“New York City has a clean-air program that allows people to report commercial vehicles that are parked and idling for more than three minutes, or one minute outside a school. Those who report infractions by submitting a video can collect 25 percent of the fine collected by the city — $87.50 on a $350 fine.”
NYC has a very interesting clean-air program that has created an opportunity for business. Such program would be very lucrative in Florida, as idle parking here is endemic.
nyc random“The best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it’s to post the wrong answer.”
Cunningham’s Law, eh? Hmm, I don’t know about that. Wouldn’t that be considered trolling?
humour randomNuclear weapons. Not nucular weapons, but nuclear ones. I don’t know from where I got to this page. I picked it up on my desktop, while browsing the iCloud Tabs (tabs open on my phone).
“What is the only provocation that could bring about the use of nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons. What is the priority target for nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons. What is the only established defense against nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons. How do we prevent the use of nuclear weapons? By threatening to use nuclear weapons. And we can’t get rid of nuclear weapons, because of nuclear weapons.”
It is a good read. I am glad I did.
random thoughts tubesHaving our driveway and sidewalk pressure washed today. Saw a teenager doing it for a neighbour last week and, knowing that a “friendly reminder” is coming our way from the HOA, decided that let someone else have the fun I had had for the last 25 years. So, he was hired to do so. I think $150 USD, after 25 years, is kind of a bargain, isn’t it?
me randomToday, after much thought and deliberation, I re-subscribed to The New York Times. It was hard to pass their $50/year offer, as I have been consuming it more and more through archive.today. One of the first things I did was to install their iOS application, and from it comes my first complaint: the amount of ads on it is distasteful. So much that I will probably mostly use the web version, as I can eliminate them fully that way.
me random rants“I don’t feel the least humble before the vastness of the heavens. The stars may be large, but they cannot think or love; and these are qualities which impress me far more than size does."
I came across this quote by Frank Ramsey, which almost instantly brought to mind Carl Sagan’s famous one:
“We live on the third piece of debris from the Sun; a tiny world of rock and metal with a thin patina—a veneer—of organic matter on the surface, a tiny fraction of which we happen to constitute.”
Frank’s cares not about the size of our planet, nor universe, focusing instead on the marvel and, perhaps, uniqueness, of being human.
random thoughts tubes“‘Pig butchering’ scams resemble the practice of fattening a hog before slaughter. Victims invest in supposedly legitimate virtual currency investment opportunities before they are conned out of their money. Scammers refer to victims as “pigs,” and may leverage fictitious identities, the guise of potential relationships, and elaborate storylines to “fatten up” the victim into believing they are in trusted partnerships before they defraud the victims of their assets—the ‘butchering.’”
Today I learned. There are so many names given to scams, financial and otherwise, that one looses track. Pig butchering was one of those I missed.
random tubesThis site is very neat. It allows you to play—albeit for a short period of time—a multitude of sounds. Amongst my many music likings is trance, and I am enjoying browsing their collection. Especially, psychedelic trance.
➝ Via @claudrod.
random viaOh my gawd! This is an incident I didn’t know about, and I would have rather remained ignorant about it. Now can’t erase it from mind… I mean, it “went into passengers’ eyes, mouths, hair, and onto clothing and personal belongings, many of which were soaked”. Primordial shudders.
On August 8, 2004, a tour bus belonging to Dave Matthews Band dumped an estimated 800 pounds (360 kg) of human waste from the bus’s blackwater tank through the Kinzie Street Bridge in Chicago onto an open-top passenger sightseeing boat sailing in the Chicago River below. The incident became popularly known as the Dave Matthews Band incident or Poopgate.
The members of Dave Matthews Band were not on or near the bus during the incident. The band’s bus driver, Stefan Wohl, initially denied dumping the waste, and was supported by the band. However, he was later determined to be the only person on the bus during the incident; in April 2005, he pleaded guilty to the dumping, and the band fired him without pay.
I have to note that Niederegger Lubeck Classic Marzipan is—though pricey in the U.S.—super delicious. I am going to look around to see if I can find the other varieties they produce, as I would love to try them all!
me random
You’ve got to keep your subscription up! 😂 This cartoon from The New Yorker (one of the few sites still using “www”, I just noticed) made me laugh out loud. In a way, it reminded me of this one.
humour randomI have heard over and over that “you can eat whatever you want, as long as you burn it through exercise”. Well, well, well, another fallacy.
health random“We can’t outrun a bad diet. Pontzer says if we want to tackle obesity, the public health message should focus on changing what’s on our plates.”
Spotted while walking on my 10 minutes break this afternoon. A dumpster cage with the gate clearly, and boldly labeled, “Please Keep the Gate Closed”. It was fully open. Utter disregard. Not even a please does the job these days.
randomThe Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, or NATO phonetic alphabet, was created to clearly communicate the spelling of words. So many people these days are inventing their own! It doesn’t help, at all.
In love with the work of Max. Specifically minimator, graxel, breaklock, commitbeat, and vivus. Go browse his repositories, you will not be disappointed!
random tubesLearning how to fly, just like birds do, it’s quite easy. But don’t take my words for it, read it all by yourself—the illustrated version is awesome! I am talking—if you haven’t followed the previous links—about “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”.
random tubesThere is an art, it says, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, it suggests, and try it. The first part is easy.
All it requires is simply the ability to throw yourself forward with all your weight, and the willingness not to mind that it’s going to hurt. That is, it’s going to hurt if you fail to miss the ground.
Most people fail to miss the ground, and if they are really trying properly, the likelihood is that they will fail to miss it fairly hard.
We long thought T-Rexes were extinct. Imagine our surprise, and utter panic, when we found this one laying on the parking lot next to our car. Lucky for us they were a friendly one, so after exchanging pleasantries we left them on the grass—which is much closer to their natural habitat.
humour randomA Félix María Serafín Sánchez de Samaniego flable, “La serpiente y la lima”, losely translated from Spanish, while aiming to keep the original rythm.
randomA locksmith’s home, so they say, the Serpent slithered in one day. And foolishly, it bit with might, a steel File, sharp and bright.
“Fool!” the File then did proclaim, “The harm will be your game! How dare you try to make a dent in me, who turns hard metal into dust, you see?”
Whoever tries without good cause, to bring the stronger down, and pause, will only manage, in their plight, to kick against a goad with all their might.
Microsoft’s “Blue Screen of Death” (BSOD) is sunsetting in the near future. Soon it will change colours to become the “Black Screen of Death” (BSOD). Get it? LOL.
“The simplified BSOD looks a lot more like the black screen you’d see during a Windows update. But it will list the stop code and faulty system driver that you wouldn’t always see during a crash dump.”
I dont think the change is enough. The message should be something more substantial, specific, and clear.
random tech
At the end of 2024, Moo Deng was a cutie, admired by millions around the world. I mean, how could we not, right? She was, and remains, a very famous pygmy hippopotamus! 🥰🦛
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I used to keep bookmarks for the boy, keeping resources I thought might be useful for him to be used on school assignments, etc. Reviewing them today I found this gem from 2016. So much has changed since! Prices, for sure, and some of the things we eat, maybe? Notice how much healthier the food from some poorer countries is, in comparison to, say, the US.
Check out also “Rise and Shine”, to see what kids around the world eat for breakfast (from 2014).
random tubesGetting lost on the interweb is my newly found hobby, and the reason I have gotten so fond of blogrolls, and webrings. It is amazing what you can find while aimlessly following links that happen to catch your attention—or simply clicking/tapping, daring to see what’s on the other side. For each rubbish site out there that we should avoid, there are 10 others wholesomely worth it. I am specially fond of minimalist, text only websites, and those who use exquisite typography.
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Thomas Dambo’s trolls—and his other creations—come across as other-worldly. His entire works collection is simply too amazing not to note. Makes me wish there were more trolls in our world, don’t you agree? Kind of “have trolls, no war”.
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The Baroque period produced some of the greatest artists humankind has ever seen. I recently came across “The Abduction of Proserpina” on Kottke. Although I saw it with my own eyes, I couldn’t help but feeling, again, amazed and awestruck by the artist incredible skills that make this cold marble so lifelike.
random tubes“Less Wrong” sure is an interesting place. For the untrained—like me—it is hard to grasp, as its navigation, and method of engagement, are fairly unique.
random tubes“LessWrong is an online forum and community dedicated to improving human reasoning and decision-making. We seek to hold true beliefs and to be effective at accomplishing our goals. Each day, we aim to be less wrong about the world than the day before.”
“We haul your trash and your junk!” reads a sign that I have seen around the city. The local government does pick up regular (household) trash, and large junk (mattresses, televisions, refrigerators, etc.) once a week. That’s included in the $21.68 every household pays monthly through the City Utilities Commission.
For major house renovations, a dump bucket of many sizes can also be rented, usually by those doing the work. Who would have so much rubbish that businesses could be formed to cater to that need?
I am also left thinking: where would that business dump their haul? Unhealthy thoughts come to my mind. Call me a cynic.
random thoughtsAriel is so talented! I mean, browse to her website and experience her exquisite taste and design skills. I browse around her website, and get the feeling to be experiencing Japanese aestetics: minimal, yet extremely tasteful.
I can’t pretend; I am a fan! I mean, take a look at this, and you will have but a glimpse of what I am talking about.
random techThis guy, Linus, he is some sort of a genius. He truly is! No, he isn’t Torvalds—though that Linus is also a genius. I mean, look how prolific he is! And he sure does write, at length. But don’t take my word for it, just go check it out. Oh, and he composes music, and does art, I mean… is there something he doesn’t do?!
Now, what brought me here today was his “short” notes, which he describes as “brief memos on ideas, musings, inspirations”. Pfff, Linus, mate, I admire you a lot. You don’t know me, but I do. Now, let me tell you something: you can’t write “brief” anything. Well, almost.
random tubesBecause I found it, and liked it enough to mention here:
“The night gardener once asked me if I knew how citrus trees died: when they reach old age, if they are not cut down and they manage to survive drought, disease and innumerable attacks of pests, fungi and plagues, they succumb from overabundance. When they come to the end of their life cycle, they put out a final, massive crop of lemons. In their last spring their flowers bud and blossom in enormous bunches and fill the air with a smell so sweet that it stings your nostrils from two blocks away; then their fruits ripen all at once, whole limbs break off due to their excessive weight, and after a few weeks the ground is covered with rotting lemons. It is a strange sight, he said, to see such exuberance before death.”
➝ Via Stress Free Zone.
random tubes viaHaving such a lazy Sunday! Reading blogs, listening to Twitch. Talking about blogs, I am currently only following three:
After many years of following tech related blogs I grew tired of just that. It is refreshing to read things on a wider variety of topics, where tech might be in it, but not the main topic. If you have any recommendation, let me know! You can use the “@” next to the note time for that.
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