supercheetah

I’m getting really late into the week to write this post...

I’ve told a few people about this, but I’m actually trying to write a book right now. It’s a fun, interesting, and, for me, a highly methodical approach. I tried to make sure I get the descriptions of events, and environment as correct as I possibly can the first time because I think that sets the tone for how it will end up in the final draft. This might be a project a long time in the coming.

I’ve got an outline, and a direction for the story, but the details feel a little like running bases in baseball in that I’m trying to flesh out the details to get to the next point in the outline. I’m not writing it as some do by just letting the characters do as they will in my head, in large part because it doesn’t really make sense for the kind of characters in the book.

It is fun though. I’ve only gotten a couple thousand words written down, so it’s getting somewhere.

So I got a new Targus laptop bag a few days ago. It was cheap--$22 at Best Buy--and super light. It’s like air. It’s amazing how much of a difference that makes. I freaking love this bag.

At work the other day, I had one of the strangest experiences. The following is somewhat based on that, with some things changed to protect the not so innocent. Some brief back story--I’ve never been married; there was some attempt at persuasion on my part for some work-related things, and she wanted to talk to her husband about it because “she respected her husband’s authority”:

Woman X: Are you married?

Me: Not at the moment. (I’m thinking, “It’s none of your business lady.”)

Woman X: Well it sounds like you’re divorced. I’m betting your wife never communicated with you.

Me: Umm, no comment. (In my head, “Why are we still talking about this?”)

(More irrelevant conversation, and sometime later...)

Woman X: Well, I’m sorry about asking you about your ex-wife.

Me: (“What?!”)

Woman X: I sensed you were uncomfortable with that, so I apologize for asking.

Me: (I suddenly realized I could make this interesting.) That’s okay. If you really want to know, I’d be glad to tell you.

(The rest of this is completely made up because she decided she really didn’t need to know. I won’t make up a response for her, so there is none here.)

Woman X: Well, if you’re all right with that.

Me: She was an indecisive, overly-acquiescent little sheep. It got annoying to have her come to me to make all the decisions of any significance in our relationship, and it became quite evident to me that she couldn’t think for herself. (Or something to that affect.)

I usually don’t wait this long to post anything, but I’ve had such a dearth of ideas I found interesting.

I thought about posting something about politics, but I quickly fond myself bored with the concept.

I’ve also learned that I need to write things down right away, or else I’ll lose interest in writing about it. I’ve been reluctant to bring my laptop to more places because the backpack I got for is so big and bulky. I got a new one that’s smaller and lighter, so hopefully that will help.

A while ago, I was listening to the radio. I know it was NPR, but beyond that, I don’t recall the exact program. I want to say it was TAL, but I’m not certain.

The program was about how prejudice has morphed through the generations, and I remember one teen saying something along the lines of, “Well, people judge you based on how rich your parents are, not on race, and I guess that’s better.”

I haven’t figured out if I think that’s better or not.

It’s nice to know that future generations are less likely to judge another person based on race, but is it okay to judge another person based on financial class?

Just saw the movie Moon. It was freaking awesome. Gerty my favorite robot, and it was nice to see that the robot was not the villain, and in fact was somewhat the hero.

It was the first truly great, and serious science fiction film in a long time.

There’s something that I’ve wondered about ever the “end of major combat operations” in Iraq and Afghanistan (really, about how those countries were going to be put back together after we took down their government.)

Why do we not have a division of the military who’s primary specialization is sort of being a police force, i.e. bringing law and order in what’s essentially a war zone?

I don’t think it’s fair to ask regular soldiers whose training is not in police work to fulfill this job.

Such a division, should it be created, should have laws governing its behavior, much like regular police officers, and the rights of people in war zones should be well defined.

I’ve been thinking about whether I should focus more on particular topics in this blog like others do, or just leave it open ended like I do now.

I’ve thought about maybe doing more posts about secularism, but there’s already so many out there that I’m not certain I have anything useful to add. Although, I think I would probably find it a little cathartic.

I don’t think I’d want to focus on tech. While I enjoy programming, and new toys, for some reason writing about it doesn’t excite me all that much. I don’t mind the occasional post, but usually the only things I care about writing in this field are those things I’ve had a chance to directly experience.

I’ll probably post more about secularism, but I’m not going to make it a focus like others have done.

I thought that with the real keyboard the N900 has would make blogging from it easier. It does, but it’s still not comfortable.

Typing up long diatribes on that thing gets tedious really quickly.

I’m thinking that I’d like to get one of those laser keyboards to make that a little easier, like this one.

...to everyone in Haiti.

I just donated to the Red Cross. You should too, or some other such organization for this

A few reminders that should be kept in mind any time disasters like this happen.

Firstly, make sure you know, and trust the organization that you’re donating towards. And keep in mind that there are scam artists without hearts that try to profit off these tragedies.

Secondly, don’t try to presume you know what supplies the aid organizations need. By buying things instead of giving money, you’re really just creating a logistical nightmare for them to transport that thing you bought. They have more efficient means of obtaining those items.

And finally, screw you Pat Robertson--you’re more disgusting than John Edwards lying to people about talking to the dead.

If you need some ideas of organizations to donate towards, the Skepchicks have some suggestions.

This can't be an original idea. I'm just wondering if anyone else finds this familiar.

I've always wondered why there isn't a way to leave behind a voice message whenever a text, or talking to the person is inappropriate, e.g. when driving.

Let's say for example you're driving, and you find yourself in the midst of unexpected heavy traffic. I think it would be useful to have the phone record a message for you (using voice recognition to get it started) along the lines of, "Sorry, I'll be late. There was an accident on 66." And then the other person just gets to hear that. It would help to cut down on distracted driving.

I'm trying to decide whether the actual keyboard on this device is better than the virtual keyboard. They both have their drawbacks.

The real keyboard requires the use of a few state keys (e.g. Ctrl, shift, a sym key to access various symbols), and so feels a little slow.

The virtual keyboard feels quick, but error prone due to the lack of tactility.

I just got my new phone in today (I could have had it as soon as Monday, but frickin’ delivery companies insist on only delivering things when you’re at work, grr), and it’s truly an epic phone.

I’ve been playing with it all day today. It doesn’t have very many applications yet (even the OpenMoko has more apps), but what’s there works really, really well.

I’ll write more about it later.

This is a bit stream of conciousness. Completely unpolished.

I’ve always wondered how the different styles of poetry (with the exception of free form), and how people decided those styles sounded good.

I think it would be really cool to see someone mix up some of those styles. For example, how cool would it be to see someone write a poem with stanzas in the form of a haiku, and each stanza would be iambic. And if done in the form of a sonnet, there would be four stanzas, and one incomplete stanza (the last one only having two lines in it.)

Let’s try starting out with a haiku in iambic.

The man walks down and...

Ich. Ending with that unstressed syllable sounds weird. Hmm. Perhaps the last two syllables need to be stressed.

Let’s see about a different pattern.

In one strong swift move...

That sounds better. Moving on...

In one strong swift move
This fair maiden with hands red

Okay, I’ve figured something out for two lines in this iambic haiku. It probably won’t make much sense, but this is just experimentation.

In one strong swift move
This fair maiden with hands red
Tears open her dress

Honestly, don’t read too much into that. I’m seriously just experimenting here, and that’s just what works out! (Although I do see how that might be taken.)

I like that the syllabic pattern of the first and third lines worked out to be inverses. I don’t know if I have it in me right now to do 3 2/3 more stanzas to make a sonnet, so maybe I’ll pick that up some other time, but I think that’s a good pattern for an iambic haiku.

I’d like to see someone go for a poetic elements density record. How cool would it be to see an iambic haiku sonnet with an acrostic!

A long time ago, I tried to make myself blog something everyday for a year. Didn’t work out so well.

I’m going to try doing something similar, but it will be two posts per week instead of every day.

Hopefully I won’t get burnt out.

My favorite Christmas song:

For those on Facebook, click here. I keep forgetting that Facebook seems to have issues with embedded Flash.

Yes, the hype is completely deserved (for once), and yes, you must abso-frickin-lutely see it in 3D (and if you can, on IMAX).

Will it change the future of movie-making? Only if every director has access to 300 million frickin dollars. I mean, seriously, a movie like this does not come cheap at all.

So what does it look like (especially in 3D)? Imagine the clearest photograph you’ve ever seen, and now scale that photo up 70 times (preserving the clarity, of course), and now imagine it has depth. It’s like that for every single scene in the movie.

Is it anti-military? I’m not so certain. I can understand how that can be seen, but I think it’s more of a historical indictment, and about war-making for resources. The military was merely a tool in doing so. After all, it was ( Spoilers, don't click if you haven't seen it )

I just heard about this just a little while ago.
( WARNING: Looping Flash Video )
The guy is Alex Jones, a psycho conspiracy theory radio talk show host. Hilarious.

And the goat? Well, it’s a goat. What do you want me to say about it?

So my last post got me thinking, how is it that the mere existence of atheists is offensive?

I’m certainly not the first person to ask this question. Anybody who follows Hemant Mehta will likely know about the bus ads campaign in which various secularist organizations attempted to reach out to the community to announce their presence with messages such as “Don’t believe in God? Neither do we.”, “Imagine No Religion”, “Not Religious? You’re not alone.”, “You can be good without God.”, and the one that started the entire thing, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying, and enjoy your life.”

This is a pretty good overview of the different campaigns.

I’ll grant that some of them are a little more brazen than others, especially that last one I mentioned, why is it that people feel unnerved by them? Is there a way a secular organization can announce its presence without offending?

I don’t think saying something as simple as “We’re atheists too,” is sufficient. What if the someone doesn’t speak English as their native tongue? Or perhaps they’ve simply never heard the term before for whatever reason?

In any case, I wouldn’t feel too bad about putting up any of those signs.