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Michael Gat
Venice Beach, CA
Project Manager, Trader, Photographer, Outdoorsman, Observer of the World
Interests: it strategy, looking for the multiple shades of grey in between dogmatic black and white. it makes no difference whether you're talking project management, how to run a river, or even politics, there are always people trying to tell you that there's only one way to do it, which happens to be their way. usually, in between all those, there's a way that really is the best.
Recent Activity
Randomness...
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The latest meme masquerading as science I hate stuff like this. Not because it isn't true (it is), or even that it couldn't possibly be education (which it might). I hate it because the opportunity is squandered by somebody trying to make something that's fairly routine seem incredibly special and miraculous. Already, social media is full of comments from people claiming that something so "miraculous" must somehow prove the existence of their particular god. It doesn't. Random, Non-terminating, non-repeating decimals are actually quite common in nature. Pi is one. So is the square root of 2, and in fact the... Continue reading
Posted Apr 29, 2013 at Thoughts In Grey
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Dear Mr. Kim, give up your nukes!
We have become a nation that's afraid of its own shadows, who would prefer to shut down and hide in front of our TVs with beer and junk food rather than go out every day and learn to stare down the risks that everybody else in the world takes for granted. Unlike our British allies in London, we won't even consider going out if anybody even suspects a terrorist of being somewhere in the same metro area. Unlike the Israelis, going about our business while there's a nutcase possibly on the loose seems inconceivable, even if he's across a river miles away from us. Continue reading
Posted Apr 22, 2013 at Thoughts In Grey
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Brief notes
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The ubiquitous earthquake or first aid kit is useless if you don't know what to do with it, and the moments after an emergency is not the time to start learning. Take a class and think ahead. Continue reading
Posted Apr 18, 2013 at Thoughts In Grey
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It's not about you!
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For some people, the only possible reaction seemed to be to talk about how it made them feel. To all these people, I have a simple message: It's not about you! Continue reading
Posted Apr 15, 2013 at Thoughts In Grey
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Getting thinner
Really, not just thinner. Also fitter, happier and a whole bunch of other things that go along with it. But I'll start where it started, almost a year ago when on one late Sunday night I noticed what seemed to be a rather annoying pimple or ingrown hair on the inside of my thigh, just below the groin. By the next morning it had grown into something larger and more bothersome, especially given the location. That afternoon I started feeling a bit sick and feverish, though I didn't really connect the two facts. Tuesday morning it was sufficiently inflamed that... Continue reading
Posted Mar 17, 2013 at Thoughts In Grey
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If it's Tuesday, we must be voting
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We have, in Los Angeles, perfected the art of gerrymandering. Not only we do we define districts based on the needs of the political insiders, but we do the same with the elections themselves. Continue reading
Posted Mar 5, 2013 at Thoughts In Grey
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With a bit of experimentation after some further maintenance, I have figured out how to do it using a square-ish funnel and a folded sheet of aluminum foil to shape in position as a splash guard, directing the oil to where it needs to go. Not perfect at all, but only a few small drips needed to be cleaned up.
Toggle Commented Oct 30, 2012 on Lost art: Design for maintainability at Thoughts In Grey
Sorry Facebook, you're becoming as bad as TV
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"Showing me what my friends like" has in fact become nothing more than a thinly-veiled excuse for shoving irrelevant and annoying advertising in my face, regardless of my stated preferences and interests, using the excuse that somewhere, somehow, somebody I vaguely know from some period in my past has decided to "like" this thing. The things that the people I really intereact with "like" most, and the things I've expressed interest in, and continue to show interest in when I have the opportunity have fallen by the wayside. Continue reading
Posted Oct 30, 2012 at Thoughts In Grey
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Lost art: Design for maintainability
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Americans used to know how to fix and do things themselves. Compared to Europeans and others around the world, that instinct for tinkering set us apart and was substantially responsible for the fact that we've been such an innovative country in so many fields. These days -- to judge by the state of my inbox and my facebook feed -- most people don't have sufficient "fixit" skills to even identify a good mechanic on their own, let alone do the actual job themselves. Continue reading
Posted Oct 22, 2012 at Thoughts In Grey
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Improv and iPhones
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Like most introverts, I am "geared to inspect"1 while improv favors the extroverted "geared to respond" personality. I work best when allowed to question freely and think through problems, working from a strong knowledge of the facts while questioning in order to develop alternatives and options. It's what I do well and it's what makes me tick. When pressed into an improv-style "don't deny the reality, just add something to it!" situation, I am often at a loss for what to do. Continue reading
Posted Oct 20, 2012 at Thoughts In Grey
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Anti-SocialMe
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Parsing through Facebook, Twitter and other similar mediums to try to figure you out is fraught with difficulty. It is said that well over 80% of communcation is non-verbal. Even in written communications, context and some knowledge of the person doing the communicating is key to figuring out what the person is talking about. Unfortuantely, most parsers have little more to go on than the actual words, and as a result they make pretty bad and often funny mistakes. Continue reading
Posted Oct 15, 2012 at Thoughts In Grey
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Buy Gold! (WTF???)
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"Hey... this is Mitch with Newbridge Metals, good afternoon, we talked a while back, how's life been treating you?" "I'm fine and it's not afternoon, you might perhaps want to have a clue where you're calling before the autodialer connects you." Continue reading
Posted Aug 24, 2012 at Thoughts In Grey
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Curious thoughts
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A couple of things occured to me this morning: Members of my generation, raised on Apollo, Skylab and the early Space Shuttle missions, still have a special place in their hearts for science and the exploration of space, as evidenced by the overwhelming number of my friends commenting about Curiosity on Facebook and Twitter until the early hours of the morning. Members of my generation, raised on a limited selection of weekend morning entertainment options, still have a special place in their hearts for the most obscure Looney Tunes characters, as evidenced by the overwhelming number of my friends posting... Continue reading
Posted Aug 6, 2012 at Thoughts In Grey
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The birthday boy's ice cream
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Somewhere in LA there must be a place that serves good old fashioned premium chocolate ice cream with nothing mixed in, in a good old fashioned cone the way I like it. Continue reading
Posted Jul 31, 2012 at Thoughts In Grey
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Jess, Sorry I missed the question. I think usually the instructions are for little pots of catnip, which each has many seedlings in it. A single seedling every 12-18 inches would be way too little. They don't all survive. In a 12" pot, I've usually transplanted 3-4 of the small "plugs" that each have 5-8 individual seedlings in them. They grow out pretty well. In a garden with unlimited rooting area, I'd spread them out a bit more. Plants in a garden can grow much bigger than they usually do in pots. Michael
Toggle Commented Jul 2, 2012 on Growing Catnip at Thoughts In Grey
Brief Greek notes
Repurcussions of Greece withdrawing from the Eurozone? For starters, several thousand TV pundits will need new jobs. Continue reading
Posted May 25, 2012 at Thoughts In Grey
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Yeah, Colorado and Utah are on the list. Colorado is tougher because I really don't know many people there, and frankly I've always hated Denver. Boulder area could be fun, if I found the right opportunity.
Toggle Commented May 19, 2012 on Brief notes at Thoughts In Grey
I won't try to guess it that precisely, but would not be buying it now, if ever. Need to see a lot more in terms of results and how they plan to build more of them.
Toggle Commented May 19, 2012 on Brief notes at Thoughts In Grey
Brief notes
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I've heard a lot of bitching about the troubles with order execution, threats of lawsuits, etc. Really people, loss of liquidity for a variety of reasons has always been a risk. You should have learned that one in '87, and certainly should have been aware of the possibility since the "Flash Crash" a couple of years ago. If you can't deal with that risk, you shouldn't be in the market. Liquidity and rapid execution are not guaranteed and never have been. Continue reading
Posted May 18, 2012 at Thoughts In Grey
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Brief notes
Written with a cat on my chest. Excuse any typos. Earlier I was asked what I thought of the Facebook IPO. I answered honestly, that I haven't thought much about it at all. Why should I spend much time thinking about events that I'm not participating in? While getting my hair cut yesterday, chatted with somebody who said her fiancee "imported" her from New Hampshire because he couldn't find any women around here who love to hike, mountain bike, and do all the other outdoor stuff as much as he does. Should have asked her if she has a sister.... Continue reading
Posted May 17, 2012 at Thoughts In Grey
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Ugh, I remember that. It was such bug-ware too.
Toggle Commented May 16, 2012 on Why I don't read the newspaper anymore at Thoughts In Grey
Facebook advertising sucks? Maybe.
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It's hard to quantify what interests people and even more difficult to quantify whether or not the person is ready, willing or able to make a purchase. Get just one factor wrong in your customer profile and you'll miss a perfectly good candidate, or alternately end up advertising to somebody who isn't interested at all. Continue reading
Posted May 16, 2012 at Thoughts In Grey
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For those who think in grey, like me
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Leica just introduced a new black-and-white only digital camera. I couldn't be more excited, even though I probably won't be spending that much on a camera anytime soon. Continue reading
Posted May 13, 2012 at Thoughts In Grey
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Why I don't read the newspaper anymore
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It's now after 9pm on the day a notable entertainment figure died, and the "hometown newspaper of the entertainment business" still hasn't posted a thing. Continue reading
Posted May 13, 2012 at Thoughts In Grey
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Mimi, I responded by email, but just for anybody else who is interested: For new seeds or seedlings you really need to keep the soil moist or they won't germinate properly. For plants, they are pretty hardy. I usually let the soil get fairly dry, then soak it thoroughly. I find it's easiest to just put pots in the sink or under a shower-type hose nozzle and let the water flow until it's flowing through nicely. If they dry out too much, it's really not a big deal. So long as the roots aren't completely dead, just resume watering and the plant will grow back. You'll probably lost much of the old dried-out plant, so just clip it back as the new sprouts come in. In my climate, with the plants in pots outdoors, I need to water them about every two days in summer and every four days in winter. mg
Toggle Commented Oct 27, 2011 on Growing Catnip at Thoughts In Grey
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