Sometimes you feel great, othertimes, not so much. I can't help wondering if I seek out some interpersonal chaos, and then hope that it will settle, while never selecting the reverse option on the standardized relationship test.
Getting older would be helpful.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Remember when?
You used to warn people on AIM? When's the last time you did that?
For your consideration:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080204-sun-can-you-smell-what-the-rock-is-cookin.html
Listening To: Murder by Death - Red of Tooth and Claw (newly leaked)
For your consideration:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080204-sun-can-you-smell-what-the-rock-is-cookin.html
Listening To: Murder by Death - Red of Tooth and Claw (newly leaked)
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Mistaking Correlation for Causation
I recently presented at the UW's All-Campus Leadership Conference (ACLC). It was an almost complete waste of my time. Two motivational speakers presented. They spouted the same corporate-esque pseudoscience that you'd find in a Fortune 1000 company. Buzzwords like 'purpose', and 'goal orientation' flew around like carrion circling a carcass.
Most cantankerous of all, one of the speakers requested that we write three our goals on a glorified index card. My goals:
1. Keep rockin'
2. really freakin'
3. Hard
Sufficeth to say, I didn't take their suggestion to heart, and here's why:
Self-actualization is crap, pseudoscience, rubbish, etc. (esp. etc.). Writing your goals down won't make you do anything, and lord knows I don't have trouble achieving my goals. "You've got to have a plan to get where you want to go in life," the demagogues uttered. I mused that I doubted they had the goal of being motivational speakers when they were in college, so perhaps they should have followed their own advice. Or perhaps more frightening, might their advice be wrong?
I also seem to recall an anecdote about Fortune CEO's having certain characteristics, say being hard workers, honest, or some other such desirable trait. The implication being that if you obtain the aforementioned set of traits, then you too can become a CEO. A similar anecdote is made about joining a fraternity and becoming a CEO.
This is, of course, a fallacy. I'm sure that all CEO's possess characteristics such as dilligence, etc. (esp. etc.), but obtaining their skills did not make them CEO, but was required of them to be a CEO. Many people are in fraternities that are not CEO's. But perhaps those CEO's that are in fraternities are so because being in a fraternity signifies that they had a privileged upbringing, were well networked, and went to a good school. Similarly, there are many hardworking people who will never become CEO's. Achieving a high corporate position is as much about luck and status as it is about work ethic or longevity of service.
In essence, these men confused correlation for causation.
Most cantankerous of all, one of the speakers requested that we write three our goals on a glorified index card. My goals:
1. Keep rockin'
2. really freakin'
3. Hard
Sufficeth to say, I didn't take their suggestion to heart, and here's why:
Self-actualization is crap, pseudoscience, rubbish, etc. (esp. etc.). Writing your goals down won't make you do anything, and lord knows I don't have trouble achieving my goals. "You've got to have a plan to get where you want to go in life," the demagogues uttered. I mused that I doubted they had the goal of being motivational speakers when they were in college, so perhaps they should have followed their own advice. Or perhaps more frightening, might their advice be wrong?
I also seem to recall an anecdote about Fortune CEO's having certain characteristics, say being hard workers, honest, or some other such desirable trait. The implication being that if you obtain the aforementioned set of traits, then you too can become a CEO. A similar anecdote is made about joining a fraternity and becoming a CEO.
This is, of course, a fallacy. I'm sure that all CEO's possess characteristics such as dilligence, etc. (esp. etc.), but obtaining their skills did not make them CEO, but was required of them to be a CEO. Many people are in fraternities that are not CEO's. But perhaps those CEO's that are in fraternities are so because being in a fraternity signifies that they had a privileged upbringing, were well networked, and went to a good school. Similarly, there are many hardworking people who will never become CEO's. Achieving a high corporate position is as much about luck and status as it is about work ethic or longevity of service.
In essence, these men confused correlation for causation.
Ice Storm
It's ice storming / snow storming like Mr. Freeze is mad but good outside. As a result, I've been cooped up, and I wrote a perl scrip that gets Cron'd (run once per minute on my webserver). The script scrapes my RSS feed from twitter, does some basic parsing to strip out the subject and body, and then e-mails the results to my blogger address. In a way, it's blogging via sms text message -> e-mail -> blog.
If anyone wants the source code, I'll send it to you.
So, upon further rumination, I decided that everyone and their sister wants their content to be read. And most of it's shit. Hopefully this isn't shit, but it probably is. Everyone's got facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. (esp. etc., as Nathan Punwar is wont to say). Everyone wants their content to be poured over, analyzed, loved. Everyone wants his / her ego stroked, and I'm no exception. Hopefully the quality of the content here is what makes reading my brain vomit worthwhile. That and the fact that I'm not playing scriptaculous, that I'm not a level 3 zombie, and I don't have my favorite drinks listed on my pages. At any rate, for irony's sake:
Beer
Whiskey
P.S. stop wasting my time.
If anyone wants the source code, I'll send it to you.
So, upon further rumination, I decided that everyone and their sister wants their content to be read. And most of it's shit. Hopefully this isn't shit, but it probably is. Everyone's got facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. (esp. etc., as Nathan Punwar is wont to say). Everyone wants their content to be poured over, analyzed, loved. Everyone wants his / her ego stroked, and I'm no exception. Hopefully the quality of the content here is what makes reading my brain vomit worthwhile. That and the fact that I'm not playing scriptaculous, that I'm not a level 3 zombie, and I don't have my favorite drinks listed on my pages. At any rate, for irony's sake:
Beer
Whiskey
P.S. stop wasting my time.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Monetary Posts from a Wannabee Computer Hacker
I've always wanted to have a decent amount of money. People say money can't buy happiness. they're right. To an extent. When you love gadgets, fiddling, and the world is your erector set, you need a lot of parts. Those parts don't come cheap. My goal: create a technological haven for myself where I don't have to focus on managing my technology and assets (music, videos, etc.). Even the clicks get annoying at this point. I want instant voice recognition from anywhere in my domicile, or at least a tablet that I can control my 'stuff with'.
So, that's the digital corollary. There's also a physical one.
Forgive the arrogance, but I'm going to need an assistant to help with my brain dumps. There's not enough time in the day for what I want to do. I want to create content on a massive scale, and sleep ain't helping that.
Money can't buy you love, though. It might buy you time, however.
So, that's the digital corollary. There's also a physical one.
Forgive the arrogance, but I'm going to need an assistant to help with my brain dumps. There's not enough time in the day for what I want to do. I want to create content on a massive scale, and sleep ain't helping that.
Money can't buy you love, though. It might buy you time, however.
Wireless
When will wireless syncing of all my devices become a reality?
Diff's aren't that hard.
We've got the Eye-fi. Great first Step. Google 'Eye-fi' if you want to see what I mean.
The Zune syncs wirelessly.
The iPod touch doesn't.
Point is, I shouldn't have to write scripts to upload my photos. It's a complete waste of time.
Wireless power can't come soon enough either.
Diff's aren't that hard.
We've got the Eye-fi. Great first Step. Google 'Eye-fi' if you want to see what I mean.
The Zune syncs wirelessly.
The iPod touch doesn't.
Point is, I shouldn't have to write scripts to upload my photos. It's a complete waste of time.
Wireless power can't come soon enough either.
Ryan Adams
Is truly amazing. I don't care for all of his work, especially his older stuff, but the man is more prolific than anyone should be, and 'Easy Tiger' and 'Follow the Lights' are tremendous efforts.
Wikipedia Searches
Some wikipedia searches I've made in the last few days:
De La Soul - to find mike the album with the Song 'ooh'
Maceo Parker - De La Soul has a similarly named member, and Maceo was on a De La Album, and a Jane's Addiction album. Incidentally, I was first introduced to Maceo by a fellow I used to player counter-strike with ~8 years ago. Also, I heard a Maceo song during an intermission between a String Cheese Incident Set on Halloween my Freshmen Year.
Selmer Mark VI saxophone - I want one of these. Maceo plays this model. As does Ornette Coleman.
De La Soul - to find mike the album with the Song 'ooh'
Maceo Parker - De La Soul has a similarly named member, and Maceo was on a De La Album, and a Jane's Addiction album. Incidentally, I was first introduced to Maceo by a fellow I used to player counter-strike with ~8 years ago. Also, I heard a Maceo song during an intermission between a String Cheese Incident Set on Halloween my Freshmen Year.
Selmer Mark VI saxophone - I want one of these. Maceo plays this model. As does Ornette Coleman.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Random
Type a random word into your iTunes search and see what happens. I also made a bad smoothie today.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Reads
What I'm doing
1. Laundry
2. Cleaning
3. Reading 'Legacy of Ashes' by Tim Weiner, an excellent book on the blunders of the CIA
4. Contemplating writing a filesharing program for us in Python
1. Laundry
2. Cleaning
3. Reading 'Legacy of Ashes' by Tim Weiner, an excellent book on the blunders of the CIA
4. Contemplating writing a filesharing program for us in Python
Security, Securitas
More ramblings from my brain in orbit:
-Security based computer architectures: - what if all operations took the same time, or other processors were used to very code correctness in the background? Array bounds checking support built into hardware, and obvious hardware support for hash and crypto algorithms (RSA, Diffie Helman,
-Secure Http Everywhere
Why isn't all http secured yet? If waffles can do it, and gmail can do it, and a slew of others, why can't all sites do this? I know it's computationally expensive, but it's also hugely advantageous. Think of the legal ramifications. I'm going to start jacking people's facebook passwords just out of spite.
-Voice Recognition works as well as text entry
We've got the computational horsepower, so why isn't voice recognition standard in more programs?
-Security based computer architectures: - what if all operations took the same time, or other processors were used to very code correctness in the background? Array bounds checking support built into hardware, and obvious hardware support for hash and crypto algorithms (RSA, Diffie Helman,
-Secure Http Everywhere
Why isn't all http secured yet? If waffles can do it, and gmail can do it, and a slew of others, why can't all sites do this? I know it's computationally expensive, but it's also hugely advantageous. Think of the legal ramifications. I'm going to start jacking people's facebook passwords just out of spite.
-Voice Recognition works as well as text entry
We've got the computational horsepower, so why isn't voice recognition standard in more programs?
Every which way
I encourage all waffles users to download my greasemonkey script: https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/ktcreeron/web/secureWaffles.user.js
It forces waffles into using a secure http connection, which is always a good thing.
Next up, I encourage everyone to check into the upcoming Archie Shepp & Richard Davis concert at the Overture Centre on 22nd February. Check youtube for samples to see if it's up your alley.
Other recommendations:
Get yourself ahold of Jeff Buckley's Grace Legacy album. Buckley is one of the best vocalists in the last 10-15 years, and few have heard of him. Picking up a copy of any album by 'Ours' or Whiskeytown (Ryan Adams's former group) are heavily recommended.
Other ideas I've been tossing around:
-Voice recognition for iTunes & Windows Media Player
Why haven't Microsoft & Apple integrated voice recognition into their programs? There are addons available using Apple's built-in speach recognition engine for OSX, but on the Windows side of the coin, there's not much available. Just google 'voice recognition itunes windows' or 'voice recognition windows media player' and you'll see what I mean. It seems to me that the company that integrated voice recognition would become a dominant player in the home server/media center market (a booming market see: Windows Media Center, Windows Home Server as cases in point). If anyone wants to e-mail M$ or Apple, and tell them to get their shit together, be my guest.
-Integration as an overarching trend
Thanks to XML and all that metadata shit that fills up my hard drive, everything seems to be working with everything else these days, and it's pretty flipping fantastic. I just wish there were more expressive languages to connect all the islands. I want a quick & easy non-sucky, non-glitzy text integration of my last.fm and my facebook profile. Is that really so much to ask for? Also, facebook apps suck. I don't care about your scriptaculous scores.
-Technology judges
After talking to professor john white (dual appointments in Biomedical & Electrical Engineering) re: patent law, the following occurred to me: the legal system is rife with ip lawyers who possess b.s. / m.s. / PhD's. Their patent cases are heard before a judge. How many of these judges have the credentials to decide these cases. Men of such stature who are 'great legal minds' are perhaps not 'great scientific minds' who can differentiate between scientific journals, trade pubs, etc. Could a court system be setup where patent cases could be heard by qualified judicators (also, that word isn't in firefox's dictionary).
It forces waffles into using a secure http connection, which is always a good thing.
Next up, I encourage everyone to check into the upcoming Archie Shepp & Richard Davis concert at the Overture Centre on 22nd February. Check youtube for samples to see if it's up your alley.
Other recommendations:
Get yourself ahold of Jeff Buckley's Grace Legacy album. Buckley is one of the best vocalists in the last 10-15 years, and few have heard of him. Picking up a copy of any album by 'Ours' or Whiskeytown (Ryan Adams's former group) are heavily recommended.
Other ideas I've been tossing around:
-Voice recognition for iTunes & Windows Media Player
Why haven't Microsoft & Apple integrated voice recognition into their programs? There are addons available using Apple's built-in speach recognition engine for OSX, but on the Windows side of the coin, there's not much available. Just google 'voice recognition itunes windows' or 'voice recognition windows media player' and you'll see what I mean. It seems to me that the company that integrated voice recognition would become a dominant player in the home server/media center market (a booming market see: Windows Media Center, Windows Home Server as cases in point). If anyone wants to e-mail M$ or Apple, and tell them to get their shit together, be my guest.
-Integration as an overarching trend
Thanks to XML and all that metadata shit that fills up my hard drive, everything seems to be working with everything else these days, and it's pretty flipping fantastic. I just wish there were more expressive languages to connect all the islands. I want a quick & easy non-sucky, non-glitzy text integration of my last.fm and my facebook profile. Is that really so much to ask for? Also, facebook apps suck. I don't care about your scriptaculous scores.
-Technology judges
After talking to professor john white (dual appointments in Biomedical & Electrical Engineering) re: patent law, the following occurred to me: the legal system is rife with ip lawyers who possess b.s. / m.s. / PhD's. Their patent cases are heard before a judge. How many of these judges have the credentials to decide these cases. Men of such stature who are 'great legal minds' are perhaps not 'great scientific minds' who can differentiate between scientific journals, trade pubs, etc. Could a court system be setup where patent cases could be heard by qualified judicators (also, that word isn't in firefox's dictionary).
First Post
Dear all who read my other blog,
My other blog was really an outcropping and play-by-play of my ordinary life. However, it was not suitable for more intellectual consumption, so I've created this blog 'los scientificos', meaning 'the scientists' in Spanish. I've always loved that name.
My previous blog was unsuitable because I always felt consigned to dumb it down, as so many people read it, and those who didn't understand it would think of me as egotistical (guilty), emo (not guilty), or some gradation of the above. The stories on my other blog get posted to facebook, and I don't want just anyone reading that shit.
-end first post.
My other blog was really an outcropping and play-by-play of my ordinary life. However, it was not suitable for more intellectual consumption, so I've created this blog 'los scientificos', meaning 'the scientists' in Spanish. I've always loved that name.
My previous blog was unsuitable because I always felt consigned to dumb it down, as so many people read it, and those who didn't understand it would think of me as egotistical (guilty), emo (not guilty), or some gradation of the above. The stories on my other blog get posted to facebook, and I don't want just anyone reading that shit.
-end first post.
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