Geico Irony

Terri and I were heading out of town for a couple days since Terri was nearing the end of her two-week vacation from Allstate. I was driving north on I-680 and had just gotten over the Sunol Grade when I noticed this particular car and driver. Handing Terri my phone, she was able to take this picture (click to embiggen).



Unfortunately, you can't actually see the cell phone in his hand, but I think you get the point. For those outside of California, it's illegal to drive while using your cell phone here. I'm guessing that this guy is an adjuster for Geico who goes out and evaluates the damage (and fault) of car accidents.

Presentations

I spend much of my professional time creating and delivering presentations using PowerPoint. Most I give myself, but I also create them for sales to deliver to customers. I definitely have my own opinions about how it should be done, what makes a good presentation, etc. And this video from cnet does a pretty good job covering the basics and biggest mistakes people make.



I must admit that I am often guilty of making my bullets too long and wordy, though not compared to many people. My only defense is that customers often want a copy of the presentation, and so without my lovely speaking voice to accompany the slides, the whole thing does have to stand up on its own. Sure, a recorded and saved webinar or voice-over would compensate, but no one I know wants to sit through those more than once. And it definitely doesn't work with internal sales presentations.

I also never use embedded video--my topics do not lend themselves to it.

To the second-to-last point, "Type matters," I have this to add: Use the effing template. I cannot tell you how many hours I've spent fixing presentations whose templates have been ignored or abused. Spending the initial time to design a good template not only saves a lot of time later, but provides a consistent look to all future presentations as well. But you knew that.

Why is everyone such a wimp?

Yes, In My Backyard

Well, except I live in California instead of North Carolina. In fact, if it wasn't already a National Historical Landmark, I'd say build a new super-duper-max on Alcatraz.

Airplanes!

I also sometimes wonder what Mozart* thinks of various modern musical genres.

*Or any famous, classical, pre-twentieth century composer.

Evil, evil Smurfs

I have really grown tired of Cthulhu-based humor. Now, I won't stand on my soapbox and lament that the great horrors of Lovecraft (and many others) have been reduced to the butt of jokes. But when this post describes several new Cthulhu figures as "a Cthulhu version of the Smurfs," I think that Cthulhu-based humor has jumped the shark, gotten back to shore, and is now heading back to Milwaukee.

In my mind, if you want to do evil Smurfs, then do evil Smurfs. These guys have the right idea... well, maybe not, but they have the URL, at least. And maybe it is because I know more about the Smurfs than most men (though I would never claim to be an expert--I just know the standard Smurf trivia like how Smurfette started life as a brunette). But I'd rather see something cute turned evil (anyone remember Bert is Evil?) than something evil (or at least unknowable and indifferent to the plight of humanity as he lies sleeping) turned cute. Well, maybe you can do the evil-to-cute thing once or twice, but I think "cute Cthulhu" has played itself out.

Enough already.

Artists, Writers, and Creators

I was finally able to watch In Search of Steve Ditko. It appeared on YouTube last year but was yanked before I could watch all of it. Of course, I couldn't find it on the BBC site or broadcast on BBC America, so I turned to the the wonderful world of torrents. Overall, it is an interesting show about Steve Ditko's most notable creations (namely, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, The Question, and Mr. A). It's that word creations that I want to touch on.

In the show, Stan Lee says that he is willing to say that Steve Ditko co-created Spider-Man. However, he will not actually come out and say "Steve Ditko co-created Spider-Man" without the qualifiers. Stan's belief is that he created Spider-Man and that Steve only drew him (and plotted some stories), but he's willing to say Steve was co-creator if that would make Steve happy (which it apparently hasn't). Stan was maintaining a position that the guy who thought up a character is the creator, not the guy who implemented the idea.

In a novel, it is clear that author created the characters (ignoring shared universes and other collaborative fiction). Nor is there any debate about who the creator is in a comic that is both written and drawn by the same person, like Usagi Yojimbo's Stan Sakai. But when you have a comic that is written and drawn by two (or more) different people, where does the creation credit lie?

Despite actors talking about "creating a character"as part of their process, the ownership of a character belongs to the writer(s). Things get murky with likeness rights and such, but no one would claim that an actor created the character in any legal sense. In many ways, a comic artist is like an actor--interpreting what is in the script and bringing it to life. The artist is also the set designer, costumer, cinematographer, etc. But no one would claim the lighting director created the character.

I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that Steve Ditko created Spider-Man's outfit, and I am going to run with that notion. Though it has changed many times over the years, the iconic red-and-blue spider theme is as recognizable as the Superman or Batman logos. In fact, I'd bet that Marvel has the spidey outfit trademarked. If Steve's only creative contribution to the character was this (and I'm not saying it was), is it it enough to be considered co-creator?

As much as I might be tempted to vilify Stan, I can see his point. No one would claim that the first artist to draw Dracula or Frankenstein's monster were co-creators with Stoker or Shelley. (even though the iconic images of these characters, such as the monster's flat head and green skin, were not part of the original description). But comics are different in that the character does not exist without the illustration.

The key question is, "What percentage of the character creation process is liked to the visual expression of the character?" The follow-up question is, "At what percentage of creative input should the label co-creator be attached?" I don't have answers and I certainly don't know what level of creative collaboration existed between Stan and Steve. But I'm willing to say that they both co-created Spider-Man.

Card Games Update

One of my favorite placed to go is this Card Games web site. I don't go there as often as I used to (and it isn't updated as frequently), but I went there today and saw that it was updated less than a week ago, after a hiatus of over a year. Good times.

I like browsing different card games, but I have noticed three trends that annoy me. The game of Sheepshead, has all these features, so I'll refer to it. [The description also has the wonderful line, "Sheepshead players never play with a full deck."]

The game uses a deck of 32 cards, 8 cards in each of the four suits. Rather than simply use the cards numbered 1 (Ace) through 8, it removes the lowest cards and you play with the 7 through King, plus Ace. Why? Does playing with more face cards make people feel special?

Rather than rank the cards in the natural order, it ranks Tens higher than Kings, but lower than Aces. Statistically, it doesn't matter if you play A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7 or A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7, so why do it? I've seen this done with Jacks, Twos, Threes, and Sevens, and it doesn't make any sense. In fact, I have a suspicion (probably wrong) that that this happened long ago with the Ace (which is a 1, people!) and that's how we have so many games with Aces being high.

Many games designate a card, like Jacks or Sevens, and makes them trump, even if they don't belong to the trump suit. Sheepshead does this with both Jacks and Queens. This has the effect of adding more trump to the game, which is fine, but why take them from the middle of the ranking? Why not just say "all Aces are trump?" Kings then become high.

And really, after you've made all these changes which add nothing but confusion, you're better off just making your own special deck rather than try to shoehorn the game into the standard 52-card deck.

I have a bonus fourth annoyance, and that is for games, like Pinochle, which give bonus points when you are dealt particular cards. Woo. No skill, just pure luck.

Never Again

The last time I bought dice on the internet, I was mildly disappointed because the readability was not as good as the photograph made it appear. But it wasn't too bad, but I promised myself that I wouldn't buy dice online again.

So much for that idea.

I had been wanting to get some Gamescience dice for a while. My poor die rolling (though Brian teases me to the contrary) has been a sore spot for a couple of years now. Gamescience dice tout themselves as being fairer than other dice and they do have this whole rough retro quality to them. So, I broke down and ordered two sets online. And when I got them, I was not disappointed.

I did not buy them pre-inked because Gamescience dice have to be inked by hand and buying them pre-inked greatly increases the cost. [The inking process is the thing that causes edges to be rounded and possible inadvertant loading of the dice.] You know you can't buy a single ultra-fine Sharpie at Office Depot? I tried an india ink art pen, but it was not permanent when applied to the die. Eventually, I found the pen I wanted in a 2-pack at Longs.

While I was applying the ink, I noticed something that frankly pissed me off. The dice were numbered wrong. We all know* that the opposite sides of a 6-sided die add up to 7. Modern dice manufacturers apply that same principle to other polyhedrals. On a d20, for example, the 1 and 20 are opposite, as are the 2 and 19, 3 and 18, etc.** The Gamescience dice did not follow this "standard." While irksome, I could have lived with it. Maybe. I'm pretty anal about these things. But what really cheesed me off was that the d6 was wrong too!

I finished inking them (I couldn't just stop in the middle), and put them back in their plastic box, but I don't know if I'll ever use them. Anyone want to buy 2 sets of Gamescience dice, one white opaque, one purple translucent, pre-inked, for $10 plus shipping?

This week, I went to my FLGS***, which had a couple of sets (but not the ones I bought online, so don't go thinking I don't support my FLGS). Those sets had the d6 and d20 correct, but not the other dice. I didn't buy those, either, even if one was the cool glow-in-the-dark set.

*: And really, if you are reading this and don't know this factoid, why are you here?

**: For the d10, I accept two different methods: adding up to 9 (counting the 0 as zero) or adding up to 11 (counting 0 as 10). So, the 1 could be opposite the 0 or the 8, depending on the method used. Of course, a given die has to consistenly use the same method. Damn it.

***: Again, if you don't know what that stands for...****

****: Man, I'm being snarky. It's easy to do when you know maybe 3 people, at most, read this.

Worst Eulogy Ever

I usually try to avoid one-line posts with links to other sites (I figure you can find your own lolcats) (and I don't embed unless it's an image I created), but sometimes something hits me just right and I have to share.

Fuck the FCC

While reading of a recent case before the Supreme Court involving FCC regulations on the use of expletives, it occurs to me how idiotic it is to try to censor live television. First of all, kids hear swearwords from adults and other kids in real life. Do we really think that they'll develop potty-mouths while watching the Grammy's? Cursing is best used as a spice, not a main ingredient... that is, unless you're specifically trying to make the dish as fucking spicy as you can. People should curtail their use of harsh language and people on television should do the same. But to fine the network for broadcasting a bad word uttered by someone else is ridiculous. Otherwise, we'll have to put every single live broadcast on a delay and that is just dumb. Christ, let people say what they want and if they want to come across as dickweeds because they can't not talk shit, then it's their God damn right.

And while I'm at it, it kills me that they bleep "God" but not "damn" on television. Heaven forfend if you should take thy Lord's name in vain. Ugh.

In other news, Obama won. Yeah!
So did Prop 8 in Calfornia. *%&@$&#^!

State of Heroes II

This week's episode, Dying of the Light, helped to alleviate some (but certainly not all) of the indignation I felt last week. Certainly, Hiro's redemption should have been predicted by me, but frankly, I just didn't trust that the writers would pull it off. On the other hand, the resolution with Claire and her mom's this week was bloody obvious. I'm still not happy, but I'm not quite as disgusted as I was.

State of Heroes

Beeman's Blog talks about the episode Angels & Monsters. There are spoilers, of course, but I won't talk about specifics here. Those who have been watching this show this season will understand. In describing Hiro's unexpected choice of action, he says, "And this really comes out of nowhere in a great way."

No, it wasn't a great way. It was an incredibly stupid way. It is clear to me that the writers, directors, and producers are completely off their nut.

It has been said that the first season of Heroes was great because it represented what was great about comics. It has been said further that the second (shortened) season sucked because it represented what sucked about comics. Unfortunately, season three continues the nosedive into the abyss of suckitude.

The two primary trends that make it so bad are:

• Characters being dumb, allowing themselves to be manipulated, and simply acting out of character. Presumably, this was done purposely for the sake of the plot and not simply the result of making scripts out of fanfic. This applies to every single major character from the first season: Peter, Hiro, Nathan, Mohinder, Matt*, Noah, Sylar Gabriel, ... And Claire has just become terribly boring.

• Back stories and connections being revealed that betray any trust the audience might have had in the plot. While I appreciate the notion that anything that hasn't been revealed on-screen is fair game, it's just bad form to jerk the audience around. It's soap opera in the worst sense. Next, we'll find out that Mohinder's sister isn't really dead and has been living in a state of suspected animation by The Company on the hitherto unknown Level 14.
  

I know I should purge my Heroes season pass from the TiVo, but I can't bring myself to it. Not quite yet. But I've been up on shows far sooner for far lesser offenses.

*: Arguably, he's always been a tool.

There's your problem

Now that Clinton has suspended her campaign and has endorsed Obama, the Democratic party has an uphill battle to mend the damage caused by the primary and win the White House. Politics often takes on an us-versus-them stance that is not healthy when you have to switch horses for the final leg of the race. The following quote from this article illustrates my point:

Clinton backers described themselves as sad and resigned. "This is a somber day," said Jon Cardinal, one of the first in line. Cardinal said he planned, reluctantly, to support Obama in the general election. "It's going to be tough after being against Obama for so long," he said.

Just because you are for Clinton, it does not follow that you have have to against Obama, but that is exactly the kind of mentality that has arisen in this primary. That is the exactly the type of damage that the prolonged tooth-and-nail primary fight caused. Some of this could be avoided if the candidates spent more of their time campaigning on their own merits rather than their opponent's shortcomings. But even without negative campaigning, the electorate will still tend to polarize. I think it's human nature.

In my own case, I drifted into the Obama camp specifically because I do not like Clinton. But there is no way in hell I'll vote for McCain. In 2000, I voted Green as a protest vote against the Clinton era of selling out liberal values and principles, epitomized by the asinine "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Had I been living in Florida and not California, I might feel worse about this vote than I do. People often say that voting is a matter of picking the lesser evil. There is no doubt in my mind that Clinton would have been the lesser evil and I would have voted for her in November.

Had Clinton not been in the race, I am sure that most of those who supported her would have supported Obama. These voters need to get past the "against Obama" mindset they have been in for the past 9 months and get behind the fundamental principles that drew them to Clinton in the first place. A vote for McCain would be counter to the Clinton policies of universal health care, ending the war in Iraq, etc. And yet, there will be those who will for McCain out of spite or bitterness, just because Obama defeated their candidate. And that's what's wrong with this country: people voting on petty, pointless, emotional issues instead of actual policy.

Explain Away

This article describes a lesbian coupled asked to stop kissing in public. Here are two excerpts:

The usher, Guerrero said, told them he had received a complaint from a woman nearby who said that there were kids in the crowd of nearly 36,000 and that parents would have to explain why two women were kissing.

"I would be uncomfortable" seeing public displays of affection between lesbians or gay men, said Jim Ridneour, a 54-year-old taxi driver. "I don't think it's right seeing women kissing in public. If I had my family there, I'd have to explain what's going on."

Assuming this is a fairly accurate retelling of the story and the words said, the issue over explaining the kissing caught my attention. Two thoughts came to mind:

• Go ahead. Explain to your family that same-sex relationships are just as loving and affectionate in the exact same way heterosexual relationships do and that they can express those feelings in the exact same way.

• Deal with it. I get that you're uncomfortable with it; we encounter uncomfortable things every day.* I concede that there are limits to behavior in polite society, but I submit that they should be the same for everybody. The sentiment that "I'm ok with gays so long as they don't act gay in public" is bullshit.
  

*: I've overheard conversations while on public transit that were both uncomfortable and distracting.

Simple Question, Complex Answer

In the pages of A&E, I posed the following question to a fellow contributor:
Do you agree or disagree with the following?

"...all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."

Fearing it was trying to trap him, he refused to answer. I thought it fitting and fair that I provide my own personal answer to the same question. Actually, I have two answers, one simple and one that requires more detail.

Simple Answer
While I would not have chosen the language or wording of Mr. Jefferson, I understand its historical context and wholeheartedly agree with its sentiment and principle.

Complex Answer
If I were to rewrite the first half of the first clause, it would read, "... all people are born equal, possessing unalienable Rights..."

The use of the term "all men" must be taken to mean all people. Indeed, at the time this was written, this was not necessarily the case. After all, it was written by a slave owner. But in the 21st century, I think we can agree that "all men" includes every human and not just white male landowners.

The invocation of a Creator is unnecessary, but understandable given the time it was written. After all, the founders did not know of evolution (or DNA, nuclear fusion, etc.) and did not have the language to speak of the origin of the human race in any other terms. I just think of it as poetic license. Atheists like myself do not require a deity to dole out morality and human rights. I am perfectly comfortable saying what is right and wrong without appealing to a divine (and imaginary) authority.

Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness is also poetry. It beautifully summarizes what most of us want out of life and no one should be denied these except through their own actions. Note that Happiness itself is not a Right, but only its pursuit. And yes, some pursuits should be restricted or outlawed if they interfere with someone else's life, liberty, etc. Laws that restrict some pursuits simply because the lawmakers found them distasteful (for example, anti-sodomy or restrictive marriage laws) are counter the ideals of this founding document.

The second clause is fairly straightforward (substituting "people" for "Men" again). The purpose of government is to secure those unalienable rights we were just talking about. Anarchy (or radical libertarianism) does a lousy job at making sure people have rights. Of course, there are other functions of government ("...establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity..."), but if it can't secure the basic rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness, then it should be replaced. Which is what Mr. Jefferson and those American revolutionaries did.

Of course, there are governments that rule by force, "divine right," and/or historical momentum, but governments should be an institution created and ruled by the people it governs. That's what a (representative) democracy is all about. The Congress, President, and the Supreme Court only have power because we, the people, allow it to. If we disagree, we can change it with a vote. Or we could revolt, and some people insist on keeping that option open, but I'd prefer if we didn't.

Update for April

The project to integrate old stuff into the new format is almost complete. But I can't say I'm happy with the length of the character posts. I want an index, damn it. And not one I have to make myself. Maybe I can find a way to get Blogger to generate one.

My Argument with God is a short and sweet anecdote, though the title can be considered misleading.

I have been grooving on Google Reader.

Thanks to light rail, I've really caught up on reading. I'm caught up on my (few) monthly comics and all my graphic novels (and have been buying more). I now have to start digging into the non-fiction and novels. I may compile a list if I can work up the energy to do a 100+ word review on each. Otherwise, it's just a list, which is not very useful.

Five Years

Iraq Casualties, Iraq Costs, Iraq Numbers

Over the past 5 years, the nature of the Iraqi War has changed from overthrowing a dictator we once counted as an ally to a peacekeeping and reconstruction effort that is doing neither. As someone who has always opposed the war, it is too easy for me to point out the flaws. Unfortunately, those responsible for the mess refuse to admit either their culpability or the reality of the situation. Rather than honor our troops, the administration is stop-lossing them and leaving them at the mercies of a dysfunctional Veterans Administration. We all know how we got into this mess, the question is how and when do we get out of it? Do we continue the failed policies for another 5, 20, or 100 years? Or do we get out as soon as we can? Either choice is painful for the U.S. and Iraq. Either choice will result in bloodshed and instability. Our economy, our national security, and most importantly, our troops cannot afford another 5 years.

And I haven't even mentioned Afghanistan.

Snippets

Miscellaneous crap filling my addled brain right now.

In the age of email and cell phones (often both at once), why do some people (who have both, I know for a fact) insist on not using them?

The rush to be the first (or near the first) primary is ridiculous. And the debates are absurd. I almost long for the days when candidates were chosen in back rooms.

I'm sick of Democratics like Feinstein selling out liberal ideals. I'm sick of the leadership not leading and slapping Bush down. Though I can understand just waiting him out, I would rather see them shut down the gears of his administration (like not approving any Attorney General) than capitulate and enable.

Why aren't there more conservatives into conservation? Sustainable forests and wildlife that they could cut down and hunt for generations should appeal to them. Who's the Teddy Roosevelt of the current GOP?

I just don't trust libertarians. Not individually, but their ideals, especially the more extreme views.

World War Z is very good.

I still adore Pushing Daisies, but have given up on Bionic Woman.

I like pie.

Chris Dodd Gets It

I direct you to this post over at Huffington Post.

As an opinion piece, it is longer than I would have liked to have seen, but then, I prefer strong, concise arguments. And though it contains language and phrasing directed at his presidential candidacy, I agreed with every principle he said. In an era when the Democrats act like scared puppies, it's good to see someone standing up and speaking out. Too bad he's in the minority.

Quasi-useful Information

I learned something new today. At Barnes & Noble, if you take a book off the discount rack and scan it using the standard book bar code, it comes up with the non-discounted price. You have to scan the discount price sticker which has its own bar code.

Lying About Cheating

Despite my general misanthropic tendencies, I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. So when athletes vehemently deny doping charges, I assume they are telling the truth. Yes, I know all about the dangers of assumptions. But labs do and will make mistakes and I empathize with anyone who is wrongly accused. At most, I look at is as a "he said, she said" situation and do not automatically assume the athlete's guilt. But I'm just enough of a romantic to believe in human decency.

And yet, I'm so often shown what a trusting idiot I am. The latest is Marion Jones. How far behind is Barry Bonds? Hell, I believed Pete Rose when he said he didn't bet on baseball. People suck.

Threats upon leaving

Yesterday was my last day at Sunrise Telecom, and in the process of sending out the obligatory farewell emails, I included my personal email address and, naturally, the address to this site. One of my colleagues (who fortunately works on the other side of the continent), responded with this:

Sad to see you go.
I wish you well.
I'm sad to know that you are an atheist. Hopefully, you'll realize it before it is too late.

This bugged me, but it took me a little while to figure out why.

It's a thinly veiled threat.

Sure, it's not, "believe what I believe, or else," but it's not far. This is why religious types (I would have said Christians, but I want to be fair to everybody), especially the vocal, evangelical ones, tend to get a bad rap amongst those of us who haven't bought into their stories. It's the old carrot-and-stick: believe in this and go to heaven or don't believe in this and go to hell. Bribery and intimidation is not the proper way to spread "the truth" or to convert non-believers, especially strong atheists. [In other words, if we think you're full of shit to begin with, stuff like this only hurts your case.] When someone threatens me, my first reaction is to lash out, to fight back, and stand up for my principles rather than cower and meekly capitulate. As it was, I figured it best not to reply, especially since it was sent to my old work email rather than my sinisterthings address.

The statement also conveys condescension and pity. To these, my first reaction is usually to call someone a self-righteous bastard. Not that I did, but that's what I'm thinking now.

Most non-believers, do not go around telling worsphipers, "I hope you realize you're wasting your life," or "your god gave you a brain, use it." I certainly don't. I don't like confrontation and don't initiate it if I can help it. So, to those of you who insist on telling me I'm wrong, do it in a way that respects my intelligence, that avoids appeals to emotion, and that is more than a parting sound bite.

Lastly, this note I received mentioned nothing of our professional working relationship--the only relationship this person and I had. My original message ended with:

I wish you all the best of luck and success with Sunrise... or wherever your future travels may take you.

Every other reply that I received was encouraging, congratulatory, cordial, or at least professional--except from this one self-righteous bastard who couldn't even manage that.

Show and Tell

I get the bulk of my news from Google News, where I browse headlines and read the articles that look interesting. Similar stories are typically grouped together and you can select which source(s) you want to read. Sometimes its interesting to read two (or more) takes on the same news. Sometimes the headlines themselves are telling.

Take, for instance, these three headlines which I copied from the Sci-Tech page at Google News:

• Velociraptors Had Feathers, Bones ShowFOX News
• "Jurassic Park" Raptors Had Feathers, Fossils Suggest National Geographic
• Bumpy bones suggest Velociraptor had feathers New Scientist (subscription)
  

While very similar, notice the choice of verbs. While the more scientifically-minded journals use suggest, Fox went with show. When looking at data, there is world of difference between these two. It is the difference between "these might indicate feathers" and "these clearly indicate feathers."

Now, remember back in the build up to the Iraq war and those mobile biological weapons labs that Colin Powell shows the UN? Did those pictures of trailers suggest weapons labs or show them? If they showed them, then we would have found (or worse, faced) biological weapons when we invaded. Clearly, this wasn't the case.

Language is important, especially when trying to convey the confidence you have in your data or findings. Good scientists and analysts know the difference between suggesting and showing and will use the appropriate terms.

Idahomosexual

This is a moving reading of Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's police report.

I find it odd that the suggestive signals given by the Senator are considered lewd acts. He wasn't caught masturbating or some other act that could be considered overtly lewd. If he had verbally propositioned the undercover officer, the case would be clear. I suppose the lingering in front of the stall, peeking in, counts as on overt act, though I doubt it was a full two minutes. Was the officer looking at his watch? I wonder if the officer had actually dropped trou in the stall or was just sitting on the seat.

But the Senator's protests that he was definitely NOT GAY are perhaps the most telling. He wasn't charged with being gay. He didn't plead guilty to being gay. Of course, I'm sure that being gay would be a crime if he had his way. He plead guilty to disorderly conduct (or some such). At the very least, he was being more than a little creepy, which is bad enough. But in his mind, it's better than being gay. He's a sad, little man.

Except on Western Bacon Cheeseburgers

Good thing I never order cheese.

One Order of Phoenix, To Go

I have never read any of the Harry Potter novels, but I have been following the movies. The other night, we saw ... And the Order of the Phoenix. At first, I was struck by how much the now older Harry now resembled Timothy Hunter. Terri's comment was "when did Harry become so buff?" The film itself was pleasant enough--good, but not great--and certainly better than most fantasy genre flicks. Perhaps I am missing the nuances and greater storytelling that was left out while writing the screenplay. It feels less like a movie, and more like an episode. Since we are deep in the heart of the series, it lacks the self-contained story of most movies, even most sequels. I look forward to the last two movies and will be glad to see the end of the greater story. Terri picked up the first book and will no doubt tear through the entire series once she gets started, but I doubt I'll ever find the time to read them.

This was NOT a "God is real" event

Flukes happen. They do not prove anything beyond the notion that improbable-but-not-impossible things can and do occur. Getting lucky* no more proves that God is real than it proves the Flying Spaghetti Monster or the Invisible Pink Unicorn are real.

* I do not use the term "lucky" to imply some outside force at work, but simply to indicate the favorable occurrence of an improbable event. If you draw a one-outer on the river to win a hand, you got lucky (conversely, your opponent got unlucky).

Microtext

The attached is my take on a traditional set of alphanumeric characters using a minimum number of pixels. I even added special characters, though I punted on the asterisk and I think the pound and dollar signs are too big. The lower-case a and e were tough, and I am not completely happy, but they work. Right now, this exists only as a bitmap. I don't think its worth turning into a font, because it scales up horribly.

A Joke

Why did the robber steal a street sweeper?
Because he wanted to make a clean getaway.

So, Terri and I were on the freeway and we saw a street cleaner being pulled over by the CHP. The joke immediately jumped into my head. It's reminiscent of the jokes I read from the "Big Joke Books" I used to read as a kid. Terri postulated that every kid goes through that phase. I dunno. I cracked myself up with that joke, a) because its so bad and b) for a brief, fleeting moment, I remembered the time when I thought such things were funny. Or maybe it was because work has been so stressful, my brain just cracked. :?

Double Spaces

Of all my numerous pet peeves, one of the smaller ones are those who use double spaces between sentences when using proportional fonts. When using a fixed-width font, adding two spaces after the period is correct. But otherwise, a single space suffices and two spaces is too much. It is one of those "a computer is not a typewriter" things. I particularly do not like when I see the use of double spaces by people who should know better.

Several years ago, I had to train myself out of the use of double spaces. Now, I forget to use them when appropriate. I almost always use plain text for email (html in email is, if not actually evil, mostly pointless), yet I only use a single space. So, I am use my lack of double spaces is someone else's pet peeve (assuming anyone even notices).

On the Road Again

At work, I tell people that "All things Ethernet go through me." That is to say that I oversee all of our products designed for the turn-up and troubleshooting of Ethernet services up to 10GE. I have so subordinates and my boss does the best he can to back me up (when not working on his products (mostly SAN testing)), but at the end of the day, I'm the only product marketing manager -slash- applications engineer -slash- applications development engineer -slash- point toward which all escalated customer support issues get directed -slash- guy at whom the buck stops.

Most of the time, it's not too bad since all 5(!) of my products have a shared pedigree and related feature set. It also means that when the field needs someone from the factory to go out and visit customers, it's me. If not for my boss, I'd probably be traveling twice as much I am now. I've never as productive on the road as I can be when I'm in the office. I always dread reading email and finding out what blew up when I wasn't there to put out the fuse. I appreciate the importance of face-to-face meetings and building customer relationships, but there comes a point when its counter-productive to the sustained health of my products to not be nurturing them at home, as it were.

All this is a long winded way of saying I'm sick of airports, of lugging around a 50-pound carrying case along with my luggage and PC, of not sleeping in my own bed next to my wife (and up to 3 cats), of being up past midnight because my body thinks its not even ten o'clock yet, of flying out on Sundays despite what my personal plans might be, and of being home only 1 full week in the entire month of June.

I really do

Patrick has a dark secret

Down

I took this in a stairwell at a Marriott in Denver. Fortunately, I didn't get lost.

Technology vs. Magic BS

I cannot by into game cosmologies which pit technology and magic against one other. Now, it's one thing to say that magic interferes with electronics (because magnets and EMPs do that) or that magic attracts gremlins who like to screw up machinery, but that's not how it's worded. Rather, the statement is framed to indicate that technology (without any qualifier) is incompatible with magic. But fire is a technology. So are levers, the wheel (a type of level), pottery, written language, eyeglasses, and flatware. Magic, as used by the vast majority of games, movies, novels, comics, etc., is a technology--the tools and means of getting things done. Not only can they co-exist, but they are the same thing. Any sufficiently mundane use of magic is indistinguishable from technology.

Dots

Though similar to countless other essays and commentary on similar topics of science and religion, I like this essay on the 300 Million Year-Old Rock.

Catching Up

We saw the new Bond film, Casino Royale, Tuesday night. I was mostly bored. Several points of the plot annoyed me. The poker hands felt staged and unnatural in the way badly choreographed fight scenes do. I am not a Bond fan, so maybe this movie just isn't for me. Or maybe it just wasn't that good.

I am running a Truth and Justice campaign called Generation Zeta, based around ideas found in X-Men: Evolution and Runaways. I have a review of T&J in the December issue of A&E.

The Changeling campaign ended due to GM burnout. We all understood, but will miss it. In it's place will be a science fiction campaign based loosely on March to the Sea and using Mutants & Masterminds as the base systems since some level of psionics is expected. In preparation, I have been creating an SRD for Mutants & Masterminds. Having the PDF of the rules helps.

Lastly, some more work pictures:

Usagi with Tokagé

I was playing with my new phone at work.

I have a number of action figures (more pictures are planned) and I refuse to keep them in the original packages, but I'm very bad at coming up with creative stances for them. Anyway, that's Usagi Yojimbo facing off a tokagé.

I do not know what kind of plant that is. Linda put together a pot with three different houseplants and that was the only one to survive. One was a spider plant; yes, even though they are "easy to grow and propagate and is very tolerant of neglect", I managed to kill it.

You can also see a Powerpuff magnet. Speaking of magnets, the dolphin mobile thingy needs a new 9-volt to get running again, but it squeaks as the metal axle rubs against the plastic stand so I have not really felt the need to torment my coworkers with it.

It's probably taken

Someone recently pointed out that I should change my handle to Eeyore.

The original Eeyore is very British, embodying as he does a mixture of pessimism, stoicism, sarcasm and cynicism, all qualities common to the streotypical British character. Moreover he expresses these attitudes in dry, deadpan humour, again typically British.

Though it doesn't explain why I, according to my wife, "laugh like sissy girl."

Three Comments

Google Docs is nifty and could have some good gaming applications, but the text editor still has a way to go for me to use it consistently. Dealing with tables was driving me nuts earlier today when column widths would not do what I wanted them to do. And I could not figure out how to change the heading styles.

Terri and I have been grooving on Heroes, but the opening narration has to go. The producers need to watch Buffy or Galactica to learn how to do it right.

I gave blood today. I like it when they actually call me and remind me. I need to be nagged. I'm hoping to get into a regular routine with it. I like routines.

Aiming for a new handle

For no particularly good reason, except that I have forgotten my AIM account's password and it links to a defunct email address so I can neither ask it to send me my password or log in to change my email address, I am thinking of changing my handle on AIM (by setting up a brand new account). Incorporating (or flat-out copying) the new web site's name would make sense, but it doesn't really grab me. What usually happens in these situations is that either I get an inspiration to change something but lack the creative spark to know what I want to change it to (like now), or I get the spark and change everything only to find in the next day or two that what I've ended up with is pretty lame (like other things you can probably spot).

More Asshattery

This time, from Trent Lott

"No, none of that," Lott told reporters after the session when asked if the Iraq war was discussed. "You're the only ones who obsess on that. We don't and the real people out in the real world don't for the most part."

Way to Support Our Troops, jerk. I guess to him (and the Republican leadership), those fighting in Iraq must not be "real people out in the real world" and not worth obsessing over.

Unacceptable

President Bush: "It's unacceptable to think that there's any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective."

Because it is acceptable to kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective in Iraq.

Because it is unacceptable to think anything you disagree with.

Asshole.

Obligations

Reuters UK News Article
"Critics say the fractured nature of the open source community makes it hard for users to seek help while vendors of proprietary software are obliged to help solve problems."

Vendors are only obliged in so far as they have competition. If they have no fear of losing the business, then solving problems is not really a concern.

Me being pedantic again

So I was looking at the d20 SRD online, and I found this table for the DC of viper venom based on size.

Size	Fort DC
Tiny	10
Small	10
Medium	11
Large	11
Huge	14

This is perhaps one of the goofiest tables I have ever seen. You know I would have put the DCs at 10, 11, 12, 13, & 14.

Watch the Apostrophe, Guys

Found Guilty Evangelical Christian Navy Chaplain Says Hell Appeal

5 Years

Five years ago, al-Qaeda orchestrated the events that lead to the deaths of nearly 3000 American citizens. It took him five years to do it, but George Bush has finally caught up.

Littering

Near the top of my list of Examples of How People Suck is littering. Ignoring cases in which items are accidentally lost (not including junk flying out of pickup trucks because they were improperly secured), the conscious disposal of trash on the ground (or in trees, gutters, etc.) boggles me. I am as lazy as the next guy, but I have never been so slothful that I cannot wait to find a trashcan.

This story about McDonald’s having to redesign the McFlurry container “in the unfortunate incidence that a lid is littered” and then traps a hedgehog that then starves to death is just another Example of How People Suck.

Is this a trick question?

The following three questions appeared on GenCon's web-survey.

4) Do you own a computer? Yes | No

5) Have access to a computer? Yes | No

6) Have access to the internet? Yes | No

People... Um... Suck.

'Breast' Cover Gets Mixed Reaction

The link shows the magazine cover that caused the uproar. ::yawn::

I am not a lactivist, but who am I to say that women should not be able to openly breastfeed their infants in public? This is something women have done in public for tens of thousands of years!

Yes, I do find it distracting, but I also find tatoos distracting. I think some women do it (breast feeding or tatoos, take your pick) for the attention, but it's my problem, not theirs.

I have to say it again

An episode of The Daily Show last week reminded me of something that really bugs the shit out of me.

Saddam Hussein and Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. He had no ties to Al-Qaeda. He was not giving them weapons. He had no WMDs to give. He was not giving them safe haven. He was a nonsectarian Stalin-esque dictator to whom militant Islam was a threat, not an ally. He was not a threat to our freedom. Yes, the hated the U.S. No, he did not attack us or help anyone to attack us. I am sure he was glad it happened, but then he had once put a bounty on Dubya's daddy's head.

The hand is quicker than the eye

House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is quoted as saying that a constitutional amendment on marriage, "is an issue that is of significant importance to many Americans."

And so is the growing number of dead Americans (soldiers and civilians) in Iraq.*

And corruption on Capital Hill.

And the state of medical care.

And countless other causes that they should care about but don't: genocide in Africa, the high costs of energy, corporate ethics and voodoo accounting, illegal domestic spying and other unconstitutional law-breaking and law-ignoring by the commander-in-chief, etc.

Where is the action on these matters of significant importance? Fact is, the Republicans have been screwing over the American public for years (having been given a blank check by gutless Democrats and clueless Americans) and are now trying to use gay & lesbian marriage (not to mention immigration by people who only want a better life in our great country) as a bogeyman to distract the public.

*: And unless anyone find this too harsh, or "demoralizing or disrespectful to your troops" consider that I am the step-father of a disabled veteran. Sending good men and women to die in a hopeless situation is demoralizing and disrespectful. Be patriotic and do right by our troops by not sacrificing them in conflicts of our own design.

Free Speech...

...includes the right to tell someone to shut the fuck up.





I'm just sayin'.

Yet More Online Roleplaying Woes

And posts like this:

There is a new product out in the stores of the floting country.This is making a army of super enhanced vilans.Now the world fites back by creating its own super heros.If you want to become one of those new heros then step rite in. You are going to have to complete a siber chalange.Something that will test your ability to controle the powers you are going to reseave. This tournament is held this coming summer.So be ready to complete the chalange if you dare.DunDunDun!!!!!!>_<side afects may include dieing and uncotrolable anger.

I give allowances when English is not your primary language, but this is just ignorance.

In fact, I wholly support the notion that the US should be multi-lingual. The way I see it, anyone who lives in San Jose, California, in Santa Clara county in a land called America really can't make the claim that this is an English country. Ok, technically I live in Campbell, but I am also very close to Los Gatos.

Finals

So I was writing a post for tomorrow and went off on a tangent so pointless, so ... tangential, that it was worthy of its own post, today.

...It was on differential equations and I remember solving the final answer through a clever process of trial-and-error. Once I found one solution, I was able to find the others. I think the first solution was f(x)=e^(x^2), but don't quote me on that.

Can I diverge here a moment and ask (rhetorically since no one reads this) if the use of contractions and words like "kinda" (mentioned tomorrow... huh, tense trouble) is acceptable in a non-blog such as this?

My most favorite final was in stellar astrophysics where I just simply could do no wrong. In one case, I could not find the definition of a particular variable and simply set its value to 1, not realizing that under the conditions specified in the problem, its value was 1. The problem had to the mean free path of a photon in a star.

Third on my list was the biology exam (I only needed to take one lower-division bio class as a physics major) to which I brought my stuffed rabbit and had one of the grad students ask to borrow it.

The honorable mention of finals goes to the Third World Literature course I was taking as pass/no-pass and was going into the final with an A. How were the others getting Bs and Cs on their papers? I was phoning mine in. Anyway, I did not even bother finishing the final; I walked out after finishing the short-answer and one of the long essays. I chickened out a bit and wrote an outline, explaining that "this is what I would write if I wanted to bother writing it," for the last long essay.

the Intronet

Introverts of the World, Unite!: A follow-up interview with the guy who brought us Caring for Your Introvert.

Boondoggle

Bush to request another $120 billion for wars

"It's not knowable what a war or conflict like that is going to cost. You don't know if it's going to last two days or two weeks or two months. It's certainly not going to last two years, but it's going to cost money," Rumsfeld said six months before the invasion in March 2003.

If Rumsfeld was an vice-president of a company and made an error of this magnitude, the board of directors, under pressure from share holders, would have booted his ass to the curb. Cost overruns and missed milestones is not the way to run a company or a country.

Computer Animation, Robots, & Writing

I was writing my latest zine for A&E when I wrote the sentence "I have a dislike for most computer animation that tries to portray people as realistically as possible." After I finished the paragraph and I looked again at this opening sentence, I edited it down to "I dislike most computer animation..." The "have a... for" construct was unnecessary. Even so, I think including the padding of those words weakens the statement and softens the "dislike" expressed and therefore might be appropriate in some cases. My shortened, perhaps harsher version definitely feels tighter and terser, but I am not sure it is necessarily better.

This is the full text of the paragraph:
I dislike most computer animation that tries to portray people as realistically as possible. There is a point where a character model is not realistic enough to pass for human but too realistic to be considered stylized. It exists in an aesthetic zone that I describe as "creepy." Give me The Incredibles over The Polar Express any day. For robots, this creepiness not only includes appearance but extends to behavior and speech. Once robots are so realistic that they are no longer creepy, they will find acceptance, though perhaps at the cost of paranoia and "robo-phobia."

The Superfluous "At"

Please understand that I am the son of a high school English teacher. I am also overly logical when it comes to language. [If I were to design a language, and I have been tempted many times (geek that I am), it would be so orderly and regular as to be positively boring.] So if what I am about to say is grammatically anal-retentive, at least you know why.

"Where're you at?" is an awful, ugly expression. Ignoring the poor use of a contraction (often dropped to the even worse "Where you at?"), the thing that really gets under my skin is the word "at."

Yes, ending a sentence with a preposition is not recommended, and I will admit that sometimes, it is simply easier and better to do so. In this case, however, the "at" is completely unnecessary. "Where are you?" is a perfect sentence. Putting "at" at the end turns it into a discordant monstrosity. So will you please drop the “at”and just ask where I am?

Belligerent Design

Lore Brand Comics

Leaving Iraq

Bill O' Reilly (that guy from that “fair and balanced” news channel) said this morning on one of those morning network news shows, that leaving Iraq now would turn it into a terrorist state that poses a threat to America.

I agree.

We took an obstinate, Stalin-esque dictatorship which was no threat to the US and then tore it down, creating a chaotic, destabilized terrorist-friendly country.

Yay us.

Some Words on Passive Apologies

This is not really a "200 Words" entry, but it is a pet peeve of mine.

Over here (ok, actually, I followed a series of links that started over at WWdN), I read another one of those faux-apologies: "I sincerely apologize to those who were offended by my remarks." Others have commented on the use of such passive language, but let me reiterate. You should not and cannot apologize for the actions of others. The best and only thing to do is to apologize for your own. Do not apologize "to those who were offended by my remarks;" rather, apologize "for offending people with my remarks." Anything else is insincere and pointless. Take responsibility for your own behavior and do not unload it onto others through passive, pseudo-apologies.

My comments are not an attack on the specific issue involved in the apology. You see this kind of language all the time from politicians, celebrities, and everyday people. It is a way to weasel out of direct culpability by placing the emphasis on those who were offended. And it is wrong.