In2SciFi

” … in a plan such as ours, the actions of others are bent to our needs.”

Isaac Asimov, Foundation, Bantam Dell, 2004, p44.

I am a BIG fan of Serenity, though I found it after it had already run out. A friend introduced me to the movie and I liked it so much that I bought and watched the whole TV series. On days it appears, I always try to watch if I can. But I just found it on HULU!

If you go to the Firefly Page on Hulu you’ll find the full episodes viewable online for free! You get embedded commercials, but I’ll put up with them for the chance to watch the episodes whenever and wherever I am.

The site allows you to embed videos in your own web site or blog, just to see how it works, here is the first episode for anyone who’d like to see it:

I’ve slowly been looking through Hulu and am impressed with what I can find. Obviously, there are LOTS of holes in the content, but it’s interesting that they have things I want but can’t find elsewhere. Quality is good and there haven’t been any stutters on my downloads, but performance there will depend on how fast your Internet connection is. Remember too that you are just one of many people using the bandwidth of the Internet, so even with a fast connection, at times delivery of a video like this will be choppy.

All in all though, I’m liking what I see.

We’re in the process of packing and moving right now (I expect to actually move in about a week), so while I’ll try to post some updates during that time, problems with Internet access and such will likely cause difficulty getting online. I’ll be picking up again for sure once we’re settled in our new location.

“The sum of human knowing is beyond any one man; any thousand men.”

Isaac Asimov, Foundation, Bantam Dell, 2004, p37.

“Q. You do not consider your statement a disloyal one?
“A. No, sir. Scientific truth is beyond loyalty and disloyalty
“Q. You are sure that your statement represents scientific truth?
“A. I am.

…

“Q. Can you prove that the mathematics is valid?
“A. Only to another mathematician.
“Q. (with a smile) Your claim is then that your truth is of so esoteric a nature that it is beyond the understanding of a plain man. It seems to me that truth should be clearer than that, less mysterious, more open to the mind.
“A. It presents no difficulties to some minds. The physics of energy transfer, which we know as thermodynamics, has been clear and true through all the history of man …, yet there may be people present who would find it impossible to design a power engine. People of high intelligence, too. …”

Isaac Asimov, Foundation, Bantam Dell, 2004, p32.

“It was childish to feel disappointed, but childishness comes almost as naturally to a man as to a child, …”

Isaac Asimov, Foundation, Bantam Dell, 2004, p6.

Ever heard of SMART Goals? I’ve seen several variations on the title, but it’s used something like this:

S - Specific
M - Measureable
A - Achievable
R - Relevant
T - Time dimensioned

Most people think of them as important for things like life goals or large projects, but you need to think about them even for small projects.

There are times when it seems that people just don’t realize how important goals like this are. If you have a communications project that you’re working on, take some time to develop SMART goals and you’ll find that everything goes smoother.

Let’s consider how we might want to apply this to a real situation. Suppose we need to build a presentation that’s important to get funding for a project we REALLY want to do. Let’s see how each piece applies:

• Specific - What EXACTLY do you want to achieve in the presentation? What is success? What is failure? Be CONCRETE. Be EXACT.
• Measurable - How will I know I’ve been successful? How can I tell that my presentation has been successful? Are there questions I can ask that will give me an indication of the level of support?
• Achievable - Is the funding I need to get possible? Does it go beyond what the company has normally done? Is it realistic that the company will DO what I want it to do?
• Relevant - Does this REALLY matter to ME? Am I passionate about this or is this something that I’m expected to do for someone else? If it’s not personally important to me, then it’s probably not relevant.
• Time Dimensioned - What’s the deadline? You’ve got two here: FIRST for the presentation, everything has to be ready to present at the right time; SECOND for the project, even if you sell the project successfully, will you be able to meet the time constraints of the project itself?

Don’t take this as a need to build some sort of formal goal structure. That’s not necessary, but some goals even informal ones are important to success.

Once you can clearly see your goal and you know that you’re passionate about it, you know that it’s really achievable, then get to work and make it happen!

If you’re a SciFi fan, you probably remember the quote from Asimov’s Foundation Novels. It’s worth remembering as we see so much violence around the world, some initiated by us.

As we so incompetent that we can’t see how all of the violence we’ve spawned hurts us? Is incompetence becoming endemic in the world where so much hate fills people with the need to express themselves in violence?

CHANGED: To post later

I’ll be moving in the next week, so there will likely be some interruption in my posting schedule. I’ll try to get some posts ready to go, but no promises.

If you find this interesting, try these

• Writing for Techies - my collected notes and thoughts on writing, speaking, and communicating in general
• Antennas, Modeling, and More - Antennas, Propagation, and Low Power operation are my interests in Amateur Radio. Here is where I talk about them
• Customer Facing Systems - I’ve spent much of my career building and running systems that interact with customers. Here is the collected insight I’ve gained
• Obesity and Me - My thoughts on losing weight