Coop Blog

National anthem time.

2010-11-27T19:14:00.001-05:00

2009-02-26T15:36:00.003-05:00

Sad Lack of Updates

too busy, too busy, and who knows if I'll be able to maintain this in the future.

I've gotten my first acceptance to Clinical Psych grad school, so that's news, but it means that I'll probably end up yanking this blog once I start seeing clients, it's a source of potentially inappropriate disclosure.

To be continued...

2008-07-17T12:29:00.005-04:00

Long Overdue for an Update

It's been awhile, so I thought I'd throw an update up. I just added my FriendFeed "lifestream" to the widgets on the right, and I thought I'd mention that change. It replaces my Twitter widget and Google Reader Shared items widget. We'll see how it goes.

In terms of what's going on: finished summer classes (took two this past summer session, both Neuroscience focus, namely Human Cognition and the Brain and Hormones and Behaviour. Both were excellent, and I've developed an abiding love for the neuroscience aspect of psychology. It's amazing how far the discipline has come, tying together fundamental theories, like John Bowlby's Attachment Theory, to physiological changes in the structure of the brain's anatomy, and the neuroendocrinological system. OK, enough psych gobbledygook. On to more about life in general.

I'm studying for the GREs, which I will be writing in late August. I'm feeling confident about the Verbal section. I continue to study for the Quantitative in a half-assed way. As usual, I gravitate to the things I enjoy.

Well, this has been a bucketful of bland blogging. I'm going to end it here and try to post something a little more stimulating soon.

2007-12-26T00:03:00.001-05:00

Juno: Easily the Best Movie of 2007

Juno is as good as film gets. To roughly paraphrase Paul Giamatti in "Shoot 'Em Up", either 2007's other movies really sucked, or Juno is just that good. It's easily my favourite film of the year. Ellen Page was adorable, and wonderful, and I'll admit I'm more than a little bit in love. Michael Cera was pitch perfect, his clueless high school boy reminding me painfully of myself at times. As did Jason Bateman's man-child in his own state of "arrested development".

2007-12-18T08:09:00.002-05:00

OK, I'm off to face my own personal hell. It's time for my "exam conflict scenario", where I had two exams scheduled for the exact same time and the University decides how to handle it. Their solution: Write both on the same day, locked away in an isolated room and with no communication after writing the first at 9:00AM, until the second at 2:00PM. I do get to bring a packed lunch, though, along with my notes for the second exam. So very, very generous.

I've been listening to this song, "Alright" by Pilate (now Pilotspeed), to get me through it. I first heard it during an episode of Tell Me You Love Me (TMYLM). TMYLM is a dark, depressing show that examines relationships as they really are, and not as people want them to be. I both highly recommend it, and highly warn people against it if they're not prepared. It's very sexual, gritty, dark, and disturbing. A lot like real life, really.

OK, enough procrastinating. As Mario would say, "Here I go!"

2007-12-11T23:34:00.002-05:00

I think I've made a new musical discovery. It's haunting. It's beautiful. It's Canadian. Need I say more? The band is called Caribou, the album is Andorra.

I hope the rest of the album is as good as this, but based on word-of-mouth, I'm feeling confident it will be. Something to get me through my final two exams...

2007-11-24T23:35:00.003-05:00

ROCK BAND - Insert Umlaut Here

Yes, I absolutely could not resist. I drove down Monday night to Plattsburgh, NY for the midnight launch of Rock Band on Tuesday at 12:01AM. It's been amazing. I've been keeping it cranked to 11 when possible, but it's hard in an apartment.

Of course I've also been working on this absolutely insane Abnormal Psychology presentation due on Monday, on the ever compelling subject of "Biological Vulnerability to Depression". I can summarize: Eat lots of Turkey (avoid that Tryptophan depletion!), don't have a mother with Major Depressive Disorder, take SSRIs, avoid stressors, and don't be a woman. If you want to decrease your likelihood of depression. Oh, and from class but not my presentation: do not become an at-home caregiver to someone with Alzheimer's Disease, because there's a 40% chance of suffering from depression right there.

OK, enough about MDD. It's time to talk about how awesome Rock Band is, how much Pixie enjoys my soothing backbeats, and how much I need to get my hands on a second guitar so that we can start playing with the full four person band.

Singing, as a semi-aside, is awesome. I can't wait until The Police downloadable songs are available in Canada. That's one problem with having it a month earlier than I'm supposed to!

2007-11-17T16:59:00.000-05:00

I've been neglecting the blog. It's not surprising, life gets busy, and something's gotta give. The blog is not really part of my daily routine, so it's the first thing to go.

I've been pondering what it means to be back in school. I am not doing what everyone else my age does. I stand out in the crowd, and sometimes it feels as if the profs. and I are engaged in a dialog, while the rest of the class is just sitting there. It could be because I'm often the only one confident enough to venture to answer their questions out loud. It could be because I'm usually the only over-30 in the room besides the professor. And it could be because I'm narcissistic enough to think that this is happening when it's really not. In any case, being a mature student is radically different than anything I've experienced before, and I'm still loving it. The main drawback is the fact that I'm surrounded by 19 - 22 year olds, with their perfect bodies and hairlines, all unravaged by time. Tori Amos sung about them, "those beautiful boys, those Christian boys". I'm jealous, and self-aware of my receding hairline and lack of six-pack abs. Of course, I do seem to have better hygiene then a lot of these guys. It's weird, but on a few occasions I've had to spend classes breathing through my mouth due to the stink of one of the really pretty guys. It's as if they don't realize that bathing and brushing their teeth is part of a regular life routine. But I digress.

I'm past mid-terms now, weeks away from finals. Winter looms and I'm approaching the end of my first real semester back, I also find myself reflecting on my life and wondering at the road ahead. It's a long road, with many unknowns. I finally finished reading Stumbling on Happiness, by a renowned Harvard psychologist, Daniel Gilbert. It's opened my eyes to the fact that I really made a lot of the classic mistakes with my life to date, and that I've generally failed to do the one thing that's supposed to work to figure out if something will make me happy: consult a surrogate. I fell into the common trap of thinking I was too individual, too much a unique snowflake, to be able to compare my life to someone elses'. But it doesn't work that way, we are the products of social forces, and though personality plays a role in our lives, and personality formation can be highly individualistic, in the end we're all statistically similar to others. So, where do I find the group of people just like me? Oh wait, I've already found them over at Quarter to Three.com. I guess there is a reason why Beauty and the Geek is the only reality TV I can stomach!

This long rambling post has been brought to you by They Might Be Giants' "Here Come the ABC's". I particularly recommend "E Eats Everything" and "D & W".

PS If you're not watching Pushing Daisies, you're only shortchanging yourself.
PPS Super Mario Galaxy is out! I haven't gotten my hands on it yet, too busy with the schoolwork, but I'm really dying to play. It's getting rave reviews!
PPPS Rock Band is coming out in the US on Tuesday, it's been delayed in Canada. I'm thinking of road tripping down to Plattsburgh for a copy, as long as I know it won't be a wasted drive.

2006 Pride of Arizona Radiohead Part1 and 2 (UW Game)

2007-09-05T09:49:00.001-04:00

I'm a big Radiohead fan, and this is incredibly impressive. They nail it, especially "The National Anthem" (the last song they play).

It makes me want to go to college football games and watch the halftime shows.

chapters.indigo.ca: Blink: The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking: Malcolm Gladwell: Books

2007-08-21T15:55:00.000-04:00

Blink: The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking

I've been doing some light reading since finishing Perception, and I've finished Paul Ekman's "Emotions Revealed" and just now Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink". The books are tied together slightly. Gladwell cites Ekman's research on facial expressions, using micro-expressions (which are involuntary split-second expressions that really reveal how people truly feel, and you can train yourself to see them). Ekman's newest revision talks about Gladwell's poking into split-second decision making.

The most interesting thing to come out of the reading of "Blink" for me was this line, a quote from Freud which Gladwell's basic premise seems to support, "When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons. In vital matters, however, such as the choice of a mate or a profession, the decision should come from the unconscious, from somewhere within ourselves. In the important decisions of personal life, we should be governed, I think, by the deep inner needs of our nature." Gladwell uses a Dutch psychologist's research (Dijksterhuis) as evidence that Freud was correct, in addition to other anecdotes throughout "Blink".

This sentiment, that everyday decisions should be data driven, but life decisions should be intuition based, resonates deep within me. I have often been overwhelmed by paralysis through analysis. It took me about 7 years to buy a flat panel television. Though this seemed ridiculous at the time, I was busy weighing all the data points, and in the end I landed up with an amazing, affordable screen that perfectly satisfied my needs. I consulted thousands of forum posts on AVSForums, surveyed multiple bargain sites, probed and compared tech. specs, etc... And it's OK that I did. It's not a life changing decision.

Now, when it came to my profession, I finally let my unconscious speak. As I tried to do the usual consideration of all factors, possibilities, ramifications, potentialities, blah, blah, blah, I found myself frozen. In the end, I let my gut pick my profession. I remember Lissa saying, this was after she'd left, but before she'd completely blocked me from communication, that she was surprised by my choice of psychology. She stated that I'd never mentioned it before. That's because I'd finally begun to let my unconscious talk to me, and I know now, with real certainty, that it made the right choice. Because it's only now, after the fact, that I can enumerate a dozen or so good reasons for me to be studying and pursuing a career in psychology. And it's only now that I can see how my interest makes so much sense in the context of my personality.

Two more weeks today until school starts full time. I'm very excited! And in the meantime, I'm going to read one "heavy" book before I'm too swamped by textbooks to want to bother. It's "Adult Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications" edited by Rholes and Simpson.

United States Patent: 6825859

2007-08-15T18:55:00.000-04:00

United States Patent: 6825859

By some weird Web search wizardry, I found my Corel patent! I'm just posting it here so that I'll never lose track of it again. Yes, I'm an inventor, something very few people know! Actually, I'm a co-inventor, but that's good enough for me.

Damien Rice – 9 | Reviews | Mansized

2007-08-05T20:05:00.000-04:00

Damien Rice – 9 | Reviews | Mansized: "Damien Rice – 9"

Two things that I've noticed about Atlanta:

1) It is the hottest place I have ever visited. My brother's got a fantastic Nissan 350-Z convertible, and yet the heat is so unbearable that the top cannot come down until nightfall. The readout on his in-dash temperature display indicated that it was 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and that most certainly didn't account for the humidity. Wow. Now I know what it's like to actually be baked liked a cookie. Speaking of cookies, I finally found vanilla chips for some of my recipes, and I'll be bringing them back with me. Creamsicle Cookies, at last!

2) They have amazing radio. I suspect it's the variety, but there's a station called Dave 92.9, and they play great music. I heard the most haunting song today, it's absolutely wonderful, and sad, and I can't get it out of my head. It's from Damien Rice's album 9 and it's called "9 Crimes". It's a strange pick for "Song of the Trip" but there it is.

2007-08-02T15:52:00.000-04:00

My Return to University: Summer Session Comes to a Close

Freedom! It came not with a bang, but with a whimper -- a sweaty, groggy whimper. My final Perception exam was held this afternoon in an un-air conditioned lecture hall on the main McGill campus, and I literally and figuratively sweat my way through it. Judging from the look of people around me, I wasn't the only one. It was cruel and unusual to hold an already stressful final in those inhumane conditions. I was as prepared as anyone can possibly be for an exam, and I still found myself zoning out on occasion. My lucky T-shirt got me through the first two midterms with solid mid-90% marks, so I didn't need much on the final to keep the A, about 77% or so. I probably pulled that off, but I'm dubious about having achieved another 95%, so I'm just glad to have done it the way I did.

All in all, my first session back at McGill studying Psychology was wonderful, and exactly what I needed to set me up for a strong Fall/Winter full-time experience. Summer classes are insanely accelerated, with midterms on a weekly basis, and the same amount of material to cover at quadruple the speed, but I still loved being back in university. I wasn't such a fan of Introduction to Statistics for Psychological Studies in May, and it showed in my good but not great final grade. I adored June's Modern Psychology in Historical Perspective (aka History of Psych), and I kicked its ass all over the place, to the point where I was definitely the class know-it-all, which I certainly have not been since high-school. It was especially rewarding to have excelled at something my Academic Advisor warned me against taking. It didn't matter in the end that it was a 400-level course and that I hadn't taken any Psych in a dozen or so years. I'm built to philosophize, and the origin of Psychology is in Philosophy. If only there were more of that kind of class, but nope, especially now that I've taken it, I'm exempt from it at the Graduate level, when I get there. As for July's Perception, the material itself was facinating, and it awakened me to the potential of my Behavioural Neuroscience minor, but it really was too much to know in too little time. That's one course that would have been better suited to a leisurely pace.

There's a few more weeks until Fall session starts, which I'll surely blog about prior to its beginning. Before then, I'm headed to Atlanta tomorrow for a mini-vacation, to spend time with Charlie, Pammy and Jonathan. I've heard it's even more hot and humid there than it is here, but it won't matter. I just want to lounge around, read for pleasure (currently reading Emotions Revealed by Paul Ekman and I think I'll pick up something fluffy once I'm down there, maybe The Dirt, I'd always wanted to read that at Lissa's ancient suggestion). I'll be back in mid-August, in time to spend more time volunteering as a Research Assistant (RA) at the Lydon Lab, which is something that I've been doing since May and really enjoying. It's a Social Psychology Lab focused on relationship research, and the amount of studies they have on the go simultaneously is astonishing. I'm really trying to experience all aspects of Psychology, to help me narrow down my Grad School focus, and the Lydon Lab has been really helpful in opening my eyes to Social Psych and research based academia.

Enjoy the summer! I'll be back updating the blog in a week or so, assuming I don't feel compelled to do so from ATL.

2007-07-26T09:39:00.000-04:00

Bell Centre turns into a Police state

I saw The Police perform live at the Centre Bell last night, from the 10th row floor, and it was a little piece of bliss in rock concert form. I've always had a short list of bands I wished I could have seen live. The Police was at the top of that list thanks to their untimely breakup in 1984. Last night I got to sing-along with Sting and the boys, and mentally checking off that "I've done it!" box was exactly as satisfying as I'd imagined it would be. Now there's really only The Who and Radiohead left on the list. A quick digression: The Who were the first band for whom I ever lined up overnight for tickets, and the show got cancelled. Maybe one day they'll tour again, but I doubt it.

I loved the energy all three members of The Police brought to the show. Those geezers can still rock with the best of them, and the song setlist they chose really let them show that off. Classics like Truth Hits Everybody, So Lonely, Can't Stand Losing You, The Bed's Too Big Without You, and Invisible Sun allowed them to pull out and display their punk-reggae past with full fervour. Just realizing that Stewart Copeland actually needs to wear gloves while drumming because of how furious he's pounding is something that needs to be experienced in person.

Interspersed were the crowd favourites like De Doo Doo Doo De Da Da Da, Roxanne, Wrapped Around Your Finger (now featuring a GIANT GONG!), Every Breath You Take and King of Pain. All (sometimes painful, but always moving) trips down memory lane, and all perfectly rendered, Sting's voice has actually improved with age. Hell, Sting himself has improved with age in every way. That guy is one fit mofo, and inspirational in the sense that he's still completely got "it", even at age 56. He didn't get doughy at all (like Bono), instead he got completely ripped (that's Chelsea's word, and oh, yeah she won the "I'm the Biggest Police Fan So You Have to Take Me" Contest for my second ticket -- a win which she cemented with the purchase of multiple concert T-shirts for herself). No "world-beat conscious" solo Sting material was played, but activism raised its head with a great rendition of Walking In Your Footsteps, a particularly relevant choice in light of the most recent Global Warming alarm sounding.

A kick-ass show from a band that we've been denied live music from for much too long. I'm tempted to try to see them again. I'll have to get a picture of me in my retro concert-T up here sooner or later. I was rather surprised that they didn't go for J'aurais toujours faim de toi (Hungry for You), it would have been an obvious choice for Francophone Montreal. I personally missed Bring on the Night but I'm not surprised it didn't get played, it's just a little bit too off the beaten Police path.

And there's a rare Cory concert review.

2007-07-18T21:37:00.001-04:00

The Fireflies

Tonight as I ran, ran because running satisfies something in me that needs and wants, I saw something wonderful, in the sense of filling me with wonder. The fireflies were out, and my soul soared with the beauty of them.

As I've improved my hill-running, I've moved deeper into the woods, seeking a challenge, distance from the crowds, and the lusher, richer air. What I found were fireflies at dusk, dozens of orange flashes, flickering at the edges of my vision. I don't get the "runner's high", that euphoria that people describe comes upon them after they smash through their wall. My wall is insurmountable, but upon seeing the flitterflashes of the fireflies in the dense foliage, I felt a little bit as if I had found something previously unseen, and I was uplifted.

And minutes later I saw a dog I knew well, Luba. Synchronicity or coincidence, I'm not sure, but it brought me back down to earth. But the memory is worth preserving, and so here it is.

2007-07-16T16:24:00.000-04:00

Superstition and the Baltimore County Fire Department T-shirt

I've spent time pondering superstition in the past. I'm not (or wasn't, more coming on that soon) a superstitious person, but I've known them and observed them all my life. My mother used to warn us as children not to step over each other's legs, or we wouldn't grow. And Lissa had her preflight rituals that would keep the plane from crashing.

I've always been a bit of an "armchair psychologist" -- a term used with disparaging connotations by Wundt and Brentano, the founding fathers of psychology (yay, I get to use some PSYCH 403 in a blog post!). I attributed superstitious behaviour to an attempt to gain control over the uncontrollable, such as the height of your children, or the fate of your airplane. I've made a similar conclusion about eating disorders.

I have not yet delved into the psychology of superstition in class, but today I was confronted by the reality that I too have a healthy superstitious streak, apparently brought on by my newfound pretest anxiety. I felt a need to wear a particular T-shirt to a midterm today, unconsciously selected, but as I walked to class, I realized that I had chosen it specifically because it was "lucky". And I realized that my control explanation was only part of the answer. There is also a simple comfort in the fulfillment of a superstitious ritual. I'm not sure if it's the sense of some control returning that leads to that comfort, or something else, but there it was. It just made me calmer.

Perhaps, as I struggle to come up with potential research ideas of my own, I will one day examine the links between anxiety and superstition, ritual and comfort. For now I'll accept that I'm not as immune to superstition as I thought I was, and I'll keep wearing the T-shirt to my exams... assuming I get a good grade on this one!

Stevie Wonder said it well in his song:

"Very superstitious, writings on the wall,
Very superstitious, ladders bout to fall,
Thirteen month old baby, broke the lookin glass
Seven years of bad luck, the good things in your past.

When you believe in things that you dont understand,
Then you suffer,
Superstition aint the way

Very superstitious, wash your face and hands,
Rid me of the problem, do all that you can,
Keep me in a daydream, keep me goin strong,
You dont wanna save me, sad is my song.

When you believe in things that you dont understand,
Then you suffer,
Superstition aint the way, yeh, yeh.

Very superstitious, nothin more to say,
Very superstitious, the devils on his way,
Thirteen month old baby, broke the lookin glass,
Seven years of bad luck, good things in your past

When you believe in things that you dont understand,
Then you suffer,
Superstition aint the way, no, no, no"

Wii Fit

2007-07-12T07:35:00.001-04:00

Ah, Nintendo. Geniuses. I know you're not supposed to regret missed stock buying opportunities, but damn, it's hard not to. Check out their newest attack on the "mainstream" gamer -- Wii Fit. Not only will the fitness games help you lost weight (and they're careful to show you that you can break a sweat in the video), but I can see the board accessory being used for surfing or snowboarding titles in the future. In addition to the typical Dance Dance Revolution type thing they indicated. Well played, Nintendo. Oh, and Super Mario Galaxy on Nov. 12th, and it's looking incredible. A new video to come soon.

2007-07-08T14:39:00.000-04:00

The Morning News - Wild Animals

I'll admit that I have not always been a fan of stuffed animals, but over time I've become more and more enamoured with the amount of whimsy, creativity and awesomeness that some stuffed animal creators put into their labours.

I've got a new favourite: The Inside out Teddy Bear. Pure goodness. I won't be actually buying one, I suspect Pixie would quickly reduce it to its individual components in about 10 minutes of "rough play" (I'll write about Pixie's "rough play" warning sign some other time). I'll just have to enjoy virtually.

2007-07-08T14:25:00.001-04:00

My Wii has not been getting as much playtime lately as I'd hoped. Generally because the games have not really begun to arrive for the platform yet. There is, of course, the downloadable classic Nintendo games, but those are old school. No, I'm dying for a true Nintendo-created Mario, and as you can see in this video, Super Mario Galaxy is the real deal. Hopefully it won't show up in the middle of exams! On a side note, I finally finished reading Rejuvenile and I realized after reading the "thank you" page of the book why it made so many appearances on Weeds -- Christopher Noxon is Jenji Kohan's husband!

HBO: Big Love

2007-06-12T10:29:00.000-04:00

HBO: Big Love

Oh no! Just in time to mess with my studiousness, and to replace The Sopranos in my watchlist, Big Love is back!

2007-06-03T15:18:00.000-04:00

I've been baking regularly, but it hasn't been new things lately, just focusing on the crowd favourites for the last while.

I did try a couple of new things, and just got around to posting the results to the Picasa Web Album. You can check out the Smores Coopcake V2.0, or the most complex thing I've done to date: The Peanut Butter Fudge Brownie Square. A picture of one is included above.

2007-05-31T14:24:00.000-04:00

Whew! My first summer class, and first class in more than 12 years, is done with. The intensity of summer classes was surprising to me, with midterms every week and a half or so, and a final today, just four weeks after starting. Between the 1 hour conferences, the 2.5 hours classes, and the reading. problems, practice exams, I'm firmly in the camp that school is harder than work, handily.

To reward myself, I've finally decided to start reading a book I picked up a couple of weeks ago. It's called Rejuvenile, and I spotted it during Season 2 of Weeds in the hands of Andy Botwin. Yes, I'm re-watching Season 2 in preparation for the imminent (early August, I think) premiere of Season 3. The book looks to be excellent, and right up my alley. I don't have much time to indulge my rejuvenile tendencies, back into a new class on Monday, but for now, here I go...

Shazam! (2008)

2007-05-16T21:53:00.000-04:00

Shazam! (2008): "Shazam!"

Wow, Shazam! I used to love Capt. Marvel as a kid, so this is a nostalgic throwback. One big problem: The Rock. I hope that's not a done deal. On the plus side, I notice that one of the writers is William Goldman, who wrote The Princess Bride, one of my all-time favourite movies.

2007-05-12T12:46:00.000-04:00

For those paying close attention to this blog, you'll notice that I've started "sharing" out interesting feeds that I've been finding. Yeah, just over there to the right hand side of the blog. My favourite feed reader, Google Reader, has been steadily improving, and it's made sharing stories so much easier. It actually creates quite a nice looking Web page here: http://www.google.com/reader/shared/00125388285043121050 if you want to check it out (or subscribe to it yourself!). Or you can continue to visit this blog and I'll keep the widget on the right going.

I'm committed to marking more items as "Shared", as long as they're interesting enough, so feel free to check in regularly. Yeah, it's not as if school isn't filling up as insane amounts of my time, but I figure this is going to work a lot more efficiently than my old way of sending links via Instant Message. Due to class/studying, I'm catching fewer people online nowadays, so I'll be turning to my shared feeds and this blog to communicate more.

JennyLC:: Intimate Controllers

2007-05-07T08:43:00.000-04:00

JennyLC:: Intimate Controllers

A very interesting thesis project to help overcome the phenomenon of "video game widowhood". An engineering (I believe) student developed a Guitar Hero-like rhythm game where the controllers are built into, or attached to, the underwear of the players. The game is played as a couple.

You can watch video of the game itself in action, and of the thesis presentation, at the Web site linked above.

2007-04-19T08:33:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 11:59AM Jordan Jacob Silverstein arrived at a whopping 9 lbs, 4 oz. He was heavier than Jonah at birth, but also a touch shorter (20.5" to Jonah's 21").

All is well with mother and child, and once again I'm excited to be an uncle!

Parkour - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2007-04-05T23:58:00.000-04:00

Parkour: "Parkour"

The people who practice Parkour are crazy. If only I weren't so "not good with heights" (Cory-code for Acrophobia, the fear of heights, it sounds a bit less chicken). This makes me wonder my usual topic of wonderment: Is there anything left to invent?

2007-03-10T17:58:00.000-05:00

Stroopwaffles in Canada: Yeah, Good Luck With That: "Certified Organic Stroopwafels."

OK, I'm on a Stroopwaffel (aka Siroopwaffel) hunt. I've only got three of the delicious, caramel-filled cookies left from my Christmas trip to the Netherlands. These are a particular Dutch specialty, and I cannot find them anywhere in Canada.

I became unduly excited today when I spotted these Shady Maple Farm Stroopwafels in an organic food store. Unfortunately I was so pleased with their accurate packaging and Dutch provenance ("Made in Holland", right on the box!) that I failed to properly absorb the fact that these were maple flavoured, not the traditional Dutch caramel. They're fine, but not great. This disappointment led me to Google, and from what I've seen, there's no way to get proper Stroopwaffelen in Canada. My best bet is to order them from either here or here the United States to my brother or sister prior to one of their return to Montreal visits.

2007-03-08T08:23:00.000-05:00

Doing some speed testing of my new DSL connection. This is the result with my laptop plugged directly into the modem:

2007-03-04T00:12:00.000-05:00

Recently Switzerland was in the news for invading Liechtenstein by accident.

It reminded me of this Kids in the Hall sketch, "Sick of the Swiss", and I took the time to find it and post it. Enjoy!

2007-01-23T09:36:00.000-05:00

This blogger/developer came up with a very interesting way of using an posters IP address to generate a unique, snowflake-like visual representation for identification purposes.

It's not completely foolproof, as people who share the same IP address (e.g. people behind a corporate firewall that routes all outbound Internet traffic through the same address) and people who have dynamic IP addresses (e.g. people who use ADSL and PPPoE), but it's nifty all the same. This could be corrected with a cookie, and database tracking of which icons have been given out to which cookie, I suppose.

Here's what mine looks like:

2007-01-20T09:38:00.000-05:00

Urinals in Amsterdam with flies etched in the bowls-Truth!

I actually noticed this in several places in Amsterdam on my last trip there. The Dutch are nothing if not efficient.

I did, in fact, find myself aiming for the fly and found myself thinking that it was probably etched into the urinal at the optimum non-splashback point.

Further inquiry showed that this has been done in similar ways in certain sports arenas, where stickers of the logos of opposing teams are put into the bowl for people to urinate on. Now that's team spirit!

2006-12-08T14:34:00.000-05:00

The Much Maligned Viva Pinata Case:

2006-09-16T22:31:00.000-04:00

Humans gills inspired by diving beetles - LiveScience - MSNBC.com: "Humans gills inspired by diving beetles"

2006-08-26T20:41:00.000-04:00

Some great news is out today from Sony!

This Sony Playstation 3 association with the Folding@Home (FAH) project may have just sold them a PS3, right here. And this from someone who had no intention of buying one immediately, if ever.

But now, if this works the way I pray Sony is going to work it, namely that the PS3 can be left on near permanently, like a computer, with a funky screensaver/visualizer running. And all the whole the pretty powerful Cell folds away for the benefit of scientific research.

And if the PS3 matches the PS2 in sales, and even a fraction of people leave their PS3s running and crunching, wow! That's a lot of good distributed computing working towards solving Alzheimer 's.

And all for little benefit to Sony. A touch of good PR. Or maybe they figured people would realize this and buy into it, and that it would actually sell PS3s. Which it IS doing, right here. But I doubt they count on many sales to altruists. This is actually just a good thing, all around. It's funny, by providing a bit of power and wear and tear on our PS3s, we all work together to work towards some key cures.

A final benefit of this, it's certainly going to raise awareness of the FAH project. I plan on installing the client everywhere I can, and influencing others to do the same. I had tangentially heard of the FAH project in the past, and its goals didn't really sink in. Now they have, and I'm on board. And with Sony!

2006-07-18T20:06:00.000-04:00

Neuticals.

That's all I have to say. Neuticles.

And the part that blows me away: pets suffering from psychological, self-esteem problems if their BALLS ARE MISSING!

Truly, we have reached the pinnacle of human development.

2006-07-13T00:02:00.000-04:00

Lewis Black Demands CNN Remove banner from screen

This is hilarious, I can't believe he asked them to do it, and crazier, that they complied!

2006-07-12T14:04:00.000-04:00

The ranking of forms of comedy.

For quite awhile now I've heard (and agreed with) the statement that "prop comedy is the lowest form of comedy". This has caused me to disagree, quite vehemently, with friends (*cough* Matt & Myra *cough*) over the talents of people like Carrot Top. And I guess Gallagher.

I've also seen references to puns being considered a "low" form of comedy, often in conjunction with the sentiment that puns exist just above props on the comedy ladder. I've read that professional comedians look down upon prop comics and punsters alike.

So, what are the next steps up this often talked about comedy ranking ladder? Is slapstick just above the pun? And I suppose there's a variety of verbal comedies, ranging from Lenny Bruce style obscene ranting which is surely below the bizarre metaphysics of Emo Phillips and Steven Wright. I can imagine that Seinfeldian observational humour is also pretty high up there.

I'd love to see the full ranking of forms of comedy, my Google-fu isn't turning anything up. I did find this fairly comprehensive list of comedy categories but no ranking.

2006-07-11T18:01:00.000-04:00

The backlash against those "I'm a Mac" ads has produced some entertaining results, so here's some more embedded video:

Summoner Geeks

2006-07-07T14:14:00.000-04:00


A friend was just asking me about this classic video. I never want to lose track of it again.

2006-07-06T12:11:00.000-04:00

Sympatico Optimax Internet service!- bell.ca: "Sympatico Optimax Internet service!"

It's still too expensive, but fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) is getting some traction here in Canada. Which is great, because this could spell an end to the stupid format war over the next generation of high definition DVD.

At 16 Megabits per second, that's 170 minutes to download a 20 Gigabyte movie. Practically real-time streaming video for today's 2.5 - 3 hour features. Who needs discs at that point? They're clunky, get dirty, need to be stored, physically picked up or delivered... Well, you get the drift.

Bill Gates was right when he said that HD-DVD vs. BluRay would be the last format war.

2006-06-22T18:58:00.000-04:00

New episodes of Futurama coming to Comedy Central ... for real! - TV Squad: "New episodes of Futurama coming to Comedy Central ... for real!"

All I have to say about this is... WHOOO HOO! All hail Hypnotoad!

2006-06-21T17:29:00.000-04:00

BumpTop Prototype - HoneyBrown.ca: "BumpTop Prototype"

This is incredible, a computer graphical user interface (GUI) that simulates a real desktop, but adds the advantages of a computer's organizational capabilities. I recommend watching the video (go ahead and pick your poison from the link) and you'll be amazed. Why can't Apple or Microsoft innovate like this? I picture this, combined with a multi-touch UI, for the next generation of GUI.

2006-06-19T16:23:00.000-04:00

Disciplinarian parents have fat kids: study | Reuters.com: "Disciplinarian parents have fat kids: study"

I don't know why I found this interesting, but I wanted to share it with the world. A Boston University School of Medicine study discovered that too-strict parents end up with fat kids. Basically, the parents put so much stress onto the young ones that they eat for comfort.

This calls to mind the amusing mother and daughter dynamic played by Elizabeth Perkins and Allie Grant on Showtime's "Weeds".

The lesson? Don't be a disciplinarian, be an authoritarian!

2006-06-14T14:34:00.000-04:00

The move to Montreal has gone well. I'm almost completely settled in, and my bulky electronic gadgetry is most definitely messing with Lissa's minimalist condo esthetic.

On the plus side, she's really enjoying playing UNO on my X360. Good thing it doesn't use too much surround sound, because when we watched a movie in 5.1 the other weekend, she got scared.

Lissa's also enjoying the brand, spanking new DS Lite I bought her, along with New Super Mario Bros. And so am I. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

2006-05-25T10:41:00.000-04:00

Sneak Out of Work Right Now - Forbes.com: "Sneak Out of Work Right Now"

In these last few days of work before leaving the comfort of regularly employment with Innovapost, this article speaks to me.

2006-05-17T00:24:00.000-04:00

SI.com - SI On Campus - How Does It Feel? (cont.) - Wednesday March 2, 2005 9:22AM

Scroll down to the section on Cory Cooperman. My namesake. He's my Google nemesis, the one who's done so much high school, and later college, wrasslin' that he dominates the top level rankings for my name.

But if you read his story, I feel bad for him. He's earned his ranking by torturing himself to "make weight". I wonder what he does today...

If you want to find me, Cory Cooperman, you need to play all kinds of Google tricks, like using -wrestle -wrestling -Lehigh -Blair, and that finally gets me to #1. Throw in -NCAA and it gets even better.

2006-05-16T23:04:00.000-04:00

chapters.indigo.ca: Books: Everything Bad Is Good For You

This is a must read book. It's already a bit dated, there's new evidence along Johnson's theory: The Nintendo DS. As if gamers weren't already learning to solve problems, etc... Now we need to do it on 2 screens! We're craving more brain stimulation.

And I'm not even going to begin to get into Brain Age...

2006-05-16T17:53:00.000-04:00

Google Notebook launched: "Google Notebook launched"

I've tried Backpack and I've tried Gmailing myself, text messaging myself, using the virtual Post-It notes from 3M.com, etc, etc... And now, because I'm a bit of a Google zealot (couldn't you tell from the previous postings?), I'm using Google Notebook.

It's nowhere near where I can see it's going to end up, but the Google Labs have a decent enough history of doing that constant innovation thing, I'm willing to give it a go (just as I did with Gtalk) and see how things pan out.

My main worry is that I'll neglect this blog (which I've only just started to use) in favour of public Notebooks. This blog has been a great tool for keeping track of my scattered thoughts and occasionally sharing them with those of you who care enough to check in here. It seems as if Google Notebook might serve the same purpose. We'll see how it shakes out.

2006-05-15T19:38:00.000-04:00

S.S. Dankiewicz - Google Search

On tonight's American Dad, it's the name on the stern of the ship. Why? What does it mean? Is it an in joke, or perhaps the name of an artist? So, out comes Google. Which is oddly appropriate considering the Google shout-out that happened during the ep (or perhaps a clue? dun-dun-dun...).

Right now the search itself, at first glance, doesn't seem to be producing any good results. Time to refine!

2006-05-09T09:48:00.000-04:00

Google Suggest is built right into my Firefox Google Toolbar. It's also available at the Google Labs when you visit the URL linked above. So. What's the deal with Google Suggest?

It's amazing what kind of insight it gives into the human condition. First, let me explain what Google Suggest does. As you type in your search term, it starts showing you suggestions in a drop-down list of other people's searches that match yours. At first this simply cut down on my typing. Then it started to amaze me and reveal deep insight into humanity. Then it creeped me out a bit. Now it's back to amazing me.

Let me explain with an example. Say you begin to type a question into Google Suggest (or your Firefox Google Toolbar). And yes, sometimes typing your search in the form of a question leads to surprisingly good results. Give it a try. Back to the example! Let's say your question is (as mine actually was) "Why do men need less iron in their multivitamins?". Google Suggest starts offering searches as soon as you get the "Why do men" part in. And the first results?

Zow! How many women have typed things like this? And what does that say about male/female relationships?

It really started me thinking. What a vast wealth of information there is in knowing the answers, yes, Google has proven that. But they also know the questions... And as Douglas Adams showed us in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, sometimes the question is more important than the answer.

I know that I'm going to be spending a lot of time mining Google Suggest in the future, along with the Google Zeitgeist. What great marvels will this reveal to me? I'm not sure, but it's the little questions, wants, desires that lead to the business that satisfy them.

Why we haven't met any aliens (yet)

2006-05-01T16:38:00.000-04:00

A radical explanation: "the aliens... just get addicted to computer games. They forget to send radio signals or colonize space because they're too busy with runaway consumerism and virtual-reality narcissism. They don't need Sentinels to enslave them in a Matrix; they do it to themselves, just as we are doing today."

read more | digg story

I've spent some time thinking about this, and I'm unconvinced. There have been inward focused distractions for ages, since the dawn of human history, in fact, and somehow we've managed to keep on trying. I just don't see us stopping. Plus there's the fact that before we've manage to invent the Holodeck, we've invented the radio, and the television, and lasers that flash into space... All things that we could detect from other civilizations that followed a similar path along the technological development road.

2006-04-27T11:25:00.000-04:00

Pricing a Project - Blue Flavor: "It often seems in the design agency business that the status quo to pricing a project is the old car salesman approach, where no two cars sell for the exact same price and to negotiate the price you must pass scraps of paper back and forth until you reach an agreement."

I've worked on the agency side of things, at Fuel Industries, and pricing is indeed a nightmare. This is a really straightforward look at how to do consulting/agency pricing. I just worry that it's a bit naive. Candor? Honesty? Riiiiiight. Clients want to squeeze the most out of you that they can, and you want to make as much margin as you can get away with. I'm not so sure going the Saturn Car Company route will work.

2006-04-27T10:59:00.000-04:00

Ventre: Williams is simply a con artist - NFL - MSNBC.com: "hippie lettuce" - Wow.

That's it. I now have a new name for my blog. Effective immediately, this is no longer "This is Spaceblog, bee-boo-boop", it's now "The Hippie Lettuce Patch". Thanks, Mr. Ventre.

Oh, and Ricky... I wonder what it was you got caught ingesting this time. I'm going to speculate and say "peyote". A performance enhancer if ever there was one! Why can't they just leave this poor, poor football-hating introvert alone?

2006-04-20T23:29:00.000-04:00

Bureau of Engraving and Printing Store

The US Government will actually sell you a sheet of 16 new US $10 bills for a total of $249.00. Plus shipping. And tax, of course.

Can you imagine wallpapering a room with that as an ostentatious display of wealth? Now that's Diddy (I hear that's what he's calling himself nowadays) level bling.

And man, check out that government site's address. Moneyfactory.gov. Wow. Just wow. It's shameless, the way they just print money... in a factory.

2006-04-18T12:06:00.000-04:00

Just me getting ready to give my "Best Man" speech at my brother, Jonathan's, wedding.

2004-03-17T16:39:00.000-05:00

OK, turns out I'm not an idiot. The Atom feed thing is working, but my RSS reader won't support Atom until the next version. I cannot subscribe to my own blog. I suppose that's OK, I do, after all, tend to know when I post an update.

So, tying in my new geek loves, Orkut and Blogging, I keep findind really facinating people that would be well worth talking to based on what I read in their profiles/blogs. But of course they're total strangers, so I'm hesitant to make contact. Which kind of leads me to wonder if there's any point at all in these 'communities' if in the end inertia is still so hard to overcome.

I'll rant about my theory of "inertia" some other time.

2004-03-16T16:50:00.000-05:00

Just messing around, trying to get the RSS Atom feed working.

2004-02-26T11:33:00.000-05:00

orkut

Yep, my newest online "toy" is Orkut. I actually read about this in Wired a while ago, but I only bothered to accept Brian's invite today.

Spent a little while filling out the personal profile stuff, because I'm a bit of a form addict. Put a form in front of me and I cannot resist its empty text fields.

DAMN YOU TO HELL WEB FORMS! Your day will come... Yours, and the zombies'. Their day is coming, too. Trust me.

2004-02-24T17:50:00.000-05:00

Amazon.com: Books: The Zombie Survival Guide : Complete Protection from the Living Dead

What am I reading? Yep, "The Zombie Survival Guide". I'll be ready when the hordes of undead begin to frolic. Will you? I doubt it.

2004-02-13T19:31:00.000-05:00

Google Search: "super crime" "girls in trouble" "press release" +howto

Right now there is nothing. But now... I have watched ATHF and it exists. Or, in other words, "first!" :)

2004-01-31T21:11:00.000-05:00

Google Search: teeth "plaque conspiracy" metallica

Search for teeth, "plaque conspiracy" and Metallica and what shall ye find? A bunch of pop-up ads... and this blog! ATHF.

2004-01-29T16:08:00.000-05:00

If you're into RSS newsreaders (and who isn't?!), then this is the way to go if you're using Outlook: intraVnews

It integrates tightly with Outlook's folders and it's pretty slick, the semi-transparent pop-up window during new news is very nifty.

I was using Sharpreader before this, but then stopped after becoming overwhelmed. I'm thinking that intravnews may end up being the better choice. Who knows?

2004-01-29T15:39:00.000-05:00

So, I was MSN Messenging with my friend, Matt, and I said, "Hey, what's a good name for a blog?"

After much confusion about why I'd want to even name a blog, and a small rant about how anything related to 'Coop' would be taken (and a horrid suggestion [from Matt] of "The Blog of War") I decided to do something built upon his IM of "there's probably someone else going by 'Coop' as well, but I don't see you changing your name to C.C. Candypockets".

So, here it is. C.C. Candypockets' Sugary Epiblogue. Apparently having a pun about 'blog' in your name is de rigeur.

First things first, for those of you who are users of MSN Messenger: did you ever notice how "Secret Telling Smiley" emoticon is actually emoticon code for anal sex? Don't believe me? One little smiley behind the other, the receiving smiley with a mouth grimacing in either pain or pleasure (or some combination thereof)... You'll never use "Secret Telling Smiley" the same way again.

There. My first real blog entry. What does the future have in store? I dunno, maybe some mention of my usage of the Swimman MP3 Player, of which no real information seems to be out there and of course details on the continuing experiments geared towards proving the thesis that Jelly Belly jellybeans are 99% psychological.