Deeper thought đ on Java and the Burning House â
The foreground is different than the background of our lives. The things that matter arenât things at all and we love them more because they donât last forever and neither do we.
The foreground is different than the background of our lives. The things that matter arenât things at all and we love them more because they donât last forever and neither do we.
Every time a new gadget comes out my twitter stream screams the same thing for a couple of days: WANT WANT WANT WANT. Itâs an insidious pull that Iâm not immune to, and itâs almost constant: thereâs always something new to desire.
This is the time when I start to examine what I really want. Having had an iPad 2 for a couple of years, I have learned that an iPad is a great kids computer, but for me, it not something I want or need.
From The New York Times:
A group of experts in medicine, law and ethics has issued a blistering report that accuses the United States government of directing doctors, nurses and psychologists, among others, to ignore their professional codes of ethics and participate in the abuse of detainees in Afghanistan, Iraq and GuantĂĄnamo Bay, Cuba.
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In 2008, in documents alleging abuse, lawyers for a detainee at GuantĂĄnamo Bay singled out a psychologist as a critical player. At the time, the guidelines stated that it was âconsistent with the A.P.A. ethics code for psychologists to serve in consultative roles to interrogation and information-gathering processes for national-security-related purposesââââas long as the interrogation did not involve any of 19 coercive procedures, including the use of hoods, waterboarding and physical assault.
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 Later that year, the membership voted to prohibit any consultation in interrogations at Guantånamo or other so-called black sites run by the C.I.A.
In much the same way that the medical and pychological professional societies prohibit their members from working with the CIA to torture those being held, it is awesome that the mathematics academic community is calling for an end to ties with the NSA.
From Dr. Alexander (Sasha) Beilinsonâs letter to the âNotices of the AMSâ(PDF):
What should be done is a question not only for U.S. citizens but also for people all over the world: the NSA destroyed the security of the Internet and privacy of communications for the whole planet. But if any healing is possible, it would probably start with making the NSA and its ilk socially unacceptableâââjust as, in the days of my youth, working for the KGB was socially unacceptable for many in the Soviet Union.
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 The AMS regularly publishes advertisements for positions at the NSA and manages reviews for the NSA Mathematical Sciences Grants Program. The relationship between the NSA and the AMS seems to be a symbiotic one: The NSA needs mathematicians for its tasks, and the AMS has an interest in increasing research funding. But any relationship with an organization whose activity is so harmful for the fabric of human society is unhealthy. For the sake of integrity, the AMS should shun all contacts with the NSA.
What we do as mathematicians seldom has any contact with politics or human affairs. But this is one of those occasions. The NSA and GCHQ must be two of the largest employers of mathematicians in the world. Whatever you think of the ongoing mass surveillance, it canât be denied that this is an issue that involves, and will continue to involve, our community.
I donât care what some people say, I love the Olympics. I love the padgentry, I love the curious nature of more obscure the sports. I love it all 1. I think it stems from my being just the right age for the 1992 Abertville, 1994 Lillehammer and 1998 Nagano Winter Games, and the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games2. As I have grown, one thing I do not care for is the design. The recent Olympic pictogram and logo designs have been atrocious. The last year that I can point to as having any character is the 2000 Sydney Summer Games. The incoporation of the boomerang was unique but not overwraught like the 1996 Atlanta and 2004 Athens Red-figured pottery style.
On November 7 the 2016 Rio Summer Games Committee unveiled their pictograms and I have to say that I am throughly impressed3. The thin to thick ratio of the stroke of the people gives a sense of motion and liveliness. The âpebbleâ shape gives it a consistency that most of the other years have lacked and the color choices fit with the location and atmosphere of the 2016 Summer Games.I find the 2016 Summer Games pictograms pleasing and I look forward to the Summer Games in Rio, despite the looming problems.
Every year, I want to watch football. I try. I understand the mechanics of the game and the rules1. I try to follow a team, but I have a confession.
I am not a football fan. I do not have a team. I donât know when the games are2. I donât know the players. All of this is evident in the fact that my kids donât have no understanding of the game. They are concerned about that the players are hitting each other during a play, and how that is a violation of our familyâs rules. They also think that the NFL franchise in Wisconsin are the âGreen Bean Packersâ. Football is not important in my life.
Over the past few weeks, I have found more and more concerning evidence that informs me that I should stop trying to watch the sport.
In Minnesota, the Vikings wanted a new stadium, and were vaguely threatening to decamp to another state if they didnât get it. The Minnesota legislature, facing a $1.1 billion budget deficit, extracted $506 million from taxpayers as a gift to the team, covering roughly half the cost of the new facility. Some legislators argued that the Vikings should reveal their finances: privately held, the team is not required to disclose operating data, despite the public subsidies it receives. In the end, the Minnesota legislature folded, giving away public money without the Vikingsâ disclosing information in return. The teamâs principal owner, Zygmunt Wilf, had a 2011 net worth estimated at $322 million; with the new stadium deal, the Vikingsâ value rose about $200 million, by Forbesâs estimate, further enriching Wilf and his family. They will make a token annual payment of $13 million to use the stadium, keeping the lionâs share of all NFL ticket, concession, parking, and, most important, television revenues.
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 After approving the $506 million handout, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton said, âIâm not one to defend the economics of professional sports ⊠Any deal you make in that world doesnât make sense from the way the rest of us look at it.â Even by the standards of political pandering, Daytonâs irresponsibility was breathtaking.
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 In California, the City of Santa Clara broke ground on a $1.3 billion stadium for the 49ers. Officially, the deal includes $116 million in public funding, with private capital making up the rest. At least, thatâs the way the deal was announced. A new government entity, the Santa Clara Stadium Authority, is borrowing $950 million, largely from a consortium led by Goldman Sachs, to provide the majority of the âprivateâ financing. Who are the board members of the Santa Clara Stadium Authority? The members of the Santa Clara City Council. In effect, the city of Santa Clara is providing most of the âprivateâ funding. Should something go wrong, taxpayers will likely take the hit.
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 The 49ers will pay Santa Clara $24.5 million annually in rent for four decades, which makes the deal, from the teamâs standpoint, a 40-year loan amortized at less than 1 percent interest. At the time of the agreement, 30-year Treasury bonds were selling for 3 percent, meaning the Santa Clara contract values the NFL as a better risk than the United States government.
And:
Public Law 89â800 had no nameâââunlike, say, the catchy USA Patriot Act or the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Congress presumably wanted the bill to be low-profile, given that its effect was to increase NFL ownersâ wealth at the expense of average people.
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 While Public Law 89â800 was being negotiated with congressional leaders, NFL lobbyists tossed in the sort of obscure provision that is the essence of the lobbyistâs art. The phrase or professional football leagues was added to Section 501©6 of 26 U.S.C., the Internal Revenue Code. Previously, a sentence in Section 501©6 had granted not-for-profit status to âbusiness leagues, chambers of commerce, real-estate boards, or boards of trade.â Since 1966, the code has read: âbusiness leagues, chambers of commerce, real-estate boards, boards of trade, or professional football leagues.â
This bothers me. I pay my taxes to get services for me and people who are less fortunate. I know that there is already massive amounts of waste in government, the fact that they are giving away my money to a profitable sports franchise, this is unacceptable.
With regard to sub-concussive hits:
âJust playing the game can be dangerousâ
âThe human body was not designed or created to play football ⊠from a neurological standpoint you are going to have some brain trauma.â
Dr. Ann McKee, after examining the brain of an 18 year old football player, who had died 10 days after recieving his fourth concussion:
âI had an 18 year old at that time. You know that that brain is supposed to be pristine. The fact that it was there and he was only playing high school level sports, I mean I think that is a cause for concern.â
Harry Carson, on youth football:
âFrom a physical risk standpoint, you know what you are doing when you sign your kid up, that he can hurt his knee, OK? But what you should know now is your child could develop a brain injury as a result of playing football. Itâs not just on the pro level, itâs on every level of football. The question is, do you want it to be your child?â
âŠno one under 14 should play tackle football.
Dr. Cantu:
âWith what we know about the youth brain compared with the adult brain, that itâs more easily disrupted than the adult brainâââthe youth brain is lighter in weight, so it has less inertia to put it in motion, so you tap a youth head, and his brain moves much quicker than an adult brain thatâs heavier and therefore has more inertia. So I think we should be treating youths differently.â
This was an extremely interesting documentary, I cannot recommend it highly enough.
If you canât carve out the time to watch the documentary, you can spend a few minutes watching this video of Tony Dorsett and his diagnosis of CTE
It also left me struggling with the question of if my kids wanted to play football would I let them. Iâm sure if they watch it with me and see it as something that I like, I would inadvertently influence them into wanting to watch and wanting to play a sport that I cannot stomach the repercussions of.
When [Nate] Jackson travels out of the country, his passport is stamped as âentertainer.â The N.F.L., he writes, has become a âpageant.â The reality of the thing gets lost on most viewers, watching in their living rooms or at their local bar:
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 Consuming the product through a television screen, at a safe distance, dehumanizes the athlete and makes his pain unreal. The more you watch it, the less real it becomes, until the players are nothing more than pixelated video game characters to be bartered and traded.
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 Jackson details all his injuriesâââhe was hampered throughout his career by various problems with his legsâââand the pain meds he and his fellow players were injected with each week: âevery game a needle,â he writes.
An apt analogy of how we as a country have become obsessed with the sport.
It appears that every fall, when a crisp chill fills the air, I will no longer try to watch football, it is a private empire, publicly funded and dangerous for those who participate.
Tim Cook in the Wall Street Journal:
At Apple, we try to make sure people understand that they donât have to check their identity at the door. Weâre committed to creating a safe and welcoming workplace for all employees, regardless of their race, gender, nationality or sexual orientation.
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Protections that promote equality and diversity should not be conditional on someoneâs sexual orientation. For too long, too many people have had to hide that part of their identity in the workplace.
This is a good example of where âOpen winsâ.
Alexandra Petri in the Washington Post:
And if you say âIâm running five minutes lateâ this, to me, translates to âHey, you now have time to watch a 90 minute film before you get dressed!â
Then you are clearly incapable of living in modern society. I didnât say watch a movie, I said I was delayed by 5 minutes. I am an âearly personâ, you should know that it pains me to tell you I will be late. I am late because of a situation that is truly out of my control, not that I am too lazy to use a clock and have a good sense of estimating time.
The curse of the habitually late person is to be surrounded by early people. Early people do not think of themselves as Early People. They think of themselves as Right. âYou have to be early in order to be on time,â they point out. Being on time is important to them. The forty minutes between when they arrive ten minutes early in order to âscout the place outâ and âget in lineâ and when you show up mumbling excuses is the time it takes them to perfect the reproachful but resigned expression they are wearing when you get there. It is an expression that would not look out of place on a medieval saint. It is luminous with a kind of righteous indignation, eyes lifted skyward to someone who appreciates the value of time, a sad, small smile curving the lips to show that they forgive you, because they always forgive you, because you know not what you do.
Wrong again. As an âEarly personâ with children, mind you, I am rarely not on time and with kids that is not a minor feat. I donât look at you with righteous indignation, I am upset that you have wasted my time, my kids time, and my patience in dealing with my kids having to explain why you are not there yet.
Being late is a kind of optimism.
No it is not. It is a sign of laziness and an inability to budget oneâs time.
To arrive 15 minutes after the scheduled time shows not disrespect for your hostsâ time, but a respect for their effort to make hosting seem like an effortless flow of magic.
Except through this entire article you have alluded to being 45 minutes to 2 hours late. Donât think that you are showing a host respect by deliberately being late, particularly if the event involves food. Being married to a woman who loves to cook, your arrival time is paramount. If you are late, dishes get cold, sauces separate or curdle, items cooked to perfection start to get over cooked or soggy. You showing up late ruins the meal.
By this point, you have probably lost all sympathy for me.
Yes.
The first comment on this piece will, I assume, be someone saying, âYou sound like you are deeply self-centered and donât care at all about the feelings of others, and I feel sorry for you.â
Yes. Except for the feeling sorry part.
And the thing is, all the evidence points to your being right, except for my feeble assertion that in my heart of hearts, I really do value your time, I never consciously intend to be late in a cruel way, and I am not the terrible person I appear. And that doesnât go very far.
Your âheart of heartsâ doesnât save the meal or provide my children any comfort, so grow up and learn to manage your time.
And all this being said, the life of a late person is great. I donât do it on purpose, but it has much to recommend it.
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 You never have to stand alone in the rain anywhere waiting for anyone to assemble. Your host is never in the shower when you show up.
But that is the thing that being a late you donât understand. I am the one waiting in the rain for you and you will never arrive early enough to catch me in the shower. I have my stuff together enough to plan and manage my time.
Early people, do you begin to see the appeal?
No. I see a selfish person.
Whatever joy you derive from indignantly sharing irate pieces entitled âHow Did It Get To Be âOkayâ For People To Be Late For Everything?â pales in comparison to the joy of never having to wait for anyone.
_Except I am having to wait for you. _
Give me the option of being late or being early, and I will be late every time.
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 Which, apparently, I am.
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 Sorry.
No you are not. Stop saying you are sorry when you are not, you self-focused asshole.
Although your cortisol levels peak between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., there are a few other times whereâon averageâblood levels peak again, like between noon and 1 p.m., and between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. In the morning then, your coffee will probably be the most effective if you enjoy it between 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., when your cortisol levels are dropping before the next spike.
Right about when I need a cup of joe.
I wrote in my Read Later post about my use of Poche, an open source alternative to Instapaper. I have been happy with it, but there are a few rough spots.
First, it is actively being developed. This might not be a rough spot, but the features are still in flux, the look and feel is changing greatly in point releases. While I like watching development happen, I also like a little more stability.
Second, the authentication and session mode for Poche doesnât allow for bookmarks to be added without logging in. I dump a lot of links into my reading list, some that are true âlong readsâ, other are just anchors, so I will come back and look at the site. The session issues requires me to have a less secure password so I donât have to do the 1password dance to get the bookmark into my list.
Friction. That is what I am feeling with Poche. And I dislike friction.
Nick Wynjaâs Paperback is a great idea. The things that I read and will most like bookmark, are already in my bookmark system. Genius. Plus, Pinboard has a ton of app integrations, and most are now adding the âread laterâ flag, which makes getting content into Nickâs system even easier.
I was true to my word. I was going to pay to have access to Nickâs Paperback when it launched. I signed up yesterday and dang, he is good. He has a great eye for minimal design, well laid out and nice use of typography. After paying and getting access, I realized how much friction was in Poche.
I have switched back to a Pinboard based read later system and it is great.
Nick is such a great guy that he said via App.net that if he couldnât keep the service up and running he would consider open sourcing it. That, as I said in my reply, warms my heart.
One thing that I wanted (not of Nick, but of Pinboard) is a bookmarklet that set both the âread laterâ and âprivateâ flags. I had to do some digging and testing, but here is what I have come up with:
javascript:if(document.getSelection){s=document.getSelection();}else{s='';};document.location='https://pinboard.in/add?next=same&private=yes&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&description='+encodeURIComponent(s)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title)+'&later=yes'
Go and support Nick, get a Pinboard account and link it up to Paperback, it is totally worth it.
When I wrote about owning the services I use, I neglected to indicate what I used to read articles later. At the time of that writing, I had been an Instapaper user for years. I had bought the Pro version of the app, when there was a both a free and pro version, because I saw the value in what Marco was making. I even supported him when he released a subscription model, even though it was through Paypal. When Marco announced that Instapaper was being sold the Betaworks, I go worried. Not that Betaworks couldnât run Instapaper, but that a person who is so dedicated to owning every inch of his territory was selling something that has become part of my âworkflowâ. Yes, he was staying on as an advisor, but the level of âownershipâ would probably never be the same, even though they had more people to put to redesigning the web interface and the apps. I was very concerned about where to put my read later articles. I had originally considered Evernote, but it was a service that I didnât own. I started to save them to Pinboard. I donât own Pinboard, but I have a sense that Maciej Ceg?owski has the same level of dedication to ownership that Marco did to Instapaper. Plus, I paid for the service, so I can feel better about using it.
When I started using Pinboard as a read later service, I searched for the best mobile app that reformatted the articles to a âreadableâ state. I tried probably five of them. Each of them had their pros and cons, they each had a URL scheme, so getting links into them (and Pinboard) was easy, so things were humming along.
Things got even better when Nick Wynja started work on Paperback. A web app, and eventually iOS apps, that combined the best of Pinboardâs service, and the Instapaper style reading experience, all with position tracking and syncing. It was perfect. I have been beta testing it for a while and it has been perfect. Nick has been doing some awesome work. Even if I donât use the service regularly, I will probably support it.
But I donât own it. I trust Nick, and by extension, I trust Maciej, but if they fold up, Iâll feel like I lost something. It is a weird feeling. I am not so attached to my read later list that if it disappeared I would be heart broken or that I would lose anything (except the words saved), but I would have some friction in my life. And that is what I do not want.
So I have been testing and using quite heavily Poche, an open source alternative to Instapaper. It is self-hosted, written in PHP, and uses SQLite for a database structure, so it is very lightweight and heavily customizable. It is still in very active development and changes that have suggested are being rolled into future versions. Sure, there is no iOS app, but that is not a show stopper for me. There are still some bugs to be worked out, some CSS that needs to be changed to fit my tastes more exactly, but I can say that this is where I am comfortable throwing links.