Red Leopard

freshnews.org I get my tech news through the freshnews aggregator. While not a complete picture of the world, it is enough for me. Those looking for a more extensive time waster, try originalsignal.com. Certainly, using an aggregator implies that someone else is selecting the stories I read and therefore outside forces are impacting my worldview. But isn’t that always true? Are we not inherently enthralled by amusing stimulation? Those concerned about it might look here , here or here . ...

Linkedin’s latest site redesign reduced the font-size to eye-straining smallness. When I tried to enlarge the text (OmniWeb, Safari, MacBook Pro), I found text enlargement didn’t work. What? How did they disable text enlargement? And why would someone purposely make their website difficult to read? I don’t have a desire to hunt down how linkedin disabled text enlargement. Even if I did find the cause, I’m sure people who could fix the problem already know yet choose to not fix the problem. ...

A few quotes and idioms I’ve collected. 顿悟之前砍柴挑水，顿悟之后砍柴挑水——吴力。 Dùnwù zhī qián kǎnchái tiāo shuǐ, Dùnwù zhī hòu kǎnchái tiāo shuǐ. –Wú Lì Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water; After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. –Wu Li Note: Enlightenment does not relieve one of the details of daily life. 摸着石头过河——邓小平。 Mōzhe shítou guòhé. –Dèng Xiǎopíng Cross the river by feeling the stones. –Deng Xiaoping Note: We may not see exactly how to get there but we will pragmatically find our way; we will learn as we go. ...

[update 2011-05-06 I believe my tone in this posting is unjustly harsh and debated (with myself) whether to remove it or not. I’ve decided to let it remain and write a new, more appropriately toned post. Why the change in heart? I’m reading Sieler’s Coaching to the Human Soul (2005). My questions arising in Flaherty’s (2010) book are being answered in Sieler’s. I’ve also just finished reading Brock’s dissertation (2008) which addresses the history and lineage of coaching. Brock is said to publish Sourcebook of Coaching History later this year, now on my future reading list.] Coaching: Evoking Excellence in Others by James Flagherty ...

I read a paper some time ago–but for the life of me cannot remember where–presenting study findings on student recall and comprehension. The irony of not recalling the details of a paper on the subject of recall spurred me to examine my own recall in other areas. I may have forgotten the source but the gist of the paper… that I remember: The best way to improve comprehension and recall is to write an essay. I’ve long believed that writing develops a concept more fully (Galbraith, Torrance & Hallam, 2006) but the lost paper suggests that essay writing on a new subject internalizes the content. ...

January, 2011. A month of reflection and choices. My world will never be the same. Speak a new language so that the world will be a new world. —Rumi

2010 sucked. Don’t get me wrong. There was a lot good happened in 2010. But as a vintage, it sucked. Big donkey balls. At 2010’s wake, we make New Year’s resolutions in hopes that doing so will wash the taste out of our mouths. It’s what we do. Like paying taxes in April. Creatures of habit, that’s what we are. One of those habits is making resolutions at year’s end. ...

I couldn’t get the idea out of my head that the Avatar rendering cluster required 1 petabyte of storage. However, this slide show of the facilities used for filming the actors opened my eyes. [eye opening slide show] The petabyte is required not just for the finished product. It’s needed to store all the sensor and camera data as well. Okay. I accept that Weta needed 1PB. How does one go about creating a petabyte storage facility? What are the tradeoffs? How much does it cost to build and then to maintain? ...

I’ve been working on and off on the next Seeds of Discontent article. This is a tidbit of an upcoming post but I wanted to push it out now since I need it published for a divergent sidebar article. It stands here bald and raw. That’s life. This system uses most of the Rampage III resources. The two Radeon cards will completely consume the PCI Express lanes (2 x16). The 24GB DDR3 will fill the six DRAM slots. ...

These are my notes made while looking for an Aikido dojo in the San Francisco Bay’s mid-peninsula region. Specifically the communities in and around Palo Alto, CA. (image: wikimedia.org) [Update 2011-12-20: I have chosen to train at Aikido Center and started attending Zazen and Aikido classes in October 2011.] I won’t get into the ‘why’ I’m looking for an Aikido dojo in this posting. Most of what I would say can be gleaned from Stan Wrobel’s excellent book, Aikido for Self Discovery: Blueprint for an Enlightened Life. I’ve included a short book review. ...