I came across Sam Jacob's Strangeharvest blog in a roundabout way: the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi died, which led to Alex Mardas, which led to the Mardas Gap, an idea that Jacob suggested to describe the gap between a designer's idea and its realization. Strangeharvest is, at least to my mind, one of the coolest looking blogs i've ever seen. It's geometric, but not rigidly symmetric, and its form maps clearly onto its function. It's nice to look at and navigate.
Most of the blogs that i follow get unceremoniously dumped into Google Reader, and i rarely navigate to the actual blog even for full text. Of course, this is partially the fault of the bloggers. They could choose to syndicate only beginnings so that you have to go to the regular blog to read the full text. But it seems like what I really want, at least for the cases where people go to the trouble to make their sites attractive, is less like the Google reader's digest approach, and more something like the channel guide on my cable system. There's gotta be some Ajax-y feed aggregator out there that does this, right?
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Depression Peaks at 44
I'm not sure if i should consider this article to be good news or bad. I guess i can take solace that my risk of depression is not going to get worse, although the articles does say that in the US the peak for men is closer to 50.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Rock Star
If i were to write "My son was in LA recording with his band yesterday" it would literally be true, though probably misleading and pretentious. He and his buddies served as the example band in a course on how to produce recordings. They drove up with one of his friends' dads and spent the day at a studio in Santa Monica doing takes of their own song "Don't Know What to Do". I haven't heard the finished product yet, but all accounts are that it went well.
Friday, January 18, 2008
My Facebook Experience
A few months ago i started a profile on Facebook just to experiment with it. I wanted to try ILike in particular, but i was intrigued by the whole concept of plug-in applications within the context of a social network.
Visually, it's certainly a step up from MySpace, but that's faint praise. It seems to work basically as advertised, and there are a couple of Facebook applications that i genuinely like (the MusicBlogs app that came out Yahoo! is really cool). The privacy implications of Facebook are a major concern, but with 15 million users i don't feel spied-on so much as trivialized into some bland demographic. On the other hand, i really fail to understand the point of the whole bloody thing. Seriously, what the hell is this thing for?
The crux of the problem for me is the social part of social networking. As an introverted sort, i do not, in the physical world, have a large social network. Beyond my immediate family and a handful of friends, there aren't a lot of people that i communicate with. None of my Facebook friends are friends in that sense-- they are people i have worked with or casual acquaintances. All good people to be sure, but generally not my close friends.
I have very little insight into the extrovert personality. I know intellectually that somebody with 70 or 80 Facebook friends is not really treating all of those people as friends in any meaningful way. But i'm not quite sure what it is that they're trying to impress upon them. Having similar tastes in movies or music or whatever might be amusing, but is it really enough to forge a relationship? I can imagine that it might be useful to pass on news and photos if your family and close friends were on the network also, but i've been using e-mail for that quite successfully for a while now.
My older son's generation seems to use MySpace as an entirely separate communications medium. It's both asynchronous and many to many so they can use it as a community bulletin board, but they also often use certain profiles to communicate with one or two individuals. They seem to have bridged the gap between an actual social environment and a virtual one without really stopping to think about it.
There are so many intelligent people out there who are convinced that the wisdom of crowds represents a major new mode of information discovery that i'm sure they must be right. But i'll believe it when i see it.
Visually, it's certainly a step up from MySpace, but that's faint praise. It seems to work basically as advertised, and there are a couple of Facebook applications that i genuinely like (the MusicBlogs app that came out Yahoo! is really cool). The privacy implications of Facebook are a major concern, but with 15 million users i don't feel spied-on so much as trivialized into some bland demographic. On the other hand, i really fail to understand the point of the whole bloody thing. Seriously, what the hell is this thing for?
The crux of the problem for me is the social part of social networking. As an introverted sort, i do not, in the physical world, have a large social network. Beyond my immediate family and a handful of friends, there aren't a lot of people that i communicate with. None of my Facebook friends are friends in that sense-- they are people i have worked with or casual acquaintances. All good people to be sure, but generally not my close friends.
I have very little insight into the extrovert personality. I know intellectually that somebody with 70 or 80 Facebook friends is not really treating all of those people as friends in any meaningful way. But i'm not quite sure what it is that they're trying to impress upon them. Having similar tastes in movies or music or whatever might be amusing, but is it really enough to forge a relationship? I can imagine that it might be useful to pass on news and photos if your family and close friends were on the network also, but i've been using e-mail for that quite successfully for a while now.
My older son's generation seems to use MySpace as an entirely separate communications medium. It's both asynchronous and many to many so they can use it as a community bulletin board, but they also often use certain profiles to communicate with one or two individuals. They seem to have bridged the gap between an actual social environment and a virtual one without really stopping to think about it.
There are so many intelligent people out there who are convinced that the wisdom of crowds represents a major new mode of information discovery that i'm sure they must be right. But i'll believe it when i see it.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Intervals
If anybody actually read this blog they might notice that in my list of recent workouts it says that i did 4800 m today. The m is for "meters", not "miles", which as Kenny Mayne might say would be a record or something. Actually i ran around 5 miles total this morning, but 4800 meters of that was 6 half-mile repeats. In other words, intervals.
Intervals are just what they sound like- fixed length segments of relatively fast running, usually done on a track. The purpose of intervals is to get faster- to run in the anaerobic zone so that you improve your VO2Max and train your muscles to run faster. In the running community, the word is also a sort of code word for suffering. I do not look forward to running intervals, although I almost always feel really good afterward. Although i like the sensation of running fast, a good half mile will start to hurt near the end. I really don't run too fast, around 2:50 for an 800, but at 6:30 on a Monday morning that seems fairly fast.
My aim is to get faster for the Carlsbad 5000 in April. I set my 5k pr at Carlsbad a few years ago, but that was over 19 minutes. I'm shooting for 17:30 this year, but that'll be pretty tough. That's around a 5:40 mile pace (hence the 2:50 intervals), which at the moment seems unlikely. The sad thing is that even if i managed it, Carlsbad is so competitive that i'd barely crack the top 40 even in the masters division.
Intervals are just what they sound like- fixed length segments of relatively fast running, usually done on a track. The purpose of intervals is to get faster- to run in the anaerobic zone so that you improve your VO2Max and train your muscles to run faster. In the running community, the word is also a sort of code word for suffering. I do not look forward to running intervals, although I almost always feel really good afterward. Although i like the sensation of running fast, a good half mile will start to hurt near the end. I really don't run too fast, around 2:50 for an 800, but at 6:30 on a Monday morning that seems fairly fast.
My aim is to get faster for the Carlsbad 5000 in April. I set my 5k pr at Carlsbad a few years ago, but that was over 19 minutes. I'm shooting for 17:30 this year, but that'll be pretty tough. That's around a 5:40 mile pace (hence the 2:50 intervals), which at the moment seems unlikely. The sad thing is that even if i managed it, Carlsbad is so competitive that i'd barely crack the top 40 even in the masters division.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Don't Just Believe
During the course of the latest presidential campaign, there have been articles on various web sites announcing that candidate X (invariably republican) does not believe in evolution. I know that this is common usage, but it aggravates the heck out of me. It implicitly supports the nonsensical notion espoused by creationists that evolution is simply an alternative belief. I don't really expect people to say "candidate X does not support the neo-Darwinian mechanism of species variation", or something of that nature, but using the word "believe" is just confusing.
The analogy that i would use is this: I believe that the sun will rise tomorrow because in the 16000 or so days that i've been alive, it has always risen. My senses tell me that it's a reliable phenomenon, so even if i had no idea why it happens, i'd have faith that it will continue to happen indefinitely. The consistent rising-of-the-sun phenomenon constitutes good evidence, and makes my belief that the sun will rise tomorrow to be perfectly reasonable. However, thanks to some really smart people i don't have to just believe it. I can say with a high degree of certainty that the sun will rise tomorrow, because there are a couple of pretty good theories (both the Newtonian and Einsteinian approaches) that explain the motion of objects like planets and stars. The theories (they're just theories, mind you) are so good in fact that i can tell you, with a high degree of precision, when the sun will rise.
Similarly with the evolution of species, the fossil record, the general information about the age of the planet, the abundance of species, the variation of species that are geographically isolated, the similarity of genetic material between similar species, etc., constitute good evidence and make a belief in evolution perfectly reasonable. But when you add to that more than a century of development on explanations for how genetic variation leads to speciation, it's not only possible to believe that evolution occurs, but to understand how it occurs.
So, in the future, instead of saying that a candidate does not believe in evolution, i propose that we rather say the candidate does not understand evolution.
The analogy that i would use is this: I believe that the sun will rise tomorrow because in the 16000 or so days that i've been alive, it has always risen. My senses tell me that it's a reliable phenomenon, so even if i had no idea why it happens, i'd have faith that it will continue to happen indefinitely. The consistent rising-of-the-sun phenomenon constitutes good evidence, and makes my belief that the sun will rise tomorrow to be perfectly reasonable. However, thanks to some really smart people i don't have to just believe it. I can say with a high degree of certainty that the sun will rise tomorrow, because there are a couple of pretty good theories (both the Newtonian and Einsteinian approaches) that explain the motion of objects like planets and stars. The theories (they're just theories, mind you) are so good in fact that i can tell you, with a high degree of precision, when the sun will rise.
Similarly with the evolution of species, the fossil record, the general information about the age of the planet, the abundance of species, the variation of species that are geographically isolated, the similarity of genetic material between similar species, etc., constitute good evidence and make a belief in evolution perfectly reasonable. But when you add to that more than a century of development on explanations for how genetic variation leads to speciation, it's not only possible to believe that evolution occurs, but to understand how it occurs.
So, in the future, instead of saying that a candidate does not believe in evolution, i propose that we rather say the candidate does not understand evolution.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Good Stuff 2007
This seemed like a watershed year for terribleness. Even my naturally cynical mind can't comprehend the idiocy perpetrated by our federal government, and from Sherri Shepard to Britney Spears to Don Imus it seemed like the whole world was trying to out-stupid each other. The presidential race makes me want to move to northern Europe, and the strident anti-intellectualism of the evangelicals makes me wish the Romans had been more diligent in feeding their lions. The only thing more depressing than being alive to witness the decline of our nation is that my children will have to deal with it.
Still, there were a few bright spots. There was some decent music produced this year, and some decent music that I learned to appreciate. My favorite albums:
I didn't see a lot of movies again this year, but of those that i saw Eastern Promises was far and away my favorite. The new Bourne movie was good too.
I didn't read many books this year either. I got into the Thomas Covenant series of books as a way to tide me over until George Martin publishes the next book in his Song of Fire and Ice series. The most memorable of the books i read this year:
Some random stuff that didn't suck:
Still, there were a few bright spots. There was some decent music produced this year, and some decent music that I learned to appreciate. My favorite albums:
- The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
- Midlake - Van Occupanther
- Rogue Wave - Asleep At Heaven's Gate
- Manic Street Preachers - Send Away The Tigers
- Fair to Midland - Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You 3 Times is True
- Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down - We Brave Bee Stings and All
- Ari Hest - The Break-In
I didn't see a lot of movies again this year, but of those that i saw Eastern Promises was far and away my favorite. The new Bourne movie was good too.
I didn't read many books this year either. I got into the Thomas Covenant series of books as a way to tide me over until George Martin publishes the next book in his Song of Fire and Ice series. The most memorable of the books i read this year:
- A Perfect Hell: The True Story of the Black Devils, the Forefathers of the Special Forces - John Nadler
- World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War - Max Brooks
- Warriors of the Steppe - A Military History of Central Asia - Erik Hildinger
Some random stuff that didn't suck:
- Haile Gebrselassie set the world record in the marathon.
- I got to see Ryan Hall win the US Olympic trials for the marathon in Central Park.
- Chicago. I was there 3 times this year, and i just love the city.
- Ron White - White might be the funniest comedian working. I was horrified when he was included in the Blue Collar Comedy tour along with mediocrities Jeff Foxworthy and Bill Engvall, and the egregious, mentally retarded Larry the Cable Guy.
- Free software. I am continually amazed that stuff like R, Eclipse, Knime, and JFreeChart are available free of charge.
- Reddit. Sure, it's got some problems, but it's my favorite Internet time killer.
Monday, December 17, 2007
44
My birthday came and went quietly this year. I did a short bike ride to keep alive my tradition of a birthday bike-ride, but it was hardly the epic adventure of some previous years. I seem to have finally reached the age where birthdays are more an uncomfortable reminder of what's behind me than a cause for celebration.
There's an idea that I came across years ago that people tend to think of themselves as being the age at which they were most happy. If that time happens to be in early adulthood as it is for many, then a person's self-image diverges further from reality the older one gets. I'm not sure about this concept, but recently i've had some flashes of self-consciousness upon realizing that other people probably view me in the same way that they view other 40-something guys. I admit that sometimes this is because i realize that some pretty girl in line at the Starbucks is young enough to be my daughter. But it extends beyond that to my peers and even elders. Recently, i was playing "ultimate" frisbee with some work friends and i intentionally pulled back from an attempted interception in order to avoid a collision. One of the other players, who is around my age, said something to the affect that "this was a good idea for people our age".
I'm not quite ready to be a person of my age. But i'm beginning to see that good physical health or musical taste that resembles that of a college student doesn't really exempt me from being a person of my age. I assumed when i was younger that the compensation for getting old was the attainment of wisdom, and that's true in a way, but the problem is that wisdom is frequently the insight that some things really do suck as much as you'd expect them to.
There's an idea that I came across years ago that people tend to think of themselves as being the age at which they were most happy. If that time happens to be in early adulthood as it is for many, then a person's self-image diverges further from reality the older one gets. I'm not sure about this concept, but recently i've had some flashes of self-consciousness upon realizing that other people probably view me in the same way that they view other 40-something guys. I admit that sometimes this is because i realize that some pretty girl in line at the Starbucks is young enough to be my daughter. But it extends beyond that to my peers and even elders. Recently, i was playing "ultimate" frisbee with some work friends and i intentionally pulled back from an attempted interception in order to avoid a collision. One of the other players, who is around my age, said something to the affect that "this was a good idea for people our age".
I'm not quite ready to be a person of my age. But i'm beginning to see that good physical health or musical taste that resembles that of a college student doesn't really exempt me from being a person of my age. I assumed when i was younger that the compensation for getting old was the attainment of wisdom, and that's true in a way, but the problem is that wisdom is frequently the insight that some things really do suck as much as you'd expect them to.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
I Need To Get Faster
This post is mostly an excuse to use Swivel, a web site that produces graphs of data sets. I uploaded my running log to it. Here's a graph of my pace over the last few years.
Other than a few anomalous outliers on the high side, the data is pretty closely clustered around an average value of 7:45/mile. There are sections, if you had the data at hand, where i've average quite a bit faster (like when i was training for Carlsbad), but the historical trend is pretty flat. This graph is a bit more encouraging:
This makes it clearer that a fair proportion of my runs have been considerably below the average if you factor in the distance of the run. Nonetheless, i need to get faster. My 2008 goals will include setting PRs at most of my race distances, especially on the shorter end. I'm gonna be ambitious and shoot for 17:30 at 5k and 36:00 at 10k. My training approach is going to be very complex and sophisticated: run faster. I'm going to focus on more speed training and trying to keep my regular runs closer to 7min/mile.
Other than a few anomalous outliers on the high side, the data is pretty closely clustered around an average value of 7:45/mile. There are sections, if you had the data at hand, where i've average quite a bit faster (like when i was training for Carlsbad), but the historical trend is pretty flat. This graph is a bit more encouraging:
This makes it clearer that a fair proportion of my runs have been considerably below the average if you factor in the distance of the run. Nonetheless, i need to get faster. My 2008 goals will include setting PRs at most of my race distances, especially on the shorter end. I'm gonna be ambitious and shoot for 17:30 at 5k and 36:00 at 10k. My training approach is going to be very complex and sophisticated: run faster. I'm going to focus on more speed training and trying to keep my regular runs closer to 7min/mile.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Basketball
In a moment of weakness I volunteered to coach my 10 year-old son's basketball team this season. I love basketball, and I love my son; but teaching 5th graders to play basketball is kind of like teaching your cat to read the newspaper. That is, it's really hard and most likely they're not going to get that much out of it.
I've got a pretty good team, but chances are that even most of the boys on my team won't be playing in middle school. None of them really have any interest in playing basketball in the technical sense of following a particular offensive or defensive scheme. It's just basically another hour of recess for them. They want to play 5 games of simultaneous 1 on 1 in the best school-yard tradition. Which is cool. This is a rec league and its primary purpose is physical fitness. Still, i cling to the misguided hope that i might impart some real basketball knowledge to one or two of them.
My dad was a high-school coach in Indiana for 40 years, and pretty good at it too. I'm not quite sure what his secret was. Clearly he possessed greater rapport with fellow human beings than do I, and it probably didn't hurt that he was fairly large and somewhat intimidating. It might just be that his players could sense that he wanted to coach as much as they wanted to play.
I've got a pretty good team, but chances are that even most of the boys on my team won't be playing in middle school. None of them really have any interest in playing basketball in the technical sense of following a particular offensive or defensive scheme. It's just basically another hour of recess for them. They want to play 5 games of simultaneous 1 on 1 in the best school-yard tradition. Which is cool. This is a rec league and its primary purpose is physical fitness. Still, i cling to the misguided hope that i might impart some real basketball knowledge to one or two of them.
My dad was a high-school coach in Indiana for 40 years, and pretty good at it too. I'm not quite sure what his secret was. Clearly he possessed greater rapport with fellow human beings than do I, and it probably didn't hurt that he was fairly large and somewhat intimidating. It might just be that his players could sense that he wanted to coach as much as they wanted to play.
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