My latest computer build

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My First DIY BuildI have a couple of aging computers that are still in service in my house. With the end of support approaching with Windows XP, I decided it was time to start replacing the old rigs with new ones. After replacing a 12-year old Dell machine with my first min-ITX build, it was time to replace my first DIY computer.

I built the machine back in November, 2005. It cost just north of $1,200 to build and featured a 3.0 GHz Prescott Core Pentium 4. I probably should have went dual core at the time, but dual core was just hitting the mainstream. Prices were still pretty high, and I wanted to build something that was a bit more economical as well as a bit simpler to setup. Here is the build sheet for the old machine:

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Lessons learned from ten years of coaching

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I recently decided it was time to retire from coaching football after ten years. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it, the time commitment became too much. There’s a lot I’ll miss about it, especially the relationships with the other coaches and the players.

Luckily, over my ten years of coaching, I had some great mentors who taught me how to instruct the game and, more importantly, how to be a coach. Under their tutelage, here are the most important coaching lessons I learned from them. The best part, these lessons can be applied to any sport, not just football.

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Book review: Brilliance

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Brilliance by Marcus SakeyIn the interest of reading something a little different, I recently picked up Brilliance by Marcus Sakey. It didn’t fit squarely into my recent themes of science fiction and dystopian future visions, but it showed up in the Amazon recommendation engine with strong reviews. I figured it was worth a shot, and it certainly didn’t hurt that it was available through the Amazon Prime lending library.

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Thoughts on AI and the coming Singularity

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I’m a huge fan of William’s Hertling’s Singularity book series. Since reading the books, I’ve started following his blog where he often talks about  artificial intelligence (AI) and the coming of the Singularity – that point in time where AI has achieved greater than human intelligence.

This weekend, he wrote an article in response to articles by Ramez Naam, author of one of my favorite books Nexus (and the sequel Crux), about how and when the Singularity may occur. In short, Naam suggests that the singularity is a ways off and won’t happen overnight. While Hertling more or less agrees with Naam, his concern is more related to the risks of an advanced AI. His biggest point is that we should be addressing the complicated ethical issues surrounding AI now so we are prepared for the Singularity when it occurs.

I’d be wading into water that is way over my head if I were to offer an opinion on how and when AI advancements will occur. I just don’t understand the technology well enough. However, I’ve read enough sci-fi books over the last 18 months regarding the Singularity that I agree we need to start discussions regarding the risks and ethical issues of a smarter than human AI sooner rather than later so we are prepared for it when it happens. I’m not suggesting I should be a part of the discussions, as I feel there are people who know way more about AI than me who should be addressing the issues, I’m just suggesting they happen.

Either way, here’s a link to all three articles. I suggest that you give them a read if you have any interesting in the advancement of AI and the emergence of the Singularity.

Finally, for good measure, here are my book reviews of Hertling’s and Naam’s books on AI and the Singularity. They’re longer form reading, but worth it if you want to understand the paths that AI could evolve along:

 

Book review: Trust Me, I’m Lying – Confessions of a Media Manipulator

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Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator by Ryan HolidayAt a recent conference, I ran into an old acquaintance, Jeff Corbett. During an address to the conference attendees, he mentioned Neil Postman’s Technopoly. Over a beer later in the evening, we discussed the implications of technology, and I recommended he read Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, which I though was a better read than Technopoly. In return he suggested I check out Trust Me, I’m Lying : Confessions of a Media Manipulator by Ryan Holiday. I just finished it, and I expect it will have a lasting effect on how I consume media, particularly online media.

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The peak of my baseball career – 1982

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Everyone’s athletic career peaks at different times. For me (unfortunately), it was my last year of Little League in 1982. A good season was capped off by making the Carroll Township All-Star team. Yes sir, that’s me at the far right in the second row.

1982 Carroll Township All-Star team

We had a solid team, but ran into a buzz saw in our third game of the tournament and lost in extras 2-1. If a few bounces had gone our way, I’m certain we would have made a run. I doubt we would have made Williamsport, but oh, what could have been.

Unfortunately, It was all downhill for me in baseball from there, and I didn’t play beyond Pony League. It was a good run, but life had other things in store, which, truth be told, have turned out pretty good in their own right.

Special thanks to mom for sending this one out to me a couple of years back. I figured it would be fun to share, given we’re at the start of yet another baseball season with catchers and pitchers reporting this week.

Why I blog

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I’ve written in the past about why I decided to start a blog, but a blog post written by Matt Mullenweg (yes, that Matt Mullenweg who is a founding developer of WordPress) sums up why I blog better than anything I could write.  He advises us not to write with the hope of going viral. Instead, he suggests writing for two people – yourself and a single person you would consider the perfect person to read what you write.

I couldn’t agree more.

I didn’t start my blog with the hope of going viral or becoming some famous celebrity on the internet (whatever that means). I started my blog for two reasons:

  1. As a personal journal where I could collect my thoughts, write them down, and share them. It has forced me to think critically about important topics and refine my point of view. In addition, it has been a great way to point people to useful resources I’ve found, collected or commented on. Instead of directing them toward a Google search, I can point them to an article I’ve written to get more information and understand my opinion.
  2. I’m writing to create a digital record that future generations can read to understand more about who I was from the source, not from third parties or a random collection of social media posts or comments strewn about the internet.

I agree that once you stop writing to “go viral”, the process of starting a blog and keeping up with it become a lot easier. So if you want to start but are struggling with what to write about, quit stressing and just do it. It’s your blog, so write about what you want, and don’t worry if it never, ever goes viral. It’s still a digital record that you, your future self, and future generations can look back at to understand who you were at that point in time.

A decade of coaching football

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Brad's first RoadRunner game - September 11, 2004After ten years of coaching football, I’ve decided to hang up the whistle. It’s time to retire.

It’s been an amazing experience and quite a run. Little did I know when I dropped Brad off for his first football practice in 2004 that I would go on a ten year journey that would take me on an roller coaster ride of incredible highs and lows and introduce me to people who would become more than just passing acquaintances, but lifelong friends.

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