My son’s hockey team didn’t do so well at NARCh this time around. They got knocked out in the round-robin portion of the tournament. That left us with some extra time on our hands, some of which we used to drive up to Tampa to watch the Angels get worked by the ordinarily hapless Devil Rays, 7-2. We got good seats though! — right behind home plate about 10 rows up. Completing the hat trick of futility, I arrived back in California to find that the mortgage bank I worked for had laid off 400 people, including me. The good news is that I did get a severance package, unlike the last time I got laid off (from a dot-com company), when all I got was a handshake and an escort to the parking lot. Oh, and I’ve got more time to read the last Harry Potter book. I’m really… Read more →
Author Archive: Paul Epps
The Intellectual Climate
DemandDebate.com has new t-shirts for sale: Read more →
The Saddest Cartoon I’ve Ever Seen
Off to Florida
We’re off to NARCh for a week. I hope there won’t be thunderstorms every day like the last time we were there. Let’s have a look at the 5-day . . . Read more →
What is the Use of Knowing the Evil in the World?
And often you asked me, “What is the use of knowing the evil in the world?” I am out of your way now, Spoon River, Choose your own good and call it good. For I could never make you see That no one knows what is good Who knows not what is evil; And no one knows what is true Who knows not what is false. — Edgar Lee Masters, Spoon River Anthology, “Seth Compton” Read more →
Overheard
A male and female co-worker are bickering, as they often do. An onlooker says, “You two are like a married couple . . . but without the sex and everything.” Read more →
Lady Bird Johnson, 1912-2007
7-Eleven marks 80 years with free Slurpees — Dallas Morning News, July 11, 2007 Former first lady Lady Bird Johnson dies — Dallas Morning News, July 11, 2007 She was 94 years old. I actually thought she was already dead. I hope she got her free Slurpee . . . Read more →
Miyamoto Musashi
On second thought, we have a family member who perceives things that cannot be seen, so #7 may be more indicative of mental illness than enlightenment . . . Read more →
Get to Work
The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work. — Emile Zola Read more →
Rather Disrespectful
Another aspect of respecting people is the idea that the process that the team uses to generate value is owned by the team. The process is what the team uses to achieve its goals. By the time things get formalized, it rapidly morphs into a situation where the team is a tool that the process uses to achieve its goals. That’s rather disrespectful of the individuals involved. It doesn’t leverage their capabilities and strengths and insights. — Tom Poppendieck Read more →
This is the Way
This is the Way for men who want to learn my strategy: Do not think dishonestly. The Way is in training. Become acquainted with every art. Know the Ways of all professions. Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters. Develop intuitive judgment and understanding for everything. Perceive those things that cannot be seen. Pay attention even to trifles. Do nothing which is of no use. — Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings UPDATE: One of my son’s friends has a hamster named Miyamoto Musashi. His book says he’s very famous in Japan, but then it would say that. Read more →
Pacific Cup 2007
My son’s roller hockey team won the Pacific Cup final last weekend. For teams in California, Arizona and Nevada, Pacific Cup is the biggest tournament of the year, not counting national championships. The team will be playing at NARCh in a couple of weeks. His 12-and-under team won the NARCh tournament two years ago, but I’m not as optimistic with this year’s bunch. The problems include: Read more →
Proud to Be Livin’ in the U.S.A.
Ain’t getting old, ain’t getting younger though Just getting used to the lay of the land I ain’t tongue-tied, just don’t got nothin’ to say I’m proud to be livin’ in the U.S.A. — Neil Young, “Hawks and Doves” Read more →
Easy Mac
My son takes a break from doing some video editing on the computer, trudges downstairs and into the kitchen, where his mom is cleaning the floor. “Can you make me some Easy Mac?” he asks. “I’m cleaning, honey,” she says. “Can you make your own Easy Mac?” “Bah!” he says, trudging back upstairs. “Does Steven Spielberg have to make his own Easy Mac? Does George Lucas have to make his own Easy Mac? Does M. Night Shyamalan . . .” Read more →
Go Tell the Spartans to Program a Football Game
I ponied up the 50 bucks to join the XNA Creators Club and so far I’ve been able to code and deploy some rudimentary 2-D games on our Xbox 360. “Can you program a football game?” my son asks. “No . . . first of all, I’m just learning this stuff, and second, you can’t expect one person to duplicate the efforts of dozens of people over a period of years.” “Haven’t you ever heard of The 300?” he shouts. “Yeah. They all died.” “But they gave a valiant effort!“ Read more →
Professional Enraged Fanatics
Many years ago, when I worked on construction sites, I learned that the people you see on picket lines are not necessarily union members. If a union man doesn’t feel like walking a picket line, he can pay a “professional picketer” to walk in his place. Yesterday, I learned that this same technique is used in the Muslim world. If a Salman Rushdie knighthood or a Danish cartoon doesn’t generate enough spontaneously enraged fanatics, you can hire some professional enraged fanatics, like Islamic Rage Boy here. Click through on the photo or link to see him in action . . . Read more →
He Looks Almost Lifelike!
The annual ACM Awards banquet was held last month in San Diego. Recipients were afforded the singular honor of being photographed next to the embalmed corpse of ACM President Stuart Feldman (left): Read more →
Is There a Drummer in the House?
We were at my son Casey’s 8th grade graduation this morning when one of his teachers came up to me, obviously revved up about something, and asked, “Did you hear what happened at the assembly yesterday?” From the breathless tone of his question, I assumed at the very least that someone had lost a limb. “No,” I said, “what happened?” He told me they had a performance by a street percussion group called Street Beat, and as part of the show, they asked for a couple of volunteers from the audience. Casey plays the drums, and a lot of kids were yelling and pointing at him to be selected, so he was. What they did with the volunteers was, the Street Beat guys would play something and the kids would try to match it. My kid was able to match everything perfectly, the other kid wasn’t, so they sent the… Read more →
One Grows Out of That Kind of Thing
‘Now it might be a very romantic sight to some chaps, a light burning in a tower window. I knew a poem about a thing like that once. Forgot it now, though. I was no end of a one for poetry when I was a kid — love and all that. Castle towers came in quite a lot. Funny how one grows out of that kind of thing.’ — Evelyn Waugh, Decline and Fall Read more →
What’s Going On?
LUCY (kneeling and looking at the ground): Look at those stupid bugs … They don’t have the slightest idea as to what is going on in this world. CHARLIE BROWN: What is going on in this world? LUCY: I don’t have the slightest idea. Read more →