This past weekend I had a chance to meet up with some old friends from the Boiler Room.  Dave, Ali, Jim and myself have been hanging out for a long time, and it doesn’t take much of an excuse for us to get together and party.

 
We met back at the Boiler Room when we were all in our late teens and early twenties.   We were climbing really hard and were in fantastic physical shape.  All of us were ambitious and working crazy hours to get where to where ever we were going.  We could also party like no one else I know.  A night out seemed a bit like a season of 24.  Raving at clubs, writing music until five in the morning and generally drinking up all the goodness of life.

 
Now we all have respectable jobs.  Jim and Dave run a successful foreign aid program with employees and staff all over the world.  Ali is working in Montreal as a musician and composer and making a pretty good living.  I have my respectable job at MTO.

 
We met for dinner before we went out to the bar to see Ali play.  (He comes down to Kingston every Friday to play a gig a at Tango.)  I had left a couple of messages at home, but poor Alison had no idea that I was out for the night. Dave had a “full pass” leaving his wife and baby girl at home, so dad could go and burn off some steam.

 
The conversation at dinner was the usual: how business is going, what projects we’re working on and the like.  It is always like this, smart people trying to get ahead in whatever business we are working in.  We also chat about our wives, houses and kids. After dinner we head over to Tango to meet up with the DJ and get a good table.  We get there around 9:30-10:00. 

 
By 11:00 the bar is starting to fill up and we are already into our second or third Red Bull and tequila.  At this point, I should have realized that it was going to be one of those nights.  At one point I leaned over and shouted into Jim’s ear, “This stuff makes my heart hurt…”.  We look at each other, shrug, and down the rest of our drinks and look for the waitress.

 
Around 11:30 the fire alarm goes off.  I look around expecting the staff to launch into some well-orchestrated fire procedure.  Instead our waitress, who is standing close to our table looks over and says, “what the hell is that?”.  She disappears and quickly comes back (obviously after consulting the manager) and asks one of us for a credit card to cover the bill.  No mention of leaving the building.

 
I head outside and walk around to the side of the building to see smoke billowing out of a restaurant on the corner.  Damn, it’s the real thing.  Walking back to the front door of the bar I see that everyone is out the door and standing on the sidewalk, no one is in a rush.

 
I start politely suggesting to folks that maybe it would be a good idea to stand on the far side of the street.  They gawk at me for a minute, and then I point at the smoke.  They start to move across the street.

 
Once the young men in middle age bodies have regrouped on the other side of the street, we decide to head for greener pastures.  Elixer it is decided on, and we pile into a cab.

 
At the new bar, we find that we are probably the oldest people there.  (Mostly 17-year Queen’s students armed with fake ID and more bravado than brains.)  The DJ is spinning hardcore gansta rap crap, and an emcee is shouting something into the mike. Whatever, after this much alcohol, we should be able to enjoy pretty much any music. 

 
We’re getting looks from the staggering little people.  Dave is up on the packed stage dancing away, the rest of us are standing around a table with one last RB&T to make sure we have enough energy to get home.  After another hour, I’ve had enough. 

 
When I get home there is a polite note from Alison, saying that I should sleep in the guest room.  (AKA the dawg house, as she calls it.)

 
The next morning, I wake up at the usual obscenely early time, 7:00 on the weekends is our usual. 

 
Ingest coffee, look at the to do list. 

 
Crap.  Gotta get started on the house work.

So what’s up with the title of this blog you ask?

This is a quote from Leonardo DaVinci who actulally said “omo sanze lettere”.  DaVinci surprisingly had no eduation and “made it” in the academic circles during a time when education and thought was so central to success.  It serves as a reminder that one can succeed even when you are pushing against the flow of accepted norms.

I like people who teach themselves stuff.  It means that they actually care about the topic.  It demomstrates that the pursuit of education is not simply a way to get a job, but rather a way to engage with subject matter.  Don’t get me wrong: to finish a degree in anything takes a commitment and dedication to the subject area, but people who engage with subjects simply because they are interested or want to know more have a different outlook on education and the ways that they use that knowledge.

This type of learning also lends itself to making connections between seeming unrelated subject matter.  Linking topics across boundaries is a talent that self taught people seem to be good at.  Seeing larger systems in small related details.

As an totally ADD person, I was completely unable able to do well at school.  It was infuriating then, as I seemed to be the only one in the class that was interested in subjects, yet consistently failed tests.  For instance, during high school I took a course on philosophy that was a very general overview of thinkers from Socrates to Rouseau.  I loved this class.  As we walked through the history of philosophy, I would would be going to the library at night to get some more books on people who interested me.  Loche, Hume, De Beauvoir all had such relevant thoughts and ideas, I just couldn’t get enough.

Sadly, when it came time to take the test, I just couldn’t remember what year a particular thinker published, or the neat and tidy five bullet point list that our teachers would have us memorize and regurgitate.  Ask me who’s work influenced who, where was a particular line of thought is used today, or what effect this had on particular historical events and I was right on point, hand high in the air.

Now that I’m older and working for a living, I still see people asking for those neat bullet points.  But very few ask for systemic understanding.  Guess I just need to find my way into the right crowd…  Still working on that.

So to conclude, I strive throughout all aspects of my life, to demonstrate the value of understanding instead of regurgitation.  To encourage people to think about things instead of knowing just what they need to know. 

I was listening to Forimmideaterelease this morning on the way to work and Neville, recommended that Wordpress was a far superior blog service to the blogger (which I have been using for a while) so I thought that I would give it a spin. 

 They even had my name available for a url which a nice change.  (It always amazes me how “nathanbaron” is taken in so many places.  Who new there were others…)

I try posting here for a bit, maybe duplicating some posts, and see how it integrates with things.  I haven’t had a chance to set up my Treo blogging app to use this service yet, but if that integrates well, then I might just make this a permanent switch.

 Until next time…

in light of the fact that I’m trying to get less serious in these posts, I thought I would write about a graphic novel that I’ve been reading on the net called NYC2123.

It is a post cyberpunk novel with a very dystopian view of the world, a little Gibsonesque, and full of really cool ideas around technology and the web.

Now if you are rolling your eyes at this point, saying Nathan you are such a geek, you are totally right.  This book is for geeks and sci-fi/ fantasy people.  So if you are an eye roller, see you in the next post.

Set in the year 2123, NYC is partially underwater from the polar ice caps melting, and the city has fallen into a sorry state of repair.  Drug addicts and criminals run the streets.

There is an interesting little skirmish happening in Kingston between a tenant and land hold company in the area.  Sarah Dawe has been blogging about her negative experiences with Homestead Holdings and is now facing eviction hearings.

The woman has been getting a fair amount of press both in the Whig Standard, national media and the blogosphere. 

The latest article in the Whig explains that she was before the housing tribunal to defend the eviction notice.  Now to me, Homestead is completely out of line bringing a libel case to the housing tribunal.  If it is libel, then serve her with criminal charges, don’t cloak it in an eviction notice.  (Evicting her totally doesn’t deal with the problem, it’s just a big stick.)

 They have already managed to take down a blog that was hosted in Canada.  (It must have been libelous if they managed this.)  Dawe then moved to a blogspot blog, and thus the company really couldn’t do much take it down.

From a PR perspective, I think Homestead have done a truely miserable job. 

I’ve been readi about second life for a few months now and am constantly amazed about what this new digital world is offering.  It is science fiction come true and an incredibly interesting experiment in economics, social interactions, as well as computer aided design.

So what is Second Life?  It could be described as a game, but that would minimize the importance.  It could be described as a new place on the internet, but that would be overly simplistic.  It could be described as a means of communication, but that would miss so much of whathappens in SL.

SL is a digital world, created by a company called linden labs.  this world is a place where people go to interact with others, build their dream house, or start a business.

The first description of a digital world with the richness and complexity of SL I found in the writing of Neal Stephenson’s novel Snow Crash.  THe Metaverse as he described it, was a second world, where people could design everything around them from people to buildings.  REsidents ofStephenson’s metaverse could “jack in” to this space and become a part of a completely virtual society.

SL does exactly that.  Creates a world where you can go and hangout with friends, work or go to an event.  Residents of SL are able to go to lectures, join groups of like minded individuals or hangout in the house that they have built by the ocean.

I have a pile of stuff that would probobly be useful (or fun) in someone elses hands rather than mine.  I'll be adding a bunch of stuff that I am trying to get rid of.  I'll post what I think it's worth, but make me an offer and it might work out for you.

Lowe Alpine Messenger Bag

This is a great bag.  Perfect for trips to the market or grocery store.  I just ordered a new bag, so I won't be needing this one.  $30 OBO.

Robosapien v1

This is one of those things that looked like a really good idea at the time, but no resides in the closet.  If you have a kid who has been bugging you for one, this is a great opportuinty.  $60 OBO

Sony MDR-XXX Headphones

These are a great set of mid-range headphones, they simply don't fit my treo so I don't need them any more.  They retail for $30-40, I'll let them go for $20. (No noticeable wear and tear.)

At the risk of pissing off a lot of readers, I just have to make a comment on the recent protests surrounding the movie release of the Da Vinci Code.  

BBC is reporting loud protests in India, South Korea, and of course, the Vatican.  They claim that people who see the film are twice as likely to believe the fictional premise that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had a child.

Isn't any kind of engagement with religious doctrine good for discussion?  Even if Hollywood completely distorts factual events (like this is the first time), isn't it a good thing that people are exposed to the subject matter and hopefully come to their own conclusions?  Any publicity is good publicity, so the saying goes.

What makes me really angry is the censorship that the Christian right would like to impose on people.  Banning art and/ or a different perspective of events cannot simply be banned because it is blasphemous.  This is 2006, blaspehmy is totally not a valid reason today.  Open discourse is a tool to find the truth.  Who doesn't want to hear the truth?

Even if Jesus did marry and had a child, would that make a big difference?  Would it really change the structure of the Christian belief system that much?  I always thought that there was a huge disconnect between the teachings of Jesus, the man, and the churches doctrine.  This just proves me right.

So let's say the South Koreans manage to ban the movie.  What's next, a good old fashion book burning?  If the Christian right manage to snuff out an artistic work because if posed a threat to their religious construct, what will be next?  I can think of a dozen books that fall into this category. 

We must have faith.  Faith that people will look into things for themselves.  We must have faith that our religions will not topple when someone expresses a contrary view.  We must have faith that people will allow others to speak their minds, because it could be your speech that snuffed out next.