As Harvard Magazine points out, his outstanding writing is as good as the rest of his career.   I found his first book, complications, which has 4.5 amazon stars from 183 reviews a quick and insightful read.

If I had a Mac playing a video would be simple. I downloaded a selection from learnvisualstudio.net and the Windows Media Video (WMV) would not play in Windows Media Player despite having version 5.06 of the Vista Codec Package from Shark007. I am told “Windows Media Player cannot play the file (or cannot play either the audio or video portion of the file) because the Sipro Lab Telecom ACELP.net (130) codec is not installed on your computer.” I downloaded version 5.9.1 of the Vista Codec Package from MajorGeeks.

When a reboot did not fix it I tried TechSmith’s Camtasia Studio codec. Still no luck. Finally, I follow a suggestion and use Winamp which I used to use for mp3 playback all the time.

It is possible that I am naive about international affairs. In fact, in many respects, it is quite likely. I am confident, in part based on the recent article in Rolling Stone, that depending on those who have a history of treating others poorly, if not brutally, is not the way to win friends and develop lasting influence. I am also pretty confident that those educated at West Point or the U.S. Army War College know this.

What then is the motivation behind many of our activities in the Middle East? Do our leaders believe us to be so stupid that we could not understand a complex, long term plan that askews brutality? If the theory that counter insurgency is prevented by establishing a legitimate government is valid, then encouraging and supporting large scale criminals, commonly known as warlords, whose very presence undermines the rule of law, is insane. Should we not pursue policies that encourage a framework for the constructive airing of grievances, justice, and freedom as suggested recently by Kenneth M. Pollack.

Having ruled out, at least tentatively, ignorance and stupidity, I suggest looking at who is making money here. And how do they make more money has result of long term instability? Or Is Al Queda a greater threat than the mass press had portrayed? Do we really need to spend so much money for a base to purse them? What scenarios have have I overlooked? This further suggests that there are forces who materially profit from instability. But whom? And why?

What we do there matters. Who we select for leadership roles matter. Holdbrooke’s absence mattered. Patraeus’ ability to communicate and frame matter. How we get from where we are to a stable government that can defend its borders and provide opportunities for its citizens to become educated and productive locally and internationally matter.

Voting seemed easier 15-20 years ago. Were there fewer elections? Did I have a more cavalier attitude about it? Did I have more time? While I don’t know if there were fewer elections or not, I still took time to become familiar with the issues and the candidates. I do have less time now than then. I worked less and commuted less than now. Still sometime I wonder, does it really make that much of a difference. Perhaps not but it does help me feel involved and part of the community.

As you can see I still have not made time for writing. Frustrating. I have a sense that in the weeks and months to come I will be able to block consistently. I was able to resume regular workouts and I have lengthened my daily mediation to 20 minutes. I would like to start doing it nightly as well.

I feel good today. Am in a very good space. That will change. It always does. It ebbs and flows. However, given the weather and the season I think it is a very good sign.

Recently, I attended that Brewery Art Walk. It is a lovely semi-annual event.

Saturday I will attend the South Pasadena Art Fest 2010 at SOPA Studio. If you are in the area, come out!

Saturday was my 2nd wedding anniversary. I was very anxious about the day and I spent the morning doing things that were good for me and my psyche. The rest of the day with N.

Photos and details are on Facebook. It was a great day.

We laughed and had a level of honesty that is hard to come by and maintain. Eight years together for two complex, multilayered people takes its toll on both parties – married or not.

Cheers to us!

Well, I still have not gotten back to writing and I have been neglecting my workouts. Work has been very busy. However, I have been making progress on my SQL/.net studies and my writing studies.

At this point I don’t even see a path to get back on track.

The past 7 days have been very busy with work and I have neglected my writing. I hope to get back on track this week.

I have a VB 6 program that since moving it to another server serves up an ADODC error unless the original DB is keep unrestricted. Now the data correctly going to the new database on the new server but there is some configuration setting in the original I just can’t find. Or there is some code in the program that points to the old DB that I just can’t fine. Frustrating.

I had the best intentions going into this weekend of organizing and getting a least 3 ideas that I could turn into post going. However, a headache that I had on and off, mostly on, since late Friday, prevented me from doing anything non-essential this weekend. As a result, I once again have nothing to write about this morning. But I think i am closer.

I did have a great unexpected conversation with a friend on Saturday that I had not talk with at any length in a while. That as nice as was all the time I spend with friends this weekend.

Next weekend I will be at an event that may generate some material that I can use. I am taking Thursday and Friday off work to do my normal weekend stuff. I hope to organize me writing material then and be ready to hit the ground by next Monday at the latest. Wish me luck!

I did some more reading yesterday about organizing my thoughts and ideas, focusing them, and framing and developing an angle. It did not help yet. Still can’t get an entry out quickly.

I am wondering if Toastmaster would help with that. I am likely to get them out when I have some Saturday available again. This is before the end of the year.

I have been writing in a private online space consistently for a couple of months. It has gone well. Why is it such a problem to write with the knowledge that this will publicly available. It is not that I have tons have fans, yet, that are going to even see this entry. So taking Dorothea Brande’s advice I am going to write and publish entries on my inability to write and publish entries.

I do understand what a hardship this will be for me nonexistent readers but I am sure their spirits will understand.

She suggests in her book, Becoming a Writer, that this curse is defeated by writing. That is, it is not defeated by reading about it, thinking about it, or planning what to do about it.

We’ll see.

Andy Warren recently wrote about the value of blogging on SQLServerCentral.com. His remarks hit the mark so I am noting them here to remind me that I am trying to write more often because I want to be better and faster at writing and organizing my thoughts.

“I define blogging as taking an idea – a single sentence – and explaining it. You can fuss over which ideas you write about, but the act of blogging is really the art of writing, of communicating. There is real value in learning that, trying to get really good and really comfortable at it, because if you want to be successful, you have to learn to share your ideas well. Not just the ‘let’s do it’, but why and how and when. Explain it in two sentences and it gets ignored, explain in ten pages and it gets ignored. It takes practice, and most of us get relatively little practice – unless we blog, or find another way to force ourselves to write more often.

Writing makes you think, assuming you choose to write about more than where you’re going for lunch. I’ll tell you that I’d blog even if no one read my posts, it’s become the way that I shape and organize my thoughts and document lessons I’ve learned the hard way. Along the way I’ve gotten better (or at least faster) at organizing thoughts and trying to say something interesting in three or four hundred words. That’s turned out to be more useful than I ever expected, and any brand building is just a nice extra that comes with it.”

Researchers have found evidence that the network of cellular communication known as extracellular matrix (ECM) is a critical part of the formation of malignant cells.

As reported at Cloning Resources “It has been demonstrated that interactions between an epithelial breast cell and its ECM play a major role in determining whether that cell becomes cancerous, pointed the way to the idea that the ultimate fate of a stem or progenitor cell is heavily influenced by interactions with its neighboring microenvironments.”

It appears that “that a stem or progenitor cell is receiving instructional information from its surroundings”.

Dr. Dean Ornish briefly discusses changes in gene expression caused by changing your fitness (diet /exercise).

I have decided to take this site in a new direction and will begin posting on whatever is on my mind. Professionally, I am employed in computer networking and my outside interests include the stock market and real estate.   So while I long to have time to write about consciousness, biophysics, and related topics what I have time to write about is politics and investing. Thus, this blog will be more about whatever is on my mind than originally planned.