While Googling around for more information on Hacker School, which seems thoroughly awesome by the way, I came across this interesting article from 2002:
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/12/17/student.hack/index.html
So I checked Facebook to see what the young lad was up to, and it turns out he’s now a mortgage trader for Goldman Sachs after four years at Columbia! Wayne was half right at least.
Among the many things that I despise, advertising ranks high up there alongside ketchup, the term “pet peeve”, and most people. And so it was with great joy that just a few months ago I discovered how incredibly easy it is to remove Gmail ads. Honestly I have no idea why it took me so long to Google how to do this, but now whenever I notice that someone still has ads displaying in their email, I get to scoff and act like they’re a moron.
!. Web Clips
Google puts a line at the top of your inbox called “web clips” that it purports to be “new headlines, blogs posts, RSS an Atom feeds, and relevant sponsored links” which in practice turns out to just be sponsored links. Luckily, you can just turn that “feature” off by going to Settings > Web Clips and uncheck “Show my web clips above the Inbox.”
2. Advertisements in emails
Gmail advertisements can be pretty creepy or hilarious, depending on your point of view, genetic predisposition, socio-economic background, and really a whole host of other external factors. I don’t really know what I’m saying, but suffice to say that I don’t like them.
Install Adblock Plus here: http://adblockplus.org/en/
Go to Settings -> Extensions -> Adblock Plus -> Options -> Add your own filters, and add the filter ” mail.google.com##.z0DeRc ” (sans quotation marks..)
BONUS
Facebook Adblock
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pkoaaaiiaalegemhdeadohejihbdfbho
Install it. Done.
This all assumes you’re using Gmail and Chrome. If you’re not then I don’t really know how to help you, because there are deeper issues at hand than just finding the right IE applet or whatever they use to do things.
The exclamation above was typed in haste and I didn’t realize it until I was done typing because the text was so small in TextEdit. I saw no reason to fix it.
Oh wow, how annoying is a blog post that starts with “it’s been awhile since I last posted” or some such words. Occupy is over, it’s finally freezing cold here in NYC, and the Modern PTQ Season is fast approaching.
While I haven’t been able to play much Magic at all lately, aside from consistently losing Innistrad drafts every Friday, I’ve been testing a lot with what appears to be the best combo deck in the Modern format:
4 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Shivan Reef
1 Steam Vents
2 Sulfur Falls
4 Desperate Ravings
4 Desperate Ritual
2 Empty the Warrens
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Grapeshot
4 Manamorphose
3 Past in Flames
4 Pyretic Ritual
3 Pyromancer Ascension
4 Seething Song
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
Sideboard
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Dispel
3 Echoing Truth
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Telemin Performance
Combo is always my default choice for constructed, since you’re doing something that a lot of decks just can’t stop, at least game one. Also, it plays to my natural inclination to avoid interacting with people.
This is basically card for card what everyone is playing on Magic Online, which is always a good starting place before I go changing cards and making it not work anymore. I’ve found the deck to be surprisingly consistent for a turn four win, although you usually don’t need to do so. A lot of times I’ll storm out with Manamorphoses and Probes a bit and Grapeshot their board in order to buy a bunch of turns to get a better hand.
One card I really want in the deck is Peer Through Depths. Ravings can be pretty insane setting things up and stocking your graveyard, but I think with how far that card digs it’s likely just better. It also makes beating sideboard cards much easier, since you’re more likely to find your Echoing Truth or Dispel in time for their Ethersworn Canonist or Mindbreak Trap.
Telemin Performance is hilarious tech for the mirror, and really makes me want to play Phage the Untouchable as the next level tech, which I haven’t seen in any lists, probably because it’s just not a good idea. Stars have to align somewhat for you to live the dream, since they have to actually be playing Telemin, draw it (usually two of) and have you not draw your Phage. Probably just playing a Snapcaster Mage would foil their Performance plan and still be useful to draw. Still though, I can cast her off of double Manamorphose…
I hate Leylines, especially in a format without Brainstorm, and likely will not be playing them for real. Blanking discard is nice and all, but I’m already down a card now, and want to kill myself every time I draw another Leyline.
All in all a pretty awesome deck, and one I’ll probably go 5-2 at every PTQ and get 9th on tiebreakers, as I’ve done three times in the past. The deck seems insane, but it’s getting so much press lately that I’m not sure it’s a great choice. The first PTQ is this month, the 21st in Brooklyn, so we shall see.
I have never seen a single episode of Game of Thrones.
The Google calendar on my phone has been notifying me for the past three weeks that election day is today, November 8. This is sadly indicative of me having not written anything into my calendar for three weeks, which explains why I can never remember to do anything, but that’s besides the point.
Economists often go on about how voting is a huge waste of time, since your vote will have exactly zero effect if the election does not come down to a 50/50 tie, and the odds of that happening are incredibly slim. You’d be better off doing something productive with your time, like making money or writing papers or something. This ignores less “rational” reasons for voting, like patriotism, a sense of duty, or signaling to all of your friends how political you are because you voted.
Economists also like to say that if you see a dollar on the ground don’t waste your time picking it up as it must be a fake, since if it were real someone would have picked it up already, but I’ve found enough money on the ground in my day to disprove this. I often wonder if economists factor in such things as whether it’s $1 vs. $20, or proximity to an ATM, or if there is just a straight percentage chance it’s real vs. caloric expenditure to grab it. If there is a way to develop a formula for this, would it be worth the time spent? We should probably outsource it.
In the book Connected, Nicholas Christakis makes the case that due to the influence our actions have on the opinions and actions of others, your single vote is actually worth much more than one, as your influence radiates outward to your friends, and friends of friends, etc. This especially works for “popular” people, with densely woven social connections. To me, this would seem to mean then that the optimal strategy, assuming you care about the outcome of an election, would be to conspicuously advertise the fact that you’re voting, and why, while not actually going out and voting. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter now give everyone endless opportunities to show how much they truly care without the burden of actually acting on it. Occupy your Facebook wall and text $5 to Haiti. I mean, it’s pretty cold out there.
Today I am voting for the Democratic candidate, as my views are mostly democratically liberal. I believe that the government should provide help to those in need. I believe that markets should be regulated to prevent corporations from destroying people and the environment. I am pro-choice, anti-death penalty, and pro-gay marriage. Actually I’d like to see marriage as a government institution completely done away with and replaced universally with civil unions, which would go along nicely with a strong desire for the separation of church and state. I’m admittedly on the fence on the right to bear arms, but I don’t think we should have fences around our country.
I don’t really have any facts to back up why I believe these things, as they just seem like common sense to me, and I question the sanity of anyone who believes otherwise (especially on non-fiscal policies). By voting for the Democratic candidate I believe these beliefs and agendas stand the greatest chance of being maintained or furthered.
So you know who I’m voting for. I urge you today, Election Day, to go out and vote. It’s your right!
P.S. I would Google what candidate I’m voting for, but it’s kind of a waste of my time.
Here’s a picture of my dad:
Stolen from my brother’s Facebook wall because I thought it got straight to the point:
My father died seven years ago. That sucks.
What doesn’t suck is that he’s responsible for 90% of who I am today, and he was awesome.
Since the remaining 10% is mostly made up of influence from my twin brother, and since his personality is likely 90% from my father that means that 90% of that 10% is from my father. It’s syllogism, you can look it up.
That means that I’m only 1% not awesome. I can live with that. That’s pretty awesome.”
My dad was indeed a pretty awesome guy. My whole personality, outlook, sense of humor, and even some of the phrases I use every day have been shaped by him, and I am happy that he has such a lasting impact and legacy in myself, my brothers, and sister (and my niece and nephew!).
I’m sure he is writing hyperbolically here and didn’t mean anything by it, but I would also add that both of our personalities have been equally shaped by our mother, who is an equally awesome lady.
I’ve got a bunch more of these but alas, I am much too lazy to email more screen shots to myself to post. Suffice it to say that words with friends takes an inordinate about of my attention when I’m traping my feet in the street. Oh no, Chrome also tells me that’s not actually a word, but what about gutshot? Nope.
Meh.
Occupy Wallstreet has been an excellent source of free dinner and break dancing the last few weeks. The first time I went I noticed a box of Clif bars that I assumed was up for grabs, so I took three. Then I laughed at my own immediate abuse of a socialist system. I would have taken the whole box but I was hanging out with someone I didn’t know all that well.
I watched a bunch of guys play Yu-Gi-Oh there for awhile this week. No wonder they’re angry, having spent all of that disposable income on Yu-Gi-Oh cards instead of a real game. If only there were a few disgruntled Magic players down there I’d pitch a tent tomorrow.
"Just punchd a hippie in the face, lolz"
People seem really stoked to repeat what everyone says instead of investing in a megaphone. One person says something really loud and inspiring, and then everyone within earshot repeats it, for the benefit of the rest. This seems to be an excellent way to mix up your message, as anyone who has ever played telephone or talked to people before can tell you. Maybe megaphone manufacturing is destroying the environment.
I even took my mom down there for lunch when she visited about a week ago. When I brought my plastic fork back after eating I was informed that they were not, in fact, reusing them. The poor girl serving food looked like I had just exposed something terrible. ”Thanks for asking though” she said, and I chucked it right into the giant garbage bin beside her.
The police, for their part, seem to be pretty over it by now. At least they’re not chucking tear gas canisters at people’s heads or anything. During the Occupy protest on 42nd Street, which I happened through with my mom, I noticed a police officer conspicuously eyeing (like head going up and down tapping his buddies on the shoulders eyeing) a rather attractive women walking in front of me. Our conversation went exactly as follows:
FREEdom food.
“What are you checking her out for?”
“She’s hot.”
“You’re a god damn police officer .”
“Yeah, well I’m a man too.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you are.”
And then he said something else to me while my mom was pulling on my arm trying to get me out of there. This isn’t a comment on Occupy police officer behavior so much as it is on NYC police officers in general. Rather unhelpful.
I’ll probably swing by again soon though. At least once the shower soap I stocked up on from there runs out. They were giving out razors too but you had to ask the guy at the booth, and I didn’t want to look like a freeloader.
So yesterday I learned how to create the fancy “snapping effect” for an Android vertical ScrollView. The closest thing I could find on the Google for this was for the same effect horizontally, from which this code has been mostly stolen and simplified. It turned out to be pretty easy, so I figured I’d post it here:
package com.herbig.snapper;
import android.content.Context;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
import android.view.MotionEvent;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.ScrollView;
public class SnappingScrollView2 extends ScrollView {
public SnappingScrollView2(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) {
super(context, attrs, defStyle);
setTheTouchListener();
}
public SnappingScrollView2(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
super(context, attrs);
setTheTouchListener();
}
public SnappingScrollView2(Context context) {
super(context);
setTheTouchListener();
}
private int mActiveFeature = 0;
public void setTheTouchListener() {
setOnTouchListener(new View.OnTouchListener() {
@Override
public boolean onTouch(View v, MotionEvent event) {
if(event.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_UP || event.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_CANCEL ){
int scrollY = getScrollY();
int featureHeight = v.getMeasuredHeight();
mActiveFeature = ((scrollY + (featureHeight/2))/featureHeight);
int scrollTo = mActiveFeature*featureHeight;
smoothScrollTo(0, scrollTo);
return true;
}
else{
return false;
}
}
});
}
}
All you are doing is extending ScrollView and setting an OnTouchListener, which will do a fancy smoothScrollTo for the rest of the height of the View if you’ve scrolled over half, or snap back to the top if you haven’t.
This version assumes the height of your ScrollView is equal to the full height of each element inside it. Here is how you’d add the View to your xml:
<com.herbig.snapper.SnappingScrollView android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent"> <!-- the contents of your SnappingScrollView --> </com.herbig.snapper.SnappingScrollView>
The elements inside the View should be placed in a LinearLayout, and have a height equal to the size of the SnappingScrollView. It seems pretty straightforward. If anyone happens upon this blog and has any suggestions or comments, let me know.
This is probably the 239th time I’ve attempted to write a blog, so I’m skeptical of it actually sustaining my interest beyond the sea monster I just drew for the banner. I agonized over whether a sea monster would actually be green. It seems like it would be an evolutionary disadvantage, and it should just be blue for camouflage. At the end of the three seconds of internal debate the idea of a blue sea monster amid a blue ocean was not aesthetically pleasing to me, but I admit that I did not actually draw one to confirm this.
I don’t have anything enlightening or interesting to say at the moment, but you should probably check back for more late night ramblings. I just Googled “wordpress RSS plugin” and it seems like those exist, so I’ll have that set up soon, since I know I would subscribe to my website feed if I had one.
The main goal for this blog at the moment though is to get enough posts in for the tag cloud I plan to have posted at the right over there to look completely natural, but with “Zac Hanson” as the most used tag. I’m not sure how many posts this will take to work, but this is post number two towards that aim. Once the tag cloud looks good I’ll have to regroup to see what else I want to get out of this or if my blogging days are complete.
The tags I have created thus far are Brooklyn, New York City, Magic: the Gathering, Android, and of course, Zac Hanson, so I expect that if I continue to blog, those are the things I will likely write about, aside, honestly, from Zac Hanson. I have to get a couple more tags in there for this tag cloud thing, so if anything else comes up I’ll throw another one out there, bit it all comes back to Zac Hanson.
I just reviewed this whole thing and deleted a bunch of the words “actually,” “admit,” and “but” because I had overused those. I’m leaving the comments part open until I learn my lesson and this site gets overrun by spam bots posting links to viagra, so if anyone actually reads this keep that in mind. Here is a picture from my walk to work in the morning:
Elbow Toe and I go way back
I made a blog. This post will probably be deleted.