Jason Off The Clock

Timeline of events across Marvel movies leading to The Avengers

Jason — Sat, 26 May 2012 13:23:56 +0000

My friends and I watched a movie marathon leading up to seeing The Avengers in theaters. There was some debate as to what the proper order was to watch things chronologically. This timeline from Marvel certainly would have helped the debate, though watching in order doesn’t seem any easier with how tangled up the movie events are.

Click the image below to zoom in.

Weekly Wikipedia – Horde Chess

Jason — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:00:50 +0000

Dunsany’s chess, also known as Dunsany’s game, is an asymmetric chess variant in which one side has standard chess pieces, and the other side has 32 pawns. Unlike many chess variants, this one does not feature any fairy pieces, which are pieces not found in conventional chess. This game was invented by Lord Dunsany in 1942. A similar game is called ‘horde chess’.
…
There exists an almost identical game called Horde chess. In difference to Dunsany’s chess, the colors of pieces are exchanged, and the middle two columns of pawns are shifted forward one space.

Horde chess on Wikipedia.

Quotes from Managing Humans

Jason — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:00:05 +0000

The story is, “Did you know it’s a statistical fact that people with larger feet tend to be better spellers? [Insert awe.] It’s because people with bigger feet are older.”
- Pg. 75, Managing Humans – Biting and Humorous tales of a software engineering manager, Michael Lopp

Panic is the mother of the path of least resistance.
- Pg. 84, Managing Humans – Biting and Humorous tales of a software engineering manager, Michael Lopp

(Explaining the butterfly effect) “Seemingly insignificant events that are intent on screwing you in an unlikely way.”
- Pg. 93, Managing Humans – Biting and Humorous tales of a software engineering manager, Michael Lopp

You know what failure sounds like, but success is silent.
- Pg. 97, Managing Humans – Biting and Humorous tales of a software engineering manager, Michael Lopp

Opting out from U of I Alumni Association Illini Card postcards

Jason — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:14:07 +0000

As an alumni and former employee of the University of Illinois, I have multiple ties back to the university. However, asking friends and fellow alumni, nobody was receiving these postcards like I was. Both my wife and I would receive these postcards advertising the U of I Visa Illini Card weekly – two postcards saying the exact same thing coming to the exact same address every week and sometimes more frequent.

Unsubscribing from the U of I Employee Credit Union mailing list seems to have finally done the trick and freed me from this junk mail. You can find the Opt Out form on the “Contact us” page of the U of I Employee Credit Union website. Fill out the PDF and then email it to marketing@uiecu.org.

I did this a little while ago and while my wife continues to receive the postcards addressed to her, I have been freed from the tree-killing junk mail.

Weekly Wikipedia: 1958 Tybee Island mid-air collision

Jason — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:00:51 +0000

The Tybee Island B-47 crash was an incident on February 5, 1958, in which the United States Air Force lost a 7,600-pound (3,400 kg) Mark 15 hydrogen bomb in the waters off Tybee Island near Savannah, Georgia, USA. During a practice exercise the B-47 bomber carrying it collided in midair with an F-86 fighter plane. To protect the aircrew from a possible detonation in the event of a crash, the bomb was jettisoned. Following several unsuccessful searches, the bomb was presumed lost somewhere in Wassaw Sound off the shores of Tybee Island.

1958 Tybee Island mid-air collision on Wikipedia.

Quotes from Tales of H.P. Lovecraft

Jason — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:00:41 +0000

And at last I resolved to scale that tower, fall though I might; since it were better to glimpse the sky and perish, than to live without ever beholding the day.

Pg. 2 The Outsider, Tales of H.P. Lovecraft, H.P. Lovecraft, Joyce Carol Oates

It was a monstrous constellation of unnatural light, like a glutted swarm of corpse-fed fireflies dancing hellish sarabands over an accursed marsh; and its colour was that same nameless intrusion which Ammi had come to recognise and dread.
Pg. 95 The Colour Out of Space, Tales of H.P. Lovecraft, H.P. Lovecraft, Joyce Carol Oates

Pixar accidentally deleted Toy Story 2 during production

Jason — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:43:00 +0000

and, of course, the backups were bad.

For much more detail and how it all came out in the end, read Oren Jacob’s answer on the Quora question that brought this to light.

Weekly Wikipedia: Irritable Male Syndrome

Jason — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:00:42 +0000

Irritable male syndrome (IMS), sometimes called old man syndrome, is defined as a state of hypersensitivity, anxiety, frustration, and anger that occurs in males and is associated with biochemical changes, hormonal fluctuations, stress, and loss of male identity. This term covers symptoms thought to be caused by a drop in testosterone levels in male mammals. It is a striking feature in mammals with seasonal breeding patterns at the end of the mating season.

Irritable male syndrome on Wikipedia.

IL Senator Mark Kirk updates us on his recovery

Jason — Thu, 10 May 2012 18:59:41 +0000

Illinois Senator Mark Kirk shared this video to update everybody on his rehabilitation and recovery from a major stroke. The video is an excellent way to champion the efforts for other stroke victims and show that he is not taking this laying down.

We wish him continued healing and rehabilitation.

Quotes from Beginner’s Greek

Jason — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:00:28 +0000

If the sun had burnt out and the seas dried up, Arthur might have been mildly troubled. Maria’s death made him distraught.
Pg. 33, Beginner’s Greek, James Collins

In fact, that suited Peter just fine, for somewhere deep in his Celtic-Anglo-Saxon bones, he believed that it was improper for any real man to speak French.
Pg. 50, Beginner’s Greek, James Collins

They were good, decent people. The numbers went into their supercomputers time and again, and time and again the results came out: marriage.
Pg. 53, Beginner’s Greek, James Collins

He really did believe that the universe had been programmed to bring them together. But it hadn’t happened, had it? Why, why, why? Some zeros and ones in the wrong place? Typical glitch? He understood that it would be asking a lot of the universe to reboot and start all over. Or maybe there was an entirely different explanation — this free-will business. If so, then it was still in his power to make it all work, and maybe he could find a way?
Pg. 144, Beginner’s Greek, James Collins

Rather, they were like two acquaintances in a tragedy who, after all the leads had died, had to stay onstage and talk about the weather.
Pg. 165, Beginner’s Greek, James Collins

If by doing so he could save a large city from destruction by a madman in possession of a nuclear device, maybe. But a medium-sized city? No way.
Pg. 272, Beginner’s Greek, James Collins

“When two people are in love,” he said solemnly, “they are parallel lines. That intersect.”
Pg. 324, Beginner’s Greek, James Collins

Wonder, discovery. The point is, part of the fun is learning things about each other, finding the places where you share a border and the others where you are separated by a sea. If you force that process, it’ll never come out right.
Pg. 362, Beginner’s Greek, James Collins