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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Doug Orleans' LiveJournal:

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    Thursday, April 30th, 2009
    9:25 pm
    Obvious joke
     Surely I can't be the first one to make a "Specter turned by Republican clerics" joke?

    Current Music: Global Communication, "Delta Phase"
    Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
    12:12 pm
    Four Seasons
     Four Seasons

    ...in 36 hours.
    Monday, April 20th, 2009
    1:42 pm
    Oracle to buy Sun
     Oracle is buying Sun. I know Sun's been on death watch for a while now, but it's still kind of sad to see them no longer exist as an independent company. I worked for Sun for a summer in college, and I would have liked to work for them again, e.g. in the Programming Language Research Group, but I'm not really sure if I'd want to work for Oracle (and who knows if they'll keep all of Sun's research teams, let alone start hiring again). I have a general impression of Oracle as kind of evil, but maybe that's just FUD.

    Anyone want to speculate on the ramifications of this?
    Saturday, April 4th, 2009
    1:17 pm
    A real corker
     CBS News:
    Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee said that the Obama administration's demands of General Motors and Chrysler set "a dangerous precedent."

    "I think for all of us who believe in free enterprise, this is the crossing of a major threshold, and it actually should send a chill to people all across the country," Corker said.
    This is incredible doublethink. The administration is asking for changes in the auto companies because we gave them billions of dollars and they're asking for more. If they don't want to make the changes, they are more than welcome to give us the damn money back. You know what's not free enterprise? Asking the government for free money, no strings attached. Corker (and the pundits who are echoing his talking points, or is it the other way around?) should be criticizing GM for wanting to go on welfare, not the administration for offering them a deal that protects the people's interest.
    1:12 am
    More new TV shows
     I watch TV so you don't have to... ( Read more... )
    Saturday, March 28th, 2009
    12:58 pm
    An investment opportunity!
     I have a low promotional rate on my Discover card balance, but it goes up in a couple weeks when the promotional period expires. So I called up Bank of America (where I have two credit cards, due to past mergers) to see if they could give me a better rate; I've had luck with that before. At worst, I was expecting them to say "sorry, no offers right now", but instead, they instantly lowered my existing credit limits to be my current balance + $500! That's about a 25% cut! It's not a total disaster, but it makes my safety net smaller. And it makes me think that maybe now's not the best time to have credit card debt, if they might start changing more things about my accounts willy-nilly.

    So, here's a brainstorm: any of you private investors out there sitting on a pile of cash and want to "recapitalize" me? I'm not FDIC-insured, but I think I'm a pretty safe investment; the job search is taking a bit longer than I'd hoped, but I do expect to be making a pretty comfortable salary again in the not-too-distant future (two interviews next week). And I can probably double any one-year CD rate you could find these days. (If not more; make me an offer...)

    Current Music: Asobi Seksu, "Strawberries"
    Friday, March 20th, 2009
    11:41 am
    Fast & Furious
     The latest sequel to The Fast & the Furious is called Fast & Furious. Here are some other sequels in the works:
    • Good, Bad, & Ugly
    • Quick & Dead
    • Gone With Wind
    • Fellowship of Ring
    • Return of Jedi
    • Silence of Lambs
    • Planet of Apes
    • Friday Thirteenth
    • Day Earth Stood Still
    • Boot
    • Godfar
    • Y Live


    Current Music: Rafter - Adventurers | Powered by Last.fm
    Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
    7:47 pm
    The Krugman view
     I've been following Paul Krugman's blog and columns for a couple years now. He's the only political writer that I read consistently—and even though his blog is called "The Conscience of a Liberal", he's really still more of an economist than a political writer; that is, he has strong viewpoints about politics and policy, but he backs it up with a lot of economic data and theory. I don't agree with him on everything—he supported Hillary over Obama in the primary—but generally the things he says make a lot of sense (though sometimes they are a bit hard to follow when he gets wonkish). It's frustrating, though, how seldom his views seem to filter out into the mainstream media and popular mindset. Perhaps it's just that he's wrong, and I should venture outside the Krugman bubble and read some opposing viewpoints; I would happily accept suggestions for blogs that are similarly grounded in data and science but draw different conclusions. But I also sometimes worry that he just doesn't speak plainly and emphatically enough for his (often counterintuitive) positions to get noticed and understood. So, in the interest of public education, I'm going to try to summarize his stance on the current economic situation as I understand it. (I've never taken an economics class or anything, so my understanding is probably pretty shallow; please correct me if I get anything wrong.)

    ( Read more... )
    Sunday, March 15th, 2009
    4:53 pm
    Public newspapers?
     The future of the newspaper business is looking pretty dire, as people prefer to read news online rather than get printed copies, and it's a lot harder to charge for news online; also, newspaper classified sections can't compete with Craigslist, and that was a big part of their revenue. It makes me wonder, though, why newspapers must be a business. We have public television and public radio, why don't we have public newspapers? Maybe it smacks too much of Pravda, the state newspaper of the Soviet Union. But PBS and NPR certainly aren't propaganda outlets, so it should be possible to have non-profit newspapers, funded by the government and by private donations, that are journalistically independent. How come this hasn't happened yet? Do you think it will happen?

    Update: I just found out about MinnPost, Voice of San Diego, and St. Louis Beacon, non-profit local papers. Are there others?

    Current Music: Kriss Kross, "Guillemots" (another [info]fennel mix)
    2:46 pm
    Charlie Rose tech interviews
     Charlie Rose did a bunch of very interesting in-depth interviews with tech people last month. You can watch them in full online for free, and I recommend them if you have the time (most are an hour, some are a half-hour).

    Current Music: Aimee Mann, "Borrowing Time" (from a [info]fennel mix)
    Saturday, March 7th, 2009
    11:16 pm
    Saturday Night Videos
     Since [info]urbaniak seems to be falling down on the job:



    More from where that first video came from at Kutiman - Thru-You. Awesome idea, brilliant execution, very satisfying.
    Friday, March 6th, 2009
    11:17 am
    Starting the job search
     I am finally getting back into the job market. I've sent my resume to 11 different places so far, but if you know of any interesting places that are hiring, please let me know! Ideally I would like a more research-oriented position, since that's why I got a PhD, but I am keeping a very open mind and considering all opportunities.
    Friday, February 20th, 2009
    1:46 am
    What is wrong with me?
     Last week, [info]aroraborealis hosted her annual LJ Confessional where people were encouraged to post their confessions, anonymously or not. There were a fair number of Post Secret-style deep dark secrets, but many of them were about crushes (it being the week before Valentine's Day). After I posted a comment on someone else's confession, someone anonymously commented that I was hot. It was flattering, of course, but it made me realize that I was actually more interested in getting negative comments than positive ones. (That was the only one I got either way.) It may just be my natural pessimism that makes me believe negative opinions more than positive ones, but mostly I feel I can learn more from criticism than from compliments. I always want to improve myself (I may not always be capable of it, but I always want to), and learning about a perceived fault of mine gives me more actionable information than a perceived strength.

    So with that in mind, I am hereby inviting you all to say something negative about me here, anonymously or not (IP logging is off, as always). Constructive criticism would be preferred, but if you just want to insult me, go for it—as long as you really mean it! If you can't think of something to criticize, tell me something about myself that I might not know. If for some reason you don't want to broadcast your complaint, you can email me at dougorleans@gmail.com, perhaps using an anonymous remailer or something (just make sure it doesn't look like spam).
    Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
    1:31 am
    Brainwaves video
     At the Brainwaves festival in November, there were several professional cameramen filming everything. Someone finally posted a 4-minute "trailer" compiled from this footage, and it does a fantastic job at conveying the atmosphere of the event, maybe making it seem even cooler than it was.


    brainwaves from ZF FILMS on Vimeo.

    (There's also a video of the last two minutes of the Major Stars set.) I still want to post my own videos from the weekend, but now I'll be even more embarrassed at how crude my camera is (and how lame I am at taking video). Oh, and, hm, I guess I never linked to my photo set here.
    Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
    12:02 pm
    New TV shows
     I've been enjoying the new Showtime show The United States of Tara. Created by Diablo Cody, so it has a little of that annoying Juno-style dialogue, but it's not as concentrated as in the movie (or maybe I'm just getting used to it). Interesting storylines, likable characters, great acting.

    Important Things With Demetri Martin starts tonight; Survivor: Tocantins starts tomorrow; and Joss Whedon's new show Dollhouse starts Friday. Any other new shows worth checking out?

    Current Music: Shriekback, "Lines from the Library" (jwz mixtape 068)
    Monday, February 2nd, 2009
    11:49 am
    Thursday, January 29th, 2009
    7:45 pm
    ZyzzlCon 3009, part 4
     Here's part 4 (the last) of my recap of the 2009 MIT Mystery Hunt, Escape From Zyzzlvaria.

    ( Cut for some spoilers, and pics and video. )

    I have some more post-mortem thoughts about how we can improve, but I think I'll save them for email to our team. I'll end this by giving a big thanks to UPGAFS (aka EMBWBAM) and to Central Services, and a hearty congratulations to Beginner's Luck. I'm already getting impatient about next year's Hunt! Here's a few more pictures:

    ( Cut for 7 more pictures. )
    Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
    5:55 pm
    ZyzzlCon 3009, part 3
     Here's part 3 of my recap of the 2009 MIT Mystery Hunt, Escape From Zyzzlvaria. But first, a footnote for part 2: [info]thedan posted an enlightening essay about writing duck konundra to [info]mystery_hunt.

    ( Cut for some puzzle spoilers, but mostly not that spoilery. )

    I think that's all of the Outer Zyzzlvaria puzzles I worked on, so I'll stop here. Tune in soon for the thrilling conclusion of my Hunt recap, where I talk about the metas, the meta-meta, and reveal the long-promised video of Saving Captain Blastoid. Oh, and here's one more picture of our spaceship, the NCC 27B/6, which I had forgotten I had taken with my gPhone:

    NCC 27b/6
    Sunday, January 25th, 2009
    7:22 pm
    ZyzzlCon 3009, part 2
     Okay, by "tomorrow" I meant "some day soon"... Here's part 2 of my recap of the 2009 MIT Mystery Hunt, Escape From Zyzzlvaria.

    ( Cut for spoilers for individual puzzles. )

    ( Pictures at a Spaceship Exhibition )


    This is getting long so I'll stop here for the night. Tune in for part 3, uh, some day soon!
    Friday, January 23rd, 2009
    9:19 pm
    ZyzzlCon 3009, part 1
     Last weekend was the annual MIT Mystery Hunt. It was my 6th time participating, and the 2nd in a row with my current team, Central Services (although three other times were with most of the same people, on Pturnips in 2005-2006 and Unseen in 2007). (I just realized that the only other Hunt I've posted about here was in 2005. I intended to write it up each year but I guess I never got around to it.) This year, teams were challenged to Escape From Zyzzlvaria, traveling across the galaxy in the year 3009 to find and rescue Captain Blastoid and her crew.

    ( No spoilers, but cut for length. )

    ...Okay, since my sleep schedule is still pretty messed up, I really need to go to bed now, so I'll end this entry here. More tomorrow, including video from when we rescued Captain Blastoid!
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