GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

Category: Random Finds

  • This Word Does Not Exist

    septemismogram (septemis·mo·gram)

    A long record of a genome or structure, typically with a distinctive pattern of DNA orRNA fragments”a team of researchers have run theseptemismogram genetic model to find a significant distance between individuals within the same family”

    a word that does not exist; it was invented, defined and used by a machine learning algorithm.

    Breaking News: The gods of AI are gonna take over the world.

    https://www.thisworddoesnotexist.com/

    Programming note: I’ve decided to officially adopt my informal bi-weekly publishing schedule. By locking in Monday and Thursday mornings into the MailChimp settings, (instead of having it pull from my RSS feed every day), I’m hoping I will now be free to add random links or short posts throughout the week.

    Over the past couple months I’ve been noodling over an alternative sub-tagline “a site for personal archeology”. Tiny finds (like such as this one) aren’t worth spamming inboxes, but I think they are fine to follow up one of the bigger posts. Hopefully the Monday/Thursday newsletter will arrive in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent big-post, followed by any quick hits underneath it. If this works, then great! If not, then more tweaks will be happening.

    Cheers! Justus

  • President Elect Biden

    Four years ago, we watched a collapse in real time one Tuesday night.

    This year, the election became a weeklong slog towards certain victory.

    This speech by Biden on Friday night was great. He modestly celebrated the inevitability, reminded that we’re all in it together, try to turn down the heated passions of the race, and gave an update concerning next steps.

    The big show is coming to the end, even if one side won’t admit it. I’m certain Biden would have appreciated a concession from Trump and a media “call” for the nation race, but he also knows these trappings of success are ultimately meaningless.

    The best way to display power is to just start working.

    Time to move on and start living again.

  • Pledge of Allegiance

    With distance learning and working from home, I’ve appreciated starting each day with the pledge of allegiance with my daughter during her morning ceremonies.

    I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the REPUBLIC for which it stands. One nation under god, indivisible, with JUSTICE and LIBERTY for ALL.

    As a state worker I also think quite a bit about our motto All for Country It’s a big ask, and frankly, I’m not sure I’m up for it; but I contemplate it every time I see our seal.

  • For Steps to Picking Judges (in Nevada)

    There are quite a few races on the ballot and this four step process seemed like a good way to handle the decision making processes without investing too much time.

    Step 1: Pull a couple judicial endorsement lists from your prefered political action groups.

    Step 2: Compare the lists. If they both agree, just vote for the individual in that seat.

    Step 3: The hard part comes when you find some disagreements. Along with Google, I used these websites to research the individuals.

    https://thenevadaindependent.com/election/2020/judicial
    The Nevada Independent is a great website and their judicial questionairres and race analysis are quite detailed.

    https://www.ballotready.org/v
    This was the quickest way to find the candidates’ websites and facebook pages. By the way, you can avoid signing into FB by clicking “not now”.

    Las Vegas Review Journal and the Las Vegas Sun
    I don’t trust the RJ, but if both of these newspapers agree on an individual, I take it as a good sign.

    Step 4: Ultimately the main goal is to never meet any of these folks, bon voyage.

  • 43,560

    I have always been amused by the fact that an acre is 43,560 square feet, a very odd number. It’s 99% of 44,000. How did 44k become the basis?

    I’m not sure if the explanation in this video is true, but it feels truthy.

    And damn, this looks like real work.

  • A playlist to kick of the New Year

    This morning, I got sidetracked and watched a series of music videos. I’m not sure if there is much significance to this list, aside from the fact I’m quite fond of them, with the middle three being some of the best music videos I’ve ever seen.

  • Restate the problem

    As the material furnished him is often inadequate, vague, uninteresting, or otherwise unsuitable for visual interpretation, the designer’s task is to restate the problem. This may involve discarding or revising much of the given material. By analysis (breaking down of the complex material into its simplest components – the how, why, when, and where) the designer is able to begin to state the problem.

    Paul Rand, A Designers Art, “The Designer’s Problem”

    There are quite a few nuggets and a lot of examples of great graphic design in this book.

    I’m curious how this book will differ from his earlier compilation of essays Thoughts on Design.

    That said this book, A Designer’s Art, definitely stands on its own. Highly recommended.

    Interestingly, this book was published by Princeton Architectural Press. I’m not exactly sure what to make of this factoid, but it seems meaningful.

  • Cashing in (artistically)

    We’ve been slowly watching Neon Genesis Evangelion and as we enter the last few episodes, the director is starting to head towards the final climax after eighteen or nineteen episodes of setting up of the story as it heads into its final climax.

    It has been exhilarating to watch someone cash in their chips. The audiences’ investment into the show is culminating in the end of a long journey.

    I find myself becoming more meta in my enjoyment of media. Indeed, I think I will find it quite entertaining to watch the director make his final moves, whether or not the actual episodes will turn out to be any good.

    PS: The ending was intense, the show was worth watching, but yeah it’s a bit bonkers. A bit all over the place and not for the kiddos.

  • The value of propaganda

    A few months ago, I stumbled across the Nevada State Tartan. Finding the fact we have a state tartan amusing, I printed the Tartan and posted it on my office door.

    So I’ve seen it innumerable times day after day for the past few months.

    When I was at the Scottish festival, there are a lot of tartans floating around, but when the Las Vegas Pipe Band came on the stage, the tartan hit me like a shot of lightning from a clear sky.

    I had always assumed that such complicated patterns would meld together and generally meaningless in the real world, but clearly I was wrong.

    The tartan can be a potent symbol as long as it burrows into your visual landscape of daily life.

         1.  The tartan designed by Richard Zygmunt Pawlowski and further described in this section is hereby designated as the official state tartan of the State of Nevada. The colors and design of the tartan represent the following features that make Nevada a unique and bountiful state:
          (a) Blue represents one of the state colors of Nevada, the pristine waters of Lake Tahoe and the Mountain Bluebird, the official state bird;
          (b) Silver represents the other state color, the official state mineral, the granite composition of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range and the silver country of northern Nevada;
          (c) Red represents the Virgin Valley black fire opal, the official state precious gemstone, and the red rock formations of southern Nevada;
          (d) Yellow represents Sagebrush, the official state flower, and symbolizes the Great Basin Region of central Nevada;
          (e) White represents the name of this state meaning snow-covered, which is the translation of the Spanish word “nevada”;
          (f) The crossing of the yellow and red stripes represents the different colors of Nevada sandstone, the official state rock;
          (g) The white intersection on the silver field stands for the snow-capped peaks of granite mountains, which make up the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range;
          (h) The four blue lines represent the four main rivers of Nevada which are the Colorado River, Truckee River, Humboldt River and Walker River;
          (i) The intersecting blue lines in the silver field represent the Colorado River as it meets Hoover Dam and creates Lake Mead;
          (j) The small solid “boxes” of silver and blue number 8 by 8, or 64, to signify the year (1864) that Nevada was admitted into statehood;
          (k) The 13 solid-colored intersections of the small stripes represent Boundary Peak, the highest point in Nevada, which stands at an elevation of 13,143 feet; and
          (l) The 16 solid silver intersections and the solid white intersection in the center of the tartan represent the 16 counties and the one consolidated city-county government of Nevada.

    NRS 235.150
  • Alums

    With the convention in town last month, I went to a couple receptions for my two different schools.

    I met a few folks and spent a fine evening chatting away.

    I guess it’s called networking.

    But it was primarily an exercise in nostalgia. The world keeps spinning, but it is nice to talk to strangers who have shared in past glories.

    Not something for regular consumption, but fine enough as an occasional treat.