Those who know me know that I’m not big on calendar holidays. Even my birthday tends to pass without fanfare. That comes from being single, the island that supposedly no one is. After a lifetime of Christmas and New Years’ being ordinary days, you get used to it.
But I do honor the Solar Event Days because (as I’ve mentioned many times) light is so important to me (and because I’m a geek). Christmas may not mean much to me, but the Winter Solstice does! The days finally start getting longer! Summer Solstice is a day of mourning for the opposite reason.
Today — the Autumnal Equinox — marks the halfway point.
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9 Comments | tags: autumnal equinox, Earth, equinox, fall, moon, POV-Ray, summer, Sun, winter | posted in Basics, Science
The other day I was Wiki Walking and ended up reading about the Rare Earth Hypothesis in reference to the Fermi Paradox and the Drake Equation. We’ve discovered that most stars in our galaxy appear to have planets of some kind, although ones with human-friendly environments may be quite rare. The presence of a plethora of planets presumably provides a potentially large factor for at least one part of the professor’s pretty problem.
But it’s possible that some of its other factors are extremely small. They may be much smaller than anyone had imagined. They may be so small as to ensure that we are alone in the galaxy.
It’s even possible we are alone — or nearly alone — in the universe!
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8 Comments | tags: alien contact, alien vistors, aliens, Captain Kirk, Captain Picard, Drake Equation, Fermi Paradox, Golgafrincham, Hitchhikers Guide, Prime Directive, Rare Earth Hypothesis, Star Trek | posted in Basics, Science
Rosie The Dog
I cried a bit after she was gone. I didn’t expect that. I didn’t expect to miss her at all, let alone so intensely. The place seems much emptier than it did four days ago. You wouldn’t think a long weekend would be enough to form such a strong bond.
But dogs are simpler than people and much more honest and open. You always know how a dog feels about you, and the dog is never two-faced or a hypocrite. And I think Rosie brought me back to Samantha (I even called her “Sam” a couple of times).
Monday night I found myself wandering aimlessly around a place that seemed too empty.
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29 Comments | tags: dogs, Dr. Greg House, House M.D., Rosie, Samantha | posted in Life
I’m finding it seriously difficult to spend time at the computer blogging (or doing anything else computer related). The weather has continued to be wonderful — warm but not too hot — which is bad enough. It’s that nagging feeling that I just got out of a 33-year career that had my face buried in a computer screen all day. (Well, okay, not maybe that first four years I was in the field, but once I moved to HQ and took a desk job, ever since!)
So, until it either heats up to the point of requiring air-conditioned air and closed windows, or winter comes and I have to hide from the snow and ice, I really, really feel like I’d rather spend my days goofing off. Blogging feels too much like work!
So, in the meantime, here’s another item from my collection. Men’s replies to the questions that women (constantly) ask…
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24 Comments | tags: gender, humor, men, women | posted in From My Collection
Submitted for your consideration: the case of one man, by the name of Bill, who has accepted a role on a new TV show little knowing he is about to become extremely famous. He is about to step onto the path of becoming a cultural icon; he stands unknowing at the beginning of something that will endure and be loved for (at least) 47 years.
Join me on a journey through a dimension of space and time, of light and shadow, of science and superstition. Let us descend to the pit of man’s fears and ascend to the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination.
Up ahead, the signpost — Your next stop: The Star Trek Zone!
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21 Comments | tags: Captain Kirk, Captain Picard, Leonard Nimoy, Lost in Space, Marta Kristen, Nichelle Nichols, Quarter Horses, science fiction, Spock, Star Trek, Star Trek Memories, The Twilight Zone, William Shatner | posted in Sci-Fi Saturday, TV
I’ve been indulging in a break away from computer things, so it’s been a while since the last post. I haven’t really set any publication schedule, so it’s not like I’m out of compliance. (I have at times been out of luck, out of town, out of wack, and out of my mind. I’ve also been “all out of love,” and speaking of which, I’ve even been out of air! (supply… see what I did there?))
The problem is, the longer I don’t post, the harder it is to get back in the saddle. Since I’m still kind of in break mode, I thought I’d share another item from my files. It’s a riff on the (very general) differences between the male and female approach to life.
Here is the story of Roger & Elaine.
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13 Comments | tags: dating, men, women | posted in Basics, From My Collection
I’ve been playing with Python and POV-Ray, catching up on movies, enjoying the continued nice weather, and even getting in some reading. Yet it’s still weird how little I seem to get done considering the days are all mine. (And I still haven’t fully shaken the sense that all this free time ends at some point.)
For now, I plan to focus on project work—the previously mentioned Python and POV-Ray playing—so there may be a pause in the posting while I putter (possibly a plethora of pauses). Please stay tuned!
In the meantime, I have some questions:
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28 Comments | tags: atheism, Joy, meaning, POV-Ray, purpose, Python, spirituality, suffering, theism | posted in Basics, Life, Philosophy, Religion, Science
I’ve gotten spoiled. Writing about the con carne topics is much harder than writing about the life stories and the off-the-cuff opinions. Meaty topics require research and fact-checking (and often I need to create the images). And I expect they’re also harder to read!
My intention here was always to write mostly about ideas with a fallback of writing about things and, to a lesser extent, writing about life (which is to say, about people).
Today’s post keys off a Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal cartoon I saw a while back. At first the cartoon spoke to me, but the more I thought about it, the less I agreed with it.
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8 Comments | tags: Dune, Fahrenheit 451, Frank Herbert, George Carlin, Ken Follett, Larry Niven, Lee Smolin, Pillars of the Earth, Ray Bradbury, Ringworld, Robert Pirsig, SMBC, Winston Churchill, Zen Motorcycle | posted in Books, Life, Philosophy, Religion, Science, Writing
Earlier this week I finished re-reading what might be my favorite Terry Pratchett Discworld novel, Soul Music. When I introduced you to Pratchett and Discworld I mentioned that each novel has its own theme. Nearly all the novels use the same groups of characters, but each revolves around a unique theme (and usually one of the character groups, although cross-over is frequent).
Soul Music is about “music with rocks in it” (in other words: rock music). It’s technically one of the “Death” novels (which is to say that the Discworld avatar of Death is the main character), but it prominently features the Wizards in supporting roles.
And Death’s grand-daughter, Susan. And the spirit of Buddy Holly.
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10 Comments | tags: Bat Out of Hell, Buddy Holly, Discworld, Douglas Adams, Funkadelic, Hex, rock and roll, rock music, Susan Death, Terry Pratchett, Wizards | posted in Music, Quotes
I bought a new toaster oven the other day. My old one caught fire a little bit and afterwards it didn’t make very good toast. The lower elements fried, so it only heated from above. Broiled toast is strange and sad. I had to toast one side and then flip my bread to toast the other.
It was interesting looking over at the toaster that one morning and wondering why bright yellow, kinda flickery, light was coming out of the toaster. A dull orange glow, that’s expected, but bright yellow? What’s up with that?
Oh! Fire! Damn, my toasted is burned! Literally.
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23 Comments | tags: bagels, bake, bread, broil, food, humor, oven, toast | posted in Life, Rant
Logos con carne 