Tag: Metrology
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Pleasant surprise
Interesting article on the recent deplaneting of Pluto. In 2006 a group of official assholes decided for no obvious reason to change the definition. Since then, science writers have automatically forgotten Pluto, rubbing it in by headlining new discoveries of a ninth planet. GODDAMN IT, WE ALREADY HAVE A NINTH PLANET, AND IT’S CALLED PLUTO.…
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Version I
Somebody on substack was semi-joking about receiving a B in college because she refused to use Claude. I commented: If I were still teaching at this late date I’d make a new Inverted grading scale, “Version I”. FI = Fucking Intelligent (best) DI = Damned Intelligent CI = Could be Intelligent (if you try harder)…
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Should have the same argument
From Hieber on linguistics, How to use a dictionary: ❌ “What’s the One True Meaning™ of this word?” ❌ “What’s the One True Pronunciation™ of this word?” ✅ “What are some different ways this word is used?” = = = = = Prescriptive vs Descriptive is a VERY old argument in language, and it was…
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Metrology Day and Bee Day 2026
I noticed that today is both Metrology Day and Bee Day, so I’ll remix closely related items that fit both themes at once. = = = = = MEDIEVAL METROLOGY PART 1 = = = = = This year I’m focusing on the medieval way of thinking as illuminated by Sherri Olson. Medieval villages embodied…
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Third Shift Workers Day
Today is Third Shift Workers Day. I often worked the graveyard shift, and worked it reliably and solidly. I was completely useless on 8-5. This oil clock was developed in the 1600s as a timer and light for scribes and illuminators working through the night. It provided light for scribal work, and simultaneously measured the…
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Tab-ulation
This item was spawned by thinking about Tabs, Tabulations and Tables. I’m leading toward a specific point, but first need to spit out some Graphic Juice that I’ve been holding during this long unimaginative ADA work. = = = = = For several months I’ve been making and testing courseware blind-style, using only the keyboard.…
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Luminous and numinous
Every now and then I notice a clear night and check to see if the aurora is likely to be visible. Nothing happening tonight, but SpaceWeather.com has a sight more beautiful and luminous than an aurora: = = = = = START LUMINOSITY: This is an AI Free Zone: Text created by Large Language Models…
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We’re not using what we have
The local paper has an article about a recent bus crash. A driver was following the computer instead of his eyes, and crashed one of the new double-decker buses into a railroad overpass. I’ve been riding STA buses for 35 years, so I know something about the setup. I’ve been programming for 45 years, so…
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Worse than Altman’s eyeball
Noticed via New Scientist, which properly considered it as a candidate for the next Ig-Nobels. You thought Altman’s soul-stealing Eyeball was intrusive? How about a new industry devoted to wearable fart detectors? The fartup sees an oppootunity in the well-known hianus of infartmation. Most people aren’t aware of their actual fartquency**, either under or overstating…
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Placebo vs tiredness?
NewScientist covers some recent experiments on sleep, indicating that our internal measurement of restedness is loose and flexible. When we’re convinced that we got good sleep, we feel awake and we perform better. When we’re convinced that we missed sleep, we feel tired and we lose sharpness. This experiment is clever, using a technique popular…
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Copying the New Deal
Good is good no matter who does it. Bad is bad no matter who does it. In 2020 Trump did the evilest thing in 70 years, and the most widespread evil in all of human history. In his second term his admin is doing the standard American evil things like bombing foreign countries and enriching…
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Insiderish?
At the moment this insiderish event in the “news” business strikes me as fairly significant. Detroit still has morning and evening papers. They started out independent, then semi-merged in 1989 with a Joint Operating Agreement. The upper levels of management and financing were together while the newsrooms were independent. In the 80s many papers formed…
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Almost up to TRS-80!
Windows 11 has achieved what previous tech predictors thought impossible: It matches the performance of a TRS-80 with cassette drive memory, or the first PC with 144k floppies. Fine work, Microsoft! Sardonic off. I’ve been using Win 11 for several weeks now, so I have a good idea of how various programs run. Absolutely everything…
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XII gaming
Seen at Substack, verified by an archeology book. These mysterious dodecahedrons were fairly common in the northern part of the Roman empire, from Britain to Germany. Theories abound but nobody is certain of their purpose. They were about 4 inches in diameter, with 12 sides. Each side had a hole, each a different size. My…
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