Erika now has a blue acoustic guitar. Guitars sound lovely, but I keep thinking there must be a good simple mechanical way to hold the dratted strings down, and damp them, and... In short, it makes me want to build a homemade piano, or at least a hurdy-gurdy. We went to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, which is half treasure trove, half the greatest dusty antique shop the world has ever seen. Most museums want to you look at each piece, and ponder it. The V & A wants to see how many things it can cram onto a shelf. Anyway, they have a collection of musical instruments, including many hurdy-gurdys, a Serpentine, which resembles, well, a giant bassoon shaped like a serpent, and many similar ill-thought out contraptions, all ornately carved and inlaid, some with fairly disturbing figure-heads. And the clocks, such clocks.
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(7)
11:27:31 AM,
Tuesday 21 January 2003
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To grass, or leaf, or fruit, or wall,
The snail sticks close, nor fears to fall,
As if he grew there, house and all
Together.
Within that house secure he hides,
When danger imminent betides
Of storm, or other harm besides
Of weather.
Give but his horns the slightest touch,
His self-collecting power is such
He shrinks into his house with much
Displeasure.
Where'er he dwells, he dwells alone,
Except himself has chattels none,
Well satisfied to be his own
Whole treasure.
Thus hermit-like, his life he leads,
Nor partner of his banquet needs,
And if he meets one only feeds
The faster.
Who seeks him must be worse than blind,
(He and his house are so combined,)
If, finding it, he fails to find
Its master.
-William Cowper (1731)
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(2)
05:14:10 PM,
Monday 20 January 2003
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Nothing really smells funny. I can't think of a single odor that is inherently amusing.
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(2)
05:42:06 PM,
Sunday 19 January 2003
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Black Hawk Down is a much better movie than I thought it would be. Pretty shiny, with noble military stupidity, which gets me every time. No acting, no heros, awful dialog, so a step below Bridge on the River Kwai and Zulu. Very much like Zulu. Does anyone else like Zulu, or am I a horrible imperialist pig? There is an essay to be written using the two films to illuminate the difference between the myths of the American and British Empires, the stories they tell about themselves. The tension between an overriding concern for human life and complete slaughter was well done. Felt a bit like a movie made under censorship, with the thoughts buried under the party line. Nothing is more important than life in our current culture; nothing is worth dying for except saving lives. This seems wrong to me. This is why the peace marchers depress me. They aren't calling to anything noble, they refuse to acknowledge that such things might exist.
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(6)
04:55:55 PM,
Saturday 18 January 2003
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I had a dream that I was back in high school sex-ed class, and we had to get into groups for a presentation, and no one wanted to work with Dick Cheney, who was sitting in the back of the room in a nice suit, slouched in his desk with a sneer on his face.
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05:06:57 PM,
Friday 17 January 2003
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Still haven't got my voice back. The interesting thing is that I'm learning ways to use my new voice to express emotion, since most of the old ones are temporarily unavailiable, and my default tone is tired irritation, through no intent of my own.
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10:25:59 PM,
Wednesday 15 January 2003
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John Peel played a version of Paint it Black by the Finnish shouting choir, Mieskouro Huutajat during his Wednesday January 8th show. You can also here a version of the Star-Spangled Banner on their website. I can honestly say I haven't heard anything like it before. The grainy pictures of shouting Finns alone are worth the effort of clicking.
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01:51:14 PM,
Wednesday 15 January 2003
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John Peel played a version of Paint it Black by the Finnish shouting choir, _
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01:50:50 PM,
Wednesday 15 January 2003
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I don't like Woody Allen's Sleeper. It may be the first one I've wholeheartedly disliked. Granted, I was in the wrong mood, but he's just really awful at physical comedy. Final Fantasy X, on the other hand, is fantastic. Like Lodoss War, only interactive, and longer.
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09:48:36 PM,
Tuesday 14 January 2003
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Heh. "No, we don't want to talk to you, but we will talk to the previous administration." I suppose if Bush called me evil, I'd want to make him look stupid too.
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08:11:23 PM,
Thursday 9 January 2003
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I've decided I have bronchitis. Fortunately, this decision means I don't need to go to the doctor immediately, because bronchitis doesn't require any fancy drugs. So today I sit with a bowl of hot water and a towel over my head. However, if it doesn't get better in another 4-5 days, I may have to go. Its been 9 days already. Dying of neglected lung ailments just looks kind of silly, and I can't imagine a sandwich and 5 glasses of orange juice, and all the tea I can swill a day is really a healthy diet for any length of time.
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(2)
09:13:04 AM,
Monday 6 January 2003
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In England. Attempted to blog from a phone booth, but failed. Coming home tomorrow. Have Marmite Crisps.
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(2)
12:25:20 PM,
Sunday 29 December 2002
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New release of my game. Play Air-hockey style game against computer player.
Changes:
Opponent now alive. Hard, but not impossible.
Improved collisions. Not fixed, but improved.
Much easier paddle control.
Nifty little self-installer.
Has been proven to work on Windows 98, 2000, and XP. Should work on ME and NT as well, but not on 95.
There's a lot more ready, but the interface isn't in place for it yet. This is because we bought a PS2 for christmas, and I really have to defeat Sin. History of Lodoss war has nothing on Final Fantasy X.
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05:06:29 PM,
Sunday 15 December 2002
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This may be the strangest thing a website has ever said to me: Customers who wear clothes also shop for: Notice that this book by the Italian PM is apparently worn, presumably on the head, along with Clean Underwear, Ladybug Rain Boots, Arm Warmers, and Cheetah Print Slippers.
Wait a minute, clean underwear?
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(2)
08:18:00 PM,
Thursday 12 December 2002
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When he was running for Prime Minister, Berlusconi sent a copy of his biography free of charge to every Italian household. Now, he's releasing an album of love songs. Can we have an Axis of Tacky, as well?
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08:13:36 PM,
Thursday 12 December 2002
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It seems a little odd that Trent Lott is getting all this grief for saying nice things about Strom Thurmond, while Strom Thurmond on the whole has got away with being Strom Thurmond for the last 100 years.
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(1)
01:55:42 PM,
Wednesday 11 December 2002
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We live about a block from Tealuxe. On a whim, I bought some bulk tea from them, and when I tried to go back to Twinings, I was disappointed. So now I'm paying 10 cents a gram for tea. This comes to about 20 cents a cup. The thing is, they also sell some 40 cents a gram teas, and I'm horribly tempted. Tempted to plunk down 40 dollars for a cup of dried leaves. Which reminds me, Bob Newhart's tobacco sketch is hilarious. However, it must be heard, not read.
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11:21:43 AM,
Wednesday 11 December 2002
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I've just put in control of significant digits, so I can control the accuracy of a paddles anticipation. Unfortunately, I put it in after many of the calculations were already done, after the processor had already solved the problems for full doubles. I hope it will forgive me.
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04:04:08 PM,
Tuesday 10 December 2002
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Hmm. I'm trying to decide whether to spend any of our 2 weeks in London in Paris, and if so, how much. There are two options: arrive thursday afternoon, leave sunday morning, stay in hostel; or arrive saturday 10am, leave saturday 7pm. The longer trip costs twice as much. Any thoughts? Is the opportunity to wander around Paris rather than London on a cold winters day worth a few hundred dollars? Is the Louvre the best use of Paris-time, or should the time instead be spend wandering around aimlessly gawking? I assume the Eiffel Tower should be avoided at all costs.
My motives are suspect; I think I mostly just want to have taken a really fast train under an ocean; but, cool as it is, its not like the chunnel has windows.
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(3)
12:21:34 PM,
Tuesday 10 December 2002
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Cancelling NetFlix Not because I don't like it, but because I haven't been watching them at a fast enough clip to make it financially sensible. Once I was through the Woody Allen backcatalog and Buffy seasons 1 and 2, much of the motivation was gone.
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(1)
07:11:37 PM,
Monday 9 December 2002
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Bobby Friction & Nihal. British Bhangra: Anglo-Indian urban dance music. Not as many tablas as I'd hoped, but still.
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02:51:05 PM,
Sunday 8 December 2002
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Mac people: Word processor recommendations?
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(1)
01:54:45 PM,
Sunday 8 December 2002
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Pledge Month on NPR has forced me to listen to web radio. BBC Radio 1 is the best pop radio station I've ever listened to. No ads, all real DJ's with actual taste, and a wierd ability to play all genres of american music during the same show. The Peel Show and the Evening Session are both wonderful shows. This solves the problem of how pop music should be funded after the internet; it should be supported by the british taxpayers. One problem; they have no idea what time it is. They get it completely wrong, and its confusing.
They just played The Flaming Lips 'Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robot' and have finally made a convert of me.
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01:52:34 PM,
Sunday 8 December 2002
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The Tiny Goat
By The Gothic Archies
The tiny goat wanted a birthday par - ty
and sent out invitations to its friends
but when the day came none of them remembered
so it put out its eyes with fountain pens
The world is cruel and the moon remote
Suicide was not an option for the ti - ny goat
The tiny goat was very, very ugly
and like all ugly things it fell in love
When twenty years of waiting turned to nothing
It swallowed lye and lay down on the stove
When the world bites, there's no antidote
Who would want to spend forever with a tiny goat?
The world's a leech crawling down one's throat
One would rather be a tick than be a tiny goat
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(4)
10:26:16 PM,
Saturday 7 December 2002
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Here is how I'm hoping the development of this Pong paddle breeding game is going to work;
Soon, I should have a basic air-hockey sim ready, with 6 or so paddles to choose from, several tables, Mouse, keyboard or numberpad control, 1 - 2 player and variable strength AI. I'm hoping get this far before we go to London on the 16th. Does anyone use joysticks anymore? Its the ideal input device for this game, but I don't have one, and I suspect only flight simulator people still do.
When I get back, I'll start working on a Shufflepuck Cafe-style game, where you have to work your way to the top of a league, or ladder, or some such thing. This will be where I work to develop various AI strategies, work on game balance, and some sort of tournament/league structure. This will also be where I start trying to make them more animal-like.
At that point, I'll start making a RPG (not a role playing game, an RPG) where instead of controlling a paddle, you create computer controlled characters, and have to guide them to a championship, make money, defeat evil, find the McGuffin, something. This will be when I start adding sports management sim stuff; experience, training, coaching, temprament, scouting enemy paddles, things like that. I'm planning to experiment with team pong as well. This will be where email play becomes possible; there will be no in-game coaching, so people will simply be able to email paddle data files, get game files back, and watch at their leisure.
Then, finally I'll put together the actual paddle genome, paddle life cycle, diseases and disorders of paddles, create a market for Paddle-Eggs, and generally start working on the actual game.
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12:09:41 PM,
Friday 6 December 2002
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I was just very disappointed to discover that the lyric isn't actually "Keep on dancing on a fraction", but rather "and a prancing". This is what happens when you let young children listen to oldies stations.
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11:02:49 AM,
Friday 6 December 2002
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Frequency of Thought and Speed of Thought are distinct variables; the first, how often you think, and the second, how old the thought is by the time it gets to the appropriate output device. Frequency of thought in Paddles will be inversely related to attention span; speed of thought will be inversely related to complexity of the thought attempted. Practice will improve speed of thought, but will not be able to effect frequency.
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09:43:45 PM,
Thursday 5 December 2002
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I'm not quite sure which is worse, spending a day trying very hard to accomplish something and failing, or simply frittering one away. I spent most of today trying to get my polygons to anti-alias, and failing. I think the solution is to cook.
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05:12:46 PM,
Thursday 5 December 2002
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I just realized; I'm not a underemployed Data Analyst, I'm a Struggling Artist! Hmm. Maybe not. That phrase always makes me think of writhing artists tied to chairs.
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(2)
09:59:11 AM,
Thursday 5 December 2002
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Well, I feel dense. I just divided 167 by 10,000. Using long division.
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09:57:33 AM,
Thursday 5 December 2002
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There is now a lovely .ini file, so all the fun constants can be tweaked without recompiling. Of course, it's not actually reading the .ini file yet, but still.
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11:06:49 PM,
Wednesday 4 December 2002
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I'm really starting to think that this whole Catholic scandal should be a criminal and not a civil matter; aiding and abetting, something like that. The church declaring backruptcy and paying out to victims isn't any kind of solution. I want to see something like the IBM anti-trust, where the government appoints overseers to monitor the Catholic church. Imagine the fuss! A civil approach will just turn it into a ugly nasty money-grubbing affair, with false allegations, recovered memories and all sorts of garbage obscuring the moral outrage. There should never, ever be financial reward for accusing someone of a crime, especially something as difficult to prove as child abuse.
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07:26:26 PM,
Wednesday 4 December 2002
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I just spend several hours playing with this Java Penrose Tile Set
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(1)
04:11:39 PM,
Tuesday 3 December 2002
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Here is my current problem. If you have a moving circle, and a rotating line, how do you find when they meet? If I can solve this, I can have the paddles rotate. Hmm. Also, if you have a rotating point and a moving circle, how to you find when they meet, but that should be easier. I should start with that. Of course, I could simply have it guess until it gets close enough, but thats ugly. This should be knowable.
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09:10:43 AM,
Sunday 1 December 2002
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Little sneaking rounding errors.
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(3)
08:53:34 PM,
Wednesday 27 November 2002
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Non-prescription Claratin! The world is now significantly less stupid.
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05:53:41 PM,
Wednesday 27 November 2002
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