Misc

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while, so here it is: If for some odd reason you want to read more from me than my occasional blog posts, note that I do maintain a microblog (or “tumblr,” as the cognoscenti call it, after the underlying service) at hecker.tumblr.com where I record short thoughts, including links to articles I thought interesting. Some if not all of these posts I could publish on my main blog, but I tend to reserve that blog for longer posts with more analysis and background research. Posting to the tumblr is quick and easy, and so I don’t feel the need to justify time spent in posting in the same way as I do on my WordPress.com blog. ...

Some time ago I complained about Maryland restrictions on direct-to-consumer genetic testing. The FDA is currently deliberating about whether to impose similar restrictions for the entire US, essentially forcing anyone wanting access to their own genetic data to do so only through their doctor. If you’re at all interested in this particular issue, or if you’re concerned about government restrictions on personal freedom in general, I urge you to submit a public comment before the deadline of midnight tonight (Monday, May 2). (Note that the page has a timeout feature, so if your comment is more than a sentence or two I advise you to compose and save it beforehand and then paste it into the comments field. Also, for really long comments you can upload a Word or PDF document.) ...

Today is one month since I started the Newt Gingrich weight loss program, and it’s time for a progress report. As you’ll recall, my initial weight as announced a month ago was 75.0 kg; as it turned out, my weight on the first day I started the program was 75.3 kg, so I was actually starting at a higher point than I anticipated when setting my first month’s goal of losing 1.0 kg. ...

just a quick note for those of you wondering what’s happened to the blog: Due to being very busy with both home and work stuff, I haven’t had time to do any blog posts recently, and most likely won’t be able to do any posts for the foreseeable future. Perhaps in a few weeks I’ll have some spare time again, but no guarantees. JessieX - 2011-02-09 04:17 At least we’ll see you at the upcoming blogger party. :-) Thank you for your support of the blogger parties… especially and even when we were a small group gathering. Your belief in us helped me keep going … Invite your fans. :-) http://hocoblogs-ramshead.eventbrite.com/ ...

One of the blogs I subscribe to is Ribbonfarm by Venkatesh Rao. I came across it as a result of a standing search I have for items related to Clayton Christensen and disruptive innovation, and kept reading it because Rao does interesting in-depth posts on various topics of interest to me. His most recent one is on the “discovery of money,” where he asks Do we need to elevate the notion of money from the level of cultural construct, where we created our problems, to the level of universal fundamental, where we might be able to solve them? ...