2012.07.05 07:00 - "Playful"

The Guardian for this meeting was Storm Nordwind. The comments are by Storm Nordwind.

The reason for late arrivals.

oO0Oo Resident: Hi Storm.. Nice to see you
Storm Nordwind: Good morning Sam. Good to see you too :)
oO0Oo Resident: Did I miss much? ;) Sorry to arrive late.
Storm Nordwind: You only missed connection problems!
Storm Nordwind: You are the first to arrive :)
oO0Oo Resident: Oh.. just seeing others asking about that too.. in groups
oO0Oo Resident: I had no problems myself
Storm Nordwind: The problem lasted 10 minutes only. Group changing was also a problem.
oO0Oo Resident checks grid status
oO0Oo Resident: Ah... Okay, I see
oO0Oo Resident: What a complex ship, a virtual world is to run.
Storm Nordwind: Yes! I was here working. Then went to karuna-metta meditation. Then realized I was in the wrong group but couldn't change it. I logged out to clear the problem but couldn't log back in again for 10 minutes.
Storm Nordwind: Perhaps their server upgrade will help

Hornblower.

oO0Oo Resident: Speaking of ships.. Storm, are you familiar with the C.S. Forester stories about Horatio Hornblower? Greatly enjoyed the adaptation with Ioan Gruffudd: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornblower_%28TV_series%29
--BELL--
Storm Nordwind: I seem to remember it many years ago from UK television, though I have to say I'm not generally a fan of war related films!
oO0Oo Resident: I feel the same generally. This series seemed to focus on moral and character development, and spoke to an idealised form of mentor and apprenticeship that I really appreciated. Horatio's relationship with his captain
Storm Nordwind: Ah I see. I'm sorry, my memory doesn't always stretch that far back in that detail. :)
Storm Nordwind: But I'll keep a look out for it here
oO0Oo Resident: No worries ::: smiles :::
Storm Nordwind: British TV had a whole procession of maritime historical dramas, which is not surprising as a maritime nation. :)
Storm Nordwind: It is a little odd now always to be a thousand miles from the sea, whereas before it was always very close.
oO0Oo Resident: Yes! Here is a snippet: "Based on C. S. Forester's novels, Hornblower is an action series and it clearly keeps a constant eye on the bigger picture that are the French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, the eight movie length episodes unexpectedly tend to focus mainly upon far more human and dramatically complex issues such as moral dilemmas and complicated relationships. Indeed, the second series focuses on Hornblower's part in a mutiny and the two films explore the issue under a number of different angles such as the difference between a person's professional reputation and their worth as a human being, and the philosophical difference between one's duty to one's captain and one's duty to one's men and the good of the service. "
Storm Nordwind: Wow. The war setting almost seems an excuse for a much more interesting dramatic study!
oO0Oo Resident: Yes.. recalling also Bill Murray's role in Maugham's Razor's Edge. The war a good ground for Bodhisattva activity...

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.

Storm Nordwind: Yes I appreciate that sort of thing. I only watch TV every so often. Though the other night it was good to see Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead". Lots of things to think about in that.
oO0Oo Resident: Ah.. What sparks to mind?
Storm Nordwind: Several things. The existentialist thoughts here and there. The nature of chance. There's a running joke of scientific discoveries that have no chance of development due to the discoverer's context.
--BELL--
oO0Oo Resident: "Major themes of the play include existentialism, free will vs. determinism, the search for value, and the impossibility of certainty. As with many of Tom Stoppard's works, the play has a love for cleverness and language. It treats language as a confounding system fraught with ambiguity."
oO0Oo Resident: from Wikipedia
Storm Nordwind: All bound up in wonderful absurdity too.
oO0Oo Resident smiles
Storm Nordwind: Regarding language, here's a well known quote from the play: "We are tied down to a language which makes up in obscurity what it lacks in style."
Storm Nordwind: One of my bosses, 30 years ago, used to put that on every software specification he wrote!
oO0Oo Resident: At least he was clear about that.
oO0Oo Resident: me laughs
Storm Nordwind chuckles
oO0Oo Resident: Playful
Storm Nordwind: And that's a nice pun on play-ful, especially as the quote is said in the play by a character called The Player!
oO0Oo Resident: hahaha
oO0Oo Resident: Nothing is ever quite what it seems, but I don't know if even that, is verifiable.
oO0Oo Resident: Principle witness I guess
Storm Nordwind: True. Especially as "what it seems" seems to be different for different people. Or so they seem to say!
oO0Oo Resident: Yes.. spaghetti code extreme

Storm's half-second rule.

Storm Nordwind: Ah yes... I've seen rather too much of that in my career
Storm Nordwind: The same boss used to have a poster that I inherited: "Simple software is next to godliness"
oO0Oo Resident grins .. nice
Storm Nordwind: Technical digression: When I used to teach software, I taught people "Storm's half-second rule". Which was this: "If a code fragment takes longer than half a second for someone (including you later) to understand, it's too complicated and needs rewriting."
--BELL--
Storm Nordwind: I suspect the same goes for literature. If I have to read and reread a paragraph in a novel, other than from tiredness, perhaps something is wrong!
oO0Oo Resident: Code seems inherently well intentioned, and to be clear in that an artform. I must set sail sadly, compass rose as close to heart as possible. I felt somewhat down in the last few days, but this has cheered me up. Thank you Storm for your good and thoughtful company.
Storm Nordwind: You are most welcome Sam. Thank you too for your ever delightful company. :))
oO0Oo Resident: bfn :)
Storm Nordwind: Bye for now!