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July 4, 2025

Fortjuly Anniversary

So, if a fortnight is 14 days (but counted as nights), then a fortjuly should be 14 years. I suppose it should really be a fortwinter to align with the counting nights aspect. But that would mean we’re on the 13th “day” (year) of this blog, and this post celebrates the blog’s 14th anniversary, so fortjuly it is.

As in: “It has been fourteen years — a fortjuly — since I started this blog.” By other metrics: 1,438 posts (42 pages); 1,996,695 words (damn, just missed it being a cool two-mill); 287,266 sentences; or 63,337 paragraphs.

As usual, there are charts and lists.

3 Comments | tags: Anniversary, blog, blogger, blogging, charts, July 4 | posted in Life, Writing

June 25, 2025

Sideband #81: Tangent Cones

By Wyrd Smythe

It’s been a while since my last Sidebands post. That’s partly because I’ve been working on a project that I’m sure will become a multi-post series and thought it would be nice to start with #81. But I’m not done (or actually started on the writing) yet, and this one has also been lurking for a while.

Essentially, I needed to figure out how to join a cone to a sphere in a seamless way (as in the picture here). This requires the sides of the cone meet the sphere at a tangent point.

It’s yet another case of actually needing the trigonometry I learned in school.

3 Comments | tags: cones, POV-Ray, trigonometry | posted in Math, Sideband

June 19, 2025

Juneteenth 2025

By Wyrd Smythe

Today is Juneteenth, formally Juneteenth National Independence Day, a national holiday commemorating the ending of slavery in the USA. Here is the official Juneteenth flag:

It uses the same colors as the American flag because the descendants of slaves are Americans. (It has been suggested that these days that any Americans protesting a tyrannical government should wave as many American flags as possible to highlight that they are Americans protesting an unamerican government — unamerican as defined by our founding and 200+ year history.)

Here is a good post giving some background on the flag, and here is another good post pointing to more background on Juneteenth.

Black Lives Matter!

P.S. If you’re a science fiction fan and have never read Octavia E. Butler, I highly recommend checking out her work. She’s among the best I’ve ever read, and each book is a unique gem. [see Octavia E. Butler for details].

Stay antiracist, my friends! Go forth and spread beauty and light.

∇

Leave a comment | tags: #BLM, Black Lives Matter, Juneteenth | posted in Society

June 16, 2025

Subscriber Purge

By Wyrd Smythe

Back in 2021 I got tired of having lots of supposed subscribers but almost no views (let alone engagement). I issued a purge warning post. A month or so later, I went through my subscriber list and mowed down the bulk of them — people I’d never heard of other than their subscription.

I’m aware that some subscribe to blogs they have no intention of reading just to publicize their own blog. To be blunt, I do not like this practice. Don’t subscribe to this blog unless you’re interested in this blog. That seems so … obvious to me.

In any event, it’s that time again. A purge is at hand. The Blog 14th Anniversary is coming up July 4th, and I intend another massive purge shortly after that date (after the usual post of charts and graphs).

So. If you’ve been silently lurking, if I don’t know you from past interactions, then speak up now or face being removed from the subscriber list next month.

That is all.

7 Comments | tags: blog, blogger, blogging | posted in Writing

June 13, 2025

Friday Notes (Jun 13, 2025)

By Wyrd Smythe

Hey, how about that, another Friday the 13th. Not that I have ever had superstitions about the number 13 or black cats (or ladders or salt or whatever). Long-time readers may recall that Sister and I were raised without any belief in Santa Claus, let alone other false beliefs. I never had monsters under my bed or a boogeyman in my closet.

But I do sometimes notice things. When I realized I’d publish this Friday Notes posts on the 13th, it caused me to wonder how many other times I might have done that.

Turns out this 50th Notes post is only the second time.

3 Comments | tags: floppy disk, plumbing, weather | posted in Friday Notes

June 7, 2025

Bad Grammar

By Wyrd Smythe

Grammarian William Lilly Maybe this is on me; maybe I lack proficiency with English grammar. That’s always possible. I certainly have no pretension of being a grammarian, but I like to believe I have some grasp of it. In any event, lately I’ve found myself bemused by the Microsoft grammarian embedded in Windows™.

It seems to have gotten weirder. That, too, could be on me; maybe I just don’t remember it being this amusing (which is one way to put it). In the past, even though we sometimes disagreed, I seem to remember it as being more useful than distracting.

But recently it seems to have become a lot less helpful.

7 Comments | tags: AI, grammar, Microsoft Windows | posted in Computers, Writing

May 16, 2025

Friday Notes (May 16, 2025)

By Wyrd Smythe

It’s starting to feel as if I’m posting only Friday Notes posts (or the related Science Notes posts), but I do have some other things up my sleeve. In fact, some amount of water has been building up behind the dam, and I’m hoping to open the spillways soon. Or soonish, anyway.

In today’s post, I have some news about my Minnesota Twins, a couple of graphs, a bit about Reacher, season three, a whole bunch of pictures, two memes, and a funny thing I hadn’t noticed for a long time.

So, let’s jump right in…

2 Comments | tags: 420, Bill James, Minnesota Twins, oranges, parks, Reacher (TV series), sabermetrics, Twins 2025, walking | posted in Friday Notes

May 9, 2025

Science Notes (5/9/25)

By Wyrd Smythe

My usual breakfast — literally breaking the short fast that begins for me before midnight — isn’t until at least noon to ensure a minimum of 12 hours without food. If I get busy doing something in the morning, I might not break-fast until much later. “Lunch” therefore takes place around 4:00 or 5:00 PM, and “dinner” somewhere around 9:00 PM. I try to not eat after 10:00 PM, but definitely not after midnight.

Which isn’t particularly relevant here, but what does apply is that I typically read while I eat my two slices of breakfast toast. What I usually read is the latest issue of New Scientist or, more recently, Popular Mechanics (which is where Popular Science went when it died).

All of which is to say, here’s another issue of Science Notes.

Leave a comment | tags: Betelgeuse, Lee Smolin, New Scientist magazine, Popular Mechanics magazine, Roger Penrose, Sabine Hossenfelder, Science Notes, social media | posted in Friday Notes, Science

April 15, 2025

Jackie Robinson Day

By Wyrd Smythe

Besides being Tax Day in the USA, for baseball fans April 15th is Jackie Robinson Day (because 4/15 was opening day in 1947 — the first season Jackie Robinson played in the MLB).

To honor him, every MLB player today wears a jersey with his number: #42.

2 Comments | tags: 42, Jackie Robinson, Mariano Rivera, Minnesota Twins, Torii Hunter | posted in Baseball

April 12, 2025

Sterling: The Caryatids

By Wyrd Smythe

In yesterday’s post, I wrote about Bruce Sterling, one of the founders of cyberpunk (along with William Gibson). I mentioned being underwhelmed. I enjoyed two of his novels, but the third one, The Caryatids (2009), is among the worst books I’ve read. I skimmed many, many info dump pages in search of a plot.

I make no pretensions of being a fiction writer, and my problems with the book may say more about me than the book. I may well have failed to appreciate some aspect that makes it great.

Regardless, I found it one of the most pointless science fiction novels I’ve read in recent memory. So, this post is a rant to vent my frustration.

1 Comment | tags: Bruce Sterling, cyberpunk | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday