AndrewAlan.com - Latest Comments

Re: Do we dream into the future?

Chris — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:01:19 -0000

Don't ever fall asleep to the History Channel or you may wake up before you are born! This is a fun observation, and I will have to see the movie "Stay." Do you have any more details about the movie?

Re: Do we dream into the future?

Kevin Drum — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:30:51 -0000

I know exactly what you mean. The misconception here is that your dreams happen in real-time. That is, as soon as your brain perceives the phone ringing, your brain begins to make sense of that sound within the context of your dream (perhaps someone in your dream leads you to a phone booth). By the time, the phone rings a second or third time in reality (and you wake up), several minutes of perceived dreamtime can have gone by. I hope that makes sense. Freud did quite a bit of study on external influences on dreams. Also, the film "Stay".

Re: Me and my body clock

Sandy — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 13:46:49 -0000

We recently traveled to Australia/NZ (14-16 hours ahead) - I almost think that time shift was easier to handle than the one to Europe and back, maybe because it's nearly opposite and the plane ride is sooo long. We boarded in LA around midnight and arrived after a 14-hour "night" in Brisbane in the bright and sunny AM - so it wasn't too hard to shift. Coming back was a little harder - left Auckland around dinner time after a full day of activities, and arrived in Pgh at midnight the same night after traveling about 20 hours. I think daylight is the key to shifting your body clock quickly.

Re: mmm English Breakfast

Cynthia Closkey — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:31:32 -0000

That looks absolutely delicious.

Re: Could/Couldn’t care less

Cynthia Closkey — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:41:48 -0000

The correct phrase is "couldn't care less."

I don't understand why people have a problem with this idiom. Then again, I also don't understand how people can mistakenly call Alzheimer's Disease "old timer's disease."

I definitely could care less about people getting "couldn't care less" right. I suppose I could also care more. I won't correct anyone or get into fisticuffs, but I will wince.

Re: Clothes maketh the man

Cynthia Closkey — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:37:03 -0000

I have never been identified on the basis of my clothing (or lack of clothing, for that matter).

I think I spend much too much time thinking about clothes, especially given the results. (I'm reminded here of Dolly Parton's famous line, "It's expensive to look this cheap.")

Last weekend, I went to an event here in Butler. I walked to the event, and given that it was a weekend and I was walking, I'd chosen to wear jeans and a concert t-shirt (Pixies, recent reunion tour). I had my hair in a ponytail and a baseball cap on.

I saw a friend at the event, one of the organizers, and I walked over to congratulate her on the event's success. She saw me walking over, smiling, but she didn't respond until I said her name.

"I didn't recognize you," she said. "You always look so nice, and today you're...."

So, i guess if I ever do need to go incognito, all I need to do is throw away the skirts and heels and stick to jeans and concert shirts. Just as good as the Witness Protection Program.

Re: “What did you do today?”

Crystal — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:03:12 -0000

What did I do today? Before I got out of bed, I checked my email, my feedburner and Technorati stats, and Twitter. I also thought through the outline for today's post.

It's already 1pm and I haven't yet written it because I've been reading for my database systems class and logging into my online uni. And of course, commenting on interesting posts ;)

One thing I NEED to do every day is exercise. The only thing I'm sure to do every day is give my hubby a huge hug and thank him for working while I spend the day writing!

Hope you have a great day today, whatever you do!

ps I found you through Chris Brogan's post on what he did today

Re: Underquantified and the Germans

djsteen — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:09:11 -0000

Andy, I can totally relate.

I may not run a business or know 'everything', but I have a lot of life experience. Surprisingly more than a lot of my peers. I often do find it difficult to convey my knowledge an experience, but I strive to give it my best.

I try not to brag, but I always tell people what I do and how I could potentially assist their needs.

I love life and I want other people to love it too!

I discovered a lot of things I didn't know about you on your Bio page. You really are a[n Andy] of all trades. ;)

Re: ‘Social Networking’ (outside the wire)

Travis — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 23:45:50 -0000

I concur with Scott. Although the technology may be secondary, it does accelerate the pace of knowledge and information transfer. The internet is just a big transportation device. Enabling many more "Real Estate office meetings" in a shorter time period to occur. Alvin Toffler may be right in predicting that one day information overload will hit. The net result is people will rely on "topic experts" in their online social network to help make decisions.

Re: ‘Social Networking’ (outside the wire)

Cynthia Closkey — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:13:50 -0000

I think humans are drawn to each other -- that's the social part. How we connect changes, whether it's repeatedly running into the same folks at the coffeeshop and eventually making a point to hang out and catch up with each other, or creating events like bridge games so that we have something to do and think about while we talk, or creating new tools like www.pghbloggers.org so we can find like-minded (or opposite-minded) people with whom to discourse.

The web is amazing for helping people find people. I had already met a few of the people in the Pittsburgh social media crowd through other social event series (Geek Night, PUMP), but I agree with Scott that PodCamp Pittsburgh was a catalyst and brought people together more quickly.

I also think it's true, though, that any one person can maintain only some maximum number of relationships. In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell cites studies that say groups function well with no more than 150 members. I wonder whether the web increases that number, or if it remains the same and we simply are getting by with some number of superficial connections.

Re: ‘Social Networking’ (outside the wire)

Scottsweep — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:08:16 -0000

I'm not so sure that our crowd isn't really just geeks-evolved. Are we hard-core computer science types? No, but we certainly espouse some of the aspects of geek culture (yes, a few of us enjoy playing magic and have had hours long discussion over the merits of 80s cartoons), but this group is something more. The Pgh New Media crowd is a mash-up of numerous personalities that works because of the shared interest in social-media and the use of technology. I truly think the technology is secondary, but it also enables a much higher level of bonding than just weekly or monthly get-togethers would allow. Without things like twitter it would have taken years for a group like this to gel. The catalyst for this group was most likely PodCamp as it was common ground for several smaller cliques. It evolved and grew because of shared interest. At the heart of though it is not all that different than folks sitting around drinking coffee and talking about the world.