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As with a low sucking sound it slowly disappeared again, Starbuck still gazing at the agitated waters where it had sunk, with a wild voice exclaimed—“Almost rather I had seen Moby Dick and fought him, than to have seen thee, thou white ghost!”
      “What was it, Sir?” said Flask.
      “The great live squid, which, they say, few whale-ships ever beheld and returned to their ports to tell of it.”

Moby-Dick, 1851
NEWS



4-21-08  FURL
Uhmm, apparently archives haven't really been working since late 2006. THANX for the heads up guys! They are temporarily fixed, and will stay temporarily fixed until I migrate to new software/layout. I have said some hilarious things in the last 7 years, that future generations will feel lucky I preserved. Go check them out.


1-18-08  new iPhone icon
Woah, it's been 3 years since the last news update! Fuzzysquid now has a webclips icon for your iPhone! It'll automagically show up when you add FS to your home screen. Atom and RSS feeds have been available for a few years now, but I never made special mention of it.


1-14-05  LJ images
Since it seems to be popular, and it's been linked in a lot of different places besides here, I've decided to post the LJ Images page. At least in the news, at least for now. It's also getting some Google ads because you LiveJournal people are sucking up all my bandwidth (35% for that one page!)


4-02-04  FURL
Check out what I've been browsing: FURL.net bookmark archive. Not much commentary, relevance, or sequitur—but it's what's keeping this blog from turning into a meme dumpster.


12-04-03  the web sucks, again
Ok, I need to apologize for the guestmap below. It's hosted off site by a very dubious company. They've always had pop-up ads, which didn't bother me too much since I don't use IE, and don't see them. But now they're being really obnoxious, so it's on the way out. I'll keep it linked for a little while longer. It's been fun—maybe I'll try to write my own.


3-24-03  pin the tail
I now have a guestmap here. Go leave a note and tell me where you're from. Come on, it'll make me happy.


12-19-02  i'm going back to cali, cali
photos from my cross country roadtrip are now up here. in celebration, i've switched all the timestamps to log as PST. take that, east coast!


LINKS

    SQUID STUFF

  1. TONMO - The Octopus News Magazine Online. Invaluable.
  2. Angrywhale - Meet Leonard. He's an angry sort of whale.
  3. The Squid Blog - From the Laughing Squid people.



    PEOPLE I KNOW

  4. Moxyberry - Where the cousin is at. Her bookmarks here.
  5. Cranky User - Brian's bookmarks. Updated, unlike his site.
  6. Rosenstock - Her other ride is your mom.
  7. Lauren - Wet Hot Singaporean Blogging.
  8. Universal Donor - Like the prime number shitting bear, but with terrible back pain.
  9. Olivia - Who receives special dispensation from our usual policies.
BLAG  read the archive


Monday, June 09, 2008
dannyboy 6:53 PM (0)

 
Comments:

 

 
NEWSFLASH: I am Asian! I know it's hard to tell, but not being from around here, I have strange and exotic ways. Something that just occurred to me is that some of the things I consider absolutely polite and even necessary can be seen as the complete opposite. For example, I play the Chinese modesty game—though I'm pretty sure it's pan-Asian. To play this game: if a person offers some measure of hospitality to you, you must decline at least three times before you may accept (or decline for real). So if I come by for a visit and you set out some snacks you spent all afternoon making, I may SEEMINGLY REFUSE IT! I know, it's nuts! I apologize if I made you think I saw Poppy go back to work without washing his hands, or that your culinary efforts were defective.

This is surprisingly ingrained in me at times. I don't do it all the time, but when in doubt I often subconsciously default to this. There are other customs I have adapted and am very conscious of—I will recoil in horror if you don't take your shoes off in my apartment (I have carpet and you just walked off Haight St. for fruit's sake), but I never take my shoes off in a western home unless invited to because I understand you people are very ashamed of your feet. Or something.

Anyway, in conclusion, that thing I said about your mother was not actually offensive, but me being Oriental.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008
dannyboy 10:56 AM (3)

 
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whoa, what other mushrooms do you grow. wanna ship some over. i doubt you could bring those onto a plane. i also, ordered another mo's bacon bar. Is there any other stores with exotic candy bars cause vosges' s&h fee is just ridiculously.

posted by Blogger Malb - 6/03/2008 2:15 PM


 

I have shiitake and oyster mushrooms. The haven't been doing too well, sadly. The first batch started growing and then a heat wave hit, which made it a really small harvest. The second round happened while I was away on vacation, and I wasn't able to tend to them like they needed. :/

You can get your own log and grow them. I would recommend doing this in the fall or spring though, unless you have a basement that doesn't get too hot, and gets some light.

Re: bacon chocolate, I get them from a candy/magazine store around the corner from the office. I'm sure there are places that have them in NYC. No need to have them shipped.

Also, I tried the bacon lollipop yesterday. I don't like it.

posted by Blogger dannyboy - 6/03/2008 2:40 PM


 

yea, i tried the bacon lollipop. it was too sweet.

posted by Blogger Malb - 6/05/2008 1:33 PM


 

 

Dudes, I love growing my own mushrooms. They smell and taste so good, and I have been there every step of the way, from spore to harvest. The only thing preventing me from naming them all and making a scrapbook is that I am certain some board of directors in the future will be mining this website for reasons to declare me unfit to lead the company.

dannyboy 10:34 AM (0)
 
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 My friends, I need more buddies on Netflix. I have not had cable since January, and I just cancelled Tivo. I need your recommendations on tv and movies to rent/torrent. Click here to add me.

Monday, May 12, 2008
dannyboy 10:57 AM (0)

 
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My beer! My precious beer!!

YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP!! DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!

Friday, May 09, 2008
dannyboy 10:51 AM (0)

 
Comments:

 

 
Foldit, a game made by two medical researchers in collaboration with some computer scientists and with consultation from some game designers, tap into people's intuition where raw computer processing power isn't enough. Basically like Folding@Home, but instead of donating idle CPU cycles to do useful work, you play a game:

"Some people are just able to look at the game and in less than two minutes, get to the top score," said (UW associate professor of computer science and engineering) Zoran Popovic. "They can't even explain what they're doing, but somehow they're able to do it."

One of the most interesting parts is that they've incorporated competition into the game: between gamers playing for a high score, and actual research groups.


One of the questions I think about a lot is how graphic/visual/interaction design could change the world; it's interesting to see how game design could change the world.

Monday, April 21, 2008
dannyboy 1:26 PM (0)

 
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It's really interesting to see the reaction that non-meat eaters have towards PETA's X-prize, with many claiming that they would not eat in-vitro meat, and some going so far as to denounce it as regressive for animal welfare.

To me, this reeks of intellectual dishonesty, with a nice helping of sour grapes on the side. If you don't eat meat for ethical reasons, you can eat vat grown meat with a completely clear conscience. If you still have a problem with it, your reasons for being a vegetarian/vegan have absolutely nothing to do with ethics*. Sucks when science pulls the rug out from under your belief system, but I have as much sympathy for you as I do for the Catholic Church sending Galileo to house arrest for heliocentrism**.

I'm actually impressed by PETA's stance, as it is refreshingly shrewd, and I practice Realpolitik in most areas of my life, cuisine included. This is not to absolve them of their grievances against humanity and reason, of which there are legion. But they recognize that their mission to prevent cruelty to animals is NOT the same as the collective vegan/vegetarian agenda.

* "Meat is icky and I'm better than you so I get to tell you what to do."
** In all fairness the church did officially concede that the Earth is not stationary. In 1992.

Thursday, April 17, 2008
dannyboy 5:29 PM (2)

 
Comments:

 

So I'm jogging with a huge pile of foam (or something) on my back? ....yaaaay.
Seems like they solved one issue while creating an even worse one.

posted by Anonymous Joe - 4/18/2008 3:01 PM


 

Well it's art, done by an artist--not a product, done by a designer.

That's what makes this interesting for me; that the form her "solution" takes to hostile product design is more product design, something of an arms race.

(And it's a "solution" much the same way Jonathan Swift's Modest Proposal was a "solution.")

posted by Blogger dannyboy - 4/18/2008 5:55 PM


 

 
Remember when I got all uppity about unethical design, and the crooked designers that spawn them? I stopped just short of likening them to the contractors on the Death Star, because that Kevin Smith argument could be misconstrued as admiration for the man... but that is neither here nor there.

Anyway, here is one artist's response to the same: "Archisuit consists of an edition of four leisure jogging suits made for specific architectural structures in Los Angeles. The suits include the negative space of the structures and allow a wearer to fit into, or onto, structures designed to deny them."

Saturday, April 05, 2008
Malb 10:06 AM (1)

 
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Oh Stephanie! Who knew you would grow up to be the hot one.

posted by Blogger dannyboy - 4/17/2008 5:42 PM


 

 
Damn, she's huge!!!

Wednesday, April 02, 2008
dannyboy 6:24 PM (0)

 
Comments:

 

 
joeflet: nice
joeflet: (y)
joeflet: that was supposed to be thumbs up
dkuo: uh
dkuo: it looks like a lady's vagina
joeflet: nice

Monday, March 31, 2008
dannyboy 9:36 AM (0)

 
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ON VEGANISM

Folks, you know how I feel. But allow me to bring out the horse once more so I can just link to this post next time someone brings up veganism/vegetarianism. And it should be noted that the majority of my ire is aimed at vegans, and you will understand why shortly.

Here I will explain all the reasons why veganism is an affront to my sensibilities and intellect.

1. Veganism as morality
Not really worth discussing as there are clearly no absolutes when it comes to moral values. But my personal belief is that it is not immoral for people to eat meat any more than it is immoral for a lion to prey on a gazelle. To deny this part of our nature is to deny we are part of nature, much in the way evolutionists claim that we are too special to be mere animals. It disconnects us from the larger whole. This is why I advocate that everyone who eats meat kill something for food once in their lives, so that you can really understand what it means for something to die so you can live.

2. Veganism as ethical behavior
Animals bred for food can and should be treated in an ethical manner. The problem with veganism is that it is almost always fundamentally militant. Kind of like saying you're a Christian, but you're not pushy about your faith? Well ultimately, Christians still believe that they're the only ones in the room going to heaven when they die. You can obscure that all you want, but at its core, veganism is about being better than other people. If your goal is to prevent unethical treatment of animals, being a vegan will do more to counter that goal than any hamburger, ever.

3. Veganism for environmentalism
Which is worse: a hamburger from grassfed beef raised 30 miles from your house, or organic out of season produce from halfway around the world? I'll give you a hint, the one that doesn't require petroleum based fertilizer, and need to be shipped across the ocean, then trucked to your door. And all the packaged meat replacement products? Did you think about the oil used in processing and packaging your fake meat?

Eating local is way more important than organic for both meat and produce--and once you start eating local, it naturally scales down the amount of meat you eat, which is good for the next point...

4. Veganism for health
Basically, read a Michael Pollan book or two. "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." YES, American eat way too much meat. We also eat WAY too much corn.

5. Yes but how does it taste?
Vegans are, tellingly, universally defensive about their food. When one claims things like "it tastes just as good as meat" or "I don't miss chocolate at all", it is no longer about taste, it is about a self-conscious posture that focuses on meat-substitution rather than the natural merits of your ingredients. Why must you eat tofutti (and insist it is as good or better than ice cream) when there are delicious sorbets and granitas available? There have been people on this planet eating meatless for thousands of years, who have created some of the richest culinary traditions in existence, and yet you insist on making a meatless meatloaf? Yes, I would have a Napoleon complex about my food too.

6. So why are people vegans?
I can only offer personal anecdotes here. Consistently, all the vegans I have met have recited the same talking points that you get with your cruelty-free welcome packet. But underneath it, I have always seen at least glimmers of ulterior motivations. I think as a food philosophy, it draws for much the same reasons that religion is attractive—some people need structure, answers; others want to be righteous; for others it's outright social pressure. Many have had control issues across the board, and food was only one expression.

This is obviously not to invalidate an entire category of people wholesale. Just as it is with religion, there are really good-natured people who are in it for exactly the reasons they profess. But just like religion, is it really wrong to assume the worst of people when the majority set out to prove you right?

7. Who ARE vegans anyway?
The Dali Lama, and white affluent hipsters on the coasts. Ok just kidding! The Dali Lama eats meat. No, seriously—all the Tibetan monks do, and they pray for each animal that they kill.

8. But beyond all this talk
there is the actual experience of hanging out with vegans. Eating is a huge shared experience, one of the few universals that we as a species, and really all animals, have. It is how we express love, friendship, and merriment. It is as basic as you can get, bottom of the pyramid.

Vegans are a pain in the ass to hang out with. It is not impossible, but even in eating disorder friendly Northern California, it is a serious logistical overhead. This unfortunately, is why vegans are biased to spend their time with other vegans, at really terrible restaurants, further isolating themselves from the rest of the world.

9. Okay okay.
This is the paragraph wherein I backpedal and acknowledge that some of my best friends are vegetarian, etc. I have friends who do not eat meat and I respect their choices. It is not a choice that I could ever seriously consider. I enjoy trying new things way too much to ever choose to categorically limit myself to a subset of all possibilities. Others derive their pleasure by other means, and more power to them.

I respect those who don't define themselves by what they eat, their diet being simply an expression of who they are.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008
dannyboy 12:33 AM (0)

 
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HEY GUYS I TOTALLY MADE YOU A MIXTAPE
I will make more soon don't judge me it's late

Tuesday, March 18, 2008
dannyboy 11:44 AM (0)

 
Comments:

 

 
WHO'S A GOOD PLANT? WHO'S A GOOD PLANT??

YOU ARE! YES YOU ARE!

Saturday, March 15, 2008
dannyboy 5:59 PM (2)

 
Comments:

 

Let's all pray for that bit of evolution!

posted by Anonymous Joe - 3/16/2008 7:08 PM


 

LIKE! Haven't seen an animated JPEG in a while, definitely worth the wait...

posted by Blogger Jennie - 3/17/2008 10:58 PM


 

 
MY POKEMANS LET ME SHOW YOU THEM

Monday, March 10, 2008
dannyboy 8:42 AM (0)

 
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Every day I wake up with a different song playing in my head. It's like having an iPod in my head set to random. I KNOW IT IS AWESOME. This morning it was Stevie Wonder - Living for the City.

Thursday, March 06, 2008
dannyboy 3:18 PM (0)

 
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I pride myself in being open to new experiences, particularly when it comes to food. This does not mean I will eat anything. There are lots of things I don't like; but every now and then (maybe once a year) I will purposely eat something I don't like, just to confirm that my taste buds haven't rewired themselves, or that they've come up with a strain of cucumber that doesn't taste stupid.

So for the record: goat cheese continues to suck.

Friday, February 29, 2008
dannyboy 10:09 AM (0)

 
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Do you think that sitting on power/phone lines for the last 100 years, being exposed to an EM field, has affected the avian genome? Also, why do gay people like Kathy Griffin?

Tuesday, February 12, 2008
dannyboy 5:58 PM (1)

 
Comments:

 

A friend accidentally stabbed me with a pen in 9th grade. I still have a scar. He thought the top was on and was screwing around... waaaay to go.

posted by Anonymous Fletcher - 2/26/2008 12:24 AM


 

 
peeingdog: I just stabbed myself with a pen
peeingdog: I am bleeding
peeingdog: like, a lot
suzy_turtle: yikes!!
suzy_turtle: why did you do that?
peeingdog: I had it upside down!
peeingdog: I was pushing down on it so the point would retract!
suzy_turtle: do I need to come over and apply a tourniquet?
peeingdog: no you need to explain why this god-damned pen is so sharp!!!
suzy_turtle: it's unfortunate that fat-tipped pens are called 'sharpies' and sharp, pointy pens are not
suzy_turtle: but honestly, do you really want to side w/ the people who need warning labels on their coffee cups explaining that the contents are hot?
peeingdog: why does a pen need to be so pointy that the force required to click the button is also the minimum force required to drive the tip deep into my flesh??
peeingdog: AND GOD-DAMNIT don't get me started on tort reform
peeingdog: everything you know about that coffee lawsuit is corporate propaganda!!

Thursday, January 31, 2008
dannyboy 12:09 PM (3)

 
Comments:

 

this explains why our plants aren't doing as well...

posted by Blogger Brian - 2/01/2008 5:50 PM


 

So, how is it?

posted by Anonymous Fletcher - 2/08/2008 9:29 AM


 

I'm just trying to keep it alive! It's not going to fruit for a while...

posted by Blogger dannyboy - 2/09/2008 9:57 AM


 

 
me: my miracle fruit plant is here!
Emily: whaaat
Emily: that was super fast
me: now I need to make my apartment hot and humid
me: if you know what I mean
Emily: i.e., take off your pants?
me: that's the step 1 of all my gardening plans

Monday, January 28, 2008
dannyboy 10:56 AM (0)

 
Comments:

 

 
I tire of telling this story, so this post will be half-hearted. Whatever! Maybe you should involve yourself in my face-to-face life rather than reading about it on the webs!

My car was broken into this weekend, and the thieves took $15 worth of kitchen supplies I had picked up from Sur La Table. Completely ignoring the $350 iPod that was sitting out in the open. People don't take any pride in their work these days.

So I need new glass for the window they broke. There are none in North America. It is being special ordered from Germany.

Yes wait for it... AND THE GERMANS SCREW ME AGAIN

Tuesday, January 22, 2008
dannyboy 10:57 PM (0)

 
Comments:

 

 
Emily: nevermind, I have your resume open
Emily: omgz your resume has a legend
Emily:

Thursday, January 10, 2008
dannyboy 9:49 AM (3)

 
Comments:

 

re 2: it will be good for the bartender!! :)

posted by Blogger moxy - 1/12/2008 1:24 PM


 

I've lived here for less than a week and already I've been there 3 times. I need to pace myself...

posted by Blogger dannyboy - 1/13/2008 11:36 AM


 

Argh! 4 times in a week and a half!

posted by Blogger dannyboy - 1/18/2008 10:03 AM


 

 
TWO RANDOM THOUGHTS:

1. In my enthusiasm, I may have neglected to think about the physical logistics of deploying 7+1 speakers in my modest living room before clicking on 'buy'.

2. Living so close* to one of my favorite bar/restaurants in San Francisco is not going to be good for me, my liver, or anyone.

*I've moved! If you didn't get my announcement email and want my new address, let me know.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008
dannyboy 9:40 AM (0)

 
Comments:

 

 
I think the guys who think pregnant women are gross are kind of like the guys who can't eat meat unless it's been processed into a nugget. On a side note, it's a good thing I don't have titles attached to my posts, or else you'd all be subjected to a too-clever-for-its-own-good carne/carnal pun.

Thursday, January 03, 2008
dannyboy 10:38 AM (0)

 
Comments:

 

 
As I was falling asleep last night, I was thinking about an old epiphany--that people who like you will like you regardless of what you do. This has comforted others, but always faintly tasted of resignation to me (there are those who are really good at blinding others with love). But then I thought about it some more and realized that it is the things you do, that make up who you are. And that is what they love (or hate).

And so my new year's resolution: to get my actions in line with who I want to be.

Happy New Year, folks.

Thursday, December 20, 2007
dannyboy 11:18 AM (0)

 
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Last night a woman came up to the bar and asked for "a shot of the most expensive whiskey you have." Yes, she asked for a shot of it, and then proceeded to pound the $50 glass of bourbon, putting it on her date's tab.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007
dannyboy 5:24 PM (3)

 
Comments:

 

Considering we're the same age, how is life going thus far?

posted by Anonymous Fletcher - 12/18/2007 12:52 PM


 

No house. No wife. No start-up. No Lamborghini. I seem to be behind.

posted by Blogger dannyboy - 12/18/2007 6:29 PM


 

Well, besides a wife I'm also missing those things... I guess I'm a little behind as well.

posted by Anonymous Fletcher - 12/30/2007 1:47 AM


 

 
Play Passage. It's a 400k game that'll take you 5 minutes. Play it before you read the artist's statement. (The author of the game calls it a "creator's statement", but I'm comfortable relabeling that.)

Someone once said something about a life unexamined, but my memory of that is all compressed and pixelated...





 
   
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