Musings on Random Musings

[OddHat]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I came up with the idea of Poppins/Holmes at work, and couldn't check the chronology.

 

Yeah, I stuffed up, sorta. I thought Mary Poppins was set around the time of Sherlock Holmes, during the "British pulp era", which I place earlier than the American pulp era (cf. Machen, Blackwood, Wilde, Doyle etc). The American pulps seem to have followed on from the 'British pulp' stories.

 

Still thanks for your comments, so what about Holmes' son or grandson, would he make a better husband for Mary Poppins? Or maybe keep in with the "M"s and say, the son/grandson of Professor Moriarty?

 

Jess Nevins classes Holmes as "Fantastic Victoriana", which I kind of like. Holmes probably died childless in a standard Wold Newton setting, unless you're assuming he had a real fling with Irene Addler (of course, you can go anywhere). If you wanted Poppins married to a great detective, I'd hook her up and then divorce her from Sexton Blake. Blake is more interested in women than Holmes, and is either immortal or a series of men assuming the same persona; an immortal Blake romancing a young witch who ends up becoming a nanny would make a fun pastiche.

 

A tongue in cheek Newtonism I always liked was "Great Detective Syndrome"; the idea is that many of Holmes fans become so enamored of him that they'd move to London, set up shop as close to Baker Street as they can afford, hire a doctor with military experience to back themselves up, and try to re-live his life. That's why you end up with so many second string Holmes imitators in the early 20th century.

[zornwil]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

You have my sympathy.

 

Personally I wouldn't ride in a vanpool that played country music. Even using my own MP3 player and turning it up probably wouldn't be sufficient. But I'm like that...

And today's country isn't really country - or at least I'm "one of those" who thinks that way.

[zornwil]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

At one point a local radio station played They Might Be Giants "Minimum Wage" every hour' date=' on the hour from 5 to 10 am, specifically for alarm clocks. To this day I use that on my phone as my alarm sound...[/quote']

I love that, that is great. Minimum WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!

[Bazza]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

Jess Nevins classes Holmes as "Fantastic Victoriana"' date=' which I kind of like. Holmes probably died childless in a standard Wold Newton setting, unless you're assuming he had a real fling with Irene Addler (of course, you can go anywhere). [/quote'] Yeah, I'd agree you you that Holmes would be a batchelor (even if he did have a fling with Irene Addler).

 

I also like the phrase "Fantastic Victoriana".

 

If you wanted Poppins married to a great detective, I'd hook her up and then divorce her from Sexton Blake. Blake is more interested in women than Holmes, and is either immortal or a series of men assuming the same persona; an immortal Blake romancing a young witch who ends up becoming a nanny would make a fun pastiche.

I just think that Mary Poppins would be perfect Wold Newton character. What attracted me to a Poppins/Holmes romance is the chalk-and-cheese nature of them. Mary Poppins could also seduce John Silence; that would an interesting pastiche too.

 

A tongue in cheek Newtonism I always liked was "Great Detective Syndrome"; the idea is that many of Holmes fans become so enamored of him that they'd move to London, set up shop as close to Baker Street as they can afford, hire a doctor with military experience to back themselves up, and try to re-live his life. That's why you end up with so many second string Holmes imitators in the early 20th century.

Not just with Holmes but also with the "supernatural detective" as well. John Silence, Thomas Carnacki are two that come to mind.

 

I can also see Dr Watson with his medical and military experience, emigrating to America after Holmes dies, and taking the nom-de-butler of "Alfred". A masked vigilante has to have a good teacher to inherit the epitaph of "worlds greatest detective".

 

(ok the chronology might be slightly off, but the idea is certainly there.)

[lemming]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I remember back in my freshman year of college' date=' one week for four straight days the same song was playing when my clock radio went off in the morning. (For the record, it was B J Thomas's "Somebody done somebody wrong song", and yes, it still incites homicidal fury when I hear it.) That afternoon I changed the station and never played that station again. It changed call letters and format a few months later.[/quote']

 

It took forever for me to be able to listen to "Burning down the House" because of some jerk who would blast it at high volume every morning at 8am.

[OddHat]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

 

I just think that Mary Poppins would be perfect Wold Newton character.

 

I agree with you there; she's definitely around somewhere in my Timeline.

[tkdguy]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I wish I were a Wold Newton character.

[Bazza]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I agree with you there; she's definitely around somewhere in my Timeline.

Maybe she could cat-sit Stars and Stripes for you?

 

I wish I were a Wold Newton character.

 

I thought you were Tarzan?

 

 

and me to, I wish I was a Wold Netwon character as well.

[L. Marcus]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

. . . Who says you guys aren't?!

[Bazza]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

point taken

[L. Marcus]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

Give it back!

[Bazza]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

No. I's have it now.

[L. Marcus]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

. . . Bazza's a LOLCat.

[Bazza]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

well LOLhuman.

[L. Marcus]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

http://punditkitchen.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/political-pictures-putin-laugh.jpg

[Bazza]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

http://punditkitchen.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/political-pictures-putin-laugh.jpg

 

from Russia with love, from Bush

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I was giving some thought to number systems and how to explain it to my niece & nephew (if they should ever ask). During that' date=' I think I realized that it's impossible to have a place value system without also having the concept of zero, but the reverse [i']could[/i] be true.

 

For any math-heads out there, is this correct?

I'm not a math-head, but I found this...

One might think that once a place-value number system came into existence then the 0 as an empty place indicator is a necessary idea, yet the Babylonians had a place-value number system without this feature for over 1000 years. Moreover there is absolutely no evidence that the Babylonians felt that there was any problem with the ambiguity which existed.

Full essay here.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

Down, down, down, Into the dark Pit of Despair.

Abandon hope, all ye who enter there.

 

or as Erik the Phantom might say...

 

"Down once more

to the dungeon

of my black despair!

Down we plunge

to the prison

of my mind!

Down that path

into darkness

deep as hell!"

 

(Eric the Amadan has, on occasion been known to sing this whilst descending the stairs into the massively cluttered, dusty and dark Prop basement)

[archermoo]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I think I just quit my job.

 

Is that good news or bad news?

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I don't know yet.

[archermoo]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I don't know yet.

 

I understand. Best of luck with it regardless.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I think I just quit my job.

 

You think? You're not sure?

[Cancer]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

I was giving some thought to number systems and how to explain it to my niece & nephew (if they should ever ask). During that' date=' I think I realized that it's impossible to have a place value system without also having the concept of zero, but the reverse [i']could[/i] be true.

 

For any math-heads out there, is this correct?

 

I'm not a math-head, but I found this...

Full essay here.

 

There is one place that I know of where the Babylonian number system has been perpetuated, albeit extended to embrace the zero, and it often happens that it jumps up and bites the unwary. It seems to happen more in astronomy than elsewhere.

 

The analog of latitude in the celestial sphere is called declination, and it is still specified in the barely-evolved Babylonian system: 360 degrees to a circle, with 60 arcminutes to a degree and 60 arcseconds to an arminute. For a very long time, precisions greater than an arcsecond were not really necessary for most work. Consequently, declinations were written as, e.g., +11 50 51, that being degrees, minutes, and seconds respectively; positive decs are north of the equator, negative is south.

 

At least in the fortran era (and I'm pretty sure it still lurks in C and C++ codes) it was common to read that as three integers (or, if the seconds included fractions, two ints and a float). The problem bites when you have a dec which is between 0 and -1, which is the 1-degree-wide band immediately south of the equator. Just about all languages would read (e.g.) -0 33 14 as zero degrees 33 minutes 14 seconds ... and zero has no sign, which means -0 and +0 map to the same part of the sky (the 1-degree-wide band immediately north of the equator). The solution involves checking for/reading a sign character and after getting the magnitude of the dec angle applying the sign, but it's an annoyance because omitting the sign is common to indicated positive decs.

 

You could avoid this problem by choosing the origin and convention for the declination coordinate appropriately (e.g., replace it with the colatitude, that is, the number of degrees away from the north pole). But astronomers are extremely reluctant to change conventions with great antiquity, because they are perhaps uniquely devoted to old data. I've had colleagues go into print with diatribes titled (for example) "The Curse of the Babylonian Number System", however.

[death tribble]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

or as Erik the Phantom might say...

 

"Down once more

to the dungeon

of my black despair!

Down we plunge

to the prison

of my mind!

Down that path

into darkness

deep as hell!"

 

(Eric the Amadan has, on occasion been known to sing this whilst descending the stairs into the massively cluttered, dusty and dark Prop basement)

 

And in the words of The Quo

 

Get down deeper and down

Down down deeper and down

Down down deeper and down

Get down deeper and down

 

I want all the world to see

To see you're laughing

And you're laughing at me

I can take it all from you

Again again again again again again again

Deeper and down

Down down deeper and down

Down down deeper and down

Down down deeper and down

Get down deeper and down

 

I have all the ways you see

To keep you guessing

Stop your messing with me

You'll be back to find your way

Again again again again again again again again

Deeper and down

Down down deeper and down

Down down deeper and down

Down down deeper and down

Get down

 

Get down deeper and down

Down down deeper and down

Down down deeper and down

Get down deeper and down

 

I have found you out you see

I know what you're doing

What you`re doing to me

I'll keep on and say to you

Again again again again again again again again

Deeper and down

Down down deeper and down

Down down deeper and down

Down down deeper and down

Get down

[Old Man]

Re: Musings on Random Musings

 

There is one place that I know of where the Babylonian number system has been perpetuated, albeit extended to embrace the zero, and it often happens that it jumps up and bites the unwary. It seems to happen more in astronomy than elsewhere.

 

The analog of latitude in the celestial sphere is called declination, and it is still specified in the barely-evolved Babylonian system: 360 degrees to a circle, with 60 arcminutes to a degree and 60 arcseconds to an arminute. For a very long time, precisions greater than an arcsecond were not really necessary for most work. Consequently, declinations were written as, e.g., +11 50 51, that being degrees, minutes, and seconds respectively; positive decs are north of the equator, negative is south.

 

At least in the fortran era (and I'm pretty sure it still lurks in C and C++ codes) it was common to read that as three integers (or, if the seconds included fractions, two ints and a float). The problem bites when you have a dec which is between 0 and -1, which is the 1-degree-wide band immediately south of the equator. Just about all languages would read (e.g.) -0 33 14 as zero degrees 33 minutes 14 seconds ... and zero has no sign, which means -0 and +0 map to the same part of the sky (the 1-degree-wide band immediately north of the equator). The solution involves checking for/reading a sign character and after getting the magnitude of the dec angle applying the sign, but it's an annoyance because omitting the sign is common to indicated positive decs.

 

You could avoid this problem by choosing the origin and convention for the declination coordinate appropriately (e.g., replace it with the colatitude, that is, the number of degrees away from the north pole). But astronomers are extremely reluctant to change conventions with great antiquity, because they are perhaps uniquely devoted to old data. I've had colleagues go into print with diatribes titled (for example) "The Curse of the Babylonian Number System", however.

 

While you're at it, you could quit using Julian dating and adopt a purely metric (base-10) coordinate system. That would have made my life waaaaay easier in 1993.