August 3, 2010
So long, Johnny Part 3
John Fullerton was one my best friends in the world. He will never be replaced....
August 2, 2010
So long, Johnny Part 1
My step-father John Fullerton passed away Sunday. I will miss him immensely. Johnny grew up in the 1930s in the middle of coal-country, West Virginia. Everybody worked in the coal mines. His dad was a good man but drank too...
July 4, 2010
The Biggest Obstacle
So now I'm in a spot where my existence itself conspires against my larger goals. Everything that I am -- the choices I have made, the habits I have formed, the promises I have made
July 2, 2010
If you could go back in Time, What Would you tell Yourself in your 20s?
Shiny things are nowhere as much fun after you get them as before, even if they have some value. So yes, that Kindle or iPad or whatever will have a real use, and you will be marginally happier with...
Continue reading "If you could go back in Time, What Would you tell Yourself in your 20s?"
June 29, 2010
If We Told You That, We Would Have to Shoot You
What product can you buy that is expensive, works with your PC, does things that could be critical to your health, but the salesman can't tell you how to use it? Sounds stupid, huh?...
Continue reading "If We Told You That, We Would Have to Shoot You"
May 18, 2010
The Iron Triangle: God, Suffering, and Death
I enjoy thinking and writing about philosophy, and over the years I have reached a strange conclusion. There are really only three important metaphysical concepts: God, Suffering, and Death. How each of us deal with these concepts form the basis...
Continue reading "The Iron Triangle: God, Suffering, and Death"
May 7, 2010
Coming to a Computer Near You: The Multi-factor Quiz Show
Many companies are (rightfully) getting very concerned about security on the net. So to make sure you are who you say you are, they use something called "multi-factor authentication" It's not enough to have a password any more: now they'd...
Continue reading "Coming to a Computer Near You: The Multi-factor Quiz Show"
May 2, 2010
Ceterum autem censeo, Carthaginem esse delendam
This article is not about evolution, climate change, God, or religion, even though I use them as examples. It's about the standards we critically need to apply when conducting science and making public policy that involves science. There is a deep systemic problem here that needs to be addressed.
Continue reading "Ceterum autem censeo, Carthaginem esse delendam"
October 9, 2009
Cairns Video
I though I would share some video of one of our vacation days in Cairns, Australia.
September 8, 2009
Hooked on Tolstoy
So three weeks later my Kindle is loaded up with even more books. Books I over-paid for -- O'Reilly, I'm looking at you -- and books I got for free. Sci-fi books, history books, books about science, books about poetry. And something interesting happened.
I was an Ambassador and Taken Hostage by Militants
Twenty-Five years ago, I was sitting in handcuffs in the Sergeant Major's office. He was telling me my life was ruined and I was going to prison. 3 months later I was honorably discharged. Funny thing happened on the way to the end of my life.
Continue reading "I was an Ambassador and Taken Hostage by Militants"
June 28, 2009
Myrtle Beach Pictures
I just spent the last nine days in Myrtle Beach. It was a welcome vacation. Myrtle Beach has been called the "Redneck Riviera" due to the fact that it is convenient to the Bible Belt and is known as a...
June 9, 2009
Funeral Home Blogging
It's been said about the internet that never have so many had so much to say about which they knew so little. As I sat in the lounge in Atlanta yesterday trying to read, there was a television on. I...
May 26, 2009
Tired of Erlang Innards
Somewhere there's a 300-pound man decked out in all the latest running equipment: new shoes, new sweats, heart-rate monitor and sports drinks, standing in his kitchen eating a twinkie and reading the latest tips on improving your marathon times. Somewhere...
March 30, 2009
What am I? A Salad?
Stand back! I have a banana in my pocket and I'm happy to see you I hate advertising. I mean I really hate advertising. I'll go out of my way to avoid ads on TV shows, movies, and the...
March 7, 2009
Invention Worms
Ever get a song stuck in your head that you just can't get out? I do that all of the time -- perhaps because I played the piano so much as a kid, but perhaps it's just some kind of...
March 2, 2009
Winter Break
Snow along the Blue Ridge Mountains is always a beautiful thing to see Once every four or five years, we get a good snowfall where I live. Today was one of those days....
February 20, 2009
Who Was I Again?
Wonder what's interesting on the phone today? If you go back far enough, fragments are all you have. That isn't bad if you used to dress like a penis. Take the epic of Gilgamesh, for example, or rather the...
February 11, 2009
The Airlines are Trying to Make People Deaf
Easy now, big fella Have you flown lately? I have to head out tomorrow for my regular flight home. If so, did it occur to you just how noisy commercial air travel is? I have read somewhere that modern...
Continue reading "The Airlines are Trying to Make People Deaf"
January 26, 2009
Conference Prep
I'm thinking of pitching a couple ideas to the Agile 2009 conference this year in Chicago. Since my day job is called "Agile Coach" and not only do I coach but I'm also deeply involved in training other agile coaches,...
January 23, 2009
Existential Block Party
Save 70%! Great Courses by America's Top Professors Friedrich Nietzsche, who died suddenly when a miniature buffalo became glued to his mouth I've been touring the existentialists this month during my morning workouts, and I've really enjoyed listening to their...
January 21, 2009
I got the fever
There are some things in life that you simply do: washing your hands, brushing your teeth, driving to and from work. These things you do mostly on automatic pilot: there's not much joy in them and sometimes you have a...
January 15, 2009
This Morning's Temps
Aren't there any good gigs anyplace else, like Hawaii, Bermuda, Fiji or somewhere? As I returned my rental car at 5am today at the airport, the wind was fairly strong. I learned when I worked in Winnipeg that you...
January 14, 2009
How to "get" Philosophy
I see a lot of people who don't like philosophy. What's the joke Steve Martin used about philosophy?"If you're studying geology, which is all facts, as soon as you get out of school you forget it all, but philosophy...
December 12, 2008
Note to Younger Self: Learn to Enjoy Exercise
Recently on a forum I visit a poster asked the question "If you had one thing to tell your younger self, what would it be?" There were a lot of good answers: Don't go into debt Kiss her, you idiot!...
Continue reading "Note to Younger Self: Learn to Enjoy Exercise"