Posts

2021-05-25

Image
 

What Science Fiction predicted

Image
Arthur C. Clarke's First Law: "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong." I was reminded of that law when I saw this...   Starship prototype SN9 during its flight test at Boca Chica, Texas, in January 2021   ...and this...     Artist's impression of the Moon landing vehicle is based on SpaceX's Starship design  Both images reminded me of 1950s Science Fiction book and magazine covers. Vertically landing rockets were scoffed at by scientists and engineers because of the huge processing power and exact control required to keep a rocket balancing on its "tail". When I saw this...  ... (these are landing , not taking off) I was amazed. And here are the covers of 1950s magazines...      One cover even got the shape right:        

The unexpected consequences of solar panels (on my roof).

Image
 When I decided to put solar panels on my roof it was because I hate the heat of the Northern Italian Summer. And I saw thousands of roofs around me which just absorbed the energy during the day and gave it back to the air during the night. Such a waste of easily capture-able energy! The unexpected consequence was the pleasure I got monitoring the energy captured. The WEB interface to the data from the panels is a wonder. I can see how it is doing real-time: It was only 10 in the morning when I made this screenshot, but by midday it can be up to 2500 watts. I can see how it has been doing during the week: In the image above it is interesting to see how the cloud cover reduces the energy produced. By the time we get to July and August the curves will be smooth and uninterrupted. You can see how the month is going: Since they have been installed the panels have generated almost 2MWh of energy. And every time I check on how my panels are doing I get a warm fuzzy feeling of contentment. Pr

It's an Athema!

Image
 

"I, regress" and "McLevy"

Image
"I Regress", Dark and surreal comedy in which a twisted hypnotherapist takes unsuspecting clients on disturbing journeys through their subconscious. Starring Matt Berry   and   "McLevy", Siobhan Redmond and Brian Cox, inspired by the real-life memoirs of one of Scotland’s first policemen, James McLevy prowls the dark streets of 1860s Edinburgh bringing criminals to justice, with the assistance of Constable Mulholland.

The advantages of being an amateur artist.

Image
 I heard a podcast, which I cannot find now, about how Spotify models the sort of songs that are created. For short pop songs, many of which are only 2 minutes long, the song writer and/or performer gets almost immediate feedback about how well the song is doing, and they can change the music. Slower beat, less plays, less income, so let's up the beat. Some song writers are trapped in a disagreeable loop of constant modification in order to earn enough money to live on. (To see how poorly streaming pays songwriters listen to " The Price Of Song " a BBC Podcast in the " Seriously... " series. )  Anyway, musicians chasing more plays reminded me of a disagreement I had with a friend about one of my drawings...  He said that there are certain rules in art which need to be respected, one of them is balance, and my drawing was not balanced. I was amazed at this assertion, as if art must be made for decorative purposes.    That criticism, together with what Spotify is

Whole Body Flossing With Eels

Image