June 2009
Monthly Archive
DOS is not Spanish
| Posted by Chill on 30 Jun 2009 |
Had to bust out some of my ancient DOS-fu today. Some of these commands I hadn’t used since 1994 or thereabouts.
Sys C:, how I did not miss thee.
V to the Y
| Posted by Chill on 30 Jun 2009 |
The Virtuality pilot was excellent. Too bad its chances of being picked up as a series –though it’d be the best show on television, no doubt — are almost nil.
Review, with spoilers, here.
By far the best thing I’ve seen in a while. Why must Fox screw up all the sf they air? Why even bother?
Degrees of savings
| Posted by Chill on 30 Jun 2009 |
If (and it is a big if) a person has the willpower to save 5% of their income a year from the time they start working, they will out-earn someone with a college degree, given the ridiculous amounts charged for tuition these days.
Also, there is the lost 4-6 years of earnings caused by college matriculation, and the concomitant lost experience.
Don’t be bullied or beguiled into going to college; go because you want to. It’s no longer the path to sure financial success, and in many circumstances (hello, $50,000 in student loans), often quite the opposite.
It’s not climate change if I like it
| Posted by Chill on 29 Jun 2009 |
For some reason I don’t quite understand but often speculate on, climate change denialists are clustered disproportionately in the engineering and IT communities.
If you want to see how such people get their tard on, go here.
Anne’s the man
| Posted by Chill on 29 Jun 2009 |
Ha, Anne Hathaway makes a surprisingly good Cesario from Twelfth Night. Just shows how much of gender is a performance.
Need better AI
| Posted by Chill on 29 Jun 2009 |
Automated systems are often designed to relieve humans of tasks that are repetitive. When such algorithms become sophisticated, however, humans start to relate to them as if they were fellow human beings. The autopilot on a plane, the cruise control on a car and automated speed-control systems in mass transit are conveniences. But without exception, they can become crutches. The more reliable the system, the more likely it is that humans in charge will “switch off” and lose their concentration, and the greater the likelihood that a confluence of unexpected factors that stymie the algorithm will produce catastrophe.
When the investigation is done, I am betting that one of the contributory factors to the Air France crash will be what the article discusses, along with the fact that the Airbus the pilots were flying simply doesn’t allow human control in many situations.
Interesting problem. We need better AI.
Amazing crazy crying
| Posted by Chill on 29 Jun 2009 |
Wow, look at all the scientifically clueless come out of the woodwork in Amanda’s comment section.
These people wouldn’t know a clue if it burst through their chest, Alien-style.
In tooth and claw
| Posted by Chill on 27 Jun 2009 |
Around six am, just when I was going to sleep, some birds outside began to screech wildly.
Unable to sleep, I said to my partner, “It’s probably a hawk.”
I was right. Upon awakening, a cloud of feathers like a clump of leftover winter snow awaited me in the yard — the rest of the bird nowhere to be found, consumed or carried away by the hawk.
Judging by the feathers, it was a mourning dove. These are some of the images I captured:
Dead at 12
| Posted by Chill on 27 Jun 2009 |
Wow, The Onion has really outdone themselves.
This is the most accurate obituary I’ve ever read.
Ch-ch-check it out
| Posted by Chill on 27 Jun 2009 |
For those who think a computer can’t be beautiful, you should check this out.
Hitlery-split
| Posted by Chill on 26 Jun 2009 |
Oh shit, this is so funny.
And it’s from a great movie, that I’d probably put in my top 20 of all time. Do you know which one?
Bloom of vision
| Posted by Chill on 26 Jun 2009 |
One of the more interesting things I’ve read in a while. The comments are good, too.
And even though this deals with fantasy, it reminds me of why my partner said she hated her college physics and math classes (despite doing well in them): dry, musty equations, with never any connection to anything in the real world.
Why are classes taught that way? Yes, some rote learning is necessary, but does it always have to be so decoupled from the outside world, despite the fact that those subjects have deep connections to the world at large? Especially with physics, that sort of foundation-less teaching makes little sense at all. Of course, maybe that was just one university. Perhaps others are different.
I think many subjects are made more difficult than they need to be, as a sort of initiation. I am sure there are other explanations, too.
Dance dance dance
| Posted by Chill on 26 Jun 2009 |
This is the best paean to Michael Jackson’s talent as a dancer I can imagine.
I remember the first time I saw him dance. It seemed like gravity was something he was merely humoring; like he could lift off at will, effortlessly, but was just choosing not to so as not to offend us mere mortals.
Each move alone as if in a close-up, sudden and incredibly sharp. Weightlessness: The sense of freedom from gravity and a body with no mass or muscles, just pure torque. Transformation of the mundane: shadow-boxing and other familiar moves drawn from athletics and pop dance renewed and heightened through a spectacular sense of flow and delirious speed.
Like the brilliantly calibrated gliding steps that formed his signature moonwalk, Jackson’s nervy, high-velocity turns seemed to operate in zero gravity, and his finest dance performances gave the illusion of being a momentary impulse, almost accidental in their perfect balances and other evidence of faultless technical control. If his high-pitched vocal sound simulated perpetual adolescence, the way he moved kept him super-stylized and ageless….
Fuck, that’s some good writing. I’m usually not too impressed by most writing, just as most musicians aren’t impressed by someone playing a piece they can play. I couldn’t have written that, though.
And I’ve never seen anyone dance as well as Jackson. I’ve seen more technically proficient dancers. I’ve seen more athletic ones. I’ve never seen one, though, that could bend your mind like his dance moves did.
Muppet disappointment
| Posted by Chill on 26 Jun 2009 |
When I was a very young kid, I remember being upset when I found out that the Muppets weren’t really alive.
How and why I thought they should be alive, I have no idea.
Tardus australis
| Posted by Chill on 26 Jun 2009 |
Australia’s net censorship regime is why I no longer will even consider moving there.
Amazing a secular democracy can get away with something so draconian.