Darby's Life

Snow Day 2011

2011-01-11T09:04:00.000-08:00

2010-01-07T19:15:00.001-08:00

Snow in ATL

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Friday night wii bowling

2009-12-18T19:44:00.001-08:00

Oh yeah.

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Tattie the one-eyed cat

2009-12-18T14:10:00.001-08:00

... Is cuddling with me.

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Down with Groundhog's Day

2009-02-03T10:26:00.001-08:00

I have to give some props to this little groundhog who objected to being manhandled by Bloomberg. Go little groundhog go!

Groundhog Day

At the very least, someone trained in animal handling should have been involved.

Horray! A new president.

2009-01-20T10:02:00.000-08:00

This is actually what working with monkeys feels like..

2009-01-06T14:26:00.001-08:00

Apparently, I am not a "real" US citizen...

2008-09-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

I was born. In Germany. To US military parents. The tricky part of the equation is that I was born in a German hospital. This means that having a US birth certificate eludes me. So, I have a certificate of naturalization.

Why is this relevant? Well, I am constantly asked by any organization even kinda having to do with the government to prove my citizenship. Today I finally asked one of those people why.

To make this story not too much longer, I ended up on the phone with a very nice lady at the social security administration. Apparently, my official status is "conditional US citizen." The lady on the phone pretty much said "what is thish words" (thanks for that helpful phrase Brenda Dickson!) to that classification. Interestingly, I can't find anything about this via a google search...

After looking into it more, she discovered that US law changed after 9/11 to make more paperwork required of people whose birth situations are like mine. The kicker is they made it retroactive, thus moving me to the conditional status, because I haven't done the new paperwork. So in the eyes of the system, I have not yet completed the paperwork to become a US citizen. This is despite the fact that I have a SSN, passport, etc. Thanks to all those lawmakers out there who thought that was a good idea.

So, what rights do I currently have? Can I be deported? If so, to where? I am not a citizen of any other place.

I can apparently get this fixed if I take the proper documentation and fill out some forms at a SSA office.

Ugh. What a pain.

How do I hate thee Comcast...

2008-08-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

...let me count the ways

1. Your service is inconsistent at best.

2. When I finally can't take your inconsistency and call technical support, they say they can't help.

3. When I call tech support the next day, because I still can't believe you told me you couldn't help, you can only set up service appointments that make me miss work.

4. Three days later, while I am missing work, the service tech does not show up.

5. When I call to ask where the service tech is, you tell me the appointment was canceled by said service tech, and yet no one told me, so I am still missing work.

6. The service tech canceled the appointment because he said there was a service outage. Which is, of course, the reason I made the appointment. In a nice bit of irony though, my service was actually working when they told me there was an outage.

6. You tell me you will call the dispatch office and have them call me to try and get the service tech out this afternoon, but maybe not until tomorrow.

7. An hour after the dispatch office was supposed to call me I am still sitting here not at work using my internet that is not working with no sign of when I will get any help.

Now I am seriously considering switching to AT&T DSL. Kudos Comcast, you have achieved new levels of poor customer service.

Paris Hilton and a feasible energy policy...

2008-08-06T07:10:00.000-07:00

I don't normally keep up with celebs, but this video made my jaw drop. Paris Hilton may have the best energy plan of any of the "presidential" candidates. As Paul said "She just gained about a billion cool points. Granted, this only barely puts her in the positive....but still, that was pretty impressive."

Enjoy.

Follow-up: The Great American Statistics Crisis

2008-06-04T12:54:00.000-07:00

I think I am the third type...as evidence, see post below.

The American Statistics Crisis

2008-04-05T13:07:00.001-07:00

Someone, who shall remain nameless (but don't worry, I still love you), sends me lots of forwarded e-mails with a political purpose. While I don't mind so much that the e-mail are political in nature, it really grinds my gears that they misrepresent statistics in order to make their point. Here is the latest example:

"In just one year. Remember the election in 2006?

Thought you might like to read the following:

A little over one year ago:

1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high;
2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon;
3) The unemployment rate was 4.5%.

Since voting in a Democratic Congress in 2006 we have seen:
1) Consumer confidence plummet;
2) The cost of regular gasoline soar to over $3.50 a gallon;
3) Unemployment up to 5% (a 10% increase);
4) American households have seen $2.3 trillion in equity value evaporate
(stock and mutual fund losses);
5) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $1.2 trillion dollars;
6) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure.

America voted for change in 2006, and we got it!

Remember it's Congress that makes law not the President. He has to work
with what's handed to him."

To start, a couple of points:

1) The mortgage crisis was not caused by congress, rather it was caused by lenders giving people who couldn't afford them home loans. This issue has been building for years. It has not suddenly appeared since 2006. This is what has been driving the downward spiral of the economy. Again, not anything to do with congress.

2) Oil prices are not in line with supply and demand. There is more than enough oil supply right now even with the conflict in the middle east. If you are familiar with supply/demand economics, this begs the question, why is gas so expensive? Well, right now congress is asking that question to the oil companies who had record profit again this year.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/04/02/MNU7VU217.DTL

Again, congress has nothing to do with gas prices. Unless you want a state run oil industry...

3) While it is true that congress, and not the president, make laws, the president does have veto power. And, he has used that power. To my knowledge this congress has been unable to get the 2/3rd vote necessary to overturn a presidential veto. So, for the person that wrote this and seems to have forgotten the checks-and-balances system of government, the president does have some control over the laws passed. Besides that...I'm not really sure that congress has passed any laws that could even effect the economy to this degree.

4) The abuse of statistics in our country is atrocious..probably just as bad as the abuse of formal English (that is a reference to another e-mail sent by the same person). To save myself some calculations I am using some stuff from: http://www.whatsthequestion.org/?q=node/2564

"As is often the case with such messages, they tend to be based on very selective statistics, and tend to put the side they favor in the best light. With this particular message, the problem is not with the statistics themselves - they tend to bear out. No, the problem is with the standard being used as measurement. The message holds up the status of the various statistics as a measuring stick, and compares current conditions to those. This conveniently ignores prior statistics. For example, if we use a similar comparison as the one in the message, we can come up with a very different picture. Below, we compare the stats in late 2000-early 2001, to the same stats in late 2004-early 2005. This represents the shift from the Clinton administration, with a Republican Congress, to the Bush administration with a Republican Congress:

In March of 2000, 1 year before a Republican congress got a Republican president:

The consumer price index was at 137.1
Price of Gas was $1.80
Unemployment rate was at 4.3%
Number of non-business bankruptcy filings in 2001 - 1,452,030
GDP - Gross Domestic Product - $10.1 trillion
National Public Debt (9/29/00) - $5.7 trillion
Debt as percentage of GDP - 56%
Minimum Wage $5.15
Median Family income (in 2004 dollars) - $55,647
Consumer Price Index 177.1
Personal Saving Rate 2%
Trade Balance - $32.8 Billion deficit
Average number of weeks staying unemployed - 12.8
Number of people unemployed for more than 15 weeks - 1.5 million

In the four years that followed, all under Republican control of Congress and a Republican president:

The consumer price index fell to 103 (30%+ drop)
The price of gas rose to over $2
The unemployment rate rose to 5.1% (nearly 25% increase)
Number of non-business bankruptcy filings in 2005 rose - 2,039,214 (over 30% increase)
GDP - Gross Domestic Product - $12.4 trillion (10% increase)
National Public Debt (9/29/00) - $7.4 trillion (29% increase)
Debt as percentage of GDP rose - 60%
Minimum Wage stayed unchanged $5.15
Median Family income fell (in 2004 dollars) - $54,061
Consumer Price Index rose to 195.3
Personal Saving Rate dropped to .9%
Trade Balance - $53.5 Billion deficit (63% increase)
Average number of weeks staying unemployed increased- 19.3
Number of people unemployed for more than 15 weeks increased - 2.8 million"

Statistics should never be believed without their broader context because statistics can be manipulated to say just about anything anyone wants.

So here are some stats that I just calculated based on a history of US recessions and their corresponding presidents and congresses. There have been 20 recessions in the US since 1900. Of those only 3 (15%) were completely during democratic presidencies. Another 3 (15%) were between presidencies so were under both a democrat and republican president.

The remaining 14 (70%) US recessions have been under republican presidents. Of those 14 recessions, only two came when there was a democratic congress.

What does this mean? Maybe nothing, but at the very least it means that you can't look at statistics for a one year period and put any meaning into them when you are talking about complex issues that take years to develop.

So please America, if you want to have an intelligent discussion about politics, don't just pass on trite forwards with little relevance to reality. Look up the facts and ask questions of those on your e-mail list. Don't rely on some anonymous, out of context statistics to do the thinking for you.

On the fence no longer

2008-03-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

I want Obama. Here is the speech that convinced me.

If only I had been taught this in school...

2008-03-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

...then I may have gotten away from those baboons faster...

lol

2008-02-21T10:41:00.000-08:00

Leaving Africa

2008-01-29T05:11:00.000-08:00

Ok, well, I am not leaving today, but I think this may be the last time I get to the internet before I do leave. So, I thought I would compile a brief lists about the things I miss at home and the things I will miss here.

Things I miss from home:
1. My kitchen, specifically dry dish towels and the garbage disposal
2. Constantly being connected to the internet
3. The plethora of electrical outlets
4. The clothes dryer.
5. Coke that tastes like it does in the ATL

Things I will miss from Africa:
1. Views that take my breath away every time I look up even though I have seen them everyday for a month.
2. Baboons
3. Friendly people in the street
4. Wine, even the house wine (and the exchange rate for the wine)

South Africa - in pictures, version 3 - featuring me!

2008-01-25T04:42:00.000-08:00

South Africa - in pictures, take 2

2008-01-19T04:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pics. This time with better resolution. Enjoy.

What large ears you have...

2008-01-17T05:03:00.001-08:00

What large canines you have

2008-01-14T04:33:00.000-08:00

I have spent a few days tracking the baboons now. I can totally see why some people get addicted to field work. You have the thrill of a chase (ok, not so much a chase, but a lot of looking), then a discovery, and then you get to watch animals that you are really interested in for hours. And, you get to go where they go and in some cases do what they do. The person I was tracking with the other day tried some of the fruit that they were eating. Her first word was "mucous." But, it was fun to watch.

This morning, in what would prove a futile search for the troup of baboons known as "Kanonkop" we came across a different group of baboons. They either crept up behind us, or we walked right by them without knowing they were there. Then, their behavior got kind of strange. They got real interested in us and started approaching in what was a kind of velociraptor from Jurassic park moment. I felt I was being hunted. They were moving as a group to surround us. Now, this is really odd behavior for baboons. I happened to be with the person running the project and she has tracked baboons here for years and never saw anything like this. We tried just moving off the path and looking submissive, and they followed us. We tried TALKING REALLY LOUD, which turned out to be a bad idea as they became more aggressive in their posture. Finally, we tucked our absence of a tail and walked off the side of the mountain...away from them and the path. It felt very much like they were being territorial. Which, baboons are....with each other. So, either they saw us as baboons or as a threat. Either way it was rather exhilarating and I was glad I had a large walking stick with me...

South Africa - in picture

2008-01-10T04:57:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics to tide you over...

Ostrich, Baboons and Antelope - Oh my!

2008-01-08T08:54:00.000-08:00

Finally went into the park today. And, we saw tons of stuff. The coolest were of course the baboons. But the ostrich were the most surprising. Who knew they lived here?

Really short post today, but the good news is one of the guys has a camera to computer cord, so I can post some of my pictures soon.

Check back regularly!

Mr. Poppers Penguins

2008-01-07T02:20:00.000-08:00

I'm in Simonstown. It is this gorgeous little place on the southern end of False Bay, about 20 km from the Cape of Good Hope. It turns out that Boulder's Beach, here in Simonstown, is home to a colony of several thousand African penguins.

I went walking down a board walk that overlooks their protected beach and I literally saw thousands of penguins. It is nesting season, so they were all in pairs with one sitting on the nest and the other looking over protectively. It was amazing.

Hopefully, I will get to see baboons this afternoon. If not, definitely tomorrow.

Under the hot African sun

2008-01-04T04:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the weather was awesome, although windy like nothing I have seen before. For a while I wondered if hurricanes were possible without clouds. I decided they aren't but I would guess there were wind gusts of at least hurricane level 1. But, it kept the temperature really nice.

Today it is hot. Really hot. And still no clouds. Makes me wonder how well I am going to do tracking baboons over un-treed mountains in this weather. Yesterday I was cursing the winds, but today I think I would prefer them.

I took it pretty easy today. I went around town picking up the things I forgot to bring with me (hat, correct power adapter, etc.). I also hit the SA National Gallery. It was pretty good. Much better than the SA Museum, which was a huge disappointment. I think I have hit most of the must do tourists things in Capetown except going up to Table Mountain and taking a boat to Robbins Island, both of those are closed due to the winds.

It is my last night in Capetown. Tomorrow I will head to Simonstown, where I will be the rest of the month. I can't wait for the upgrade (I hope) in accommodation. The 8 person backpackers dorm is somewhat loud and crowded.

I can't wait to see Simonstown and get out of the big city some more.

Goats do Roam

2008-01-03T08:24:00.000-08:00

I went on a wine tour in the cape region today. Hit three wineries, or wine farms as they are called here, and had many wines.

It was a lot of fun. We drove out of Capetown and into the rural areas. It is so beautiful that it is nearly incomprehensible. I keep trying to think how to describe it and the only thing I can come up with is the alps, but with a tropical paradise in the valleys.

Very awesome.

Arrival in Capetown

2008-01-02T01:15:00.000-08:00

I made it to South Africa! I got in late last night and am just emerging from my hostel to explore the city.

When I walked out my door this morning, this is pretty much what I saw (not my picture)

Testing my new skills.

2007-11-14T15:54:00.000-08:00

I took a web design class. Can I make a cool flash photo album?

Yes, yes I can.

Danielle is so winning....

2007-07-31T11:29:00.001-07:00

I am a CSS master

2007-07-30T07:10:00.003-07:00

Look at the website I just made:

http://www.emory.edu/LIVING_LINKS/

And, you can check out my bio on that site:

http://www.emory.edu/LIVING_LINKS/proctor.html

I know, I know. You are all probably dying to know when you can expect a new version of my website. Well, my site version 3.0 is in the works. It will have several exciting features. So, keep waiting in eager anticipation.

Not that I condone this...

2007-06-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

...but it is really funny.

How To Keep A Monkey Busy - Watch more free videos

Thunder, thunder, thunder, thundercats!!!

2007-06-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

Woohoo. Warner brothers is going to make a CGI Thundercats movie. This rocks!!!

http://www.cinematical.com/2007/06/10/warner-bros-clarifies-thundercats-will-be-animated/

Thundercats hoooooo!!!!!

A 100-foot tall Darby!

2007-05-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks Steve!

Ira Glass..

2007-04-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

...of This American Life. Tonight at the Woodruf Arts Center. Woot!!!

If only I had too much time on my hands...

2007-04-24T06:21:00.000-07:00

...and a piano...

Scully takes down Dan

2007-04-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

....oh yeah. I finally figured out how to put my own movies on my blog. Thanks Divx! Yes, you need the divx codex to view the video. www.divx.com

Note the dog pulling the guy on the scooter. It is a little hard to see, but when the dog changes direction, the guy bites the dust.

What is sport?

2007-04-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

What is a sport? This is a question that interests me. Well, ok, I obsess about it a little. Just ask anyone that has gotten into a conversation about nascar (not a sport) with me. Once upon a time I thought this issue could be easily settled by a trip to dictionary.com where sport is defined:

Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.

But, this wasn't good enough for me. I object to things like car racing and hunting being called a sport. So, during a recent car trip Molly and I talked it out and I think that sport needs to have a few components.

1. Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.

2. The activity must be either human powered or a harnessing of natural power.

3. Most people that engage in the sport can not be intoxicated doing it.

4. While a risk of death is acceptable, death cannot be the goal.

Now a discussion. I think number one is fairly clear. Number two eliminates things like car racing (which is machine powered) and hunting with guns (guns are machines and machines get the result). However, a bicycle is powered by a human, so it is a sport. Archery is also a sport because a human generates the force behind the arrow. At the same time naturally powered sports, like yacht racing (powered by wind) and skiing (powered by gravity) are included. Horse racing and jumping are also sports because a natural power, the horse, is harnessed. Fishing is not a sport because humans are only attempting to harness a natural power, fish, but cannot control if the fish takes the bait or not.

Number three eliminates bar games like pool, darts, and bowling. While these three meet the requirements for numbers one and two, most people are drinking when doing them. If most people can do it drunk, it is not a sport. Bowling is admittedly right on the line. However, because drinking is part of the broader culture of bowling, it is not a sport. This also gives added weight to excluding hunting and fishing as sports.

What am I talking about in number four you say? Well, mostly hunting. Taking a life just shouldn't be fun. But, then I figured you probably shouldn't be allowed to have wrestling death matches or any sort of gladiatorial events either.

I do think there should be a separate category for bar games and motor racing events. I could probably even be able to call something a "motor sport," but only as a separate type of thing from true sport. These undeniably are physical and require skill, but they do not feel like true sports to me.

So, that's it. That is my definition of sport. Questions?

UF is the best school ever.....

2007-04-03T06:29:00.000-07:00

....and not just for academics!!! Three major national championships in 12 months!! We rock.

I hate junk mail...

2007-04-02T06:08:00.000-07:00

...yeah, the old school kind that comes printed on paper. Specifically, I am fed up with the Atlanta Journal Constitutions Reach advertising mailer. I have been calling and e-mailing them for almost three years trying to get them to stop sending this to me. Every time they assure me that my name will really be removed this time...but it never works. So, I am taking matters into my own hands.

The United States Postal Service has this great form called PS Form 1500. It was originally created to stop pornographic mailings, but the supreme court has ruled that any material deemed inappropriate by the receiver can be stopped with this form. So, I am going to try it. You can find the form here:

http://www.usps.com/forms/_pdf/ps1500.pdf

For more info about the form visit this site:

http://www.junkbusters.com/dmlaws.html#form

The Sun

2007-03-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

Somewhere out there is a super cool Japanese satellite circling the sun. Here is some footage from it.

Social Networking

2007-03-20T06:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I am reluctantly a member of friendster, myspace, facebook, linkedin, and most recently flixter. And all, theoretically so I can keep in touch with people. I have to admit that myspace has reunited me with a few lost friends, but how many of these things do I have to join? I think instead of or in addition to issuing social security numbers when you are born, you should get your own domain name. It would last throughout your life and be an easy way to find anyone....assuming they wanted to be found. I know that would generally create all types of problems, like potential employers reading your blog.....but it would generate more traffic on my website and that is all I want.

Oh, watch out for flixster. I wouldn't join it if I were you. They freely admit, at least on venture capital websites, that use viral marketing. For those of you unfamiliar with the term...they ask for your e-mail and password and will spam your entire address book if you are not careful.

Thesis

2007-03-19T12:37:00.000-07:00

I am working on my thesis. It is about extinct South African baboon species differentiation using dental microwear. Sound interesting? Leave a comment.

Gmail is Down

2007-03-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it. Google is my hero. Why isn't gmail working. Some rumors on the net say that google engineers are working on it diligently and will be back in a few hours. How can I get my gmail fix while in class?

Bobby Batronic

2007-02-22T06:22:00.000-08:00

Please note, this video may not be suitable for sensitive viewers.....

If the movie doesn't work, click here:
http://break.com/watch/215617/Dating_Serivce_Reject/

Here's another good one.

Bush was a cheerleader

2007-02-22T06:20:00.000-08:00

It's true....google it.

Gators are going to the National Championship!

2006-12-04T06:19:00.000-08:00

My superhero persona

2006-12-03T08:27:00.000-08:00

I am Superman

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

And pretty cute too. No wonder you're the most popular superhero ever!

What Superhero Are You?

Spydy!!!

2006-11-14T07:42:00.000-08:00

Running Superstar

2006-11-09T06:53:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah. I ran two (2) miles yesterday without stopping. Go ahead and scoff my running friends, but it is a new record for me. Bwahahaha.

Return from the Desert

2006-08-27T15:37:00.000-07:00

Molly and I just got back from a weekend trip to Arizona. Yes, it was hot. Although, it didn't feel that much hotter than here. You know how they talk about the dry heat in the desert? They were having a humid streak. And, there was flooding....in the desert.

But, it was also really interesting to see the different vegetation. Here is a pic from Camelback mountain. It is really close to downtown Phoenix.

We also went to the zoo. It had lots of cool primates, but I found it very lacking as far as public education about the animals and conservation issues. Some exhibits didn't even give the common name of the animal, much less have any info on its conservation status. But, the exhibits were great. Here is a siamang.

Website Updates

2006-08-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

I am continuing to learn more and more about how to create my website. I just uploaded my first flash object. It is on the photos page. It is really just an uber cool link to Flickr to view more pix. But, I am pleased. I'm not really sure why I am writing a blog, since I am pretty sure no one is going to read it.

What the?

2006-08-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

I thought I would never get into this, but I can't resist signing up for this stuff. Let's see what happens....