Eclectic Views

    
Nice sequence on Joh Stewart's Daily Show with Kerry using "sensitive,"
Cheney mocking the idea of "sensitive," and then a segement with Bush
talking about having to be "sensitive."
  

    
Overheard at the coffee shop recently:

Coffee Guy #1: Apparently, Star Wars is just one big exercise in
Jungian psychology.

Coffee Guy #2: Yeah. Laia is, like, a New Age goddess or something.
Are we out of organic?
  

    
Ah ha ha!
  

    
What a priceless exchange!
  

    
The revenue stream does cover the operating expneses. I'm not having
enough fun to make up for the money I'm not making and I'm not making
enough money to make up for the fun I'm not having. 

I'm headed back to the Bay Area and perhaps a Real Job.

We'll see.
  

    

 Aw, too bad.  Maybe there's a killer ap/product to boost the bucks into
 the lots-of-fun range?  I need to believe this fantasy could work...
  

    
It could work for someone who liked the nomadic life better than I. 

I had a relationship explode at the same time and feel that not being
able to be there was a component in the explosion.
  

    
Travel is very expensive in terms of core relationships.  Sorry to hear
that!
  

    
Yeah, it is still making me feel like hammered shit.
  

    
I'm sorry to hear about the exploding relationship.
Selfishly glad to hear you're thinking of coming back to the SF Bay Area
though, Phil. It'll be good to see you f2f again!
  

    
I'm with Cynthia on this, Phil.  Hurry home!
  

    

That's a helluva story, Phil.  Makes me glad I've been married for 35
years.  Hurry back, we miss you.  The Oyster Fest definitely missed
you.
  

    
It's pretty sad when you call the power company to tell them about a
sparking transformer, and they tell you to call back if you see flames.
  

    
sounds very zen to me

the power company may have been hijacked by stoned out zen monks

just wake me when the fire reaches the hall....
  

    
Ya know how it feels when someone you've become accustomed to taking with 
a liberal sprinkling of salt suddenly starts firing on both hemispheres?
  

    
You mean that they suddenly start being right more than they have any
business being? It happens all the time on the Well, I find. It is as
if people are adapted to know certain things from certain points of
view, and this costs them knowing other things and seeing other points
of view. Every so often, they get to talk about what they are actually
specialized to know, and become completely lucid and correct. It always
leads me to wish that I at least knew what my own adaptation is.

But possibly you are speaking of something entirely different.
  

    
Something different, but similar in effect.

It's hard to know what the cause might be, whether they're usually short
of sleep and just happened to have one good night, or their diet is
typically lacking in some necessary nutrient except for that particular
occasion, or the voices that usually haunt them are on vacation.

The topic being something they really know something about would sound 
very much the same.
  

    
A more interesting possibility, based on Minsky's "Society of Mind" theory
of cognitive agents, is that an aspect of their mind which had previously
been compartmentalized (dissociated?) had become reintegrated, at least 
temporarily.
  

    
Children have what are sometimes called "teachable moments," brief
intervals of intense mental clarity and focus, during which they can
learn almost anything easily. One has to be around them all the time to
recognize them when they come up, though, and school environments tend
to interfere with them.

It could be that they still come around occasionally when one gets
older. Every so often the light goes on, sweeps back and forth across
the landscape a few times, and then shuts off again.
  

    
So, your general skepticism keeps the person humble and the person's
occasional clarity keeps you listening.  Sounds like a good deal all
around.
  

    
Today's burning question: when drawing a shot of espresso, should the
grounds be sweated (briefly steamed) before the water is passed through
them, or is this step of no importance?
  

    

Here I am an old man and I never realized there was a choice until my
stomache got bad enough so that I had to mostly stop drinking coffee.
So I'll probably never know what I missed.
  

    
I'd call Mr. Espresso in Oakland and ask Carlo what he thinks. 

I don't think sweating is necessary.
  

    
The first melita filter package I ever read, years ago, suggested pouring
an eighth to a quarter cup of water through first to "burst the flavor" 
before the rest of the water was added.  Is that the same process?
  

    
(But you asked about espresso, not filtered coffee.  My mistake.)