Random funny.

I was at the store when I started playing around with these, and was amused. So naturally, I took a short video to capture my folly.

(fixed video link)

Crazy lucid dreams.

I have lucid dreams.

Earlier tonight while taking a longish nap, I woke myself up in mid-dream, twice. The first time, I was dreaming about a crazy-spooky elevator that had a mind of its own, dropping people off on the wrong floor. I recognized this scene, as I've had this dream before, and told myself to wake up in order to end it (because I know what happens and it's mostly disturbing, incongruous and long). The second time, I was dreaming about pushing my tongue against a tooth and dislodging it. Again, I recognized this scene as a dream I've had before, and told myself to wake up in order to confirm that it was a dream.

There are some times where I'm exploring in my dream, and recognizing that I'm dreaming, I'll direct my actions -- I've been doing this since elementary school.

Many people believe that dreaming can only occur when you're in a deep sleep, but my experience has been that the best dreams -- controllable, memorable ones -- occur when you're not fully asleep. When I wake up partially, recognizing that I left the music / tv playing, I make the conscious decision to remain in that semi-sleeping state, and focus on visualizing a scene. In short order, I'm dipping into a slightly deeper state of sleep, and the dream begins, centered on that visualized scene. This can go on for several hours (elevating and descending states of sleep) with multiple separate dreams.

As I understand it, most people have lucid dreams, but I am skeptical because I've never heard people talk to me about dream cognition. Do you have lucid dreams?

Epic tweet and retort.

Most hilarious conversation between a sitting president and a former president, ever.

Good question, @billclinton. The handle comes with the house. Know anyone interested in @FLOTUS?

— President Obama (@POTUS) May 18, 2015

Old photos: 1981.

I finally hooked up my *good* scanner up to my computer, so naturally I scanned a couple of documents from 1981. I have just one of them here: my elementary school band. Back then I had a huge crush on the bassoonist and a flutist (yes, I still remember their first names).

One of those crushes led to a crazy, hilarious adventure with one of my friends that still brings a smile to my face; the other ended up in a story (as a nameless proxy) I later wrote in middle school that a lot of people read.

I know there are some of you out there who know what I look like, so I'm sure you'll have fun finding me in the photo.

Enjoy.

Quick bear sketch.

It popped in my head all of a sudden: I'm thinking of creating a line of black (or sun) bear 3D full color (ha!) figurines, for Christmas, using Shapeways. Here's my early first attempt.

10 Thoughts for May 19, 2015

1. Yes, Gunnars really work. There are times when my eyes will be extremely irritated, with difficulty looking at bright lights. When I put on the Gunnars, the light becomes less intense as my eyes immediately feel the difference; over the course of an hour, my eyes return to normal and I can take the glasses off. The only problem: The yellowish tint makes color-critical work impossible.
2. Read this cover letter, from former USC linebacker Hayes Pullard. He was among four draft-eligible players who were asked, and agreed, to write cover letters to NFL teams. I find his letter to be the best of the four, and that's not just because I graduated from USC.
3. I replaced my battery on my phone. It was a moderately simple or moderately complex task, depending on your confidence. You do need to pay attention to the tools and methods employed in the YouTube videos demonstrating the process. Now, my phone seems to last significantly longer, and I haven't had any odd shutdowns. :D  For the time being, I'm avoiding wireless charging, as I suspect that the excessive heat may have severely degraded my battery.
4. So, scientists have discovered that the ebola virus can survive for a long time, outside of a host. In hospital conditions, it survived for 11 days on Tyvek (the stuff they make those bunny suits out of). Hmm...I recall mentioning something similar several months ago. By the way, I find it a bit amusing and distressing, that these scientists apparently don't know whether temperature plays a role. In that same study I had previously cited, it was shown that colder temperatures increased the survivability of ebola. Oh well.
5. Did you know that you don't need a smart watch to use Google Fit? All you do is install the app on your Android phone, and carry your phone with you. Once you've entered your information in the Google Fit website, it'll track how many calories you've burned...or you can keep it relatively anonymous and have it simply track your mileage. I have a goal of 2 hours of walking / biking every day, but today will be the first time I'll have met this goal, in the three weeks since I started using Google Fit.
6. I watched the season ending episode for Castle. While ABC has officially renewed the show for an 8th season, I have to say that if they hadn't renewed, the season finale could have easily worked as a series finale. It had enough ambiguity as to the future of Rick and Kate as to allow viewers to draw their own conclusions, yet giving enough bread crumbs to realize that their future was bright.
7. If you search for "inu", Google returns images of Shibas. I'm sure that they must know that inu is the Japanese word for dog, but Americans must be expecting Shibas. You see, if you search Google for "犬" which is pronounced "inu", you get a mix of dogs with some Shibas. The west is apparently confused about what Shiba Inu means, because many people will reference them as "Shiba Inu dogs", which is like saying "Shetland Sheepdog dogs". Just a tiny, amusing quirk.
8. You know what's interesting about the biker gang brawl in Waco, TX? The tone of fear in the media and the police, of the white biker gang violence. When it comes to Latino and African-American gangs, the tone is entirely different, focused on the anger against the culture that created these gangs. Go ahead and listen to how the news and the police react.
9. Apparently many Americans are dumb enough to address @POTUS on Twitter with threats of violence and use of vulgarity, not realizing that this stuff is both monitored and automatically archived. Threats of violence is not protected speech.
10. Google Music has joined the Material Design club. My only complaint is that they leave a lot of white space if you stretch it out full screen on a desktop monitor. It looks fine on a 12" tablet, but overly capacious on the 24" screen. Scalable design, it appears, has limits to its scalability and visual aesthetic.

Now, off to the drawing board.

5 Thoughts for May 12, 2015 (updated)

1. Tom Brady got slapped with a 4-game suspension for DeflateGate. The way I see it, no ball boy is going to dictate what the PSI should be; the ball boy is going to follow the wishes of the quarterback. That Brady didn't volunteer access to his phone's records may be kosher in criminal justice, but otherwise fails the practical means of exonerating one's self. With the evidence reflecting "the deflator's" contempt for Brady after being thrown under the bus, Brady's link was identified as "probable". The significance of this language is that in civil court a jury's duty is to find "probable cause", and not the criminal level of "without doubt". -- Update: Ted Wells (the investigator) offered comments that backed up my point of his specific language, stating, "I was very careful to draft in the report what the appropriate standard of proof was. And that is far different than probable cause, which some reporters have reported. The preponderance of the evidence standard is a commonly used standard in civil litigation."
2. Were it not for Google Fiber's inception, I doubt that cities and states would be seeing a sudden rush of gigabit fiber services, priced at GF levels. Prior to GF, you couldn't get 300 megabit speeds for less than $200. Now that GF has set the bar at $70 for 1 gigabit, even municipal fiber, Chattanooga's epbfi, had to dramatically lower prices from $350 to $70 to compete with the threat of GF. People truly under-appreciate the value that GF brought. Speaking of GF, Oregon finally changed the law that allowed for the central assessment tax of intangible properties, and after a correction, has now opened the doors for GF to come in.
3. Dallas Cowboys signed undrafted free-agent George Farmer for $55,000, of which, $15,000 was a signing bonus -- it means that he had multiple suitors to boost his signing price. I'm bummed that Seattle didn't sign (or draft) Farmer. I see that they're enamored with a smaller speedster in Tyler Lockett. Just a reminder though: Farmer's 40-yard time was 4.35 seconds, and Lockett's was 4.40.
4. There is opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP trade pact) from labor unions, and the reason is obvious: exportation of manufacturing jobs. But here's the thing: with the removal of tariffs and opening up trade, suddenly domestic manufacturers have equal standing with foreign companies. Domestic companies, attempting to compete by avoiding tariffs and disparate rules, won't need to open foreign corporate facilities. The key to making TPP fair, however, really lies in how environmental and health regulations are treated -- do Chinese companies get to pollute to their heart's content, or will the Chinese finally crack down on their industries? Without sound regulations and enforcement, China will always have an advantage.
5. Back when I was a senior in high school, I was nominated for a statewide award -- there were a series of categories and I was nominated for history / social studies -- and had to do an interview (sorry, but I didn't win). Actually, it was a 3-day fun-and-work event, where I got to meet several awesome women. Anyway, during the interview, noting that I was planning to study Architecture, a panel member queried my thoughts on vernacular Architecture. I stand by my statement back then: Vernacular design should not constrict a designer, because technology changes the need for certain elements and, modifications can and should be made to adjust to contemporaneous influences. Of course back then, I wasn't as elegant in my language as I am today...or at least I hope that my language today is much more elegant. :D

5 Thoughts for May 7, 2015

1. I stopped subscribing to emails from 1-800 Flowers. Seemed pointless to receive deals that did not apply to the zip code that my mother resides in. With Office Depot, if the price says it's on sale, then it's on sale for that same price regardless of your zip code.
2. I had to laugh when I read this hilarious quote regarding the practices of a district manager, whose credentials were used to hack into Sally Beauty stores: "This guy was not exactly security savvy. When we got his laptop back in, we saw that it had his username and password taped to the front of it."
3. POTUS is in town, and is going to speak at Nike tomorrow. I don't watch as much TV these days, so I totally missed the news coverage of it. I don't understand why he's staying at a hotel in downtown, right on two Max lines, though -- seems like an excessive security risk.
4. My Nexus 5 battery is in full bonkers mode, now, and without a software bug fix in sight. One minute it's fine, the next minute it shuts down and says that there's no battery. Then I plug it in and it says it's got 33% juice left, but then suddenly shuts down and says it has 1% left. One hour later and it's at 100%. So, I bought a new battery via Amazon. Not the simplest battery to replace, but there's lots of videos to show how.
5. So, I finally figured out how to make great pizza bread. It comes down to using Ragu's Old Style Tomato and Basil pasta sauce. I use shredded mozzarella cheese, sliced olives, and pepperoni, on thin-sliced sourdough bread, toasted in my toaster oven on high for 6 minutes. Voila, best pizza bread. I used to use regular, sliced wheat bread, but the sourdough makes it special. Plus, the sour dough, assuming you buy the good sour dough and not the faked one, is good for your digestive system. What is faked sourdough? It is bread that gets its sourness through vinegar or some sort of acid, rather than fermentation. In the case of Safeway's "San Francisco Style" Sourdough, it's Fumaric Acid.

5 Thoughts for May 6, 2015

1. The worst part about writing a blog in long form, is that when you go back a day later, you see all the stylistic writing and grammatical errors. I am convinced that the real difference between an amateur writer and a professional, is having an editor to intervene so that you don't look like an amateur. Even if you're a crappy, amateur writer, a solid editor can make you look great (or will find a ghost writer to redo your content.)
2. Just within a few months, the Netflix DVD shipping address changed. Instead of going down to Salem, OR, the address points to a Portland PO Box, with a zip code of 97228. The only thing is, there is no postal facility with 97228. It looks like Netflix must have contracted with the USPS to provide on-site handling of DVDs. I hope this means no more extra-day delays.
3. Did you see this month's Portland IKEA food specials? Beef brisket, and downstairs the froyo flavor is pineapple. Also my favorite, the Elderflower syrup, is on sale (IKEA Family discount) at $3.99. Definitely need to find an excuse to stop by and check it out.
4. So, DeflateGate was "probably" true, according to the findings released, and Tom Brady was "probably" in the know. That Brady declined to allow investigators to look at his texts and phone records speaks volumes.
5. Man, ever since the update to Android 5.0, my Nexus 5 has been experiencing the most perplexing bug involving the battery. It occurs when I'm either using the camera or listening to music. All of a sudden, it'll shut down. When I reboot, it says that the battery is nearly dead and has entered low-power mode. But the thing is, if I plug it in, suddenly the battery shows up as nearly back to where it was before it shut down. No matter how many times I reboot, it'll show the same low-battery status, until I plug it in. 

Car tales -- if it wasn't true, it wouldn't be funny.

Da set up.

My father had a beaten-down, 23 year old car that he did not want to part with. While my mother has a driver's license, she has not driven in the last 20 years. My sister who lives with them, flat out doesn't want to drive. Every time I talked to him about replacing it with a safer, modern car that was smaller, he'd say that this was his last car, since no one else in the household drove. I told him that his excuse was a poor one, because he could simply sell the newer vehicle if he stopped driving, or could keep it around for other members of the family to use when we came down to visit.

I call it da-unsafe-at-any-speed-car. 

For years, the car's suspension would bottom out, whenever driving through a curb ramp. That was somehow fixed, but then the shocks were extra-bouncy, making speed bumps more like a trampoline ride -- go over a bump and bounce for the next 10 seconds. This being Hawaii, there was rust everywhere, but to cover it up, my father simply bought a can of white spray paint and sprayed over the rust. So not only was there rust spreading everywhere, but because he spray-painted over it, you couldn't tell if some body part was marginally attached or not. Then there was the sagging roof upholstery that constantly sat on my head, the broken pieces of the interior, and the scratched up windshield.

Last December -- my previous trip back -- I'd noticed that the speedometer was way off. How far off, I don't know, but it was at least 10 MPH off. That made me wonder if the odometer was off, too, which would have made his mileage figures all wrong.

The rear view mirror was also loose, requiring an over-adjustment to compensate for the loose neck. The overdrive button cover had gone missing, the radio just plain stopped working, and something was definitely wrong with the rear wheels because I could hear and feel them wobbling around, but not like a balance problem, but more like an ABS issue.

But the worst part, considering that this was hot and humid Hawaii, was that the AC was no longer cold. We brought the car in to refill the refrigerant, only to find out that the AC compressor was about to fail and the fan wasn't working. We filled up on refrigerant, and it seemed that we bought a little bit of time. Two days later, while driving, I saw smoke coming out from the compressor's side, just as the AC stopped being cold, and I knew that the compressor had blown.

He finally seemed amenable to getting a new car, so I built a visual spreadsheet of about 8 different small vehicles, used and new, to choose from. He picked, as I expected, the Chevy Spark, among his top-3. I'd been talking about the Chevy Spark, back in December, even stopping at the dealer just to take a quick look at it while on the way from the grocery store, so he was familiar with it. The big selling point on it, was that it was the smallest 4-door, and would be easy to negotiate around narrow the driveway.

Da dealer sales fail.

We finally had an excuse to visit the dealer and take a closer look at the car. Amazingly, it took the front sales guy about 30 minutes to pull out a car for us to look at and test drive -- at times I thought that he'd abandoned us. They wanted to negotiate, despite my telling them that we were only interested if they offered us the median KBB price. Incredulously, they used the same sales tactics as I encountered 25 years ago. Just to get their best price, I had to stand up and pretend that I was leaving. His first best price was the face value of the MSRP, and then his final best price was the employee discount rate -- neither of which was within the median price buyers paid. So we walked.

I wasn't lying, after all, when I said that we were only interested in buying the KBB median. But the middle sales guy did lie to me, often. I nearly called him out when he insisted that the LS price listed by KBB was not the same as the LS1 package he was showing. All I needed to do was pull out his own sales brochure on the Spark, to show that there was no LS1. He even denied knowledge of dealer holdback. That he got into a little huff when I expressed disinterest in the employee price -- it was amusing theatrics, but I think the problem was that he just never could figure me out (most people can't ready me). I wasn't going to chase after the vehicle if he wasn't prepared to give me the KBB median.

Following our walk out of the dealer, my father then vacillated for the rest of the time that I was there, between buying a new car, a used car, or spending either $2,000 or $4,000 on repairing his old car.

Da tantrum.

There was a point where I thought that I had convinced him to get a 2-year old used Spark that a different dealer had available. The next day I drove him out to that dealer, and he went off on some tantrum about how the blue was lighter than the blue one we had test-driven the other day. I took offense that a man who required eye surgery, glasses, vitamins for his eyes, and can't drive at night, was telling someone who can discern 98% of the Munsell Hue Test, that the two colors weren't the same. But then I realized that it was his way of expressing displeasure about something else, and that the color was merely a convenient point to express his tantrum about something else. So naturally I printed the colors from the two different years, and inserted it into the Spark brochure so that he could see for himself that they were the same.

It was at this point, that he expressed certainty that he wasn't going to buy a car, and instead would spend $4,000 to fix up the old one. I figured this was yet another expression of a tantrum. But since I was leaving soon, I decided there was no point to reiterating the ridiculousness of his intention to spend $4,000 to fix a car worth maybe $500 at most.

Da punchline.

One week later, my sister, who'd gone back to continue to help take care of my parents, calls and tells me that he bought a used, white Spark.

5 Thoughts for May 5, 2015

1. I bought ground meat, 93% lean, from Safeway, on sale at $3.99 / lb. The first thing I noticed was that the meat was saturated in water. While cooking, rather than fat (because it's very lean) coming out, I saw lots of water. It should be illegal to increase the weight of ground meat using water.
2. Happy Cinco de Mayo. This being America, of course we would celebrate another country's victory in war, by drinking and over-eating. Sort of like non-Catholics partying on Fat Tuesday, like they were preparing for Lent, without participating in Lent, of course.
3. The popular narrative of the Freddie Gray story is wrong. It isn't about racism, but about an illegal arrest with excessive use of force, followed up by a lack of human decency. Half of the six officers involved are black. With social media the way it is, people react to the news as though they know the whole story, minutes after the story has broken. Once that narrative was written, it couldn't be changed.
4. I've been getting so many error messages with Yahoo Mail, it reminds me of why I do not use Yahoo Mail as my primary email. Just for fun, go to isitdownrightnow.com and look up the different websites for their response / ping times. You'll notice a big difference between Gmail and the other email services (Yahoo and Outlook / Hotmail). Speaking of email, I've tried it, multiple times and I just can't wrap my head around Google's Inbox. I really dig the tabs of Gmail, and Inbox removes the tab in favor of a single, inline grouping.
5. TriMet's Orange Line is going to open, officially, on September 12 of this year, but you'll be able to go across it on August 9 as a part of Bridge Pedal. On August 22, there's going to be a fireworks show just for Tilicum Crossing. I'm going to have to talk to the folks at All Classical about getting a front-row seat.