Linkfest — 05-10-2008

Posted 18:00 PST Sat May 10, 2008 in

Comment

Fife and Drum

Posted 10:30 PST Sat May 10, 2008 in

T3 Icon For this week (although I’m late — excused absence!) we have Fife and Drum so let’s see where it takes me!

Onesome: Fife— Barney? …a musical instrument? …the number after ‘four’? What came to mind when you saw this week’s title?

I thought in terms of a patriotic march of three wounded soldiers carrying a tattered flag.

Twosome: and— do you recall a painting of a fife and drum set with a flag? No? Maybe one of our American History majors can link it in…

I do and it brings somber memories for me.

Threesome: Drum— lines? Do you love them? …or do you even know they exist? I’m wondering if this is an “Eastern” thing…

I dunno if I’ve ever seen a drum line in the flesh. It would be interesting, but is not in my experience.

Comment

Three Bad Habits

Posted 08:00 PST Sat May 10, 2008 in

As part of the me-me-meme I’ll continue with what I think are my three bad habits. Well, check that — there are probably more bad habits, but I’ll focus on the three I think are my worst.

My first is waking too early in the morning. I posses an over-active mind. I often wake between 0300 and 0400. If I’m able, I roll over or plug in the iPod and go back to sleep. Too often, however, like this morning I don’t return to sleep and find myself in my workroom. Sometimes I putter, browsing the ‘net a little or researching something that interests me. Other times I’m at work on a project and often have a half-day done before I even hit the office.

My second bad habit is trichotillomania. If my beard grows too long, I pull at it, particularly when thinking really hard. So, I keep it short because I hate the regular shave but don’t like to pull at my beard.

Hmm… Now for the third… I suppose I have a bad habit for interrupting someone when they’re talking. Sometimes my thoughts start working and I can move really fast from idea to idea and a discussion can become highly dynamic. I am something of a free-associator and my thoughts can take on a random appearance as one idea leads to a synaptic jump to something else, where the relation between the two may not be apparent.

Whether I do that or not seems to depend on the situation. For example, a friend was here this week to do a training class for us. He’s an expert in geospatial applications. After work we went to supper and I went into “hyper-mode.” We were talking shop (Wife is quite patient with me) and the talk turned to something I’ve thought about for a long time. It was fun, but I’m afraid I was not very polite. However, my friend is patient and we still had a good time.

So, there you go — three bad habits.

Comment

The Weakest Buffalo

Posted 08:00 PST Fri May 9, 2008 in

From a friend… But I’ll bet you can guess the source…

‘Well you see, Norm, it’s like this.. A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the heard is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the
regular killing of the weakest members.

“In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.

“And that, Norm, is why you always feel smarter after a few beers.

Comment

Ten Years Ago

Posted 08:00 PST Thu May 8, 2008 in

In keeping with the me-me-meme I’m going to write a bit about ten years ago. It’s the first question of the list.

Ten years ago would have been early in 1998. I was five years into my academic career and it was time to prepare my tenure and promotion package. No one outside the academic community understands what that means.

It began with a survey of everything I accomplished over the preceding five years, including proposal written, research projects completed, graduate students overseen, service activities, and publications. It also required letters from students, colleagues both inside and outside the university, and a review of student evaluations from preceding years.

In the end, the dossier required something between 40 and 80 hours to prepare. The due date loomed and I worked a lot of extra hours1.

I remember completing the package to the best of my ability and turning it in. That evening I went the long way home on my first BMW motorcycle, Gracie. I remember seeing the sun set as I rode west, then north through Shallowater, Texas. I remember the feelings I had, wondering whether I would be good enough for the next phase of my academic career.

Gracie was a 1988 K100RS and was a joy to ride. We spent the early evening riding the back roads of west Texas, taking in the air and enjoying the cotton fields before I turned toward home and family. It was good to have the task completed and being ready to move onto the next thing. But the uncertainty hung in my heart and I wondered “was it good enough?”

I remember the trepidation I felt at the time. I had no idea if I had enough publications to earn tenure and promotion. No one ever said how many were enough. I thought the other parts of my work were plenty good enough, but I was concerned about the publications. The setting remains “publish or perish.”

1 Extra hours is a funny term applied to academics. We don’t work a fixed schedule, but generally work as much as required to get the job done. Sometimes that means going home early on Fridays (I loved those days). Other times it meant working nights and weekends to get the job done. I didn’t like those so much. There were too many of them.

Comment

A Meme

Posted 18:00 PST Wed May 7, 2008 in

My friend Jim tasked me with a meme. His tag derives from another and so ad infinitum.

In the meme, I’m to answer six questions,

  1. Ten years ago I was…
  2. Five things on today’s To-Do list…
  3. Things I’d do if I were a billionaire…
  4. Three bad habits…
  5. Five places I’ve lived…
  6. Six jobs I’ve had in my life…

I can do this. But, like Jim, I’m going to do it on my terms and in my own fashion. I may not answer all the questions on one day. I may also not answer them in order. I may make short answers, or long. I’m going to ruminate on this a bit, and then we will see where it goes.

Memes can be fun. We’ll see if this one is…

Comment

Lie-Detecting Robot

Posted 08:00 PST Wed May 7, 2008 in

From a friend…

John was a salesman’s delight when it came to any kind of unusual gimmick. His wife Marsha had long ago given up trying to get him to change. One day, John came home with another one of his unusual purchases. It was a robot that John claimed was actually a lie detector.

About 5:30 that afternoon Tommy, their 11-year-old son returned home from school. Tommy was over two hours late…

“Where have you been? Why are you over 2 hours late getting home?” they asked.

“Several of us went to the library to work on an extra credit project,” said Tommy.

The Robot then walked around the table and slapped Tommy, knocking him completely out of his chair.

“Son, this robot is a lie detector, now tell us where you went after school.”

“We went to Bobby’s house and watched a movie.”

“What did you watch?” asked Marsha.

“The Ten Commandments,” answered Tommy.

The Robot went around to Tommy and once again slapped him, knocking him off his chair.

With his lip quivering, Tommy got up, sat down and said, “I am sorry I lied. We really watched a movie called Sex Queen.”

“I’m ashamed of you Son,” said John. “When I was your age, I never lied to my parents.”

The robot then walked around to John and delivered a roundhouse right that nearly knocked him out of his chair.

Marsha was bent double laughing, almost in tears. “Boy, did you ever ask for that one! And you can’t be too mad with Tommy. After all, he is your son!”

The Robot immediately walked around to Marsha and slapped her three times.

Comment

| Next Page