Ruminations

HW 8

2006-11-13T15:57:00.000-08:00

I chose Google, because it is the social website that I use the most. I can use this website to seach for virtually anything I could ever want to or need know about, and it provides me with the most popular related websites. It knows the popularity of sites by how often certain sites are linked to from other sites. It makes the information useful by organizing it by popularity. Yahoo is a competing website, they are organized in a very similar way, and I don't think that Yahoo is particularly better that Google in anyway.

2006-10-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

My blog is getting NO traffic!!? how sad...this could be also because I didn't put the tag in the right place in my blog until today, so it hasn't been tracking.

Date range	Visits	Page Views
10/4-10/10	0	0

theyrule

2006-10-03T18:19:00.000-07:00

Theyrule.net is a website that allows you to map the connections between major companies through directors who sit on boards of several different companies. It's very interesting to see how much influence one two people can have. I mapped the connection between Anheuser-Busch Co. and the New York Times, two companies that one would think have little in common. As it turns out, they are connected through only three people, Michael A. Miles, John E. Jacob, and Brenda C. Barnes. What I found even more interesting was the number of boards that each of these people sit on, and the influence they must have due to the size of these companies. John E. Jacob is a director at not only Anheuser-Busch, but also Morgan Stanley, and Coca-Cola Enterprises. Michael A. Miles is a director at Morgan Stanley, Allstate, AMR, Dell Computer, Time Warner Inc., and Sears Roebuck. And Brenda C. Barnes sits on the boards of Sears Roebuck, Avon Products, PepsiAmericas, Staples, and The New York Times.

This is disturbing especially in the instance of The New York Times. It seems that having a completly unbiased news source would be impossible when it is influenced by so many other companies and organizations. If, for instance, PepsiAmerica does something that if reported on would put that company in a bad light, wouldn't Brenda Barnes not want the New York Times to report on it, seeing as how she represents both companies.

that is all.

67% Shiny!

2006-09-27T16:13:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I took a shower at my cousin’s house, and was using their shampoo, because I never bring my own shampoo if I am traveling. I don’t understand why you would, there is shampoo available everywhere you go. Not bringing my own products also affords me the ability to try out new types and brands, since I stick religiously to Herbal Essences at home. This particular shower came equipped with several different types of shampoos, through which I looked carefully. A particular bottle caught my eye, because both the shampoo and conditioner of the same brand guaranteed me that if I used this product, my hair would be 85% shinier. I had to try it. 85%!!! That’s amazing!! I got out of the shower and proceeded to closely examine my hair in the mirror. Alas, false advertising. From what I could tell, my hair was only at most 60% shinier. I’m going to write a strongly worded letter to the Panteen Pro-V company. I need to find out how they measure this shininess factor. Do they have a shinyometer? And what if my hair is already 100% shiny? Is 185% shiny possible!!? I need to go to the lab where they do these tests. Dozens of scientists in lab coats shouting “Add more grease! We need to get the shininess factor up to 85%!! It’s only at 72!!” I for one, worry much too often about the shininess of my hair. Thank God for a shampoo that can help me achieve my shininess potential.

Anyways I play water polo which isn't a sport that many people know about, especially on the east coast. So, if you ever wondered about it, or don't know what it is, check this out...

Creative Commons.

2006-09-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

I have just added a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License to my blog. This means that if you use my work, you can't use it for commercial purposed, must give me credit, and must share any changes you make with other people. I don't mind if others use or change my work, I don't want anyone stealing it and taking credit.

Creative Commons is an excellent idea, and I have seen the logo on other websites before, but never knew what it was. That is all.

We're sorry your flight has been delayed...

2006-09-21T13:28:00.000-07:00

Keeping with the Airplane theme...

-Why is the American public so completely inept when it comes to getting off planes. The second the doors are opened, it becomes time to rearrange everything in their suitcase, paint their nails, find the baby, feed the baby, finish reading their magazine, and then finally saunter down the aisle. No rush, right? A leisurely pace is perfect for getting off a plane I have been trapped on for 6 hours, behind the family with 3 year old triplets. Sure. If there is ever a plane crash, or fire, or some other catastrophe…we’re all gonna die.

-Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix, Arizona, “We’re sorry but your departure is delayed for 2 hours due to weather conditions.” Weather conditions in my destination city? you may ask. Nope, weather conditions in Phoenix. This concept baffles me. First of all, there is no weather in Phoenix. That’s why old people move there. It is the same hot, sunny, 80-100 degrees all year round. How can you have bad weather conditions in a city with no weather? I was being forced to sit in the airport for another 2 and a half hours because it was too nice and sunny outside for flying? I was later informed that “weather conditions” in Phoenix means that the runway is too hot. This did not make me feel any better about the current situation. I would think that, seeing as how its always hot in Arizona (or at least for 75% of the year) they would have found a easy, economical way to solve this problem. I mean we have heater that heat our bathroom floors for god’s sake, but can we figure out a way to cool down the airplane runway? Of course not, we must delay all flights and wait for it to cool down naturally. Bogus if you ask me. I’m betting that they were just lying to us and really the plane was on fire or the captain and flight attendants were having a pool party…probably.

here are 2 websites that I enjoy: xkcd and a softer world

That is all.

CS 103

2006-09-06T13:43:00.000-07:00

This is my first blog post for my CS 103 blog, we were told that we could write about anything so I have chosen to follow in the fashion of Aaron Karo ( www.aaronkaro.com/column.php), a very funny man, and write my own ruminations on life and such. So here goes nothing...

Not to long ago I was sitting in the LAX airport contemplating the complexities of airport bathrooms, more specifically—automatic flush toilets. I believe that every airport bathroom in the United States (or at least the ones I have been to, which is a lot of them) is equipped with these wonders of modern hygiene and technology. Now, I love hygiene just at much as the next person and believe that the automatic flush feature of these toilets should be a wonderful addition to my bathroom experience; however, it is not. I would much rather take the effort to push down the flush lever than deal with the humiliation and stress brought on by this faux-convenience. This is a run-through of my typical automatic flusher public bathroom experience. Enter the stall. FLUSH. Retrieve a seat protector (as I said I do appreciate hygiene). Place it on the seat. FLUSH. Sit down. Do my (FLUSH) business. Reach for the toilet paper, which is of course as far away from the toilet as possible, so I have to lean forward to get it. The toilet thinks I have suddenly disappeared into thin air. FLUSH. Stand up. Button everything up. NO FLUSH. Wait for a few seconds. Still NO FLUSH. Do the automatic toilet flush dance, which involves waving my hands, moving around in the stall as much as the tiny space will permit, and staring at the red sensor hoping my telepathic powers will trigger the flush. NO FLUSH. Reluctantly end up pushing the manual flush button anyway, because I have now been in the stall for much longer than the accepted necessary stall duration. FLUSH. The whole hygienic point of the automatic flusher has gone down the toilet (pun intended) since I had to touch the button anyway. My experience is ruined. Not to mention I absolutely hate when I am subjected to an auto-flush while I am sitting down. I have always had a fear that someday I’ll be using a toilet with a turbo flush and just be sucked down, never to be seen again. Hey, it could happen. And the other thing about sit-down flushes is the fact that you know the people in the stalls on either side of you saw that your feet didn’t move and are thinking that you were doing something so terrible in the stall next to them that a double, or worse TRIPLE flush was required. You don’t want to be separated from a triple-flusher by only a thin sheet of metal and air. If you are subject to an auto-triple flush, do not look your neighbors in the eye when you leave your stall. Ever. Wash up (if you can, the sinks are usually automatic too, which means the water won’t come on if you want it to) and get out.

that is all.