Dædalux

Escape Hatch

2010-02-12T23:27:00.003-05:00

DeeLux is dead. I liked the title Daedalux, not because it's particularly witty or deep - it isn't - but because it was unique. Once upon a time if you googled daedalux this blog and it's affiliated links were the only results you'd ever get. Not so anymore. Now it's practically a semi-popular handle. After spending over a year abroad, I've returned home to discover searches revealing everything from others using the title in fields ranging from commenters in the Huffington Post to a Spanish language porn site. I can assure you these people are not me. I can only assume these persons to be misguided sycophants attempting to cash-in on the wild popularity this blog has enjoyed over the years :P

Regardless, my unique identity must not be sullied. I have chosen a new - and infinitely more unique title to resume my blogging. And in the highly improbable instance that someone out there still actually checks this blog I've chosen to link it here. If you would like to read it please follow the link. If you're looking for a cool name for a porn site, kindly look elsewhere.

Dr. Horrible

2008-07-16T19:51:00.006-05:00

When I first heard Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, was starting a mock video-blog starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day I knew I would watch it. When I heard that it was a musical called Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog I quickly changed my mind. Nothing against the project (if that's what he really wanted to do) but I doubted it was for me.

After I saw the preview (below) I figured I'd at least give it a try. I'm surprised and glad I did. I can easily say - it's hands-down the greatest sci-fi/musical sing-along blog ever created. And it's absolutely worth watching too.

Spore

2008-06-19T21:45:00.004-05:00

I've finally had a chance to try out the free Spore Creature Creator download and I've got to say it's entertaining. It really doesn't show what gameplay itself will be like - but it's fun to make a creature and animate it. Here's a picture of my very first creation:

FYI - the trial version is free, but for $10 you can upgrade to the full Creator. It has more options, i.e. appendages, and presumably a few more bells and whistles. The full-game comes out in September - my anticipation is only growing.

3 Questions

2008-03-25T23:27:00.022-05:00

When I was a kid, one of my favorite movies was a Jim Henson classic called Labyrinth. It was a fun bit of fantasy starring a young Jennifer Connelly as Sarah and David Bowie as the crooning Goblin King. In particular there was a riddle in that movie I always liked because of its simple clever solution. I'm referring to the part when Sarah comes to a place in the maze where she must choose between two doors: one that leads to the castle, and one that leads to - certain death ~ dun-dun-DAH! There were two guards - one who only spoke the truth and one who always lied - and she had just one chance to ask the right question and discern which door was which . . .

"What would he say if I asked him . . ?"

It's one of those riddles you memorize because deep down you secretly suspect that you might find yourself in a similar situation and would hate to be without that quick, potentially life-saving interrogative. For decades a tiny segment of my brain was devoted solely to preserving this snippet of arcane logic. So when I was greeted with the following riddle I was positively giddy with anticipation when I heard, "one who only tells the truth and one who always lies . . ." At last! I was a lion hiding in the tall grass - ready to pounce. I would wipe that smug smile off the face of my foolish inquisitor (which happened to be a computer, but it was being smug.) How dare it challenge me with such a simple riddle! But then I heard the rest of the riddle and my euphoria swirled into surprise and confusion.

"I know this one! . . . I, uh . . . just gimmie a sec . . . um . . . lemme get out some paper. . ."

And here I am, twelve hours later, finally victorious yet still unable to sleep. After wrestling with this puzzle all day I feel I need to pass it along before I can let go of it. So here is my version of what is perhaps the hardest riddle I've ever solved:

In the old temple are three great oracles who can divine the answer to any question. One of the oracles always speaks the truth, one always lies, and the third spouts only random nonsense. Because they are truly great oracles, they understand any language, but being the esoteric mystics they are, they choose to answer questions only in their own inscrutable language. When asked questions they always reply with ‘ja’ or ‘da’ - meaning either ‘yes’ or ‘no’, but nobody knows which means ‘yes’ and which means ‘no’. Whenever a petitioner asks a question he or she must choose an oracle to address and only that oracle responds. Even worse, each petitioner may not ask more than three questions in total. The challenge is to identify which oracle is which.

Hints

Return of the Blog

2008-02-29T22:55:00.003-05:00

I'm making some leap-year resolutions. It's a list things I plan to accomplish within the next four-years. Next February 29th I'll review my list and gauge my success. Reviving this blog isn't a specific item on the list, but it's still part of the type of changes I'd like to make. My close friends (both of you) have been clamoring for me to return to this blog, and I admit I've missed writing in it. I've kept deluding myself, hoping things will settle down soon so I can start doing the things I should be doing, but I know things are never going to settle down. That's life - but it's no excuse. I need to redevelop the discipline of just doing what I need to do in spite of - because of - the chaos that is ordinary life. I'm going to live my list. My list isn't exactly easy, or even entirely reasonable, but it's exactly what I need.

It's not easy being Chad

2006-10-15T17:15:00.000-05:00

It's never easy being a manager in a grocery store - just ask Chad. Everyone thinks he's a bad guy, but he's just misunderstood. Of course it might help if he stopped wearing his Darth Vader suit to work every day, but hey - it's a free country.

Chad knows it's hard to be taken seriously as a Dark Sith Lord these days, but it's even harder to meet women. Be sure to check Chad's latest misadventures as: Chad Vader - Day Shift Manager.

Tactical Retreat

2006-10-11T20:42:00.000-05:00

Although I've abandoned my first attempt to write a short work of fiction in serial I'm going to attempt some political maneuvering and label it an abortive success. I somehow managed to motivate myself to write several other articles in my procrastinating on this project, so my open declaration to write a story did at least get me moving - just not in the proper direction. Mostly I'm just not happy with much in my first attempt, so I'll just fall back - regroup - and attack from another angle. I don't imagine anybody out there is too upset about my initial failure anyways, but I'll keep using this blog a vehicle for this experiment.

I intend to eventually post the new story I'm writing now, but I'll at least work out the majority of the details before I post the first installment. I'm discovering that I have to write it all down in order to really have something solid to think about, but then I have to think and sleep on it for a day or two before I can shape it into a halfway decent form. I'm still not overly concerned with quality - I don't expect to write wonderfully on my first go - but I at least want to be interested in the story I'm telling. I'm hoping to have at least the first few installments done soon, and hopefully that will put me far enough ahead of myself to start posting. And of course I'm telling you - my imaginary audience - all this just to keep myself motivated.

Ivory Towers

2006-10-03T20:37:00.000-05:00

I look at this paper castle and think, "This is exactly what I want to do!" Not that I want to make paper castles per se, but rather to think more like an artist. I want to be able to look at an ordinary object, an ordinary situation, an ordinary moment in time - and see all the possibilites that lurk underneath.

When I see things like this, I doubt an artist needs any medium at all in order to create art (but perhaps one is needed to share it.) All you need is a mind that's willing to see things another way.

Of course that's also the definition of crazy.

*click the picture to see more examples

Serial Killer

2006-10-02T19:55:00.000-05:00

He just won't stop. I doubt he could if he wanted to. MFDH is a writing machine. It all started with the DarthSide (for me at least.) And then there was his amazing blog-novel SOS which allowed us to follow the creative process in action as he wrote an entire Sci-Fi novel before our very eyes. His blog is always filled with short stories and random episodes, but lately his addiction to writing has been manifesting itself most wonderfully in a series of short little serials that lend themselves perfectly to us blogger readers.

First there was Night Flight Mike - twenty episodes in twenty days. Then there was Bad Traffic (five posts - five days). Lately - The Reaper's Coleslaw (just three short posts.) What's great about these little projects is that each episode is short enough to read quickly in a few minutes and then get on with your life. Yet they're good enough to keep you coming back daily for another quick fix. If you haven't already done so, I beg the half-dozen or so of you who are actually reading this to try to check out one of his stories - or at least follow along with whatever story he inevitably writes next. And be sure to check out his artwork too.

I can't imagine how nerve-wracking it must be to promise your readers a daily influx of storytelling when you're just writing on the fly. So as a meager tribute his proliferate contributions to all of us, I'm going to attempt to walk the metophorical mile.

~~Starting next Monday~~ I will write a short serial - perhaps no more than a few paragraphs a day, but a complete little story nonetheless. The topic of the story will be whatever you few noble readers choose it to be. Just leave a comment or drop me an e-mail. I make no promises as to quality or clarity, but I'm open whatever ideas and suggestions you offer.

Spread the Word

2006-09-18T17:51:00.000-05:00

The Royal Society, the oldest scientific organization in existence, has unveiled its newly updated online publication service and has made its entire archive available to the public for free. So if you've got a hankerin' to read the firsthand accounts of Newton, Franklin, Hooke, or Boyle (and let's face it - who doesn't?) it's time to start downloading. Volume One Issue One dates back to March 1665. And of course the more current issues are cutting edge. The Society plans to start charging a fee for perusing their extensive archives after this promotion ends in December, so time is of the essence.

I'm merely adding myself to the chain of advocates who are exhorting the limited availability of this online cornucopia. Thanks to Jamie Morrison of the Nonist for putting me on the scent, and be sure to check out Carl Zimmer's excellent article at The Loom which gives a great index of places to start looking.

Biovisons

2006-09-17T12:29:00.000-05:00

A montage of subcellular biological activities, this is probably one of the coolest examples computer animation and modeling I've even seen. I'd dismiss it as overly fanciful if it wasn't for its affiliation with the Howard Huges Medical Institute the President and Fellows of Harvard College. I recognized a few of the organelles such as the slug like mitochondria and the lava-lampish endoplasmic reticulum, and I think I was watching RNA replicating proteins at one point, but I'm going to need someone (and this means you nSilico) to explain what a lot of those other things are. What was the hoverpad thing? Or the giant blob walker? Too weird.

Four Words or Less

2006-09-15T22:13:00.000-05:00

We all learned the power of the sound bite in the 1980s. Although I can't really remember much about mainstream-media before then, I remember thinking - even as a kid - that news broadcasts were constantly getting sketchier and sketchier. I sometimes wondered if it was because there is always an increasing number of things the diverse public cares about. The more topics you try to cover in a one hour broadcast, the less detail you can give. In the 1990s everyone was lamenting the decline of journalism into blatant sensationalism, but it remained an inevitable process. We all saw it happening but our dismay did nothing to stop it.

Now that the internet is a primary news outlet it seems to me like another inevitable change should be here. The pendulum should be swinging the other way. There is no longer a need to condense news to fit into limited bandwidth. Execs should no longer have to make judgments as to which stories are the most newsworthy. The public is free to respond to what stories they care about in real time. They can choose to absorb as much or as little detail as they wish. Now that information is so readily accessible it seems like the news agencies would be focused on covering as wide a spectrum as possible, or seeking an edge over their competitors by providing the most comprehensive and insightful analysis of the more complex issues.

full text

Arguments could be made that this is already happening on the internet at large, but I'm still surprised by the slow adaptation of mainstream American media. Take today's news coverage of the controversial speech that the pope recently gave:

ABCNews.com's short article explained that the pope made controversial remarks by quoting the words of a 14th century Byzantine Emperor, but it doesn't explain exactly what those remarks actually were. It seems responsibly written but brief, and contains no links.

CBSNews.com's coverage merely contains a copy of a brief AP article (which is fine), but contains no links.

CNN.com's story focuses more on the pope's inflammatory remarks. In the first three sentences there's a link to a video clip where you can watch Pakistani Muslims burn the pope in effigy. There is another link to the brief AP coverage of the speech from several days earlier.

FOXNews focused almost exclusively on the Islamic response to the speech and condensed the pope's entire speech to the words "evil and inhuman." It does contain hyperlinks of the names of the main players in the story, but instead of biographies or analysis - clicking on the name of Pope Benedict XVI or The Prophet Muhammad creates a news search with the name as the topic item.

MSNBC's coverage also includes a prominent link to video of protesting Muslims burning the pope in effigy. While it's news article is only a copy of an AP article, there are also links to an analysis of modern historical interactions between Islam and the Vatican, a link that contains the full text of the pope's speech, and another link to a special report on Islam in Europe. While it's initial format strongly resembled CNN's sensationalistic approach, it's inclusion of access to more in-depth materials makes MSNBC's coverage stand out among it's American peers.

USAToday also merely includes a brief AP article. Although it contains a link to "Read what the pope said" the link actually only goes to another even shorter article.

TheWashingtonPost listed a well written article which - in preserving its newsprint pristineness - contained no links whatsoever, but the sidebar did include a link to the Vatican's official transcript of the pope's entire speech.

It seems to me that major American news providers continue to overlook just how wonderfully powerful an information-medium the internet is. Given the ease and power of the internet, any coverage that doesn't - at a minimum - contain a link to the pope's entire speech is contemptible. Thanks to the internet, any interested party is free to read all of the pope's unfortunate remarks in their original context. This is true regardless of whether or not a link is provided. But unless a news provider is willing to acknowledge that some readers will continue to seek more in-depth coverage, and invested in creating mechanisms that facilitate this - readers will go elsewhere.

For contrast I submit the BBC's coverage of the same story as an example of how to use the internet to spread news. It's main article is a well written yet intentionally concise synopsis of the news story, which includes only brief quotes and succinct analysis. It contains unobtrusive links to a host of complimentary information from video, picture libraries, biographies, previous articles, and of course the full text of the speech itself. But perhaps the most prominent link is one labeled "Key excerpts: Pope's speech" which leads to a more in-depth article which focuses on key passages from the speech which are now more fully exposed through viewing them in the context in which they were delivered.

The BBC chose to present the story in layers. Its initial article is exactly what most viewers want - a quick explanation. It also has a more detailed analysis for those who want a deeper explanation of what happened. The detailed article lets a reader get the nuances that had to be edited out of the shorter article, yet still insulates the reader from having to digest the entire three-page speech in order to gain a more complete understanding of what was said. Of course, the entire speech and other potential reference materials are all linked there too. So if desired, the reader is given access to the primary source material itself. By breaking the story into chuncks it provides a wealth of information that is easy to navigate and adjusts to the requested level of detail - all without ever leaving the BBC site itself.

Still I think the most compelling aspect of the BBC coverage is the manner in which it incorporates public reaction into its story-telling process. The main article actually exhibits an apt comment from one of its readers (from Illinois no less.) So the BBC not only wrote a story - but managed it after publication, reacting to what the public was saying and responding to its needs and inputs. While other news providers occasionally solicit comments as well, only the BBC seems to interpret this device as an ongoing interactive process rather than a repository of statements.

Throw in the fact that the BBC somehow manages this level of service without ostentatiously embedded displays from advertisers and constant pop-ups and you'll start to wonder why anyone even bothers with other news providers.

I know sound bites and sensationalistic headlines are here to stay, but we need to realize that they needn't bind us to shallow journalism coverage. Behind every short news blurb lies a wealth of information that can no longer be hidden from us. If we continue to demand the substance behind the blurb they'll have to start giving it to us. And if we do it enough - then maybe they'll finally wise up and raise the bar instead of lowering it.

Thinking Chess

2006-08-21T21:26:00.000-05:00

I discovered Thinking Machine 4, an online chess game / art project, thanks to the handy link provided by Quantum Blog. I've played against a lot of different online chess opponents but none quite like this one.

And if you're into online chess, here's a few fun links to some chess puzzles as well.

If anybody knows of of decent e-mail chess apps or a good live-play site, be sure to let me know about them by challenging me to a game. I need all the practice I can get.

Destination Moon

2006-08-05T17:24:00.000-05:00

Although certainly dated, I'm glad I took the time to watch the 1950 classic Destination Moon. I discovered it in my Netflix recommendations listing, and once I read that the screenplay was co-written by Robert A. Heinlein, and based on his novel Rocketship Galileo, not checking it out was impossible. One of the first Sci-Fi movies ever released in color, it won Academy Awards for its special effects. Watching it will make you wonder why though. Despite its Technicolor glory, I could hardly tell the difference between what I knew should be distinctly blue and distinctly green, and I’ve seen video podcasts that would rival its special effects – but that’s missing the point. A serious film of its day, it made the case for how and why America would go to the moon – decades before mainstream

America

believed it possible.

Unlike most Sci-Fi of its era, this film is not so terribly silly or absurd when viewed in a modern light. Instead it’s rather remarkable in how much it managed to get right. All things considered, the movie has held up admirably – losing its fantastical Sci-Fi edge only in that so much of it was destined to become historical fact. Aside from its sleek V-2 looking shape and obligatory ‘atomic engines’ most elements of the spacecraft were realistically devised and explained – even if through, what now seems like, amateurish special effects.

What struck me most about this film however, were its opening credits: A field of stars over which was superimposed rolling text which receded into the distance as it scrolled. You can’t watch it without immediately thinking StarWars. It occurred to me that George Lucas must have been paying homage to a classic film from his youth - one that remains a milestone classic today.

Opening Pandora's Box

2006-07-30T16:07:00.000-05:00

A good while back I wrote a short post about Pandora's Music Genome Project. At the time I was briefly enamored with the novelty of creating a personalized automated playlist – introducing me to songs I’d never heard. But it didn't take long for me to get bored with it. Regardless of the quality of songs I programmed into it – and how diligently I managed my preferences, it always devolved into a monotony of sub-mediocre songs – hardly ever playing anything worthwhile. But such is life on the web.

One thing I did notice however, was that Pandora always recognized me – without ever logging in. Whenever I went to the website my 'stations' were called up instantly, even though my browser, Firefox, always wipes the cookie tray clean after cooking (whenever I close the browser.) I tried changing my IP address but it still knew who I was. I became annoyed that Pandora must be surreptitiously writing files to my hard-drive, and although I was never able to locate the dirty Pandora folder, I stopped using the site.

Today, a seemingly arbitrary series of clicks somehow managed to return me to Pandora’s main site. And lo-and-behold my crappy stations lay in waiting. I’ve since renewed my effort to locate and eradicate whatever mechanism Pandora uses to identify me, but to no avail. Now I’m hoping some of my heavy-hitting hacker friends can help me figure this one out.

In googling for help, I came across this foolishness which at least seems to confirm my suspicions that Pandora does in fact place hidden files on my computer. And apparently not just one or two small files either. Ironically it seems that in their efforts to uphold the DCMA Pandora sees fit to resort to some particularly outrageous techniques.

While I appreciate the existence of services like Pandora and respect their need to protect copyrighted information, I don’t feel that ever grants them the right to write files onto my computer without my consent. Especially when the files are hidden and I’m left without reasonable means to remove them. Most especially when the files may contain personally identifying information and may grow to consume significant portions of hard-drive real-estate.

When I created my Pandora account I never consciously downloaded any software. I’ve since re-read their Terms of Service and while it does make oblique references to software plugins, it doesn’t mention anything regarding its rights to write to my computer via any method other than cookies. It never required any special plug-in to work, and as far as can tell it only uses standard Flash plugins in order to display its pages.

In a final test I borrowed my wife’s virginal laptop and visited the Pandora page. Without creating an account, I followed the easy prompts to test-drive Pandora. I created a Hank Williams station, let a few songs play, then I left the page – deleted all cookies, browsing history, and cache – closed the browser and rebooted. When I visited the page again it opened playing another Hank Williams song. It even remembered how I’d rated the previous songs. Hank never sounded so eerie. Apparently you don’t even have to create an account or agree to any TOS in order for Pandora’s ominous identifier to work – you just have to visit their site one time.

Perhaps I’m just paranoid and there’s a simple method of identifying a specific computer. Maybe all the relevant information really is stored on their database only. I hope so. But I can’t help but wonder if my computer is slowly bloating over with invisible files I’m not allowed to touch. Like its mythical namesake – I’m regretting ever opening this one up.

Nagarjuna

2006-07-25T22:36:00.000-05:00

No trace of space
Is there before
The absense of obstruction
Which describes it.

With no obstruction,
How can there be
Absense of obstruction?
Who distinguishes between them?

Space is not obstruction
Or an absense of it,
Nor is it a description
Or something to describe.

Fluidity and heat,
Energy and gravity
Are just like space.

In seeing things
To be or not to be
Fools fail to see
A world at ease.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

2006-04-26T17:08:00.000-05:00

In an excerpt from the comments, Special Touch writes:

"Appara^^Ently the show also features two guys in suits who do the 'Algorithm Exercise Dance'. I'm not sure if there's anything in the world I wouldn't give up to see that."

Well Special, you get a C- for grammar, but a gold star for the Pitagora Suichi link and translation. Plus a bonus prize of two guys in suits doing the Super-Awesome ALGORITHM EXERCISE DANCE!!!!!!

Because We Wouldn't Even Recognize Simple

2006-04-25T19:08:00.000-05:00

Rube Goldberg knew what he was doing. In a world where our everyday lives are continually encroached on by inefficient bureaucracies, labyrinthine traffic patterns, and frustratingly excessive overtures to political correctness - leave it to his lasting genius to take the absurdly complicated and transform it into art.

BTW – I have absolutely no idea what it is they’re advertising for (please let me know if you can figure it out.)

Liam Lynch Clones

2006-04-23T22:11:00.000-05:00

Last week Liam Lynch announced the sad news that Frankie Forcefield, his most faithful feline companion, was hit by a car and killed. Undaunted, he collected the freshly corpsified cat and rushed it to the vet. Not because he believed there could be any hope of saving Frankie - but to collect the samples necessary for the generation of Frankie's yet to be (yet already named) clone - Finnegan.

For the mere cost of a mid-sized automobile Genetic Savings & Clone is currently producing kitty clones for the most discriminating of cat savvy consumers. Fortunately for Liam (or unfortunately, depending on your personal outlook on this sort of thing) enough fresh cellular material was collected from Frankie to ensure the viability of the new ‘Frankiestein.’

Laim was quick to point out that he doesn’t believe Finnegan will be the same cat Frankie was, but simply another cat with a better than average chance of inheriting Frankies’s best qualities. He also expressed his hope that by patronizing businesses like Genetic Saving’s & Clone he’s supporting further research into the technologies that will enable the cataloguing, cloning, and genetic preservation of many other animals - especially animals that might otherwise face extinction.

“The future has already arrived. It's just not evenly distributed yet.” ~William Gibson

I can’t help but wonder about what will happen next, and whether or not we’re ready for it. Cloning housecats doesn’t bother me at all, except perhaps in the generally wasteful and overly self-indulgent consumer sense. We’ve been prognosticating about the ethical implications of these sorts of things since at least 1817, when Mary Shelley wrote her masterpiece. Yet I can’t help but wonder if all these contemplations fly out the window the moment money meets means. Considering the scientific breakthroughs that are sure to follow, is it possible to have an advance game-plan for further developments? Or are we doomed to fall into a ‘make it up as we go along’ scenario, always adapting to the whims of a lowest-common-denominator?

I'm not against cloning, or against Liam’s choice to clone specifically - quite the contrary. Liam’s a sci-fi junkie just like me, and I think he’s as much enamored with the idea of connecting to some cutting-edge science as the notion of getting another great pet. (You can check out his video-podcast #5 for the full scoop in his own words.) I guess I’d just like to know that scientific development, as well as consumer availability, is progressing along an established path - one previously defined by the consensus of experts after due consideration. Yet I already know it can never be quite that simple.

I also can’t help but consider in the wake of South Korea’s recent scientific scandal that perhaps organizations like GS&C are selling little more than hype. If you gave me thousands of dollars plus some pictures of your dearly departed cat, after a few months of pet-shopping I could certainly produce a clone of my own - and you can keep the biological samples to yourself.

Auspicious April

2006-04-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to give you all a friendly reminder that Daylight Savings Time has been cancelled this year - so no need to set your clock forward again. Just as well - I always forget to do it anyways.

Beware the Ides of March

2006-03-15T20:08:00.000-05:00

It makes me think of HBO's Rome. War, conquest, gratuitous violence, egomaniacal dictators, and every obscene sex act imaginable - that show had it all! I can't beleive that they're not following up with another season already. What happened? The next two eras were perfectly set up to continue the story with the reigns of both Marc Antony and then the Augustus to be.

Spore

2006-03-11T12:11:00.000-05:00

It's the new 'coolest thing ever' and it's called Spore. I'd heard about it before but never really got excited about Will Wright's latest creation until I saw the lecture he gave at the 2005 Game Developers Conference. The whole concept is simple and simply amazing, and the programming behind it all is completely mind-blowing. I won't bother trying to describe it in detail - just check out the edited video and see for yourself.

Synaesthesic Savant

2006-03-06T20:24:00.000-05:00

Those of you that know me have probably suffered through more than a few discourses on my unyeilding fasination with synaesthesia. Well if you can stomach any more - be sure to check out the BBC's special on Daniel Tammet.

I really wish I could meet this guy - he's amazingly articulate for an austistic - which I take as evidence of ability to work around his deficits, rather than not being as deeply affected by them.

Three Sites Worth Visiting

2006-03-04T11:19:00.000-05:00

Yesterday my brother pointed out an interesting music site called Pandora. Basically you start by naming a song or artist you happen to like and it starts a streaming playlist based on your choice. As you rate the songs you hear it adapts to your likes and dislikes and creates your own personal radio-station. I started out with Van Morrison and was surprised at how quickly I ended up with Alice Cooper - the software really is clever. And while I don't need a computer to tell me what I like, it has helped introduce me to a handful of artists I'd never before listened to. And it's free, so if you haven't already done so - be sure to check it out.

For those of you who like a challenge, Coudal Partners is running another logic puzzle entitled Da Vinci's Other Code (similar to the classic fish puzzle I linked to previously.)

And if you're bored and looking for all sorts of various nonsense to read through - I always enjoy Jamie Morrison's Nonist articles (no known relation to Van Morrison.) I was really moved by his vision in Protest in a Better World. It's worth checking out.

Apology for my inadvertent hiatus

2006-03-02T21:17:00.000-05:00

I know the worst thing you can do in blogging is write a post explaining why you haven't been posting - as if anyone cares. But I really do feel bad for not writing here more regularly. Not because I feel the need to keep the momentum going and fear losing my readership (I obviously don't take either of those criteria too seriously) but because so much has been happening as of late and I feel I should be chronicling my life - if only for my own amusement.

So I shall endeavor to fill in the lost month of February retroactively - writing posts about things that happened weeks earlier and then dating them as if they were written at the time. I have the added advantage of a fuzzy long-term memory which will free me up to invent the facts I can't quite remember well enough.

Coffee and Chess

2006-02-23T21:45:00.000-05:00

There's a coffee shop in the town where I live that's practically close enough to walk to. It's actually an old grain warehouse that's been converted into a business but I love the atmosphere there. It's never empty, but big enough to never feel crowded, with plenty of room to spread out and read or study or surf the net (if I remember to bring a computer) yet the people there are always friendly and chatty enough that sometimes you just have to sit with a group of regulars and talk about whatever is on anyone's mind. Good food, great coffee, wonderful people, and completely unpretentious - it's the exact antithesis of Starsmucks. It's one of the few downtown locales I know of that actually reflects the demographic makeup of the town proper (one-thirds black, white, and latino) whereas the majority of the downtown shops and resturants cater to the uber-rich equestrian types that live on their estate farms outside of town. I love it, because to me - the coffee shop is the town - and by going there I feel a part of a community again.

Today, in one of the upstairs nooks was a group of old men playing chess at a handful of tables. They invited me and a few of the comparatively younger patrons to join them. It'd been a long time since I'd played and I'd never played too seriously, but thankfully there were a few of us from about every skill level imaginable. After winning or losing a few games you were likely to get matched up with some honest competition. I lost two games and won one, but had a lot of fun and learned quite a bit in the process. Apparently Thursday evenings has been consecrated as chess night. I'll be back.

Donnie Darko

2006-02-03T18:42:00.000-05:00

In Silico tied me down and forced me to watch Donnie Darko, a movie I'd missed seeing when it came out because I was overseas, but is exactly the sort of movie he knew I'd dig. Now I can't stop watching it.

Produced by Drew Barrymore (who also plays a minor role) and directed by a complete nutjob, the movie did some clever things. I especially liked a lot of the simple yet sophisticated cinematography, and I loved the kick-ass retro-80’s soundtrack. [I even fed the entire soundtrack into the Pandora music system just to see what I’d get. Of course my brother won’t introduce me to Pandora for another 28 days – but that doesn't stop me.]

The movie would be difficult to describe even if I wasn't concerned about spoiling the plot. I could say it’s a spooky Halloween-time movie, or that’s it’s a clever psychological thriller, or maybe even an insightful commentary on mental-illness - but no matter how I described it, five minutes into the movie you’d still decide it’s not the sort of movie you were expecting. It’s unique – and I guess that’s what I like most about it. It's a movie that spurs you to think and adjust. I certainly wouldn't describe it as incredibly deep, but it does challenge the audience to search out the meaning behind it all.

I still can't beleive I hadn't seen this one sooner (especially considering it's endorsement by my evil-wonder-twin Wil Wheaton.) F.Y.I. - I'd discovered Primer months earlier than him but this continues to piss me off.

An Unsuspected Criminal Past

2006-01-27T21:05:00.000-05:00

Have you ever googled your name? I never really bothered until recently. Not because I'm not vain - I'm plenty vain - but simply because I never expected anything to be there. I've been reasonably careful to keep my actual identity offline (I'm in disguise you know) and while I google my pseudonyms all the time I'd never bothered with my given name - until recently.

Well my name is there. The top listed site links to the court records of my arrest for drug trafficking and firearms possession. Well not my arrest - but somebody with the same name. It turns out there are a lot of somebodies with my name - doctors and musicians and fathers and athletes. But I'm satisfied to say that you won't find me in there anywhere.

Return of the Pink Panther

2006-01-25T17:31:00.000-05:00

You've probably already seen them - previews for the new Pink Panther movie starring Steve Martin. Are these previews filling anyone else with a sense of dread? Don't get me wrong, I like Steve a lot - he's hilarious - but I'm instantly skeptical of Hollywood's continuing insistence of never innovating, but simply remaking the old - and remaking it poorly. The Pink Panther movies are absolute classics (and perhaps exactly the sort of series that adapts well to sequel after sequel) but Peter Sellers left some awfully big shoes to fill. It'll be difficult to do justice to his legacy and still innovate enough to create a fresh new movie. I'm really hoping Martin can pull it off - but I'm not holding my breath.

World's Shortest Intelligence Test

2006-01-23T21:35:00.000-05:00

I learned something new today and feel the need to inflict it on the rest of you. Here is my very own version of the most succinct diagnostic tool ever conceived. It's short, sweet, and perfectly simple. Just follow the instructions and see how smart you really are.

Problem #1 - Reading through it only once, count how many times the letter "F" appears in the following sentence:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF-
IC STUDY COMBINED WITH
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Three Essays Worth Reading

2006-01-21T13:35:00.000-05:00

My brother sent me an essay entitled How to Do What You Love by Paul Graham - who also wrote an interesting essay on procrastinaton. Both are well worth reading, but the essay I felt might be of most interest to the both of you who actually read this blog is Richard Hamming's You and Your Research.

Rough Week (w/ a happy enough ending)

2006-01-19T23:05:00.000-05:00

My wife had been feeling some pains off-and-on for a while, but Monday snuck up on her like a windshield on a bug. Doubled over and clutching her abdomen in pain I took her to the Emergency Room around 8PM. We waited for forty minutes, her lying on her side and occasionally puking in trash cans - until finally she got a bed, an IV and some nausea medication. Then the testing began in earnest. Urine, blood, and x-rays were all largely inconclusive. We learned she wasn't pregnant, but nothing else definitive.

The doctor decided she needed a CAT-scan so the nurse handed me some berry-flavored barium beverages and a straw. The containers even had festive pictures on their sides - like we were going to have a cocktail party or something. Obviously it tasted awful. At first I had to urge her to drink it slowly, hoping she wouldn't just throw it all back up, but after the first few minutes I had to continually coax her to drink it at all. It took hours before she was ready for the CAT-scan.

They sent us home around 4AM - her high on morphine and a bottle of percocet in her purse, me with the business card of a local surgeon and the diuturnal mental image of an 8cm growth near her left ovary. Of course the metric units were lost on me. Ever the prototypical American, I lacked the facility to but it all in perspective - at least 8cm sounded small. She made me look it up when we got home. I wished she hadn't. Eight centimeters is big. It's huge. It's a baseball. I still don't understand why something so big wasn't visible on the surface.

Tuesday was a trip to the OB/GYN-cum-Surgeon who did an ultrasound on her and pronounced the suspect mass to be both unusually large, and dangerous enough to warrant near-immediate surgery. (Neither revelation was particularly new.) By unusually large and dangerous he explained it was ten centimeters - not eight - and crushing her ovary. By near-immediate he meant, "Come back tomorrow."

In all fairness he was an excellent doctor and did a good job preparing us for what he was going to have to do and what we should expect. He had actually given my wife the option to operate that night or wait till the next day. She chose to wait only because she needed the chance to absorb all that was happening and wanted to be able to call her family first. After yesterday's operation we learned for certain that the growth was only a monster cyst - not cancer. It caused a torsion of her left ovary - which had to be removed - but she's now returning to normal health. Thankfully nature loves redundancy - one ovary is all you really need.

She's got a big gash in her tummy (it was too big for laparoscopic surgery) and will need a few weeks before she feels normal again, but I'm just so glad she's going to be okay. And my in-laws came in yesterday too. They arrived just as I found out the surgery was a success - perfect timing. Now that they're here I'm able to go back to work during the day (I'd missed a few days) and although she was originally scheduled to be released tomorrow, she was doing well enough to be released today - so I'm especially glad to have their help.

A few days before all this happened I'd conjectured that a crisis is sometimes what it takes for us to realize what's important in life. Now I'm thinking we didn't need this at all. But I'm not complaining - I'm only happy she's alright.

Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality.

2006-01-17T20:39:00.000-05:00

"I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law."

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."

~Martin Luther King Jr.

Everything is always fair

2006-01-15T13:55:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the wife and I spent the day visiting friends and family in DC. Firstly we visited an old squadmate of my wife's who is now in the hospital (Walter Reed) after a particularly bad explosion destroyed his vehicle in Iraq. He was in pretty rough shape but recovering and obviously in very good spirits - all things considered. This is to say he wasn't too happy, but retained his sense of humor and was keeping a positive outlook despite the fact that he may yet lose a leg and will never walk normally again even if he doesn't. He's a huge guy - any lesser of a man (I simply mean anyone of normal physical stature) probably would have been killed on the spot. So I guess he's lucky - or so everyone says. He had nine days left on what was his second one-year tour. We'll continue to visit him whenever we can.

Next we visited my cousin the doctor in her new house. She's got a two-year old son who got really sick a week before Christmas. At first it looked like the flu but then he couldn't shake a fever and when they took him to the hospital they discovered he was uniquely susceptible to a bacteria?/virus? that destroyed his pancreas' ability to create insulin. So all at once a perfectly healthy little boy became a Type I diabetic. They *again* were lucky they caught it in time - he could have died. Now he's still a normal little boy who lets me play with his train set and likes to read me stories (with my help.) He's understandably fussy about testing and shots but for the most part takes it all in stride. He's still too young to understand - right now it's a lot harder on his parents.

But everyone keeps adapting, and there's always these tiny little miracles wrapped up in these huge tragedies - that as far as I'm concerned don't make up for any of it - but still manage to bring friends and family together and keep us all focused on what's important. It scares me to think that maybe without all this horrible unfairness surrounding us in life and death we'd probably all default to being the enormously self-centered asses we all wish we could be - if we could just have things our way.

I went topless - and it sucked

2006-01-13T22:40:00.000-05:00

I while back I was reading Quantum Blog and learned about topless sandals. Since they sounded cool and were having a sale I figured I'd give them a try. It's pretty amazing how they stick to your feet - and they don't feel weird or uncomfortable either. But after only a few minutes of wearing them around my home their edges accumulated bits of dog hair - which was gross. They weren't too difficult to clean-off (and I know they weren't intended for wear around the house) but I have to assume they'd also pick up fine particles of sand and such if I were at the beach or outside elsewhere - not cool. I figured they weren't a total loss, even if I would only use them for the showers in the gym, but then I discovered their critical vulnerability. They're completely useless if they get wet.

So what's the point of sandals you can't wear inside or outside, to the beach, to the pool, or to the showers? None I can figure. And what if it's hot and you're one of those people with sweaty feet? I imagine the only place they'll ever be seen is on campus at liberal arts colleges where everybody always goes to class in flip-flops because they're all too cool to be bothered to get out of their pajamas. Perhaps a few of them will see these topless sandals as being the trendy new thing - at least until it rains.

If I only had a Brain

2006-01-09T20:31:00.000-05:00

I'm reading a new text on functional neuroscience and trying to refamiliarize myself with the structures of the brain, but it's been years since I formally took a class in neuroscience and it seems some remedial learning is in order. Normally I consider rote memorization to merely be a pretext for actual learning, but knowing the brain's structures 'inside and out' is critical to understanding how these structures interact - which is where the I need to be if I really want to learn anything cool.

Everything else I know about anatomy can be summed up by that song, "the knee-bone's connected to the .. Thigh-Bone!" but that catchy little ditty breaks down when you get to things like 'the supramarginal gyrus is adjacent to the postcentral sulcus' - which is a real shame because now I can't get that tune out of my head.

Idlewild

2006-01-07T23:59:00.000-05:00

This morning I finished reading Nick Sagan's first book Idlewild. It was a book nSilico and I both bought at a recent book fair. He finished reading it a day or so before me but wouldn't tell me what he thought of it until I finished it too. I'm still curious as to what he thought of it, but I liked it a lot.

It wasn't the greatest book ever - it was mostly your standard fare Sci-Fi plot with standard Sci-Fi twists thrown in, but I don't want to paint the picture that it was all so unoriginal. Nick has an unusual writing style, an inexhaustible imagination, and the undaunted courage to not hold any of it back. Even if the story holds the same themes you've read a dozen times before, it still manages to become something uniquely his. A lot of the mainstream reviewers criticized the book for not having an easy to follow pace - and while I'd agree that this book didn't have the kind of storyline that might translate easily into a made for TV movie - I think the story flowed well enough. After all, its continuing weirdness was sort of the point. And I loved the dark mood that permeates the entire novel. Parts of it even reminded me of the feel of Orson Scotts Card's Ender's Game - if only a bit, except Card could never be quite that dark.

All I can really say about the story is that it's about a young man named Hal, who wakes up with amnesia and the certain knowledge that someone is trying to kill him. Everything else is for him (and you) to figure out.

I was most surprised to discover in the about the author section at the end of the book that Nick Sagan is the son of famed Scientist/Sci-Fi writer Carl Sagan. Their writing styles, choice of material and general outlooks are totally different. Without a doubt, Nick Sagan is his own creature and not attempting to be a clone of his father. With that said, I'll try to avoid comparisions of the two.

In the end, Idlewild is a fine start for a new writer, and although still shy of true greatness, it's plenty strong enough to for me to add him to my list of 'to read' authors. I'll be sure to check out the book's sequel Edenborn soon.

Attack of the Killer Turd

2006-01-05T19:40:00.000-05:00

While walking my dog Izzy this evening, she (not me) somehow managed to step in a giant pile of poop. It was cold and dark, so I didn't realize it right away - not until we got back inside. As soon we got in the house I noticed the enormous clump of leaves stuck to her left rear foot. Then I noticed the smell. She, amazingly, seemed oblivious. I told her to STAY and went into the kitchen to get a dish-towel and soap.

Normally she's relatively well behaved and tends to do what she's told (especially if there are no distractions around) but something about my tone must have frightened her. She sensed she was in trouble and didn't know why. So she ran and hid under the desk. It was easy enough to find her. I just had to follow the crap-smeared paw prints across the living room. She must have searched for a place to hide because she'd apparently run in circles before settling under the desk.

It took a full fifteen minutes just to clean her paw - there was an endless supply of feculence wedged between her pads and the soapy warm dish-towel had us both gagging. I threw it away when I was done. It took a lot longer to clean the carpet. At least Izzy was genuinely upset with herself for the whole debacle. I've never seen a dog act so ashamed. I didn't even bother to scold or punish her, but seriously - what kind of dog walks in crap and doesn't know it?

This whole episode makes me wonder what it'll be like when we have kids (my wife and I - not me and the dog.) Whatever trouble a dog can create I imagine a kid can do a thousand times worse. I suppose I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

I'm still a kid

2006-01-03T21:55:00.000-05:00

Over New Year's I went and saw Narnia with my wife and a bunch of friends. I had already seen the movie, but my wife hadn't. She wasn't really interested in seeing another 'kid's movie' and probably would never have bothered with it had it not been the movie the majority of our friends wanted to see. Now she won't stop talking about it - she loved it.

I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a kid but that was so long ago I couldn't really tell you what, if any, differences exist between the book and the movie. What's worse is I never finished reading the rest of the Narnia Chronicles at all. The only C.S. Lewis book I really remember clearly is the Screwtape Letters, which for whatever reason remains most memorable to me (it's all about the psychology of sin - go figure.) A friend reminded me about his famous Sci-Fi series which starts with Out of the Silent Planet, which I think I read but I don't really remember either.

So, long story short, I'll be reading a lot of C.S. Lewis this month. It'll be fun - especially since it seems likely my wife will be reading Lewis too.

Back from the Brink

2006-01-01T23:11:00.000-05:00

It's time to breathe some life back into many of the ongoing projects that got left on the back-burner - including this blog. I'm going to try to have more frequent updates, add new types of content, and introduce various other enhancements in the posts to follow. We'll see how it goes.

Because I just don't feel like it . . .

2005-12-08T23:09:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of the nonist

Cosmic Connections

2005-11-19T18:45:00.000-05:00

"In all the history of mankind there will be only one generation that will be first to explore the Solar System, one generation for which, in childhood, the planets are distant and indistinct discs moving through the night sky, and for which, in old age, the planets are places, diverse new worlds in the course of exploration." ~Carl Sagan

I've always loved this quote, it fires me up everytime I read it. And I can't help but hear Sagan's distinctive voice and inflections whenever I do. I've always thought, 'Maybe it'll be us', or 'Certainly this is what we can give our children', but now I'm starting think perhaps it's already happened. Our parents/grandparents could once believe that - just maybe - there are men on Mars, or that Venus is a lush tropical jungle world. Only because we knew so little and myth was as valid as anything.

But now we know more and more everyday. The exploration is happening now - has been happening for thirty years. We all yearn for the big press event when we walk on Mars, when E.T. returns our phone calls, when we can buy tickets to visit our favorite spacestation - but are we missing the wondrous miracles that are happening everyday? I wonder - Will future generations marvel at the exciting times we must have lived in?

Sisters

2005-11-16T18:48:00.000-05:00

Saturn's moons Dione and Tethys as photographed by the Cassini spacecraft from about 860,000km out.

It's only black and white, but the perspective is magnificent. Whatever rocket-scientist that took the time to plan the trajectory on this one deserves a photography award for certain.

Thinking too much . . .

2005-11-15T19:55:00.000-05:00

Someone told me that if you could get all the monkeys that could ever be together with all the typewriters - one of them would write Shakespeare. And it got me to thinking: Where's that monkey? I'd really like to shake his hand.

Fortune Cookies

2005-10-26T21:10:00.000-05:00

On my way home from work today I stopped to get some take-out Chinese (since I'm home alone tonight and not much in the mood to cook.) My single order was augmented with a bounty of not one - but two fortune cookies. After eating a bit I snatched up the first of them, cracked it open and read:

Depart not from the path which fate has assigned you.

It’s not that I’m overly (or at all) superstitious, but I had to face it - I’ve certainly been fate’s bitch as of late. And it occurred to me, as it often does, how ridiculously stupid these fortune cookie sayings always are. Assuming fate has assigned me a path – How could I part from it? So what’s the point? Am I supposed to be happy with whatever god-awful things come my way and simply shrug, knowing it’s my fate? Screw that. Unsurprisingly, in their lame attempts to make predictions, these things always end up giving hollow praise, or offering such circular logic. All this pseudo-philosophical I’m older than I ever was, yet younger than I’ll ever be sort of nonsense has never really resonated with me.

And as I sit here typing this, I’m suddenly reminded of a time years back when I was eating Vietnamese cuisine with my friend Ken. A meal which, curiously enough, also came with Chinese fortune cookies. It was a sort of celebratory meal. Ken was recovering from chemotherapy treatments for his leukemia. After finally getting free from months in the hospital he was just starting to be able to taste real food again. It looked as if he was actually in remission, but nobody knew for sure, and he was still uneasy about it. My cookie then boasted something shallow and superficial like, ‘You are well reguarded by others’, but when Ken cracked open his cookie he found – nothing. It was empty. He had no fortune at all.

This clearly upset Ken - only a little bit, but enough to trigger a shift in his mood. I offered him the fortune from my cookie, but he refused it - insisting it wasn’t his. Somehow our celebratory feast was strangely being overturned by the combination of Ken’s still frazzled nerves and the innocuous absence of a useless little strip of paper. It was a cold twist of fate manifested in an inanely trivial manner. After a short period of quiet brooding, Ken called the waiter and demanded another cookie. The waiter obligingly brought us a handful. Ken selected just one, which he carefully removed from its little cellophane package and then somberly broke open. I hung there, dreading what it might or might not say, knowing that after so much build-up it would be critically interpreted. Ken’s fragile mood hinged on a capricious cookie.

Thankfully, it turned out to be one of the better ones. Still nonsense, but nonsense obliquely referencing ‘a triumph of inner strength’, and it could only be interpreted as a good omen. And a good omen it was too. Days thereafter, Ken’s next round of tests confirmed he really was in remission. Ken saved the silly fortune. I’ll always remember it as the day Ken changed his fate.

But fate has way of catching-up with us. Ken stayed in remission for about a year before relapsing. The first time was horrible, but the second time was unimaginably worse. The one thing that impressed me most about Ken – the thing that impressed everyone – was how obstinately he clung to life. Even when the doctors told him death was certain he never stopped living - for whatever it was worth. He was a fighter. He lived months longer than anyone expected. Of course he never stopped getting sicker. He just wouldn’t die. And it’s not that he lied to himself about what was happening, he knew most every day would be worse than the previous. But he refused to accept his fate amicably, and I’ll always admire him for that. It still strikes me as a paradox that Ken – the man wouldn’t die – actually did.

Although I wasn’t thinking about it at the time (I didn’t reminisce on the meal with Ken until I started typing this) I’m sure it must have been behind the subconscious impulse to switch out my own fate. After my own brief period of quiet brooding, I turned to the auspicious second cookie and cleverly teased out its fortune without breaking it open. It reads:

You will make many changes before settling satisfactorily.

No kidding. It's strange how I managed to snag such seemingly flipside fortunes. I deftly to put the first fortune back into the whole cookie before I threw it away. Maybe I'll keep the new fortune. I know it's silly but, Ken would approve.

Wonderfalls

2005-10-18T21:35:00.000-05:00

My wife and I had a great trip to NY / Canada visiting Niagara Falls. We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast a not much more than few blocks from the falls and spent three days visiting everything we could. The falls of course were amazing. We took the time to walk around them and across the Rainbow Bridge, viewing them from every angle. We even did the Maid of the Mists boat ride up to the falls themselves. Night viewing, when they were illuminated was beautiful, but we preferred daylight. Night-time was an illusion - colored lights and a dreamy glow, but in the daylight you can't help but be impressed with how colossal they are.

We also visited the rapids and the whirlpool downriver, as well as Old Fort Niagara at the mouth of Lake Ontario, an impressive Buddhist temple, and several nearby vineyards. But my absolute favorite part of the trip was visiting the Butterfly Conservatory. Apparently we showed up right when droves of different imported species were emerging from their cocoons. There must have been thousands of butterflies floating and fluttering everywhere. They were landing on us and swirling about so much we had to move slowly to ensure we weren't stepping on them or injuring them somehow. I even got to see a handful of butterflies emerge from cocoons and slowly struggle to fan out their wings. It was incredible.

Another Intelligent Design

2005-10-08T12:41:00.000-05:00

In an attempt to ensure for the well-rounded education of our nation's youth, many concerned citizens have sent a letters to our nation's schoolboards urging them accept the axioms of Intelligent Design. Following are excerpts from one particularly compelling letter:

. . . I think we can all agree that it is important for students to hear multiple viewpoints so they can choose for themselves the theory that makes the most sense to them. I am concerned, however, that students will only hear one theory of Intelligent Design. . . . I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster [and] that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him. [For instance] a scientist may perform a carbon-dating process on an artifact. He finds that approximately 75% of the Carbon-14 has decayed by electron emission to Nitrogen-14, and infers that this artifact is approximately 10,000 years old, as the half-life of Carbon-14 appears to be 5,730 years. But what our scientist does not realize is that every time he makes a measurement, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage. We have numerous texts that describe in detail how this can be possible and the reasons why He does this . . .

Be sure to check out the complete report from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster Website.

Speaking of Space . . .

2005-10-07T18:05:00.000-05:00

Burt Rutan's X-Prize winning venture, Space Ship One - the first civilian craft to fly in space, is now hanging in the National Air and Space Museum right between the X1-Bell and The Spirit of St. Louis. I imagine Rutan rightly feels some measure of pride in such an auspicious accomplishment, but it can hardly be an unfamiliar feeling for him. He needs only look across the lobby to see another of his designs, Voyager - the first aircraft to circle the globe without stopping or refueling. Wow.

Rocket Racers

2005-10-04T16:43:00.000-05:00

Peter Diamandis, the same man who brought us the Ansari X-Prize, is proposing to create a Rocket Racing League to hold regular competitions across the United States with a yearly championship race to be held in New Mexico. As always the intent behind the league is to generate new developments in the technologies that will eventually take us all into space.

Next week is the exhibition event for the newest phase of the X-Prize Cup and I really wish I could be there. This is exactly the kind of nonsense I want to get more involved in. Of course I've never flown a rocket yet, but I'm ready and willing to learn. And since I already have my own goggles - all I really need now is a sponsor. So, if there are any rich rocketeers out there - I'm your man - be sure to drop me a line.

Salt and Pepper

2005-10-03T18:37:00.000-05:00

This image of a grain of salt and a peppercorn was taken by David McCarthy using a Scanning Electron Microscope. Originally black and white, the coloring was added by Annie Cavanagh to highlight the details and contrast the objects. A simple concept masterfully done, this picture won the overall award at the Visions of Science Photographic Awards for 2005.

Serenity is Firefly

2005-10-01T19:18:00.000-05:00

You may or may not remember me writing about my favorite TV show of all time, but after much anticipation Joss Wedon's movie version starring the same great cast of characters finally arrived in theaters. I was a bit apprehensive that the movie might not live up to the hype (and my lofty expectations), but wild horses couldn't have kept me away.

Just moments into the opening scenes and I knew it'd be great. The story picks up right where the TV series left off, never missing a beat. Thankfully, the characters who had been so convincingly defined in the original series were all their same old irascible selves. It was the same ship, same crew - only the special effects had gotten better.

The real story had always been about the crew itself. An oddball bunch of hardluck cases, most of whom had at some point been upstanding members of society, but now found themselves marginalized in one way or another. They're left needing eachother and their quasi-criminal lifestyle in order to survive. They struggle to get by, they struggle to get along, and they struggle to maintain some measure of their dignity and honor in a universe gone amok.

I liked how the movie took a dark bent - darker than the TV series had been - but I was wholly unprepared for just how dim it would get. The movie was at times violent, and I expected that. People died, lots of people died - even main characters. I wasn't expecting that. I'm not sure I understand the point of killing-off key characters (other than just to heighten the sense of danger and 'realism') and I'm surprised at just how much it bothers me. I'm still shook-up over it. But despite it all I have to admit it was one hell of a movie, and I suppose it's testament to how well developed the characters are that I care so much.

After watching the movie, I came home and checked on the fansite message board and was not too surprised to discover the movie has suffered casualties in its fanbase as well. Leagues of disconsolate fans of the original TV series are irate with Wedon for killing-off their favorite characters, while countless other die-hard fans hail the movie as an overwhelming success. And regardless of how the original fans feel, the movie continues to generate rave reviews with the public at large. I'm guessing it'll be up to the survivors of Serenity to try to make some sense of the senselessness in the sequels I'm sure will come.

A Curious Combination

2005-09-29T16:55:00.000-05:00

It seems NASA and Google are going to be teaming up at a new facility in California. How cool would it be to work for Google as a contractor for NASA?

I wonder what sort of things they'll come up with. . .

Primer

2005-09-25T20:44:00.000-05:00

With an excellent premise, solid acting, and intriguing storyline it’s no surprise independent filmmaker Shane Carruth’s debut film, Primer, won accolades at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Without wanting to give away the entire storyline, I’ll simply say this film puts an entirely new face on one of Sci-Fi’s most overused plot devices. It’s a good representation of much of what I love about independent films, and definitely worth seeing – but it's far from perfect.

Purportedly filmed for the cost of a used automobile, its low-budget forced its focus onto its dialogue and its storyline. Both were excellent – yet lacking. As I’m sure was the director’s intent, the dialogue was performed without any theatrical affectations, which effectively casts the characters as being more or less ordinary people who are living out their ‘real’ lives. While this effect was well done, it was probably overdone. The movie itself sets a somber tone, and since much of the dialogue was so dry, I found myself occasionally wishing for a break in the mood. A few more moments of levity might have been appropriate – especially in endearing us to the main characters, who I felt we never got to know well enough.

Also, Carruth never condescends to his audience with contrived explanations of the pseudo-scientific plotline. Instead the audience is left to figure things out as events unfold. Again this is a plus, but the storyline does get extraordinarily complex (to quote a friend, “recursion can be a bitch”), so much so that I couldn’t help but wonder if some key scenes had ended up on the cutting room floor. It was strange because at the end of the movie I thought to myself, ‘Wow. I think I liked it. . . but I’m not sure I really get it.’

In researching this film I later learned virtually nothing was edited out. The low budget meant only the minimums of scene footage could be shot. Of the 80 minutes of recorded scene footage, the edited film is a full 78 minutes long. Carruth had been forced to reduce his creation to its bare essentials from the get go. Once I understood this, it became easier to forgive the film its faults.

And after rewatching Primer, I found I was finally able to follow most of the finer points of the plotline too. While there are still a few elements I puzzle over, I’ve come to understand these last few ambiguities as intentional. As always, we know the story from the character's perspectives, and there are things they cannot know for certain themselves. I’ve created a few pet theories as to what actually happened, but there simply isn’t enough information in the film for me to know if I’m right or not.

I imagine anyone who actually reads this review is likely feel more confused than informed at this point. Get used to it. If you can stomach a short movie without glamour, bar-brawls, car chases, and steamy sex scenes - a movie that’s likely to confuse and frustrate you -- but at least make you think -- then do yourself a favor and check out Primer. And, as always, feel free to e-mail me or leave comments with your own questions or interpretations. Ultimately that’s the point of any good Science-Fiction, and what makes good SF worthwhile.

Test Driving Blog Search (and other random thoughts)

2005-09-17T20:17:00.000-05:00

The beta for Google's new search engine for blogs is finally here, and I recently decided to test it out. The following is a sample of sites I discovered after searching under the topic of - you guessed it : Science Fiction . . .

Too Little Too Late?
Solar Flare reports George Lucas is looking for script writers to come work at Skywalker Ranch and help write for a new Star Wars TV show. Good idea George.

Blog Base
There's a site called Science Fiction Blog which gets a mention for concept alone. The latest post asks for feedback - so I sent some in. I'm hoping that by participating in these sites we can make them better.

Through the Hatch
Something called The Writing Show had this article about a curious web project - aptly named Escape Pod. It's a regular podcast devoted to Science Fiction short stories and worth checking out if you're into that sort of thing. (I'm thinking maybe I'll rig it so I can play MP3's in my car and listen to podcasts on my drive into work.)

Broken Promises
And I know I said I'd never do this again, but I couldn't resist this little exercise. (Hal Clemet and then William Gibson in case you're wondering.)

Also, since ~()--()~ is looking for further research/ideas concering a very cool story concept about returning to the Moon I figure I should at least link this article about NASA's plan revisit our closest neighbor.

It makes me wonder. Sooner or later there really will be an inevitable transition for space related exploration activites. Right now everything is still dominated by government agencies such as NASA, but eventually it'll be corporate entites and private companies that are most willing to take the big risks and boldly venture forth. Right now companies involved in the space trade are good bedfellows with the government(for obvious reasons), but will it always be so?

And one final silly little CS thought for the day:

Why is it that whenever I use blogger's spellchecker it never recognizes words like: Google, blog, MP3 or podcast?

Simon's Saga

2005-09-13T20:49:00.000-05:00

For those of you who took the bait and have been traveling throughout the Local Galactic Neighborhood with the intrepid Simon of Space you're probably feeling a lot like me: Ever anxious to catch the next bizarre and fascinating episode, but already feeling slightly nostalgic - knowing that the story is somehow drawing to a close. It's been an enjoyable ride. I like reading everyone's comments - especially in retrospect - and seeing other's predictions of what would happen next. Despite always trying to guess what will happen, there's always a new planet to visit with another completely unpredictable landscape that changes everything. Thankfully there's still a few loose ends that need tying up - and hopefully a few more planets to boot.

What I love most about Hemming as a pulp SF writer is how fearless he is. Although I'm sure he had something of an outline when he started it all, you can still tell he's writing on the fly. If he gets a new crazy idea, he just writes it into the story - improvising as he goes. It's a little rough in places, but I like that you can taste the uncooked/rawness of the story. Ironically, where it lacks for polishing is often where his unbridled creative energies shine most. I imagine once he's done he'll probably go back to edit/refine what's he's written into a more publishable form, and I admit I'm curious as to what sort of changes that'd bring. I'm also curious as to what impact everyone's comments and feedback has had on the story development too (e.g. did he switch certain outcomes once he realized they were, perhaps, too predictable?) But that would be harder to gauge.

At any rate, the whole concept is a grand experiment, and I'm grateful I've been able to witness events as they unfurled. In following Simon from his undignified birth, it's been gratifying to see how both Simon, and the blognovel readership itself, have grown and developed. For those of us who've come to know Simon, we can always hope for a sequel - or a least more original SF from MFDH. And for those of you who haven't yet read Simon of Space - You don't know what you're missing . . .

Universal Doubt

2005-08-24T18:21:00.000-05:00

"At precisely 2.27pm New York time on February 13, 2001, the universe suffered a crisis of self-confidence. Should it go on expanding indefinately? What was the point?"
- Kurt Vonnegut

Notes of an Aspiring Evil Genius

2005-08-09T22:58:00.000-05:00

In the mid 1990's, after participating in a lengthy Secret Agent / Kung-Fu movie marathon, a group of nerds in Arizona created a ridicilously extensive list of villainous Do's and Dont's. Presented here are my favorite 25:

25. I will be an equal-opportunity despot and make sure that terror and oppression are distributed fairly, not just against one particular group that might later form the core of a rebellion.

24. All repair work to my secret fortress will be done by an in-house maintenance staff. Any alleged "repairmen" who show up at the fortress will be escorted to the dungeon.

23. If I have equipment which performs an important function, it will not be activated by a lever which someone could fall on when fatally wounded.

22. I will not make alliances with those more powerful than myself. Such a person would only double-cross me in my moment of glory. I will instead make alliances with those less powerful than myself. I will double-cross them in their moment of glory.

21. Despite its proven stress-relieving effect, I will not indulge in maniacal laughter. When so occupied, it's too easy to miss unexpected developments that a more attentive individual could adjust to accordingly.

20. If an advisor says to me "My liege, he is but one man. What can one man possibly do?" I will reply "This" and kill the advisor.

19. My Legions of Terror™ will be an equal-opportunity employer. Conversely, when it is prophesied that no man can defeat me, I will keep in mind the increasing number of non-traditional gender roles.

18. I will instruct my Legions of Terror™ in proper search techniques. In particular, if they are searching for escapees and someone shouts, "Quick! They went that way!" they must first ascertain the identity of this helpful informant before dashing off in hot pursuit.

17. The deformed mutants and odd-ball psychotics will have their place in my Legions of Terror™. However, before I send them out on important covert missions that require tact and subtlety, I will first see if there is anyone else equally qualified who would attract less attention.

16. I will hire a talented fashion designer to create original uniforms for my Legions of Terror™ as opposed to some cheap knock-offs that make them look like Nazi stormtroopers, Roman footsoldiers, or savage Mongol hordes. All were eventually defeated and I want my troops to have a more positive mind-set.

15. I will classify my lieutenants in three categories: untrusted, trusted, and completely trusted. Promotion to the third category will be awarded posthumously.

14. If I decide to test a lieutenant's loyalty and see if he/she should be made a trusted lieutenant, I will have a crack squad of marksmen standing by in case the answer is no.

13. I will make sure I have a clear understanding of who is responsible for what in my organization. For example, if my general screws up I will not draw my weapon, point it at him, say "And here is the price for failure," then suddenly turn and kill some random underling.

12. If I ever talk to the hero on the phone, I will not taunt him. Instead I will explain that his dogged perseverance has given me new insight on the futility of my evil ways and that if he leaves me alone for a few months of quiet contemplation I will likely return to the path of righteousness. (Heroes are incredibly gullible in this regard.)

11. Since nothing is more irritating than a hero defeating you with basic math skills, all of my personal weapons will be modified to fire one more shot than the standard issue.

10. When I've captured my adversary and he says, "Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?" I'll say, "No." and shoot him. On second thought, I'll shoot first and then say "No."

9. If I am fighting with the hero atop a moving platform, have disarmed him, and am about to finish him off and he glances behind me and drops flat, I too will drop flat instead of quizzically turning around to find out what he saw.

8. If I am ever dangling over a precipice and the hero reaches his hand down to me, I will not attempt to pull him down with me. I will allow him to rescue me, thank him properly, then return to the safety of my fortress and order his execution.

7. If I am escaping in a large truck and the hero is pursuing me in a small Italian sports car, I will not wait for the hero to pull up along side of me and try to force him off the road as he attempts to climb aboard. Instead I will slam on the brakes when he's directly behind me. (A rudimentary knowledge of physics can prove quite useful.)

6. If an attractive young couple enters my realm, I will carefully monitor their activities. If I find they are happy and affectionate, I will ignore them. However if circumstances have forced them together against their will and they spend all their time bickering and criticizing each other except during the intermittent occasions when they are saving each others' lives at which point there are hints of sexual tension, I will immediately order their execution.

5. I will maintain a healthy amount of skepticism when I capture the beautiful rebel and she claims she is attracted to my power and good looks and will gladly betray her companions if I just let her in on my plans.

4. If I am using the hero's girlfriend as a hostage and am holding her at the point of imminent death when confronting the hero, I will focus on her and not him. He won't try anything with his true love held hostage. On the other hand, the fact that she has been weak, slow-witted, naive and generally useless up to this point has no bearing on her actions at the moment of dramatic climax.

3. If I find my beautiful consort with access to my fortress has been associating with the hero, I'll have her executed. It's regrettable, but new consorts are easier to get than new fortresses and maybe the next one will pay attention at the orientation meeting.

2. If I have children and subsequently grandchildren, I will keep my three-year-old granddaughter near me at all times. When the hero enters to kill me, I will ask him to first explain to her why it is necessary to kill her beloved grandpa. When the hero launches into an explanation of morality way over her head, that will be her cue to pull the lever and send him into the pit of crocodiles. After all, small children like crocodiles almost as much as Evil Overlords and it's important to spend quality time with the grandkids.

1. I reserve the right to execute any henchmen who appear to be a little too intelligent, powerful, or devious. However if I do so, I will not at some subsequent point shout "Why am I surrounded by these incompetent fools?!"

Thanks to Peter Ansbach who long ago compiled the exhaustive list from a multitude of contributors.

Cellular Dilemma

2005-08-07T11:34:00.000-05:00

Cell phones: Everybody has one. Everybody except me that is. I've doggedly held onto my retro belief they're frivolous at best, and quite possibly represent absolute evil. They often seem either unjustified- as counterfeit status symbols, or unnecessary - as electronic leashes that chain otherwise free souls to the unyielding demands of an all-consuming employer or spouse.

It's not that I believe that everyone who has a cell phone falls into these categories. I know a lot of people find them useful in limited situations. My wife has one which she usually only keeps in the car in case of emergencies, and more than a few of my friends use them to keep in contact with eachother on the move. But they at least are intelligently selective about when they carry/answer them and when they don't. I guess I don't believe they're always bad, simply that I never saw myself as needing one. Once I realized I didn't need one, it became easy to see how I might be happier without one at all.

But times are always changing. It used to be that I could always find a pay-phone if I was out and had to make a call. I figured the $1.50 I'd spend in a month from phone booths was cheaper than any cellular plan I'd have to pay for, and I really didn't mind the extra effort of walking to a booth (at least there's never a queue anymore). But now finding a booth is becoming nearly impossible as pay-phones are going the way of the dodo. The few that are left always seem to be out of service, and I secretly suspect I'm the only one who notices.

I'm sure it was wisdom that initially turned me away from the cell phone trend, but I'm doubting it's wisdom any longer. I'd come to hold my lack of a cell as a unique badge of honor, something to set me apart from the mindless masses obliging commercial consumerism. But that rant wears thin when I conclude my explanation of 'why I don't have a cell' with, "by the way - Can I borrow yours for a sec? I need to make a call." I'm realizing that I borrow other people's cells a lot lately. It's gotten so bad I actually get calls on other's cells sometimes. I've ridden my moral high-horse across the ridge of discernment and into the valley of hypocrisy. It's time to get off the horse.

The proverbial camel snapping straw came a short while ago, when my wife became seriously sick at work and needed me to come get her. After I left she realized she'd given me the wrong location to pick her up at. She had to call a my mom (who was at least much closer) to pick her up, and then detour to meet me at the wrong location so I wouldn't search in vain. Ever since then I've decided I could probably use a cell phone of my own. Now the only trouble is actually getting one.

I started shopping on Friday, and was overwhelmed by the different plans/ phones/ options/ distributors available. It made me think about an old former-East-German lady who spoke of the paralyzing fear she felt when she went shopping for the first time after the wall came down. She talked, quite entertainingly, for ten minutes about toothpaste and how she had no idea there could be so many different types of toothpaste or which one she was supposed to buy. She ended up shopping for an hour and then leaving the cart - buying nothing - and never shopped again without a 'helper' for months afterwards. I'm sure it won't go quite so badly for me, but it does seem I'll have to do a bit more research before I commit to a purchase. It's strange because I know plenty about buying computers or handhelds or cameras - just not phones. This must be how old people feel about technology.

Relative Logic

2005-08-06T14:53:00.000-05:00

There are five houses in a row. Each house is a different color. In each house lives a person of a different nationality. The five owners each drink a different drink, smoke a different brand of tobacco and keep a different pet, one of which is a fish.

The question is: Who owns the fish?

1 The Brit lives in a red house
2 The Swede has a dog
3 The Dane drinks tea
4 The green house is on the left (adjacent) of the white house
5 The owner of the green house drinks coffee
6 The person who smokes Pall Mall has birds
7 The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhills
8 The man living in the center house drinks milk
9 The Norwegian lives in the first house
10 The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who has cats
11 The man who has horses lives next do the man who smokes Dunhills
12 The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer
13 The German smokes Prince
14 The Norwegian lives next to the blue house
15 The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water

Note: This particular puzzle is purportedly so difficult that only 2% of all persons who attempt it ever solve it. While I'm doubtful of such statistics, it's certainly more difficult than it first appears. I eventually gave up on using a traditional logic table and resorted to making mental notes as I filled/switched information in five boxes while repeatedly going through the 15 steps until I zeroed in on the answer. Although I eventually solved it, I'm upset that my methodology was so sloppy, and I'm curious if anyone out there can show me a more elegant way of sussing out the solution.

To reveal the solution, click here:

Portrait of a Lady

2005-07-25T22:26:00.000-05:00

This is my dog Izzy. Born in Austria (hence the hat), my wife and I adopted her as a puppy and eventually brought her back to the states when we left Europe. She's a Groenendahl - a common breed in Europe - and she has more personality than most people I know. Smart, obedient, affectionate, and great around others, including children and other pets. Even cats - she loves cats.

In Germany I never got to know many of my neighbors, mostly because the community was so cloistered and our ability to speak German was always very rudimentary, but once we brought Izzy home suddenly everyone wanted to get to know us. The neighborhood kids would actually knock on our door just to ask if Izzy could come out and play. They taught her to respond to commands in German. Although it's been years, on a whim I recently decided to give her commands in German (no hand signals) and I was amazed to discover she still remembers them - at least the few I can still remember myself.

Commemorating the Moon Landings

2005-07-20T17:58:00.000-05:00

We first reached the moon on today's date: July 20th, 1969. A date we should all know by heart, but unfortunately many of us take it for granted. In rememberance, Google is honoring today with a nifty little application that lets us all learn (a bit) about and explore the moon for ourselves. Just click on the moon.

And be sure to check out some of the other wonderous free-ware offered by Google - such as this freaky cool interactive map of a planet called Earth.

The Ugly Truth

2005-07-14T22:11:00.000-05:00

I thought this animation by Cybermoon Studios was too funny to not share.

You're missing something good!
If you're reading this message, you either need to download the free Flash player, or you're reading this blog via an RSS feed and need to go here. Or maybe both.

Although we were all geeks when we were younger, my friends and I never really played D&D much. Mostly because when we did - it was exactly like this. I remember spending a lot of time making characters and then never getting past the first few mintues of actual play because of some argument over the rules or someone's 'role-playing style.' As a matter of fact, whenever I watch this parody I can't help but assign people I know to each caricature. I'll never tell which one is me.

Some of the credits at the end have links to different contributors but since they go by so quickly I've added the primary points here:

Props to 8-Bit Theatre - a web-based comic that uses old game sprites as characters, and served as inspiration for the animation's theme.
The Dead Alewives - a Wisconsin based comedy troupe whose recorded skit this animation was based on. Unfortunately this now seems to be a dead link, but I'm vainly hoping it'll come back someday.
And most of all Cybermoon Studios - the anime and icon collectors who are responsible for putting this animation together.

No Excuses

2005-07-10T22:15:00.000-05:00

In the aftermath of the London bombings, one thing that deeply disturbed me – aside from the obvious, was a sentence in Qual3ah’s oxymoronic ‘claim of responsibility’:

"We continue to warn the governments of Denmark and Italy and all the crusader governments that they will be punished in the same way if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. He who warns is excused."

If you warn an entire nation’s population that you intended to indiscriminately murder innocent people, that somehow justifies it? How is it that anyone could ever think that’d make sense?

And although it seems authentic, I don’t particularly care if the author of this claim happens to be connected to the actual bombings or not. It’s not like knowing these are two unrelated groups of psychos would make us feel any better.

When thinking about terrorist groups such as Al’Qaeda, it’s interesting to note how their motives are always intrinsically political rather than religious. This is plainly obvious in the aims cited above – withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. The religious mumbo-jumbo in the rest of the claim is only the backdrop for the main message; if you’ll excuse the metaphor – a vehicle used to an end. It could be easily argued (and frequently is) that these terrorist leaders are hijacking Islam to their own political aims, just like they hijack everything else. But still I felt it was important to attempt to understand the message in its original, or at least intended, context.

Simply put, this wasn’t the kind of thing I could let go of - I had to understand where it was coming from. I’ve spent the weekend reading through the Koran in an effort to discover some sort of cultural context, regardless of how distorted it has become. In searching through the Koran and eventually even the Bible (for comparisons), I can’t say I’ve gained any serious theological ground, but I’ve learned a bit just the same.

Want to know which passage in the Koran implies that a warning absolves culpability? There isn’t one. But strangely enough I was able to find quite a few – as long as I wasn’t looking too closely.

There are plenty of passages of that refer to the followers of Muhammad having a responsibility to ‘warn’ nonbelievers that failure to acknowledge the one true God will displease Him, and in the end-times result in His wrath. But let’s face it, that whole diatribe rings familiar with the entire Judeo/Christian ethic as well. The vast majority of the Koran is specifically clear that it will be Allah Himself – not his followers – that will judge man.

But as is so often the case, the vast majority hardly makes up for the small minority. Although much of the Koran’s passages have relatively forthright messages, it’s not surprising that parts of it are more obscure. The Koran’s 54th book, Al-Qamar, contains the sort of passages I’m convinced the psychotic assholes of Al’Queda are abusing to their own ends:

So taste My chastisement and My warning. And certainly We have made the Quran easy for remembrance, but is there anyone who will mind? And certainly the warning came to Firon's people. They rejected all Our communications, so We overtook them after the manner of a Mighty, Powerful One. [54.39-42]

The entire book reads much like this, repetitions on a theme. While I’m not a theologian or a historian, and I fully acknowledge I lack the expertise to fully evaluate a text so complex as the Koran, I’ll go ahead and continue to submit my meager analysis nonetheless.

My first reaction to reading this passage was one of disgust. It seems the standard sort of ethnic elitism: 'If you don’t follow the Koran, then Allah wants us to sack your cities.' And I imagine that’s exactly the sort of spin the fundamentalists like to put on it, but that’d be taking it out of context.

Unfortunately, it’s extraordinarily easy to take these sorts of passages out of context. The entire book of Al-Qamar is laced with subtle references to other parts of the Koran, and until I’d researched enough to understand them (a little), I was left guessing as to what most of it meant. As ugly as it sounds, the passage above is referring to the warnings Moses gave to the Egyptians prior to the biblical plagues. It’s confusing because it exists completely apart from the actual accounts of Moses, and sandwiched between bunches of doomsday warnings. And the wording is such that it sounds (1) as if it refers solely to the followers of Islam – not all the children of Abraham, and (2) as if the followers of Islam – not God alone – had an active hand in the fate that befell the Pharaoh’s people.

My Life's Haiku

2005-07-06T12:37:00.000-05:00

a pointless poem
adhereing only to form
no rhyme or reason

All Time Low

2005-06-30T22:51:00.000-05:00

Do you know what I'm sick of? I'm sick of these stupid little gimmicks everyone is linking in their blogs. You know the ones I mean - the links that take you to a pagefull of useless quizzes that tell you which Star Trek character you are, or what your favorite flavor of ice cream says about you. Here's a newsflash: Nobody gives a damn.

Go ahead and be proud you've got so much in common with Handy Smurf, or that your Virtual Tarot Card reading says that you're a deeply creative and insightful person. Whatever makes you feel better. Just don't fill your blogs with this junk. It's not like these things are accurate or even entertaining - they just tell you what you want to hear.

Don't believe me? I can prove it. How about Who's My Famous Blogger Twin? It doesn't matter what I do. In the end I'm sure it'll tell me I'm just wonderful. Simply answer a few questions . . . and viola!

Your Famous Blogger Twin is Wil Wheaton

That's Right - Wil Fucking Wheaton

What the hell?!?

But he's so whiney! I'm not whiney!

At least it shows these things aren't accurate. What could I have in common with this almost forgotten former actor? I suppose, for the sake of thoroughness I should investigate, if only to prove my point.

Let's see . . . it seems he's something of a wannabe computer geek ... he likes to write, apparently not very well ... he's into poker, geocaching, and OH MY GOD . . . he even drinks Guinness.

Well that's strangely disturbing. He really is my long lost evil-twin brother. Six lousy questions and that quiz matched me up with my ultimate alterego. How depressing. Could it be that these things are dead on?

Hmmm, obviously my taste is music is 'archaic and decidedly uncool', I don't care enough about 'my look', and it seems I'm just 'okay' in the sack. At least now I know. My pornstar name is, Ivan Dinklehoff, but I'm guessing I won't be using it since I'm only marginally adequate in bed. The good news is I apparently have latent psychic powers - I bet those will come in handy - and my future has a 'prosperous outlook'.

I'm telling you all this now because I'm never doing any of these stupid things again. Who knows, maybe I'll actually have something original to put in my next post. We can only hope. And for the record, I didn't score as 'Pissed at the World Kitty' until after I knew I was Wil Wheaton's even less successful doppelganger. How would you react?

You scored as Pissed at the World Cat. And here we have the next serial killer. Try having some cotton candy, it'll make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Psycho.

Pissed at the World Cat 83%
Nerd Cat 50%
Ninja Cat 50%
Couch Potato Cat 42%
Deranged Cat 33%
Love Machine Cat 25%
Drunk Cat 25%

Which Absurd Cat are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Part I: Propaganda Engineering

2005-06-23T18:20:00.000-05:00

Years ago, I attended a gig at Arlene’s Grocery – a small dive on New York’s Lower East Side. Plastered across one wall of the bar area was the familiar mishmash of graffiti, posters and advertisements you often find in such places. Interspersed amongst the mess were dozens of these:

Obey. Obey what? I didn’t get it. It was one of those questions quickly forgotten in the rush of life. A few other times I saw stickers or spray-paint with the Obey theme, but not being a regular city dweller these occurrences were rare. They always provoked the same perplextion, but always yielded to more pressing matters.

A few weeks ago, an unlikely chain of clicks brought me to the website of cult phenom propagandist Shepard Fairey, where his manifesto explains the rationale behind it all. I still can’t decide if he’s a jackass or a genius, but I was a little pleased to finally get an explanation. Somehow I doubt he's actually read much Heidegger, but I'm not sure that matters.

And I hate to admit it, but some of his artwork is interesting. I especially like his clever incorporation of old communist devices. If that doesn't force you to question intent, what will?

OB3Y G14NT

Shepard Fairey - Manfacturing Quality Dissent Since 1989

Conundrum

2005-06-18T16:30:00.000-05:00

A few days ago while studying with my friend nSilico (who was deciphering a text on Graph Theory) he suddenly became agitated with an equation he was working with and stood up, shakenly proclaiming, "Oh my God! Math doesn't work!" I doubt any description can do justice to how fantastically comical this event was to me, but it was possibly the single funniest thing I've seen all year. I guess you just had to be there.

He later explained he'd spent hours learning how to employ a particular equation only to discover it never worked as its premises implied it should. He painstakingly had followed each element of the formula back to their original proofs only to reduce the entire problem to an obvious illogicality. It was as if the laws of mathematics had conspired against him and decided, today 1 + 1 = 3. As someone who'd devoted his life to studying physics, computer science, and mathematics, he was suddenly faced with a compromise of faith. I was witnessing a man losing his religion.

Eventually he divined the entire trouble was due to a typo he'd mistakenly accepted in the original text. A bit of fact checking confirmed this. After a brief bout of swearing and a letter to the publisher, all was well: He could continue to believe in the immutable truths inherent in mathematics.

Still, it's a scary and wonderful feeling to suddenly have all you know, or rather all you believe you know, challenged. I experienced a similar occurrence the very next day when looking a simple diagram of a triangle. Below I've provided an illustration so you can see what I'm talking about.

(use the slider to control the animation)

This puzzle bothered me to no end. I decided to animate it once I understood it. Apparently the laws of Euclidean geometry are no longer valid. How else can you explain the orange square left over in the end? (Warning - comments contain spoilers)

Tinkering

2005-06-15T00:45:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to to adding my Favorite Posts and Blogroll segments to the sidebar. Both need to be expanded/updated but at least they're now in place. Eventually I'll add some simple yet distinguished refinements to the overall blog template as well (I think you all will be impressed) but for now this'll do.

In the meanwhile, ya'll just talk amongst yourselves. Here's a topic:

Is it possible to be aware that you're not thinking about a white bear?

What's Missing?

2005-06-13T00:05:00.000-05:00

On Thursday May 19, 2005 Rueters reported:

MOSCOW - A Russian village was left baffled on Thursday after its lake disappeared overnight.

NTV television showed pictures of a giant muddy hole bathed in summer sun, while fishermen from the village of Bolotnikovo looked on disconsolately.

“It is very dangerous. If a person had been in this disaster, he would have had almost no chance of survival. The trees flew downwards, under the ground,” said Dmitry Zaitsev, a local Emergencies Ministry official interviewed by the channel.

Officials in Nizhegorodskaya region, on the Volga river east of Moscow, said water in the lake might have been sucked down into an underground water-course or cave system, but some villagers had more sinister explanations.

“I am thinking, well, America has finally got to us,” said one old woman, as she sat on the ground outside her house.

I laughed at the reaction of the old woman, but I was mostly interested in exactly what kind of geological phenomena might be involved in this sort of occurrence. I bookmarked the article figuring it'd get linked to the follow-up reports. Now, while doing a little ‘browser-cleaning’ after almost a month, I’ve come across the old article.

Unfortunately the follow-up is nowhere to be found. I’ll admit I haven’t exactly pulled out all the stops yet, but how hard should it be? I’ve googled for ‘missing lake’, ‘Bolotnikovo’, and ‘Secret American Lake Evaporating Laser Satellites’ but I’ve only found numerous links to the original article.

I think it’s interesting that every news source (MSNBC for instance) simply cut and pasted the original Reuters report and then . . . nothing. The closest thing to original writing came from this BBC report, which does little more than paraphrase the Reuters and TV reports. Isn’t there supposed to be competition among news affiliates? Shouldn't someone at least check back through a Russian news station for details? How lazy can they be?

I understand this isn’t prime local news, but it seems like someone must be covering it. Even if it’s not vital to us over here, I imagine there are a few Russian villagers who want answers. What have they been reading/watching in Bolotnikovo? Must be the Michael Jackson trial - just like everywhere else.

Simply Simon

2005-06-10T10:22:00.000-05:00

Here's another blogsite I think is worth visiting: Simon of Space is "a free science-fiction blognovel detailing the adventures of hyperspatial-amnesiac and gentleman-about-the-galaxy N. Simonithrat Fell." It's written by Matthew Frederick Davis Hemming, a.k.a. Cheeseburger Brown, of Darthside fame.

What would I love more than a well written Sci-Fi serial? I enjoyed Darthside, but I really beleive the original Simon of Space is so much better. Right now there's only a handful of posts, but he adds a new short episode daily. Be sure to check it out.

Apparently I'm an Idiot

2005-06-10T00:11:00.000-05:00

I'd always suspected as much. In a recent evaluation of my mathematical prowess I somehow managed to both simultaneously demonstrate a deep understanding of underlying mathmatical concepts while exhibting a perpelxing ineptitude towards perfoming simple math operations. My metophorical Mars orbiter has travelled 48 million miles only to end up as a tiny crater on the surface of the red planet. A monument to both my ambition and my inability to carry the one. Oh why must I always confound all that is simple and straightforward?

Deep Duck

2005-06-04T15:04:00.000-05:00

I am constantly plagued by weird dreams. There are a few in particular that continue to linger and bother me. I know everybody has weird dreams from time to time. Normally you forget your dreams as soon as you wake. Or at most they lose their power a few minutes after you wake. What’s so unusual is that these dreams, while they make absolutely no sense whatsoever, continue to bother me for days, even weeks after I’ve had them. Take my duck dream for instance:

There’s a short man in a white minivan who has a white duck with a bright yellow bill. He’s attached a small camera to the duck’s head. Actually it’s just a little flash-bulb that floats over the head of the duck, but in the logic that only exists in dreams; I understand this bulb to be an actual camera that the man has fastened to the duck’s head. I sense the duck is somewhat unhappy about this arrangement, and I wonder, “Why the hell did this guy put a camera on a duck’s head?” Well, the man releases the duck, which wildly flaps and flys about, and at random intervals the bulb flashes as the camera takes a picture of whatever the duck’s head just happens to be pointed at. After a few minutes of this the man recaptures the duck (which can never seem to get away from the man) goes into his minivan and develops the pictures.

This is where it gets weird. When he comes out he’s looking at the pictures and oohing and ahhing over the deep mystical wisdom of the wondrous duck who apparently has taken some profoundly meaningful photographs. When I look at the pictures, I see (as you might expect) a bunch of out-of focus, poorly cropped, images of mundane things that were randomly photographed from a duck’s-eye-view. But when I explain this to the man he gets upset and insists the duck is a great and wise duck and the photos are amazing works of art. And suddenly a crowd of people are there oohing and ahhing over the photos – and paying homage to the great and wise duck.

I tell them all they are nuts and that the man should leave the duck alone, but no one will listen, so I leave. Except that whenever the man releases the duck – the duck follows me – so I never get away from the madness. I think the duck followed me because it knew I was the only one who would be willing rid him of the stupid camera. But I never do, and the man always recaptures the reluctant duck and develops more photos and gathers a greater crowd of duck-fans. There was something else going on when the duck happened to fly into a building, but this is where I woke up so it’s all unclear.

As strange as this dream is, what’s stranger is that I am STILL PISSED-OFF about what the man was doing to the duck, and the fact everyone insisted the photographs were profoundly meaningful. It’s been almost two weeks since I had the dream, and I’m still thinking about it. The dream seemed so important when I woke, I just lay there forever trying to get back into the dream - hoping to find some resolution or understanding. What is it that makes such a surreal experience so compelling to me?

This is worse than when I had that dream where I had sent myself a message from the future telling me it was vitally important I build a time machine:

What sucked was there were no instructions in the message as to how to actually build the time machine, and I was deeply disturbed as to why I might have done this to myself. In the dream, I had my father and a team of highly trained accountants working on the problem, but we were getting nowhere. (I have no idea why they were accountants but such are my dreams.) At one point, I was yelling at the accountants, overcome with a sense of urgency – “Damn it men! I needed this thing built YESTERDAY!” and then one of the accountants, appropriately clad in think rimmed ‘birth-control’ glasses, a white shirt complete with pocket-protector, black tie, and high-water pants (actually he looked a lot like Michael Douglas from Falling Down) - Anyways he tells me, “Actually sir, once we complete the project, we will have it yesterday – it’s a Time Machine after all!”
“Oh, yeah” I realized, suddenly calm, and then I woke up.

But for some reason, even after I woke I remained disturbed as to why I would send such a message without instructions. Ridiculous I know. Still, somewhere deep down I’m convinced that these dreams are somehow important and I’m a fool for not understanding.

Strange Diversions

2005-06-02T00:01:00.000-05:00

Since I'm really not going to write a blog today, I figured I might at least point you all towards an interesting blogsite I recently discovered. PostSecret is a blog that's been getting quite a bit of a buzz lately, but on the off-chance you haven't heard of it, I'll invite you to check it out.

The idea behind the site is wonderful. I have to admit I'm continually fascinated by all its postings in a strange, sort of voyeuristic sense, but I imagine that's its appeal for everyone. I wonder what it's like to be the guy who gets a mailbox full of these things everyday.

Great Sci-Fi Writers

2005-05-23T14:30:00.000-05:00

I read a lot of different kinds books and magazines, but I love science-fiction novels and short stories most of all. I figure I could make a list a mile long of my favorite writers and my favorite stories. Then again, it would be even better if I could get others to list their favorites too. I'm sure there are great writers I haven't even discovered yet. So here's the contest - the prize is self-evident:

1. Post a comment and leave the name of at least one, but no more than three, Sci-Fi writers who have written something you like. You can provide a link or even write a synopsis of what books you've read by them and why you liked them, but all you have to leave is a name.

2. You can leave as many comments as you like, but no back-to-back comments. (In other words wait until at least one other person has left a comment before adding another.) This will ensure a bit of diversity in the responses, and give everyone a chance to add something. It'll also keep the contest going only so long as there are multiple persons still interested in contributing.

3. It would be a crime not to list the obvious big-timers but please don't ignore the more obscure writers you might know of too. Don't leave anything out. Whatever you like is fair game, you don't have to list only Nebula and Hugo award winners.

4. Although I tend to be most interested in more traditional/hard-core Science-Fiction, I've decided this contest will accept a very loose definition of the term 'Sci-Fi', as to include writers of almost any medium - be they books, short stories, comic-books, movies, etc. I also recognize that there can be blurred lines between Sci-Fi and other genres (such as fantasy) which is okay too, but please don't go overboard.

5. If you are one of the silent ones who always reads this blog but never leaves any comments (and you both know who you are) you have to leave a comment or I will continue to make fun of you in increasingly irreverent ways.

These are the rules. Let the contest begin!

Mind Biscuits

2005-05-18T01:22:00.000-05:00

I was scanning a recent copy of Scientific American when I came across an article about the 'universal constants' of physics and how wonderfully amazing it is that all these numbers just happen to be exactly what they are - because if they weren't then the Earth wouldn't circle the Sun the same, atoms wouldn't form they way they do, and life just wouldn't be possible. Apparently these constants just happen to be fixed in the only configuration that could ever do.

Something about such a conclusion struck me as being a sort of circular logic, but not being a particularly well regarded physicist myself I mentally shrugged it off. Then I found the following quote Douglas Adams gave at a lecture at UC Santa Barbara:

It's rather like a puddle waking up one morning - I know they don't normally do this, but allow me, I'm a science fiction writer. A puddle wakes up one morning and thinks: "This is a very interesting world I find myself in. It fits me very neatly. In fact it fits me so neatly... I mean really precise isn't it?... It must have been made to have me in it." And the sun rises, and [the puddle is] continuing to narrate this story about how this hole must have been made to have him in it. And as the sun rises, and gradually the puddle is shrinking and shrinking and shrinking and by the time the puddle ceases to exist, it's still thinking - it's still trapped in this idea that - that the hole was there for it.

Hitchhiker's Guide

2005-05-10T22:55:00.000-05:00

While many would argue that George Lucas or even Gene Roddenberry lay claim to the most recognizable Sci-Fi franchises ever created, I have a sneaking suspicion that many a wannabe Jedi were willing to lay down their flashlight-sabers and take off their Vulcan eartips just long enough to don their most favored of towels and head to theaters to see the new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie. Familiarity with this distinctly british sci-fi series by Douglas Adams is the true test of 'sophisticated' nerds everywhere. The Hitchhiker's Guide was originally a radio program in the late 1970s but eventually it grew into a trilogy of five books (this makes sense to anyone who's read Adams), a TV series, a second radio show, and a classic computer game. It was only a matter of time before they morphed it all into a movie.

I loved the book but I was reluctant to go see the movie. I was afraid it wouldn't live up to all the hype. Now that I've seen it I'm not exactly sure how best to review it. It was good - not great. I really wasn't expecting too much, and overall I was pleasantly surprised. I liked that in general it was true to Adams' writing style. A lot of the dialogue and narration were taken from the book word for word. Of course, most of it was edited down for the big-screen and some of the story was different, but that's to be expected. The acting was decent, and the special-effects and sets were spectacular.

In analyzing the story changes, it's important to note that Adams himself (who died in 2001) enjoyed changing elements of his story from iteration to iteration. The radio series was different than the books, which was different than the TV series, which was different than the subsequent radio series, etc. I imagine the movie screenplay was produced in much the same vein as he had originally written it: A bit more romance, a lot less narration, less story, more action. Perhaps these were all reasonable compromises, but ultimately it was all so abbreviated it left me wondering if it would be enjoyable to someone who was not familiar with the book. And it has to be said - the whole production was very 'British' in nature. For me this was definitely a plus, as it meant staying true to Adams' style, but if you don't like british humor - you won't like this movie.

I'd recommend this movie, but not to everyone. To put it bluntly - this movie is more than a bit nerd-centric. If you think nerd is a bad word, or if you're not really familiar with Hitchhiker's already you might want to give it a pass, or at least consider reading the book first. Likewise, if you're going to the movies with a group of friends, be sure you're all card carrying members of the Hitchhiker's cognoscenti or chances are someone won't have such a great time. But if you can read all this and still be interested then be sure to check it out. It's not perfect, but it is an enjoyable movie and a nostalgic reminder of everything we love about the late great Douglas Adams.

Frank Zappa the Wise

2005-05-04T12:40:00.000-05:00

I was doing an internet search on the topic of censorship when I came across the link (at bottom) to a nearly twenty-year-old episode of Crossfire with the legendary Frank Zappa as a guest. The whole thing is about the need to censor mainstream media (or it's about incest, or maybe a right-wing 'fascist theocracy', I'm not sure - it gets kinda messy). But it's absolutely hilarious. And it's suprisingly revealing of what things have and haven't changed in twenty years.

It's also interesting to note last night's episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which involved a parody of the First Lady telling dirty jokes (again), is perhaps the most recent example of the rekindeling of this old debate. Apparently a US Senator from Alaska has introduced legislation to apply the same censorship standards found on network television to cable. Wow. The more things change . . .

Here's the link to the Crossfire interview:

http://mediax.muchosucko.com/movies/512_video_frank_zappa_crossfire.mov

Unfortunately directlinking to this site is not available. You'll have to cut and paste to your browser to make it work.

The Flash

2005-05-03T11:35:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, I bought Macromedia's Studio MX 2004, and I've been slowly teaching myself how to create Flash animations ever since. It's been a struggle to learn the interface and all the quirky rules for manipulating art and objects, but I finally feel like I'm coming into my own with the software. I'm still not quite ready to share any of my amateurish creations just yet, but I'm definitely amazed with the versatility of the program. Next I think I'm going to try to make a simple game.

I'm looking to Ferry Hailm's Orisinal page as my inspiration as to what a simple Flash game should be. Most of his stuff is obviously for little kids, but still there are a lot of great examples there. My favorite is Among the Clouds, but I also like Bottom of the Sea, Windy Days, and The Perilous Voyage. I really like the fact the each game has a unique concept/interface and I love the way music is used to set the mood. Obviously I have too much free time on my hands but this is all research for me - seriously!

Ultimately I'd like to use Flash to tell interactive stories, or something much more epic, but I've got a lot more to learn first. If anyone out there has any insights into the creative design process, or would just like to share their ideas feel free to leave some input. What is it that makes a good game (or another interactive creation) work?

Today's Subliminal Thought Is . . .

2005-04-27T22:05:00.000-05:00

L e a v e C o m m e n t

Papal Proselytizing and Prophylactics

2005-04-26T22:55:00.000-05:00

I've been biting my figurative tongue for weeks now. I didn't want to write about Pope John Paul II’s death. I figured it was a topic already getting too much press. I, like most everyone else who cared at all, was a bit contemplative when Pope John Paul II passed. I certainly don't think he was the 'perfect pope', but all things considered I thought he was a halfway decent pontiff. Although he wasn’t my personal hero, I can appreciate why so many adored him. I can also understand why many would choose to dislike and disagree with him (and correspondingly many of the doctrines of the Catholic Church).

I’m catholic. I’m not a very good catholic. In fact I’m a really bad catholic. I use condoms. I openly accept gay/lesbian friends and family members in the community. I often question church dogma. I don’t go to mass. Even worse, on the rare occasions I do go to church I’m just as likely to attend protestant services. And this for the worst reason of all – I married one. But I am catholic. Like a lot of American Catholics being ‘catholic’ is more of a cultural identity than a belief system. And don’t bother trying to point out the inherent contradictions in that. I know, and it doesn’t matter. After years in catholic schools the only thing I learned is being catholic is all about living with contradictions.

It didn’t bother me so much when so many different bloggers wrote mild anti-catholic rhetoric. A little dissension among the ranks can be a healthy thing. Mostly they merely listed ‘crazy things I don’t like about the Roman Catholic Church’ rather than express any real insights into who John Paul II actually was. So what? Everyone is free to rant. What do you expect bloggers to know anyways? I was a little surprised when I heard some of the same foolish banter at work, but again I just let it go. It’s not like I normally feel especially moved to argue on behalf of the Catholic Church. But when I started reading the same unqualified punditry in the newspaper I became alarmed.

The common thread is always the same ridiculous synopsis in remembrance of Pope John Paul II: Pope goes to Africa, Condemns Condoms, Millions Die from AIDS.

Jesus Christ! Was the pope actually trying to spread this disease? How could he be so irresponsible as to deny these people the only hope they have?

Give me a break. Reading the papers you’d think the former pope invented AIDS. The pope never went to Africa to warn a diseased population about the evils of prophylactics. He had a different message – one that no one seems to remember. He preached two things: abstinence and monogamy. And as I listen to your collective groan as you respond to this seemingly naïve and overly simplistic agenda I invite you to actually think about it for a second.

Imagine you’re single and you’re at a party. Everyone is drinking and having a great time. There’s plenty of hot gals/guys looking to hook-up and you think you have a real shot at getting lucky. And, oh yeah, you know that around 60% of the people there have AIDS. That means if you do take someone home, chances are better than not you're exposing yourself to a deadly disease. So seriously, are you reaching for your condoms, or are you headed out the door?

Now imagine you live in Southern Africa. Around 30% of the adult population under 30 already has AIDS. In some communities the number is greater than 60%. Will you go to many parties looking to get lucky? You could use a condom. Condoms are 99% percent effective at preventing pregnancy. Not quite so effective in preventing the transmission of STDs (including AIDS) but chances are you won’t get pregnant. How many casual encounters would you survive before you end up a statistic yourself?

Pope John Paul's objections to condoms may have been rooted in unpractical catholic dogma, but the truth is condoms are not a solution to an epidemic. I certainly won’t try to defend the Catholic Church’s complete dismissal of condoms, but using them as a cure for AIDS is insane. The problem is severe, and the solution isn't so easy. In a population so heavily infected telling people condoms will make them safe is a lie. Condoms do help but they aren't perfect. You play the game enough and sooner or later you will get screwed. You’re right if you think having casual sex without a condom is crazy. But seriously, any non-monogamous sex against those odds is crazy.

The people of Africa don’t need a solution to get them through their next sexual encounter; they need a solution that offers some hope of an actual future. The message Pope John Paul II gave them was effectively giving them just such a plan. And it was a message he offered openly and sincerely- not heavily laced with ‘catholic’s only’ dogma. He really did care about the problem, and he laid out a real solution that didn’t compromise his principles. Abstinence was the point he hit hardest – don’t have sex until your ready for a family, and then only with one person who is exclusive to only you. Like that wouldn’t work. Apparently abstinence seems like a horrible fate to many of us young westerners, but you have to at least respect the fact that it was a standard he lived up to himself.

When asked about the use of condoms the former Pope directly answered that the Church’s position in that arena hadn’t changed. And that is all we seem to remember. Feel free to disagree. I certainly do. But at least put it in perspective. It’d be easy to argue his message was incomplete. But don’t indict John Paul II with having done harm. It wasn’t that he was campaigning for everyone to stop using condoms, he was asking them to stop having irresponsible sex. If you’re not having sex, condoms aren’t much of a topic.

In the end individuals either listened or they didn’t – but his message wasn’t so impractical. Feel free to view it all as over-puritanical and wrong if you like. The truth is you just can’t expect everyone to stop having sex. Still you have to recognize that many non-crazy and mostly non-Catholic Africans are successfully adopting this exact survival strategy. Either because of the pope or common sense, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is these people will be survivors. As an individual living in Africa (or anywhere): What would you do?

I could go on to point out similar lapses in thorough coverage of other real controversies involving Pope John Paul II (his ‘apology’ for WWII inaction for instance) but I really don’t have to. I just hate that the coverage, the positive and the negative, is all so shallow as to not represent the truth.

Born Every Minute

2005-03-23T21:00:00.000-05:00

Check out my new favorite blog, aptly titled Stupid Beautiful Lies. This freaky Canadian doesn't give a damn that he doesn't have anything to say. He just writes for the hell of it. What's amazing me is that we all keep reading this kind of stuff. I stumbled across his site randomly and was drawn in by its professional looking layout, complete with a Flash animated title-bar and oh so chic pictures. I figured - this has to be good. It wasn't. The first post I read was, The Lost Art of Toilet Worship. Although written well enough to trick me into reading the entire post - it was, as you might expect, complete crap. Literally it was crap written about crap, sarcastically pretending to be deep and meaningful.

Very clever, I thought. I decided to post a comment thanking him for wasting my time. Something short and simple like, "You're full of shit." I was blown away when I clicked the comment bar. There were already plenty of comments there, and many of them were glowing with praise. They were idiotically pathetic attempts to continue the empty philosophical debate about the deep mystical significance of shit. Not only was Stupid Beautiful producing figuratively literal SHIT (strange as that is I think I worded that right), there was an audience that was eating it all up. Think about it.

I didn't bother to comment. There was no point - it was all too silly. SB was just pushing our buttons, seeing how far he could go, how much he could get away with. Apparently pretty far. Apparently a whole lot.

I was entertained enough to scan through a few more of his posts and while they were all pretty much written in the same vein there is one post I absolutely love. Scientist Finds God is possibly the single most brilliant thing I have ever read online. If you do nothing else this summer, read that post. Most especially read the comments it provokes. The rest of this post is about that post, so if you're so inclined, read it before continuing here.

I never post just because it's been a while since my last post

2005-03-21T19:35:00.000-05:00

So don't expect me to do that.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2005-03-17T01:51:00.000-05:00

My goodness . . .

A good day for a Guinness. I'm fortunate I got to drink a lot of these during my recent visit to NY, because today just might be the worst St. Patrick's Day ever. Even worse than the time I went to Dublin for St. Patrick's and they cancelled the parade (damn those mad cows). Firstly, I've got a dental appointment today. I'm getting fillings for a sore tooth. Hopefully just fillings and not a crown or root canal. And I'm insisting the Doc only uses a local anesthetic.

Of course, being numb, speechless and drooling on this most besotten of holidays might just be the perfect cover. Chances are no one would notice, and I would be able to self medicate if I feel any pain. But my real dilemma is that I have an opportunity to do a night flight later this evening - assuming I feel up to it after the dentist is through with me. My flight instructor, federal law, and even my invisible leprechaun friends will all insist I remain completely sober if I fly. And given the choice of flying or drinking I'll take flying just about every time.

But it'll feel strange to not have a single Guinness - it's tradition! I guess there's always next year - or next week - or whenever I land.

Open Outsourcing

2005-03-08T21:39:00.000-05:00

My brother got me started on using Wikipedia as an information resource. It's basically just a free online encyclopedia. It's convenient and there's certainly a wealth of information there. The catch is anybody and everybody writes the articles. It's great example of the modern open source/free information era we live in. Amazing, but it really makes me wonder where all this is headed.

Instead of writing an encyclopedia, Wikipedia is just the framework for an encyclopedia that writes itself. Looking for information about Anne Frank, Cold Fusion, or old computer games? Chances are Wikipedia has an article on it. Think of a topic you're passionate about but is lacking in the listings? Just write it yourself and then post it there. If it's any good others will use it. If it's crap, then sooner or later others will likely move in and edit it, or request that it be removed.

It turns out that if an article's veracity is questioned, users can initiate a vote to have it expunged from the record. Talk about blind justice. Personally, I think democracy seems like a crazy way of verifying information. Despite it all I have to admit, the vast majority of Wikipedia articles I've seen are relatively accurate. And I like the fact that I can try to fix any inconsistencies I notice - like why doesn't General Santa Anna's biography mention his missing leg? (I haven't submitted a rewrite on that one yet.)

Of course, I always take anything I read on the internet with a grain of salt, but I've come to like using Wikipedia as an easy first resource. It's kind of a grand social experiment. I worry school kids might come to think of these sorts of internet resources as gospel, but then again I wonder if we can really predict what the long term effects will be. Maybe fifty years from now, Wikipedia will be considered a solid resource. Perhaps once an article has withstood alteration for so many years then it'll be reasonable practice to accept it as accurate.

Perhaps, but my gut still warns me no. I worry about revisionist history creeping in and skewing the facts. Sometimes the truth is unpopular. My brother pointed out that somebody keeps editing and effectively deleting the entire article on the Holocaust. It's important to point out, despite someone's desire to pretend it never happened, other Wikipedia users have been vigilant and usually the article is only gone for minutes before someone notices and revives it. But the Holocaust was huge - would we always notice the dissappearance of less well known, but correspondingly uncomfortable events?

Cicada Prime

2005-03-06T01:03:00.000-05:00

I've been reading a bit about cicadas lately. They're those really obnoxious bugs that come out of the ground every decade or so and freak everybody out. They're weird, kinda disgusting, and apparently they have an uncanny knack of always showing up in cycles of prime numbers. The 17-year cicadas are probably the most well known varieties, but there are closely related 13-year cicadas as well. Not being much of a bug lover, I was nevertheless intrigued by the fact these guys synchronize their emergence with such unlikely periodicity. Why primes?

Truth is I'm not much of a math whiz either, but I do know enough realize that prime sequences occurring in nature is a big deal. Mathematicians have been trying unsuccessfully to predict prime number sequences for ages. Could it be that nature already has the solution? Could the formula for a prime number generator somehow be locked in the genes of these strange insects?

I have to admit, after reading a few published research papers, I've become fascinated by the bizarre lifecycles of periodical cicadas. The primary advantage to their unusual mass emergence is something termed 'predator satiation'. Predators are completely overwhelmed by their numbers - cicada broods can appear by the million. The only way cicadas sustain this arrangement is by emerging infrequently enough to avoid predator build-up, and by being synchronized when they do emerge en mass. Their safety lies in numbers.

One of the most interesting things about periodical cicadas is the relatively recent discovery that somehow environmental triggers (possibly overcrowding) can cause entire populations of 17-year cicadas to switch their lifecycles and become 13-year cicadas. They're not two distinctly separate species that both happen to have prime cycles - both prime cycles exist in a common genetic heritage.

Scientists still don't completely understand all the hows and whys but, as fascinating as it all is, I'm now reasonably certain there's no holy grail of a prime number generator at the heart of it all. While no one really understands exactly why cicadas exhibit prime periodicity, I'm starting to picture how such a system could have evolved. Why primes? Probably for the same reason mathematicians think primes are so interesting - they have no common factors. At first I suspected it was a mechanism to keep separate cicada populations from competing for resources. The separate populations would almost never resynchronize to compete for limited resources (just once every 221 years). As unnatural as primes are, I figured prime periodicity must simply be the result of natural selection - over a very long trial and error process. It's easier to accept that 13 and 17 just happens to be where the struggling cicada populations ended up settling in, because it was the best fit after a lot of random fluctuation.

After reading a few more papers I realize my pet theory is an extreme oversimplification at best. There are a lot of other factors to consider, and the manner in which broods do occasionally overlap make mere competition for resources unlikely as the sole purpose for such a mechanism. Still I think the general idea is sound. By settling in on prime frequencies, the cicada is able to achieve a sort of advantageous disharmony with its environment, always taking its predators - or some other aspect of nature - by surprise. Hell, we're the only ones who would ever even notice a pattern. And cicadas probably found primes the same way we do - one at a time, by trial and error.

Dashed are my aspirations of cracking RSA and becoming rich and famous. A prime number generator would be amazing (and if it ever does get created in nature it will be in something like cicadas) but just two numbers, even primes, seems more coincidence than providence. If it takes modern computers hours to years to factor out large prime numbers, just remember it took evolution billions of years to find just two.

Plea Bloggin

2005-03-03T15:33:00.000-05:00

During my regular meanderings through the blogoshpere, I'm always amazed at how much interesting stuff there is out there. I'm not talking about all the really bad poetry or inane ramblings you inevitably come across. There are quite a few of halfway decent bloggers out there if you're willing to wade the masses. The one thing that bothers me about a lot of blogs, even the good ones - especially the good ones - is the way so many of them start out as promising fonts of creativity, but end up as useless whines. I'm sure there's something therapeutic about venting your anger through a keyboard at the nameless masses, and everybody's entitled to an occasional outburst (especially if it's funny), but no need to make it an everyday thing. We can only take so much. Seriously, please stop.

Geocaching

2005-02-01T09:20:00.000-05:00

NSilico and I finally made our first foray into geocaching today. It was a lot of fun. For those of you who aren't complete nerds and don't know what geocaching is, it's basically a high-tech treasure hunt (without any real treasure). All you need is an internet connection, a GPS, and some hiking boots.
Apparently, a few years ago GPS enthusiasts started hiding little treasure-troves at random out-of-the-way locations, then posting the "cache's" coordinates on the internet - daring others to try and find it. It caught on like wildfire and now its a worldwide sport. I'd known about it for some time, but not having a GPS I'd never tried it myself. But nSilico actually bought a GPS last week, and he was itching for an opportunity to test it out.
When I finally started looking up geocaching online I was blown away but the sheer number of caches. They're everywhere. It turns out it doesn't matter where you are - chances are someone has placed caches nearby. Geocaching.com has a great search engine that lets you identify caches by zip code.
We picked a simple hunt, which turned out to be in nearby park. He'd bought a decent but very basic handheld GPS, and it turns out that's all you need. Anything more sophisticated isn't really necessary.
The hike was easy, but finding the hidden cache wasn't. The only clue was that it was in a hollowed out tree. The GPS coordinates were only accurate to around 30 feet and that left us with an alarmingly large number of trees to search. It seemed almost every tree had a hollow or nook that might be a good hiding place. We looked and looked but it didn't seem to be anywhere. After searching for almost 45 minutes, neither one of us willing to admit defeat, we finally found it in the hollow of the very first tree we had searched. I had to reach my arm waay up into the tree in order to discover a small container on a hidden ledge in there. Inside the container was a disappointing assortment of little toys and trinkets and a log book. We didn't take anything (the rules are if you take something, then you should leave something too). We just signed the log.
Of course the thrill is the hunt not the treasure, and we really did have fun. There are all sorts of caches, some simple like the one we did, and others that form elaborate chains of complicated puzzles. And there's something wonderful about discovering there are these secret little places all around us that most people don't know about.
We ended up attempting two more caches. One we found almost instantly, the other we never found. But it was nice to be outdoors, and we've resolved to try for the failed cache again someday. I'll send the 'owner' of the cache an e-mail just to make sure it's still there, maybe get a better hint - and then we'll try again.
It's my first day - and I'm already hooked.

Firefly is Serenity

2005-01-13T10:20:00.000-05:00

My favorite TV show of all time was a relatively unknown and unwatched sci-fi series called Firefly. It aired on Fox in late 2002, but Fox cancelled it before it could even finish its first season. Fox sucks. It's not too suprising that it got cancelled. Fox aired the episodes out of order and then kept switching its time slot. I was totally into the show and even I couldn't keep up with the schedule changes. And the show itself was a bit weird, an unusual mix of sci-fi and western that I'm sure might have left a lot of mainstream audiences confused if they weren't willing to watch an entire episode and figure out what the show was all about.

Fortunately, the series was released in a DVD box set that became an instant bestseller among obsessive sci-fi nerds like myself. Apparently the success of the DVD sales was enough for Universal Studios to take notice and buy the rights to Firefly and revive it as a movie titled Serenity. The original cast and writers are all on board to make what, if successful, will be an awesome series of movies. I certainly hope so.

My New Year's Haiku

2005-01-01T20:08:00.000-05:00

time passes quickly
another year's gone away
waste not a moment

Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea

2004-12-15T10:25:00.000-05:00

I'm a huge science-fiction fan. I've read sci-fi books and magazines since I was a little kid, and I'm showing no signs of slowing down now that I'm an adult. The list of great sci-fi writers is certainly a long one. I wouldn't try to list them all - I'm sure I'd leave someone out. But if I could list them all, Ursula K. Le Guin would be in among them. She is a uniquely original writer, who is unafraid of dealing with the unfamiliar. The characters in her stories are complex, yet easy to identify with, and they often deal with serious moral issues that have no simple solutions. No matter what unusual or far-flung elements she chooses to introduce, she always seems to focus on themes that are deeply, poignantly human.

Needless to say I really became excited when I saw that The Sci-Fi Channel was making a miniseries based on her Earthsea novels. I loved the Earthsea novels, which are set in a fantasy setting and written in a simple direct prose that makes them a great read for children and adults alike. Typical to Le Guin's style, these short novels are easy to read and understand, but are filled with genuinely involving characters who are wrought with serious moral dilemmas. Throughout the stories the characters always have to deal with the consquences of their actions, and although they grow, mature, and become wiser, there are never any perfect solutions or completely happy endings. (They're an uplifting read nonetheless.)

The Sci-Fi miniseries Legends of Earthsea, which aired earlier this week, boasted a cast of quality actors. It obviously received a more than adequate budget as the sets, costumes, and special effects were great. What it lacked were screenwriters and a director who had ever read the books or understood them in the least. I fully accept that when converting a book to the screen, many changes must be made. Some items must be left out, others added, and often elements must be altered in order to convey the message or theme more effectively. I never expected the miniseries to be just like the books or even be as good as the books, but the miniseries so completely lacked the feel of the original stories as to make me wonder why they bothered to call it Earthsea at all. None of the scenes were really true to the books. If they had just changed the names of the characters it would have been such a divergence from the original stories that I wonder if Le Guin could have sued for copyright infringement had they not paid her for the rights. It's not that it was completely lacking in entertainment value, but the characters were all goodie-goodies or super-evil, the resolutions all perfect and complete, and the magic so Harry Potterish that it seemed to contradict the actual intent of the original books.

I guess my only real complaint is that someone who watched the miniseries might actually think they got a glimpse of the great works of Ursula K. Le Guin. In the books the heroes make serious mistakes, the vilians have real human motivations, and even the fantasy elements of magic and dragons have 'realistic' components and consequences. Ultimately, the miniseries was simply its own thing and not at all representative of the books.

Keeping Up With It

2004-12-12T21:45:00.000-05:00

I finally downloaded and started using Mozilla Firefox as my default browser. I'd been meaning to for quite some time. So far I really like it. It's sort of a minimalist browser that works similar to IE but without all the extra clutter. I've also been trying to learn bits about web programming for the last few months from sites like W3Schools. Not that I want to become a Web programmer, I just want to maintain my computer literacy skills.
For instance, a few weeks ago I made some minor adjustments to the default template for this blog, mostly resizing the margins so that the posts take up more of the screen. Less wasted space that way. It's set so it should adjust to the size of the window and hopefully it should look about the same regardless of what browser you use. Let me know if you like/dislike how it looks (or if you can even notice).
Once I get my new computer built I will probably make a partition or get an extra harddrive so I can learn how to use Linux. (Something else I've been meaning to do for quite some time.) I'm not ready to abandon Windows - I play too many games, but versatility is important. The other thing I would like to learn is how to program in Flash, but who knows when I'll get around to that.

My New Rig

2004-12-05T16:00:00.000-05:00

For the last several weeks I've been spending a small portion of my paychecks at newegg buying independent components in my never-ending quest to build the ultimate computer. I decided that buying my new computer piecemeal was the only way I would be able to afford a top-of-the-line computer. I've tried to be selective in my purchases, carefully weighing cost and performance. The regular reviews I found at Anandtech have been exceptionally helpful in the decision making process, and I think I've been able to select the best possible components at reasonable prices. Right now I have all the components to comprise the main computer itself, but I still am not ready to put it all together. My goal is to create a solid gaming rig that can also be used to edit and process digital video. (I have delusions of grandeur about someday becoming a Hollywood movie director.) Unfortunately, I'll be spending all of my expendable funds on Xmas gifts for the next few weeks. I probably won't get my weekly 'new component' fixation until the new year so I'll just write about components instead.

Here's what I have so far:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+, 512K, L2 Cache, Socket 939 Windows Compatible 64-bit Processor

MSI "K8N Neo2 Platinum" NVIDIA nForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard

1GB(512MBx2) 184-Pin DDR PC-3200 OCZ EL Platinum Revision 2 Dual Channel Memory

Microsoft Windows XP Professional With Service Pack 2 Operating System

Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drive (Model WD740GD)

Silver NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive (Model ND-3500A S)

Theoretically, all that is enough to make a working computer, but I still need to get a case, monitor, keyboard w/mouse, and security software (at a minimum) before I'll put it all together. I could test it out now if I canabalize this computer but I'd rather wait since I'm giving this one to my wife. Of course, once I do get a few more components, I won't stop there. I also want a good video card, speakers, scanner, printer, camera, video software . . .

Premise vs. Content

2004-11-30T19:35:00.000-05:00

Not that anyone is asking for it, but here’s my personal review of Dan Brown’s, The da Vinci Code. I’m sure many of you have already read it, and perhaps you found parts of it interesting or even thought-provoking, but let me assure you that the book itself is just a bunch of over-hyped crap. Nothing bothers me more than when a book takes a good premise and goes nowhere with it – and that’s exactly what I felt The da Vinci Code did. Kudos to Brown for doing a fair amount of research into the lore and mysteries surrounding what history has left unknown about life and works of da Vinci. A lot of the conjectures are truly fascinating (even though many of them are outrageous and almost certainly untrue). As I read the story I found myself stopping to look through art-history books with prints of da Vinci’s paintings (namely the Last Supper) and ponder possible hidden meanings. I found a plethora of internet websites devoted to conspiracy theories about da Vinci, and I came to discover that all of the different interpretations in Brown’s book were, in fact, established theories and speculations that had been printed in countless earlier books. All Brown did was take these various intrigues and try to weave them together into a cohesive fiction adventure. Personally I think that’s a great idea for a fiction novel, I’m only disappointed that Brown did such a poor job of it. Armed with the best of materials about a fascinating historical figure Brown proceeded to create a completely mediocre narrative.
The story revolves around the machinations of a secret society devoted to protecting the Holy Grail. Brown makes a big deal about something he labeled “the sacred feminine” and how this secret organization protects the coequality of women in society (specifically their understated roles throughout the history of the Catholic Church). Of course the organization itself is run by men. Only men are allowed to know of the group’s deepest secrets and they are the ones responsible for protecting the Grail. Up until the revealing of the Grail itself (and I would argue even then) women seem suspiciously absent from any role of authority or self-determination. Brown seems oblivious to the fact that rather than any sort of coequality, his secret society perpetuates a male chauvinistic ethic - women must be constantly taken care of and protected because they can’t look after themselves. Believe me, I’m not usually one to take up the feminist point of view. Normally I love a good damsel-in-distress, but in this case I felt the contradiction was glaring.
I also didn’t like that fact that Brown felt the need to demonize the modern Catholic Church in his search for an antagonist. Sure, every hero needs a villain, but taking group like Opus Dei (which is admittedly somewhat kooky) and turning it into a super-evil paramilitary organization complete with ruthless assassins is going way over the top. Given its history, the Catholic Church is certainly an easy target, but if you’re going to attack a religious institution I think you should have a more serious agenda than simply trying round-out the plot of a fiction novel.
Ultimately Brown did a decent job of introducing the intriguing lore surrounding what is known and not known about Leonardo da Vinci, but the narrative itself read like a bad Indiana Jones knockoff. Apparently most readers were sufficiently engaged by the da Vinci mysteries themselves and were willing to overlook Brown’s amateurish plot-points. Unfortunately, I had discovered those accounts concurrently and apart from reading Brown’s book and ended up feeling completely let down by the storyline.
I continue to be amazed at how much hype The da Vinci Code continues to generate, and I wonder - is a good premise really enough to compensate for lack of content?

Grounded in Life

2004-11-23T23:11:00.000-05:00

Although this photo was taken before I was born, I feel like that's me in the picture just the same.

Blog Rules

2004-11-22T16:44:00.000-05:00

Since I'm new to blogging, and not entirely sure how to go about it, I figure I might as well lay out some groundrules. I know there are no 'rules' per se - that I'm free to write anything I want, but I still think some set of general guidelines might be useful. The whole point is not to restrict my blogging, but to focus my efforts and make it all worthwhile.

Rule#1 - Write regularly. I know that's obvious - and easier said than done. Still, I'll try to at least start a draft whenever I can, even if I don't have the time to complete it and post right away. As long as I have a general idea started, I can always go back and finish it when I do have the time.

Rule#2 - Be selective about what gets written. It'd be easy to simply write about the mundane details of my day, but I don't expect I'd benefit from recording useless trivia and I'm sure nobody else would want to read about that stuff either. It's not that I have to always write deep meaningful stuff, but it'd be better if I could focus on just one topic at a time, and try to pick things that might have at least some small significance or interest to myself (and hopefully others).

Rule#3 - Read other blogs, and post comments. If I just wanted to keep a diary, I wouldn't do it on the internet. The thing that makes blogging so interesting is the whole aspect of interactivity. Whenever I post, I always spend a few minutes reading through random blogs or checking back on a few of my favorites. Every once in a while I read something that really sparks my interest or sets me to thinking in a new way. No simple diary can do that.

That's enough rules to start with. Perhaps I'll add more rules as I discover them.

Abducted by Aliens

2004-11-19T13:00:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, while working my day job (in retail-sales) I received an unusual proposition from an inquisitive customer I had spent some time assisting. He explained he was starting up his own business and because he was impressed with my attitude and customer-service skills he wanted to know if I might be interested in working for him. I was instantly skeptical. Not so much of the offer itself, but of why I would want to switch one sales job for what I assumed would be another. But not wanting to appear rude, I politely accepted his contact information and quickly changed the subject. (After all, talking about changing jobs at your place of work is a tad unseemly.) He must have picked up on the whole ‘thanks but no-thanks’ vibe. After a bit more banter he changed the subject back to his new business, this time making an earnest plea for me to at least come check it out to see if I might be interested.

It was a good pitch. What got me was how sincere and optimistic he was. He said things like, “this is more than just a business - I really believe in this” followed by, “if you give it a chance, you will too” and the tried and true, “This is an opportunity to be a part of something great.” Among the clichés he dished out few details about his new startup (something to do with computers), but since I was still uncomfortable having such a conversation at work I simply assured him we could talk later and excused myself.

I spoke with him on the phone the next day (yesterday) and scheduled a job interview for myself later the same day. The interview would be at his house (as it turned out he lived nearby and this was simply convenient) with the promise that if it went well I would be invited to go with him and a few other prospective employees to a hiring function at some conference hall downtown. I still wondered if it would turn out to be worthwhile, but by then I was interested enough to put on a business suit.

I am such a sucker.

I arrived at his modest middle-class home (a fair bit nicer than my tiny townhouse I should add) relieved to see him wearing a suit and tie as well. At least I wasn’t overdressed. I met his wife and two of his kids– everything seemed normal. After introductions, he and I sat down alone to discuss business. As he started prattling on about his new company I was immediately taken aback by the fact that he didn’t seem the least bit interested in me at all. He had no questions about my past work experience or job skills. Worse, he started making promises about becoming instantly rich and retiring in a few years. I quickly became suspicious that he was about to try to sell me something. Then it happened. He took out a little sheet of paper and prefaced his briefing with, “this isn’t a pyramid scheme or anything” as he drew a bunch of little circles and lines in the shape of, well, a pyramid.

I laughed out loud.

I couldn’t believe that I had been suckered into such a lame con. When I asked him a bunch of questions I was surprised by what I found out. Simply put, he wasn’t any kind of conman. He was a sucker too. He wasn’t even a business owner – he just thought he was. In truth, he was a disgruntled postal clerk (go figure) who had been conned into purchasing an own-your-own-business kit from some company I’d never heard of. The whole scheme involved purchasing goods from what he called a ‘virtual mall’ on the internet and selling – get this: own-your-own-business kits.

Of course you have to pay up front for the kit, which grants the sole privilege of being able to shop in the virtual mall. And a percentage of every overpriced sale helps line the pockets of those higher-up in the pyramid. My would-be employer was so enamored with the concept that he shopped there religiously. He honestly believed that by purchasing all his goods online he was making himself richer. It was his sincerity that had pulled me in, and his sincerity was still there. Of course he hadn’t made any real money doing this, but he was sure his big payday was just around the corner. Recruited as a consumer he thought he was a businessman, and he really believed he was doing me a favor by letting me in on the fun. I didn’t have the heart to tell him just how screwed up it all was.

A little while later another would-be-millionaire, who had already bought a kit from my new friend, arrived and announced it was time to leave for the big meeting downtown. I was thankful I had discovered that I was dealing with kooks before I ended up trapped at what was sure to be some sort of Jim Jones brainwashing session. Of course there was going to be free food at the meeting, but there was no way that was going to be incentive enough to waste the rest of my evening. Then again my wife was away taking an evening college class, and I knew there wasn’t much in the fridge for me to fix for myself. How bad could it be?

It turned out to be almost fun, in a sick kind of way. It was like being in one of those TV infomercials. What struck me most was how happy everyone was. There was certainly no shortage of fools who seemed to think they had found paradise. I learned that a lot of them were already ‘business owners’ who came to these meetings regularly. It was half recruitment, half pep-rally for the recruited. It was like group therapy – for idiots. I found myself wondering who among the crowd might be silent objectors like me, along for the ride but more interested in the freak show than the main event. The guest speaker, who definitely was a confidence man, was at least entertaining. It was like watching standup – dinner and a show. Who said there’s no such thing as a free lunch?

Now I just hope they accepted ‘no’ as an answer and don’t keep trying to recruit me like those pesky Jehovah’s Witnesses I unwittingly let into the house that one time.

Flying in Circles

2004-11-18T13:45:00.000-05:00

I got to fly solo again today - in an old rental Cessna172 that's about as old as I am. It had been a while since I flew by myself so I spent the morning staying in the pattern working on my landings. (It's not like I had anyplace to go.) My first few landings were near perfect, but on my third go-around I turned base early and found myself a bit too high and too close on final approach. No big deal, it was certainly a salvageable situation. I simply let out the throttle early and glided on in. Nevertheless I found myself diving at the runway in an attempt to touchdown at the optimum point and as result I was still gaining too much speed. As soon as I realized this I eased back on the yoke and put in some extra flaps to slow myself to a reasonable rate. As I settled in over the runway I really felt the effects of the extra flaps. They had helped bleed off that extra airspeed, so much so that as I floated in to land I simply hung there cushioned by the ground effect (compressed air between the ground and wing that produces extra lift) going slower and slower but suspended a few feet off the ground. I had to quickly punch in the throttle for a moment in order to avoid stalling and falling hard onto the runway. During this final adjustment, I touched down so softly I wasn't quite sure I had even landed until a few moments after the fact when I realized the brakes worked. Despite a series of minor mistakes and overcorrections I somehow managed to perform a beauty of a landing.
What's strange is of all the landings I did today (seven total) this is the landing I'm most proud of. It wasn't exactly my best landing. Of course, it was never so bad as to warrant an abortive go-around either (something I am always willing to do if I feel uncomfortable with an approach). I guess what makes it so memorable is the fact that I was able to stay on top of things even when they got a bit complicated - constantly reacting to the situation and compensating for its changes. Despite the obvious evidence to the contrary, I felt more in touch with the situation, more in control, more connected to the aircraft during that landing than I normally do.
Why is that?

A Brave New Blog

2004-11-17T23:00:00.000-05:00

For some reason I feel compelled to write something really witty and meaningful since this is my first entry in my first blog. Unfortunately I'm not sure I have anything really meaningful to impart at the moment. I'm just trying to figure it all out just like everyone else. I guess that's why I decided to start a blog in the first place. I imagine that's why we all enjoy reading eachother's random thoughts and observations - It's comforting to know most everyone else is a bit confounded too. At any rate, I'm hoping that by giving my disjointed thoughts, ideas, fears, confusions, hopes and dreams a home they might incubate into something that actually makes sense. We'll see . . .