Eunoia
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--> Most recent Blog Comments Policy DSGVO Impressum Maths trivia Search this site RSS Feed Eunoia, who is a grumpy, overeducated, facetious, multilingual ex-pat Scot, blatantly opinionated, old (1944-vintage), amateur cryptologist, computer consultant, atheist, flying instructor, bulldog-lover, Beetle-driver, textbook-writer, long-distance biker, geocacher and blogger living in the foothills south of the northern German plains. Not too shy to reveal his true name or even whereabouts, he blogs his opinions, and humour and rants irregularly. Stubbornly he clings to his beliefs, e.g. that Faith does not give answers, it only prevents you doing any goddamn questioning. You are as atheist as he is. When you understand why you don't believe in all the other gods, you will know why he does not believe in yours. Oh, and after the death of his old dog, Kosmo, he also has a new bulldog puppy, Clara, since September 2018 :-)
Some of my bikes
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Tuesday, January 29, 2019
50 years on ..... the moonThis year we will be celebrating the USA landing on the moon 50 years ago (July 20, 1969, UTC time). So the HNF, the world's largest computer museum, will be having a special exhibition of inter alia space-borne computers. I'm hoping to see the computer that landed in Tranquillity Bay back then; but in the announcement article in our local newspaper I could only recognise the Gemini's computer. We shall see; I'll blog about it when I go to the HNF exhibition later this summer.Back at the time, 50 years ago, I missed seeing the actual moon landing live on TV because reasons. However, soon afterwards three silver medals were minted here to commemorate it and I bought a set which now have almost 50 years of patina on them. I offered the HNF to let them display these original coins, but they are only showing the spaceborn hardware. Oh well, my goodwill was there :-) Of course there are various moon-landing conspiracies floating around. The most popular insist that it was faked and made in a secret studio in Hollywood, or maybe area 51 :-) My own favourite is that NASA suppressed about 45 minutes of audio because of Neil Armstrong saying "Look over there, by the crater wall, they're watching us!" . Ooooh, gives me shivers down my spine ;-) Of course, the USA has lost the technological ability to visit the moon, even having to hitch rides from the Russians to visit the ISS which is only 400 kms into space. So it was left to the Chinese to put a robot onto the rear side of the moon recently. Wonder what/who they'll find there? ;-) Comments (2)
Friday, January 25, 2019
Challenging Amazon's Scout delivery robotHow do robots cope with everyday situations? Not just Amazon's simplified ones?Let's watch the video at Amazon's Scout delivery robot and then ask the developers some questions (I don't expect Amazon to answer any of these satisfactorily). Here are some of my questions about Amazon's Scout delivery robot, going beyond the simplified environment of their ad (linked above), starting with the easy ones :-
What questions do you have about Amazon's Scout? Comments (2)
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Watch this spaceGeneva is currently hosting the SIHH trade fair, showing timepieces for the rich, very rich, and more-money-than-sense people who brag about their expensive mechanical wristwatches. I shall not be attending.You can e.g. pay (only) 2¾ million Euros for one of three watches. For this money, you also get a Rubidium atomic clock weighing 35 Kg which you can use to synchronise and calibrate your mechanical wristwatch. How (im)practical is that? Or you can pay 955,000 € for a Master Grande Tradition Gyrotourbillion Westminster Perpetual made by Jaeger-LeCoultre. Almost quartz accuracy? Or you could save your money and just look at your mobile phone perhaps? Regular readers of this blog will know that my own interest in timepieces focusses on non-standard displays. So let me show you some of these from last year's trade fair. There were two skeletons, by Chanel and Tag Heuer respectively, which I quite liked. There were some with even more way-out non-standard displays, here are three from L2R : Mille, Vacheron Constantin and Van Cleef and Arpels. Then there was the bejewelled inner-solar-system watch also from Van Cleef and Arpels and for comparison a legible standard display from Jaeger le Coultre. Of course all of these cost in the four digit range; there's no way I could afford any of them. Besides, when I retired I took off my (simple but very legible quartz) wristwatch as an expression that I was now master of my own time ;-) Apropos own time : consider the poor photon. It travels at the speed of light and thus it does not ever experience the passage of time. It is created and - from its own point of view - is destroyed in the same instant; just somewhere else. Were it conscious it would think it had teleported. When we observe the cosmic background radiation we observe (and thus destroy) photons which originated just after the Big Bang (aka First Light). Now is eternal. And never, depending on your point of view. Comments (3)
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Information Overload :-(Sometimes I feel I'm being inundated with stuff I may (not) need to know. Take yesterday for example. My doc prescribed me a new kind of pill. So I need to check whether it interacts with the pills I already have to take. Yes, I know the doc should do that, but I like to double check myself (am I paranoid?) So I get to read the accompanying little leaflet. Some leaflet! Size A0, in small print, double sided. Information Overload!If you already take N pills, then there will be N*(N+1)/2 pairs of possible interactions for N+1 medicines. Some may be contra-indicated. Not just that, each pill may conflict with some (combination of) foodstuffs too! And what about your individual allergies? Surely there must already be an App to do this cross-checking for you? Or am I going to have to write it myself? Anybody got any tips for me (other than : just trust the doc)? Yes, I do know there are web-based cross-checkers, but who knows if they are discreet? I'd prefer a solution local to my phone because of concerns about data privacy. TL;DR As if the Information Overload were not a problem, after I opened the medicine package, it turned out to be a RED pill :-( Comments (2)
Saturday, January 19, 2019
Suffrage Centenary :-)Haven't been able to blog for a week because my laptop died (the SSD fried itself). It has taken until now to get everything (almost) working again. So today's blogpost should have appeared on thursday, the 100th anniversary of women getting the vote here in Germany.The photo above, originally B&W then subsequently hand-coloured, shows German suffragettes campaigning for the rights (active and passive) to vote. In 1919, with the advent of the Weimarer Republik after WW1, women got these rights. The B&W photo below shows some first female parliamentary representatives in Weimar in 1919. The German post office and the national mint are celebrating this with a special memorial stamp (letters, 70c) and a 20 Euro memorial coin. But don't think women had it easy to get to where we are today! Up until 1958 married women required their husband's permission to work. He could withdraw this permission with zero notice :-( Up until about 1960 he could deny his wife permission to get a driving licence. It was not until 1962 that married women could have their own bank account. And it took until 1969 that married women could operate in a legal capacity, spending larger amounts of money to buy stuff, without his permission. Rape in marriage only became a crime in 1969, against the will of 138 parliamentarians. Not until 2001 could women serve in the armed forces with weapons, since 1975 they had only been used as nurses and secretarial staff. Comments (2)
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Puncture :-(Childhood bicycle aside, this is only the third puncture I've ever had. It's been forty years since the previous one! Luckily, never on a motorcycle, always on a car.So yesterday during my morning walk-around the car, it turned out there was a (wood) screw in the front left tyre; I wonder where I got that, hadn't driven on a building site, so where? Thus I drove SWMBO's car yesterday. This was a used car I'd bought last year, turns out it had no spare tyre nor an inflation set :-( But the tyre dealer from the neighbouring village (Atteln) came by at dusk, removed the wheel, found the puncture, took the wheel, vulcanised the tyre and remounted the wheel all within a half-hour. That's what I call service! So I tipped him generously :-) Thankyou, Mr. Koch! Comments (8)
Chews-day, January 8, 2019
Eating in Church :-)As a young lad, I was told that eating in church was a sin. So SWMBO and I sinned last thursday when we went for lunch in a church; well, a deconsecrated redbrick Russian Orthodox one, in nearby Bielefeld. It has now been converted into an upmarket restaurant and event location.We sat in the nave where SWMBO had a good view of the original stained glass windows. The chancel held comfortable chairs where you could sit to read or take a drink. Sometimes musical events are held of an evening, we were told, and there is e.g. a concert grand piano in the chancel, for classical music while you are dining. I believe the organ had been decommissioned. The bar runs the length of the nave and serves devilishly delightful drinks ;-) The nave has tables instead of pews. But they are a bit too close together, making access for servers and diners slow. No crosses left on the walls, so that Jews and Muslims and, yes, we Atheists all feel welcome here too :-) The food was excellent. A crossover menu, asian / european. We had beetroot soup for starters, but it was a bit too sweet for me, who had been expecting to get it Russian style. For my main dish I had Surf and Turf, Shangai style, which is very spicy. No chopsticks offered though, just the usual cutlery. The vegs were all al dente, very crunchy indeed :-) We were so satiated from this that we skipped dessert, but also because my favourite desert was not on the menu here :-( So yes, eating in church was also gluttony, a delicious sin. But this is a church that even I, a militant atheist, can recommend ;-) Expensive though. Comments (5)
Saturday, January 5, 2019
Watt a great idea, condensed versionOn this very day 250 years ago (1769), the great scottish inventor James Watt was granted his patent for a steam engine with an energy-efficient separate condenser, a significant improvement over Newcomen's steam engine (which didn't have a separate condenser). This is regarded as the beginning of the industrial revolution.Photo of Watt's first condenser, now at the Science Museum in London, UK
A Watt's Beam Engine can be seen at Loughborough university, UK
Comments (1)
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
A New Year Resolution for all of us
Actually, this was the same New Year's Resolution that I made for 2018. Maybe I'll be able to achieve it better in 2019 (fat chance!). It should, of course, apply to all of us, especially that tiny D. in the last photo. My other - more minor - resolutions for 2019 are :- What are YOUR new year resolutions 2019? Mail me with a comment please. Comments (1)
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Recent Writings
50 years on the moon Amazon's Scout Watch this space Information Overload :-( Suffrage Centenary :-) Puncture :-( Eating in Church :-) Watt a great idea... A New Year Resolution Reading text books :-) The Bethlehem Myth Ideal Xmas present... Spiegel-gate :-( Santa's little dears Censored in OZ :-( ... Interesting Times This pencil... Blogroll changes Galileo saw Neptune! Bar bet questions Attractive numbers InSight on Mars :-) Bigger than you'd think "I am a jam donut!" Marriage made in heaven Blogroll Ain Bulldog Blog All hat no cattle Back Reaction Badtux... Balloon Juice Cop Car Curmudgeonly... Earth-Bound Misfit Fail Blog Finding life hard? Greg Laden Infidel753 Mockpaperscissors Mostly Cajun Observing Hermann Pergelator Starts with a Bang Yellowdog Grannie Archive 2019: Jan Archive 2018: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Archive 2017: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Archive 2016: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Archive 2015: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Archive 2014: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec This blog is getting really unmanagable, so I've taken the first 12 years' archives offline. My blog, my random decision. Tough shit; YOLO. Link Disclaimer ENGLISH : I am not responsible for the contents or form of any external page to which this website links. I specifically do not adopt their content, nor do I make it mine. DEUTSCH : Für alle Seiten, die auf dieser Website verlinkt sind, möchte ich betonen, dass ich keinerlei Einfluss auf deren Gestaltung und Inhalte habe. Deshalb distanziere ich mich ausdrücklich von allen Inhalten aller gelinkten Seiten und mache mir ihren Inhalt nicht zu eigen. This Blog's Status is Blog Dewey Decimal Classification : 153 FWIW, 153 is a triangular number, meaning that you can arrange 153 items into an equilateral triangle (with 17 items on a side). It is also one of the six known truncated triangular numbers, because 1 and 15 are triangular numbers as well. It is a hexagonal number, meaning that you can distribute 153 points evenly at the corners and along the sides of a hexagon. It is the smallest 3-narcissistic number. This means it’s the sum of the cubes of its digits. It is the sum of the first five positive factorials. Yup, this is a 153-type blog. QED ;-) Books I've written
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