It's quite natural to be disappointed in our public officials. We expect them to be honest, scrupulous, dignified. Sometimes, perhaps more often than we care to appreciate, they are not.

If I might gently offer some words of caution and realpolitik...

First, citizens who decorate their leaders with expectations are bound to be disappointed, at least a few times. Who among us has not disappointed others? How can we reasonably expect even our best and brightest to be saints? Woe to lesser mortals if even the saintly will sometimes sin!

Second, politics is almost by definition a dirty occupation. It almost rivals warfare in that regard, and of course, the two are inextricably linked. Is it reasonable to expect this occupation to be always fair and clean? Of course, our officials should strive for goodness, and let us thank those who play nicely! But the nature of politics is that of a contest. Reasoned negotiation does not always triumph over shady dealing, underhanded manipulation, or even violence. I think we must accept such possibilities before we can address how to improve our social systems.

Of course, the Constitutional Framers did this and were at least somewhat successful in establishing a system of counter-balancing institutions. That was neat. And it sort of still works, at least barely. But subversion and corruption continually attack and diminish this beautiful political edifice. But can we really expect that the brilliant stratagem would last indefinitely? Honestly, I'm rather surprised it has survived a Civil War, two world wars, and cold war, a depression, McCarthyism, a handful of assassinations, the struggle for civil rights, and sundry lesser threats over the course of 230-ish years.

Third, our own mythologies and cultural constructs -- the American Dream; the American People; the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave; Manifest Destiny; the good fight; Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness (which I enjoy comparing to either "Peace, Land, and Bread" or "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"); the American soldier who becomes the American "warrior" and "hero," especially when killed; and on and on-- all these bits of myth conspire to confuse us. Above all, the notion of "the West" as a superior font for government, liberal democracy, the rule of law, and other similar conceits, underlies all our present myths. These are all self-serving beacons. By their light we see what we hope to see and ignore what lurks in the shadows. And there in the shadows, our own shadows, is where we must confront reality.

(At the risk of bringing in a new perspective, it might help us to appreciate that humans are primarily social and biological creatures, driven by instinct, yet also requiring the tribe (however civilized or not) to sustain our identities (however personal we believe them to be). And thus can a richer, more useful understanding of human behavior begin. So, let's throw away notions that we are angels or devils, and instead appreciate that we are the result of vast evolutionary history over many exceptionally challenging environments.)

Which brings me to Bill Richardson, and we can include Gov. Blagojevich, Elliot Spitzer, and Ted Stevens from recent months. We paint our myths on these public servants, perhaps more deliberately than on others. And perhaps it is right that we do. After all, without standards we are certainly doomed. But when they fail to live up to our myths (and they are great and heavy decorations!) should we tear our hair and wail? Should we allow our panties to get all in a bunch? I think not.

I'm not arguing that we lightly accept ethical failures. But it does us no good to bemoan the fact that many, perhaps most, public servants will exercise poor judgment or succumb to personal weakness. Until we are all saints, I think we must carefully measure how we deal in judgment.

If there is a sustainable approach available to us, it may be our willingness to reconfigure civilization from within. This would be a project on a vast scale over decades, if not centuries. And it will be made from fine steps mostly, except for the occasional exceptional feat. I suppose we are a part of that experiment without quite knowing it. Maybe leadership on global climate change will be the nexus for that experiment. Maybe.

So, let go of those tainted governors, the hypocrite lawyers, the smarmy senators. Let the political foibles of the moment fade. They are like dust. Take that dust and compact it into bricks for a new age, a better day.

Tags: Politics, Public servants

This is just a quick post and by way of update to say a little something about what I’ve been thinking about. First, some news. I’ve accepted a full-time staff position at Cisco Systems. When it comes to the infrastructure of the internet and broadband, Cisco hardware and services comprise much of the backbone. My role is as a Business Analyst within the Finance organization, and specifically within Strategic Pricing and Services. Our teams are busy defining, designing, and building the next generation of client-facing services. I’m involved in trying to get my head around the systems that we intend to nurture to fruition.

Which brings me to thermodynamics. Roughly put, thermodynamics is the science of energy-- how energy flows, how work is obtained, and how to define and measure everything about energy processes. The basic conceptual framework is the “system,” which operates on the “surroundings.” And basic concepts include temperature, heat, pressure, and entropy, all of which can be understood at a macro or a micro level. The micro level is particularly interesting (to me) as it explores how vast numbers of atoms (or electrons or molecules) behave and affect the surroundings.

I’ve been reading Four Laws that Drive the Universe by Peter Atkins. It’s a very slim volume that recounts the basic concepts for a general audience. There is no math in it, save a few very useful simple and general equations which help to express the crucial (and famous) laws. The first two laws are so famous that even many lay people have been exposed to them (or at least very prosaic interpretations). The first law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but only transformed. The second law states that no process can ever be completely efficient, and is sometimes expressed that there is no such thing as a perpetual motion machine.

It turns out that not only do the laws hold for energy processes, but similar laws also seem to work for information processes. In fact, it may well be that all systems (even business systems) must obey such laws. And if such laws hold, then entities and relationships that are analagous to energy and entropy will also apply to other sorts of systems. And if that is true, as I think it must be, then an understanding of thermodynamics may prove interesting (at the very least). Long story short: I’m now thinking about systems, energy and information flow, metrics, chaos and order-- and I’m glad I have a job in which to approach my new systems analysis subject with my interest in technical and creative work.

I've completed the Joan-of-Arts web site! And I'm quite pleased with the results.

I'm pleased that I was able to design a solid web site that really serves a client in so many ways: stylistically, technically, and economically. Small projects can be a big challenge, primarily because the funds are usually limited. And that means that in order to be viable, the vendor must find ways to achive quality results with cost-saving approaches. This is not easy or simple. Planning is essential. So is a willingness to manage expectations and scope.

In the case for my client Joan Schulze, I reviewed her original site and took inventory. Then I proposed an alternative structure. After that was approved, I created three different layout concepts, one of which Joan was instantly attracted to. That design was developed, with Joan adding content changes along the way. I used a small collaboration site here at Stylus and Slate that Joan could login to and see progress and pay invoices.

Boy, it's been a busy time. So busy I haven't even blogged recently. But I thought I'd add here that I was recruited to a short contract at URS Corporation. I'm working to support a proposal to build a new hospital facility in Oakland, CA. My part of the job is almost microscopic. But it's still a wonderful position to see a large corporation in action. The assignment came by way of TechProse, a technical writing agency. I met TechProse founder Meryl Natches in a technical communication class, and she encouraged me to develop my informal interests through formal education. Technical communication is a natural fit to project management, another practice I continue to develop. And at URS it's easy to see how the good application of these skills supports massive engineering projects.

I've joined the Society for Technical Communication (STC), the leading professional organization for technical communicators. I went to my first meeting a few days ago to learn more about the attendees and the tone of the meeting. I was warmly welcomed and introduced to the president of the local chapter. The attendees seemed to be capable and smart, but also refreshingly modest. I enjoyed the combination and felt at home.

Technical communication is something of a career adjustment for me. I've been a graphic artist, instructor, interface designer, project producer, and project manager. Throughout my career, I've created documentation like project proposals, budgets, analyses, presentations, and tutorials. I find myself enjoying the challenges of developing documentation often more than the managerial functions. So the STC feels like a good fit for me as I make this career adjustment. STC, thank you for welcoming me!

I am partnering with my friend and artist Auguste Raffael to begin an experience design enterprise. What is "experience design?" Imagine the union of installation art, psychology, and marketing, and that is sufficient for getting the gist. Our first pilot project is called "The End of Nature," which has been manifested as an installation in an dilapidated warehouse in Oakland, CA. Among other things, we are using the installation to explore how we might provide technical documentation on a creative effort. Most people tend to think of "blue sky" creativity as a loose, informal process that is difficult to document. Many artists feel that the processes of technical documentation—really a management effort—is antithetical to creative processes. Such a belief is mistaken or, at least, I hope it is. Subjective creativity can be documented, and even managed in a formal, objective way. Management need not interfere with creativity, and creativity need not defy management.

To begin with, here's a few images from our collaboration called "The End of Nature." I'll try to discuss these in detail in a future post. Above is a mockup I developed in Photoshop using a photo of the warehouse and our materials. The basic prop is a flower placard screwed to a wooden stake. The problem was to create a regular layout that would evoke rows of gravestones, as in a cemetary.

This is a top view of a proposed layout for the stakes. I created this in Adobe Illustrator, with an eye towards thinking how such a layout could be done accurately and quickly with very little help.






This is a photo from the actual installation. That's me in there taking pictures. The most noticeable thing is the numerous differences that the real world and materials have from the theoretical mockup. More on that later.

The rescue operation is nearly complete. I've finally found enough time this today to complete transfer of material to the version 1B version of Stylus and Slate. I took the opportunity to make usability/cosmetic fixes to the resume and also to the graphics sampler.
Uploading...

I use RapidWeaver, affectionally called RW by devotees, is a sort of miniature content management system. I use it for this site, and almost all my web work these days. The application runs under MacOS, and is a great value. But like most software, it can fail the user on occasion. Unlike other software, however, RW displays a certain grace under pressure.

I had the Stylus and Slate site working like a charm. But then, for unexplained reasons, the RW site quit showing my work with the full CSS applied. This meant that the content was still there, but the "dressing," like the header, sidebar, and footer were not being positioned or filled out with their respective colors or graphics. I tried the customary fixes in RW: cleansing cache, saving as with a new name, checking the export setting. But nothing worked. I went to the always friendly RW forum, but could not find answers to my unusual problem. Such was my unhappy situation.

So, I hit upon the idea of building an "empty clone" into which I would try to copy/paste the content from the malfunctioning file. I made a quick test to make sure that the CSS anomalies were only affecting the one file (and that was confirmed). So I quickly made an empty clone file. I started copying material into it. It worked beautifully.

Then, in an "I wonder if" moment, I tried to drag an entire page (identified in RW as hierarchical list item) from the malfunctioning file into the clone. And, amazingly it dragged in! Then I previewed this action and discovered to my great joy that the cloned version was "healed" and had easily adopted the correct CSS settings.

This is practically a miracle. Or to be more accurate, a miraculous-like event, since I'm resistant to mythic beliefs. But it sure makes me feel satisfied with the RW product. Not just well designed and well built, but genuinely useful as an improvisational tool when fixes are required.

Stylus and Slate has been up in orbit for a couple of days and seems reasonably stable. The most visible problem has been with browser interpretation, specifically Internet Explorer 6 (IE6). While Firefox (PC and Mac), Safari (Mac), and even IE7 (PC only) interpret the code with reasonable expectations, IE6 performs like a child throwing a temper tantrum. IE6 really is obnoxious. The graphics in the sidebar on the home and resume pages are not showing. Or rather, they appear for a flash, and then they disappear. I believe this is due to IE6's poor interpretation of layering. Another problem is the breadcrumb navigation. Again, only in IE6 is there a problem: the breadcrumb appears, but does not have link properties: no hover or down states, and definitely no hypertext linking.

There was some especially bad behavior in both IE6 and IE7 in the Graphics Samples page. There, content text under the thumbnail images was showing up in blocky, almost extra-bold fashion. This issue was resolved by making a code adjustment to the style sheet for that page telling IE6 and IE7 to use a white background color. I hasten to point out that I'm not a code expert. But I discovered this anomaly was a known problem, and gratefully followed instructions to make my own patch.

Despite these annoyances with IE6, I am taking some solace that in other browsers the site seems to be working and looking very close to specs. So I consider the site now officially in orbit, and will now be seeking content feedback.

A note on tools
I used RapidWeaver (RW) from RealMac Software to build the site. I added a few plug-ins from YourHead Software. I also used an RW theme from Rapid-Ideas. All together, the software cost about a hundred bucks. I think this is exceptionally good value. And I believe it represents the best of the open-source, cottage-industry approach to software. I've used RW for a couple of years now and am still impressed at the overall value for functionality. Check it out for yourself, and see how RW gives iWeb (Apple) or even Adobe Dreamweaver serious competition.

RapidWeaver is a sort of content management system (CMS) for mere mortals. Use it to create blog, podcast, file sharing, image gallery, slideshow, plus basic web pages. RW handles links like butter. You can drag and drop images. RW is a theme-based application, but unlike the rigid and cumbersome themes in iWeb or even commercial products, RW themes are easily customizable and practically elastic. And, the interface is simple, to boot! Oh, RW is Mac only. PC folks: you can get jealous now!

Today marks an important milestone in the development of the Stylus and Slate site. Today I've completed the initial site construction and am preparing to upload to the domain I've secured. So I'm preparing to go live! There are still some information components to set and test, especially the URL site path. But if the initial upload is successful, there will likely need to be a significant review to make sure that links are pointing correctly, that images are showing up, that the PHP functions in the contact page are working, and so forth. Then I will try to secure a site review including editing suggestions from some trusted sources. After that I hope to officially launch Stylus and Slate.

Cuneiform is the oldest form form of writing so far discovered. It was invented in Sumeria (present day Iraq) about 5,000 years ago. A scribe wrote by pressing the sharp end of a stylus into a smooth clay surface. The small indentations were arranged to form symbols that represented sounds and ideas. The first scribes first taught themselves to keep records, and then to make records of stories, using this antecedent of modern alphabets. The invention of formal symbolic communication ranks alongside the birth of agriculture as a distinguishing feature of civilization. This site itself is my own humble reference to those scribes, their tools, and, most of all, to their imagination.