Test Results

Tired, so not much more tonight.

On the first test over the neural system, I scored a 100 out of a possible 100 (no extra credit this time). So, over all, I have a 227 out of 230 points (234 possible) for a 98.695% (97% out of all possible points).

blogger weirdness

not sure why my template isn't working anymore. Will fix when I have time.

Edit Some malformed HTML from Friday was causing problems. Finally figured that out. But, hey, new look. Sorry for any problems that caused anybody.

Slow Burn

It took all summer,
but the trees are showing their tans
A slow burn of rust
consums the branches.
Flakes pile on the floor below
and clog streams.
The scent of pencil shavings
stirs erasure dust memories
of brown corduroy pants
and pink cashmere sweaters.
Heartened pumping of blood
pounds the heartache from my eyes.
Ghost wisps of fog wrap the past
and harden my nights.
Youth calls like
candy apple cravings
and bat winged remembrances
flit in allergic waves
in wood smoke eyes.

Sunday in what seems to be a routine

First, what wasn't routine. Spent way too many hours looking for 100% cotton scrubs. I can find some, like Comfort Scrubs (but for the 3x/4x/5x sizes I need, they require an extra 2-3 weeks to make them), or at All Heart (but those are only denim, and they don't have the pant sizes in stock), or if I just want tops and can find a pattern we like (this is for me and Bette), Scrubs Gallery or Lydias Uniforms (but they don't have all cotton pants). Also, as a part of these sites, their shipping can be difficult (although Scrub Gallery has the best options offering free shipping for just $29 in orders).

But then I spent most of the day studying. Tomorrow's test is the first one on the neural system (CNS and PNS gross anatomy and function). I've rewritten the notes, and done a few other things. Tonight will be another review, after dinner.

And the more I read and learn about the brain, the more I realize that a true AI/Singularity (in SF) is a pipe dream (at least with our current technology). Why is the brain compared to a computer? Because the computer is the most complicated thing we have at the moment, not because of any real functional similarity. I can make analogies between them, but it isn't the same. Understand, the brain was once called a switchboard, steam engine, etc, because they were the most complex thing we had at the time. It's also my belief that any AI will really be an emergent/accidental property of some system (akin to Skynet) than an intentional construct of humans. To give an analogy, if you want to think of the brain as a computer and the neural pathways as the transistors in the CPU of a computer, well there are some comparisons. However, a better analogy would be to compare the neurons (of which there are billions) to registers in the CPU, or actually little coprocessors of their own. To say the brain is a massively paralleled system is to only scratch the surface. The level of the brain puts even our largest constructed parallel system (including the distributed networks) to shame.

Also, as a side note, you may have heard that we only use 10% of our brain. Seems kind of miniscule, right? Except that we can only use 10% of our brains because that is the amount of neurons compared to neuroglia (cells that do other things than process or transfer information). You can only use 10%. That's the whole processing power you have available.

More links for a hard working Friday

No need to worry about your civil liberties here. (pointed to by Dan).

If you can't win in science, try winning in court. Problem is, he hasn't been winning in court either. Hey, Cuccinelli, my attorney general is going after the real assholes who hurt our economy (Cordray is one of the lead AGs going after the banks for their robosigning foreclosure documents which is patently illegal). You might want to see to your head. Cause it's someplace you don't want it to be.

And, because it's related to the above, a Climate Progress.org's post on the Koch Brothers' involvement/sponsorship on a Smithsonian exhibit and the New Yorker article about it.

A dreamer

Happy 70th, John.

"And the two of us went to this bar
and we stayed to close the place.
And every song we played
was for The Late Great Johnny Ace." Late Great Johnny Ace - Paul Simon

Two Quick Links From Yesterday Posted Today

Because it's been that kind of month.

Another article on Branding.

Seems that various political ads are using hijinx to get produced. Here's a bit of a design perspective on the use of a certain "stock" photograph. While stock, especially royalty-free stock, is an highly used and (these days) abused commodity, there are special rules when it comes to the usage of images with people. If you don't believe me, read the licensing statement with the art you buy. If the ad agency/501c/political committee that placed these didn't do their homework, the spanking maybe interesting (although won't come to even a court before February at the earliest).

Even more links, but with some personal reflection

We will have a snowblower this year. Here's what I'm getting, an Ariens Compact 24" 2 Stage Snowblower. Just as an FYI, here's the Farmers Almanac Prediction. Notice that for my area it's "Colder" and we're right on the edge for normal or more precipitation. Last week the National Weather Service announced that with the Summer of 2010 being a summer of record heat (hottest or second hottest, IIRC) Lake Erie will remain open longer into the winter season. Which means more and heavier lake effect snows this year. Last year we had three snows that using the push shovel wasn't useful (for the 10' or so in from the roadway at least). With a doublewide driveway, slinging snow that way is a killer (for reals and seriously, people die that way). So the need for the dual stage, the wide scoop, the horse power (it's a Briggs engine), and, hey, it comes with a headlight (helpful for those 2am clearings).

Jim Wright wins the internet today. ("I'm voting Republican because…" video)

Jay Lake has a caption contest for one of his books. (Vote for me. Vote for me.)

He look, civilian trials for terrorists, they work, and there weren't any hiccups or terror incidents. Civilian trials work, they reinforce that we are a country of laws, and they diffuse the "big, scary, boogy man" image terrorists have. I guess all that garment rending and teeth gnashing were all political staging and fear-mongering after all. Go figure. Could have knocked me over with a feather.

Interesting to probably only me and my design habit, the brother hood of feral barncats. Photos of visual communication in the wild. This is a subject that is endlessly fascinating to me. Just ask any of the friends who have been subjected privileged to hear me hold forth on the design of menus and the like.

And, because it's come up in political discussions where those touting the "honor and dignity" of the hard, minimum wage earning worker ("we're just like you, only smarter and richer" they say with a swarmy handshake) all without knowing exactly what the minimum wage is. It is this elections, "Price of Milk" question. For you're edification, the Ohio minimum wages. $7.30 per hour or $3.65 per hour for tipped employees, federal minimum wage $7.25 per hour for those employees whose employers gross $267,000 or less and or 14 and 15 year old workers. Just in case you get asked. Also, a side note, some of the bastards employers in the village use the "tipped wages" for counter workers who have tip jars. Your local asshole employers may using the same dick head business practices.

Also, probably only me, but noted here for it's graphic design significance and my everlasting love of ephemera, The Matchbook Registry. Old matchbooks. I say old, because I can't remember the last place I was in that actually had matchbooks. When I was young, you could get them everywhere and anywhere. Not that I miss people smoking like chimneys everywhere you went, but, like $0.02 gum, I kind of miss the wackiness of the matchbooks.

I've been thinking about a lot of posts lately. My guess is you'll all be regaled by my thoughts on the story I posted about yesterday where the firefighter let a house burn to the ground, and my thoughts about the existence and prevalence of extra judicial/societal/religous systems in the US, most of which we normally don't' give a second thought about (including the rise of mandatory binding arbitration).

More links, because brain won't work

A short practical on agents. Agents should work for you in a partnership. If that's not happening, getting a new agent is a good idea.

Here's a story that is interesting to me, being Chairman of Safety. Seems there was a brouhaha over a fire department letting a house burn to the ground because the owner did not pay the rural fire district fee. You know, it sucks, but that happens. My guess is that if there were human lives in danger the fire department would have gone in to rescue them (but not for the cat or dog). However, it's a very real scenario for many places.

Freedom of the press is only free when you own the press. Food for thought. (grokked from Jay Lake)

Because it's in a lot of places, Your Tax Receipt.

And more from the boy the elections are long and many things come out in that time. Miller is probably the least completely insane candidates pushed from the dark corners of the right. However, that's a relative statement.

Also, just a general statement, with all the work and everything, I'm way behind in the social media stuff. I barely twitter, my blog roll is constantly above 100 posts to read, and I don't think I've loaded Facebook in weeks. So if you're wondering why I have been as effluent of late, it's because of the work and study, nothing personal.

Quickie links

One of the questions I continually hear from beginning and wannabe writers is about how you know where to send your stuff out. Mostly because they believe people will "steal" their ideas and plagiarize there stuff. My first answer is, "send to places you trust." The second sentence is, "If an editor/writer were ever caught doing this..." Well, you get what's about to happen to this person. Ferrel "Rick" Moore is not someone you want to mess with. Not that it takes someone with Rick's abilities to call idiots out, but Rick has a slightly larger megaphone than I do. It's also a good argument for belonging to writers organizations. This is part of what they do. David Boyer (aka Doc Byron, Iron Dave, David Brookes, Leo Wolfe, and Jerry Burkette) is about to get paddled. The problem is, I don't think he is the only author going by "David Boyer", so those other guys are going to have some problems for a while. That trouble might also be addressable through the same mechanisms. Also, this doesn't look like it's the first time the David Boyer we're talking about has seen troubles.

Thinking of writing, Jim Hines has a little post on royalties that's worth reading. Strangely enough over the weekend I just had a conversation with another writer friend about royalties.

Some more charts demonstrating the distribution of wealth in this country. Continuing on with other links I've made showing exactly the same thing. However, this chart also shows how people "perceive" the distribution of wealth, compared to the actual distribution of wealth. The chart is from several years ago (during the Bush/Kerry election), since then, even more wealth has been concentrated at the top. The perception of the bottom 40% of earners is interesting. Notice how in the "actual" chart you can't really see their color blocks, and then how big most people think they are. This is part of the problem of why people don't believe how incredibly disproportionate wealth is distributed in this country. If more people understood, IMHO, they would be less likely to support "tax cutting measures." (grokked form Tobias Buckell)

More, later, when I've had some sleep and return to sanity at work. At last check my blogroll for reading was somewhere over 150 posts. Yeah me. Sigh.

October creeps in

October in the Chair

Leaves dry brush the parking lot
in whorls of brown.
Flocking clouds pile up
on their migration south,
turn a bruised black and blue
and swell to bursting.
Aroma of crushed apples and
burning brush feed
fever dreams of iced lawns.
Cars grow winter coats
of fuzzy road dust.
The clopping of nighttime horses
becomes crisper
before their breath coats the air.

Rainy day Sunday

Taking a moment out form the weekend hustle and watching some football before I start studying again. I don't think I've watched football this way in years. After the NFL allowed Model to move my Browns, I stopped watching. And I wasn't alone. Viewer ship, IIRC, has never rebounded to pre-browns-move levels. For those of you not watching, it's the battle of I-71, Browns and Bengals. Currently the Brownies are up 13 to 10. But there's still two quarters to go and if the Browns are good at anything, they're good at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Yesterday we studied the chemistry of neurological transmission. While neurons fire an electrical charge down their axons, called Action Potential, it's not like the electricity that flows into your home. Besides being lower voltage (measured in millivolts from a range of 30 to -90 charges, the electrical transfer can demonstrate just how fast cellular processes happen. Without getting into a whole bunch of details, electrical power in your home comes from free electrons flowing down the wire (well, actually, the flow of electrons being jiggled because of the AC nature of the power, instead of pushing electrons down the wire, which is DC), the electrical charge firing down the dendrites and axons of your nervous system are cause by depolarization and how that opens cell membrane channels (protein "holes" in the membrane) that allows Ca+ and K+ ions to cross the membrane through simple diffusion (before being set back to status by facilitated diffusion and the ion pumps along your cellular membrane). This creates a cascade of depolarization down the axon, which is the electrical charge. And it does these at speeds of 15meters/sec at the slowest.

Also an interesting note, you know how cells are very small. However, did you know that the neurons that comprise your nerve bundles are, for the most part, single cells with their cell bodies located either in your CNS or PNS (central and peripheral nervous systems), or your brain and spine if you will, and their axons extending out to the where they either sense or activate? That is, one cell, the head of which is usually in your head or spinal column, then extends out to where you have the sensation. the longest cell in your body runs from the lower part of your spinal column, down your thigh, leg, tarsals, and to your big toe. One cell.

Went to the Pumpkin Festival in Huntsburg, yesterday. Spent too much money doing my part to stimulate the economy. Recaulked the bathroom shower (the old caulking was showing cracks. It took a few hours for the floor to dry out before I could put the new caulk down. Not good. Did some little things around the house. And then I started reading. And read some more. And some more. And, good God, won't this chapter ever end?

This morning was a slow start, but now I need to get back to the reading. And, hey, the Browns are up 23 to 10. But there's still a full quarter and 2 minutes to go. Plenty of time to screw it up.

And even though the Browns are winning, I still would rather be writing.