Hypotyposis on a Good Day

Migrating to my personal weblog to hypotyposis.net

I'm giving my personal weblog to a new domain (hypotyposis.net) and setting it to run with WordPress software rather than Movable Type. The new address is http://hypotyposis.net/blog I hope to redirect links aimed at the old weblog to the corresponding entry.

I moved my entries from MT to WP by using the export feature of MT and the import feature of WP. The translation wasn't perfect; for instance, a lot of formatting was not done correctly. However, it's good enough to move ahead with.

One thing that excites me about moving to WordPress (on dreamhost.com, where I'm hosting a bunch of my sites) is that I can easily keep up with the latest versions of WordPress through a one-click install and update process. In theory, I should be able to keep my software up-to-date; in practice, doing so was never high enough priority to go through the steps needed. A simple process makes all the difference. Keeping up with the latest software also enables me to enable commenting on my blogs without getting overrun by spammers. So far at least, I've been impressed with the ability of Akismet at blocking spam through its WP plugin.

More deliberate blogging

Last Saturday, I wrote on my wiki about Hopes for a bright blogging future:

Over the last couple of months, I've been keeping my blogs going mostly through writing tiny entries about seemingly random topics. Sometimes, I wrote about an article I read, a book I just took out from the library, or a picture I just took. In the past, I have tackled more lofty subjects. I still have ambitions of writing larger pieces covering themes sustained over time and reflecting some orderly progression of thought. I have been keeping a running list of topics for my weblogs with the hope of crafting logical series of blog entries. I am hesitant to promise any massive changes in my blogging patterns, waiting to see whether I can bring my blogging reality in line with my blogging vision.

Today, I'm sorting through two running lists of potential blogging topics (one for my personal blog and one for my professional blog). There are certainly pros and cons to putting a topic in a queue to be prioritized instead of immediately writing about it. On the plus side, I have an opportunity to write on a larger, more coherent, scale, recognizing items of greater significance. I avoid being bounced around so much by the deluge of everyday events that may not have any discernible long term significance. My readers might also enjoy hearing from me less often -- but when they do, they get something worth their reading. (A model that comes to mind is the justly praised occasional essays by Joel Spolsky.) The downside of being more deliberate in my writing is that some of the most important part of my readership (my family and close friends!) are interested in hearing from me, even if it is about the little things in life. Moreover, as I look at the list of topics, I regret not writing about certain topics; there is something to said for the spontaneity of the every day that I would not want to lose with a new blogging style.

Face transformation application

Face transformer image upload:

The Face Transformer is a fun toy only, and is not guaranteed fit for any purpose, implied or otherwise. The Perception Laboratory and the University of St Andrews accepts no responsibility for loss or damage incured while using this software.

Starting with the following original picture (which I classified as representing an "East Asian", "young adult" male):

I got the following derivative pictures:

I burst out laughing when I first saw the "ape man" rendition:

Jon Carroll -- a columnist with whom I largely agree

As a subscriber to the San Francisco Chronicle, I have become an avid reader of Jon Carroll's column. I don't read it all the time and must admit that I don't get into his cat columns. However, I usually find myself in violent agreement with his politically-oriented columns.

I mention his columns today not to get into the specifics of what he has written (I hope to do so soon enough) but to write about how I'm attempting to ferret out the truth of what's happening in our world. In this blog and in my reflections, I have been adopting a type of hermeneutic of self-suspicion. I put the emphasis on self-suspicion because I feel the need to inspect my own prejudices and thought-processes with as much vigor as I do of others. Finding articles and commentary that largely agree with my own viewpoints and writing about them (and occasionally subjecting them to vigorous examination) is an indirect way of testing my own assumptions. By writing out in this public space, by drawing in different perspectives, and by inviting others to comment -- I hope to grow and learn and become increasingly free to avail myself of the truth, whatever that might be.

The plan then is to do some close(r) reading of Jon Carroll's columns, distilling what I agree with, and then playing devil's advocate. Over the last little while, I've been following a good number of weblogs and journals that have substantially different orientations. I hope to bring these various points of views in dialog.

Might this be a futile exercise? Some days, I do think so -- since often understanding each other is often not really about logical, rational engagement. Passions run deep. However, Lou Marinoff -- during his reading at Cody's Books, said something that really struck me: he thinks that although humans might be governed strongly by passion in any short-term interaction, it is their ideas and fundamental convictions that shape the large-scale aspects of humanity. Take this as what I think I heard Lou Marinoff saying -- it would good to nail it down precisely. And though one can argue strenuously against what I think he said, there is more than a grain of truth in that view.