KD^3C^3 - 20251109 You'll know someone is there
Here's a collection of bits and bobs.
I'm making another batch of soap. Like always, I made some slight changes to the process (It's an experiment) and I may have botched the whole thing. I'll probably know better in about 24 hours.
I'm making another batch of soap. Like always, I made some slight changes to the process (It's an experiment) and I may have botched the whole thing. I'll probably know better in about 24 hours.
I watched all that remains of this film from 1923 called Regeneration. I originally had 6 parts, but all that's left is the 2nd one and it is badly damaged. What's left is about 11 minutes long. There's pirates and that's about it. But it makes me think a lot about the literal mountains of film from that era and even earlier that have been lost forever. And when I think about that, I think about how ephemeral everything that humanity makes is. It's not that we shouldn't be making things, but it's good to have a sense of scale. There's a really good chapter in Ryan North's science-based instruction manual How To Take Over The World about the difficulty of creating a message that will last into the future.
I'm reading another humors/educational instruction manual right now, by Recreational Mathematician Toby Hendy called A Guide To Making Friends in the Fourth Dimension, and unlike Mat Parker's Book Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension it's is actually a guide for thinking about the fourth spacial dimension, if it were something we could explore. It's kind of weird I own two books with similar names by recreational mathematicians. Except it's not weird at all that I own them). The book is self published by Toby and only available through her directly, at her website. It's a gorgeous book, full of full-color illustrations that really bring these concepts to life.
Another math-adjacent thing I watched this week was Secret Base's series on Scorigami. (first part here) Scorigami is what it's called when an NFL game ends in a score that has never happened before in the history of the sport. Sports in general don;t really interest me, but if Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein make a series I am going to be much more interested. Their work on the Complete History of the Seattle Mariners and the Story of Dave Steib are some of the best sports documentary work I have ever seen. And while the Scoragami series does not reach those heights, it's still a very good watch. Lots of math, but presented in an easy enough way to follow and you don't really have to care about sports to enjoy them. I know I don't.
I've been thinking about the inevitable end of the Streaming Era. I don;t think it'll ever go away, but I do think It's becoming more and more like cable each year, where you pay too much for nothing you own and you're miserable about it. Veronica Explains did a video about how she completely cut out cable, I mean streaming, and is much happier about it. And I read a couple of really good blog posts by Andrew Roach on getting away from paid services, and becoming your own streaming service. Both of which I have done at least some of. ANd while I didn't do it because of those stories, it did make me feel a little more justified in buying a whole bunch of DVDs in the last month.
I'm reading another humors/educational instruction manual right now, by Recreational Mathematician Toby Hendy called A Guide To Making Friends in the Fourth Dimension, and unlike Mat Parker's Book Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension it's is actually a guide for thinking about the fourth spacial dimension, if it were something we could explore. It's kind of weird I own two books with similar names by recreational mathematicians. Except it's not weird at all that I own them). The book is self published by Toby and only available through her directly, at her website. It's a gorgeous book, full of full-color illustrations that really bring these concepts to life.
Another math-adjacent thing I watched this week was Secret Base's series on Scorigami. (first part here) Scorigami is what it's called when an NFL game ends in a score that has never happened before in the history of the sport. Sports in general don;t really interest me, but if Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein make a series I am going to be much more interested. Their work on the Complete History of the Seattle Mariners and the Story of Dave Steib are some of the best sports documentary work I have ever seen. And while the Scoragami series does not reach those heights, it's still a very good watch. Lots of math, but presented in an easy enough way to follow and you don't really have to care about sports to enjoy them. I know I don't.
I've been thinking about the inevitable end of the Streaming Era. I don;t think it'll ever go away, but I do think It's becoming more and more like cable each year, where you pay too much for nothing you own and you're miserable about it. Veronica Explains did a video about how she completely cut out cable, I mean streaming, and is much happier about it. And I read a couple of really good blog posts by Andrew Roach on getting away from paid services, and becoming your own streaming service. Both of which I have done at least some of. ANd while I didn't do it because of those stories, it did make me feel a little more justified in buying a whole bunch of DVDs in the last month.