Saving humanity vs. saving the planet

I’ve downloaded a program for my work computer called Folding@Home. The idea behind it is that all the computing power I have (which goes unused while I create spreadsheets and so on) can be put to use in the name of science. The program runs in the background, analyzes proteins, and sends the results back to a central server at Stanford to help some researches learn more about bad diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and others.

Here's a screenshot of the protein analysis in action. Like, cool.

Running the program, even in the background, uses energy of course. A bunch. My battery drains at least twice as fast and the laptop's little fan has to run constantly (rather than intermittently). So in the process of contributing to science, I'm burning extra power. Of course progress has a cost, but where's the trade-off?

Telluride

Back from a great weekend in Telluride, where Red Bull is a controlled
substance. (This sign from the drink cooler at a bakery in town.)

Wedding

Back from my sister's wedding in CA. Everything was great.

There are lots of pictures from the event, of course, but this is the
only one that matters: the cake's chocolate buttercream filling.
Amazing. And how could it not be with a name like "chocolate" "butter"
"cream"?

The pen

I'm amazed by the Boston Globe's web team right now. Check out the teaser headline (circled) for a story on signing some new pitching talent to the Sox. Just awesome. Sean Connery/Will Ferrell would be pleased.

The end

It is indeed the end... Just 10 more days for this guy.

From street art in Cambridge.

New Year

New Year's Day. Assessing the aftermath. Confetti everywhere.

Big Money

I don't mean to joke about the financial *%$#-storm that we're in, but I have good news. Great news really.

You know that $50 billion dollars that went missing recently? Well I think I found some of it. It's in my 401(k).

Check this out. This is an actual screenshot of my 401(k) account, as reported by Mint.com, a free financial tool that I previously deemed "pretty cool." Now I'm deeming it "amazing beyond belief." Below is exactly how my account is appearing online. I've only edited the image to blur out personal info and to highlight the amount of money that I apparently have in Fidelity's Contrafund.


There's $13 billion in my account? $13 BILLION? Magical. I'm not even joking about this. I'll sign on and show you myself. I have $13 billion in my retirement account. I'll be quitting work immediately.

Stimulus

I've read about plans being put together by the incoming administration for spending on local projects as a way to stimulate the economy. Here's my two cents.

Let's say we're talking about spending $100 billion. One option would be to spend that on a couple really big projects or even one big project in each state. $2 billion spent in each state, for example, could get some great infrastructure projects built. But projects that big could take a while to get going, and from what I've read, some doubt that Congress could resist squabbling over treating their home districts to the best projects.

So how about this; a bunch of projects that are 90% smaller. How much could you build with $200 million? I have no clue, but I'm guessing it's a lot. And with $100 billion in total, you could have 500 of these smaller projects. And guess what? There's about 500 congressional districts! Perfect. One project in each district. Then you could tell Congress that it was all settled and we wouldn't be needing their input, thank you very much. The leave it up to the state/county/local government who will (hopefully) put it to use.

Festival of LEDs

Happy Hannukah!

I lit candles last night as well as this cool menorah Pedro found in
NYC. It's made from a recycled computer motherboard and LEDs.

NYE

New Year's Eve. Last year, a friend and I lamented the amount of pressure riding on that one night every year. People start talking months in advance about plans. It has to be fun, have the perfect group of people, not be too pricey, but maybe kind of nice. It should be different, but not so unknown that it might be a flop.

Instead of the uncertainty, my housemates and I decided to host something at our place. Here's the invite that we made. If you're reading this, you're invited too.


We came up with everything in it, but I should note that we were inspired by this cool video.

Disguises

I don't think I have a future in costume making, but for the record, here's two recent costume making adventures.  The first one was just for fun, the second one was for profit!

We begin with my Halloween costume.  It's based on the main character in the Transformers cartoon.  He's Optimus Prime, an awesome, but boxy-looking dude.  This character was Optimus Sub-Prime who features "FORECLOSED" and "We'll Finance Anyone" signs all over.  Well-received but a bit clumsy at the Halloween party.

The second costume-making effort is a little more easy to recognize.  I ran a road race with some friends Sunday and along with the normal top male and top female divisions, there was also a top Santa division.  I shopped around for a few Santa costumes Saturday, but found they were all pretty expensive.  I opted to make my own out of thrift store clothes.  Here's the result.

I ended up taking first place in the Santa division and a sweet cash prize.  The first I've ever won in a race.  Clearly I should've been running in disguises this whole time.  I got to treat my running buddies (not dressed as Santas) to brunch.

Public Transportation

This morning's commute was my first experience with the T's new "high
capacity cars.". The cars have all the seats pulled out so there's
more room to pack people in (though one guy on my train sat down on
the floor anyways).

I think the concept is a great idea. The very fact that the T tried
something new is great. The cost is relatively cheap compared to
buying new equipment. People who insist on a seat can choose another
car. They even had comment cards for riders to give feedback. I'm
impressed. And the name? PHENOMENAL. But they're in trouble if they
want to expand the program to the orange line.