06

1. 2005-06-08t16:30:46Z. RE: Conservation. Cyber Tech. Engineering; Tech;. Health. Obituaries. Quirky [Possibly NSFW]. Relations [SFW]. Relations [NSFW].
2. Rambling Look at Faiths. RE: Faith; Philosophy;. Flow. Open Source. Politics. Rambling.

2005-06-08t16:30:46Z | RE: Conservation. Cyber Tech. Engineering; Tech;. Health. Obituaries. Quirky [Possibly NSFW]. Relations [SFW]. Relations [NSFW].
2005-06-08t16:30:46Z

Conservation

• Fuel for the New Millennium
  • 'Millennium Cell of Eatontown, N.J. has developed a proprietary process that uses sodium borohydride -- a chemical synthesized from borax, a mineral commonly found in laundry detergents -- to produce hydrogen. Stored in its liquid form, the sodium borohydride solution is passed through a chamber containing a proprietary catalyst, and hydrogen is released as needed. Millennium Cell doesn't make the actual fuel cells, but instead partners with different fuel cell manufacturers that license its system. Debuted at a recent trade show, Millennium's "hydrogen on demand" process differs from most other fuel cell technologies geared toward portable devices. Typically, they rely on methanol (also known as methyl alcohol, or wood alcohol), which is considered more stable, but less powerful, than compressed hydrogen. Millennium sidesteps the issue of stability by storing its fuel in the form of the stable and non-explosive sodium borohydride solution, and converting it to hydrogen as needed.'
  • 'As a replacement for batteries, fuel cells are looked toward as a longer-lasting power source for laptops and cellphones, which proponents say is needed to run today's more-demanding mobile devices.'
  • 'Millennium's chemical agent, sodium borohydride, is a synthetic compound produced from sodium metal and borax, a mineral often found in dried-up seabeds -- with plentiful reserves in the United States, making it a cost-effective fuel, according to John D. Giolli, acting CFO of Millennium Cell. Along with being "10 times as energy rich as lithium," currently used to power lithium ion batteries, and slightly more powerful than methanol, Giolli says his Hydrogen on Demand system limits the need for platinum, which is typically used as a catalyst in methanol fuel-cell reactions, and which could drive up the costs of fuel cells when they come to market.'

Cyber Tech

• Scott Hanselman's Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tools List. A list like this can make some people salivate.
• How Linux Could Overthrow Microsoft. I'm all for open source but the article doesn't enough numbers to back up the trends it claims.
• An Extensive Examination of Data Structures Using C# 2.0.
  • An excellent six part article if you like reading about arrays, lists, stacks, queues, stacks, hashtables, binary trees, binary search trees, graphs, spanning trees, and sets. The neat thing is how much of this is "old" math from decades ago.
  • 'Figure 1 shows three examples of graphs. Notice that graphs, unlike trees, can have sets of nodes that are disconnected from other sets of nodes. For example, graph (a) has two distinct, unconnected set of nodes. Graphs can also contain cycles. Graph (b) has several cycles. One such is the path from v1 to v2 to v4 and back to v1. Another one is from v1 to v2 to v3 to v5 to v4 and back to v1. (There are also cycles in graph (a).) Graph (c) does not have any cycles, as one less edge than it does number of nodes, and all nodes are reachable. Therefore, it is a tree.'
    

Engineering; Technology;

• Move Over Plasma TVs: Nano-Screens Are Coming
  • 'Motorola revealed its first working nano-emissive display (NED) prototype on Monday at the Society for Information Display (SID) conference in Boston. The company hopes its five-inch diagonal proto-television will attract licensees not yet convinced that Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and plasma screens are the future of high-definition entertainment. The wafer-thin display -- it's just one-eighth of an inch thick -- is actually just one section of a theoretical 42-inch television, which could be mounted on a wall and play DVD movies that look just as bright and clear as they would on LCDs. If companies such as Panasonic and Sony choose NED, they could start manufacturing high-definition sets as early as 2007 -- and at a the highly competitive price of under $1000.'
  • 'Motorola revealed its first working nano-emissive display (NED) prototype on Monday at the Society for Information Display (SID) conference in Boston. The company hopes its five-inch diagonal proto-television will attract licensees not yet convinced that Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and plasma screens are the future of high-definition entertainment. The wafer-thin display -- it's just one-eighth of an inch thick -- is actually just one section of a theoretical 42-inch television, which could be mounted on a wall and play DVD movies that look just as bright and clear as they would on LCDs. If companies such as Panasonic and Sony choose NED, they could start manufacturing high-definition sets as early as 2007 -- and at a the highly competitive price of under $1000.'

Health

• GlucoBoy brings blood sugar monitoring to GameBoy
  • Great idea! Anything to make having a disease more bearable and more fun.
  • 'Guidance Interactive have created GlucoBoy, an attachment for the Nintendo GameBoy that monitors blood sugar levels. Creator Paul Wessel noticed that his son, who was diagnosed with diabetes at age 3, carried his GameBoy everywhere. Wessel figured, hey - why not just turn the thing into a blood sugar monitor?'

Obituaries

• Henry K. Okamura (1924/2005-06-06)
  • Sensei Okamura was the highest ranking American in judo and president of the Chicago Judo Black Belt Association [ChiJudo.com].
  • HENRY K. OKAMURA, 81
  • Death of Henry Okamura

Quirky [Possibly NSFW]

• Suspect in killings had chain saw at U.S. border
  • The picture alone makes this an awesome story --I wish I had  an drivers license photo like that --but, wait!, there's more!
    
  • 'On April 25, Gregory Despres arrived at the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at Calais, Maine, carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood. U.S. customs agents confiscated the weapons and fingerprinted Despres. Then they let him into the United States.'
  • 'The following day, a gruesome scene was discovered in Despres' hometown of Minto, New Brunswick: The decapitated body of a 74-year-old country musician named Frederick Fulton was found on Fulton's kitchen floor. His head was in a pillowcase under a kitchen table. His common-law wife was discovered stabbed to death in a bedroom.'

Relations [SFW]

• Fat questions. Discussing how "fat" a person is, is very dangerous. Why do women insist on asking men these questions? We simply do not have that much tact. Here are two correct answers I've picked up:
  • Q: Does this dress make me look fat?
    A: You could never look fat.
    -Provided by my friend Terry H.
  • Q: Do you think I'm fat?
    A: Do you think I'm stupid?
    -Provided by the 2005-05-16 Shoe comic strip created by Jeff MacNeally.
• Cultivating trust-- 1 nostril at a time
  • 'The Zurich researchers gave some of the investors oxytocin--three squirts in each nostril, a dose known to increase brain levels of the hormone temporarily. Those students gave the trustees significantly more money on average than students who didn't get oxytocin. Nearly half of the people in the oxytocin group invested the maximum amount; in the other group only one-fifth gave the maximum investment. In essence, sniffing oxytocin produced instantly the sort of trust that would normally build through a history of reliable dealings, Zak said. Animal studies suggest that the presence of a known, trustworthy individual naturally stimulates the brain to produce oxytocin.'
  • This oxytocin hormone is interesting. It can induce contractions during labor. It is involved in breastfeeding.
  • Of course it has been a recent meme of mine to explore how great light can be thrown our ethics and feeling by examining physical origins (biology, economics, power, etc.).

Relations [NSFW]

• "Donkey Punch" [NSFW]
  • I stumbled upon this slang phrase yesterday while playing WarCraft III online. I could tell that the person who introduced the term was eager to explain the term.
  • Here is the first paragraph from the Wikipedia entry for "donkey punch":
    • 'Donkey punch is a slang term for a supposed sex move performed during doggy style or anal sex. The major cause of the propagation of this term is its shock value when explaining it to an unsuspecting friend or colleague. Thus, it is considered by many to be merely a misogynist joke. In reality, were it to be practiced, it would qualify as sexual abuse, and potentially battery or assault.'
  • Clearly donkey punching is some sort of misogynist fantasy. The idea of encapsulating a whole meme (in this case a twisted mentality) into a single phrase is fascinating.
  • There is so much to learn from the likes of South Park.
  • Category:Sexual urban legends [W] also has some fairly gross stuff as well as standard stuff. Clearly most of this stuff would kill a relationship.

2005-06-11t03:59:28Z | RE: Faith; Philosophy;. Flow. Open Source. Politics. Rambling.
Rambling Look at Faiths

Forgive me but I've been so busy with moving the company I work for (Iclops.com), buying a house, rebuilding my laptop, and raising three kids (6 y, 4 y, 9 mo), that I have not had much time to write. If I had more time to write, then the following would be shorter and better organized. As things stand I'm just going to do a rambling brain dump. It is fair to say that I have no idea what I'm talking about.

First of all here is a quick summary of the dharmic faiths (as opposed to say the Abrahamic, Vedic, etc.):

In dharmic faiths, entities participate in the world in samsara (the cycles of existence) until they they achieve nirvana (a realization of the nature of reality. Related Hindu words: moksha ("liberation") and mukti ("release")) --usually through bodhi (enlightenment)-- and can hence break the cycle of samsara to eventually fully pass away (parinirvana). A bodhisattva ("bodhi being") is one of three kinds of Buddhas ("awakened one"):

• Samyaksam Buddha. Self awakened and can teach.
• Pratyeka Buddha. Self awakened but silent.
• Sravaka Buddha. Awakened by a teacher.

The Tathagatagarbha doctrine says that everyone is a "Buddha womb" and has the potential to become a Buddha.

One does or can live by dharma (in Sanskirt) = dhamma (in Pali), which can various meanings such as life/being as it is or life/being as following laws or life/being following the samsara cycle.

Furthermore, there are three characteristics of existence, aka "Dharma Seals" = ti-lakkhana (in Pali) = tri-laksana (in Sanskrit).

• Dukka (in Pali) = dukha (in Sanskrit). This is pain, suffering, non-satisfaction, discomfort, stress, etc.
• Annica (in Pali) = anitya (in Sanskrit) = wúcháng (in Chinese) = mujo  (in Japanese). This is impermanence, flux, change. Also related to pratitya-samutpada, the concept of "interdependent arising", i.e. that we are all coming into and out of being hence we're all interconnected.
• Anatta (in Pali) = anatman (in Sanskrit). This is the lacking of soul, permanence, self, personality, and self-nature. Later synonym: shunyata (in Sanskrit) = suññata (in Pali) = emptiness.

Now I'm going to just make a few comments:

• As far as dharma, it seems rather absurd to think someone could achieving ultimate bodhi or nirvana. (Calling yourself a Bodhisattva ("bodhi being") or a saint seems rather prideful.) Even if you did have parinirvana, the atoms of your body would disperse back to the universe. Also  comprehension, understanding, and insight changes you perspective but not your physical being.
• As far as dukka, there is dukka but things like stars largely do not have dukka. So I find this concept trivial.
• As far as annica, I'm in general agreement. Probably even the smallest sub-particles are impermanent. Change is the only constant? Reminds me of Gaia philosophy.
• Anatta is the funkiest and funniest of the bunch. In one sense emptiness is neither nihilism, monoism, or dualism, pluralism, but on the other hand it could be made to work with all those systems. On one hand, the absence of soul could conflict with many systems of faith, but on the other hand anatta could be seen as non-theistic --like rationalism-- and thus not have any intersection with systems of faith. Also reminds me of Gaia philosophy.

Annica and annata makes a nice transition into discussing change, duality, and emptiness, all of which are at the core of the Chinese philosophies of Yin Yang (originating with the I Ching (common English Romanization of the Chinese) = Yi Jing (in Pinyin) = Classic of Changes = Book of Changes) and Daoism (originating with the Tao Te Ching (common English Romanization of the Chinese) = Dao De Ching (in Pinyin) = Classic of the Way and Virtue).

Yin Yang seems to have a very flexible model which can sometimes be helpful in viewing the world but can be artificial to some degree. While a binary tree can approximate a non-binary reality, other models such as graphs can often do a better job. The concept of Xin Yan, Yi Ma (Emotional as a jumpy Monkey, Rational as a steady Horse), can be helpful but we're all a bit of both although some are more one than the other, and we change with time and situation. In one sense the concept of dualities and opposites is very fundamental but it is also very primitive. After all, don't we play the game of "open/close" with infants? So while I agree with yin yang, I believe the concept has been abused and over-extended at times. Sometimes a bit of pluralism or anatta is needed. The concept of wuji (balanced yin and yang) is reminiscent of the Western concept of golden mean and moderation. Both the eastern and western concepts have nice mathematical beauty.

The concept of dao (do in Japanese), of finding a natural way of doing or living, of seeking personal understanding, excellence, beauty, and heroism, is beautiful and pragmatic. Use it everywhere. It is almost like positive thinking but better. It is like finding your bliss. It is doing what you love. It is about being honest and sincere.

Speaking of dao, that ties into my thoughts on geeks, gimmicks, and necessity. In this context, when I say "geek" I mean someone who is an aficionado of a field. There are dao geeks and geek wannabes. Dao geeks use gimmicks and geek-speak out of exploration, necessity, and fun, but they can also minimize and do their field without the gimmicks and geek-speak. Geek wannabes haven't found the dao of their field and so they use gimmicks and geek-speak to for looks, i.e. to cover their lack of dao. A dao geek with a text editor, duck tape, a pen, or bare hands can be much more powerful than a geek wannabe loaded with gadgets.

Total change of topic but I was thinking about the passing, capturing, and freezing of time.

• Poems, fights, plays, movies, conversations, music, TV, etc. are in real time.
• Paintings, photos, comic books, etc. freeze time but they can also convey the passage of time. They are also experienced at a rate dependent upon the viewer.
• Websites, games, programs, etc. can be a mix of the above, but are also usually unavoidably dynamic and require user interaction.
• Many forms of media are about passing on maximizing info: whether quality, quantity, or both.

You will find geek wannabes in every field: from sports, to martial arts, to engineering, to fashion, to dating, to blogging, to sex, to religion, etc., etc., etc. I try to be very mindful of when I am following the dao and when I'm just a wannabe. The usual clue is when I substitute buying gadgets or doing tricks for doing the thing itself. Whole industries are built upon selling accessories.

I think if people try to flow (match skills with tasks), try to do what they love, try to be sincere, then they will be eccentric and fruitfully imbalanced. When they fake it, their quality lowers. There are people who are doing jobs that they are not into and it shows. Of course you can't be eccentric and in flow all the time but striving for it sincerely is the pathway to success and happiness.

On the other hand, there is a certain amount of dukka and imperfection in the world and that's natural. Everyone has flaws, everyone makes mistakes, everyone trips now and then. If you don't, then you may be driving around swearing at every imperfection that occurs while you're driving in traffic. Spouses, children, relatives, co-workers, and we ourselves are also imperfect. Definitely patience and forgiveness makes things a lot smoother.

This knowledge can be used in designing or affecting systems/processes. A system/process cannot ignore imperfections but should rather accommodate and account for them. A system that requires higher quality (say a competitive team or a space mission) must accommodate errors and fluctuations even more. As far as the reality shows that are all the rage, they do stress quality, competition, and a good degree of social and political savvy. A system with a very broad set of objects must be even more flexible in order to accommodate the range and swings. For example the U.S. has swung from heavy capitalism in the 1920s (robber barons) to heavy socialism in the 1940s (The Big Deal) to heavy capitalism in the 1990s (Enron).

Right now there are four big governments:

• America. Social and economic freedom but low social care. America is close but without enough social care (EG: health care), vicious cycles of poverty persist.
• Europe and Canada. Social and economic freedom but with lots of social care. Europe is close but is it spending too much on social care and not fostering enough economically?
• China. Economic freedom and some social care, but low social freedom. China is making lots of money, but social freedoms are restricted both culturally and by dictate. The rising middle and upper class will hopefully demand social freedom.
• India, Japan, and Muslim countries. Economic freedom and some social care and some social freedom. The social freedom is restricted via a hierarchical system applied not so much by legal means but by cultural means. Loosen up dudes!

I like social freedom, economic freedom, and social care but the big issue is sustainability. Not only does the government need to make money to pay for social care, but social freedom is important and so is the environment. Social freedom affects intellectual progress. Even corporations must see that proprietary restrictions can stifle intellectual development, thus knowledge should be open source. Knowledge is like a language: if it is kept secret it does nothing, it dies. Knowledge, faith, and languages must be used, must be open, must self-organize, self-grow, self-define.

Policies should be driven by the international and secular language of incentives (money, political power, cultural tastes, etc.). Open source does not conflict with incentives. I am not anti-union or anti-corporation, I am pro-sustainability. If a union makes a corporation not profitable, then the workers and the corporation both lose. If a corporation focuses strictly on short-term profit, then the planet, the people, and the long term profits suffer.

On 2005-05-07, I met with some practitioners of Heathenry (aka Asatru or Odinists), a revival of pre-Christian, Northern European (usually Scandinavian/German), neo-pagan religions, especially those that utilize concepts such as frith and wyrd. See TheTroth.org. Wyrd is translated as "fate" but it is more about the interconnectedness of the past, present, and future. Frith has to do with peace and freedom. It was a very interesting meeting. We actually had discussion about Heathen geekery: the group was concerned with what I call the Heathen dao, but they were very familiar with Heathen wannabes who were in it for the fun, rituals, looks, etc. They were also concerned about misrepresentation. EG: There are "bad" Skin Heads who like to associate themselves with Heathenry-like stuff but are more like hate-groups that have signs such as "88" ("HH" or "Heil Hitler"); in contrast  real Skin Heads and real Heathens understand Frith. Frith (as "Peace & Freedom") is related to my keyword of "Fairness & Freedom". An increase of one usually implies a loss of the other. They implied that Frith is like a live and let live, but that they reserve the right to stand up for themselves.

The Heathens' main gripe with Christianity seemed to be that Christianity was shoved down the throat of the indigenous peoples. This is pretty obvious. Clearly Abrahamic faiths are supposed to be monotheistic but the system of saints is clearly henotheistic (1 god + minor deities/saints). The other main gripe they had with Christianity is the artificial altruism. They believe that Frith encourages natural altruism by emphasizing looking after yourself, your family, and your community. This complies entirely with a secular and legalistic system.

Frith also fits well with my keyword concept of "Conflict --> Competition --> Cooperation --> Consolidation". Speaking of the Abrahamic faiths, monotheistic Judaism was just as brutal as the polytheistic religions prevalent at the time and they all considered themselves as favored by their God (Jews) or gods (polytheists). Christianity supposedly changed over that and insists on more altruism (shirt off your back, turn your cheek, etc.) but Christians have certainly killed their fair share. Islamists have basically stuck with the Judaic concept of practically a warrior religion. Of course there have been other religions that have favored war even more.

Not surprisingly, the Nine Noble Virtues of Heathenry --gleanedvia the period sources-- are found in my keywords and are probably recognized by most cultures: "1. Courage 2. Truth 3. Honour 4. Fidelity 5. Discipline 6. Hospitality 7. Self Reliance 8. Industriousness 9. Perseverance." The Nine Charges on the other hand are much more detailed, filled with common sense, and exciting:

1. "To maintain candour and fidelity in love and devotion to the tried friend: though he strike me I will do him no scathe.
2. Never to make wrongsome oath: for great and grim is the reward for the breaking of plighted troth.
3. To deal not hardly with the humble and the lowly.
4. To remember the respect that is due to great age.
5. To suffer no evil to go unremedied and to fight against the enemies of Faith, Folk and Family: my foes I will fight in the field, nor will I stay to be burnt in my house.
6. To succour the friendless but to put no faith in the pledged word of a stranger people.
7. If I hear the fool's word of a drunken man I will strive not: for many a grief and the very death groweth from out such things.
8. To give kind heed to dead men: straw dead, sea dead or sword dead.
9. To abide by the enactments of lawful authority and to bear with courage the decrees of the Norns."

I could see how using the concepts as well as using a belief in Odin, Thor, Tyre, Frigga, etc. could be very powerful psychological support. The support of a community is also powerful. I found the Heathen rites of blót (pronounced "bloat" --inviting guests to food and drink), sumbel (also spelled "symbel", a passing of drinks --often with a toast), and seidh (pronounced "sayth" --shamanistic rite) interesting, partially because it made me aware of how religions use all sorts of rites to get into your head. Catholicism does it all: drinking, eating, standing, sitting, chanting, singing, incense burning, shaking hands, meditating, money offerings, confessions, etc., etc., etc.

Even the Rationalists, Humanists, Secularists, Agnostics, Atheists, etc. seem more combative these days. I too am surprised that "Intelligent Design" persists but I think patience and the persistent presentation of evidence will eventually end this argument. After all it took a long time for people to believe that the Earth is round and revolves around the Sun.

Religion is not going away. In one sense anything we do to any depth becomes religious. The other factor is that religion often embeds itself with culture and language so much that it is difficult to separate. It will take time for people to realize that they do not have to give up their culture and history in order to appreciate other religions. It's that "Conflict --> Competition --> Cooperation --> Consolidation" cycle that comes with living with others. We can be segregated and yet integrated. We can retain our identity and yet identify with others. History is such a monstrous patchwork quilt of tribalism. Languages have gone through a lot of flux but that has sort of settled down a bit with the development of the printing press and dictionaries. More recently dialects are going through less flux with the development of broadcast voice via radio, movies, and TV. We have yet to see the effect of the Internet on the stabilization of language. And as I said before language, religion, culture, policy, etc. are very much tied together. Nations and languages may merge slowly but knowledge of math, science, and history belongs to everyone on the planet.

I wonder if my forays into comparative religions, politics, martial arts, languages, and programming languages are all a matter of geek wannabe? I would like to think that I'm just trying to get perspective by sucking stuff in, stirring it up, and seeing what I spit out. I am trying to be aware of how I unavoidably color what I see.