New books

On the Efficient Determination of Most Near Neighbors: Horseshoes, Hand Grenades, Web Search, and Other Situations when Close is Close Enough.  This, believe it or not has reached a second edition.  I would have thought one was enough.  It is by Mark S. Manse and I can say with surety, I don't much care about the horseshoes and the web searches, but I am darn well as close to a hand grenade as I ever hope to be - many many miles.

Today's count

January in the imaginary age of climate change.  Two boys (that's just what they are in their twenties) out in the bowl playing Frisbee- in their shirt sleeves.  Puddles and the wind ruffling them like little lakes. The rising walls of a great white castle.  Bucket after bucket of snow packed around and then the chinks between the smooth forms filled.  It is in my view now, alone after the completion of construction.  A good four feet high.  The last row of bucket shapes showing like crenelation around its top. My ornamental asparagus putting out more shoots, climbing the window under the sun which has finally cleared the tops of the buildings opposite. A sun that goes down, as well roll away from it, almost an hour later than it did a month ago at the solstice.  Winter: more and more light.

A.E. Matheson 2016

Today's count

The scent of wine from fallen leaves.  Rescuing a ladybug off the bus. Warm enough to take off socks. Horse feather clouds across the blue.  A girl with purple hair.  A swarm of graceful green robed people crossing the bowl - most likely the Greystone Singers.  The sound of a child outside the library, clearly setting eyes on the T-Rex for the first time. Wooooohooowwoooo.

Trust them

I know in this current age there are those who would have rushed up the stairs to help, or worse called the cops and social services, but luckily the group I was on tour with yesterday was made mostly of people my age and we just watched with joy and grinned.  I was on a tour, and as the speaker talked (and I listened) about the architecture, two children came down the staircase behind her.  A big brother of about seven and his kid sister of about three. One foot on the step below, one foot on the step she was on, he came down at her pace one stair at a time.  One had behind her, and one hand before.  Patient.  His sister, and he was going to get her down intact.  How will that effect his view of himself as he grows?  No adult even in sight to yell, 'don't do that, you'll fall'.  Because, honey, he wasn't going to fall.  No way.  He had this thanks. And it was so darn cute.

Brute Force Vulnerability Discovery

A bunch of books dropped into the book drop, through the return slot (amazing enough in this age and joyful because my nostalgic Luddite long term environmentally-sound storage loving self likes the clunk the books make as they go in).  As is my wont I check them over to make sure they don't need repair work done (no soddering irons required) and check titles for things of interest.  Fuzzing!?  What **&^ is Fuzzing.  Has it to do with the fuzzy bear on the cover?  Of course it does, because as I have know since I was small Fuzzy wazzy was a bear, and it turns out Fuzzy wazzy is now clogging up computer programs with with his fuzz (much random data - not to be confused the BIG data) to see when they will crash.  It is a brute force test, looking for the vulnerable bits, don't you know.  Though I am quite sure the grizzly on the book cover is really only interesting in catching that salmon jumping toward his open maw - no brute force required, just intelligent placement.

Fuzzing: Brute Force Venerability Discovery.

New Books

Doing the new books again.  Most times I find something that amuses my odd sense of humour. Today I find something that makes me growl.  Masterminding Nature: the breeding of animals, 1750- 2010.  Masterminding nature?  Rather like two squatting toddlers holding up their mud pies claiming to have fed the world all their lives.

Don't go out in Geology Today

PMD@2015

'Cause if you go out in Geology today, you're in for a big surprise.  The dinos have been corralled for their biennial teeth floss and general wash.  This process includes yellow 'do not cross' tape, the removal of a center post between the stainless steel double doors to the out-of-doors to allow for the entry of the cherry picker, and, the cherry picker.  Not to mention two guys in hard hats and Sue - the official dino wrangler.

PMD@2015