Is it just me or are the first four paragraphs of Dickens‘ A Christmas Carol both brilliant and hysterically funny? There seems a significant mood change beginning in the fifth graph, but the first four always crack me up. Combined with his preface, he opens with a joke (a few, really) and has me at hello.
In just a bit over 300 words, Dickens does riffs on the deadness of doornails, the ancestral wisdom in simile, and the ghost of Hamlet’s father that are practically stand-up comedy (mentioning a ghost foreshadows his own tale). We learn that Marley is (definitely!) dead and that he and Scrooge were partners. We learn a bit about their character, particularly Scrooge’s.
One could write an article about those four paragraphs (but I didn’t)!
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10 Comments | tags: A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, Chrismas, Hanukkah, holidays, Kwanzaa, lefse, Winter Solstice | posted in Life
The last time Shark Week passed I found myself musing over the things people find fascinating enough to turn into week-long events or — in at least one case — the actual unnamed theme of an entire cable channel. Let me be clear that I do not intend at all to diminish most such interests. Glass houses! I devote a good chunk of the six months of summer to baseball, so I can’t fling stones (or baseballs).
It’s not the sharks, actually. There’s nothing wrong with sharks. In fact, they’re really tasty, especially grilled. They’re sort of like grilled swordfish, which is also delicious. It’s just that Shark Week got me thinking about fads and fascinations.
There are some that I just can’t fathom!
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Leave a comment | tags: cone snail, grilled shark, grilled swordfish, Juan of the Dead, Scruffy the seal, sea, sea snake, Shark Week, sharks, Shaun of the Dead, vampires, zombies | posted in Life, TV
“My dear Mr. Bond! You just fell for the oldest trick in the book”
So this Brain Bubble popped: Just what is the oldest trick in the book? You know how the villains always say, “Ah ha, Mr. Bond! You just fell for the oldest trick in the book!” Admittedly, your smarter, better educated villains say, “Ah ha, you just fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book,” and that lets them off the hook.
But there can be only one oldest, so just what is the oldest trick in the book? Is it the one with two porcupines, a duck’s egg and a large jar of marmalade? I know that’s a really old trick, but I’m not sure it’s the oldest. They say that prostitution is the oldest profession.. is there any connection there?
How’s that for short? All above the fold!
10 Comments | tags: Blofeld, extremely old tricks, fairly old tricks, heroes, humor, James Bond, less old tricks, Mr. Bond, old tricks, oldest trick in the book, oldest tricks, really old tricks, tricks, tricks so old they're new, villains | posted in Brain Bubble
Brain Bubble posts are supposed to be short side thoughts, but the one just posted is another example of my inability to be brief. What can I say; I love words and the ideas we can express with them. To me, there are very few topics that don’t deserve a detailed discussion (you should see how much I cut out before I post)!
This post began as a comment — a reply to Lila on her recent post, Affluence, Toxic Parenting Buy Lenience for Horrific Teen DUI. It ran long, which you all know isn’t unusual and never stops me, but it concerned a topic that is near and dear to my heart. I’ve always planned to write about driving and drivers, but there are so many other topics I just hadn’t gotten to it, yet.
Here’s what I hope is a short(-ish) intro to my views on driving…
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8 Comments | tags: cars, dance of cars, drivers, driving, freeways, highways, Los Angeles, rules of the road, Southern California, traffic, verbose | posted in Brain Bubble, Life, Rant
I’ve noticed over the years a drift in term (Internet) Troll. It’s possible the original sort of Troll isn’t around much anymore — for several reasons I don’t hang out socially on the internet much anymore. There is also that not everyone agrees with the original definition (although I think the evidence is clear).
So this is either a commemoration or a bid for language purity, I’m not sure which. Actually, it hardly matters which; the point is incredibly trivial, but it’s Sunday, and I’m feeling too lazy for serious thought. (It’s funny, but even in retirement I find I keep a weekly cycle in which the weekend signals different activity — time away from the computer mostly!)
My point is, an Internet Troll is a very specific creature.
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4 Comments | tags: discussion, internet, Internet Troll, interweb, social media, trolling, trolls, USENET | posted in Brain Bubble, The Interweb
Many offices feature “casual Friday” in acknowledgement that today our attention begins to shift towards the weekend. (When I started with TC in 1980, ties were required. When I retired this year, “business casual” was the norm. I wore jeans and polo shirts the last half-dozen years or so.)
In the same way, today the focus here shifts from the tough and chewy Sideband material to something softer and easier to digest. I have what amounts to a bit of a rant, but a mild-mannered one of minor import. It’s just one of those little things that’s annoyed me in a small way for a long time. (But it turns out that it’s one of those things that actually have good reason!)
It’S aBoUt ThIs ThInG cAlLeD cAsE-sEnSiTiViTy!
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Leave a comment | tags: A.A. Milne, alphabet, case-sensitive, characters, computer language, humor, letter case, letters, lowercase, programming languages, source code, text, UPPERCASE, Winnie the Pooh | posted in Computers, Life, Rant, The Interweb, Writing
Today I want to tie up last time’s post about animation before moving on to other things. I’m sure I’ll return to the topic of making movies with POV-Ray and FFmpeg; it’s just too much fun, and I have tons of ideas. (I can finally do a really decent animation for the Special Relativity article I’m planning for Albert’s birthday.)
Firstly, I’ll discuss the animation initialization file, the ANI.INI file, and show you how the multiple segments are managed. Secondly, I’ll talk about the output files — all those frames we generate — and what to do with them.
Plus, I have a couple of important announcements!
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Leave a comment | tags: ffmpeg, INI file, Irfanview, making movies, mp4, mpeg, POV-Ray, video, WordPress, WordPress Upgrade, YouTube | posted in Computers, Sideband
I mentioned last time that a big draw for me with POV-Ray is the ability to create three-dimensional scenes and move around them. Having lots of camera positions is part of that; I want to see my scene from multiple angles. (Moving about a 3D space was often a big part of what little interest I ever had in video games. I especially liked flying games.)
From the very beginning, knowing that POV has support for animation, I’ve wanted to take it to the next level and make 3D movies. Rather than frozen snapshots taken from a bunch of (hopefully) well-chosen points, I wanted a fluid movement through the space.
Today I thought I’d write about some tricks I use to do that.
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1 Comment | tags: animation, camera position, clock value, clock variable, INI file, making movies, POV-Ray, scene | posted in Computers, Sideband
I’ve been mentioning, and even writing about, POV-Ray for a while now. It and I go back quite a few years, and — as with many of my long-time hobbies — it’s something I’ll pick up and get really into for a while. Then, after some period, which varies considerably, I’ll exhaust my interest, and back it goes onto the shelf (which is not the same as onto the back burner).
This is the fourth or fifth time I’ve picked it up, but the first time I’ve really gotten into it. It’s been fun and very productive (all this retirement free time is awesome). I make no claim for being any good at creating mind-blowing scenes (but I’m working on it). I do, however, have a couple process tricks that have made my life easier, and I thought I’d share them.
This first one is about managing camera positions.
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3 Comments | tags: camera angle, camera position, cameras, INI file, multiple cameras, POV file, POV-Ray, scene | posted in Computers, Sideband
I have mentioned before that I like to observe a Sabbath of some kind, a day of rest and difference. Years of religious indoctrination cause me to see Sunday as that day. More than forty years of work life reenforced that view (although I often worked Sundays in my very first job). Ultimately the actual day isn’t important; it’s the idea of taking a weekly break from normal that I think is crucial to mental well-being.
There is also for me, not a religious component, but a moral one nevertheless. I observe certain restrictions on my Sabbath (I don’t watch anything violent, for example), and I try to connect with my gentler side. (I’m actually a gentle soul at heart. The world has had the effect of giving me a crusty, pointy exterior.)
So today, no Python, no POV-Ray, no math (no rants).
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4 Comments | tags: Carlos Castaneda, dinosaur water, faith, metaphysics, Sabbath, spirituality, Sunday, Theory of Consciousness, Thomas Aquinas, Timothy Leary, W.G. Sebald | posted in Life, Religion
Logos con carne 