what I want for christmas
Archive for November, 2005
metadata
At yesterday’s meeting we talked about image recognition, organization, browsing, and searching. New techniques often require the “seeding” of metadata by humans before recognition can take off on its own. This ties in with thoughts on tagging (mostly stimulated by our Tag-Guru Phillip): what happens when you get a lot of people tagging, how can this new metainformation can be used, what is “good” and “bad” tagging, and what does “bad” tagging do to the system? For example, what happens when I tag a photo of my laptop with “waffles”?
In some arenas tagging like this might be okay because I can personally filter content returned from a tag-based search. But what happens in the work world? Or what about reliance on other applications (I’m trying to avoid saying “agents”) for searching and even possibly decision making? Who will be the tag-police?
That term makes it sound nasty and controlling. Though I do think that we will see the emergence of tag “moderators” once the idea of tagging crosses over to non-personal and social domains. OK but really, these “moderators” have been around for a while. Think librarians, knowledge managers, etc. People who study and work at the classification, sorting, indexing, searching, retrieval of information. Only now they have to deal with an added variable: you and me and our ability to help with that classification.
Think of the library scenario. Imagine that you are able to personally tag books, articles, journals, magazines, etc. found in the library. Monitoring these tags would be a fulltime job. That brings me to what I was thinking when I started writing this…a new job market of people who monitor and balance the metadata or metainformation of the world’s content. Can you imagine that too? Does it already widely exist and I clued out on something?
nt
Every few hours I have these thoughts that almost become posts. But who will read it? Who will not read it? Those questions stop me so often. Lately I have nothing because it is all something that maybe I should keep from someone. It could be a passing feeling and I shouldn’t post it because it might mean more here than it does in my head. Or maybe it means a lot to me but will not receive the attention it deserves with these words. As a result, I feel as though the only things I can share right now are superficial, trivial things.
Like, for example, this question - “when was I conditioned to spread peanut butter on toast or bread before the jam or honey?” That seems to be the norm but who decided that? Tonight I put the jam on first, then the peanut butter and you know what…I think I like it more. I do remember an episode of Mr. Dressup I think it was, where he made a peanut butter and jam mixture in a large bowl. Both could then be spread at the same time.
Maybe it’s the early darkness that is getting me down. To retaliate, my body is shutting down by 6pm, I’m in bed by 8 and I wake up between 4 and 5. It feels weird, I feel out of the loop. It might also be the cold. My apartment is at its coldest between 5 and 7pm. My body starts to shut down accordingly. As I write this my attire says everything about this screwed up state I’m in, this feeling of darkness and chill that sticks with me into the next day. From bottom to top I am wearing green moccasins, red and black striped knee high socks, patterned pyjama bottoms, a red and pink and white striped shirt, a black hoodie, and my parka…yeah it’s cold. I hope that gives you an amusing mental image.
I don’t know what I would do if I actually knew many people in my neighborhood and they were the type with inclinations for surprise visits. No I don’t think I’ve ever had that sort of living arrangement. Home has always been very private, too private for my liking because it is lonely. Haha I remember one summer when an ex decided to “drive through town” and see me. It was already not the most invited “drop by” as I had not seen him since even before we ended things. That was done over the phone when I was living in Ottawa…I won’t go into the details but he came by and my younger brother answered the door. He knew that I would be very disturbed by this visitor and I recall trying to hide in the kitchen, which was quite useless given the very open layout of our home in Regina, while we negotiated the “why is he here?” “what should I do?” “I don’t understand” “you have to do something”. What made this surprise visit even more awkward was my state…I was not showered, wearing only a full body longjohn suit and making chocolates on a Friday morning in August.
Hmmm…me thinks that I am rambling. I’ll think about this tomorrow and wish I would have not written it but it’s cheap to delete. Lately I’ve been asking myself “why am I posting?? what is the point and am I benefiting anyone besides myself?” My hopes are that some answers will make themselves known through the posts given some time.
nt
Oooo I am very excited with how the site looks now…it is just more “alive” so I feel like posting more. I should be careful though because I have the potential to complain a lot today. So instead let me introduce you to some new things…
Say hello to some links on the bottom righthand side. There you will find some friends with relatively public blogs, a link to my flickr page and a new one, my CiteULike page. Phillip starting raving about CiteULike a long time ago but I couldn’t be bothered then. Now that I am back knee-deep in lit review it is proving to be rather useful. To make it not all about my thesis I am also using it to keep track of books I have read, am reading, or will read for pleasure. Great little tool!
renovations
I am screwing around with the look of this site because I was getting bored with it. Visually that is. Please let me know how the new stuff works in your browser (or doesn’t work). Also let me know if the colours or backgrounds offend you / hurt your eyes.
i got to touch a lemur!
Such excitement! On Friday I came home early for a much needed before Friday night nap and a UPS guy came to my door. He had a package for me - one I was not expecting. Turns out Cycling ‘74 received an order from our department and because the last one was made under my name with my address, they shipped the order to me. What was it? The JazzMutant Lemur.
Oh so sweet it is. I geeked out all day yesterday. Beautiful I tell you and so easy to use! It’s a touch screen input device to control real-time applications. You program your own interface using widgets like sliders, pads, faders, and switches. Then you can write Max/MSP patches that use the widgets to control things. It is so flexible and very pretty.
For one day this was the most expensive thing in my apartment. In fact I think it was the only expensive thing.
quiz
I just woke up from the strangest dream during a pomegranate induced nap. A pomegranate is very tiring to eat and it was only half of one! So I napped and had this long, strange dream and what made me wake up finally was a question posed. I had to choose from two options. To put the question into some context, it was asked by Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus. They didn’t actually say it in words because all they were saying was a repeated “Hello!” as I approached them with tears streaming down my face under the pressure of their holiness, but I knew they were asking me. I found them in this night time winterland. Nine feet tall and living in a very large, luminous tree like Keebler Elf gods. So the question I knew they were asking:
Somebody important to you has died. You have two choices; you can bring this person back as things once were OR, you can receive a small bit of last advice from this person (and they know they are dead so it is like, advice from the dead…k I am still groggy so can’t quite put that one together yet). What do you do?
That woke me up immediately. I think I know what I would do…do you? Better yet, do you trust that Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus are not tricking you? Hahaha…
bean update
To add on to that last post, if I had a girl and a boy I might name them Chickpea and Garbanzo respectively. Yeah that would really mess them up but hey, then they would both mean the same thing to me.
beans
I was wondering…if I had a kid…and I named him or her Garbanzo…what their life would be like and could I stay amused by my decision throughout their life…and would they be somewhat amused too? Garbanzo is kind of a cool name when you think about it.
slow times fast times
As we pulled up the the UBC bus loop today, I looked to my left where for the past semester there has been a building going up. The base of the building was hidden by the usual portable construction fences. The sidewalk in front of the building lined with a protective tunnel. Today that is all gone. Not only that but there is a new Shoppers Drugmart in there. It is so amazing there is now a Shoppers on campus but that is another rant that I will not get into.
Have the fences and tunnels been gone for long? Did the Shoppers just open today? I have either bused or biked past it everyday this week but only noticed it this morning. Weird.
University campuses have this way of progressing…changing quickly. Yeah I guess that’s a good thing but the result is that as a student, you are constantly reminded that times are a changing and you are taking too long to finish your degree. Every semester there is a new phase of construction, younger looking students and a sea of new “back to school” clothing that you could only dream of buying because you’re at the point of debt accumulation where you cannot justify anything.
Everything before university was so painfully slow for me. Every year of elementary school and high school felt like a lifetime. Always that one late August day where the realization of summer’s end would sink in and I would get so depressed that it would be like I died. A grade would start and I would come back to school an awkward, inexperienced, newborn person. Clumsily skidding into the classroom; a brand new slippery baby.
That all changed in my first semester of university which still seems like yesterday. I feel like time is out of control. Maybe Shoppers will have a remedy for me.
guilty for living
I am feeling quite guilty lately. Guilty about most things: what I eat, what I own, time I have, things I am not doing, etc. My sister told me about some of the evilnesses of shark fin soup and now I feel horrible that I had some. I wish I could take it back but I cannot. I read about disasters in the world in my warm, large, spacious apartment from my own laptop, sipping my guaranteed daily coffee. I feel poor right now. I have a student’s salary and university debts. But really I am so rich.
They say that the important thing is to be “conscientious” of the problems. I don’t think that is enough. I know many conscientious people who still continue doing things they know they shouldn’t because it is a way of life…including myself.
So it is one day at a time I guess. If I can make one decision involving a change in my lifestyle a day that would maybe still not be enough but it could be something. Today my decision is to educate myself on the environmental effects of fishing and seafood consumption. I still eat fish but not very wisely.
what was cool this morning…
…I think I slept *mostly* through the night. It was a little restless yeah, but that could be because it was filled with dreams of spookiness, high voltage, and moving the next day with nothing packed.
So first watch these guys doing some marimba mario tunes for a bit. Then on to a serious matter.
I was reading about the coming execution of Tuong Van Nguyen in Singapore for attempting to traffic almost 400 grams of heroin. It interested me because, just being in Singapore, I was wondering how often their harsh laws were broken.
This is a sensitive case because Tuong Van was running the drugs to help his twin brother, Khoa, pay off over $30,000 in legal debts. These debts were amassed when he was charged with possession and trafficking of heroin (though in Australia I think). This is where that thing comes in…what’s it called? Oh yeah, compassion. It’s a tough case. We know Tuong Van was only working to help his brother out. On the other hand, Singapore works by sticking to regulations. I guess the kicker here is that they are going to kill him. Me? I think death is a little too much. Hmm…it’s an interesting issue.
While you think about it, check out what the power of many can create.
Yann Arthus-Bertrand Exhibit
We stayed in hotels along Orchard Road in Singapore. Orchard Road is a business / shopping district…very COMMERCIAL. In contrast was an exhibit consisting of large aerial photographs that lined two long blocks. They stayed up and open around the clock, every day. Surprisingly not one was marked by a vandal. This made me happy.
The work was beautiful and breathtaking. Some of the photographs made me want to cry. I urge you to check his work out by clicking on the above picture. It will link to his website…check out the photograph series “Earth From Above”.
As individuals we are so small compared to the big things and when we read facts and statements like those Yann accompanies his photography with, it can be hard for small us to realize the magnitude of the larger picture. These pictures help with that. Some are reminders, some deal with sustainable, some say “hey look at this beautiful thing we have here…don’t forget that”.
In the Kitchen with Meg: Nasi Lemak
In Malaysian and Thai cuisine nasi is just rice. Nasi lemak is some variant on cooking the rice but I’m not sure what “lemak” means. I do know that we had some on Langkawi, wrapped in a banana leaf, eaten with our fingers on the beach. It was good. The prominent elements were the rice, coconut milk, dried anchovies, and sambal sauce.
This morning I went to T&T to get some ingredients and try making it myself. That adventure is a story in itself. I had been up since 1am, the sun was shining and the cathedral bells plus whatever I was listening to on my ipod and this guy feeding the gulls made it all seem to be a religious Saturday morning experience.
Anyway, my nasi lemak is oishii. I will share so that you can try and so I can remember how I made this.
First chop 2 shallots and 2 cloves of garlic finely. This is the worst your eyes will sting cooking this dish but I can’t promise that they will not sting again. Do you remember those Nabob commercials with the “N”. I used to love that commercial. There was something satisfying about it.
Heat some oil in a pot or wok or whatever you have. Add the shallots, garlic, a dash of cinnamon, some salt, and 3 cloves. Stir that around a little until the shallots are just becoming translucent.
Add 2 cups of rice. I forgot to get the standard rice in measuring cup shot because Andrew phoned me at this point. We will go out later for beer. As you can tell from the frequency and content of my posts since I’ve been back this is a good thing. I have not socialized much. Back to cooking. Two cups is a lot of rice, but I wanted to use the rest of some leftover coconut milk and I can be lazy so leftovers in the fridge are good. Stir it up so that the rice gets an even coat of the shallots, garlic, oil mixture.
Here is the leftover coconut milk, about 3/4 of a cup.
Pour that in with some water. I used about 3 cups of water.
Bring it to a boil, then turn the heat fairly low and cover. Let it simmer for around 20 minutes. Remember that coconut milk can burn so be sure the heat is low!
I did dishes at this point. While doing them I was thinking about blogging and (sorry to be morbid) but what would happen to my website if I died tomorrow. Would my family continue to pay a small hosting fee and put a R.I.P. up for me? Would there be a guest book for people to leave their memories? Then I started thinking that there must be sites out there like that. I’ve seen them before. Then I started thinking about cyber graveyards. The virtual dead. Then the rice was almost done so it was time to get to the dried anchovies which are very much really dead.
This is also that part where your eyes might sting again. I opened up a package of these suckers and PHEWW! Five seemed enough.
I’m not sure if you can eat them whole or not. Either way I think it might be against my morals to eat eyes. They stare at you. So off with their heads!
To be safe, their tails too!
Finally the last ingredient and most important touch: the sambal sauce. I bought this jar at T&T (along with the dried anchovies). Sambal sauce can be quite hot as it’s made from chilli peppers but this kind is not too hot. It also contains shrimp paste so some people might not completely appreciate its flavour. Try some before putting it on your rice.
The rice done, I garnished it with maybe a tablespoon of the sambal sauce, the anchovies, and a sprinkle of fried & dried shallots.
Had a bite and it is gooood.
Things that I will do differently next time? I might use less coconut milk. I find that it makes the rice really rich though some may like that. I would also use dried shrimp or onions as a garnish instead of the shallots. Finally, after placing the anchovies in the rice, I would steam the dish for a bit to soften the anchovies and have their flavour blend with the rice. This is probably where the being wrapped in a banana leaf helps.
Give it a try, enjoy, and let me know how it turns out!
still can’t sleep
so I was thinking about if I had a camera surgically attached to my body and images were fed directly to my brain. would it be possible to sleep with this camera eye still open? like how would that work. you could of course just have the camera shut off during sleep just like your lids close to minimize visual stimulus. but hypothetically speaking, say we figured out how to attach a camera and have these images fed to some part of the brain, what part I really don’t know what, some part that handles visuals…you could still be receiving these images while you sleep. would you remember things when you wake up? would the images only affect dream and you would have no way of distinguishing between what your mind fabricated and what was really there. can anybody tell me how this camera thing might fit in given current knowledge of how the brain works? wish that I knew more on that.
