Mon - March 19, 2007

You ARE your glasses

Funny thing happened in a conversation the other night. A friend wanted to see how my glasses looked on him, because he may be shopping for a pair. I mentioned how important glasses are to one's "look". Once he saw me without my glasses on my face, he said, "Important? Dude, you ARE your glasses."

That got me thinking--people sometimes said I reminded them of Drew Carey with my old round specs. Who might I get mistaken for now? Check this out.




And now for a peek back in time to see who my old specs made me resemble...




I'd have to say I upgraded nicely (even if I did have to remove Yoko Ono from the new set above). I seem to have brought down the average age at least. But seriously, John Major? WTF?!

Celebrity comparisons at http://www.myheritage.com/

Posted at 02:22 PM      

Fri - March 16, 2007

Tue - October 17, 2006

The Last Cool Thing I Did With My Hands

P.S. Star Wars Lego is not an addiction. I can stop anytime I really want to.

Posted at 01:53 PM      

Sat - April 15, 2006

Full moon fever.

Spent a few minutes watching 20/20 tonight, which was an interesting, if dumbed-down review of Steven Levitt's Freakonomics, which I've wanted to read for a long time (a year), but haven't gotten to yet. From the abstract:

"Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world."


Levitt is a very bright guy who looks at statistics without assuming the same things that we all do. His conclusion that legalized abortion accounts for a significant reduction in crime is provocative, and an interesting idea. I'm sure the argument goes much deeper in the book, and I intend to find out.

Anyway, I was thinking tonight that I'd love to review some good sociological stats on the "Full Moon Effect". Today in Royal Oak, Michigan it was a beautiful spring/summer day, it's Good Friday (a holiday for many), and it's a full moon. We did a lot of garden work, and the FME was obvious.




- Random sidewalk guy singing along with his iPod had a beautiful voice.
- Random girl driving by at 10pm shouted "Hiiiiii!!" out her window to a stranger (me)
- Neighbor who we haven't seen in a couple weeks said "Hi" and told us about the turkey (in his freezer for a year) that was about to be roasted

Hypothesis: People interact with strangers differently/more on Full Moon evenings, and seem to have lowered inhibitions.
Data: Who has anything more than anecdotal?

Posted at 01:20 AM      

Fri - April 7, 2006

Tumbleweed syndrome.

Every blog deals with this. There are times when you have nothing to write about, at least nothing that ignites the passions. Or, there are times when you just don't want to write. Or times when you think nobody will care what you write about.

Tumbleweed syndrome is more typical of personal blogs that have multiple topics of interest (like this one). When you focus on one thing deeply, you can always find more intricate details to discuss.

But I love too many things, too deeply. And I've been involved in job-hunting and travel-planning lately. In a few days, I may rely on the bloggers bread and butter--links to other blogs!

In the meantime, enjoy this stolen graphic:

Posted at 02:43 AM     Read More    

Wed - March 8, 2006

More about me...

Sorry for not blogging for a while, but I was getting at the root of a hardware problem with my aging Powerbook. (Thanks, Marc Posner!)

It's funny--I won't dream of changing the oil in my car by myself, but I think nothing of shoving a piece of electricians' tape into the delicate guts of my computer based on the advice of someone I've never talked to. Well it worked, and I feel like MacGuyver.

Anyway, here's a cool thing. I found out about a new personality test (http://www.personaldna.com/) online and took the time to find out who I am according to them. It was only about 15 minutes of interesting questions using cool flash sliders and such. According to my personal DNA, I'm a



Reserved Leader (click to learn more)

I might have preferred "Imperious Leader"...



...but Reserved is OK too I guess. At any rate, It seems I am very open minded, functional, earthy and in touch with my feminine side. On the other hand, I don't have a lot of spontaneity, or empathy, and my sense of style is apparently miniscule.

Take the test ! It's fun.

Posted at 12:26 AM      

Sat - February 18, 2006

British Humor

I've always been a fan. Blame my Irish mother, but shows like Monty Python, The Goodies, The Young Ones, Benny Hill, et al. have always tickled my fancy. Dad unfortunately never had this gene.

The latest one making the rounds on the Internet is a cute little show called "The IT Crowd".



It's no surprise that this is a hot property online, because the 3 main characters are running the IT department at a mindless corporation. Heavy Internet users can sympathize. On top of that, Channel 4 has been releasing digital copies of the episodes, but preventing them from view for non UK users. Thanks to their misguided attempts at "hiding" the show, folks have been able to BitTorrent (download) every episode, and even stream them via YouTube.com.

Here's the thing--it's a funny typical sitcom, with a few laugh out loud moments. It seems very well cast, and fairly well written. I can almost guarantee that all of the US networks are working out their versions of this show just like the recent adaptations "The Office" or "American Idol" or "Dancing with the Stars". The thing is, most of those adaptations feel a little flat compared to the originals.

It's not a hugely great show, but I encourage to get it while you can, before it gets dumbed down any more.

'ave a larf!

Posted at 11:22 PM      

Fri - February 17, 2006

Mon - February 13, 2006

My nephew, some hot-shot!

You gotta love this one. 13 year old dude has to wait for wrestling practice to start, so he decides to kill time by entering and competing in the Spelling Bee.

To the horror of the spelling geeks who have been cramming, he wins.




Way to go Andy! Looks like you might have a little streak of Uncle Ian in you. Hope the wrestling coach doesn't get mad at you for reading every now and then.

Posted at 01:41 AM      

Sun - January 29, 2006

The <name> tag.

Call me Ian. I'm an amateur gourmet, music fanatic, and web professional who has only just now started his blog.

I guess I never thought that the typical personal blog could be all that interesting. However, "interesting" is in the eye of the beholder, right? And I owe it to myself to get familiar with the tools.

So here I sit, on a rainy Michigan Sunday, introducing myself to the world wide web.

Hello, my name is Ian.

Posted at 08:43 PM