". . . any system which does not give ample opportunity for talent to displace unearned rank will, in the end, come to grief."Kevil Mahonney, lawyer to the rich & powerful, at dinner with the stars of our story, Against The Odds by Elizabeth Moon, page 317.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Quote of the Day
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Using Hexadecimal Numbers in Google Spreadsheets
Google Doc's does spreadsheets. I was mucking around with one today, trying to sort out the SFR's (Special Function Registers) in a PIC32 microcontroller. Some of these registers have contiguous addresses, but in some places there are gaps. Some are big gaps, some are small gaps. I wanted to find out just how big these gaps are.
I had the addresses in hexadecimal using 'C' language notation in one column. Turns out Google Spreadsheet doesn't understand that notation, matter of fact it doesn't really understand hexadecimal at all. To do anything with a hex number, you have to convert it to decimal. Further, you best not be using eight digits. That's more than Spreadsheet can handle. So we use:
I had the addresses in hexadecimal using 'C' language notation in one column. Turns out Google Spreadsheet doesn't understand that notation, matter of fact it doesn't really understand hexadecimal at all. To do anything with a hex number, you have to convert it to decimal. Further, you best not be using eight digits. That's more than Spreadsheet can handle. So we use:
- mid(cell address, start position, number of characters) to extract a portion of the number(for example 0xbf80f440). In this case the strings are all ten characters long (counting the leading 0x), the first three digits are all the same, so we only need the last five. So our function call looks like this: mid(cell, 6, 5)
- hex2dec(number) to covert the hex number to a decimal number,
- subtraction to calculate the difference between the two numbers, and lastly
- dec2hex(number) to convert the number back to hexadecimal format.
Put it all together and the contents of a sample cell looks like this:
=dec2hex(hex2dec(mid(B166,6,5))-hex2dec(mid(B164,6,5)))
Operator
Fran was telling me the that her Mom really liked Jim Croce, and boy, that sure popped open a memory archive I didn't even know existed. I think this is one of his better songs. He had some that were nice and catchy the first time you heard them, but they got old pretty quick. They sure stuck in my memory though. Songs like Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown and Don't Mess Around With Jim. Time In A Bottle is another one that I thought was pretty good.
Jim Croce died in a plane crash in 1973 (1973! gee willikers pops, were you really alive back then?). Wikipedia had this to say about that:
Croce had just completed a concert in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and was flying to Sherman, Texas for a concert at Austin College. The pilot and all passengers (...) were killed instantly at 10:45 PM EDT on September 20, 1973, less than an hour after the end of the concert. Upon takeoff, the Beechcraft E18 plane did not gain enough altitude to clear a pecan tree at the end of the runway, which investigators said was the only tree for hundreds of yards. The official report from the NTSB[6] hints that the charter pilot, Robert Newton Elliott, who had severe coronary artery disease and had run a portion of the three miles to the airport from a motel, may have suffered a heart attack. A later investigation placed sole blame for the accident on pilot error.So have we lost more pop music stars through airplane crashes? Or drug overdoses?
Update September 2015 replaced missing video.
Update July 2018 replaced missing video.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Blunt Instrument
Steve Duin's column in the paper this morning was talking about the level of respect and fear between the police and the populace. These two lines got me going:
The average police officer and the average citizen are still on the same side.Once upon a time I heard someone say that "the law is a blunt instrument". Because of that you only go to police as a matter of last resort. Any encounter with them is as likely to be detrimental as helpful. My experience with the police has never been positive, or if there ever was a positive experience it is more than outweighed by the negative. My solution is to avoid them as much as possible. Keep a low profile, don't do anything that will make you stand out. (This blog would be an exception, if anyone ever read it.) So does that mean I am afraid? Or is it just that I have been cowed enough to keep me from making serious trouble? Or maybe it just means I am all-growed up.
Most of us believe that, I trust. It's why we approach police when we need help.
The Mask Of Dimitrios
The Mask Of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler
Excellent story. Alan Furst mentions it in his book The World At Night, and when I look it up, I found a comment that Ian Fleming has James Bond reading it on a flight to Moscow. Well, shoot, guess I better get me a copy.
Dimitrios is a one man model for SPECTRE. He gets his start with robbery and murder, but soon moves on to wholesale drug dealing, espionage and extortion. The book follows a successful English writer as he investigates this criminal's career. Along the way he (and the reader) gets an education in just how espionage is conducted, and how the world of drug smuggling operates. One of the key elements is a private bank that :
Notes about stuff that was new to me or just worth noting:
Update January 2012. Corrected a typo. Tried to correct the spacing by editing the html. Failed. Bah, again.
Excellent story. Alan Furst mentions it in his book The World At Night, and when I look it up, I found a comment that Ian Fleming has James Bond reading it on a flight to Moscow. Well, shoot, guess I better get me a copy.
Dimitrios is a one man model for SPECTRE. He gets his start with robbery and murder, but soon moves on to wholesale drug dealing, espionage and extortion. The book follows a successful English writer as he investigates this criminal's career. Along the way he (and the reader) gets an education in just how espionage is conducted, and how the world of drug smuggling operates. One of the key elements is a private bank that :
- finances operations in the Balkans that are processing heroin for distribution in the West.
- engages in assassination (another of Dimitrios' occupations) when the policies of certain countries threaten their profits.
Notes about stuff that was new to me or just worth noting:
Places
- Smyrna. Greek city on the West coast of Turkey. Scene of massacre and huge fire in 1922.
- Strait of Otranto. Between Italy and Greece, it is the entrance to the Adiratic from the Mediterranean. My friend Jack knew that Brindisi, near the heel of Italy, is on the Italian side of this strait.
- Corfu. A Greek Island on the Eastern side of the Strait of Otranto. (p. 140)
- Annamite - a mountain range of eastern Indochina. Also a person from that region. (p. 223)
Books & Authors, p. 177 & p. 229
- Pearls of Everyday Wisdom (not found)
- Plato's Symposium, uncut
- Poems Erotiques, cut (!?!)
- Aesop's Fables
- Robert Elsmere by Mrs. Humphrey Ward,
- Dr. Frank Crane
- Lame and Lovely
- Just Human
Words
- Unknown
- Fiune ???? (p. 140 )
- English
- catarrh - sinusitis - pronounced cut-ar
- "an old hair carpet" probably made of goat hair. Goat hairs are longer than sheep's wool (!?!). (p. 236 )
- German
- Weltschmerz - world-weariness (p. 178)
- French
- maquereaux - mackerel, slang for pimp (p. 180)
- stupefiants - drugs
- en grande tenue - in full dress (p. 206)
- affiche - displays (p. 235), or:
- public notice
- bill
- poster
- placard
- "Ach! warum, ihr Gotter, ist unendlich, alles, alles, endlich unser Gluck nur?" - Goethe (p. 151)
- "Are the desires for money and power inhuman? With money and power a vain man can do so much to give himself pleasure. His vanity was one of the first things that I noticed about Dimitrios. It was that quiet, profound vanity that makes the man who has it so much more dangerous than ordinary people with their peacock antics. Come now Mr.Latimer, be reasonable! The difference between Dimitrios and the more respectable type of successful business man is only a difference of method - legal method or illegal method. Both are in their respective ways equally ruthless." (p. 183) I encountered another passage worth quoting about vanity in Ashenden.
Translation: Ah! why their God is infinite, everything, everything, at last, our only happiness?
Google provided most of the translation, but failed with Gluck. Stu supplied happiness. All I could find using Google was a Latvian theologian from the 16th Century. Now I notice that Wikipedia translates gluck as luck. I am listing this quote only because I spent the time translating it. It's not here because I think it's worth quoting in and of itself.
Update January 2012. Corrected a typo. Tried to correct the spacing by editing the html. Failed. Bah, again.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Inglorious Basterds
What we have here is an incoherent jumble of notes. Enjoy, or not.
Watched this Saturday night on PPV TV. What a strange little movie. The first thing I wanted to know was how much truth there was to it. Not that much. There was a commando unit composed of Jews, but the scalpings and the carving of Nazi symbols didn't happen, or at least there is no evidence of such.
It's a war movie, but it spends most of it's time watching people interact in nominally civilized situations. Quentin throws in bits of brutality here and there, but there aren 't any really big battle scenes. But there is always an undercurrent of serious threat. The violence on the screen was like nothing compared to the overall violence of the war. I suspect some people might take offense at mutilating the dead, but I'm sorry, I don't care. If they need to be killed, kill them. You want to play with dead bodies? Be my guest. It's not like the previous tenant has any use for it. I suspect it might be one of those religious things.
What's with the Brad Pitt's accent? He sounded more like he was from Texas than from the Appalachia. Or was that scar on his neck supposed to have affected his voice? Or maybe I haven't heard anyone from the backwoods of Tennessee recently. Or maybe that's just Quentin being funny.
The theater must have been very strangely constructed to allow everyone to be locked in, but to still have access to all the places they got to. Oh, that's right, it's a fantasy.
Why would the Nazi "Jew Hunter" strangle the actress? That seemed totally out of character. Oh, that's right, he's insane, coldly, rationally, insane. I suppose being a Nazi could have that effect on some people. And why did he let the little girl escape? Insanity needs no further explanation. And shooting the Jews hiding under the floor of the farm house by shooting through the floor. What's with that? That's something that only happens in American shoot-em-up movies. Oh. Guess I answered that one.
I read somewhere once where Quentin's forte was the conversation: watching people up close while they are talking. That little bit of info gave me something to hang on to. There were several conversations in this movie, most of the them conducted with at least one of the participants under extreme stress. They were well done. I didn't see any way that the people in these situations could have handled things any differently than they did.
Some of the conversations were pretty good. The one where the "Jew Hunter" interviews the French farmer in his farmhouse was one. The farmer obviously doesn 't like the Nazi, but he is doing his level best not to betray his feelings, and to not give the Nazi the slightest reason to take offense. The Nazi manages to detect the truth of the situation. Skillfully done, both the interview and the portrayal of the whole scene.
Quentin (may I call you Quentin?) uses music like nobody else. Nancy Sinatra's rendition of "Bang, Bang" (my baby shot me down) at the opening of Kill Bill blew me away. I was so impressed I bought the soundtrack and played it daily for probably a year. The music in this movie didn't hit me quite as hard, but it did include David Bowie's "Cat People", which I really like, especially the bit about putting out fires with gasoline.
David Bowie - Cat People
From the Wikipedia article about the song:
The heroine did show one moment of (female?) weakness, and it was fatal. Up till then she had been a trooper. What caused her to falter? Because she was a young woman? Or perhaps because she is human.
And why did they misspell bastards?
Note on Google: Blogger (a wholly owned subsidiary of Google) was down yesterday, so I used Google Doc's to compose this. Unfortunately, the cut & paste and word wrap functions are not what you would call world class. Words that were separated by a line break sometimes get run together when the line break falls in a different place. I found and fixed several places, but there may be some I missed.
Update December 2016 replaced video title bar with whole video frame. The old one didn't opened a new tab instead of just playing where it is.
Watched this Saturday night on PPV TV. What a strange little movie. The first thing I wanted to know was how much truth there was to it. Not that much. There was a commando unit composed of Jews, but the scalpings and the carving of Nazi symbols didn't happen, or at least there is no evidence of such.
It's a war movie, but it spends most of it's time watching people interact in nominally civilized situations. Quentin throws in bits of brutality here and there, but there aren 't any really big battle scenes. But there is always an undercurrent of serious threat. The violence on the screen was like nothing compared to the overall violence of the war. I suspect some people might take offense at mutilating the dead, but I'm sorry, I don't care. If they need to be killed, kill them. You want to play with dead bodies? Be my guest. It's not like the previous tenant has any use for it. I suspect it might be one of those religious things.
What's with the Brad Pitt's accent? He sounded more like he was from Texas than from the Appalachia. Or was that scar on his neck supposed to have affected his voice? Or maybe I haven't heard anyone from the backwoods of Tennessee recently. Or maybe that's just Quentin being funny.
The theater must have been very strangely constructed to allow everyone to be locked in, but to still have access to all the places they got to. Oh, that's right, it's a fantasy.
Why would the Nazi "Jew Hunter" strangle the actress? That seemed totally out of character. Oh, that's right, he's insane, coldly, rationally, insane. I suppose being a Nazi could have that effect on some people. And why did he let the little girl escape? Insanity needs no further explanation. And shooting the Jews hiding under the floor of the farm house by shooting through the floor. What's with that? That's something that only happens in American shoot-em-up movies. Oh. Guess I answered that one.
I read somewhere once where Quentin's forte was the conversation: watching people up close while they are talking. That little bit of info gave me something to hang on to. There were several conversations in this movie, most of the them conducted with at least one of the participants under extreme stress. They were well done. I didn't see any way that the people in these situations could have handled things any differently than they did.
Some of the conversations were pretty good. The one where the "Jew Hunter" interviews the French farmer in his farmhouse was one. The farmer obviously doesn 't like the Nazi, but he is doing his level best not to betray his feelings, and to not give the Nazi the slightest reason to take offense. The Nazi manages to detect the truth of the situation. Skillfully done, both the interview and the portrayal of the whole scene.
Quentin (may I call you Quentin?) uses music like nobody else. Nancy Sinatra's rendition of "Bang, Bang" (my baby shot me down) at the opening of Kill Bill blew me away. I was so impressed I bought the soundtrack and played it daily for probably a year. The music in this movie didn't hit me quite as hard, but it did include David Bowie's "Cat People", which I really like, especially the bit about putting out fires with gasoline.
David Bowie - Cat People
From the Wikipedia article about the song:
In 2009, the track was used in another film, Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Despite being anachronistic, the lyrics are related to the plot, occurring when a character is preparing to commit arson in order to put out the "fire" of Nazi rule; the character has also been putting out the "fire" of her hatred of the Nazis with "gasoline" ever since her family's murder at their hands. The lyrics also mention "one thousand years", and the song appears in the film not long after several characters drink a toast to the "Thousand Year Reich".
There is one scene where the heroine is putting on makeup to get ready for the big night and in that scene she looks just like Uma Thurman. Quentin got Uma's looks locked in his brain? I've no complaint, it was just a little spooky how much she looked like Uma.The heroine did show one moment of (female?) weakness, and it was fatal. Up till then she had been a trooper. What caused her to falter? Because she was a young woman? Or perhaps because she is human.
And why did they misspell bastards?
Note on Google: Blogger (a wholly owned subsidiary of Google) was down yesterday, so I used Google Doc's to compose this. Unfortunately, the cut & paste and word wrap functions are not what you would call world class. Words that were separated by a line break sometimes get run together when the line break falls in a different place. I found and fixed several places, but there may be some I missed.
Update December 2016 replaced video title bar with whole video frame. The old one didn't opened a new tab instead of just playing where it is.
Red versus Blue
This may be a sound a little confused. If so, I apologize. It's a little difficult to tie this all together.
I always liked this exchange from Star Wars (1977!). I found the last line especially notable:
I was reading a story about Paul Krugman (economist and columnist) in The New Yorker and it suddenly came to me why our country is so bitterly divided: the two sides have completely different basis for their view of the situation. The Democrats are looking at the situation rationally and analytically. Working from that basis they are trying to figure out what would benefit the most people. The Republicans are operating on a more emotional, a more human level. What is best for the individual person? How can we have the most freedom for the individual? People should learn to behave themselves, be responsible for their own actions and not be a burden on others.
No wonder they can't agree on anything. They have no common basis for their conversations.
The problem with the Democrats is that want everything to be smooth and orderly, they want everyone to have a place in society and to be happy in their place. The problem is that people are not like that. You go smoothing the rough edges off a person and eventually you are left with nothing. The Republicans subconsciously realize that and that's why they are so opposed to the New World Order.
Okay, maybe I have the Democrats & the Republicans confused, but I think that goes a long way toward explaining why we are so polarized.
Another way to look at it, is that the Democrats want things to be smooth and orderly. On the Republican side we have some serious criminals who are only interested in increasing their own power and fortunes. These lying criminals are playing to the emotions of the disenchanted, encouraging them to make a big obstructionist hullabaloo.
So I have dilemma. On one hand we have the democrats trying to smother everyone with kindness, and on the other we have the Republicans trying to force everyone into rigid little boxes. And they both want obedience. I suspect the only reason I am leaning to the left these days is because I think our modern day Republican robber barons have brought the country to the brink of ruin.
I always liked this exchange from Star Wars (1977!). I found the last line especially notable:
Governor Tarkin: You don't know how hard I found it, signing the order to terminate your life.
Princess Leia: I'm surprised that you had the courage to take the responsibility yourself.
Governor Tarkin: Princess Leia, before your execution, you will join me at a ceremony that will make this battle station operational. No star system will dare oppose the Emperor now.
Princess Leia: The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.
Princess Leia: I'm surprised that you had the courage to take the responsibility yourself.
Governor Tarkin: Princess Leia, before your execution, you will join me at a ceremony that will make this battle station operational. No star system will dare oppose the Emperor now.
Princess Leia: The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.
I was reading a story about Paul Krugman (economist and columnist) in The New Yorker and it suddenly came to me why our country is so bitterly divided: the two sides have completely different basis for their view of the situation. The Democrats are looking at the situation rationally and analytically. Working from that basis they are trying to figure out what would benefit the most people. The Republicans are operating on a more emotional, a more human level. What is best for the individual person? How can we have the most freedom for the individual? People should learn to behave themselves, be responsible for their own actions and not be a burden on others.
No wonder they can't agree on anything. They have no common basis for their conversations.
The problem with the Democrats is that want everything to be smooth and orderly, they want everyone to have a place in society and to be happy in their place. The problem is that people are not like that. You go smoothing the rough edges off a person and eventually you are left with nothing. The Republicans subconsciously realize that and that's why they are so opposed to the New World Order.
Okay, maybe I have the Democrats & the Republicans confused, but I think that goes a long way toward explaining why we are so polarized.
Another way to look at it, is that the Democrats want things to be smooth and orderly. On the Republican side we have some serious criminals who are only interested in increasing their own power and fortunes. These lying criminals are playing to the emotions of the disenchanted, encouraging them to make a big obstructionist hullabaloo.
So I have dilemma. On one hand we have the democrats trying to smother everyone with kindness, and on the other we have the Republicans trying to force everyone into rigid little boxes. And they both want obedience. I suspect the only reason I am leaning to the left these days is because I think our modern day Republican robber barons have brought the country to the brink of ruin.
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