I saw this story this morning, that Sandia Labs has come up with a smart bullet. That is a pretty cool thing, for sure. But way down at the end of the story there’s this quote: “Where we’re going is to a world where the individual soldier, Marine, sailor or airman lives in a bathContinue reading “Too Much Information”
Author Archives: pirateguillermo
Get Excited!
Back in October, I wrote this: So right now, what do I want? I want to be a good piper, I want to be a good husband, I want to be a good father, and I want to put good into the world. I’m still working on the actual implementation. I guess I need toContinue reading “Get Excited!”
How Long, O Corp?
I saw this headline on the BBC this morning and I thought, “You know, that is a wrong question.” The right question, I think, is, “How long should a company live?” Whether a company is successful or not, I am of the opinion that it ought to ride the carousel after a brief run andContinue reading “How Long, O Corp?”
When to Lie, and Why
The title of this post refers to a wonderful book of manners, “How to Behave, and Why” and I’m thinking about that particularly because we tell ourselves that we shouldn’t lie. We especially shouldn’t lie to the government. Not only is it not right thought nor right action nor right speech to lie, but itContinue reading “When to Lie, and Why”
Anxiety Magnet
I have been listening to Niall Ferguson’s book, “The Ascent of Money,” and it’s making me nervous. I’ve read other popular books on economics, as I find I’m fascinated by the field. This is dovetailing in my mind with other books I’ve read: “Collapse,” by Jared Diamond, “What Went Wrong,” by Bernard Lewis, as wellContinue reading “Anxiety Magnet”
I May Work Again After All
Shortly before I left my last job I was disillusioned with the company so much that I’d started interviewing at other places. I wasn’t a great match at any of the places I talked to, and then Junglemonkey convinced me just to quit. That was totally the right decision; it’s let me be bitter andContinue reading “I May Work Again After All”
Cleansing Fire
What do you find in a woodpile, besides wood? Anyone who spends only a couple of minutes thinking about it will come up with the straightforward answer: bugs. And yes, that’s what I find in our woodpile. I’ve found beetles, worms, millipedes, spiders, scorpions, rats, slugs, earwigs, and even a couple of salamanders. I shouldn’tContinue reading “Cleansing Fire”
An -ism Trap
I’ve been listening to a bunch of Commonwealth Club podcasts: Joel Brinkley on Israel, Eric Ries on “lean startups”, Gavin Newsom on the state of the state, and then this panel on public-private partnerships to boost jobs. By the time I got to the panel, I’d been completely primed to be thinking about structural change.Continue reading “An -ism Trap”
Content Migration
We’ve changed this blog to use WordPress instead of our own hosted Drupal installation, and I’ve got all the old posts dumped to an XML file. WordPress doesn’t know how to import the schema we’ve got, though, and it’s made trickier in that the posts to all three of our blogs were stored in theContinue reading “Content Migration”
Piping Practice
Today I made some really beautiful noise on the pipes. “Too Long in This Condition” was, I think, the high point. The taorluaths were happening, my hands were relaxed, and the drones were well-tuned. I’m making progress with “The Sleeping Tune” and getting speed with “Cullen Bay”. Today I felt like I could play forContinue reading “Piping Practice”