Manuel M. "Moe" Garcia - Plinky Answers

Three starts to the year

2010-04-06T19:55:22-05:00

I am punishing the part of me that gets too heavy and serious and longwinded.

So I am just going to talk about my three starts to the year.

New Years Day.

Chinese New Year (because my Babylove is Vietnamese)

My birthday, at the end of March (which works out pretty good, because March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb)

I get three tries to get it right!

Fatty Liver means my Babylove wants me to stop drinking beer

2010-03-23T14:01:22-05:00

I am not a big drinker, which is good news for me, because my father was a heavy cigarette smoker and is still an alcoholic. I don't care for wine at all, and don't care for hard liquor. But I do enjoy a fine beer, especially English beers. Yummy! Dark beer, ales, spicy little microbrews, all good stuff. My limit is two beers at one sitting, because I am all about the taste, not getting buzzed.

My problem is that I am overweight, and I store my fat in my liver - so, FATTY LIVER OVERDRIVE, BABY! So my Babylove wants me to stop drinking beer, even though I average only about 3 beers a week. Even the fattiest of livers can metabolize 3 beers a week without breaking a sweat, but the Babylove has spoken.

Not really a problem. I enjoy a good ice water. My Babylove also has this strange idea about drinking body temperature water, how this is supposed to be HEALTHY HEALTH OVERDRIVE, BABY! No way I am drinking piss-warm water. Take away my beer, but leave me my ice cubes.

I love any bookstore with multiple stories (pun!)

2010-03-19T13:58:23-05:00

If the bookstore has stairs or an escalator, I love it. To a certain extent, I have turned my house into a bookstore with stairs, except the organization is very iffy, little or no alphabetizing or categorizing, and no cash register because the grump in charge wants BIG CASH MONEY for his crappy books all stained, sun bleached, and paperback covers and pages in crumpled condition. And the books are all highlighted with words underlined with a 5 ink color Hello Kitty pen, with 1 to 5 stars drawn in the upper outside corner of the page, with brackets and commentary in the margins, and words I have never read before that I don't know the definitions to copied on the top of the page. What a goof I am.

Gotta haunt those stacks. Running back and forth, as I remember crap I want to read about. Since I am a weirdo space alien type guy, I never read fiction, I only love non-fiction. Buying books like an idiot, because, in theory, I should haunt the university library at UCI. To save that cash money. But it bugs me when I need access to a fact and I am unable to run upstairs and downstairs of my house to find the exact book on the exact page.

If I like the books so much, you would think I would not let them litter the floor in heaps.

No conspiracies - everything you should worry about is in plain view

2010-03-17T12:13:58-05:00

Conspiracies are very uninteresting. I am supposed to worry about Bush and Cheney bringing down the Twin Towers, but everything that happened during the GWB White House years was exquisitely planned and published before the fact by the conservative thinkers and the Neo-Cons. Why do we have to act surprised that they did exactly what they told everyone they would do?

That the Republicans and Democrats are two different faces of the Corporatist Party is something they don't even bother to hide. It is like accusing a five year old of a conspiracy to steal from the cookie jar when the little dude doesn't even bother to wipe the chocolate mess and crumbs from his little face. Using the word "conspiracy" is absurd.

Conspiratorial thinking is just a roundabout way to absolve yourself from any responsibility for taking action. It is a way to claim that any constructive action is pointless because the Big Bad Scary Forces pull the strings from the shadows. Garbage. Little thoughts for pathetic little people.

The conspiracy you should worry about is the conspiracy inside you, that makes you settle for 2nd best, 3rd best, 4th best, etc, when you possess the power to do more. The light of *personal* *responsibility* makes all the conspiratorial shadows disappear.

Because you should be thinking less about the state of the White House, and more about how much time you spend helping your daughter with her homework, or how you can tell your wife that you love her in a way that is meaningful to her, or all the personal battles that actually mean something in a life. Frick conspiracies in the tushie. Yeah, I said it: Frick conspiracies in the tushie!

Hey, what about Gummi Worms in the Rotting Skull of Jesus candy?

2010-03-15T16:47:24-05:00

Easter is so crazy. Jesus coming back to life, and bunnies, and eggs. Obviously poor Jesus got shoehorned in some Pagan spring fertility worship.

Millions of M&Ms at the M&M shop

Not crazy about M&Ms, but really not crazy about "Dead Jesus coming back to Life" type candy.

Too much milk chocolate on Easter, not my bag.

Forget the Humpty Hump - Do the Bumby Scrape

2010-03-03T11:55:47-05:00

I hate dancing. It is so excruciating with social anxiety. I cannot get out of my own head, and it just makes me disgustingly self-conscious, and self-absorbed.

I would rather sit in a corner with a book.

My petition for mandatory naptime

2010-03-02T14:32:58-05:00

From 11am to 2:30pm, you should be either eating or sleeping. No working. UNDER PENALTY OF DEATH!

Rats! Mother Nature's dearest children

2010-02-23T18:37:01-05:00

I asked my daughter to help with the bait for the rat traps. She smeared peanut butter on Italian cheese. It actually looked like a fairly tasty treat, but I was simply going to smear it on the trigger of a rat trap, hoping not to snap my fingers.

ssttt! little baby-mouse, sleeping on my hand

We have rats in our attic. It is gross, a 6'1" 260 lb dude scrabbling all up in the rafters of the attic, praying he (me) will not fall through the ceiling, me scrabbling amongst the rat dropping, setting rat traps with my shaky arthritic hands.

But I admire rats. Nobody takes care of them, they have to take care of themselves. But after humans kill themselves with climate change or nuclear war or both, rats will still be scurrying. And squeaking.

That is a FINE DESIGN. Rats never put on airs, they just be stuffing their face with cheese and pooping in my attic.

My family is KWAZEY, among other things

2010-02-19T17:54:42-05:00

KWAZEY
We are a KWAZEY (crazy) type family. We will break out laughing or singing or make crazy animal noises, at any time.

Epicurean
Love good food, mainly because Mommy (my Baby-Love) is a great chef.

Loud
Screamy screamy. Nobody bothers walking to the other to ask a questions, so questions are constantly screamed across the whole house.

Grouchy (in the mornings)
Everyone is grouchy first thing out of bed.

Time for Pee Pee 2.0

2010-02-18T09:49:36-05:00

Hey, who be getting Pee Pee all up in this public restroom floor, seat, handle, and wall? Peeuw Stinky Pee Pee!

Peeing

Pee Pee needs a revamp, a version 2.0. The color is kind of dirty, and the smell disgusting. Pee Pee should be a Wild Berry Purple color, and smell like Lavender and Mint.

I'm assumed to be the leader, I just want to nap

2010-02-16T14:33:27-05:00

"Explain why you'd rather pave the path or walk in it?" I just want to nap. But I am assumed to be the leader, usually. Why?

1) I am Tall and meaty. I am built like a fullback. People are lazy and assign leadership to the tallest guy around, because the top of his head is easy to track, even with bobbing and weaving. Follow that tall dude!

2) I am Very surly. I always have a poopie-face on, so people assign leadership to me, just so that they don't have to deal with my surly poopie-face when I shout down their attempt to give me an order. If I am shouting out orders, at least they get some relief when I eventually leave the room.

3) I am a Bullshit artist. I begin almost all my spoken sentences without any knowledge of my eventual point. I am a fount of infinite plausible bullshit.

4) I am the Child of an Alcoholic, so I can tolerate extremely provoking, shocking, uncomfortable, and violent situations. I just storm into every situation, and raise the anxiety levels with abuse until I am the only one who can still bear to string a sentence together. That is my Super Power.

5) I actually care about Fairness and Fulfilling Human Potential and Validating Authentic Feelings. The other things make me a Good Leader, but this thing is why I am a Bad Leader. I actually care about Fairness and Fulfilling Human Potential and Validating Authentic Feelings, like a Girly-Man. Leaders should be complete psychopaths and sociopaths. People prefer psychopaths and sociopaths as leaders, and in that regard I always disappoint. When I open my fool mouth about Fairness and Fulfilling Human Potential and Validating Authentic Feelings, people know they can relax, because I will not be the leader for long. People hate hearing about Fairness and Fulfilling Human Potential and Validating Authentic Feelings because it is even more BORING than filling out a tax form. People actually prefer people who bulldoze over everyone, because then everyone is relieved of the burden of thoughtful consideration and honest heartfelt expression. Shut that BORING GIRLY-MAN up!

Taken all together, this is why I am constantly interrupted when I am just looking for a soft place to lie down, even though I don't want to lead, and nobody really wants me to lead. Put on the ol' poopie-face >:-{

Sorry my standard of living made you into a cave dweller

2010-02-15T15:12:31-05:00

Hey, it is quite a party while it lasted. I figured the last bit of glacier melted 15 seconds after I kicked off. Glub, glub, hope you brought a pair of water wings, glub, glub. When you look at the rust colored sky, remember it is a smidge shade darker because of my tooling around in my car.

I assume all mammals more majestic than a possum has gone extinct. Sorry 'bout that, needed all that wilderness land to grow yummy beef. With methane cow farts as an industrial by-product.

Keep on, keepin' on! Your dead grandpappy - Moe G.

Orange County Stooge lost in Los Angeles

2010-02-12T13:45:57-05:00

I cannot hack cities. My anxiety makes me fall apart.

I hate the parking, I hate the navigating, I hate my bad city driving. Los Angeles has many wonderful museums, but the rest, I can leave it and lump it.

MOAR SLEEPIES

2010-02-11T10:47:58-05:00

I sleep too much, and I always need more sleep. Always with two huge ice packs swaddling my wittle head.

My wife is the exact opposite; her motor is jump out of bed early, and shake the house to the foundations by sheer force of will.

Messy Haired Boy and the Un-Kicked Ass

2010-02-10T19:31:37-05:00

There was a boy, with messy hair. Too many fears, not many friends. Stuck in his head, crazy thoughts.

He needed an ass-kicking.

He got an education, of a sort. He avoided women and work and women.

He needed an ass-kicking.

The Universe saw he needed an ass-kicking. And stuck a shoe in.

The boy rubbed his ass, sobbing.

The boy has changed a bit, ass hurts a bunch, but yet some messy hair,
but yet some too many fears,
but yet some not many friends,
but yet some stuck in head,
but yet some crazy thoughts,
but yet some avoid women,
but yet some avoid work,
but yet some avoid women.

Boy is better, but not much better.

NEEDS MORE ASS-KICKING!

How to screw in anything without jamming the threads

2010-02-09T18:47:04-05:00

I learned this from the Adam Carolla Car Podcast

http://www.adamcarolla.com/CarCastBlog/2010/02/06/nate-shelton-and-chris-phillips/

some poor guy jammed and stripped the threads of his oil drain plug. Here is how to screw in anything (works great for lightbulbs) without jamming the threads.

"Righty Tighty - Lefty Loosey"
First think "Righty Tighty - Lefty Loosey" so you remember how screws and bolts work.

Turn backworks in hole first "Lefty Loosey"
Don't use a tool at first, just with your hand make your first turn *backwards*. You are spinning the screw or nut backwards first, to make sure the threads are mating straight. You will feel the screw or nut rise up then "pop" back down - that is the exact place where the threads will mate perfectly. Now you are ready to screw.

Now screw forwards - hand tight first
Now that you found the place for the screws to mate by spinning backwards, now turn forwards "Righty Tighty" just hand tight. Don't use any tools. Turn it hand tight

Now use tool for final tightening
Finally, use a tool for the final tightening, and lock the screw or nut in place with the final 1/4 turn.

Forget the baby, happiness of Mommy & Daddy comes first

2010-02-08T20:10:32-05:00

Err, take this with a grain of salt. I am not 100% what kind of frame of mind I am in, looking back at what I wrote.

Lovers embracing on the beach at sundown / sunset on Morro Strand State Beach 10 Jan 2010

A piece of paper that reads "Permission Granted to be happy - Happiness of parents trumps 'needs' of kids."

If you think you will be able to put your kid's needs before the happiness of you and your hubby-type, you are sadly mistaken, you are fooling yourself, you are setting your kid up to pay the price for your foolishness.

When you attempt to put somebody's else before your own happiness, it just builds resentment inside yourself that will spill out somewhere else. Putting someone else first - humans are just not wired that way. And when you act out of resentment from attempting to squash your own identity, your selfishness will burst out into something horrific and passive-aggressive and spiteful. Blech. Think about it - some of the most hideously self-centered people will not shut up about how "giving" they are - but it is always twisted and ultimately all done to feed their self-absorption.

Better to do some soul searching to find out what *really* gives you happiness and fulfillment. It will probably have nothing to do with the bullshit you see on Tee-Vee and the movies. Then you have a basis to build a parenting relationship upon.

Hey, forget the private school tuition if it will just lead to bottled-up resentment that will explode negatively. Have a more realistic view of your own human nature - being a parent does not make the laws of human nature disappear.

I may have to come back to this - I have a bad feeling I did not communicate well here. The relationship that my wife and I share with our daughter is based on pretty cool stuff - we can fall back on warmth and human care and interest. I hope no negative vibes are being bottled up.

Hot Wings for my B'Day

2010-02-05T17:21:13-05:00

I am not a huge hot wings fan, but my tiny family is planning on going to chow down on hot wings for my B'Day. Only because I have requested going to the wings place a half dozen times, and getting shot down each time by my Baby-Love, my daughter, or both. So I will have to put my foot down if I actually want to get some.

I would prefer to go to http://www.wingnuts.biz/

but we will probably go to http://www.buffalowings-ca.com/

+ a pitcher of beer.

'Rubiks Race', Cribbage

2010-02-04T12:49:43-05:00

Not the outdoorsy type. Some board games, and one "run around silly" game

Rubiks Race
http://www.amazon.com/Frame-Game-Originally-Known-Rubiks/dp/B0007RV3VQ

http://homepages.sover.net/~nichael/puzzles/rubrac/index.html

This is a hoot and a holler. It is like solving a sliding tile puzzle as a race.

cribbage
Maybe less about being a kid, but I definitely enjoyed playing cribbage with my sister during dull afternoons. When one of us got too far ahead, we would just quit the game and start over a new game. Also, we were kind in pointing out combinations that the other person missed. There is a lot to be said about playing competitive games in the spirit of cooperation.

capture the flag
I could not comprehend why all humans didn't play "capture the flag" at every opportunity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_the_flag

I am jealous of people who had sweet romances in their youth

2010-02-01T18:05:35-05:00

Kinda cutting close to the bone, but I admit I am jealous of people who had sweet romances in their youth. My whole first quarter of a century of living was full of longing for romance. I can hardly blame the 3.4 billion women for my lack of romance- I was a very troubled boy with a head full of troubling thoughts. I am now sufficiently medicated for a relationship, and I have pulled my head out of my ass enough for a relationship - and, what do you know, I now have a relationship. So huzzah for modern pharmacology and pulling heads out of asses.

But adult relationships cannot have the same sweetness of young romances, and that is a downer. But indulging in long bouts of envy cannot lead to a better life, so reminding myself of this fact is how I stop indulging in envy.

Genetics < 50%, but Genetic Expression > 50%

2010-02-01T17:27:24-05:00

Whatever knuckle-dragging racists consider genetics probably counts for less than 50% of your personality, but...

Lets consider a persons particular genetic expression of personality (personality features manifest in an individual, paying no mind to the massive variability if we only consider the genetic heritage of the parents). Now, considering this, we have something that has much more influence over personality than environment.

For example, the Big Five personality traits:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits

Quote: The Big five factors are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (OCEAN, or CANOE if rearranged)

These seem to be set at conception, visible soon after birth, stable for your whole life, and resistance to long term change due to environment or intervention.

Also, Jonathan Haidt's five Moral Foundations: Care/Protection, Fairness, Loyalty/Ingroup, Respect/Authority, Purity - also seems to be due to individual genetic expression, and resist change due to environment or intervention.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Haidt

[ nice TED video by Haidt: http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html ]

These other things, to me, seem to be true:

* It is a good thing to believe that you have the ability, with work, to positively change your repertoire of moral thoughts and moral actions. And most people have this belief (thank goodness).

* Over the time scale of 10 to 15 years, with daily work, a person can positively change the repertoire of moral thoughts and moral actions. (Most Americans can only conceive of time scales of months, at most. Bad Times if you actually wish to improve yourself morally. Please consider daily work toward a longer time horizon goal.)

* There is no lack of *Good Info* on positively changing the your repertoire of moral thoughts and moral actions, over the time scale of 10 to 15 years. Start with the Stoics and the Neo-Confucian thinker Wang Yangming, take seriously the writings of the Epicureans, the Cynics, the Buddhists, and the Taoists to foster some philosophic perspective. If Jesus floats your boat, he'z a good'in too.

After Personality and Moral Foundations, there is IQ. IQ counts as a distant third to personality and moral foundations in a human.

OK, now for fun, I will figure out where I sit with regards to the Big Five Personality traits, and Haidt's Five Moral Foundations:

Openness - I am more inventive/curious, less cautious/conservative

Conscientiousness - more spontaneous/careless, less efficient/organized

Extroversion - more shy/withdrawn, less outgoing/energetic

Agreeableness - more suspicious/antagonistic/outspoken, less friendly/compassionate

Neuroticism - more sensitive/depressed/anxious, less secure/confident

For the Moral Foundations, I will state my goal, and what I am willing to risk to secure that goal.

Care - moral emotion towards people being taken care of - risking burdening the most capable to provide care for the most vulnerable, risking a loss of prosperity, and risking losing a cherished way of life or standard of living

Fairness - moral emotion towards strict fairness - even to the point of handicapping the most privileged to avoid the possibility of unfairness, risking a loss of prosperity, and risking losing a cherished way of life or standard of living.

Loyalty - moral emotion to not exclude the out-group, - even to the point of denying the most privileged the freedom to forming a self-perpetuating in-group, risking a loss of prosperity, and risking losing a cherished way of life or standard of living.

Respect - moral emotion to never let tradition or authority stand in the way of a moral goal, even to the point of mocking or harassing privileged tradition or authority, risking losing a cherished way of life or standard of living.

Purity - moral emotion to never let the desire for purity to stand in the way of a moral goal, even to the point of purposely & spitefully soiling or desecrating a thing or a place, risking losing a cherished way of life or standard of living.

Lastly...

The only place where I might push back is with Agreeableness - I am often quiet nasty, but I have a strong streak of Sweetness. It pains me to think someone nearby might be suffering emotionally, and I owe them to go more than halfway to let them know that it is not hopeless and to validate their grief and validate their potential to shed that grief. Even if I am just setting myself up to be taken advantage of, it is worth it to take that chance, for what is right.

And, I am not particularly impressed with my ability to put moral concerns before my own comfort. If I had to pick the most contemptible thing about me, it is that I often put my own comfort over my own moral concerns.

...

Hey, that worked out well. I never wrote that all out in one place before.

Hold breath helps rid hiccups

2010-01-29T13:02:15-05:00

HIC HIC HIC hic HIC HIC hic hic HIC hic hic hic (pause) hic hic HIC HIC HIC (pause) HIC (pause) HIC (pause) HIC

(repeat)

holding my breath until I turn invisible

Hold your breath. AND - With each "swallowed hiccup" that follows, draw in some air - it will be hard, but try to draw in as much air as you can, even if it is a tiny amount. The pressure downwards against your diaphragm will steadily increase, until you hardly have any reaction to a hiccup spasm in your diaphragm.

Hold breath for as long you can. No hiccup can resist the onslaught.

Battle-Bots against your diaphragm. Phew-Phew! Hiccups gone!

I try to explain this to my Baby-Love and to my daughter. Both think I am Krazy. But it works for me.

My daughter just rolls with the hiccups, pays them no mind. Drives me nuts. Personally, I am COMPELLED to squash my hiccups.

The Unibomber could teach me about being more neighborly

2010-01-26T13:16:28-05:00

I have always had the introverted & Aspergers thing going on, so I have always found neighborly-type relationships anxiety laden to the point of being painful. The neighbors I have found myself saddled with have not done anything to help. A motley crew.

I have found there is not fence high enough to make a bad neighbor into a good neighbor, so giving them a fake smile and giving with a wide berth and meeting them more than half-way is the best solution. Give them an inch, watch them take a mile, and just trust the universe to dole out the bad karma to them in the next life, and suck it up. I always assume I will end up paying for 150% of any neighborly transaction, so when it turns out I am *only* paying 145% I am pleasantly surprised, and I use all my spiritual energy for that fake smile I was talking about, and never give any thought to revenge.

The worst neighbors always have the most free time, and the best neighbors are always working too hard to give any time or energy to a bad scene. So, if you are gainfully employed, you will never win any battle with a bad neighbor. Just be polite, and save your pennies for lawyer's fees, if they *really* *really* overstep.

Drift in and out of consciousness with fever dreams

2010-01-19T13:17:23-05:00

Sleep is so tempting when my widdle head hurts. But first I have to hide from co-workers, friends, and loved ones - because for some strange reason they have considerable emotional investiture in my being awake and ready for their bid and call.

Raccoon sleeping in a tree

Couches are the best for intra-day headache-cure sleep. I have some huge ice packs - I put one on the whole front of my head and another on the whole back of my head. Basically, I am flash-freezing my brain case.

Hide! Cheese-It... The Cops!

2010-01-12T12:43:23-05:00

You can do more damage and cause more mayhem if you remain unseen. And how are you going to know who's back to paint a target upon if you are not watching what is going on?

I am quite Introverted/Asperger-y so a lot of times I prefer to sink into the background, alone, so I can "recharge my batteries".

I am eating Goatmeal - I would rather be eating Chorizo

2010-01-11T12:45:08-05:00

Goatmeal
Actually, I enjoy a fine bowl of oatmeal. Oatmeal - a little bit honey & brown sugar, raisins & banana & cream - a very fine thing. My Baby-Love makes me Sunday breakfast oatmeal with banana - and I cannot complain. Very fine for regular bowel movements (also - see Black Coffee later).

Chorizo & Eggs & Hash Brown Potatoes
Now, lets get into the realm of food I am not allowed to eat! Chorizo & Eggs & Hash Brown Potatoes - & jalapenos & onions & olives & mushrooms & peppers. BooYeah! Chorizo - pure indigestion greasy meaty spicy goodness! Be careful to overcook! Oh Baby, all that fine caramelization and browning going on!

Black coffee w/ Mucho Refills
What do I like about Black Coffee w/ Mucho Refills? (1) It's Black (2) It's Coffee (3) It's Refills Muy Mucho. Coffee is outstanding for Epic B.M.s just before noon.

Las Vegas Buffet Bacon Tray Bacon
Order bacon at Denny's - two lousy pieces! What the hell am I supposed to do with two lousy pieces of bacon? Las Vegas Buffet Bacon Tray Bacon - now THAT is bacon! Also like the flatness of the bacon pieces and the perfection of the cooking - not undercooked (gross jelly like shivering streaks of glistening fat) and not overcooked (overcooked bacon = severe depression)

Half Gallon Jug of Orange Juice
What the hell am I supposed to do with a glass of OJ the size of my thumb?

Pancakes + Sausage
Best thing about Pancakes - Pancakes is *plural*. And it is *cake*. I use very little butter on my toast, but on pancakes... that butter + warm syrup hits the spot. Breakfast sausage is not my favorite, but with pancakes + butter + warm syrup, Boy-Howdy!

I cut my own hair - because I am a crazy folk

2010-01-08T16:20:29-05:00

Hate having people touch me, hate waiting, hate sitting still in that chair, hate stupid chit-chat, hate the horror of a bad haircut, hate them taking my glasses away and forgetting to give them back when they ask me to survey the progress in the mirror, hate getting all shaggy while procrastinating going to barber, hate finding out my barber is a Ditto-Head, hate having somebody assume I saw the game last night, hate tipping for just a middling haircut, hate reading dog-eared old magazines. So I hate the barber - big time.

What should you expect if you get me to shave your head in my bathroom?

You should expect a buzz cut if I cut your hair, because that is the only cut I can do. Put on the 3/8" guard, and I go to town. Zip zap zip that razor across my head, until I run out of hairs to cut.

You should expect the same electric razor used to cut ALL MANNER of body hair - I am not shaving down for a swim-meet, and I have no desire to get hairless over my body and baby-smooth, but realized long ago if I chop away at the thickets of curly hairs, I can save on my undergarment laundering bills. So have no illusions of an electric razor in proper hairdresser sanitary condition.

You should expect the back of your neck shaved better than the back of my own neck.

You should expect to be showered clean of tiny hairs afterward.

Math - could slack off, and still get good grades

2010-01-07T12:50:13-05:00

To be honest, what I liked best about math was that I could slack off and still be at or near the top of the class. The harder the math got, the better I did, relative to the rest of the class.

Ultimately, I got a pretty decent undergrad math education from UCLA, took some graduate level algebra as an undergrad. I never had to rise above a loping slacker's pace.

Lacked and would have appreciated: category theory (zip zero zilch taught), better differential equations (I got a decent grade with no need to understand the subject, which is lame), continuous distributions and how they relate to the Fourier transform (if this was taught to me, I don't remember it).

It is shocking how much I need to learn now was invented/developed after I graduated from college. Before 1993 - No distributed revision control, no distributed operating systems, no decent theory of just-in-time compiling, no decent published real-world examples of Bayesian probability, Judea Pearl's theory of causality wasn't invented yet, no decent cryptographic hashes, no Bloom filters, no decent introductory texts on decision analysis. My wife says that is why she doesn't want our daughter to go into computers - you have to keep learning and forget the crap that just doesn't matter anymore. Whatever. I think it is inescapable that you have to keep learning just to keep somebody from eating your lunch.

Frankly, I am glad I didn't do well enough, overall, to attempt a post-graduate degree in math or computers, back in 1993. A lot of what passes in academia today is pretty weak sauce, in applied math and computer science. God bless the IntarWebs. I can just grab the info I need and go. One problem, the tempo has increased.

Passive-Aggressive expert, Bulls*** Artist

2010-01-06T12:09:34-05:00

Mainly, I want to make it through the day with the minimum of being bothered by other people's problems. So I got a metric-butt-load of passive-aggressive techniques to make people go away. If I drank some caffenie, I could think of some, right now. For now, left unsaid.

Another thing I was thinking about yesterday - if you are tall, with glasses, and have a deep low voice, people assume you know what is going on and they assume you are in charge. So often times, I am called upon to answer questions I have no business answering. In those times, I just start talking, and begin sentences that I have no idea how they will end - I should look surprised at what I just pulled out of my ass, but I maintain a calm expression. I just calmly bullshit until the other person is satisfied, and they go away. They had no business expecting good information from me, so I don't feel guilty. Strangely, I get a lot of repeat business - answering questions. I have learned, if you really want to learn what is going on, stay away from the guy who *looks* like he knows what is going on, and, instead, shoot-the-shit with the scruffy sketchy looking guy off to the side. That is the guy who *really* knows what is going on - he knows where all the bodies are buried and who really gets the work done. Truthfully, most people are terrified to learn what is really going on, because the news is probably alarming and depressing. So they really want a bunch of comforting, plausible sounding lies. And that is where I come in - happy to serve!

What really happens is that after I get tired making up bullshit for repeat customers, I lay out the facts in as startling a manner as possible, so people crap their pants at the horror of the true situation. And then those people have to run to find a new bullshit artist. So I am not doing my "job" as well as I could.

Ice sculpture of Wang Yangming - Neo-Confucius Scholar & Military Leader

2009-12-30T11:36:53-05:00

I didn't put much thought into this before I started typing. In reality, I would let my daughter pick the kind of ice sculpture, and she would prolly pick a Panda Bear. Which is fine with me. But if I really had the free choice, why not pick something weird.

Altar at Kong Zi (Confucius) Museum: Close-Up

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Yangming

I like this guy because we was a moral philosopher and a kick-butt guy. He denied that a person had knowledge until they actually acted on that knowledge. He was also always vigilant against bad behavior, especially from selfishness. He got stuff done, and was a very successful military leader.

So I want a ice sculpture of Wang Yangming scowling at me at my next festive event.