LOST & Exodus

The LOST narrative (allegory?) seems to take on more and more Old Testament allusions, as well as broader Biblical ones. However one in particular struck me yesterday as I was reading my Bible (and had finished reading Slate's on-going commentary on LOST).

Smokey & Richard in Ab Abterno

Everyone remember the most recent scene with Smokey, as he confronts Richard on The Black Rock? Smoking, electrical arches, etc. Well, the following comes out of Exodus 19, about two months after God led the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses continues up Sinai and receives the Ten Commandments from God after this:

¹⁶ On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. ¹⁷ Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸ Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, ¹⁹ and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. ^c

²⁰ The LORD descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up... (NIV)

Given the dubious nature of un-Locke, this either goes nowhere, or makes it all the more interesting. I leave it to you.

Like God

me: heh

Are you on FB chat?

Jeff: Yep.

I'm everywhere.

me: Just like God...

Jeff: well… not exactly

Writing for Its Own Sake

Writer: One who writes.

It is a fairly straightforward definition but one I find more often than not difficult to fulfill. People tell me I am a good writer and I enjoy it, yet I rarely write more than pithy emails these days. So I decided that I ought to start writing again, for its own sake.

The best writers are the ones that write daily, even if most of the pages end up being recycled, to only be written upon and recycled again. I guess it is just the very practice of writing something.

I did a lot of my best writing when I was in China. I mostly blogged about stuff that interested me. Sometimes the topics, I knew, were ones nobody else cared about. Other times I tried to write towards a goal of other people being interested. Obviously writing about something you nobody cares about doesn't go anywhere. Surprisingly, writing about something that you know does interest them (but doesn't interest you) doesn't turn out well most of the time.

If I have more than one or two readers going forward I am going to be surprised. But I'm not writing for them. I am writing for me. I am writing for the sake of writing.

Food Insects

From Zach Braff's Facebook page:

Do you think Noah had to bring extra insects to feed the frogs? If so, were they told ahead of time they were the food insects versus the repopulating the world insects and if so to that, were they in a cabin like coach where they had to bring pre-purchased snacks?

@JJ: You are absolutely right.

Just That Cool

So my brother, M, & myself are driving down to Knoxville, TN as I write. My brother and I wanted something that wasn't on the local radio or XM -- both of which were available to us.

Coming prepared I pulled out an FM transmitter, my laptop, power inverter, and cell phone. Together, we are streaming The Current (89.3 FM - Minnesota Public Radio) while driving on I-75 south through Kentucky mountains.

Yeah, we are just that cool.

The Things You Find

I've been spending a lot of time packing (at least when this was written) and moving recently out of The Shelter back to my parents' house. Because I plan to move agian by January I am putting in more effort than normal so I don't essentially move twice. This is my most organized move every. It really gets better every time.

I think I've found all the instrutments I own, it is kinda of amazing. Apparently I just can't get rid of something musical after I get it. I apparently own all the following (and "tested" half of them while moving :-)

1. Accoustic Guitar
   
2. Electric Guitar & Amp
   
3. Recorder (for real, since 5th grade, and I still know the fingerings!)
   
4. A juice harp (aka "Jew's Harp", despite not being connected with Judisiasm.)
   
5. A tenor saxophone dating back to approximately 1929.
   
6. An shortened electric keyword (e.g., it is like a regular electric piano but missing an octave on either end.)
7. Harmonica in the key of C
   

I think that is it. I was pretty pumped about finding my juice harp again, and taking out the sax for a bit. I can actually play all of them but the keyboard (well, I can play most chords in the key of G and play simple melodies, but not really play.) But I figure not playing keyboard is compensated by playing Tuba. Unforatently, I don't have one of those on hand :-( They are pretty awesome!

I love playing all of these, even the onese I suck at (most).

Writ November 1st, 2008

Can Your Computer Do This?

My Computer Says:

 20:15:01 up 18 days, 23:56,  8 users,  load average: 1.91, 1.58, 1.58

What this means: my computer has been up for 18 days, 23 hours and 56 minutes while working the entire time.

This is why Tux* rocks my world.

Tux* is the officially unofficial mascot of Linux.

What Jonathan Can Work On

So for the first time in a couple of years I logged into LinkedIn on the recommendation of my manager who has offered to endorse me on LI more than once. That's kinda cool.

I found an endorsement from someone else I had requested some time ago. The end of it:

"...As for something that Jonathan can work on? Well, that would be easy, I think he drank too much Mountain Dew! :)"

"I made cupcakes..."

I made cupcakes, please help yourself, they are in the empty marketing cube

That is a nice email to be reading as soon as you get into work. Of course, I maybe be violating some confidentiality:

This email message and any attachments are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain information that is proprietary to [The Company] and/or its subsidiaries or otherwise confidential or legally privileged. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by reply, and delete all copies of this message and any attachments. If you are the intended recipient you may use the information contained in this message and any files attached to this message only as authorized by [The Company]. Files attached to this message may only be transmitted using secure systems and appropriate means of encryption, and must be secured using the same level of password and security protection with which the file was provided to you. Any unauthorized use, dissemination or disclosure of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited.

I Am the Awesome

On Thursday I had to get to the airport so I could visit Knoxville. The airport is 30 minutes away, I had to be there by 5:25 am.

I left at 5:00.

I was there at 5:20.

I am the Awesome.

Ooops...

At least it's the first time, not again. I think I just annoyed (or at least really confused) a VP. It's a long story. Still, note to self: do not approach [VP] again unless it is with good news...

On a Musical Note

I just have to get this out: Bill Gaither is worse than Perry Como, by a lot. The songs in and of themselves are ok, but not the performance. Maybe he thought he was Frank Sinatra, because it sounds like he is trying to croon like him. And no one croons like Old Blue Eyes.

Firefox is the Safest Browser Because...

Recently the Firefox start page started advertising itself as the world's safest browser. For the record the merits of this are up for debate, no one has decisively claimed that title yet. (Also, the add-in's that have helped make FF so popular may increase or decrease security.)

Anyway, the best part of the whole thing is this:

Using [Firefox] is the safest way to surf the web because:

• We don’t try to tackle the problem alone. An international community of security experts is working around the clock to make your web browsing safer (thanks to our open source way of doing things). It’s like having your neighborhood watch led by a group of highly trained ninjas. [Emphasis Added]
  

[...]

Hmk, so that's what those Firefox developer's are up to...

@ Tubagirl: Not all of my posts that show up were written during work hours, but scheduled to show up during the morning. If I write several posts at once I generally schedule them out two or three days in a row.

Breaks and Random Facts

Recently I've started getting some pretty severe pain in my lower right arm, a single tendon. I know because I can feel it. Almost no doubt from using my center mouse wheel too much. I use it navigating through records in MS Access, scrolling on webpages, etc.

So I did some research on computer ergonomics and found out that I am doing almost everything the wrong way. One of the best practices is to take 30 second "micro breaks" every ten minutes. There is no way I am ever going to hit every ten, but maybe I can do 20 or 30. So I go to take my first break, but start by navigating to http://time.gov because I know they have a clock with seconds there. And course, as I am "breaking" from typing everything I want to do is check out who is on IM, write blog posts, etc. Take me a far amount of discipline to sit in front of my computer doing nothing for 30 seconds.

While at time.gov I was reminded of an extremely random and amusing fact. Greenich/Zulu time is now called Coordinated Universal Time. Part of an international effort to get all the countries in the world (or all that have the capability) to be using the same time. The acronym for this is UTC, which obviously does not match Coordinatd Universal Time. Apparently this was a comprismise. The Powers That Be couldn't find an acronym that matched both French and English reprentations of their new name. So they went with one that didn't match anything.

Politics really can be funny.