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I mean, of course, if money is no object, get the most pimp-daddiest MacBook Pro with gills of RAM and stuff. But… Will the new solid aluminum case MacBooks do the trick? (and, yeah, if money truly was no object, I KNOW I’d rather get a fully maxed out Mac Pro with dual 30″ displays and terabytes of storage…)

I need to replace my antique home system, and need something that can run Aperture well (not necessarily pro speed, but well enough that I don’t want to throw the fracking thing across the room while waiting for it to catch up…). I’d initially planned on getting a 20″ iMac, but think it’ll be better to maintain mobility.

So… Will the new MacBook do the job for running Aperture (and other stuff). Just day-to-day use, and daily workouts in Aperture. Is the MacBook Pro really worth the roughly extra $1000$600 for a little more screen real estate and a real video card?

I didn’t really have a distance target for bike riding this year. I did 3160km in 2007, and thought I might be able to hit 3500km without much trouble. But this summer, I realized that at the pace I was keeping, there was a chance to hit 4500km or even 5000km by the end of 2008. I kept riding, and almost fanned on it due to weather and vacation. But I got back on the bike for a ride along the Bow River this morning, rolling the odometer over 5000km. It was a really great day for a ride. There was a lot of snow and ice, but the path along the river is well groomed so the ride was pretty easy. It was only about -12˚C out, and I was dressed for much colder, so it was definitely fun. I wound up riding from Edworthy Park, along the path beside Memorial Drive, and past downtown to the Zoo before turning around. Not many other bikes out, but I wasn’t the only one…

Photography literally means “the process of drawing with light” – it’s not “taking pictures of people or things,” it’s all about playing with light. If the light isn’t there, there’s no photograph. If the light is boring, the photograph is boring. But, if the light is right, even the most boring subject is transformed into something magical.

Much of the time, when I jump to grab my camera, it’s because the light has caught my eye. Warm light coming through a window. Light refracting through glass. Reflecting off of a surface. Sometimes it’s just a property of the light that catches my attention – warmth, softness, darkness, harshness.

Shoot the light. Start with the light, then find the subject or story, and work on angles and composition.

It’s not an absolute, and I’ve got plenty of counter-example photos that work despite the light, but it’s a pretty good starting point to find the light, and a photograph will follow.

happy monkey to us all.

I have found myself drawn to channels that are best described as “alternate” – outside the traditional scope of the Institution. I publish, but on my own blog. I provide support and services, but for software and tools that are not blessed by the University. I share everything I do under a simple Creative Commons license, without worrying about control or ownership. I exist, from some perspectives, outside of the Institution.

This has bothered me for some time. That my activities were in some way irrelevant to the University. That there was no real way for me to affect change, when my actions aren’t recognized, or even noticed, by traditional aspects of the enterprise.

This weekend, I got a chance to crack open the latest issue of Seed Magazine (Dec. 2008). I started with an article on epigenetic inheritance. I had heard the term, but hadn’t given it much thought before. I last studied genetics almost 20 years ago, and remember Mendelian inheritance due to dominant and recessive genes and their interactions. I constructed endless Punnett squares to calculate probabilities of traits based on parental genes. DNA was king. If it wasn’t coded as a gene, it didn’t matter, evolutionarily speaking.

Epigenetic inheritance is the ability to pass traits from one generation to the next, without representation in the genetic code. Phenotype as a result of environmental and behavioural influences, without direct genotypic expression, and in addition to (or in concert with) that which is genetically defined. This can range from simple response to chemicals or pollutants, to passing antibodies through maternal breast milk, to more complex social and cultural activities. Language is epigenetically inherited, passed from one generation to the next through education (formal and informal).

Reading (and rereading) the article, it hit me. The traditional University, the Enterprise, the Institution. These are analogous to the genotype. They are raw data, which becomes translated and expressed in the context of the current generation. Although the genotype of various Institutions are essentially the same, the phenotypic expression differs, as well as the epigenetic aspects that exist as a result of context.

What I’ve been doing has not been irrelevant to, or even outside of the University. What I’ve been doing is working on epigenetic factors, which are passed on without need for direct representation in the formal Institution.

The other interesting concept of epigenetic inheritance is that it can precede genetic representation. A property or behaviour that begins as an epigenetically transmitted trait can find its way into the genome proper. And so, I choose to stop worrying about recognition and relevance, and to focus on the fringe activities, the interstitial, the disruptive. The epigenetic. And will trust that anything truly worthwhile will eventually find its way into the Institution.

I missed this when it was released because I was offline someplace warm.

There are a number of studies on species that went extinct and most of them seem to refer to the fact that those who had become too specialized disappeared. A small change in the environment killed them.

- Carlo Ratti, Seed Magazine, December 2008. Page 42

Interesting observation to keep in mind when thinking about education…

The holiday season is now officially here. The Norman family tree went up today – Evan helped put the ornaments up (many of which are as old as I am). Snow’s been collecting in preparation for a white christmas…

Seriously. This is going to suck. And I’m definitely missing warm tropical sandy beaches now…

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