Enjablog

I love the look on Katie’s face 35 seconds into this clip. That’s the look I offer my coworkers way more than I mean to.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve slept with a comforter at night. Always.

Even in the summer, I get very cold at night, so I have to have some kind of insulation in order to regulate my body temperature.

I was told that this isn’t normal. So, I decided to do some research to see if I had some kind of disorder… (Can you tell I have been procrastinating recently?)

As it turns out, I’m narcoleptic. Yeah, no kidding, right? We already knew that.

But this is a relatively recent finding that demonstrates a relationship between skin temperature and sleepiness: Altered skin-temperature regulation in narcolepsy relates to sleep propensity.

There is an inverse relationship with core body temperature and the temperature of extremities. When your core temperature drops, the heat is dispersed through your skin, causing your extremities to get warmer. Narcoleptics have more extreme variations and slower changes in temperature, which is why I get so cold (core temperature) while radiating so much heat (distal temp) when I sleep and have so much trouble waking up.

… narcoleptics were reported to show an attenuated circadian amplitude and slower morning rise of the core body temperature, as well as an earlier temperature minimum, which both fit the present finding of a continuation into sleep of the increased distal skin blood flow and consequently heat loss.

As a follow-up to this study, there have been experiments with thermosuits and hot/cold foods and drinks to see the effect on excessive daytime sleepiness. Clearly, the solution is here: Electric Coat.

Which, of course, reminds me of Squidgey’s recommendation to me a few years back: The No-Contact Jacket.

I came across an article on the Psychology of voting that cited a study that was done a few years ago:
“Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments.” (PDF of original paper)

I think I’ve seen references to this in passing before, but I decided to look it up today and read the actual paper. It was marginally reassuring to me that the concluding remarks in their paper expressed similar apprehensions as I experienced when reading their results:

In sum, we present this article as an exploration into why people tend to hold overly optimistic and miscalibrated views about themselves. We propose that those with limited knowledge in a domain suffer a dual burden: Not only do they reach mistaken conclusions and make regrettable errors, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it. Although we feel we have done a competent job in making a strong case for this analysis, studying it empirically, and drawing out relevant implications, our thesis leaves us with one haunting worry that we cannot vanquish. That worry is that this article may contain faulty logic, methodological errors, or poor communication. Let us assure our readers that to the extent this article is imperfect, it is not a sin we have committed knowingly.

This also brings to mind the confidence that many people have in job hiring processes and their personal judgment when it comes to interviews. I have witnessed the failures in this process enough times to recognize that I certainly don’t trust my own judgment, much less that of others. While I recognize that it is a necessary part of the process to meet and interact with a potential hire in order to finalize the decision, I find it rare that interviewers put in the effort to learn anything new about a candidate aside from what they might have learned from a sheet of paper or a brief phone or email interview. And yet, most interviewers believe that they are a good judge of character and that meeting this person will make all the difference.

Right.

Try telling them otherwise.

But really… After an interview, ask yourself:
- What have you learned about this person that you didn’t already know before?
- How does this person stand out from the average population?
- Do you ask standard questions when you interview? What information are you gaining by asking these aside from what the person explicitly wants you to believe?
- Do you have a better idea of how this person thinks, works, etc?
- How does this person’s opinion of him/herself compare to their actual abilities?
- Do you ask for references? Do you contact those references?

I was discussing in passing with Ian the other day how people should have references from ex-bf/gfs when starting new relationships. But isn’t it the responsibility of the person doing the hiring to ask for those references? So, if you’re dating someone and don’t know their friends, history, etc. it’s your responsibility to do your research. In many cases, it’s not in a person’s interest to offer that information up front. So why wouldn’t you ask?

Dear Enjanerd:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transaction is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully,
Minister of Treasury Paulson

Aarrrrgghh-2-d-2

Avast! ‘Tis Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Yeah, uh. It’s an entertaining holiday and all, but that’s about all I got. Hope everyone has a fun time today! :)

Why do pirates like communists?
Because of the U.S.S.AARRRRRRRRR!

Why did the pirate ship look so good?
They used varrrrrrrnish!

What did the Pirate who injured his knee get?
Arrrrrrrrthroscopic surgery!

How do pirate programs get input?
Through ARRRGV and ARRRGC!

What did Black Beard say to his men before they got on the ship?
Let’s get on the ship, men!

More Pirate Jokes… Come on. You know you’re going to click it. You need to have some good pirate jokes on hand, especially if you go out tonight.

Whoa… Have you guys seen the traffic option in Google Maps? It lets you see the current traffic conditions or traffic conditions for a specific day/time based on past data. That’s so cool!

I’m in class right now and realizing that I don’t have a stapler at home. I thought I did at one point, but I have no idea where it would be. So maybe I never had one. It seems terribly important right now. I don’t have a stapler!!

QOTD: “So, there’s only one person missing. We can still have a mutiny!”

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This is so good. Google is letting people change the timestamp on their emails now. *giggle*

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So, in the mail today, I received my ticket for admission to the PE exam. There was a long, detailed list of things that are and are not allowed in the testing room. Highlights of the contraband list: slide rules, hoodies, pencils, and friends/relatives. I don’t even know what to say.

In other news, I finished making a Power Up Mushroom pouch for my laptop mouse. The USB key attaches conveniently to the bottom of the mouse and the mouse is cleverly designed to turn on when the key is removed. This, of course, caused problems when I would just throw the mouse into my bag and wear down the battery inadvertently. Clearly, I needed to make something to protect my mouse:

It took about 6 hours to figure out the dimensions for the pattern (I use the word “pattern” very

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loosely) and to put it all together. I think actual construction time was about one day of commuting — 1.5 hr round trip.

Wow. If they weren’t so ridiculously expensive, I would totally get this:

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PEOPLE who send excessive texts and emails may have a mental illness, according to an article in a leading psychiatric journal.

2 more weeks and I’ll be back to blogging. I have such a backlog that I’m not even angry about all the rants I had prepared. Sigh…

And I thought I was so clever…

So the latest thing is this gcal to outlook synching program that google just came out with. Except that I don’t have outlook on Dellilah, which is what I sync with. But I do have it installed on my old computer, which is sitting right next to me when I have Dellilah on my desk to sync. That seemed like a reasonable solution. Except that the program doesn’t work with Windows 2000. Then I thought maybe I could copy the files over from my old computer and not have to find my install CD from when I installed it… 4 (?) years ago. No dice. Then I tried running it on Dellilah by sharing over the network. No luck there either.

Now my options are to install outlook on Dellilah for realz or sync with my computer at work. Not sure I want to fill my work calendar at work with all my personal appointments. I’ll try to think up a better solution.

Sigh.

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The problem is not just the things we do not know (consider the one in five American adults who, according to the National Science Foundation, thinks the sun revolves around the Earth); it’s the alarming number of Americans who have smugly concluded that they do not need to know such things in the first place. Call this anti-rationalism — a syndrome that is particularly dangerous to our public institutions and discourse. Not knowing a foreign language or the location of an important country is a manifestation of ignorance; denying that such knowledge matters is pure anti-rationalism.

Is it bad that the fact that they’re talking only about Americans here gives me hope for the rest of the human race? Or is it just because Americans are so narcissistic that they only want to hear about themselves (bad or good), even if it applies to everyone else too? In any case, most of the people who read this blog are Americans, so this message is to you: don’t be dumb. kthxbye!

Oh, Thomas/Finney. How I’ve missed you.

:)

My other book arrived yesterday too. So I’m all set to get studying!

NewGirl and BoyToy arrived bright and early this morning and are out catching up with other friends. So, tonight’s my chance to get some studying in before our non-stop weekend o’ fun.

I will leave you with this:

A constant function and e^x are walking on Broadway. Suddenly, the constant function sees a differential operator approaching, turns around, and runs away. So e^x follows him and asks why the hurry.

“Well, you see, there’s this differential operator coming this way, and when we meet, he’ll differentiate me and nothing will be left of me…!”

“Ah,” says e^x, “he won’t bother ME, I’m e-to-the-x!” and he walks on. Of course he meets the differential operator after a short distance.

e^x : “Hi, I’m e^x”

diff.op. : “Hi, I’m d/dy”

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I can’t explain it… but I keep going back to read the post I wrote about that Calculus book. It makes me happy just thinking about it. I can’t wait for it to get here! :)

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