Happy Birthday to Me

Kirby and Dawn
(photo by Dave Fabik)

Home Schooling

I find myself returning to the homeschooling and unschooling literature, since the Shuttleworth Summit, in part due to the influence of Paul Fernhout, an edu-sig poster. But I've always had an interest in this literature. Laurie Todd, a master teacher, is another influence.

You'll find mention of this demographic (home scholars) in at least two [1][2] of my postings today, both to the Math Forum. Plus Tara is simulating emergent civilization right behind me, having just installed Sig Meier's Civilization IV on TMU (meanwhile, I'm typing on brain-damaged KTU2).

I like the new Python logo by the way: very Azteco-Mayan or whatever.

Decoding USA Culture

Many of our contemporaries overseas won't get why the above cover art was historically resonant with so many USA-based grownups who were, as children, sophisticated connoisseurs of Mad Magazine e.g. of Don Martin's famous strips, or of Spy vs. Spy.


One esoteric cultural theory is that Alfred E. Neuman, slacker mascot of the smartie brats, grew up to become the cult figure Bob Dobbs, founder of a certain all-American church.


An even more esoteric theory: that Bob Dobbs bears a family resemblance to Bob Schieffer of CBS News. Perhaps this is only a coincidence.

Constant Gardener (movie review)

For me, having just consumed the book, having purchased it in London's Victoria Station, viewing the film version was a lot about marveling at plot conflations and additions. On the whole, I found the movie brighter and less subtle, compared to a darker, more intricate printed work. On the other hand, the film had its own semaphores and semiotic twists -- I'm not trying to dismiss films as intrinsically inferior to books.

For me, the novel was effective in sucking me in to some character's inner life (the opening sequence), seducing me into a reality according to that viewpoint, and then abruptly changing viewpoints, and looking back from behind a different pair of eyes (his wife's). I'm talking about Sandy, not Justin, but when we move to him (and more or less stay there), once again, the outlook so drastically changes. We get access to new secrets, and closer to the world of Friends.

The film version adds a lot of good imagery, and if you want to go back to the original plot, borrowing these wonderfully rendered characters and scenery, that's an option. Or, to put it another way, if you saw the movie first, and now wonder about reading the book, I'd say "go for it."

News Item

"catsitter"
(painting by Pablo Picasso)

[ link to article ]

BizMos in Baghdad

Rhino Runners
[ link to article ]

Spring 2006

"catwalker"
(photo by Don Wardwell using my camera)

Tara and Lucy with Polyhedra
Bridge City Friends Meeting

Transamerica (movie review)

The sleight of hand in this film is to get the attention on the dad for being the most mixed up figure. But actually, all of the key characters are wildly off center, in a kind of high wire act, like some Cirque du Soleil on steroids.

For example, consider Carrie Preston's character Sydney: what a totally unusual person.

I wasn't just fixating on the dad in other words, the son either. The whole twisted circus was worth watching.

That psychiatrist lady was like some low key circus master, whispering "welcome to my world."

More First Person Physics

"PGE Ball Park, my angle"
(photo by K. Urner)

For those of you new to this thread: I was recruited to serve as webmaster on an NSF grant seeking team, headed up by Dr. Bob Fuller, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, now emeritus. We were already on grant number one, but seeking to scale up, by addressing the needs of 2nd tier students, meaning all those choosing not to become physics majors (which is most of them).

Dr. Paul Urone, that year to spearhead the AAPT convention in Sacramento, was also present for our summit, held in Lincoln itself (cool Buckyball at the airport). His text books tend to typify the First Person approach; very appropriate for medical students (lots of focus on anatomy).

Every teacher at the APPT convention got a CD about studies in human motion (sort of like Bodies, but moving). We used sensors to generate XYZ trajectories for the various body parts (body part = data column in Excel), which we subsequently converted to movies (my movies used Python and POV-Ray, with source code included on the CD). Similar technology was used in Lord of the Rings to develop the character Gollum.

Rolling forward, I was at the PGE Baseball Park yesterday, with thousands of public school kids (my Tara included), bussed in for the occasion from all over town. We started with a lecture on Isaac Newton's three laws: inertia, force, and push back.

Volunteers came down from the "me me me" screaming audience, and demonstrated these three laws in action. For example, a baseball, not aimed at the dog (but coming close), didn't go on forever in a straight line trajectory. Why? That's right: Gravity.

Or we might credit Precession if in a synergetics namespace (or that'd be more for when we're not in some a "falling in" or "gravity well" situation, which we obviously were at PGE Ball Park).

I was on chaperone duty, and crammed my bulk into section 114, row R, tiny seat 11.

Between stellar plays (Bees versus Beavers), I continued devouring my airplane reading, purchased at Victoria Station on a night of wandering about London. By the end of the day, I'd finished the novel, attaining another personal goal (my garden, however, is still wild -- I've scheduled a consult for this afternoon).

I'll be showing some of those human motion movies in my Saturday Academy class, along with Warriors of the Net, a big hit at Winterhaven.

Update: the front yard's much better thanks to elvynchyx. Our family membership renewal to the Chinese Garden arrived in today's mail.

studies in human motion CD

:: proposal web site ::

Manzanita

photos by Kirby Urner

Banished from a Yahoo! Group (tsk)

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-------004637684700824780310062997982

bruce denner wrote:

>>>> According to Ludwig Wittgenstein: "The limits of
>>>> my language mean the limits of my world."

As I read Tractatus, Wittgenstein's view (at least at the time) necessitates the empirical hypothesis testing of his quote above.

kirby:

This is correct. For the above to be meaningful in any way, and not just an empty tautology, a figment of logic, it would have to mean something empirically. But it doesn't. Nor does the rest of the Tractatus. Hence the joke, sort of, that it's a lot of glorious nonsense.

Later, in the PI, the boundary between sense and nonsense is not so sharp, given the last vestiges of logical positivism have been purged from LW's style. The joke (of an unsayable) has now been reduced to more like a gagging sound.

Our Wild Garden

"a day for new prayer flags"
(photo by K. Urner)

Mom @ Laughing Horse Books

"a student of history"
(photo by son)

Practicum BizMoticum

photo by K. Urner, Knott's Berry Farm

So one of my first conversation openers at the summit was to talk about bizmos, especially to Guido, who recently joined Google.

Guido pointed me to Brewster Kahle as worthy of emulation in this regard. Brewster took the concept of bookmobile to the next level: print on demand and let the patron keep the asset, as there's more where that came from.

Of course this approach means specializing in copylefted works and/or works with copyrights expired. That's a huge domain, to which many live authors even now readily contribute.

The TeacherMobile concept is also uncomfortably akin to another template straight out of American folklore: that of the snake oil salesman, purveyor of panaceas, maker of outlandish claims for the healing properties of mostly-alcohol.

On the other hand, I can't deny it: the Wild West wandering medicine show image is a colorful one, and resonates with the root meaning of geek, as in circus performer of some species.

On today's agenda (in addition to buying some prayer flags): watch the DVD Kim gave me: Squeakers "a documentary film celebrating a new way of teaching math and science to young children using computers, with computer pioneer Dr. Alan Kay" (from the cover).

Natural Science

early bird special

problem solver deluxe

photos & captions by Kirby Urner

Vigil Sign

from 24/7 vigil adjacent Big Ben
photo by K. Urner
(click for larger view)

Night Shot 2

Big Ben with traffic signal
photo by K. Urner

Night Shot

Bagdad theater with traffic sign
photo by K. Urner

Ambient Video for Airports

I'm listening to Ambient Music for Airports by Brian Eno on iTunes.

The hypertoons on my Toshiba form a complementary ambient video, the way I think of them (I get to flip up my screen and watch 'em in the transit lounge). Just a lot of languidly unfolding geometry, one track dissolving to the next, or through segues that mightn't be dissolves, but key frames. Some frames are "grand central stations" in fact: many scenarios start or end there, like train tracks at a terminal, or like at airport hubs.

I wrote my hypertoons program in Python using the VPython add-on. VPython drives a simple animated graphics window. I repurposed what I'd aimed at POV-Ray, a still life ray tracer, a stash of polyhedra, generated from Pythonic Vector and Polyhedron classes. Each poly is a list of face-tuples, with vertex labels keyed to the vectors library or dictionary. For example, face ('A','B','C') would access {'A':Vector((0,0,0)), 'B':Vector((1,1,0)), 'C':Vector((2,0,0))} and like that, where parentheses denote a tuple and curly braces a dictionary (primitive data types in Python).

I've implemented an rbf.py through several versions (rbf = r buckminster fuller). In this module, the volumes have been relativized to the tetrahedron in a particular way, by concentric nesting (an ancient passion of geometers through the ages). The rhombic dodecahedron (6) gets more air time than in the more purely Platonic environments. Kepler made studies of this shape, as well as of the more pentagonally informed geometries, per Koski, per Penrose.

Related reading:
Hypertoons in Python by K. Urner, July 25, 2005 (10 page PDF)
Urner talk @ London Knowledge Lab (Math Forum thread)

Roller Coaster Diaries

I flipped through a large format book at Gonzo's today (he's my wife's acupuncturist and herbalist -- part of the integrative medical team that supports her): a kind of Tantric catalog of compassionate beings, including Tara, for whom our daughter is named.

The pictures are by a Nepalese artist. Robert Thurman wrote an afterword.

I found the book comforting, even in the midst of all this suffering, all this feeling sorry amidst sorrowful beings. I'm glad to be here though, amidst my companions, amidst these incredibles. Thank you all for being in my life. Like, howdy strangers.

Joe and Larry sent me kind notes, in response to my email to the Quaker mens' retreat list this morning. And Vanessa, on another Quaker list, offered to help us get cheaper pain meds from Venezuela. Canada is closer.

We'll see Dawn's oncologist on Thursday. We need to know more about this roller coaster we're on. I'm scheduled to leave for London the following Tuesday, back Easter Sunday.

Judging from Wanderers postings, Jim Buxton had a wonderful time in Libya, viewing the full eclipse.

I've been meaning to catch up on Caitlin's blog (Terry Bristol's daughter). And mom's website is looking really good these days (she's become a true webmaster).

Sarah is barking, wants me to let her in.

Later:

Dawn really wants me to go to London, even if her time with us may be shorter than we were hoping, even hours ago. She got to talk to her pulmonologist, 24 hours after talking to a release nurse. I understand the need for pacing I suppose. I hate not knowing stuff sometimes. We're thinking Mom will come stay here at her PDX workstation while I'm at the Summit, then return to Whittier a few days after I return on Sunday.

Once There Was...

I had the distinct privilege last night of being one of the chosen few to see Johnny Stallings in action, in a play of his own devising.

A loner with a penchant for books develops a local reputation for being the wise old hermit. A younger man, well played by Rollin Carlson, beset with the usual questions about reality and finding one's way in life, seeks him out, hoping to gain some wisdom.

Dialogue ensues, plus mundane eating, drinking, shaving, sleeping, reading -- and watching projected videos, which may be accepted as metaphoric for the inner life of either character (the hermit reads Harlequin type romances for kicks, along with the more intellectual books, which is the only time we venture into R-rated material).

The venue was intimate, with three rows of chairs (stepped, visibility not a problem), maybe 12-15 across in each row, and pretty much full for this penultimate Friday night performance (tonight is the last gig of this run).

The set consisted of four principal stations: an outdoor bench, back to the audience; the eating and drinking table; the hermit's sleeping space; and a cooking and shaving spot. The small theater restroom was actually used as such in one scene, while the back of the garage door (not designed to open these days) completed this intimate model of Plato's Cave.

The piece is clearly autobiographical in some respects (the hermit makes an income as an actor part time, sometimes playing all parts in King Lear) which is why it was such a joy to see Stallings himself act his character (some of his stories are likewise nested and/or recursive).

The script involves any number of outlandish stories, with the loner breaking the ice and the visitor-guest gradually catching on, getting more comfortable, helping himself to the food (while offering to be useful).

The loner is clearly amused by this visit, but isn't attached to it going longer. He does work hard at supplying useful teachings, doesn't shirk his duty as the older and wiser gent. The storytelling provided a useful framework for getting to know his customer -- I'd say the loner made very efficient use of his time, even while claiming to be "doing nothing" for a living.

It's not clear from the ending if the visitor ever leaves (in one of the embedded stories, the acolyte never does), but one presumes he probably does after awhile.

Relevant:
Oregon Live review, by Richard Wattenberg, March 13, 2006.

Hunter Art Museum, Chattanooga

"building as sculpture"

V-X-II by Kenneth Snelson, 1973-74

"looks like wood"
bronze by Deborah Butterfield

photos by Kirby Urner, late March, 2006

Math Wars (continued)

From some airport departure louge, via wifi:

I continue to post to the Math Forum, albeit in a somewhat redundant way, trying to get more Fuller School memes accepted into the surrounding culture -- an uphill battle per usual (I'm very used to this terrain).

Like here (link) Wayne Bishop pooh poohs the idea that there's anything novel within the scope of K12 geometry, since his day in a one room school house some decades back. I again (for the maybe 200th time?) share what's new (link). And again, silence. Laziness? Complacency?

Whatever the logjam, USA civilian culture appears so not ready for this stuff. I'm hoping the computer science folks in Baghdad (aka Algebra City) will find a more receptive audience in the Pentagon, given all the close collaboration that's going on, in a more difficult military context.

Updating from a position near Fort Campbell (March 25):

I'll probe a bit more (link). Wayne replies: this Fuller School geometry (concentric hierarchy) is "absolutely, unequivocally" irrelevant to the general student population (link). His reply brings into sharp, crystal clear relief, my differences with his Mathematically Correct organization and its ideological fellow travelers.

Related reading:
Boosting Bandwidth
Revisiting Geometry (May 26, 2006)
Pentagon Math (June 22, 2006)
Geometry Text (March 28, 2010)

Wittgenstein for Dummies

Wittgenstein was born into money, was living a glam life as a courtly genius, then gave it all up to go to Oxford. He left the ordinary world of muggles and their ways to join up with Slytherin, headed by Bertrand Russell.

His Tractatus Logico Philosophicus (known as TLP by insiders) was his young knight in shining armour debut (the women back in Vienna swooned), then he exited stage right and wasn't heard from in awhile (before all this, he'd been a handsome POW in WWI, but that's another story).

Then he returned (surprise!), this time to teach his Philosophical Investigations, his mysterious PI -- a dark art, with LW a hooded figure, all Jedi-like and Darth Vadery, with a penchant for light sabers (er fire pokers).

Note regarding "fire pokers":

That's an allusion to a storybook wherein Wittgenstein acts in a menacing way, seems to be contemplating a dual use for this ordinarily civilian implement, and against polite company.

Popperians (followers of Karl Popper) read this like a ghost story to scare themselves silly. They whisper about that boogey man LW to their children, who lie in bed shivering, listening for footsteps.

Note: I posted an earlier draft of the above to edu-sig, then to wittgenstein-dialognet @ Yahoo! My posts to the latter group appear to be queuing indefinitely, ever since I rejoined.

St. Patrick's Day & Wanderers Retreat

jon bunce

(photo by K. Urner)

We've started our Spring Retreat @ Pauling House, on St. Patrick's day. Jon is about to play some guitar. Jim is just days away from heading for Libya, to catch the eclipse.

Brian, our Yorkshire American (with bushy eyebrows like Jon's), also grabbed the guitar and sang some excellent tunes. He and I sound like we're Darwinian and anti-Darwinian respectively in a certain thread @ wwwanderers.org -- and yet we're both quite happy with Darwin the guy, with his performance, his contribution to science. The Galapagos came up again and again in our conversation, with Steve eventually offering a cheap group rate, in case we just wanted to up and go there (tempting, very tempting).

I used this opportunity to project some of my favorite video segments: the Yes Men's presentation on the WTO's new leisure suit; the Festival segment from Ghost in the Shell 2, and Warriors of the Net.

We also watched a Google Video about Sangay Park in Ecuador -- Steve's wife Laura is from Ecuador and I wanted to show off the "has everything" potential of this stash. Archive.org failed to cough up any Flip Wilson comedy tracks for Steve however.

David Feinstein dropped by on Saturday. He talked about teasing more data out of hemolyzed bovine plasma, by first dropping the convolution assumption around two constituents, adding wiggle room, then substituting a weighted average of two 10,000 randomized trial basis vector sets, with around 450 random numbers per basis. His goal was to approximate actual test results without nailing the algorithm to just those particular values (the deep alchemy: derive usable generalities from specificity).

David's remarkable talent: to make this all clear.

Also on Saturday, I left the retreat to attend a memorial service for Jo Fowler. The family reserved the huge auditorium in Lake Oswego High School and yet the venue was almost not big enough. This woman, whom I'd never met in life (her husband a coworker), was definitely worth knowing. She brought joy and life into the hearts of many, children and adults alike.

Back @ Pauling House: Allen G. Taylor swung by, talked about ocean currents in Drake's Passage, SQL for Dummies and such.

In reply to Allen's helpful prompting, I tried to explain, briefly, my Qv2 (Quakers, version 2): war metaphors OK (e.g. Nayler's "Lamb's War"), but with our weapons turned (and tuned) to a more inward vista. I pointed to the Quakeress on the cover of one of the art books in my collection; she's just killed some bug-eyed monster (a demon or devil -- the Slayer meme).

We're talking science fantasy here (obviously) -- another name for old time religion (but with a lot more science).

Glenn and I have continued brainstorming around geometry cartoons, which would include explorations of his Global Matrix concepts.

Don requested Peter Ward's performance, about how we're in a carbon dioxide window, dependent on plate tectonics, on a planet that's likely rare, if not unique, in its level of sophistication. I'm buying; we're good. That doesn't mean we'll be here forever. On the contrary, the gist of Peter's talk was: we're mortal, get over it.

As a grand finale, Terry showed up again, on Sunday afternoon, to project a DVD: Roger Penrose addressing an audience at Western Oregon University, about his voyage of discovery in the world of the aperiodic pentagon. Two shapes, appropriately coded, are sufficient to aperiodically tile an infinite desert, such that any two regions, no matter how large, may be made to coincide, and yet the desert itself remains unique, an individual.

In the background, I've been continuing threads on the Math Forum (Drexel) and edu-sig (Python community). I also booked my plane ticket to London, for the Mark Shuttleworth Foundation's education summit in April.

Dawn and Tara have been persuing their own respective social life trajectories, including watching more early Buffy on rented DVDs.

Addendum:

The furniture has been set back, the dishes washed, flowers planted (on the far side of our future Cafe Philosophique), personal effects removed, except a few of mine, such as the laptop I'm now using, on battery, sitting at the board room table with leg repaired, to better than standard, by Barry and company.

This was a good retreat. My fond greetings to Shomar (woof), who got as far as the parking lot.

Early Buffy

Having raced through FireFly (I missed a few), we've turned back to Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 1, Disc 1. The stars are just beginning to feel their way, "over-acting" one might say, but the audience needs this too. There's no short-cutting past the awkward first steps, much of the time. There's this period of "tuning in" (lots of feedback cycles).

Hitting the ground running is usually only an option if you've done it before. A lot of this Buffy stuff was original spin, even if the material was Old Europe and well worn. California girl as vampire slayer, what a concept (!) -- way too good to just leave alone, that's for sure. Behind these earnest early performances is a sense of commitment, of wanting to get it right, to get past a pilot phase, when so many shows get yanked (TV can be pretty Darwinian).

And a lot is fully functional right out of the gate in this series (the start of what was to become a seven year run): we're already dealing quite effectively with teen issues, around popularity, the dynamics of study (everyone runs to dear Willow, our future witch), attraction and repulsion, "raging hormones," various mother-daughter scenarios.

Charisma Carpenter is brilliant at portraying the "mean girl" type in her character Cordellia (see also: Mean Girls). She helps anchor the rest of the cast, as her performance is highly polished and credible.

I originally dove in at the start of 3rd season when I first encountered Buffy in my late 40s, so going back to this early stuff is an eye opener. By the time I come in, it's pretty much over with Angel already. She's ready for Riley and then Spike, who, like Cordellia, really adds to our depth perception (having boyfriends be vampires, with an interlude in the military, was a nice arc).

As a storyboard artist of sorts, I appreciate how on-camera talent needs time to grow into a moving picture. When filming the Ken Kesey novel (highly adapted), the actors got time in a ward of their own, and opportunities to hobnob with patients and staff (all this in a real mental hospital, in Salem, Oregon).

If the story is gripping and well crafted, artists find it within themselves to take ownership of a role. This is what happened in the Buffy series -- an inspiration to aspiring writers like me.

Men's Retreat

So I just got back from central coastal Oregon, somewhere between Roseburg and Coos Bay, where there's this camp. Quakers renting, just for the weekend, men. Annual event. Missed it last year.

Didn't have a bizmo this time, but Dave's car was quite fun (flip-up headlights).

We focused on some writings by James Nayler quite a bit. I'll have more results to share latter. Suffice to say now that I used a lot of the time doodling some Qv2 commercials (Quakers version 2).

Biosculpture (take two)

Heart of Steel (intentionally rusted)
by Julian Voss-Andreae
(click for "take one")

A Note to Cell Mates

my new Motorola V325 on Verizon wireless

Owing to my activist life-style (alternating with more sedentary times, like in front of a screen), another cell phone bit it: my Samsung (replacing an LG I'd bought on eBay, to replace my previously beheaded LG (that happened on Amtrak, Coast Starlight in fact (beautiful train ride))).

Once again, the head got separated (not entirely my doing). So this time I'm going with a Motorola, having sampled Samsung and LG.

I was sorely tempted by the many display models, each supporting an assortment of bells and whistles. Some delayed windfall profit was burning a hole in my pocket, residuals from the big Hood River Cabin Sellathon (wherein I never played a real estate agent -- I served as webmaster and event coordinator that time).

But given my track record, investing in an expensive, delicate, all-purpose phone/PDA, would likely be a setup for disaster. I'd bash it against some airplane fusilage the next day, trying to squeeze into a passenger seat (some of those F-whatevers don't leave much room). What, no insurance? I'm sorry Mr. Urner but you've just destroyed our latest six million dollar phone. Nah (slap slap) gotta snap out of it.

But I didn't go "el cheapo" either, even though I had to pay full retail this time. My first choice, vendor recommended, was actually a bargain basement Nokia, but I was just glazing on the name. We EuroPythonista types, or loco PyConistos, know there's a series of Nokia out there that supports our favorite bindings: write your own little telecomm applets, with the provided GUI, in native Python code. But that wasn't what they had on sale for only $59.99 with a 2 year plan. No way Jose. I don't think the USA Verizon version even lets you buy such equipment, at least not through these storefronts.

They're too scared about snakes over here (South Park style 8th grader to teacher: "can we have Python on our school server teacher?"; teacher [heart pounding, thinking panicy]: "omygod, omygod, what are they asking, little hackers at this age? Should I call homeland security?"). We're not what you'd call real "computer literate" out here (mostly cuz of that stupid TV they all watch so much; it doesn't teach 'em much of anything that's useful -- unless you're expecting a starship to swing by).

Anyway, I'm still going through the activation process, like on Google Video. So if you call and you just reach a friendly Verizon recording, please try again later, and my apologies for the inconvenience.

Latest news (early March 9 AM):

Verizon is having technical difficulties in the Portland region. New phone activations are not going through. They're working on it, no time estimate. There's nothing about my account in particular that needs fixing. I've been without cell for going on 36 hours now -- since the Samsung died -- about 15 since purchasing this new Motorola.

In the middle of all this, Network Solutions called, wondering if I'd like to buy any variations on the grunch.net theme, such as maybe grunch.info or grunch.tv or whatever (so-called "extensions"). I declined the offer. She asked if there was anything else she could do for me today. I offered she could try activating my Verizon cell phone.

A joke, but hey, worth a try.

Wow, 10 AM and still no dice. Vendors confirm this is one of the biggest area outages they've seen -- usually we've got a resolution within like five hours. Verizon thinks this is probably bigger than Verizon, regionally speaking at least.

I've done a Python class in the meantime, and am now on to helping with "Sir Roger logistics" (Sir Roger Penrose is our ISEPP speaker this evening, plus Winterhaven is doing its annual Math Alive! -- a student poster session).

None of this is made any easier by not having a working civilian cell phone, I can assure you. But I'm good at my job. Anyway, Google Talk is working great.

OK, 2:40ish PM and your activist is activated (please deploy wisely etc.). Remember, nothing from the Samsung was salvageable, so I've lost all photos and electronic records. Tough cookies. Thems the breaks. Don't feel shocked if I don't call you right away.

Big Oil

ConocoPhillipsExxonMobil
(photo by K. Urner, Woodburn, Oregon)

Why We Fight (movie review)

This film could easily work as a double feature with The Power of Nightmares. The two films complement one another, plus feature some of the same talking heads.

The storyline is uncomplicated: president Eisenhower left office warning the USA might become a LAWCAP puppet (using Bucky's terminology) and lo and behold, that's precisely what happened.

"We" fight because the war machine has a "life" of its own. There's nothing especially American or democratic about it. It wants to spread "freedom and democracy" but, being a heartless / soulless mechanism, isn't really qualified to do so.

We've been scraping by with a phony USA for awhile now. Resurrecting a bona fide USA remains an uphill battle. Lots of heroic Americans have been fighting to bring it back.

I'm reminded of The Matrix: most people settle for the illusion, don't even suspect they've been duped, soldiers included -- although some more knowingly serve as quislings.

I'm glad this film is playing in Bagdad (so far clandestinely i.e. not yet on mainstream TV, although that's coming).

I'm glad the Iraqis are learning that the American people still fight (including with movies such as this one) to preserve a brave heritage, even though they too are a conquered people in many ways, living in an occupied land.

From the Air

Meliptus on the Columbia, from the window of an Alaska Airlines jet.
Guest passenger: Tsuyoshi Nago.

Back in Portland

I had lunch with Dave at the Bagdad yesterday. I brought the laptop (Toshiba) and we watched a few minutes of Ryan while waiting for our calzones. Ryan is an animated short, an interview with Ryan Larkin, an influential cartoonist who now begs for coins.

I also have Michael Kessler's promo to watch, a DVD. He's looking for investors on his Common Sense II project. He's got an uphill battle with his "eracism" meme, as that's already used in New Orleans to mean "erase racism" (another of Fuller's goals). For Michael, it means "loyalty to the earth" (sure, these ideas relate).

Also, the "one world nation" idea seems too contrived. As an operational metaphor, I prefer our "giant university" meme -- a way of looking that works even today, even if our Food Services is somewhat broken (too many starving students).

That being said, colorful characters like Kessler are what make our global university vibrant and fun. His example is encouraging, inspiring (Larkin's too). More power to him.

Addendum:

Well, I had the volume settings up high from our family viewing of two episodes of Firefly last night, so when I popped in Michael's DVD, the explosion of sound woke Tara and Dawn outstairs. Tara came instairs to watch it with me and we agreed it was pretty well done. Michael is a talented musician. His title is an allusion to Tom Paine's.

Speaking of instairs / outstairs, I also ordered CDs of Gene Fowler reading his own poems. Gene and I have had quite a lot of correspondence over the years. I'm looking forward to listening to these.

Signs of the Times

photos by K. Urner, Whittier, CA

California State Standards

"wall scrawl"
(Ms. Brunel's theater room, Whittier High School)

Sixth Grade Geometry

Regular Tetrahedron of 24 A modules
constructed by 6th graders @ Winterhaven PPS

Valentine's Day 2006

cute

I'll be using the same home-brewed Pygame-based presentation manager code I wrote for OSCON 2005 to drive my presentation to Winterhaven's sixth graders on Thursday morning (soon after I teach my Python class). We've booked the auditorium -- this'll be a good test of my projector's luminosity.

I'll be taking them through Polyhedra 101: some classification schemes (e.g. Platonic and Archimedean), and a nesting scheme (which implies some relative sizing or scaling).

Of course I'm focusing on Fuller's nesting scheme, because he's the positive futurist and great American writer they need to learn about. Plus his way of doing polyhedra is pretty memorable and compact, so we'd likely cover it even if he weren't a Medal of Freedom winner.

RBF

Other MoF winners include: thespians Carol Burnnet, Bill Cosby and Andy Griffith, boxer Muhammed Ali, spy chief George Tenet, Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, TV show hosts Fred Rogers and Julia Child, management guru Peter Drucker, First Lady Nancy Reagan, soldiers Colin Powell, Tommy Franks, Wesley Clark and William Crowe, Pope John Paul II, and Gordon Moore of Moore's Law fame -- quite the mixed bag (wouldn't you say?) and that's only a small sampling of the list.

The CCP lattice sets the stage. Around each CCP sphere: a space-filling rhombic dodecahedron. Its long diagonals: an octahedron. Its short diagonals: a cube. Inscribed within the cube: two tetrahedra as alternate sets of face diagonals. Relative volumes: 6 : 4 : 3 : 1.

nesting scheme

Twelve CCP spheres around the nuclear sphere define the cuboctahedron, of relative volume 20. Packing outward in successive layers, we get 12, 42, 92, 162... spheres, always in a cuboctahedral conformation.

CCP

My intent is to get down to the A and B module dissections; all of the aforementioned polys may be assembled from these two tetrahedral slivers, each of relative volume 1/24. As a hands-on activity, students will fold left and right handed A modules from the plane nets I'll hand out, then assemble regular tetrahedra therefrom.

We bridge to five-fold rotationally symmetric territory by crossing the "Jitterbug Bridge" -- a visual transformation taking the cuboctahedron into an icosahedron, which, along with its dual, the pentagonal dodecahedron, complete the Platonics.

This is stuff every elementary schooler should get briefed on -- or their American heritage is being denied them [visual: waving flag; sound track: patriotic fife and drum].

Today (Valentine's Day, 2006) even some top lawyers in Washington DC are ignorant of these basic math facts, which really hurts their credibility and effectiveness as potential USA OS operatives in my book, as this means they have a poor grasp of their own American History.

Articulated Bus

"some outdoor art"
(photo by K. Urner)

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Islamic Cartoons?

I totally get that idolatry often leads to problems, and a smart code might exclude depictions of X because all too often, that's led to ineradicable bugs.

However, in mythological space, it's difficult to erase all hint of The Prophet (whomever that may be) from some heroic fable or epic. The White Monkey (Ramayana) is bound to resemble this or that celebrity of the day.

Someone will take offense. Someone will say it's really a subtle dig at some high holiness. Followers get riled, stones get thrown, and we're off: religion at work, trashing your world.

Do any within Islam have authority to debate the consequences of never allowing feature length cartoons that tell the story, of a man, of his life? Mainstream Christianity is overflowing with depictions, but gives the Islamic saints scant treatment.

Non-Islamic theologians read Islamic literature, and necessarily bring their imaginations to bear. It's just about impossible to read about any historical figure, without conjuring some kind of image.

So why not a cartoon?

I'm not talking about disrespectful. I'm talking about the work of religious teachers, aiming at propagating Islam for generations to come. Have they forever denied themselves this tool of animation? Maybe. I'm not qualified to say, one way or the other.

Related reading:
Muhammad on museum walls by Christopher Reynolds, LA Times, Feb 17, 2006, page E1

Zen Story

Once upon a time, a famous zen master was enjoying yet another day of full enlightenment (nirvana) which included: baking chocolate chip cookies, oiling robots, and buying AA batteries at the local convenience store.

However, he'd forgotten to feed the dog that morning. His meditation remained unsettled, as on many other days (yet every day was different); a kind of rippling in the pond.

When he finally remembered his oversight, he wrote "suffering is an unfed dog" but in a fancy kind of calligraphy, such as would fetch a small sum at the local gift shop (tourists love this stuff).

Proceeds from the gift shop helped pay for dog food, as well as food for the monks.

Mourning a Loss

From The Oregonian, February 4, 2006
(click for larger view)

Dawn and I were dismayed to learn of Sara Cogan's untimely death last Tuesday. Sara is a long time bookkeeping client and friend of Dawn's.

Through Sara's international student exchange program, we were lucky to host a charming teenager from Japan as our guest for some weeks, Ayano.

We will miss Sara and extend our fond best wishes to her family.

Atlanta in March?

I just got off the phone with a very interesting guy behind this G4G7 event (Gathering for Gardner). We talked for about 20 minutes.

This sounds like a stellar event (Conway, Penrose ... Knuth), but so far I haven't cobbled together a travel/hotel budget for any event like that. My work in education is largely uncompensated. I get minimal perks.

However, given I'm to be with family in Nashville the following weekend, I might be able to swing something. If not, I'm aiming for G4G9, by which time I may well have a bigger budget (some wheels turn very slowly within the Fuller School -- in part because they're very big (lots of inertia)).

Rural Oregon

If you're a tourist in this state, I recommend you get out of the big city (not that any of them are all that big, by world standards), and explore the rural highways.

In particular, I would consider John Day a destination, and the nearby museum. Take care when exploring the Painted Hills, not to disturb the ecology (a "look don't touch" kind of place).

When studying the fossil beds, you'll learn about many departed species, such as the oreodont, a great lover of cookies (just kidding).

As you drive through this topography, notice the large farm-based economy. Horses and cattle abound. Hay gets rolled up in wheel-shaped storage units. A lot of heavy machinery gets the job done. Oregonians are pretty industrious (we even build covered bridges).

Thanks to this scene, you'll have many opportunities to sample fresh produce. If you've always wanted to try horseback riding, Oregon may be the state for you.

A lot of our sports are at least mildly dangerous you'll notice: sailboarding, kiteboarding, skiing, mountain climbing, ... gambling. Opportunities for getting into trouble abound.

South Africa is kind of like this too. When our family tried riding ostriches that time, we understood the "use at your own risk" signage. Fortunately, none of us got hurt -- that time.

So, if sampling activities, be a realistic judge of your own talents and limitations. There's no shame in starting slow and easy, staying well within your own comfort zone.

In sum, if you have a challenging goal in mind (e.g. to reach the summit of Mt. Hood), plan on taking your time getting properly trained and equipped. Don't take short cuts, when it comes to your own personal safety.

You're a tourist, remember, not Indiana Jones.

Background reading:
Saving the Salmon: A History of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Efforts to Protect Anadromous Fish on The Columbia and Snake Rivers.

Somewhat unrelated reading:
The Mysterious Smell of Moon Dust

Religious Education

This morning I joined Friends for some free ranging discussion. We used a stuffed camel for a talking stick and took turns reading from a philosophical treatise by a zen master which quotes the Quaran a lot. I'll email Ron and Peg for the title, and append it here when I get it: Creation and the Timeless Order of Things: Essays in Islamic Mystical Philosophy by Toshihiko Izutsu.

We didn't all jump on a bandwagon. A lot of us (me included) swung invisible swords, cutting through whatever was holding us back on some personal inward journey. This means that outwardly, this wasn't a picture of everyone nodding and agreeing about everything.

We took issue, were at odds. The camel helped, plus the fact that we're quite practiced as Friends. I said the "face" metaphor reminded me a lot of Teletubbies (a baby facing an imaginary creation).

One of our number does electrical engineering with Intel, is a group leader with respect some some important nanoscale chip architectures. She reminds me of an astronaut in some ways.

Regarding Infrastructure

Dawn is preparing financial statements for NPYM (Steering Committee meets today), Tara is researching robots per usual (we home-screened I, Robot last night, using the Toshiba and Optoma EP 729 projector (plot: a beautiful machine mind turns fascist seeing how badly humans behave and has to be taken out)).

Per my recent Algebra with Python moodle, I'm on the lookout for warm fuzzy, trick- performing pet robots with Python bindings (how about a Python that speaks Python? -- perhaps too limiting ("roll over?")).

I'm wanting to propagate this algebra courseware beyond Winterhaven (my current base). Dethe of Living Code has stepped forward as a possible sysop for a new host.

An expanding courseware network is a part of my American dream for a more accessible and relevant public school system.

Update: Tara and I had lunch with Dave Fabik at American Dream Pizza, near Providence, then showed up at the Meeting House to show our videos, including that one about two ladies in the parking lot who get into a door slamming contest. Quakers ate it up.

Unrelated news: Les Schwab diagnosed and fixed a puncture in my right front tire yesterday, caused by a small nail or something, all at no charge per their tire guarantee, which tires will of course need to be replaced at some point.

More Fragments

I drove Dawn to a TACS workshop @ Ecotrust building in the Pearl. She and other nonprofit bookkeepers congregate for updates on the general accounting principles in this specialty. We have a good core group of strong bookkeepers, thanks to TACS and friends.

I'm spending my day working for nonprofit clients (RHDS, AOI...) and doing curriculum writing, a lot of it open source. Today I'm sharing with community college professors about my virtual curriculum (uses lots of virtual reality type games, simulations, cartoons). However I'm not really thinking about the toys today [update: just thought about toyz], just bare bones content.

Yesterday, relatives showed up for a fun dinner at Portland Ale House (I was the only one to have beers). Bill Lightfoot (age 80), driving his Aztec, is touring with Eve and John Talmadge, with Eve and Bill siblings, formerly both Lightfoot, descendents of Persons from Sweden.

My grandmother Esther, dad's mom, was a Person daughter, along with Elsie, Alice, Harold, and Ernie. Elsie had the most children: Bill, Bo, Eddie, Howard, and Eve. Eve's two daughters are Alice and Mary.

We stayed with Mary enroute from Alice's back to PDX, last Thanksgiving. Harold gave us the Hancocks, through Barbara (her two boys fly jets, while Alice, like the other Alice, is into container shipping, which is big around Seattle).

This family loves Alaska. Eddie's boy Ricky (about my age) is with family up there (we say "up" meaning "around to the north").

Fragment of a Day

Finished an intro to OO concepts at Winterhaven today, using the About Classes PDF (see list). I also screened the opening 15-20 mins of Revolution OS. Premise for showing that: it's important to know what "open source" is if we're one of its capitals (you can buy a copy at Powell's Technical).

Next I'm meeting with Tom and friends. Tom spearheaded TRP (Transportation Reaching People), a nonprofit arm of county government, compensating for mileage with Tri-Met funds, the metro net having a mandate to get citizens to/from important appointments and so on. This system gives seniors a more independent lifestyle in some cases. Portland, Maine has been doing something similar (I saw it on the news).

I also confessed some of my career aspirations in this post to edu-sig.

From Over the Mountains

Sam and Judy came the whole way today, from near Black Butte, over the Santiam Pass, over to Salem, thence north, along I-5, to Portland. They had an item to retrieve, and relatives to visit: us, the Urner / Wicca alliance, marriage, family, whatever love makes. Katie Byron: is it true? Well, I sure hope so.

We ate lunch at Portland Ale House (I had fish), then headed back to the house. I showed some quick clips from Ali G. (first season), to give a sense of his amazing range: hip hop cop trainee; clueless wannabee dater; girly-man cat walker. R-rated for language (like Shakespeare).

Over lunch, we'd discussed many future viewing opportunities (allusion to quantum mechanics), which just keep multiplying thanks to outfits like Netflix (but at some point, you've gotta choose; the wave collapses). We all deserve time to catch up on some excellent theater i.e. this should be a right of anyone: to see what my age is sending off to the future (watch 'em pack the time capsule, as it were, and appreciate your own era, your own history).

Sam is Dawn's brother, Judy his wife. Sam and Dawn grew up in Ohio, then Florida, then Oregon. Judy's mom is a minister. They're both certified to deliver mail for the USPO.

They drove the whole way back the same day.

Short History Lesson

Speaking of all this (see last post): you USA kids should understand something I learned in South Africa. A lot of Afrikaaners, many of them of Dutch descent, really look up to America a lot (and yes, that includes the USA). Why? Because the perception around South Africa is that America somehow managed to win a war against the English (I'm speaking of the Revolution, the one Ben Franklin was in), whereas in South Africa, everything is apparently still Commonwealth. "So how'd you Americans do it?" is the oft unspoken question. Answer: we had a lot of help.

A Virtual Foreign Policy (US to England)

Unlike those LaRouchies maybe, I have nothing against the future King or Queen of England. Nor against the one now. A lot of my work around "virtual presidents" in USA OS (borrowing the time-slice metaphor of "virtual machine" (as in "mine, all mine")) translates into internalized royalty talk. It's sort of like the case with Wicca (see Triumph of the Moon): the UK invents it, America takes it and runs with it, transforms it (sound of something wooden breaking -- a Tomahawk, by the sound of it), and hands it back. And here's the punchline: you actually like it better this way.

Morning Edition

Creatures are stirring as our time zone rolls into wake state -- though I've been pretty sleepless (lots of transceiver brain traffic, as Bucky might say). The clock face to my left is still flashing; I need to reset it after the recent power down (I was in some coffee shop when it hit, watched it reboot some computers). Our Oregonian sits unopened -- maybe I'll have time for it today.

An evolving story (for those of you reading in time zones far distant): USAers are really wanting Congress to start those hearings on NSA wiretapping. So many Americans lead lives of petty crime, ignoring those serious FBI warnings against piracy, against drug use, and they can't quite believe government assurances that these interceptions are only Al Qaeda tied. That's not been the pattern in the past, whenever the government has assumed unlimited powers to snoop.

Now in some countries, digital media copying is a less worrisome business, even if it's a favorite movie. And the Amsterdam transit lounge flaunts that country's different approach to substance control, at least with regard to cannibus (my Ideas book club has noticed its use by various ancient cultures, along with carbon dioxide, and we've noted that most of those cultures are no longer with us (one can't help but suspect the evil weed is to blame, given how it interferes with the brain's metabolism)).

But those other countries aren't America. We have strong law enforcement here, or thought we did. The trouble is: Congress is having a hard time reconstituting its legitimate powers to get going on these hearings. It's wallowing in scandal, perhaps afraid of what NSA wiretapping might reveal about it (although in DC people are more sophisticated, and more likely to believe that only Al Qaeda is the target (on the other hand, its crimes haven't been so petty)).

So that's the story: Americans impatient to have their worst fears confirmed (about government abuses of power); Congress unable to get going on those confirmations (having already abused its powers considerably).

I'm confidant those hearings will get going soon. I've heard various senatorial promises to that effect. I still have faith in most senators, men and women of their word. On the other hand, I'm not especially interested in the NSA story (as I mentioned on some Quaker group awhile back). Don't expect this blog to focus on it. Many other blogs do, so you shouldn't feel your human rights are being violated if I say I don't give a damn.

Being There (movie review)

This one has withstood the test of time, as I expected it would. I can't quite say how much I admire this film.

Plus it proves my education philosophy: you can glean enough from television to be a virtual president -- at least if you're Peter Sellers.

Shirley MacLaine is likewise brilliant. And Ruth Attaway, as Louise.

The levity is high, symbolism deep, the serenity profound (a trully haunting piano). It helps if you grew up in the period captured (as I did) but really, this film is timeless.

I recall reading the book first, by Jerzy Kosinski -- also Painted Bird.

MLK Day

I had a wonderful MLK day yesterday (even Tara's dentist appointment went well: no cavities).

A friend and I went next store to Powell's and splurged on books. I bought Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell: The Ultimate Collection (picture of a slayer on the cover). I needed it for research on the synergetics cartoons I'm brainstorming (4D Studios work).

Hey, let's see if we can find me in here (flip flip flip...): page 170, giving my girlfriend a ride (I'm the horse in the background, having the dream).

Still in a spirit of celebration, Don and I had lunch at Fujin, which included a fun conversation with the owners (about the German psyche this time).

Don raised his glass to the Reverend King, as did I.

I'm not just interested in casting fictional characters or doing cartoons. I write about reality TV a lot. Maybe you've read some of my screen writing or whatever. Real people interest me too -- as do other animals.

Serenity (movie review)

This is a solid representative of the genre science fiction. It hits the sweet spot, and not in a glitzy, over-budgeted kind of way. It's a well-told story, of the kind that would've bought Scheherazade another day's reprieve.

The Alliance has won, with defeated rebel non-believers living as outlaws in the outskirts. And then there are devils (the vampires of this world), and a Slayer. Joss Whedon tells it again.

This is high TV more than over-the-top big screen, in terms of props -- enough to fuel the imagination. The story and the acting make up for the only decent special effects. eXistenZ was in this same category, and likewise brilliant.

The Alliance has upset the balance of nature and doesn't want you to know -- has enlisted a blind fanatic to keep you from finding out. But the human psyche is unerring when it comes to unearthing secrets of this type, and responds with integrity.

Moral: human nature isn't easily improved upon by humans themselves. In a fiercesome furnace we were forged. Don't mess with us. And we love our psycho-warrior children.

Recruiting A New Wanderer

photo by Jack Smith, Associated Press

At our little follow-up with Art at The Bagdad, after the main meeting at the Linus Pauling House, I let slip that one of my jobs is to help figure out where to put a SeaWorld in Iraq. Of course that's mainly up to Iraqis, but the requirements of whales and dolphins also need to be considered.

Along those lines, Don and I have reached the point of wanting Wanderers open to non-humans (we could admit tigers and so on). I don't know what that would look like exactly, especially as we don't strictly define "membership" per se (sort of like Quakers -- my brand of 'em anyway).

I propose we test the waters by considering Keiko an honorary Wanderer, nevermind that he's dead (that's not a barrier to joining either, I should add).

I also put Art in touch with my friend Glenn at CDI (Glenn and I go back to IS in Manila). I'd stay with him in DC during meetings with Applewhite and/or Pycons.

More on IQ

Back in the early 1990s, in reaction against Mensa I suppose, I created Densa ("There's nothing Densa than Densa"), an IQ club for the rest of us.

We'd offer like a 12-step program to Mensa members trying to kick the habit of always feeling like the smartest guys in the room (something Alex Martelli once told me about working @ Google: it actually came as a relief to not always have to be that -- not in every room anyway (and Alex is a really smart guy)).

So in founding Densa, perhaps I was anticipating (or riding the wave of) the then-emergent "for dummies" culture, with its user-friendly books about some really tough subjects, like CORBA and SQL?

Allen Taylor (author of that SQL book) is a Wanderer by the way, in addition to being ultra smart. He'll be discussing impenetrable networks at our next meeting.

What Shall I Do?

I've hijacked Terry's PowerBook for a few minutes (he knows -- he just whispered "what are you doing?" and I told him "posting to my blog"). This is one of the best attended Wanderers meetings ever. We've convened to discuss purpose, life mission, what shall I do?

Art Kohn is the center of attention. He's at a crossroads: age 48, skilled in psychology, video editing, Africa (Zimbabwe especially), former Fulbright scholar, recently engaged. The guy is brilliant. Too bad he's probably moving to Washington, DC, but hey, Portland is willing to share talent. He's wondering what to do next. He wants to work with "big dogs."

At this moment, we're going around the table, discussing what big decisions we've made, what's been meaningful in our lives. When it was my turn, I talked about the big choice I had at Princeton: whether to go into International Relations (travel, women, wine and cheese) or Philosophy (darkness, madness, despair, dread). I chose the darkness (everyone laughed -- I admit to being funny).

We have some newcomers tonight and people are meeting strangers for the first time -- valuable in this context. I'm pleased to be here, seeing Wanderers in action. And seriously, the Philosophy path wasn't so bad, even has some of the same perks if you stick with it.

Also, speaking of video editing: good segment on open source on CBS News this evening.

Update: it's tomorrow already. I stayed up late and added lynx after midnight.

Morning in America

Derek and I sauntered up to the local bakery this morning (I had a muffin and more coffee). One of the regulars was showing off yoga poses he'd learned (crow, eagle, tree, etc.), to the possible amusement of passers-by (big windows). I could do none of them, but felt inspired to do more aerobics.

I'm envious of these elite few who enjoy affordable health care, careful monitoring and so on. Our family physician, Dr. Lauren Roberts, is one of the best ever IMO (she saved my wife's life, plus helped deliver our baby), but she sees like 28 people a day. Family practice MDs tend to be overworked, plus they don't see even half the people needing medical attention.

Aside from geography, I'd say biomed is the professional walk of life to be in these days. It has everything: computer science, chemistry, physics, psychology, spiritual depth, opportunities for travel... A well-rounded biomed person has to-die-for job prospects. And I'm including a lot of eastern stuff, like those mom and pop martial arts storefronts, which teach kids self-discipline and self-defense.

I'm heartened to see the cop and lawyer shows making room for more doctor shows in the fantasy genre (ER, House, M.D. and such). Both cops and lawyers need medical science to do their jobs properly (DNA testing, CSI-style forensics and so on).

If we could find a way to combine doctor shows with a kind of high tech Peace Corps operation (with toys as fun as the military's), and make it reality TV instead of just fantasy, I bet we'd get some high ratings.

Grunch would have lots of opportunities for product placement, which is even better than commercials in some contexts, when it comes to inspiring brand loyalty.

Shooting Pool

Last night I joined Matt and Mike at the McMenamins on Savier (recently remodeled) to belatedly celebrate Mike's 48th birthday. Belatedly because on the blessed day itself (December 16) he was traveling in Turkey with Tina (likewise a Sufi) in the company of his Mevlevi Order.

We had a meal, then shot three games of pool on one of the two smaller tables, then crossed 23rd to Beesaw's for dessert. I brought some of my inside-out german chocolate cake home in a box.

Michael & Tina also toured in Australia recently, in connection with Mike's career as a didj player.

Diary Entry

Worked out in the gym. Lunch with David Feinstein.

Wanderering in PDX

Yesterday morning I wandered over to Pauling House to run camera for Terry, who was talking thermodynamics ala Into The Cool, Galileo vs. Da Vinci, engineering as art. Terry drove me home so I could dig out the two tapes of Rick's talk. Then I joined Don and Rick himself for a Thai lunch at Thanh Thao.

Later brainstorming with Don helped me think through some issues with my new designer religion, a form of Quakerism (speaking of which, I saw Janet Jump sitting in her car one block north of Fremont as we headed towards the boat). I'd like to bring Eve into the foreground (speaking of whom, it was great to have Eve back at Wanderers yesterday), stop blaming her for the whole snake business. We'll use a tetrahedron as a "temple of eVe" symbol, plus the snake reconnects us to Naga, ala Tetrascroll.

Yes, there's a kind of feminism implied here, drawing from Gerald Gardner, Joss Whedon, Starhawk et al, although speaking as a guy, I'm treading lightly to not wall myself out ("Kirby's angels"). I'm also interested in a series of Meliptus commercials which make people really want to sign up for the seminar or training or whatever, but it turns out the ads (e.g. "step into yourself") are the product. There's nothing to take (an obvious allusion).

OK, that's on the humanities side.

On the other side of the chasm (C.P. Snow's), I've got my new computer.org mailing address working, thanks to IEEE, and have reupped with math-thinking-l. I've been a busy bee already this month.

On the way home from the boat, I stopped at a Safeway to buy Soduku puzzles for Dawn, then rode the Max to Hollywood, where I side-tripped to Trader Joe's for some Yemen Mocha (coffee beans I favor). I'm drinking some now, from my new Starbucks Barista (an Xmas present).