Henson Ong on Gun Control

I have found that sometimes that people who are not from these United States have the clearest view on our politics.  Here is one example.

"Henson Ong at Gun Violence Prevention Public Hearing - Hartford, CT - 1/28/2013"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyYYgLzF6zU

"If gun control actually did work, Washington D.C. and Chicago would be the safest cities in your nation.  But it does not.  They have the toughest gun laws and the highest crime and murder rates."

Song of the Day: Sarah Darling - Free Fallin

"Sarah Darling Free Fallin"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNsF4_NhA7o

Great song performed by a great singer.  Live, with all kinds of background noise, and I loved it anyway!  Did you hear that, Beyonce?  :)

Song of the Day: Ed Sheeran - The A Team (second post, live version)

This is the second time I've posted this song.  But I'm posting it again, because I found a very nice live version.  Here's the first version, from my earlier post (Song of the Day: Ed Sheeran - The A Team, from Friday, July 20, 2012).
"Ed Sheeran - The A Team"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KlOodL9Gw4

And here's the version I recently ran across.  I think I like this live version better.

"Ed Sheeran - 'The A Team' captured in The Live Room"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOwsttzkUgs

There's a lesson in there, Beyonce.  The emotion of a live performance more than makes up for any imperfection.  Just my opinion.

How much are driver-less cars worth?

And should I spell it "driverless" or "driver-less"?  Ah, who cares.

Check out these articles from Forbes:

"Fasten Your Seatbelts: Google's Driverless Car Is Worth Trillions" by Chunka Mui

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2013/01/22/fasten-your-seatbelts-googles-driverless-car-is-worth-trillions/

"Google's Trillion-Dollar Driverless Car -- Part 2: The Ripple Effects" by Chunka Mui

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2013/01/24/googles-trillion-dollar-driverless-car-part-2-the-ripple-effects/

"Google's Trillion-Dollar Driverless Car -- Part 3: Sooner Than You Think" by Chunka Mui
http://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2013/01/30/googles-trillion-dollar-driverless-car-part-3-sooner-than-you-think/

There are more installments coming.
Series Outline:
    1. Fasten Your Seatbelts: Google’s Driverless Car Is Worth Trillions
    2. The Ripple Effects—As Far As The Eye Can See
    3. Why Change Will Come Sooner Than You Think
    4. How Google Will Profit
    5. How Auto Makers Might Win (or Lose)
    6. If You Think You Can Just Be A Spectator, Think Again

Follow Chunka Mui on Google Plus (I did) to get notified of future installments in this series.

Is Google at the forefront of a new transportation revolution?  Will we someday look back and tell our grandkids (I used to be able to say "kids" when typing a sentence like this) that we remember the days when we had to drive our own cars?  That we actually know how to drive a car without any computer help?!

Wow, technology moves at a fast pace!

GMail and Browser Tips

Here's a nice GMail tip, if you find yourself giving out your e-mail address to various organizations when you sign up for stuff (newsletters and so forth).

Posted on Google Plus:
"Your GMail address has a near infinite number of variations!" Lars Fosdal
https://plus.google.com/u/0/103128232230617819686/posts/hJfFFUq9798

And the official page, from Google:
"Using an address alias"
http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=12096

Gmail doesn't offer traditional aliases, but you can receive messages sent to your.username+any.alias@gmail.com. For example, messages sent to jane.doe+notes@gmail.com are delivered to jane.doe@gmail.com. You can set up filters to automatically direct these messages to Trash, apply a label or star, skip the inbox, or forward to another email account

And here's a bonus tip.  This is one I really need, because I do accidentally close tabs in my browser from time to time--only to wish I hadn't.  If that happens, you don't have to try to remember exactly where you were and go back to that page manually.  From Quickmeme.com:
"Actual Advice Mallard" by Louaii
http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3sg0ls/

Just hit CTRL-SHIFT-T to re-open the tab you just closed! I checked this on Firefox and Chrome, works great.  No need to check on Internet Explorer, of course, because why would anyone use that?

There are some other good memes on that page, too.  Enjoy!

Things I learned while flying

I had a couple long flights lately, on my way to Singapore and Taiwan, and back.  I watched MANY movies over the course of those flights (especially the 14-hour flights between Atlanta and Tokyo!).  And maybe I learned a few things along the way.

In the spirit of Donald Shimoda, from the book Illusions, "I’ll quote the truth wherever I find it, thank you."  So let me start with a few quotes.  Maybe these sounded more profound while I was only half awake in the middle of a long flight, but I like them and it's my blog so here they are.
http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/17906145/166780938/name/Illusions_By_RichardBach.pdf


From the movie "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" we have two quotes:
"We can't choose where we come from but we can choose where we go from there."
"We accept the love we think we deserve."

From the movie "The Lucky One" (I think this was while flying over the Aleutian Islands):
"You live long enough, you lose enough people, you learn to appreciate the memories you have and stop begrudging the ones you never got to make."

And finally, a challenge.  From the movie "Won't Back Down":
"What are you going to do with your one and only life?"


Now let's move to a TED talk that I listened to on one of the flights.  It was:
"Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you 10 extra years of life "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfBpsV1Hwqs

Apart from the main purpose of the talk, that playing games, online games in particular, can make your life better, let me focus on one part of the talk.  She mentions the top regrets of the dying.

1. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.
2. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
3. I wish I had let myself be happier.
4. I wish I'd had the courage to express my true self.
5. I wish I'd lived a life true to my dreams, instead of what others expected of me.

She showed an article from The Guardian:
"Top five regrets of the dying" by Susie Steiner
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying

Let me quote this article in full.

There was no mention of more sex or bungee jumps. A palliative nurse who has counselled the dying in their last days has revealed the most common regrets we have at the end of our lives. And among the top, from men in particular, is 'I wish I hadn't worked so hard'.

Bronnie Ware is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. She recorded their dying epiphanies in a blog called Inspiration and Chai, which gathered so much attention that she put her observations into a book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.

Ware writes of the phenomenal clarity of vision that people gain at the end of their lives, and how we might learn from their wisdom. "When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently," she says, "common themes surfaced again and again."

Here are the top five regrets of the dying, as witnessed by Ware:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

"This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it."

2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.

"This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence."

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

"Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result."

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

"Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying."

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

"This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again."

What's your greatest regret so far, and what will you set out to achieve or change before you die?

Did we blend? No. Definitely Not.

January 12, 2013 was an amazing day.  Work colleague and I went for a little motorcycle ride, Singapore into Malaysia.  About 415 km, up to Mersing (for lunch) and back.  Two main themes:

1. Interesting ride ... followed by rain--monsoon rain.
This is a variation on a theme that we say in the electrical business: "Interesting test ... followed by fire."  Of course, we say that whenever a test goes horribly wrong.  Long story short, we were almost back (already back in Singapore), and then we got caught in the heaviest rain I've ever seen in my life.  The streets had three inches of running water on them--not just in puddles, but in the higher parts of the streets, just because there was so much water.  And the puddles we had to ride through were as much as 8-12 inches deep.  Cars would drive past us and our upper bodies were getting hit with water.  Didn't matter, though, everything we had was already sopping wet.  I'm still trying to dry out.

2. Did we blend?  No.  Definitely not.
This is a variation on all the "Will it blend?" videos on YouTube.  Simply put, we did not.  My co-worker and I are both 6' 3" white guys.  And one of us was riding a loud, shiny, Harley-Davidson (the other was riding a loud BMW).  Everybody was gawking at us.  Not obnoxiously, but on the highway people were driving forward with their heads sideways, focused squarely on us.  We were the big, loud, stereotypical Americans today--hey, those are the bikes I found to rent.  People don't (successfully) run motorcycle rental businesses by renting tiny motorcycles.

Maybe a third theme:

3. I had to go all the way to Malaysia to appreciate a Harley-Davidson.
Okay, don't be ridiculous, I certainly don't want to buy one.  Both of my bikes are WAY Better than the Harley (and WAY better than the BMW, by the way).  The Softail we had was nice, but it was a big wallowing pig in the turns.  More comfortable, in a way, than the BMW, but not for riding.  It's not really a good riding position, bad on the back.  Still, I can see why people like them.  Nice feel, nice sound.  And some people like being the center of attention.

We saw a lot of other stuff along the way.  Including monkeys by the side of the road, which was odd.  Very interesting day.

8:30a.  Already a HOT day.

The Harley ran out of gas a few miles south of Kluang.

 Couple pictures from the coast, in Mersing.

 Lunch in Mersing.  Cost was a little over $5 U.S. for lunch for both of us.

Interesting side note: I told my colleague where I rented the bikes.  He was a bit surprised that I didn't even realize that the motorcycle rental place was across the street from Orchard Towers.  Why is that special, you ask?  Well, it's the place that is well-known (by everybody except me, apparently) for being able to find any flavor of prostitute you might desire.  Wide open and all legal.  Singapore is an interesting place.  Extremely strict in some ways (the entry card you fill out says, "Warning Death For Drug Traffickers Under Singapore Law") and there is not one bit of trash on the streets, but then you have something like Orchard Towers.  Yes, I'm clueless about these things.

Click the link at the bottom of the map to see the (approximate) route we took.

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