D March 31st, 2010
Some of you may know I consider it an absolute crime that The Box Stores charge so much for HDMI cables. On a fundamental level they are just simple digital carrying cables. In addition as long as the digital signal isn’t interrupted you will always have a perfect picture – because the 0’s and 1’s coming across that cable are prone to interruption, not interference. I found this little graphic from mint.com via lifehacker.com.
D March 26th, 2010
Certainty reduces anxiety; safety – real or perceived gives a sense of calm. Many of the fears and phobias that we deal with on an ongoing basis are the direct result of uncertainty. You may be scared of heights because you are not certain the railing can hold you. Your fear of food poisoning causes you to wholly burn meat in a bacterial genocidal certainty. The fear of terrorists gives public demand for machines that ‘increase’ the certainty to catch ‘them’.
A corollary axiom is ‘ignorance is bliss’, the idea that assumed certainty gives rise to perceived safety, and is on the whole a reliable saying. Before learning of cholera one may see no reason to drink from an otherwise untainted slough. Before examining bicycle death statistics, one may feel comfortable riding without a helmet. Being blissfully ignorant is something many children enjoy for the duration of their childhood.
And this idea goes far beyond physical safety, into popular culture, politics, governments, economics, sexuality, cultural norms, and of course religion. Not knowing facts or ideas outside of your worldview gives you the freedom to feel certain you are right.
Most people claiming religious insight or understanding are frequently biased by their affiliations; that is to say they will give you ‘the party line’ when it comes to theological answers. A true expert in a particular religion would be a rarity indeed; someone possessing unbiased viewpoints that have been aggregated as the best known answers from multiple sources. I dare say such an expert does not exist, although I hope I am wrong.
In our quest for certainty in reconciling our beliefs, and with our lack of capacity to absorb huge amounts of arguments, we surrender much of our critical thinking ability to others, deferring to them and trusting their answers implicitly. Particularly in religious interpretation the danger of this approach is apparent, as few groups have such expansive agendas as religious organizations. Organized religions are less interested in the truth of their texts or prophets and more interested in how their set of derived conclusions can be used to further their assumed worldview. The irony, of course, that such world views can degrade over time becoming muddied and not in order with the original ideas.
With our desire to be certainly right strongly prescient, this cannot end well. It is our collective arrogance that will (or has) ultimately devolve our religious affectations into something utterly unlike their original intention.
And to widen the lens, perhaps we have already derived a product utterly unlike the original, and with no other sources to rely on, have stuck to our guns to our own peril.
A friend at work balked at the news story of Scientologists landing in Haiti to help in the aftermath of the disaster. He questioned their intentions as to landing in that nation during crisis. Were they going to help clear some survivors with their e-meters, or were they simply there in a humanitarian capacity? And moreover, what purpose would an organization that is – to us – so clearly setup as a a very profitable scam have to offer the nation of Haiti; who are inexorably poor. I can think of two reasons: it is a fantastic PR opportunity, or the most alarming conclusion; they are true believers.
They are certain. Beyond doubt. And perhaps in a thousand years people and documents wise to the scam will be extinct.
D March 25th, 2010
try
{
while(true)
{
Boss assigns task A.
I find professional interest in task A and begin work.
10 minutes later, customer Rob requests task B.
I inform customer Rob I'm busy with task A, but will assist him later.
5 minutes later, Good Joke interrupts concentration for task A.
3 minutes later, missent email interrupts concentration for task A.
2 minutes later, customer Kari requests task C indicating urgency.
1 minute later, cell phone indicates Important New Communication.
.5 minutes later, I realize the insignificance of Task A on a cosmic scale.
.2 minutes later, I write this anecdote.
0 minutes later. Nothing accomplished, and it doesn't matter.
}
}
catch (heatDeathOfUniverseException e);
{
// sigh.
}
finally
{
// never occurs
}