An update on "The Cat That Meowed"!

Today, we jumped into the digital age regarding a story I wrote back twenty plus years ago! "The Cat That Meowed", originally written for a creative writing class and published in a university literary magazine is now an e-book on Amazon!

You can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M6D0784 

It is the story of young Andres Segovia and his cat. The story tells a tale of how Andres began as a drummer and that it was his cat that actually played guitar. It tells of how this relation between boy and cat brought Andres to pick up the guitar. It is in short a fable, a short story.

As I said, I wrote it in college, specifically for a creative writing class I had at Raritan Valley Community College. It was was in fact the first assignment that Professor Minus assigned to the class. Write a fable he said. The story was well received in the class. I went on to submit it to the Rutgers University College literary magazine and it was published in 1990. It perhaps was and is the best thing I have written, granted that it has been a long while since I have even attempted fiction.

Today seeing others play with and explore the publication of e-books, I figured it would be fun to reintroduce it to the literary and Internet age. With that I am offering this first edition, a bare-bones text only edition. If there is a response, I will explore a second edition with illustrations.

The other piece to this is that I do maintain several blogs, including this one, that are largely ignored by this writer, and likewise readers, Something that at least in the case of the writer, I can and should change.

Again, you can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M6D0784 

I do hope you enjoy this story and with a little luck I will haves others to share at some point.

Bob Schaffer

July 27^th, 2014

Hydrangea and Bees

I am not much of a gardener. I am lucky if I plant some bulbs in the fall and still get annuals confused with perennials.

That said, I am every year amazed by the Hydrangea, a bush about three or four feet high at the foot of my steps up to the roadway. It has been there since we moved in back in the fall of 2000. I was amazed at its big flowers our first summer here and every summer since then. 

 I am not the only one. Check out the pics of the hydrangea and various bees enjoying it's flowers, made up smaller flowers and a large center flower, which is were the bees hang out. I wish i had a camera to truly catch the bees and flowers.

The Struggle of Gardening

Gardening, though not my passion, does have its moments with me. I am routinely outside every fall planting tulips and daffodil bulbs. Likewise, Joanna and I have been struggling for the ten plus years we have been here working on a garden that blossoms through out the summer.

And I can say there are some success stories with that goal in mind! Aside from the Tulips and Daffodils in the spring we do have the day lilies that are routinely coming back in the early summer now. Likewise, we have two rose bushes, or actually rose patches-as they do spread, that blossom at different times through the season. Likewise we have in the upper garden Phlox starting to take over in both beds. Ideally they will just climb on up the hill!

Down below next my office is one of the  rose patches. On the other side of the path are Sedum and Black Eyed Susan. Again patches of each the length of the rose patch on the other side.

Yes there has been some successes here.  And yes we still have the weeds too!

Violet and White Phlox in the upper gardens!

More of the Phlox

And the White climbing up the hill!

The Black Eyed Susan to the right, and the Sedum in front of it, which is just starting to bloom in September! And the roses over to the left with one lone flower.

Again the Sedum, the Black Eyed Susan and a Mystery Flower that I am still tracking down!

In short, we are not talking the New York Botanical Garden but still actually kind of cool.

Some Thoughts on Paul Ryan, and Ayn Rand

It was interesting to hear that Romney had selected Paul Ryan for his Vice Presidential running-mate. Interesting in that Ryan is an admitted fan of the philosopher or intellectual, Ayn Rand, suggesting or perhaps even requiring staff members to read Atlas Shrugged. He is found making reference to her and how important her philosophy and her morality is to the defense of capitalism as per various clips that can be found on YouTube. So in this light alone it is interesting.

It is interesting to me however, as I too was reading the same books and essays back in high school. It basically led me to get a degree in philosophy. So for me to hear that Paul Ryan, who has pushed to dramatically re-invent Medicare and push aggressive budget cutting plans, started from the same intellectual timber. It made me reflect on my own intellectual development.  

Rand is a controversial thinker in that she defends a pure Laissez-Faire capitalism, What that amounts to is that she was opposed to any government that redistributed wealth in any fashion. Whether it was Social Security, Medicare, or any other type of government support or subsidy; she was opposed to it.

Her philosophy also entailed a discussion of selfishness as the core of ethics, as opposed to any concern or awareness of others. Likewise her epistemology was very focused on reason and is largely a refutation of Kant and his limiting of reason in his Critiques. These positions led her to a complete abandonment of the Judeo-Christian tradition and really any type of religious faith.

Considering the above, I do wonder if Ayn Rand would have any use for Paul Ryan. His economics are perhaps more a mix of supply side theory, which she had no use for back in the 80s. More important though is that Ryan is a devout Catholic. I am not sure how one can reconcile her philosophy with Catholicism. So at first blush I would have to say I am not sure he really is a fan of Ayn Rand. She is a thinker that demands you either accept her basic principles or you do not. She required consistency, was not a fan of compromise, and had no use for either philosophical or political pragmatism. She probably would not have much to do with Paul Ryan.

I pause on the above as one of her disciples, back in the fifties, did later in life go on to become a Chairman of the Federal Reserve. I am not sure what she would have to say about Alan Greenspan today, but he also \pursued a career in the public sphere. In short that is a separate essay.

Aside from my questions on Ryan's sincerity or self-deception regarding Rand, I realize that I have moved so far away from her. Philosophically, I have come to embrace the principle of charity as a key tool in epistemology, a tool that dates back to Augustine, a Christian Saint. I do still have a libertarian streak in me and with that subscribe to some of her focus on the individual and selfishness.

Most important though is my realization that her philosophy is not adequate in describing the American economic engine - historically or today. The government simply has played a role in the economy since Lewis and Clarke, Manifest Destiny and the land grants that went with the first trans-continental railroads.

If you jump to science and technology, unless you focus only on Thomas Edison and the other great inventors of that period, you realize the debt our technology has to the basic research done by or funded by the US Government. From the Agriculture Colleges of the early twentieth century, to the Manhattan Project, to the fear of sputnik and the military-industrial complex, to DARPA and  the Internet-the US government has played a role in technological innovation and the economy..In short, if you attribute our economic success to technological savvy, you need to acknowledge the role of the government. 

If you step back from the role of government, to the role of the individual the history of science challenges Rand on that also. Again, it is not one individual but groups of individuals communicating back and forth that allowed the US to achieve the things it did. James Burke in his 1970's miniseries Connections illustrates this beautifully. Steve Jobs is not John Galt. He might also be compared to Stalin. I exaggerate but he did have a partner and multiple teams. Jobs may not have been able to code his devices, but he did have some marketing skills.

Going back to Ryan, I am not sure what to say. Do we take him at his word and factor in that he subscribed or does value this thinker? As he has been in the House for at least the last ten years, could he truly believe that all government involvement in the economy is wrong? Could he subscribe to her demand for consistency and and further her intolerance for compromise and still function in the US House or Representatives? Or do we simply acknowledge that he, like myself has evolved and adopted as required. Something that Rand could probably not accept.

Walls, Neighbors and Warzones

This is not my typical content, but something I am sure everyone runs into at some point. Basically a problem any and all who live in a community encounter-neighbors.

What do you do with the neighbor who builds something or neglects his property in a way that leaves you wondering what is he doing or worse just effects the community? 

I am dealing with such today. Basically a neighbor who owns a house two doors down. He decided recently that he would convert part of of his small lot behind his residence into a parking lot. At first blush this was good - less cars on an already congested street. The challenge was that his lot was on a hill and to properly level the lot, he needed a substantial retaining wall.

He had apparently went back and forth with the township on what was acceptable, got the proper permits, and proceeded to build such a wall. I wish I had participated in these discussions but neither my neighbors nor I had been made aware of them. At least I had not.

The pictures displayed here show the results. I am not sure if the owner is done or what. For the past year approximately we have had the long row of fitted blocks. It looked like the beginnings of a bunker or a 3rd rate highway project. I now use it as a landmark when giving directions to my residence. "You are getting close when you see this big ugly concrete block wall on your left. . ." 

In the last week, however, workers have returned. Now we have the four or five blocks, which extend the wall. These new blocks are just piled on top of each other. These are not even properly fitted or joined. Plus there is a pile of rubble-cinder blocks, concrete, whatever sticking out into the street. Hopefully they will return and complete the project, but who knows.

Anyway, for now I share here, partly to vent, partly to look for suggestions and hear others' experiences with such things. I have not yet called the township, nor tracked down the owner, who does not reside there. Hopefully this week I will call the town clerk and see what the options are. I was so tempted to just get a can of red spray paint and right in the center of the one wall spray-write "WTF" in nice bold letters. My wife vetoed that idea.

Web 2.0 and now Web 3.0?

We all know Web 2.0 by this point; the idea of users creating and sharing their own content, making the web and the sites they use their own. As a recruiter it is a staple that any good web application developer, whether coming from a Java, PHP, or .Net background, is going to have AJAX and ideally some Jquery skills. In the end that is probably the lasting technical contribution of Web 2.0 - the innovation and evolution of JavaScript and with it the ability for those with a web browser to share various content.

The feature that drove JavaScript's success, however, is the lightness of the code. In the beginning of the era it was largely Flash and Flex that facilitated this model. Then in 2008 and 2009 you started to hear of enterprise level projects replacing Flex with JavaScript components. Likewise you saw Steve Jobs and Apple choose not to embrace Flash. In short, with the limitations of smart phone browsers, and even the latest browsers used on old-fashion PCs, much less today's tablets, we see a desire for lighter and faster loading code. Ajax and the various JavaScript libraries seem to be the winners.

It must be noted here that XML was the other winner here. I remember discussions way back in 2001 and 2002 about the possibilities of XML. Today we use it and embrace those offerings routinely. XML is the X in AJAX. And even here JavaScript offers an alternative to XML in JSON.

So at this point the above is largely history. With Facebook and Linkedin, and all the other social-media sites out there today, we have exhausted the possibilities of Web 2.0. Such sites will not disappear though I am sure that we will see some battles ahead of between entities such as Linkedin, Google+, Facebook and others! We will continue to update out Twitter accounts, and share pictures on Facebook and announce our new position or title on Linkedin. Likewise, the technology will continue to evolve. We have certainly not seen the last version of JavaScript much less HTML.

All that said, what will the web offer us next? What is its next evolution? It seems that the next evolution is the management of data. This is seen in two unique spaces: the cloud and the semantic web. The cloud of course is a hot topic today. For those who have embraced all these various social media websites, which are accessed from one's phone, tablet, home and work PCs, there is a challenge. Where do I store my various pieces of data so that I can access them from any device? Prior to the cloud there was no central storage area for all one's pics, videos, and whatever else.

Granted this is only a small component of the cloud aimed at individual users but it does point to a challenge. If the individual has challenges accessing and managing his or her own data, what do we do with all the data that is being created around us? How do we keep up with the massive onslaught of twitter updates, blog postings, YouTube clips and whatever else is out there?

Stay tuned for the answer to this question, an exploration into the Semantic Web, and what I believe Web 3.0 will entail.

New York City's Aspirations!

I need to do some of my own writing at some point but did see this last night and just had to repost it! Imagine New York pursuing this and what it would mean for the city!

Originally found on Crains - http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110719/FREE/110719898

NYC to Silicon Valley: It's on
The Bloomberg administration Tuesday unveiled its request for a new engineering campus. It's the beginning of a long-term quest to challenge the West Coast for supremacy in the tech world.

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By Daniel Massey
July 19, 2011 3:25 p.m.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued an RFP at the Future of New York City conference.

Updated: July 19, 2011 5:12 p.m.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Tuesday details of a request for “universities near and far” to submit proposals to build or expand a science and engineering campus in the city—a project he called “one of the most promising economic development initiatives in the city's long history.”
In a speech at the Crain's Future of New York City conference, the mayor said a 1 million-square-foot applied science campus could spin off some 400 new companies and create more than 7,000 construction jobs and 22,000 permanent jobs in its first 35 years. Some $6 billion in economic activity could be generated, resulting in roughly $1.2 billion in new tax revenues added to city coffers.
“During the 1980s and 90s, Silicon Valley—not New York—became the world capital of technology startups, and that is still true today,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “But if I am right, and we succeed in this mission, it won't be true forever.”
The city is offering real estate on Governors Island, Roosevelt Island or at the Brooklyn Navy Yard at virtually no cost, and is pledging up to $100 million in infrastructure upgrades. It expects that contribution to be “matched several times over” by the winner or winners. Sources say the city could end up selecting two separate projects, and that Roosevelt Island is attracting the most interest, followed by the Navy Yard.
Roosevelt Island is believed to be the most attractive site because of its proximity to Manhattan, its public transportation and easy access to Queens neighborhoods that could accommodate startups launched by engineering students.
Governors Island has infrastructure and transportation challenges and the Navy Yard is not accessible by subway. Applicants can also propose other sites.
According to the request for proposals, the winning entry must lay out a plan to develop research that will lead to the formation and expansion of companies in the city in industries with substantial growth potential. It calls for institutions to propose graduate-level programs on the campus and mechanisms to transform research into commercial activity.
“We understand we will not catch up to Silicon Valley overnight,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “But—as with everything we do—we are taking the long view.”
The initiative was launched at the end of 2010 when city officials asked educational institutions for expressions of interest in building a new engineering and applied sciences campus. The city received 18 responses from 27 institutions around the world, including Cornell University, Stanford University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. They outlined ideas ranging from environmental sciences to nano-engineering. All of the institutions that expressed interest are eligible to respond to the request for proposals.
Cornell, which in the expression of interest phase proposed four hubs, including one encompassing technology for healthier living, sent a large contingent to hear the mayor's Tuesday speech. The university has put together a trustee task force to lead its bid, including Irwin Jacobs, the co-founder of Qualcomm; Andrew Tisch, co-chair of Loews Corp.; and Abby Joseph Cohen, a partner at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. All are Cornell alumni.
“We have been in New York City a long time,” said David Skorton, the university's president. “This is part of our DNA.”
Stanford issued a statement Tuesday afternoon saying it planned to make a proposal by the October deadline. The university's initial interest has centered on an engineering, computer science and business program based on Roosevelt Island. The university outlined plans for 200,000-square feet each of residential towers and academic buildings centered around an open green space, with cafes, retail shops, an auditorium and gym on the edge of the East River.
"Stanford University brings its entrepreneurial culture, excellence in engineering and technology, proven track record of partnering with industry and history of successfully transferring research advances to the marketplace," said President John Hennessy.
ALL FUTURE OF NYC COVERAGE

NYC to Silicon Valley: It's on
City leaders foresee prosperity—and challenges
Coming down the infrastructure pike: private investors
Taxes, schools blamed for job woes
Greatest challenge to tech? How about them high taxes
Finding a cure for public education's ills
Responses to the call for proposals are due in October, with a winner or winners to be chosen by the end of 2011. Projects will be judged based on economic impact and feasibility (40%), respondents' track records (40%) and their connections to the local community (20%). Ground could be broken in 2013.
The opening of the first phase of the project, which includes at least 250,000 square feet of development, is scheduled for 2015.
Mr. Bloomberg described the effort as the city's “most ambitious attempt to counteract a decades-long economic trend that once threatened the very future of American cities”—the decline of manufacturing jobs. New York managed to survive an 81% drop in manufacturing jobs, to 150,000, between 1966 and 2001, when Mr. Bloomberg was elected. But it did so largely on the back of Wall Street, becoming dependent on its booms and suffering from its inevitable busts.
The request for proposals issued Tuesday is an attempt to shift the city's reliance away from Wall Street and toward a future based on technology.
In remarks at the conference, Bloomberg L.P. Chief Executive Dan Doctoroff said New York is “on the cusp” of establishing itself as a player in the tech world. “This can really be the catalyst for making that a reality for the long term,” he said.