Every new idea or workaround is called a “hack” nowadays, even if it’s a technique that doesn’t involve technology. Some of the hacks listed in this “100 Home Hacks That Will Improve Your Life” could be considered engineering 101 hacks, but really they are just weird ideas that solve a problem or make something easier. … An Actual Hack
We took a trip to Massachusetts. Here are some photos. The ducks and geese at Hager Pond in Marlborough. They have been here for as long as I can remember: Webster Lake in Webster, MA. The real name is Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. The “shortened” name is Lake Chaubunagungamaug, which manageable but ridiculous for normal English-speaking mortals: … Photos: Massachusetts
Interesting. “Decades-long bet on consciousness ends — and it’s philosopher 1, neuroscientist 0“: The findings from one of the experiments — which involved several researchers, including Koch and Chalmers — were revealed on Friday at the ASSC meeting. It tested two of the leading hypotheses: integrated information theory (IIT) and global network workspace theory (GNWT). … Betting on Consciousness
Noah (2014) The only righteous man on Earth hears from the Creator that He’ll be sending some destruction his way, but there’s something he can do about it. This movie didn’t do well for two reasons. One, because folks wanted The Passion of the Christ, but for Noah, but there was extra-Biblical stuff in there … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 41
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, Part 2 Jolyne and Co. fight more of the inmates at Green Dolphin Street Prison to gain possession of Dio’s backbone. Not much to say here—it’s part of an entire season, so there’s scant development in terms of moving the overall plot forward. I figured out, after so many episodes … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 38
Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045, Season 2 The threat of the posthuman virus and its part in the Sustainable War scenario increases. I had a hard time following the story here, because the animation is way too distracting for me. However, I may have figured out the big reason why Production I.G. went the realistic, … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 36
Belle (2021) An unassuming Japanese high school student becomes a singing sensation in a virtual reality world, but gets caught up in finding the identity of the virtual world’s mysterious Beast creature. When people talk of of remakes of older stories, in this case Beauty and the Beast, this is the direction movie makers should … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 31
From That Hideous Strength: “Why you fool, it’s the educated reader who can be gulled. All our difficulty comes with the others. When did you meet a workman who believes the papers? He takes it for granted that they’re all propaganda and skips the leading articles. He buys his paper for the football results and … C.S. Lewis on Educated Readers
The story below is a work of fiction. One of three birds has been waking me up in the morning. Windows open–rude awakenings are my unjust reward, straight from the bosom of Mother Nature, for allowing her to get closer to me. Their calls are words. One says “Germany, Germany, Germany.” The other says “I … Story: Quarantine V
What Are Heuristics? A very brief but good overview: the “world violence” ratio the video mentions is a good example of the spotlight fallacy. But the unspoken conclusion is that heuristics are bad at knowing large scale phenomena because human beings qua human beings are bad at knowing large scale phenomena. When to Trust the … Links of Possible Relevance, Part 27
If you’re ever in the Pittsburgh area, you can now buy a real, genuine, dead tree version of Pale Blue Scratch at the Mystery Lovers Bookshop in scenic, famous golf-coursey, Oakmont, PA. * Unnecessary side bar: is there a name for this linguistic phenomenon, where two causally unrelated things are grammatically linked together? The fact … Pale Blue Scratch Now Available in Oakmont, PA
I’ve been listening to Deadlock a lot lately, since they had released a double-CD album of re-recorded or unreleased, etc., songs—an album that passed my attention on its release date. One of the songs, “Earthlings,” is from a past Japanese market release of Bizarro World. If the Japanese isn’t apparent to you during the verses … When an English-Speaking German Band Does a Song in Japanese
“At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep.” -Willa Cather Have you ever gone camping overnight? There’s an astounding lack of electricity in the wild, unless you bring batteries with you. But that’s where this illustration point ends … About Sleep and Light – Pale Blue Scratch Email Newsletter #7
Short answer: no. Longer answer: watch video. Guest speaker’s at my church last Sunday, Austin Hohn. Jesus is God from Discovery Christian Church on Vimeo. To be clear, I think you can get some vague idea of what Jesus’ divinity was because, as the famous phrase goes, “words mean things.” I think Chalcedon is about … Can You Understand Jesus’ Divinity Via Enlightenment Reasoning?
The dialogue in my current work in progress uses three languages: English (most of it), German (here and there), and Franco-Arabic (it is what you probably think it is). I was under the impression from previous reading that some or many foreign words that were actual foreign language words and not common loanwords (i.e., “taco”) … Italicizing Foreign Words in Fiction
I was listening to one of my favorite Rush albums, Counterparts, the other day, and a line jumped out at me. From “Cold Fire”: She said, “Just don’t disappoint me You know how complex women are” It seemed like the second line could be taken two different ways, and it’s best to describe the difference … Only Neil Knows How Women Are