There is a man on Earth who drives a rover on Mars. And he follows me on Twitter!
Mind = blown.
Tech Companies Leave Phone Calls Behind
The companies argue that with millions of users every day, they cannot possibly pick up a phone. “A lot of these companies don’t have enough employees to talk to,” said Paul Saffo, a longtime technology forecaster in Silicon Valley. Facebook, for example, has just one employee for every 300,000 users. Its online systems process more than two million customer requests a day. Google, which at 14 years old is a relative ancient in Silicon Valley, is one of the few companies that publishes phone numbers on its Web site. Its phone system sends callers back to the Web no less than 11 times. Its lengthy messages contain basic Internet education in a tone that might be used with an aging relative, explaining, slowly and gently, “There’s nothing Google can do to remove information from Web sites.”
My top music of 2012
Thanks to Last.FM, I've compiled a list of the top artists I listened to in 2012. See my previous list for 2011 right here.
My top artists and musicians of 2012:
- Mocean Worker (463 plays)
- Hot Water Music (383 plays)
- Johnny Cash (373 plays)
- Imagine Dragons (359 plays)
- Alt-J (337 plays)
- Trampled by Turtles (282 plays)
- The International Noise Conspiracy (268 plays)
- State Radio (267 plays)
- Of Monsters and Men (220 plays)
- Bob Dylan (207 plays)
Klutzing around Europe
This story will make my Mom proud.
When Kerry and I were at the palace of Versailles earlier this week (viewing 300+ year old artifacts), we went on a tour of King Louis XVI's private apartment.
While taking a photo, I backed up into a rope that I suddenly felt go slack. A second later, a gigantic "BANG!!!!!" echoed through the room we were in and the tour guide said "oh dear!" with a hint of panic in her voice. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped for a beat or two as well.
Turns out, I only knocked down a pylon that was supposed to separate a non-public area from a public area.
Good thing, because 20 minutes later, we saw an ugly ornate dresser (that was designed to never open -- simply a decoration piece) that sold at an auction for $11 million dollars!
Commence vacation!
London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Barcelona. Europe, here we come!
"What Made Sandy’s Flooding So Bad?" via WSJ
Via: http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2012/10/30/weather-journal-what-made-sandys-flooding-so-bad/
Over its lifespan, Sandy set several important records: just before landfall it was the most intense hurricane (as measured by its minimum central pressure of 940mb) ever recorded north of North Carolina (even including those that never made landfall), its potential wave/storm surge destructiveness (peaking at 5.8 on a 6.0 scale) was ranked by NOAA to be higher than any other hurricane in the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico since at least 1969, and it was also at one point the largest hurricane ever recorded (since 1851) as measured by the diameter of its gale force winds (945mi). Though National Weather Service forecasts for Sandy appeared to have been very good, Sandy’s impacts — at least relating to storm surge — came in at the top end of anticipated ranges. It’s quite likely that Sandy’s mix of ingredients maximized damage for New York City in a way that no other hurricane has anywhere in the United States for at least the last 150 years.
It's October 1st!
Fire drills.
Typical Monday.
"Stop calling me that!"
Book Review: Zoo
Zoo by James PattersonMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Let me start off by saying that the premise of "Zoo" sounds like a very promising story. It's a techno-thriller set in the present day and explores a mystery illness suddenly spreading around the world that is causing all sorts of mammals to inexplicably attack humans on sight (and smell). From domesticated pets to wild animals, we've suddenly become nature's favorite snack.
In reality, this book should probably be named, "50 Shades of Prey." The writing style leaves quite a bit to be desired. The story alternates between poorly written third person narratives describing various animals attacking humans and tortuous first-person accounts from a "scientist" named Oz -- an arrogant manic drop-out with ADHD from Colombia University who you would probably find calling into Art Bell's Coast to Coast each week. Oh, he also has an insane chimpanzee for a pet.
Anyway, the story opens with two lions from the LA Zoo attacking their keeper (whom they've been familiar with for years) and escaping into the urban jungle known as Los Angeles and generally wrecking some major havoc.
From there, we meet Oz, a self-proclaimed pioneer of a little-known theory called HAC -- human-animal conflict. For roughly the last 10 or so years, he's been tracking every instance of animal attacks on humans and is the only one who notices a disturbing trend: they've been increasing exponentially!
It probably doesn't help that his main / preferred companion is a chimp and he is a chronic homebody. (Interestingly enough, he still manages to have a girlfriend or two in the book.) Coupled with his caustic attitude toward other scientists who looked down upon him (and the constant snarky quips and comments he shares throughout the book), I can't think of a single reason why anyone would have a hard time believing him.
Anyway, all of this leads to an interesting thought experiment: What happens when rats, bats, dogs, and dolphins (all lead by a single chimpanzee) take over the world and potentially lead to the fall of human civilization as we know it, while our only savior is a crazy introvert who knew this was going to happen all along?
Let's just say that I really wanted to like this book. The concept had a lot of potential. Sadly, I found myself wanting to get through this book just so I could get done with it and move onto the next thing on my reading list. The parts describing the animal attacks tried to emulate a Stephen King horror novel while the first-person accounts with Oz were just downright torture to read.
Fortunately for me (and probably for you too), it's a relatively mindless and quick read. I struggled with whether to give this two stars or three stars. The entire story started to unravel and grow more ridiculous toward the end (kind of like this review). Ultimately, I decided to give it 2 stars.