Monthly Archives: October 2016

October 30, 2016

Sideband #61: Tock

relays You’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop, right? The tick to finally tock? (My clock is — as usual — running a bit behind; this should be #62, but that’s another story.) Today’s tale involves electro-mechanical logic! Computing with relays rather than solid-state gates.

Rather than the tick-tock of a mechanical clock, the tock-tick of lots and lots of relays! Aisle after aisle of racks of relays, many thousands of them all clicking away like chattering insects. That’s what is (or was) inside some of those windowless buildings found in every neighborhood with local phone service.

However, today the focus is quite a bit smaller…

2 Comments | tags: binary logic, boolean logic, electro-mechanical, flip-flop, full-adder, half-adder, inverter, logic, logic gate, PBX, relay logic, telephones | posted in Sideband

October 27, 2016

Live From…

By Wyrd Smythe

I am not a fan of the trend of sports or news casters set up in a public place with a background of passersby. I think they’re noisy, distracting, and gimmicky. They also tend to bring out ape-like behavior on those in the background. Both CNN and MSNBC have done this for major campaign events, in particular the debates.

Onlookers have used the ability to “get on TV” to display various signs advertising their political or social views. During the third debate, at UNLV, I got a kick out of a sign someone had made about “Daef people”…

Leave a comment | tags: Anyone But Trump, bad hearing, Clinton for President, daef people, deaf people, deafness, election 2016, funny, hearing loss, Hillary Clinton, humor, misspelling, spelling, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Politics, TV

October 25, 2016

MN Twins: RIP

By Wyrd Smythe

Tracking the inglorious ending. [click for big’n]

I’ve been putting off writing this post for two reasons: Firstly, my Minnesota Twins had such an awful year (worst ever) that it’s just too depressing to even think about (let alone write about). Secondly, this insane election season has been distracting, disgusting, and depressing, so it’s been a pretty shitty summer, and I’m feeling very out of gas and unhappy.

But as the MLB World Series begins today, and I’m pretty thrilled about both the long-suffering Cleveland Indians and the long-suffering Chicago Cubs being there (and hugely conflicted about who to root for), today seems the day to finally get this done.

I just wish it didn’t feel so much like an obituary.

6 Comments | tags: baseball post-season, baseball season, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, Major League baseball, Minnesota Twins, MLB, Paul Molitor, The Twins, Twins 2016, World Series | posted in Baseball

October 16, 2016

Sick At Heart

By Wyrd Smythe

What do you do when you realize that society is an insane asylum and the inmates are the keepers? If reasonable people were running the place, maybe there would be some hope, but as it is we seem to be gleefully accelerating straight towards a cliff. One maniac in particular seems to be stomping on the gas pedal and no one seems able to grab the wheel.

How do we navigate a world so out of touch with the rational (let alone the truthful)? Our collective heads are so far up the collective asses of our brand loyalties that all conversation is muffled by all the shit in our mouths. There is no real dialog, let alone a dialectic.

And I can’t stop running that line from Hamlet in my head.

2 Comments | tags: Anyone But Trump, Bill Clinton, Clinton for President, democracy, Democratic Party, democratic society, dialectic, Donald Trump, election 2016, evil, good, GOP, Hamlet, Hillary Clinton, HRC, politicians, Republican Party, social change, social issues, social media, social mores, stupid, stupid people, stupid stupid stupid, stupid TV, stupidity, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Politics, Society

October 12, 2016

Final Straws

By Wyrd Smythe

When you elect for the highest office in the land a feces-flinging “damned dirty ape” (as Charlton Heston famously said), you really can’t be all that surprised when he shits all over your political process. What did you expect would happen?

What depresses, nauseates, and outrages me is what it seems to have taken (and who knows if even this is enough). As final straws go, the business of the Orange Goblin claiming (and, indeed, very possibly truthfully) that he cops feels and steals kisses with impunity pales in comparison to the sheer evil he embodies.

Once again we demonstrate that the big picture is beyond us; it’s the little things that capture our attention.

3 Comments | tags: Anyone But Trump, Bill Clinton, Clinton for President, democracy, democratic society, dialectic, Donald Trump, election 2016, GOP, Hillary Clinton, HRC, politicians, social change, social issues, social media, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Politics, Rant

October 11, 2016

Good vs. Evil

By Wyrd Smythe

When it comes to doctors (or nurses), lawyers, airplane pilots, the people who prepare and serve us food, the people who design and build our houses, the people who design and build our TV, cars, or cell phones, we naturally expect them to be well-trained and very good at what they do.

Of course we do. We avail ourselves to these things because we trust the experience and ability of those workers to do their job reliably, accurately, and correctly.

So why is it that, when it comes to politics, so many are so unwilling to listen to those who clearly know what they’re talking about?

1 Comment | tags: Anyone But Trump, Bill Clinton, Clinton for President, Clinton-Trump debate, Clintonville, democracy, Democratic Party, democratic society, dialectic, Donald Trump, election 2016, evil, good, GOP, Hillary Clinton, Mordor, politicians, Republican Party, Sauron, social change, social issues, social media, social mores, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Politics, Society

October 1, 2016

Schadenfreude

By Wyrd Smythe

Loser! … Winner!

Recently I wrote about Weltschmerz, a German word that translates, essentially, as “world hurt.” Although that word has been around a while and describes a general feeling, it seems especially appropriate in this election cycle. Many, for their own reasons, feel a sharp dissonance between ought and is these days.

This past week, since Monday night, a different, perhaps more well-known, German word has been running through my mind: Schadenfreude. It describes the pleasure one can feel over the misery of another — a feeling that isn’t very nice. Decent people reserve it for people who aren’t nice having a bad day.

People like The Donald having a bad day for a whole week!

5 Comments | tags: Alicia Machado, Anyone But Trump, Clinton for President, Clinton-Trump debate, democracy, Democratic Party, democratic society, Donald Trump, election 2016, GOP, Hillary Clinton, HRC, Khizr Khan, politicians, Republican Party, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Politics