2007 January | B&G’s Excellent Adventure

There are two kinds of people in this world

January 30th, 2007

Bison Poop Reveals Two Distinct U.S. Populations

…….those who like Bison poop, …….and those who don’t.

One more thing I love about Mac

January 30th, 2007

Or, more specifically, wide screen displays and multi-monitor displays. Frequently I work on an older Windows machine with a standard size screen. It drives me crazy. Even at work, with Windows, I have a 19” display with the laptop display set up as an extended monitor. This allows me to actually be productive, with high priority or active windows on the main screen and low priority/monitor/reference information on the small screen.

What I like about Mac, wide screen functionality is default. I would love to have two 30” wide screen displays, but the wide screen laptop is a good compromise. Here is a screen shot that is quite representative of the average activity on my screen:

Screen

As you can see (probably with a little scrolling is that I have a browser with a few windows, a video window, a PDF and a handful of other random items floating around. This is actually a little low volume, but a good example. As I’ve been reading articles about Windows Vista, reading articles on LifeHacker.com, and many other things, I’ve thought a lot about how I work (or don’t). What I’ve found is that I really like have ‘high status’ items and ‘low status’ items. By this I mean, having items on the screen (or split between two screens) that are at the top of the priority list, and at the bottom of the priority list, and allowing those priorities to change. I’m sure there are a dozen people who can tell me this is inefficient, my attention is fractured and I could work more effectively. But for me, it seems to work pretty well - at least for what I do at home.

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Don’t know much about geography?

January 28th, 2007

Here is a fun little map game in which you must drag the country name to the map location. This should be easy, I mean it would be if it were just North America, but this map includes the middle east and northern Africa.

It did take me a few minutes to sort out some of the former Soviet republics by trial and error, and two of the interior African countries I got switched. Give it a try, and then read the Wikipedia page for any countries you miss - makes for a good learning experience. Here’s mine:

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Quantum Humor

January 27th, 2007

Apparently humor is quantum, with many energy levels. I ran across this image:

Shrodinger

And was thoroughly amused. But no one else I’ve talked to seems to get it, so here is the the Wikipedia explaination complete with nice graphic explanation.

Categories: Random/Funny, Science/Tech | 2 Comments

Thailand– Eye candy #1

January 22nd, 2007

For your viewing pleasure, I have decided to download some higher resolutions photos to Flickr. Clicking onto the thumbnail should take you there– then click on “All Sizes” to see a bigger pic.

Bid Buddha Temple.

Water.

Pool

Lantern

Categories: Photography, Travel | No Comments

The Ugly… Russian

January 19th, 2007

Before we took off for Thailand, Ben was joking that he would tell everybody that he’s from Canada not willing to be associated with the stereotypical loud and obnoxious American tourist. It turns out he didn’t have to resort to that measure: being a half-world away, Thailand didn’t seem to be overrun with US nationals and those whom we met appeared quite normal. It was me who should have been ready to hide my nationality….

Tropical island of Ko Samui. A tiny airport is full with tourists ready for their next destination. It’s 5 AM and everybody is flocking to the coffee stand. One hears French, German, Australian accents. Young people with backpacks and scuba gear are intermingled with sleepy families. Things are, you know, casual– flip-flops and T-shirts. Then HE walks in. HE is sporting peach corduroy pants with a large embroidered logo on the back picket. He’s probably in his late forties, with a sizable beer belly, thinning blond hair and a fresh burn on his skin. The gut is hanging over the corduroy but the onlookers are spared– it is covered up by an expensive-looking silk T-shirt in the same fruity color. Unfortunately, the T-shirt is too thin to protect us from the view of the ample-sized man breasts effectively highlighted by large sweat stains. HE pulls out a real cloth handkerchief and tries to control sweat coming down his face and through the T-shirt. Aside from resembling a tropic flower in color, HE looks mighty uncomfortable– his feet are squeezed into a pair of glossy black dress shoes with impossibly pointy tips. But HE looks too good to be sitting down– HE is pacing up and down the isle while his equally husky female companion is complaining about something to the second couple they’re traveling with. Those two are not nearly as colorful even though the female is sporting all-too-tight leopard-print shirt and a henna-colored overgrown mullet. There’s no mistake– those people are from the Motherland.

All through Thailand, Russians seem to be everywhere. We, as a nation, need visas to travel to most of the countries so Thai government offering visas on arrival to Russian nationals opens a whole new road for the sun-starved. While the young Russians blend into the crowd relatively easily (until they open their mouths, that is), one cannot miss an Russian family. I am not so proud to report the following common features observed among most of my fellow countrymen:

They speak LOUDLY
They assume nobody else talks Russian and feel free to openly discuss everything and everybody in sight including the fellow tourists.
They complain. A LOT. Things in Thailand are just not like in Russia. And yes, they do so LOUDLY
They KNOW they’re superior to other nations including the hosting Thais (it is socially acceptable to be racist.)
They feel entitled to being first to everything. Queuing up does not apply to Russians.
Women of all ages wear things too tight and too short
40-year old men with extra weight do not only wear speedoes. We witnessed one proudly parading in yellow-and-red-stripes banana hammock! His poor 6-year-old daughter must be so damaged.
They do sneak bottles of vodka everywhere with them, including family snorkeling adventures. And then they complain about the provided food.

My apologies to all quiet, polite and intelligent Russians who undoubtedly went unnoticed– I am sure you were as ashamed of what you have seen as I was. At least, I had an easy escape of saying that I am from Minnesota.

Categories: Random/Funny, Travel | 1 Comment

Why am I getting wierd email from these people?

January 16th, 2007

That is the question some of you may be asking yourselves and G and I are leveraging LinkedIn. If you know us well and haven’t seen an email, you probably will soon, or your Spam blocker didn’t like it.

It all started when with this post from Guy Kawasaki about how to use LinkedIn got Dugg up to the front page. What really caught me was the bullet that all 500 Fortune 500 CEOs are in there. The service has finally grown to a meaningful number of users, at least some of whom are active. It seems the service has grown to critical mass, at least Business Week seems to think so. I was surprised how many people I know are in there, though many people seem to be out of date.

So, I’ve been going a bit crazy (not really) sending invites out and reconnecting with some people. One thing I wish was easier/cheaper is to get in touch with people you know, but don’t have a good email for. For example, one of my former managers is on the system, but for some odd reason LinkedIn doesn’t recognize it (thought it is there in his profile). The thing is, I don’t have his email - that’s why I searched for him and hoped to get back in touch. I don’t really want to sign up for $19.95/month just to send a note to this one person - especially knowing that I will probably have a tough time dropping back from a paid account to a free account. It would be a great feature to allow for pay-per-play introductions for people to re-connect with people who may not have been colleagues or classmates, or the system may not recognize for some reason.

I totally understand and respect why the ability to connect and contact people is limited, but I think there is a pay-per-play price that is high enough to prevent annoyance, but low enough to allow for some important re-connections. Alternately, they could fix the matching logic so my former colleagues actually show up correctly.

If you do choose to sign in or sign up, take a look at another Guy Kawasaki post on creating a good profile.

Categories: Science/Tech | No Comments

This just in: Pat Robertson is (still) high

January 16th, 2007

I am going to steal from Ben’s favorite subject and post this little tidbit about his nemesis. Alive and kicking, the good ol’ leader of 700 club seems to be puffing something exceptionally good to have God herself appear in his dreams. All I want to know why doesn’t he publicize the other 363 of his dreams– nocturnal S&M midget fantasies are definitely much more entertaining.

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A few travel rules worth repeating

January 15th, 2007

Traveling by air while sick sucks. A twelve hour flight alone makes you want to kill yourself, add to it a stuffy head and ears that would not pop for several days and you get the full picture. So even if you don’t like taking drugs for your colds, by all means use the most powerful decongestant you have for flying. Otherwise, on the landing, your ears will hurt LIKE HELL.
NWA really does stand for NorthWorst Airlines. I have flown other US carriers before and now I got to compare it to the two Thai airlines and the verdict is still the same: had I not been living in a NWA hub, I would never set my foot on their craft. And don’t get me started on their meal selection for international flights– eating one’s own nails might end up being tastier than their vegetarian selection
A little travel roll of toilet paper bought at Target is probably the best 99 cents investment you can do for your trip to an exotic country. Don’t ask for any details– just trust me on this one!
Once back home, avoid taking naps! No matter how painful, it is better to suffer through and go to bed at your usual time. This bit of wisdom is easier said than done– it has been 3 days since we came back and both Bk and myself are in a rough shape.

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