The Accidental Weblog http://accidentalweblog.org/ en-us Nucleus CMS v3.64 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://accidentalweblog.org//nucleus/nucleus2.gif The Accidental Weblog http://accidentalweblog.org/ Rumours of my death http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1823
… and this thing is… releasable, I guess. Things Break (5:07, Ogg, MP3 — 4.7M, 15M respectively).]]> Music Downloads http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1823 Sat, 11 May 2013 13:17:26 -0400 Two more http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1821 Two more Super Earths discovered in their primary’s habitable zone.

I’m crazy swamped right now, can’t say much more than wow.

Still. Wow.]]> General science news http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1821 Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:31:54 -0400 Back in your boxes http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1820 Ophelia’s place:

—

It’s been bashed around these spaces before, but I feel again moved to repeat: the notion that it is inappropriate to be disparaging of religions even if you have thrown them over the side on your own behalf is, well, interesting.

Thoughts I’ve had about the phenomenon, in no particular order:

1) The general meme could generally be seen as an essential part of religions’ outer defensive layers. It may be impossible to keep everyone believing all the time, but keeping them silent (or at least mostly quiet and keeping to themselves) about their unbelief is achievable, so there are social mechanisms for encouraging this. It’s quite possible to stop believing in the god and hang onto this conditioning, and people regularly do.

2) It could likewise be something of an extension of internal mechanisms in play all the time in religious communities. Doubt is a common feature of ‘the religious experience’ and ‘managing’ it is a necessary skill within the religion, and telling wavering believers hush, don’t worry about it, the doubts will fade if you just keep singing the hymns with sufficient enthusiasm is probably a pretty standard technique (and probably works, to a large degree: one does tend to start to believe what they’re saying, so if you can just get people to say they do believe, they’re likely to start to do so—and see also ‘fake it until you make it’). Seeing the same mechanism, pushed outward beyond the religious community, isn’t really surprising. Again, the general notion that you’re supposed to suppress doubt or incredulity, just go along, let people sing their hosannahs and try to look happy about it should be expected to be pretty ubiquitous, given this social aspect of the whole deal.

3) Whether or not the above phrasings really capture the essence of what’s going on, I do also suspect that to a degree, there’s a sort of post hoc rationalization going on in calling vocal expression of unbelief ‘antisocial’. Someone choosing not to express such unbelief is probably also considering the potential social costs of vocal disagreement as among their reasons; saying this is simply the ‘right’ way of behaving justifies this choice, which they may also fear might be perceived, naturally enough, as cowardly.

4) I’m often impressed by what I think are class-based aspects of it. I think I often see this attitude that look, not believing is fine if you’re powerful and wealthy and educated, but the weak and downtrodden and elderly and frightened, they need their illusions to get by. Don’t tell Grandma on her deathbed or the miserable in Cairo’s or Delhi’s slums or the guys who sweep the streets; let’s this just be our little secret, my fellow mover and shaker. Which isn’t so surprising either, given the social roles religion has played, and you just have to wonder how consistently and confidently the royals in the royal cults would have tended to believe they themselves were genuinely descended from gods when they also saw each regularly before their morning toilet; a little loose talk about how the Sun of Ra looks rather less godly before he’s had his facial would probably have been tolerated among those with sufficiently imposing titles.

5) This odd thought above extended: it does seem to me a big part of the recent furor over the Gnus has overtones of this. As in: hey, if the philosophers in their academies want to give lectures or a small elect want to sell each other books published by Prometheus Press, no worries; that’s a smart people thing; they’re allowed; let them have their fun. But if the unwashed start buying stuff by Dawkins by the millions at the chain bookstores, nuh uh, back in your boxes, ye with doctorates and big mouths. That’s not the deal. You’re allowed to talk to each other about it, but such knowledge is not to leak out too far beyond the grad student lounges, thank you kindly.]]> Flim-flam http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1820 Mon, 25 Mar 2013 09:07:13 -0400 Mixed emotions http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1816 I think it’s kind of cool they’ve recovered components of the Apollo 11 F1 engines.

It’s heartening they bothered, impressive they managed what they did, and the historical significance of those incredible bits of metal is a very real thing.

And if it reminds people what was achieved—and/or better still—inspires people to reach beyond that achievement—all good and well done.

But it’s a bit sobering looking at that beast, dripping wet and corroded, sitting on the deck, there, in the photo…

The F1, it’s history now. Has been some decades. Hell, looking at that artifact in that context, it’s pretty much archaeology. Reminds me of looking at bits recovered from Mediterranean wrecks from the era of classical Greece.

And in the meanwhile, since those engines splashed into the ocean, while our species hasn’t exactly rested on any laurels—Hubble was also a huge achievement, Voyager I and II were beautiful things, Galileo and Cassini/Huygens and so on just as well—well…

(And maybe it’s odd timing to be getting all maudlin about this, in a time when one of those robotic probes has arguably just traveled beyond the edge of the very solar system, but still, well…)

Well, the farthest any actual human has been since Apollo 17 has been Earth orbit, and not especially high Earth orbits. Excepting Apollo, no one’s even topped the 1966 Gemini 11 apogee.

So like I said: a bit sobering.

Should we reach further? Granted, again, we certainly have, in our way…

With robots. And robots have many advantages. More bang for the buck, sure. More money on science, less on keeping things made of meat alive in an environment where that has tended to be expensive and difficult, I guess it does make a certain economic sense…

But I keep thinking: we should still be trying harder. Going further. Finding ways to do this anyway, and never mind, sure, it’s complicated, difficult, dangerous, so far. Getting out there, all the same. Recycle those oxygen and water molecules somehow, build powerplants that keep on ticking and cranking out the Joules needed to do that better and faster and cheaper. Really use the ISS for one of its claimed mandates: as a stepping stone, a staging area for further missions. Make it work, the depth of the gravity well against which we must struggle be damned. Get people to Mars and back, and then on and beyond.

We’ve drilled oil wells 10 km deep, starting at more than 1,000 meters below the ocean surface (and granted, the deepest of those didn’t go so well). We’ll chase fossil fuels that hard, engineer what must be to make it possible. Are we really seeking landfall on other planets with as much determination?

I was alive for Apollo, even Apollo 11 barely, though I was too young then to remember even a single liftoff, now. I’d like to hope my children will be able to say something similar.

So yeah. Mixed emotions. That’s a beautiful artifact, on that deck, there. Be nicer to have a working engine, tho’. And one in service. Or, better, a vastly more efficient and powerful descendant technology, taking us farther, still, even than those F1s did.]]> General science news http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1816 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 16:12:35 -0400 Ingersoll, boarding, barely sublimated savagery http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1813
I’m in Tremblant, mostly coaching and working. Working because, well, March, and such is the rhythm of the business, I guess…

Coaching: yeah, well, my daughter asked if I could teach her to snowboard.

She’s doing really well. Managed some four blue runs down the mountain today, the last group from peak to base, no falls. Which is saying something for someone who’s been on the board some four days total, and it’s one of those hard-pack days, bits of ice. Not easy when you’ve only two edges, and can only ever use one (and the correct one, at any given time, if you wish to continue to live), and you’re new at this. So: I’m impressed..

Anyway. And then this evening rolled around and in the adjacent place there were partying college-age types. Not really obnoxious, but there was dance music, playing quiet but just loud enough—at that low, subsonic thumpa thumpa—that Yours Insomniac Truly really couldn’t practically sleep, and never mind everyone else seemed to be managing. Guess I can’t so much blame them, it being Saint Drinking Weekend and all, but y’know: if you can’t sleep, you can’t…

And hey. It had been a long week, and me with little me time over its course. So I figured, hell, let’s give up on the lying here trying not to notice the bass for a bit, go out, just have a brew at my favourite place, see if when I come back in an hour or two if it’s still thumpa thumpa next door. So I put a few logs on the fire, do the dishes quietly enough to avoid waking those sleeping, slip out into the minus fifteen…

Yes, minus fifteen. Weird March break it’s been, up and down, but at least less downright bizarre than last year’s plus twenty, and now, at least, it’s back down to something approaching seasonal…

So I get through that kinda welcomely, familiarly frigid air, get to the place, sit at the bar, have an ale, read some Ingersoll for a bit…

Good for the sanity, Ingersoll, I find, especially with papal conclaves all over the news and the usual froth of silliness from the usual suspects making headlines with sporadic outbursts of what the hell is that anyway. Was Chavez the twelfth imam? Or did they merely have one another’s business cards? It isn’t quite clear (or no more so than is most theology) but still, we are… amused. I think the word is amused, here. Other words are less fit to print. Not, I suppose, that this ever really stopped me.

Good for the sanity indeed…
They found that the ghosts knew nothing of benefit to man; that they were utterly ignorant of geology—of astronomy—of geography;—that they knew nothing of history;—that they were poor doctors and worse surgeons;—that they knew nothing of law and less of justice; that they were without brains, and utterly destitute of hearts; that they knew nothing of the rights of men; that they were despisers of women, the haters of progress, the enemies of science, and the destroyers of liberty.

Tell it, brother. That’s from Ghosts, for the record. Happened to be on my phone, at the time…

Bar was a weird scene, tho’. Turns out there’s this Ultimate Fighting thing on this eve, and the heavier than usual Y-chromosome dominance in the place is probably due this event. It’s up on all the flatscreens: two guys pounding the hell out of each other. Or more the one, pounding the hell out of the other… As I left, the local favourite (thing was in Montréal, apparently, and it was a US and Canadian fighter behind the chain link mesh that apparently marks the ring in these things) was dominating… And in the place, this is no sideshow: they turn up the volume, and everyone’s watching, intently.

And it’s a bit… Bizarre, watching this. Not so much the bout as the audience…

They’re into it. Intensely. With focus. With passion. At one point the local boy’s got the hated enemy on the mat, gets a knee into the poor bastard’s abdomen and all this crowd natty in high-end alpine outerwear are nothing short of wild with a delight that seems heavily underscored with an almost celebratory viciousness. There’s this tint of something pheromonal in the air. And hell, I can feel my own nostrils flaring… Even getting slightly edgy about the flavour of all this… Like geez, sure, this is a pretty well-heeled crowd, and sure, I guess I get this is all sublimation and living vicariously, in this company… Pretty damned unlikely anyone here is gonna throw a punch of their own.

But still, man, that bloodlust, you can practically taste it. It’s like it smells like a brawl in here.

It’s not so much a revelation or nothing. I mean, I guess it’s something I always knew about us slightly more hairless-than-other-chimps: we’re never that far from the edge of claws and teeth and blows, and these are ubiquitous human passions. Watch any crowd at a hockey game, you see the same undisguised hunger for bruising and pain…

Still. A mite alarming, when it’s a room full of that stuff.

I went home. Gonna have to get to sleep, now. Aerials to attempt in the morning…

I’m guessing from the noises the neighbours were making when I returned, however, the local boy prevailed.]]> General http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1813 Sun, 17 Mar 2013 01:39:31 -0400 Until it gets boring http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1811 22 more backside ones (2:01, H.264, 36 MB), done at lunch, yesterday. Specifically: 12 to switch, 10 from. I’m letting the camera run, now, just to get a look at how I’m popping, especially, so have this footage anyway. Been hunting around for some coaching but haven’t found it, yet, so being able to see what it looks like is invaluable, in the meantime (and I guess would be anyway).

Yeah, kinda repetitive. But practising things is like that. You know… You ‘re sure you can really do it when it actually starts getting boring.

Getting pretty reliable, now, anyway. Had one fall in the whole session (not shown). And, yep, I can pull off six or seven of these in a row now with neither a fall nor a rest.

And yeah, I know, this whole thing must be looking a bit like an obsession now…

So it’s an obsession. Still. I’m gonna nail these things.]]> Skiing/Boarding http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1811 Thu, 21 Feb 2013 04:32:02 -0500 AJ's Cosmic Thing now lives here http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1809
Didn’t happen. Mea culpe. I’m badly busy. Honestly, I didn’t even realize anyone was using it anymore. And then people started finding me asking me what gives…

So here it is. Now. Yes, I could have done this more gracefully. Forgive me. Thing is, I kept meaning to retire that installation, move everything from over there over here, move on with life. And this kinda pushed me. Anyway…

Anyway: in hopes that Google and their peers/competitors find this and index it and the many links around the web eventually find it again, it now lives at:

AJ’s Cosmic Thing.

Tell your friends, anyone who uses it. And note also for those of you who know what it is that yes, Gienah also still exists. Hasn’t been developed in years, either, but does have some kickin’ catalogs compared to The Thing, and can be found here:

Gienah.

I had a little fun bringing this code back, honestly. True story: some of the source on the Thing is from late 1996. That, my friends, for the web, is close to prehistoric.]]> Software http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1809 Wed, 13 Feb 2013 23:36:26 -0500 More 180s http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1806 looking better (9.8MB, 60 secs, H.264 encoded*)…

As to how I got it that way, it was the usual deal. Keep trying, make all possible errors, until, eventually, there are none left to make…

… and speaking of, here are the occasionally embarrassing outtakes (24 MB, 2m10s, H.264 again).

(*/So it may or may not play nicely with your browser/video player… But it’s really a pretty good codec for stuff like this.)]]> Skiing/Boarding http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1806 Tue, 29 Jan 2013 21:27:33 -0500 Four 180s http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1801




So back when those two huge-ish storms came through around Christmas, and dumped all that snow everywhere, I took some of what I had to shovel off of walks and roofs anyway and piled it up into a small takeoff hill and a kicker in the backyard…

Yes, really. I mean, hey, the neighbours maintain a skating rink in their yard through the winter. I figure this is only fair…

(Sure, it’s gonna be a bit much if anyone, say, insists upon building a speed skating oval. But until then.)

Anyway. Today I finally had the time at lunch on a day when enough snow was falling to make actually using the thing safe enough (there’s not much of a runout… things get too packed, I’m likely to wind up in the neighbours’ rink, thing is, so some fresh snow is a good thing…)

So I got out there (as opposed to, say, eating), and it turns out it’s a real sweetheart of a setup. Don’t get much speed, but it’s real easy to turn 180s over this thing, ‘long as you swing the board quicklike in the 1’ or so of air very briefly achieved.

So I set up a camera. Results are attached. (MPEG-4, 3MB, 26s).

No, we’re not talking big air, here. And yes, that backside from switch is still pretty rough. It is the least practiced of the lot.

Still, they’re generally coming along, if I do say so myself.

(Next backyard project: a bigger hill. And mebbe a lift.)]]> Skiing/Boarding http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1801 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:43:21 -0500 The lesson being http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1800
It was partly just fatigue that I stayed off the kickers—long, hard week at work. And also it was a very cold day, with very hard landings. And partly that I’ve generally been advised learning to nail those hop and spin things is good for your form. If you can spin ‘em with the tiny bit of air you get that way, that’s a good thing, and also, you get the form so you’re comfortable jumping from the kicker, which makes tripping over the lip a lot less likely…

Got many variations working pretty… okay. I’m going to go with okay. Still have trouble rotating solidly into the fall line, when pointed that way, but cutting into the hill a bit, I’m all right. My backside to-switch from toe edge, I can almost call reliable, now… musta landed a few dozen of those. I’m still a little awkward bringing all of ‘em down, tho’. There’s this thing I keep doing where the top of the body is a little slow coming around. Oh, I land ‘em; they just look and feel less than entirely smooth. But I have a longish skeleton, for this stuff, so I expect this is doing to be a bit of a thing for me. Lot of angular momentum to manage, and I need to manage it right. But, generally, anyway, I stick those now, which is progress…

Anyway, I’ve still got this mild complex about these things, all the same. Feel a little silly, sometimes, y’know? It’s always nice when I meet some other guy on the lift obviously with a 3 or a 4 in the tens column of his age with a terrain park pass, and I get to think for that moment: if this is a bit nuts, well, at least I’m not the only one…

And these spins, this weekend, especially, I’m doing on blues and greens—beginner runs and flats, just wait ‘til there’s tonnes of space around me, so I’m not panicking actual beginners by suddenly going airborne and spinning. And that’s a bit… Well, y’know, there’s often older folk on those, just out, just learning, and I wonder whatinhell they might be thinking. Like, man, what are you even doing? Isn’t that stuff for kids?

So anyway, I do it all the same, thinking: under goggles and helmet, who can tell for sure anyway? And whether or not they do, my business. And seriously, I’ve done everything else, anyway… And if I spin it, I land it (or not), it’s all good. I try not to let it bug me.

And I get through the whole thing—two days of that, the kids in their lessons—with no injuries at all to speak of. Legs sore just from all the effort, actually, which is pretty much ideal: muscles learning and building. So many turns, my legs are saying, c’mon, you’ve got to be kidding us… Another, now?

… and then I get back to the city, pick up the cats from my mother-in-law’s place…

… and slip in the ice on the driveway and bruise my hip.

No, it’s not at all bad. Hardly counts as a bruise, seriously. And I’m rolling out of it as I hit the damned ice and concrete (and man, do I know how to fall now, from all this stuff, which is just bonus, when you think about it) and I’m already grimacing, thinking, y’know…

… y’know, shit happens. You can get hurt so many ways. Whyinhell not do it trying something actually fun? Seriously, if I’d really done something debilitating in that driveway, I’d be kicking myself I hadn’t been trying for more air on the hill.

The lesson being, I think: seriously, just go for it, dammit. Do something fun, and do something a little bit scary. The ground is coming, one way or another, anyway.]]> Skiing/Boarding http://accidentalweblog.org/index.php?itemid=1800 Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:08:46 -0500