Brandon Moon

"Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to..."

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:54:03 -0600

“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really merely commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the planning, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chain of events, working through generations and leading to the most outer results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable.”

- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

imremembering: Crossfire (Remembered by Cody) These were the...

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:42:29 -0600

imremembering:

Crossfire

(Remembered by Cody)

These were the good ol’ days. I always wanted this game! I remember that friends had it, but I never had my own.

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and..."

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:05:00 -0600

“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

- Mark Twain

Useful Advice

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:40:00 -0600

I can’t really say I received this advice from any one source, but here it is:

“Don’t take yourself too seriously”

OK maybe it’s fairly cliche, but honestly, it’s good advice for someone like me. I am extremely introspective at times. I worry way to much about what others think of me, to the point that somehow I convince myself that other people are being extremely critical of me. As if they were watching for me to mess up or something. It’s kind of funny how the mind can do that.

Anyhow, I’ve come a long way in ignoring those thoughts and just being myself. I’m not always perfect at it, but you know—that’s OK. Because no one is really watching. Except me. And I’m OK with that.

So a coupla friends and I went down to Goblin Valley for the...

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:17:00 -0600

Conquering the World

Goblin Valley

Rock Hopping

Admiring the Scenery

Shadow Art!

Practicing Ninja Skillz

Help! I'm stuck!

A Desert Wasteland

...and Kevin!

Little Wild Horse Canyon

So a coupla friends and I went down to Goblin Valley for the weekend. It was a blast! We headed down Friday night, camped overnight at a trail head, then hiked through Goblin Valley and a little ways up Little Wild Horse Canyon on Saturday. It was a short trip, but tons of fun!

explodingdog: back to the cave I can totally relate to this.

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:43:35 -0600

explodingdog:

back to the cave

I can totally relate to this.

Casual Gaming

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:40:11 -0600

Casual Gaming:

Interesting article about casual gaming, and how it’s influencing society.

Most See Internet As Positive Social Force

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:23:00 -0600

Most See Internet As Positive Social Force:

Do you think the Internet has helped or hurt us socially?

Are you meta-biased?

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:05:29 -0600

Meta: about its own category. In other words, a bias towards a certain bias. Or in this case, a bias about being biased.

It turns out, according to this article, much of what you buy is based on branding, or in other words, bias. You may think you make rational decisions, but apparently “you prefer the things you own because you rationalize your past choices to protect your sense of self.”

In my mind, this is like being biased about your preferences (or biases) you have towards certain companies and products. You justify your purchases based on what you already have invested in them. For example, I have owned Palm products for a while, and therfore I am biased towards their products. When something better comes along from another company, I rationalize my choices by downplaying that product and pinpointing things mine does better. This effectively strengthens that bias. At least according to the article. Do you think it’s true?

I’ve been trying to revisit my opinions with this perspective. For example, you all know my bias against Apple. Do I dislike Apple simply because I haven’t gone down that road? I’ve invested so much in alternatives, so now I avoid Apple? And to justify it, I find flaws in their system and point fingers at their ethics? How many of my opinions are affected by this? Am I really a victim of “fanboyism?”

Or maybe it’s not that big of an influence on our decisions, which is what I feel is more likely. Yes, I am biased. But I’m not biased to the point of ignorance. I pay attention, I know what’s out there, I know the relative strengths and weaknesses of a product. True, I have a preference, but that doesn’t mean I won’t see reason. I can stand in a grocery aisle and pick out a box of cereal without thinking about it all day, but I don’t blindly buy one product without paying attention to the alternatives. This, to me, is more about turning a blind eye to the things we don’t think are important. Maybe our decisions aren’t completely objective (surprise surprise), but I still think we can be mostly rational.

So yeah, I’ve been branded, but I’m not that loyal.

"One thing you will probably remember well is any time you forgive and forget"

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 08:14:14 -0600

“One thing you will probably remember well is any time you forgive and forget”

- Franklin P. Jones

OK, so I finally got around to sifting through the hundreds of...

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:13:00 -0600

The traditional map photo

Our whole district

MTC zone (hall) meeting

Studying by the Spirit

Our favorite game: "Listos Ya"

District Bonding

Hmo. Taggart, our teacher

Miracles do happen at the MTC

Girls in the MTC? What?

OK, so I finally got around to sifting through the hundreds of photos I scanned in from my mission (to New York New York South). I’ve decided to post a few selections. This first “installment” is from the MTC. I hope you enjoy them (please don’t judge!)

Woot

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 02:21:04 -0600

Woot:

One deal a day!

No more name calling?

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:41:00 -0600

According to this story (and others), those awful Mac vs. PC ads are over.

Hooray!

Why am I so excited about this? They were funny commercials, right?
Alright, I admit, they were very clever commercials. I did laugh at many of them. You gotta hand it to them, Apple does have that talent with marketing. The problem that I see, though, is that most of them were extremely misleading.

Extremely misleading.

For example, there are virtually no networking differences between the two. Each has their own idiosyncrasies. Both freeze up from time to time, and both have viruses (it’s true). I can name other things.

Worst of all, and the part that makes me glad they stopped, is that they pretty much degenerated into poking fun at Windows Vista. I agree, Vista was terrible, so I guess this was just a well planned marketing move. Still, I wish Apple had more class. (Interesting to note that now that Windows 7 is out, they quit. Gotta admit, Microsoft did a pretty good job with Windows 7.) While I can’t say much for what Macs actually do, I’m surprised to find that these commercials have convinced people that Windows is terrible. It freezes, it hangs, it’s slow, it’s less powerful and less compatible… the list goes on.

Is any of this really true? Not in my experience. It’s time for Apple to stop spreading the FUD.

And so it is I celebrate that these mis-informative and misleading commercials are over with.

Lets get back to actually talking about your product. Thanks.

My nephew. Cutest kid ever!

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:01:21 -0600

My nephew. Cutest kid ever!

"Do you know the biggest lesson I learned from what you did? We are a lot a like, you and I. You..."

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:28:35 -0600

“Do you know the biggest lesson I learned from what you did? We are a lot a like, you and I. You tested me, I tested you. You killed me, I… oh no wait, I guess I haven’t killed you yet. Hmmm, food for thought.”

- GLaDOS, Portal 2

"If computers get too powerful, we can organize them into a committee — that will do them in."

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 07:39:00 -0600

“If computers get too powerful, we can organize them into a committee — that will do them in.”

- Bradley’s Bromide

The end of an era, and the beginning of another

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:28:00 -0600

High school.

I don’t think there aren’t words adequate to describe high school. It’s not that it was bad, but… well, like I said, I don’t know how to describe it. I can say that I am sooo glad it’s over with. I’ve sometimes had nightmares about being back there again. The kind that give me the willies all day.

When I was in high school, I thought I had things pretty well figured out. I had my group of friends, I had good grades, I knew what I wanted to do with my life, and I knew how to get there. As ironic as it may seem, I was ready to leave — because I knew that there was more beyond high school. I’m glad I did. It’s funny, looking back I see that as a very awkward phase of life, although I didn’t know any differently then.

In fact, I think that may be why I don’t like looking back: I’ve grown since then. I don’t want to ever go back. I still keep in touch with my friends from high school, but it feels like high school when I’m around them. Hence, I don’t see my friends very often. I’ve “moved on.” Only thing is, I’m not sure that’s a good thing. Shouldn’t I miss those times? Those friends?

Sometimes I feel like I move through the phases of life at a different speed from everybody else. My advisor compared me to my co-worker the other day. He noted how I had “moved on” from college life — I dress different, I eat different, I have a different standard of living. Makes it kind of hard for me to fit in, since I’m still here living with college students. I can’t tell if this is a good thing or not. It may be a sign of growth, but is it good growth? If I’ve really grown, shouldn’t I be able to fit in better? Maybe I haven’t grown, I’ve just “moved on.”

Dogbert App

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:51:00 -0600

Dogbert App:

Amazing how the more popular app phones get, the more fantastic the ideas for apps become…

Welcome

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:46:00 -0600

Welcome to the new website! I switched to using a tumblr blog, since my website was getting out of date and I don’t really have the time to maintain it. Plus, this way you have a bit more visibility into my life, since it pulls in twitter and other stuff automatically. The theme might change, it’s still in flux. But, I believe this will be better in the long run.

"Good luck. If you need a wall against which you can rhythmically engage your head, I’m afraid..."

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:14:03 -0600

“Good luck. If you need a wall against which you can rhythmically engage your head, I’m afraid mine’s fully booked.”

- Unknown