The website Server Fault rocks. It’s a social-esque Q&A site for system administrators and IT folks. Just today, I had some questions about SQL Server (e.g. backups, anti-virus, maintenance). I got quick, high quality answers.
Posted Jun 22, 2009 12:51pm - Add your comment
Politicians are notoriously risk adverse. Now I kind of understand why. There really is no reward for initiative, firm beliefs, reform agendas, etc. Do anything, you’ll offend someone. Or worse, ruffle feathers and have others work against you just on principle.
From a game theory viewpoint, it makes sense.
Posted Jun 17, 2009 1:05pm - Add your comment
Successful politicians don’t play to win. They play to not lose.
It’s a little bit like Survivor. Live through this round and you get another bite at the apple. Eventually, if you stay in the game long enough, your number may come up.
Every know and then, someone will break away from the pack to try to grab the brass ring. The risks and costs are huge. There really isn’t much reward for doing so.
If you chance it and fail, your career is likely over. You certainly won’t get another chance, which might be why people eventually feel compelled to try. I heard the phrase “up or out” more than once, referring to an elected seeking a higher office.
Posted Jun 17, 2009 1:02pm - Add your comment
John Stewart mocks everyone blaming everyone else for inciting wackos. For instance, Bill O’Reilly and Joan Walsh blaming each other for the murder of Dr. Tiller.
Stewart makes a false equivalence. The right wing agitators have a profitable business model based on the industry of hate speech. Sure, there’s plenty of venom from the left. But we’re not calling for the outright slaughter of our political opponents.
More to the point, Roger Ebert criticizes Bill O’Reilly for degrading our political discourse. He makes many good points: O’Reilly is a bully that uses classic propaganda techniques. The point about name calling sticks with me. Here’s his examples:
- I say Liberal. You say Far Left.
- I say Far Right. You say Conservative.
- I say Biased. You say Fair and Balanced.
- I say Democratic party. You say Lunatic Lefties.
- I say Right-Wing Wingnuts. You say Republicans.
- I say Creationism. You say Intelligent Design.
- I say Environmentalists. You say Tree-Huggers.
Posted Jun 17, 2009 11:38am - Add your comment
Keith Olbermann encourages us to politely boycott Fox News. As a customer at a bank, restaurant, where ever, Keith’s says to ask the staff to turn off Fox News, or to take our business elsewhere.
I wholely support voting with our dollars and feet.
You may recall geek toys like the TV Zapper, a univeral remote for turning off TVs.
My iPhone has an infrared port, and can work as a univeral TV remote.
I’ll definitely be trying this out. Maybe even make my own iApp. (Testing may be tough, since I don’t own a TV.)
Posted Jun 7, 2009 8:09am - Add your comment
US Postal Service Gets Smaller
More good news for our democracy.
Our poor economy had reduced the volume of snail mail. With reduced income, the USPS intends to reduce service. The plan is to cut days of service down to five per week.
Moving to vote-by-mail increases our democracy’s reliance on the postal system. The timing couldn’t be better.
With the move to paperless billing and electronic mail, the USPS is now utterly dependent on revenue from delivering junk mail. Alas, our society will continue to become ever more hostile to such waste.
What will the USPS look like when it’s half its current size? What impact will that have on vote-by-mail? Mail ballots are delivered first class, which is certain to become more expensive over time.
Posted Mar 25, 2009 2:36pm - Add your comment
Ty had a bad case of cabin fever, Saturday last. So I dragged him to the Frye Art Museum. (It’s one of Seattle’s little known gems.)
Nathalie Djurberg’s video installation “We are not two, we are one” blew my mind. The music by Hans Berg is very compelling; I had the song in my stuck in head for the weekend. Djurberg’s jerky stop motion animation of deeply emotional characters, who are stuck together and struggling to accomplish life’s mundane choirs felt very familiar. Combined with Berg’s electronica/trance style music, it just kind of made sense.
This is Djurberg’s wikipedia page.
(The Munich Secession and Transatlantic: American Artists in Germany exhibits are quite good too.)
Posted Mar 13, 2009 2:10pm - Add your comment
Driving around so much last year, I bought a JawBone 2, lest I be ticketed. I own an iPhone. The usability of this combination is horrible.
The JawBone has hidden buttons. I can’t figure out how to control it.
The iPhone defaults to the JawBone. Which is a problem when you find your iPhone before your JawBone, forget the JawBone’s on, and start talking, not realizing your phone isn’t working.
Here’s my three suggestions for improving the usability this combo.
First, have the iPhone autodetect if you’re using it. There’s a proximity sensor, which is used to turn off the screen when you hold the phone to your face. That same mechanism should be used to choose the phone’s speaker and microphone over the JawBone.
Second, make the JawBone’s buttons visible toggles. Hide them on the inner side if esthetics is a problem.
Third, enable the JawBone to determine when it’s in your ear. Maybe heat, maybe pressure sensors. Then the JawBone is only enabled when it’s in use.
Posted Mar 13, 2009 1:50pm - Add your comment
When I was candidate for Secretary of State, I got some heat for not having a “professional” website. I’m a geek, right? How hard could it be?
See, I design software, invent new stuff, and write code. Web design just isn’t my thing. First, using HTML and CSS is like banging the rocks together. Second, I’m not a graphic designer.
I’ve probably spent 8 hours monkeying with the CSS and HTML for this makeover. The progress so far has been, charitably, “modest”. I’m maybe 1/3rd done.
Every single time I pick up HTML again, I have to relearn everything. The quirks drive me nuts, I just want things to work.
Posted Jan 8, 2009 1:04am - 1 comment
I’m switching to WordPress. Please bear with me.
Posted Jan 3, 2009 10:45am - Add your comment