personal

Speaker for the Dead

Speaker for the Dead:

At his funeral, I would have been called on to tell a story and would have had an impossible choice. The people wouldn’t have understood if I told the truth, even a very abbreviated truth. It would have been unfair to make them listen to it. They don’t need to know. But I am a writer, and I plan to, at some point, write this story. Without having a name for it at the time, I can now say I wanted to Speak for the Dead, and not tell a fake story. So I chose not to go.

[I loved the Ender books since I read them in early in my college days. And the notion of Speaking the Truth was a powerful one for me as well. Dave made a really difficult choice, atmo. It’s the sort of decision that makes me rethink integrity and its place in our lives, and what it is at a fundamental level. There’s a story I’d like to write one day.]

Source: Scripting News

Timing issues

ICANN follow-up:

I just don’t understand how the world works, obviously. People are lying when they say they’ll take stories from anywhere. This story is very easy, no leaks necessary, the only digging needed is to click a link and spend five minutes reading.

[I’ll bet this is a timing issue. Namely, that folks are working on a bunch of things and it’s hard to stop and take a look at something else with any real attention, even from folks you respect. Or maybe it was break time. Who knows. But I do know that timing has a lot to focus, attention, and quality of service. It’s hard to maintain a high QoS if you also do all the work. It leads to all sorts of management strategies from the simplest “no phone, no email” policies I see amongst craft people all the time, where contacting them means physically moving yourself to where they are and praying that they’re there when you are… anyway. Timing is of the essence, and finding simple ways to manage timing is hard. Personally, I started with a metronome.]

Source: Scripting News

What Eduardo Saverin Owes America (Hint: Nearly Everything)

What Eduardo Saverin Owes America (Hint: Nearly Everything) | PandoDaily:

As an immigrant myself, I’ve got no patience for the argument that he should keep all of it. Pretty much everything in my life that I enjoy wouldn’t have happened without my being in the United States. My education, my job, my wife and family, the fact that I’m not persecuted for my race or religion (I was born in South Africa), the fact that I can sometimes forget to lock my doors at night and not end up killed by marauding bands—I hate paying taxes as much as the next guy, but when I think about all the ways that the United States has been integral to everything in my life, taxes seem like a tiny price.

Now, remember that the tax rate on long-term capital gains is only 15 percent. In other words, Saverin gets to keep 85 percent of everything he’s making from Facebook’s IPO. Given how much of his wealth depends on the government, that’s more than fair.

[Right on. The low level cheesiness surrounding Facebook and its founders is remarkably high. It may be time to toss my account.]

European vs American cooking habits and why it matters for programming

European vs American cooking habits and why it matters for programming:

It doesn’t matter if it’s cooking or programming or doing whatever, really—you can learn from other people and how they do things differently from you. Don’t dismiss them outright. Hear what they have to say. Here’s one concrete example for myself that I’ve stumbled upon: I dismissed the meaningful indentation in Python, but later I’ve come to like it in CoffeeScript.

However, if something doesn’t hold up to the claims, or is doing things objectively wrong—it’s OK to be dismissive. It’s good to be opinionated. Just think about it for a second first, and better yet try it out. You might be surprised about what you fall in love with that at first seemed outlandish or stupid to you.

[It feels like we all learn this lesson one at a time. Keep an open mind people, you never know what you might discover.]

Ultimate climbing guide, part 1: gearing

Ultimate climbing guide, part 1: gearing:

Interestingly, the next day, in the hill climb time trial to Chamrousse, Armstrong adjusted his gearing to suit the conditions, like Hampsten did in the example at the start of this post. According to John Wilcockson, Armstrong felt that the 23 on Alpe d’Huez had been too low (oh to have that feeling!) but the 21 a bit high. So for the time trial he fitted a 12-22 cassette so that his lowest gears were 22-21-20-19, thus keeping the ratio difference at around 5% between each gear. Whether it was this gear change, his high cadence style, or the familiarity he had with the course after scouting it out before the Tour, we won the stage and took another minute out of Ullrich. He would, of course, go on to win his third Tour in a row that year.

[I climbed like a lead weight today…. in a 34/32 combo. Sigh. I tell myself that next time will be better, I’ve been off the bike for a while, and other things to sooth my shattered cyclist soul. None of which will get me climbing in a 39×23…]

Source: le grimpeur

Balance Life and Cycling Training for the Bone Ride | Bike in Balance

Balance Life and Cycling Training for the Bone Ride | Bike in Balance:

From my place, I can be on a country road in about 15 pedal strokes. And in a few thousand pedals strokes, I can be cruising on fantastic, hilly dairy roads along the east side of Lake Winnebago. Flanders comes to mind hereabouts: flat roads passing farm fields, abrupt hills with taverns at the top, lots of wind. In other words, the riding is great. All I have to do is point my front wheel toward happiness.

Is it not that simple?

[Yes. And No. Maybe. Balance is core skill for a cyclist. It’s surprising that so many fail at it, and so badly. Mike, I’m rooting for ya. And me. I’m trying to pull off the same thing. And I have a ride to prepare for as well. Allez!]

Earth to Cable: You don’t control us.

Earth to Cable: You don’t control us.:

Whether or not cable and phone companies succeed  in building out the fully licensed world (that is, sucking everywhere down under the lids of their closed systems), we will remain free. We can live without you if we have to. Always could, always will.

[Amazing how quickly Noah got used to not watching TV when he lost the privilege. It’ll never be back in its old form.]

Source: Doc Searls Weblog

David Garcia Studio: Pessoa Clock

David Garcia Studio: Pessoa Clock:

In an attempt to formalize the ritual of waiting, a clock was devised to leave traces of poems while it was turned on. The clarity of the traces is directly proportional to the amount of time one has to wait. The text engraved in the base is a poem by Pessoa, depicting concepts of time, and the futility of understanding them fully. Cinnamon is slowly dropped by the rolling cylinder, leaving traces on the street.

[I’d want up with cinnamon everywhere… but I like the idea of creating some art while I wait. I dislike waiting when it’s because the other party is late…]

Source: Chris Adler