Matthew Bohnsack

These days, people seem enamored with the verb "vet".

v. vet·ted, vet·ting, vets
v. tr.

1. To subject to veterinary evaluation, examination, medication, or surgery.
2. To subject to thorough examination or evaluation: vet a manuscript.

Most dictionaries have the first definition of this word dealing with veterinary medicine or veterans of war, but this doesn’t stop the Business 2.0 or Fast Company crowds from thinking themselves clever for coining a word to be used in place of
the perfectly fine "evaluate", "examine", or even just "look at" or "read".

This "vet" virus is spreading out of control. From the September issue of the IEEE Spectrum:

Venture capitalists won’t push you to write a technical development plan — they have neither the time nor the staff to vet it in depth, …

Vet this. Vet that. Oh, wait a minute, that hasn’t been vetted yet. We’ll have to wait until it gets vetted. Enough! I hereby proclaim that the use of "vet" in place of the infinitely more suitable "evaluate" to be lame beyond comprehension and worthy of my contempt.

That is all.

Oh.. except that I finished reading Redemption Ark the other day. It’s highly recommended, if you’re into hard-science space-opera and you’ve read the previous Reynolds books. The series contains one of the best explanations of the Fermi paradox that I’ve heard. I can’t decide if I would want to be a Conjoiner or an Ultra if I were to live in the Reynolds Universe. The Conjoiner’s advanced technology has it’s appeal, but I’m leaning towards life as an Ultra, if only to ride aboard light huggers with names like Gnostic Ascension, Melancholia of Departure, and Nostalgia for Infinity.

Update - I’ve recanted on vet - if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, etc.

Although I remain generally optimistic, as I read this and this, the future begins to look a place that’s not quite so shiny. I urge baby boomers to enjoy their government-sponsored pensions and free medical benefits while they can, ’cause that stuff ain’t gonna last long. Unless we develop a nanotech-powered cornucopia device, strong AI that can build one for us, or some other science fiction craziness in the next ten years, I don’t see how the status quo can be maintained.

Of course, I could be wrong.

Here’s another version of the Greenspan story.

Lat Sunday there were many wild flowers in bloom at Quemado Lake and the Plains near the VLA were alive with wild sunflowers:

Good times…

I was in Austin for a few days. The humidity was brutal.

The highlight of the trip was the opening slide of Wednesday’s presentation. It was dated “02004″.

A canoe or a kayak would be very nice on Quemado Lake.

There’ll be more words and photographs from Sunday’s travels later this week.

vi, especially as it’s evolved into vim, is king among editors.

vi is pronounced as vee-eye. Each of the two letters is pronounced separately. Some people think that vi is pronounced as vi or vie. They are wrong.

Inspired by The Long Now Foundation, I shall henceforth to use 5 digits to specify the year:

• In the year 00985, the Viking Eirikr Thorvaldsson (Eric the Red) founded a colony in Greenland.
• Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press in 01450.
• Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 01492.
• The Protestant Reformation began in Germany, when 31-year-old Martin Luther posted his 95 theses at Wittenberg Cathedral on October 31st, 01517.
• Don Juan de Onate became the first Governor-General of New Mexico and
  established his capital in 01598 at San Juan Pueblo, 25 miles north of Santa Fe.
• The Mayflower docked at Plymouth Rock in the year 01620.
• My maternal grandfather was born in 01899.
• I was born in 01974.
• 01976 was the bicentennial of the United States of America.
• Today is August 21st, 02004.
• 03004 is a thousand years from now.
• In 7,995 years, the year will be 09999.
• In 7,996 years, the year will be 10000.
• In 10,000 years, the year will be 12004.

And as a smartass friend of mine says:

• Prince wants to party like it’s 01999.

I’m still working on getting all the dates on this website to have the extra digit.

Update Sunday 8/22 02004

Or… I could just start using the TAI64 format

Integers 2^63 and larger are reserved for future extensions. Under many cosmological theories, the integers under 2^63 are adequate to cover the entire expected lifetime of the universe; in this case no extensions will be necessary.

20D preview at dpreview
20D preview at The Luminous Landscape
20D preview at imaging resource

Google went public today at $85/share.