Janus

The Roman God Janus had faces on both sides of his head, a precursor to a current flight commercial and investment bankers everywhere. He did managed to get a month named after which was much better than most of his colleagues in part because while Janus must have been a disaster at heading a soccer ball the notion that years start equally by looking forwards and backwards is appealing.

The psychological start of our current year came closer to the Chinese date than the Roman one when a man raised in Hawaii by grandparents of a different pigment repeated faithfully (though at the time not accurately) the oath of the president of the united states. He has spent the last few dates unwinding the various edicts of his predecessor, a man who will be remembered more for the rubble of New York, New Orleans and Baghdad than any achievement he claimed. These edicts are mostly the low hanging fruit of common sense policy - we should give accurate medical advice, we should not torture, we can’t imprison without evidence - that while their return is warmly greeted, it is more amazing how long the bad ideas lasted.

Barack Obama will, of course, have to push into more difficult areas - medical coverage, troop withdrawal, budget management - where any answer will alienate some, but the world now is hopeful that a second age of reason will guide through these choices.

But if to invoke Janus again while one thin visionary is taking over as president another president of a small company in cupertino is taking a leave of absence. Steve Jobs is a hero of mine in the same sort of flawed way that Barry Bonds is. He defined and then redefined modern aesthetic. There are some organizations that seek to lower quality to improve replacement sales (I am looking at you Detroit), but very few that can consistently this that just work better.

I have spent a good portion of last year returning to programming on macintoshes. I fear that I have become conversationally boring sometimes base that I have read so much on only one topic. I do want to return to writing more about runs, about how while I am spending my time moving forward, I, too, need to turn my head and look backwards. It is after all January.