New Earth Time … 360 degrees of internet time.

Reminds me, sorta, of WRLDtime. One’s decimal, one’s duodecimal. Go figger.

The Illuminated Donkey

On the other hand, obviously my actions had removed playing poker from the entertainment category and put it into the work category, with the result being that at times it was as unpleasant as any job. Playing tight can actually be pretty boring, and I found myself doing strange things to mix it up a little, like checking the bottom right corner of the card first (checking for the telltale border of a face card, or the blankness that meant either an ace or a 2/3) or checking flops without my glasses.

Ken Goldstein, professional gambler. You know, it really says something about Ken that he utterly fails to mention the late-night coke-fueled slapfights with his stripper girlfriend, the several Mercedes won and lost, and the huge mansion down the coast that he’ll forever return to, standing wan and forlorn on the sidewalk, staring.

At least he managed to hang on to the clothes.

Seriously, Ken mentioned to me that he was playing poker for expenses, but it almost seems as though he didn’t self-identify as a bound-for–greatness pro. I find this interesting, because Ken is clearly a gifted person in many things.

How Scientists and Victims Watched Helplessly: epic survey of how the tsunami news broke, or failed to. For some reason, right about when the quake had been first reported I adjourned from our Christmas gathering for a moment and walked back in to the living room to announce the quake news. Earlier that day I had IMed with my friend and ex-bandmate Karl, who had been in Phuket earlier in December and was planning on heading back. He was in Saigon when we chatted.

pf.org: Part Man, Part Machine, wherein pf details the wonders of contemporary laparoscopic surgery.

May I also belatedly call your attention to Danelope’s fine Christmas roundup, allegedly assembled while frantically scouring the darknet for childhood-memory holiday music and simultaneously burning a btach of holiday cookies. Only via the good offices of the Suicide Girls was disaster averted, as I have it. The elusive creature (like the zebra mussel, a non-native Floridian species) swears that he will attend the impending January 3rd mini-mefi-meetup at PNW North Intl Mefi/Mofi HQ.

Barring unspeakable pain.

Historical tsunamis off the coast of Peru.

Historical tsunami databases (Unesco).

Oregon Tsunamis.

Pacific Tsunamis.

I looked, but found no documentation of tsunamis contributing directly to large-scale human migration.

Cheese and Crackers: Tsunami Video roundup. Don’t watch it all at once.

Most Powerful Quake in 40 Years Triggers Death and Destruction

In Thailand, the waves wiped out bungalows and washed through seaside hotels, killing tourists and slamming scuba divers against coral reefs. The government ordered evacuation from stricken coastal areas, including 600 from the tiny island of Koh Phi Phi and the resorts on the islands of Phuket and Krabi . More than 158 people died in the holiday island of Phuket and other resorts, according to the Public Health Ministry’s Narenthorn Center, with thousands injured. This was the peak of the tourist season in the area and eyewitnesses described sunbathers being washed out to sea.

My friend Karl is in east asia and scheduled to leave Saigon for Bangkok on the 29th. Although I don’t know for certain if he did this time, he often begins his trips in and near Phuket.

Wikipedia coverage, MeFi thread.

Chris Strompolos, of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation called me today, concerned about some things in my post about interviewing him and seeing the film. I posted a comment to the post summarizing his concerns while we were talking on the phone and will mark up the post as soon as I post this entry.

While he and his partners were pleased by the Stranger piece, he was concerned about my perceptions of “economic advantages,” which he – and his partners – strongly dispute. It’s clear that Chris and his partners felt the pinch of divorce. It’s commonly noted that divorced families experience diminished economic prospects, and though I won’t make a linking citation, mothers with custody suffer that economic burden moreso than do, unsurprisingly, fathers without custody.

In my defense, I must note the economic advantages I was thinking of were more along the lines of advantages that may pertain to members of an economic class, as opposed to the specific economic pinch that Chris and his friends were experiencing.

So on this point, it’s a matter of opinion, and I do not mean to deprecate the particular economic hardships the kids experienced.

However, Chris pointed out to me that my critical eyes straight-up failed in the matter of a particular part of my viewing of the film.

I said (in part):

“The only other appearance of a person of obviously African descent comes at the end of The Adaptation. The crate apparently containing the Ark of the Covenant is wheeled into a vast warehouse. In the theatrical film, the worker who wheels the ark to its, um, current resting place, is not clearly racially identifiable, as he’s seen in longshot. In The Adaptation, the worker is clearly black, and while his warehouse is impressively huge…”

Except, you know, of course… THAT HE’S NOT.

The worker is played by none other than Chris Strompolos, which more or less deflates a fine bit of critical speculation I had going. So for my next trick, I’ll be deflating my bad self on that post.

A big “thank you” to Chris for calling me on this (both literally and figuratively)!

Now, enjoy the spectacle as I eat some crow, kinda. I mean, I’m not unhappy to be factually corrected. But alas for my tower of theory!

And finally, as I told Chris on the phone, mea culpa. My mistake, and happy to set the record straight.

b.rox: Reunion 9

Editor B shares some family memories, his family-oriented media projects (which I bet kick deep-seated ass), and his trepidation about an upcoming reunion in a fine, fine blog entry.

Interesting to me was the implicit framing of B.’s family-oriented video projects as intended primarily for family consumption. B is unquestionably familiar with Sherman’s March. It’s a prime example of how a piece of intensely personal art can emerge from within an unexpected set of constraints.

It’s my suspicion that Editor is casting about for something to move forward with artistically; I can’t tell from his entry if he’s made this connection or not but I bet he will.

Ask MetaFilter on implementing better dev processes for small shops.