Douglas Purdy

21 years old.  Still germane.

The interesting thing is the primary spine of the demo.

It is personally ironic since I am reading Hot, Flat and Crowded (more in another post on this).

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=100196171226719096]

For feedreaders: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=100196171226719096

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/12/most-popular-stories-of-the-week-dec-7-14.php

I have been reading John Dvorak for a long time.

I am drawn to his writing in the same way that I am compelled to the read the cover of the celebrity magazines at the checkout stand.

I just can’t stop myself.

He wrote something not too long ago that has been sticking with me.

What’s interesting is that these two companies are about the same age, but Apple still has the pizzazz. I’m also considering that this entire situation was inevitable based on the respective localities of the companies. Microsoft is up in the often gloomy and downbeat Pacific Northwest, and Apple is smack in the middle of warm and up-tempo Silicon Valley. In Silicon Valley, everywhere you go there are people talking about start-ups and wild new ideas. In the Pacific Northwest they are talking about hiking or bike trails [bold mine].

I don’t agree with anything else in the article (I for one try to lose my job all the time — Microsoft actually is a wonderful place for a risktaker, really), but I do think the Pacific Northwest is a tough place to be positive all the time.

I have literally thought about picking my whole team up and moving to NorCal.

After all my favorite Starbucks in the whole world is there and the increase sunlight could shake me of my grunge obsession (Vitamin D production apparently does that — I think it kills vampires too).

People said it was impossible, but [Dean] Kamen hates that word. Don’t tell me it’s impossible, he says, tell me you can’t do it. Tell me it’s never been done. Because the only real laws in this world — the only things we reallyknow – are the two postulates of relativity, the three laws of Newton, the four laws of thermodynamics, and Maxwell’s equation — no, scratch that, the only things we really know are Maxwell’s equation, the three laws of Newton, the two postulates of relativity, and the periodic table. That’s all we know that’s true. All the rest are man’s laws [bold mine].

http://www.esquire.com/features/dean-kamen-1208-3

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?id=62611

Skip to the last 5 minutes for a recap of that latest season.

http://dayoftheninja.com/ 

I didn’t even get him a present.

But I did get him a cool poster for his excellent work at PDC.

I made the call 6 months ago that David Gregory would get the Meet the Press gig.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28037561/

Now if I can just see where the market is going tomorrow.

Maybe I need more melange.

You’re not your job. You’re not how much money you have in the bank. You’re not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet. You’re not your fucking khakis. You’re the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

Tyler Durden is the #1 great movie character according to Empire.

Some of these selections are a little wacky, but I am having a hard time marshaling an argument against Tyler as #1.

That is, of course, until they make the Entourage movie, in which case the #1 character will be Ari Gold.

I have started to teach my kids to program.  They are 5, turning 6.  Since I started programming at age 12 and they are roughly 2x smarter than me (nature: their mother’s genes.  nurture: they haven’t discovered keg stands yet) this seems like the right time. 

One observation about the computer in general, before I talk about software specific experiences.

The mouse is evil.  The trackpad/touch interface, especially one with one button or even better no physical buttons, is the future, even for ‘desktops’.  My children have taught me this obvious lesson.  One more reason for you to buy a MacBook (especially since they released the trackpad fix).

My first attempt utilized eToys, the Smalltalk-based (Squeak, of course) visual programming and educational tool championed by Alan Kay and others.  BTW: If you are in the computer profession, do yourself (and the rest of the world) a favor and read The Real Computer Revolution Hasn’t Happened Yet.

This attempt didn’t go so well.  Lana, my oldest (by 15 minutes), told me she was completely bored and called into question my parenting skills.  Lauren, my youngest (by 15 minutes), decided that she would rather hone her abstract expressionism skills using the painting mode than write a script (I think she could be a budding Pollack, but since I want to live vicariously through her as a female Alan Cox, I need to squash that now).

My second attempt utilized Scratch, the Smalltalk-based (Squeak, of course)  visual programming tool developed by the folks at Lifelong Kindergarden at MIT Media Lab.  We are still in the midst of this experiment, but so far it is going well.  We have a simple script that controls two “sprites” wearing the most wonderful abstract expressionist costumes.  Both of the girls are very engaged in the process.  How do I know this?  They started fighting over the keyboard.  Nothing says engagement like warfare.

Before Super Ninja emails me asking why I didn’t use SmallBasic, I have to confess that I only own Apple personal computers at home, so his wonderful learning environment is out of the question for my kids (but that shouldn’t stop the ~90% of you John Hodgman’s from checking it out).

So far I am encouraged by the girl’s progress and look forward to continuing tomorrow, but I want to add something that really frustrates me.  It is simply unbelievable that neither Windows or Mac OS X ships with a programming environment that everyone can use (I am not counting Automator here, but maybe I should).  My experience and career was shaped by Applesoft BASIC which was provided on every Apple // since the //+.  BASIC was like air in all the computer systems of that generation.  Where is today’s BASIC?

If Ninja managed to get SmallBasic into Windows (which I would support in a nanosecond), I may actually need to buy a PC.

Unbelievable writer.

How did I miss him so far?

I try to run the Seattle Half-Marathon each year.

This year, I decided to take some pictures as I did the run.

Below was the best picture I took.

I just got done watching Dan Dennett give a TED talk about religion.

It reminded me so clearly of something in the The Book of Lies (Chapter 22: The Despot).

The waiters of the best eating-houses mock the whole world; they estimate every client at his proper value.

This I know certainly, because they always treat me with profound respect. Thus they have flattered me into praising them thus publicly.

Yet it is true; and they have this insight because they serve, and because they can have no personal interest in the affairs of those whom they serve.

An absolute monarch would be absolutely wise and good.

But no man is strong enough to have no interest. Therefore the best king would be Pure Chance.

It is Pure Chance that rules the Universe; therefore, and only therefore, life is good.

I have no idea what is “true”, much less this, but chance is as a good as explanation as anything else.

If chance is all there is, that does not mean life is purposeless.  

In fact, I could argue quietly strongly that this “truth” can give you even greater purpose.

I used to love the Powerbook Duo — especially the Dock.

I want now want a Duo Dock for my iPhone.

Context…

I am trying desperately not to bring my laptop to meetings any longer.

In the role I am in now working on code or whatever during a meeting will send the wrong message to the people presenting.

In addition, and more importantly, I can’t afford to miss anything because my wacky code failed.

I tried not bring my laptop to several meetings this week.

Three observations from that exercise…

1. Paying attention (not continuous partial attention) does matter (and I call myself a Buddhist)
2. I am way behind on work.
3. My iPhone is more important than ever (I will glance at it through the meeting — but at least there is no VS on it).

Once I get back to my office at the end of the day, I really just want a bigger screen and keyboard for my iPhone — thus my ask.

Of course, I still need a dev box, but I can just TS (VNC) into a desktop.

Actually, now that I think about it, what about a Duo Dock that was just in a laptop form factor with a keyboard, 13.3 screen and a port for the iPhone to slide into.

Could be something like the Foleo, but not have any onboard OS, etc — just a screen, keyboard and ports (maybe a SSD?).

As a Microsoft shareholder,  I wish we developed something like this first that has Windows Mobile on it — I would have to give up my iPhone for that — oh, of course, I would need to have the Zune player software on it.

BTW: One of the things I will say about the Zune — the desktop player rocks — especially when coupled with the Zune Pass (an all you can eat music download service).  I often hear new music on the Zune Marketplace and then buy it on ITunes.

[Updated:  Just saw a link for http://olo-computer.com/  -- that is hot -- but I think I want the Duo Dock for my office too.] 

After reading about Zuckerberg’s Law of Information Sharing, I was reminded of Wilson’s Jumping Jesus Phenomenon.

Let us define the measurement of known scientific facts in the year 1 A.D. as “one jesus,” using the name of the celebrated philosopher born that year.

Before going any further, let us ask how long it took to arrive at one jesus. One way of estimating is to take the estimated age of homo sapiens, in which case it took 40,000 to 100,000 years.

How long did it take to double this accumulation of knowledge, to achieve two jesuses? It required 1500 years – until 1500 A.D. How long did it take to double again and obtain four jesuses? It required 250 years, and we had four jesuses in our larder by 1750.

The next doubling took 150 years, and by 1900 A.D. humanity had eight jesuses in our information account. The next doubling took 50 years, and by 1950 we had 16 jesuses. The next, ten years, and by 1960 we had 32 jesuses. The next doubling took seven years, and by 1967 we had 64 jesuses. And the next doubling took 6 years; by 1973 we have 128 jesuses.

There is no reason to imagine that the acceleration has stopped. Thus, we almost certainly reached 256 j around 1978-79 and 512 j in 1982.

Everyone is free.  The slave is free.  The ultimate weapon isn’t the plague out in Vegas or any new super H-Bomb.  The ultimate weapon has always existed.  Every man, woman and every child owns it.  It is the ability to say no and take the consequences.  ‘Fear is failure’.  ‘ The fear of death is the beginning of slavery’.  ‘Thou hast no right but to do thy will’.  The goose can break the bottle at any second.  Socrates took the hemlock to prove it.  Jesus went to the cross to prove it.  It’s in all history, all myth, all poetry.  It’s right out in the open all the time.

Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson

Via Wired:  http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/11/first-direct-im.html

Lot’s reading about this topic lately.

Here is an idea…

Be the party of freedom.

Economic and social freedom.

It has always struck me as strange that the Republican party is hostage to the ‘agents of intolerance’.

Economic freedom requires social freedom — go read Milton.

Such a party would have crushed Prop 8.

Actually, I should not be suprised — since the last thing the Republican party is these days is the party of economic freedom.

I love seeing Tom Baastad from Cincom at conferences.

It reaffirms my belief in the fundmental goodness of mankind.

I see Tom.  He offers me the latest version of Smalltalk.  I am happy.

I believe the chemical soup in my head is about that same as when I ingest large quantities of CCCD ice cream.

I am close to throwing out my Watts, Leary and Wilson books.

They are an on-ramp, but not the highway to where you need to go.

Anger he smiles, towering in shiny metallic purple armor

Queen jealousy, envy waits behind him
Her fiery green gown sneers at the grassy ground

Blue are the life-giving waters taken for granted,
They quietly understand

Once happy turquoise armies lay opposite ready,
But wonder why the fight is on

My red is so confident that he flashes trophies of war and
Ribbons of euphoria

Orange is young, full of daring,
But very unsteady for the first go round

My yellow in this case is not so mellow
In fact I’m trying to say its frightened like me

And all these emotions of mine keep holding me from, eh,
Giving my life to a rainbow like you