People Love to talk about how buying products made in China costs American jobs, messes with our economy, and generally encourages lower quality products. That's all very true, but I think it misses, perhaps intentionally, the real problem.
The real problem is that China is Communist.
Everyone knows this, and seems to accept it. After all, they put out an image of being 'moderate' communists, they tell the world that they have a 'free market' and the certainly do seem to have a fair bit of capitalism. Therefore, we're all lead to believe that it's all OK, that somehow China is about as much communist as the United Kingdom is a Monarchy. Unfortunately, however, that's simply untrue.
The concepts that we hold dear are under constant attack in China. What we consider to be inalienable human rights simply don't exist in China, and anyone that tells you otherwise is simply lying to you. This is true from anyone on the street to the Chinese government itself, which often denies it's sickening policies when questioned about them by the outside world.
Don't believe me? Well, go ahead and Google It:
Tiananmen Square [google.com] vs Tiananmen Square [google.cn]
Remember, according to the Chinese Government, they don't censor the internet. They just have "some routing issues."
Free Speech does not exist in China. In fact, if you want to organize a club so you can talk about football, you have to register that group with the government or it will be considered to be an illegal organization.
In China, you do have Freedom of Religion. You can practice any religion you would like to practice, as long as it's listed on the list of government-recognized religions. That list is rather short- Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and Islam. Conducting or participating in any service not recognized by the government can result in arrest, detainment, fines, and in some cases, torture. Their judgement on what's accepted and what isn't is also pretty subjective- Catholics are often targeted by the police because they don't think it fits into Christianity, because of the link to the Vatican. Chinese police have also been known to confiscate religious literature and church property, resulting in hundreds of church closures.
It's in your best interest to not do the religion thing, though. Members of the communist party are officially required to be Atheists, so practicing your religion may indicate that you don't support the common good. That could cause problems.
But hey, China won't have this whole religion problem for much longer, because it's also against the law for parents to expose their children to any form of religion until they are 18 years old.
There's plenty of opportunity in China, if you're born in a city. If you're born in a rural area, you have two choices- grow rice, or fill out an application to see if the government will let you move to a city. Unless you have a good reason why, it will likely be denied- and no, wanting to improve your quality of life does not count as a good reason.
Of course the first trick is to Get Born, which is more difficult than it sounds - The Chinese Government also has a very well defined policy on population control. This means that parents are only allowed to have one child. Because of this restriction, parents are often put in the position of having to choose between keeping their baby or getting rid of it, either before or after birth. Boys are preferred by most parents, because they are seen as more useful and carry on the family name. As such, research published in 1990 shows that there are over 50 Million "Missing Women" in China, that is to say, females that, according to the natural ratio of male to female births, should exist, but don't.
But perhaps country-wide, state-sanctioned baby killing is ok for them. Kinda makes sense, after all. On paper.
Killing in general is not an uncommon thing for the Chinese Government to do- China usually accounts for about three quarters of all death sentence executions in the world. In Chinese law, there are 68 crimes that are punishable by death. Included in those 68 offenses are several non-violent, white-collar crimes such as tax fraud and embezzlement.
You DO, however, have a right to a swift (though usually not fair) trial- executions are usually conducted the day after sentencing, but in some cases, the very same day! The current record was set on January 9th, 1993- on that day, 356 death sentences were handed down, and 62 executions occurred that same day.
Chinese Government-sponsored killings aren't limited to China's boarders, either. Want to know the real reason why the US has never gotten involved in the genocide happening in Darfur? Because China is supporting Sudan, the country conducting the killings. China even threatened to veto UN Security Council actions aimed at combating the Darfur Crisis.
So no, the economic problems that are created by buying things from China are really not a problem. They just aren't, the market will decide what products are good and what products aren't. They simply mask the real problem.
The problem with buying things from China is that every dollar you spend is a vote of approval of their government and way of life.
China is Communist, and the reason they are still communist is because it's working out very well for them. The world approves of their actions and proves their support by sending money.
That's why I don't shop at Wal*Mart. The items there cost way too much.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
F1 2009 PSP Review
Oh God, it's a game review- and, well, considering how often I write reviews, you're probably thinking that the game in question is Horrible. You're right.
It's apparent to most people that I am an F1 fan. In fact, I've outlasted most of the people around me who are also F1 fans. Most of them have been pissed off by the FIA's recent rule changes, or the dropping of certain races, or the current stock of paranoid drivers, or the recent outright cheating involving not one, not two, but three major teams. Despite all this, my interest in the sport has grown a lot over the past couple years, and I've been looking forward to a new F1 game since I got the very well done Formula 1 Championship Edition (PS3) in 2006.
Before that, I used to play F1 2002 on the PC- They are both Very Good Racing Sims. Very difficult games, but that's to be expected when you're trying to simulate the pinnacle of motorsport. In F1 2002 I only managed to win once- and that was after years of many races on the same track (Indianapolis) - in F1 Championship Edition I'm just now starting to be a championship contender, four years after the game was launched. This is the kind of difficulty that's expected. A good F1 game, heck, a good racing game in general, should be designed to be difficult. I mean, when doing the real thing, one slip and you're dead.
F1 2009 is certainly difficult to play- but that's because it sucks, not because it was designed well.
I had high hopes for F1 2009- but realistically I knew over a year ago that it was going to be horrible- because that's when I heard that CodeMasters had been awarded the F1 license. CodeMasters games have a long history of being very, very close to being good, but having a few fatal flaws (usually with respect to the actual driving feel of the cars) which make the whole game pointless. F1 2009 is no exception.
Upon firing it up you are immediately faced with your first challenge- how to navigate the menu structure as efficiently as possible. Why? The menus themselves are no more cryptic than TOCA 3's menus (which, is to say, slightly-below-average), however the sounds made when moving your selection around are the most annoying sounds in the entire world. It's a cross between the sound made when adding coins to an old arcade machine and large cymbal crash- And it happens Every Fucking Time You Touch The D-pad. The rest of the in-game sounds are pretty much on the same level. The KERS sound is a bit nostalgic, though- it sounds EXACTLY like using a 'turbo' in the old arcade game, Outrun.
After you get your name entered and move down the line a bit you can pick a track and a car. The tracks are pretty well done, they look like something you'd see on a budget PSP racing game. The cars look like they were taken from F1 Challenge (1995- Sega Saturn). Sure, they are licensed cars, and they are painted up right, but the models look Terrible. And before anyone says I'm exaggerating the terribleness, here's a video of gameplay.
But hey, this is a racing game on a portable, right? The graphics can't be that good! The hardware can't do it! Oh, nevermind, I forgot about Gran Turismo. Polyphony Digital has to be the bane of every other developer's existence.
Anyhow, back to F1, where we remind ourselves that graphics are not as important as driving feel and other simulation accuracy points. Surely, as with some other driving games, F1 2009 has traded off graphical prettiness for driving feel and excellent physics!
Sorry, no.
The cars are undrivable. Utterly and entirely. You cannot take the car right up to the edge and push it around the corners. Why? Because, the controls are horrible. If you jump in with the driving assists off, you simply must drive slow because it is impossible to drive smoothly. If you drive with the assists on, the car basically drives itself, meaning that instead of playing a racing game, you get to watch a computer-generated representation of an F1 race that looks like it could have been renedered on a Sega Saturn.
Still, you must be thinking, you can't blame CodeMasters for all of this; The PSP does not have any analog buttons- the gas is either on or off, the turning is either on or off. The PSP does have an "analog stick" you can use for steering, but if you've ever spent time with it, you've noticed it's not really analog. It's just a d-pad with three positions, off, half-way, and full. So it doesn't get you much.
Certainly, any driving games with these kinds of control limitations are just impossible to make fun because you can't relay any fine-tune feel to the player.
Sorry, no. Gran Turismo drives great using the exact same controls. The PS1 versions of Gran Turismo also drove great, with digital controls. There are countless other racing games which were able to make do. F1 2009, no.
I do think that the developers were aware of these control problems, though, because they seem to have adjusted the speed of the other cars in the game to match. The default AI difficulty and speed is laughable. On my first race, I went from Last to 6th in Two Laps- while driving a Force India, likely the slowest car in the field. This wasn't due to my insane driving prowess. It wasn't due to my car being extra special and cornering well.
It was due to the AI cars slowing down on the straights to let me catch up and pass them. Simply unacceptable.
Other high points? Weather? Damage modeling? Just take the above lack of quality and apply it to any other area you're thinking about. The game is garbage.
All of the above being said, though, it will sell well- because it's the only game in town. As usual, specific sport licensing has pushed us into a corner of buying substandard crap or having nothing at all. I, for one, prefer the nothing.
Metacritic says this game is a 68 out of 100. Don't believe them. It's much. much lower.
It's apparent to most people that I am an F1 fan. In fact, I've outlasted most of the people around me who are also F1 fans. Most of them have been pissed off by the FIA's recent rule changes, or the dropping of certain races, or the current stock of paranoid drivers, or the recent outright cheating involving not one, not two, but three major teams. Despite all this, my interest in the sport has grown a lot over the past couple years, and I've been looking forward to a new F1 game since I got the very well done Formula 1 Championship Edition (PS3) in 2006.
Before that, I used to play F1 2002 on the PC- They are both Very Good Racing Sims. Very difficult games, but that's to be expected when you're trying to simulate the pinnacle of motorsport. In F1 2002 I only managed to win once- and that was after years of many races on the same track (Indianapolis) - in F1 Championship Edition I'm just now starting to be a championship contender, four years after the game was launched. This is the kind of difficulty that's expected. A good F1 game, heck, a good racing game in general, should be designed to be difficult. I mean, when doing the real thing, one slip and you're dead.
F1 2009 is certainly difficult to play- but that's because it sucks, not because it was designed well.
I had high hopes for F1 2009- but realistically I knew over a year ago that it was going to be horrible- because that's when I heard that CodeMasters had been awarded the F1 license. CodeMasters games have a long history of being very, very close to being good, but having a few fatal flaws (usually with respect to the actual driving feel of the cars) which make the whole game pointless. F1 2009 is no exception.
Upon firing it up you are immediately faced with your first challenge- how to navigate the menu structure as efficiently as possible. Why? The menus themselves are no more cryptic than TOCA 3's menus (which, is to say, slightly-below-average), however the sounds made when moving your selection around are the most annoying sounds in the entire world. It's a cross between the sound made when adding coins to an old arcade machine and large cymbal crash- And it happens Every Fucking Time You Touch The D-pad. The rest of the in-game sounds are pretty much on the same level. The KERS sound is a bit nostalgic, though- it sounds EXACTLY like using a 'turbo' in the old arcade game, Outrun.
After you get your name entered and move down the line a bit you can pick a track and a car. The tracks are pretty well done, they look like something you'd see on a budget PSP racing game. The cars look like they were taken from F1 Challenge (1995- Sega Saturn). Sure, they are licensed cars, and they are painted up right, but the models look Terrible. And before anyone says I'm exaggerating the terribleness, here's a video of gameplay.
But hey, this is a racing game on a portable, right? The graphics can't be that good! The hardware can't do it! Oh, nevermind, I forgot about Gran Turismo. Polyphony Digital has to be the bane of every other developer's existence.
Anyhow, back to F1, where we remind ourselves that graphics are not as important as driving feel and other simulation accuracy points. Surely, as with some other driving games, F1 2009 has traded off graphical prettiness for driving feel and excellent physics!
Sorry, no.
The cars are undrivable. Utterly and entirely. You cannot take the car right up to the edge and push it around the corners. Why? Because, the controls are horrible. If you jump in with the driving assists off, you simply must drive slow because it is impossible to drive smoothly. If you drive with the assists on, the car basically drives itself, meaning that instead of playing a racing game, you get to watch a computer-generated representation of an F1 race that looks like it could have been renedered on a Sega Saturn.
Still, you must be thinking, you can't blame CodeMasters for all of this; The PSP does not have any analog buttons- the gas is either on or off, the turning is either on or off. The PSP does have an "analog stick" you can use for steering, but if you've ever spent time with it, you've noticed it's not really analog. It's just a d-pad with three positions, off, half-way, and full. So it doesn't get you much.
Certainly, any driving games with these kinds of control limitations are just impossible to make fun because you can't relay any fine-tune feel to the player.
Sorry, no. Gran Turismo drives great using the exact same controls. The PS1 versions of Gran Turismo also drove great, with digital controls. There are countless other racing games which were able to make do. F1 2009, no.
I do think that the developers were aware of these control problems, though, because they seem to have adjusted the speed of the other cars in the game to match. The default AI difficulty and speed is laughable. On my first race, I went from Last to 6th in Two Laps- while driving a Force India, likely the slowest car in the field. This wasn't due to my insane driving prowess. It wasn't due to my car being extra special and cornering well.
It was due to the AI cars slowing down on the straights to let me catch up and pass them. Simply unacceptable.
Other high points? Weather? Damage modeling? Just take the above lack of quality and apply it to any other area you're thinking about. The game is garbage.
All of the above being said, though, it will sell well- because it's the only game in town. As usual, specific sport licensing has pushed us into a corner of buying substandard crap or having nothing at all. I, for one, prefer the nothing.
Metacritic says this game is a 68 out of 100. Don't believe them. It's much. much lower.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Facebook Ignorement.
I received your friend request and I was happy to get it. I'm very happy that you would think of me enough to send me a friend request. I want to be your friend, too, because you are an interesting, knowledgeable person, and you are surrounded by other very respectable people in your family and friends.
Unfortunately for both of us, I cannot accept your request. The problem isn't that I don't like you- as stated above, I do. The problem isn't some silly political worry about who I have on my friend list and who I don't. The problem isn't a personal grudge.
The problem is this: In my observation, you've treated those very respectable members of your family and friends quite poorly, on many occasions. We've all made the mistake of taking a friend or loved one for granted more often than any of us would like to admit, but in your case it seems to be a pattern. Specifically, I've witnessed:
Passing of (what I believe to be) your responsibilities on to members of your family.
Manipulative behavior.
Talking about others in condescending tones, either in front of them or, worse, to their friends.
General lack of support for any ideas or plans that didn't come from you, even when the plans don't involve you. This is closely related to you lack of ability to accept suggestions or ideas from others.
You are quick to give advice (often good advice, as you are knowledgeable) - however that advice very rarely comes without cynicism and negativity.
I believe the above behavior has robbed you of a lot of happiness in your life, our facebook friendship being the latest, very unfortunate, victim. However, I think it's likely the smallest victim. I believe that this kind of behavior has robbed you of much deeper relationships with the people around you, and that makes me very sad- because you, and those around you, deserve better.
I honestly hope you take a serious look at how you see and treat those around you, and learn to accept, love, and grow with the people in your life in ways that you currently are not. Should this happen, I would happily entertain a friend request, though I'm sure that would be the smallest of the joys you would find by making these changes.
-Chris
Unfortunately for both of us, I cannot accept your request. The problem isn't that I don't like you- as stated above, I do. The problem isn't some silly political worry about who I have on my friend list and who I don't. The problem isn't a personal grudge.
The problem is this: In my observation, you've treated those very respectable members of your family and friends quite poorly, on many occasions. We've all made the mistake of taking a friend or loved one for granted more often than any of us would like to admit, but in your case it seems to be a pattern. Specifically, I've witnessed:
Passing of (what I believe to be) your responsibilities on to members of your family.
Manipulative behavior.
Talking about others in condescending tones, either in front of them or, worse, to their friends.
General lack of support for any ideas or plans that didn't come from you, even when the plans don't involve you. This is closely related to you lack of ability to accept suggestions or ideas from others.
You are quick to give advice (often good advice, as you are knowledgeable) - however that advice very rarely comes without cynicism and negativity.
I believe the above behavior has robbed you of a lot of happiness in your life, our facebook friendship being the latest, very unfortunate, victim. However, I think it's likely the smallest victim. I believe that this kind of behavior has robbed you of much deeper relationships with the people around you, and that makes me very sad- because you, and those around you, deserve better.
I honestly hope you take a serious look at how you see and treat those around you, and learn to accept, love, and grow with the people in your life in ways that you currently are not. Should this happen, I would happily entertain a friend request, though I'm sure that would be the smallest of the joys you would find by making these changes.
-Chris
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Tighten Up.
So Calamatas. Sandwich shop just down the street from MasterLink. Run by two guys, Garry and Alfred, both fun to talk to. Garry has like eight kids, Alfred has a son in the Air Force Academy. Very low budget operation, and always seemingly about to go out of business. On bad weeks there's a "restaurant for sale" sign posted.
As typical of places like this- they really do make decent sandwiches.
Until recently, however, they didn't stock decent chips to go with said sandwiches. They only had "Aunt Jemima" chips, which were, honestly, abominations, or Sun Chips, which aren't bad, but lack the Barbecue flavor that I enjoy with a good sub. As such I've been on these guys to start stocking some proper Lays for a while now.
The response has always been
"The supply place I get everything from doesn't have Lays"
to which I've responded "You gotta car, right?"
Eventually I started threatening to just bring them a case of Lays Barbecue and just give it to them. About that time Alfred gave in, and said "I'll tell you what. I'll have some in here on Monday."
"Well I'll be here on Tuesday to find out. I won't be in Monday."
And true to my word, I was there Tuesday, looking for my Club and my Barbecue Chips. There were no chips. When confronted, Alfred had all kinds of excuses:
"Garry had to go to the dentist, I had to take the wife's car into the shop this morning, I had to go to the other shop and pick up more food . . ."
"Man you just gotta Tighten Up."
Not only did I surprise myself by using a phrase reserved for high school football players, I must have used it effectively, because he totally understood immediately. He smiled ear to ear and said "Football."
There were Lays available on my next visit. I saw three bags sell while I was in line. Alfred says they've been selling well.
As typical of places like this- they really do make decent sandwiches.
Until recently, however, they didn't stock decent chips to go with said sandwiches. They only had "Aunt Jemima" chips, which were, honestly, abominations, or Sun Chips, which aren't bad, but lack the Barbecue flavor that I enjoy with a good sub. As such I've been on these guys to start stocking some proper Lays for a while now.
The response has always been
"The supply place I get everything from doesn't have Lays"
to which I've responded "You gotta car, right?"
Eventually I started threatening to just bring them a case of Lays Barbecue and just give it to them. About that time Alfred gave in, and said "I'll tell you what. I'll have some in here on Monday."
"Well I'll be here on Tuesday to find out. I won't be in Monday."
And true to my word, I was there Tuesday, looking for my Club and my Barbecue Chips. There were no chips. When confronted, Alfred had all kinds of excuses:
"Garry had to go to the dentist, I had to take the wife's car into the shop this morning, I had to go to the other shop and pick up more food . . ."
"Man you just gotta Tighten Up."
Not only did I surprise myself by using a phrase reserved for high school football players, I must have used it effectively, because he totally understood immediately. He smiled ear to ear and said "Football."
There were Lays available on my next visit. I saw three bags sell while I was in line. Alfred says they've been selling well.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Space Cowboys
Mechanical things are designed and built with a purpose in mind. They have expectations set for them, and they are built to work best when performing to those expectations.
Advanced mechanical things are a culmination of many mechanical things, each built to their own set of expectations. When you have one of these advanced mechanical things, like a car, or aircraft, or space ship - you have many smaller parts making up a whole - each individual part adding it's expected operating range to the mix. When operating these machines, you can feel when everything is going well, when every part is doing what it was designed to do. You can also feel when the opposite is happening, when the situation is such that only some parts are able to do their job well, and overall performance of the whole system suffers.
Cars, airplanes, spacecraft, and the like are all very advanced mechanical things. And while they are not advanced enough to be sentient, or have a conscious, they do have emotions. Some say they have a soul. Cars like to be driven, they overheat when stopped, they rot when left sitting too long. In addition to that, different cars like different speeds, and different types of driving. It all depends on the sum of the expectations the parts were designed for.
Most American cars are very modular. An engine is taken from one platform, a body and electronics from another, and some new headlights are added and we now have a new model. The parts were not designed and built with this particular application in mind - but they happen to fit, so they are used. As such the resulting car is never really happy, because the engine wants to be pulling a larger load, the transmission was geared for a different purpose only to have the final drive changed to match the new model's tire size, and the suspension parts have been pulled from another car which was never outfitted with the new model's wheel. There's never a time where everything comes together, never a time where every part is performing at it's best.
In contrast, most European cars are built with a specific vision in mind- there are expectations from the car as a whole from which the expectations for each part are derived. This is why European cars have a speed they seem to want to cruise at, a certain amount of steering input which seems to make the chassis set, a confidence under braking which you simply don't find in American cars. European cars are happy, American cars are always conflicted.
Airplanes take the above behavior and magnify it significantly. An airplane on the ground is like a race car in stop-and-go traffic, in the rain. No airplane is happy on the ground. Nothing is performing at it's best. They are hard to steer, hard to stop, heck, hard to see out of, on the ground. Once in the air, they have climb and descent rates they like, bank angles that they will settle into, even mixture and prop settings which just make the engine sound better.
The change in emotion in an aircraft when turning on to a runway and starting a takeoff roll is one of the biggest emotion swings one can experience coming from a mechanical device. It goes from not wanting to move to smooth happiness and pure optimism in about 30 seconds.
The movie "Space Cowboys" summed it up in one line, spoken by an ex SR-71 pilot sitting under one of the retired blackbirds:
"SR-71. This is what a plane's supposed to be. She's ugly on the ground, leaks like a sieve. But up around mach one, her seals all expand, she dries up and leans into the wind and goes like hell."
Most people who love to fly are very in touch with their aircraft. Their plane, being happy, makes them happy. Those who never develop this connection typically stop training while still student pilots- and if they don't, they take much longer to finish.
I've been lucky enough to be able to listen to machines most of my life. I care about them, and in many cases, they care back. The emotion, the commitment to performance designed into good machines- it's not something that I just respect, it's something that talks to me, and adds a level of understanding that allows me to operate those machines very, very well.
I go to the Air and Space Museum whenever I can. Not because I need to learn about Air and Space history- I know every exhibit there. I go because the emotions I feel in that building are indescribable.
Today we lost Michael Jackson. That's a shame, the music he produced spoke volumes to billions of people. Today we're also faced with the likely loss of Space Shuttle Atlantis, due to a very silly, but probably uncorrectable, problem found on the inspection after it's most recent mission.
I love music. I certainly don't like death. I downright like a lot of what MJ has created over the years. And despite all the accusations, bad press, and overall creepiness of the guy, I really don't feel he was a bad person. Losing him is a sad thing. A very sad thing. But at the same time it was time for him to go. He was done, he had completed the work he was built to do. He had changed the world, and decided to stop doing live shows about a year ago. It's sad to see him go, but from a purely logical standpoint it's ok. It was time.
I'm sad about Michael.
I'm sadder about Atlantis.
The emotion wrapped up in the shuttle program, and even that particular spacecraft, is amazing. It changed my life. Yes, it changed my life more than Music. Yes. Airplanes, cars, spaceships, and other engineering feats evoke far more emotion and attachment in me than Music.
Next time I tell you that I can't drive a Honda Fit, or that I feel paying $700 per month for the rest of my natural life for the flight training I've done is the best money I've ever spent, or that driving on track is exactly like painting a picture- and you look at me funny - I want you to imagine the void that you would have in your life if suddenly all Music in your life disappeared.
That's what *it* is for me- working with complex systems and making them work at their very best, and having them share their happiness with me. It doesn't matter if it's a car, or an airplane, or something I've built on a computer or out of lego. It's the joy of seeing it all come together and not just work, but work well.
A side effect of this is the deep appreciation of the systems themselves, hence the sadness over Atlantis. It's a very storied spacecraft, but it wasn't done writing stories yet. It wasn't done with it's work, it had more to do- one more mission this year, and then one or perhaps two next year. More times where things would all come together and Atlantis would get some truly amazing things done. Those times likely won't come now. More from Space Cowboys:
"She's only happy up there, goin' fast. She's not meant to be sitting on the ground. That's a lousy way to die. Sitting around, waiting..."
I wish I could finish this with a positive spin.
Advanced mechanical things are a culmination of many mechanical things, each built to their own set of expectations. When you have one of these advanced mechanical things, like a car, or aircraft, or space ship - you have many smaller parts making up a whole - each individual part adding it's expected operating range to the mix. When operating these machines, you can feel when everything is going well, when every part is doing what it was designed to do. You can also feel when the opposite is happening, when the situation is such that only some parts are able to do their job well, and overall performance of the whole system suffers.
Cars, airplanes, spacecraft, and the like are all very advanced mechanical things. And while they are not advanced enough to be sentient, or have a conscious, they do have emotions. Some say they have a soul. Cars like to be driven, they overheat when stopped, they rot when left sitting too long. In addition to that, different cars like different speeds, and different types of driving. It all depends on the sum of the expectations the parts were designed for.
Most American cars are very modular. An engine is taken from one platform, a body and electronics from another, and some new headlights are added and we now have a new model. The parts were not designed and built with this particular application in mind - but they happen to fit, so they are used. As such the resulting car is never really happy, because the engine wants to be pulling a larger load, the transmission was geared for a different purpose only to have the final drive changed to match the new model's tire size, and the suspension parts have been pulled from another car which was never outfitted with the new model's wheel. There's never a time where everything comes together, never a time where every part is performing at it's best.
In contrast, most European cars are built with a specific vision in mind- there are expectations from the car as a whole from which the expectations for each part are derived. This is why European cars have a speed they seem to want to cruise at, a certain amount of steering input which seems to make the chassis set, a confidence under braking which you simply don't find in American cars. European cars are happy, American cars are always conflicted.
Airplanes take the above behavior and magnify it significantly. An airplane on the ground is like a race car in stop-and-go traffic, in the rain. No airplane is happy on the ground. Nothing is performing at it's best. They are hard to steer, hard to stop, heck, hard to see out of, on the ground. Once in the air, they have climb and descent rates they like, bank angles that they will settle into, even mixture and prop settings which just make the engine sound better.
The change in emotion in an aircraft when turning on to a runway and starting a takeoff roll is one of the biggest emotion swings one can experience coming from a mechanical device. It goes from not wanting to move to smooth happiness and pure optimism in about 30 seconds.
The movie "Space Cowboys" summed it up in one line, spoken by an ex SR-71 pilot sitting under one of the retired blackbirds:
"SR-71. This is what a plane's supposed to be. She's ugly on the ground, leaks like a sieve. But up around mach one, her seals all expand, she dries up and leans into the wind and goes like hell."
Most people who love to fly are very in touch with their aircraft. Their plane, being happy, makes them happy. Those who never develop this connection typically stop training while still student pilots- and if they don't, they take much longer to finish.
I've been lucky enough to be able to listen to machines most of my life. I care about them, and in many cases, they care back. The emotion, the commitment to performance designed into good machines- it's not something that I just respect, it's something that talks to me, and adds a level of understanding that allows me to operate those machines very, very well.
I go to the Air and Space Museum whenever I can. Not because I need to learn about Air and Space history- I know every exhibit there. I go because the emotions I feel in that building are indescribable.
Today we lost Michael Jackson. That's a shame, the music he produced spoke volumes to billions of people. Today we're also faced with the likely loss of Space Shuttle Atlantis, due to a very silly, but probably uncorrectable, problem found on the inspection after it's most recent mission.
I love music. I certainly don't like death. I downright like a lot of what MJ has created over the years. And despite all the accusations, bad press, and overall creepiness of the guy, I really don't feel he was a bad person. Losing him is a sad thing. A very sad thing. But at the same time it was time for him to go. He was done, he had completed the work he was built to do. He had changed the world, and decided to stop doing live shows about a year ago. It's sad to see him go, but from a purely logical standpoint it's ok. It was time.
I'm sad about Michael.
I'm sadder about Atlantis.
The emotion wrapped up in the shuttle program, and even that particular spacecraft, is amazing. It changed my life. Yes, it changed my life more than Music. Yes. Airplanes, cars, spaceships, and other engineering feats evoke far more emotion and attachment in me than Music.
Next time I tell you that I can't drive a Honda Fit, or that I feel paying $700 per month for the rest of my natural life for the flight training I've done is the best money I've ever spent, or that driving on track is exactly like painting a picture- and you look at me funny - I want you to imagine the void that you would have in your life if suddenly all Music in your life disappeared.
That's what *it* is for me- working with complex systems and making them work at their very best, and having them share their happiness with me. It doesn't matter if it's a car, or an airplane, or something I've built on a computer or out of lego. It's the joy of seeing it all come together and not just work, but work well.
A side effect of this is the deep appreciation of the systems themselves, hence the sadness over Atlantis. It's a very storied spacecraft, but it wasn't done writing stories yet. It wasn't done with it's work, it had more to do- one more mission this year, and then one or perhaps two next year. More times where things would all come together and Atlantis would get some truly amazing things done. Those times likely won't come now. More from Space Cowboys:
"She's only happy up there, goin' fast. She's not meant to be sitting on the ground. That's a lousy way to die. Sitting around, waiting..."
I wish I could finish this with a positive spin.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
On the Eve of Chrysler's demise
When faced with adversity it's often good to look back at previous difficult times and try to find some wisdom for handling the one you are currently faced with. Looking at the current folding of Chrysler, people seem quick to forget that they have been here before.
In the early 80's, Chrysler was in trouble. Lots of trouble. Gas prices had recently rocketed and Chrysler had no small cars to fall back on. Chevy and Ford had some small cars, and some international sales, to keep them afloat.
In 1978, the average new American car got 13 miles per gallon. Japanese cars had been in the US since the mid 70's, offering cars with much better mileage- but they were much smaller, and therefore were experiencing slow adoption until the oil crisis. Then, suddenly, people started considering more efficient cars.
Sounds a lot like today's situation. And like today's situation in the early 80s, Chrysler was looking at closing their doors forever unless they made major changes to the cars they offered.
They hired Lee Iacocca, and let him lead as he wanted. He didn't have the time to hire and train new engineers and develop a new product entirely in-house. As such he bet the entire company on a business deal- Chrysler, despite having failing sales and bleak future, bought 38% of Mitsubishi. The result of this new alliance was the K Car, which history has certainly beat up- but fact is- it saved Chrysler because it was the right product at the right time. To this day, many Chrysler cars share parts with their Mitsubishi counterparts.
In 1978, new American cars got 13 MPG. By 1981, there was a Dodge which could get 50. (Video) That's with almost 30 year old technology- no hybrid, no flexfuel, no anything special.
And it wasn't just the O24 that got good mileage. The other cars Chrysler offered were very sensible, also. (Video)
Chrysler didn't stop at just getting themselves out of the grave. They took their new found success and used it to create an innovative product which created a new car segment- the Minivan. The 1984 Caravan got 37 MPG highway, and carried everything you needed to carry. Chrysler did it first, and couldn't build them fast enough. (Video)
This is what happens when one person does what needs to be done to make a company profitable. And that's what Lee Iacocca did, and in doing so kept jobs in America, provided the world with an innovative product, and most famously, did it with style. He was very outspoken and direct with his use of words and vision for what he wanted to accomplish with the company- as seen here, in a commercial from 1984. (Video)
Lee retired in 1992. Since then, Chrysler has returned to rehashing older cars, and has repeatedly ignored customer desires. Now they are in the grave, and what's left of them will be bought up by Fiat. Most major dealerships are closing this weekend.
This is what happens when corporations lose the fear of failing. They fail. Guaranteed money is the surest way to kill a company. When that happens, innovation stops. I've seen this personally even where I work.
The words Lee Iacocca says at the end of the video above are very telling. "Quality, hard work, commitment. The stuff America was made of. Without them, there is no future."
I wonder if he knew he was predicting the future of his company.
In the early 80's, Chrysler was in trouble. Lots of trouble. Gas prices had recently rocketed and Chrysler had no small cars to fall back on. Chevy and Ford had some small cars, and some international sales, to keep them afloat.
In 1978, the average new American car got 13 miles per gallon. Japanese cars had been in the US since the mid 70's, offering cars with much better mileage- but they were much smaller, and therefore were experiencing slow adoption until the oil crisis. Then, suddenly, people started considering more efficient cars.
Sounds a lot like today's situation. And like today's situation in the early 80s, Chrysler was looking at closing their doors forever unless they made major changes to the cars they offered.
They hired Lee Iacocca, and let him lead as he wanted. He didn't have the time to hire and train new engineers and develop a new product entirely in-house. As such he bet the entire company on a business deal- Chrysler, despite having failing sales and bleak future, bought 38% of Mitsubishi. The result of this new alliance was the K Car, which history has certainly beat up- but fact is- it saved Chrysler because it was the right product at the right time. To this day, many Chrysler cars share parts with their Mitsubishi counterparts.
In 1978, new American cars got 13 MPG. By 1981, there was a Dodge which could get 50. (Video) That's with almost 30 year old technology- no hybrid, no flexfuel, no anything special.
And it wasn't just the O24 that got good mileage. The other cars Chrysler offered were very sensible, also. (Video)
Chrysler didn't stop at just getting themselves out of the grave. They took their new found success and used it to create an innovative product which created a new car segment- the Minivan. The 1984 Caravan got 37 MPG highway, and carried everything you needed to carry. Chrysler did it first, and couldn't build them fast enough. (Video)
This is what happens when one person does what needs to be done to make a company profitable. And that's what Lee Iacocca did, and in doing so kept jobs in America, provided the world with an innovative product, and most famously, did it with style. He was very outspoken and direct with his use of words and vision for what he wanted to accomplish with the company- as seen here, in a commercial from 1984. (Video)
Lee retired in 1992. Since then, Chrysler has returned to rehashing older cars, and has repeatedly ignored customer desires. Now they are in the grave, and what's left of them will be bought up by Fiat. Most major dealerships are closing this weekend.
This is what happens when corporations lose the fear of failing. They fail. Guaranteed money is the surest way to kill a company. When that happens, innovation stops. I've seen this personally even where I work.
The words Lee Iacocca says at the end of the video above are very telling. "Quality, hard work, commitment. The stuff America was made of. Without them, there is no future."
I wonder if he knew he was predicting the future of his company.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
New Oldness
Thanks to http://archive.org I was able to grab a few blogs I wrote almost five years ago. They've been copied and pasted here, along with their original dates. Take a look back and take a look back.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
...
I just got an email from Liberty Medical telling me that I need to buy diabetes stuff.
I didn't know it would be so soon.
I didn't know it would be so soon.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Pictures
I really love taking pictures. I don't do it enough.
I think I am going to give myself the daily assignment of producing one image worthy of cluttering the Internet with. I've considered this sort of thing in the past, and I've always run up against a technology wall. I would have trouble deciding what program to store my images in, locally. I now have a netbook which should work in a pinch if nothing else will. It's also syncing with the "family Mac" which should make things easier (I don't have to only use the tiny screen). I haven't tried using the netbook to drive my desktop monitor yet. But that should work too.
I have the camera, and I have my own card reader... And I certainly want to take pictures. No more excuses.
I'm excited.
I think I am going to give myself the daily assignment of producing one image worthy of cluttering the Internet with. I've considered this sort of thing in the past, and I've always run up against a technology wall. I would have trouble deciding what program to store my images in, locally. I now have a netbook which should work in a pinch if nothing else will. It's also syncing with the "family Mac" which should make things easier (I don't have to only use the tiny screen). I haven't tried using the netbook to drive my desktop monitor yet. But that should work too.
I have the camera, and I have my own card reader... And I certainly want to take pictures. No more excuses.
I'm excited.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Beat.
Wow, this week has been tough:
Sunday: Mother's Day
Monday: Amy's Graduation
Tuesday: Baby Doctor Appointment
Wednesday: The House Attempts to Burn Down
Thursday: Ash removal
Friday: Work, then a rehearsal (duffyimages.com work)
Saturday: duffyimages.com wedding
Sunday: Well, I took it off. I watched TV. I worked on my own little projects. And I played video games.
Today I completed Two video games. There's two things of note in that sentence; firstly I did not use the term 'beat,' and secondly, Twice in One Day.
My Lack of 'Beat' is very intentional. To me, Completing a game is merely finishing it's main story mode. Beating, however, that's a different cup of tea. To beat something, one must do everything the game has to offer... collect everything, complete all the side quests, or whatever else the game does- and do it all on the highest difficulty and/or in the shortest amount of time possible. For more information on this subject see Advance Wars according to Sean Williams, or perhaps even Halo according to Isaac Titcomb.
I completed the main story on Ace Combat Zero, and it was Great. I loved the story. Did I beat it? Hell No. . . I don't think I even did a single mission above the Easy difficulty. I'm really not the type to beat a game into submission. In fact, it's downright rare that I even finish the story on games. I just don't put the time needed into them, and what time I do put in is usually not well focused (Don't ask me about my Oblivion save), so finishing a story is a big deal for me. Two in one day? even bigger.
Hence the entry.
The two games I finished today were LittleBigPlanet and Flower. Playing these games made Sean tell me I needed more explosions in my life. Finishing them, when I finish so few, is probably proof of his observation. Taking the time to brag about it on the internet is downright embarrassing. But hey, I'm already married and have children. I have proof that I'm not gay.
First off, LittleBigPlanet. LBP is not about the story. Not at all. It's about the relentless pursuit of the right side of the screen that we've found in every platformer ever, and that's enough for the game to stand on. It doesn't need a story, because it's a well-built, very customizable, highly entertaining run and jump game in the tradition of many very good games that have come before it.
That being said, the story is actually pretty good. It comes in short sound bites, and is, of course, totally irrelevant to the gameplay, but it's often witty and enjoyable while still managing to explain why the levels look different. Your travels throughout the game take you to many parts of the world which successfully walk the line between cultural theming and promoting stereotypes. The story develops characters in each of these areas of the world which you visit.
Then, suddenly- the Big Bad® appears. And the story starts to describe him, though not in much detail at all. He's known as "The Collector" and apparently he's been going around the world and collecting stuff, and, later on, the characters themselves that you've come to know in your previous adventures, to keep for his own. This is considered to be insane, despicable behavior, which must be stopped, with force, applied by you.
Now what's interesting here is that LBP is a collecting game, also. As you progress through levels your score is largely determined by the number of items you collect. These items are parts of the level that you can later use in creating your own LBP levels. That being the case, chasing someone called The Collector seems kinda ironic... in fact, at one point I was thinking that the boys at MediaMolecule (LBP's developers) were going to turn the story on it's head and have you come to find out that "The Collector" was simply the tag Fox News had put on You due to all of the reports of missing stuff. Therefore, it would have turned out that you were chasing yourself... would have perhaps been an interesting twist... but no.
No, definitely not.
I can say that MediaMolecule's writers are certainly from America- because LBP's ending comes with a heaping supply of Extra Cheese.
When you get to The Collector's area, the icon to start his level is a dark face with two glowing eyes. The music is ominous. The entire world is scared of this guy. Soldiers wish you luck on your way in. It's time to go be a hero and take this guy down.
So who is The Collector? He's a Fucking Egg sitting on a hoverround. The entire world has been terrorized by a geriatric humpty-dumpty. Seriously.
In hindsight, I suppose this isn't too far from the real world... Bin Laden being on dialysis and all. But the point still stands.
While chasing Humpty through his maze you release the characters from the other parts of the world from their cages. Do they come help? No, but that's not too surprising considering that they were imprisoned by breakfast-on-wheels. When you catch up to him, he throws some machines at you which you defeat. He runs off one screen to the right and you follow him, and find him trapped.
At this point you could... well, step on him. Or perhaps push him off the edge of a wall. Instead, everyone you released shows up, and through a useless dialog convince him that he can share everything he's collected with the LittleBigPlanet community, and that is a much cooler thing to do than keeping it all for himself. The Sun comes up, the end.
What a let down. There are so many better ways to end a platform game. Let's reflect on some classics:
The Princess is in another castle (actually, it's this one, just pallet swapped).
Ok, do it again, but the enemies will be twice as hard!
Ok, do it again, but do it in under 47 minutes!
Ok, do it again, but do it as a different character with half of the abilities you have.
Great! Now you can go back the way you came and re-explore everything. Oh, by the way- The Castle is Upside-down now.
You know, maybe the ending wasn't that bad.
Flower, on the other hand...
Flower is an interesting game. It really plays on your emotions. The use of shapes and colors and wonderful use of audio effects and score create moods as you progress through the game. There are no words. There is a story, though I imagine that story will be mildly different for each person who experiences this game.
And it really is an experience.
The second to last area was especially difficult for me. It was dark, confusing, easy to get lost in. I felt like I had a challenge in front of me that could not be met, not just because of size but also my inability to make any progress at all. It was just dark. The only time there was light was when there was lightning.
The transformation that happens through that level and the one that follows (the last level) provided one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever gotten out of a video game. And I'm at a loss for words on exactly what I mean by saying that, or how it pulled it off.
So there you have it. Story with words, and story beyond words. LBP can live without the story, and therefore will get plenty of more play time. Flower would be useless without it's story, but thankfully it's story is strong and uniquely told.
Good stuff.
Good Sunday.
Sunday: Mother's Day
Monday: Amy's Graduation
Tuesday: Baby Doctor Appointment
Wednesday: The House Attempts to Burn Down
Thursday: Ash removal
Friday: Work, then a rehearsal (duffyimages.com work)
Saturday: duffyimages.com wedding
Sunday: Well, I took it off. I watched TV. I worked on my own little projects. And I played video games.
Today I completed Two video games. There's two things of note in that sentence; firstly I did not use the term 'beat,' and secondly, Twice in One Day.
My Lack of 'Beat' is very intentional. To me, Completing a game is merely finishing it's main story mode. Beating, however, that's a different cup of tea. To beat something, one must do everything the game has to offer... collect everything, complete all the side quests, or whatever else the game does- and do it all on the highest difficulty and/or in the shortest amount of time possible. For more information on this subject see Advance Wars according to Sean Williams, or perhaps even Halo according to Isaac Titcomb.
I completed the main story on Ace Combat Zero, and it was Great. I loved the story. Did I beat it? Hell No. . . I don't think I even did a single mission above the Easy difficulty. I'm really not the type to beat a game into submission. In fact, it's downright rare that I even finish the story on games. I just don't put the time needed into them, and what time I do put in is usually not well focused (Don't ask me about my Oblivion save), so finishing a story is a big deal for me. Two in one day? even bigger.
Hence the entry.
The two games I finished today were LittleBigPlanet and Flower. Playing these games made Sean tell me I needed more explosions in my life. Finishing them, when I finish so few, is probably proof of his observation. Taking the time to brag about it on the internet is downright embarrassing. But hey, I'm already married and have children. I have proof that I'm not gay.
First off, LittleBigPlanet. LBP is not about the story. Not at all. It's about the relentless pursuit of the right side of the screen that we've found in every platformer ever, and that's enough for the game to stand on. It doesn't need a story, because it's a well-built, very customizable, highly entertaining run and jump game in the tradition of many very good games that have come before it.
That being said, the story is actually pretty good. It comes in short sound bites, and is, of course, totally irrelevant to the gameplay, but it's often witty and enjoyable while still managing to explain why the levels look different. Your travels throughout the game take you to many parts of the world which successfully walk the line between cultural theming and promoting stereotypes. The story develops characters in each of these areas of the world which you visit.
Then, suddenly- the Big Bad® appears. And the story starts to describe him, though not in much detail at all. He's known as "The Collector" and apparently he's been going around the world and collecting stuff, and, later on, the characters themselves that you've come to know in your previous adventures, to keep for his own. This is considered to be insane, despicable behavior, which must be stopped, with force, applied by you.
Now what's interesting here is that LBP is a collecting game, also. As you progress through levels your score is largely determined by the number of items you collect. These items are parts of the level that you can later use in creating your own LBP levels. That being the case, chasing someone called The Collector seems kinda ironic... in fact, at one point I was thinking that the boys at MediaMolecule (LBP's developers) were going to turn the story on it's head and have you come to find out that "The Collector" was simply the tag Fox News had put on You due to all of the reports of missing stuff. Therefore, it would have turned out that you were chasing yourself... would have perhaps been an interesting twist... but no.
No, definitely not.
I can say that MediaMolecule's writers are certainly from America- because LBP's ending comes with a heaping supply of Extra Cheese.
When you get to The Collector's area, the icon to start his level is a dark face with two glowing eyes. The music is ominous. The entire world is scared of this guy. Soldiers wish you luck on your way in. It's time to go be a hero and take this guy down.
So who is The Collector? He's a Fucking Egg sitting on a hoverround. The entire world has been terrorized by a geriatric humpty-dumpty. Seriously.
In hindsight, I suppose this isn't too far from the real world... Bin Laden being on dialysis and all. But the point still stands.
While chasing Humpty through his maze you release the characters from the other parts of the world from their cages. Do they come help? No, but that's not too surprising considering that they were imprisoned by breakfast-on-wheels. When you catch up to him, he throws some machines at you which you defeat. He runs off one screen to the right and you follow him, and find him trapped.
At this point you could... well, step on him. Or perhaps push him off the edge of a wall. Instead, everyone you released shows up, and through a useless dialog convince him that he can share everything he's collected with the LittleBigPlanet community, and that is a much cooler thing to do than keeping it all for himself. The Sun comes up, the end.
What a let down. There are so many better ways to end a platform game. Let's reflect on some classics:
The Princess is in another castle (actually, it's this one, just pallet swapped).
Ok, do it again, but the enemies will be twice as hard!
Ok, do it again, but do it in under 47 minutes!
Ok, do it again, but do it as a different character with half of the abilities you have.
Great! Now you can go back the way you came and re-explore everything. Oh, by the way- The Castle is Upside-down now.
You know, maybe the ending wasn't that bad.
Flower, on the other hand...
Flower is an interesting game. It really plays on your emotions. The use of shapes and colors and wonderful use of audio effects and score create moods as you progress through the game. There are no words. There is a story, though I imagine that story will be mildly different for each person who experiences this game.
And it really is an experience.
The second to last area was especially difficult for me. It was dark, confusing, easy to get lost in. I felt like I had a challenge in front of me that could not be met, not just because of size but also my inability to make any progress at all. It was just dark. The only time there was light was when there was lightning.
The transformation that happens through that level and the one that follows (the last level) provided one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever gotten out of a video game. And I'm at a loss for words on exactly what I mean by saying that, or how it pulled it off.
So there you have it. Story with words, and story beyond words. LBP can live without the story, and therefore will get plenty of more play time. Flower would be useless without it's story, but thankfully it's story is strong and uniquely told.
Good stuff.
Good Sunday.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Write where it hurts
In Daria, Season 2, Episode 13, Daria is given a writing assignment which she has trouble with. She's asked to write a fiction story using people she knows as characters. She comes up with many stories, but none of them are believable. None of them seem real, and this bothers her greatly. At one point she says "My whole life has been a sham, I can't write."
There are a couple very interesting things about this episode. The first thing I noticed was the creative process, which, as Daria says at one point, requires thinking (And therefore not Quinn's area). She's depicted doing said thinking at many points in the episode. I found that I could identify with these depictions quite a bit. She's seen in silence, wide awake, on her bed. She's seen staring blankly at a piece of paper, and every time it seems like she may be coming up with a good idea, she gets interrupted by people who think she's doing nothing or just being anti-social.
I think the relation I have with the above is obvious.
The second thing which interested me was quite more reveling. Daria's mom tells her that the reason she's having so much trouble writing this story is that while she is very good at being honest with what she observes around her, she almost always avoids talking about how the world around her should be. She simply hides behind a witty but cynical remark and continues to observe things how they are. She then challenges Daria to take the people she knows and write a story about how things should be, instead of intimately describing how they currently are. The story she produces is wonderful, but the whole conversation really hit home with me, because I feel like I behave much the same as Daria in this context.
I can describe the current situation in detail. Usually in a fairly interesting manner. I can identify what's good, and defiantly what's bad, and I can provide simple sound bites of solutions for the bad stuff. But the thought of How Things Should Be rarely crosses my mind and therefore I don't even have an opinion. I have opinions on the detail level, but the over-arching- not so much.
Thankfully getting the details right tends to create a good overall situation. And I am a firm believer that focusing on the overall will only let you down. The overall situation is never stable. The details you can control, the summation of those details- not as easily. However, that being said, having an overall in mind is not a bad thing, and it's perhaps something I should think about more often.
There are a couple very interesting things about this episode. The first thing I noticed was the creative process, which, as Daria says at one point, requires thinking (And therefore not Quinn's area). She's depicted doing said thinking at many points in the episode. I found that I could identify with these depictions quite a bit. She's seen in silence, wide awake, on her bed. She's seen staring blankly at a piece of paper, and every time it seems like she may be coming up with a good idea, she gets interrupted by people who think she's doing nothing or just being anti-social.
I think the relation I have with the above is obvious.
The second thing which interested me was quite more reveling. Daria's mom tells her that the reason she's having so much trouble writing this story is that while she is very good at being honest with what she observes around her, she almost always avoids talking about how the world around her should be. She simply hides behind a witty but cynical remark and continues to observe things how they are. She then challenges Daria to take the people she knows and write a story about how things should be, instead of intimately describing how they currently are. The story she produces is wonderful, but the whole conversation really hit home with me, because I feel like I behave much the same as Daria in this context.
I can describe the current situation in detail. Usually in a fairly interesting manner. I can identify what's good, and defiantly what's bad, and I can provide simple sound bites of solutions for the bad stuff. But the thought of How Things Should Be rarely crosses my mind and therefore I don't even have an opinion. I have opinions on the detail level, but the over-arching- not so much.
Thankfully getting the details right tends to create a good overall situation. And I am a firm believer that focusing on the overall will only let you down. The overall situation is never stable. The details you can control, the summation of those details- not as easily. However, that being said, having an overall in mind is not a bad thing, and it's perhaps something I should think about more often.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
!!
I firmly blame Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! for the advent and common use of multiple exclamation points.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Mr. President
One of my earliest memories is sitting on the floor one evening, watching the television. I was very, very young. I get the feeling that I was sitting because I was still unable to stand. I don't remember much, no audio, no time of day, not even any motion- just the image which was on the TV. The image of the space shuttle Columbia sitting on the launch pad, ready to launch.
By the time I was five years old I was showing enough interest in flying and spaceflight that my parents sent me on my first flight lesson. It terrified me, but did nothing to dissuade me from learning everything I could about spaceflight. The interest consumed me.
I read about the history of NASA. I watched every documentary I could find, usually several times. I read about the astronauts, not just their records or their schooling, but their personalities and the kind of people they were. I read about the machines, not just their capabilities, but how they worked.
I was in Kindergarten when the Challenger exploded. The entire class had gone outside to watch the launch... I knew before anyone else that something terrible had happened, but I hoped I was wrong. I remember telling my classmates that the big plume of smoke was just from the solid rocket booster separation. I was five years old and knew the shuttle's systems well enough to try to explain the failure.
By the time I was 8 years old I was well versed in the history of flight and spaceflight, from the first supersonic aircraft (the X-planes), through the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, SpaceLab, Apollo - Soyuz, and shuttle programs. I knew the names of those lost in the Challenger accident and the names of those lost in Apollo 1. I knew many of the unsung heroes, too, like Michael Collins... the guy who stayed in the Command Module while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon.
I already knew at this age that I wanted to be an aerospace engineer. I wanted to design and build these spacecraft... and fly them.
I had already begun to focus my own skills and personality such that I could someday reach that goal. I could fly those X-planes in the flight simulator I demanded be installed on the family computer. I did my best with math, and learned as much science as I could. I even joined the Boy Scouts of America as many of the astronauts I thought so highly of had been Eagle Scouts.
By the time I was 12 years old I had already flown many shuttle missions in simulators on my own computer or in the full-size mock up at Space Camp. I was learning every system I could, on the shuttle, in airplanes, or even right in front of me within the computer I was using as the tool to learn with.
The day I turned 13 I joined the Civil Air Patrol, the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary. There I continued my aerospace education and learned what life was like in the Air Force, another place where many astronauts had come from.
By the time I was 18 I had lived on an Air Force base for a week, flown several airplanes, performed acrobatic maneuvers in one of them, and had learned enough about aircraft and instrumentation to reliably land simulators in zero visibility. I had visited the Air Force Academy, I was Cadet Commander of my Civil Air Patrol unit, and Squadron commander of my high school's AFJROTC.
In school, I had become known as one of the best student computer programmers on campus, I was in honors classes with a major focus on science, and I had completed all of the math courses the high school offered.
Today, I'm a grown man, happily married and father of two. I've continued my aerospace education to include commercial pilot and flight instructor certificates. I'm employed using my computer skills. I own my own house, I pay taxes, and I support my family without any Government help.
I may not have, and may never, reach the goals I set when I was younger. However the journey has been one heck of a ride, has given me the confidence to know that I can do anything, given me some very useful knowledge, and has prepared me for whatever comes next. Something that goes a bit unnoticed though is that it has also turned me into a very functional member of society,
However, with very few exceptions, when I look around at my peers, and those younger than me, I see an entirely different story than my own. Many of them lack employment, or a place to live. Many of them lack a useful skill set. Most importantly, though... they seem to lack the will to change this, by improving themselves.
Our schools are considered to be failing because our scores in areas like math and science are falling in comparison to the rest of the world. I contend that the best schools in the world will fail if the students are uninterested.
Our economy is considered to be failing because there's no funding for new jobs. I contend that our economy is failing because people have no reason to work beyond getting a paycheck. They've lost the inspiration that comes with knowing that the work they do is part of something greater.
Mr. President: We don't need new roads, the ones we have are working. We don't need better schools, the ones we have didn't fail me. We don't need to bail out banks, our real problems are not financial.
Mr. President, we need to go to the Moon.
We need to inspire a generation to want to learn. To want to work so much they come up with better ways to get the job done. To want to change the world.
If we show them that they can do anything, what seems to be impossible now will be accomplished overnight.
-Chris
By the time I was five years old I was showing enough interest in flying and spaceflight that my parents sent me on my first flight lesson. It terrified me, but did nothing to dissuade me from learning everything I could about spaceflight. The interest consumed me.
I read about the history of NASA. I watched every documentary I could find, usually several times. I read about the astronauts, not just their records or their schooling, but their personalities and the kind of people they were. I read about the machines, not just their capabilities, but how they worked.
I was in Kindergarten when the Challenger exploded. The entire class had gone outside to watch the launch... I knew before anyone else that something terrible had happened, but I hoped I was wrong. I remember telling my classmates that the big plume of smoke was just from the solid rocket booster separation. I was five years old and knew the shuttle's systems well enough to try to explain the failure.
By the time I was 8 years old I was well versed in the history of flight and spaceflight, from the first supersonic aircraft (the X-planes), through the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, SpaceLab, Apollo - Soyuz, and shuttle programs. I knew the names of those lost in the Challenger accident and the names of those lost in Apollo 1. I knew many of the unsung heroes, too, like Michael Collins... the guy who stayed in the Command Module while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon.
I already knew at this age that I wanted to be an aerospace engineer. I wanted to design and build these spacecraft... and fly them.
I had already begun to focus my own skills and personality such that I could someday reach that goal. I could fly those X-planes in the flight simulator I demanded be installed on the family computer. I did my best with math, and learned as much science as I could. I even joined the Boy Scouts of America as many of the astronauts I thought so highly of had been Eagle Scouts.
By the time I was 12 years old I had already flown many shuttle missions in simulators on my own computer or in the full-size mock up at Space Camp. I was learning every system I could, on the shuttle, in airplanes, or even right in front of me within the computer I was using as the tool to learn with.
The day I turned 13 I joined the Civil Air Patrol, the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary. There I continued my aerospace education and learned what life was like in the Air Force, another place where many astronauts had come from.
By the time I was 18 I had lived on an Air Force base for a week, flown several airplanes, performed acrobatic maneuvers in one of them, and had learned enough about aircraft and instrumentation to reliably land simulators in zero visibility. I had visited the Air Force Academy, I was Cadet Commander of my Civil Air Patrol unit, and Squadron commander of my high school's AFJROTC.
In school, I had become known as one of the best student computer programmers on campus, I was in honors classes with a major focus on science, and I had completed all of the math courses the high school offered.
Today, I'm a grown man, happily married and father of two. I've continued my aerospace education to include commercial pilot and flight instructor certificates. I'm employed using my computer skills. I own my own house, I pay taxes, and I support my family without any Government help.
I may not have, and may never, reach the goals I set when I was younger. However the journey has been one heck of a ride, has given me the confidence to know that I can do anything, given me some very useful knowledge, and has prepared me for whatever comes next. Something that goes a bit unnoticed though is that it has also turned me into a very functional member of society,
However, with very few exceptions, when I look around at my peers, and those younger than me, I see an entirely different story than my own. Many of them lack employment, or a place to live. Many of them lack a useful skill set. Most importantly, though... they seem to lack the will to change this, by improving themselves.
Our schools are considered to be failing because our scores in areas like math and science are falling in comparison to the rest of the world. I contend that the best schools in the world will fail if the students are uninterested.
Our economy is considered to be failing because there's no funding for new jobs. I contend that our economy is failing because people have no reason to work beyond getting a paycheck. They've lost the inspiration that comes with knowing that the work they do is part of something greater.
Mr. President: We don't need new roads, the ones we have are working. We don't need better schools, the ones we have didn't fail me. We don't need to bail out banks, our real problems are not financial.
Mr. President, we need to go to the Moon.
We need to inspire a generation to want to learn. To want to work so much they come up with better ways to get the job done. To want to change the world.
If we show them that they can do anything, what seems to be impossible now will be accomplished overnight.
-Chris
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
One Percent.
We almost all died the other day.
An asteroid the size of an office building passed very close to our planet. Closer than the moon. Closer than the satellites that send TV to your home.
We didn't know it was coming until it was already here.
A less than One Percent change in it's velocity could have caused an impact.
We almost all died the other day. It was in the news. But no one noticed.
I say no one noticed because we're still bickering over the value of our fellow man,
judging him by the color of his skin
or by his social status
or by the clothes he's wearing
or by his beliefs
or by how he smells.
We still don't talk to our neighbors.
We're still killing each other over our thoughts of our maker
or over the temporary high from drugs
or over a parking spot
or over money.
We're still driven by greed, at the expense of personal and collective happiness.
Wealth is still wasted on the wealthy.
We're still so focused on ourselves,
We're willingly slaves to our possessions,
but we won't even consider serving our fellow man.
Our personal short stay here is still more important than our collective short stay here.
We almost all died the other day.
We could still all die tomorrow.
But nothing's changed.
Not One Percent.
An asteroid the size of an office building passed very close to our planet. Closer than the moon. Closer than the satellites that send TV to your home.
We didn't know it was coming until it was already here.
A less than One Percent change in it's velocity could have caused an impact.
We almost all died the other day. It was in the news. But no one noticed.
I say no one noticed because we're still bickering over the value of our fellow man,
judging him by the color of his skin
or by his social status
or by the clothes he's wearing
or by his beliefs
or by how he smells.
We still don't talk to our neighbors.
We're still killing each other over our thoughts of our maker
or over the temporary high from drugs
or over a parking spot
or over money.
We're still driven by greed, at the expense of personal and collective happiness.
Wealth is still wasted on the wealthy.
We're still so focused on ourselves,
We're willingly slaves to our possessions,
but we won't even consider serving our fellow man.
Our personal short stay here is still more important than our collective short stay here.
We almost all died the other day.
We could still all die tomorrow.
But nothing's changed.
Not One Percent.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
The Fat Woman at Burger King.
Now I don't normally attack the overweight. I have many reasons for not doing that, and they're all good ones in my humble opinion- firstly, doing so is just cruel. Secondly, it's their life, they can live it how they like. Food tastes good, exercising is hard work, everyone has to find their own balance and one should not be judged by their decisions there. And lastly, I've got absolutely No Room To Talk.
So when I refer to the Fat Woman at Burger King, I really don't mean it quite as bad as it sounds. It's seriously the only descriptor I can think of that fits.
Now for the actual post.
Wisdom: Whenever you get Fast Food, ALWAYS get it from the biggest server you can find.
This wisdom was evidenced tonight, when I was served by a lady so big I wasn't sure of her sex for my entire stay at the establishment. I've decided this person was female just now, after reflecting on the experience and adding up the various other attributes (including 'voice') and therefore coming to an educated guess.
The meal I received from her was perhaps the best I have ever received from Burger King. My drink was so over-full that it was leaking around the lid. My fries were brand new fresh, and salted more than beef jerky- and there were at least 72 more fries in the FryPod than it was designed for.
And finally, the, kicker, if you will- despite ordering my burger plain, as I do, and not specifically requesting Heinz Tomato Ketchup, there were no less than Seven ketchup packets in the bag, just in case I wanted some.
Some people say overweight people have low self-esteem and other issues. I say, that given the right circumstances, they are overachievers.
So when I refer to the Fat Woman at Burger King, I really don't mean it quite as bad as it sounds. It's seriously the only descriptor I can think of that fits.
Now for the actual post.
Wisdom: Whenever you get Fast Food, ALWAYS get it from the biggest server you can find.
This wisdom was evidenced tonight, when I was served by a lady so big I wasn't sure of her sex for my entire stay at the establishment. I've decided this person was female just now, after reflecting on the experience and adding up the various other attributes (including 'voice') and therefore coming to an educated guess.
The meal I received from her was perhaps the best I have ever received from Burger King. My drink was so over-full that it was leaking around the lid. My fries were brand new fresh, and salted more than beef jerky- and there were at least 72 more fries in the FryPod than it was designed for.
And finally, the, kicker, if you will- despite ordering my burger plain, as I do, and not specifically requesting Heinz Tomato Ketchup, there were no less than Seven ketchup packets in the bag, just in case I wanted some.
Some people say overweight people have low self-esteem and other issues. I say, that given the right circumstances, they are overachievers.
Friday, January 2, 2009
iPhone Syncing w/ Ubuntu
The best way to do it? Don't.
There are more than a couple different methods out there, all of which require you to jailbreak the phone (since there is no 'disk mode' for iPhones), which isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, once jailbroken, the asshattery begins.
All the methods say "Sync Wirelessly!" which sounds sexy, but it isn't. The over-the-wifi is the only way you'll have any hope of syncing, which is intolerably slow when you start thinking about sending gigs of music. To make matters worse, it seems like most guides want you to sync over sshfs, which means nicely encrypted transfers... which are very CPU intensive, for a small processor like that in the iPhone. So if the Wifi wasn't slow enough for you, the ciphering will be.
So music was frustrating to sync, so I skipped to the more important things (I can always listen to Pandora) and came back to it later.
What about pictures? Well they work the same way, except there's no real easy way to have it happen automatically. And just like the music, it's intolerably slow to sync over wifi. Solution? Picasa Web Albums. Google has optimized the web albums page for iPhone, so it's pretty, quick, and easy to use. Done. I upload my stuff there and I can then show it off wherever I am thanks to 3G.
What about Contacts? This one was important to me... and there's a lot of solutions out there, probably one of the more interesting ones is scheduleworld.com, which uses open source software to sync with just about anything. As I was setting that up, though, I felt like it was horribly redundant- scheduleworld.com was going to end up holding a copy of my contacts, acting like the master repository, when I already have one of those. Gmail. So I went looking for a native iPhone <=> Gmail syncing application, and I found several. The one I ended up with is a bit clunky but free, perhaps later I'll get the cheap ($2.99) Sync in a Blink which seems to have glowing reviews. Going direct to the source makes me feel warm and fuzzy, go betweens suck.
Google contacts is worth a little more discussion. It's a relatively new API so adoption is still happening. But wow, it's got a ton of potential. My Linux mail client is talking straight to my Google Contacts, and now my iPhone is syncing with them, directly. Talk about two things which shouldn't be able to sync with a public service... This is gonna catch on and be pretty popular, and it's yet another reason to set a very secure Google account password.
Calendars carry much the same story but at the moment they are much less important to me- as I honestly don't have an accurate calendar. I did enough work to make sure I could have syncing calendars, and while I found several solutions I didn't really decide on one. GCALDaemon is a likely choice though.
So, back to music. I solved that problem, too. It's called a MobiBlu Cube, which I bought some years back essentially because some guy on G4 TV told me to. It's wicked cool, I've enjoyed it, but honestly I haven't gotten much use out of it. So, now that my car is outfitted with an Aux input, perhaps I will. It works just fine with Linux.
So- the moral is the first line. Most of what you need you can get over-the-air on the iPhone. If you can't get it over the air, then don't get it. It's not worth the hassle. And, ironically but expectedly, the iPhone's defining feature- being an iPod - is what makes it unusable with Linux.
Of course that's not explicitly true. It is entirely possible to use a classic iPod with Linux, provided you can put it in Disk Mode so that Linux can access the file system directly. That's an understandable requirement... but the iPhone and iPod touch don't have Disk Mode.
I don't know why they don't have Disk Mode, but I have some theories. I know it probably came as a requirement from the cell phone world to keep the devices from being used in manners inconsistent with the terms of service. Or, perhaps just as likely, pressure from the recording industry to limit access to playback devices to make it more difficult to use open music management programs and stores (Yes, there are DRM free music stores out there). There is the possibility that the idea to turn off Disk Mode came from an internal Apple source... because it effectively locks the music in the device to iTunes. Considering how Apple accounts for the iPhone (they are sold at a loss) and perhaps even the iPod touch (which could be being sold at a loss also) you would want to restrict your users to iTunes just to make sure they have the Chance to buy music from you.
No matter what the reason... I didn't buy an iPhone to use it as a music player, and it looks like I won't be using it as a music player.
There are more than a couple different methods out there, all of which require you to jailbreak the phone (since there is no 'disk mode' for iPhones), which isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, once jailbroken, the asshattery begins.
All the methods say "Sync Wirelessly!" which sounds sexy, but it isn't. The over-the-wifi is the only way you'll have any hope of syncing, which is intolerably slow when you start thinking about sending gigs of music. To make matters worse, it seems like most guides want you to sync over sshfs, which means nicely encrypted transfers... which are very CPU intensive, for a small processor like that in the iPhone. So if the Wifi wasn't slow enough for you, the ciphering will be.
So music was frustrating to sync, so I skipped to the more important things (I can always listen to Pandora) and came back to it later.
What about pictures? Well they work the same way, except there's no real easy way to have it happen automatically. And just like the music, it's intolerably slow to sync over wifi. Solution? Picasa Web Albums. Google has optimized the web albums page for iPhone, so it's pretty, quick, and easy to use. Done. I upload my stuff there and I can then show it off wherever I am thanks to 3G.
What about Contacts? This one was important to me... and there's a lot of solutions out there, probably one of the more interesting ones is scheduleworld.com, which uses open source software to sync with just about anything. As I was setting that up, though, I felt like it was horribly redundant- scheduleworld.com was going to end up holding a copy of my contacts, acting like the master repository, when I already have one of those. Gmail. So I went looking for a native iPhone <=> Gmail syncing application, and I found several. The one I ended up with is a bit clunky but free, perhaps later I'll get the cheap ($2.99) Sync in a Blink which seems to have glowing reviews. Going direct to the source makes me feel warm and fuzzy, go betweens suck.
Google contacts is worth a little more discussion. It's a relatively new API so adoption is still happening. But wow, it's got a ton of potential. My Linux mail client is talking straight to my Google Contacts, and now my iPhone is syncing with them, directly. Talk about two things which shouldn't be able to sync with a public service... This is gonna catch on and be pretty popular, and it's yet another reason to set a very secure Google account password.
Calendars carry much the same story but at the moment they are much less important to me- as I honestly don't have an accurate calendar. I did enough work to make sure I could have syncing calendars, and while I found several solutions I didn't really decide on one. GCALDaemon is a likely choice though.
So, back to music. I solved that problem, too. It's called a MobiBlu Cube, which I bought some years back essentially because some guy on G4 TV told me to. It's wicked cool, I've enjoyed it, but honestly I haven't gotten much use out of it. So, now that my car is outfitted with an Aux input, perhaps I will. It works just fine with Linux.
So- the moral is the first line. Most of what you need you can get over-the-air on the iPhone. If you can't get it over the air, then don't get it. It's not worth the hassle. And, ironically but expectedly, the iPhone's defining feature- being an iPod - is what makes it unusable with Linux.
Of course that's not explicitly true. It is entirely possible to use a classic iPod with Linux, provided you can put it in Disk Mode so that Linux can access the file system directly. That's an understandable requirement... but the iPhone and iPod touch don't have Disk Mode.
I don't know why they don't have Disk Mode, but I have some theories. I know it probably came as a requirement from the cell phone world to keep the devices from being used in manners inconsistent with the terms of service. Or, perhaps just as likely, pressure from the recording industry to limit access to playback devices to make it more difficult to use open music management programs and stores (Yes, there are DRM free music stores out there). There is the possibility that the idea to turn off Disk Mode came from an internal Apple source... because it effectively locks the music in the device to iTunes. Considering how Apple accounts for the iPhone (they are sold at a loss) and perhaps even the iPod touch (which could be being sold at a loss also) you would want to restrict your users to iTunes just to make sure they have the Chance to buy music from you.
No matter what the reason... I didn't buy an iPhone to use it as a music player, and it looks like I won't be using it as a music player.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Ok, so 2008 was a really long year.
And of course I'm not speaking figuratively. I don't do that unless I have to. I'm not talking about the war, the leadership, the financial problems, or the jobless rate.
I'm speaking in real terms. 2008 was an exceptionally long year.
First off, it was a leap year, which makes it automatically longer than 75% of all other years. Secondly, a second was added at the end of 2008- referred to as a 'leap second' - to bring our clocks back in sync with the rotation of the Earth.
This isn't the only time this has happened, but it's been fairly rare. The last time it happened was 1992 - interestingly, right after the last war in the middle east. We also had an extra long year in 1976, being a leap year with a leap second added.
The longest year on record, though, was 1972- when the first-ever leap second adjustment was made, due to a 10 second difference. That must have felt like forever.
And of course I'm not speaking figuratively. I don't do that unless I have to. I'm not talking about the war, the leadership, the financial problems, or the jobless rate.
I'm speaking in real terms. 2008 was an exceptionally long year.
First off, it was a leap year, which makes it automatically longer than 75% of all other years. Secondly, a second was added at the end of 2008- referred to as a 'leap second' - to bring our clocks back in sync with the rotation of the Earth.
This isn't the only time this has happened, but it's been fairly rare. The last time it happened was 1992 - interestingly, right after the last war in the middle east. We also had an extra long year in 1976, being a leap year with a leap second added.
The longest year on record, though, was 1972- when the first-ever leap second adjustment was made, due to a 10 second difference. That must have felt like forever.
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