My 2 cents on Terri Schiavo

Poor girl, denied the dignity of a peaceful death. In the court battle of parents vs husband, ultimately, she was at the losing end. Whoever won, she would have lost.

Me, if I'm ever in a state when I am unable to taste my own life, please put me out of my misery. Don't let me linger in a coma for years on end, strapped up in tubes, plugged in to more electrical wires than most computers.

That's not a life. That's just a prolonged death sentence.

Someone mentioned over lunch that sticking a feeding tube into someone for the sole purpose of keeping them alive was more for to assauge any feelings of guilt than any real attempt at hope, so they can say "I've tried my best to keep her alive". I kinda-sorta agree.

Poor Terri. Rest in peace.

Deep powder day in Tahoe

You already know that my greencard got approved. As a celebration, I decided to head out to Tahoe for a half day on the slopes.

The idea? Be at Sugar Bowl by noon, get a half day pass, leave by around 4pm and get home around 9pm.

It was going to be a good snow day. That much was obvious even on the road. I had not even passed the 5000 foot elevation marker when I began to see snow on the trees and on the ground. When I got to the ski resort, the road to the parking lot was so icy that three cars lost control and skidded - me and the two cars in front of me.

It would have been pretty funny if I hadn't been one of the skidding vehicles. The first car right in front had to hit the brakes because it was following a snowplough and the snowplough had apparently either slowed down or stopped. He tried to decrease speed, but all of us were on a downhill incline, so the car just wouldn't stop! In desperation, he swerved right. The second car directly behind the first also suffered the same fate and had to swerve left. Me, I had a snowplough in front of me, a car to my left and a car to my right, and I couldn't get a grip on the road either.

So I decided to swerve REALLY sharply, run headlong into the snow embankment, and hope that it killed my speed enough to prevent me from sliding headlong into the cars in front. So I turned, and my SUV hit the snow embankment. The tail of the SUV gracefully glided around the head of the SUV and I soon found myself staring at the headlights of the car behind me.

It was not at all scary in any way cos I was driving really slowly (5+ mph). It was just really amusing because even at a slow speed, there wasn't enough friction between the road and the tires to keep the SUV from spinning. I'd hate to think what would have happened if I had been going at maybe 10 miles per hour!

Eventually, I made it to the parking lot in one piece on time, just a little before noon. It was snowing rather heavily now and the wind was whipping the snow almost horizontally. I was a little apprehensive, a little cold, and very excited to hit the slopes.

Once I got on the slopes, I quickly realized that the powder was pretty darn deep! By deep, I mean if you stepped into the snow, you'd sink in up to your waist. I had a really frustrating first run. I fell down midway downhill, and just could not get up. My snowboard was packed under 3+ feet of snow. I'm not an experienced powder rider, so I just couldn't seem to keep my snowboard above the snow. At the end of the first run (which took me more than an hour to complete), it was snowing a lot more heavily, and visibility had degraded to the point where I couldn't reliably see 20 feet from me with my goggles on. It was time to pack up and go (AFTER ONE LOUSY RUN!)

Once I got back onto 80 West, I found myself sitting in a virtual parking lot. A big rig, an SUV, and a car had collided and the entire Donner pass was shut down while CHP worked to clear the road. I "parked" for well over an hour, then had to suffer through agonizingly slow traffic and icy roads all the way down the mountain. All in all, the return journey took 7 hours, including a quick dinner stop.

I finally got home dead tired at 10.15pm.

Almost at the finish line!

I just got this email from the USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services):

Application Type: I485 , Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status

Current Status:

This case has been approved. On March 18, 2005, an approval notice was mailed ...snip

Yes, it says THIS CASE HAS BEEN APPROVED!!! I am almost ALMOST at the finish line for getting my greencard!

According to Van Der Hout, Brigagliano & Nightingale LLP (aka the law firm representing me), the next (and FINAL) steps are scheduling an appointment through the USCIS infopass system to appear at the immigration service for fingerprinting and placement of an I-551 stamp in your passport as evidence of my greencard status. After I get my passport stamped, it will take about 6 months for my actual green card to arrive by mail.

As a matter of curiousity, this is the THIRD time that I am being fingerprinted during my greencard application process.

I'm so close I can almost taste it...

Poor man's movie syndication

The Problem:
I've had an itch to scratch since Friday, when I went to the movies with Bruce, Ida, Cristine and Paul. We were having dinner when we decided to watch a movie, and I had to call 777-FILM to get the latest showtimes. Now, there's nothing wrong with using the phone to get showtimes, except that is SO PRE-RSS! You'd think that in this age of web content syndication, there'd be a web page out there that could get me a simple list of movie showtimes and sync them onto my PocketPC. But noooooo... There isn't. Well, actually there kinda is, since AvantGo does that, but I personally don't like AvantGo for various reasons, mainly because it requires that a website register with them and they use proprietary technology to syndicate content (ie not RSS and not Atom).

The Solution:
Like any enterprising engineer, I decided to write my own. The output is just plain simple text, and it looks something like this:

AMC Mercado 20 - 408-871-2AMC
3111 Mission College Blvd., Santa Clara, CA, 95054

Aviator, The - 9:50
Be Cool - 1:35, 2:40, 4:35, 7:20, 8:25, 10:10
Constantine - 1:25, 4:20, 10:15
etc...

I direct the output file to a directory on my PocketPC's My Documents folder, which in turn is automatically kept in sync via ActiveSync. The result is that I have a pretty darned up-to-date movie listing for all the theatres I ever care about, as long as I remember to sync my PocketPC.

It doesn't produce Atom/RSS output, but more than meets my for current requirements. I am now one happy camper. At least until my next itch surfaces.

No more keys!

You really need to get one of these guys - the Fingerprint-Key Doorknob by MATA Bio Tech. As it's name suggests, it can only be unlocked by your fingerprint, or that of 10 other folks you trust. At $400, it's only a wee bit more expensive that a normal doorknob from Walmart anyway...

Well, what are you waiting for??

A Lesson in Fear from a Surf Legend

This was reported by Scott DeVaney in Wave Magazine:

Fear keeps you alive. Fear makes you aware of things that are not possible, situations that are not going to have a happy ending. Fear is a healthy thing. Fear is what stirs the challenge. You can use fear to motivate, or it can just shut people down, freeze them up.
-- Jeff Clark

Jeff Clark was the first person to ride the insane waves that swell off a Half Moon Bay surf spot called the Mavericks. For 15 years (1975-1990), he was the only person in the world that dared surf the 50+ foot (and sometimes as large as 80 feet!) waves that swelled there.

I think what Jeff said hits the nail squarely on the head. Fear, like fire, can be a good servant, but a very poor master. It can be a fantastic driving force, but also can be a nigh-impassable barrier.

Mark Twain expounded

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.

Mastery of fear, that's where it's at.

Mr Gummy Residue, meet your nemesis!

I recently bought a new set of plates and dishes and whatnot. There was a little manufacturer's logo sticker thing on each plate that was stuck to the plate using some kind of double sided sticky tape. When I peeled off the logo-sticker, the sticky tape left a gummy residue on my plates. You know how it's like. Among other things, it is very irritating and usually a pain the butt to remove.

I tried using soaking the plates in warm water and then using a cloth to scrub it off, but the gummy stuff just refused to budge. OK, fine... Mr Gummy Residue, I've tried to play nice, but if you're going to be like that, I'm not gonna be Mr Niceguy no more.

Enter Simple Green, slayer of stains and all other manner of unwelcome household presences.

Awesome stuff. Squirt a little on the gummy stain, let it soak for a minute, then you simply use your fingertip (don't even need to use your fingernail!) to rub off the ex-tough-guy Mr Gummy Residue. Rinse off with warm water, and wipe dry.

Simple Green rules.

[ Cross posted on WILT ]

Evite rant

Why can't people do the polite thing and RESPOND when someone sends them an invitation on evite?

Is it sooooo difficult to click a button and say "Yes, I'm gonna show" or "No, I'll give this a miss" or even "Maybe, I haven't quite decided". It takes 2 seconds, and allows your poor host to plan for the event a little more accurately. For that matter, the ones I really hate are those who give NO RESPONSE but suddenly show up at the event.

What, you think I read your flippin' mind that you were coming and magically allocated extra food/drink/whatever for you?!

Belief vs Reality

A man who doesn't "believe" will never "believe" even if inundated with logical reasons. He has already set up psychological barriers that will prevent him from accepting any new data contrary to his current belief set.

Allow me to play Devil's advocate.

Let's say, for the moment, that you are presented incontestible proof that Jesus was not a divine being in human form. Maybe a memo from the Romans that unequivocally state that Jesus was never crucified, never flogged etc, and it was all just an elaborate setup for his "resurrection". Now remember here, I'm not attacking the Christian faith, just using this as a (rather extreme) example of human psychology.

So anyway, if the crucifixtion never took place, then Jesus never died, and thus he never was resurrected, which calls into question that whole business of the 2nd/3rd coming of the Christ.

If you got such information, would you accept it as the truth? I could throw all the scientific data at you to prove that Jesus was never crucified, and I could provide you reams of analysis and facts and figures.

But at the end of the day, you would not believe it because you have been building your fundamental core beliefs since young, and to acknowledge that everything you thought is wrong, is a monumentally difficult undertaking.

We have real live examples from history. What? The world revolves around the sun? Heresy! Execute the fool!

Conclusion: Reality has little bearing on the human belief system and people will believe what they want to believe, and actively reject all evidence contrary to their belief system.

Today's inspiration comes from Alwyn's blog entry "Need Proof?"

The Da Vinci Code - The Vatican Strikes Back

The Vatican slams the Da Vinci Code in no uncertain terms. Among the quote-worthy statements uttered by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone:

Don't buy this. Don't read this because this is rotten food
A lot of novels do good but this book is rotten food ... it does harm, not good

Incidentally, this is a BIG DEAL coming from the Vatican because Cardinal Bertone is the Archbishop of Genova, and was also the Secretary of Doctrine of the Faith, arguably the most influential group in the Vatican.

Wouldn't it be nice if everyone could just accept that the book is just fantasy?

But you know what? My hat's off to Dan Brown for being to write such an enjoyable novel and at the same time stir up so much controversy!

My name is Alice, and I remember everything

Two very good reasons to like Resident Evil : Apocalypse

Milla Jovovich as Alice


Sienna Guillory as Jill Valentine


A killer combination for any guy (or ghoul)


Really, it was an enjoyable movie. Not too much of a plot to get in the way of some frenetic action. Toss in two babes who absolutely kick ass (check out the graveyard scene!) and you have a good movie to spend the evening with.

Creating your reality

I just watched Don Juan De Marco (starring a younger Johnny Depp). What was really fascinating in the movie was how the central character (Don Juan) invented a reality around his fantasy, immersed himself in his reality, and even imposed his reality upon the world around him.

At the start of the movie, we see Don Juan dressed up in his "Zorro" costume. He walks into a restaurant, sits across a woman, and seduces her in short order. He is all spanish accent, intense eyes, low voice, and titillating touch. Watching him, it is no wonder the woman succumbs almost instantly.

Fast forward to the tail end of the movie. We see him dressed in a long sleeved T and blue jeans. He is talking to the judge where he freely confesses that he made up the character of Don Juan. Gone is the accent, gone are the frilly clothes. In their place, we have a teenager out of Phoenix AZ, speaking in a slightly midwestern accent, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, who fidgets and brushes his hair back nervously. We see him as he is - just another normal teenager, slightly awkward under scrutiny.

What's amazing here is that this teenager could confront and totally change himself and transform from a gawky teen into a smooth seducer.

I think it speaks volumes on how much our self image influence the reality that is constantly forming and reforming around us. With every thought, every gesture we make, we constantly shape our reality to be whatever we want.

Attraction is not a choice

It's funny how our hearts operate on a totally separate plane of reality from our brains. Our brains create these laundry lists of some ideal gal (or guy) we'd like, then our heart just jumps in and decides to fall for someone else.

I've been reading quite a bit about human psychology recently, and it seems that the reason our heart and mind aren't always quite in sync can be traced back (in part) to our roots as animals.

For Men, our genetic prerogative is to sow seed and procreate. As such, we look for "healthy" specimens to procreate with, and hence a genetic disposition towards being attracted to pretty girls. Men have always been the providers (eg hunters of food) and as such tend to look for "weaker" women who must be protected.

Women, on the other hand, have always been the nurturer. As such, women are genetically predisposed towards being attracted to men who, in one way or another, have presented themselves as being able to provide for the woman. An interesting point here is the presence of what is known as the Halo effect (Robert Cialdini, 1984). In short, the halo effects says that if you are good at one thing (eg good looking), people assume that you are good in other related areas as well (eg good personality, nice person etc). Face it, would you rather give a ride to a guy in a suit, or a guy who looks like he hasn't showered since the Reagan administration?

Anyway, my point is, there's thousands of years of evolution stacked up behind us which influence the way we feel. This is stuff that totally circumvents our brain, our logic, our conscious thought processes.

Inspiration for today's post comes from Obstacles to Love

Update 03/14/2005:

"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind."
William Shakespeare: A Midsummer Nights Dream.

DynDNS update script

I caved in and wrote my own perl script to update DynDNS.org's DNS servers. All I needed was a simple lightweight tool that I could use to automate my IP updates. But nope... I couldn't find any such tool in their list of update clients. So I wrote my own. Feel free to use it if you want. This was written in perl 5.8.6 and requires the LWP and Switch modules, so you'll probably need a decently recent version of perl to run this.

Children's fund

Mix 106.5 is holding a children's fund raiser for the Lucille Packard Foundation for Children's Health (or is it the Children's Hospital? one of them...). I strongly urge you, dear kind soft-hearted sweet-natured reader to donate by calling 877-858-8848. They take credit cards and paypal... :)

And in case you ask, yes I did donate.

Baking

It's beautiful outside. The sun is shining cheerfully and the skies are clear blue.

But inside my underground subterranean office, it feels like a freakin' oven! I'm suffocating here. See, that's what happens when your office is somewhat underground, has one wall which is almost entirely glass which also happens to catch the afternoon sun, and oh, there's almost no perceptible ventilation in this area. I need to step out before I become... before I bake dammit!

Like I said, it's beautiful outside...