This is from the very curmudgeonly Neil Postman, giving a talk in 1998 - at 5:53 in this video (which is part 4 of 7):
“And as for the term community, by the way, as it’s used on the internet, you should examine that very carefully, because it’s almost being used in the way opposite to the usual meaning of community. Most people, when they talk about they’re joining a community on the internet mean they’ve joined with people of similar interests. Now the more traditional meaning of the word community is that these are people who do not have the same interests, but they must negotiate and accommodate their differences for the sake of social harmony. So, there’s almost the opposite meaning.”
I discovered the hard way that Facebook status updates are limited to 420 characters. This is somewhat less bad than Twitter’s 140 characters, but it only tells you after you’ve written it all and hit submit. And, with the cranky mood I was in, I said “fuck it.” Nevermind all the privacy issues, or the issues of centralization in general. It’s that kind of stuff that pisses me off first. So, I’m blogging more instead.
Anyway, yesterday, within a day of getting a ScanGauge II, I discovered why my car (a ‘98 Accord) idles roughly sometimes when it’s half warmed up. I hooked it up and set it to display the most “interesting” sensor readings (manifold absolute pressure, intake air temperature, and water [coolant] temperature.) The next morning, I noticed that when it was misbehaving, it thought the coolant temperature was below 32F. Unlikely for an engine that’s been running 4 minutes! With any luck, I can get this out by just partially draining out the coolant and removing the sensor with a socket on an extension that lets me clear the distributor (which is very nearby.)
Tien got me a deep fryer for my birthday. I’d been wanting one for a long time but not sure if I really wanted to buy one. So, today I bought enough palm oil shortening (non-hydrogenated) and a couple sweet potatoes and made sweet potato fries. That was my first experience using a deep fryer and it worked out great. Tien also got me The Best Fryer Cookbook Ever. It is indeed a nice overview of things you can do with a deep fryer.
Born to Run is Christopher McDougall’s account of some quirky ultra-marathon trail runners, the Tarahumara of Mexico’s Copper Canyons, and the modern reemergence of barefoot (and nearly-barefoot) running. It’s a very enjoyable read, starting with the author’s foot problems, and continuing with his search for the near-mythic Tarahumara tribe and this legendary figure known as Caballo Blanco. It continues with a race featuring some talented ultramarathoners and the locals, telling a good story along the way. It even touches on the interesting theory of persistence hunting — that humans may have largely evolved this ability for distance running to allow them to capture prey merely by being able to chase it until it runs short of oxygen or becomes hyperthermic. (Provided of course that they keep tracking it during the shorter spans of time where it may be faster or more agile.)
It’s a compelling enough book to get me off my ass and back into some running. This time, I’m going to stubbornly (if slowly) be doing it entirely with the Five Fingers. There is enough evidence out there that that extremely cushioning or extremely motion-controlling shoes we’ve all gravitated toward aren’t that healthy for us, since they basically dull the feedback mechanism that would have us adjust our running form to hit the ground more gently.
So, naturally, I ran about 6 blocks yesterday and my calves have been sore ever since. Not injured, just sore. I’m eager to continue working on it, at a gentle pace.
I’m going to try to post again soon and write about The Authenticity Hoax, another book I enjoyed this past week.
February 20, 2010 – 8:23 pm
I’m watching Flight of the Navigator for the first time since I saw it in the theater when I was 8 years old. While I wouldn’t say it’s going to rank as one of my adult favorites, it’s remarkably good for a PG-rated kid-oriented sci-fi film that I really liked when I was eight. The red panasonic cassette recorder I had as a kid briefly appeared in it too! I’m somewhat appalled at the idea of a remake, however.
I recently finished reading The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison by John Emsley. It’s a fun book, if you like reading about such things as the historical use of toxic metals (and metalloids), both as medicines and as poisons. It’s really interesting how many had useful medical purposes, albeit with side effects that were often as bad as their benefits. (Typically, a lot of toxic heavy metal compounds are even more toxic against microorganisms than against humans, but not much.)
I’m currently reading You Are Not a Gadget by the decidedly-curmudgeonly Jaron Lanier. I’ll have more to say about it later, but I think he really has some important things to say about the prospects for culture in the modern world.
Also, I bought a single-tuner HD Homerun and a UHF TV antenna (there was an existing and unused satellite mount and a piece of coax routed in through the wall, so it was quite easy), and I set up the MythTV backend on my home fileserver. I’ve got it recording what little broadcast tv is worth watching.
January 31, 2010 – 3:07 pm
2009 was good to me. I enjoyed the first year of my job at Airwave. In some ways, it was a big adjustment for me, but I found it very satisfying — the organization works well, it’s given me a chance to improve my abilities as an engineer, and I’ve learned a lot. I’ve even come to love Perl far more than I ever thought I would.
I got engaged to Tien, though that was really only a question of when.
The time, or at least attention I had to devote to other activities was somewhat limited. I did a fair amount of gardening. I set up a 25 gallon aquarium with lots of plants, and now that the pH has stabilized, it’s doing very well.