yotogi.net http://www.yotogi.net/ personal weblog for Aaron Walker en Copyright 2008 Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:01:28 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss space or on being very small a couple of weeks back, the science channel, as one of the many channels of the discovery network, ran space week. in many ways this is like the long running shark week that we have watched for years, but for the geekier set. while it might be my predisposition to the inner geek, i would still argue that space week is much better (cooler?) and in many ways better. in HD, the "When We Left Earth" series is fantastic. some of the footage that they found and used is mesmerizing. and the entire 6-hour series is inspired and inspiring all at the same time. i am becoming quite a fan of this format, which has seen heavy use recently in the series "Planet Earth" and "Earth: The Biography". It lends itself well to being the correct amount of time for a series without having to include too much cruft which would be necessary for at 12-26 episode broadcast series. one of the things that so many of the astronauts noted is the spiritual understanding they gained looking down on our little planet from the freedom of space. how unimportant everything that we stressed about seemed, how we continually seem to sell ourselves short with very unimportant things. a speck, on a speck, on something that aspires to be a speck. i can see how people pre-disposed to find importance in the human species and our place in the universe have found religion soothing. when you consider how many elements had to line up to form a world in just the right spot for water to be liquid (the habitable zone), to have so much that water delivered by comets, to have a magnetosphere that protects our atmosphere from being boiled off by solar radiation, to have species like the dinosaurs removed from the food chain so that mammals could develop, to survive all the the cataclysms the earth has experienced, the odds seem insurmountable. there must be a god, the odds are just too remote. that is, until you consider the shear size of the universe. and not just the space we take up, but also the age, we start to get a better grasp on some of the statistics. there are an estimated 100 billion starts in our galaxy. our current best estimate for the number of galaxies is 125 billion. so, start to do the math. that is a lot of places for intelligent life to form, much less the time that we have to develop that life over. we have been on our little rock 250,000 years as a species, but what we would view as society has only been around maybe 10,000 years. considering the age of the earth is 4.5 billion years with recent discoveries indicating water and cooler temperatures present for maybe 4 billion years we begin to hit a statistical probability that life will form, and not just here, but elsewhere in the universe. now, i am not talking up the likelihood of little green men, just a bigger understanding of our significance, if you could even attach that word to it. so the next time you get stressed out by getting cut off in traffic, just remember that there is very little in this world that is worth getting angry about. and most of the things that are worth any amount of stress are things that you probably don't take the time to think about nearly often enough. http://www.yotogi.net/2008/07/space_or_on_being_very_small.html http://www.yotogi.net/2008/07/space_or_on_being_very_small.html random Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:01:28 -0600 vroom... Motorcycle Safety Foundation course to begin my training on operating a motor vehicle that is missing a couple of wheels. i successfully completed the course (more on that later) and was issues a license to operate a motorcycle a week ago monday. every day since, i have had or made a reason to ride putting on over 200 miles in less than 2 weeks.

in order to ride, one must have one. in my case this is a buell blast, a bike manufactured by Harley-Davidson and the bike used in their Rider's Edge motorcycle instruction program. The Blast is not a fast motorcycle. It is a 500cc single cylinder "thumper" that has an aftermarket "exhaust" which sounds like little more than a can on the end of a straight pipe. i wear ear plugs when i ride.

today i dropped the bike performing a quick stop in a parking lot. my fault, i had not completed rechecking oncoming traffic before starting my turn. i should have had the bike straight before i got on the brakes and as a result the bike went down. even at ~330 pounds, it still was surprisingly hard to get back upright, but i managed, and only a couple of cosmetic scratches on some of the plastic parts that i was planning on painting over the next couple of weeks anyway.

i was happy to have dropped the bike. it happens to everyone. i learned what i did wrong. it was a good experience. no real damage done, lessons learned all around. as most people who i have talked to (or read online) say, "it is not a matter of if you will drop your bike, it is a matter of when." today was my when.

so the MSF class is 6 hours of classroom and 10 hours on bike instruction. the course material is interesting, the instructors were great. it is not enough instruction for new riders. i had read before going into the class that there were some concerns over the last couple of years that the quality of the instruction has become tailored to the lowest common denominator. i am inclined to agree. i needed more time on a bike in an instructional setting. instead i am having to learn more in parking lots and on surface streets. i am careful, but today's experience might have been avoided with a little more instruction.

by the way, i love it.]]> http://www.yotogi.net/2008/06/vroom.html http://www.yotogi.net/2008/06/vroom.html day-to-day Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:28:34 -0600 we are go... turns out my dad has a camping trip that will keep him busy father's day weekend. so we will celebrate the next weekend. i get to go to class and learn more about motorcycling. i am very excited. melissa and i are off to atlanta for a wedding and familial visitation. yea atlanta in june... http://www.yotogi.net/2008/05/we_are_go.html http://www.yotogi.net/2008/05/we_are_go.html day-to-day Wed, 28 May 2008 19:54:47 -0600 relaxing weekends... memorial day had melissa and i out to see iron man which was very enjoyable. afterwards we ran a few errands before i headed over to ryan's house to check out his new motorcycle (BMW F650GS). he is a very generous friend as he allowed me to ride around in his condo complex. i was worried about how hard it would be to get in gear and how comfortable I would feel on it. but i have to say that i am completely hooked.

it was a lot easier to perform the basics on the bike than i thought prior to riding. but i must be clear here and say that it is by no means easy. keeping straight the gear, clutch, breaking, signals, other cars around you, balance in the turn, all of it is very different than even riding a bicycle. it compels you to stay focused and stay safe. i cannot wait until my class, although that too may have to wait a bit longer. i had planned to spend father's day with my father (makes sense) which is when i am scheduled for class. i should know what is going on today and we shall go from there.]]> http://www.yotogi.net/2008/05/relaxing_weekends.html http://www.yotogi.net/2008/05/relaxing_weekends.html day-to-day Tue, 27 May 2008 11:14:00 -0600 conspiracy... oh well, i guess it just leaves me more time to do more research.]]> http://www.yotogi.net/2008/05/conspiracy.html http://www.yotogi.net/2008/05/conspiracy.html day-to-day Thu, 15 May 2008 19:56:29 -0600 training for less wheels my idea as to what me riding a motorcycle means has been evolving over the last couple of weeks. one of the driving forces encouraging me to get a bike is the cost of operating a motor vehicle these days. the $50 tank of gas in my small car now is a $55 tank with no indication of this changing any time soon. even with me doing things like turning off my car at lights and everything else to get better fuel economy, i am still only averaging 20-22 miles per gallon. there are days now that i really miss my 1.8 liter engine, much less how much i miss my 1.9 liter diesel.]]> http://www.yotogi.net/2008/05/training_for_less_wheels.html http://www.yotogi.net/2008/05/training_for_less_wheels.html day-to-day Sun, 11 May 2008 09:54:22 -0600 8000th time... for what seems like one time too many, but at least one more time, i hearby declare myself not-dead. http://www.yotogi.net/2008/05/8000th_time.html http://www.yotogi.net/2008/05/8000th_time.html day-to-day Wed, 07 May 2008 15:43:49 -0600 thanksgiving with the fam... check it...

and yes, that is my grandma kicking much butt playing wii bowling.]]> http://www.yotogi.net/2007/11/thanksgiving_with_the_fam.html http://www.yotogi.net/2007/11/thanksgiving_with_the_fam.html photos Sat, 24 Nov 2007 18:40:31 -0600 what i want (today)... with light.]]> http://www.yotogi.net/2007/11/what_i_want_today.html http://www.yotogi.net/2007/11/what_i_want_today.html photography Tue, 13 Nov 2007 10:11:14 -0600 coming out of the fog... i quit smoking 16 days ago. this did nothing to encourage my brain or body to feel good. i suffered little in terms of physical symptoms, i didn't really develop a cough, my head did not ache or any of that. i did get depressed, and to some extent am still a bit depressed, but i made it though the weekend despite some insanity and i am feeling pretty good about things in general. i am hoping that i am starting to turn the corner. this is one of the most difficult things that i have ever done.]]> http://www.yotogi.net/2007/11/coming_out_of_the_fog.html http://www.yotogi.net/2007/11/coming_out_of_the_fog.html day-to-day Mon, 05 Nov 2007 12:46:20 -0600 flawed... we are all flawed, that is what makes us beautiful. http://www.yotogi.net/2007/06/flawed.html http://www.yotogi.net/2007/06/flawed.html random Tue, 12 Jun 2007 22:00:30 -0600 remembrances... i remember being interesting, like all my friends. http://www.yotogi.net/2007/06/remembrances.html http://www.yotogi.net/2007/06/remembrances.html random Fri, 01 Jun 2007 23:05:37 -0600 an old friend revisited... case in point, although not the first time that i noticed it, i found an interesting slice of time yesterday. if you have a nightlight that automatically turns on and off in a room that you commonly turn the overhead light on, the bathroom for example, you may have found yourself passing through the moment that i am about to describe.

there is a time between when you turn off the overhead light and when the nightlight comes on. visually, it is a strange transition. the bright light goes away instantly but the little nightlight takes a moment to get going. this leaves you in the dark for just an instant and to me is a strange visual transition. probably not all that interesting to most people, but i have always liked the way that it worked.]]> http://www.yotogi.net/2007/05/an_old_friend_revisited.html http://www.yotogi.net/2007/05/an_old_friend_revisited.html musings Wed, 09 May 2007 10:24:06 -0600 i should feel complemented... well, a month or two ago, i find out that we will be taking that ai, and using it with a different model and slightly different behavior (with no modification to the code, yea data driven programming!). that is cool. i kinda like my little beastie and hope that the players enjoy smiting him repeatedly.

well, last week i find out all about the uber-version of my creature. tougher and more threatening. cool, more fun with no data change.

well, today i find out that we are going to add some features to the little guy for one of the variants. no big deal, shouldn't even be a day's worth of work. oh, and there is a fourth version that we are going to do.

talk about getting your milage out of a few thousand lines of code!]]> http://www.yotogi.net/2007/05/i_should_feel_complemented.html http://www.yotogi.net/2007/05/i_should_feel_complemented.html work Mon, 07 May 2007 21:36:46 -0600 new toy...

melissa has spent a lot more time away from her desk in the office. as a consequence, she spends a lot more time on the laptop, which failed finally. so out shopping we go...

and we become one of "those people". i am actually really excited about getting to use OSX and all of the nifty iLife software that the machine comes with by default. so far the experience has been really easy. the machine is running well and seems to be all that i hoped it would be.]]> http://www.yotogi.net/2007/05/new_toy.html http://www.yotogi.net/2007/05/new_toy.html tech Sun, 06 May 2007 16:25:29 -0600