barnson.org Half-baked opinions, served lukewarm.

So what do you think of the modified look? I'm trying to nail down the kind of look I want for the site, so that when I upgrade my software here shortly I won't be trying to design and update at the same time.

Changed things:

For some bizarre reason, I remembered this show. HR Pufnstuf. The "Barney" of the 1970's, I guess. I loved this as a little kid when it was on TV. I discovered that, for just $14, just like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you can own the entire first half-season of HR Pufnstuf on DVD. All four episodes!

I wonder where the people went who did that show, and where they are today. I think that and "Speed Racer" were my two favorite shows when I was five. It's the only show I remember from that time of my life, except maybe "Captain Kangaroo" by the time I was in elementary school. What were yours?

I wrote a little while ago about the most interesting things to talk about are the ones people are often most uncomfortable discussing. They also tend to lie on the boundaries of acceptability -- where it's OK to do one thing in one culture, but not in another. I warn you in advance, this little essay is at once long-winded, poorly focussed, and probably really "out there" to most normal people.

I remember in Glendale California, as an idealistic young Mormon Missionary, I met an Armenian family -- one of many in the Glendale area. Unfortunately, I can't remember their names... the only name I remember well is that of Armik Shahmirian, who sacrificed a lamb in our honor the day before we baptized him.

I got into an interesting brief discussion recently, and a key phrase stuck out in my head:

"I prefer to avoid doing systems administration by the seat of my pants"

What does it mean to do IT by the seat of your pants, really? And what is its opposite?

Those who know me well know that I'm fascinated by epistemology, or the study of knowledge. I also enjoy studying language, and where things come from. "By the seat of your pants" has grown from a popular aviation-related phrase into common usage in many forums.

I read a really interesting article by Paul Graham entitled "What you can't say". It explores the nature of human moral taboos. It's a thought-provoking piece that provides a few easy guidelines for wrappping one's head around "moral fashions".

Some gems:

• "To launch a taboo, a group has to be poised halfway between weakness and power. A confident group doesn't need taboos to protect it." I think about the Religious Right, and the recent proclamations against homosexuality by various religious denominations, contrasted against the Liberal Left and, among other things, the phenomenon of Political Correctness.

I ran across a site Saturday that was really sobering on what the big numbers being spent to fight a war across the ocean mean.

Wanna know how much war costs?

That's my money at work. As always, my official position on the Iraq war is "I'm ambivalent about it". I'm in favor in some ways, and opposed in other ways. I support our soldiers and goals, but not necessarily our methods. It's the sort of position some people call "straddling the fence", and isn't always comfortable.

We arrived first for the party.

The snow crunched under the tires of my "arrest-me red" 2001 Honda Insight as we pulled into the driveway at 218 Something Lane, the home of George & Leslie Mcewan at 6:18 PM. The sky was deep into twilight, stars beginning to appear.

I've always set my rearview mirror the way my parents taught me. Set it up so the road is in the middle vertical plane, and so that you can see the back corner of your car. Easy, simple... and wrong.

Here's the text of an article I ran across while reading over at Insight Central, an online hangout for Insight owners. The reason I was so interested is that the Insight, in the "Daddy's view" from the rearview mirror, has very limited rear viewing area. The rearview mirror is kind of small, and the view out the back has two large vertical braces and a nearly-horizontal window to look through, plus one large horizontal brace bisecting the view through the mirror pretty badly. But I found once I followed the tips below, I could see just fine behind me -- I even find that I don't need to check blind spots by turning my head!

I can always tell when I've been out of work a while... going back leaves me exhausted. I'm doing contracting work for Smith Johnson & Associates, for a company that makes software for embedded microchips in devices. Things that monitor vending machine levels and report back on stock, that kind of stuff.

Just in case you didn't feel bad enough about your life already, here's a little gem to remind you of things other people had accomplished by the time they were your age.

Ain't life grand?

Just in case you have trouble with that link, the guy who created the page was nice enough to set up the whole darn thing in Javascript. So just right-click on the page and "view source" to see all the lists without manually putting in the ages. Spoiler: If you are a negative number, or over 100, you're SOL, all the entries are the same from 100+.