The tea party typically frustrates me. Not only do many of their supporters come from key demographics that do not benefit from tea party political standings, but they are typically adhering to things I consider anti-Christian.
First, let me be clear. I take seriously the teachings of Christ when he states that there are two key commandments. 1) Love the Lord your God above all else and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. These are the core of Christianity, the rest is just fluff. Really. Think about it. Gay rights? Not really in the Bible. Abortion? We live in a fallen world with a fallen people. It's going to happen. I mention these only because they are hot-button, but trivial, issues in the national dialogue today. I happen to believe these issues are overridden by the above guidelines, but that is a blog-post for another day.
Let us look at some issues from the tea party platform. (Taken from: http://www.teaparty-platform.com/ )
1) Eliminate Excessive Tax
2) Eliminate the National Debt
3) Eliminate Deficit Spending
4) Protect Free Markets
5) Abide by the Constitution of the United States
6) Promote Civic Responsibility
7) Reduce the Overall Size of Government
8) Believe in the People
9) Avoid the Pitfalls of Politics
10) Maintain Local Independance
Those are some pretty noble seeming goals. I find myself drawn to these ideas, and even thinking that they might be Christian in origin. Hmm... Let us dig a little bit deeper. No, not deeper into the tea party platform, but deeper into that dusty thing on your shelf... You know, the one you don't pick up and read? Yes... The Bible.
With regards to issues 1 through 3, Christians should not care. Jesus spoke definitively on this issue in Matthew Chapter 22: 15-22. You can go read the whole thing, but for now, you just need to know that he stated, "So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s." The money we use has value because the government supports it. These money issues are trivial and outside the work we are called to do. Don't worry about taxes, worry about doing the work of God.
With number 4, I don't even understand the point. What is a free market, and why do we care? Do they mean a market free of government regulation? This would most likely return us to a situation where big businesses control the market. Do they mean no big businesses? I'm not going to delve into the political aspects of this right now. On to the next point.
Number 5: Abide by the Constitution of the United States. Beyond the fact that this makes little sense in and of itself, this is an anti-Christian sentiment. Yes, we should adhere to the laws of our land, but is that it? No. We should adhere to the law of God! Love your neighbor as yourself. Who cares about the right to keep and bare arms? Really? You're concerned about losing the privilege to walk around in a children's park with an uzi?
For issues 5-10, the issues are not only moot, but designed to draw you away from the Truth of Christ. We are supposed to "believe in the people?" Which people would this be? We are a fallen race, bent on our own destruction. We have guns that only serve to kill other people. We have drugs that are only good for drawing us away from the work of the Church. We invent new ways to be evil every day! How can we believe in the 'people,' when we ourselves are not worthy of others' belief?
Should we care about the size of government? A little government can be just as oppressive as a big one. Government cannot and WILL not be able to stop the word of God from going out among the people. Countries openly hostile to Christianity are seeing growth in the number of believers! Why do we care so much if our government does something that we perceive to be against the will of God? Of COURSE government is going to go against God. Why are you looking so closely at the government anyway? Shouldn't you be out doing something?
I'm sure I've made you mad. Ask yourself why. I find that I most often make people mad when I hit on a truth they do not want to acknowledge. If you want to challenge my argument, go for it. I welcome the debate!
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Friday, November 19, 2010
Demons.
First, before you read too far. I believe in Demons. No, I don't think they're like the Wes Craven scary demons. I think they're more like the C.S. Lewis Screwtape demons. There are demons in the world that actively work to keep you unhappy and out of the life you are meant to be living. They offer suggestions to you that are not altogether unreasonable. "Go here, instead of there..." they whisper. "Listen to this person, instead of that one," they offer.
Now, not all decisions are directed by demons. I would offer that, like in the Screwtape letters, most decisions are left without guidance. There are a few decisions, however, that are pushed on by supernatural beings that encourage specific decisions. "Should I continue with this project, or let it drop because it might be unpopular? I know that it's the right thing to do, but..." And it is in this moment of doubt that the demon comes in and says, "No, the timing is just wrong... it's a good idea, just wait..."
Then, 7 or so years down the road you find yourself looking back on the project or idea, wondering why you had given up so easily.
Having said all this, I think I have just moved from a town that was filled with demons. I say this because I think, if this type of being does exist, then they affect children the most. Since we moved, my son has drastically changed his personality. He is more engaged, stares off less, is nicer to his sister and is generally a much nicer little boy. When I say drastically, I am amazed at the change.
When we were in our previous dwelling place, my son would do some of the strangest things. He would walk around pounding on walls, run back and forth through the house screaming and making strange noises. We would stop him, hug him, and he would look at us like we had just fallen from the ceiling.
I am convinced that there was some demonic force acting on him. Now it is for you to decide whether I am being literal or metaphorical.
Now, not all decisions are directed by demons. I would offer that, like in the Screwtape letters, most decisions are left without guidance. There are a few decisions, however, that are pushed on by supernatural beings that encourage specific decisions. "Should I continue with this project, or let it drop because it might be unpopular? I know that it's the right thing to do, but..." And it is in this moment of doubt that the demon comes in and says, "No, the timing is just wrong... it's a good idea, just wait..."
Then, 7 or so years down the road you find yourself looking back on the project or idea, wondering why you had given up so easily.
Having said all this, I think I have just moved from a town that was filled with demons. I say this because I think, if this type of being does exist, then they affect children the most. Since we moved, my son has drastically changed his personality. He is more engaged, stares off less, is nicer to his sister and is generally a much nicer little boy. When I say drastically, I am amazed at the change.
When we were in our previous dwelling place, my son would do some of the strangest things. He would walk around pounding on walls, run back and forth through the house screaming and making strange noises. We would stop him, hug him, and he would look at us like we had just fallen from the ceiling.
I am convinced that there was some demonic force acting on him. Now it is for you to decide whether I am being literal or metaphorical.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Graduate Studies
Here I am, at school, ostensibly working on something or other. Not only do I feel completely overwhelmed by everything that I need to get done by tomorrow, but I also feel clueless. What was it that I'm supposed to be working on again? Well... I'm going to go eat some food.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
GNU / Linux Games. Current affairs.
So I want to do a research study on helping students to read using a role playing video game. The idea is to find a game engaging enough that the students want to play, but hard enough that they will need to refer to a text-based walkthrough to finish a lot of the tasks. The problem with this study, is that I don't have any money to do it. I know, imagine that, a PhD student without extra cash.
I would absolutely *LOVE* to use an open source game. I am familiar with open source games, and I can compile just about anything given enough time. I thought, "There has to be at least ONE decent RPG in the FOSS world I can use." Apparently I was completely wrong. Which got me thinking. Why are there no really good RPG's in the FOSS community? Are RPG games that complex that people cannot write one without massive corporate support?
I don't think this is the reason. I think that open source itself is part of the problem in developing a good RPG. When you start playing an RPG, the modern view is that you play the levels in order to learn the interface and mechanics well enough to go online. Some RPG's are purely online, allowing you to develop your character and learn the interface in an online environment. This is where the problem arises.
If you are developing a game for the open source community, you are probably concerned with a few things. First, you want the game to have a good plot. Second, you want the game to have a good interface and learning curve. Third, you want the game to have some kind of decent graphics. Finally, you want your game online.
Unfortunately, this last part is the issue. If you want your game online, you build a server, then you let the client-side programs connect to that server and voila! Blizzard Entertainment will tell you a different story. They have been working on their Battle.net system for as long as they have allowed online games to exist. Battle.net is a sophisticated server that validates the client program to ensure that no hacks or mods have been applied. Granted, they have gotten a little over zealous in the past (banning all wine-based play for World of Warcraft, for example).
If you don't think this is a problem, log into BZFlag for a few hours and you will come across a tank that is completely indestructible. I love this game, but I have found it to be unplayable on many occasions because it seems that captain unbeatable gets really annoying really fast.
Now, back to the developers. If I am developing a game that will most likely end up having an online component, I want to figure out how to ensure that players will have a fair and enjoyable experience. Since the developers will logically be focused on the local gameplay, the online gameplay will become an issue once the server structure has been developed.
Here is my call to arms for FOSS game developers. Get together a group and develop a bit of code that can be used to meaningfully validate the client software.
I don't know how to do this. I would imagine that Blizzard Entertainment can rely on knowing exactly under which conditions their software was compiled. This allows them, at the most basic level, to rely of MD5 hash codes or the like. But I also believe that there are more sophisticated methodologies that allow for checking of a modified source code. I obviously have no idea what that would look like.
So here is my call, please GNU community, develop a client verification engine that developers can use to verify their code. I know you can do it, and I'm reasonably certain that game developers in the FOSS community have enough to worry about with the player-side interactions.
I would absolutely *LOVE* to use an open source game. I am familiar with open source games, and I can compile just about anything given enough time. I thought, "There has to be at least ONE decent RPG in the FOSS world I can use." Apparently I was completely wrong. Which got me thinking. Why are there no really good RPG's in the FOSS community? Are RPG games that complex that people cannot write one without massive corporate support?
I don't think this is the reason. I think that open source itself is part of the problem in developing a good RPG. When you start playing an RPG, the modern view is that you play the levels in order to learn the interface and mechanics well enough to go online. Some RPG's are purely online, allowing you to develop your character and learn the interface in an online environment. This is where the problem arises.
If you are developing a game for the open source community, you are probably concerned with a few things. First, you want the game to have a good plot. Second, you want the game to have a good interface and learning curve. Third, you want the game to have some kind of decent graphics. Finally, you want your game online.
Unfortunately, this last part is the issue. If you want your game online, you build a server, then you let the client-side programs connect to that server and voila! Blizzard Entertainment will tell you a different story. They have been working on their Battle.net system for as long as they have allowed online games to exist. Battle.net is a sophisticated server that validates the client program to ensure that no hacks or mods have been applied. Granted, they have gotten a little over zealous in the past (banning all wine-based play for World of Warcraft, for example).
If you don't think this is a problem, log into BZFlag for a few hours and you will come across a tank that is completely indestructible. I love this game, but I have found it to be unplayable on many occasions because it seems that captain unbeatable gets really annoying really fast.
Now, back to the developers. If I am developing a game that will most likely end up having an online component, I want to figure out how to ensure that players will have a fair and enjoyable experience. Since the developers will logically be focused on the local gameplay, the online gameplay will become an issue once the server structure has been developed.
Here is my call to arms for FOSS game developers. Get together a group and develop a bit of code that can be used to meaningfully validate the client software.
I don't know how to do this. I would imagine that Blizzard Entertainment can rely on knowing exactly under which conditions their software was compiled. This allows them, at the most basic level, to rely of MD5 hash codes or the like. But I also believe that there are more sophisticated methodologies that allow for checking of a modified source code. I obviously have no idea what that would look like.
So here is my call, please GNU community, develop a client verification engine that developers can use to verify their code. I know you can do it, and I'm reasonably certain that game developers in the FOSS community have enough to worry about with the player-side interactions.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Officially Dumping Facebook this week.
I do not come to this decision lightly. I like Facebook... No, I don't... I enjoy Facebook. It's a great place to get online and chat with friends from long ago. But i am more and more convinced they are headed down a path I choose not to follow. Travel with me, if you will, down memory lane.
A few weeks ago, Facebook changed their interface. I don't mind it, but apparently just about everyone else does. It seems to be a massive bomb in the eyes of the users. Not a peep from Facebook about the interface, not even a comment that they're always trying to improve the user experience. Silence. This gets me thinking. Wasn't it just a little bit ago that Facebook changed its privacy settings? Defaulting everything to public?
Hmmm... So I did a little looking. I'm not sure I entirely understand all the settings restricting access in Facebook anymore. I did once upon a time, but now I'm not so sure. There are privacy settings governing every little thing. Some of the options are downright just confusing. (What does a Public post really mean? It means that anyone on the planet can see what you post, but it's easy to believe that it's just Facebook users).
So two things happened. Facebook opened everything up, and they shut themselves down. This made me nervous. When companies start ignoring their users because they will log in anyway, the system has a problem.
Today, the final straw. I cannot rationalize a Facebook membership anymore. They joined with a company, or rather purchased, that has a history of what is called information scraping. It is a process by which information is gathered in a moderately legal to somewhat shady maner. You might believe that I'm being paranoid, but you can check out a little about the company if you like. They were called Octazen. Now they're part of Facebook.
Now, Facebook insists that it's not buying the technology, but the talent. They insist they are shutting down the company, and using the workers. If a mechanic says that he's buying a chop-shop in order to shut it down, but he really thinks the talent is useful, would you frequent that mechanic? I have doubts that you would feel safe leaving your car at that establishment.
I do not feel safe leaving any information with a company that values an ability to scrap information from the web in any kind of sneaky way. There is no reason that a legitimate company needs to direct their traffic towards one site using multiple IP addresses.
Facebook, with their recent policy of increasing the transparency of everything that you do, while decreasing the transparency of everything they do, has lost my business. I firmly believe that a company who hires people with a dubious skill set is interested in using those skills for its own gain. I also firmly believe that anyone interested in their own privacy and online identity should drop Facebook like a bad habit.
A few weeks ago, Facebook changed their interface. I don't mind it, but apparently just about everyone else does. It seems to be a massive bomb in the eyes of the users. Not a peep from Facebook about the interface, not even a comment that they're always trying to improve the user experience. Silence. This gets me thinking. Wasn't it just a little bit ago that Facebook changed its privacy settings? Defaulting everything to public?
Hmmm... So I did a little looking. I'm not sure I entirely understand all the settings restricting access in Facebook anymore. I did once upon a time, but now I'm not so sure. There are privacy settings governing every little thing. Some of the options are downright just confusing. (What does a Public post really mean? It means that anyone on the planet can see what you post, but it's easy to believe that it's just Facebook users).
So two things happened. Facebook opened everything up, and they shut themselves down. This made me nervous. When companies start ignoring their users because they will log in anyway, the system has a problem.
Today, the final straw. I cannot rationalize a Facebook membership anymore. They joined with a company, or rather purchased, that has a history of what is called information scraping. It is a process by which information is gathered in a moderately legal to somewhat shady maner. You might believe that I'm being paranoid, but you can check out a little about the company if you like. They were called Octazen. Now they're part of Facebook.
Now, Facebook insists that it's not buying the technology, but the talent. They insist they are shutting down the company, and using the workers. If a mechanic says that he's buying a chop-shop in order to shut it down, but he really thinks the talent is useful, would you frequent that mechanic? I have doubts that you would feel safe leaving your car at that establishment.
I do not feel safe leaving any information with a company that values an ability to scrap information from the web in any kind of sneaky way. There is no reason that a legitimate company needs to direct their traffic towards one site using multiple IP addresses.
Facebook, with their recent policy of increasing the transparency of everything that you do, while decreasing the transparency of everything they do, has lost my business. I firmly believe that a company who hires people with a dubious skill set is interested in using those skills for its own gain. I also firmly believe that anyone interested in their own privacy and online identity should drop Facebook like a bad habit.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Why I'm not happy with wordpress.com
Ok, I love open source stuff. It's awesome! Wordpress.org is fantastic. wordpress.com, not so much.
Wordpress is like the love-child of Drupal and Blogger. It's got features of a blog, and it's got features of a content management system. This, in theory, is great! I love the concept. You've got a really nice simple interface with a lot of power under the hood.
In theory.
In practice, wordpress.com is a steaming pile of whatsit. (If you don't know what whatsit is, you should watch more homestarrunner.com cartoons.)
Since they stopped letting users add iframes and javascript, it's really just become an overly complex jumble of things that don't seem to work right. There is no benefit to run wordpress over blogger, if you want to just have a simple blog. Blogger will get you up and running faster, and easily integrates all the things you might want! (I have a google analytics account following this blog. Why? I don't know, morbid curiosity... I love knowing that 3 people on average visit this site for <30 seconds a day.)
If you want a multi-page blog with more power, use weebly! (Granted, not open source, but a really nice tool none the less.) If you want to stay open source, just find someone who will give you a little drupal loving.
Wordpress tries to do too much with a blog and ends up being either A: not enough or B: way too much.
Wordpress is like the love-child of Drupal and Blogger. It's got features of a blog, and it's got features of a content management system. This, in theory, is great! I love the concept. You've got a really nice simple interface with a lot of power under the hood.
In theory.
In practice, wordpress.com is a steaming pile of whatsit. (If you don't know what whatsit is, you should watch more homestarrunner.com cartoons.)
Since they stopped letting users add iframes and javascript, it's really just become an overly complex jumble of things that don't seem to work right. There is no benefit to run wordpress over blogger, if you want to just have a simple blog. Blogger will get you up and running faster, and easily integrates all the things you might want! (I have a google analytics account following this blog. Why? I don't know, morbid curiosity... I love knowing that 3 people on average visit this site for <30 seconds a day.)
If you want a multi-page blog with more power, use weebly! (Granted, not open source, but a really nice tool none the less.) If you want to stay open source, just find someone who will give you a little drupal loving.
Wordpress tries to do too much with a blog and ends up being either A: not enough or B: way too much.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Holy Cow!
People read my Blog. I can't believe it! I get page-hits and everything... I think I'll start posting more meaningful things here. I think what I will do is post some more open-source related things here. I am looking into open-source games for a research project that I'm planning to do, so I think I'll start posting some reviews on here about those games.
For now, thanks for the comments!
For now, thanks for the comments!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Dumbledore and the PhD.
I have been thinking about Dumbledore at the end of Half-Blood Prince for a little while now. And let me preface this with two things: 1)I hesitate to post this because I think someone will misunderstand it, and 2) If you're planning to read book 6, and don't want to read any spoilers, read no further, because I've got some spoilers here.
Anyway, Dumbledore, in the novel, The Half-Blood Prince, ends up drinking some potion that is really painful and really debilitating for Dumbledore. Before he starts drinking, he tells Harry to force him to continue drinking, no matter what happens. Harry is forced to promise that he'll make Dumbledore drink, and the story goes on from there.
I feel, doing my PhD, like Albus Dumbledore. No, I'm not saying that getting my degree is a bad thing, I'm saying that it's painful. From what I understand, it is supposed to be painful to a certain extent. The Graduate Students prayer goes something like, "Dear Lord, Please help me to complete this impossible and self imposed task." This is how I feel. I feel like I need to stop, but someone, or something, is pushing me forward.
I feel like a Zombie.
Sometimes I think I cannot go further, but then I find myself on the other side of a task, moving forward again.
Here, hand me that chalice, I think I can take another drink now. Maybe I'm not yet too far gone, I only hope that R.A.B has not nabbed the prize at the bottom of the punch-bowl of death.
Anyway, Dumbledore, in the novel, The Half-Blood Prince, ends up drinking some potion that is really painful and really debilitating for Dumbledore. Before he starts drinking, he tells Harry to force him to continue drinking, no matter what happens. Harry is forced to promise that he'll make Dumbledore drink, and the story goes on from there.
I feel, doing my PhD, like Albus Dumbledore. No, I'm not saying that getting my degree is a bad thing, I'm saying that it's painful. From what I understand, it is supposed to be painful to a certain extent. The Graduate Students prayer goes something like, "Dear Lord, Please help me to complete this impossible and self imposed task." This is how I feel. I feel like I need to stop, but someone, or something, is pushing me forward.
I feel like a Zombie.
Sometimes I think I cannot go further, but then I find myself on the other side of a task, moving forward again.
Here, hand me that chalice, I think I can take another drink now. Maybe I'm not yet too far gone, I only hope that R.A.B has not nabbed the prize at the bottom of the punch-bowl of death.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Ok, I'm officially evil.
I bought a Mac. This is worse than buying a windows machine. Why? Because if I buy a windows machine, I pay my M$ tax, then blow it away and return to Linux. Now, I have bought a mac. Granted, I could setup a dual-boot setup and run all those great Linux apps in a separate partition. I don't want to.
I am very very happy with my MacBook, and it is treating me very well. I have not hit a single dependency problem. I have not had any hardware conflicts. I've been able to install most of my favorite GNU programs, and I'll be installing a few more today.
Beyond being able to install the open source programs I love, I am able to do what I want without having to worry about it. Granted, one of the first things I've done was to get rid of Safari and install Firefox, but I still love this computer.
Ok, So I'm a Mac Fanboy. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go download some back editions of Mac podcasts.
I am very very happy with my MacBook, and it is treating me very well. I have not hit a single dependency problem. I have not had any hardware conflicts. I've been able to install most of my favorite GNU programs, and I'll be installing a few more today.
Beyond being able to install the open source programs I love, I am able to do what I want without having to worry about it. Granted, one of the first things I've done was to get rid of Safari and install Firefox, but I still love this computer.
Ok, So I'm a Mac Fanboy. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go download some back editions of Mac podcasts.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Pet Peeve
One of my biggest pet peeves is the scrolly button on the mouse. Ok, so it's not one of my biggest, but it is my newest peeve.
When I'm working in windows, I expect the scrolly button to just work. I expect that, if I spin the scrolly button, something should scroll (if it is indeed scrollable). This does not always happen. It makes me grumpy.
When I'm working in windows, I expect the scrolly button to just work. I expect that, if I spin the scrolly button, something should scroll (if it is indeed scrollable). This does not always happen. It makes me grumpy.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Open Letter to Apple
Ok Apple, Listen up, because I think you need to hear this.
I love the iPhone. My brother loves the iPhone. My wife and sister-in-law both love the iPhone. I would have purchased an iPhone long ago, but for one simple reason: AT&T is crap.
I cannot begin to understand the reasons for the decisions that AT&T has restricted some of the basic functionality of the iPhone. I am sure that there is some big-and-corporate reason for their decisions, but I really do not care. I don't want to have to worry about what I can and cannot do with my phone because of crazy restrictions and goofy protocols.
It is more and more clear to me that AT&T is like an elderly person who needs to be put in a home for her own good. You know, like when Grandma left the oven on for three days and almost burned down the neighborhood? AT&T is like that. They are trying to push the FCC to restrict more and push more regulation onto the Internet. Let us say that the *do* manage to accomplish this absurd goal. The only thing that I think will happen is more Google functionality will be restricted in the US, and the rest of the planet will get the gooey goodness.
In the worst case scenario, Google will say, "Fine, you want to side with AT&T on this and restrict us? We'll move out of the country. Bye!" I'm sure that this will not happen instantly, but why would a company not move out of an expensive, high-restriction country, to a country with fewer restrictions? It's the eternal problem of the Internet -- how do you restrict something you have no jurisdiction over?
Apple, dump your elderly grandmother in the retirement home. Please.
I love the iPhone. My brother loves the iPhone. My wife and sister-in-law both love the iPhone. I would have purchased an iPhone long ago, but for one simple reason: AT&T is crap.
I cannot begin to understand the reasons for the decisions that AT&T has restricted some of the basic functionality of the iPhone. I am sure that there is some big-and-corporate reason for their decisions, but I really do not care. I don't want to have to worry about what I can and cannot do with my phone because of crazy restrictions and goofy protocols.
It is more and more clear to me that AT&T is like an elderly person who needs to be put in a home for her own good. You know, like when Grandma left the oven on for three days and almost burned down the neighborhood? AT&T is like that. They are trying to push the FCC to restrict more and push more regulation onto the Internet. Let us say that the *do* manage to accomplish this absurd goal. The only thing that I think will happen is more Google functionality will be restricted in the US, and the rest of the planet will get the gooey goodness.
In the worst case scenario, Google will say, "Fine, you want to side with AT&T on this and restrict us? We'll move out of the country. Bye!" I'm sure that this will not happen instantly, but why would a company not move out of an expensive, high-restriction country, to a country with fewer restrictions? It's the eternal problem of the Internet -- how do you restrict something you have no jurisdiction over?
Apple, dump your elderly grandmother in the retirement home. Please.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
why I hate World of Warcraft.
There are two reasons I can see that one would play World of Warcraft. First, it's a game that puts you into natural surroundings where trees still have some value. Second, it's an RPG. I value both of these things, but I hate World of Warcraft.
Hate might not be the right word, but it will do.
If you want to participate in nature, the fix is easy. Go outside. Please.
If you want to play an RPG, get some friends, get together and Play an RPG. They're better when you play pen-and-paper. Trust me.
Go outside.
Hate might not be the right word, but it will do.
If you want to participate in nature, the fix is easy. Go outside. Please.
If you want to play an RPG, get some friends, get together and Play an RPG. They're better when you play pen-and-paper. Trust me.
Go outside.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Toddler World
My son has entered the whine everything phase of life. As I understand it, this phase lasts until around 23, then it gets worse.
He is sitting at the table this morning with my wife and I, asking for sugar. I did not realize that the phrase, "Sugar please," could have such a whine to it when it comes from the lips of a two-year-old.
Daddy came to the rescue and did the "Magical Cool-down" of the "tea." I swirled the cup and blew on it and somehow, that process made the boy's drink cooler.
Immediately more palatable, the drink needed to be poured into a treat holder that he got out of the drawer.
"No," his mother says. Whining commences. Request to put dice in the treat cup? "Sure," mommy says. Crisis averted.
Pleasant beverage still sits on the table.
He is sitting at the table this morning with my wife and I, asking for sugar. I did not realize that the phrase, "Sugar please," could have such a whine to it when it comes from the lips of a two-year-old.
Daddy came to the rescue and did the "Magical Cool-down" of the "tea." I swirled the cup and blew on it and somehow, that process made the boy's drink cooler.
Immediately more palatable, the drink needed to be poured into a treat holder that he got out of the drawer.
"No," his mother says. Whining commences. Request to put dice in the treat cup? "Sure," mommy says. Crisis averted.
Pleasant beverage still sits on the table.
Friday, September 18, 2009
RE: It's time...
I'm home sick for the North. I have lived in a lot of places, but only a few have made me homesick for another one.
This is one of those places.
We've been here a year, are well integrated into our faith community, but have few friends. When we lived in Butler, we could not help but run into people we knew when we went for walks. We used to walk every week for many hours, just chatting about the community we saw and what was going on.
We don't walk much any more. When we DO walk, we are looking around corners and waiting for someone to overhear our conversation and take it the wrong way.
The leaves are still green. I want colors. I want a threat of snow in September and a thunderstorm because it's Friday. I want wind so violent and full of ice that school is delayed because of the cold.
I do not want a hurricane. Hurricanes are not like northern storms. Northern storms are predictable and odd. Hurricanes can soak you, then leave you standing only to knock you back down.
I want a thunder boomer that rattles the floor boards.
I want a basement.
I want home.
This is one of those places.
We've been here a year, are well integrated into our faith community, but have few friends. When we lived in Butler, we could not help but run into people we knew when we went for walks. We used to walk every week for many hours, just chatting about the community we saw and what was going on.
We don't walk much any more. When we DO walk, we are looking around corners and waiting for someone to overhear our conversation and take it the wrong way.
The leaves are still green. I want colors. I want a threat of snow in September and a thunderstorm because it's Friday. I want wind so violent and full of ice that school is delayed because of the cold.
I do not want a hurricane. Hurricanes are not like northern storms. Northern storms are predictable and odd. Hurricanes can soak you, then leave you standing only to knock you back down.
I want a thunder boomer that rattles the floor boards.
I want a basement.
I want home.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Shaklee Post number one.
Hi.
Some of you may know that I've been involved with Shaklee for some time now. Shaklee, as you may or may not know, is the largest all-natural nutritional company in the world. There are larger nutritional companies, but they do synthetics & the like. Shaklee is all about the cold-processed all-natural approach.
They also do a lot of health and beauty kinds of things. The combination of the two is what I wish to share with you today.
If you look here:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5883706/Vivix
You will see one of their newest products. It's amazing how well it works, and there have been a lot of testimonial kinds of reports about it, but here you see the results of a double-blind study they just completed. The study is not referenced in this article explicitly, this is just some marketing material they printed (they wanted it to look pretty, not formal and scientific).
Read the article. If you have any questions about it, drop me a line.
jsl
Some of you may know that I've been involved with Shaklee for some time now. Shaklee, as you may or may not know, is the largest all-natural nutritional company in the world. There are larger nutritional companies, but they do synthetics & the like. Shaklee is all about the cold-processed all-natural approach.
They also do a lot of health and beauty kinds of things. The combination of the two is what I wish to share with you today.
If you look here:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5883706/Vivix
You will see one of their newest products. It's amazing how well it works, and there have been a lot of testimonial kinds of reports about it, but here you see the results of a double-blind study they just completed. The study is not referenced in this article explicitly, this is just some marketing material they printed (they wanted it to look pretty, not formal and scientific).
Read the article. If you have any questions about it, drop me a line.
jsl
Monday, July 13, 2009
Flash Cards
Are you fracking Kidding me? Flash Cards? Why the HECK would you encourage flashcards.
Yes, I hate flashcards.
A Lot.
I'm not a fan of Power Point, but that's a different story. But Flash Cards, I hate 'em.
Flash Cards encourage a style of education that does not necessarily increase learning, and I cannot believe that in today's culture, so many people like flash cards.
Well, that's a lie. I understand it. I think it's dumb, but I understand it. Students like them because they are simple, and teachers like them because they require little prep work for the teachers. Flash cards do not require teacher creativity in any way shape or form, but that is not why I hate them.
This is why I hate them. I teach AVID. In AVID, I teach students how to learn, asking them to avoid lower levels of reasoning.
In Costa's hierarchy of questions, the lower level is level 1. This level has questions like, "What is the name of the book?" "What is 'dog' in French?" "Where is France on a Map?" These are basic 'look it up' level questions. They are questions that you get the answer for and move on quickly.
In Bloom's Taxonomy, These questions are typically Knowledge or Comprehension. Do you know where Bob is? Do you understand 4+2? All of these questions have a place in pedagogy, but they are not the end-goal.
More appropriately, we can say, "Use the word for "Dog" in a French Sentence." or "How does the name of the book relate to the plot of the first three chapters?"
Both of these questions are intentionally open-ended and require the student to USE the information (Higher levels on Costa and Bloom).
We are reasonably certain that the more a student uses the information, the more likely that student will be to be able to recall the information later. If we are pushing students to a level where they should be able to utilize information in a variety of settings, why then are we only requiring extremely basic knowledge? Why are we not pushing their knowledge higher?
Flashcards are the evidence that teachers are not moving forward with their pedagogical methods.
Gar.
jsl
Yes, I hate flashcards.
A Lot.
I'm not a fan of Power Point, but that's a different story. But Flash Cards, I hate 'em.
Flash Cards encourage a style of education that does not necessarily increase learning, and I cannot believe that in today's culture, so many people like flash cards.
Well, that's a lie. I understand it. I think it's dumb, but I understand it. Students like them because they are simple, and teachers like them because they require little prep work for the teachers. Flash cards do not require teacher creativity in any way shape or form, but that is not why I hate them.
This is why I hate them. I teach AVID. In AVID, I teach students how to learn, asking them to avoid lower levels of reasoning.
In Costa's hierarchy of questions, the lower level is level 1. This level has questions like, "What is the name of the book?" "What is 'dog' in French?" "Where is France on a Map?" These are basic 'look it up' level questions. They are questions that you get the answer for and move on quickly.
In Bloom's Taxonomy, These questions are typically Knowledge or Comprehension. Do you know where Bob is? Do you understand 4+2? All of these questions have a place in pedagogy, but they are not the end-goal.
More appropriately, we can say, "Use the word for "Dog" in a French Sentence." or "How does the name of the book relate to the plot of the first three chapters?"
Both of these questions are intentionally open-ended and require the student to USE the information (Higher levels on Costa and Bloom).
We are reasonably certain that the more a student uses the information, the more likely that student will be to be able to recall the information later. If we are pushing students to a level where they should be able to utilize information in a variety of settings, why then are we only requiring extremely basic knowledge? Why are we not pushing their knowledge higher?
Flashcards are the evidence that teachers are not moving forward with their pedagogical methods.
Gar.
jsl
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Happy or Sad?
Should I be happy or sad? I just did a search for Sidux and Webcams and the top hit below the sidux homepage was my blog. If I wanted to do a search for my blog, I would already know where it was! So, is it good that my blog comes up for this? I mean, I don't answer the question that I had, so it's probably not a very good idea to have my blog be in the top ten.
But I'm happy that my blog is apparently deemed relevant by digital brains.
So I'm conflicted. Maybe people will start reading my blog, thus giving me a feeling of self worth, and pushing me upward to global domination.
Or more likely, people will hit that little "down" arrow next to the search results, thus relegating me to a life of complete obscurity.
Oh well. Read the netflix post, it has meaning.
But I'm happy that my blog is apparently deemed relevant by digital brains.
So I'm conflicted. Maybe people will start reading my blog, thus giving me a feeling of self worth, and pushing me upward to global domination.
Or more likely, people will hit that little "down" arrow next to the search results, thus relegating me to a life of complete obscurity.
Oh well. Read the netflix post, it has meaning.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Open Letter to Netflix And Networks
Dear Visual Media Moguls.
First of all, to be perfectly clear, we don't really care about you. There will always be media, there will always be things we can watch. If you fail, someone else will be willing to work within our constraints and will be willing to play fair.
What do I mean by "play fair?" It is simple. We want to watch our shows. We don't want to be harrassed by your petty protection of rights. We are happy with commericals, and will frequently enjoy watching them, but we are not very pleased with jumping through hoops to view our content.
This world has changed, yet you seem to believe that business should continue as it always has. You no longer control the media. If we want to get it, we will. You cannot control the information. There are thousands of ways to 'steal' media with more coming.
That is not to say that I want to steal media. I do not. I pay for what I want to watch, or I watch commericals that pay for what I want to watch. I am happy with this arrangment. This is not what should change.
The attitude is what should change. The silly petty competition between networks should change. You do not argue about what television set is allowed to attach to which providers, do not incure the same restrictions online.
I am, of course, talking about Boxee and Hulu. Hulu has affiliations, I understand, with NBC and Fox, where Boxee has affiliations with CBS. Whoo-de-friggin-doo. Who cares? If I like NCIS and McGyver, I will watch those shows. If I like Heros, I will watch that show. The commercials are traced the same way, do not force me to endure your petty squabbles. I want a single interface and I want it to be open source.
Why Open Source? So it can be the best possible solution. You seem to think that the open source community is bent on stealing media. Really, if something is easily downloadable, it is not worth anything on the market of theivery. Just accept that, make your content available and stop the complaining.
I'm going to go watch some ST:TOS on Boxee now.
jsl
First of all, to be perfectly clear, we don't really care about you. There will always be media, there will always be things we can watch. If you fail, someone else will be willing to work within our constraints and will be willing to play fair.
What do I mean by "play fair?" It is simple. We want to watch our shows. We don't want to be harrassed by your petty protection of rights. We are happy with commericals, and will frequently enjoy watching them, but we are not very pleased with jumping through hoops to view our content.
This world has changed, yet you seem to believe that business should continue as it always has. You no longer control the media. If we want to get it, we will. You cannot control the information. There are thousands of ways to 'steal' media with more coming.
That is not to say that I want to steal media. I do not. I pay for what I want to watch, or I watch commericals that pay for what I want to watch. I am happy with this arrangment. This is not what should change.
The attitude is what should change. The silly petty competition between networks should change. You do not argue about what television set is allowed to attach to which providers, do not incure the same restrictions online.
I am, of course, talking about Boxee and Hulu. Hulu has affiliations, I understand, with NBC and Fox, where Boxee has affiliations with CBS. Whoo-de-friggin-doo. Who cares? If I like NCIS and McGyver, I will watch those shows. If I like Heros, I will watch that show. The commercials are traced the same way, do not force me to endure your petty squabbles. I want a single interface and I want it to be open source.
Why Open Source? So it can be the best possible solution. You seem to think that the open source community is bent on stealing media. Really, if something is easily downloadable, it is not worth anything on the market of theivery. Just accept that, make your content available and stop the complaining.
I'm going to go watch some ST:TOS on Boxee now.
jsl
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The future of linux.
The future of linux is in change. We need to fix our image of being a difficult operating system to use, but we need to also distance ourselves from the traditional models of operating systems. Some of you might have already read my Sidux page, so you know that I'm grumpy about Ubuntu right now. Canonical has a good thing going, and I really like what they are doing. I just don't agree with the bloatware.
Why do you need all the zings and doo-dads? I would argue that the Linux niche should be in forwarding the Open Source movement, instead of being a result of it.
Jelki, what the heck! You're nuts. You don't even make sense!
I know, which is why this is a blog and you are still reading.
In the open source movement, we know that there is GREAT software out there that enables you to do wonderful things. But most of these things are either Linux dependent or Linux afterthought. That is, you have to already have bought-in to the Linux idea or you have to have already been in the community for a long while.
We need to be offering solutions that the commercial groups cannot because they do not see a profit in doing so.
This is easier than you might think.
First, project management is too convoluted for this solution, but it's the answer. Massive corporations spend millions of dollars on complex e-mail systems to increase cooperation of staff. This is stupid. E-mail is a lousy collaborative tool as any group of more than two gets muddled and confused as to what is going where, when and how.
Enter SVN, CVS or Git. These tools are setup with concurrent versioning already. Beyond being hoplessly confusing to use, they are perfect for building proposals or developing research. Why are no corporations using this as a tool? Why are universities not using it? The answer is in another question: Have YOU managed to install a working and simply CVS implementation? What? No you say?
Hmmm... I've not fiddled with these tools. I've fiddled with their very basic cousins, the Wiki page. Wiki pages are frequently used for collaborative efforts. Why not concurrent versioning tools?
Take the tools we use every day, make them just a little easier to use, and Linux will take off like mad. There I said it... Maybe in a few years I can be as eccentric and odd as RMS...
-jelki-
Why do you need all the zings and doo-dads? I would argue that the Linux niche should be in forwarding the Open Source movement, instead of being a result of it.
Jelki, what the heck! You're nuts. You don't even make sense!
I know, which is why this is a blog and you are still reading.
In the open source movement, we know that there is GREAT software out there that enables you to do wonderful things. But most of these things are either Linux dependent or Linux afterthought. That is, you have to already have bought-in to the Linux idea or you have to have already been in the community for a long while.
We need to be offering solutions that the commercial groups cannot because they do not see a profit in doing so.
This is easier than you might think.
First, project management is too convoluted for this solution, but it's the answer. Massive corporations spend millions of dollars on complex e-mail systems to increase cooperation of staff. This is stupid. E-mail is a lousy collaborative tool as any group of more than two gets muddled and confused as to what is going where, when and how.
Enter SVN, CVS or Git. These tools are setup with concurrent versioning already. Beyond being hoplessly confusing to use, they are perfect for building proposals or developing research. Why are no corporations using this as a tool? Why are universities not using it? The answer is in another question: Have YOU managed to install a working and simply CVS implementation? What? No you say?
Hmmm... I've not fiddled with these tools. I've fiddled with their very basic cousins, the Wiki page. Wiki pages are frequently used for collaborative efforts. Why not concurrent versioning tools?
Take the tools we use every day, make them just a little easier to use, and Linux will take off like mad. There I said it... Maybe in a few years I can be as eccentric and odd as RMS...
-jelki-
Sidux
I love Sidux. Really. A lot. It's nice. So far I have only had two problems, both of which were problems I've had previously and don't have nice solutions. They both seem to stem form Kernel issues in 2.6.27+ kernels. It just seems that being where I'm at in the Kernel dev schedule, my stuff isn't fully supported. Namely, NVIDIA drivers and GSPCA USB camera drivers.
No big deal, I'm not all that concerned about snazzy graphics and USB Cameras.
Beyond that, Sidux is fast. It's got KDE on it, but it doesn't bog down at all. My previous experiences with KDE have been Ubuntu based, and they really like to bloat it down with extra apps and such. Here, it's a really nice usable desktop environment.
It's also madly configurable. I can get Sidux to do just about anything that I want it to without it telling me that I have to remove this or that package, and that it's not recommended or some such.
Finally, I'll never have to upgrade again! Yay! Just running regular upgrades will keep me up to date with everything that I need to do!
Did I mention it was fast? Blazingly fast?
-jelki-
No big deal, I'm not all that concerned about snazzy graphics and USB Cameras.
Beyond that, Sidux is fast. It's got KDE on it, but it doesn't bog down at all. My previous experiences with KDE have been Ubuntu based, and they really like to bloat it down with extra apps and such. Here, it's a really nice usable desktop environment.
It's also madly configurable. I can get Sidux to do just about anything that I want it to without it telling me that I have to remove this or that package, and that it's not recommended or some such.
Finally, I'll never have to upgrade again! Yay! Just running regular upgrades will keep me up to date with everything that I need to do!
Did I mention it was fast? Blazingly fast?
-jelki-
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