Woke up the other morning to find our landline + DSL dead. Connections look fine, but no dial tone. Began my safari through the SBC phone menu tree (via cell) to log a trouble ticket – a thoroughly unpleasant adventure which ultimately consumed 40 minutes spread over six attempts, using a combination of push-button input and voice recognition.
Processing to Zero
No connection to 43 Things (other than the two sites time-sharing a prime number): 43 Folders (oh yeah, about the name) features heaps of genuinely useful articles and tips on time and stress management. That’s not a topic I generally consider an interest, but I’ve been on an approach to zero-message inbox nirvana for several months now, and it’s just amazing what a difference it makes in overall stress levels. Leaving work with nothing in the inbox makes you feel in control, less overwhelmed. Like you own the job, rather than the other way around.
Like Kirk’s “solution†to the Kobayashi Maru Scenario, there’s an easy but non-obvious way to win at this Catch-22: you cheat. You don’t answer them all. Not even most of them. You rewrite the rules. You adapt at a higher level. You have to, or else the Klingons will overwhelm you with their superior fire power and brute force — and then your email would remain unanswered for eternity. Think how sad that would be.
Other useful stuff: Building a better to-do list, learning how to write email messages that respect the recipient’s workflow, running dashes for quick productivity bursts.
Music: Joan Armatrading :: Down to Zero
Marxist Thing
Hooked up with old Adamation crewmate and current vlogger Leslye James at SXSW. At 2:30 into SXSW Revisited, I show Leslye how to roll factory-perfect cigarettes while ambling down Austin sidewalks and commenting on how the massive pile of loose Legos they put out for attendees looked at the end of the week like the physical embodiment of a failed wiki.
Music: The Carter Family :: The Birds Were Singing Of You
43 Things
Another interesting example of folksonomies in action: 43 Things lets people list the top 43 things they want to accomplish before they die / before they turn 43 / before they make another list, etc. Haven’t created a list there, but tempted to (but all my lists are already in Ta-Da!) Actually, not sure it’s fair to say this is folksonomic, since the tag cloud there consists of entire phrases rather than single tags, but the concept is similar.
Music: Iron & Wine :: Jesus the Mexican Boy
Berkeley Webmaster Job Opp
Cavalry is on the way, and it could be you! I’m about to get some much-needed help at the J-School, to tackle some recently added large web projects (I can’t even handle the amount of work I’ve got, let alone take these new projects on). We’re officially looking for a second me!
The UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism is hiring a Web Producer/Webmaster to manage a pair of complex, multimedia web sites that will publish highly innovative reporting projects produced by a consortium of schools and foster the production of top quality online journalism.
Complete job description here; ping me if you have additional questions (but no breaks for friends or insider trading :)
Noboating
Breaking new ground on Birdhouse: For the first time in five years I’m going to render… a sports opinion.
Watched dumbfounded with everyone else last night as Lindsey Jacobellis gave up the gold due to a stupid mistake, and then basically lied on camera about it (she first said she had grabbed her board to “stabilize” the jump). Almost immediately, Costas and the pundits pegged her backside method as “showboating” and blamed it all on overconfidence. This morning’s papers, more of the same — Jacobellis was showing off, blah blah blah. There’s another side to this.
First of all, it’s not like a backside method is any big deal of a trick. It’s a simple tail kick in the air – the kind of thing average riders do on the slopes of any mountain every day, and probably something Jacobellis has done 10,000 times in similar conditions. But for freak reasons, she landed it slightly wrong.
Second, remember that Jacobellis is the only woman rider who does both halfpipe and snowboardcross. ‘Cross offers no points for style, so the smart rider won’t attempt any. But halfpipe is all about style, and it’s likely that doing that kind of thing on a jump is just part of her groove thang.
Third, as she said to Costas, she wasn’t really thinking about it – she was just barreling down the run, having a ball. And a little method is just the kind of thing you do when you’re having fun.
Fourth, if she really wasn’t aware of how much of a lead she had, as she claimed to Costas, then she wasn’t in a position to be doing arrogant things, and the showboating argument falls apart. The tail kick could also be used to throw off neighboring riders in mid-air; it might have partially been an instinctive strategic move.
Yeah, it was a stupid thing to do. But the pundits skewering her for “showboating” aren’t seeing the whole picture, and are raking her across, I think, a few too many coals. The impression left is that it was typical American arrogance. I think it was more innocent than that: A freak bad landing of a very simple, albeit unnecessary, trick.
Photo: NBC
Music: Cassandra Wilson :: A Little Warm Death
On Anonymity
In a comment the other day, I said:
I’m opposed to the concept of anonymity on the internet in general (the same reason I hate that people on IRC use handles rather than real names, or handles that don’t even resemble their real names). I make exception for political dissidents etc. of course.
Based on a couple of emailed comments, wanted to clarify my position on that: There seems to be an aspect of internet subculture which conflates anonymity with privacy. What I’m talking about here is standing by your name – accountability. I feel that what you write, and the domains (i.e. publications) you own should in most cases be attached to your real name. I feel that it is possible to be non-anonymous while still keeping private information private. I feel that attaching your name to your expressions is connected somehow to integrity.
When I enter an IRC channel or chat and everyone is using a handle rather than a real name, I feel suspicious. Do these same people configure their email clients to use false names as well? The predominance of nicknames in IRC doesn’t automatically mean everyone is “hiding” something, but it does mean people may be inclined to say things they wouldn’t if they were using their real names. It invites the saying of things that might not be said otherwise. Some call that a level of freedom we don’t have in meatspace. I’m not sure that exercising that freedom without good cause is necessarily beneficial.
I don’t begrudge anyone the right to be anonymous if they choose to be – I just don’t think it’s necessary most of the time. I also think that a lot more conversation on the internet would be civil if pseudonyms were removed from the picture. Again, I make exception for some political speech.
A friend pointed out that artists sometimes work under pseudonyms for artistic reasons that have nothing to do either with politics or actual anonymity — just pure art. Fair enough. But we also know — or can easily find — the real names of most artists working under pseudonyms. If an artist (or writer, or domain owner) is taking positive steps to thoroughly hide their real name, we assume they have political or other very good reasons to do so. If not, then we are suspicious of their reasons for seeking anonymity, and credibility is in question.
Then again, maybe I’m reading too much into it.
Music: Coot Grant & Kid Wesley Wilson :: Take Your Hand Off My Mojo
Chanterelle Hunting
Two days this weekend in the dreaded claustrophobic bowels of our house’s crawlspace, installing a 6 mil vapor barrier (we’re in pitched battle with household moisture problems – gutters, french drains, caulking, mildew-resistant paint, dehumidifier, the works). On belly in mud, no space to work, ribs bruised from pushing through the tiny access point… exhausted and rubbery after today’s session, but just enough time for a quick shower and to hop in the car with [dude] and head for the Berkeley Hills to do some mushroom hunting.
It’s wild Chanterelle and Oyster mushroom season, and the rains have been kind this year. I’d never been, but had always wanted to. No walk in the park! These guys grow on the sides of steep hills, in deep underbrush far from the main paths, under logs, amidst thorn bushes. Two hours of pushing through thickets, puffing up hills, sliding into mud bogs, and we ended up with almost five pounds of forest delicacies (yes, [dude] knows which ones are dangerous).
Actually, it was almost all Chanterelles – I spied the monster Oyster sprouting from a log just as we were heading out at the end of the day. Tomorrow will have a glorious saute’ session and do a pasta. Tonight I’m elastic.
Music: Andre Previn :: No Words For Dory
Helium Hat
For Dad’s upcoming 70th birthday, wanted to track down an old mixed-gas diver’s hard hat, hopefully similar to ones that would have been used by the U.S. Coast Guard in the late 1950s. Figured, naively, that I could do it for a few hundred bucks. eBay turns up close to nothing, though I did find a replica there for a lot more than that. Started emailing with collectors (all in other countries, for some reason). Turns out these things are a lot rarer than I thought. Typical of the responses I got:
The price of a helium hat is around $8500, and a friend of mine in England, just had one delivered to him from Desco. If you were to find a used one, you are looking at maybe 12 to 14 thousand dollars.
That guy offered up this 1918 Schrader Mark V for a paltry $9k. Unless someone shows up quick with an antique diving helmet fab, time for Plan B. Wonder whether Dad might prefer a new grill instead…
Music: Bettye Lavette :: Only Time Will Tell Me
Community Agroecology
Fair Trade certified coffee is a great system for ensuring that exploited coffee farmers get more of the due for their labor. Even better is Community Agroecology, a system by which Costa Rican farmers send coffee directly to your house, bypassing all middlemen and ensuring that the farmers really get their fair share.
All funds from the coffee sales are returned to the Cooperative. This returns to farmers over five times more than those who sell their coffee in the conventional system and three times more than certified Fair Trade standards.
Ex-UCB student Joshua Deutsch, via email from Costa Rica, where he’s on currently working with coffee farmers and observing how commerce with America affects local economies: “This organization uses the term “fair trade direct” and aims to create a global network of direct purchasing between producers and consumers. The organization also guarantees that the coffee is grown in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Amy and I are giving it a shot (no pun intended).
Update: Looks like it’s also possible to order coffee directly from Zapatistas.