New writings on One Step from Sunday

There are some new parts to Trickery and a new part to Fangs for the Memories over at One Step From Sunday.

Promotions!

But not raises.

On Saturday, BrightonMusic had their board meeting, and they decided to change my title from "Assistant Music Director" to "Music Director", alongside Kat (actually, Kat suggested it).

So, yay!

Musopen begins Music Theory Textbook Project

Musopen has begun a Music Theory Textbook Project (as announced on the Musopen blog) to create and release to the public domain a music theory textbook suitable for use in college courses. They're looking for volunteers right now, and although I doubt I can contribute much to the actual theory portion of the book, I've volunteered to proof-read. Give it a look!

Inventory as Waste

My coworker Paul was telling me today about some of the presentations he attended at the Agile conference earlier this month, and one of the things he mentioned was the idea that inventory is a kind of waste.

It took me a little while to grasp this concept, but I think of it this way:

Imagine a mechanic's shop. There is a team of mechanics, and they all work together to fix cars (or whatever). They have an inventory of wrenches, and each wrench has a certain cost associated with it, based on the initial cost of the wrench, the cost of storing it, degradation of the wrench over time, etc. The wrench's purpose is to be used to fix cars. When used for its purpose, the wrench is not wasted; it is contributing to the goals of the team. Whenever the wrench is in storage instead of being used for its purpose, it is wasted; it costs the team to store it, track it, put it away, etc. So, ideally, every wrench should be used (appropriately; misuse of a tool is another topic!) as much as possible.

Now, of course, some waste might be necessary. Perhaps certain tasks require the use of multiple wrenches, or when the team is at capacity all the wrenches are in use (but this doesn't happen all the time, nice as that would be). So you have to find the appropriate balance of waste vs efficiency.

Atheism in Pop Culture: "Old Time Religion" (from Greta Christina)

Greta Christina has a bit of a contest going for parody verses for "Old Time Religion."

A couple examples from the post:

Let us worship Aphrodite
In her silky see-through nightie
Though she's mean and somewhat flighty
She's good enough for me.

Let us sacrifice to Isis
She will help us in a crisis
And she hasn't raised her prices
And that's good enough for me.

Here are my entries:

The invisible pink unicorn
May be found in ancient cuneiform
And always shall my socks adorn...
And that's good enough for me.

The Principia Discord-i-a says
The Goddess Eris is our goddess, yes,
And chaos give such good milk, I must confess,
That it's good enough for me.

New post on One Step From Sunday

I've just written a new post on One Step from Sunday entitled "One Foot in Front of the Other". It's very short, so... go read it!

Orange Butterfly

Orange Butterfly
Originally uploaded by emeraldimp.

We went to the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster today. Here's a taste of pictures to come...

I Hate Creepy Crawlies!

I

hate

Creepy

Crawlies!

(and flyers,

too)

So, why do I take so many pictures of them?

Today's Macro Photography Tips

Here's some tips for macro photography:

* Macro photography requires either a tripod or a lot of light (ideally both).
* You will probably have to stand a lot farther away than you expect (depending on your lens, of course).

Bellwether

Connie Willis

Connie Willis jumped onto my radar when I first read Doomsday Book (which I highly recommend), but I hadn't picked up a second Willis novel until just recently. Although I don't think it's quite as good as Doomsday Book, it was still an interesting story.

Sandra Foster is a researcher that studies fads, trying to understand where they come from, how they spread, and why. Her studies are alternately helped and hampered by the company she works for - HiTek - and her coworkers.

This novel is short, clocking in at merely 247 pages in my edition, and an easy read. The story flows very well, and each chapter begins with a brief paragraph describing a historical fad from the middle ages to the present.

I enjoyed this book, but I don't really have much to say about it. It's not terribly controversial, and there isn't really any major conflict to speak of. It's interesting, though, to note which fads continue today (the book was published in 1996) and which have petered out.

I hate little bitty flies!

Especially when they keep flying in my face. Or ears. Or anywhere near me, really, which they are doing a lot because... Steve isn't here today? A new nest hatched? I dunno.

But I squish 'em when I catch 'em.