Month: November 2017
ANN No
Like hell I’m giving these jackasses my phone number. It looks like it will be about two weeks before I visit Anime New Network again — if I bother. The encyclopedia is sometimes useful, and perhaps 10% of the news is actually noteworthy, but the rest is just a waste of pixels. I can do just fine without it.
Quote of the day, music edition
A comment at Kim du Toit’s place:
Hearing/seeing Leningrad Cowboys doing “Sweet Home Alabama” marks the exact instant I knew we’d won the Cold War.
Bonus quote from Fillyjonk:
Five-year-olds, man. I had friends swear that after I spent time around the child I would want one of my own. My reaction is thus:
HA!
More spines and fuzz
The cactus seedlings are six months old now and starting to show typical spination. There are more pictures here.
At six months
The cactus and stapeliad seedlings are half a year old now. These pictures are all stacked focus, with from 26 to 92 images in each stack assembled in Helicon Focus. They are all much enlarged. The Gymnocalycium above is the largest of the cacti; it’s about a half-inch in diameter. Click to see it larger; … Continue reading “At six months”
The cactus and stapeliad seedlings are half a year old now. These pictures are all stacked focus, with from 26 to 92 images in each stack assembled in Helicon Focus. They are all much enlarged. The Gymnocalycium above is the largest of the cacti; it’s about a half-inch in diameter. Click to see it larger; right-click and open in a new window to see it larger still.
Calendars, again
New Zealand must have lax or poorly enforced copyright laws. An outfit called “Pixiluv” that ships from there advertises numerous calendars on Amazon.com. Many feature old art and advertisements that are, or should be, out of copyright everywhere, but quite a few others display recent illustrations, such as the Katanagatari calendar above.1
Hoary old tune
While cleaning house a few days ago, I unearthed the first piece of music I ever wrote. It’s a piano rag, written half a lifetime ago for the first music theory class I was able to fit into my schedule.1 I was curious to see how it sounded after all these years. I could barely play it when I wrote it, and I’m way out of practice these days, so I transcribed it into Logic and let the computer play it.
It’s not as bad as I feared, but not as good as I hoped. Don’t look for the score on my sheet music page. I didn’t really know what I was doing then2, and it shows. The title is “Hairy Toes.” Please don’t ask me to explain that, or what I had in mind in the penultimate section.
Update: Uploaded a recording with a different virtual piano.
I’m not a Conehead …
… yet the weatherman thinks I’m from France.
Maple season
On the way to work this morning.
Maple
On the way to work this morning. Click to see larger images with more vivid color.
On the way to work this morning. Click to see larger images with more vivid color.
Sensitive types, beware
What’s so potentially offensive that Twitter places a warning label on it?
Spoiler
[collapse]
(Via Dustbury.)
Not pictured: Spiderman
I spent part of the afternoon downtown today at the Air Capital Comic Con. Overall, the cosplayers were underwhelming — perhaps they wore their better outfits yesterday — and there was a surfeit of Spidermen and Harley Quinns, but there were a few who made bringing the camera along worthwhile. There are more pictures here.
Comic Con Cosplay
At the Air Capital Comic Con, November 12, 2017 in Wichita, Kansas. (Update: the cosplayer above is now the subject of a jigsaw puzzle.)
At the Air Capital Comic Con, November 12, 2017 in Wichita, Kansas. (Update: the cosplayer above is now the subject of a jigsaw puzzle.)
Rich and noble
I foolishly attended the orchid show last weekend with my checkbook on hand, with the result that I now have half a shelf of mostly “easy” orchids under lights in the kitchen. Most were in flower when I bought them, and you can see them here.
However, the one that is not blooming has perhaps the most interesting history. That is Neofinetia falcata (recently reclassified as Vanda falcata), the “samurai” orchid. According to the Fūkiran Society of America website,
Furan or wind orchid, the Japanese name for Neofinetia falcata, started to be called ‘Fūki-ran’, which means the orchid of the rich and noble people. Many years ago, only the rich and royalty could own Fūkiran, and they searched the country far and wide for rare and unusual varieties. These plants were often covered by a gold or silver net in order to protect them, and people had to cover their mouths with Kaishi (a thin paper usually used for calligraphy) in order not to breathe on the plants while they appreciated them. This, by the way, is the same way the Japanese appreciate a great sword.
Although prices have come down over the centuries, some varieties can still be pricey:
In Japan at auction in 2005, bidders paid from $20,000 to $70,000 for rare varieties of fuukiran which seems a bargain compared to the $300,000 or higher often paid during the 1980’s to late 1990’s.
According to the dealer and most online sources, Neofinetia is fairly easy to grow, as orchids go. It blooms in summer.
Orchids, mono and stereo
At the orchid show last weekend, I got careless and took my checkbook along. Big mistake. I now have half a shelf of allegedly “easy” orchids under lights in my kitchen. As usual, click to embiggen. To view a stereo picture, cross your eyes as you look at the image pair until you see three … Continue reading “Orchids, mono and stereo”
At the orchid show last weekend, I got careless and took my checkbook along. Big mistake. I now have half a shelf of allegedly “easy” orchids under lights in my kitchen. As usual, click to embiggen.
To view a stereo picture, cross your eyes as you look at the image pair until you see three images. Focus on the center image, and the image should snap into three dimensions. It’s not difficult, but it does take a little practice.
Not pictured: the Masdevallia I took home. The dealer claims that he’s been able to accustom many pleurothallids to the Kansas climate. If I can keep this one thriving, I might try growing a Dracula species next year.
Update: Better pictures of Phalaenopsis equestris, and one of Masdevallia Redwing.
Timely observation
It’s the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. Be sure to torture a dissident, starve a kulak, censor a newspaper, and shoot anyone who disagrees with you. Comrade Lenin would’ve wanted it that way.