GETTING TO KNOW YOUR TASTE

Netflix Competitors Learn the Power of Teamwork
By STEVE LOHR Published: July 27, 2009

"A contest set up by Netflix, which offered a $1 million prize to anyone who could significantly improve its movie recommendation system, ended on Sunday with two teams in a virtual dead heat, and no winner to be declared until September. “The Netflix prize contest will be looked at for years by people studying how to do predictive modeling,” said Chris Volinsky, a scientist at AT&T Research and a leader of one of the two highest-ranked teams in the competition."

Be sure to listen the the video component of the article."

It puts me in awe of technology but unimpressed some research outcomes. When someone asks me what is my favorite drink, an assumption has to have been made that I have one. Fickle I, do not have a favorite as my taste is constantly on the move, depending on time of day, effect I want from the alcohol, what is available, what taste I have at the time, etc. My taste in music is similarly dictated. I like most genres but the selection must be of superb quality and musicianship

Then I wonder what an algorithm produces when it gets just a snapshot of everyone at a given time. By the law of averages, do we even out?

PSYCHOLOGY 101: DENIAL AND PROJECTION

Denial by the birthers (mostly with Republicans doing the talking) might do themselves a favor and discuss their behaviors with someone who knows them and can give them some feedback...like a good psychiatrist.

Racism Is the Prime Cause for Debunked Obama Birth Certificate Conspiracy Theory By Liliana Segura, AlterNet. Posted July 28, 2009. This is a well written article explaining the dynamics behind some of the present, unbelievable to most of us, hateful and derogatory words coming form the Republican side of politics.

While I don't have video to demonstrate, Rush Limbaugh has been stating, regularly, recently on his show that Obama is a very angry man. While he has every right to be one, I do not find him disproportionately so in any of his actions or speeches. However I would hardly call Limbaugh a man without hatred...and it doesn't take watching and looking too deeply to notice his targets of hatred. This man, dear readers, is a living demonstration of projection..so you can just watch one of his shows and skip the module explaining it in your psychology class on emotional defenses.

TOLERANCE THRESHOLD

It is summer and I should be relaxed. All the things that didn't used to bother me seem to be tipping me over. My threshold couldn't be any lower and my whining about things moved a really good friend of mine to tell me I was a crotchety old lady. He was absolutely correct. That is exactly what I felt like when a bit of objectivity finally took hold.

Many of the things that have lowered my threshold might not bother others...especially those who do the things that grab me negatively. Thinking that people would have better hygiene in today's world, it shocks me that few carry a tissue or handkerchief, but will use their paper or cloth restaurant napkin, blow their nose in it, and set it down on the table.

Another push on my buttons comes for people who 'drop in' without calling. It is clear that one may not expect the standards of behavior one sets for one's self...but I still find it hard not to because I don't really consider my standards so high. My therapy practice is by appointment only. I know when to be dressed presentably and 'receiving'. The rest of the time, I expect to be left alone unless someone is considerate enough to ask if it is convenient to me if they drop in.

Let it be understood that when I say I'll be around all day, it does not mean that I will be appropriately dressed for company and watching the grass grow or waiting for someone to drop in assuming my boredom might appreciate a break. I have had friends whom I would never have expected to see, drop in to 'surprise' me. The surprise part was successful but the pleasure of the visit was lessened by it.

Why is it that many people treat dropping in to your home unexpectedly like others do when they phone and assume that, because you answered the phone, you are free to talk. If I am on the phone and get a call waiting beep, I excuse myself and come right back to the original caller. When the original caller informs me that they don't appreciate the interruption it annoys me that they don't make the connection that their unexpected call interrupted me in the first place. When someone is told you are on another line and ask if it is an emergency...which it rarely is...that you will call right back and then they say, "I only wanted to tell you, blah, blah, blah." They get annoyed because I tell them I will call them back as I don't keep people waiting. You can't win and I refuse to do away with call waiting. Thanks to whoever invented caller ID. I find that helpful, except for the two friends who keep themselves as private caller. I have come to assume such a call will be one of them and so far they are both people from whom I do not mind getting a call.

YET ANOTHER BOUNDARY ISSUE

It has always incensed me that people try to control others on trivial matters. For example, in condos one is limited to some condo decision on the color one may paint your front door. There have been arbitrarily assigned codes for clothing, hair styles, even to whether a woman must be forced to have a baby she doesn't want after being raped. The list is a very long one as so many people do not realize where there body ends and another's begins.

One might not expect cheese to become a controversial issue but it is important to many.

As a lover of good cheese I was amazed that some are preventing Stilton cheese from being made in its birthplace, Stilton, England. Also surprising is the ability of politician's to change custom and prevent free trade.

If it interests you...read more.

GETTING READY TO DO, DOING, CLEANING UP AFTER YOURSELF

Having thought about time spent waiting, I think about things that I classify as a waste of my time and life. One of them is getting ready to do a project, whether it is preparing the sink and dishwasher to wash dishes, a hobby, or a project of painting or gluing. I knew I often resist doing things as I contemplate time but hadn't really thought much about why.

Today, hearing strange sounds on the side of my house, I became aware that my neighbor's grapevine had grown so beyond the junk tree she had never cut down and has now reached about 25 feet tall. My neighbor is in her late eighties and has no sons (who are willing) to do any yard work for her. Consequently her overgrowth has made my ability to get sunlight on a couple of my gardens a thing of the past.

It has been windy today so the noise was even worse than usual. The grapevines had attached themselves to the siding on my house on the second floor...not easy for me to reach. First I had to locate the problem areas, then find something that would reach far enough out of the window to pull the vines and branches close enough for me to lop them off. Lastly, I had to find a tool with which to do it. I found an old ratcheted hand pruning shear, bought at a very dear price, which a family member used and returned almost unusable. I was able to make two cuts I needed, then went to my computer to order a new pruner (with shipping, $41.25).


A bathroom sink cabinet has needed to be polyurethaned in situ. It needs to find sandpaper first, then polyurethane and paint brush; take the rug up, (wash it) so debris from sanding will fall on the floor beneath the rug which can be washed easily. Finally the actual painting (the easiest part of the job) then the clean-up.

I'm sure that any of us, given a bit of reason to do so, can come up with a weekly approximated figure of similar time wasted...like waiting for the hot water to come to the faucet, waiting for the computer to boot, waiting for things to get cooked, etc. The best way to avoid wasting time is to multi-task...something I am very good at doing. However, what do the people do who can only concentrate on finishing one complete task at a time. Wouldn't it be great if we could save the time others waste?

RACHEL MADDOW EXPOSES A WIZARD OF HYPOCRISY

Pat Buchanan has talked over people for years and made his views consistently known to everyone. Sometimes he has made good sense, but usually he has shown himself to be an old man living in the past with his prejudices, discrimination and religious conservatism. Recently he said some fairly outrageous things on one of Rachel Maddow's shows. I happened to have heard it and did my usual scream at Pat on the screen and wondered why people keep inviting him to be on talk shows and sort of free lance on MSNBC.

Not too long after he had been interviewed on her show, Ms Maddow was able to respond.
To watch the response, click here.