ctrl.altered.mind http://www.ssaidoor.com Sat, 06 Aug 2011 03:03:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 en hourly 1 Escapism http://www.ssaidoor.com/2011/08/05/escapism/ http://www.ssaidoor.com/2011/08/05/escapism/#comments Sat, 06 Aug 2011 03:03:58 +0000 Sameer http://www.ssaidoor.com/2011/08/05/escapism/ This is how you advertise a motorcycle.

Escapism from barry munsterteiger on Vimeo.

]]> http://www.ssaidoor.com/2011/08/05/escapism/feed/ At the new Mystic Outdoor Amphitheater http://www.ssaidoor.com/2011/07/04/at-the-new-mystic-outdoor-amphitheater/ http://www.ssaidoor.com/2011/07/04/at-the-new-mystic-outdoor-amphitheater/#comments Mon, 04 Jul 2011 13:32:47 +0000 Sameer http://www.ssaidoor.com/2011/07/04/at-the-new-mystic-outdoor-amphitheater/ 20110704-082914.jpg

Mystic Lake Casino kicked off an 8 concert series at its new open air Amphitheater last night, and Lisa and I were in attendance to catch Jason Mraz strumming it up. The weather was excellent for an outdoor concert, but we did find ourselves more comfortable just standing by the stage (the seats were packed a little too close to each other).

This picture is the result of my tinkering with the new tilt shift edit mode on the iOS Instagram app.

]]> http://www.ssaidoor.com/2011/07/04/at-the-new-mystic-outdoor-amphitheater/feed/ Wish upon an Apple http://www.ssaidoor.com/2010/12/13/wish-upon-an-apple/ http://www.ssaidoor.com/2010/12/13/wish-upon-an-apple/#comments Mon, 13 Dec 2010 07:05:38 +0000 Sameer http://www.ssaidoor.com/2010/12/13/wish-upon-an-apple/ The entire Kazakh bureaucracy is an unexpected addition to the list of people wishing to get their hands on an iPad by the end of the year. The Prime Minister of Kazakhstan is missing opportunities for ubiquitous email conversations with his ministry, and wishes all his colleagues would carry a tablet around as well.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8195626/PMs-diktat-drives-Kazakhs-iPad-crazy.html

Um, shouldn’t they be waiting for iPad 2 next year for some FaceTime?

PS: I found my way back to my blog again. There was dust everywhere!

]]> http://www.ssaidoor.com/2010/12/13/wish-upon-an-apple/feed/ David Brooks at the 2010 Aspen Ideas Festival http://www.ssaidoor.com/2010/07/16/david-brooks-at-the-2010-aspen-ideas-festival/ http://www.ssaidoor.com/2010/07/16/david-brooks-at-the-2010-aspen-ideas-festival/#comments Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:00:27 +0000 Sameer http://www.ssaidoor.com/?p=329 At the 2010 Aspen Ideas Festival, New York Times columnist David Brooks discussed what scientists are learning about the human mind - and what that means for both our lives and our public policy.

Brooks is featured regularly on NPR’s All Things Considered, on topics encircling politics and culture. In this 2010 talk at the Aspen Ideas Festival, he departs into the realm of science of the mind, and presents several illustrative examples of the immense influence subconscious behavioral targeting can have on the human mind.

I listened to part of his talk on my drive home from work today. I was moved by his eloquent construction of the resilient life story of a Mexican-Chinese girl (a fictional account, I believe), who overcomes the adversity of growing up in a troubled household to create opportunities for herself.

Link to Audio (54 mins)

]]> http://www.ssaidoor.com/2010/07/16/david-brooks-at-the-2010-aspen-ideas-festival/feed/ Solitary Cloud over downtown Chicago http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/12/20/solitary-cloud-over-downtown-chicago/ http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/12/20/solitary-cloud-over-downtown-chicago/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:26:19 +0000 Sameer http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/12/20/solitary-cloud-over-downtown-chicago/ Snapped a quick picture of this lonely fellow floating over some buildings in downtown Chicago.

Solitary cloud over downtown Chicago

]]> http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/12/20/solitary-cloud-over-downtown-chicago/feed/ Twitter cross-posting has been killed http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/12/02/twitter-cross-posting-has-been-killed/ http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/12/02/twitter-cross-posting-has-been-killed/#comments Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:49:33 +0000 Sameer http://www.ssaidoor.com/?p=321 If the last few blog posts have looked bizarre, it was because of a Twitter cross-posting feature that I enabled via the Twitter Tools plugin. While the tool works fine, it isn’t quite compatible with a blog post structure that includes a discrete header field — it breaks up the tweet across the header and body of the blog. Needless to say, the cross-posting has been turned off now (blog posts will still ping my twitter account, though).

]]> http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/12/02/twitter-cross-posting-has-been-killed/feed/ How to pick the right type of chart http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/11/29/how-to-pick-the-right-type-of-chart/ http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/11/29/how-to-pick-the-right-type-of-chart/#comments Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:10:07 +0000 Sameer http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/11/29/how-to-pick-the-right-type-of-chart/ A meta-chart representation to help pick the correct type of chart. Interestingly, tree maps are missing from the list.

flowchart for selecting the correct chart type

flowchart for selecting the correct chart type

]]> http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/11/29/how-to-pick-the-right-type-of-chart/feed/ Minneapolis now the safest city in the US http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/10/28/minneapolis-now-the-safest-city-in-the-us/ http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/10/28/minneapolis-now-the-safest-city-in-the-us/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:08:34 +0000 Sameer http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/10/28/minneapolis-now-the-safest-city-in-the-us/ Minneapolis has topped Yahoo! Real Estate’s list of America’s Safest Cities.

Minneapolis tops our list of America’s safest cities, and not just for its crime rate. In ranking the cities on our list, we looked at workplace fatalities, traffic-related deaths and natural disaster risk; the City of Lakes ranked in the top 10 of all four categories. It’s also one of America’s best places to live cheaply and offers easy access to some of the most scenic drives in the country.

Click here for the full list.

]]> http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/10/28/minneapolis-now-the-safest-city-in-the-us/feed/ The New Audi A5 Sportback http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/08/14/the-new-audi-a5-sportback/ http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/08/14/the-new-audi-a5-sportback/#comments Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:23:52 +0000 Sameer http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/08/14/the-new-audi-a5-sportback/ From the Fourtitude Forums, the new Audi A5 Sportback. Audi has turned on the style way up for its 100th anniversary year.

audi_a5sportback

(thanks psk)

]]> http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/08/14/the-new-audi-a5-sportback/feed/ PDF Support for Firefox on OS X http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/08/06/pdf-support-for-firefox-on-os-x/ http://www.ssaidoor.com/2009/08/06/pdf-support-for-firefox-on-os-x/#comments Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:28:16 +0000 Sameer http://www.ssaidoor.com/?p=300 I love native PDF support on the Mac, but it quickly gets tiresome to have Firefox download .pdf files by default, only to open them in Preview. The Firefox PDF plugin (requires Firefox 3.0+) uses the built-in PDF support in OS X to display documents in the browser tab/window instead.

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