Tag Archives: the past

September 4, 2026

Friday Notes (Sep 4, 2026)

“I have of late — but wherefore I know not — lost all my …” interest in blogging. (In fact, I have a pretty good idea wherefore, but I really like the speech the quote comes from. It’s the same one with the memorable lines: “What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason. …”).

Only six posts May–July and none in August — not even an edition of Friday Notes. I am seriously off my blogging game!

Which means I have a bit of a backlog on these Notes posts, so it’s beyond time to crank out another edition.

8 Comments | tags: block universe, blog blah, Life Science Library, MWI, odometer, quantum computing, the past | posted in Friday Notes

July 3, 2026

Friday Notes (Jul 3, 2026)

By Wyrd Smythe

After taking May and most of June off from blogging (in fact, from anything involving sitting at my computer), I tried to jump-start myself by putting out five posts at the end of June. The more eagle-eyed readers may have noticed I put out only three.

I intended a Monday post about movies I’ve seen lately followed by a TV Tuesday post about TV shows. But both days passed without posts because reasons — mostly ennui, to be honest.

But I am motivated to put out this early-in-the-month Friday Notes post because it’s the last post of my 14th year blogging here; tomorrow is the 15-year anniversary!

12 Comments | tags: AI, artificial intelligence, Fermi Paradox, Kylo Ren, the past, weather | posted in Friday Notes

August 13, 2025

BB #94: Our Memories

By Wyrd Smythe

In another place, someone wrote: “It is memories that make us who we are, that haunt us, that enrich and warm us, that remind us of how to be better.” The place and the someone can be anonymous here because the sentiment is a common one.

In this Brain Bubble, I’d like to push back on that, at least a little. I want to suggest as counterbalance the one memorable line from an unmemorable film trilogy:

“Let the past die. Kill it if you have to.”

1 Comment | tags: Kylo Ren, memories, the past | posted in Brain Bubble

June 1, 2023

Sideband #77: Speaking of Op Amps…

By Wyrd Smythe

The last Sideband post (over eight months ago) was about Op Amps, mostly because I think they’re very cool but also easy to understand in the context of the Three Rules of Op Amps. [See this post and maybe the one before it.]

I posted about them in part because I also wanted to post about an electronics project I designed (but never built) back in the late 1980s. I thought it was a cool solution that leveraged existing infrastructure and used off-the-shelf parts.

Be advised this post is seriously on the electronics geek side and is mainly a memory with meaning only to me. I used to love designing stuff!

9 Comments | tags: electronics, field service technician, op amp, the past | posted in Sideband

September 4, 2018

Old Love Letters

By Wyrd Smythe

I’m a keeper and a collector, especially of sentimental mementos. My (these days declining) love of physical books is connected to this. It’s exactly why I’ve dragged dozens of boxes of them every place I live. (Bookshelves are a whole discussion!) And it’s also why I still have every love letter I’ve ever received.

Which, I’ve come to realize, is silly — especially now, when I’m seeking a simple, small life. My goal in retirement is minimalism in everything. Clearance! (Going out of business!) Everything must go!

Quite some time ago, a friend commented that I hadn’t put anything on my walls — that years later they were as blank as the day I moved in. They’re still blank, at least twice as many years later.

Leave a comment | tags: love letters, rear-view mirror, relationships, the past | posted in Life