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Complex Numbers A complex number is expressed in the standard form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and i is defined by i^2 = -1 (that is, i is the square root of -1). For example, 3 + 2i is a complex number. The bi term is often referred to as an imaginary number (though this may be misleading, as it is no more "imaginary" than the symbolic abstractions we know as the "real" numbers). Thus, every complex number has a real part, a, and an imaginary part, bi. Complex numbers are often represented on a graph known as the "complex plane," where the horizontal axis represents the infinity of real numbers, and the vertical axis represents the infinity of imaginary numbers. Thus, each complex number has a unique representation on the complex plane: some closer to real; others, more imaginary. If a = b, the number is equal parts real and imaginary. Very simple transformations applied to numbers in the complex plane can lead to fractal structures of enormous intricacy and astonishing beauty. ![Merit Badge in Quill Award
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| https://aeon.co/essays/its-time-to-celebrate-the-humanity-of-the-communal-snooze... American work culture, seeping around the globe, threatens to ruin the pleasures and benefits of public, communal sleep The article opens by describing the culture shock some Americans felt in China when everyone else took a one-hour nap. Thing is, communal sleep wouldn't work in the US, not just because we run screaming in terror whenever someone uses the adjective "communal," but because there will always be the one asshole who thinks it's funny to take a Sharpie and draw willies on the faces of the sleepers. In fact, in the US, it is not only sleep that invites judgmental responses. There’s smoking (anything); food (how much, or how little, and its role in one’s health); alcohol (too much, of course, and who can abide the abstemious, the judges of judges?); and exercise and sex, with names for people who are seen as too active, and other names for people who aren’t active enough. Yet those judgments are founded on ideas about health and moderation. Part of what makes them obnoxious is that they’re not altogether wrong, and the intrusion touches a nerve. I've been railing against this shit for years. The US was founded by people who were too uptight for British culture. Really think about that for a minute. These Puritans' attitudes shaped our social fabric - for good and ill. Mostly ill. We’d all be better off dropping the moral judgment, and the policies that inevitably follow from it. Much as I admire Ben Franklin, the whole "early to bed, early to rise" quote mentioned in the article has always annoyed me. And it's out of character for him. I'm pretty sure it was satire, trolling, or some proto-performance art. There is an evolutionary argument for the staggered types of sleep across cultures. According to the psychologist Frederick Snyder’s sentinel hypothesis of 1966, for most of human history, sleep left people vulnerable to animals, other people and environmental dangers – not to mention the wrath of the spirit world. So, a community with varied chronotypes ensured someone was always alert to keep watch and sound an alarm. Okay, look, I have an admission to make here. Whenever I see any sort of evolutionary hypothesis shoehorned into an article about any kind of human activity, my inner alarms go off (not the ones that wake me up, but the ones that warn me about bullshit). Most of these are just that: hypotheses. The first one I remember reading was an "explanation" for why boys carry their books swinging by their side, while girls carry them up against their torsos: "It's because the males were hunters, and that's how they carried spears, while the females carry babies like that." I was raised on a farm, so I know bullshit when I smell it. I suspect it's more to do with the well-known and noncontroversial observation that the average male has greater upper-body strength than the average female, followed by peer pressure to follow the crowd. But even that is a hypothesis; the only thing that makes me like it better is the fact that I came up with it myself, which makes everything superior. My point is that we can't always know how our ancestors lived; and besides, such hypotheses ignore the 4 billion or so years of evolution that preceded the whole upright-ape tool-using food-cooking big-brain thing, which most of these stories focus on. And they are stories; most of them lack evidence of any kind. In this case, however, the evolutionary hypothesis doesn't detract from the basic thrust of the article, which I read as "stop fucking sleep-shaming," which I've been saying for a while now, so I don't need to say any more about it. |
| Make a listicle (list-article) of the Top 10 things to do in your area as a tourist In old-school David Letterman fashion, I'm going to do this as a countdown. As regular readers know, I live in Charlottesville. Used to be, I'd have to tack the state on lest people think I live in Charlotte, NC. Nowadays, we've become a household word, right alongside 9/11 and Columbine. This, frankly, sucks. So without further ado, the Top 10 things to do in Charlottesville as a tourist. 10. Barboursville and Other Wineries Our most famous resident, Thomas Jefferson, had an idea. Well, he had lots of ideas, and some of them were actually pretty good ones, like, you know, let's not be British anymore. This one in particular was this: the climate around Charlottesville is roughly similar to that of some parts of France. And what's France famous for? Guillotines, art, and wine. While the guillotine never quite caught on around here, and you can do art pretty much anywhere, Jefferson thought maybe we could grow wine. It... didn't work out the way he hoped. At least, not until around 1980 or thereabouts. Maybe a bit earlier. Some wine snob figured out a way to actually get wine grapes to grow here - well, close to here, anyway; in a little town called Barboursville about 30 miles northeast. The particular plot of land where the magic finally happened is also home to the ruins of a former governor's mansion, which was, by coincidence, fate, or planning, designed by Thomas Jefferson. It is, as I said, in ruins, having burned long ago, but the principal method of construction around here is brick, so the shell survives to this day. I got married there once. Anyway, point is, from that one winery, other people copied the idea (for wine, not burned-out ruins) and so we're home to the best vineyards outside of California and France. 9. Robert E. Lee on a Goddamn Horse This hunk of bronze is what eventually made us world-famous. Which sucks, because, well, there's a lot of history here, history that involves people who actually have a connection to this town, like the dude who wrote the goddamn Declaration of Independence, founded the University of Virginia, and served as a motherfucking president of the actual US. City Council voted to remove it, but there are legal issues and the son of a bitch is still there. They tried covering it with a tarp, but that didn't work out so well. So you can still see it, if you hurry. Now, look, Jefferson had his faults. So did Lee. So did Martin Luther King, Jr. Everyone does, especially if you judge the people of the past by the standards of the present. In 200 years, every one of us will probably be excoriated for owning a computer. That's not the point; the point is that the duly elected city council voted to remove the statue, and a whole lot of carpetbaggers descended upon our town in protest, leading to... unpleasantness. 8. The Rivanna Trail Like to walk? The Rivanna Trail circles the city - and for most of it, you won't even know that you're in a city. I've never been on more than a short segment of it at a time, myself, because it involves being outdoors, and you know how I feel about that. But I featured it in a novel (that remains unpublished and in draft form), so I had to walk some of it. For research, you know. 7. South Street Brewery This is an important historical landmark, as it was the first microbrewery in Charlottesville. It is where I discovered what real beer was. While it's changed hands a couple of times, it still makes excellent beer and is worth a visit. Their food is pretty good, too. 6. Miller's Charlottesville's downtown is dominated by an outdoor [shudder] pedestrian area, converted from a street, called the Downtown Mall. The whole mall is worth a look, but for visitors, Miller's is important because it's one of our oldest bars, and Dave Matthews used to sling "beer" there. Hey, I know - let's put up a statue of him! Horse optional. 5. University of Virginia Now forever to be known as the site of the Tiki Torch March, it's worth a visit if only to assure yourself that we don't usually have Tiki Torch Marches. They teach stuff there too, sometimes. 4. Monticello I debated with myself whether to include this most touristy of tourist places in (or, rather, just outside of) Charlottesville, eventually opting to do so because to exclude it would be like leaving the Eiffel Tower off of a list of tourist things to do in Las Vegas. Er, I mean, Paris. Or omitting the Statue of Liberty from a list of tourist things to do in Las Vegas. Er... New York. Whatever. 3. Carter Mountain Orchard On your way to or from Monticello, go up a winding-ass paved driveway to the top of Carter's Mountain. The views are incredible, and they have hard cider. Hm, I'm noticing a theme here. Now, people from out west might look at this "mountain" and scoff, but at least we have mountains people can hang out on without passing out from lack of oxygen. Cider, maybe, but not lack of oxygen. 2. Gearhart's Fine Chocolates Located near the Downtown Mall, I've been assured that they make the best chocolate in the country. Possibly even the world, but I will have to wait until I go to Belgium to determine this for myself. Strictly for research purposes, of course. And the Number One thing to do in the Charlottesville area as a tourist (drumroll)... 1. Go Home. I moved here when I went to UVA, then stayed after graduation, but I've lived here long enough now that I can say this. |
Sorry I’m late.... was busy with other stuffs and driving around tonight.  With that said... what is your favorite method of traveling, and why? I quoted the entire prompt above, not to call out the prompt-giver (Dragon is hiding is cool, and so is every other judge over at "The Writer's Cramp"  [13+]) but because it's relevant: My favorite method of traveling is... wait for it... driving around.Of course, there are some exceptions here. I still can't drive to Hawai'i. Or, well, most islands. Hell, entire continents. They keep talking about building a bridge across the Bering Strait, which would in theory link the bulk of the world by road, but, well... Russia and the US aren't exactly on "drive-across-the-border" terms right now. Another exception is that I won't drive if I've been drinking, not only because it's illegal, but because I'm not a fucking asshole. Well, not when it comes to endangering others, anyway. But even then, I'm happy to let someone else drive. When I'm in a city like New York, I'm fine with using public transportation. Driving in NYC isn't as bad as you probably think it is; the problem is finding a goddamn parking spot. So, sometimes, when I go to NYC, I take the train. That's a pretty relaxing mode, usually. As for flying, well, I love the "flying" part, and despise the "everything else about it" part. Leave it to humans to figure out how to use SCIENCE to freaking FLY and then turn the experience into a bloody nightmare. I think I'd like traveling by ship, but see previous entry on cruises to contrast the ideal of the cruise with the reality. But I love being on the water, provided of course I'm protected from the accursed daystar. There are, of course, other modes of transportation: bike, horse, rocket, elephant, rickshaw, camel, lysergic acid diethylamide... all of them have their place. I rode an elephant once, by the way. It's... an interesting experience, being that high up. Not scary at all, but I'm not afraid of heights. I do have some concern about being trampled, but that's kind of hard to accomplish when you're on the other side of the elephant from the tramply bits. I rode a camel once, too, but that was a very long time ago; I think we were being chased by a saber-toothed tiger. But driving... well, I do like the feeling of being in control of my route and destination, however illusory that might be sometimes. I should emphasize here that this is not about safety - I'm aware that driving has its hazards, and is far more likely to kill or injure than some of these other transportation options. Life is inherently risky; you also have a good chance of dying if you stay home and go nowhere. Well, technically, you have a 100% chance of dying, regardless, but hopefully you know what I mean. More than that, though, is the scenery. From an airplane, you see airports, the sky, clouds, and this big round thing below you. On a boat, you're surrounded by ocean. A train provides some scenery, depending of course on the route (I highly recommend NOT looking out the window whilst riding on a train along the Northeast Corridor), but even there you're usually limited to a narrow field of view. And, of course, with driving you're not limited. I know a lot of people like to leave point A and take the most direct, most efficient, fastest route to Point B, and they're done. That's fine, but that's not me. I purposely go off on side trips, and sometimes I avoid interstates (usually the fastest way) entirely. Because, to me, there is no such thing as a "destination." There is only the journey. |
| Well, for once I'm actually tired and about to crash, and as of this moment I haven't seen a 30DBC prompt. But hey, I can continue the theme of "vacations" on my own! https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/crowds-tourists-are-ruining-po... Too Many People Want to Travel Massive crowds are causing environmental degradation, dangerous conditions, and the immiseration and pricing-out of locals. I'll give 'em bonus points for using the word "immiseration," a rare word that doesn't mean anything like "the act of becoming more miserable;" for example, getting dragged to Disney World by your kids. Though Disney World can certainly cause immiseration, which the dictionary I looked at (online) defines as "economic impoverishment." I guess it's more closely related to "miser" than to "misery," though those two words come from the same source... shut up, Waltz, and get to the point. I have a friend who until recently lived on Maui. This was cool because it meant I got to visit Maui and stay for cheap. The room was the only thing that was cheap; everything else is pricier than a hooker at a priest convention. Even the supermarkets. Fun fact: You know how you can get a supermarket card, and the card can be used to access certain discounts at the market? At one point I had like 10 of these, until a Wegmans opened up in my neighborhood, at which point I quit shopping everywhere else. Anyway, point is, in order to get one of those cards for a supermarket in Hawai'i, apparently you have to show proof of residence. Tourists get to pay full price. This is actually ingrained in island culture. They call it kama'aina (my apologies if I got that spelling wrong). It's the practice of giving breaks to locals in the tourist-heavy Hawaiian economic zone. Without it, there wouldn't be locals to do all the work for the freakin' tourists, and the whole system would collapse. Which would make some Hawaiians quite happy, I suppose. Okay, back to the article. If tourism is a capitalist phenomenon, overtourism is its demented late-capitalist cousin: selfie-stick deaths, all-you-can-eat ships docking at historic ports, stag nights that end in property crimes, the live-streaming of the ruination of fragile natural habitats, et cetera. I have a modest proposal as regards "selfie-stick deaths:" Do nothing. It's a self-correcting problem that requires no action whatsoever, especially since even with my effectively nonexistent Photoshop skills, I could easily take an ordinary photo and then pop my own ugly mug into it, thus recreating the spirit of a selfie without having to lean halfway out over the Grand Canyon to do so. Guys, we have the story of Narcissus for a reason. I guarantee you if Narcissus had a mobile phone, it would be filled with selfies, with the last one being of his screaming face as he fell off the Acropolis or whateverthefuck. I'd pay to see that, actually. As for those other things: Stop it. You're embarrassing actual functioning humans. |
| Today's prompt has a bit of a twist.... 1. Find 5 songs about vacation! 2. Plan a vacation using your favorite song TWIST (this'll encourage you to read everyone else's posts...): no repeat songs! Are you fucking kidding me right now? Okay, fine, I'm going to claim the obvious one. Have I ever mentioned I actually saw them live, once? I kind of always had a crush on the drummer. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Let's go with this one for number 2 (so to speak) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJWmbLS2_ec It's been half a century, and I still don't know what the fuck "the Kokomo" is. Other than a town in Indiana, which is hardly a vacation destination. Hell, even Springsteen mentions "the Kokomo" in one of his greatest songs, "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)," which isn't a song about vacation, so I'm not going to include it here. Anyway, what in the ever-sucking SUCK is "the Kokomo?" Number 3. I'm declaring that this counts. Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue2-ZVxpVjc This counts too. Number 4. Sex Pistols. Because in the UK, "holiday" means "vacation." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ah1JM9mf60 And for Number 5, I'm going to declare, by fiat if necessary, that this song is also about vacations. For the record, this is one of the greatest songs of all time, as underrated and underplayed as it is. Barkeep, another Mekong please Yes, of course, you can keep the change A new glass here for this new friend of mine Forgive me, I forgot your name Flip a coin, what shall we talk about? Heads, I tell the truth, and tails, I lie Well, I came all the way from Taipei today Now Bangkok's pouring rain and I'm going blind again And I haven't seen my girl for fifteen thousand miles But is it true it's always happy hour here? And, if it is, I'd like to stay a while Well, as cliche as it may sound I'd like to raise another round And if your bottle's empty, help yourself to mine Thank you for your time And here's to life Barkeep, we need to go around again One for me and what's-his-name, my new best friend So, deal me in and I'll pick my cards up off the floor I'll see a lucky coin and raise a pack of lies Smile to the girl at the door, another four dollar whore But don't look her in the eyes, she'll break your heart We came all the way from Taipei today Still, Bangkok's pissin' rain and we're going blind again And I haven't seen my girl in fifteen thousand miles Well, is it true it's always happy hour here? And if it is, I'd like to stay a while Well, as cliche as it may sound I'd like to raise another round And if your bottle's empty, help yourself to mine Thank you for your time And here's to life Well is it true it's always happy hour here? And if it is, I'd like to stay a while Well, as cliche as it may sound I'd like to raise another round And if your bottle's empty, help yourself to mine Thank you for your time Well, as cliche as it may sound I'd like to raise another round And if your bottle's empty, help yourself to mine Thank you for your time And here's to life Here's to life Here's to life Here's to life Again So... "Plan a vacation using your favorite song." No. That would put me in New Jersey, and I've already been there this year. Twice, technically. Er... actually, four times if you're really going to get technical about it. Went there, then NYC, then back to NJ, then to Boston, then drove through NJ twice on the way back home. It's not a vacation destination; it's a place where you drive through or end up. Note: I've been drinking today. A lot. Probably more than I should have. Definitely more than I should have. This may have influenced the above entry. |
| Let's keep on with the vacation theme.... Design your own week-long cruise vacation. What would you do? eat? See? Is there a theme? Let your imagination run wild. What I expect will happen: I get on a cruise ship to see the Caribbean (because it's warm, and Alaska is not). I spend most of my time on the cruise ship drinking good booze and eating expensive food. Then, sometimes, I go ashore and duck into someplace shady to drink good booze and eat expensive food, but in a different setting than the cruise ship. These excursions are designed to keep me out of the sun as much as possible, because while I like being warm, I burn at the merest hint of solar radiation, and I really, really hate wearing sunscreen. Seriously, if we were meant to venture outdoors during the day, we wouldn't need sunscreen. All in all, I'd rather stay on the ship where it's shaded. What will actually happen: I get on a cruise ship and, after the first meal, get violently ill from norovirus. They want to airlift me out, but I don't have health insurance so I refuse treatment and have a miserable week. But at least I get to stay indoors. So probably no cruises in my future. I used to think maybe I wanted to go on one, and I still kinda do, but right now the problems outweigh the benefits. |
| Our theme this week is Vacation! Today's prompt is.... Tell us about your ideal vacation day! One of the great things about being me is that pretty much every day is a vacation day. Still, as you know by now, I do like to travel. But I also like to drink. These goals are, as I've noted before, contradictory. So for now, let's assume that I'm not driving. First decision: Where to go? Well, that might depend on the time of year. While I prefer to spend as little time as possible outdoors, if I have to put up with cold weather for even a minute, it's less than ideal. Not a big fan of rain, either. That sets some boundary conditions. Clearly, it has to be someplace where the alcohol flows like water. Scotland comes to mind - still planning to visit there next year - but it's not exactly tropical. So, while I'll do it, not ideal. There doesn't have to be a lot to do. I'm not a fan of overdoing things on vacation. I fell into that trap a few times - fill the day with stuff to meet and people to do. Wait. Strike that. Reverse it. Anyway, at this point, the purpose of a vacation for me isn't to get away from all the hard work I'm not doing, but to simply be somewhere else, experience something that isn't the familiar surroundings. So I know - let's go to Vegas again! There, I can wake up whenever I want (always a key requirement on vacation), but that'll end up being earlier than I'm used to because it's a three-hour time difference. I can then saunter down to a bar and drink breakfast - possibly a bloody mary, or maybe a beer. Then, gambling, because what the hell. After that, I can get some lunch to drink, and maybe something to eat. Like tacos. Mmmm, tacos. That implies tequila. Or maybe a cerveza or dos. Or tres. Then... more gambling! And a cigar or two. Maybe, if it's not cold, I'll venture into the not-so-great outdoors, seeking out microbreweries. All hail Uber. Or maybe another trip to Hoover Dam, the best tourist attraction a civil engineer could hope for. For dinner, sushi. Vegas has some of the best sushi I've ever had (but I've never been to Japan). This means sake. Or maybe a good Japanese whiskey. Or, hell, both. Everyone has a superpower, and mine is being able to drink multiple styles of distilled and/or fermented beverages, in any order. This does, however, interfere with my gambling - playing blackjack while drunk is a Really Bad Idea. For the player. It's a great idea for the casino. Then there's the Vegas nightlife. Oh, wait, I hate crowds. Better head back to the room and pass out. After all, wouldn't want to overdo it. Besides, gotta get up early tomorrow to drink breakfast. |
| Science! https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/5/17/18627757/kilogram-redefined-wor... Mostly I'm just linking this because it's interesting. Still, I have questions. Big K [the official kilogram object] is not constant. It has lost around 50 micrograms (about the mass of an eyelash) since it was created. But, frustratingly, when Big K loses mass, it’s still exactly one kilogram, per the old definition. Okay, but if Big K is the kilogram standard against which all other masses are compared, then how do they know it lost 50 micrograms? Anything you compare it to is, by definition, NOT the kg standard and so might also have changed mass through known or unknown processes. Officially, in the US, 1 pound is defined as 0.45359237 kilograms. Dafuq? A pound is a unit of weight. A kilogram is a unit of mass. Even in different places on the Earth's surface, with the level of precision we're talking about here, a kilogram might weigh more or less because the force of gravity changes slightly. The new definition anchors the value of the kilogram to a constant in nature, which can never, ever change Until we discover that it does. Light speed, on the other hand, is unchanging. Oversimplifying a bit. The speed of light in a vacuum is, as far as we have ever been able to tell, unchanging. But it's slower in air, water, glass, etc. If you glossed over it all, here’s what all this change boils down to: We’ll no longer need a government — the US, France, whoever — or an international governing body to tell us what a kilogram is. It will be a fundamental truth of the universe, available to anyone with the proper equipment to realize it. Regardless, that's pretty damn cool. (I should note that my comments above are meant mostly humorously - the people whose job it is to set these standards are more knowledgeable and careful than I am. ...I hope.) |
| A few days ago, there was a prompt about bias. https://dariusforoux.com/thinking-errors/ I keep getting links from this guy. A lot of what he says is like baby formula: pre-processed, imbalanced, and not as good as the real thing. Why do I keep getting links to him? Because I've clicked on a few. The powers that be don't care if I like something or not; if I click on it, they assume I want more like it. This is why I keep getting links to New York Times articles: I click on them, discover that I can't read them without paying, and dismiss them. We need a name for that. Analytics bias? Trending bias? I'm open to suggestions. Regardless, I can't find much to rant about in this one, except maybe that it's not very comprehensive - but he links to more thorough resources. If you've read the link, you might be asking, based on some other things I've posted here, "Waltz, how can you agree with an article that includes the sentence, 'What it comes down to is this: Avoid making decisions based on beliefs, obvious logic, and even science?'" Well, I don't necessarily agree with how it's phrased, but the key takeaway for me is this: like it or not, we're emotional beings. Any decision that fails to take emotion into account is going to be risky. But that doesn't mean we should be slaves to our emotions; we can still use science, logic, etc. to inform them. I'll use as an example my efforts at weight loss. Yeah, I know I talk about it a lot, but that's because my intention is focused on it. That, I've found, is how I get results. If it's an afterthought, it doesn't work. Anyway, the example: this may come as a shock to you, but I really like beer (and other distilled and fermented beverages). But beer isn't conducive to weight loss. Overindulgence also has its drawbacks, in terms of short-term impairment (though sometimes that's the whole point) and long-term damage. So, logically and scientifically, not drinking may sound like a perfectly good solution: you don't risk making an ass out of yourself while drunk, and maybe you live longer, and you don't have to worry about it sabotaging any efforts at losing weight. That works for a lot of people. Great. But that's not a tenable solution for me, emotionally. There's no point, to me, in living a life without the things that make life worth living. Consider this: What is something that brings you great joy? You don't have to tell me; just think about it. Your kids? Your car? Playing pranks on your boss? A particular friend? Reading? Whatever it is, imagine it. Now imagine being told - having solid scientific as well as anecdotal evidence - that doing without this one thing might extend your life and/or make you healthier. Could you give up, say, your kids, never speaking to them again, never seeing them, and maybe only hearing second-hand about what they're up to, for the rest of your life? Even if you could be 99.999% certain that they'd do just fine without you? I'm guessing the answer is no. In which case, by the rules of the situation I've set up here, you're deliberately choosing to die earlier and/or be less healthy in order to experience something that gives you great joy. Well, that's the case with me and beer. (And scotch, tequila, wine, gin, etc.) and some other things that science says is bad for me. So I've made my decision, informed by science, but ultimately fueled by emotion, to live an alcohol-positive lifestyle. So yeah, I didn't mind this link so much. But the next one, I'll likely have something to rant about. |
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when I saw this. On the bright side, if the author smokes enough weed, maybe this kind of phrasing will fall by the wayside. In that case, uh, yay, weed?