Most programmers are so used to seeing bad code that I would feel no shame in showing starting efforts to them. There are enough bad programmers in the world, many of whom deeply at odds with the muse of coding but employed in the area anyway, that someone who wants to be good is a joy. And wanting to be good starts with seeing it as a craft, as something that can be constructed with artisanal skill that goes well beyond simply managing the raw functionality required. Many programmers will be very pleased to share their knowledge just to have someone appreciate the details of what they do (it is easy to find people to appreciate the finished work, but only another craftman, even a novice one, can appreciate the details that go into it).
The trick to learning many crafts is finding projects that are simple enough to be within the capability of the novice, yet desirable enough to create enthusiasm in the crafter. For programming, finding smallish problems to solve.
In the last few years, I have got into hobby electronics. I've built myself a theremin, and I'm building myself synthesizers -- most of my interests turn into music. But its the building that is the thing.
I've come to realise that this geeky hobby is my chosen craft, and delivers the same sense of satisfaction as other crafts. I refer to it as 'knitting for nerds'. I've been known to take it on holiday with me.
Also, while Roger Penrose's books on consciousness are only popular science that shouldn't be taken seriously, his prestige as a mathematician means they sometimes are.
I can attest that professionals in the field hold his work on consciousness in such contempt that it made a good conference ice-breaker.
The undermining of FEMA was not incompetence, but malice. Or at least deliberate policy. Allbaugh and Brown where appointed without qualifications because they were appointed not to run FEMA, but to shrink it. Which no one with experience in disaster management would think was a good idea, but politically appointed cronys without experience might do.
Joe M. Allbaugh, a Bush campaign hack without any crisis management experience who was named director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, disparaged federal disaster assistance as "an oversized entitlement program" before Congress in 2001. The public's expectations of government in a disaster situation, he said, "may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level." He advised stricken communities to rely for help on "faith-based organizations … like the Salvation Army and the Mennonite Disaster Service."
(link goes to LA Times article about the ill advisedness of shrinking FEMA)
They are using the Powell doctrine.
The Powell doctrine has always been morally suspect, with its implicit assumption that the lives on those who are not US troops are worth far less.
But when its applied during a rescue mission, not a war, when its used to say that the lives of US civilians are worth far less than its troops, its just outright stupid and evil.
They have arrived a doctrine where saving lives is not even close to their primary objective.
There are apparently also people going from Burning Man, who (while tending to be a little more high tech than the SCA), also are a community used to doing things for no monetary reward, used to organising themselves, and used to dealing with helping large numbers of people survive in inhospitable conditions, including on occasion flash floods.
They could do a lot worse than getting the Black Rock City Department of Public Works folks helping out.
Like Lisa Goldstein, I was interested to see what people thought about convention masquerades, interesting as Feynman was. At conventions in Australia we have been dedicatedly trying to change con masquerade culture from the costume parade to the crazed costume party dance thing, and its always one of my favourite moments. That moment with everyone dancing, many of them in costumes that no one outside the community would even recognise, a range of ages, professionals and young fans, in our case often a best selling author doing the DJing, is remarkable for its combination of a sense of surrealism and community. It is the all the contradictions of fandom and SF culture confronted in a shared sense of sheer enjoyment.
My favourites include
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, my favourite version is by The Jackson Code, which keeps the lonely in.
the aforementioned Fairytale of New York
For keeping the mood up, there is always Christmas Card from Hooker in Minneapolis - Tom Waits
and, though I'd probably hate it if it somehow became popular, I quite like Jesus Christ Was Born Today by Big Star.
Remember to eat at least two meals and get five hours of sleep within any twenty-four-hour period.
In current Australian fandom parlance, this is often referred to as the 5-2-1 rule, with the 1 referring to 1 shower a day (also an important addition, as several people have noted).
The obligatory warning about not getting the numbers mixed up is usually delivered at the same time.
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