Date: 2008-05-12 21:56 Subject: A very graceful cat Security: Public

Desmond, they stray we pulled off the parking lot this past fall seems to be a very devout cat. He says grace every time he hunkers down to eat or drink. I'm not sure what's going on exactly, but he says some sort of feline homily every time he consumes nourishment.

I'm actually thinking of micing him to create the "The Penn Corpus of Spoken North American Brown Tabby". Hey... This could be a cooperative project in linguistics. If everyone with a brown tabby could mic their cat, we could make a speaker recognition corpus. Of course, treebanking it could pose a bit of a challenge, but I'm sure we could at least annotate sentence and token boundaries. Why this corpus would be as epoch making as the "Klingon<->Esperanto Parallel Text Corpus".

Back to web ontologies with me. Shoot me now.

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Date: 2008-05-03 23:30 Subject: Knock on wood Security: Public

I'm worried. I'm only half way through the term and I have good handle on both my final projects. One I've done the hard part on already and just need to start writing up. The other may turn out to be less of a big deal than I'd worried. Both classes seem to place more of an emphasis on the regular assignments than on the big project than some of my others have. Not that I'm complaining. It's just a change.

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Date: 2008-04-22 22:00 Subject: Writing Tips for Grad Students Security: Public

Just a quick tip for grad students who are this close to graduating:  Never use the phrase "My muscular buttocks" to refute a point made in a lecture.  It may work on Firefly, but it probably won't score you points in a reference class.

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Date: 2008-04-22 09:31 Subject: Primary Instinct Security: Public

This will be an interesting election.  Even at 7:40 when I went down to vote for the Democrat candidate, there was a line.  My polling place never has a line.  Primaries are even less crowded. Normally that is.  Not this election.  The place was crowded.  The general election promises to be pretty nutty.  Who'd I vote fore?  The candidate with the nicest butt.  It's as good a measure as anything else in this media environment.  Fortunately, since I wrote Michelle in, I know my vote went for the most intelligent candidate.

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Date: 2008-04-21 15:30 Subject: Blah blah,blah,blah Security: Public

Why can't writing about metadata be incisive, witty, or just sensationalistic.  Why can't there be articles like "Top Ten Sex Secrets of the Open Archives Initiative" or "Dublin Core Training for Massive Strength"?  The metadata world needs the writers from Cosmopolitan to write some the work up.  Punch it just a little with innuendo, salacious details and low card recipes.  Anything but what I've got to slog through today.

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Date: 2008-04-21 09:32 Subject: Australia Bans Laser Pointers Security: Public

According to this this Sydney Morning Herald article, Australia has effectively banned laser pointers, declaring them to be weapons of mass murder.  As we all know, these things are dangerous.  Even with a low powered red laser like the one I have, I can instantly call down 21 pounds of cat down on a very small area with great precision.  This gives me a destructive ability second only to my neighbor's cat.  

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Date: 2008-04-19 21:56 Subject: Tyranny of the Nanny Cat Security: Public

Conservatives like to talk about the Nanny State interfering with their selectively cherished American freedoms.  I generally sneer at this.  Even though I often feel safer armed, I generally think guns are poor solution to any of the problems they're designed to solve; a solution of the very last resort.  I generally don't think smokers have a right to their addiction if they're gonna pollute my air.  However, I think I'm beginning to see the point of the conservatives with our new cat, Desmond.  We rescued him from a harsh winter out in parking lot and he's been ever so grateful.  He's also grown very protective of his saviors.  He is a wise cat who knows the way of the world.  Just ask him.  He'll explain it to you.  And his people?  Yeah, they're nice but they just don't get it. They take baths, they go near the evil vacuum cleaner and do all manner of nonsensical things.  So Desmond has to keep us in line.  He follows us around, batting us with his surprisingly powerful paws.  He puts himself between us and harm's way especially when it comes to water.  And he lectures us constantly about the errors of our way.  And we just don't get it, so he has to take more swipes, and lecture louder.  Sheesh, this cat is like an overprotective parent.  

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Date: 2008-04-19 20:14 Subject: A Little Meta-Analysis of Metdata Security: Public Location: meta Mood: meta Music: meta Tags: cataloging, meta to infinity, meta-analysis, meta-meta-meta, meta-migraine, metadata

Yeah, metadata, data about data. Big, hairy deal. It's not a breakthrough of Gaussian Proportions or anything. Except that it is! Put this in your pipe and smoke it:

we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size.

But, dwarfs that we are, and as gigantic as the shoulders we stand on are, we often perceive them as little more than ridge with a higher promontory bisecting it.  We don't know we stand on shoulders because few of us have ever surmounted the head to look down at the plateau.  The first guy to this was Anthony Panizziwhen he cataloged the British national library in the late 19th century.  His catalog was the first subject catalog in wide use.  For the first time scholars had an ontology of knowledge by which to map to their researches.  Using this kind of catalog, researchers could find out they were indeed reinventing the wheel in their endeavors.  They could make a better wheel.  Or join the wheel with a chassis and engine and make something entirely new.  We take this kind of research for granted, but it has only been possible since the mid 19th century.  Ever since then catalogs have been refined ans systematized, but until now, they have largely been standalone entities.  OCLC has only been joining libraries at the hip for a short time.  And serials have even been  more disjointed due a conspiracy of publishers.  We stand, more than eve, in Oldenburg's shadow.  However, a rag tag band of rebels aim to change the galaxy and return it to a regime of truth, justice and the American Way.  Those rebels got together in 1999 and Santa Fe and started the Open Archive Initiative.  Here's how I'm describing it my class essay:

In and of itself, a collection in a library, digital or otherwise, has little meaning. Only when the collection has been organized and cataloged, does it become truly useful. The catalog, the metadata which presents the user the collections' scope, context and organization allows the user to navigate the collection, search it and find resources either through searching or browsing. Catalogs as stand alone entities can only provide information about a specific collection. They give a user little insight as to the extent of knowledge in general or its widespread availability. Nor can traditional catalogs and bibliographies easily keep current. Networking presents new opportunities for knowledge sharing and discovery. With networking technologies like the Internet, catalogs of document repositories may be shared. The challenge in such an environment is interoperability, communicating between actors and systems. In a general sense, the TCP/IP and HTTP protocols provide a common set of rules for communication between networked systems. TCIP/IP enables the lowest levels of the network to communicate with one and other. HTTP provides a convenient method for transferring information meaningful to humans. However, beyond these levels of interoperability repositories must share a common language for description and representation. The goal of the Open Archives Initiative is to provide that level of interoperability.

PS:  Heya, prof!  If you're reading this due a networked anti plagiarism tool, you now know my secret identity.

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Date: 2008-04-18 19:27 Subject: Keepin' it in proportion Security: Public Music: DJ Pascal Buddhatomic

Good stuff today.  My immediate boss and the oyabun or oyabun at work both think I rocked the linguistic world in my efforts on the job.  We'll see if translates into a raise or not sometime in July.  Also, a big box of new bike stuff arrived.  Mostly it's bike clothes for Michelle.  She's really taking to this bicycle commuting thing.  I, however, ordered a couple of jerseys since it's getting warm and pockets are nice to have on recreational rides.  Nowhere to put them on the shorts, so cyclists have pockets on their shirts.  And this presents a problem.  Cyclists are spindly elfin people or so the manufacturers believe.  They certainly don't make tops for anthropomorphic bobcats like myself.  That's to say I'm short and bulky though not especially fuzzy.  When I put on my short sleeve jersey, the stripe on the sleeve is stretched totally out of shape and it looks I'm wearing the shirt just to show off my chest.  This is the large size by the way.  The sleeveless jersey doesn't look as ridiculous, but even it's kinda stretched in some places.  I run into the same problem with regular clothes.  Some brands make allowances for their customers to have biceps, but one brand that's HQed out in the Bay Area makes stuff that fits skinny computer geeks and leaves me feeling like I might break the seams if I move in certain directions.  Ah, well, if this is my cross to bear, it's a pretty light one so I can't complain too much.  Sometimes it leads to fun encounters.  Back when I did a lot of power lifting in college, my legs got pretty big.  One day I tried on some new pants one day at a clothing store.  They were way too tight in the thighs and I couldn't get them back off, at least not without ripping the fabric.  So I asked the sales clerk for some help after explaining my problem.  She agreed that I'd need the "athletic" fit, but I'd have to get the pants I had on off first.   The two of us marched back in into the changing stall to see if she, yes she, might have better leverage.  No dice.  She called for her teammate to assist in the depantsing effort.  In short order, I was holding on for dear life as two attractive women were, literally, trying to tear the pants off me.  Eventually, with everyone pulling in complementary directions, the pants did come off.  Thankfully they were laughing too hard to notice that my underwear had come off along with the pants.  Now usually stories like this wind up with sordid accounts of frentic sexual encounters.  But, no, when something like this happens in real life everyone involved is too embarrassed or laughing too hard to make anything of it.  There's no real moral to this story except that I'm finding ways to avoid my homework.   I'm up to meta-meta-metadata now.  

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Date: 2008-04-17 14:51 Subject: But I'm winning the metagame... Security: Public

Why is it that the things which are really important and will earn you a lot of money if you master them are just frightfully boring?  The library world is a twitter with metadata and metadata librarians pull down some serious bucks.  But, gawd, reading metadata standards you just feel the soul leaving your mortal remains.  And everyone writes stuff about metadata as if it's a breakthrough of "Gaussian Proportions".  The truth is that the metadata itself is pretty banal.  It's what you can build with it that's cool and no one seems to step back and talk about the cool stuff.

Gawd, now they're talking about meta-metadata.  Arrrgh!  Shoot me now!

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Date: 2008-04-15 21:26 Subject: Don't even... Security: Public

Two words you may not use in my presence

• Agglomerative
• Metadata

Trust me.  You never want to see both of these words appearing in the same journal article.  On the other hand, any article that has both metadata and frottage in it is almost guaranteed to be a good read.

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Date: 2008-04-15 16:31 Subject: Quote of the Day Security: Public

Capitalist ideologues and neo liberal types often recite stirring mantras about the market as universal solution to most, if not all, human problems. The forget that that deep in the heart of real capitalistic practice lies the question for monopoly situations.  Bill Gates has never been interested in a perfect market, i.e. a competitive one, a point the US Justice Dept has taken some care to document and prosecute.  Exploiting inelastic markets wherever they exist( or may be created) is the real name of the game.

Jean-Clause Guedon from In Oldenurg's Long Shadow

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Date: 2008-04-12 16:14 Subject: Important Annoucement Security: Public

I don't want to do my homework.  That is all.

This has been a test of the Emergency Homework Avoidance System.  Had this been a real episode of the procrastination, the cats would be coated in a waterproof shield and buffed to a high shine.  Meanwhile, if anyone has some, could a I borrow a cup of motivation?

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Date: 2008-04-09 13:44 Subject: I Heart SF Security: Public

According to the news, among the groups of protesters demonstrating against Beijeng Olympics is a group of nudists who want the games to be held according to its original traditions.  Now that's a cause I could get behind.

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Date: 2008-04-05 10:07 Subject: Sci-Fi Dreams aka Cherryh Fan Fic Security: Public Tags: dreams, fan fiction, geekery, sci-fi

The dreams I remember are often fairly self contained sci-fi stories.  Some original, some fan-fic.  And, whenever, I read something by CJ Cherryh that is not part of the Chanur series, I dream fan-fic involving the Hani people.  Wish I knew what it was about that series that so lodged into my sub conscious.  Maybe it's just the idea of being on a ship crewed by attractive, saucy, sorta cat like alien females.  Saucy, sorta cat like females who'd have me wearing my reproductive tract as a neck tie if I pulled anything.  Okay, so maybe that's not the attraction.  But, for one reason or another, they figure in my dreams.  This week, I've been reading Cherryh's Foreigner.  I'm desperately trying to finish it before classes explode in my face.  The novel is fantastic.  Definitely a story anyone who works with languages and cultures should read.  But, as always, it inspires dreams of Hani

Now I have to read way more about Digital Libraries than any really should at one sitting.

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Date: 2008-04-01 12:22 Subject: Keen observation from 2007 Security: Public

I kinda hate/kinda enjoy performance reviews. I have to write down all the things I did in the year. Unfortunately, I'm inevitably the indispensable guy in the org; the guy who's too important to promote, the guy who can't take vacations. I'm the buck stopper, the problem solver, the guy who gets it done and moves onto the next crisis. So to figure out exactly what I have to do, I have to go through all the legal pads and day planner pages on which I record my notes and thoughts. These days, I also go through my wikis to recall just what I did in the year. This year's list of stuff I got down is pretty impressive. And that's just work. I've also been finishing my Master's degree. Anyway, as I'm poring over all this documentation, I come across mysterious missives, reflections and other thoughts which I have ceased to think about. This year's insight is:

A strategy of victimization creates a culture of entitlement. If you're a victim, then you're always owed some sort of compensation and can never be held accountable for your actions or the choices you make(or fail to make).

Wish I cold remember what it was that made me think of this.  I don't know how profound this really is since another entry read enigmatically "merk, nur wum ugump" or that's what I think I wrote.

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Date: 2008-03-31 14:32 Subject: Completions and beginnings Security: Public

Wow.  I just finished the Tamil Dictionary project.  Still don't speak the language, but nonetheless, the first modern English Dictionary of Tamil verbs has my fingerprints all over it.  I dunno if I'll receive any kind of author credit, but it's still an achievement.  I'm also starting the last quarter of master's degree.  The week's off to a fast start.  But every thing is under control.  I'm managing expectations and all my colorless green ideas are sleeping furiously. 

Oh, and it's performance review time at work.  I'm just going to send in a wave file with the theme from Shaft as my self evaluation.  That describes how well I did on the job this year.

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Date: 2008-03-30 21:37 Subject: Created a monster... Security: Public

So, like the street were Michelle normally parks just went permit only.  Michelle, sensible girl she is, decided that driving just got to be too much of a pain and a shift to biking is in order.  We did a dry run today and found that the ride was easy for her.  I took her  to the local bike store and had her test ride a bike better suited to commuting than her mountain bike.  She's hooked now.  Part of our tax return is now destined to purchase her a Jamis Coda Sport ($600).  She'll need panniers.  That means I just shelled out $200 to upgrade my own and she'll get the cast offs for this season.  Next season we'll get her a new set of her own.  I just bought a pair of Arkel Mountain panniers.  They're kind of expensive, but they'll last longer than the cheapo ones Michelle will suffer with for this season.  Also, even spending $800 to get us riding as couple will cost about the same as gas for just the season.  When I bought my long suffering mountain cum touring bike in the early 1990s, I laid down $1200 for that and it took two seasons to make that up in gas savings.  And this was because I had 1) a long ride 2)drove junky cars with crappy gas mileage 3)rode from late Feb to Thanksgiving or later.  Suddenly sinking money into bike stuff doesn't sound quite so quixotic anymore.

And, the epic post has once again been delayed due to another round of cat waxing.

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Date: 2008-03-29 14:34 Subject: Fans, Cats and (I)Mortality Security: Public Tags: cats, music, reflection

I've been working out the details of the long promised epic post and decided to pick up on something I'd started a while ago.  WXPN had people submit their favorite memories of music.  I didn't send on in because the memory evoked by thinking about music had to do with my grand parents mysterious music career.  I only know about the edges of that but the photos from that period of their lives show them with luminaries like Bob Hope.  All the people who could tell me more are long dead or have severely degraded memories.  Another mystery from that era came in the form of the inside jacket of a compilation of Juan Garcia Esquivel's music that I ran across years ago.   The photo of Esquivel showed him standing in front of a house that, for all the world, looked exactly like my grandparents' house in San Fernando Valley, even down to the De Soto parked in the driveway.  I'll never know one way or another.

Anyway, I've spent much the day doing anything but writing.  The cats went into hiding because they know a cat waxing spree when they see one and they're worried that it'll turn literal.  As I was cleaning off the stereo, I found the cds that zrath's late brother Pascal gave me upon our visit to LA year before last(?).  I hadn't listened to them in a long time, but I remember that they were a good batch of wordless mood music that spurred a lot of free association.  So I popped them into the CD player and gave a listen.  In a short while, the writing mood that's been gone for so long came back.  But more importantly, all three cats came in and took up positions around the speakers.  They were grooving too.  Even though he's no longer with us, DJ Pascal has three more furry fans along with one unshaven one.  Something lives on even now.

I'll be writing up a longer reflection of music and its role in my life, but first, polenta!

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Date: 2008-03-24 21:39 Subject: Epic Delayed Security: Public

I was going to do an epic post, but then I got scared about employment following our mutually assured graduation and poked around the ALA Job site.  I was going to to write a cover letter or two.  Then the cat laid siege to my hands.  Cat purring, consciousness fading.

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