Friday, November 27, 2009
Not quite ready to plunk down millions of dollars for this, but....
it's a good sign the state of the art in quantum computing is moving up fast; keep in mind we went from house-sized computers affordable only by major governments to desktops in only about thirty years - so I could very well be playing (indirectly) with ultracold beryllium islands in my lifetime (or more likely, some alternate technology that achieves the same effects).
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Quote of the Day
Jibun no toile ga ichiban, demo okusan ha hoka no okusan ga ii
(My best man learned this one in Japanese class at the U of R. I'm sure the professor is safely retired now)
(My best man learned this one in Japanese class at the U of R. I'm sure the professor is safely retired now)
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Quote of the day
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Quote of the day
I cannot agree with those who rank modesty among the virtues. To the logician all things should be seen exactly as they are, and to underestimate one's self is as much a departure from truth as to exaggerate one's own powers.
"Sherlock Holmes"
"Sherlock Holmes"
Monday, November 16, 2009
Recommendation: I Am A Strange Loop
This book by Hofstadter (best known for Goedel, Escher, Bach) pretty much means I don't have to write it. If you are interested in the nature of the self and the meaning of consciousness, this book is for you. You might not agree with it, but you should be aware of that point of view.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Quote of the day
Every industry or occupation that has enough political power to utilize the state will seek to control entry - Stigler
The Leonard Cohen concert
My brother Joerg encouraged me to post a review of the concert from last weekend.
It seems a bit silly to review it - as long as Leonard Cohen was there, he could pretty much just sit on the stage and grunt, and it would still be one of the high points of my life.
He didn't just sit and grunt, though, his performance was jaunty. He skipped onto the stage and trotted his way right into "Dance Me To The End of Love". This is a song that my wife Jocelyn first heard on a Madeleine Peyroux album, without knowing that it was a Leonard Cohen song. I guess that is how most people hear their Leonard Cohen songs, at least those who haven't been privileged to see him in concert.
Considering he is 75 years old, the physical approach to his performance might be a bit ostentatious - there is just NO WAY he is in as good a shape as he wants us to believe. Nevertheless, you can only fake so much, and it is clear that it is not only women who have been exceptionally kind to his old age (for non-Cohen afficionados, that is a reference to his "Because of a few songs/Wherein I spoke of their mystery/Women have been exceptionally kind to my old age").
I suppose when you are Leonard Cohen, you can pretty much pick which musicians you want to tour with, and his picks were impressive. My friend Matt (who accompanied us with his wife Colleen) commented that there were a couple of instrumentalists on stage that he'd be willing to go to a separate concert just to hear them alone. Cohen gives them due credit, introducing each at least twice, with some idiosyncratic words of praise. Javier Mas appears to take precedence, but each one gets an opportunity for the spotlight, and makes good use of it. The angelic Webb sisters even presented us (as LC put it, "on voice, harp, and gymnastics!" with synchronized cartwheels.
Having seen another performance in Canada a few months ago, I can testify these are not "cookie cutter" presentations....this time there was a song ("Darkness") I had NEVER heard before (yes, turns out it was new). "Ain't no cure for love" was launched without the narrative lead-in I heard in Canada (and that is present on the album, with a catalog of drugs taken and a mention of the study of religions, "but the cheerfulness kept breaking through") - in fact, he didn't seem to be in a chatty mood that night, but he really gave the performance his all.
At our hotel, Jocelyn met a man who was also there for the concert and was following LC to see another concert in a few days. He mentioned that next spring LC planned to tour in France. Jocelyn, a recent convert to Cohen, would be willing to travel that far!
It seems a bit silly to review it - as long as Leonard Cohen was there, he could pretty much just sit on the stage and grunt, and it would still be one of the high points of my life.
He didn't just sit and grunt, though, his performance was jaunty. He skipped onto the stage and trotted his way right into "Dance Me To The End of Love". This is a song that my wife Jocelyn first heard on a Madeleine Peyroux album, without knowing that it was a Leonard Cohen song. I guess that is how most people hear their Leonard Cohen songs, at least those who haven't been privileged to see him in concert.
Considering he is 75 years old, the physical approach to his performance might be a bit ostentatious - there is just NO WAY he is in as good a shape as he wants us to believe. Nevertheless, you can only fake so much, and it is clear that it is not only women who have been exceptionally kind to his old age (for non-Cohen afficionados, that is a reference to his "Because of a few songs/Wherein I spoke of their mystery/Women have been exceptionally kind to my old age").
I suppose when you are Leonard Cohen, you can pretty much pick which musicians you want to tour with, and his picks were impressive. My friend Matt (who accompanied us with his wife Colleen) commented that there were a couple of instrumentalists on stage that he'd be willing to go to a separate concert just to hear them alone. Cohen gives them due credit, introducing each at least twice, with some idiosyncratic words of praise. Javier Mas appears to take precedence, but each one gets an opportunity for the spotlight, and makes good use of it. The angelic Webb sisters even presented us (as LC put it, "on voice, harp, and gymnastics!" with synchronized cartwheels.
Having seen another performance in Canada a few months ago, I can testify these are not "cookie cutter" presentations....this time there was a song ("Darkness") I had NEVER heard before (yes, turns out it was new). "Ain't no cure for love" was launched without the narrative lead-in I heard in Canada (and that is present on the album, with a catalog of drugs taken and a mention of the study of religions, "but the cheerfulness kept breaking through") - in fact, he didn't seem to be in a chatty mood that night, but he really gave the performance his all.
At our hotel, Jocelyn met a man who was also there for the concert and was following LC to see another concert in a few days. He mentioned that next spring LC planned to tour in France. Jocelyn, a recent convert to Cohen, would be willing to travel that far!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
RIP Lévi-Strauss
I actually missed the news of the death of the father of anthropology at the age of 100, but there is a rather nice post in memoriam for him at Language Log:
Ultimately the work of Lévi-Strauss was as seminal as the work of Freud and Chomsky. It matters little whether any of these three is correct. In fact they are probably all wrong about their views on what is universal in the human psyche. But progress in the mind is not so much finding the truth as learning to ask useful questions that bring new rigor and satisfaction to research and researchers.
Quote of the day
The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom. -Milton Friedman
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
My first comment spam!
Most bloggers consider this sort of thing an annoyance. OK, it really IS an annoyance of sorts. But since it is my first, it's kind of interesting.
Even if I HAVE no use for Viagra.
Even if I HAVE no use for Viagra.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
A job saved is....what?
It's no great secret that I'm not very impressed by most government programs, and the latest ones have been among the least impressive, struggling to save a dime by burning a dollar. You can always try to make it look good by fudging up some numbers, like here in the "jobs saved" category.
Obama seems to be following quite capably in Bush's footsteps.
Obama seems to be following quite capably in Bush's footsteps.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
For those interested in blood spatter....
There is an interesting tutorial by Slemko Forensic Consulting here. Don't ask.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Quote of the day
", when preceded by itself in quotes, is unprovable.", when preceded by itself in quotes, is unprovable.
(A Quine)
(A Quine)
Quote of the day - quoting myself
A girl should have a hot ass and a cool head.
- me, to a girl who was runnin a fever (no, I did not personally check the temperature of either end)
- me, to a girl who was runnin a fever (no, I did not personally check the temperature of either end)
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Before my time?
As long as I'm exhuming old writings, might as well put up a bit of prose...back from high school. You can see that well before Obama, I was concerned about energy independence (of course, since this was not long after the oil embargo, so was everybody else in the USA at the time).
---------------------------------------------------
Smelly feet are one of the few resources in the United States that are as yet unexploited.
The essence of smelly feet should be collected, concentrated, and bottled. In the bottled state, the scent would be a formidable non-lethal self-defense - we would be as safe in our persons as the skunk is. Crime in our cities would be quickly extinguished. Naturally, the scent would have to be used judiciously, or the law-abiding citizens might flee into the country as well.
Because some of the gases released by our feet are flammable, if those gases can be captured, they might provide a new fuel source. Wouldn't it be worth exploring whether our foot odor could make us independent of the Arabs?
So harness foot odor for a better world!
---------------------------------------------------
On more mature reflection, the energy content of stinky feet is probably inadequate for our nation's needs. Also, the scent might not be "non-lethal", judging by my wife's after a long day at work in pantyhose.
---------------------------------------------------
Smelly feet
Smelly feet are one of the few resources in the United States that are as yet unexploited.
The essence of smelly feet should be collected, concentrated, and bottled. In the bottled state, the scent would be a formidable non-lethal self-defense - we would be as safe in our persons as the skunk is. Crime in our cities would be quickly extinguished. Naturally, the scent would have to be used judiciously, or the law-abiding citizens might flee into the country as well.
Because some of the gases released by our feet are flammable, if those gases can be captured, they might provide a new fuel source. Wouldn't it be worth exploring whether our foot odor could make us independent of the Arabs?
So harness foot odor for a better world!
---------------------------------------------------
On more mature reflection, the energy content of stinky feet is probably inadequate for our nation's needs. Also, the scent might not be "non-lethal", judging by my wife's after a long day at work in pantyhose.
Last Testament
That's really all the poems that I ever put on the web before. The others would probably be best forgotten, as far as art is concerned. But they might provide some insight into a young man's pouting and pretensions, so I'll inflict them on you anyway.
This next can be said to have been written before its time...mostly because "emo" really wasn't in style yet. Nevertheless, as maudlin as it is, I'm happy with the way it flows.
As the coffin slowly lowers
Do not weep to see me part --
The gentle hands of death assuage
The ruins of my heart.
You never wept to see me go
Those days I strived to win your hand;
And then, as now, I would not leave
Without some faint command.
At MY command I flee today
To beg the shadows' grace
My only music, light, or warmth
Are visions of your face:
Let my death now not torment you
Nor my passing draw your sighs
For the darkness that enfolds me
Frames the brilliance of your eyes.
This next can be said to have been written before its time...mostly because "emo" really wasn't in style yet. Nevertheless, as maudlin as it is, I'm happy with the way it flows.
Last Testament
As the coffin slowly lowers
Do not weep to see me part --
The gentle hands of death assuage
The ruins of my heart.
You never wept to see me go
Those days I strived to win your hand;
And then, as now, I would not leave
Without some faint command.
At MY command I flee today
To beg the shadows' grace
My only music, light, or warmth
Are visions of your face:
Let my death now not torment you
Nor my passing draw your sighs
For the darkness that enfolds me
Frames the brilliance of your eyes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
