Long Overdue

OK, I'm reactivating the blog! I travel on Sunday for a long visit with a client, far, far away. Keep me in your thoughts!

Whale Watching

I arrived for a vacation this week in San Diego. Though I spent several years here, I never went whale watching. Each year, thousands of gray whales migrate from the Arctic Circle to lagoons off of Baja. The stay close to the shore, especially if they are pregnant or have a young calf. During January and February as many as a dozen an hour can be spotted from Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma. Every few minutes they surface and exhale a column of warm air that looks like a spout....

The trip lasted about three hours. It is early in the season, but we saw two whales, a mother and a small calf. Apparently, they didn't make it to the lagoons in time to give birth. So it goes. It was a good time and I recommend it for anyone visiting San Diego because you get an excellent tour of the harbor.

New Year's Resolutions

More blog posts. I can't believe it's been more than three months. I could have swore it was only one...

Academic Saturday

If you are interested in religious matters, I recommend reading the speech given by Pope Benedict XVI at the University of Regensburg on September 12. As predicted by Godwin's Law, the Pontifex Maximus has already been villified for his academic comments.

Personally, I found the speech to be amazing. It is not at all surprising that something as technical would be utterly munged by reduction to sound bites. In particular, I was not aware that the first line of the Gospel of John, in Greek, says "In the beginning was the logos". In translations from the Greek, logos is replaced by Word in English and Tao in Chinese.

I also liked this paragraph, towards the end:

And so I come to my conclusion. This attempt, painted with broad strokes, at a critique of modern reason from within has nothing to do with putting the clock back to the time before the Enlightenment and rejecting the insights of the modern age. The positive aspects of modernity are to be acknowledged unreservedly: we are all grateful for the marvelous possibilities that it has opened up for mankind and for the progress in humanity that has been granted to us. The scientific ethos, moreover, is the will to be obedient to the truth, and, as such, it embodies an attitude which reflects one of the basic tenets of Christianity. The intention here is not one of retrenchment or negative criticism, but of broadening our concept of reason and its application.

Aristole in his Ars Rhetorica identifies three modes of persuasion: Pathos, Logos, and Ethos. The first is emotional, the second is based on logic, and the third on character or authority. It is interesting to juxtapose the Pope's speech (logos), versus the reaction it stirred (pathos). The gulf between the Pope and many of his critics is more than language.

Saturday

Today, I went to my first University of Virginia football game, which was against Wyoming. Tailgating is a major tradition at UVa, so the fun started about three hours before the actual game. Needless to say, I was already stupefied by the beginning of the game... which made the first half go by really fast. My big mistake was leaving in the fourth quarter, so I missed the victory in overtime. Go Cavaliers!

So the mascot of UVa is the Cavalier, who were English persons loyal to the crown during the English Civil War. According to the student newspaper, the mascot was adopted in 1923. I wonder how Thomas Jefferson would feel.... it's hard for me to imagine Cavalier or anything associated with the English king being popular or politically correct when the University was established in 1819.

The Alchemist

The Alchemist by Paul Coelho is a good book [Amazon]. I highly recommend it! This has to be my weakest blog entry ever.

Second Order Consequences

You have probably heard by now, Pluto is no longer an official "planet" like Earth but a "dwarf planet". It joins the ranks of other objects in the solar system such as Ceres and UB313 (aka Xena). Charon is similar, but is considered a moon of Pluto. This was determined by a group of Astronomers meeting last week in Prague.

However, it would seem that another "stakeholder" community in the heavens were left out: Astrologers. The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article titled: Pluto's Demotion Divides Astrologers (registration required). You can also read it in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Time Magazine also has an article.

Apparently UB313 causes some heartache in by itself. According to an astrologer quoted in the WSJ, "UB313 is never going to tell you whether Wednesday is good for romance." Yeah, I guess that name lacks flair.

Recommended Design

For a while I have had my eye on a Sapien Bookcase. I think it is space saving and looks great. Before becoming unemployed a student, my last big purchase was the taller 80" version. Placed in the corner of my bedroom, it displays my books much better than my older traditional bookcase. Less floor space is consumed, making the room appear less small then otherwise. Also, by leaving the walls more open, the pictures hanging on the wall stand out. I chose the aluminum color instead of the black (pictured to the left); its neutral color blends in really well.

Next, I might get a mahogany wall shelf. For about $20 from Target, it is a better fit for my budget living. I think it might look well underneath one of my pictures and give me some space to set some smaller pictures, my keys, etc.

Belated Post...

OK, I've started school at Darden, which is part of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA. So far it has been a blast, but classes are full tilt. I promise some more posts soon. It took me about two weeks to get fully situated. The move was relatively painless, but the apartment had no room for the boxes of crud that typically go unpacked in the garage or storage closet. I finally dealt with some things that have gone unused for years.... some of it dating back to Quantico / 2001.

Back in the USA!

I have returned from vacation and moved into my new apartment in Virginia. I had a wonderful time abroad. A mentor once told me, "The ideal vacation leaves you ready and yearning for return." This trip was therapeutic and just the right length and pace; I'm happy to return without needing a "vacation from vacation".