Ethanol is not an answer for gas substitute...

Several people have been touting this idea of using corn as a gasoline substitute. Well, they're wrong. It is not likely to be cost effective.

http://healthandenergy.com/ethanol.htm

Condo featured in Portland Tribune...

There was an article this week in the portland tribune about the building I live in.

Organic::Farming:Linux::Microsoft

Today I went to see the The Real Dirt On Farmer John. This random thought occured to me as they were discussing the fact that all these people from Chicago were willing to pay to get back in touch with the origins of their food, the illusion that being closer to your food was something innate to the human experience and ultimate made you not feel better but actually be better. Or maybe they thought it made you feel better and that is better because everything is really just feelings anyway. I couldn't help but wonder that it might be something similar with Linux, and other open source projects. It's this physchological need to understand how things work, or the security to be able to figure it out 'just in case'.

Most of us have become completely detached to the origins of our food, and most people seem fine with that, but some people just aren't. Some people will always try to build their own cars or food or flying machines or operating systems from scratch. Its just how it is. In my own work, even if I rely in the end on another solution, I always must be satisfactorily convinced I can build it myself before I will accept the work of others. I wonder if this is a limitation, like those who are more quickly able to accept the output of others without question can go farther because ultimately they are more efficient. Fred Brooks, when faced with trying to understand the reason of others always said to assume reasonable competency.

Linux is like organic farming. It keeps us in touch with the landscape of transistors while layers of complexity are compiled on top of it in order to increase productivity, reliability, quality of life, etc. etc.


Back to my threaded memory manager...

Mac Attack

So, I'm at one my favorite local coffee shops, stumptown, getting caught up on a few work things I'm writing up, and I look down the row of tables...there are 7 tables including mine, 7 Mac laptops, and one aged IBM T40 Thinkpad. The Thinkpad is mine.

Back in Portland...bought a condo, selling mine

Spent the past few days getting back in the swing of things in Portland. Got a few evenings with friends and caught up on mail, etc. So many things so many things.....biggest news is that I decided to sell my condo and buy a slightly bigger one in the same neighborhood. Now I'll have a real office area and will stop putting burn marks on the kitchen table from laptop batteries. There is more light, and more space. The kitchen is remodeled and bigger, the bathroom is bigger. More details later, we still have to close and such. I really didn't want to leave my building, a great location and some good people, but just needed the space.

Re-entry at work was a real challenge. It felt like the first day of high school walking in again. I started back on a Thursday so the first week was a 2 day week, but I worked a full week last week. I'd be lying if I said it was good to be back at work. It is nice to have a routine and at least know what town I'll be sleeping in for awhile.

Now to get ready for China and the move.

Lending direct consumer to consumer...

I love this business idea. Found the link on digg.com:

Buddy, can you spare 10,000 quid?

"You've heard of peer-to-peer file-sharing. How about peer-to-peer lending? British startup Zopa pioneered the business, where people with bulging bank accounts cut out the middleman and lend directly to other consumers, earning the interest that would otherwise have gone to a bank....The Online Banking Report has released a study covering the company and a similar U.S. startup, Prosper.com."

Whitsunday Island Sails and Airlie Beach...

We spend the last 2 days and nights aboard the Wings catamaran cruising around the Whitsunday Islands. Stacey did some snorkling and Brent and Adam did some diving around the Great Barrier Reef as well as just taking in the sights and sounds of the sea. Lots of sea life all around the Reef, fishes of all shapes and sizes! The Coral was great in some areas, in some areas its obvious there have been too many people getting their fingers on it. I still can't get over the number of fish! We saw lots of 'Nemos' as they are now called (disney culture permeates the universe, perhaps it is the dark matter the 'soon to be found out' mistaken astronomers speak of), stingrays, dogfish, napoleans, etc., etc. We also have lots of underwater pix from the trip we'll post when we're back in the US.

Today we're in Airlie Beach just cruising about town until our final flight within Australia to head back to Syndey for one last day then we begin our trip home. While Stacey and I have had a great time, we both agree that it'll be nice to be back in Portland with friends and be able to talk on the PHONE with folks. Its been a great lifestyle the past few weeks, but one that I'm glad to say was just temporary. I want to have wireless internet, great coffee, my RSX, and wander around town wreaking havok with friends on bicycles and otherwise.

See or talk to most everyone very soon!

Hoping I still have a job when I get back :)

Buy my Book: Game Programming Gems 6 :)

Last year I was the General Programming Section Editor for Game Programming Gems 6. Its finally out, in time for GDC 2006.

Take a looksie here!

Surfing Byron Bay, Brisbane, Airlie Beach, Surfer's Paradise

The cyclone appears to have headed back off into the ocean now. We're booked to head out of Airlie Beach in 2 days to go on a cruisy catamaran and things are shaping up well. We have spent about 3 days in Brisbane (ummm...Brisbane is not near as cool as Sydney). Visited the XXXX brewery and did some sightseeing around town. We also went to see Koalas, Kangaroos, Emus, and Wallabys at a park. Then we went out to a fancy dinner and ate kangaroos, emus, and wallabys. We also had crocodile which was rather chewy and wombat for dinner. Wombat tasted okay.

We also spent some time in Surfer's Paradise. That place is not so good, although it does have the worlds largest residential tower, it was just kinda a tourist town with a not good vibe. Byron Bay, however, is absolutely wonderful. We spent some time there and came back after we found out abuot the cyclone and got ourselves a killer room at the Aquarius backpackers. Yesterday Brent and I even took some surf lessons. Today we're going to head out into the water and not sure if we'll rent surfboards, boogie, or just mess around. Tomorrow is travel all day to get to Airlie Beach. We've gone to see a few movies at their wonderful local theater that has these loungy sofas with zebra faux fur upholstery.

While we're happy it looks like we'll be able to head out to see the Reef, etc. it looks like we'll miss Cairns which is a bit of a bummer because they had a really cool looking gondola ride through the rainforest. Its the right tradeoff though and the time in Byron has been really great. Good conversations and interesting weather patterns as the hurricane battled with a high pressure system inland (just kept switching between rain and sun, all the time for the past couple days).

Ta ta....

Cyclone Wati and The Curse

No, we are not on our sailing trip. For those taking a glance at the weather, the eastern coast of Australia is caught in the middle of a category 3/4 cyclone. No, wait a second, 2 cyclones. Right now, Wati is off the coast pounding us. Just before, Cyclone Larry at category 5, blew through and devastated Townsville and the sugar crops in the area. We had spent a few days in Byron Bay then went up to Airlie Beach to catch our sailing boat. After flying up there they told us it was cancelled, so we were kinda stuck (we had called and they assured us everthing was on track, $700 in travel later we get told they were wrong, ahem....). We did some brainstorming: the coast was just hit by cyclone #1, roads were out, towns were blown away (Townsville was impassable by rail or car). We couldn't go north except by plane, and that was iffy cause the profile of the hurricane had it headed straight for us, and Cairns was being pounded. After sleeping on it, we bought some tix back down to the great town of Byron Bay about 10 hours south.

So, during the night the cyclone has turned SOUTH and headed this way. Brent, who flew from sunny and warm Austin to join us for the next 2 weeks, has pointed out that he has been through 5 hurricanes in the past year or so and we're pretty convinced this is all his fault :) Right now its raining like mad outside, we're in Byron Bay, and its very unlikely the storm will actually get this far south, but it has that look, like it really wants to, from the maos, and the rain pounding the pavement behind my head right now convinces me its just outside. Its actually warm, and we got ourselves a 2 story suite with a deck to watch the storm. Last night a GIANT bat landed on a palm tree by our porch, these things are like 36 inches tall with a 4 foot wing span, its an incredible creature.

We booked another boat for next week. Not the Avatar, which was an awesome racing catamaran, but another with equal promise: a little cushier and a little slower but still a fast moving cat. We'll see how things go.

So we're safe from cyclone Wati for now but our northern travels to the Great Barrier Reef area are kinda on hold. We're debating on some time in Tasmania and some other options.

More later...