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scarp

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following: 23
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hubskier for: 4760 days

recent comments, posts, and shares:
scarp  ·  3347 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: It's been 1,680 days

Hi, Steve!

(It feels odd to call you that; I've only ever known you as thenewgreen. Same goes for "Mark" vis-à-vis mk.)

Nice to hear from you. I am definitely guilty of being absent from the site as well. In fact you have been single-handedly keeping me in the loop with hubski with your occasional shout-outs to my old posts and comments. I might try to get back to being a regular here, although I'm no longer sure I know how the site works. :)

I hope all is well with you. Judging by that last sentence, I'm betting you have some interesting stories to share. Keep me posted!

- John

scarp  ·  3443 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How "Thank You" sounds to Chinese ears

Incidentally, I read this same article just a few hours ago. They explore different meanings of the word "sounds", but they pair nicely. In any case, I'm surprised you remembered my post from over three years ago!

scarp  ·  4406 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski Update: Saved post notifications

I share your sentiment. Saving a post doesn't necessarily mean I want to follow its comments, and vice versa. I think it would be better to have a separate "follow" function for posts and threads, but that could get quite cluttered. Ideally we should balance simplicity and ease of use with functionality, but I don't know precisely how.

Yes, seriously. I would not want to be a seismologist if it meant I was responsible for the earthquakes I study.

scarp  ·  4408 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Recovery Act's Effect on Renewable Energy

Yep. Amazing how influential they've been so close to the election!

scarp  ·  4412 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Recovery Act's Effect on Renewable Energy

He wanted to have his cake and eat it too -- attacking the stimulus because it was politically advantageous for him to do so, while also benefiting from the relief that the stimulus provided.

scarp  ·  4414 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Ask Hubski: What are your top 5 albums of all time

That's a pretty tall order! I am far from being very well versed in musical history, and my musical tastes are still rapidly developing, so I wouldn't feel confident giving anything close to a definitive list. But here are some albums I have consistently enjoyed over the last few years (despite changing tastes) and which still get heavy rotation from me today:

- "Dive Deep" by Morcheeba - "Resurrection" by Common - "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm" by A Tribe Called Quest - "Blue Lines" by Massive Attack - "The Score" by Fugees

I really love music that feels textured, organic, warm, and a little rough around the edges. It may be that I'm just looking in the wrong places, but I find it difficult to find music like that lately. Lots of bands seem to be moving toward clean, smooth and cloudy sounds -- which I like, sometimes, but are outside of my comfort zone. If anyone has any recommendations for me -- old or new -- let me know! One recent release that I've really been enjoying is Wax Tailor's "Dusty Rainbow from the Dark," which drew me in immediately.

scarp  ·  4477 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hey Hubski -I'll Be Away For a Bit

Share some pictures when you come back!

scarp  ·  4478 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How English sounds to non-English speakers -- a short film in fake English

Ha, I didn't even realize the song was in a different language. I thought it was made up, too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckwnRT9RCmg

It's beautiful, isn't it? I don't know why they chose it, but I want to find more music like this.

"Has anyone in this family even seen a chicken?"

I need to watch the whole series again to satiate my TV comedy fix until the next season of 30 Rock comes out. :)

Does anyone have any other recommendations? Preferably something that's available on the web?

scarp  ·  4537 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski Update: Hubski gets a refresh.
I'm doing well now, but the last few months have been a little stressful. I'm not really sure what happened, but the long and short of it is that I ended up taking a medical leave of absence from school so that I could focus on what I really want to do with my education and with my life as a whole.

But I think I've got things ironed out for now. I just needed some time to clear my head. On the upside, I celebrated my birthday a few days ago so that was fun. How have you been?

scarp  ·  4538 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski Update: Hubski gets a refresh.
Simliar posts works fine for me now -- thanks.
scarp  ·  4539 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski Update: Hubski gets a refresh.
What a refreshing refresh! I've been in and out lately, noticing the small changes here and there along the way but this one is so dramatic that I just have to comment!

My first impression is that it looks great -- very clean and modern -- but I'm no longer sure how to read my hub. My natural instinct is to read down the first column and then move to the next, but that requires me to scroll down and then back up which isn't optimal on my small screen. Reading from left to right feels weird, too, because the tiles aren't aligned. Either way, my eye moves around the page a lot and I'm not quite sure where the focus is.

I like the direction you're going; it just needs a few tweaks. If I were less tired I might offer some suggestions, but for now I should sleep.

Edit: As an aside, the "related posts" section of the page shows up under the comment box for me. Do you know how I can fix that? I'm on Chrome / OS X Lion.

scarp  ·  4614 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: If 6.9B people lived in one big city...
Interesting indeed. I'm used to hearing figures on how much space the world's population would take up if they were standing shoulder to shoulder. It's nice to have a visual representation that's actually grounded in something I can picture and imaging living in.
scarp  ·  4616 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Atheism and Oppression
You might find secular humanism interesting if atheism seems unfulfilling to you.
scarp  ·  4618 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Woman demanding care at St. Mary's hospital is arrested for trespassing, dies in jail
Almost certainly, yes. The final sentence sums up the whole article in a nutshell: "My sister is not here today because people passed judgement."

People looked at her and saw a crazy homeless junkie with poor insurance. It's sad that she was never able to get the mental and physical help she needed. Still, it's hard for me to feel too angry at the doctors and officers involved. They gave her the standard treatment and unfortunately didn't find anything pressing, so they assumed the worse. Seeing thousands of similar cases in their line of work wore their compassion down to apathy and indifference which seem even more monstrous in retrospect. Fuck, this whole story has me conflicted. I don't know what to feel or who to blame. It's all so frustrating.