I'm in SF again leading up to this year's WWDC with a few days of vacation that I fancy I rather deserve. I'm more than a little disappointed not to have the family with me this year, but have soldiered on in the face of that fact (that's only marginally facetious...I really am bothered about it). Anyway, as promised to certain parties, images, video and linkage for the last couple of days.
First, the flight out. A big raspberry to USAir for not even bothering with a movie on a cross-country flight. :P In any case, here are the mountains and clouds Mom requested. After dealing with Enterprise (more expensive, but always more professional and quicker), I headed into town and went straight to Cha Cha Cha for sangria and dinner, followed by a lovely flán for dessert. Topped that off with a stroll down to Booksmith, where I had Cosmic Debris autograph a copy of Emily the Strange for Emma.
Friday morning, I bugged out for Davis at 6am to do this. After lunch in Woodland, I drove down to Cupertino for the traditional pilgrimage and a little geocaching. Afterward, I dropped in at the Burlingame PEZ Museum, sent Emma a postcard, then headed back to San Francisco in awful traffic. That evening, I visited Kamei Restaurant Supply (I'll be going back today for a more extensive appraisal), stopped in at Green Apple Books and found the first two books of The Dresden Files, then did some more caching at Fort Mason. You should see the community garden there! Amazing. It was dark, but I'll try to get back today for pics.
After that, back to the hotel, where getting parked took about 20 minutes (late arrivals for the weekend blocking the entire curb. Then posted up the pics and sacked out.
Today will be the Farmer's Market, a little shopping, some caching and a kayak trip!
6/6/09
5/25/09
When You see Millions of the Mouthless Dead
When you see millions of the mouthless dead
Across your dreams in pale battalions go,
Say not soft things as other men have said,
That you'll remember. For you need not so.
Give them not praise. For, deaf, how should they know
It is not curses heaped on each gashed head?
Nor tears. Their blind eyes see not your tears flow.
Nor honour. It is easy to be dead.
Say only this, 'They are dead.' Then add thereto,
'Yet many a better one has died before.'
Then, scanning all the o'ercrowded mass, should you
Perceive one face that you loved heretofore,
It is a spook. None wears the face you knew.
Great death has made all his for evermore.
Charles Sorley
With deepest respect for all who have served, and all who now stand to post.
3/2/09
The Maker's Bill of Rights
From make's Mr. Jalopy:
Meaningful and specific parts lists shall be included.
Cases shall be easy to open.
Batteries should be replaceable.
Special tools are allowed only for darn good reasons.
Profiting by selling expensive special tools is wrong and not making special tools available is even worse.
Torx is OK; tamperproof is rarely OK.
Components, not entire sub-assemblies, shall be replaceable.
Consumables, like fuses and filters, shall be easy to access.
Circuit boards shall be commented.
Power from USB is good; power from proprietary power adapters is bad.
Standard connecters shall have pinouts defined.
If it snaps shut, it shall snap open.
Screws better than glues.
Docs and drivers shall have permalinks and shall reside for all perpetuity at archive.org.
Ease of repair shall be a design ideal, not an afterthought.
Metric or standard, not both.
Schematics shall be included.
The Repair Manifesto
From Platform 21:
1. Make your products live longer!
Repairing means taking the opportunity to give your product a second life. Don't ditch it, stitch it. Don't end it, mend it! Repairing is not anti-consumption. It is anti- needlessly throwing things away.
2. Things should be designed so that they can be repaired.
Product designers: Make your products repairable. Share clear, understandable information about DIY repairs.
Consumer: Buy things you know can be repaired, or else find out why they don't exist. Be critical and inquisitive.
3. Repair is not replacement.
Replacement is throwing away the broken bit. This is NOT the kind of repair that we're talking about.
4. What doesn't kill it makes it stronger.
Every time we repair something, we add to its potential, its history, its soul and its inherent beauty.
5. Repairing is a creative challenge.
Making repairs is good for the imagination. Using new techniques, tools and materials ushers in possibility, rather than dead ends.
6. Repair survives fashion.
Repair is not about styling or trends. There are no due-dates for repairable items.
7. To repair is to discover.
As you fix objets, you'll learn amazing things about how they actually work. Or don't work.
8. Repair - even in good times!
If you this this manifesto has to do with the recession, forget it. This isn't about money, it's about a mentality.
9. Repaired things are unique.
Even fakes become originals when you repair them.
10. Repairing is about independence.
Don't be a slave to technology - be its master. If it's broken, fix it and make it better. And if you're a master, empower others.
11. You can repair anything, even a plastic bag.
But we'd recommend getting a bag that will last longer, and then repairing it if necessary.
Stop Recycling. Start Repairing.
1. Make your products live longer!
Repairing means taking the opportunity to give your product a second life. Don't ditch it, stitch it. Don't end it, mend it! Repairing is not anti-consumption. It is anti- needlessly throwing things away.
2. Things should be designed so that they can be repaired.
Product designers: Make your products repairable. Share clear, understandable information about DIY repairs.
Consumer: Buy things you know can be repaired, or else find out why they don't exist. Be critical and inquisitive.
3. Repair is not replacement.
Replacement is throwing away the broken bit. This is NOT the kind of repair that we're talking about.
4. What doesn't kill it makes it stronger.
Every time we repair something, we add to its potential, its history, its soul and its inherent beauty.
5. Repairing is a creative challenge.
Making repairs is good for the imagination. Using new techniques, tools and materials ushers in possibility, rather than dead ends.
6. Repair survives fashion.
Repair is not about styling or trends. There are no due-dates for repairable items.
7. To repair is to discover.
As you fix objets, you'll learn amazing things about how they actually work. Or don't work.
8. Repair - even in good times!
If you this this manifesto has to do with the recession, forget it. This isn't about money, it's about a mentality.
9. Repaired things are unique.
Even fakes become originals when you repair them.
10. Repairing is about independence.
Don't be a slave to technology - be its master. If it's broken, fix it and make it better. And if you're a master, empower others.
11. You can repair anything, even a plastic bag.
But we'd recommend getting a bag that will last longer, and then repairing it if necessary.
Stop Recycling. Start Repairing.
2/7/09
Valdemar: The Collegium Chronicles, Vol. I - Foundation
Good book by Mercedes Lackey. Surely not heavyweight fantasy, but entertaining. Fair warning if you pick it up: It's one long damned setup for Vol II. I hate that.
Labels:
reading
1/12/09
Reading Update
Just finished Dave Crenshaw's The Myth of Multitasking. Currently involved with Anathem (second attempt), The Hidden Persuaders, Cinderella Sims, AppleScript 1-2-3 and Greg Palast's Armed Madhouse (also second attempt).
I got distracted from Palast the first time, and Anathem is just kind of dense. Not impenetrable, the way I found Quicksilver to be. But structured in a way that demands a fairly intense level of concentration.
I got distracted from Palast the first time, and Anathem is just kind of dense. Not impenetrable, the way I found Quicksilver to be. But structured in a way that demands a fairly intense level of concentration.
12/17/08
Sometimes, it's better not to comment
This morning after I got off the elliptical, I was in the locker room changing while a kid with DS was in cleaning the lockers. Didn't recognize him, but his name must have been Zachary, since the woman supervising him (possibly his mother) stood in the door of the men’s calling him repeatedly. When he finally answered her, she stood in the door and lectured him.
“Zachary, now you’re in trouble, because I called you five times and you chose not to answer.” I couldn’t very well argue with her logic. “If the building was on fire and I tried to get you to come out of there and you didn’t answer, we’d have a real problem, wouldn’t we?”
I had to bite my tongue.
Far be it from me to point out to her that if the building were on fire, the possibility of seeing a half-naked man in the midst of his post-workout ablutions really shouldn’t get in the way of her coming right in and dragging the kid out by his ear, if necessary.
“Zachary, now you’re in trouble, because I called you five times and you chose not to answer.” I couldn’t very well argue with her logic. “If the building was on fire and I tried to get you to come out of there and you didn’t answer, we’d have a real problem, wouldn’t we?”
I had to bite my tongue.
Far be it from me to point out to her that if the building were on fire, the possibility of seeing a half-naked man in the midst of his post-workout ablutions really shouldn’t get in the way of her coming right in and dragging the kid out by his ear, if necessary.
Labels:
amusing
11/26/08
Thought for today
“The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher
11/23/08
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry
It's been a long, frustrating semester in a lot of respects, and I'm only just now starting to feel it wind down. This week ended with a couple of packed but relatively productive days -- a welcome change in all respects from the preceding weeks and months. Monday has a list of chores waiting for me, but that's still 18 hours away, so I'll let it rest out of sight, and thus out of mind.
The first round of leaves is on the ground, reminding me that there's work yet to be done in the yard to make ready for the rapidly-encroaching cold. There are shrubs yet hungry for fertilizer, grass that will need a final shave and trim before I put the mower away, and speaking of the mower, a fuel line requiring repair.
Excavation-by-hand of the back yard slope for a retaining wall continues, if slowly, and new emphasis lies on the completion of the long-dormant chicken house, which needs doors, trim and a finished pen. Decisions are being taken for the breeds to be purchased this spring, with current thinking running largely to standard cochins and perhaps a few fancy bantams. Plans are also being laid for the acquisition of toulouse or brown Chinese geese to serve as companions and watchdogs, since the dog is about effective as a stone post when it comes to sounding the alarm.
The windows have a new coat of paint, the doors are painted and have new storm doors installed, the house has been pressure-washed for the first time in about 2 years, the new flower beds in the back are complete, screens are rehung, and the front door has been jacked and replumbed so it actually opens again.
Inside, the picture window is repaired following a recent visit by the manufacturer's technician -- who knew windows needed technicians? Mom's childhood hutch, which later served as a bookcase for me, has been repurposed (again) to serve as a china cabinet in the dining room, and will shortly hold a selection of the original Japanese Noritake for display. The old stationary trainer has been sold, the desk is on offer, and the library index and organization is largely complete. Christmas vacation plans include ripping out the carpet in the library and adding new furniture, hardwood flooring and paint. Or maybe just the flooring and paint. Who knows?
In the spring, we put a down payment on a turkey, and this weekend were rewarded with an organically-raised 12lb Red Bourbon, plucked and dressed. It's currently thawing in the refrigerator, awaiting a Tuesday brining and Wednesday roast. With so much family, it's funny how we hardly get leftovers any more, so we make our own excess of turkey.
Church this morning was a service of little-t thanksgiving. When Pastor Jay quizzed the congregation about what makes life worth living for them, I offered books by Terry Pratchett, and Emma offer "pasketti." I was reminded, again, how far above most of the world's standard my life is, and I remain grateful for that.
Today is a gorgeous day, cold but brilliantly clear. One of the razor sharp days of autumn-passing-to-winter that I adore. I'm thankful for that, as well.
Thanksgiving is sweeter than bounty itself.
One who cherishes gratitude does not cling to the gift!
Thanksgiving is the true meat of God’s bounty;
The bounty is its shell,
For thanksgiving carries you to the hearth of the Beloved.
Abundance alone brings heedlessness,
Thanksgiving gives birth to alertness.
The bounty of thanksgiving will satisfy and elevate you,
And you will bestow a hundred bounties in return.
Eat your fill of God’s delicacies,
And you will be freed from hunger and begging.
Rumi
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry
It's been a long, frustrating semester in a lot of respects, and I'm only just now starting to feel it wind down. This week ended with a couple of packed but relatively productive days -- a welcome change in all respects from the preceding weeks and months. Monday has a list of chores waiting for me, but that's still 18 hours away, so I'll let it rest out of sight, and thus out of mind.
The first round of leaves is on the ground, reminding me that there's work yet to be done in the yard to make ready for the rapidly-encroaching cold. There are shrubs yet hungry for fertilizer, grass that will need a final shave and trim before I put the mower away, and speaking of the mower, a fuel line requiring repair.
Excavation-by-hand of the back yard slope for a retaining wall continues, if slowly, and new emphasis lies on the completion of the long-dormant chicken house, which needs doors, trim and a finished pen. Decisions are being taken for the breeds to be purchased this spring, with current thinking running largely to standard cochins and perhaps a few fancy bantams. Plans are also being laid for the acquisition of toulouse or brown Chinese geese to serve as companions and watchdogs, since the dog is about effective as a stone post when it comes to sounding the alarm.
The windows have a new coat of paint, the doors are painted and have new storm doors installed, the house has been pressure-washed for the first time in about 2 years, the new flower beds in the back are complete, screens are rehung, and the front door has been jacked and replumbed so it actually opens again.
Inside, the picture window is repaired following a recent visit by the manufacturer's technician -- who knew windows needed technicians? Mom's childhood hutch, which later served as a bookcase for me, has been repurposed (again) to serve as a china cabinet in the dining room, and will shortly hold a selection of the original Japanese Noritake for display. The old stationary trainer has been sold, the desk is on offer, and the library index and organization is largely complete. Christmas vacation plans include ripping out the carpet in the library and adding new furniture, hardwood flooring and paint. Or maybe just the flooring and paint. Who knows?
In the spring, we put a down payment on a turkey, and this weekend were rewarded with an organically-raised 12lb Red Bourbon, plucked and dressed. It's currently thawing in the refrigerator, awaiting a Tuesday brining and Wednesday roast. With so much family, it's funny how we hardly get leftovers any more, so we make our own excess of turkey.
Church this morning was a service of little-t thanksgiving. When Pastor Jay quizzed the congregation about what makes life worth living for them, I offered books by Terry Pratchett, and Emma offer "pasketti." I was reminded, again, how far above most of the world's standard my life is, and I remain grateful for that.
Today is a gorgeous day, cold but brilliantly clear. One of the razor sharp days of autumn-passing-to-winter that I adore. I'm thankful for that, as well.
Thanksgiving is sweeter than bounty itself.
One who cherishes gratitude does not cling to the gift!
Thanksgiving is the true meat of God’s bounty;
The bounty is its shell,
For thanksgiving carries you to the hearth of the Beloved.
Abundance alone brings heedlessness,
Thanksgiving gives birth to alertness.
The bounty of thanksgiving will satisfy and elevate you,
And you will bestow a hundred bounties in return.
Eat your fill of God’s delicacies,
And you will be freed from hunger and begging.
Rumi
Labels:
thanksgiving autumn
11/9/08
America the Beautiful
PHC featured a snippet of my favorite American anthem yesterday, and it was so powerful left a catch in my throat that nearly made me pull the car over to recover.
- O beautiful, for spacious skies,
- For amber waves of grain,
- For purple mountain majesties
- Above the fruited plain!
- America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
- And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.
- O beautiful, for pilgrim feet
- Whose stern, impassioned stress
- A thoroughfare for freedom beat
- Across the wilderness!
- America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;
- Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!
- O beautiful, for heroes proved
- In liberating strife,
- Who more than self their country loved
- And mercy more than life!
- America! America! May God thy gold refine,
- 'Til all success be nobleness, and ev'ry gain divine!
- O beautiful, for patriot dream
- That sees beyond the years,
- Thine alabaster cities gleam
- Undimmed by human tears!
- America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
- And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!
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