Pre-approved credit card offers
Blog kitt decided around 23:44 on 22 October 2005 to publish this:I hate getting pre-approved credit card offers. I find them intrusive and, in my naturally slightly paranoid state, a bit dangerous on the identity theft front.
I had my name removed from the credit reporting agency pre-screen lists, and just wrote up how to do so. Highly recommended, btw.
Writer's block
Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 22:34 on 22 October 2005I'm not sure which is worse, having too much to write about, or having not enough to write about.
Mike and I have been busy with a lot of projects in the last few weeks. Enough that I can probably say I've had just a little too much to do. Doyle has been great in picking up some of the work, but I still had a lot of work to do. Mike commented, however, that I appeared to be swapping, and not as efficient/productive in my work as I had been previously, and, well, we needed me to be as productive as I had been.
Especially since my plan was to head off to Florida in two days for a week. Turns out, since I'm (supposed to be) playing in the tournament, I didn't have to arrive early to help out organizing the tournament. A mixed blessing, in as much as I feel a bit out of touch about not being involved in organizing the tournament, but, hell, I'd be playing!
Since I didn't have to worry about helping out, my plan was to find a wi-fi spot and work Tuesday and Wednesday, then play on Thursday and Friday and Saturday and, fortunes willing, Sunday.
Best laid plans?
Yeah.
Hurricane Wilma happened. Is happening. The airlines aren't officially cancelling the flights, and won't do so until Monday morning. So, we have to get up at 4:00 and get to the airport by 5:15 am, to wait around until 6:15 am until the flight is cancelled because they can't land in Tampa.
Or worse, fly to Phoenix, sit around picking our noses, then wait until we're told we can't fly to Florida, call up my mom and see if we can stay the night, wait around at the airport, play cards, program, read books, fly home.
We don't even know if the tournament is happening or not. We won't know until mid-Monday afternoon.
Sure, part of me is looking forward to having 8 hours to read, catch up on all. the. magazines. I have that have been building up for the last two months. Maybe even finish the latest Harry Potter and Unfortunate Event.
But the part of me that is terrified of flying (really terrified of flying), really, really, really doesn't want to be flying in unsure weather.
Into a hurricane.
So, I've been spinning my wheels with writing. What do I write about? Do I write about nothing (as this post mostly has been), or do I write about the billion and a half things crowding my head? Might be time to finish up one of the long-ass posts I've been writing.
I guess sometimes I have too much to say.
My first hate mail!
Blog Posted by kitt at 23:11 on 18 October 2005So, I run a winter league in Sunnyvale. I've been associated with this league in some way since 1998, either as a team manager, assistant director, executive director, or back to assistant.
About two - three years ago, I tried to pass off the league reins to Troy Wu, but was unsuccessful in doing so. I thought he was doing a fantastic job. Right up until the time when he completely disappeared. He didn't answer phone calls or emails. No one I knew knew what happened to him. The league almost folded because he had done the paperwork wrong, and disappeared.
He didn't play in the league last year, but has signed up this year. The descriptions for the signup haven't changed in the last ten years. They're the same as Bharat had them when he first did the online registration.
Well, Troy put his athletism as a one. The last person who did so was Kevin Shen about 5 years ago. Kevin did it as a joke, because said, "I won't move unless prodded, which is like a one." I thought this was funny, as Kevin is (was?) an amazing athlete and completely dominated the league.
I asked Troy why he put himself down as a one last Thursday, and expected him to reply with a humourous answer. Instead, I received the following email.
Now, part of me is, well, entertained, but part of me is very frightened, because I have not only misunderstood my relationship with Troy, but he seems to be very, very angry.
So, for your enjoyment, my first hate mail:
Kitt, I've had some time to think about your question: "Why did [I] put [myself] down as a 1?" And I think I owe it to myself to supply a more complete answer. Let me preface my response by saying, what a big fucking waste of my time to have to do this twice. I spent considerable time picking out my answers, which I'm sure is quite a bit more effort spent than most people who so poorly rate themselves (though can't blame them, the scale is at best inconsistent, and more like completely retarded) that they render the ratings entirely useless. Otherwise, how would totally stacked teams get formed alongside teams filled with piss-poor-obviously-you-are-a-2-not-a-10 players. Furthermore, questioning my integrity offends me. Seriously...If you want to talk parity...How do you do auto-draft with baggage? You might want to confer with your fellow CS fans about a problem known as N-Sat. If you've solved this problem, I'm guessing you two would have been inducted by the NSA and not allowed to put up websites where you use this incredible breakthrough. Then again, maybe the NSA doesn't appreciate how hard a good winter-league draft can be. Shame on them for not recruiting in the right places. But I digress. On another note, don't you accommodate people's bad nights? What does that do to parity, then? But, I guess, yes, I'm the problem because I put myself down--honestly--as a '1'. And, doesn't this increase the computational complexity of the problem? Or have you just shown P=NP, and are about to render all the world's cryptography useless? Can I be on your team when that happens? On another tack, perhaps you might have at least wasted some of you own time asking: "Now...what might have made an honest person answer '1' on the list? That doesn't seem right to me...Maybe it's the scale." I consider myself to be a person of the utmost integrity. Perhaps your time--and now my time--would be better spent asking other people how they rate themselves the way they do. Or asking people what they think of the scale. This reminds me of the 2 women who pulled me over for not putting my registration sticker on my car. I just hope, that some time, while some idiot douchebag is pulling me over for something retarded, her daughter is getting raped with broken glass bottles, burnt with cigarettes, and having her nipples slowly torn off with pliers and then subsequently drowned while she's pulling me over for a non-compliant sticker. Analogously, maybe check with a few others who are ruining the integrity of the rating system rather than waste my time. So, without further ado, let's go through the reasoning step by step. -- Level 10 -- "I'm a world class natural athlete. I run faster than almost everybody I know and have cat like reflexes. I can catch anything thrown at me, have lightning reflexes and have no fear of throwing myself at the ground for any reason whatsoever. I can sky almost everybody I know. I inspire others to play harder just by playing hard myself." Duh. -- Level 9 -- "I'm a gifted natural athlete. I run faster than almost everybody I know and have good reflexes. I catch almost everything thrown at me and have fast reflexes. I'm willing to lay out if I think I have a remote chance of getting it. I can sky almost everybody." I am hardly a gifted natural athlete. I am certainly not faster than almost everyone I know. I don't have terribly good reflexes, and I will occassionally drop. I don't lay out all the time, and I don't sky almost everybody. The person who wrote this description has a penchant for repetition. Unless there is a finer distinction between "good reflexes" and "fast reflexes" than I'm aware of. Also, how do "cat-like" reflexes differ from either "fast" or "good"? How about "puma-like"? Or maybe "thundercats-like"? -- Level 8 -- "I'm a gifted athlete. I can run competitively with anybody although I may not be the fastest. I catch almost anything thrown at me but don't have lightning reflexes. I lay out mostly on offense and very occasionally on defense. I can jump competitively with the best of them but I don't always get the disc." Again with the repetition. What is the difference between "gifted athlete" and "gifted natural athelete"? I don't run competitively with just about anybody. I don't catch almost anything thrown at me. I layout less on offense than I do on D, so that doesn't apply. I don't jump competitively with "the best of them", because in my mind, the best of them include people like Alex Nord & Andrew Lugsdin. At this point, the clear non-linearity--or even any attempt at linearity in measuring scale--should be obvious. I see almost no distinction between 10 and 9, except for the use of the phrase "gifted natural athelete" versus "world class natural athelete". Also, I have no way to measure myself against those standards. There also seems to be a tiny discernible difference between 9 and 8, except for the already mentioned "gifted natural" versus "gifted". Is the implication there that one has bionic limbs or parts while the other is au natural? -- Level 7 -- "I'm a good athlete. I can run competitively with most people but am usually not the fastest. I can catch most throws and have average reflexes. I lay out sometimes on offense and never on defense. I can jump competitively with most people but I occasionally get skyed." Now we're in the land of mere mortals, I think. I have no idea what "running competitively with most people" means if it also means you are not the fastest. Does this mean you never get the catch or the D? If you are always behind (i.e., "not the faster", perhaps not "fastest"), are you being competitive? Or are you just a poser? And, what is difference, again, between: * World class natural athlete (Ben Johnson) * Gifted natural athlete (?) * Gifted athlete (?) * Good athlete (NCAA Div I athlete?) Is that about right? Since '10' literally includes the best in the world. A good athlete (but not excellent) relative to those standards seems still high. I am certainly no D-1 athlete. -- Level 6 -- "I am an average runner. I can catch all easy throws and some of the harder ones (like hammers, blades, scoobers, etc.) I can jump pretty high but tend to get regularly skyed by taller players." For the ultimate--no pun intended--gap. How can you be an average runner? What does this mean in the scope of the world (again, since '10' was all-inclusive). Does this literally mean you're about average; i.e., about faster than 1/2 the folks, and slower than 1/2? Also, how is catching about athleticism? Isn't catching a skill? But, before I can answer whether or not I'm a 6, let's look at 5... -- Level 5 -- "I'm fast but there are others around me who are faster. I'm coordinated at catching and throwing, but do not have cat-like reflexes. I generally don't lay out too often. I can jump reasonably high but am not that competitive in that regard. I can catch regular throws but have difficulty with some of the harder ones (hammer, scoober, etc)." Now, we've gone from an inflection point to a straight-up discontinuity. I would guess from the wording here: "fast but there are others around me who are faster" is the same as "average runner". In fact, literally interpreted, it's equivalent to being a "world class athlete [who runs] faster than ALMOST everybody I know," emphasis mine. The impreciseness here is astounding. Also, coordination has appeared on the map again, but somehow correlated with reflexes. I do not possess cat-like reflexes, so I might be a 5...But hang on...Let's keep looking. I can't be a 5 if I also qualify for a lower level. -- Level 4 -- "I'm in good shape. I can run competitively with most people but am not the fastest. I catch regular throws but have difficulty with some of the weirder ones (no spin push pass, scoober, etc.)" Now, conditioning enters the picture! I am certainly not in good shape. Assuming monotonicity, let's move on. -- Level 3 -- "I'm in decent shape, but am slow or coming off an injury." So...There are only 2 conceivable reasons to be in worse shape than "good": either I'm naturally slow, or I'm injured. Those seem to be retaded choices. But I am not in decent shape, though I can't figure out what that means. -- Level 2 -- "I'm uncoordinated and slow, but in decent shape." Not even sure who this addresses. Who is in "decent shape", but uncoordinated & slow? I'm not in decent shape (which is identical to level 3). I'm not necessarily uncoordinated. And while not the slowest, could probably reasonably be considered slow. -- Level 1 -- "I'm uncoordinated, slow, and out of shape. But I'm willing to try hard!" I'm definitely out of shape. I'm slow-ish. I may try hard. This seems like the best fit. Does this help? And, don't even get me started on the skills...Next year, I'm putting myself down as a '3' there. Read your own webpages sometime. Also, congrats on the N-sat thing. No idea how you solved that problem without understanding something as simple as "orthogonality" (see skills/athleticism rating versus just athleticism). But good luck with your world domination. Yours in mathematics, Troy
051018 - WotD: puissant
puissant
From the nearly daily subscription email from Knowledge News, today's email discussing the Mayan history and classic culture: "The Maya and their puissant priests believed that human and animal sacrifice, bloodletting, and ritual drama and sport nourished the gods and were essential to society's continued existence." From the Merriam Webster online dictionary,- powerful, having puissance (strength, power)
The Approved Location
Blog kitt decided around 17:32 on 17 October 2005 to publish this:I tend to misplace things.
Well, I used to do so more often, less so now.
But I'm still recovering from that "more often."
Last week when trying to decide on a coat to wear to the City,
where I knew it would be cold cold cold, I put on a coat I hadn't worn in a
long time and put my hand into one of the pockets. I discovered the
second set of keys to my car.
The keys I had lost, oh, last year.
Although I was thinking, "Oh, frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!" I could hear
Kris chiding me for not putting the keys in the approved location way back
when, so that I didn't lose them in first place.
Ah, the approved location.
Kris has a system of putting things in their "approved locations." Which
isn't to say, "A place for everything and everything in its place."
Definitely not. Our house is far too cluttered for Kris to be adhering to
that one. Instead, in Kris' system, an important thing goes into its
approved location when put down or removed from his possession.
In the house, the approved
location is in the upside-down frisbee on the hallway bookcase near the
front door. Keys, wallets, loose change, badges, cell phones, and anything
else that needs to remembered but is small enough to be eaten by a dog goes
into the disc.
For non-home places, however, the approved location is always the
smallest, accessible, sealable spot. For example, our ultimate bags have a
small, inner, zipped pocket. Keys and wallets go into those pockets when
we're at the fields.
Unless they are the keys to someone else's car. Then the approved location
is the owner's hand, with his acknowledgement of receipt.
My backpack is also an approved location for some things, but it's a little
different. I bounce back and forth between using my Camelbak for carrying
small items, along with my Waterfield computer bag (thanks, Mike!) for my laptop, and my
really, really ridiculously comfortable REI backpack, shoving
everything into it, including the laptop. The former is better for
the laptop, the latter better for my back and shoulders (since the computer
bag doesn't hang off one shoulder). I still haven't decided between the
two.
Several other options for my portable approved location have crept up in the
past. I had a satchel for a long while, but I had to lean with that one.
Sandie purchased another carrying bag for me for Christmas last year. Kris
commandeered that one might quick. Probably just as well, as I very much
like the backpack, and always have mine shoved full of crap. Won't carry a
purse, but a backpack? Whoo!
Even carried one to the top of Juana Picchu, the mountain you see in the
back of all the pictures of Machu Picchu. The guide I was with at one point
tried to take my backpack, thinking he'd be helpful. When he realized how
heavy it was, he let me carry it.
I started using the "approved location" method of placing things where I can
find them again about, oh, three years ago or so, after I had lost my keys
again. I was trying to leave, but couldn't until I found my keys,
and I had spent half an hour looking for them everywhere. In
complete frustration, I exclaimed, "I would lose my head if it
wasn't attached to my head!"
At which point, he burst into uncontrollable, side-splitting laughter.
Which just made me angry.
Oh, sure, I can laugh about it now. Indeed my head is attached to my head,
in some way I guess.
But now, the keys go into the approved location when I get home, so at least
I don't have to worry about finding them.