Did my routine trek down the hill to let the med techs poke & prod, and i'm knackered. So not much in the way of graphics getting prepped or thoughts being organized. I'm just going to ramble on for a while and see how much trouble that gets me into this time...
The Miracles Of 3!
You may or may not be familiar with Bucky Fuller (R. Buckminster Fuller, who was also, of course, one third of those legendary science heroes, The Trichotomy*) and his pioneering work with 3, but you're likely familiar with the geodesic dome/sphere. His work developing those big round things made out of triangles carried on into modern 3D modeling on computers. But why build with 3 sided objects?
Because of the inherent strength and stability of 3, that's why. As Bucky liked to use for an example, take your basic stool. With 3 legs, it sits flat and steady on most surfaces, level or otherwise. As soon as you add that fourth leg, they all must be carefully measured to equal length and precision mounted to accomplish the same inherent stability with 3.
But, consider 3's mathematical anomalies. Here's one - when determining whether or not a number is divisible by 3 (with a whole integer outcome), the order of the digits is irrelevant. Go ahead - dig out as big a number as you like, then order the digits any way you please - reverse order, numeric sequence, randomized.... whatever.
The outcome will always be the same: Divisible by 3, One Too Many, or One Too Few.
You can try. I'll wait.
...
You've returned?
Well, that was almost fun, wasn't it?
Here's another anomalous bit about determining if a number is divisible by 3 - you don't need to divide, you can just add instead. Add the digits together. Keep adding them together until you get it down to a single digit number. If you get 3, 6, or 9, the number is divisible by 3. Of course, this means you can toss out any 3, 6, 9, or 0 straight away, reducing your mental calculations. Show off to impress your friends or win bets by quick calculating whether 15 digit numbers are divisible by 3. Ooh. Aah.
Yes, this skill is rarely useful unless one tends to shop for large quantities that must be divided 3 ways.
But it is Odd.
Hey!
Let's talk about Inspiration. Artists use that term a lot - we were inspired by such&so to create this&that, but how often are specifics really shown or discussed? How nebulous is that notion of inspiration, and when does it cross over into re-interpreting or into just copying? There's a large area for debate there based on how the concept of inspiration has been used at times.
I was thinking on this because i found the painting i did for Halloween 2016 sitting with the painting that inspired it. So let's drag those on over here.
My painting, which i think we might have shown this past Halloween...
...and the painting that inspired it, Robh Ruppel's Death:
When i say that this painting inspired the one above, i mean i started working on it directly after gazing at this one for a while. I pulled the skeletal hands & skull in the black void, and a dayglow version of the general colour scheme for the mood (and holiday). Also, the circular focus of the ring of souls somewhat carried over in the circular focus of the eye. Those elements were used to build a new image with very little direct relation to the original.
No matter how one might rate the final execution, this is an example of what i would consider Artistic Inspiration. When we see just the same thing being directly redone, we need a different word for it.
Signs of playing too much Skyrim:
Realizing your top showers songs are all bard tavern songs.
Working out your recipe for Apple Cabbage Stew (I find it's best to add onion, and remember that Nord Mead is made with honey when working your substitution)
Understanding that "Took an arrow to the knee" is old slang for 'got married' (hence, the groom goes down on one knee)
Bonus Skyrim Education Factor: I now recognize that lavender growing up the road for what it is.
(And apparently that was a horker tusk i found in my aunt's bedroom way back when i was a lad.)
Here's a loaded question:
Where do you stand on Marijuana?
With God & The Bible, or with (pseudo)Christian Politics?
(Yes, the phrasing is every bit as loaded as the typical modern political poll, but No, your personal preference has no effect on my opinion of you.)
Genesis 1:29 - "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth,..."
A gift from God, up until being demonized for political power, racist beliefs, and personal profit in the 20th century. Bible vs. power grabbing Politicians and finance protecting Media Mogul - that's an easy equation for me.
(Full disclosure - I worked on A Drug War Carol. But the book is deeply annotated from official records - Susan Wells did a fab research job before writing the book (and during/after - we had to add a page to later editions)) (More disclosure - the Hermit Cave is in a legal pot state. I travel about an hour and a half each way, past a good number of other retailers, to patronize the Green Nugget.)
Some other time i'll get into why Linus Van Pelt and i disagree vehemently on favorite Apostles.
(Dang! I bet some context would help here, huh?)}
***
The Miracles Of 3!
You may or may not be familiar with Bucky Fuller (R. Buckminster Fuller, who was also, of course, one third of those legendary science heroes, The Trichotomy*) and his pioneering work with 3, but you're likely familiar with the geodesic dome/sphere. His work developing those big round things made out of triangles carried on into modern 3D modeling on computers. But why build with 3 sided objects?
Because of the inherent strength and stability of 3, that's why. As Bucky liked to use for an example, take your basic stool. With 3 legs, it sits flat and steady on most surfaces, level or otherwise. As soon as you add that fourth leg, they all must be carefully measured to equal length and precision mounted to accomplish the same inherent stability with 3.
But, consider 3's mathematical anomalies. Here's one - when determining whether or not a number is divisible by 3 (with a whole integer outcome), the order of the digits is irrelevant. Go ahead - dig out as big a number as you like, then order the digits any way you please - reverse order, numeric sequence, randomized.... whatever.
The outcome will always be the same: Divisible by 3, One Too Many, or One Too Few.
You can try. I'll wait.
...
You've returned?
Well, that was almost fun, wasn't it?
Here's another anomalous bit about determining if a number is divisible by 3 - you don't need to divide, you can just add instead. Add the digits together. Keep adding them together until you get it down to a single digit number. If you get 3, 6, or 9, the number is divisible by 3. Of course, this means you can toss out any 3, 6, 9, or 0 straight away, reducing your mental calculations. Show off to impress your friends or win bets by quick calculating whether 15 digit numbers are divisible by 3. Ooh. Aah.
Yes, this skill is rarely useful unless one tends to shop for large quantities that must be divided 3 ways.
But it is Odd.
* * *
Hey!
Let's talk about Inspiration. Artists use that term a lot - we were inspired by such&so to create this&that, but how often are specifics really shown or discussed? How nebulous is that notion of inspiration, and when does it cross over into re-interpreting or into just copying? There's a large area for debate there based on how the concept of inspiration has been used at times.
I was thinking on this because i found the painting i did for Halloween 2016 sitting with the painting that inspired it. So let's drag those on over here.
My painting, which i think we might have shown this past Halloween...
...and the painting that inspired it, Robh Ruppel's Death:
When i say that this painting inspired the one above, i mean i started working on it directly after gazing at this one for a while. I pulled the skeletal hands & skull in the black void, and a dayglow version of the general colour scheme for the mood (and holiday). Also, the circular focus of the ring of souls somewhat carried over in the circular focus of the eye. Those elements were used to build a new image with very little direct relation to the original.
No matter how one might rate the final execution, this is an example of what i would consider Artistic Inspiration. When we see just the same thing being directly redone, we need a different word for it.
* * *
Signs of playing too much Skyrim:
Realizing your top showers songs are all bard tavern songs.
Working out your recipe for Apple Cabbage Stew (I find it's best to add onion, and remember that Nord Mead is made with honey when working your substitution)
Understanding that "Took an arrow to the knee" is old slang for 'got married' (hence, the groom goes down on one knee)
Bonus Skyrim Education Factor: I now recognize that lavender growing up the road for what it is.
(And apparently that was a horker tusk i found in my aunt's bedroom way back when i was a lad.)
* * *
Here's a loaded question:
Where do you stand on Marijuana?
With God & The Bible, or with (pseudo)Christian Politics?
(Yes, the phrasing is every bit as loaded as the typical modern political poll, but No, your personal preference has no effect on my opinion of you.)
Genesis 1:29 - "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth,..."
A gift from God, up until being demonized for political power, racist beliefs, and personal profit in the 20th century. Bible vs. power grabbing Politicians and finance protecting Media Mogul - that's an easy equation for me.
(Full disclosure - I worked on A Drug War Carol. But the book is deeply annotated from official records - Susan Wells did a fab research job before writing the book (and during/after - we had to add a page to later editions)) (More disclosure - the Hermit Cave is in a legal pot state. I travel about an hour and a half each way, past a good number of other retailers, to patronize the Green Nugget.)
Some other time i'll get into why Linus Van Pelt and i disagree vehemently on favorite Apostles.
* * *
This week is Thanksgiving week in the USA. You know what that means.
Next week is the annual Arrowverse crossover! And this year it's being aired over only two nights with two shows back to back each night. Crisis On Earth X is a title i heard, even though i work very hard to stay spoiler free. How many of you remember the comic with that title? Does this story have any link to that Nazi dominated world from the old JLA/JSA crossovers? Will we see the Freedom Fighters? I have no clue. In fact, i'm still a couple episodes behind on the four series, so if they've given any indications, i have yet to see them. I'll be catching up on all the shows between now and a week from today. I prefer to wait until all four parts have aired and watch them all together, so i've got a bit of time.
Bingewatching may be a new word, but i've been doing it since the 80s. I maintained a fairly massive video tape library, archiving all shows that interested me. That often led to watching full seasons before new seasons began, or entire runs of shows when the mood struck. When working from my home studio, that was ideal. The amount of time that the computers spent rendering each frame in those days meant that during animation renders there was a lot of free time to fill. (Well, no... It wasn't "free" time. Usually there were 3 machines working simultaneously with each billing by render hours, so it was triple-not-free time)
Many, many comic books were read during those times. The pattern of watching shows in bulk runs like that may actually have stemmed from doing the same with comics. I may collect them, but i'm a Reader, not a Collector. I'd leave stacks out for visitors to read in the days back before going into hermitage.
***
Here are a couple more images that don't require prep work. One of my side projects has been trying to dig out and recover some of my old works. I think i've mentioned previously that it's almost 20 years since i achieved Galactic Villain status, yes?
I blew up the Enterprise, killing Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and crew back in 1998. Well, not directly. It was my hand orchestrating events, but i used the renegade Klingon, Commander Kruge (portrayed by Christopher Lloyd), to do my dirty work.
This was for the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) to showcase the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Command game. While i did some design work for non-federation ships & symbols and whatever else i may have done for the game, my primary work was in promoting the game. Part of it was creating the above mentioned video, mixing footage from the episodes and original cast movies with footage of a game that didn't yet exist.
So that was the other big part of the promotional work done. Creating still and animated projections of what the game would look like after the engine was built and tuned. I was given the 3D models used in the game, so it's not like i was doing major design-from-scratch kind of work. Just designing needed effects and then rendering simulations of how things looked in the design docs.
The magazine shown above is, i believe, the last time my work appeared in newsstand magazines, not counting the same images used elsewhere during the game promotional period. And "newsstand magazine" doesn't count comics/graphic novels, that came later. This was my last project in gaming. That was kind of a peak experience for an old school Trekker, and with other changes in life at that point, it was time for a new road.
Inside the issue was a two page preview leading off the Star Trek games feature using screens i created for the article.
What do you do after killing the legendary Star Trek crew?
Disneyland wouldn't let me in.
Disneyland wouldn't let me in.
Maybe now that they own Star Wars...
Death by Robh Ruppel, Computer Gaming World cover by unknown, the rest by -3-
===
*(
(Dang! I bet some context would help here, huh?)}
A pot-luck post (pun intended), and I found something of interest. Marijuana. I've never smoked cigarettes, imbibed of alcohol, or taken drugs, but I know people who smoke pot and, to a man, they're all paranoid and display anti-social tendencies. I once asked someone why he took it and he replied "Because it makes me more creative." A few years later, he told me he'd given it up. "I thought it made you more creative?" I asked. "Nah, I came to realise that it only made me THINK I was being more creative." Some people in the UK argue that it should be legalised and sold over the counter in pharmacies, thus taking it out of the hands of crooks. What piffle. All that would do is give crooks the means by which to launder the profits from other illegal activities. If it has medicinal benefits for certain ailments, then it should be administered in pill form, or as a soluble tablet to take in water. Apparently smoking pot, despite any potential medicinal benefits, is even worse for the lungs than smoking ordinary cigarettes, so I don't think that's the way society should go. No doubt you'll disagree.
ReplyDeletePercy Pureheart.
Really? Nothing on the mathematical wonder of 3?
ReplyDeleteWell, yes and no - I disagree and agree. And first off, good on you. If you maintain a temple discipline of your body, i'll offer naught but applause. We need more like you for balance.
My experiences have been very different than yours. Paranoid anti-social reactions i've seen, but in a small minority of smokers. I've known at least as many who smoke as who don't smoke it (Southern California & Pacific Northwest, both big consumers in general, and this state was one of the first two to legalize recreational smoking) and generally the reaction is relaxed and sometimes too social, but without the aggressive edge that can come with alcohol. No doubt, part of that is a social environment that doesn't induce paranoia.
For myself, i use it to overcome antisocial tendencies and be around crowds with only minor discomfort.
The creativity thing is a tricky one. It can be useful, and i find it quite effective at the conception stage and at various points throughout the creation process, but it also can be a crippler of creative awareness and control if not balanced with a clear mind.
For example - marijuana led Kevin Smith to have Batman piss his pants. (Excuse me - suffer a bladder spasm) Without proper self-awareness and control, it can be counterproductive, at best. See the above example for an at worst.
On the medical front - first off, putting it in the hands of the pharmaceutical companies here IS putting it in the hands of crooks (and admitted terrorists). Secondly, no attempts to distill the effective compounds has even come close to replicating the intricate combination of effects in the plant. But i do hope they can manage over time, once the law allows them to research openly. It would be much better than smoking. Fortunately, we don't have to smoke here - there's a wide range of edibles and cooking oils, among other alternatives.
For myself on the medical front, i suffer from nerve damage in my feet that sends a variety of pain signals when nothing is wrong. Normal pain meds do nothing with this condition. Then pharmaceuticals are insidiously physically addictive. The system starts to rely on the meds, and if you stop taking them or can't access them for any reason the damage is now much more severe than before you started taking them. The marijuana deals with those signals, and at a fraction of the ridiculous costs we're forced to pay for our substandard Greatest Medical Care On Earth.
In the main, i'm an adamant supporter of personal freedom and believe everyone has the right to go to hell in a hand-basket, providing they're not taking anybody else in their basket. And while most anything in this world can be abused, that doesn't make it moral to prevent others from using it. And the history of how marijuana was made illegal, the corruption and ridiculous racist lies used to demonize not just marijuana, but also hemp to protect one of the most toxic industries (paper), essentially screwing society to serve the power lust of a few very bad men.
I'll always have problems with that kind of thing.
Never really been at all mathematically-minded unfortunately, 3. (See my post 'Schooltime Scandals Part Eight - "Annexed Algebra"...') Part of my concern over drugs is that too large a section of society wants to indulge in mind-altering substances (alcohol included) and escape reality. It's bad enough with drunk drivers, but the thought of people out of their skulls on drugs (or their perceptions skewed by weed) behind the wheel of a car doesn't bear thinking about. In this country, marijuana is bought illegally, which means it's supplied by crooks who are involved with prostitution, slavery, pornography (Of the worst kind too), etc., etc. Anyone buying drugs in the UK is enabling those crimes, but what the hell, eh? As long as they have their weed - it's not hurting anyone, is it? Well, yes, it is actually, and legalizing drugs will, as I said in my previous response, only give the worst kind of criminals a legitimate front for washing their dirty money from other criminal activity. Yes, the medicinal potential should be explored, and where certain substances would reduce pain or extreme anxiety, then that should be accessible if a doctor thinks it would largely help. However, I don't think that anything which gets people 'high' (just for the sake of getting high) is a good way for society to go. Anyway, that's my view and I'm not concerned with trying to change anyone's mind on the subject or get anyone to agree with me, but I just think people should be in control of themselves and am highly suspicious of anything that enables them to 'let loose'.
ReplyDeleteNow where'd I put my coke? Er, I mean Coke - the real thing! (Cola.)
Let me add to my previous comment that my support of personal freedom goes hand-in-hand with personal responsibility. That very much includes things like not driving intoxicated.
ReplyDeleteAgain - our experiences have differed widely. When buying on the "black market" before legalization, i typically knew the growers - local families, farmers by nature. Their only crime was their crop & sales. The only reason other crimes get involved on the big scale is due to the illegality, as happened with the other half of prohibition - alcohol.
Current market, the growers are all licensed and inspected by the state, as well as tested for herbicides and other potential toxins making the product generally safer. They are local community members again, often family businesses. Absolutely nothing like what we see portrayed in the news and media.
I know what you mean there about not concerned with changing other minds, but i like the intelligent conversation. And as far as suspicious of anything that enables folks to 'let loose', i can very much understand that since society in general seems to have forgotten that part about Freedom comes with Responsibility, not to mention Accountability when it collides with the Freedom of others.
Really? You're the Brit, mate. Why are you drinking coke while i'm drinking tea?
Well, I only drink Coke between cuppas.
DeleteI used to have a 2-liter/day Pepsi habit, but i kicked it 3 years back this coming February. Now i drink ice tea between hot cuppas. (I'm a purist - just tea & water, no lemon, sugar, honey, mint, etc.)
ReplyDelete