Home • About • Contact
Login • Page Content • Site Map

Search
GH.com   GH.com dir
Wikipedia   Web

Posts matching the query string: OrderBy=PostForDate&Desc=Desc&Limit=20.

My ratings (R) are from 1 to 9. My Dates are also permalinks. Click on the column headers to sort Jots. Feel free to use the address bar like a command line interface by setting the optional query string parameters: Dtm1 (10, 20, 30, YYYYMMDDhhmmss), Dtm2 (YYYYMMDDhhmmss), IsJot (Jot or Not), Tag (zero+ times), NotTag (zero+ times), OrderBy (PostForDate, PostTitle, PostLink, PostText, PostSource, PostRating, PostSize) & Desc(Desc), and Limit(integer).

1. U.S. Navy Successfully Uses Laser to Shoot Down Drones TAGS: Gear. Lasers. Military. News. TECH. Videos.
2. Time's running out! TAGS: My Stuff. Ramblings. Text. Writing.
3. Army Drops Bayonets in Training Revamp TAGS: Fighting. Gear. Knives. MARTIAL. Military. Pole Arms.
4. The real reason why Steve Jobs hates Flash TAGS: Apple. Audio. Cyber Life. Cyber Tech. Gadget. Hardware. Images. Operating System. Software. TECH. Videos.
5. The secrets of intelligence lie within a single cell TAGS: Artificial Intelligence. Biology. Mind. Science. TECH.
6. ASP.NET output that isn't HTML TAGS: ASP.NET. Cyber Tech. Microsoft. Programming. TECH.
7. Early humans may have bred with other species – twice TAGS: Anthropology. News.
8. What is recoverable TAGS: Death. Life. Mind. Philosophy. Quotations. Ramblings. Self Improvement.
9. The Democrats Are Doomed, or How A ‘Big Tent’ Can Be Too Big TAGS: Chart. Life. Politics. Relations. USA.
10. Time to respect the ramen TAGS: Chicago. Food. Japan. Restaurants.
11. Pineapple and Tomato Salad TAGS: Family. Food.
12. OCEANS: 2.5-foot giant isopod found attached to remotely operated underwater vehicle TAGS: Armor. Beauty. Fauna. Images. Movies. Nature. Photos.
13. Nature by Numbers TAGS: Animation. Beauty. Inspiring. Math. Videos.
14. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act TAGS: Barack Obama. Economy. Health. News. Politics. USA.
15. My Keywords 2010-03-17 TAGS: Archives. Ethics. My Stuff. Philosophy. Ramblings. Self Improvement. Thoughts.
16. My World View 2010-03-17 TAGS: Archive. My Stuff. Philosophy. Politics. Ramblings. Science. Self Improvement. Thoughts. World.
17. the triumph of self-worth over net-worth TAGS: Inspiring. Mind. Psychology. Relations. Self Improvement.
18. Now A No-Evil Zone TAGS: Cyber Life. Philosophy. TECH.
19. Porn: Good for us? TAGS: Psychology. Saucy. Science. Sex.
20. Free Energy and the Meaning of Life TAGS: Biology. Chemistry. Evolution. Images. Inspiring. Philosophy.

Date	Text	Link	Source	Tags	Note
20100827 161449 Z	Tracking homicides in Chicago	homicides.re … m/neighborhoods/	Julia	Chicago, Violence	Homicides in Chicago by Community Area [W]. Nice interface with Google Maps. They could improve it (simply) by making the table columns sortable. They could improve it (a bit harder) by adding clickable map for Chicago in general.
20100818 172603 Z	Google launching a Chrome OS tablet on Verizon, goes on sale November 26	www.download … ovember-26-2010/		Cyber Life, Gadget, Google, TECH	And my birthday is in October too!
20100730 170438 Z	Knife Attack Myths	www.metacafe … fe_attack_myths/	Allen	Fighting, Knives, Live Action, MARTIAL, Security, Self Defense, Videos, Violence, Western Martial Arts	Some knife attack myths dismissed as shown by surveillance videos. Ends with some pro-WMA stuff.
20100724 132257 Z	India's $35 PC is the Future of Computing	www.pcworld. … g.html?tk=hp_pop		Cyber Life, Cyber Tech, Gadget, Hardware, Inspiring, News, TECH	A $10-35 Internet capable tablet for the masses of India! Intense, a game changer.
20100714 182432 Z	Hans Rosling on global population growth	www.ted.com/ … tion_growth.html		Economy, Education, Food, Inspiring, Live Action, TECH, Videos, World	Hans Rosling always has awesome Ted Talks. In this, his latest one, he does an analog/physical talk which I think will make it quite watchable for my kids.
20100704 153953 Z	Reddit, I think its about time we had another clean jokes marathon. Heres my favourite...	www.reddit.c … _we_had_another/		Funny	Well, mostly clean. But some pretty good ones.
20100630 164224 Z	Ctrl+; working for Google Spreadsheets in Chrome			Browser, Cyber Life, Google	I just noticed that the Chrome got the keyboard shortcut to enter the date (Ctrl+;) to work for Google Spreadsheets in Chrome. Maybe they'll eventually get the date shortcut (Ctrl+:) to work too. The only other big request would be for vertical tree-style tabs (although I can weakly fake the latter with a vertical task bar in the OS).
20100625 161154 Z	SVG Flowchart Shapes via Google Docs			Chart, Cyber Tech, Free Gratis, Free Libre, Google, Images, TECH	I've been playing with Google Drawings (in Google Docs). You can save a Google Drawing as .svg. This also means that you can use save their shapes (especially flowchart shapes) and use them in stuff like Inkscape. You can also go to openclipart.org to get other shapes. I'm trying to avoid stuff Microsoft Visio and OpenOffice Draw.
20100621 210313 Z	Toshiba Libretto W100	laptops.tosh … ps/libretto/W100	www.informat … RSSfeed_IWK_News	Cyber Life, Cyber Tech, Gadget, Hardware, TECH	This is 25th anniversary Toshiba is getting closer to what I want! "Hybrid mini-notebook / e-reader has dual touchscreens, runs on Windows 7, and has built-in Bluetooth 5 and 802.11n wireless networking." 1.5 lb (0.68 Kg) clamshell design with built in web cam that works in portrait or landscape. USB port and card reader.
20100621 004011 Z	Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man	http://vimeo.com/11431902		Beauty, Live Action, Movies, Relations, Sad, Videos	A short movie (22:48), sweet and sad, well produced. The backstory on the Tin Woodsmen from The Wizard of Oz.
20100621 000958 Z	Jonathan's Cochlear Implant Activation 8 mo., Rt Ear cont'd	www.youtube. … ch?v=ZDD7Ohs5tAk	www.reddit.c … ochlear_implant/	Beauty, Cute, Inspiring, Live Action, SSD, Videos	Another video I saw a while back, but I wanted to post it here as well as thumbs up it at YouTube. A wonderful reaction by an 8 month old to having his ears turned on. You don't even need to have something like SSD/UHD (which I do) in order to appreciate it.
20100621 000629 Z	RSA Animate - The Secret Powers of Time	www.youtube. … ch?v=A3oIiH7BLmg	digg.com/edu … t_Powers_of_Time	Animation, Inspiring, Mind, Philosophy, Psychology, Time, Videos	I saw this video a while back but it's so good that I wanted to post it here as well as thumbs up it in YouTube. Meshes well with my personal frameworks.
20100527 161401 Z	The Fall of Rome -- W H Auden	wonderingmin … e-w-h-auden.html	www.crossfit … ive2/005447.html	Language, Literature, Quotations, Text	Three words of the day: somatotonia, viscerotonia, and cerebrotonia.
20100525 000120 Z	The latest version of the LittleDog Robot	www.youtube. … ch?v=nUQsRPJ1dYw	www.reddit.c … c7e34/holy_crap/	Live Action, Robots, TECH, Videos	I've been witnessing the development of these robotic dogs over the years. I'm surprised at the emotional pride I feel. Seeing the robots struggle and improve is very much like watching a child struggle and improve. Great job roboticists! Great job.
20100517 145304 Z	After the Times	www.joindias … r-the-times.html		Cyber Life, Open Source, Relations	That was fast. It looks like Diaspora is now fully funded and is going ahead. FYI: Diaspora is an upcoming alternative to Facebook: "the privacy aware, personally controlled, do-it-all distributed open source social network".
20100510 201333 Z	QUT physicist corrects Oxford English Dictionary (w/ Video)	www.physorg. … ws192688538.html		Books, Language, Physics, Science, TECH, Videos	Yes, a siphon works by means of gravity and where the "column of water acts like a chain with the water molecules pulling on each other via hydrogen bonds". Wiggling the tube in the fish tank can start a siphon because of the initial surge of momentum. No need to suck on the lower end and get fish water in your mouth! A similar phenomena occurs when "sticking" with someone as you "wave" them into a throw and use gravity.
20100507 145005 Z	I WILL NOT DIE TODAY			Family, Inspiring, Quirky, Ramblings	I WILL NOT DIE TODAY. My kids give great hugs, but today my youngest was feeling particularly huggy. As we were doing our third good bye hug she said "I'm not ready to let you go". I don't know why but that hit me fiercely. It's as if she said it while one of us was about to die. So while I'm ready to fight and die most days, today I'm not. Today I will not die.
20100505 162026 Z	RGraph: HTML5 canvas graph library based on the HTML5 canvas tag	http://www.rgraph.net/	ajaxian.com/ … graphing-library	Cyber Tech, JavaScript, Math, Programming, TECH	I saw RGraph since at least August of last year. I think HTML5 is coming around: Movement toward less Flash, more HTML5, and browsers becoming more HTML5 compliant. Of course Ext JS and the other frameworks will probably be boosting their charts too.
20100505 022026 Z	Google acquires BumpTop: Will Android get a 3D facelift?	deals.ventur … bumptop-android/		Cyber Life, Google, Operating System, TECH	I had read that Google acquired BumpTop earlier, but this article has the TED Talk video where BumpTop CEO Anand Agarawala demos it. I'm itching for that Google tablet!
20100505 021054 Z	You Can't Derive Ought from Is	blogs.discov … nt=Google+Reader		Atheism, Ethics, Faith, Mind, Philosophy	I'm obliged to post yet another follow up to Sam Harris' TED talk related to David Hume's Is-ought problem [W].

Whoot! We have laser cannons!

During the test, the Navy's Laser Weapon System (LaWS), guided by Raytheon's Phalanx Close-In Weapon System sensors, engaged and destroyed four UAV targets flying over water near the Navy's weapons and training facility on San Nicolas Island in California's Santa Barbara Channel, about 120 kilometers west of Los Angeles.

I made this just now:

Time's running out!
What to do? What to do!
My spine crackles and slants.
What have I done? What should I have done? What
Time runs out.

It's nice how the military keeps on the cutting edge of military, martial, and physical conditioning matters.

However dropping bayonet training is a mistake. The bayonet is the direct descendant of the spear, not the sword. I train and fight with the sword and spear (as well as other things). The bayonet is a short spear: The training manuals from medieval times to the present show this pretty clearly. The spear was the predominant military weapon before firearms. If you are hunting, you would probably pick a spear over a sword or knife. A bayonet knife is much lighter than a sword and you could use it as a knife for many thing besides just as a bayonet.

One of the only good reasons for dropping bayonet training is that the standard issue rifle has become a carbine, i.e. shorter, and therefore less like a spear. In which case then the range is similar to just using a knife, however you wouldn't have the advantages of the spear such as using the haft for defense, leverage, and so on. Also if you're gun back up is a knife, then why not have that knife be bayonet capable?

I like this comment from the thread: "Funny thing I learned in Iraq 6 years ago; If you point a loaded M16 at guy he will just look at you, but if you put a bayonet on the end of that M16 and point it at him he will do whatever you tell him to do."

Well yes. The article states some stuff that's obvious to some of us, but I support erring on the side of stating the obvious. There are many times where I assumed certain things were obvious and then later I end up wishing that I had said something sooner.

Obvious #1. Yes Mac has always been about a captive audience. They have always wanted to control the hardware, the operating system, the apps, the design, the look-and-feel. Apple equals proprietary. I personally prefer open.

Obvious #2. Hardware, software, and Internet connectivity is getting cheaper, faster, and cooler. Monetizing and staying on the curve is business. Ubiquitous HW with 4G+ and cloud storage and apps is the way to go. Beautiful, powerful, intuitive interfacing is the way to go. Ubiquitous media capture (txt, pic, aud, vid) and geolocation is the way to go.

Obvious #3. For most users the following apps will suffice on an iPad: Media Players (pics, audio, video, books), Browser, Office-like suite. There will of course be hundreds of apps that users want, but the emphasis should be on what users need. What should come soon: Skype/phone-like communications, FTP. Specialized tools that may never come but should: Power editors (text, pics, video, etc.), Remote Desktop access, Development IDEs, Database and Sys Admin tools.

Personally I'm itching to buy a tablet but the iPad is too weak to replace a smart phone and my laptop.

What a wonderful, beautiful, and thought provoking piece. Individual cells may be far more powerful than we realize.

After all, whole living cells are primarily autonomous, and carry out their daily tasks with little external mediation. They are not subservient nanobots, they create and regulate activity, respond to current conditions and, crucially, take decisions to deal with unforeseen difficulties.

We're so self-impressed, that we can barely appreciate what's going on.

For me, the brain is not a supercomputer in which the neurons are transistors; rather it is as if each individual neuron is itself a computer, and the brain a vast community of microscopic computers. But even this model is probably too simplistic since the neuron processes data flexibly and on disparate levels, and is therefore far superior to any digital system. If I am right, the human brain may be a trillion times more capable than we imagine, and "artificial intelligence" a grandiose misnomer. I think it is time to acknowledge fully that living cells make us what we are, and to abandon reductionist thinking in favour of the study of whole cells. Reductionism has us peering ever closer at the fibres in the paper of a musical score, and analysing the printer's ink. I want us to experience the symphony.

One of the first things I needed to do with ASP.NET was output a non-HTML page, i.e. change the HTTP output. An ASP.NET generic handler file (*.ashx) does just that. You can output text (*.txt, *.json, *.xml, *.html, etc.) or binary (*.jpg, , *.mp4, *.swf, etc.) or just about any electronic file you want to. BTW, it is trivial to do this in Classic ASP, but .NET allows some fancier stuff too.

• In MSDN:
  • "Creating a Custom HttpHandler in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0"
  • "@ WebHandler"
  • "IHttpHandler Interface"
  • "HTTP Handlers and HTTP Modules Overview"
• Miscellany:
  • "ASP.NET ASHX Handler Tutorial" [http://dotnetperls.com/ashx-handler].
  • "Creating an ASHX handler in ASP.NET" [http://www.aspcode.net/Creating-an-ASHX-handler-in-ASPNET.aspx]
  • "HttpHandlers in ASP.NET" [http://weblogs.asp.net/kdente/archive/2003/07/28/10622.aspx]. Yes, HttpHandlers are underdocumented!
  • "Sample album.ashx handler" [http://blogs.msdn.com/dmitryr/archive/2005/06/24/432499.aspx]

Doing the nasty with our cousins!

A new genetic study of nearly two thousand people from around the world ... over 600 genetic markers, called microsatellites, sequenced in nearly 100 different populations. ... If humans bred only with other humans, all these markers would create a neat phylogenetic tree, showing that human genetic diversity can be traced to a single population that existed in Africa in the last 100,000 years. Instead, a team led by Jeffrey Long, at the University of New Mexico, found evidence that some of the markers looked far too old to have come from humans.

I was in the shower this morning thinking about the Napoleon quote: "Space we can recover, lost time never". In a sense we can recover lots of things: space, land, money, resources, love, fame, honor, and so on. The concept is related to entropy and the arrow of time [W], that much is obvious. We all get older and pass from age to age. However, there is also the matter of particular object instantiations. People die everyday, but the death of a loved one is not only irreversible but personally significant and irreplaceable. The same can be said for "firsts" such as first kiss, first love, first car, first child, first time reading a particular book, and so on. Realizing limitations and stuff like this keeps life fresh and vital, and can help fight off the blasé. OK Cupid has turned up interesting stats not directly related to dating. They have other charts, but in this chart the upper right is roughly Democrat while the lower left is roughly Republican.

Yes, ramen is underrated. It's a meal unto itself. Plus I like shoyu, naruto, and slurping. Since the article may go off line, I'll list the places they mention here.

• Takashi Yagihashi. 1952 N. Damen Ave., Chicago; 773-772-6170. Also Macy's, 7th floor; 111 N. State St., Chicago.
• Bill Kim of Santouka. Mitsuwa Mart; 100 E. Algonquin Rd., Arlington Heights; 847-357-0286.
• Urban Belly. 3053 N. California Ave., Chicago; 773-583-0500.
• Ginza. 19 E. Ohio St., Chicago; 312-222-0600.
• Tampopo. 5665 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago; 773-561-2277.

My mom wrote this recipe down of something she's been liking lately:

A bright, colorful, and refreshing salad that goes will with curries and other spicy dishes.

Makes 4 cups or 4 servings. Preperation time: ca. 20 minutes.

2 c fresh pineapple chunks
2 c fresh tomatoes chunks
2 T olive oil
1 T red wine vinegar (or more to taste)
2 T fresh mint, finely chopped
1/2 c scallions, finely chopped
1/4 t salt
Ground black pepper

Lightly toss all ingredients in a bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes for flavors to penetrate.

Substitute pineapple with seasonal fruits such as mangoes, cantalopes, peaches, and so on as desired. Substitute mint with cilantro or Thai basil as desired.

I ran across this photo of a species of Giant Isopod (~2.5' or 75 cm) pulled from the ocean deep. Horrific and beautiful at the same time. I hear these are a delicacy in some parts of the world. I then started poking around its family tree in Wikipedia. Other isopods include pill bugs, whose design reminded me of armour like this: http://armstreet.com/store/armor/1/235.html.

We tend to be most impressed by the exoskeletons of Crustaceans (lobsters and such), but the Anthropod phylum consists of many masterpieces of segmented armour (scorpions, beetles). I can tie this thread back to WMA because the remake of "Clash of the Titans" is coming out in a few days, and it has giant scorpions and a Kraken in it.

I like the idea of people looking at nature, dreaming up our own versions of armour, and dealing with the engineering issues of attachment and balancing mass, protection, and dexterity. I find it hard to separate form from function, beauty from practicality.

Math is beautiful. Nature is beautiful.

In "Nature by Numbers," filmmaker Cristobal Vila presents a series of animations illustrating various mathematic principles, beginning with a breathtaking animation of the Fibonacci sequence. Then it moves on to the Golden and Angle Ratios, the Delaunay Triangulation and Voronoi Tessellations. This would be math-class gold, and it's awfully sweet even if math class is years behind you.

Amazing! After all the pushing and pulling and blocking for months and years, the health care bill passed on 2010-03-21! Whoo Hoo! Everyone knows how hard President Obama and the Democrats had to work and compromise in order to accomplish this. Thank you, thank you! I'm sure there will be bumps ahead but it's a big wall to have gotten through and this will go in the history books. Let's move on with our lives.

Here is a copy of the content of "My Keywords" page for my archives:

This page has my personal keywords that condense my personal philosophy, faith, and principles. A keyword refers to a word or phrase of words that are seminal. It is a good exercise to personalize, rephrase, un-cliche, rehash, condense, analyze, synthesize, prioritize, place, categorize, compare, contrast, create, stress test, define, explore, examine, etc. ideas.

Structured by word relationships. Counted but not necessarily ordered.
Single words Explore. Integrity. Urgency. Consequences. Respond. Responsibility. Play. Risk. Challenge. Neoteny. Ubuntu. Satyagraha.	Word pairs Fixation < Change. Ugly < Beauty. Try < Do. Hard < Easy. Fear < Courage. Hate < Love. Sorrow < Joy. Despair < Hope. Waste < Conservation. Pride < Perspective. Greed < Generosity. Sloth < Diligence. Watching < Doing. Expenses < Income. Xenophobia < Philoxenia. Yard < Metre. Other Date Formats < ISO 8601. Analysis + Synthesis. Respect + Dignity. Fairness + Freedom. Problems = Opportunities. Beauty = Truthful Less = More. Empiricism --> Faith. (Study + Practice) --> Instinct. Judging < Understanding. Exhaustion < Fortitude. Resources < Resourcfulness. Noise < Signal. Net-Worth < Self-Worth.	Phrases Be present. Adjust and accept the probability curve with its good hill and bad tails. Do you have X? Or does X have you? Wyrd = (Past <--> Present <--> Future). Out your inner world. There is more to invest & give than money. Conflict --> Competition --> Cooperation --> Consolidation. In spite of all the rubbish, make efforts to see the other sides of the elephant. Create closure even if you can't. Crime --> Consequences --> Forgiveness. Hear everyone --even those that cannot speak. It's a shared space. Create spaces for possibilities. Be authentically inspired into powerful actions. Add value: Do more positive than negative. A Mandelbrot system of object models. Naked upon a rock. It's a constructed reality. Cycle reasoning: deductive + inductive (pattern, abductive, creative). 侘寂 = Wabi-sabi = imperfect, impermanent, incomplete. Shared road. Negative capability. Tolerance for all but the intolerant. Consent, especially in sexual matters.

Compare and contrast:

• Seven Deadly Sins (in Latin & English): Luxuria = Lust, Gula = Gluttony, Avaritia = Greed, Acedia = Sloth, Ira = Anger, Invidia = Envy, Superbia = Pride.
• Seven Catholic Virtues: Chastity, Moderation, Generosity, Zeal, Meekness, Charity, Humility.
• Seven Contrary Virtues of Prudentius: Chastity, Humility, Kindness, Abstinence, Patience, Liberality, Diligence.
• Seven Heavenly Virtues: Love, Hope, Faith + Prudence, Temperance, Justice, Courage + Charity, Fortitude
• Seven Corporal Works of Mercy: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, give shelter to strangers, clothe the naked, visit the sick, minister to prisoners, and bury the dead.
• Four Cardinal Virtues of the Ancient Greeks: Prudence, Temperance, Justice, Courage.
• Greek/Hindu/Japanese Classical Elements
  1. Earth. Cold & dry. Xenophnes.  Solids. Stability. Christian ox = physical. Fiore elephant = fortitude.
  2. Water. Cold & wet. Thales. Liquids. Emotions & change. Christian eagle = emotion. Fiore tiger = speed & agility.
  3. Air. Hot & wet. Anaximenes. Vapors. Intellect & communication. Christian man = intellect. Fiore lynx = wisdom.
  4. Fire. Hot & dry. Heraclitus. Plasma. Passion & creativity. Christian lion = spirit. Fiore lion = boldness.
  5. Aether. Quintessence. Aristotle. Dark energy/matter. Void, zen, & non-fixation. (Not included in many variants)
• Chinese Classical Elements/Animals
  1. Wood. Crane. Agility. Green/Blue. East. Spring.
  2. Fire. Dragon. Intelligence. Red. South. Summer.
  3. Earth. Snake. Energy. Yellow. Center. Change of seasons.
  4. Metal. Tiger. Power. White. West. Autumn.
  5. Water. Leopard. Speed. Black. North. Winter.
• The Taoist Yin and Yang.
  • Yin.  Dark.  Moon. Feminine.  Static.  Cool. North. Winter. Right. Introversion. Earth.  Even. 6. 8. 0.
  • Yang. Light. Sun.  Masculine. Dynamic. Warm. South. Summer. Left.  Extroversion. Heaven. Odd.  9. 7. 1.
• Three Theological Virtues of St. Paul: Love, Hope, Faith.
• Nine Noble Virtues of Ásatrú [W]: Courage, Truth, Honor, Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Self Reliance, Industriousness, Perseverance.
• Seven Virtues of Bushido: 義 = Gi = Rectitude (Right Decisions/Justice and Morality), 勇 = Yu = Courage, 仁 = Jin = Benevolence, 礼 = Rei = Respect, 誠 = Makoto = Honesty, 名誉 = Meiyo = Honor and Glory, 忠義 = Chūgi = Loyalty.
• Seven Principles of Kawanzaa (Nguzu Saba): Umoja =Unity, Kujichagulia = Self-determination, Ujima = Collective work and responsibility, Ujamaa = Cooperative economics, Nia = Purpose, Kuumba = Creativity, and Imani = Faith.
• Seven Blunders of the World by Mahatma Gandhi: Wealth without work[/risk], Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge[/Education] without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principle.
• Noble Eightfold Path by Gautama Buddha: Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration.
• The seven ages of man [W] by William Shakespeare: Infant, Schoolboy, Lover, Soldier, Justice, Pantaloon, Oblivion.
• Dharma = धर्म (Sanskrit) and Tao = 道 (Chinese) = Dao (Pinyin Chinese) = Do (Japanese).

My world view is unavoidably intertwined with my personal subjective self; I cannot write my world view in an objective fashion. I can put effort into exploring my world view as if I were not me, just as I might try to explore someone else's world view. However, I cannot eliminate myself while exploring myself. Thus before I continue on with exploring my world view, I will briefly review where I've been and where I am:

In 1968 I was born in the Philippines and came to America when I was 4 years old; My parents had gone ahead and we were separated long enough that I did not recognize them when I arrived. I've been deaf in my left year as far as I or anyone else remembers. I was raised Roman Catholic but although I tried all those years to believe in Catholicism, I don't think I have ever believed in anything mystical. I am an introvert and I abhor parties and social gatherings. It is not that I dislike people or society, but that many things, including myself, seem quite noisy. I have kept a journal since high school; I used to have a great emphasis on exploring myself, but since I realized that it was endless, I stopped worrying about it; I still journal but less intensively. I grew up speaking only English, but since my 20s I have come to appreciate the great cultural and identity loss I have by not being able to speak Filipino. I boxed sporadically as a youth; I did Shotokan Karate daily for 13 years; I've been doing Western Martial Arts weekly since 2003. I've been happily married since 1992; we have 2 girls and 1 boy; Julia and my kids are central in my life. I went to Lane Tech H.S. in Chicago; I got a bachelor's in Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago. I tried to get into the Environmental Protection Agency, but when that failed I bacame a programmer; I currently program and co-own a small company in the health care industry called ICLOPS; I intend to never retire. I collected comic books into my adulthood; I can draw but I never developed it; I suck at making music but I like to listen; I read a good amount. I was not into politics until the aftermath of the 2001-09-11 attacks at the World Trace Centers; I have become more watchful since. I explore anything, but especially philosophy, technology, and martial arts. I'm not seeking fame or fortune; I'm not expecting to do anything spectacular with my life; I'm not seeking great pleasure, nor am avoiding reasonable pains; I just want to explore, live sincerely, and do/be good.

Now that I've given some background on myself, I can proceed with exploring my world view. Why am I exploring my world view? What is my goal? Given that my time is finite, I want to give myself perspective on where I'm at, what I want to do, how to do it, and so on. I want a world view that is sincere and personal, and yet beautiful, powerful, and reliable. As a programmer, I also have another goal: Since I'm bothering to do this work, I might as well see if I can construct it in such a generic way that it would be useful for other people too. I imagine that the latter goal makes the former goal harder, but I think it helps me in that it makes me a bit more accountable. I think I will have to be careful about parts of my world view that are specific to me as an instance of a person, versus the world view that would be applicable to people in general.

When it comes to exploring and sharing my world view, I immediately run into this problem: I have practically an infinite amount of material to explore, but a finite amount of time in which to explore; So how do I start? Where do I start? The data points, the possibilities, the perspectives, are practically infinite. To avoid never starting at all, it seems to me that the answer is to just start where ever I am. As Newton said, we're just "playing on a seashore". We can add or discard stones and shells as we go along. A child-like attitude is key: A child is bold, sees patterns, imagines possibilities, experiments, collects data. When it comes to the young there is a great emphasis on growth, but we forget that growth also involves a great deal of forgetting, prioritizing, forgiving, and letting go.

Zooming out, one realizes that "no man is an island": People are also fostered by other people. While a newborn fish can go about and fend for itself from birth, a new person must be nurtured: A person is a person through other people. This concept is nicely encapsulated by the African concept of ubuntu. A person lives in the context of his or her society. Zooming out even further, a person is also in the context of an eco system, an environmental system, a solar system, and so on. It is hard for a person to think in a larger scope in space: We can barely get past our solar system, let alone our stellar neighborhood, or galaxy, or galactic neigborhood, or universe.

Zooming back in, there is the cosmological timeline, the Sun's lifetime, geologic time spans, biological time scales, human history, generational history, my life, my week, my present. Zooming in and out through time and space affects one's world view. Whether you believe in an afterlife or not affects one's world view. My personal perspective is to try to take a general perspective that would apply regardless of one's familiarity with science or religion. This world view would have to satisfy the evidence you encounter and your instincts. This world view would have to work with a broad spectrum of people, a bell curve. This world view will have to jive with works of science, literature, art, and culture from different times and places. This world view would have to answer two questions: How do you know? How do you feel?

OK, I just came back from taking a bunch of the key concepts and manipulating them symbolically on a piece of paper until it made more sense. It's sort of like math but with ideas. I will try to write down what I came up with.

There nodes: self, other, others, and clumps of others. There are different relationships between nodes: self-to-self, self-to-other, self-to-others, self-to-clumps, other-to-other, other-to-others, other-to-clumps, others-to-others, others-to-clumps, clumps-to-clumps. There are actually an infinite of number nodes: ideas, dead or past nodes, virtual nodes, etc., and an infinite number of relationships. The concept is that you have nodes and node relationships, which, in my mind, I represent as a bell curve, but for now I'll use the upper case Omega: Ω.

Ω must be parsed or dealt with. I represent this as a method with a parameter. I'll use the lower case alpha: α(Ω). The trick then is to achieve the best parsing. α must be beautiful, powerful, reliable. α must apply to the widest range of Ω. The universe is the "α and the Ω", in that nature parses everything according to math and natural laws. In the human context, the same thing happens but we have our own standards of what is a good parsing, of what satisfies our sense of truth, justice, fairness, equitability, efficacy, efficiency, timeliness, beauty, order, etc.

My α(Ω) model may seem too general, but I want it to be scalable and broadly applicable. Here are a few general points applicable to α(Ω):

• Perspective. Perspective is so expansive. I've already mentioned somethings regarding time, space, and resources. For example, something monumental achievements are only possible by clumps. For example, it takes the characteristics of heroism, artistry, and the like to explore far enough and push the edge. For example the person you know and love today, will grow and change, and will, in effect, no longer exist in the future.
• Secular. Secular devices, ideas, etc. can be used by folks from different perspectives: religious, cultural, historical, philosophical, common, etc. For example we all experience and parse. For example, understanding the underlying drives: Entropy and the arrow of time and the purpose of life; Replication of genes and memes.
• Constructed. While everything in the universe is bound by math and universal laws, there are many constructs within it where all sorts of other laws can apply. For example, in the story of Goldilocks, bears have can speak. Sports and Constitutions are constructs.
• Problem solve. Engineer's have an algorithm: 1. Define the problem. 2. Gather info. 3. Seek and compare solutions. 4. Implement the best solution. 5. Follow up. Doctor's have SOAP note documentation: Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan.

The universe is α(Ω). Whatever I think or do, whatever models I come up with, the universe is there doing its thing.

To wrap things up, here is a short list of some devices/ideas to layer upon my α(Ω) model. Apply these as well as whatever works for particular situations.

• How do you know? Openness, transparency, shared, testable, evidencee, logic, measurement, science, secular.
• How do you feel? Is it beautiful? What does your wiring say?
• Explore.
• Integrity. Sincerity. Earnestness.
• Ubuntu. Cooperation. Justice. Prudence. Charity. Realize that somethings are effectively unlimited: love, faith, hope, courtesy, courage, and so on.
• Means. Safety, efficacy, efficiency, variety, prioritize/triage. Perspective on the time limitation. Not just work but power.
• Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) reduction. Not so much {"The Secret", The Law of Attraction, or Positive Thinking} but {perspective, priorities, awareness and dealing with negatives, Stoicism}. Maximizing SNR is not magic or a gimmick but common sense.
• Ethics:
  • Socrates and Aristotle: Know the good and realize it. Temperance. Courage.
  • Hedonism: More pleasure/utility. Less pain/losses. Practically everyone applies hedonism with moderation.
  • Stoicism: Peace of mind, non-fixation, letting go, wabi-sabi. Be present. Give your time.
  • Consequences.
  • Tolerance for all but the intolerant. Via Karl Popper.
  • Consent, especially in sexual matters.
  • Exploring virtues and vices.
• Each node in Ω acts naturally, and often politically: Protecting and promoting its own interests. Be aware of political constructs and political issues. Participate and speak up because politcal constructs are unavoidable.
• Naked upon a rock. Be aware of vulnerability. We are all vulnerable.

I like it: net-worth < self-worth.

• live a life of integrity and character.
• cultivate worthy endeavors that are available in infinite supply. [love, hope]
• delight in your uniqueness.
• give away your most valuable resource. [time]
• live courageously.
• develop self-confidence.
• embrace your weaknesses.
• make the most of every opportunity.

Tim Bray (formerly of Sun) on competing with Apple:

The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet’s future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It’s a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord’s pleasure and fear his anger.

I hate it.

I hate it even though the iPhone hardware and software are great, because freedom’s not just another word for anything, nor is it an optional ingredient.

The big thing about the Web isn’t the technology, it’s that it’s the first-ever platform without a vendor (credit for first pointing this out goes to Dave Winer). From that follows almost everything that matters, and it matters a lot now, to a huge number of people. It’s the only kind of platform I want to help build.

Apple apparently thinks you can have the benefits of the Internet while at the same time controlling what programs can be run and what parts of the stack can be accessed and what developers can say to each other.

I think they’re wrong and see this job as a chance to help prove it.

The tragedy is that Apple builds some great open platforms; I’ve been a happy buyer of their computing systems for some years now and, despite my current irritation, will probably go on using them.

No correlation has even been found between exposure to porn and calloused attitudes toward women.

What does correlate highly with sex offense is a strict, repressive religious upbringing. Richard Green too has reported that both rapists and child molesters use less pornography than a control group of "normal" males.

Porn has also driven a fair amount of computer development. The reddit thread has some material both goofy and thoughtful.

This one is so obvious that it's spooky. The concept of successful genes maximize replication is familiar; that life succeeds because it maximizes entropy on a much lower level than the visible mess we create. The complex processes of life enable chemical reactions to get past a little hill and into a lower energy state.

"The purpose of life is to hydrogenate carbon dioxide." -Mike Russell

Page Modified: (Hand noted: 2007-07-19 21:41:10Z) (Auto noted: 2010-02-18 19:45:32Z)