183. To an Inconstant One. Sir Robert Ayton. The Oxford Book of English Verse

183. To an Inconstant One I LOVED thee once; I'll love no more— Thine be the grief as is the blame; Thou art not what thou wast before, What reason I should be the same? He that can love unloved again, 5 Hath better store of love than brain: God send me love my debts to pay, While unthrifts fool their love away! Nothing could have my love o'erthrown If thou hadst still continued mine; 10Yea, if thou hadst remain'd thy own, I might perchance have yet been thine. But thou thy freedom didst recall That it thou might elsewhere enthral: And then how could I but disdain 15 A captive's captive to remain? When new desires had conquer'd thee And changed the object of thy will, It had been lethargy in me, Not constancy, to love thee still. 20 Yea, it had been a sin to go And prostitute affection so: Since we are taught no prayers to say To such as must to others pray. Yet do thou glory in thy choice— 25 Thy choice of his good fortune boast; I'll neither grieve nor yet rejoice To see him gain what I have lost: The height of my disdain shall be To laugh at him, to blush for thee; 30 To love thee still, but go no more A-begging at a beggar's door.

Anticipation

I can’t understand people who say “I’m just waiting until MM/DD/YYYY, then I can [verb phrase- relax, have fun again, be with you, etc.]” Why are they doing whatever they’re doing until then if they’d rather be doing something else? A friend of mine recently advocated the Gap Year- a year off to work (or do other things) between high school and college in order that people might figure out why they’re going to college. Why wouldn’t someone know? Why would anyone do something just because “that’s what’s next.” The notion that someone might go to high school just to go to college, and to college just because they don’t have any better ideas repulses me.

Idea #17: Too Many Storms

What’s in a Hurricane Name? | Wired Science | Wired.com.

There are so many hurricanes that they get past Omega. One character counts the hurricanes and notes that ‘The end came before Omega. Perhaps the Greek Alphabet was only ever supposed to have 13 letters.’

For the Gamer Geeks

I’ve been over indulging in time wasting activities lately. While I haven’t re-read The Dresden Files (an old standby for when the creative portion of my brain develops narcolepsy) yet, I have been watching The Guild, considering re-reading The Name of the Wind, and generally failing to get things done.

It’s too hot to go for a run, I tell myself. Wait until the sun goes down. Hopefully I’ll actually get that done.

In any case, while Facebook stalking Patrick Rothfuss, which I don’t usually do, but I was seeking pictures of GenCon, which I missed again this year, I discovered the greatest thing ever to happen to gaming kind.

I’m not actually a gamer, I do like to pretend sometimes.

Quicksilver

I’ve just finished Quicksilver, Book 1 of Neal Stephenson’s The Baroque Cycle. This requires clarification. I have not finished the collection which was published as Quicksilver that contains three novels (Quicksilver, The King of the Vagabonds, and Odalisque) but only the first of these three.

Thus far it would appear that The Baroque Cycle is significantly less action packed than most of Stephenson’s work, including the interminably long Anathem. This is in no way a criticism of Stephenson, from my perspective. Perhaps this is largely my opinion only because the first of Stephenson’s books I ever read was Snow Crash, which has very little to do with anything else he has written. It was originally intended to be a graphic novel and it reads like one, only with words. I’ve misplaced or loaned out my copy and will soon endeavor to replace it, probably digitally. This will further mix my collection of Stephenson- I own Crytonomicon in paperback, have only borrowed the hard cover Anathem from the library (and since returned it upon finishing) and will have the entire Baroque Cycle on Kindle shortly.

Back to the book; with Stephenson a lack of action is perfectly acceptable for the regions in which he most excels involve character and world building. Mostly world building, because his characters evolve believably largely as a consequence of this. One thing many other readers don’t much like about Stephenson is his tendency to explain things. When you finish Cryptonomicon, you will have learned a surprising amount about basic cryptography. Having finished only the first book of the Baroque Cycle, I already know far more about the Baroque period in Europe than I did before.
If textbooks were written like this we would not have nearly so much trouble with reluctant students. I have always believed that historical fiction and period fiction ought to play a larger role in the teaching of history than they do. Ah well.
Now, I have a good deal of writing and other work I must do before continuing with The Baroque Cycle, but there was one notable weakness in the work. The main character is a Puritan most of the time, but I don’t believe it. When we first meet him he’s an atheist, but most of the story takes place while he’s a Puritan, but while I can’t pin down why, I don’t buy it. He doesn’t seem to think Puritanically. Sure, he is appropriately guilty (usually) when he thinks particularly un-Puritanically, but the point remains. He seems to occupy the same middle ground as the majority of humanity.
Perhaps this says something about the point Stephenson would like to make about Puritans, but I still believe a more demonstrable change should have taken place over time. How, I don’t know. Stephenson’s plenty impressive enough as it is, I leave it up to his fantastic skills.

New iPod Touch

My iPod recently broke down beyond repair and, being outside the warranty, I was encouraged to recycle it and get ten percent off a new one. I was going to get a nano, or maybe even a shuffle, believing that they suited my needs adequately at a lower price.
For better or worse, I was investigating this with my mother before a long anticipated brunch. She insisted upon getting me the iPod Touch as a replacement.
In order to display my mother’s bizarre mind reading prowess, allow me to outline the event precisely. We walk in and are directed to the concierge in charge of making appointments for broken devices, etc. I tell him the problem “It’s utterly and completely dead,” he runs tests to make sure I’m not just like the last idiot to come in and say that, confirms my diagnosis, and outlines my options considering that it is out of warranty. 1. Buy a new one at 10% off through the recycling program or 2. Trade it in for a used one, without a warranty, that will be cheaper than a new one.
My mother directs me to ‘go look at iPods.’ I carefully read all the specs and, despite the fact that my now deceased iPod was an iPod classic (with video, etc.), that the smallest Nano would suit my needs, but that I would be willing to settle for the older version of the shuffle. My one hesitation in buying the Nano would have been that it wouldn’t fit in my armband for running- I’d need to get a new one. This was small change compared to the difference between the classic and the nano, however, so I determined it wouldn’t be a problem. The reason I wanted a Nano rather than the Shuffle was the video capability. A few years ago I would have been perfectly satisfied without any video- this was the case when I was given the deceased iPod. I had never, in fact, made real use of the video capabilities until less than a month ago when I downloaded some free courses from Yale’s website. Even so, I decided, I was perfectly capable of downloading the audio only versions instead. It would involve losing some of the content, but not too much, I decided. In any case, I could always go back and look at the videos on my computer.
Thus I had almost talked myself down to a Shuffle when my mother walks up. “You’re getting a Touch, where are the Touches?”
She leaves me trying to translate the apps labeled in Chinese on the display Touch while she goes to make the purchase. I go back and interrupt her.
“I really don’t think this is necessary, I mean, all I need is a Nano.”
“I knew that’s what you were planning on getting.”
“I would have gotten a Shuffle, it’s so much cheaper, except that I want the video so that I can-”
“Do the Open Yale Courses, I know.”
She scares me sometimes.

In any case, this is a call for help. The only worse thing than a very bad piece of technology is a very good piece of technology that the user doesn’t know how to operate. Therefore, please, take pity on me. Let me know all the cool things that my new iPod Touch will be capable of when my mother brings it by in a few hours. (I ran home from our brunch) How should I use it? What features do I need to be aware of. Don’t allow me to be the poor sod who walks into the Apple Store saying that his iPod isn’t working when, in fact, he simply doesn’t know what he’s doing.

Pre-Ayn Rand

I’m just beginning to read Atlas Shrugged and was shocked by one thing- it is incredibly coherent and well written. Those of you who haven’t read some of Rand’s earlier work might find this an odd comment for me to make. Here’s a very well known and respected author, yet this guy is surprised that she writes well.
This is because I began to read Anthem some time ago and found it utterly unpalatable. The philosophy wasn’t the problem, I can read works in support of almost anything so long as it is well written.
On that note, if anyone feels like reading something utterly bizarre, pick up one of L. Ron Hubbard’s books and read through some of it. I don’t recommend actually buying it unless you’re at a dirt cheap used bookstore, because from my experience they get rather strange part way through.
Back to Rand- on the off chance it is I’ve changed rather than her writing having improved in her later books, I think I might need to pick up Anthem and The Fountainhead again at some point after I finish Atlas Shrugged.

I will be perfectly ready to drop them should they turn out as I remember.

Re: Dark Matter

Wired.com reports that a new class of black hole has been discovered. Read about it here: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/mediumblackhole/

While these black holes have not been reported as having the qualities I described in my previous post, it does go to show that there is much about these celestial objects we do not yet know. More importantly it demonstrates that there are whole categories of black hole that we have yet to detect.

I love being right, so I hope the French don’t retract their findings.

Dark Matter

I’ve finally gotten around to reading A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking which, in the third chapter, states that ‘dark matter’ is widely believed to be present both within, and in between, galaxies. Such matter has been scientifically detected only be alterations in the paths of nearby stars and galaxies.

It is impossible to prove a negative, but I would like to theorize that there is a simpler explanation- black holes. Black holes are known to exist and do not necessitate the creation of a new class of matter which, mysteriously, is undetectable. Why are black holes not the current explanation? Because we can detect black holes, which have been found both to emit radio waves, due to a high rotational velocity, and Hawking radiation, caused by quantum phenomena at the event horizon.

All that my theory requires is a different class of black hole. There is no known reason why a singularity must, by its very existence, spin at a rate high enough to emit electro-magnetic radiation. As for Hawking radiation, it has been theoretically proven but never been detected. Furthermore it is always possible that radiation is being emitted, but not detected, due to the background noise of the universe.

There is no place for dark matter in the particle predictions of quantum physics, thus a simpler explanation seemed in order.

On a side note, the recent Star Trek movie broke the laws of physics in more ways than I could keep track of. Not for small children trying to learn physics, though evidently computer science majors don’t mind much.

Inauguration 1

I will do a more detailed post on my inauguration experience later. I won’t promise it, but I’ll do it anyhow, I hope. A few highlights.

-Evidently I, in red hat and blue face-mask, appeared on TV at one point as a member of the crowd.

-Being in the part of the crowd where singing ‘Nananana, nananana. Hey, hey, hey. Goodbye,’ whenever Bush, Cheney or other old (how good it is to say it) administration member appeared on the screen originated.

-Being yelled at by policemen to stop running.

-I absolutely freaked out when the first shot of the 21 gun salute went off, because I was convinced that it was an assassination attempt.