Unicode Musings

Lindsey is keyboarding in Devanagari some of the time however the situation with plug-ins is my Gmail is so far not decoding it as such.

I'm getting nonsense, not surprising on a first experiment.

Another thing that's confused me:  Trashigang or Tashigang?  I'd always said "Tashigang" and seeing "Trashigang" on Google and Facebook had me thinking either I was wrong or some typo was propagating.

Turns out:  both spellings are considered correct, Facebook says so.

Glad to have that cleared up.

I'm packing for a trip and looking forward to trying the new cider bar that just opened on Hawthorne where the essences and oils shop used to be, a bead shop before that if memory serves.

:: tashigang or trashigang? ::

Chain of Command

A lot of people are confused about how a succession of US presidents, nominally commanders in chief, can say publicly they hope to close Gitmo, only to have Gitmo stay open.  Are we not looking at a treasonous level of insubordination?

Plans to spin-off Gitmo, give it back to the Cubans, have already been drawn up, with dates and everything.  Those running the place may be held back for interviews, which could lead to future jobs.  The prisoners need a place to detox and reconnect with family.  Those running Gitmo will have no responsibilities over prisoners ever again is the hope.  They have failed to obey the president and are dropping in rank by the day.

Having Gitmo on one's resume in any way adds to the stench of one's portfolio.  Those connected to Gitmo have something shameful on their record that I recommend hiding.  This was the Nazi Chapter, when Neocons were out of control and behaved contrary to democratic values.  After a president says he wants to close the place, continuing to obey orders is a Nuremberg thing.  A Hall of Shame is being prepared in the historical record.

OLPC + OPPA

OLPC = One Laptop Per Child
OPPA = One Palmtop Per Adult

A palmtop is another name for a laptop computer so small it fits in the palm of your hand, a smartphone in other words, but perhaps with the cell feature turned off.

OLPC pioneered making laptops so inexpensive that even children, among the least privileged in our societies, might get one, not just their teachers and the administrators.

What OPPA means in 2015 is a $15 Coolpad, an Andoid, that one may use to play music, take pictures, and use free Wifi from any hotspot, no need to sign up for any plan.

Put it in airplane mode to make the battery last longer and then turn on the Wifi only.  This isn't your phone.  It's your palmtop.

If you're careful, you don't even need to let Google know this phone has been switched on, though you'll be asked many times if you wish to create a Google account (you may already have one, and still choose to keep this phone more anonymous).

I recommend paying more and getting an SD card for it, adding gigs of storage.  More room for more music, like Philip Glass and Pink Floyd.

Related Reading:
STEM Lesson Plan
Kirby on YouTube (2009)
Invading Florida
More Autobio

Arresting Power (movie review)

Arresting Power is a locally produced film about police cruelty.  A few example cases get a closer look, such as the murder of Jim Jim.  Most of the victims are young black men.

The film excavates a lot of interesting history, reminding us of the fact that being a black person in Oregon was in itself criminal until 2001.  Seriously.  That bit was written into the Constitution by a bunch of low EQ hicks who thought of themselves as brave pioneers of a new state. 

Not every pioneer behind the design of this state was such a moron.

Then the morons decided to criminalize all the behaviors and ethnicities they didn't want to deal with (sound familiar?) and repurposed the slavery patrol vigilante groups, already popular back east, to give us today's police forces (shades of KKK + NRA per the South Park analysis).

OK, that's a bit of a caricature but films have only so much time to set the context and a lot of the viewpoint here is classic Black Panther, which I appreciate, coming from a Laughing Horse background.

A police system is complicated and multi-dimensional.  Professionals inside the system are well aware of the "bad cop" problem.  One reason we have a lot of bad cops, more than we need, is the lack of any credible safety net.  We all pay a price in lower living standards.

Quitting one's job before one is fired would be much more likely if retraining and exciting work, perhaps involving adrenalin rushes, were offered.  

Obvious points:  cops with anger management issues should not have to keep mentally ill from aggravating the public.  Different trainings and more recognized kinds of badge, not necessarily reporting to the same chief, might be effective. People who might be "on drugs" and/or "off their meds" are in a whole different category from those carrying lethal weapons (as police are).

911 needs to learn how to dispatch teams with different types of expertise.  When all you have is a hammer, every problem becomes a nail.

A lot of the Q&A was about overhauling the system, which currently satisfies no one, police included.

People not good at their jobs, and some police are not, need a way to move on without bringing things to a head.

Peace and Social Concerns Committee (PSCC) no longer concerns itself with already successful organizing efforts per the Seifert Format, and is now pitching its services mostly to activists who need special Quaker expertise. 

The Truthers are getting special help for example.  Given what they're up against, I can understand why.

The cop watch culture in Portland, in contrast, is highly evolved and therefore not especially in need of "Quaker therapy" (like est?).  PSCC was not a sponsor of this event.  Occupy Elder Caucus was the primary organizer with AFSC a co-organizer, providing the projection equipment. 

The AFSC, with independent management, appreciates not having its hands tied by the newly restrictive policies Multnomah Monthly has applied to its own PSCC as a condition for reinstatement (Nominating was refusing to nominate until this possibly crippling new model could be forced through by the Business Meeting's ad hoc group). 

Mireaya (Portland staff) is answering a question right now.  She's outwardly too young to be Elder Caucus but like the Gathering of Western Young Friends, the group self identifies.

So, how do we fire bad cops?  Moving them to "desk jobs" is not necessarily helping.  A lot of them get bored and chafe under the sense of being punished.  Real criminals go to jail.

Dan Handleman worries the subculture of violence porn now popular in the US military will spread, reversing civil values in favor of mayhem as the new norm.  CBS will up the violence level with snuff films as viewers cheer?   Sounds a lot like Fallujah.

How does one fire "bad soldiers"?  How does one de-fund "bad wars"?  These were the deep questions the audience was considering.  Sending the bad apples to kill each other in faraway places only works for so long.  Will Mars become a next prison colony, the one way trip the Americas used to be (and Australia)?

While on the topic, lets look at the question of "bad Quakers" maybe?  Given housecleaning was a focus, I think that question deserves some real thought. I'd be a hypocrite if I acted like only the police have a bad apple problem.  Every group seems to have that.

We used to "disown" our slavers but that comes across as archaic in today's culture.  Mostly one just works around 'em (those slower to catch on), hoping they'll either find another sect, or work on developing their skills.

Phone apps are becoming important.  You can watch a cop do her or his job and upload the clip directly to ACLU.

Equinox Redux

I started my day with a short bench press at the gym on the sitting up machine, just 90 pounds to keep the blood going, then on to an IT meeting with an interested party.

Lew and Ek were in the same building (no, not the meetinghouse) presumably talking over Property Committee business (Lew had some blueprints).

My meeting was about ways to keep Bluetooth going even if the Internet goes down, among other things.  My Razr has succumbed to "smartphone Alzheimer's" so much of what I learned was for the next incarnation.

Tonight was our Equinox Festival at the Linus Pauling House, still ongoing.

I came home to do some doggie care and tackle some business, having enjoyed my fill of good food and great company.  Nirel showing up with the little dog reminded me I needed to take care of Sarah.

We did get our walk in today, Sarah and I, a practice underlined (as in emphasized) by Lindsey when she was here, visiting from Nepal for three months.

Weird atmospherics have been kind to ham radio operators lately, especially those ten million or so who know Morse Code.  Jeff has been bouncing signal from distant corners of the globe.

Thanks to Nirel for bringing a dog.  By tradition, I uphold the ethos on nonhuman Wanderers in our midst ("we" being the hominids, not always friendly to our fellow travelers, even when they mean us no harm).

WQM Men's Group 2015

We came close to maxing out Big Bear Camp facilities this year.  I slept in my car out of choice, not having done so before and wanting to experiment.  Henry, who slept outside the first night, said he could hear me snoring, even through all that glass and metal, which must have vibrated considerably.

During one of the breakout sessions, I practiced sermonizing, based on a Bible passage wherein Jesus has a conversation with the devil where they compare notes on God and holy writ.  Having studied Lucifer's psyche at Princeton, in the form of Paradise Lost, by Milton, I remarked that "the devil within" was likewise a manifestation of the Inner Light, given a fallen angel would also have "Intel Inside" (God within).  Jesus obviously knew this and conversed with angels on a regular basis, not always in an adversarial role.

I like what angels add to Christianity, especially skeptical angels with a strong misanthropic streak, known as "devils" in the jargon, but angels nonetheless.  Not that I'm pushing the literal existence of daemonic beings.  Their figurative existence is quite sufficient.  I figure the ego is likewise metaphoric i.e. the Buddhist doctrine of "no self" means that a self refuting the existence of daemons (or "ghosts") is a lot like the pot calling the kettle black.

Tom and I discussed his being a peer advocate for Mr. Chasse, as they both had similar diagnoses and had to work their respective ways through half way house chapters.  Tom, originally an Irish Catholic from Coos Bay, had gotten caught up in Lyndon LaRouche's political party at the height of its power.  He tells many interesting stories from that era.

Although Joe shared with the group that the main melodrama at Multnomah Meeting these days had to do with complying with insurance guidelines and doing background checks on a minimum of two child care personnel, I told Tom I thought the disposition of the Dove Puppets in coming weeks would likely have more impact on the reputation of Portland's unprogrammed Friends in the long run.  May Day Coalition has written Peace and Social Concerns wondering if we'll see Friends, and their puppets, on May Day.  Or is protesting climate change more the extent of Quaker brand activism these days?  Maybe May Day is too scary?  Not for AFSC at least.

Speaking of which, we enjoyed the presence of programmed Friends in our midst (programmed = Pastoral).  Like the Women's Theological Conference, which Joe has been jealous of (not me), we're sometimes involved in closing circuits, or switch-boarding, across lineages.  I learned a lot about ongoing controversies in West Hills Friends Church, plus was glad to see Henry again, nowadays with Camus Friends Church in Washington State.  I hope to pay both a visit one of these days.

Those of us into IT had some discussions using that jargon.  Quakers have a reputation for being meticulous about record-keeping, which is in tension with our Luddite tendencies, which latter I associate with our shedding of responsibilities over the decades since our peak in power in the late 1700s.  Had we kept our hand on the tiller, we'd have our act more together in cyberspace by now.

Getting our IT back into focus might galvanize us in other ways that increase our ability to make a difference in the world.  Time will tell.  As NPYM's first technology clerk (a co-clerk of the IT committee), I suppose I may over-indulge myself with such hopes and dreams for a more tech-savvy future.

AFSC APC Meetup (meeting notes)

Left clockwise:  Joanne, Kelly, Christopher, Marielle, Cecil, Anna, Mireaya

Not pictured: Kirby (photographer), Leslie & Pedro (on Blackberry device)

Check in included reports from our circle.  I took pictures.  Lots is going on, with immigration law especially.

How does the Board get input from volunteers?  YMAs (Yearly Meeting Appointees) at a higher level, but lets have Executive Committees come up with some ideas.

This group:  unusual in having a cohesive group with across-the-board oversight.  Dividing it more, while inviting individuals to join multiple "subcommittees" (PACs), if still wanting multiple commitments, is the next schema.

I had Alien Boy, the DVD, to flash around, before returning it.  That's overlapping with oversight of civil authorities, police and so on, by citizen bodies.  Portland has a few of those bodies.  Christoper, just turned 20, is on one.

Activists want a front row seat on training, community policing or whatever.

Program Advisory Committees will be more per program, with staffers calling the shots.  An overall APC is not required.  PACs are more focused (our PACs are not Political Action Committees in the conventional Washington, DC sense).

Joanne was clear that interlocking issues (e.g. militarism + migrant rights) would mean a lot of blurring of the boundaries, between this and that initiative.

Two of us patched in by phone.  Anna, a new mother, was here in Portland.

We probably won't meet as this large a group, with this many characters, in the next chapter.  We'll join "away teams" with staff when destiny calls.  Staff will be more like casting directors, picking which circus animals they need, depending on the mission (the task) at hand.

Volunteers don't boss staff, but sometimes they represent organizational memory.  There's ongoing dynamics with volunteers.  No one particular structure is magically going to solve every problem.

Mireaya has a clear vision of where she's taking her program.  She's cutting edge and needing fresh blood, one might say.  Shaking off dead weight, in program committees, shedding skin, is part of what's happening.  Marielle (regional staff) just said "fresh blood" so I feel OK with this metaphor.

Our APC doesn't consider itself deadweight but we understand the Regional Executive Committee has regional responsibilities and West Region is ready to experiment with a new design.

Staff expressed sincere appreciation for our work together so far.  The move from E Burnside (which was literally a near death experience for Mireaya) to here, marks a new beginning in other dimensions as well.

Chappie (movie review)

I enjoyed this movie in many dimensions at The Bagdad, now first run, with better sound and picture.  I'm privileged.  I even wolfed down beer and pizza, on my way to Lucky Strike later, for dessert.

Chappie is all about USA meets RSA, and wow what a synergy.  You'll see a little Microsoft in the warehouse (did you catch it?) but for the most part RSA is Ubuntu country, and it shows.  They're light years ahead with their prototypes.  Even the dumb old Moose is able to negotiate some tight corners once a human bad guy pilot sits at the console, drone-style, and takes cowardly action.

This isn't a subtle interpretation or anything.  The mom wears a USA flag, the RSA flag is on Chappie, and the two flags appear jointly in a great many shots.  One of mommie's best friends is named The American by Chappie's mom.  The parents both have JoBurg haircuts, known around the world as "the JoBurg look" (I've actually never been to JoBurg, just Cape Town and Bloemfontaine and stuff -- when a family HQS was in Lesotho).

Chappie's creator is a bit classist and doesn't like that Chappie wants to "be cool" like his mom.  Chappie comes to understand the problem of mortality drives us all and joins in the craziness, misdirected into thinking he's not really hurting people with those Bruce Lee maneuvers, as his compassion circuits are hard-wired.  In the end, he ends up saving more lives than he wastes, if we count the movie-going audience and its sensibilities, which I do.

Having consciousness go "by wire" from A to B is so philosophically problematic as to make this a comedy on steroids.  I laughed and cried with my beer and had a generally great time at The Bagdad.

Yarrow's Birthday

Meeting on Grand Avenue

I joined Bridge City Friends for singing and worship this morning.  I joked that I have a beautiful internal voice that sings along, right on key, even if I'm the only one who hears it.  Such is the nature of internal voices.

Given this was the first First Day (Sunday) of the month, a query was read from Faith & Practice about participation in the life of the meeting.  Do we make strangers welcome in our midst?  Or, as I would put it, do we serve the general public thereby earning our 501(c)(3)?  We're not a church, lets remember, even though we're treated as such.  We can't use "needing to tithe to pay our pastors" as an excuse for having an untaxed income.

During worship I shared how Quakerism, seen as a role playing game (like a board game but more immersive) is definitely a great public service.  People come to our playground of counter-balanced committees and learn what it means to run a business with no one person in control, given we're not organized in a pyramid apexing in pastors so much as in a geodesic sphere, well rounded.  We have a structure for learning and exploring self government, with real money and real property.

As I wrote to a SMADster recently:

I think of Quakerism as a "jungle gym" (lots of puns) in that we offer the public a rather unique infrastructure:  a watchworks of inter-balanced committees, with State of Society Report, committee reports, lots of infrastructure.  As a software engineer, I stand back sometimes and muse about what "shrink wrapped Quakerism" (with open source versions) might look like.  Quakers!  The Game:  sustains a nonprofit business, up to and including sound systems, air conditioning, heating, telephony.  Lots of silence expected.  No voting, but lots of communicating.

Multnomah is such a gym, and we the public go there to work out. 

At the rise of meeting, Timothy Travis mentioned he was on Nominating Committee and gearing up to fill out next year's slate.  I asked him if Peace and Social Concerns Committee was being restored.  He said they're thinking about it.

I mentioned that Multnomah's Nominating Committee was in hot water for having inappropriately sourced a proposal to drop ours (nominators should not be in the business of proposing to drop the very roles they're charged with filling, as they also have the power to simply refuse to nominate, their strategy from June to January, making any "proposal" more an "announcement" as in "done deal" -- Oversight never agreed to this strategy).

In Bridge City's case, the Business Meeting approved reducing the slate to a single Coordinator.  Our Business Meeting roundly rejected that idea, both because we're a much bigger meeting, more of a flagship, and because of where it was coming from (an inappropriate committee).

We like to steer newcomers towards Peace and Social Concerns as a hallmark Quaker institution.  It's what the general public expects of us:  to be walking our talk, practicing Quakerism, speaking truth to power and all that.

In terms of role playing, PSCC is one of our most important committees, one could say the raison d'être for all the others.  It's where the rubber meets the road.

it was at the June 22 Meeting for Business
that we stood up to the "shelvers"
(those eager to shelve PSCC)

Running from Crazy (movie review)

I was never a big Hemingway buff and I don't admire bull fighting as a sport.  However, the Hemingway grandchildren are generous in sharing their story and lives with us and I join Oprah in thanking them for sincere public service.  I was reminded of Prodigal Sons which features a grandson of another famous celebrity, the actor Orson Welles.

Is the problem with the English language?  The word "suicide" is freighted with so much assumption, as to what the surrounding language game must be.  If we decide to have corporate personhood, a kind of legal puppet show, then why not give corporations a perfectly honorable way to go.  Call it dissolution or self erasing if you like, but people will hear those as euphemisms after awhile and find avoidance of the S word distasteful.  Fine, but don't force the humiliation card.  That's the issue.

Oregon as a state recognizes honorable suicide.  Just getting the information that so and so chose to take his or her own life, nothing else said, does not give me the right, or the need, to judge X.  It's OK to not judge.  Too many people don't learn that in time.  When you get information, don't assume you're called upon for an opinion.  How refreshing to not have one sometimes. It's not always a case of trying to get life insurance or remorse for committing a murder, and even then the devil is in the details.

I watched a retrospective on Sex Ed films around the same time and heard a lot of women express the abject fear they inherited from adults around normal physiological functioning, such as a women's period.  Moms would "freak out".  We need to stop freaking out about suicide.  Let many voices have the floor.  Don't be control freaking the script.

I was also reminded of confusions about "race".  There's no single gene that constitutes anyone's "race".  Sure, patterns appear everywhere you look, but they're not super simple patterns.  The idea that some ancestor took it into his head to commit suicide is not evidence of any specific biotum getting passed down in the cells.  Protestant predestination dogmas hijacking genetics just to scare children is what that sounds like to me.  Too many such prophesies are self-fulfilling.  "Race" as a concept is not there to help science.  It's the tool of control freaks, another way of playing Facebook or one of those.  Let people opt out if it seems too stupid, like FarmVille.

Look how Interfaith Holy Landers, various species of Godder, gang up against "atheists" (whoever doesn't believe as they do) in favor of some Apocalypse scenario.  Planetary suicide would be just fine with them, as long as it involves lots of crosses and gnashing of teeth and other special effects ala God of the Bible (a subdivision of Hollywood Enterprises).  Talk about faux!  If you've been hanging out with Holy Landers and feel suicidal sometimes, don't blame yourself.  Find the eject button and escape from that cult!  Deprogram.  Get help.

Quakers Heart Beer

:: Quakers heart beer ::

Food Chains (movie review)

As a former resident of Florida, I appreciated the portrayal of Publix as uber-powerful, but are there really no Safeways?  When it's a monopoly, you have a lot less leverage with consumers than when there's a Kroger's or New Seasons within the same or similar radius, with comparable prices.  The thing about big boxes like Wal*Mart as they count on becoming the only big box in town.  Niche markets have a harder go of it.

But lets not mistake the Publix Empire for the whole Fifty States.  As this documentary makes clear, one does have leverage, through Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS).  Companies such as Taco Bell and Whole Foods got on board.  There's no reason those techniques have to be confined to any one neck of the woods.  Most these chains are global these days, so where to apply pressure is anybody's guess (meaning one might not predict where the serious change artists will find one).

When it's a monopoly, don't think of hunger strikes as a first option maybe?  The wild card here, and what makes the Coalition of Immokalee Workers special, is precisely this movie, which is shown in India and Russia just as poignantly, as oppression of the peasantry is hardly a new story.  North Americans did not invent slavery either, and to their credit, their rhetoric remains largely against it, even though it's still widely practiced in various guises.

The movie shows how criminalizing a population (making them "illegal" as in "undocumented") is then a license to exploit.  USAers needs the cheap labor, but it has to be really cheap, as in completely unsustainably cheap.

Until people start seeing that poverty in their midst is poverty nonetheless, they'll turn a blind eye.  That slum in California known as wine country, wreaks of malign neglect.  But they're working on it.

I'm working on it too.  The ecovillages I'm storyboarding are not just fancy resort party towns for the rich and famous.  They're geared for those with dirty jobs in hard places, maybe working for academic credit as a farm worker, truck driver, baggage handler or whatever.

Not in some condescending character building way, but because if you're going to be an authority an agriculture, transportation, or airport management, or hospitality, it helps if you've played a few roles.  More than a few.  Just doing spring break over and over is not that great on your resume.

If you're new to the history, you'll pick up some great archival shots of Robert F. Kennedy and Cesar E. Chavez, with more background as to the historical context for their meetup.

Anaconda: A Fat Python for You

Steve Holden has been talking up Anaconda for months, but until I saw his short and sweet video about what it's good for, I have to say I was a bit slow on the uptake, even for me.

Sidebar:  "anaconda" as a word has been used to mean "constrictors" as a generic category, somewhat like "iterators" in Python, not a type or class per see, but supporting an interface or protocol.  However in modern usage the "anaconda" is more a specific species of snake, a constrictor, found in South America and zoos.  Not sure if they've made it to Florida yet.

In our Python ecosystem, Anaconda is like a "fat snake" already stuffed with 3rd party goodies.  A lot of the big name stars of the Python namespace you might have heard about.

Yes, it's somewhat "quick and dirty" to establish a giant outpost in storage with all this stuff, but that's the beauty of free software:  you can blow it away.  Save it to a memory stick.  Check into it again later.  Anyway, watch Steve's video if curious, and check his blog post.

A Night at the Planetarium

:: mt. hood community college ::

Mount Hood Community College invested in the Microsoft WorldWide Telescope solution some time ago, but last night was my first opportunity to see the new system in action.  The projectors were mounted around the bowl's periphery and had to meet at the seams, a lot like constellations meet, in that carved up sphere that looks seriously gerrymandered.

Remember the twelve houses of the zodiac form a minority of "most famous" constellations thanks to horoscopes and like that.  In fact, the complete sphere needed carving (see Divided Spheres) and the patch quilt projected by Microsoft includes such as Fornax and Sculptor, which we explored in some depth given the focus of tonight's presentation:  other galaxies, including satellites of our own.

We're already feeling Andromeda's love for us as she rushes thirstily towards the Milky Way, only about twenty five disk diameters hence, a short run across a field.  We'll embrace in a coming epoch, in about four billion years according to official projections.  She'll have swallowed up some nearer sisters before then.  Our own Magellanic satellites are likewise spiraling inward.  Universe may be expanding, but the local group is pulling together it seems.

Hoping to beat rush hour traffic, I migrated to Troutdale early in the day.  The check engine light is on again but the air flow meter seems to be working well enough.  For an old Nissan, she's doing great.  I camped out at Edgefield, sipping a single glass of Pinot Noir (theirs) while I tended my fish ladder, eager students making leaps and bounds in their understanding of the Python computer language.  I then relocated to a coffee shop closer to the evening venue, where I continued using WiFi.

Two astronomers joined me at the Thai place.  Bob was excited by shewanella, the new life form discovered in some lake, a bacterium that snarfs electrons through tentacles.  I need to Google that.  Brenda supports all the sciences at MHCC (that's her work), not just the astronomers, but she's an astronomer at heart, having built her own telescope and made stargazing a permanent hobby.  She gave us a tour of the equipment lab adjoining the Planetarium, which doubles as a server room for the WorldWide Telescope solution.

:: brenda wyse and bob mcgown ::

Trash TV

I stayed up watching trash TV last night, catching up on some Criminal Mind shows.  A lot of the better series have been diluted into soft snuff flicks, quite macabre.  The one last night was about serial killers but nothing so witty as Dexter, just raw ugliness targeted mainly at aging couch potatoes who might be interested in buying jewelry and vitamins, plus more exotic drugs (ask your doctor).

In one of the other plots, a seriously badass killer bank robber lady, pretty, manages to get us thinking of Chad and Libya as she careens through the streets in a stolen government vehicle, her boyfriend gone sour on the military having been chewed up and spit out or whatever.

The FBI has to hunt them down.  The soured-on-military guy is a known species the FBI profiles, another brand of throwaway.

When a medic is killed in the line of duty by the badass, a black fire truck guy, a first responder, the elite FBI group scarcely misses a beat, as rescuing the boyfriend and marrying him is what this really is all about (gotta leave time for the dancing at the end).

By that time, the plot is certainly ready to kill off another black guy whose life doesn't matter to the storytelling.  TV is good at throwing away lots of cast without generating loose ends, especially when each story is in a different city.

The idea of huge stadiums of people watching this fun house mirror version of reality, is somewhat disturbing.  We know that's the real horror show, all those couch zombies just lying there, staring at this stuff, getting programmed in the Matrix -- but the truth is a bit too scary sometimes.

Better to focus on attention seeking serial killers and all those bad scary people in Libya and Yemen and like that.  That's what sells jewelry, not some mirror mirror on the wall (that's in another room of the house).

Expanding Radius

One might expect a veiled allusion to my girth here, as my volume, as in weight, has been a blogged concern.  However, since dropping most milk intake and picking up in Glenn's footsteps on a daily walk, I've shed about thirty and don't worry about my sheer bulk quite as much.

No, I was thinking about how Division is so up and coming and my center of gravity, if we add and average, is dividing more between Oasis and Atlas, both pizza joints, whereas before it was only Oasis.  Today I'm heading to Atlas to use the wifi and get some work done.

These three arterials, Belmont, Hawthorne and Division, run down the "mountain" (big hill, small volcano) Mt. Tabor and define an inner east side some call Asylum District, out of deference to Dr. Hawthorne's subcontracted institution (1862-1883) before Salem got serious and built the one in "one flew over the cuckoo's nest" -- or was that next in the series?

Since then, there's been another one I think.  So is the famous one a McMenamins?

You'll find this is a city of reflections as Asylum District mirrors The Pearl in terms of what franchises and outlets you'll find.  You'll think there's one of something, then cross the river, and find its twin.  Some "chains" are only two stores.  Economies of scale suggest doing things that way.

My co-worker and I have wifi jobs meaning we telecommute for the most part, although sometimes we fly places and have meetings, for days at a time.  That's maybe an unfamiliar pattern to most boomers (I'm a late boomer) but many start ups work this way.  We're not a start up so much as a satellite, a small operation within a larger enterprise.

Dinner Parties

:: steve and diana ::

Steve Holden, expecting to leave Portland in the near future, is throwing dinner parties.

Tonight I'm with a most favorite Diana, who tends a nearby bar.

She's done Las Vegas and is extremely professional, off the scale people skills.

Two nights before:  Melody and Brenda.

So yes, I'm benefiting from Steve's wanting to maximize the value of his remaining time here.

:: brenda ::

:: melody ::

Presentations and Groups

I missed the last ISEPP lecture.  However I've remained active in ISEPP management at least insofar as I've helped with a likely transition to a Google Group with overlapping calendars, for managing the conference room.

I need to call Don back (we were just on the phone), to find out if we have the Wanderers stuff scheduled.  I don't think I saw our schedule last I checked.

I've joined the May Day Coalition's fundraising subcommittee this year.  IT workers of the world do not get as much respect as they deserve, for often meeting a 99% operational standard.  I'm happy to join in solidarity with these unions and after the last meeting (where I was note taker) I snagged maydaypdx.org (with a little help from an LLC).

I did make a Thirsters talk recently, on Sierra Leone, and what a particular group is doing to catalyze healing.  The State Department is privy to a lot of this same information.  We learned about the impact of ebola, hopes and dreams for the region.  I'd been under the impression Sri Lanka was the topic owing to a mistake in one of the circulars.  I would have gone anyway as I was looking forward to having a few minutes with Barbara, driving her home.

I could go on and on about Sierra Leone.  Lets just say I'm glad a lot of good people are doing their best.  We've trained really hard around potential conflicts so our disaster relief skills as a species are severely wanting, anyone can tell you that.

For NPYM Quakers I created MMM-PSC and MMM-EEG and quickly gave the latter away, as it's unbecoming of a Friend to appear too greedy.  Owning just the former is sufficient for my practice at this time.  MMM-SMAD would be for some other Friend to establish.  I fully appreciate that some Friends may not wish to choose a Google service.

Selma (movie review)

MLK Day is tomorrow, a national holiday. Yay.

I've just launched a new listserv named MMM-PSC for use within the meeting, others invited to join, and since it's a Google Group, I'm learning more about the calendar feature.  I'm to set up another Google Group for Pauling House, which will also need to use that feature.  So far so good.

I put down the 3:05 showing of Selma at Regal Lloyd 10, as a first test event for the community calendar. Then I hopped in the Nissan and high tailed it to the show.

I'd use this film to talk about "reflex-conditioning" and the need for "upgrading".  Christians pray for "divine grace" which means upgrades from God, the ultimate in Cloud Services.  But when push comes to shove, falling back on old reflexes seems easiest, and Alabama becomes a scene from Walking Dead, with white people really scary.  I mean zombie scary.

You have to empathize with the president, needing to work with these "people" (they have the right to vote).

The religious people in funny clothes show up after it's already too late, on cue, and Dr. King does the religious thing and prevents super duper violence.  Those nut case zombies had something up their sleeve for sure.

Later, with US Army protection, they make it to Montgomery.  The Army always gets drafted into protecting lost causes it seems, "tricked" by the Constitution or a Federal treaty into doing the right thing.

Great acting, well researched.  Not like I was there or anything (in Selma, myself).

If you want to understand my timeline, my parents were Chicago-based activists who wanted to live in a "mixed" neighborhood and not be gentrification agents when moving to Portland.

Dad was somewhat disgusted with US culture (too militaristic) and yearned for a more ethical sense of professionalism i.e. planning for "developing" (so-called "third world") nations.  So when Dr. King was murdered, we were already out of the country.

Nixon started bombing Cambodia soon after that, the White House going through another "episode" (picture an epileptic seizure, known as "governance" on the east coast).

Hey, the new Terminator film looks fun.

I want to say (and it's true):  the audience applauded sincerely at the conclusion of this film and I found myself filled with admiration for the cast, and of course for the true heroes this film hopes to faithfully render for newcomers.

Thank you for a great re-enactment of a terrible chapter in the North American territories, when the "freed" slaves still had an uphill battle to get any recognition for their status as full citizens and competent governors.

In 2015, with a so-called "Negro" (black) president, we're manifestly a long way down the road, but still have a long way to go.  Racism is a deeply rooted meme virus.  We should have black presidents from now on maybe, but with more women butting in.  It's not up to me, just I wouldn't mind that outcome.  Native Americans have dual citizenship so vote in both local and Federal elections.

Launch Party!

:: new Quaker listservs on the radar ::

Another Boycott?

Why submit to taking the SAT when Pearson holds back our American Heritage?

More context @ Math Forum.

AFSC knows a lot about BDS campaigns, I should consult with them.

Tetra-volumes:  a New England Transcendentalist idea.

If you don't know about tetra-volumes you're maybe illiterate regarding American Literature?

Through no fault of your own perhaps.

Meeting a Plane

I'm at Beaches again, meeting a plane.  I was here a few days ago, meeting Lindsey's from Florida.  Now I'm meeting Steve's.  Other near and dear are flying today.  I had Patrick and Spencer over.  Patrick brought a locally famous fresh hops beer, Sticky Hands, and I supplied fried chicken.

Mostly I've been blitzing for work, given the seasonal sale and all.  The PSF is wondering why we make people log in at the web site (python.org).  Other serious language web sites aren't so encumbered.  I think it was a case of "we might need it someday".  Open governance is messy, but more democratic than you might think, especially for a benevolent dictatorship.

Speaking of ministerial matters, the next Edu-Summit (Pycon Education Summit) is fast approaching.  Given Pycon is coming to Portland in 2016, I'm not sure my bid to attend will get the serious attention it deserves.  I don't actually have much insight into home office deliberations, given I'm a telecommuter.

I am monitoring Tara on Facebook, just back in Indy from Nicaragua, with Sadie.  Her away team was studying coffee crop issues, biological in nature.  The team was computer science oriented, however they also needed someone with serious skills around lab equipment.  They had some expensive gear which Tara was helping to order when here over Thanksgiving break.  I remember printing a manual.

Lindsey's Florida visit went about as expected.  She's moving towards "third culture" status slowly but surely, a status I've held for awhile now.  Her sangha in Portland is strong and supportive.  Lower48 nuclear families tend to be launch pads for such alien spawn (as in "funny looking ETs"), as seen in American Dad.

Speaking of my multi-cultural upbringing, I was fortunate to attend a Thirsters session on Bhutan the other night.  I'll make a slide show of the slides, plus some from today.   That was Thursday night, just before meeting Lindsey's plane.  Tonight is Saturday, two days later.

Seattle is scoring well against some other NFL team (Cowboys) on Fox.  It's 31 to 17 with 2:25 left in the 4th.  OSU's Ducks creamed Florida State the other day.  You can read all about it if you go Google.

Celebrating Decades of Terrible TV

New Years Resolution

In the spirit of the season, I just came up with this project to "cut back on bad wiring".

Yes, that's something neuro-scientific:  talking about miss-wiring in that graph database we call "the brain" (you'll find "brain" used in many namespaces so buyer beware).

Of course there's "old wiring" in a state of disrepair.  "Use it or lose it" is another Darwinian law, or call it Lean management (related to Agile).

Then you get what I'll call outright mistakes, where you've confused identities, swapped in bold fiction (lies) as fact (truth), and / or allowed senseless filler to substitute for real thought (picture a vast range of phenomena, not just a few dust bunnies).

Organized religions are especially ineffective at clearing out the latter and become "cruft boats" in the blink of whatever deity's eye.  People don't like to offend one another unnecessarily and you never know when this candy wrapper on the floor might be sacred to someone, so onto the altar it goes.

The globalized borg among us, those steeped in IT, meaning anyone who has fought with a computer (e.g. a brain), knows that "purging cruft" becomes a responsibility sooner or later.  We sometimes forget that's part of the job.

Happy New Year!  I wanna to see that new movie about Alan Turing.  I asked another geek to go with me, we'll see if she's free. 

We talked about "passing the Turing test" at Wanderers last night (it's getting harder to tell the difference twixt human and "mess of firing wiring" in some contexts).

Marketing Considerations

Reconnecting to USA TV has proved somewhat trippy.

As Leonardo Di Carprio, a Catholic school boy "juvenile delinquent" rebels against authority in some B movie, the commercials come hurling out of the screen about all the lawsuits I might join, in case the drug I took to control something or other, spun me out and maybe left me for dead.

Then the very next commercial is for a like-named drug still on the market, but with dubious side effects such as lactating, even if you're a dude.

Am I saying it's a bad idea to update us couch and bed potatoes about our options, lawsuit-wise?  Maybe a substantial settlement, which it's suggested I might get, would pay for the next diet and hair grow drugs I buy on my credit card?

Just kidding, I don't buy those kinds of products, but a lot of us do, I realize that.  Stu Quimby would go on QVS with his magnetic toyz, and they'd get gobbled up like gangbusters.  The medium is the massage.

@DekeBridges and I discussed the effectiveness of some ad campaigns at a StarBucks just now, having done a quick trip to the Lewis & Clark college area.

The Mennonites in our hood have a QR-code in the window and that sparked some interest among Quakers in following suit, although some of our iPhone people may find QR-codes redolent of some lower class of Wal*Mart shoppers and TriMet riders.

As an Android user, I find myself on the bus a lot, and the QR-codes at every stop are a welcome convenience.

Tom Peterson was the "Crazy Eddy" of Portland in the 1980s, offering those knock-down better prices on the whole couch potato / bed potato setup:  a bed that or lazy chair that reclines at various angles, and a big screen wired to some back end that's not so virus-infested it won't even turn on (alluding to some of today's "buyer beware" purchases -- actually those are looking more like DDoS attacks).

At least the digi-TV broadcast stations are still offering PAAS (programs as a service -- advertiser-sponsored).

The idea of a "Quaker TV station" (more likely a syndicated show) came up.

Our Progressive branch is not into proselytizing or "spreading the good news" in the conventional missionary sense.  Actually "preaching to the choir" is what a lot of these televangelists at the other end of the spectrum already do.  We'd be a lot friendlier to atheists right off the bat.

The focus would be more on bringing our own up to speed on various STEAM topics (A for Anthropology).

The Coffee Shops Network (CSN) could be a vector for that.  Some of our programming is only available in the shops.

Christmas Story

I raked leaves today, cleaned up around the front sidewalk.  I told Lindsey this was when I felt most like a member of the "petty bourgeoisie" as raking all those damp leaves felt about as petty as it gets, though edging is right up there.  It's a good workout though, and as a middle aged man, I should be engaging in semi-strenuous cardiovascular activity from time to time.

The FCNL liason phoned me as I approached the Narnia light on Mt. Tabor and requested directions for Bridge City Meeting but it turned out the event she wished to attend was at the Stark Street facility.  I decided I'd attend and went home to dress more appropriately, while also confirming Lucy Duncan as my associate on LinkedIn (AFSC business).

I discovered my "NATO pants" in the closet, Army surplus woolen monster pants from Andy & Bax, a favorite army surplus outlet on Grand Avenue (near Bridge City Meeting as it happens).  I could belt them above my belly button, humpty-dumpty style and drape a T-shirt over that, then a maroon Python zipper sweater completed the outfit.  Green and maroon, silver hair, why not?

But then when shaving... what are those black spots on my pants? -- noticed in the mirror.  Wait, those are holes!  Good thing I caught it then.  I'd have shown up at the Christmas Party all in moth eaten tatters, back from the grave, the zombie look.  Not festive.

So then I rushed to change my outfit yet again and this is when the keys went missing.  You already know the punch line:  they were in the NATO pants.  But I'd looked and looked, checking pockets thrice.  Then I spent an hour looking other places.

Uncle Bill called.  He's with his son Matt in Tualitin.  He's been through the wringer but had the bandwidth to commiserate with my key issue.  I have a friends mailbox key on it too, so if I'd dropped this on Mt. Tabor, near the Narnia light... what a nuisance!  We think Uncle Bill is on the mend but I know from my bout with pneumonia last January, recovery takes time.

So yeah, the keys were buried deep in a NATO pant pocket.  By the time I found them though, I didn't think walking to Stark Street would pay off.  Weren't they going caroling those Quakers?  They'd be singing "shaggy shaggy locks" (one of our Quaker songs) to bewildered neighbors by then.  No way I was going to drive mind you, given Peacock Lane hell (just kidding, it's pretty -- just not good for traffic).  Walking takes about twenty minutes, give or take (I might stop at Red Square or Movie Madness).

I'm not making a huge deal out of December 25 lets remember, but nor am I trying to tune out the holiday experience such as it is.  New Year's means a lot too and I do spend extra time on renewing and reconnecting during this solstice period.  That's what a lot of people are in the mood to do and I'm not about to be a grinch about it.  That'd be really petty.  Not that I'm above petty.

I'll plan to check in with the FCNL liaison tomorrow.  That will mean driving but I don't expect much traffic.  I may visit Uncle Bill on Friday.

Hanukkha 2014

My many thank yous to Laurie for helping to anchor the holiday season with a low key charming Hanukkah party that we've belonged to for many years.

Neither of my daughters could make it this year.  I decided for gift giving I'd pick a local business I respect and appreciate, Third Eye, and buy a stack of incense, Grateful Dead playing cards, and a special T-shirt.

We ate latkes, I made my lentils, and then conversations for me wandered from Aliens (starring Sigourney Weaver) to Mt. Tabor, the nearby public park.  We also talked a lot about property redevelopment, the house next door having just been replaced, along with others nearby.  How many Facebook accounts belong to members of the dog species?  More than one, we know that.

I much appreciated getting to meet the psychiatrist / naturopathic healer, someone who'd left Portland in the 1990s when Dawn was still alive.

This was not a PTO day for me.  I'm part of that working class red eye shift that keeps the holiday season chugging along through the (in this hemisphere) cold part of the year.  I "slew my queue" (euphemism for attacking my inbox) for some hours.

Monday was also haircut day at Bishops.  At 56, I'm more hirsute than I'll be at 65 but I'm changing my look to be more like the picture, minus the aviator glasses as I mostly favor clear lenses these days. While waiting for my haircut I drank two beers (on the house) and read People Magazine about missing Robin Williams, and about the Obamas and their family life.

Wanderers Solstice Party

The Wanderers, sometimes affectionately known as the Meanderers, celebrates the Equinoxes and Solstices.

Sometimes we've had full blown excursions to off-site locations or had overnight parties at the Pauling House.

This Winter's was relatively low key but with plenty to eat and drink, and even be merry about if in the mood.  Good meeting up with Nirel and her friends.  I hardly ever see her anymore.

Skip, who was at my Quakernomics talk, turns out to know quite a bit about Bucky and his VE concept.  He's been to one of the SNEC-produced RISD events and sent me a paper on some of his geometrical notions.  We both know CJ, whom Skip credits for cluing him to our shared foci.

AFSC Office Party

:: Portland AFSC Office Party, December 15, celebrating new digs ::

Good Bye Blue Butterfly

I'm a peripheral character in the Blue Butterfly story.  Glenn has played a more than cameo role in the maintenance department, helping bring the house across from New Seasons, a few doors down from Pauling House, up to salable condition.

Michael, the owner, has pipelined artifacts from Indonesia, Bali, Southeast Asia more generally, to his color store, which has been in operation in different places along Hawthorne for some thirty years.

Michael's son operates the Alhambra Theater down the street and together they staged a blow out, complete with hundreds of slides and two bands, the second of which featured two tubas amidst its all brass (and a guitar) ensemble.

I enjoyed the whole show and an grateful for the service and dedication of the Blue Butterfly enterprise.  Michael will be moving to Indonesia, is my understanding.

Our neighborhood is somewhat a gateway to Asia, with women especially going for "sherpa chic" as their look (warm, fuzzy, lots of knits).  Some WDC goons called Portland "Little Beirut" awhile back, but I think "Little Lhasa" is far more apt, and alliterates better.

Big Hero 6 (movie review)

I was under the misapprehension that this was the 6th in some Big Hero franchise, not understanding the 6 referred to "how many" on what eventually becomes a superhero team, with shades of The Incredibles -- and a touch of Scooby Doo.

The unification of Nipponese and US cultures ala Disney is a pure synergy and helps feed the premise that IQ knows no upper limit.

Asia connotes technical brilliance to Pacific Rim folks and this movie is all about being a nerdy genius in a peer group that supports full expression of same ala Johnny Neutrino.

The movie is also about compassion and empathy (qualities in shorter supply).

The world we get is more Zero Theorem in flavor, though minus the existential concern with a global apocalypse.  The villain has specific targets.  In general the future looks bright for these folks.

I thought the Disney people did a really fine job on this one.  I'm glad kids are seeing it.

The world we see is very close to ours, but more utopian.  Recent near future science fiction ala Bladerunner has usually gone the other way:  the near future is darker than our time, with Japan a source of fascination.

Here's a breath of fresh air then.  Japan is still a focus, but in a non-threatening, non-darkening way.

Watching this next to Penguins of Madagascar was an interesting experience.  Both feature teams acting in concert, tightly coordinated, against a loner villain.

ISEPP Lecture Series 2015: Kick Off

I use the term "kick off" advisedly as there was rumoredly a football game of some import that night, involving Oregon.  How nerdy would Portlanders prove to be, forsaking live witnessing a ball game to attend a lecture on the ball game crazies of this hemisphere:  the Maya?

Plenty nerdy it turned out.  We packed the place, and Dr. William Suturno "regaled us with stories" as my late wife Dawn would have said.  She loved this lecture series too, which has been going a long time thanks to Terry, with a little help from his friends (lots of co-sponsors).

This may well be our last season after a record-setting run.  I've benefited greatly in my education.  These blogs are richer for the write-ups I've been privileged to record.

Anyway, back to 800 AD or so, these Maya had a steady integer uptick like our Julian Date in Python, i.e. some enormous number of days going back to some mythic beginning, inside of which was their time and space.

The days were then demarcated with the periods of the astral bodies, including Mars and Venus, with no confusion about the latter being two bodies (it's not).  They were big fans of 20s for grouping groups, with 360 in there too.  The ceremonial overlay, like our weeks, persists to this day but without the planetary knowledge.

Mayan architecture involved carefully modeling buildings to match up with world lines, like where the sun got furthest north and south.  Humans have perennially spontaneously organized around such phenomena and we know birds use a lot of the same information.  Brains have to earn their keep somehow as they're expensive in terms of blood and oxygen.

Humans lug around big ones and have proved superb at mapping the cosmos with it, starting with seasonal periodicity and the cycles on which life quite literally depends, whether you're agriculturally based or hunting and gathering (or both or neither).

The Mayan civilization was highly successful and when a system winds down we need to avoid that reflex of thinking that's always some dire "collapse" as if we all wept when DOS 3.1 was retired, or Windows of the same version.  These were but passing chapters in our upgrade to tomorrow, the Omega God of the Jesuit branch headed by Teilhard de Chardin.

One might spin it this way too:  "you've got to admit it's getting better" (Beatles).  People outgrow themselves and move on, and it's not a big disaster.

He had some digs at Jared Diamond's Why Civilizations Choose Collapse (not the real title) for what he considered its fanciful spinning of just so stories in some cases.  Moralizing should not shove science in the back seat, even if one agrees with the basic message (that mismanagement will have consequences).

I always enjoy it when ISEPP speakers allude to or speak to the work of others who've been through here, as chances are I've got some personal experience to dredge up and rethink.

The rats are what got 'em on Easter Island says Saturno.  They eat all the seeds.  It wasn't so much willful mismanagement as an outbreak of infection.  Civilizations die, get over it (doesn't mean they were suicidal or pathological).  Like, so we don't get to play the game with the big heads anymore, drat those rats, lets sail away (Enya).

As an archeologist with a large time horizon, one can see feeling like that.  "Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky" (Kansas).

The highlight of Saturno's talk was the unearthing of a new find and the reconstructed paintings therein (painstaking work for sure), and what they tell us about this Mayan heyday.

The exact nature of the institution is unknown at this point, but clearly lots of calendar stuff, the same as what went in the books (they had paper from way back), was written on the wall over and over, like a whiteboard.

The sense of getting access to a retired hard drive or IT room was palpable.  This is where the torch got passed somehow, but will we ever know much more?

 :: william saturno, archeologist ::

About Smartphones Again

Smartphones are so smart these days they're going senile.  Leave it to our really smart devices to start showing the same symptoms of aging as we do.  Or is it aging?  The ability to pile up cruft, creating fruitless entanglements, is an ability we have at any age.  The solution:  a reboot at some level, or upgrade to the next smartphone.

However, upgrades are expensive especially when not per plan, so in the interim, a new profession, that of psychotherapist for those breaking up with their phones and needing to fall in love again.

Clearly I'm likely thinking of some more specific experience, such as my Razr flagging under the weight of Aviate or whatever it is.  I'm not wanting to point fingers, or engage in a battle of hardware (Motorola) versus software people.  I'm simply confirming that I'd be eligible for a visit to said shrink, were insurance (through Verizon?) to cover it.

Actually Aviate expanded my horizons quite a bit in that checking in on Facebook, as a way of adding to "the chronofile" (generic word for personal timeline and/or profile -- inheriting from RBF's lexicon) became that much more convenient that I'd do it just for fun.

I checked in from Union Station, Tabor Cafe, Hophouse on Hawthorne, Lucky Lab (right?) and many others.  If James Joyce had had Swarm in Dublin, what might he have done with it?

When your smartphone starts spouting Finnegans Wake in response to your Asking Google or whomever you speak with, that's probably a sign you're ready for that upgrade, or some therapy.

What is a Proof, Really?

[ original thread ]

On Sat, Nov 29, 2014 at 11:12 AM, Joe Niederberger wrote:
<< SNIP >>

> Finally, I'm happy to accept your chess problem as mathematical. Frankly, I
> don't know what a survey on that question, given to working mathematicians,
> would turn up. And, any mathematically acceptable way of arguing it would
> have to be logical in my opinion. (If you have an illogical approach that
> is also mathematical I'd be fascinated to hear about it.)
>
> Cheers,
> Joe N
>


I think we mostly agree. Criteria apply.

A proof is not a recipe nor even algorithm.

An algorithm tends to have proofs in the background, to back it up as it were, e.g. we make use of V + F = E + 2 in some step in a computer program, e.g. we get E from V + F - 2, but then why is it safe to get E in this way?

In the background: Euler's Theorem for Polyhedrons and the many proofs thereof, my favorite probably the one by G. K. C. Von Staudt:

http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/junkyard/euler/interdig.html

[ however this is not my favorite forumulation of it; that would be in Peter Cromwell's Polyhedra, cite http://www.liv.ac.uk/~spmr02/book/ ]

The other thing I'd say is: lets not go overboard in assuming some finite roster of individuals tagged as "mathematician" truly owns or controls or governs the discipline and shared heritage we loosely call mathematics ("loosely" because anything tighter would be clearly too tight and therefore outright wrong).

Innovations come in from left field all the time e.g. most naturally from closely neighboring disciplines, and those self-identifying as official spokespersons for mathematics, i.e. mathematicians, must scramble to keep their background cosmetically acceptable i.e. the pros keep it looking professional, add the right panache (sometimes a little lipstick on the pig is all one needs).

Kirby

Global Data Revisited

So where's the math in all this?

We clearly need better and more reliable global data.

However I'm skeptical that partitioning the world up into a jigsaw puzzle and collating by "nation" is an at all useful way to be measuring humanity's progress or lack of same.

The UN has to do it that way, for political reasons, but supranationals like Google (or some hypothetical Global Data Corporation) would not need to present and/or visualize global data in those obsolete terms.

More context:
Reply to Israeli Knight (math-teach, Nov 25 2014)
The Mapparium (Feb 09 2005)
FAQ:  What is Global Data?
Checking Global Data

Dear White People (movie review)

I'd deliberately avoided reading any reviews so wasn't sure what to expect.  I drove to within a half mile of Cinema 21 and loped a lot of the way, not wanting to miss even previews.  I got there on time.

The film is set in a somewhat timeless world called "college", not the real world at all.  Obama and current events get cursory mention, but Sam (a girl) is using a 1950s style Bell & Howell looking movie camera that helps catapult us back to some other time.  The college president is straight out of MAD.

The most disturbed individual is the shy-teased guy with the Afro, way out of style.  He's the first to break glass and turn the scene violent.  He destroys property, expensive stuff.  Then he sexually assaults another guy.

Everyone else is relatively mature and touchy issues of racism and classism are dealt with without violence.  College is a cerebral place and these kids are a brainy bunch, especially Choco or whatever she goes by, the ghetto girl from Chicago.

The anti-racists get to be segregationists as Black Pride is just another form of professional elitism and deserves its own circle in the Venn Diagram of "things to be".  The college administration had been trying to randomize "blackness" out of existence but disrupting memes-with-inertia is even harder than disrupting genes, as to accomplish the latter you just need condoms, as these students appear to comprehend.

My university had houses for social clubs like this one and we were expected to intelligently work through differences.  A Third World Center and a Womens Center helped add balance, plus the particular house I lived in junior and senior years, 2 Dickinson Street, was about balancing some of the more conservative houses.  Ours was in favor of boycott, disinvestment and sanctions (BDS) against apartheid in South Africa for example.  My roommate for a time was editor of the Daily Princetonian.

The college portrayed in this movie seems a lot less in touch with the real world than Princeton, and more stuck in a time warp, but that's fiction for ya.

Gender Again

 
:: gender tweets ::

For further reading:
Gender Wars

Wanderers 2014.11.13

:: steve holden ::

Steve delivered a well-received and attended presentation on The Impostor Syndrome, perhaps a syndrome he made up, but then I haven't Googled it yet.

He was using the Wanderers format to best advantage: prototyping a talk he might give someday, and getting behind the scenes, before you go on stage feedback. He took notes as feedback was freely offered.

This being an early morning crowd, buzzed on coffee, we chimed in with a lot of witticisms.  I liked Steve's "I was gonna write my paper on the Stockholm Syndrome but I think I'd rather stay with my new friends."

Dave DiNucci of NASA background was present and avidly following the comet landing story.  We were in the suspenseful moments before knowing for sure whether the landing module had actually managed to arrive at its surface destination.

Steve naturally traced the syndrome back to childhood first experiences, and recommended what we might do in adulthood to counter some of the more hampering habits of mind.

Steve's track record rivals Terry's in some ways, of being able to deliver public events.  That's apples and oranges really as the lecture circuit and conference venues are different sides of the business.  Just saying:  both have been highly successful, and those are only tips of the iceberg in both cases.

Steve was also a chairman of the Python Software Foundation and continues to teach classes as well as mentor newer teachers in many IT-related topics.

However, as I discovered at Princeton and many other places since, one will continue to be astounded by neighbors and random strangers with skills one doesn't have, like at a circus.

Sometimes the Impostor Syndrome might mean feeling less good at being human than say some role model or super type, some example.

Anyway looking up to others is healthy.  I'm not one to say "putting so-and-so on a pedestal" is always a bad idea.  I've got people on pedestals everywhere I look; kinda "sepulchral" as Ed Applewhite might have said.

The Mountain

Common Core Mathematics as Poverty Line

I sound naively "born yesterday" in this outburst on math-teach (Math Forum) against Common Core Mathematics, whereas those following the action more closely could have told me years ago:  the standard advocates teaching base 10 operations, but stays silent on teaching what "base 10" actually means.

What people maybe don't understand about Common Core Mathematics is it deliberately sets a very low bar and schools are encouraged to rise above it.

To actually cover no more mathematics than is contained in that standard is to be mathematically disabled and in dire need of remedial practice, but then what curriculum worth its salt would only cover Common Core Mathematics?

In some earlier posts, I appeared to understand that, saying I could embrace Common Core Mathematics Standards only to exceed them.  That's what I'm saying here too.

In contrast, this "US Coalition" believes the Common Core should be "world class".

By my reasoning, no it should merely set a very low barrier to entry and be used as a criterion in that way.

Common Core Mathematics is "gruel thin" but not "non-nutritious".

Common Core Mathematics defines the mental "poverty line" we all strive to stay above.

No one wants to really be as mathematically unsophisticated as a hypothetical Common Core Mathematics person would be.

Meatup

Remembering Dora Farms

The curtain opened on the Attack Iraq scenario with what was billed as an heroic bid to end the war before it started.  If only the head of state, and former ally, could be murdered in his bed using high altitude precision guided bombs, steerable even through cloud cover, we could call it a day.   Worth a try, right?

The new bunker busters had been ordered up in a hurry and having stealth bombers drop some was the Beltway Goon wet dream du jour.  A pretext for pre-emption was all the Neocons needed.  Since the War on Terror had been personalized to Osama and Saddam, viewers already understood that a manhunt could be a wartime activity, involving cruise missiles and high altitude bombers.

The American public was asked to believe the CIA had spooky insider knowledge that Saddam's chances of being in that secret bunker were greater than fifty-fifty.  Given the number of American lives that might be put in harm's way should Operation Iraqi Freedom proceed on schedule (which it did), the President and Secretary of Defense must be forgiven for trying.  Great cover story.

Of course in reality there was no such bunker and Saddam was not waiting around in Baghdad while CNN waited breathlessly for some explosions for the home-viewer voyeurs.  Whether the CIA really had any spooky insider knowledge was irrelevant as the only important order of business was to get some stealth bombers doing their thing on TV, being heroic and all, their pilots getting in harm's way.

As we see in Why We Fight, a postmortem documentary, the neighborhood was populated with ordinary civilians.  The "precision guiding" practiced here had nothing to do with geography or preventing the slaughter of these innocent "extras" in the Pentagon's show, and everything to do with surgically wiring US TV viewers to appreciate how supremely awesome and shocking the Beltway Goons could really be, so they'd pop popcorn and cheer for more, good patriots that they be.   What, no Saddam under that palatial tea cup?  It's a shell game! Bomb them all!  Go Team America.

The TV dupes and doofuses bought it, hook, line and sinker.  The myth of "trying to stop the war at Dora" was spun, whereas in reality it was planned as a curtain opener, with much more to come.  So much more.  The Attack Iraq extravaganza would be another one for the history books.  Many proud and heroic chapters would follow, with troops putting themselves in harm's way all over the map.

Wittgenstein & Buddhism