I just started using ToodleDo, which is a web-based Getting Things Done kinda task managey thing.  It works with my fancy new iPhone, on the web and with Frictionless GTD (which I think is a pun on Kinkless GTD, but I've been Wrong Before).

Anyway, if you are thinking of signing up, Emily says you should use this link.  That way, I'll get some bennies if you upgrade to the Pro level.  I know, you're thinking, "Why should I help this Bozo out!  He's got everything."  But then you'll think shortly thereafter, "Oh yeah, he's in grad school and can barely afford socks."

If all goes well, I'll be updating this entry with more about Getting Things Done in the nearness of time.

I don't know anybody who ever had their house really catch on fire.  You know, when Firemen show up with Axes and go to town, and then you're left with a big, gaping hole in the wall, surrounded by char and the smell of smoke.  Except, of course, now I know one person - me!

I woke up this morning and my brother, Derek, came in and asked me if I was awake.  Then he showed me.  It was pretty stressful, I've gotta say.  I took a shot of tequila before going to work!

Ultimately, this served to illustrate the fallacy of using maximum likelihood estimation when I should have been operating in a decision-theoretic regime.  I woke up in the middle of the night and smelled smoke.  I even looked around.  But then I figured it must simply be something outside (not the outside of our house, mind you).  But I was too tired, and failed to consider the risk of not finding a fire - even if it was terribly unlikely.

I keep having ideas, and I think, "I should write that down!"  And then I don't.  So this is part of my effort to be better at that.

A curious thing happened today when I was trying to look for hair bleaching instructions.  Back during the golden years of the internet - when it was just us technologically savvy communists posting helpful information - I did a search for this and found an amazing page.  It explained everything from the chemistry involved to the best stuff to get to how you could find it.  Now you find a whole slew of mediocre pages with ads and an online store to sell you peroxide.

When you found a good page on the internet, you might put a link to it on your page.  Now, when you find a good page on the internets, you think, "hey - I could rip that off and make $0.10 per impression on that!"

This is just one of many factors that will shift us away from general search (like google) to more structured information (like wikipedia).

The quantum wave repeats itself in fractal patterns, resulting in the "Moment of Transformation"s which will occur 30 years, 30 days, 30 hours, 30 minutes, 30 seconds and 30 milliseconds from the date of my birth (we stop our characterization at 1 msec given the temporal limitations of the human nervous system).

Or maybe I just didn't have the time or energy to plan a 30th birthday celebration.  Either way, you win.

But for now, we're kinda short on details.  E-mail me at dav@ecult.org if you're interested in helping with that.

You can subscribe to this page if you'd like - you'll get e-mails when it changes.  If it seems to be broken, just e-mail me and I'll do it manually.

Only a few days after writing about where it all began, I ran into the Feldy who's name I was trying to remember.  His name is Keith Johnson, and he was at the Gesundheit! Institute for 8 years or so.  He was pleased to know that his mission of doing some outreach while there at least had an effect on me.  He also remembered us juggling fire while we were there.  Remember that, kids, as much as I like to be a snooty juggler — all about skills and none about flash — people remember the flash.

I also happened to run into my first sensei from middle school — Mr. Minkel.

These people were both in the same place - the Eastern Regional meeting of the Feldenkrais Guild of North America, of which I am also a member.  I am in good company.

Adding to the cavalcade of old acquaintance, James Holland sent me a link to his YouTube music video that he was working on back when I was in Boston.  It pains me to watch it on YouTube, as the special effects are quite sharp as I remember, and now they're all granulated and glitchy.  But, if it weren't for YouTube, maybe I couldn't see it at all.