Author Archives: Raymond Yee

moleskines and other writing implements

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moleskines and other writing implements

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.


For Christmas, Laura's folks gave me a large plain Moleskine notebook. Although I quickly took to writing in it sporadically, it is only during this last week that I've been writing many times a day in it. The notebook is, of course, not the only instrument for recording my thoughts. It has, however, become a guiding one as I sort through the jumble of thoughts that buzz around in my brain. Forcing myself to write my thoughts in a linear narrative often helps make sense of the nonlinear, illogical scramble of notions, emotions, questions, and conjectures.

Turning 40

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Two weeks ago yesterday, I turned the big 4-O. I look back on my
thirties as a decade that vastly improved on my twenties, which weren't
too bad. I optimistically look at my forties as a time for profound
growth and change and undoubtedly, deep challenge.

Morality, the Wikipedia, and Academics

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Scientist Finds the Beginnings of Morality in Primate Behavior - New York Times:

    Biologists argue that these and other social
    behaviors are the precursors of human morality. They further believe
    that if morality grew out of behavioral rules shaped by evolution, it
    is for biologists, not philosophers or theologians, to say what these
    rules are.

    Moral philosophers do not take very seriously the biologists’ bid to
    annex their subject, but they find much of interest in what the
    biologists say and have started an academic conversation with them.

Wikipedia is good for academia
-- nice to see an essay about how the Wikipedia is good for the
university and academic culture. I should say more about what I mean
here....

Summoning the spirit of Glenn Gould

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My friend Dan referred me to Ghostly Grand Piano: Technical Marvel Plays Like an Old Pro - washingtonpost.com, which in turn led me to Zenph Studios - Glenn Gould’s - Bach Goldberg Variations - Connections Column - New York Times:

    Zenph also announced it had accomplished this feat
    of technological legerdemain with one of the most remarkable recordings
    of the last century: Glenn Gould’s 1955 mono rendition of Bach’s
    “Goldberg” Variations. Gould, who retreated from performance into the
    private realm of the recording studio where he could splice and fiddle
    with sound and phrase, would be posthumously pulled back into the realm
    of public performance.

I'm almost ready to plunk down the money to hear the recreation of Gould's famous Bach recording. (See *BACH:
The Goldberg Variations - Glenn Gould's 1955 performance re-created in
modern hi-res surround sound and hi-res binaural sound by Zenph - Sony
Classical for the album cover.) Where can I buy it?

Notelets for 2007.03.15

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I'm happy that TimesSelect University
program opens up TimesSelect to university folk like me. (It would be
even better if my friends and family outside the university could also
read the special features of The New York Times for free.

Enchanting TED - Pogue’s Posts points to the latest round of TEDTalks (audio, video).

Guidelines for Using a Cellphone Abroad - New York Times is useful if I ever go to Europe or Asia -- but mostly, when I leave the USA, I'm in Canada.

The Bach Birthday Bash sounds tempting. Stanford is just a bit too far away these days for me:

    Join us for a celebration of the master's 322nd
    birthday with a musical party, featuring Bach family videos, a wig
    tossing contest, and an intimate performance of several of his
    wonderful Brandenburg Concerti. Featuring the award-winning Palo Alto
    Chamber Orchestra and their music director, Benjamin Simon, this
    evening will be an opportunity to brush up on your Bach trivia, have a
    fugue explained to you, and learn the names of all of Bach's
    twenty-plus offspring. Those attending in period costume are eligible
    for valuable door prizes!

Notelets for 2007.02.17

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I want to do a closer reading of Philip Jenkins' Believing in the Global South
because it helps me to see how much of my cultural heritage/baggage is
entwined with my particular experience of Christianity in the west.

The functionality I showed in class a week or two ago, namely the
blogging integration in Flickr, got mixed reviews. I think it's so cool
to be able directly to weblogs right within Flickr. Some people agree,
others thought that things are still too messy, that few non-techie end
users would use this functionality. I would certainly agree that
configuring weblogs is still a bit too difficult to do within Flickr.
(I think the flock is a pretty good job of figuring out how to
configure a weblog given its URL.) It is true that plumbing is really
exposed right now. And that in the future, we need to move towards more
hidden and interconnected plumbing.

It's good to know that you can get average temperatures for places such as Sitka, AK when you think about traveling to such places.