The story itself is believable. It shows two groups who have little understanding of one another. The humans  have great technology, but generally not enough curiosity to get beyond their assumptions. And their ignorance of this world turns into a blind fear which in turn begets hate and violence.  A lot of this part of the story is about the loss of moral compass, and what it does to otherwise fairly decent people.   The real kink in the story is that superficially it feels like cowboys and indians – and that’s certainly what the humans in the story believe – except that where in real life the indians were hopelessly outmatched by the white man, in fact these folks discover only very late in the story that their basic assumptions are completely wrong – that in fact what they view as quaint and simple is actually  part of something vastly more complex, threatening and ultimately overpowering.

All this said, it’s a very feel good movie – you know the boy has to get the girl, and it’s all so pretty to look at.  But the combination of eye candy, romance and some real thoughts make into a very satisfying experience.  We all said we wanted to see it again, that’s what an intense experience it was for us, and that’s not something any of us say very often.

So do yourself a favor and go see it!

The steep climb up the pinnacles is rewarded by amazing views. We were just admiring the view when I asked Ida what those white wisps were, and inside of two minutes the view vanished as we were encased in fog.  So we got moving again, and as we hiked downwards we got underneath the fog.

The fog gradually lifted and we got an alternation of clouds, threats of rain and bits of sunshine.  As we crossed onto the wilderness trail we were soon reminded of why it’s called that. The trail is poorly marked and you have to find your way by looking for these odd little rock piles.

More than once we needed to look for them to figure out where the trail was. Oh yes, and then we heard a tell tale crunch in the bush, a crunch I’ve heard before, and I looked closely into the bushes and saw hiding in the distance the fur of a large tan colored animal, presumably looking back at me. I’m fairly sure it was a mountain lion, because I’ve had such encounters before, but fortunately we all went our seperate ways. The rough trail makes it hard work to hike. You’re either wallowing in sand, clambering across rocks, pushing through brush wondering where the trail is, or jumping across fallen logs. But since the trail follows a river valley you can’t really get lost because it’s fairly obvious which way the trail has to go. Finally there’s a really steep climb to cross a ridge to get back to the parking lot.

The scenery is amazing – it has a wildness to it that our local redwood forest just doesn’t match. You really feel you’re far away from everything.

As we got close to the parking lot it finally started to rain. So we put our jackets, which stopped the rain. Oddly, when a few minutes later we got to the picnic area there were now people there, and having a picnic too! Puzzled, we asked them, did it rain? And they said it hadn’t. So we got a real microburst. All in all it was a fine way to spend a day in one of America’s really great landscapes.

The philosophers who really thought about that  lot are the ones who’ve stuck with me over the years. At the same time, when I look around in daily life, what I notice is that there is no philosophical discourse at all.  Our culture is centered on entertainment and anesthesia, it does not encourage us to ask the really hard questions.  On top of that, most people aren’t used to asking these questions, so that even if they encounter them,  they don’t find it easy or appealing.

Some months ago  I obtained some fresh insights. My wife had been introduced by a friend to the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church where she was very impressed by John Ortberg‘s sermons. Curious, I went along, and it struck a chord with me. He really does a great job of introducing complex questions and rendering them in a simple and often entertaining way, and gets people to really attack some of the hard questions in their life. What is changeable, and what is permanent? What can we control, and what can’t we? What options do we have even when there don’t seem to be options?  And beyond these seeming abstract issues, it comes down to, how do we treat each other? How can we make a positive difference? Where do we find hope? How do we give hope? What struck me in listening each sunday was the extent to which the ideas presented resonated with a lot of thoughts I’ve had on my own.  Obviously as a pretty large institution MPPC is many things to many people, and provides many services, (too bad we didn’t know about it when our daughter was little…), but for this amateur philosopher it provides a good community to further spiritual, ethical and intellectual growth.

May 21, 2009

Leading and managing in Silicon Valley

Management and leadership tips from SugarCRM co-founder Jacob Taylor and other Silicon Valley heavyweights

By Zack Urlocker

A new book crossed my desk recently co-authored by SugarCRM co-founder and former CTO Jacob Taylor. The book is titled “Leading and Managing in Silicon Valley.” At 450 pages, it’s a heavyweight hardcover book, and it sells for $49. (There’s also a version for the Kindle that costs only $20.)

Despite the serious-sounding title and breadth of topics, it is a very approachable book. Most chapters are 5 to 10 pages in length, and you can just zoom in and read what you need to know at any given time rather than from start to finish. The idea is that the book is intended to provide a road map for an engineer or engineering manager who wants to progress in their career to a CTO or a VP of engineering role. There are sections of the book focused on product definition, project management, managing people, working with executive staff, and practical matters like budgeting and IP issues.

For many engineering managers, this is resource that will be on their desk and referred to whenever they are trying to expand their career. In short, it’s what the authors wished they’d know earlier in their careers, and they are handing down this information to make it easier for the next generation, which I think is pretty admirable. Despite the hefty price tag, the authors aren’t hoping to get rich off this book: They’re donating the money to charity.

We’re also getting nice feedback from other readers, so we hope the book will strike a chord with more and more readers.

For example, if you move to a smaller house, you have less debt, which already reduces stress.  Since you also have less room, you will have to get rid of some of your junk. Then you’ll have less stuff to maintain. Soon everything becomes a whole lot easier and more worry free. Fact is, for most of us, when we were young we didn’t have all that stuff, and life was good, but as we get older we accumulate mountains of stuff. And it’s not just physical possessions. It’s also  activities, habits, lifestyle choices. It  piles up higher and higher. Sift through it and ditch what isn’t totally necessary. The more you do it, the lighter life becomes.

I’ve been thinking how I can use technology to declutter one important part of my life. If I digitize my music and store it on hard disk, and move books more to the kindle model, soon I don’t need piles of book shelves. Then I also don’t need rooms with wall space for the book shelves. In fact the collection becomes portable. I can copy the music disks and run a copy when I’m in Shanghai. My world becomes virtualized – and the space requirements drastically reduced.   Really the thing to do is to evaluate all aspects of our life from this perspective.