Circle Problem

Multi-Tasking

I am a guy. One of the things that guys do is solve problems. Not that women aren't capable of doing so, but I believe it is more of a dominant factor in the male mindset. Women tend to be more nurturing, men tend to be more analytical. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus...yadda, yadda, etc., etc,.

As I have matured over my lifetime these differences have become more acute. One of the things that has driven me nuts about my jobs, both past and present, is the inability of my co-workers to solve problems....on their own. It would appear that most have the engrained reaction to seek help for anything that happens out of the ordinary...... and yes, most of my co-workers are women.

When I was younger, I didn't mind helping others out, but after a while I started to realize something. I was enabling them to fail. Every time I helped them solve a problem (sometimes, the same problem multiple times), I was reinforcing their mindset to seek me out to solve it. No one was requiring them to analytically think through the problem. Ergo...this ended up making me a 'resource' for other people to do their job.

Therefore, my favorite saying these days is, "I am not a resource for you. Figure it out."

There is a reason I am so stingy with my knowledge and abilities. Besides the fact that I am enabling my entire office to think they are entitled to instant support for their problems, it also takes away from my ability to get my 'jobs' done. I say jobs in the plural sense, because I rarely ever work on one project at a time.

That is what computers are for. They allow you to multi-task on a huge level. While I am writing an e-mail, my query engine is pulling data, and my printer driver is printing a large report. Throw into this mix, my coworker 'Erin Entitlement' coming to me because her printer isn't working...and I get a little miffed.

By the time I have un-jammed 'her' printer, I have forgotten about the data pull and my copies sitting on the large volume printer....not to mention my train of through on the e-mail. I have to stop and think about exactly what I was doing, and often times start over on complex equations that I was in the middle of. Most frustrating.

Now mind you, asking for help is perfectly acceptable.....'IF'...you have tried to solve the problem yourself, or 'IF' what you want to do requires more than one person (I don't expect you to move a piano by yourself.). It is not acceptable if I have showed you how to do it (both in person and in writing) five times already.

An example of this multi-tasking is the graphic for this post. While it may seem like a rather random ray tracing graphic (it was drawn by a computer), it is small triumph for me. It is a problem / puzzle that I have been trying to figure out for weeks.

This is a POV Ray tracer rendering of a spiral. In fact, it is a ray tracing of a circle, extended along it's z-axis. I have been trying to figure out how do to this for sometime on the 'old Macintosh' that sits in my office. It took the Mac about 2 days to render this (newer Core Duo machines can do it in about 5 minutes).

It is just one of the multi-tasking things I do in my office.

For the techie among you, the problem was to get a single strand to spiral along the z-axis. All my previous attempts created multiple strands and it was baffling me, until I hit upon the idea that the 'while' statement was too large. For some reason when the iteration statement (while) exceeds 20, it creates multiple stands of the circle, most likely having to do with the way the sin and cosine functions work in the applications.

So remember, when you come asking me for something in my office, like how come the lights in your office won't turn on, or why the microwave doesn’t work, I am doing more than meets your eye. Like drawing curvy lines in make believe three dimensional space......or...pulling gobs of data......so try and figure it out for yourself before you come knocking.....please!

(and just because I am so tickled about the spiral, here is the actual code snippet that makes it work.....I am sure you will be very impressed)


#while (Counter<20)

light_source
{<2.5*cos(Theta), 2.5*sin(Theta), Counter*3.0>
color red 1.0 green 0.2 blue 0.2 // light's color
translate <0,4,0>
}


sphere
{<2.5*cos(Theta), 2.5*sin(Theta), Counter*3.0>
1.0
texture {T_Old_Glass} finish{specular 1}
translate <0,4,0>
}


#declare Theta=Theta+0.25
#declare Counter=Counter+0.25

#end

Pulling The Plug

Its Over


Goodbye 'Dancing With The Stars', so long 'Celebrity Apprentice',....no more 'Amazing Race'.

The wife and I have reached our limit. It all started with the never ending stream of attorney advertisements on television. Shishter ambulance chasers that pleaded with everyone and anyone that was injured to sue the pants off of someone (for a meager 33% fee). Their never ending recitation that promoted the 'victim' society and the concept that every poor schmuck was 'entitled' to compensation for something was just too much.

This was compounded by the never ending stream of 'you want this' advertising that was lead by the major auto manufacturers of the world. Their constant harrassing us about how much we wanted a Yugo, Hummer, Mercedes, Toyota, Jaguar just sort of rang untrue after a while. The fact that their quoted price of $19,995.99 for that new Ultima, didn't really factor in the interest rates, insurance, maintenance, and general stress level of sitting for 10 hours a week in stop and go traffic. By my calculations the end cost for the buyer would be about $50,000 and about 5 less years off of their life. Regardless....dam-it, you wanted one! So visit your Nissan dealer, TODAY!

Next came the attorneys once again, this time convincing us that it is a GOOD thing to declare bankruptcy. Hey, everyone else is doing it, why shouldn't you? Tired of all those credit card bills that you racked up for things that the television set told you to buy. Well, guess what? You don't have to pay them after all. Just declare bankruptcy, its quick, its easy....don't delay, file today!!! I even bet the law office will issue you a new credit card when you are bankrupt so you can pay the attorney's fee.

But the final straw has been the fast food commercials of late. After being reminded of exactly where this food comes from and how it is prepared, the fact that multi-national food conglomerates are telling us that we really 'want' that super-sized BBQ rib sandwich or that mega-meat KFC chicken sandwich (sans the bun) were just too much. They are obviously trying to push obesity and diabetes on us all for the sake of their profits. Well, sorry Mr. CEO, we are on to you.

We pulled the plug.

As of today, the wife and I disconnected the cable television in our home. No more talking heads on the local morning news, no more commercials and no more inane reality shows where quasi-celebrities parade around having hissy-fits. No more broadcast or cable television in our home.

From here on out, it is Netflix over the broadband connection, or a selection from our 450+ volume LaserDisc collection not to mention the excellent collection of videos available from the public library for free.

We have officially abandoned the dark side and stepped into the light......and we feel better already.

At Fault

...it isn't who you think


I have been reading and hearing a lot about the British Petroleum (BP) Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Indeed, it is hard to miss it, since it is the 'Crisis de Jour' (crisis of the day), plastered on headlines, talk shows and the Internet.

To say that it is a colossal cluster-fuck would be an understatement. Sucking liquified compressed organic matter from over a mile beneath the ocean just to feed our addiction to the benefits of modern life is always going to be a risky undertaking.

But the problem I am having with this whole scenario is the 'blame game'. The current talk show pun-dents and reporters are all pointing fingers at BP and the Federal Government screaming for action and threatening lynchings and retribution for spoiling the pristine gulf coastline.

Much like the immigration debate that is raging here in Arizona about Senate Bill 1070 (the immigration reform act), everyone is boycotting and protesting the fact that Arizona is attempting to do what the Federal government is mandated to do, but has also failed to do....secure the border. Instead of looking to past administrations going back to Nixon and Reagen for their failure to properly fund INS, we are instead yelling at the people that are trying to make a difference. I don't see anyone indicting past administrations for their willful failure to protect the sovereignty of our country.

When it comes to blaming someone for the pollution in the Gulf of Mexico, I would first start by taking a good long look in the mirror. We have known for years that DDT is bad and causes cancer. We took the led out of our gasoline because we found out it was producing too much smog and pollution. We took the fluorocarbons out of spray cans because we found out it was harming the ozone layer of the planet.

Well, ya know what....there is nothing good that comes out of burning fossil fuels people! It makes it easier to turn on the lights and keep your house cool in summer and warm in winter, but it also pollutes the planet in a thousand different ways. So, we keep shelling out the big bucks to Chevron, Exxon/Mobile and BP to keep us swimming in all that sweet crude....and sometimes it leaks out!!!

There wouldn't be any oil lapping at the shores of Louisiana if we didnt' keep demanding gas for our Ford F-150s because it wouldn't be worth BP's time and effort to drill for it. In the end we all have to take responsibility for what we do to the planet.

We can't blame God for causing a volcano to spew toxic clouds into the atmosphere, or cause coastlines to slide into the sea from an earthquake, or blow down a city with a hurricane. Disasters happen, sometime we can't prevent them, and sometimes we accelerate them (thanks BP).

Life would be hard without all the wonderful things that Standard Oil and Dutch Shell have told that we want and need, but it would also be better. Living the 'good life' is never easy. Living the easy life, is often harmful, to ourselves and the planet. If you really want to protest the pollution in the gulf.....Sell your car and start walking to work or turn off your A/C and learn to sweat a bit more in the summer. You won't like it, but you might find yourself a lot wealthier and healthier in the long run.

....And The Winner Is.....

I stopped by McDonald's on the way to work this morning. I had to look over some financial documents before I hit the office and didn't want to be disturbed. As I approached the front door to 'America's Cafeteria', I saw a large poster for the latest "Shrek" film

Once upon a time, back in the 40s and 50s, films were produced and distributed in this country on their own merit. They were an art form, with the various studios seeing who could make the better picture. It was a form of artistic competition that was very expensive and produced some of the greatest films in history. Think of films like 'Ben Hur', 'Gone with the Wind', 2001: A Space Odyssey' and you get my drift. These were blockbusters that didn't need a lot of advertising.

But the entertainment industry has changed quite a lot since then. Now, even the most meager 'mega-film-wannabe' has to have tie-ins. Every large budget film (especially if it ties into a demographic under the age of 30) has to have toys, clothing, music, video games and fast food franchise tie ins. The concept being that market saturation increases profits from the licensing of the film title.

Once little Timmy sees the latest Pixar film, it is assumed he will want the 'Nemo' pajamas, the 'Woody' doll, the 'UP' video game and the 'Cars' Happy Meal. And Pixar gets a percentage of every one of those items. Hey, I suppose it costs a lot to pay those CGI animators to create those cute little creatures on the big screen.

So this got me thinking a few months ago. This all has to be planned out at a very high level in order to bring everything to market at the time of the films release.

I am sure that there are factories in Taiwan and China that are turning out thousands of little plastic caricatures of the next big budget kiddy film to be released in August. They will be loaded onto container ships, sail to L.A. and be trucked to various fast food outlets within the next 3 months so that they can be on hand when the hoards of little rug rats exit the theater and start clamoring for a 'Nemo' or 'Woody' of their very own. The samples and orders had to be placed for these toy figures no later than late 2009.

So I have to assume that there are high level meetings going on right now, to see what toy companies and burger chains want to 'bid' for the rights to the next big budget Hollywood film. So I am going to make some predictions here and see if I can guess which fast food chains are willing to shell out the big bucks in order to be tied in with the next potential blockbuster. Lets see if I am right:


June 2010 - "The 'A' Team" - Burger King

November 2010 = "HarryPotter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1" - McDonalds

December 2010 = "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" = McDonalds (again)

December 2010 = "Tron Legacy" - Burger King (again)

January 2011 = "The Green Hornet" - Taco Bell

The More Things Change....

(click the image for the big picture)


If you have stopped in here to read my thoughts from time to time you might have noticed that I do a lot of photography. Documenting the world around me is one of my obsession, because I have learned that memories fade, but physical images can last well beyond our lifetime.

I find myself drawn to the high resolution images from the 1860 thru the 1940s that show our nation in a different light. Gone are all the super-fast and hyper imagery of our current day and age. Instead they are replaced by a slower, more paced time. A time before plastics and the invention of the automobile. Back when a radio was a luxury and when there was no practical way to speak with someone in China or the Congo, except by letter.

I have often poured over these images, because when they are blown up on high quality monitor, there are things in the background that aren't noticeable with the naked eye. Expressions on faces. Petticoats and street cleaners that shoveled up the by-product of horse drawn carriages and wagons. Boys running down the street chasing a hoop with a stick and little girls playing hop-scotch with bows in their hair.

As I gaze at these images. I realize that we haven't really changed that much as a people. We may be a bit more liberal and possibly a bit more knowledgeable. But the things that drive us and the things we strive for are pretty much the same. Security, success, happiness, hope....I can see it in their faces. The camera doesn't lie.

What goes around, comes around. So I have learned not to assume that all the trappings of our current generation are all that permanent. Here in a capitalist society, we are often times told what to want by the people in the ivory towers that control the media and the money supply. In that regard, age has taught me to desire and pursue core values and not what is newer and shiny. Those are usually hollow pursuits.

My late father always told me to work hard and save my money or I might grow up to be a ditch digger or a garbage man. My father had no way of knowing back in 1960, that ditch digger in the 21 century use back-hoes to dig trenches and that garbage men work in air conditioned trucks with pneumatic arms that lift and empty the garbage cans, and they get paid union scale. Gone are the kush jobs with Boeing and ATT that he thought would be the Holy Grail of our age. I firmly believe that sanitation engineers that scoop up horse shit may make a come-back someday....and if they do, it may very well be the best job to have.


Information about the attached photo: "Washington, D.C., circa 1906. "Senator George P. Wetmore, Rhode Island." Who can identify the car? (The current consensus: Krieger electric landaulet, from France.) Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative."

This picture was taken from the shorpy.com archive and shows a french electric car imported by a U.S. Congressman. Seated with him is his wife (nice hat) and the driver and the footman. More information and details can be found here.

Netflix Is The Devil

Red Box Video Machine

I know this is a picture of a Red Box video vending machines, which has nothing to do with Netflix. I spied it at a local Circle K in town and always dismissed them as 'movies for poo folks'. But as I stopped and looked at the titles that were available on the machine I was surprised that I had heard of almost none of them. I mean, this machine was basically 'direct-to-video' heaven. Most of the titles had never made it into theatrical release.

This wouldn't have surprised me too much, except that some of the titles actually looked 'interesting'. They were period films or biographies that actually looked like they would be worth watching and actually had some impressive stars in them. This got me wondering.

For the past few years I have heard Slyde and Earl singing the praises of Netflix and how they had movies piled up in their Netflix 'cue' for the next three decades to watch. This didn't really interest me because I had an AppleTV unit that downloaded all my movies from iTunes. That is until the AppleTV went belly-up. A new one is going to cost me $280, which isn't really in the budget right now.

Then, a month ago, I read on-line that Netflix was going to start streaming video to the Nintendo Wii gaming console. Brucie loves his Wii, so I opted for the cheaper route ($280 = AppleTV vs $8.99/mo = Wii) and ordered the Netflix disk and set up my Netflix account.

So far I have been impressed. The streaming video is pretty damn quick and the resolution isn't half bad, even in HDTV. Plus, I get the fun little disks in the mail for the titles that they dont' stream, all for one flat rate. So I have been building up my Netflix cue as well, and that is when I noticed something pretty disturbing.

As many of you might know, I have extensive LaserDisc collection. Some guys collect shot glasses, others collect old Playboys, well LaserDiscs are my hobby of choice. While I am building my cue in Netflix, their software analyzes your video choices and recommends other titles that you might like. It has come to my attention that their programing in this regard has approached mind reading.

While I have selected about 12 films in my DVD / Streaming cue, Netflix has recommended about 30 other movies they think I might like......and all but about 6 of them are in my LaserDisc collection. So basically, Netflix is reading my mind. It already knows from the very few films I have selected to watch that I might like films as diverse as "The Bicycle Thief" and "Jean de Florette", both of which I already own on LaserDisc.

Maybe I am just paranoid, but I think I am going to start covering up the Wii at night when I am not using it......I think it might be watching me.

Burning Man 2010

'Admit One Citizen'


The tickets have arrived, and now the gears must be set in motion. Wheels within wheels, lists will be made, ideas will be nurtured and hatched, coordination must be planned. The future awaits, and it is an unknown and glorious thing.

Check out the Burning Man website for all the details.

For last years documentation and imagery go here.