We’re doing the Messiah this week with the chorus. I guess it’s early because they’ve got too many other concerts going on in December. Plus, they could be figuring they’ll take advantage of the Thanksgiving family time. I love doing the Messiah (see here and here and here for stories). It’s always a joy to […]
Responsibility
The topic of the week is responsibility. Individual responsibility. Community responsibility. Societal responsibility. How do we divide up responsibility among all affected parties? Who should be held accountable when something goes wrong? Where does the balance lie between being free to do as one wishes vs. being responsible to others? I don’t have answers in […]
On Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins
Amazon link I’ve been meaning to read this for a while, and I added it to my last Amazon order, but didn’t get around to reading it until a few weeks ago. Jeff Hawkins was one of the driving forces behind Palm and Handspring, and now that he’s set for life, he’s indulging his childhood […]
Quick nonfiction reads
Reinventing Comics, by Scott McCloud I liked Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud a lot, because it had a really thoughtful take on why comics worked, and what the conventions were (representing the dimension of time in space, etc.). When I saw this sequel in the library, I picked it up. I didn’t like it nearly […]
More books by Shinn and Gould
Jovah’s Angel, and Angelica, by Sharon Shinn Two more books in the world of Archangel. I like the world, and its exploration of questions of faith and science (and particularly the question of whether a world designed for faith is sustainable), but the plots started to run together, always being about an angel man and […]
CellKey prototype
This evening, Sciex had a product launch party for the CellKey instrument, inviting those of us who had worked on it at both Signature and Sciex to come by and see the prototype instrument. It was great to see a bunch of the old gang again, and catch up on what people are doing. It […]
4S conference and LA
Last Wednesday, Jofish commented on my Latour post that he was going to be in California for the 4S conference (Society for the Social Studies of Science) the next day and that I should come down and schmooz for a bit over the weekend. After an entertaining miscommunication where I repeatedly read Pasadena as Palo […]
Latour at Berkeley
As previously mentioned, Bruno Latour came to Berkeley to give a talk. I was psyched. So I left work early, but hit more traffic than expected and got to the auditorium just at 6:30 when the pre-talk movie was starting. And the place was standing room only. 150 seat auditorium, all seats filled, for a […]
Slow motion catches
I played ultimate yesterday in my typical league. Even though our team eventually lost 15-13, I think I scored something like 8 or 9 of our points. Some of them I sky-ed over my defender, jumping up and snatching the disc at the highest point of my leap. A few I got because of great […]
Demonic dream
There’s a new show on the WB called Supernatural, about two brothers who are “ghost hunters”, fighting demons and stuff. I watched the first episode, thought it was okay, didn’t really feel a yen for it – basically a low rent horror-flick copy of the X-Files. I happened to catch most of another episode last […]
