thetimesink

Time is relative (to GMT?)

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 04:16:25 GMT

Since YouTube channels garner viewers from the literally the "World Wide" Web, time zones come into play. Stuart's place is a good example. After seeing yet another global Netizen show up there today, I figured I'd showcase a fun tool for general use.

In 2014, Randall Munro (engineer, cartoonist, author) created a time zone map for his web-comic XKCD. If you click the image above it will open a graphic generated in real time (+/- 15 minutes) for your time zone.

You can copy this link for use in a portal or as a bookmark.

Yes, it's cool with him (as long as you don't charge for its use).

If you are a hard core geek or code monkey, here is an explanation.

Enjoy!

Crosspost from YouTube; edited for Dreamwidth.

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Kids these days...

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 18:53:57 GMT

...and some adults without the experience of classic SciFi:

I used 👍 👍 👍 the other day in a YouTube chat (with a "from SciFi" reference).

Crickets.

They only knew that as a emote, not an emot(ie).

I'm old...

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Different worlds...

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 07:02:31 GMT

So, Monday was the first day of school locally (masks, 1^st graders who have never attended kindergarten due to Covid, most grades with diminished socialization skills). TeacherLady texted me during my workout in the morning (outdoors, but marginally okay sans mask) with:

I feel like I'm on a Star Wars planet!

  Back at her with, "As in Darth Vader Breathing?", thinking masks...

  Followed by, "...or the strange natives with no concept of civilization?"

Back to me with, The color of the sky...

Yeah, she's not wrong...


    Click to embiggen

(Your gamma may vary. Raw file is available as a .dng.)

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Yes!

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 00:02:22 GMT

...and with background art from The left Hand of Darkness!

Via io9 via Twitter...

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Christmas Eve...

Thu, 24 Dec 2020 06:28:00 GMT

Through the trees...

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...and the horse they rode in on!

Wed, 25 Nov 2020 19:35:16 GMT

Via a Guardian article on game theory:

It came to prominence in the UK in the early part of the century...

Oh, hell; that's referring to 2000, not 1900.

...not the first time this particular brick has fallen on my head when I wasn't looking.

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Payback...

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 18:06:04 GMT

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Let's hear it for some good news!

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 03:52:34 GMT

...for those not following XKCD? Anyone? Nevermind: Randall Munroe's wife (then fiance) was diagnosed with cancer ten years ago. Today's comic is his ten year update.

Hell, yes.

(Oh/and: for a breakout for each of the panels, take a look here.)

Edit: parenthesis

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The weather finally broke!!!

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 21:19:48 GMT

Yesterday was the first day in waaay to long that I didn't need an N95 to work out (or even to work outside!). Outside work at times was a bit of a wash as I was woodworking (and would mask anyway): Mrs. Teacher Lady needed a workstand next to her work station as well as a mount for her document camera. Let's hear it for pallet wood and "just glad to do something with tools".

In other news, I've just realized that I've become "that old guy down the street".

(I may have to do a list of the Times I've Discovered I'm Older Than I Picture Myself In My Mind...)

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Some things you have to share...

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 21:23:18 GMT

From a vendor (Meh.com)

We’re not going to get into why you need a mask, just like we’re not going to explain the usefulness of a wallet, or espouse the virtues of putting all your keys on a single ring. At this point, having a good mask is just basic stuff. You wear a mask to the grocery store for the same reason you wear pants to the grocery store: not necessarily for your own comfort, but for everyone else’s.

Point!

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Fri, 18 Sep 2020 18:46:35 GMT

Travel is cancelled. Between the heat and the air quality pretty much all of our travel plans are backed up for a while. Shelley was going to take a trip to the coast with one of her girlfriends; that was shot when the temperature over there was projected to be in the 90s. ...and since there's no air conditioning where she'd be staying? Yeah, that wouldn't work for an MS patient. ..and we also have to lay out safe bathroom stops along the way as we did for a Sacto run a few months back.

Heat grows and the records fall. Today is the first morning that we've been able to open the windows and let the house blow out a little bit! What with the heat and the smoke we've just had to keep the windows closed and run the AC. That's a PIA, as the over night low has been in the 70s; two weeks ago the night time low was in the 80s with the high here about 114. That is better than Los Angeles at 121; even the coastal region due west of us was at 120 the same day. How that can be less than a mile from the ocean is a mind boggler. ...but it's going to feel good to be able to go workout in a few minutes without an N95 strapped on.

The three-legged cat hops. I hadn't lost my mind totally when I wrote that line: in the midst of all this, one of the outside cats didn't show for a day or two; when he did he was looking kind of worse for wear and wouldn't put weight on one of his hind legs. A trip to the vet and an x-ray showed that his right femur was absolutely shattered. Yeah, no other external injuries or marks (which pretty much takes away the idea of getting hit by a car). What went on we don't know, but since his leg wasn't repairable he ended up losing it. So he hops around. I threw together a feeding system (pallet wood!) for him since he had to wear a cone for a couple of weeks; I also set up a large enclosure in the living room so he and the inside cats could get acclimated to each other (they'd only seen one another through windows, and my "kitten" is an alpha). One concern was that since he'd be "hopping", that could be interpreted as an injury and that can set off hunter instincts in the other cats. That has since been resolved for the most part. The Mark II version of the feeder had a scratching post on it; I'm taking it down now but keeping it around as this won't be the last time we have a cat-with-cone. ...and I'm folding back the living room cage one panel at a time so he can still have a safe place to go while still giving him a sense of security. Now that everyone is settled I'll take a photo of him on Shelley's lap getting petted at night. ....or more likely a picture of him and the two kittens in stalking mode with him (he gives as good as he gets).

(Yes, if you're going to come back as a cat, you should do it at our place.)

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Stanza the second

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 04:22:44 GMT

The congrats are inverse. ...and that had to be one of the strangest text messages I’ve ever sent: “Congrats on your positive Covid test!” I mean, really? Yeah, but since the symptoms weren’t extreme, that allows a sigh of relief. ..and some peace of mind (since this instance wasn’t local).

Nice things are not, because people. So Shelley's at Walmart the other day and has the pleasure of watching a lady simply slip her mask down her face and sneeze. Wait, that's not the punchline: when she got home she was telling a neighbor of the story; his response was, “Well that's just wrong! She should have slipped her mask down and sneezed into her elbow. Sneezing into her mask would be just gross!” (Add to that? I got nothin'.)

No gym? Home is there. With gyms shut down it's been somewhat problematic for all members of the family. Shelley's answer has been to get out and do her walks early in the morning when it's cool and then do time on the recumbent bike we picked up for her to use inside. Our youngest down south has had to hunt high and low to find a place to work out. We got him a bike also and added some resistance bands, but he really needs weights in a gym for a full workout.

I have things set up on the patio outside that I use year round (inversion table, bench/lat setup, recumbent bike, fly/pull setup). I have sunscreen over the top but I still need to watch the outside temperature and also work out between-the-raindrops. The oldest has been traveling across town to use the equipment set up here, but that means he has to get up very early in the morning to get over here and get a workout in before he goes back home to log into his office. ...and yes, heat and fires: next post in this series.

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Stanza the first

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 04:04:47 GMT

The sunlight is orange. By that I mean the shafts of sunlight through the trees are orange. You know, that pretty orange that photographers go for just as the sun rises over the hills? …or the hour or so before sunset when that copper/golden hue tints the flowers or the neighborhood boss as he surveys his domain? Yeah, like that. …only this orange is from the drift smoke from fires that are literally hundreds of miles away.

We live in a valley that stretches about 400 miles (from Redding in northern Cali to south of Bakersfield). …and while the closest fires last week were 150 miles to the west and the smoke had no effect here, the smoke from the fires north of San Francisco was channeled through the passes and right down into the valley.

The light flakes drift slowly down. Last week was last week; this week the fire is local, say 35 miles as the crow flies. …or the ash falls. The Creek Fire will pass 150,000 acres tonight. …and this isn’t a “back country” fire, the type you manage until the rains come; this is mountain communities and people (think: the town of Paradise was simply gone a few years back). Both my oldest and I have worked sections of large wildland and wilderness fires, but I think the largest between us was 50,000 acres. This isn’t Dresden, but we have our own “fire weather” here in the form of pyrocumulonimbus cloud cover. That makes air operations unworkable due to wind conditions and visibility. Ground attacks are useless due to the terrain, and dozer lines cannot be put in place fast enough to be of use.

I can follow the daily growth of this beast via the nightly IR surveys and the GIS map overlays produced each morning. …and via the air traffic radar tonight I could “see” that one of the 737 Fireliner tankers had arrived and was working a 75 acre spot fire (there’s enough detail to visualize the spotter plane leading the tanker to selected drop points while the Air Ops boss flew a bit higher to direct their attack). Even money they won’t be able to stop that one from blowing up and heading uncontrolled down a river canyon.

Oh, and as a size reference? You could drop Chicago into the main fire. …or heck, Toronto. Boston? Yea, two (with all the water).

N95s? Yes. My workout area is outside on a patio; with the ash fall, I’ve had to use an N95 (’cause I'm not not working out; more on that in another post). I’ve also supplied my oldest as he comes by to use the equipment each day.

Fires and earthquakes: want to trade?

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Tangential, obtuse, but non-metaphorical…

Tue, 08 Sep 2020 00:32:49 GMT

The sunlight is orange
The light flakes drift slowly down
N95s? Yes

The congrats are inverse
Nice things are not, because people
No gym? Home is there

Travel is cancelled
Heat grows and the records fall
The three-legged cat hops

(As promised.)
(I'll unpack things {requests honored first}.)

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More give and take?

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 04:01:39 GMT

Another from the Southland:

I had my I'm turning into my father moment when i was downstairs debating how practical it'd be to take my old laptop take my old 32 inch monitor put it somewhere and turn it into a dedicated twitch/media/music station where i can either watch streams while i game or work or use it for my Sonos home audio when i add on to that too.

My response:

"Use caution; geekdom is a tough road." (attachment)

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Nature vs nurture

Sat, 18 Jul 2020 05:13:03 GMT

From my youngest Friday morning:

A quick search and back at him:

My wife denies knowing either of us (something about "sick"?)...

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Blue on green

Tue, 05 May 2020 21:24:13 GMT

Click through for the full-sized version.

(Notes: pretty much "as shot" with just a touch of sharpening.)
(Another note: These are large files as FullBleed.net is designed to "fill" your monitor screen regardless of resolution (I'm not able to test on a Mac or an ultrawide.)

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Entertainment Tonight!

Tue, 05 May 2020 04:37:27 GMT

...or not?

The National Theatre (UK) has been sharing the wealth of their productions while we shelter in place. This week's offerings are the stage productions of Frankenstein.

Productions?

..and yeah, another MaryShelley'sFrankenstein'sMonster, but on a stage... Ummm, so?

How about Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternating the role of "The Doctor" and "The Monster"?

Oh, and some guy named Danny Boyle directing.

The reviews from 2011 are mixed, but I'll take that as the usual thing for something "not usual".

Oh, heck; judge for yourself with this interview with the actors and some stage footage.

Linkage:

Cumberbatch as The Creature.

Miller as The Creature.

This is a limited time offer (until May7); YMMV; "Objects in the mirror..."

The downloads are about 1.5 gig each if you are so inclined...

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Red Pill Day...

Mon, 04 May 2020 23:30:42 GMT

I didn't have a title that worked for today, primarily because May the 4^th is now associated with the Star Wars movies...

...but in a not-so-distant galaxy, and all too close to home for a young college student working with new ideologies and with people NotFromTheMainland (see Siderea's "Archipelago of Weird"), May 4^th was a watershed moment:

I was a freshman. ...on a college campus with protests (the Vietnam War had just been expanded into Cambodia). ...and from a parochial, conservative upbringing. ...and suddenly, four students from another state college in another small town were dead.

Red Pill or Blue Pill? That metaphor wouldn't come into vogue until sometime later; but seeing it today, in two articles from Rolling Stone, from two musicians who were there dialed in the title.

The "Police Riot" at the Chicago Democratic Convention occurred a year before, but the rhetoric involved... Well, see the above about living at home (finishing high school).

People's Park would occur a year later; that one sticks with me, as a guy I graduated with in '68 took a piece of buckshot when he went to his apartment's balcony to see what the noise was.

Politicians, Ideologies, Decisions...

Yes, I'm in a funk (and yes, I'm working on breaking it).

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What flippity-dippity idiocy is this?

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 23:24:17 GMT

Las Vegas mayor on reopening her city (via CNN):

Excerpt and tidbits

Full video.

My apologies, but this line Dan Akroyd's character used in response to Jane Curtin's character's typical off track exposition way back when (not PC but on point...):

Ignorance can be addressed with information; stupidity can be chlorine in the gene pool.

More another time...

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Sometimes you just have to do you...

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 16:18:09 GMT

No regrets...

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Make your own joke...

Fri, 05 Jul 2019 17:21:56 GMT

I'll supply the straight line from Home Depot online:

DEWALT 1400 Peak Amp Jump Starter with Digital Compressor

So, if I clamp this puppy to my NAS I won't need zip or tar or rar or gz?

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Symbolism

Thu, 04 Jul 2019 18:19:54 GMT

Thank you for the wishes, Dwight

Yes, 'shopped, but ... "art" and "contest"

All in all, I'd rather be at the Falls than in DC today.

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Not! ...no wait? Oh, hell... (GoT spoiler+/-)

Tue, 07 May 2019 20:00:54 GMT

From an review from Game of Thrones this season:

Bran says he no longer “wants anything” and that he’s just “living the past,” which I guess means he’s a Boomer.

WT??? Stop! What are you saying?

...but then, I'd tweaked to the voice in the end-piece song from SE8-EP2 and thought I'd connected one too many synapses. ...or maybe lost a few more than I'd thought?

Nope, the brain soup was properly seasoned that evening:

Then again, Florence Welch's voice is embedded in my brain; not the least from covers like this one:

...and the "Boomer" bit hit hard (again).

Only to be tempered by the fact I first heard her version of the song after she recorded the cover for Final Fantasy XV in 2016 (the first version I heard would have been the 1961 recording).

"It's not age; it's an overabundance of perspective..."

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Local weather news...

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 00:30:32 GMT

Rarely do I post "local notes", but today? When it makes more sense to use the Beaufort Scale to measure the wind conditions rather than "forecast calls for 30mph"; and when I can say "Force 8" (sustained much of the day); yep, I'll post about the weather here in CentralCaliLand.

I mean, I could do a cat photo, but...

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