So, as I had mentioned in a previous post, I quit my gig at Caustic (ironic, the name of the company given its also a characteristic of my disposition) back in September. Since then I have had the honour (or is that privilege) of watching the economy tank. It’s very strange though, it’s like the entire country is in denial. Over the last couple of months we have had this amazing demonstration of what happens when people don’t have money to spend, and how that phenomenon reaches out and spreads throughout the entire economy (ours and the world’s) yet still, the remedy most governments and/or other institutions recommend is to get things back to a point where the consumer class can begin spending again. But that makes no sense, it seems so obvious to me that maybe we should really be taking a hard look at not consuming so much. Maybe the world (or at least the US) needs to re-think our affinity for consumerism. Maybe businesses which produce things are not supposed to grow in revenue etc.. year-to-year. What’s wrong with businesses or companies holding a static size.

I am so confused

So, about 2 weeks ago, dutiful parent (along with my wife) that I am, took our 5 year old daughter and a girlfriend to the Lawrence Hall of Science in the Berkeley hills. Now it is important to me, being the father of a girl, that she get exposed to as much science and math as possible. Not so that she’ll necessarily become some manner of techie, but so that she is facile with understanding how things work from politics, to johnson counters….

Well as I am walking through the hall with her, it occurs to me that there are a fair number of other parents there with the same idea.What worries me however is that if all of these youngsters become techies, developing all kinds of neat protocols, and devices to push media around. Who will be left to generate the actually generate the content that these devices will push/carry across the “ether”

In most parts of the “industrialized world” it seems, at least from a metric that most societies understand, that the arts are not really valued. At least not nearly as valued as say, the Nth generation iPhone (full disclosure, I have one and we are exclusively a mac family). 

So here’s my plan (though my daughter I am sure will have other ideas). I want her to be able to bust out the solution for a non-linear fourth order differential equation….. when she needs to because…. it helps her figure out how to internalize the fact that Dave Holland’s Big band swings with a groove like nobodies bidness…. She does all this and then pays good money she earns as some creative type to see Dave Holland’s big band live…..

Now that’s a fathers dream

Peace y’all

Well it looks like I need to get serious about pursuing something outside of technology. Try as I might, I am no longer an engineer at heart. I’ll be a free agent in a few weeks, free of steady income that is.

So, what next for me ? I don’t know. There are some back burner (or at least former back burner) projects including finishing up my film; a history of black surfers, extending my Dreamweaver skills, and maybe getting a little more consistent in making entries in this blog. That and going surfing more now that I have some free time.

Cheers, and I hope to update this more frequently

I don’t intend on writing much about this beyond that it is a shame. Instead, here are a couple of links to some podcasts, the first, from WHYY’s Fresh Air with Terry gross, the interview is with Michael Greenberger, from Univ of Maryland I believe. Here is a link to it, Fresh Air, April 3 Show, the second is from the NPR show “The Journal” with Bill Moyers, this show in addition to documenting some current state on the mortgage crisis, also includes a pretty good conversation with William Grieder of the The Nation.

That’s all for now, btw, we are all back in Oakland, our true home. Its nice to be back

Peace

Paul Richardson

I haven’t posted in ages, new gig at caustic.com, yes we do fast ray tracing. My daughter turned 5 and we spent the day (yesterday) at Disneyland. It wasn’t all that painful given the locale…. 

And I love it, how many people 6′2″ tall, male, straight and black do you know who would do so….  

Ok, so I have been meaning to write this for a while. As I am sure a lot of people are aware, there is tons of “free” content, meaning video, audio, and text available on the internet. My question to you is: How much content do you pay for, and if you are firmly ensconced in the “I won’t pay for anything on the internet camp”, shame on you. I am more than willing to bet that there are artists who produce music, video, or text which each of you is passionate about. So, why not pay for it. If your favorite artists doesn’t have a means to do so, suggest one to them. These creative folks can’t live and produce their works if they can’t support themselves….  

Well it looks like our higher learning skills are going to be put to the test now on the democratic side of the race. I know I promised not to turn this into a political blog but the and I still intend to honor that promise. I just have to say something about what’s going on.So here we are two days after super Tuesday and nothing has been decided on the democratic side (on the republican side it looks like McCain barring some amazing Meltdown. On the other hand, the Pats did lose). There are caucuses or primaries on the 9th, 10th,12th and 19th including Louisiana, Nebraska,Washington,the US Virgin Isles, Maine, DC, Maryland, Virginia, Hawaii, and Wisconsin.  In March you’ve got Ohio and Texas, with these two primaries accounting for 334 delegates. A good friend and I spent a fair amount of time jawboning this out, for the hardcore among you most of this may be obvious. But here is where we went:

1. Now that it looks like McCain is the man on the republican sight, beyond what I really think is some short period wood chopping, the republicans will get behind him and start to push a general gameplan into action which can morph into one specifically tailored for either Obama or Clinton. On top of this, national campaign fundraising for them can begin in earnest.
2.  There is no clear leader on the democratic side currently,  so the question is , when will either Obama or Clinton  emerge as the frontrunner. Can this be resolved before the end of the month ? If not, is it time for “the” math ? This is where my friend and I are in the dark; how long will the determination of the front runner take. If this can be done by the end of February, then great, problem solved. What if however, this has to drag on into at least the middle of March and possibly beyond ? My friend is concerned that this is a resource drain on the Demos, I agree, however it is at this point that my friend thinks if necessary, that someone be anointed so that we can get on with it. I understand his thinking completely and I understand that “we” need a “win” in November, I guess I am still a bit naive in wanting us to get there the right way, meaning no brokered convention, no deal, let the chips fall where they may. I also think that while it would be a perfect storm to have a non-republican president and congress, I can live with a congress as they could still get things done, especially if it is a veto proof majority.
3. I tend to agree with my friend that if  it was to come down to a deal being made, and that if things were still even-steven at the time a “deal” was being discussed, odds are that Hillary would get the nod. I attribute this to my belief that she probably has a better “smoked-filled room game” then Obama. The question is whether or not Obama would join her ticket if asked, because to be quite honest, I think she needs him and his organization. I wonder how expensive within the party this would be in terms of bitterness, and backlash from the ground troops in the Obama organization.Well there you have it, this what I spent 

So it sounds like to me, that we should get out and push hard for the candidates we support and hope that one comes out the clear winner by the end of the month. Care to guess who I am stumping for…. I promise my next post won’t be about politics. It will be about content….  One last thing, calling Rove Lord Sith was my friend’s idea. All credit goes to him… 

This will be brief, first, I must say, that Thursday nights (January 31, 2008) Democratic debate was by far the most civil, and in fact illuminating on the somewhat minor differences between Obama and Clinton. Actually, given my stance on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, maybe not so minor differences. That being said, was it just me, or did this debate also seem to be beginning to lay the ground work  (at least visual)  for the Democratic party’s presidential/vice presidential ticket ? It sure seemed it to me. The real question being who is going to be president and who will be vice-president