That is the best way to say it. This is the worst things have been in several months. Almost everyone around me is having issues and problems which are spilling over into what I am doing, just as a couple of the things I am doing are falling apart.
This weekend is the big charity fundraiser my parents are involved with. There is a lot of stuff for them to do. I spent five hours yesterday driving around and picking up donations and sample pictures for the event. I drove to Dana Point to pick something up only to discover the person was not there and I had to wait a couple of hours.
I am involved with planing a retreat this weekend at church. I have to create a program for the weekend. I am also dissatisfied with my talk, which means I want to rewrite it. Only half as many people as we expected signed up.
My latest class for digital signal processing is a disaster. The instructor and the textbook use version 3 of the software we are learning. However, almost everyone in the class including me has version 4. There were significant changes between the two. Entire menus have been removed and file structures changed. Most of the experiments are not working for me. Even when I am looking at the final code of other people in the class and their write ups that explain how they solved any problems I cannot get the software to work for me. There are so many settings so many places to make changes almost anything can go wrong. Even if everything is set correctly, the program might decide to not work until after it is restart. Many of the other people in the class have experience working with this stuff as a job or have a masters degree in a related area. I have never even seen assembly code before or taken a computer hardware or software design class before. I am also a week and a half behind with the work. The instructor is useless.
On a happier note, last weekend I was in Arizona for anther State and National Park hiking trip organized by Larry. When I get all the pictures I will make a post or two detailing it. At one point on the trip Larry said "I can't wait to read Chris's blog post about this." As some context, at that point we were lost in the woods and the sun had set an hour earlier.
Until I make the post, you can look at the five albums Eric put on Facebook about the trip. Anyone who is my friend should be able to open the albums on Eric's pictures.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Meet the Egyptians
This is one of several posts I have had in draft form on my blog for a while. It was originally started at 9:33 PM on 9/15/09. Since I was in the middle of reading a lot of stuff on ancient Egypt, it summarizes my coursework involving Egypt. Most of this was written a year and a half ago.
In college I took three classes on ancient Egypt. Fall of my freshman year I took a seminar about Egyptian artifacts in the Hearst Museum (NES 24). It explained what could be learned from the provenance (the fancy term for where an artifact was found and its history of ownership) of objects and examined the collection of objects not on public display.
As an aside, when I was looking at some of the pictures and history of the campus on display in Doe, I discovered there was a plan to build a museum to house the collections from Egypt and other artifacts next to Doe where Memorial Glade currently sits. Unfortunately, the plan was abandoned sometime around World War II.
Class number two on Egypt was an Introduction to Ancient Egypt (NES 18). I took it in the Fall of my sophomore year. The first time I walked into this class it felt like a real archaeology class. It was a big lecture hall (101 Morgan) with only a few scattered people in it. The lights were down the entire time as the professor lectured and the slide projector hummed and clicked. The treasures of kings thousands of years past were highlighted through sight and explanation, while students fell asleep or counted down the minutes until it was over. The lectures were neither boring nor useless, but a class from 5-6:30 in the evening where the lights are low is conducive to napping. I often brought coffee to help me stay awake.
This class offered an overview of Egyptian history. It also offered a textbook list which I bought and did not sell back at the end of the semester. For some reason it also fulfilled the college's social and behavioral science breadth requirement.
The third class I took was NES 103, Ancient Egyptian Religion. It was at the more reasonable hour of 12:30-2 in Barrows. The class covered religion as it was practiced and how it was set up with myths.
A big concern of Egyptian religion was the maintenance of maat, the right order and balance of things. If sacrifices or rituals were not properly observed to maintain maat, the forces of darkness would gain too much power. This would have dire consequences such as the Nile not flooding correctly or the sun not rising. Since the king was ultimately in charge of maintaining this order, religious duties were an important function of the government.
Another function of Egyptian religion was preparing people for the afterlife and preserving the souls of the dead. This went from teaching people knowledge so they could overcome any obstacles in the afterlife to how to offer food to the dead. My favorite death ritual was putting small people like figures in the tomb with the deceased. When the person was called upon to work the fields in the afterlife he could say a spell and send the small figures out to do the work for him and fulfill his responsibility. For anything that came up in the afterlife the Egyptians had a way around it. It was awesome.
Egyptian religious myths are scattered and inconsistent. For example, there were three different creation stories which conflicted with each other. However, the people knew all of the conflicting myths and were not troubled by their differences. They took the important lessons from each of the stories. Certain myths and gods were associated with specific cities and their popularity rose and fell with the political fortunes of their home cities.
My Egyptian knowledge is useful once in a while. When I was at the Cal bookstore I opened a book that was titled Egyptian Treasures in the British Museum (or something similar to that). When I saw a picture of a stela I said "This is a lie! That is Wepy. It is on display in Kroeber Hall." This is the piece I was referring to. Otherwise, my Egyptian knowledge is helpful when I watch Stargate SG-1.
If you ever want to know something about ancient Egypt, I have around a dozen books on the topic.
In college I took three classes on ancient Egypt. Fall of my freshman year I took a seminar about Egyptian artifacts in the Hearst Museum (NES 24). It explained what could be learned from the provenance (the fancy term for where an artifact was found and its history of ownership) of objects and examined the collection of objects not on public display.
As an aside, when I was looking at some of the pictures and history of the campus on display in Doe, I discovered there was a plan to build a museum to house the collections from Egypt and other artifacts next to Doe where Memorial Glade currently sits. Unfortunately, the plan was abandoned sometime around World War II.
Class number two on Egypt was an Introduction to Ancient Egypt (NES 18). I took it in the Fall of my sophomore year. The first time I walked into this class it felt like a real archaeology class. It was a big lecture hall (101 Morgan) with only a few scattered people in it. The lights were down the entire time as the professor lectured and the slide projector hummed and clicked. The treasures of kings thousands of years past were highlighted through sight and explanation, while students fell asleep or counted down the minutes until it was over. The lectures were neither boring nor useless, but a class from 5-6:30 in the evening where the lights are low is conducive to napping. I often brought coffee to help me stay awake.
This class offered an overview of Egyptian history. It also offered a textbook list which I bought and did not sell back at the end of the semester. For some reason it also fulfilled the college's social and behavioral science breadth requirement.
The third class I took was NES 103, Ancient Egyptian Religion. It was at the more reasonable hour of 12:30-2 in Barrows. The class covered religion as it was practiced and how it was set up with myths.
A big concern of Egyptian religion was the maintenance of maat, the right order and balance of things. If sacrifices or rituals were not properly observed to maintain maat, the forces of darkness would gain too much power. This would have dire consequences such as the Nile not flooding correctly or the sun not rising. Since the king was ultimately in charge of maintaining this order, religious duties were an important function of the government.
Another function of Egyptian religion was preparing people for the afterlife and preserving the souls of the dead. This went from teaching people knowledge so they could overcome any obstacles in the afterlife to how to offer food to the dead. My favorite death ritual was putting small people like figures in the tomb with the deceased. When the person was called upon to work the fields in the afterlife he could say a spell and send the small figures out to do the work for him and fulfill his responsibility. For anything that came up in the afterlife the Egyptians had a way around it. It was awesome.
Egyptian religious myths are scattered and inconsistent. For example, there were three different creation stories which conflicted with each other. However, the people knew all of the conflicting myths and were not troubled by their differences. They took the important lessons from each of the stories. Certain myths and gods were associated with specific cities and their popularity rose and fell with the political fortunes of their home cities.
My Egyptian knowledge is useful once in a while. When I was at the Cal bookstore I opened a book that was titled Egyptian Treasures in the British Museum (or something similar to that). When I saw a picture of a stela I said "This is a lie! That is Wepy. It is on display in Kroeber Hall." This is the piece I was referring to. Otherwise, my Egyptian knowledge is helpful when I watch Stargate SG-1.
If you ever want to know something about ancient Egypt, I have around a dozen books on the topic.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Death, death, and more death
Last week I was at church for a rosary for a person who died. I did not know her, but I knew her father from some church activities. The next morning I went to a funeral for my family's hairdresser's son. I did not know him either, but I knew his parents.
On Saturday night my parents and I had dinner with a former teacher of mine and his wife. Early Sunday morning I drove my dad to the airport. He was flying to New York because his aunt had a stroke and was near death. She cannot eat or drink and has previously specified that no extraordinary measures be taken to prolong her life. Monday night I learned the father of one of the people I had dinner with on Saturday was dead. He died suddenly and unexpectedly from a traumatic fall earlier that day.
The only one of these people I ever met was my great aunt. She is my dad's favorite aunt. I remember having a couple of family gatherings for Christmas and Thanksgiving at her house. After her, my grandma will be the only one of nine children still alive.
When I was in New York in December I went with my dad to visit my great aunt. She was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's and had some brain damage from an earlier stoke. I did not know what to do other than sit there, hold her hand, smile, and answer any questions she asked. I was her birthday so I wished her well.
I was wondering if my presence there meant anything to her. Then I said something that made her laugh.
My great aunt died earlier this morning.
On Saturday night my parents and I had dinner with a former teacher of mine and his wife. Early Sunday morning I drove my dad to the airport. He was flying to New York because his aunt had a stroke and was near death. She cannot eat or drink and has previously specified that no extraordinary measures be taken to prolong her life. Monday night I learned the father of one of the people I had dinner with on Saturday was dead. He died suddenly and unexpectedly from a traumatic fall earlier that day.
The only one of these people I ever met was my great aunt. She is my dad's favorite aunt. I remember having a couple of family gatherings for Christmas and Thanksgiving at her house. After her, my grandma will be the only one of nine children still alive.
When I was in New York in December I went with my dad to visit my great aunt. She was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's and had some brain damage from an earlier stoke. I did not know what to do other than sit there, hold her hand, smile, and answer any questions she asked. I was her birthday so I wished her well.
I was wondering if my presence there meant anything to her. Then I said something that made her laugh.
My great aunt died earlier this morning.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
The Road to Serfdom
Last week I finished reading The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich A. Hayek. I enjoyed the book and how it explained its ideas.
Throughout the book Hayek makes the case why people should have the freedom to make their own choices in economic matters and the problems that arise when a government makes too many choices for its citizens. Hayek uses many examples when presenting his points. Since the book was published in 1944, the Nazi regime is used in many examples.
Hayek explains how a nation that starts planning its economy and directing who will produce what will slide into a totalitarian state. He wrote the book as a cautionary tale to nations. Hayek explains Germany followed a path of ideas that lead them to the Nazi regime. Any nation that follows a similar path of collectivism will arrive at a totalitarian outcome.
The biggest thing I took out of the book was the danger of the slippery slope. People with the best of intentions and goals will concentrate power in the government to use it for everyone's benefit. However, these noble people will eventually be supplanted by a political party that will use the machinery of government to crush people and impose their narrow ideology.
On the negative features of the book, the writing is verbose and has many unnecessary words. This could be a symptom of the book being more academic than most. There were too many qualifiers and adverbs. I wanted to pull out a red pen to cross out superfluous words and rephrase sentences into more understandable and flowing prose. However, the book is divided into chapters so by the time I got tired of reading a chapter would end. Finishing one chapter a day and summarizing what I read make it more understandable.
For the past week I have been trying to write a short summary of The Road to Serfdom I am happy with. My failure is part of the reason for the scarcity of posts lately. Luckily, the internet has come to my rescue. I found a pdf of a book compiled by the Institute of Economic Affairs. Starting on page 63 it summarizes the book in cartoons originally published in Look magazine. I suggest you check it out as it is more interesting than the rest of my post.
If you want more words, page 27 from the same link has some points Hayek wrote for the jacket of the first edition. I quoted a few of them below. I should mention socialism as used in Hayek's time was understood as government ownership of all industry.
When I finished the book I wanted to pick up another one in the same political and economic genre. However, I wanted it to be something I disagreed with. More on that in a few day.
If you want a political and economic book I recommend The Road to Serfdom.
Throughout the book Hayek makes the case why people should have the freedom to make their own choices in economic matters and the problems that arise when a government makes too many choices for its citizens. Hayek uses many examples when presenting his points. Since the book was published in 1944, the Nazi regime is used in many examples.
Hayek explains how a nation that starts planning its economy and directing who will produce what will slide into a totalitarian state. He wrote the book as a cautionary tale to nations. Hayek explains Germany followed a path of ideas that lead them to the Nazi regime. Any nation that follows a similar path of collectivism will arrive at a totalitarian outcome.
The biggest thing I took out of the book was the danger of the slippery slope. People with the best of intentions and goals will concentrate power in the government to use it for everyone's benefit. However, these noble people will eventually be supplanted by a political party that will use the machinery of government to crush people and impose their narrow ideology.
On the negative features of the book, the writing is verbose and has many unnecessary words. This could be a symptom of the book being more academic than most. There were too many qualifiers and adverbs. I wanted to pull out a red pen to cross out superfluous words and rephrase sentences into more understandable and flowing prose. However, the book is divided into chapters so by the time I got tired of reading a chapter would end. Finishing one chapter a day and summarizing what I read make it more understandable.
For the past week I have been trying to write a short summary of The Road to Serfdom I am happy with. My failure is part of the reason for the scarcity of posts lately. Luckily, the internet has come to my rescue. I found a pdf of a book compiled by the Institute of Economic Affairs. Starting on page 63 it summarizes the book in cartoons originally published in Look magazine. I suggest you check it out as it is more interesting than the rest of my post.
If you want more words, page 27 from the same link has some points Hayek wrote for the jacket of the first edition. I quoted a few of them below. I should mention socialism as used in Hayek's time was understood as government ownership of all industry.
- Is there a greater tragedy imaginable than that in our endeavour consciously to shape our future in accordance with high ideals we should in fact unwittingly produce the very opposite of what we have been striving for?
- Totalitarianism is the new word we have adopted to describe the unexpected but nevertheless inseparable manifestations of what in theory we call socialism.
- In a planned system we cannot confine collective action to the tasks on which we agree, but are forced to produce agreement on everything in order that any action can be taken at all.
- The economic freedom which is the prerequisite of any other freedom cannot be the freedom from economic care which the socialists promise us and which can be obtained only by relieving the individual at the same time of the necessity and of the power of choice: it must be the freedom of economic activity which, with the right of choice, inevitably also carries the risk and the responsibility of that right.
- What our generation has forgotten is that the system of private property is the most important guarantee of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those who do not.
- We shall never prevent the abuse of power if we are not prepared to limit power in a way which occasionally may prevent its use for desirable purposes.
When I finished the book I wanted to pick up another one in the same political and economic genre. However, I wanted it to be something I disagreed with. More on that in a few day.
If you want a political and economic book I recommend The Road to Serfdom.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Claudius the Man and Claudius the God
On Tuesday I finished the book Claudius the God by Robert Graves. This is the sequel to I, Claudius, which I finished last month. Both of these novels are historical fiction. They are written as the autobiography of the First Century AD Roman emperor Claudius. I liked reading both of them.
It should be mentioned, I have a lot of background knowledge of the Ancient Roman world. There is even documentary evidence of this hanging on my wall.
The book felt very authentic. If I was given the book and told it was actually written by Claudius himself I would have believed it. The details about the festivals, government structure, religious rites, battles, political intrigue, and character descriptions were exactly what I expected. The writing style was in line with other writers of the time and all of the allusions to Homer and mythic people were perfectly used.
I, Claudius is a history of the Roman Empire from its start under Augustus to the moment Claudius is acclaimed the fourth emperor. Picking up immediately after, Claudius the God covers Claudius's reign until right before his death. Claudius was a good emperor and when compared to the madness of his predecessor Caligula and successor Nero he looks even better.
I would recommend you take a few notes when reading to help keep all of the characters straight. Just a name and three or four words for each is all that is necessary. I already knew a few of the historical characters but I still lost track of who did what to whom. The books had a combined total of over 1,000 pages so there were a lot of people. Some of the characters and superfluous stories could be cut from both books without losing the spirit of the work.
I do not know very much about the historical Claudius. When I started reading the books I developed a very favorable view of him. This continued well into the second book. Then near the end my opinion of Claudius turned negative; he became complicit in everything terrible his successors had done.
It should be mentioned, I have a lot of background knowledge of the Ancient Roman world. There is even documentary evidence of this hanging on my wall.
The book felt very authentic. If I was given the book and told it was actually written by Claudius himself I would have believed it. The details about the festivals, government structure, religious rites, battles, political intrigue, and character descriptions were exactly what I expected. The writing style was in line with other writers of the time and all of the allusions to Homer and mythic people were perfectly used.
I, Claudius is a history of the Roman Empire from its start under Augustus to the moment Claudius is acclaimed the fourth emperor. Picking up immediately after, Claudius the God covers Claudius's reign until right before his death. Claudius was a good emperor and when compared to the madness of his predecessor Caligula and successor Nero he looks even better.
I would recommend you take a few notes when reading to help keep all of the characters straight. Just a name and three or four words for each is all that is necessary. I already knew a few of the historical characters but I still lost track of who did what to whom. The books had a combined total of over 1,000 pages so there were a lot of people. Some of the characters and superfluous stories could be cut from both books without losing the spirit of the work.
I do not know very much about the historical Claudius. When I started reading the books I developed a very favorable view of him. This continued well into the second book. Then near the end my opinion of Claudius turned negative; he became complicit in everything terrible his successors had done.
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