ThatMonkey

New painting

2010-10-09T15:47:00.001-08:00

New painting
Originally uploaded by ThatMonkey

At Rodney and Brittany's wedding

2009-12-12T19:19:00.003-09:00

At Rodney and Brittany's wedding
Originally uploaded by ThatMonkey

Change

2009-09-09T07:53:00.001-08:00

So much has changed. I think I have finally found some stability.

Apathy and Flow

2008-10-23T16:20:00.001-08:00

This is good stuff.

From this talk: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Creativity, fulfillment and flow

Good Times

2008-09-23T10:24:00.002-08:00

The Fail rides again!

From Random

Luau

2008-09-13T21:40:00.000-08:00

This was loads of fun.

Need to see

2008-09-02T12:52:00.000-08:00

This is America. We don't jail journalists here.
What kind of authority is in control here? Silencing the press happens in fascist regimes. We cannot stand for it on our soil.

Burning

2008-08-27T19:26:00.002-08:00

Something is burning out there.

Read

2008-08-27T15:21:00.000-08:00

My to-read and currently-reading piles.

Sugar-apple

2008-08-20T14:02:00.000-08:00

I had one of these many years ago in Peru, and they are delicious: Sugar-apple

Beaches

2008-08-17T23:07:00.000-08:00

We rode down to Little Makena beach today. About a 24 miles round trip. It's John's birthday today so we had pizza and angel food cake. Yummy! Tired and a light sunburn. Good day!

Dresden Codak

2008-08-16T16:19:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned it before, but today's comic gave me chills. I love the Hob storyline. Dresden Codak
It ties into my deepest drives and desires with its transhumanist bent.

Caring

2008-08-15T20:39:00.001-08:00

This person never cares.

Doink!

2008-08-14T23:56:00.001-08:00

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

To Reader Bookmarklet

2008-08-13T16:11:00.000-08:00

This is really fancy and Ive been using it for a while. It's a bookmarklet that lets you send whatever page you are on to your shared reader items. My shared page in reader has become my favored place for link-bacn. Share in Google Reader

New Media Setup

2008-08-13T12:07:00.001-08:00

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

BikePortland

2008-08-10T12:47:00.000-08:00

A good reason to move to Portland: Bridge Pedal

tragedy and god's love for orphans

2008-08-08T11:22:00.000-08:00

Our tragedy and God's love for orphans

So god makes tragedies so we can "experience his love"?! WTF?! Seriously?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH! NO, tragedies are FUCKING TRAGIC. I hate your belief in god. You dehumanize victims of the horrible things that happen. Why should we ever seek to stop them if they are an expression of god's love?

Legend of Neil

2008-08-07T15:26:00.000-08:00

Legend of Neil = Epic. Also, NSFW.

Aurora

2008-08-06T14:54:00.001-08:00

An interesting concept. The hardware is there with the iPhone for the mobile bit. Let's see if they can pull off the software and standards support.
Aurora (Part 1)
Aurora (Part 2)

BlogThis

2008-08-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

Finally found what I was looking for: BlogThis

Timeline

2008-08-06T00:08:00.000-08:00

This timeline of internet memes is quite impressive.

2008-08-05T18:59:00.001-08:00

I don't want to be on this graph anymore.

Young Dr. Horrible

2008-08-05T10:36:00.002-08:00

You have to have seen and loved Dr. Horrible to appreciate this, but Young Dr. Horrible is great.

Wrong

2008-08-05T01:19:00.001-08:00

There is seriously something wrong with this "food".

Biking

2008-07-28T23:29:00.004-08:00

Some random videos of biking today:
Biking 1,Biking 2, Biking 3, Biking 4, Biking 5
Also, some pics in my Bikes Album on Picasa

EDIT: Rode 33.7 miles today with a moving average of 9.2 mph (that's a little over 3.5 hours of riding). :) FUN! (Seriously)

RE-EDIT: I got an iPhone 3G black today! WOOOOO!

SRSLY?

2008-07-23T19:00:00.001-08:00

Come on McCain. This was supposed to be your strong point...
Anbar Sheik Cited By McCain Was Assassinated Last Year

Richard Dawkins on Al Jazeera

2008-07-23T18:58:00.000-08:00

McCain's Latest Gaff

2008-07-23T13:57:00.000-08:00

I know this list too well

2008-07-22T20:32:00.000-08:00

Top Ten Signs You’re a Fundamentalist Christian

McCain's Adultery

2008-07-21T00:35:00.002-08:00

Why doesn't the mainstream media cover THIS side? "Liberal media"? I think not.
McCain adultery story rocks political world — oh wait, no it doesn’t
McCain's broken marriage and fractured Reagan friendship
The wife U.S. Republican John McCain callously left behind
You'd think a conservative base would be up in arms about this, but I suppose they are willing to be complacent in the face of having someone other than another old rich white man.

Out of Touch

2008-07-17T10:01:00.000-08:00

Bush Administration Tries to Redefine Contraception as Abortion.

Synecdochically

2008-07-16T13:59:00.002-08:00

Today's word is synecdochically:

Main Entry:
syn·ec·do·che Listen to the pronunciation of synecdoche
Pronunciation:
\sə-ˈnek-də-(ˌ)kē\
: a figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole (as fifty sail for fifty ships), the whole for a part (as society for high society), the species for the genus (as cutthroat for assassin), the genus for the species (as a creature for a man), or the name of the material for the thing made (as boards for stage)

Thanks to a great TED talk by Erin McKean, who is now in my list of the top 5 hottest nerds.

Pentacostals

2008-07-16T00:27:00.000-08:00

A humorous viewpoint on some of what I grew up with.

Mindhack

2008-07-16T00:13:00.001-08:00

Rebelling Within Nature: A great essay about why we do what we do and how to do it right.

Fannie and Freddie need to die

2008-07-15T23:58:00.001-08:00

Jim Rogers says it like it is: the US has doubled its national debt in one weekend to bail out two companies run by fraudsters. Here's what the Motley Fool has to say.

Teh Economy

2008-07-14T02:33:00.001-08:00

Here is a great (if long) overview of what has happened to our economy and what we can expect in the coming years.

Obama

2008-07-14T02:20:00.002-08:00

After reading an interview with Obama about his ideas on foreign policy and reading his response on why he voted for the FISA changes, I think I will feel good voting for him in November.

ID is not science

2008-07-13T01:51:00.000-08:00

Any proponent of Intelligent Design, explain these 20 Anatomical Features Humans Don't Need.

FISA

2008-07-12T14:30:00.002-08:00

Did you know that Congress has signed away any possible right to privacy we had?
By making the new FISA law, the President and Congress have made it legal for US agencies to spy on our text messages, email, and phone calls to people outside the US, without any cause, reason or warrant. This is so completely Orwellian and dystopian I can't even wrap my mind around how anyone thought this was a good idea.

Help the ACLU overturn FISA by sharing your message of support now.
http://www.aclu.org/fisaaction

HCwDB

2008-07-12T14:25:00.002-08:00

I can't help but laugh: Douche Mating Ritual

On Bush

2008-07-12T13:57:00.003-08:00

I hope that no one I know is still behind W. This came out in 2004. It just annoys me to no end. Carol Coleman is a relentless interviewer here. I agree with the writer of the article.
Carol Coleman of Radio Television Ireland interviews George W. Bush
This is why people of other countries think of us in a bad light. This man is our most visible ambassador and he is incompetent.

2008-07-12T13:16:00.001-08:00

An inspiring talk by Bill Stone about cave and space exploration.

The Presidency

2008-07-11T17:51:00.001-08:00

Was Clinton bad? No. Someone else did it wrong with our National Debt.

Portable Autonomous Sentry demonstration

2008-07-11T17:49:00.001-08:00

Portable Autonomous Sentry uses paintballs. Awesome.

Karl Rove

2008-07-11T17:41:00.000-08:00

It's time to come home and face the music Karl. Stop running.

Androids

2008-07-11T16:47:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure what is so funny about Jules, but I find him so.
And an oldie but goodie: the breast masseuse.

2008-07-09T23:03:00.004-08:00

Tonight I made Quinoa with Mushrooms and Spinach. It was quite good. It had a wonderful earthy taste from the quinoa and mushrooms. It felt very cleansing. It was perhaps a little bland, but a sprinkle of salt was all it needed. The spinach came out nicely with a dash of salt.

Atheism

2008-07-09T15:52:00.002-08:00

I've been reading Atheist Universe by David Mills. It is confirming in that the arguments laid out are those that I came up with during my break from religion after high school. It's gotten me all evangelical and feisty about it again. I think I have too often been an apologist. Organized religion is not ok. It's holding the human race back. We need to realize we are alone and that we need to move forward as a human race. Organized religion is divisive and continues to prevent unity.

None of these are new thoughts to me or to the world. How to implement them is the question. Reasonable arguments do not seem to work.

Also, I ran across this hilarious quote:
"I am an atheist and I have a 'Honk if you love Jesus' bumper sticker. When someone honks, I give them the finger."

Inspiration

2008-07-08T00:20:00.002-08:00

I just ran across a speech given by Richard Feynman that I find most inspiring. I've come across this before in his books, but it's been long enough that I had forgotten.
Too often I forget that childhood wonder that every page of the encyclopedia held. Now, with information so readily available, almost anything I want to know that is known by a human can be found in a few minutes. But why is the wonder gone? I think it might be partially because I have grown into a place in the human race. I can't do everything, be anything. I know my limitations. I don't intend to stay static. It's just that enough dreams have died and enough new ones have grown to take their place, that it takes some brilliant writing to snap me out of everything that I am doing and remember.
I remember the days when I could hardly sleep from the wonder of it all. The complexities involved, the scales of time and space so beyond comprehension, from the bizarre world of quantum fluctuations to the intergalactic spaces. Even now I feel it returning, the wonder and joy of the realization of how insignificant and simultaneously how precious we are as humans.
We have such immense possibilities, and I intend to reach for the stars and the sub-Plank distances whenever I can.

Don't Click It

2008-07-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

An interesting site about interface design and clicking.

Moroccan Chicken with Lentils

2008-07-05T23:20:00.002-08:00

I made Moroccan Chicken with Lentils tonight. Good stuff! More cinnamon next time I think.

Gas Prices

2008-07-05T15:02:00.002-08:00

Here's an interesting perspective on the current price of gas. It's interesting to look at it in a way that actually normalizes it logically.

Just for fun

2008-07-04T13:18:00.000-08:00

The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid!
Can yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 out of 100 plepoe can. Aoccdrnig to
rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the
ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer
be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it
whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey
lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? And we awlyas
tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt.

Dresden Codak

2008-07-03T23:02:00.002-08:00

Man, I LOVE the Hob storyline by Dresden Codak!

Lentil and Quinoa salad

2008-07-03T22:39:00.003-08:00

I just finished making some Lentil and Quinoa salad using this recipe with some minor variations. I am very happy with the results. My replacements were olive oil, key lime juice (awesome!) and a curry paste that I know is delicious all over the place. The key lime sets off the ginger very well, a nice bite, but not overpowering. I pat myself on the back for this one!

Hilarious and disturbing

2008-07-03T17:50:00.001-08:00

Some awesome cartoons about warrant-less wiretapping and other wonderful things brought to you by your current government.

Books I have read

2008-07-02T14:18:00.002-08:00

From a friend's blog: Bold those you have read and italicize the books you LOVE.

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter Series – JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials Trilogy – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyne Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Graeme
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – A.A. Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – L M Montgomery
47 Far From the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time of Cholera – Garbiel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On the Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’ Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes from a Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - A S Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

It's mah bike!

2008-07-01T17:38:00.001-08:00

Bikes

Hope for the future

2008-07-01T02:35:00.001-08:00

Aubrey de Grey and Ray Kurzweil give me hope for the future of the human race.

TED Talks

2008-06-29T23:42:00.001-08:00

I've been watching TED Talks most of the evening and ALL of them have been brilliant and/or humorous. I suggest watching as many as you can make time for.

Happiness

2008-06-29T18:18:00.002-08:00

I don't know what it is, but I just feel especially HAPPY today. I feel free and light and unrestrained. I have all the furniture I need, spend a couple hours reading at the beach... Life is good. Oh, and I have a bike. :)