21st Century Landlord

My apartment building was sold again.

The new landlord will be the fourth owner since I moved there.

The current guy is the only one who has offered his email address. That rocks. I very much prefer email communication.

He might get tired of email, though. From me, bombarding him with emails.

I'll try to hold back. • 10:24 AM 2 comments

"No Country for Old Men"

Kevin called me as my work day unwound. We talked about all sorts of stuff and decided we'd have to get together next week to hang out and do fun, unplanned things. He talked about "Lost", which he and his wife are now watching, starting from the first season, and working their way up. I mostly listened, and I tried very hard not to give anything away.

We also talked about movies. I mentioned seeing "Michael Clayton" and he talked about seeing "No Country for Old Men". He kept talking about the ending, without giving anything away, but said that it ended rather abruptly.

After I left work, I had to go downtown to pick up some stuff before going home. And I decided on a whim, to go see a movie. And of course, I saw "No Country for Old Men".

I liked it. The dialogue is poetic and stylized but entertaining. The character of Anton Chigurh is... well, he's evil. Unstoppable, relentless. I have a theory about the ending. I can't wait to share it with Kevin.

But I have to say that of the three Best Pictures that I've seen, I liked "Michael Clayton" best.

Labels: movies

• 10:04 PM 0 comments

Fewer iPods

I finally sold my old iPod last night. I've been trying to sell it since before my Christmas Cancún vacation but I got nothing but flakes off of craigslist. Flakes and low-ballers. "I'll give you $50 for it."

Um, no. The damned thing is worth at least $150, asshat.

And the other type of craisglist buyer is the one who pesters me with endless questions and then disappears. That's also annoying and a waste of my time.

But since selling something on craigslist is free, unlike, say, eBay, it's worth it to persevere and hold out for a good price. Except for the fact that I really really needed the money, like, a month and a half ago. But other than that...

And guess what? (Chickenbutt!) I got $150 for a 30GB, 5th Generation white iPod video. Which is what it's worth, if you look at closed eBay auctions for the same product. • 8:40 AM 1 comments

"Persepolis" "Michael Clayton"

I want to write a longer post about each of them, but just so I can make a note, I saw two movies the past two days.

Last night I saw "Persepolis", the movie belonging to the trailer I posted earlier in the week. I recommend it highly. Made me think very much about politics and how it impacts everyday lives.

Tonight I saw "Michael Clayton", the Oscar-nominated film with George Clooney's Oscar-nominated acting, and possibly many other Oscar-nomination-festooned besides. Saw it with Tracy and Gina. Very much worth it. Intricately plotted, sensitively acted.

Labels: movies

• 12:40 AM 0 comments

Fear of fear

I've been working on a long, well-organized and articulate post about fear.

I'm afraid I'll never finish it.

I'm afraid I'll never post it.

...which is the point, essentially.

Dammit. • 8:05 AM 2 comments

Whoa, the Wal is a green company?

I'm not one to ignore the evidence.

Wal-Mart's board has actually committed to three environmental goals for the retail giant:

In an October, 2005, speech titled "Twenty-First Century Leadership," Wal-Mart committed to three large sustainability goals: to be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy, to create zero waste, and to sell products that sustain our resources and the environment. The company set goals of increasing fuel efficiency in Wal-Mart's truck fleet by 25 percent over the next three years, and doubling it within 10 years; reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2012; and reducing energy use at stores by 30 percent.

They may be anti-union and ruthlessly monopolistic and funding enemies of democracy but being green is a plus in my eyes.

You probably already knew this, though. • 7:48 AM 0 comments

Upcoming flicks

I saw "Cloverfield" by myself. I see a lot of movies by myself. I'd like to see more movies with other people. Problem is, I usually ask too late - I'm on the way to the theater, having only decided an hour or two previously which movie and which showing.

To prevent that, I've taken a look at the movies opening in the next two weeks in Portland, and here's the ones I'm interested in seeing. If you want to see it, too, contact me or post a comment and we'll work out a time.

• Persepolis (see below for the trailer to this.)
  
• Strange Wilderness - Stoner humor is funny to me.
  
• The Eye - Jessica Alba in a J-horror remake? INCLUDE ME IN.
  
• There Will Be Blood - I still haven't seen this, dammit!
  
• No Country For Old Men - I still haven't seen this, either, dammit!

...or feel free to point out any hidden gems you'd like to introduce me to.

Here's the trailer for "Persepolis", which opens at the Fox Cinemas next Friday:

• 7:57 PM 0 comments

One year or less

One year from today, George W. Bush and Richard Bruce Cheney will serve their last day in the office of the President and Vice President of the United States.

That means that every day after today will be the last day of that date that we have them as our country's leaders.

At least that's the hope. • 10:09 AM 0 comments

Cloverfield

Saw the monster movie home video "Cloverfield" last night. I followed most everyone's advice and didn't read any reviews before I saw it.

And so should you.

Labels: movies

• 9:51 AM 1 comments

The Merc vs. Gary Blackmer

I am so jealous of Matt Davis. He has my dream job. I think getting told to fuck off would be a badge of honor for an investigative journalist. I don't think Matt is whining; he's bragging.

Amy J. Ruiz, I can do this stuff, too, and I'm at least as brilliant as Matt. Plus I speak American and won't try to expense all that warm beer. Hire me!

Kidding - mostly (I really am just as brilliant).

Good job, Matt. Keep at it. • 9:29 AM 0 comments

Top 10 downsides

The following are the top ten downsides to the thinness of the MacBook Air:

1. Paper cuts.
   
2. While sharp, doesn't cut as close as a two- or three-blade razor.
   
3. Light weight offset by need to carry a paperweight.
   
4. Doesn't just break when dropped - it shatters
   
5. Kids like to fold 'em up into origami!
   
6. ...which is not covered by Applecare.
   
7. Finger oil causes see-through spots!
   
8. Need to re-sharpen every three months.
   
9. Unable to get past airport security.
   
10. Mom keeps telling you not to run with it.

• 10:47 PM 0 comments

The perfect ticket

With Mitt Romney's lie-about-anything robotic charm, and Mike Huckabee's open desire to make America a narrow-minded theocracy, in the interest of political theater I'm hereby rooting for a Mitt/Mike ticket for the Republican race for the presidency!

Romney/Huckabee '08! The most un-electable candidates ever! • 6:08 PM 0 comments

Regarding Apple asking for, and receiving, special processors to put in their MacBook Air

FADE IN: Backstage at The Moscone Center, shortly after the 2008 Macworld Expo Keynote. Intel CEO Paul S. Otellini is striding through a hallway with his subordinates, laughing and happy. He walks into a room past a large security guard, sits down. An aide hands him a bottled water, while another one sets down a new MacBook Air and opens it up.

SFX: C&C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" plays.

Otellini pulls his iPhone out of his pocket, which is the source of the music, glances at the screen to see who is calling. He smiles, then slides his finger across the screen to answer the call.

Otellini: Sir Howard! How pleasant to hear from you!

CUT TO: The glossy black office of Sony Corporation of America CEO Sir Howard Stringer. He is talking on speaker phone and surrounded by stone-faced subordinates. Stringer is red-faced, standing and leaning on the table.

Stringer: (Yelling) How could you do this? Not only are they getting faster processors, but you... you... made them smaller?

CUT TO: Otellini's room.

Otellini: (logging in to his MacBook Air) Yes, we did. On both counts.

Stringer: (v.o.) And then you stood there while Jobs compared their new laptop to our top of the line Vaio?

Otellini: Yes. Just so.

Stringer: (after a pause) But why? Why did you do that for Apple and not for us?

Otellini: Quite simply, you didn't ask.

Otellini launches Safari, then puts Stringer on speakerphone and places the iPhone on the table. He continues to type and click on the MacBook Air.

Otellini: They really are marvelous machines, Sir Howard.

SFX: An inarticulate scream of rage erupts from the iPhone

Otellini startles at the sound, grimaces, then scoops up the iPhone and hands it without looking to a subordinate. He goes back to his web-surfing. Subordinate pushes the red "END CALL" button.

Otellini: (softly) Yes, marvelous machines. • 8:35 PM 0 comments

In the not-too-distant future

We interrupt Keynote Day! to bring you new news!

Via Wil Wheaton comes news of a reunion of the principals of the old Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew, in a new, but strangely familiar, venture, called "Cinematic Titanic", where silhouettes and shadows mock a really bad movie. Only now they're internet-powered and open-sourced and coming directly at ya, indie-style.

Circulate the tapes files! • 3:43 PM 0 comments

Keynote!

It's Keynote Day!

The happiest, or saddest, or most upsetting, day of a Mac fan's life.

Will Steve announce something as awesome as the iPhone?

Or will he just talk about minor updates to the product line and walk off stage, not having "one more thing" to talk about?

Or... shudder... will the giant head of a bespectacled uncool nerd loom over the crowd, scaring them to the depths of their Converse Hi-Tops?

Which will it be? Delight, boredom, or fear?

Nobody knows! It's Keynote Day!

I've made my predictions. Now we wait to see how wrong, or right, I was...

Keynote! • 7:44 AM 3 comments

Portland Wants Radiohead!

I rarely listen to the radio, but this morning I was returning a FlexCar and happened to catch Greg on KNRK teasing about trying to convince Radiohead to come to Portland on their 2008 "In Rainbows" tour. The band has announced the cities (but not the dates or venues) of the tour, and sadly, no Portland visit is planned. Even the Mercury thinks that's bogus.

Greg's plan is to get as many people as possible to vote via email by sending a note to PortlandWantsRadiohead@gmail.com. He's hoping for 25,000. Here's my little bit to bring up the numbers...

What? I meant blogging this. That's my little bit. I don't work for the station. I just think that Thom and the boys could stop by my city, considering the last time I saw them live (OK, the only time) I drove all the way to Coachella and risked heat stroke in the desert to hear them live. Totally worth it, but, y'know, it's their turn to come to my city. • 1:09 PM 1 comments

Starting over

My weekend long run: three and a half miles in 40 minutes.

I'm so out of shape.

Started out too fast, by which mean my previous normal running pace, and warmed up too fast in the first half-mile. Kept a decent pace for another mile and a half, then had frequent walking breaks the rest of the time.

I did it, though. Feels like starting over again. • 5:34 PM 0 comments

Cancún pics

I added some (OK, five) of my pictures from Cancún to my Flickr page. Feel free to comment and marvel.
• 3:29 PM 0 comments

Demon Barber

Saw "Sweeney Todd" today with Athena, who awesomely showed up even though she's still obviously under the weather. Take care of yourself! Rest up 'n' stuff.

I loved the movie, but I'm an uncritical fanboy when it comes to Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. I've said I would watch Depp read a software EULA for two hours. "Sweeney Todd" was far more entertaining than that. It's a closely constructed tale swiftly told, and Burton's direction and visual style is a perfect fit. The story has what Kevin calls a "button" ending. I'm not giving anything away, am I?

Yes, there's blood. Bright red cartoon blood. Be warned.

Labels: movies

• 4:28 PM 0 comments

I can haz beam-up now?

If they mass-produced these, I bet every single geek in the world would buy one.

Star Trek Bluetooth Communicator

This is the only working Star trek communicator in existence. It's a one of a kind prototype. You can use it to make and recieve calls with any bluetooth 1.1 compatible mobile phone. It does not require wires

Sadly, the auction at eBay is gone - perhaps Paramount stepped in and erased it due to draconian copyright laws? Sad. • 7:47 AM 0 comments

MacWorld Expo 2008

Here are my predictions wild-ass guesses as to what Steve Jobs is going to announce at next Tuesday's MacWorld Expo Keynote, in no particular order:

• Multi-touch tablet Mac.
  
• Better Apple TV.
  
• Better Mac mini (possibly combined with the Apple TV into one new super-HTPC).
  
• iTunes Store-enabled movie downloads and rentals.
  
• Super-duper 3G iPhone, shipping immediately, that will make me cry and wish I'd waited until the Keynote to buy one.

The following are duh's: Steve will wear a black mock turtleneck, jeans, and New Balance sneakers (super-duh). Sr. VP Phil Schiller will have to do something embarrassing, like use Windows Vista or bungie jump. New board member Andrea Jung will be introduced, and she'll claim to have always been a Mac user, from way back, insincerely. Musical entertainment will be provided by Feist.

Tune in late on Tuesday to see how wrong I was! • 10:07 AM 0 comments

The opposite of language

I've been feeling scruffy and bloated, unshaven and flaky and stinky. I haven't been running. I have been eating way too much. Been wearing the same clothes day after day.

Hey, at least I've been going to work.

Tuesday night felt like I'd been working all week already. I dragged my ass to the bus stop in the rain, hoping some music would cheer me up. My bus was a bit crowded, so I chose to sit in front of the bus, in the sideways-facing seats normally saved for the elderly or disabled. It was dark; the driver had the lights off in front. I sat and lost myself in my iPhone.

Except... there was a cute girl sitting in the first forward-facing seat, next to a non-descript guy. The girl had long dark auburn hair. Her hair reached the small of her back. She was wearing jeans, and a snug fleece jacket, and had a backpack that was probably at least a third of her body weight, and a messenger bag. I'd seen her before, on the bus, and in my neighborhood, and I must have caught her eye and smiled and looked away. Must have.

She didn't smile back at me. In fact, her body language... well, I don't admit to being an expert in interpreting body language, but she seemed stiff and uncomfortable. Her upper body was perfectly straight and faced forward but her face was turned to look out the window on her side of the bus, and her legs were crossed and turned out into the aisle in the opposite direction. But somehow she still kept looking at me. She never kept eye contact, though; if I were looking at her, she would quickly glance away. No smile.

I thought nothing of it and re-immersed myself in my surfing. A stop or two later, the sideways-facing row of seats across from me opened up, and, abruptly, the girl got up and moved there. This time, she curled herself into an S-shape, facing forward, tucking her legs and leaning her upper body, both in the direction of travel for the bus. One arm lay along the top of the bench, the other arm pulled her legs in tighter and held on to the strap of her backpack. She took up at least two whole seats.

But she still kept looking over at me. Maybe I brought it on, because I kept looking at her. But because of how I was sitting, legs out in front of me, slumped over, both hands holding my iPhone in my lap, facing at right angles to the direction of travel, if I looked up at all I was looking right at her. I thought she was cute, but I got an uncomfortable vibe from her tight, controlled body language. I started to avoid any eye contact at all, looking out the window past her, or looking towards the front of the bus, or looking into the back of the bus.

In my peripheral vision, though, I could still see her looking my way. And when I looked up again, we made eye contact again. And she looked away.

I texted Tracy to ask for advice and she responded "if she makes eye contact and holds it, TALK TO HER". But no; the girl kept glancing away. She got off the bus a couple stops before me and I wrote it off. Maybe I smelled bad. Maybe I gave her an odd look. Maybe I look like her ex-boyfriend. Who knows?

Wednesday, I hopped a bus across the river for my lunch break. And even though the weather was winter rain and general blah, walking around downtown picked up my spirits a bit, just as I'd hoped. I love downtown Portland. There's such a range of types, especially in the middle of a work day. Business suits, fleece- and sandal-wearing outdoors-y folk, punks, baggy sportswear hip-hoppers... all kinds.

I still felt lumpy and alien, but amongst all those different kinds of people, how could I not fit in? I still kept a mental distance, observing instead of interacting, but it lightened my mood just being there.

When it was time to head back to work, ugh, I walked to the bus stop. And as soon as I got there, a punk princess got there, too. Dark blue Mohawk, pulled back into almost a ponytail with bright pink hair clips. Leather biker jacket, black miniskirt over black leggings, knee-high black leather boots covered in bright metal zippers, in fact platform boots with several inches of sole. Even in the boots she was shorter than me, compact in the same way as a hand grenade. Beautiful. Hot. And when she looked my way, she had the brightest sky-blue eyes.

I still felt ragged. Shabby. I smiled and looked down. Fiddled with my earbuds. Changed the volume. Stuffed my hands into my pockets. Shuffled from foot to foot. Looked for the bus.

She kept looking over at me. Like the redhead on the bus the night before, no smile. Well... again, body language is not my forté, but the punk girl's eyes appeared to be smiling, even if her lips weren't. She looked over several times, and made eye contact several times, even though I was in the opposite direction of where she would have to watch for the bus. Finally, when the bus approached, she stepped out from under the awning shielding her from the rain and strutted right past me to stand by the bus stop sign, nearly brushing me as she did. It felt aggressive, bold. I smiled. But that's all I did.

Thursday night after work, after dinner of jambalaya at The Limelight, still feeling shopworn, I grabbed a cinnamon roll and cup of coffee at my neighborhood coffee shop, losing myself in my laptop and fading out in a public place. I knew if I went home I'd just go to sleep, but I didn't feel up to anything more interactive than chatting or surfing, and I still wanted to be around other people that wouldn't put much of a demand on me. Wow, writing that out and reading it makes me sound... conflicted. I suppose that I am.

Holly was working in the shop by herself for a while, and just sat behind the counter and read. Until a friend of hers came in, another girl her age or older (Holly is in her early 20s), and Holly came out from behind the counter and sat at the table next to mine and she and her friend talked and laughed and sipped coffee. Holly would get up for the occasional customer, then return to the table.

The friend sat slouched over, feet stretched out under the table, hands on the table, fingers spliced together or hands holding up her chin. Holly was curled up, one leg tucked up under her on the chair, leaning over her cup of coffee or holding her head up with a hand on her chin.

From time to time, they would laugh, I would look up, and the friend would look over at me, sideways, and smile, then look away.

My laptop battery drained, slowly, and when it was nearly done, I decided I'd go home instead of plugging it in. Time to retire for the evening. I stood, packed up, put on my coat and scarf. I walked past Holly's table (couldn't avoid it, really) and waved at Holly. "G'night," I said.

"Good night!" she said. Then, "Wait!"

I turned around.

She looked around quickly and selected the paperback book in front of her. "Have you ever read Steinbeck?" Her tone seemed improvisational and impulsive. She blurted out the question.

"Not that much," I said, "Just 'Travels with Charley', a long time ago."

She held up the book. 'East of Eden'. "Do you want this one? I started reading it and I got about 80 pages into it and it pissed me off, so I skipped ahead and read the ending and I knew I wouldn't like it so I really just don't want to read it at all so I need to give it away and I know you read a lot. Do you want it? You don't have to take it but I thought maybe you wanted it." During her rambling, spilling monologue her friend smiled up at me.

I bantered a bit with Holly about having a pile of unread books at home; Holly said she did, too, but they were all Stephen King and she was trying to broaden her horizons, but she didn't like sad books. I laughed and said I could handle sad books, which was bravado considering how I'd felt lately, and thanked her and took the book. I wished her and her friend good night, and walked out into the rain.

And wondered what all this body language had been about. If only I could interpret it in the moment, and not days or hours later... This whole week I've felt as if I've been avoiding something that's been trying to get my attention.

But I don't feel ready yet. Do I need to be ready? Don't I?

What's the opposite of body language? • 7:24 AM 0 comments

What are we gonna do now?

This is for Tracy, who unknowingly walked right into a "Pinky and the Brain" reference this morning.



Man, I miss those guys. • 8:08 AM 1 comments

Hacking Apple

Everyone knows that if you're buying an Apple computer, you'll pretty much get the same price everywhere you go. Without using the "m" word, the prices are very close to the same everywhere, due to Apple's implementation of a Minimum Advertised Price policy.

But there are ways, sneaky but legal, around that. For instance, Apple used to offer really steep discounts to students and teachers. These days, the discounts aren't as good, but they're still there. But they work out to only around 5% off - which is nice, sure, but hardly anything to write home about.

If you're OK with buying a refurbished computer, one that had been sold before and returned to Apple, you'll still get the full one-year hardware warranty, though you can't purchase AppleCare to extend that warranty. And you may end up dealing with someone else's problems, problems that had not been fully resolved during the refurbishment process.

So here's a little trick. It's good for a one-time-only steep discount on a full system (computer + monitor + accessories).

Go here and sign up for the Student Developer program ($99). You'll need to provide proof that you are, in fact, a student. It helps if you are, in fact, an actual student - but just knowing someone who is a student will work, too, as far as I can tell.

Then go here and use your one-time Developer discount.

Even paying the $99, you still get deep discounts on the hardware. For instance, getting a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.2 GHz):

Retail base price: $1999
ADC base price: $1599

You still save $300! • 7:39 AM 0 comments

Coffee

It's not just a delicious beverage.

It's also a hand-warmer on a cold winter morning.

Is there nothing it can't do? • 7:04 AM 0 comments

Silly Season Begins

Happy Primary Day to all the New Hampshirans and political junkies out there.

My guy, Senator Dodd, dropped out after Iowa (but wouldn't he make an awesome Senate Majority Leader? Much better than Harry "Give 'em Hell whatever they want" Reid), so now I'm rooting for John Edwards. Or Barack Obama. Or Hillary Clinton. Or Bill Richardson.

Yes, in that order, most to least favorite. And I think all of them are light-years ahead of the Republican candidates.

I'm going to try to go to the Venue Restaurant tonight to drink and watch the results. Feel free to join me and others... • 8:21 AM 0 comments

It just works

I really, really wanted to be in bed early.

But I spent an hour and a half figuring out a problem involving the external drive I use for backups. Before I knew it, it was nearly midnight.

Ugh. Fixed it, though. • 6:54 AM 0 comments

Movies

I see a lot of movies. I can't, now, go back and list what movies I saw in 2007 due to a hard drive failure (dammit - make sure your backups are working) but I'm going to attempt to post about every theatrical movie I see in 2008.

This past weekend I saw the Sing-Along "Grease" with Tracy and her friend Gina. It was fun and cheesy... and the costume contest beforehand had some very sexy "Slutty Sandys" which almost made the entire thing worth it. As a movie... "Grease" is not among my favorites. But as audience participation, it was a blast. I'm completely comfortable in my heterosexuality to admit that.

I also saw "Charlie Wilson's War" which was a delight. Entertaining political comedy. Rep. Wilson sounds like the kind of politician I'd like to be: liberal, single, boozehound, womanizer. His press agent's response to a reporter asking if he'd ever been to rehab was, "Rep. Wilson will not go to rehab because they do not serve alcohol there." But, seriously, he was trying to do a good thing after touring the refugee camps in Pakistan. Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman both are amazing to watch, though I give the edge to Hoffman.

Labels: movies

• 10:51 AM 0 comments

Did all of them

For the record, and you can go back and check yourself if you don't believe me, I have a 100% resolution rate on my New Year's resolutions for 2007.

That's entirely due to the fact that I made no resolutions in 2007.

Don't tell me that's actually a 0% resolution rate. You can't divide by zero. It's infinite or something. • 12:57 PM 0 comments

HDS syndrome

It's almost 1:00 PM. I'm sitting at Backspace, my unfinished manuscript still in my backpack and untouched, unread, since I put it in there a day or two ago, my third or fourth cup of coffee of the day nearly empty, my laptop open and a bunch of unread Safari tabs open with different time-wasting sites.

I have HDS syndrome: Haven't Done Shit.

Last productive thing I did was around 12 hours ago, when I renewed the registration on three of my domains for another year. I was up late because I'd been out drinking with Tracy and a friend of hers. Such fun. I'm still mentally on vacation. Or maybe I'm always mentally on vacation.

Yeah. HDS. I should work on that. • 12:43 PM 0 comments

iPods for sale

Here's an interesting Craigslist ad that may or may not have anything to do with me.

Post Xmas iPod sale - 30GB & Nano

Reply to: sale-529397656@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-01-05, 11:34AM PST


Didn't get the iPod you wanted for Xmas? Santa brought me an iPhone so now I have two extraneous iPods - take advavantage of my misfortune! Or fortune. Or...

Anyway, I have a 30GB, 5th Generation iPod, in white. It's been in a case almost its entire life and looks brand-new! Includes earbuds, USB-to-Dock connector cable. I'll toss in a Griffin iTrip FM transmitter (the slim model with the LCD screen) and the clear hard case. I've got a few other accessories for it - ask me and if I've got it, I'll toss it in! I'm asking $225.

I also have a 4GB 1st Generation iPod nano, in black. I used it for running. Earbuds and USB-to-Dock connector cable included. I have the original Nike sport armband which I'll be happy to include, as well (don't worry, I'll wash it before you get it). I'm asking $120 for this.

I also have an Apple Universal Dock, with adapters for both of the above iPods (and several others). It provides easy docking and line-out and S-video out, and infrared control. Includes a USB-to-Dock connector cable and an Apple Remote. Add this item to either of the above for only an additional $15... or buy both iPods and get the Universal Dock for free!

Hurry now... quantities limited!


Location: Sellwood

• 11:35 AM 0 comments

Brain-sex differences a myth?

This was originally going to be a comment over at Athena's blog, specifically in response to this post (where she expresses her frustration at not being listened to), but I realized I was dangerously close to a threadjack and potential flamewar, so I decided to move my comment here.

here's a metric ton of links from Mark Lieberman debunking "the brain-sex gospel" (I'm not sure if that's Lieberman's phrase or not): the links are at the bottom of this post.

A single post that lays out Lieberman's point of contention with the specific meme that "studies show that women speak more words than men in a day" is this one. Here's a quote that summarizes his argument:

Louann Brizendine's book The Female Brain, published last August, featured a number of striking quantitative assertions about sex differences in communication. The jacket blurb claimed "A woman uses about 20,000 words per day while a man uses about 7,000", while the text (p. 14) gave the same numbers in the other order: "Men use about seven thousand words per day. Women use about twenty thousand." Dr. Brizendine gives a set of references in her end-notes, but none of them support those numbers. In fact, no study of any sort has ever measured any numbers at all like these, as far as I've been able to find.

What are the facts about sex and talkativeness? There's an enormous amount of individual variation, and each individual talks more or less depending on mood and context. Against this background of variation, many studies have measured how much women talk, on average, compared to how much men talk, on average. The differences that they find between men and women as groups have always been small compared to the differences among men as individuals or among women as individuals. And more often than not, these small group differences actually show men talking a bit more than women do. For additional details, see the links at the end of this post.

Even more links at the bottom of that particular post. Elsewhere he links the idea that there are gender-based differences in brain structure to the debunked (as far as I'm concerned: see Stephen Jay Gould's "The Measure of a Man") idea that there are "race"-based brain differences, in that both ideas are supported by nothing more than prejudice, rather than science. The reason the gender-based idea is more "popular" is because its proponents have couched their arguments in terms that appeal to feminist prejudices, as well.

I'm simply summarizing someone else's views. I understand that massively quoting one source does not a scientific argument make, and could be characterized as the logical fallacy of appeal to authority, so if you disagree with the idea I'm presenting above, I'm not going to spend a lot of time arguing against you. I'm not an authority on gender or language, and I'll admit right now that Lieberman's idea feeds my bias that we're all more similar than we are different; men, women, dark skin, light skin, tall, short, young, old. Why focus on the tiny percentage that is different? Why group people by the basis of superficial examples of natural genetic and historical variation? At least, that's my opinion and my underlying assumption.

Feel free to challenge my assumptions, though. Nothing is more entertaining or liberating. • 7:47 PM 3 comments

Goals, not resolutions

I've been wanting to post this for a while but, as you may know, I've been out of the country and limited on bandwidth.

Tomorrow I'll go back into the archives and see if I made resolutions last year, and if so, how well (or poorly) I succeeded.

Tonight I want to list some of my goals for the coming year. Goals, not resolutions. I'm going to work towards these, and see how I do, and continually re-evaluate whether or not they're realistic, and be ready to change them if circumstances change. It's the latest fashion in scientific thinking, for, oh, about the last couple thousand years. Just a blip on the geologic time scale, really.

Health

• I'm going to reach my goal weight of 165 lb this year, and work to maintain it. That corresponds to about a 25 BMI (Body Mass Index), which is still technically overweight, but would be healthy for me, I think. Thin, but healthy.
  
• I intend to cut at least 3 minutes from my best-ever 5K race time, and best-ever 10K race time. That would put me at about an 8:00/mile pace (5K) and about a 9:00/mile pace (10K) I think. Just off the top of my head, anyway.
  
• I'm going to learn how to say no to dessert. At least, that's the goal.

Financial

• I'm going to continue to work towards being completely debt-free. I might be able to make it this year. I'll have to run the numbers to see for sure. Expect a follow-up post on this.
  
• I'm going to publish at least three books in 2008: a novel, a book of short fiction, and a book of short non-fiction/essays. I may self-publish, or submit to publishers, or offer them for download, or some combination of all three options. Whatever. I'm going to put my writing out there and see how it does.
  
• I'm going to be happy with my work. This may mean finding a new job, or learning to love what I'm doing at the county, or supplementing what I'm doing with the county with other more fulfilling work (see above about publishing)... or something else. But I can't keep hating 40+ hours of my week. That's killing me.

Personal

• I'm going to set goals for learning how to talk to anyone at any time. I'm going to study how others do it and spend time with them, and I'm going to put myself out there on a regular basis. Right now that means a minimum of 3 times per week for at least 2 hours per each (or at least as often as I go running). Seems a reasonable goal to me.
  
• I'm going to learn something completely new to me. Take a class, self-study, who knows? Maybe I'll try my "read a different magazine every month" thing I tried a few years ago. But I'm going to expand my brain.

That seems a good start. Now I have to get busy... • 9:04 PM 2 comments

Home again

Just landed in Portland.

Many, many thanks to Athena, Kevin and Tracy (in alphabetical order). Plus Tracy has been re-posting my email updates here, at my request. Having limited bandwidth sucks. But I'm back in the land of infinite texts and ubiquitous Internet. Whom-to-the-HOOTY-HOO!

More later. Right now I'm enjoying the damp cold. • 7:25 PM 3 comments