Elegant Distractions

We are hardwired to care for and value children and it is a genetic imperitive that we do so. However, smothering children with 'love' is counter-productive.

Instead, ask yourself, "What would Ender Wiggins do?" Ender is the fictional prodigy hero in Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game . As a child in kindergarten he quickly discovers self-reliance as a survival tool. Ender is extremely advanced for his age and has skipped several grades and is the target for the class bully.

Not only does he decide that he must win confrontations with older, bigger kids without the (non-existent) help from adults but to make matters easier for himself he chooses to win all the future battles up-front.

He wants to stop future bullying by beating the bully so badly now that not only will that bully never bother him again but nobody else will even consider coming after him.

As parents, we are faced with the Butterfly Conundrum.

Continue reading "The Butterfly Conundrum" »

Posted by director at 07:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Categories: General

I recently bought the Garmin nüvi 360 GPS Navigator. I picked this model in large part because it has Bluetooth handsfree capability. The product description on the Garmin site has a link to their list of compatable phones. I did not check this list because my phone works with Bluetooth. I've had a couple of different BT headsets over the past few years.

And yet.

Garmin has found a way to limit their phone support. My stupid old, tiny Motorola BT headset can talk to any capable phone but Garmin can't figure out how to do that. Their list of supported phones is miniscule and doesn't include several of the hot LG models (or phones, for that matter).

I'd think that if the idiots at Motorolla can find a way to stuff BT into their headsets that are the size of rabbit turds, well, then, the big brains at Garmin (who are famous for aircraft avionics) could read up on BT standards and get all the phones online with their GPS systems.

C'mon Garmin, get with the program.

Posted by director at 02:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Categories: Technology

Daughter the Second bought herself a spanking new LG Voyager. She loves it, rates it 9.2 out of 10.

Where does it fall down? It seems somebody slept through the design meetings or the endless spec reviews so the phone (stupidly) does not send the turn-by-turn navigation audio over Bluetooth. In fact, in order to hear the audio she has to disconnect the phone from her handsfree system in her car. Otherwise: silence.

Hello? Any one home?

Let's think about this for a second. You are using navigation on your phone. In your car. While driving. But you have the bad taste to have a built-in handsfree system in your car. You get to either a) use the BT and divert your eyes from the road to watch the little video screen or b) disconnect your phone from BT and then have to ignore all incoming calls while navigating.

Frankly the engineers and designers were all asleep at the switch when they made (or failed to make) that decision.

Posted by director at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Categories: Technology

Today's word is: adminutia

Adminutia is the tedious administrative details that drive creative people insane. Some people thrive on adminutia, thankfully. I am very glad those people exist.

Posted by director at 03:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Categories: General

This summer the Spousal Unit and I will be working on our first major video production in three years. Bloody well time.

We will track, from the comfort of a new Nissan Pathfinder, a small group of motorcyclists 6000 miles from Seattle to the Artic Circle in Alaska. The exact composition of the bike gang is rather fluid for this late in the game but that is largely due to family health issues for some members. We hope all the best for the ailing family members.

We have a great deal of work to do before we leave. The first order of business is acquiring the Pathfinder, which will take place on April 30th if all goes according to plan. It better, since a test ride will happen on May 17th and there's no way the old Maxima will be chasing bikes up logging roads.

I also want to sell my Sennheiser ME80/K3U and get a ME66/K6. The K6 uses normal AA batteries. Wouldn't mind handing on to the ME80 but once I have the ME66 there's not much point.

I'll be blogging about the Alaska project prior to leaving and perhaps I'll have enough notes from the drive to write at longer stops and when we return.

Posted by director at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Categories: Alaska Video

Think Watermellon (green on the outside, red on the inside) energy policies are a good idea? Look at what is happening in South Africa right now and how the domino effect could cripple the entire world economy.

For an exceptional look at what happens to countries where the overall energy policies are dictated by imbeciles, lackwits, and lawyers (although I may be redundant in listing all three), look to South Africa, formerly an economic and industry powerhouse (pun intended) on the African continent. The country is now in a deepening economic crisis because they let all of the released inmates from the environmental asylum dictate policy, didn't build new power plants or maintain the existing ones appropriately, and so now they can't mine gold, platinum, and palladium at anything near normal production rates. A good part of the recent run ups on those metals' prices is because of the reduced production. There are rotating power outages around the country for everyone, and SA industry is being reined in significantly, obviously reducing the quality of living for the ordinary person.

The reductions in platinum and palladium production, BTW, will start to really sting the energy industry soon. Platinum and palladium are essential catalysts in the petroleum industry, and while acting catalytically, are depleted from their substrates or poisoned, requiring replacement of the overall substrate and catalyst periodically. Refineries typically do this at "turnarounds" where pretty much the entire refinery is shutdown for major maintenance, including such things as catalyst switchouts. The increasing costs on rare metals will cause the coming rounds of turnarounds to be much more expensive.

But why are turnarounds important ? Well, here in the United States, certain imbeciles, lackwits and suchlike folk consider that refineries shutting down for major maintenance is all part of a conspiracy to keep distillate (read - gasoline and diesel) prices high. The fact that the refinery capability vs. demand is balanced on a razor's edge in many places (California and greater Chicago area being two fine examples) and that shutdowns are postponed until the last possible moment means that when a refinery goes to turnaround or "crashes", it's a pretty significant event.

And failures at refineries are both spectacular and deadly.

Posted by director at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Categories: Politics

I think Tivo has pretty much figured out how to distinguish television advertising from the shows themselves. If they have the guts to take this to the next logical step, they will sell millions of units.

I had the distinct displeasure of 1) being sick and 2) watching live television. With three Tivos in the house, I normally refuse to watch anything live. The ability to fast-forward over advertising (and Ryan Seacrest yakking with contestants) has spoiled me completely in this regard.

So normally I would not have seen what went on yesterday. Tivo popped up a link to a video for Shell Oil -- during a Shell Oil commercial. Those Tivo evil geniuses knew it was the Shell ad, and the right ad, to boot. I saw the same thing for another advertisement.

Now, if they would only put this information in the hands of their customers we would have the one feature longed-for since the first VCR: smart ad skipping. Like jumping chapters on a DVD. A click of a button and the ads go *poof* and then its back to the show.

Of course they will not provide this feature because they are selling pop-up ads to companies like Shell, who would be loathe to buy them if Tivo made is even easier to jump past the ads. It is interesting to realize, however, that the technology exists and that Tivo is selling consumers out to generate more ad revenue for themselves.

Posted by director at 09:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Categories: Technology

The Spousal Unit recieved this bit of good news regarding Senate Bill 6900:

This bill never even got out of committee, and I wouldn't have supported it, if it did. But it's been curious that this round of emails heated up a couple of weeks after the bill died. Anyway, thanks for writing ... proved that my assessment was correct.

deb

Rep. Deb Eddy
48th District
Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Issaquah and the Points Communities e eddy.leg.wa.gov p 360.786.7848

Posted by director at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Categories: Politics

The State of Washington is using the Great Climate Change Hoax to justify getting around the vehicle tax limitations voted into law by the citizens (known in Olympia as "revenue generators"). Here is the table showing the proposed tax scale, which will run from 1/1/2009 until new(er) rules take effect on 1/1/2012:

Engine Size (liters) Rate Schedule
Up to 1.9 $0
2.0 - 2.9 $70
3.0 - 3.9 $225
4.0 - 4.9 $275
5.0 - 5.9 $325
6.0 - 7.9 $400
8.0 or over $600

On January 1, 2012 the tax will be base on CO2 emissions according to this table:

CO2 Emissions (grams/mile) Rate Schedule
Up to 161 $0
162 - 193 $70
194 - 241 $225
242 - 266 $275
267 - 298 $325
299 - 362 $400
Over 362 $600

Of course, the State will not actually measure how much C02 comes out of your tailpipe (or your car...) but will rely on whatever source will generate the most revenues:

For the purpose of administering this section, the department shall rely on the grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission per mile as provided by vehicle manufacturers, or other sources defined by the department, to determine the grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission per mile of each vehicle.

Emphasis mine. For those who think this really is a climate issue, think again. The Ruling Class in Olympia has had it's collective knickers in a wad ever since the Revenue Generators began objecting to the tax gouging taking place in this state. And the masses have been not just objecting but doing annoying things about it, like voting for repeals. Of course Those Who Know What's Best For Us will seek any excuse to ratchet up taxes and in this case Glow Ball Wormening suits their purposes nicely.

Complain to your "Representative" here.

Posted by director at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Categories: Politics

Apparently I was too preocupied with the fine weather this weekend to notice this:

Put simply, society has collapsed, and with it, many people's sense of connection to others, and their ability to see themselves as an active force in their own world.

It would be helpful if future societal collapses are announced beforehand so that people who are busy living their own lives won't feel so left out of the discussion when they get to work the next day.

Posted by director at 02:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Categories: Politics