The opinions expressed in this [FOO] are mine, and not those of my employer. In fact, they may not even be mine. I may have changed my mind. I may have grown beyond a particular opinion. I may be trolling you. I may be engaging in Socratic dialog to tear down your beliefs. I may be tearing down my own beliefs. γνῶθι σεαυτόν!
This the first in a series of articles where I do a brain dump pf something like 40 years experience with “social media” of various forms: Dial-up BBSs, Fidonet, Usenet, IRC, CompuServe, AOL, Slashdot, Sourceforge, blogspot, Facebook, Jabber, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, Mastadon “…we didn’t start the fire (flame-war?)…” OK, maybe we did.
I hope this is useful, or at least interesting. It may wind up just being a mix of introspection, hubris or narcissism, it may be part of working up the nerve to quit Twitter as I quit Facebook in 2016, maybe I’ll even work up the nerve to go cold turkey as tychi is doing.
Figure 1: RS-232 pin-outs
Post 20 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/
If you ever thought to yourself, “Gee, Emacs Org mode is a great outlining and authoring tool, and I wish there were a powerful and simple way use it to publish static websites on github or in S3 buckets, I wish my blog could look as slick ast https://eludom.github.io/” your’re in luck, All but the simple part. Here are some of the references I used.
Post 19 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/
You learn things when you read original sources for yourself.
I recently picked up a copy of Plato’s allegory of “The Cave”. I had known some of the highlights of the story before, the shadows on the wall, prisoners thinking that the shadows were reality, since that’s all they ever knew, of one prisoner being taken out to see the sun and seeing the true light, coming back down and trying to, literally, enlighten his fellows, and being thought crazy.
Figure 1: Shadows on the wall
I recently picked up reader of samples of important ancient texts that I’ve had for a LONG time and read excerpts from Socrates Apology. Short version: Oracle of Delphi “Socrates is the wisest man” Socrates Nice hypothesis, Apollo, you may be a god, but let’s test it…. Socrates Seeks out “The Wise” of his day, Politicians, Poets, Artisans … questions them … has them all expose themselves as blithering idiots. Socrates OK, “The Wise” are all blithering idiots.
So, when life turns uncertain you have two choices. Cling to things that seem to add stability and certainty, i.e. try to “stay safe”, or embrace the uncertainty, live now, carpe diem, and do things would seem to be fulfilling now. I’m choosing the latter. At 58, in the middle of a pandemic and social unrest, I’m moving to a startup. The following are notes from a friend who has been playing the silicon valley startup game for a few decades.
So my attempt at “just blogging something” for 100 straight days as part of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/ has stalled, but that’s OK.
I have a home painting project going that keeps expanding in scope every time I look at it. I’ve gone on a couple weekend backpacking/canoeing trips, and (biggest time sync of all), I’m in the middle of a job change. That sucks down time and energy. Oh yeah, and the country/world is in a little turmoil right now (COVID-19 and protests) which is, to say the least, distracting, disorienting, disturbing, destructive and otherwise detrimental to a simple goal of blogging every day.
Figure 1: The ever-exapanding painting project
Opening day [of baseball] in Cincinnati has always been a time of hope and optimism, a time to look forward to, a time to enjoy being with family and friends, a time to enjoy looking at the forsythia and daffodils heralding spring, to walk across the Ohio River on the Roebling bridge, to take in the annual Findlay Market Parade, and to hear the umpire (or Marty and Joe on the radio) say “Play Ball.” I am declaring today my personal “Opening Day 2020”
Figure 1: In Yankee Stadium
In my never ending quest for synthesis, this post combines thoughts on the OODA loop and falling out of a canoe twice this weekend in rapids on the Shenandoah river. There is a connection. Maybe.
If you want to see the full trip report, pictures, etc. go here Things that fall in the river get wet. If you’re interested in how this relates to the OODA loop or, better, if you have experience/thoughts on applying the OODA loop to operational cybersecurity settings, read on (and comment !)
Figure 1: On the river during calm between crisis events
Figure 1: Bryan paddling on the Shenandoah
This weekend my son Bryan, friends (former scouts from Philmont days) Sam and Preston and friend Jack went on an canoe trip down the Shenandoah river. We were only dumped in the river by two of the two rapids we encountered. More on that below.
Figure 2: Things that fall in the river get wet