List #765: A Few Thoughts on the Future of These Lists

List #765: A Few Thoughts on the Future of These Lists

1. I've completed my second full year (with a ~35 list interlude in 2010

2. They are still fun to write, but less so now that Facebook doesn't import them

3. I may shift it to a different hosting service if Google is still ticking me off

4. I will probably not do them daily for 2012

5. It would be nice to get to #800 and restart in 2013

6. I was less diligent about daily updates the second time through

7. I enjoy getting comments

8. My requests for audience participation went largely unanswered

9. I might work on the Nic-ipedia again

10. Thanks for reading. Happy New Year.

List #764: Thoughts on the Hunger Games Books, pt II

List #764: Thoughts on the Hunger Games Books, pt II (now that I've finished them)

1. Is it wrong that I thing a 'Hunger Games' video game would be really cool

2. I think the real-life video-game aspect is what makes it likeable by boys too

3. The third book was the least good. The second book got much better at the end.

4. The movies might be too intense

5. The third book moved to quickly.

List #763: Favorite China Mieville Novels

List #763: Favorite China Mieville Novels (in order)

1. The Scar

2. Perdido Street Station

3. Kraken

4. Embassytown

5. Iron Council

6. The City & The City

List #762: Things I Dislike about Google's Privacy Policy Switch

List #762: Things I Dislike about Google's Privacy Policy Switch

1. I now need to log out of Gmail (and thus every other google service... like this blog) every time I want to do a non-diluted search on the search engine.

2. "If you choose to keep using Google once the change occurs, you will be doing so under the new Privacy Policy and Terms of Service." --Translation: "Dear User, We're too big to fail, and you can't live with out us, so Eff You"

3. "If you’re signed into Google, we can do things like suggest search queries – or tailor your search results – based on the interests you’ve expressed in Google+, Gmail, and YouTube... -- Not "Can do," but "Will do"

4. I like having my gmail open on my laptop. I also work in a library where I'm often doing and demoing Google Searches for students (Like "Here's how to find the best part of google -- advanced search -- since those Effers hid it). Those searches don't represent my interests, why should they pollute my own YouTube searches?

5."...We’ll better understand which version of Pink or Jaguar you’re searching for and get you those results faster:" --Okay, but what about when I want the OTHER version of Pink or Jaguar? How does it save me time when I have to retrain the almighty GoogleBot?

6. I have close personal friends, to whom I talk about close personal things. I sure don't want YouTube to think that I want to see videos on a Health or Personal Hygiene problem I might be asking my mom about, or a love-note to a lady.

7. It's making Google too much like an iPhone: everything rolled up in to one package, so when you lose it, you're effed.

8. It's made me drop nearly all of my google services that I formerly liked (except you can't drop them now) like Google Docs and stuff.

9. It's made me think about quitting the blog (or trying to import it to another place somehow); getting a totally different email address (hassle), and making a separate account so I can view Youtube privately (and also then deleting all of my youtube uploads... sorry ukulele brothers fans)...

10. ... Except I haven't found better alternatives

11. There aren't opt out features. (Google overlords, you're going to be able to harvest all the personal data from people who are too dumb to think this stuff matters, why do you need mine)

12. There's nothing that can be done to stop it. and even adding "google's privacy policy sucks" to every google transaction I do" is just going to make my personal google experience less good and not send them a message

13. There's no easy-to-find ability on any of their "help' or 'contact' pages to voice concerns or opinions.

List #761: A Few Things I like about Rush

List #761: A Few Things I like about Rush (the band, not the Limbaugh)

1. "2112"

2. "Take Off" by Bob and Doug McKenzie, feat. Geddy Lee

3. Geddy plays a Rickenbacker

4. "Limelight," "Spirit of Radio," "Tom Sawyer"

5. They are Canadian

6. They are one of two things in the world for which Ayn Rand had any positive influence (the other is Debate Evidence).

7. The title of the Song "By-Tor and the Snow Dog"

List #760: Favorite Kinds of Tape

List #760: Favorite Kinds of Tape

1. Book repair tape

2. Masking tape

3. Duct tape

4. Audio tape

5. Glow-in-the-Dark tape

6. Scotch tape

7. Hockey tape

8. Painter's tape (the blue stuff)

9. Double-sided tape

10.Packing Tape

List #759: New Slogans for Google

List #759: New Slogans/Mission Statements for Google

1. -Don't +Be +Evil {except that won't work quite right anymore}

2. Don't Be Evil; The Big 'G' is Watching You...

3. Don't Be Evil Unless Facebook Is Too, Because We Should Probably Copy Those Guys

4. Don't Be Evil Where People Can See It

5. Being A Valuable Research Tool That Works How Users Want It Too Is Evil. Don't

List #758: Good Things About January 24th

List #758: Good Things About January 24th

1. A lot of great people were born on this day

2. Found out my Cousin got engaged (2012)

3. Made good noodles (2012)

4. Good Day for Phone Calls (multiple years)

5. Marks the Beginning of the last week of the year.

List #757: Favorite Milks

List #757: Favorite Milks (currently)

1. Whole

2. Soy (plain or vanilla)

3. Skim

4. Chocolate (1 or 2%)

5. Almond

6. Rice

List #756: 5 Things I Like About Tofu

List #756: 5 Things I Like About Tofu

1. The texture (if it's firm)

2. How it absorbs flavors

3. How it tastes if you fry it with Nutritional Yeast

4. That it's good added into stir-fry

5. When it doesn't try to pretend to be other things.

List #755: 5 Thoughts on peacocks

List #755: 5 Thoughts on peacocks

1. I liked going to the zoo because they would roam around freely

2. "The Flaming Green Peacocks" was the recommended name of a Middle School IM soccer team I was on. It got censored to "The Flaming Green Machine" by our illustrious principal.

3. The same name was used on a classic mixtape of 9th grade

4. NBC has the best shows on thursday nights

5. I like that shade of blue

List #754: Favorite Kinds of Tacos

List #754: Favorite Kinds of Tacos

1. Regular style double decker see List #167 for details

2. Choco-Tacos

3.Fish tacos with purple slaw and corn tortillas

4. Turkey tacos with black beans

5. SNL Digital Short style

List #753: 5 Small Devices I Am Thankful For

List #753: 5 Small Devices I Am Thankful For

1. Nail Clippers

2. Paper Clips

3. Refrigerator Magnets

4. Tiny Screwdrivers

5. USB drives

List #752: 5 Thoughts on The Hunger Games

List #752: 5 Thoughts on The Hunger Games

1. The first book was pretty good, and I liked the action scenes

2. The second book started out too slowly (long boring train ride). I started it last year around this time, I will finish it eventually.

3. I haven't seen the movie trailer. I will maybe see the movie.

4. It gets people reading, so that's good

5. I have a different book named "Catching Fire" that's about food.

List #751: Good Things about the Twilight Series

List #751: Good Things about the Twilight Series

1. It got a lot of non-readers to read books

2. The films have disproportionately cool bands on the sound tracks (like good enough that I bought one of the soundtracks, and songs off of a few others)

3. Nothing Else.

List #750: Online Services I Currently Have Beef With

List #750: Online Services I Currently Have Beef With (or at very least a distinct love/hate relationship)

1. Google: hiding advanced search; "Social" Search is opt-out rather than opt-in; weird dropdown tool bar on some of my browsers; over focus on trying to 'beat' facebook when Google is a search engine; forcing a location for search; for creeping towards evil

2. Hulu+: for not streaming to Roku any of the stuff I'd actually pay money to have on my TV (since I have multiple ways to watch it on a computer screen, all of which are free and most of which are legal)

3. Facebook: for making Google worse (see #1); for the inevitable switch to that white-hot mess of unreadable Timeline; for eliminating blog importing; for general exploitation

4. Amazon* (only because the Kindle Fire isn't quite what I hoped it could be... Amazon Prime rules, and renting/on-demand movies on the Roku are great)

5. Barnes and Noble Nook: for not being awesome for libraries... again, that's really Big Publishing's fault, not theirs

6. iTunes: for generally being more expensive than amazon's mp3 store. (I have gift cards, but i still feel it's wasteful to spend $1-2 more on an album, or .30 more on an individual track)

7. Bing: For not having an Advanced Search link in an immediate and obvious place on their home page; for requiring a set location for search results; for trying to do too much thinking for the user.

8. Any online service provider that supports SOPA.

List #749: 5 Wishes for My Mom on her Birthday

List #749: 5 Wishes for My Mom on her Birthday

1. That she likes the presents I got her

2. That she is out to dinner somewhere fun

3. That the rest of her month goes good at her job

4. That someone buys her a lottery ticket and she wins $500,000

5. That the rest of her year is super great

List #748: Favorite things about Afghan food

List #748: Favorite things about Afghan food

1. The rice that has cinnamon

2. Pumpkin with yoghurt sauce

3. The bread

4. Lamb

5. Cardamom ice cream

List #747: 5 Favorite Things about Flying

List #747: 5 Favorite Things about Flying

1. It's a great time to read books

2. It is a time for drinking cranberry juice and/or ginger ale

3. I can sleep on a plane, so it's kind of like teleportation

4. Window Seats

5. Airline pilots are skilled and capable individuals (and I don't have to drive)

List #746: 5 Reasons a Certain Someone is Really Awesome

List #746: 5 Reasons a Certain Someone is Really Awesome

1. She puts up with me (which is awesome)

2. She meets pretty much all of the qualifications

3. She's an excellent teacher (and quite patient)

4. She's super easy to get a long with

5. She's daaaang cute

List #745: Mail I Got Today

List #745: Mail I Got Today

1. The front part of an envelope from my cousin

2. A 1 month late shipment from Star City Games (empty, wrapped in tape, covered in mold)

3. A lightly crushed mailing box with a Limited Edition Heroclix Nazgul (intact)

4. A Roku (totally not missing Verizon Fios)

List #744: Some Uses for Nutritional Yeast

List #744: Some Uses for Nutritional Yeast

1. Put it on popcorn!

2. use it as breading for Tofu

3. Put it in Smoothies

4. Spill in a suitcase that also has some glitter spilled into it; make an off-color joke about Ke$ha

List #743: Favorite Sweatshirts

List #743: Favorite Sweatshirts (all time and current)

1. tan University of Michigan (totally falling apart)

2. plain grey "uniform" hooded

3. navy blue Carleton, hooded

4. black "proctor peer helpers 'Tiffany'", hooded, (too small)

5. red Hamline Swimming and Diving "Nat", hooded, odd pockets

6. blue and green tie-dye "Just Ski It"

7. red Potbellied Stallions logo, hooded

List #742: A Few Significant Accomplishments

List #742: A Few Significant Accomplishments (but not all of them)

1. Making it to the State Geography Bee in 7th Grade

2. Graduating in the top 5% in High School

3. Winning a Band award in HS

4. Graduating from Carleton

5. Getting my MLIS

List #741:Things I'm Going to Finish in the First Quarter of the Year

List #741:Things I'm Going to Finish in the First Quarter of the Year (or be caught up with)

1. The Hunger Games Books

2. Achewood

3. Breaking Bad

4. Walking Dead

List #740:Current EDH Commanders

List #740:Current EDH Commanders/decks (by color ID)

1. W - Khemba, Kha Regent

2. R - Heartless Hidetsugu

3. B - Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief (99% Foil Vampires)

4. U - Empress Galina

5. G(/W) - Rhys the Redeemed (mono-green token craziness)

6. W/U - Kangee, Aerie Keeper

7. W/G - Jasmine Boreal (knights' Fair Lady)

8. W/R - Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer (mega soldier beatdown)

9. W/B - Teysa, Orzhov Scion (complicated combos)

10. W/B - Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter (Life Gain and Loss)

11. U/B - Oona, Queen of the Fae (mill-discard)

12. U/G - Momir Vig, Simic Visionary (graft proliferation)

13. U/G - Experiment Kraj (Elf(slime)Ball)

14. B/R - Olivia Voldaren (blood!)

15. B/G - Sisters of Stone Death (Snakes on the Ramp)

16. R/G - Lady of the Mountain (Pauper Giants)

17. W/U/G - Rafiq of the Many (voltron)

18. R/W/G - Uril, The Mist Stalker (voltron)

19. U/B/R - Thraximundar (zombies... soon to become Lord of Tresserhorn)

20. G/B/R - Xira Arien (eldrazi invasion!)

21. U/W/B - Sharuum the Hegemon

22. R/U/G - Riku of Two Reflections (yours, and more)

23. R/U/G - Animar, Soul of Elements (sliver-myr overload)

24. R/W/U - Ruhan of the Fomori (Chaos coin-flips)

25. U/G/B - The Mimeoplasm (auto voltron)

26. G/B/W - Ghave, Guru of Spores (Doubling Season Shenanigans)

27. U/G/W/R - Jenara Asura of War/Razia Boros Archangel (tag-team high-flying)

28. R/G/W/B - Kresh the Bloodbraided/Hazezon Tamar (tag-team horde)

29. WUBRG - Karona, False God (ALLIES!)

30. WUBRG - Child of Alara (Honden Bringers)

31. WUBRG - Scion of the Ur-Dragon (dragons, duh)

32. WUBRG - Reaper King (Lords of the 'lings)

(R/U and RBW not currently represented.)

Bonus List: In progress

1. Oros the Avenger (Graveyard HAAAAATE)

2. Jenara Asura of War (flyers)

3. Lord of Tresserhorn (slow zombies)

4. Zedruu, the Greathearted (maybe)

List #739: 5 Foods I Want to Make This Year

List #739: 5 Foods I Want to Make This Year

1. Matar Paneer (from scratch)

2. Some really good Muffins

3. Re-invent "Breakfast Soup"

4. Duck

5. Barbecue Sauce

List #738: 5 Thoughts on Wine

List #738: 5 Thoughts on Wine

1. It's nice with dinner

2. I like the "50th anniversary gala" wineglasses from my school

3. There are 3 kinds of wines: Red Wine, Sweet WhiteWine from Germany, Wine that doesn't taste great

4. There's also Ice Wine (which I once inadvertently, but afterwards quite happily, paid $27 for a tiny glass of)

5. I choose wines based on whether the bottle is cool or not (I'll drink it even when it supposedly tastes like vinegar)

List #737: Favorite Albums of 2011

List #737: Favorite Albums of 2011 (albums I first heard in 2011)

1. The Joy Formidable "The Big Roar"

2. Los Campesinos! "Hello, Sadness"

3. Childish Gambino "Camp"

4. Low "C'Mon"

5. Florence & The Machine "Ceremonials"

List #736: List #395 -- 2011 Goals -- reportcard

List #736: List #395 -- 2011 Goals -- reportcard

1. Be better at my job --- MOSTLY

2. Go on a date (hopefully more than one, but let's not get greedy)* --- HECK YES

3. Run 5k in under 26 minutes* -- NOPE 27:59 was the best

4. Get caught up on the "Wheel of Time" books* ---NOPE, 1.5 remaining

5. Finish a song* --- YESSS

6. Add Sauce-making to my kitchen repertoire -- ADDED A FEW, BUT NOT ENOUGH

7. Make a cheesecake* -- YES, HELPED WITH #2

8. Make my bedtime and wake-up time 15 minutes earlier* --- EARLIER BEDTIMES, NOT WAKEUP

9. Have better variety in workouts -- MOSTLY

10. Play more Games -- NOT ENOUGH

11. Be less negative -- MOSTLY

List #735: Goals for 2012

List #735: Goals for 2012

1. Get back to being in good shape

2. Read more books (and get caught up with WoT)

3. Out of bed by 6:05

4. Bake Muffins

5. Be better at my job