Steven Feuerstein's Blog, page 5

Favorite stories: how programmers benefited from my book(s)

I received this very pleasant note today from a PL/SQL developer:

Actually, the second edition of PL/SQL programming is what jump started my career as a PL/SQL developer. I was sold to my first Oracle customer as an Oracle developer, while I had actually never written any PL/SQL. So I raced to the biggest bookstore in Rotterdam and guess what I found [Steven: the biggest computer book he ever saw? :-) ]. The sad thing is these kind of books cannot be found in physical book stores anymore.  For years I used to visit Barnes & Nobles in WPB and pick up an Oracle book when on holiday. Every year the computer book section would occupy less space, and would recently only offer books on iPhone programming, Excel for dummies and such. This year I didn't even bother. Even my favorite bookstore of all times, Computer Book Centre in Funan Centre Singapore is now on line only.

Wow, his favorite bookstore is in Singapore. I like that!

I sure enjoyed my time in Singapore, though bookstores didn't figure much into the visits....

I have to say that I've never been overly concerned about how my books might help a corporation improve its bottom line. But I have always felt very satisfied when I hear how my books may have helped an individual's career.

Oh, this Dutch developer also shared with me his orange bookstack:

Free Shipping! Free Shipping! Free Shipping!

If you are one of the many humans who don't believe in evolution, or more specifically believe that the planet is just 6,000 years old, or believe that a God or gods have a plan for us, I wouldn't bother reading any more of this post.

OK, then. So if you are still reading this, I will assume that you have a healthy respect for the scientific method (including, at its core, a constant challenging of its own "theories" - current models for explaining how the world works) and a growing horror at what we humans are doing to our world  and, just as importantly, doing to the millions of other species of living creatures on this incredible planet.

But we shouldn't give up, right? We should do whatever we can, whenever we can, to heal the world from the worst of human ravages, cut back on our consumption, educate our fellow humans about the importance of changing our ways.

Absolutely. But first allow to express a bit of concern about the chance that anything we do will have much impact.

1. "Free Shipping" 

Among the many incredible accomplishments of e-selling juggernaut Amazon is that "visionary" Jeff Bezos has managed to zero out the entire cost of the infrastructure of transportation of products in the minds of consumers. We have become addicted to "free shipping" (hey, and if you pay just $79 for Amazon Prime, free second day shipping) and fully expect that we should not have to pay anything to:

a. Move the product from the factory in China to a truck.
b. Drive the truck to the train.
c. The train chugs its way to a port.
d. A truck takes the product from the train to a container.
e. Container is loaded onto massive cargo ship (holding thousands of said containers).
f. Cargo ship crosses big sea, consuming enormous amounts of fuel.
g. Ship arrives in San Francisco and lets all its ballast water out into the Bay, releasing billions of creatures who do not belong, some of whom will invade and wipe out native creatures.
h. Move container off ship to truck.
i. Truck to train.
j. Train to truck.
k. Friendly Fed-Ex or UPS fellow leaving a box at our door.

All of that, and not only for free, but cheaper than we can get it ANYWHERE ELSE including the store down the street.

Causing this shift in our perspective is no small accomplishment - and has, I fear, nothing but bad consequences.

Seems to me that 2014 is the wrong year (as if 2013, 2012, 2011 or 2010 were any better) for humans to no longer have to pay any attention - or money - for the vast and vastly destructure globalized movement of products.

Not promising at all!

2. "All the News That's Fit to Banner"

It's not hard to find an article or blog post or (even better) a tweet about how our attention spans are decreasing, how young people don't read lengthy books or articles anymore. They are easily distracted and tuned to receiving short bursts of highly packaged data. Yeah, OK, we've heard all that.

And I believe it.

So I found it really striking and downright depressing that none of our major newspapers even include the Environment, Planet, Ecology, Climate Change, etc. as a top-level entry on the banners of their websites. Take a look:

 

 
 
 

If these hold-outs of reason and deep(er) thinking can't seem to manage to accept the world-killing efforts of humans (also a major killer of humans) as a significant category of news in 2014, then I truly do not find it easy to be optimistic about the chances that we will change our consuming ways.

3. Dolphin and Killer Whale Shows

Well, I am not going to repeat what I already said here, except to say:

The next time anyone sounds off about the superiority of human beings over other creatures, ask them what they think about us enslaving other sentient beings.

SETI is a Grotesquerie

SETI - the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence

I used to be big into sci-fi. I read lots of fascinating stories involving ingeniously crafted aliens. It was very entertaining and thought-provoking.

Like many humans, I looked on with awe as humans found their way into space, peered ever deeper into space (and the universe as it existed long ago), and searched avidly for life on other planets.

Now I find all of that to be a grotesque mockery, since that search for extra-terrestrial life is possible only through our utter disdain for and vast destruction of life on our very own planet.

The only life we know for sure exists.

How many species of frogs, butterflies, trees, bats, birds and myrid others have gone extinct so that humans could establish and operate the vast network of factories, homes, aircraft, trucks, trains and more, required to send rockets (and humans!) into space?

Clearly, humans don't really give a shit about life, in general.

All we give a shit about is us: sentient, self-aware, tool-making us. Special and unique us.

And what we are looking for "out there" are others like us: tool makers, manufacturers, consumers.

If that wasn't the case, if what we really wanted to do was establish contact with other sentients, regardless of how they lived in the universe, so that we could learn from each other, then, let's see:
It would be considered murder to kill a whale.It would be considered slavery to keep a cetacean captive (and performing tricks) at places like SeaWorld and Shedd Aquarium.We'd be working awfully damn hard to learn how to communicate with cetaceans.(even if only as practice for the "real thing")Why do I say this? Because cetaceans are self-aware.
Cetaceans - whales, dolphins and porpoises - have been evolving for millions of years, just like us. They have big, complex brains. They have language. They recognize themselves. They have a sense of humor, for heaven's sake.

Repeat after me: cetaceans are self-aware.

Too bad, then, that they don't make stuff. Because as far as humans are concerned, if you are not ravaging your planet in order to build things to make your lives more convenient and comfortable, then you are a lesser being. And that renders you simultaneously uninteresting (except as a source of entertainment) and available for exploitation.

And so here it is, 2014, and still our governments can't even agree on enforcing a worldwide ban on whaling, thereby ending the rampant slaughter of these extraordinary creatures (who, we should recall, evolved from land-based mammals, reclaiming a life in the ocean. Amazing!).

Don't worry, though: even if all the whales are dead, we will still have recordings of their haunting, beautiful songs.

And we can still take our children to "educational shows" that feature those cute, smiley dolphins leaping on command and wiggling their tail in delight over being fed a fish.

As if dolphins need humans to feed them fish! This sort of travesty is what passes for the most high-minded, progressive education of our youth.Yuck.

The fact that humans can't even accept cetacean self-awareness shows clearly that we do not respect life and we do not respect sentience. The only thing we respect is the ability to manufacture and consume things, regardless of the cost to the rest of our planet and its inhabitants.

C'mon, SeaWorld: let your killer whales go!

Hey, Shedd Aquarium, close down your abomination, the Abbott Oceanarium!

Oh, and NASA (and China National Space Administration and India Space Research Organization and European Space Agency and...)? Please shut down operations. Now.

If we are going to drive to extinction hundreds, probably thousands, of species, and obliterate the lives of trillions of individuals, let's at least commit the resources that result from those deaths to finding a way to reduce the awful impact we have on our world.

To Buy or Not to Buy: FIJI Natural Artisan Water

Here's why FIJI Water thinks we should buy "their" water:

In Fiji, rainfall filters through volcanic rock over hundreds of years, adding vital minerals that give FIJI Water its unique and refreshing taste. The water collects in an ancient artesian aquifer deep within the earth, where it is protected from external elements. It's the way nature intended water to be. Untouched.

Here's why I think we should NOT buy this water:

In Fiji, rainfall filters through volcanic rock over hundreds of years. The water collects in an ancient artesian aquifer deep within the earth, where it is protected from external elements. It's the way nature intended water to be. Untouched.

So don't touch it, FIJI Water. Leave it the f%$k alone.

Personal Cloud Storage - Oh Yeah!

I hate advertising, but I sure do find the machinations and twisty-thinking of marketeers to be quite entertaining. Here's an especially delightful example:


Allow me to offer you the description in full size, easy to read text (bolding by Yours Truly):

My Cloud by Western Digital
3TB Personal Cloud Storage
* Keep Your Content Safe at Home
* Get Abundant Storage and Blazing-Fast Performance Without Paying Monthly Fees
* Store, Organize and Back UP Your Photos, Videos, Music and Important Documents All in One Place

Makes sense to me. Western Digital is watching "the Cloud" (Internet-based storage and computing resources) take away its business ("I hate you Dropbox").

Rather than fight the buzz about Cloud Computing, WD "joins" Cloud Computing with a "Personal Cloud."

Also known as: your own hard drive.

Justify, a poem

Justify

by Steven Feuerstein, 2013

I should not be here.
I should not be.

Too many humans
devouring the world.

I would leave
to save a single tree
or to ensure
a fern leaf unfurled.

But I'll stay, instead,
and switch allegiance
from a genocidal species
to my planet, my home:
my home of surpassing beauty.

If I stay, instead,
and save a single tree
and help tree ferns
unfurl their leaves,
perhaps I could at least
justify
this poem.

Loey Goes to Youtube!

I finally got around to posting some videos of Loey on Youtube. Enjoy!

Loey in a Puddle, Loey the Big Lady

Spent the latter half of Sunday with Lovely Loey.

Stormy day (lots of tornados south of Chicago) and both Veva and Loey enjoyed stomping in some puddles in their big yellow boots!

 
Took her to the Children's Museum for the last half hour until they closed, then got ice cream and finally a visit to Build a Bear, where she was very happy to hug two new "babies" - and also did not fuss about putting them back and not buying anything there!


Loey asked (no, to be honest, TOLD) Grandma Veva Silva to lie down on the blanket and got nite-nite with her. So they did that (along with a half dozen of her "babies" - mostly stuffed animals) and then Loey sat up and stared down into Veva's eyes very seriously and after a moment said "You are a baby" and then treated Veva like one of her babies, put her arm on/around Veva's shoulder, patted her. Very funny little girl! (who insists that she is certainly not a "baby", not a "little girl" not a "big girl" but a "big lady"!).  



 Later in the evening, it was time for a tea party!

First-ever Tree Rescue Day - November 16

I invite all my friends and concerned strangers (though not for long, if you show up!) to participate in my first-ever Tree Rescue Day, on Saturday, November 16, from 10 AM to 12 PM, in Rogers Park, Chicago.

Trees - towering above us, living far beyond our small lives - shouldn't need our help, but they do. We humans, in our relentless quest for convenience and comfort, carelessly transfer species (plants, insects, animals, bacteria) around the world, disrupting the ecological balance established through millions of years of evolution.

Some of these "out of place" species go wild in their new habitats, killing off their nearest "competitors" and then causing a ripple effect throughout the ecosystem. These are known as invasive species.

Here in Chicago, buckthorn (originating in Europe) is an invasive, rapidly turning some forested areas into mono-cultures, killing off other trees, leaving no room for native grasses and flowers, causing bird, frog and other deaths. Just to give you a sense of it, in the photo below the dark trunks are buckthorn, surrounding and crowding out a much larger tree:



And in lots of places, there is not much besides buckthorn. Ugh.
 
So I got out every week and fight back against the buckthorn. I do this at the Northpark Nature Preserve (as part of their volunteer corps) and I also head down the street to Chicago "Park" 538, a strip of land along the Chicago Channel (part of the Chicago River North Branch system) between Devon and Touhy, just west of Kedzie. It is managed by the Chicago Park District, but CPD does not have the funds to clear out invasives here, so it's up to....us!

Over at Park 538, I seek out non-buckthorn saplings and smaller trees (there aren't many left) and then clear out the buckthorn around them, to give them access to sun and a fighting chance to grow into a mature tree.

Would you like to help me? I invite you to join me on November 16 at Park 538. You will not only help heal the earth just a little bit from the ravages of humans, but you will also get some great outdoors exercise. Don't worry about the "cold." After ten minutes of wrestling with buckthorn, you will shed your jacket. And you will have the great satisfaction of seeing the forest "open up":


I will provide all the tools, including the amazing Weed Wrench.

Just get in touch through steven@stevenfeuerstein.com, and I will provide all the details, let you know what you need to bring, etc. Oh, and if you can't make it on November 16, but are interested in helping in the future, also get in touch - I go out every week, 2-3 times, so there will be no shortage of opportunity to help.

I promise that you will come out of this experience feeling, well, sore, yes, but also invigorated and much more positive about what each of us can do to solve some of the big problems in our world.

Join me...please! There is so much to do....

Steven Feuerstein, Tree Killer

I don't just like trees. I am in awe of trees. Sometimes, I must confess, I do walk up to a tree to trace the texture of its bark with my fingers, or just lean up against the big trunk, feel its strength, and age, look up to follow the wonderful twisting branches up into the sky.

And now, October, of course, it is time to have one's breath taken away by the changing leaf colors, as in:


But I must be honest and also confess that I am a tree killer. I have cut down or pulled out by the roots easily over 1,000 trees and saplings in the past decade.

Heck, just in the past month, I have paid quit to the lives of hundreds of buckthorn trees. What, you want proof? OK, here it is:


Those piles of greenery inside the red boxes are buckthorn I have cleared from an area along a branch of the Chicago River. Here's proof they are, in fact, dead trees:


Am I being horrible and terrible and killing the world?

No way! I am working hard to save a thin chunk of forest that is turning into a sad and unhealthy monoculture. To quote the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, "Common buckthorn was first brought here from Europe in the mid-1800s as a popular hedging material. It escaped and became a nuisance plant, forming dense thickets in forests, yards, parks, and roadsides. It crowded out native plants and displaced the native shrubs and small trees in the mid-layer of the forest where many species of birds nested."

And you can definitely see that happening in this forest. Here's just one photo of many I took showing buckthorn (four thin, dark trunks - probably because it was cut back years ago) crowding around and eventually choking off another tree:


Yes, it is an ironic but unavoidable truth that due to the spread of invasive species (by the #1 invasive species in the world: humans), those of us who pay attention to non-Humanland and attempt to repair some of the damage our species has done often have to kill plants and animals in order to save native habitats.

I plan to create a Buckthorn Brigade here in Chicago, a team of concerned citizens who will join me in an effort to eradicate buckthorn (not that we will ever truly achieve that!). Let me know if you are interested!