Monday, June 26, 2006

My flight home last week included a commuter shuttle leg down to LA, and my window was on the west side. For about half an hour, the ground was more or less mountainous (not Rocky Mountain High, but definite slopes and crests), and it was interesting to see how the vegetation refused to grow on the seaward side. I assume that's because of friction from ocean winds (although I would have thought the moisture would help), but it was a surprisingly stark difference between near-bare ground on one side, and unbroken leaf canopy on the other. I don't know why it struck me, but it seemed really cool. I can think of lots of "wisdomlet" one-liners I could tack onto this, but the metaphors didn't matter - it was just cool to look at.

Going to see Superman Returns Wednesday - it better be good enough to make up for Bryan Singer not directing X3. Anyone else want a combo sequel where Lex Luthor takes on Kayser Soze? Anything to keep Singer and Spacey working together.

It's been a while, but I finally got into a place last week where I was excited to code. I had real improvements to make to my own product, and I just wanted to crank on it and get it done. And I did. :-) Now I just wish our servers/networks hadn't been down all day so I coulda tested it. Alas, alas.

Taking a quick break from Rise of the West to catch up on Newsweeks, and my latest issue of Mental Floss. Can I recommend Mental Floss to you? It's a trivia magazine with 'tude that has me laughing far more than retaining what I read. If you're in Austin, I'd be happy to loan it to ya.

Speaking of my book, though, I find myself more frustrated with the gaps the writer had in knowledge of ancient civilizations. Does anyone have recommendations for more up-to-date surveys of what we know about Egypt/Mesopotamia/India/China in BC times?

That's about as deep as the thoughts have been getting recently. Thanks for wading with me!

(Update: Changed Brett to Bryan as Anonymous noted.)
posted by Unknown 5:26 PM | 1 comments

Thursday, June 22, 2006

I realized today that visiting Silicon Valley completes my streak of being the stereotypical startup programmer. 5 jobs in 8 years, wearing T-shirt and flipflops to work, now I've been to Silicon Valley (my hotel's on Oracle Parkway - Oracle's headquarters are shaped like database symbols). Go me.

Found a 7-11 today. Slurpee is more than satisfactory, but no sushi. Alas, alas.
posted by Unknown 1:01 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Hello from California! People seemed to think I should visit the home office, so I'm at the mothership for 3 days at an approximate cost of $700 to the company. Is it worth it? We'll see. But I'm sure they enjoy my shining happy face.

It was my first flight since Vancouver in December. No bad ear experiences, although I forgot the nasal anti-pressure spray - should get some of that for the return trip. And the person in the middle seat next to me didn't show up, so was as close to comfortable as airplanes get.

It's my first time in San Francisco. I think we're going to a good sushi place one night, and the other I hope to get an In-N-Out burger - I've heard a lot about them. Also will try to hit a 7-11 to see if California 7-11s provide fresh sushi like Hawaiian ones do. Sushi and Slurpee - can you beat that with a stick? Didn't think so.

I am now reading The Rise of The West, a historical overview of the rise of civilization. It was written in the 60s, so focuses more on direct ancestors of the glorious American democratic capitalist tradition, but it's a lot more information than I had before, so yay! I also packed A Canticle For Leibowitz in case the history is too heavy and I just need fiction.

For readers (are there more than one?) who know the Hedges, Quinn Eowyn was born on Friday, June 17. They've already got a great pictures page up at http://www.hedgefamily.net/Quinn/.
posted by Unknown 8:10 PM | 1 comments

Friday, June 16, 2006

There's a word we need in the English language and I'm going to suggest this spelling: sorrylations. You know when someone's going through a hard time, but it's a good thing they're going through it? Condolences and congratulations aren't exclusive, and we need a way to express it. I'm open to other suggestions.
posted by Unknown 10:32 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Hmm, so I think I've discovered a problem behind my lack of success in dieting and certain other endeavors - I like myself too much. I know I have my shortcomings, but to me they're charming imperfections that serve as counterpoint to my strong points rather than destructive character flaws (while, in truth, I hope they're in the middle). So while I'd like to change some things about myself, I never get upset if I don't.

Obviously the other extreme is not one worth pursuing, but what is the proper middle ground here? A general dissatisfaction or disappointment in not reaching potential that allows you to still value who you are but pushes you to improve? That sounds right, but I'm just pulling stuff outta thin air, so I have no idea if this makes sense.
posted by Unknown 5:18 PM | 1 comments

Monday, June 12, 2006

One of the blogs I read (Larry James' Urban Daily in the list on the right) is by the CEO of an inner-city Dallas nonprofit. He gets a lot of comments, mostly supportive, some with good questions and suggestions, and occasional attacks (this last category has a 99% Anonymous rate). What strikes me in the attacks is they assume automatically that the people at a food pantry made choices significantly worse than the normal person. A decent probability, but do we usually assume people who do better than us made significantly better decisions, or are they lucky, or started with more, or something else that erases the difference in decisions?

Also (and this is completely unrelated), I saw The Perfect Storm last night. It was a big Clooney-Wahlberg weekend as I also saw Three Kings - both of these movies for the first time. Anyway, when Donny's collecting his pay for the fishing trip, the owner explains the pay system - that the non-sailing, non-fishing owner takes half the net profit, and the rest is divided by the crew. I know capitalism is supposed to reward the risk of supplying raw materials, but does it make sense for one person to profit that much? The others don't own the boat, of course, but especially for a profession like that, their health and life are in danger on every trip. It doesn't seem fair to me, but I can't quite decide on it. Any thoughts?
posted by Unknown 4:51 PM | 2 comments

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Wife mentioned yesterday a possible career shift for me to teach history. It'd be fun, but I'm sitll not sure students should have to suffer for my career dissatisfaction. While I was making a bit of a drive by myself today (well, me and the cast of the Buffy musical episode), I started thinking how I would want to set up the class. I don't know anything about teaching, so can't predict that aspect. But I got to thinking about evaluation, testing, and grades, and that got me going. Maybe a lot of programming is just evaluating and grading bits of data.

My ideal test would be 70% straight out of the book, in some combination of multiple-choice, short answer, and essay. 10% would be similar straight out of the book, but from previous units - these might be selected to highlight previous topics relevant to the current material, or just random to ensure some retention. 10% would be from my lectures/classroom activities, which I hope would add information and value beyond the textbook. Probably all multiple-choice, maybe one short answer. The final 10% would be one essay or two short answer that requires analysis of the material and comparison to current events or trends from previous material. This way, they can pass by just studying the textbook, can get an A by only retaining material, but would need to go a step farther for the final points. Would probably add in 2-5 points extra credit to make this more palatable. Also my questions wouldn't be too picky unless they needed it for standardized tests and such. For example, knowing the Civil War started in 1861 at Fort Sumter is good. Knowing the date it happened on seems a bit much, but I might include it in the question in case they associate it (I do that on trivia questions a lot).

Yep, these are my thoughts. Everyone congratulate your inner babbler for not being so effectlessly, randomly thorough.
posted by Unknown 8:26 PM | 0 comments

Friday, June 09, 2006

Saw an anonymous quote I wanted to share (and remember myself): Integrity commits itself to character over personal gain, people over things, service over power, discipline over impulse, commitment over convenience, and the long view over the immediate.

Also read Newsweek's latest Thing You Should Fear cover story - the decreasing gap between American science/engineering and the rest of the world. That's going to happen - not because America's getting any worse (we still file by far the highest number of technology patents and have the largest pool of high-level analytical jobs), but because it's easier for other countries to learn what we discovered and catch up. Kinda like it's easier to drive from St. Louis to Washington state than it was for Clark & Lewis to find it.

I don't see it as a bad thing for other countries to have a higher growth rate. It's going to impact us, but that might not be a bad thing. I think the last 50 years spoiled us, where our technological skills combined with the rest of the developed world recovering from World War II or gaining first-nation status resulted in a standard of living insanely above the world average. That kind of difference is unhealthy as it inspires at least some of those left behind to anger (the foot soldiers of al Qaeda). We were so far out ahead that everyone catching up could actually reduce our standard of living, although I have no doubt we'll stay at the top and above the fastest risers like India and China. This will (hopefully) lead to a multipolar world where more people enjoy better living, although this catch-up period could be painful. Of course, painful means American families lowering themselves to only, say, 10-15 times the professional income of other countries. Definitely could give meaning to the Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times."
posted by Unknown 11:32 PM | 1 comments

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Well I'll be a Canadian's uncle. No, really - my brother-in-law's wife (is she a sister-in-law or once removed or something?) is pregnant. The due date's January, and Austin Grandma has already started plotting out the spoil-a-mania. It'll be fun, and no pressure on us for at least a little while. :-)

Yep, that's how exciting my life is - that's the highlight.
posted by Unknown 10:49 PM | 2 comments

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

I saw X3 this weekend. I never thought an Oscar winner wouldn't be up to the acting requirements of an action flick, but Halle Berry managed to once again limbo below the minimum standard. Maybe she's still upset that Catwoman stunk so bad so she decided to wreck this film. Fortunately Hugh Jackman and Ian McKellen continue to justify the entire movies, and I also still like Captain Picard. One friend came up with the perfect word to express the problem with this movie as compared to the first two: maudlin. The music was overpoweringly cheesy at wrong moments, and the dialogue didn't make any friends either. The change in director really hurt it. Fun story, though, and I never wondered how long I'd been there, so definitely fun. And the scene after the credits was nice too.

Last night, for a bit of change of pace, we went to go see Over the Hedge. Toy Story should sue for the character development piece of the plot, but then I guess it wasn't exactly original then either. Well-drawn, great voices, some really witty moments - it was a pretty good flick.

See, I do something besides rant and overgeneralize politically. :-)
posted by Unknown 4:11 PM | 0 comments

Monday, June 05, 2006

I'd forgotten how good it feels to lose myself in good fiction. Hobbs' Assassin trilogy is better than I expected - I hope it ends satisfyingly.

Hooray! We're protecting marriage! Wait, what's that? The Marriage Protection Act isn't outlawing divorce attorneys? Not sure how pairs of people are protected by other people not being allowed to pair. Yep, must be election season come early this year. My takes as I'm not running for election:

1) Two of my cousins (they're siblings) are a straight man Buck and a gay woman Betty (names changed). Buck found out his soon-to-be-ex wife was pregnant with their second child while they were divorcing. Neither was in a position to handle this child, but Betty and her partner (I don't know if they've married, but they've lived together in San Francisco for many years) adopted the baby girl. They have more economic resources to help the girl as she grows up, and their relationship record is far better than Buck or his ex-wife. How is their relationship less valuable to society, or somehow damaging, than Buck's marriage? I'm a fairly conservative Christian, but I recognize love and maturity wherever I see it.

2) What is the religious institution of marriage doing in government anyway? I don't want the government telling my church what it can/can't recognize any more than I want my church telling the government. And if civil unions are separate from weddings, then why the gender limitation? Why can't any 2 legally responsible adults make a legal commitment to each other? My understanding is you can, but it's a heckuva lot of paperwork to keep track of as opposed to the single marriage license my wife and I use.

3) I'm not in favor of divorce as a general rule - I think some people take it as an out rather than work to improve their marriage - but I completely support the legal right to it, and believe it's unfortunately the best answer in many situations. I mainly point out that defenders of marriage might better use their energy towards preserving and improving the ones that already exist rather than preventing others from joining in.

Anyway, just my two cents on the idiocy of government today.
posted by Unknown 1:04 PM | 2 comments