Advanced You scored 92% Beginner, 92% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 73% Expert!

You have an extremely good understanding of beginner, intermediate, and advanced level commonly confused English words, getting at least 75% of each of these three levels' questions correct. This is an exceptional score. Remember, these are commonly confused English words, which means most people don't use them properly. You got an extremely respectable score. Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it! For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 24% on Beginner You scored higher than 20% on Intermediate You scored higher than 67% on Advanced You scored higher than 31% on Expert

Link: The Commonly Confused Words Test written by shortredhead78 on Ok Cupid

The Cheating of America, Charles Lewis

A so-so book about tax evasion. Rather than presenting a coherent case about tax evasion, how it happens, and what legislation went into making it possible, the book is just one series of stories after another about successful tax evasion. Sure, it makes your blood boil, but after the umpteenth story, you feel kinda defeated instead of angry.

Read Perfectly Legal instead, a much better book about the same topic.

A Distant Soil 2: Ascendant, by Colleen Doran

The pace finally picks up and the story coheres. Doran steers away carefully from many adult issues, however, so the book never quite gets to the level of maturity I've seen from more seasoned writers. Again, something you should check out from the library but not buy.

Orbiter, Warren Ellis and Colleen Doran

A comic book that works too hard to inspire. I'm a science geek and I definitely believe that man should find a way to go to the stars. Having said that, glorifying the space shuttle is not the way to go. There are lots of other more innovative approaches (such as the Space Elevator) that deserve consideration that NASA's budget wouldn't allow if it was all spent taking care of the shuttle.

The Search, by John Battelle

I was eager to read this book, since I joined Google just 2 years ago, when a lot of the history had already happened. (Amongst my big questions were: what happened during the experiment with traditional engineering managers?) Unfortunately, Battelle did not get that much access to Google, and hence was unable to write a complete account. Regardless, this book is worth reading, and since it is relatively short, won't take up too much of your time.

It remains for a Google old-timer to write the definitive book about Google's early history.

Eric Schmidt comes across as a man who is comfortable in his own skin. He's been a CEO or top executive for more than two decades, having been CTO at Sun, where he mad his first small fortune, then CEO of Novell, a major IT company, where he made his second. He knows when to smile, when to be gracious, when to keep quiet, and when to answer a difficult question with self-effacing acknowledgment. He brandishes subtle and humorous double entendres like a Japanese swordsman, a trait that almost offsets the superiority complex he shares with nearly every talented engineer in the Valley.

Despite these skills, one gets the impression that Eric Schmidt has yet to get entirely comfortable with his place at Google, his title as CEO notwithstanding...

My 20% project makes the New York Times!

Sure, it's a short piece, and most of it quotes Hal Varian, who's much more of an expert on prediction markets than I ever will be, but WOOHOO! One would think that after 14 years in the industry, I would have gotten over something like this (after all, Mpath, HearMe, and Quake all got in the news quite a bit), but it's different when it's your personal 20% project, as opposed to something that's part of a corporate charter. (Though the Mpath will always be dear to my heart)

OK, now that I've hiked half-dome, I don't have to do it again. It was crowded. The hike was long and towards the end more than a little painful. I'm still sore 24 hours later (though I'll admit I'm not in great hiking shape). It might be more fun when it's less crowded, but this hike reminded me why I always do my trips from Tuoloumne Meadows and almost never visit Yosemite Valley any more.

First view of half-dome along the trail. 

Piaw after 8.2 miles of hiking. Good grief, that last stretch looks steep! 

View from the top of Half Dome: El Capitan and Yosemite Valley 

Come to Yosemite National Park. Get away from cities, crowds, traffic jams, and pollution. OK, maybe not. 

Patri provides more details on my 20% project

I'm so glad this 20% project was more than just me. I certainly don't have the ability to do the kind of analysis that he did, and I'm definitely happy to have someone show that the results are useful. Reminds of my TinyMUCK work, where I did a bunch of stuff for fun, but really didn't see the significance of it until much later.

Christine Davis' blog

Yes, Scarlet, I predict you'll be a big fan of her blog.

Now I can talk about it

Every so often I'll talk to someone who knows I work at Google. Invariably, the question will come up if they're technically savvy, "Is it true that that everyone gets 1 day a week to work on whatever they like?" I answer, "Yes." "What did you do with your time?" Unfortunately, I don't usually say much. But now I can point to this, and say, "I wrote the trading engine." (Actually, I rewrote it a couple of times before getting it right)

Handling the boat in the evening near Angel Island. 

Lea enjoying herself as she maneuvers the Talisman away from San Francisco under high winds. 

Year's Best Science Fiction, 22nd Annual Collection

Ever since I let my subscription to Asimov's Science Fiction lapse, I've found the Year's Best Collections worth reading, if not buying. (I still check it out from the local library) This collection's best stories are:

• "Shiva in Shadow", Nancy Kress
  
• "Mayflower II", Stephen Baxter
  

Also of note:

• "Inappropriate Behavior", Pat Murtphy
  
• "Start the Clock", Benjamin Rosenblaum
  
• "Skin Deep", Mary Rosenblum
  
• "Men Are Trouble", James Patrick Kelly
  
• "Investments", Walter Jon Williams
  

The Rhythm Section

A quick read in the "La Femme Nikita" vein, but not great enough to continue reading further books in the series. It is very readable, but then again, so are many other reads. One interesting note is that the author does mention terrorism and Osama Bin Laden in 1999, 2 years before the world trade center attacks.

Here's the original version of the picture below. (downscaled to 1900x1200) 

This is why I'm taking so long to switch to digital. I took this picture in 2002, with Fuji Velvia on my 4 year old SLR. It was a picture with vertical orientation. I wanted a wallpaper for my 1900x1200 new monitor at work, so I cropped away 75% of the picture, rescaled the result by 50% (reducing the size of the result), and what's left looks pretty darn good.

The original image, as scanned by a CanoScan FS4000US was 4000x6000 pixels, or 24 megapixel. To provide a point of reference, Canon's top of the line digital SLR, the EOS-1Ds (full frame), provides 16 megapixel resolution, and costs well over $8000. Granted, scanning a slide loses you some clarify and resolution, so the numbers aren't directly comparable, but in many ways we still have a few more cycles of Moore's law before digital becomes the choice when highest quality is desired.