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Miscellaneous

miscellaneous

“This sentence has meaning.”

Rock and pop aren’t as self-referential to the extent hip-hop, blues, or country are—though rock and pop are a few tiny notches more than classical I attribute rock’s statistics to AC/DC’s songs about…rockin’, in the non-euphemistic sense. Rock takes itself too seriously. You have to take classical seriously because it took a long time and “This sentence has meaning.”

“Let’s Just Reset”

“Two minutes to drop. It’s alright to be scared. Remember, there is no courage without fear.” -Master Sergeant Farell, Edge of Tomorrow

Enjoy Another “I Changed the WordPress Theme” Post

I’ve grown close to Bootstrap-based layouts since tinkering with them a lot earlier this year at the company hackathon. Even very basic Bootstrap layouts were appealing, hence my use of the new theme, Bootstrap Canvas WP. There are no direct CSS customizations—just modifications made in WordPress’ factory theme customizer. I’ve only two issues: the menu Enjoy Another “I Changed the WordPress Theme” Post

Merry Christmas, 2016

A cover of a favorite Christmas song of mine. Its atonality is refreshing. Enjoy!

Nocticulent Cloud

God or cloud? If it’s the former, you’re already too late. Image stolen from wikipedia. They can’t have it back. This cloud came early in Antarctica, scientists say, as though one needed deep technical knowledge to notice a clearly visible atmospheric phenomenon is off its schedule by a few weeks. Later, scientists argued that the Nocticulent Cloud

Shmall Shbusiness Shaturday

In post-industrialized economies, money never stays local. It eventually finds its way out downstream from retail purchases. The local small grocer may buy their produce from the farm down the road, but the farm probably doesn’t buy their machinery locally. If they do buy local machines, the manufacturer buys parts and materials that come from Shmall Shbusiness Shaturday

Thanksgiving Chitinous Crevasse

An appropriate videographic compliment to the holiday festivities. My favorite part is when the song kicks in when Jack Black’s character starts fighting, at the 0:58 mark. When you wake up at halftime from your recovering slumber, pluck at your $5000 iPhone 2000X until you can listen to Travis’ recent interview with Ron Jarzombek of Thanksgiving Chitinous Crevasse

We’re Leaving

“This place is a tomb.” -Captain Miller, Event Horizon

Aftermath

As always, Ed has good analysis here and here. From the first link: A critical element in Trump’s election victory was how the mainstream media was totally blindsided by the Internet. Have you noticed how the old media still acts as if the Internet was some kind of extension of the print-based world they dominated? Aftermath

Cthulhu for President, 2016 and Forever

The general order of events: The red herring for this post: a fictitious Cthulhu “presidency” isn’t that much different than a God “presidency,” at least to Americans. There’s a strong tendency for some folks to equate the supernatural with malicious forces; if you’ve already accepted this equivalency as truth then the terror of Cthulhu isn’t Cthulhu for President, 2016 and Forever

Robo-Logic

Interesting video. Robots “learn,” but within a very narrow set of parameters. Those robots featured are created for a very specific task, one that requires the accurate repetition and endurance that humans can’t consistently delivery. So they don’t learn so much as practice their programming until a specific standard of precision has been met. Learning, Robo-Logic

Short Film: Echo Torch

Excellent, no-dialogue film about a retro/steampunk blue light, a not-so-friendly ghost, and a fateful WWII-era dance.

Photo: Yours Truly

Can you spot me? Look for the stud-in-the-making, sporting the impressive—most impressive—Darth Vader shirt this side of the universe.

Be An Insect

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook Be An Insect

Hiring and Firing

Oopsies at Yahoo: In the [discrimination] suit, as reported by The Mercury News, Ard alleges Mayer encouraged the use of an employee performance rating system to “accommodate management’s subjective biases and personal opinions, to the detriment of Yahoo’s male employees.” Ard also accuses Kathy Savitt, Yahoo’s former chief marketing officer, and Megan Liberman, the current Hiring and Firing

Rise of the Dude Raiders

I listened to Molyneux’s analysis of Zootopia (video here and audio here)—which sounds like a terrible movie, by the way—when he mentioned the white feather phenomenon from World War I. A tough time for pacifist or “other principled” guys, for sure. Being rejected by women romantically is traumatic enough, so much so that most men Rise of the Dude Raiders

Melon Shooter

In honor of me level-capping Lara Croft in Rise of the Tomb Raider, here’s a video of me doing a headshot chain in expedition mode. Sometimes the Xbox One native recorder will capture things like this autonomously. While I didn’t have auto-aiming enabled, you’ll notice big head mode is, so it didn’t seem recording-level noteworthy Melon Shooter

The Marty Stu Chronicles: Shulk

Despite the high quality of Xenoblade Chronicles, there’s no denying that Shulk, the main protagonist, is the biggest Marty Stu (of the Purity Stu variety) in recent memory. Aside from his barely-perceptible romance with Fiora, there’s no reason for him to pursue the hero’s quest other than pure altruism, and altruism is a lousy motivator The Marty Stu Chronicles: Shulk

Cthulhu in Real Life

Saw this on Reddit and found it too good not to post it in its entirety, because I can. Enjoy responsibly. Second-to-minutes: major insanity within minutes at the emergence of Great Cthulhu all along the pacific region. Massive earth quakes in some regions. Madpeople world wide scream, some die, others attack their staff muttering strange Cthulhu in Real Life

100 Amiga Games

Certainly provides a good hit of nostalgia. My favorites were the non-linear, story-heavy, point-and-click type of logic games, like Myst or Maniac Mansion, though this is a bit before that era. Deja Vu, #76 in the video, is that kind of game. I liked pretty much anything I could afford with a teen/pre-teen’s disposable income, 100 Amiga Games

I Don’t Want a Female President

It’s not the sex of the president necessarily that I’m wary of, since, if I voted in the first place, I’d vote for a solid libertarian lady much more readily than a normal state-loving dude. That’s possibility is not the in the cards this season, regardless. What I’m more concerned about are the aftereffects of I Don’t Want a Female President

Someone Give Me a Good Phrase For This

When a prequel is made with ultra-modern filmmaking technology—CGI and the like—the visual effects are “held back” when illustrating the in-universe technology to match its look and feel. This only seems to affect prequels, not sequels or reboots, since prequels necessarily take place in the in-universe’s past. I tried Googling some things, but I’m coming Someone Give Me a Good Phrase For This

Killing Mario Forever

I got an Xbox One recently, and I was reading up a little the Tomb Raider franchise, since I downloaded Rise of the Tomb Raider and was enjoying it so far. Wouldn’t you know? I guess I’m not supposed to enjoy it as much as I am because some folks finds it problematic. Problematic*. Very Killing Mario Forever

Computers and Bikes

Just a quick personal note. I (again) had some computer issues, but they have cleared up for now. Special thanks to Advanced Communications for fixing my keyboard, and no thanks to Best Buy/Geek Squad for breaking it. Another thank you goes to Seth W for showing me how to properly hitch my bike. I had Computers and Bikes

Steal This Idea for a Comedy Sketch

There’s some kind of service or shop that does things in all senses of any word: literally, figuratively, and by other usages. A lot of humor, like innuendo, comes from the double meaning of some words. Instead of playing on just two meanings, the idea is to cover all of them. Exponentaially absurd! I’m not Steal This Idea for a Comedy Sketch

Stale Scumbags

Another politcal/current events post. Bear with me. While doing my cool down run on the gym treadmill, I saw a CNN headline, roughly paraphrased: “Clinton wants us to take a fresh look at her.” Granted, this was during a panel of five interchangeable talking head-types—three grim, serious guys in suits and two leggy, brightly-colored women—so Stale Scumbags

The Amazon Wish List Chronicles

Don’t read any further if you dislike techy talk or mild complaining. I have a large Amazon wish list of 550+ books, and it gets pretty darn difficult when I’m in a real-world book (print rules!) store and need to check if the store has a book on the list. There’s no option to “see The Amazon Wish List Chronicles

Album: Believer’s Dimensions

Azure Ides-Grey posted an old Underoath video on his blog, and it made nostalgic something similar, but even futher back for me. I jammed this album for an entire year straight my senior year of high school, and most recently, during a workout. I credit the album for getting me interested in philosophy as a Album: Believer’s Dimensions

Politics Is Not Rational

I don’t vote and I have little interest in politics, but Scott Adams’ latest post about the RNC convention held my interest: Persuasion-wise, Trump’s family was the big story of the convention. People seem to love them in the same way the public loved the Kennedys. And notice how Donald Jr. and Eric both have Politics Is Not Rational

Video: The Philosophy of Daredevil

Interesting analysis. I’m not a big TV guy, so I haven’t seen any of the episodes, but I’d have to watch one of the hundreds of hour-long edgy drama-type of series, this would be at the top of the list. A few things though, that the video mentions: justice can’t be objective because people aren’t Video: The Philosophy of Daredevil

Steal These Two Ideas For Blogs

I’m not greedy; I don’t pretend to own anything that’s not ownable in the first place. That includes non-scarce things like ideas. This is one way of saying someone should take these ideas and run with them. Unlike some of you reading this, I don’t have a time machine, so I don’t have the resources Steal These Two Ideas For Blogs

When Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

I was doing some reading/watching for an upcoming podcast on which I’ll be a guest, and I came upon a video of an analysis of a film. It’s a hard sci-fi/crime film which deals, in part, with artificial intelligence becoming “self-aware.” The video’s author thought the film’s implicit warning are applicable to real-life situations. The When Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Personal Technology Notes

1 – The hard drive on the family computer, an ASUS, pooped the bed. It’s almost done with repairs, but naturally I haven’t been able to post as often on here since I can only do it via phone. If you’ve ever tried to write a blog post in that manner, you’ll know how hellish Personal Technology Notes

Book Review: The Aeneid

I was going to write a review of The Aeneid for Goodreads, but it would get rejected eventually since it’s not about the book itself but just a few lines about my copy’s previous owners. Reviews are highly patrolled there, more so than on Amazon, so it’s bringing owls to Athens to post this there. Book Review: The Aeneid

STEMwiches

Someone at the the excellent resource EffectiveUI wonders if two unrelated things are related to each other: Does being out in tech matter? This is a question I asked myself last week when I was preparing to be on a panel at the Google offices in Boulder, Colorado to speak to LGBTQ youth about careers STEMwiches

Discover the Monoculture

This commercial is a prime target for diversity bed-wetters—the actress is blonde and blue-eyed, even. Why hasn’t this been nailed to the wall?

The Epistemology of Belief

I made a contribution to Ed’s Radix Fidem project, and he published it as a guest post. You can read it all here, but a sample is below. There was a lot of back and forth and deleting while I was writing it. It’s a slippery topic. Honestly, with English as my first language—hence, the The Epistemology of Belief

The Asian Squat

After hearing so much about the Asian squat lately online, by happenstance, I tried it. I was partially able to hold it, but it was right after a workout, so I’m using that as an excuse. I’m able to do pistol squats well, so I thought the Squat would be easy to do. I guess The Asian Squat

Was the jQuery Blog Hacked?

Below are some screens from a post on the jQuery blog, that I received in my RSS reader. Looks like they were hacked, but the post has been taken down. Interesting. EDIT: Google search results for “jquery hacked” lists the hacked blog post as the fifth search result (yours truly comes in as the ninth Was the jQuery Blog Hacked?

There Will Always Be Divisions

Ed points out tribalism within the church: When you get mainstream any Christian leader to read this same passage and he starts talking about how we need to end sectarianism. But what he really mean is that everyone should dissolve their clubs and join his. “Well, isn’t it obvious? Our way is the right one!” There Will Always Be Divisions

A Wonderful Movie Review

I caught bits and pieces of Bloodsport the other night. I don’t know much about martial arts movies but it seems to be the quintessential 80’s Western “kung fu” movie—its ubiquity is inescapable, and we have very, very basic cable. Browsing the reviews of the movie on imdb.com revealed this wonderful gem. I want to A Wonderful Movie Review

Movie: Millennium Actress

I posted the full movie a few years ago, but YouTube had taken it down, most likely because it was an upload from a random user without the copywright. However, the Paramount Vault channel recently uploaded it in full, so it looks like it’s here to say. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqq0nVu29g8

A Playlist of Possible Interest

Thought I’d share my (mostly) video game music playlist. It’s good for background music for reading or quiet working, though if you really like some of the songs the experience can be interrupting. Youtube has a 200 video limit for embeded playlists, looks like, so go here to the actual playlist page for all the A Playlist of Possible Interest

Vladimir Martynov’s The Beatitudes

You don’t understand, but perhaps you do. This song kills me. Kills me. There’s an all-string version, which seems more popular, by the Kronos Quartet that was in the movie La Grande Bellezza. That one is also good, but there’s something special about it being performed a capella.

My First Hackathon

I typed away at my first hackathon ever a few weeks ago: PNC’s APIFest. My team and I stayed up all night, eating any kind of computer geek food they threw at us and plugging away. Our idea was very UI-heavy, so I had plenty of work to do. I got maybe 20 total minutes My First Hackathon

Multiculturalism Doesn’t Exist

I mean, multiculturalism does exist, and has always existed. The earth has many cultures. This is self-evident. Yet, multiculturalism doesn’t exist in the way some may think it does. A story from my Facebook days. Friend Y posted about their job at X. One night, a Muslim man and his wife came in. The man Multiculturalism Doesn’t Exist

Teach Your Kids Not to be Dicks

TED Talks are the pinnacle of bourgeois cheesepuff and self-back-pattery—a ‘roided up NPR with visuals. As a prole, I’m supposed to be floored by the priesthood coming out from behind the Veil of the Holy of Holies to radiate their revelations to me. Their videos are mildly interesting at best, but this one I couldn’t Teach Your Kids Not to be Dicks

Photo: That’s Great

From page 415 of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods (10th Anniversary edition, Author’s Preferred Text).

Rey Skywalker Is Not A Mary Sue

Going to backtrack a statement I made in an old Star Wars: The Force Awakens post. Rey Skywalker is definitely not a Mary Sue: 7. She cobbled together a computer from crashed ships and found a data chip with a functioning flight simulator program. She used the program in her spare time, like when she Rey Skywalker Is Not A Mary Sue

Buying Coffee Without Money

Interesting idea from Meinl Coffee, if you can write and like coffee (the two usually go hand in hand): On March 21st, World Poetry Day, we let our imagination wonder. We dream of a place where money is replaced by emotions. A better world. For one day, we’re changing the currency in coffeehouses around the Buying Coffee Without Money

You Keep Saying “User Experience” But I Don’t Think You Know What It Means

I usually like Aaron’s thoughts, especially on economic stuff, but he’s off here. UX (user experience) isn’t testing, though it involves that (and, by the way, application testing is a dedicated position). The biggest task for UX designers is logically organizing information, the user action path, and general interface, particularly on large-scale applications and websites. You Keep Saying “User Experience” But I Don’t Think You Know What It Means

Facebook Deleted, and a Poll

I deleted my Facebook account. I remembered I had a GitHub account that I did little with—deleted that one, too. I had planned on doing that some time ago when they started getting infested with SJWs, but it fell off my radar. So, an informal poll. I have the Links of Possible Relevance posts that Facebook Deleted, and a Poll

The Meaning of “Need”

There was a survey-type of form at work I was filling out, and one of the questions was if I “needed” resource X. The few questions preceding this one had to do with resource X, and it was something I already had. Depending on how I regarded the question, it could require two different answers. The Meaning of “Need”

Umberto Eco Just Died

RIP, Eco. I haven’t read The Name of the Rose, his most well-known book, but it’s currently in the “to read” stack. I did see the movie version, with Sean Connery and Christian Slater, but I was too young to really appreciate it. I’ve only read Foucault’s Pendulum (free PDF here). I liked it so Umberto Eco Just Died

A Politician Says Stuff About Boobs

How did I miss this? I ignore the news, but every now and then a breastfeeding story comes up, usually because of some uppity Victorian-types making lots of noise. If the Victorian-type is a politician, all the lefty sites will be all over it. Why wouldn’t they? It’s outrage red meat. New Hampshire State Rep. A Politician Says Stuff About Boobs

Dancing Mechas

While doing research for Pale Blue Scratch, on ballet and dancing in general, I came upon this video while following rabbit trails on Google. It’s the intro for a series I had watched a few years ago on Netflix, before one of their anime purges. I have no reason for posting it, other than I Dancing Mechas

Lyrics: Rush’s Losing It

One of the best songs, lyrically, on dealing with a tragedy. Most popular music lyrics that tackle depressing a subject focus on three certain kinds: unrequited love, death, or whatever the mental pathology du jour is popular. I don’t think I’ve heard a song deal with vocational or occupational tragedy before. Contrast this with the Lyrics: Rush’s Losing It

Math Is Not Science

At least, I don’t think it is. From the clickbaity “According To Science, This Is The Perfect And Best Road Trip You Can Possibly Take.” WITH THE HELP OF A SOPHISTICATED ALGORITHM, THIS ROAD TRIP ALLOWS YOU TO START IN ANY STATE. JUST HOP ON AT THE POINT THAT RUNS THROUGH YOUR STATE AND KEEP Math Is Not Science

The Jay Test

Facebook friend Mike Duran posted about the Bechdel Test on his wall recently. I had never heard of it, but I’m happy to report any conversation between women appearing in Pale Blue Scratch fails the test. Well, not exactly happy; I’m really indifferent toward it. However, I don’t play the gender culture war and I The Jay Test

Dishonored Completed

I just finished playing Dishonored. Good game! It was my first stealth FPS, so I had adjustment issues after gorging on Halo installments for so long. Dishonored has high art direction value, taking a lot of aesthetics from Industrial age British fashion. That, and the dystopian decay plot point lends itself well to the alternative Dishonored Completed

Kylo Ren’s Bowcaster Injury

GeekxGirls posted on Kylo Ren’s lightsaber battles, and they have similar thoughts to what I’ve been gassing on about. From “Kylo vs Finn and Rey – You’re Missing the Damn Point!”, regarding his injury from Chewbacca’s bowcaster: So…after being shown the pure unadulterated hell that spews forth from this hand-held death cannon in a deluge Kylo Ren’s Bowcaster Injury

Kickstarter – Post Game Analysis

The Kickstarter campaign for the new book was rather successful. I didn’t know how it would turn out, honestly, but I had expectations that it wouldn’t make it. The bulk of the contributions came from family and friends who wanted to help out, especially the first half of the pledges. Near the end, after it Kickstarter – Post Game Analysis

Make 2016 A Heavy Metal Year

Below is a postcard I designed for Seth at Skulltoaster. I think it printed well, but in retrospect I should have made the blue colorized Seth in the background a little brighter, and emphasized his “2016” glasses a little more. Photography by Molly Hudelson.

Addendum to Previous Star Was Post

See the original post. As if I need to add even more online commentary about this movie… I rewatched it the other night, and I paid special attention to the lightsaber fight between Kylo Ren and Rae, and I probably should revise my original thoughts. When they start out, it’s basically Rae trying to get Addendum to Previous Star Was Post

Eat More Fat

An interesting excerpt from an article last year, from the Daily Beast: “The Heart Association’s Junk Science Diet“: In fact, most people who have heart attacks don’t have elevations in bad cholesterol. They are much more likely to have metabolic syndrome—a condition that puts you at high risk for diabetes and heart disease. Metabolic syndrome Eat More Fat

Commas Are Still Useful

Make me a sandwich, bitch,” is a semi-literal phrase used less as a command and more as a denigration, for obvious reasons. I came across a screenshot of someone on Twitter tweeting it, so I did some searches on the phrase, both with and without the comma. Nearly all usages I’ve seen online do no Commas Are Still Useful

Directing One’s Passions

If a man has to set his passions on a subject, let it be an inconsequential thing: sports, music, food. The worst thing, if his affections for the subject become too engaged and inflamed, is a barroom brawl, an insult hurled online at a different band’s fan, or food thrown across the restaurant table. Even Directing One’s Passions

Further Thoughts On Prometheus

With the news of Ridley Scott planning to direct a trilogy of films as Prometheus sequels, I intentionally fell into reading more explanations and speculations about Prometheus. I came up with two and a half more unexplained elements from the film that will hopefully be addressed. 1. This one is minor, so I’ll get it Further Thoughts On Prometheus

Personal Fitness Note

I just started a membership at the local Planet Fitness. Nothing truly groundbreaking, but it’s a huge personal switch from me after exercising for years in the ol’ basement for many years. Since I’ve posted here before, though rarely, on fitness, I thought I’d share a few observations. 1. Working out in public requires a Personal Fitness Note

That Julia Price Story is Suspect

I don’t normally comment on these “dawww that’s cute” type of stories, but I’ve been seeing this too much to ignore it. Story here, original Facebook post here. I was about to write it off as another useless social media story with a gratuitous selfie of Julia for maximum attention generation, until I read that That Julia Price Story is Suspect

Random Thoughts on the Syrian Diaspora Issue

1. “Refugee,” much like “slave,” used in this modern context, may be wildly different than mentions of “refugee” in some translations of the Bible. X doesn’t always mean x, especially when there’s a good few thousand years worth of linguistic, cultural, and technological differences. 2. Universal moral imperatives, especially for something so complex as this Random Thoughts on the Syrian Diaspora Issue

Another Site Design Update

I changed a few things on the site, to make things a little wonky. The biggest change were the drawer dropdowns I used for the navigation. The plugin seemed to take up a lot of the load time, and the experience wasn’t ideal on mobile, so I ditched it. There’s only one navigable page—the “About” Another Site Design Update

Rocky and Mutual Male Touching

I remember watching the Rocky movies countless times when I was younger, and I never thought the semi-iconic scene in Rocky III where Rocky finally out-sprints Apollo Creed was implicitly homosexual. Watching it now, one has to wonder how much attitudes have changed, such that the filmmakers back then (1982) never thought twice that this Rocky and Mutual Male Touching

Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Ending Prediction

This has probably already been said somewhere, but given what we know from the trailers, other sources, and basic cinematic tropes, I can predict one of the crucial plot element at the Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We know Luke Skywalker is in exile for some reason. He’s in

How to Play Xbox Games on an XBox 360

Consider this a public service announcement post, since I had some issues with getting my copy of Halo 2 to work, even after doing research online. I have an Xbox 360 E, and they require an internal drive to make original Xbox games compatible. However, the internal drive must be an official Microsoft hard drive, How to Play Xbox Games on an XBox 360

Mozilla’s Manifesto Is Eh

After upgrading to Windows 10, I saw that the Mozilla Manifesto was directly linked from the Firefox’s default “new tab” screen (for the record, I’m a Chrome guy). With Mozilla’s recent dalliances with progressive politics, I wanted to see if it infected their official statement of purpose. It mostly didn’t, thankfully, but it is rather Mozilla’s Manifesto Is Eh

The Diversity Issue

After a some comments I made on one of Mike Duran’s post, “Does Christian Fiction Have a Race Problem?”, I was set to write a lot of about the politicized nature of the modern diversity concept. Stefan Molyneux beat me and saved me some writing time, so I’d advise you to watch the video below. The Diversity Issue

The Staycation Dad Chronicles

A cut and paste post while I’m busy finishing up Pale Blue Scratch. I recently finished a staycation and was busy annoying everyone on Facebook with my humdrum, activities in the dense suburbs of Pittsburgh. Here they are, serialized for your pleasure—because what’s more entertaining than what an average white American male does in his The Staycation Dad Chronicles