About Wyrd Smythe
The canonical fool on the hill watching the sunset and the rotation of the planet and thinking what he imagines are large thoughts.
Back in the day, there was a comic strip that I really loved. It took place in the American old west in the small town of Conniption. The town was so small, it had only a deputy sheriff, Rick O’Shay. His best friend was a (reformed) gunslinger, Hipshot Percussion. The dance hall owner was Gaye Abandon, and the town doctor was Dr. Basil Metabolism. (Ya gotta love those names!)
The strip was called Rick O’Shay, and it was drawn by Stan Lynde.
Of course, we all love cowboys and the old west, but what made the comic a key part of my past was the spirituality of my favorite character, the gunslinger Hipshot.
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36 Comments | tags: church, comic strips, comics, Hipshot Percussion, spirituality, Stan Lynde, Sunday comics, wilderness | posted in Books, Life, Religion
Go pound sand, TC!
This is just a running-at-the-fingers marker post, a diary page for the weblog. I have a special Sunday post almost written, but it involves some (great Americana) artwork by a living artist, and I’d like to use more than small “fair use” thumbnails.
I would probably be within fair use using the low-res versions I want to use, but these pieces are so meaningful to me that I want to be as respectful to the artist as possible.
So — hopefully — you’ll be seeing that article down the road one of these Sundays. I’ll just give you a one-word clue for now. It’ll be a giveaway for anyone familiar with the works in question and likely utterly useless for everyone else (at least those not motivated to Go Ogle for it). The word is: Hipshot.
Instead, I thought I’d ramble on a bit about work and what I do for a living.
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8 Comments | tags: anger, data integration, restless leg syndrome, retirement, work | posted in Life, Rant
I’ve spent the last two weekends (and many weekday evenings) with an old, dear friend in a magical place. I can no longer remember how I found the place or how I was introduced to my friend. I do know that this year marks the 30-year anniversary of its founding. I think I’ve been here since the beginning. If not, it wasn’t long after.
So I’ve known and loved this place, and my friend, for long time. Remarkably, the charm has never left it. For three decades (or so) it has delighted me, impressed me, moved me and made me laugh out loud. It is for me the finest of the finest, my favorite favorite. There is none better and very few that come close.
I’m speaking of Terry Pratchett‘s wonderful Discworld books.
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14 Comments | tags: Discworld, Granny Weatherwax, Lord Vetinari, Rincewind, Sam Vimes, Terry Pratchett | posted in Books
I find myself in an increasing funk the last few weeks. By now I’m feeling maximally funky, but unfortunately not in the good way. Funky often refers to smell, and in this case the increasing stink is mental. I’m just … fed up, halfway between tired and disgusted, many miles south of annoyed.
Work accounts for much of that, perhaps all of it. Yet another week of literally zero progress. In fact there was a setback: vendor work that didn’t, and the vendor is being difficult about dealing with it. I seem to be on the IT project equivalent of the Titanic (and there are a scary number of parallels).
And for a variety of reasons I’m feeling a strong sense of impedance mismatch with the world.
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9 Comments | tags: Bill Gates, buffalo, internet, Joni Mitchell, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Technology | posted in Computers, Life, Science, The Interweb
I will confess that, by the end of a 162-game season, baseball starts to wear just a little bit. If your team, or even another team you like, makes the playoffs, that can make it exciting again. And even if not, the playoffs usually feature some pretty good baseball; last year’s were really fun to watch, for example.
But at that point it’s been six months of baseball. I have the Fox Sports North cable channel, and between them and Fox Sports, it is possible to watch almost every single Minnesota Twins game. And I do try. (Some weekday day games I can’t watch, of course, but MLB has a Flash app that provides a way to monitor a game in near real-time.)
The flip side is that, come spring I’m cravin’ me some baseball!
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28 Comments | tags: Alexi Casilla, Ben Revere, Billy Beane, Jeremy Brown, Minnesota Twins, Moneyball | posted in Baseball, Movies
“We’ve arranged a global civilization in which the most crucial elements — transportation, communications, and all other industries; agriculture, medicine, education, entertainment, protecting the environment; and even the key democratic institution of voting, profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.”
Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, 1995
I ran across the above quote on a blog, and it really hit home on a point I’ve been pondering and struggling with recently. It has to do with that line about how “almost no one understands science and technology.” It has to do with how weary I am of living in that world.
But rather than rant about it, here are some other quotes I like from a truly great man and wonderful scientist.
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7 Comments | tags: Carl Sagan, Cosmos, space, space exploration | posted in Quotes, Science
I was reading the fan and detractor blog posts about infamous Valentine’s Day. It strikes me that being against it still acknowledges it. I suppose if one wanted to abolish it, that would be reason for protest. (Maybe they regret the killing of all those roses!)
I’m inclined to let the romantics have their harmless fun. No skin off my nose. Oktoberfest for lovers (with chocolate rather than beer — a nearly acceptable tradeoff)!
There are those who say it’s silly to have this one day a year where we observe and honor love (and murder roses). We should observe Valentine’s Day all the time.
I’ve decided to take to heart that idea.
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26 Comments | tags: characater, every day, holidays, Lucy Liu, Waiting, Watching the Detectives | posted in Brain Bubble, Life, Movies
Think my readers are trying to tell me something??
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20 Comments | tags: fingers, middle finger, stats | posted in Life
This is my third attempt to write a post this evening. No amount of editing seemed to make the other two worthwhile. I don’t expect this one to be much better.
[…all efforts deleted after several tries…]
No, ain’t happening. I’m in a major funk and sick to death of my own words and thoughts. I’m not going to subject any of you to any of it.
8 Comments | posted in Life
The week is off to a weak start. Last week I thought things at work would finally start to move along on my project. But it turns out the guy who told me “next week” didn’t expect me to read his email until last Monday. So this week turns out to be the week he thought he’d have something.
No word so far, and he didn’t answer my email this morning.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the data chain, oh, it’s a big disaster that makes me shudder. Late today we got an opportunity to test just one link in the chain I’m trying to build. Tests failed, so it’s back to the vendor.
I’ll rant about that later (and you’ll be free to leave). First, I just want to share the only time management tip I ever learned that turned out to be hugely useful.
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6 Comments | tags: Babylon 5, bill, Captain Kirk, cow, Fruitcakes, Jimmy Buffett, Shadows, time management, tips, Vorlons | posted in Basics, Brain Bubble, Life, Rant
Logos con carne 