Scientists have shown that the same neurons that fire furiously to create a memory are the ones that light up when you're trying to go back and retrieve it. As one researcher describes, “It’s a really central piece of the memory puzzle and an important step in helping us fill in the detail of what exactly is happening when the brain performs this mental time travel” of summoning past experiences. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/science/05brain.html?ref=health

This article is a Q&A format with a neurobiology professor from MIT about why we're more likely to remember bad things instead of good ones. I think it's something that people have always wondered but you're not always able to put your finger on the reason behind the discrepancy. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1817329,00.html

Actually, let me back up, you could also be anyone who is curious about Portland, and is watching the beat of the city.

You may have visited the city on several occasions. Or you have have just settled in your new place. And you’re looking for a user group, meetup, or a venue to learn something useful. You may start bookmarking events and going to them. Then you meet someone, who tells you that almost all the community member uses Twitter to communicate with each other inbetween the usergroups, meetups and venues.

But you don’t know how amazing Portland is—not yet. All you have is an invitation to join “this microblogging thing called Twitter” and the Twitter username of your newly met friend at the usergroup, meetup or venue.

So your friend says:
“If you’re on Twitter, follow me @JohnSmith!”

But then you ask:

“Sure, but who else should I follow on Twitter?”

And your newly met friend replies:
“There’s about 50 of them that would be perfect for you to follow, but that I can’t think of right now. Can I email you when I get home?”

Here’s the problem: there’s a chance that the email will never get sent, and you may never discover how vibrant the local creative/technology community is.

What a waste of opportunity, right?

But what if your friend can refer to a page that has Twitter handles of all Portland creative and technology community member, along with a short description of who they are and what they do (and even a profile, if you’re that curious)?

Let’s call the page Portland Tech Twitter wiki. And the URL: http//tr.im/ptt

And, lo: you’re able to search for Tweeples to follow based on your interest, and your friend don’t have to blame his inability to recite names of 50 Portland area Tweeple—impromptu!

All we need now is the “50 Portland area Tweeples” bit (which, in reality, is closer to 5,000 Tweeples.) Because Amber Case, Mark Dilley and I couldn’t possibly type all of your usernames, short bios and profiles up.

But you can.

So, could I ask you a favor?

• Go to the Portland Tech Twitter wiki
• Edit the page by hitting “Edit Wiki,” and then
• Add your Twitter handle, name and short description to the list, or correct your description—mostly made by Amber Case and I rather hastily (I try my best to be snarky)

That’s it. There’s even this code that you can Copy and Paste to the wiki edit window to make it easier:

:[http://www.twitter.com/YourUsername @YourUsername] – [[Your Real Name]]
::A short description about what you do, and your day job at [[ThisCompany.com|This Company]]


The goal is so that everyone can refer to the page when they meet someone who is new or curious to the city and its communities, and make it easier for everybody find people who he/she may like to converse with on Twitter or meet in real life. New friendships are thus made. Connections are born. And communities, grown. And everyone leaves the room after the meetup better than when he/she came.

So add your name to the Portland Tech Twitter wiki, won’t you?

And don’t all go hit the “Edit Wiki” button together.

Thank you.

We had dinner at Beavers (I do love a restaurant that has a sense of humor and doesn't take itself too seriously!). I had the nut burger - it was quite good! But I didn't like the Philly mac-n-cheese. Neener got the BBQ sandwich and Boom got ribs. They liked the hot sauce:

And, according to Boom, if Ruby was a beer bottle, she'd be this one:

Then we headed to the Verizon Center to see Citizen Cope - he was AWESOME! Has an incredible voice that sounds exactly like it does on the CD - which means he is minimally produced.

It was a very mixed crowd - lots of young people, but also some older folks. And the ladies were professing their love to him - too funny! I only have 1 album of his - the one that Neener gave to me. I need to get his others.

Such a great weekend - Neener is a great, great gal. She has the best heart and is so nice and genuine and smart and interesting. Beautiful, too, to boot! and then to top it off, I went to Joanns and got a bunch of patterns for only $0.99 and 2 different fabrics for a shirt and dress for 40% off! I didn't have any time to sew, but maybe next weekend.

Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book
Watch Neil Gaiman read The Graveyard Book on a 9-city video tour. At each stop on the tour, Neil will read one chapter from The Graveyard Book. Beginning on October 1st, we will post the video readings daily. By the end of the tour, on October 9th, you will be able to watch the master storyteller himself read The Graveyard Book in its entirety right here.

Application Development/Design

• Scott Guthrie has posted his October 10th Links. ASP.NET, ASP.NET AJAX, jQuery, IIS
• Sara Chipps gives us The Hitchhiker's Guide to Refactoring: Why, Where, When and How. "How do you get to the point where you're comfortable knowing when to make the refactoring choice? I'm going to share with you what I have done in the last months, hopeully you can glean some wisdom."
• BlackWasp has posted an article on Generating Random Numbers.
• Derick Bailey tells us The Point of Delegates in .NET.
• Adam Tibi has posted a good C# syntax comparison article titled Three C# 2.0/3.0 Syntaxes That You Didn't Know But Were Afraid to Ask.
• Article(s) from Code project: Append Date and Time to File
• Forum Thread(s):
• Tip(s): Edit a .csproj or .vbproj project file within the IDE | Configure the MSBuild verbosity in the Output window

SQL Server, Compliance & PowerShell

• Kenneth Downs has posted a great article on The Argument For Normalization. "The major argument for normalization is very simple: you end up coding less, coding easier, and coding stronger, and you end up with fewer data errors."
• Here is an article on Simple-Talk that explains all The New Data Types in SQL Server 2008.
• Scott Bateman has started a series on Cool New Features in SSMS. Select Top 100 Rows | Recent Expensive Queries
• Pinal Dave has posted an article titled SQL SERVER - 2008 - TRIM() Function - User Defined Function. "SQL Server does not have function which can trim leading or trailing spaces of any string at the same time."
• Forum Thread(s):

 Community & Technology Events

• Houston Area User Group Meetings - This is my monthly listing of Houston area user group meetings.
• Brent Ozar shares what he learned at Tulsa Tech Fest 2008.
• Claudio Lassala has posted his presentation material from Tulsa TechFest.
• Aaron Lerch provides his slide deck on ASP.NET MVC from Indy Tech Fest.

Blogging and Social Networking

• Ran across a good Web Worker Daily article on how to Twitter With Your Favorite Productivity Web Apps.

Self-Improvement, Productivity and Career

• Good article on Lifehack asks the question Are You Sabotaging Your Plan to Exercise More?
• Interesting post titled 11 Mindless Eating Habits for Skinny Robots.
• Great article from Zen Habits listing 10 Simple Ways to Live a Less Stressful Life. I really need to do #1, but when you are getting pulled 3 directions it is difficult.

Sports, Entertainment and Everything Else

• I love this Awesomeness wallpaper.
• Nice tips from Wired Magazine on how to Photograph the Stars.
• Looks like the 80's sci-fi series V is making a comeback.
• Cool article on the MESSENGER 10/6 Mercury Flyby. (via @KeviKev on Twitter)  
• Movie Trailers: The Unborn | Twilight   
• Funny Dilberts this week: 10/8

--

Great Link Blog Sources

• Jason Haley - Interesting Finds
• Alvin Ashcraft - Daily Links
• Steve Pietrek - Links
• Arjan Zuidhof - LinkBlog
• Christopher Steen - Link Listing
• Mike Gunderloy - Double-Shot
• David Vidmar - Links of the week
• Sam Gentile - New and Notable
• Craig Bailey - On Microsoft
• Chris Alcock - Morning Brew
• Darren Stokes - Visual Studio Links
• Chris Love - Links of the Week

--

Happy Surfing.

Check it out…..

sharonharden. firstkiss. biz

If anything you see sparks an interest, go ahead and order it or if you want to host a party you would get the hostess product of the month as well as 10% of the party’s total in free products.

Plus, if you book a party in October all the proceeds I use to purchase the hostess product of the month, the Papalion Massager, will be going to support breast cancer awareness.

Hugs and Kisses,
Sharon
404-313-9591
firstkiss21@firstkiss.biz

¿Convertirse en una pintura Boticelli o El Greco? Sencillo. ¿O parecer chimpancé? ¡Aún más sencillo! Solamente es necesario subir una foto en The Face Transformer y jugar con los resultados.

I don't want to give too much away, but I felt the story was going along fine until it got about 75% through. It seemed that the plot took a fantastical direction that wasn't needed. A simple, straight forward ending would have been stronger, truer to the characters and world created in this story. I seem to remember from workshops in college that being simple and straight forward is the way to go. I just felt this story fell flat in it's complicated and crisscrossing plot. In the end it was all to neat and tidy.

La propia vida es una constante migración, un eterno tránsito de un tiempo al otro: pero hay quienes escogen la ruta hacia espacios distintos. Espacios vitales, espacios para uno mismo, espacios que dan lugar a la reflexión, a volver a mirarnos a nosotros mismos desde una nueva perspectiva; lugares para la re-invención de uno mismo, de nuestras creencias y de nuestras ilusiones. Así, los nuevos espacios –reales y metafóricos-- que nos plantea el desarraigo constituyen un reto para todos nosotros en algún momento de nuestras vidas, y son el punto de partida de las reflexiones que Cristina Planas se plantea en “La migración de los santos”, la muestra que inaugura este 15 de octubre en la galería “Vértice”.

“Los santos están en los altares, pero antes de estar allí fueron seres humanos y vivieron en esta tierra” señala la artista, aludiendo a la caracterización que ella les ha dado a tres santos que son iconos de nuestra cultura popular; San Martín de Porres, Santa Rosa de Lima y Sarita Colonia.

“Estoy disponiendo la galería como si fuera una gran iglesia antigua; en lo que sería el altar principal está en Señor de los Milagros, el Cristo Moreno, al que ubico junto con el friso del templo de Pachacamac, el Dios de los Temblores prehispánico, entre los cuales ha habido un sincretismo religioso notable, que envuelve a los nativos, los africanos y los españoles”.

El montaje de la exposición ubica, al lado derecho, “a la diestra del Señor”, a San Martín y Santa Rosa, los santos que son, digamos, oficiales, y a la izquierda está Sarita Colonia, la santa popular pero que no ha sido reconocida por el Vaticano. De todas estas piezas, Sarita, ubicada en un altar que más parece una combi, es la única que mira directamente al Cristo, con una expresión juguetona. “Sarita, la santa de los choferes, dice Acelera nomás, yo guío, que es viene a ser una afirmación de que, si vamos a migrar, hagámoslo ya mismo, fijémonos en la meta y no tanto en el camino” apunta la artista.

Conceptos relacionados aunque un poco distintos son los que rodean a las figuras de Santa Rosa y San Martín: a ella se le nota disfrutando, en contraposición a su imagen tradicional, y su propuesta es más bien, en oposición a la de Sarita Colonia, disfrutar del proceso, aunque no necesariamente lleguemos a la meta esperada, o aún si la meta no es lo que esperábamos, y esto se encarna en el lema es “no se gana pero se goza”. De otro lado, el San Martín de Porres de Cristina Planas es un personaje que encarna la potencia, el “sí se puede” como lema, como certeza que nos mueve hacia delante.

Lo que he hecho con las piezas es traerlas a la actualidad” afirma Planas, “en la actualidad ya no matan a nadie con espinas ni con clavos, sino más bien con armas de fuego, entre otras cosas. Por eso al Cristo Moreno lo he retratado como clavado de fusiles, en vez de coronado de espinas; a Sarita la he ubicado en su combi; a San Martín lo he caracterizado como un muchacho de barrio; y a Santa Rosa como a la mujer apasionada que es capaz de disfrutar de su proceso vital” señala nuestra entrevistada, quien aclara que esto es un gran parte porque “en ninguno de los casos estoy proponiendo un sufrimiento, sino más bien un disfrute”.

El texto del catálogo, a cargo del sociólogo Sandro Venturo, resume que : “La migración de los santos nos habla de los desplazamientos que vivimos dentro y fuera de la comunidad, y es también una indagación sobre los traspasos que vivimos en nuestro interior y fuera de él, en soledad y con los nuestros. Es una pesquisa acerca de los desplazamientos que vivimos dentro y fuera de la comunidad. Planas plantea, a propósito de la experiencia migratoria, una reflexión sobre la potencia de la acción (Martín), el proceso de la acción (Rosa) y la acción como atrevimiento (Sarita)”.

MÁS FOTOS DE LAS OBRAS EN MI ALBUM ONLINE.

_______________

Vértice Galería de Arte (Ernesto Plascencia 350, San Isidro). Del 15 de octubre al 8 de  De lunes a viernes, de 11:00 am. a 8:00 pm.; Sábados de 3:00 pm. a 7:00 pm.
Ingreso libre

_______________

OMG I MADE A PICZO SITE!!!!! ITS AWESOME!!!!! CHECK IT OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.luhy.piczo.com/home?cr=6 ALSO CHECK OUT MY OTHER SITES!! WWW.LUHY2.WORDPRESS.COM , WWW.LUHYISOWESOME.WORDPRESS.COM , AND WWW.PINKEY2WE.WORDPRESS.COM !

 *****WARNING YOU WILL BE AMUSED FOR HOURS!*****

-Pinkey2we :mrgreen:

Há jaquetas de couro e camisas pólo à prova de balas. Camisas guayaberas blindadas estão penduradas ao lado de casacos impermeáveis de proteção, parkas e até smokings brancos. Todos os membros da equipe de vendas tiveram que levar um tiro usando um dos produtos, cujos preços variam de algumas centenas de dólares a US$ 7.000 (cerca de R$ 14 mil), para que eles possam atestar a eficiência da roupa.

Realmente, é quase que o fim do mundo! Além de prestar atenção nas minhas ações, tenho que andar blindado pra não levar tiro nas costas?

Mas como o bom político que não sou, vou amenizar a situação com diversão. Rá! Ode to Joy tocada pelo Beaker, dos Muppets:

Oi, eu sou um link. Você quer ser meu amigo?

(Não dá pra colocar vídeos do Vimeo aqui, por isso esse projeto de link...)

Hoje também é dia de Nossa Senhora Aparecida, a padroeira do Brasil. Mas eu não me importo muito...

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=370743&altf=Njdlfz&altl=Npvtf&lap=2

It's a bulletin about a new grassroots movement presidency candidate - just put your friend's name down for the candidates name and send them the link.. xD

See an example here (if you want to see the video before you do it yourself):

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=370743&altf=Njdlfz&altl=Npvtf

Nesse site é possível encontrar uma infinidade de fontes grátis. O site conta com uma pré-visualização do texto que você quer com cada fonte. As fontes são divididas em categorias. Um dos melhores que eu conheço.

Urban Fonts

Com características semelhantes ao DaFont. Provavelmente muitas fontes que você encontra em um vai encontrar no outro também.

What The Font?

Site muito útil pro pessoal de direção de arte. Nesse site você coloca uma imagem com a fonte que você deseja e ele vai indicar qual foi a fonte usada na imagem. Muito bom pra quando você quer uma fonte específica de alguma marca e não sabe qual é a fonte. As fontes indicadas são normalmente pagas, mas você pode assim que descobrir o nome da fonte pesquisar no google.

Vale a pena conferir e se inscrever.
http://www.prophp.com.br/palestrante.php

Objetivos:
Capacitar os profissionais da área de informática a desenvolver aplicações corporativas para Internet, sob o paradigma de orientação a objetos, utilizando recursos baseados na linguagem PHP. O curso pretende fornecer, de forma prática e objetiva, a atualização de conhecimentos em desenvolvimento de sistemas e aplicações para Internet, atendendo, assim, às necessidades geradas pelo mercado. Visa oferecer, também, ao profissional de informática, o entendimento dos diversos recursos disponibilizados pelo PHP e forte base para projetar um sistema para Internet ou manter sistemas existentes. Além disso, um dos módulos é preparatório para se obter a certificação Zend Certified PHP Engineer, que proporciona ao aluno uma visibilidade maior no mercado profissional, sendo um diferencial competitivo aos desenvolvedores nesta linguagem.

Público-alvo:
Profissionais graduados em Ciência da Computação, Engenharia da Computação, Sistemas de Informação, Tecnológicos da área de Informática ou graduados em outras áreas, com conhecimentos / experiência comprovados em Informática.

Clique e confira:
http://www.unicid.br/cgi/cgilua.exe/sys/start.htm?sid=143

And pumpkin patches to trudge through.  Ruby picked out a pumpkin and kissed it.

Good choice, huh?

Now it feels like fall and halloween can arrive.  I love attending these seasonal festivals to get us in the spirit of things.  We've got a few pumpkins on the porch - white, beige, and orange and squash inside.  How do you celebrate fall?

On a totally unrelated, random note, I found a link to this flickr collection of Richard Scarry comparisons on Simple Mom.  I have my old Richard Scarry nursery rhyme book and Ruby recently chose a Richard Scarry number book from the library.  We love the simple illustrations of the books.  Anyway, this flickr site compares one of his books published in the 60s and the same book updated in the 90s.  The pictures and words are updated to allow for a bit more diversity.  I love it!  I need to go to the library and check out the new version of my old book now to compare.

*Money: AC/DC is second only to the Beatles in album sales (with 26.4 million total), ahead of the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. They're also doing the digital music thing on their own (weird) terms. Unrelated: Who's got the biggest balls of them all? Kellen Winslow, Jr., apparently. (Grapefruits?)

*Literature: The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to Present comes out on November 11th. After Chinese Democracy, you will note. (I have the 1001 Albums book. I hope there is some overlap, or I am in real trouble.)

*Recession sell-off: Diamond encrusted iPod earbuds. They cost $60k.

*Cooking: Mario Batali's personal playlist includes Cesaria Evora, Tom Waits and R.E.M. I think a blog that aggregated celebrity playlists, allowing users to visually make connections between and among them, would be a good idea. Also, it would be too much work for me to undertake.

*Rap: The Beastie Boys have announced a series of Get Out and Vote shows. Because, apparently, the 40-year-old white guy needs a kick in the ass to get out to the polls.

*Fashion: Lupe Fiasco helps design a Converse sneaker for next year's (RED) campaign. Still? (With the Lupe Fiasco AND the RED?) Available in January.

*Words and politics: The New Yorker's James Wood on Sarah Palin -

"She may claim, as she did in last Thursday's Vice-Presidential debate, that 'Americans are cravin' that straight talk,' but they are sure not going to get it from the Governor––not with her peculiar habit of speaking only half a sentence and then moving on to another for spoliation, that strange, ghostly drifting through the haziest phrases, as if she were cruelly condemned to search endlessly for her linguistic home."