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2008/02/05
Document ActionsSimul-reading
I am currently refreshing myself on the software development side.
I have been involved with software development since 1979, and lead great teams. Much of this reading is either review or "filling holes" that I am finally rounding out. I am always looking to improve my skills and comprehension, so I've recently undertaken reading a handful of books simultaneously. Not all are "technical", some are just "betterment". Technology specific:
General Software Design (not so technology specific):
General "Betterment" of self and/or entertainment:
What is do is read one chapter from each book each day (usually). This seems to work really well for me, it helps me think about different challenges from different perspectives, and how I wold resolve them from the various approaches. I know from conversations with others this is not exactly a "normal" approach, but I find it great for get a very complete, holistic, whole picture approach, which is how I like to delve into things. Anyhow, back to reading and coding. Cheers for now! -Hawke
2008/02/09
Reminisces 1 - Silicon Valley (part 1).
I have been finding the more time I spend in Spokane, the more fondly I remember my days in the Silicon Valley / Bay Area of California.
Do not get me wrong, I think Spokane is a great place to raise my sons. I am just feeling a little frustrated with how far behind this town is related to technology and other modes of thinking. Even the local Linux user group seems to be years behind what I am used to dealing with. This reminds me of the days I spent in Utah and Oklahoma, but even more so. People here are so uninspired. It's all very steady, plodding and "getting by with good enough" approach to life, rather than invigorated, creative, high quality approaches. Salt Lake City, Utah always felt about 2-3 years behind where I was at when I lived there. When I moved to Silicon Valley I felt "A ha! At last!! Everyone here is at the same level, thinks in similar fashion to where I had been at, and wants to make a difference in the world. I felt as though I was (finally) among kindred folk that I could relate to after so many years of not finding people to connect with in Utah and elsewhere. Whereas SLC, UT was about 2-3 years behind, Oklahoma City, OK, seemed to be about 3-4 years behind. But Spokane, so far seems to be a painful 5-7 years behind in it's thinking related to technology (pre 9-11), and maybe 30-40 years out of date in it's approach to business and employment attitudes! More thoughts to come later.
2008/02/17
Timpanogos Tale - Sandblasted then fell 30+ feet - Summer 1991
I recently recounted to someone via text chat, my "run in" one Summer afternoon around '91, with some pretty foolish decisions on my part nearly giving me the "Darwin Award".
I thought I would copy most of my side of that conversation here. It shows how foolish I could be in my "youth", but also how bloody lucky I am to be alive (and I have been fully aware of that)! I'm just grateful I've survived this long with all the foolish things I did when younger! Now I look forward to getting to enjoy a "ripe old age". From around 15 to 23 years old, the list of foolish things is long, some silly, some rather serious. Though I had a few more recent foolish things like my motorcycle trips between '01 to '03 (see postings under Travel and Motorcycle categories for those). Silly - or more just "what a stupid way to die" (Darwin Awards) type: I was hiking the back of Mt. Timpanogos. oh wait. there's two parts to this.... Part one. The trip to the hike. I was riding motorcycle then (my first street one) a 1974 Kawasaki z900 with headers and souped up by it's previous owner (long story on the acquisition of this bike). I was following some friends from Salt Lake City, Utah, down to north of Provo towards the Mt. Timpanogos area ( http://www.utah.com/nationalsites/timp_cave.htm ) It was Summer of '91. A. No helmet law in Utah, so did not wear one. B: Came over "point of the mountain" a small sort of pass-like section between the Salt Lake Valley and Utah Valley, and there is a rock and sand quarry there right where the freeway (I-15) passes by. It was a sunny, hot summer day. So I was only (stupidly) wearing shorts, hiking shoes, and sunglasses, with my shirt tucked away. As I cam over the hill, the wind kicked up all the sand into a little micro sand storm. YEEEAOOWWWW!!!! Sandblasted my chest! I lost visibility as sand went into my eyes, and the pain made be flinch so much I almost laid down the bike. I should have taken the warning from that for an omen as to the rest of the day. Finally we arrived at the hiking spot, on the "back side of Timpanogos" (East side). it was around 90's to 100 degrees or so. We were hiking up the trail, it was hot, there was a nice cool waterfall beckoning. So at a point where the path was right by it, I stetched out my head to cool off under it, And promptly sllipped on the moss and algae, falling down in a free fall, head first! It was around an 80' or more drop to the pool at the bottom. I could see a broken tree on some rocks sticking up out of the pool, and I was heading straight there, to be broken on the tree and rocks. This was one of those "time suspended" moments. lots ot time to think, and berate oneself for one's foolishness, but I decided this was just too dumb a way to go. s Somehow I managed to flip around right side up (probably thanks to either my past with Kung Fu or Aikido). Then I saw a small cleft in the rocks just to the right of where I was falling towards, i managed to reach out my hands behind me and claw the rocks enough to divert my fall just enough to that mini-pool cleft in the cliff (which was only about a 30' fall instead of the higher terminal velocity option I was on). And successfully landed in the cleft. I NAILED my shins on some of those rocks, and had torn off my all my fingernails on both hands (that lead to the longest period I've ever gone without playing my guitar every day, that I've ever gone since I started playing guitar, it was for a couple of weeks or so for my fingers to be usable again on a guitar without extreme pain). But I survived. I was so elated! I let out a loud WAHOOOO! of relief, and even thought strangely in that moment "that would have been fun if it had been intentional!" (sheesh!). Meanwhile my friends, above, who could not see whaere I fell, thought it was my death scream! It took a while for me to work back sideways on the cliff to the path, but we were all relieved. I did not finish hiking the rest of the way up (could not have). My motorcycle ride back was taken VERY SLOW, and with my shirt back on.
2008/02/18
Virtual Reality for the Disabled - Creative Recreation Program Ideas and TrendsW. A. Hawke Robinson (c) 2007-2008 Recreation Programming RCLS-385-01 (2007-01-17) Creative Program Ideas & Trends Virtual Reality for the Disabled.
Goal Use Virtual Reality technologies to help those with various disabilities (except blindness) to engage, in a 'virtual' way in activities that would normally be very difficult, if not impossible for them in the 'real' world.
Technology is quickly catching up to make this a more and more viable option for recreation opportunities for people that would otherwise be extremely limited in their recreation choices. It could quite literally open up an entire 'new universe of possibilities'. As the technology becomes less intrusive and more transparent, as well as the costs less prohibitive, it will likely become a very effective tool both in recreation and rehabilitation, and the probable trend is that it will become more and more mainstream and adopted by a larger segment of the population each year, including both those with disabilities and those without. 'The goal of a virtual reality (VR) system is to place the user in a synthetically generated three-dimensional environment, that he or she can directly manipulate. Ideally, users cease to think of themselves as interacting with a computer; they think of themselves as interacting with the environment it has created. Special input and output devices allow a user to interact with a virtual environment. These capture the user’s motion and gestures and produce the sensory feedback from the synthetic environment to the user’s vision, hearing and touch.'
'VR technology is of inherent interest to those with disabilities for four reasons (Lanier 1992, Middleton 1992):
Virtual Reality techniques can also be used in rehabilitation technology through compens-ation of motor and sensory deficits, allowing a disabled person to explore and manipulate new environments. It therefore has the potential to be used as a training aid for skills such as spatial co-ordination and orientation.„ http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1810779,00.html Mind power allows disabled to take a virtual strollJo Revill, health editor 'A new 'virtual helmet' which harnesses the power of brain waves is allowing severely disabled people to feel as if they can walk and move again, opening up the prospect of using the mind to help them control wheelchairs, computers and even false limbs. Just by imagining their feet moving, patients using wheelchairs can again experience what it feels like to stroll down a high street, thanks to the work of British scientists who have found a new way of using the power of thought. They have devised the helmet which can link brain wave patterns to a virtual reality system, allowing the wearer to enter an illusory world of movement.' 'I found it exciting, very exciting,' he said afterwards. 'At first it all felt strange, having the cap on and being asked to think about moving my feet, but gradually I felt as if I was in that world. At one point I completely forgot it was a virtual world and that I was part of this experiment. It was really interesting, and much more enjoyable than I expected.'' http://www.tiresias.org/reports/hdti4.htm http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/kuhlen95virtual.html http://www.csun.edu/cod/conf/1999/proceedings/session0031.htm Virtual reality boosts rehab efforts Life-sized, 3D video game allows patients to ‘be the joystick’
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