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September 30, 2003
$5 Tuesdays
Just saw the Sofia Coppola vehicle flick Lost in Translation. It's funny and the Tokyo scenario scenery is great.
Posted by sam at 08:33 PM | Comments (0)
Just don't use my tax dollars for that
MIT makes coursework available online, for free.
Wesley Clark talks tech, including his desire to research time travel. Say what?
Posted by sam at 08:00 AM | Comments (0)
September 29, 2003
Jack Black is on the Atkins diet...
And it shows.
Posted by sam at 10:05 PM | Comments (0)
Talk of the chimp town
The New Yorker Talk of the Town this week discusses the objection to Dick Grasso's $180m compensation package. The really interesting part, though, is the author's conclusion that monkeys - not to mention people - "seem to believe that there should be a clear connection between work and pay."
I'll just add that if there's one thing I've learned so far in school it's that economists are deeply disturbed people (no offense John).
It so happened that, on the very day Grasso resigned, the primatologists Sarah F. Brosnan and Frans B. M. de Waal released a study showing that female brown capuchin monkeys seem to have a sense of fairness, too.
Pairs of capuchins had been trained to give Brosnan pebbles in exchange for slices of cucumber. This idyllic monkey market economy was disrupted, though, when the scientists changed the pay scale, rewarding one monkey with a delicious grape and the other with the same measly old cucumber. Exposed to this injustice, the capuchins who were given cucumbers often refused to eat; forty per cent of the time, they stopped trading entirely.
Things got worse when one monkey in each pair was given a grape for doing nothing at all. The other monkeys often responded by tossing away their pebbles; eighty per cent of the time, they stopped trading. The capuchins were willing to forfeit cheap food simply to express their displeasure at their partners’ unearned riches.
Posted by sam at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)
WSJ.com reports on (only available
WSJ.com reports on (only available to subscribers) a German author's thesis that "the U.S. government staged the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington to justify wars in Afghanistan and Iraq." The author admits that the theory is tentative, basing most of it on doubt that al Queda was responsible for the attacks ("That's something that is simply 99% false").
The author, Andreas von Bulow, is a former German cabinet minister now "from one of the country's most prestigious publishing houses and who lectures at well-known public institutions." Reaction seems to be mixed:
In conversations with a dozen visitors, one woman said she found Mr. Bulow's theories bunk, while others said they found them plausible.
"I can't believe all of it," said Daniel Feifal, a 24-year-old architecture student. "That would destroy my belief in humanity. But that they knew about the attacks and let them happen because it could further their foreign-policy aims, yes, I'm prepared to believe that."
Posted by sam at 03:13 PM | Comments (0)
Maybe snakes
This is our new house pet. It lives on the front porch, just feet away from the front door. I think it's getting bigger every day and I pray that's not because of pregnancy. If there's anything I dislike more than spiders I can't think of it right now.
Posted by sam at 01:08 PM | Comments (3)
September 28, 2003
Cheap weekend travel
We spent the weekend at the Lake Vanare Cabins with Penni and Jeff, friends visiting from San Diego. It was extremely ralaxing, for me anyway. Breean, Penni and Jeff went on a long hike Friday afternoon while I was still in school. I got no such exercise.
It's definitely fall here. The temperature drops about five degrees every day. But the leaves are beginning to change color. It's beautiful.
Posted by sam at 06:03 PM | Comments (0)
Hopefully not any time soon
Oxford geneticist says males are doomed to extinction
Posted by sam at 04:56 PM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2003
More signs of a turnaround
From the WSJ (only to subscribers, I have free access through school): "Lehman and Morgan Stanley each reported profits that doubled for the latest quarter, reflecting strong results in investment banking and capital markets. Goldman Sachs said its net rose 30%."
Posted by sam at 10:11 AM | Comments (2)
Yum
Cheeseburger and Fries, Wrapped Up in One: The National Cattlemen's Beef Association "is hoping to inject some red meat into the American snack food diet with cheeseburger fries. The fries, which look like a squat version of standard French fries, are made of a meat-and-cheese compound that tastes - as the name suggests - like a cheeseburger."
My first reaction is of course revulsion, but if one of these gutbusters dropped on my plate I'd give it a try.
Posted by sam at 08:41 AM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2003
Spanish chicken burritos (makes four)
Ingredients: 4 tortillas, 2 chicken breasts, 1 large onion or six small pearl onions, 1 garlic clove, 1 tomato, grated cheese, red wine vinegar, hot sauce, oregano, chili powder, cumin seed, salt and pepper.
- Add the chicken to a saucepan with three cups of water, half the onion, one teaspoon salt and a dash of pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer until the chicken is fully cooked.
- While the chicken cooks heat half a can of black beans over low heat in another saucepan.
- Once the chicken breasts are cooked chop into small strips.
- In a frying pan combine the sliced chicken, one cup of the broth, the remaining half onion, the garlic (chopped finely), half the tomato (also finely chopped), with vinegar, hot sauce, oregano, chili powder, cumin seed and pepper to taste.
- Cook until the water evaporates and the chicken develops a nice color.
- Add the chicken, black beans, cheese and tomato to heated tortillas in standard burrito fashion.
Posted by sam at 07:03 PM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2003
Yes, it still does pay to be Warren Buffet
Net Worth of America's Richest Increases: "After two years of declines, the total net worth of America's richest people rose 10 percent to $955 billion this year from 2002."
Posted by sam at 12:21 PM | Comments (1)
September 17, 2003
No more spam please
Someone is sending spam from a made-up tingleff.com email address. Anything sent to a non-existant tingleff.com mailbox goes straight to my inbox so I'm getting a ton of returned mail. Ugh.
Posted by sam at 09:15 PM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2003
Sour milk
Also from Wired today: Sour Grapes Over Milk Labeling: "Some dairies label their milk to let customers know that they do not use hormone-treated cows. Monsanto, which makes the hormone in question, says this creates a false image and hurts sales. Monsanto sues."
Posted by sam at 06:47 AM | Comments (0)
Color-coding airline passengers
JetBlue Data to Fuel CAPPS Test Color-coding airline passengers by risk:
The TSA's second set of rules laid out in detail a system that would require all domestic travelers to provide their name, address, date of birth and home phone number when purchasing an airline ticket. The government would then check that information against private databases, terrorist watch lists and felony warrant lists in order to prevent suspected terrorists and wanted violent felons from boarding airplanes.JetBlue will provide old passenger itineraries for testing.
Each passenger would be given a green, yellow or red color code to let screeners know what level of scrutiny to give a passenger or whether to call in law enforcement agents immediately.
Update: JetBlue has changed its mind and "decided against further participation."
Posted by sam at 06:45 AM | Comments (0)
September 12, 2003
And the answer is...
NY Times: Is Buddhism Good for Your Health?
The fact that the brain can learn, adapt and molecularly resculpture itself on the basis of experience and training suggests that meditation may leave a biological residue in the brain -- a residue that, with the increasing sophistication of new technology, might be captured and measured...
''What's being measured,'' Davidson explained, ''is a person's capacity to voluntarily regulate their emotional reactions.''
Daren Jackson, the lead researcher on the study, added, ''Meditation may facilitate more rapid, spontaneous recovery from negative reactions.''
Posted by sam at 10:02 PM | Comments (0)
Good question
Business Week: What's an MBA Really Worth? 1,500 alums from the class of '92 "report high levels of satisfaction with their careers and say they owe much of that success to their MBA experience." Low marks for the alumni networks.
Posted by sam at 06:27 PM | Comments (0)
PB, CC & J
If you're anything like me you've often wondered how it might be possible to improve upon the classic PB & J. I think I've got it. Ingredients: 2 slices of toast, peanut butter, jelly and cream cheese.
- Spread the PB on one piece of toast as usual
- Spread cream cheese on the other slice
- Add a thin layer of jelly over the cream cheese
- Put together the two slices
Posted by sam at 08:48 AM | Comments (0)
September 11, 2003
Another new toy
One thing I'm trying to get involved in this year is the Johnson School venture fund. One of their investments is in SightSpeed, a Berkeley company that makes videoconferencing software. |
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Posted by sam at 03:22 PM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2003
Success!
If you can see this the move was successful. Please contact me with any problems.
Posted by sam at 03:13 PM
Moving again
I'll be moving tingleff.com to a new (cheaper) server in the next few days. If you notice anything strange with email or other please let me know.
Posted by sam at 03:07 PM
September 09, 2003
Mom's beef stew (requires crock pot)
Here's the first in a (hopefully) series of what I'll call food for real people. This is a delicious beef stew recipe from my mom. The biggest problem with it is that it needs to be prepared in the morning when you probably have better things to do. On the upside there's very little work to do at dinner time.
Ingredients required: 1 lb beef stew meat, 1 uncooked italian sausage, 4 cups water, 1 cup flour, 1 cup red wine, several potatoes, carrots, pearl onions, garlic, basil.
- Flour the stew meat and brown (but don't cook) in a frying pan with olive oil
- Wash the vegetables and cut into bite-size pieces
- Combine everything in the crock pot and stir
- Add any additional vegetables and season to taste
- Cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 6-8 hours
Posted by sam at 09:37 PM
September 08, 2003
I want one of these
Posted by sam at 05:22 PM
September 07, 2003
Did you know...
That it's impossible to buy a bottle of wine on a beautiful Sunday morning in Ithaca, NY. I'm no alcoholic, we just need some red wine for a beef stew going into the crock pot. The grocery stores never sell wine and the liquor stores aren't open Sundays. Why do we have all these ridiculous rules?
Posted by sam at 03:26 PM
September 06, 2003
From Due Diligence: California: Eating
From Due Diligence: California: Eating the Valley's seed corn:
Once you start sending away the junior engineers and first line project manager jobs, you are really starting to eat the seed corn. It's there and in the product marketing trenches that you really learn to work as teams, how to face and serve the customer, and the delicate art of satisfying and necessarily subverting the management for their own good. That's where the networks must be built.
Posted by sam at 02:50 PM
September 04, 2003
Apple set to go Intel:
Apple set to go Intel: "Apple is prepping for the release of an Intel based PC running "an Apple OS" for January 2004 at Macworld in San Francisco. Still hard to believe.
As Suburbs Grow, So Do Waistlines: "Is the American suburb, originally conceived as a relaxing alternative to the city, now a contributor to medical problems from obesity to depression and high blood pressure?"
Posted by sam at 08:05 AM
September 03, 2003
I'd like to work there
In my Managing and Leading Organizations class today we watched a video about IDEO, the famous industrial design firm. The point of the case was to illustrate their ability to "institutionalize innovation" - to continually create innovate products for a variety of industries.
The video followed them throughout a five-day project to redesign the shopping cart. On the last day they took the prototype cart to - you guessed it - Whole Foods Market in Palo Alto, my former grocery store. The employees were very impressed.
Here's a few of my takeaways from their process:
- No titles or hierarchies for the duration of the project. One project leader was selected for his ability to work with teams (not seniority, technical skill, etc.).
- Separate brainstorming from criticism. During the brainstorm session there are no bad ideas.
- Vote for ideas by placing a post-it with your name next to a written description of the idea on the wall. The few ideas with the most votes are chosen for follow-up.
- The importance of play. Employees at IDEO are encouraged to bring in toys and to keep the environment light.
- Actively search out conflicting views. Management claims to hire people that do not listen to their boss.
Posted by sam at 10:07 PM
The bubble is back baby!
Techdirt says that friendster recently secured more than $1 million in funding without even a hint of a business model.
From Wired News: Saving Trees Saves Water: "Big cities can conserve both money and water by protecting forests, a new study shows. Forests reduce erosion, filter pollutants and store water -- and they do so more cost-effectively than water treatment plants."
Posted by sam at 08:34 PM
September 02, 2003
Can't stop the yakking
To Get the Phone, Drivers Are Willing to Risk Getting a Ticket: "Less than two years after New York enacted the nation's first statewide ban on talking on hand-held cellphones while driving, compliance with the law has dropped by about half."
Posted by sam at 07:30 AM
September 01, 2003
Bad news for Breean
Dietary Experts Debate Carbohydrates: "some of the carbs Americans love most - velvety puddles of mashed potatoes, lighter-than-air white bread - are dietary evil, to be avoided like the nastiest artery-choking trans-fats. No, contend other equally respected nutritional experts. Potatoes and other starchy standbys are perfectly respectable. A carb is a carb is a carb."
I thought we solved this years ago?
Posted by sam at 05:00 PM
Not that I can tell here in Ithaca
Earth hits '2,000-year heat peak': "In the last two decades the Earth's average temperature has been the highest for about two thousand years, climatologists say."
Posted by sam at 01:20 PM