Quantum Theology

I spent the majority of this weekend working on my implementation of the Chord Distributed Hash Table algorithm. Having tested out the core algorithm in Java, I have been working to port everything over to PERL since PERL is lightweight and available on all UNIX based web servers. I suppose one day I’ll have to work on a .NET implementation, but that will be very last.

Anyways, there were some potential sticky points. The Chord algorithm requires the use of threads and VERY LARGE numbers and cryptographic hashes. The usage of threads is pretty dang simple in PERL, but I did notice that the perl interpreter has to be compiled with thread support. This would be a show stopper you PERL interpreter doesn’t have it. Working with VERY LARGE numbers and crypto in PERL is actually pretty dang slick. Much easier than Java. In fact, I am quite pleased how clean the PERL code is. Sexy even.

I was also worried about the issue of data transport. I could ‘code my own’ interface, but I would worry about the maintainability and extensibility of a custom transport layer. SOAP it is then. After a digging around a bit I found a PERL module which is a HTTP server. Managing the HTTP protocol was going to be the nasty part, but it looks like I’m not going to have to deal with that. Messing around with XML is PERL is trivial (so long as it’s simple). I do wonder what the world would look like if PERL had the popularity of Java and C#. Do we really need strongly typed languages?
So, where is this all going? Dunno. Should be good enough for my masters thesis though.

OK, so that last post was a little forthright. That’s what happens when I drink wine. That’s what I really think so I think I’ll just leave it there for all to see.  There is no honesty quite like that while under the influence… Perhaps one day I will be honest without the wine. Until then…

It’s been quite a while since I wrote on the state of the housing market in the U.S. Well, by now it’s news that the sub-prime lenders are starting to close up shop. The question now is if the problems in the sub-prime market will spread to the Alt-A loans.

I am rooting for a general collapse in real estate values, just to be clear. It hasn’t happened yet and if the problems with the lenders don’t trigger a collapse then I can’t see another event on the horizon that would bring down prices. High real estate values are good for the older generation, but not so good for the younger folk. The older generation had their chance and I don’t give a shit about their retirement plan home equity. The baby boomers are fucking up finances everywhere and I get the feeling that Generation X/Y will be holding the bag.

Housing update, yes. Ahem. I suggest that if the price of housing does NOT drop by say 30 percent or so, pick up your bags and move somewhere else where it’s cheaper - like me. Seriously, housing is going to be a long term looser over the next 30 or so years unless the market corrects itself.

From the Colorado Springs Independent

Two officers dragged a woman, who has difficulty walking, off the street, leaving her with large red abrasions that were treated at Memorial Hospital.

An officer placed a man in a hold described by marchers as a chokehold, and by police as an apparent “pressure-compliant hold.”

Almost a week after marchers wearing T-shirts with peace symbols were kicked out of the local St. Patrick’s Day parade, another kind of procession continues.
The marchers, many in their 60s and older, claim police shoved them or twisted their arms. They say an officer broke an anti-war sign over his knee during a surreal crackdown in which the parade was waved around them and nobody, not even Mayor Lionel Rivera, stopped to help.

“We asked the mayor personally if he would do something, and he looked over his shoulder and said, “I’m busy,’ and walked away,” says Joshua Cabrera, a student and researcher who came to see the parade with his wife and kids.

Apparently Colorado has a similar law on driving with earphones. Honestly, I don’t see the difference between a loud radio and earphones other than the fact you won’t be rattling windows and setting off car alarms when you drive past.

“Liberty is the soul’s right to breathe and, when it cannot take a long breath, laws are girdled too tight.”
– Rev. Henry Ward Beecher

I love Virginia. Really.

Damn, the hard thing about blogs is that you miss all that body language. *sigh*

I got a ticket for driving my rental car with earphones on. You know, the kind you get with the iPod. What a useless law. The cop didn’t even give me slack for being an ignorant visitor. He was very polite, but I think that made it worse.

Anyway, the fine is only 25 dollars   … plus a 61 dollar processing fee … plus another 10 dollar fee. Tell me again why the fees are 3x more than the damn fine? I’m thinking of being very passive aggressive here. Ideas include mailing 95.99 dollars of pennies, nickels, and dimes, writing 96 one dollar checks, folding 96 one dollar bills and throwing them into a large box with lots and lots of packing material. Any ideas from my reader?

The text of the Virginia law:

Unlawful to operate motor vehicle, bicycle, electric personal assistive mobility device, electric power-assisted bicycle, or moped while using earphones.

It shall be unlawful for any person to operate a motor vehicle, bicycle, electric personal assistive mobility device, electric power-assisted bicycle, or moped on the highways in the Commonwealth while using earphones on or in both ears.

For the purpose of this section, “earphones” shall mean any device worn on or in both ears that converts electrical energy to sound waves or which impairs or hinders the person’s ability to hear, but shall not include (i) any prosthetic device that aids the hard of hearing, (ii) earphones installed in helmets worn by motorcycle operators and riders and used as part of a communications system, or (iii) nonprosthetic, closed-ear, open-back, electronic noise-cancellation devices designed and used to enhance the hearing ability of persons who operate vehicles in high-noise environments, provided any such device is being worn by the operator of a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,000 pounds or more. The provisions of this section shall not apply to the driver of any emergency vehicle.

That’s the sound of me falling flat on my face. LOL! I was touted as some sort of Weblogic expert (I’m not), and I was supposed to support software I knew nothing about. No rabbit out of the hat this time!

Last year was very solid for me technically. All the tasks I was given were right up my alley and not up anyone else’s alley. Not only that, but I knocked every single task for a home run. My supervisor mentioned that I set the bar pretty high for this year, and I think he is right.  It’s going to be a tough act to follow. Better leave now before they see me fall on my face! Actually, I just might but not for that reason. I’m not expecting a promotion this year, and I wonder if my raise will even keep up with the rate of inflation. I clearly out-performed this year but I won’t see any reward for my efforts. I’ll be leaving this company when it is to my benefit and I think that it will be this year for sure (assuming I don’t get laid off before then, of course). I wonder about trying my hand at independent work, possibly as a sub-contractor for another major defense firm. The problem with that is I want to get my Masters degree and I don’t think I could find the time if I started off on my own. What to do…

In the meantime, I’ll be supporting a program which I know little about. The funny thing is that I’m headed out there and they are calling me the ‘expert.’ LOL. Whatever.

A friend of mine wrote a nice article on emotional pain the other day. It was interesting because I had been thinking about the same thing a few days ago. Ever since I moved out here to Colorado, pain has not been a part of my existence at all. What made me pause was the fact that I missed it in a way. ?? Go figure. Am I a sucker for punishment?

Wow, sometimes movies just come to life right in front of you. I can see why Good Will Hunting won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Picture me, making an innocent (or what I thought was innocent) comment. Picture Sarah, going postal and walking out the door. Let me be clear about the context. I’m not ‘in love’ with Sarah and so the context is friendship only. The point here is that some people can go postal if you hit the right button by accident. The other person is left to go ‘what the fuck happened here?’

Now, she has gone to play the part of the mathematical dick of a professor, who has a long but troubled friendship with the shrink played by Robin Williams (me).

Now, what I still have hope for is something along the lines of simple reconciliation. Well, it doesn’t seem right now like that’s ever going to happen. Nonetheless, I will continue to hope, not so much because I feel hope, but because I choose to hope.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13

There are three Greek words for love, and the love spoken of here is not romantic love. I am but a poor reflection of a mirror of what is spoken of here, but I will work daily to improve on that reflection because I can think of no cause more worthy and because this is the core of Christianity - to love one another as God has loved us.

Sarah, curse me all you want, but frankly, I don’t give a damn. On the other hand, it was wrong of me to poke and prod you like I did, and for that I am sorry. While my curiosity has been satisfied, I don’t believe it was worth the price.