Ancientrails in exile (I crashed my own website.\u00a0 Geez.\u00a0 Wrote this while it was down.\u00a0 Thanks againn to Bill S. who undid whatever I did.)<\/p>\n
August 7th<\/sup>, 2011\u00a0 5:05pm<\/p>\n Lughnasa\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waxing Honey Extraction Moon<\/p>\n Got a passport photo for my Brazilian visa.\u00a0 Looks like a booking photo.\u00a0 You can\u2019t smile during these sessions.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Facial recognition software struggles with recognizing faces anyhow and anything that distorts the face makes their task even harder.\u00a0 A great article in Wired talks about this problem and argues that the solution (if we want one) lies in the work of the caricaturist, who emphasizes the unique aspects of a person\u2019s face.\u00a0 This is the way our brain recognizes faces, but is very difficult for algorithms to master.<\/p>\n Now.\u00a0 If you\u2019re a terrorist, please don\u2019t smile for your passport photo because we may not be able to recognize you.\u00a0 Gives you confidence, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n Last night I made an attempt to increase my computer literacy by upgrading my WordPress software on my own.\u00a0 Note to self.\u00a0 Don\u2019t do that again.\u00a0 The result has been a database connection error.\u00a0 As near as I can tell, I\u2019ve succeeded in taking down my own website.<\/p>\n Mark and I have been rereading the Go handbook.\u00a0 It\u2019s a bit confusing, at least to me, but we\u2019re going to get to playing anyhow.\u00a0 This is a sophisticated, yet simple seeming game.<\/p>\n On to Tai Chi tonight.\u00a0 I feel like I\u2019ve made real progress over the last week.\u00a0 Slow.\u00a0 But progress.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n August 7, 2011 10:30 pm<\/p>\n Lughnasa\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waning Honey Extraction Moon<\/p>\n We learned a new move tonight.\u00a0 The instructor, Cheryl, said I had the basics of it after our first independent practice.\u00a0 \u201cGotta be a first time.\u201d I told her.<\/p>\n It felt good to get something other than correction.\u00a0 It\u2019s been a tough slog so far, but I\u2019m gradually pulling myself into the physical world, uniting mind and body.\u00a0 At some point I want to learn the Taoist thought behind it all.\u00a0 But not quite yet.<\/p>\n Not having ancientrails to post in feels pretty weird to me.\u00a0 I miss the familiarity of it.\u00a0 Posting on the blog remains one of the more steady tasks I have in my life.\u00a0 Fortunately, I don\u2019t need the program to keep writing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n August 8\u00a0 2011\u00a0\u00a0 1:55 pm<\/p>\n Ancientrails is still down though the error message has changed.\u00a0 That must mean Bill Schmidt, good friend and cybermage, has made some progress.<\/p>\n China scolded the US for \u201cgigantic military spending and bloated social programs.\u201d\u00a0 That roused a patriotic wait just a minute reaction.\u00a0 On several levels.\u00a0 The military spending is high, but it has been high for some time as the US, the current and still reigning world hegemon, has many enemies and self-interest spread over the globe.\u00a0 No matter what those of us who prefer peace or other foreign governments like China might want, the military spending reflects our status as the only ever global hegemon.<\/p>\n Bloated social programs.\u00a0 Only if you\u2019re not poor, old, disabled, a veteran or a person who wants at least some security in old age.\u00a0 Bloated is the wrong word, a Chinese mimicry of our own Tea Party.\u00a0 How ironic is that?\u00a0 The Chinese Communist Party lining up alongside the Michelle Bachmanns and Ron Pauls of American politics.<\/p>\n Do they need reform?\u00a0 Oh, yes.\u00a0 Will it happen anytime soon?\u00a0 I hope so, even though the result might negatively affect Kate and me.<\/p>\n What the Chinese could have scolded us for, what would have bit harder than hackneyed bumper sticker critiques, would have been questions about our love of democracy.\u00a0 Democracy as it exists in this country today no longer solves problems.\u00a0 It creates them.\u00a0 Why does the nation of Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jefferson and Hamilton find itself broken down into the politics of faction?\u00a0 Military spending and misshapen social programs are the not cause, they are the symptom of a nation no longer able to make its own form of government work.<\/p>\n Now, there\u2019s a critique.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ancientrails in exile (I crashed my own website.\u00a0 Geez.\u00a0 Wrote this while it was down.\u00a0 Thanks againn to Bill S. who undid whatever I did.) August 7th, 2011\u00a0 5:05pm Lughnasa\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waxing Honey Extraction Moon Got a passport photo for my Brazilian visa.\u00a0 Looks like a booking photo.\u00a0 You can\u2019t smile during these sessions.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Facial … Continue reading Ancientrails in Exile<\/span>