tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-321538242024-02-19T01:08:03.011-06:00The Company of HedonistsI'm starting a new company, now accepting applications. The IPO is scheduled for 3030.calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-42278263424946703442013-02-06T19:38:00.001-06:002013-02-06T19:38:28.765-06:00Bullets don't kill people.... I'm trying to think of an analogy for the gun debate that's precise enough to be useful.<br />
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The NRA's argument is that that arming more citizens enables preventative-discharge (if only the school teachers were packing, they could have dropped the gunman... etc.). The assumption is that this would be legal, since it's self-defense (though, as an aside, there should rightfully be a different phrase for stopping _mass_ shootings... group-defense, single-agent mass-defense, etc.).<br />
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But that line of reasoning needs to be unpacked a bit before it can be codified (or at least, justified). I don't know the answer right now. This is me, thinking aloud (a-wrote?).<br />
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A gun is just a tool, sure. But one with a pretty niche utility (unless you're prone to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9SpHLyZuP0#t=8">busting padlocks with a shot-gun</a>). You can own a gun, but you can't use it to kill or harm people all willy-nilly. Application of guns against other humans is, then, a highly regulated space (law enforcement and military are sanctioned practitioners).<br />
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So what other tools are freely available, but whose specific applications are highly regulated? A scalpel, which doctors can legitimately use for cutting into people. Radio transmitters, to some extent (since unlawful broadcasts interfere with first responders). Speech: 'Fire' in a crowded theatre.<br />
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Some things can be home-brewed (enough combustibles to break a damn, say). Speech is arguably of a different class, since it's an in-built tool. So then, more precisely, something which can be obtained, probably purchased, pre-built and off-the-shelf, but whose use is not unfettered (fettered?).<br />
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Ok, a scalpel. I can go out and purchase one of those somewhere. I could even collect them, and spend hours telling visitors to my house about the nuanced differences between the stainless-steel scalpel in current use and the heavier, curved-bladed scalpels used during the civil war by field medics.... whatever.<br />
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But if a scalpel-owner shows up some day and starts slashing achilles tendons en-masse at a shopping mall.... And I, being a licensed concealed-scalpel owner, am able to stop this person, by response in-kind.... Does this then prove, on the one hand, that we need more scalpel-regulation or, on the other hand, <i>less</i> regulation and easier access to scalpels?<br />
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Possibly notable that enabling access has been shown to successfully lower incidence of HIV infection due to re-use of needles. But that is an asymmetric effect (more needles didn't lower the use of needles, it lowered correlated side effects: disease spread).<br />
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So, there again, is a detail that the analogy (a model) needs to preserve: symmetric-effect. If item A is more prevalent, item A will be used <i>less</i>. And in absolute terms: lowering per-item utilization is not relevant, but the overall use of the whole class of A-items goes down.<br />
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I think that is to say, the median goes down, not the mean. But that's the rub, really. The original NRA argument smacks of an appeal to emotion, or beliefs ('my cold, dead fingers' reasoning), rather than evidence-based policy (what needle exchanges are, in fact). As catchy as 'don't take my guns' is, I don't immediately see how that equates to 'less mass shootings' (whereas 'raise mental health awareness' or 'proliferation of counseling services' at least hints at a logical and effectual decrease in mass-shootings).<br />
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We're not an Anarchist republic. I can't spark up a doobie just whenever, no matter how much that impinges on my inalienable rights. You can't smoke a cigarette on a commercial flight, period. So the unencumbered call for 'less regulation' just doesn't fly.<br />
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If the motivation is truly 'freedom' (ole cold-dead-fingers again), then drop the 'save innocent babies' line. That reasoning doesn't follow and it isn't evidence-based (though I'll eat my pixels if someone can produce such a controlled study). If the motivation is 'prevent shootings', then drop the 'my gun collection' line, cause that's only one possible fix for a fairly systemic set of symptoms. In the latter case, there is a fair amount of prior effort on what works.<br />
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If intervention is the goal, firing back in a crowded public space would be, I don't know, the absolute worst and last chance you had in a process that surely started months or years, earlier. But heck, I haven't thought of the proper tool analogy yet, so I'll just keep digging.<br /><div id="first">
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calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-27217617315429296472012-02-03T17:07:00.000-06:002012-02-03T17:07:42.088-06:00A Neighborhood Novella<div id="first">Shortly after midnight a while back* I heard people talking out on the street. I looked out my window to see a guy and a girl walking back to a car that I had earlier noticed parked on the street in front of my house. Nothing too unusual about that. I saw the guy open the passenger door for the girl before I closed the blinds. I heard the door close and listened for the driver's door to close, expecting them to drive away at that point. That second door didn't sound, though.<br />
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</div><a name='more'></a><br />
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After a few minutes, I got up to look out again, vaguely curious to know why the guy hadn't gotten into the driver's side. With creeping apprehension I noticed that there was movement in the back seats of this fairly small car.<br />
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<br />
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Let me back up a bit, though. We bought this house about a year and a half ago. The house we wanted had to meet a few requirements: full basement, proximity to work and shops, a certain price range... and not on a cul-de-sac. See, dead-end streets attract families with kids, because they're safer: drivers don't speed on cul-de-sacs since there's nowhere to go. And they're usually short (the cul-de-sacs, not the drivers). We wanted to avoid large small-children populations, so cul-de-sacs were out.<br />
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<br />
<br />
This house, the one we got, is on a through street. It's even at a T-intersection. Various cars (and motorcycles) drive quite fast up and down our street, in fact (the through one; driving fast on the more minor road of the T is not advisable, but that's a different chapter). Several months ago, around 3 am or so, some motorcycles passed by my house going quite quickly. Based on the sound of it, I guessed it was upwards of 100 mph. Whatever.<br />
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<br />
<br />
So, here we are, on a through street, shortly after midnight, and the car is still parked outside my house. I know it was a small car and that they were a guy and a girl, and that they were both fairly tall, and that she was wearing a somewhat blue flowing evening gown, because my street is well-lit. Even after night falls, the abundant street lamps do a bang-up job of lighting up my front yard, my front porch, both streets at the T for several hundred feet, etc.<br />
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Have you got the scene at this point? Is the layout and blocking pretty clear? Because this bit's fairly important. For the curious, my house is pale-yellow, the front door faces north, overlooking the minor street of this T intersection, and my front yard is on the east side, abutting the more major, through street. But none of that stuff is relevant, it's just if you needed to get your cardinals straight.<br />
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I could describe a lot of the streets and intersections around my neighborhood and they wouldn't all be the same. For instance, you could go about 3 blocks north and take a left on a quite narrow little road. It runs several blocks east, but it's not well-connected to any of the major thoroughfares, so it's sleepy and obscure. You could go south a block and take a left (going east) until you got to a city park that takes up a few blocks and has a little driveway that dead-ends at a little playground within the park, surrounded by some trees.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But last night, sometime after midnight but not too much later, it's my street, at the T intersection in front of my house, that we need to picture. And we need to include in that picture this small car that, in the roughly 500 previous nights I've ever spent picturing my front yard after dark, bathed in that weird utility-yellow street-light glow, has never been included before.<br />
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<br />
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Because, at this point, in the time it's taken you to read this, that little car (whose drivers-side door has yet to open and shut again) has begun to buck side-to-side. Other cars speed by now and then, moving as cars usually do generally forward and onward. But not this one, this small car of no particular note, beside possibly not having tinted windows.<br />
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Now, friends, we're in public here, possibly in the presence of minors. This is not prime-time TV and you're not watching Cops. Any dramatic endings, any flashy bits before a denouement will be left as an exercise for the reader. This is not a work of fiction, though. This does fairly well describe the tail-end of my otherwise pedestrian evening at home. And I relate it to you here because I'm not sure what should follow. Is there a graceful ending to such a scenario? I do know what all else I witnessed myself last night, before I later went to sleep. But that was just me.<br />
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</div><div id="first"><span style="font-size: small;">* This essay was originally posted to a Facebook note, but properly belongs here.</span></div>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-55529840652785004632012-01-02T13:25:00.003-06:002012-01-02T16:11:23.959-06:00States of Depravity<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119668/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://oldereyes.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/midnight-in-the-garden-of-good-and-evil-1997-john-cusack-kevin-spacey-pic-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">In talking with friends last night, I caught a thread among different events and places from my life to date. I'm documenting the bits here so I don't forget them, but this post is only the opening of a conversation. Your welcome responses will be cherished.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Where I grew up, in southern Appalachia, a strong and deep-running ethic ties the rural communities together. I've touched the periphery of this subculture over the years, through friends of family and acquaintances, though I have no true, direct knowledge of it. As best I can discern, it grew up of necessity, rooted among the state boundaries in the region. The driving force was, for a while at least, shining work: the production (and distribution) of grain spirits — hooch. For various reasons, backwoods distilling isn't quite as bigtime anymore, but nothing has been forgotten. Some of that work has mutated to similar activities around other products, but mostly, the core values — self-sufficiency, quiet determination, etcetera — took root and persist independent of any specific activity, at this point.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, in the best light, subversive actions may foster sustainable communities. But often, quite the opposite happens. What emerges in the latter cases are population centers, or geographic areas, bereft of any meaningful narrative. In these cases, it doesn't make sense to talk about 'communities' at all, since the ethics and activities which remain work quite explicitly against community building. A better name would look something like 'concentrations of disorder' or 'disunities'.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">What came up last night, though, is how examples of these exist throughout the US and how distinct in character each is. Ignoring any tired generalities of extant nomenclature (e.g. red-neck), what interests me is the possibility that the various examples can be viewed in terms of their differences from each other and whether they could be shown to share common features in spite of the surface dissimilarities.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">All of this, I assume, is well researched and documented among those who care. I'm just not familiar with any of that work yet. Most of my (mis)information comes from movies and such — a situation no doubt itself so common as to be trite — but the profusion of such examples that I could think of off-hand speaks quite clearly to that.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">There's a fair bit more that I hoped to sketch out, but this much has already taken me several hours to draft. So without commentary, here are several links to apropos movies:</span></div><div><ul><li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399683/"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Winter's Bone</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068473/"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Deliverance</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103888/"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Brother's Keeper</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052293/"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thunder Road</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0235327/"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dark Days</span></a></li>
</ul></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">What most bewilders me is that so many instances can be found around the US alone. Each so well-defined and unlike the others. Nothing yet said of the sort beyond our national border. No question that the Indian continent, or central america, or Brazil hosts as many examples. Or that, for all that is clear and known about Somali over the past four decades, surely there exists such subcultures there, as well.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'll end this note with one final example, that brought it all home in the conversation last night, but which I know the least about. A friend who grew up in Alaska related a while back the widespread and appalling disarray of remote population centers there, due variously to geographic isolation, loss of industry, federal policies, and so on. Without wanting to butcher the description I was given, the people living in those areas huff antifreeze for want of hooch and rewrite local laws as needed. I don't know of any representative work for this one, so please share what you have.</span></div>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-32387813774199066892011-04-07T22:05:00.003-05:002012-05-03T11:32:25.157-05:00Relocation<div id="first">
A quick note to our dear readers. The Company of Hedonists has relocated in cyberspace. <a href="http://www.thecompanyofhedonists.com/">Our updated domain</a> hosts the new entries for this blog. Please update your linkages. Thanks for reading and take care.</div>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-61771077571378620342010-04-18T12:03:00.010-05:002010-04-18T13:09:40.556-05:00The State of Purpose<p id="first"></p>I need a recommendation. For a time, I've wanted to learn-- to come to understand-- U.S. history. Now we all know that a story is as much a part of the teller as it is of the subject. That one has to consider the source. So, instead of my grade-school textbook on American history, I thought I could go and just pick up <a href="http://www.harpercollins.com/book/index.aspx?isbn=9780060528423">A People's History</a>, that it would fill in all the details and explain causes and movements. But <a href="http://www.howardzinn.org/default/index.php">Zinn's</a> work apparently assumes that one has already learned U.S. history from somewhere and that we just need to re-learn it. He skims past topics like the Boston Tea Party quickly, without explaining what brought the event about or its context.<p></p><div><br /></div><div>So the recommendation, then, is for a solid, thorough explanation of really any piece of history. U.S. history might be a logical place to start for me, but really and piece or bit would do just fine, if it's lucid and engaging. My paternal grandfather really keyed me into this interest years ago, when he would send family letters (by U.S. mail) describing the books he'd read, often on historical subjects. I realized, through those letters, that history-- despite what my public schooling did to dry it out-- was actually a deep and rich bed, out of which current and daily events have grown.</div><div><br /></div><div>This all serves as background, really, to the engagement that I want to make with my immediate and future world, in a few specific ways. In one part, it stems from living in the mid-west, where the highly political water-cooler talk isn't so easy that I can just affirm and abide. Yet, my lack of background impairs my faculty for <a href="http://www.tnr.com/">informed response</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>In an altogether different regard, I want to understand the business and financial worlds well enough to answer various questions I pose to myself while planning for the next thirty odd years:<blockquote>Would I be <a href="http://www.phd-survey.org/advice/advice.htm">happy pursuing a PhD</a> and subsequently working in research, or would an MBA be a rewarding career move? Will I have <a href="http://www.moneychimp.com/articles/volatility/montecarlo.htm">enough savings to retire</a>, or will there even be such a thing in 35 years? What connection do I hold with my maternal homestead?</blockquote>Answers to such questions require fairly well-informed thought and a fair amount of research. But it's alright to take a few years to answer then and well worth the time investment. I enjoy this part of growing up; it's what we do.</div><div><br /></div><div>So please, share with me your reading lists. Let me know who awakens your intellect and grounds your discourse. Write me back into our community, for the arid plains are beginning to make me parch.</div>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-72772841840680662162010-04-03T20:26:00.003-05:002010-04-03T20:38:29.725-05:00Bringing in the Spring<p id="first"></p>How long has it been, dear friend? We profess we know not. Let us keep it thus. This is the way of things, slowly and without hesitation yet. Let us return. Let us bear ourselves forward, bare against the loneliness.<div><br /><div>Yes, friend, it has been too long. But the changes take time. The bars are long and the measure slow. No matter: we have not been idle. The home warms us (at no small cost) and the garden returns itself presently. The business that provides surges forward, ever to challenge and reward. And further, we find ourselves back in the game of Capoeira, sweating the easy stuff, unfortunately.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Yet another check-in, pre-boarding before the journey proper. We'll try to give more timely updates, though the reception is poor at cruising altitude. We shall see.</div>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-76688732544116129752009-07-19T15:40:00.008-05:002009-07-19T16:18:33.274-05:00In the stillness of exacting motion, a cessation of hiatus<p id="first"></p>Remiss, derelict, just generally absent from this space lately. I've missed you, dear reader. I think about you frequently. But it takes a certain set of chops to navigate these strange and complex changes. I feel as though i've lost my greatest audience. Readership has dropped a unit of late.<div><br /></div><div>Now i fear the rains are bleeding my ink.<div><br /></div><div>It certainly is late: late summer, late afternoon, late to return home. But a certain home drives my thoughts and actions fast. For since the last missive, we have pressed forward with our intentions. An offer, a negotiation, a counter, and now it is written. Our stamps are stumped and the parties arrived. Dear friend, a home has been found. We do silly dances and sleep lightly.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is just a mention, a check-in after the respite. Tomorrow i leave for PDX for the week. My employer needs me to check a few things there, make sure everything is working as it should. Should be a blast, though also a distraction at the moment of action.</div><div><br /></div><div>Sometimes you must move quickly just to stay in place. Sometimes there is naught to do but wait and rest a few bars on the bridge. Trust that things will resolve in time. I test, trust, and rattle the keys. And hope that i'm reading the right pages, for i've not run through this one ever before.</div></div>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-75005590155627345272009-03-31T19:01:00.004-05:002009-05-04T19:23:14.925-05:00A Home on the Range<p id="first"></p>This is the moment. What better place to weather the Great Recession than where the Dust Bowl hit? More to the point, if I don't act now, I'll miss the moment. What moment? I'm going to buy a house.<div><br /></div><div>I'm not sure what else to say.... I'm in the planning stages and only know it will be in the vicinity of KC, but I don't know what neighborhood or township yet. Put the word out, send me your comments, your emails, your advice, your spreadsheets. Anything you've got. I'm considering a 15-year mortgage, for instance, because it builds equity faster and costs a lot less in the end. It just depends on how much house you buy. New or old? Carpet or hardwood floors? Single or two-story? These are all big, tough questions.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm excited and dream about it. I plan and scheme it. I've been reading up and checking my credit report. I wonder how long it will take? All the rest is just details, but of course, it's all details.</div>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-81532415096495739252009-03-04T17:04:00.008-06:002009-05-04T19:23:00.764-05:00The Death of a Writer<p id="first">Hearing on the radio today an interview with an author who is writing about David Foster Wallace's last, unfinished book and suicide reminded me of Spalding Grey. This comes late to the latter's death, but now works well for me. Are you available now?<br /><br />There's a common sentiment that suicide is the most selfish of acts. Whether or not that holds, i always think of Grey's death in terms of his family (a wife, two boys, and a step-daughter). For some reason, his alleged suicide (his body was pulled from the East River) strikes me as most sad in light of the family of which he was part.<br /><br />This post isn't about suicide, though. Rather, i thought smashingly of Grey and his monologues, so lament the loss of the artist. One could say something about the fire that burns so bright, but Grey's life wasn't exactly brief, so i'm not sure that holds.<br /><br />Specifically, Grey was a storyteller, and spun his monologues with such craft that you forget you're listening to a man, sitting at a table, talk. You see instead the scenes he'd built up, just as good literature transports you past the medium and on into the message. Witness that you can rent <span style="font-style: italic;">Swimming to Cambodia</span> or <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster in a Box</span>-- that these are selling movies with repeat audiences.<br /><br />But other forces were at work, as well. The dynamism of his monologues usually lofted into mania. His book <span style="font-style: italic;">Impossible Vacation</span> painfully describes an individual struggling to exist. And it tells too of his family in detail.<br /><br />So we have to look among ourselves. For i doubt there are many here who have not seen dementia, nor witnessed addiction, nor ever felt so feverishly elated as to be accused of unchecked exaltation. And we know that these conditions do not grow in a vacuum, that they have a persistent history. We grow up with them, around them, learning to abide and adapt.<br /><br />I often think of my life and actions in terms of a trajectory, but there was no clear target at the outset here. Only that i miss Spalding Grey and had possibly forgotten to mention it. But i think i see from where this thread was borne now. Grey is gone. Our knowledge and memories of his influence weave together our own experiences. They bear a warp against the surface of our thoughts. Be well, at the falling of the light.<br /></p><p></p>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-16962480732630712582009-02-14T06:41:00.004-06:002009-02-14T06:58:22.235-06:00The breaking day<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr8Ku8cgiJtiWXdieICiAoNw0WqmeVinEZDA_oe3mAspiPeCT3TjGzgYiR9a37fXmxxP3i1z8iCGdozk-bQzCOIKMom4P8Um54pwnp1RBTPngCmllu93Dpgp8Dt3pT4ek8HsoB/s1600-h/DSC02024.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 206px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr8Ku8cgiJtiWXdieICiAoNw0WqmeVinEZDA_oe3mAspiPeCT3TjGzgYiR9a37fXmxxP3i1z8iCGdozk-bQzCOIKMom4P8Um54pwnp1RBTPngCmllu93Dpgp8Dt3pT4ek8HsoB/s320/DSC02024.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5302636295844789106" /></a><br /><p id="first">I wake while others sleep, but do not wake slowly. Once i have fallen out of dreams, i am immediately, fully awake. Maybe there is a minute of sitting on the side of the bed, focusing my eyes, but it is only posturing.</p><br /><p>When last we left, we were bound for Chicago on Thanksgiving vacation. Now, back at work, things are business as usual. My employer announced huge layoffs recently (in good company there, as employers everywhere are doing daily now). There is no certainty, only a bit of anhedonia at CoH.</p><br /><p>Some unseasonably warm weather has blessed the locale. Warm winter days are possibly my favoritest season. You have beautiful, blistering vistas, but none of the pesky, biting bugs that mar the warm summer months. My hiking companion and i visited Knob Noster as well as more local spots which during the summer are almost inhabitable.</p><br /><p>A deep forest trail is apparently the best place to spot a stealth bomber. They fly out of a miltary base adjacent the park, going, i guess, to iraq or afghanistan.</p><br /><p>There is no particular theme here today. Just a general update before the world's alarm clock goes off.</p>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-84255377462997797782008-11-23T15:04:00.000-06:002008-11-23T15:04:45.381-06:00Turn Your Radio On<p id="first">When you are out here, riding the infrastructure that stitches the nation to the corn and grass fields; when you have a cavalry of horses under your foot, pulling you forward; when you have left your loved one-- and your cat-- and you are flying against the jet stream to your last, true friends; when the job you may not have much longer, with a company that may not be much longer, provides not just the monies but also the modem you use to connect; when the light is falling fast and you are racing the jet liner that touches down at O'Hare; when this is your state among the union and this is your vacation; then there is naught to do but reign in the horses from their pasture and bridle them again beneath your feet to carry you on, into the night.</p>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-45054646953927388542008-09-04T06:58:00.002-05:002008-09-04T07:05:44.482-05:00Paper Art<p id="first">About the closest I've come to any international exposure is my friend Phil who lives in Austria. After Mac OSX Leopard came out, Phil and I shared video across the pond just to test it out. He gave me a preview of a video his friend <a href="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=123174181">Susie Asado</a> had made.</p><br /><p>I'm excited to now be able to <a href="http://www.stern.de/unterhaltung/musik/622482.html?sicht=d&vid=215">share it with you</a>, as it's stunning in its craft. My German has fallen by the way, so I'm not sure what the site is all about, but it appears to be a competition between her and two other musicians. So after watching her video, review it by clicking the dots.</p>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-56022670283668470922008-08-31T21:50:00.005-05:002008-08-31T22:05:15.251-05:00Optimization<p id="first">If you re-engineer someone's Perl code from scratch and your version takes 80% less lines, is more maintainable, but runs for twice as long, is it an improvement?</p><p>There's two reasons for an affirmative answer: maintainability is key-- especially when you have other engineers coming to you practically every day with different variations to try-- and computing power only increases with time, so runtime is less and less significant. This is essentially <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl#Design">the point of Perl</a>, after all.</p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgky3cQkilQt3Bcx3debqHvjapeOIIuuxsZspa_ilX86CaD9h9NnumCVmqnCfnV3An8AKh-Wef1XsSssQsBrSjx07d2jicFVOsXq1VvSsYAtar7jigJdNiI-HQ2NLJKJ_RsNWgS/s1600-h/fourlaptops.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgky3cQkilQt3Bcx3debqHvjapeOIIuuxsZspa_ilX86CaD9h9NnumCVmqnCfnV3An8AKh-Wef1XsSssQsBrSjx07d2jicFVOsXq1VvSsYAtar7jigJdNiI-HQ2NLJKJ_RsNWgS/s400/fourlaptops.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5240883047240599074" /></a>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-54475753660303318472008-08-30T17:04:00.000-05:002008-08-31T09:53:21.082-05:00When i get a little money...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpkmRQyN9Da0jg0kPXL82Q6jZwK_Z9CKIAQgQPlgzBAh-xRfpPhLm_SFxcmDqGS8IcH7DEI-y-F64VHoOktFeeORRtq9-RIIOkKuO0ApWl2FYUEfMD-mVN8YM40V9Ns64i41nO/s1600-h/stack3.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpkmRQyN9Da0jg0kPXL82Q6jZwK_Z9CKIAQgQPlgzBAh-xRfpPhLm_SFxcmDqGS8IcH7DEI-y-F64VHoOktFeeORRtq9-RIIOkKuO0ApWl2FYUEfMD-mVN8YM40V9Ns64i41nO/s400/stack3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5240447536514458882" /></a><br /><p id="first">...i buy books. Unfortunately, reading them takes longer, so there's a bit of disconnect in my library. But it works well for reference. Having at last cataloged my hardcovers and paperbacks, there's always <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3H6I4DZ1TL3KT">more to add</a>.</p><br /><p><a href="http://www.librarything.com/profile.php?view=clebio">LibraryThing</a> handles online book cataloging well (allowing me to resort by Dewey or Rating or ISBN or alpha on the fly). <a href="http://www.delicious-monster.com/">Delicious Library</a> for the Mac does it offline very well (and very similarly), but with a few differences. The latter allows for inclusion of music and other media and even reads in your iTunes library by default. Also, it can use your iSight camera to scan barcodes from media, making record entry trivial. It even has options for a barcode scanner, if you happen to have one.</p><br /><p>As to reading, there's a lot of press (well, html publish actually) recently about the Amazon Kindle. And some libraries provide access to <a href="http://www.safaribooksonline.com/">Safari Books Online</a>. But i still prefer the physical manifestation of manuscript. I can use the index to find topics and flip to them quickly, keep my fingers on the different sections, access the book wherever i am, don't have to worry (much) about getting it wet.... There's many reasons to like books. They're solid and dense and smell awesome. Plus they look good on shelves! Now if you'll excuse me, i need to think about <a href="http://www.bookbrowse.com/quotes/detail/index.cfm?quote_number=132">dinner</a> and <a href="http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=%22when+i+get+a+little+money%22&btnG=Google+Search">what to wear tonight.</a></p>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-58597853464443639782008-08-23T15:46:00.007-05:002008-08-23T16:32:10.486-05:00Civilized 1, Bohemian 0<p id="first">After enduring due derision from essentially every vistor, I got myself a bit more civ'lized, home-stylewize.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV9eCgpj9LAhUSDx6gNJW9iaiewX__h0Dgt5tGTjcnnMMD3YbT82qkrSWrLwgCfSjpziM0C3S7B6grR_cJ88i_fJUtfgu0Icov7CgegcyiQq1D3J-jrjmV9SLpZYpVMNgyQlX5/s1600-h/bookshelves.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV9eCgpj9LAhUSDx6gNJW9iaiewX__h0Dgt5tGTjcnnMMD3YbT82qkrSWrLwgCfSjpziM0C3S7B6grR_cJ88i_fJUtfgu0Icov7CgegcyiQq1D3J-jrjmV9SLpZYpVMNgyQlX5/s400/bookshelves.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237821009960234962" border="0" /></a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span> I found these structures, flanking the patio doors in the picture, which allow one to <span style="font-style: italic;">layer</span> books on top of one another, thus maximizing storage capabilities of living quarters.</p><br /><p>So, for example, those two 'chestnut' structures in the included figure just about precisely hold all the books that previously trimmed my primary living space. Now I suppose the next addition is a machine that sucks up dirt.... sort of creates a, how would you say, <em>vacuum</em> of air around the detritus about the perimeter.</p>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-87703277341279444852008-08-10T16:56:00.004-05:002008-08-10T17:16:51.060-05:00Sunday Nature Walk<p id="first">Today was warm but not oppressive, so we went to <a href="http://www.jcprd.com/parks_facilities/heritage_park.cfm">Heritage Park</a> in Olathe, KS, which turned out to be quite a good spot. We found <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=f42344fb-8a94-4e36-8232-52e4cc3a94cc">a geocache that had previously eluded</a> us, spotted turtles and what I have narrowed down to <a href="http://identify.whatbird.com/mwg/113/01N010ws-OR00C010dR-OR00k0200S04Q-OR/1/10/attrs.aspx">some sort of</a> <a href="http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/31/_/Great_Blue_Heron.aspx">Heron</a>, and discovered paddle boats that were, unfortunately, out of season.</p><p>A few highlights have been posted over at <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/companyofhedonists/">my flickr site</a>. Definitive identification of the bird would be most welcome. Bonus points for the rather large spider, which was prepping it's meals for the next few days when we spotted her.</p>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-55928749865232071252008-08-03T12:05:00.007-05:002008-12-09T16:17:45.484-06:00Kitty kitty<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm28JmVG1Qv57u3f5D5jdtOlpbMQenG4wwIdCcJE6W3VPhX3yvOeDPYFlnfxTc4AdmfVyxFQ22rXNjCCEfcuzXzDOu7jrEYYap_f8hGy5y54UriHROnwXJSLRJUoJTzq1U4ocw/s1600-h/Kitty_blur.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm28JmVG1Qv57u3f5D5jdtOlpbMQenG4wwIdCcJE6W3VPhX3yvOeDPYFlnfxTc4AdmfVyxFQ22rXNjCCEfcuzXzDOu7jrEYYap_f8hGy5y54UriHROnwXJSLRJUoJTzq1U4ocw/s400/Kitty_blur.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230339186755086050" /></a><br /><br /><p id="first">Got a new member of the household. She's a six-year-old kitty named Kitty. She's a <em>really </em> big sweetie. After spending the first day under the bed, she has begun to come out on her own and snuggle like crazy.</p><br /><p>I think she's nocturnal, but she's also house-trained, which is nice. The picture is a bit of a blur, which well represents her dynamism. Now i have to find a vet....</p>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-54799535723393738992008-06-30T19:11:00.003-05:002008-06-30T19:15:53.144-05:00Cellular Sobriety<p id="first">Thought there was a patent in it, but somebody <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/technology/story?id=2125709">beat me to it </a> (thanks, Krista).</p>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-71536937907801044162008-05-30T19:09:00.006-05:002009-02-14T06:58:41.683-06:00shutterbug<p id="first"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/26520750@N05/" target="_blank">A few new photographs.</a></p>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-45847704248953991072008-05-24T19:58:00.004-05:002008-12-09T16:17:46.444-06:00G Bomb<p id="first">To myself, i show up as the first result on google. Small acclaim. I've always wondered, are google searches location-specific? What do you get when you google 'company of hedonists'?</p><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixGV2MtIqcaOS1W1QSklEnQQ4PXj43_RBBPbv_6xcTkLdKSGW9cNi24JdX1XsqWEzHzxAGgpfP5vNQgSWJiWX4IBKFMHgvDgA4TXlabO5XZaNWnJnR5S-648mIbkFFUhCdEIM9/s1600-h/Google-bomb.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixGV2MtIqcaOS1W1QSklEnQQ4PXj43_RBBPbv_6xcTkLdKSGW9cNi24JdX1XsqWEzHzxAGgpfP5vNQgSWJiWX4IBKFMHgvDgA4TXlabO5XZaNWnJnR5S-648mIbkFFUhCdEIM9/s400/Google-bomb.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204114725210505122" /></a>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-88951729060103703202008-04-06T11:57:00.007-05:002008-12-09T16:17:47.041-06:00First Quarter Performance Report<p id="first">You're a writer, by one definition, if you're driven to write-- if you cannot but help it. This is not me. I enjoy writing and the symbolic communications, but can go for long stretches without any particular need to record my life in narrative. Other media and modalities draw me in at least equal measure.</p><br /><br /><p>So of late photography has resurfaced. You might know that I dabbled in the film medium for a bit, thanks to the generous hand-me-down of a SLR camera from my aunt Elizabeth and uncle Cary. And that, from those photographs, I would construct photomosaics in a crude manner.</p><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicBLE5lwHAOKR9hMh7nToS-AhcLO3wMbBqkqt1Rewjbrosb1L78F6mDrFimFoBpJn3JBixXUTF5vDUG4adjFRPR0pIwIQU2DjhfwqddOWaoGvL9TT0j86nHWyGThdzj3CyFJns/s1600-h/100_7385.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicBLE5lwHAOKR9hMh7nToS-AhcLO3wMbBqkqt1Rewjbrosb1L78F6mDrFimFoBpJn3JBixXUTF5vDUG4adjFRPR0pIwIQU2DjhfwqddOWaoGvL9TT0j86nHWyGThdzj3CyFJns/s320/100_7385.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5186180946434540898" /></a><br /><br />That camera now lives on long-term loan with my sister, though. Besides, film and developing tend to get pricey after a spell. But this year, thanks to the generous gifts of tax refunds, I have gotten into digital photography, dusted off my knowledge of aperture and f-stop, and am learning a bit about the digital darkroom.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCGfACRE71tY9W8DGN5wDvgPBAsKo1HlrEh-J8pnX3JF2vlzaouJdN5ZG6M9mU_jE8NDYoTnk0miKF1t6cSqBjwcnjR1q2PoZbbo_nOxehCUwVWx29qE_McjXGIs1oXvEpKwTr/s1600-h/schoolhouse_devd_optd.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCGfACRE71tY9W8DGN5wDvgPBAsKo1HlrEh-J8pnX3JF2vlzaouJdN5ZG6M9mU_jE8NDYoTnk0miKF1t6cSqBjwcnjR1q2PoZbbo_nOxehCUwVWx29qE_McjXGIs1oXvEpKwTr/s320/schoolhouse_devd_optd.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5186187114007578002" /></a> Which couples well with trips to state parks, such as <a href="http://www.mostateparks.com/wwmill/index.html" target="_blank">Watkins Mill</a> in Missouri. There we found a <em>woolen</em> mill (not the type that produces flour), an octagonal one-room school house, and a 3.8 mile path around an artificial lake. The first warm Saturday in '08 brought a generous number of bicycle riders out, along with the pedestrian narrator. The equestrian trail is separate, but one would suppose it was equally well utilized.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHyq3tv0q-jTgo6Wy9nZGqFLCEwmnB8McUhPlzEid2ktUZqEf4MlkR5wq_AoNsbbuEJRjXoZVsEeMZ8fBPqW2pFVgg3Gboz1tuXD0gK6ZhIYuuCFu9_OIMsM5wWYZf1VNyEcNr/s1600-h/outhouses_devd_optd.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHyq3tv0q-jTgo6Wy9nZGqFLCEwmnB8McUhPlzEid2ktUZqEf4MlkR5wq_AoNsbbuEJRjXoZVsEeMZ8fBPqW2pFVgg3Gboz1tuXD0gK6ZhIYuuCFu9_OIMsM5wWYZf1VNyEcNr/s320/outhouses_devd_optd.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5186187324460975538" /></a> Still, other matters call. Sunday is the day of chores and I have a job search yet to mobilize. My list of books, both fictional and topical, grows and the nine-to-five never relents. So, friends, I shall have to close this chapter here. You can find me again in the produce section, looking over the tomatoes for the most red bunch and about the cheese counter fondling the goat's milks and seeking out ricotta scanta. The dishes are already washed and the last load of laundry is tumbling now. I leave you to puzzle out who is the sun and who the moon.calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-41896191564141612702008-01-21T14:30:00.002-06:002008-12-09T16:17:47.176-06:00Walking the Haight<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5nTDQhI-68WlgqxL5hbp4sgxAaQ7m8PB5IoGEftB_XLfxhp_yR-XdYND3fLakgVCxS18qhFyNfE3Ij8l5ZedrPfFJ8Bbe9P9E3WB4nsjUJyowfwf7_oQtnw2Bq0sdtV-le6lJ/s1600-h/sanfrancisco_walk.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5nTDQhI-68WlgqxL5hbp4sgxAaQ7m8PB5IoGEftB_XLfxhp_yR-XdYND3fLakgVCxS18qhFyNfE3Ij8l5ZedrPfFJ8Bbe9P9E3WB4nsjUJyowfwf7_oQtnw2Bq0sdtV-le6lJ/s200/sanfrancisco_walk.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158030174353795826" /></a><br /><br /><br /><p id="first">This is the walking route I took through San Francisco. Just didn't get around to posting it after i got back from the west side.</p>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-24677650854449945022007-11-25T14:16:00.000-06:002008-12-09T16:17:48.648-06:00West Siiide<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2lZWIF9_JC6F92e25yZs_bB6W1BG1Jw-0JyfoU8oDoUCZNyA8a8a8aJ3bUi-uOem3W-tmd3y8Fdkhh0aoWCMIvLMgWHjiFkxYTTdOiu8xRfbi4Jab6vEMEoMUVnTCtXrXkNY3/s1600-h/downtown_portland.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2lZWIF9_JC6F92e25yZs_bB6W1BG1Jw-0JyfoU8oDoUCZNyA8a8a8aJ3bUi-uOem3W-tmd3y8Fdkhh0aoWCMIvLMgWHjiFkxYTTdOiu8xRfbi4Jab6vEMEoMUVnTCtXrXkNY3/s200/downtown_portland.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136879653405424434" /></a><p id="first">Finally got out of my bubble a bit. I'm back from a week on the west coast, based in Portland at my Brother's apartment-- a forgotten piece of rental property in southeast Portland (though soon to be rediscovered, as their water line needs immediate repair).</p><br /><p>I'll pepper this post with ample pictures, but I've uploaded an album on facebook (where it's easy), so you should mosey over there and have a look, too.</p><p>I flew from Kansas City to Portland by way of Minneapolis the friday before last. The cheap flight had me up at 4 am, but that's actually when I woke. My alarm was set for five. Still, i kept nodding off on the plane. The whole Pacific Northwest was overcast for the first four days or so of my visit. I didn't get to see much on the flight out, except at one point where the clouds broke. It looked to be the Rockies below, but I had no real sense of geography, thirty-thousand feet up.</p><p>The warnings on flights to turn off all electronics are a bit bewildering. Surely airlines won't design a plane that could possibly crash if someone turns their cell phone on at some point. And my physics background tells me that it would be simple enough to shield all signals from the main cabin out. It occurred to me during this trip, though, that the precaution may be more about disallowing eavesdropping than about the safety of the aircraft. That is, a simple radio receiver might be able to pick up the pilots' communications with the airport. Incidentally, I did find my silly phone on at one point on the return flight. The power button must have gotten depressed while in my bag. I turned the phone off and we didn't crash.</p><p>Asheville, where I'm from, is semi-tropical rainforest. I like the rain and so it was sort of funny that Sprint's hiring manager used KC's high sunny-day count as a selling point. But I wanted to visit the north west US partly for this reason-- the famous mist and fog, that isn't exactly rain or humidity (at least not in the winter).</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIr-kQb_toBIXhFurPHpXM94I9HlNs2GypkOBGnjDrjkKn6FMyN_xEl0TofHuMlHFTFu5aAM8OI42-liU9Ox6jRAPJVo7EdGvdVaBHdA7MQajRrvhlvF3tZLtkEQm9-TUl7daR/s1600-h/redroom_small.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIr-kQb_toBIXhFurPHpXM94I9HlNs2GypkOBGnjDrjkKn6FMyN_xEl0TofHuMlHFTFu5aAM8OI42-liU9Ox6jRAPJVo7EdGvdVaBHdA7MQajRrvhlvF3tZLtkEQm9-TUl7daR/s200/redroom_small.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136882629817760578" /></a>Portland, though, was uncharacteristically overcast until i got back from the bay area on wednesday, when things cleared up smashingly and my brother and I got some excellent views of the city by walking up Mount Tabor. But the drive to Seattle and the time while we visited Washington state was rather grey, so I don't have too many stunning pictures from the flight out or from Seattle. A highlight, though, was the red room in the Seattle library.</p><p>That library, in fact, is possibly the greatest I have ever visited, built inside a transplendent Koolhaus building. Maybe it's a reflection of a discussion my brother and I had. I've always thought we should have itemized taxes, so you could go down the list and check off military, education, but leave out The War on Drugs and prisons (or whatever). Zack pointed out, though, that this would probably result in a great divide: the libraries and schools of the coasts and the militia of the central states.</p><p>So, arrived Friday. Saturday we drove up to Seattle and walked around the downtown (library, Pike Public Market, several blocks in search of a dog park Zack remembered, and drove through Capitol Hill). Sunday we drove out to Astoria so I could for the first time in my life see the Pacific. Drove past the Goonies house, but I didn't particularly notice it. That evening, back in Portland, we went to a local bar and met up with my brother's friends. Monday I flew (at a leisurely hour) to Oakland, CA to spend a day and a half visiting san francisco and a friend of mine from Pinewoods. While there, a friend from high school found me on facebook, so I got to see a good friend I hadn't seen in eleven years.</p><p>Tuesday I took the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) into frisco proper and walked around town all day. I got off at the 24th St Bart stop, walked up Bernal Hill Park, as recommened by my friend's roommate, for spectastic views of the entire area in all directions. Then up Valencia through Mission (which has many murals),<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWc8TQIjWRhJvUBYHb5RKXYaQfE6baHIRBMaa40_rFTDqY6L3zO6C8tlbyjRPPDiXvJ54HYTt5DGr6MrSoy2qXfNwiUb-I1UohJxLd82Bacgj9e_9tSILp3LQIeJ05t1zuJ4FQ/s1600-h/redwoman_mural.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWc8TQIjWRhJvUBYHb5RKXYaQfE6baHIRBMaa40_rFTDqY6L3zO6C8tlbyjRPPDiXvJ54HYTt5DGr6MrSoy2qXfNwiUb-I1UohJxLd82Bacgj9e_9tSILp3LQIeJ05t1zuJ4FQ/s400/redwoman_mural.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136887311332113250" /></a><br /> taking 16th street west to Castro. After lunch at Blue, I walked up Market and took Fillmore to Haight, walking Haight several blocks west to Ashbury (where I checked my email and found my friend from high-school had added me). Despite my feets' complaints, they carried me on into the Golden Gate park past the de Young Museum (about a third the length of the park). On the north edge I caught the 29 bus up into the Presidio and got off to walk down to Baker Beach. Here is where I actually touched the Pacific for the first time. Also watched cargo ships coming into the bay (did not see any hit the Golden Gate). After a bit, walked back up the bluffs to the bay side of the Golden Gate Bridge, where i caught the 80 (Golden Gate Transit, express bus) back to the Civic Center BART stop and headed back out to Oakland. I considered taking the ferry across the bay, but it was already 5 or 6 pm and my feet. Oh, my feet.</p><p>The next morning i flew back to Portland, nearly missing the flight (the BART stopped in it's tracks a few times on the way there) and forfeiting my pocket knife in order to carry on a bag i was going to check. That was Wednesday. Thanksgiving day, my brother and I got our constitutional walking up Mount Tabor, which has a few good views of downtown Portland and one of Mount Hood. That evening, we joined Zack's friends for thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey, two kinds of stuffing (one with pepperoni, I believe), two cranberry sauces, biscuits, gravy, beans, corn casserole, and wines. I supposed there were desserts, too, but I was well satiated by that point.</p><p>That's the rough outline of the trip. My brother and I had lots to talk over and covered probably a small percent of it. I could easily spend a month out west and not get bored, but one makes do. I loved every moment of it (except possibly the bits going through security in the airports) and am ready to pack up and head out there for goods. Below is a bit of the view that Bernal Hill affords.</p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJTz1DuE3j0v_S543lkjDLgBQ_yUVSrOcbdixWwKRMVBu9WU-b-Euv5ODf1XcCKXnfRUFmOJcExZENfmtBQGfb_wspwngXIgvYhSSgN2IIiJHFEvFmlVDsvhunwKs55e2TXsGr/s1600-h/collage_sanfrancisco_downtown_medium.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJTz1DuE3j0v_S543lkjDLgBQ_yUVSrOcbdixWwKRMVBu9WU-b-Euv5ODf1XcCKXnfRUFmOJcExZENfmtBQGfb_wspwngXIgvYhSSgN2IIiJHFEvFmlVDsvhunwKs55e2TXsGr/s400/collage_sanfrancisco_downtown_medium.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136887770893613938" /></a></p>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-21502818009337000932007-10-13T09:58:00.001-05:002009-02-23T19:10:25.015-06:00Families of Generally Acyclic Directed Graphs in Three Dimensions<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCL_eJut9WoRDtlmE1b1pj6MdPhb1Cjf-_Aopad58TUtv6LleEXMIJB_0Ge4vIEg-pKzpT9XXu0mC3YQH-m00muhTNI3zUCgN49y-RGcTJuEgeFfYghIgUZ8pJ_qwN17BMqkRb/s1600-h/family_tree.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCL_eJut9WoRDtlmE1b1pj6MdPhb1Cjf-_Aopad58TUtv6LleEXMIJB_0Ge4vIEg-pKzpT9XXu0mC3YQH-m00muhTNI3zUCgN49y-RGcTJuEgeFfYghIgUZ8pJ_qwN17BMqkRb/s320/family_tree.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120845846059500546" /></a><p id="first">Most family trees are planar, representing time or generations along the vertical axis and siblings and spouses both across the horizontal. For a while now, I've been working with the idea of separating the spousal and sibling relationships into two dimensions and building family trees in three. This lends well to large and extended families.</p><br /><p>Originally I had imagined building these trees from the sort of dowels and styrofoam primitives you can get at hobby stores. But I knew the things wouldn't support themselves. It might still be possible with threaded metal rods-- something stronger and more rigid. Such a beast might even make a nice mobile.</p><br /><p>Since the concept is <a href="http://www.google.com/patents?id=o3ILAAAAEBAJ&dq" target="_blank">already patented</a> (in a distressingly convoluted presentation), there's no issue sharing with you the sketches that I've made (pay no attention to the symbolic modifiers). The image above shows a mock-up that I made using a fairly simple modelling program. Currently I'm researching more robust programs that can handle heredity and inheritance (of the model's physical traits) better. But i'm pretty happy with what is shown here already.</p>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32153824.post-23839242843690275202007-09-09T15:23:00.000-05:002008-12-09T16:17:49.215-06:00West Side<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO02nQ5avHfbYv_sWzc0zbhApBEpYn12I77Txv7WqBOrcfBGNWSNV8OSjAshHAPwIraxoP3Rya0K2y7z0TOc9r20U31JdMi_hyphenhyphenb2zb6z_TWeW7dC2tVhreiPAfCL-itxgrGyZh/s1600-h/portland_sanfrancisco.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO02nQ5avHfbYv_sWzc0zbhApBEpYn12I77Txv7WqBOrcfBGNWSNV8OSjAshHAPwIraxoP3Rya0K2y7z0TOc9r20U31JdMi_hyphenhyphenb2zb6z_TWeW7dC2tVhreiPAfCL-itxgrGyZh/s200/portland_sanfrancisco.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5108320969158437314" /></a><p id="first">How do I plan a trip along a specific route? Google maps should accept such things as "<em>Portland, OR to san francisco, CA <b>via Route 101</b></em>". If i'm going to drive down the west coast for the first time in my life, i want to take the coastal highway.</p><br /><p>What GM does feature, though, is the ability to drag waypoints into a route. With a few strategic alterations, I can get exactly what I wanted, without knowing the details about connecting roads and such.</p>calebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03757697587385020065noreply@blogger.com0