“Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.”
–Henry Miller
This post is likely to seem a bit disjointed and chaotic. (And long; deal with it!) This is as it should be; life these days has been a bit disjointed and chaotic. This is not necessarily a bad thing, mind; normally, I thrive on chaos. But every now and then, it’s kinda nice to have a break, y’know?
My mother has this saying that she used to use to irritate me with. Any time I complained about any element of my life, she’d look at me and say “It’s a consequence of your chosen lifestyle.”
She’s right, too.
On the nature of work
The company I work with (and I’m a minority partner in) has been, for lack of a better phrase, on the verge for many years now. The company makes a hand-held storm and lightning detector and tracker; it’s actually a pretty slick little gadget, which can detect lightning storms from about 75 miles away by the extremely characteristic EMP profile produced by cloud-to-ground lightning, and by virtue of a great deal of mathematical wizardry involving fast Fourier transformations and other big words, calculate the distance, speed and direction of travel, and ETA of the storm. It then tracks the storm right to the device.
The company has been desperately underfunded and desperately short of cash for the entire time I’ve worked with them; in fact, for about a year they couldn’t pay me regularly at all. They recently got some venture capital (not enough) and relocated to Atlanta, where they’ve been paying me more or less regularly a quantity that’s more or less sufficient to keep a roof overhead and food on the table.
Recently, they’ve encountered a problem that many startups face without being aware that it’s a problem: they’ve suddenly become too successful. We’re now selling gizmos faster than we can build them, in part because of a significant change in marketing strategy. In the past, these gizmos have sold to military, government, and commercial users; after all, these are the people likely to be left with their ass on the line in a sudden thunderstorm. You don’t want to be climbing telephone poles or cell phone towers with a storm on the way.
But now the gizmo has been picked up by retail resellers–something that we never thought would be significant, because focusing on home consumers never really seemed like much of a business opportunity.
And it’s going bonkers. We’re signing deals with retail chains left and right. Hammacher Schlemmer just bought an entire production run. And this is a problem, because producing more gizmos on very short notice is very expensive, and the fact that we’re selling these things so fast doesn’t mean we’re making money as fast; we don’t see the cash for 30, 60, or even 90 days. But we still gotta pay to build ’em up front.
Interesting times indeed.
On the nature of opportunity
When opportunity knocks, it’s always at the most inopportune of times.
For months, I’ve been working on a major revision to my sex game Onyx, which has been going quite slowly for a number of reasons, not the least of which are that this isn’t my day job, the new revision involves a total rewrite of very large sections of code, and the beta testers keep pointing out playability issues which I believe are valid.
Concurrently with this, I’ve also been working on an enormous revision to the Symtoys itself, which will see it become roughly ten times the size it is now and will also sport an entirely new look, as the current site is, to be blunt, appallingly ugly. The new site will have all kinds of kinky sex how-tos, tutorials on everything from rope bondage to improvised sex toys, and even a sex toy store.
Last week, I got an email from the editors of Playgirl magazine. They have a “do it yourself” how-to column, apparently, and in October they want to feature the Symtoys Web site in the column. Which is good, but the timing sucks, since I’m still depressingly far from having the site revision completed. Or if not “completed,” at least in a state where it can be uploaded and made live.
And on top of that, an interested party has offered me an advance on the book on polyamory I’ve been working on (but mostly not working on) for a while now. I really want to finish this book, and now I have a strong incentive to move it to the top of the List Of Things To Do.
I have a pile of proposed changes to the outline suggested by the editor I’d been working with; I need to dust off the files, make the changes, and get back into that again.
On automobile license tags
I’ve finally got ’round to doing things like registering my car in Georgia and stuff. I got some personalized license tags, for the first time ever:
The tag reads “H PLUS,” which only a small number of transhumanists is likely to get. It’s okay, though; the people who do get it are cool. 🙂
I love my little car…
On Links and Stuff
slouchinphysics, you’ll appreciate this one; it relates to the conversation we had last weekend about China surpassing the US as a center for research and technology. It’s an excerpt from a paper published in the 60s about particle physics in China, the prequel to which is a great example of what happens when science and political doctrine collide. But lest we think that the same sort of nonsense doesn’t happen over here: the Creationsits, unable to get their bullshit rubbish published in respected peer-reviewed journals, are trying to create a ‘peer reviewed’ journal of their own. (Props to 6-bleen-7 for the links.)
phoenixgeisha has proposed a challenge: create a CD of songs which, when heard by another listener, give the listener a sense of who you are as a person. I think this sounds like great fun.
Some other folks have created a programming language based on lolcats. Here’s Hello World written in lolcode:
HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
VISIBLE “HAI WORLD!”
KTHXBYEAnd finally, satellite view of contrail clutter left by passenger airline flights. This is an amazing picture.
On cats
Shelly was up over the weekend, and took the kitty Molly with her when she returned to Florida. Now figment_j‘s kitty liam is all I have left.
Liam and Molly didn’t much get along (or rather, Liam was madly, frantically in love with Molly, and Molly didn’t care much for Liam–its a good thing cats don’t feel heartbreak as acutely as people!), so the relocation of Molly was necessary.
I like having Liam. He reminds me of figment_j. The fact that all my relationships are long-distance now sux0rz.
This is all awesome stuff, sweetie!!
This is all awesome stuff, sweetie!!
I wish I could help you out with all the stuff that overwhelms you, but pretty much all of that stuff is uniquely *you*, your thoughts & words. I’ll volunteer to proofread, however, if you need a proofreader.
I like the idea of a self-portrait CD, however, I don’t think I’ve come across many songs that are *me* … it doesn’t help that I listen to mostly country and I’m decidedly NOT a country-girl (in the respect of the kind of person they sing about in those songs). There are a few, though, so I might attempt this anyway.
What I find music most helpful for to me is trying to impart a *concept*, to get a message across about how I’m feeling about a particular subject (usually a relationship issue) with regards to a particular person.
But it just so happens that before I read your post, I just posted lyrics to a country song that (surprisingly) was very breakup-positive, much like my own philosophy on breakups … and I heard an older song this morning on the radio that I forgot about that rather neatly explains some of the things I’m looking for in a romantic partner.
I suppose if I believed in mystical “signs”, I might think this is one for encouraging me to include a musical component to my Me Manual (LJ Tag).
I wish I could help you out with all the stuff that overwhelms you, but pretty much all of that stuff is uniquely *you*, your thoughts & words. I’ll volunteer to proofread, however, if you need a proofreader.
I like the idea of a self-portrait CD, however, I don’t think I’ve come across many songs that are *me* … it doesn’t help that I listen to mostly country and I’m decidedly NOT a country-girl (in the respect of the kind of person they sing about in those songs). There are a few, though, so I might attempt this anyway.
What I find music most helpful for to me is trying to impart a *concept*, to get a message across about how I’m feeling about a particular subject (usually a relationship issue) with regards to a particular person.
But it just so happens that before I read your post, I just posted lyrics to a country song that (surprisingly) was very breakup-positive, much like my own philosophy on breakups … and I heard an older song this morning on the radio that I forgot about that rather neatly explains some of the things I’m looking for in a romantic partner.
I suppose if I believed in mystical “signs”, I might think this is one for encouraging me to include a musical component to my Me Manual (LJ Tag).
Yay polyamory book! 😀
Yay polyamory book! 😀
Random peripheral comment
Gwinnett County is where one line of my ancestors, the best-explored and documented one, the Baxters, came from. At one time they owned the land the Falcon’s practice field is now on. Does that give you a sense of the location?
I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Gwinnett County, so I was tickled to see your license plate – even though I’m not one of the people who would have “gotten” your choice of tags.
Random peripheral comment
Gwinnett County is where one line of my ancestors, the best-explored and documented one, the Baxters, came from. At one time they owned the land the Falcon’s practice field is now on. Does that give you a sense of the location?
I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Gwinnett County, so I was tickled to see your license plate – even though I’m not one of the people who would have “gotten” your choice of tags.
I think I would have a lot of trouble with the CD. I could fit in silliness pretty easily, and maybe technical complexity, but otherwise, I think music that reflects who I am (apart from taste in music) is going to be music that I don’t actually like. I have pretty dark taste in music, but that gets negativity out of my system pretty well, and I think I’m generally on the happy-go-lucky side because of it.
I think I would have a lot of trouble with the CD. I could fit in silliness pretty easily, and maybe technical complexity, but otherwise, I think music that reflects who I am (apart from taste in music) is going to be music that I don’t actually like. I have pretty dark taste in music, but that gets negativity out of my system pretty well, and I think I’m generally on the happy-go-lucky side because of it.
Things are certainly interesting for you just now. Congratulations on your business taking off! Hopefully you won’t fall too far behind on your production. And with luck you will be caught up with things enough by the time the Playgirl article comes out to have that end of things sorted out.
Things are certainly interesting for you just now. Congratulations on your business taking off! Hopefully you won’t fall too far behind on your production. And with luck you will be caught up with things enough by the time the Playgirl article comes out to have that end of things sorted out.
I wish you well, and hope that this serves as an opportunity to
enhance the amount of stuff you can deal with before the “overwhelmed”
reaction starts to kick in.
And, of course, looking forward to getting to know you at some point
when your overwhelmed-ness level drops and you have time for getting
acquainted. 😉
I wish you well, and hope that this serves as an opportunity to
enhance the amount of stuff you can deal with before the “overwhelmed”
reaction starts to kick in.
And, of course, looking forward to getting to know you at some point
when your overwhelmed-ness level drops and you have time for getting
acquainted. 😉
Wow, ultraviolet light can do that? That and save the world! I had no idea ultraviolet light was so…versatile! 🙂
Wow, ultraviolet light can do that? That and save the world! I had no idea ultraviolet light was so…versatile! 🙂
And finally, satellite view of contrail clutter left by passenger airline flights. This is an amazing picture.
Oh, I just can’t allow you to enjoy something cool without tying it in with feckless morons on teh intarwebs. So behold, the terrible “truth”! Vapor trails in the sky are really secret weapons and weather control experiments by the government who is trying to poision you!
It’s kind of awe inspiring to think that the same species that produces engineers capable of building jet aircraft also produces the people who make up conspiracy theories about contrails and natural cloud formations. *sigh*
Woooooow. “Our atmosphere has an increasing electron density. This, in combination with extremely low frequency (ELF) radiation may create energy levels sufficient to generate manmade geophysical effects such as earthquakes.” One wonders if these morons know what an “electron” is.
Our Intarweb has an increasing moron density, clearly. And this is the third time today I’ve been able to use my “full of stupid” userpic.
Oh, and regarding‘s CD challenge, would it be cheating if I wrote up an autobiography, saved it as a text file, used a modem to convert it to an audio signal and burned that in Redbook format to a CD?
If Einstürzende Neubauten counts as music, then that should too.
Oh, and regarding phoenixgeisha’s CD challenge, would it be cheating if I wrote up an autobiography, saved it as a text file, used a modem to convert it to an audio signal and burned that in Redbook format to a CD?
Yes–because it doesn’t meet the objectives of the challenge. Any unaugmented human who listened to the CD without benefit of an implanted modem wouldn’t get a sense of who you are, only a sense of noise and chaos…
Um, come to think of it, I withdraw my objection.
And finally, satellite view of contrail clutter left by passenger airline flights. This is an amazing picture.
Oh, I just can’t allow you to enjoy something cool without tying it in with feckless morons on teh intarwebs. So behold, the terrible “truth”! Vapor trails in the sky are really secret weapons and weather control experiments by the government who is trying to poision you!
It’s kind of awe inspiring to think that the same species that produces engineers capable of building jet aircraft also produces the people who make up conspiracy theories about contrails and natural cloud formations. *sigh*
Woooooow. “Our atmosphere has an increasing electron density. This, in combination with extremely low frequency (ELF) radiation may create energy levels sufficient to generate manmade geophysical effects such as earthquakes.” One wonders if these morons know what an “electron” is.
Our Intarweb has an increasing moron density, clearly. And this is the third time today I’ve been able to use my “full of stupid” userpic.
Oh, and regarding‘s CD challenge, would it be cheating if I wrote up an autobiography, saved it as a text file, used a modem to convert it to an audio signal and burned that in Redbook format to a CD?
If Einstürzende Neubauten counts as music, then that should too.
I hope the work success evens out into massive profitability and lewt.
Is your company planning on some sort of networking of the information on the handhelds? If it had GPS it could store the locations of these storms and said data could be collected for much sciency goodness.
Why is “H Plus” an obscure phrase among transhumanists.?
Oops, bad grammar on my part. What I meant to say is that “of all the people who see the license tag, only a handful (the transhumanists) will get it.”
Ah. Got it.
I hope the work success evens out into massive profitability and lewt.
Is your company planning on some sort of networking of the information on the handhelds? If it had GPS it could store the locations of these storms and said data could be collected for much sciency goodness.
Why is “H Plus” an obscure phrase among transhumanists.?
but bud
You promised to have onyx done by now 😉
waiting patiently has its draw backs y’know.
I emailed you this before, but i’ll put it here as a reminder.
“One suggestion though – it struck me that “underwear” should possibly include bras for women. For me anyway, one of the great pleasures in life is time spent watching a woman in bra and knickers – Onyx never seems to allow that to happen!”
but bud
You promised to have onyx done by now 😉
waiting patiently has its draw backs y’know.
I emailed you this before, but i’ll put it here as a reminder.
“One suggestion though – it struck me that “underwear” should possibly include bras for women. For me anyway, one of the great pleasures in life is time spent watching a woman in bra and knickers – Onyx never seems to allow that to happen!”
Oops, bad grammar on my part. What I meant to say is that “of all the people who see the license tag, only a handful (the transhumanists) will get it.”
Oh, and regarding phoenixgeisha’s CD challenge, would it be cheating if I wrote up an autobiography, saved it as a text file, used a modem to convert it to an audio signal and burned that in Redbook format to a CD?
Yes–because it doesn’t meet the objectives of the challenge. Any unaugmented human who listened to the CD without benefit of an implanted modem wouldn’t get a sense of who you are, only a sense of noise and chaos…
Um, come to think of it, I withdraw my objection.
Ah. Got it.