Earth Day 2006

I'll be the first to admit that I'm far a 'hemp wearing, canvas shopping tote using, whole foods dining' card carrying member of 'the Green Party', but I'm far closer to that side of the spectrum then I am to the 'forest clearing, hummer driving, wood burning, cigarette butt flicking' ignorant callous fuck side of the fence. bitter much? Enough so that every day, I come increasingly closer to walking up to the car at the stoplight to pickup and flick the burning embers back into their car. Dangerously close.

Tomorrow is 'Earth Day', but in the realm of my ongoing desire to 'be the kind of person I'd admire', I'd have to say that every day should be earth day. Right? I try to recycle, and although I drive what could be considered an SU-V, it's a 4-cylander fuel efficient wannabe from Honda. And when a hybrid option for a mini-van is available, it'll be on our list of things to buy.

I don't travel much these days, but when I did, i'd be stunned and actually confused by the absence of recycle bins/programs in other parts of the country. hopefully we've made improvements over the last 8 years or so. I personally felt very guilty that, during the first month of moving back to the bay area, time and space made recycling a difficulty, but we've since resumed doing so.

Without getting preachy (read my previous post for that :-) I do want to comment that little efforts can easily become subconscious habits, like where you put your garbage, how much water you use, choices you make in products that can/do damage our environment.

This month's Vanity Fair has a good article about choices of this kind. It's worth reading, and it's linked below, as are a few other sites that have quick tips and tidbits that might help us continue to, well.... continue.

Vanity Fair : Fifty Ways to Help Save the Planet
Healthy Living with a Twist - Lime.com
Climate Change Solutions: What You can Do Right Now
tips and fun ways to protect the environment

How long must we all wait to change
This world bound in chains that we live in
To know what it is to forgive, And be forgiven?
It's been too many years of taking now.
Isn't it time to stop somehow?
Air that's too angry to breathe, water our children can't drink
You've heard it hundreds of times
You say your aware, believe, and you care, but...
Do you care enough?
Where's your conviction of the Heart?

- Kenny Loggins : Conviction Of The Heart

How Dark The Con Of Man, Indeed.

I have a couple of friends that are hardcore Christians. I love them, and honestly, I never make an aggressive point of presenting them with massive amounts of research and publications that dutifully poke gaping holes in their religion's history and their belief systems. They have their views, and I have mine.



Hopefully I'll not be stepping on too many sandals with this post.



One of these good friends send me this flyer as a PDF: about a discussion titled 'The DaVinci Deception' today, and invited my wife and I to attend. I know it's all meant in the best of intentions, and it's probably heavily pushed within the church as a way to reach out to friends and bring them into the fold. But what gives them the audacity to actually be so myopic as to think that they have the right to do so, without in turn, going with me to an equally focused discussion and exploration into the numerous reasons why my view is correct? I don't do that because I don't necessarily believe that any view, including my own, is absolute, but I do know that mine is definitely not dogmatic.



Having spent several years of my life immersed in studies of various religions and science, I have as much comfort in my conclusion as they have in theirs. But for all the attempts to convince me to consider and learn about their 'truths', none ever give the same consideration in return, to openly consider and question the findings of my own searching, and the foundation of their faith. Oddly, although I would have asked repeatedly to consider that my beliefs might be wrong, no 'True Believer' of their faith would ever consider contrary evidence to be anything more then the devil's attempt to deter one from their God.



Sorry, but that just does not and does not work for me. And I've grown tired and weary of making efforts to exchange meaningful dialog with them. It's not possible.



So in response to this invitation, I sent the following reply:



"Bwahahhahaha... you are so great! God love ya! What a sense of humor!



It looks like the church is working to proactively provide followers with answers that'll be predominant once the film breaks.. but you'd be preaching to the wrong guy on this one. You can't argue with a dogmatically one sided viewpoint, and I have no interest in doing so when there's no chance of them giving me an equal benefit of the doubt/consideration when I point out all the reasons that the belief systems don't hold water against science and history. [Or should we really go into such discussion about Dinosaurs being conveniently lumped into 'beasts of the wild', the fact that Cain and Abel had only their mother to procreate with, or that the chronological lineage of the bible would have the human race be hundreds of thousands of years younger then science and archeology has proven it to be. Oh yeah... that's right... it's all the devils work trying to dissuade us from the truth. Bullshit. :-)



Don't get me wrong, i don't buy "the DaVinci Code as complete fact", but you can't reasonable dispute that the last supper has a woman besides Jesus and you can't argue with the possibility/probability that he may have been married.. there's enough real evidence to give even the most staunch believe cause to consider the possibilities, unless of course, theit only acceptable source of 'truth' is focused solely on what the church tells them. That kind of thinking is what makes Mormon's stay mormon, makes Jehovah's Witness's stay JWs, and Christians stay Christian.



Either way... have fun, and as always, beliefs won't stand between our friendship. It only makes for more dynamic conversations. :-)"



Receiving this email and writing my response sparked reminders of the movie 'Dogma'. I'd like to see it play as a double feature along side 'The DaVinci Code'. I'll probably have to wait a few years for AMC to roll it into a 'Dinner & A Movie' night, complete with fasting guidelines, bread breaking techniques, lentil soup, flat bread and lots of red wine. But no M&Ms. Definitely no M&Ms. But seriously, Not only is Dogma very funny, and it has a spectacularly stunning on screen appearance of Salma Hayak in a strip club, but the film opens with a great dialog by Matt Damon's Character, 'Loki':

 

 

"Leaving 'Alice in Wonderland' aside, look closely at 'Through the Looking Glass' - particularly 'The Walrus and the Carpenter' poem: what's the metaphorical meaning? It colorfully details the sham that is organized religion. The Walrus - with his girth and good-nature - obviously refers to either the Buddha, or - with his tusks - the lovable Hindu elephant god, Lord Ganesha. This takes care of the Eastern religions. The Carpenter is an Obvious reference to Jesus Christ, who was purportedly raised the son of a carpenter. He represents the Western religions. And in the poem, what do they do? They dupe all the oysters into following them. Then, when the oysters collective guard is down, the Walrus and the Carpenter shuck and devour the helpless creatures, en masse. I don't know what that says to you, but to me it says that following faiths based on these mythological figures insures the destruction of one's inner-being."

The Decadence Years

The latest chapter in the ongoing Apple vs Apple legal battles has gotten me thinking about my own experience in crossing the line between the two companies. It all began quite innocently. It was around 1994, I believe. I was working late, reading the manual and trying to master the use of a new CD burner we'd purchased for around $8-$10k. It had a 700mb internal HD and burned CDs at 1x speed. We had a need to archive software builds for shipping CPUs, as well as have a method for creating and distribution bundles to manufacturing as well. At the same time, we had access to all the latest and greatest software for internal use, and more often then not, i'd find myself away from the office and having a need for an application I'd only be able to access from within the company network. So here I was at work, access to the software I'd love to have been able to have with me at any given moment, and working out the kinks and learning curve on a new CD burner. Hmmmmmmmm....

I decided my testing of this new machine might as well be something useful, and it was relatively easy to gather all the top favorite software products like Office, Photoshop, Quickmail, and about 50+ more onto the unit and press a CD.

The software and process for creating a CD was painfully windows-like. And it was an arduous process to go through. The unit required a transfer of the data to the internal HD all in one pass, so i'd have to have an external hard drive with all the files and folders ready, then copy that into the unit's internal drive in one master [painfully slow] copy. Then I could press a CD of that internal image.

As the machine cranked away I poked about and found a rather abstract surreal illustration from a set of Adobe Illustrator sample files, and I created a CD label/jewel case on my own. I wanted this to have some flair and character. I pulled the name 'Decadance' out of my head, as it felt a little so to be combining the effort to learn with the effort to create a portable software library. Also, the term 'Decadence' had been kicking about in my mind for some time, 'Decadence' having been the name of an Inxs EP that just stuck in my brain, looking for a home.

Once I'd mastered my CD and had it at my disposal, the creative juices began to flow, and about 6 months later, having shown it about to friends and colleagues who wanted one of their own, I took it to the next level, creating a masterfully crafted label entitled 'Decadance for Dummies, complete with the little sign carrying geek-man, who also adorned the back of the case with a small sign simply saying 'CD? What CD?'. I think I printed up no more then 6 or 7 copies but the momentum was building.


What followed remains one of my favorite creative efforts. It was probably another 9-12 months from the 'Dummies' release, and the audience and awareness had grown. The next one had to be something really unique. I remember toying with numerous concepts before I decided that instead a basing the title/cover on a book, I'd pay homage to a 'classic album'. I narrowed it down to two; 'Dark Side of the Moon' or 'the White Album', and the decision was sealed the minute I started imagining the back of the label. Although it was difficult to turn away from so perfect a title as 'Decadent Side of the Moon', going with the 'White Album' opened up a torrential creative pipeline, and it was all based on recreating the back of the original album. The song titles, the Apple logo, every little detail has something uniquely special about it.

Over the course of a week or so, driving to and from work, I'd mentally toy with the words and names on the back of the White Album, and gradually narrowed down the final designs. If you click on the image, you'll see an enlarged view.

Here's a brief guide to what it all means...

The title was simply 'Decadence'. I thought about 'the Decadence' but opt'd to just go with the single word. I didn't want to personify it.

The song titles were all 'play on words' of those on the original recording, but tied in some way to Apple or Computing. Many of the song titles require no explanation here (such as 'Backup in the U.S.S.R., being a reference to a backup of your computer) but some of these are so abstract you'd have to be an uber-geek trivia buff to guess them. I'll only comment on those few here... the rest should be obvious enough.

Claris Onion was a nod to 'Claris', a sister company to Apple that made a nbr of software products including FileMaker.
A-Do-Be, Ob-La-Da... 'Adobe'. Get it? :-)
'Bungling Bill' was a Gates jab.
GUI is short for 'Graphical User Interface'.
'Blackbird' stayed the same, but at Apple, it was a code name for a Powerbook at the time.
Jaggies refers to fonts enlarged beyond their smooth appearance.
Rocky Clarkoon. Perhaps the most abstract reference. Steve Wozniak had apparently re-enrolled in college after starting Apple with Jobs, and did so under the name 'Rocky Clark'.
Joule, pronounced 'Julie', manufactured removable hard drives.
OSAXy Sadie referred to OSAX, extensions to AppleScript functionality in the Mac OS.

The copyright on Decadence reads '1968 Original Sound Recordings Renamed by One Track Mind, Inc. I'd come up with 'One Track Mined' as a name for use when pressing my own audio CDs just for the fun of it. They were typically compilations or 'mixes' of various songs from various artists/albums... as i one song track was 'mined' from the full release. I just extended that name to this as well.

The 'Parlophone' logo was changed to 'Parlophony'.

The barcode nbrs was an homage to the fact that playing 'Revolution #9' backwards on the White Album was rumored to have clues to the alleged death of Paul McCartney. The last nbrs here (past 7777), in reverse, was my phone extension at Apple.

The Apple Records Logo was replaced by the Apple logo, and 'Apple Records' became 'Apple Software.

And of course, the text across the bottom line could have easiy been referred to as prosecutions exhibit A.

Although it was not exact, i did make serious effort to replicate fonts and placement, but at some point you have to just call it a warp and go to press... pun intended... and I did.

The distribution was broader, but remained relatively hush-hush, and the 'clues' aside, I was not intended to be anything more then a portable collection of software tools we'd use in the office. There was no sales or intention that it fell into the hands of anybody outside of the company. So the day that I was approached by somebody I did not know, who asked if they could be included on the list of people to get any future pressings or creation, I immediately 'shut down' any future work or distribution. I didn't want or need anybody from legal or security surrounding my car with black sedans, wearing dark suits and muttering into ear pieces. No thanks. It was too bad, though, because the wheels had already begun spinning on what would be an even greater effort... a 'Box Set', which remains an unfulfilled vision to this day.

Everyone You Know, Someday, Will Die

Today is the birthdate of my wife's late Father, Thomas Patterson. He passed away 8 years ago, quite suddenly and unexpectedly, just months before our wedding. The impact resonates with my wife to this day, as it does throughout her family. He left a strong, lasting and extremely positive impression on each of their lives.

I also learned this week that somebody I knew many years back had passed away. He worked at Apple, as did I, and an internal transfer landed me in a roll in a team under his supervision. And although his passing does not represent a 'personal' loss for me in any direct sense, these deaths hit nerves worth recognizing and acknowledging.

I've been fortunate to, with the exception of my Father, not have anybody intimately close to me die. That's not a fortune I have any illusions about. That card will be dealt. With rare exception, the painful truth is that we don't get to see the stopwatch too far in advance of it's running out, for our own demise as well as that of somebody we love and treasure.

I don't think about this near enough. If I did, i'd definitely live my life to it's fullest, not be as inclined to be sidetracked by 'the little stuff', and make my loved ones aware that they are.

I had pause to think about this on the way to work, and I took the time to glance around at all the other bodies in all the other cars all around me. It's so easy to be lost in the momentum of daily life and to be completely detached from the awareness that every other person around you is in their own momentum, with their own concerns, demands, desires, joys and despair.

So when I signaled to merge right, only to have the driver of the car behind me and to the right accelerate to close the space and ensure that my entry was not in front of them, it would have been easy to feel slighted and offended. But not today. In the big scope of things, responding with an aggressive gesture or angry feelings only takes away from me, and most certainly does not change them.

It's hard to see the picture when you're inside the frame. And taking a moment to reflect on the fact that the time we have is not only limited, it is also random, makes me a little more conscious about how i react to my surroundings and how I interact with those around me.

I dread the thought that somebody i really care about, somebody who's effected my life and left a lasting impression, would die without knowing that. I wish it were easier for me to be more sincere and emotionally expressive with my friends. I can do so with immediate family. I called my wife to tell her I loved her when I heard about the coworker, and took a moment to let her know today that I could relate to her sorrow over the loss of her father so many years ago. And I can express deeper feelings in the security of non-confrontational writing on this blog. But due to social pressure, insecurities, conditioning or lack of confidence, taking the time to really express the love and appreciation I have for my friends has never been a strong suit. But I do try.

There are so many people that have been and remain important to me, and they are the people who's passing would be painful and a sincere loss. Clearly, this means my immediate family, my wife, my children, my mother. And my friends, those I see frequentl, those that I have random contact with, and those I have no contact with at all these days. They all remain precious and valued to me and I respect and appreciate how much they've all brought to my life.

On my drive to work, while all this was running through my head, the random selection of music i was listening to on my Treo switched to the following song, and i listened repeatedly, comforted in the recognition that i was not alone in my thoughts.

Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize - we're floating in space
Do You Realize - that happiness makes you cry
Do You Realize - that everyone you know someday will die

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

The Flaming Lips : Do You Realize

Being in the Right Place at the Retch Moment

My wife's good friend had a birthday dinner Saturday night. My kids are transitioning from cribs to beds, still not consistent and not used to being put to bed by anybody but us. So, in order to attend, we opted to have a babysitter watch them while I went in a separate car from 6-7.30, the plan being to allow my wife to enjoy the party whle I'd came home to put them to bed. The other option was to have someone watch them after i'd gotten them to sleep, but that's far too unpredictable.



So I got them fed, went to the dinner, and came home early enough to get them to bed. I watched a bit of TV and decided on an early bed time myself. I went to check on the before going to sleep, they were fine, and just as I was leaving I heard my son rustle and then the clear sounds of retching and, well, liquids and solids. I promptly got him up, cleaned up, stabilized, and went about the cleaning of his bedding. This never happens, and it struck me that had I not been in the room at that exact moment, would I have heard anything? Would I have known he'd thrown up? Probably, as I'd expect he'd have made it known, but it was oddly timed and somewhat fortuitous. The early bed time was not to be, but then and now, i was so glad to have been there to be literally at his side when he had to go through this.

Reasons why the English Language is so hard to learn…

I have to comment that I never really thought about the inconsistencies and anomalies of the english language until I worked with somebody who had a hearing impairment. Talk about an ear opening experience… seeing how some of the language would be misread and misspoken really brings to light just how wacky our use of words and spellings can be.



Here are some great examples...

The bandage was wound around the wound.
The farm was used to produce produce.
The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
We must polish the Polish furniture.
He could lead if he would get the lead out.
The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
I did not object to the object.
The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
They were too close to the door to close it.
The buck does funny things when the does are present.
A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren’t invented in England or French Fries in France.
Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But if we explore its Paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham?
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth beeth?
One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices?
Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?
Have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn’t a race at all).
That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

Poop Is Big These Days

I'm sure you're tempted to pick up the phone and call me to profess all the wonders that Metamucil can do... but that's not quite what I'm trying to say here. What I'm commenting on and capturing for posterity [as well as some of the initial arsenal that'll be used to thoroughly embarrass them when they start dating] is that for the kids, Poop is the bomb... poop is where it's at... poop is the shit.



It's not the actual poop that's big; that's run of the mill (pun intended), but the word has become the de-facto substitution in songs, names, an pretty much anything. These day's 'Mary had a little poop' is gleefully sung, as is 'rock-a-bye poopie', 'twinkle twinkle little poop' and my personal favorite, 'Old MacDonald had a poop'.



I think they're gonna like my Farrelly Brothers DVD collection.

Once Every 100 Years

Some things just stands out to me. Like 12:34 in the afternoon or early morning... it just stands out as being unique. After all, you can only look at a digital clock twice in a 24hr period and see a sequence of 1,2,3,4. Sure, the same holds true for every other single possible moment in time, like 7:31, but when I look at a clock and see 12:34, I take note, it's something I like to momentarily marvel at the randomness of.



I have a vivid memory of being in school on May 6, 1978, and having a teacher tell us that at 12:34 that afternoon, for only 60 seconds, it would be 12345678. 12:34 5/6/78. It was very interesting to me. It gave me a strong sense of awareness about time, and history in relation to time. I made a point of watching the clock at lunch and somehow, feeling connected to an awareness about that brief moment, perhaps as an astronomer might feel connected to the planets during a full eclipse.



What's that? You say you MISSED OUT on that brief moment in 1978? Well guess what? You have another chance ticking it's way towards you. Tomorrow will be the calendar date of 04/05/06. BUT Wait.. there's more! At 2:03am it will be 02:03 04/05/06. But for you daredevils, you thrill-seekers, you insane few that can't stand to live on the safe side of the line, well at exactly 3 seconds into 1:02am, the exact string of text representing that very moment, which will not occur for another 100 years, will be 1:02:03 04/05/06!!! Can you stand the excitement?



Wait for it... and when it's passed, smoke 'em if you got 'em.

Cholesterol Hell Breaks Loose

The days of having my coffee mixed with equal parts coffee & half/half, the weekly baked potato packed high with cheedar cheese, bacon and sour cream, and the late night temptations of ice-cream and rich chocolates are now a thing of the past. Having been advised by my dr that my blood pressure is in the red and my cholesterol is almost double the desired level makes for a serious wake up call. Time to get back in control of this runaway weight train. The good news, i'll not only live to see my children grow but I've got lots of clothes awaiting a reduced waist line. :-)