This is the website of Abulsme Noibatno Itramne (also known as Sam Minter). Posts here are rare these days. For current stuff, follow me on Mastodon

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September 2010
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Antihypersyllabicsesquipedalian Needs Your Help

On October 26th 2004, I became, at least according to Google, the first one to use the word “antihypersyllabicsesquipedalian” on the web. That was this blog post where I talked about what the word meant and how I found out about it. Since then, as you can see on the chart above, usage of the word on the web (once again based on the number of Google search results) increased slowly from 2004 through 2009. But toward the end of 2009, a dramatic decline began. Now, I know that how Google reports the number of search results probably has a big effect on this, not just how often people are using the word. However, to combat this decline, more people have to use the word and use it more often. So, antihypersyllabicsesquipedalian… a person who hates long words… use it as often as you can!

There Might Have Been a Cult

In the latest Curmudgeon’s Corner…

Sam talks about:

  • Burning Things (Again)
  • Hypersensitivities
  • Adults on Peanuts
  • Reality and Truth

Just click to listen now:

[wpaudio url=”http://www.abulsme.com/CurmudgeonsCorner/CC20100921.mp3″ text=”Recorded 21 Sep 2010″]

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More Dangerous World

The chart above is the number of Current Travel Warnings from the US State Department over the last year. Just noting that the trend is upward. Of course, the trend has generally been upwards since the first time I looked at this back in 2004. Here is a chart showing that whole time period. Prior to 2009 though, I was only adding data very sporadically, for instance adding only 2 data points at all in the 2005-2008 time period. Since April 2009 though, I automated it to add one new data point every day, so the trends are much clearer.

Tron

Original Release: 1982 Jul 9
Watched: 2010 Sep 12 to 2010 Sep 13
Queue: Sam’s
Format: DVD

So, I’ve recently moved from going through my queue in the order things were originally added to the queue, to picking randomly what will be next. But I make exceptions when there is a particular reason to watch something sooner rather than many years in the future. In this case of course Tron: Legacy is due to come out this December, so to prepare we all had to watch Tron. I think I last saw Tron in the theaters when it first came out. Most likely with my dad.[[[ jml]

V ?

That last bit was Alex. He liked Tron.

Anyway, Tron. This is of course one of those classic geek movies. At the time it seemed like it was just so cool visually. Watching it now, it just looks so cheap and basic. There was of course actually not that much CGI in the movie. Wikipedia says less than 20 minutes. The rest is just made to look like what people thought CGI should look like. And Sark? What’s up with the paper things on his head? It looks like something somebody’s first grader cut out or something. Of course, this was great at the time I guess. But it just shows how fast these kinds of things move. It will be interesting to see what they do with the new movie.

Then of course there is the actual plot, which honestly just doesn’t make much sense. Well, I mean, OK, if you back up a bit from it, it is just your standard quest thing once you get into it. They are on a quest into the enemy’s territory to destroy him with an object that he is vulnerable. Hmmm, Tron as Frodo?

Bottom line, it was fun to watch in a nostalgic kind of way, or to prep for watching the new movie. But I’m not sure it really holds up as a stand alone movie. It just sort of seems dated and quaint.

Puzzle the Seventh


Burn Everything!

In the latest Curmudgeon’s Corner…

Sam and Ivan talk about:

  • Internet Balkanization
  • Service Lockin
  • Censorship
  • Software Licences
  • Oil Spill Update
  • Koran Burning

Just click to listen now:

[wpaudio url=”http://www.abulsme.com/CurmudgeonsCorner/CC20100913.mp3″ text=”Recorded 13 Sep 2010″]

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14244.4458 Days

As of right now, 16 Sep 2010 at 07:39 UTC (12:39 AM Pacific, 3:39 AM Eastern) I am exactly 14244.4458 days old, which is also of course exactly 39 years. Ouch. Those are getting to be big numbers. :-)

Calculation below:

  • Born: 16 Sep 1971 at 20:58 UTC (1:58 PM Pacific, 3:58 PM Central, 4:58 PM Eastern)
  • Julian Born: 2441211.37361
  • 1 year = 365.242199 days
  • 39 years = 14244.4458 days
  • Julian 39 Year Birthday = 2455455.81941
  • 39 Year Birthday = 16 Sep 2010 at 07:39 UTC (12:39 AM Pacific, 2:39 AM Central, 3:39 AM Eastern)

Happy Birthday Alex!!!

Alex is now officially one year old! Woo! Happy Birthday Alex!

Alex Birthday Calculation

Non-geeks might just say Alex’s birthday is September 12th and be done with it, but of course I can’t do that, I have to be a bit more specific. So here is the calculation…
  • Date and time Alex was born: 12 Sep 2009 at 16:39 UTC (9:39 AM Pacific, 12:39 PM Eastern)
  • Converting to a Julian date using a Julian Date Calculator gives: 2455087.19375
  • Adding 1 year (365.242199 days) gives the Julian Date when Alex is exactly 1 year old: 2455452.435949
  • Converting back to a normal date using the same Julian Date Calculator gives:
  • 12 Sep 2009 at 22:27 UTC (3:27 PM Pacific, 6:27 PM Eastern)

Hey look, that is later today!

Specifically, that will be exactly 12 hours from the time of this post. I’m sure I’ll make another post in 12 hours when Alex *actually* hits the milestone, but consider this an early preview. At 3:27 PM Pacific, 6:27 PM Eastern, Alex will be one year old. Gulp, our little boy is just a few hours away from being a whole year old! Unbelievable. It can’t possibly have been that long…

View of a Staycation through a Sleep Lens

Dots are individual daily readings of the percent of time I spent asleep in the prior 7 days. The red line is a smoothed trend line (even though the points themselves are already smoothed by virtue of being over 7 days). I was on a “staycation” August 19th through 31st. The increase in time spent asleep is clearly visible.