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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Future Nostalgia's LiveJournal:
- Who'll get high with me listening to The Crystal Method, half-naked 'round a fire, eyes alight with space-loving glow.
- Who'll get drunk and low with me listening to Pink Floyd.
- Who won't back down.
- Who I can fear, adore, be in awe of.
- Who can keep up, and sometimes moreso.
- Who'll want similar things from me, and will be merciless if I demurr.
- Who'll understand that ineffable looking-outwards.
- Shauntay Grant
Spoken word. Good, but not my cup of tea. - Zubot & Dawson
Instrumental. Very Good. They sometimes have that spacey quality found in the music of the Grateful Dead and Phish. I mention those two simply because I have no other basis for comparison. - Richard Wood
Fiddle. Really not my cup of tea. Kinda ignored it. - Dar Williams
see below. - Tegan and Sara
Young twin sisters. Pleasingly raw music. Would not have been out of place in the Sixties. They seem to have quite a following. - Mercy of the Fallen
About all those old Rockers, who tell good stories and make tea, after a lot of living. - The One Who Knows
Mothers. Parents. - Are You Out There
Radio. Freedom. A voice in the dark. - The Christians and the Pagans
Self-explanatory. - When I Was A Boy
I say it's the best of the bunch. Speaks volumes in few words. I identify with the protagonists, in form if not in content. - Some I may never have the time to bone my math up enough to read them.
- I have doubts about reading arcane topics of at most conversational interest with others. Of being a merest dilletante, who knows lots but can do little.
- Some are too much of the computer industry/culture, and remind me of things I'd rather not be associated with anymore.
- Some I remember virtually nothing from having read them. Or are of no interest anymore.
- I find it embarrasing to own many unread books, especially when they turn out to be above my head. Feels like some pretense.
- Sometimes, I feel about them as baggage circumscribing my future.
- Some bring back memories. I've made the mistake before of tossing links to the past, which I've then found to be difficult to recall.
- I have a phobia about availability of information. The lack thereof was one of the biggest limits in my youth. I loathe being unable to get to known answers.
- By extension, I want to save some kid from that same deprivation. (but will the information be relevant by then?)
- I can't predict the future, and I know that some of the books are normally expensive and/or hard to find, should I ever regain serious interest.
- Would I be losing some form of erudition given by breadth of (albeit mainly scientific/technical) reading, even if dilletantish?
- Homemade bread slathered in Marmite.
(According to Rowan Atkinson, this is a ticket to Hell. :) - A homebrewed tall cold one to wash it down.
- Good potato soup (not homemade though) to complete the meal.
- A Prime Minister with the brains and the balls to not back down on the same-sex marriage law, stating that his religion and his job are *separate*.
- The launch of Pegasus, an all-Canadian scientific research satellite.
(Sci.&Tech.; is one of the few things I have a national slant for, because darn it, I think we're real good at environmental research and telecommunications. With the land we got, there isn't much choice. :) - "Sam And Max: Freelance Police" cartoons
| Tuesday, August 26th, 2003 | |
| 11:03 pm | T minus 2 More good work day. Finished assembling a supply of bearing/shaft/sprocket doodads. WD-40 is your friend when pulling bearings. Interesting observation: I've dealt over the phone with people in Connecticut, Massachusets, Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, New York City, and California. They almost all pronounce 'Nepean' (the local area where my workplace is located) as 'neh-PEEN' instead of 'neh-PEE-an'. Two-thirds into Raskin. I've come to an interesting general conclusion so far: people who are 'habitual experts' with computers (ie: geeks) are really just going through the motions (however inefficient) faster and just rapidly figure out (and re-figure out) non-habit-forming (as in 'automatic') interfaces and can hold more state in their head. This is akin to being an 'expert' at math, when entirely done in base 7 Roman numerals... Went through the rest of the music. Made a short list which should fit on two CDs. Tomorrow, I patch it all together. I have an overactive brain (or mayhaps, just understimulated). I have far too many thoughts wander into wishful thinking, almost always coloured in regret and sadness. Last night, as I awaited sleep, I wondered back to a certain girl I had known back in 7-8th grade. An exchange student from an English-speaking school. She was the first other geek I had ever met, and we hit it off instantly (and passionnately). I mused that had things not disintegrated in the ignorance of our mere 14 years, we could have both ended up the typical married student couple at UNB. (I don't recall ever considering going to UNB. Either I didn't, or they didn't have a Computer Eng program then. I was somehow dead-set for UofO. I really wanted to get away. Had I only known that living in English would have been plenty cultural distance...) The difference here is that it sounded so plausible, and my heart felt none of the usual regret, but remained peculiarely light throughout. I mused that it was so likely, it probably has happened in some alternate universe, or somesuch. So the next morning, I saddle up Google and go riding. I figured that someone as geeky (and computer literate) as I was back then would have some web presence, and her name is a little unusual, which would help. Sure enough, after a couple minutes, I find a picture of her, 20 years old, having just received a scholarship to UNB. It's the only web presence I found. I do wonder what became of her, how her life has been in the lifetime
that has past since (14x2=28). |
| Monday, August 25th, 2003 | |
| 10:39 pm | T minus 3 The 'T' of course, stand for 'TorCon 2003'. Busy but great day at work. Paperwork slain, things delivered, doodads fixed. I feel versatile. Reading Raskin ravenously. It's been a while since a book has been so compelling. Spent the evening grab-bagging music for the "WorldCon 2003 Roadtrip" CDs,
to which our little car-bound band is each contributing two volumes. |
| Sunday, August 24th, 2003 | |
| 8:53 pm | Not That Slept in lots. Morning routine, then head out to see the fencers as a fellow Sherbrooke Shad was visiting and I was hoping to reminisce some. Silly me. Of course she'd be fencing. I should have come later and gone to the Diner. Diner was OK. Something's missing. Shouldn't have had that chili poutine. I walked home feeling like a tired old man. Crash. Nap. Up. Attack the moldy corners with a strong bleach solution. Generally clean the apartment. Scoured the Monitor and Google about local 'alternative' computing or homebrewing groups. There doesn't seem to be any. The closest thing is the Ottawa Robotics Enthusiast group, or some various Hams, but neither is about computing proper. Maybe the frontier has been around me all along... |
| Saturday, August 23rd, 2003 | |
| 12:00 am | Not It Don't recall much of the day. Slept in, catching up on one week of *rotten* sleep. Too much inner turmoil to do otherwise. Watched anime. It's kinda neat to watch a fan-subbed "Naruto" that had first aired the very Wednesday. I think it would be a good idea to produce shows with various subtitles from the get-go. Burnt the GD and Phish CDs for 4 people. Not having a printer, nor the time to set up an image to print at work, means I'll have to hand-label them all. After all that, I figured I had done enough alone today, and so headed to xiphias' for card gaming (Munchkin variants, Chez Geek, Chez Dork, etc...). Got more reading of Raskin along the way. Played some, but it was "not it". The games just seem to move too slowly, or at least don't grab my attention. I seem to really not have a gaming inclination anymore. It's only fun in a scattered, momentary fashion. Got a lift home. Crashed way past my bedtime. |
| Friday, August 22nd, 2003 | |
| 11:26 pm | Snippets Finished "Metamorphosis", David Suzukis' autobiography. Highly recommended. Began Jef Raskins' "The Humane Interface", which I had bought from darius. Why am I not surprised to see a book on human-computer interface by the man who did the one for the Macintosh to have Spider Robinson mentionned as one of the influences? :) I think I'm going to *really* enjoy this one. It effectively challenges my ideas and is edifying. It exhibits that rectitude of reason I've found mostly in late-19th-century educated, early-20th-century accomplished authors (eg: Norbert Wiener, Alfred North Whitehead, etc...). It's also got a pervading tone of light humour which meshes well with the seriousness. Some notable haikus generated from the LJ copy of my log: on the ham radio again a fairly quiet day emergency-wise opposed to being a non-trivial amount of flamage people are be cool as i drink a beer i find myself in a total of two figured some sf would be to someones taste the carbonation is try to tell us these things when i was looking for whiteheads intro music i have to leave it for another time it's significant listen to music so much for getting any forth work done it does seem i forgot there is an error in my youth i loathe being unable find should i ever regain serious interest would i be losing Random thought on a desirable mate. Really, this is spur of the moment. I expect to look back on this and find it lame and flakey. Quite a list. High expectations? Warped ones? I dunno if I'll agree to this tomorrow, but a reason for marriage, defined as primary relationship(s) intended to be of perpetual duration, just came up in my mind. My life is finite. Suddendly, 'until death do us part' implies an *intent* that is not present when thinking instead of some indefinite duration. It's a fire under the arse and a balm from the pains. A safe harbour and solid ground. To those married: does this jive with your thoughts? Damn. I'm out of beer. |
| Thursday, August 21st, 2003 | |
| 12:00 am | Folk Shifting values are a bitch sometimes...no, make that "almost always". Here's a genial idea: microwave smelting. It's one of those "oh, of course!" ideas. The kicker is that based on the temperatures reached using a silicon carbide heating element, it would be easy to smelt Aluminium and make alloys. Hot-dip Zinc galvanizing would become possible too for small pieces. More details at David Reids' website. Continuing the "wow, I have a social life!?" trend, I took advantage of an extra pass iclysdale and marnan had to go see a bit of the Ottawa Folk Festival. I would get to find out more about the music of Dar Williams. Lineup and comments: Dar Williams is great on stage, both in performance and between-song banter. It's a bit sad though that her words are often too alien for me to understand. Most of her songs are incomprehensible to me. Those I did 'get' sometimes drew tears. Here are the very few: Got a lift home with emerlion, along with marnan. It was interesting
to see two women engage in a classic Dick Size War about various things. |
| Wednesday, August 20th, 2003 | |
| 11:55 pm | Or Not Well, I'm not getting rid of books after all. The long and the short of it is that it's at worst some lost dollars, and it costs nothing to keep them. Best case, me or someone else will actually read them in the unknown future. If someone can show that they seriously want to read one of the (few) books I'm not attached to, I'll consider giving/lending/selling it. Apologies to dashed hopes. Expect bursts of insecurity and uncertainty for a while. I'm working through stuff. So please be patient with this relapse into 18-dom. Met emerlion for Pho. Caught up on events. Had the *most* delicious Pho-like dish I've ever had: basically Pho, but in a spicy Thai broth. Not 'orgasmic, then only good'. Every mouthful was delight. It's like first-time sex, over and over again. :) Afterwards, I went to meet the newest kid. This was a well attended event, with a surprise guest from Waterloo who brought delightful treats for all. It was confirmed and observed time and again there that I am a Geek. Note the title value of the capital 'G'. ;) Dare I say, I do seem to have a social life. Which of course makes me bemoan the lack of programming/soldering/tinkering. I need clones. Fast grown, vat grown and educated (mind-tape copies), with a suitable ratio of Y-to-X female versions to constitute my own pocket society. Talk about preemptive inbreeding. Speaking of genetics: David Suzukis' autobiography is a great read. It's great to see Canada through different eyes, and the commonality of experience in early schooling and relationships is, well, validating. (OK, so I'm *not* a true Lone Wolf, so sue me!) WorldCon 2003 ahoy! I got transportation, cheap registration (almost!) and now definite cheap lodging. I'm set! Now to get those road trip music CDs done. Hope to see many of y'all there. And yes, I know I promised to mail GD/Phish CDs to three people. I made a second version with better song fade-in/out, to compensate for the brusque endings of some concert tapings. If not next week, then the one after WorldCon. Current Mood:  contentCurrent Music: System F - ignition, sequence, start! |
| Tuesday, August 19th, 2003 | |
| 11:00 pm | Well, Maybe. Got two days worth of deliveries at work today. Interesting. Afterwards, A and myself had a chat which had been expected but neglected for a while now. All is good. Home. Food, peruse the books as I drink a beer. I find myself in a messy situation: Reasons to part with books: Reasons to keep books: I should have spent more time at libraries, methinks. Any comments? |
| Monday, August 18th, 2003 | |
| 9:51 pm | Inconceivable! I'm likely going to part with some books. Already gone through a little over a quarter of The Library and marked 17 books for certain riddance. I'll be continuing this process for a few more days until some mind-peaceable minimum has been reached. Current bus reading: "Metamorphosis", the autobiography of David Suzuki.
Well spoken, plain spoken words. |
| Sunday, August 17th, 2003 | |
| 10:32 pm | Full Circle Made the usual gallon of stew. Made a huge loaf of cheese bread. Just about out of beer. Maybe next weekend I'll brew the remainder of the malt syrup I have, with some honey, ginseng and royal jelly thrown in, just to see. Installed Debian again on the laptop. This time I have peace of mind. Watched "Pirates Of The Carribean". Good flick, although most of Sparrows' lines weren't as funny as expected. (I suppose all those quizzes kinda spoiled the surprises.) Spent much time thinking about the returning currents of the past. I again face the realization that to be true to myself, I may end up being not nice at all. Some legitimate, most just unchallenged baggage perhaps. It does indeed seem that the needs and desires I had discounted as juvenile are still there, and always had been. They just might be the truth. They can be seen in
lyrics and
past writings. |
| Saturday, August 16th, 2003 | |
| 12:00 am | Sleep And Frustration Not much today. I slept through most of it. Some interesting dreams of late, with actual meaning. I figured I should program a bit on the laptop (Thinkpad 380ED) since the power was still of doubtful reliability. This degenerated into massive frustration at the mass of 'working-but-not-quite-right' situations in the setup. The IDE driver is without PIO or DMA support, while the sound driver, which has 2 DMA channels allocated to it, hiccups at the slightest network activity. No amount of fiddling would fix either. Add to that a creeping entropy and bloat from having a stable/unstable hybrid system, and things were starting to go real bad. I did not have peace of mind. Fuck it. Let's wipe this and try SlackWare 9 on it. The trip down memory lane was pleasant, but ultimately I do not have the time to compile/fix/re-compile software as I used to do. Especially not on such a slow-ass system. I'll reinstall Debian Stable (only!) on it tomorrow. As rarely I use the laptop, it is very useful when going elsewhere for an extended period of time, so it must have some things in common with the desktop. I just wish I could get the sound stable so I could listen to music... So much for getting any Forth work done. It does seem that what I won't do for money anymore, I don't want to
do for myself either. The thought 'hate' comes up too much. |
| Friday, August 15th, 2003 | |
| 12:00 am | Sunday Gratis Up. Routine as close to normal as possible. Call the boss. While a couple of mechanics are out there freeing people from elevators, everyone else stayed home as there was no power at the office anyway, and even if it did, it would not be reliable. So I upped and went to the park to finish reading A.E. Van Vogts' "The World Of Null-A" while listening in on the Ham radio. Again, a fairly quiet day emergency-wise. I'm rather amazed at the infrastructure redundancy. Cell phones never cut out (although I hear they went splat in NY), water supply and sewage processing was on backup power, radio stations stayed on the air. There were opportunistic lootings and at least one hold up, but very little chaos. None in the downtown core. The Fire Dept. had some vandalism to deal with and some accidental fires from misuse of candles and propane devices, but no full conflagrations AFAIK. Emergency services seemed busy as Hell, but kept things under control. Partial power was established and rotating blackouts went on. Still, a few coffee shops on Bank were open, and all were doing amazing business. It was a virtual, unplanned, enforced Sunday, so people generally just chilled now that the initial chaos was over. As I was beginning to read, and fear, "The Six Core Theories Of Modern Physics" (curse my deficient Math knowledge), a great sadness came over me. Nothing to do with the power outage. I'll have to leave it for another time. It's significant that I've identified it as such that I have to make some mention of it. Went to a friends' place to borrow a white sheet for a toga and to have my hair *curled*, for the Pennsic Pity Party, for all those who could not go. I decided to go as some generic ancient Greek flippantly named 'Archie Mendez'. The party was great, with much attention by the hosts to duplicate food and dress idiosyncracies of Pennsic. Fear the Steak N' Shake. Much booze was imbibed. People found my first try at homebrew beer to be acceptable. Got to meet rectangularcat and some cool friends of the hosts. Got to talk to the ex-Boss for the first time in ages. Got to see (and then some) the delightful finitedancer, who lives too far away according to everyone else. Got a lift home with the ex-Boss. Crashed. |
| Thursday, August 14th, 2003 | |
| 12:00 am | Poor Nikky Poor Nicola Tesla must have turned over in his grave at the knowledge of the 50*10^6 people blackout that occured today at about 16:15. Edison must have groaned too. I won't elaborate more, as you've all heard for sure, and any information heard on the radio is dubious at best. I expect a decent picture of the event to emerge in some electrical engineering trade publications in the weeks to come. Walked home from Lebreton Flats as the downtown core was jammed. Got home. Set up some basic emergency supplies, and got on the local emergency ops Ham radio network. Things were pretty quiet, I was actually quite bored by 10pm,
so I just went to bed. |
| Wednesday, August 13th, 2003 | |
| 12:00 am | Sleepiness I think I need to change how I eat in the summer. One smallish plate of pasta and I turn into The Amazing Sluggo. If I don't make a constant effort to stay awake, I pass out. |
| Tuesday, August 12th, 2003 | |
| 8:44 pm | Gratitude Above and beyond the usual "home, job, peace and friends" thanks-giving, here are a few things today for which I am grateful: And furthermore: Oh yes, and: Current Mood: lagomorphic |
| Monday, August 11th, 2003 | |
| 10:33 pm | Slug For a short while this morn, while the coffee was running fast through my brain, I was a sharpshooter. But the instant lunch was had, my IQ must have dropped 30 points right there and then. Lack 'o sleep. I read Graeme Bases' "The Worst Band In The Universe". Not only is the story really well written, entirely in rhyme and with many subtle references, he also performs all of the music implied in the story, and all of the wonderful *huge* illustrations. It's up there with "The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy" and Nelvanas' "Rock And Rule". It seems a 26-year old amateur is rocking the boat of Physics. Peter Lynds has apparently solved most of Zenos' Paradoxes, and the consequence is awe-inspiring: there cannot be such a thing as an instant in time. This is pretty fundamental to say the least. And not as an interesting philosophical toy argument, but as truely refuting an axiom of Physics. I've read one of the two papers he's published on the topic. It passes the Bozo test of being a non-trivial amount of work. It makes no apparent leaps of reason nor contain any popular misrepresentations of concepts that I know of. It's straightforward and direct, starting from simple "thought experiments". (aka gedankenexperiment) I'm guessing that a Physics rebuilt along his idea would work just like before, but some 'platypi' (by analogy to Zoology: observed things which do not fit the model) would vanish, akin to Relativity modelling the peculiar orbit of Mercury and the bending of light paths by gravitation, while still describing the flight of a cannonball as before. All in all, signs of a good theory. The published paper, "Time and Classical and Quantum Mechanics: Indeterminacy vs. Discontinuity", can be found here. The more 'generic' version, "Zeno's Paradoxes: A Timely Solution", which doesn't delve into Physics, can be found here. It's not a particularly difficult read, but it's 7 pages of constant effort. It's also amazing the amount of flamage people are generating about it.
And virtually none of it is worth any consideration. I looked at a
thread calling 'hoax!', and the lack of clue and reason displayed is
disconcerting. |
| Sunday, August 10th, 2003 | |
| 12:00 am | Hot Chores Lots of housework, made all the more strenuous by the most oppressive heat and humidity so far this year. I worry my bedding won't make it to half of it's expected 20-year lifespan. Mold just fucking thrives in this environment. Good thing for 99% isopropyl alcohol. Speaking of alcohol: the beer is rapidly improving in taste. Made another gallon of stew which included a kilo of beef and half a bottle of Shiraz. Ridiculously rich and heavy. Invited a bored friend over for talk, music and schtuff. Barely slept in the humid night. That damn storm has been predicted for two days, but isn't coming to break this heat. I need a hammock to sleep in weather like this. |
| Saturday, August 9th, 2003 | |
| 10:26 pm | Shopping My sis is a potential Gothling. Nothing bad, she just really digs the style, as many 13 year-olds do. Thanks to the Dark Ottawa site, I located three Goth-frequented stores (Allegro, Eclection, Amuse) in the Market. None contained anything she liked. We did end up getting her some really nice, and fairly pricey, mid-calf Doc Marten boots for her at Rock Junction, followed by a simple black dress at Phase 2. I'm so glad that I sparked a reading interest in her. So we went to the Librairie Du Soleil for more. I asked about some of the French books I had read at her age, but none were in stock. Hoping she'd read more than fantasy fiction, I figured some SF would be a good influence. I looked for Asimov and Heinlein juveniles, but none were in stock. The prices are good enough that I'm wondering why I don't get the one or three French books precious to me ordered in. Finally, it's revealed that she likes thrillers and horror. So onto the E.A. Poe and H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King. I think she chose one novella by Poe. I forget which one. Earlier in the day, we went for perfume for Mom, but given that it would take hours to evaluate one, all she could get was three samplers and a promise from me to send her a bottle of any she ends up liking. Then Dad's turn: Steve's Music, where he perused for musical scores and practice amps while me, Mom and Sis fiddled with the keyboards. Sis has a great musical head start on me. I saw a MiniMoog Voyager. *drool*, but it's about 4000$. Yeowch! Suddendly, the cost of the my future SIDSynth seems trivial. Even more so when I saw a device which does a single waveform with ADSR and resonnance for 400$. Each SID chip can do three at once. And I have over a dozen of those... Dad eventually got a neat Vox Pathfinder 10 amp. Cute little thing with a good punch and no hassles. Cheap too. Finally, it was time for them to go splodge and cool off at the camping sites' pool. I declined the offer of joining them as I was out of mental gasoline, peopled out. So pictures were taken and goodbyes exchanged. They headed off and I crashed on the bed for a couple hours. Reading the Friends Of Friends list on LJ can yield some amazing links at times. The ALA challenged books lists was from there. Now check this gem out. "The Langley Schools Music Project: Innocence And Despair" Just listen to the "Space Oddity" excerpt and try to tell me there's no magic there. It's a rough gem, but unlike any I've ever heard before. The comments by David Bowie and Neil Gaiman are particularly notable... |
| Friday, August 8th, 2003 | |
| 9:01 pm | Family Vacation So my folks are in the area for a couple days, camping on the outskirts of the city. Forty-foot long campers just can't get any closer. :) Dragged them around the Byward Market for some food. It seems my sis has an interest in Goth and Medieval fashion. Unfortunately, the only place I know of right now which carries anything of either is 'Trivium' in the Rideau Center, and that's one tacky, *overpriced* boutique. (The salesgirl dressed in a candy apple red PVC apron dress and white stockings was...delicious-looking.) Anyone got better ideas for tomorrow for such clothing? I'm bushed. |
| Thursday, August 7th, 2003 | |
| 11:27 pm | Living Bus reading has taken a different turn of late. I've been reading the big trade magazine "Elevator World". Sounds cheezy (mmmmmm...cheeeeese), but it's actually pretty good. International in scope. Covers business and legal aspects. Recent industry developments (mostly, what just got built. Some projects are staggeringly huge.). And one or two solid engineering pieces definitely not for the layman. There was a Russian article on computing the capacity of escalators which left me in the dust. The one on evacuation methods, and the one on pulley angle affecting rope lifespan were really interesting. Got my second pair of overall. Shopped around for suspenders. Not only are they scarce, being relegated to fractions of racks, everyone wants 30+$ for a pair. Wow. I'll check the used clothing stores next. Packed the stew. Had some for supper. Best stew yet. The recipe is evolving nicely in terms of nutrition, ease of preparation and taste. I am bachelor. Fear me. Had xiphia over for cartoons. Watched half-an-hour of Will. E. Coyote and RoadRunner cartoons. I remembered too much to fully enjoy them, but some I had not seen before. This was followed by much good stuff. (as the local LJ code-speak goes.) Currently drinking a pint of the now seven-month-bottled mead. I still don't personnaly like it that much, but I figure it would be to someones taste. The carbonation is good and the edge is gone. This one could take over a year to mellow enough to actually improve. So. How many of these challenged books have you read? I've read maybe 10-15%. Surprising, both the list and the caliber of the books present. Speaking of books. I found Graeme Bases' "The Worst Band In The Universe" at a book clearance today. It's one of those books which tickle a memory in me, like I've encountered it before in the distant past and marked it as significant. That and the author name is familiar, possibly from having perused "Animalia". I think I'm gonna like this one oodles and boodles. It goes on the shelf next to Pratchetts' "The Last Hero" as superlative childrens' bedtime reading. I *am* the Weird Philosopher Uncle. |
pensive
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contemplative
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