The pan I baked tonight turned out very well, so notes. Of course if you want to do a variant you can change / subtract as needed. ( Read more... )

• 16:32 You know it's a good Saturday when breakfast is at noon and lunch is at 3 ;)
• 19:31 Question: Do those with "locked" twitters get businesses following them too? (I assume they're adding me as an advertising measure)
• 21:00 Got Coulton's 'Baby Got Back' stuck in my head. 'I like big butts & I cannot lie...'

Automatically copied from http://www.twitter.com/jenk3 via LoudTwitter cause it's easy :)

Apparently the pedestrian bridge in the Arboretum (also an aqueduct) not only has several warning signs advising drivers that it's only got 9' of clearance, but Raymond notes there is a laser sensor which triggers flashing yellow lights if an over-height vehicle approaches.

So how did the driver a of 12' high bus manage to hit it? Simple - he set his GPS to "bus" and assumed it wouldn't route him somewhere that didn't have "bus" clearance. The driver didn't think he had to worry about clearance, so he didn't see the lights or signs. (Raymond linked to this article on inattentional blindness, which I thought was pretty useful.)

As it happens, the bus had an off-the-shelf GPS that knew not to send him to routes generally closed to buses, but not one that tracks clearance height. (One clue might have been that the GPS didn't ask him the height of his bus.) The GPS company spokesman notes "Stoplights aren't in our databases, either, but you're still expected to stop for stoplights."

Some companies do send people out to collect clearance height data and create specialty GPS packages that calculate clearances, but it's a specialty item mostly geared to truckers. This article doesn't discuss price but it sounds like it's more expensive, too.

(Btw, all the links here are from Raymond's post. I'm including them here because I found them pretty useful.)

• 16:22 The Three Lions people seem to be used to us having more friends show up over time. #


• 16:25 Last weekend was 80F. This weekend is in the 40s. Hi Spring. #


• 20:01 I have a copy of Vixy & Tony's new CD. Yay. But it would be a little rude to leave the live show to listen to the CD. Oops. #


• 20:04 ...and it's 8pm & Vixy is singing 'The Girl That's Never Been'. :) #


• 20:41 I'm never sure if 'Rich Fantasy Lives' is more sad or sweet. #

Automatically copied from http://www.twitter.com/jenk3 via LoudTwitter cause it's easy :)

(ETA links & some cleanup)

It's interesting how what we often worry about isn't borne out by statistics. Some ways to check this...

[Let's Pretend the top 5 question is the top 1 :]

Poll #1171188 Assessing Risk
Open to: All, results viewable to: None

What's more common in the United States?

What's the more frequent cause of death in the United States?

What are the top five causes of accidental death in America after motor-vehicle accidents?

Of the top two causes of nonaccidental death in America, which kills more women?

What are the next three causes of nonaccidental death in the United States?

Which kills more Americans?

Which kills more Americans?

This is adapted from this article from the psychologytoday feed. Yes, answers are in the linked article. (Thanks dianthus for pointing it out :)

Ok, this year took longer than usual. Partly because I kept putting it off. Partly because the threads weren't coming together.

The below is mostly for my reference, so I will use an ( LJ cut )

• 11:57 Windows live site designer seems to prefer embedded flash to javascript. Interesting. kilsmith.com/jenread.aspx #
• 20:02 Dinner was made by the fantabulous JW1776. To those who ask, "But doesn't he cook as much or more than you do anyway?" I say: Exactly!!! #
• 20:34 Right. Supposed to do taxes. Or at least continue to make progress with taxes. #
• 20:57 Why does the thought of schedule D make me feel so tired? It's like an insomnia remedy. #
• 21:19 I think it's that schedule D is "sell stocks at loss, put proceeds into index funds." It's housekeeping. #

Automatically copied from http://www.twitter.com/jenk3 via LoudTwitter cause it's easy :)

You may remember that last May, Joss Whedon wrote about the "honor killing" of Du'a Khalil, on April 7, 2007.

A group of people have put together an anthology of "responses" to Du'a Khalil's death and Whedon's essay called Nothing But Red, with proceeds going to Equality Now. (Yes, EN is the charity supported by Can't Stop the Serenity.)

At the moment I think I'd be more likely to give EN the cash than buy the book, but I also think creating the book is a Good Thing overall and probably wasn't easy.

Couple links: I know they're talking about the UK here, but throwing away 1/3 of food uneaten seems high...?

And: How stupid lies get into history textbooks.

What's a drawer lunch? It's lunch ingredients that can live in a drawer at work, no refrigeration needed, for when you don't have time for anything else.

In this case:
Trader Ming's Pad Thai Noodles & Sauce
1 small can chicken
1 small can mixed veggies (carrots, corn, celery, potatoes)

Mix the noodles & sauce as directed. Add the chicken & veggies and mix a little. Nuke the 2 minutes Trader Joe's instructs.

(Yes, such is the lack of choices in walking distance at work that this is my fallback. I like Newport Bay & The Keg, but they're expensive for everyday, and Burgermaster isn't something I want every day either. Mostly I eat leftovers or frozen dinners. I miss working on 16th & East John...)

Concert rocked. Hands down-worst seats I've ever had (behind the stage, second to the last row) even without the Drunk Young Republicans shouting behind us. But good.

Trapped, No Surrender, Darkness on the Edge of Town ... yay. Really, yay.

Oh yeah, they did Rosalita. It's not as special to me as it is for others, but it does have the line I used to use as a signature: "Closets are for hangers" :)

Permagrin, yeah. Happy, yeah. Dancing with jw1776, skydancer, dianthus for a couple hours, yeah.

Oh, and one Drunk Young Republican was very pissed that Bruce didn't sing Born in the USA. "I can't believe he didn't do USA! I only came to hear that song! How can he not do USA!" I thought about asking why he was so very very sure Bruce would do it when he hasn't done it since September, but decided I didn't want to deal with explaining things like "Bruce's website" to him.

(Could be worse. Once in L.A. a Clueless Drunkard learned over and asked me if I thought Bruce was going to do something more popular, like maybe Born in the USA ... while Bruce was performing his solo blues version of Born in the USA. *facepalm*)

Oh yeah: We left for Key Arena about 6pm. Fairly sunny, plum & cherry trees in bloom, green, springlike. Drive back home about midnight and find snow on the ground, slushy roads, etc. Kinda ... weird.

A recession may be looming, but a group of investors thinks Americans are ready to pony up $35 for a movie ticket.

Village Roadshow Ltd., Act III, Lambert Entertainment and the Retirement Systems of Alabama pension fund have partnered to bring the luxury cinema circuit Village Roadshow Gold Class Cinemas to the U.S.

The partners will spend $200 million to build 50 theaters nationwide over the next five years, with the first two venues set to open in South Barrington, a suburb of Chicago, and the Seattle suburb of Redmond in October.

Each complex will sport theaters featuring 40 reclining armchair seats with footrests, digital projection and the capability to screen 2-D and 3-D movies, as well as a lounge and bar serving cocktails and appetizers, a concierge service and valet parking.
- Variety, emphasis added

This is just ... strange. $35 for a movie? In jeans-and-coffee Redmond? I know it's one of the more affluent suburbs, and selling sushi and booze instead of pop & candy will be a draw, but ... $35 for a movie ticket and the opportunity to buy overpriced booze?

I guess I could see renting a theater with just 40 seats for party, but even so ... I really don't expect this a Redmond location to hit the black, I just don't.

From Psychology Today on how we edit our memories:

No matter what our life story is, we tend to continually rewrite it. During periods of transition, memories on the back burner may acquire new importance, depending on what's going on.
[...]
As soon as recollections come out of storage and enter the interpersonal realm, they are ripe for modification: "If something momentous happens, we may feel pressured to make meaning of it by talking to people and gauging their reactions," says Thorne. The feedback shapes our future memories of what transpired.

We are highly suggestible; subjects in one study actually "remembered" visiting someplace they'd never been after seeing a photo of it. Suggestion may even induce false memories of abuse. The more we retell false memories, the more "real" they become.

The most enduring autobiographical memories are emotionally loaded, both positively and negatively. The more we retell these stories, the more important they will seem. Replaying breakup or accident scenes heightens their sentimental power, akin to repeatedly ripping the scab off a wound. Conversely, the less we talk about an unfortunate event, the easier it is to put it behind us.

I do think that talking about something momentous can help make sense of it. But yes, after a bit, I often want to stop talking about it - a bit of "Oh I understand now, onto something more interesting." :)

I also find this true in my life:

Over time we elevate happy memories to prominence and demote unhappy ones to the back burner of the brain. Psychologists at the University of Washington, Seattle, demonstrated that people could intentionally forget selected memories, providing an explanation for why we may not remember unpleasant or sad episodes.
[...]
But the effects of our distortions may be more important than their severity. "If being inaccurate allows you to have optimism in your life or to go forward even in situations where you might have given up," says Jefferson Singer, "a little inaccuracy is not so bad."

It could also be that as we gain more experience, we also gain more perspective, and the negatives appear less important next to the positives. But it also may be that optimists tend to focus more on the good and pessimists more on the bad, and so you'll pick whichever reinforces your worldview.

The Stranger's book column talks Norwescon this week. (For non-locals, The Stranger is the free weekly that originated Savage Love.)

Seattle has had a prominent book festival for over three decades, and for the last quarter century it's also hosted a world-famous, prestigious awards ceremony. If you consider yourself a reader and you didn't know about this festival already, it's probably due to your narrow tastes: it's devoted to science fiction and fantasy.

I like his description of the Philip K. Dick awards:

[A]n annual ceremony dedicated to celebrating a "distinguished original science-fiction paperback published for the first time during the award year in the USA." Unlike most book awards, the PKD Awards almost always single out an excellent book.

I'm not sure how having Norwescon on Easter Weekend is "sacrilegious" (or what's all that odd about a Joss Whedon sing-a-long or Hobbit Country Dancing) but hey, there *IS* a full moon tonight... ;)

...from Get Rich Slowly... if TV were a person (cartoon).

Another sign of trouble is that you suddenly realize that all your friends hate you, you’re having an awful time, you’ve made a fool of yourself in every conversation you’ve been in so far, and you should never have come to the convention. This is definitely a sign that you should go back to your room and take a nap. When you wake up, things will be better.
- from WorldConGoing

That was Sunday afternoon, when we were calling car rental agencies about getting a 1-way rental to drive home.

After finding out options, we decided to get out of the hotel and do Something Else. Preferably involving Outside and Fresh Air. We did. This helped enormously. San Marco, in the Venetian hotel, has deep-fried risotto balls. Just ... exquisite. Yum.

Monday dawned much nicer. After breakfast with divaprime we toddled off to the Wynn and other fun points which meant we did not drive back. But ... and this was a Very Good Thing ... we were in bed by 9pm. This made the flights back (Vegas to Seattle via Los Angeles) much nicer.

Also good was that the last night we switched from the Las Vegas Hilton (where the wedding was) to the Hilton Grand Vacation Club @ the Las Vegas Hilton, which had the king size bed we'd requested, non-smoking public areas, a fridge, a microwave, and a nicer (this decade) bathroom. While staying in the wedding hotel was convenient for the wedding and let me use points, overall the Grand Vacation Club? Very cool.

Dave Patterson, the new Governor of New York, is both the first black governor of NY and the first legally blind governor of any US state.

I think there's a thesis in analyzing which newspapers put which b-word in their headlines...

We did the "spring forward" switch Sunday. So, poll.

(If you just want the answers, click submit.)

(Non-US folk: Yes, I know other countries do DST/Summer Time. Most just aren't switching yet. So if you want to answer according to your own memories/experiences, that's fine too.)

Poll #1151990 USDST
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Right now, I am feeling....

I think this is mostly due to...

I dislike Daylight Savings Time because...

I like Daylight Saving Time because...

Overall, I think we should:

Today I'm thankful for ...

jw1776, for this weekend.
Especially Sunday afternoon & evening.
jw1776's work project is wrapping up.
Breakfast with divaprime.
Good night's sleep before flying.
JoCo, whose music helped smooth the flight from LA.
Fun with friends' kitties.
XKCD
skydancer
dianthus
Nesting!

From The Economist by way of The Wealth Report blog:

IN 1904 Willie Vanderbilt hit a thrilling 92.3 mph (147.7 kph) in his new German motorcar, smashing the land-speed record. His older brother's sprawling North Carolina manse, Biltmore, could accommodate up to 500 pounds of meat in its electrical refrigerators. In miserable contrast, the below-average Gilded Age American had to make do with a pair of shoes and a melting block of ice. If he could somehow save enough for an icebox, a day's wage would not have bought a pound of meat to put in it.[...]

[C]onsumption numbers, [like income], conceal as much as they illuminate. They can record only that we have spent, but not the value—the pleasure or health—gained in the spending. A stable trend in nominal consumption inequality can mask a narrowing of real or “utility-adjusted” consumption inequality. Indeed, according to happiness researchers, inequality in self-reported “life satisfaction” has been shrinking in wealthy market democracies, America included, suggesting that the quality of lives across the income scale are becoming more similar, not less.

You can see this levelling at work in markets for transport and appliances. You no longer need be a Vanderbilt to own a refrigerator or a car. ( Read more... )

Note the distinction. The argument isn't that the Sub-Zero is the same as the IKEA. The argument is that the distinctions between the two are less relevant than the distinction between having any refrigerator and having NO refrigeration.

[W]hen the prices of food, clothing and basic modern conveniences drop relative to the price of luxury goods, real consumption inequality drops. But the point is not that in America the relatively poor suffer no painful indignities, which would be absurd. It is that, over time, the everyday experience of consumption among the less fortunate has become in many ways more similar to that of their wealthier compatriots. [...]

This compression is the predictable consequence of innovations in production and distribution that have improved the quality of goods at the lower range of prices faster than at the top. [...]

This increasing equality in real consumption mirrors a dramatic narrowing of other inequalities between rich and poor, such as the inequalities in height, life expectancy and leisure.

What surprises me is that their caption headed "Save money. Live better" is applied to how the poor spend less than the rich but live better than they used to anyway. I expected "Save money. Live better" to be a suggestion that those who want to increase their financial situation could spend less than than they actually can "afford", save the difference, and use the savings to take the next step they need to, whatever that is.* But maybe that didn't occur to the author...

---

*Examples: emergency fund, pay down debt, invest it for retirement, save for a down payment on a house, save for a replacement car, et cetera.

Poll #1135493 robocalls
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Do "robocalls" - recorded messages from politicians or other celebrities - make you more or less inclinded to support the caller / caller's cause?

Do you tend to...