tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post3009855172256787978..comments2024-03-28T20:04:20.286-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: Reality and Other Figures of SpeechGagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-9012245212510929482010-10-04T08:34:38.225-07:002010-10-04T08:34:38.225-07:00I said "(...there may be a bug in that line o...I said "(...there may be a bug in that line of though... )"<br /><br />Ah! Yep, - (...there may be a bug in that line of though<b>t</b>... )<br /><br />Fixed it!<br /><br />Wha...? <i>still</i> a problem? Sorry, code meets requirements, take it up with the project manager, my work here is done.<br /><br />(And THAT is a clue to why most software projects bloat and fail.)Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-88696714117845060802010-10-04T08:31:31.484-07:002010-10-04T08:31:31.484-07:00Julie said "Van, have you seen these?"
...Julie said "Van, have you seen these?"<br /><br />Yep, one of the guys I work with has one... pretty nifty gadgets. I don't think they'd work well with what I've got in mind though. <br /><br />I want eBook, notes, assignments, tracking and reporting all integrated into one unit that could be used on a larger Phone (just a touch bigger than an iPhone, which the new ones coming by Nov promise to be), tablet, laptop or desktop PC. <br /><br />Even... (cough, groan)... a Mac.<br /><br />Now if nObama can just work his magic some more and get me downsized again, I might have a chance to build this thing.<br /><br />(...there may be a bug in that line of though... )Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-7225983385135224842010-10-03T12:47:00.459-07:002010-10-03T12:47:00.459-07:00Limbaugh on whole Family Guy toniteLimbaugh on whole Family Guy tonitegehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02015936407999495181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-17891470019018955242010-10-03T12:46:05.816-07:002010-10-03T12:46:05.816-07:00Dylan: Gemini Jewish Genius on Columbia, very pers...Dylan: Gemini Jewish Genius on Columbia, very personal harmonica style<br />flaunting many conventions--unpolished, slightly sloppy<br />Miles: Gemini black Genius on Columbia, oft w/ a distinctive frail lonely lost sound to his trumpet<br />!<br /><br />wv=<br />carolegehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02015936407999495181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-39043390924041506582010-10-03T09:14:59.708-07:002010-10-03T09:14:59.708-07:00Agreed 100% on Coltrane. I have to believe that we...Agreed 100% on Coltrane. I have to believe that we'd be living in a markedly different musical world had he lived. <br /><br />I just ordered "Miles from India"--couldn't pass that up!<br /><br />I suppose any creative endeavor requires *some* form of conscious/unconscious integration if it is going to have ANY resonance...I guess I am hearing Miles (and in music--not *only* him, of course) as on par with the greats of the 20th century in that he furthered one of the great themes...the "discovery" and further exploration of the Unconscious.Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06708393262849661076noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-53998234031196832872010-10-03T08:45:49.354-07:002010-10-03T08:45:49.354-07:00Yes, but I often ask myself what direction Coltran...Yes, but I often ask myself what direction Coltrane would have gone had he not been cut down at 40. I think he would have left the free jazz thing, since there was no place further to take it, and then embraced various world musics, beginning with Indian and African. To a certain extent, Pharoah Sanders picked up the latter trend, while McLaughlin was attracted to the former.<br /><br />I haven't yet heard it, but there is a relatively new collection called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00140GWSE?ie=UTF8&tag=onecosmos-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B00140GWSE" rel="nofollow">Miles From India</a>, which is reimagineering of some of his mostly electric era music with Indian musicians. The samples sound pretty interesting.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-74425289985203067792010-10-03T08:25:07.085-07:002010-10-03T08:25:07.085-07:00GB-
Forgive my running obsession with electric er...GB-<br /><br />Forgive my running obsession with electric era Miles Davis-- but I think there is something very useful in that era that I am now getting clued in on. I woke up this morning with some vague insights into what he was up to--or at least what I am getting from Miles.<br /><br />Until recently I have taken a much more Coltrane-centric view of Jazz. I saw him as the culmination of the Jazz Tradition (of innovation). Coltrane seemed intent on embracing it all in a towering edifice of Promethean creation and destruction (and creation).<br /><br />I've always liked Miles, but I never saw him on par with Coltrane. I have been for while radically reassessing Miles and his contribution not only to Jazz but to human expression in general. I tend to think it was far more influential and far-reaching than I had imagined. Of course I may very well be prone to overstatement.<br /><br />For some reason the connection between Miles and James Joyce entered my head. Particularly the movement towards "Finnegans Wake" and the telling of the Unconscious history of humanity (if I can put it thus). <br /><br />Like, Joyce, Miles sought to embrace and integrate pretty much *everything*. So my half-formed thought is to see Miles moving into the musical unconscious and improvising from there. But he did so differently than most in the "free" wing of Jazz--which is often a more direct expression of irrationality and chaos, speaking very broadly.<br /><br />Miles took that and integrated it more deeply--both in the freebop/2nd quintet phase and the electric phase--as an expression of the conscious and unconscious...waking reality and dream reality.<br /><br />Just a thought.Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06708393262849661076noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-81079371372845020812010-10-02T15:02:39.497-07:002010-10-02T15:02:39.497-07:00For the sake of clarity, lest it seem I'm spea...For the sake of clarity, lest it seem I'm speaking out of callous disregard, I know and know of too many men who, for whatever reason, have decided that the mistakes they've made mean they have no choice but to spend the rest of their lives miserable. They're wrong, and if you really plan on doing that, JP, then you're wrong, too.<br /><br />The last time I talked to my father, a couple weeks ago, he essentially told me he's expecting to drop dead any time now. The hell of it is, he might even be right, though if it happens it won't be because his health is all that bad. He's miserable and he wants to die. Like you, he made some bad choices in life, and he's been beating himself up for them and wallowing in them ever since. He hates the circumstances he's put himself in, but he's too terrified of the unknown to make any changes, and he can't let go of the past. Trouble is, just like with suicide when you decide to live in misery you aren't miserable alone. You radiate it like a poisonous miasma, decreasing the joy in life of everyone who cares about your sorry ass.<br /><br />My dad doesn't have to be miserable, he just gave up too easily when it was hard to be happy. I love him, and I'd like nothing more than to see him stand up for himself. I don't let it slip past unremarked when he says he doesn't think he'll be around much longer. By the same token, I'm not likely to just say nothing when someone here says he plans on hating the rest of his life.<br /><br />It's a tragedy. I really hope you change your mind.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-77692930156079905062010-10-02T14:46:15.779-07:002010-10-02T14:46:15.779-07:00ge, one of the maje OTers here
guaranteed laff rio...ge, one of the maje OTers here<br />guaranteed laff riot:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dABo_DCIdpM&feature=player_embedded#!" rel="nofollow">gloriously useless talent</a> <br /><br />wv: cowigne<br />=<br />Latin for barbecuegehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02015936407999495181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-54896081229709672552010-10-02T12:05:24.905-07:002010-10-02T12:05:24.905-07:00Julie (one of the major raccoons here) has judged ...<i>Julie (one of the major raccoons here) has judged you unfit to be one of the club.</i><br /><br />*snork*<br /><br />Please. I wonder what he gets out of it, but mainly because he <i>does</i> seem to get at least some of it, and like I said he seems a decent guy. You, on the other hand, are simply a troll. I trust JP is smart enough to know the distinction.<br /><br />Additionally, I'm giving him the same respect I'd hope to receive if our roles were reversed. Sometimes, we all need a metaphorical kick in the pants. I don't bother with you anymore because you just get a thrill out of it, so it's time and energy wasted.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-39802972966039604812010-10-02T11:55:40.231-07:002010-10-02T11:55:40.231-07:00JP,
Julie (one of the major raccoons here) has j...JP, <br /><br />Julie (one of the major raccoons here) has judged you unfit to be one of the club.<br /><br />Therefore, I invite you to join the resistance. You and I and a very few others are the troll squad here. <br /><br />What say? You want to join up?<br /><br />Our Platform:<br /><br />Leftism: not so bad<br /><br />Environment: Green is good<br /><br />Clmate Change: Is real<br /><br />Wicca: Bad<br /><br />Christianity: Fair, but flawed<br /><br />Budhism: Same<br /><br />Raccoonism: Good but flawed. The flaw is that they hate ________.<br /><br />Us: Plastic, versatile, adaptive, and very argumentative.<br /><br />Like it? Come aboard. Anyone else? Van?black holehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07366633817665791528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-40821821715791908102010-10-02T10:36:15.534-07:002010-10-02T10:36:15.534-07:00JP, I'm curious. How is it that you can expres...JP, I'm curious. How is it that you can express the desire to remain bitter, angry and hating life for the next fifty years, and yet still find something here that appeals to you? I'm not being facetious, and I don't mean this as an attack or anything, I'm genuinely curious.<br /><br />You loathe meditation, but meditation in some form - ie, prayer without ceasing - is probably the key to moving past your present state. You had a bad experience once, so it must be totally bad, right? <br /><br />Isn't it possible that the bad experience came from internal resistance and mind parasites rather than any external influence? I ask because a few years ago, I had a series of really disturbing dreams that were actually more an expression of internal resistance to moving closer to O. I stuck to my path, and the dreams resolved to a better understanding, then subsided. Or put another way, if you start a series of exercises and it turns out to be tougher than you thought, do you just quit outright, claim that exercise is bad, and tell all your friends they should stay away, or do you stick it out and try to work past it, knowing that your body will adjust and your health will improve, even though you feel wiped out at first?<br /><br />Really, I just wonder how it is that you benefit from being here, because some days you sound like 90% of the male commenters over at Dr. Helen's. Clearly you <i>do</i> benefit, and you seem like a decent guy. However, if you haven't gathered from the posts that being so angry all the time is no way to spend a life - is, in fact, an outright <i>repudiation</i> of life and all that is good - then what have you learned?<br /><br />wv, rather appropriately is "hater"...juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-41467906657130787342010-10-02T08:18:52.343-07:002010-10-02T08:18:52.343-07:00Bob says:
"No burning absence of desire to p...Bob says:<br /><br />"No burning absence of desire to post anything, so I grabbed this one from three years ago and rethunk it:"<br /><br />You know that you really need to do this with your book.<br /><br />One of your talents is iterative rewriting.JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11126071014909954387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-89025202457680877232010-10-02T06:54:50.149-07:002010-10-02T06:54:50.149-07:00Black Hole says:
"The Wilbur quote which all...Black Hole says:<br /><br />"The Wilbur quote which alludes to life being a grand game of checkers, has some element of truth."<br /><br />I think this first came from C.S. Lewis. Wasn't it he who said that perhaps we are all immortals and time is the board upon which we play?<br /><br />I can't remember which book.JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11126071014909954387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-30836840244449776592010-10-01T20:55:39.217-07:002010-10-01T20:55:39.217-07:00The Wilbur quote which alludes to life being a gra...The Wilbur quote which alludes to life being a grand game of checkers, has some element of truth.<br /><br />Gaming, entertainment, amusement, storytelling, etc. are all "of the essence" and can be considered analoguous to what God gets out of this whole thing--namely, adventure, surprise, the delight of the unexpected, etc.<br /><br />It IS a game, friends. That doesn't cheapen life. Rather, it enriches the meaning of sport. Football is of the essence. <br /><br />Game on! Its what we are for.black holehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07366633817665791528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-69541128352425587652010-10-01T17:53:50.229-07:002010-10-01T17:53:50.229-07:00Van, have you seen these?Van, have you seen <a href="http://www.enduserblog.com/2010/09/the-livescribe-smartpen-is-mightier-than-your-brain.html" rel="nofollow">these</a>?juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-32274597017809308432010-10-01T17:49:56.367-07:002010-10-01T17:49:56.367-07:00NB said "There are numerous intriguing approa...NB said "There are numerous intriguing approaches and techniques used in creating models of reality inside a machine which are useful. Some of these may serve to illuminate discussion here. Maybe... <br />What do you think, Van? "<br /><br />Only all the time! It was what helped everything to click for me - relational database design, Object Oriented Programming, especially classes & interfaces... I think it has huge bearing on philosophy, psychology & religion. That and two stories have been slowly gaining wordcount on my hard drives... slowly... too many darn interests & they keep cluing me that there are new things to be learned & worked in... slowly but surely... getting there.<br /><br />I tell you what is really causing me to eat my insides out right now, is the eBook reader market!<br /><br /> I've had an mobile application in mind for 10 years, waiting for the hardware to develop to the point it could handle it. eBook reader, linked in with lesson plans, comments, etc, networked, I.M. & vid chat for friends & teachers, tying it all in with parents & ability to see what's been learned, what hasn't, etc... I think it'd be big with homeschooler groups & private schools.... Anyway, the last 2 yrs ate the savings I'd been setting aside for a 6 mo mad money 'sabbatical' when the time was right... and of course the Tea Party activities eat the rest of spare time away....<br /><br />God most certainly has a very keen sense of humor!Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-35794400767529675332010-10-01T16:31:56.196-07:002010-10-01T16:31:56.196-07:00To Gagdad re: Complementarity
I am told that it ...To Gagdad re: Complementarity <br /><br />I am told that it is illegal to put mustard on a hamburger in NYC. They only accept ketchup. I have also heard that putting ketchup on a hot dog will create a riot in NYC as well. Does NYC represent some special exclusion to the rules of complementarity?Tigtoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03290914498892961024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-45446649059857891602010-10-01T16:15:46.858-07:002010-10-01T16:15:46.858-07:00Some day it would be nice to see Van take a crack ...Some day it would be nice to see Van take a crack at linking some of the concepts used in advanced computer science with concepts presented here. (Obviously, I mean in a metaphorical sense).<br /><br />There are numerous intriguing approaches and techniques used in creating models of reality inside a machine which are useful. Some of these may serve to illuminate discussion here. Maybe... <br /><br />What do you think, Van?Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-28563704910095840822010-10-01T15:16:54.177-07:002010-10-01T15:16:54.177-07:00Language with most bang for buck: APL
Most powerf...Language with most bang for buck: APL<br /><br />Most powerful: FORTH<br /><br />Worst modern lang: PHP<br /><br />IMO, of course.Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-58522336011339683942010-10-01T15:00:06.169-07:002010-10-01T15:00:06.169-07:00There's an old one like that in C, too. Almos...There's an old one like that in C, too. Almost every language has some absolute gibberish string that will compile. AWK is my favorite -- not only does it compile, it actually does something.mushroomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07651027035577798096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-43478833877998830182010-10-01T14:54:24.053-07:002010-10-01T14:54:24.053-07:00Van:
Ever see the satirical essay attributed to B...Van:<br /><br />Ever see the satirical essay attributed to Bjarne Stroustrup? He "reveals" that C++ was the result of a plot to create a language so horrendously over-complicated that it would guarantee high salaries for the programmers who would be required to slog through it. It was hoax/satire, but lots of people say it might as well be true.<br /><br />Can't find a link to it right now...Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-31617016793859616252010-10-01T14:26:02.328-07:002010-10-01T14:26:02.328-07:00I was thinking about the U.S. Capitol buidling the...I was thinking about the U.S. Capitol buidling the other night.<br /><br />I'll bet I'm one of the few people who has 1) debated on the floor of the House of Representatives AND 2) been in the Capitol Police security room fiddling with the cameras. <br /><br />The company didn't get that software contract. Which was a good thing because the company could have never handled that contract.JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11126071014909954387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-92078386363824954722010-10-01T14:23:22.432-07:002010-10-01T14:23:22.432-07:00I've done customer service programming and I&#...I've done customer service programming and I've done legal writing. Both for actual pay.<br /><br />Computer programming strikes me as less like eating dirt than does legal writing.<br /><br />But that's probably because I've done more legal writing than computer programming.<br /><br />Plus, when I was doing the customer service programming, I got to sit inside police departments and listen to some of the calls. That was always amusing, at least.JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11126071014909954387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-41298806273013033172010-10-01T14:01:10.451-07:002010-10-01T14:01:10.451-07:00I don't know how you computer guys can handle ...I don't know how you computer guys can handle looking at code all day. Just a couple of glances tend to make my brain hurt. <br /><br />That said, I'm really glad there are people who can think that way, without whom little things like blogging would be impossible.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.com