Tuesday already?

I keep forgetting that it's a short week.   Well, it's not the forgetting that makes such an impression but rather the remembering.  Kinda like that found-the-keys-in-the-last-place-I-looked way.  Anyway, I keep forgetting (then remembering) that Friday is a holiday, so there is much more urgency around everything.  Not sure why, but there you are.  I guess it doesn't help that "Idol" ran long and Fringe had to start late.  That certainly adds to my urgency.  I liked the episode, at least what I saw of it, and the story continues nicely.  Next week's installment looks most exciting.  Yes, yes - I look forward most verily.  Like most things related to Fox, it would be nicer if they would just run the shows on a consistent weekly basis.  You know - a schedule or season.  Not this 4 episodes followed by hiatus, followed by 4 episodes and a break, the a re-tooling, a pause and a cancellation.  You'd think they were parliament or something!

Speaking of parliament, I actually heard some rumblings from our (Canadian federal) government today.  They decided to do something that the US did weeks ago - guarantee the new car warranties for GM and Chrysler.  Good news because it looks like GM is gearing for bankruptcy  Oh well - looking for the upswing in the economy, but that won't be in Canada for a while.  We definitely lag behind the US in the effects of the economic downturn.  The US has been suffering economically for more than a year, so we are probably a year behind.  Typical in previous downturns, and I don't expect anything to change.  Each downturn has a ripple effect within different sectors of the economy and the trickle-down is pretty clear.  Hopefully we'll be back to vigorous sales soon.

Another work day

Back to work after a Monday off.  Kinda weird today - working from home even!  It's weird because I don't have my work laptop, just email access.  But that's enough to be able to get some kinds of work done.  Gotta get to bed relatively early tonight as I'm off to hockey tomorrow.  Although that's been pretty weird for the last little while as well.  We have a larger pool of potential goalies, but a hard time getting any two to show up.  We had 3 one time, but mostly between one and two.  I didn't think that there'd be a  problem this week, but our regular goalie wasn't around.  He may still be on vacation, neglecting his puck-stopping duties.  Oh well - there are still enough people coming out who will play, even if there aren't goalies, so there ya go.  The other problem is that we'd have to cancel by Monday night if we didn't want to pay for the ice time.

The other thing I wanted to mention briefly is the comments made on the Fox News program Red Eye.  I say briefly because the kind of puerile drivel that oozes out from Fox News is not worth listening to.  But apparently The Voice on the Current was able to stomach enough of it to come up with this:

It's Tuesday, March 24th.

Fox News host Greg Gutfield says he did not intend to disrespect the brave men, women and families of the Canadian military when he suggested all Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan want to do is yoga, paint landscapes, and run on the beach. His comments came just before four Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. 

Currently, Canadians say that just because Fox News is full of venomous right-wing ideologues with an infantile sense of humour, in no way does that mean we think any less of its high-quality journalism.

This is the Current.

I do believe that The Voice hits the nail on the, er, head there.  Pretty sharply too.

The end of the week.

Made it to another Friday.  Pretty nice and relaxed by Friday night and that's a good thing.  Missed most of Dollhouse, although this looked like a pivotal episode.  You know, the kind that takes the subtle layers of the story that they're gentle revealing and pushes them aside to reveal further layers.  In a different direction.  But I really can't say because I didn't catch the whole thing!  Good tv though.  I missed that stuff because of my youngest son was playing with his friend down the street and didn't get back until after 9pm.  Pretty late for that little guy - he was asleep before I finished the second page of his story.  Nice to be able to just climb into bed and then bam - sleep.

The bailout maelstrom continues.  The CBC tried to link a retention bonus plan approved for Nortel to the AIG bonuses.  Not really a strong correlation since Nortel is in bankruptcy and is supervised by its creditors and the courts, whereas AIG just 80% owned by the government...  I appreciate the point that the retention bonuses were only for Nortel execs ("key employees") at the expense of severance for all the laid off employees.  The logic for the retention plan makes sense, a bit, in that the company and creditors want to make sure the people that know what's going on at Nortel stay long enough to keep it going and make money again.  I would be bitter, though, if I didn't get any severance because I was laid off during the restructuring.  Let's see though - if they gave $10,000.00 to each of the 5000 employees, that's 50 million dollars.  That's about what the pool of retention bonus money is.  I would like 10 grand if I were laid off.

Playing with compensation numbers is why this xkcd comic is so funny, although definitely 18a for the punchline.  TV and radio coverage of the AIG bonus situation shows the bailout numbers (180 billion) and bonus numbers (165 million) together, making it appear that most of the money given by the gov't went to bonuses.  Not true - the values are vastly different - but I think this still misses the point.  The amount of money paid as salary to some of these people is mind-boggling.

The average income in Canada, in 2006, for families with 2 earners was $81,700.00 (values taken from the first line of this Statistics Canada table).  That's 2 or more related people living in the same house, pooling their money.  From the same table, a two parent family with children under 18, one earner: $66,300.00.  That's before taxes.  Now the AIG bonuses range from $1000.00 to $6.5 million, so let's pick a nice value of $2 million.  If you took $2 million dollars and just gave the money to families, you'd keep 24 families going for one year.  Plus you'd get to collect tax from them!  You'd keep 33 average families with 2 parents, some kids under 18 and one wage-earner going.  With the total AIG bonus pool of $165 million, you'd keep 2019 average families going for a year.

Now let's compare $165 million to the $180 billion bailout.  The last GIC I renewed, I counted myself lucky to get a return of 4% per annum.  If I had invested the $180 billion in one 4% GIC, I'd make $7.2 billion in one year, or $600 million in one month.  Which is why the AIG bonus money looks ridiculous compared to the bailout itself.  With the interest from the bailout, we could keep 88, 127 families going for a year.  That's 352, 508 people, assuming 4 people per family.  That's the interest at 4% on $180 billion.  If we used the $180 billion, that's 8.8 million people (assuming 4 people per family).

Anyway, you can see why people are so upset.  The average family with one earner makes about $64,500.00/year before taxes.  It would take 31 years to earn $2 million dollars.  This is the kind of magnitude that gets people upset when they hear about the AIG bonuses.  I hope those that say "I didn't think we could break those contracts" think about that because when people get made, more than contracts get broken.  Not to mention that if people get mad enough, laws change.

Finally!

Today I was rewarded for reading Slashdot - I found this article.  It explained, using better examples and more tv-business-savvy, what I've been saying for years: Fox is messing with me.

Okay, maybe not just me - lots of other people too.  Ever since Firefly and Futurama debuted and then were run off the air, I was convinced there was a secret Fox plot to produce shows I couldn't help but be obsessed with and then yank them away.  Turns out, as is often the case, I was right.  Right enough that other people noticed.  When Futurama was first on the air, it was an awesome show and I loved it.  Fox had the NFL contract for Sunday night football and Futurama would be preempted at the drop of a flag.  So it would take patient weeks to finally catch a new episode.  With Firefly, the show seemed pretty good, but it randomly was on or not, episodes in some order, but not the right one.  No wonder people stopped watching - it was too difficult!

The same pattern is being repeated with the 3 excellent sci-fi shows on Fox: Fringe, Dollhouse and The Sarah Conner Chronicles.  Two of these shows are parked firmly in the secret tv-series burial ground, Friday night.  Back to back, for extra mourning.  The third, Fringe, which has started to garner solid ratings, is on hiatus for 2 months.  For some reason.  Reality tv I believe it is known as.  I've said it before - I don't particularly like reality tv because I believe in entertainment where the writers are paid well.  And they write the show ahead of time, not five minutes into class like so many grade 6 English assignments.

The author of the above article, Ron Hogan, offers one item that makes some sense.  Fox doesn't seem to know a good show from a bad one, but at least the good content creators (JJ Abrams, Joss Whedon, Summer Glau) can't produce good shows anywhere else.  I know Summer Glau is not a writer, producer or director, but she's good content all on her own.  See this xkcd comic for further proof.  So basically Fox is holding all the good stuff hostage, but isn't issuing any demands.  They taunt us with the occasional glimpses, but you have to keep your eyes peeled because it may show up at any time...

So summary: Fox has good content but refuses to let anyone else see it.  Even if they want to give good money for it.  Maybe blog posts can change things.  The power of bits - it's in you!

Dollhouse, Episode 2

I don't know how rabid a fan of this show is, so I'd like to warn the reader that I may leak some spoilers below, so read at own risk.  It's my speculation however.

I admit it - I am a fan of Joss Whedon.  Not forever, not of everything he does, but definitely since Firefly.  Just finished watching Episode 2 of Dollhouse, which revealed more back story, particularly about Alpha.  They are still setting up the parameters of the show, so it is hardly time to make judgements about how good it will be overall.  The surface stuff is all good - action, character interactions, the layering.  However it struck me what the central idea of the series is, and it seems to me that it comes from the Dune series by Frank Herbert.

Not to be petulant, but only from the Frank Herbert stretch - particularly the volumes after God Emperor of Dune.  What has been revealed about Alpha is that he was somehow able to access multiple imprints and escaped the Dollhouse.  A central theme in the later Dune novels was that it was possible to awaken a clone's memory to give it access to every copy of itself that existed in the past.  Don't worry about time travel and so on, but the suggestion was that there is something that binds the mind to something that persists longer than the living body.  One could use the label "soul" for this - the soul is eternal and persists beyond one lifetime and represents everything that a particular body/mind set learned.  In Dune it was an important step to be able to access these old mind/body pairings, suddenly acquiring memories and skills that the current mind/body pair haven't directly experienced.

Sounds vaguely like the Dollhouse premise of "imprinting".  On one side, there is the operators of the Dollhouse that are using science and technology to wipe clean the dolls.  On the other side is Alpha who was able, eventually, to access the wiped information.  This ability seems to be rare, so Alpha has achieved it and it also appears that Echo is close to achieving this. 

The other thing is that Echo appears to be able to learn across imprints and almost instantaneously.  Watch episode two carefully to pick up on this evidence.

So far, excellent TV.  At least for me.

Long day

It has been a long day today - a rich day, full of cajoling, taking away, threats and chocolate.  I spent the early part of the day at the local Shopper's Drug Mart standing in front of a wall of Valentine's Day cards with 8 other men.  Each took their turn examining the 5 different card types that were left, with one particularly sappy one spread across 27 different slots.  Each came away satisfied that they have done something to avoid... whatever unpleasantness greeted the realization that Valentine's Day dawned without a card.  I also bought some nice Lindt Mint Chocolates for my wife.  Then another box for good measure.  Later, I made another special trip to buy my own box because they just looked so darn good.  Plus they were on sale.  Win-win!

The afternoon grew towards my nap, er, our trip to the bowling alley.  My nephew, sons, mom, dad, and I went 5-pin bowling at a location that I know I've been to before, but have not set foot in for years.  My mom was chatting with the proprietor on the way out and mentioned that she used to bowl there - in the 1960's, so it's been a while.  Plus she was a better bowler then.  No kidding - it's been quite the layoff.  The boys did really well with bumpers, although I suspect that they started to throw for the rails to get banked shots near the end.  I started to get some more accuracy after the second game, but I really need to practice some more and I think I could improve greatly.  I bowled more often as a kid, especially 5 pin, but never seriously.  My cousin bowled in a league for a few years and he was pretty good, but I don't think his back would stand for that kind of shenanigans now.  By the time the kids had their McDonald's and we were home, everyone was pretty much done for the day.

Nine o'clock pm had me watching Space and Fringe.  I really love how Space is showing some current series with a 1/2 week delay - Fringe being one and Chuck the other.  Chuck hasn't been showing new episodes for so long now, I can't remember if Space still carries it.  Anyway, I was able to watch the most recent Fringe episode tonight and I'm really glad I did.  They decided to reveal the huge left-turn in the series, namely the multiverse aspect, with Walter and Olivia being particularly important players.  I'm sure Peter will be revealed as a linchpin later.  I like the characters, Walter and Peter, enough to keep watching.  I like the actress Anna Torv, but her character seems too predictable or perhaps lead at times.  Maybe we are travel with her in this story, so they don't want her too opaque or too smart.  Lots of character archetypes appear in the show - pure villans, mysterious powerbroker (Nina Sharp), heels (Olivia's boss's boss), unrequited love interest (Peter), font of knowledge (Walter), and so on.  Production values are good so hopefully the story will remain interesting for some time.  So far, I like.

Birthday!

Well, today is my youngest son's birthday - he was born on a Friday.  We had Spongebob Squarepants cake and it was good.  I saw my brother-in-law and my nephew, my aunt and uncle, and had a good meal.  We discussed insurance, the kids played with Darth Vader.  A pleasant evening all round.  I watched most of the first episode of Dollhouse, but I missed the first few minutes of it.  So far, I like the setup - the world building that is going on.  I hope that Fox doesn't bugger it up like the last show I liked on their network (Firefly).  Joss Whedon is excellent at blending an interesting setting with human characters, or in this case, parts of human characters.

I don't really have much more for this evening - I'm just gonna kick back and relax with some online gaming.  After all, according to Reading Digest: "Brevity is... wit."

Random thoughts for a Wednesday

Seems to be the season for illness - two people were out at work today from my group.  The talk was all about who would be next, although I don't think that anyone wants to be that one.  We're also hoping it isn't exponential growth - 1, 2, 4, 8, ...  However, now that I think about it, it could be Fibonacci growth - 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, ...  Oh well.  Made it to Wink's for lunch - they have a special on this month.  Anyone from our company gets 25% off lunches.  An excellent idea on their part - I think it will keep people there all month.

Listening to the CBC this morning, there was a bit on the Current that suggested that general health improved during the Great Depression.  I talked to my dad about this point and he said that he has noticed that people seem happier during a recession.  He couldn't figure out why, but I thought it made sense to me.  Actually, he said two things - people were more productive and were happier.  Increased productivity could originate from fear, or from happiness.  Fear is a simple motivator to identify during tough economic times.  I think people would also be more happy in general because they can focus on fewer things (like doing their job) and can be happy with what they have.  When times are good, people search for happiness in material goods, social status - a myriad of ways.  When times are bad, just having a job is a weight off your shoulders and you forget about superficial diversions.  Simply doing your job well is all you can do, but getting paid validates that you are doing something right.  It's a zen argument - cast off the distractions and focus on the now.  Quiet the competing thoughts and focus on silent truth.

Now that you can see my carefully raked white pebbles, let me talk about stupid flat-panel tv mounting systems.  I don't have a flat-panel TV, but I'd like to get one when I can afford it.  To figure out when the time is right for that, I've been exploring the various technologies, prices and  so on.  One critical piece of the puzzle is a wall-mount system that allows the panel to be swivelled.  I have not seen a suitable mounting system for less than $400.  I paid ~$250 for a portable basketball net that I guarantee has more metal and supports more weight than those stupid brackets.  It is ridiculous to have to pay so much for a stupid piece of steel (or aluminum) that probably costs $30 to manufacture.  For instance, one retailer is offering a 52" TV, with a tilt-swivel wall-mount, including installation for $1899.  The TV by itself costs $1899, so the entire cost of the wall mount and the cost of the installation is discounted.  I don't know where the profit margin hides in this equation, but I suspect that it is a combination of the TV being overpriced and the tremendous margin on the wall mount.  What I really want to do is talk to the guys I know in the tool-and-die business and get them to create a mount for me.  I would pay them the same - or more - just for the satisfaction of having specified it myself.  I don't think my wife would wait for me get that made after having bought such a TV.  Oh well - it's still a fun thought.

Struggling on

The struggle continues - the struggle to stay awake long enough to post that is.  I had a pretty good day - played hockey, scored a nice goal, put in a decent day's work, but now I'm beat.  I thought I was a bit tired at 8 o'clock and that I'd have no problem writing this later, but I was wrong.  Sat down with my wife to watch the Office special from the Superbowl but I wasn't awake for that either.  I stayed up then and saw the intro; or at least the fire drill before the opening credits.  That rocked.  It was some of the funniest TV I've seen in a while.  And I fell asleep right after it tonight.  And then come to think of it.  Maybe it's so funny, it left me physically exhausted.  Maybe not.  But it was pretty darn good.  Maybe I'm so tired because of the post office.  Yes - that must be it.  They must also be to blame for why watching a show over VOD causes regular TV to have no sound.  Which is how I managed to escape long enough to write this.  I wrote "read" the first time, but that would imply that I planned far enough ahead in my own mind to simple transcribe a finished work.  That's not the way it is for me.  Except being tired - that is very real.  I'm going to go collapse on the couch, or in bed or something.

That's aaaallll evverybody!

Guess today is the 50th anniversary of the death of Buddy Holly, so the title's a decidedly weak play on a Simpson's joke (the gravestone of the Big Bopper).  Just a random item - not something I'm commemorating or celebrating in any particular fashion.  What I did just do was watch Scrubs, and it's still going strong.  I like its simple formula - consistent, straight-forward comedy with an ongoing story to tie everything together.  I have a real hankering for some gium and tonic though... Don't really want the gium-legs though.  I haven't seen all the episodes for this season, but the ones I have seen I've really liked.

Got a new Spectrum today and I was surprised to find an article that strikes a chord with where I'd like to head at work.  It gives some handy points on how to make the jump from being a heads-down techie to someone that can talk with management and be helpful.  Fortunately for me, I do some of the items naturally - speaking with candor (is there any other way?), real-time ideas (again - is there any other way?).  The other items - "what-next ideas" and "management mind-set" are things I have to approach.  The "what-next ideas" is looking forward to next steps - something that developers/engineers/techies don't really get a chance to do because they're too busy making things work now.  The "management mind-set" is the hardest of all because it includes items like:

4. Can you learn to tolerate the fact that some decisions are based on politics? Can you accept that the technically right solution isn’t always the right organizational solution?

I'd judge this to be one of the most difficult for the engineer/developer/techie/{label} to adapt to because part of their job is to make the right thing happen, where "right" is measurable in an objective manner.  I've heard this described as "picking your battles".  The purpose is clear - you can't oppose every item, can't fight every little thing because nothing would get done.  This was something that I started on the road to since about grade 7.  I was doing a special project with a partner - group projects weren't really done in grade school.  I had an idea of what I wanted, and I just kept sticking to them until they were all that was left.  It took a few years to realize all the levels of wrong that was - ignoring the opinions of my partner, letting my opinions spill all over their ideas until it was clear to my partner it they shouldn't try.  Not my finest moment, but that's what we all need - mistakes to show a better way.  If I was truly enlightened, I'd be able to predict mistakes and correct them ahead of time, but I don't think that happens much.  

What I realized much later was that it was best to gather everyone together and try to verbalize ideas.  At least, that's what helps me the most.  What I have been refining is how to guide such a discussion without leading it.  I've come across as trying to lead (or herd?) and that isn't a collaborative  method, shutting down disagreement and taking things in one direction.  What I am really doing is working through all the ideas by approaching them from different angles.  So I have to be more finessed (subtle) with this technique, so I can keep people participating and collaborating while I still get value out of it.  Very complicated, but whatever - it's a new skill and it's good to develop new skills.  Much like writing and blogging.  Blogging helps me to express myself quickly in print (in bits?).  Probably should do some review and editing to get any real benefit out of these efforts, but whatever.  I'm typing onwards, no backwards! Upwards not forwards!  And always whirling, whirling, twirling towards freedom!

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a good hockey day and this cold will get a little better before then.  Hopefully both goalies show up.  It's a time for hope and I have to keep hoping I guess.

Day 31 - Bleh

I figured out why I felt so beat playing hockey yesterday - I definitely have a cold.  It's either arriving or is here.  Staying up late last night didn't help anything, but that's no big deal.  Managed to get haircuts for me and the boys and it was a pretty good day.  A nice nap in the middle of the day helped too.

Caught the latest episode of Fringe tonight on Space.  Not a bad show - I really like how Space is able to show new episodes of current shows within a week of their first airing.  It was most enjoyable - plus it helps with the network schedule fights, so that two of the current shows I care to watch overlap.  This provides a decent option of being able to see it on a night where I have more time.  Really I should probably get a DVR, but I'm not prepared to spend that money.  Because I'd likely get a TiVo and that has a monthly cost.

Fringe is doing pretty well in my mind - the "science" and "tech" is reasonably plausible, enough to keep the show fresh and interesting without to many deja-vu-from-left-field experiences.  Walter is definitely my favorite character, but I think that's the design.  My wife thinks Olivia has a weird head, but I think it's just fine.  I like Olivia's boss (who I can't remember the name of) .  It's developing and I'm willing to play along for now anyway.  I'm entertained and that's what's required.

Wrapping up the last day in January with a relatively short post, but I need sleep and tv and not in that order.  Plus I have to see if Hockey Night has got the sound back for the Vancouver game.  It's really neat to watch the show with no commentary, just the rink noise though.