Cinéma Therapy
09:42 Tuesday, 11 February 2014
Words: 683
I saw this little report in the NY Times about couples responding as well to shared movie-going as they did to couples therapy, and thought it was interesting. With Valentines Day approaching, there's a lot of relationship stuff in the media.
Movies are a form of narrative storytelling, and we are all constantly in the process of constructing our own narratives of our lives, to create meaning or context, or, sometimes, an excuse. If we're unhappy in our present narrative, seeing an alternative that resonates as better or more meaningful can provide the impetus to compel change.
I specifically recall two movies from 1999 that compelled me to begin to view my own narrative from a different perspective. One was American Beauty, and the other was the animated feature by Brad Bird, The Iron Giant. Although they were about as different as two movies can be, they each shared a similar idea — that we are responsible for our own choices. "You are who you choose to be," and at that time, it seemed as though I was choosing to be utterly miserable.
Although I subsequently encountered many painful and difficult challenges, and I was guided and helped by a remarkable therapist for many years, my life today is a much happier experience than I might have imagined would be possible back then. It's difficult to say if I would have made the same choices absent the inspiration of those two stories. I recall sitting in the theater at the end of each of them with tears streaming down my face. Each unsettled me profoundly, and left me feeling as though things could not go on as they had been, and that I had to act to change them. It's possible, I suppose, that without those movies I may have chosen a different path, at least in the short term, of more self-destructive behavior; perhaps even literally. I'll never know.
But along the way there were many other narratives that seemed to appear in my life at an appropriate moment. The Matrix, Joe Versus the Volcano, Cast Away, The Legend of Bagger Vance, each of these spoke to me in profound ways. Each followed the outline of the hero's journey, as described by Joseph Campbell. I learned that all acts of personal transformation, of necessity, must involve loss, and the experience of grief.
For better or worse, I haven't been involved in a serious committed relationship since then. I think I appreciate the difficulty of maintaining a committed relationship, and I can see the utility of observing other narratives and using them to inform the choices a couple makes in creating their own narrative. During the early part of my therapy, my therapist (they all want to save marriages) had me watch The Story of Us, with Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer. I recall watching it as a brutal experience. My experience in my marriage was not the same as the one portrayed in the movie, even though both were in the process of coming apart. I can see where a less damaged relationship might have benefitted from seeing that story. Similarly, I couldn't sit through the Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston movie, The Break-Up, coming, as it did, the year after my long and costly divorce. But a couple, earlier in their relationship, might have found it a worthwhile experience.
All narratives are works of fiction. If you're single, you're creating your narrative alone. If you're in a relationship, it better be a collaborative effort, or you'll find the two stories diverging. It's appropriate to steal the ideas of others if their stories inspire you, or to use them as cautionary tales so that you don't allow the same plot developments that frightened you. I think the key thing is to know that we're not merely bit parts in someone else's narrative.
We're the lead role in our own stories, and we're writing our own scripts. If you're not, then you're merely reciting the lines that someone else has written for you.
Never complain if the hero dies in this one.
BWT: Automation
07:16 Sunday, 11 February 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 60.48°F Pressure: 1013hPa Humidity: 89% Wind: 4.61mph
Words: 924
BWT will refer to "blogging with Tinderbox."
I've got a "test article" that I use to try out certain things in Tinderbox before I try and incorporate them in the marmot. That's to make sure I understand what I'm doing, and avoid unintended consequences that might cause problems.
I've learned to do this through hard experience.
Over the past year or so, I've been slowly adding additional automation to the marmot. I try it out in the test article first, and that file is slowly beginning to become something of an example file for one way of maintaining a weblog with Tinderbox. There are innumerable different ways of maintaining a weblog with Tinderbox, the marmot and its test article are just one. By the time we get to the meet-up, I hope to have it pretty complete and able to share.
So what about automation? There are myriad details in publishing html formatted documents within a specific file structure that are organized, in large measure, chronologically. The simpler the structure, the fewer the details; but there will still be many. Getting Tinderbox to attend to those details reduces the chance for errors, reduces the amount of work in actually maintaining the weblog and therefore increases the chances of actually using it.
Automation requires a significant investment of time and effort once, but then repays that investment over time. The marmot's been running for 10 years now, much of that time with minimal automation (and frequent manual intervention when things went awry). Now I'm learning how to let Tinderbox do the things Tinderbox is good at, so I can spend my time figuring out the best ways to waste yours. (Just kidding.)
Blogging services, like Tumblr or Wordpress or others, have done most of that automation for you. If you want to learn javascript and php and SQL stuff, things that run on the server, you can program that automation yourself. The advantage of using Tinderbox is that it doesn't run on the server. It outputs static html files. They load quickly because they're mainly just text. They're more secure, because the server is just serving a file, not rendering it. Some people prefer that server-generated environment, because it offers a great deal of flexibility and features; but it does come with security risks in terms of taking over that collection of automation running on the server and having it do things, often nefarious things, you aren't paying for it to do. Plus, unless you understand all that code, you have no idea what else your service is doing with your data and your readers.
Tinderbox export templates can include things like javascript, or embed code from other web sites or services, but if you want to keep things fast and light, you don't need to do any of that.
So what sorts of automation does Tinderbox do in the marmot? Infrastructure things. It creates the "permalinks" that accompany each blog entry. When I add a post, it places it at the top of month because blogs are read in reverse chronological order. It counts the number of words (to a close approximation) so I know when I'm getting too verbose (I'm at 525). In the background, it's showing me a bunch of related posts I can refer to if I wish. As a "nice-to-have" kind of feature, there's a note that's querying a weather service for the local weather data, which is added to each post.
At a higher level, the marmot knows the date. When February ends, it'll create a new container for March's posts. That container will be created from a "prototype" month container, which has all the attributes and automation necessary for managing a month's posts. It'll give that container its export filename. At the highest level, when 2024 ends, it'll create a container for 2025 and the January 2025 container as well.
The "home" page just contains one day's posts. It's created automatically. If I don't post anything for a few days, it remains the same. But an "agent" collects the posts from "today" and places them in the Main Page (or "Home") container. (Some of the naming conventions in the marmot are over 20 years old.) A separate agent also gathers today's posts to generate the RSS feed. Some people maintain a huge number of posts in their RSS feed. I see that a lot when someone changes something on their blog and NetNewsWire will all of a sudden have thirty or forty posts on the "blogs" category and most of them will be from one blog going back a year or more. ("Mark all as read" is your friend.) The marmot's feed is ephemeral. Just the things I posted, on the last day I posted.
I've got one last piece of automation I need to figure out, and that's the "Archives" page. That's going to be an agent that gathers the $HTMLExporeFilename of every month as a list and renders them as links in the page. Right now, I do that manually, just adding the new month to the top of the list. But sometimes I'll forget for a couple of months. Tinderbox never forgets.
Basically, all I have to do is hit Enter to start a post. Pour in my deathless prose. Turn off the safety, "HTMLDontExport" boolean, and do File=>Export as HTML. Then I have to slide over to ForkLift and tell it to sync the marmot.
There's some fancy stuff I do to post photos, but that's for another day.
✍️ Reply by emailFool: New MacBook Pro
13:37 Sunday, 11 February 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 80.33°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 58% Wind: 13.8mph
Words: 393
I'm going to have to endure another brief period of self-loathing again.
I was browsing through Apple News and read something about 14" M3 MacBook Pros being up at the Apple Refurb store.
So I logged into the Veterans store for an additional discount and did some browsing around.
I bought a 13" M1 MBP back in November 2020. I mainly use it when we're away from home for more than a few days, or when I want to do something at home, but away from my office. Not a lot lately, as I didn't configure it beyond the base 256GB of storage and I often have to dangle an external drive off of it, and it's kind of a hassle. (First world problem of the privileged, I know.)
Well, I looked at a 24GB, 2TB M3 14" MBP and it came in at a hair under $2K. I figured that'd be relatively "future-proof" as a laptop. I'm not sure it could replace my 2019 iMac, but maybe it could. In any event, I closed all the tabs last night and figured I'd sleep on it.
I woke up thinking there are probably better things I could do with $2K. I often think I need to start a "prepper" shopping list. But I'm 66, and I live in a suburban wasteland. Who am I kidding? If things go south in a hurry, probably the best thing for me to do is die and get out of the way, rather than play "run, hide, fight." But who knows? Maybe that day won't come until I'm 86, which will make that a much easier proposition. And I could get hit by a meteor between now and then anyway.
One day at a time. Appreciate what I have now.
As something in the back of my mind knew I would, I went back to the store, and it should be here on Tuesday.
Probably not the best use of my money, and I hope I won't regret it, but I'm trying to be kinder to myself.
In other news, I got a nice thank you note yesterday from the Tidewater Wooden Boat School for a $525 donation I made late last year.
It's not all about me.
Mostly. But not all.
OBTW: 80°F in February. I'd be alarmed if it wasn't so nice.
✍️ Reply by emailThis Versus That
05:49 Tuesday, 11 February 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 58.48°F Pressure: 1021hPa Humidity: 96% Wind: 8.05mph
Words: 253
People are passionate about preferences.
JPEG versus RAW. Tabs versus spaces. Markdown versus RTF. Full frame versus crop sensor. Digital versus analog. AppleScript versus Javascript for Automation. Shortcuts versus Automator. Clicky versus silent keyboards.
If there are two ways to do something, well, as the man said, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds," and we feel as though we must be consistent, or else expend valuable mental energy choosing or deciding which way to do something this time.
And then whenever someone expresses their preference, and lauds its virtues in a public forum, the people of the other persuasion feel criticized or attacked and must publicly defend the clear superiority of their preference.
Another wonderful characteristic of human nature, amplified and exaggerated by the immediacy and interactivity of "the web." We can't just let it go.
It's exhausting.
I'm sure I must have them. I know I prefer to use Olympus or, now, OMDS cameras. Mainly because learning how a camera system works represents a sunk cost, and I'd prefer to leverage that investment rather than buy and sell cameras from different manufacturers because of FOMO, an excess of disposable income, or an abiding insecurity that whatever one owns isn't enough.
I tend to believe that I'm agnostic about most things, and happy to let others embrace whatever preference suits them. It just gets tedious, well, depressing when these insignificant habits of thought become hills to die on.
Has the internet made anything "better"?
Be careful what you wish for...
✍️ Reply by emailMe and the OM-3
06:13 Tuesday, 11 February 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 58.64°F Pressure: 1021hPa Humidity: 96% Wind: 8.05mph
Words: 1172
OM System (I guess that's the "preferred nomenclature" these days) has publicly announced the OM-3, the first camera model that might be said to have been designed by the new entity that grew out of the remnants of Olympus' camera division. The preceding OM-1 model is thought to have been designed before the sale of the camera division.
Ever since Doc Searls, Dave Weinberger and Rageboy (may his memory be a blessing), burdened the world with the pernicious assertion that "markets are conversations," conflating the social and the commercial and giving primacy to the latter, marketers have relied on the web, specifically "social media," to sell their wares.
These sales reps are called influencers or ambassadors and I have no problem with the individuals who achieve such status, and who leverage their brief turn at semi-celebrity to turn an honest buck. I actually enjoy seeing their experiences, as recorded in 4K video with professional lighting, graded color and stereo sound from the comfort of their in-home studio.
And since the camera isn't actually being sold at the moment (pre-orders only), that's the only way we may glean some insight into what the product is, how it performs, and whether or not it may appeal to us. Well, we can read too. But who has the time?
Anyway, the internet demands a reaction. It's the reaction engine, the rocket, of our age. And every reaction involves an equal and opposite opinion. Newton would be proud. Or aghast.
So, here's mine: I like it.
Two reasons. The first is that it contains many of the internals of the OM-1 Mk2, which I do not, at present, own. (This fact has prompted certain solons to conclude that OM System is a failure, because they're clearly incapable of designing a new camera from scratch.)
The second reason is that I'm a sucker for the design of the body, itself a point of vigorous contention among the camera cognoscenti. "No grip?! Horrible ergonomics! Fail!" (Er, you will probably be able to buy a grip, an L-plate or a half case, but don't let that stop you.)
In choosing to make the OM-3 a product beneath their flagship OM-1, the OM-3 doesn't include every feature of the OM-1. This is also apparently a cause for rejection. The evf is smaller and of lower resolution, and that's a hill many critics wish to die on. There is some overlap with the grip/ergonomics people.
It's possible that the choice of evf may have been determined by size, in order to make the faux-pentaprism "hump" more proportionate to the film SLR that inspired it. I am not an evf-snob. Perhaps more charitably, in the past 15 years, I have never encountered a contemporary camera where the evf (or lack of one) was a significant limitation to achieving my "photographic vision." But evfs are another preference that people are passionate about.
The OM-3 also lacks a second SD-card slot, and its buffer isn't as deep as the OM-1 Mk2.
But I confess that it is the appearance of the OM-3 that most appeals to me.
Back when I was a young ensign, I'd see ads for the Olympus OM-1 on the back cover of Scientific American. I can still recall those ads, and I thought it was such a cool camera. But I could not afford an OM-1.
The OM System OM-3 is inspired by that camera body.
Strangely, when I finally could afford an SLR, I bought a Canon AE-1 Program. Probably because that's what they had at the Navy Exchange. I was never passionate about it, and when I got married my wife had one too and we sold mine or gave it away.
But those ads kind of set the hook for me for Olympus. In 2008, when I decided I wanted a DSLR, I compared the entry level models from Canon, Nikon and Olympus. I had a soft spot in my heart for Olympus and they truly represented the best value for money in terms of features with the E-520, though the Panasonic LiveMOS 10MP sensor wasn't as capable as those found in Canon and Nikon bodies.
I didn't realize it at that moment, but when you buy an interchangeable lens camera, you're really buying a lens mount. And, in addition to the sunk cost of the learning curve, there's the sunk cost of the lenses you acquire. People can and do sell their lenses, I have as well, but they do present a sort of impediment to switching systems, especially if you're happy with their performance.
I'm happy with my Olympus and OM System bodies and lenses. Could OM System have made a body that I wouldn't buy? Sure, they did. The OM-1 Mk2. It's a premium camera, but I didn't think it offered anything that would significantly enhance my experience. If money were never an object, I probably would have bought one, but I'm not that fortunate.
I almost certainly will buy the OM-3, but I'm not pre-ordering one. I'll wait until we get somewhat settled in New York. Between now and then, I need to get the Maverick and there will be unanticipated moving expenses, and probably some expenses related to selling this place.
I mentioned in an earlier post that the OM-3 would compel me to choose between an OM-1 Mk2, probably used, or the OM-3, because the existence of two new models would probably engender a certain FOMO response.
I can see the merit in some of the criticisms of the OM-3, but none of them are what I would consider "deal breakers." And I don't regard the launch of the OM-3 as some kind of tell that OM Systems can't design new cameras. There's a certain segment of the population that loves to engage in a kind of online "deathwatch." We lived through one in the early days of the internet with Apple. Didn't exactly go as predicted.
There are such people that are convinced that OM System is "dead," and therefore won't consider buying one of their products.
One day, OM System will "die." One day, we're all going to be dead. I don't see the attraction in wishing for it, or predicting its imminent occurrence; but it does seem to appeal to many people who feel compelled to share their feelings on the web as justification for rejecting or otherwise criticizing the camera.
Perhaps it's because "markets are conversations," and we've commercialized our social lives to such an extent that some of us can't tell the difference anymore. "Corporations are people," as a certain Republican presidential candidate once said. Our opinions are all just part of our "personal brand." If we're not out there on the web, "marketing our conversations," can we even be said to be truly alive?
Beats me. But something sucks, and it ain't the camera.
✍️ Reply by emailChina Marmot
15:03 Tuesday, 11 February 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 68.88°F Pressure: 1017hPa Humidity: 82% Wind: 5.75mph
Words: 384
I received an email that went right to my junk folder, but I look in there from time to time to see if there may be something that requires my attention.
This one was interesting, it came from a "Mike Lee" at netprovider-dot-com-dot-cn. (I don't want anyone to click on that link, so it's not formatted properly. If you're feeling adventurous, knock yourself out.) Apparently, there's a company in China that wants to register nice-marmot-dot-cn, along with nice-marmot-dot-net/com/org-dot cn. Mike wrote:
After checking it, we find this name conflict with your company name or trademark. In order to deal with this matter better, it's necessary to send email to you and confirm whether this company is your business partner in China?
I wrote back and said I had no affiliation with the company.
This morning, I got another email from a Huajian Zhen, and he wrote:
We will register the China domain names (domains mentioned above) and internet keyword "nice-marmot” and have submitted our application. We are waiting for Mr.Mike Lee approval and think these CN domains and internet keyword are very important for our business. Even though Mr.Mike Lee advises us to change another name, we will persist in this name.
I replied that it was ok by me, I'm not a business, just a blog. I figured if the TLD ends in .cn it's not going to cause a problem for the tons of traffic I get. If they want to use the name nice-marmot for their business, it's ok by me. I have no idea what an "internet keyword" is.
Now I'm wondering if I'll eventually get a letter telling me that I can't keep nice-marmot.net because it conflicts with some business in China.
I don't know, but I'm not going to worry about it. All this stuff is ephemeral anyway. If I have to register some other woodchuck related domain name, I will. Nice-large-ground-squirrel-dot-net.
Hopefully they won't redirect nice-marmot.net to the same url ending in .cn. They can't do that, right?
Well, either way, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. If I'm not here in the morning, you'll know what happened.
✍️ Reply by emailReclaiming My Time
14:39 Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 28.92°F Pressure: 1010hPa Humidity: 76% Wind: 17.09mph
Words: 222
I've been trying to close my PayPal account, and I'm stuck in one of those Catch-22 situations where I need some human intervention, so I'm waiting for an email that will somehow facilitate allowing me to speak to a human being.
I received an email from PayPal that they'd detected "suspicious activity" on my account and had place "restrictions" on it. I checked it out to make sure it wasn't some sort of phishing attack and it's legit. To resolve the "issue" PayPal wanted me to upload a photo ID, which I don't want to do.
I have a couple recurring payments through PayPal, so I went to those accounts and changed the payment methods to a credit card so I could go ahead and just close the account. The recurring payments were current, and there were no pending payments. So I returned to the PayPal site to close my account.
Well, I can't close my account unless I upload a photo ID!
I explained to the chatbot that I wished to resolve the "issue," by closing my account. The chatbot was unable to do anything to permit me to close my account, so I asked if I could speak to a human and so now I'm supposed to receive an email "in a few hours."
Let's see how this goes.
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