Meg: because it’s time to play the music?
it’s time to light the lights?

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Words With Friends, GChatting Edition

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Last week, I went to the This American Life show with Harold, Roy, and Roy’s friend Simone, who all listen to TAL independently, and we sat down in a theater full of NPR hipsters, watching the show simultaneously with other theaters full of NPR listeners all over the country. A massive network of people laughing at the Terri Gross bank robbery, or at the RadioLab random numbers, or watching at the street portraits or dances just for the live audience, and listening to more typical TAL segments of audio blog posts and the obligatory David Sedaris reading.

And Ira Glass gave asked everyone to download the TAL Live app, which had three buttons to create three sounds, and appeared magically in different colors on different phones. We were asked to turn our phone volumes all the way up, and reminded several times that ordinarily one should never use a cell phone in a movie theater. Each player would watch the feed for icons of his color, and hit the corresponding button on his phone on the cue. Players without smartphones would be the rhythm section, snapping and stomping. (Audience members were not reminded that ordinarily, one should not stomp and snapping in a movie theater.) Then OK GO came on to play a song, with the accompaniment of that entire massive network of NPR hipsters.

If I had known that play massively multiplayer Cell Phone Hero with Ira Glass and OK GO was a thing to put on a life list, I would have put it on my life list.

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

This American Life

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I’ve recently learned that it’s actually much harder to work How appropriate, you fight like a cow. into the dialogue for a tropical island game than Monkey Island might lead one to believe. Just in case you were wondering.

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Look, A Three-Headed Monkey!

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New Beta Tester: No. Yesterday Caitlin had me swimming underwater to take pictures of the darkness.

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

(I Attack The Darkness)

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As the days get lighter, I’ve begun waking up earlier. You’d think this is going to be a delightful story about waking up in the middle of the city, with sunshine on my face, but actually, I wake up in a panic that it’s so bright, it must be late, I must have slept through my alarm! And I leap out of bed in panic. Every day.

These bright spring mornings are totally overrated.

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Sunshine Challenged

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Meg: Remember when you poured iced tea into my lap twelve years ago?
Eric: Yes. You haven’t let me forget it.
Meg: I totally one-upped you the other night.
I set Harold’s napkin on fire at dinner.
Eric: Oh did you…
Cool, now you can lay off about the tea.
Meg: it was all his fault, really.
Eric: If he hadn’t been cleaning the dishes with lighter fluid, the napkin would have been fine?
Meg: haha no, I was distracted,
which is clearly his fault!
Eric: I see. Surely he knows better then to distract you when there’s fire nearby
Or sharp objects, fragile heirlooms, steep hills/cliffs, water, hamsters, budgies, carrots, handbags, cheese, kuala lumpur…

It also proves that I should probably not be trusted in restaurants with candles.

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Kuala Lumpur

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Then, I remember that I do know a good Scandinavian joke! I’ve been waiting years for the perfect opportunity to tell my sister’s best joke!

“Hey, guys!” I say, “I’ve got one! Why do they polish the tanks in Helsinki everyday?”

I was very happy, it’s been a long time since I got to use Bethie’s joke about protecting the Finnish. The last time it was really appropriate in everyday life, I was on a mad rush to the American Embassy in Beijing. True story.

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Protecting The Finnish

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“She did!” I tell him. “She’s going to Columbia! She’s going to live in the city, near me!”

“Columbia? That’s a great choice!” Stick says, “because that’s where Daredevil went to school!”

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Daredevil

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The electronic library collection includes the type of bestsellers I love to read, and to have read, but not necessarily devote space to in my tiny Brooklyn apartment.  I can get those from the library now!

Ok, so from time-to-time, I think that the person who designed the browsing UI and the checkout process secretly works for Amazon, and wants all the library patrons to give up in frustration and just order the bloody thing. But requesting library books for my Kindle is still pretty much the best thing ever.

When I hear a book review on NPR or read one on a blog, and then I search for that book in NYPL Kindle titles, and then I add myself to the waitlist after 50 or 100 other library patrons who already heard the NPR review and grabbed that title. Then later, the library sends me an email saying that my book is ready! Turns out those 50 or 100 borrowers read freakishly fast, too. So I sign in to download it, which can be done from pretty much anywhere (although one of the weirdnesses of the interface is that the actual eNYPL site isn’t smoothly compatible with the Kindle browser, so I can either use a proper PC or use the Kindle and swear a lot), and it magically downloads to my reader.

So I did that on the train, coming back from Durham, looking for books to request and to appear magically into my hands. Free.

I love living in the future! I hope I get my flying car next!

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Magic Library

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My company shares a floor with a bunch of media companies, social advertisers, and tech start-ups, and someone on our floor has gotten a contract with Arizona and left a crate of Strawberry Coladas in the office kitchen today. That person is my new favorite! These are so yummy!

Turns out, these Arizona Strawberry Coladas are 2.5 servings per bottle… so I’ve had 7.5 servings of pretend cocktail today.  And the second ingredient, after water, is high fructose corn syrup, or as we writers with the extensive vocabularies like to call it, SUGAR. What’s seven-and-a-half times ALL THE SUGAR IN THE WORLD??? BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT I JUST DRANK!!

I’m not sure who has the Arizona contract and who left a crate of these up for grabs in the office kitchen, but that person is my new favorite! I’ll probably go hug them after I run around the building a couple more times!

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Arizona

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