The Finger Factor

Just wondering: has the recent proliferation of touch screen devices had any impact on the popularity of messy finger foods?

The Land of Painted Caves - Finally

Well it's finally coming out, nine years after the previous book, "The Shelters of Stone". I started reading the series back in the late 1980s, if I recall correctly, when my mother and I were staying with my grandparents after my grandfather had a heart attack. They lived in a small town and the biggest selection of science fiction available was in Wal Mart.

I've always been more into hard science fiction, but after reading the novelization of Back To The Future I was willing to branch out a little. I bought the first three books in a paperback boxed set.

It's not a bad series. The author, Jean Auel, has reportedly done lots of research into actual prehistoric sites and artifacts, working them into her stories. No doubt some of the ideas included in the earlier books in the series have been displaced by subsequent research over the past three decades, but that is understandable; Arthur C. Clarke had similar issues with his Space Odyssey books. What's harder to swallow is the concentration of human innovations within the lives of the two main characters: animal domestication, tool invention, etc. But for a (Pre-)historical fiction one can easily suspend disbelief in this convergence enough to enjoy it. What's more off-putting is the apparent psychic phenomena and the practically Lamarckian race memory portrayed in the Neanderthals. If one approaches it as just being the characters' interpretations of drug-induced halucinations, it becomes tolerable enough to not get in the way of an otherwise interesting story.

I subsequently bought & read the next two books in hardcover, the first while in college, and the second after getting married and moving over 1000 miles away.

I've read the first three chapters of the new book at the Random House web site, and it looks to be setting up a few external and internal conflicts, and possibly a love triangle but that may be a red herring. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of lengthy re-exposition, thankfully, so if you haven't read the previous books there's a lot that won't make sense to you.

I've added it to my wish list. See all Jean M Auel's books, including several translations.

Belated Thoughts on The Kyle XY Final Episode

Okay, it's been a while since the series ended so abruptly. I meant to post a review a while back, but just never got around to it; either I was too busy to do it or too bitter. Mostly the former. Mostly.

Anyway, it's been a while since I watched it and don't remember everything (I guess I could watch it again on Hulu, but frankly I'm more into reruns of Enterprise these days, sci-fi wise) but I do remember this thought: I'm not so sure Jessi's clone-mom is really dead. She had some of the same abilities as Jessi, and one thing Jessi did was fake her own death by slowing down her heart to an apparent stop - precisely what she heard her clone-mom's heart do. It wouldn't have surprised me at all to have seen her make a reappearance in the next or subsequent season, had the series not been canceled.

Yes, I know the final season DVD includes a special section on what would have happened. I don't have it; I'm holding out hope for someone to some day pick up the series. It was really out of place on that network.

A Way To Catch Those Special Moments?

This looks interesting. It's a bluetooth earpiece with a built-in always-on video camera. It buffers the last few hours of video, and has a button to save the last 30 seconds as a clip. There's editing software to pull clips from the larger buffer. Apparently you can do it from certain smart phones as well, and post to various places.

It looks like just the sort of thing to capture those unexpected special moments. Just this morning my son was leaning back against the seat of the recliner while drinking from his sippy cup. He slipped (as he often does when leaning on furniture like that) and fell flat on his side, cup still in his mouth. It was cute and I recalled seeing this device. Maybe once the price comes down and the technology matures a little I'll get one.

Looxcie Wearable Bluetooth Camcorder System with White Camera Boom, Power Supply, Micro USB Cable, Ear Buds (Black)

A Thought: The Paradox of Freedom

What is freedom? The state of being free to do what you want, to make decisions, to act. Basically, it's having options. The more options you have, the freer you are.

But if all you do is try to maintain your freedom by keeping your options open, by not committing to an action or choice, you've effectively reduced your options to nothing. You've made yourself one of the least free people around.

Keeping your options open can be a valuable part of a strategy to reach a goal or maximize happiness, but only if the part it plays is to let you commit at the right time.

What Say The Post-Vroomers?

Driving home from dinner out today, wife & kid in the car, I got to thinking about kids and toy cars.

Back in the day it was, as I imagine it still is, inevitable that a kid playing with a toy car would make "vroom! vroom!" noises, or something to that effect, while pushing it around through maneuvers that would make any Hollywood stunt driver cringe. I'm pretty sure my kid will do the same.

But what about the kids of the next generation, or, more accurately, the kids of the first generation to know only electric cars or whatever ultimately replaces cars powered by internal combustion? Will "vroom! vroom!" continue to be passed on from generation to generation like the many nursery rhymes that still get recited after outlasting all cultural context? Or like the "tick-tock" of clocks of yesteryear? Or will the youths of that future generation coin their own onomatopoeia?

Seth Godin's Got It Wrong About Secret Ballots

I subscribe to the RSS feed of Seth Godin's blog. He's a bright guy, but he doesn't always get things right.

He says in his blog entry (When technology and tradition diverge) today:

"When the secret ballot was introduced, it just wasn't possible to count the votes in less than a few days. So a tradition was established, driven by the technology, not because it was the best way. Now, of course, the technology doesn't need that tradition any longer, but it's still here."

He's totally wrong about the purpose of secret ballots.

The purpose of secret ballots is to ensure that voters can vote their conscience without fear of repercussions from those who would coerce them to vote one way or another. It has nothing to do with any inability to have a running count. (Godin may simply be confused about what "secret ballot" means.) Even small groups who could easily have a running total using nothing more than their fingers use secret ballots too when they feel the need. Other groups specifically avoid secret ballots, particularly when those who are voting are representing groups of constituents and need to be held accountable for their votes.