On Multitasking 2011.12.20

A short essay on multitasking. on-multitasking

Osama Bin Laden 2011.05.01

Celebrating Osama Bin Laden’s death is not only barbarous but it is also counterproductive. It is barbarous because a human being, however misguided, is dead. If his death was a political or military necessity, it should be with a heavy heart that the soldiers tasked to the job performed it. It is counterproductive because it [...]

A poem for Japan 2011.03.29

Healing Two days ago, I stepped over a plank of wood and walked past a barren tree. My family and I hugged mugs of thin tea and huddled around a kerosene heater set to low. I almost wish it weren’t so peaceful. Yesterday, I watched a heron glide along a riverbank. It’s whiteness a stark [...]

Why should I read “Anna Karenina”? 2010.12.12

Tolstoy unflinchingly touches on the big questions in life. Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? What is the right social system for a country? What is the right way to model romantic relationships in society? If you’ve had these questions in your head from time to time, you might resonate with [...]

Why should I read “The Count of Monte Cristo”? 2010.12.01

If the word, “epic,” wasn’t careworn and haggard from its recent binge of overindulgence across the interwebs and beyond, I would readily apply it to this tale of revenge. Dumas paints an enormous mural, each section breathtaking. I’m not a vengeful person so I don’t readily relate to the motivating force behind the arc of [...]

Using RAII to simplify using the Lua stack when writing C++ code 2010.07.26

I recently found myself doing a lot of this sort of thing. bool lua_t::load(const std::string& filename) { lua_pushcfunction(state_, traceback_function); if (luaL_loadfile(state_, filename.c_str()) != 0) { lua_pop(state_, 1); return false; } if (lua_pcall(state_, 0, LUA_MULTRET, -2) != 0) { lua_pop(state_, 1); return false; } lua_pop(state_, 1); return true; } The “sort of thing” I’m referring to [...]

Evolutionary contemplations in homeostasis 2010.05.18

During a recent conversation with a great friend, I mentioned a conjecture that maybe our blood salinity and the temperature of our bodies resembles the salinity and temperature of the ocean at the time we crawled out, grew lungs, and evolved into what we are today, that maybe our homeostatis is like a kind of [...]

The beautiful, peaceful people of Canada 2010.04.18

I am presently visiting Ottawa, the capital city of Canada. Late spring finds this delightful place mostly sunny but still brisk enough to encourage you to keep your coat handy. My enthusiastic hosts and coworkers met me at the airport and immediately began showing me their town. What a beautiful town it is. I have [...]

On publishing 2010.02.10

In this day of instant gratification publishing, traditional journals, who take their time to cultivate each issue by working with their authors and painstakingly formatting their content are starting to seem somewhat old fashioned.  Nonetheless, I find their vetting process useful in collecting valuable content targeted at specific audiences. I recently had an idea that [...]

Simple Update 2010.02.08

It has been a long time since I last posted and I have nothing specific to report.  I have experienced plenty but much of what is going on in my life is in an undecided state.  Despite this sort of indeterminate superposition, I feel compelled to throw both of you, my loyal readers, a bone. [...]