Can’t we just talk it out?
Posted 30 Aug 2010
Events, Language, People | 1 Comment
A headline from the Local News section of the Philadelphia Inquirer caught my attention on Saturday, 28 August.
The headline reads:
Delco to look at prison security
Erroneous releases of prisoners prompts a “serious discussion,” the county executive says.
Well, I certainly am glad that the Delaware County powers that be will at least have a serious discussion about the potential problems that might arise from mistakenly letting people out of jail. That brings some comfort to all us, I should think.
The Hacky-Sack App
Posted 26 Aug 2010
Daily Life, People | 1 Comment
I watched a friend drop her iPhone last week. It wasn’t pleasant to watch and I felt bad, but I was also inspired!
She was holding a couple of things in her hands, so when she lost her grip on the phone it went tumbling down and all she could do was use her foot to try to soften the landing.
Well, at least that’s what I thought. My friend actually managed to kick the phone softly back up to waist height, and pretty much directly back into her hand! Super impressive!
Unfortunately the story doesn’t end there. She didn’t manage to get a good grip on the phone this time either, and it dropped back down hard onto the cement. Ouch.
Still, it got me thinking that smartphones with all their sweet gyroscopes and motion sensors ought to look into developing a hacky-sack app. I think my friend would be a top-scorer.
Overheard within the editorial office
Posted 24 Aug 2010
Blog, Daily Life, People | 5 Comments
Possibly overheard today within the chickenmonkeydog.com editorial office:
<begin conversation>
Technical Editor: So, what’s the post gonna be for today? Do you have anything in particular you want to publish?
Creative Editor: Nope. Hope ’bout you? Anything you want to see on there today?
Technical Editor: Well, let’s look at our drafts. Have you looked through those? Any jump out at you?
Creative Editor: Um … nothing seemed brilliant. Probably why they are still drafts.
Technical Editor: Ok. Well, let’s see. Maybe we should do something different today. Out of the ordinary. Unexpected. Quirky.
Creative Editor: (sounding skeptical) Like what?
Technical Editor: Me, Technical Editor. You, Creative Editor.
Creative Editor: Hmm … back to me then. So much for my punt.
Technical Editor: (interrupting) Hey!
Creative Editor: What?
Technical Editor: Never mind. Silly idea.
Creative Editor: Ok …
(Long pause)
Creative Editor: Got it!
Technical Editor: What?
Creative Editor: An idea! I have an idea for today’s post.
Technical Editor: Great! Let’s hear it.
Creative Editor: We ask our readers to tell us what to talk about today. We ask then an open-ended question and they reply in the comments. We open the doors to a conversation … and just wait to see where it goes.
Technical Editor: (sounding incredulous) Um … think it will work? I mean, really, will it start a conversation?
Creative Editor: I think so. Can’t hurt to try. Right?
Technical Editor: Ok. I guess I’ll get that ready for today.
</ end conversation>
So, Dear Readers, what topic would you like to talk about as we gather ’round the office water cooler that is chickenmonkeydog?
An Average Level of Health
Posted 2 Aug 2010
Daily Life, People | 2 Comments
A few weeks ago I got the flu. I felt pretty bad and in the midst of feeling sick I began to think about average levels of health. It struck me as really unfair that when we get sick we feel really bad, but we never catch anything that makes us feel exceptionally good. It is as if the only adjustment to our average health level is for the worse (See diagram 1).
Diagram 1: Average health drops towards minimum health in times of sickness.
And of course I was thinking, wouldn’t it be nice if at times our health shot up and we felt great (See diagram 2)!
Diagram 2: Average health sometimes drops towards a minimum and sometimes shoots up towards a maximum.
And after all this thinking what the charts would look like, I realized that maybe it is all set up right in the first place and that I just had the labels wrong on my charts. After all, if we are normally at the maximum of “feeling healthy,” any sickness would necessarily bring us down, but in the end this setup increases the percentage of time we spend close to the maximum of our health range (See diagram 3).
Of course, this all could just have been the fever getting the best of my thinking.
Exercise equipment for Oompa Loompas
Posted 15 Jul 2010
People, Places, Signs | 4 Comments
I saw some exercise equipment today that, as far as I can tell from the instructional infographics on the machine, is intended for use by Oompa Loompas.
