Deep thought...
Man, cellos are expensive.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Deep thought...
After convincing me to sit down, order, and eat at her pretend restaurant, Elena is now demanding real money for the bill. #kiddiescams
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013
Deep thought...
Rocking KitKat on my Moto X. Feels weird having an Android phone that's actually up to date
Sunday, November 17, 2013
You can change the context, but you can’t change human nature
Today’s New York Times has an interesting story about employer bias about long-term unemployed. It’s a cruel Catch-22: not having a job in itself becomes a top barrier to getting one.
Economists have long thought that the strain of unemployment, plus the erosion of skills and loss of contacts that naturally occur, helps explain the “structural” unemployed in a nation’s work force. But new evidence shows that bias plays a much larger role than previously thought. Some of the long-term unemployed might never find work because businesses simply refuse to hire them.
In a recent study, Rand Ghayad a Ph.D. candidate at Northeastern University, sent out 4,800 dummy résumés to job postings. Those résumés that were supposedly from recently unemployed applicants with no relevant experience were more likely to elicit a call for an interview than those supposedly from experienced workers out of a job for more than six months. Indeed, the callback rate for the long-term jobless ranged from just 1 to 3 percent, versus 9 to 16 percent for newly unemployed workers.
Unemployment becomes a “sorting criterion,” in the words of a separate study with similar findings. It found that being out of a job for more than nine months decreased interview requests by 20 percent among people applying to low- or medium-skilled jobs.
While the story presents this trend as a new phenomenon, I always assumed this to be the case; it’s easier to find a new job when you don’t need it.
Apparently, the conventional wisdom goes back further than I thought. Just yesterday I came across an uncannily relevant passage in E. M. Forster’s 1910 novel “Howard’s End.”
Again the Olympian laugh, and the lowered voice. “Naturally the man who’s in a situation when he applies stands a better chance, is in a stronger position, that the man who isn’t. It looks as if he’s worth something. I know by myself—(this is letting you into the State secrets)—it affects an employer greatly. Human nature, I'm afraid.”
Or as David Byrne might put it, same as it ever was.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Deep thought...
Hobbled by wife's old iPhone while I wait for new Android to arrive (The S3 died; one too many drops). But rocking purple Surface keyboard.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Giving up the quest for the perfect tablet
Until now. After several purchases — some wise, some not so wise — I’ve come to the conclusion that most people just need different devices for different purposes.
For me, the Microsoft Surface has come closest to this all-in-one ideal. I can use it as a tablet, and because of its excellent screen, wide-screen ratio and stereo speakers, watching video is more pleasant than on TV or even the iPad. The snap-on keyboard makes typing easy, and while the list of touch-specific apps is woefully short, I can use all of my old Windows applications.
But even this has shortcomings. As a reading device it suffers from a poor implementations of digital magazines and newspapers, heavier-than-practical weight, and half the battery life of most tablets. As a writing tool, it suffers from its unusual form factor and screen resolution, which makes working with most standard PC software awkward. Its top-heavy form is difficult to balance correctly on my lap. And while the keyboard is better than trying to type on screen, it’s not the greatest. (Reportedly, this has been improved with the soon-to-launch Surface 2 accessories, which I can use on the original Surface.)
I’ve ended up getting different devices for each use. A Nook tablet for reading books at night. A Nook e-reader for reading outside. (Yes, I have a habit of always picking the loser in a two-horse race.) An iPad for reading daily news. None of these is perfect, and carrying around multiple devices is a pain.
If I had to choose just one, I’d choose the Surface. It does a little bit of everything, and by all accounts, version 2 is better. But it’s a compromise. And I’m still not sure what the best approach is — trying to “tablet-ize” a full-fledged PC, like Microsoft has done with the Surface, or adding a third-party keyboard to the iPad.
Okay. Deep inside, maybe I haven’t given up the quest after all.
Deep thought...
I unlocked 5 Xbox Live achievements in Kinect Sports Season 2! http://t.co/fNOCzihJ5S
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