Concordantly, you are the eventuality of an anomaly

Does this article scare you as much as it scares me?

The gist is that some R&D group in IBM is charged with "building predictive models of their own colleagues" to optimize their deployment.

Two Three A few quick thoughts:

• This type of analysis relies on a complete, or at least fairly consistent, data set.
  
  
• This encourages the type of work process that requires real-time digitizing of our accomplishments, communications, and relationships
  
  
• I'm all for documentation, but do you have any idea how fucking annoying that would be?
  
  It would be like rewarding that douchebag that always CC's half the office, or the ditz that keeps clicking "Reply To All". You know, SEO and all that jazz.
  
  
• Then again, with the growth and popularity of social networks and smart phones, the possibility of this reality may happen sooner rather than later.
  
  
• The commoditisating of people and use of fuzzy quantified metrics as decision making tools instead of decision support tools leaves me with chills.
  
  
• Here's to hoping Big Blue incorporates a blue pill / red pill option in their grand computer model.

The Consulting Mantra

Now it may be because I'm a bit of a closet hippie, but this concerns me:

Obama opposes Bush endangered species proposal

Yes, I'm concerned how seven of the top ten Google results for endangered species proposal deal with Obama's opposition. Why must every political story revolve around this Magical Negro? And if he is the magical negro in this story, isn't his role to support the other, White, presidential candidate? You know, Paris.

Also of note is how the Bush proposal gives federal agencies the responsibility to evaluate the environmental impact of their own projects. Who needs an independent scientific review? Scientists are nerds.

Apparently this was a great success the last time they tried it:

In 2003, the administration imposed similar rules that ... allowed agencies to approve new pesticides and projects to reduce wildfire risks without asking the opinion of government scientists

... internal reviews by the National Marine Fisheries Service and Fish and Wildlife Service concluded that about half the unilateral evaluations that determined wildfire prevention projects were unlikely to harm protected species were not legally or scientifically valid.

Retrieved 2008/08/20 from
AP IMPACT: Bush to relax protected species rules

Why the change? Efficiency.

In recent years, both federal agencies and developers have complained that the reviews, which can result in changes to projects that better protect species, have delayed work and increased costs.

Maybe the way to decrease delays and have realistic cost projections is by incorporating a valid environmental impact analysis in the initial proposal and design, not brushing said concerns to the side.

Oh, I'm just being silly.

I forgot the Consulting mantra: On-time; on-budget; high-quality. Pick two. Or don't, whatever. Just let me know when my expense account is set up, I'll be at the strip joint next door. Don't worry, I'll ask for a receipt.

paris-hilton-yogen-fruz-frozen-yogurt-0609
Photo Originally uploaded by
pressroom

Neil Patrick Harris + Nathan Fillion in a webisode musical by Joss Whedan?

Sign me up.

http://www.drhorrible.com/

It's a three part series and I was hooked once the first musical number hit at the four minute mark of the first webisode.

Note: each episode is roughly 10 to 15 min long.

The new short film by Blu

Don't ask, don't reconsider, just click play, and marvel.


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

The new short film by Blu
an ambiguous animation painted on public walls.
Made in Buenos Aires and in Baden (fantoche)

blublu.org/
blublu.org/sito/video/muto.htm

music by Andrea Martignoni
produced by Mercurio Film
assistant: Sibe

DIY (Yahoo!) Resignation Letter

http://yahoorezinr.com/

Bookmarked, bitches.

telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

How did I not know about this before?

It's Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope, in animated ascii art goodness.

1. Windows Key + R
2. Type in "telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl"
3. Bask in the nerdy glory that is Star Wars in ascii art format

2008 World Telekinesis Competition @ Victoria, BC, Canada

Who wants to form a team?


via videosift.com

From: http://www.noxioussector.net/wtc/call.html

THE WORLD TELEKINESIS COMPETITION

THE WORLD TELEKINESIS COMPETITION is an openly invitational project that will organize participating teams in a competitive manner to remotely influence the behavior of a candle. Teams are not geographically bound, but are required to formalize their participation based on conformity to the guidelines of the competition.

COMPETITION STRUCTURE

The 2008 WORLD TELEKINESIS COMPETITON will follow basic competitive rules for multi-team events. Based on an assessment of the number of participating teams, a preliminary competitive structure will be randomly determined, in which 2 teams will compete to psychically influence the behavior of a remotely-located game candle. The winning team will advance to the subsequent round while the losing team will be eliminated. This competition structure will continue until only one team is remaining. This team will be crowned the winner of the 2008 World Telekinesis Competition.

PARTICIPATION

In order to qualify for participation, teams must satisfy the following criteria:

1. Teams must be comprised of three (3) individuals.
2. Teams must compose or design or appropriate a team logo for inclusion in the 2008 WORLD TELEKINESIS COMPETITION competition schedule.
3. Each team member must provide a personal photograph and biographical statement for inclusion in the 2008 WORLD TELEKINESIS COMPETITION competition schedule.
4. Teams must agree to abide by the rules of the competition, as articulated at the following URL: noxioussector.net/wtc/rules.html

SUBMISSIONS

In order to qualify for competition, teams must submit the following:

1. A statement of interest and/or method addressing the concept of telekinetic competition;
2. A list of the three (3) members who comprise the team, as well as a concise (max 200 words) biographical statement for each team member;
3. A web-resolution (max 2MB) image of each team member;
4. A team name and an associated team logo for inclusion in the competition schedule and related publicity material;
5. A statement of availability for competition -- articulating weekend availability between April 1st and May 30th, 2008.

Also, relevant is the following:



(It's an infamous River to Jayne Firefly quote, you luddites!)

The Machine Girl. Great Movie? Or GREATEST Movie?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSpCWJnnWVI

Worth Watching - Dec 10: Next Year's Cult Hit - The Machine Girl

I've Made Charts And Graphs That Should Finally Make It Clear

Ever wonder what it's like to date a yuppie professional who's used to giving power point presentations? Wonder no more:

Romance: An Analysis - Andy Meyers (June 28, 1996)
(It's a virus free PowerPoint file.)

While there is a time-gap in when the analysis took place, I believe you will find it still relevant to current day and extremely concise in its use of visual aids.

e.g.
A couple of the slides had me laughing out loud.

[Hidden]
I've made charts and graphs that should finally make it clear...
[/Hidden]

Entertainment Value

There's a new Grow puzzle game over at Eyemaze called Grow Cube. Took me about 30 minutes to solve it, but I was loved it every second. I blogged about other Eyemaze puzzle games previously.

Speaking of games, I'm an adventure game junkie and one that I'm particularly looking forward to is Indigo Prophesy (AKA Fahrenheit outside of North America). Played the demo, and I'm very intrigued.

Still on the topic of awesome stuff, Serenity is coming out on Friday September 30th. It apparently continues the story of one of my all time favourite TV series, Firefly (which Fox in its infinite wisdom cancelled after showing only nine episodes out of sequence).

Let me make this clear now: If this movie isn't a resounding box office hit, and I find out that you did not pay for a movie ticket to go watch this movie, I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND GUT YOU IN REEVER-LIKE FASHION! No power in the 'verse can stop me!

If you ask nicely, I may lend out my DVD version of the series.

And if you can sing the song of the Hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne, forgive me if I say I think you're awful shiney and want to bear your man babies.

(Hooray for Firefly references!)

Grow RPG

Grow was a Flash puzzle game I stumbled upon a while ago. The basic premise is to keep adding gadgets to a ball for it to continually grow and evolve. Certain gadgets have more growth phases than others, and certain growth phases have prerequisites, so using a little bit of grey matter and a lot of trial and error, you have to find the precise order that will evolve the ball into it's complete form.

Confusing? Just give it a try, you'll understand.

But the reason I mention it is that the maker has made a semi-sequal titled Grow RPG. Same premise, different animations and objects, but still amazingly addictive. Maybe even more so than the original.



Figuring the right order is all of the fun, so try not to spoil yourselves by Googling the solution. If you want a bit of a hint, I've taken screen shots of the end solution for both games:

Grow end shot
Grow RPG end shot

Edit: Fixed up unfinished thoughts and half-completed sentences. I used to be able to write coherently on the first try, I swear!