Thanks!
Tim
Sent from my BlackBerry.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
And via email...
Sorry folks - testing blooging methods. Back to the regular shenanigans soon enough.
Thanks!
Tim
Thanks!
Tim
Hello world! I am now blogging via SMS from my Black Berry. 160-character posts are kinda silly, but at least they'll make a good start for a post.
Hi Folks, I'm Back!
Hello dear reader(s? A man can dream...),
After something of a hiatus, I am picking the blog back up again. I'm going to be moving back to topics Japanese, most likely the things that relate directly to my graduate research. I will like as not also include a healthy dollop of things that I just plain like.
I'm not going to put myself on any kind of schedule for this blog. Posts will appear when I feel like posting for the time being. This may change - if I need some structure in my writing, I may set a goal of x posts per week. I may also do this if I find I consistently have something to say!
Thanks for reading so far.
After something of a hiatus, I am picking the blog back up again. I'm going to be moving back to topics Japanese, most likely the things that relate directly to my graduate research. I will like as not also include a healthy dollop of things that I just plain like.
I'm not going to put myself on any kind of schedule for this blog. Posts will appear when I feel like posting for the time being. This may change - if I need some structure in my writing, I may set a goal of x posts per week. I may also do this if I find I consistently have something to say!
Thanks for reading so far.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Back on the Mac
I'm writing this blog post from a new-to-me MacBook - mid-2007 vintage, black model. A co-worker had some problems with it, and it needed a new optical drive and hard drive. Having replaced both with up-rated components (an 8x SuperDrive and a 500 GB hard drive later), it's up and running happily enough.
I've still got the Windows desktop machine for gaming and stuff as the graphics subsystem on this guy is not so great (Intel GMA 950? What was Apple THINKING?), but this'll be my main daily driver, as it were.
It's good to be back on the Mac.
I've still got the Windows desktop machine for gaming and stuff as the graphics subsystem on this guy is not so great (Intel GMA 950? What was Apple THINKING?), but this'll be my main daily driver, as it were.
It's good to be back on the Mac.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
On Morris's article in The Hill
(I've cross-posted this from my Facebook page. A friend thinks it's a worthy thought, so I am putting it up for wider visibility.)
Some counterpoint to the upbeat mood. Is Morris on to something, or is this hyperbole? As excited as I am about the possible directions the US could go, it could go at least somewhat the direction that Morris points out. As much as I like the idea of a greater safety net, I feel that we should be free to rise and fall by our own lights, and not become too dependent on the government.
Truly, a well-defined and implemented "hand up, not a hand out" program would be the model I'd like to see for services, with a healthy private market competing for the dollars and mindshare of the folks that can pay. I want the percentage of the folks who can pay to be 100%, because I want everyone to be able to succeed. Talk about a pipe dream! Nonetheless, it's what I find would be ideal. Is 95% too unrealistic? 90%?
A big corollary to this: how to provide proper incentives to people (OK, and corporations I guess) to get back on track and not ride on the dole? There will of course be people who abuse the system; if they've got kids, how to keep the kids in a good way while correcting the parents? Granted, there is no perfect solution to the problem - there will ALWAYS be people who want to game the system, but we need to minimize that.
Further, I don't want us to change the definition of success too much, either. Equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome, with a helping hand for the folks that get caught on the downside through bad luck, maybe with a dollop of education for folks who have made some mistakes and find themselves in a bad way due to irresponsibility or just plain idiot behavior, and some further measures to cope with the issue of people who are unwilling to get on board (though in my own anecdotal experience these folks are far and away in the minority as most folks genuinely like being able to make their own way, however modest, and happily will do so if given a hand when it's needed). The issue of people who are unable, due to whatever disease or defect, is of course completely separate, and these folks should be planned for as well.
I'd be happy living in a European country that has a lot of Morris's bogeymen in place - because they are European countries and have developed that way on their own; I've lived in Japan and as such see that other systems CAN work well in general despite some glaring shortcomings (Morris's reference to MITI and mainframes is, given my overall love of Japan, painfully apt) and learned the hard way not to cling to a US-centric worldview when in other nations (even though I DO think of ways things could improve - human nature, I guess). I would not want to see the US take on too much of the European model, even though I do wonder often if the Jeffersonian ideal can survive in a corporatized world. Perhaps given the direction that things have taken, a statist model might better fit the world in which we live. After all, how many of us own the means of production for our livelihoods compared to how many of us instead work for someone else? Granted, the BLS could probably give me some figures on this, but I want you to think about this. I'm sure the answer will vary from person to person. Nonetheless, the Jeffersonian ideal holds a dear place in my heart, along with the historical savvy to know how far in debt the man was when he died. A mixed bag indeed!
I'm not offering specific suggestions for a number of reasons, the main one being that I'm horrifically unqualified to do so, but I want you to think about some of the issues around the Obama Presidency and what has led us here. The real world is so much muddier and harder to address than campaign promises make it out to be, and policies impact real people. The needs of the many need to be balanced against the needs of the few (or the one, to riff on Spock) in some cases, and sometimes it really stinks to be the few or the one that are being balanced against when you are outweighed.
I suppose it really comes down to the idea of America, and there are probably 300,000,000 different ideas of America out there - or would it be better to say six billion ideas of America? To me, the idea of America is a promise - a promise that we are free (within the responsibilities and obligations of freedom, mind!) to rise and fall by our own merits, free to win or lose or die trying (or some combination thereof), free to enjoy good luck, free to labor through and overcome bad luck. Our government should serve us, not the other way around, save for the obligations that freedom may impose on some, but would better be freely chosen rather than imposed.
Mistakes have been made - many and some horrible, but tomorrow is a new day. We may not be able to erase the mistakes of the past, but we can learn from them, work to make them right and build a better tomorrow.
In the unlikely event that this makes it to our new President, I have this to say - Mr. President, please remember that America is a great idea. Please work to keep it that way.
Some counterpoint to the upbeat mood. Is Morris on to something, or is this hyperbole? As excited as I am about the possible directions the US could go, it could go at least somewhat the direction that Morris points out. As much as I like the idea of a greater safety net, I feel that we should be free to rise and fall by our own lights, and not become too dependent on the government.
Truly, a well-defined and implemented "hand up, not a hand out" program would be the model I'd like to see for services, with a healthy private market competing for the dollars and mindshare of the folks that can pay. I want the percentage of the folks who can pay to be 100%, because I want everyone to be able to succeed. Talk about a pipe dream! Nonetheless, it's what I find would be ideal. Is 95% too unrealistic? 90%?
A big corollary to this: how to provide proper incentives to people (OK, and corporations I guess) to get back on track and not ride on the dole? There will of course be people who abuse the system; if they've got kids, how to keep the kids in a good way while correcting the parents? Granted, there is no perfect solution to the problem - there will ALWAYS be people who want to game the system, but we need to minimize that.
Further, I don't want us to change the definition of success too much, either. Equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome, with a helping hand for the folks that get caught on the downside through bad luck, maybe with a dollop of education for folks who have made some mistakes and find themselves in a bad way due to irresponsibility or just plain idiot behavior, and some further measures to cope with the issue of people who are unwilling to get on board (though in my own anecdotal experience these folks are far and away in the minority as most folks genuinely like being able to make their own way, however modest, and happily will do so if given a hand when it's needed). The issue of people who are unable, due to whatever disease or defect, is of course completely separate, and these folks should be planned for as well.
I'd be happy living in a European country that has a lot of Morris's bogeymen in place - because they are European countries and have developed that way on their own; I've lived in Japan and as such see that other systems CAN work well in general despite some glaring shortcomings (Morris's reference to MITI and mainframes is, given my overall love of Japan, painfully apt) and learned the hard way not to cling to a US-centric worldview when in other nations (even though I DO think of ways things could improve - human nature, I guess). I would not want to see the US take on too much of the European model, even though I do wonder often if the Jeffersonian ideal can survive in a corporatized world. Perhaps given the direction that things have taken, a statist model might better fit the world in which we live. After all, how many of us own the means of production for our livelihoods compared to how many of us instead work for someone else? Granted, the BLS could probably give me some figures on this, but I want you to think about this. I'm sure the answer will vary from person to person. Nonetheless, the Jeffersonian ideal holds a dear place in my heart, along with the historical savvy to know how far in debt the man was when he died. A mixed bag indeed!
I'm not offering specific suggestions for a number of reasons, the main one being that I'm horrifically unqualified to do so, but I want you to think about some of the issues around the Obama Presidency and what has led us here. The real world is so much muddier and harder to address than campaign promises make it out to be, and policies impact real people. The needs of the many need to be balanced against the needs of the few (or the one, to riff on Spock) in some cases, and sometimes it really stinks to be the few or the one that are being balanced against when you are outweighed.
I suppose it really comes down to the idea of America, and there are probably 300,000,000 different ideas of America out there - or would it be better to say six billion ideas of America? To me, the idea of America is a promise - a promise that we are free (within the responsibilities and obligations of freedom, mind!) to rise and fall by our own merits, free to win or lose or die trying (or some combination thereof), free to enjoy good luck, free to labor through and overcome bad luck. Our government should serve us, not the other way around, save for the obligations that freedom may impose on some, but would better be freely chosen rather than imposed.
Mistakes have been made - many and some horrible, but tomorrow is a new day. We may not be able to erase the mistakes of the past, but we can learn from them, work to make them right and build a better tomorrow.
In the unlikely event that this makes it to our new President, I have this to say - Mr. President, please remember that America is a great idea. Please work to keep it that way.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Where'd the content go?
Hi everyone,
I'm sure you've noticed that the content is a little light all of a sudden. I felt it was time to remove the old stuff. I've still got it thanks to the Export function in Blogger, but it's no longer particularly relevant.
I'll in all likelihood still update, but I'm trying to rein myself in stylistically and retrain myself to hold to some good academic standards, including actually citing things and not cranking the Sarcasmotron up to 11.
This is by no means going to turn into a 100% professional blog, as it IS my personal one (and I don't have a professional one as of yet - nobody needs MY opinions at the moment), but I do need to get the focus back.
Thanks for reading thus far, and do come back from time to time to see what's new. There will be something!
Thanks!
Tim
I'm sure you've noticed that the content is a little light all of a sudden. I felt it was time to remove the old stuff. I've still got it thanks to the Export function in Blogger, but it's no longer particularly relevant.
I'll in all likelihood still update, but I'm trying to rein myself in stylistically and retrain myself to hold to some good academic standards, including actually citing things and not cranking the Sarcasmotron up to 11.
This is by no means going to turn into a 100% professional blog, as it IS my personal one (and I don't have a professional one as of yet - nobody needs MY opinions at the moment), but I do need to get the focus back.
Thanks for reading thus far, and do come back from time to time to see what's new. There will be something!
Thanks!
Tim
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