Robert Fisher

Blog 3.0

2007-07-23T13:48:04.623946-08:00

With the retirement of my infogami site, so is this blog retired. My newest blog can be found at http://malirath.blogspot.com/.

Do your best

2007-07-02T13:03:18.739607-08:00

Looking over the iPhone buzz today—positive & negative—reinforces something I’ve long known.

It’s not about what you do. It’s not blindly covering every feature anyone else was dumb enough to implement. It’s not about trying to invent wholly original ideas.

It’s as simple as the Cub Scout motto. It’s about doing whatever you do the best that you can.

Sure, you’ll fall short of perfection, but at least you’ll be heading in the right direction.

Think different(ly)

2007-06-15T11:24:24.461433-08:00

What’s a blog for if not trivial rants?

Apple’s think different ad campaign was not grammatically incorrect. It was not telling you to “think differently.” It was telling you, “When you think ‘Apple’, think ‘different.’” As in “Apple is different.”

The media is the message only if you had no message to begin with

2007-06-13T18:17:00.875508-08:00

I haven’t been keeping up with the news lately. I think I’ve been a lot happier, but I’m beginning to feel out of touch. So, I’m starting to pay attention again.

I forget where I first heard it put like this: The media have a sensational bias.

For some reason, my first reaction to such a statement is always: How do we fix it? I suppose that’s a good instinct, but too often it can’t—or even shouldn’t—be fixed. In many cases the real question should be: How do we deal with it? At the very least, we have to figure out how to deal with it until it gets fixed.

I tend to doubt the sensational bias can be fixed, & I’m honestly not sure that it should be. At least not entirely. Remembering my glimpse of a Japanese news program helps me to feel like the US media isn’t a lost cause yet. The only way I’ve found of dealing with it so far, though, is to try to avoid the worse offenders. Although, I guess The Daily Show & Best Week Ever somehow manage to help by doing the shtick better than the “serious” outlets themselves. Maybe it’s just that they acknowledge it.

Soundcheck

2007-06-09T03:50:49.687177-08:00

My friend Don & I finally managed to get a couple of songs recorded & uploaded. You can hear them on our myspace page under the name Söundcheck.

I think it’s been over a decade since I did any recording, & GarageBand is a lot different than my old four-track cassette system. I’ve got a lot to learn about GarageBand—as well as my new Digitech RP350 guitar effects unit—before I can really make the most of them.

Photosynth

2007-06-06T11:07:16.506438-08:00

My mind has been blown by this Photosynth demo.

The first part just shows off some stuff following the trends we’ve been seeing in things like Archy & the iPhone. The technology does seem to be a pretty impressive implementation of such ideas.

But it’s the Photosynth demo in the latter part of the video that’s really impressive.

They pulled all the pictures of Notre Dame off of Flickr & used them to construct a 3D model of the location. As you navigate around the model, you can see the individual pictures that match up with your current view.

How can anybody be enlightened?

2007-05-18T13:27:52.170001-08:00

How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is after all so poorly lit.

—“Turn the Page”, Hold Your Fire, Rush

I think this installment of XKCD reflects something I’ve been feeling.

The more I learn, the less clear anything gets.

I don’t know that it really has anything to do with complexity, though.

I like this line too:

Lately, political debates bother me. They just show how good smart people are at rationalizing.

The word “political” need not be there.

The justly intonated major third

2007-04-26T12:29:23.648469-08:00

A little something I learned from the Wikipedia article on Eddie Van Halen.

Electric guitar players often rely on intentionally driving their amplifiers to distortion to create certain timbres. With distortion, we typically avoid certain intervals—such as major or minor thirds—because the distortion makes them unmusically dissonant. We tend to play bare perfect fourths & fifths (the so-called “power chords”) leaving the thirds out of the chords. Or stack fourths & fifths to create quartal or quintal triads.

Western musical instruments are almost universally tuned by a system called equal temperment. (Or, more specifically, twelve-tone equal temperment.) This mistunes each note slightly in order to make the instrument sound roughly the same in every key. With just intonation an instrument would sound different in each key. e.g. On an instrument justly intonated to the key of C major, the third of D minor would be out-of-tune.

It turns out that a justly intonated major third sounds just fine with distortion. Which makes sense, but I’d have never thought of it.

The justly intonated major third is sometimes called a “perfect third” in parallel to perfect fourths & perfect fifths. The “perfect” (pedantically) only applies to fourths, fifths, & unisons. It’s still a major third, it’s just a justly intonated rather than a well tempered one.

Of course, a guitar’s frets are placed according to equal temperment. So, you can’t just retune the strings to just intonation. (Even if you moved the frets, I think just intonation would either require all strings to be tuned to the same note or require different fret placement for each string.)

You can, however, retune a single string so that you can produce some justly intonated major thirds. The second (B) string is a good candidate since it is already tuned a major third above the third (G) string. Then you can play some distorted-but-consonant major triads. Of course, there’s a price to be paid. This throws off some other intervals between that string & the others. Plus you still have plenty of well tempered major thirds around the fretboard. So, you have to be careful.

“It’s one louder, innit?”

2007-04-25T00:42:32.494427-08:00

To anyone writing reviews of guitar gear...

The most important thing is to tell me how it compares to comparable products. Sure, it’s fine to tell me that this solid-state amp doesn’t sound as good as a tube amp, but I already knew that, didn’t I? What I want to know is how it compares to the other solid-state amps of the same wattage in the same price range. It’s fine to mention that the distortion channel is noisy, but compared to what?

Thank you.

“Zombie brands”

2007-04-10T16:26:24.710106-08:00

A post on Retro Thing has added a much needed term to my vocabulary: zombie brand. It’s a brand name that has outlived what made it valuable. The first example that comes to my mind is Avalon Hill. Once a pioneer of & the big dog in the hobby game industry. Now just an imprint of Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. I don’t think any of the current AH games were originally AH games. Instead, they’ve licensed the AH games out to other publishers. They’ve even put the AH brand on Risk! I mean, I love Risk, but an AH game it isn’t.

Ironic icons

2007-04-09T13:16:29.263974-08:00

I realized something ironic recently. The applications in my quick launch bar on my work workstation are the same applications that are typically already running. Exactly the applications that least need to be there.

(There's less irony at home since the Mac combines (or convulutes) the quick launch & task bar functionality in the dock. Plus, I use my home machine for more varied tasks than my work machine.)

So that's what that switch is for! Gnarly.

2007-04-07T14:04:04.220039-08:00

I’ve had my electric guitar about 20 years now. It’s always had this switch that makes the humbucker pick-ups sound like single-coils. I’d turned it on every once in a while, but not for long. The thicker, less-noisy humbucker just alway sounded better.

Somehow I got interested in surf guitar yesterday. It probably had something to do with looking at Danelectro guitars & effects. Andrea bought me there HoneyTone mini amp last year, which I’ve enjoyed a lot. They’ve got an inexpensive EQ pedal that I’ve been eyeing to use pre-distortion.

So, I’ve been playing “Pipeline” & “Walk don’t run” & actually using the single-coil mode on the guitar. & the clean Leslie/vibrato sounds on my GSP-21 (a multi-effects box) that I’d never really used in the c. 15 years I’ve had it.

Give Ts A Chance

2007-04-01T21:57:05.738988-08:00

My wife, Andrea, has started a CafePress store—Give Ts A Chance—featuring designs we’re coming up with on the themes of grace, love, & peace. As well as some Walk to Emmaus/Cursillo designs. She’s currently got six up, & I have about 15 more we’re working on.

Who’s on first?

2007-03-25T19:41:23.635364-08:00

Grace (4yo): What song are you playing?

Me: I’m trying to write a song.

Grace: Oh. What is it?

Me: “It’s not about that”

Grace: But, what is it?

Me: “It’s not about that”

Grace: But, what’s it called?

Me: “It’s not about that”

Grace: But, what is the name of the song?

Me: It’s name is “It’s not about that”

Grace: Oooh!

Texas Independence Day

2007-03-02T11:55:58.481905-08:00

Am I the only one that feels funny celebrating winning an independence that we later gave up?

Arbitrary

2007-02-04T14:57:30.643781-08:00

I’m beginning to hate the word “arbitrary”. Too often it seems to be being used to mean: “I don’t know the reason, so I’m going to deride it as having no reason.”

Too bad, because it’s a great word.

Consumer Reports & Child Car Seats

2007-01-25T15:47:46.471461-08:00

Some old news I kept forgetting to comment on...

The real story here shouldn’t be that Consumer Reports made a mistake. The real story is that most child safety seats failed a test at only 75 mph! Meeting government standards—while certainly better than not—clearly isn’t good enough.

Accountability

2007-01-24T16:47:40.521134-08:00

Sometimes I think civilization’s eventual doom will come through the fact that accountability, when it comes at all, often comes much too late. Unfortunately, zeroing in on truth & handing down good judgements takes time.

No doubt there are some people who feel this is good. That somehow there are “good things” that “need to be done” that things like reason & ethics get in the way of. Even if that were true, I’d much rather constrain & delay the smart & noble leaders than to give free reign to the evil or incompetent ones.

Who is Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.?

2007-01-23T14:20:45.304658-08:00

I got an email warning me about Barack Obama’s Muslim father, atheist mother, Muslim step-father, & Muslim schooling. I think it has had the opposite effect from what was intended.

I think having attended both Muslim & Catholic schools is a positive thing for a politician or a president. A well-rounded understanding of atheism, Christianity, & Islam should be an absolute requirement for any elected Federal official.

On the other hand, an elected Federal official’s declared religious affiliation or how dedicated or convenient it might be (as if anyone can truly judge another’s relationship with God) means little to me. If it did, I would (as a United Methodist myself) care a lot more about President Bush’s claim to be a United Methodist when he has acted in flagarant opposition to the United Methodist Social Principles.

Nothing is changed

2007-01-02T12:58:20.866768-08:00

I’m sorry. I believe killing another human being is wrong. Even in the name of justice. Maybe particularly in the name of justice.

It’s one thing for an enemy to be killed in war—trying to stop him from doing the evil he is doing. It’s another for a (so-called) civilization to take a former enemy, now a danger to no one, put him through a for-show trial, & perform a ritual killing. No matter how evil & numerous that individual’s† acts have been, this execution changes nothing. It stops nothing. It cannot reverse the things done. At most, it gives some people a measure of satisfaction.

And satisfaction at the price of another person’s life is something I think our souls are better off without.

†Note that a dictator can’t be a dictator without a substantial group who will listen & act upon his dictating.

Goodbye Camino

2006-12-12T21:54:07.705386-08:00

I’ve switched from Camino to Firefox. Camino is something of a compromise between Firefox & Safari. In theory, it gives you Firefox’s compatibility with web sites with Safari’s compatibility with the Mac OS.

About the only really notable advantage I found of Camino over Firefox was that Camino worked with Mac OS’s Services. Unfortunately, Camino seemed to have trouble with some Google services. Plus, when I work from home, Firefox is much more useful for debugging. So, I ended up having Firefox open a lot anyway.

I can’t be sure, but my computer also feels a whole lot faster since Camino hasn’t been running.

Dear Mr. Milius

2006-12-05T01:34:34.802457-08:00

An open letter to John Milius

Dear Mr. Milius:

I recently viewed your 1982 film, Conan the Barbarian. One thing puzzles me about this film.

Why would you create an original story & present it as an adaption of someone else’s work? Why create original characters but name them after someone else’s characters? Why deal with the hassles of licensing when you have no need to? If you do pay for a license & suffer the associated difficulties, why not leverage the property to its fullest?

I found I could not appreciate your story or your characters because the film promised Robert E. Howard’s characters & storytelling, but delivered neither. Your story may have been very good, but—if so—I am blinded to it by unfulfilled expectations.

It would be one thing if this were a film adaption that I found lacking. That it strayed too far from the spirit of the source or that it followed the letter of the source at the expense of the spirit. But an wholly original story consisting of wholly original characters masquerading as an adaption? Why?

I did appreciate the four or five oblique homages to Mr. Howard’s work & the one moment in which your Conan emulated Mr. Howard’s Conan. Overall, though, I give it a “Wha...?”

In cold blood

2006-11-21T17:07:10.957417-08:00

There’s talk in the news of US Marines killing “in cold blood.” Which is a bit ironic because, isn’t that exactly what we expect of the people whom we, as a society, grant the power to use deadly force? We don’t want them firing out of passion. We want them to have come to a deliberate, rational decision—guided by laws, regulations, & orders—that deadly force is warranted.

None of which is meant to excuse any mistakes or wrongdoing. There is a difference between a deliberate, rational decision that’s lawful & one that’s not. We shouldn’t let our rhetoric, however, gloss over the fact that our society requires certain of our citizens to make the decision to kill—or potentially kill—in cold blood.

Partisan bipartisanship

2006-11-09T22:18:17.890356-08:00

I’ve heard at least Perry & Strayhorn say that they are happy that they were able to stick to the issues through the campaign. Funny, I guess I just imagined all those attack ads. Here’s to you Mr. No Short Term Memory Guy.

What is really annoying me, though, is the handfull of senators or representatives the past couple of days that have been touting their long history of bipartisanship in Congress. As long as I keep seeing votes that fall strictly along party lines, Congress, none of you get to claim a history of bipartanship.

I mean, come on! The cynicism you inspire by walking the party line with such unanymity so often is bad enough. (Not to mention making vicious attacks on each on election eve followed by glowing compliments the day after.) No need to compound it by being dishonest about it.

The plurality has spoken

2006-11-07T15:13:14.186552-08:00

The one thing most Texas can seem to agree on is that they don’t think Rick Perry should be governor. But with five candidates in the race & plurality voting, he’s the front runner.

Why don’t we insist on runoffs for all elections? Sure, instant runoff would be even better, but why aren’t we even using a runoff system?

A plurality system isn’t in anyone’s best interest. While it may be Rick Perry’s best chance for winning this election, it’s also his biggest threat. It’s the independant née Republican candidate potentially splitting the Republican vote that gives Chris Bell a chance & makes this an interesting race. Tomorrow morning, we may have a winner, but we won’t be any closer to knowing who the majority of Texans would really prefer.

Besides bookies & other disinterested third parties, there’s only one reason for preferring plurality over a runoff: Because the Republicans & Democrates are more afraid of a third-party winning than they are of losing. That seems unlikely to me, but I have a hard time understanding why Republicans & Democrates use runoffs for their own primaries yet seem unconcerned that the real elections are by plurality.