Scott and I are traveling to St. George, Utah this week. Follow along on the map below, or through the flickr photostream (more pictures will be posted to flickr than to the map below). For people that like subscribing to things, the map is available in kml format here.

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The Freakonomics Blog linked to a touching story this morning about Carnegie Melon computer Scientist Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer. Seriously good read, if possibly a little short. What struck me were the comments on the post. Stephen Dubner comments that he will give a dollar to anyone who makes it to the end without crying. The fourth comment is “You owe me a dollar.” In the first 22 comments, three other commenters say the same thing. For some reason, this really bothers me. Not that people didn’t tear up. Who cares about that — some people get emotional, some people don’t. What bothers me is the willingness with which people are willing to share their opinions, even if the contribution is only contrarian. Pre-Internet, there are two responses to this situation: (1) I cried, and (2) I didn’t cry. With the Internet we get the wonderful third option: (3) I may or may not have cried, but I’m going to tell you I didn’t — now give me that dollar. Oh well. (Note: Freakonomics comments are generally of a higher quality than most blogs.)

This reminded me of YouTube comments, if only because they are so ridiculous. Seriously, YouTube commenting is the concentration of the worst possible forum posts. Frequently watched videos always end up with the most depraved, racist, homophobic, sexist, perverted comments I have ever read on the Internet. College Humor mocks this commenting perfectly — funniest thing I have seen in a while (YouTube video).

The second generation iPod Shuffle seems to be made almost exclusively for exercising and working out. With a small size and Apple’s simple control scheme, listening to music while running, erging, or whatever else is incredibly easy. That said, there are two improvements that I think would greatly increase the functionality of the shuffle.

1. A method for flagging songs during playback
2. A way to switch playlists on the fly

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Milk and Cookies, originally uploaded by Cook Jones.

Some chocolate chip cookies I made today from a recipe in Cook’s Illustrated. These cookies turned out great; I think the key is using butter and not margarine. Remember, when a recipe calls for butter, use butter!

K-State, you have to be kidding me. How did a video like this ever get made, and why is it all over the internet? This is the most embarrassing K-State video since the Pasco Fiasco

There are a lot of stupid college sports traditions, even some K-State ones I don’t like (Wabash Cannonball in particular), but if this K-State chant becomes popular, I will … who knows, probably just not do it.

[via everydayshouldbesaturday.com]

What is the deal with the link behavior using Gmail in Firefox? The default behavior in Gmail is to open any link in a new page, which in Firefox opens in a background tab.  This is fine and dandy as I like to keep a tab with Gmail open at all times. The problem I run into is that on every other webpage I cmd-click (middle click with a mouse) to open a page in a background tab. When I do this in Gmail, the page will open in two background tabs. This is not how Safari behaves; I have no idea about IE.

A cursory glance at the Gmail source for a message shows links being preceded by some javascript:

top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)

I don’t know Javascript, but I suspect this code, particularly the window variable, is what Firefox mishandles.  I generally believe that websites should let the user decide how pages are open, and not force a certain behavior.  This extends to browsers.

(Yes, I could remember that Gmail’s links act differently, but links are such a core component of any website that they should behave the same everywhere.)

Finally:

My news reader of choice, Google Reader, has been updated. Most noticeable is the previously absent (and much wanted) search. The search works well, and I really like the options (results, expanded, and list) for displaying results. Strangely enough, the search functionality disappears occasionally when I try to use it. Also, I just noticed a yellow loading graphic at top center similar in function to the red loading indicator used in Gmail — this may not be new. More pictures in the photostream.

Edit: Right after I posted this, guess what pops up on the google reader blog?

A Drop or Two, originally uploaded by Cook Jones.

A shot from my study of natural “knots” and other small stuff that hangs off trees. Mostly posting to test flickr’s posting ability.

Just a quick photo I shot when I was making the Cook’s Illustrated recipe for coffeecake (subscription required). The recipe was easy and made for a delicious breakfast.