LWG and the Speed of Gravity Debate

George and I had several lunchtime conversations during which we tried to grasp the non-intuitive aspects of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. We got started on this topic after George had read Tom Van Flandern's book Dark Matter, Missing Planets, & New Comets.

Van Flandern points out that gravity appears to act instantaneously at a distance, and proposes a very different theory for how it works. Steve Carlip, a professor of Physics and a specialist on Genreal Relativity, has countered Van Flandern's theories a number of times, and provides explanations for why a gravitational field propagates at the speed of light, yet it's effects on objects appears to be instantaneous.

Yes, yes... but why am I dragging all this out of the dustbin now? Well, in a recent discussion thread on Tom Van Flandern's website Metaresearch.org, one of the more sensible contributors actually cited the Lunch With George gravity web page (it's the fourth post down on the page).

We've come full circle. Van Flandern's ideas got us talking, we did a lot of research, and ultimately we wound up on Van Flandern's website.

Cory Doctorow Interview on O'Reilly Network

Richard Koman interviews Cory Doctorow (one of Paul's new favorite authors) about his Science Fiction writing. Cory is a spokesman for the Electronic Frontier Foundatation, and recently presented a session called "All Complex Ecosystems Have Parasites" at the Emerging Technologies Conference held recently in San Diego.


Read the interview.

Do More than Just Display a "Support Our Troops" Car Magnet

They are everywhere these days-- flexible yellow car magnets that proclaim "Support Our Troops." While this is a wondurful sentiment and no one can argue against supporting our troops abroad, just exaxtly how does this support them?



If you want to support the troops, you need to DO SOMETHING SUPPORTIVE.



Here are some suggestions:

• Write them letters.

• Send them a USO Care Package.

• Support their families here at home.

• Send them Books to read.

• Give them a Gmail account.

• Give them long-distance calling cards for the holidays.

Now THAT is supporting our troops.

I've launched another website: MacGadgetry

What do you do when the website you want doesn't exist? I guess you make it yourself. I've launched a new Blog-based website called MacGadgetry.com, a place where you can find a new Mac-related gizmo every day (pretty much).



The plan is to alert readers not only to new products that make your Macintosh life better, but to also share personal experiences with my own gadgets.



It's not for the 95%-- it's a website for the rest of us.

GTD Three Months Later

Three months ago today, I posted a detailed description of my brand-new implementation of David Allen's Getting Things Done system. It seems as though enough time has passed to get a little perspective and share some lessons, so here goes.





Setting it All Up



In the first two weeks, I bought the supplies, did the Big Collection, revamped my filing system to be purely alphabetical, streamlined my e-mail processing, and created my lists.



It took me most of a weekend to work my physical IN to empty (it was enough stuff to fill at least five classic "in" baskets), but it was a very satisfying activity.



The hardest part is establishing those new habits: Checking the right lists within the right context, looking in the tickler file, and checking the calendar (no, I never really checked my calendar before).





Solving Some Initial Problems



I kept having trouble with physical items from my IN basket that required more than two minutes (e.g. "Complete benefits enrollment forms"). Obviously I needed to add them to one of my electronic Next Action lists, but what to do with the physical item? I finally settled on the creation of a file folder labeled "Next Actions," which I placed in my Timbuk2 bag. All physical items attached to deferred next actions go in this folder. My bag is always with me, so I always have the items when I decide to actually do them.



I also had the problem that physical items might come to me somewhere other than at home, and I wanted to get them into "IN" back on my desk. I solved this in a similar fashion: I created another file folder labeled "IN" which resides in my Timbuk2 bag. Anything that needs to make its way into my GTD system while I'm away gets dropped in that folder (e.g. a business card, a travel brochure, mail I picked up from my P.O. box), and then I take all the stuff out of the folder when I get home and drop it in the IN basket.



It was obvious pretty early on that carrying my Powerbook around while shopping was not the best way to have access to my @errands list. I'm not willing to download my lists to yet another device (such as my never-used PalmOne Tungsten), so I decided to send my @errands list to the printer. I do this fairly often, and always carry the latest version in the back pocket of my Moleskine.





Benefits Realized After 3 Months



The counter stays clear in the kitchen. I always had a huge stack of accumulating mail on the kitchen counter. I didn't have a clear system for processing it, and would just wait until it was complete chaos to do anything. Now, everything goes into the IN basket on my desk, and I work it to empty often (it's fun!).



I am much more successful because I now can identify the true "next action." I've talked about this in previous posts, but this is a key improvement for me. In the past, I would often have items in my "to do" lists such as "Call Dr. for annual check up". I'd find myself siting somewhere waiting for my kids, look in my old Franklin Planner, and decide to do this task. Oops! I didn't have the phone number in my address book. Clearly, the next task for me should have been "Find Doctor's phone number." GTD has helped me focus on identifying the true next action.



I actually do my filing. Filing is a built-in part of emptying the IN basket, so it actually happens. I got rid of my "TO BE FILED" basket, which was always overflowing and had actually become the chronologically ordered filing system.



Everything is out of my head. Sure, I still worry about stuff, but it tends to be more conceptual things. I no longer have recurring urgent flashes like "Geez! I gotta remember to buy a surprise gift for my wife!" Instead, that's on my @errands list, which I look at every day.





Areas for Me to Improve



I'm really bad about checking my tickler file often enough. It's in my lower desk drawer, and suffers somewhat from the "out of sight, out of mind" syndrome. Unless I can create the habit of checking it on time, I'll need to abandon it (or I'll end up missing a bill due date). Does anyone have any ideas on this one?



I really need to empty my IN basket more often. Fortunately, it's not very big, so it fills quickly. This kinda forces the issue.



I still have not fully implemented a parallel GTD system at work. I use GTD to manage my personal tasks only, and this hasn't been a real problem since my work life is so much more straightforward than my personal life. Still, I know things will go better once I convert over.





Current System Limitation: Actions Lists Apply to Multiple Contexts



Some "next actions" belong to multiple contexts. There are clearly some contexts in which I find myself to which more than one action list applies.



Examples:

• When I'm sitting at my desk at work, the @online, @offline, @work, and @calls lists are all fair game.

• When I'm at home in the evening, there are candidate actions on the@home, @online, and @offline lists.

• When I'm waiting in my car while my daughter is in her cello lesson, I can choose actions from the @offline and @calls lists.

It seems that what I really want are super lists for each context which are really just groupings of multiple action lists. It's important that an action list can appear in multiple super lists. The alternative would be a tagging scheme, like that provided by del.icio.us. Of course, it turns out that a number of people are experiencing this same problem, and there's a great thread going on over at the 43 Folders Google Group which is trying to address this very issue through the creation of a new tool. I'm keeping an eye on their progress.



I still hope to present a detailed posting containing my current lists, tools, etc.



Update: Merlin Mann has posted a terrific three-part series looking back over his first year of using GTD techniques: A Year of Getting Things Done.



I'm relieved to hear that even the founder of 43Folders.com has a problem keeping up with his 43 folders (i.e., the tickler file).



And I STILL want a simple conduit which will take the text files I use as my lists (and edit it Smultron) and sync 'em with my Palm. Does anyone know of a tool?

Firefly Movie "Serenity" Delayed until September

Say it's not true! I thought it was bad enough having to wait until April... now the studio has tacked on 5 more months. Apparently, the execs are worried that too many movies targeting the same demographic are coming out in April, so theyre gonna flood the theatres with previews all summer and debut the film in September.



You can keep up on Serenity happenings at the unofficial Serenity Movie site. That's where I read this bad news.



The only thing that's gonna save me is that I still have one Firefly episode on my DVD set that I have never seen. Looks like April will be a god time for that...

NaNoWriMo in the Spotlight

As I drove back to work after lunch today, I heard Neal Conan announce that in the next hour of NPR's Talk of the Nation, they would be talking about writing a novel in one month! Yes, National Public Radio dedicated 45 minutes of programming to NaNoWriMo, The National Novel Writing Month project.



Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo, was the guest. They took calls from people who are currently endeavoring to write 50,000 words in 30 days... people like me! What I managed to listen to was fun. It's nice to see the project get some national attention.



Read more about NaNoWriMo on NPR.

Cory Doctorow: the Baroque Cycle is Worth It

Cory Doctorow just finished System of the World, Neal Stephenson's final book in the Baroque Cycle. In his post on Boing Boing, Cory makes the case for reading all three, saying it's a big, sometimes irritating investment, but it really pays off. He describes the Cycle thusly:

...these books are like a good curry. They're mild and interesting when you first taste them, but after you've swallowed, they grow on you, spreading a warm fire throughout your digestive system, making beads of sweat appear on your forehead. Since finishing the first two books, I've been practically haunted by them. Ever time I spend money, or walk through London, or see a ship, or think about math and science, some snippet of those books springs to mind, a lens through which to reexamine my thinking and assumptions.

I never made it past about page 50 of Quicksilver, but maybe the time has come to do my chores and get my reward.

New Short Story from Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow, one of my favorite new authors, has published a new short story in Salon, entitled Anda's Game (you need to subscribe to Salon to read the whole thing, or just read my PDF version below).



Here's an excerpt from Cory's posting to Boing Boing:

Salon has just published a brand-new short story of mine, called "Anda's Game," which is a riff on the way that property-rights are coming to games, and on the bizarre spectacle of sweat-shops in which children are paid to play the game all day in order to generate eBay-able game-wealth. When I was a kid, there were arcade kings who would play up Gauntlet characters to maximum health and weapons and then sell their games to nearby players for a dollar or two -- netting them about $0.02 an hour -- but this is a very different proposition indeed.

This is the first story ever published by Salon under a Creative Commons license-- which means it can be freely distributed if it is not modified and no one profits from the distribution.



Here's a PDF version of the story.

Fallujah: Up Close and Personal

Kevin Sites, a freelance reporter currently embedded with Marines in Fallujah, has posted some new photos and insights to his personal blog. Kevin is seeing the sweep through Fallujah up close and personal, no doubt closer than he would like.



His writing is personal, and moving. I recommend it to anyone hoping to gain an understanding of what our troops are going through in Iraq.



Latest report: 22 U.S. deaths since the assault on Fallujah began.