The Next Generation
A few weeks ago, I had a chat with a young lady from Brazil about how technology will affect the behaviors of kids just being born now. She argued quite strongly that screens and digital content would almost completely supplant more traditional mediums. I agree with her. I don't honestly think people will be purchasing DVDs in 20 year's time. I give the movie industry that much time to get it together on the digital...
Culture Change
I have little say about the details surrounding the Climate Change debate that's ongoing in the public sphere. I'm not undecided on the issue, but to borrow from Homer Simpson: "Facts are meaningless, you can use facts to prove anything that's remotely true!"What rouses my curiosity is the nature of the stances people take. On either side of the debate, at the extremes, are people who seem to believe in one conspiracy or another; it's...
Levels
A few months ago, I drove around 2500 miles across the United States. The trip went remarkably smooth, save for a small patch of traffic we hit in the middle of Missouri. The highway was closed, so all traffic was diverted onto a two-lane side road...traffic which included several semi-trucks. The reaction to the delay, and the glacial pace of the massive trucks, was evident from the behavior of the drivers in the cars. They...
Temperance
As a virtue, I think that temperance is sorely underrated. In my recent trip to France, surrounded by people who wanted to give me copious amounts of absolutely delicious food, I made an effort to translate the word "temperance" into French. There seems to be no equivalent, even a word that describes the concept. People focus their efforts to get healthier on diets. I've have never tried any of these diets, but most of the...
Ransacking the Pyramids
In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, there have been reports of looting in Egypt. People desperate for money have been ransacking archaeological artifacts from museums and selling them over the Internet. Even worse, tombs in Egypt are being dug up as people delve for items that they can sell for money to feed their families. There are also reports of widespread looting in Syria, where ISIS is doing a lot of the looting in order...
Sacrifice
"If you could have dinner with any person, living or dead, who would it be?" History has an extremely small proportion of great men and women who are remembered for their deeds and ideas. Far more numerous are the multitudes who pass away into insignificance. The past is rife with individuals who, though we don't remember them, or even know who they are, chose to give up their lives. Sometimes this is meant literally, and...
Outlook
I am an individual who tends to eschew tooting my own horn, and I also am of the slow-witted kind of character that, when asked a question, doesn't devise an answer until long after it is needed. But yesterday, I had a friend ask me: "Jim, how do you develop your outlook on life?" I thought for a moment, then responded, "Very carefully." To which I would add after the fact: industriously, selectively, enthusiastically, and...
Virtue
Like most questions that really matter, there isn't an easy answer to this one.
I would say this: a life of virtue is characterized by not allowing your actions to be driven by the whims of your emotions.
That may not be the whole story, but it's the only sufficient prologue.
Edumacation
When I was in 9th grade, I had an English teacher who insisted that if we wrote in-class essays in pen, that we correct our mistakes with Whiteout. "Why can't we just cross out our mistakes and write a correction next to it? Isn't that the same thing as using Whiteout?" I asked. I mean, regardless of how you fix it, if you notice your own error and correct it, what does it matter? "Because,"...
"Everyone Should Learn to Code"
I've been hearing this sentiment a lot lately. As someone who has been developing software for a living for almost a decade, I like the audacity of the statement. As if software development is a skill that is applicable in all cases, to everyone, everywhere. Balderdash. If not everyone, then who should learn to code? Easy: Anyone curious to learn about how software works and how it's created.Maybe this applies to everyone, but I doubt it....