Category: Whatever

Still waiting

Miscellaneous notes:

A few months ago I cancelled my minimal-speed DSL connection and signed up for cable internet. I am supposed to get downstream speeds of 18.5 megabytes per second, and according to online speed tests, I do. In fact, I can download a gigabyte-plus torrent in the time it takes me to shave and brush my hair. However, surfing the world wide wait web is still an exercise in patience. No matter how fast your connection is, a page that is assembled from 150 little items stored on several sluggish servers will always take forever to load, even if you have ads and Flash blocked.

By the way, if you are building a website and want to add comments, please don’t use Disqus. It takes far too long to load, if it loads at all.

Continue reading “Still waiting”

Piano mysteries and more

Here’s about two week’s worth of accumulated trivia.

I lost patience with radio years ago. The only time I listen nowadays is during storm warnings. Consequently, I never knew the Piano Puzzler existed until Angela at Mommy Bytes recently mentioned its tenth anniversary. Each week, pianist Bruce Adolphe arranges a “familiar” tune in the style of another composer, and the contestant’s task is to identify both the composer and the melody. I can usually identify the composer right off, but naming the tune is often difficult. What makes the segments memorable is Adolphe’s fantastic ingenuity in devising his arrangments, which must be heard to be believed. He does things like combine Schubert with Gershwin, Gershwin with Copland, The Fantasticks with Berg, spirituals with Handel, “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” with Brahms, etc., and makes each combination, no matter how unlikely, work. You can stream the programs or download them here. My favorite so far is the April 6, 2011 program.

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Historical notes

32 years ago today, Mt. St. Helens exploded. Stupendous though it was, it was scarecely more than a hiccup compared to the Katmai/Novarupta eruption of 1912 in Alaska, which has fascinated me ever since I came across an article on the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes in a 1918 National Geographic. In anticipation of its centennial next month, the U.S. Geological Survey has published a paper about the eruption and the history of research on it, which can be downloaded here.

Update
Also free to download: Alaska Park Science Journal, Volume 11 Issue 1: Katmai Scientific Studies

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A friend forwarded this picture to me. This is the note that accompanied it:

The 120° panoramic image (and its crop) you see above is titled “Daguerreotype View of Cincinnati” and was captured in 1848 by Porter and Fontayne from Newport, Kentucky. It was created with eight full-plate daguerreotypes and shows a two mile stretch of the Cincinatti waterfront. Codex 99 writes,

The panorama is not only the first photograph of the Cincinnati waterfront but the earliest surviving photo of any American city. It is also the earliest image of inland steamboats, of a railroad terminal and of freed slaves. It may very well be one of the most important American photographs ever taken.

Yoctometers, yottameters and ponies

Two weeks’ worth of random stuff.

Of all the mysteries in Mouretsu Pirates, the most puzzling, and the least likely to be satisfactorily explained, are the Sailor Moon shout-outs. This Princess Serenity is anything but a ditzy airhead.

By the way, it is impossible to watch just one episode of Shingu.

Continue reading “Yoctometers, yottameters and ponies”

Danger: Timewaster ahead

Steven found a nice set of Flash puzzles. Some are easy; others are trickier and require finesse to solve. Don’t click on the link unless you have at least a half-hour to spare.

By the way, you have four days left to figure out this year’s little number puzzle while it’s still timely. What is the next number in this sequence? It’s not 71.

23
27
31
39
43
47
55
59
63

(This is the American version. In other countries, the sequence is:

23
39
55
27
43
59
31
47
63

The solution is the same as for the American version.)

Miscellany

I’m not a biker, and I quit watching George Lucas after The Empire Strikes Out, but I have to say that these motorcycle leathers are kinda cool. Utterly ridiculous, but in a cool way.

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Not your ususal Swiss army knife:

This is an excellent tool, but you need to be aware that the time jump utility (tool #713, first control panel on the right when leaving the French restaurant on level 3 through the rear exit) is somewhat limited. I spoke with the telephone support, and they told me that recent models are unable to travel back in time past their manufacturing date. Apparently, they overlooked one aspect of the time travel equations in the early models, and some owners are now stuck in previous ages, unable to return because their knives cannot generate enough power to overcome the energy gradient to the present. If you’re looking to buy one of these knives for its time travel capability, you may be better off considering a different model.

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Planning to vacation in the Ukraine?

A friendly hint, when arrested, put on your most unintelligent tourist expression, just talk a lot in a friendly manner in any language except Russian, after a while they understand that they you will not give them you hard earned cash. They might though beat you up and just take it, but that rarely happens unless you go into the suburbs.

Oh, and “[t]he ‘Dong’ in the side of the car is just the Ukrainian way of greeting tourists.”

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The Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar.

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“10 Myths About Introverts.” A useful companion article to the classic “Caring for Your Introvert.”

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Some of these via the Rat, AoSHQ and the Anchoress.

Fun with …

(When you’ve got nothing to say, play games and post links. ((Actually, I have plenty to say, but it’s mostly unprintable.)))

… Wikipedia:

Go to your browser’s address bar and start typing en.wikipedia and report the five top results.

On my computer at home:
Surtsey
King Kung Fu
Headphones
Absaroka Range
Greasy Love Songs

At work:
Viscosity index
Cronopio (mammal)
Noble savage
Location hypotheses of Atlantis
Minoan eruption

I tried the game with the ANN encyclopedia:
Moyasimon (manga)
Tales of Agriculture (TV)
Tenchi Muyo! GXP
Junichi SATO
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle (TV)

(Sato has an impressive resume, including Sailor Moon, Princess Tutu, Aria and Kerero Gunsou, so I gave Phi Brain a try. I lasted half an episode.

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… Vocabulary:

DENVER – Denver Police responded to the Crowne Plaza Hotel Friday afternoon where several Occupy Denver protesters reportedly caused a disturbance.
According to reports, a group of conservative bloggers are at the hotel, which may have incited the chanting.

Did you catch that? The presence of “a group of conservative bloggers” at a hotel incited the disturbance — as if the Occupy Denver riffraff were just minding their own business until those nasty bloggers provoked them.

***

If J. Edgar Hoover is a “fact-based person,” who would be a fiction-based person? The Little O, ((Not to be confused with The Big O.)) who based his 2008 campaign strategy on Chauncey Gardiner?

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… Kittens:

Ducks and monkeys

For most of the summer, non-migratory Canadian geese controlled the north bank of the river on my way to work. Now it’s occupied by a corps of ducks. Is there something going on I should know about?

Also in my camera: public enemy #3.

Another approach to weeding:

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There has been some loose talk recently about monkeys typing Shakespeare. This gives me an excuse to mention a couple of favorite short stories. Russell Maloney’s “Inflexible Logic” is the second-best tale on the topic. The best is R.A. Lafferty‘s “Been a Long, Long Time,” which unfortunately is not available online. I did find another Lafferty story, though, which might illustrate why I have a shelf of his books.

A post including the word “paradox” and a mention of G.K. Chesterton, but not in the same paragraph

Very miscellaneous links and curiosities.

Quote of the week:

Lutherans are not Baptists. Catholics are not evangelicals. Methodists are not Presbyterians. Presbyterians are not Anglicans. No one is an Episcopalian.

From the same authority, an appreciation of Joseph Levitch.

Paging AC/DC.

A paradox of quantum etymology.

Expected real-life Batman generation rate.

The inverse law of sanity.

Schopenhauer in the key of E minor: Heavy metal keeps us sane. (Yeah, right. Oh, and G.K. Chesterton was a proto-metalhead.)

Tasted like chicken.

Is the heat wearing you out? There’s plenty of snow at Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Minimalist Marvel posters.

When it comes to Wonder Woman redesigns, skirts beat pants. Colleen Doran did some “high fantasy” concept drawings of WW, which you can see here, here and here.

Want your very own action figure, just like Danny Choo?

Who needs real musicians anymore? Who needs real singers? All you need are a computer, some good instrument sample sets and a troupe of Vocaloids. Here’s a lively twelve-minute musical vaguely based on Lewis Carroll. (I note with annoyance that the Cheshire Nekomimi doesn’t have a grin.)

Some of the above via The Rat, Jonathan Tappan, Project Rooftop and Vocaloidism.

Miscellaneous notes

The server that hosts my websites, while never exactly snappy, has become downright sluggish lately. By a curious coincidence, I just got an email from the hosting service asking if my website has been “running slow” and announcing “a more powerful hosting solution for your website!” I think this is my cue to look for another host. Any recommendations?

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Grr. It looks like I may need to take another look at Gosick. I may also need to watch the rest of Dog Days.

One reason I haven’t been keeping up with current series is that I’ve been more inclined to read books than watch anime recently. ((Another is that it’s too damn hot to do anything; at 7 p.m., it was 101°F outside, and I need to direct the breeze from the air conditioner directly onto the computer to keep it from overheating.)) (This gets frustrating. My eyes get tired after a while, and it takes a half-hour before I can focus on anything again. ((Supposedly, staring at a computer monitor for hours on end is bad for your eyes, but I haven’t ever noticed any problems. (Of course, I’m already very nearsighted and astigmatic.) Reading words on dead tree is another matter.)) ) I suppose I should watch Ano Hi Mita Hana with the Sesquipedelian Name — I saw the first episode and was not hooked, but I gather it’s worth slogging through — but I don’t know when I’ll get to it. Right now, I’m more interested in Florence King and Tim Powers.

So why have I watched more than a dozen episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic? Ack.

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In case anyone reading this is in the area: I plan to spend some time the weekend of July 8-10 at Anime Festival Wichita. You can find me there behind a camera.

Three impossible things

So there might be a live-action Noir? If it’s made, I expect it will be a botch, and I doubt that I’d watch it. Still, I’m curious to see how the crew handles the less plausible aspects of the anime, such as:

• Mireille’s magical skirt. It’s very, very short, yet there’s no panchira.

• Bloodless gunmen. Enough people are killed to furnish a small war. There should have been enough blood shed to float a battleship, yet there’s scarcely a drop shown.

• The lava lake in the basement. Both the heat and the gasses should have been instantly lethal, yet nobody even sweats. (And how could anyone possibly erect a building in such a place?)

Menaces, pink and otherwise

Update: If an image of a pink pony playing a trombone might “frighten, intimidate or cause emotional distress” to you, do not click here:

Spoiler

[collapse]

I note with alarm that a corner of the otakusphere has been invaded by aliens more frightening than zombies or sparkly vampires. These creatures look superficially equine, but their fur and manes typically are colors that do not naturally occur on mammals. Their behaviors sometimes suggest intelligible sentience, but just as often reflect either hypertrophied reflexes or psychoses. Thus far these creatures have been primarily an occidental phenomenon, but they recently have been observed in Japan. Here is some video footage of these entities. (Caution: sit at least 0.6096 meter from the computer monitor while watching this documentary. If you find yourself repeatedly viewing any of the videos posted or linked here, seek professional help immediately.)

I would recommend summoning superheroes to deal with this menace, but I fear that they have already been compromised. I suspect that our only hope is a new corps of mahou shoujo.

Post script: What exactly is Pinkie Pie?

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Kansas weather is sometimes a little too interesting for my taste. (The heat didn’t make it into the house, but the wind did wake me.)

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Animation of a different sort: time-lapse photography of the beginning of the recent Grimsvötn eruption in Iceland:

(These are large files and might take a while to load.)

Although this might have been a larger eruption than Eyjafjallajokull’s last year, because of the prevailing winds and the composition of the ash, it was far less disruptive. Grimsvötn, incidentally, has a long and busy history, including the Lakagigar eruption of 1783, which was perhaps more consequential than Krakatau’s a century later.