a child is always able to live in the present moment.the child in us is always alive.maybe we have not had enough time to take care of the child within us.when we live in the present moment it is possible to live in true happiness.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
my nephew
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
passing of a friend
i learned yesterday that someone i really respected had passed away in fairly unusual circumstances. dan kliman, a doctor, activist, and energetic debater, was found dead in a san francisco elevator shaft this past weekend. the police are emphasizing that this was an accident, and what a tragic one.
Friday, November 28, 2008
cajun spiced nuts
made a great spiced nuts recipe from my brother-in-law's family. jane lee gave me the recipe. fanstastic stuff. loved by all.
- 2 TBSP unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup corn syrup (we did fake maple syrup, you can likely experiment)
- 2 TBSP water
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 0.5 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp tobasco sauce
- 3/4 tsp ground pepper
- 1 pound almonds (or mix of other nuts)
- preheat oven to 250
- melt butter
- mix all ingredients in butter pot, simmer and let boil for 1 to 2 minutes
- stir in nuts, coating well
- cover baking sheet with tin foil, line with slight amount of oil or pam or whatever non-stick you use
- bake for 1 hour at 250, stirring nuts every 15 minutes to get them well coated
- let cool and break nuts off sheet
enjoy!
inflating tires, inflating dreams
You can improve your gas mileage by around 3.3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure. Under-inflated tires can lower gas mileage by 0.3 percent for every 1 psi drop in pressure of all four tires. Properly inflated tires are safer and last longer.
Monday, November 03, 2008
halloween critical mass
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
vote no on prop 8
now, among other things, the "yes" campaign has put a lot of focus on the effects of this proposition on schools and churches. first, on schools, the "yes" campaign has this interesting video:
i think it's worth watching, for educational purposes. these are massachusetts residents who discuss their perceived effects of the MA law. anyway, some stirring quotes. if the bill is passed, there will be "homosexuality at every level" in our schools, and in every discipline: "math, reading, social studies, spelling." indeed, spelling. can you spell "fear-mongering" and "intolerance."
i love this desire the parents express concerning their children: that their children "not have them face adult issues when they're children." one of the parents expresses their revulsion at having their children exposed to these ideas prior to "their choosing." !
now, to the effects on religious institutions. i love how the "yes" campaign is letting others say things for them, rather than actually saying what is the truth. take this line, from the "yes" site. it appears in a letter to the editor of the orange county register:
Churches will be forced to perform same-sex marriages even if that is contrary to the church's position. Churches would not be able to use their doctrinal beliefs to defend their positions.
now, i don't know where this is coming from. the separation of church and state is guaranteed by the US constitution (the amendments, i think, to be exact). so the IRS, the law.. they are not going to be gunning for churches that resist marrying same-sex couples. this is A+ fear-mongering.
anyway, i can't see how if you're in a same-sex partnership, but it's not titled marriage, that somehow people are going to afford what you have the same dignity and respect as what married people have. "separate but equal" in this case seems to smack of discrimination based on sexual preference. if you feel your religion compels you to vote for this resolution, i don't expect to convince you otherwise. but i'd really like to know if there are more compelling arguments to support this resolution.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
this american life: going big
Saturday, September 27, 2008
prius goes mainstream?
Monday, September 15, 2008
high school musical in my head again
Sunday, September 07, 2008
i'll take your money
charity girl: in sf, 5 homeless shelters were shut down or nearly shut down because of budget cuts...omar: mmm yes yescharity girl: [more details about the shutdown].. we are looking for donations.omar: no doubt.charity girl: $160 would support ...omar: i'm not giving that much!cg: you can give just $40 to support...omar: nope.cg: well, you could give even $5 and we'd mark your name here in this list with a $ sign, indicating that you gave.omar: thanks, but no thanks.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
"just wake up!"
human effort, human dignity
Monday, September 01, 2008
i love my torn jeans
it's a piece of clothing that captures a lot of history. i need to buy a new camera so i can show you!
i saw such a torn up pair of jeans on a friend recently and asked him if the tears were his. he replied 'no', they were designer.
i want to meet the designer who can personalize tears for me better than me. i'll salute that genius.
ok, now i have to fish my keys out of the inner tear in these jeans.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
take my books, please!
well, i plan to give these books away. but first i want to offer them to my friends. so, feel free to follow this link and put your name in the "Receiver" column if you'd like any of the books . add some comments if you want. the books aren't sorted in any manner. i just dumped the info into this spreadsheet.
and by all means, feel free to list your own books you'd like to give away.
i will be sure to get you your book(s) in a timely fashion (but don't expect amazon prime speeds!)
Sunday, August 17, 2008
north by northwest
now, to be honest, it isn't as good as vertigo. however, it has some wonderful scenes. in the scene below, from right at the beginning of the movie, a case of mistaken identity turns into something far more sinister. i think this part is played to perfection, and martin landau, who you see on the right in the still below, is superb. i felt uncomfortable just thinking about the absurdity of it all..
Friday, August 08, 2008
let's puff
when you enter the exhibit area, you first only see a girl blowing at you. exactly like the video below:
then, you turn around and see a second screen (shown in this next video, be patient):
can you guess what's going on? it's not easy from these videos.
anyway, the artist erected two screens, one with a woman blowing at the camera, and another, across from the woman's screen, depicting a street in shanghai. whenever the woman blows, the other screen speeds up. it's a wonderful visual and aural depiction of the rapid growth and change in shanghai that has swept up the city. now imagine walking in an art space and constantly hearing that blowing sound from the first video. a bit eerie!
you can learn more about the piece here.
friendship buckets
a friend recently used the phrase "friendship bucket" as a metaphor representing the state of a relationship. when i read this phrase i thought of leaky buckets, buckets with patches, refilling a bucket with water, or leaving a bucket out in the sun and seeing all the water dry up (the bucket above represents a really really old friendship!).
but then i got all geeky and started thinking about the effectiveness of such a metaphor (i think we can thank jono for that, who often pontificates on things like this over on his blog). for example, the state of a relationship is really an intersubjective thing -- so either friends share the same bucket and compromise on the representation ("i thought our bucket had two holes, a small patch and was 3/4 full -- how could you think it was only 1/2 full!") or, more reasonably, the friendship bucket is an individual's view on a particular relationship.
ok. but there still seems to be something missing. for instance, if i had a metaphor for the state of a relationship, i'd want it to either cleanly capture the current state, or the history. ideally, both. i don't think a bucket does either of these very well. for instance, if your bucket is meant to capture history, then how do you make sense of the current "fullness"? obviously there was some reason we'd say the bucket is 3/4 full (it got there somehow?) -- but what was the pour history? if that seems a bit ridiculous, and your bucket is really just a reflection of now, then you also run into problems because the way we (or at least i) think about relationships is hardly ahistoric -- the history is there and immediately foregrounds when i bring a friend to mind. and a bucket is an object i think of as having history -- indeed, a patch on a bucket was placed at a particular time, and in this metaphor might represent some form of friendship repair that may not be immediate but is nonetheless important.
so friendship bucket isn't resonating with me. and you probably think this is quite ridiculous -- who meditates on the effectiveness of such a metaphor? well, i do! :)
i think a few elements are missing in this metaphor. here they are:
- a clear distinction between what i think of the relationship, what i think the other person might think, and maybe some objective measures (when we last met up?)
- a way of tracking the movement of the relationship
- a method for thinking about this relationship in comparison to other similar relationships in your life
this actually leads me to discuss a fantastic work by intel seattle. in elder care homes, a major problem is social isolation amongst the elders. having had a grandmother who was in a nursing home, i intimately understand the problem. workers at homes really try to keep the elders engaged with various others (family, friends, people at the home).
so what intel did was create a very simple display. it shows a solar system, with the central object, the sun, representing the elder. the orbiting "planets" are people in the elder's social network. the distance between a planet and the sun is a reflection of the social closeness of the elder and the person, at that time. in this case, the proximity was based on interactions (phone calls, visits, length of these interactions). the display showed preliminary success when compared to a control case. indeed, elders who used the display would try to bring in outer planets by getting in touch with the represented people.
so, now the question -- why is this just for elders? it likely seems strange to think of having such a detailed reflection on your relationships. we keep this stuff in our head. but as a mechanism for self-reflection, and potentially as a mechanism for mak
i'd want to incorporate a few things into this display:
- reflection of my impression of the relationship. maybe just an emoticon on the planet?
- a method for seeing the movement of the planets over time, so you can see how different relationships have evolved. the faded trajectory above tries to do that
anyway i think i'll end here and continue these thoughts in the future.
Monday, July 21, 2008
obama in the new yorker
the recent cover-controversy issue of the new yorker has a great article about obama's political days in chicago. to all the obama people who are disappointed with his recent big flops (public financing of presidential campaigns, fisa), get real. he's a politician. running for president. as the new yorker writer puts it:
Perhaps the greatest misconception about Barack Obama is that he is some sort of anti-establishment revolutionary. Rather, every stage of his political career has been marked by an eagerness to accommodate himself to existing institutions rather than tear them down or replace them. When he was a community organizer, he channelled his work through Chicago’s churches, because they were the main bases of power on the South Side. He was an agnostic when he started, and the work led him to become a practicing Christian. At Harvard, he won the presidency of the Law Review by appealing to the conservatives on the selection panel. In Springfield, rather than challenge the Old Guard Democratic leaders, Obama built a mutually beneficial relationship with them. “You have the power to make a United States senator,” he told Emil Jones in 2003. In his downtime, he played poker with lobbyists and Republican lawmakers. In Washington, he has been a cautious senator and, when he arrived, made a point of not defining himself as an opponent of the Iraq war.on the cover: i think hertzberg's analysis is on point. not the best cartoon, but people are way too sensitive. i think it's quite amusing, but no where near as funny as the recent ahminijad cover:
recall that around this time ahmadinejad claimed there were no homosexuals in iran, and senator larry craig had his unfortunate footsie incident in a public bathroom.
human research: how to
Question 4 Multiple Choice/Single Answer - select only one answer (1 point)
Which of the following is the LEAST important activity when protecting human subjects in international research?
(a) Assessing local transportation conditions
(b) Considering local customs, norms, and laws.
(c) Consulting with members of the community from which subjects will be recruited.
(d) Determining if the research might present unique risks to subjects given local socio-economic conditions.
oy.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
basia bulat
anyway, yesterday i sat down at home, turned on the cd player, and hit play, not knowing what might come forth. it was this song, and i love it. give a listen:
Saturday, July 05, 2008
on creativity
of course, the immediate retort, especially if you're talking about educating children from populations that typically don't have good access to educational resources, is that there is a particular system we live in, and if you want kids to be successful, then they need to play the game. if they don't play the game, you risk putting them in a situation later in life where they can't succeed because they haven't developed the skills that the system expects of them. in the TED talk, which i've pasted below, the speaker, ken robinson, a longtime educator, states that he believes creativity is the skill that's worth something in these times.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
party in the castro
i don't have good memories of events in the castro -- hallowe'en two years in a row was a disaster. the first year, i was bombarded by the fumes of burning white sage, which drives my head bonkers and makes me want to vomit. the following year crowding and gunshots made the night a scary time, and not in a "boo!" way.
so, i was a bit skeptical about the pride party in castro on saturday. but i biked over to see what was going on and meet up with people. it was worth it.
first, it wasn't ridiculously crowded. second, the live and canned music was simply fantastic. the freedom band played with gusto and their dancing baton throwers were marvelous. but i want to focus on two stories of sweet obsessiveness. my role as the observer really reminded me of poe's purloined letter, but more on that another time.
the river dance kids
when i first got to the event i saw these two young adults (maybe university students) intently staring at each other as they coordinated a paired river dance, kicking and bobbing their bodies in sync while staring deep into each other's eyes. it was highly coordinated, and very amusing.
what was odd was that two hours later i came by the same spot and they were still doing it! the girl took a big swig of water this time, and after i told neha that i had seen them doing the exact same thing two hours ago, she thought they were definitely on something more than a dance kick.
perhaps. new people were around them, taking in their hypnotic version of the river dance. i couldn't help thinking that regardless of the condition of their heads today, their legs are going to be in a lot pain.
the tender gay couple
staying power was certainly one of the themes of the night. for instance, between 18th and market on castro a number of people had opened up the windows of their houses and proceeded to put on quite a show. asses shook. bodies flailed. howling was de rigeur.
this one bare chested man, high above the fray, had the most beautiful smile, and forced his chest out the window and implored the crowd, in a boisterous but kingly way, to be happy and enjoy. we were trying, and doing quite well, i think. then i spied the tender gay couple.
two men, late forties or early fifties. they held each other fairly close, and were looking, with sweet, kind eyes, at the bare chested smiley man hanging out the window, high above the throng.
at first i thought: "isn't that cute!" the couple had a shared slight smile, and they looked at peace and quite content. bare chested smiley man and tender couple really made my night.
then, an hour later, i ran into the tender couple. can you guess where they were looking? they had not moved! their legs were like cement and i tell you they were oblivious to me stumbling into them. their eyes were laser-like, focused on bare chested smiley man, who continued to survey his kingdom.
the castro. it felt like a wonderfully fun community. even the obsessive behavior was pleasant. i think i'll make this the yearly event and skip hallowe'en.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
omar khan is a common name
it is amusing, no doubt!
but then i remembered how damn common my name is. so, to give you a sense of this, i did a google search for omar-khan (the hyphen forces the words to appear together, kind of like quotes). anyway, i get 93,000 results as of 6/21/2008. i then googled the names of everyone who told me about this story. no one comes close. go ahead, google your name, see how it goes.
my name is pretty damn common. it's not john smith levels, but now you perhaps know why my name was on a list of suspected terrorists.. ie, it wasn't me, just someone making my life miserable :(
correcting my vision
in new zealand, i went bungee jumping. what a thrill! but the unfortunate part was that i couldn't wear my glasses, and so couldn't clearly see the rock face below getting precariously closer with each passing millisecond. tragic! more generally, there are moments i just wish i didn't have to deal with my cumbersome glasses.
and i hate contact lenses. i hate putting them in. they feel sort of funny in my eyes, and while i'm sure i can get over that, i just don't like the idea of constantly putting my finger in my eye.
so i went and did a lasik consultation at a place my eye doctor considers "ethical," in her own words. and it really did seem nice. but now i need to decide if i will take the plunge...
anyone have thoughts?
Saturday, June 14, 2008
elbow
plus i just like the lead singer's voice.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
hillary clinton and stupid blog comments
i, like many people, enjoy reading the comments that appear after news articles, blog entries, etc.. but when you go to a highly trafficed blog or news story that accepts comments, you often have to filter through just pure trash, like the first comment on an LA times article concerning hillary clinton's likely concession event this saturday:
Those who would seriously think of not supporting Obama because he beat Hillary are being emotional and not very analytical. ........women!i want something that can just filter this and other insulting, stupid comments. now, don't misread me: i am perfectly happy to read comments that go against my opinion, that are by respectable commenters.. but as for the stupid comments, i wish they could be compressed into one bullet that says "500 stupid comments" and i could read them if i wanted to revel in the stupidity of those around us.
Submitted by: David
6:22 PM PDT, Jun 4, 2008
sigh.
the san francisco budget
what galls me is all the reader reactions i'm seeing. newsom either cut too much or not enough. or not the right thing. or spent too much on X. what i find so startling is that i have yet to find one response which says something to the effect of: "man, maybe the voters passing a ballot measure which guarantees money to X (say, the library system), handties our politicians needlessly." no one seems to trust the politicians very much here, and they'd rather put the budgeting decisions in voter hands. well, if you do that, you have to realize the consequences, because voters aren't going to produce an entire budget. they just impose constraints.
here's a bewildering reader comment that the chronicle actually printed, for some bizarre reason:
There are so many ways to cut costs. One would be having a database of interpreters who are paid only when they are called out. Or a database of people who will volunteer their time. Then again, everyone that is from another country who chooses to live here should only be allowed to do so if they can read, write and converse in English.
- Mary French, 52, Lower Nob Hill, San Francisco (see here)
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
new zealand sheep shearing
now, every year lambs are born, and we can all guess their fate. but what about those tens of thousands of sheep i've seen roaming the countryside? why, they are used for wool, of course! we wanted to see how they shear sheep, and boy did we... check out the two videos below.
sheepy doesn't look too happy, but she was bouncing about afterwards. getting all that extra hair off might be nice.
Monday, May 26, 2008
fine fine dining in beautiful sydney
daniela, lori and i had a wonderful food overload at tetsuya’s, a french-japanese restaurant in sydney. i have seen tetsuya’s near the top of some “best restaurant in world” lists, and some people had mentioned it to me, so it seemed only natural that if i could get a reservation, i should go. here we are:
in addition to the meal, we matched it with the “you will drink about a bottle of alcohol” wine pairing. of course, that wasn’t the name, but that’s how the server described it. well, pairings are good, and though i can’t remember anything too fantastic about the wine, other than a cab and dessert wine that I thought were excellent, the wine certainly put lori a bit over the top, and we had some interesting arguments/conversations.
here are two discussions that i think you, dear reader, will appreciate.
the first involved a painting in the women’s bathroom. we disagreed on what it depicted, with omar and daniela in one corner, lori in the other. i actually saw this painting by briefly going into the women’s bathroom, because i had to understand the controversy. daniela was kind enough to capture it with the camera, and so you too can join in the discussion. what does this painting depict?
the second controversy erupted over this dish, comte with lentils:
this is not to say that i wouldn’t appreciate a food that doesn’t taste good. i would, if it really did something else that was quite profound. same with art.. i’ve seen some pretty “bad” art that i nevertheless liked because of the connection i thought it made. but i guess i have a really high bar when it comes to food that tries to make that movement. i can’t even remember what lori was arguing but notice a picture of her below… clearly she’s having a good time :)
finally here's a fun video of a required dunking we had to do to make the taste just right:
Friday, May 09, 2008
paper or plastic? how about both
while shopping today i observed the most annoying and interesting thing in the checkout line. the cashier asked the patron "paper or plastic?" she thought for a moment, and then said "both." both! the cashier looked at her funny and then she said "you know, paper inside the plastic." -- ah it's for ease of carrying, very nice.
oy.
waste -- we don't even think about how much we waste. today while shopping i thought "huh, it's sort of dumb to use these new plastic bags for my vegetables when i have the same ones just sitting at home." well, at least i took a canvas bag to the shop -- ease my conscience a tad.
oy.
on my birthday my net stuff accumulation was +12 toy horses - 10 marbles.. give or take. oh, and of course gifts of wine. and a poster.
oy.
looking around my room now, i realize i have so much junk, and i wonder if anyone would find much of it useful. like, what the hell is that easter egg basket with the frizzy pieces of string going to do to improve anyone's life? waste. though, maybe i can get raja to ride in it.
hmm... maybe it is better that it just inhabits a spot in my room -- who knows, it may end up in the landfill otherwise.
oy.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
on a sustainability campaign in my building
what would i have changed in their campaign? first, i think they've have a great start. they've got the building manager behind them, which is fantastically important. next they need more people from the lab spaces in the building to come on board. they need to consider whether the messaging is appropriate for the audience -- are those blank white sheets with tear-offs in the elevator actually appropriate? why not make the whole thing a bit more fun and irreverent? undergrads and grads love that.
Saturday, May 03, 2008
baby mama, videoblogging and chompin the bit
but i baby mama'd anyway. and instead of typing up my thoughts, here's me, video blogging! what? yeah!
i have to work on my delivery. could use some plants behind my head. i'll work on presentation and the set, i promise, if you think this is worth doing.
finally, i chose a wolf parade song that i thought was an appropriate contrast to this one-shot, easy-does-it-margaret culture.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
earth week and me
the doe library reading room is a beautiful place to study on campus. here's a picture:
notice the skylight at the top of the picture, it's a bit hard to see. what's harder to see is that there are actually lights all around the skylight. and those lights, until very recently, were on, 24 hours a day. why? well, the switch for those lights was up a ladder, through a room, and behind a locked cabinet. would you want to be the one to turn them on and off?
that just shows you how different a time it was, even only a few years ago. the completely needless waste of energy just wasn't important. but that has changed. a campus group fixed the library lights by installing wireless controls that made it very easy to turn the skylight lights on and off. similar measures are popping up all over campus, not just for lights but for all kinds of energy inefficiencies.
TGIF Grant
in other news, me and my friend sam borgeson won the flagship grant from the green initiative fund at berkeley for our project titled UC Berkeley Campus Dashboard. we're going to make a centralized store for consumption data, broadly construed, for all the berkeley campus. electricy, water, steam, waste, etc.. all in one place! don't you want to get your hands on this data? then we will create some compelling person-facing applications that use the data. we're very excited!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
finally updated my academic page
Saturday, April 12, 2008
undulating hand skin
after making this video i realize i need more powerful video editing software. there were things i wanted to do that just aren't easy or possible in windows movie maker. i'm learnin..
the paradox of choice
the trader joe's in back bay is ridiculously tiny. it has 2 full aisles and then two sort of half aisles. but i would choose to go to that trader joe's almost always over any other one, or any other grocery store. why? because it has mostly what i need, and because of the paradox of choice. before getting into this, let me tell you what inspired me to write this post. neha and i were walking back from the trader joe's and she told me that she had tried the shaws grocery store, which was also nearby. she said it was huge and had everything but it took her over an hour to navigate all the aisles and she just became so miserable with all the choices. she said she thought that was strange, but in fact it's not strange at all, and it's well-known in psychology that if you give people "too many" choices they can become overwhelmed and paralyzed, and may not make the best decision or any decision at all.
this leads to barry schwartz, the author of the book "the paradox of choice," a layman's guide to the problem described above. here's a short blurb from the intro to his ted talk:
In Schwartz's estimation, all that choice is making us miserable. We set unreasonably high expectations, question our choices before we even make them, and blame our failures entirely on ourselves. His relatable examples, from consumer products (jeans, TVs, salad dressings) to lifestyle choices (where to live, what job to take, whom and when to marry), underscore this central point: Too many choices undermine happiness.if you find this topic interesting, i highly recommend that you watch either the ted talk (which is short) or the google tech talk given by barry, which is much longer and embedded below:
i also recommend an nytimes article describing some of the basic research in this subject.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
omar to the duomo
now i should go to sleep :)
Friday, April 04, 2008
food and fun in london
if you're wondering what those red things are, they are red chilis. this was a dish labeled chicken with red chili but more accurately would be chili with chicken. the chili were strong, and you couldn't help but eat at least 5 during the meal. the NZ sauv blanc really helped, but i'm still a bit smoking.
to give you a sense of how serious szechwan food is, consider this fish in broth dish. before delivering this dish to our table, the server scooped out hundreds of red chilis. i guess they add flavor.. the peppercorn-like spices in this dish numbed my face, but the flavors were well worth it.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
jet lagged, but well-fed, in london
being tax season, i was amused by the name of this small cafe. i definitely need coffee, and usually something stronger, when i deal with amt.
but now onto eating. i thought i'd be doing my best eating while in florence, but bea certainly knows how to make someone feel welcome after a long flight. she brought me all this food, and i dipped into all of it. oh, and the food included the famous cupcakes, but i ate that before even thinking about taking a picture :)
here's the spread. quiche, sandwich in plastic wrap, fruit salad, some meaty tasty thing, and a muffin!
justice department lawyer dismissed because she's gay
what! what grounds is that!
this story made me angry in a way i wasn't when katrina happened. i just felt much more emotional. i think there's two reasons for this: first, it's much easier to get emotionally caught up in a single story, rather than the plight of untold numbers. this seems to be a a quirk with our minds that doesn't let us emotionally scale up with the numbers, at least not easily. in fact, without a face on the tragedy, we lose interest.
but it's not just that. there's something about an individual injustice where the individual really appears alone. in addition, while discrimination based on sexual orientation happens every day in this country, this was a somewhat unique confluence of discrimination, our federal government setting a very bad example, and an invasion of a private space.
first i wanted to hurt george bush. then i wanted someone to ask him point blank how he'd approach this situation -- but what would i expect to get from this line of questioning?
oh my blood is just boiling, i need to infuse it with some tea leaves, calming leaves, maybe lavender.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
earth hour thoughts
i decided that i wasn't just going to turn off my lights, but try to minimize my consumption completely by doing as little as possible that required electrical energy.
at 7:55pm i was hungry and i realized that with all the lights out i was going to have a hard time making food (not to mention that i didn't want appliances running from 8 to 9pm) so i rushed to make some toast. tasty! but this reminded me of anecdotes from campus energy saving competitions, where students would shower and use their computers in other buildings to reduce their consumption in their own building, which was the object being measured. since 8 to 9pm is what mattered, i pushed ahead my cooking -- so did i really make a savings?
from 8 to 9pm i can honestly say i did very little that used energy, but i still consumed! i became bored and so i started eating snacks. but two good things happened: i practiced my didj. i was belting out eighties hits on my didj, no small feat :) i also sat in the dark and day dreamed. very amusing scenarios played out in my head, but i'm not going to share them here..
From Best of Austr... |
overall, i found the experience quite trying, and i'm actively attempting to reduce my consumption. candle light would've been nice, but i didn't even have that.
summary: of course, no one is going to live in such darkness, so the experiment was more about raising my own awareness of my highly consumptive behavior, and trying to be at peace with doing less, having less. the collective action of 8 to 9pm is also quite important, because hopefully SF is going to go to the power company and get some numbers (for instance, sydney supposedly saw 10% less energy draw last year during earth hour).
building awareness in the dark, that's a funny idea eh?
Saturday, March 29, 2008
tiburon and beyond
on tiburon: i was really hoping something in the nytimes article from 1909 might've been right about tiburon, but i'd say the only truth is that the place is staid and beautiful. read more here.
A PERFECTLY GOOD ISLAND.; Neither Cannibals Nor Treasure Found on Tiburon In Gulf of California.December 24, 1909, Friday
NOGALES, Ariz., Dec 23. -- The mystery of Tiburon Island, Gulf of California, has been dissipated effectually by the return yesterday of seven Americans who had passed through Nogales on Oct. 18 on their way to explore the island which they supposed to be inhabited by man-eating Seri, Indians and to contain hidden treasure and rich mineral deposits.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
crystal castles
you can also see jeff in this short youtube clip (love the mustache):
Sunday, March 23, 2008
timbuk2 bags: shine a light
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
date ideas
please add your suggests in the comments!
- what about golden gate park? there are such great places to walk there. you make sure the de young is somewhere on the walk.. you don't pay for the museum, instead you go up to the observatory tower (free) and look out at the city. simply fantastic
- if you want something a bit more secluded, do buena vista park. wonderful walk up there (only during the day, don't be there at night, i hear).. you must take a hat though because it gets quite windy and you don't want to freeze
- want to include a car in the game? do the "rediscover sf" tour by following the 40 mile or whatever number it is route.. go to twin peaks, go to the presidio, go to the palace of fine arts. spend a bit of time in each place, a bit of time in the car. you each bring some CDs and each car jaunt one person picks a cd and plays a few songs. this way you get outdoors and indoors
- ok, if you do more a night thing, then i recommend getting wine at the hidden vine during some portion of the night. it's a small place but really cozy and romantic. i've had many a good time there
- playing carnival-like games seems like a fun thing to do on an early date. unfortunately, i don't know where you go around here to get that, but i toss out that idea
- are the two of you "into" something? a variation of the car tour.. each of you could pick a theme and then devise a map of the city to point out that theme. you guys share maps and see how you could both integrate your themed experience into one experience that mixes both and lets each person share.. or you could do one at a time.. but i think sharing is good, especially early on..
- volunteer somewhere together (recall this is a brain dump, my fingers pushed that out, i refuse to backspace)
- bike somewhere. take your bike to sausalito, or across the GG bridge, or go to the south west part of town and do the loop down there around the lake.. or go to the embarcadero.
- oh my god coit tower is the most beautiful place.. i think.. if it's a sunny day.
- ok now i'm going to bed. you'll think of something!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
denver's driving change program -- almost!
read the following then see my commentary:
Denver hopes to reduce car emissions by encouraging better drivingfrom Grist NewsThe city of Denver has unveiled a "Driving Change" pilot program designed to reduce vehicle greenhouse-gas emissions by encouraging drivers to ease off the lead foot. Starting in May, 400 public and private Denver vehicles, including that of Mayor John Hickenlooper, will have a device installed to monitor time spent braking, idling, accelerating, and speeding. Analyzed results and personalized recommendations for reducing fuel consumption will then be posted on the internet. Vehicles account for approximately 30 percent of Denver's greenhouse-gas emissions, and the program hopes to cut fuel consumption 20 percent among Driving Change participants.
sources: Denver Business Journal, The Denver Post, Associated Press
ok. here's the big problem! the feedback needs to be immediate, and it needs to be relevant. they have relevant ("personalized recommendations") but they don't have immediate ("posted on the internet"). dear lord. have they learned nothing from the prius? prius people drive so strangely because they are playing this game where they are changing their driving behaviors in ways they think might optimize the gas mileage. with these additional indicators, the prius drivers (or the mayor, whatever he's driving) could do a much better job.
put the indicators in the car. they don't have to be dangerous.. which is one comment i hear from some prius drivers who turn off the dashboard because they find it distracting. the indicators can be ambient. use colors! i am going to send this idea to the people administering this program...
UPDATE: i emailed the mayor and the green program staff. hopefully someone sees my email!
Thursday, March 06, 2008
gavin newsom on green movement
It's important and powerful because it raises awareness, but it misses the point that needs to be raised, one of accountability, transparency and measurement, the hard work that needs to be done. And it's not just buying organic cereal with a recycled tote bag. So when I talk in terms of (San Francisco's) 70 percent recycling rates, the highest in the nation, I feel good about that but not great.
i like his point about accountability, transparency and measurement. i think these are three things we really need, and there isn't a lot of talk about them in the general media.Tuesday, March 04, 2008
making movies
Sunday, March 02, 2008
fun sunday
after tartine i took my bounty to rockridge (twice in a weekend! it's where the hip, environmentally conscious folks i know live). i haven't really explored rockridge. it was stunningly beautiful on this gorgeous day. check out some of these house pics. i want to get out there and wander around.
then i came back to the city and relaxed and did some work. but, sensing i needed beer, i messaged jono and we headed over to the city beer store. as usual, we had a wide ranging conversation that had enlightening moments. jono told me about these wasps that invade ant colonies and spray a chemical that causes the ants to fight each other. in the confusion the wasp leaves some of its eggs, which the ants, after coming out of their confused melee, care for. brilliant, especially considering how much larger wasp eggs are than ant eggs.
on my way back i found verification that my reference to berkeley as "berkel" in text messages etc.. was not so off base. seems berkel has a long standing tradition, at least on harrison street in the mission.
finally, raja is now sleeping on my bed. he has returned to his loving friend (me). he had been avoiding me and occupying andrew's room for quite a while. but he's back, at least for now. here he is asking me with those big beautiful eyes: "may i share this bed with you, om?"