I'm quite pleased that Dave Gustafson has released SourceForge.net: EccoTools
as an open source Python library for manipulating Ecco Pro. He was kind
enough to let me use earlier versions of his code a while back. His
officially releasing his code into the public makes it easier for me to
share whatever little utilities I've written.
Laura is right: It's time for me to write a chapter from my Book. The
one that occurs to me is the one on maps. Then the chapter on blogging.
The Complete Novels of Jane Austen
Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.
Though I've not actually read any of Jane Austen's novels, I almost gave into a strong and irrational impulse to borrow the 1200 page compilation of the complete novels of Austen. Kinda odd if I consider that if just one of her novels had been on the shelf, I would have passed over it without notice. My best understanding is that I fall easily for the easy prospect of completeness -- that holding all the novels in my hands was more important than actually reading any one novel.
I'm fortunate that I'm not such a dilettante in all areas of life, though it's a continuing challenge not to distract myself too much with indulging in the world's potentialities.
Google Maps on Treo is cool. I can't say I've seen such a beautifully interactive mobile app before.
Is there any way to get better meetings to happen where we work? I should study 10 Steps To Better Meetings
to see how to improve meetings that I run. It seems harder to find
hints on how to be an effective meeting participant for meetings that
one doesn't facilitate. OK, maybe I've found something. Participating in Meetings is a pretty good list, one that reminds me that I can be a better behaved participant myself.
I figured out how to get my Macbook Pro from dimming: Intel-based Macs: Built-in display dims before sleep
I have to thank Leafy Green Sewage - New York Times for getting me to ponder whether someone other than spinach farmers are at fault for the unedible spinach:
Another article (A Stopgap for the Spinach Lover) answers a question that I've been wondering about -- can't we just cook our spinach?:
At any rate, I worry about the future of salads of uncooked vegetables
in general. What's to stop other vegetables from being tainted in the
same way?
I hope that "Young, Restless, Reformed" in the current (September 2006) issue of Christianity Today will be available online so that you all can read it too. (Keep an eye out at Christianity Today Magazine - September 2006)
Collin Hansen writes about the resurgence of Calvinism among American
20 and 30 somethings. The article has stuck in my mind because I
couldn't quite sympathize with the heavy-duty emotional resonance that
new Calvinism was supposed to be generating among young folks -- even
though I have been a long-time Presbyterian (whose heritage is
Calvinism) and serious student of theology. When I read the
accompanying explanation of the TULIP acronymn that is often used to
summarize the essentials of Calvinism, I found myself questioning
whether the TULIP is what I actually believe. Is that what I'm supposed
to believe as an elder in the PCUSA?
This morning, I started down the road of investigating figuring out the precise relationship among Calvinism, TULIP, (aka The Five Points of Calvinism) , Arminianism, debates about TULIP (e.g., An Examination of Tulip), what the PCUSA has to say about sin and salvation, predestination, etc., etc. Of course, lot of this stuff is very complicated, as William Bouwsma wrote in Calvinism (Encyclopædia Britannica):
It is important to note
that the later history of Calvinism has often been obscured by a
failure to distinguish between Calvinism as the beliefs of Calvin
himself; the beliefs of his followers, who, though striving to be
faithful to Calvin, modified his teachings to meet their own needs;
and, more loosely, the beliefs of the Reformed tradition of Protestant
Christianity, in which Calvinism proper was only one, if historically
the most prominent, strand.
Does all this matter? I think some of this matters, even though I'm not clear on what matters and what doesn't.
Ever so often, I check into the NPR website to catch up on the latest news, including to see whether there has been any segments featuring Bach. I was delighted to see two item related to Bach and improvisation. The first (Bach Fugue Gets the DJ Treatment) lets you hear snatches from the Bach Remix competition at the Oregon Bach Festival. The second is an interview with Gabriela Montero,
a Venezuelan classically trained pianist who also improvises on Bach,
among other composers. Interestingly enough, a good place to listen to
"Beyond Bach," a lovely riff on Bach is her myspace account.
Niagara Falls from Table Rock Point
Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.
Although there are at least several detailed lovely pictures of the drop off point of Niagara Falls (such as this one and others like it, I am rather partial to my modest camera phone picture of the same spot. The roar of the water, the heavy humidity of the air, the mist which was scaring me off from pulling out my nice camera, are all brought back in my memory by this shot. I realize, of course, that the photo won't have the same suggestive power to those who weren't there -- to whom I must say, "you had to be there."
I've been reading Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order to Chaos and Complexity by John Gribbin. I was hoping to glean more insight into the whole "levels of organization" problem
that has long fascinated me. I also used one of Gribben's examples of
what many call a "sensitive dependence on initial conditions" to use my
computer to plot the results. I was considering using Matplotlib / pylab - matlab style python plotting (plots, graphs, charts) but instead used Excel, which did the job fine.
What was the task in question? It was to iterate the function 2x^2-1,
where x is in between -1 and 1, to see how even a small change in an
initial x leads to diverging values as we go through the iterations.
That is, the small differences are magnified by the feedback loop of
iteration. (I know that the last two sentences are not terribly well
written alas....)
Besides getting to play with mathematically oriented computation, did I
actually glean any more insight about why there seem to be distinct
levels of organization in our cosmos? I don't know. At first, I was
going to write that the sensitive dependence on initial conditions can
give rise to boundaries -- but I can't say such a statement makes any
sense to me. Hmmm....back to the mental drawing board.
I am definitely curious to know what Yahoo Research wants to get into, not only because Yahoo! Research Berkeley is only a couple blocks away from my office but because I know a number of bright folks working there.
Group shines light on conservation measures - Catholic Online:
The year following Katrina has been a slow-motion catastrophe:
I enjoyed the film Yi Yi a lot and look forward to seeing the new Criterion Collection edition of the film: Getting the DVD Transfer Right the Second Time Around - New York Times. Will Netflix carry the new edition?
When I saw Men Not Working, and Not Wanting Just Any Job - New York Times,
I wondered whether I'm part of a bigger trend by reducing my time to
write a book. The important difference between my situation and that
portrayed in the article is that the reduction in time is temporary and
that I'm working hard on projects during my time at home. Still, I was
unnerved to think that maybe I was a slow slide to indolence!