bcobb

Big day for Cashmere.

Sat, 04 May 2013 15:00:33 -0700

Big day for Cashmere.

Great Plains

Wed, 01 May 2013 06:00:10 -0700

I could drive for days without fear
of outrunning these patchwork clouds,

bridge lines of cumulus
this way or that towards the horizon,

midway between one place
and another, standing up
to the administrations of wind.

I like a destination which pulls
true, deliberate,
but at great distance. Like

I like the slow, imperceptible
progress of knowing
but not knowing
how far I’ll travel today,
where I’ll find gas
for the next leg
or when.

Bruce Willard

Bill Evans - “What Is There To Say?” (Everybody Digs...

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 08:42:52 -0700

Bill Evans - “What Is There To Say?” (Everybody Digs Bill Evans; Riverside Records; 1958)

A symmetrical whoopin’.

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:22:11 -0700

A symmetrical whoopin’.

‘sup?

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 09:44:32 -0800

‘sup?

Hi, I need a shave and a haircut. And would you look at that...

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 20:23:49 -0800

Hi, I need a shave and a haircut. And would you look at that furrowed brow? I’m not even trying, I swear!

This is what a friend of mine is up to this evening.

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 19:58:00 -0800

This is what a friend of mine is up to this evening.

Photo

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 20:27:05 -0800

"Each breakthrough in hardware technology leads to more massive programming enterprises, new..."

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:19:21 -0800

“Each breakthrough in hardware technology leads to more massive programming enterprises, new organizational principles, and an enrichment of abstract models. Every reader should ask himself periodically “Toward what end, toward what end?” — but do not ask it too often lest you pass up the fun of programming for the constipation of bittersweet philosophy.”

- Foreword, SICP.

And years from now when this old light Isn’t ambling anymore...

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 09:48:49 -0800

And years from now when this old light
Isn’t ambling anymore
Will I bring myself to write
“I give my best to Springville Hill?”

/harmonica

"This common and unfortunate fact of the lack of adequate presentation of basic ideas and motivations..."

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 13:18:54 -0800

“

This common and unfortunate fact of the lack of adequate presentation of basic ideas and motivations of almost any mathematical theory is probably due to the binary nature of mathematical perception.

Either you have no inkling of an idea, or, once you have understood it, the very idea appears so embarrassingly obvious that you feel reluctant to say it aloud…

”

- Gromov, “Stability and Pinching” (via J.S.E.)

A conspiracy of optimism

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:14:49 -0800

programmingisterrible:

I spent a couple of days in december visiting my Dad. It was quiet and peaceful, just Dad, Myself, and his cats. We spent the evenings sharing the things we had in common—listening to Dad’s obscure music and complaining about our careers.

He talked about ship-building, I talked about building software—The jargon was different, but the people were exactly the same.

Same denial of risks, same castigation of whistleblowers, and the same putting everything off until it explodes. Schedules that reflect the dreams and ambitions of the company, rather than the treachery of a complex system. With no room for failure, each and every fuck up compounds, as the company moves from one artificial crisis to another.

He called it “A conspiracy of optimism.”

New Year Resolve

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 10:49:49 -0800

New Year Resolve:

The time has come
To stop allowing the clutter
To clutter my mind
Like dirty snow,
Shove it off and find
Clear time, clear water.

Time for a change,
Let silence in like a cat
Who has sat at my door
Neither wild nor strange
Hoping for food from my store
And shivering on the mat.

Let silence in.
She will rarely speak or mew,
She will sleep on my bed
And all I have ever been
Either false or true
Will live again in my head.

For it is now or not
As old age silts the stream,
To shove away the clutter,
To untie every knot,
To take the time to dream,
To come back to still water.

May Sarton

Minestrone tonight, cinnamon rolls in the morning.

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 13:48:44 -0800

Minestrone tonight, cinnamon rolls in the morning.

Pair Programming. Or is it Purr Programming?

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 21:11:33 -0800

Pair Programming. Or is it Purr Programming?

Scott Joplin - “Solace” (The Sting: Original Motion Picture...

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 12:21:18 -0800

Scott Joplin - “Solace” (The Sting: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack; MCA Records; 1973)

September Visitors - David Budbill

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 10:08:31 -0800

September Visitors - David Budbill:

I’m glad to see our friends come:
talk, laughter, food, wine.
I’m glad to see our friends go:
solitude, emptiness, gardens,
autumn wind.

Me: I think today I'll catch up on my New Yorkers

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 09:57:52 -0800

Me: I think today I'll catch up on my New Yorkers
Sam: Cool, are you also going to polish your monocle?

By the end of the week he gets pretty tuckered out.

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 09:33:23 -0700

By the end of the week he gets pretty tuckered out.

I think I lost the rest of the city.

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 07:29:13 -0700

I think I lost the rest of the city.