MoodMeter

The Stata Center at MIT has a random security looking video monitor mounted right outside one of its main lecture halls. Animated smiley facts appear as you walk past it. After doing this for several weeks, I finally came to understand something fundamental about this screen. Your facial expression affects the smiley that is shown in real-time. Most of the time the screen has a yellow colored content face. If you smile, though, the face turns into a green smiley. I think it is interesting that it does this processing into real-time. The future is now!

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Jennifer

So there's this girl... she is smart and graceful and has a good sense of humor. She puts up with me most of the time. Recently she tried an experiment to take public transit to get to work instead of her Grey Sentra and much to *my* surprise she found it to be preferable. She does that most of the time these days... leaving aforementioned car to relax all day in its garage. Jennifer is sophisticated, but not pretentious. She wears tee-shirts. When I originally met her I think that was an acceptable decorum for her job. Since then things have changed a bit and occasionally you can catch her in a button-down collared shirt. I don't think I've ever seen her in heels... though I suspect I am very wrong about that. Her favorite band is Pearl Jam. She likes Eddie Vedder's voice and can recognize it even in songs that she's never heard before. She gardens, and enjoys modest success despite being limitted to urban-apartment style potted plants. Jennifer likes to produce music, though she doesn't get enough time for it. Flute and keyboard are her weapons of choice. She's a professional at doing laundry, and she'll probably give me a punch in the arm for saying that. She is a disciplined caregiver, whereas I typically exhibit a significantly less disciplined approach. I think her favorite drink is carmel vodka w/ apple cider. Once, on a date, she had the three course meal at the Top of the Hub. On several occasions she has had eight or nine course Christmas Eve meals at her uncle's house. She likes to pretend to be fancy while playing frisbee. She knows how to play Magic: The Gathering. She beat Zelda: Twilight Princess (a game I gave up on b/c it was too long). And after today, she can't say I never talk about her on my website.

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Religion

I think what I don't like about religion is the whole mysticism part. Based on modern definitions God may as well be called The Invisible Sky Sorcourer and Jesus would be The Amazing Wizard Zombie. The former seems to be a cross between Harry Potter and Superman while the latter is a conflagation of Gandalf and Skelator (you know, the bad guy from He-Man). Of course, Jesus was never explicitly bad before his resurrection, but how do we know Skelator was *good* before his?

The part of religion that I really, really like is the wisdom of the holier-than-thou ethics and the do-not-be-a-dick sense of morality. The world needs more ethical, moral people. Introspection, selflessness, love, and community are all major "lessons" that are taught through youthful religious indoctrination. These are good things.

Plato argued that the misdeeds of the Gods should be censored to teach children only wholesome lessens. I see no reason not to recommend this except for the fact that the children are raised to be wusses. There is a need for struggle and a place for tough times in the world. It keeps us honest. Without it, we become complacent. It takes somebody truly wise to realize this since every other facet of modern life is all about hedonism and the pure pursuit of pleasure for its own sake.

Rewind to the original topic... I'd appreciate the Bible and religion in general if the stories were contemporized wihout the mystical/magical/unexplainable bullshit. Further, I'm curious if the major religions are all approximately the same if you strip away the mystical parts. I'd bet they are.

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Bullet-points

Today's post is a list of short bullet-points:

1. A joyous HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little sister (and many more).
   
2. We got a Playstation 3 (320 GB w/ Move Edition).
   
3. We've booked our honeymoon (11-day Caribbean Cruise in Jan 2012).
   
4. We purchased weddings bands (unadorned platinum, engraving TBD).
   
5. Spring has seemingly sprung (April showers, May flowers).
   
6. Coral's wedding(s) are fast approaching (Canadian May, Jersian June).
   
7. Window-treatments are officially installed (no more afternoon glare).
   
8. Played the Tabletop game Dominion: Intrigue (and it was fun).
   
9. Played MTG w/ Planeswalker desks against Jen (Zombie Armies rule).
   
10. Must sleep more and drink coffee less (for general healthiness).
    

Running Month Three

Presenting the March Running Graph. You'll notice that there were several days off in the middle of the month while my brothers were visiting for PAX East 2011. Good times.