Seiko Astron GPS Solar Limited Edition SAST029

My 25th wedding anniversary is coming up this summer and my wife wants to get me a watch. I think I just found the top candidate.

Seiko Astron GPS Solar Limited Edition SAST029.

Wind chill critique: What do the numbers really mean?

The numbers reported for wind chill are far from perfect, but this Daniel Engber guy has his head up his ass (he won’t feel the wind chill up there). The wind chill does measure how cold it feels since it is a measure of the rate at which heat is transferred from your skin, which does affect how cold it feels and how fast you will experience frostbite.

Wind chill critique: What do the numbers really mean?.

People sure do love to spout off and get page views.

I May Be 50, but Don’t Call Me a Boomer – NYTimes.com

I am technically a boomer, but never identified with them (I was born in 1963). This article sums up nicely why.

I May Be 50, but Don’t Call Me a Boomer – NYTimes.com.

The Allure and Quick Fix of the Full-Pay Foreign Student – Commentary – The Chronicle of Higher Education

This article discusses some of my concerns regarding the great increase in international students at American universities. One quote from the article:

So, are Chinese families getting their money’s worth? It depends on whether colleges invest time and resources to truly integrate their new full-pay students into the academic community.

via The Allure and Quick Fix of the Full-Pay Foreign Student – Commentary – The Chronicle of Higher Education.

A Lonely Quest for Facts on Genetically Modified Crops – NYTimes.com

Interesting to see the left embrace GMOs the way the right has embraced global warming (and evolution). No amount of science will sway these people from their beliefs. It’s like a religion for them.

A Lonely Quest for Facts on Genetically Modified Crops – NYTimes.com.

You Have the Right to Stay Out of Jail

You Have the Right to Stay Out of Jail.

OS X Tools I Use: Email and Browsers

I have been meaning to put together some posts outlining the tools I use daily or weekly to get my work done. I thought I would do just that by starting with email and web browsing. I will get to more complicated things like writing and research in later posts.

Note that all of this is done on a mid-2012 MacBook Pro with Retina display. It has a 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB of RAM, a 740GB SSD, and runs the latest version of OS X Mavericks.

Email

I spend a lot of time in email. Communicating with students, corresponding with colleagues and collaborators, and keeping up with family. To do these things, I use Apple’s Mail with a number of plug-ins.

• Attachment Tamer
  Controls how attachments are sent and shown in Mail. Very valuable when sending email with embedded images and when sending email to Windows users.
• ForgetMeNot
  I send a lot of email, some with attachments and some without. ForgetMeNot scans email I send before I send it and looks for phrases that indicate that there might be an attachment to the message. If it thinks there is one and there is nothing attached to the message, it gives me a warning that I might have forgotten the attachment.
• Mail Act-On
  This is, by far, the most useful Mail plug-in that I use. Among other things, it allows me to
  • Preview a message in Mail without it being marked as read.
  • File messages away to any of my many mailboxes with a single keystroke.
  • Easily open the mailbox of my choice with a couple of keystrokes.
• QuoteFix for Mac
  • tries to remove the signature from the original message
  • removes some unnecessary empty lines
  • positions the cursor below the original message, instead of above it (in other words, bottom-posting instead of top-posting)
  • can (optionally) prune nested quotes from a specific level and above
  • also provides customized attributions for replies and forwards

Web Browsing

I spend a lot of time on the web. While I like to read the news on my iPad at home, I also do so during the day when I am in front of my laptop. I also use it for unit conversions in Google, online research, accessing ANGEL (Penn State’s course management system), accessing eLion for student advising, checking weather forecasts several times a day (I am a weather geek), and much more. With that said, I tend to switch back and forth between Google Chrome and Safari as my browser of choice. I find both to be fast and stable, though I ever so slightly prefer Chrome’s layout over Safari’s. More importantly, I think, are the plug-ins/extensions I use in both browsers.

1Password — The essential password manager on any platform. I would be screwed without it.

Add to Amazon Wish List — Nice before the holidays, but I don’t use it much any other time of the year.

Evernote Web Clipper — I use Evernote to store all kinds of information that I would like to keep for future reference. Their web clipper is nice for grabbing content from the web for this purpose.

Invisible Hand — I do the vast majority of my shopping online (I hate malls). This is a nice little tool for comparing prices on stuff for which I am shopping online.

Pocket — I use Pocket to save articles to read later (on my Mac or any iOS device) and for referencing at some future date. Their browser extension makes that easy.

Chrome Only

Tweetbot This — Tweetbot is my Twitter client of choice on my Mac and on my iOS devices. Tweetbot This makes it easy to tweet a page in Tweetbot. In Safari, I use a Javascript link in my Favorites bar.

Clearly — Clearly gives me a Safari Reader-like interface to articles.

Words for the Dumpster – NYTimes.com

Words for the Dumpster – NYTimes.com.

I’m Back! (Again.) This time with some Key & Peele.

Well, here I am again after a two year absence. This time, I am posting something that I and my circle of friends have been laughing at recently and that I haven’t found well done on the Internet — Key & Peele’s East/West Collegiate Bowl names and schools. Key & Peele are hilarious. If you haven’t been watching them, start immediately. Without further ado, here they are.

Annual East/West Collegiate Bowl

And now for the names and schools.

East

D’Marcus Williums / University of Gerogia
T.J. Juckson / Wayne State University
T’Variusness King / Merrimack College
Tyroil Smoochie-Wallace / University of Miami
D’Squarius Green, Jr. / University of Notre Dame
Ibrahim Moizoos / University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Jackmerius Tacktheritrix / Michigan State University
D’Isiah T. Billings-Clyde / Coastal Carolina University
D’Jasper Probincrux III / South Carolina State University
Leoz Maxwell Jilliumz / East Carolina University
Javaris Jamar Javarison-Lamar / University of Middle Tennessee
Davoin Shower-Handel / University of Southern Mississippi
Hingle McCringleberry / Penn State University
L’Carpetron Dookmarriot / Florida Atlantic University
J’Dinkalage Morgoone / University of South Florida
Xmus Jaxon Flaxon-Waxon / California University of Pennsylvania

West

Saggitariutt Jefferspin / Texas A&M
D’Glester Hardunkichud / University of Wisconsin
Swirvithan L’Goodling-Splatt / Saskatchewan University
Quatro Quatro / San Jose State University
Ozamataz Buckshank / Stanford University
Beezer Twelve Washingbeard / Jones College
Shakiraquan T.G.I.F. Carter / University of Northern Arizona
X-Wing @Aliciousness / Missouri Western State University
Sequester Grundelplith M.D. / Adams State
Scoish Velociraptor Maloish / South Dakota State University
T.J. A.J. R.J. Backslashinfourth V / Albion College
Eeeee Eeeeeeeee / San Diego State University
Donkey Teeth / Boise State University
Torque (Construction Noise) Lewith / Nevada State Penitentiary
The Player Formerly Known as Mousecop / University of Missouri / Columbia
Dan Smith / BYU

Annual East/West Collegiate Bowl 2

And now for the names and schools.

East

Coznesster Smiff / Rutgers University
Elipses Corter / University of Alabama
Nyquillus Dillwad / LSU
Bismo Funyuns / Florida State University
Decatholac Mango / Georgia Tech University
Mergatroid Skittle / University of Louisville
Quiznatodd Bidness / University of Tennessee
D’Pez Poopsie / Ole Miss
Quackadilly Blip / Auburn University
Goolius Boozler / The U
Bisquiteen Trisket / University of Michigan
Fartrell Cluggins / University of Arkansas
Blyrone Blashinton / Syracuse
Cartoons Plural / Virginia Tech
Jammie Jammie-Jammie / The Ohio State University
Fudge / (No school given)

West

Equine Ducklings / Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Dahistorius Lamystorius / Utah State University
Ewokoniad Sigourneth Juniorstein / Oklahoma State University
Eqqsquizitine Buble-Schwinslow / University of Nebraska
Huka’lakanaka Hakanakaheekalucka’hukahakafaka / University of Hawaii
King Prince Chambermaid / Baylor University
Ladennifer Jadaniston / University of Colorado
Ladadadaladadadadada Dala-Dadaladaladalada / University of Arizona
Harvard University / DeVry University
Morse Code / Army Navy Surplus Store
Wingdings / Online Classes
Firstname Lastname / College University
God / Home schooled
Squeeeeeeeeeeps / Santa Monica College
Benedict Cumberbatch / Oxford University
A.A. Ron Balakay / Morehouse College

Those Things for Which I am Thankful on this Thanksgiving 2011

It has been a rough year for me for reasons that I don’t want to go into quite yet. With that said, I am feeling pretty good today and I have many things for which to be thankful on the great American holiday.

• My wonderfully supportive, loving, smart, and beautiful wife.
• That we are both healthy.
• That we have good, stable jobs in a terrible economy.
• That, after decades of driving boring, sensible cars, I now have a MINI Cooper S Hardtop that is beyond a joy to drive (and it gets very good gas mileage).
• That I live in a part of the world without earthquakes, tropical storms, or tornadoes (at least very infrequent tornadoes).

Today, we are making two turkey breasts, mashed taters, sweet taters with butter and brown sugar, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce, whole grain rolls, and cranberries. Yum.