.
I've canceled Paypal.
But that said, read it (while you can?). If you can get past
contemporary hangups about the "wrong" words being used you will
find one of the most powerful statements in all of human history
that "Black Lives Matter". Stowe visited Lincoln in the White House
in 1862, and there is a possible apocryphal quote by Lincoln that goes
"So this is the little lady who started this great war."
My family hid runaway slaves (14 miles north of the Ohio river) and
fought in the Union army. One of them was a student at Lane Seminary
in Cincinnati (just across the Ohio ) where Stow's father, Lyman
Beecher taught ... where a series of student debates over Aboliton
attended by Stow caused riots. The student body withdrew
en masse to Oberlin college. This book provides context and a
backdrop for what drove them to disobey the law (the Fugitive Slave
Act) and take up arms.
That's history. While I'm proud of what they did, I claim no
virtue for their actions. The question for me now, as it was for
them then, is how do I treat my fellow human beings today.
I have my relative's hand-written notes (1830s) from "Dr. Beecher's
Lectures on Theology" in my closet. Maybe that's up next on the
reading list to better understand what drove them...
\#28 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
### PUBLISHED 4.2 The lesson of history 100DaysToOffload {#2022-03-03}
I think the lesson of history is that we don't learn from the lessons
of history.
\#16 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 4.3 George Washington Slept Here 100DaysToOffload {#2022-02-27}
Hiking yesterday in the Shenandoah Valley I discovered that I was on
part of "Morgans Road", which is a road George Washington had built into the
hills to allow his army to retreat from the British in case things got
really bad. "George Washington _Planned_ To Sleep Here If Things Got
Really Bad". That was enough at the time of the bicentennial (1976)
to put up _another_ George Washington marker.
This includes a longish list of Washington sites I've run across,
including a couple with family connections.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/Morgans2.jpg" caption="Figure 11: [\"George Washington Planned To Sleep Here\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/ForumRomanarumNocte.jpg) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="400px" >}}
I've lived in northern Virgina for almost 20 years. 250 years later,
there is still a mythos, and in some cases still oral tradition about
George Washington everywhere you go from his home at Mount Vernon to
Bunker Hill in Boston. Some of the most visible reminders (aside from
Washington, DC and the Washington Monument) are all the "George
Washington [did X] Here" signs.
The myth may be larger than life. The story about young George
Washington saying "I can not tell a lie" when he cut down is father's
cherry tree is probably a fabrication. But there was a core of truth,
a real man behind the legends that inspired those who knew him and the
generations that followed.
Living in northern Virginia, you can hardly step outside without
running into some "George Washington [did X] Here" memorial. Here is
a top-of-the-head list of things I've run into in the past few years:
Neavil's Ordinary
: [Neavil's Ordinary](https://auburnva.fandom.com/wiki/Neavil%E2%80%99s_Ordinary) (inn) is a few miles from my
house. George Washington (and George Fairfax of Fairfax County
fame) spent a night there on they way to survey land in the
Shenandoah Valley.
Washington, VA
: Washington himself surveyed and laid out the town
of [Washington "The First of them All" Virginia](https://washingtonva.gov/history2/), the county seat of
Rappahannock County.
A farm in New Jersey
: Backpacking on the Appalachian Trail in New
Jersey I spent a night camped behind the barn of a family that has
owned the land since the revolution. They have an oral tradition
that Washington came through and spent a night in the old farm house.
Winchester, VA
: There is a ["Washington's Headquarters" site in
Winchester, VA.](https://winchesterhistory.org/george-washingtons-office/)
Longfellow House, Cambridge, MA
: Then there is the house in
Cambridge, MA (across the green from Harvard) that served as
[Washington's headquarters](https://www.nps.gov/long/index.htm) during the siege of Boston and later as
the [home of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://www.nps.gov/long/index.htm). This one starts to
get personal, as I am a cousin of some sort to Longfellow. We both
go back to John Alden on the Mayflower. See Longfellow's "The
Courtship of Miles Standish".
[Fort Enochs/Fort Capon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Capon)
: This one is very personal. Turns out
Washington commissioned my Great,Great,Great,Great,Great grandfather
[Lt. Colonel Henry Enochs](https://talesofafamily.blog/henry-enoch-1710-1784/) to build a fort on his land during the
French and Indian war. Of course, Washington did the land survey.
In the 20 years we's spent living in Virginia driving back to Ohio
regularly, we developed a route that goes through Bloomery, West
Virginia which winds up cutting right past the sight of the fort
(now unmarked on a bluff in a field). It is next to an old
one-lane bridge. We did this before we knew of the fort or the
family connection. I guess my ancestral lands were calling me home.
In reality, much of my family kept moving west to Ohio, where
Washington owned land. They were among [the first settlers of
Marietta, Ohio](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Pioneers/David-McCullough/9781501168703), the first town in the Northwest Territory and the
seat of ... Washingotn county.
Bacon Fort
: Two weeks ago, on the way home from another hike I
came across a marker for "[Bacon Fort](https://readtheplaque.com/plaque/bacon-fort)", another "Ordinary" and former
frontier fort at which Washington stopped.
Mount Vernon
: And then there is Washington's home of Mt. Vernon
where he and wife Martha are buried. It is a private foundation and
admission is free to people named "George" on his birthday.
There is a harpsichord in the house that at least one 12 year old
keyboard prodigy was allowed to play a few years back. This Mount
Vernon is not to be confused with the town of Mount Vernon, Ohio
which my high school played in football.
Culpepper, VA
: A young Washington live in Culpeppr, VA a little
south of where I live and joined the Masonic lodge there. Nice men
from the Masons can be found at his grave from time to time honoring
their brother and (a few years back) handing out coins to children
with Washington's image.
The National Road/Braddock's Road
: Then there was the time
Washington and Braddock went to what is now Pittsburgh to try to
dislodge the french at [Fort Duquesne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Duquesne). Braddock wound up dead,
[buried under the road](https://www.nps.gov/places/braddock-s-grave.htm) and Washington wound up hastily building [Fort
Necessity](https://www.nps.gov/fone/index.htm) and signing surrender documents in French that he did not
understand. And the French and Indian wars were off and running...
Other Washington sites
: Over the years I've been to other sites associated
with Washington: Valley Forge, [The crossing of the Delaware](https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/crossing-of-the-delaware/),
Independence Hall (Philadelphia ) New York, Yorktown.
The man got around Colonial America (see [The George Washington Day By
Day project](http://daybyday.gwpapers.org/))
To be fair there is, of course, another side to the "Settlement" story
some of which is told by John Ruth in his book [This Very Ground, This
Crooked Affair](https://www.amazon.com/This-Very-Ground-Crooked-Affair/dp/1680270192). After seven generations, Ruth's family can no longer
afford to live on land they got directly from William Penn near
Philadelphia. Penn, was "granted" all of Pennsylvania by the King of
England despite the fact that there were already many people living
there who had been there thousands of years...
But that said, man or myth, Washington was an inspiring character.
He had flaws (don't we all?).
I can not tell a lie. I think the take-home for me is to figure out
what praiseworthy qualities Washington (or his myth) embodied and to
at least _try_ to add those qualities to my own life.
\#13 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
## 5 Current Events newsphilosophyhistory {#current-events}
### PUBLISHED 5.1 Mark Twain quote on cryptocurrency (via ChatGPT) 100DaysToOffloadgeeklatin {#2022-12-10}
```text
make up a mak twain quote about crypocurrency
```
> Here is a possible quote that Mark Twain might have said about cryptocurrency:
>
> “The only thing more elusive than the value of cryptocurrency is the person who invented it. They must be a master of misdirection, for they have managed to convince the world that a string of numbers and letters has worth.”
A poem about Pete Rose? A LATIN poem about Pete Rose? A bash script
to search files and contents? Advice on investing beat the market and
inflation? How to pack for a week long backpacking trip?
We used to say of computer programs "Garbage in, garbage out" ... but
ChatGPT seems to be getting a little better than that, probably not
close to passing the Turing test, but at the very least amusing. I
think grading of high school assignments just became a lot harder...
```text
write a poem about pete rose
```
Pete Rose was a baseball great,
A player without compare,
With a bat in his hand and a smile on his face,
He could hit a ball anywhere.
His hits record will never be beat,
And his passion for the game was clear,
But his fall from grace was a tragic defeat,
And his legacy forever tarnished, I fear.
But still, I can't help but admire
The way he played the game,
With speed and skill and all his heart,
He left it all on the field and never gave up the fight.
So here's to you, Pete Rose,
A baseball legend in your own right,
Though your mistakes may never be forgotten,
Your place in history is secure, at least tonight.
But wait, there's more.
```text
write a latin poem about pete rose
```
Pete Rose, ludus magnus,
Non comparari potest,
Bat cum manu et risus facie,
Posset pila ubique ferire.
Record eius numquam vincetur,
Et amor eius pro ludo patet,
Sed casus eius tristis est,
Et memoria eius semper maculata timeo.
Sed tamen admirari non possum
Modo ludebat,
Velocitate et peritia et tota corde,
Semper certabat et numquam desistebat.
Ergo tibi, Pete Rose,
Legenda ludi tua propria,
Licet errores tui numquam obliviscantur,
Locum tuum in historia tutum est, saltem hac nocte.
```text
write me a bash script that searches for files by partial name that contain a certain regex
```
Here is a Bash script that searches for files with a partial name that match a specified regular expression and prints their names to the terminal:
Copy code
```bash
#!/bin/bash
# Prompt the user for the search term and regular expression
read -p "Enter the partial file name to search for: " search_term
read -p "Enter the regular expression to match: " regex
# Search for files with the specified name and matching regular expression
results=$(find . -name "*$search_term*" -exec grep -l "$regex" {} +)
# Print the names of each file that was found
while read -r file; do
echo "$file"
done <<< "$results"
```
This script uses the find command to search for files with the specified partial name and grep to match the regular expression. The -l option for grep is used to print only the names of the files that match, rather than their contents. The read command is used to prompt the user for input and to iterate over the search results.
To use this script, save it to a file (e.g. search.sh), make it executable with chmod +x search.sh, and run it with ./search.sh. You can specify the partial file name and regular expression to search for when prompted.
```text
how do I invest to beat the market and inflation
```
> To invest in order to beat the market and inflation, you can follow these steps:
>
> Identify your financial goals and the time frame in which you want to achieve them. This will help you determine the right investment strategy for your situation.
>
> Create a diversified portfolio that includes a mix of stocks, bonds, and other investments. This will help reduce the risk of your investments and increase the chances of achieving your financial goals.
>
> Research different investments and compare their potential returns, risks, and fees. Look for investments that have a track record of outperforming the market and have the potential to protect against inflation.
>
> Consider consulting with a financial advisor who can provide expert advice on investing and help you create a personalized investment plan.
>
> Regularly monitor your investments and make adjustments as needed. This may include rebalancing your portfolio to maintain the right mix of investments, selling underperforming investments, and buying new investments that align with your financial goals.
>
> By following these steps and being disciplined in your approach to investing, you can increase the chances of beating the market and protecting against inflation. However, it is important to keep in mind that there are no guarantees in investing, and the value of your investments can go up or down. It is always a good idea to carefully consider the risks and consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
```text
what backpacking gear should I get rid of when hiking for a week or more
```
> When backpacking for a week or more, it is important to carefully consider the gear you take with you. To save weight and space, you may want to consider getting rid of the following items:
>
> Extra clothing: Take only the essentials, such as a few layers for different weather conditions and a waterproof jacket. Avoid taking duplicate items or clothing that you are unlikely to wear.
>
> Heavy or bulky items: Look for lightweight and compact alternatives to your gear, such as a backpacking stove, sleeping pad, and tent.
>
> Non-essential items: Consider leaving behind items that are not necessary for your trip, such as a camp chair, extra gadgets, or luxury items.
>
> Expired or unnecessary items: Get rid of any food, medication, or first-aid supplies that are expired or that you are unlikely to use.
>
> Overall, the key is to pack only the essentials and to prioritize lightweight and compact gear. By doing so, you can save weight and space and make your backpacking trip more enjoyable.
```text
make up a mak twain quote about crypocurrency
```
Here is a possible quote that Mark Twain might have said about cryptocurrency:
> "The only thing more elusive than the value of cryptocurrency is the person who invented it. They must be a master of misdirection, for they have managed to convince the world that a string of numbers and letters has worth."
\#39 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
### PUBLISHED 5.2 Peace be with you 100DaysToOffload {#2022-03-05}
I've been listening to the [Meditations of Marcus Aurelius](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/998), the stoic
Roman emperor. The stoic philosopher Epictetus, who was an older
contemporary of Marcus Aurelius said
```nil
Never say about anything, I have lost it,
but only I have given it back.
```
It might lower my blood pressure if I could get my mind around that.
It's all to easy to get upset when people wrong you, or when dictators
invade a neighboring country, killing thousands of people and destroy
the country for seemingly unknowable and unjustified reasons.
In the meditations, the point is often made that the only thing you
really have is this moment in time and your ability to control your
reactions. You do not "have" or control the past, the future, events,
people, money, etc. It's a sophisticated version of what parents
often tell their children "Don't worry about what your brother is
doing, pay attention to what you're doing".
Martin Luther (not King Jr.) put a Christian spin on the idea:
```text
I have held many things in my hands,
and I have lost them all;
but whatever I have placed in God's hands,
that I still possess.
```
The world is not fair. It is not just. And I control almost none of
it, aside from my own assessment of what is "fair", what is "just",
and how I react to it. I've caused myself a lot of trouble over the
years by they way I asses things and how I've reacted.
I wish you peace.
\#18 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 5.3 When goods don’t cross borders, soldiers will {#2022-02-28}
[When goods don’t cross borders, soldiers will](https://fee.org/resources/if-goods-dont-cross-borders/).
That is all.
\#14 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 5.4 Who 'ya gonna trust? CNN, Podcasts, ChatGPT... 100DaysToOffloadlifegeekAI {#2023-05-14}
On my [Mastadon feed](https://fosstodon.org/@saluki/110354524960932474%22) this week, the question was asked
> "Why have #podcasts become so popular in the last few years? What's changed?"
I think there are a lot of answers...
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/dorothy.png" caption="Figure 12: [ChatGPT rendering of \"Make an image of Dorothy Gale of Kanasas riding a bucking bronco with the wicked witch flying on her broom in the background and a tornado behind that\" by ChatGPT and George Jones is licensed under ????](https://foo.com/BAR/BAZ.JPG)" width="200px" >}}
My answers include
> No need for the overhead or editorial control of older media forms.
> Lower production and distribution costs. A wide range of presenters
> and topics.
I think there's going to be another HUGE
reason to tune unto long-form talking-heads/analysis style podcasts:
You can be pretty sure (at last for a while) that the people talking
are people, not, e.g. ChatGPT spitting out articles. If you want to
hear what PEOPLE are saying and thinking, for the time being podcasts
are it. When we get to the point that AI generation of TV anchors and White
House press secretaries is common place, we will have arrived at an
existential crisis of trust in all mass-market delivered content.
At that point, your best bet will be to have live, in-person,
one-on-one interactions with real people. And, come to think of it,
in any event, talking to people more might not be such a bad idea.
\#49 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
## 6 Work work {#work}
### WIP 6.1 Changing the world, one side project at a time 100DaysToOffloadcompuservehistory {#2023-12-22}
It is somehow fitting that the day I retire, the state of Ohio chose
to unveil an historical marker outside the former headquarters of my
first employer, CompuServe. I guess I'm history :-)
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/cs_history_marker.gif" caption="Figure 13: [\"CompuServe Historical Marker\"](https://foo.com/BAR/BAZ.JPG)" width="400px" >}}
I started in June of 1985, and, looking back, what was going
on there was world changing: the first commercial email, the first
online banking, the first online shopping, the first electronic news
wire feed, the first song released exclusively online (Arrowsmith 1994),
online chat (CB), OS and compiler development, VPNs (X.25 !), data
over cable in '82 ...
In the course of my career, it turns out that many of the things that
mattered wound up coming out of individual side projects, not grand
corporate visions.
#### 6.1.1 Side projects {#side-projects}
- The Eternal September, sorry.
One of my earliest lasting contributions resulted from a side
project that I put my good friend [karl kleinpaste](https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlkleinpaste/), up to:
creating the first Compuserve `<->` Internet mail gateway
as a skunk-works project while we were both working at Ohio State Computer
Science. Karl followed up with a USENET `<->` CompuServe gateway,
which was soon copied by AOL leading to the [eternal september](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Eternal_September)
Sorry.
Eternal September seems to be about to repeat it self with
facebook's "threads" [implementing a gateway to Mastadon](https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/14/mastodon-founder-touts-threads-federation-saying-it-makes-his-x-rival-a-far-more-attractive-option/).
- The Web Browser that never was
Then there was this web browser I wrote at CompuServe that would have
let the masses access the WWW before most people had even dial-up Internet.
But the corporate powers-that-be we're not sure this web thing was
going to catch on, so it was never released. Vision !!!
It depended on a graphics library and the WinCIM interface
developed by
[Steve Wilhite](http://curious.galthub.com/blog/2022-03-24/)
(of GIF fame)
- The editor that created Linux
In early CompuServe days, Wilhite and I did
a little collaborative coding to to improve
[MicroEmacs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroEMACS),
I posted the source code to the Usenet group comp.sources.amiga and it took on a life
of it's own thanks to Daniel Laurence, first being called
MicroGNUEmacs until RMS himself objected to the use of "GNU" in the
name.
[Linus Torvalds (he of Linux fame) maintains a verison of MicroEmacs.](https://github.com/torvalds/uemacs)
And
[Carsten Dominik](https://sachachua.com/blog/2013/03/emacs-chat-carsten-dominik/),
creator of
[Org Mode ("Your life in plain text")](https://orgmode.org/)
was an early user and was influenced by it.
Org Mode is central to most parts of my life today. What goes around,
comes around.
- SANS, IETF, Flocon, the White House
Along the way I wrote [The Router Audit Tool (RAT)](http://port111.com/george/talks/Jones-2002-SANS.pdf).
Offshoots of this work
fed indirectly (via XCCDF) into the creation of STIX and TAXII.
[John Stewart](https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-n-stewart/),
the venture capitalist and former CISO and VP of Cisco and
[Neil Ziring](https://www.linkedin.com/in/neal-ziring-779890a9/),
tech director at NSA, contributed code to the project while I was
leading it. Alan Paller of SANS convinced me to release it through
the [Center for Internet Security](https://www.cisecurity.org/) as one of their benchmark tools.
RAT started as a side project at UUNET.
Also at UUNET I started what became RFC3871:
. The IETF OpSec working group
continues to this day as an offshoot ("Many fine lunches"?). This was
a side project that spanned UUNET and MITRE.
While at CERT (CERT/CC at Carnegie-Mellon, the original CERT, not
US-CERT) I had the opportunity to chair twice.
This was something of a side project for the organization, but one
that got resources (my time).
Also at CERT I had the opportunity to provide netflow analysis
training to the White House SOC.
- Side projects at Palo Alto
At Expanse/Palo Alto I spent a lot of time staring at Internet scan
data, trying to figure out what vulnerable devices were presenting
themselves to us (and hackers). An irony here being that 15 years earlier we thought
scanning was always bad, and there were PhD theses around how to detect
it.
[Mike Collins](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpcollins/)
[is still cataloging scan traffic](https://gitlab.com/mcollins_at_isi/acknowledged_scanners)
(give it up Mike, Internet traffic IS scan traffic :-))
After Palo Alto acquired Expanse, I spent a fair bit of time understanding the
vast array security-related data available for analysis in other parts
of the company. In my judgment, Palo Alto may have the best overall
collection of data for analyzing and addressing security threats, second,
possibly, only to AWS. They actively work to use these data sources
to protect customers, see
[PanDB](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/2014/10/web-security-tips-pan-db-works/),
for instance. I presented on my findings
at an annual internal meeting of researchers. A side project.
As part of that effort I met
[Janos Szurdi](https://www.linkedin.com/in/janos-szurdi-b40b3598/)
and collaborated with him
and other AMAZING researchers in that division, mostly on informal
projects such as an internal "Hackathon", my role mostly being to
advise on the use of Expanse datasets. The result can be seen in
[Janos' blog post about detecting stockpiled domains](https://janos.szurdi.com/blog/stockpiled-detector/)
At this year's internal research meeting
[Tim Hofmockel](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-hofmockel-a31437100/)
and I explored further
applications of combining data sources to support security analysis to solve
our customers challenges.
Such meetings are side projects for everyone, but the in-person interactions
that happen there are what gets the creative and collaborative juices
flowing and are often the source of further outside-the-box projects.
I think that's why I like them, and why companies fund them.
There is a possible patent coming out of some side efforts (this would
be the first of my career).
#### 6.1.2 The Amazon Leadership Principals {#the-amazon-leadership-principals}
There is one set of corporate mumbo-jumbo I actually believe in:
the [Amazon Leadership Principals](https://www.aboutamazon.com/about-us/leadership-principles). They stick with you. They form a
way of thinking about the world and getting things done: Dive Deep,
Learn and Be Curious, Bias for Action, Earn Trust, Disagree and
Commit, Deliver Results. It's said that some Amazonians have to try
hard to turn them off with family.
I think one of the reason those struck such a cord with me is that
I saw them modeled 10 years before Amazon was founded at an early,
impressionable period in my carrer. You could not have found a better
description of Steve Wilhite (but one would have to add laconic, curmudgeonly,
self-assured, stubborn and a few other adjectives)
I'm holding my Amazon stock despite Andy Jassey now being in charge
and the FTC going on an anti-trust fishing expedition. The company is
solid. And the leadership principals and customer obsession are a
large part of it.
#### 6.1.3 People matter. {#people-matter-dot}
Yes, you have to have corporate vision statements to keep investors
happy and make HR VPs think they are relevant, but so often what matters
are the side projects, the accidents, and things that fly under the
radar.
I have it from Wilhite (30+ years ago) that the first DEC10 was delivered
to CompuServe by mistake. It was then the computing arm of Goden United
Life Insurnace Compay. They had ordered a smaller machine from Digital
Equiptment Corporation. When the DEC10 arrived, they kept it, eventually
started selling extra cycles as time-sharing (Cloud Computing, 1975),
built a packet switched network, c.a. 1972 (take that ARPANet), started
the first online service, c.a. 1979, and much of the world as we know
it today was born.
Shortly thereafter, Dan Piskur had to invent "Cybersecurity" _ab initio_.
Wilhite left Ohio State during the 1970 riots to go do fun work on a
big computer at a startup down the road. He never finished his
degree. Too much to do. Things worked out. I think I can say the
same.
People matter. Individuals matter. Side projects matter (again,
see [Wilhite and GIF](http://curious.galthub.com/blog/steve/).).
So make your strategic plans, track things in your kan-ban boards, have
project managers run your agile sprints, but remember
> "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"
>
> --- John Lennon, 1980 in "Beautiful Boy"
\#52 of #100DaysToOffload take 3.1,
### PUBLISHED 6.2 What matters in work? 100DaysToOffload {#2023-12-06}
The chart below is a mental framework I've used to evaluate my work
situation over the span
of may career. The goal is to move as far up the pyramid as you can.
Being at the top (interesting )is really a first or zeroth world
problem. Insert discussion of human flourishing/εὐδαιμονία here.
If you're failing at a lower level, the upper layers really don't matter.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/maslow2023.png" caption="Figure 14: [Maslow's Heirarchy of Jobs ](http://git.galthub.com:3000/gmj/home.public.art/src/master/home/public/art/maslow2023.png)© 2023 George M. Jones, is is made available under the terms of the [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)" width="600px" >}}
\#50 of #100DaysToOffload take 3.1,
### WIP 6.3 Successful? 100DaysToOffload {#2022-12-26}
In I said
> Bruce moved on from there to be VP of MSN at Microsoft for a while.
> Arguably a "Highly Successful Person"
Which, of course, begs (assumes, cedes) the question:
> What is success?
Bruce embraced the management track. I've fairly consistently and
actively dodged it, ironically after Bruce promoted me to my first
supervisory role ... managing the development of a web-page creation
tool for CompuServe's "MySpace"-like web page publishing system
... from there I took a hard career turn into the security world
focusing on Internet security, routers, linux/unix, etc. For me,
that's been a resounding success. Just no direct reports, budgets
or Microsoft Windows, which were anti-goals for me. I've focused on
front-line, hands-on doing.
\#41 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
### PUBLISHED 6.4 Can I get the job done by doing nothing? 100DaysToOffloadGTD {#2022-04-22}
Over the years you pick up useful ideas from people. One of the most
useful "project management" ideas I've ever encountered is
> _Can I get the job done by doing nothing?_
Use the code you already have. Use existing slide decks. Time is
scarce. Don't waste it creating something new when something you
already have will do the job. Don't spend hours getting a slide deck
to %100 perfection when what you really need to do is talk over some
ideas and the existing material is sufficient to spark conversation.
Thanks to Russell Leighton (then) at AWS for the mind-boggling obvious idea.
\#26 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 6.5 Career counseling should not take itself too seriously. 100DaysToOffloadlife {#2022-02-03-O2}
These are some musings I sent to a friend who is a career counselor at
a local community college.
Short version: I'm pretty sure I could not have planned my current
career in "IT" and "Cybersecurity" when neither of those terms even
existed until well into my career.
In my journal this morning I wound up writing about 8 pages on "how
did I get here" towards the end of what has arguably been as mostly
successful career in IT cybersecurity. Except that neither the words
"IT" nor "cybersecurity" existed until well into my career. One of
my conclusions is that it would have been impossible to plan my
career. It might be possible to plan careers in fields where
technology does not change, where personal connectoms don't matter,
and where being in the right place at that right time dont matter.
In my case, those (and, well, providence and an aversion to lying,
management and marketing) were the drivers.
Pretty sure career counseling as a field needs to not take itself too seriously.
We had a long exchange where she made some cogent points in defense of
her profession. Sometimes I stake out a possibly-extreme position as
a way of starting conversations. I may expand on that conversation
in future posts.
\#2 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, .
### PUBLISHED 6.6 Finding needles in the marketingstack truthmarketing {#2021-12-15-truth-in-internet}
At work I do a lot of research around finding and understanding
the capabilities of things connected to the Internet.
I find that often checking Wikipedia and/or searching for the
product excluding the vendor website gets to the real information
fastest,
e.g.
### PUBLISHED 6.7 "I'm passionate about..." Latinhumanitywork {#Im-passionate about}
"I'm passionate about..." I've always hated that phrase. Because I
thought it was fake. I thought it was trendy. I've reflexively reacted
against trendy things for decades. Pet Rocks, Disco, TED talks,
cryptocurrency... But I am coming to see what the phrase is getting
at. And I think I like it.
In a work world where human beings are called "resources", where
intelligent, creative, inquisitive, motivated people are subjected to
management practices derived from 19th century steel mills and
automotive assembly line production, the phrase "I'm passionate
about..." is (can be) an attempt to re-assert humanity.
I've just finished reading [Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless
Language](https://www.amazon.com/Long-Live-Latin-Pleasures-Language/dp/0374284520#ace-8881249860) . For no good reason. Again and again, it raises the question
of what it means to be human: to be joyful, spontaneous, creative,
inquisitive, fulfilled, to discover, to appreciate beauty, music, art,
language, and poetry (yes, I have a liberal arts degree)
I guess if I had to say what I'm passionate about, it's about being
human and treating other people as humans. To put a professional spin
on it "I am passionate about collaborating with technical people to
find creative solutions to important problems."
Go learn a useless language. Climb a mountain and enjoy the
view. Spend time playing games with your family. Be human. Be
passionate. Carpe diem.
### PUBLISHED 6.8 Choosy Programmers Choose GIF WilhiteCompuServeGIFHistoryComputersEmacsProgramming {#steve}
[Steve Wilhite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wilhite) is the most prolific programmer I've ever known. He's
mostly remembered for creating [GIF](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/gif) but he spent 30 years writing piles
of amazing software which helped set the stage for the Web.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/XF4MAN.gif" caption="Figure 15: CompuServe XF4 Fortran Manual" >}}
Day 02 of #100DaysToOffload.
Steve worked at CompuServe (and successors) from 1970 to 2001. I
was fortunate enough to start my career working with/for him. My
view of his programming output comes largely from 1985-1995. I'm
sure there was much more that I missed.
#### 6.8.1 Things Steve Wrote {#things-steve-wrote}
Steve ran the languages and tools group when I arrived. _He had just_
_given up on writing at DEC10 ADA compiler_[^fn:11] (Steve is still writing
ADA software), was just beginning to embrace PCs as "real computers"
worthy of his attention, had written a FORTRAN compiler, a BASIC
compiler and associated run-time systems, and a run-time library for
BLISS called BTOOLS. These were partially in support of
CompuServe's pre-information-service time-sharing services supported
by a homegrown packet-switched networking. "Cloud computing" in the
1970s :-)
I worked on BTOOLS, SKIMAN (Single Key Index Access Manager), a
B-Tree library Steve had created. There was a full-fledged database
system written in there somewhere I think. There were ports and
hacks to various tools such as FINE (Fine Is Not Emacs), a C
compiler, DEC Runoff, laser printer support, source code control
systems, etc.
On top of that, Steve created the HMI (Host Micro Interface)
protocol that rode on top of [CompuServe "B-Protocol"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/b_protocol) to allow API
driven interactions with the information service (the alternative
being text/command line interfaces). This was all in an environment
where 9600baud modems were considered "fast". Compression,
incremental display, etc. were paramount.
He later used that as the substrate for [WinCim](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/compuserve_information_manager), the graphical interface
to the information service that he created which kept the company
going for a while in the face of the likes of AOL. Somewhere in
there, there was a graphics library and enough pieces that I was
able to write a web browser that worked inside WinCim, that would
have allowed CompuServe users without an Internet connection (most
everyone then) to browse the web. Marketing did not want to release
my web browser. **Sigh**.
Later on (after my time) Steve as pulled into major projects to support
the back end processing for H&R Blocks's TaxCut program when online
tax-filing was a new thing. _He was also pulled into the WOW project_
_which was supposed to be the AOL killer when it became apparent that_
_CompuServe needed an AOL killer._[^fn:12] One of those projects succeeded.
Single-handed technical virtuosity could not fix the one that
didn't.
And there was this little side project called GIF.
#### 6.8.2 Things that got out {#things-that-got-out}
- GIF
Be careful what you do and say. It's often the incidentals that you
are remembered for. The kind (or unkind) words. The side projects.
In the world of the mid 80s there were IBM PCs, Apple Macs
(classic), Amigas, Atari-STs, CoCos, and yes, Apple-IIs and
Commodor-68s. The information service was moving beyond a
text-based, menu-driven system (I like curses and termcap as much as
the next guy, but hey..). People wanted to share pictures, display
online-shopping catalogs, weather maps, etc. There were no/few good
portable graphics formats. So Steve wrote one. GIF. Then the web happened.
The web wanted portable images too. GIF worked. So the early web
adopted it. There was the kerfuffle over the LZW compression
algorithm it used resulting in the creation of the PNG format, but,
hey, who in 1987 would ever think that an algorithm published in ACM
might not be free. OK, [Stallman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/richard_stallman), but who else :-). And now there
are Giffy's in slack that I turn off because I hate dancing bears.
Thank-you Steve.
#### 6.8.3 MicroEmacs/mg display hacks {#microemacs-mg-display-hacks}
And then there are the [MiroEmacs](https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/MicroEmacs) display hacks. When the Amiga came
out Steve convinced me to buy one (it was that or the AtariST, he
had and was hacking on both). But there was no Emacs. Somehow
(Steve?) I became aware that the source to MicroEmacs was included
on with the disks to Mark Williams C compiler for the PC. So I bought
the C compiler, ported the source to the Amiga (all it needed was
character I/O drivers to work in the native ANSI/VT-100 terminal)
and gave the source to Steve, who, I think, hacked/improved the
screen update logic. I then posted the source to the USENET group
comp.sources.amiga. It took off from there (thanks to Daniel
Lawerence). It's rumored that Linus Torvalds uses a version of the
code to this day.
#### 6.8.4 CompuServe: Groundbreaking events, great teams and amazing individuals. {#compuserve-groundbreaking-events-great-teams-and-amazing-individuals-dot}
At the recent (2019-10-19) CompuServe 50th Anniversary reunion I
was reminded of the revolutionary things that happened there: the
first commercial email, the first online banking, the first
online shopping, the first electronic news wire feed, the first
song released exclusively online (Arrowsmith 1994), online chat
(CB), OS and compiler development, VPNs (X.25 !), data over cable
in 82....and Dan Piskur inventing what we know today as much of
standard online security, incident response and "cyber"/law
enforcement collaboration, all before the Internet.
Of course it all took the efforts of many people and groups: the
network software team (packet switching c.a. 1972, take that
DARPA), the "monitor group" (TOPS-10 OS development),
MicroComputer Software (terminal emulators forever !), large
systems software (billing et. al.), and of course the genius of
the founders (John Goltz) and the vision of Jeff Wilkins (CEO
1970-1985).
There's a lot to be said for being in the right place at the
right time, and for having a team, but many things do not happen
without the essential contributions of amazing individuals.
Thanks Steve.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/compuserveshirt.gif" caption="Figure 16: It all started..." >}}
### PUBLISHED 6.9 Adding uncertainty in uncertain times lifeworkstartupsGTD {#2020-06-30}
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. These are notes-to-self and anybody else who
cares from that conversation:
- Map out the architecture of the org/org structure (official)
vs. what is actually working
- Whats the (people) API: theory, practice?
- Find "they guy who built it, knows everything"
- What is the aspirational architecture vs. what's really built?
- Find "the guy" who has it all in his head, maybe stuff that has
not made it to paper. Whiteboard it, write it up.
- Most places don't do that
- Look at reality vs. getting stuck in "my teams perspective"
- Use systems thinking to figure it all out
- Find the "old salts" who know where the bodies are buried, not
"official channels"
- "First 90 Days", book
- "An elegant puzzle", book
- \#1 lesson for all startups: "IT'S ALL ABOUT HOW MUCH CASH YOU
HAVE IN THE BANK"
- If company is healthy, CFO knows burn rate, want's whole company
to be thinking about it
- Health check: how aware are people of cash position?
- Build vs. buy
- Bailing wire and duct tape?
- WATCH BURN RATE, WATCH REVENUE
- Valuable people: people who understand tech and that you have to
be a functioning business, i.e. you need more $ revenue than
you are spending
- People should be excited about growth
- Watch out for scaling company before projected/actual growth in revenue
- Biz/finance folks should be excited about you being interested
in finances. Defensiveness is a warning sign. You WANT people
who care about $. People share what they are interested in
- Working remote, COVID
- open door policy?
- Ask admin assistant "Can I get 1/2 hour on X's calendar"?
- Have/ask leading questions
- Dig into current, next challenges
- Demonstrate that you are thoughtful and someone who wants to
make things work
- Most important: GET THINGS DONE
- reward/appreciated if you are seen as someone who wants to make
things work, shape product
- not "staying in my lane"
- culture to pass things on, figure out where the holes are, fill them
- Each team should have onboarding guide
- Whoever was last onboarded updates it
- if not, as ?Mentor? to get it
- You should have a mentor
- there should be a doc that includes "what IT didn't tell you
- "When I build systems, I try to build something with good
[benefits?] but light filling" (e.g. don't over-engineer)
- Two bad extremes:
- Try to build something that works now, don't "boil the ocean"
- Pure agile people...constant refinement, incrementalism.
- e.g. you know you need a memory managers. Start with an
interface.
- People. There are always "a few of 'those' people", hard to
work with, disrupt everything. Stay away.
### PUBLISHED 6.10 Disclaimer philosophyhumor100DaysToOffload {#disclaimer}
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!
## 7 Life life {#life}
### WIP 7.1 "I ain't no Senators son, no !" 100DaysToOffload {#2024-01-08}
The short story ..
{{< figure src="images/BAZ.JPG" caption="Figure 17: [\"Name of work\" by WHO is licensed under cc by 2.0](https://foo.com/BAR/BAZ.JPG)" width="200px" >}}
Warning ... first-world baby-boomer problem described here.
> So, I'm stitting here on the group-W bench, I'm just sitting here...
OK. Really. Not trying to get out of the Viet Nam draft, just having
another surreal interaction with the US Federal government 50 years later
along the lines of
> Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
> Ah, they really help themselves
> But when the tax man comes to the door
> Lord, the house look a rummage sale, oh yeah
>
> John Fogerty/Credence Clearwater Revival
>
I retired last month. As a result of a lot of luck and about 38 years
hard work, I have more money now than at any other point in my life,
and thanks to the Obamacare (ACA) rules and the way my finances are
structured I have strong incentives to arrange things so that I have
very little "income" this year. In fact, I'm flirting with having so
little income that I would qualify for Medicaid and be at or near the
federal poverty level.
So, yeah, I'm trying to make the house (1040) look like a "rummage
sale" all for benefit of the taxman. And
it's all legal and right there on the the government web sites.
It's just surreal.
> There's one for you, nineteen for me,
> should five percent appear to small,
> be thankful I don't take
> it all, 'case I'm the taxman
>
> George Harrison, the nascient neo-con.
\#nn of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
### WIP 7.2 Congress, Big Pharma and Kickbacks, Oh My !!! {#2023-12-30}
GoodRX may save my son $3,500 or more on his prescription meds. This
is a large fraction of the income he's earning on his first job.
Congress exempted "Big Phrama" from kickback rules in the 90s, the
result seems to be that prices signals are allowed to work in the market
to the benefit of people who would otherwise be made poor buying
medicine they need at artificially high prices.
I was wondering how GoodRx gets such deep discounts. From:
> GoodRx says it earns money when a customer uses her or his GoodRx code
> to make a purchase. Even more money is made when the consumer becomes
> a repeat customer.
>
> To be clear on this, when you use a GoodRx code, a PBM receives a portion
> of that. GoodRx then receives a percentage or a fixed payment from
> the PBM for directing the customer to that PBM's pricing and the pharmacy,
> the company explains.
>
> In other industries, these payments could be called illegal kickbacks.
> But in the early 1990s, Congress exempted drug companies' rebates from
> federal anti-kickback laws. The thinking was that the payments could
> serve as a negotiating tool, according to _Consumer Reports_.
Reason has a series of podcats that shows how federal
government myopia of a different sort (tariffs) cause baby-food shortages
\#53 of #100DaysToOffload take 3.1,
### PUBLISHED 7.3 Count Your Blessings 100DaysToOffload {#2023-02-09}
Do something radical.
> Count your blessings, name them one by one
Literally. Do it. Write them down. Meditate on all the good stuff
in your life. Maybe even give thanks.
(the fact that this follows yesterdays "[Making Lists](http://curious.galthub.com/blog/2023-02-07/)" musing is just
coincidental ... he asserts ... our maybe it's the positive application)
\#47 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
### PUBLISHED 7.4 Making lists emacs100DaysToOffloadorgmode {#2023-02-07}
Dad made lists. Lots of them. I have Emacs org mode.
Making lists is part of the story I tell myself about how I'm working
on the right things and getting them done.
Dad was an incurable list maker. He had to-do lists from Mom. He wrote
detailed instructions (a list) of how to set up the camper. He posted
lists of the date that each of my brothers and me would start paying for their
own gas for the car and the milage rate. When he used computers he
decided to save everything on USB drives. There was (is) a list indexing
those USB drives. There were multiple phone lists updated regularly.
There were (are) song lists in the harmonica case.
I have [Emacs Org Mode](https://orgmode.org/) ("Your life in plain text"), the penultimate
list making software.
The lists I make on computers bear only tangential relationship to
what I do. They are never done. In fact, computers make it all to
easy to make lists of more things than I could every do. So, why?
The fantasy is that when I make lists, they are organized, complete,
logical, right, drive all that I do (and don't do) and that I'm more
effective, accomplish more and am happier as a result. Or maybe I
just need the illusion of order.
The reality is, I do what I do. I am time bounded. Lists grow to
infinity. Lists are there more to make me feel good than to drive
actual behavior, so that I can tell myself (and others) that I am
ORGanized. Lists are there for psychological reasons. They are there
because I like making lists. It's enjoyment of the process and the
illusions about what they help me accomplish, not, for the most part,
because I get more done (but I _think_ I do...no, really....)
True, it is better to have a plan than no plan. "If you aim at
nothing, you will hit it every time." Got it. But, in reality, lists
are part of the story I tell myself about how I'm working on the right
things and getting them done.
Now,
> `M-x org-agenda`
what am I doing today? ...
\#46 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
### PUBLISHED 7.5 Try writing more, you'll worry less 100DaysToOffload {#2023-02-04}
The past couple weeks, I've intentionally cut the phone out my morning
routine. I was already writing a daily journal (on paper), about a
page or two a day. I've always found that to be cathartic, as well
as a good way to organize my thoughts and do some day-to-day planning.
Now I'm writing two daily journals.
The second journal is an attempt to capture family history and oral
tradition. A lot of history, artifacts and stories have landed on me
after 150 or 200 years. I'm "getting them out" in a semi-organized
manner, using what I know of peoples financial circumstances as writing
prompts. There will probably be online versions later, but I find the
process of writing on paper leads to much more creativity at the start.
Which leads me back to the start of this post. You can start you day
doom-scrolling, filling your head with sound bites, stories of political
(and other) apocalypses, or you can use the time to create, reflect
and plan before spending the time you are given this day. Your choice.
(turns out this is version 2 of my previous post...)
\#45 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
### PUBLISHED 7.6 mornings without the phone (regaining my mind) 100DaysToOffload {#2023-01-29}
Believe it or not, you will be OK if you don't use your "smart"-phone
to look up everything the minute you think of it, if you don't have it
by your bed at night and you don't turn it on for a few hours. You
might even regain a less-addicted, more thoughtful "smart"-you.
For the past few days I've been going "Cold Turkey" on using the "smart"
phone as part of my morning routine: checking news, listening to podcasts,
checking email, looking up things I'm curious about, etc.
It feels like I'm getting my own mind back.
I have spasms of "I have to look this up", but I really don't need
to. They quickly pass, and I'm OK without knowing why the Crickets
were not with Buddy Holly when his plane went down.
Sometimes you want to maintain control of your own stream-of-consciousness.
Sure, it might be free association of ideas, knowledge and experiences
that are already bouncing around in your skull. But they are YOUR thoughts.
Not some advertising-induced, attention grabbing graphic-heavy distractions
that some web-designer or marketing person decided you needed to see
to drive "engagement" with whatever their schtick is.
It's OK not to know. Get your own mind back. Break your addiction to
the smart phone, for at least part of the day.
The first version of this was written in a paper journal with a
pencil.
\#44 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
### 7.7 Death, Taxes, and Job 100DaysToOffload {#2023-01-11}
Today I'm going to pay my taxes, work on updating my living will and
health care power of attorney, telling others when I want
doctors to pull the plug if I can't make that decision myself.
Death and taxes. You can't live with them, and they get you in the
end.
When discussing death, taxes, and "I know I'm right, why is all this bad
stuff happening to me?", there's no better place to turn than Job...
Job is the oldest book in the bible. It pre-dates Rome, it pre-dates Abraham
Lincoln, Isaac Newton, Jacob Astor, Joseph Stalin, and Benjamin Netanyahu
:-). It pre-dates the Christian faith and Jesus' birth by hundreds of
years.
For those who may not be familiar, Job is a story of suffering. Unjust
suffering. Short version: Behind the scenes (Job never learns this) Satan
makes a bet with God that Job (God's "righteous servant") will curse God
if God lets Satan take away his money, family, and health. God takes the
bet. Job's children die. His livestock is stolen. He skin breaks out
in boils. His wife and his friends blame him and tell him it's all his
own fault. Some friends. His loving wife summarizes "Job, do you still
hold to your integrity? (claim it's not your fault) Curse God and Die !"
Fortunately for us (and germain to the topic of my living
willing/advanced medical diretive), Job did not live in 21st Century
Canada, was not counseled to kill himself to keep the governments
health care expenses down, but instead endured (seemingly) pointless
suffering, wrestling with the question "Why?", and as a result we have
one of the greatest works of literature in human history that has
inspired theological and philosophical debate and great art for
millennia. "Curse God and Die ?"
Let's hear from Job.
> For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
> And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
> Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another;
>
> Job 19:25-27
I can not read those words without hearing the setting in Handel's Messiah.
The phrase
> Yet in my flesh shall I see God
is likely going on my tombstone. It is an expression of the hope of
resurrection and eternal life.
Seeing those words on a tombstone would probably make Job happy (Job
happy?), because, immediately before that he said:
> Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
> That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!
>
> Job 19:23-24
But in context, he's referring to his long-running instance that he is
innocent, that his actions and thoughts are right, and that no-one
(God included) can question that. Sound like any people or current
cultural movements you know?
The book ends with God asking Job a series of unanswerable questions. Job
finally admits he may not have the whole picture and that maybe it's time
to be humble and admit his limitations, frailty, mortality and, yes, the
possibility of his own moral failings when faced with an Eternal, Omnipotent,
Infinite, Just and Merciful Creator.
May I do the same.
Oh, and to those who may decide to pull the plug on me or not, yeah, the
answers are often not clear. Sometimes suffering has a purpose. Do what you
think is best at the time and leave the rest to God. It's all any of
us can do.
\#43 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
### PUBLISHED 7.8 Generation P 100DaysToOffload {#2023-01-08}
I think I'm a member of "Gen-P", the "[Peter Pan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pan_(1953_film))" generation who grew
up in the shadow of the 1953 Disney production that touted the idea
that we never have to grow up.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/boat.jpeg" caption="Figure 18: [\"Boat off Jeckyll Island\" by George Jones is licensed under CC BY 2.0](https://foo.com/BAR/BAZ.JPG)" width="400px" >}}
A friend who's a few years older than me recently related trials she
is having caring for elderly parents. Nine years ago, my father moved
to be near us. For the last 5 years of his life I spent time
providing help to a very independent-minded person who rarely admitted
he needed my help. This included an incident where I had to take the
car keys from someone for whom driving was a right of passage into
adulthood. It was not pretty.
Somewhere in the late fifties or early sixties (when I as born), I
think the old notions of independence that were common in the 30s,
WWII, and my parents generation and earlier went out the window. They
lived in a much harsher world, and understood that fact. Farming.
The depression. WWII. The bomb. There was nowhere near the economic prosperity
that came in the decades after. There was nowhere near as much social
safety net as there is today. Shades of Archie Bunker's "[Those Were
The Days](https://youtu.be/0d8FTPv955I)" are now drifting through my head" ... it's time to stop
this line of thought.
Then came Peter Pan. "[A Generation Lost In Space](https://genius.com/Don-mclean-american-pie-lyrics)". I look in the
mirror and sometimes wonder who that old man is. When addressed as
"Mr. Jones", I wonder who they'r talking to? To hear my
daughter-in-law call me "Dad", seems very strange.
But life moves on. The lost boys and Wendy do, in fact grow up.
Back to my friend who's caring for her parents. Enjoy the seasons of
life. If you're in a position to help someone (kids, older parents),
be glad about it. Life can be rough. Pre-"Boomers" seem to have
gotten that more than me. Almost in spite of my self, I've learned
that some of the deepest meaning in life comes in stepping up to deal
with adversity.
Have fun in never-never land. I don't think I'm coming.
\#42 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
### WIP 7.9 Why do we hack? 100DaysToOffloademacs {#2022-12-04}
Why do we hack? Because we enjoy it? Because we want others to use
our work? Because we get paid?
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/emacs.png" caption="Figure 19: [\"Teco Emacs on TOPS20\" by George M. Jones is licensed under CC BY 2.0](https://foo.com/BAR/BAZ.JPG)" width="600px" >}}
Once again [EmacsConf](https://emacsconf.org/) went to fountainhead of free software and gave
us a chance to hear from and interact with [rms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman).
People in the public eye often get on (or get put on) a soapbox repeating
the same lines. Stallman even chose to open by playing an 8 year old
[TED talk he did extolling software freedom](https://youtu.be/Ag1AKIl_2GM). Certainly not new, but
once in a while it's refreshing to return to primary sources rather
than news or other mediated views. This talk and the Q&A was a view
straight into the heart, soul and source of the Free Software
movement.
I asked two questions on the webpad which Stallman answered. In both cases
I was trying to get past the repeated soapbox points to what makes the
person underneath tick.
Despite the utter profusion of tools built around the ecosystem he
created over the past 40 years (just look at the [program of EmacsConf](https://emacsconf.org/2022/talks/)
and the [contents of the \*LPA](https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/) archives), several of his comments lead
me to believe he still views emacs as "just an editor", so to clarify
I asked:
> Q: What do you use emacs for beyond editing?
>
> A: I use it for reading and writing email; this is what I do most of the day. (Sings)
> "I've been answering my email,
> all the g\*\*-d\*\*\*\*\* day / .. / <transcriber lost the thread about here [lyrics available at ]
Which confirmed my suspicion about non-use of the ecosystem.... but a
live performance of his own parody song about email? Score one for touching
the human behind the troupe.
As someone who's been around computers and Emacs long enough to
have started using the TECO based emacs something like 3 years after
RMS created it (c.a. 1979 for me), I look back fondly on some of the tech I've
used (all of which included versions of emacs): TOPS20, TOPS10 (!),
Multics, VMS, BSD Unix, SunOS, Solaris, etc and thanks to places like
[SDF](https://sdf.org/?welcome) and friends I can still log in and tinker in those environments
once in a while. At EmacsConf 2020 Stallman waxed nostalgic for a
moment about (I think) [DDT](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_debugging_technique) (Dynamic Debugging Technique) or similar for a
minute and the sense of control it gave, so this year I probed:
> Q: Do you ever dabble in retro-computing, e.g. logging into TOPS10/20 systems SDF, etc?
>
> A: No, I decided it's a waste of time. It's tinkering that would not
> develop anything of any importance or use. And I know if I'm going to
> enjoy developing something... I could enjoy developing anything... I
> decided not to distract my attention from useful computing.
So that's revealing. It acknowledges the existential pleasure of
creating, in any environment, but only values creations that are
likely to be used by others.
I have a son who's about to finish a doctorate in piano performance.
Clearly it's legitimate for him to perform for the enjoyment of
audiences, that is "useful". But I think it was also legitimate
for him, a child, to sit down at the harpsichord in the hallway of
George Washington's Mount Vernon and to knock out baroque pieces for
the sheer joy of it, I don't think that was a "distraction" or "waste
of time".
A lot of what makes Emacs what it is, is the accretion of
scratch-you-own-itch solutions ([Org-mode](https://orgmode.org/worg/org-tutorials/index.html), for instance) done for
oneself and possibly the pleasure of just writing the code and making
things work, and then shared as an afterthought. In this context GNU
Emacs itself is now 40 years old and was at the time a re-implementation of a
then 7 or 8 year old system (TECO Emacs) targeted to run on a
re-implementation of a system (Unix) created in 1969. Today (much to
my amazement) there are STILL people into the Amiga[^fn:13], C-64s, and
there are PDP-10's that run on raspberry-pi's. I once had an office-mate who
"wrote" his own version of the Z80 in Verilog, because he could.
I appreciate the desire to have one's software used widely, but I
think its equally valid for people to do their own thing, possibly in
nitch areas or on obsolete platforms, just because they want to. I'd
even say these are prime examples of people exercising software
freedom on their own hardware and, at least to them, this is "useful
computing".
Hat's off to RMS for Emacs, GCC, Core Utils, the GPL, FSF, Free Software...
Happy Hacking !!!
\#38 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
### PUBLISHED 7.10 Just a flu shot 100DaysToOffload {#2022-11-18}
I got a flu shot this week.
I happened to be at the pharmacy waiting for a prescription and had
been planning on getting one, so I did.
No politics...
No threats of being fired by my employer.
No media coverage.
No G20 summit leaders agreeing I should not be able to travel without it.
No politics dividing me from friends and family.
No Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. books full of conspiracy theories.
No doubts about the long term side-effects of under-tested medical interventions.
Just a flu shot.
Because I thought it might help me.
\#36 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
### PUBLISHED 7.11 "Red" vs. "Blue" Name calling? We can do better than that. 100DaysToOffloadreadingpolitics {#2022-11-06}
As we approach another election in the US where hearing cries of "Red"
vs. "Blue" become unavoidable, I'm increasingly convinced that such
labels are unhelpful substitutes for thought and actually engaging
with other people and ideas.
I've been listening to Jordan Peterson's "12 Rules For Living", as
well as his podcast lately. Yes, per Wikipedia
[Jordan Peterson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Peterson) can be labeled a
```text
Canadian media personality, clinical psychologist, author, and
professor ... public intellectual .. conservative ... classic
British liberal ... traditionalist
```
but in listening to him, I am coming more strongly to the option that labels
such as "conservative" or "liberal" are just intellectual crutches people
use to avoid thinking, to avoid engaging with ideas and people, to label
people in "us" and "them" categories such as "Red" and "Blue", and to cluster
together into tribal groups. The result is we reject our fellow human beings
out of hand and we are all worse off for doing so.
I'm only two chapters in, but his "[12 Rules For Living](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Rules_for_Life)" is already
both an interesting story and one of the most thought-provoking things
I've read in a long time. He draws on his experience as clinical
psychologist dealing with broken people, his own experience growing up
in a small oil town in northern Alberta, Canada (teenagers cruising a
small town, drunken parties, long dark nights), and along the way
walks through the story in Genesis 1-3 with the eyes of a psychologist
answering the question why we take care of other people, even our
pets, better than we do ourselves (Hint 1: we're all deeply messed up
and we are all to aware of this. Hint 2: The
whole "Red" vs. "Blue" thing and the tribal identity around it is in
fact a proxy for a deeper human need for meaning)
Even two chapters in, I'd recommend it
\#34 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
### PUBLISHED 7.12 The way to get something done is to not do everything else. {#2022-10-24}
See the title.
\#31 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
### PUBLISHED 7.13 Friends 100DaysToOffload {#2022-10-23}
Aristotle identified three types of friendship - friendships of association, utility
and virtue. Who were you "best friends" with in early school years?
Do you keep up with your old co-workers? Who has hurt you deeply, yet
you still wish them the best?
This morning I listend to a podcast that gave a summary of Aristotle's
classification of friendships. This is a summary of a summary of a summary
of one of the greatest thinkers in human history. Aristotle classed friendships
in three categories (and this is from memory, so I'm pretty sure I'm not
naming them they way Wikipedia or Aristotle's Ethics would)
Friendships of Associaiton
: School friends, sports team members, people I meet hiking.
Friendships of Utility
: Most of your Linked-in contacts.
Friendships of Virtue
: People you care about (and who care about
you) for their (your) own sake. I'm thinking a Mother's love for a
child falls here (but that may be a category all by itself). Who do
you love "just because"? Who want's the best for you even if you
hurt them deeply?
\#30 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
### PUBLISHED 7.14 "We" are "pleased" to.. 100DaysToOffload {#2022-04-26}
Email from [company I have investment with]:
```text
We are pleased to let you know that there is a new document for you to review
```
Translation,
the corporate machine sent this to you to mitigate it's
risk of being sued by you and fined by government regulators for not
doing so. There is no "we" in the personal sense. And no human being
is "pleased" by this. Emails like this are
a debasement of perfectly good words describing human interaction at
best
and disingenuous,
self-serving, collectivist, lies at worst.
\#27 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 7.15 Marcus Aurelius was right 100DaysToOffload {#2022-04-19}
I've been reading Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. I'm trying to have a
positive effect on the things and people I can actually change (myself
and my own reactions in this moment). Below are some quotes along
those lines from Longfellow, Bob Dylan, the Apostle Paul and Reinhold
Neibuhr, some of classics of "Don't worry, be happy". Now if I can
just internalize some of this...
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/boom_small.jpg" caption="Figure 20: [\"The cannon thundered in the South,\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/boom_small.jpg) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="600px" >}}
Worry is debilitating. And usually you can't do much about whatever
is worrying you directly. It can raise your blood pressure. It can
get you to opine on geo-political solutions and outcomes you have very
little hope of affecting or even influencing. See the war in Ukraine.
I keep coming back to Longfellow's _A Psalm of Life_
```text
"Act, act the living present, heart within and God o'erhead
...
Let us then be up and doing, with a heart for any fate"
Henery W. Longfellow
```
This from a man who new the loss and devastation of war
```text
And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
```
Marcus Aurelius is right. Worry keeps you from doing the good you can
do now, both for the benefit of yourself and those around you. It
keeps you from affecting the things you can affect.
To go back a few decades:
```text
"Karl Marx has got you by the throat,
and Henry Kissinger's got you tied up into knots.
When you gonna wake up, and strengthen the things that remain"
Bob Dylan
```
The big stuff will happen. You largely can't change it.
Change what you can, which is yourself in this moment.
Slightly out of context (go read the context), but...
```text
Let us not become discouraged in doing good, for in due time we will
reap, if we do not become weary. So then, while we have
opportunity, let us do good to all people,...
Paul, Galatians 6:9-10
```
And
```text
God, grant me the Serenity
To accept the things I cannot change...
Courage to change the things I can,
And Wisdom to know the difference.
Reinhold Neibuhr
```
Neibuhr had a large influence on a young pastor named Dietrich
Bonhoeffer in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s who was executed in
prison for, well, trying to do what he could do in his time...
Post 26 #100DaysToOffload
### PUBLISHED 7.16 Shared Experiences 100DaysToOffloadTrailThoughtsoutdoors {#2022-04-12}
Shared experiences bring us together.
This is some (possibly obvious) introspection involving the
Appalachian Trail, the moon landing and the Beatles.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/earthrise.jpg" caption="Figure 21: [\"Archive: Apollo 11 Sees Earthrise (NASA, Marshall, 07/69)\" by by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0](https://live.staticflickr.com/8300/7974034982_5e581e9795.jpg)" width="400px" >}}
Saturday I was out on a training hike on the Appalachian trail in
central Pennsylvania. I met a German (well, German speaking) hiker
with the trail name "Boomerang". We talked for about 10 minutes. In
all likelihood I will never see him again. But we had a bond, largely
because of our shared experience of the trail. I can talk to random
hikers about experiences we share, people we've met and places we both
know, "Oh, the outfitter in Harpers Ferry, you mean the one on the
left side going up the hill from town towards the ATC headquarters?".
Shared experiences bind us together.
My brothers and I have shared memories and experiences from our
formative years that no one else can ever share. My wife of 35 years
and I have had and raised two "kids". She knew my (now deceased)
parents, grandmother and extended family. You only have so many
people in your life with that level of connection. They are
irreplaceable.
You see the need for connections in the existence of (American)
VFW posts (a gathering place for former military members), in the
existence of Eastern Othodox churches and synagogues all over the old
ethnic neighborhoods of Pittsburgh and in efforts to preserve
endangered languages (Breton, Irish, Hawaiian...)
In a larger sense, we all share the human experience: birth, life,
struggles, death, the quest for sigificance and the desire for
eternity.
The moon landing on July 20, 1969 was a moment when the world
stopped. All of humanity was glued to TVs and radios. My parents kept
us up late to watch the landing. People stared at the moon in the sky
as people have done for all of human history, but with the knowledge
that there were people there. _We_ were there. The next day, the
Beatles went into the studio and started work on a song called "Come
Together". We need to.
\#24 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 7.17 Life! Carpe diem! Carpe viam! Carpe vitam! 100DaysToOffload {#2022-04-08}
I am listening to Jack Kerouac's [On the Road - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Road). What a
rant! What a
stream-of-consciousness-grab-life-by-the-horns-drink-until-it-kills-you
peaan to not missing a single moment or experience in life !
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/upwared_and_onward.jpg" caption="Figure 22: [\"Upward and Onward\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/upwared_and_onward.jpg) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="300px" >}}
A lot of what happened in the 60s starts, I won't say to make sense, but
to have a context.... musically there was Route 66, Tangled Up In Blue, All Come
To Look For America, Me And You And A Dog Named Boo, There's A Killer On
The Road .... and to some extent Woodstock (what happens 10 years later
when thousands of people try to live the carefee life spontaneously together
on a farm in upstate NY without proper infrastructure) and as an echo people
following the dead on tour .... Wow, man !
Keruac's and friends lifestyle choices were, let's just say different
than my own, but man did he grab the bull (life) by the horns.
In my own tame way I get out and play where there are bears, rattle snakes
thunderstorms, chances to discuss 19th century philosophical movements
with a rap-loving kid from the Bronx out for a hike and a meet a guy from
Mexico City hiking the Appalachian trail because his grandfather read
Thoreau in Spanish ...
To life !
\#23 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 7.18 New Cars 100DaysToOffload {#2022-03-31}
Cars have changed. Back in the day you could "pop the clutch" to
start a car by letting it roll down hill, putting it in first gear
with your foot on the (manual) clutch, let the clutch out ("popping
the clutch") and often the car would start. Handy if you had a car
with a dead battery at the top of a hill.
Cars are full of electronics now, and that can be good, and it can be
very bad...
The only electronics on cars back in the day were the battery, the
spark plugs, fired by an alternator, the starter motor, the lights,
the radio, the heater fan (OK, there are were a lot of electronics...)
But now, cars are Internet connected computers integrated with
everybody's favorite obsession, the smart phone. The computers in the
car can physically steer, apply breaks, accelerate, decelerate,
monitor your alertness, turn the car off, call 911 if you crash, etc.
These are all usually good, or at least well intentioned when they
work as designed in the conditions they were designed for.
But there are potential downsides. Pretty sure it would be
technically trivial for you to get a speeding ticket every time you
went 26 in a 25 zone. And Siri, Android Auto, Alexa and friends _can_
listen to your conversations, do speech to text, feed them to machine
learning trained programs to pick out anything, not just your
selection of music or driving direction. Have you ever ranted to a
friend in a car about social, political or religious topics ... or
maybe the suspected paternal lineage of the driver who just cut you
off? It might all be on record.
And I've worked with computers for too long to believe in bug free
code or code with no design defects. Things break. In this case, it
could cost me my life.
Then there are security issues. If the car can do the right thing
with properly functioning software and in road and weather conditions,
it could do the wrong thing as well if someone messes with the
software, sensors (radar, camera), or operating environment. With a
cell phone or other radio connection, cars are now, in once sense,
computer systems with constant Internet connections.
This has been a topic in hacker circles for several years now:
, and
industry is acknowledging the problem
We don't need to envision any cloak-and-dagger-middle-of-the-night car
mods in a futuristic James Bond film to see what could go wrong.
So I'm pretty sure we're not going back. I considered buying a
refurbished 1970s VW beetle to get away from all this, but for now I'm
going to accept risks, cited above and completely ignored by car
salesmen on the theory that it's more likely the car will keep me from
making a fatal lane change than that Dr. No (or random functionaries
at the TSA, local police or a kid in his basement) will hack my car.
There was a time when driving was the symbol of autonomy,
independence, personal responsibly, individualism and adventure. You
see bit's of that in Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" and Nat King Cole's
"Route 66". Those days are, I think, gone. Now, how do I connect
Android Auto and setup Waze? ...
\#21 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 7.19 "I close my eyes, only for a moment, but the moment's gone" 100DaysToOffload {#2022-03-30}
When you're on a world tour following COVID lock-downs, nominated for 3
Grammys, scheduled to play at the Grammy's this year ... [and your drummer dies](https://zeroenthusiasm.tumblr.com/post/47032679583/list-of-spinal-tap-drummers-all-deceased)....
```text
I close my eyes
Only for a moment and the moment's gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes, a curiosity
...
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind (All we are is dust in the wind)
Dust in the wind (Everything is dust in the wind)
Everything is dust in the wind
```
From memory and
\#20 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 7.20 It will be done when it's done 100DaysToOffloadhistorygif {#2022-03-24}
Steve Wilhite died last week. Yes, he created GIF, but that was just
a side project among mountains of mostly single-handed coding projects
that were a large part of what kept CompuServe going for years in the
face of AOL and the Web.
[One of my coworkers recalled](https://www.megiefuneralhome.com/obituaries/Stephen-E.-Wilhite?obId=24311617#):
> ...many times when asked about a delivery date Steve would answer "it
> will be done when it is done."
I laughed when I read that. It was so Steve. It would have been said
authoritatively, matter of factly, and any poor project manager
involved would have to take that as the final word, because Steve was
right ... and consistently delivered.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/steve.gif" caption="Figure 23: [\"CompuServe Languages and Tools Group c.a. 2019\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/steve.gif) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="200px" >}}
You got the same type of response when asked how to pronounce GIF. To
quote Steve "Choosy programmers choose GIF", echoing an old JIFF
peanut-butter commercial, soft "g". It didn't matter that the
[president of the United States disagreed](https://news.yahoo.com/-this-is-how-president-obama-pronounces--gif-153554734.html). The president was just
wrong. End of story.
Steve was laconic, matter-of-fact and almost always right. He had a
knack for knocking out the right project at the right time, be it the
3 DEC10 compilers in the 70s and early 80s, the "Host Micro Interface"
(HMI) protocol that let the Information Service move away from
text-only command line interfaces, to WinCIM (the CompuServe graphical
Interface/UI/Information Manager on Windows). I used capabilities
provided in WinCIM to write FTP and Telenet gateways that allowed
users to access the Internet. Steve also wrote libraries included in
WinCIM that provided enough functionality for me to write a web
browser....that was never released :-(. It allowed users without a
direct Internet connection (most people) to browse the web which
was full of GIFs then.
A lot of the reporting about Steve and his "Webby" award for GIF
refers to him working on it with "his team". I guess I was part of
that "team" ... he had hired me out of college and I was in "his"
Languages and Tools group (Compilers and Runtime Systems) and was 2
doors down when he was parading people in to see the fruits of a
project (one of the MANY) he did on the side/at home called GIF that
displayed, if I recall correctly, on DOS systems, Windows systems,
Atari STs, Amigas, all which Steve had either in his office or at home
or both. We did a little collaborative coding to port MicroEmacs to
the Amiga which became today's mg (nee Micro Gnu Emacs) editor, but
GIF was just Steve.
Sandy Trevor (CompuServe Executive Technical VP) and others were wise
just to let Steve do his thing.
Beyond the code, I think Steve stamped a lot of his outlook on a young
me. That's probably part of why I've dodged management at every
opportunity. There's too much "real work" to do :-). Years later, I
worked at Amazon for a bit and grew very quickly to appreciate the
leadership principals:
. Turns out,
in retrospect, I think they were describing the Steve I knew to a "t":
He was right, a lot, dove deep, delivered results, earned trust, was
always learning and curious, thought big and was forever inventing and
simplifying. I think Bezos was somehow taking queues from Steve.
Steve also had one quality that a lot of utterly brilliant people
lack: He took you (me) where you were. Not everyone went home and
read Knuth and CACM cover-to-cover for bedtime stories. He got that.
He took you where you were as a programmer and a person. That gave me
room to grow personally and professionally at a critical time in life.
There was way more to Steve than GIF. His output was prolific and
in his laconic let-your-code-do-your-talking kind of way, he was
inspiring. I was privileged to have a front row seat to watch a
master at work.
\#19 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 7.21 Present Duties 100DaysToOffload {#2022-03-02}
This is framed quote that's been hanging on my family's walls since
sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. It's way more
positive than the other things I was thinking of posting in these dark times...
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/IShallPassThisWayButOnce3.jpeg" caption="Figure 24: [\"Present Duties\" by William Penn paraphrasing Jesus](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/IShallPassThisWayButOnce3.jpeg) is in fact not copyrightable, Charles Scribners's Sons claims c.a. 1897 notwithstanding." width="600px" >}}
\#15 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 7.22 It seems like a good day for some Russian opera 100DaysToOffloadhistorymusic {#2022-02-26}
Below is some text from Rimsky-Korsakov's last opera,
where the people mockingly pledge loyalty to the Russian King (Tsar)
> King Dodon, a lazy and gluttonous ruler, is greatly worried
> by his warlike neighbors.
It seems the Kremlin's website is having some issues right now...
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/movealong.png" caption="Figure 25: [\"Kremlin Website, Nothing To See Here, Move Along\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/movealong.png) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="300px" >}}
```text
People (shouting).
Long life to thee! Hurrah!
May thou have every good thing!
(Begin to sing.)
"We are thy faithful servants.
Who kiss the Royal feet.
We are glad to serve thee.
To amuse thee with our foolishness,
To box for thee upon a holiday,
To bark, to crawl on all fours,
So that thy hours may flow quickly
And may bring sweet sleep.
Without thee we should have no
Reason for existing;
For thee we were born
And for thee we have had chidren."
```
From
In the historical context (1908), Russia had just lost a war to Japan
where it's army was defeated and _two_ fleets were sunk by Japan. The
Tsar was in disgrace. The start of WWI was only 6 years away and the
Russian revolution was only 9 years away.
The (Tsarist) censors didn't like the text. Wonder why.
\#12 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 7.23 Oh, Little Town of Harpers Ferry, How Still We See Thee Lie 100DaysToOffload {#2022-02-18}
Harpers Ferry: a quaint little town, vegan restaurants, a national
park, Appalachian Trail headquarters, great place to hop a train to DC
or Pittsburgh, a Kansas album cover or a great place to start a civil
war? It’s all in how you look at it, who’s looking, and when.
This is a picture I took on a hike above the town on Loudoun Heights
Saturday and the painting of John Brown in the John Brown museum.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/hf.png" caption="Figure 26: [\"Harpers Ferry\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/hf.png) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="600px" >}}
Saturday I went hiking above Harpers Ferry, WV. Today it’s just a sleepy
little town with a [good little vegan
restaurant](https://kelleyfarmkitchen.com/), headquarters of the [Appalachian
Trail Conservancy](https://appalachiantrail.org/explore/communities/harpers-ferry-bolivar/) and a lot of national park buildings (most of the old
downtown). But back in the day (1859), it housed the federal armory, gun
factory and John Brown thought it would be a great place start a slave
rebellion. He was wrong. But he lit the fuse of the Civil War that ended
slavery. His short lived rebellion was put down by federal troops lead
by … Robert E. Lee, later commander of the Confederate army and JEB Stewart,
a confederate general. And you may even recognize a Kansas (70s band) album
cover in the painting of Brown-as-Moses with a bible in one hand and a
gun in the other.
Turns out there is no museum in Harper Ferry dedicated to the man who
enforced the status quo. I guess we know who was “on the wrong side of
history.
\#10 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 7.24 Oh, you gotta get a glory in the work you do 100DaysToOffloadpoetrywork {#2022-02-15}
I've been reading a lot of poetry lately.
A snatch of a poem my grandmother used to quote about finding meaning
in work came to mind:
```text
Oh, you gotta get a glory
In the work you do;
A hallelujah chorus
In the heart of you.
Paint, or tell a story,
Sing, or shovel coal,
But you gotta get a glory
Or the job lacks soul.
Berton Baley
```
Even Google and Duck-Duck Go don't know much about it, so here it is
in my grandmothers handwriting. From cleaning houses, to taking care
of kids, to canning beans she NEVER did anything halfway.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/glory.jpg" caption="Figure 27: [\"Oh, you gotta get a glory\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/glory.jpg) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="600px" >}}
\#9 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 7.25 The mighty Casey has struck out 100DaysToOffloadsportspoetry {#2022-02-14}
I watched the Super Bowl last night, in which a second Ohio team just
missed a national championship in a year. There is no joy in
[Porkopolis](https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/porkopolis). I don't know any good football poems, but...
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/joy-in-mudville.jpg" caption="Figure 28: [\"Joy in Mudville\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/joy-in-mudville.jpg) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="400px" >}}
I stayed up late (for me) last night to watch the Super Bowl.
The Bengals were the only professional team I ever half-way followed.
This was in the 70s and into the 80s when they made their two other
Super Bowl appearances. They, unlike the later "Bungles" were worth
watching.
I started following them largely because they were in Cincinnati and
at the time I had become a huge (not half-way) Reds fan. It was a
good time to be a Reds fan. Those were the years of the Big Red
Machine ... Rose, Bench, Morgan, Perez, etc. Back-to-back World
Series wins in 75 (the year I started following) and 76. I was hooked
(see [some thoughts on where professional baseball has gone here](http://curious.galthub.com/blog/opening-day-2020/)). The Bengals gave me something
to follow in the off-season. I even followed the Cincinnati Stingers
hockey team in the short lived WHL for similar reasons.
It probably didn't hurt that I grew up in Columbus during the [Archie
Griffin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_Griffin) years and that the Bengals drafted him in 76. It just seemed
natural that the teams I (somewhat) followed played in the Rose Bowl
(then the national title game for college football), the world series
and, probably, the Super Bowl every year.
Other than the Reds, I was never really a huge sports fan. Growing up
in Columbus, Ohio you don't realize how pervasive Buckeye-fever is:
it's in the water, its in the air, it's in the people's blood. I
realized that this was not universal only when I moved away.
So, when the Buckeyes were in the title game this year I signed up a
free trail FuboTV account, watched the game and immediately canceled.
I did the same thing with the Bengals in the Super Bowl last night
(honestly I could not have named a single player on the team.)
Yesterday, for different reasons, I was reading some of the poetry my
Grandmother loved. Which is probably what brought this to mind, so,
for my friends in Cincinnati and those who actually care about
Football...
> Casey at the Bat
> by Ernest L. Thayer
>
> Oh, somewhere in this favored land
> the sun is shining bright;
> The band is playing somewhere,
> and somewhere hearts are light,
>
> And somewhere men are laughing,
> and somewhere children shout;
> But there is no joy in Mudville--
> mighty Casey has struck out.
\#8 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 7.26 Ἰλιάς 100DaysToOffloadhistorysnark {#2022-02-13}
The Iliad and Dr Seuss have nothing to say to us today. "One fish, two
fish"? Really. Recent translations of liner-A tablets reveal that it
was a faceBOOK post that launched 1000 ships.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/delphi.jpg" caption="Figure 29: [\"Oracle headquarters, Delphi, Greece AUC MMDCCXLII\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/delphi.jpg) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="600px" >}}
I recently finished re-listening to the Iliad (20 hours) and was struck by how
little has changed in 3000 years:
- The Olympian gods still enter directly into human battles.
- The Hittites still rule Anatolia (Turkey).
- Slavery is still a thing in the Mediterranean.
- Raiding and plundering coastal towns is a perfectly acceptable career path.
- Augery (reading the livers of animals) and portents (birds flying to
the right or left) are still seen as valid ways making important
decisions.
- Political leaders are valued for their bravery in battle, leading from
the front, risking their own lives and leading by example.
And there is even new evidence, deciphered form Liner-A tablets, that
they were deeply concerned about issues of climate change, social justice
and COIVD-19 vaccines. It seems that the oracle at Delphi read a
Facebook post and clued them in that the people of the early 21st
century (21st century from what?) would be rightly obsessed with these
issues and that these people and their views would be the pinnacle
of moral development for all of human history, and that the opinions and
concerns of twitter mobs in that era were fixed, immutable and correct
for all time.
In fact, the Trojan war was launched because the Trojans were on the wrong
side of history on all these issues. So Agamemnon and the boys showed up
and did the right thing. They administered social justice and burned it
all down. For millennia we've referred to "The face [Helen] that launched
1000 ships", but that was due to an incorrect textual variant in the source
documents. It was a "faceBOOK" post that launched 1000 ships. Unfortunately,
this lead directly to Aeneas founding Rome. They were also on the wrong
side of history. What can you do?
There are some themes that Homer dealt with at length. Things change. These
are no longer issues for humanity:
- Wrath
- Jealousy
- Hatred
- War
- Death
- Greed
- Pride
- Fate
- Joy
- Sorrow
- Glory
- Destiny
- Companionship
- Loyalty
- Retribution
- Pathos
- Grief
- Treachery
- Mortality
It's a good thing nobody has to read Homer any more. Or Dr Seuss.
That stuff is problematic, and longer that 140 characters!
\#7 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 7.27 Conspiracy theories can be fun! games100DaysToOffload {#2022-02-05}
[Illuminati](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminati_(game)) is a game that allows you indulge your inner conspiracy
theorist, hopefully in a self-aware tongue-in-cheek manner. My son
apparently made off with my copy. I think he's in on it. He took it as part
of a secret communist conspiracy to keep me from suspecting the truth
about secret communist conspiracies...
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/illumiati.png" caption="Figure 30: [No, really, the Freemasons have been secretly runing America since it's founding.](http://www.sjgames.com/illuminati/index.html)" width="200px" >}}
> I can't find my copy of Illuminati, I'll keep looking but my SUSPICION
> is that DANIEL took it to CEDARVILLE in a blatant attempt to prevent
> YOU from knowing that the democratic party controls the international
> communist conspiracy who use their orbital mind control lasers (see
> tin foil hats) to control the convenience store clerks who incite KKK
> rallies that buy large numbers of Chick-fil-A sandwiches secretly on
> Sunday at, wait for it....the brand new Chick-fil-A dining hall on the
> cedarville campus (what more proof do you need, seriously !!!!)
And because I can't leave anything un-analyzed...
Conspiracy theories are more of a problem when you're close to them,
when they're believable, and may have an impact on your life. I'm not
to concerned (outside historical and literary interests) as to whether
Marc Antony was actually planning to crown Julius Caesar as King of
Rome. I'm not invested (as Cicero was) in the myth that the rule of
Rome was going to stay in the hands of the Senatorial class and the
Tribunes.
This, on the other hand, hits a little close to home
Be careful...
\#3 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, .
### PUBLISHED 7.28 Adding years to your life, or life to your years? 100DaysToOffload {#2022-02-04}
My great aunt took her first motorcycle ride at 100.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/aunt-bess-on-motorcycle.jpg" caption="Figure 31: \"Aunt Bess Takes Her First Motorcycle Ride at 100\" by George Jones is licensed under cc by 2.0" width="400px" >}}
Some thoughts on living in a small town, neuroscience and life.
What are you doing on your 100th birthday?
My great aunt Bess was one of 11 children, who lived her whole life in the small
community around Frankfort, Ohio. She had scores of cousins and
nephews and nieces. In her younger years, she worked as a cook in the
local high school cafeteria and so knew an entire generation of kids
in the community (and their kids) as they grew up. The last 50 years
or so of her life, she lived in her own house on the edge of town.
She lived on her own until the year she died (at 102). When we went to visit
the routine was "Well, I don't know what I'll feed you all", and an
hour later a full thanksgiving dinner-style meal was on the table no
matter what time of year from corn she had canned, etc.
We had a big birthday party for her at a local church when she turned 100.
There where 100 or more people there. And that was the day she
strapped on the leather and took her first motorcycle ride with a
nephew.
She added both years to her life AND life to her years.
I recently listened to a book called "[Successful Aging](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/598506/succe%20ssful-aging-by-daniel-j-levitin/%20)" by
professional musician-turned-neuroscientist Daniel Levitin. One of
the key ideas he points out is that people thrive on interaction with
other people, from the earliest stages of childhood development to
centegenarians like my aunt. For the book he [interviewed a number of
successful older people](https://www.parkerlife.org/blog/january-2020/neuroscientist-daniel-levitin-shares-his-keys-to-aging-well) from former Mexican president Vicente Fox, to
the Dali Lama, to former US Secretary of State George Shultz and
professional jazz musician Sonny Rollins, all of whom were active and
engaged well into their 80s or 90s.
And it's not just old people. Levitin goes into the literature of
childhood development. Kids need social interaction to develop
properly. Kids thrive, literally, on social interaction. Social
interaction is important to the early development of the brain,
language learning and learning the self control needed to function in
society. Without social interaction, some of these developments are
physically retarded or absent, often permanently and irreversibly.
As Stacey Lance recently pointed out with some of what's been going on
for the past few years, "I’m a Public School Teacher. The Kids Aren’t
Alright."
.
Kids need social interaction. My own reflections on the article are
here
I'm told similar things about the correlation between aging and thriving
by a friend who is a financial councilor (he works with lots of
older people) and our former pastor, in his 70s, who himself is
working a third or fourth career at a construction company and
maintaining the very active walking regime he and his wife have
maintained for years.
In the past two years:
- I've seen a big family wedding celebration scaled down and held
almost secretly for fear of police showing up.
- We canceled our annual new-years gathering of friends and family.
- I skipped visiting a relative who's husband had just died as I was
driving right past her house 100s of miles from home.
- Churches stopped meeting.
- The Catholic church stopped serving Communion in person, for the
first time in 2000 years. Diocletian didn't even get that far
with his persecution (I'm not Catholic).
- Photography clubs stopped meeting.
- Kids stopped going to school (well, not home-schoolers...).
- People stopped going to restaurants and socializing.
- Appalachian Trail maintenance training and work trips have been canceled.
- Events people have planned their lives around like spending 6
months hiking, meeting 100s of people from, literally, all "walks"
of life have been canceled.
- I (and millions others) have canceled plans to travel, meet people
and enjoy interaction with our fellow human beings.
Are we adding years to our life, or life to our years?
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/aunt-bess-and-bryan.jpg" caption="Figure 32: \"Aunt Bess holding a young Bryan\" by George Jones is licensed under cc by 2.0" width="400px" >}}
\#3 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, .
### PUBLISHED 7.29 "This train's got the disappearing railway blues" trainshistorytravel {#2022-01-27}
I recently took an Amtrak trip form Pittsburgh to Tucson and back.
My cousin asked me
> How was the Amtrak ride? It went through Chillicothe for a few years
> maybe in the 1970's. Then B&O/CSX abandoned the tracks.
and noted
> in the 1920'... there were 5 passenger trains a day from Cincinnati to Columbus
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/trains.jpg" caption="Figure 33: \"Trains\" by George Jones is licensed under CC BY 2.0" width="600px" >}}
Some pix from trip are here
The trip was long. 6 days on the train for what would have been two 4
hour flights. But no airport. No TSA !!! And it's relaxing. Would NOT
want to do a trip of that length in coach. The sleepers are tiny, but
still. And it comes with "dinner in the dinner, nothing could be
finer" and COFFEE!!!
I think the train service to Chillicothe stopped in the 60s. Mom and Dad
took us (or maybe just my older brother) on one of the last trains.
Government officials seem to be stuck on the need for modes of transportation
that stopped working 70 years ago, in part because of government action
in the form of federal highway subsidies, in part because, well, airplanes,
which were the work of a couple Ohio boys form Dayton. Now they want force
everyone to subsidize the one they killed and make the other so unpleasant
that it's unusable.
### PUBLISHED 7.30 social costs covid {#2022-01-24}
I sent this to my son who is on the path to being a high school socials
study teacher.
This article has me trying to project the impact today's "social
distancing" would have had on a very messed up introverted teenager of
45 years ago. It's not a pretty picture.
> I’m a Public School Teacher. The Kids Aren’t Alright.
>
> My students were taught to think of themselves as vectors of disease. This has fundamentally altered their understanding of themselves.
```text
From: ME (Today 04:49) (inbox)
Subject: What you're heading into
To: SON
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2022 04:49:50 -0500
https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/im-a-public-school-teacher-the-kids
As a homeschooler you may not resonate with this, but I can't
imagine how the introverted, messed up kid I was
would have turned out without the huge array of social experiences available to me.
And to think of teenagers, invincible, immortal, carefree teenagers
with the world at their feet being made to feel that they ARE the
problem and that they need to shut down and isolate? We're loosing
a generation.
The title may be an oblique reference to "the kids are all right" by the who (very Beatles 1966 sounding, with
shades of the beach boys and prefiguring the Ramones some)...or
maybe I'm just getting old.
```
### PUBLISHED 7.31 Inclusion and Diversity in Ancient Egypt snark {#lets_celebrate}
Today is a newly decreed "inclusion and diversity" holiday at work.
I've got the inclusion and diversity cards ready to go. I've got
the inclusion and diversity lights out of the garage and strung
them all over the house (we're going to out-do the neighbors this
year !). We've celebrated the annual ritual of baking ethnic
foods (cultural appropriation at it's best, yum !!!). And when
the kids are home, we will all gather 'round the fireplace with
hot chocolate and ask
> Why is this night different from all other nights?
and tell stories of oppression and patriarchy .... wait ....
### PUBLISHED 7.32 What is "the news"? life {#the-news}
Last Sunday I went to a [Christmas concert a a local church](https://happeningnext.com/event/holiday-concert-and-benefit-for-farthest-corners-eid3a08dtt418). All
flutes (plus the occasional Harp). Who knew there was a
contra-bass flute ?
The concert was a benefit for "Furthest Corners" mission that has
a school and hospital in Myanmar (Burma). I talked to one of
the missionaries who had to leave the country recently due to the
civil war. [The civil war in [Burma] has been going on on-and-off for 70 years.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_conflict_in_Myanmar)
Who knew?
It seems the military decided to bomb the school. It's half
gone. They are holding school in the other half.
I asked about the war. Apparently its "everybody against the
military and the police now." Imagine having to go the grocery
store (or grow and store your own rice) in an environment where
you might get mugged by the police. Where do you turn? How do
you live? How do you eat?
I also recently finished [All Quiet on the Western Front](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front), a book
about the experience of one German soldier in the trenches of
WWI. The German title of the book _Im Westen nichts Neues_,
literally translates "Nothing New in the West" referring to the
"news" from the front they day the main character was killed,
with the end of the war in sight and "not much going on". "Not
much" in who's view?
"The news" tends to be voyeuristic, detached, high level and mass
market. It tends to feed judgmental views and tribalism.
People are what matter. Kids having a school to go to (or half a
school). Having food to eat. Living free from fear of those who
are supposed to protect you. But that's not news.
`##################### I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day #############################`
And in keeping with the Christmas concert and war theme, these words
were written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow during the depths of the
American civil war:
```text
1 I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
2 And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along th’unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
3 Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
4 And in despair I bowed my head
There is no peace on earth, I said,
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
5 Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.
These verses, usually omitted in modern hymnals, reflect the words'
origin during the American civil war:
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
```
[Archive Of This Page](https://web.archive.org/web/*/curious.galthub.com/blog/the-news/)
### PUBLISHED 7.33 When we focus on fear and stop caring for people covidlifehealthfamilycovid {#up-with-people-2021-12-06}
The real tragedy of COVID is the collateral damage it's causing to the
way we interact with other people. This is worse than even the deaths
it causes. The damage includes a lack of civility, division in
families, and people dying alone in hospitals because nobody's allowed
in.
From a Christian point of view, "the end is not the end". We need to
strive to "live at peace with all men (even those we disagree with on
divisive social issues), so far as it depends on you". Without that
perspective, all that's left is fear of death and division (who's
author is well known).
The medical system itself is a casualty of COVID. My wife got COVID
and had gone two weeks without food or (my larger concern) much liquid
and was lacking motivation to even do anything about it when I
convinced her to go to her doctor. All they would do is a COVID test
in the car. They would not even see her until she had a negative
test. Her test was positive. So they would not see her. A friend at
church is a nurse at a medical practice that is specializing in COVID
treatment. They use alternate therapies, including Ivermectin and
claim %100 success (e.g. no deaths). I was (and am) skeptical of
Ivermectin ... this "just happened" to land at the top of my news feed
the morning I got up with the intent of researching it
But a) they agreed to see her when her doctor would not b) they got an
IV (fluid) into her when she was severely dehydrated c) they caught
the fact that she was developing pneumonia and prescribed antibiotics
d) they had us get a blood-oxygen monitor for use at home, gave us a
nebulizer and a prescription for albuterol with instructions to call
them any time of day or night if her O2 levels got too low e) the
result of all this was that she became interested in her own care and
motivated to participate in it and f) I had the chance to server her
in ways I usually don't which has been positive for our relationship.
And she's better now.
I'll take "fringe" medicine that cares for people over "mainstream"
medicine that lets them die because they are too worried about lawsuits
and government edicts to actually care fore people.
The real tragedy of COVID is not the deaths, but what it is doing to
the way we interact with our fellow human beings.
### PUBLISHED 7.34 Trust, Money, Force, Blockchain, Wired and China lifemoneycrypto {#money-2021-12-05}
> Web3 sound like bs
> ---Elon Musk
I'm just starting to come to terms with "Web3", "blockchain" etc.
Having thought that the end of brick-and-mortar stores and cash
were right around the corner in 1995, I'm a little skeptical of
new web trends. I'm a life-long fad-avoider and I've smelled a
big fad around "blockchain" since it began. Wired is all over
it. What further proof is needed?
That said money is about trust. Do you believe someone else will
exchange goods and services for gold? Do you believe this coin
really contains %100 gold? Do you believe this paper money is
backed by gold? Do you believe this paper money (fiat currency)
that is no longer backed by gold will continue to be accepted in
trade? Do you believe it will hold value in the face of a
central bank that is printing infinite amounts of it in response
to political demands? Do you believe that those account
balances that represent your life savings, which are nothing more
than numbers in some database are secure from loss/being
completely wiped out in two seconds by cyber fraud, ransomware,
accidental deletion, bureaucratic incompetence, corporate self
interest or the government?
Money is also about force. Will those in charge of the current
fiat currencies, who wield force (police, courts, regulations,
laws, armies) use that force to shut down a new fiat currency
(blockchain) that they don't/can't control. My guess is, yes.
See China.
### PUBLISHED 7.35 No TV life {#NoTV}
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/tv.jpg" caption="Figure 34: [\"\"Console Television Receiver\"\"](https://live.staticflickr.com/4030/4280476270_22dafcfb6f_b.jpg) by ellenm1 is licensed under [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=ccsearch&atype=html)" width="400px" >}}
When I got married I made the decision not to have a TV because I knew
my personal tendency to let it suck up my attention and I did not want
that as an additional distraction from the hard work of building and
maintaining important relationships. My (now 23 year old) son and I
are currently working through the first 3 seasons of Star Trek The
Next Generation (TNG) on DVD.
Growing up (this will date me) I watched some of the (then) current
kids shows. I remember how much my grandfather loved watching
_Lawrence Welk_. The annual airing of _The Wizard of Oz_ ad _A Charlie
Brown Christmas_ were anchors of the TV-watching year. My best friend
would not miss the Jerry Lewis telethon. _All In the Family_,
_The Waltons_ and _MASH_ where staples. In the 70s there were cult-like
re-runs of _Star Trek_ TOS and this wacky British show called
_Monty Python's Flying Circus_ late at night on the PBS station. And there
were major events like the moon landing (I was 8, vague memories) and
the celebration of the American bicentennial and less happy things
like the nightly body count on the evening news during the Vietnam war.
We often watched together as a family (or part of a family). Most
families at the time had "the TV", one TV (Mr. Green of the Monkeys
"Pleasant Valley Sunday" not withstanding). There were in our case
only 4 stations to choose from, the CBS, ABC, NBC and PBS affiliates.
We argued over who got "the good chair", who had to get up and change
the channel (yes, no remotes) and if you got your place when you came
back. With so few selections, it was highly likely that some of your
friends had watched the same show the night before. There were no
VCRs, DVDs or YouTube. You watched what the local stations put on,
when they chose to air it (yes, air) or you didn't watch anything.
This lack of choice contributed to a shared culture, shared
experiences. I wonder if the ancient Athenians had more than one play
by Aeschylus or Euripides at the same time?
"Back in the day" (40s to early 80s) there were local and regional TV
shows. Cincinnati had the _Paul Dixon Show_ and _Midwestern Hayride_, Dayton
had _Phil Donahue_ (who later went national). Columbus had
_Lucy's Toy Shop_ (live kids show) and _Flippo the Clown_..afternoon B-Movies with
commentary ... and a recording of Flippo (Bob Marvin) playing the
Beatles Norwegian Wood on sax with his Jazz Combo for the theme song.
Any "kid" of a certain age (OK, we're all now approaching 60) from
central Ohio can still sing theme from Lucy's Toy Shop by heart. TV
of the day created a shared culture. Those a few years older than me
seemed to all have watched they American debut of a British group on
the _Ed Sullivan_ show playing a style of music copied from American
artists such as Elvis Presley who in turned copied it from the current
black artists of the day. There's a lot to be said for shared culture.
...
### PUBLISHED 7.36 The World Needs Visionaries historyamazon {#visionaries}
Jeff Bezos is stepping down as CEO of Amazon Monday. I met him
briefly at an internal company conference (the Amazon Machine Learning
conference) when I worked there 2016.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/Jeff_Bezos.jpg" caption="Figure 35: Jeff Bezos" width="200px" >}}
I admire him. He's created things. He built a company that's
changing the world. He had vision. He (and his in-laws) took
risks. He provided leadership (see the [The Amazon Leadership
Principals](https://www.aboutamazon.com/about-us/leadership-principles)) and he knew when to get out of the way.
Any organization of humans that's big enough will have problems. It's
full of humans. But I view it as a mark of success that the teamsters
and the taxman are taking aim at Amazon now. There is value there
that can be envied, vilified, stolen, leached off of and sued[^fn:14].
The European Union and Congress are not trying (as hard) to take down
smaller companies. Amazon is on their radar because there is real
value there. Bezos created it and he deserves every penny of the
value his %10 stake in the company gives him. Who is ~~John Gault~~
Dagny Taggart?
A couple years ago I finally met Jeff Wilkins, the early CEO of
CompuServe. I had heard him spoken of in reverential terms by [Steve
Wilhite](https://eludom.github.io/blog/steve/) (creator of GIF) and others at CompuServe. But Henry Block
canned Wilkins the week I started at CompuServe. After meeting
Wilkins and having a little time to actually talk to him, I get the
importance of vision at the top. Wilhite, [Dr. John Goltz](http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/cctalk/1999-July/0799.html) et al. did
some amazing tech work (packet switching in 1972 anyone?) but it took
vision to drive the company to pioneer much of what we now know as the
online world in the 1975-1985 time-frame ... email (gmail), electronic
news, online shopping (Amazon, eBay), chat (slack), file sharing
(iTunes), discussion groups (blogs, twitter, et al.), "cloud
computing" (wide area networking, virtual private networks and
time-sharing). CompuServe ran on steam (and the back of some great
tech work by Wilhite and others) for another 10 years, but the vision
was gone. CompuServe was eclipsed (and purchased) by Steve Case and
AOL, the Internet happened and about this time an online bookstore was
starting up.
Hats off to the visionary, the risk taker and the leader. You made
the world a better place. Thank you...and enjoy your trip to space
following the vision of Robert Goddard, Gene Roddnenbery and others
:-)
### PUBLISHED 7.37 Some Happy Notes musicfamilylifepiano {#happy-notes}
And on a happy note...my son Bryan has finished his Masters of
Piano Performance at Duquesne University and will be headed to
Penn State to pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts. You can watch
listen to [Bryan Jones' masters degree piano recitle at Duquesne](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp9RFZrc7DMtCEg0SmtEL5weDiTis3rH5) on
Youtube.
{{< figure src="static/bryan.png" >}}
#### 7.37.1 Bryan's Music {#bryan-s-music}
The corona virus has wreaked havoc with many things, not the least
of which is the performing arts, but, as they say, "the show must
go on". The program was to have been a live performance, but
things being what they are (social distancing) recordings where
made to satisfy the requirement.
The program includes:
- Schumann: Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13 (original version, 1837)
- Debussy: Images Book II - I. Cloches à travers les feuilles
- Debussy: Images Book II - II. Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut
- Debussy: Images Book II - III. Poissons d'or
- Ginastera: Piano Sonata #1, Op. 22 - I. Allegro marcato
- Ginastera: Piano Sonata #1, Op. 22 - II. Presto misterioso
- Ginastera: Piano Sonata #1, Op. 22 - III. Adagio molto appassionato
- Ginastera: Piano Sonata #1, Op. 22 - IV. Ruvido ed ostinato
I particularly like the Debussy.
#### 7.37.2 Other Happy Notes {#other-happy-notes}
My other son Daniel is finishing out his junior year at Cedarville
from home. Bryan's girlfriend (also graduating from Duquesne) will
again spend the summer doing something she loves, counting birds for
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies. A "kid" I knew from scouting is
headed off for a masters in biomedical engineering this fall, and we
may hike together a week or two if possible in June or July.
Life goes on. All is not doom and gloom. There are some happy
notes. Share some of yours?
### PUBLISHED 7.38 All is not doom and gloom: go for a walk !!! lifehope {#go-for-a-walk}
I find that when I stay glued to twitter (pick your
social-media-of-doom-amplifier) I tend to get a rather gloomy view of
life. There is indeed a lot one can be gloomy about these days. But
if you just go for a walk and look around you may be
surprised:
I found this art [sidewalk art](#figure--pic:sidewalk-art) at just about the exact place where last
fall I had purchased a cup of lemonade from 4 eager young
entrepreneurs. I suspect the ring leader of that optimistic young
bunch.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/sidewalk-art.jpg" caption="Figure 36: Sidewalk art" >}}
Spring is the best time of year. The daffodils bloom, [dogwoods are in
full bloom](#figure--pic:dogwoods), red-bud trees come out, the tree-frogs sing up a storm (at
least that's how it goes in Virginia)
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/dogwood.jpg" caption="Figure 37: Dogwoods in bloom" >}}
I recently had my yard re-graded and re-seeded and now, after 17 years
I have [full luscious grass](#figure--pic:grass) (that has to be mowed). This may not happen
again:
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/grass.jpg" caption="Figure 38: Actual grass" >}}
And last but not least I saw a bird I don't think I've seen before,
it turned out to be a common [tree swallow](#figure--pic:tree-swallow), but it was startling to see
the almost metallic, shinny dark blue back and white belly (the
picture does not capture it well)
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/tree-swallow.jpg" caption="Figure 39: Tree Swallow (_Tachycineta bicolor_)" >}}
Go for a walk. Look at the world around you. It's spring. All is
not doom and gloom!
### PUBLISHED 7.39 Digital chimney smoke? lifeDigitalFrontiers {#digital-chimney-smoke}
Daniel Boone is quoted (via Hubert Humphrey) as saying
> when he could see the smoke from another chimney, felt himself too
> crowded and moved further out into the wilderness.
Mark Twain said
> Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
I was on email as early as 1980 on a DEC20. I was on Usenet news
when it was the digital frontier and on the Internet in the
mid-80s, 10 years or so before the Web. I helped bring America
online working at CompuServe before America Online existed. I
quit Facebook in the run-up to the 2016 election as it got too
political and now I find that my main digital platform (Twitter)
is home to the daily, um, ?sophisms? of the President who spawned
the political rhetoric I fled.
Is it time to move on? Time to find another avant-guard tech hole
to clime into? Thanks to the Internet there are infinitely more
options than just the dial-up BBS systems of the early 80s.
I was a little sad to loose contact with all the elementary school
friends that Facebook enabled me to reconnect with after 40 years
(OK, not really) and I would be sad too loose touch with the zany
[#ClassicsTwitter](https://twitter.com/search?q=%2523classicstwitter&src=typed_query) crowd ([aeneasgoogling apud elysium](https://twitter.com/aeneasgoogling) I'm looking at
you) that tweets in Latin.
Where to go? Maybe just pick up stakes, head west and see where I
find myself?
### PUBLISHED 7.40 Getting started in life is harder right now lifefamilycovid {#2020-05-05}
Getting started in life is harder right now. I have two college age
sons who both just finished up their year with online classes, and
both are home now. In "normal" times they would be working summer jobs or participating
in other activities that would help them advance toward their chosen
careers. Jobs may or may not happen. Even getting out of the house
may not happen much. These are weird times.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/seals.png" caption="Figure 40: The Great Seal of the State of Ohio" >}}
I am happy to help my sons with a place to live, emotional and other
support, but it is a time of life where they should be moving towards
increased independence. The opportunities to do that are drastically
reduced right now. This state of affairs concerns me, and it's not
just my family. Maybe we need to look for the silver lining, find
opportunity in change, etc., but it is certainly going to take more
effort and intentionality right now.
Day 06 of #100DaysToOffload.
### PUBLISHED 7.41 Awesome online singing from Denmark to Australia, and social distancing too! choirmusicsingingeastersacredharpharmoniasacracovid {#2020-05-06}
There are some amazing online singing events happening now around
the world: Denmark, Australia, Nashville, etc. I want to highlight
a couple examples of that to add brightness to these dark times.
Human beings have an unquenchable desire to live in community.
Singing has always been an expression of that. Modern technology
has enabled it.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/sacred-harp.png" caption="Figure 41: The Sacred Harp Quarantine Chorus" >}}
Day 07 of #100DaysToOffload.
- Harmonia Sacra - a capella four part shape note singing
I sing (the quality is arguable at times). For the past 25
years on-and-off I've been singing 4 part a capella hymns in
Mennonite circles. It's a communal thing. You _can_ sing the
bass line by yourself, but it's not the same.
For the past 10 years or so, my family and I have been driving
over to Shenandoah Valley 2 or 3 times a year to participate in
a few of the annual "sings" that have been happening in the
area since Joseph Funk first published [Harmonia Sacra](https://harmoniasacra.org/) in 1832
(in the little town of "Singers Glen"[^fn:15])
Since we could not have the regular April singing in person, I
figured out how to host one on Zoom, based on [instructions for
leading Chorial Music over Zoom by Jim Daus Hjernøe of the
Royal Academy of Music in Denmark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50NoWIiYECA)
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/royal-academy.png" caption="Figure 42: RAMA Vocal Center, Denmark" >}}
Basically, I split out a number of tracks from one of the
better sings and rebroadcast the them as guide tracks. [Here is
a recording of "Dedication Anthem", a.k.a., "606"](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ALCFebmtOjjm74y540sKTAc6wH-rsKTQ/view?usp=sharing), a.k.a. "The
Mennonite National Anthem" sung in 4 part harmony by 400 people.
It worked, more or less. There was not the same sense of
community as standing right next to other singers, but it let
out some our pent up need to sing our favorite joyful songs in
a time of uncertainty.
- "Movers and Shapers"
There is another, larger tradition of shape note singers called
[Sacred Harp](https://fasola.org/). When looking or examples of how to put together
online singings, I came across [Sacred Harp Australia](https://sacredharpaustralia.com/resources/singing-shape-note/), who put
up a video of a Fa-So-La "singing school". Unlike Harmonia
Sacra sings, the Sacred Harp singers sit in a square/circle "by
parts" (Bass, Tenor, Alto, Soprano).
The Sacred Harp singers took remote singing to an entirely
different level with [The Sacred Harp Quarantine Chorus -EASTER
ANTHEM - 360° Virtual Singing and Easter Egg Hunt!](https://youtu.be/LDbOD3OO20g). This an
amazing recording of 331 singers from 37 states, 4 Canadian
provences and 11 countries singing a joyful song "together".
This 360 degree video puts you you in the best seat in the
house. And here's how they did it:
- The pros in Nashville
And then there were the pros in Nashville. [The Nashville
Studio Singer Community - Virtual Cell Phone Choir - “It Is
Well With My Soul” arranged by: David Wise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDIJz6zzHNU) This was a group of
professional singers, who indeed looked like they were enjoying
being part of the virtual community of singers. They covered
the standard hymn "It Is Well With My Soul" which was written
by Horatio Spafford in response to the loss of his family when
a ship sank.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/it-is-well.png" caption="Figure 43: The Nashville Studio Singer Community - Virtual Cell Phone Choir" >}}
- Is it well?
> When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
> When sorrows like sea billows roll;
> Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say
> It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Whatever your faith, I think we can all take a little solace in
the human spirit that can't be contained and overflows into
joyous music even at times like these. It is indeed well with
my soul.
### PUBLISHED 7.42 Life imitates... lifegamescivilization {#2020-05-07}
And to get away from it all tonight we played (well, continued) a game
of Civilization: Famine, Strife, Civil War, Flood,
Earthquakes, Volcanoes, but strangely no epidemic (yet).
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/civ.jpg" caption="Figure 44: Civilization" >}}
I think I'll take the real world please. Wait, no. We're loosing
Democracy, Law and Philosophy....
Day 08 of #100DaysToOffload.
### PUBLISHED 7.43 Things That Have Been Around The House for 220+ Years familyhistorytolkienlife {#the-stuff-of-time}
> The world has changed.
> I see it in the water.
> I feel it in the Earth.
> I smell it in the air.
> Much that once was is lost,
> For none now live who remember it. ”
>
> ― J. R. R. Tolkien
Life goes on, until it doesn't. Then those of us who are still here
are often left with the cherished collections of a generation, or two,
or three, or four, or... The oldest thing I think I have in the house
is this page torn out of a family bible (I have at least 3 of them,
big, old, once-cherished). It records the death of a William Gould in
1792, and of Joseph Dennis Gould in 1835.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/goulds.jpg" caption="Figure 45: left-behind" >}}
I also have lecture notes Joseph Gould took at seminary, as describe
in this slightly edited email I sent to a relative a few years ago.
There were some big things going on in those days.
> And here, almost certainly is the Dr. Beecher in question. Father of
> Harriet Beecher Stowe [Uncle Tom's Cabin]. Calvinist evangelist at
> the head of the second great awakening, leader in the temperance
> movement and at the center of a controversy at a seminary in
> Cincinnati about slavery the same year [1834] these notes were
> taken...18 straight nights of debate on the topic, near riots, 50
> students withdrawing en mass and moving to Oberlin college. The
> church and the nation [were] starting to pull apart.
>
> And then there was this barn [built by my ?great-great? grandfather
> Morrison for my other great-great grandfather ?Ephriam Gouuld?] north
> of Marietta [Lower Salem, Ohio] that housed runaway slaves. It was a
> stop on the underground railroad just north of the Ohio river. And 27
> years later another young man [my great grandfather Elisha Morrison,
> later to marry Lydia Catherine Gould] who enlisted in the union
> army....
>
>
>
> .... I have a book that appears to have started as Joseph Gould's
> notes on "Dr. Beechers lectures on theology" in 1834, then used by
> Daniel Gould as his account book from 1847 to his death in 1851. Then
> it contains Ephraim Gould's records as administrator of the estate,
> later records of Morris Morrison and and E F Morrison through 1891,
> and finally entries from Anna Gould from 1923 to 1925. We have Anna
> Goulds will dated 1925. I think I was told she was a sister to [my
> great grandmother] Catherine Gould Morrison and cared for Ephraim
> Gould in his old age, which is probably also why I have his
> cane..... I guess paper was scarce....
I'm not sure what to make of all this. It's good to know where you
came from. There are stories and values associated with some of these
things. It's good to remember the trials and victories of those who
came before.
> “I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I,"
> said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is
> not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the
> time that is given us.”
>
> ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
Day 11 of #100DaysToOffload
### PUBLISHED 7.44 More Thoughts on More Stuff familyhistorylife {#the-stuff-of-time}
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/our_mantle_2020_05.jpg" caption="Figure 46: Things on our mantle" width="400px" >}}
#### 7.44.1 What is this and who is it for? {#what-is-this-and-who-is-it-for}
This is written primarily as a personal reflection to my cousin
about us both winding up with tons of family "stuff".
Secondarily it is intended for a family newsletter. Tertiarily,
for my sons to document snippets of family history, and lastly
(quarternarily ?) it is written as an "open letter".
#### 7.44.2 To John {#to-john}
John, you and I both have a lot of "family stuff", for different
reasons I think. I sort of inherited it as, literally, "the last man
standing". I care about it some. I've been told stories about some
of it my whole life. I think you have been a little more active
(well, a lot more active) in collecting and organizing "family
stuff".
#### 7.44.3 Some (more) of the stuff I have {#some--more--of-the-stuff-i-have}
I have (top of the head, small sample) the [Crokinole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crokinole) game board
(19th century I think), the big old custom-made oak cabinet (that
has moved exactly 3 times since it was made in the 1860s), two
old oak kitchen tables (Grandma/"Esther Morrison"'s and Ernie's),
our great grandmother's 1868 wind-up clock with which she "set up
housekeeping", wall hangings, family bibles, hymnals, cookbooks,
school books, farm records, the founding constitution of the
Union Soldiers Aid Society (1863) of the Dry Run Church, tools
(Grandpa's scythe), and until recently we had the Civil War Diary
of Elisha Morrison and his discharge papers. Mike has the rifle
Elisha Morrison picked up after the other one he had was struck
by a bullet saving his life, or none of us would be here today.
On the Jones side I have all Dad the photography major's
negatives, the Jones/Reeder/Williams family records, my
grandmother's family photo album showing Dad's high school dance
band practicing (led by one of Nancy's former neighbors
... small world) and pictures of the TV showing live atomic bomb
test blasts and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth (who is STILL
on the throne, is she immortal?)
If anybody in the family wants some "family stuff" talk to me.
Much of it can be had cheep (free). I may be making an inventory
which would aid your selection.
#### 7.44.4 What's the value? {#what-s-the-value}
Some of the people we have behind us include Pilgrims (John
Alden, Priscilla Mullins), "Underground Railroad" participants
(Ephraim Gould), Union Soldiers (Elisha Morrison) and on "Esther
(Free) Morrison"'s side a Hessian Soldier from the Revolution
who jumped ship and took the name "Free" with some connection to
the zany "[Immortal J. N. Free](http://yesteryear.clunette.com/immortaljn.html)", and then there's "Cousin Henry
[Longfellow]" (also descended from John Alden)
> Tell me not in mournful numbers, life is but an empty
> dream....life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not it's
> goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, was not spoken of the soul
It's good to know where you came from. It's good to know the
laudable deeds of your ancestors. Not everybody has that. Not
all deeds we know about were laudable or momentous,
> "Though it's the laughter, we will remember, whenever we
> remember, they way we were ... the rest we simply choose to
> forget" (B. Streisand)
#### 7.44.5 Where is the stuff going? {#where-is-the-stuff-going}
I often wonder where this stuff is going. Some of it's been
around since the 1700s. Apparently somebody has cared about it
in every generation since then. Maybe I'm the last. Maybe it
will finally wind up in the dump (Bryan, Daniel, Doug, Meg
.... your call :-))
#### 7.44.6 Where are WE going? {#where-are-we-going}
At one level **we** are stuff. I think you and I may both have a
date to join all the loved ones we know in the Frankfort cemetery
in the next few years (every time I go there I look around and
say "Thelma/Bess/Mom/Dad/Grandma...what are YOU doing here?". As
time goes on I "know" more and more people there.
Until then, back to "Cousin Henry"
> Let us, then, be up and doing,
> With a heart for any fate ;
> Still achieving, still pursuing,
> Learn to labor and to wait.
And one of the passages that I'm sure inspired him:
> 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable,
> and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come
> about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in
> victory. 55 “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS
> YOUR STING?” [1 Corinthians 15](https://biblehub.com/nasb/1_corinthians/15.htm)
#### 7.44.7 Closing {#closing}
Stay safe during this strange (COVID19) time. Enjoy time with
your family. Enjoy your genealogy work (and thank you). Thanks
for following up with Ebright on Dad's stone. Hope to see you
soon.
Day 14 of #100DaysToOffload
### PUBLISHED 7.45 Cincinnati Reds Opening Day 2020 BaseballMLBRedsHopeCincinnatiTraditionsLife {#opening-day-2020}
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 src="/ox-hugo/in_yankee_stadium_20180902.jpg" caption="Figure 47: In Yankee Stadium" width="400" >}}
#### 7.45.1 Personal History {#personal-history}
I started following the Cincinnati Reds in'74 and went to my
first game in 1975. In part, this was as a way to retain some
connection with my Grandfather who died early in '74. My first
baseball memory is of watching the final out of the '72 world
series against Oakland with him.
The mid-70s were a good time to start following the Reds. "The
Big Red Machine" (Rose, Bench, Perez, etc) had been in the series
in '70 and '72 and wound up as World Champions in '75 (RedSox, 7
games, lots of drama) and '76 (swept the Yankees in 4 games). I
was in the stands for one game in each of those series. Joe
Morgan won back-to-back MVP awards, Foster had an amazing 52 home
run year in '77. There was more than hope there. There was
accomplishment to admire by one of the best teams in the history
of the game.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/reds_1976_stein.jpg" caption="Figure 48: The Big Red Machine" width="400" >}}
Then there was Pete (Rose). Mr. Cincinnati, "Charlie Hustle",
"The Hit King", batting champion, MVP, a 44 game hitting streak
in '78. He eventually passed Ty Cobb's all-time hit count
dumping a single in to right on September 11, 1985 (and THAT for
me will, will always be THE event of 9/11). I was there and had
driven 3 straight nights from Columbus to be in the stands for
the event.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/pete_and_ken.jpg" caption="Figure 49: Statue of Charlie Hustle in action" width="400" >}}
I was in the stands again for another series victory in 1990 over
the A's, which helped mitigate some of the pain caused by, shall
we say, Pete yielding to his competitive spirit a little too much
the previous year and as a result being banned for life from the
game.
There have been good times (see above) and bad times including
the early 80s after Dick Wagner prematurely dismantled the Big
Red Machine, and the last 5 years where the Reds have finished
last. But opening day was always a day of hope. A clean slate.
A new start.
#### 7.45.2 Traditions {#traditions}
Baseball is (was?) a game of traditions. Cincinnati had always
been accorded the privilege of having the first opening game of
the season in honor of their being the first professional
baseball team (undefeated in 1869) and having, to some degree,
inspired the birth of professional baseball itself. That
tradition ended sometime in the 80s or 90s in favor of increased
revenue to MLB from TV contracts having other teams open.
I had my own traditions. I attended 27 straight opening day
games from 1976-2002. That streak ended the year I moved to
Virginia, not because it was too far, but because the event had
become a zoo and it became more of a crowd/media event than a
time for fun and relaxation. Since then, I've attended at least
one game every year running that streak to 46 years. That
tradition too is in jeopardy if there turns out to be no 2020
season due to COVID-19.
And then there are the obligatory pre-game stops at Skyline Chili
for coneys and chili-spaghetti before the game and Greater's ice
cream after the game. If you're from Cincinnati, you know.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/skyline.jpg" caption="Figure 50: The One True Game Day Food" width="400" >}}
The sound of the Reds broadcasters, "Marty and Joe" (and later
others after Joe retired), has been the backdrop to so many of
our lives. Listening on the radio, in the car, out in the yard,
late at night. Joe signing off with is signature "Rounding third
and heading for home", and Marty's call "And this one belongs to
the Reds" after every victory. Marty retired last year.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/marty.jpg" caption="Figure 51: Marty" width="400" >}}
And then there were the friends and family that went with me.
Dad took us to my first game against his hometown Pittsburgh
Pirates. Mom was in the stands with me the night Pete got 4192.
I think my brother Mark was there the night Seaver pitched a
no-hitter. My (future) wife Stephanie learned quickly that this
was part of life. Son Daniel still has a life-long streak of one
game a year going. And my friend Ken (two whom this missive is
dedicated) has been to games with me for something like 40 years,
including 20 or so opening games. And for the record, the Davy
Concepcion was a better shortstop than Larry Bowa :-)
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/family_at_GABP.jpg" caption="Figure 52: Family at GABP" width="200" >}}
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/philip_and_jeff.jpg" caption="Figure 53: Uncle and Cousin at GABP" width="200" >}}
#### 7.45.3 What now? {#what-now}
I was mentally gearing up to give Tommy Thrall a chance. He was
to slated to replace Marty this year. The Reds spent significant
money in the off-season building a team to get out of the cellar
and back into contention. I was willing to hope again.
I was already toying with ending my 46 year streak this year
anyhow. A few years ago baseball started using TSA-style metal
detectors at the ballpark. Just as Opening Day became a zoo,
there is something "too corporate" about MLB games these days, in
contrast with, say, local minor league games. "Money-ball" has
turned the game into a series computer/stats driven calculations
where it is impossible to second-guess the manager without your
own data analysis infrastructure and machine learning models. I
no longer understand the basic stats, and I do data analysis for
a living. My friend Ken refuses to carry a smart phone and it
becoming nearly impossible to get/use paper tickets anymore. Add
to that the possibility of having to wear masks and practice
social distancing in stadiums designed for anything but that
and it feels to me like the "national pass-time" will have
transformed into some kind of Orwellian panopticon. No thank
you. I wish major league baseball the best. It's been a
wonderful part of my life.
#### 7.45.4 Moving forward together {#moving-forward-together}
Life moves on. We can get stuck in the past or remember it
fondly (or not), learn from it, and move forward.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/dogwood.jpg" caption="Figure 54: Dogwood, herald of spring" width="400" >}}
The "national pass-time" may never be back, unless you count
socially-distanced people staring at their cell phones not
talking to each other as a "pass-time". People don't walk or
drive their horse-and-buggy to the "ball-field" anymore. People
don't sit on their front porch waving at passers-by. You can't
just play hooky from school or take the day off work for a
relaxing afternoon in the sun forgetting your problems watching
the "Mudville Nine" and cheering on the Mighty Casey.
So we (I at least) will enjoy the memory of what was, and look
for new ways to slow down, new ways to enjoy life, and new ways
to spend time with family and friends. To all those who've
enjoyed a game or two or thirty with me, thanks. I enjoyed your
company.
Look me up if there's some kids headed out to the pasture on the
"back 40" for a pick-up game, a local little league game or a
church softball tournament. Let's spend time together. Let's
enjoy life together.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/reds_baseball.jpg" caption="Figure 55: Opening Day Baseball" width="400" >}}
### PUBLISHED 7.46 The science is settled? Who says so? sciencephilosophy {#who-says-so}
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. They are
not wise. The hypothesis holds ... for now.
The Wise
: (still mad), Yo, Socrates, here's some hemlock
(poison). Drink up...
There is nothing new under the sun. In the mid 20th century, in
response to questions about "what is a science" Karl Popper
proposed "falsification" as a way do delineate scientific theories
from non-scientific theories. The basic idea is that one
counter-example disproves a theory.
Socrates defense (5th century BC) is a clear example of the method
Popper had in mind. There is nothing new under the sun. And if
we follow Popper and Socrates, "the science" (or the pronouncement
of the god) is never "settled". Conclusions are always
tentative and are always just one counter example away from being
rejected.
For more on Popper and the "what is a science" question see:
-
-
8/7/20
### PUBLISHED 7.47 Plato's Cave: a plea for good leadership philosophyleadership {#platos-cave}
You learn things when you read original sources for yourself.
I recently picked up a copy of [Plato's allegory of "The Cave"](http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.8.vii.html). 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 src="/ox-hugo/shadows.jpg" caption="Figure 56: Shadows on the wall" width="200px" >}}
But I had not known the context until reading the original. He was
talking about the need for rulers of the state to have a higher
vision, to have a view of truth, of the transcendent, to willingly
leave the ivory tower, the "Isle of the blessed" if you will, where
they desired to spend their whole life in contemplation of the truth,
and to willingly go back into the cave to enlighten their brethren and
lead with a knowldge of truth, not desiring the mundane (and false)
trappings of the world of shadows (power, wealth, leisure, goods) for
their own sake and for their own use. Rulers who do not have that
vision, and who only focus on this life are bad rulers, and everyone
(including the rulers) loose out.
> Whereas the truth is that the State in which the rulers are most
> reluctant to govern [because they would rather be engaged in
> philosophical pursuits] is always the best and most quietly governed,
> and the State in which they are most eager, the worst.
> ...
>
> Yes, my friend, I said; and there lies the point. You must contrive
> for your future rulers another and a better life than that of a ruler,
> and then you may have a well-ordered State; for only in the State
> which offers this, will they rule who are truly rich, not in silver
> and gold, but in virtue and wisdom, which are the true blessings of
> life. Whereas if they go to the administration of public affairs, poor
> and hungering after their own private advantage, thinking that hence
> they are to snatch the chief good, order there can never be; for they
> will be fighting about office, and the civil and domestic broils which
> thus arise will be the ruin of the rulers themselves and of the whole
> State. --- Plato, Republic, 8.vii
> Where there is no vision, the people perish
> --- Proverbs 29:8, KJV
### PUBLISHED 7.48 The History Of Rome - nihil novi history100DaysToOffloadrome {#history-of-rome}
I've been listening to "[The History of Rome](https://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/the_history_of_rome/2007/07/index.html)" podcast recently. There
is nothing new under the sun: Plagues (er, "pandemics"), riots,
xenophobia, wars, greed, ambition, and political factions.
It's filling in a lot of gaps and details for me. I would recommend
if you're interested in history. Today's basic problems are not new.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/legoRoman.jpg" caption="Figure 57: Life-Size Lego Roman Soldier, Lego Store, Rome, 2019" width="200px" >}}
Post 22 #100DaysToOffload
- Why was Mark Twain's home town named for a general who ultimately
lost? (hit, he spent 10 years wondering around Italy conquering
everything but Rome itself and his tactics are still studied in
military schools).
- Where did Tolkien get the idea for war "Oliphants"? (related to
the last question).
- What is a Pyrrhic Victory? (hint: the kind you don't want many of)
- What happens when you move from a democratic society made up of a
broad base of citizens with wide distribution of wealth (farms)
to one where most of the wealth is held in a few hands (hint:
Jefferson and the other American founders had seen where that
lead and thus championed the idea of the "Yoeman farmer")
- How do you accomplish land (wealth) reform and not get killed?
Ask the Gracci, wait, they were both killed. Ask the American
Indians, wait, wait...
- What happens when the reward structure for civic and military
leaders morphs from community-minded civic responsibility to
personal power bases and personal enrichment? (you get Caesar
... who gave us the basic calendar we use to this day ... and
**then** got killed)
- Is peace under military dictatorship (the "Pax Romana") worth the
loss of freedom? [What **have** the Romans ever done for us?](https://youtu.be/Y7tvauOJMHo)
### PUBLISHED 7.49 There's a lot to be said for climbing mountains latinlifehiking {#turba}
Vulgate (Latin): Matthew Chapter 5
```text
1 Videns autem Jesus turbas, ascendit in montem...
```
or, roughly (my translation):
```text
Jesus, however, seeing the crowd/mob/political disturbance went up on
the mountain...
```
The word "turba" per my paper dictionary tends towards a crowd that is
politically disturbed. It can also mean an eddy (water) or a child's
spinning top. Per it means...
```text
stir, disturbance, tumult, uproar, trouble
mob, crowd, throng
multitude
```
The world is like that. You have to get a way to clear your head, to
see clearly, to literally "get above it all". I like going up
mountains (of the 1000 to 3000 foot variety in the eastern US).
Apparently, Jesus had this figured out. This was his opening move to
set the scene for delivering the most profound sermon in history:
"Blessed are the poor in poor in spirit...the meek..the
peacemakers...those who thrust and hunger for righteousness..."
Go climb a mountain. See what happens (in your mind) next.
### PUBLISHED 7.50 Dad treated people like people. I admire that. family100DaysToOffload {#people}
When my father was writing letters to faceless, nameless people stuck
jobs answering IRS letters, he started with tiles like:
>
>
> PENALTY OR NO PLENALTY,
> THAT IS THE QUESTION
Big, bold a the top, and IN CAPS.
When talking to nameless customer service drones on the phone, he
always acted as if they were personally empowered, able to make
decisions, and as if they were personally invested in their companies
mission and in serving him, as their customer. He expected them to be
engaged, to take responsibility, to solve problems, and to interact
with him as a human being on equal terms.
In a way, this was naive, not recognizing how many people have just
been turned in to mindless cogs in the machine. But in a way, it was
him insisting on dealing with every human being as a person.
Dad treated people like people, whether they saw themselves that way or not.
I admire that. Thanks, Dad.
Post 24 #100DaysToOffload
### PUBLISHED 7.51 Joy in the sorrows of others? {#joy-in-sorrow}
> "Why is it that man desires to be made sad, beholding miserable and
> tragic things which he himself would by no means wish to suffer? Yet
> he desires as a spectator to feel sorrow, and this sorrow is his pleasure..."
Was this guy watching too much news, political mudslinging or maybe
just hanging out on Facebook?
No, this was Augustine in "The Confessions" circa AD 397 talking about
his youthful fascination with stage plays. People have not changed.
I have the same desire to feed on doom and gloom. It's not healthy.
So, what do you do? My answers have included unplugging from thew news
(never owning a TV by choice), becoming very intentionally and
deliberately apolitical, turning off Facebook (2016) and Twitter
(2020) as they became political cesspools and conduits for voyeuristic
negativity (e.g. "news") to creep back in to my life.
But humans don't change. I have not changed. I just choose to
remove the fire-hoses delivering gloom and tragedy to me 24x7. It
will find me again, and I will have to make more choices to cut it
out.
> ""Always look on the bright side of life"
>
> Monty Python, Life of Brian
Well, yes.
The Monty Python song embraces an outlook that sees a world full of bad
things, and that it views, in the end, as meaningless and absurd (see
their next movie, "The Meaning of Life" or John Cleese' most recent
(2020) one man show "Why There Is No Hope" in which they drive the
point home)
Augustine himself passed through a period where he embraced
skepticism...literally the Greek philosophy of Skepticism that doubted
everything, including the existence and know-ability of meaning
itself. But he went further.
It's not enough to create a vacuum, to get rid of the bad, the
negative. A vacuum will always be filled. My answer is to _try_ to
go where Augustine wound up as articulated by the Apostle Paul:
> Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever
> is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good
> repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise,
> dwell on these things.
>
> Philippians 4:8, NASB
What are you allowing to fill your vacuum ?
Post 33 of #100DaysToOffload (yeah, I'm going slowly)
### PUBLISHED 7.52 History: escape to the past or lessons for the present? history100DaysToOffload {#why-history}
I've always liked history. And because the un-examined predilection
is not worth having (γνῶθι σεαυτόν), I turn to Livy to understand it:
> This I hold to be the chief value and reward of history, to have
> examples of all kinds set forth as an illustrious record, from which
> you may choose what is worthy of imitation in public and private life,
> and what is to be shunned as wrong in inception and ruinous in outcome
>
> Livy, Preface to History of Rome.
>
> Quoted from "Classics In Translation: Volume II, Latin Literature",
> MacKendrick and Howe, 1982
So, history provides examples for present living. It provides a moral
and practical purpose, helping to guide our interactions with others
in the present, but also...
> To me on the contrary it is one of the rewards of my labors to turn
> away for a little while from the multitude of evils which our own age
> has witnessed, and to give my whole mind to those earlier times,
> released from every care or consideration by which the historian's mind
> might be troubled and distracted, if not deflected from the pursuit of
> truth.
>
> Livy, Preface to History of Rome.
>
> Quoted from "Classics In Translation: Volume II, Latin Literature",
> MacKendrick and Howe, 1982
The study of history can also provide a private, personal escape from
the calamities and confusion of the present.
And of course, there can be value in loving or doing a thing for it's
own sake. Without such passions, life becomes meaningless drudgery.
That said, here, from this morning's introspection, are a few more
possible reasons I might be fascinated with history. History can be:
- an escape
- a "safe place"
- a source of examples for living in the world today
- a place to find idealized people and institutions (that may never
have actually existed in the form we visualize)
- something fixed in a changing world
- a place where we know the outcomes
- a place where we can approach the world in the third person
- something to give context and explanations to our current beliefs
- a place where we do not have to enter into personal conflict
- a collection of interesting stories
And, yes, I do have one son studying to be a History/Social Studies
teacher and another who has devoured the western cannon. The apples
do not fall far from the tree.
Post 34 of #100DaysToOffload
### PUBLISHED 7.53 Nixon's The One !!! history100DaysToOffload {#nixons-the-one}
For those who remember the "All in the family" sitcom:
> Mister, we could use a man like Richard Nixon again
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/nixon.jpg" caption="Figure 58: [\"Richard Nixon\"](https://www.flickr.com/photos/51878367@N02/4775027305) by [History In An Hour](https://www.flickr.com/photos/51878367@N02) is licensed under [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=ccsearch&atype=html)" width="200px" >}}
Richard Nixon lost the 1960 election to John F. Kennedy in the closest
(popular) election of the 20th century. There was a credible case to
be made that voting irregularities in Chicago (read, the Richard Daley
political machine) and Texas put Kennedy over the top (in the electoral
college). And yet...
> On Wednesday afternoon, November 9, 1960, Nixon officially conceded
> the election to Kennedy. He told his friend, journalist Earl Mazo,
> that “our country cannot afford the agony of a constitutional crisis.”
>
>
On this election day 2020, I reflect, in all seriousness that "We
could use a man like Richard 'I am not a crook' Milhouse Nixon again",
a man with the character, morals and civic pride to put the interests
of the country above his own.
Post 35 of #100DaysToOffload
### PUBLISHED 7.54 What a day for a daydream 100DaysToOffload {#dream-on}
> "Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention..."
This piece began as some thoughts on "attention" and wound up as
reflections on daydreams. I think I'm a fan of daydreaming.
- Attention
Attention is a finite commodity. You only have so much
attention to give in your life, in your day. Parents want your
attention. Brothers and sisters and friends want your attention.
Teachers want your attention. Employers want your
attention. Politicians want your attention. Social media wants
your attention. And, of course, advertisers[^fn:16] want your attention
(the most literal translation of the Latin roots of the word
"advertisers" would be rendered "turn-toward-ers")
Sometimes there is a reward (punishment) for your attention
(in-attention). Sometimes you are just "had" and your money
goes away with your attention, never to return.
You never get your attention back once you've given it. You
can't create more attention. You can't save attention. You can
waste attention. You can fragment attention. You can destroy
attention.
Attention is a precious, irreplaceable commodity. Guard it. Use
it wisely.
Which leads to...
- Daydreams
We say daydreamers are "lost in their own thoughts". They don't
do the things other people want them to do. They don't _give
their attention_ to things _other people_ think they should give
their attention to.
But (some) dreamers change the world.
> All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the
> dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it
> was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for
> they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.
>
> T.E. Lawrence,
Daydreamers are "their own people". And that bothers people who
want them to be somebody else, to pay attention to certain
other things.
- One daydreamer
This may not be "the perfect blog post". It may not have the
perfect structure and flow. It may not end concise advice you
can live by and a nice list of actionable items.
I've going to end it with a quote from a daydreamer who was
torn apart for 40 years by demands on his attention from school
teachers, societal norms, family, fans who loved him, people
who hated him, the music industry, his band-mates, religious
teachers, artists, social causes, politicians, the media and
lawyers:
```text
...
People say I'm lazy
Dreaming my life away
Well they give me all kinds of advice
Designed to enlighten me
When I tell them that I'm doing fine watching shadows on the wall
"Don't you miss the big time boy, you're no longer on the ball?"
I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go
I just had to let it go
J. Lennon, Father, "house-husband" and bread-maker, 1980
```
Dream on.
Post 37 of #100DaysToOffload
## 8 Outdoors outdoors {#outdoors}
### PUBLISHED 8.1 Hikers, Volunteers, Hard Work and Relationships snark {#2023-03-11}
In your "Presidents Log Book Entry" [article in the monthly newsletter](https://www.patc.net/docs/PATC/Newsletters/2023/PA_2023_03.pdf), you
talked about the need for the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC)
to build its "brand identity" to reach our target "consumers". About
that...
I'm involved in PATC as a trail maintainer and an avid hiker with 1700
miles of an AT Section hike over 14 years. I'm in it to meet the likes
of Tom Johnson, one of your predecessors as PATC president. I ran into
him once in the middle of a long day-hike, corresponded a bit and devoured
the copy of the [history of the PATC](https://www.patc.net/docs/About%20PATC/History-PATC-14Aug2020byTomJohnson.pdf) which he wrote and sent to me shortly
before he passed on while leading a hike. I'm in it to work with
Jon & Katherine Rindt, Mosby district supervisors. I admire their non-ceasing
selfless work to clear 100s of blow downs, corral the cats (volunteers
like me), fix signage, work with the county/state/parks to get parking
lots fixed, etc. I'm in it to take trail maintenance classes from the
likes of Robert Fina and to, again, admire the dedication, learning
and investment of time and resources he puts into it. I do my little
bit, but there are giants out there. I'm in it to take walks with my
family, to meet casual hikers and to talk to the steady stream of thru-hikers
who are on a mission. I'm in it drag my daughter-in-law, a professional
ornithologist, out with me to do maintenance and to be amazed as she
identifies 30+ in species of birds around us on one outing without
even seeing most of them. She then put together a display about the
birds that is in the display case at the Tucker Lane parking lot (thanks
to Jon, too).
So, yeah, brand identity. I'd welcome the chance to get to know you
and to talk to you about it, one-on-one. I could use some help cleaning
out water bars and weed-wacking my section once the vegetation gets
going later this spring. Let me know if you'd like to help.
\#48 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1,
### PUBLISHED 8.2 Spring Creeping Up The Mountain 100DaysToOffload {#2022-04-17}
This is the view from White Rocks 13 miles north of Harpers Ferry. In
the fall you can see the colors (leaves changing) creeping down the
mountain because it’s colder as you go up. Here you can see spring
creeping up the mountain.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/spring_creeping.jpg" caption="Figure 59: [\"Spring Creeping Up The Mountain\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/spring_creeping.jpg) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="600px" >}}
\#25 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 8.3 Hope springs eternal. hiking100DaysToOffload {#2022-04-03}
- The sun is always shining.
- The flowers are always blooming.
- There are no bugs.
- The trail is always flat.
- There are no rocks.
- It never rains.
- It's never too cold.
- It's never too hot.
- There's never overcrowding.
- Your gear always works.
- Your physical conditioning is always good.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/2022-04-02-lake_small.jpg" caption="Figure 60: [\"Sun on lake\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/2022-04-02-lake_small.jpg) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="400px" >}}
This is bloodroot. I also saw a few early violets. The
daffodils are up. The forsythia are starting. Red-buds soon. Then
dogwoods. Spring in northern Virginia !
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/2022-04-02-flower_small.jpg" caption="Figure 61: [\"Spring Flowers\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/2022-04-02-flower_small.jpg) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="400px" >}}
This is a nice flat stretch. Somehow every time you start you think
it will be like this.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/2022-04-02-perfect-trail_rotated.jpg" caption="Figure 62: [\"Perfect trail\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/2022-04-02-perfect-trail_rotated.jpg) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="400px" >}}
This is a water-removal feature that was being installed by fellow
trail maintainers as I hiked. It is a textbook example that follows
the "SET" principal where the features are Sustainable, Effective
and Traversable.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/2022-04-02-water_small.jpg" caption="Figure 63: [\"Water Removal - Textbook Example\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/2022-04-02-water_small.jpg) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="400px" >}}
Somehow, getting out in nature in early spring renews hope.
\#22 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 8.4 Hiking and Art hiking100DaysToOffload {#2022-02-23}
From Eagles Rock you can look back east and see the Massanutten range
and pretty much all of Shenandoah National Park. From Tibbets Knob
there is a nice view of a valley and "Big Schloss" which is a rock
formation and the destination of another popular local hike.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/cowart.jpg" caption="Figure 64: [\"But is it art?\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/cowart.jpg) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="600px" >}}
More pictures here
\#11 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 8.5 Why I hike 100DaysToOffloadhiking {#2022-02-07}
Why I hike. A picture is worth 1000 words
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/sun-behind-ice-on-tree.jpg" caption="Figure 65: [\"Sun behind ice on tree\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/sun-behind-ice-on-tree.jpg) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="600px" >}}
I went hiking in Shenandoah national park Satuday.
Pictures here
I had not been out much lately (winter, cold), but this reminded why I
hike. You get to the top (in this case, of "Mary's Rock") and have
breathtaking views (often when you are already out of breath :-).
There is the sense of accomplishment in having finished the climb (in
this case a modest ~1000 plus feet up, 1.5 miles). You meet people (I
met an older gentleman with a camera, and we stopped and talked
photography for 20 minutes, I ran into some old friends). You have
time to think (assuming you don't blast music or podcasts into your
brain while you could be letting it enjoy the quite of nature). And
it's fun.
In some cases you take calculated risks ... this time the trail was 3
miles of ice, treacherous in spots. I "only" fell twice. Others had
cramp-ons on their shoes to give traction, I just had my poles and did
"rock hopping" most of the way up, avoiding the ice. But there is
nothing to match the feeling you get when you reach the top and stare
out into infinity across the mountains and valleys.
There are 200 some words here. Which are worth about 1/5 of a picture.
\#5 of #100DaysToOffload take 2,
### PUBLISHED 8.6 Hiking, the Appalachian Trail, Health and Choices hikingAppalachianTrailATCPATCKatahdinoutdoors {#hiking-and-strange-times}
I've section-hiked over 1000 miles on the Appalachian Trail.
Through-hikes have been shut down this year, upsetting plans
people have made for years. I'm headed out today to do maintenance
today. Not sure what I'll find. I will be good to be out.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/katahdin-abol.jpg" caption="Figure 66: Mt. Katahdin from Abol Bridge, 2018" >}}
Day 05 of #100DaysToOffload.
I like to hike. The Appalachian Trail is near my house.
Literally the day before the [Appalachian Trail Conservancy](http://www.appalachiantrail.org/) (ATC)
recommended EVERYONE stay off the trail (180 degrees against its
primary mission), I accepted the responsibility of maintaining a 3
mile section for the [Potomac Appalachian Trail Club](https://www.patc.net/) (PATC). Just
yesterday I got word that trail maintainers have a local exception
and are allowed to be on the trail. I'm going out this afternoon
to see how much underbrush needs cut, if there are any trees that
need chainsaw work, if any work is needed on erosion control, etc.
It will be a joy to "be out" again.
A couple weeks before the cronavirus lockdown started, I went for
a hike on the [Tuscarora Trail](https://www.hikethetuscarora.org/). It was going to be a quick day
hike. Up 900 feet, along a ridge, back down. Maybe 8 miles.
Going up the hill I fell on a rock and sliced my forearm open and
wound up going the ER in Romney, WV with 21 stitches. I accept some
risk when I choose to hike (there are bears too). With the
potential strain on the medical system and emergency care being
uncertain, I'm choosing not taking risks now.
I am a "section hiker". I go out when I can, usually 2 weeks or
so a year. I have over half the Appalachian Trail done (1000+
miles) and had plans to go out Memorial Day (May 25) for two
weeks. That's probably not happening. I'm not young. I only
have so many years to get this done. Health is never a given.
The ATC asked all hikers this year to call it off: through hikers,
section hikers as well as day hikers. Through hikers are people
who have re-arranged their life, their finances, their work and
family life to spend 6 months on the trail. For many, it may be a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But for most, through-hiking
involves staying together in shelters on rainy nights, sleeping in
bunk-houses in hostels, getting rides with local shuttle drivers,
going into trail towns to shop for re-supply, etc. These all make
social-distancing hard. And there is the assumption that there
will be _some_ local medical care available, like that which I
needed when I fell. So the ATC _asked_ people to shut it down
this year.
The last time I was out hiking, the day after my initial
trail-maintainer training, the parking lot at the trail-head was
**packed**. Not sure what I'll find today. Crowds? Empty Trails?
A persistent through-hiker? People make their own choices.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/on-katahdin.jpg" caption="Figure 67: me, on top of old smokey, 2018" >}}
### PUBLISHED 8.7 WARNING: Extreme Social Distancing In The Rain outdoorsbackpackinghikingREI {#2020-05-14}
I've got some extreme social distancing going on this weekend. It
requires gear. Might involve a mountain or two. Loaded up the
pack and put it on. Feels good! There may be rain, but
> There is no bad weather, only bad gear
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/gear.jpg" caption="Figure 68: Social Distancing Gear" >}}
Will have minimal connectivity, so #100DaysToOffload will be on
hold for a few.
Day 12 of #100DaysToOffload
### PUBLISHED 8.8 Tuscarora Trek backpackinghikingREIoutdoors {#2020-05-17}
May 15-17, 2020 Son Bryan ("Music Man"), Jason Boyle ("Alaska")
and I ("Curious George") hiked 30 miles on the Tuscarora trail.
The picture below shows Bryan standing on Eagles Rock with the
first 11 miles of the hike on the ridge behind him.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/eagles-rock.jpg" caption="Figure 69: Bryan at Eagles Rock" >}}
Full trip report and more pictures here:
Day 13 of #100DaysToOffload
### PUBLISHED 8.9 Things that fall in the river get wet lifeoutdoors {#get-wet}
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/paddling.jpg" caption="Figure 70: Bryan paddling on the Shenandoah" width="400px" >}}
#### 8.9.1 Intro {#intro}
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 src="/ox-hugo/swimming.jpg" caption="Figure 71: Things that fall in the river get wet" width="400px" >}}
#### 8.9.2 Other people having fun {#other-people-having-fun}
Along the way we saw many people out enjoying the Memorial Day weekend
along the river. The photo below shows a water slide set up to let
kids slide into the river, with a twist: the last 10 (3m) feet or so of the
slide were down a mud bank. For safety there was a kayak in the water
to help the fun-havers out if needed
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/mud-slide.jpg" caption="Figure 72: Water and Mud Slide Into The River" width="400px" >}}
#### 8.9.3 Getting Dumped the first time {#getting-dumped-the-first-time}
The river was up. Running about 6 feet (1.8m) at Luray. The outfitters
along the river recommend only going at 5 feet (1.5m) or less. Our second
day out we were making 5 miles per hour (8 km/h).
We hit the [Compton Rapids](https://youtu.be/Zswr_IB9C_A). The swells were 3 feet (0.9m) or so. We made it
about half way through, taking on water, and then got dumped. Life
jackets are a good thing. It was a little dicey floating though the
end of the rapids. We kept our paddles and stayed with the
upside-down canoe. The only losses were a couple water bottles, cup
holders and a fishing rod (other canoe). Most everything was tied
down.
We floated 10 or 20 minutes in still-ish water and wound up swimming
our swamped canoe to the banks where there was a large group camp-out.
Some of the people (speaking pretty-much only Spanish) helped get our
sorry selves and swamped canoe out of the water and drained out. They
gave us 6 water bottles which replaced the water we had lost. Gracias
!
#### 8.9.4 Getting Dumped the second time {#getting-dumped-the-second-time}
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/swamp-number-2.jpg" caption="Figure 73: Pulling out after the second spill" width="400px" >}}
The second time we got dumped was a about a mile from the end of the
trip. Our planning had failed to disclose the presence of these
rapids, just had it had failed to disclose the possibility of portage
around the first set (Preston :-))
The other canoe went first. We hung back in the smooth (but fast)
water so as not to run into them if they had trouble. They did.
They dumped about half way through. These canoes were a little heavy
with gear and people and not horribly stable. Extra water in the boat
does not help.
I decided to go to the shore and work thorough options. We reached
shore 10 or 20 yards (9 or 18) upstream from the rapids. I grabbed a tree
root to hold us in place, but the current flipped us. At that point
I made the call to "abandon ship". We let the canoe go and swam to
the bank rather than float the rapids in life jackets.
We climbed up the bank, staggered downstream and found that our
friends were a) OK and b) had snagged our canoe.
#### 8.9.5 The end {#the-end}
In the end, we had minimal losses, no significant injuries, no harm,
no foul? Live and learn? Life jackets, tying down your gear and
quick thinking are your friend. And fun was had in the face of
self-selected risks.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/starting-out.jpg" caption="Figure 74: At the takeout point (BEFORE we were drowned rats)" width="400px" >}}
Days 15 and 16 of #100DaysToOffload
### PUBLISHED 8.10 AT Hiking 2020: 1500 miles down, 700 to go hikingAppalachianTrailoutdoors100DaysToOffload {#AT2020}
1500 miles down, 700 to go to finish section hiking the Appalachian
Trail with 215 miles completed this year in 3 trips.
Of course, I have some of the hardest miles left: the Smokies,
Mt. Washington, the Whites, the Presidentials, the Bigelows, but with
persistence, luck, health, constant gear tweaks (and some HARD hiking)
I should finish in a few years.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/2020-AT-Milage-Status.png" caption="Figure 75: Miles to go before I sleep" >}}
\#100daystooffload #hiking
#### 8.10.1 9/6 - 9/12/2020 Bennington VT to Great Barrington, Mass (Rt. 23) {#9-6-9-12-2020-bennington-vt-to-great-barrington-mass--rt-dot-23}
82 miles, 6 nights.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/TheCobbles.jpg" caption="Figure 76: View From The Cobbles, Mt. Greylock, Cheshire Mass (in valley)" >}}
From Sunday 2020-09-06 to Saturday 2020-09-12 I hiked 82 miles
SOBO on the Appalachian Trail from Bennington, VT (VT 9) to
Great Barrington, Mass (Mass 23). Highlights (high point) of
the trip included Mt. Greylock, the highest point in Mass, the
lovely town campsite in Cheshire, Mass, Camping by a beaver dam
Sunday night and seeing Moose in the morning, lots of beaver
dams/bogs, staying 2 nights (Thursday, Saturday before driving
home) at the Berkshire Lakeside Lodge, a lovely little motel .2
off the trail, and, of course, lots of hiking and people.
Resupply in Dalton, Mass at the Post Office. Chocolate shake
and meatball grinder in Cheshire. Pizza and milk in Dalton.
Magic coming down to 20 Thursday in the most-of-the day rain.
The weather, except for Thursday rain, was excellent. Upper 50s
to lower 80s.
Pre-trip I stopped at a Legend Of Sleepy Hollow/Rip Van Winkle
site, and just down the road the Martin Van Buren home, a short
hike in Philmont (!), NY to a high waterfall that people were
swimming under, saw some wild turkeys. Stayed at the Days Inn
in Great Barrington and got a shuttle Sunday morning from Debbie
Andrus
Post trip, I went back to the Berkshire Lakeside Lodge. I'd
spent time in the area. Normal Rockwell museum. Lakes.
Tanglewood music festival (Boston Symphony summer series).
Shaker village (I camped at the ""Shaker Campsite""). West
Stockbridge is a lovely little town. It has the ""TurnPark"",
an outdoor interactive art park where I met one of the artists
(cutting the weeds). Good food. Probably expensive and crowded
in a non-COVID high season. "
#### 8.10.2 7/3-7/4/2020 Davenport Gap to Hot Springs {#7-3-7-4-2020-davenport-gap-to-hot-springs}
33.9 miles, 1 night
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/MaxPatch.jpg" caption="Figure 77: View From Max Patch in the Morning" >}}
Breakfast at diner. Shuttle to I-40. Lost 1 - 1.5 hours because
shuttle driver (NYC guy) was a slave to his GPS, would not just
hop on 40. On trail at 10. Made it to Max Patch about 6. UP
HILL. I was shot. July 3 on the summit was a mob scene. I
camped 1/2 mile short. Tried cold dinner (mashed potatoes +
stuffing + chicken). Meh. Went up for sunset, and again just
after sunrise. Bueatiful. Hiked 21 back into Hot Springs.
Hiked a little way with 2 girls from Tucker/Stone Mountain, GA
(where my wife went to school). Hit town. Liquid. Shower.
DROVE to store. White Castles. Bed. Drove home. %65.1 of
trail done.
#### 8.10.3 6/17-6/24/2020 Hughs Gap to Hot Springs {#6-17-6-24-2020-hughs-gap-to-hot-springs}
99 Miles, 7 nights.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/RobBird.jpg" caption="Figure 78: Rob Bird provided \"Trail Magic\" 2 hikes in a row" >}}
"Mountian Squid" joined me for the first 3 miles. Ran into 2
older Russian couples who were out for the first time. Hiked
with the owner of gallary in
Marshall, NC and her British husband for a bit. Stayed at Uncle
Johnnies 1st night, shuttled to Hughs Gap. Stayed at Uncle
Johhnies 3rd night, resupplied, hiked on to Hot Springs. 20
into hot springs from Laurel Fork. Zeroed at Laughing Heart
hostle, shuttled back to Irwin to get car, drove, car broke down
in Wythville (axel), rented a car, came home, started a new job,
went back to Wythville Wednesday night. Got car Thursday drove
back to Hot Springs/Laughing Heart, run by "Chuck Norris" and
"Tigger" ... former Jesuit retreat center/hostel. Great place.
Got food in Hot Springs hiking in. Big hill/rock steps coming
down.
Post 26 #100DaysToOffload
## 9 Latin latin {#latin}
### PUBLISHED 9.1 Doing Latin without thinking about it 100DaysToOffloadduolingo {#2022-02-06}
This may be obvious to people who are fluent in several languages, but
communicating in different languages does not have to be like working a proof in
geometry. The Latin I learned focused on being able to consciously understand
all 144 different inflected forms (yes, 144) of any standard Latin
verb. Pretty sure most children in antiquity could not separate a
genitive geurnd from a supine from a plural perfect passive
participle. But they could talk.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/ForumRomanarumNocte.jpg" caption="Figure 79: [\\\"Forum Romanarum Nocte, Anno MMXIX\\\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/ForumRomanarumNocte.jpg) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="600px" >}}
I've been doing both the Spanish and Latin courses on duolingo for a
few weeks (24 days, per the app). Today, I had an experience I've not
had in 35 years of toying with Latin: I was translating without being
aware of conjugations or declensions or even if I was translating to
or from Latin. They flip quickly between reading, listening and
written translation exercises in the native language and the language
being learned. It was so effective that I forgot which language I was
working in. It was just ideas and words.
To repeat a quote from [an earlier blog post](http://curious.galthub.com/blog/2022-01-29/):
> There is no reason why learners should be made to treat every Latin
> text as puzzle to be deciphered into translation, rather than a
> specimen of normal human communication to be understood as such.
Euge, Duolingo!
\#4 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, .
### PUBLISHED 9.2 Learning Latin the wrong way, an argument against ignorance. latin {#2022-01-29}
I'm doing some of the Duolingo Latin course. Who knew you could shop, converse
and joke in Latin? Certainly not the classics professors I learned from.
Quid pudor est.
> There is no reason why learners should be made
> to treat every Latin text as puzzle to be deciphered into translation,
> rather than a specimen of normal human communication to be understood as
> such.
A longer quote from the article:
> The fact that there aren't any Romans to chat with anymore didn't stop
> people like Erasmus from using it as a conversational language with other
> educated people. Even though there is little practical need for spoken
> proficiency in Latin anymore, there is no reason why learners of Latin
> today should be railroaded into the kind of semi-literacy that academic
> classicists often acquire. There is no reason why learners should be made
> to treat every Latin text as puzzle to be deciphered into translation,
> rather than a specimen of normal human communication to be understood as
> such.
There's a lot more. Very cogent. Makes me sad I (halfway) learned
Latin the way I did. Duolingo is good.
Lingua latina vere vivit.
---George Jones
### PUBLISHED 9.3 Vis tibi sit latinrome {#2020-05-04}
On the occasion of the ancient Roman Festival _Bella Stellaria_, I
wish you
> Vis tibi sit
>
> Lucas Skywalker
magis de bella stellaria hic:
et hic
Day 05 of #100DaysToOffload.
### PUBLISHED 9.4 Latin Flash Cards in the 21st century (2773 AUC) 100DaysToOffload {#flashcards}
Latin flash cards are not what they were in 1983:
.
It's got a thing where you can pop in a sentence (say, one form Cicro
or random #Latin conversations on twitter (yes, they exist)), and you
can click on the words (yellow above), it shows you all the possible
words that particular inflected word might be and then offers to build
flash cards for you...complete with citations/examples from the
literature....I know what my Latin reading tool is from here on out.
\# #+attr_html: :width 200px
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/flashcards.png" >}}
Post 23 #100DaysToOffload
## 10 Writing writing {#writing}
### PUBLISHED 10.1 100DaysToOffload, Take 2 {#2022-02-03}
I'm going to make another run #100DaysToOffload
First attempt made it to about 40 posts. Interrupted for a year or so
in part by a refusal to post anything else on github, which was where
I was hosting my blog and the saga of getting a raspberry pi-based
blog to my liking up-and running chronicled in part here
and here
Pretty sure I won't make it daily, but I've got a huge backlog of
ideas (from my daily paper journal, email to friends, etc) and now, a
place I feel good about to put them out.
Stay tuned. Thanks Kev.
\#1 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, .
### PUBLISHED 10.2 But that would be too easy {#2022-01-23}
This is a navel-gazing simple desultory philippic about adventures in
yak-shaving. It is dedicated [JTR](https://mastodon.technology/@jrss)'s [ox-hugo](https://ox-hugo.scripter.co/) theme [I've borrowed for the
second time](http://curious.galthub.com/blog/hugo-org-github/). Thanks!
> "But you could just _use_ wordpress"
he tells himself.
> "Ahh, but then think of all the yak shaving you would miss."
he responds to himself.
> "Opportunity cost, he thinks...".
> "Yessss, preciousssss. The opportunity cost. Gollum. Gollum. Gollum."
These are notes-to-self on converting my blog to using [JTR' new hugo template](https://gitlab.com/taonaw/taonaw).
These are mostly of interest to (my future) self and [JTR](https://mastodon.technology/@jrss).
This is round 2 of how I use ox-hugo to pubish my blog.
Round 1 is documented here
#### 10.2.1 The work flow {#the-work-flow}
The general work flow is
- .org file -> ox-hugo export -> .md in `content/`
- .md in `content/`, `images/` and `static/` -> hugo -> .html in `docs/`
- .html files in `docs/` -> rsync -> web server public html directory
#### 10.2.2 DONE [3/3]
Action Items {#done-action-items}
- DONE [7/7]
Testing and figuring out what to chang
- DONE Clone the JTR current template
```text
git clone https://gitlab.com/taonaw/taonaw
```
- DONE Set up new capture template
```text
(setq org-capture-templates
(quote (
...
("h" "hugo blog" entry (file "~/blog/drafts.org")
"*** TODO %^{title}
:PROPERTIES:
:EXPORT_FILE_NAME: %(format-time-string \"%Y-%m-%d\")
:EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE: %(format-time-string \"%Y-%m-%d\"):
:END:
The short story ..
#+caption: [[https://FOO.COM/BAR/BAZ.JPG][\"Name of work\" by WHO is licensed under cc by 2.0]]
#+attr_html: :width 200px
[[file:images/BAZ.JPG]]
#+hugo: more
The long story...
"
)
```
- DONE Update config.toml
```text
diff --git a/config.toml b/config.toml
index f9089c30..abc6cd5c 100644
--- a/config.toml
+++ b/config.toml
@@ -1,17 +1,17 @@
enableRobotsTXT = true
canonifyURLs = true
-baseurl = "https://helpdeskheadesk.net/"
+baseurl = "http://curious.galthub.com/"
publishDir = "docs"
languageCode = "en-us"
-title = "The Art of Not Asking Why"
+title = "Curious Musings"
# themesDir = "themes"
# theme = "hyde"
-disqusShortname = "taonaw"
+#disqusShortname = "curious"
footnoteReturnLinkContents = "[^ back]"
[author]
- name = "JTR"
- homepage = "helpdeskheadesk.net"
+ name = "George Jones"
+ homepage = "curious.galthub.com"
# If Porting existing theme
[original]
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ footnoteReturnLinkContents = "[^ back]"
repo = "https://www.github.com/mdo/hyde"
[params]
- description = "A Blog by JTR: Tech, Life, and the Stuff in Between."
+ description = "A Blog by George Jones: Musings on life, computers, security, etc.."
# themeColor = "theme-base-0a"
[paginator]
```
- DONE Update the sidebar
```text
diff --git a/layouts/partials/sidebar.html b/layouts/partials/sidebar.html
index 6700d4d7..06ab109f 100644
--- a/layouts/partials/sidebar.html
+++ b/layouts/partials/sidebar.html
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@
{{ range .Site.Menus.main -}}
{{ .Name }}
{{- end }}
+
+
+
```
- DONE Delete most of JTR' content
- Just delete the stuff you don't want in content/
- Beware of browser caches with old tags (refresh)
- DONE [6/6]
Remove/replace JTR' custom artwork with Thinker
- DONE stop JTRs image from loadiing
Comment out in `/static/css/hyde.css`, both
`/* background-image: url("/taonaw_logo.png"); */` twice
```text
George Jones :emacs: :orgmode: @eludom
@jrss Having trouble figuring out where to remove your custom graphic from the sidebar. Thought maybe favicon.png but I can't figure out where to remove it?
JTR :emacs:☕
@jrss@mastodon.technology
@eludom taonaw_logo.png and title-logo.png in static I believe.
George Jones :emacs: :orgmode: @eludom
@jrss OK. Killed it (comment) in .css. SOMEONE (browser, hugo server, ...) was caching the image and refused to let go even after I renamed the files.
```
- DONE add "thinker" at bottom of "about" in sidebar
- Add immage `static/thinker.png`
- Update the sidebar
```text