Dividing by Zero

I went to a party at a friend’s house last night.  It was a good social time, far from boring, with plenty of other friends there.  But despite having fun, I was feeling worn out and somehow fell asleep on the couch.  When I woke up, it was already morning and from a quick look out the window, I guessed it was already 8:00 or 9:00.

Then the alarm went off and I woke up again.  It was a little after 6:00 am.

So apparently I’ve started having dreams about getting more sleep.  Perhaps I need to start going to bed earlier?

YouTube seems to be a good source for music videos these days. Along with the song-parody videos I’ve written about elsewhere, there’s also a wealth of music from way back.

DDMD posted a link to a concert video from the late 70s, and that got me thinking about some of the songs I liked “way back.” (To my amusement, despite being a few years older than DDMD, my nostalgia music comes from a decade later.) I’m not exactly certain when “Men at Work” hit big in the US, only that it was the early to mid eighties.

Twenty-some years later, “It’s a Mistake” seems to have held up pretty well and seems quite relevant given what’s going on in the world.

Ah, for the days when MTV played music…

I’ve been meaning to write this post for about a week-and-a-half, but between Farpoint and the subsequent return to everyday life…well, that’s how it goes sometimes.

Before he committed to building a spaceship, Luke wrote an interesting piece about scapegoats (including examples) and why problems are rarely as simple as the various pundits want you to believe. It’s an interesting read any time, but seems particularly relevant during an election year.

And based on Luke’s description of his dog’s activities, I can only assume that once warmer weather arrives, Lancaster is going to smell a bit like New York city.

There’s going to be a lunar eclipse tonight and according to the folks on the radio, it should be visible from the DC area.

Therefore, based on the past 10 years worth of evidence that it’s impossible to have interesting astronomical phenomenon visible from the DC area without accompanying heavy cloud cover, I hereby predict that heavy cloud cover will roll in about 15 minutes before the eclipse starts and won’t dissipate until at least 15 minutes after the show ends.

Of course, the fact that this prediction has been made means that the moon will be visible after all. But because there’s an interesting astronomical phenomenon taking place, it can’t be visible and the heavy clouds will roll in anyhow.

Therefore, tonight’s stargazing will feature a spectacular meteor show as the moon, torn asunder by these conflicting forces, spontaneously explodes! This once-in-a-planetary-lifetime event will be viewed by millions of people across the Americas, causing feelings of awe at the wonders of creation, eventually leading to a great spiritual awakening and worldwide peace and well-being.

It’s a pity we won’t be able to see it because of the clouds.

Updated at 8:50pm: As predicted, the night sky has been obscured by clouds. No word on whether the moon has exploded yet.

Updated at 10:30pm: Wylie and I just returned from our evening walk. No sign of the moon exploding yet, but the clouds have disappeared and the moon is visible. When we got back in a few minutes ago, the moon had turned a reddish-brown. I don’t know whether we’ll get any closer to it disappearing into shadow, but I’ll be going out to take a look now and then.

As for the cloudy part of my forecast… well hey, if Doug Hill can get a few wrong, so can I.

Updated at 11:05pm: Wow! That’s really neat to see! The moon is nearly invisible against the sky except for a small crescent of white.

I don’t remember the exact details of the conversation, but during the 2007 Farpoint convention, I found myself talking with Sonny Wright about his idea for building a replica of a Colonial Viper from Battlestar Galactica. At one point, he told me, “If you guys book a Galactica guest, I’ll build a viper.”

I immediately pointed out that Richard Hatch was one of Farpoint’s guests that year and Sonny therefore owed me a viper.

In June(?), Farpoint added James Callis (the new Galactica’s Gaius Baltar) to the 2008 guest line-up. When I saw Sonny a few weeks later at Shore Leave, he told me he’d already started working out how to build the viper.

Sonny and his team arrived at Farpoint last Friday evening and worked through the night to assemble the pieces. By Saturday, there was a viper parked at the end of the hallway, right outside the main ballroom.

Ain’t she a beauty?

I’m not entirely certain why I started participating in Relay for Life. I think it was at least in part because a bunch of my friends were taking part and it was a chance to hang out with them. At the time of my first Relay, I was thinking to myself that it was silly to be there, it’s not like I’d ever known anyone with cancer.

Yeah, a little forgetful there. I didn’t know Larry particularly well, but about four years before my first participation in Relay for Life, an acquaintance out in Nevada, Larry Borino, lost his battle with cancer. And although it was about 10 years before I was born, my own grandfather fell victim to cancer. So although I didn’t think about it ten years ago cancer had in fact affected me.

These days, I continue to participate in Relay for Life, and these days I know my reason: I know people with cancer. (Statistically, just about everyone does.)

AJ just had her six month check-up on the 14th. I’m delighted to say that she passed with flying colors and is still cancer-free.

Hodo’s brother Chris is fighting the good fight with colon cancer. I just checked in with her a few days ago and although the news isn’t as good as I was hoping, it was still good news with measurable improvements.

Marauder is coming up on two years since the removal of his cancerous thyroid gland. Despite the passage of time, he’s still finding ways to put the occasional odd twist on his experience.

Most recently, I learned that Bob Greenberger’s son Robbie has been diagnosed with Leukemia. I’ve met Robbie, but don’t know him well enough to point him out to people. I learned Robbie was ill two weeks ago, but wasn’t sure how much the family was “going public” with the information, so I’ve kept quiet about it.

Catching up on Bob’s blog this morning, it turns out that they’re being very public about it. More than half of Bob’s posts from the past two weeks have been about Robbie’s treatment. If you’re into knitting, Robbie’s sister Kate (a minor celebrity in her own right) is doing a fund-raiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with lots of shiny prizes in the form of very colorful yarn. In just 10 days she’s raised nearly $2,000! (I’m not sure what that particular hue would be, but color me impressed!)

And this all serves as a reminder that it’s time for me to start my fundraising for Relay for Life (coming up the night of May 31 - June 1). If you donated last year, you can be certain that I’ll be asking you again this year. If you’d like to get a head start, you can head on over to http://main.acsevents.org/goto/ThatBlairGuy and donate online.

I know a few folks who are so certain in their political convictions that they’ve already decided how they’re voting in November. (Some probably made up their minds as far back as this time last year.) As for me, I’m nowhere near making a decision yet.

Right now though, one candidate who’s getting a lot of attention is John McClane. He’s a little rough around the edges and a bit of a maverick, but maybe that’s what we need right now. He does have a proven record against terror (Nakatomi Plaza in LA, Dulles Airport, the bombs scattered around New York, and most recently the Internet-based terrorists who were trying to steal financial records).

If nothing else, you have to agree that it would give people pause if the President of the United States ended all of his speeches with his trademark “Yippie Ki Yay” line.

As I’ve pointed out before, according to the terms of the software license, iTunes may not be used to control nuclear reactors. Ditto for Google Earth.

This evening I set up my first ever computer running (shudder) Windows Vista.

Seeing no reason to break with tradition, I once more read the click-through license agreement, thus reaffirming my role as the only person on Earth who actually does so. Folks, you may be surprised to learn that in at least this one respect, Microsoft’s license agreement is less restrictive than the ones from Apple and Google. That’s right, nothing in the Windows Vista license agreement (and this single license seems to cover all versions, even the home versions) says you’re not allowed to use it to control nuclear reactors or weapons.

So now you have to decide, should you be more aghast that Apple and Google evidently include such functionality (Why else would they bar you from using it?), or you should instead be horrified that Microsoft allows you to use Windows in this manner?

(Truthfully, I’d be much more surprised if Microsoft did include such limitations since that would essentially forbid people in those industries from buying the product. And honestly, if you’re setting up embedded control systems, particularly for that sort of work, you’re probably going to be using a much more limited, and much older operating system. That is, one where all the problems are already well-understood and worked around.)

As part of the same computer setup, I also had occasion to read the license for Trend Micro’s PC-cillin. As part of that license agreement, you expressly agree that you will back up your files on a regular basis.

Now that’s what I call a sensible license! It’s about time someone had the guts to make that a requirement.

Whether you travel by plane, train, boat or automobile, at the end of a long journey you have to exit from the vehicle and move along to whatever you’re doing next. How do you do that?

For example (and the first one is what got me started):

1. Dogs disembark
2. Hair stylists depart
3. Musicians disband
4. Donkeys tend to be in a hurry, so they haul… well, you know.
5. For similar reasons, bananas peel out.
6. Birds and sheep get the flock out of there
7. Judges disrobe (you and I would get in trouble if we did that!)
8. Trees leaf
9. Mathematicians disintegrate.
10. Songwriters decompose.
11. Electricians delight.
12. Travel groups detour.

What groups have I forgotten?

Back in November, I realized The Secret of Life is that there are no rules.

During 2007, I served as the Maryland Jaycees District Director West, acting as a representative on the Executive Committee of the state organization’s Board of Directors. In late December, I was asked to provide some basic orientation for the incoming district director for another district. After emailing my response, I decided to post it to the district blog under the title of “Advice for a new District Director.” The advice I gave in that article is actually quite similar to Rule 1 of the aforementioned Secret of Life.

There’s a new person filling the role of District Director. Jeff’s a good guy, but the district blog is no longer mine to control. Since Jeff, or any other successor, may decide to discontinue the blog, I’ve reposted the article here. Take from it whatever wisdom you may find.

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Probably the most important piece of advice anyone gave me when I was elected was simply, “Don’t let anyone tell you how to do the job.” After thinking about it for a bit, I realized this was sound advice. The world is full of people who want to second-guess you. Or putting it another way:

Rule 1: There are no rules about how to be a Jaycee Leader

Everything else in this post should doubtless be filtered through Rule 1.

That being said… the District Director is in a unique position relative to the rest of the Executive Board. Everyone else has to deal with every chapter in the state, the district director works with a smaller number of them.

Pragmatically, what this means is that the district director will most likely be the person “gently reminding” chapters to send in their close out information. Going the other direction, you’ll be bringing concerns from your chapters to the rest of the team and making sure the chapters know what’s going on around the state.

Some experiences and/or things that worked for me (This in particular is where Rule 1 applies):

Phone communications are great, I highly recommend them. But they’re also time consuming. Talk to chapter contacts once a month (or more) if you can, but don’t plan to make more than two (or three) calls in a single night. There will always be a few folks who just won’t get off the phone.

Conversely, there are probably going to be a few people who you just can’t get hold of to save your life. That being the case, you may want to consider making up a list of email addresses for all your chapter contacts so you can keep them informed about what’s going on. Start off with the President and State Director. As you find out who more of your chapters’ board members are, add them to your list. This increases the likelihood that somebody in each chapter will pay attention.

Some chapters will never get around to asking you to come to their events. Don’t be afraid to invite yourself. Send an email to one of your contacts (starting with the President and/or State Director) saying something like, “Hey, I’d really like to come to such-and-such project. What time does it start and how do I get there?” (Projects are probably a better thing to show up at than meetings.) Of course, the same rule for attending your own chapter’s project also applies here - don’t even think about trying to attend everything or you’ll burn yourself out.

There’s nothing wrong with holding district meetings during the quarterly conventions. That may give your chapters one more reason to make sure they have someone there. On the other hand, you may want to schedule them as separate events, some chapters may not have representatives at conventions). The two approaches seem to have similar results.

One important note though: Schedule your district meetings as far in advance as possible. (Folks will complain anyhow, but that’s just how it goes.) If you can get chapters to find a meeting location, etc. that’s great, but you do have the option of making your own arrangements. Probably the smartest thing I did in 2007 was when I decided to have a meeting in a central location. When the local chapter didn’t respond, I organized the meeting myself. The chapter was a lot more responsive afterward.

Plan to have your 4th quarter meeting as early as possible in the quarter for two reasons: (A) This way you can also use it as a candidates forum for elections and (B) after the November convention, the Jaycees pretty much shut down until January. (This is one of the reasons I tend to agree with the folks who believe we played a huge prank on ourselves by matching the Jaycee year to the calendar year.)

The job can be a lot of work, but it’s worthwhile.