillar. And from the article I just read in the San Jose Mercury News, it looks like the US Dept of Justice will be suing for a significant level of damages, to cover not just the cost of clean-up, but the total cost of restoration of both habitats and recreational space.

You can read the SJMN article here. And you can read more general news about the spill here and here. And lastly, you can see a cool google map of the affected areas here.

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Random Fun Facts

1. "Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
2. And "lollipop" is the longest word typed with your right hand.
3. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
4. "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
5. Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
6. The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.
7. There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
8. There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."
9. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
10. A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
11. A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
12. A snail can sleep for three years.
13. Almonds are a member of the peach family.
14. Babies are born without kneecaps.
15. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.
16. February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
17. In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
18. If the population of China walked past you, 8 abreast, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
19. Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
20. The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
21. The cruise liner, QE 2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
22. There are more chickens than people in the world.
23. Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
24. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

The Whore of Mensa

So apparently Woody Allen has written short stories (maybe that's no secret, but I sure didn't know). I just found this one online called "The Whore of Mensa". It's hilarious. About 5 mins or so to read, and totally worth it.

http://waitalia.tripod.com/short-uk.html

God, I remember contemplating selling myself like that back in college... but who didn't, really.

She's the Prettiest... the Most Smartest...

OK. There is seriously a show called "America's Most Smartest Model". I thought this was a total joke, but it actually exists. I am so freaking excited to watch this I may crap my pants. I've been giggling about this all day long... I'm just bursting here with antici..........pation!!!

The show is apparently exactly what you're imagining it is: a trivia show for hot models, with Survivor-style weekly eliminations. This week? The models' knowledge of anatomy is tested!! Questions will likely include: "What's the muscle group on the chest that you're so good at bouncing, Antonio?" Or maybe, "Which female glands were mutilated when you had your implant surgery, Bambi?"

Check it out... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America.

Crazy Whirlwind Week

Wow. This week's been nuts. Starting with last Friday, when I got dumped by the guy I'd been seeing for the last ~2 months. That was out of the blue, and I haven't had time to corner him and extract an explanation. We seemed to be getting along well (though it wasn't super passionate), and I guess I wasn't expecting a marriage out of it but I was thinking it would last a little longer... I actually expected it to end up as my longest-running relationship (current winner for that title is tied between everybody-loved-Colin and Fall2001-Chris... oh, maybe hot-steady-Jesse from back in Chicago... I'd need to think about it).

So that dumpage tainted my Friday and weekend (did I mention it was over e-mail?). And then this week just exploded. We've been trying desperately to find a location for this green building technology pilot I'm running... our first several efforts failed due to the cost of integration with the building automation systems of the facilities we were looking at. So Monday rolled around, and we had a promising location in our Atlanta office, so by EOD Monday we decided I needed to fly out to ATL ASAP. Except that Thursday, I was supposed to be in NYC to speak at a CIO roundtable about Sustainability and Green Tech, and Friday I needed to be in SF to do new-hire interviews all day with UCB kids. A lot to do in one week... my bossess wanted me to blow off NYC and the interviews, and I wanted to blow off the interviews... so while I desperately searched for a stand-in to do my interviews, I made a deal with my bosses that if I got the pilot running they'd be cool with me doing the NYC thing and the SF interviews.

So what ended up happening is I flew on a red-eye on Tues night out to ATL, with a one-way ticket I bought 4 hrs before the flight. I left an hour after that aforementioned earthquake. I connected through Chicago at 5am, getting me to ATL at about 10am. I went straight to the office, deciding that I would skip dressing in biz cazh and just go full-out casual. I was in flip-flops, my tan adventure pants from REI, a grey t-shirt, and a fleece sleeveless vest (also from REI). I was super-comfy, and figured if anyone asked I'd just say it was my Halloween costume, and I was going as a French photojournalist whose camera had been stolen by a rebel African army commander.

So anyways. I worked all day Weds, and got the pilot going. It actually was a huge deal that we got it worked out (thanks to Patrick and Andy from the ATL building mgmt team!), and because it was working by EOD Weds it meant I could fly to NYC to speak at the CIO roundtable. So I got online, bought my ticket to NYC, and then jumped in the car and drove to the airport (incidentally, I got totally lost en route and spent a good hour driving through Atlanta's ghetto areas... I'm not exaggerating on that point at all. I also almost got hit by a train... I was sitting half on the tracks and this train rounds the bend a half mile out and is just gunning towards us, and I'm like FUCK what do I do... but the nice lady behind me backs up and I'm able to back off the tracks... and luckily the dingus in front of me who was entirely on the tracks was able to pull forward in time to avoid getting hit as well. Kids, this is why you don't EVER pull onto tracks without knowing you can get all the way across...!!!! My friend Mark was on the phone with me and was like omg you idiot get off the tracks, I can hear the train coming it sounds so close you're going to die... that was fun!).

I got to NYC at 10:30pm, took a cab to my hotel in midtown and was checked in and showered by midnight. Note that this was the first time in 24 hrs that I'd brushed my teeth, showered, or changed out of that French photojournalist "costume". I then proceeded to get totally played by some guy (he's moving to SF from NYC and wanted to meet when I got in; no point in giving details on it since he invited me over and then kicked me out at 3am for no reason I could discern; and no there was no intimate contact at any point in the evening; it wasn't that kind of "date," we were just meeting to talk and get to know each other; but dear not he's now dead to me). Anyways. So I got to sleep at about 4am, and woke up at 10am in time to scramble and pack and jump in a cab over to Brooklyn for the CIO forum.

The cab took 70 mins from midtown to the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge (oy!), and I got there just in time to modify my slides before the CIOs from the city of NYC showed up and we started the preso. Becky was there, as was Kishore and Teresa and others. I spoke on the Green Buildings work I'm doing, and after we all scavanged food from the luncheon and then went our separate ways. I headed back to midtown to meet *another* boy for the afternoon. I know I know, I sound like a slut, but this was also an innocent "date" and since I couldn't see any of my other friends since they were all working (sorry Joe and Mark and Big A!!), I figured I'd do this since my flight wasn't till 8:30pm.

So I met Sean, who turns out to be not only ridiculously gorgeous (if you're reading this Sean, then by ridiculously gorgeous I mean: meh, you're okay), but is super sweet and very smart. He teaches biology at a college in CT, has a great singing voice, has sections of the movie Clue memorized, and is just all around engaging to talk to. He was a tad focused on himself during our "date", and a little too gregarious (kept talking to random people almost to prove that he's the sort of person who talks to random people... even spoke fluent Deutsch with a pair of German ladies), and definitely too cocky about his looks (tho lord was that justified; he's in modeling discussions with an agent for Ralph Lauren types of work)... but his self-focus was forgiveable given he was fresh out of a relationship and needed someone to talk to about it, and definitely needed the emotional boost from self-centered discussion. And since it obviously wasn't a date that had a chance to go anywhere, I was just enjoying meeting him and getting to know him. And to be honest, sometimes I just want to listen and help other people sort themselves out, and not have to talk about myself at all. It was refreshing in that way. The over-gregariousness I think was maybe him being slightly nervous and trying to impress me... maybe. Who knows... who cares. The point is that I enjoyed my time with him tremendously and will spend the next few weeks fantasizing about what could have been. =D I may even try to text/call him on a semi-regular basis... unless that's too weird...?

I cabbed over to JFK, dropping off Sean at Grand Central en route (I feigned tiredness to have an excuse to rest my head on his shoulder in the cab, while he sang/recited half of Mary Poppins to my delight/fascination/horror; and not the parts everyone knows but the obscure end parts with Mr. Banks). In the cab, I got online to buy my ticket home (on JetBlue! my first flight with them evah!!), but it wouldn't go through... so I tried Skyping my travel agent (since my cell was dead) which worked except it was too choppy and I ended up giving up after the 5th "what was that sir? i can't hear a word you're saying". So I got to the airport and actually bought my ticket at the ticket counter only an hour before my flight. Who does that?!?! Apparently me.

And so now, here I am... at JFK waiting for my flight. Tomorrow will be insane... I get in at 1 am, then have to get up at 6 to get to the SF office by 7 so I can have breakfast and remind myself how to do a PFI interview. Then I spend 8am to 5pm doing a super-intense form of interviewing, after which I need to catch up on the week's e-mails and figure out what the hell I missed with all my class projects for school. So if any of you thought you might hear from my this wknd, fuhgeddaboutit.

Good times!!

5.6 Rocks SF

So last night at like 9:15 or so, an earthquake hit 50 miles SE of San Francisco. It was a 5.6, the strongest one since the 7-something that hit in 1989 and caused such ridiculous damage.

I was at home, standing by the door talking to Kelly, who'd stopped by for like 5 mins to pick up a bathing suit she'd lent to Leah. We were chatting it up, saying goodbye, and all of a sudden things shook a bit, and we looked at each other, and then the shaking kept going, and then it stopped. It lasted like, 5 seconds or so. Everything rattled, just like when a large truck drives by outside your house, but nothing fell over and there was no damage. It was a bit underwhelming, especially for a 5.6, which is actually a pretty big deal...! So I suppose we were lucky. This is now my 3rd or 4th earthquake in the last year (and ever!)... I wonder if that means anything? =D

Story can be found on CNN here: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/30/california.quake/index.html

For Your Convenience...

I'd like to highlight a couple of signs I recently saw. Both employed the phrase "for your convenience," and while one of these signs clearly met this self-imposed criterion, the other most certainly did not.

First, outside of a Wells Fargo I saw a sign that said, "For your convenience, we are now open on Saturdays until 6pm." This is a great example of an action they've taken that is, indeed, for my convenience. No, I never go into a bank (except to use an ATM, and once 3 years ago to get 20s for a trip to Africa). But if I ever had to make a deposit in person, and it was like halfway through the weekend, and I just positively couldn't stand to wait until Monday... this branch would be a totally awesome lifesaver.

Second, in the parking lot of a nearby Safeway I saw a sign that said, "For your convenience, we have installed devices in the shopping carts that ensure that if a shopping cart leaves this lot, the wheels will lock up, an alarm will sound, your baby will be kidnapped by terrorists, and somewhere, somehow, a kitten will be drowned." I'm paraphrasing. But only slightly.

You'll notice that the second example is actually not for my convenience in the least. It's for their convenience. "They" being "The Man." No, this isn't for my convenience at all... instead I'd say it's the rough consumer equivalent of shoving a poleaxe up my ass. Well ok, it's not that bad. But people who mis-use the convenience phraseology have ruined that phrase for the rest of businessdom, and they must pay.

I vow that one day, when I am a democratically-elected politician (or a Party tool of our Communist Chinese Overlords (CCO for short)), I shall tighten regulations around the use of this phrase, to ensure that it is only ever applied to actions taken that were really, truly, for the convenience of the customer. Damn right.

ENDA - how liberal nobility might sink gay rights in the workplace

"Conservatives understand that cultural change is a long, gradual process of small but cumulatively deadly victories. Liberals want it all now. And that's why, in the culture wars, conservatives often win and we often lose. While conservatives spend years, if not decades, trying to convince Americans that certain judges are "activists," that gays "recruit" children, and that Democrats never saw an abortion they didn't like, we often come up with last-minute ideas and expect everyone to vote for them simply because we're right. Conservatives are happy with piecemeal victory, liberals with noble failure. We rarely make the necessary investment in convincing people that we're right because we consider it offensive to have to explain an obvious truth. When it comes time to pass legislation, too many liberals just expect good and virtuous bills to become law by magic, without the years of legwork necessary to secure a majority of the votes in Congress and the majority support of the people. We expect our congressional allies to fall on their swords for us when we've failed to create a culture in which it's safe for politicians to support our agenda and do the right thing. ENDA, introduced for the first time 30 years ago, is an exception to that rule. It took 30 years to get to the point where the Congress and the public are in favor of legislation banning job discrimination against gays. It's only been five months since transgendered people were included in ENDA for the first time."

That was posted in an article written by John Aravosis on salon.com.  Amen, John.  I'm with you.  God bless the Ts out there, but I need legal protection now.  I can't wait 20 years for it.  We need to get the greater US on board with *any* gay rights, so we can start adding in protections not just for Ts in the workplace, but for all of us to marry and adopt.  So let's start smaller than is ideal, so we can get as big as we want sooner that will otherwise happen.  Please...!!!

Sprint + Mobile Broadband = teh awesome

I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but I'm really happy with Sprint right now. I mean, sure, the state of freedom in the US cellular market is heinous, and we're basically structurally captive to a system of no choice and slow innovation, but given the shitty state of US telecommunications Sprint is doing pretty damned well.

I'm writing write now from the Caltrain as I wend my way to work. No, Caltrain did not implement its free on-train wi-fi; in fact, they've cancelled their plans to do so. That spurred me to think about other options, specifically mobile broadband. Mobile broadband uses the existing cellular networks to achieve broadband speeds (1.5 Mbps down, 500 Kbps up) pretty much anywhere you have cell coverage... which is pretty much anywhere.

But which carrier do you choose? There are at least 4 major options: Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, and T-mobile. And fear not... I've done the legwork on these 4 carriers and I'm happy to break down the results for you right here, right now.

1. Verizon – I eliminated Verizon because they have a 5 GB/month cap on their "unlimited" wireless broadband service, at which point they reserve the right to just up and cancel your account since they believe only people with evil intentions could ever use that much bandwidth. And thank god I eliminated them. In the 3 days since I got my Sprint card I've already downloaded and uploaded *each* over 1 GB. And that's just standard web browsing and e-mailing! Dumbasses. And yes, this little tidbit on the bandwidth cap is completely buried in the fine print. But it's there.
2. T-mobile – I eliminated T-mobile because their network isn’t broadband. It’s only 56-125k.
3. AT&T – I eliminated AT&T because of a few reasons. I like the fact that their Aircard is the Sierra Wireless 875U, which is quad-band and supports download speeds up to 3.6 Mbps. AT&T’s network is only max of 700k now, but it could theoretically get up to 3.6. However, the quad-band is essentially useless because outside the US you’re limited to 100 MB/month in a select roaming zone, and are otherwise charged 2 cents/KB. Which is $20/MB. Which apparently I do 1000 times over each day, thus potentially costing me $20,000/day at normal usage rates. So yeah, screw that. Plus, AT&T’s terms and conditions EXPRESSLY FORBID: webcams, video/audio streaming, p2p, machine2machine, and VOIP. So no Skype, no internet radio, no Youtube, no videoconferencing, no eMule... They’re assholes like that. Ummm, knock knock AT&T, welcome to 2007. Hell, welcome to 2005. Jeebiz.
4. Sprint – The only drawback to Sprint is that their card isn’t quad-band, so it’s not usable outside the US like AT&T’s is. And the Sierra 595U isn’t as fast as the 875U of AT&T, capping out at ~1.4 Mbps (I believe). But Sprint’s network RIGHT NOW is 1.4Mbps. And their terms and conditions actually permit all those things AT&T forbids. In fact, they explicitly permit these modern uses of the web, and instead only prohibit I think 3 things, which boil down to "don't do anything illegal with your connection". Damn right! Now *that's* service!

So yeah... the moral of the story is that Sprint is actually doing everything RIGHT in the arena of mobile broadband, while AT&T and Verizon are just embarrassing themselves. I'm waiting for T-mobile to get its act together... I have a feeling they'll get it right as well. Oh, and in case you were wondering... mobile broadband service is a separate contract from your cell service. So you can have mobile broadband service from Sprint even if your cell carrier isn't.

Oh yeah... I don't work for Sprint. =D And in fact I've been contemplating leaving them because of their lack of quad-band support. But instead I'm going to stay with them a while longer as a show of support for their modern attitude towards the web. =)

Rapture Letters

OK, kudos to my friend Sue for sharing this with me.

http://www.raptureletters.com/letter.html

I don't think I need to say anything else. I signed up to notify Kelly, Sue, and a couple of my Jewish friends (since they're presumably auto-skipped by the rapture; hi Becky & Gary!) before I got tired of clicking and typing (cause you know, I don't do that all day or anything). If you really want me to add you I will.

What that site really needs is a Web 2.0 overhaul, including some SOA-based verification of good Christian status. I'm guessing I wasn't the constituency they had in mind.

Iranian President is denied access to Ground Zero by NYC officials

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/19/ahmadinejad.ground.zero/index.html

Does this strike anyone else as a bit juvenile?! I swear, our country is run by a cabal of fucking junior high bullies. If a world leader wants to pay his respects, let him pay his damned respects. Who cares if we don't get along with him. It's incredibly petty to deny him this visit... it doesn't buy us anything and just aggravates our relationship with Iran. Which I know is what BushCo wants, but the rest of us should know better by now. Oy vey.

zomg! It's Int'l Talk Like A Pirate Day!

I hope you've all been talking like a pirate all day today. It's International Talk Like A Pirate Day today! It's your duty as an American to adhere to silly holidays declared by random and/or unnamed groups who have absolutley no authority whatsoever to do so.

Here's a quick pirate primer:

• Ahoy! – Hello!
• A merry yarn – A good story
• Booty – Treasure
• Davy Jones' Locker - fabled, mythical place at the bottom of the ocean where the evil spirit of Davy Jones brings sailors and pirates to die
• Shiver me timbers – I’m scared, my legs be shaking.
• Shocked to the very boney – That's surprising.
• Weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen! – Pull up anchor, let's go sailing.
• Yarr. – I agree.
• Yarr! – I see your point, and mightily agree.
• Yarr? – What did you say?

Enjoy!

A moment of silence for Robert Jordan

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gBy7pK1U-kIvTHx4PYeiI8rqBkmg
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6999578.stm
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2007/09/17/robertjordan-obit.html

........................................

Robert Jordan, one of my favorite authors of all time, died yesterday of a rare blood disease. He was very close to finishing his last book in the 12-book Wheel of Time series. He maintained a blog in his final years in which he updated his fans on the progression of and battle with his disease... he was truly a rare and amazing man. I'm really really sorry that we've all lost such a talented artist. :(

Voce Communications @ Rockit Room w/ Off the Record--Party for a Cause

Hey folks --

My roomate volunteers with Girls For A Change, a national organization that empowers thousands of teen girls to create and lead social change. They're having a benefit tomorrow, Weds, 9/12, in San Francisco.

Voce Communications is bringing out the PR/media community to support the organization, raise money, drink some booze and network. They have a great band confirmed: Off the Record that is comprised of media legends, such as Don Clark of the Wall Street Journal. Think Journey meets Cat Stevens. I'm not sure if that's good or not, but it's what Leah told me to say, and I am her puppet!

Anyways, it's a good cause, so if you're around you should go.

What: Girls For A Change Benefit
Where: Rockit Room
406 Clement Street (between 5th and 6th Ave.)
San Francisco
When: September 12 @ 7pm
Why: Raise Some Money for a Good Cause
Entertainment: Off the Record Band