How I got my wish

Back when I was 20-21, I was going through the typical "But I don't know what I want to do in my life!" angst. I talked for a while to a wonderful therapist in Sacramento named Steve Cotta--who, I am sad to say, died just a few years ago--and he put me through a lot of exercises to help me discover what I wanted to be. I did all kinds of tests and homework and came up with some goals.

I thought I'd lost all the paperwork when I got divorced, but I just found some of it. I remember that there was a complex questionnaire that Steve sent off and had evaluated for various classic jobs. I'm pretty sure the paperwork for that one's gone, but I remember that it said my desire to be a life insurance salesman was a -4.

But the one thing that stuck with me most was an exercise on a dittoed sheet (most of these were dittos) entitled "The Ideal Job." This one just turned up again. The instructions were simple: "Write 10 criteria for your ideal job. What components you would like that job to have. (money, benefits, etc.)" There were ten numbered blank lines. I filled it out then. There were no "right" answers; this was just marking what I wanted.

I remember finding this in 1986, 10 years after I'd done it, and thinking how wonderful it was that I'd called my shots. I was making a lot of money as a freelance technical writer and pretty much everything on that list had come true. Looking at it again, it's still pretty much true.

Here are the ten things I wrote:

1. Work that can be done at home
2. Flexibility of schedule
3. Well Paid
4. Career options
5. Advancement possibilities
6. Intelligence counts
7. Situation where one can socialize and work at same time
8. Work that I like
9. Moderate work load
10. Occasional peak loads

(I do note, with some chagrin, how childlike my handwriting was then and, truth be told, it's really no better now. Oh, well....) 

How I got my wish

Fun stuff

Here's yet another website for things to waste your time with. It's Stupid Internet Tricks, which is run by Brad Whittington, who runs other fun blogs as you'll see if you go to his main website.

Fun stuff

What books were best-sellers the day you were born?

This fun little application tells you what fiction and non-fiction books were on the NY Times bestseller lists the day you were born.

What books were best-sellers the day you were born?

How to give a proper opossum massage

Being nice to animals is a good idea... but there are limits, there really and truly are. This woman is a complete and utter loon.

And her website is even fruitier. She's a squirrel. No, really, she says so.

How to give a proper opossum massage

Super Mario Bros 25th anniversary

25 things you may not know about the Super Mario Bros on the 25th anniversary of the Super Mario Bros release.

Super Mario Bros 25th anniversary

Men and porn

This is an interesting and amusing article:

Researchers were conducting a study comparing the views of men in their 20s who had never been exposed to pornography with regular users.

But their project stumbled at the first hurdle when they failed to find a single man who had not been seen it.

"We started our research seeking men in their 20s who had never consumed pornography,” said Professor Simon Louis Lajeunesse. “We couldn't find any."

That's not a surprise, really: men are men and, as Jeff Foxworthy says, men's motivations tend to boil down to "I'd like a beer and I'd like to see something nekkid!" But what was rather interesting was that porn wasn't the corrupter of sexual preferences that it's popularly made out to be:

The study found that men watched pornography that matched their own image of sexuality, and quickly discarded material they found offensive or distasteful.

Prof Lajeunesse said pornography did not have a negative effect on men's sexuality.

“Not one subject had a pathological sexuality,” he said. “In fact, all of their sexual practices were quite conventional.

“Pornography hasn't changed their perception of women or their relationship, which they all want to be as harmonious and fulfilling as possible,” he added.

So, men like looking at dirty pictures (quelle surprise!) and it doesn't change their basic sexual makeup.

Men and porn

How well do you see colors?

I always thought I had a pretty good sense of color. Turns out I do. This test will help you identify your color sensitivity and where you have trouble with particular hues.

I scored 4 on this test. (0 is perfect.) 

How well do you see colors?

Caffeine, my drug of choice

My drug of choice these days is caffeine. (My previous drug of choice was something far more deadly, far more dangerous, and the most addictive substance known to humankind according to the CDC. God, I miss smoking even after 33 years....)

Anyway, this article from Lifehacker is something fascinating about caffeine and how it works.

Caffeine, my drug of choice

Better than English

Better than English is a fun site that collects non-English words that are of great use for describing a concept.

My favorite in what's out there so far is the first: Drachenfutter, a German word that translates literally as "dragon’s food." The website says "Drachenfutter are gifts that a husband brings to his wife after pissing her off. It is usually an attempt to avoid her wrath by giving her chocolate, flowers or other small gifts."

If you have an example of a non-English word that sums up a concept, feel free to submit it.  

Better than English

Repost: Drowning doesn't look like drowning

This is vitally important information to know. What we think of as drowning from TV and movies isn't anything like what drowning really looks like.

The original post appeared here. 

Repost: Drowning doesn't look like drowning

Repost: 6 slacker behaviors that are good for you

Cracked.com has really fascinating and funny articles. Here's one worth reading: it's about six different behaviors that are actually good for you, such as smoking weed (which appears to prevent cancer and Alzheimer's), sleeping in late (ensures you're getting enough), and wasting time on the Internet (which keeps your mind alive).
 

Repost: 6 slacker behaviors that are good for you

Great picture sites!

I have two picture sites that will help you waste lots of time. The first is ImgFave, which is a site of pictures that lots and lots of people have uploaded to share with each other. I've picked one at random that makes me feel happy, but there's anything you can think of (and lots of things you probably can't think of) to be found there. 

The second site is a LiveJournal blog, RiotClitShave. It's photos collected by one user, thousands and thousands of them. They're unusual and frequently a bit dark, but most of them are thought-provoking and worth seeing. One funny one that I've saved is this one, which is living proof that you shouldn't piss off the anteater.

Great picture sites!

The original drawings for Pac-Man!

In what may be the start of a trend, I'm posting a link to yet another blog's post. This one shows the original drawings for Pac-Man by Toru Iwatani.

The original drawings for Pac-Man!

Manly men in a manly manner!

Thanks go to Sonya Reasor for pointing out this yummy website on The Art of Manliness. 

There was one piece in particular that Sonya liked: it's the Weasels Ripped My Flesh section. No, that's not referring to the name of the classic Mothers of Invention album; in fact, the album gets its name from one of the cheesy men's magazine covers featured in the link.

Manly men in a manly manner!

There's a reason we're geeks!

And this is it!

There's a reason we're geeks!

Chinese food and architecture

Back in 2002, we went to the reception for Brian and Fong Chinn's wedding. It was an amazing reception, with food that I never expect to have again. I wished I was able to eat two or three times as much as I was able to. Stunning stuff! Shark fin, bird's nest soup, prawn things... damn, it was good! Many of these dishes were in a fine, thin, velvety stock. The Babe observed at the time that all Chinese dishes are based on mucus. An interesting hypothesis and hard to refute given our incredible menu.

Okay, fast forward: National Geographic reports that the Chinese used sticky rice for building, specifically, for mortar. Apparently, mixing lime and sticky rice result in a mortar that has much smaller calcium carbonate crystals, making it much tougher and more water-resistant. There's no reason this technique can't be used again, so restorations can be done using this to make a nice, tight mortar. And it's a good way to make use of basic resources to achieve superior results. 

Those Chinese are very sneaky!  :)

Chinese food and architecture

"Around the world, across your town, and up your street...."

Vpike.com (short for "Virtual Turnpike") is an interesting site that you give an address to and it shows you the street view for the address. You can move up and down the street, turn and look at things across the street, and so on. Try it out on where you live now, places you used to live, and even old family homes.

"Around the world, across your town, and up your street...."

7 Signs You're Taking Yourself Too Seriously on the Internet

This article is a wonderful warning that you may be taking yourself too seriously on the Internet.

7 Signs You're Taking Yourself Too Seriously on the Internet

How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect

This is a fun article with more information about how the brain works. A little nonsense makes you think better.

This does not explain Fox News. There must be a premise of functioning neural pathways as a foundation, I guess: you know, you can't think better if you can't think at all. 

How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect

Handwriting analysis for stone tablets!

How wonderful! This reminds me of the use of infrared digital photography to discern letters that are no longer visible on ancient papyrus fragments.

Handwriting analysis for stone tablets!