I am reading Human Development and Interaction in the Age of Ubiquitous Technology. I came across this book, by accident, when scanning titles in O'Reilly The author is from Bangladesh, but he refers to every book he could find on the subject - an exhaustive list!
But he does not include any on Software - which is redefining what Development can be - in this vast new ecosystem.
I have been dabbling in it, and I hardly understand it - but I do know it is something else.
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Good Guy, Bad Guy
Fifteen years after I left America, I am still upset about my life back there. Americans think they are wonderful, when they are not.
And that begins with the way they treat their children. Psychologists have coined a label for it - the Dysfunctional Family. And every therapist spends his life helping his clients with this.
The best of them, will make this explicit - and carefully explain what this amounts to, and what they are trying to do. But it doesn't take long for them to realize how difficult this is - and how difficult it is for people to change.
Usually, they just want their symptoms cured, without solving the problems that caused them. Because everyone assures them - this is impossible, and even undesirable. They will have to accept the way things are, and learn to live with them - whether these things are good, or not.
There is some truth in this - the world is too big for us to change it very much, and we will have to learn which parts of it we can change, and be satisfied with that. Without forgetting that we were forced to make this choice.
This forgetting can lead to many problems, that cannot be predicted. Bizarre behavior can result, that no one can understand - because the reasons for this behavior have been forgotten.
Before we are born, we are aware of what our mother thinks of us - whether she likes us, or not. And we decide what we are going to do about this - abort, or tough it out. As adults, we are still living with this choice - and it is the job of the therapist to make this choice conscious.
Which most of them do not.
And that begins with the way they treat their children. Psychologists have coined a label for it - the Dysfunctional Family. And every therapist spends his life helping his clients with this.
The best of them, will make this explicit - and carefully explain what this amounts to, and what they are trying to do. But it doesn't take long for them to realize how difficult this is - and how difficult it is for people to change.
Usually, they just want their symptoms cured, without solving the problems that caused them. Because everyone assures them - this is impossible, and even undesirable. They will have to accept the way things are, and learn to live with them - whether these things are good, or not.
There is some truth in this - the world is too big for us to change it very much, and we will have to learn which parts of it we can change, and be satisfied with that. Without forgetting that we were forced to make this choice.
This forgetting can lead to many problems, that cannot be predicted. Bizarre behavior can result, that no one can understand - because the reasons for this behavior have been forgotten.
Before we are born, we are aware of what our mother thinks of us - whether she likes us, or not. And we decide what we are going to do about this - abort, or tough it out. As adults, we are still living with this choice - and it is the job of the therapist to make this choice conscious.
Which most of them do not.
Politicians must Support their Supporters
This morning, I got a notice from Act Blue, saying I had made another donation, to a politician I had forgotten about. I had agreed to make a monthly contribution (a few months back, when I was very impressed with her) and she was still benefiting from it.
If she had been smart, she would have put me on her mailing list - and frequently let me know, who she was, what she was doing - and thanking me for my continuing support.
She did not do this, and I cancelled my continuing contribution.
If she had been smart, she would have put me on her mailing list - and frequently let me know, who she was, what she was doing - and thanking me for my continuing support.
She did not do this, and I cancelled my continuing contribution.
Monday, January 29, 2018
The Holy Terrors
Amazon
What can I say about this? I can only say 'It fascinates me, and I can hardly put it down."
The midwestern, religious background I came from - will not understand it at all.
What can I say about this? I can only say 'It fascinates me, and I can hardly put it down."
The midwestern, religious background I came from - will not understand it at all.
The Future of America
Some things about this future can be predicted easily - since they are already happening.
Americans will continue to reproduce, there will be more of them all the time. And these children, when they grow up, will demand the same Affluent Life their parents had. And they will be disappointed.
American wealth (per capita) is no longer rising, and is probably falling - especially for Americans with no marketable skills. There is still a job market, and a demanding one - that wants the latest skills. And these have to be acquired by individual initiative. Something many young Americans do not have - and are not likely to acquire.
We live in a time of rapid change, especially in the job market - that is ruthless. If you do not have the skills it wants - your future will be limited.
There will continue to be jobs for those with the skills the market needs. New (and improved) products will continue appear, and skilled people will make these. And continue to have a comfortable life - with an income of about $100,000 a year.
But these will be a small part of the population - 10 percent, at the most.
Americans will continue to reproduce, there will be more of them all the time. And these children, when they grow up, will demand the same Affluent Life their parents had. And they will be disappointed.
American wealth (per capita) is no longer rising, and is probably falling - especially for Americans with no marketable skills. There is still a job market, and a demanding one - that wants the latest skills. And these have to be acquired by individual initiative. Something many young Americans do not have - and are not likely to acquire.
We live in a time of rapid change, especially in the job market - that is ruthless. If you do not have the skills it wants - your future will be limited.
There will continue to be jobs for those with the skills the market needs. New (and improved) products will continue appear, and skilled people will make these. And continue to have a comfortable life - with an income of about $100,000 a year.
But these will be a small part of the population - 10 percent, at the most.
Sunday, January 28, 2018
An Angel, a Flower, a Bird
New Yorker
I will quote the opening paragraph, even though it is long - it will give a taste of his writing.
I had been told that most people flying from New York to Austin, Texas, are apt to be en route to conferences with either legislators or professors (Austin being both the state capital and the seat of the state university), and that my mission—to talk with a gentleman who had rocked the international vaudeville world in the nineteen-twenties and thirties with a trapeze act he did disguised as a girl, to the music of Wagner and Rimski-Korsakov—would not, even though he was Texas-born, be considered by Texans a sufficiently serious reason for visiting their state. I suspected at the time that my informant was not entirely correct, and my suspicion has since been confirmed. In Texas, there are quite a few vaudeville buffs, I have discovered, who are respectfully knowledgeable about the career of Barbette (as the gentleman I had come to see was known professionally). And Since Barbette is the hero of one of the best essays on the nature of art written by Jean Cocteau, the French poet, novelist, dramatist, draftsman, and cineaste—an essay not unknown in university circles—his name enjoys, thanks to that connection, academic prestige at Austin as well as elsewhere. It is true, however, that although some of those admirers knew that Barbette was Texas-born, it was generally unknown that he had returned to the state and was living in Austin.
I will quote the opening paragraph, even though it is long - it will give a taste of his writing.
I had been told that most people flying from New York to Austin, Texas, are apt to be en route to conferences with either legislators or professors (Austin being both the state capital and the seat of the state university), and that my mission—to talk with a gentleman who had rocked the international vaudeville world in the nineteen-twenties and thirties with a trapeze act he did disguised as a girl, to the music of Wagner and Rimski-Korsakov—would not, even though he was Texas-born, be considered by Texans a sufficiently serious reason for visiting their state. I suspected at the time that my informant was not entirely correct, and my suspicion has since been confirmed. In Texas, there are quite a few vaudeville buffs, I have discovered, who are respectfully knowledgeable about the career of Barbette (as the gentleman I had come to see was known professionally). And Since Barbette is the hero of one of the best essays on the nature of art written by Jean Cocteau, the French poet, novelist, dramatist, draftsman, and cineaste—an essay not unknown in university circles—his name enjoys, thanks to that connection, academic prestige at Austin as well as elsewhere. It is true, however, that although some of those admirers knew that Barbette was Texas-born, it was generally unknown that he had returned to the state and was living in Austin.
There is something else that draws visitors to Austin - it is an active part of the software ecosystem. And many software conferences are held there - something software developers must do frequently to see and be seen - and to see where they stand in that highly competitive, fast-changing power structure.
But I must return to Literature, and Cocteau, of whom I know nothing. And Francis Steegmuller, of whom I know nothing either. And of the French, of which I am as ignorant, as the Hottentots.
I am from the American Midwest - from a remote part of America, that is itself remote.
I did download The Holy Terrors and I am reading it. I should not being enjoying it - but in a perverse way, I am.
History's Great Military Blunders and the Lessons They Teach
Audible
I got this audiobook because it was free - I had too many Audible credits, and was about to lose some of them, if I didn't use them.
So I downloaded this book, and started to listen to it - and I am still listening to it. It's amazing what military blunders we have made - every kind possible.
I got this audiobook because it was free - I had too many Audible credits, and was about to lose some of them, if I didn't use them.
So I downloaded this book, and started to listen to it - and I am still listening to it. It's amazing what military blunders we have made - every kind possible.
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