Monthly Archives: May 2006

Where is the outrage?

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I love America. I love the principals it was founded upon. I love the opportunities it has afforded me. And I have a deep and abiding respect and love for its peoples.

But I fear for the America I love so dearly. In the last few months we have seen the government of this great land turn its back on the foundations of this country, but this isn’t the first time that an administration has grossly over-stepped its authority. No, the thing that worries me – that makes me scared for our futures – is the lack of moral outrage on the part of the citizens of the United States.

Before someone trots out terrorism as a justification for all trespass to the Constitution, I’ll quote a famous American:

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

Our current administration has taken great liberties with our Bill of Rights. Just his week it appears that they have abridged the freedom of the press (First Amendment) and without warrants or probable cause violated our rights to be secure in our homes and papers (Fourth Amendment). Terror suspects – or even just those who have the mis-fortune of being mistaken for a terror suspect – are commonly denied due process of law (Fifth Amendment). Detainees at U.S. run facilities around the globe have been shown to suffer cruel and unusal punishment (Eighth Amendment).

And yet inspite the continued erosion of our basic rights, Americans do not seem shocked by our government’s acts. We have let this administration distract us with a host of other issues: illegal immigration, gay marriage, and a war we did not need. But in the end, we are faced with the continued pattern of trampling the Constitution by the government of the United States of America. Where is the outrage?

I love this country, but I wonder about its inhabitants, and fear for it’s future.

European Board Games

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Adults in the United States don’t play board games often; it’s not surprising considering the dearth of new board games produced in this country. But in the last 5 years, it has become increasingly easy to obtain highly entertaining board games developed in Germany, and sold here by american suppliers.
For whatever reason the german people seem to appreciate board games, and as a result the very best games in the world are developed there. These modern board games go beyond the play mechanics of Monopoly or Clue and bring new levels of social interaction and critical thinking to non-computerized games.

So before you purchase another video game sequel, or head off to the multiplex, consider spending a night interacting with some friends with soemthing from my list of favorite board games:

Power Grid (2-6 players)
create the most powerful electric conglomerate in the country. Currently the local favorite.
Puerto Rico (2-5 players)
become the most successful manager of a colonial port city. Probably our most played game.
Ceasar & Cleopatra (2 players)
2 players vie for the fate of Egypt. Great when it’s just the two of you.
Settlers of Catan (3-4 players)
explore and settle a resource laden island. The most popular game among board game geeks. A large variety of exapansions will allow up to 6 players with many enhanced rules.
Bohnanza (2-7 players)
plant and harvest an amusing variety of beans. Perennially popular with house guests.
I’m the Boss (3-6 players)
this game strips the away all distractions and focuses exclusively on negotiating deals. A complete blast with the right players.
Chinatown (3-5 players)
bargain for property and shop fronts; any deal you can imagine you can make. The game Monopoly should have been, and my all-time favorite! Not available in the US, and often out of print abroad, eBay is your best bet for this one.

Grilling Season

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I inaugurated grilling season last night with: a butterflied chicken, roast corn on the cob, and grilled romaine salad. Unfortunately, the grocer didn’t have any local Silver Queen corn, so we ended up with some random (inferior) variety of yellow corn.
Except for the corn, the recipes were straight out of the grilling section of Alton Brown’s book, I’m Just Here for the Food.

A couple of tips:

  • Charcoal chimneys are a great way to light a grill. They’re fast, easy, and don’t require lighter fluid.
  • Consider using lump charcoal, it’s all natural, burns hotter, and lights faster.

To date or not to date

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So currently I’m really busy; I need to propose my dissertation topic in August, and my buddy Scott and I are busy starting up a new Internet company and building a prototype of our software. Add to that sailing two days a week, and the desire to keep posting photos on the photoblog, and you can see that I have a pretty full schedule.

But I’m distracted – or rather I’m dissatisfied, and that’s distracting me. I feel like I’d like to engage with someone romantically, but frankly I don’t know anyone I’m interested in dating. Scott has been taking more proactive steps to meet someone (say, why don’t you blog about that once in a while Scott?), and I’ve been considering taking similar steps myself.

In particular Scott, is on Match.com, and quite frankly I’ve been watching his progress over there. But I’m convinced I wouldn’t do well on Match; you see I’ve been dating interracially for sometime now, and it looks like people mostly keep to their own on Match.

Now don’t get me wrong it’s not that I won’t date a black woman, it’s just that I don’t want to limit myself to dating black women. Personally I’m half-Thai (mom) and half-Haitian (dad), and as a result I’ve never felt the need to date women from any particular race. Superficially, I’m clearly a black man; culturally, I have a lot in common with mainstream white america, and spiritually I’m pretty Thai in my beliefs.

While there are sites that cater to interracial dating: Mixed Race, Interracial Match, Black and White Singles, Salt and Pepper Singles; just to name a few. But, I don’t want to limit myself to only interracial dating.

So I ask you, dear reader, what shall I do? Forego dating for the time being, continue meeting people traditionally, or join an online dating community. Leave me a comment with your opinion, and if anyone would like to suggest a dating site that they think works well, please include a link!

Color Correction Woes

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I’ve developed a nice little workflow over on the photoblog; My entire editing process happens in the sRGB IEC61966-2.1 color space, and the final JPEG that goes online has the correspondng ICC profile embedded within. Recently, I realized that none of the thumbnail images had color profiles; the result was a small difference, but one that bothered me nonetheless.

While batch processing the thumbnails to add profiles I was surprised to realize that the early photos not only didn’t have profiles, but that I didn’t save the photoshop files with the editing adjustments, just the original TIFF files. The lack of profiles makes some sense since I didn’t get a colorimeter until May 2005, and the Nikon D70 until June. But the idea that I didn’t save any of my editing intermediate work is totally alien since I always save them now.

As a result, on some rainy day I’m going to have to go through all of those photos and redo the editting and add color profiles. Not fun, but I’d rather have some control over the look of my photos.

For those of you who care for your photo work, consider developing a workflow and buying a color calibrator. If there’s any interest I’d be happy to post a DIY guide to developing a reliable, basic color workflow.