Autoflush urinals? Fine. I prefer them, especially if there is a manual override button.
Autoflush toilets? What the hell?! Bad, bad, very very bad!!
There are some autoflush toilets where I work. I can usually avoid them. But today I found myself on one of these, and as I sat, it flushed no fewer than four times. I generally do not enjoy sitting on a flushing toilet, particularly when it flushes automatically and without warning.
Do I sit wrong?
And is it really such a chore to flush a toilet when you're finished?
Minor tangent - I once owned a shirt I called "the stealth shirt" because the autoflush urinals at work would not flush when I wore it. It was a black, textured polo-style shirt with, apparently, some unique optical properties. Not sure what happened to it.
30 October 2007
28 October 2007
New York Is Red Hot!
A combination of factors has completely changed the way that I listen to music over the past several years. Before Maria and I had kids, I used to actually put CDs into the stereo and play them out loud, all the time. If I was at home, there was always something playing. Now most of the music I hear is on the iPod, either while commuting or at work.
When I first got an MP3 player, about six years ago, I started ripping my CDs. Since then I would rip any new CDs right away, of course. The older ones I would rip in waves, first the essential ones, especially the electronica and ambient ones that were well suited for work and travel. After a few years of this, I'm not yet done. The result is that some really decent CDs have slipped through the cracks, and there's some great music I haven't heard in years.
This morning, I ripped my old copy of Reachin' by Digable Planets, and played "Pacifics" on the computer. Damn!! How did I survive these years without hearing a killer bass line like that?! I can't believe it's been that long. What else is waiting there for me to rediscover?
When I first got an MP3 player, about six years ago, I started ripping my CDs. Since then I would rip any new CDs right away, of course. The older ones I would rip in waves, first the essential ones, especially the electronica and ambient ones that were well suited for work and travel. After a few years of this, I'm not yet done. The result is that some really decent CDs have slipped through the cracks, and there's some great music I haven't heard in years.
This morning, I ripped my old copy of Reachin' by Digable Planets, and played "Pacifics" on the computer. Damn!! How did I survive these years without hearing a killer bass line like that?! I can't believe it's been that long. What else is waiting there for me to rediscover?
26 October 2007
25 October 2007
The Bird And The Bee
My new favorite new band, new to me anyway. I don't remember how I first heard of them. They're like a Saint Etienne that talks dirty. I cannot get "Again & Again" out of my head. So far that's OK--don't know yet if that will become a problem.
The Way I See It
During a recent review of our family finances, my Starbucks habit came under intense scrutiny. With my Starbucks card set to auto-reload, they had made it obscenely easy for me to perpetuate my habit while remaining blissfully ignorant of the cost. Over the past few years, I have slowly jeopardized my children's college educations, one grande mocha at a time.
With a little effort, Maria and I have started to loosen the chains from my ankles. Last week, our Bialetti stovetop espresso pot arrived, along with a manual glass tube milk frother. While I eat breakfast, I brew a pot of espresso and heat the milk. Put both into a thermos with a squirt of Hershey's syrup, and I am set for the day at a fraction of the cost. So far I don't mind the ritual, including the cleanup.
With a little effort, Maria and I have started to loosen the chains from my ankles. Last week, our Bialetti stovetop espresso pot arrived, along with a manual glass tube milk frother. While I eat breakfast, I brew a pot of espresso and heat the milk. Put both into a thermos with a squirt of Hershey's syrup, and I am set for the day at a fraction of the cost. So far I don't mind the ritual, including the cleanup.
17 October 2007
Your Brain On Music
I was really, really, really looking forward to reading This Is Your Brain On Music by Daniel Levitin. And it was ... OK.
When I saw this book at B&N I immediately picked it up, read most of the preface, and bought it. This book seemed written specifically for me like few others. I read about Levitin's headphone epiphany as a teenager--I had the same experience! I was about ten when I borrowed my sister's headphones and heard "Swingtown" by Steve Miller Band in all its stereophonic glory. The auditory imaging had drums and synthesisers that sounded like they were right inside my head. I loved it, and I was hooked. After that I spent many, many hours of my youth listening, actively listening, to music with headphones. After reading about Levitin's experience, I thought he and I were certainly resonating on the same frequency.
One problem I had with the book is that it came to me far too late. I studied electrical engineering in college, where we dissected waveforms of all flavors to death. I also studied music theory. So much of the book was review.
A much bigger problem, though, is that the book is poorly edited, at least the first edition copy I have. One of the earlier chapters is particularly bad, with a number of misspellings and a missing word. While the editing did improve later on, I almost couldn't recover. It's very hard for me to read for pleasure when I expect to mentally edit the text myself.
My last beef is that Levitin obviously feels he has to impress the reader with his name dropping. OK, you met Francis Crick and had lunch. Congratulations. But not every detail of this encounter is relevant to your book. Get to your point and spare me the rest already.
The book had a few nuggets that almost made up for its shortcomings. For example, it forced me to reconsider hearing (and music) as a subjective experience. Just as the red I experience in my mind when I see something red may be different from your red, my experience of an octave, a pitch, or a timbre may be different from yours. They're probably similar, but not necessarily. Another nugget: the reason that octaves, fifths and other intervals from the harmonic series sound "harmonious" is likely because it would help the brain to relate different sound frequencies into common sources. This could be very advantageous--the many bits of sound I hear now are actually one sound, namely that hungry tiger over there!
Overall, this book has its moments but falls short of my (perhaps too lofty) expectations.
When I saw this book at B&N I immediately picked it up, read most of the preface, and bought it. This book seemed written specifically for me like few others. I read about Levitin's headphone epiphany as a teenager--I had the same experience! I was about ten when I borrowed my sister's headphones and heard "Swingtown" by Steve Miller Band in all its stereophonic glory. The auditory imaging had drums and synthesisers that sounded like they were right inside my head. I loved it, and I was hooked. After that I spent many, many hours of my youth listening, actively listening, to music with headphones. After reading about Levitin's experience, I thought he and I were certainly resonating on the same frequency.
One problem I had with the book is that it came to me far too late. I studied electrical engineering in college, where we dissected waveforms of all flavors to death. I also studied music theory. So much of the book was review.
A much bigger problem, though, is that the book is poorly edited, at least the first edition copy I have. One of the earlier chapters is particularly bad, with a number of misspellings and a missing word. While the editing did improve later on, I almost couldn't recover. It's very hard for me to read for pleasure when I expect to mentally edit the text myself.
My last beef is that Levitin obviously feels he has to impress the reader with his name dropping. OK, you met Francis Crick and had lunch. Congratulations. But not every detail of this encounter is relevant to your book. Get to your point and spare me the rest already.
The book had a few nuggets that almost made up for its shortcomings. For example, it forced me to reconsider hearing (and music) as a subjective experience. Just as the red I experience in my mind when I see something red may be different from your red, my experience of an octave, a pitch, or a timbre may be different from yours. They're probably similar, but not necessarily. Another nugget: the reason that octaves, fifths and other intervals from the harmonic series sound "harmonious" is likely because it would help the brain to relate different sound frequencies into common sources. This could be very advantageous--the many bits of sound I hear now are actually one sound, namely that hungry tiger over there!
Overall, this book has its moments but falls short of my (perhaps too lofty) expectations.
On Intelligence
Contrasting neatly with Hofstadter's book is On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins. I had seen the book mentioned in several places, but it was Steve Gibson gushing over it on his Security Now podcast that catalyzed me into action. I brought the paperback with me on a recent trip and got nearly through it all on one long flight.
The meat of Hawkins' book is exactly the territory where Hofstadter are not tread. Hawkins shares the same fascination of the emergent qualities of the mind with Hofstadter, but he also has a deep background in nuts-and-bolts neurology, and a passion to connect the two.
Hawkins delivers a speculative yet compelling schematic of the neocortex that, at worst, should inspire debate, research and careers. It is the sort of brain book I wish I could have read in high school.
I had heard a lot about Numenta's HTMs, a software implementation of Hawkins' model, and expected the book to be more of an HTM primer. The book hints at Numenta's active research but makes no mention at all of HTMs. So while the material may be a good prerequisite to starting work with HTMs, don't expect to learn about them here.
The meat of Hawkins' book is exactly the territory where Hofstadter are not tread. Hawkins shares the same fascination of the emergent qualities of the mind with Hofstadter, but he also has a deep background in nuts-and-bolts neurology, and a passion to connect the two.
Hawkins delivers a speculative yet compelling schematic of the neocortex that, at worst, should inspire debate, research and careers. It is the sort of brain book I wish I could have read in high school.
I had heard a lot about Numenta's HTMs, a software implementation of Hawkins' model, and expected the book to be more of an HTM primer. The book hints at Numenta's active research but makes no mention at all of HTMs. So while the material may be a good prerequisite to starting work with HTMs, don't expect to learn about them here.
13 October 2007
Jazz Showcase Benefit Concert
Just found out that Jazz Showcase is holding a benefit concert next Sunday, October 21, to raise funds for the club's relocation.
Strange Loops
Lately I have read a few books on mind and brain. Earlier this year, I read Douglas Hofstadter's latest book I Am A Strange Loop. One of the premises of Hofstadter's book is that the thing we typically call a "soul" is the inevitable by-product of a brain of sufficient power to represent concepts of arbitrary levels of abstraction. Once this happens, a sort of feedback he calls a Strange Loop occurs and - presto! - the soul emerges. Chapter One is Hofstadter's accidental vegetarian manifesto, in which he argues it is immoral to consume a being with a Strange Loop. Later on, Hofstadter presents a very real version of life-after-death in which a copy (albeit not identical) of one person's Strange Loop lives on in the brain of another. Hofstadter appeals to me as a software guy. To understand the mind, he says, it is not necessary (and may be a real distraction) to sort out the precise mechanics of the brain.
Heathrow
If you ever wanted to know how a cow feels headed to slaughter, just catch any flight connecting through Heathrow. Last month, Maria and I flew to Germany through London. Our connections were about two hours each way, and we only barely made them both. On our first arrival, the plane deposited us on the tarmac, where we boarded bus #1 to the terminal. All buses are jam-packed with people Tokyo Subway style, plus carry-on luggage. Plenty of stairs in the terminal, so good luck if you've a baby stroller along, or a tough case of thrombosis from the flight. Thence directly to moo-queue 1 to board bus #2 to another terminal, the "connection centre". In this terminal resides a series of queues which combine to form the mother-of-all-moo-queues, the likes of which have never been seen at Disney or anywhere else I'm sure. It all starts with a queue for the escalator, because the queue at the top is completely full. Once up the escalator and through the next queue, it's my favorite part where the queue fans out free-style and narrows again, to inspire competition and ill-will amongst all your fellow travellers. From here, the cattle are allowed to emerge in bursts of 40-50 at a time, through a zig-zag and ... wait for it ... more queues! Alas, here you get to see the reward for your patience. It's the security checkpoint that's needed here because the check at your original airport certainly wasn't sufficient. (Perhaps you've collected more than three fl.oz. of flammable liquid in transit? Or maybe you've built a lethal weapon from stray parts since the last check?) Well, finally through security and with fifteen minutes left to find and catch the connecting flight, at least there are no more buses. (Did I mention I had to pee the whole time? No?)
12 October 2007
Buzzin' Fly
I love listening to Buzzin' Fly. A fresh hour-long mix of house music every week, from Ben Watt of Everything But The Girl. Groovy!
0 + 0 = 0
Ella, 6, was working on some math homework last night, and let out a laugh. "Dad, this is a funny one. Zero plus zero equals zero!"
That she found this problem funny and worthy of sharing with me is just bliss.
That she found this problem funny and worthy of sharing with me is just bliss.
03 October 2007
Larry Vuckovich
Maria and I saw Larry Vuckovich play at PianoForte last Saturday. It was a very pleasant performance. Vuckovich plays in a rather standard jazz style, which Maria appreciated especially. He talked quite a bit between the songs, introducing them and adding some of his personal history. We both liked how he included some music from his native land, former Yugoslavia, in addition to many standards. His playing reminded us both of Vince Guaraldi.
The show was nearly overshadowed by some remarkable displays of rudeness and tactlessness among the patrons. This is a small, intimate performance studio where people go to listen to the music in a way that can't be recreated in a larger space. And yet the audience, which was certainly fewer than 40 people, included:
The show was nearly overshadowed by some remarkable displays of rudeness and tactlessness among the patrons. This is a small, intimate performance studio where people go to listen to the music in a way that can't be recreated in a larger space. And yet the audience, which was certainly fewer than 40 people, included:
- The woman in the back who fidgeted with a noisy plastic bag, over and over again;
- The woman chomping on her gum, open-mouthed; and
- The woman who arrived late, pulled a chair up to the front, and then got out a book and read it during the show!
Mr. Vuckovich, on behalf of those of us who actually came to listen to you play music, I apologize. I hope you did not notice these transgressions, and if you did, kudos to you for continuing professionally with your performance.
First Birthday
Today is Martin's first birthday. It feels like he was born yesterday; it feels like he has been here forever.
They say the first birthday is a celebration for the parents. Maria truly earned this birthday. For a year of breast feeding. For a half year of cleaning Martin's orthopedic helmet every day. For enduring the many moods of Martin, finely tuned by millenia of natural selection to inflict maximum survivable discomfort in the evolutionary struggle for resources between mother and child.
Martin, who had a rather severe plagiocephaly, has improved nicely. He had his final scan this week and no longer needs the helmet. Hooray!! Maria says his mood has improved considerably since then. Your mood would improve too if you could finally remove your motorcycle helmet after wearing it 24/7 for half of your life.
The cruising is now proto-walking as Martin takes half steps between the sofa and the coffee table. He is so excited at his emerging mobility.
Ella has been an amazing big sister. She is still crazy about her little brother, and that sentiment is definitely mutual. I am so happy for both of them that they will have each other to grow up together.
They say the first birthday is a celebration for the parents. Maria truly earned this birthday. For a year of breast feeding. For a half year of cleaning Martin's orthopedic helmet every day. For enduring the many moods of Martin, finely tuned by millenia of natural selection to inflict maximum survivable discomfort in the evolutionary struggle for resources between mother and child.
Martin, who had a rather severe plagiocephaly, has improved nicely. He had his final scan this week and no longer needs the helmet. Hooray!! Maria says his mood has improved considerably since then. Your mood would improve too if you could finally remove your motorcycle helmet after wearing it 24/7 for half of your life.
The cruising is now proto-walking as Martin takes half steps between the sofa and the coffee table. He is so excited at his emerging mobility.
Ella has been an amazing big sister. She is still crazy about her little brother, and that sentiment is definitely mutual. I am so happy for both of them that they will have each other to grow up together.
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