Oh, and the dead cat!

So to finish that story, my three-year old niece was finally told that the cat had gone to heaven, that heaven included people and animals and the cat was with god etc. So my niece thought about it for a while, came back and said that her imaginary friend had gone to heaven to be with the cat. Remarkably enough, however, a new imaginary friend came down from heaven to replace the old one. So now we have a new dinner companion to take elijah's seat.

Pandora

My experience with pandora has been challenging but ultimately it appears to finally be paying off, kind of like my experience selling multiple items per day on amazon. I was introduced to pandora some while ago but didn't begin to truly appreciate its benefits until the charger for my ipod broke and I faced the possibility of sometimes 18 hours straight of work without music or video, a concept that is akin to asking me to walk across hot coals. For 18 hours. So I've been on a single channel for a few weeks now, approving of and disapproving of individual songs. For a while it was like the people at pandora were playing opposite day games and all the songs were ridiculously awful. But now that I've actually identified nearly every song they play that is acceptable I finally have a good play list. So I guess it's a tepid review. You have to either have great patience or ADD that multiple doctors refuse to diagnose (sigh...).

Weather

So you get up in the morning, start rummaging through your closet and realize, wait, I need to know what the weather is first (plus I need to know which coat (if any) to wear and whether an umbrella is necessary). Thus, every morning I turn on my television to the weather channel (sadly, often when I turn on the television the weather channel is already on because I watch so little tv but that's a different tale of woes) and I wait patiently for "local on the 8s." Unfortunately I'm not exactly patient - the issue is more that I sort of constantly need to be getting things done and multi-tasking - so sometimes I'll miss the next "local on the 8s" and sometimes this leads me to need to turn on my computer and reach out to weather.com. And here's where my complaint arises - weather.com provides totally irrelevant (albeit meterologically accurate) information. For example, I don't really care about the chance of precipitation - I want to know if I need to bring an umbrella. So what I really need to know is, will it rain during hours I will be outside and will it be heavy and long-lasting rain. I also don't need the temperature so much as an analysis of what kind of coat would be most appropriate. For example, it said it was 40 today and it felt like 70. I mean, that's totally misleading from a coat-choice perspective. The best way to judge these things is actually to see what people who have already left their houses and are wandering the streets are wearing. Unfortunately I can't see that far down so that is no longer an option for me (I used to wait for like 10 minutes in paris for someone to walk past my window in the morning...)

Spam scammers reach beyond Africa..."I have an obscured business suggestion for you"

Here is the latest. I post it as it deviates from the standard formula somewhat and the tone makes me laugh. The from e-mail address is UK, the address you are meant to reply to is a Hong Kong e-mail, and yet, oddly, the e-mail claims to originate from Russia.


"GREETING FROM RUSSIA"
To:
mrslarisasosnit07@yahoo.com.hk
Subject:
FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION !!!
Date:
Sat, 10 May 2008 12:48:37 +0000 (GMT)

Mrs. Larisa Sosnitskaya
Personal treasurer to former C.E.O of
Yukos Oil Company and Bank Menatep,
31A, Dubininskaya St.115054 Moscow ,
Russia

FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION !!!

It is understandable that you might be a little bit apprehensive
because you do not know me but I have a lucrative business proposal of mutual
interest to share with you as partners. I got your reference in my
search for someone who suits my proposed business relationship.

I am Mrs. Larisa Sosnitskaya, personal treasurer to Mr. Mikhail
Khordokovsky Former C.E.O of Yukos Oil Company and Bank Menatep here in
Russia. I have an obscured business suggestion for you. I will need you to
assist me in executing a business project from Russia to your country. It
involves the transfer of a large sum of funds over US$46(forty six)
million Dollars. Already the funds have left the shore of Russia to a
European Bank where the final crediting is expected to be carried out.
Everything concerning this transaction shall be legally done without
hitch. Please endeavor to observe utmost discretion in all matters
concerning this issue.

But in summary, the funds come in via Bank Menatep to a more secured
Bank in Europe . This is a legitimate transaction. All I need from you is
to stand as the new beneficiary of the above quoted Sum and I will
re-profile the funds with your name, which will enable the European bank
transfer the sum to you. Then once the funds have been successfully
transferred into your account, you will be paid 20% for your "management
fees, please take note?

I will prefer you reach me on my private email address
(mrslarisasosnit07@yahoo.com.hk).

As Soon as I confirm your readiness to partner and assist me on the
transaction, I will provide you with the full details contain therein and
my identification
.
NB: I advice you read more of this ordeal from


http://www.supportmbk.com
http://newsfromrussia.com/main/2003/11/13/51215.html
http://mikhail_khodorkovsky_society.blogspot.com/

Please if you are not interested delete this email and do not hunt me
because I am putting my career and the life of my family at stake with
this venture. Although nothing ventured is nothing gained.

Your earliest response to this letter will be appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Mrs. Larisa Sosnitskaya
(mrslarisasosnit07@yahoo.com.hk)

Alternative to common sense

I'm not sure if this is a recent development or what, but it turns out that I have to do the exact opposite of normal people when food shopping, e.g., I need to shop when hungry. I just returned from another post-lunch shopping trip and have a bag full of junk food, primarily sweet. So there are two possibilities. One is that I have to shop hungry. The other is that I need to make lists before I go and follow them. Neither may present a legitimate possibility.

Sadness and Cats

So on Friday my family/brother's cat died. It was the second identical cat with the same name to die (although we're talking 16 years apart and the second one sometimes had "II" appended to his name). Now I don't particularly like cats: I have allergies, they spread scary diseases to an extent that isn't even fully known yet (sorry that that's a weird cached link - I am still sleepy although in throes of insomnia again - see Fight Club for a wonderful description of what insomnia is like - although I don't have the same stamina and end up sleeping at random times and suddenly being wide-awake instead of just going days without sleep)
, and this particular cat bit me not that long ago. Given my paranoia about getting diseases from animals and the fact that I was trying to help him feel better about my brother's absence (my brother and the cat are very close) this was a notable occasion.
So I otherwise wouldn't be writing about it. But as my mother was telling me this she started going through the cat's last 24 hours. It was heart-wrenching. The cat had played tea with my three-year old niece a couple times, they had read some books together, run around playing and then, the cat was found dead splayed across my niece's toys.
I'm assuming that my niece's limited vocabulary will limit her from reading this post as they haven't told her yet. I'm worried how she'll take it. When her imaginary friend went to talk to god for a while she got very teary-eyed as she briefly told us about it and then refused to talk any further for the rest of the evening. We thought that meant he was dead but he actually came back with a new car so who knows.

The other thing about it is that a lot of weird things have been happening to me lately, like my phone suddenly erasing all its information, things randomly exploding etc. So when the cat died (and I noticed a hole in the pocket of my jacket, I know small but all these other small things have been adding up like vivid/lucid dreams that I am acting out) I started worrying again - these pockets of weirdness bother me. A close and trusted friend has suggested demons are haunting me. This would not surprise me. The obvious question would be why. But I will explore that later.
(back to try to sleep again)

Autism as a Positive Evolutionary Development

So recently at a dinner I heard that this is going on in society - this group of people who argue that autism is actually a positive development and not something that should be treated. In essence, the idea is that this is an evolutionary growth period and we are seeing the advent of a new and better version of mankind. I find that a little bold and to be perfectly honest, I think it just belies some of the narcissism that accompanies not being able to accurately and consistently process the meaning of consequences of social interaction and thus, a significant part of the purpose of being human. I can't find a good site for it right now because I'm sleepy but may update later. (I owe dues to whoever brought this up at dinner two weeks ago and I apologize for completely forgetting who it was - let me know if it was you and I'll attribute appropriately). Shavuah Tov!

Greenspan

Is Greenspan responsible for the housing bubble?

The night

I've been teetering on a major bout of insomnia for a few days now and tonight is going to be the night. I couldn't even stop myself, I took a vivarin (previous experience with this medication has led to three consecutive days without sleep, although I took three pills at once, but still...) Sometimes insomnia, and dancing endlessly for hours, has an appeal that is so beyond the ability of reason to counter it that reason and desire may as well have no common points of communication. This is one such night. For now it is techno and diet coke. We'll see as the night progresses.
As a side-bar (there will be many to come) I have only recently begun to judge my television watching habits on the commercials that populate the downtime. For example, only recently did it strike me as odd that my tv shows were frequently interrupted by ads for the armed services, or on other occasions, nearly constant appeals from the aarp. I am watching the tv that young and old men are watching.
Also, I am blaming my current state on my having gotten a flu shot today for the first time in my life. I am hoping that multiple flu shots will protect me against the avian flu. It may or may not work. No one really knows. But for 10 USD, pourquoi pas?

India

Oh, and I ended up going to India over Australia. I did indeed fall ill (3 times) and it was at times highly stressful but nevertheless a very interesting trip to the third world. I would post pictures but I've lost the necessary technical devices.

Political Futures

Good slate guide to resources. Personally, I can't see how anyone but Fred Thompson can win the election so it all seems rather irrelevant. However as someone who doesn't understand the concept of gambling when the odds are against you, this provides me with an outlet for my addictive tendencies.

As a side-bar, it would be fascinating if votes were counted not just as each vote being equal to another but as each vote having more weight depending on the passion with which the vote was cast. And there would be minimum thresholds of passion that had to be met, and in that way you could have a presidential election that would not result in a winner, because so many of the votes were motivated by something teetering on utter indifference. Maybe then we would have a second round of voting with the top vote-getters, with lower passion thresholds.

Skin quality

I am currently on a trip to the British Isles and remembered that what always struck me the most about these people was the quality of their skin. A lot of other things really haven't gone their way, but the skin is remarkable. It has something to do with the air because after a couple days in Ireland my skin starts to look good too. I have decided that I want to be surrounded by people with lovely skin. There is something so calming and refreshing about it.
It also makes me wonder whether if people whose ancestors are from different places were to go back to those places, if they too would have lovely skin. It seems likely because the evolutionary value of adult acne combined with dryness seems quite low indeed. But, how to do it when you are a mix of things? Can you go to any of the places your ancestors were from? The most dominant? Or would all your ancestors have to have come from the same place for it to work? Only the dutiful work of scientists will tell us.

One reason I'm glad I'm not a doctor

I think it might be very stressful if you worked in a team environment and when you went on vacation someone else took over for you and that someone else was not as competent or as dedicated to the job. Thus, it would be very hard for me to take vacations because the result might be very serious for the patients, moreso than when you go on vacation from other types of jobs and the less-competents take over. I mean, no one is going to die because the filing wasn't made on time or the clause in the document was drafted incorrectly. There must be other reasons I'm glad I'm not a doctor, although I can't actually think of them. I should have at least prepared to go to medical school, on the off-chance that I decided I wanted to. I think I took one of the classes I would need to have taken undergrad, and that was entirely coincidental. If only I could go to med school without all the background stuff. In the evening. Or over the internet. It would just be very interesting - I don't think I'd need a degree I could practice with. It would just be nice to self-diagnose more effectively. Although I seem to be just as good as my doctors over the last few years.

My ability to concentrate...

Is somewhere around that of like a three year old child, or if we want to anthropomorphize, of a small sort of bug. Although club music kind of helps, where as it would likely distract either the small child or the bug. Assuming our bug is sensitive to sound vibrations. He might think it was the equivalent of an earthquake in his world and so he might try to stabilize by flying wildly about, searching for a surface. Or sometimes they freeze. In general, bugs tend to overestimate their ability to blend into the background. Perhaps it has to do with the human encroachment on the ecosystem and where as before the bug would have been sitting on a leaf it is now sitting on a cd case and I can see it quite clearly and would never mistake it for part of a leaf. All theoretical, as there are neither bugs nor cd cases in my current environment. I used all my cd cases as part of decorative gifts and I don't wear my glasses and don't have contacts so technically I don't know that there aren't any bugs but I can't see any and I like to pretend that what you can't see isn't there. It's remarkable how much less stressful life becomes when you can see with clarity relatively little of what is going on in the world.

Ever so slightly curious as to what the obsession with Harry Potter is all about

I once saw part of one movie. It was reasonably entertaining but I can't say I was enthralled. And if I'm going to pick up a tome to read, it's going to be one of the classics that I just haven't ever gotten around to. At least that way I'll have accomplished something significant. The whole Harry Potter thing is, however, evidence of the ability to make massive sums of money by tapping into legal addiction. In fact, as the alcohol companies have recognized, one of the best ways to make money on legal addiction is to capitalize to the illegality of many addictions (the alcohol companies fund major anti-drug campaigns, as a point of explanation). All these people out there are just looking to get addicted to something that doesn't have a social stigma and Harry Potter hit on that. The point being that I need to determine how I can create a socially acceptable addiction and capitalize on it. For another day.

A reason not to be miserable

A relative stranger just asked me as I was exiting my building whether pigeons are kosher - this was how he started a conversation. I couldn't remember, although I remembered something about it and as I tend to be more liberal I said I couldn't imagine why not. Strictly speaking, I'm not wrong but I'm not right either. But the important part is that someone randomly asked me this. That means there are more people in the world like me. It's slightly reassuring that other people are living lives of total randomness. I feel a little less lonely.

FBI admits remote install of spyware

This is sort of a niche interest of mine as I briefly worked in a position focused on limiting government control over individuals (particularly as exercised beyond the powers allowed in the Constitution) and one of the policy papers I worked on was a complete overview of government use of electronic hacking devices. The keylogger cases referred to in the article presented a clearer issue of privacy violation because an individual was actually accessing your personal property to install the software. So it begs the question, what level of privacy interest is there in online communications? Because even wanting to be on the side of pro-privacy groups, internet-based communications clearly just don't have the same level of privacy expectation as a normal communication. Why can't the government do what private companies do, without punishment? If my computer can be riddled with spyware, why can't some of that be from a government agency? I'm sure there's some clear analogy to be drawn to more traditional interpretations but I think the truth is probably that the concept of privacy on the internet is an entirely new being and can't accurately be analogized to existing concepts.

Benadryl makes me sleepy

I'm not sure I've ever taken it before. Had to take it today as a preventative measure due to a series of shots I'm getting and wow, did I fall asleep. I haven't slept like that in months. It was beautiful, perfect, ideal sleep, complete with lucid dreaming on both ends and the sensation afterwards of complete calm and food tasting magnificent. I have trouble, however, imagining what people who use this recreationally are shooting for. I would be asleep for days if I took that much.

John Deere at your doorsteps! [sic]

My spam from 2038 recently made this promise. It caused me to reflect on what a hysterical practical joke it would be to have a john deere tractor delivered to someone's apartment. It would be a very expensive joke, so it would have to be somehow highly relevant or hints and clues would have to be dropped ahead of time to justify the expenditure, but it would really be almost absurdly funny. I mean, I wonder if they would even consent to such a delivery. Like, they would have to know something was up when the delivery address was like, Apartment 9H, New York, NY. So it might not even be possible. I wonder if they would attempt delivery. I don't know whether the john deere co itself facilitates delivery or if a common carrier of some sort is used. If the latter, there is the question of FOB what place and whether it just might be possible because the processing of the orders is done separately from the shipping. Actually, even trying to place the order might be hysterical, once you gave the shipping address. I think they would be too suspicious to place the order, in the end.

LaSalle to become BOA after all...

From the iht. I'm not sticking around to have BOA nickel and dime me on outdated charges after it takes over my finances for the second time in a couple years. As much as I'm a fan of LaSalle I'll just have to do what I should have done years ago and move things to Citibank. BOA is a terrible company in terms of managing its clients.