Heebie Geebies

I had a TA in college who told us about how he had been thrown out of a Christian cult when he was an undergrad. He said he thought he was moving in with a bunch of guys from his church. In his mind it was a kind of Christian fraternity.

The way he told it actually sounded kind of funny. He was a chemistry major and was always asking questions. So the day he got kicked out of the cult, he said that he asked the 'leader' "Why is the diet here only made up of carbs? I read in my nutrition book today that if you only eat carbs you become mentally complacent."

In my mind this is like asking Jim Jones--"Don't you know that the poison in the kool-aid will kill you?"

Anyhow, I just read this account of being in a cult. I'd mention the cult's name, but I'm sure you can guess it and I don't want my blog to come up with any searches having to do with this group. The account is what made me give post that title. It is fascinating and disturbing. It makes you want to tattoo the words "THINK FOR YOURSELF" on your arm so you will never, ever, EVER forget it.

Burning down the house

I lived in a condo one of the years I was in college. I was surprised to see the a large portion of that condo complex burned down last week.

According to the Denver post:

A fire in boulder that torched a condominium complex and left more than a zozen people homeless was probably started by the discarded hot coals of a hookah pipe, though investigators can't say for certain that was the case.

Can you understand why I'd have mixed feelings about going to school at CU-Boulder?

Overconfidence

Every once in a while you read something and then see it firsthand the same day. The other day I was reading about how people are overconfident in their knowledge in this book. Stated another way, they are not objective about their knowledge level.

Think about this:

How do you pronounce the capital of Kentucky: "Loo-ee-ville" or "Loo-iss-ville"?

Now how much would you bet that you know the correct answer? $5? $50? $500?

Most people are pretty confident they know how to pronounce Louisville correctly, but they are answering the wrong question. I asked how you pronounced the capital of Kentucky. What you really need to know is "what is the capital of Kentucky?" This happens all the time. I have a friend who plays Trivial Pursuit with a twist. He answers the question and gives a ranking as to how certain he is in his answer. He found that most people he plays with are overconfident in their knowledge.

Now the way this was concretized to me was over dinner with a group of friends who are all fans of Ayn Rand. We ended up talking about suicide which lead to the question: Does Atlas Shrugged contain a story of a vengeful suicide by a spurned lover motivated solely by the desire to cause the "beloved" pain -- and if so, what is it? See Diana's post for more details.

Since I had JUST read the passage about overconfidence, I was probably more objective about how certain I was and thought to myself that I was only about 50-60% sure of my recollection. (I was 100% wrong.) A few other people at dinner were more confident and lost $5 to their overconfidence.

This dramatized and concretized overconfidence for me. I'm not certain where to take this, but it is definitely interesting.

Print 'em full size

Capital Freedom points out that these versions are much too small for congress to be able to read. Maybe that is the trouble.

Occasional Quote:

Helen Keller
"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."

Go Pro

Here is an article from Scuttlebutt on how to become a pro sailor. Basically the same as going pro in anything else--work long and hard for little or nothing for years. If you're any good, you'll get a job... if not... well... lets just hope you're good.

Meme of Fours

Swiped from WitNit and later tagged by Tina and AGAIN by Ian:

(I guess I should have just posted this instead of putting it in queue.)

Four Jobs IÂ’ve Had In My Life:
Conductor on a Steam train (Disney World)
Coffee Schlepper at Starbucks
Lab researcher (Bioresearch in high school, physics research in college)
Real Estate Appraiser

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over and Have:
An Ideal Husband ("To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.")
Better Off Dead ("Go that way really fast. If something gets in your way, turn!")
Gattaca ("You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it, Anton: I never saved anything for the swim back.")
The Godfather Parts 1 and 2 ("In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns.")

Four Places I Have Lived:
Boulder, Colorado
Orlando, Florida
Denver, Colorado
Englewood, Colorado

Four TV Shows I Love to Watch:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel/Firefly (I count these as one since they are all Jossian)
Veronica Mars
Alias
Wire in the Blood

Four Places I Have Been on Vacation:
London
Barcelona
Osaka Japan
Kauai

Four Websites I Visit Daily:
Only four. I think I'll pass on this one. Don't want to choose among my children.

Four Favorite Foods:
Sushi
Steak
Mexican Food
Haggis (ok, not really a favorite, but I do like haggis)

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:
Home
Out looking at properties
Cullera, Spain, eating paella, drinking beer, planning a sail
On a boat, anywhere warm

Occasional Quote:

Ayn Rand
"Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values."

Public Speaking

I've worked hard to be a good and sometimes great speaker. Too bad I didn't know this little secret in the beginning. I could have saved myself the trouble.

Link Purge, Part 2: Podcast

Here's some info I found interesting about podcasting.

Jake Ludington's Podcasting Starter Kit

Podcast Solutions Interview: Brian Ibbot of Coverville

Upgrade Your Podcast for Under $200

Roadhouse Blues Pod Cast

Yahoo's how-to

Rip Vinyl for digitizing your records

Happy Birthday Mozart

Today is Mozart's birthday.

ABBA + Coverville = ?

Regular readers know that I'm a reluctant fan of ABBA. I want to hate them, but I can't. It is a sickness I have to endure.

In any case, in trolling the archives I found THIS show of Coverville's podcast. ALL ABBA ALL THE TIME. Or at least ALL ABBA THIS TIME. Check it out.

Occasional Quote:

Sir Robert Chiltern: Do you know, Arthur, I sometimes wish I were you.
Lord Arthur Goring: Do you know, Robert, sometimes I wish you were too. Except that you would probably make something useful out of my life, and that would never do.

-"An Ideal Husband" by Oscar Wilde

Link Purge, Part 1

I have a number of links I've been meaning to post on. So I'm going to do a purge fest in a few posts.

Paul has a number of posts I thought were interesting. Topics include:

• The superiority of US troops because of video games
• Strange Drinks in Eastern Europe (Tina, comments?)
• Stackable Cars
• Serenity's possible return
• An essay on Feynman and a related NoodleFood post

A post on the legality of sleeping under the influence at Truth, Justice, and the American Way

WitNit has a not so dumb blonde joke and a more serious one about Sadaam's training of terrorists.

Daniel Drezner has a post about Munich. I have been meaning to post about why I dislike this movie, I just haven't had time. Russell Roberts I think says it best in this post. "He could also have mentioned that killing murderers is not the same as murder."

BusinessPundit has an OLD post on the purpose of business.

Occasional Quote:

Buffy looking at her mother's high school yearbook: "Mom, I've accepted that you've had sex. I am not ready to know that you had Farrah hair."
Joyce: "This is Gidget hair. Don't they teach you anything in history?"

US vs. Google: the porn search

Apparently, the government wants to know who is searching the web for porn sites and has asked Google to hand over its search data. Google has refused and the Government is sueing. What else will "Big Brother" want to know about you?

As David at Truth, Justice, and the American Way puts it:

To hell with phone calls and letters – if there are any secrets about me, my Google accounts hold them. If this is up for grabs without a warrant, what isn’t?

Occasional Quote:

Thanks to Ian for this quote. I just got Mencken's biography. I'm really fascinated by him right now.

Strategic Positioning

This is a picture of Sparky in his favorite spot on chilly days. Notice he is in the direct path of the hot air register!

Occasional Quote:

Claire Cleary: Are you OK?
John Beckwith: Yeah, I'm just swinging the jib for your dad, starboard.
Claire Cleary: But starboard's *this* way.
John Beckwith: That's right. What am I thinking? I'm used to sailing down under with the kiwis so everything's backwards and the toilets when you flush them, the water spins the opposite way. Really freaks you out the first time you see it

-Wedding Crashers

I wonder if WitNit can verify this after his trip to Australia.

What Kind of Coffee am I?

You Are an Iced Coffee

At your best, you are: hyper, modern, and athletic At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty You drink coffee when: you're out with friends Your caffeine addiction level: medium

Who comes up with this stuff?
I thought for sure I'd be a straight up black coffee!