Big planet. Small world.

How to get rich

Fri, 04 May 2012 15:25:19 -0400

Here’s how to get rich:

Identify social ill.
Imagine theoretical fictional character who stands as antithesis to that ill.
Write character into book/movie series and make billions off of people who would rather spend a few bucks watching someone pretend to fix aforementioned ill than actually get up off the couch and do something about it themselves.

Oooh! I got one! I think I’m gonna pick “inequitable distribution of wealth” for line #1! WOOHOO!

Brittanica stops publishing

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 01:04:39 -0400

[Encyclopedia Brittanica president Jorge] Cauz admits that he will miss holding its volumes in his hands. That product, he says, is “not only romantic, it’s also nostalgic.”

—from here

Yeah, that’s what I said.

So many questions. So little time.

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 12:33:14 -0500

Why do I get so many emails from Formspring? I think it has something to do with Tumblr.

Also, does anyone know how to set up Tumblr to be interactive? I’d love for you all to be able to leave comments. I’ve been nosing around for the settings but I can’t find them. Email me at jeffholton@mac.com.

Checking in from Facebook on a computer

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:36:30 -0500

A week or so ago I posted on Facebook that you could “fake” your browser into making Facebook think you’re on a mobile device by going to a particular URL. This is useful, for example, for checking in while on a laptop, which you can’t do from Facebook’s default URL.

I just noticed that the link I posted is not working. I have no idea if this is a temporary or permanent change. I would not be surprised if it is a permanent one.

However, I immediately found a much more obvious one that does work. http://m.facebook.com

You can almost always add “m.” to the front of a URL to get the mobile version of the site, if it exists. I suspect this URL will be retained permanently. Knock yourself out.

Fresh Beat

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:33:22 -0400

Yesterday, my four-year-old informed me that “It’s okay to watch the Fresh Beat Band because they encourage preschoolers.”

Yeah. Okay. Thanks for that. I guess you’re in the clear then, kid.

Futureshock: Mongolian beef edition

Sat, 28 May 2011 23:24:20 -0400

Someday, in the far distant future, an archaeologist will dig up pounds and pounds of the hot pepper husks I routinely discard from my Mongolian beef and falsely conclude that the early Information Age Californians engaged in regular, ritual, religious masochism.

I love you, Jon Acuff. You’re like some magical Ferris...

Mon, 16 May 2011 13:54:00 -0400

I love you, Jon Acuff. You’re like some magical Ferris Bueller actualized into reality through a Star Trek “holo-deck” with the failsafes and the Heisenberg compensators disabled, which, until you, was something only the butler from The Nanny had managed to accomplish. Sort of. I want to take a high-speed ride with you down a Chicago highway in a 1978 Alfa Romeo 2000 Sport Sedan with John Williams blaring on the stereo. Just to say I did. I’ll pick you up right before lunch.

Who killed more Indians than Custer? Union Carbide.

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:59:00 -0400

Who killed more Indians than Custer? Union Carbide.:

Here’s the thing. If you write a book called God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, you sell a lot of books. If you write a book called What’s So Great About Christianity on the evils of atheism, you also sell a lot of books. If you say that neither extremist viewpoint makes any sense, you end up doing a podcast and working as a greeter at Wal-Mart directing customers to the section where they sell Hitchens and D’Souza books. The truth is less incisive, it’s less inflammatory, it raises no ire, and it draws no audience.

—Brian Dunning

Thanks to Louis Shikles for directing us to this.

Disclaimer

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 13:53:15 -0500

Things to keep in mind while reading this blog.

Cash value 1/20 of 1 cent. Not redeemable with any other offers. Non-transferrable. Kids, ask your parents. Batteries not included. May cause drowsiness. Tax, license, and documentation fees extra. May not be valid in all areas. Are you still reading this? Closed course. Professional drivers only. Do not attempt this at home. Side effects include headache, flooding, fatigue, diarrhea, plagues of locusts, listlessness, voting Republican, and mild rashes. Consult your doctor if you are pregnant or under treatment for heart or liver disease. Management not responsible for lost items. Do not operate heavy machinery while using this medication. Use of celebrity images does not imply endorsement. Free offer not valid for employees or their immediate family members of Duncan Hines, Paramount Studios, Microsoft, In-n-Out Burger, Radio Shack, Tumblr, or UPS. Contains materials known to cause cancer in the State of California. Please drink responsibly.

The new consensus on American liberty

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 13:45:25 -0500

The classic Left view of American behavior is that people should be allowed to do whatever they want.

The classic Right view is that people need to be given margins for behavior to maintain social order for the common good. (In short, we should do what the Right says is okay.)

The past 60 years of social development have brought the Left and the Right together to a consensus view on American liberty. The new definition is this:

People should be allowed to do whatever they want. As long as I say it’s okay.

If I’m being completely honest, I guess that’s what I believe.

I bet it’s what you believe, too, deep down.

I kinda wish it wasn’t what you believed, because I bet you don’t think all the things I want to do are okay.

You need to change that belief, because you should be allowed to believe whatever you want. As long as I say it’s okay.

Ignorant of the facts

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 14:53:04 -0500

Why is it that anyone with an opinion on something says that everyone with a differing opinion is “ignorant of the facts?” Isn’t it possible that we’re all looking at the same information—some of which might be factual—and applying our own individual filters to it differently?

If you disagree with me on this, then you’re obviously just a complete idiot.

Who I hate

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 17:27:31 -0500

I hate people who hate. And hypocrites. And those radically violent folks who have a complete disregard for human life. And people who make self-serving exceptions.

I hate them so much I think we should dig a great big hole, throw them in, and bury them alive.

Well, maybe not the hypocrites.

Children, creative randomness, play, consequence, and discipline

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 11:54:40 -0500

There is a conversation on parenting going on over on a friend’s Facebook Wall. My contribution to the discussion:

I can remember as a preschooler being asked questions afterwards like, “Why did you [insert action here]?”

And I remember very palpably the frustration of having no idea whatsoever how to answer. To be honest, I’m *still* not entirely comfortable with the notion that every action needs to have an intent.

Thirty-four years of hindsight leads me to express that my answer to their query probably should have been: “I was exercising my right to creative randomness in the hopes that something constructive might come of it. My failure is not in the justification. I intend to continue applying the same principle until I discover things that DO end up fruitful, and then repeat those indefinitely. Please allow me to continue this exploration.”

But it’s hard to say that when you’re four. So you just weep out a frustrated “I don’t know!”

Minding my own business

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:28:00 -0500

I need to make business cards.

I’ve been telling myself that for two or three years. But it’s time. Well, no, it was time two or three years ago. Now it’s REALLY time.

I’ve only been asked three times in the past few years if I had one, and had to apologize to brilliant people for the oversight. having a card would have increased the likelihood of an ongoing conversation, and new opportunities.

When I can get several hundred for real cheap (read, less than $10, including shipping) from places like VistaPrint, I really have no excuse.

Some places even have more “reasonable” prices.

The card design is done (based on their free templates, which you can choose from in seconds).

I have the business phone number. I’ve been using a free Google number for months and I’m very happy with it.

Now I just need a good business address. I suppose that means I need to shell out the monthly cash for a PO Box. (I don’t want to put my home address on my business card.)

Do I need a business name? I dunno. I’m not even entirely sure what I do. Do you know what I do? I’d appreciate your insight.

I read the Bible, and it was cool.

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 15:37:38 -0500

One thing I’ve always seen each time I go through the Bible chronologically is that this is OUR story. Every account and episode of every failure, of every idiot fool in the OT who fails to obey God and bears the consequence, screams familiarity to my heart and calls me out into the scrutinizing light in hopes that I would respond in repentance.

The Word of God that we read is the same Word of God who powerfully created, and the same Word of God who was incarnated through an amazing, celebrated miracle into a form that identifies with us, are with us, touched us, transformed and is transforming us, His creation.

This is a very personal book, and it knows me way better than I know it.

Conversations with kids: on the exnihilo genesis of progeny

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:29:02 -0500

The other day, my four-year-old asked me, “Daddy, when did Nana put you in her tummy?”

“Uhm,” said I, pausing for a moment to regroup, “In 1972.”

I figured that answer would be sufficient, but she immediately continued, “And what time did she put Aunty Joanna in her tummy?”

“What TIME? I…uh… What time?? Uhhhhm…I don’t know.”

This conversation had taken only five seconds to cross from alarming to outright disturbing.

And I thought it was over at this point, but then my almost-seven-year-old added to the inquisition.

“Do babies just happen or does someone have to put them in?”

“Uhh…they…er… Mommies and daddies make them together.”

Again, I was prepared to turn around and make a speedy exit, conversation completed, I’m not sure why I didn’t foresee his obvious next question.

“How?”

I told him I’d get back to him later on that.

Did I do alright?

Receiving tweets on your phone that you don't want to receive?

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 22:56:00 -0500

Twitter changed its notification defaults a few days ago and added a new category for Tweets that are responses to things you said. By default, they go to your phone if they’re from people you follow.

To turn the feature off:

Log in at Twitter.com.
Click on Settings.
Click Mobile.
Uncheck the section that says “Mentions and Replies.”

No more unwanted text messages!

A Halloween joke

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 23:03:00 -0400

Why do computer scientists have difficulty differentiating between holidays?

Because 31_OCT = 25_DEC

Orthodoxy in relation to other things

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 17:17:09 -0400

A phone conversation yesterday has left me pondering the relationship between Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism (and Anglicanism, and Catholicism, and some other isms), Emergence and Traditionalism and Fundamentalism, and Conversion.

I’m not entirely sure that relationship is very simple.

How to manage your followers on Twitter

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:34:00 -0400

I’ve been on Twitter almost exactly two years. For me, the number of followers or followings is kinda irrelevant. I’m there to be able to interact with people I otherwise wouldn’t be able to.

I never fight for a follower. In fact, I’d guess that I block at least a third—and maybe as many as two-thirds—of the folks who follow me. You might consider doing the same. It’s slower growth, but it’s GOOD growth. If someone’s considering whether they want to be associated with you on Twitter, they’ll check to see who’s following you. If it’s a bunch of spammers and uninvolved (non-conversational) corporate link producers, they might not want to be associated.

I block anyone who is following hundreds and hundreds of people but only has a small handful (5-15) following them, anyone who actually does have hundreds of followers but only has 5-10 tweets, and anyone whose nick is in the form of a girl’s full name with four randomized digits following it especially when her user picture (probably fake, not that it’s a real human being who created the account) wants me only to be aware that she has been blessed with ample cleavage. Those all seem a little suspicious. I also tend not to reciprocate follow requests in the following situations:

their bio states how excited they are to be “affiliate marketers,” especially if…
they share links (especially the SAME link over and over) but never actually direct a message at anyone, which makes me think they’re a machine, not a human being
their real estate career has them thinking that having ME as one of their thousands of followers will inflate their self-imposed sense of importance
their tweeted subject material exposes them as a half-baked hedonist teenager with a predilection for unrestrained sex and hard alcohol
they don’t tweet at all.

That being said, I DON’T set as a requirement that they think like I do, read the same books, have the same political or religious views, or promise never EVER to appear on the Jerry Springer Show. But that’s just me.

By following those softly-enforced rules, folks who think they might be interested in conversing with me can quickly scan my list of followers and know what sort of person I am. My list grows gradually with like-minded people who converse with each other, share, and grow through the stimulation and filtering of ideas.