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Eunoia
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And her big son 'Kosmo'.
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Thursday, July 31, 2014
Healthy Hiatus
Am healthy but away from the blog for a fortnight. I recommend you read the blogs in my blogroll (see right sidebar). Mails will be held but not read. Meanwhile here's a limerick I heard, about all these pesky midges.
A mosquito was heard to complain That's DDT by the way :-) Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Butterflies galore this yearThis year we really do have a large flutter* of butterflies in our garden, half of them Peacocks like the first two shown here. Last year the flutter was 90% Cabbage Whites, I wonder what caused the change?
Both of these are females, I haven't seen a male Peacock yet, but they must be around here somewhere. They all seem to home in on this one particular kind of flower, as I took the photos there were dozens of them. 
The second most frequent (25%) kind in our garden this year is the Comma, orange and black with scallopped wings, as shown below. 
The third most frequent (20%) kind in our garden this year is the Small Tortoiseshell, as shown below, recognisable by the bright trailing edge. 
The remaining 5% are Cabbage Whites, with the occasional Red Admiral too. When the rainshower came just now, the whole flutter disappeared. Where do they go to shelter? Any of the huge raindrops would knock them for six!
Comments (2) : Friday, July 25, 2014
E-book advice, please
I am toying with the idea of doing a self-published E-book and would like the advice of others who have done this.
Previous books I have done had the traditional partition of jobs. Mine, as author, was to write the text (the easy job).
Professional publishers then proof-read, corrected, chose a font and a type size, set the text, formatted the pages, chose a cover, did the marketing,
did the sales and took the profits, passing a pittance on to the author ;-) Some of you blogreaders (e.g. Friedhelm) chose to use a PDF format and have to worry about all the layout details yourselves, perhaps advantageous for a heavily illustrated work like his. Others like Liz Hinds wrote regular text (unillustrated) as in her first E-book This time next year used the Amazon process to produce a Kindle e-Book. Liz told me "I published my novel first as an e-book. I did it through the Amazon kindle process. It was reasonably straight-forward although perhaps not as simple as they suggested. But that might have been me rather than the process. Then I used Lulu to publish as a paperback." My collection of half a dozen short stories would be text only, so maybe the Kindle route is easiest? I'm looking for an easy - least effort on my part - solution. So far, I have downloaded a free program "Kindle for PC" and have learned that the reader can choose the size of the font, the number of 
words per line, colour of the page, brightness and choose one or two column presentation, all dynamically. So it seems I need to spend no time doing this kind of formatting. Indeed, Amazon has a free E-book covering the Kindle publishing process which I shall read in the next few weeks. But their view may be simplified as Liz has suggested, so I would like other readers/ E-book self-publishers opinions on this and any other alternatives. Also, I see that Cnet has a web page on some basic options, which I shall read. Going the Kindle route also means not having to worry about the sales side (OK,OK, they take a 30% cut for doing this). I see that Friedhelm chose to do the sales and marketing himself, I must ask him why. I don't want the hassle of having to set up an E-shop just for this; better to let Amazon handle it. All your comments, feedback and suggestions via Email please :-) Update 28/7 : Well, that was disappointing, not a single reply so far :-( Comments (2) : Tuesday 22/7
PI day in Yurp = 22/7 :-)Because Americans write their dates in the format MMDDYY, they celebrate PI day on March 14th (314) in particular at 1:59:26 a.m. (3.1415926 precisely). In Europe we write the dates in DDMMYY format. However there is no 14th month nor does April have 31 days, so we cannot get a 314 at the front of the date :-( However, the American 314 is only an approximation, so we Yurpeans can do another approximation on the 22nd of July by using slashes as separators thus 22/7 (=3,1428571428571428571428571428571 repeating every 6 digits). This is only about 0.04% from the true value of PI. Of course 355/113 would be even better, but hard to realise as a date ;-)Most people think of PI as the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. However, there are other geometric definitions too. Let me show you how to construct one :- 
Starting with the line segment AB as a radius draw circles centered on A and on B. The circles will intersect at points C and D. Connecting C and D with a straight line will bisect the line AB at point G. Draw a circle centered at G which touches both A and B tangentially. Call its radius r. The circumference of the circle centered at G is thus 2*PI*r. But you knew that! The circles centered at A, B and C each have radius 2*r. The angles ABC, BCA and CAB are each 60° because ABC is an equilateral triangle. The three angles sum to 180° (a semicircle). So the length of the three arcs AC, CB and BA sum up to PI*2*r. PI is thus the ratio of the circumference of the 3-lobed curve ABC to its diameter AB. Q.E.D. This is just one case, showing a 3-lobed curve ABC of constant diameter AB. But it is true for any number of lobes. In the general case, PI is the ratio of the circumference of any curve of constant diameter to that diameter. Not many people know that ;-) Now go off and enjoy some pie; class dismissed! 
The photo above shows the PI wall in the Math Museum in Giessen. Starting in the centre, the digits of PI spiral outwards covering the whole wall. Comments (2) : Sunday, July 20, 2014
Tranquility Base remembered45 years ago man landed on the moon. It was July 20th in the USA, July 21st 03:56:20 Central European Time in Germany. I bought these three commemorative medals later that year.
They have a 5 cm diameter, are 4 mm thick and made of pure silver. Ostensibly this dictates their market value, but space geeks like me value them for the achievement represented. Thanks, Werner von Braun & team! Purportedly the first words said after landing on the moon were Armstrong's "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed!". This is not true! Actually, the VERY first words said upon landing on the moon were by Buzz Aldrin :- "Contact light! Okay, engine stop. ACA - out of detent." Armstrong acknowledged "Out of detent" and Aldrin continued, "Mode control - both auto. Descent engine command override off. Engine arm - off. 413 is in." Then and only then, did Armstrong say "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed!" Myth busted ;-) Just as well that it was already July 21st in Germany, because July 20th was already taken : Germany remembers July 20th for a totally different reason. Friday, July 18, 2014
Functionally illiterate? ;-)Blogreader Ed (USA) suggested on monday that bloggers are literate because they can by definition read and write. Not true! I can only assume that Ed has never been outside the USA; because if you are in a country where you don't know the language, you are functionally illiterate. Even if you could hire a car there, you are lost if you cannot read the road signs. Local road signs may not be to the 'norm' you are used to in your country. Here are some examples, Ed :-
Just going from the triangular shape of the sign, I would assume that this Persian street sign says "Yield", but I'm just guessing. 
This information board is in Hebrew only. Unless you are Jewish, you may not be able to read it. It seems to end in a signature, and contains a numeral "1950". Is this a Christian year on an Israeli (Jewish) info notice? A width or height limit in millimeters? A weight limit? Can a Jew give us a hint in the comments please? 'cos I'm functionally illiterate in Hebrew. 
On this sign, I can't even understand the graphic! Functionally illiterate! 
Now look at these two. The left one (Oz) has a plain yellow diamond which over here means there is a crossing ahead but I have the right of way. But what does the graphic of the motorcycle mean? Right of way for motorcycles only? Right of way for crossing motorcycles? Exactly opposite implications, so I'd slow to a crawl at the crossing and be prepared to stop. That may cause a local to rear-end me though :-( The sign on the right might be a one-way street with some restrictions? Or parking restrictions to the left of the sign? I don't know, because I'm functionally illiterate in that country and so should keep off the roads!!! 
This one is from Australia again. Perverts ahead? Unexpected flashes (of light) ahead? Flashers (e.g. for railway or pedestrian crossings) ahead? I have NO idea. Can some Ozzie please comment and explain? Even knowing the language I'm effectively functionally illiterate in this case :-( 
Finally, look at these two. On the left: Food stop? Or pedestrians (=pies?) to proceed on the right? You guess. So yes, Ed, I DO know what it is like to be functionally illiterate! ;-) Comments (2) : Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Friedhelm Würfel's new book :-)Old friend and blogreader Friedhelm Würfel has written a third book and produces it as an eBook in PDF format. You can order it here (N.B: It is written in German). A Kindle version is in preparation.Being the generous bloke that he is, Friedhelm has sent me a signed hard copy, for which many thanks. As usual for him, it is of excellent quality. 
In his first two books, Friedhelm describes his adventures travelling up the swedish and finnish coastlines in his homebuilt (sic!) boat. This time, he travelled by bicycle from his home village of Schmölau (in northern Germany) up to Hammerfest in northern Norway, about 3000 kilometers, over a period of 30 days. I'll stick to my motorcycle, thankyou, lad! Having just got the book, I haven't yet read it, just scanned through. It is richly illustrated, over 100 photos like these spread over the 173 pages. 
As soon as I have finished reading Ian Stewart's book "Flatterland", I'll start on Friedhelm's new book. Meanwhile, here's what the author looks like, scanned and blown up from his book, so excuse my poor scan quality. 
Obligatory plug : If you can read German, why not support such adventurers by buying their travel books? Armchair comfort for 'your' adventure too ;-) BTW, I wrote about his other two books here and here :-) Comments (1) : Monday, July 14, 2014
Oblongs :-)At the local kindergarten, small children are taught pre-school skills, e.g. learning to count. The smaller ones can count to five, then ten by using both hands. Brighter kids count to 20 by taking off their socks and shoes and using their toes as well. One unusually talented lad claimed HE could count to 21 and took off his pants to demonstrate ;-)Be that as it may, this story is about using kindergarten property for purposes for which it was not intended. They have lots of brightly coloured cardboard tiles so the kids can make pretty patterns. Think monochromatic beermats without any ads on them. So, on open day, I taught the kids a 'game' called Oblongs. Starting with one tile, then 2, then 3 etc, see how many different oblongs you can make by laying the tiles next to each other, colours didn't matter. The picture below shows a row (1 by 5) of five tiles, which is unique, then one of the two oblongs using 6 tiles (2 by 3). With 12 tiles you could have 1 by 12, 2 by 6, or 3 by 4. The oblongs should be longer than they are high or at most square. We did it all the way up to 21 tiles :-) 
Then one of the teachers came over "And what game are you playing?" she asked. "Making funny patterns?" she puzzled. So I told her that I had just taught the pre-schoolers some elementary number theory. They now knew how to factorise composite numbers and how to generate the squares and the primes (those being the only ones whose sole oblong is one unit high). Since the tiles had several colours, we could tackle set theory next :-) "But they don't learn to multiply until primary school, and primes MUCH later, when they can divide!" she remonstrated. "Oh tough", I replied, "They can learn anything much sooner if you make an easy game of it!" Exit stage right, chortling ;-) PS: Don't try this with gummi-bears or lego instead of bigger tiles, 'cos pre-schoolers Comments (9) : 
Ed (USA) wrote "Jeebus, Stu, you DO think different from the rest of us! But you didn't explain what all the 'min' and 'max' are for??" They are just to limit the length of the lines. Saturday, July 12, 2014
24th wedding anniversary today :-)
Ecce! SWMBO 69, me 70, celebrating our 24th wedding anniversary and going for silver ;-) Comments (3) : Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Multitasking testPart 1) using a stopwatch, time yourself writing this data block onto a sheet of paper line by line.3 1 4 5 9 2 6 5 7 8 0 Typically line by line takes 27 seconds, column by column 42 seconds. This is because you are doing more context-switching in the latter case as you move from digits to letters to roman numerals. 30 context switches as opposed to just 2. Each context switch takes about ½ second for a typical person it would seem. How did you do? Drop me an email comment pls, telling me your gender and age. With enough data, there may be statistically significant results. Don't cheat to game it for the result you want. No points for bragging either! Comments (3) : Monday, July 7, 2014
Mobile phone humour ;-)
would be the first to admit to failing to exploit all the capabilities of the modern mobile phone. Kids 60 years younger are better at it.
Let me tell you about my phone problems, particularly with the camera...
The first problem was that it is a mobile phone I bought second hand from off of E-bay. From an Australian, it seems :-( 
The second problem is that when I try to take a photo of a nice landscape or of a bikini belle at the beach, I invariably end up with a T*-Rex style close-up of my own nose (the dong, the dong, the luminous dong) :-( 
Incompetent advisor #1 at the pub thinks that's because I'm standing too close; I should use the delayed-shutter release and stand further away ;-) 
Incompetent advisor #2 at the pub thinks it's because I'm standing on the wrong side of the mobile phone. So I tried taking his unasked-for advice ;-) 
I must still be doing something wrong, as you can see, and because the bikini belles I saw on vacation in Dubai are all underexposed ;-) 
This post inspired by Smythe's Andy Capp cartoon ;-)
Comments (4) : Friday, July 4, 2014
US spy plane shot down50years ago this year, during the cold war, a US T-39 Sabreliner "strayed" into East German airspace and was shot down by a Russian MIG-19 near Vogelsberg in the state of Thuringen.So, since we were in a bike tour in the vicinity, we rode over to take a look at the memorial at the crash site. Although we parked as near as possible, just four old bikers climbed the ½ mile up the hill to the crash site, the rest were too damned lazy, no sense of history, these youngsters :-( 
The memorial has a large gravestone with a plaque, a simple white wooden cross, three flagpoles and a couple of young trees. Built and maintained (after the Iron Curtain fell) by volunteers who were young lads in Vogelsberg when they witnessed the shoot-down and subsequent crash. 
The cross bears photos of three aircrew killed, not exactly beginners! 
The memorial stone bears a simple plaque naming the crew. The Wikipedia account of the incident gives the US account, dilettante(?) pilots "on a training flight" north-south along the border (in the ADIZ!!) accidentally (turning hard east at 500mph) and "straying" (60 miles east) into East German airspace in an unarmed plane. Remember that Gary Powers' U-2 was unarmed too. The Russian version had the Sabreliner crammed with electronics, presumably recording radar signatures of the nearby (7 miles north) Russian frontline airbase at Dermsdorf (now EDBS). Dermsdorf scrambled a MIG19 who intercepted and fired several warning shots to divert the T-39, which did not respond, and so the MIG put several rounds into the Sabreliner, shooting it down (it had no ejection seats). 
We also rode by the old Russian frontline airbase at Dermsdorf (now EDBS) which still has some historic Cold-War fighters and a bomber on display. 
There was a ditch and a chain link fence preventing me getting any closer to the old MIGs, so these are the best photos I have, sorry. Freedom thought : the Fourth of July is a good day to post this account... Thursday, July 3, 2014
Minimum wage day?Today the German parliament will vote on a federally-mandated minimum wage (€8.50/hr, with a few exceptions). Standard microeconomic theory claims increased minimum wage = decreased economic prosperity. But countries in Scandinavia with high unionisation and higher union rates don't seem to be much less prosperous????Personally, I pay my gardener and housekeeper, who each come once a week, more than this minimum wage AND their social security / health insurance contributions, because I firmly believe that good work deserves a good wage and noone should have to live on the poverty line. But then, I'm a socialist, not a capitalist; standard microeconomic theory can go shove it, IMHO :-) Comments (5) : Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Steam powered car will blow you off!Just a single photo today for those of you who have never seen under the bonnet/hood of a steam-powered car. Steam engines - like DC electric motors - have maximum torque at zero revs. So this 1920s car makes fast starts at the traffic lights, blowing off(sic!) modern cars :-)
This particular car was based in the car museum at Melle, which also has Brigitte Bardot's Morgan and a couple of Wankel engined cars too. This post is for Renke and other Steampunk fans :-) |
Recent Writings
Healthy Hiatus Butterflies galore E-book advice, please PI day in Yurp = 22/7 Tranquility Base redux Functionally illiterate? Friedhelm's new book :-) Oblongs :-) 24th wedding anniversary Multitasking test Mobile phone humour US spy plane shot down Minimum wage day? Steam powered car A visit to Mühlhausen Douglas Adams T-Shirt Singed in the Treetops 24 years on Ancient Oak :-) Reading their minds ;-) Faith in your product! Cantor Dust ;-) Sunday's Steam Turned 70 on Sunday Sehr geehrtes Facebook Low Approach to EDXH Frieda turns 9 Steinertsee model railway The Meaning of Life ;-) Hannoversch Münden RIP Friedel Münch Blogroll Ain Bulldog Blog Badtux... Balloon Juice Cop Car Curmudgeonly... Earth-Bound Misfit Echidne of the snakes Fail Blog Finding life hard? Hattie (Hawaii) Making Light Mockpaperscissors Mostly Cajun Murr Brewster Not Always Right Observing Hermann Pergelator Rants from t'Rookery Scary Duck Spork in the drawer Squatlo Rant The Alternate Brain The Magistrate's Blog XE Express Yellowdog Grannie Archive 2014: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Archive 2013: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Archive 2012: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Archive 2011: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Archive 2010: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Archive 2009: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Link Disclaimer ENGLISH : I am not responsible for the contents or form of any external page to which this website links. I specifically do not adopt their content, nor do I make it mine. DEUTSCH : Für alle Seiten, die auf dieser Website verlinkt sind, möchte ich betonen, dass ich keinerlei Einfluss auf deren Gestaltung und Inhalte habe. Deshalb distanziere ich mich ausdrücklich von allen Inhalten aller gelinkten Seiten und mache mir ihren Inhalt nicht zu eigen. This Blog's Status is 
Blog Dewey Decimal Classification : 153FWIW, 153 is a triangular number, meaning that you can arrange 153 items into an equilateral triangle (with 17 items on a side). It is also one of the six known truncated triangular numbers, because 1 and 15 are triangular numbers as well. It is a hexagonal number, meaning that you can distribute 153 points evenly at the corners and along the sides of a hexagon. It is the smallest 3-narcissistic number. This means it’s the sum of the cubes of its digits. It is the sum of the first five positive factorials. Yup, this is a 153-type blog. QED ;-) Books I have written
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:-)" Nice one! Go team, go!
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