Friday Night Party Line Episode 19

Tonight’s hosts:  David, Scott, Kyle & Thaed.  Here are the topics:

–Ask the Economist.
–Reductionism and the enjoyment of life.  Does understanding everything in daily life to a fundamental level destroy the capacity to enjoy it?  Does greater understanding of the universe make life less desirable?  (9:06)
–In a future world of hyper efficiency, what will people do for a living?  (16:20)
–Say you are a billionaire and you want to make your home town a better place.  How do you use your money to make this happen?  (21:03)
–Dave’s Stalin Quote:  death of a soldier is a tragedy, the death of a 1000 soldiers is a statistic.  Was this ever true?  Is it true today?  (39:43)
–What will it take for Linux to make really progress in the marketplace against Windows?  (44:21)
–Golf:  is it still how business is acquired?  Do you have to play golf to be successful?  Can you play WoW instead?  (53:21)

http://www.frontrowcrew.com
http://www.mentalinterface.net

Subscribe via iTunes.

Reductionism and good weather.

Lately, I’ve been on a kick where I reduce every experience in my life to its essence.  For example, take travel.  To me, travel is only important if it is specifically necessary.  I frequently travel to faraway places for work.  For work, it makes sense.  People are willing to pay to fly me somewhere to do something.  That’s fine.  Travel for vacation makes a lot less sense.  There’s not much reason for me to travel for fun.  The things I think are fun are all indoor activities that I can do best at home.

This is what I mean by reductionism.  Some people like parasailing.  To  me, it makes no sense.  It’s just danger coupled with wind and height.  Some people like camping.  To me, it is discomfort that you do voluntarily.  I’ve never been into self punishment.

Now, the only exception I can see for vacation travel in the winter is to go somewhere sunny and warm.  Mind you, since I’m not likely to go outside anyway, it’s not mandatory.  But there is something to the seasonal affective disorder problem.  Cold weather sucks.  Even if you stay inside most of the time, you have to go out to get food.  Plus, even inside, cold weather dries everything out.   It’s not fun.  Last winter, for example, I went to Key West for a weekend in the winter.  It helped a lot.

I’ve been to paradise, but I wouldn’t want to live there.  Hawaii has the best weather I’ve ever experienced  Yet, Internet there isn’t the greatest and you have to pay so much for the cost of living.  Many people have pointed out to me that living in Cleveland makes sense for me.  The cost of living here is very low, Internet service is great and I have a great job.  Sure I have to deal with snow in the winter, but honestly, Cleveland suits me.

Over 40 Gamer Episode 8.

You know, I never intended this blog to be a support page for my podcasts, but this weekend I did two shows.  When that’s what you’re doing, that’s what you blog about.  I had a special guest on this week’s show:  Viga the Otagal.  She’s no over 40 gamer, in fact, she’s young enough to be my daughter.  But she has a podcast on Anime and is a gamer too.  In the second half of the show, I do my usual video game soliloquy.

Friday Night Party Line Episode 18.

This weeks show was kind of special in that the two stars of another podcast were co-hosts.  We’ve had Scott on frequently since we came back, but this was Rym’s first appearance.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.  Ray and Kyle and I did our best to keep up.

Here are the topics:

–Tax evading idiots and blogosphere response.  There were some tax cheats recently captured by the U.S. Government and bloggers went nuts.  Why is it so hard for some people to pay their taxes?
–  Unusual experiences with people you’ve sold stuff to.  I had a recent
encounter with a very motivated dude concerning a car.  (8:33)
–best hotel rooms you’ve ever occupied and why.  (16:18)
–8 simple-minded ways to enjoy every day.   (25:59)
http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/enjoy-life-each-day/
–Classical literature versus comic books and manga.  Shouldn’t you limit your consumption of lowbrow entertainment?  (42:56)
–What questions do you have about life?  Thinking people work out most of the main issues and life isn’t really much of a mystery.  Do you even have any and if so what are they?  (59:24)

(I have to make mention of the fact that I had never heard the term Hikikomori until Scott used it in this show.  Thanks for that.)

Sites where you can find more information about Rym, Scott and Thaed:

http://www.frontrowcrew.com
http://www.mentalinterface.net

Subscribe via iTunes.

Bad blogger.

I’ve been horrible lately.  But I’ve been traveling, you see.  I don’t write much when I’m traveling.  That’s my excuse, anyway.  All my limited energies are focused on work.  Right now, I’m horizontal on the couch as I write this.  It’s truly fall, cool and dark outside and my energy level is zero.

Sounds pretty close to whining doesn’t it?  I’m going to have some ice cream and watch AoTS.

Red Ring of Death.

IMG_0729

Originally uploaded by Thaed 3

I don’t normally swear in this blog, but God Dammit! The 360 is like a light bulb and I just got served my 1st Red Ring.