Ultranormal

  • Weird Dreams

    I had a weird dream last night (two, actually, but I’m only concerned about writing down the first one). In the dream, I was back at AOL sitting through a horrible product requirements meeting when I lost it and started yelling about how bad the requirements were, how they didn’t do anything original, were a waste of paper and no one would use this thing even if we built it (I don’t even remember what it was now). I got in a fight with the product manager, and all I remember of the screaming match was that she said something like, “You’re not the only ship on this sea, pal,” to which I replied… and I remember me screaming it: “Not the only ship?! I’m the sea!“\
    Then, I got fired. It was a strange experience, watching dream me pack up his crap in boxes and get escorted out. I lost it a few times in my thirteen years at AOL (wait, sorry, now it’s “Aol.”), and one or two of them almost got me fired, but those were early on when I was still in tech support. I lost it in meetings a handful of times (which I think is a pretty good record considering how many awful product meetings I sat through) and called BS where I needed to, but I don’t think any of them ever got me close to the “terminating offense” line.\
    Yeah, I don’t know what it means either, but I thought it was a pretty good comeback, especially for a dream.\
    The other one was a nightmare where I was Doctor Who. It was so scary, I actually woke up and had a hard time getting back to sleep. This robotic zombie fell on me, had me pinned to the floor and kept saying “I know what you are” over and over again. shudder.

  • Max is ready for Christmas! Are you?

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  • Best Albums of the Decade: 2005-2009

    This is a continuation of my list for the first half of the 00’s. This list is by release year according to my iTunes library, not by the year I “discovered” the album, and are in no particular order. Let’s get right into it:\
    h4. 2005

    • The Rosebuds – Birds Make Good Neighbors: Folk pop at its best. The songs are bouncy, fun and great for car trips. They’re a blast to sing along with.
    • Rogue Wave – Descended Like Vultures: Great alt-pop with killer melodies and infectious guitar riffs
    • Sufjan Stevens – Illinois: Sometimes he’s a little “precious”, but this album is full of immense songs, some of which bring me to tears. It’s gorgeous, rich and a great headphone album.
    • Holy F\^ck – LP: Analog techno. Lovely Allen alone makes this album, but there are three or four other songs on here almost as good. According to iTunes, I’ve listened to Lovely Allen 128 times… that should tell you what I think of it.
    • OK Go – Oh No: Known mostly for their awesome videos, this album is full of really fun pop songs. You can’t really go wrong with any of them.
    • Eels – Blinking Lights and Other Revelations: You can’t miss with an Eels album and this one’s no exception. Lovely songs, puncuated with some real butt kickers.
    • Fruit Bats – Spelled in Bones: Wow, 2005 was a great year for music. This is one of my all-time favorite albums. The songs are insanely catchy and I sing along pretty much whenever it comes on.
    • Sigur Ros – Takk…: This is their most “accessible” album, and you’ve probably heard a lot of these songs in various TV shows and movies in the past couple of years. Great atmospheric headphone rock.
    • The Constantines – Tournament of Hearts: Other than Kensington Heights, this is my favorite album by the band. Working Full-Time is one of my favorite songs ever, and Soon Enough is a classic. There are very few albums where all the songs on it are great, and this is one of them.
    • New Pornographers – Twin Cinemas: One of Canada’s many indie “supergroups”, these guys are the best. Great songs, awesome harmonies and catchy hooks… I love ’em. And at this rate, I might never get to 2006. Oh, no, look… there it is!\
      h4. 2006
    • Caribou – Up In Flames: I know the genre’s pretty much dead, but this reminds me of the too-short trip hop bloom in the late 90’s, especially Sneaker Pimps. You won’t be singing along with any of these, but you’ll be bouncing your head uncontrollably.
    • Gotan Project – Lunatico: Tango music for the 2000’s… this album oozes sensuality and lust. You might sweat a little listening to it, and that’s OK. Embrace it.
    • Malajube – Trompe L’oeil: Quebecois rockers really know how to put together a rocking pop song. I like this album better than their most recent one – it’s tighter and more “fun”.
    • Phoenix – It’s Never Been Like This: If you like their 2009 album, you’ll love this one. More of the same… which is awesome.
    • Regina Spektor – Being to Hope: Yes, I know it’s cutesy, but these songs are really well written and a lot of fun. There’s nothing wrong with fun, you mopey hipsters.
    • Zero 7 – The Garden: If anyone’s taken up the mantle of trip hop, it’s these guys. Lovely downtempo hang out and chill music. Lovely melodies and artful production make for a great headphone or dinner (or headphones during dinner) album.\
      h4. 2007
    • Arcade Fire – Neon Bible: They’re little indie darlings, I know, but this album is really good. Listen to it again and forget all the stupid beefs and coverage. It’s so so well done.
    • Band of Horses – Cease to Begin: The first five songs on this album are spectacular, maybe the five best songs of the whole year. The other songs on the album are just great… you’ll have to forgive them.
    • The Decemberists – The Crane Wife: I think I may like this album more than Hazards of Love. Sons and Daughters will make you stand on your chair and sing along at the top of your lungs.
    • Great Lake Swimmers – Ongiara: This is on my short list for the best album of the decade. Masterful songwriting and just heart-breaking lyrics make this album unforgettable. It’s folksy and beautiful… it will haunt you for months.
    • Kaiser Chiefs – Yours Truly, The Angry Mob: The best sing-along album of the year, easy. We listened to this album about a dozen times on a road trip. You’ve never laughed until you’ve heard a three year old belting out “WOOBY, WOOBY, WOOBY, WOOBY!!” at the top of his lungs.
    • New Pornographers – Challengers: This album is even better than Twin Cinema, if that’s possible.
    • Polyphonic Spree – The Fragile Army: I like their first album better, but this one’s still really really good. It’s sort of alt-“Up With People” for grownups… but great.
    • The Shins – Wincing the Night Away: This is my favorite album by the band. It’s light and catchy alt-pop with a little melancholy thrown in.
    • Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga: Oh so poppy and delicious. The kids will sing along with this album any time it’s on too.
    • Wintersleep – Welcome to the Night Sky: For Weighty Ghost alone, but the rest of the songs on this album are solid rockers.\
      h4. 2008
    • Beach House – Devotion: Blissful atmospheric pop songs with some weird instrumentation. You really just have to go listen to it.
    • Doctor Horrible’s Sing-along Blog Soundtrack: Mock if you must, but the soundtrack is really good!
    • David Byrne and Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today: So gorgeous. Every track is lovely and this album contains some all-time great songs.
    • Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes: Gorgeous folk harmonies and masterful songcraft… you need this album. You really really do.
    • Flight of the Conchords – Flight of the Conchords: Funny, yes, but these guys actually put together some great songs.
    • Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago: A lot like Fleet Foxes… so what I said about them, is true for Bon Iver and this album.
    • Woodhands – Heart Attack: High enery analog techno, a lot like Holy F\^ck, but I think this album is better as a whole than HF’s LP.
    • Arkells – Jackson Square: These guys sit somewhere between Spoon and The Constantines, and that’s a mighty fine place to be.
    • The Constantines – Kensington Heights: They’re one of my all-time favorite bands, and this is easily their best album.
    • Sigur Ros – Med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalaust: Another great album. It’s amazing to me that I haven’t gotten tired of their sound. Each album shows just enough progression to keep me wanting more.
    • Sloan – Parallel Play: Great alt pop. They sound a lot like Spoon, which isn’t bad at all.
    • Presidents of the United States of America – These Are The Good Times People: I thought these guys broke up, but nope… this album is amazing. Their sound has matured just enough so the songs don’t feel like toys anymore. They’re really well constructed power pop with some real emotion in them.\
      h4. 2009
    • Various – Dark Was the Night: A great compilation from charity, this album is full of great bands spreading out and experimenting a little. Usually, those kinds of albums would be tedious, but this is all good.
    • The Antlers – Hospice: Haunting and heartbreaking – they sound a little bit like if Sigur Ros and Radiohead had a really depressed teenager… but in a good way.
    • The Decemberists – Hazards of Love: This is a great album – and I don’t even care about the story. I think this is my favorite headphone album of the year – full of layers of masterful playing.
    • Eels – Hombre Lobo: The whole album tells a great story (what is it with rock operas this year?) and is filled with a great mix of ballads and butt kicking rockers.
    • The Dodos – Time to Die: Their first two albums almost made it to the lists for the years they came out. This is their third (I think) album and I think they’ve finally cracked it. Great pop songs all around.
    • Movits! – Äppelknyckarjazz: It’s mostly awesome for the sheer novelty of Swedish swing hip hop (yeah, I know!)… but the songs are actually really good.
    • Fruit Bats – The Ruminant Band: This is the band’s best album so far, and each of those has made one of these lists. The songs are so well put together and lovely, I can’t help but listen to it over and over and over again.
    • Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix: I know, everyone’s talked this album to death, but it is amazing how these guys put together pretty much perfect pop songs.
    • Pomplamoose – Pomplamoose VideoSongs: You may have seen them on YouTube or any of the other places they’ve shown up recently, but Nataly and Jack are just awesome.
    • Morphine – At Your Service: This collection of mixes, rare and live cuts is the perfect thing for a devotee like me. Some of them are better than the album versions and it’s just good to hear new stuff from a band that ended too soon.
    • Zero 7 – Yeah Ghost: Their latest is just as good as their first, with a couple minor exceptions. There are two songs on this album just just don’t belong at all and kind of mess up the mood the rest of the album conveys.
    • Rodrigo y Gabriela – 11:11: You must listen to this album just to be completely blown away that such a rich sound can be created by two people playing just two instruments. It’s acoustic heavy metal flamenco music, and it’s brilliant.\
      Whew, there you go! I’m done! I don’t think anything else is coming out in 2009 that’s going to make the list so I feel pretty secure putting this list to bed and looking forward to 2010!

  • My Best Photos of 2009

    Funny, there seems to be a theme here. Well, three out of four ain’t bad.

    Brian at the Sand Gnats game

    Max at the Sand Gnats game

    Brian hard at play

    The lion at the British Museum

  • The Internet is Awesome

    In need of a funny pick-me-up? Read all three questions and answers: Advice Column.\
    Kevin’s younger sister entertained Brian with the famous bunny story while tying his shoes over our Thanksgiving visit, but Brian wants a new story now. What is a mom to do? Google it! Here is a list of several that I had never heard of before: Shoelace Stories.\
    Raise your hand if you know more than five kids with Autism? An interesting and hopeful article: Doctors are now advised to actively screen for Autism, Early Intervention is Key.\
    A simple way to help save a life: Stoves needed in Darfur. This is an old article, but still relevant.\
    My favorite version of a Kelly Clarkson song: My Life Would Suck Without You.

  • Max!

    Some people have asked why Max isn’t saying The Pledge of Allegiance in school, so here is my answer: Because he is a smart, independent, awesome kid.\
    Here is the pledge: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands: one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.\
    He feels that the government is being hypocritical by denying liberty and justice to some of its citizens and doesn’t want to recite hollow words.\
    Max came to this decision on his own and only told us about it after. We didn’t start this, but we do support him. To this end, Do not give him grief over this, capiche? Or I’ll have Tiny and Fat Tony visit you while you are sleeping…\
    Max has such a defined sense of right and wrong and is so sensitive to the plight of others. During free time he makes banners opposing surgeries for intersex children and rants about big business strong-arming governments into less ecologically-friendly policies.\
    So, that is my kid. Well, a part of him. I want to keep him as hopeful, loving, and blessedly naive for as I long as I can.\
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  • Random kid stories

    Story #1: When we moved into this house, the kids were sharing a room so we designated the biggest room, aside from the master, as their room. Both twin beds, two small bookcases, a reading chair, a toy box, and a set of drawers fit in there with room to spare. I love the big rooms that houses have! It is so unlike our townhouse in Virginia where a twin bed would barely fit.\
    A couple of months later we decided to splurge on a queen bed and set up a nice guest room so that older family members (read: grandmas and grandpas) would be comfortable when they visited. A short while later, Max eyed the big, deliciously comfortable guest bed and decided he wanted his own room. Even though it housed a bunch of homeless office boxes, Max was pretty happy to be in there.\
    Now Brian has the bigger room, with even more space to himself since Max’s stuff has been moved out. The extra twin bed is still in Brian’s room, for when Max gets displaced by visiting relatives (which he agreed to before the move occurred). It just makes me laugh that somehow the youngest ended up with the big, pretty room. I thought that wouldn’t happen until Max’s college years.\
    Story #2: Report cards were issued this week and awards handed out. The kids did really well on their report cards. When he handed me his report card, Max said, “I didn’t make the Honor Roll…” He kept a straight face and then said, “I made the High Honor Roll.” What a stinker.\
    They both also received a citizenship award for embodying the different touchy-feely themes of the month, like Respect and Integrity. This award is only given to two kids per class and BOTH of my kids got it. Wheeeeeeeeee. I am more proud of this, in some ways, than I am of their academic achievement. I am also impressed that Max’s teacher awarded it to him since he has been abstaining from saying The Pledge of Allegiance. That she could see past his ‘not going along with the flow’ says a lot about her.\
    Brian also received a Perfect Attendance Award, which is silly. At his age, he is not in charge of whether he goes to school or or if he stays cold/flu/vomit-free.\
    Max also received an award for meeting his Accelerated Reader points goal. His goal was 10, which can be achieved by reading one book, but usually takes two. This goal was so beneath Max’s abilities, he completed it within the first two weeks of school. I told him I thought he could do better than that. However, I am not going to push him on this. He has enough going on, plus he reads way above grade level for fun and without any extra credit. I wonder what the procedure is for determining what a student’s goal should be, because I feel like a teacher or two got played by Max, ha.

  • Building Whuffie – My Slides from Geekend 2009

    Building Whuffie

    View more documents from Kevin Lawver.

    Max and I had a great time at Geekend, and I had a blast presenting some thoughts on building reputation systems. It was fun partly because I don’t have all the answers yet and there’s a lot way to go before I actually have a system I’m happy with. But, it was great to hear good questions from the audience and consider new stuff.

  • Halloween Happiness

    Kevin gets his Father Of The Year Award early this year for saving Halloween.\
    We bought beautiful pumpkins to make jack-o-lanterns, but wanted them to be fresh for Halloween so we waited until Saturday to carve them. Only by then they were rotten! 🙁 Kevin went out in search of new, unrotten pumpkins but he didn’t have any luck. Instead the kids carved watermelon and the baby pumpkin that didn’t go bad:\
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    The kids had funny dressing up, pretending to battle, and exchanging accessories:\
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    You can see more pictures by clicking the “Photo” link above.

  • An Introduction to Whuffie

    This is my third blog post for The South. You can check it out over there, or just read it here.

    In Cory Doctorow’s Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, all the world’s shortages have been solved. There’s no need for money, because there’s no lack of supply. Even death has been conquered. In a world with no need for money, what’s the currency? Doctorow’s solution to this problem is called whuffie, a currency based on reputation. Everyone has a bank of whuffie, and anyone can give you a little boost or ding you based on your actions. My favorite part of the concept is that there are two types of whuffie – left-handed and right-handed. When you meet someone in that world, you get a little graph that shows you the whuffie that person got from communities or people you basically agree with (right-handed) and the whuffie that person got from communities or people you don’t (left-handed). In Doctorow’s book, the people with the most whuffie are those that do the most menial jobs: the janitors, plumbers, garbage men, etc.

    I read the book on a flight from San Jose to DC, and for five and a half hours, I was hooked. I finished the book about halfway through the flight and spent the rest of the time frantically scribbling in a notebook, trying to design a way to implement this concept in the real world, or at least on the internet. I was so fascinated that I spent the next several months trying to convince my company that we could actually implement it, and I still think it’s possible, and have implemented a crude whuffie system on Ficly.

    Why is the idea of currency based on reputation so interesting? Because when I look at the internet, I see that reputation is already the primary currency. In every community, there’s some concept of reputation, although usually unspoken. Every community has cultural norms, and rewards those that exemplify those norms and punishes those that don’t. The primary driver for almost every community on the web is not money, but something else. That something else is the source of whuffie in those communities. The other important point is that whuffie doesn’t travel. Just because you have a good reputation on one site doesn’t mean that reputation will travel when you join another. I believe it should at least provide some informative value to the communities I join. Don’t make me go through the usual new user initiation if I’ve got a good reputation on other sites.

    Let’s look at Flickr. The primary whuffie driver on Flickr is the photos people upload. Once you get a reputation as a great photographer, and have your photos show up on the Explore page, you’re considered a “success” on Flickr. But, there are many other valuable activities on Flickr, and on any social network, that should drive reputation but don’t. If you post the most constructive comments, there’s no quantified reputation for that… yet. If you post the most expressive and findable tags, there’s not quantified reputation or recognition of that very valuable contribution… yet. Both of those actions are extremely valuable to the community and are complimentary to the primary social object – the photo.

    Social sites like Flickr are perfect playgrounds to implement whuffie. They’re self-contained and have a limited set of reputation-building or damaging actions. On Flickr, those include uploading photos, adding favorites, tagging, posting comments, deleting things and participating in groups. Once you identify those activities, it’s then trivial to add values to those actions and increment or decrement a user’s whuffie based on their actions. This takes some of the gamesmanship out of other rating systems and can provide a way to reward the community-building secondary actions – like commenting or tagging – without detracting from the primary whuffie builder. That way, everyone is rewarded for their actions, and there’s an easier path to finding “bad actors” in the system. They could also make those first social interactions on the site easier. You could give people some clue as to the person’s reputation on your first introduction to them. How much easier would it be if you got some idea of how reputable someone was when you got that connection request on LinkedIn?

    There are people already working on implementing whuffie in the real world, and a lot more to it than what I’ve had the time to write. If I’ve piqued your interest, you should check out the Wikipedia page on whuffie. Tara Hunt has also written a great book called The Whuffie Factor about building and using whuffie in the real world, and someone’s even started a whuffie bank. I heartily recommend reading Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (you can download it for free), though, as it still has the best examples and explanation of whuffie. If you’d like to talk about whuffie in person, I’m speaking about it at Geekend in a couple weeks!