Month: June 2003

Just got back. Glad I saw it in the theater, but very glad I didn’t rush. Lots of action, some portentous hints, but lacked the consistency of the first one. Wonder if the November film, Matrix Revolution, will climb back to the heights of the first one.

An old friend asked for help from several rowing friends in defining ‘swing’ for non-rowers. For rowers, swing is a sensation that occurs (rarely) when the crew feels like it’s going faster than ever, while working less. My friend wanted to explain the feeling in a speech to a bunch of engineers at Intel (team-building exercise? motivational speech?). Here was what I came up with:

Swing is…
Physical evidence that everyone in the boat is REALLY thinking about the exact same thing at the exact same moment. Not a single distraction is crossing anyone’s mind… no “when is this piece going to end?,” no “did I remember to tape that show?,” no “I haven’t talked to my father in a while,” no “I’m hungry,” nothing. No stray thoughts.

Physical embodiment of unity of purpose.

The reason you lose it is because it’s so startling to feel that the swing itself is a distraction. Someone, or everyone, starts thinking about how good it feels and isn’t this amazing and “I could go all day like this” — rather than everyone single-mindedly thinking about the same thing, which is what produced the swing in the first place.

It feels like you’re doing it right. Finally, fleetingly, after months of thousands (millions?) of strokes, and untold exhortations from the coach to each/all of you, the collective crew figured it out. Knowing you _can_ do it right makes it frustrating at times that it’s so hard to do right.

I’m sure every discipline and sport has its own analog, but the required teamwork to achieve this state in rowing is particularly inspiring. I’ve had endorphin rushes in individual athletic endeavors, but never the calm physical communion of a well-rowed boat. All this from someone who hasn’t rowed competitively in five years, and not even recreationally more than three times in that period. Some things both stick with you and (maybe) earn greater respect with distance.

Two weeks ago, I finally bought a new digital camera, the Canon PowerShot S400 Digital Elph. More about that another time, but basically, it was more than time. I’ve been yearning to replace the larger, lower-mega-pixel, three-year-old Kodak for at least a year now. Imminent arrival of child #2 finally “justified” the purchase.

But what I really want is a MacOS laptop. And I’ve wanted that for even longer than a new digital camera. The price is bit stickier, though, and want vs. need grid is even harder to fill out. This G4 400MHz desktop is doing just fine, so adding the ability to surf, post, read email from the living room probably is a bit thin when it comes time to justify the purchase. Still, it will happen.

Apparently a teacher has been arrested in the UK for possession of compasses, protractors and rulers. It is claimed he is a member of the Al Gebra movement, possessing weapons of math instruction. I laughed. Someone at work sent it around.

Found this book on an unused desk at work in a pile of other books. Seemed like it might be interesting. It was, but only mildly. I finished it last night. Typical business book, written in short snippets. Published in November, 1999, and it’s noticeable… still references how CD-ROMs (remember them?) were replaced by the Internet. Give it a miss. I’ve got to read something real again.

Jon Udell on remembering the basics of what’s important in a Content Management System (CMS). Presentation he gave at OSCOM (Open Source Content Management) conference.
From slide 6: “Publishing sensibility vs. engineering sensibility. The irony: publishing is engineering.”
From slide 16: “To repeat: technologists don’t think hard enough about the nature of the effort or the kinds of rewards. The effort: inventing, evolving, and maintaining namespaces. The reward: agile information systems.”

Humor: If my work blog and this blog were more integrated, this cartoon might be even closer to the truth. I thought it was funny.

Parenthood: Few would describe me as a risk-taker, but I found myself nodding my head when reading this essay about how becoming a father really changed the writer’s behavior. I’ve been chided for not ever thinking about what bad things might happen, and it’s true that I am general optimist about my own life (I end up worrying too much about the little stuff instead). But I’m more aware of being careful now that I’m a father. Probably doesn’t make any difference in the long run.

Adrian Holovaty has been documenting his daily search to find the actual email address of those responsible for various news sites. Illuminating, both for his effort to write down why he follows certain paths in his investigation and for the lack of success he’s had to date. His most recent effort was at NYTimes.com, and while it took a while, he eventually found the information — but only after following instructions to send a blank email to a specific address, which triggered a reply email with a very detailed contact list. He found this a perfectly acceptable solution in this day and age of the spam tsunami. The cat is out of the bag at work (email addresses have been public for some time now), but maybe something to learn from here.

The largest item on our walls here at home is a map of North America, probably 6 feet square. The fun part? It’s in Cyrillic. My sister Laura brought it back as a gift (in 4 paper rolls) from her six months in Russia several years ago. It was expensive to get mounted, even without a cover, but it was worth it. I was thinking about maps because earlier this week I downloaded and installed EarthDesk, a MacOS X program which replaces your desktop picture with an updating map of the world, with various settings and projections. Very nifty program. If you’re in the market for some wall maps, try Raven Maps, which offers relatively inexpensive large maps, including the option of lamination (worth the slight extra $). Most are for the United States (state by state), but some more global options. For trail maps, I’m more of a neophyte, as I don’t do much hiking, but I like the Tom Harrison Maps, at least for California. I don’t have many older maps, but I’m always on the lookout for interesting maps. A long time ago, I worked at a Library of Geological Sciences… now there’s a home for maps!

I live with a huge Tetris fan, and it’s not Ben. Just downloaded
Trisection… we’ll see if it passes muster.