Monthly Archive for April, 2005

Sat
Apr
30
2005

Time and routine 0 cmts

In just a bit I plan to get down to work on my Chinese Philosophy essay and do that full-time for the next few days. But once that is done, I’m finished with academics at Brandeis. I’m starting to finally have free time again.

In the past week or so I’ve had a lot of fun taking pictures, reading a book for pleasure, watching House, and listening to NPR. These are all things I try to do in general, but they are the kind of things that get pushed to the back when there are other things to do. I don’t think there is anything wrong with liking a few TV shows or radio programs or wanting to read a book, and I like that I have time and freedom to just do these things without worrying unduly about other commitments.

I’m having a lot of fun taking pictures, and I want to take more. I’m having a lot of fun playing with Flickr and 43 Things, and I want to start accomplishing some of the goals I have been setting using the latter. I have been cleaning up my computer files and my music a bit. I installed Apple’s new Tiger operating system upgrade and my computer seems…cleaner. It is a strange obsession of mine, with pristine newness, but I feel very satisfied making clear lists and albums and playlists and goals, keeping my mental map open wide. I also feel satisfied reading new, interesting things, getting new perspectives, sitting back and looking at the world and going, “hmm,” and enjoying it.

It is nice to not have anything I need to do, and to be able to just indulge in calm. I wonder how long I can keep this up before I get bored with it.

One thing is for certain, I have made my decision. I am buying a Nikon D70, and I am buying it now.

Wed
Apr
27
2005

My 43 Things 0 cmts

I keep thinking of things I want to do, either in the immediate future, after graduation, or just at some indeterminate point, and I wanted to make a list. Luckily I stumbled upon 43 Things, a site where people make lists of the goals they want to accomplish and can talk about their progress and help others. It is a simple concept, well executed, and perfectly fit my needs. The thought is that 43 is a good number of things to have on your mind at once. Too many more and you’ll never accomplish anything, and if you aim too low you’re not being fair to yourself. So far I have sixteen things on my list, which you can view here. I’m sure it will change over time.

I’m putting the most immediate concerns at the top and the more etheral (or inconvenient) goals down near the bottom. Among my goals so far is to find a job, get an apartment, go white water rafting, and learn photography. As I think of things, I will add them. Next I need to start doing them.

Of Course Macs Are More Expensive… Aren’t They? 4 cmts

Of Course Macs Are More Expensive… Aren’t They? – “So despite all the urban myths to the contrary, when you actually compare Apples to comparably equipped Dells, the Apples are not only tastier-looking, but they’re less fattening, too! Every single one, which I have to admit surprised me a little bit.” Skim it.

Mon
Apr
25
2005

A review of Tom Friedman’s new book 0 cmts

A review of Tom Friedman’s new book – “It’s not that he occasionally screws up and fails to make his metaphors and images agree. It’s that he always screws it up. He has an anti-ear, and it’s absolutely infallible.”

Watching TV makes you smarter 0 cmts

Watching TV makes you smarter – Nice!

Sun
Apr
24
2005

Tiger 1 cmts

Let us all pause for a moment to give proper reverance for how amazingly cool Tiger is. Apple continues to make incredible advancement in each upgrade to its operating system, and unlike Windows with each Mac OS X update my computer gets faster at the same time that it is getting more useful.

Thu
Apr
21
2005

The author of Listening to Prozac explains why there is nothing “deep” or “powerful” about depression — it is a disease like any other 0 cmts

The author of Listening to Prozac explains why there is nothing “deep” or “powerful” about depression — it is a disease like any other – Specifically, he starts with people who say “what if van Gogh had been given anti-depressants?” He ends with Holocaust survivors. But now how you might think, if you don’t know much about depression.

In New York, turning the old High Line into a 1.5 mile long park 0 cmts

In New York, turning the old High Line into a 1.5 mile long park – Way cooler than demolishing it. I want to see more pictures!

Wed
Apr
20
2005

Flickr 0 cmts

The other day I signed up for a Flickr account but I haven’t uploaded any photos yet. I know its supposed to be amazing and innovative in how it displays photos in a “stream” with “tags” rather than through galleries, and it has some nice Flash-based slideshow stuff, but I don’t really get the point of it. Why are bloggers who know enough to be able to set up their own galleries flocking to lock up their photos on Flickr’s servers?

Is it just that the community nature of it (commenting, bookmarks, etc.) is what makes it so amazing? Someone please explain the point of it to me, cause I don’t get it, just like I don’t get all of the Friendster-type sites. Is Flickr a fad or is there really something to it?

Photos 0 cmts

Wow, I’ve been posting quite a lot of remainders recently. Well, let’s break it up a bit by throwing in some photo galleries that I finally got around to putting online. I think my finals and post-college/pre-job time is probably going to be spent going on a few adventures and spending a lot of time doing some digital housekeeping. All of these files and things really need to be cleaned up and organized and backed up.

  • Apple Picking (Sept 30, 2004) – Kelli, Aaron, Beth and I went out on a pretty day near the end of fall to pick some apples. I thought I had put these pictures up a while back, but apparently not.
  • Michigan (Nov 5-7, 2004) – Adam Herman owed me some money so he decided to repay me by buying me a plane ticket to come visit. :) I got to see his cat, Yanna, her cat, UMich, and some local scenery. It was a lot of fun, but Adam’s car was scary. Like, strange colored smoke coming out of the vents, a windshield that wouldn’t un-fog and had a massive crack through it, etc. You have fixed that stuff by now, RIGHT???
  • Hawaii (Dec 24 – 30) – This is going to be the year of fun vacations. Apparently at some point my parents realized we should really be getting out more. We went to Hawaii over winter break and I get to go to the Bahamas over finals! I wrote down my thoughts on the trip back in December, and they still hold.

Of the Hawaii batch, I’m especially fond of this picture and this one. More stuff to come, and I’ll be sure to take lots and lots of pictures at Atlantis.

Edit: Yeah, Michigan and apple picking were definitly there before, and something happened to them. I’ve upgraded to a newer version of Gallery and re-imported all the albums, and things seem to be happy again. Gonna keep an eye on things for a while and make sure all of my backups are functioning correctly as well…

Your Proprietor

I'm Danny Silverman, a guy in Cambridge, MA with an interest in law, culture, media, and using technology to bring people together even as we work ever harder to push ourselves apart.

My day job is maintaining computer systems. I like exploring the outdoors. I catch and throw flying discs for sport. My cat is fuzzy.

To contact me: zeno@ this site.

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