Blackcap Blog

Published at 11:21 on 12 October 2011

So tawdriness like this is really not a surprise.

Published at 09:49 on 10 October 2011

It is Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. That would normally be some bit of obscure trivia that really doesn’t affect me, but it is also Pledge Fortnight (I only wish it lasted a mere week) for all Seattle public radio stations, so I’ve been listening to the CBC more than usual as a way to get my public radio fix without being subject to endless begging for money.

That has allowed me to notice that a persistent theme on the CBC this weekend is about the obesity epidemic (which affects more than just the USA, although it does affect the USA worst). More specifically, it’s about pinning the blame on the epidemic by blaming some obscure aspect of the Canadian diet (typically related to carbohydrates).

Anything but overall lifestyle seems to be to blame. While it’s certainly plausible that some of the other changes might have some aspect (particularly given how much the modern diet deviates from the one we evolved to eat as hunter-gatherers), to ignore the increasingly sedentary lifestyle people live (which is equally alien to the conditions we evolved under) is to ignore the elephant in the living room.

However, if you ignore the elephant, then you don’t have to ask people to take responsibility for themselves and make new and possibly difficult life choices on a daily basis, and you can make a radio program that is light weekend matter instead of something more challenging. And sadly, that (and not uncovering true root causes, no matter how unpleasant they may be) seems to be the first priority this weekend.

Published at 21:51 on 6 October 2011

Actually, in this case it’s more like “karma”, since the misfortune is a direct result of the sufferer’s ineptitude.

The job whose phone interview prompted this post of mine is apparently still unfilled. I’ve been noticing the precise same ad whose e-mail in response prompted that ill-fated phone screen ever since that day, and that was back in May.

I wonder if they’re one of those managers whining to the business press about a “shortage of qualified applicants.” Wouldn’t surprise me.

That said, perhaps I should apply again. It’s been six months; perhaps the manager whose stupid interviewing technique caused me to be rejected has been dismissed or demoted.

In fact, I think I will: It’s a no loss situation so far as I am concerned. If the incompetent manager is still there, my résumé will be immediately circular filed (which is fine by me; I wouldn’t want to work for her). If not, I’ll have a second chance, one that might involve working for someone with at least half a clue.

Update: Well, that was a waste of time. Never have I seen a more incompetently designed Web interface than the one for that company’s job board. First, they use both their own site and one of those third-party sites (not Taleo, thankfully) to handle their applications. Their own site refers you to the third-party one, which in turn says to use their own site. If you try and get your application through by using the third-party site, you find that two of the web forms are broken, and the program that scans your résumé is also broken (and thanks to one of the broken web forms, you can’t work around the broken résumé scanner). To heck with them; incompetence obviously pervades their organization. More than likely, they’re still in business mainly because of this principle.

Published at 09:44 on 6 October 2011

One thing my recent trip to New Mexico allowed me to appreciate anew is how the air is scented with the fragrance of conifers in the Pacific Northwest. Some, like the western red cedar, are fragrant enough and distinctive enough that they can be olfactorily appreciated from several hundred feet downwind.

It’s one thing I enjoyed when first moving to this ecoregion from a desert climate. Like most such phenomena, one fairly quickly loses the ability to perceive it if one continuously lives amongst the sensation. Spending a week in a dry, dusty place was enough to “reset” my nose so that I can perceive it anew, at least for a brief time.

Even when it rains in the desert, much of the odor I can perceive in the moist air is one of wet dust. Even amongst the delightful fragrance of sage, it is there, reminding me that this respite from the dryness and dustiness is but a brief departure from the normal scheme of things. It is an underlying veiled threat that removes much of the pleasure I would otherwise receive from such weather.

There is no such threat in the moist air of the beginning rainy season here. The pervading fragrance, even in many quite urban areas, is the woodsy and coniferous one of a lush land that nourishes my senses instead of assaulting them.

It’s good to be home.

Published at 09:30 on 6 October 2011

Not always. If they see something they believe suspicious while zapping you with X-rays, the TSA will grope you anyhow. It happened to my sister a few days ago.

I opted for the groping on my recent trip, because I don’t believe them when they say the waves emitted from the machines are harmless. Powerful organizations like governments and corporations have persistently claimed such about various kinds of radiation, only to be definitively proven wrong later.

It happened to those downwind of the Nevada Test Site, and it’s starting to happen with cell phones.

Published at 09:48 on 5 October 2011

Apropos this entry, there is a reason that the ruling elite has lost the ideological flexibility needed to prevent their rule from being jeopardized by a crisis of their own creating: it’s all a matter of timing.

Those old enough to remember the Great Depression are now also old enough and few enough to be mostly irrelevant in the halls of power. Contrarily, those old enough to remember the fall of the USSR and its satellites (which the elite spun as a vindication of capitalist orthodoxy and a repudiation of anything critical of it) are numerous and at about their apex of power in those same halls.

So it’s a tremendous opportunity for those of us who are opposed to the current order. The only question is: can and will we take advantage of it?

Published at 09:20 on 4 October 2011

By tonight, I’ll be sleeping in my own bed again and once more have regular Internet access.

Sleeping in my own bed soundly and not being kept awake by overly dry and dusty air, that is. I’ve been in New Mexico visiting my parents, and while that state is definitely a scenic place, I am most certainly Not A Desert Person, and find it hard not to feel under assault by the elements as a result of the extremely harsh, bright sunshine and ultra-dry air.

Thankfully, today is one of those occasional days where some moister air has managed to make it past the multiple mountain ranges, so there is some respite from the assault. Still, it will be nice to be back to someplace where one simply never has to worry about getting a painful sunburn in October.

Update: Shortly after I posted that, the rain commenced in earnest. It ended up being the heaviest rain in a year or more, with an inch reported between 7AM yesterday and 7AM today at the Albuquerque Airport. That’s over 10% of Albuquerque’s normal annual rainfall, in one storm. It ended up delaying my flight’s departure (desert airports like ABQ are quite naturally last in line for any IFR equipment). I didn’t mind; it was a minor delay, and it was worth it to have an early respite from the harsh desert conditions that normally prevail there.

Published at 11:37 on 29 September 2011

… is that it can be difficult to parody a class of people that already acts outlandishly.

Published at 11:39 on 28 September 2011

I think that, ironically enough, it can.

I interviewed at some anonymous company that was big on XP (aka “Extreme Programming”): pair programming, test-driven development, etc. One thing I will say is that they did a very good job if interviewing, giving candidates an actual opportunity to try the techniques they use out.

And one thing that struck me about test-driven development was that it makes it very difficult to write code in a bottom-up fashion. The basic response was something along the lines of “you just don’t do that.” Lovely. A powerful and productive technique that you “just don’t do” because the methodology you have required people to adhere to does not allow for it.

And what if programmers sometimes come up with better ideas on their own? Sorry, no can do, either. Pair programming doesn’t allow for alone time.

“Sorry, we’d like to incorporate that feature change, but we’ve frozen the feature set because the software is now in alpha test. We just can’t do that.” Funny how the supposed diametric opposite of the traditional waterfall model ends up sounding so much like it.

The problem here is one of taking rules too seriously. Any set of rules — it fundamentally does not matter which ones. You cannot fix such a problem merely by choosing the right set of fixed rules, no matter how enlightened the motivation behind the choice of them might happen to be.

If you can’t make exceptions for exceptional cases, you’re going to end up sometimes forcing people to act like stupid robots, doing something suboptimally because that’s the only way The Rules allow for it to be done.

Published at 11:29 on 27 September 2011

Basically, unlike in Venezuela, the revolution in Bolivia is a bottom-up affair, backed by a diversity of groups, as opposed to being something orchestrated from above by a single charismatic figure. That becomes clear when you read stories like this one about a highway project being opposed by the indigenous people whose land it would compromise.

Of course Morales has become a new oppressor. How could he not, given the nature of the job he sought? By becoming the chief executive of a hierarchical system of authority, he chose to participate in a rotten system.

That’s not to say its a useless achievement and that Morales administration is no better than those it replaced, only that it’s a very limited achievement. Past administrations would not have stepped back, embarrassed, and called a moratorium. However, unless the pressure from below continues and intensifies, the outcome will be the typical “compromise” of industrial civilization: less wild nature and more development.

True change must always come from below.