Deep Thoughts – Page 47

Near Future Laboratory Digicult Interview

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Interesting article/interview. I like how the lab is positioning itself in that middle ground between immediate applications and future research. As they put it, “…a mixture of today’s seriousness and fantasy, utilitarian and non-utilitarian situations. It’s made out of cardboard, dirt, duct tape, tubes, bad wiring and vinegar waiting to be turned into a playful and sustainable environment.”

Back when I was considering pursuing the PhD in information science instead of escaping with my terminal masters, I kept running in to this friction amongst the faculty about building near-future information systems. They were right, of course, it’s not what one would really consider academic research. On the other hand, the sort of tinkering on the edges of that research and real-world systems doesn’t really belong in the corporate world either—too much profit-driven pressure. That leaves this middle ground that I find most interesting, and most likely to pay off in the long term. That there was no support for this in the program I was in was the primary reason I left.

I think that the corporate world would do well to provide more support for this kind of research; and to be fair some do. For example, Google asks employees to set aside several hours a week for self-directed research. I hear that employees have to guard this time fiercely, but at least there is institutional support. For the most part, however, development is based on 60 – 80 hour work weeks and geared toward product releases at least every twelve months. Yet most of the paradigm shifting applications to come about in the past 10 years or so have been born out of the efforts of hobbyists, graduate students, and people working on their own time. Napster, Blogger, Flickr, Facebook, etc were not spawned directly out of academic research or corporate R&D but from individual or small group effort.

This is the kind of environment that most excites me. The EVIADA project was exactly what I was looking for. Even though it was based on academic research and was grant funded, the project was essentially toying with edge technologies and information research with some well defined goals and a four year life cycle. My present position offers very little opportunity even though I’m theoretically able to draft my own project agenda. Unfortunately, the everyday world intrudes to the point that there is no room for research projects.

So now I’m looking at returning to school, this time in computer science. Shoring up my technical chops should give me better options in terms of finding work that combines my twin joys of programming and information organization/discovery.

To bring this all to some kind of conclusion then… This interview struck me as an interesting place to position one’s self, especially as I consider moving forward in to another round of education. I’m still relatively certain that academic research isn’t what I want to do. Thus it looks like another terminal masters is my goal.

More Economy Fun

Buried in a MeFi thread was a link to Peter Schiff‘s latest essay on the US economy. If what he writes is true, then we are quite possibly way more fscked than previously believed.

Yes, Mr. Schiff is notorious for his bearish views on the US economy. However, he lays out how the government is fudging GDP in order to amplify any positive trends coming out of 3Q data. Basically, they’re acting as if there is no inflation (where commodity prices would strongly indicate the opposite). For 2Q they used an annualized inflation rate of 3.6% which is pretty league average while they used 0.8% for 3Q. This despite the fed cranking out dollars as fast as they can print them, the problems with credit, and the tanking dollar relative to other currencies.

I think this is another data point in the call for a new Constitutional Convention and revamping of the US government. You should note, Mr. / Mrs. Government Agent, that I did not call for an armed insurrection. Merely for a peaceful rethinking of our system of government. IOW, please do not lock me up for thinking critically.

An Extra Hour

Probably my favorite day of the year…the day we get the extra hour moving from Daylight Saving to Standard time. Oh yeah!

So I spent the extra hour revamping the blog a bit. While I was high on the blue background with wacky box thingers and on involving the dogs for some reason, I like this theme a bit better. I think I’ll mute it a bit more—the background color on the posts kind of screw with the Zen I had in mind. Still, I think we’re in a place where we’re mostly open for business. There’s still the per-category stuff to go over and translating the whole look and feel of The Millionaire’s Holiday site into the WordPress universe.

The Brilliant Idea

So I’m sitting at the desk whiling away the hours until midnight by reading blogs from back when I first discovered the activity. Hats off to LukeLog and Meg (who used to be NotSoSoft back in the day). Reading as these kids / folks / people really invested a lot of effort in exploring the form. I certainly won’t get in to who discovered what when, but for me these folks were pioneering. It was through them that I discovered MeFi which actually was side linked from the Underground IIRC.

What really strikes me now is how conversant they were with the form. Not necessarily the most technically / design / content incline but definitely the best at reviving the vanity site of yore. For me they hit the right balance between geek, personal life, and connections. It was all quite inspiring as I was just starting to rediscover the web myself after years of no computer and no connection. I was testing the waters with graduate school and information science and I saw how I could integrate what they’re doing with my own ideas about information presentation and retrieval.

At the same time I was also working with/for a guy who was strictly old school in the technology department. Not that he didn’t have nice toys or shunned new technology (although he does the latter somewhat) but he was rigid about the least tool necessary for a task. We did not use a graphical IDE for development. We definitely shunned the use of flash and minimized the images. We were on the edge w/r/t implementing CSS driven sites. Server-side scripting? Rriiiiigggghhht.

I’ve taken a lot of that forward with me. In my MIS program I was a bit snobbish about the HTML and code my classmates generated. I often let this snobbery get in the way of appreciating the larger lesson. Moving into my first real, bona fide professional position I made my life a great deal more difficult because of some zealous adherence to an amalgamation of XHTML Strict / CSS / 508c / Nielsen rules. Now at my most recent position I am still fighting my first boss’s battles.

And I’m really not sure it’s worth it. Either that or I’ve ended up in the wrong place professionally. Slowly but surely, the web design field is moving beyond my skill set. I’m very focused on programmatic solutions and automated text processing while the broader audience could care less about these things. I keep waiting for the vindication. Well, okay, the CSS / XHTML thing is starting to pay off. But I’ve got staff who think nothing of bundling instructional tutorials in Flash instead of interactive DHTML. I’m falling behind playing with AJAX because I continue to have to keep the bailing wire web site I inherited together. And I don’t have the opportunity to pursue this on my own time because I’ve elected to try having a social life and meaningful relationship outside of work.

Then there’s the whole missing out on ontologies and metadata angle which was the thing that most interested me in school. I just cannot seem to find an entry into the professional ranks and now I’m not even certain what’s left of my knowledge is even relevant.

And so I whine as I sit at the desk whiling away the hours until midnight…

Fezboy! detests choral music. "Swing choir" makes him puke. . . violently. Helping out as the coatcheck boy here at the local performing arts center I’ve had to sit through 220 minutes of ear-bleeding pep-pap. The cultural equivalent of unflavored gelatin – that’s what it is. It also brings in the locals and I don’t mean locals in a friendly way. We’re talking Kentucky Waterfall mentality here. They’re so aftraid of being cheated by the Liberal Fraternity of Arts venues that they carry their wet coats and umbrellas into the house with them in order to avoid using the free coat check service. Well, there is tip jar on the counter I suppose, but it IS voluntary after all. No, they just don’t want to take the chance of accidentally supporting some kind of orgiastic, homo-friendly, leftist organization with their dollars.

Of particular note was the character who brought his video camera along in order to tape little Suzie’s slut-o-matic rendition of KC & the Sunshine Band’s Celebration. The sign outside states, "No videotaping of tonight’s performance allowed. Orders are being accepted for copys [sic] of the video being produced at tonight’s performance" or some such gibberish. Regardless, golf-shirt boy seemed to think he could just mosey on in with his camera.

However, the ticket taking folks would not let him through the lobby with the obvious, oversized, 1989 era video camera. His only option being to check it with me, coatcheck boy. Perhaps I did not look trustworthy this evening, or maybe he thinks there is a high demand for decrepit video cameras – who knows? At any rate, he was quite hesitant to leave the camera with me although he finally made the choice to see the show instead of clutch his recording device.

Fezboy! had the thought run through his head that he should, perhaps, have filmed his hairy, bare ass for about fifteen minutes while he had possession of the camera. Caution proved to win the day however, and no ass filming amatuer pornography took place. Fezboy! regrets this error now since golf-shirt-kahki boy failed to leave a gratuity in appreciation for his returned (unmolested) decrepit video recording device.

I like to drink lots of lukewarm, extra-strong coffee in a short period of time. If the coffee is strong enough, you will actually get the shakes. The associated euphoria also sparks some exciting creative thinking. If nothing else – it’s a cheap, easy, and legal high.

Trying to come up with two designs this weekend. Black Fez Productions, Conglomerated needs a new look and a bit of content. Something that can either sell BFP or sell Fezboy! to a design firm here in Flowertown. I’m getting quite comfortable with CSS layout and X-browser compatibility.

I also want to start work on my E-zine this summer. Popular Cynicism will convey attitude and stylings in a cynical manner. Sort of a non-partisan political rag that also points out the idiocy of American/Western culture and lifestyle. However it will also serve as a platform to showcase my abilities as a designer and administrator of a fairly complex media site.

Of course, this is all silly optimism . . .

Fezboy! just had his ass handed to him in a friendly game of Scrabble.^® A good game that did not feature so many extraordinary words, but ordinary words played extraordinarily.

Final score:

Wife of Fezboy 296
Fezboy! 254

The Thunderchicken is no more.

The automobile that has ferried Fezboy!’s wife for longer than he has known her himself went belly up last evening. There is some sadness in Fezdom today, but not so much as one might think. Yes, the Almighty Fez has pulled off one of the more ironical events of the past few years.

You see, we put the car up for sale yesterday. I think the Thunderchicken just didn’t want to go on under new management and so it had a massive coronary on Jordan Avenue, just north of University. We are spared the pain of selling the TC on the one hand, but no long stand to receive a needed cash infusion on the other.

Oh well. Just goes to show you I guess. What, I’m not sure, but you have been shown nonetheless.