Fiction vs. Not

I eschew fiction.

I figure there's enough weird and extremely interesting stuff in the world today without ever reading a word of fiction. My reading list is packed with how-tos, biographies, histories, technical tomes, study guides, and religious reading. How boring, you say.

Okay. Although I habitually read non-fiction, I realize there is a realm that cannot be entered, or made interesting, for sure, by non-fiction. The realm of "what could be." New social or scientific paradigms are especially suited for fiction. To get to a different plane of thought, it's much easier to take the reader with you via fiction, as they sympathize with your character and come along for the ride.

A couple of the mind benders:

Stranger In a Strange Land
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Both by Heinlein, of course.

Can you hear me now? NO!

For some reason, my employer chose to change service from geek chic Nextel to Verizon. What a mistake. Verizon has poor coverage (frequently one or less bars). When I do have coverage, the signal quality is horrible and my calls are frequently dropped.

The actual phone is almost as bad as the carrier. My LG VX4400 is incredibly non-intuitive and most operations require three or more button pushes, where my Motorola flip-phone could do the same is one. Earpiece sound is incredibly weak and focused, so even a slight move of the phone causes you to lose the audio. Even the phonebook function is poorly designed. The Motorola allowed you to easily toggle the number without changing the menu or name you were viewing. The LG requires you to actually open the phonebook entry to dial a number other than the default. Incredible!

To top it off, we dumped the direct connect with Nextel and opted out of the Verizon direct connect. Can't say I'm surprised or horribly put out; I'm convinced it would be just as horrible as the rest of Verizon's service.

Beyond the Curtain of Smoke

I'm reading a very interesting book right now, September 11 and the U.S. War: Beyond the Curtain of Smoke, by Roger Burbach and Ben Clarke.
It provides a reminder of some very recent history. What I realized (yet again) is how quickly we forget our recent past. It's amazing how the U.S. can change their stance on an issue, depending on what's at stake. The U.S. was directly involved in causing the current situations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and to a certain extent, Palestine. Additionally, it's very interesting to be confronted with the actual reasons the U.S. has a stake in the region. Give it a read. Quite fascinating.

Noticing the Details

Something this morning that blew my mind (well, kinda...)

I walked by a Range Rover in the QFC parking lot. It was painted flat black and was labeled "Range Rover" across the hatchback, but it was clearly something else. It looked like an older VW Rabbit, but all the VW logos had been removed. Quite a chuckle.

Walking

What's up with walking? I walk almost a mile from my bus to work every morning. And I have the most lucid experiences. It's like meditation or dreaming. I have the most wonderful thought & ideas. I think, "I've got to share these ideas; put the on my blog." And when I get to work and later home, do I remember anything? Nyet.

Maybe I'll start recording my stream of consciousness thinking... these good ideas are really going, going... Of course maybe it's like when you're drunk - you say things which you think are so insightful - later to realize how inane they sound. Not to forget that everything is in context - what is a very powerful experience at the time is only so because of the specific environment at the time.

Where my mini-recorder, anyway?

Tomorrow Now

I just finished skimming Bruce Sterling's Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years. For me this means reading the interesting parts. I was throroughly engrossed by Chapter 4: The Soldier. Bruce gives a snapshot of three contemporary terrorists/warlords; the precise description depends on your point of view. He profiles Chechnya's Shamil Basaev, Serbia's Zeljko Raznatovic (AKA Arkan), and Turkish Kurd Abdullah Catli. I found the key traits summary particularly intriguing.

ABC's for future Arkans, Basaevs, and Catlis:

1. Male 25-40, likes handguns and has visceral, hands-on experience with face-to-face violence.
2. Extensive prison history somehow enhances his public reputation.
3. Quite good-looking, enjoys making a show in posh casinos and hotels with a line in feminine arm candy.
4. Speaks several languages, has spent much time in other countries.
5. Fluent, fast on his feet, media-savvy, good on TV.
6. Has a personal posse of devoted tough guys who are known by their nicknames - or, better yet, by the fake IDs that they got from cops.
7. Gets richer and more influential as life gets harder for his neighbors.
8. Emits chauvinist rhetoric but kills many people of his own nationality. Killing rivals in gangland a particular speciality.
9. Lousy at straight jobs. Can't take orders. Essentially unemployable.
10. Prominent in politics, eminently electable, but has no political philosophy, no sensible platform for goverance, and no legislative or executive experience.

Definitely sounds like a blueprint for a terrorist to me. Particularly striking are Bruce's comments that "He can light bonfires inside the New World Order and perhaps devastate wide areas, but he cannot build anything. He can't even defend the patch of ground that he himself is standing on."

ASL

The instructor for my ASL course (American Sign Language) lectured on deaf culture and history last night. We had an interpreter for the first time. I realized how much I miss & take for granted being able to ask questions regularly - as in other classes with hearing teachers. This does make me ponder all my questions even more. The lecture was very good & I'm looking forward to the next one.

I asked him about the TTY (teletypewriter) and mentioned that I've used RTTY (radio teletype) at work. They use the same 5-bit Baudot code (as opposed to 8-bit ASCII).

Neat page on TTY etiquette at http://wally.rit.edu/depts/ref/research/deaf/ttyuse.html