Foursquare just launched a feature where they'll give you special deals at nearby venues, once they know where you are. They make it hard to track them all, which makes sense since the purpose of the feature is to entice you to leave a competitor's venue and walk across the street to a different venue.

With yahoo pipes, someone cooked up an rss feed of San Francisco foursquare special deals. I adapted it to Seattle, and here's the RSS feed:

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=6a5b87ca11a0d2dd71bcaa7a68cb9b70&_render=rss

Here's a link to the pipes page if you want to plug it into iGoogle, remix it, etc:

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=6a5b87ca11a0d2dd71bcaa7a68cb9b70

Enjoy!

After getting back into Israel, we got a bus from Eilat to Jerusalem, past the Dead Sea.

( Read more... )

I just had a strange thought, when translating an email written in Italian...

Let's say you're in high school French class and you're reading L'Étranger. You get an assignment to write a book report on it, in French. This isn't so farfetched, I had this exact assignment.

Back in my day, you could cheat by finding a book report in English (say, Cliffs Notes on The Stranger) and look up one word at a time in a French-English dictionary, and with a very basic knowledge of French, cobble together a report in French. Not very efficient.

Today, in about 30 seconds, you could go to the same source online, copy/paste the text into Google Translator, and have a passable French paper. It's certainly cheating one's self out of an education, and almost definitely plagiarism (i.e. the representation of the thoughts of another author as one's own), but it sure would be tempting to do.

Does anyone who teaches have to deal with 21st century plagiarism?

Q: What does Santa say when you hang him upside down?
A: OH OH OH

[Now with some bold parts for skimability because I sure wouldn't want to read this whole thing if I were you]



Time to get up early for the long trip to Petra! We set our alarms for 7am on the advice of the "Concierge" at the village (not sure what else to call this guy, but he was super friendly and helpful). We had a quick breakfast and headed down to the main road to hail a cab. Wait a minute! Why does the clock say 8:30? It must be off by an hour. Oh SHIT! Jordan is in a different time zone from Israel because only Israel has daylight savings!! Well, no worries. We just lost an hour at Petra, but I won't let it ruin the day.


The bus we sat on for 4 hours

Now we're at the "bus stop" (a big gravel lot with some vehicles that could maybe pass for demolition derby buses). "WHEN. DOES. THE. NEXT. BUS. LEAVE. FOR. PETRA?" (that's me trying to enunciate to a non-English speaker). "30 minutes". Ok, no problem. Just enough time for a trip to the bathroom.

2 hours later, we're finally moving. Ah, public transport. In the intervening time, I not only went to the bathroom (the "bus stop" had no bathroom, and the closest one was past the Police compound in a covered market), but also listened to 90 minutes of Arabic radio and did some people-watching.

My favorite moment in Jordan happened while sitting here. A Michael Jackson song came on the radio, preceded by the DJ saying "Blah blah Arabic blah blah Michael Jackson!" A young man and I locked eyes, sharing the moment of delight (the previous 45 minutes of music had been more of the local variety). He said "Michael Jackson!", and being speechless, I think I gave him a big nod and grin.

There was an extremely uncomfortable moment when the bus was almost full and a young, single male had to sit next to an old woman. Instead of doing this, which Allah obviously forbids, there was a huge shuffling of seats to keep everything Kosher. I mean Halal.


The view out the window for the next 4 hours

We were treated to 2 hours of desert and military checkpoints. Venessa and I listened to a few episodes of WireTap she downloaded (I highly recommend this show). I felt uncomfortable laughing out loud for seemingly no reason on a quiet, gender-segregated bus, but whatev, the population of Jordan doesn't know what they're missing.

Now we're in Wadi Musa, the closest town to Petra. It's 1pm by now. To make a long story short, the last bus back is at 3pm and there's no time to take the camel or donkey ride to Petra, so we turn right back home and call it a day.


Man, even the bathroom windows are dicks

We spent the rest of the day in our hotel room, feeling sorry for ourselves, and reading.


Sunscreen, a good book, and a passport

The next morning, we got a cab to the border from a very friendly man who should have been head of the Aqaba tourist board. It was a flat-rate fare and we weren't in a hurry, so he took us out of our way to see some sights of the city, including the King's summer home and the future sites of a couple of fancy resorts.


Not the King's summer home

The buildings in Aqaba are either dilapidated hovels covered in graffiti, or half-finished construction, both of which were symbolic of the rest of our time in Jordan. Our little side-journey into the Arab world had potential, there was a plan or a scaffolding of something that used to be, or will soon be, but it was just out of reach for us on this trip.


Goodbye

What advertisement made you think this year?

Bet you were expecting another rant? Nope. Here's my favorite ad of this year, and of all time. Lyrics are NSFW.

Web tool. It came into your work flow this year and now you couldn't live without it. It has simplified or improved your online experience.



Picnik, specifically its integration with flickr, and more specifically the "auto fix" tool. Yet another application has moved to the cloud.

Learning experience. What was a lesson you learned this year that changed you?

I'm still learning how to listen. I love this story from a parenting book that illustrates how hard it is (I'm paraphrasing). It shows just how hard it is to really listen to others:

A mom took her son to a daycare to see if it was right for him. He went into the classroom and looked at a broken truck. He said, "Who broke this truck?" His mom quickly said, "Honey, let's not seek to blame other children." The teacher said, "In this classroom, it's OK if children accidentally break toys." She knew he was really asking, "what will happen to the child who broke this truck?"

Next, the boy went to the easel and looked at a painting another child had done. He said, "This is an ugly painting." His mom pulled him aside and said, "Honey, that wasn't a nice thing to say about the painting." The teacher replied to the boy, "In this classroom, it doesn't matter how well you can paint. We're all learning how to be better artists." She knew he was really asking, "what happens to children who can't paint well?"

The boy looked pleased, knowing that this would be a classroom where he'd be accepted for who he is.

Gift. What's a gift you gave yourself this year that has kept on giving?



MacBook Pro. Technically, work gave me this gift and technically it's not even a gift because it doesn't belong to me. But in a way, I gave it to myself by switching jobs.

Insight or aha! moment. What was your epiphany of the year?

Nobody has a clue about what they really want.

Social web moment. Did you meet someone you used to only know from her blog? Did you discover Twitter?

Pretending to be Urban Phantom (the bear) on Twitter.

Stationery. When you touch the paper, your heart melts. The ink flows from the pen. What was your stationery find of the year?

I'm using the same stationary I've used for the past 15 years. From my mom (she has a stationery business), with an embossed Goldberg at the top. If you've ever given me a gift, you've probably gotten a thank you note written on one.

Laugh. What was your biggest belly laugh of the year?

This:



And pretty much any other time spent with Amy Barr.

Top 10 Reasons to ring in 2010 at the Labyrinth party

1. It's a fundraiser for Lifelong Aids Alliance so you're partying for a good cause.
2. Open bar all night (i.e. all you can drink)
3. Skillet is catering (so all the bacon jam you can eat)
4. The Adventure School is planning the party so you know it's going to be amazing
5. Burlesque dancers, along with other performances (but who cares about the other performances when there's going to be burlesque dancers)
6. The Beta Society is doing a super secret art installation
7. DJs playing dance music all night and everyone will be in masquerade attire.
8. It's Labyrinth themed (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VppuD1St8Ec)
9. I'll be there (hopefully this isn't a reason not to attend!)
10. If all the above still haven't convinced you, here's a discount code which makes the ticket only cost $99: codeword "bowiespackage"

Buy tickets at: http://www.labyrinthNYE.com (use the discount code at checkout)

What's a business that you found this year that you love? Who thought it up? What makes it special?



Lala totally rocked my world this year. It completely changed the way I discover, listen to, and purchase music. I believe those statistics that say music spending is up among those who use file-sharing. Although Lala isn't file-sharing, it's a similar technology and I bought more music this year than in any other year since I got high-speed internet.

I wrote a bit about it earlier in the year, so I won't write much more. Apple recently bought Lala, so I hope they don't screw it up.

Hairdryers in Eilat are weird

At the end of my last post, we were about to leave for Jordan. We got an earlier start than we wanted, as we were woken up by thumping bass music at 5am. We took advantage of the time of day, and stayed up to watch the sun rise and book a place to stay in Aqaba (leeching someone's wi-fi). We chose a Dive Village on the South Beach area of town.



Crossing the border into Jordan was fairly easy, considering the history of the two nations. We tried to walk from Eilat to the border, but it turned out to be really far, really dusty, and totally lacking shade. We got a taxi for the last leg and walked across the border, paying our 95NIS crossing fee (used to discourage people from leaving Israel). We walked across this eerie no-mans-land between the two nations, as you can see above. It felt like a prisoner transfer or something from 24.

On the Jordanian side of the border, things weren't as organized. We were passed from window to window, getting the necessary stamps and visas into our passports. We were the only two people not part of a tour group, which we should have taken as a sign.



Finally, we had the documents necessary to get past the guard post and into the dusty parking lot on the Jordanian side of the boarder. Beyond the dirt lot was desert, with a single road stretching eastward as far as the eye could see. We were immediately accosted by taxi drivers, asking where we were going. We took a cab to downtown Aqaba, since we read that cabbing directly to the South Beach is more expensive than splitting it into two voyages.



We were dropped off in downtown Aqaba, and figured we could walk south until we got to South Beach. It wasn't until later we learned that South Beach is actually about 10km south of the city, past a huge industrial area, cargo port, cliffs, and generally a bunch of things that don't make for a relaxing walk. We walked past a large P-Patch that bordered the Red Sea. A promenade along the water took us past idle blue-collar types, people wanting to sell us food or boat excursions, women bathing in full black hijab dress.


Not where we stayed

There's something I'm having trouble putting into words in a respectful way, and I was tempted to leave it out as to not sound stereotypical or prejudiced. But it impacted our time in Jordan more than any other thing, so as imperfect as it may be, it must be said: every man in Jordan stared at Venessa as if they were just ejected from a spaceship or tossed overboard and could only breathe through their eyeballs if the oxygen would somehow flow out of Venessa's hair, breasts, hips, and legs through their gaze. EVERY man. It was disgraceful and disgusting. The unceasing, unrepentant stare of a man who's been told his entire life that he has no control over his body, his masculinity, his urges, and the only recourse to prevent society from degrading into a grinding mass of rape, orgy, and incest is to have the female form hidden from his view, so he never needs to exercise his own God-given power of restraint. I'm fully aware that this is my own culture speaking, and these men probably thought we were "disgraceful and disgusting," walking around in shorts and showing a modicum of affection towards each other in public. I'm curious what my friends with mid-Eastern backgrounds have to say about this, or those who've also traveled to Arab countries. It was one of those things where you knew what was coming, but reading or hearing about it just couldn't prepare one for actually experiencing it.


A nice photo to cleanse the palate from the above rant

We took a cab the rest of the way to South Beach, and found the Diver's Village. The Village itself was just across the main highway from the beach, and only about 5 minutes walk up a rather steep hill (which afforded an amazing view of the Red Sea and Egypt, but was unshaded and thus rather uncomfortable to traverse). The hotel area was appointed like a sultan's palace, with low, cushioned seating, lots of tile, and small cabins with a rooftop deck. The A/C was engaged in a fierce battle against the sun, and only upon sundown did the A/C unit win its nightly pyrrhic victory. The cabins themselves are under-priced as loss-leaders for more expensive scuba excursions, so we just enjoyed the views, did a lot of reading, and partook in the amazing breakfasts each morning.



The cabins were set in a slight valley, so on 3 sides was the sight you see above: a small dirt hill with a pack of wild dogs playing, scavenging, and yapping. The area seemed to be in an eternal state of unfinished construction projects. The hotel had a restaurant, where a meal for two can be had for 5JD ($7).



We spent the day snorkeling and swimming. I struck up a conversation with a group of boys, but the language barrier and the ambient noise made it rather futile. They wanted to know if Venessa and I were married, where we're from. Anyone who's spoken to teenagers in a foreign country knows the standard questions. I played the part of the gracious guest and told them that Jordan is the highlight of my trip, and mostly downplayed the Jewish/Israel portion of our voyage.

While Venessa was out snorkeling and I was on the beach, I met a young Israeli couple from Tel Aviv, the only Israelis we encountered in Jordan. I told them we were heading back into Israel in a couple days and we'd be in Tel Aviv the following week. They recommended Gordon Beach and after I thanked them for the recommendation, the woman said "See you there" without a hint of irony.



As the sun set it became bearable to sit outside in an unshaded location. I spent the final minutes of daylight on the rooftop deck, watching the sun set behind the Egyptian hills, and reading a novel in the fading twilight as the dogs' muted howls competed with the constant whoooosh of the wind kicking up sand from one hill to the next.

Tomorrow will be the long trip up to Petra.

Word or phrase. A word that encapsulates your year. "2009 was _____."

Kablamo

Shop. Online or offline, where did you spend most of your mad money this year?

A plurality of my money went to a little boutique called Chase Mortgages. Additionally, I spent a lot dining out, and on bike/biathlon stuff.

Car ride. What did you see? How did it smell? Did you eat anything as you drove there? Who were you with?

Driving from Safed through the West Bank to Eilat over a couple days. We ate Hit wafers and fruit stolen from breakfast buffets.

New person. She came into your life and turned it upside down. He went out of his way to provide incredible customer service. Who is your unsung hero of 2009?

I didn't meet too many new people.

Project. What did you start this year that you're proud of?

I'm in the middle of a big project to scan old photos. The secret toothpaste tube project is still ongoing. Owning chickens is kind of a never-ending project. I guess you could say the same for parenting.

Info has been slow to come in and it's all rather vague, but it sounds like there's going to be a David Bowie themed pub crawl tonight on Capital Hill.

Here's what I know:

The Adventure School will be having a BOWIE BAR CRAWL tonight to pump up Capitol Hill for the Labyrinth NYE Party! Join us in your Bowie finery! If you make it the whole night you get 1/2 off your Labyrinth NYE tickets (which are $125)!

Schedule as follows:
8 – 8:30 Meet the Adventure School 1205 E. Pike (free drinks)
8:30-9 – barrio & tavern Law 1406 12th Ave
9-9:30 Grey Gallery/PURR - 1512 11th Ave
9:30-10 Cha-Cha - 1013 E Pike St
10-10:30 Quinns/MOE - 1001 E. Pike
10:30-11 Rosebud - 719 E. Pike
11:-11:30 Lindas - 707 E. Pine
11:30-12 Kurrant - 606 E. Pine
12:12-30 Capitol Club - 414 E. Pine
12:30-on Eagle (Fringe) - 314 E. Pike

Check in with Cori at 1am for the discount code to get your 1/2 NYE tickets.

*Call the Adventure School hotline for updates throughout the night 206-802-8048

Tea of the year. I can taste my favorite tea right now. What's yours?



I'm not much of a tea drinker (I prefer hot water when I'm cold, or chocolate when I need a stimulant), but when I do drink tea, it's Horny Goat Weed! Come on guys, who doesn't need a dose of kidney yang restorative?

Best packaging. Did your headphones come in a sweet case? See a bottle of tea in another country that stood off the shelves?

Today's subject is inane and I refuse to answer it. The mere supposition that shiny, landfill-clogging crap temporarily surrounding your material possessions could possibly register a blip in one's recollection of 2009 makes me want to stop doing this entire exercise.

The best packaging is no packaging. Shop at farmers markets and thrift shops! Reuse old stuff! Fix your broken stuff! Barter! Freecycle! Donate old belongings! Plant a garden! Raise farm animals! Meet your neighbors and lend stuff to them!

Screw packaging and screw the mentality that gives packaging equal importance as food, books, and education.

Rush. When did you get your best rush of the year?



Not sure I can pick just one. Here are a few times I had an elevated heart rate, in the "thrilling" kind of way:

- Getting married (the actual ceremony part)
- Biathlon races (ready, set, go!)
- Marrying Copper and James (the actual ceremony part)
- Quitting Skytap, starting at Robot Co-op ("Ross, do you have a minute?")
- Performing at Purim Spiel (the band hits their first note, and it's do or die)

What's the best change you made to the place you live?



Moving out of Nightmare on Elmwood and into a home we own. Of course, now we're house-poor and responsible for our own home upkeep, but that's the American Dream, right?



Getting chickens is also a major plus, directly related to the move.

As one of my many astute readers pointed out, my favorite restaurant experience sorta happened in 2008, not 2009.

So my real best restaurant experience of 2009 was eating schwarma in Jerusalem.

New food. You're now in love with Lebanese food and you didn't even know what it was in January of this year.

I must be turning into an old man, set in my ways. I don't think I discovered any new cuisines this year. But here are some of the foods that rocked my world:

- Everything Venessa makes, especially her pizza and desserts
- Pho (Pho Bac, of course, and also Ballet now)
- Rancho Bravo
- The fries at Cafe Presse
- Any of the curries at Ayutthaya

As you can see, my new work location plays a big role in the types of food I enjoy.