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.
If you knew immediately what the title of this article means, you are almost certainly a Star Trek fan. You also know that a full list should contain DS9 and VOY. (And that, actually, there should be a ST: in front of each of them.)
If this all seems alphabet soup, here’s the deal. They’re all three-letter acronyms (TLAs) for the six different Star Trek TV series. This first article today begins “Star Trek Saturday” (a one-time event) here at Logos con carne. There are two or three ships still in dry dock… (big voice: …In Space) getting finishing touches for a launch later today.
To tantalize your taste buds, I’ll just mention that they concern galactic energy barriers, transporters and replicators. Those are ships of war; photon torpedoes loaded and primed. There is a third ship with a different mission that may also launch today. (Tantalized? Terrific!)
Continue reading
18 Comments | tags: Doctor Who, Judith Stone, sci fi, science fiction, Star Trek, Stephen R. Donaldson, The Land, Thomas Covenant, trilogies | posted in Books, Movies, Sci-Fi Saturday, TV
There are things you can’t unsee. I don’t mean the walking in on your parents kind of sights. And I also don’t mean certain movies, such as Cop Out or MacGruber (two movies I had to stop watching after about 15-20 minutes least my brain melt; oh, Bruce, what were you thinking).
I mean things that, once you know they’re there, you can’t look at that same context ever again without seeing it.
This post was triggered by a, what I believe was a tongue-in-cheek, post on (if I recall correctly) io9. [The qualifications here come from not being able to find said post anywhere, even though I know I saw it this year. Even paging deep into Google results digs up nothing.]
Continue reading
3 Comments | tags: Betelgeuse, big dipper, little dipper, M42, NGC 1976, orion constellation, United States | posted in Life, Science
While I’ve always — and I do mean always — been a “class clown,” I’ve never been much of a joke teller. Mostly because I have trouble remembering them. I don’t mean the punch line. If I can remember the joke, I can remember the punchline. It’s generally the entire joke I can’t remember!
Which is somewhat odd considering all the joke books I read in my younger days and all the comedians I’ve enjoyed in my older days (RIP George; you were the greatest of them all).
The mind being the associative wonder that it is, sometimes some part of a conversation triggers an association, and that surfaces a joke from my mental archives (think Damian Lewis’ memory library from Dreamcatcher).
And sometimes when a new joke I’ve really liked is fresh in my mind, I go around telling it to everyone.
Which takes some doing, liking a joke that much. As I said, I’ve been reading joke books and following comedians a very long time, so it takes something a bit special to impress me. Most new jokes are just variations of old jokes.
But I heard one recently that cracked me up… and managed to be a truly new joke. Maybe it’ll have the same effect on you. Plus, it’s Friday and time to start goofing off.
So, without further ado, I give you…
Continue reading
18 Comments | tags: Black Labrador Retriever, Calico cat, dead duck, George Carlin, humor, jokes, vet | posted in From My Collection
I’m torn over today’s topic. I’m tired (for the moment) of nattering about work (got some thanks, but no thanks messages today, and that makes me disinclined to discuss the distress; nepenthe beckons, I’ll answer the call, now 94 bottles of beer on the wall).
And I’ve spent some time in the blogsphere, which is endlessly fascinating, but time-consuming and a bit draining. After reading about the struggles of others, mine own seem pale and pointless.
So it’s time for something light and refreshing. I realized I haven’t bored anyone with science recently, so, as the good The Doctor would say, “Run!”
Continue reading
Leave a comment | tags: CERN, Einstein, neutrinos, OPERA, particles, quarks | posted in Physics, Writing
This is a piece I started almost a year ago, set aside for polishing and never returned to. It started as a rant and morphed into a looking back at what, now, might be the fullness of a career.
It seemed like it might be a good companion piece to the recent post, Ground Rush, so here it is for your dining and dancing pleasure.
The original title was…
Vent: Work
Things have been changing recently at work. In fact, for two years or so, lots of things have been changing at work; you’ve probably noticed.
Continue reading
7 Comments | tags: change, economy, field service technician, hardware, nerds, software, work | posted in Life
The awkward Supreme Court ruling, known as “Citizens United,” has generated a lot of discussion about corporations being people. Note that this 2010 ruling did not establish corporations as people: that’s been on the books since the early 1800s.
The Citizens United ruling allowed them to spend vast sums of money as “free speech.”
Anyone not terribly alarmed by this and what it implies for our political future isn’t paying attention.
Continue reading
Leave a comment | tags: Citizens United, corporate body, corporate personhood, corporations, Information Technology, IT | posted in Life, Philosophy, Rant
It’s Monday, but for me it’s the middle of week two (weak, too?) of six in the, “oh, crap, they eliminated my job, now what,” fun-filled fun fest. If you’re tuning in late, here’s chapter one of the story. So far, I’ve applied for a dozen different positions, had two interviews, and have another one scheduled tomorrow.
Given that The Company seems fine with the idea of losing my 33 years of experience (and over 35 years of software expertise), I’m very tempted to just consider the retirement options. They aren’t what I’d hoped for, but… well, we’ll see.
I mentioned before that, if the clock does run out on this, it would be just in time for my birthday. Turns out, if I don’t find another position within TC, my last day at work would, in fact, be my birthday.
Continue reading
5 Comments | tags: fired, free fall, ground rush, layed off, let go, parachute, skydive, unemployed, work | posted in Life
As I watch my Minnesota Twins do their best to lose three games in a row to Tampa Bay, I find myself pondering the difference between “winning,” “losing,” “not winning” and “not losing.”
Somehow, in some way I haven’t quite yet worked out, I think they’re four distinct things.
Filed for future reference.
Continue reading
1 Comment | tags: assassin movies, atomic bombs, Babylon 5, Dr Who, Firefly, Minnesota Twins, self-awareness, Star Trek, TARDIS | posted in Brain Bubble
I meant to write an article discussing Christopher Nolan‘s latest (and final?) Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises (henceforth, TDKR). I started off writing that article but ended up writing a screed about going to the movies. Words not wasted, perhaps, but now I return to the original intent: trying to say a few words about the movie itself.
The bottom line is that I give it an Eh! on my scale of Wow!, Ah!, Eh!, Meh!, Nah! & Ugh! It’s above the no-go line, so I say it’s worth seeing if it’s in your interest zone. If you’ve seen the other two, you certainly want to see this one. That said, it’s my least favorite in Nolan’s Batman trilogy as well as my least favorite Nolan film. And to be honest, were it not for superhero movie fatigue setting in, I might well have given this a higher rating. I’ve just gotten tired of the genre.
Warning: In this article I’m not going to make any attempt to avoid spoilers, so if you (a) haven’t seen the movie and (2) don’t like spoilers, then you shouldn’t continue reading.
Continue reading
1 Comment | tags: Bane, Batman, Christopher Nolan, Knightfall, superheroes, The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Rises | posted in Movies
Yesterday I threw down the gauntlet regarding Christopher Nolan’s new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. In fact, that article was a first entry into a discussion about how we’ve constantly upped the ante regarding violence in movies and television and modern life in general.
That larger discussion will evolve over time as I find things to say about it. In this article I want to talk specifically about the Batman movie… or rather about the “going to the Batman movie” theater experience.
When it comes to going to the movie theater to see a movie, each time I do that lately I seem to find one less reason to do that ever again. Let me count the ways:
Continue reading
10 Comments | tags: AMC, movie theaters, popcorn | posted in Life, Movies, Rant
Logos con carne 