Damien Miller's weblog

Some time ago I wrote about the US Department of Homeland Security's crazy plan to gather science fiction authors to think of crazier "security threats". Apparently this gathering has happened, and the results are far more comedic that I could have possibly imagined:

The 45-minute panel discussion quickly deteriorated as federal, local and state homeland security officials, and at least one congressional aid, attempted to ask questions, which were largely ignored.

Instead the writers used their time to pontificate on a variety of tangentially related topics, including their past roles advising the government, predictions in their stories that have come to pass, the demise of the paperback book market, and low-cost launch into space.

...

David Brin, keeping on the topic of empowering citizens with mobile phone technology, delivered a self-described 'rant' on the lack of funds being spent to support citizen reservists to back up the military, homeland security officials and first responders in times of crisis.

"It is impossible for you to succeed without us!" he shouted at the assembled officials, while banging his fist on the table and at one point jumping off his chair to wave a mobile phone in their faces.

There is more in the article - you just can't make comedy this good up...

posted at: 13:04 | path: /stupidity | permanent link

Here are two great social psych articles from a couple of New York publications: Learning to Lie (Po Bronson, New York Magazine), and Taking Play Seriously (Robin Marantz Henig, New York Times). These confirm my status as Neurotic Parent :)

posted at: 23:00 | path: /readings | permanent link

I'm sorry for not updating my weblog for so long. Between the demands of work, a very active and playful son and a persistent illness, I just haven't had the time or much that I'd considered to be of wide interest to say.

This changed yesterday as I watched an incredible thing: our government apologising to indigenous Australians who had been forcibly removed from their families, a result of government policy over the course of seven decades. This apology has been a long time in coming; it was stubbornly blocked by the previous conservative government and vigorously used as a token in the sad culture wars that have held this country over the last two decades. That conservative government is no more, and with the departure of its bitterly ideological leader, a good proportion of their resistance disappeared too.

I, probably to my shame, don't have any deep knowledge or interest of what transpired during this chapter of my nation's history and, having been born around the time the practice was concluded, certainly do not feel any personal guilt for what was done. In spite of this, I strongly supported an apology. Other than the most strident right-wing culture warriors, everyone (even the previous Prime Minister) agreed that what was done was wrong - the resistance to apologise was justified with two arguments: that apologising would traduce those who acted with good intentions to (in their view) improve the lives of indigenous children, and that the current generation should not bear guilt for actions carried out by previous generations.

I have always considered these arguments to be trivially flawed. To the first, the apology is for the government's actions and policies. These were clearly shame-worthy, having been motivated by some awful views of race and the desired destiny of indigenous Australians. The actions, motivations and guilt of the people involved in the removal and subsequent care of the affected children are a separate matter, for those individuals' consciences alone.

The second argument fails to convince too: it is not the current generation who are apologising, rather the instrumentality of government itself. The same instrumentality with the same broad constitution, that presided over the offending policies is what continues to exist today and it is appropriate that it apologises for its own past mistakes.

The apology itself was excellent. I can't recall having ever being touched by a speech made in the House of Representatives before, but this one certainly did between its recitation of the personal story of Nanna Fejo's removal, and the brutally confronting quotation of the racist doctrine underpinning the policies that enabled it. Prime Minister Rudd went further than I dared hope, producing an appropriate and great speech for a historic occasion.

Not so the reply. The beginning of Dr. Nelson's reply was also touching and I recall my shock at thinking that he'd actually brought his party to the table and was making a sincere apology. Sadly, it didn't last very long - only ten or so pauses before he started drawing irrelevant and inappropriate equivalences between the settler and indigenous experience.

Dr. Nelson, in one of those excellent opening paragraphs, admonished us to "place ourselves in the shoes of others, imbued with the imaginative capacity to see this issue through their eyes with decency and respect." I don't have to step far; as a father, I could imagine no greater pain than having my son forcibly removed from me. To tacitly suggest that such pain was justified by some aspirational struggle towards nationhood is offensive and not supported by any fact of which I am aware.

His speech could only be described as schiziod. Divided between his clear personal sympathy for the apology, and the need to pander to the atavists in the party who put installed him as their leader (it being widely believed that the other contender for the leadership was rejected because of his support for the apology). The result is that the could delay and slightly mar the occasion, but not stop it - a lesson for social conservatives everywhere.

I only hope that Prime Minister Rudd's gesture of bipartisanship is genuine and not political, and this becomes one of those rare critical points where the circumstances are right for a real change in the lives of our indigenous citizens. It is sorely overdue.

posted at: 22:18 | path: /life | permanent link

Last week my uncle Michael passed away after a battle with cancer, and we attended his funeral on Tuesday. If I was asked to describe him in a single phrase, I would choose "big hearted". Michael was a kind, well-read and thoughtful man who passionately loved life and made friends wherever he went (evidenced by the packed funeral service and wake). His passing will leave a hole in our lives, but more so those of his wife, three children, mother and six siblings. Bye big fella - I'll think of you whenever I open a bottle of shiraz.

posted at: 22:32 | path: /family | permanent link

Today I learned of the passing of Jun-ichiro "Itojun" Hagino. I had only met Itojun on an handful of occasions in person but had worked with him on the OpenBSD and OpenSSH projects for some years, leading me to become a great admirer of his expertise, intellect and hard work. Most of the impact of his great efforts on IPv6 lie in the future and it is a deep shame that he will not be around to see his life's work used by everyone. So long, Itojun - you will be missed.

posted at: 22:22 | path: /life | permanent link

This is a nice artichoke pasta sauce that I have been cooking recently. It serves 4 hungry people. I use a wok to sauté the mix, but a deep frypan would do.

Ingredients

• 2 large brown onions
• ~350g jar of marinated artichoke hearts
• ~1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 sprig garlic
• 4 small chilli peppers
• 2 cans diced organic tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons pepper
• 1 cup finely chopped Italian (flat leaf) parsley
• 2/3rds cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Separately chop garlic and onions finely
2. Finely chop chillis, remove seeds
3. Add oil to wok and heat
4. Add garlic and chilli and cook until the garlic starts to turn golden (don't let it brown!)
5. Add onions and pepper, sauté until the onions go soft (maybe add a splash more oil here)
6. Chop artichoke hearts into ~1.5cm chunks and add once the onions are soft, cooking until they soften too
7. Add diced tomatoes and bring to boil
8. Cook for 10-15 minutes (now is a good time to start to cook the pasta)
9. Add parsely and parmesan
10. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring thoroughly

This is pretty heavy on the garlic. If you don't like it so much, you can use 1/2 a sprig or fry it longer at the start. This sauce is fairly thick so it goes well with farfale, fusilli or campanelle pasta.

Update [2007/11/25]: I have since found it better to sauté the artichoke hearts rather than boiling them.

posted at: 08:41 | path: /cooking | permanent link

I have been trying to improve my (terrible) cooking skills recently, by cooking some very basic recipes until I get them right. So far the only one that has worked first time is the following recipe for red lentil soup. My attempts at making carrot cake have turned out tasty, but rather too dense, and it took a couple of attempts and lots of wasted eggs before I could reliably make Hollandaise sauce (tip: use a very low heat when adding the egg yolks to the butter).

This recipe makes enough lentil soup to feed a small army, but I prefer to make bulk soup because it freezes so well. The recipe does scale very well, so you might want to simply divide by 4 or 5 if you are only cooking for a few people. It is quite a hearty soup - very good for this cold winter.

Ingredients

• 4 large brown onions
• 1Kg carrots
• 5 cups red lentils
• 1.5 tablespoons turmeric
• 1/3rd cup olive oil
• 4 litres vegetable stock
• 1 litre water

Instructions

1. Chop onions finely, add to pan with olive oil and cook until soft
2. Add tumeric and stir through
3. Place the water and stock in a large pot, add the cooked onions and place on a high heat
4. Chop carrots finely
5. If you have any random vegetables lying at the bottom of the fridge, this is a good time to get rid of them - chop them up
6. Wash the lentils (wait until you are ready to add them to the stock, otherwise they will become sticky and clump at the bottom of the pot)
7. Once stock is gently boiling, add carrots, washed lentils and whatever you found at in your fridge
8. Boil until carrots are soft and the soup has thickened
9. Add salt to taste
10. Serve with natural yoghurt and Italian parsley

posted at: 12:36 | path: /cooking | permanent link

More shark-jumping from the Department of Homeland Stupidity: since they have obviously run out of absurd threats (I thought liquids on a plane was the nadir, but no...) - they have stuck upon the genius idea of tapping science fiction authors for still crazier ones. Note that at least one of these authors (Pournelle) has a track record in beating up crazy threats and responese, having campaigned for the failed "Star Wars" missile defence system with Reagan. The late, great Isaac Asimov's take on that matter is just as relevant now as it was 22 years ago: "I have as my theme that violence is the last resort of the incompetent.". Hear hear.

posted at: 22:19 | path: /stupidity | permanent link

This might be slightly old news but this paper is essential reading: Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments, Justin Kruger and David Dunning, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1999, Vol. 77, No. 6., pp. 1121-1134

People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it. Across 4 studies, the authors found that participants scoring in the bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and logic grossly overestimated their test performance and ability. Although their test scores put them in the 12th percentile, they estimated themselves to be in the 62nd. Several analyses linked this miscalibration to deficits in metacognitive skill, or the capacity to distinguish accuracy from error. Paradoxically, improving the skills of participants, and thus increasing their metacognitive competence, helped them recognize the limitations of their abilities

It is pretty depressing too, once the reader starts to consider the fields of endeavour they are blissfully incompetent in.

posted at: 14:39 | path: /readings | permanent link

Finally! At last my insatiable need to find out my IP address, while shopping for shoes can be met.

I'm so relieved.

posted at: 12:32 | path: /stupidity | permanent link