digital retrograde

November, 2004 [Reset]

What happens...?

So just what exactly happens when we perfect the robots that replace all the non-technical jobs? It might happen. Where does that leave construction workers? What about the farmers? Overnight shelf stockers? Unless the perfection of this automation corresponds to drastically lowered costs, it could be trouble.

Then again, people were saying the same thing in the 70s and 80s as they lost their jobs to computers.

So we complete the transition to a technical workforce.. what about all the time and cost savings? Imagine a 3 day workweek. Is that really a good thing?

11/30/2004 11:16 AM

Musings

For the record, I am not a believer -- but it's fun to play the part.

From: "Pandaman" <----@----.net>

To: <eric_hcr80@hotmail.com>

Subject: Weyauwega UFO

Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 01:50:11 -0600

Hello,
I just wanted to get your thoughts on this when I first seen this picture on the site I was like wow! I like to consider myself a believer as does my wife. without telling here what I was looking at I showed her the picture and said what? it is a bubble. I was confused at first but now I seem to see it, it simply looks like someone blew a bubble and it is actually in front of the branches but the reflection of the flash and clearness of the bubble gives it a background appearance. Just wanted so see what you thought about this possibility?
Thanks, ----

Hi, believe it or not this is the first literate question I've had on the subject (and I've fielded many questions..). Thanks for that.

About whether or not this could be a simple detergent/glycerine bubble that someone has blown, I'd have to say that at first glance it DOES look like a bubble that's floating in front of the trees. However, there are several reasons why it cannot be.

First is that then light passes through a soapy bubble, it is bent because of the diffraction. This means that although you can see fairly clearly through the center of the bubble, as you move towards the edges the light gets more and more distorted.

The second reason is similar: if it is a bubble, the reflections from the lights are all wrong. There would have to be 3 lights arranged in an unusual pattern (and one placed in the tree at left) in order to reflect on the "bubble" the way it does - a distinctly triangular pattern. Also, if you look closely at the lights on the object, they are all the same shape: oval, slanting to the right with a notch in the upper left. In order for all of these to reflect identically off the surface of the bubble, they would all have to be VERY carefully "shaped" and oriented. Not impossible, but quite unpractical if you're going to try to fake a UFO with a bubble. Besides, if you used a flash to take a picture of the bubble it would appear as a very bright reflection at the center of the bubble from the camera's viewpoint. A flash would also illuminate the near branches and change the character of the image.

Further, less compelling reasons: I think the object is in reasonable focus, while the foreground branches are not. Also, the object is wider than it is tall. Certainly possible for a bubble, but unless they're large they tend to hold their shape. On close inspection, the branches covering the upper right portion of the object do appear to occlude it.

So, in short, a bubble can't be entirely ruled out.. But I would wish you luck trying to duplicate it standing in your back yard!

11/30/2004 9:00 AM

Musings

The Pursuit of Happiness when she happens to be a Royal Bitch

Over the weekend I managed to stay happy or at least convince myself I felt contented -- at this point I'm not sure if it's a distinction without a difference. I managed to keep my eyeballs moving, affixed to some pavlovian-tuned shoot 'em up or visceral flick. I had a blast and was willing and eager to get to work EARLY for a change.

My bliss was not to last. Partly because of the daily grind. Partly because of my general discomfort. Partly because just thinking about women causes me to unlock serious negative mental energy. Now, don't mistake this for what it's not: I love women, I don't even have a gripe about any one in particular. It's my relationship with them as a whole that causes me the grief. Let me pose a few questions to introduce some clarity.

How many months constitute a reasonable period between meeting someone of the opposite sex that you find intriguing and who is not in a serious relationship? How many years?
How many people of the opposite sex do you have to interact with in order to find one that's willing to hold an interesting, multi-part conversation with?
What is an acceptable percentage of people that you do get a chance to interact with that immediately consider you a "good friend" or "buddy" but nothing else?
Is it possible to improve any of these numbers?

Apologies, statistics class has me wondering these things. Don't read too much into them, they're merely given as examples. Maybe those numbers aren't what I think they are. (Maybe?)

I think I'm going to back to maximum distraction at this point. I think it needs to come to the point that self-flagellation is an acceptable alternative to boredom or introspection.

11/29/2004 11:11 AM

Musings

11/29/2004 11:05 AM

Photo

Doom 3 Final Verdict

Stylish and utterly brainless.

Aside from the lighting, which is an obvious and marked improvement over ANY lighting system I've seen in a computer game, the best innovation is the interaction with the game world through keypads and touch screens. When you approach a keypad in the game, you put your weapon down and it is replaced by a cursor, which lets you punch in a code or otherwise manipulate the panel. On my machine, these panels were high resolution, quite legible, and offered visual and audio feedback. The attention to detail on some of these interfaces was quite evident -- when teleporting, you can see the interface panel AND your cursor recede into the distance.

The game sucked. If you finished the first third, there's no compelling reason to finish. A few good frights thrown in, but only of the "HOW DID THAT GUY GET BEHIND ME?" variety.

That said, there's one room with a strobe light and enemies coming after me that made me look around and say "wow". Then I killed the same monster for the 150th time.

11/29/2004 9:07 AM

Musings

Christmas Comes Early

Got my Radeon 9800 Pro (256MB) and another 512MB of dual-channel DDR2 RAM.

Blogging may be light! Doom 3 is almost done installing...

11/27/2004 2:24 AM

Life

Sasquatch Feud

From "News of the Weird":

(1) According to a September Washington Post dispatch from a Culpeper, Va., conference of people obsessed with spotting the alleged, 7-foot-tall Sasquatch, which is said to be roaming the woods of America, many attendees ("East Coast Bigfoot community") seem consumed by the West Coast Bigfoot community's supposed arrogance. That is, Western witnesses seem to regard Eastern witnesses as delusional, in that Sasquatch obviously lives west of the Rockies.

What's really sad here is that not only do I understand the historical reasons for this rift, but can understand where both camps are coming from.

11/26/2004 10:41 AM

Musings

Truth in Advertising

It looks like Babelogue kindly gave me a front page link with the description: Join the adventures of a twenty-something living in the Twin Cities at Digital Retrograde.

I feel compelled to state that this is like saying "Join the hilarious hijinks as congress raises the federal debt ceiling!" or "Join in the solumnity as Britney Spears lays the wreath at the tomb of the unknown solider." Maybe the babelogue writer was mocking me. That's fine, I'm a glutton for punishment. Really, do your worst.

I'm a geek, an introvert. I couldn't name a local band or club or hot spot if I tried. I read sci-fi late at night and would rather watch Plan 9 from Outer Space than most any of the dreck coming out of Hollywood these days. I think it's a mistake to take Michael Stipe literally -- on anything. (Such insight, no? :)

It's all good. Oh, and check out the pictures -- if you happen to stop on one and find it pleasing to look at then my job is done.

11/26/2004 5:53 AM

Musings

Turkey Day

Some happy shots from Thanksgiving.. I must remember to send some prints back to my mother. She's been harping on me for having a printer and not using it for her benefit.

11/26/2004 5:47 AM

Life

The Weather Fails To Cooperate

For all this complaining about global warming, I think it pays to realize that in fact, Minnesota was once a humid, subtropical region and home to dinosaurs and sloths and other fanciful creatures that populate children's literature. We're just returning to our roots. In essense, we're helping to preserve the past.

(Of course, more recently Minnesota went through an ice age. Details, details...)

So we're seeing our first snowflakes of the season. I don't mind, really. I like the feeling of a deep breath of cold air. I just don't like those breaths to be in rapid succession for prolonged periods. So don't expect to see me outside.

But back to what I really wanted to say in this post -- I've finally discovered why Dan Rather was assaulted on the sidewalk in New York about 10 years ago. From ratherbiased.com:

In 1997, based on a tip from a psychiatrist, Rather's attacker was identified as William Tager. According to the psychiatrist, Tager, who was currently serving time for killing an NBC stagehand, blamed news media for beaming signals into his head, and thought if he could just find out the correct frequency, he could block those signals that were constantly assailing him. Hence the enigmatic inquiry.

Kinda makes sense to me. (But then, who wouldn't enjoy flogging Dan Rather on a gritty NY sidewalk? I'm just sayin'.)

11/26/2004 1:41 AM

Musings

Good Listening

Some chumps like to tease me "Well, you hate everything!" when I offer up anything resembling a criticism. It's not true. I don't know where they get it!

If they still think it's true, I've found the exception, and honestly I had been avoiding it. R.E.M.'s newest album is called "Around the Sun". I'd heard that it might be out in the fall, but I didn't make any special effort to look it up. Their last two were a disappointment to me, but when I saw the disk in the store I dutifully checked it out.

It's not as rip roarin' as New Adventures or varied and intricate as Automatic for the People. The politics are still about as insightful as a trip to the Democratic Underground. But still.. The sound I used to enjoy so much seems to be coming back. Re-invention is not necessarily a good thing when you had it right to begin with.

11/24/2004 10:04 AM

Musings

As Good As It Gets?

Northfield, MN, #17 in "20 Best Neighborhoods in North America".

I must be missing out on something.

11/23/2004 11:10 AM

Life

"Secret" History of the Credit Card

Frontline, as usual, was a mix of interesting and exasperating last night. They ran a program on credit card companies and consumer debt, focusing mostly on the fact that the companies can do whatever they like with the interest rates they charge you -- at any time, for almost any reason. Naturally they skimmed the question of personal responsibility in the program, instead having a law professor insist that the best way of coping with major debt problems is regulation to keep the credit card companies from doing -- gasp -- what they said they would in the contract you signed.

The one obviously egregious case they presented was of a guy who had his rates jacked up because of a late payment six years before with another company. The solution seemed pretty clear to me: complain, and if they don't listen get another card.

Competition for your money can be a good thing, after all. Frontline put up an article on credit use vs. personal responsbility on their website. I found in much more interesting and balanced than what was presented on the show last night.

11/23/2004 10:18 AM

Musings

100 Posts, too. I like the system, I think I'll keep it.

11/22/2004 11:49 AM

Photo

I did next to nothing this weekend, and it shows! I'll post a picture or two later, but I'm not letting the fact that it's Monday spoil my weekend of accumulated relaxation.

11/22/2004 1:04 AM

Life

11/20/2004 12:59 PM

Photo

Impressive

Commercial: Mother dropping her kids off at school. "First day", she says, "are you nervous?" They act strangely confident. She lets them out and the boy strides up to a group of mean looking older kids who appear to be glaring at him. He gives them a curt nod, "what's up?" and walks on by. They keep staring... at what? The mother is driving a hummer.

Nothing says respect like "My mom's car can reduce your mom's to a smoking pile of wreckage".

11/20/2004 11:32 AM

Musings

Maslow's Imbroglio, aka the Hierarchy of Horrors

Yesterday, out of the blue, I get a mail from an old high-school buddy. He's doing fine, thanks, school didn't quite work out for him but he'll be giving it another shot shortly. I'm doing fine, yeah, a few hiccups on the way but things are great now. It's been almost 5 years since I left high school, not intending to look back at all. It occurs to me now that this may be a mistake; as much as I depised high school and have since tried to forget about it, it is more of a disservice to treat it as a missing chunk of time than it is to treat it as a painful but valuable experience.

Something I've been struggling with for a while now is what exactly it is that I want. What to I want to do with career and my life generally. This is hardly unique, I realize, but I haven't felt like I've been making any headway. I'm gainfully employed, living on my own. I have great friends and a wonderful family. The next natural step would be to get involved in a relationship, but I'm under no illusions about this providing me the answers to everything I'm wrestling with now.

I like to think I'm good at problem solving, but as in all things it's helpful to know that a solution to my self-actualization problem DOES exist. I'm not convinced that it does, but I don't think that excuses a lack of effort.

What I'm trying to say is that I need to be excused to go play Halo 2 now.

11/19/2004 11:07 AM

Life

The Tale of the Prissy Pussy

Our office manager came down today and told us the heartwarming story about her prissy cat. He wouldn't stop meowing and she couldn't figure out what was wrong. He had water and food but was visibly upset. Then, he went over to his water dish but refused to drink. She went to go see and discovered that there was a ladybug in his water.

Tainting it.

She took the bug out but the cat started complaining again an hour later. Sure enough! The ladybug was right back in the dish.

Normally this thing would slip past me unnoticed, but when the story is told at full volume a few feet from my quiet cube, I can't help but notice. And be irritated. And depressed. What was I doing again?

11/19/2004 9:15 AM

Musings

On My List

Paid three times this month, which works out nicely when you only count on a single paycheck per fortnight.

On my list?

Radeon 9800 Pro

512MB RAM

30,000 checkup for car

Picture frames

If you catch me without any of these items/services in my possession or currently ordered, please bug me. I don't want to be lazy, it's just the way I am.

(Oh yes:

500 into savings
)

11/18/2004 3:38 AM

Musings

And, I can't resist. Is it really stereotyping if it's all so blatant?

11/16/2004 10:54 AM

Photo

http://10eastern.com/foundphotos.html

http://www.cpoy.org/59/winimg.php

http://www.fishighway.com/

http://www.verifine.org/stuff/co-worker.html

http://www.onboard.jetbrains.com/articles/04/10/lop/

11/16/2004 3:59 AM

I don't think this is quite what Parker & Stone wanted...

Yahoo:

The soldiers shared laughs during the more surreal moments, such as when a psychological-operations truck rolled through the city blaring the theme song to the movie "Team America: World Police." In the film, Rambo-like puppets hunt terrorists and blow up the Eiffel Tower in the process. There is no need to thank us, the puppets tell outraged Parisians.

11/15/2004 9:01 AM

D'Onfrio's A Dick

Who would have thought that the high-intensity star of Law and Order: Criminal Intent would also be a high-intensity prima donna on the set? So tightly-wound that his unspooling over the election has reached meltdown proportions.

It's so much fun to be a sniping nobody.

11/11/2004 10:24 AM

Musings

Glenn Campbell Writes a Memoir

[Oopsie.. It looks like he didn't want the link published. Let me know if you'd like me to give it to you.]

From the web site:

I was Abducted by Aliens at Area 51 is the true story of a Bostonian who moved to the Nevada desert to hunt for UFOs at a secret military base. The unacknowledged Air Force base at "Area 51" was little known to the public in 1993 when GLENN CAMPBELL arrived in the nearby town of Rachel, Nevada, population 100. Within a year, he was the center of a media blitz, attracting journalists and TV crews from all over the world who asked, "What is the government trying to hide?"

Campbell, aka Psychospy, was the writer of the inimitable Groom Lake Desert Rat. The Rat was a chronicle of the goings on, on and around Area 51, for several years during the mid-90s. It's highly irreverant, witty, and overall just a lot of fun to read.

He is also the author of the "Area 51 Visitor's Guide", a comprehensive reference to the area around, history of, and characters surrounding this mysterious secret base. Oddly enough, my copy of the visitor's guide is still sitting on my coffee table.

Campbell has been mostly silent for the last 7 years so it was something of a surprise to me when I stumbled across this working draft online. It's a fascinating start and I hope he finds the time to complete it.

11/11/2004 9:50 AM

Musings

Linkology, Special Election Edition

f*ckthesouth.com - Single page screed against anyone who still refers to a certain war as "The War of Northern Aggression".

Sorry Everybody - Fascinating -- Kerry voters apologize to the rest of the world on behalf of the 60 million ignoramuses who voted for the SuperChimpBushitler.

Election Result Maps - includes a weighted (distorted) geographic map showing how counties that have lots of people voted.

"The Vote was Hacked." - Plenty more like this on democratic underground.

"Dear Liberals: You have one week to cry". - With such zingers as:

So listen up black people, especially those who profess to be Christian. YOU CANNOT HATE GAY PEOPLE.

The main problem women have is [men]. We abuse them.

Especially this one from the comments:

The problem with Christianity is that it is a religion firmly rooted in evangelism, which, say what you will about this practice, is nothing if not vocal. And many of these proclamations of the particulars involved in loving one's neighbor and serving one's God are often met with conflict, the primary one being sense.

Halo 2 Is Out - Some friends stood in line last night. Not that big a Halo fan. I die alot.

11/9/2004 8:52 AM

Links

I think Monday's upcoming test has me down.

I could be wrong.

11/8/2004 8:53 AM

Musings

Beautiful Fall Day

It's a quarter of the way through November in Minnesota and the temperature is going to be up near 70 degrees. Life could be much, much worse.

My first co-worker firing yesterday. Not totally unexpected but still a shock. I mean, how exactly are you supposed to react when the office manager comes to your shared half-cubicle with a box and starts loading up personal items? Ignore it? Presume it's none of your business? Be helpful? The last option is probably not the best.

I added some more photos to the stack. I haven't taken many pictures lately. The colors are gone, everything is turning shades of brown. The sun sets early. It's generally poor picture takin. I miss it already.

11/6/2004 12:16 PM

Life

Allow me to Channel Marty McFly

Heavy, doc. And congratulations.

11/4/2004 4:40 AM

Musings

New Yorkers:WTF?

Why did New Yorkers vote almost 80% for Kerry? Because they know better than the rest of us. Especially those damn rednecks in flyover country.

Some fun quotes from the NYT article:

"New Yorkers are more sophisticated and at a level of consciousness where we realize we have to think of globalization, of one mankind.."

...

"New Yorkers are savvy," she said. "We have street smarts. Whereas people in the Midwest are more influenced by what their friends say."

"They're very 1950's," she said of Midwesterners. "When I go back there, I feel I'm in a time warp."

...

"People who are more competitive and proficient at what they do tend to gravitate toward cities," he said.

...

"When you're in a more isolated environment, you're more susceptible to some ideology that's imposed on you."

11/4/2004 1:23 AM

Musings

The November Surprise

Looks like I win $2.13, pay up Edwardo. Or he could choose to move far, far away.

11/3/2004 12:58 PM

Musings

Your Government

Protecting you from terrorists.

11/2/2004 12:14 PM

Links

She Doesn't Sound Entirely Sure

Maybe someone is playing a VERY ELABORATE practical joke on this poor girl?

11/2/2004 11:57 AM

Life

'What kind of Republican ARE you??'

That was the question posed by a friend of mine to the TV last night regarding a local congressional candidate. He was a little upset that the incumbent in question supported tax cuts and a host of spending programs. The problem, as I have come to see it, is that those two things are not mutually exclusive. If you're a Republican, you can spend until you're blue in the face so long as it's on "conservative" budget items and not have to worry about backlash from your base.

This is because, as I've been saying, the Republicans at the national level are no longer the party of small, even smallER government.

Even Osama himself supports outrageous government spending, even on the war! That should be reason enough for any single-issue War On Terror voter to go Libertarian.

11/2/2004 9:12 AM

Musings

Monday Links

Grand Theft Auto for NES -- This guy is insane. Need prove? See this page in particular.

Ten Mistakes Writers Don't See -- If you don't fix these things you are a bad, bad person. (And bad writer.)

Panoramas from Around the World -- Cool stuff.

11/1/2004 9:22 AM

Links

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