Trivia that matter
… but I don’t see it.
Some years back, Amazon.com sent a package from its (now defunct) Coffeyville warehouse to Wichita, a distance of about 140 miles, by way of Austin, Texas. I didn’t understand that, either.
Continue reading “I suppose there’s a logical reason for this …”
From the Heath Robinson calendar that I got instead of Ogdred Weary this year. (Right-click and open in a new window to see all the details.)
I’ve had as much of Facebook as I can stand, and I just deactivated my account. Perhaps someday I’ll reactivate it. Or perhaps not.
I’m alive and more or less well (when I’m not coughing) but very busy right now, and I probably won’t post much for a while yet.
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Many excellent older shows are streaming legally online. If, like me, you have no interest in the current crop of otaku pandering vehicles, you can skip them and watch something good. Here are four of my personal top five anime: Haibane Renmei, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu and Mononoke. (Missing is Dennou Coil.)
If you found Mononoke intriguing, you can watch most of Kenji Nakamura’s other series: Kuuchu Buranko, [C] Control, Tsuritama and Gatchaman Crowds. (I’d be curious to see what Eve Tushnet would make of Nakamura’s work, particularly Mononoke.1)
A couple of under-appreciated favorites: Pupipo, Oh! Edo Rocket. The following is from the tenth episode of the latter. It doesn’t make any more sense in context:
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Marie & Gali, one of Steven’s favorites, has finally been completely subbed. What I’ve seen of the second season so far is inferior to the first, though it may get better once the focus shifts from the new girl and back to the silly scientists. It’s unlikely ever to be licensed for North America, but it’s available through irregular channels.
Here’s a MIDI file of Scarlatti’s Sonata in A Major, K24/L495/P80, played on a physically-modeled virtual harpsichord tuned to A = 440 Hz:
Here it is again, this time with A = 432 Hz:
Did the first recording make you feel “self-centered, narcissistic, materialistic and aggressive“? Did the second resonate with the Heart Chakra, repair your DNA and restore your spiritual and mental health? If so, I congratulate you on your acute sensitivity. (Be sure to wear protective headgear at all times.)
Or did the second just sound a little flatter than the first?
Even if there is a real basis to the paranoid theories — extremely unlikely; the rise of the 440 standard is so complicated that positing a vast international conspiracy is inadequate to explain it — the precise frequency of the “A” in a scale matters far less than the qualities of the intervals between the notes of the scale.
The preset used for the two recordings above does not specify the temperament, which implies that it is equal-tempered. Other presets offer different tuning systems. Here is the sonata again, this time at A = 415, using an unspecified “well tempered” tuning:
And again, at A = 392, using “Werckmeister III“:
Even ordinary human beings who don’t wear tin-foil hats might be able to hear subtle differences in the character of the music now.
(Via Dustbury.)
I stumbled across another dangerous waste of time: Chessgames.com. Think very carefully before you click.
Like most chess websites, it uses algebraic notation, which I can’t follow as easily as “P-K4.” However, it also has a “viewer” which allows you to step through each game on a virtual board.
A couple of well-known games in the archive there: Adolf Anderssen vs Jean Dufresne (1852); Anatoly Karpov vs Garry Kasparov (1985). There are more fireworks in either than during the Fourth of July.
Update: an interesting short story, possible connected with the chess position above2: “Master Jacobsen.”
Update II: Lord Dunsany was a pretty good chess player. Here’s a curiosity, a chess game between Capablanca and Lord Dunsany. Dunsany wrote a chess story of some note, “The Three Sailors’ Gambit.”
There is a fair amount of chess-inspired fiction. My favorite, aside from Through the Looking Glass, is Victor Contoski’s “Von Goom’s Gambit.” First published in Chess Review in 1966, it occasionally turned up in fantasy anthologies years ago, though finding it now would be a challenge. If it’s online, I missed it. It’s worth looking for if you have access to a large fantasy and science fiction library.
It will probably be six to eight weeks before colorful botanical subjects are available outdoors again, so here’s another toy soldier in stereo. (Cross your eyes until you see three images, then focus on the middle image.)
It’s only Friday, and some of us still have to get up this morning. Here’s a little Rammstein to get you going.
See also Boney Nem and Devin Townsend.
If you have the experience as I’ve had of just driving through town driving past schools and then driving past prisons, they really often look a lot alike.
Never found that one special person? Don’t fret; perhaps the right person for you is you. For ten low monthly payments, Dominique will prepare you to marry yourself. It’s a bargain; here’s what you get:
• 10 weeks of guidance, practice, and inquiries to support you in marrying yourself
• A weekly email with a Self-Marriage question, practice, and inspirational writing
• Clear, step-by-step guidance from your Self-Engagement in week 1 to your Self-Marriage in week 9 and a final week of integration
• 6 recordings of Self-Marriage Calls (50-60 min) where you will have the chance to deepen in your practice, reflect on your insights and challenges throughout your Self-Marriage journey.
• Additional support of sisterhood through the Self-Marriage Unveiled Facebook group
Hour-long private sessions with one-on-one support are also available for a special price.
The FAQ doesn’t mention pre-nuptial agreements, but I expect one would be a good idea in case things don’t work out. Are there any lawyers who specialize in self-divorce?
Perhaps of relevance: Terry Allen, “I Just Left Myself.” There’s also a tune by Be Bop Deluxe that I’m not going to name, but it’s probably just about driving a car.
Playing on a bit further to show as many different tiles as possible:
Missing are Spiderman (512) and the Hulk (1024).
This particular game is here, should you want to try it yourself. The keys to success are to keep the expensive, hard-to-match tiles all on one edge, with the highest scores in the corners where they won’t impede the action, and to pick a game that’s pleasant to look at. I rather like the 32 tile, despite the girl’s odd proportions and posture.
(I moved the very busy .gif starring Ray Harryhausen below the fold.)
Back in ancient times, when there was occasionally something worth listening to on the radio, I heard this:
That’s Sandy Denny on vocals, Richard Thompson on lead guitar, and Dave Swarbrick on fiddle. Forget “Free Bird;” this is how to do an up-tempo extended epilogue. As soon as I could afford to, I bought Liege and Lief, the album this recording originally appeared on, and then all the rest of Fairport’s available albums. L&L is the most listened-to, most loaned-out and most worn-out record in my vast collection. I eventually replaced it with a new CD because the vinyl was becoming unplayable.
Swarbrick died once, in 1999. From Wikipedia:
For many years Swarbrick suffered steadily worsening health because of emphysema. There was considerable embarrassment for The Daily Telegraph newspaper when in April 1999 it published a premature obituary for Swarbrick after he was admitted to hospital with a chest infection. He is reported to have commented, “It’s not the first time I’ve died in Coventry.”
He died again in June, this time permanently.
I couldn’t find this on YouTube, so here is the “Mason’s Apron” medley by the “Full House” line-up, digitized from ancient vinyl. The musicians are Swarbrick, Thompson, Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg and Dave Mattacks.
During 2016, many people died, some of whom were famous. This happens every year. 2016 was a really lousy year for many reasons, but not because a lot of celebrities died.
Most of the dead performers were adequately memorialized — the hoopla surrounding David Bowie’s departure was downright ridiculous4 — but a few were overlooked, and I discovered their deaths weeks or months later.
One whom I miss is Bob Elliott, half of Bob and Ray. I wonder if youngsters today can sit still long enough to appreciate B&R’s unhurried delivery. Here are some of their skits, some of which are older than I am.
What would William Tenn have thought of J. Forbes Kerry?
There’s not much Tenn online, which is a shame; his writing is funnier and sharper than that of most alleged satirists. I did find “Null-P,” which I strongly recommend to friends of dogs everywhere.
How much would this much storage have cost 35 years ago? How large a room would you have needed for all the drives?
(The price jumped a few dollars since I ordered it.)
Accumulated odds and ends:
Is Obama Catholic? No, and Dennis McDonough is an idiot.
Is the Pope Catholic? That’s a much more interesting question. Edward Feser supplies some useful background, including notes about Popes Honorius, John XXII and Liberius.
Hyperplay will provide hours — well, minutes — of fun for the mathematically inclined and the easily entertained.
