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Archive for February, 2012

Eat dessert for breakfast to lose weight, says study – Weight Management

2012 - 02.29

Tags: huh?, user experience
Posted in food, health, internet | No Comments »

Not really that important, and really who trusts “studies” any more anyway, unless of course they give you an answer you want to hear!

You mean I can continue my debauchery and it will make me healthier? Of course that study is accurate.

What you mean I need to make a “lifestyle change” in order to live long and prosper? What kind of phony science are these guys doing there?

Anyway, this study got me because it’s talking about breakfast and has a picture of a giant piece of chocolate cake (which happens to have historically been a favourite breakfast item of my mother, probably still is).

Eat dessert for breakfast to lose weight, says study – Weight Management.

Geek vs. Snob

2012 - 02.28

Tags: cousins, reference, wine
Posted in internet, philosophy | No Comments »

A while back one of my cousins posted about the concept of a Geek and how it is different from a snob, with a real life example.

We were out one evening at a pizza parlor with some friends and their friends, and one person in the party was the son of a winemaker. One of the women, who wanted to drink some wine, asked him which wine he recommended. None of them, he said. Period. He didn’t even offer up a suggested beer or cocktail, and this woman either had to drink nothing, or ignore his advice. What a snob.

Read more: http://candlewineproject.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/geek-vs-snob/

I thought it was an interesting read, I also thought it was an interesting choice of terms. I personally often think of Geek as a noun, and sometimes use it to describe myself. In that context I’m usually thinking of it in terms of expertise with respect to computers. I think however that she’s using it more as an adjective: Wine Geek, Cider Geek, etc… I too use Geek in that way sometimes: Board game Geek.

For me the difference really is that Geek when used in this way implies enthusiasm and if not a certain minimum level of expertise an aspiration towards it. Snobbery on the other hand has an implicit negative connotation. The inherent difference being that by calling someone a snob you’re making the value judgement that they are being condescending in the offering of their opinion (which may be based on just as much expertise as one offered by a geek). So realistically it’s the way in which the opinion is offered, and not the opinion itself.

I think the problem of distinction is exasperated by the sphere in which the example is presented: beverages (or more generally food). Not everyone has the same tastes, and perhaps more interestingly not everything tastes the same to all people. So even if one were talking about wines, you could have a much better made wine that was actually technically of higher quality, but it doesn’t mean that you would actually like it more, or at all.

Take that to the sphere of technology instead and there are definitely clear external metrics which can objectively classify something as better than something else, and the subjective element although still present is less important, and less likely to be problematic.

Getting back to the central question though of whether or not one is a snob or a geek, I think that it’s not actually a difficult situation to avoid. Geeks are valued for their knowledge; Snobs are derided for the manner in which they share their knowledge. So if you want to be a geek and not a snob you share your expertise but in a non-judgemental way.

If you find yourself asked to recommend a wine (and you have appropriate expertise) then you can indicate that you personally wouldn’t choose any of the ones that are offered, but that wine X is probably the best of the bunch (or would probably make the best pairing with what they’re having for dinner).

That said a geek is also permitted to have the courage of their convictions. By this I mean it’s totally alright to recommend against any of the choices if you have a good reason. Ex: I honest believe that YOU would not be happy with any of the choices, or that you would later regret making one of those choices. That’s not snobbery, that’s conviction (and well intentioned).

Beef Jerky Party?

2012 - 02.27

Tags: cooking, friends
Posted in food, friends, games | 1 Comment »

A friend has recently posted a recipe for Beef Jerky, and it sounds like it could be delicious. It could be a good addition to a games night…

Never Buy Beef Jerky Again

I wanted to share this amazingly easy, healthy, and unbelievably delicious homemade beef jerky recipe I made the other day. MrsTemple found the recipe in magazine. Despite its suspiciously ‘health-conscious’ approach, the mag is surprisingly full of delicious recipes. I’d recommend it, as it is for food-lovers, not weight-losers. Spicy

http://www.isthisyourhomework.com/never-buy-beef-jerky-again/

Another possible meaty treat appropriate for a games night is “Pig Candy” which we saw on a Saturday morning cooking program Food for Thought:

As one of our friends famously said:

“Bacon is the Candy of meats!”

But with all this food, we might need to have a cooking night before we can have a games night… anyone want to help?

It even looks like the recipes could be glutton free (and otherwise avoid other allergies and aversions).

A Dance with Dragons

2012 - 02.26

Tags: books, bpl, library
Posted in books, library | 2 Comments »

Picked up A Dance with Dragons today from the library, don’t know if I’ll actually read it or not. We did watch the TV series on HBO (A Game of Thrones), but it’s been years since I’ve read any of the books. Karin’s currently reading them in eBook form (although we own them, she has been unable to locate the physical copies of the first two books). So I guess I’ll try reading book 5 and see if enough of it makes sense to warrant reading the whole thing, or if I’m going to have to re-read the series (in which case I’ll probably put it off for another time). The dangers of epic fantasy I guess.

The Hunger Games

2012 - 02.23

Tags: books, indecision, movie
Posted in books, movie | 5 Comments »

So the movie adaptation of the Hunger Games is going to be opening soon… so here’s a few questions:

Have you read it?
Do you want to see the movie?
Do you think someone should read the book before seeing the movie or after?

I personally haven’t read it. Karin has, I expect that she’ll want to see the movie (given how she loved the book). So I’m mostly looking for a recommendation as to whether I should read the book before or after watching the movie (although I suppose if I don’t read it before the movie and don’t like the movie, I might not read it at all).

If all you needed was thought…

2012 - 02.22

Tags: user experience
Posted in rant | 2 Comments »

Spent a lot of time writing and replying to email today, not a totally unusual occurrence, but today was more than normal. In most cases it wasn’t even that there was a lot to do, or that it was complicated, it was more just that it was time consuming. Sort of like laundry, it’s not like laundry is hard, it’s just time consuming.

So here I am daydreaming thinking about how quickly all those emails would have been dealt with if all I had to do was think the solution rather than implement it. This probably applies to most things you wish you could accomplish faster, but today I definitely longed for a direct brain interface.

Now, carefully think back on your inner monologue for the last week, and think of how good a thing it is that we don’t have that brain interface yet.

Word of the Day

2012 - 02.21

Tags: beginnings, goofing around, language
Posted in writing | No Comments »

One of the items that we received for Christmas this year was a Word of the Day 2012 Desk Calendar (this year featuring 366 words). Since I just opened it today, we’re a little behind. So I’m going to highlight some of the words which have already appeared on noteworthy dates:

Jan 1: autodidact

Jan 2: inchoate

Jan 3: fop (totally inappropriate choice for this day)

Jan 7: evanescent

Jan 26: lapideous

Feb 1: balustrade

Feb 14: bevy

Feb 18: carnivorous

Feb 21: felicity

All links above are to dictionary.com. Since it’s open now, you may see further references to the calendar…

Castle: both parts

2012 - 02.20

Tags: Castle, tv
Posted in Active, tv | No Comments »

We watched Castle today, both parts of the two parter. I wouldn’t say that it was the best Castle episodes we’ve ever watched, but there were a lot of fun moments in both episodes. In case you haven’t watched it, I’ll speak no more so as to avoid spoilers. What I will say though is I don’t think we’ve seen a really disappointing episode of Castle. There are lots of shows, some of which you’ve maybe watched for years (or not) which can have totally ridiculous or lame episodes (Bones: Sir Charmington; Hawaii Five-O: North Korea), don’t think we’ve seen one from Castle yet though.

Since we finished watching last weeks episode before this weeks episode had aired we went down to the gym for 20 minutes as well. All in all, pretty good for a Monday.

Grocery Shopping

2012 - 02.19

Tags: Flickr, goofing around, Photography
Posted in food, photography | 1 Comment »

Grocery Shopping, a set by Random Synapses on Flickr.

We did some Grocery Shopping at Save-On-Foods a couple of days ago, here are some pictures (by Karin) of some of the assorted “unusual meats” that they had in their freezer section.

Anyone want to buy a T-Shirt?

2012 - 02.17

Tags: abandoned towers, goofing around
Posted in writing | No Comments »

Ah, memories of high school, brainstorming sayings and slogans for T-Shirts. Who knows, maybe someone will actually buy these ones. Of course, these one’s do have the advantage that they’ll probably actually be offered for sale, which won’t hurt their chances.

What do you look for in a T-Shirt?

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Archive for February, 2012

Eat dessert for breakfast to lose weight, says study – Weight Management

Geek vs. Snob

Beef Jerky Party?

Never Buy Beef Jerky Again

A Dance with Dragons

The Hunger Games

If all you needed was thought…

Word of the Day

Castle: both parts

Grocery Shopping

Anyone want to buy a T-Shirt?

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