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Tim Bray: "On the Goodness of Unicode". I became a true-believer in Unicode this Christmas after typing in the (Chinese) names of my family members -- such a thrill to see ideographs show up in computer software!
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I keep thinking that it might be time to split off my blog into various categories -- or at least, move the "personal stuff" to another blog. I am blown away by the quality of some "edu-bloggs" out there -- I aspire to be a good edu-blogger myself and I think I have something to offer, but my blog is so diffuse at times, mixing personal reflections, chatting with my own community of bloggers, really techie-geeky stuff, the ever-present looming presence of JSB, and stuff that must be of interest to only myself.
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Karin -- I read the same article about interracial marriages that you did. It made me quite sad.
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Well, I'm surfacing for a bit of oxygen after a day of programming and paperwork yesterday. I'm so grateful for those who are more consistent and faithful in engaging with the community of readers than I am.
Case in point: Laura, the ever-thoughtful reader and writer, responded to both my musings on programming and why I haven't been more forthright in my views/feelings/ponderings/questions about the war. Thank you.
Laura, how long did you write magazine articles?
I've never had the same feelings writing articles as I do writing code. I certainly get great satisfaction with writing, but the agony of feeling out how to pull my words together is not the same as the pain of ferreting out that one last bug. I suppose with programming, I somehow imagine that the very act of conceiving of a program should lead automatically to existence of the said program (much like how God spoke the world into order in Genesis 1). The frustration comes from seeing the immense gap between conception and realization. Software is not as malleable as I always end up believing, stupidly enough. When I write, I'm under less of an illusion that the process will be so easy. That's not to say that I don't understimate the time and effort it takes for me to write -- but I neither get the same high or suffer the same lows with writing as with programming. Before reading Laura's reflections on magazine writing, it never occurred to me to compare my writing and my coding highs and lows.
And then there's Lloyd -- who is an excellent provocateur -- who got me to write about the war. Sorry that my response was so partial. I can only keep so many lines of dialog going at once, though I always hope for a "bus upgrade" that would increase my "human bandwidth". I bought Kenneth Pollack's Threatening Storm, started to read it, never got too far before the war started, and ended up lending it out to a friend. Reading a number of reviews of the book convinced me that it's a "must-read" for those who would like to thoughtfully engage in the debate over the war. Sadly enough, once the war started, I began feeling -- "hey, what's the point in finishing the book?" But I know that feeling betrays the problematic reasons why I was reading the book in the first place. The war is not some sort of quiz game in which I ran out of time to answer a question. That's what I need to remember -- and that the struggle for truth and goodness and justice is not decided or over because the "pro-war" side "won" in having the war fought -- and that it's now time to throw in the towl and say, "whatever, there's no point in resisting or fighting on for whatever is right". I just don't know what is right or wrong in this war -- well, somethings I think are clearly right and some are clearly wrong. But the greys I have not fathomed and am not ready to write about here.
I appreciate Lloyd's sustained engagement with the war on his blog. I myself need folks like Lloyd to prod me every so often to give my own feedback!
And to folks like Chris, who draws and/or write basicallys every day. I'm so thankful that I get to work with him and have lunch with him. I get to talk to him on a regular basis instead of just knowing him through his blog. There are times I feel guilty that I don't read his blog or engage with it the way I think that I ought to. That's when the golden rule (of blogging) kicks in -- if others don't read my blog (and wish they did) for whatever reason -- I now understand and absolve you of any possible guilt that you might feel over that. (Maybe you're not guilt-ridden like me -- in which case, I say, amen! -- but for those of you who are, I say, "do not feel guilty whatsoever. I'm thankful for any readership of my blog whatsoever!)
And for everyone else whose blogs I read -- thanks. I wish I had the energy to be as appreciative on my blog as I'd like. I will try, but I ask for your forgiveness for my shortcomings....
Posted by Raymond Yee on 4/8/03; 2:14:09 PM
from the Personal Notes dept.
Discuss
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Tuesday, April 8, 2003