And so it begins (again)…
Here we go, another MLB playoff season! (click to embiginate)
October is here, bringing with it shorter days, autumn leaves and bulk candy sales.
And the Major League Baseball Playoffs leading up to the World Series!
Author Archives: Wyrd Smythe
About Wyrd Smythe
Square Footage
This one’s mine!
So I was conversing with a fellow I know, and the right side of my brain asked the left side, “So just how much square footage per person is there these days?” We both agreed that seemed like an interesting question (given all the people running around these days), so we looked around for a body to help us research the answer.
We just happened to find one handy, so off we all went to the virtual library and math lab. Unfortunately our math consultant was a Communications Arts major and made a small error thinking square kilometers to square miles was the same as kilometers to miles. Fortunately everyone involved obsessively double-checks their work, so we caught the error in time.
Pity, though. The original answer would have been fun to write about.
Sea Shells
A couple lived near the ocean and used to walk the beach a lot. One summer they noticed a girl who was at the beach pretty much every day. She wasn’t unusual, nor was the travel bag she carried, except for one thing: She would approach people who were sitting on the beach, glance around furtively, then speak to them.
Generally, the people would respond negatively, and she would wander off, but occasionally someone would nod and there would be a quick exchange of money for something she carried in her bag. The couple assumed she was selling drugs and debated calling the cops, but since they didn’t know for sure they just continued to watch her.
After a couple of weeks, the wife asked, “Honey, have you ever noticed that she only goes up to people with boom boxes and other electronic devices?” He said he hadn’t. Then she said, “Tomorrow I want you to get a towel and our big radio and go lie out on the beach. Then we can find out what she’s really doing.”
Darkness Ahead!
Those who know me know that I’m not big on calendar holidays. Even my birthday tends to pass without fanfare. That comes from being single, the island that supposedly no one is. After a lifetime of Christmas and New Years’ being ordinary days, you get used to it.
But I do honor the Solar Event Days because (as I’ve mentioned many times) light is so important to me (and because I’m a geek). Christmas may not mean much to me, but the Winter Solstice does! The days finally start getting longer! Summer Solstice is a day of mourning for the opposite reason.
Today — the Autumnal Equinox — marks the halfway point.
Drake’s Equation
The other day I was Wiki Walking and ended up reading about the Rare Earth Hypothesis in reference to the Fermi Paradox and the Drake Equation. We’ve discovered that most stars in our galaxy appear to have planets of some kind, although ones with human-friendly environments may be quite rare. The presence of a plethora of planets presumably provides a potentially large factor for at least one part of the professor’s pretty problem.
But it’s possible that some of its other factors are extremely small. They may be much smaller than anyone had imagined. They may be so small as to ensure that we are alone in the galaxy.
It’s even possible we are alone — or nearly alone — in the universe!
Four Days of the Dog
Rosie The Dog
I cried a bit after she was gone. I didn’t expect that. I didn’t expect to miss her at all, let alone so intensely. The place seems much emptier than it did four days ago. You wouldn’t think a long weekend would be enough to form such a strong bond.
But dogs are simpler than people and much more honest and open. You always know how a dog feels about you, and the dog is never two-faced or a hypocrite. And I think Rosie brought me back to Samantha (I even called her “Sam” a couple of times).
Monday night I found myself wandering aimlessly around a place that seemed too empty.
Men’s Replies
I’m finding it seriously difficult to spend time at the computer blogging (or doing anything else computer related). The weather has continued to be wonderful — warm but not too hot — which is bad enough. It’s that nagging feeling that I just got out of a 33-year career that had my face buried in a computer screen all day. (Well, okay, not maybe that first four years I was in the field, but once I moved to HQ and took a desk job, ever since!)
So, until it either heats up to the point of requiring air-conditioned air and closed windows, or winter comes and I have to hide from the snow and ice, I really, really feel like I’d rather spend my days goofing off. Blogging feels too much like work!
So, in the meantime, here’s another item from my collection. Men’s replies to the questions that women (constantly) ask…
Captain Shatner
Submitted for your consideration: the case of one man, by the name of Bill, who has accepted a role on a new TV show little knowing he is about to become extremely famous. He is about to step onto the path of becoming a cultural icon; he stands unknowing at the beginning of something that will endure and be loved for (at least) 47 years.
Join me on a journey through a dimension of space and time, of light and shadow, of science and superstition. Let us descend to the pit of man’s fears and ascend to the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination.
Up ahead, the signpost — Your next stop: The Star Trek Zone!
Roger & Elaine
I’ve been indulging in a break away from computer things, so it’s been a while since the last post. I haven’t really set any publication schedule, so it’s not like I’m out of compliance. (I have at times been out of luck, out of town, out of wack, and out of my mind. I’ve also been “all out of love,” and speaking of which, I’ve even been out of air! (supply… see what I did there?))
The problem is, the longer I don’t post, the harder it is to get back in the saddle. Since I’m still kind of in break mode, I thought I’d share another item from my files. It’s a riff on the (very general) differences between the male and female approach to life.
Here is the story of Roger & Elaine.
Questions
I’ve been playing with Python and POV-Ray, catching up on movies, enjoying the continued nice weather, and even getting in some reading. Yet it’s still weird how little I seem to get done considering the days are all mine. (And I still haven’t fully shaken the sense that all this free time ends at some point.)
For now, I plan to focus on project work—the previously mentioned Python and POV-Ray playing—so there may be a pause in the posting while I putter (possibly a plethora of pauses). Please stay tuned!
In the meantime, I have some questions:
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