The other day a software project that I had spent a year on was “put on the shelf.” A year of effort was unceremoniously flushed down the software sewer. A number of colleagues asked me, “How do you feel about this?” Would you believe relieved? This is not false bravado or stupid sunny optimism. I … Continue reading Cutting the Stinking Tauntaun and other Adventures in Software Archeology
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JOD Update: Version 0.9.97*
In the last year much has changed in the J world. There are new official J 8.0x builds for all supported platforms.The QT based IDE JDE has matured and is in widespread use.The column oriented J database JD is drawing new users to J and enticing J veterans to reconsider how we use databases.There is … Continue reading JOD Update: Version 0.9.97*
Mahin and Carl
On the very memorable date of New Year’s Eve my wife’s mother Mahin died. From now on the dropping ball will remind us of her. Mahin had a long and honorable life. She was loved by children, grandchildren, and in-laws. She was the calm matriarch in the storm of her family. I meet her late … Continue reading Mahin and Carl
Ferguson and Dark Matter
For the last month the big story here in St. Louis has been Ferguson. At least that’s what media hucksters have sold as the big story. You will have to excuse me; my interests rarely align with “the news.” I don’t watch broadcast TV, listen to the radio, or pay for newspapers. Despite my media … Continue reading Ferguson and Dark Matter
Incoherent Interstellar
Don't look for plot points in Black Holes! Christopher Nolan has made some excellent commercially successful films like Inception, The Dark Knight, and Mememto. When word got out that he was working on a serious science fiction film expectations got out of hand. Those of us old enough to remember the first screenings of 2001 … Continue reading Incoherent Interstellar
I Voted for Nothing
I have just returned from another biannual exercise in futility: voting in mid-term US elections. Once again my preferred candidate, none of the above, was not on the ballot; so, once again, I held my nose and did my best to sabotage the fetid dreams of the rotting things that were. Any barely sentient ape … Continue reading I Voted for Nothing
Photospheres Away!
Photographers are notorious gear-heads. Everybody has a favorite lens, camera or tripod and, no matter how much gear we have, more is always better! Hey, somebody has to stimulate the moribund Obama economy. Gear lust is not entirely irrational. Good cameras really do take “technically” better pictures than mediocre or poor cameras but here’s the … Continue reading Photospheres Away!
Pandora’s Star: a Grand Sprawling Entertainment
In my fevered youth I was an avid fan of science fiction but as I crossed the Rubicon of middle age I read less and less of the genre. For years I preferred nonfiction: mostly science with a smattering of history and biography. Then, about five years ago, I started reading science fiction again. What … Continue reading Pandora’s Star: a Grand Sprawling Entertainment
There will never be a Literature of Reality
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
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
Analyze the Data not the Drivel 