Category: General

I have terrible backup habits. Most of my important documents are synced using dropbox. But for the past few years, my photography strategy has been to back everything up every few months on an external hard drive, then put it in my desk drawer. If I were ever robbed, or if my house were to burn down, I’m pretty much screwed. Being on the other coast for the Summer, I’ve recently been more aware of the fact that I could easily lose quite a bit if something happens to my computer (my backup drive is still in Boston). So I decided to try backing up everything online. I gave the Backblaze free trial a shot and hated it. I didn’t like the

Continue reading

While I’m on still on the topic of National Parks:

The other day I received this strange email: Dear Manager: This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally in China and Asia. On June 20th 2011, We received Tianhua Ltd’s application that they are registering the name ” somethingsbrewing ” as their Internet Keyword and ” somethingsbrewing .cn “、” somethingsbrewing .com.cn ” 、” somethingsbrewing .asia “domain names etc.., It is China and ASIA domain names. But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check. According to the principle in China, your company is the

Continue reading

A study on the “impressiveness” of the British accent: “The main significant effect found in this study was that people who’d lived at least three months outside the US rated the English accent significantly lower than people who’d only lived in the US. In fact, Americans who had not lived abroad considered the English-accented person to be much more intelligent than themselves, but the people who had lived abroad rated the standard American accent more intelligent than the standard English one.” Chris Blattman comments: “It was my first five minutes of watching British television in Britain that burst the bubble. Turns out, there is so much stuff PBS does not re-broadcast.”

I apologize for the week of silence. As I mentioned at the start of the month, I spent the past two weeks on the road, driving from Boston to San Francisco for the summer. It was a pretty amazing trip, with the highlight definitely being Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. It will probably take me some time to go through and post most of my photos and videos, but I should have a video with some Wyoming buffalo up later this evening.

My brother was recently admitted to the Vancouver Film School, so he’s moving to Canada. I never realized how highly the city is regarded. It’s been ranked the #1 most liveable city by The Economist for five years in a row: For the fifth straight year, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, bested 139 other cities worldwide in the ratings of “relative comfort,” based on five broad categories: infrastructure, education, safety, culture and environment and health care. Sadly, not a single U.S. city made the top 10. Anyways, I’m excited to have a good excuse to go visit.

I’m leaving in a few days on a cross-country road trip, and am looking to stock up on some new music for the ride. Anyone have any recommendations? Preferably new albums. I’m also thinking about buying a few audiobooks. I’ve never actually listened to one the whole way through. Any audiobook recommendations, with a decent narrator?

I’m heading out to the Bay area to work for the Summer, which makes for the perfect opportunity for me to finally take a cross country road trip. I’m planning on taking the Northern route out, with stops to see some friends in a few cities along the way, and the Southern route back. Here’s my current plan for the drive out: 1. Toronto, Ontario (1 Day) 2. Chicago, IL (1 Day) 3. Badlands National Park, SD (2 Days) 4. Yellowstone National Park, MT (2 Days) 5. Glacier National Park, MT (2 Days) 6. Portland, OR (2 Days) 7. San Francisco, CA View Larger Map Anyone have any thoughts? Other recommendations?