PseudoLogic

words, Words, WORD, THE WORD

2011-09-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

I am now sitting in Molly's house at about 11am by myself - all others of this household toiling away elsewhere in the business of life - studying Revelation chapter 19 with the help of James Stuart Russell's more than marvelous book The Parousia-A Study of the New Testament Doctrine of Our Lord's Second Coming. Just to share with you a bit more of my mindset this morning, earlier I read DorothySayers' essay The Lost Tools of Learning. Look it up through Google and read it.

Let me digress onto the Sayers essay with a few points before I state the one simple idea I had in the Revelation study that motivated me to write this blog post:

How did I happen to read the Sayers essay? Molly and Jeff have enrolled Milo (age 8, grade 3) and Oz
(age 6, first grade) in a charter school, part of the public school system, that is using the so-called "Classical curriculum". We spent most of last evening rehearsing spelling words, math facts and Latin declensions with Milo. Then we chorally/orally read a story. It was really great fun!!

This is the approach described generally in the Sayers essay. (My understanding is that this essay triggered the resurgence in interest in Classical education several years ago.) Of course, books like that of Susan Wise Bauer more fully fleshed it out, especially for homeschoolers. Other people like Doug Wilson et al have more fully applied it to conventional Christian schools.

Now in reading the Sayers essay, it is pretty clear to me that she wrote it with Christian presuppositions, i.e. the Bible is what it says it is (2 Tim 3:16, 17). It is infallibly true and the rule for our faith and life. It defines righteousness in every area of life and is the absolute ground of our ethics. Not only that, the Bible is our only ground for the whole idea of MEANING and hence communication. Is not the whole idea here to become skilled in the use of language - you know, WORDS, word streams - as fundamental to our whole being. We cannot think without words and rules for their use. This is another way to define logic. Sayers certainly did not pound on this point in her article; in fact, she did not even state it. Yet, it is the whole foundation of her statement. Now, in her defense, I think she wrote in an earlier age when the belief in the Scriptures did occupy a much more central place in people's lives, and many more would have assumed these Christian presuppositions (a priori truths). She did not feel the need to pound on these foundations.

But fast-forward to today - multiculturalism: total legal, political and social acceptance of the doctrine of separation of church and state (code for separation of commands of the Bible and Christ from government) - Nova Classical Academy, a charter school of the Minneapolis public school system, offered free of charge to the Johnsons, paid for with taxes, is on a collision course the undergirding faith of this method.

Question: Can they have the benefits without the Faith?

Back to my Bible study: Among many verses we come to this one: Rev. 19:13--And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

Why was his name called The Word of God? Are there any implications of this name for us? Could we get any clues from the cross-reference John 1:1? Surely a massively awesome verse: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Why is Christ, the everlasting Son, called the Word?

And awesomely more interesting - John 1:14 tells us And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

OK, with all this, finally, to my one little idea of the morning: It seems like Bible is not read today for what it really says. My idea along these lines is really sort of a pedagogical one, one to encourage ourselves to open the Scriptures and search and come to some conclusions on our own, a bit apart from the politically correct notions of today. And in line with my above-described mental journey of the past 24 hours, I did light on that verse 19 of Revelation and ask myself:

What words and ideas come to our minds when we consider that the victorious Christ, who, in the Revelation narrative, has just consummated His Kingdom in heaven and on earth (the new heavens and the new earth) is called The Word of God, THE WORD (Jn. 1:1).

Why has the infallible Word of God, the Bible, called His Son THE WORD???

What are some implications of this? How important is a word? Is it an "it" or is it a "He"? What does it mean to us that the Bible sometimes says word means "He"?

Does this whole tedious subject of words even need to concern us? Why do we have to agree on and learn their spellings? And their meanings? What would happen if each of us decided to make up our own rules and meanings for words? Yo, why not just even make up our own words? After all, we have no God over us and each of us is our own god, we should just go to. Would this work? Think some of the famous nonsense rhymes that have been written, but even those are not creative enough, because those slacker writers stole the letters of the alphabet to depict their original words. Heck, they even stole the rules for spacing between their "words". Plagerizers (sp) !!! Pitiful creatures, er, I mean chance beings. Think the story of the tower of Babel.

Really, this is getting silly!!

But, really, really, what do you think is involved in this concept of word? Do we take the goodness of our great God totally, mindlessly for granted, and the order of His Creation and our intimate relation to it and it to us, in the marvelous relationship of our mind to the external order through the use of the language and thought categories that are totally dependent on eternal stability.

The great figure of VanTil comes to mind? Are we sitting on God's lap, completely supported be Him, slapping Him in the face and telling Him we don't need His gift of the language. We can do what ever we want.

Enough, already. What do you think?

Age-Old Schemes Men Cannot Resist

2011-09-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

Trent has been gone almost a year, and the need to clean out the house and get things in order is pressing upon me. A stack of file boxes containing books owned by my maternal grandfather Newton William Graham, looms up at me every time I walk through my sewing room. So, resolved, I open one of the boxes and come across a volume entitled The Man Who Built San Francisco by Julian Dana, New York, The Macmillan Co., 1936. Amazingly, chapter one entitled "Five Tons of Gold" begins with this story:

He had a way of doing the unexpected, the spectacular, had Ralston. Neither he nor the city he loved were formalists--theirs was a vital flavor, episodic and restless and unserene. Events, then, plucked by chance from the life of the man and the city may disregard pattern, may even seem to open a book's middle pages for beginning. Both the man and the city were like that--midway in sweeping action before their plans had well begun.

It was a late September afternoon of 1869 in San Francisco. In the Cashier's office of the Bank of California a handsome, slim-hipped, six-foot man sat at ease on a massive morocco-covered oak chair, his arms resting on a massive morocco-covered oak desk. His hazel eyes were smiling, his thick brown hair fell smoothly back over a broad forehead. Sensitive lips with an almost sensual fullness showed a whimsical upturn at the corners. His posture gave slight hint of the two hundred pounds of athlete's body that would bulk if he chose to rise.

Sitting before him, hunched forward in another oaken monstrosity, sat another man. He was lean, idea-driven Asbury Harpending, southern hotspur who had once planned to plunder U. S. gold-ships leaving San Francisco harbor during the Civil War. His too-handsome face was attent, puzzled. He was listening to the clipped yet flowing voice of the man behind the desk.

"If things go as they are," the slim-hipped man was saying, "every bank will be closed tomorrow afternoon. Not one of us can stand a half-day's run--we'd go down in a heap. Then we could look for hell to break loose." He paused.

Harpending nodded.

"But we can't let that happen." The smile never left the face of the man behind the desk. "But it will if I don't get a million in coin into the vaults tonight. That's where you come in, Harpending. I need you--you and Maurice Dore. To simplify matters I'll let you get in touch with him. Meet me here at one o'clock tonight. Wear old suits--you'll have plenty of hard work ahead of you!" His laugh had a boy's ringing spontaneity in it.

Harpending grinned in spite of his puzzlement. He asked no questions. "We'll be here," he promised briefly.

As he went out the California street entrance of the bank his thoughts held a question mark. "How did Billy Ralston do it this time?" Even as well as he knew the dynamic fellow of the oak chair he had doubts. . . .

The midnight stars were bright over the city, so bright indeed that the gas-lamps showed half-lidded eyes, weary of watching a more lustrous display. Tang of the sea was in the breeze that wandered through the town. Footfalls were few, noises infrequent. Indecorous echoes from bagnios on Pacific and Dupont streets were muffled in the inertia of the night. Through the sheen and shadow marched Harpending and Dore to their rendezvous. They were full of an awareness of crisis, of imminent hazard in the city's existence. Paunchy, swift-spoken Maurice Dore was puffing at his companion's side before they had traversed three blocks.

A few feet from the northwest corner of California and Sansome they halted. They were standing before the imposing Italian bulk of the Bank of California, heavy-walled financial dictator of the Pacific Coast.

"We're early," said Harpending, "I hope Billy's about."

Inside, at this unbusinesslike moment, they caught a glimmer of advancing light, saw its pin-point come to a pause, blot out. Then the great door swung open and two shadows came out, their boot-heels clicking down the bluestone steps to the level way.

"Bully for you, gentlemen," said Ralston. "You're more than prompt. Let us see what an early morning walk will do for us."

Harpending fell into step with the banker; Dore and the more deliberate bank Secretary, Stephen Franklin, brought up the rear. Dore noticed that the immaculate Franklin's usual black silk hat, silk stock, and ivory-headed cane were missing. The Secretary was dressed for the nameless task ahead.

They walked briskly. No one followed or passed them, not even an inquisitive policeman (!!!!-editor's comment).

"Somebody could put this town in a hack and cart it off," grumbled Dore. "What a police force!" (!!!!-imagine that!!!-editor's comment)

Ralston's eyes rode over the silvered outlines of the town. "They have their instructions tonight, Morry," he said.

The walk was short. Their course led them to Montgomery, between Sacramento and California streets. The outlines of the U. S. Sub-Treasury loomed before them, the Federal treasure house where Uncle Sam's hoard of golden coin lay in security (indeed!!!-editor's comment).

"The Sub-Treasury!" Harpending gulped. He had only suspected before. "But listen, Billy! General Grant has ignored your telegrams--he's forbidden an Sub-Treasury exchange of coin for gold bars! How in Solomon's name do you expect--"

They had halted before the grilled door. "There's fourteen million idle dollars in here," said Ralston easily. "We need some of it to protect public and private interest--right now. And I think we'll get it."

Inside, at that moment, a light glimmered.

"I'll only be a moment." Ralston stepped to the door, put out his hand, swung the barrier inward. The trio stared with a certain expectancy. Then the door closed. . . .

If the watchers gave a fleeting thought to Jay Gould's fantastic "gold corner" premium on California gold--yellow metal that had lately fled to New York as if it had wings--no one put the thought into speech.

In two minutes the banker came out, his erect figure almost stooped under the weight of several canvas sacks.

"Take them to the bank," he ordered. He was chuckling. "The clerks there will give you something to bring back." Behind him, in the darkened doorway, unseen by the outside three, stood General O. H. La Grange, superintendent of both the branch U. S. Mint and the U. S. Sub-Treasury.

Back through the night toiled the soon-perspiring carriers. No mistake about it, the sacks were heavy. Dore was soft; he grunted and puffed with each step. Harpending was under thirty and hard as nails physically. Even the older Franklin stood the ordeal much better than Dore.

Each time the laden three returned to the Sub-Treasury with an exchange offering they found a jovial Ralston mounting guard over a seemingly inexhaustible supply of sacks lying on the sidewalk. . . .

The hours had hesitant feet. Each trip from Sub-Treasury to bank, and return, became a test to the exhausted trio. Dore could hardly stand--in fact, in later years, he remarked ruefully that he never fully recovered from the strain of "carrying gold around". Harpending recalls Dore "as having a swayback appearance for a month."

No one interrupted them. They met or passed no one. It seemed as if they were, in those hours, the only inhabitants of the town.

Five tons of the precious stuff they transported. Dawn came before Ralston was entirely satisfied--it was a grudging gesture when he signaled a halt to his tottering aides.

A bully night's work, gentlemen!" he congratulated. "Now for breakfast at the Old Owl Cafe."

The thankful three plodded creakingly away after him. After the meal he sent them home in hacks. Still fresh, Ralston went back to the bank.

It opened promptly at the usual hour, a mob in front of its metal portals continually growing more noisy. Long, loud lines began to string out from the tellers' counters. Rumor had it that Ralston had loaned large sums to the Central Pacific to aid its cross-country mileage race with the Union Pacific--other whispers spoke of the millions he was "throwing into worked-out holes on the Comstock." Certainly other millions had been prodigally loaned to merchants and corporations of the Pacific Coast, none of them too solvent, the grapevine muttered. That Jay Gould had already celebrated his "Black Friday" in New York meant little in cause and effect to the milling depositors about the Bank of California counters.

As the lines grew almost abusive, Ralston appeared, looked displeased.

He frowned at his clerks, some of them sleepy and dull-eyed. "Why are so many of our customers kept waiting on a busy day?" he demanded. "Put more tellers on duty and have your coin on hand!"

More tellers rushed up to the line of counters. Miraculous trays heaped with new-minted U. S. Sub-Treasury coins came sweeping up from the vaults, ten porters carrying heavy loads. The noisy serpentines of money-seekers looked their fill upon the sight, began to fade sheepishly away. In thirty minutes deposits were being made, only ordinary withdrawals being visible.

A breathless man rushed up to Ralston as he was about to enter his office, "There's a run across the street!" he yelled. Then bolted out. Ralston was on his heels.

In one minute he was mounted on a discarded drygoods box, his ringing voice catching the attention of the crowd fighting its way into the other bank.

"This bank is sound, gentlemen!" he called. Then sank his tones conversationally, all the Ralston magnetism in his smile. "If you doubt its ability to pay bring your books across to the Bank of California and I will pay you off there."

The crowd listened, melted away. "If Billy Ralston says the bank's all right, it's all right," ran through the subsiding gathering.

Off the wooden box stepped the speaker, went back to his office.

End of a story which took place in 1869. . . . . . .

Let's flash-forward to the gold antics of 2011. . . . . . . Does all this make Banker Billy Ralston's machinations look like child's play?

And you thought fractional reserve banking was practiced only with paper money????

Here are some posts from the Gold Anti Trust Action Committee website and a few links off from them that I thought fit nicely with the above story. Seems somehow, bankers just can't get over the idea, stated so beautifully transparently by Billy, "There's fourteen million idle dollars in here. We need some of it, to protect public and private interest--right now." Yo!!!! Foxy Billy!!

"There's a vault with gold somewhere---but whose vault and whose gold----"

http://www.gata.org/node/10372

"How Exchange-Traded Fund GLD lets you pretend to own"

http://www.gata.org/node/10366

James Turk-Free Gold Money Report--"The Fractional Reserve Aspects of Gold ETFs"

http://www.fgmr.com/fractional-reserve-aspects-of-gold-etfs.html

Murray Rothbard on Fractional Reserve Banking

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/frb.html

I am particularly interested in Murray's reference to the moral or ethical questions raised in this practice of fractional reserve banking. And the ignorance and/or complicity of the American people in this scheme, which is most likely taking us, nationally and worldwide, into a very bad situation.

If we are talking moral or ethical questions, my question would be is fractional reserve banking against the standards of the Bible?---Is it against Biblical law? If it is how can we expect not to be judged for it?

Trying out SyntaxHighlighter

2011-07-07T10:43:00.000-07:00

I'm trying out SyntaxHighlighter. Let's try it with some Perl Code:

use warnings
use strict

sub main {
  # your code goes here
}

main( @ARGV );

The directions at http://www.cyberack.com/2007/07/adding-syntax-highlighter-to-blogger.html seemed to work.

I can't figure out how to get the script tag to work, but I don't plan on posting much HTML, so I'm just going to go with pre. Also, the toolbar, and line highlighting disappeared in version 3.

Now I should publish some of my Perl ramblings.

John getting down with his bad self on the drums

2009-09-24T22:35:00.001-07:00

Hey John!
Give me a beat!

Love the smile!

Plan 6 From Nowhere

2008-12-04T09:15:00.000-08:00

"What is that?"

This question starts an adventure leading to mortal conflict with the fate of the world in the balance.

Plan 6 From Nowhere from Peter Wilson on Vimeo.

Once I learned how to play with iMovie for John's Amazing Grace video I wanted to do something a little more involved.

Well here it is. Enjoy, and let me know what you think. Do you want to see more Wilson family theater? (Yes, I'm fishing for encouragement.)

Logical Irony

2008-11-24T14:37:00.001-08:00

  Al: You act as if the rules do not apply to you.
Kurt: The rules don't apply to anyone.
  Al: WHAT!
Kurt: Do the rules apply to you?
  Al: Well ... 
Kurt: No. The rules don't apply to anyone.
  Al: That's ridiculous! The rules apply to everyone.
Kurt: That's true.
  Al: But, you just said the rules don't apply to anyone.
Kurt: That's true.
  Al: But, that doesn't make any sense!
Kurt: No, but it is true.

Amazing John

2008-10-17T16:44:00.000-07:00

John just learned to sing Amazing Grace. Enjoy!

John sings Amazing Grace from Peter Wilson on Vimeo.

The lyrics:
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That sav’d already come (a wretch like me!)
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Twas grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace ... when we've begun (will lead me home).
... home

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining like the sun,
We've no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when WE FIRST BEGUUUUUN!

Pseudologia fantastica

2007-03-06T17:20:00.000-08:00

Apparently Pseudologia Fantastica is a term for compulsive lying.

The characteristics of pseudologia fantastica are: (1) the stories are not entirely improbable and often have some element of truth; (2) the stories are long lasting; (3) the stories are told for internal psychological reasons rather than external gain, and tend towards presenting the person in a good light, eg as being fantastically brave, knowing or being related to many famous people etc; and (4) they are not delusional: upon confrontation, the person can acknowledge them to be untrue.

Wow! talk about hitting close to home! Now I want to change the name of this blog.

Too much fun with PikiPimp

2006-12-15T09:54:00.000-08:00

We'll see how long they host that photo.

More things to do.

2005-08-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

Current list of stuff I'm interested in looking at on my iBook:

I'm pretty confident MacTheRipper will do what I want, not as confident about NeoOffice. Google IM is just a curiosity at this point.

Any comments or suggestions would be welcome.

Now I can do this in my pajamas

2005-08-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

First off I have to say I love my wife. I really don't deserve her. Really. She is to good for me. I know you guys are all sorry I got her first. Why am I so enamored with my wife you ask? well...
This post was composed sitting in my living room on my new 14 inch iBook! I am so exited. Harry Potter and Sorcerer's Stone is on the TV. Hopefully I will be able to post from the living room more often. Previously I had to go upstairs to the computer and be away from my family. Now we can spend time together and I can indulge my geek tendencies.

Current Status

2005-06-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

According to the essay Ten Things You Can Do Today to Jump-start Success we should re-write our goals every day. Well, I'm not going to do that here but I have wanted to use this blog to keep track of the things I am doing. So, today I am going to treat you to a copy of my todo list.

Create the config and control block diff data I promised Becky.
Finish exercises from section 2.1 of Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) Exercises 2.13 - 16.
Work on the broach candidates study.
Do wrist physical therapy exercises
Work on "The space of solutions ought to be continuous in the space of problems." blog entry.

While I'm at it here is a list of books I'm reading ,or planning to read, and my current status.

SICP [Section one of chapter two; out of five chapters, and 22 sections (I have personally done every exercise up to this point)]
The C++ Primer [Finished three chapters of eighteen (I am doing just a few of the exercises)]
The C++ Programing Language [I have read up to ch. 18, but I keep starting over. Currently in ch 14 of 25 (I am doing just a few of the exercises)]
Higher Order Perl [I don't have a copy of this yet. Hint, hint.]
The Global Positioning System and inertial Navigation [Reading chapter two of seven]
National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual [Ugh!]

Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated

2005-06-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

Not that there were any rumors, but I haven't been posting as much as I'd like.

The Man is keeping me down! They blocked my web access access to Blogger from work.

I posted the last post using the e-mail interface to blogger. I sent the post using my Gmail account using the plain text format. I think that is what caused the strange line wrapping in the last post. Since I didn't like the funky line wraps and I couldn't use the blogger interface to get rid of them I didn't post anything for a while. (No, posting from home is not an option for reasons too complicated to go into here)

Now I am still using my Gmail account but I discovered the rich text option. I think that might overcome the line wrap problem. So I am writing this post to test if it does.

Sorry to waist your time.

Update: I fixed the line wrap problem in the previous post using the blogger interface from home.

Thoughts on organizing

2005-02-19T15:28:00.000-08:00

I'm cleaning up my office here at work. I'm a "knowledge worker" so I accumulate a bunch of "knowledge" (notes, paper, documents, filesetc.) and they tend to accumulate in piles on my desk and floor.

The sedimentary effect of a pile of papers can be quite interesting. If there is a pile that has built up for several months or years the recent papers are on top and as I dig deeper into the pile I dig further back in time. There is a strange cross of archaeology and This-is-your-life while I clean my office.

There is a progression of states I go through as I dig down into a stack once I get past the era currently stored in my short term memory. The first state is the, "what the hell is this?", state. This occurs when I pick up a piece of paper that that I swear I have never seen before. I wonder "how did this get in here? Why is this in here? I had nothing to do with this." After staring at the document for a few seconds the fog of memory pulls back and I remember "Oh, yeah I worked on that with Dave. He was wondering if the frequency of the frob-nitz was dependent on the thickness of the thing-a-ma-bob." Then comes the realization, "Hey wait a second! I wrote this! This was a memo to Charley describing the unintended dependency of the frequency of the frob-nitz on the thickness of the thing-a-ma-bob. Look, there is my name on it!" Then comes depression. "This was only six months ago! I worked on this study for at least a month. I spent a week alone trying to figure out how to correlate the frob-nitz frequency to the thing-a-ma-bob thickness. What else have I forgotten! Am I getting senile. I am getting too old!" Luckily this doesn't happen for every document but it does happen more often than I like, and it happens more frequently the deeper I dig into the stack.

Some of the people I work with have an office full of "knowledge stalagmites". I don't know how they can work that way. If I have more than four or five piles that are more than two feet thick I haveto go through and weed out the junk, or my desk becomes useless.

Weeding out the junk, of course, requires deciding what to throw away and what to keep. I keep things based on the probability of using it in the future. If I am pretty sure I will never need a tidbit of information again; In to the round file it goes. If I am positive I will need it again I have to keep it and figure out a new place to put it. (Sometimes the new place is the foundation of a new stalagmite, or an extension to an already existing stalagmite (This disrupts the implicit chronological information of a stalagmite, but archaeology isn't an exact science anyway)) Most of the information I have falls some where in between "I will need it", and "I won't need it", and requires a judgment call. For the older things the decision is easier that for the newer things. I have a better sense of whether or not I will need older documents. Sometimes they have entered into a formal document tracking system and when I need them I can get them from there, so I can throw out my copy. Other times the whole project has been scrapped, and my notes don't amount to a hill of beans. In these cases I am pretty safe throwing the stuff out. The newer stuff is trickier. Will a project that has been put on hold ever restart? Will there be a problem with or a question about the changes I made to the doohickey project, so I will need this piece of information? Newer information frequently ends up as a new stalagmite. Older information that no one else has or frequently used reference information gets filed for the future.

Another rule of thumb that I use to help me justify throwing out a piece of information is:

If I can't find this when I need it, it is worse than not having it at all.

My rational for this is as follows. I am pretty good with computers. Computers are pretty good at generating information and data. If I am not careful I can bury myself in information, and none of it will beuseful because none of it will be accessible. In the end the only useful piece of information is the information in my hand. When I want a piece of information that I know is stored in my stalagmites I have to dig through all the other pieces of information looking for the one I want. The "what the hell is this" process described above happens during this search and distracts me from what ever it is I'm trying to do. The worst case is the flip side of the "what the hell is this" process. I need a piece of information, and I don't know I already have it in one of my stalagmites. I have to go through the whole process of creating it again. Some times I remember "hey! I've done this before" and then I remember the information I am looking for is in my stalagmites. Other times the absence of a piece of information completely stops an activity and with so much else going on something slips through the cracks. Later, when I'm cleaning my office I stumble on the piece of information and go through the "what the hell is this" process with the added state of "Oh I'm a doofus! This answers the question Phil had about the whats-a-ma-giger."

Now I'm all motivated to clean my office. So, I guess I better get back to it. Oh wait, it's time to go home! Imagine that! I'mprocrastinating cleaning my office until tomorrow!

2005-01-18T21:24:00.000-08:00

Well here is a picture of me with my boys.

My fourth annual 29th birthday

Hey this picture stuff is pretty easy! I like it!

First Picture post

2005-01-18T21:13:00.000-08:00

Here is my first picture post to the blog.

I mentioned using hello and picassa to post pictures to my blog, well now I've done it!

Lightsabers in hand

Atop the lush hilltop the jedi take a moment to catch their breath, refocus on the force and survey the battle unfolding before them.

WOW! Apple has really done it now!

2005-01-11T11:25:00.000-08:00

Can I please please please have one of these. Please!
I am so in LUST it hurts.

My favorite quote is near the bottom of the web page on the right.

Perfect for Programmers
Set a space-saving Mac mini atop your workstation PC and add a KVM switch to share keyboard, monitor and mouse. Mac OS X includes free developer tools for Mac, UNIX and Java. Test out a Mac version of your latest creation, instantly. Pretty soon you’ll be using the Mac full-time, with that PC relegated to the testbed.

OH! don't I wish!

Right now the lowest price computer at Dell.com is the Dimension 2400 for $449. Just $50 dollars cheaper! To be fair, the Dell does include a mouse monitor and keyboard, worth around $150. However, with a $40 KVM Switch you can use the keyboard mouse and monitor you already have (you do already have a computer don't you) !

Happy New Year 2005

2005-01-04T13:32:00.000-08:00

Last year I posted fifteen blog posts. Fifteen posts per year was much less than I hoped I would post when I started this blog. So my blogging new years resolution is to post at least once a week. There should be fifty two new posts here by the end of the year.

I think this is attainable because I have changed the way I think about this blog. When I started I planned to write stuff the world, or at least a couple hundred people(what's the difference really), would read. Now I'm pretty sure absolutely no one reads this. So it's actually rather private (in a public sort of way). When I first started reading and writing blogs I thought there were very few blogs so I thought my blog would constitute a non-trivial part of blogdom. But there are a billions of inane, narcissistic blogs out there. So now pseudologic will be just one more of trite blog lost in the sea of trite blogs.

This change of perspective is good because it allows me to be as useless and conceited as I was before, but only more so, specifically more frequently.

The upshot of all this is I will be practicing writing in a "public" place more often. And really, that is the reason I started this blog in the first place.

I also plan to write quicker and revise less. Some of my previous posts took a couple of hours to write. I now plan to write and publish the majority of my posts in less than half an hour.

So, dear reader, your part in all this, if you exist, is to expect a drop in quality equivalent to the increase in frequency.

Uh-oh! I think I just commited to posting more frequently once again.

Trouble adding posts lately

2004-11-06T04:29:00.000-08:00

The "kind" folks who administer the firewall, or proxy, or web filter, or whatever, here where I work have severely hindered my ability to post to this blog lately. Some times I get through and get something back, and some times I don't. When I don't get through the display a page indicating that I am blocked from that site. Other times I get some things back but It looks like I'm not getting a CSS style sheet or something because the pages render like they are plain old HTML. Blogger has a great web interface and sometimes It seems like part of the interface is blocked and part off it isn't.

Well Blogger also has the ability to post via e-mail. So I'm trying that with this post. We will see if it works.

Paul Graham is my hero.

2004-09-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

His latest The Age of the Essay is a wonderful explanation and example of his style of writing. Most of his writing while technical is incredibly easy and fun to read. I think this essay explains why.

I'ts an essay about essays as only a lisp hacker could write it, obliquely self referential and reinforcing.

Diet Air?

2004-08-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

I just saw it in the cafeteria. It's a beverage called Diet Air. It's got Ginseng and Guarana!

That is wrong on so many levels.

Anouncing Ruth Elaine Wilson!

2004-07-08T22:48:00.000-07:00

She was born this morning at 8:28 AM by cesarian section. She weighed in at 10 lbs. 3 oz. Bigger than both her brothers. She was 21.5 inches long, which is just a hair shorter than her brothers.

So now I have two boys and one girl, the little princess.

I'ts been a long day. I'm going to bed.

Gmail me!

2004-06-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo! I got a Gmail account today! The kind folks at Blogger, which is owned by Google, who also own Gmail, offered me a Gmail account. Since it's the latest thing for the technologically elite (and I have such a burning desire to be technologically elite) I jumped at the opportunity.

So, now I have three active email accounts. My work email is running all day, but it's Microsoft exchange and outlook which I'm not really crazy about. (I think it's losing my old emails) I check my SBCGlobal email (provided with my DSL connection) probably once a month it seems to be mostly junk. I think I will try to split the difference for my Gmail account.

I think I will redirect most of my mailing list traffic to that account. I have already redirected the mail for the two Perl mailing lists I am on to that account. In fact I may re-subscribe to some other mailing lists now that I have a place to send them that doesn't belong to the company.

Work email will be for work, Gmail will be for mailing lists and social stuff, and SBCGlobal will be for junk (email for registrations etc.).

I have no idea what I'm doing.

2004-06-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

There! I said it. I feel better.

Template Tweaker IV

2004-05-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

Titles! We've got titles. Yay!

Template Tweaker III

2004-05-18T17:19:00.000-07:00

Blogger just underwent a fairly major upgrade. Among other things they now host their own comments. Cool! As of this post I am now using Blogger's comment facility instead of enetation's.

There is also a way to post pictures. I have to try that soon.

They also upgraded alot of the profile stuff. It seemes to act more like a social networking service now. Cool! It looks like I have to complete my profile now, favorite movie and such.

Apparently, I do more technical tweaking on this blog than actual posting. Oh well, Cest la vie!

WARNING! Dangerous Substance: DHMO

2004-04-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

Are you at risk from DHMO?

What can I do to minimize the risks?
Fortunately, there is much you can do to minimize your dangers due to Dihydrogen Monoxide exposure. First, use common sense. Whenever you are dealing with any product or food that you feel may be contaminated with DHMO, evaluate the relative danger to you and your family, and act accordingly. Keep in mind that in many instances, low-levels of Dihydrogen Monoxide contamination are not dangerous, and in fact, are virtually unavoidable. Remember, the responsibility for your safety and the safety of your family lies with you.

Second, exercise caution when there is the potential for accidental inhalation or ingestion of DHMO. If you feel uncomfortable, remove yourself from a dangerous situation. Better safe than sorry.

Third, don't panic. Although the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide are very real, by exercising caution and common sense, you can rest assured knowing that you are doing everything possible to keep you and your family safe.

;)

Worst Album Covers

2004-03-30T15:08:00.000-08:00

Oh, great! now there's coke all over my keyboard! And, if that wasn't enough here's more!

Template Tweaker II

2004-03-29T17:21:00.000-08:00

I needed to actually write some code today and see it do something, so I decided to make some changes to my layout here.

I have been planing to move the archive list to the right for a while. So, today I just went and did it.

I also added the Firefox button on the left. I highly recommend using Firefox as your default browser, especially if you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer. Tabbed browsing will change the way you surf the World Wide Web forever. I don't even remember how I got by with out it.

I'm reading The C++ Programing Language by Bjarne Stroustrup and I was getting sick of the theory and wanted to produce something. I have been trying to get through this book for about two years now. I have now read more of it than ever before. (I have to start from the beginning every five or six months because I get distracted for two or three weeks and when I come back I don't understand what I'm reading if I just start where I stopped.) So far, I understand objects inheritance, polymporphism, etc. I am currently wrestling with templates. They seem simple in theory, but I don’t completely understand how the function overloading resolution is done. With all the argument/type conversions and function overloading I have trouble reasoning exactly which function template will be called by a given function-argument configuration.

A Steamy Anecdote

2004-03-23T21:59:00.000-08:00

Tonight Luke and Elijah discovered the wonderful effect of steam on the sinuses. In the bath Luke was blowing gobs of snot out of his nose and Elijah was wiping them off and setting them adrift in water. He would float them around in the water a little then pull them out and play with the stringy muck on his fingers then set them adrift again and get fresh snot from Luke. They had quite a little flotilla going before I stepped in and stopped the mucus production.

Write More!

2004-02-10T12:38:00.000-08:00

In Joel on Software - Painless Functional Specifications - Part 1: Why Bother? Joel writes:

Staring at a blank screen is horribly frustrating. Personally, I overcame my fear of writing by taking a class in college that required a 3-5 page essay once a week. Writing is a muscle. The more you write, the more you'll be able to write. If you need to write specs and you can't, start a journal, create a weblog, take a creative writing class, or just write a nice letter to every relative and college roommate you've blown off for the last 4 years. Anything that involves putting words down on paper will improve your spec writing skills.

So, that's why I have a blog. That's why I only feel a little bad about writing about non-work things at work. I just need to do it more.

He Learned Me Good.

2004-01-05T17:45:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to put a book mark here for The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher, by John Taylor Gatto. The introductory comments note that you should set your irony detector to the on position, and I second that remark. I agree with most of what he says but disagree with some of the conclusions he draws. Notice that schooling and education are two different words and I think Gatto draws the distinction between the two quite well.

In other news... Elijah gets to keep the third tooth. There is a chance that it will move back to a normal position, and he will just be missing the two teeth he already knocked out. Unfortunately, there is also a chance that it will fall out, or it may get infected and have to be removed later. He has an appointment to go back to the dentist in two weeks.

Introducing 2004

2004-01-04T22:26:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been one hell of a year so far!

It started about two hours before midnight on New Years Eve. On the walk way into Cris' condo Betsy fell down a set of two steps she didn't see, and twisted her ankle. We stayed at Cris' to celebrate the New Year and had a pretty good time hanging out and playing Risk. We left at about twelve fiteen. On the way home we decided that since we were up, and the ankle looked pretty bad, we should go to the emergency room to make sure everything was ok. In the waiting room we sat next to a little girl with a broken arm who had been waiting for three hours, and still hadn't been admitted. With a wait that long we decided we could go home and get some sleep and come back the next day.

That night Grammy had offered to stay at our house with the boys so we could stay at Grammy's and sleep in after our revelries. When we arrived at Grammy's we noticed that the neighbors were still up and playing cards, and we thought we would go in and show them Betsy's swollen ankle. When they saw her ankle they immediately insisted on applying a Witch Hazel poultice. Applying the poultice took a few minutes and then they invited us to play cards and have some snacks with them. Minutes turned into hours and when we finally left to go to bed it was four AM. The Witch Hazel poultice worked wonderfully, and we decided not to go back to the emergency room. Today, four days later, the ankle is almost as good as new.

Our mistake was not completely disinfecting our selves after leaving the emergency room, or even washing our hands before we had snacks with the neighbors. The afternoon of the first Betsy and I came down hard with the flu. I was able to take TheraFlu to treat my symptoms but because she is pregnant Betsy could only take Sudafed and Tylenol. The flu wiped us out for the first and the second of the year. By the third I was a little better but Betsy was still having trouble getting out of bed. This morning, the fourth, we decided we would try to keep both boys at home and see if we could cope. Elijah had been spent the first and second at Grammy's.

Everything seemed to be going OK until naptime. Mom and Dad were wiped out, but the boys weren't quite ready for naps. I collapsed into bed and immediately fell asleep. Betsy was resting and reading on the couch when I fell asleep.

Apparently both of the boys got out of their beds at different times and Betsy had to put them back to bed. Luke finally went to sleep but Elijah tried getting up one more time so Mom had to put him back to bed. While walking thru the dinning room holding Elijah's hand Mom's sock slipped on the laminate floor and she fell down. In the panic of falling and while trying to regain her balance she forgot to let go of Elijah's hand. Elijah was pulled off balance and bumped his mouth on the leg of the dining room table. To make a long story slightly less long Elijah knocked out two of his teeth and twisted another one around enough that it will probably have to be surgically removed tomorrow.

I woke to the sound of a Betsy and Elijah crying and calling me. When I got to the dining room I saw both of them in a ball crying, and hugging on the dining room floor. I don't remember exactly what happened next but I do remember the first time I saw Elijah's tooth lying on the living room floor. I remember thinking, that can't be his tooth it has absolutely no blood on it at all. Elijah had blood all over the front of him but the two teeth were pristine white and longer than I expected.

We put ice on his gums to stop the bleeding and took him to the dentist. Grammy came over and babysat Luke while Mom, Dad and Elijah went to the dentist. (If you think Grammy is a hero, always sweeping in to help us out in a jam you are pretty close to the mark.) The dentist told us that trying to reinsert the teeth back in to the gums puts the teeth buds for the adult teeth at risk so we are better off just leaving Elijah at least two teeth light until the adult teeth grow in. We have to call an oral surgeon tomorrow to get an appointment to get the final word on the third tooth.

About thirty minutes after the whole incident Elijah was running around playing like a normal three year old. Later in the evening he was a little weepy, but Mom and I think it was because he never got to take his nap this afternoon. For dinner he wolfed down two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut up into small pieces. We gave him a tablespoon of Children's Tylenol before he went to bed but he was sound asleep long before that could have taken effect. We will see how things are tomorrow.

Old Year, New Year

2003-12-30T22:46:00.000-08:00

Did I say I couldn't get sick? Well, since I am off work this week, I guess it's ok to get sick. Just a little coughing, nasal dripping, and fatigue to fill the vacation days. Bleah.

This morning, while I was still mostly asleep, Betsy asked me if there was anything I would like to accomplish this vacation. I responded with the only thing on my mind at six thirty in the morning. "I would like to sleep in until ten AM!", I foolishly replied. She spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how this could happen. Obviously, this will never happen if I sleep at home. The boys just wake up too early. So, I have an invitation from either, my parents or her mom to spend the night at their house and sleep in till ten. Now I feel like an idiot. I'll go back to work and some one will ask me what I did on my vacation and I will reply, "I slept in until ten AM on one day!" Wow! Go me! So now I'm thinking about just what I want to do on this vacation, and realizing that I was largely unaware that there is this week here and I have no plans for it. I think I'll just spend most of this time hanging with my kids. Elijah has learned how to play the memory game (you know the game where you try to flip two cards over and have them match) and it's kind of fun to play with him.

New years for this year should be interesting. Every year when I was in college I would go to Cris' house and have probably the hardest drinkin' and partyin' night of the year. After I graduated and got married I wasn't able to go anymore but Cris continued to throw New Year parties. A couple of days a go I heard that Cris had a stroke a few days earlier. He is younger than I am. He is a bit heavy and smokes a lot, and I guess his job is pretty stressful, but I was totally shocked when I heard the news. Brian decided we should get together for this New Year. It certainly won't be an old fashioned R.O.G. party, but all the regulars should be there, Cris, Doug, Brian and I, and we probably won't drink a drop of alcohol.

A few weeks ago my parents had their fortieth wedding anniversary, and we kids completely shocked them with a surprise party. Events conspired in our favor, and they had no idea what was happening right up to the moment we yelled "Surprise!" I think my mom cried four or five times during the evening and she said that my dad was even more touched than she was. Good times! The week before the surprise party they went on a trip to Mexico. A few days after they got back my oldest sister, Molly, arrived from Minnesota for the holidays with her little boy, Milo, who is around six months old. So, they were swamped with other activities and did not notice some of the suspicious stuff we did, like take a bunch of old pictures out of the house to display at the party. To get my parents to the restaurant Molly and her husband offered to take my parents out to dinner for their anniversary. The battle to get my parents to the restaurant is an interesting tale in its self. (Molly, tell about Carol's lunch menu campaign in a comment) At the restaurant we assembled all four of us kids, our spouses and children, and seven or eight of their closest friends. Sarah, my youngest sister and her husband drove down from San Francisco without my parents' knowledge to participate in the surprise. I think everyone had a good time, and most of the credit goes to my other sister Kate who really did most of the organization and my wife Betsy who helped a lot.

When the Lights Go Out

2003-12-22T08:47:00.000-08:00

Hey, according to today's GPF comic Jeffry Darlington is a Danny Elfman fan! This is cool of course, but the sad news is the oingoboingo.com site is apparently off the net. At least some one is keeping the flame alive.

Busy, Busy, Busy

2003-12-19T17:26:00.000-08:00

Has it already been three weeks since I last posted anything? Where does the time go?

Everyone at our house has been sick but me. I can't get sick. If I got sick I'd never get enough rest to get well again. So, I don't get sick. Not an option.

In the last three weeks, Elijah has thrown up about four times. I think he has figured out how to puke whenever he wants to, so he doesn't have to eat "yucky" food. On the other hand, maybe I'm just a cold, unsympathetic father.

Work has been insane. We had about three months worth of work to do this month, and the last week and a half of this month is Christmas vacation. The plan was to bring in two new people to help with the load. So I spent the first week of the month training the new guys, and then spent about two hours every day after answering questions. In his book "The Mythical Man Month" Fred Brook's makes the great statement, "It takes nine months to produce a baby no matter how many women are assigned to the job." The point he is trying to make is that some tasks just don't breakup and process in parallel very well. Even when they do there is the problem that the amount of over head, and communication rises with the square of the number of workers but the amount of work performed rises only linearly. Therefore, in the end, adding more workers to a late project often just makes it later. I think that is what happened here this month. The copyright date on my copy of "The Mythical Man Month is 1975. It is considered a classic in the field of technical management, but I doubt anyone here has ever read it.

The holidays should prove to be equally insane. Three of the four out of town Aunts are coming for the holidays. The one I get along "least well" with is arriving at our house tomorrow with, among other things, her three-month-old daughter. It will be interesting to see how Elijah and Luke react to a baby in the house.

Speaking of babies in the house, (cue the trumpets,) we should be having our third little bundle of joy around July or August of next year. That's right, we're expecting again! I am excited, but the boys have been such a handful lately that the prospect of adding another into the mix is a little overwhelming right now. So I am coping by completely ignoring the fact. So, if I haven't told you personally it's because I'm still trying to come to grips with the situation myself.

Elijah is turning three in January and Luke is turning two in March. However, I think Luke is developing a little ahead of schedule because he is trying to keep up with his brother. So right now, we have two boys in our house who are going through the "terrible twos", and boy, are they terrible!

Let me tell you about Luke's fascination with step stools. He started out using them to turn lights that the rest of us left on, off. The first time we saw this, Mom and I thought it was so cute. He would go to the bathroom where we keep the stools for brushing teeth, pick up the one with the handle in the middle (we have three stools of varying sizes). Then, he would carry it, like a little handyman carrying a heavy toolbox, to his room. Put the stool down. Climb up and turn the light off. Then he would climb down, pick up the stool, and carry it back to the bathroom. This is a very involved process for a little boy who is not even two yet. Then, on his way back down the hall, he would realize the light in Elijah's room was on. So, he would repeat the whole procedure to turn the light in Elijah's room off. Then, since he had turned off all the lights at that end of the house, he figured he might as well turn off the hall light too. However, he wouldn't realize this until he was half way down the hall again. So, he would turn around, and head back to the bathroom for the stool, and repeat the entire process a third time. He probably performed this entire routine four or five times over the course of three or four days. Then, Elijah, who doesn't need a stool to reach the light switch, caught on. Whenever Luke decided it was time to turn a light off, Elijah would notice that he had gone to the bathroom and brought back the stool, and while Luke was climbing onto the stool, would walk over and simply flip the light switch off. As you can imagine, this did not go over well with Luke. Like a good boy, he would still haul the stool back to the bathroom but he had been robbed of his chance to switch the light off.

I can hear you thinking, "But, he's using the stool to turn lights off", and "At least he is returning the stool to the bathroom, and not just leaving it lying around like Elijah would". These things are true, and like I said we thought it was cute and wonderful. But, that was just the beginning. Now Luke just goes and gets the stool for anyting he is just not tall enough to do. Using the stool Luke has extended his reach by a good two feet, (he grabs the largest stool whenever he needs a little vertical assistance). Now he can reach tables, counters, cupboards, etc. that even Elijah has never gotten into. I didn't realize that there was so much stuff in the house that we just put up where the kids couldn't reach it. We used to think that stuff on the dinning room table was safe from the kids. Not anymore! The medicine cabinet in the hall, he has already been in it (hopefully the whuppin he got will deter him from going in there again). The pile of bills on the dinning room table? He thinks they're chewing gum! The vitamins on the kitchen counter are candy to Luke.

I think the source of the terrible twos stems from the fact that, as parents, we count on the fact that there are things that infants and toddlers just can't do. For example, reach high things. So we let them do the things they can do while protecting them and the fragile stuff by just making it impossible for them to get to the trouble. But, these stinkin little guys are constantly growing, and learning, and what they couldn't do yesterday is now the skill du jour.

Eventually they learn the skills to overcome the barriers we put between them and the dangerous/destructive things they want to do. Then the struggle really begins, because at this point the only thing between them and grabbing the butcher knife off the counter, for example, is their little underdeveloped conscience. You could put the knife in a cupboard, eventually they'll just find it. You could put it up higher, but they'll just climb higher (this obviously carries risks of it's own). You could put locks on all the cupboards, but they figured out how those work on the lower cupboards months ago. It's an abilities arms race, and in the end the child must learn that there are things that they can do, but should not do. This is the struggle.

Self-control is difficult enough for adults who have been "practicing" it all their lives. At around two years old, I think every person is introduced to the concept of self-control for the first time. Up to this point, the little sponges have been soaking up skills at an amazing rate, and we have encouraged every new skill. They are born explorers and up to this point, we have been encouraging their exploring nature. From their perspective, the only limits on exploration are their abilities. We removed all the trouble spots. Removed them so well the poor kid did not even know they existed. Now it's getting harder/impossible to remove the trouble spots, and the little guys just have to learn self-control. The arms race could go on until all the cabinets require two hands to open and slicing up an orange requires a trip to the garage for the ladder. Eventually we parents just decide the kid needs to learn there are things he can do but should not. In the end the actual tipping point is really a point of convenience for the parents.

I think part of the trouble stems from us parents being inconsistent with the tipping point from situation to situation depending on what is most convenient. For example, If I'm washing dishes alone and Elijah reaches for a knife in the drying rack I might use the situation to teach him that there are things that he should not do. This will inevitably involve some tears and probably a time out or two, but slowly he will learn self-control. However, if the situation is the same except I am in the middle of a conversation with a guest, I will probably just move the knife to a place he can't reach it without even breaking the flow of conversation. With this choice, I remove the responsibility for self-control from Elijah, but there are situations where the interruptions that would be caused by a lesson in self-control are just not acceptable. Another issue with the ability to move the tipping point is the guilt I feel when I have to reprimand him and punish him when I know I could just move the knife.

Vacation! All I Ever Wanted...

2003-11-24T22:05:00.000-08:00

Well I'm back from Hawaii. (You did know I was going to Hawaii, didn't you?) Overall it was a nice trip. I have a little trouble totally enjoying vacations since I became a father. Unconsciously I compare them to the vacations I took before I had all the responsibilities of children. Without children you simply decide what you want to do on a vacation and then you go do it, subject only to time and budget constraints. With children I must consider what the children will be doing while I am enjoying whatever activity I want to do on vacation. Think I can just sit on the beach? I can't; I have to make sure the boys don't wander of down the beach, or get sucked away by the rip tide. Think I can sit by the pool? I can't; I have to play with the boys in the pool. Think I can read my book? I have to make sure the boys don't get stir crazy and damage themselves or the hotel room.

Really it's not better or worse it's just different. Vacations with kids just include different activities than vacations for adults. I think there are different vacations for kids of different ages, and as you get older your vacations naturally evolve until they are adult vacations. When you have kids it is a huge leap backwards in the vacation evolution, and that takes some adjustment.

I like to read on my vacations. Betsy, my wife, gets mad because I like to take four or five books for a one week vacation and decide which one(s) to read while on vacation. (Frequently I switch to a second book with out completing the first.) On our last one-week vacation before we had kids I think I read about 1000 pages from two different books. On this vacation I read about fifty pages from one book. The only quiet time to read was during the kids' naps, but that was also the only time to nap myself (I must have my naps while on vacation). We had two six-hour plane rides where I the only reading did was glancing through the in-flight magazine, the rest of the time was spent trying to convince Elijah he wasn't really bored out of his mind.

We were able to spend a lot of time with aunt Brandy (Betsy's sister), and uncle Mark who live about half an hour from the hotel we stayed in. Aunt Brandy stayed with us for three days and babysat the boys for a day so mom and dad could go on a snorkeling trip. We saw lava tubes, and lots of tropical fish and coral, and we swam with a green sea turtle, which was pretty cool. It seemed to be completely unfazed by people in the water with it. Apparently it is illegal to touch green sea turtles in Hawaii (so I didn't lightly touch him with just my finger, no sir, not me, uh-uh, ... , at least not after I learned it was illegal, and not before either, really! I don't know what your'e talking about!) so the turtle wasn't afraid of us.

In other news: I will be receiving my master's degree in Applied Mathematics from Cal State Fullerton on January fifth. Yay! Apparently I passed the writing proficiency test.

Pseudologic?

2003-11-10T13:20:00.000-08:00

Clay Shirky has an article on a fairly esoteric concept called The Semantic Web. He makes several interesting points, as usual. However, the most interesting part for me was the following.

The people working on the Semantic Web greatly overestimate the value of deductive reasoning (a persistent theme in Artificial Intelligence projects generally.) The great popularizer of this error was Arthur Conan Doyle, whose Sherlock Holmes stories have done more damage to people's understanding of human intelligence than anyone other than Rene Descartes. Doyle has convinced generations of readers that what seriously smart people do when they think is to arrive at inevitable conclusions by linking antecedent facts. As Holmes famously put it "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

This sentiment is attractive precisely because it describes a world simpler than our own. In the real world, we are usually operating with partial, inconclusive or context-sensitive information. When we have to make a decision based on this information, we guess, extrapolate, intuit, we do what we did last time, we do what we think our friends would do or what Jesus or Joan Jett would have done, we do all of those things and more, but we almost never use actual deductive logic.

This illustrates a theory that I have held for a long time that we humans are no where near as logical as we think we are. Which raises the question why do we think we are so logical? Do we believe that if we just knew the right facts, and proper techniques, we could reason out how everything works and the universe would unfold a myriad of treasures at our feet? Or we believe that logic is the only tool for comprehending the universe and other people? I think at some level we do. I think logic has been hyped for centuries as the cure to all ills, and the above reference to Descartes illustrates how long the hype has been going on. While logic is obviously a useful tool, it falls far short of most this hype, and even in the arenas where it is useful it is often much more tedious and unwieldy than we want to believe.

The first place I heard the statement about eliminating the impossible was not from Sherlock Holmes, but from from one of his many intelecual heirs, that paragon of "space age" logic, Spock. But Spock and Holmes, are only two characters in a long line of "super logicians". Some other popular super logicians, James Bond, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and Doc Savage. Frequently we accept the "super logician" myth while simultaneously mocking it. For example Buckaroo Banzai, or Austin Powers.

Truly great logicians respect the limits of deductive logic. For example, Einstein said "Where math describes reality it is not precise, and where it is precise, it does not describe reality."

Obviously, I'm not advocating abandoning logic completely. Logic is a very powerfull tool, but it is probably one of the most misused intellectual tools, especially when trying to figure out how and why people do what they do. The biggest abuse is when we try to figure out why not everyone else thinks as "logically" as we do.

Not Bored at the Moment

2003-10-30T09:38:00.000-08:00

Wow! This looks like a huge time sink. Oh, to be 13 again and have hours to waste!

Fires Visible From Space

2003-10-29T13:39:00.000-08:00

The Nasa Earth Observatory has some cool pictures of the fires that were burning in Southern California on October 25th. You can see the huge cloud of smoke that covered most of central Orange County from the San Bernardino Fires. Brian, who owns a home in Rancho Cucamonga, just a few miles from the fires, said, "It's like living in Mordor, smoke and ash every where." My car was covered with ash, and today, when I went out side, it was covered with dew. Now my car has a nice ash clay coating. Hot investor tip for the day: Invest in southern California car washes.

Listen! ... Do You Smell Something?

2003-10-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

I said in a previous post that a constant low level of noise from Elijah is standard operating procedure. Now, since he is learning to talk, the same is true of Luke as well. Even when they are not "talking" their play involves grunts, screams, woo-woo siren noises (they both love fire trucks) or other verbalizations. Even when they are not making noise with their mouths they make noise by banging toy hammers, rolling cars on the floor, or knocking miscellaneous body parts against the furniture, walls, doorways, etc. I characterize a strange phenomenon, which arises from this constant noise, with the famous quote from King Kong. ...

It's quiet. ... Too quiet.

If I haven't heard any noise from the boys in the last 15 to 20 seconds, then chances are pretty good one, or both, are up to no good. They have a very powerful "whisper mode" which they engage whenever they conspire to break the rules.

It's not always both of them that are actively perpetrating the crime either. Sometimes, Luke will do something he is not supposed to do and Elijah will stand across the room watching Luke, not actively participating, but stock still. Elijah is never, at any other time, still; even in his sleep he thrashes around. Most of the time, however, when it's silent they are both: taking brushes and makeup out of the bathroom drawer, or playing with the toilet paper, or pulling all Luke's diapers out of the changing cabinet, or throwing toys out the window into the planters, or taking everything out of Dad's wallet, or unpacking a toy that is supposed to be a gift for one of their friends, or filching granola bars from the pantry, or smearing Desitin on each others faces, or ...

It is strange, the noise from them is so constant that no matter what I am doing any extended silent period instantly, almost subliminally, triggers the thought, "What are the boys doing?" and nine times out of ten they are doing something they know they are not supposed to do. The other night I was washing the dishes, and thinking about some issue from work. Suddenly, I realized the subliminal silence-timer had timed out. The boys had been too quiet for too long. After rinsing my hands, I went to the living room and found Luke "changing" the DVD in the player.

I wonder if/when they will figure out that, when Daddy is watching them, if they could just continue the steady stream of noise, most of their crimes would go unnoticed for much longer?

So often, when watching the boys, I just wish for some peace and quiet, but the instant the noise stops I get suspicious. It's quiet. ... Too quiet.

Birthday Post Mortem

2003-10-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

Well my third annual 29th birthday has come and gone. I had a wonderful time. I thank everyone who was involved or contributed.

We had a dinner party at my parents. My Sister and brother-in-law came and brought their little girl, Zoe. All our kids played well together. Elijah only knocked Zoe over once, and it was an accident. Kate got me the bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin, so we all drank Gin & Tonics. My parents debuted a new alfresco dining arrangement. We all sat at one big table made from two of the old six-foot school tables side-by-side. We ate filet mignon, Garlic Mashed potatoes, and a pasta/rice thing (the name of which I can't remember right now) which was delicious. For desert Betsy made a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, my favorite. She decorated it with cute little frosting carrots and way to many candles.

Betsy also took me to a day at Glen Ivy Hot Springs. We did pretty much everything covered by the basic admission except the dry sauna. (It was hot enough just sitting out side.) We also did "The Grotto" which is a subterranean moisturizing treatment. My joke about half way through was, "so this is what $20 of lotion feels like." I wish we had done the grotto later in the day because, after being super moisturized I didn't want to jump right into any of the chlorinated pools and get all dried out again. The club mud was a lot of fun.

My biggest problem with my birthday is how disorganized and anti-social it makes me feel. On my birthday everyone is paying attention to me and giving me presents and making me feel great. So, I wonder if I return the favor on their birthday, or anniversary, or special occasion. I'm pretty sure I don't, so I end up feeling guilty when they celebrate my special days. I am sure the person who gets the butt end of this deal the most is my wife, but I think I overlook everyone else a bit as well. I really appreciate all the presents and time and attention, and I wish I wasn't such a social heel.

Wish List Update

2003-10-17T10:09:00.000-07:00

I got a little flak for my last entry. Apparently my tastes are too expensive. But I did link to my Wish List at amazon.com. There are several Items there that are less than twenty dollars. There is one book, True Names: And the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier, that is just a hair over ten dollars that I would really like.

This is a wish list. There is an Apple Laptop on there that is over 2000 dollars. I don't really expect anyone to get that for my birthday or Christmas.

Maybe I should have said that the only things I put on my list here were things I couldn't put on my list at Amazon. Amazon doesn't carry everything. So this list was really intended to be a supplement to that list.

Also, there are plenty of other things that would make great gifts that I did not think of. All gifts are appreciated. These two lists are intended to be a suggestion list for people who don't have any idea what I would like.

OK, enough blogging about my blog.

In recent news: Mom is at a scrap-booking day. Elijah just peed his pants, and has no clean underwear. So I'm off to do a load of laundry.

Birthday Wish List

2003-10-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

There are two blog entries here and here which list two items I would like for my birthday. But, here in one place is my one stop shopping list of things I would like for my birthday along with links to where to get them. There is also a list of books, music and miscellaneous stuff on my wish list at amazon.com.

With out further ado, here is my list, ordered from most expensive to least expensive, including the two items listed above, including descriptions.

External fire wire hard drive.
The drives I am interested are manufactured by LaCie. The 200 GB Hard drive costs around $350, and the 500 GB hard drive costs around $800. There are a couple of size steps in between. (500 GB =1/2 Terabyte!) PC World has a list of actual prices for the 200 GB drive, the 320 GB drive, and the 500 GB drive. This drive will be used to edit digital video downloaded from our video camera. So we can send you all home made videos on DVDs! The price is a little steep but the useful life time of these drives could be ten to fifteen years, especially the half terabyte.

Sony Memory stick
A 256-MB memory stick would be great, but a 128-MB would be fine too. This is so I can store more MP3s on my Clie. They sell some of these at Costco, if you want to get them there. They have them at Fry's or any computer/electronics shop. C|Net lists the 512 MB memory stick around $100, and the 128 MB Stick around $60.

A Tilley T2 Hat
This is a basic wide brimmed cotton canvas hat. The reason I want one of these is they make them in sizes larger than size 8. The web-site specifies the largest size is an 8+. Please get me the 8+ size. I don't know any place that sells this hat in this size besides the website. The price is $60 plus shipping and handling.

A bottle of Bombay Saphire Gin
This is pretty much available wherever hard liquor is sold. It should be $20 - $30 depending on the size of the bottle. I promise to share some with whoever gets it for me.

Well that's the list as it stands now. I might add things later as I think of them. This is, of course, not an exhaustive list of all the things I'd like. It's just a list of things I came up with when people have asked me what I want for my birthday.

Don't Laugh!

2003-10-09T10:03:00.000-07:00

I'm a horrible father.

Elijah (my two-and-a-half-year-old son) is cussing. I had one chance to nip it in the bud, and I failed horribly.

Here is how it happened. All summer Elijah and Luke (my one-and-a-half-year-old son) wore Velcro sandals. Elijah has become quite adept at putting on his sandals. Whenever it was time to go outside Elijah Luke and I would go to the garage, and Elijah could put on his sandals while I put on Luke's. Elijah got enough experience that he could put on his sandals in about sixty seconds, which is about how long it took me to put on Luke's sandals. So, it used to be about sixty seconds from the decision it was outside playtime, to actually being outside playing. Now, the weather is getting cooler, so Mom and I have decided that Luke and Elijah should start wearing socks and closed-toed shoes.

This Saturday I was watching the kids and we decided to go outside to play. We went to the garage door to put on our shoes, and as usual I started to put on Luke's shoes while Elijah put on his own shoes. For an adult the difference between shoes and sandals, in terms of putting them on children's feet, is negligible; however, for a two-and-a-half-year-old the difference is significant. As I put Luke's shoes on I was only vaguely aware that Elijah was becoming more and more frustrated with his shoes. By the time I was lacing up Luke's last shoe. Elijah had wedged his foot into his first shoe such that he could get it neither all the way off, nor all the way on. He had been whining, moaning and grunting throughout the entire process, but a constant low level of noise from Elijah is standard operating procedure, so I wasn't paying much attention.

The scene crescendoed with Elijah sitting on the door step violently kicking his partially shod foot up and down, and saying through his teeth in his most disgusted/frustrated voice, "Do, something with this fricken shoe!"

I think I was most shocked by the fact that even though he was compleatly mentally and physically frustrated, he was able to clearly articulate the source of his frustration. Hearing this crystal clear catharsis from Elijah, along with the precocious pseudo-explicative "fricken", was such a shock that before I thought about it I did the worst thing I could possibly have done while trying to raise a child. I burst into laughter.

Someone once told me that the key to being a good parent is not laughing at the right time. Well, obviously, I am not a good parent. Elijah thought I was laughing at his use of the word fricken, which I suppose I was. So, he immediately adopted it as his new favorite adjective. We have spent all week telling him that we don't use the word fricken, but yesterday morning, while I was getting the boys ready for breakfast, I noticed that while he was goofing around at the kitchen table he was repeating under his breath "fricken, fricken, fricken, fricken, ...". I was able to get him to stop, but I am afraid the word is now cemented in his brain, along with the knowledge of how to properly use it.

Oh well, I guess we're all learning.

Some Saphire Please?

2003-10-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

Here is another item on my birthday or Christmas wish list. I'm not really a sot, but I like to keep a bottle in the freezer just in case.

Blech!

2003-10-07T18:01:00.000-07:00

I feel like I haven't accomplished anything for a week. At work I can't figure out what I should be doing. I have a list of about 5 things that I could do, but I can't figure out which one to work on. Each one requires an investment of time and thought to get started. This in its self is not bad, but I fear I will be redirected as soon as I get in the groove for whatever project I select. So, I haven't selected a project, and haven't really done any work. I am embarrassed about this so I don't go to my manager, who has been on vacation for the last week, and ask him what I am supposed to be doing. People have come to me and asked what I'm doing or for bits of information on the various projects I am/should-be working on. Apparently I have produced adequate answers because nobody seems to notice I'm not accomplishing much.

In my spare time I am reading Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1) by Neal Stephenson [amazon.com]. I read the first third of it, and decided I needed to read it again. I'm not sure that was the best idea. I'm having trouble determining if what I'm reading is foreshadowing events I remember from the first time I read it, or if the associated event is something I have actually read this time through the book. On the other hand I think I understand what is going on much better. It certainly is easier to remember who all the different characters are. I also found the list of characters in the back of the book to be very helpful on this same point.

I just spent the afternoon reading Ftrain.com.

Time to go home.

Moving. Not Moving. Moving. ...

2003-10-02T09:04:00.000-07:00

Now here are some cool GIFs. The first one is my favorite. There are other optical illusion pages in the same site. It's a Japanese site so some of the text is in Japanese.

It's Pining for the Fjords!

2003-09-23T17:47:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen! I just downloaded and compiled Parrot v0.0.11! I am running Windows NT 4.0 SP 6. I used CVSNT 2.0.3 to download the parrot source code and build environment using the commands for anonymous access listed here. I have ActiveState Perl v5.6.1 build 633 installed. (I haven't even compiled my own copy of Perl 5 for windows, and here I am compiling Perl6!) I used Microsoft Visual C++ 6 to compile Parrot following the instructions in the file docs/intro.pod.

I ran the two PASM programs listed in docs/intro.pod, showtime.pasm, and fibonacci.pasm. Both worked like a charm! Then I read the instructions for running the test suite, and ran it. Some tests in t/src/hash really screwed up bad, I got windows error messages indicating an un-initialized pointer causing the hash_4.exe program to be terminated completely. So it looks like test 5 of t/src/hash failed. All the other tests appeared to complete uneventfully. I should look into what is causing this failure, and see if I can contribute to the Perl community.

I am so excited to use Perl 6.

A Tilley Hat Please?

2003-09-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

For any of you wondering what to get me for my birthday or for Christmas. One of these, in a size 8+, would be really nice. I would have loved to have one this weekend at the Inland Invasion.

Template Tweaker

2003-09-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

OK! Too much playing with my Blog today!

But hey, what do you think of the new layout? Just call me the template tweaker.

KROQ's Inland Invasion

2003-09-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

I went to KROQ's Inland Invasion III this Saturday. Brian came up with two tickets and Grandma agreed to watch the kids all day Saturday. It was a total blast. I never went to a festival/multi-band-concert before. Most of the bands were ok. I was most excited to see the Violent Femmes. For me they were the highlight of the show. Hot Hot Heat was a lot of fun too.

On the way home my wife, Betsy, got pretty sick with what ever my oldest kid, Elijah, had last week. This bug really opens the sluices at both ends!. Here's hoping I don't get sick as well.

Two pieces of knowledge were confirmed this weekend. First, I am getting a little old for this type of shenanigans. Second, the Violent Femmes kick butt.

Write Something. Anything!

2003-09-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

Well, It turns out I am more of a consumer than a producer. I was hoping to put something here every working day. Uh ... no such luck.

It's not like I don't have any thoughts. I just don't put them in words I think would be appropriate to publish for the world to see (like the world really reads this!). Maybe I should just get used to the fact that not all my writing is perfect (or even good) and not all my thoughts are inspired genius, and just post the drivel I have.

Dissent

2003-09-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

The Power of Dissent is an op-ed article at latimes.com which states an opinion that I have held for a long time. To summarize, it says that nay-sayers are very important for any community or organization. The article is specifically directed at NASA in the wake of the report from the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, but I think, and the author seems to agree with me, the concept has implications for every community.

However, if dissent is really a necessary part of a healthy community how do we know how much dissent is good? A group can be torn apart by petty bickering. If more effort is spent "putting out fires" than achieving the community's aims, then the dissent is destructive to the group. But, dissent can be destructive at much lower levels, Sometimes the motives for dissent, and/or the motives for ignoring the dissent, are intellectually dishonest. I think most of these cases can be detected as logical fallacies. (But really, who knows all the logical fallacies? (Maybe this is why we should learn them.))

So, the real question is how much dissent is too much?

Test Results

2003-09-15T18:03:00.000-07:00

Well I think the stupid essay went well. I'm pretty sure I passed. I was a little disappointed in myself for not being a little more ironic and cynical. I was hoping to send the message that I was not happy having to take the test. Instead I wrote some sappy chicken soup for the soul type essay. I compared myself to Ward Cleaver, Beavers Dad, and I actually used the phrase "pitter patter of little feet". Blech! The writing topic was, discuss your different "selves". Who comes up with this stuff?

I just when to lunch with an old friend. I was one of the groom's men in his wedding a year ago. I just learned that he and his wife are split up and have been pretty much since they got back from the honeymoon. I'm really bummed out. The are both really decent people. I've known him since high school. He is probably the most honest loyal person I know. He may seem a little coarse at times, (he claims to be "guarantied to offend in five words or less") but he will always talk straight with you and you pretty much always know where you stand with him.

Oh well, off to run Pilot Carrier Phase Lock Loop Bandwidth tests.

English! you must know English.

2003-09-12T17:39:00.000-07:00

I'm currently in the process of getting my Masters degree in mathematics from Cal State University Fullerton. I completed all my classes this summer and have a high enough GPA to graduate (although it was close for a while there). So I submitted to get a grad check, you knew you needed a grad check didn't you, and found out that there is a English writing proficiency test I have to take. ... Huh, I have to take an English writing proficiency test to get a Masters degree in mathematics. I felt like saying, " You know I did get a bachelors degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara. It's in my transcripts. They though my English was good enough.", but I'm too big a wimp.

So my stupid English writing proficiency test is tomorrow, (exactly how I wanted to spend my Saturday). It's a standard five-paragraph essay in ninety minutes thing. As described here. The last time I had to do this was in High School. Grr!