Sunday, November 30, 2008
I've got nothing.
Seriously, I have nothing to say. I really don't want to lose the momentum I built up, which enabled me to return to blogging, but at the same time, I don't want to devalue the rest of my posts with fluff. So I won't say anything. I did change the background, though. I also changed Mel's. I suspect mine will stick around a bit longer than her's will, so go check it out, while it lasts. Limited time offer.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Just to set the record straight
I recently received an interesting email forwarded me by one I love. While I do not subscribe to forwarding messages (at least not often), I do often read them. Usually there is nothing worth correcting.
I have, however, found an exception.
Bananas, peeled from the flower end upwards, still have those fibers/hairs/yuckies (their name depends on whom you are asking). I have been practicing this form of banana nakedation since high school, when one of Mike Haymore's older brothers returned from a mission from Costa Rica.
He tried to sell me on the idea, based on the following points:
1. The monkeys eat them that way.
2. The Costa Ricans eat them that way.
3. This method provides a nice little handle for you to hold while eating the banana.
4. They grow in the direction (the stem down, toward the plant).
My rebuttals:
1. Good for them. I do not often make decisions based on what monkeys do. Except for that one time I tried to type the complete works of Shakespeare.
2. Good for them. They do a number of other things I do not. And while I acknowledge their greater experience, that was insufficient reason for me to change my habits.
3. The handle is pathetic. Even in his demonstration, Mike's banana fell sideways, while being held by its "handle". (Quote use is intentional.)
4. That's nice. I don't each apples top-down or bottom-up, based on their growth orientation. Bananas were not deserving of special attention.
"But wait," you say, "I thought you said that you eat bananas flower-to-stem as Mike suggested." (Quote use is, again, intentional, deliberate, and, might I add, correct. My use of commas, however, may be, a, little,, suspect,.)
You would be right. I do eat bananas F-T-S. I continued to ponder the issue and to make arguments to myself in favor of and against the S-T-F and F-T-S methodologies. Please allow me to summarize some of the more cogent arguments.
When peeled F-T-S, the little, yuckie, black thing at the end is swiftly and easily removed. I also find it easier to initiate the peeling process without causing contusions to the flesh of the banana.
Well, that about sums it up.
I leave you to make your own judgement calls. Know that the truth has been spoken to you, and you will one day be held accountable for it, but I leave you to your own devices and decisions. You may no longer peel in ignorance or innocence. I have torn down the fence and each reader must now make a conscious, moral, life-altering decision.
Choose wisely.
I am not sure if it is an argument in my favor or against me, but the first item to appear in Word's clip-art under banana follows the F-T-S method, as depicted here:
P.B. (Post Blog) - Just in case there are still some rumors out there, Mel once started people thinking that I bite the entire flower end off the banana. I do not engage in this heinous practice. I open a banana the same way as anyone else, just from a more enlightened end than everyone else, except monkeys and Costa Ricans. And maybe a few others.
I have, however, found an exception.
Bananas, peeled from the flower end upwards, still have those fibers/hairs/yuckies (their name depends on whom you are asking). I have been practicing this form of banana nakedation since high school, when one of Mike Haymore's older brothers returned from a mission from Costa Rica.
He tried to sell me on the idea, based on the following points:
1. The monkeys eat them that way.
2. The Costa Ricans eat them that way.
3. This method provides a nice little handle for you to hold while eating the banana.
4. They grow in the direction (the stem down, toward the plant).
My rebuttals:
1. Good for them. I do not often make decisions based on what monkeys do. Except for that one time I tried to type the complete works of Shakespeare.
2. Good for them. They do a number of other things I do not. And while I acknowledge their greater experience, that was insufficient reason for me to change my habits.
3. The handle is pathetic. Even in his demonstration, Mike's banana fell sideways, while being held by its "handle". (Quote use is intentional.)
4. That's nice. I don't each apples top-down or bottom-up, based on their growth orientation. Bananas were not deserving of special attention.
"But wait," you say, "I thought you said that you eat bananas flower-to-stem as Mike suggested." (Quote use is, again, intentional, deliberate, and, might I add, correct. My use of commas, however, may be, a, little,, suspect,.)
You would be right. I do eat bananas F-T-S. I continued to ponder the issue and to make arguments to myself in favor of and against the S-T-F and F-T-S methodologies. Please allow me to summarize some of the more cogent arguments.
When peeled F-T-S, the little, yuckie, black thing at the end is swiftly and easily removed. I also find it easier to initiate the peeling process without causing contusions to the flesh of the banana.
Well, that about sums it up.
I leave you to make your own judgement calls. Know that the truth has been spoken to you, and you will one day be held accountable for it, but I leave you to your own devices and decisions. You may no longer peel in ignorance or innocence. I have torn down the fence and each reader must now make a conscious, moral, life-altering decision.
Choose wisely.
I am not sure if it is an argument in my favor or against me, but the first item to appear in Word's clip-art under banana follows the F-T-S method, as depicted here: P.B. (Post Blog) - Just in case there are still some rumors out there, Mel once started people thinking that I bite the entire flower end off the banana. I do not engage in this heinous practice. I open a banana the same way as anyone else, just from a more enlightened end than everyone else, except monkeys and Costa Ricans. And maybe a few others.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Just a couple of things
On Thursday I signed up for the first course of my master's degree. The course is titled ISE (Industrial and Systems Engineering) 544: Management of Engineering Teams. The course might as well be subtitled "Chris, this is how you perform your job". A colleague of mine just took it as an elective in his aerospace degree (I am not sure how that works, but more power to him). The long and the short of it is that it is all about forming an engineering team and ensuring that the team performs. It is not oriented at a "manager" or "supervisor" leading the team, but at the engineer who is the team lead. I am looking forward to it. It should be good.
On a different note (but made relevant by some of my above usage), here is a blog that Mel showed me. She once mentioned that this particular trend was a pet peeve of hers, and I have come to very much enjoy finding more instances for Mel to be peeved (not creating them), and then discussing the ramifications, meanings, and lack of thinking/understanding that accompany them. My comments are likely to have made more sense if you first clicked on the link. Happy reading. Happy sighting.
On a different note (but made relevant by some of my above usage), here is a blog that Mel showed me. She once mentioned that this particular trend was a pet peeve of hers, and I have come to very much enjoy finding more instances for Mel to be peeved (not creating them), and then discussing the ramifications, meanings, and lack of thinking/understanding that accompany them. My comments are likely to have made more sense if you first clicked on the link. Happy reading. Happy sighting.
Necessary and Sufficient
Leah taught me a little refresher in the principle of necessity and sufficiency this morning.
She spilled some juice in our window box in the kitchen. The contributing agents were a small sippy cup with no lid, and the placement of the sippy on the grating meant to hold plants or something in the window box. Both are necessary for the event of the spill, but neither is sufficient.
If there had been a lid on the sippy, it would not have spilled. If it had been on a level surface (or at least a surface that was continuous, and not resembling a cattle guard as the grating is), the spill would not have happened.
The sippy had no lid as there were no clean lids. Of course, I was not about to wash a lid for the few minutes which remained before we had to go to church. The other lids had all been dirtied in an accelerated fashion due in a large part to Leah's recent devotion to (read: insistence upon drinking) hot cocoa.
The juice was placed upon the grating so as to disallow Anya from spilling the juice. Leah can reach the grating, and has historically been successful in adverting spills upon its surface. Anya cannot reach the grating. Neither can the cats. Yet.
So it is that all of the conditions for the spill were met. The necessities were filled, and the sufficiency obtained.
I think that a fairly cogent argument could be made that the spill was inevitable. The enabling criteria were met in an effort to minimize the risk of spill. Since the spill occurred, even in the state of minimized potential, the spill was inevitable. The alternative was much screaming about not being able to drink juice.
The spill cleaned up quickly and easily. I think that what i should have done was just pour some of the juice on the floor in front of Leah and saved myself having to dirty a sippy cup. Too bad I didn't have the foresight to recognize the irrevocability of the spill.
Next time I know. I might even place the towel on the floor beforehand, so I can pour the juice directly onto the towel. That would, ostensibly, be the quickest way to the final state.
She spilled some juice in our window box in the kitchen. The contributing agents were a small sippy cup with no lid, and the placement of the sippy on the grating meant to hold plants or something in the window box. Both are necessary for the event of the spill, but neither is sufficient.
If there had been a lid on the sippy, it would not have spilled. If it had been on a level surface (or at least a surface that was continuous, and not resembling a cattle guard as the grating is), the spill would not have happened.
The sippy had no lid as there were no clean lids. Of course, I was not about to wash a lid for the few minutes which remained before we had to go to church. The other lids had all been dirtied in an accelerated fashion due in a large part to Leah's recent devotion to (read: insistence upon drinking) hot cocoa.
The juice was placed upon the grating so as to disallow Anya from spilling the juice. Leah can reach the grating, and has historically been successful in adverting spills upon its surface. Anya cannot reach the grating. Neither can the cats. Yet.
So it is that all of the conditions for the spill were met. The necessities were filled, and the sufficiency obtained.
I think that a fairly cogent argument could be made that the spill was inevitable. The enabling criteria were met in an effort to minimize the risk of spill. Since the spill occurred, even in the state of minimized potential, the spill was inevitable. The alternative was much screaming about not being able to drink juice.
The spill cleaned up quickly and easily. I think that what i should have done was just pour some of the juice on the floor in front of Leah and saved myself having to dirty a sippy cup. Too bad I didn't have the foresight to recognize the irrevocability of the spill.
Next time I know. I might even place the towel on the floor beforehand, so I can pour the juice directly onto the towel. That would, ostensibly, be the quickest way to the final state.
Publicly Private
My post is now going Private. Or Public. It depends on your point of view. Since I know Mel is going to give a hard time about it, I'll explain myself. I am going public from a business point of view, where I now offer up stock in my blog, make that stock available to all, and am consequently no longer in charge of what is posted (or who sees the posts). With the same meaning, the blog is now private from a government point of view. The benevolent dictatorship of the blog has decided to release its iron grip from about the neck of the blog, making it available for use in the private sector.
There are a number of things which influenced this decision.
1. I can't let Goober beat me out or show more Chutzpah than me.
2. I am neither prone to share, nor privy to any piece of juicy gossip which I could unwittingly share through my blog.
3. Even if I release the blog, realistically, no one more than those whom I have invited/would want to invite is going to read it. I am not that cool that people are going to stalk my blog.
4. I don't post very often. I cannot, in all fairness, expect my adoring public (or is that my adoring private?) to come, sign in, and check out my blog regularly once they have been repeatedly let down that there is nothing new to see. Mine is one of those that is perfect for google reader. It will let you know if/when I post something. In the mean time, don't hassle with going and looking. No, there is nothing wrong with your reader. I just haven't posted.
So, in light of those arguments, my blog will no longer require you to pass through retinal scans before reading it.
You're welcome.
There are a number of things which influenced this decision.
1. I can't let Goober beat me out or show more Chutzpah than me.
2. I am neither prone to share, nor privy to any piece of juicy gossip which I could unwittingly share through my blog.
3. Even if I release the blog, realistically, no one more than those whom I have invited/would want to invite is going to read it. I am not that cool that people are going to stalk my blog.
4. I don't post very often. I cannot, in all fairness, expect my adoring public (or is that my adoring private?) to come, sign in, and check out my blog regularly once they have been repeatedly let down that there is nothing new to see. Mine is one of those that is perfect for google reader. It will let you know if/when I post something. In the mean time, don't hassle with going and looking. No, there is nothing wrong with your reader. I just haven't posted.
So, in light of those arguments, my blog will no longer require you to pass through retinal scans before reading it.
You're welcome.
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