The beginning

For a new format that I finally realized might work in this blog, I'm going to write about one topic of each of the three broad categories in each post (or at least attempt to). Today, I'm going to write about a genre that started in Ghana, my semi-informed opinion on working out and dieting, and Linux (specifically what I'm learning with semaphores, signals, and mutex's and how to make linux light).

SoundsI got a great CD the other day from Amoeba Records on Haight Street. It led me to look up the history of Nigeria, which led me to find highlife. Highlife is a genre that started in Ghana in the 1920s, and lasted until the 1980s. Apparently, it kind of died out in the early 1970s after the war in Nigeria, but it's what led to afrobeat and the funky/disco music of the 70s and 80s western Africa. I still like Ali Farke Toure better than, say, Fela Kuti or Tony Allen (both part of Africa 70), but that's a matter of preference. So, check out highlife music, especially this guy. It reminds me relaxing on the beach after a really hot day (on the east coast of course) and eating a light and delicious dinner. Maybe Nantucket needs me for a week next summer?

Opinions
I've been going to the gym 4 mornings a week for the last month and a half. I spend about an hour each time. In the beginning, I had to get back into the work out mode (aka back into shape), so I did a lot of rowing and bike riding. I would lift weights and do my standard warmup:
3 sets of the following:
15 seconds of Samson Stretch on each side
10 overhead squats with a light bar
10 situps
10 back extensions
10 pullups
10 dips

Of course, in the beginning, I could barely do 10 pullups, and now I'm only at 2 sets before breaking into my workout, but I'm confidient that I'll get to 3 pretty soon (within the next month).

My workout today got lots of looks from gay men, guys with huge muscles lifting light weights, and almost every woman who caught the weight I was pushing with their eye.

Why? Do I go to a pansy gym? Maybe I work out with a bunch of Republicans for a reason. Maybe it's so that I can make friends with bankers, real estate brokers, advertisting CEOs, and venture capitalists for a reason. I just made a huge impression on all of these people: Don't fuck with Ben, he can probably kick your ass.

Well, guys. This is my opinion. I'm not that strong. I'm a likeable guy, and the weight I lift is something everyone in the gym could do if they wanted. But instead, they spend three hours focusing on their triceps by pulling on a rubber band and maybe leaning over to look like a jack ass.

I do exercises that make me look like the opposite of a jack ass. I don't care about my muscle tone, because that is secondary to the other 10 aspects of athleticism (I don't know them offhand, but if you check out http://crossfit.com, you can find out what I mean).

If you want to be an athelete over having nice abs, then check out http://gymjones.com/, or http://crossfit.com/, and follow their schedules.

By the way, today I did the "Crossfit Total" with a total of 785 lbs (I almost had 805). I did one back squat with 315 lbs, one should press (i.e. military press) with 135 lbs (no warmup, and failed on 145) and one dead lift with 335 (failed with 355). Next time, I'm going to be over 800.

Programming

So, Linux is easy. It's easy for programmers. I've been reading a book called "Advance Linux Programming" which is about the fundamentals of the Linux operating system. I got through Processes and Threads, and am on the chapter entitled "Interprocess Communication".

I'll have more to write about this once I try to build a kernel and libraries from scratch as I need them. I'm going to make a custom linux distro for an embedded environment I'm working with. I'll have to only include device drivers that I need, cut down the tasks that Lilo has to do (like printing, etc), and then possibly initialize slow devices that aren't needed right away after the GUI library boots (I'm thinking of just using FrameBuffer and a ported GUI library that works with it).

More to come on this front.

Classes and how they communicate

I can't find the reference, but I once heard that you can tell the difference between a rich man and a poor man after it rains. A poor man will say "Alright! My car is clean!". I rich man will say "fuck, I have to wash my car again!"

Well, I was walking down the street today and heard a homeless person say "I've been thinking about going to New York." and realized that different classes of people will say different things about traveling, and I'm writing what I think is the breakdown:
1. Lower: I'm thinking about going to New York.
2. Middle: I went to New York and spent a lot of money.
3. Upper Middle: I had to go to New York for work and had a lot of fun.
4. Upper: I was in New York again last week looking at condo's.
5. Extreme Upper: I stopped over in New York for a couple weeks on my way to Europe. You should come to Europe, it's a lot of fun.

I'd be happier if everyone could talk to me like those who are in category 5, but that's how shit works. Every major society in the past advanced like crazy, remained in power, and maintained wealth because of slavery. There is still rampant slavery today (different than America's past) which is similar to Rome and England's respective empires. We have China+, or Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, and Polynesia. Where are the next 3rd world countries that we can exploit? Why is everyone in this country so afraid of China? I have an idea: Stop giving them money by shopping at Walmart and fall off the political map like Canada. If the US gets out of everyone's business, then no one will have any business being in ours and the threat of terrorism will go away. Therefore, I think that the threat of terrorism has a direct and linear correlation with how invasive our country is in foreign affairs.

So, I've decided to cut down my obsessive consumer whorism.

Romantic group idea

I don't know that the biggest attraction to Social Networking is the number of people who "follow" your every move on Twitter, Google Reader shares, Myspace, Flickr and everywhere else you exist online, but rather in the potential and for the people who aren't yet reading you.

This is the same thing in real life, where a group of like minded people forms a club, organization, company, guild, etc. Those original people do not last forever. In order to continue the organization of the group, you lay down some guidelines and expectations and allow new people to join the ranks. If you're going for popularity, then you should be selective and exclusive. If you're going for mass acceptance, then you should focus on marketing and activities.

It's a lot more difficult to sustain mass acceptance in anything. The advantage in this lies in those groups who either invented "it", or continually re-invent "it". Where was the Buffalo Wing invented? Where is the generally perceived "best wing joint"? For those not from Buffalo and just traveling through, the first place they hear about is Anchor Bar (the bar that claimed to invent it). The wings at Anchor Bar are completely different than every other place in the city. When I explain what a Buffalo wing is to someone, it's usually a deep fried chicken wing part slathered in melted butter and Frank's Red Hot (to varying degrees), or with some sort of vinegary BBQ sauce and then grilled afterwords.

What I'm trying to get at is that when you form an organization, the first thing you should decide after your mission statement (i.e. the Preamble to the US Constitution) is to decide if you're targeting mass appeal, or if your mass appeal is in your exclusiveness. There are levels of both, but this is the major difference.

Collab21 is a niche group that hopes to have mass appeal within the niche market. This means we're looking more towards mass appeal than exclusiveness. Since it's in a niche market, it may look like it's exclusive to some. We've already lost a few of our founders, and we haven't even found the right space yet. What does this mean? It's a different company already. If the remaining members can keep up the good work, things will work out as we had originally planned. But realizing that people come and go because of changing interests is important. Catering to the people that you dreamed of having in your group from the very beginning is key to getting other people that you never dreamed about...but can't see yourself without once they're there...in.

This may be a bad analogy, but if you set up a church to praise your God, everyone else who wants to do the same will come and hang out. Community.




In the meantime, read "Rooted in the Land" by William Vitek and Wes Jackson. This is a collection of essays on community. Knowing and loving your community is what we all strive for.