Shack Attack

The Camera Doesn't Matter

This Japanese guy has a pretty cool photoblog made entirely with the camera on his iPhone. The iPhone camera might be a little nicer than standard cellphone cameras, but the real lesson here is that photography is about the person, not the equipment.

(via Giz)

Animal Fat and Sleep

Seth Roberts, a fun blogger/author/professor and champion of self-experimentation, theorizes that animal fat may help him sleep. Funny coincidence- since I've upped my beef intake over the last few weeks, my insomnia issues has been nonexistent. Two data points don't make a scientific study, but I'd be interested to see some research on this. I've got a few theories:

• Fat tells your body that you've just made a kill, and hence don't have to stay up all night hunting for sustenance.

• The sleep-promoting chemical tryptophan, rather than fat, is the cause- foods containing one tend to contain the other.

• Carbohydrate-based meals at night spike insulin, increasing hunger and making sleep more difficult. Substitution of carbohydrates with fats eliminates this.

• Fat is yummy, yummy food makes us happy, happy people sleep better.

Roberts also proposed the theory that standing on one foot for a few minutes a day could help your sleep. I tried it, and it did seem to improve things, but separating that effect from expectation bias and dietary change is kind of tough.

Rules of the the Blues

1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning."

2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, 'less you stick something nasty in the next line, like "I got a good woman with the meanest face in town."

3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes ... sort of: "Got a good woman - with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher - and she weigh 500 pound."

4. The Blues are not about choice. You stuck in a ditch: You stuck in a ditch, ain't no way out.

5. Blues cars: Chevys and Cadillacs and broken down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft and state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.

6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet, now that the Vietnam war is over. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.

7. Blues can take place in New York City, but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in St. Paul or Tucson is just depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the blues in any place that don't get rain.

8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg cuz you skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg cuz a' alligator be chompin' on it is.

9. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.

10. Good places for the Blues:

    • a) highway
    • b) jailhouse
    • c) empty bed

    Bad places:

    • a) Ashrams
    • b) gallery openings
    • c) Ivy League institutions
    • d) golf courses

11. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be a' old black man, and you slept in it.

12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if:

    • a) you're older than dirt
    • b) you're blind
    • c) you shot a man in Memphis
    • d) you can't be satisfied.

    No, if:

    • a) you have all your teeth
    • b) you were once blind but now can see
    • c) the man in Memphis lived.
    • d) you have a retirement plan or trust fund.

13. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Gary Coleman could. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the blues.

14. If you ask for water and Baby give you gasoline, it's the Blues. Other acceptable Blues beverages are:

    • a) bad wine
    • b) bad whiskey or bad bourbon
    • c) muddy water
    • d) black coffee.

    The following are NOT Blues beverages:

    • a) mixed drinks
    • b) kosher wine
    • c) Snapple
    • d) sparkling water

15. If it occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse, and dying lonely on a broken down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or getting liposuction.

16. Some Blues names for women:

    • a) Sadie
    • b) Big Mama
    • c) Bessie
    • d) Fat River Dumpling

17. Some Blues names for men:

    • a) Joe
    • b) Willie
    • c) Little Willie
    • d) Big Willie

18. Persons with names like Sierra, Sequoia, and Rainbow can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.

19. Make yer own Blues name (starter kit):

    • a) name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.)
    • b) first name (see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Kiwi, etc.)
    • c) last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.)

For example, Blind Lime Jefferson, or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc.

(Note from Lex: My new Blues name is now Anorexic Plutonium Nixon.)

1. I don't care how tragic your life: you own a computer, you cannot sing the blues. You best destroy it- with fire, a spilled bottle of Mad Dog, or get out a shotgun. Maybe your big woman just done sat on it. I don't care.

2. Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans and Quakers cannot have the blues. Baptists, Methodists, lapsed Catholics, AME and AME Zion adherents and any member of any Holiness sect can. Jews cannot, although they can be in a New York state of mind that is a distant cousin to the blues. Muslims can have the blues but generally don't.

3. Cotton and wool make good blues clothing. Lycra does not.

4. Shoes with tassels are not blues shoes. Other dress shoes are, as long as they got holes in 'em from walkin' so far to try to find that no-good, sorry woman what left you. If you own a pair of Air Jordans, you cannot have the blues.

5. Bluesmen and -women play guitar, bass, drums, acoustic pianos and Hammond B-3 organs. They do not play synthesizers, cellos, trombones (except in New Orleans) or flutes. Sound men and club bartenders can have the blues. Booking agents cannot.

6. Reporters and editors can have the blues, if they're wearing their fedoras. Ad sales reps and Web-page designers cannot no matter what they wear. Photographers still working in film can have the blues; those working digitally cannot.

7. Football, basketball and minor-league baseball players can have the blues. Major-league baseball players cannot, nor can hockey, golf or soccer players at any level.

8. Engineers can't have the blues. 'ceptin' train engineers, of course.

(author unknown, found here)

Universities Are Supposed To Be About Fostering Discussion

From the first post of "I am John Doe," a blog by a student sued by his college for content on an unauthorized blog about campus life:

Today was not a normal day. This week has not been a normal week. Recently, my university filed a lawsuit against “John Doe” alleging defamation, libel, and harassment. I am “John Doe.”

I’m really Jess Zimmerman, and I’m a junior at Butler University in Indianapolis. What’s my offense? Last school year I wrote a blog that was critical of Butler’s upper administration. In my blog, The True BU, I used documents provided to me by members of the university community as the basis on which I formed my opinions. I don’t believe that anything I said was offensive, threatening, or otherwise wrong. What I wrote were simply my opinions but they happened to be opinions with which the Butler Administration did not agree.

Apparently, the opinions of a 20-year-old college sophomore, written in a blog, were too much for the University to handle. Now they’re throwing the full weight of their lawyers and their pocketbook at me.

I believe my story deserves to be told. Not just because it is interesting, and not just because I think the University is wrong, but because it could easily be you, too.

via akadoe.blogspot.com

The Huffington Post picked up Jess' story, likening the school to Guantanamo Bay. Hyperbole? Perhaps. But the administration should have known that the Internet loves the 1st Amendment, underdogs, bloggers, and fighting frivolous lawsuits. This is not going to be a good thing for their future enrollment or alumni giving.

Zombies, Kevin Selfie, and the Blues

If you're in Portland and have tomorrow evening off, get your butt over to Lenora's Room. Beginner's lesson starts at 8:30; cover is $6.