Consolidation

Hey all you multitudes of ravenous fans, update your bookmarks because the action has moved to zigoku.net... Yup it's a real gen-u-wine site now running WordPress and containing all things Eric Altendorf-y.

Random rant #N

You know what disturbs me? Animals that have not only been domesticated, but bred for human enjoyment to the point of not having bodies fit for their own existence. For example, those bug-eyed goldfish with long flowing fins that feebly wobble through their tanks ... or small dogs that have such flat noses they can't breathe normally and have such small pelvises they can't birth their young naturally. It's certainly not one of the worst atrocities in the world, but it's ... disturbing. Oh well.

Friends

Trevor's got one of the better blogs... Life As News

Wikipedia is so distracting

I'm trying to brush up on statistics by manually spidering Wikipedia, starting from their statistics article, but the non-statistics cross-links are sometimes just too tempting. Today's list of strange Wikipedia articles: Roadkill, Pruno, Honda's integral exhaust manifold, and, more mathy: Nimbers, Khinchin's constant. And I have forgotten how much I love analysis (see, e.g. this example and discussion of the difference between real and complex functions).

And I finally got a working sound card. Music for today: KMFDM, Bruce Springsteen, various Church of Northwest Music compilation artists, Britney Spears, Lard, Leonard Cohen, some random accordian music, and Coheed and Cambria, Ministry.

Finger meat

Another reason to go vegan (and no, it's not an urban legend, it's one of those "should be an urban legend but unfortunately is not"): http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/a/156338.htm

Not to avoid eating someone else's finger, but because working in the meat industry is one of the most dangerous jobs in America. I feel kind of sorry for the lady who found the finger (though it seems she should stop to consider what else is in that chili and whether it's any more appetizing than a human finger). Mostly, though, I feel sorry for the person whose finger was wrenched off by meat-packing equipment.

Freezing in a swimsuit

So this Saturday is the Beaver Freezer triathlon, which I committed to a few months back and for which I never had time to seriously train. It's scary ... I don't know if my swim time is accurate or not, so I may be getting in people's way in the lanes, I've got tons of shopping to do to prepare (shoelaces, swimsuit, windbreaker, sports drinks, CO2 inflator, goo, etc.), I tend to hurt myself when I run (knees, leg flexibility), I have to hydrate and get used to getting up early, and do it all this week (when I've got ten million other things to do), .... and I just plain haven't entered a competitive sport for years. It's scary. Exciting, but scary.

Why I decided to work for Google

I had 4 very good job offers, from which I've finally this week chosen: Google.

Why Google? Not just the benefits, the technological problems, the research-friendly 20% rule, or the don't be evil philosophy. Ultimately what really tipped the scales for me is the application: Google's primary focus is spreading information, knowledge, and wisdom. Their mission is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." In the academic world, Google scholar is another tool increasing the efficiency of scientific research. In the sociopolitical sphere, Google news helps people see an international perspective, bringing together and making accessible news sources from around the world. In the everyday world, people use Google all the time to learn about everything. And these services are, more or less, free to many people around the world. Perhaps it's glamorizing, but I feel working at Google is indirectly working for global education.

Ichiban

Well, it appears this blog is now the top Google hit for "eric altendorf". I suppose that means I should write something people might be interested in reading.

I'll have to get back to you on that one.

In the meantime, music for the day: Bruce Springsteen, Placebo, Smashing Pumpkins. And maybe later, a little bit of Pony Down -- an up and coming Corvallis rock band. Hmm.

Incidentally, this Eric Altendorf is not me.