Sunday, April 24, 2005

Why I Love Macs

Have you ever wondered, "What would happen if I
accidentally deleted my operating system kernel?" Well, I
can not tell you from experience that it's not that bad with
a Mac! I was trying to figure out why an installed program
(XSB-Prolog) wasn't working. It looked like a reinstall was
needed, so I was deleting the old version. Somehow it was
storing some files at the root level (/), so I typed
"rm xsb*". Of course, I got a "permission denied" error, so
issued the superuser version "sudo rm xsb *" Oh, wait. Did
I really put the space between 'b' and '*'? Uh, yeah.
Kernel, gone. Indexing data structures, gone. Luckily, the
kernel was in memory, so I quickly typed "unison all".
**Thank God*** that command worked and I watched with a kind
of perverted glee as I watched all my work from the last 3
days (bad bad bad to wait so long to unison...) be saved
on my remote (cmu) computer. Phew! Now what about all
those files in the generic "download" folder that aren't in
my unison tree? Could I still save those? (Dozens of cds
copied from the library that didn't get organized... bad bad
bad to wait so long to organize...) I brought the computer
to school (being careful to tell the power manager "sleep
never!"). I typed a few keystrokes and, ... keyboard gone.
Mouse gone. No interaction whatsoever. Oh, well. I can
just check out all those cds again. What about all those
pictures of my dad I collected from Nancy for his 80th bday?
I guess I can get her to send those again. (Why weren't
those backed up?) Hoping for nothing more than a day's
worth of agony reinstalling all my software and
reconfiguring everything, I put in the Mac restore dvd.
After 15 minutes, to my surprise and wonder, my old system
files were simply copied to an "Old System" directory. Not
erased. NOT ERASED???. What kind of uberOS is this?
Somehow it figured out that the old version (of which the
kernel was missing) was newer than the one I was trying to
install, so it simply copied the old system stuff to "Old
System" and restored EVERYTHING!!! I had to get some
programs from the old /usr/local and reinstall some System
Preferences stuff (like uControl) but that's it!!! It took
about 2 hours. (Update: the new iLife also died)
Anyway, I'm actually writing code now, instead of installing
software. Thanks Mac!

On the lighter side, my friend Chloe saw a book on my
shelf... Her comment:
"A Guide to Latex... (confused) Why?" :)

Friday, April 22, 2005

Cirque du Soleil

I had one of the most wonderful experiences of my life last
night. Cirque du Soleil is in Pittsburgh on a tour. It's
basically impossible to describe in words how magical the
night was. The tent was a beautiful blue and yellow canvas
swirl. It wasn't very big inside, and we could see the
entire (almost circular) stage very well. The show was
called Varekei. From their website

"The word varekai means "wherever" in the Romany language of
the gypsies the universal wanderers. This production pays
tribute to the nomadic soul, to the spirit and art of the
circus tradition, and to the infinite passion of those whose
quest takes them along the path that leads to Varekai."

There was a forest of tall golden trees (poles) in the back
where throughout there were numerous creatures bounding
about, often 25 feet above the ground. The show began with
a man dressed all in white with two long white feathers for
wings falling from the sky. After some inspection from the
multifarious and fantastical inhabitants, he was drawn into
the air on a diamond shape net. A spectacular, but at the
same time elegant and beautiful acrobatic routine followed.
He reminded me more of a wonderful dancer at a ballet than a
traditional acrobat.

There followed a number of beautiful scenes in this truly
ballet-like story. (There was hardly a word spoken.)
Some of my favorites:

A trio of probably 8 year old Asian children carrying 7'
ropes with bowls attached to either end. They had a
routine where they would get the ropes spinning and toss
them 20' into the air while doing somersaults, flips and
spin kicks underneath. A highlight was when they were
standing on each other's shoulders 3-high while the top two
continued to spin their ropes. They were so intense and
professional. It made me smile...

Another acrobatic scene: There were benches with a declining
angle (like a decline bench press). One would lie on the
bench and hold his feet up. Another would somehow launch
himself onto the awaiting feet. The top one proceeded to be
hurled in continuous flips and twists, often finishing
standing on the feet of the reclining one. It was a tour de
force in balance and charisma. It was literally
breathtaking (as were so many of the acts...)

Hands down the best juggler I've ever seen, or even hope to
see. There were the usual pins, balls, etc at which his
skill was superlative. But there was
wild new stuff as well he started throwing up these straw
summer hats at an angle above the audience. The hats came
back to him slowly (as when you throw a Frisbee diagonally in to
the air) while he was throwing others at other parts of the
audience. Meanwhile he was running a large circular loop
around the stage. It was so charming and funny. Just
marvelous.

A duo of acrobats on a simple ropes from the ceiling. They
did a symmetric dance. The symmetry was twofold. First
horizontal. Then vertical when one did a handstand and
variations using his two wrist ropes while the other
imitated his actions below. It was fantastic. (We heard
some enchanted middle aged women gawking at their awesome
bodies after the show...)

I've left out a dozen scenes, each worthy of comment, but
alas I have about 100 hours of work to do before Friday. I
remember when Cirque came to NYC. The tent was even on the
path of my long run, when I ran on Randall's Island. I
looked at the tent with envy, but decided I couldn't afford
the $80 ticket. This time I got lucky and, thanks to a
wonderful friend, found aa $20 ticket. The ticket is worth
every penny, and in retrospect I would have forked over the
$80 had I known what I know now.
If you ever have an opportunity to see them, it is truly a
magical, artistic, profound celebration of all things
beautiful about humanity.

(I found these pictures on the internet (had to turn my
camara off) but they convey a good sense of the environment)








Sunday, April 17, 2005

Mitsuko Uchida

I drove to Cleveland yesterday to hear
Mitsuko Uchida
play two Mozart concerti, 14 in Eb and 23 in
A. It was such a beautiful performance. I was in the
second row and was only about 20 feet from her. She was
conducting as well. Her enthusiasm and spirit are
intoxicating. I didn't know the Eb until I checked out the
CD from the (wonderful)
Carnegie Library.
I listened to it about 10 times
before the concert, and I'm so happy I did. It took some
time for me to find the magical spots (even though, in
retrospect, I know there are many). The A major is one of
the greatest works of art. I talked with Barnaby on my way
to Cleveland and he made the comical comment "Mozart was
AMAZING in A major". Indeed.

James Gaffigan"
conducted some early symphonies in between
the two concerti. I remember seeing him as a senior at NEC
conducting some Mozart opera scenes when Eve was playing in
the orchestra. Though I initially rolled my eyes when I
recognized who he was, I was charmingly surprised. He was
wonderfully clear and expressive, and had lost the
gratuitous showmanship he showed
when I saw him 4 years ago. He did a terrific job.

The most upsetting event of the day was seeing the vandalized Rodin sculpture at the back of the Cleveland Art
Museum. In 1970 some jackasses protesting Vietnam thought
it would be appropriate to destroy an irreplaceable work of
art with 3 sticks of dynamite. They remounted it with the
bottom torn open. It made me sick to my stomach to see such
a ridiculous sacrilege. Einstein's quip about the infinite
stupidity of man came to mind (along with a long chain of
invective).

Friday, April 01, 2005

Websites

I feel the overwhelming need to plug three funny websites.

Google Gulp is really funny.


Pigeon Rank
is hysterical if you studied B.F. Skinner
in Psych 101 like I did.

Overheard in New York.
It's a bunch of random overheardcomments posted by readers.
My current favorite:

"Central Park"

Jogger1 : "This run is totally just a warm up for a night of
hot bondage sex."
Jogger2 : "Yeah, totally."

Spring

Three! Yes, three 60 degree days in a row! Life is good.
Spring started off amazingly well. I went to the
Emerson
concert on Monday. They are so amazing! They started with
Beethoven op 18, which I wasn't really that excited about.
But thank goodness they didn't do anything more "serious",
because Shostakovich A major was next. My God that was
awesome. The violist was unbelievable, and they had really
good communication, esp the cellist. He was always looking
around smiling and nodding. It was great. Brahms f minor
piano quintet was last with
Jeffrey Kahane
, who was fantastic!
Such a wonderful musician and pianist! It
was the best performance of that I've ever heard. I heard
Fleisher do it at NEC, which was great given the
circumstances, but this performance was transcendent.
(Nothing against Fleisher. His recordings are forever
hanging in my Hall of Genius).


I've been really lazy lately. I don't know what's wrong.
I was probably depressed it was taking so long to install
DB2. I don't know how systems people do it. Staring at seg
faults and *!#&ing backtraces make me want to puke. Now
that it works, though, it's pretty fun and I have energy to
work again. I ported my prototype from ML to Prolog which
was fun. Now I just need to write a Prolog-SQL compiler and
I'm set.


I ran into Sara at the yoga studio last
night. I love
practicing over there, and it was so fun to chat and laugh with
her. We're so wonderfully similar. I'm so lucky to have
found a teacher and friend like her. Thanks Sara!


I held my recitation outside yesterday. (Day 1 of the
three day 60 streak!) It was great! I ran to the art store
to buy some newsprint and wrote with big markers. We had
the first "class discussion" ever, which was fantastic.
Someone asked a question to which I didn't know the answer.
I told them as much, but I knew there were basically only
two ways to think about it, and everyone
started discussing which it should be amongst themselves.
The setup outside was different, as we were in a circle
instead of the stupid row setup. Maybe I'll set up class
like that from now on. Hmmm... might be weird in a
classroom.


On the way home on Monday, I ran into Allie for the first
time since we broke up. It was nice to talk to her again.
Kind of weird... It wasn't as tumultuous as I thought it
would be, but it still left my head spinning a bit. Still
processing...


We learned about Natassa's PAX data placement algorithm in
class on Monday. Astonishingly, she decided not to patent
it. In her words
"I really believe that education implies free dissemination
of ideas, and the very concept of a patent opposes that. I
would feel hypocritical to choose to become faculty and at
the same time patent PAX. It was not an easy decision given
how much money were involved, but I sure am proud of
sticking to my principles :)."
I am so inspired by her decision! My good fortune seems
boundless these days.


All this stuff in 3 days!


"There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening, that is
translated through you into action. And because there is
only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and
if you block it, it will never exist through any other
medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It
is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how
valuable it is, nor how it compares with other expressions.
It is your business to keep it yours. Clearly and directly,
to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe
in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware
directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel
open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction
whatever, at any time. There is only a queer divine
dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest, that keeps us marching
and makes us more alive than others."
-- Martha Graham