Monday, September 5, 2016
Saturday, October 27, 2012
this entry is cross-posted from Eleven Point Two.
I've read a lot of articles lately (or at least I've seen their headlines) lamenting the fragmented way many people now consume information. It seems everyone who is "connected" via social media splinters their time so much that they are unable to do a deep dive on anything, failing to learn something beyond a soundbite of information.
I have personal experience with this problem. A few years ago, I discovered RSS, and began constructing an intimidating list of bloggers and journalists that I wanted to follow. Like everyone else, I was unable to keep up. The number of back-logged readings grew to the point that I was incapable of clicking on my favorite feeds because I knew I could not possibly read through even a small fraction of the hundreds of articles still marked as "unread."
More recently, I created a twitter account and began following three or four hundred astronomers, space program writers, and space enthusiasts. Of course, unless you sit with a Twitter window open and continuously scan these tasty morsels, you're gonna miss something. And when I do follow a link to an interesting bit of longer-form writing, I don't have the time to read it. Off it goes to my Instapaper account, where it sits forever unread (for much the same reason).
There was a time when I blogged. And I mean I really did blog-- my weekly recaps of my lunches with George were long, painstakingly researched, and always fun to return to later. I also blogged about my journey as an archaeology student, and these were sometimes pretty lengthy posts.
What is the state of my writing now? The metaphorical fields of my blogs lie fallow, and all I make time for is tweeting (or re-tweeting) interesting original work by others, much of which I have not read in its entirety (see earlier remarks). Not only am I no longer capable of dedicating time to reading longer works, I'm also unable to dedicate time to creating anything exceeding a sentence in length.
The internet and social media have created attention-deficit symptoms that I never experienced before, a malady I've come to believe might only be cured by a 28-day program that excludes all information sources, save possibly a daily newspaper.
I feel I might also benefit from a similar approach with regard to writing: Allow myself to only create written work that exceeds some arbitrary word count significantly longer than a tweet or a Facebook post. Naturally I want to be clever about it, so I set about picking a number that tied to some familiar idea, and that was very Mama Bear-like in size. The very familiar adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" appealed to me, but 1000 seemed too long... so I decided to name my series of writings "Worth half a picture."
There's no way I can write 500 words every day (certainly not on topics that are interesting to anyone), so these will be a weekly effort. Let's see where it goes.
I've read a lot of articles lately (or at least I've seen their headlines) lamenting the fragmented way many people now consume information. It seems everyone who is "connected" via social media splinters their time so much that they are unable to do a deep dive on anything, failing to learn something beyond a soundbite of information.
I have personal experience with this problem. A few years ago, I discovered RSS, and began constructing an intimidating list of bloggers and journalists that I wanted to follow. Like everyone else, I was unable to keep up. The number of back-logged readings grew to the point that I was incapable of clicking on my favorite feeds because I knew I could not possibly read through even a small fraction of the hundreds of articles still marked as "unread."
More recently, I created a twitter account and began following three or four hundred astronomers, space program writers, and space enthusiasts. Of course, unless you sit with a Twitter window open and continuously scan these tasty morsels, you're gonna miss something. And when I do follow a link to an interesting bit of longer-form writing, I don't have the time to read it. Off it goes to my Instapaper account, where it sits forever unread (for much the same reason).
There was a time when I blogged. And I mean I really did blog-- my weekly recaps of my lunches with George were long, painstakingly researched, and always fun to return to later. I also blogged about my journey as an archaeology student, and these were sometimes pretty lengthy posts.
What is the state of my writing now? The metaphorical fields of my blogs lie fallow, and all I make time for is tweeting (or re-tweeting) interesting original work by others, much of which I have not read in its entirety (see earlier remarks). Not only am I no longer capable of dedicating time to reading longer works, I'm also unable to dedicate time to creating anything exceeding a sentence in length.
The internet and social media have created attention-deficit symptoms that I never experienced before, a malady I've come to believe might only be cured by a 28-day program that excludes all information sources, save possibly a daily newspaper.
I feel I might also benefit from a similar approach with regard to writing: Allow myself to only create written work that exceeds some arbitrary word count significantly longer than a tweet or a Facebook post. Naturally I want to be clever about it, so I set about picking a number that tied to some familiar idea, and that was very Mama Bear-like in size. The very familiar adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" appealed to me, but 1000 seemed too long... so I decided to name my series of writings "Worth half a picture."
There's no way I can write 500 words every day (certainly not on topics that are interesting to anyone), so these will be a weekly effort. Let's see where it goes.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Inspiriation!
Amateur Rocket QU8K Reaches 100,000
Here's a short video of the launch:
Thursday, January 5, 2012
The Jones Boys
Check out Jones Boys' Rocketry, where they "poke holes in the sky one rocket at a time."
Follow them on Twitter at @JonesBoysRoktry
They Have Arrived
George and I will try to launch both of these beauties this weekend, Wind and equipment willing. Naturally, we'll be adhering to the NAR's Safety Code at all times!
We'll be sure to take some video at the launch area.
Video Camera Experiment on a small rocket
Video Camera On Model Rocket
Here are the exhaustive reviews of these 808 keychain DVRs mentioned in the post.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Amateur Rocketry Links
- Tripoli Rocket Association - dedicated to high-powered rocketry
- Rick McKee's Arizona Rocket Consortium
- Superstition Spacemodeling Society (awesome project: Upscaled Estes Cherokee-D)
- Arizona High-Power Rocket Association (Tripoli) launches large Estes to M's monthly
- Experimental Rocket Association of Arizona (Serious shit)
Reference Info
- Rocket Motor Classification at Wikipedia
- FAQ on Amateur Rocketry at Rocketry.org
- Good introductory reference at Fly Rockets (includes legal issues, certification, where to buy)
Instrumentation
- Winged Shadow Systems provides altimeters, airspeed, and other instrumentation designed primarily for R/C aircraft.
- Apogee Rockets carries the AltimeterOne and other cool stuff.
- Adept Rocketry sells instruments, including a $20 altimeter!
Buy Rockets
- DynaStar official site - makers of Mid-Power Model Rockets (D, E, F)
- High-Q Rocket by Quest (higher power rocket)
- Other sellers of larger rockets at FlyRockets.com
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Lunch at Five Guys - May 11, 2011
Did we really go to Five Guys again? It must be good!
George was telling me about a new film about Temple Grandin (the autistic cattle expert we talked about at World Noodles back in 2002), starring Claire Danes. Watch the trailer.
Teri and I went to a new comedy club in Scottsdale called StandUp Scottsdale. The headliner was Andrew Norelli, and you can see pretty much the same act we saw in this clip from the Jimmy Kimmel show.
I also was telling George about the new low-res game called Minecraft, that a lot of my friends are playing. People in Minecraft do some crazy stuff, such as this one guy who built a TNT-powered cannon to shoot animals into space.
George told me about Leafsnap, an amazing site from Columbia University (and others) that is an electronic field guide to leaves and blossoms, fruit, and bark from New York City and Washington, D.C.
George also sent me a link to a Japanese Kodo drum video. Crank it uo!
Let's wrap with a great parody of the death of Osama bin Laden: The Empire finally brings Kenobi to justice.
George was telling me about a new film about Temple Grandin (the autistic cattle expert we talked about at World Noodles back in 2002), starring Claire Danes. Watch the trailer.
Teri and I went to a new comedy club in Scottsdale called StandUp Scottsdale. The headliner was Andrew Norelli, and you can see pretty much the same act we saw in this clip from the Jimmy Kimmel show.
I also was telling George about the new low-res game called Minecraft, that a lot of my friends are playing. People in Minecraft do some crazy stuff, such as this one guy who built a TNT-powered cannon to shoot animals into space.
George told me about Leafsnap, an amazing site from Columbia University (and others) that is an electronic field guide to leaves and blossoms, fruit, and bark from New York City and Washington, D.C.
George also sent me a link to a Japanese Kodo drum video. Crank it uo!
Let's wrap with a great parody of the death of Osama bin Laden: The Empire finally brings Kenobi to justice.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Lunch at Five Guys - April 28, 2011
Bedtime Stories
George pointed me to a new children's book: Go the Fuck To Sleep. I also found a reading of it by one of my favorite orators: Samuel L. Jackson. The video shows the pages of the book as he reads (here's one of his speeches in Pulp Fiction (FF to 2:20).
George also noted: "Motherless Brooklyn, whose author is quoted at the top of the cover, is the book I've mentioned before about the detective with Tourette's."
If Animals Could Speak
And you really should watch the best talking dog video of all time: Ultimate Dog Tease
George pointed me to a new children's book: Go the Fuck To Sleep. I also found a reading of it by one of my favorite orators: Samuel L. Jackson. The video shows the pages of the book as he reads (here's one of his speeches in Pulp Fiction (FF to 2:20).
George also noted: "Motherless Brooklyn, whose author is quoted at the top of the cover, is the book I've mentioned before about the detective with Tourette's."
If Animals Could Speak
And you really should watch the best talking dog video of all time: Ultimate Dog Tease
Thursday, April 21, 2011
April 21, 2011 - el Pollo Loco
Total immersion swimming (George got the book from the library and the dvd from amazon):
critique of Lustig's 'bitter truth' video and summary of subsequent debate:
2 alarm chili:
How do they cool the seats in cars I can't afford? Paul found this quote on the internet: "Thermoelectric Peltier effect device manufactured for GM by Amerigon"
- http://www.amazon.com/Total-
Immersion-Revolutionary- Better-Faster/dp/0743253434/ ref=sr_1_1 - http://www.amazon.com/Total-
Immersion-Swimming-Perpetual- Freestyle/dp/B003X2O79W/ref= sr_1_1
critique of Lustig's 'bitter truth' video and summary of subsequent debate:
- http://www.alanaragonblog.com/
2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth- about-fructose-alarmism/ - http://www.alanaragonblog.com/
2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of- the-fructose-alarmism-debate/
2 alarm chili:
How do they cool the seats in cars I can't afford? Paul found this quote on the internet: "Thermoelectric Peltier effect device manufactured for GM by Amerigon"
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