Where did the sun go?, The Big U, and The God Delusion

I spent the past 5 days in Pittsburgh. It was great to get to see Eric and Jess. In addition to hanging out and getting a tour of Eric's lab, we went to an Obama speech. As excited as I am about Obama I was a little overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of others who were there. It was really interesting to see him in person rather than just watching on TV - especially how he keeps everyone going not just through a 30 second segment on TV, but through a more than one hour speech. There was a blog post I had kind of written in my head about Hillary's "it's 3 am ad" but never actually posted (its title was going to be it's 3 am and you lost my vote) - now I wish I had written it so I'd have proof that Obama's comments were almost exactly the same as mine. Thanks to Eric and Jess for being great hosts even while working, studying for classes and studying for the boards!

While I was in PA I read The Big U by Neal Stephenson and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.

The Big U is a book Stephenson wrote in 1984 as a parody of American universities. It has the same style as Snowcrash, The Diamond Age, and Zodiac (fast paced, comedic action, starting absurd and working up to super absurd and the interweaving of many characters, and not really knowing where he's going with the story till near the very end). But it doesn't have the futuristic settings and predictions of Snowcrash or Diamond Age or the environmental message of Zodiac so I'd tend to read those first, but if you've made it through them and want more then definitely grab The Big U. While the story definitely is not set in Boston, I do think the big neon sign is a take off of the citgo sign. I'd say more, but it is really hard to describe without laying out the whole story.

The God Delusion was interesting. I think Dawkins had a lot of good points and in general I agree with him, but he took on such a huge topic that I sometimes felt like he sort of wondered from point to point. There obviously was some organization, but 400 pages clearly isn't enough room to disprove the existence of god (yes singular - I'll get back to that), explore the causes of religion, discuss how religion hurts and helps society, and discuss the importance of letting children keep their minds open. In addition it is written for a wide audience so he has to explain each concept (such as how evolution can build complexity from simplicity and the concept of memes). I almost feel like this book is designed as an introduction to the topic, which corresponds to the numerous places he recommends other books and websites that go into more detail on certain subjects. One thing he did to limit the subject is to keep to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (hence god as a singular).

There are a few points I found very interesting. The first was his proof that the existence of god is unlikely. Going into all the details gets to be long winded so I'll leave it to the book to explain this one. The second is discussing the concept that religion is need (or valuable) in defining morals. The interesting thing is that all three listed religions say some really good stuff, but also say some really really bad stuff (like stoning people to death for not observing the sabbath and that's not even close to the worst). Reasonable religious people choose not to follow the bad stuff, but the fact they are picking out the good from bad, shows they already have their own set of morals that lets them pick good vs bad, so why not just use those, instead of having religion as a middle man. He also makes a point that a child is raised by parents of a particular religion, but it should not be assumed that the child is of that religion until s/he is old enough to choose for him/herself.

I would recommend this book to everyone reading this blog (I think anyone who takes scripture as fact would get very offended very fast). Although it might be more interesting to read about more specific topics - like evolution (maybe the Ancestor's Tale) or memes and why people believe in god (maybe Breaking the Spell).

Telsa Man Out of Time

This is kind of a random one, but I read Tesla Man Out of Time. He was an engineer at the end of the 1800s and start of 1900s (around the same time as Edison). Tesla invented the original AC motor/generator which enabled AC power (the stuff you get out of the wall socket). While Marconi is usual given credit for RF (wireless), Tesla actually figured it out first. He did a whole bunch of other stuff including creating Tesla coils (a way to get huge voltages - if you ever see a big metal thing with lightening bolts coming out of it, it is probably a Tesla coil). The book was interesting although much heavier on his life and light on the details on his stuff worked. If you've never heard about the whole fight between AC and DC it is kind of interesting. Edison wanted to distribute DC and Westinghouse wanted to distribute AC. AC was obviously better (after Tesla made his addition), but Edison wouldn't give up so he tried to make AC look dangerous by electrocuting animals with AC in public and arranging to have the electric chair use AC.

Apartment Search 2

Almost forget to mention:

Whoa. Apartment search using GPS device and web enabled cell phone. Whoa!

Apartment Search

Over the weekend I headed up to San Jose to search for apartments. I decided that it must be nice to sell a product that is in such high demand you can tell people that not only can they not see the product, they can't even see a model of the product before buying, oh and they're going fast so if you don't purchase now it may be gone before you come back! Oh, and it is crazy expensive.

I did end up finding a place, it's not the nicest or biggest, but the price is "reasonable" (and they had a vacant unit to show me). It is within walking distance from downtown Mountain View. Mountain View isn't a big town (about 65,000 people), but it has a bit of a downtown and it is not a long drive to Sunnyvale or Palo Alto. It also gives me a bit of a head start toward San Francisco compared to where I'll be working.

I didn't really think through the timing of the trip so Sunday everything was closed, but it gave me a chance to drive around and get to know the area. I went to downtown San Jose for the first time. I thought it was nice until a coworker pointed out that San Jose has 1 million people, more than San Francisco, so you'd expect a bit more than a couple blocks of restaurants as a downtown. I went to the Tech Museum in San Jose. It's basically a science museum, but more focused on man made stuff than natural phenomenon. Like most science museums it is more kid focused - and I think parts of it exist just so the engineers in the area can explain to their kids what they do.

The big excitement of the trip was on the drive back to the airport. The car seemed to be handling a bit odd, although it was a PT cruiser so I just figured it was the car's usual crappy performance. I got on the freeway and after a bit it started making a clear ca-chunck ca-chunck sound. So I took the next exit and pulled in to a gas station (yes I know the correct thing is just to get over to the side and stop driving, but it was a rental so I cared more about my comfort than the wheel of the car). When I got out I saw that a back tire was still on, but deflated and coming apart. I called up the rental car place and they sent someone to change the tire (yes, I probably could have done it, but wasn't really looking to find out). Anyway, nothing too big - although I was surprised, I thought that a tire popping would have more obvious symptoms - like a loud popping sound.

Today was the last day at work. Mostly just went around and said good bye to people (oh and got a little irritated because I found out that management made a decision I had warned about 7 months ago, but then reminded myself I don't have to care anymore). For those that worry what I might say - I was very positive with everyone before I left. I'm not trying to be negative, but it is interesting that when I joined the company it was 6 months to first implant and today I was informed that the new schedule has first implant 6 months from now, but I don't care because tonight begins my two weeks of unemployment!

How am I not myself?

Whoa. I just watched I heart huckabees. Whoa.