Creative Geek

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 08:55:54 GMT

I'm no longer using Radio Userland to do my weblog. You can go to my new website at http://www.creativegeek.net

Fri, 17 Jan 2003 05:11:38 GMT

W. Edwards Deming "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival." [via Motivational Quotes of the Day]

I've been in a class for the past three days so I have had no time to write anything. Well, that's sort of a lie. Last night I had my writing group and wrote quite a bit. It was my first night back after the group ended at Thanksgiving time. Writing felt good. The class was great too. 'Building Support for your Ideas'. Many of the individual skills that we went over (active listening, empathising, paraphrasing, etc) were not new for me. It was the integration of all of them that was new. Using these skills in conjunction really helps to gain support in a wide range of situations and gives you a greater chance of success. The facilitator was enthusiastic and passionate. What more could you want?

Fri, 10 Jan 2003 06:00:29 GMT

Pearl Buck "Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied." [via Motivational Quotes of the Day]

So why do I always seem to slip past that split second and make the mistake? I know it's going to be a mistake and I choose to go ahead anyways.

Thu, 09 Jan 2003 08:47:58 GMT

Tauzin Reverses Stance On Do-Not-Call List I guess Billy Tauzin doesn't want to be labeled as the guy who let the telemarketers keep calling. As powerful as the telemarketing lobby can be (I'm sure they call your house every night at dinner time), the hatred that voters feel for telemarketers seems to have swayed Tauzin. Just yesterday he was going to block funding for a national do not call list. And, now, he's miraculously changed his mind. He still wants the funds to be limited, and he wants to review how things are going a few years down the road, but he's no longer going to make sure that no list shows up for at least another year.

[via Techdirt]

Tauzin is such a sleeze. He's backed Enron, Martha Stewart and seems to be generously supported by big business.

I'm on Idaho's no call list as well as subscribing to Qworst's (Qwest) "block people who don't give their caller-id service". Surprisingly, I don't get telemarketer's calling me anymore!! I heartily recommend it to all my friends :-)

Sat, 04 Jan 2003 22:02:54 GMT

Serious Instructional Technology In Search of Quality has a pointer to another article giving a "Nice overview of research on journals". I guess I've never thought of journals in an educational context. And it's not like I've never heard about it before. My wife sometimes has her classes keep journals that are a key part of their final grade. She has them journal about their thought processes and to make sure they're reading the material. It makes sense for her students. They're religion students and thought process is critical. What if computer science students had to keep journals as they completed their assignments? It would give a glimpse into how they work out problems. They might actually learn by their mistakes because they'd have them written down. Not that they would necessarily go back and read them but... This is the second time this week that I've read about journaling in a professional context. A project manager has kept journals about the projects that he's managing them. More than just minutes or notes; they're an ongoing dialogue on the life of the project. Sounds pretty useful to me. And yet... When I'm working through a programming problem I rarely write or type anything down. I just plow through often times making the same mistakes over and over again even in the same session. I feel like I don't have time to stop, think and write down things. I'm in the groove. I don't want to interrupt that. It's also because I'm too impulsive. It's a fabulous flaw. I don't think. I act. Hmmmm...

Sat, 28 Dec 2002 22:23:00 GMT

Star Wars Origami

"Step-by-step instructions for folding a wide range of Star Wars vehicles -- and R2D2! -- from simple paper. Use the folds, Luke." [via Dodoskido, via Boing Boing Blog, via The Shifted Librarian]

I used to really be into origami about 6 years before my son was born. I made him a pair of little Origami booties. We still have them somewhere. I started to get into Origami so Ethan and I could do something together. I don't remember why I stopped. I'm not very patient and he's not either. Or maybe it's that we're both geeks. We share our love of computers, Star Wars, LotR, Godzilla. What's one more thing?!

Sat, 28 Dec 2002 19:58:41 GMT

I'm in a reading mood right now. During our forced time off, I've had more time to just chill instead of baby-sitting servers. Yesterday, I finished reading Interface co-written by Neal Stephenson and Stephen Bury. The premise of the story is that there is a device that can be implanted in your brain that can provide immediate feedback on how people are reacting to you. You can then instantly tailor your actions and speech to each person. Imagine if you could implant that in a politician's brain and get feedback from a small but broad number of constituents. Voila! Instant poll results. It's a great story with lots of humor in it too. Digs on the political system and the spin doctors that feed them. Mix in a little sci-fi and some plot twists and you have a great story.

Fri, 20 Dec 2002 17:41:06 GMT

HP Board Creates Tech Committees. In a surprising move, it seems that Hewlett Packard's board has created a special technology subcommittee and a technology advisory board who have the job of making sure the company doesn't miss out on any important technology trends. I think this is a great idea in theory, but I wonder how well it will work in practice. I think too many companies don't have anyone looking at larger trends and how it will effect their business (witness the entertainment industry, for example). The folks they have included are certainly impressive, but I wonder if some of them are too high up to spot certain trends early enough. [Techdirt]

I was much encouraged by what I read until I got to this: They say Fiorina's endorsement reflects her confidence in her undisputed leadership role at HP, her comfort in meeting with technologists and a willingness to accept oversight and advice from outsiders with more technical experience. It also could deflect criticism that HP has drifted from the engineering roots of its founders, David Packard and William Hewlett. ``The technical direction of the company is not going to come from either one of these two committees,'' Perkins said. ``It's going to come from management, Shane and Carly and the employees. But we are along for the ride to make some comments and possibly some small course changes.'' So we are going to accept outside help but not too much. No... that wouldn't be good???!!? It assumes that everyone inside the company has this omniscient ability and we just need a little tweaking. And this is supposed to usher in a new era of corporate governance?

Wed, 18 Dec 2002 06:58:09 GMT

Oooops. Apparently 6 years Enron made a tape to roast the departure of one of its execs. It seems that it had a few... ahem... references to accounting playfulness. All in jest of course. Yup. Oops.