Having penned a perplexing pair of Python posts and planning a putative pair of POV-Ray posts for the pending week, I feel the pressure to pause and ponder some other puzzle for a period. Like words that start with “P”, for instance. Or something more profound, like peas in our time. (And pass the potatoes.) Perhaps something personal would please?
I can’t write of cabbages or kings. I don’t care much for the former (except in egg rolls), and I wrote about chess yesterday, which is almost about kings. Nor can I write of sealing ships or sailing wax. (Wait… how did that go?)
But it is Science Fiction Saturday again!
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12 Comments | tags: Captain Kirk, Frankenstein, Fred Saberhagen, J.J.Abrams, Richard Matheson, Star Trek, Star Wars, the center cannot hold, the widening gyre | posted in Books, Rant, Sci-Fi Saturday, TV
Last time I mentioned wanting to write a chess move parser since my earliest days of programming. Hard-core coders often see things in terms of the software behind them. For instance, I sometimes wonder about the software running my microwave oven. Andy Warhol drew our attention to how an artist is behind even a mundane soup can label. Similarly, every computer-driven item in your growing collection of smart tools and toys has a programmer or many behind it.
Dedicated coders also look at problems in terms of the software to solve them. When my (ex-)wife complained about the difficulty of scheduling teachers, rooms, and classes, for the year, I began pondering scheduling software. I think a big part of it is the challenge of solving a double puzzle. First you have to figure out the problem; then you have to figure out the software solution.
And one area that programmers find extremely attractive is games!
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Leave a comment | tags: chess, chess move, chess move parser, games, Mastermind, parser, Pong, Python, recursive descent, recursive descent parser, software | posted in Computers, Sideband
I don’t know if it’s having been in the saddle so long, having all this retirement time, or the magic of Python (perhaps all three), but I’ve made major advances in personal projects that have been on my drawing board for a very long time. One of them, in fact, goes back to my earliest days of programming in late 70s!
It’s certainly true that 35 years of writing computer software teaches you a few tricks. At the very least, you learn all sorts of things not to do! On some level, the computer language doesn’t matter, but a highly expressive language makes some kinds of development not just easier, but actually fun!
And Python! I haven’t laughed with delight over a computer language since Lisp!
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3 Comments | tags: chess, chess move, chess move parser, computer programming, graph theory, maze generator, mazes, programming, Python | posted in Computers, Sideband
Dateline: Monday. The little-known eclectic blogger, Wyrd Smythe, had no idea that his blogging provider, a mysterious global enterprise known as “WordPress” (a possible anagram for “Sword Reps”), had granted him extreme power over the weather. At this time, we cannot report whether this was a deliberate seasonal gift, or if the power somehow escaped the control of its owners. Neither can we report on how many this may affect.
What we do know is this: On Monday, when the unsuspecting blogger clicked the “Let It Snow” checkbox on his settings page, sure enough, a gentle snow fall began on his posts. That was the desired and expected effect. What happened next, however, was a surprise.
It also began to snow outside for the first time this season!
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15 Comments | tags: blog, blogger, blogging, drought, farmers, humor, Minnesota, mischief, rain, rain storm, snow, snow checkbox, Spiderman, Sword Reps, weather, winter, WordPress | posted in Life
As I’ve posted articles recently, it’s been impossible to not to notice a looming milestone: post #300! Which is what this one is. At least, it’s the 300th post on this blog. The double qualifier is because there are a number of pages not included in that count, and because I had a go at a baseball blog before I started this one. (Plus, I have another blog with a small number of posts.)
On top of all that, there’s all the stuff I wrote on Newsvine and other online forums, not to mention several personal website incarnations. And I can’t even begin to number how much I wrote for work over the years; there were four websites I authored and countless user and technical documents.
But still… 300 Logos Con Carne posts, that’s not nothing!
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11 Comments | tags: 300, blogging, bowling, CSS, HTML, stylesheets, Watchmen, WordPress, XML file, XSLT, Zack Snyder | posted in Computers, Movies
As one might guess from yesterday’s post, which was supposed to be about vampires, that the geek force runs strong in this one. Of course, it always does. Far as I can tell, I was born an über-geek and shall remain an über-geek until my final breath (which will no doubt be some geeky observation).
But then geek comes from “carnival geek” and just means someone with expertise in a niche field. I’m fine with that — it’s just the plain truth in my case — but I like to believe my expertise is maybe just a little bit broader than biting heads off chickens. (On the other hand, as perhaps everyone does, I’ve sometimes wondered if joining a carnival might not make for a much simpler life.)
In any event, for a while I intend to indulge my inner über-geek.
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Leave a comment | tags: blog, blog blah, blogging, Chillaxmas, geek, Santa, Santa Claus, Sideband, uber-geek | posted in Computers, Science
November shouldn’t pass with just the one post. I intended a post last Science Fiction Saturday to rave about the new Doctor Who episode (celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who), but the day slipped to Sunday before I got the writing motor started. I’ll rave about it now: it was really, really good! A wonderful, delightful milestone marker and, as always, built on a damn good story.
I’ve not been idle lately! Dedicated post-retirement loafing finally shook the work dust off my shoes, and I’ve gotten back into personal project work. Seriously into it. In the 16-hour sessions, sleep and eating are unwelcome distractions, not knowing what time of day (let alone what day of the week) it is sense of seriously.
And I read some really good vampire novels!
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11 Comments | tags: Amy Heckerling, Berserker series, Bram Stoker, Chelsea Yarbro, computer generated images, computer programming, Count Dracula, Doctor Who, Fred Saberhagen, Johnny Dangerously, POV-Ray, Python, science fiction, vampires | posted in Books, Computers, Movies, Sci-Fi Saturday, TV
Have you ever really thought about the fact that South America isn’t?
Isn’t all that South, I mean. Nearly all of it is actually east of nearly all of North America. Most of it is east of Florida, although residents of Maine can safely refer to “south” America (especially if they mean Peru, Chile or Ecuador). And people on the USA west coast? The closest shores of Hawaii are just about as far west as the closest shores of South America are east.
And it’s nearly as far east from New York City (at 73 degrees west) to Rio de Janeiro (at 43 degrees west) as it is from Rio to Lisbon, Portugal (at 9 degrees west, so only four degrees further).
Perhaps we should rename it South-South-East America!
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16 Comments | tags: Americans, Americas, idle thoughts, north, North America, south, South America, USA, USAnian | posted in Brain Bubble
Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox, winners of the 2013 World Series! It couldn’t have happened at a better time for the city of Boston, to win the World Series at home in historic Fenway park. This is the first time the Sox have won a World Series at home since 1918 — only six years after the park opened in 1912.
(Trivia fact: the 1912 World Series was played in Boston that first year, and the Red Sox beat the New York Giants four games to three.)
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5 Comments | tags: American League, baseball post-season, Boston, Boston Red Sox, Boston Strong, city of Boston, Major League baseball, MLB, Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, World Series, World Series 2013 | posted in Baseball
In his 1982 book, Megatrends, John Naisbitt famously wrote, “We are drowning in information, but we are starved for knowledge.” What was true 30 years ago is true today at a level that is both jaw-dropping and mind-numbing. The interweb highway speeds past at a breath-taking pace; yesterday vanishes rapidly behind while tomorrow constantly barrels down on us. The sheer volume of traffic (meaning both ‘lots of’ and ‘very loud’) can be overwhelming.
I’d like to take the topics from last Thursday and Friday to a new level and talk about how we find knowledge and truth amid all that information. In a world filled with opinion and conflicting assertions, how do we tell fair from foul? When facts and expertise compete with ideology and status quo, how do we pick among them?
This is about ways to separate the wheat from the chaff.
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22 Comments | tags: argument, debate, deflection, discussion, emotional mind, John Naisbitt, Megatrends, projection, psychology, rational mind, social issues, worldview | posted in Basics, Quotes, Society
Logos con carne 