http://www.patavisions.com/blog Survey of the imagination Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:31:51 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I have to admit, until this week, I had not had strong opinions one way or the other on the exploration of Mars. After reading Warren Ellis's mini-essay on the subject, Bending Mars, my opinon has been formed. Prior to this, I was intrigued by the robot exploration of Mars, but ... http://www.patavisions.com/blog/2008/06/04/newly-formed-an-opinion-on-mars-exploration/ Listening to World Party I just downloaded from eMusic (finally jumped onboard after watching Bryce). Brings back memories of the hot, sticky summer of 95 and Yo Mamma, a girl that I totally fell for. In retrospect, was probably mostly in love with her lifestyle (downtown bohemian in Pittsburgh/Oakland) and in ... http://www.patavisions.com/blog/2008/05/23/memories-are-made-of-music/ Look, I am not going to be bashful about this. I am a supporter of Senator Obama's. I like him. He's smart; he is articulate; he is sincere; he is incredibly well spoken; he is focused on the issues. These are all fantastic characteristics. But the reason I like him is that ... http://www.patavisions.com/blog/2008/04/16/thank-you-for-talking-to-me-like-an-adult/ want to start by saying that I am really not a Dilbert fan. Dilbert's cube farm cynicism gets me down; it tastes a little too much of bitter, washed up programmers and the hordes of Christmas sweater wearing older ladies that surround them. There is something sad to me about the ... http://www.patavisions.com/blog/2008/04/09/the-gorgeous-hubris-of-the-young-or-the-wacked-out-craziness-of-the-millenial/ People go on and on about how all relationships have one person who kills the bugs and one person who doesn't. I think that they are missing the real divisions of labour: Who tests the old red wine to see if it is still drinkable? Who check the  milk to see if ... http://www.patavisions.com/blog/2008/04/09/who-tests-the-old-red-wine/ I have been watching Top Chef's season 4. I don't watch reality shows. I never quite saw the point. Top Chef though has always resonated with me. Partially because I like the collision of craft, art, theory, spectacle, and business that the chefs have to deal with. Sounds familiar? My reality TV ... http://www.patavisions.com/blog/2008/04/03/produce-placement-on-top-chef/ Testing Google's new "publish to blog feature". Saw that Google has connected their docs application to the various blog APIs, allowing you to publish from Google Apps to your blog, and figured I should check it out. It was pretty east. I started by logging into Google Docs. ... http://www.patavisions.com/blog/2008/03/16/9/ Was at the Fredericksburg Trade Day yesterday with my mum (who was visiting from Vancouver), my wife, and pataboy. I stopped to get some a beer and some bbq at a shack on the grounds. They took my name so that they could let me know when my food was ready. ... http://www.patavisions.com/blog/2008/02/18/waylon-your-food-is-ready/ How many times has this happened to you? You are in a coffee shop/bar/store/restaurant and heard some great music and wanted to know the name of the song, the name of the band, or the album it is play on? How many times have you stood in line or hung around long ... http://www.patavisions.com/blog/2008/01/20/free-fresh-business-idea-use-whatisplayingrss-to-broadcast-on-twitter/  Earlier this week, I spent some time reading this article, A Tangled Tale, about a study some mathematicians physicists have been conducting to determine the physics of random knot tying. They identified 14 one-loop tangles and at least 7 2 two-loop tangles. I ran across this over at o'Reilly Radar. Little ... http://www.patavisions.com/blog/2008/01/13/what-a-tangled-web-we-weave/