"In the end, you can't change your body chemistry. But you can wear one of four Centers for Disease Control approved repellents. Sprays and lotions including DEET, Picaridin, Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus or IR3535 (which has made Avon's Skin-so-Soft lotion a popular choice) have all been deemed effective and safe to keep the bugs at bay." - edythe via Bookmarklet
Mosquitos love me :( I'll wake up in the morning with four bites; my boyfriend next to me will have zero. I can't think of a single redeeming quality about skeeters. Grr. - Jennie Lin via fftogo
they love you two because you are both so sweet - RAPatton
When i was a kid (maybe 4) i used to think that the mosquito gets under your skin (because of the bumps). I used to hammer the mosquito bites with my fists screaming "Die! Die!" - Parth Awasthi
see now, that's the sort of thing my mom would say to try and make it better. because I was so sweet. she also told me I had so many freckles because really, they were angel kisses...and the angels just loved me :D - Erin Kotecki Vest
awww. that is so corny, but it's really cute. - edythe
A friend of mine just started keeping bees. He reckons they like some people okay, but will attack others for no particular reason. Pheromones or something. - john conroy
Stay away from DEET as there is too much mixed research. Skin so Soft is a good choice (the scent can get to me, though). In Haiti, I learned the value of a good sleeping net. Luckily, the skeeters haven't hatched enmass yet here in Mich, giving the festivities of the day a better outlook. Do skeeter eaters actually eat skeeters? - Michael W. May
I've always been the mosquito magnet of whoever I'm with - which sucks because I'm also mildly allergic, even w/out any scratching they blow up on me. Fortunately my wife seems to have slightly sweeter blood and she tends to take the hits for me now. That's why I married her. ;) - felix
Yup. I'm the magnet, and the hubby is not. Even if I don't scratch the bug bites they swell up. **sigh** I stay inside a lot. :P - Cheryl Jones
I've always wondered if it was "regional." For instance, when I first moved to Dallas, it was months before mosquitos would bite me. They would drain other people dry before they even touched me. Sadly, that faded over time. - Harvey Simmons
Oh, and garlic... eat more garlic in summertime. Give and take ;) - Michael W. May via twhirl
Thanks for posting this edythe. I've always wondered about this. My wife will get eaten alive outside, while I often get no bites. Wasn't sure if it was strange luck. - Hutch Carpenter
Two natural repellents - lots of vinegar in the diet, and a few drops of lavender oil behind the ears and on ankles. I hike and kayak a lot, and refuse to use chemical repellents. - Jody Carbone
MWM: you may have something there. I moved here from Louisiana, and I eat a lot less garlic than I used to. This calls for an experiment! - Harvey Simmons
Jody, I've read that vinegar (acetic acid) is actually an alkalizing agent... the article says that mosquitoes are attracted to lactic acid produced as a result of exertion. So increasing your pH makes sense! Now, I'm off to patent my mosquito-repelling, anti-fatigue sports drink... :-D - Karim
my body temp seems to be a little higher than the average bear, but my blood must taste like piss because i hardly get bitten or stung by anything - Cee Bee
edythe, thanks :-) slightly confused now because I'm reading citric acid can substitute for vinegar. citric acid is used mostly in soda pop, which is likewise acid. i hope i just didn't invent the soft drink... lol - Karim
Most joyous photo you will see all day. Can you imagine the explosion of emotion of seeing your mother for the first time in six years while she was a hostage in the jungle, wondering if she'd ever come home? - Jennie Lin via Bookmarklet
@ Noah : I can't tell if you're being sarcastic...? Politics aside, I just think that it must be an incredible feeling to finally be able to hug and kiss your mom after such a long time. - Jennie Lin
FARC long ago ceased to be about politics, Left or Right. They're just thugs. Ballsy rescue, and a wonderful thing. I'm sure someone started on a movie script this morning. - Chris Baskind
Jennie and Chris: You think Chávez’s pronouncements in January 2008 that the FARC have “a political and Bolivarian project that is respected here [in Venezuela],” and Chávez’s call for a moment of silence to observe the death of Raul Reyes in March aren't clues of a leftist tyranny? this is harder to understand then a Palestinian power structure I admit, but let's call a spade a spade. - Noah David Simon
Do they have a new album out?? I had their first album on constant rotation for a few months in 2006. They put on a rousing live show. - Jennie Lin via fftogo
Never heard of any Dallas office, but isn't Denver just a tiny handful of people sitting half an hour's drive from the much much bigger Boulder and Thornton offices? I mean, closing that sounds more like a standard office move than a relocation... - ƃuɐʞ
Are you sad you didn't hang around for the severance or happy you don't have to go through an office closing? - Clare Dibble
Or is there a distinction between the Denver and Boulder office? - Clare Dibble
Dang. I applied for a job in the Dallas data center earlier this year. Never heard a word. I guess I know why now. - Harvey Simmons
ƃuɐʞ, right. It is a handful of people. But they're pulling sales positions entirely out of CO and Dallas, so people only have the option of moving to Chicago, NY or SF, where there are ad sales jobs. Not catastrophizing here. It's just curious to me that the company spends so much money building amazing offices, then mere months later, decides to shut them down. Clare, I'm happy with my timing :-) - Ginger Makela
Clare, yeah, Boulder is a separate office. It's folks from the Sketch-Up acquisition and I think other mapping projects. - Ginger Makela
These were strictly sales offices, right? No eng? - ⓞnor
so there is no sacred cow in Google either... our modern corp slang for downsizing is "open sourcing" - wonder how they will translate it on sales/marketing ppl, since all previous head-slashing was majorly in engineering :) - silpol
In Chinese table manners, chewing mouth open is acceptable. I've even tried it, though i need keep reminding myself or else revert to Western custom. Air and/or oxygen does change the flavor and also cools hot (caliente) food. Japanese custom requires sucking bland noodles up quickly to draw up flavorful soup. I also prefer others slurp hot soup rather than having them blow it. - John Lam
Really great news, though I really hope that McCain, who is in Colombia, doesn't somehow take credit.... "Colombia's military announced Wednesday it rescued French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans who were held hostage for years" - Chris Reed via Bookmarklet
I even put ???? on my tweet, because it was like I nearly didn't believe it! Oh, such good news! - Erin Kotecki Vest
And sure enough, official government news agency (for now) Fox News gave McCain credit.... - Chris Reed
McCain link: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/... In other news, Fox claimed they would be more than willing to give Obama credit if his name had one less 'a' in it, noting that "nearly every letter in Obama's name comes from the name 'Colombia'. If not for the extra 'a' it would be clear that he played a pivotal role in Betancourt's rescue. So close." - Kevin Fox
""The magnitude of the pollution in Beijing is not something we know how to deal with. It's a foreign environment. It's like feeding an athlete poison," said a respiratory expert assisting American marathoners." - Ana via Bookmarklet
There were obviously concerns before the L.A. games about pollution but proved to not be an issue. Athens also had its pollution issues four years ago. Tibet is the biggest potential for disaster as I guarantee a medal winner will make some sort of podium protest a la Tommie Smith's black power salute at the 68 Games. - Chris Reed
They're already making excuses for their lack of medals?!? Wow... Usually that happens AFTER the games. - Prolific Programmer
It's hard to parse out when a story on China's environment is being sensationalized from the standpoint of an American journalist who is used to clean air but it is also hard to overstate the pollution in Beijing. No, you're not going to die after breathing the air for a day but for us pampered waiguoren, you may be uncomfortable (and a bit dirty.) - Jennie Lin
I lived in Beijing for 2 months 6 years ago... I didn't find it any more polluted from an air quality standpoint than the valleys in LA, New Delhi, Sacramento, etc. But it does get muggy and humid in the summer... - Roshan Vyas
Just you wait till London gets them! WE WILL OUTDO EVERYONE (especially if Boris remains mayor) <g> - Prolific Programmer
I am looking so forward to the London games and plan to be there... - Chris Reed
Beijing's air is much worse than Los Angeles or Sacramento. Delhi gives it a run for its money, though. For example (from a couple years ago): http://www.iht.com/images/2006.... People notice different things, and the air varies from day to day and week to week, so subjective impressions vary. - ⓞnor
"Compared to the typical American diet, subjects consuming the diet enriched with peanuts and peanut butter experienced a 11% reduction in total blood cholesterol levels and a 14% reduction in LDL cholesterol levels. HDL cholesterol levels did not change. When the subjects consumed the diet enriched with peanut oil, their blood cholesterol levels had similar heart healthy changes. The olive oil enriched diet did not affect blood cholesterol levels any differently -- total cholesterol levels were decreased by 11%, LDL cholesterol decreased by 15% and HDL cholesterol levels remained unchanged.
Subject's total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels were also lowered after the low fat diet by approximately the same amount as compared to the peanut/peanut butter and olive oil diets. However, subjects' HDL cholesterol levels, or the so-called "good" cholesterol, decreased about 4 percent while on the low fat diet. The low fat diet was the only diet that increased triglyceride levels when compared to the typical" - Paul Buchheit via Bookmarklet
It's interesting to see when a food industry funds a study that says that particular food has great health benefits - the pomegranate industry is a notable example. - Jennie Lin
Also, kind of off topic but the National Peanut Board has a marketing campaign in the NYC subway system with statements like "Do you stop eating peanut butter because you grow old, or do you grow old because you stop eating peanut butter?" Who knew that the peanut industry needed to market! - Jennie Lin
I feel like any high-fat food item with marginal or questionable health benefits has got a marketing campaign out there: milk, cheese, avocados, now peanuts. What's next, pork? Oops, too late. :-) - Jeff Eddings
It's awesome to hear Aristotle's opinions about octopus intelligence. To quote Aristotle, "The brain is an organ of minor importance, perhaps necessary to cool the blood." So he's pretty much my go-to source when I want to understand more about intelligence. - j1m
With some exception this is true. Sad, but taking a feature away from even the small subset of users who use it is like taking candy from a baby (which doesn't mean it's easy, but rather that it involves a lot of kicking, screaming, and crying. If they're older they'll also tell you they hate you and never want to see you again). - Kevin Fox
taking cupcakes from a toddler is even more difficult - peter
Agree with Kevin. Not sure about Peter. This is why remote controls have 57 buttons. - Chris White
Wwwwwwwwwhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! - Robert Scoble
Yup! Yahoo experimented with a new interface and got the "New Coke" effect. People wanted the old interface, and Yahoo switched back. Some VCs recommend that only building your user base to 2,000-5,000 users while are experimenting with interfaces. It's too painful to switch with larger user bases. - Mitchell Tsai
Mitchell, this isn't exactly the same thing. I would describe the feature problem as "feature creep." The other problem is just resistance to change. Inside a company, there is actually lots of pressure to change the user experience, but little lobbying for removing features. This is a big problem for a product designer that wants to provide an elegantly simple interface. - Chris White
A large part of the cause of feature creep is resistance to change. You can argue that adding new features is also change, but adding a new feature has a relatively small marginal cost for existing users. Most can ignore the new feature, or learn how to use it when they are ready. Removing a feature has a very large impact on every single user that uses that feature, however, as they are forced to adapt. - Laurence Gonsalves
My point is that feature creep is started before users ever get involved. There are lots of forces on the inside of a company to produce new features and to keep them in a product. It's very difficult as a product designer to defend one of the most important features of any product: simplicity of use. - Chris White
For example, product marketing often uses other products for comparison. If they find competitors have features you don't , they often want them added regardless of the effect on product simplicity. You need a strong leader to prevent this effect over time. - Chris White
Quick! Robert is already crying some of the missing feature in the iPhone version! :) - directeur via NoiseRiver
Engineering is often about tradeoffs. Good product design is often about feature tradeoffs. Swiss army knives don't make great meat cleavers. - Chris White
+1 for Chris's army knives & meat cleavers - Mitchell Tsai
Yeah, I agree that feature creep isn't only due to users, and can start before users even see the product. I guess these are really two sides of the same coin. On one side you've got the people building the product adding features that maybe shouldn't exist, and on the other you've got the users and their resistance to change making it difficult to remove features once the builders realize their earlier mistakes. - Laurence Gonsalves
"Tests showed that after six weeks, the T-cells of the 15 worm recipients began to produce lower levels of chemicals associated with inflammatory response, indicating that their immune systems were more suppressed than those of the 15 placebo recipients. Despite playing host to small numbers of parasites, worm recipients reported little discomfort.
Trial participants raved about their allergy symptoms disappearing. Word about the study soon appeared online among chronic allergy sufferers, and a Yahoo group on “helminthic therapy” sprung up.
“Many of the people who were given a placebo have requested worms, and many of the people with worms have elected to keep them,” Dr. Pritchard said." - Paul Buchheit via Bookmarklet
I saw this yesterday. As a sufferer from allergies, my current reaction is: no no no! Un-like! Especially when he says “The itch when they cross through your skin is indescribable.” My allergies aren't bad enough to sign up for an experiment :) - Jennie Lin
it seems to be a good news day for beneficial medical discoveries and innovations. - edythe
"Are games art?" Haven't played Bioshock yet but the more I read about it, the more I am tempted to purchase it for my Xbox 360... - Jennie Lin via Bookmarklet
BioShock makes a fairly strong case for video games as art. I've always found Ebert's argument here kind of unconvincing. A player chooses the outcome of a video game, sure, but only out of a range of pre-set potential outcomes. I have options when navigating Liberty City, for example, but I can't move Niko to Saskatchewan and open up a bed and breakfast. - Lon Harris via twhirl
Bioshock is as close to art as anything the gaming world has thus far produced, but I'm not sure it quite reaches the mark. The thing holding it back, IMO, is that the artistic aspects surround the gameplay rather than fusing with it. The player's thought-provoking, occasionally disturbing interactions with the Little Sisters is fantastic, but everything else that you do is just well-done first person shooting. With that said, it's a landmark, amazing experience. - Roger Benningfield
Everything you need to know about the 'Leaving Google for Microsoft' meme can be summarized by the following quote: "I need to know that the code is useful for others, and the only way to measure the usefulness is by the amount of money that the people are willing to part with to have access to my work." Sigh. - Kevin Fox via Bookmarklet
Sigh indeed. I am happiest developing things that are simply used. Cost doesn't matter to me as long as it's useful to someone. I can safely say I'd be happy developing on any of the Google products. This is my real reason for creating RSSmeme and fftogo as I don't really get that from my day job. - Benjamin Golub via fftogo
+1 Benjamin. Kevin, what about the hurds working on Linux and opensource products in general? Money is not the only value of things, is it? - directeur via NoiseRiver
directeur: You're preaching to the choir. I was quoting that part of the article because I disagreed with it. - Kevin Fox
Kevin: Sorry, I was talking to the "quote" actually :) I'm sure you know better then I do these kind of things - directeur via NoiseRiver
I think that his career development comments are pretty common of people (not just Eng) that leave Google for elsewhere. - Jennie Lin
"Up until now, the deal between Google Maps and its data providers has been a one-way street. Google licenses the underlying map data that forms the basis for Google Maps. Once it’s up there, anyone on the Web can enhance the maps, correct faulty data, or add their own. But up until now, Tele Atlas did not benefit from those edits. As part of the new pact, Tele Atlas will have access to edits made by the Google Maps community to update the underlying maps." - Bret Taylor via Bookmarklet
We've come a long way since those first deals you negotiated... - ⓞnor
The 10k user-generated correction number that TA quoted is rather interesting... - Jennie Lin
This song was a big revealation for me in high school. Now that you've mentioned it, I've already started humming it in my head; I suspect it may be there all day. Thanks ;) - Jennie Lin via fftogo
This Nike commercial was on a lot during the ESPN broadcasts of the Euro matches - I totally love it. Gotta hand it to NIke on this one, with Guy Ritchie directing. Link to the Director's Cut over at Nike Soccer. - Jennie Lin via Bookmarklet
From the article by A.O. Scott: "In the 1940s and ’50s the Walt Disney brand of wholesome, universally appealing animated features was built on the grace and pluck of fairy-tale heroines, but Pixar, the heir to Disney’s tradition, has yet to make a movie with a female protagonist. And while everyone loves Hermione Granger and Princess Fiona, they are permanent sidekicks in serial sagas owned by Harry Potter and Shrek." - Ginger Makela via Bookmarklet
Yeah, Pixar needs some estrogen, center stage - - good point. - Wm Scott Rees
I think much of it also has to do with the people that are the creative leads behind movies. How many female writers/directors do you see out there? I really enjoyed the recent documentary on Pixar but was acutely aware of how male-dominated the leadership there is/was. - Jennie Lin
As the father of two wonderful little girls i actually think about this very often. My wife and I actually had to look at foreign films in order to find what we felt were proper value systems. Sadly speaking of Disney if you look at all of the princess movies, all of the girls need rescuing. I don't want my daughters to feel for a second that they need rescuing. I want them driving the car. I want them empowered. Until then this would be my animation of choice for little girls http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S... - Jason Lowe
Spirited Away was haunting but so good. Loved Kiki's Delivery Service as well. There is this moment in SATC (not saying that it is appropriate for children) when Carrie tries to tell Charlotte's little girl that Cinderella and happy endings don't happen for everyone. Disney movies should come with warning labels. :) - Yolanda
Older girls might enjoy the non-animated The Man in the Moon and ever popular My Girl. Both hit on emotional issues but portray girls honestly and strong. - Michael W. May via twhirl
The Miyazaki movies are great, even Princess Mononoke is not looking to be rescued. However, Disney is just dubbing them, they're not really Disney movies. - Victor Ryden
JASON LOWE--You're a good man and a great father for putting this much thought into what you choose to show your daughters. To you and your wife-- Hooray for wonderful parents! - Anna Haro
From the aticle: "Do you respond to fashion images that are vaguely convincing or pure fantasy? For the better part of a decade, I’ve found it difficult to connect with a £2,000 suit carried down a catwalk by an 18-year-old Finn who is narrow of frame but wide of the core target." - Ginger Makela via Bookmarklet
I was ABOUT TO POST THIS too. Was reading it yesterday morning over coffee. Tyler Brule makes some great points. Thanks for sharing :) - Jennie Lin
I think the point of all Fashion with a capital "F" is that it is always rooted in some degree of fantasy. Trying to convince yourself or those around you, that through your outfit, you are more wealthy, intelligent, exotic, young, or fascinating than you truly are. Clothing is who we truly are. Fashion is who we'd like to be. We need them both! - Wm Scott Rees
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