Are you as smart as Dilbert?

One of my favorite non-acquaintance blogs is by Scott Adams. His writing style is very readable and often “hold back the tears as you try to laugh silently because you’re at work” funny, as you would expect from the creator of Dilbert, but can also be about serious stuff as well (saving the planet, world peace, politics, etc). Some of the things he writes about are truly fascinating. Well, fascinating to me at least, but then this is the elementalgeek blog – what do you expect?

In this post he mentions that:

Dilbert has been used in several court cases where an attorney tried to demonstrate the date when obscure technical issues became “common knowledge” and therefore something that a reasonable person should know. The importance in the court cases is that a defendant couldn’t claim ignorance about something that is so widely known it can be included in a Dilbert comic without explanation.

It appeals to my inner geek that a comic strip has become a symbol of human knowledge but also nags at the back of my brain that something so pop-culture is becoming so authoritative. So what do you think? A) Neat, B) troubling or C) egeek has too much time on his hands?

How long does it take to cure ham?

This probably could be classified as a rant, but I’m just not feeling the true outrage that a Rant deserves. I suppose it could be a Rantlet or a Petite Rant, but I’ll just categorize it as a food review.

Let me start off by saying that I want to like Cafe Kaila, I really do. The food is fresh with nice presentation, it has a very comfortable atmosphere and it’s in a convenient location with ample parking. You can read more complete review of Cafe Kaila at Kendra’s Adventures here.

We’ve dined at Kaila’s several time for breakfast, but I’m afraid today was probably the last. We went for a late breakfast at around 11:30ish (Kaila’s serves breakfast through lunchtime – another thing it had in its favor) and after a short wait for an open table, ordered around noon. We drank coffee, talked about work, listened to the mom next to us teach the alphabet to her son, drank some more coffee, talked about the Olympics… everything but eat. Casual Sunday dining is one thing, but we didn’t get our food until after 1pm.

The menu has a note that thanks you for your patience since all the food is cooked fresh. Unless they were squeezing chickens and curing ham for my breakfast quesadilla (eggs, cheese, and ham) or picking fruit and fermenting milk for the granola parfait (granola, fruit, and yogurt), an hour wait is just unacceptable. To make matters worse, at least four tables that sat AFTER us received their food first.

With everything that Cafe Kaila has going for it, I’d love to see it succeed but I don’t think we’ll be going back. More cooks or perhaps an expediter would probably make a huge difference. Until then, we’ll have to get our breakfast fix somewhere else.

Addicted to the deals

Not just one, not two, but three shining examples of impulsive, compulsive shopping at its finest. Any time I’m in front of a computer for any length of time I’ll be checking SteepAndCheep, WhiskeyMilitia, and ChainLove regularly.

• SteepAndCheep (“One killer deal,one item at a time until it’s gone”) features outdoor gear and clothes for hiking, snowsports, climbing, etc.
• WhiskeyMilitia carries stuff geared more toward surf/skate lifestyle. Shipping seems to run a bit higher than SAC.
• ChainLove is all bikes, all the time. Bike clothes, bike parts, bike accessories. I’ve even seen a high-end bike frame up for a couple minutes.

So far I’ve picked up a Crumpler messenger bag and a slick Oakley laptop bag for myself and Skull Candy headphones and a rockin’ pair of pink Oakley Wisdom goggles for egeekette, all at mega-markdowns.

All three sites work similarly: Each puts up an item at a huge discount. When it sells out, a new item takes its place. You gotta be fast – you want it, you better buy it quickly. If (when) you get totally hooked, each site features plugins or feeds to alert you when a new deal is posted.

Feed your shopping jones – check out SteepAndCheap, WhiskeyMilitia, and ChainLove. Just make sure your 401K is solid first.

Easy come, easy go

Argh. This article on Ars Technica says that Pandora, the streaming music service I wrote about last week may be shutting down soon due to exorbitant fees imposed by a royalty hike on internet radio. Considering that no frills Pandora is free, I suppose it was too good to last forever.

The thing that gets me is that the Big Fat Corporations (BFCs) are likely to kill off entire revenue streams in the quest for the Big Bucks. By leaning on all the little guys to try to squeeze every possible dollar out of them, they’ll force innovative players like Pandora out of business. Let’s see… less income at reasonable rates vs. no income at Greedy Bastard rates… gee tough call there.

Oh well, this geek update actually turned into one those rants where I really have no idea how to change the way things are. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

In any case, check out www.pandora.com while you still can!

Music has DNA?

The original concept for elementalgeek was to highlight mainstream tech stuff that I think is cool and possibly useful for others. While I definitely have geeky tendencies, I’m not exactly on the bleeding edge of technology so from time to time I’ll be featuring stuff that’s probably been out for a while but falls in the “it’s new to me” category that hopefully you’ll still find interesting.

I was recently introduced to Pandora Radio, a streaming music website. You start by choosing an artist or song that you like. Based on your selection, Pandora will play other songs it thinks you might like. You give each song a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to influence what plays next. What sets Pandora apart from other internet radio stations is that it’s not based solely on music genre or other user’s playlists, but rather the “DNA” of individual songs.

As part of the “Music Genome Project,” the folks running Pandora have broken down the attributes of songs into “genes”, properties that combine to describe what a song actually sounds like. When I’m in a pop/R&B mood, I apparently prefer “mild rhythmic syncopation, a vocal centric aesthetic, and a subtle use of vocal harmony.” On a rock day, it’s “hard rock roots or punk influence, minor key tonality, extensive vamping and heavy electric rhythm guitars.” Who knew?

What does this mean? Not surprisingly, starting with Paramore (OK, yeah I admit it…chick rock rules!) led to Evanescence, Linkin Park and Fallout Boy, but also to songs by Flyleaf and Fireflight, stuff that I doubt I’d have ever discovered on my own.

Initially, you may discover that Pandora repeats songs fairly often. You can broaden the range of songs that play by adding additional songs or artists to your base genome selection or simply ban songs temporarily by using the intuitive on-screen controls.

The next time you’re in the mood to listen to your favorite tunes, rediscover forgotten songs or explore new artists, give Pandora try.

Save the planet while getting your McFix

I don’t get why people are willing to sit in a line 7 cars long in the drive-through to get a loaded mega-double-burger super-extreme-combo. There’s hardly ever more than 2-3 people per line ordering inside. We all talk so much about how busy we are, how important sustainability is, blah blah blah. Are we that lazy?

I can see if you’ve got kids that you need to keep captive, if you’re picking up for 12 people or if there’s no queue at the window but otherwise: Park the car, go inside, save time, save gas.

Valium is wonderful

It’s been one week now since I underwent LASIK corrective surgery. Aside from passing cloudy periods (take that, weatherguy!) in one eye, I’m good as new. Better in fact! According to the doctor, my vision is now 20/15.

The actual LASIK procedure is surprisingly short, especially compared to the lead up period. Before the surgery, I had to stop wearing contacts for two weeks. Although they say it’s to let the shape of my eyeballs return to normal “unsucked” state, I’m convinced that it’s to make you appreciate the surgery even more. I’ve needed vision correction since the 6th grade, but have been wearing contacts for the last quarter century. Going back to glasses for two whole weeks was TORTURE!

The day of the surgery I needed to check in an hour before the procedure. Once I got settled in the pre-op waiting room they had me pop a Valium and then started putting drops in my eyes. Antibiotic drops, anesthetic drops, anti-inflammatory drops. Repeat.

Never having taking Valium before, I was expecting to feel a bit loopy or altered but you just end up really chill. As I think about it now, I probably should have been getting all stressed about the upcoming surgery but instead I just cruised in the cushy armchair, checking out my booties. Before I knew it, it was time. (Oh cool, it’s time.)

I got set up in a dentist-like chair that’s reclined flat and covered by a cozy blankie. The lasers must be happier when they’re really cold. The surgeon starts by immobilizing each eye and creates a flap in the surface with with Laser #1. Then she tells me that things are going to get blurrier as she folds the flap back. Around that time I finally had an anxious twinge in the pit of my stomach, but it passed in a moment. In retrospect, considering what was going on, I should have been totally freaking out. Gotta love Valium.

After that I went under Laser #2. As I dutifully stared at the glowing blue ring as instructed, I caught a whiff of something like singed hair as the surface of my cornea vaporized. For each eye the surgeon gave me a count down (”25 seconds… 17… almost there… 5…finished!”) and one of the assistants was patting my shoulder, both things working with the Valium to keep me calm and relaxed. After putting back the flap and a quick rinse, it was over and I could see!

From beginning to end, the whole procedure took less than 10 minutes. No more lenses popping out in the pool, no more pressing my nose to the alarm clock to see the time in the middle of the night, no more glasses! Ever!