Anansi Boys

I have just finished Neil Gaiman's very new and really nice book Anansi Boys, and I'll quote him from the postscript:

"... I'd like to go on record grumbling about the current complexities of the copyright system, which means that you're quoting four words of a song and you have the publishers suddenly saying, 'OK, we'd like two thousand dollars for that, please.'
And you're going, 'You must be joking,' and have to rewrite a line or two in the book instead."

... I couldn't agree more. Although I don't think it is so much "complexities" in the copyright system as probably simply big corporations these days being very, very greedy and over-possesive and super-protectionist.
I've noticed it happens in films too. Film producers wants a character to sing a verse from a song, and it can't happen because the copyright owners of the song wants a lot of money for it! I am sure it happens also with art work seen in the background of films and all kinds of things.
It is ridiculous, people, OK? If we don't let the other kids play with our toys, just a little bit, then all of us will be stuck with only our own toys and we will all be poorer for it.

... Oh, and the book is good too. Although I think Neil Gaiman is not the strongest in the world regarding creating suspense/plot in a book (he usually fakes it by hinting at a great conflict ahead which never really appears*), he is great at quirky humor and equally quirky characters, and lots of, uh, quirky ideas and concepts kicking about. I recommend his books American Gods, Anansi Boys, and Coraline, as well as his comics, not the least Sandman.

*This may get challenged, so I better support it:
1) the storyline in the The Sandman where Morpheus went to hell to confront Lucifer. It was made very clear that there would be a frightful battle... which never happened.
2) The predicted apocopalyptic war in American Gods, which also failed to materialize in the end.
3) It is hinted a few times in Anansi Boys that things would become really bad in the end. Also never happened, except briefly.

I am not complaining, I don't need battles. It is just an observation.
I think though that Anansi boys (the first half only) needs something to make you read the story, like what is the essential problem the character has to solve... it is not at all clear. Suspense, in the classic definition: you don't know what will happen, but you do care.

Smile

A smile lifts your mood. Even a fake smile. Try plastering a big fake smile on your face for two minutes straight, and see what happens. (Maybe you should be alone, so nobody calls the police.)

Friends

I am having a relaxed month in October. In a good way.
(Most of the time. Actually on Sunday I had some ideas and produced some stuff which will be great for my business. Very cool.)
Right now I am rewatching Friends on DVD. I love that show. I suspect that many of the intelligentsia looks down their nose on it because it was the most popular show ever. But they are missing out, for it really was brilliant as well. Very damn funny, and very warm, and actually had tons of subtleties too.
I am waiting with baited breath for what will replace Friends and Frasier. Will and Grace can't carry the burden alone.

The Great Galactic Grid

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Optical mice irritation

When Optical mice first came out, the big line was "finally a mouse that works on any surface!" And what did I find? For the first time ever, after I got an optical mouse, I actually had to use mouse mats! Because they just don't work well on wooden desks. You'd think it would be the perfect surface for them, because all the wood grain would give the optical sensor something to track. But the cursor on the screen moves very erratically with them. They actually work better with a sheet of white paper, which is very weird. I have tried many different mice and many different desks.
It must have something to do with the slight surface unevenness of the table (what you can feel rather than what you can see). This also makes no sense, because why would that disturb an *optical* system?
Does anybody else know about this?

Work and riches

"I have long been of the opinion that if work were such a splendid thing the rich would have kept more of it for themselves." -- Bruce Grocott

Another good joke... but unfortunately it perpetuates the myth that most rich people are lazy. Books such as The Millionaire Next Door documents that the great bulk of rich people work very hard indeed, and spend little. Which is how they became rich in the first place.

Shakespeare and monkeys

"We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true." -- Robert Wilensky, speech at a 1996 conference

... This is a good joke (as far as I can determine, aimed at the quality of writing on the Net. Well, it was many years ago. :) -- but it also holds the key to an important truth I considered a while ago, which tells us about mathematical complexity, as well as the power of creativity... to wit: not only will a million monkeys NOT produce Shakespeare's works, or even just Hamlet, they will not only produce one straight sentence.
This can be proven, at least subjectively, by a simple Google search. Type in a simple sentence which is not a common expression, put it in quotes and Google it. Odds are it will not be found in all the 5 Billion pages on the web.
Examples:
"I went to my sister's and got drunk."
"Blue is a bad color for airplanes."
"Autumn is nice for Caucasians."
"I can see empty sky from my window."
... Google goes 'did not match any documents' to all of them.

Think about this. Despite the fact that the "million monkeys" are not hammering at the keyboard at random, but in fact writing in English most of them, they won't even produce a random sentence. And then consider the fact that each time you add a single letter, this gets twenty-six times less likely! It then becomes clear that not even a trillion trillion trillion monkeys hammering away for all the age of the universe would produce "Hamlet". (And if they did, how anybody know?)

The original monkey premise is actually a dig at creativity: "anybody could do what Shakespeare did, heck, a bunch of monkeys could do it if you gave them time enough."
Never has less true words been spoken. Nobody but Shakespeare could write Hamlet. Nobody but van Gogh could make Sunflowers. Nobody but Lennon could write Across the Universe.
An act of creation is divine, literally.

Only listen to half

I found a mortgage at a incredibly low interest.
But I don't need it, for I am now a millionaire due to the stock trading tips I get in the mail.

I can get Viagra at half price.
But I don't need it, because my manhood is now like a cucumber, and without surgery too!

I have a Rolex these days.
But I don't wear it, for everybody now has a top-quality replica.

Morale: if you read your spam, only listen to half.

Quality And The Art Of Purpose Maintenance

New article of mine:
Quality And The Art Of Purpose Maintenance

It has been a while since I wrote anything like this, so I'd be interested in hearing if you find it helpful.

Google Local

Have you ever used Google Local to find something in your own neighborhood?

I don't know how the heck they have collected and organized all that data!
If you select 'View Larger Map', you get a map as big as your window and screen can handle (which is big in the case of my Apple 30-inch screen), and if you zoom in to max, you'll be amazed at the detail. I almost expect that if I put in a new flower bed in the garden, it will be on the map tomorrow.
Not to mention of course that they can find all the local businesses somehow.

I don't know which countries they have covered so far, but it works fine for UK, you just replace .com with .co.uk

Taboos

I am told that in Mormon areas like Salt Lake City, the teenagers don't have sex much. This is generally because they don't believe that oral sex is "sex". (Clinton is not alone.) They are quite serious about this. Probably even anal sex is not "sex". Of course they have a lot of "non-sex".

Whereas where I grew up, in Denmark in the seventies, none of us, practically, had any sex, oral or otherwise. And Denmark is perhaps the most liberal and permissive country in the world.

Does this give anybody pause for thought? That perhaps the more rules and suppression there is about something, the more it flourishes?

Not to mention: if it has to be hidden, then kids don't know anything about protecting themselves from pregnancies and sexually transmitted deceases.

About parties

"You have to go out," people tell me occasionally.
"Why?" I say. "'Out' is just like 'in', only without the comfort and the things I need."

What I don't get it that by "out" or "fun", people generally mean clubs and pubs and parties. In other words, noisy, crowded places where you can't hear each other talk, so you have to ingest alcohol or other drugs to pass the time. Big woop. Sure, that's how I want to spend my time and money. Not.