I smiled when I heard that Terry Pratchett had passed away.  I don’t think that any writer has made me laugh out loud as much as he has.  It was followed by sadness, as I truly had a sense that he understood what was going on in between my ears. I feel that I’ve lost someone that understood my ugly inner self, and was OK with it.

I was initially attracted by a wicked sense of humor, but what kept me coming was insight into a man that had enough awareness to accept his inner demons, if not actually make peace with them. 

His book “Small Gods” is one of my top 10 books of all time.  He tells a wonderful story of a hero that is defectively simple precisely because so much of his thoughts are consumed by remembering EVERYTHING.  He only has enough brain power left over to recognize the truth.  In this case, the truth happens to be that God (in the form of a turtle) has spoken to him and chosen him to be a prophet.  For what it’s worth, neither him nor God are very happy about it. 

I’ve recommended him to many of my friends and family.  Maybe the best way to honor him is by sharing a mixture of the humor and insight that made me love his work.

“Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one.”

“Pets are always a help in times of stress.  And in times of starvation, too”

“The truth may be out there, but the lies are inside your head.”

“Many people, meeting Aziraphale for the first time, formed three impressions: that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide.”

“The whole of life is just like watching a film. Only it’s as though you always get in ten minutes after the big picture as started, and no-one will tell you the plot, so you have to work it out all yourself from the clues.”

“Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things”

“Inside every sane person is a madman struggling to get out”

Monty suggested that we go to Mickey’s Dining Car in St. Paul. It would be cool, because Monty has a special kind of discriminating taste. He’s been unapologetically direct with his judgment for as long as I’ve known him. Others had told me that Mickey’s has the best burgers in the twin cities. The story that Monty told me was that Traveler’s wanted the property in order to knock the diner down and expand their building, which takes up the rest of the entire block. Mickey’s refused to sell out and stands there as this quirky little art deco diner sitting right next to this massive typical corporate building. We were going because it was a cool place run by righteous folk.

Monty Lee Wilkes is one of my favorite sound engineers. Major concert tours take a small army of people to handle production. Most of the crew are local, brought on for just the event. They work under the direction of the tour’s light and sound engineers. The front of house engineer is responsible for what the audience actually hears, directing the assembly of the sound system, and then mixing the live show itself.

The job lives in the intersection between technical capabilities and creative sensibilities. Sound engineers have limited truck space, electrical power, and time. Each location is a unique environment with its own limits. Dealing with those problems is table stakes for delivering what is a subjective and emotional experience between an artist and their audience.

Many of the greatest musical artists of the last couple of decades have turned to Monty to make that connection. When we first started hanging out back in the 90s, he’d already established his reputation having worked with Nirvana, The Replacements, and many others. We hung out at some iconic places like the Roosevelt Hotel in LA, and also quite a few non-descript places where an awful lot of the music gets made. I’m thinking of the arena loading docks, hotel rooms, and backstage areas that all blur into one.

Throughout it all, Monty has always been faithful to his own sense of musical truth. He listens with his own ears and makes up his own mind. While that might seem like an obvious requirement for a sound man, in practice it isn’t as common as you might think. In addition to the paying audience, there are record company people, radio and other media critics and lots of people with their own opinions about what the music should sound like. The artist can’t actually hear the sound that the audience hears. They rely on the feedback that they get from the audience and media, who may not be very articulate about their opinion. Which is in sharp contrast to Monty, who is extremely articulate about his opinion.

Monty is an atheist and a scientist. He lives in a world of meters and controls. Power and sound pressure levels are measured and monitored. Time delays are calculated within milliseconds. All of this to create an illusion that you are listening to the artist, not the sound system. At its best, music is a transcendent emotional experience. Monty sees his job as creating the environment in which the artist can deliver that immeasurable moment at the center of it all.

Monty and I would reconnect every couple of years and catch up on music, life, and which artists he’d parted ways with. There were lots of them. Part of this is the nature of the business, part of it was him sticking to his own beliefs. Prince decided his girlfriend needed to be advising at the mixing console because she really understood him. Monty walked out. In another example, a lead singer believed that it was his job to bring Buddhist enlightenment to the rock and roll masses. Monty didn’t have that dial on his sound system.  He also didn’t have a dial for curing cancer.

Suddenly there wasn’t all of the time in the world anymore. So I got on a plane and he picked me up and drove me to Mickey’s Dining Car. He’d had chemo that morning. Once we got to the parking lot, he asked if I minded if he smoked some weed in his car. I didn’t mind, but chose to wait outside.

We ordered food and talked. Music is his center and he stays faithful to it. We talked about how powerful music can be in keeping someone just barely on this side of the sanity line. It can provide some profound moments of truth that cuts through everything and lets you know that you aren’t alone. “We were ‘weirdos’, you know?” Of course I knew. The creative world is much more accepting of who you are than the mainstream. “The whole scene really celebrated individuality, until the business took over and the bastards ruined that too.”

The food arrived. Monty was surprised that he’d ordered a milkshake, fries, and a full breakfast. “I don’t know why I ordered so much food.” Having seen the haze inside the car, I told him I had a suspicion. He laughed and explained that he was down to 120 pounds and was having a hard time eating, so this was literally just what the doctor ordered.

We talked about death. I asked Monty how he viewed the soul. “As a scientist, I’m compelled to believe that energy cannot be either created or destroyed. The soul or spirit is nothing other than pure energy, so it must be transformed somehow.” It seemed to me that he was fine accepting that, just like he recognizes the magic of the right musical moment.

On the ride home, we listened to music and talked about lots of it. I was surprised to find out his all time favorite band was The dBs. I had worked on a demo with them back in the offices of the New York Rocker long before Monty and I had ever met. Monty mentioned that Andy Schwartz, the publisher of  the Rocker had reached out and sent him a note when he had heard about the cancer.

He dropped me off and we left each other feeling a little less weird and alone.

AWS has dropped the pricing of their S3 and Glacier cloud storage by roughly 25%.  They’ve also taken the opportunity to simply and restructure their storage options.  S3, the standard cloud storage offer now has three pricing tiers depending upon your volume of usage.  Glacier is a cheaper storage for use (roughly a third of the cost) for use when your retrieval needs are not as urgent.  It is now offered in three models based upon your retrieval needs.   Glacier Standard allows you to get back your data typically within a couple of hours,  Expedited within minutes.  The third option is Bulk.

You can find more details about the storage price reductions.  The plan restructuring and Glacier changes make this a really good time to look at your object lifecycle management policies.  When you combine this price reduction with archival efficiencies, I think that 50% savings on cloud storage are a reasonable expectation. The good news is that you’re going to start saving on December 1, 2016 even if you don’t do anything.

With Mark Zuckerberg testifying in front of Congress today, we can expect lots of rhetoric. We have a privacy problem that is bigger than Facebook. There is real value in the platform that I don’t want to walk away from, yet I also do not want to keep unwittingly feeding data to a company that has demonstrated that it doesn’t protect it. I do not believe Facebook has been naïve, but I also believe that the mess they are in is not part of a clever strategy.

I was delighted to see Firefox announce an addon designed to limit Facebook data collection.

“Facebook Container isolates your Facebook identity from the rest of your web activity. When you install it, you will continue to be able to use Facebook normally. Facebook can continue to deliver their service to you and send you advertising. The difference is that it will be much harder for Facebook to use your activity collected off Facebook to send you ads and other targeted messages.” (Firefox description of plugin)

I think that is how most people expect things to work. I have used Firefox as my main browser for years. Its performance has always been fine, and having a nonprofit company in the browser wars always felt a little bit like Switzerland to me.

You can download the Facebook Container browser addon here.

Privacy Policy

Native Communications LLC built the Theratron app as an Ad Supported app. This SERVICE is provided by Native Communications LLC at no cost and is intended for use as is.

This page is used to inform website visitors regarding our policies with the collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information if anyone decided to use our Service.

If you choose to use our Service, then you agree to the collection and use of information in relation to this policy. The Personal Information that we collect is used for providing and improving the Service. We will not use or share your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy.

The terms used in this Privacy Policy have the same meanings as in our Terms and Conditions, which is accessible at DrTheratron.com unless otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy.

Information Collection and Use

For a better experience, while using our Service, we may require you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information, including but not limited to name, hometown, interests, personality type, birthday, email, mobile phone #, answers to questions, social network handle. The information that we request is will be retained by us and used as described in this privacy policy.

The app does use third party services that may collect information used to identify you.

Link to privacy policy of third party service providers used by the app

Google Play Services
Matomo
Log Data

We want to inform you that whenever you use our Service, in a case of an error in the app we collect data and information (through third party products) on your phone called Log Data. This Log Data may include information such as your device Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, device name, operating system version, the configuration of the app when utilizing our Service, the time and date of your use of the Service, and other statistics.

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These Services do not address anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13. In the case we discover that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we immediately delete this from our servers. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so that we will be able to do necessary actions.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. Thus, you are advised to review this page periodically for any changes. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. These changes are effective immediately after they are posted on this page.

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Terms & Conditions
By downloading or using the app, these terms will automatically apply to you – you should make sure therefore that you read them carefully before using the app. You’re not allowed to copy, or modify the app, any part of the app, or our trademarks in any way. You’re not allowed to attempt to extract the source code of the app, and you also shouldn’t try to translate the app into other languages, or make derivative versions. The app itself, and all the trade marks, copyright, database rights and other intellectual property rights related to it, still belong to Native Communications LLC.

Native Communications LLC is committed to ensuring that the app is as useful and efficient as possible. For that reason, we reserve the right to make changes to the app or to charge for its services, at any time and for any reason. We will never charge you for the app or its services without making it very clear to you exactly what you’re paying for.

The Theratron app stores and processes personal data that you have provided to us, in order to provide our Service. It’s your responsibility to keep your phone and access to the app secure. We therefore recommend that you do not jailbreak or root your phone, which is the process of removing software restrictions and limitations imposed by the official operating system of your device. It could make your phone vulnerable to malware/viruses/malicious programs, compromise your phone’s security features and it could mean that the Theratron app won’t work properly or at all.

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With respect to Native Communications LLC’s responsibility for your use of the app, when you’re using the app, it’s important to bear in mind that although we endeavour to ensure that it is updated and correct at all times, we do rely on third parties to provide information to us so that we can make it available to you. Native Communications LLC accepts no liability for any loss, direct or indirect, you experience as a result of relying wholly on this functionality of the app.

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Changes to This Terms and Conditions

[I | we] may update our Terms and Conditions from time to time. Thus, you are advised to review this page periodically for any changes. [I | we] will notify you of any changes by posting the new Terms and Conditions on this page. These changes are effective immediately after they are posted on this page.

I read that Facebook has released a new version of it’s PyTorch artificial intelligence tool. It seems to be a hybrid, combining the creative prototyping Python front end capabilities with an eye towards streamlining the pipeline for production later on.

I haven’t had an opportunity to look at it, having mainly been working within Rasa and trying to get my head around applications. My interest is piqued though.

To those that know me, it is pretty clear that I actually already know how to talk. I also know how to type. Until recently, when I deal with people I talk, when I deal with computers I type. Now, I am learning to talk to my computer.
I have played around with Siri for a while. With the latest iOS 12, there are a series of apps which use Siri shortcuts. Short cuts allow you to speak commands. There is also a [Shortcuts app](Shortcuts by Apple https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shortcuts/id915249334?mt=8) that allows you to create more complex custom commands. The apps that jumped out at me were TripIt, a travel app that I regularly use, and Bear notes. I am going to try setting up and training myself to use Siri with these apps.

I will be interested to see how TripIt works, particularly while traveling. It is much harder than it should be, for example, to figure out which terminal my flight is at. I end up going through all kinds of combinations of looking at my ticket reservation and eventually doing an online search. It strikes me this kind of regular, but dynamic inquiry is an ideal use for a conversation interface.

I also went ahead and downloaded Bear notes. I had not heard of it before. have had mixed luck with Apple notes, Evernote, One Note. None is amazing.. It looks like Bear Notes uses mark down, which might make it easy to create both notes and bits of code. If I can dictate a post and use voice to direct what I want done with it, that would go along way towards reducing my keyboard time.

I have periodically been hit with “mouse elbow”, which used to be known as tennis elbow. It is a form of repetitive stress and winds up with pretty severe pain in my elbow and shoulder. I have to stop all smart phone and computer use for a couple of days until it is relieved. Inevitably it comes back. I am hoping that voice, being a natural process will solve the problem once and for all.

Had I known of Chris Matthews’ history as a speechwriter, I might not have been better prepared for the best commencement speech that I’ve ever heard. 

After some local color, he got to his focus, “I want to speak about what I’ve learned all these years watching this country’s leaders–not about the politics that so much divides this country, but for a cause that unites all of us here today: the future of these graduates we’ve come to honor, that they get off to the best possible start in life, that they make the right decisions, the right moves, find the best ways to show and put to use what they’ve got.

He gave simple and direct advice. 

Show Up – “I want you to build a muscle memory for those times when you have to choose between going to something–getting suited up–or skipping it.”

Ask! – Anyone in business out there knows that every salesperson needs to ask for the order, just like you have to ask for the date–don’t you?

The point that resonated most strongly with me was “The important little secret of human politics is that the man or woman who does give you your chance will back you up later. … You see, when someone gives you a job, they’re making an investment in you, a bet on you.  People tend to double-down on that kind of bet.“

Here was Chris’ summary of his key points.

• Show up! Do everything you can to get in the door.
• Show up for your friends. Don’t wait for a classmate to call you. You be the one to call up and keep the friendship alive.
• When you see an opportunity, ask for it. Never say “no” to yourself.
• And hang on to your values–honesty, loyalty, duty, basic goodness.

All of that is simple advice, which is not to say it is easy.  Full text of Chris Matthews’ speech to the OSU class of 2014.

I spoke today with Paul Brewer, who is part of the University of Delaware Center for Public Communication.  They conducted an independent opinion poll on net neutrality.  They had been surprised to see that there was almost no research on the subject, even less that had not been sponsored by someone with a position.

The main finding was that the majority of the public really didn’t know anything about net neutrality at all.  The majority of those that did had gotten their information from satirical late night news sources. John Oliver had the highest.   They used a good and objective methodology, which required careful wording of the questions due to the complex nature of the subject.

They didn’t use the phrase “fast lanes” but asked questions that went to the heart of whether or not the public want tiered internet services.  The finding was that the public does not. The more informed the sources were, the more strongly felt the opinion was. 

Perhaps the most illuminating finding was that people that watched streaming video were much more likely to be familiar with the issue than people that only relied on traditional cable programming.  I may need to have a good think about it, that might be the whole issue in one single factoid.

You can download the full report here.

A couple of things conspired to make me think it was time to make sure that I’m capturing and keeping my own data.  I’ve been keeping a self hosted WordPress site for many years, but frankly, rarely update it.  I tend to think of it as appropriate for long form writing with no actual audience. 

If I want people to read something, I tend to post in Facebook or Twitter,  sometimes Google Plus.

I was  looking at some cutting edge cellular network planning tools that incorporate twitter location data as a reference to compare against cellular network data.

It made me realize that there is problem an awful lot of data that I could use to document where I was, what I was doing, etc.  A passive diary so to speak. I’ve been aware that other’s were tracking what I was doing, but had this epiphany that it might be nice if I actually used that data. 

The other news item that caught my eye was to see that Google is abandoning much of it’s archival activities.  It just doesn’t seem relevant to their core mission anymore.  Which added some urgency to me to make sure that I download dumps of my data from Facebook, Google, 4square while I can.

My intention is to import that into some type of blogging platform such as this one, so at least I have access to it. 

I’m most familiar with WordPress, but have lately been looking at some others based on Python (my current programming kick).   Hopefully I’ll share my findings.

Here are the links to instructions for downloading your information from major social media.

1. Facebook.

2. Twitter

3. Google

I would love to hear if anyone has any tools for re-importing this data into some type of CMS.

I love my country and I love the principles that my country stands for.  We believe in individual freedom.  We believe in free speech.  We believe in limited powers of government.  We believe that you are innocent until proven guilty. 

When I was 16, I spent a summer living in France.  This was not long after Nixon had left office after his abuse of executive powers came to light.  What surprised me was the high regard that the French held for the American people because we actually did something about it.  

I have been increasingly worried about the damage to our country being done by abandoning some of our dearest principles.  In a recent Ted Talk, a European security expert @mikko came to a pretty obvious conclusion.  He recommendation is that the rest of the world that are “foreigners” had better start developing their own technology and get off US systems as quickly as possible.

The US commitment to our principles has always been a positive differentiator.  We have earned the world’s trust. That trust is now under scrutiny, not because of the Snowden revelations, but because we are not standing behind our own principles.  Free speech is a founding principle of our great nation, yet I continue to read that the US government is still operating “business as usual”.  Intelligence agencies continue to overuse “gag orders.  The President is hedging, explaining that he supports encryption, yet uses terrorism to justify current practices. 

My hope is that Citizenfour winning the award for the best documentary at the Academy Awards will act as a catalyst to remind us of our principles.