Here is a superb video on astronomical sizes which happily can be viewed in high definition. Yeah, you may have seen something like this before, but I like the way this one is put together and you can’t beat that Black Hole soundtrack.
I am not the center of the universe
Posted in physics, video
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Unboxing
Here’s a fun video about the unboxing experience we nerds love to view online.
Posted in funny, technology, video
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Loners are not Alone
We are not alone
Here’s a great essay from fellow introvert Jonathan Rauch about our orientation. As he notes, we’re not necessarily socially inept nor shy, but we are different. I’m known as a favorite and funny teacher and am comfortable with public speaking and leadership roles, actively participating and speaking up for causes that are important to me. But I am most definitely an introvert, happily spending much of my time alone.
Here are 10 myths about introverts from Carl King, and below are 10 tips for introverts from Nancy R. Fenn:
- Assert yourself as a legitimate personality type. There are two legitimate personality types: extroverts and introverts.
- Correct people when they refer to introverts as neurotics. Introverts are not neurotics. They are introverts.
- Correct people when they refer to introverts as prone to mental illness. Introverts are no more prone to mental illness than others. When extroverts are under stress, they overeat, smoke, drink and become violent. When introverts are under stress, they withdraw. This does not make them mentally ill.
- Correct people when they assert that introverts are anti-social. Introverts are not anti-social. They are drained by other people and must limit their time in company, but they are friendly and loving people.
- Correct people when they assert that introverts have nothing to say. On the contrary, introverts won’t speak unless they have something important to say!
- Put a proper value on your ability to be a good listener. Good listening skills are invaluable in all areas of business and industry.
- Do not apologize for time spent alone. Explain to critical “others” that introverts need to spend at least half their time alone for good mental and emotional health. Then assert, if necessary, that introverts are a legitimate personality type.
- Introverts are not losers. Take pride that you are in the company of such introverts, past and present, as Albert Einstein, Steven Spielberg, Queen Elizabeth II, Charles Darwin, Mahatma Gandhi, Michael Jordan and Bruce Lee.
- Stand up for introverted children who are being misunderstood in your presence. This is one of the most healing things you can possibly do for yourself as it will heal your own inner child.
- Don’t let pushy extroverts interrupt you while you’re reading a good book. Explain politely that you can’t talk right now, you’re reading a book.
And, lest we get too serious, here’s an old joke:
How can tell if a physicist is an introvert or an extrovert?
She’s an introvert if she looks at her shoes while talking to you. She’s an extrovert if instead she looks at your shoes.
Posted in random
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Oregon Trail
This July I will make my fifth summer trip to the Pacific Northwest. My love for the area began a decade ago when I won free plane tickets for two anywhere in the continental U.S. as the district teacher of the year. My criteria for that was to a) go as far away from Oklahoma as possible, b) go somewhere cool during the hot Oklahoma summer, and c) go somewhere I had never been before. So a friend and I flew to Seattle and also visited Mt. St. Helens and Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia. It is a lovely region in the summer with bright but cool days, beautiful vegetation, and friendly folks.
I enjoyed that trip enough that I returned to Seattle in 2005 and then visited Oregon in 2006 with drives and dayhikes along the Columbia River and all the way down its coastline from Astoria to the redwoods of northern California. I was lucky on that trip, renting a Taurus with a sunroof to travel down Highway 101 and enjoy the beautiful Oregon coast, which is thankfully entirely open to the public. What a progressive state! Last year I again received the two-free-tickets deal as the district teacher of the year, so a friend and I visited Washington state and British Columbia. This summer I am planning another dayhike-oriented trip to Oregon.
Oregon Trip 2009
This time I’ll fly into Portland and then drive over to the coast for a series of dayhikes. I prefer staying in motels to camping, with short drives and dayhikes in the morning and afternoon and a hearty evening dinner at a decent restaurant. Since cost is an issue, I’ll be staying at Motel 6s and Microtels for most of this trip. But I have booked more expensive beachfront accommodations for a few days. And around the midway point I booked a room with a hot tub to help me keep pounding the trails.
I’ll be working my way southward on Highway 101 from the Cannon Beach area to hike along the sea and also Saddle Mountain and Neahkahnie Mountain. Then I’ll hit the beautiful Agate Beach area near Newport for hiking at Cascade Head and inland to the Alsea and Green Peak Falls. Another stay at Yachats will let me hike the gorgeous Cape Perpetua area and then I’ll drive inland to Bend for some hiking at the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. I’ll complete the loop with a dash up to The Dalles for a day of hiking along the Columbia River on my way back to Portland.
The hotter it gets here in Oklahoma, the more I look forward to my forthcoming escape to the cool northwestern coast!
Posted in travel
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Going Cellular
More folks are going wireless
With the end of the 2008-2009 school year, I cancelled my Vonage VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone service. I thus joined the 18% of adult Americans (and over one in five US households) who have only cell phones. I’d previously cut the POTS (plain old telephone service) back in December of 2007, but hooked up the internet phone as a backup to the cell phone.
My Vonage plan of 500 minutes for about $23 per month was certainly cheaper than the traditional service and included nice features like Caller ID, digital voice mail, selective number blocks, and having my cell phone ring simultaneously with the internet line. And ditching my old POTS number for an unlisted internet phone cut off all of the political and other annoyance calls that the “Do Not Call” list had failed to kill off.
But I simply am not social enough to chat away on the phone, so I was getting very little use of that vestigial land line. And occasionally the internet phone would go offline, not coming back up until I cycled the power on the Motorola base unit. My iPhone service already costs me over $70 per month, so I decided to save $276 per year and go cellular only. Since my “teacher step raise” for next year will be a whopping $475 before taxes, saving $276 sounds pretty good. If I keep scrimping, I can keep up with inflation…maybe.
I figured that there would be some pain involved with the cancellation, and there was a bit. Vonage won’t let you cancel via the internet, claiming it is for security reasons. But you can do everything else online, so obviously they really just want you to talk to an agent who will try to save the account. After navigating their annoying voice-response switchboard a polite agent offered me a 100-minute monthly plan for $10 plus some fees (said plan does not appear anywhere I could find on their website), but I didn’t bite. And disconnecting the service incurred a charge of $43.19 – sounds a lot like Ma Bell’s old gotchas, doesn’t it? But it wasn’t anywhere near the pain AOL customers reportedly went through a few years back when they wanted to ditch that service, and I’ll start saving money in less than two months.
I’ll have to be more vigilant about having my cell phone charged and handy. But now I have some money I can put toward my favorite summer mental health therapy – a week of hiking along the Oregon coast. And sure enough, cell phone service out on the trail is pretty spotty – thank goodness!
Posted in random, technology
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Meador Manor 