Asimov predicts 2020 and probably the next thousand years, too

Daring Fireball linked to a quaintly prehistoric photocopy of an Isaac Asimov piece written for Newsweek circa January 1980. As a frame of reference, this was a little under 11 months before Reagan was elected president.

It is biting, acerbic and works precisely as well in 2020 as it did 40 years ago. One might make a persuasive case for it being even more effective now. A quote:

We have a new buzzword, too, for anyone who admires competence, knowledge, learning and skill, and who wishes to spread it around. People like that are called “elitists.”

The sarcasm, it burns.

And the closer:

I believe that every human being with a physically normal brain can learn a great deal and be surprisingly intellectual. I believe that what we badly need is social approval of learning and social rewards for learning.

We can *all* be members of the intellectual elite and then, and only then, will a phrase like “America’s right to know” and, indeed, any true concept of democracy, have any meaning.

In 2020, nearly 74 million Americans voted for four more years of President Donald Trump.

National Novel Writing Month 2020 update

Update: Many people are still writing, while many others have met their 50,000 word goals or exceeded them.

I have continued to not write a novel and actually feel pretty good about it. In the past I’d argue that making the effort and stumbling was still worthwhile but…been there, done that. I’d rather write something to my own schedule now. I think I can do that now and NaNoWriMo is more a barrier than an aid at this point, because it forces you to write a story in a specific time frame, which is arbitrary and a little weird. It’s great if you’re just starting out, or desperately need some kind of external discipline to get you started.

But I no longer need those things, so maybe I won’t participate next year, or ever again.

Now I just need to prove how smart this decision is by, you know, writing and maybe even finishing a novel. It could happen!

More on the pandemic

Just kidding. Most of the news lately is pretty terrible, with cases skyrocketing all over the place. Forty-six people died in BC just over the past weekend. Granted one of them was 103 years old, but still.

The two bright spots are local mask usage (now mandatory in all public indoor spaces) is pretty high and there are multiple vaccines that appear to be effective and may start getting distributed as early as the spring. Yes, it’s only fall now, but in pandemic time, the spring feels a lot closer than it actually is.

Some have referred to those who refuse to wear masks as “maskholes” but I don’t like it. It’s the wrong combination of cutesy and angry.

And speaking of masks, today I got the pair of masks I ordered from Outdoor Research–yes, the place that is also soon delivering me my jaunty yellow cap. They are almost but not quite too big (I have a small face), but they actually look nice, feel good and can be equipped with paper filters for better protection. I can’t say I’m excited to wear one, but I’m pretty sure it will be an improvement over what I’m using now.

This concludes YAPP (Yet Another Pandemic Post). I really hope in November 2021 I will not have any need or desire to discuss a pandemic.

November 2020 weight loss report: Down 1.7 pounds

Being down for the month might be cause for celebration normally, but alas, these are not normal times.

As it turned out, I porked up right at the start of the month, which meant being down was a pretty easy goal as long as I didn’t switch to an all-donut diet (which I did not).

I only managed to stay under 170 pounds three times during the month, a dismal showing after October. There was snacking. Plentiful snacking.

I’m going to try to go completely snack-free in December. Such an effort would normally be considered folly for December, but I’m not exactly feeling the holiday cheer this time around.

Small bright side: I am still down overall for the year–by a little!

Larger not-bright side: My body fat shot up 1.8%.

Stats:

November 1: 172.4 pounds
November 30: 170.7 pounds (down 1.7 pounds)

Year to date: From 171.8 to 170.7 pounds (down 1.1 pounds)

And the body fat:

November 1: 20.5% (35.3 pounds of fat)
November 30: 22.3% (38 pounds of fat) (up 2.7 pounds)

Back to Minecraft…and sheep

Somehow I got hooked into Minecraft again and so much has been added in the years since I’ve played that it feels like a modded game without the pesky need to install mods.

I’m currently nurturing a few worlds in their early stages and the shot below is from the Survival Island seed. As the name suggests, it starts you out on an island in an ocean dotted by islands. After some initial work on the starting island I moved to a larger and flatter island where I began setting up shop. I built a rowboat to get around and when not in use I leave it on the shore near my humble home.

One day I discovered a sheep was in it. I left it, thinking it would move on. It did not. I then sheared it, thinking this might prompt it to leave. It did not.

The sheep in question

I then tried to use the boat, thinking that this would definitely get the sheep to move. It did not.

Conveniently, though, I could still use the rowboat with the sheep in it, so I began cruising the ocean with a naked sheep in tow.

When I came back later, I as greeted by this:

The same sheep, now shorn, with a new friend to sail with, the cow

The seafaring life was apparently not for the cow, though, as it eventually moved on. The sheep is a permanent fixture of my rowboat, though. I mean, why not?

(by the way, the textures I’m using are BDCraft. The Java version can be found here: BDCraft.net

I ordered a new hat

It looks like this:

Swift Cap - Sulphur

I am unusually excited to get this hat because it is very bright and very yellow and completely unlike the other hats that I have, all of which are drab, muted colors or not even colors at all. Perhaps this will be the start of a bold new me. At the very least it will be a bold new top of my head.

For those unfamiliar, it is an Outdoor Research Swift cap, which has been my go-to head covering for the past few years. My current collection of Swift caps features these colors:

  • Black
  • White
  • Blue
  • Tan
  • Purple
  • Green

The hats with color in them are so neutral in tone they look like they are a color/gray blend. But my yellow cap will show them all! (The yellow is referred to be OR as “sulphur”, which is kind of gross, but as long as the cap doesn’t smell like sulphur, I don’t care.)

Work from home: The good, bad, and ugly

I have been working from home (WFH) for about eight months now and here’s my list of what is good, bad and ugly about it.

The Good

  • My commute has been reduced from just over one hour to 30 seconds
  • I get 90 minutes more sleep per night
  • I can finish my shift, go for a run and be home before I’d normally complete my post-work commute (this still works in winter, the running is just done on the treadmill instead)
  • Breaks allow me to do or start chores that would otherwise be impossible until I was off work, including:
    • Starting/folding laundry
    • Starting/unloading the dishwasher
    • Baking bread. The office never smells like fresh-baked bread and this is a tragedy.
    • Sweep, mop
    • Run down the garbage or organics
    • Check the mail (the physical kind that comes in envelopes)
  • I can listen to music while I work (I don’t do it often, but I do it occasionally)
  • I never have to wait to use the bathroom
  • I never have to worry about someone else making the bathroom a giant stink bomb
  • Snacking is easy and convenient
  • Co-workers and other people cannot walk up to your cubicle and trap you in long, painful conversations

I will point out that the first three items listed are huge quality of life improvements. Almost life-changing, really.

The Bad

  • Some tools that must be relied on are not great. To be fair, this would be true at the office as well, it’s just that when WFH you can’t just go to someone’s office to have a look because the remote support tool refuses to elevate privileges.
  • Online meetings. These are often even more soul-draining than in-person meetings. To the person that asks, “Can you hear me?” at the start of every meeting: Yes, we can hear you. If you don’t suddenly start putting your mic between your feet or attaching it to your cat, we will hear you every time! Also, even when people are on video, it can be challenging picking up on body language and other visual cues.
  • Let’s just say some people are not exactly timely in answering messages
  • Can feel isolating at times, given the lack of face to face interaction

The Ugly

  • Knowing that this will eventually end and most people will just automatically go back to doing everything the old way, taking no lessons from what we learned. Or in other words, people will be people.

Overall, I love WFH. I don’t miss the office at all. The air in the office is bad, the commute is long, there are numerous distractions, I am forced into contact with others and this inevitably leads to a series of colds and other bugs through the year.

Close to the borderline

The Canada-U.S. border, that is, not the Billy Joel song.

Here’s a mini-album of pics I took while Nic and I toodled around Boundary Bay and area on Saturday, November 28. The weather was cool but clear, with little wind. Perfect for picture-taking.

Me taking a photo of Nic taking a photo of the sunset at Crescent Beach
Sunset at Crescent Beach without Nic taking a picture of it
Sign in the public washroom at Centennial Beach warning you not to put happy little crabs in the urinals
Berries enjoying the sun at Centennial Beach
Two moons rising at Crescent Beach
Seagull log at Centennial Beach