Recently in General Category

Here's what my linkedin profile says:

I'm not looking to change jobs right now, but if you think you can change my mind, I'm open to hear from you if it's a start up with a good business plan within 15 minutes of San Mateo, you are not a recruiter, and you specifically describe the position you are trying to fill. All of you recruiters with "wonderful opportunities" with "several local companies" just please go pester someone else.

Here is what I.M. Dipshit, owner, Dipshit and Associates writes me:

I’ve been trying to connect with you regarding a search for a position, but am unable to reach you via the phone. Please give me a call if you have a moment or send me a number where I can reach you. My number is: 800-xxx-xxxx or xxx-xxx-xxxx.

Am I going to respond to him? Sure, I'm just going to copy and paste that paragraph from my profile and see if he can follow simple directions. As to how hard this guy has been trying to reach me via the phone, searching for my name with any reasonable search terms ("software engineer", "san mateo") would get you my homepage, with my resume linked. As a bonus, it has even more information about the fact that I'm not interested in changing jobs unless you have something really outstanding.

I have a plan I've been considering. I'll charge for my time to talk to recruiters. Force him to paypal me $100 / hour ahead of time to listen to him. It's all about aligning incentives and internalizing externalities.

I'm on Twitter now. I don't claim to understand the hype, yet. It reminds me of a bit in Vernor Vinge's Marooned in Realtime, one of the novels to popularize the Singularity. One of the characters describes being totally cut off from society compared to the state of the art which was augmenting your brain to be able to "think" with several of your colleagues at once. We aren't quite there yet, but I think twitter is closer than IRC to being the hive mind.

http://twitter.com/kdpeterson/

I'm guessing that either this place recently changed ownership, or just that the completely incompetent work the weekend shift. Mangiare was completely empty this Saturday morning, and it's no surprise since the service is the worst I have ever received. There were eight of us. The first person to receive his food was about 20 minutes after we ordered (at the register). The last person received her food about a half hour after that. They got two orders completely wrong -- Jenny had to send hers back. Samantha got the wrong order, and when she pointed this out to the cashier he had the audacity to argue with her about what she had ordered. She decided to take it and eat it anyway, since she was hungry and at this point everyone else had already finished their breakfast.

No one got the right kind of toast. Apparently they were out of everything but rye and onion bagels so decided to replace sourdough with a random selection of either.

My food was okay. The potatoes were slightly undercooked and the butter was a little foil packet still at refrigerator temperature, but it was okay.

Is service normally this shitty? Or is the abysmal service just a clever strategy to make money off the $.50 they change for coffee refills while you are waiting for your food?

In good news, I can still run 3 miles in just over 21 minutes, and Samantha came in under 27. This was supposedly a 5k, but I think they just rounded down based on a few GPS readings I saw.

I actually won a game of chess online. I'm surprised, because my general experience has been that it's all hard core chess geeks who play online, and they would slaughter someone like me who thinks that Ruy Lopez is Jennifer's brother. But after warming up for a few weeks playing my girlfriend (she's on 23 games now, about 16 of them against me, I've lost twice due to not paying attention while in teacher mode), I can actually hold my own and not be totally embarrassed.

I play at the Free Internet Chess Server. I'm looking forward to when I beat someone who has a few wins in their history to solidify my ranking (currently at "who the hell knows" due to having played a handful of games and my opponents having similar rankings).

I received the following in email from SF Atheists, who got it from American Atheists, who received it from Kathleen Johnson, who explains who she is in the first paragraph.

Thought you'd be interested in this report of the first-ever meeting of Atheist service-members in Iraq under the umbrella of the MAAF-Iraq chapter of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers. This meeting was put together by the same young MAAF member who recently had his second letter published in the Stars and Stripes.

One of our members, a young Atheist enlisted soldier, thought he would like to see if he could generate some interest in MAAF meetings at his Forward Operating Base (FOB) here in Iraq (not the base I'm at, by the way). He got things coordinated and started hanging flyers, and after weeks of having to re-hang his flyers almost daily because some vandal kept tearing them down, he finally succeeded in having a small MAAF meeting. I wasn't there because the meeting wasn't on my FOB, but I knew he was holding it and was expecting to hear from him after the meeting. Keep in mind that this young soldier did everything right - he went through the Chaplain's office and jumped through all the hoops it takes to legally hold meetings that are religiously or philosophically based. Four soldiers attended this meeting - all of them very junior enlisted soldiers with the exception of one Major (an O-4), who claimed to be a "freethinker".

Well, to make a very long story a little shorter, the Major turned out to be a fundamentalist Christian who verbally berated the other attendees, accused them of plotting against Christians and disrespecting soldiers who have died protecting the Constitution, and threatened them with punishment under the UCMJ for their activities (said they were "going down") and said he would do whatever it took to shut the meetings down. Keep in mind that by this point, he had two of the attendees (one soldier fled when the shouting started) standing at the position of attention so that he could yell at them, berate them, and humiliate them. This apparently went on for several minutes at which time the Major shut down the meeting by saying he wasn't some "push-over Chaplain" and that he would not tolerate the meetings to continue.

The young MAAF member who hosted the meeting is absolutely freaked out about what happened, but he said he's going to continue with the meetings and isn't going to be bullied by the prayer warriors. I've advised him to immediately notify the Chaplain sponsor of what happened to get guidance while I try to figure out what to do next. I should hear something back from him tonight sometime and there's even a small possibility I might be able to score a mission to his FOB and attend one of his meetings in the next few weeks (if I do, I'll meet with the Chaplain in person).

As for immediate action, he's going to get me the names of his Chaplain sponsor and the name of the officer who disrupted the meeting. My intent right now is to make a formal report to the most senior Chaplain I can find along with possibly an Equal Opportunity complaint against the officer if we can get him fully identified. I may not be eligible to make that complaint because I wasn't there, but I can at least smooth the way for this young troop to make one if he elects to. At the very least, I can make the EO office formally aware of what happened there.

More info will follow when I get it, but right now, feel free to disseminate this information since I've intentionally sanitized it for names and locations. I will be happy to forward any words of support to him if they get mailed to [redacted] he could really use some encouragement right now, I think.

I've removed Kathleen Johnson's email address for privacy, but I'm confident you can contact her through the website Atheists in Foxholes. If not you can email me at Kevin at this domain. I have to say I find this somewhat hard to believe, but she assures me the events were witnessed by people in the MWR building who weren't even part of the meeting.

I never experienced such outright persecution in the Marines. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that the soon to be "retired to pursue other opportunities" Major turned out to be a reservist. Very unprofessional behavior.

About the worst I ever had it was dog tags. The dog tags I was issued in boot camp came back saying "NO PREF", which is what they put if you failed to list a religion. I would strongly prefer being able to identify as "none" or "not religious" because I do not consider atheism a religion, do not feel any affinity for others who call themselves atheist, and don't have much inclination to join any sort of group or proclaim it, but none of those are options, so #75 it is. But even before a deployment when we were given the opportunity to have dog tags made (which was good because mine were not regulation -- engraved rather than stamped), and after spelling "atheist" over the phone to make sure they got it right, they still came back saying "no pref."

So I went down to the surplus store known to make stamped dog tags. And the bitch behind the counter gave me shit about being an atheist. Yes, that's right pin headed imbeciles, I'm off defending you from people who want to impose an Islamic theocracy on you, and know, being shot at did not somehow make me suspend my ability to think clearly. "Oh, there are men with AK-47s who hate me because their imam tells them I'm the great satan. Clearly there is an all powerful loving god watching out for me, I better stop thinking logically and masturbating."

Suzuki says satori is irrational, it cannot be explained.

Logical positivism says that we can only talk meaningfully about things which refer to experience. See for example Hempel's "The Empiricist Criterion of Meaning" in Ayer's Logical Positivism

Are these incompatible? I claim they are not, because even holding to the requirements of the positivists, there is still an area that allows things which cannot be explained, which I explain by analogy with the computational classes of P vs. NP.

In this post titled Crucify Me, "Patrick" writes,

"Why?" The question becomes predictable, almost routine when someone enters my car. They immediately seem to notice the polished steel hook hanging from my rearview mirror, and inevitably want an explanation. Each time I hear that annoying three letter word, I'm almost compelled to launch into some sort of horribly graphic and disturbing explanation. One that might circulate and prevent any future inquiry as to why I choose to do so.

So let me see if I got this straight. You don't like being asked about why you have a hook hanging from your rear view mirror, but you still have it hanging there. What? Did the annoying question gremlins sneak into your garage and superglue it in place? Make a deal with the devil that you will forever bring up a topic that you don't like talking about?

Forgive me if I find it a bit of a stretch. But it gets a little hard to buy the "it's such a deep personal experience I couldn't possible describe it" when it seems you go out of your way to bring it up. Guess what, kid? People who really have things they don't want to talk about don't go around wearing a t-shirt saying, "Please ask me about my trendy hobbies so I can act nonchalant and downplay them."

Juan Pablo Bernal was born in San Francisco about 1810, son of José Joaquin and Maria Josefa Sanchez (both Anza settlers), married Rafaela Feliz, granddaughter of Joaquin Ysidro Castro (Anza settler) and (supposedly) daughter of Maria Antonia Amador daughter of Pedro Amador (Portola 1769 to Monterey).

José de los Reyes Berreyesa left Martínez in a boat for San Rafael in company with the two young men surnamed Haro. I do not recall the date. At the time they went ashore a band of Americans or the Bear forces, who were awaiting them on the beach, took them by surprise. It is an established fact that the elderly Berreyesa was the one they killed first and one of the Haro boys (which of the two I do not remember), seeing that Berreyesa was dead, said, "You've killed my uncle, now kill me too." The murderers, angered by these words, fired at the one who had uttered them, killing him also. It is said that upon the other Ha ro brother witnessing this, he exclaimed, "You've killed my brother, so do the same to me!" At these words, he was dropped to the ground, wounded by a bullet aimed at him. It is told that they themselves buried the bodies of their victims in the same grave near the place of the crime.

The young Haros had a haughty bearing, were very amiable, with a courage equal to any test, and so much alike in appearance that even their very close acquaintances took them for one another frequently.

Berreyesa was a man of high honor, very affectionate toward his family, a great worker, of a pleasant disposition and also was very courageous in the face of danger, as was evident upon this occasion, when he faced death with great fortitude. It is said that when Berreyesa was questioned as to the purpose of his trip, he replied that he was on his way to visit his sons who were prisoners. But the Americans would not believe him, since they suspected him of being a messenger or spy of the enemy and, considering him to be such, they killed him without mercy, just as they did the young men, whom they believed to be his accomplices.

José de los Reyes Berreyesa was married to my sister, Zacarías Bernal. Joaquín de la Torre, with his company, was scouting under the orders of Comandante General Castro in the Lompalí section. The Americans, being aware of this, set out in pursuit and caught up with him near the last named place, attacking him w ith a considerable force. In the fight, which was bitterly contested, there was killed an officer named Manuel Cantúa, a very talented young man. It is known that the forces of la Torre suffered no other losses. It is not known as to whether there were any losses on the American side or not. Capt. Joaquín de la Torre, seeing he was beaten, fled in the direction of Sonoma, boarding a tule raft made by himself and an American with whom he made the crossing from Benicia. When he arrived at San Lorenzo, he found Don José Castro encamped there with his troops and informed them of the encounter with the enemy, the death of Cantúa and the routing of his troop, which consisted of about 40 men. Castro decided to remain in San Lorenzo two days longer, for the purpose of reinforcing his lit tle army so he could go and attack those who had routed Capt. de la Torre. At the end of this time, however, whether on account of the fact that he did not consider himself sufficiently strong or for other reasons unknown, he gave the order to march to the Potrero de Santa Clara, which was done. We were encamped there about fifteen days, at the end of which time we marched to San Juan, where we arrived without mishap. On these marches nothing worthy of mention took place.

I stumbled on this list of Anza Expedition Families, and figured if that was interesting to me, it's probably worthwhile to make this more obscure stuff available. It'd be nice if there were a Californio wiki, since that type of collaboration could make lots of information available that's currently scattered around in grandmothers' dusty notebooks. If anyone knows of such a thing, email me at kevin at this domain.

I got my Bay to Breakers packet in the mail yesterday. So naturally I couldn't resist trying to duplicate the ad campaign. Not quite professional quality, but then I'm not a professional web designer anymore :) This is my first year running it, of course, since the last four years I've been away, and when I was in college, I would have been lucky to walk 12km over the course of a day without dying of a heart attack, or possibly junk food deprivation.

Now I just need to figure out how to get there. Oh yeah, and I'll be dragging the parents with me. Well, I will be pointing them in the direction of the slow people starting line, and wishing them a cheery "hope I'll still be sober enough to recognize you by the time you get to the finish in four hours!" Cal Train sounds like a good idea, but only a half hour before the start? I suppose there isn't any need to push to the front since it's chip timed, but I'd still rather not have to dodge people.

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's totally against the spirit of the race to actually run as fast as I can, but I didn't make it under 60 minutes at Emerald 12k, partly (about 2 minutes worth) due to getting stuck behind people who no way on any planet were running below 10 minute miles at the start, and I want to redeem myself and meet my self appointed and totally arbitrary goal. And, of course, sub-1hr 12k predicts a sub-4hr marathon.

So I made mention of what I was going to call the MacGyver principle, but I think the best pop culture reference for this idea is The Princess Bride. Slightly abbreviated:

Westley

And our assets?

Inigo

Your brains, Fezzik's strength, my steel.

Westley

That's it? Impossible. If I had a month to plan, maybe I could come up with something, but this....<shakes head> ... I mean, if we only had a wheelbarrow, that would be something.

Inigo

Where did we put that wheelbarrow the albino had?

Fezzik

With the albino, I think.

Consider that you are Westley. You have an objective. There is no partial success, either you succeed or you fail. The objective cannot be achieved without a wheelbarrow. Now we'll deviate from the story a little bit. Assume that Westley cannot know if he will have access to a wheelbarrow yet. He is making his plans, and he will meet with Fezzik and Inigo at the castle. He has no access to a wheelbarrow, and no way to communicate his need to Fezzik and Inigo. What should he do?