Postcards from the Bleeding Edge
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Every time I get a little down on myself i am reminded of this:
So I go through that checklist...
Diaper changing, check. Invasion, have planned. Hog - no, can do fish, though. Conn a ship - easy. Design a building - just did that, am working on another one. Sonnets - well, the last two I wrote were both parodies of the form, but they were correct examples of the form in all respects. The last one started: "I loved a leper, tis true...". Balance accounts - yes, and the ledger is in the plus side, where I intend to keep it. Build a wall - just built 4. Comfort the dying - haven't had to do that, don't look forward to it, am ready for it. Take orders - sure, if I voted for the captain. Give orders - I do that, perhaps a little too much - or perhaps not enough. Minions wanted. Cooperate - is ardour good enough? Act alone - do it all the time, I wish I weren't so lonely. Solve equations - it seems I'm constantly optimizing my life with a full time running version of Amdahls Law. Analyze problems - every day is a new problem, ok?
So I only have butchering a hog left on my heinlein todo list, and dying gallantly. I kind of want to defer the latter, but when it happens, I hope it happens well.
I have a longer list of my own, that perhaps should also be written down, but it's long and I'm not living up to it right now.
- "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." --Time Enough for Love, RAH, 1973
So I go through that checklist...
Diaper changing, check. Invasion, have planned. Hog - no, can do fish, though. Conn a ship - easy. Design a building - just did that, am working on another one. Sonnets - well, the last two I wrote were both parodies of the form, but they were correct examples of the form in all respects. The last one started: "I loved a leper, tis true...". Balance accounts - yes, and the ledger is in the plus side, where I intend to keep it. Build a wall - just built 4. Comfort the dying - haven't had to do that, don't look forward to it, am ready for it. Take orders - sure, if I voted for the captain. Give orders - I do that, perhaps a little too much - or perhaps not enough. Minions wanted. Cooperate - is ardour good enough? Act alone - do it all the time, I wish I weren't so lonely. Solve equations - it seems I'm constantly optimizing my life with a full time running version of Amdahls Law. Analyze problems - every day is a new problem, ok?
So I only have butchering a hog left on my heinlein todo list, and dying gallantly. I kind of want to defer the latter, but when it happens, I hope it happens well.
I have a longer list of my own, that perhaps should also be written down, but it's long and I'm not living up to it right now.
Labels: Heinlein Centennial
¶ 4:40 PM 4 comments
Such a backlog... I have got a couple mp3s from the centennial basically done, and a few other things, but I just wanted to note that Doc Searls is giving up his googlejuice and has a new blog. All the writing I've managed to do lately is over there...
Off to visit the National Archives tomorrow!
I also note that the writing going on at Urban Agora is generally quite fantastic and touching, and I wish I had time to finish my piece on "Kansas City, Under Glass", but I just don't see having time to sit and reflect for another 18 days. I keep dictating bits, though, and my !@#@!!#@@ sony recorder doesn't act like a hard disk and only works with Windows. Even when it works with windows, after installing a whole boatload of crappy software, it stores files in a funky proprietary format.
That recorder is last sony anything (music or gear) I ever bought. It's 3 years old. I'm going to give it to an avid windows user the first chance I get, in exchange for him/her getting the data off in a format I can use...
... Or I'm going to take a large hammer to it, smash it into little itty bitty bits, and take the individual pieces, embed them in sh*t, and send all the crap to their CEO with a note of complaint about their proprietary policies written in cows blood.
My zoom H4, however, I love, aside from being a bit bulky and only 4 hrs lousy battery life. It records stellar mp3s and stores 4 DAYS solid of recordings! It's so much better than my DAT machine and thus far has withstood 10,000 miles of abuse. I've got an H2 on order. ¶ 2:41 PM 0 comments
Off to visit the National Archives tomorrow!
I also note that the writing going on at Urban Agora is generally quite fantastic and touching, and I wish I had time to finish my piece on "Kansas City, Under Glass", but I just don't see having time to sit and reflect for another 18 days. I keep dictating bits, though, and my !@#@!!#@@ sony recorder doesn't act like a hard disk and only works with Windows. Even when it works with windows, after installing a whole boatload of crappy software, it stores files in a funky proprietary format.
That recorder is last sony anything (music or gear) I ever bought. It's 3 years old. I'm going to give it to an avid windows user the first chance I get, in exchange for him/her getting the data off in a format I can use...
... Or I'm going to take a large hammer to it, smash it into little itty bitty bits, and take the individual pieces, embed them in sh*t, and send all the crap to their CEO with a note of complaint about their proprietary policies written in cows blood.
My zoom H4, however, I love, aside from being a bit bulky and only 4 hrs lousy battery life. It records stellar mp3s and stores 4 DAYS solid of recordings! It's so much better than my DAT machine and thus far has withstood 10,000 miles of abuse. I've got an H2 on order. ¶ 2:41 PM 0 comments
