*Transcendental *Logic

Tech Notes from your friendly online blatherer:

1.  I used to really like ScribeFire (a Firefox extension) — it’s easy to call up & get rid of, and great for managing multiple blogs — but after a recent update, it became really slow on all my computers, so I can’t recommend it as completely as I would have.  Ah well.  Keep an eye on it if you’re a blogger; maybe it’ll get fast again, and in the meantime it’s still not bad.

2.  Ubiquity (also a Firefox extension) IS TEH FUTURE; I highly suggest you try it out.  It’s the closest thing you’ll find now to a StarTrekesqe “Computer?  Please do x, y, and z for me…” …I’m always amazed when I see natural language processing working at all in the real world, and this little app is one impressive example, seriously.

3.  After years of being stuck with Quickbooks and other Intuit products (all while hating the company because gods they suck), I’m finally free to try GnuCash as the main accounting software for the impending business.  I’ve got it all set up — which was deceptively easy, as long as you RTFM — but the next few weeks will tell how usable it is.  Wish it (and me) luck!

4.  My Wii is something I probably shouldn’t have spent the money on (but to be fair, it wasn’t my money — I bought it with the first $350 in royalties I got from the Ubersleep book; how effing cool is that??!  THANK YOU GUYS!!), but I’m consistently really impressed with both its design and the intentions that it portrays.  It’s beautifully designed inside and out, and you can really tell that it’s high-quality equipment made of good parts — and it came with all the cables and everything it needed.  But even more than that, little things, like, it can play GameCube games, which is purely lagniappe on the company’s part.  And this is a good example of why it’s a good idea for a company to throw such bones to their customers:  I’ve never had any interest in Game Cube, but I went out and snagged a game for it just because my Wii lets me play them…a friend of ours recommended Tales of Symphonia, and yeah, if you like anime-styled RPGs, this is the BEST one I’ve ever played (and I say that having played it for a total of 20 minutes so far)!  So, see, even ignoring the smackdown the Wii gave to other next-gen consoles thanks to the work they put into it, Nintendo also adds a neat feature they don’t need to include, and as a result they’re boosting an outdated revenue stream by interesting me and people like me in Game Cube games.  I only hope I can run my company that well!

5.  Lastly, kick me for not mentioning this sooner, because my EPIC search for good syncing software is over now, and that deserved a bit of trumpeting and flag-waving which I didn’t get around to.  However, since it’s been about a month since I found Dropbox, I can at least say without guessing or stretching the truth at all that IT’S A FREAKING MIRACLE.  My problem was a deceptively tricky one:  I use several computers daily, and I keep a pretty sizeable chunk of files that cannot, cannot get mixed up or mis-versioned….as a writer, just about nothing is more painful than accidentally losing a page, a paragraph or even a few words that you changed in one of your pieces.  Such a mishap often destroys my motivation to continue with a piece, so I avoid it at all costs.  But how to sync almost a gig of files between three computers running three different operating systems, and preferably a secondary backup too, without losing track of versions?  Believe me, I’ve tried nearly everything, and all of it has risks I just hate (like, using a disk or thumbdrive, there’s always some time somewhere when the only up-to-date versions are on that little thing…::shudder::)  Enter Dropbox.  This software (Windows AND Linux compatible, woot!) is everything I’ve ever wanted:  It’s small, FREE, runs in the background, and simply keeps the latest version of everything (in the folder I tell it) updated.  It retains folder structures and metadata, and moreover keeps an online backup that I can access at any time.  If there’s a conflict, it just saves both.  So literally, when I change a file, it’s changed online and on all my other computers that happen to be on, within minutes.  And I can pay a reasonable price if I want a lot more space, too.  I’M IN LOVE.

This ends our very dry and stuffy technology report for today. 

Congratulations to America and everyone affected by America for avoiding a disastrous election outcome, and may you always trust yourself first whenever possible.

Is everybody, even basically unassuming folks, just a little vain about something, or is it just me?

I realized the other day that I’m quite vain about my hair.  (To be fair, ignoring it would be difficult; it is Legion!)  I always thought that because I didn’t fuss with it very much, I must not be very attached to it…but it’s probably more accurate to say that I don’t fuss with it very much because I don’t believe that fussing with it is good for it.  My no-blow-dryer, no-hairspray, no-heavy-chemicals-or-harsh-soaps edict is a bit more fashionista than monastery, I fear. 

I knew when I realized that I have four devices with which to preen my hair — a plastic brush, a fine plastic comb, a boar-bristle brush and an ox-horn comb — and that I use them all regularly, and for specific types of follicular manipulation. 

FOUR!  Henry David Thoreau would have a heart-attack at the sight of that, probably.

Hm.  Well, hopefully my complete failures at things like fingernails, makeup and clothing will buy me some austerity-points when I need them!

And, for fun, a non-exclusive list of AWESOME MARTIAL ARTS MOVIES TO SEE IF YOU HAVEN’T:

*   Iron Monkey

*  Drunken Master

*  Once Upon A Time in China (all of them!)

*  The One

*  Kung Fu Hustle

*  Shaolin Soccer

*  The Big Fight

Oo, this is worth a mention — St. Gasoline hits me with a "WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT?!" post with his Top Ten Philosophical Thought Experiments writeup.  It’s a very good list and I might even totally agree with it.

He describes all the experiments and what they’re for (very well, I might add), but just for fun, I’ll give the list of winners.  This is mostly because I’m fascinated by what a cool list of names it makes.  Anybody out there a musician?  This would make a bomb-ass list of track-titles for a concept album!  (Or chapter titles, for that matter.  Hmm…)

The winners are….

10.   Twin Earth   (Putnam)

9.    The Chinese Room  (Searle)

8.    The Beetle Box   (Wittgenstein)

7.    The Rabbit-Stage   (Quine)

6.    Theseus’ Ship    (Plutarch)

5.    Induction   (Hume)

4.   The Liar   (Epimenides / Eubulides)

3.   Achilles and the Tortoise    (Zeno)

2.   The Evil Demon    (Descartes)

1.   The Cave   (Plato)

…What’s really weird is, no kidding, I have already read the source material for every single one of those.  (It was close - I just covered Quine and the Rabbit Stage this semester!)  That’s a little cool — it’s nice to know that either my education is adequate, or St. Gasoline and I share an alma mater! –  but also a little disturbing and a little disappointing, because it’s such a great list and I didn’t get a single "I gotta read that!" out of it.  Hmph.

PD

His mother committed suicide on Mother’s Day.

He was trapped in a meat locker labelled "Slaughterhouse Five" during WWII, and was one of only seven Americans to be captured by the Germans and survive.

He once ate dinner with my husband (who was a teenager then).  This is because my husband’s grandfather is freakishly brilliant and knows all sorts of weird folks. 

He studied chemistry, and then later anthropology, in college.  His love of writing was rewarded by first being kicked out of a literary school for his stories being sub-par, and then having his first university thesis rejected for bad writing.  He was on the verge of giving up when Cat’s Cradle suddenly became a best-seller.

He considered Mark Twain a Saint.  (Can’t say I disagree.)

Every time I think about giving up writing, Kilgore Trout appears in a dream and cusses me out. 

Kurt could draw quite well, and once did an album cover for Phish.

He was a secular humanist and lifetime member of the ACLU.

Of the troops in Iraq, he said that their morale was already "shot to pieces", and that they were "being treated, as I never was, like a toy a rich kid got for Christmas…"  (This coming from someone with a Purple Heart medal.)

An asteriod, 25399 Vonnegut, is named after him.

Kilgore Trout dies, in the novel TimeQuake, at the age of 84 … which is how old Vonnegut himself was when he died yesterday.

Enjoy your rest, sir.

(Now would be a good time to go buy some of the master’s works, right?  Good; I needed an excuse to get more books… ;)

I found this list I wrote elsewhere, and thought, geez, everybody can use this!

I accumulated this knowledge through years of philosophy, religion and politics done in public settings, often with suits on; from having near-continuous fights with the crazy lawyer in my family; as well as through my extensive experience with husbands and the the world’s most ornery toddler.  You can trust me here.  ;)

These are general tips, equally applicable to school, dinner-table philosophy fights, relationship battles, and courtrooms. And of course, in all of those situations, the idea isn’t just to HAVE a civil argument, but to stand a chance at WINNING one, right?  Right!

(By the way, my current favorite book on arguing is Today’s Wonderful Book.  It looks cheesy on the outside, but it’s great advice from a trial attorney of 20+ years, very easy to read, applicable to much more than just law — and, surprisingly, very morally upright and cool.  So if you like this topic, or want to be more of a badass when arguing with people, pick it up!)

Five Rules for How to have Civil Argument, or, How to Viciously Disagree Without Bloodshed.

1.   NO Name-Calling.  Sometimes this just takes brute strength on your part, but train yourself to either withhold all invectives, or to re-direct them away from the person you’re talking to.  Personal attacks are NEVER allowed in a civil argument; in fact, they’re a really fast way to lose.  If you’re the guy who attacked the other guy, you automatically lose in the eyes of all bystanders, including your opponent.  You can’t win without credibility, and delivering personal attacks automatically makes you "the bad guy", the one who "took the cheap shot"; hence, your credibility is gone.

2.   Keep your voice level.  Not "low" necessarily, but level.  Don’t get screechy or have outbursts.  If your stress-level gets too high to say what you next want to say without losing control of your voice, change the subject briefly — make a joke, comment on how hot it is in the room, get a drink of water, whatever.  How you talk is as important as what you say.

3.    Be Pleasant.  As pleasant as you possibly can.  Notice how smiling little old ladies with Southern manners freaking always win the arguments they’re in — even if they have the weaker position, logically?  Yeah, there’s a reason for that.  Arguing is a test of composure as much as of wit and brains.  The main trick to this is to remember that you’re not arguing against a person — you’re arguing against a person’s ideas.  Be utterly vicious and calculating in your attack of those ideas — go for blood and don’t hold back.  But use a scalpel, not a sledgehammer, because arguing professionally is like playing Operation; you need to achieve your goal without damaging the person in front of you.  If you damage them, then your victory, IF you still achieve it (it gets a lot harder; see above) will be tasteless and cold, and not do much for you in the eyes of anyone who was watching.  Do it with a smile, though — hell, act apologetic about giving the other guy the smackdown — and you’ll exit like a Gladiator.

4.  Stay On-Topic.  Except for making short detours to diffuse tension, stick with the one thing you’re arguing.  (This is blisteringly important in personal and family battles!)  Remember, you’re fighting ideas, not people.  Don’t let yourself be dragged away from the Argument About Curfew into the Argument About Boys, or what have  you — stick with what you need to show/prove/say in order to win this argument, and save the rest for later.

5.  Don’t Lie.    This goes again to credibility, but more than that, telling the truth is your only defense against really powerful attacks that are levelled against you — and there will be some.  Word things carefully; don’t say "all" when you mean "most".  Always assume that you’re "on record" when you’re arguing, since at the very least your opponent is going to do his or her level best to remember anything you said wrong and use it against you.  If you don’t lie, however, then when someone comes back with the devastating counter-argument ("But it’s been shown that 80% of all homeless people who leave the shelter get sick from being out in the cold!") — then you can still fall back on the truth of what you’ve previously asserted ("That may be true, but it doesn’t change the fact that the majority of homeless say that they’d prefer almost anything to being in the shelter.").  This little dodge is probably the most effective way I’ve ever seen to handle a really strong attack on your argument.

…And those are the top five, but, if I had to offer an Overall Platitude, it’s to remember to Yield To Overcome.  Arguing is like swordfighting; your footwork counts for a lot, and double-handed direct rush-attacks rarely work against anybody who knows what they’re doing.  (Which emphatically includes kids!  ;)

En Garde!