Archive for November, 2008
Slow Down
Well, the inevitable has happened. The weather has cooled down, the angle of the sun is now different (thus hitting the boxes for fewer hours), and my crops are growing significantly slower. Only the radishes have been kind to me, producing quite consistently. The front yard carrots are taking their sweet time growing. Following the carrots are the beets, cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, spinach and broccoli. I have my doubts as to whether or not some of these crops will make it, but I keep watering and giving them attention.
Surprisingly, the composting is going quite well. The breakdown and decomposition also requires heat so I’m surprised.
This weekend I’ll take some pictures and put them up.
Unacceptable!!
A friend from work and I were chatting today about how upset we were that all these websites were irrelevantly popping up yes on 8 advertisements. I told him that there was no way my website could possibly have anything related to politics because my google ads are tailored towards subjects on my website – namely things like lighthouses, hockey, Mendocino, lacrosse and square foot gardening.
So sure was I in fact, that I had him come over and I proceeded to show him how my site was clear of these intolerant yes on 8 ads. Now, I’m not into writing politically driven posts, and I like to keep my website focused on my interests and hobbies, but I had to comment and take a stand on this. A HUGE ad comes up on the right side of my website saying “vote yes on 8″. Needless to say, I flipped out and very shortly thereafter got rid of my google ads (and they are never going to return!).
I am FIRMLY OPPOSED to prop 8. It’s mere existence bothers me to no end. Not only did google violate the trust I had in that they weren’t going to stray with their ads on my site, at the very least they shouldn’t take advantage of my site to represent values (not sure I can even call it that) that are first not my own, and second, WRONG.
I find companies taking the moral-neutral ground to be disgusting. The whole concept of turning a blind eye to what people use ad spaces for is a cheap out for making money.
All too often, I find that engineers (I am a software engineer) as well as high tech companies using the whole technology is an end in and of itself argument to avoid having to deal with real issues involving morality. Here, I’d like to borrow from one of my favorite books of all time “Atlas Shrugged”. “Innovators” in all professional fields often strike me as corrupt by refusing to ever analyze the greater sense of the particular technical task they’re working on. In particular, this reminds me of Project X in Atlas Shrugged, it’s uselessness, and an indecent ‘creation’. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged#Project_X
Why would anyone behave this way?
Square Foot Gardening — Week 17
Box 1
Tomatoes
Box 2
Eggplants and bell peppers
Box 3
Brussels sprouts and spinach
Box 4
Beets and cabbage
Box 5
Broccoli, cauliflower and artichoke