Scrambling Eggs Is Easy

Warning: this post contains a bit of Obamamania.

I just finished reading The Audacity of Hope, our president-elect's 2006 memoir/policy reader. The quick review: every page left me thinking "how did we get so lucky to elect this guy?".

I've been a big fan of Barack Obama since his speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention, but the Obama of this book comes off as even more intelligent, more nuanced, and just plain more honest than I would've expected from any politician. Simply put: at least from my perspective, he Gets It (tm). I certainly don't agree with everything he says -- his opposition to gay marriage is the most obvious example -- but throughout he comes off as a guy who tries to live a meaningful life, is grateful for what he has, and has learned a lot from his own challenges and mistakes.

I truly hope that President Obama will stay true to the Barack Obama who wrote this book. If so, we're in good hands.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

I haven't posted in forever, but I keep thinking about things that I'd actually like to post. For example, I meant to post after Prop 8 passed, on the theme of "life may suck now, but life is long." I've been glad to see the nationwide protests and the court challenges, and I'm still optimistic that gay marriage will be legal in California in the next few years. In the meantime, I've adopted a simple credo - gay marriage is valid and recognized in my book. I have a few gay friends and coworkers who got married recently, and as far as I'm concerned they're as married as I am. This may seem like an obvious statement to other gay marriage supporters, but as I see it it's a critical statement to make. If we, as members of our society, recognize explicitly that gay marriage is valid, then eventually the law will have to follow.

Anyway, I also wanted to post about what I've been reading lately. It's mostly centered on politics, which admittedly surprises me post-election. I guess this year I'm finally not burned out. The book I'm in the middle of is actually Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope. I'm a little embarrassed not to have read this before the election, but the farther I get into it, the more excited I am for the man who we elected. He's not only smart, but in this book shows a true sense of honesty, humility, and a recognition that politics should be more than just horse races and gamesmanship. I'm halfway through, but highly recommended.

On the less serious side, I just reread RA Candide's Articles of Federation. This is basically The West Wing set in the Star Trek universe after the events of Nemesis and some subsequent books. It's a fun read, although most of the non-human characters seem to sound like the same Aaron Sorkin characters as the human ones do. But the author does a pretty good job of creating a plausible political system from what we've seen of the Federation government in tv and movies.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

I've been meaning to write this post for a while, thanks to hermetic  and another friend for prodding me to do so.  I'm also emailing it to a bunch of family and friends.

On November 4, by means of Proposition 8, California voters will decide whether or not to add the following words to the California State Constitution:
I don't think anyone who knows me well will be surprised to know that I'm opposed to this proposition.  Some of you may be surprised, however, that I consider this the single most important item on the ballot this year.  More important than alternative energy, more important than Congressional races, and even more important than the presidential election.  Yeah, you read that correctly -- I am more concerned about Prop 8 than about who our next president is. (*)

The simple impact of Prop 8 would be to override the California Supreme Court's decision in May that stated that, according to the equal protection clause of the California State Constitution, the state cannot prevent people from marrying simply on the basis of sexual orientation.  Gay people who have freely chosen to commit themselves to a life partner, and accept the rights and responsibilities of being a married couple, will be told that their commitment is neither "recognized" nor "valid."

I'm a happily married straight man, so you might wonder why I care so much about a law that would never affect me personally.  The answer is that it will and does affect me personally, and very deeply so.  To put it simply, I do not want to live in a society where the rights of my friends and family are curtailed simply because they are gay or lesbian.  I believe that gay relationships have no less potential to be loving, caring, healthy, and ultimately society-benefitting than does my own marriage.  I believe that gay relationships are just as "valid" as my own.

I'm usually pretty good at finding the rational fundamental assumptions on both sides of an issue, even though I disagree with one or the other.  I don't think it's irrational to believe that higher taxes on higher-income people are unfair (although I disagree).  I don't think it's irrational to believe that affirmative action does more harm than good to minorities (although I firmly disagree).  I don't even think it's irrational to believe that illegal immigrants, because they are illegal, don't deserve any access to health or educational services (although I really, really, really disagree with that one).

But frankly, the only fundamental assumption that I can find that allows Prop 8 to make any sense is that gay people, and their relationships, are inherently inferior to straight people and their relationships.  That gay commitments are less valid than straight commitments.  I more than disagree with that viewpoint -- I find it fundamentally irrational and morally wrong.

I know that many religious people believe that homosexuality is immoral.  However, I know many other religious people who believe that gay relationships are just another expression of God's love.  No church, mosque, or synagogue should (or, I believe, will) ever be forced to perform a gay marriage, but neither should they be *prevented* from doing so. 

I am asking you to do at least one of the following, but if nothing more, please do #1 (I am doing all of them):

1)  If you live in California, please vote NO on Proposition 8.  If you're thinking to yourself, "I already was going to do that," then please consider doing either #2 or #3 also.  If your conscience simply does not allow you to do so, please abstain from voting on the measure.

2)  Talk to other people you know in California and ask them to vote no on Proposition 8.  Even if you know that they are voting no, please still talk to them and make sure that they vote.  If they don't live in California, they have friends or family who do!!  Please make sure to talk to the people who are most likely to vote yes and see if you can change their mind.

3)  Make a donation at http://www.NoOnProp8.com.

Feel free to send this message on to anyone you want or to use parts of it in your own appeals to others.  Everything you can do to help defeat Proposition 8 is greatly appreciated.

If you would like to talk to me more about Proposition 8, please email me or call me.  Please help me and so many others in defeating this measure.

All my best wishes,
Adam

(*) I'm still very concerned about who our next president is.  Just not quite *as* concerned. :)

I finished watching "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" last night.  I read the book last year, but figured this was as good a time as any to watch the documentary.

The situation with Enron was, of course, reminiscent of what's been going on in the news in the past few weeks and months.  A seemingly solid company all of a sudden collapses because of rot on the inside -- overly complex financial transactions that seemed to be worth billions, but turned out to be virtually worthless.

Now, what happened at Enron was at least partially due to outright fraud, and I'm not particularly convinced that the failing banks and other institutions are guilty of anything that simple and specific.  But it's clear that, just as with Enron, bankers, traders, and executives gambled big money on transactions whose incredible complexity disguised their actual risk.  Financiers saw huge upsides, and ignored or missed the huge downsides.

It seems to me that these problems would be greatly lessened if finance could somehow be simplified.  You get a mortgage from a bank, that bank is responsible for collecting on the mortgage.  You put money in a mutual fund, that mutual fund invests in stocks, bonds, and other securities that are CLEARLY linked to reality.  One or two levels of indirection max before you get to someone who actually sells *stuff*.  Risk is part of capitalism, but in order to work, it has to be understood.

Apparently, Wasilla was charging rape victims for rape kits and forensic exams while Palin was mayor.  She says now that she was opposed to this policy.  But did she stop it?  No, it took the Alaska State Legislature to stop this practice.

Yeah, *that's* the kind of change we need.

Personally, I've had enough of an administration that pursues heartless policies to the point of moronic absurdity.  If you like This American Life, you should listen to this show -- even if you don't, it's worth taking a look.   It's the little things that matter.

The more I hear about Sarah Palin, the less impressed I am.

I'll admit, when I heard about McCain's VP pick I thought it was a bit of an obvious grab for disaffected Hillary voters, but that it was still a pretty gutsy move. Now I'm just disgusted.

I'll ignore the stuff with her family. Any sane person knows that you can't control what a 17-year-old does.

What pisses me off most is her so-called stand against government waste. She didn't stop the "Bridge to Nowhere" -- she supported it until after it gained a notorious reputation.  (see here for more info).  She's not an anti-waste crusader, she's just an expedient politician.  Selling the Alaska governor's luxury jet was a good idea (even if she didn't actually manage to sell it for a profit), but who's paying for the private jet she's now using for the campaign?  Expedient politics.

And, of course, there's her mocking of "community organizers."  ("I guess the mayor of a small town is like a community organizer -- but with actual responsibilities.")  Mayors run cities & towns, and most of the time probably do a fine job.  But community organizers and the movements they create have been the actual agents of real change in this country.  Think suffragettes.  Think the civil rights movement.  Those were grassroots community movements that actually accomplished major changes in our government and in our society. 

And finally, she's a religious-right, put-government-into-my-bedroom (while taking it out of my pocketbook) ultraconservative who would take the country in, I think, the wrong social direction.

Sarah Palin may or may not be "qualified" to be vice president, but I'll say one thing -- were she to end up in the White House, the changes she'd bring are pretty much the opposite of the changes we need.  At best she's just another expedient politician, and at worst she's an ultra-right-winger who wants to impose some idyllic notion of the 1950's on our society.

In conclusion, go Barack. :)

I woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. Seems that in the dream, the Stanford Athletic Department had decided to move our basketball seats around. While all of my friends chose to pay extra for pretty decent seats on the lower level of the arena, I decided to save a few bucks and got cheap seats that appeared to be in the end zone area -- but when I arrived at the first game (against apparently-#1 USC), I discovered to my horror that they were actually outside the arena entirely, and offered a *very* obstructed view of the game -- couldn't even see the scoreboard.

So I went to the ticket office in the arena to complain, and the best they could do was to offer me general admission tickets that didn't guarantee any seat at all -- basically, I'd just have to find empty seats and hope that their rightful owners didn't show up. By the end of the dream, I was so pissed off that I started hitting tables and walls.

The fact that bad basketball seats qualifies as a nightmare says a bit about how nice life is for me right now. :)

This is the first time I've actually seen OLPC machines used in the real world for their intended purpose, and it's pretty amazing to see. I admit to being a bit skeptical as to how big an impact OLPC will really have -- I'm sure that these kids are amazed and have their eyes opened up to a bigger world around them, but wouldn't it be more useful for them to have, say, food? Still, seeing it in the real world gives you a visceral feeling of how powerful these things can be to change outlooks.

A Slide Show Of Peruvian Kids Using One Laptop Per Child Computers.: "Geri Smith did a remarkable job in Peru for the Old Laptop Per Child story in the current issue of IN--Inside Innovation. Check out her narrated slide show of the children. Amazing photos...."

(Via BusinessWeek Online -- NussbaumOnDesign.)

So far, so good. Had a nice little get-together on Saturday (yay home-made whipped cream :), and a lot of fun hanging out with the guys in the evening in honor of a guest appearance by former SinDex guitar player Stu.

I'm trying out Twitter now -- follow aelman if you're interested. I've had a lot of trouble motivating to do a full LJ post, and Twitter seems a lot more lightweight. Of course, so is Facebook status updates, so I'm still not 100% sure, but it's all fun. :)

One of the more interesting things about social networks to me is just how many there are, all good at different sorts of things: Twitter and Facebook for quick updates, Facebook for connecting to old friends, Flickr for photos, etc. Sites like FriendFeed and SocialThing seem to be trying to aggregate them, which is very much a good idea, but don't quite seem to have hit the mark yet. If anyone finds a really awesome social-network aggregation system, let me know!!!

I first heard of Barack Obama when he gave a speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention.  He was described as an up-and-coming star of the party, someone who might be a strong presidential candidate...in 2012 or 2016.  I guess he got started a little earlier than that.

Anyway...when I heard that speech, I was pretty inspired.  He spoke about the fact that our country isn't as divided as the pundits like to imply -- the fact is, we are one country, one nation, and we fundamentally care about one another, and that's how the United States manages to hang together.  This vision really spoke to me, and I did what any budding musician would do with that inspiration -- I did a remix.  For some reason, I never felt like I "finished" it, so I never posted it publicly before.  Truth is, it's pretty well finished, and I think now is exactly the right time to put it out there and hope that somebody else finds it inspirational.  So, without further ado, here's my remix of Barack Obama's speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention:

Red States and Blue States.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Ooookay, so I couldn't quite bring myself to dump Quicken, I'm going with the 60-day money back guarantee for Quicken '08 for Windows.  So far it's light-years ahead of Quicken for Mac.  Which is cool, but also depressing at the same time.

On the bright side, further screenshots of Quicken Financial Life do look good, so I'll probably end up going back in a couple of years when they hit feature parity with the Windows product.

So the thing I was *really* waiting for from Macworld this year was the announcement of Quicken 2008 for the Mac.  Intuit has traditionally upgraded Quicken once a year, and I've generally skipped every other version.  Quicken 2007 was released in 2006 as a PowerPC product, and I assumed that Quicken 2008 would be Universal Binary, and would have better UI, more online integration, and generally would be taking its cues from the Windows version.  Since Quicken '08 for Mac wasn't released in 2007, I figured Macworld would be a good time to announce it.

As background, I've been using Quicken to track my personal finances since 1993.  I started on Quicken for Mac, switched to Windows in 1998, then back to the Mac in 2001.  One of my biggest frustrations was that a lot of features were implemented significantly better on the Windows version than on the Mac.  Many of the features I enjoyed on Quicken for Windows in 2000 -- special handling for 401(k)s, for example --  STILL were not available in Quicken 2006 (some were added in '07, but not enough for me to consider it worth upgrading).  Moreover, Quicken 2006 has a lot of irritating bugs.  I've never lost any important data, but it often crashes on me, not to mention disabling buttons that should be enabled, which makes it hard to do certain things (editing an account or a scheduled payment, for example).

Anyway, the upshot is that, according to Ars, at Macworld, Intuit is showing a new version of Quicken for the Mac, called Quicken Financial Life for the Macintosh.  QFLM is rewritten from the ground up, and takes a lot of design cues from the iLife suite and from Web 2.0 apps like Flickr, etc. etc.  It looks really nice.

BUT.  Two big issues:
1) Initial availability for the beta is scheduled for August.  For the BETA.  That's two solid years after the release of Quicken 2007 for the Macintosh.

2) The initial version of QFLM will be more limited than Quicken 2007 -- basically it'll handle basic checking/savings tracking, plus tracking investment holdings.  Like the recently-announced Quicken Online, it will not track mortgages, 401(k)s, etc.

This is a showstopper for me.  In the 14 years I've been using Quicken, I've gone from a college student with simple financial needs to an adult with a mortgage, stock options, retirement plans, and taxes to pay.  Quicken 2006 is doing an OK job of tracking my finances, but every time it crashes when I try to modify a scheduled payment, I cringe and look forward to a new version.

So, screw it.  I've been a loyal Intuit customer for a long, long time.  I'll probably continue to use TurboTax Online for my taxes, and I may even return to Quicken someday -- but for now, I'm going to try running Microsoft Money under Parallels.  If I have to use Windows for my personal finance software, I might as well try the software that I get an employee discount on.

It's not that I don't understand software development -- it's hard, and it takes a long time.  I do understand that Intuit has to make decisions about their priorities.  But if Mac users who actually have adult-complex finances aren't a high priority for them, then I also don't feel the need to continue giving them my business.  Sorry.

Apparently, the Time Machine feature page now indicates that you *can* back up to another computer over a wireless network, as long as it's running leopard.  This makes me feel good, since I'm using that to back up my laptop right now (I thought using an unsupported feature, but maybe not...)

 Is it just me, or are the rules for online video rentals (Amazon Unbox, and as of this morning iTunes) just stupid?  It's great to have 30 days to start watching a movie, but 24 hours to finish means that if you're wont to falling asleep in the middle, you're completely screwed.

At least if you had 48 hours, you could watch in two successive evenings.  Stupid studios.  They're leaving money on the table -- I'd be happy to rent if it were 48 hours instead of 24.

Thanks to mschlock for tagging me on this :)  2007 in 24 words:

Company got bought.  Can't complain about transition.  Celebrated one year anniversary, YAY! Learned about real estate, bought house, will likely be unpacking throughout 2008. :)

So the new place (did I mention here that we're buying a condo?  We're buying a condo!) has a lovely built-in desk unit in the basement bonus room, so I'm getting rid of my beloved tri-level computer desk.  Free to anyone who can haul it away in the next week or so. :)  Photos are here.

And it all comes down to tonight.  9PM at the Cardinal Lounge in San Jose, CA, Patrick and my last gig as regular members of Sinister Dexter.  For those of you who can make it, see you there, and for those who can't, I'll be thinking of you. :) 

Wow -- that was definitely the most I've ever felt an earthquake.  Apparently a 5.6 centered in east San Jose, about 11 miles east of Milpitas.

It took me a little bit (and Tobi saying "Earthquake") to realize what was happening.  We got under a doorway, it lasted at least 30-45 seconds.  A little freaky.

Via Create Digital Music:

Apparently, a few days ago, Van Halen did a show in Greensboro, NC. The last song on the set list was their hit "Jump." For some reason, they didn't actually have a keyboardist; rather, they played a recording of the signature keyboard track. Unfortunately, the recording was recorded digitally at 44.1 kHz, and was played back at 48 kHz, thus creating a whole new tuning that the guitars couldn't *quite* match.



Doh!

So I always forget to post here, in case any of you might be interested in coming -- but not this time!!! :)

Dexter returns to his favorite South Bay bar!

Friday & Saturday, September 28 AND 29, 9pm - 1am
The Cardinal Lounge
3197 Meridian Ave, San Jose
no cover, 2-drink minimum, 21+


And keep your calendar open for the following shows...
October 26 - Grant & Green Saloon, San Francisco
November 9 & 10 - Cardinal Lounge (again!)