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toys.alienbill.com/2023july4 - a July 4th Virtual Card for you! (photosensitivity warning)

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Got sweet talked into marching 2 parades (Hingham and Wakefield) with 2 different bands today, even though my preference would have been "none" for reasons political and laziness. -ical.

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I don't want to to yuck people's yum on Harry Potter (even if JK Rowling is a big ol' TERF and those goblins are pretty much bad jewish stereotypes) but this article is a pretty good explanation of why the series never clicked for me. I'm really into world building and hate artistic license where things happen just because the author wants them to, and in a lot of ways Harry Potter is nothing but that... July 4th Fun in Worcester...

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I think beating off is the best part of having hands.

Interesting seeing live comedy again!

The other week I followed the footsteps of Cassie Tarakajian's Creative Coding in p5.js and used clmtracker to play around with face-tracking (and wiring it up to responsive sound generator.)

You can play with the final results here. I write up the process on my devblog - it was more frustrating than I expected to get the library installed and understand it, and the end results were a bit disappointing - the face tracker doesn't work well with glasses, for starters. Still it's fun to know I have these kind of options at hand for future creative coding goofery. starters.

'What does Mammy always tell you, Aidan? About the dark? Can you remember?'

'Tell me again.'

'There's nothing there when it's dark that isn't there when it's bright.' This was the line her father had always spun in her childhood. She'd never found it remotely comforting but had appreciated the effort. Aidan had never before even deigned to respond. But this time, he did.

'No,' he said. 'No good. A monster could be not there at the day and then sneak in at night-time when you can't see him.'

This was a better argument than any she'd ever put to her dad. Through her irritation and exhaustion, she felt a faint glow of pride.

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Had an odd dream last night, I think I saw it as a possible script for a sci-fi comic book or video game- it was about a specially DNA-tweaked intelligent species designed by humans to survive the rigors of space travel, there to tend the colony ship until the planet to seed with "normal" humans who were riding in cryogenic storage. The caretakers were supposed to end their own lives at the end, I guess, but one of them resented that fate and so was trying to sabotage the mission...

I'm currently wonder if most consciousness-altering states (whether drowsiness or dreams or drugs or drink) are suppressing subsystems of the brain, so that parts that are usually constrained or repressed have more free reign. The weird dream drama seems to be the underbrain throwing out (often emotionally laden) sparks and other parts of the brain trying to turn that into a somewhat more cohesive narrative - and then applying feedback loops of interpretation and action as well.

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Beachfront fireworks like Asbury Park's are the best. One guy yelled "Take that, England!" at an opportune moment, surprised I haven't heard that line before, it was pretty good!

Thing I actually predict will happen this year: TLJ-hating Star Wars fans declare the official canon illegitimate and build a new canon from pre-Disney stories and their own shitty right-wing fanfic

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Good luck: and believe me, dearest Doc -- it's better to look at the sky than live there. Such an empty place; so vague. Just a country where the thunder goes and things disappear.

Many compliments accompany our sunset return along the red clay road to town; but my friend is sly and noncommittal when passers-by praise the treasure perched in our buggy: what a fine tree and where did it come from? "Yonderways," she murmurs vaguely. Once a car stops and the rich mill owner's lazy wife leans out and whines: "Giveya two-bits cash for that ol' tree." Ordinarily my friend is afraid of saying no; but on this occasion she promptly shakes her head: "We wouldn't take a dollar." The mill owner's wife persists. "A dollar, my foot! Fifty cents. That's my last offer. Goodness, woman, you can get another one." In answer, my friend gently reflects: "I doubt it. There's never two of anything."

"My, how foolish I am!" my friend cries, suddenly alert, like a woman remembering too late she has biscuits in the oven. "You know what I've always thought?" she asks in a tone of discovery, and not smiling at me but a point beyond. "I've always thought a body would have to be sick and dying before they saw the Lord. And I imagined that when He came it would be like looking at the Baptist window: pretty as colored glass with the sun pouring through, such a shine you don't know it's getting dark. And it's been a comfort: to think of that shine taking away all the spooky feeling. But I'll wager it never happens. I'll wager at the very end a body realizes the Lord has already shown Himself. That things as they are " -- her hand circles in a gesture that gathers clouds and kites and grass and Queenie pawing earth over her bone -- " just what they've always seen, was seeing Him. As for me, I could leave the world with today in my eyes."

That last passage might be a little heavy handed but overall I enjoyed Capote's stuff very much, especially the short story "House of Flowers".

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good twitter longform on all the wacky video and time editing done by low level parts of our visual processing system:

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In my 40s, I feel like my ears are struggling valiantly to compensate for decades of not being a hairy guy.

I mean, WHAT is going on? It's like it could be styled. I just reread Tom Robbins' "Still Life with Woodpecker". I admit for a book I often put in my "Top 5 All Time Best" list, it didn't hold up as quite as well as I'd hoped, and as a treatise on our clear and often unthimking bias towards the animate over the inanimate, of things that can move and think over things that can just be, it's a bit sparse (maybe "The Mezzanine" by Nicholson Baker does a better job of that, somehow) but still, some it had some great thoughts and quotes:

In hot climates, A provides a shady arch, O is a siphon through which to suck liquids, U a cool cave or tub to slide into; A stands like a surfer with its legs apart, O hangs like a citrus from a bough, U rolls its hula hips-- and I and E mimic the cries of monkeys and jungle birds from which they were derived. Consonants, like fair-skinned men, do not thrive in torrid zones. Vowels are built for southern comfort, consonants for northern speed. But O how the natives do bOOgIE-wOOgIE while the planters WaLTZ.

Ideas are made by masters, dogma by disciples, and the Buddha is always killed on the road.

"Dynamite didn't come here to teach. It came to awaken."

"Those who shun the whimsy of things will experience rigor mortis before death."

Briefly, they discussed seeking professional help for the Princess, but King Max was one of those who believed that psychology was at that point in its development that surgery was at when it was practiced by barbers, so the idea was abandoned.

Morality depends on culture. Culture depends on climate. Climate depends on geography.

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How and Why Donald Trump is Putin's favorite candidate.

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I really liked Sunday's Sally Forth, from the Memento-like chronology to the middle three panels especially "JUST RUN TO YOUR BUNKER, TOM! EVERYONE RUN TO THE BUNKERS THEY PERHAPS SHOULD HAVE BUILT!"
On the Charles waiting for fireworks...

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http://dontmindthemess.com/2014/07/fireworks-memories/ Jessica blogs about almost drowning with me in the post-fireworks deluge on the Charles. The screaming that started when the storm swept will stick with me...

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Who the hell decided to call them 'facial tattoos' and not 'everlasting jobstoppers'?

RIP Douglas Engelbart. Google "The Mother of All Demos" if you don't know who he is.

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Dang, and oy.

My landlords want to sell my apartment. I have first dibs, but it would be a financial stretch.

I have really mixed feelings.

The apartment is great, but really needs two people. I picked it with Amber and have enjoyed having Miller as a housemate after that.

Still, the place is pretty damn expensive... but I love the neighborhood and commute.

My gut instinct says to try and make a go of it, but I'm worried that's more about wanting to have less disruption in my life.

Running some numbers with an online calculator, if I go for a 30 year mortgage and a 15% deposit the rent would be a couple hundred more than I pay now. (heh, of course if I had hopped some months ago, the gap would be much less). I suppose stuff like real estate tax and what not complicates that too.

Also, the 15% deposit would kinda wipe out my nest egg/buffer. I mean I'm still saving for retirement, but I think things would feel more fraught in general.

It gets me into what do i want to do with my life territory.

Like, right now I don't want to ditch Miller, and it's a nicer place than either of us would have on our own, and he generally has fewer options than me. On the other hand, being generous to a housemate is a suspect reason for making a big financial decision, and maybe it's just kicking the problem down the road anyway; like if I want to have some romantic type person move in with me, or even though it's a little remote at this point, start a family; woud it be easier to take the hit now when it's the landlord forcing the issue than say "alright, I need you out of here".

Also, I guess I really kind of do hate moving.
I moved out of Waltham to be closer to the city,
out of Inman to be in a big shared house with Mo (that semi-communal house being one of my favorite living arrangements, frankly)
out of the Big Yellow House because Mo wanted that, and it seemed grown up
out of the cracker jack box apartment because it was ridiculous
out of watertown apartment to own a damn house
out of the damn house because of the divorce
out of the apartment with miller to be with my aunt and uncle
out of my aunt and uncle's to live with amber

Only a few of those were really because of factors internal to me, and it's always easier to orchestrate a move when you have a partner.

Yesterday I made a note about what I'd need to research/pontificate on to reach a decision:
how to figure out house
1 JP and Arlington rents
2 likely mortgage
3 endgame with miller
4 likely futures of romantic bliss

So far I think I've figured out "2" and that's it.

I hate how my life a year ago seems a lot closer to what I wanted out of life than right now, on multiple fronts.

Thoughts and ideas welcome.

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over 400 bucks of good old NH fireworks- 2 for 1 - #gonnabeagoodnight Monday evening, the full moon was crazy-beautiful over the Atlantic...


Because it was still almost daylight, I could really make out the details of the moon. I tried to fiddle with my camera to do likewise, but my best efforts made the surrounding sky really dark...

Man, that doesn't look much like a Man on the Moon. I think the French say it's a cat... I could kind of see that, curled around.

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A fetish is a story masquerading as an object.

click to run

heartworks - source - built with processing
To celebrate the Fourth of July on the Love Blender I made this little java program... watch and enjoy or click to make your own fireworks

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why, he was so sentimental, he could miss the broad side of a barn!

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dont understan the world, if up is north how come u drive that way n not hit the sun. i need to get me a compast.

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A Half-Hearted Defense of the "Star Wars" Prequels

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Man, kind of a bummer to think that 2010, already a year that looks weirdly futuristic when written out, is half over!

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July 4th Blender of Love digest is here!

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Having 4th of July in this year, but pretty hopeful about Boston Pops Fireworks in HD with a big projector and Amber... click to run

starsstripes - source - built with processing

click and hold the mouse for a sparkler! happy fourth of july!
To view this content, you need to install Java from java.com
kirkjerkfirewerk - source - built with processing

Just a little something I banged together for the fourth (that's supposed to be a 4 if it's not obvious...) You can either admire the 4s or use the mouse to draw and use it like a sparkler...

Happy Fourth of July!

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Why do almost all fans have their highest power setting right next to off?

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Apple's consistency hobgoblins: "People use mice, not keyboards, for checkboxes" thus iPhone Form "Next" skips checks but does dropdowns.

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EB's charcoal grill reminds me "the 3 things you can gaze at four hours: fire burning, water flowing, other people working."

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thought: if you're gonna have a truck to haul your little league team around in, is "I shot the sherrif" the best music choice for the 4th?




Congratulations Lex and Michi!

Boingboing linked to a new free eBook on probability... in their writeup, the mention the Monty Hall problem. 3 doors... goats are behind 2 of them, and a new car behind the third. The player picks a door. Monty then opens one of the doors, revealing a goat. Should the player switch doors? (Assume an equal chance for the 3 doors to hold a car, and that Monty will pick one of the 2 goat doors at random if the player has already picked the car.)

The article mentioned that Marilyn vos Savant "encouraged her readers to simulate the game and draw their own conclusions"... Well, here's a simulation! You can modify the speed to run lots of simulations, "Wargames"-finale style. You can select always switch, never switch, or some probability of switching.

events:
switch:	never	1 in 3	50/50	2 in 3	always
results:
speed:	stop	step	slow	fast	zoom

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2020 UPDATE: Jim Holt's "When Einstein Walked with Gödel" provides one of the best summaries of why you should switch, and I feel I "get" it now in a way I don't remember if I did when I wrote this simulation:

Counterintuitively enough, the answer is that you should switch, because a switch increases your chance of winning from one-third to two-thirds. Why? When you initially chose door A, there was a one-third chance that you would win the car. Monty's crafty revelation that there's a goat behind door B furnishes no new information about what's behind the door you already chose--you already know one of the other two doors has to conceal a goat--so the likelihood that the car is behind door A remains one-third. Which means that with door B eliminated, there is a two-thirds chance that the car is behind door C.

2024: let me try and reframe again. If there was no door-switching, the game would be easy to figure out: 1/3 chance you win, 2/3 chance you lose.

So when you "stay", it's STILL that game. Monty Hall can open that curtain or not - nothing has changed. 1 in 3 chance you win, 2 in 3 chance you lose. It's a one round game, and showing you a losing curtain changes nothing, because you're not changing your vote.

But when you switch? It's a new round - but the win/lose result will be *EXACTLY* OPPOSITE of what it was if you stayed. If you picked the car at first as round 1, the new round switches you to being a loser. But if you picked the goat in Round 1 - and remember there was a 2 in 3 chance you picked a goat... in round 2 you are a winner!

It feels like Monty Hall's reveal should change the game to 50:50 or something (which it would be if you started from scratch at Round 2) but instead it is still based on the odds of Round 1, but what was one of 2 losing pick now always wins, and the single old winning now loses.Some very random photos from a recent trip to Chicago:

• There goes the good time that was had by all.

• September 12th...a software "toy world", a somewhat heavy handed but interesting interactive political cartoon about the futility of fighting terrorism with cruise missiles...
• Free Duel, Oh This Hot Seat Of Ours, a review of some old multiplayer games.
• The Evolution of Alphabets.
• Evocative SPAM filler:

  constitution to certain specific 
  relations and interests. The obtaining 
  for us this information, and to Mr. Ralph 
  Richardson for kindly the poetical names 
  of Flower of Blood, and Froth of Blood, 

  Also, odd Subject: buried inside a SPAM fake bounced email message: Nude_young boys_from_polar_bears_land. Strange world.

Curse you, RCN, for taking away my internet access this Fourth of July! More later. Phew, finally back... more in a bit.

Man, few things irritate me so much as a loss of 'Net connectivity at home. It strikes both my "technical things should just work" nerve as well as the frustration of losing access with the outside world. I mean, I had to dial "411" today from home, for cryin' out loud.

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Ramble and Article of the Moment
I have so few celebratory plans today it's a little pathetic. Maybe I should hunt up a nice municipal display, or maybe I should brave going down to Cambridge for the big show? I dunno. But Slate.com had a piece on the military using 'virtual world' games to help figure the social dynamics of places like Iraq. So (though it's just a turn based wargame and not an online virtual world) by playing by new gameboy game Advanced Wars 2 I figure I'm doing my Fourthly patriotic duty.

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Quote of the Moment

The first rule of magic is simple. Don't waste your time waving your hands and hoping when a rock or a club will do.

Go fourth and celebrate! Hope everyone has a happy and safe one...

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Games of the Moment
Chronic Logic has two "real physics" games for download: "Triptych" (shown) is a variation on the Tetris-esque match the colors game, but with blocks that jiggle and rebound and have regular and rotational intertia. They also have "Pontifex", a difficult game where you try to build a bridge across various chasms, tough enough to survive 4 train crossings. I'm a pretty bad bridge maker, but it's pretty amusing watching those trains go in the drink. These games might require fairly high powered computers, I'm not sure.

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Quote of the Moment

If you ask me, this country could do with a little less motivation. The people who are causing all the trouble seem highly motivated to me. Serial killers, stock swindlers, drug dealers, Christian Republicans. I'm not sure that motivation is always a good thing. You show me a lazy prick lying in bed all day watching TV, and I'll show you a guy who's not causing any trouble.

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Dialogue of Soul & Stone

I was talking to a rock
and I said, "Stone"-
I talk to them like that-I said,
"what makes people feel extraneous?"

To which the rock in its own idiom
replied, "Extraneous's ass!
You think you got it bad.
Try igneous extrusion.
Try a little freeze and thaw.
Try glaciation.
Stand out in the weather for ten thousand years.
We'll talk extraneous."

One thing about rocks:
they cut you half an inch of slack
but never. That's why guys like me
idealize them. I said, "Sage"-
I laid it on a little thick,
this rock I'm talking to,
it's not much bigger than a Chiclet,
but I don't want to give offense-
so I said, "Sage, what
should the human species do?"

To which the rock said nothing,
but he got that look. You know:
they're thinking to themselves,
"Drop dead."