live flamenco kitchen show. Sandra and Dario will be playing live for new year's eve on the Catarreador in Serra da Lousã. show starts the 31st of december 2009 at 23h. drunken flute and drumming not included.

I've been working on a user script for couchsurfing that extracts some numbers out of the profile page. so far it does what I call "mojo" count, where you see whether someone tends to leave more references or tends to get more references, and how they balance out. not sure what it means yet, but it does seem that I do get along better with people with similar mojo counts (mine is at about +15%, meaning I left 15% unreciprocated references).

soon, more (and better) math on these things, plus the ill fated total hours surfed/total hours hosting, that gives you the balance of each person (whether they host more than they surf or vice versa). my theory is that these are two very different types of character, and I argue that we'll see this in all forms, from the surfer-only to the hoster-only to everything in between.

another one that's interesting would be the gender bias count, but to do that I'd have to crawl the website (genders are not on the reference listing).

hopefully, soon, it will lead to good metrics and better understanding of human interactions.

by the way, code is public domain and freely downloadable. user scripts can be ran in most browsers.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

answer to last night's question on internet coverage: 25.6%, 6.1% broadband. I was mixing the two I guess. so 1 in 4 humans are plugged in to the multivax.

open stage night featuring drunken performance by silverio. Best inaugural night ever!

lena has been busy. I guess it's gonna be a punk xmas. also, lounge is redone and has a stage now. pics soon.

starting today, the profile is revamped. I clearly state what the house is like. I'm interested in seeing what will happen. my lack of acceptance standards is now public. also, the references are hidden to minimize "play it safe" people

according to my math, I have now donated over 1 million people-hours to the couchsurfing project and other hospitality networks. a person-hour is calculated multiplying the length of the stay in days by the people involved in that "booking" and then adding them all up. obviously returning guests are not counted twice. it's a little daunting that in 14 months (~400 days) I have made the equivalent of nearly 2500 times that in human interactions. seems my house is like a little people amplifier

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

fucked up punk jam session featuring guests (lena, silverio, juliana, shaman, me) and a Galician bagpipe, a Portuguese "Transmontana" bagpipe (only the "ponteiro" with mouth piece), an adapted recorder, wok drumming (including the rare wok-on-the-head drumming), shaman's home made flute and recycled wine. awesome.

also, two more freaked out and left. I guess it's that loving Christmas spirit that is bringing people together. right.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

a record weekend: 3 people creeped out and 2 lying about not being able to come. fun stuff, really.

soon, fun stats on stuff like food habits (vegetarian, etc), intellectual affinity and house economy behavior. currently working on that. also, references hidden again for the holidays.

movie night was postponed again. a lot of work at the moment, the lounge is stinking from too much booze, and soon the facilities will be changed.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

I'm happy to report the first 0 score in 3 months, bell curves are a beautiful thing. soon, I'll be forging fake negative references and see what happens.

also, movie night on the brain tonight. we'll be screening David Rock's lecture Your Brain at Work from googletechtalks. though the motivation is clearly fucked up (making us more "productive"), the insights on how we function are incredible, especially regarding reward/threat behavior and the limbic system.

In his new book "Your Brain at Work," coach David Rock depicts the story of two people over one day at the office, and what's happening in their brains that makes it so hard to focus and be productive. Not only does he explain why things go wrong, but how you can train your brain to improve thinking and performance at work. Based on interviews with 30 neuroscientists, he's developed strategies to help you work smart all day.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

so besides the usual drinks, bread and yogurt, shaman found what I estimate to be about 10kg of dried salted cod, just in time for christmas. the bounty was amazing, I'd say we have enough food for weeks! thank you wasteful western society!

movie night was great, mostly due to the off-topics! a lot on education, spirituality and cosmology, despite the theme (human survival).

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

movie night tonight, themed human survival. we'll be screening:

the story of cap and trade by the people behind the story of stuff (screened some months ago). somewhat appropriate due to the supposed "climategate" going on.

The Story of Cap & Trade is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the leading climate solution being discussed at Copenhagen and on Capitol Hill. Host Annie Leonard introduces the energy traders and Wall Street financiers at the heart of this scheme and reveals the "devils in the details" in current cap and trade proposals: free permits to big polluters, fake offsets and distraction from what’s really required to tackle the climate crisis. If you’ve heard about cap and trade, but aren’t sure how it works (or who benefits), this is the film is for you.

the BBC horizon episode How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth?, hosted by Sir Dave

In a Horizon special, naturalist Sir David Attenborough investigates whether the world is heading for a population crisis.

In his lengthy career, Sir David has watched the human population more than double from 2.5 billion in 1950 to nearly seven billion. He reflects on the profound effects of this rapid growth, both on humans and the environment.

While much of the projected growth in human population is likely to come from the developing world, it is the lifestyle enjoyed by many in the West that has the most impact on the planet. Some experts claim that in the UK consumers use as much as two and a half times their fair share of Earth's resources.

Sir David examines whether it is the duty of individuals to commit not only to smaller families, but to change the way they live for the sake of humanity and planet Earth.

obviously, as usual, things are completely subject to change.

movie night was postponed due to unforeseen unforeseeable foreseeables

movie night tonight. we'll be screening:

the story of cap and trade by the people behind the story of stuff (screened some months ago). somewhat appropriate due to the supposed "climategate" going on.

The Story of Cap & Trade is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the leading climate solution being discussed at Copenhagen and on Capitol Hill. Host Annie Leonard introduces the energy traders and Wall Street financiers at the heart of this scheme and reveals the "devils in the details" in current cap and trade proposals: free permits to big polluters, fake offsets and distraction from what’s really required to tackle the climate crisis. If you’ve heard about cap and trade, but aren’t sure how it works (or who benefits), this is the film is for you.

the documentary convoy of death about the unitedstatian perpetuated massacres in the afghanistan region. the recent official announcement by mr. change obama to continue the conflict and send more troops there makes this documentary a must see.

The film tells the story of thousands of prisoners who surrendered to the U.S. military's Afghan allies after the siege of Kunduz. According to eyewitnesses, some three thousand of the prisoners were forced into sealed containers and loaded onto trucks for transport to Sheberghan prison. Eyewitnesses say when the prisoners began shouting for air, U.S.-allied Afghan soldiers fired directly into the truck, killing many of them. These witnesses say US Special Forces re-directed the containers carrying the living and dead into the desert and stood by as survivors of the ordeal were shot and buried. Now, up to three thousand bodies lie buried in a mass grave.

The film also provides footage of CIA officer Mike Spann interrogating American Taliban prisoner John Walker Lindh, just hours before Spann was killed in the famous prison uprising at Mazar-i-Sharif.

"Afghan Massacre" has outraged human rights groups and international human rights lawyers. They are calling for investigation into whether U.S. Special Forces are guilty of war crimes.

godspeed starstuff ☆★☆☆★★★☆☆☆☆☆

on last night's topic on food waste (after the wonder binning), here's an article on food waste in the united states. apparently it's up to 40% waste now.

dumpster bloom

dumpster delight