Undercurrent

There is in this place an undercurrent of muck
But under this muck is a bed of stone
And sweet music makes a space in the muck
And in places, massy walls push the muck aside.

But sometimes the muck seeps in through the walls
Weakens them to the verge of collapse
Then sweet music cleans the muck from the stone
And fire burns the muck away.

Concoction for killing a cold

My friend Dale bombards himself with the following medications at the onset of a cold or flu. He says it works every time:

• Cold FX
• Airborne
• Buckley's
• Echinacea tea
• Humidifier with Eucalyptus drops
• Halls
• Fisherman's Friend
• Spicy food
• Teas

iPhone earbuds have a built-in microphone

Wow - I did not know that the earbuds that come with your iPhone have a built-in microphone. And it seems clearer than the iPhone's built-in mic. This is cool. I was a bit concerned about cell-phone radiation on long calls (sometimes I get a "cell-phone headache"), and this saves me from having to buy a headset.

BGE method for eliminating blindspots from vehicle mirrors

There is an interesting idea called the Blindzone Glare Elimination method for almost eliminating blindspots in your car's mirrors. So you theoretically wouldn't need to shoulder check. It's kind of weird but it's also kind of neat. And it takes some getting used to.

One showstopper for me though is that when your mirrors are set up this way, you can't use them to check parking lines when backing in. So I don't think I'll be switching to this method.

Friend looking for Special Education Assistant job near Vancouver

A good friend of mine will soon be looking for a Special Education Assistant job (or similar work with disabled children) in or near Vancouver. If anyone knows of any openings coming up, please let me know.

How to close the flap on an OtterBox iPhone case

There are many complaints that the bottom flap on an Otter Box Defender iPhone case fails to close.

I studied the flap, and the problem is that there is a big ridge along the outer edge of the flap (probably to ensure a tight friction fit). So if you want to close the flap and have it stay closed, give the flap a good hard squeeze on both sides when closing it. This will push the ridge in; when you relax it, the ridge will expand and push out against the hard case wall.

Connecting the dots looking backwards = Teleology

I was thinking about something Steve Jobs said in his 2005 Stanford Commencement Address, that "you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."

It struck me that this is simply Aristotle's long-lost idea of teleology: that a basic feature of reality is that things have ends, that there is a sort of "invisible hand" that guides things towards their ends. The dots somehow connect.

IPhone love

Man, I can't believe how long I waited to get an iPhone. It truly increases the quality of one's life in certain ways (provided one is not busy with it in the presence of friends, that is). For instance, I am at present writing this blog post on a bus from the ferry to Victoria. The windows are fogged up and it is nighttime, so I cannot see where we are, but I can tell by looking at the Google Maps app. Man! This is great.