threemonkeys | Recent Entries

Trying not to be "Who" spoilerish here...
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... but am I the only person who thinks that the latest DW episode (The Doctor's Wife) and Eric Bana's Love the Beast should be shown together. They speak to the same thing - something that many people "just don't get".

The whole business of supporting a sports team is a peculiar one. There often isn't a lot of logic to it. Sure you may support your local teams - or at least the teams that were local when you were young. But what about following a team from the other side of the world - perhaps from a place you have never been and following a team you have never attended an actual match for. It is strange and I'm not saying this as somebody looking from outside - I know what it is to follow a team like this.

( Long ramble about my personal journey and why I am happy today )

Yet another colour illusion to have a look at. But this one actually won an award for "Best Illusion of the Year". The idea is to focus on one dot but still be aware of what the others are doing when they start to rotate.

May would appear to be medical checkup month. Just had an eye checkup - my contacts are being discontinued and I need a new prescription. Got the health checks done at the same time - it is a little disorienting to wander around with pupils fully dilated. It was dull and overcast and I still needed to wear dark glasses. Typical poser behavior. Later this month I have medical checkup and then dental. To follow the theme I even have to get work done on my car as well.

I note this all because something else happened on the medical front today. Or rather something didn't happen. I have managed to get through a whole day without wincing in pain from my right knee every time I stood up or climbed steps. It seems forever since the first injury. Then even after it healed, the resulting inflamation from compensating for the first injury. I have been doing a bunch of exercises to strengthen specific muscles (mainly quads) to reduce the strain and therefore reduce the inflamation. It appears to be working - oh the relief. Now all I have to do is avoid injuring it again.

I'm sure others have noticed this - the four classical elements/states of matter are Earth, Water, Air and Fire.

Earth - Christchurch Quake
Water - Floods in Hawkes bay
Air - Tornado in Auckland

That just leaves Fire. Umm, wasn't there a story recently that Ruapehu was showing signs of "elevated unrest".

ETA: Clearly I'm not the only one thinking this way - Moata has a smorgasbord of disasters today

My decluttering project continues at pace. Slow is a pace - right? Every rubbish day, I have a go at a shelf, drawer or bin to clear out (now) worthless junk I have accumulated and couldn't bring myself to throw away before. It has been slow but I have made good progress.

Yesterday I managed to surprise myself though because behind a bunch of shelved books I found a whole bunch of computer disks. I thought I had long since cleaned out all the obsolete software and the like. It was all stuff stored on 5 1/4 inch floppy disks. Some was old PC software but most of it was for my old Apple ][. That is going so far back. (for those of you who don't know, the Apple ][ is not a Mac - it predates both the Mac and the IBM PC).

And because I can't seem to post anything these days without two independent triggers coming together, here is a recent cartoon from the wonderful Not Invented Here that came to mind as I was contemplating this pile of unusable software and data:

For the record, I used 5 1/4 and 8 inch floppies, punch cards, paper tape and even controlled computer storage from the switches on the front panel of a PDP-8. Silly game though - I'd never want to go back to those days. Heck I don't even have any interest at all in writing code these days.

Just read a detective novel. It wasn't bad. But then at the end, the author made an elementary scientific mistake on a critical plot point in the resolution. It rather lowered my overall estimation of the book - perhaps more because it was at the end of the book. I don't know about you, but this kind of thing can really take away my overall rating of a book.

The mistake was really one of genetics, but it related to eye colour. Of no matter really except that I then embarked on a catchup read on science feeds and the first article I read was about colour perception. It has a cool slideshow. The lead in referred to Lovecraft and colours that were beyond normal perception. Reminds me of something I looked at a few weeks back.

The BBC is reporting that Elisabeth Sladen had died. The very best of the companions. Very very sad.

Bought a new mouse for the computer I'm writing this on - the old mouse was misbehaving. The item works as you would expect, but what surprised me was the packaging. Apart from a tamper evident seal on the outside, the whole package contained no adhesives, no shrink wrap, no tape, no welds, no rubber bands. In fact no joining technology at all except for overlapping folds. Given that there were five items separately contained in the packaging (mouse, receiver, disk, battery, manual) and the packaging was a mixture of clear plastic and cardboard it was a really impressive and rather user friendly piece of invention. The manufacturer of this user friendly technology - Microsoft. Really.

Over at Locus Online, Jeff VanderMeer has compiled An Overview of International Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2010. It isn't really an overview so much as a sample which may be representative.

The important thing to notice is the term "International". In this context, International or World mean those parts of the world which produce F&SF but which aren't part of the usual axis of publishinz viz North America and the UK. But what I find really interesting is the following comment in the preface: "This year I decided to exclude Australia and New Zealand because writers from those countries have received extensive coverage in SF/Fantasy media."

It is a telling remark. To me it reflect that SF&F writing from down under has gone from being a sideshow to become a proper player in the big markets.

Although I can't help feeling that the common language factor makes a difference in this consideration. It also ignores the size of the Russian market - a factor alluded to in the article.

The final ballot nominees (short-list if you prefer) for the SJVs is over here. Share and enjoy.

Sometimes it is the smaller things. I lived in Christchurch for 9 years and it and its people have taken a lot of my attention in the time since the quake. But the demolition of this building seems to me the most poignant. Too many good times spent there I guess.

The DUFF ballot is out - announcement here or here.

The only problem is, which person to vote for. Not an easy decision.

I know there are some really keen LoTR fans out there. But are you obsessive enough? Why not step it up a notch. Would you buy a large impractical item simply because it was used as equipment when making the movies. This CRT monitor was the one used to render Gollum and the cave troll and it is for sale. I do think that this would probably represent the most obsessive thing you could buy - prove your geek cred.

Additional notes:
Idea - perhaps you could turn it into a display case for your other LoTR stuff.

The vendor also has a friendly dog that needs a new home. Anybody need a new pooch?

No, I'm not the one selling this stuff. But if you are interested, I do have a couple of defunct CRT TVs which may once have been used to display the LoTR DVDs.

Paul Dirac was a truly great scientist. I've heard it argued that he was the greatest scientist born in the 20th century. It is an argument that I have a lot of sympathy for although a hard call to make when comparing work across different fields (not to mention the Feynman factor).

However it isn't his contribution to our understanding of the quantum world that I'm thinking about right now. He was not a great talker. He preferred to weigh and consider his words to seemingly encapsulate his thoughts in the most concise way possible. His colleagues at Cambridge coined a new unit ("The Dirac") for the smallest imaginable number of words that someone with the power of speech could utter in company and still remain part of the conversation.

That led me to think about where we are now - in the blogosphere. I find myself asking, what is the smallest number of blog posts you can make and still be considered a blogger? I imagine you could ask similar questions about facebook and twitter.

By the way, the Dirac thoughts were prompted by a documentary on the new BBC Knowledge channel on Sky. It has replaced the old Documentary Channel. It has been showing many of the documentaries that I have hitherto had to acquire by *ahem* other means. Perhaps that Sky subscription isn't such a waste of money after all.

As the saying goes, there is a first time for everything...

Spent a very pleasant time yesterday with

jack_ryder and

murasaki_1966 who have been visiting town. That isn't new - I've had very pleasant times before. We went to Weta Cave. Actually, despite intentions to go there many times this was the first time I have been to the Cave. But that isn't it - just a gift shop, albeit a very good one. But while I was there, I got interviewed by a Swiss camera crew making a documentary about the shooting of The Hobbit. That isn't new either, I have been interviewed before. What was a first was that this time I didn't freeze up and forget everything I ever knew or had an opinion about. There is probably a correlation between this and my previously stated issues with cameras. It may have affected my mental state that even if my interview made it to a final cut that it would only be shown in Switzerland and thus safe from any eyes that I would know.

As an aside, I talked to Mark, one of the Cave retail team. He told me that there are five camera crews floating about at the moment because of The Hobbit. Mark has become an old hand at the interview game. The Swiss crew were interviewing patrons of Weta Cave to get some local reaction to the filming.

This little article in New Scientist could be of huge significance. It suggests that measurement more precise than dictated by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle can be achieved. Now I know that such claims have to be taken with a grain of salt and the short-of-detail article doesn't really say much other than to suggest that they may have got around the limit rather than beaten the principle upon which it is based. Nevertheless, the Heisenberg inequality is a piece of scientific bedrock. If it can be bypassed, the implications are potentially huge. I await developments.

Having a good day? Calm and happy with the world? That isn't right. Here - my gift of a small irritant.

For my Aussie friends and lovers of the comedy stylings of John Clarke, I offer the following from The Guardian: It is a distinctly British way to celebrate London holding the 2012 Olympic games – make a mock doc about the organising committee behind them. Twenty Twelve, which lands on BBC4 tonight with its tongue firmly in its cheek and People Like Us writer/director John Morton at the helm, is the latest mockumentary to raise a giggle. Full article here.

Before you rush to tell the makers of The Games, they already know and it is worse than it first appears.

ETA: Have now seen episode 1 of Twenty Twelve - it is pretty well done, but seeing it will not allay the suggestion of ripoff. It will do the other thing really.

I don't like having my photograph taken. There are probably lots of deep psychological reasons for it, but the upshot is that I am not keen on having my image recorded. I do try to get past it and if a friend requests politely then I will relent and let them take a shot. Just don't tag me in facebook. And don't even get me started on "candid" photos - the notion of people photographing me without permission makes my skin crawl.

But there are peculiarities to this phobia (and it really can be like a phobia at times). I'm not so worried about surveillance cameras. I think the transient nature of the images stored on them makes them less of an issue. Also, I actually own a camera and do occasionally take photos. Usually of scenery, but occasionally people. But I always ask, and understand when somebody says no.

Why this little admission. This new Panasonic Lumix camera is probably not something that you lot are likely to own, let alone point in my direction. But the notion of a camera that "enhances" your image in the camera just fills me with an unnameable dread.

I haven't been in much of a mood for communication post-quake. But this news from Eneit Press has woken me up. I wasn't very sympathetic about RedGroups problems with Whitcoulls and Borders, but when somebody I know and whose work I admire gets trodden under then it makes me sad and angry. I was at the launch for Baggage held at Borders just prior to Aussiecon 4. It was an excellent event and I was happy to pass my money over the counter in the knowledge that publisher and editor would get their share - so much for knowledge. I already have enjoyed reading all of the catalogue to date, it is a great shame that there won't be any more.

Folk have been in touch after the quake - thank you for your concern, it is a very shocking event. I didn't even feel it here in Wellington - it seems like the major impact is mainly confined to central Christchurch and towards the port hills. My immediate family are well south of Christchurch and are fine. But I have a lot of extended family in the city. It seems that most of them are unharmed but the partner of one of my second cousins has not been in touch so the family are worried about her. Some family members have had their houses trashed and have been evacuated - others still have power/water/sewage and are fine and sheltering the displaced ones.

New Zealand as the last safe haven. It is an SF trope that goes back at least to Heinlein (even if he didn't actually like it here). Not that it is all that common - you can go a long time between encountering mentions. Just a coincidence then that the last two books I have read both use NZ as a last refuge. Paul McAuley really only mentioned it in passing as the place that the rich and powerful fled to as the ecosphere was collapsing - Gardens of the Sun being set well after that collapse.

But in Ken Macleod's The Night Sessions there is a bigger role for New Zealand as the destinations for fanatics who have fled a modern Reformation that has marginalised religions to the extent that they have no place in the running of the world. That is an uncomfortable thought because overall we are not currently a particularly religious country. But, why oh why did Ken have to turn Waimangu thermal valley into a creationist theme park complete with animatronic dinosaurs, cave men and Adam and Eve. I understand the storytelling reasons but it seems like sacrilege - but then given the theme of the book, perhaps that is the point.

Borders and Whitcoulls bookstores in trouble. I should be saddened by the possible closure of bookstores. I was very unhappy when Dymocks in Wellington closed down. But I can't say I have any sympathy for this lot at all. With online sources so much cheaper, a storefront operation has to offer something more than shelves containing only the standard distributor-pushed mass market titles (readily available from Book Depository or Amazon) and staff who know nothing about what they are selling.

When I go into Arty Bees or Unity, there are friendly staff there who know about what they are selling. Add to that the titles stocked contain enough items that are outside the norm to make the shelves worth browsing. This is best illustrated by Arty Bees - I can go in there and ask "what have you got new for me?" I will get an intelligent and useful answer. That would never happen in the big chain stores. Whitcoulls and Borders have failed to establish a point of difference. Perhaps if the coffee in Borders was better then it may have been different. As it is, they no longer have a reason to exist.

Working in the garden. Sometimes thoughts turn to the big things in life, the universe and cliche. Sometimes it is the trivial. And sometimes it is something else.

I've been working out the front today and noticed both DX Mail and NZ Post mail deliveries to the across-the-street neighbours. Both delivery guys were on small motor bikes. But I noticed that the DX Mail chap had a somewhat larger (and louder) and more powerful machine. On the other hand, the NZ Post bike was clearly lighter and more maneuverable accessing the neighbours' less than ideal box placement (I'm surprised they haven't been asked to move it).

So, while I worked, I pondered the question. More power or better maneuverability. Not forgetting to factor in the job being undertaken and the terrain (i.e. hills). The more I pondered the more important the question seemed to become in a wider context. Or it could have been fatigue.

But then up the street, preceded by a loud noise, came a kid on another bike. It was even smaller (and presumably lighter) than the NZ Post bike but judging the speed it was handing the hills, significantly more powerful than the DX Mail bike.

So you can have it all. But at what cost? Is the fact that because of the noise, the fact that you are going to be considered a nasty little jerk (feel free to add you own expletives) one of those costs?

This is one of those topics I know I've considered before but it does have a habit of repeating itself. Just how many times do you give a book a try before deciding that it is unreadable and shelve it uncompleted? In other words, how many times do you pick it up, struggle to read a few pages and then decide that there are better things to do?

I know I've become more inclined to ditch a book part way through as I have got older. But there are other factors at work. One of those factors is expectation. What if the book is by an author whose work you have read before and enjoyed a great deal. What if the new volume is set in the same world with the same characters as that previous good volume. Does that make a difference?

Just for the record, the author in question is P.C. Hodgell. I enjoyed her first book God Stalk to the extent that if I were the sort of person to create a top-ten list of favourite fantasy novels then it would be on it. There was a sequel which wasn't as good. Then her books became unavailable (i.e. not published). But Baen have picked her up and the book I have been failing to read is the fourth set in this universe. But it is so full of detail mostly surrounding the genealogical world building that things like plot or character have been shunted aside. The book lacks balance between the various elements.

I reckon that I could have taken twenty tries to get going and failed every time after a few pages. Too generous?

Air New Zealand have been showing off their new 777-300ER by landing one at Wellington. There has been some other hoopla about. I'm interested because should I want to make a long haul flight next year (say) then this is the type of plane it would most likely be in.

But the reality is very different from the hype. Last year, I took a flight from Melbourne to Auckland in the current 777-200 planes. I took the time to judge whether I could survive a longer flight and the answer was "yes - just". It wouldn't be pleasant, but I would probably survive it.

Now read this article in the NZ Herald. Finally a travel writer who is prepared to call it how it really is. Also have a read of the comments. The shiny new plane will be much more cramped in economy class - absolute torture to the tall and the wide. I can possibly do something about the wide but it is the claustrophobic distance between seat rows and the greater rake of the seats to compensate which is really confronting. To judge by the comments this is also true in premium economy. I can't do anything about the tall. Except perhaps start introducing cadmium into my diet - perhaps a smidge drastic.

There is still hope - other airlines (although Air NZ is a "premium" airline - I don't want to contemplate a "budget" one) or even better a sudden infusion of money to allow me to fly business class. But I am getting the feeling that I'll never leave Australasia again.

ETA: And if that wasn't bad enough: cellphones on short haul flights!

The DUFF race is on with nominations now being open for an Australasian delegate to go to Renovation.

It's a funny term Australasian. If you look around, there appear to be a whole bunch of definitions - geopolitical, geographic, geophysical, ecological and so on (I know I've missed a couple). They are all different. In this context, I presume we are using the geopolitical definition - that is to say just Australia and New Zealand. However if a PNG based fan were to put their name forward I suspect that they would be welcomed into the fold. Fandom is like that.

I'm literally in the clouds this morning. Outside the house, everything is just a misty white. Add that to the Calamities of Nature cartoon below, a conversation the other day around the results of the XKCD Colour survey, my last job which involved a lot of work defining printer colour output and the lyrics to a certain Echo and the Bunnymen song. What you end up with is a philosophical morning musing on the nature of colours and perception of same.

It is easy to forget that colour is not something intrinsic to objects that is transmitted to us via coloured light. Objects have light absorption and retransmision and light has wavelength. Colours are caused by the structure of our eyes and the processing that our brain does to interpret the signals coming from that structure. It is our brains which give the world colour.

Various writers have referenced the idea of colours that are beyond the range of normal perception. For example H P Lovecraft and Clarke Ashton Smith were fond of strange unfathomable colours. Terry Pratchett invented a new colour for the diskworld. But that can't happen in the normal course of events because our eyes only trigger on certain light types and our brains interpret to a palette that isn't extended. But what if that palette could be extended. We know that the brain's colour processing can be influenced by drugs or just simple saturation tricks. So as the cartoon suggests, can it be influenced to see new colours?

The thing is, it is so very hard to imagine the reality of something like that. It is one thing to grasp the concept but another to see the colour. It seems to me that this is quite similar to the difficulty encountered when trying to grasp the physical nature of higher dimensions.

Enough philosophy, it is time for breakfast - alas, no bacon in the house.

This made my day. It seems the orbiting Kepler observatory has found over 1200 exoplanet candidates in the two years it has been in operation so far. There are some caveats but compare that to the 500 or so found by other observatories in the last 5 years or so. Some of the potential planets are earth sized and some of them are in the habitable zone. The intersection of these two sets may be small but Kepler is only observing a millionth of the stars in the galaxy, so the potential number of earth-like planets out there is starting to look sizable.

I have been a reader science fiction since not long after I learned to read at all. In all that time it has been an article of faith that there are lots of planets out there and that some of them will be similar to Earth. Confirmation is wonderful. Now we just need to get there.

I see that C4 is being re-branded (yet again) as FOUR. So I looked at the programming. See, previously C4 had a lot of pretty good animated stuff - Family Guy, American Dad, South Park, Futurama as well as dumb movies.

Interesting to compare the words used for the new version i.e. "something that would surprise, delight and entertain people" with what is now going to be delivered. That is to say, cooking shows, reality shows, sitcoms and the Simpsons as well as dumb movies. And I mean really dumb movies - Wayans brothers dumb. In other words just like TVs 2 & 3.

Sigh.