The Nerd's Eye View

There's nothing that says Valentine's Day like skullduggery. It's with that in mind that I stood on a deserted corner in Bayview yesterday with a cellphone clamped to my ear informing my contact that I was there and needed directions to the rendezvous.

Rewind two weeks. I am thinking of Valentine's Day and how to take part without actually becoming a Hallmark drone. Across my desktop comes an intriguing invitation to take part in "subculture dining". An image of Fight Club meets Scarecrow and Mrs King comes to mind, and I eagerly sign up for the Valentine's night repast. I was sure that the indefatigable Dr Germ would be more than pleased to come along and follow this particular treasure map to the large red X. Illegal dining, no menu, no health inspections and no liquor license - it could either be great, or it could be a way station on the road to gastro-intestinal trouble.

All this in mind we found ourselves on Potrero Hill wandering around in a car trying to find some obscure corner. Earlier that day we'd both gotten emails, telling us where to go and giving us a number to call when we got there. On a corner that gave a lovely impression of urban blight we parked and then, standing in all our finery, made the call. Within minutes we were directed to a swank apartment, completely out of place in the grimy industrial area we were in. It was filled with well-heeled foodies all slumming it for a chance at an amazing meal.

And an amazing meal it was. We were seated in a living room opening onto the kitchen of the apartment and as such were able to observe the chef at work. 7 courses, each better than the last, and of course made that much more delectable by it's illicitness. Why are bad things so good? Four hours later we stumbled out of dinner and back to the cool streets of San Francisco.

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So some of you folks are wondering what's up with the charity I had mentioned setting up. Well I've been talking to a lawyer friend of mine (thanks b!) about what it woudl entail. I'm currently filling out the paperwork for the state of California, and preparing to fill out the Everest of paperwork that will be necessary for the IRS. I am also trying to figure whether I should go the PayPal or direct check route for actual funds transfer?

There's a few other legal matters as well. For example: what activities are strictly forbidden by the terms of the embargo currently on the Sudan? Can I trasnfer money but not goods, and if I can transfer goods are there restrictions on those? It's all a lot more complicated than I had thought previously but I am wading through as best I can. I'll keep you guys posted, in case I need info.

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Or rather what was for 6 years, my life. Hard as it may be to figure this out from reading the blog or talking to me, I spent 6 years doing fundamental research into quantum transport in semiconductors. When I was done it felt like quantum computing was a million years away. Now here comes news that a company in Oregon has made it happen. It's still at extremely low temperatures, but the demonstrated solving capability is quite impressive. And science marches on.

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My colleague, Fat'n'happy, was telling me about his weekend in Napa, but the thing that really caught my attention was his account of coming back to the city. Apparently the very few miles between the Marin headlands and San Francisco were practically impassable. The bridge was jammed with people and cars.

What could be causing this hubbub, you say? Well it turns out that the assembled crowds were there to watch the SS Queen Mary 2 pulling into San Francisco Harbor. I was fairly surprised by the public reaction. While it is, in fact, "a Big Boat", it is nevertheless competing with all the things that occupy the modern city dweller. In fact, it seems to me that going down to the Marina or the headlands to watch a ship come in is the absolute emblem of the late 19th-early 20th century. Then I could see San Franciscans streaming down to vantage points to watch this symbol of foreign climes. But now, it's anachronistic and quaint. Nevertheless, there's a part of me that finds that charming and strangely soothing.

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I'm slightly concerned that the US government has even been doing this kind of research, but still impressed. The future is not shaping up the way I thought it would (where's my flying car, dammit?!), but on one score we seem to be getting there. The Army unveiled it's new "ray gun" - and yes that's what they call it - last week. Now mind you, this has been all over the news, but I can't get over it. Now if they could only shrink it down and make the business end more evil looking with spikes and whatnot.

With all that Buck Rogers-like research going on, it's a wonder that people had time to do the research they did on these white beetles. Boy those things are amazing!

link courtesy of Pedro

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)