[Nita]'s diary

1049727  Link to this entry 
Written about Sunday 2008-10-12
Written: (5863 days ago)

And in cultural news...

I saw John Singleton's "Baby Boy" on TV last night. It's a movie with no white characters, which was refreshing. It was fairly simple and romantic, and there was one bad guy, but I liked it because it felt warm compassionate towards the characters despite all the dysfunctional shit going on.

And [Levoton] has introduced me to the love that is
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=flight+of+the+conchords
Thanks! :)

1049709  Link to this entry 
Written about Sunday 2008-10-12
Written: (5863 days ago)

Lacking Control Increases Illusory Pattern Perception

"Participants who lacked control were more likely to perceive a variety of illusory patterns, including seeing images in noise, forming illusory correlations in stock market information, perceiving conspiracies, and developing superstitions. Additionally, we demonstrated that increased pattern perception has a motivational basis by measuring the need for structure directly and showing that the causal link between lack of control and illusory pattern perception is reduced by affirming the self."

Science article abstract: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/322/5898/115
A few details on ScienceNOW: http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/sciencenow;2008/1002/2
BBC coverage: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7649970.stm

Mmmm. It feels good to have my intuitive conclusions supported by science.

In other words, if you're feeling chronically stressed, overwhelmed or helpless, get that sorted ASAP, because it's impairing your judgement.

1049380  Link to this entry 
Written about Friday 2008-10-10
Written: (5865 days ago)

And now, a quote from [Serwa]'s description (yes, the whole thing is a quote, including the picture :P):



<img:http://elftown.eu/img/drawing/389_1220645408.jpg> I have a broad taste when it comes to art.


I ROFL'd.

P.S. I went to take a look at his house because he had been being a dick in the Mainstreet poll comments, but then apologized. Good PR in action, I suppose ;D
1049215  Link to this entry 
Written about Thursday 2008-10-09
Written: (5866 days ago)
1048922  Link to this entry 
Written about Wednesday 2008-10-08
Written: (5867 days ago)
Next in thread: 1048924
1046683  Link to this entry 
Written about Tuesday 2008-09-23
Written: (5882 days ago)
Next in thread: 1046804

Today, for the first time in my life since I hit puberty, I was able to look in the mirror and see my real face. Not the cute!me, not the ugly!me - just me.

P.S. The face in my photo is a bit of a pretty-face, though. It's for you ;)

1044773  Link to this entry 
Written about Tuesday 2008-09-09
Written: (5896 days ago)
Next in thread: 1044831

<rant>
See, this is why I prefer to read slash (as in, fanfiction with gay sex) rather than het (same with straight sex):


I could never have forced her.

I … I truly care for her.




This, in an otherwise decent fic. Straight drama/romance/smut, without any inclination towards touching the more dysfunctional aspects of life (which I do enjoy in fiction, in case you're wondering). And here I was, with my naive belief that not raping someone was a part of basic human decency. Silly me! Obviously, it's a sign of True Love. *sighs* How romantic.
</rant>
1043489  Link to this entry 
Written about Saturday 2008-08-30
Written: (5906 days ago)

Greta Christina asks her readers how to avoid becoming a crank, and receives some great replies! Very recommended for overcritical nitpicky spoilsports like me ;) http://gretachristina.typepad.com/greta_christinas_weblog/2008/08/on-not-being-a-crank.html

1042705  Link to this entry 
Written about Monday 2008-08-25
Written: (5911 days ago)
1042288  Link to this entry 
Written about Thursday 2008-08-21
Written: (5915 days ago)

Free textbooks!
Article: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-textbook18-2008aug18,0,4712858.story
Discussion: http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/08/19/1316227.shtml
Example: http://www.lightandmatter.com/books.html

On a related note, SiSU looks interesting: http://www.jus.uio.no/sisu/
As you might know, I love the flexibility of HTML+CSS(+JS). I'm also a wannabe fan of S5 (file format), Leo (text editor) and the LaTeX class beamer. If you know of any other one-source-many-uses projects, let me know :)

1042001  Link to this entry 
Written about Tuesday 2008-08-19
Written: (5917 days ago)

We were talking in the forums, and I remembered about The Eatpoo Guide for Art desperados, which is a pretty good intro for newbie (and maybe not-so-new) artists: http://eatpoo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&amp;t=27

1041819  Link to this entry 
Written about Monday 2008-08-18
Written: (5918 days ago)
1041610  Link to this entry 
Written about Saturday 2008-08-16
Written: (5920 days ago)
1041525  Link to this entry 
Written about Friday 2008-08-15
Written: (5921 days ago)

A small study finds that female relatives of gay/bi men have more children than those of straight men. They come up with a theory to explain it, but I'm not convinced: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn14543-bisexuality-passed-on-by-hyperheterosexuals-.html

1041357  Link to this entry 
Written about Thursday 2008-08-14
Written: (5922 days ago)
1041346  Link to this entry 
Written about Thursday 2008-08-14
Written: (5922 days ago)

Apple is doing well, the stock market believes; nerds discuss why: http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/14/0257244

And, apparently, being pretty has measurable benefits (imagine that!): http://www.newscientist.com/channel/sex/mg19926694.600-humans-are-biased-towards-the-beautiful.html

1041339  Link to this entry 
Written about Thursday 2008-08-14
Written: (5922 days ago)

A discussion about allowing doping in sports: http://science.slashdot.org/science/08/08/13/1957200.shtml
As one commenter says, "sportmanship is hard to find in professional sports, but it exists at other levels." I think it's a natural result of athletics turning from a discipline into an entertainment industry too popular for its own good. We, as a society, have lost perspective somewhere along the way :/

And in other news, we have... robots with braaains! (well, almost) http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/mg19926696.100-rise-of-the-ratbrained-robots.html

1041328  Link to this entry 
Written about Thursday 2008-08-14
Written: (5922 days ago)
1041177  Link to this entry 
Written about Wednesday 2008-08-13
Written: (5923 days ago)
Next in thread: 1041300

How do you run without legs? Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNPPbn19UkQ

Eee rocks, but Asus doesn't know what to do with it, says Eric Sink: http://www.ericsink.com/entries/eee.html

1041036  Link to this entry 
Written about Tuesday 2008-08-12
Written: (5924 days ago)
1041034  Link to this entry 
Written about Tuesday 2008-08-12
Written: (5924 days ago)
Next in thread: 1041180

Perhaps a bit too peppy, but oh well... http://www.girleffect.org/

 The logged in version 

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