"Cognitive Dissonance" written by Twisted on estrip.org

02/21/05 01:03 - ID#36531

Cognitive Dissonance

You just know you're in for some fun when the help document for your problem starts like this:

Solution:
"How you fix the problem depends on your situation. Read "Decide what to do" for a description of the possible situations and what to do."

I think some hardware and software manufacturers must have majored in psychology:

ATHERTON J S (2003) Learning and Teaching: Cognitive dissonance [On-line] UK: Available: :

"Ordeal is therefore an effective -- if spurious -- way of conferring value on an educational (or any other) experience. "No pain, no gain", as they say.

the more difficult it is to get on a course, the more participants are likely to value it and view it favourably regardless of its real quality.

ditto, the more expensive it is.

the more obscure and convoluted the subject, the more profound it must be.

Mark and I seem to have fallen into our old patterns (well, most of them anyway). Which means we're both sitting in front of our own or each other's computer.

p.s. - congratulations to Basra!

Permalink: Cognitive_Dissonance.html
Words: 185
Location: San Francisco, CA

02/11/05 09:47 - ID#36527

Career Opportunities

Ok, so I'm back combing the job listings on craigslist, and there are some legitimate (you'd think) categories that just have the most bizarre posting titles. Am I reading too much into these?

Fri Feb 11

Erotic/ Adult Models FEMALE wanted for an internet content provider

FEMALE BLONDES needed for a CONVENTION

Maybe I should think about updating my resume.

Permalink: Career_Opportunities.html
Words: 63
Location: San Francisco, CA

02/06/05 03:49 - ID#36526

Digital Mosaics

Holy Moly,[inlink]ajay,260[/inlink](e:Ajay)! That's a large format output option

you don't see every day.

What that guy is doing is basically the front-end of what I'd like to try, except I would use swatches of digital photos (or any digital image) with color values (within a specified tolerance) that match the ascii color map "quilted" together for the digital output. All I need for the back-end is some kind of script to process a directory of images and analyze each block (user-specified size) of contiguous pixels for blocks that match one of the necessary color values (within use-specified tolerance), crop, save and catalog each block then move on. Maybe it could replace color blocks if it finds a closer match later.

Sounds easy, right! A heckuva lot easier than sewing all those little squares together, let me tell you. Maybe (e:Paul) will whip out some code for me in his spare time after he's done taking and teaching classes and writing his thesis and all the other side projects he has going at any give time. Ha! Just kidding.

Speaking of labors of love - the estripwest demo party went VERY well. The mini-BLTs got scarfed up almost as soon as I sat them out. Luckily I had taken the precaution of personally performing a thorough random sampling to make sure they were ok.

Whoa! I hit 4k views. When did that happen?

Permalink: Digital_Mosaics.html
Words: 241
Location: San Francisco, CA

02/04/05 02:56 - ID#36525

Bacon!

Whoa momma! I had a bacon-induced orgasm just looking at that[inlink]lilho,235[/inlink]sandwich.

I wish you could come help too. I'll try to do you proud, although I doubt my mini-BLTs could match that trademark (e:lilho) lusciousness. I don't think anybody here will be complaining though. After all, it's bacon!

Thanks for the insider tips. I've found exceptional food or distracting earrings can get me through most social situations. Or a good soundtrack.

Permalink: Bacon_.html
Words: 73
Location: San Francisco, CA

02/03/05 08:06 - ID#36524

Name that site

As much as I love the name estripwest, I'm finally bowing to the common wisdom that a site about the oh-so-parochial island community of Alameda should probably have Alameda in the name. Call me crazy. Many have.

Given all the other "good" names are taken, I'm left with two contenders. Probably the smartest choice is alamedalink.com. I can shorten that to a:link the way elmwoodstrip is nicknamed (e:strip).

The sentimental choice, however, would be to name the site alamedastrip.com or a:strip for short. Is there any value there? Or is that a purely gratuitous homage?

I know I'm asking the wrong audience here, but I'm totally torn. I may hold a vote at the Alameda open house Saturday to decide. Thoughts? Feel free to cast your vote for a:link or a:strip in chat, if you feel so inclined. Please don't be mad at me if I have to go the other way.

Permalink: Name_that_site.html
Words: 159
Location: San Francisco, CA

01/30/05 07:51 - ID#36522

Video Chat

Hey (e:Soyeon), how did you set up that videochat [inlink]soyeon,176[/inlink] you did with your friend Nick? That looks really cool. I want to try something like for an estripwest demo next Saturday. Did you just use iChat?

That montage of screen grabs you put together from it was great.

Permalink: Video_Chat.html
Words: 50
Location: San Francisco, CA

01/30/05 02:01 - ID#36521

Missed Op

I admit I could have pounced on this but didn't. I'll be ready next time (I think). It's good to have friends at the Chronicle . It's bad to have friends who hijack your entire day and night for a trip to wine country

the day you could have been interviewed for the "Baring their souls for the world to read"

article. (Not something I ever would have thought I'd do. But any press is good press for

e:west

, as they say.) That's not really why I missed out on this article, but it makes a good excuse.

I don't think I would have qualified for the other two articles in the series: "Beware if your blog is related to work"

and "Web logs come of age as source of news."

Original Message

From: Lisa
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2005 1:22 PM
To: Brenda
Subject: Re: Blogging article

yeah! if it's not too late.

I really don't know any blogging celebs personally. sorry!

Original Message

From: Brenda
To: lisa
Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 5:01 PM
Subject: Blogging article

Hey, can I pass your name onto these guys? What's your blog address again? Know of any celebs, too?

Original Message

From: Jennifer
Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 4:11 PM
To: NewsroomDL
Subject: request from Business reporter Verne Kopytoff

Biz reporters Verne Kopytoff and Benny Evangelista are looking examples of famous Bay Area residents who have blogs. Possibilities could include politicians, pro athletes, actors, chefs, artists, business leaders, etc.

Additionally, they're looking for average Bay Area bloggers (ie. non celebrities). Any recommendations would be much appreciated.

Please send your recommendations to Verne at sfchronicle.com

Thanks!

Permalink: Missed_Op.html
Words: 319
Location: San Francisco, CA

01/29/05 07:07 - ID#36520

Applicant

I had to get a copy of this

for my brother now that he's past the graduate school application phase.

See what no one was supposed to see again: pictures of hopeful students, accompanied by unflattering behind-doors quotes from their professors and employers. Jesse Reklaw distills the essence of a bygone era from a dumpstered stash of confidential biology applicant files circa 1965-1975

(e:Maureen) - you may want to skip this part until your graduate school interviews [inlink]maureen,37[/inlink] are over.

What does that mean ?

Permalink: Applicant.html
Words: 102
Location: San Francisco, CA

Category: work

01/29/05 02:58 - ID#36519

Dammit Jim! I'm a blogger, not a gamer!

So, have you ever been in the middle of an important phone call and you hear that little "blaDoop!" letting you know you forgot to sign out of AIM? Oh, and then you hear that ear-splitting persistent chirp of the smoke alarm letting you know your freakin' tea kettle forgot to whistle and as fate would have it you uncharacteristically closed the kitchen door for some flukey reason so you didn't hear it boiling dry? No? Well, it's pretty embarrassing.

Anyway, I feel more and more like my life is back in fate's hands (whatever that means) so who knows what will happen. As I told the person on the phone, there seems to be some mysterious synergy between (e:Paul) and the world, and I've decided to trust whatever comes my way because of it. Ok, maybe trust is too strong a word for it, since I still think sometimes he's wildly optimistic regarding some things. I could use me some of that optimism.

Hey! What kind of bread did (e:Lilho) use for those mini-BLTs? I think I need to make those for the estripwest open house. I'm dubbing them the official food of (e:strip) for now.

Permalink: Dammit_Jim_I_m_a_blogger_not_a_gamer_.html
Words: 200
Location: San Francisco, CA

Category: peeptalk

01/28/05 03:01 - ID#36518

Parallel Universe

Hey (e:Dan)! Thanks for visiting[inlink]dan,63[/inlink]

e:west

. Yeah - you're not automatically logged into

e:west

with your (e:strip) login. I know -- (e:Metalpeter) asked the same question. But for now the two sites are separate and that means the user databases are too. Sorry if that seemed inhospitable. Not our intention!

I had the same deja vu/parallel universe reaction when I first saw (e:Metalpeter) show up in the

e:west

top 12. It is disorienting! Then I quickly remembered where I was, which is to say, not Buffalo. Also, I'm pretty sure you only have cause for concern if a member of one parallel universe has a goatee and their counterpart in the alternate universe does not. Frankly I try not to think too much about parallel universes and infinity and sh!t like that because it keeps me up at night.

Hope this helps! Come back and visit any time!

Permalink: Parallel_Universe.html
Words: 156
Location: San Francisco, CA