Category Archives: Friday Notes
Tonight, to celebrate the long-awaited Solstice, I’ll crack open the first of the three bottles of champagne I plan to drink before the end of the year. The Eves of Christmas and New Year’s account for the other two.
Of the three, the Solstice is the more important to me, the most looked forward to. The end of the calendar year is an arbitrary marker, and Christmas is a whole other tin of Lumbricina. Solstice, however, is a baggage-free party. (An ancient one at that.)
Speaking of parties, here is the last Friday Notes of 2023.
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13 Comments | tags: Ana Popović, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Lord of the Rings, Samantha Fish, Solstice, superheroes, Westworld (TV series), Winter Solstice | posted in Friday Notes
The implied image in my last post — of a sea creature returning to the surface — turned out to be more apt than intended. I descended again to finish my project and my burn-out. Spent a few days on the couch reading to recuperate (the library was nagging me about people waiting for books I borrowed and wasn’t reading).
So, let’s try this resurfacing thing again. I have more than books to catch up on. And two posts that should have come before this, but here we are on the penultimate Friday in November.
I have plans next weekend, so it’s Friday Notes now or never (in November).
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9 Comments | tags: 960 months, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Microsoft Windows, POV-Ray, Python, rational numbers, real numbers, Vulcans, words | posted in Friday Notes
Friday Notes are fun and fairly easy. (None of the science or technological rabbit holes I love so much — my underground lair?) But I can’t seem to break the habit of posting articles explaining stuff. I guess that’s part of who I am.
As I’ve mentioned, lots of preachers and teachers in my family tree. Number of authors, too, so I suppose there’s no escaping it. And I do put considerable value on the experience of trying to explain something. It really does push you into knowing it better.
But today is Friday (thank God), and I have notes…
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8 Comments | tags: Amazon Music, Amazon Prime, Hulu, internet, interweb, irrational numbers, Netflix, offended, punctuation | posted in Friday Notes, Music, Writing
It occurred to me that, to some extent, I’d like my most of my blog posts to be like these Friday Notes posts: extemporaneous ramblings and the setting free of any notes recently captured. And some old stories (and maybe a few pictures).
It’s not that I want to stop ‘splaining stuff, my inner teacher is strong. (Is it man-splaining if you’re a teacher?) It’s been one of my things since grade school. Spead knowledge!
But the rambling sure is easy. And fun!
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5 Comments | tags: autumnal equinox, dragons, equinox, lava, wasps | posted in Friday Notes
Another (very) late edition and in the same week [see previous post]. In this case, it’s because I hadn’t planned a Friday Notes post for today, but I’ve gotten so indolent lately that I’m falling out of the habit of blogging. (Or, the eternal question, have I perhaps gotten weary of it?)
But, as polite people say, “Stuff happens.” And because it does, I have enough perishable notes that I may have to put out two Notes editions this month.
Assuming I can get back in the blogging habit.
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2 Comments | tags: blogging, Stephen R. Donaldson, weather | posted in Friday Notes
We’re about to enter a new phase of Friday Notes. I’ve cleared most of the primary pile of notes for blog posts. What remains are notes that still might lead to posts if I find the motivation. There is also a thick sheaf of much older more ambitious notes, most of which are probably past their Use-By date by now.
The destiny of that thick sheaf remains to be seen, but I recently dug out an even older set of notes. Two old spiral-bound half-sized notebooks… from the late 1970s and early 1980s! One contains thoughts and ideas, the other fragments of song lyrics.
I haven’t looked at this stuff in years. Going through it, I decided to record some of the more interesting in blog posts before I toss those notebooks.
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11 Comments | tags: imagination, language, Letterkenny (TV series), NCIS, Peter Gabriel, stories | posted in Friday Notes
It has been almost four weeks since my last blog post. I decided to take something of a vacation to celebrate various anniversaries (the blog, 12 years; retirement, 10 years; buying this condo, 20 years). And to celebrate finally getting some long-standing tasks off my TODO list (such as finally making a will).
Being retired puts a new spin on vacations, though. Being retired is vacation: your hard-earned, well-deserved permanent vacation. How does one take a vacation from a vacation?
Regardless, today is the last chance for a July edition of Friday Notes, so vacation-vacation is over, and it’s back to just being on vacation.
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8 Comments | tags: Batman, blogging, dreams, Fermi Paradox, Gotham City, idealism, realism | posted in Friday Notes
There is an old saying about how one’s eyes are sometimes bigger than one’s stomach — something I have to watch out for when visiting a buffet. I think, too, that my imagination sometimes is bigger than my will.
So many thoughts that seem like good ideas but don’t ever go anywhere substantial. Or, perhaps more honestly, I lack the will to put in the effort required. Since I retired, I’ve gotten pretty lazy and self-indulgent.
These Friday Notes posts have been very helpful in reducing my collection of notes, so here we go again with a bunch of random little thoughts.
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5 Comments | tags: Big Blatant Lie, diet mountain dew, MWI, President Obama, the multiverse | posted in Friday Notes
I love that brief period each spring when the mock apple trees are in bloom:
I missed the peak before the blossom pedals start to fall. As you can see on the ground below, that’s already begun to happen.
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8 Comments | tags: bread, die die die spammers, hot dogs, interweb, trees, vanish from the earth spammers | posted in Friday Notes
Last month I put out two editions of Friday Notes, and this month I almost missed posting any (today being my last chance). To some extent, that’s just normal ebb and flow, but it’s also that I’ve been distracted by Real Life™ (such as it is).
I’ve been doing a lot of (in many cases rather interesting) reading lately — words going in rather than out — and I think any writer will tell you that’s the easier direction. Sometimes the much easier direction.
But I do have some notes (and pictures)…
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13 Comments | tags: Bentley, Fermi Paradox, Moby Dick, silicon, snow, winter | posted in Friday Notes
Logos con carne 