”Be disloyal. It’s your duty to the human race. The human race needs to survive and it’s the loyal man who dies first from anxiety or a bullet or overwork. If you have to earn a living, boy, and the price they make you pay is loyalty, be a double agent — and never let either of the two sides know your real name. The same applies to women and God. They both respect a man they don’t own, and they’ll go on raising the price they are willing to offer.” — Graham Greene, “Under the Garden” Read more →
April 2009
Emergency Preparedness
Temperatures soared into the 80s in Orange County this weekend. Thank god I stockpiled enough rum, Coke and ice to ride it out . . . Read more →
What Did You Learn? What Did You Teach?
What could the world be like if each day we asked ourselves, “What did you learn?” & “What did you teach?” (Disclaimer for learning purists: until there is a shorter phrase for “create a context for someone to learn”, I’ll use “teach” as shortcut) — Kathy Sierra Read more →
IHF Post-Season Awards
The IHF post-season honors have been announced. My kid was selected to play in the all-star game on April 18, and to receive a Special Achievement Award, sponsored by the Anaheim Ducks and bestowed by the IHF on kids who’ve distinguished themselves off the rink, via academics, community service and extracurricular endeavors. It would be nice if modesty prevented me from mentioning this stuff, but I’m happy to see the boy coming into his own as a well-rounded young man. Northwood High School dominated the Special Achievement Awards. The IHF has 30 high schools participating, 53 teams and almost 600 kids, of whom 11 were selected for this award. Four of the 11 were from Northwood, showing once again why Northwood owns all other high schools in Orange County and probably the nation . . . Read more →
Rollo Takes a Walk
The Northwood Wind Ensemble went deep into the repertoire at last week’s Irvine Band Festival for some avant-garde pieces, including one called “Rollo Takes a Walk.” “It’s the quirkiest, gayest piece I’ve ever played,” my son said. “Rollo” didn’t have any good percussion parts, just oddball instrumentation with rimshots, slide whistles, etc. “And in measure 126,” he said, “everybody stops playing and says, ‘Rollo…takes…a walk.’” “Hmmmm.” “Except it’s not written into my part so I don’t say it . . . and I play one note on the chimes.” “What note is it?” “An F.” “I’m thinking the Rollo composer could follow up with an entire Rollo suite,” I said. “‘Rollo Takes a Shower,’ ‘Rollo Takes a Test,’ ‘Rollo Takes a Vacation,’ you see where I’m going with this?” “Stop being stupid,” he said. “Why is it stupid? Because you didn’t think of it?” Read more →
Microblog: 2009-04-04
On weekends, I’m the king of the sofa — the Sofa King. There’s lazy, and then there’s Sofa King lazy. # Another thing I like about Saturdays: 5-star Sudoku puzzles – http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20044245/?cat=sudoc # Read more →
Microblog: 2009-04-02
prefuse gallery: http://prefuse.org/gallery/ # Processing gallery: http://processing.org/exhibition/index.html # Wordscapes: http://www.typotopo.com/wordscapes/ # RT @GLHoffman: NYC cabbie turns to passenger, after they both see huge crane fall off a building. “Fricking cranes.” # RT @Ben373: “Sh*t happens – when you’re around as*holes. ” Old truism from my dad. # Read more →
Moldered City
The story of Glemie Dean Beasley plays like a country song. The son of a sharecropper, Beasley left school at 13 to pick cotton. He came to Detroit in 1958. His woman left him in 1970 for a man he calls Slick Willy. — The Detroit News His baby done left him / The pain won’t abate / Asked where she was going / She said, “To become secretary of state.” — Best of the Web Today Read more →
Promises, Promises
WASHINGTON — One of President Barack Obama’s campaign pledges on taxes went up in puffs of smoke Wednesday. The largest increase in tobacco taxes took effect despite Obama’s promise not to raise taxes of any kind on families earning under $250,000 or individuals under $200,000. This is one tax that disproportionately affects the poor, who are more likely to smoke than the rich. — Associated Press Read more →
Signs of the Times
The house two doors down from us is for sale. The house across the street is empty and for sale. The woman behind us and the woman next door, who was recently laid off, have asked my wife if she knows anything about loan modification . . . Read more →
A Case of Honorable Intentions?
My friend G.L. Hoffman sent this to me: I just want to add that I knocked my wife up on the first try, in case any of my neighbors are reading this . . . Read more →
Distributing Useless Information
Intranet teams must stop distributing information and start deleting it. The vast majority of intranets would be far more productive and collaborative if they deleted at least 90 percent of the content they currently have. Distributing useless information is how you destroy productivity and collaboration. — Giraffe Forum Read more →
The Conundrum of Fame
Here’s conundrum of fame, as I see it: It’s always said that if you want to be famous, you must endure criticism. The fabled “trade off”… …But the whole reason people want to be famous is to be loved. They’re love-addicts. Hating a celeb is like kicking a hemophiliac. Like I bet Tom Hanks internalizes a shitty remark way more than, say, the HR lady in your office. He’s needy. That’s why he’s Tom Hanks. All right, enough Psych 101. My Chihuahua looks like Billy Crystal and my Shepherd is Gheorghe Muresan. They need a development deal. — Diablo Cody Read more →
What Kind of Vegetable?
My wife says to the boy, “What kind of vegetable do you want with dinner?” “Cauliflower,” he says. “What? We don’t have any? That sucks.” He’s not a big fan of vegetables . . . Read more →
Microblog: 2009-04-01
These are the days of miracle and wonder / And don’t cry baby, don’t cry, don’t cry… # Love Southwest ads: “Air…is a 35 dollar…UPgrade.” “I want that!” # Seek to move forward toward a particular goal, by biasing your behavior toward action: http://tinyurl.com/5z2rg6 # Read more →