depth first search

There are various objections to expanding the conventional, up-tight, as-God-intended “one man, one woman” notion of marriage but by far the least plainly bigoted ones I am aware of are the bureaucratic ones.

To be blunt, the systems aren’t set up to handle it. The paper forms have a space for the husband’s name and a space for the wife’s name. Married people carefully enter their details in block capitals and post the forms off to depressed paper-pushers who then type that information into software front-ends whose forms are laid out and named in precisely the same fashion. And then they hit “submit” and the information is filed away electronically in databases which simply keel over or belch integrity errors when presented with something so profound as a man and another man who love each other enough to want to file joint tax returns.

There’s quite a bit going on in the linked post. On one level, you have a somewhat tongue-in-cheek introduction to the kinds of issues that come up when designing databases. On another level, you have examples of how data storage schemas often reflect implicit biases. Then there is the sometimes mentioned interaction between application level logic and schemas. Finally, the author reflects on what marriage concepts could be easily supported by database schemas. Not surprisingly, database design is not the roadblock to marriage equality in this country.

As a supporter of gay marriage, I’ve thought a little bit about whether I would support other kinds of marriage arrangements as well, particularly marriage involving more than two people. One issue I might have with such an arrangement is not with the arrangement itself, but rather the cost of dissolution if things don’t work out. Divorces can be expensive, and seem to incur various kinds of social costs. Would these costs be amplified in the case of more complex arrangements? Would these costs actually decrease?

We also have to consider whether the benefits of marriage would scale to larger arrangements. Under the binary marriage regime in the linked piece, would joint taxes cover everyone in a connected component? How would deductions scale? How would various health and care decisions be made? Majority vote? This, I think, is a symptom of the generality of graphs as a data structures. Sometimes the graph itself is not as important as the logical constraints of the larger system.

• Downloading Hot Chip's latest. Hoping this will turn the day around. #
• @CBStober Not quite a revelation like The Warning, but worth the price of admission. #
• Imagining a future that includes live-tweeting the premier of a reality show about the making of a documentary about Twitter. #

The first is about what makes a good blog:

To really work, Sierra observed, an entrepreneur’s blog has to be about something bigger than his or her company and his or her product. This sounds simple, but it isn’t. It takes real discipline to not talk about yourself and your company. Blogging as a medium seems so personal, and often it is. But when you’re using a blog to promote a business, that blog can’t be about you, Sierra said. It has to be about your readers, who will, it’s hoped, become your customers. It has to be about making them awesome.

So, for example, if you’re selling a clever attachment to a camera that diffuses harsh flash light, don’t talk about the technical features or about your holiday sale (10 percent off!). Make a list of 10 tips for being a better photographer.

Now about those Apple patents:

What worries me is that idea that Apple, or even just Steve Jobs, believes that phones like the Nexus One have no right to exist, period, and that patent litigation to keep them off the market is in the company’s interests. I say it’s worrisome not because I think it’s evil, or foolish, or unreasonable, but because it is unwise, shortsighted, and unnecessary.

Apropos my previous post:

He despaired of the weakness of mind that ran in his family. “The ‘race is for the strong,’ ” Darwin wrote. “I shall probably do little more but be content to admire the strides others made in Science.”

Darwin, of course, was wrong; his recurring fits didn’t prevent him from succeeding in science. Instead, the pain may actually have accelerated the pace of his research, allowing him to withdraw from the world and concentrate entirely on his work.

Of course if Twitter were around in Darwin’s time he never would have gotten around to writing On the Origin of Species.

I downloaded duo505’s Another Illusion and Hot Chip’s latest One Life Stand. Both are solid albums that I suspect will grow on me, but neither provided quite the cleansing inspiration I was looking for today.

I can’t complain too loudly. My state of mind lately oscillates between total despair and grim resignation. I know from experience that I should not expect to actually enjoy anything during this period. I’ve given up alcohol, started exercising twice a day, and have adopted a nearly fetishistic approach to food consumption. None of these lifestyle changes is really making any kind of dent in my psyche as I dance around the hollow shell of my true problem.

I seem to be out of ideas.

I have a bit of a soft spot for the “Keep Austin Weird” campaign. What can I say? I’m a sucker for loose and mysterious confederations of local people campaigning under a banner of weirdness.

But that sort of begs the question: who’s turning Austin normal?

I came across one answer as I was reading up on the latest counter-proposal for the Cactus Cafe closure over at Student Friends of the Cactus Cafe. That in turn led to a series of Chronicle articles detailing the brutal budget slash and burn that the Union has faced under the direction of Andy Smith.

I guess Andy gets to retire after he’s eliminated everything unique about the Texas Union. Maybe when the Starbucks gets to expand into the gutted corpse of the Catcus Cafe, Andy will get free mocha lattes for life. But first Kinko’s has to take over for the UT print center, and we definitely need some kind of satellite Border’s bookstore.

Only then, Andy, will you have a career you’ll be proud to look back on.

• Playing around with Google Apps. Now have an email address for my domain: depthfirstsearch.net #
• OkTrends has the prettiest graphs: http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/2010/02/16/the-case-for-an-older-woman/ #
• Nothing like a little domestic terrorism to liven up a slow #Austin newsday. #
• Tried to go to a colloquium titled "The Search for Randomness" which turned out to be "The Search for an Empty Seat." #

There’s been some coverage in the New York Times of the recent e-book pricing dispute between Amazon and Macmillan focusing on the potential for consumer backlash over e-book prices. The coverage includes the following quote:

“The sense of entitlement of the American consumer is absolutely astonishing,” said Douglas Preston, whose novel “Impact” reached as high as No. 4 on The New York Times’s hardcover fiction best-seller list earlier this month. “It’s the Wal-Mart mentality, which in my view is very unhealthy for our country. It’s this notion of not wanting to pay the real price of something.”

I certainly suspect that in today’s retail culture, basic economic reasoning often gives way to a kind of applied psychology. The prevalence of $x.99 prices, the strategic use of “discounts,” and the variety of tricks and techniques that raise retail bottom lines are certainly proof that this kind of tactical salesmanship does something (which studies seem to support). 

But really people, boycotting based on price isn’t exactly a new or serious problem, which is probably best seen if we consider the more common name for this practice — shopping.

My recent project to get back into shape is ramping up quite a bit. I was looking at old photographs the other day and reminiscing about the heady days of during and just after high school. I don’t have a particularly good memory, though I seem to understand the rough outline of how I felt at the time, and I’ve been struggling with how I can feel nostalgia for a time when I do not remember being particularly happy.

I was in the best shape of my life back then, even if my continually self-doubting nature would not or could not recognize it at the time. Since then I’ve been shedding good habits for bad, often in pursuit of the kind of casual adaptation that various places tend to force upon adults. The real world, it seems, is less about striving than about trying not to forget too quickly. But I’ve been living in Austin as a student for awhile now, and by now I’ve realized that singular interests often result in singular disappointments, and that a diversity of interests is not the zero sum game I thought it was.

In other random news:

• The price of a haircut rose $1 since my last trim.
• The luge governing body issued a statement prevaricating on the nature of causality.
• Uchi is louder than I thought it would be, and the parking situation leaves a lot to be desired.
• I have Google Apps set up for this domain!
• I also have Google Voice: (512) 814-8037.
• I agree with Peter Norvig that data is unreasonably effective — until it isn’t.

• I'm watching the superbowl. My wife is listening to a podcast on critical theory. We have different interests. #
• Judging by these commercials misogyny is the new black. #
• Watching football games before Twitter must have been really boring. #