October, 6, 2005 archives

feedtree is a peer-to-peer system for distributing weblog updates, bearing at least a passing resemblance to what i described once upon a time.

i wonder how well it would handle having the livejournal firehose hooked up to it, and if it is of any use to a service like pubsub that would want to get everything.

matt haughey linked to this entry about how libraries can serve people but what interested me was the quote he pulled out: “the most important information in my daily life is, simply, what are my friends doing?”

what fascinates me about the quote is that for me, it’s simply not true. i’m not even sure i can wrap my head around what it would mean for it to be true.

obviously, friends is a topic that has been on my mind recently. what brought it to the surface was going through a box of some of my old stuff and running across pictures of my best friend from elementary school, who moved away between fifth and sixth grade (or about then). as far as i can figure, i think that is the last time i had a mutual best friend. more than twenty years ago. yikes.

my oldest friends at this point are people i worked with at knowledge adventure (about a decade ago!). that is, those are the oldest friends i have any sort of regular contact with.

strangely enough, i lettered in high school. i think the gold bar was for some sort of academic achievement. (looking at the program from my high school graduation, i got awards for academics, leadership, and service. go me.)

the letter was for band. i was never particularly good (i played the trombone), but i remember killing a lot of time doing band-related things like playing at games, filing music during my empty periods, and painting the stage of the theater before a concert/variety-show thing that we did every year.

tony pierce wrote up his experience from last night’s politics of science journalism panel so i think that means i don’t have to. it was entertaining.

it starts with just a little glance now
right away you’re thinkin’ ’bout romance now
you know you ought to take it slower
but you just can’t wait to get to know her

a brand new love affair is such a beautiful thing
but if you’re not careful think about the pain it can bring

it makes you feel so bad
it makes your heart feel sad
it makes your days go wrong
it makes your nights so long

you’ve got to keep in mind love is here today
and it’s gone tomorrow
it’s here and gone so fast

right now you think that she’s perfection
this time is really an exception
well you know i hate to be a downer
but i’m the guy she left before you found her

well i’m not saying you won’t have a good love with her
but i keep on remembering things like they were

she made me feel so bad
she made my heart feel sad
she made my days go wrong
and made my nights so long

you’ve got to keep in mind love is here today
and it’s gone tomorrow
it’s here and gone so fast

keep in mind love is here today
and it’s gone tomorrow
it’s here and gone so fast

love is here today
and it’s gone tomorrow
it’s here and gone so fast

weblogs.com was acquired by verisign. congrats to dave!

1% for the planet is an organization that is getting companies to donate 1% of their net sales to environmental causes. it was founded by yvon chouinard, the founder of patagonia. i may quibble with it only being 1%, and net instead of gross, but it is a start.

chouinard spoke at the library last night about his book, let my people go surfing: the education of a reluctant businessman. it sounds like a great book, and i’m on the hold list for it at the library now.

note to self: when you feel your back starting to feel off, skip exercising for a few days. i felt it happening the last few days, exercised anyway, and today i’m paying the price.

i’m going to be a real barrel of laughs this weekend.

(to clarify, this is strained-back-move-like-an-old-man back pain, not oh-my-god-where’s-the-vicodin back pain.)

chicken little doesn’t come out until november 4.

look, it’s another askmefi question that touches on something i’ve been thinking about. this time it is a question about what clothes to get for a wedding.

for as long as i can remember, i’ve been someone who mindlessly sticks to a single style at a time. lately, that has meant t-shirts (largely from threadless) and sweat shorts or jeans. (and here’s where some people say “jeans? when did that start happening?” thanks for the support.)

peering into that part of my closet that i never use, i’ve discovered that i own a few polo shirts that i would never want to wear, a pair of slacks and a long-sleeve white shirt that i probably last wore to a wedding, a couple of pairs of khakis, a denim mysql shirt, and a nice shirt that doesn’t go with either pair of khakis or jeans (but works with the slacks, i guess). oh, there’s a sweater in there, too.

i do actually own a pair of shoes that aren’t sneakers (or sandals) that basically fit, although i’m not sure i’d really want to wear them for long. (stupid fat right foot.)

so i find myself in a situation where i feel like i should get some clothes that are above the level of t-shirt-and-jeans in order to not be an embarrassment to myself and others, but with absolutely no clue what that means, and a slight reluctance to really commit to it because if this trend continues, anything that fits well now will not fit well in the not-very-distant future.

i feel like this is where i should get to some sort of point. not gonna happen.