Archive for November, 2008
Fun Is Where You Find It: The Tune
Posted by jim in Audio Island, Fun Is Where You Find It, Pattern Juggling, Self-Indulgent Wankery on November 27, 2008
Much has been written on the Refuge regarding what might be termed fine motor co-ordination experiments. That, and something to do with playing the drums in a manner that most drummers don’t, you know, like backwards. Some might ask “What is the point of practicing a double paradiddle on a bunch of left-side mounted toms for a right handed drummer?” I guess one could be philosophical and say “Because it’s there” but ultimately, doing something musical is what matters, at least to this little bonobo. Exercising your brain to perform unusual patterns at will simply gives the musician a larger vocabulary. You may never use it in casual conversation but it’s nice to know what “crepuscular” means (and perhaps more important, you get to make funny bastardizations like “crapuscular”).
In any case, for the curious two or three Refuge readers and the occasional demented passer-by, here’s a tune that recently emanated from the not-particularly-normal brain and appendages of yours truly. Yeah, this is the sort of thing I do on my days off. It’s called Fun Is Where You Find It. It’s about three minutes and 54 seconds of fun-finding, or approximately the duration of a world class mile race.
Some technical details. There are two basic tracks, electronic drums and bass. The synth pads are also triggered by the drums. The tune uses an ABACBA structure. The drums are panned as if the listener was sitting behind the kit rather than in front watching. Thus, you will hear roto-toms off the left and right as I have a symmetrical kit (three toms each side for this kit). For example, there is a little fill in the A section that sounds pretty standard as it moves across three small rotos, but they are played from center to the left in spite of the fact that the pitches are descending. This allows for a complementary fill later on the right side using more conventional sticking. The C section features marimba and xylophone parts, but like the drums, these are electronic instruments not the real thing (have you priced a symphonic marimba recently??)
One thing is certain after listening (well, besides the occasional sloppy playing and thrown-together mix): I rather enjoy dissonance and quirky rhythmic snippets. Hey, it’s just the way my brain is wired.
Oh, and happy Thanksgiving.
Update, Friday Nov 28, 9:40 AM Apparently the server where the tune resides is undergoing maintenance (link above), so here is an alternate link.
So, when did you start to hate e-mail?
Posted by docbushwell in Ninnytechnology on November 24, 2008
My use of electronic mail began over 15 years ago, with the client being Dartmouth College’s BlitzMail interface. This was back in the days when the word Internet was not frequently used, but terms like Gopher, Hyperstack, and NCSA were. As someone who even then enjoyed written communication, this was an endearing, even giddy novelty. Interestingly, 90% of the people I initially exchanged “Blitzes” with were classmates I sat in lecture halls with for four or more hours a day, but then friends at other schools and workplaces started getting e-mail accounts of their own, and the race was on.
Happy Birthday Rene Magritte
Posted by jim in More Art, Then Science on November 21, 2008
Today would’ve been Magritte‘s 110th birthday. The Google homepage has an homage to the Belgian surrealist painter, a combination of the works The Son of Man and Golconda.
I’ve been attracted to his work for many years and have a reproduction of The Son of Man in my office and a lovely little Golconda magnet on the ‘fridge.
The Golden Gate Bridge suicide phenomenon
Posted by docbushwell in My Bent Brain on November 19, 2008
A man named Eric Steel has stubbornly filmed the jumping suicides of 24 people from the Golden Gate Bridge in 2004.
I’m not sure anyone wants to watch this.
I happen to have a been a city resident at the time, doing diabetes research. I never saw a jumper, but a running friend had. This person saw a guy who was just poised, and, with no warning, sprang over the edge of the bridge, hands-free. Apparently all sorts of people saw it.
I always figured that if I were to do the deed, I’d jump. Messy if not done over water, certainly. I”m just too much of a wimp to deal with with the final seconds, in which virtually everyone reconsiders. Takng one’s own life is just contrary to biology, after all.
I’m reminded of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which connects Pinellas County in Florida with Manatee County via I-275. I thought more than once of leaping off that fucker into Tampa Bay. No one lives through that.
Editorializing, the Skyway is a freakish and scary structure to cross. Like the Golden Gate, there is camera monitoring on the highest span, and a cop is always there to talk jumpers down. Of course, if someone wants to park his car on top of the bridge, get out, and jump apace, there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
In May of 1980, in one of the most notable bridge disasters ever, a freight boat crashed into a pier of the old Skyway during a storm, knocking out a quarter-mile long span of the bridge. 35 people died (a Greyhound bus was on the span at the time). I was ten years old and remember it well because I was such a bridge nut. The entrance to the old bridge has been converted into a park, and many people fish there.
Priest denies someone some stuff, somewhere
Posted by docbushwell in We're Doomed on November 19, 2008
The fallout in the wake of the election continues to amuse.
The thing is, I don’t quite understand it. For example, what is the general point of a Catholic priest in South Carolina who claims to be denying pro-Obamans their right to Holy Communion? Is this a weekly thing? Does this mean he’s starving them, or merely that there’s something essential they are not getting anymore on Sundays? I am sure that I could go without a cracker and a bit of punch on Sundays, if you asked me to take up a hardship case.
I think my dad was once Catholic by force, so I could ask him. He might have purged this from his memory banks, though.
I grew up in New England, meaning that virtually all of the religious people I knew were Catholic. The end result of this is that they drank, smoked, and did drugs to at least the extent that I did, if not worse. I therefore can’t figure out if I should be pissed off at this fringe character’s musings or not.
Eleven atheist billboards make the Colorado scene
Posted by docbushwell in Catablogic Blathering on November 19, 2008
Now that I’ve expended my quota of navel-gazing for the year and probably for 2009 as well, I can go back to posting like an asshole.
I suppose this is interesting mainly for its novelty. I can’t even feign surprise at the vacuity of the nutter droning on about how American Christians have served as a model of tolerance for the rest of the world to aspire to. He said it with a straight face, but he’s still crazy. Hell, they can’t even tolerate each other, much less people of other religions, homos, and the rest of us. Then again, the newsies always seek to find the most extreme of the extreme, and I don’t pretend that Bob Enyart is representative of anything or anyone besides his own quaintly childish points of view.
One thing that did strike me about the article was its classic wording:
Eleven billboards in have gone up in metro Denver and Colorado Springs that question the existence of God.
Bullshit. The billboards do not merely “question” anything, they state categorically what their creators believe know. You wouldn’t ever see a standard, pro-religion (or neutral) article claiming that people merely “question” atheists. This is demonstrative of the current state of thinking in America, somewhat ironic in light of what this piece is about.
Finally, since I’m obligated to piss on everyone and everything, I will note my own shock at what a hillbilly town Colorado Springs seemed to be when I spent four weeks there as a member of the U.S. Army in 1996. A cowboy town. I had envisioned in my naivete all of Colorado being a Boulder-esque, runner-and-cyclist-charged bastion of stoner-happy progressivity, and I was dead fucking wrong on that score. Still, it’s a beautiful-ass place. I got to see both Pike’s Peak and the Royal Gorge Bridge in the same weekend, and there are not many parts of the country that offer that luxury.
I filed this under “Doc B’s Big Bag of What the Hell” just because I never noticed that category, and because I can.
Then again, no one’s confusing the AFA with genius
Posted by docbushwell in We're Doomed on November 19, 2008
Has it really not occurred to anyone at the American Family Association that some people might find this offensive?
An “OOPS!” for the ages.
Posted by docbushwell in Lost in Space on November 19, 2008
HOUSTON (AP) — Flight controllers were revamping plans Wednesday for the remaining spacewalks planned during space shuttle Endeavour’s visit to the international space station, after a crucial tool bag floated out to space during a repair trip.
The briefcase-sized tool bag drifted away from astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper on Tuesday as she cleaned and lubed a gummed-up joint on a wing of solar panels on the space station. She and fellow astronaut Stephen Bowen were midway through the first of four spacewalks planned for the mission. The tool bag was one of the largest items ever lost by a spacewalker.
As Stefanyshyn-Piper cleaned up a large gob of grease that seeped from a gun used to lubricate the joint, the tool case somehow became untethered from a larger bag and floated away along with a pair of grease guns, wipes and a putty knife attached to it.
”What it boils down to is all it takes is one small mistake for a tether not to be hooked up quite correctly or to slip off, and that’s what happened here,” said lead spacewalk officer John Ray.
I’ve misplaced a tool here and there myself, but when something literally flies off into outer space, you know you’ll never see that bad boy again.
At least no diapers are alleged to have been involved in this gruple.
For no good reason at all
Posted by docbushwell in Self-Indulgent Wankery on November 19, 2008
Except that someone I trust far more than I do myself thinks this might not be so bad.
To most of you I’m a semidescript blogger who tends to wax and wane in his anti-religious, anti-nonsense ways, coming and going at random. Just one more guy with a high-flown opinion. In reality, I’m just a guy in his late thirties whose life has been ruined–by my reckoning beyond measurable redemption–by alcoholism, bipolar disorder, and possibly six or seven other diagnosable satellite maladies that aren’t worth discussing.
Under the influence
Posted by docbushwell in Self-Indulgent Wankery on November 15, 2008
All writers–not that there’s a real distinction between people who create words and people who create more compelling or lucrative words besides money and self-identity–are voracious readers (despite this often feeling like a guilty pleasure), and any writer will tell you that when they read the work of a particularly flavorful, influential, or admired author, his or her own prose tends to mimic that of the idol.
I have seen this in my own blogging in the past, notably with respect to Carl Hiaasen, a wonderfully sardonic columnist and offbeat mystery novelist whom I admire chiefly for his concern for the environment and his ability to rhetorically demolish distinct organs of the uniquely corrupt leviathan serving collectively as the Florida political machine. I wish I had found a way to meet Hiaasen, whom I have mentioned here often, when I lived in the South Florida city in which he grew up. (Hiaasen, having attained the equivalent of diplomatic immunity, once famously ripped the publisher of his own newspaper for his plans to run for governor, and the response from on high was, at least outwardly, warm appreciation.)
A fish story worth listening to
Posted by docbushwell in Lost in Space on November 15, 2008
When I was a junior astronomy nut between the ages of about 10 and 12, the innumerable books on the subject I checked out of the Concord (N.H.) Public Library all included confident claims that, one day, we would find planets orbiting stars other than our own. It was simply inevitable based on statistical principles alone, unless one bought into the idea that the Earth really was of divine provenance. (Astronomers in particular, hearkening to the travails of Galileo Galilei, had little use for that idea.)
Although I wanted to see this prediction realized tomorrow, I figured that, between the ongoing basic game efforts of observatory drones and the ever-increasing power of optical telescopes, I would at least live to see it.
That day is here, and the already iconic image courtesy of the Hubble telescope leaves no doubt.
If you want the real skydirt, skip this drivel and read Steinn Sigurðsson’s post. My less technical and far less informed treatise follows.
A funeral procession on angel dust
Posted by docbushwell in Spankin' the Crank on November 14, 2008
OR: Predictable fallout from the election of Barack Hussein Obama to the Office of the President of the United States of America.
Certain things in the cacophanous concerto of life can stupefy the hardiest of observers while at the same time affirming their blandest expectations. When this occurs, it is incumbent upon the observer to Spread the Word, for good or ill.
I write now of the frenetic and unrelentingly bitter response of that portion of the blogosphere that wanders through life as if just having been stung in the ass by hornets and smashed over the head with a mattock at the same time. For whatever reason, these people tend to blame liberals for everything, so right now they are Mad as Hell and not going to take it. Except that they have no choice.
I am going to reproduce for you below a fantastically artless, clawing-at-cystic-backne “essay” in its entirety to save you the trouble of a click. But when you are finished, I encourage you to visit the site in question and check out the complete body of work this spry-minded fellow has produced since November 5, 2008.
The composition below the fold appears to have been written by 1) a fifteen-year-old in the throes of his first serious case of blue balls, 2) an ether-soaked Palin family genius with a slight speech impediment, or 3) an ambitious script from the late 1990s with a middling learning curve. In truth, I believe it was crafted by a chimera of all three, with mustard gas added to taste.
How a Setback Thermostat Saves Energy
Posted by jim in Habitats and Humanity, Techies & Technology on November 13, 2008
There is some confusion as to precisely how a setback thermostat saves energy. In fact, because of misunderstandings I have heard a number of people proclaim that a setback doesn’t save energy. There are two common arguments:
1. Although you save energy as the house is initially cooling during the setback period, the furnace has to work overtime to make up this loss once the setback period is over. This “overtime” counteracts the initial savings for no net savings.
2. If the house is set for, say, 68F, when it cools a degree to 67F the furnace will turn on. It takes just as much energy to bring the air up one degree, whether it’s from 67 to 68 or from 59 to 60.
So what’s the deal?
Salary Survey Results: Electrical/Electronic Engineers 2008
Posted by jim in Techies & Technology on November 12, 2008
Electronic Design has released their 2008 salary survey for electrical and electronic engineers. Average salary for design and development engineers is now $94k (base salary). Engineering management is up to $116k. The highest paying regions are Pacific and Mountain at $114k and $103k, respectively. The lowest regions are East North Central and West North Central at $87.4k and $90.3k (I guess North Central USA is not the place to be).
Other interesting tidbits include a very telling disparity between men ($97.5k) and women ($78.6k). Starting salaries are around $50k. Those with one to four years of experience are pulling in $60.5k, at five to nine years $76k, continuing in like manner to $106k for those with 20 to 24 years experience. The highest paid specializations are ICs and semiconductors ($122k) and computer product design ($118k). At the other end we find safety and security ($80k) and components and subassemblies ($84.9k). Most other specializations were in the 90k range, such as R&D, test & measurement, software design and automotive electronics.
Engineering education was not included in the survey, but I have little doubt that it would drag the numbers down. Then again, the hours are completely different.
Doctor Atomic: A Brilliant Luminescence
Posted by kemibe in More Art, Then Science on November 9, 2008
A few regulars who drop by for grooming sessions and pant-hoots at the Refuge are probably aware that I am a long time J. Robert Oppenheimer fangrrl, or more accurately at my age, a fancrone. So when I discovered that Doctor Atomic was playing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, I impulsively bought tickets for yesterday’s matinee performance and invited two friends to accompany me.
Gerald Finley as Oppie (left) and Richard Paul Fink as Edward Teller, right.
More below the cut.
FAQ: Class D Audio Amplifiers
Posted by jim in Audio Island on November 6, 2008
New from Audio Designline is this three page FAQ on class D audio amplifiers. Not extremely technical, but it answers many questions for the technically minded. I remember studying class D amplifiers many years ago in college. In those days the quality was decidedly not hi-fi and the reliability was somewhere in the vicinity of a well-worn Yugo. How times change. Now they seem more common than fly dung and class D controller ICs and ASICs are offered by numerous manufacturers.
After the math
Posted by docbushwell in We're Doomed on November 6, 2008
I’m not going to gloat. Instead I’m going to expand merrily on the success of my ideology at the expense of the opposition. Oh, wait…well, never mind.
Those of you with Republican leanings would be well advised to pay attention to what your talking heads have screwed you into, because there’s little getting out. Whatever fiscally conservative, forward-thinking, willing-to-engage traits your party may have had 30 years ago are nonexistent, and in its place stands a caricature of an evil clown that only the most benumbed of observers can support. This was your choice on Tuesday, and I’m not surprised at how many balked.
I grew up in New Hampshire. New England as a unit is, in terms of its population, a Florida-like entity, carrying 34 electoral votes, and every one of them went to Barack Obama. New Hampshire offered the closest contest, a sound 55% to 44% thumping. Region-wide, Obama garnered a startling 62 percent of the vote, 3,860,530 to 2,285,671.
In my home state, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, an enormously popular governor from 1997 to 2003, trounced incumbent John Sununu by garnering 52 percent of the vote to Sununu’s 45 percent. And Carol Shea-Porter, the first woman ever elected to Congress in the Granite State, handily defeated Jeb Bradley to retain her House seat. That means that three of four top seats (not including the governorship, held by millionaire Democrat John Lynch) are held by Democrats. I’d be amazed if this has ever happened in New Hampshire; the fourth of these spots, held by U.S. Senator Judd Gregg (R), is maintained by a reasonable man.
Norm Coleman: Uber-Weasel
Posted by jim in We're Doomed on November 5, 2008
Norm Coleman never ceases to amaze me. No matter how much of a scoundrel you may think he is, he can always manage to go one better. For example, consider this story from CNN describing the election results. In an excruciatingly close election, we find Coleman barely ahead with 42 percent of the vote and Al Franken at a hair less. Out of nearly 2.5 million votes cast (not including a third party), they are separated by a mere 720 votes. As far as I can determine, once the result is within 0.5 percent (about 15,000 in this instance), a recount is triggered. But what does Norm “The Weasel” Coleman say?
“I recognize that because of my margin of victory, Mr. Franken has the right to pursue an official review of the election results. It is up to him whether such a step is worth the tax dollars it would take to conduct,”
Yeah that’s right Norm, you shameless buffoon, insinuate that Al Franken is wasting taxpayer dollars to determine if there might be an error on the order of 0.03 percent between the two of you. If this guy isn’t a crap-bag then I don’t know who is. It is scary that he holds any semblance of power beyond following incontinent canines with a scooper.
Update:
According to Yahoo News, the distance is a mere 475 votes and Coleman told reporters that he’d “step back” if he were in Franken’s shoes. Complete and utter bullshit.
Oh, and the new margin is less than 0.017 percent.
Poll: Do You Agree With Gay Marriage Bans?
Posted by jim in We're Doomed on November 5, 2008
Here you go, from MSNBC:
http://www.polls.newsvine.com/_question/2008/11/05/2074539-do-you-agree-with-the-gay-marriage-bans
Currently at only 57% No.
2012: Palin and Patton
Posted by jim in We're Doomed on November 5, 2008
If I hear one more person yammer on about Sarah Palin being positioned perfectly for a 2012 presidential bid, I’m going to scream. It’s not going to happen for a couple of reasons.
First, there is no historical precedent. Being the losing VP didn’t help John Edwards or Joe Lieberman. It didn’t help Jack Kemp, or Bentsen, or Ferraro, or Mondale. You have to go back to 1920 and FDR before you can find a failed VP candidate who later became president. I think the reason why this is so was best articulated by General George Patton: “America loves a winner. America will not tolerate a loser.” A losing VP is a double loser. They are a loser in the obvious sense but also because they didn’t win top billing on the ticket in the first place.
Second, Palin is, quite simply, a loon (no disrespect intended to the same-named water fowl). The more people discovered about Palin, the higher her negatives became. The only people who really like her are folks of similar buffoonery and those who are ideologically blinded. The GOP managed to keep her reasonably well sequestered in the closing weeks offering public appearances in front of sympathetic crowds. If she does somehow manage to get the party nod in 2012, she will not be able to hide. People will learn all about her past statements that humans and dinosaurs were contemporaneous, her probable belief in witchcraft, and her separationist husband. These things might play well to segments of the evangelically afflicted base, but they won’t stand in the general election. She’ll be another Tancredo, maybe a Huckabee if she’s lucky.
I certainly don’t think we’ve seen the last of Palin, but she has some serious work to do to even elevate her up to the status of “not entirely worthless” in the eyes of the general public.
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- Doc Bushwell is a biochemist and a medical writer who serves as a slavering minion of the dark lords of Big and Little Pharma; Jim is an engineering professor with a fondness for running shoes and drumsticks; and Kevin Beck is a self-exiled member of the clan who refuses to stay gone.
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