Facebook posting

You know that 25 random things note that's been going around Facebook? I caved to the peer pressure, so here's mine:

just so you know, I posted 100 things several months ago on my blog: http://subsidedgravity.blogspot.com/2008/04/just-in-case-you-want-to-know.html. Some of them are a bit dated, but they're there.

1. I do not understand God's forgiveness of Ted Bundy (http://www.pureintimacy.org/piArticles/A000000433.cfm). Either (a) the characters in this Earth story are not as important as the overriding themes, or (b) I do not understand the story. I am completely incapable of such forgiveness, and that makes me a little worried.

2. My general extremism has spilled over into my online life. Hence, I start blogging, sign up for Facebook, Twitter, Plinky, imeem, etc., then I will just wander away for a few months.

3. In recent thoughts about work/home culture, I have realized that I don't know what most of my friends do for a living. Sure, I might know your brand/title, but I probably don't know what any of you actually do at 10:30 am on a Thursday.

4. I often (like on a daily basis) wonder if Christians worship God or Jesus. I know that they are kinda the same thing, but they really aren't. I wonder if the God-first and Jesus-first groups should get together and discuss. Don't invite the Mary-first group, though, until the second or third meeting. That could get complicated.

5. I am getting much closer to the day when I will admit that I will never actually write the stories in my head. Instead, I fear, I will simply post outlines on my blog (free of any claim to intellectual property) and see if anyone else wants to write them.

6. By looking at my current music playlist, I would appear to be either completely lost in this world or unstable. I prefer the first: http://www.imeem.com/dialogs/standaloneplaylist/?k=zMfkjtqib3.

7. I might have been the Lady of Shalott in a previous life.

8. "Crow's Theology" by Ted Hughes blows my mind.

9. No, Sheryl Crow, I am not strong enough to be your man.

10. I broke my guitar a month ago and am very sad about it. I threw it on the ground after a new string broke; its sad position against my office wall is a reminder at how crummy I can be.

11. During a recent play-date, my 2-year-old daughter ran up to me, pointed at her nose, and said "boogers". For those of you who have kids, you will understand the beauty of that moment. For those that don't, there's another random "daddy-thinking-his-kid-is

-so-cute" moment for you.

12. I only remember really crying three times in my life, and none of them were appropriate.

13. "Intent" is a tricky thing.

14. I have recently rediscovered my love of The Push Stars.

15. I do not invest wisely in people. I have known some of the greatest folks ever to be conceived, yet I spend so little time with any of them.

16. I think we all have our own Book of Nightmares, but I would bet that Galway Kinnell's is better than most.

17. I have always wanted to spend 24 hours out on the open ocean alone without much more than a raft and a notebook. There's something attractive about drifting on the thin line between an insanely deep, active world below and a vast, vacated world above.

18. I spend lots of time thinking about religion, race, politics, and the larger economy (not just money, but the commodity of everything material and immaterial); however, I rarely write about any (save religion).

19. I had a real outline/plan for my hippie rants recently on my blog, but I ran out of steam and veered off track. I guess that happens when you marry first-draft writing with the permanence of the internet.

20. from Swami Prabhavananda/Christopher Isherwood's translation of the Bhagavad Gita:
"In every age I come back / To deliver the holy, / To destroy the sin of the sinner / to establish righteousness. / He who knows the nature / Of my task and my holy birth / Is not reborn / When he leaves this body: / He comes to me."
I find it fascinating that both Hinduism and Christianity speak of rebirth, yet they approach the concept from such different angles. In the former, the goal is to avoid it; in the latter, it is the primary goal. Is any religion indifferent about rebirth?

21. I think my eternal heaven would be: sitting down with a never-ending bag of gummy worms, a bottomless Sprite, and getting to watch the stories of everyone's life (with a fast-forward button, of course).

22. I wish bartering was still around. Apparently, there is a fairly large bartering presence online; perhaps I will check it out during one of my extreme-Web phases.

23. Yes, White Lion, it is very sad when The Children Cry; I will be sure to let them know that we try.

24. I have only beaten one arcade game (in an actual arcade). It was the Simpsons game and I just kept pumping in quarters until it was over. It was a great day.

25. I am currently reading: "The Spiral Road" by Jan de Hartog, "I Know This Much is True" by Wally Lamb, and "Raising Holy Hell" by Bruce Olds. I just finished reading "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel and did not enjoy it (though you think I would re: 17). Soon, I plan on rereading "The Food Chain" by Geoff Nicholson and would love to dive back into the Transcendentalists. Remind me again why I ever watch TV?

shanti,
mjh

white rabbit

thanks to Rob for sending this my way: music_recommendations_four_approaches.

When I find the time, I'd like to tackle their question:
What Does Your Ideal Music Recommendation Engine Sound Like?

for now, it's back to work...

shanti,
mjh

santa fe saga

hopefully, I will find time to write and try and wrap up the first part of my hippie saga later tonight. For now, enjoy a wonderful piece of music with many memories/emotions attached:

	United States Coast Guard Band - Santa Fe Saga
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

first LDC book up for sale

Though I hope none of you will ever need this first book personally, I wanted to broadcast that the first in a series of Life Event books I am working on (from lawyers.com) is now up for sale.

Divorce: Articles from Lawyers.com: Life Event Series

In the coming months, there will be books published on several other Life Events ("Buy or Sell a House", "Automobile Accident", "Write a Will", "Identity Theft", etc.). Check out the on-line articles at lawyers.com and expect more announcements as the books go live.

shanti,
mjh

reposting "Counting my blessings"

Today, I miss you all, so I am going to repost something I wrote back in April of last year. I know more people now, so I need to update the list; also, life has changed over the past few months, but I am reposting it as it was. Perhaps this is a good thing, perhaps not.; the bottom line is that I want to tell those I love and miss that I love and miss them.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

counting my blessings...

I realize going into this post that I am treading dangerous ground. I miss my friends a lot, and I have been thinking lately about why. Obviously, the connection, be it deep and soul-touching or casual and social, is what begins/sustains any relationship. However, I have been discovering pieces of folks that I truly wish were still a part of my puzzle. Call it a realization and longing for "characteristics" over "character". So why boil an entire human being down to a few words? I admit it is unfair and a gross undervaluation of you all, but it would be impossible to focus otherwise. I truly miss the physical touch, sight, sound, and presence of so many people, but what I intend to do is define the most vivid piece of each person that is missing from my life. First, I have not pre-thought this out (it is a blog, you know), so if you are reading this and are not on the list, it simply means that I have not pre-thought this out, not that you mean zilch to me. I apologize in advance for the many people I will inadvertently leave out (and to the many females whose maiden names will be used). Second, if you don't like what is listed, sorry; I also miss that about you.

I miss (of course, in no particular order):
Wallace J's wisdom
Alison C's whole-heartedness
Melissa C's aura of empathy, humility, and craziness
Dacia F's wonderfully carefree whimsy
Jamie G's love for my friends
Carla S's intense sense of humor
Amy H's watchful inner eye
Amy R's steadfastness
Jamie W's ability to be positive and uplifting with witty, sarcastic realism
Rob R's mature ability to belong and not belong concurrently
Ed B's soft-spoken, wise understanding
Rob B's wit ("hot apple thighs"; still makes me laugh)
Jaime C's complete ability to "get" me
Don D's rock-and-roll, life-changing friendship
Lizzie T's beautiful compassion
Susan T's boundless pursuits
Jonathan H's deep, deep soul
Rick Z's always-looked-stoned casualness
Rachel D's passion and grace
Angie O's survival instincts
David B's charisma
Donna C's bubbly love of life and you
Henry C's ability to unite
Sally P's laughter
Tracy G's intensity
Allyson W's never-say-die, drama-filled, beautiful friendship
Brett H's unconditional love
Rachna R's ability to see the truth in things
Supriti P's ability to change the rules
Howard H's hugs and simple complexity
Kate B's gentle confrontations
Katie B's wonderful intenseness
Sima's G's strength
Julie W's inspired/inspiring art
Clay F's smart conversation
Yara A's comfortability
Harry P's "Harry"-ness
Jonathan D's shock value
Lindsey K's constant ambition
Erin H's tenacity
Jeff S's vision
Sharon D's ability to care just enough
Cyndi B's correct valuation of importance
Pam H's honesty
Christine's gentleness
Mike's New-York-style attitude
Vicki M's nervous confidence

*disclaimer* For the most part, I have left family out.

Point is: I miss you, and these are the primary reasons. Maybe tomorrow, I will list the second-most thing I miss about you. :o)

Consider me blessed to have known you all, and I am grateful for the qualities you shared with me.

shanti,
mjh

re:hippies, part 1 revisited

I was just going to post a comment to the comment string here, but instead I would like to revisit/restate my initial query. From my understanding (and I always must disclaim that I don't truly understand a lot of this, but I am trying to work through it), current applications use crowd-sourcing or some type of large data set to analyze the tastes of people and use that information to suggest "what" else might be purchased, listened to, watched, etc. Lots of consumer-oriented spaces do this, both online and in the real world.

For example, a program will report that out of 600 people who bought X Grateful Dead album, 500 of them also bought Y Phish album; therefore if I buy X, the program will suggest Y. That is a "what" comparison.

What I am interested is whether a "why" could be established instead of only a "what".

For example, out of 600 songs that I rate as excellent, could a program analyze the metadata (rhythm, speed, tonal range, etc.) of those songs and make a recommendation based on a "why"?

Or, using Melissa's example, could a program analyze my yearly shopping lists and not just recommend similar products (based on other shoppers' patterns), but instead analyze the ingredients, colors, texture, convenience (and other such metadata) and make recommendations based on "why" certain products were bought.

Make sense?

If programs could begin determining patterns of "why"s, it seems that a true AI would be much closer to realization. Not just what people are Googling, but why they are Googling it. Or in my case, not that Matt hates and loves hippies, but why he does so.

To be faced with such a program, more advanced than us (unless you can already figure yourself out), would truly be remarkable, scary, and evolutionarily progressive (none of the adjectives, by the way, that I ascribe to hippies).

shanti,
mjh

just a pic

me and the little one mesmerized by the Little Einsteins:




shanti,
mjh

re:hippies, part 1 (metadata and understanding)

There are two different subjects that I want to touch on re:hippies. I just had to get that first post out to lay the groundwork for a larger discussion on (1) social boundaries/PCorrectness and (2) whether patterns or metadata could be used to reconstruct personality. I think I'll start with the latter.

I used my love/hate affair with hippies to highlight the peculiar human dilemma (as far as we know it is only our burden) of having multiple emotional responses to a macro thing without always being able to understand (on the micro level) what discrete pieces we are responding to. In other words, if I were able to truly break down my personal understanding of "hippie", could I ever really separate out what I hate from what I love? Does my mind have the capacity to see and understand trends and patterns, or would a computer be much quicker, potentially smarter, than I at this task?

I have been reading a lot lately about Web 3.0 and the Semantic web. One of the most intriguing aspects of the semantic web is the effort to use metadata to connect and teach computers (or a larger AI) to recognize what is being represented and to not just simply represent it upon command. In other words, there is a large-scale push to make it possible for computers to not just display a graphical map but to understand what is being displayed and relative connections that might exist within it.

umm...at least that is my personal understanding of the terms today. I'm not quite sure if I "get it" yet...

So...I wonder if my personal metadata could be understood by a force more powerful than myself (AI), and, if so, could algorithms and connections be used to (1) understand me and (2) reconstruct me (not physically, of course, but virtually).

I have to begin with music and my personal musical tastes since music is prepacked with metadata, and it is easy for us to understand what exists in that space. So, given enough data about my musical likes, dislikes, and indifferences, could the metadata of said music lead to an actual understanding (and accurate prediction) of what my musical-tastes profile is?

So, here is a random list of some of the songs on my current playlist that I love (truly random; just hitting shuffle and listing the first five songs):

1) Brokedown Palace by the Grateful Dead
2) Shooting Shark by the Blue Oyster Cult
3) Homesick by Kings of Convenience
4) A Good Country Mile by Kevn Kinney
5) Said I Loved You...by Michael Bolton (oooohh...this one hurts to admit. bad shuffle luck).

Granted, way too small of a dataset, but you really don't want me to list all 64 songs (and I don't want to admit to some of them).

Let's look at the metadata and patterns that could emerge:
Metadata
1) Song title
2) Artist
3) Producers (and the like)
4) Date of publication
5) etc.

musical patterns
1) rhythms
2) chord progressions
3) harmonies
4) instances of diverting from internally-established patterns
5) etc.

"non-musical" patterns (admittedly a misnomer)
1) lyrical (though it will be quite some time before a computer will understand "you drove me to the wall")
2) linguistic (frequency of interdental sounds, fricative, etc.)
3) voice tonality
4) rhetorical patterns
5) etc.

And what about other characteristics of every particular song: levels (how loud/soft is voice compared to instruments), blending, background noise, etc.

I am starting to think that music might have not been the simplest place to start this discussion... :o) At this rate, you would think it matters whether the singer was facing east or west (and perhaps it does).

Back to the larger question. Could a program analyze and gather data from a representative set of my musical likes and dislikes and understand my taste? I certainly don't understand the connection between loving Billy Joel's "The Downeaster "Alexa'" , Vengeance Rising's "Fill this place with Blood" and Patty Griffin's "Rain." And I think I would be quite miffed at a report that explained what the connections are and why I love them, essentially reducing my musical taste to a number.

However, the idea intrigues me. Is there a connection? There must be since some music resonates with me and some does not. So, what is that connection?

The problem for the AI would be having to account for non-metadata influences, like moods and memories. Of course I have emotional ties to many of my favorite songs/musicians, and it is very hard to fathom a virtual entity being able to quantify such things.

Color me interested, however, in how the semantic web might evolve beyond 3.0 and not only understand meanings and connections but perhaps even digest, dissect, report, and recreate them.

shanti,
mjh

p.s.--if some of these posts seem random, incomplete, suddenly-ended, scatterbrained, jumpy, etc., it is because they are. I am still trying to get my writing/thinking/time-management legs back. And I have a 2-year old.

the last resort

for something slightly different (and something I love without question). It's time for Mr. Henley to preach:


shanti,
mjh

hippies

So, let's talk hippies for a moment. Why? Because they have been on my mind for quite some time. First, a couple of disclaimers: 1) I use "hippie" like some use "ninja". It's an over-generalized label that might or might not actually refer to or represent hippies. So, if you think you are an overly-sensitive hippie who might be offended by my characterization of hippiness, this post is probably not for you. 2) Yes, I will over-generalize, bend the truth at times, contradict myself, and probably flat out lie a little bit to get my point(s) across. It's not about the journey, my friends, it's about my new year's resolution. [and, for you serious folk, this is (almost) a joke.]

Depending on who you are and what your relationship is to me, you might characterize me as someone who really, really hates hippies. OR, you might characterize me as someone who really, really loves hippies. Both statements are very accurate and are not rhetorically constructed to be parallel for kicks; i really, really hate and really, really love hippies...every minute...every day. It's kind of a problem.

If there is one truism here, it is that I certainly don't not have an opinion about hippies (read: I have an opinion...I just like the pompous-sounding emphasis of the other). I want to explore the contradiction in feeling and see where it takes me, and where better to do so than a very public forum. Gotta love www, huh?

HATE:
First of all, I hate the individual and collective introspection-without-action of a hippie. Sure, hippies will sit around and "figure things out, man", but when was the last time a hippie did anything about it? Or, perhaps I should say, when is the last time a hippie succeeded in doing something about it (whatever "it" may be). When is the last time a hippie changed the world? And I am not talking about the CEO of a Fortune 500 company who used to be a hippie. A used-to-be hippie is not a hippie.
Speaking to that, where have all of those hippies gone who were going to beat the system back in the late 60s? Weren't about 1/2 of them going to infiltrate the system and change it from the inside? The other 50% are still waiting.
I hate the non-action of a hippie.
I hate the borderline-anarchism of hippies. Look, if you dig anarchy, then dig it, live it (and not in that ignorant punk-band way; those aren't anarchists, they are just know-nothing destroyers). Don't participate in the system; that's totally cool. There is power in non-action if done completely and without faltering. What would happen if 95% of people did not vote, did not pay their taxes, did not participate? If you are going to make a non-action statement, just make it. And make it loud and with numbers.
I hate the temporary action of a hippie (yes, this contradicts my over-generalized statement that hippies are, in essence, inactive, but I disclaimed, so I am safe). Sure, I will honk for peace when I pass you and see you and your honk-for-peace hippie buddies holding your "honk for peace" sign...but what then? I have a hard time recognizing the logical leap between beeping my horn and the world hearing, listening, and laying down arms. I don't see the benefit in showing up for the world's largest paint-by-number-a-thon. It's temporary; it's fake-action; it's hippie.
I hate that hippies don't loudly fight the co-opting of hippiness by society (corporate, government, on both macro- and micro-levels). Allowing car companies and clothing lines to co-opt your essence, to co-opt and water down your beliefs, to diminish your power by cheapening it, come on, at least fight (peacefully) for your passion and your (sometimes) good name.

LOVE:
I love the entrepreneurial spirit of a hippie. A hippie will pick up rocks right off of the ground and sell you one for a quarter (usually in the name of peace). You might think I would hate this, but for some reason I don't. I'd probably buy one.
I love the stillness of a hippie. Most of the hippies I have ever known have been very slow to anger, slow to unhinge, slow to unsettle. I dig that a lot. Sure, this leads to non-action, but I dig the detachment of a hippie.
I love the music of a hippie. Period.
I love the love of a hippie.
I love the karmic/cosmic view of a hippie.

See my problem? See a solution? I don't. I even tamed my hatred of and purposefully did not over-love-gush about hippies. If you ever see me at a coffee shop, don't get me started b/c my fingers won't tire out when talking.

so...New Year's resolution time. I think I want to be more hippie in 2009 (ugh, that "other" side of me can't believe I just said that). Let me rethink...

Actually, I would like to be kinda hippie-2.0; that's what I think the world needs. a hippie (you know: loving, still, peaceful, karma-centric) that is socially-connected on a global- and local-level. A hippie that recognizes that "the man" is more transparent and malleable now (and that the power has shifted from the gov't to this www). A hippie that places action above inaction and uses that super-hippie-introspection-power to spread peace, love, and identity beyond co-optable catch phrases, cartoonish figureheads, and nobody-notices sit-ins.

Perhaps what the world needs is a plethora of hippie-ninjas, organized globally, and all tapped into the hippie 2.0 hive mind.

or perhaps I just need to leave hippies alone, move them to the back-burner of my mind, and use my virtual real estate to say something meaningful. I'll work on that.

shanti,
mjh

back, back, and moving foward

Contrary to how it might look, getting more involved in the virtual social world is not a new year's resolution of mine. However, for better or worse, I have plunged back in. I'm back on Facebook for the third time and have added Twitter to my web arsenal. Why, you ask? A dash of Jaime, a little bit of James, a pinch of Rob, society-wide peer pressure, and lots of curiosity.

so...time to integrate (or try to) and see what the combined power of social media is all about.

shanti,
mjh

p.s.--my new year's resolution? it has to do with hippies, and i'll explain another day.