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jluke

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uncanny valley [Dec. 3rd, 2009|11:19 pm]
jluke
Why does it seem to be easier to model a realistic breast than a realistic eye in a face having a real emotion?
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scenes from a Christmas Tree Store [Jun. 10th, 2009|11:20 am]
jluke
Young Mom pushing baby stroller: "I have no say in any decision in my household."

Older Woman walking with her: "And what's wrong with that?"
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democracy [Nov. 4th, 2008|06:50 am]
jluke
My polling place (6th Precinct, 500 South Ave, "Thunderdome") was a comedy of errors.

Polls opened at 6am, so I woke up at 5:45 and headed down. My next-door neighbor and I were first and second in line. The custodian was late to open the room, so the workers were still getting set up well into 6:30.

There were two machines, the old tab-and-handle style, and a new electronic touch screen that looked like a high-volume photocopier. There was much argument about where to place the machine. It was finally determined that the cord was a trip hazard, so the best orientation would be for the touchscreen to face the line of waiting voters.

The two little old ladies setting up the touchscreen were having a really hard time of it.

"It says we put the RFID tag here when the beeping stops."
[BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP]
"I can't hear the beeping."
"It's still beeping."
"It says Administrator Denied."
"Oh...we have to call this number..."

Just as I was next in line and the room was filling up, the lady running the show announced, "Oh! I forgot to tell everyone, you have the option of voting electronically! But it takes 15 minutes, and your vote doesn't get counted until a week later!"

I asked her what the good part was. She just laughed and said "...yeah..."
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wow nature [Aug. 1st, 2008|07:05 am]
jluke
"At birth, male ceratioids are already equipped with extremely well
developed olfactory organs that detect scents in the water. When it is mature,
the male's digestive system degenerates, making him incapable of feeding
independently, which necessitates his quickly finding a female anglerfish to
prevent his death. The sensitive olfactory organs help the male to detect the
pheromones that signal the proximity of a female anglerfish. When he finds a
female, he bites into her skin, and releases an enzyme that digests the skin
of his mouth and her body, fusing the pair down to the blood-vessel level.

The male then atrophies into nothing more than a pair of gonads, which releases
sperm in response to hormones in the female's bloodstream indicating egg
release. This extreme sexual dimorphism ensures that, when the female is ready
to spawn, she has a mate immediately available."

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operation zero tolerance [Jul. 30th, 2008|04:20 pm]
jluke
Hero of the week: The officer who noticed that my car's inspection was lapsed, and left a ticket neatly folded in the door handle of the car parked on the street outside of my apartment at 6:10 in the morning.
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freedom costs 44.62 [Jun. 20th, 2008|02:48 am]
jluke
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5913539M
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comfort, vitality, humanity and mutanity [Jun. 18th, 2008|02:16 pm]
jluke
[Tags|, , , ]

Spider-Man's web shooters represent a ridiculously advanced knowledge of materials science. So why didn't more of his solutions to problems involve chemistry and garage industrial design? He could have been a blue collar Bruce Wayne, making cottage industry spida-rangs out of his spare office.

Maybe all the science stuff flew out of his head the moment the radioactive spider spit rearranged his nucleic acids. Or maybe he just got old and settled down and got soft. Stuck with what worked. Web nets and gymnastics all day, with the Spidey-sense to help handle any gaps in the plan. Why mess with it?

Maybe all the brightest did their best work in their early-to-mid-twenties because that is the point at which they were just hustling to survive. High school guidance counseling is bankrupt if it doesn't cover a broad-strokes overview of risk management.
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Writer's Block: AAAGH! [Jun. 16th, 2008|11:24 am]
jluke
[Tags|]

What is your worst nightmare?


When I was a little kid, I always had the same nightmare that Abraham Lincoln's corpse had risen from the grave and was walking around looking at me.
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r.i.p. utah phillips [May. 24th, 2008|10:31 pm]
jluke
"I have seen that our best presidents were the do-nothing presidents. When you have a president who does things, we are all in serious trouble. I guarantee that if I am elected, I will take over the White House, hang out, shoot pool, scratch my ass, and not do a damn thing."
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thoughts from julian diubbell's lecture [Apr. 9th, 2008|08:17 am]
jluke
dude wrote a rape in cyberspace just when I was coming up in LambdaMOO, dealing with my own producer/consumer relationship to technology, coming down firmly on the producer side, and getting set on this career path (for some values of career).

anyway, dibbell is no longer looking at MOOs (I guess digital ethnographers have passed the torch to the digital historians). now he's on to gold farmers and toy markets.

he spent a day gold farming in china. something weird happened at the end of the 12 hour shift: a portion of the workers used their 2-3 hours of leisure time to
keep playing warcraft. what's that about? love of work?

I took two ideas away from his final thoughts:

1) the "protestant work ethic" (labor gets you into heaven) is just the oldschool way to say "leveling up"

2) there's something funny about addictive relationships to our work. we have a ministry in the city that uses recovering meth addicts to repair bicycles ("those according to their ability...")

if our work has meaning for us, maybe we say we love it?

and addiction is another positive feedback loop that can look like love?

so maybe the litmus test for a healthy relationship (to work or whatever) is one that loves you back, or moves you forward in proportion to the energy you invest?
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