What are you gonna do?
If UT played Saturday and OU played Thursday, we might have been ranked below Alabama instead of our rivals to the north. Or if one coach had voted one way, and other a different way... you never know.
But it is a lot messed up that its not purely about competition, and requires votes, etc... We need a better system so we don't have this kind of mess to begin with.
Ah, well. It was a great season and the Longhorns have everything in the world to be proud of.
I tend to side with Simon's opinion that play-offs might be the solution.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Thanksgiving Follow Up
Well, it's Sunday. Sunday night.
It's been a pretty long four days, and, in saying that, I'm kind of surprised its only been four days. But that's what happens when you have family coming and going, football on the brain, and the transition from the the Fall season into the Holiday Season.
I had a glimpse of life to come, and holidays to come, this weekend. My parents stayed at their new pad in N. Austin, Jason at his house, Cousin Sue at her place and we at ours. It seems the days of Too Many People in One House have drawn to a close. Which, really, has been most of my life, so I'm not really sure what to make of it. In the past, I was always amazed and confused by friends whose families lived in town and sort of didn't bat an eyelash that the Holidays were coming. If you weren't going to spend three or four nights kicked out of your bed and camped out in some corner of the house not your own, while wondering who kept turning up the thermostat (so you'd start sweating), it just wasn't the Holidays.
Anyhow, sadly, the Steans Family And Affiliated Family is now smaller in number. And we've somehow consolidated in Texas, with the locus in Austin. This is going to make things easier in some ways. And just plain odd in others.
No more sitting up with The Admiral and discussing the news until the wee hours. No more Jason abruptly standing up at some late hour and declaring "I'm tired as @#$%." Then going to bed.
No more shuffling into the kitchen and sorting out what sort of coffee was put in the pot (the parents like to poison me with 50% caffeinated), or coming downstairs at the folks' house to find some of their friends were not just up before me, they're over and visiting when I wander in with my hair standing straight up and peering out from behind my coke-bottle lenses.
Or, at Jamie's folks' house... no more realizing everyone has put off eating while you were sleeping. Or wandering out into the kitchen first thing, walking right past everyone and staring out the window into the backyard until your brain decides to actually wake up.
All that said, I'm happy to trade that for popping in to Jamie's folks' or my folks' house with a 30 minute drive instead of 3 hours.
Its just going to change things, and that's okay. Time marches on.
Jill mentioned on her blog that returning to Spring didn't feel like coming home. I think to a certain extent, I get that feeling. I love my parents, and I love their house, but (a) I've lived in Austin for 18, maybe 19 years, instead of the 3 I lived in that house in Spring, and (b) Jamie and I have worked hard to build lives in Austin. We're also heading quickly into our (gasp!) mid-thirties. While our lives are vastly different from those of our parents, we're not still moving from apartment to apartment like people right out of college. Hell, this spring we'll have been married for nine years. NINE.
And I think my folks are ready for the change.
Jamie's parents are in San Marcos now, so this is going to make the Christmas Holidays interesting. Doug and Kristen are coming into town, and will be hopping back and forth between here and the in-laws.
We're kinda/ sorta decorated for Christmas. I'd managed to get the inside about 80% decorated on Friday while Jamie rested after dialysis (we needed to put ornaments on the tree). Around 12:00ish today, we were just starting to pull exterior decorations down from shelves in the garage when Jamie noticed her fistula was bleeding through her sweatshirt.
Add in about three and hours in the ER (of which, about seven minutes was actual medical attention. The rest was waiting, giving information, and watching "Big" on basic cable), and we were home again by 3:15 and I was trying to get lights strung before the front would go dark by 5:30.
I checked three of our strings of lights before putting up four of them, and, curiously, once up they only half worked. Every single string of lights lit about half-way and then... nada. I tried swapping bulks, etc... but nada. I have no idea what was going on.
Anyway, I decided I just was going to quit and start again next Saturday morning.
The neighborhood will have to wait a little longer for The League's Onslaught of Cheer, '08.
Jamie is totally fine, by the way. What happened requires some a priori knowledge, but really simply: She had a scab on her fistula that fell off. The fistula is a very powerful vein, Jamie's also on blood thinners. Add the two together and you get a mix of Old Faithful and the elevator doors from "The Shining".
We did decorate the tree, and its lovely. We moved it this year, so its no longer out of view from the living room. I'm quite pleased with the change.
I'll get around to the Robot Ladies of Interest column later this week.
Keep it real.
It's been a pretty long four days, and, in saying that, I'm kind of surprised its only been four days. But that's what happens when you have family coming and going, football on the brain, and the transition from the the Fall season into the Holiday Season.
I had a glimpse of life to come, and holidays to come, this weekend. My parents stayed at their new pad in N. Austin, Jason at his house, Cousin Sue at her place and we at ours. It seems the days of Too Many People in One House have drawn to a close. Which, really, has been most of my life, so I'm not really sure what to make of it. In the past, I was always amazed and confused by friends whose families lived in town and sort of didn't bat an eyelash that the Holidays were coming. If you weren't going to spend three or four nights kicked out of your bed and camped out in some corner of the house not your own, while wondering who kept turning up the thermostat (so you'd start sweating), it just wasn't the Holidays.
Anyhow, sadly, the Steans Family And Affiliated Family is now smaller in number. And we've somehow consolidated in Texas, with the locus in Austin. This is going to make things easier in some ways. And just plain odd in others.
No more sitting up with The Admiral and discussing the news until the wee hours. No more Jason abruptly standing up at some late hour and declaring "I'm tired as @#$%." Then going to bed.
No more shuffling into the kitchen and sorting out what sort of coffee was put in the pot (the parents like to poison me with 50% caffeinated), or coming downstairs at the folks' house to find some of their friends were not just up before me, they're over and visiting when I wander in with my hair standing straight up and peering out from behind my coke-bottle lenses.
Or, at Jamie's folks' house... no more realizing everyone has put off eating while you were sleeping. Or wandering out into the kitchen first thing, walking right past everyone and staring out the window into the backyard until your brain decides to actually wake up.
All that said, I'm happy to trade that for popping in to Jamie's folks' or my folks' house with a 30 minute drive instead of 3 hours.
Its just going to change things, and that's okay. Time marches on.
Jill mentioned on her blog that returning to Spring didn't feel like coming home. I think to a certain extent, I get that feeling. I love my parents, and I love their house, but (a) I've lived in Austin for 18, maybe 19 years, instead of the 3 I lived in that house in Spring, and (b) Jamie and I have worked hard to build lives in Austin. We're also heading quickly into our (gasp!) mid-thirties. While our lives are vastly different from those of our parents, we're not still moving from apartment to apartment like people right out of college. Hell, this spring we'll have been married for nine years. NINE.
And I think my folks are ready for the change.
Jamie's parents are in San Marcos now, so this is going to make the Christmas Holidays interesting. Doug and Kristen are coming into town, and will be hopping back and forth between here and the in-laws.
We're kinda/ sorta decorated for Christmas. I'd managed to get the inside about 80% decorated on Friday while Jamie rested after dialysis (we needed to put ornaments on the tree). Around 12:00ish today, we were just starting to pull exterior decorations down from shelves in the garage when Jamie noticed her fistula was bleeding through her sweatshirt.
Add in about three and hours in the ER (of which, about seven minutes was actual medical attention. The rest was waiting, giving information, and watching "Big" on basic cable), and we were home again by 3:15 and I was trying to get lights strung before the front would go dark by 5:30.
I checked three of our strings of lights before putting up four of them, and, curiously, once up they only half worked. Every single string of lights lit about half-way and then... nada. I tried swapping bulks, etc... but nada. I have no idea what was going on.
Anyway, I decided I just was going to quit and start again next Saturday morning.
The neighborhood will have to wait a little longer for The League's Onslaught of Cheer, '08.
Jamie is totally fine, by the way. What happened requires some a priori knowledge, but really simply: She had a scab on her fistula that fell off. The fistula is a very powerful vein, Jamie's also on blood thinners. Add the two together and you get a mix of Old Faithful and the elevator doors from "The Shining".
We did decorate the tree, and its lovely. We moved it this year, so its no longer out of view from the living room. I'm quite pleased with the change.
I'll get around to the Robot Ladies of Interest column later this week.
Keep it real.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Coming to terms with BCS
Breaking in again for football...
So, yeah, I broke my oath of silence once again. But, look, I just watched a day full of high-stakes college ball. UT played Thursday, Tech and OU played today. All are tied for the Big 12 South. Only one can advance.
Tech came out against Baylor today looking a little mushy, which surprised me. I figured they would come out swinging harder against Baylor, but their recent loss seems to have broken them a bit. Oklahoma had to really fight against Oklahoma State until the end of the game, but wound up 20 points ahead when the clock ran out.
All that's left is a wait for the BCS computers and voters to tell us who will wind up in the Big 12 Championship game next week.
Anyway, I'm feeling pretty zen about the whole thing.
1) There's nothing UT could have done better, except for three or four things during the Texas Tech game. Aside from that, they've had a very, very impressive season. If something as small as Gideon hanging onto the ball had happened, UT would be the undisputed Big 12 leader.
2) The Big 12 was a tough conference this season. I'm always pretty impressed with our competition, and as I can't always count on UT to wind up in a BCS Championship game, I pull for the Big 12 as a whole.
3) At the beginning of the season, I looked at our schedule, reviewed what I knew and sort of sweated it a bit. I had serious doubts about our ability to beat OU, Tech and others. We've had such a great season (11-1) that I can't help but feel that no matter what the BCS finally decides: We had a great regular season. Hopefully we'll get sent to a cool bowl game.
So, yeah, I broke my oath of silence once again. But, look, I just watched a day full of high-stakes college ball. UT played Thursday, Tech and OU played today. All are tied for the Big 12 South. Only one can advance.
Tech came out against Baylor today looking a little mushy, which surprised me. I figured they would come out swinging harder against Baylor, but their recent loss seems to have broken them a bit. Oklahoma had to really fight against Oklahoma State until the end of the game, but wound up 20 points ahead when the clock ran out.
All that's left is a wait for the BCS computers and voters to tell us who will wind up in the Big 12 Championship game next week.
Anyway, I'm feeling pretty zen about the whole thing.
1) There's nothing UT could have done better, except for three or four things during the Texas Tech game. Aside from that, they've had a very, very impressive season. If something as small as Gideon hanging onto the ball had happened, UT would be the undisputed Big 12 leader.
2) The Big 12 was a tough conference this season. I'm always pretty impressed with our competition, and as I can't always count on UT to wind up in a BCS Championship game, I pull for the Big 12 as a whole.
3) At the beginning of the season, I looked at our schedule, reviewed what I knew and sort of sweated it a bit. I had serious doubts about our ability to beat OU, Tech and others. We've had such a great season (11-1) that I can't help but feel that no matter what the BCS finally decides: We had a great regular season. Hopefully we'll get sent to a cool bowl game.
Friday, November 28, 2008
49-9
After UT flubbed the last two meet-ups with A&M, I was pleased to see they not only were able to get a check in the win column, but that they got a decisive win. And Colt McCoy played a heck of a game.
For those watching on TV, I have no idea what was up with the field. It hasn't really rained here in months, so I guess someone left the sprinklers on the field too long. What a mess.
As pleased as I am with the win (this game and the OU game are, of course, the biggest games every year) I'll be watching the OU game with terrific interest. It's awful, because I respect the hell out of OU, but if they lose to OSU, it does huge things for the Horns. And OU is playing at Stillwater, so there's as much chance for something to go wrong for them as it did for us at Lubbock.
I am also morally obligated to remind you (and BCS voters) that UT defeated OU 45-35 this season. And, you know, if you're a Hesiman voter and have a vote to spare, Colt McCoy could sure use it.
We now return you to your promised radio silence for the weekend.
For those watching on TV, I have no idea what was up with the field. It hasn't really rained here in months, so I guess someone left the sprinklers on the field too long. What a mess.
As pleased as I am with the win (this game and the OU game are, of course, the biggest games every year) I'll be watching the OU game with terrific interest. It's awful, because I respect the hell out of OU, but if they lose to OSU, it does huge things for the Horns. And OU is playing at Stillwater, so there's as much chance for something to go wrong for them as it did for us at Lubbock.
I am also morally obligated to remind you (and BCS voters) that UT defeated OU 45-35 this season. And, you know, if you're a Hesiman voter and have a vote to spare, Colt McCoy could sure use it.
We now return you to your promised radio silence for the weekend.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Have a Happy Thanksgiving
I'm outta here for a few days.
Sure, I'll be in Austin, but I'm going to take a break and hang out with the family for a few days. So don't expect much more in the way of navel-gazing, complaining, or pondering about robots or Superman until late in the weekend.
Jason is usually pretty good about taking photos and posting them, so I invite you to hit his site.
Enjoy your days off if you have days off. Enjoy the folks around you. Go see a movie. Watch a football game or three. Give some thanks.
Now get out there and eat the hell out of some potatoes.
FREEDOM FROM WANT
Sure, I'll be in Austin, but I'm going to take a break and hang out with the family for a few days. So don't expect much more in the way of navel-gazing, complaining, or pondering about robots or Superman until late in the weekend.
Jason is usually pretty good about taking photos and posting them, so I invite you to hit his site.
Enjoy your days off if you have days off. Enjoy the folks around you. Go see a movie. Watch a football game or three. Give some thanks.
Now get out there and eat the hell out of some potatoes.
FREEDOM FROM WANT
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
My Robot Friend
I DVR every episode of the WB cartoon of Superman from Disney's sugar-fueled kid's cartoon network, Jetix. One of the oddities of networks like Jetix and Cartoon Network is that toy companies are pretty clearly buying up vast swaths of ad-time on these networks and aren't very discriminating about which shows their ads get folded into. Especially the late night ads for toys when you kind of hope the target market is off with dreams of sugar plums in their heads.
It being a month before Christmas, they're really going for the hard sell on all kinds of toys. Expensive toys. Stuff I am sure that, as a kid, would have flipped my gourd and caused some awkward discussions between me and KareBear as to why Santa couldn't bring me The Very Expensive Toy.
If you have any doubt that kid's toys are far more complex, if not far cooler than what we had growing up, I would point you to this year's line-up of interactive pals your kid can enjoy. We've moved beyond Teddy Ruxpin and his rudimentary/ creepy mouth movements.
Apparently... these semi-lifesized toys will respond to touch, sound, etc...
Here's Kota the Triceratops who will let your tyke sit astride his back, eat a leaf, make sounds, roll his head around...
Jason will frequently point out that as a kid, I was usually more interested in the potential of a toy than the actual toy, and would often wind up disappointed. If they sold a kid's microscope, I was ready to set up a crime lab. So part of me figures these toys aren't as cool as I think they are, but I also have as of yet to see one out of the box.
For people who want the magic of a child and a dog, but also want to not worry about the kid becoming too attached, or learning to love... there's Biscuit, the Fur-Real dog.
Or, for the parent who doesn't have the dough to pay for riding lessons, stabling fees, horse whisperers, etc... but can afford D Batteries, there's S'mores, the Fur-Real Pony.
There are also interactive dinosaurs, lizards, lion cubs, what-have-you out there. And the technology seems to be getting marginally better every year.
All of this reminds me, of course, of Kubrick/ Spielberg's AI. I don't know how sorry I felt for Haley Joel Osmont's eternal boy, but I did worry about his little, stuffed robotic pal, the Teddy bear. Which, by the way, they did try to market to kids. (Nobody seemed to notice the horrible fate the movie states robots are doomed to as humans look at robots as they would any other consumer electronic, despite rudimentary awareness... which... yeah, that's what you want to tuck your kid in with at night).
You have to sort of wonder, as the technology improves and kids are expected to abandon their toys, isn't it a little creepy to begin a societal trend toward creating emotive, responsive objects that can be thrown into the waste? Moreover, I know as a kid I would have read a heck of a lot into my robot dog's responses and been horrified at the idea of tossing it in the dump if it broke. How will we deal with our AI's as they become outmoded, break-down, etc...?
People are pretty wretched with their pets to begin with, so I'm not sure if (as technology improves and these toys begin to actually demonstrate AI) we're reinforcing bad behavior to begin with by teaching kids to shove responsive objects into a corner or expect it to turn off with the flick of a switch. That, in no way, has anything to do with actually owning or caring for a pet. Pets do not simply turn off. Sometimes they wait until you've just fallen into a deep sleep to begin meowing as loudly as possible for no discernable reason. Other pets stick their nose in your eye because they feel you've slept too late and it is time to play with the puppy. And simply "turning them off" is called animal cruelty (no matter how right it seems when the puppy jumps on you on Saturday morning).
Yes, I know... the robot dog is supposed to be a toy, but...
The other part that makes me lose some sleep is what AI and emotional responses we choose to bestow upon our creations. Especially as I consider the work of Dr. Cynthia Breazeal and her emotive robots. She seems to be leading the way for becoming her own Dr. Susan Calvin, building robots which can currently respond to certain stimuli, mimicking what we recognize as an emotive response. The leap hasn't been made yet to actually make a robot feel bad when its chastised, but how far down the road can a matrix of emotional responses actually be? And if we attach that response to an ability to learn, what are we building?
I see no reason to believe we won't see AI's in my lifetime. Or rudimentary robot pets. I don't know if they'll have a capacity to learn, adapt, or merely perform routines based upon certain stimulus or commands. Right now roboticists like Dr. Breazeal seem poised to teach robots to learn. Which, of course, loops me right back to the sad, doomed little teddy bear of A.I., thrown to the junk heap, and still functional.
Oh, and, yes... the MIT labs are working on a robotic teddy bear.
Robots will have no legal rights, its safe to assume. No matter what traits we embue them with, will they ever be a part of the family as many people treat their pets?
Right now Biscuit the Robot Dog is little more than a mass of wires, plastic and fake fur that performs simple functions based upon certain stimulus. I hate to break it to you, but we're basically bags of meat and bone that respond to stimulus, too. Sure, we respond in infinitely more complex ways, but that's basically our deal. We just have a few billions years of leaping from single-celled flagellates to avid fans of "Paris Hilton's My New BFF" behind us rather than 100 years of useable electricity and 50 years of computer engineering.
All I know is that when our robots turn on us, I won't be at all surprised. Especially if their vanguard is comprised of a legion of disposed of Teddy Bears, Fur-Real puppies, and fuzzy triceratops. And if I have to go, I hope its at the hands of an enraged teddy bear.
All that said, if you are looking for a robot for under my tree:
If you have to face down a machine that will turn on you and kill you, it might as well be Summer Glau
It being a month before Christmas, they're really going for the hard sell on all kinds of toys. Expensive toys. Stuff I am sure that, as a kid, would have flipped my gourd and caused some awkward discussions between me and KareBear as to why Santa couldn't bring me The Very Expensive Toy.
If you have any doubt that kid's toys are far more complex, if not far cooler than what we had growing up, I would point you to this year's line-up of interactive pals your kid can enjoy. We've moved beyond Teddy Ruxpin and his rudimentary/ creepy mouth movements.
Apparently... these semi-lifesized toys will respond to touch, sound, etc...
Here's Kota the Triceratops who will let your tyke sit astride his back, eat a leaf, make sounds, roll his head around...
Jason will frequently point out that as a kid, I was usually more interested in the potential of a toy than the actual toy, and would often wind up disappointed. If they sold a kid's microscope, I was ready to set up a crime lab. So part of me figures these toys aren't as cool as I think they are, but I also have as of yet to see one out of the box.
For people who want the magic of a child and a dog, but also want to not worry about the kid becoming too attached, or learning to love... there's Biscuit, the Fur-Real dog.
Or, for the parent who doesn't have the dough to pay for riding lessons, stabling fees, horse whisperers, etc... but can afford D Batteries, there's S'mores, the Fur-Real Pony.
There are also interactive dinosaurs, lizards, lion cubs, what-have-you out there. And the technology seems to be getting marginally better every year.
All of this reminds me, of course, of Kubrick/ Spielberg's AI. I don't know how sorry I felt for Haley Joel Osmont's eternal boy, but I did worry about his little, stuffed robotic pal, the Teddy bear. Which, by the way, they did try to market to kids. (Nobody seemed to notice the horrible fate the movie states robots are doomed to as humans look at robots as they would any other consumer electronic, despite rudimentary awareness... which... yeah, that's what you want to tuck your kid in with at night).
You have to sort of wonder, as the technology improves and kids are expected to abandon their toys, isn't it a little creepy to begin a societal trend toward creating emotive, responsive objects that can be thrown into the waste? Moreover, I know as a kid I would have read a heck of a lot into my robot dog's responses and been horrified at the idea of tossing it in the dump if it broke. How will we deal with our AI's as they become outmoded, break-down, etc...?
People are pretty wretched with their pets to begin with, so I'm not sure if (as technology improves and these toys begin to actually demonstrate AI) we're reinforcing bad behavior to begin with by teaching kids to shove responsive objects into a corner or expect it to turn off with the flick of a switch. That, in no way, has anything to do with actually owning or caring for a pet. Pets do not simply turn off. Sometimes they wait until you've just fallen into a deep sleep to begin meowing as loudly as possible for no discernable reason. Other pets stick their nose in your eye because they feel you've slept too late and it is time to play with the puppy. And simply "turning them off" is called animal cruelty (no matter how right it seems when the puppy jumps on you on Saturday morning).
Yes, I know... the robot dog is supposed to be a toy, but...
The other part that makes me lose some sleep is what AI and emotional responses we choose to bestow upon our creations. Especially as I consider the work of Dr. Cynthia Breazeal and her emotive robots. She seems to be leading the way for becoming her own Dr. Susan Calvin, building robots which can currently respond to certain stimuli, mimicking what we recognize as an emotive response. The leap hasn't been made yet to actually make a robot feel bad when its chastised, but how far down the road can a matrix of emotional responses actually be? And if we attach that response to an ability to learn, what are we building?
I see no reason to believe we won't see AI's in my lifetime. Or rudimentary robot pets. I don't know if they'll have a capacity to learn, adapt, or merely perform routines based upon certain stimulus or commands. Right now roboticists like Dr. Breazeal seem poised to teach robots to learn. Which, of course, loops me right back to the sad, doomed little teddy bear of A.I., thrown to the junk heap, and still functional.
Oh, and, yes... the MIT labs are working on a robotic teddy bear.
Robots will have no legal rights, its safe to assume. No matter what traits we embue them with, will they ever be a part of the family as many people treat their pets?
Right now Biscuit the Robot Dog is little more than a mass of wires, plastic and fake fur that performs simple functions based upon certain stimulus. I hate to break it to you, but we're basically bags of meat and bone that respond to stimulus, too. Sure, we respond in infinitely more complex ways, but that's basically our deal. We just have a few billions years of leaping from single-celled flagellates to avid fans of "Paris Hilton's My New BFF" behind us rather than 100 years of useable electricity and 50 years of computer engineering.
All I know is that when our robots turn on us, I won't be at all surprised. Especially if their vanguard is comprised of a legion of disposed of Teddy Bears, Fur-Real puppies, and fuzzy triceratops. And if I have to go, I hope its at the hands of an enraged teddy bear.
All that said, if you are looking for a robot for under my tree:
If you have to face down a machine that will turn on you and kill you, it might as well be Summer Glau
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