Author Archives: skierpage

books: William Gibson flashes of excellence

Posted on 2021-02-27 by skierpage

Early William Gibson is so white-hot, not just the fantastic Sprawl series (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive) but also his short stories, adaptations, and explorations. My 30-year-old web page captures all his output back then, including the rarities. It’s … Continue reading →

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Would aliens understand human music?

Posted on 2021-02-21 by skierpage

Listening to people get OpenAI Jukebox continue songs, one is struck by how weird some of its flights of fancy are. Someone wondered what aliens would make of its attempts to make human music: imagine meeting totally analytical aliens who … Continue reading →

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eco: energy storage is hard, gravity storage is a game

Posted on 2021-02-18 by skierpage

The majority of new electricity generation in North America and Europe is renewable wind and solar, hooray! But they’re variable. The wind and sun may generate more energy than is needed at times, and fall short at others. If the … Continue reading →

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music: Trevor Horn gigantism

Posted on 2021-02-17 by skierpage

Bruce Forest, the creator of this everything-and-the-kitchen-sink remix of Grace Jones’ “Sleeve to the Rhythm” provided entertaining background in a Facebook comment on one of Trevor Horn ‘s magna opera/Mount Everests. “What do you get if you combine 2 years … Continue reading →

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eco: reviving an IKEA Jansjö light

Posted on 2021-01-21 by skierpage

The IKEA Jansjö was amazing 12 years ago, a cheap bright LED lamp when others cost $150. It was $40 (went down to $15 and now may be discontinued). But the switches on them were awful. Both of ours flicker … Continue reading →

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science: cocaine-fueled Hollywood-quantum matchup?

Posted on 2021-01-09 by skierpage

Don’t you love those Hollywood-excess parties, where Spiros Michalakis (research professor and manager of outreach at Caltech) is doing cocaine with a bunch of industry heavyweights and remarks “I have a lot of grant money from the National Science Foundation … Continue reading →

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software: NeWS as James Gosling’s best weird idea

Posted on 2020-12-29 by skierpage

Lex Fridman talked to James Gosling, famous for the Emacs editor and the Java language. At 1:47:40 he says “I’ve got this weird history of doing weird stuff.” I was fortunate to be writing documentation at Sun Microsystems in the Programming … Continue reading →

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software: video fixing is possible, but not easy

Posted on 2020-12-13 by skierpage

In your phone’s Google search bar, search for certain animal names, then tap View in 3D, then tap View in your Space. You can even take a video as you move around (and it occasionally lashes its tail). VR is … Continue reading →

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music: the best video about music

Posted on 2020-10-14 by skierpage

There are lots of music exploration and music theory videos on YouTube. “The 7 Levels of Jazz Harmony” by Adam Neely is pure joy. Even if you don’t know your E♭maj7 from a hole in the ground, even if you … Continue reading →

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skiing: rockers forever

Posted on 2020-09-03 by skierpage

I can tell I’m missing skiing in my bones when I start rolling my ankles on edge when standing still. By mid-summer I miss everything about it, even the frozen fingers, the end-of-day ache overcome for just one more run, … Continue reading →

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