The first job of the myth maker is to shrink the universe. The shrinkage occurs along all dimensions: time, space and mind. You see this everywhere. Immortal vampires and wizards are, at most, a few thousand years old: younger than many real trees. Grand science fiction star empires seldom span a single galaxy in a universe of hundreds … Continue reading There will never be a Literature of Reality
Category: Observations
JD Bitcoin Blockchain Spelunking
On July 25, 2014 I gave this short presentation about poking around the Bitcoin blockchain with J at the 2014 J Conference in Toronto Canada. Click to browse presentation PDF
Your Bitcoins are Now Welcome!
Recently Coinbase introduced payment pages. Here's my page. Payment pages simplify the process of paying with Bitcoins. In the last six months more and more businesses have started accepting Bitcoins. Once people get cryptocurrencies they inevitably start questioning the legitimacy of national currencies. This is all good. National currencies are part of the past. It's embarrassing to … Continue reading Your Bitcoins are Now Welcome!
Ukraine takeaway: Don’t give up your Nukes
What’s the one sentence takeaway from the unfolding Ukraine mess? Don’t give up your nukes! It’s unlikely that any of this would be happening if Ukraine had retained their nuclear weapons instead of turning them in for the magic beans of “international guarantees.” It would be interesting to review the anti-nuke sales pitches made to … Continue reading Ukraine takeaway: Don’t give up your Nukes
Pussydent Hildabeast
My blood moon photography didn’t turn out because I didn’t. Come midnight fatigue, familiarity and spotty weather conspired to send this exhausted W2 drone1 to bed. It’s just as well; if you’re not doing consider sleeping. In six months I’ll get another shot at photographing a blood moon. For the nonce, I’ll muse on menstrual … Continue reading Pussydent Hildabeast
The Singularity is Not Near Enough
Here’s a little Google project. Search for life extension technologies and start reading comments about what people think about living five hundred or a thousand years? Some are completely in favor of the idea but you’ll find legions of naysayers that are deeply disturbed that the “natural order” of things will soon radically change. Objections … Continue reading The Singularity is Not Near Enough
The Great Verizon Data Famine
The other day I visited my local Verizon store for the fourth freaking time! My mission was simple: upgrade my goddamn phone and change our account from my wife’s name to mine. In sane retail environments long-standing customers with impeccable payment histories get treated like royalty. I know it will come as a shock to … Continue reading The Great Verizon Data Famine
Blogging Bad 2013
Another year of blogging bad. My mother's death and work were major distractions this year; I fell way short of my post goals but still managed to exceed the previous year's hit count and set a new high. To show their appreciation the good algorithms at WordPress.com sent us an annual report. Mine follows: The … Continue reading Blogging Bad 2013
Fun with Farsi Text in LaTeX
Analyze the Data not the Drivel is a mouthful. This blog needs a short symbolic name. For sometime I have used ADND myself but that's to close to ADHD for comfort. However if we treat ADND as a simple algebraic expression it becomes: $latex ad^2n $ This is better but still not cool! If we … Continue reading Fun with Farsi Text in LaTeX
Twitter is not Trivial
I enjoy being wrong because it doesn't happen very often. When Twitter first reared its itty-bitty head I thought it was one of the dumbest ideas ever. Who wants to “tweet”, in an utterly disorganized stream of consciousness way, 140 character messages to total strangers? What could emerge from such inane chatter? Isn't this like … Continue reading Twitter is not Trivial
Analyze the Data not the Drivel 