Friday Five, Status

[elfs]

At the moment, what is your favorite...

...song?

It's either Yoko Kanno's Inner Universe or Her Space Holiday's The Young Machines

...food?

Grapefruit and Bagels!

...tv show?

Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto

...scent?

Freshly laundered sheets.

...quote?

"If you're so smart, why aren't you naked?"

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Well, today has been productive. In work barely two hours already and several major bugs have died ignominious deaths under my capable hands. That whole bit recently about how sleep is a necessity for creativity and problem solving is completely true; I put in 11 hours at the office yesterday and I could not for the life of me figure out why a list of files kept growing, repeating, every time a command was passed through the control module. I woke up this morning with the answer fresh in my head: I was forgetting to clear the filename accumulator. Set, did I feel dumb.

And I would like to thank ambar and lucky_otter for pointing me at David Allen's website and corresponding book, Getting Things Done. I was impressed with two things. First, he dismisses the Covey method: "Focusing on values and roles will only add to the complexity of your task. They are important, but not for the everyday business of getting things done."

The second is that he was brutally honest and forthright: "Every week, I have 60 projects and 70 maybe-projects in my to do list." I've never seen that kind of confession before; most of the "productivity gurus" try to keep "life's bullet points" down to something that can fit on a powerpoint slide; Allen admits up front that reality doesn't work like that. I'm looking forward to the rest of his technique. I've been sputtering along with the Franklin/Covey method for years and never felt that it was quite working. Now I think I know why.

---

Oh great. Just freakin' great. Theodore Darymple is moving to France. If you don't know what that means, don't worry about it. If you know who Theodore Darymple is, then you know it's serious. Theo has been commenting about the dissolution of British culture for several years now; apparently, he's had enough.

And this'll make you squirm harder: The President's Council on Bioethics has released its report, Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness, which among other things advises us that we'll live fuller, happier lives knowing that ultimately we all suffer and die. Hmm.. is that a syllogism-- the more we suffer and fear death, the fuller and happier our lives will be? Enjoy your fate, suffering brings you dignity. Here, read some Tolstoy. You'll be depressed afterwards, but you'll be a better human being for it.

At least, that's Leon Kass's assessment. Horrible life and safety must be held at bay by every means necessary.

One of the charter groups for the president's "Alliance for Marriage" is now being investigated for relations with terrorists. Birds of a feather...

And a Belgian cardinal has stated "democracy" is "a laugh." "The right to vote, what is that all about? I find it strange that a snot-nosed 18-year-old has the same vote as a father of seven. One has no responsibilities whatsoever, the other provides tomorrow's citizens." He has also stated that only 10% of gay people are "really homosexual and dealing with a terrible affliction," the rest are just perverts getting their jollies. But brothels are okay: "If a man thinks he needs sex or is going to explode, it is better to find a prostitute than seduce or rape a girl. At least there are no innocent victims involved."