Margo Guryan/"16 Words"
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Coffee Shop Blogger
Per Abraham Maslow, if truly wishing to be money-minded, we should quantify all the "intangibles" as income, such as sitting in a coffee shop in Portland, getting some work done via the free wifi.
That's worth an extra ten grand a year in the form of "cool working ambience."
In exchange for all that extra compensation, I should feel motivated to tackle some hard tasks, like test driving Python 3.0 alpha.
Except it's almost mindlessly easy to download and untar the tarball, run configure, make, make test, sudo make install, so that really doesn't count (tests still running).
Ah, here we go:
Don't think I'm not appreciative.
That's worth an extra ten grand a year in the form of "cool working ambience."
In exchange for all that extra compensation, I should feel motivated to tackle some hard tasks, like test driving Python 3.0 alpha.
Except it's almost mindlessly easy to download and untar the tarball, run configure, make, make test, sudo make install, so that really doesn't count (tests still running).
Ah, here we go:
Python 3.0a1 (py3k, Sep 19 2007, 20:25:27)However, I do do harder tricks too, in exchange for this cushy Portland-based lifestyle.
[GCC 4.1.2 (Ubuntu 4.1.2-0ubuntu4)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>
Don't think I'm not appreciative.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Tinkering with Tink
Long time fans of this blog know TinkerBell is my bicycle (and Razz is my car).
The name TinkerBell is humorous in at least two dimensions:
I wheel it all the way to my favorite shop on Belmont for expert advice.
Ah, says the man, who knows his business, the front wheel is already spun round 360 degrees, and a left turn is pushing to even more than 360. The brake cable doesn't like it.
Duh.
Problem fixed, no charge.
Suitably humbled, I ride her home.
The name TinkerBell is humorous in at least two dimensions:
- I have a retro dino bell on my handlebar that tinkles;
- Tinker Bell is a cute pixie elvynchyk (fairie, whatever) from Disney lore whereas the bicycle is more like a Clydesdale (Elise: Friesian), industrial strength and heavy
I wheel it all the way to my favorite shop on Belmont for expert advice.
Ah, says the man, who knows his business, the front wheel is already spun round 360 degrees, and a left turn is pushing to even more than 360. The brake cable doesn't like it.
Duh.
Problem fixed, no charge.
Suitably humbled, I ride her home.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
More Ethnography
Cued by some posts to Synergeo, I found this September 7 post in the blogosphere attributing a theory to Bucky Fuller, I think correctly (cite Barry Farell, Playboy interview, 1972 and/or Synergetics Dictionary, Volume 2, pp. 229-30), the theory being that homosexuality is another way to separate sexuality from baby-making, in turn a response to adequate populations levels, and/or overcrowding.
That's no reason to view homosexuality as pathological (the way some cultures view it). "Adequate population" might also mean at the tribal or village level, i.e. "a full krew."
I posted some more thoughts along these lines (Synergeo #35751):
> > the behavior of all other living things when their population gets
> > too high. To put it in non-scientific terms, God made gay people
> > in order to save the world from uncontrolled population growth.
>
Re: R.B. Fuller On Homossexuality [sic]
Not sure what's your spin. I disagree with the above "too many" reading, i.e. a civ with plenty of same-sex could just as well be "just right" in the eyes of beholders, including of heteros like me -- a judgment call, with theirs being a call to less fun. I never read Bucky's quotes as condemning or holier than thou in this respect (in other contexts, he breathes fire).
Anti same-sex coupling is more of that self-righteous puritanical crappola that says no one should actually act out the stuff I only dare to imagine. Very hypocritical, when you consider no one gets hurt if truly consenting real adults are at play (misanthropic to deny them creaturely comforts). Happy campers are generally more productive and healthier to boot.
On the other hand, many out there haven't a clue, are dangerous to self and others because unskilled or nefarious. So I'm not saying "anything goes" in my book or that it's wise to be unprotective of self and/or others.
On the contrary, I advocate the propagation of martial arts and personal defense skills, especially for women, who should be prepared to kill if necessary. In this 'Age of the Idiocrats' there's no telling what some morons might try.
Kirby
That's no reason to view homosexuality as pathological (the way some cultures view it). "Adequate population" might also mean at the tribal or village level, i.e. "a full krew."
I posted some more thoughts along these lines (Synergeo #35751):
Re: R.B. Fuller On Homossexuality [sic]
> > the behavior of all other living things when their population gets
> > too high. To put it in non-scientific terms, God made gay people
> > in order to save the world from uncontrolled population growth.
>
Re: R.B. Fuller On Homossexuality [sic]
Not sure what's your spin. I disagree with the above "too many" reading, i.e. a civ with plenty of same-sex could just as well be "just right" in the eyes of beholders, including of heteros like me -- a judgment call, with theirs being a call to less fun. I never read Bucky's quotes as condemning or holier than thou in this respect (in other contexts, he breathes fire).
Anti same-sex coupling is more of that self-righteous puritanical crappola that says no one should actually act out the stuff I only dare to imagine. Very hypocritical, when you consider no one gets hurt if truly consenting real adults are at play (misanthropic to deny them creaturely comforts). Happy campers are generally more productive and healthier to boot.
On the other hand, many out there haven't a clue, are dangerous to self and others because unskilled or nefarious. So I'm not saying "anything goes" in my book or that it's wise to be unprotective of self and/or others.
On the contrary, I advocate the propagation of martial arts and personal defense skills, especially for women, who should be prepared to kill if necessary. In this 'Age of the Idiocrats' there's no telling what some morons might try.
Kirby
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Mt. Tabor
:: from mt. tabor today ::Earlier today I stopped by Harrison Street Studios and flashed my "business card" meaning in this case my 4D Studios page on Myspace (see margin of Grain of Sand). I might be getting some rights to use sound clips by Gadgetto in some of these YouTube or higher rez rich data streams (e.g. my Portland Knowledge Lab pilots).
Over on edu-sig, Jeff Rush has been helping me focus on my uses of FOSS (free and open source development techniques). The MVC metaphor pertains. Sometimes the Model and Controller code might be open, like a registry for doing clinical followup, but the Views are not because the actual data is for internal use.
Moodle itself is open; the contents of moodles may not be.
Later: some gutless wonder banned me from Philosophical Coffeehouse today, an obscure Yahoo Group where I was trying to get some work done. Maybe he's now going through and deleting all my posts. Oh well, I'll write 'em off as first drafts of some stuff.
:: sarah with hexapent ::
Friday, September 07, 2007
More from the Podium
I was somewhat dismayed by the Ralph P. Boas essay.
His sounds like a very insular discipline that is used to monopoly powers, and is therefore corrupt.
Where is the competition for mind share one would expect in a healthy, vital, intelligent economy?
Why should mathematics teachers be exempted from the need to prove relevance, when it's the future survival skills of our children that we're talking about?
I think Haim's solution (to make the commons a mere basic-level sandbox for learning harmless FRP stuff, then taking a sink-or-swim attitude, with stronger families supplementing like crazy from within their religious traditions or whatever) is unnecessarily cruel to those without strong and supportive families (often because of violent upheavals and/or diasporas they had no hand in creating).
Given the Internet, it's pretty inexpensive for Uncle Sam, in collaboration with MIT and places like that, to put state of the art curriculum within the reach of all netizens. No mass publishing, few billboards. Tax paying voters take notice and reward the politicians who apparently have a hand in this Renaissance ("which one is Cicero?" -- confused student whisper).
I'm just glad those bad old days, when mathematicians felt their discipline unchallenged, are pretty much over. We're back to the original design, of the trivium-quadrivium, with philosophy back in the saddle ("'Yee haw' and all that rot, what?" -- UKer with pipe).
Back to work...
Kirby
His sounds like a very insular discipline that is used to monopoly powers, and is therefore corrupt.
Where is the competition for mind share one would expect in a healthy, vital, intelligent economy?
Why should mathematics teachers be exempted from the need to prove relevance, when it's the future survival skills of our children that we're talking about?
I think Haim's solution (to make the commons a mere basic-level sandbox for learning harmless FRP stuff, then taking a sink-or-swim attitude, with stronger families supplementing like crazy from within their religious traditions or whatever) is unnecessarily cruel to those without strong and supportive families (often because of violent upheavals and/or diasporas they had no hand in creating).
Given the Internet, it's pretty inexpensive for Uncle Sam, in collaboration with MIT and places like that, to put state of the art curriculum within the reach of all netizens. No mass publishing, few billboards. Tax paying voters take notice and reward the politicians who apparently have a hand in this Renaissance ("which one is Cicero?" -- confused student whisper).
I'm just glad those bad old days, when mathematicians felt their discipline unchallenged, are pretty much over. We're back to the original design, of the trivium-quadrivium, with philosophy back in the saddle ("'Yee haw' and all that rot, what?" -- UKer with pipe).
Back to work...
Kirby
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
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